Another big u-turn this week from Microsoft, although it's relatively small change compared to ones they've pulled in recent weeks. In order to keep up with Sony, they've finally decided to allow indies self-publish on the Xbox One and regular consoles can even be unlocked to become dev kits. Also, Microsoft are looking to take the American government to court if they try and use Kinect for snooping. Good luck with that. Elsewhere in the news Activision bought themselves from Vivendi for a mammoth $8 billion and they also pledged their support to the billy-no-mates of consoles, the Wii U.
Man, the end of August can't come soon enough so we have some big hitters to review again. For now we have the verdicts on Attack of the Friday Monsters, Magrunner: Dark Pulse, the rather excellent Stealth Inc and the Razer Arctoser keyboard. Or the Noah Arc Tosser as it shall be known from now on.
In the features we hit the road to bring you a tonne of hands-on previews and interviews for the likes of Killzone: Mercenary, Saints Row IV, Puppeteer, Payday 2 and Disney Infinity. One event had pole dancers, guess which one. No it wasn't Killzone, Helghan strippers are a bit rough, so I've been told. We also have a feature article and podcast going into details about Microsoft's latest U-turn. That's your lot from me, I'm off on my hols, see you in two weeks' time.
News
- UK Games Charts | 20th July 2013: The Last of Us makes it six in a row.
- More Borderlands 2 DLC Confirmed, Includes Another Level Cap Increase: Who needs Borderlands 3 yet?
- Xbox One DVR Records The Last Five Minutes Of Gameplay: Not as much as the PS4 then.
- Clementine Confirmed For Season 2 of The Walking Dead: And maybe Kenny?
- Soul Calibur II HD Online Revealed For PS3 & Xbox 360: The best in the series?
- Assassin's Creed: Brahman Comic Will Drop “Strong Hints" About Future Games: I'm taking bets Watch Dogs is an Assassin's game.
- Castle of Illusion Dev Diary Is Full Of Nostalgic Win: Lots of gameplay on show.
- Xbox One: Microsoft Will "Aggressively Challenge" Government Spying: Or bend over and given them everything.
- Aliens: Colonial Marines Singleplayer DLC Sneaks Onto Xbox Live: Don't go back.
- Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag Gameplay Footage Crams The Caribbean Into 13 Mins: We imagine you'd want to stay a bit longer though.
- Xbox One Game Retail Price Set At £49.99: Ooof, a bit much.
- Gibeau: Best Games Come From "Small Teams With Strong Cultures": Sounds like firings are around the corner at EA again.
- Amrich Hits Back At Despicable Trolls Following Black Ops II Gun Tweaks: Childish gamers making us look like twats again? Thanks.
- Volition: Saints Row IV Will "Fill In Some Of The Gaps" Of Saints Row 3, Has A Stronger Storyline: There's story in Saints Row games?
- Xbox One Will Let Indies Self-Publish After All: Yay, more XBLA crap or an untapped goldmine?
- Microsoft Shoots Down Kinect-Less Xbox One Rumour: You will buy our camera, puny humans!
- Activision Blizzard Buy Themselves For $8 Billion: That's a lot of money. Like, soooooo much money.
- Puppeteer Trailer: Heads Will Roll: Handcrafted want in raw form.
- Call of Duty: Ghosts Coming to Wii U: Are Activision backing a dead dog?
- Beyond: Two Souls Video Discusses Gameplay: Cage and co want to encourage everyone to try it.
- World Rally Championship 4 Coming In October: Who needs Codemasters anyway? Right?
- Disney Infinity to Allow Cross-Platform Sharing: It's only taken a whole generation for us to get this far.
Reviews
- Attack Of The Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale Review | GUILD02 Grows Up: A very Japanese looking game. But without the tentacle porn at least.
- Stealth Inc: A Clone In The Dark Review | A Clone To Own: Stealth Bastard is reborn on PS3 and Vita
- Razer Arctosa (2012) Review | Razerrection - The Lazerus Keyboard: Expensive keyboard-jelly time. What?
- Magrunner: Dark Pulse Review | Cthulhu Fhtagn!: Portal meets Infamous? *my pictures-only impression*
Features
- PayDay 2 Hands-On Preview | Your Heist, Your Way: Has to be better than the first game. By default.
- PayDay 2 Interview | Overkill Masterminds Talk Randomised Overkill & Criminal Masterminds: Coming soon to a bank near you?
- Disney Infinity Hands-On Preview | Empty the Toy Box: A cluttered mess or an inspiration?
- Saints Row IV Interview | Producer Kate Nelson On Depth Behind The Dubstep: Chatting superpowers, black holes and dubstep.
- Puppeteer Hands-On Preview | Madcap Marionettes: Matt plays Sony's upcoming platforming wonder.
- COMMENT: Xbox One - Another U-Turn, Another Chance: At this rate they'll change the name too.
- Killzone: Mercenary Campaign Hands-On Preview | The First Great Vita FPS?: Solely against the COD game, we bloody hope so.
- Game Buzz | Episode 40 – Another Xbox One U-Turn: Xbone indie self-publishing dominates the podcast.
