It’s not uncommon for big AAA games to have enormous budgets that are often bigger than blockbuster movies. Consider the budgets for Destiny, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and Grand Theft Auto V. Respectively these games have budgets of $500 million, $275 million and $268 million.

With budgets like this these games have to be big hits that appeal to mass audiences. They need to be flashy, action-packed adventures that appeal to anyone. In essence, they need to be the summer blockbuster material.

But games like this do not appeal to everyone. Just as some have tired of the endless supply of Marvel Comics movies that dominate summer release schedules, many want games that appeal that take risks with both the narrative and gameplay. Convincing a big studio to take a risk and fund a game like this isn’t the easiest of tasks — impossible if you don’t already have the right connections — which has given rise to the Kickstarter gaming economy.

Rise of the indies

The perception that big studios are drowning out creativity and leaving the industry with a creative deficit has led to a strong Kickstarter-backed gaming community pushing out indie games. These are games that aren’t pushing to have the cutting-edge graphics, or multi-platform releases. These are games that push the envelope of narrative and interaction creativity.

“Working in independent games right now, it feels like there’s infinite potential in any direction,” indie game designer Robin Arnott is quoted as saying in the trailer to new video game documentary GameLoading: Rise of the Indies.

Kickstarter developers are not constrained by the need for their projects to become massive commercial successes. While some games utilize cutting-edge engines such as the Unreal Engine 4 or the CryTek engine (made possible by the indie-friendly license fees both have), others take a step back and incorporate retro-style 8-bit graphics.

Big studios taking notice

The rise of indie gaming has not gone unnoticed by big game studios. While initially some indie developers were ‘refugees’ from creativity-starved studios, now studios are developing publishing brands to give indies a wider release. In many ways this is like how major studios such as Fox (NASDAQ: FOX) have developed spin-off brands for indie films like Fox Searchlight Pictures.

Consider the case of Valiant Hearts, a 2D-side scroller set in the trenches of the First World War with a strong anti-war message. Neither the First World War nor side scrollers are very marketable when compared to Call of Duty style first-person shooters, but the game’s developers, who work at Ubisoft (EPA: UBI), got the publishing giant to greenlight the game and release it earlier this year.

Yoan Fanise, the game’s Content Director, explained to Kotaku, explained he got the game approved by Ubisoft’s CEO after a successful pitch meeting.

“Our luck was that Yves Guillemot, the CEO of Ubisoft himself, was emotionally touched by the story. He was a constant support for us,” Fanise explained to Kotaku. “The First World War itself is not a theme with a very wide appeal. It’s even less appealing in 2D, and even less again with no gun in your hands, so we had to constantly be knocking on doors to even exist alongside Ubisoft’s blockbusters.”

Fansie believes that eventually the game industry will evolve to incorporate more challenging, indie title as gamers’ tastes mature.

“The movie industry has the exact same problem, but is more mature and is often willing to take bigger risks. I think it’s time for our industry to grew up and be less scary about original ideas, or trying new things,” he explained.

The future of the industry

While examples like Valiant Hearts show that big studios are taking note of the rise of indie games, in many ways the indie game industry is fine without them. It used to be that big publishers played a key role in game development: you needed access to their capital to develop the game, and without their distribution network you couldn’t get your product to customers.

But Kickstarter and digital distribution platforms such as Steam have changed that; they have democratized the industry and leveled the playing field so that merit — not connections — matter when getting an idea for an indie game off the ground.

There will always be cases such a Valiant Hearts where a big studio steps in, but there are too many cases of successful game developers doing just fine without them to say that big studios play a pivotal role in the future of indie gaming. Now, it’s all about artists and developers.

The post The Rise and Rise of Kickstarter Indie Games appeared first on VR World.

UPDATE: Golden Age was simply the working title for Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and is not the name of a new game, Ubisoft has officially confirmed.

“Before we officially announce a game to the world, we use a working title or code name to refer to a project internally.

“Assassin’s Creed Golden Age was the internal name given to Assassin’s Creed Black Flag. It is not the name of any future Assassin’s Creed title.”

Original story is as follows.

Ubisoft might have accidentally leaked an image that hints at a new Assassin’s Creed game in an internal brochure aimed at recruiting new project managers and programmers.

The image reveals a project called Assassin’s Creed: Golden Age, and speculation has arisen that the game might be 2015’s PS3 and Xbox 360 release that accompanies Assassin’s Creed: Victory, upcoming the current-gen Victorian London adventure.

It’s believed that Ubisoft will continue the trend of releasing separate Assassin’s Creed games for each console generation, the same way AC: Rogue hit Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 and AC: Unity hit PS4 and Xbox One.

Or could Golden Age be the rumored Japan-centered Assassin’s Creed game set for 2016?

Before we get our hopes up, though, it looks like “Golden Age” could just refer to the Golden Age of Piracy, and could have just been an early working title for AC4: Black Flag.

Plus once we zoom in, we see two ships about go to into a sea-bound skirmish, one of which appears to have a black pirate flag that adds even more credence to the image representing Black Flag.

The PDF document is currently still up online, but Ubisoft will probably pull it soon, so get a good glimpse while you can–although the picture is pretty much all the indication of a new game.

Official details are nonexistent at this point, so it’s all speculation at this point, and we’re not even sure if Golden Age is actually an official game or if it’s a scrapped project, but we’ll likely find out more in the coming weeks.

Plus Ubisoft might shed more light once this gets more attention across the industry.

Via: VG247

Source: NeoGAF

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Assassin’s Creed games are well-known for their penchant for weaving unique takes on authentic historical events across the world, but they’re also known for their layered and enigmatic puzzles.

It appears one of those very puzzles has been decrypted thanks to a sharp-eyed fan named who noticed something peculiar in a piece of art, and shared his findings on the Ubisoft Forums.

The painting, crafted by Ubisoft artist Martin Deschambault, is found in the Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag artbook and depicts a possible Abstergo Entertainment lobby rendered in futuristic angles and colors.

But when Cronik-22 took a closer look, he realized that the picture actually depicted fragments of iconic landmarks from past Assassin’s Creed games…and possibly future ones as well.

It appears Ubisoft had hidden these clues in plain sight, as far back as 2013.

The Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral is clearly seen above, hearkening back to Ezio’s exploits in Assassin’s Creed II.

Above is a fragment from the painting that shows off a tropical island in the Caribbean, obviously hinting at Black Flag.

Here we have the infamous Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, hinting at Assassin’s Creed: Unity, and Cronik-22 also mentions that the clues were there way before the Kotaku leak.

And finally we have Parliament and Big Ben which ties in to this year’s Assassin’s Creed game that is set in Victorian London.

But what’s next? A final fragment reveals that Ubisoft might be bringing Assassin’s Creed to the Land of the Rising Sun for 2016.

The small clue might hint at the Sensoji Temple, Tokyo’s oldest temple that has ancient roots. Considering gamers have been asking for a Japan-based entry in the series for quite some time, it’s not too surprising.

And the prospect of stalking through the night as a deadly ninja-assassin in Feudal Japan?

While Ubisoft hasn’t confirmed any of the speculation, Ubisoft creative director Alex Hutchinson said last year that a game set in Feudal Japan would feel “too familiar”, and “boring”

“Feudal Japan would work as an Assassin’s game, for sure, but I feel like it would start to look like ‘oh, have I played this?’ You know what I mean – ‘oh, I’ve been a ninja before, I’ve been a samurai before'”.

It’s also worth mentioning that the franchise will make a brief journey to the Orient in Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China, which will be free for all holders of the AC: Unity Season Pass.

Keep in mind that these findings are total speculation, but they do have some pretty clear indications that give credence to the possibility of a Japan-themed AC game.

It’ll be interesting to see if Ubisoft has anything to say about the rumors (if anything), and it’s also worth  mentioning that the official Assassin’s Creed movie has been slated for a release in 2016 as well.

Be sure to take a closer look at those artbooks: who knows what you’ll find!

The post Report: Assassin’s Creed To Be Set In Japan For 2016 appeared first on VR World.

Normally when games are patched, players have to download small fragmentary bits and pieces that range from 10 to 100MB. The latest patch for Assassin’s Creed: Unity, however, is almost 7GB, and every bit of it is aimed at “alleviating performance issues and improving the overall experience”.

But why is it so big? Is the game really that broken that a single patch has to take up 17% of Unity‘s total install size?

Ubi explains that the team actually rebuilt parts of Paris in order to keep consistent frame rates.

So most of the data is actually replacing in-game content, and the developer claims that because a “large portion of the patch replaces existing files”, that the update should be less than 6.7GB.

“Part of the team’s effort to enhance frame rate for players involves replacing and updating portions of the Paris city map where we are seeing issues. This explains the large size of this title update (6.7 GB).”

Oh and it looks like Ubisoft’s newest patch has broken more than it’s fixed, leading to yet another blunder.

(Photo Credit: Stephen Totilo via Twitter)

It appears some Xbox One users who try to download the patch are met with a glitch that makes them re-download the entire game again, along with the 6.7GB update. Ouch.

Remember all those AC: Unity Xbox One bundles Microsoft just sold? Remember how the Xbox One outsold the PS4 in November? Well it’s fair to say a good portion of those gamers will be met with needless aggravation (myself included).

To add insult to injury, Ubisoft doesn’t have an ETA when this will be fixed, but assures gamers that they’re working with Microsoft to fix things.

“We have received and confirmed reports that some Xbox One players who have previously applied Patch 3 are seeing a 40GB download instead of the expected 6.7GB download.

“Unfortunately, an issue with the patch downloading process is replacing the entire game instead of just the parts affected by the patch.

“This is obviously not the expected behavior, and we apologize that many of you will have to wait longer than expected to complete this download. This issue isn’t causing any other problems and once the download is completed players will have the most-up-to-date and fully patched version of Assassin’s Creed Unity.”

So on top of the fact that you’ll have to download almost 7GB just to play the game, if you own an Xbox One, you might have to re-download the entire game over again. So much for a fix, eh Ubisoft?

(Photo Credit: Retro Apocalypse, via Kotaku)

In any case, thiss new update marks the fourth patch that Ubisoft has released in an effort to put the game’s broken pieces back together.

Assassin’s Creed: Unity Patch 4 addresses issues across the board including performance and stability (frame rates, crashes, loss of saved progress), general gameplay errors (navigation, lock-picking chests, etc) and online matchmaking elements such as connection drops and issues with the companion app.

Unity launched a month ago in a blatantly unfinished state that saw a dazzling array of bugs and poorly optimized performance issues–some of which are only just now getting fixed.

As a result of the game’s turbulent launch state the company’s stock actually took a dive, making it a very serious issue. Ubisoft recently owned up to their mistakes and publicly apologized for the glitches, and is giving away free DLC and a free game to season pass holders.

Patch 4 was originally slated to release yesterday, but Ubisoft pushed it back at the midnight hour to ensure preparations ran smoothly. Now it can be downloaded across PlayStation 4 and Xbox One flavors of Unity, but the PC version isn’t yet available.

We can only guess as to how many gigabytes of patch data that gamers have to download before AC: Unity is where it should have been on launch day, or when Ubisoft will actually start extensively testing the content and patches they release.

For your curiosity we have a copy of the full patch notes for your perusal, along with the amended update regarding the Xbox One error.

Patch 4 Release Notes

Update 12/16, 5:15pm PST:

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Samsung Electronics America said on Nov. 27 that the company has established a new gaming bundle offer with Ubisoft.

The deal will provide purchasers of a Samsung 840 EVO solid state drive (SSD) with a bonus download of Far Cry 4, which is the latest action-adventure game in the popular Far Cry Series.

“The 840 EVO SSD offers users with blazing fast speeds, unmatched reliability and overall sustained performance, making it the ideal choice for gamers,” said Ron Gazzola, vice president of marketing of Samsung Electronics America. “Players can renew their Far Cry gaming experience with more visually rich effects and noticeably faster loading times. We are thrilled to offer this gaming bundle deal to our customers.”

Gazzola said that players of the action-packed Far Cry 4 will be able to enjoy superior gaming through Samsung’s best-in-class driver performance with the 840 EVO. The drive is significantly faster than a standard hard disk drive (HDD), with decreased loading times, enhanced responsiveness and improved gameplay. He said that the driver’s low idle power consumption and exceptional multi-tasking capabilities will help eliminate choppy or lagging performances.

Samsung said that the Far Cry 4 download is available for Samsung 840 EVO SSD’s 250GB, 500GB, 750GV and 1TB. Downloads can be redeemed on Samsung.com/fc4 until Sept. 1, 2015.

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In an attempt to make up for the glitch-filled launch of Assassin’s Creed: Unity, Ubisoft (EPA: UBI) will be giving out a free DLC pack to all owners of the game.

Over the past few weeks, Ubisoft has caught a lot of flak in regards to AC: Unity.

The game was shipped with a wealth of bugs and glitches, many of which range from comical (and sometimes frightening) missing textures to abysmally slow frame-rates.

At one point Ubisoft advised players to delete their entire friends list to keep the game from crashing. Yes, this really happened.

As a result of the glitches and a truly underhanded embargo policy, Unity fell gracelessly off this year’s AAA hit list, leading to faltering review scores and a swath of disappointed gamers. Even Ubisoft’s stock took a dip thanks to Unity‘s poor reception.

(Photo Credit: Retro Apocalypse, via Kotaku)

Ubisoft knows it messed up. A few days ago the French game developer apologized for Unity‘s bugs, and outlined a plan to compensate gamers for their frustrations in the tune of a free DLC pack. Season Pass owners will get a bonus–how does a free code for Far Cry 4 sound?

Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat delivered the following apology in a Live Updates blog post:

“Unfortunately, at launch, the overall quality of the game was diminished by bugs and unexpected technical issues. I want to sincerely apologize on behalf of Ubisoft and the entire Assassin’s Creed team.

“These problems took away from your enjoyment of the game, and kept many of you from experiencing the game at its fullest potential.”

“To show our appreciation for your continued support, we’re making the upcoming Assassin’s Creed: Unity Dead Kings DLC free for everyone.

“For Season Pass holders, we will also offer the choice of one additional game from a selection of Ubisoft titles for free. More details on the offer for Season Pass holders can be found here: AC Unity FAQ.”

And Ubisoft isn’t skimping on that “one additional game”. Season Pass holders and AC: Unity Gold Edition owners can choose one of the following titles on Xbox LIVE, PSN, Uplay or Steam:

• The Crew
• Far Cry 4
• Watch Dogs
• Assassin’s Creed Black Flag
• Rayman Legends
• Just Dance 2015

Now that’s quite the apology. But the kicker is that many retailers like GameStop are no longer selling Unity’s season pass, so you probably won’t be able to make out with a deal.

Mallat also affirms that the team is working hard on updating and patching Unity to address the troublesome bugs. The most recent patch, Patch 3, is now live and fixed over 300 errors and bugs across PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.

According to Ubisoft, Patch 3 straightened up content across the board, streamlining frame-rate performance, connectivity issues, co-op stability, missions and more.

Below we have an overview of some of the changes introduced in the newest update.

Stability and Performance

• Fixed numerous random crashes in Campaign and Co-op modes
• Fixed specific framerate drops
  • Improved task scheduling
  • Tweaked performance for Reach High Points (Synchronization)

Gameplay (Navigation, Fight and Stealth)

• Fixed various navigation issues where players could get stuck
• Fixed various haystack issues
• Fixed various cover issues
• Fixed various camera issues
• Fixed various animation issues
• Fixed various Booster issues

AI & Crowd

• Fixed various animation issues
• Fixed various detection issues
• Fixed various crowd station issues (bonfires)

Matchmaking, Connectivity and Replication

• Fixed various matchmaking issues
• Fixed various host migration issues (hand-off occurs more smoothly)
• Fixed join-in-progress issues
• Fixed various replication issues between host and clients
• Fixed various issues in the My Club menu

Menus and HUD

• Fixed various menu issues and pop-up overlap issues
• Fixed Mission objective & updating issues
• Fixed issues in customization menu
• Fixed some localization inconsistencies in menus
• Fixed some issues in the credits

Mission Tweaks (Campaign, Co-op and Side Content)

• Fixed various low-repro walkthrough breaks
• Fixed various NPC navigation issues
• Fixed inconsistencies in some missions

World and 3D

• Adjusted various collisions and navigation mesh issues

Progression and Difficulty

• Adjusted various Community Event rewards

PC-Specific

• Fixed save game corruption in some cases
• Fixed temporal blur from SLI
• Fixed graphical corruptions in Character Customization menu
• Fixed crash in Character Customization menu on controller auto-switch
• Alt+Enter switches windows correctly
• NPC on side monitors show correctly
• Minor UI improvements

You can find the full list of patch notes here.

Patch 4 is in the works, and Mallat reiterates that the dev team is committed to fixing their game post haste. A separate update to address frame-rates will be released soon, along with a host of other fixes.

This might not be enough to make up for the game’s buggy launch, but it’s a good start from Ubisoft. The only irony is that most people won’t want to play the game until it’s fully fixed. Maybe it’ll be in better shape when the DLC releases.

Ubisoft isn’t the only games-maker to have to issue an apology for a turbulent launch: 343 Industries recently owned up to the sorry state of the Halo: Master Chief Collection, and made promises to fix the game and “make it right” with the Halo community.

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This year’s holiday season is huge for gaming, with a swath of AAA blockbuster titles hitting the market within the same two-month launch window. Now the PS4 and Xbox One have an expansive selection of multi-genre titles–from fantasy RPG’s to intergalactic shooters and story-driven parodies–ensuring there’s something for everyone.

With our buying guide we’ll help you navigate the labyrinth of games and select the best games to put under the tree this year, all while balancing your pocketbook–because let’s face it, who has the cash to pick up every game?

Our selection of the top 5 games ranges from a plethora of tastes, making for a positively satisfying brew of varying gameplay dynamics and memorable experiences.

Dragon Age: Inquisition

Developer: BioWare
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Release Date: Nov. 18, 2014
Platform: Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC
Genre: Fantasy RPG
MSRP: $59.99

Dragon Age: Inqusition is BioWare’s triumphant return to the mystical fantasy realm of Thedas, and takes players on a dynamic journey to the heart of adventure itself. The game goes lengths to reinvent the franchise with a host of new features, keeping the same party system along with enthralling combat and a winding, branching storyline.

Players can choose the heroic path they take in the game, and their decisions will resonate throughout the world itself, helping shape the ultimate outcome of their experience.

Inqusition is for the avid and novice RPG fan alike, featuring an expansive webwork of deep roleplaying mechanics that build off of the series’ distinct action-RPG formula. Featuring a plethora of classes, players can build their ultimate team of heroes and deck them out with armor and specifically-tailored skill trees befit any grand role-playing adventure.

With a positively huge singleplayer mode, gamers have their work cut out for them, but the online co-op mode lets players go dungeon crawling with a team of their friends.

The stories are always eye-opening and cinematic in detail and presentation, with a myriad of NPC’s–take Varric, for example–that actually have substance and personality; you actually care if they live or die, and want to know more about them.

All in all Dragon Age: Inquisition is a solid bet for any gamer, as it has such prestigious scope that spans and marries medieval fantasy with tactical RPG action.

It’s the quintessential hero’s journey that’s filled with strategic action and breathtaking vistas befit any otherworldly game of myth and legend, and it looks to be one of the year’s best games.

2. Destiny

Developer: Bungie
Publisher: Activision
Release Date: Sept. 9, 2014
Platform: Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3
Genre: Shooter, Sci-Fi
MSRP: $59.99

Destiny is a prime example of an over-hyped shooter that faltered under its own weight. The game was supposed to be Bungie’s magnum opus, a game that transcends the realms of online FPS and MMO-style RPG elements. While it’s failed to live up to its dynamic potential, the game is masterfully addictive in all the right ways–but sometimes for the wrong reasons.

The content may be limited in terms of end-game, but Destiny is an action-packed sci-fi romp that’ll take you across the stars and back. The story is weak, but the FPS mechanics are incredibly refined–it’s here that Bungie’s Halo prowess shines forth with light almost brighter than the sun.

Essentially Destiny is an online-only shooter wherein players can team up with random Guardians–that is supersoldiers powered by the Light, a mysterious energy not unlike the Force in Star Wars–to tackle a swath of missions and co-operative content.

There’s also a distinct RPG element in the game that affords for a unique spin on Borderlands-style shoot-and-loot action, complete with a sophisticated style and grace that almost matches Halo in its fluid grace. There are three main classes–Hunter, Warlock and Titan–each with their own varying skill trees that can be tactically used in conjunction with specific gear.

PVP is stellar and proves to be a delightful mix of sentiments old and new, with competitive content rolling out as the weeks go by.

Bungie is committed to making Destiny an expansive playground for would-be Guardians, but don’t expect anything free: the biggest updates will be hidden behind paywalls via Season Passes. Even still, the game offers a smorgasboard of content that’s rich with shooter elements that empower gamers, giving them the tools and arsenal they need to take on dreadful foes like the Hive and the cruel machines of the Vex.

Destiny has proven to be a must-have yearly release despite its shortcomings, and has proven to rank up there with the highest and most popular of games due to its immensely addictive nature. Be sure to check out our official Destiny review for more info on the game.

3. Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor

Developer: Monolith Productions
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive
Release Date: Sept. 30, 2014
Platform: Xbox One, PS4, PC, Xbox 360, PS3
Genre: RPG, Fantasy
MSRP: $59.99

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor may look like you’r average hack-and-slash action-adventure game, but Monolith has created a fluid dynamism that marries the worlds of stealthy assassinations with all-out sword-slashing bravado.

Set in Tolkien’s landmark eponymous Middle-Earth, this game carries players across a journey through the shadowy realms of Mordor and explores the expansive mythos of the landmark fantasy series.

The game’s combat system perfectly matches skill with suave tactical strategy, making for enthralling and empowering fights. Talion, the game’s protagonist, is infused with the power of the dreaded Wraiths, giving him a substantial edge against the hordes of Uruks spread throughout Mordor.

Talion has a huge armament of abilities and skills at his disposal, encompassing a webwork of talent trees that players can customize to tailor their own otherworldly hero.

Using a combination of weapons like bow and arrow, daggers and swords, Talion channels his inner Wraith–an Elven lord by the name of Celebrimbor–to dispatch evil and use a range of useful abilities.

Shadow of Mordor essentially feels like a cross between Assassin’s Creed and Dynasty Warriors, with a hefty does of RPG aspects like skills and upgradable weapons. But the game it sets itself apart from these games with a truly intuitive and unique mechanic called the Nemesis System.

The Nemesis System allows Talion to mark targets among the massive ranks of Sauron’s army. These marks are bosses of sorts that get harder and rank up if they defeat you in battle, becoming stronger along the way. It’s a sort of predator-vs-prey hunting scheme wherein players can find helpful intel to identify weak points of a boss, which is essential for those higher-tiered baddies.

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor combines a huge offering of fantastic elements together to make a satisfying brew of fantasy fun, complimented with a perfect blend of RPG and action mechanics to keep things fresh and exciting.

4. Far Cry 4

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher: Ubisoft
Release Date: Nov. 18, 2014
Platform: Xbox One, PS4, PC, Xbox 360, PS3
Genre: Action, Shooter
MSRP: $59.99

Far Cry 4 expands on series’ already-tremendous formula of action-packed chaos. Set in the frosty Himalayan peaks of Kyrat, players are treated to one of the most exotic, sprawling gameworlds of the series to date.

Kyrat is a truly massive open-world achievement in terms of scale and variety, with highlands, lowlands and everything in between, featuring engaging wildlife like snow leopards, stampeding elephants, crashing rhinos, and snarling tigers.

As per tradition, the game’s story pits Ajay Ghale (the specialist badass protagonist) in a region gripped in turmoil and revolution. A terrifyingly cruel–and rather humorously psychotic–dictator named Pagan Min is at the center of the havoc, erupting the region in a brutal and bloody civil war.

The game’s FPS combat is as dynamic as ever, with a smattering of new features like being able to hire mercenaries to fight alongside you. Vehicles have always been an important part of Far Cry, and in the fourth chapter we have the brilliant mini-skycopter to soar the peaks of Kyrat and blast baddies to smithereens.

You can also drive snowmobiles while shooting at rebels and dodging deadly rifts and flying over precipitous cliffs

Then there’s the skysuit. Few games have captured the heart-pounding excitement of gracefully piercing the heavens like a human bullet, but Far Cry 4 hits this mark perfectly.

Ajay also has two skill trees: the Tiger and the Elephant, both of which have a retinue of passive and active abilities to aid in battle. You get to customize Ajay as you see fit–want him to focus more on stealth and defensive measures? Go with the Elephant.

Want him to be a one-man army that shoots first and asks questions later? Then the Tiger tree is right for you.

All in all Far Cry 4 has something for everyone, and packs in pop culture themes from all over. Players feel like Lara Croft or Indiana Jones when they explore exotic ruins for treasures, and channel Rambo when gunning down hordes of baddies.

James Bond makes an appearance when Ajay does some fantastic death-defying stunt in his wingsuit, and Bear Grylls takes down a tiger in the jungle wilderness.

With a truly breathtaking and dynamic open-world environment like Kyrat, the game is a startling reminder of how far video games have come over the years.

You can get lost in the snow-capped mountains or the deep, dense canopies of the jungle, marveling at the cascading waterfalls and crashing elephants–and that’s exactly why this game is a must-buy.

5. Grand Theft Auto V

Developer: Rockstar Games
Publisher: Take-Two Interactive
Release Date: Nov. 18, 2014
Platform: Xbox One, PS4
Genre: Action, Shooter
MSRP: $59.99

The next-gen port of Grand Theft Auto V is Rockstar’s masterpiece. It’s something that gamers have been looking forward to for a while now, and is seen as the true definitive version of the game. If you’ve already played it on last-generation like most of the gaming world, then it might be wise to pass this up unless you want to give it another spin.

Essentially the new GTA V isn’t really new; it’s a re-mastered port. Even still the graphical differences between the old and new release are like night and day, with the next-gen flavor has Los Santos blazing with vivid life.

What makes GTA V so incredible is its cast of characters, the cops-and-robbers heists, and the game’s immersive environments. In terms of scale, accuracy, representation and graphical fidelity, Rockstar has captured lightning in a bottle. The in-game world is so resplendent with photo-realism that it’s uncanny, making it look almost better than real life.

GTA V features a three-man crew rather than the traditional silent one-man protagonist: Michael, the savvy, rich ex-bankrobber who’s having a mid-life crisis of boredom; Franklin, the young gang-banger looking for bigger and better things outside of the hood; and Trevor, a truly unique specimen of pure psychotic brilliance who easily steals the show from the very beginning.

Apart from the main characters and the namesakes of GTA, the game introduces a series of innovative full-scale heists that recreate some pretty impressive robberies. In this respect the game feels like a movie in terms of its scope, and players can choose how they want to pull off the score as well as which heists to take part in.

Then there’s the smattering of side-quests and extras that’ll pull you right in and never let go. While the heists are the main part of the game, each character has their own unique missions and questlines.

Franklin, for example, can invest in the stock market to earn big bucks, and Trevor, an entrepreneur in methamphetamine sales, wreaks havoc on the competition for his trade.

Being able to switch between Michael, Franklin and Trevor on the fly gives gamers the freedom to tackle whatever mission they want in the style they want. You can also beef up each character’s stats via a RPG-like progression system that’s somewhat like GTA: San Andreas.

The next-gen port also brings a first-person mode to combat, transforming Grand Theft Auto into a bona-fide action FPS game for the first time on consoles. This is a pretty heavy transition and affords a whole new style of play, especially for the game’s online component.

Grand Theft Auto Online deserves a nod as well. It’s essentially Rockstar’s open-world MMO-style online adventure where players can join a gang and combat rival gangs in a series of online playlists. These range from deathmatch-style combat to racing and heists, and characters earn points as well as stats to boost their reputation and abilities.

Grand Theft Auto V is a solid choice as capitalizes on fun.

It brings an amazingly entertaining campaign, a host of  side-missions, a trio of unforgettable characters and an engaging online component. The game’s environments are truly remarkable and bring a sense of realism unlike any other GTA game, and paves the way forward for the franchise itself.

Conclusion

These five games are sure-fire winners for the holiday season, and will bring festive delight for any gamer for weeks to come. With a slew of Black Friday deals you can snag any or all of these games at discounted rates, so be sure to check out the deals before you head to the stores.

As for platform choice, most of the games are the same across all consoles, with higher-end PC’s having considerable graphical and performance boosts. In the case of Far Cry 4, though, you should stick with the PS4 variant as it allows friends to try out the game for free.

Then there’s PS4’s exclusive Share Play feature which essentially lets your friends try out your games across the PlayStation Network. Something to keep in mind if you want to try out a game before you buy it, or let a friend do the same.

The post The Five Best Games of 2014 appeared first on VR World.

Ubisoft’s (EPA: UBI) stock has dropped by 9.33% to $16.50 from yesterday’s closing of $18.04, following the glitch-filled launch of Assassin’s Creed: Unity.

Traditionally big-name publishers like Ubisoft enjoy the post-launch benefits of a well-received game; when a game does well, their stocks will sometimes climb shortly after launch.

But when a huge annual release like Unity suffers a heap of performance issues across all platforms, things tend to go badly for the company.

Owners of AC: Unity have reported a swath of frustrating bugs that range from comical glitches to game-breaking frame-rate issues, all of which have served as substantial roadblocks for progression.

Ubisoft has been criticized for releasing the game before it was ready, and with nearly every gamer complaining of some issue or another, it certainly seems Unity wasn’t ready for launch.

I’ve played about three hours or so of the game’s campaign on Xbox One and so far I haven’t run into any clear glitches, but I have noticed frame rates dropping here and there, especially with a ton of NPC’s in the area.

But how did all this happen?

It appears that Unity‘s prestigious massive-scale content has worked against it, leading to clashes and glitches in environments, NPC’s and in-game physics systems.

A bit ago an anonymous dev affirmed Unity was one of the most demanding games Ubisoft has ever produced. With the rigorous higher-end PC requirements for the game, this certainly seems the case.

The dev continued by saying that the game is “so huge in terms of rendering” that it took Ubisoft “months to get it to 720p at 30fps”. They also went so far as to say that the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 could barely run it at 30fps at 900p.

But in the same stroke, the dev claimed that Unity is “crazily optimized for such a young console generation”, especially in terms of the massive amount of NPC’s and environmental content contained in the cityscape.

The glitches and bugs have caused a stain on review scores, and as a result, gamers are thinking twice about picking up the game. Ubisoft has an opportunity to remedy the situation with hotfixes and patches, but it might take more than a few updates to fix all the errors.

Unity comes free with Microsoft’s special edition $349 Xbox One bundle, but in light of these reports, consumers might hold off for a bit. Either way Ubisoft will have to address the situation and offer a fix, or Unity will become a burden instead of another AAA hit.

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Nvidia’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) latest generation Maxwell-based cards by themselves offer a lot of features for the price, and today the vendor is sweetening the deal further by bundling free games. The card manufacturer is collaborating with Ubisoft (EPA:UBI) in providing free title with every purchase of a new video card.

The “Pick Your Path” promotion, which is valid until the end of the year, entitles customers purchasing a GeForce GTX 980, 970, 780 Ti, or 780 to one free recent title from Ubisoft.  Options include highly anticipated games such as Assassin’s Creed Unity, Far Cry 4, or The Crew.

Nvidia has selected the aforementioned games as they highlight its GameWorks technology. The vendor mentions that each games features “HBAO+ for realistic shadows and TXAA for cinema quality smoothness and enhanced 4K support.”

Nvidia is also detailing the in-game enhancements that the vendor was able to carry out through its partnership with Ubisoft, which in Far Cry 4 sees the introduction of Nvidia’s updated GodRays technology along with HairWorks.

As for the games themselves, Assassin’s Creed Unity is set to launch on November 11, with Far Cry 4 set to follow a week later. The Crew is launching on December 2. Each game retails for $59.99, so if you were looking to pick up a new Nvidia card, the above promotion is a great chance to get a game for free as well.

AMD (NYSE: AMD) also offers similar bundles with its video cards, which have seen a series of price cuts following the announcement of the GTX 980 and 970. The most recent battle between the two vendors involves AMD accusing Nvidia’s GameWorks technology as being a “clear and present threat to gamers.” The issue arose when AMD realized that it was not able to optimize games that featured the technology on its video cards. It should be interesting to see how this current battle plays out.

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Far Cry 4 is a shooter at heart, but its vast open-world sandbox can deliver some of the most chaotic and memorable events in gaming.

In recent videos we’ve sen how herds of elephants can smash enemy convoys into smithereens, and how you can rain down a flurry of bullets on baddies from the skies with the new Buzzard gyrocopter.

Wild rhinos crash into everything nearby when agitated. Use this to your advantage for tactical gunfights–just make sure you’re not in their path.

We’ve seen Ajay Ghale, the game’s protagonist, perform death defying stunts on a regular basis. Ghale has done everything from expertly navigate precipitous snow-paths on a snowmobile while blasting royal guards with a shotgun, and soar the icy heights of the highlands with his wingsuit.

But most of the footage we’ve seen is specifically pieced together. What about actual playthroughs?

The PlayStation Blog asked Far Cry 4 game director Pat Methe to describe some of his most memorable moments in Kyrat, and he provided some interesting details.

Methe talked about how the faithful the game’s hired guns can be even when faced with impossible odds.

Far Cry 4 lets you buy mercenaries to aid you throughout your journey, and seeing how hostile the landscape can be, it’s always a good idea to have an extra rifle whenever possible. These helpful hands will stay by your side even when death is almost certain–they’re that dedicated.

The Buzzer can also be an incredibly potent tool of destruction, as Methe accidentally found out.

The gyrocopter is primarily used to get to point A to point B while occasionally popping off a few rounds at enemies, but if you hop out of it without landing, it can be used as a missile of sorts to blow up nearby towers and vehicles. This isn’t a sure-fire method but when it does work, the resulting blast of fiery chaos should be pretty satisfying.

Kyrat has a rich and deep culture–even its spirituality is exotic.

The blog post also reveals Ajay’s two skill trees: the tiger and the elephant.

Tiger skills are focused primarily on offensive attacks and abilities to improve Ajay’s death-dealing prowess, whereas the elephant tree has your defensive and healing buffs and abilities. Mixing and matching specific skills will ensure a well-rounded warrior, but gamers are free to tailor Ghale as they see fit.

Kyrat is filled with treacherous hazards that make it an interesting and dangerous place to visit. Whether you’re battling squads of gun-toting psychos or going tooth-to-tooth with a vicious tiger, the region has many ways to take you out.

The highlands of Kyrat are home to grizzled wildlife born in the ice and snow. Even mountain goats aren’t to be trusted!

One of the more interesting finds was that mountain goats can actually kill you.

These brave, sure-footed billies will often knock you right off the edge of a mountain path–and if you’re quick you can save yourself with the wingsuit. But it’s surely unexpected, only going to show you that even the most benign-looking animals can turn out to be deadly adversaries.

It’ll be interesting to see what epic tales of hilarity and chaos that gamers share when Far Cry 4 releases next month, but for now we’ll have to keep our eyes peeled for more in-game footage.

Far Cry 4 is slated to release Nov. 18, 2014 across current and next-gen consoles and PC.

The post New Video Captures Epic Moments in Far Cry 4's Dynamic Open World appeared first on VR World.

Far Cry 4 Creative Director Alex Hutchinson iterates that hitting perfect HD resolution may not be as important as crafting quality video game experiences.

In a recent interview with OXM, the Ubisoft (EPA: UBI) dev reflected that more stock should be put into a game’s total merit–gameplay mechanics, innovative features, story–rather than its visual fidelity.

“[1080p] is certainly not something I care about in a game,” Hutchinson said.

“It feels weird to me that people are cool about playing a sort of retro pixel game, and yet the resolution somehow matters. It’s like: is it fun, is it interesting, is it new, is it fresh, are there interesting questions?”

Kyrat is rich with colorful flora and fauna across its many regions.

Although Far Cry 4 has hit the famed “1080p mark” on PS4 and Xbox One, Hutchinson believes that this standard isn’t the best way to judge games or consoles, and the industry should try move away from it in favor of actual in-game content.

“I think it’s a bad axis. We should not be in a business that sells itself – we are, a little bit, but that sells itself on the flavour of like, gadgetry and technology. I think that’s a bad sign.”

What’s better than soaring the skies in a mini-copter? Shooting baddies while flying, of course!

The resolution disparity isn’t anything new in the gaming world, and it’s fueled the next-gen console wars for some time.

Months before the release of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, the gaming community was polarized as a result of each system’s graphical performance.

Since Microsoft’s Xbox One could only hit native 900p resolution upscaled to 1080p, gamers favored Sony’s PS4 as it could run in full 1080p without any scaling. This skewed the perspective of one console being “better” due to its visual power has been prevalent among gamers ever since.

Kyrat is rife with mystery and awe, carrying forth the tradition of Tomb Raider-style relic hunting and exploration.

But Hutchinson believes that meaningful game experiences trump 1080p and visuals. It’s not full HD that’s been selling consoles, he says, but the games themselves.

“Resolution [is only brought up] because of the disparity, the idea that one version is being held back. I don’t think that has sold consoles for a while now.

“I think experiences have been selling them, and that’s your challenge. If you don’t have a new cool experience, or a social experience–like Call of Duty sells consoles, even though art-wise, it’s not exactly… like Call of Duty to Crytek’s games, one sells a metric s**t-ton and the other doesn’t.”

Hutchinson’s words ring with a certain truth, but many gamers want as much bang for their buck as they can get. Resolution might not be everything, but the desire for 1080p has been so influential that it’s become a major tick-box for AAA games.

But this isn’t the first time Ubisoft has spoken out about the importance of content over visuals.

An anonymous dev for Assassin’s Creed: Unity reportedly said that 1080p doesn’t make a substantial difference in gameplay.

“I’m happy to enlighten you guys because way too much bullsh** about 1080p making a difference is being thrown around,” the purported anonymous dev said.

“If the game is as pretty and fun as ours will be, who cares? Getting this game to 900p was a b**ch. The game is so huge in terms of rendering that it took months to get it to 720p at 30fps.”

The dev was prompted after Ubisoft fell into hot water after revealing Assassin’s Creed: Unity would only run in 900p / 30fps across both Xbox One and PlayStation 4, despite the latter console being able to handle more graphical workloads.

Kyrat is based in the Himalayas, taking players to a new region they’ve never explored before in the franchise.

In any case, Far Cry 4 looks amazingly fun. The mountainous region of Kyrat has everything from stampeding elephants and ancient temples to the delightfully mad despot Pagan Min. And it also has explosively satisfying FPS action.

As far as visuals go, the game is stunning, featuring a swatch of majestic vistas across every sector of the highlands. The screens and video released thus far paint Ubisoft’s new Far Cry as a work of art, and it’ll be interesting to see how well it stands up when it’s released.

Far Cry 4 is slated to release on Nov. 18, 2014 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

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Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has secured its hot-spot in the holiday console gaming war with a new affordable Assassin’s Creed-themed Xbox One bundle.

The special edition Xbox One bundle comes packed with Ubisoft’s (NASDAQ: UBI) next-gen exclusive Assassin’s Creed: Unity as well as Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, and will be available in Kinect ($499) and Kinect-less ($399) flavors.

Both bundles will be available starting November 2 at select retailers, and are boxed with the general basics including the Xbox One console, a wireless controller and chat headset, a free month of Xbox LIVE, and if you opted for the $499 option, a Kinect sensor.

A digital voucher for Assassin’s Creed Unity is included along with a physical copy of Black Flag. The download key for AC: Unity can only be redeemed on November 11, but players will be able to jump right into Black Flag without a hitch.

The AC-themed Xbox One joins Microsoft’s roster of holiday console bundles, including the exclusive Sunset Overdrive bundle and the Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare bundle which packs in a massive 1TB hard-drive and a stylized console/controller combo.

“This holiday we’re focused on offering fans the best games, with unprecedented choice and value,” Microsoft’s corporate VP Yusuf Mehdi said over on the Xbox Wire.

“Combined with our award-winning games line-up this holiday, it’s an incredible time to play on Xbox One. Over the next two months, we look forward to celebrating with fans every week as we launch new games, new bundles, and a few surprises for Xbox One.”

Considering the standard Xbox One’s are $399, this new holiday bundle is a steal, and will most likely be a deciding factor for many gamers who are on the fence about Microsoft’s next-gen system. It’ll be interesting to see if this boosts their sales across the globe, and whether or not this initiative can compete with Sony’s dominating PlayStation 4.

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