Consoles
Breakdown of Bethesda’s E3 Conference: VR, Sequels, Mods and Not Much More
Bethesda’s E3 conference was rather disappointing this year. There were, however, a few neat little surprises to be found and some interesting news was revealed. It was mainly presented via a Fallout 4-ish announcement cartoon entitled, Bethesda Land, the idea being that Bethesda is a sort of amusement park with different areas for everyone to enjoy. Here is a breakdown of what Bethesda presented.
Bethesda VR
First up was the announcement of two VR games, Fallout 4 VR and Doom VFR.
Fallout 4 VR looks to be a simple port of the original game only entirely playable in VR. This could create a new gameplay experience for the now two year old game. It will be interesting to see how this one plays out, literally.
Doom VFR looks to be an entirely new game, created from scratch to adapt especially for VR gameplay. The game takes place in the UAC research facility, where you play, I suspect, a different character than the famous Doom-guy. It looks like your character’s arms have been replaced with robot arms too. The game looks as gory and fast paced as ever.
There was no word on any release dates or what VR platform these games will be on.
All things Elder Scrolls
Sadly, there was no announcement made for a new Elder Scrolls, single player, open world game. Maybe next year? Fingers crossed! There was however, plenty of news in regards to previously released Elder Scrolls games, beginning with a brief reminder that The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind is out.
Next was the announcement of Creation Club. A collaboration between Behtesda and outside developers (in other words, modders) to create an effective modding system for consoles. Basically, Creative Club will serve as an area where you can create, browse and download (using in game credits), all kinds of mods for Skyrim and Fallout 4. Creative Club is set to be released this summer on PS4 and Xbox one.
Elder Scrolls Legends, the card game set in the elder scrolls universe, presented it’s brand new expansion Heroes of Skyrim, released on June 29th this year.
The last piece of Elder Scrolls news was a funny one. Remember last year when Nintendo made a big deal of Skyrim coming to their brand new console the Switch, which was consequently followed by Bethesda nonchalantly shrugging when asked if it was really happening? Well, it’s finally been officially confirmed, Skyrim is indeed coming to the Switch and surprise, surprise, you’ll get a free link costume for your character, you know, because Nintendo.
Dishonored 2
Dishonored 2 DLC was announced via a brief and totally bad ass trailer, where Billie makes her way through a ship, taking out anyone in her way, in order to free Daud. Much to many fans delight, it is made clear that you’ll be going after the outsider. The DLC is called Death of the Outsider and will be released on September 15th.
Quake Champions
Quake footage was shown, also showcasing the addition of B.J Blazkowicz from Wolfenstein as a playable character. An e-sport announcement was made, revealing that the Quake World Championships will be happening in Dallas on August 26th and that the prize is one million dollars (feel free to read that in a Dr Evil voice). The Quake Beta is free to play now.
The Evil Within 2
A cinematic trailer for the nightmarish The Evil Within 2 was shown. I never played the first one, so I personally had no idea what was going on. But it looks sufficiently evil, as the title entails. Watch the trailer here. The game will be released on the appropriately spooky date of Friday the 13th of October 2017.
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
Bethesda finished on an exhilarating note, showing of a huge trailer for Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. B.J Blazkowicz is alive (apparently), and is being rescued by his now pregnant partner Anya, carrying his twins. The trailer was mainly story focused, revealing it will take place in an alternate, Nazi infested, New Orleans, where B.J attempts to organise a revolution. It looks fun, wacky and as Pete Hines, Bethesda’s director of marketing put it , “f***ing bananas”.
That was all from Bethesda’s E3 conference 2017. All the games mentioned will be showcased on the E3 grounds of course, so there will be plenty more news to come over the next few days.
Consoles
Despite popular belief, PS4 sales in the UK skyrocketed last year
PS4 sales in the UK climbed by a shocking 633 percent year-over-year in 2023, so apparently the old system isn’t dead yet. The previous year’s very limited supply of the system is likely a major factor in this figure, since the console’s lifespan was drastically reduced because of chip shortages caused by the pandemic. Still, it’s proof that PlayStation’s original platform has unmet demand.
With the very low prices of PS4 software (both in-store and online at the PS Store), this strategy makes a lot of sense. Plus, it’s future-proof, so there’s no harm in stocking up on PS4s while new-gen pricing is still high, since if you decide to switch to a PS5 in the future, you can transfer all of your purchases across. Not to mention that the majority of new releases still come out on the PS4, with several offering free PS5 upgrades.
While the percentage rise may seem huge, real PS4 sales will probably be much lower. It’s a sign that the gadget, which is now a decade old, isn’t completely dead yet, and we expect it to keep receiving maintenance for a while longer. Of course, this is great news for Sony, because the company would rather have PS4 players playing on its last-gen gadget than none at all, even if it would love to have them upgrade to PS5.
Consoles
New PS5 firmware is available for download!
A PS5 firmware update on a cold winter morning is unmatched. The latest PS5 system software update is 23.02–08.40.00 from Sony. Does this one add useful features or just boost system performance?
Though closer to the latter, it’s more than Sony’s favorite patch note. It fixes security issues, improves messages and usability, and boosts system software performance. Official patch notes for this 1.185GB update:
- We updated system software security
- We improved system software stability and performance
- Some screens now have better messages and usability
That’s it. PS5 gets another win to recover from its midweek slump. Do you share our enthusiasm for this firmware update? Comment below. To spice things up, make your comment rhyme.
Consoles
Baldur’s Gate 3’s Xbox Version Will Help PS5
Belgian developer Larian Studios’ work on Baldur’s Gate 3’s Xbox Series S version will improve performance on all platforms, including PS5. The game’s fifth major patch, expected to launch this week, will include upgrades and new features. More details will be revealed later today.
Director of Publishing Michael Douse says PS5 performance improvements may be the “least exciting thing” in the title’s next update, so it sounds like a big one. Larian Studios employees are proud of “finally” implementing tweaks, fixes, and changes, Douse says. Later today, we’ll bring you all the Baldur’s Gate 3 update details.
Those who reached the RPG’s third act have reported technical issues during the narrative’s conclusion, especially in co-op, so today’s update should fix them. New features like a permadeath mode are expected, along with Xbox Series S optimization fixes. What else should be added to the game?
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