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Hello there all and welcome to the first proper official episode of TSAtv Newsdesk, the weekly
news roundup from TheSixthAxis.
The big news of the week is what some are calling the "Xbox 180" - Microsoft have announced
that they will be dropping a lot of the controversial restrictions on the Xbox One in response to
consumer feedback. Rather than requiring a daily authorisation check, the One will now
only need to connect once at setup, and can then be used offline without any limitations.
Used games will also be playable on the console, with the company confirming that they will
work on the Xbox One as they do on the 360. In addition, the One will be the first Xbox
console to be region-free, joining the PlayStation 3, 4 and Vita, and leaving Nintendo as they
only company still locking their releases by country. It's not all good news for the
Xbox One though - games will now require the disk in the tray to boot up like the 360,
and the previously announced ten-person Family Plan and the sharing library have both been
dropped to make way for access to used games, although the company may come back to them
at a later date. In response to the changes, EA were quick to confirm that despite the
removal of the Xbox One's original restrictions, their games will still no longer require online
passes, describing the program as "dead" and claiming that the decision was not based on
any new DRM but on "player feedback".
Unsurprisingly for the week after E3, there's not much in the way of new announcements,
however a new version of 2011 crossover title Warriors Orochi 3 has been confirmed for Japan.
The new version, titled Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate will release on PS3 and Vita in September
this year, rolling back into the main game some of the additional features added in last
year's PSP and Wii U ports of the original. If shooters are more your thing, Activision
has confirmed that Call of Duty: Black Ops 2's third DLC pack 'Vengeance' will release
at the beginning of July for Xbox 360, with PS3 and PC getting it around a month later.
The pack adds four new maps: the tropical island-set Cove, the long, multi-level Detour,
the paintball-themed Rush, and Uplink, a new version of Black Ops 1 map Summit. Also in
the pack is the new Zombies level Buried, set in an underground old west town, and the
Ray Gun Mark 2. There's confirmation too that the first DLC for The Bureau: Xcom Declassified
and EA's Battlefield 4 will be timed exclusives for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One respectively.
Away from Xbox, Sony have announced the 'Vita Mega Pack', which combines an 8 gigabyte memory
card with ten games including LittleBigPlanet and Wipeout 2048. The Mega Pack retails on
its own for £40 (although it can be found online for around 25), and will also feature
in a new bundle with the Vita itself.
In other news, an apparent leak from Valve's project management system Jira suggests that
both Half Life 3 and a third Left 4 Dead game are in development at the studio. The leak,
which if true seems to date from this spring, also notes teams working on a new version
of the Source engine, and mysterious projects titled "Microbe Wars", "Cries Unheard", and
"The Grange". Meanwhile, references in a new beta version of Steam suggest that the ability
to lend and borrow games may soon be coming to the service. Also in things that might
be happening, Ubisoft's CEO has suggested work is in progress on new Prince of Persia
and Far Cry games, as well as noting that the 2008 teaser for Beyond Good and Evil "went
out before it was quite ready". Last we heard, creator Michel Ancel was looking to move back
onto the project when work on August's Rayman Legends wraps up. Sony's Jim Ryan has mentioned
in an interview that the company "might have more news" on long-in-development Team Ico
title The Last Guardian in the future, with a PR rep from the company confirming in the
same interview that the title does at least "exist". And it seems that much-anticipated
zombie survival game DayZ may become a de-facto console exclusive for the PS4. Speaking to
Edge, creator Dean Hall said that whilst he would be "happy to see" the game on "any console",
but that it would need to be "indie-friendly", specifically calling out the inability for
developers to self-publish their games on the Xbox One.
Moving back to games actually coming out in the foreseeable future, the director of Assassin's
Creed 4 has hinted at a link between the universes of his game and Ubisoft's other big upcoming
game Watch Dogs, while the first footage of the latter game's multiplayer mode has apparently
leaked out, showing tense games of cat and mouse that can break out at any time while
you are playing and connected to the internet. Evolution's Col Rodgers has confirmed that
the team behind PS4 exclusive racer Driveclub are aiming for the game to be hitting around
60 frames per second by launch, and that the game will work with any wheel that is compatible
with the PS4. Quite what peripherals will be compatible is still not clear - hopefully
we'll get a bit more clarification on that as we get closer to launch.
A small new PS3 firmware launched this week, adding the ability to turn off trophy notifications,
but Sony pulled the update after reports that a small number of systems, mostly using hard
drives above 500 gigabytes, were being bricked in the process. A new version of the firmware
is due this coming Thursday which should fix the issue. A fresh 3DS update is also available,
adding the ability to back up saves for digital titles and some Virtual Console games, as
well as bringing four new, separately purchasable, games for the system's StreetPass Plaza. Whilst
there's been no comment from Nintendo, there are also reports that this update is causing
crashes for those with lots of Miis in their Plazas. Dodgy updates aside, Sony has clarified
what will and won't require a subscription to PlayStation Plus on the PS4: auto-updates
and access to the console's social features, as well as use of certain free-to-play games
such as Sony's own Planetside 2 and DC Universe Online, will be free, whilst synchronous online
multiplayer will require Plus. The company is still undecided on whether the upcoming
Gaikai streaming service will require Plus or a separate subscription, with Sony Europe
managing director Fergal Gara stating that the team simply hasn't "sat down to answer
that question yet".
On to this week's charts, and it's a great first week for Naughty Dog and Sony's The
Last of Us, with the game not only managing to take the top spot in the UK, but also becoming
the third best-selling game of 2013 so far behind Tomb Raider (which is still fourth
in this week's chart) and Bioshock Infinite (which is now at number 16), and even managing
to gross more in the same opening weekend than the new Superman film Man of Steel. The
week's other big release, the 3DS's Animal Crossing: New Leaf, is in second place, with
Codemasters' Grid 2 and EA's FIFA 13 rounding out the top five, Black Ops 2 is still at
number 14, and even GTAIV is still rattling around, managing number 18 in this week's
chart. In other sales news, State of Decay has becoming the fastest-selling original
title on Xbox Live Arcade, shifting more than half a million copies since its release earlier
in June.
A couple of last little bits to round out this week's Newsdesk: Sony has confirmed that
PlayStation Plus subscribers will gain access to PS3 games Battlefield 3, Payday: The Heist,
and Saints Row: The Third, and Vita titles Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus and Unit 13 when the
July update hits on the third of next month. The announcement also all but confirms a previously-leaked
slide suggesting the recent Devil May Cry reboot and last year's Spec Ops: The Line
will be part of the August update. Elsewhere on PSN, Hotline Miami is confirmed to release
next Wednesday, with your seven-pounds-twenty-nine-pence getting you access to both the PS3 and Vita
versions of the game. Providing you've got a recent iOS device, you can now grab surprise
hit Xcom: Enemy Unknown for £13.99 on the App Store, with the game receiving head-to-head
multiplayer in an upcoming free patch, and both Joe Danger games will be arriving on
Steam tomorrow, Monday the 24th of June, with the second game adding playable characters
from Team Fortress 2 and a Minecraft-themed track editor mode.
That's about it for this week's Newsdesk - but wait! As well as more on all the news featured
in the show, if you head over to TheSixthAxis.com you can take part in our special Newsdesk
launch competition to be in with a chance of winning a bunch of goodies including indie
PlayStation Mobile strategy game Rymdkapsel, a copy of FIFA 13 on Vita, and Steam codes
for Thomas Was Alone, Defence Grid: The Awakening, and Alan Wake. Don't forget to follow us on
Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to get all the latest news as it happens, and we'll see you
next week for more Newsdesk. Thanks for watching!