Welcome to another instalment in our weekly news digest where the team at PSU Towers picks our favourite slices of gaming gossip from the past seven days, before proceeding to offer our two cents on each story for good measure.
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Grand Theft Auto V to be shown at Gamescom?
Grand Theft Auto V has been conspicuously absent from trade shows since its initial announcement back in November 2011. In fact, since the reveal, we’ve heard zip on the game. While it’s known that Rockstar traditional choses to forgo E3, all hope is now being pinned on Gamescom, which takes place next month in Cologne, Germany. Speculation originates from the LinkedIn profile for one Gerald Bauser, who is supposedly supervising GTA V alongside a host of other games at Gamescom this year. His pedigree speaks for itself too; Bauser has notched up over six years worth of experience as a program manager for Gamescom and E3. Regardless, one thing is clear: GTA V has been out of the limelight for far too long now, and is due a re-reveal. If it doesn’t show up at Gamescom, let’s just hope Rockstar decides to lift the lid on its hotly-anticipated sandbox sequel soon.
Brothers in Arms: Furious 4 has ‘evolved,’ says Pitchford
Announced last year at E3, the new Brothers in Arms game has been pretty quiet in terms of new info (sort of like GTA V, actually), and a worrying number of commentators have pegged the game as cancelled. Fortunately this isn’t the case, with Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford piping up this week confirming that the title is still progressing smoothly. More interestingly however, is the fact Pitchford announced the game has “evolved” considerably since the last time we saw it (which was a while ago, to be fair), and reckons it’ll shock fans when it finally does rear its head again. Shooters are ubiquitous these days, so anything that can help differentiate the series from its contemporaries is a good thing in our book, so hopefully this evolution is something meaningful.
Could Bully 2 be in development?
First things first: Rockstar announced this week that it’s merging the company’s Vancouver and Toronto studios into a brand spanking new office in Oakville Ontario. As a result, the outfit will simply be named Rockstar Toronto. However, that’s not the juiciest part. Nope, PSU.com has put our speculation caps on and come up with hope that the teams might in fact be working on a sequel to fan-loved classic Bully. After all, Rockstar Vancouver had previously worked on the original Bully, and more recently pumped out Max Payne 3. As we note in our news post, it’s far too earlier to expect a sequel to the former NYD cop’s latest adventure, so could it be we’re finally going to get a chance to revisit Bullworth Academy? Fans have been clamouring for a sequel for years now, and with many companies staffing up for next-generation projects, wouldn’t it be just dandy if we got to revisit the franchise again on PS4 and Xbox 720? Come on guys, make it happen.
Current-gen ‘has been way too long,’ says Square Enix
Square techno buff Julien Merceron stated this week that he feels Sony and Microsoft made a mistake in committing to an extended lifecycle for their respective home consoles. Specifically, Merceron feels that not only has this generation dragged on for too long, but devs are getting fed up of it and are instead turning their attention to mobile platforms. He has a point about the length of this crop of consoles; in the past, we’ve seen new hardware peak at around 4-5 years, while this cycle we’re still with PS3 and Xbox 360 in their sixth and seventh year, respectively, with still no official unveiling of a successor. Still, I think we can all agree that as far as PS3 goes the platform has taken a pretty long time to get off the groundin comparison to its predecessors, and even today studios such as Naughty Dog are still managing to squeeze even more juice out of the machine with the likes of Uncharted 3 and The Last of Us. On a side note, it’s somewhat ironic that Square is having a moan about the longevity of this console generation, and yet they’ve still not yet released Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Still, I’ll save that for another day.
Metal Gear Solid 4 finally getting Trophy support
Trophy support for Hideo Kojima’s stealth-action masterpiece easily ranks among the most fan-requested features on PS3 to date. While Konami has touched base on the subject over the past few years, nothing has ever come of it, and most of us had pretty much given up on the idea of seeing the feature implemented. However, just as the Metal Gear series celebrates its 25th anniversary – over four years since MGS4’s launch – Kojima-san finally confirmed that Trophies are coming to Snake’s swansong epic via a patch and new budget re-release. No date yet as to when we can expect Trophies, but at least it’s coming – even if we have had to wait four years. Will this give you an excuse to play through the game again? Or have you had your fill of MGS4? Let us know in the comments section.
Rumor: New Batman game will be a 1950s prequel
Everyone fully expects Rocksteady to pump out another Batman game at some point, and according to the latest Internet gossip, that’s exactly what they’re going to do. Specifically, the studio is supposedly working on a prequel title set in the 1950s, which should be out in 2014 at the very earliest. So, some way off, but the fact it’s set in the ‘Silver Age of DC Comics’ opens up the door to a wide array of opportunities – least of all the fact this era covers the same period when Batman teamed up with Superman for the Justice League of America. Not only that, but we’re apparently also going to be privy to the first encounter between the Dark Knight and his nemesis, the Joker. Colour us very, very excited.
First DLC for Ghost Recon: Future Soldier gets a release date
Future Soldier was a solid squaddie shooter, though perhaps not quite the reinvention of the franchise some had hoped for. Nonetheless, if you’re done with the main campaign (and by now you should be), Ubisoft is prepping the first batch of DLC for the game for release next week. The multiplayer-centric DLC chucks in a boatload of new maps, with locations ranging from Moscow to the Arctic, plus all-new weapons and game modes. If you’re looking for an excuse to get back into the action – at least as far as online goes – then be sure to pick this up on July 17.
Rockstar talks Red Dead Redemption sequel
Wild West romp Red Dead Redemption remains one of the most successful and highly-rated games of this generation. Given its mammoth success, you’d have thought that a sequel would be right up Rockstar’s street, and indeed this may very well be the case. However, the company has yet to confirm whether or not it’s working on a follow-up, but has given hope to fans that we may see a successor to John Marston’s epic adventure. Writing in an ‘Asked & Answered’ session on its website, the company expressed its love for the franchise, and teased we may see a sequel “eventually.” However, the company was quick to remind folk that they don’t typically rush a sequel to market (unless we’re talking about Grand Theft Auto, which during the PS2 era saw a number of sequels arrive pretty sharpish) but that doesn’t mean they won’t get around to making one. Fingers crossed.
PS3 version of Street Fighter 25th Anniversary Collector’s Set includes exclusive content
Most of us already know that Capcom is prepping a meaty Collector’s Set to celebrate 25 years of venerable brawler Street Fighter. However, what we didn’t know up until this point is that the PS3 version of the bundle will include a heap of exclusive content. Aside from the already-announced content, Capcom confirmed that PS3 owners will be treated to three voucher codes to nab all of the PSone Street Fighter Alpha titles, as well as access to all DLC For Street Fighter 3, plus portable punch-up Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max. If that wasn’t enough, they’ve also chucked in a whopping 175 PSN Avatars into the box to boot. While we can’t imagine gamers would have a use for so many Avatars, there can be no denying that this PS3 Collector’s Set is an absolute must-have for any SF fan and newcomers alike.
Rumor: Leaked images of the new, slimmer PlayStation 3
Chatter on a possible slimmer PS3 has been doing the rounds for over a month now, and while what seemed like baseless speculation at first has turned into something that may hold a little more clout than we might have thought. Fresh images on what is purportedly Sony’s new PS3 4000 series – aka the super slim PS3 – have surfaced via Anatel. The shots show off some new features that we were previously unaware of, most conspicuously of which includes a top-loading flap for discs. Flashbacks to the 90s anyone? Either way, the possibility of Sony releasing a new model isn’t entirely that far-fetched; the console is approaching its twilight years now, and traditionally manufacturers are always looking at new ways to flog their aging hardware to the more family-oriented demographic. A new, slimmer model perhaps with a few games of the casual variety bundled would certainly be a tantalizing offer for some. Stay tuned.
The Best of the Rest…
Tekken x Street Fighter still targeting PS3, 360 release
Konami patches Silent Hill HD Collection