Light Start – PC Gears, Acti pulls out, Dark Souls III impressions, and Uncharted 4 delayed
Brett Venter
Microsoft drops Gears of War: Ultimate Edition for Windows 10 without notice (or Steam support)
We can’t act shocked, we knew this was coming. Microsoft had previously announced that Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, which comprises… everything that has been released in the game universe so far, was on the way. Upscaled and polished nicely, though. The title launched on the Xbox One some time ago and we’ve been expecting the prettier PC release but didn’t have a date for it. Now we don’t need one, as the game has officially launched for Windows 10 and there’s nothing you can do about it. Except go out and play it from the comfort of your PC. If you’re done with all this reading and just want to go buy yourself some PC-based Gears of War already then you can hit up the South African Microsoft Store and snag your copy for R320. Sadly, you won’t be able to buy it through Steam, it’s limited to Microsoft’s own outlets for now.
Activision will be at E3 2016. Except they won’t be. It’s complicated
Activision is one of the largest video game publishers in the world and they certainly control the most popular property, Call of Duty. So when they say that they’re not going to be present at the world’s largest gaming expo, E3 in Los Angeles, then you know something’s up. Except it’s not. Activision have said that they won’t be booking floor space at this year’s E3, relying instead on their partners to show off what is coming up for the 2016 gaming year. So, for instance, Sony will be demoing Activision’s wares on the show floor. The new Call of Duty will be at E3, just in a different form than expected (and on the show floor as opposed to behind closed doors, for a change). Activision aren’t the only major publisher to pull away from the event. Nintendo jumped ship a while ago, while EA have got their own EA Play event taking place in LA at the same time this year
The first impressions of Dark Souls III are in and they’re… frightening
Several outlets have gotten their lucky little mitts on Dark Souls III, experiencing the first few hours of From Software’s newest bashing-your-head-against-the-wall simulator. Souls III has, according to early critics, taken on some of the speed of its (unrelated) predecessor Bloodborne but From have opted to ramp up the difficulty of gameplay. To which we’d have to ask, “Why?” before gleefully wandering out to get slaughtered again and again. The core gameplay mechanic, of various classes taking on seemingly impossible odds, remains unchanged but by all accounts Souls III is a much more responsive, prettier experience, when it isn’t grinding your face into the dirt with one foot on the back of your stupid head. Remind us why we like this one, again?
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End has been delayed. Again
So you were hoping to get your hands on the fourth installment of Uncharted at the end of April this year? Your PlayStation-caressing hands will be disappointed. Uncharted 4 has seen another delay, dropping its release back by two weeks to 10 May this year. The reason… actually isn’t as bad as you’d think. Naughty Dog want to be sure that they’ve got enough copies of the game to go around, as they’re expecting user response to the release to be quite ravenous. This sort of release delay we can get behind but these reasons… let’s just say that their confidence has better be justified. They’ve said, “The good news is that the game is phenomenal — we are fully confident that it will be worth the wait and the team at Naughty Dog is eager as ever for you to experience Nathan Drake’s final adventure.” That’s a heck of statement to live up to. We’ll see if they can come 10 May.
