I hate you, Rockstar. I love you a lot. But I also really, really hate you.
Despite all my efforts, you've persuaded me to re-buy a game I purchased only months ago. I was already intrigued by the idea of GTA 5 on new-gen, but this week was the absolute clincher.
GTA 5 on PS4 and Xbox One looks gorgeous. Stunning. Majestic. Look at the grass. Just LOOK AT IT!
Sure, it's the same game at heart. But the prospect of experiencing Los Santos in first-person perspective is alone a reason for me to throw my hard-earned cash at this. Yeah I feel like a sucker, but did I mention the grass?
Put side by side with last year's version, you can see just how big the graphical leap has been. Watch this and tell me that the PS3 doesn't suddenly look really old and rubbish.
CVG spent a couple of hours with the game, and released a special GTA V o'clock filled with initial impressions on Grand Theft Auto's first next-gen outing. Worth a watch.
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I also hate you too, Blizzard. Just when I thought I'd kicked the Hearthstone addition, you've pulled me back in with the promise of a delicious expansion pack. Goblins vs Gnomes is the first proper expansion set for Hearthstone (Curse of Naxxramas didn't really count) and features 120 new cards.
You'll be able to win the card packs in Arena mode or purchase them with in-game gold/real money. In addition to the new cards, Goblins vs Gnomes will introduce a spectator mode that'll let you watch your friends' games (so long as they've enabled the option).
Finally, Blizzard announced that Hearthstone will come to Android tablets in December, while Android phones and iPhones will have to wait until early next year.
But there was bigger news at BlizzCon this week: for the first time in years and years, Blizzard is launching a brand new franchise. It's called Overwatch, it's a team-based shooter a la TF2, and it's entering beta next year.
With some subtle hints of Blizzard's cancelled MMO Titan, Overwatch looks hella fun. The game's cinematic trailer alone is superb, and that's before you get onto any of the gameplay footage.
"The action of Overwatch takes place in a technologically advanced, highly stylized future earth," describes the game's press release. "In a time of global crisis, an international task force of soldiers, scientists, adventurers, and oddities known as Overwatch had come together to restore peace to a war-torn world. After many years, the group's influence waned, and it was eventually disbanded. Overwatch might be gone now . . . but the world still needs heroes."
Majora's Mask
'Oh great, another Zelda game' some of you might have groaned at the announcement this week that The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is finally getting re-released on 3DS. But this is not just another Zelda game, friends. Majora's Mask was different.
It stepped away from the formula and conjured up a game that was brave, sad, dark and downright beautiful. 15 years later and it's still my favourite game of the franchise (sorry Wind Waker, you only lose by a smidge) - I still think the three-day time structure was a stroke of genius.
Of course, if you are a Zelda fan then you've been clamouring for this remake for as long as I have; I don't need to tell you why this game is so important. As for the rest of you reading this, do yourself a favour and pick it up when it arrives in spring 2015.
Oh, and if you thought the moon was creepy enough as it was in the N64 version...
Honey badgers are jerks
Far Cry 4 is almost here, and we've been having a lot of fun with it. So we wrote some stuff about it:
- The animals of Far Cry 4 that are going to kill you, and the ones that might save your life
- Far Cry 4: building the anecdote factory
And finally…
After making a name for itself with the insanely popular Moshi Monsters, British developer Mind Candy is taking a proper swing at mobile gaming with World of Warriors, which launched this week on iPhone and iPad.
The freemium title combines battling and strategy in the hope of winning over hardcore gamers and children alike. But unlike Moshi Monsters, World of Warriors is exclusively a mobile game, so it'll be interesting to see if it can find success in a market that's already got its grip on young gamers with popular names like Candy Crush and Clash of Clans.
- GDC 2015: what we want to see
