Call of Duty: Black Ops II Review

The Video Review

Chris Watters finds out what happens when a civilian casualty wants revenge in this video review for Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

The past and the future meet on many levels in Call of Duty: Black Ops II. In the campaign, you relive the events that made a man into a villain, then fight to avert his plans for future catastrophe. The competitive multiplayer offers the same frenetic intensity of past games in the series while providing a new way to play that subverts the history of these hallowed online battlefields. And the Wii U finally lets owners of a Nintendo console experience the visual fidelity that players on other consoles have enjoyed for years, adding some novel ways to experience the action courtesy of the GamePad. Poised between past and future, Black Ops II finds solid footing, providing another great ride on the Call of Duty rollercoaster.

Scramble those tiny robot brains with an EMP grenade.

If you played Call of Duty on the Wii, you can stick with your preferred control scheme here as the game supports the Wii Remote with either the Nunchuk or the Classic Controller. The new pro controller is also a great option, but the GamePad offers a few appealing novelties. Most notably, you can play the game entirely on the tablet screen, leaving your TV free for other uses. The screen shows a good amount of detail and runs at a smooth frame rate, making is possible to enjoy any game mode. It does have drawbacks, however, as the small screen area can make it tougher to spot mid-range foes and the button placement on the comparatively bulky GamePad take some getting used to.

This feature can also be used while someone else is playing on the television, enabling each player to have their own screen. You can team up or face-off in competitive multiplayer, both online and off, as well as take on the cooperative zombies mode. If you have a sizable main screen, you might be better off sticking with splitscreen play, but the added versatility of the GamePad is an asset to this version of the game.

As in the other versions, the ride starts off a bit rough as the game makes good on its pre-campaign warning of graphic content (which also lets you opt out of said content). Two early scenes linger on people burning alive, and while one ends up contributing to character development, the other is just gratuitous. Later cutscenes don't flinch from depicting gory violence, though of all the unpleasant sights you see throughout the story, the playful (and not at all gory) post-credits video might be the most appalling.

Fortunately, the campaign boasts an engaging story and a lot of entertaining action. It features the lead characters from the original Call of Duty: Black Ops, and though it references events from the past, a clear narrative thread emerges that is easy to follow. You jump between two time periods: the present, which is the year 2025, and the past, which spans about a decade during the Cold War. The narrative reflections of the elderly Frank Woods (a protagonist from Black Ops) weave these two timelines together, but the character that truly drives the story is the villain, Raul Menendez. During the Cold War missions, you follow Menendez's origin story and rise to power. In the 2025 missions, you desperately try to avert his catastrophic master plan. This parallel character development is deftly handled, infusing your missions with undercurrents of curiosity and urgency.

Things get even more intense when you are asked to make a choice. Press one button to kill a target, the other to let him live. The conditions of each choice vary and there are only a few of them, but even when you aren't responding to a prompt, you might be making a choice in a dramatic moment that will have consequences later. The main course of the campaign remains constant, but these decisions do affect the fate of some key characters. A few of these moments are sure to give you pause, adding some welcome weight to the proceedings, and there's a handy story rewind feature that lets you play earlier levels in order to see how different paths play out. There are also mission-specific challenges that give you ancillary goals to complete while you do so, further increasing the replay incentive.

You can also see some variance in the available strike missions, which are a new type of campaign level. These stages put you in a squad of soldiers and drones, and then let you choose which asset to control at any given time. Defending installations against enemy assault, escorting a convoy, and rescuing a hostage are some of the endeavors you might undertake. Though you have a team at your command, strike missions are still all about you gunning down foes. Your AI allies are only good at slightly hindering your enemies, so you end up doing the heavy lifting yourself, often while tracking activity on multiple fronts and hopping around to deal with advancing enemies. Having to consider the bigger picture is a nice change of pace for a series that has mostly involved just shooting what's in front of you, and these missions are a welcome shot in the arm for the familiar campaign pacing.

Of course, familiar as it may be, that pacing is still great. The campaign ebbs and flows as you move through a variety of diverse, detailed environments using an array of powerful weaponry to dispatch your foes, occasionally hopping into a jet or on to a horse for a short jaunt, or manning a missile turret to tame a swarm of hostile drones. A few neat gadgets and surprising gameplay moments satisfy the novelty quotient, but you still get the lingering feeling that you've done this all before. The new strike missions, dramatic decision points, and memorable villain help keep this concern at bay, however, and this feisty, enjoyable romp is more enticing to replay than other recent Call of Duty campaigns.

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The State of eSports in Asia - Present & Future

I'm a MUCH bigger fan of Blizzard's approach to eSports than Riot's. Take player salaries for example. Riot is paying the pro player's salaries and Riot organizes/pays for most major tournaments. With Blizzard and Starcraft 2, 3rd party organizations are almost exclusively responsible for tournaments and pro player salaries, with Blizzard offering differing forms of support depending on the organization's needs. If tomorrow Riot were to stop pumping money into eSports, the entire LoL pro-scene would probably collapse. In contrast, the Starcraft 2 eSports scene is largely self sustaining and will continue to improve because the community competes with itself to create better and better content.

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Bungie releases Destiny concept art

Halo maker Bungie have released an official screenshot from their upcoming game, rumoured to be titled Destiny.

The screenshot, posted on Bungie's official site, came as a response to a leaked marketing document reportedly provided to IGN by a reader, which outed story details and concept art from the upcoming game.

According to IGN, Bungie has confirmed the document was prepared by an advertising agency and that it provides authentic details surrounding the game's plot.

"We weren't quite ready, but we will be soon, and we can't wait to finally show you what we've really been up to," Bungie wrote on its official site. "Stick around, we haven't even started yet."

The leaked document describes Destiny as a "fun and accessible" game with a "deep, tangible and relatable" universe that is compared to the Star Wars franchise. The game is also described as "social at its core".

A Bungie spokesperson commented on the leaked document, telling IGN: "We're not quite ready to take the wraps off our next universe, but in light of recent events we thought we'd give fans something a little more official over at Bungie.net. Feel free to drop by and say hello! There's much more to come."

According to the document, Destiny's plot revolves around an alien ship bent on destroying Earth and the "knights" tasked with defending what's left of humanity. The document also shows images bearing the Destiny logo along with Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 icons and the URL Destiny.com (currently password-protected).

Destiny is Bungie's first project as part of a 10-year publishing deal with Call of Duty company Activision. Legal documents from May suggested that the game will be released for the Xbox 360 in 2013, with a 2014 release slated for the PlayStation 3.

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Community Check In - Turkey Hangover

TLDNR Community's Top 5

Hey there TLDNR fans! Time for this weeks top 5 list of things you should check out here on GameSpot this week in the community!
- GameSpot is going OFFLINE?!?
- GSPN Join up, share it, get stuff!
- GSPN: Things keep happening!
- Sonic Racing Transformed Alternate Cover Art Contest
- League of Legends Holiday Parade

What's Up

OMG GAMESPOTS GOING DOWN!?!
Well not quite, as many of you are painfully aware, the forums have been riddled with bonk errors right and left. Well the time has come and these issues are being addressed. The GameSpot forums will be going down for 24 hours on Tuesday November 27th. For the full story on what is happening and how long the outage will last check out this video featuring Simon and Ranando.

League of Legends Holiday Parade!
Are you a fan of League of Legends? Do you like free swag? Do you think you have the crazy skills it takes to beat skilled LoL players? How about the silvered tongue it takes to articulately covey the greater art to the game? Or what about Trivia about your favorite maps, champions, and items? Be sure to check out next Mondays Community News for our League of Legends Holiday Parade!

GameSpot Live Stream Schedule

Nov 27th - Black Ops II with Chris Watters @ *TBD
Nov 29th - PlanetSide 2 Now Playing with Kevin VanOrd @ 2:00pm PST.
Nov 30th - Dota Diaries & AU Beta Key Giveaway
Rumor Has It: There is a bit of a rumor around the office that the GameSpot AU team will have a special little now playing on November 27th, still awaiting a response to confirm said rumor.

GameSpot Players Network

GSPN Steam Community and Magicka Giveaway!
What kind of feature would the GameSpot Players Network be if we weren't incorporating one of the largest and amazing communities for gaming? That's right, it would be poop. So we started the GSPN Steam Community. So go on and sign up! We'll also be awarding profile points to new GSPN Steam group members, simply comment below on what your steam handle is to get your profile points. Need a better reason? We'll be raffling off a steam code for Magicka to one lucky GameSpotter who shares his Steam tag in the comments below!

GSPN has eaten Community Game Night
Yes, it's true. The GameSpot Players Network has absorbed the old GameSpot Community page like a gelatinous cube does to so many adventurers. But here's the good news, this is all simply part of the Master Plan to help get GameSpotters gaming together again. For the full details on what all this means you can check out JodyR's post about it here.

Contests and Activities

Sonic Racing Transformed Art Cover Contest!
Attention Sonic Fans! We're having an image altering contest giving users a chance to transform the cover art from Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed. All you have to do is take the original box art cover design and alter it. Your art alter can be a drawing, painting, graphic art or even a collage. For the full list of rules and details and to sound off that you plan to enter check out this page here.

Mass Effect Trilogy Winners
We were giving away a few copies of the Mass Effect Trilogy to a few lucky GameSpotters, who ended up winning? You can check this video to find out!

User Reward Challenges
User Reward Challenges! In addition to the automatic points you get for your profile when you use the site, you can earn some bonus points this week by participating in the following activities:
- 1000 XP Review Persona 4 Golden
- 1000 XP Review Super Mario Bros. U
- 3000 XP Submit an entry for Chalk Talk: Into the Looking Glass
- 3000 XP Share your Steam ID and Sign up in the GSPN Steam Group
- 5000 XPEnter in the Sonic Racing Transformed Art Contest

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Assassin's Creed III and the Singapore Connection

Assassin's Creed Anthology collection announced, first-week sales of ACIII rise 100 percent over AC: Revelations' mark; futuristic action game landing next year; company posts $41.35 million loss for six-month period.

Posted Nov 6, 2012 | 1:38 | 7,758 Views

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AU Shippin' Out November 26-30: Wii U, Far Cry 3

A new console complete with exclusive titles will be arriving for Aussie gamers this week! Nintendo's new console, the Wii U, goes on sale from November 30, with retailer EB Games opening stores at midnight for gamers who wish to pick up their pre-order as soon as possible.

The Wii U basic model pack will come with an 8GB console, a Wii U GamePad, an AC adapter, an HDMI cable, and a sensor bar. The Wii U premium model pack will include everything from the basic set, as well as additional memory (32GB in total), a stand for the console and GamePad, a charging cradle for the GamePad, and a copy of Nintendo Land.

The 8GB basic model will be available in white, and will cost A$349.95, while the 32GB premium model and peripherals are built in a black shell. The premium kit will retail for A$429.95.

Wii U-exclusive titles available at launch include platformer New Super Mario Bros U, survival horror game ZombiU, and party title Nintendo Land.

Platform game New Super Mario Bros U was released to positive reception, praised for its incorporation of classic elements of the series with innovative level design.

On the other end of the spectrum, fear-fuelled first-person shooter game ZombiU is a game designed to take advantage of the Wii U's touch-pad interface. The game boasts multiplayer modes and permanent character death, allowing the player to assume the role of various survivors throughout.

For those who are a little less inclined to pick up a new console, Ubisoft's open-world action title Far Cry 3 will be out this Thursday. The game will cast players as Jason Brody, a man stranded on a strange tropical island similar to the setting of the first Far Cry. Gamers will head out into this beautiful, but unforgiving, place, as they battle to stay alive.

Check out the full list of new releases below.

November 29, 2012
Far Cry 3 (360, PS3, PC)
Ratchet & Clank: QForce (PS3, Vita)

November 30, 2012
Assassin's Creed III (Wii U)
Batman: Arkham City - Armored Edition (Wii U)
Call of Duty: Black Ops II (Wii U)
Darksiders II (Wii U)
Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two (Wii U)
ESPN Sports Connection (Wii U)
Family Party: 30 Great Games Obstacle Arcade (Wii U)
FIFA Soccer 13 (Wii U)
Funky Barn (Wii U)
Game Party Champions (Wii U)
Just Dance 4 (Wii U)
Mass Effect 3: Special Edition (Wii U)
NBA 2K13 (Wii U)
New Super Mario Bros. U (Wii U)
Nintendo Land (Wii U)
Rabbids Land (Wii U)
Scribblenauts Unlimited (Wii U, 3DS)
Skylanders Giants (Wii U)
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (Vita, Wii U)
Tank! Tank! Tank! (Wii U)
Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Wii U Edition (Wii U)
Transformers Prime: The Game (Wii U)
Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper (Wii U)
Wii U (Wii U)
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2013 (Wii U)
ZombiU (Wii U)

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Far Cry 3, Assassin's Creed III missing from UK Steam store

The PC version of Assassin's Creed III and the soon-to-be-released Far Cry 3 are unavailable on the UK Steam store, according to a report from PCGamesN.

"We've been in discussions with Valve about Assassin's Creed III and Far Cry 3, but for the time being the games are not available via Steam in the UK," a Ubisoft spokesperson told the site.

The spokesperson did not give a reason or an estimated time until the issue would be fixed.

Ubisoft instructed those in the UK wishing to purchase the games to do so via its Uplay store or from physical retailers in the region.

The issue only affects gamers in the UK, as both games will still be available on Steam in other regions.

Ubisoft recently revealed that Far Cry 3 will not support dedicated servers. The game will cast players as Jason Brody, a man stranded on a strange tropical island similar to the setting of the first Far Cry.

The game was originally targeted to launch in September, but was delayed to December 4 over the summer.

For more on Far Cry 3, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.

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Next Hitman game to be developed by Square Enix Montreal - Report

Hitman: Absolution developer IO Interactive has confirmed that the next instalment in the franchise will not be made in-house.

Speaking to Official PlayStation Magazine, Absolution director Tore Blystad said that Agent 47's next outing will be developed by Square Enix Montreal.

"It's like with Treyarch and Infinity Ward," Blystad told the publication. "You have an IP that has been developed. They will feed off each other, as well as some things that stand out. I think with these big franchises, it takes a long time to develop just one game. If you can, work a little bit in parallel at least, and help each other out."

According to Blystad, the new game will be a chance for a fresh perspective on the franchise. While it will be entirely in the hands of Square Enix Montreal, IO will reportedly monitor its development along the way.

"We've been talking about these similarities to some of the big movie franchises, like Aliens, where everyone's doing it their own way. Every time someone gets their hands on a franchise, they do something different."

For more on Hitman: Absolution, check out GameSpot's review.

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Lego The Lord of the Rings Review

Those who have never played one of the many Lego games developed by TT Games might find it difficult to believe that a beloved franchise such as The Lord of the Rings can benefit from a simplified narrative and family-friendly gameplay. The notion seems absurd, and yet past releases have capably proven that plastic blocks and theatrical blockbusters can make a great mix. That's particularly evident in the case of Lego The Lord of the Rings.

Though the game doesn't offer many narrative surprises, the lack of unexpected twists actually works in its favor. If you've seen the movies, you know the story of the brave hobbit Frodo and his journey to a well-guarded volcano where he hopes to destroy the cursed bauble he carries. All of the nastiest creatures in the land would be delighted to pry "the One Ring" from Frodo's cold, dead hands, and the capable people who should protect him are usually busy facing similarly important struggles of their own. The characters' combined adventures provided ample fodder for hours of cinematic excellence, and now Peter Jackson's three enormous films have been crammed into a single game.

This latest adaptation of the classic tale doesn't feel like a cheap substitute for the epic story, even though the protagonists are now fashioned from plastic. The most riveting moments from the film trilogy are recreated here--even a few that existed almost entirely for the sake of character development or mild comic relief, such as the contest between Legolas and Gimli to see who could slay the most orcs. The shrugs, smirks, and tension-diffusing humor that are standard practice in Lego games have been supplemented here with extensive spoken dialogue that was pulled directly from the movies. Kids will love seeing characters skewered by fruit or snuggling with teddy bears, while parents will appreciate the minimal violence.

A fascinating story and great voice work can carry a game only so far, though, and Lego The Lord of the Rings benefits from a solid gameplay foundation that should keep players of all ages coming back for more even when they already know how everything ends. Stages generally consist of a series of basic puzzles, occasionally interrupted by battles with small enemy groups that are easily overwhelmed. You can swap protagonists instantly to gain access to their respective abilities, and there are no permanent deaths. Characters briefly falls to pieces but almost immediately return to the action.

The worst punishment you face is the loss of a portion of the studs you've collected, which means you could be deprived of a True Adventurer bonus once you clear the stage. Advancing from the game's prologue to its closing credits will probably take you no more than 10 or 12 hours, but actually reaching 100 percent completion could easily take twice that long. Mostly, you are allowed to decide what sort of experience you want to get from playing, within the established framework.

Due to the occasionally distracting volume of available content that practically begs to be discovered, a dynamic stud trail guides you to the next story sequence. Banners are spread throughout the open world and handily mark the entrances to action stages, but adventurers can easily get turned around without additional assistance. Fortunately, it's easy to warp directly to places you have previously visited, or to consult a map and set helpful waypoints. The stud trails unerringly lead you toward a chosen point unless you find a new obsession. Detours from the beaten path aren't a problem, either; the translucent stud trail quickly adapts and calculates the best route from your current location to your chosen destination at all times. That helpful mechanic isn't new to video games or even to the Lego franchise, but it's tremendously useful all the same.

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DO NOT USE!!!

Whenever Sega has released a mascot-fueled game, such as Sega Superstar Tennis, comparisons have inevitably been drawn to its Nintendo-developed counterpart. But Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is far from a poor man's Mario Kart. Fun track design, a solid character roster, and a bevy of multiplayer modes make this one of the best games of its class.

Like its predecessor, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed brings together a colorful cast of characters from many different beloved franchises. Many, like the popular Sonic and Knuckles, will be familiar even to the most casual Sega fans, while the likes of Golden Axe's Gilius and Vyse from Skies of Arcadia force longtime fans to dig a little deeper into their gaming memories. They are joined by guest characters Wreck-It Ralph, who fits in surprisingly well with the rest of the cast, and real-life racer Danica Patrick, who…well, she doesn't fit at all, really. Each racer has his or her own unique vehicle and associated stats, encouraging you to experiment with different styles.

But Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed doesn't depend entirely on your nostalgia to be enjoyable. The core of the gameplay, the racing, is fast, fun, and easy to get into. The driving controls feel tight, allowing you to drift around corners and weave through enemy attacks with ease. When you bump into a wall, it feels like it was your fault, not the controller's. Drifting is as easy as holding down a button, and longer drifts earn you important boosts.

Even items and weapons you pick up on the track work exactly as intended, and they do so in a well-balanced manner that prevents races from being decided entirely on one player's lucky item acquisition. You may still lose a close race due to a timely firework hit, but there is no "blue shell" equivalent to constantly ruin the fun of the racer in first.

Per the game's title, your vehicle transforms during a race into a car, boat, or flying vehicle, depending on the track's terrain. Don't be fooled into thinking this is merely aesthetic; each transformation handles differently, with track sections on water feeling more like Wave Race than a traditional kart racer. The flying sections feel the most different, because the ability to move up and down freely, as opposed to just left or right, makes a big difference not only in where you go, but also in how you use items. You're less likely to hit enemies with a weapon when they have an additional axis on which to move around and dodge.

All of this is complemented by wonderfully designed and often dynamic tracks that change as you race. You may make three laps around one track, but it won't always feel like the same track each time, because you might be forced onto a different route through the environment your second or third time around. You might spend most of your first lap on land while your second lap is much more water-based. Paths and shortcuts change, making it a bit harder to know an entire track by heart. The transformations are scripted--there aren't moments when you're changing the landscape at will--but they keep tracks feeling fresh longer. All levels are based on different games from Sega history, including a Nights level that's particularly good at capturing the look and feel of the game that inspired it.

You aren't limited to the standard Grand Prix style of events, although that's still available and done well. The more interesting mode of progression is the World Tour, which is a map full of events to play and earn stars through. Events range from simple races to more focused tasks like drift challenges, and each event has different difficulty settings. The higher the difficulty setting, the more stars you earn. Most new events are unlocked as you finish the previous event on any difficulty, though some gates to new events (as well as unlockable characters and car mods) require you to obtain a certain number of stars to move forward. You won't be able to see the end of the game by playing on easy the entire time.

While perfectly fine alone, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is more fun with friends, who are can join you in all game modes locally, even World Tour and Grand Prix. So you are never forced to play alone if you don't want to, provided you have at least one friend to share your couch. The cooperative options aren't available online, though, where 10 players are limited to simple Race and Battle modes.

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is a joy to play and look at. The icing on this delicious multilayered racing cake is that the game launches at a relatively budget price of $39.99, despite being a quality product that would warrant a higher price tag. It has occasional technical glitches, but it's a high-quality experience that deserves a spot on the winner's podium with some of the best kart racers you've ever seen.

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Why Nintendo TVii missed Wii U launch

Nintendo's new Wii U console launched today in the United States without one of its more novel features: Nintendo TVii. The Mario maker told GameSpot last night at the Wii U launch event in New York City that the streaming service's delay to December was borne of a desire to make it "absolutely perfect."

"Well, I think everybody who knows Nintendo, knows that Nintendo wants everything to be the absolute best that it can," Nintendo director of product marketing Bill Trinen said. "Obviously, we wanted to have Nintendo TVii available as soon as possible. There's just a few additional tweaks that need to be made."

Trinen does not foresee the delay of Nintendo TVii negatively impacting the Wii U launch, primarily due to gamers having a number of other system features to spend time with.

"To be honest, I don't think that there's going to be a tremendous impact because the people are going to be going home tonight and they're going to be playing games; they're going to be experiencing Miiverse for the first time," Trinen said. "And that, I think, is going to give them a lot to be looking at and kind of figuring out. There's Wii U chat that's there on day one and Netflix is also going to be a part of the day-one offering. eShop, along with a ton of content, is also there day-one."

For Trinen, it all comes down to quality. He said Nintendo would rather delay TVii than ship a service that gamers would not be satisfied with.

"So it's really more about just making sure that that Nintendo TVii service is absolutely perfect when it launches," he said. "Because we think it's probably more important that people sit down with it the first time and have a really great experience and want to keep using it than necessarily trying to push it out too soon and have people dissatisfied with it."

Nintendo TVii works with cable and satellite providers, as well as streaming services like Hulu and Netflix. Players must hold a subscription to these services to use Nintendo TVii, but no additional fees or equipment are required.

TVii viewers can use the GamePad to interact with others through commenting on specific live television moments and sharing those comments with others through Miiverse, Facebook, and Twitter.

GameSpot's full interview with Trinen will run tomorrow.

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Blizzard Global Finals to be held at BlizzCon 2013

November 18, 2012 6:55PM PST

BlizzCon has been confirmed for a 2013 return.

BlizzCon will be returning in 2013, according to Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime. Speaking at a press conference at the Blizzard World Championships in Shanghai, China, Morhaime said that the Global Finals held this weekend in China will also be moved to next year's BlizzCon, presumably for the return of the Battle World Championship Series. No date has yet been announced.

In January, Blizzard announced that there would be no BlizzCon in 2012, due to the company's "jam-packed" schedule of getting Diablo III, WoW: Mists of Panderia, and StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm out the door. It was also to make way for its inaugural Battle.net World Championship Series, which saw over 30 national events and five regional events all over the world, culminating last weekend in China with finals for StarCraft 2 and World of Warcraft.

"It's an incredibly ambitious undertaking to hold these events all over the world," Morhaime stated when asked about Blizzard's first foray into a year-long series of major events. "It turns out an event like this in China, broadcasting in multiple languages, streaming to people around the world, isn't as easy as you might think."

Numerous StarCraft 2 events held throughout the year by Blizzard, along with several other major organisations such as Major League Gaming, DreamHack, the North American Star League, and the Electronic Sports League, have certainly kept fans busy. It has become so busy that there's some worry that it is straining both spectators and players.

"There's some challenges just with all of these tournaments going on, as a spectator, not knowing what to watch or what the significance is of winning this event or that event," Morhaime said. "Having pro players put in a position where they have to choose between two important events--those are some of the things we'd really like to avoid in 2013. We'd like better coordination and cooperation between partners."

With the Battle.net World Championships as Blizzard's big event of the year, Morhaime was asked about comparisons to the other big events and games in the space, namely Riot Games' Season 2 Championships with League of Legends, and Valve's The International 2 with Dota 2.

"We like to learn what everybody else is doing right, but, at the end of the day, we're not focused on what they're doing; we're focused on what we're doing," Morhaime said. "We're trying to make our games as good as our games can be, and provide a great experience for players."

He does, however, feel that there are differences between StarCraft 2 and those other games.

"StarCraft 2 is a very different type of game than the other games you mentioned. It's a very different experience; it's very unique. I think it has a lot of things the other games don't offer, in terms of watchabilty, strategic depth, it's just a very unique game," he sai.

In terms of investment, Morhaime sees Blizzard as being right up there with Riot Games and Valve.

"We're also making significant investment. We may be doing it in a different way, we spend an awful lot of money in terms of travel, hotels, making it easy for all of these pros and people involved in putting on these tournaments are able to get to the places they need to be. Maybe it's not as flashy as putting all the money into prize pools, but it's still significantly expensive, and, from what we're told, that's actually more helpful for the ecosystem than just the flashy prizes."

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Call of Duty: Black Ops II Review

Jetpacks with rigid wings. Gloves that can adhere to any surface and support your body weight. Advertisements that feature your face when you walk by. The campaign in Call of Duty: Black Ops II has some interesting ideas about the future of technology, but what about the future of this massively popular shooter series? On the one hand, Black Ops II introduces new mission types and dramatic decision points that liven up the campaign, as well as a league play option that represents a fundamental shift in the franchise's hallowed multiplayer mode. On the other hand, the campaign hits the same satisfying rhythms, the multiplayer captures the same frenetic intensity, and the cooperative zombies mode delivers the same stale undead-massacring action. Caught between striving for the future and remaining rooted in the past, Black Ops II finds solid footing, providing another great ride on the Call of Duty rollercoaster.

The new millimeter scanner sight can help you spot cloaked enemies.

The ride starts off a bit rough as Black Ops II makes good on its pre-campaign warning of graphic content. Two early scenes linger on people burning alive, and while one ends up contributing to character development, the other is just gratuitous. Later cutscenes don't flinch from depicting gory violence, though of all the unpleasant sights you see throughout the story, the playful (and not at all gory) post-credits video might be the most appalling.

Fortunately, the campaign boasts an engaging story and a lot of entertaining action. It features the lead characters from the original Call of Duty: Black Ops, and though it references events from the past, a clear narrative thread emerges that is easy to follow. You jump between two time periods: the present, which is the year 2025, and the past, which spans about a decade during the Cold War. The narrative reflections of the elderly Frank Woods (a protagonist from Black Ops) weave these two timelines together, but the character that truly drives the story is the villain, Raul Menendez. During the Cold War missions, you follow Menendez's origin story and rise to power. In the 2025 missions, you desperately try to avert his catastrophic master plan. This parallel character development is deftly handled, infusing your missions with undercurrents of curiosity and urgency.

Things get even more intense when you are asked to make a choice. Press one button to kill a target, the other to let him live. The conditions of each choice vary and there are only a few of them, but even when you aren't responding to a prompt, you might be making a choice in a dramatic moment that will have consequences later. The main course of the campaign remains constant, but these decisions do affect the fate of some key characters. A few of these moments are sure to give you pause, adding some welcome weight to the proceedings. Once you've seen the story through, there's a handy rewind feature that lets you play earlier levels in order to see how different paths play out. There are also mission-specific challenges that give you ancillary goals to complete while you do so, further increasing the replay incentive.

You can also see some variance in the available strike missions, which are a new type of campaign level. These stages put you in a squad of soldiers and drones, and then let you choose which asset to control at any given time. Defending installations against enemy assault, escorting a convoy, and rescuing a hostage are some of the endeavors you might undertake. Though you can set targets for the team under your command, strike missions are still all about you gunning down foes. Your AI allies are only good at slightly hindering your enemies, so you end up doing the heavy lifting yourself, often while tracking activity on multiple fronts and hopping around to deal with advancing enemies. Having to consider the bigger picture is a nice change of pace for a series that has mostly involved just shooting what's in front of you, and these missions are a welcome shot in the arm for the familiar campaign pacing.

Of course, familiar as it may be, that pacing is still great. The campaign ebbs and flows as you move through a variety of diverse, detailed environments using an array of powerful weaponry to dispatch your foes, occasionally hopping into a jet or on to a horse for a short jaunt, or manning a missile turret to tame a swarm of hostile drones. A few neat gadgets and surprising gameplay moments satisfy the novelty quotient, but you still get the lingering feeling that you've done this all before. The new strike missions, dramatic decision points, and memorable villain help keep this concern at bay, however, and this fiesty, enjoyable romp is more enticing to replay than other recent Call of Duty campaigns.

Black Ops II's competitive multiplayer has seen some changes as well, notably in the way you equip yourself before going into battle. The COD points system from Black Ops has been ditched in favor of a new token system that still affords you some control over the order in which you unlock new weapons and gear. The more interesting change is the new loadout system, which gives you ten points to play with and assigns a single point to every element of your loadout (guns, attachments, perks, lethal and tactical items). It offers a bit of flexibility if, say, you don't use a sidearm much but could really use an extra perk, and the new wild cards allow some limited creativity. Put one of these in your loadout, and you can go into battle with two well-equipped primary weapons, or you can load up on perks and bring just a knife and your wits.

These are two extreme examples, but tweaking your loadouts with the gear you've chosen to unlock still confers a sense of getting more powerful and better equipped for combat. These are still the fast and deadly battlefields that have drawn millions of players for years. Positioning and reflexes are king, firefights are over in the blink of an eye, and success is rewarded with deadly equipment and satisfying experience gains. New gear, new weapons, and new score streak rewards are sprinkled throughout, offering new martial capabilities and strategic wrinkles. Traditional gametypes and a few rule-bending party games all offer familiar frenetic fun, but one new mode of play holds the potential to really shake things up.

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New Releases: November 18th - 24th

• Nov 16, 2012
• 1,065 (Views)

This week we check out Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, Hitman: Absolution, PlanetSide 2, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, RaiderZ, Persona 4 Golden and a variety of WiiU launch titles.

18 comments 0 people listening

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Now Playing - CoD: Black Ops Declassified

God knows Im no console fanboy. I just go and play the games that are good, no matter the console or the game's age. But I watch this video and cant help but think that gamespot is posting a terrible video for one of 2 reasons: 1) they dont give a sh..t about quality content anymore (putting 2 persons to test a game for the public without any previous playing whatsoever, thats not professional); or 2) they just want to make ironic jokes about the vita (showing the network error at the start, not caring about the annoying screen reflection on the right, laughing at the trophie given, having a terrible camera man...). Please gamespot, have a little shame on your face and post good content again.

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GameSpot Players Network

November 13, 2012 4:18PM PST

GameSpot Players Network, the hot spot for achievement hunts, play dates, competitions, and more. If you need a way to play you'll find it here!

Welcome to the GameSpot Players Network, where members can connect and get their game on! GameSpot is full of awesome and talented players looking for a good game - people who are good sports, and want to meet more people like themselves. But, you'll also receive missions and find out what other players are needing help with under the Looking for Players section. Drop by every week to find the latest announcements about live streams, achievement hunts, and more!

MISSION: BEAT THE PROS

US Date: Friday, November 16th
US Time: 4:00pm PT*
Platform: X360
This weeks mission is BEAT THE PROS, GameSpoters will take on MLG Pro Gamer MrsViolence, do you have what it takes to beat this fragging femme fatal? Click here for some insider info on your competition. To sign up for your chance to beat the pros, simply include your XBOX Gamertag HERE

*Start times subject to change

FEATURED PLAYERS

GameSpot is full of great players always looking for a good game, but sometimes we need a little help. If you're looking for your player two for a simple achievement hunt, quest completion, or just someone to help fill your queue, sign up here.

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Wonderbook: Book of Spells Review

The Video Review

Enter Hogwarts and learn to be a wizard in this video review for Wonderbook: Book of Spells

When it comes to capturing the imagination, few franchises do it better than Harry Potter. The idea of a magical subculture existing in our world, one that you might catch a glimpse of at any moment, is immensely intriguing. And being plucked out of your normal life and told you have magical powers? Well, who wouldn't want that? Wonderbook: Miranda Goshawk's Book of Spells is an augmented reality game aimed at giving you the chance to feel like you are playing with such powers, and thanks to some clever hardware tricks, it largely succeeds.

Feed the entire family with Wonderbook's incredible vegetable enlarging spells.

Book Of Spells places you in an augmented reality-version of Hogwarts, with the specific brief of learning and applying 20 of the classic Harry Potter spells, most of which featured in the books. As you progress, the spells increase in power, until you're fighting duels and creating objects out of thin air, and feel you've earned your wizarding spurs. In the past, augmented reality has felt like one of those technologies that--while initially impressive to behold--struggles to maintain your attention for long. However, Wonderbook: Book Of Spells is a game that uses augmented reality to create something truly compelling.

Playing Book of Spells is as easy as getting the Move to work, although extra care is required as far as positioning the PlayStation camera is concerned; the camera has to be angled down so it gets a clear view of both you and the book peripheral. The game is designed to be used with you sitting cross-legged on the floor, with the book in front of you, but we played it sitting on a sofa with the book on our lap, and it worked fine.

Boot the game up, and the on-screen book magically transforms into the Book of Spells (thanks to a bluish cover pattern on the peripheral reminiscent of a QR code). Given that this book features heavily in J.K. Rowling's novels, it's a neat sensation to feel like you're leafing through its pages. Bear in mind though, that if you're an older Potter enthusiast that happens to be outside of the target age-range of 6-12, once you've got over the novelty of apparently possessing a sacred item from the Potterverse, the book's contents become formulaic.

Before you can start playing, you have to choose a wand type. Whichever you opt for, the wand is considerably longer than the Move in your hand. This is typical of the seemingly minor and unimportant touches in Book Of Spells that actually bring about a stunning level of immersion. Thanks to the wand appearing longer than the physical Move controller, you have to manoeuvre it with more care, because its extended portion can catch on virtual items. So while your hand tells you that you're holding a Move, your other senses (you can see yourself throughout the game) are fooled into believing that you're grasping a wand.

You're also given some Potter-related tasks, namely deciding whether or not to link Book of Spells to your Pottermore account, choosing your house, and generating a wizard photo. Once that's done, the proceedings begin with a typically cute touch: your book is covered in dust, which you must brush off with your hands. Then an owl-mail greets you, followed by a foreword from Miranda Goshawk herself. By the end of that setup preamble, it's time to take part in some proper action.

The first chapter sets the structural tone for the rest of the book: it's one of five chapters, each split into two parts. Each half-chapter contains one, two, or three spells, which are introduced before you learn their incantations and gestures. The gestures are easy to learn, thanks to onscreen prompts that display the required motions. Circles and wavy lines dance on screen along with sparkly visual flourishes that help you keep track of your wand position. You're tested on each spell's use, and every chapter concludes with a test in which you have to use all the spells together.

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The OzSpot 13/11/12: GTAV, Assassin's Creed film

November 12, 2012 8:03PM PST

In this episode of the OzSpot we investigate why a number of Medal of Honor SEALs consultants are under investigation; plus: Assassin's Creed movie next year!

Will the Assassin's Creed movie break tradition and become one of the first well-made, well-received game-to-film works?

Plus: why did a bunch of U.S. Navy SEALs get in trouble for helping EA develop Medal of Honor: Warfighter? And just how big will GTA V be?

Tune in!

By Laura Parker, Associate Editor

Laura Parker is the Associate Editor of GameSpot Australia. She loves adventure games, sparkly stuff, Trivial Pursuit, cake, Master Chief, earthworms, and rhetorical questions. She once stole a sandwich from Peter Molyneux.

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This Week in Games - November 11, 2012

Grand Theft Auto V details, an Xbox 360 tablet, Elite rebooted after 30 years, more media scandals, and Peter Molyneux' new game turns out to be all about drawing penises.

This week was a diverse week for games; Halo 4 released on Tuesday, as did Peter Molyneux' cube-pecking Curiosity app. Each was at a completely different end of the gaming spectrum (OK, calling Curiosity a "game" is perhaps a little generous,) but both drove lots of conversation and activity in comments, on forums, and across social media this week. Game Informer's Grand Theft Auto V cover story prompted a lot of chat too. We'll get to that in a moment…

Xbox Surface Gaming Tablet Incoming?

Microsoft may, finally, be getting into portable gaming in some fashion. Multiple sources speaking to The Verge said this week that the technology giant is building a proprietary 7-inch gaming-focused tablet currently dubbed the "Xbox Surface." Specifications for the device leaked in June prior to Microsoft's official announcement of its Surface RT and Surface Pro tablet line, and supplemented rumors from late last year that something tablet-like was in the offing. We even included it in our 2012 predictions feature back in January. The Xbox Surface is rumored to include a custom ARM processor and "high-bandwidth" RAM that is designed with gaming in mind. The tablet will not run a full-fledged version of Windows, the sources said, but rather a custom operating system derived from Windows, much as the Xbox 360 itself does. The Xbox Surface could very well feature support for other tablet functionality like messaging, but the device's primary focus will reportedly be gaming. As for when gamers may get a glimpse at the Xbox Surface, the source suggested it will be unveiled prior to the Xbox 720, which analysts believe will be on store shelves late next year. Given the nature of the rumors so far (that ARM processor is concerning, unless its specifically designed to emulate the 360 chipset,) it's still too early to tell if this will be something that could feasibly download games from the existing 360 catalog from Xbox Live, or if it would be another splinter of the Xbox ecosystem. Clearly the dream scenario would be the former; download Halo 4 from XBL, link an Xbox controller to the tablet wirelessly, and then play the game wherever you please.

If you want a little more Xboxness in your tablet experience right now, the official Xbox mobile apps were updated to Smartglass this week. The free app acts as an interactive second screen for the Xbox 360, allowing you to browse content on your console and launch it, then use your phone or tablet as a touch-based controller. It also features complementary experiences that run alongside specific games, like Halo: Waypoint.

Halo 4 Is So Money

Halo 4 is not coming to the PC. A Microsoft representative told The Penny Arcade Report that though the company is seeking new ways to boost the popularity of the series, bringing 343's new shooter to the PC is not a means to this end. "Halo 4 was designed specifically for Xbox 360, and while we're always exploring new ways to expand the franchise and share the Halo experience with as many fans as possible, we do not currently have any plans to port Halo 4 to PC," a Microsoft representative said.

Halo 4 players who log enough hours in the game's multiplayer department or spend enough money on Halo-related items will be rewarded for doing so, it seems. Microsoft announced a new "Halo 4 Combat Tour" offer this week that gives Xbox Live Rewards members the opportunity to score as many as 800 MS points just for playing 343 Industries' new shooter. Gamers who play 35 or more hours of Halo 4 multiplayer by November 30 will receive 100 MS points ($1.25). Those who log 70 or more hours will score 300 MS points ($3.75), while those who spend 140 or more hours will receive 600 MS points ($7.50) for doing so. Additionally, players who spend 3,000 MS points ($37.50) on Halo-related Xbox Live marketplace content will get 200 MS points ($2.50) back, while those who spend 1,500 MS points ($18.75) on Halo items will get 100 MS points ($1.25) in return.

With the various offers out there right now, we have to be getting close to the point where you can pretty much cover the cost of the game, right? Money for linking your Amex and Xbox Live account and beating the game, money for playing the game for a long time, and money for spending money. Make sure you're keeping track of all this. Perhaps some other Halo related stuff will kick in soon, too?

Apart from Halo Wars, the series has been exclusively a first-person shooter franchise so far. However, that could change. Speaking to CVG, Halo 4 executive producer Kiki Wolfkill explained that if a new Halo experience moved the franchise forward in a unique way, it would be considered. "I think we'd look at what the most interesting genre, medium, delivery mechanism is to tell a certain story, and if it moves the IP forward in an interesting way, we'll do it," Wolfkill said. She added that Microsoft and 343 Industries have always had a "big vision" for the Halo universe, and that the company looks at itself not solely as a game studio, but rather an IP studio. "The first-person shooter is the best place to tell one kind of story but as you can see from Forward Unto Dawn and stuff like that, there are other parts of the story that are interesting to tell in different ways," she said.

Destiny Is Apparently A Lot Like Halo

Segueing nicely into this next item; Bungie's next game, rumored to be titled Destiny, is reportedly not that different from Halo. Honestly, if it was anything else, wouldn't we all be a bit disappointed anyway? Internet supersleuth Superannuation (writing on Kotaku) dug up a blog entry from a Demonware employee, who wrote about the day he spent at Bungie recently, including a description of the studio's new game as "still quite like Halo." This person, reportedly a senior Demonware employee who should probably know better than to blog secret stuff (Demonware provides studios with online software that powers matchmaking, lobbies, leaderboards, and game stats in case you're curious. It's also owned by Destiny-publisher Activision) described Destiny as boasting cooperative gameplay and numerous alien gun battles. He added that its sense of exploration was a strong point. Overall, though, he said that "there is a lot of work still to be done."

Cowen & Company analyst Doug Creutz agrees with that last comment,  saying in a note to investors on Thursday that based on Activision's earnings report on Wednesday, he is no longer expecting the former Halo studio's next game to ship in 2013. "We had been assuming the new Bungie franchise would launch at the end of fiscal year 2013, with a considerable level of success," Creutz wrote. "We are now pushing our assumed launch date of the title out to fiscal year 2014." What spurred Creutz to adjust his prediction for when Destiny will arrive was Activision management admitting yesterday that its fiscal 2013 would be a trying time. This was due in part to Activision expecting "very difficult" year-over-year comparables related to the strong debut of Diablo III. As part of this same financial report, Activision also stated that World of Warcraft's subscriber base has risen back to a total of over 10 million members. This is an improvement of 900,000 over the 9.1 million figure reported in August and comes after September's launch of the game's fourth expansion: Mists of Pandaria.

Elite Returning

This may only be relevant to you if you are a) British and b) over the age of 35. If you are neither, or don't have tastes that somehow intersect with this very specific demographic, please indulge us for a moment. OK? Everybody cool?

Elite is going to be rebooted!!!

The original, developed by Ian Bell and David Braben (now of Frontier Developments, most recently Braben was associated with Kinectimals, Kinect: Disney Land, and Lost Winds) in 1984, is considered by many to be one of the most influential games…well, ever. A sprawling space epic, it was one of the first truly "open" sandbox games. Originally released for the BBC Micro in the UK, it was later ported to the Apple II, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Amiga, Atari ST, MSX, PC, and the NES.

Anyway…Braben, after much prodding and nagging from gamers and game development celebrities like Notch, has conceded to having another crack at the universe he co-created. The result is Elite: Dangerous, and assuming that it makes its Kickstarter goal of £1.25 million (about $2 million) it will will likely be released in 2014, presumably as a celebration of the franchise hitting its 30th anniversary.

When the Kickstarter page was first posted, it was criticized for relying too heavily on nostalgia and faith in the aging audience it was aiming to attract. There were no images, apart from a logo, no videos, no sketches or artist renderings; just a block of text and the ask for money. This has been somewhat addressed now, as Braben has uploaded a number of pieces of concept art to the Kickstarter page. Here's one of them as a taster:

Curiosity Killed The Servers

Despite it's original stated release date being this Thursday, Peter Molyneux' experimental block-pecking cube "game" (we use the term loosely) Curiosity actually slipped out on Monday night. Fittingly, given that the whole thing is supposed to be a bit of a social media wag anyway, word quickly spread across Twitter and by Wednesday afternoon there were already over 100,000 people tap-tap-tapping on it's millions of little "cubelets." The first side of the mystery cube was uncovered remarkably quickly, but not before we all realized that we essentially have the same bathroom wall graffiti humor when it comes to an expressive public forum like this. Rather than tap away the tiles in an orderly fashion, people quickly took to writing messages, and drawing pictures on the cube's face. As you can probably imagine, it became a glorious example of the Internet's collective dong-drawing abilities very quickly.

The sheer number of people pecking away at the cube far exceeded anything that Molyneux or his small team at 22 Cans had anticipated, and the servers soon experienced problems syncing the activities of so many people interacting at once. After some investigation, Molyneux posted late on Tuesday…

People were already pecking away at the second layer by Wednesday, and the third by Friday. By the end of the week, more than half a million people had downloaded the app, and had pecked away more than 200 million cubelets.

Wreck-It Ralph a Winner

Game-centric animated film Wreck-It Ralph was the top performer last weekend at the box office. The Disney movie earned $49.1 million in sales for the three-day period, according to data from Hollywood.com. Sales of this caliber boost Wreck-It Ralph past Tangled, which was Walt Disney Animation Studios' previous record holder at $48.8 million in first-weekend receipts. Additionally, Wreck-It Ralph's debut is Disney's second number one finish this year, following Brave in June. Wreck-It Ralph nearly doubled Back to the Future and Cast Away director Robert Zemeckis' new film Flight, which debuted on the same day and took in $25 million for the number two spot. Ben Affleck's beard and its associated spy-thriller Argo came in at number three for the weekend, adding $10.2 million for a cumulative total of $75.9 million.

Despite primarily riffing on concepts from older games like Donkey Kong, Wreck-It Ralph contains a lot of insider jokes from more recent games including Metal Gear Solid, Street Fighter, Mario Kart, Call of Duty, and more.

Did you see the movie? What did you think?

No Assassin's Creed Collection for You, Yankees

Assassin's Creed III is off to a hot start. As part of its financial report for the six-month period ended September 30, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot revealed that first-week sales of the studio's critically acclaimed stealth-action game came in at an estimated 3.5 million copies. This represents a year-on-year increase of over 100 percent from last year's Assassin's Creed: Revelations. 

Meanwhile, on Wednesday Ubisoft officially announced the Assassin's Creed Anthology and revealed it will launch November 30 exclusively in the United Kingdom through Amazon. No mention was made of a launch outside of the region, so perhaps it's a make-good for all the Brit-killing in the new game? As was rumored earlier in the week, the Anthology will definitely include all five Assassin's Creed games; Assassin's Creed, Assassin's Creed II, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Assassin's Creed: Revelations, and Assassin's Creed III. Additionally, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation premium bundle will include all expansion packs and downloadable content for each game, including the DLC season pass for Assassin's Creed III. The bundle also packs in five game-themed lithographs, a steelbook case, and a collector's box.

How much? £120, or about $192. Yowzah.

Medal of Honor Navy SEAL Consultants Under Investigation

Seven US Navy SEALs who served as paid consultants on EA's lackluster Medal of Honor: Warfighter are reportedly under investigation for revealing secrets while working on the game. According to a report by GameSpot's sister-site CBS News, the seven SEALs, who are all currently on active duty, used classified material given to them by the Navy while working with EA on Warfighter. CBS News reported that all seven have received letters of reprimand and have had half their pay taken away for two months. One of the SEALs involved was reportedly on the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

More hype and media manipulation from the Medal of Honor team? Or something that sounds legit? Do you really believe that active duty soldiers would knowingly enter into a project and divulge secrets? Share your thoughts in the comments.

More Scandal

It's been an unusually scandalous few weeks recently. Further diminishing the image of those in the public relations business, former GameStop vice president of corporate communications and public affairs Frank Christopher Olivera pleaded guilty to charges of embezzling nearly $2 million from the company. According to a federal indictment obtained by The Dallas Observer, Olivera regularly moved funds from GameStop to Cloud Communications, LLC from July 2009 through April 2011. Cloud Communications existed solely on paper, the documents say, with Olivera transferring the funds to his personal bank account. In Olivera's guilty plea, he admitted to one count of mail fraud, which carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine.

The Weekly GTA V Bit

If you've been wondering just how big the next GTA will be, the answer (according to the whopping 18-page cover story in the new issue of Game Informer) is very big. So big, in fact, that it's apparently larger than Red Dead Redemption, GTA: San Andreas, and GTA: IV combined. The game's fictional city of Los Santos (which was last seen in GTA: San Andreas) reportedly includes an extensive wilderness area, a military base, and an explorable underwater ocean floor. It is, according to the folks at Rockstar, "the largest open-world playground in Rockstar history." Additionally, the game will include three different main protagonists; the first is Michael (the focus of the first trailer - he's the guy on the right in the image below) a successful former bank robber, in his 40s, and who has now retired after making a deal with the Feds. Next up is Trevor (on the left in the image,) a career criminal in his 40s, a drug user, and prone to violence. Lastly there's Franklin (center,) the youngest of the trio, works for an Armenian luxury car dealership as a repo man. Players can switch between them at "nearly any time," the magazine states. These characters will sometimes work together, with players able to swap back and forth in a similar way to the Lego games. Each of the trio has a distinct personality, skill set, and group of friends, and when you're controlling one of them, the other guys don't just stay where you left them - they wander off and do their own thing. This can, we're told, lead to some surprises when you switch back to them after some time.

No summary of news about a big name game franchise like GTA V would be complete without some analyst pulling a gigantic number out of his ass as part of the commentary, so here's this week's: Electronic Entertainment Design and Research analyst Jesse Divnich told Now Gamer recently that he believes the hotly hyped game could sell 25 million or more copies. "I have little concerns about when it is released," he said. "Whether April, June, or even Winter, I'd expect GTA V to sell in upwards of 25 million copies in its first 12 months."

Livestream-tastic

Electronic Arts announced on Wednesday this week that it has partnered with fast-growing video game broadcasting network Twitch to bring in-built live-streaming functionality to its Origin client. The partnership will allow Origin users to broadcast their gaming sessions live, directly to their Twitch channel without having to mess around with XSplit or anything. It will be implemented as part of the latest Origin update, which is scheduled to be rolled out at some point in the next few days. The update--which, according to EA, has been implemented due to user suggestions and feedback--will also allow users to add non-Origin games to their libraries in the client. Users will be able to launch (and broadcast) all their games from one location. The update will first be rolled out to Origin users who opted in for beta updates, and will be going live to all users shortly afterwards. EA said that the Origin Twitch feature is still in beta, and will be rolling out further Twitch services and functionality in future Origin updates.

Not wishing to be outdone, just one day after this announcement, Activision revealed a similar initiative for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. The publisher announced that the new game will allow users to stream their gameplay live to YouTube. Support has been announced only for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Treyarch's title. It is unclear if the PC or Wii U versions will add YouTube streaming at a later date, or at all. Players will be able to live-stream Black Ops 2 League Play games, as well their audio commentary and webcam video. These streams can be broadcast on YouTube through a variety of destinations, including everywhere the YouTube serves, as well as additional mobile and tablet audiences through Call of Duty Elite. Those who watch live-streamed Black Ops 2 matches through Elite will be able to see the player card of the user who is streaming. This will allow players to see this person's loadouts, previous match data, and other career statistics.

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Navy SEALs disciplined for consulting on Medal of Honor: Warfighter

November 8, 2012 5:13PM PST

CBS News reports that seven members of SEAL Team Six are under investigation for revealing secrets while serving as paid consultants on EA's shooter.

Seven US Navy SEALs who served as paid consultants on EA's Medal of Honor: Warfighter are reportedly under investigation for revealing secrets while working on the game.

According to a report by GameSpot's sister-site CBS News, the seven SEALs, who are all currently on active duty, used classified material given to them by the Navy while working with EA on Warfighter.

CBS News reported that all seven have received letters of reprimand and have had half their pay taken away for two months. One of the SEALs involved was reportedly on the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

Medal of Honor: Warfighter was released on October 23. EA Labels boss Frank Gibeau said that the critical reception for the game fell below EA's expectations, but that the publisher would continue to push the game during the holiday season through marketing, including the upcoming map pack tied in to Sony Pictures' new movie Zero Dark Thirty, which chronicles the Navy SEAL raid on Osama bin Laden.

The game fell into controversy prior to its release when EA began promoting its partnership with real-world weapons manufacturers by linking to their sites from the Medal of Honor: Warfighter official page.

By Laura Parker, Associate Editor

Laura Parker is the Associate Editor of GameSpot Australia. She loves adventure games, sparkly stuff, Trivial Pursuit, cake, Master Chief, earthworms, and rhetorical questions. She once stole a sandwich from Peter Molyneux.

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GameSpot GamePlay Episode 17: Space Noise

November 7, 2012 5:29PM PST

Bioware's Mike Gamble ushers our alpha team into Omega to discuss Mass Effect 3, corporate theft, and host Kevin VanOrd's mathematical deficiencies.

Bioware's Mike Gamble talks Mass Effect 3, working for an evil corporation, and seedy intergalactic dance clubs. Tom Mc Shea talks about his summer at Camp Karateka, Carolyn Petit ponders the meaning of a single screenshot, and Chris Watters drinks from a well of poisoned water.

And if you need a lesson in the new math, host Kevin VanOrd is your man. Also, apologies for some audio level inconsistencies. Tom tripped over a cable. Authentically.

Click here to subscribe to GameSpot Gameplay via iTunes.

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Subscribe to this RSS feed to receive new episodes of GameSpot GamePlay through your favorite RSS reader.

GameSpot GamePlay Episode 16: Press X to Batman

GameSpot GamePlay Episode 15: A Series of Death Screams

GameSpot GamePlay Episode 14: Splinter Shell

GameSpot GamePlay Episode 13: Double Jesus

GameSpot GamePlay Episode 12: All Pandas go to Heaven

GameSpot GamePlay Episode 11: Enter The Pee Zone

GameSpot GamePlay Episode 10: Adolf Critler

GameSpot GamePlay Episode 9: Out of the Closet

GameSpot GamePlay Episode 8: Ladycrotch

GameSpot GamePlay Episode 7: Bald and Powdery

GameSpot GamePlay Episode 6: Dirty Talk

By Kevin VanOrd, Senior Editor

Kevin VanOrd is a lifelong RPG lover and violin player. When he isn't busy building PCs and composing symphonies, he watches American Dad reruns with his fat cat, Ollie.

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GS News - AC Anthology, ACIII sells 3.5M, Watch Dogs in 2013

Assassin's Creed Anthology collection announced, first-week sales of ACIII rise 100 percent over AC: Revelations' mark; futuristic action game landing next year; company posts $41.35 million loss for six-month period.

0 comments 0 people listening

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Cutting the Cord: Halo without Bungie

We speak to 343 Industries head Bonnie Ross and Halo 4 executive producer Kiki Wolfkill about the challenges of taking on one of the industry's biggest franchises.

Bonnie Ross is a forward-thinker. As the head of Microsoft's 343 Industries, she's the woman in charge of protecting the future of Halo and guiding a legion of loyal fans through the next ten years of the franchise. It's a daunting prospect any way you look at it, but Ross is confident that her team is right for the job. On November 6, the day of Halo 4's release, she hopes that the world will prove her right.

343 Industries was first established in 2007 to support Microsoft's Halo business, following the publisher's split from original franchise creator Bungie. While Bungie would go on to develop two more Halo titles for Microsoft--2009's Halo 3: ODST and 2010's Halo: Reach--the establishment of 343 confirmed the publisher's intentions to keep the three billion-dollar franchise going long after Bungie had left the building.

Ross was chosen to lead the 343 team after a long career as a producer on Microsoft sports titles and key franchises including Gears of War and Mass Effect. She's not the nervous type--her 18 years industry experience has seen to that--but she's not shy to admit the prospect of taking over one of the biggest gaming franchises of all time was initially intimidating.

"My biggest fear was that I was going to be the person that ruined Halo," she says. "I wanted to spend as much time as possible making sure 343 had the right foundations of the franchise so that we could be the right guardians of the Halo universe."

Bungie's decision to stay onboard for two more Halo titles allowed 343 to spend its first 18 months as a studio doing just that. The studio worked in collaboration with the original Halo creators to learn about the franchise, its history, and the various elements that made up its vast universe. The first thing that was immediately clear to Ross was how differently the two studios worked. In Bungie's case, the team presided over development of the Halo games but left the fiction and consumer products side of the business to another branch within Microsoft, which Ross says led to misunderstandings between Bungie and the Microsoft over the future of the franchise. Her solution was to bring everything under one roof. As a result, 343 now looks after the entire Halo franchise including software, consumer products, toys, apparel, and fiction.

The next thing Ross wanted to focus on was building a studio culture. Microsoft's financial backing allowed her to hire developers who she believed fit her idea of what she wanted 343 to be: a highly creative and collaborative environment where employees could feel comfortable in speaking up and sharing their opinion across various departments. Her first stop was Kiki Wolfkill, the former Microsoft Studios art director whose 17-year industry career has spanned franchises including Forza and Gears of War.

"It was an interesting time at Microsoft," Wolfkill says. "We had decided to take on a challenge as big and ambitious as you can possibly get. Not that we didn't understand what we were getting into. We're not scaredy-cats. There's an underdog mentality at 343 that I think is pushing us to great things."

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343 began work on Halo 4 in 2009 after getting the all-clear from Microsoft Studios head Phil Spencer, who was heavily involved in the decision to push ahead with the new series. (Spencer once joked at E3 2012 that he wouldn't be ready to call 343 a proper studio until after they shipped Halo 4.)

The first problem was working out what to keep of the old Halo and what to throw out. When Wolfkill and Ross identified what aspects of the canon needed to be reinforced before any additions could be made, the pair found themselves coming back to the same constant: the Chief.

"It was clear when I joined 343 that Bonnie's vision for Halo centered around the game's universe," Wolfkill says. "When we started to map out what we wanted to do with Halo 4 there was no question about it not being focused on Master Chief."

Wolfkill and Ross both know the Halo universe contains a great deal of untold stories, but they couldn't imagine Halo 4 without the hero at the centre of this universe. They decided the new Halo would be a personal story, one that gave Master Chief more dimension, more humanity.

"Heroes are made through trials and tribulations," Wolfkill says. "We wanted to turn Master Chief into a character that players connect to."

That's where Cortana comes in. Wolfkill says the relationship between Master Chief and Cortana plays an important role in this regard. Players will learn to view both characters in a new light, and come to a new understanding about the importance of their bond.

This is also partly the reason why 343 Industries refers to the new Halo series as a "saga". In exploring the Halo universe to uncover new stories, the team found more than they'd bargained for: enough to feel that they didn't want to be restricted with how they develop the franchise in the future. The story arc developed by 343 spans across a number of games, but that's all Wolfkill and Ross will say on that subject for now.

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Giving Master Chief more depth was a relatively easy decision compared to the conversation regarding what Halo 4 should innovate on. Ross realized she had to be deliberately cautious in this regard: while a lot hangs in the balance if the game doesn't succeed--343's reputation, the future of the Halo franchise, and the personal sacrifices of over 300 developers who have given the last five years of their life to Halo 4--it was the thought of disappointing Halo fans that played most on her mind.

"Halo 4 is a work of art, but ultimately what we wanted to do was prove to Halo fans that we've stayed true to the franchise," she says. "The universe forms the foundation of the franchise and it means a lot to people. It's our first time taking the keys to the car and we don't want to mess it up."

It's true that Halo has acquired a passionate and dedicated fanbase since the release of Halo: Combat Evolved in 2001. The games are valued for their narrative-driven campaigns, polished multiplayer, and the overall canon itself, which has been explored through multiple bestselling novels. Not for the first time since starting work on Halo 4, 343 developers found themselves going back to the things that made Halo great to find inspiration.

Ross and Halo 4 development director Frank O'Connor wanted players to experience a new side to the Halo story, one that would explore the complexities of the Forerunners and their technology. Of course, you can't have a new playground without new companions. The introduction of a new enemy class in Halo 4--the Prometheans--is a huge change for the franchise, and something that 343 is confident will change the gameplay experience for the better.

"We wanted a new enemy class that would work together so that encounters could change dynamically," Wolfkill says. "This changes how players approach these encounters, and of course gives them some new weapons to play with."

The 343 team has also tweaked aspects of Halo's multiplayer. Players will be able to customize their own Spartan and make their through the different modes in the game as a career, earning Spartan Points (SP) to unlock weapons, armor, and upgrades and progressing through the ranks. The studio has also added a story-driven game mode, Spartan Ops, which aims to weave a narrative thread through Halo 4's multiplayer.

"We knew we were taking a leap of faith by introducing all these new elements, but we had to do it," Wolfkill says. "We wanted to develop our own voice while respecting an IP we all care about. We know we're making an investment, but we're certain it's the right one."

"We've had to make a lot of hard decisions on Halo 4," Ross continues. "I didn't agree with all of them, but I think that's okay. Halo 4 is an expression of a whole range of different voices. It's exactly what we wanted it to be."

Halo 4 will be released on November 6.

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Assassin's Creed III: Liberation Review

Aveline de Grandpre is a fascinating character. Not only is the heroine of Assassin's Creed III: Liberation the series' first female protagonist, but her backstory deals with one of the darkest periods in American history. This is a woman born from the romance between a wealthy father and a slave mother, someone who has overcome her uncertain upbringing to find a new life in the Assassin Brotherhood. She's the sort of figure capable of anchoring a truly special game--making it all the more disappointing that Liberation, taken as a whole, is a bit dull.

It's not that Liberation lacks for new ideas. In fact, this Vita spin-off introduces a number of intriguing concepts. Rather than one of Desmond Miles' trips through the Animus, the narrative in Liberation is framed as a piece of historical entertainment delivered by Abstergo Industries, the illusive corporation that serves as the series' overarching antagonist. It is, in other words, a story about Assassins as told by Templars.

There's great potential here for the type of storytelling unique to an unreliable narrator, yet Liberation takes little advantage of its own narrative format. Though the story deals with such heavy themes as slavery and the cultural identity of a city transitioning from French to Spanish rule, it's a largely aimless and hastily delivered plot that sees Aveline bounce around like a pinball from one enemy to the next for the bulk of the game. There are occasional flashes of excitement when a mysterious hacker infiltrates Abstergo's narrative to offer you the "truth" about these events, but they amount to little more than a handful of extended cutscenes back-loaded toward the end of the game.

The greatest casualty of Liberation's muddled storytelling is Aveline herself. She's introduced as an intriguing and strong-willed character, but Aveline's personality is hardly explored beyond that initial introduction. Her recruitment into the Assassin Brotherhood is quickly glossed over, while her gender and mixed ethnicity only occasionally factor into the story. These are interesting traits that you wish the game would explore in more detail, but it's more concerned with a dizzying roster of villains and side characters than spending much time on the heroine at its center.

Where Liberation shines brightest is its re-creation of the city Aveline calls home. This is a brilliant version of 18th-century New Orleans, one that beautifully reflects the diverse cultural ambience formed over years of operating as a French trading port. You often venture outside the city too, spending time with smugglers in the bayou as well as journeying to a couple more locations well beyond Louisiana (though to name them would be spoiling things). These locales look terrific, easily rivaling the rich vistas of Liberation's console counterparts. It's enough to make you stop and soak up the atmosphere during those moments you're scaling a church tower to synchronize the world map.

Unfortunately, you really do have to stop to appreciate the world around you because when things get moving, the Vita hardware tends to struggle under the weight of Ubisoft's graphical ambitions. The frame rate drops precipitously when you hit a dead sprint, and large-scale fights against more than four or five enemies will make things chug as well. It's too bad, because these frame rate issues severely impact the fluid and freewheeling style of urban parkour that has long been the greatest strength of this franchise. Likewise, these visual hiccups don't do any favors to an otherwise refined combat system, which disposes of manual lock-on in favor of a more flexible and intuitive approach to swordfights.

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