Something For The Weekend – 29/10/16

I despair at how many people struggle with the concept of clocks going forward and back at certain clearly defined parts of the year. This being the last weekend of October, it’s time for those of us in Europe to put our clocks back an hour overnight (or trust our phones and computers to do it automatically). You’ve got another week of daylight savings if your in the US, though.

Who’s looking forward to an officially sanctioned extra hour in bed tomorrow morning?

In the News This Week

• Hello Games’ server and Twitter account were hijacked yesterday
  “No Man’s Sky was a mistake,” they tweeted, but the real mistake was not having strong enough passwords…
• Bethesda will now only send review copies out the day before release
  Codifying a commonly employed tactic, you won’t see pre-release reviews anymore. “We can trust Bethesda though to release games though can’t we?” asked homerjnick. “I mean, it is not like games like Fallout 3 and Skyrim had any issues on launch did they?”
• The Nintendo Switch reveal didn’t use live gameplay
  Duh!
• Monster Hunter XX announced for Nintendo 3DS
• Analysts expect Titanfall 2 sales to disappoint
  ”We are downgrading EA shares … because we believe that ‘Titanfall 2’ sales are going to be substantially disappointing, enough to offset the upside from ‘Battlefield 1′” wrote Cowen’s analyst Doug Cruetz.
  
• But Titanfall 2’s day one patch was a scant 88MB in size!
  Kjkg said, “Yup, totally misread this and was blown away originally. Was racking my brain trying to work out if I even had that much space. Think I can cope with that though.”
• Not only that, but all future Titanfall 2 maps and modes will be free
• The Division has had a huge end game changing patch
  New end game gear tiers, a better UI and plenty more besides.
• November’s PS Plus games include Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture and Costume Quest 2
• Games With Gold gets Murdered: Soul Suspect and Super Dungeon Bros. in November

Games in Review

It’s that time of year, and that means that there are tons and tons and tons of games to review. We’ve covered a lot of ground this week, from big releases like Titanfall 2 to the more niche Yomawari: Night Alone, and with a steady stream of VR game reviews alongside them.

• Titanfall 2 – PS4, XBO, PC – 9/10 (Video)
• Thumper – PSVR, PS4, XBO, PC – 9/10
• Tethered – PSVR – 9/10
• Yomawari: Night Alone – PS Vita, PC – 9/10
• Corpse Party – 3DS – 7/10
• Farming Simulator 17 – PS4, XBO, PC – 7/10
• Sports Bar VR – PSVR – 7/10
• WRC 6 – PS4, XBO, PC – 7/10
• Rhythm Paradise Megamix – 3DS – 7/10
• Pixel Gear – PSVR – 4/10
• Mark McMorris Infinite Air – PS4, XBO, PC – 4/10
• Batman: The Telltale Series Episode 3 – PS4, XBO, PS3, X360, PC, Mac, iOS, Android – No score (episodic)
• Dark Souls 3: Ashes of Ariandel – PS4, XBO, PC – No score (DLC)

This Week’s Features

Even with all of those reviews, there was still a little space to talk about other things. Jim dove into Mordheim: City of the Damned on PS4, finding it to be a particularly tough game to make any headway in, but one that was rewarding at the same time.

I returned to Stellaris, now that its first DLC story pack has been released, finding it just as addictive as ever. There was also an early screening of Skylanders Academy, the animated series that’s just come out on Netflix, and I shared my mixed thoughts on Bethesda’s changing review policy – honestly, it is a bad move for consumers, but it’s merely codifying a practice that has been regularly employed by publishers anyway.

We had the opportunity to go hands on with a few hours of Watch Dogs 2, a much lighter and more fun filled open world of hacking, and you can also see it in action in our video. Meanwhile, Gazza previewed Transport Fever, the follow up to Train Fever from a couple years ago.

If you’ve picked up Skyrim on Xbox One or PlayStation 4, here’s how you can get stuck into some of the mods on offer. Just don’t expect those on PS4 to add all that much extra content…

Finally, there’s the usual What We Played, with Destiny, Titanfall 2 and Rhythm Paradise Megamix.

Trailer Park

Jack seems to be a tiny bit immortal in the latest Resident Evil 7 trailer

“Screw it, let’s go to space!” says the Infinite Warfare live action trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6370S37UNik

Play Steep like you’ve got a GoPro strapped to your face

Your Achievements

Andrewww starts us off with a spot of scary gaming – it’s that time of the year as well – completing and thoroughly enjoying SOMA.

By comparison, tactical20 was a little disappointed by Rise of the Tomb Raider, actually enjoying the Baba Yaga DLC more than the main game – TSBonyman thinks it’s not quite up to par with Uncharted 4, but more than holds its own.

The adventures into VR continue for DividSmythe, who got the platinum trophy from Playroom VR, but has now jumped into Costume Quest 2 for next week’s Halloween.

The Week Ahead

As we welcome November with open arms and plenty of pinching and punching on the first of the month, there’s a handful of pretty big releases to look out for

• Hitman: Episode 6 – Hokkaido – PS4, XBO, PC – 31/10
• Root Letter – PS4, PS Vite – 1/11
• Seraph – PS4 – 1/11
• Super Dungeon Bros – PS4, XBO, PC – 1/11
• Moto Racer 4 – PS4, XBO, PC, Mac – 3/11
• Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare – PS4, XBO, PC – 4/11
• BlazBlue: Central Fiction – PS4, PS3 – 4/11
• Football Manager 17 – PC, Mac, Linux – 4/11
• Mario Party: Star Rush – 3DS – 4/11 (US)

With that, I hope you enjoy your ever-so-slightly longer than usual weekend.