Author: Tom Buxton

Writer for Nitchigamer and lifelong fan of all things virtual. Used to be an adventurer like you but then took an arrow to the knee. If outdated jokes like those make you cringe then you'll find the door between my typewriter and NES.

July 2017 Xbox Games with Gold freebies unveiled

by Tom Buxton, posted in Posts

In the event that any of your closely-guarded timbers start to shiver uncontrollably as you read this news article, there’s probably good reason for your unlikely predicament. Microsoft are providing Travellers’ Tales’ 2011 licensed platformer, LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean, with a new lease of life via their Xbox Games with Gold service this month, alongside three other forgotten best-sellers soon to become available to Xbox Gold subscribers – technically – free of charge.

Takeaways:

  • Heading over to the Xbox Live Marketplace straight after consuming this report in all of its glory will find both the bizarre robot-starring sci-fi platformer Grow Up as well as the short but sweet, all-guns-blazing thriller Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days lying in wait already, the former exclusively for Xbox One from July 1 to 30 and the latter a backwards-compatible 360 title available until July 15.
  • Come the month’s halfway point, Kane & Lynch developers IO Interactive will pass the virtual baton onto side-scrolling Xbox One racer Runbow and TT Games’ aforementioned buccaneering, block-busting 360 odyssey through The Curse of the Black Pearl, Dead Man’s Chest, At World’s End and On Stranger Tides, available July 16th – August 15th and July 16th – 21st respectively.
  • There’s been no sign of a Salazar’s Revenge-themed follow-up to the latter project yet, though, so those looking for a LEGO rendition of Javier Bardem’s undead antagonist might need to get inventive with LEGO Pirates‘ character creator instead or squint a little while checking out the film in cinemas this summer.

Much as some Xbox players have already bemoaned the lack of AAA megamoths in this month’s Games with Gold line-up after the likes of Watch Dogs and Ryse: Son of Rome in the past two months alone, there’s a lot to be said for exposing lesser-known gems to mainstream audiences which they likely would’ve missed after all.

Yours truly can well remember downloading Ubisoft’s Valiant Hearts: The Great War last summer with little-to-no expectations due to its non-existent marketing campaign, only to come away stunned by what ended up as one of his favourite gaming experiences of 2016. Who’s to say the same won’t ring true here for those Gold subscribers brave enough to take that exhilarating plunge into the unknown?

See for yourselves whether that eventuality might come to pass this month via just under two minutes of gameplay footage of the quirky quartet of freebies below…

Dino Patti’s Somerville and new UK development studio announced

by Tom Buxton, posted in Nintendo, Posts

Why roll out one major company announcement when you’ve got two ready and raring to go? That’s seemingly the PR philosophy of Dino Patti, the ex-CEO of Inside developer Playdead who took the decision to explore industry pastures new earlier this year. Some months later, we’ve now learned both the name of Patti’s new UK-based development studio and their first full project in the space of a single week…

Takeaways:

  • Based in Guildford, UK, the indie studio Jumpship wants to “break perceived notions of what games can be by exploring the creative possibilities of the medium”, all while showcasing the medium’s potential “as a tool to question the human condition” and “rais[ing] entertainment to something deeply personal” along the way. Ambitious, eh?
  • As we speak via digitally coded blogging software, the Jumpship team is on the hunt for gameplay designers, generalist programmers, character controller programmers and character animators to assist with their debut title.
  • The title in question? Somerville, a sci-fi action adventure where players experience “the lives of key individuals in the wake of a global catastrophe”. To our knowledge said worldwide disaster wasn’t caused by any Presidents of the United States or EU referendums in the context of the narrative lore, but one can never be certain…
  • What does seem clearer, however, especially based on Somerville‘s premiere trailer (below), is the likelihood that the storyline will take at least partial inspiration from Denis Villeneuve’s hit 2016 big-screen sci-fi tale Arrival as skyscraper-rivalling behemothic UFOs take residence on Earth – albeit with considerably more hostile intentions if the war-torn skies which the trailer depicts are any indication.

No official release date has been set for Somerville what with the title presumably remaining in the early stages of production. That said, given how much of a seismic impact Patti’s previous efforts had on the industry – not to mention this writer, who’d gladly rank his Limbo and Inside playthroughs among the most entertaining in recent memory – expect this one to receive no shortage of attention between now and its eventual launch.

Until we know more, check out Somerville‘s promisingly stylish teaser trailer below…

Sony Defends Indie Absence at E3 2017 Showcase

by Tom Buxton, posted in Posts

For all their touting of Shadow of the Colossus remakes, exclusive Spider-Man open-world adventures and Kratos’ explosive return to PlayStation hardware at their latest E3 conference, Sony couldn’t escape the relentless wrath of social media critics entirely.

The company’s Interactive Entertainment division came under fire from fans for failing to include much in the way of indie content in its showcase on Monday June 5th, particularly when juxtaposed with the plentiful number of non-mainstream titles like The Artful Escape, Deep Rock Galactic and The Darwin Project unveiled by Microsoft at their Xbox One X E3 reveal conference

Enter Interactive Entertainment worldwide chairman Jim Ryan, who’s wasted no time in accepting an interview request from gamesindustry.biz to clarify why potent under-the-radar projects like Vampyr went unmentioned so as to let AAA franchises like God of War and Horizon: Zero Dawn retain the limelight instead.

Referring back to the early days of the PS4 era when the console was first unveiled at the 2013-14 E3 events with accompanying indie reveals aplenty, Ryan says “it was just good to talk about [the indie scene]” at the time but calls this subject matter “less relevant now” in an age where new gaming experiences like VR are the talk of the town.

Seemingly so far down their agenda were such projects, in fact, that the global division’s commander-in-chief asserts how even providing them with brief cameos in the conference via small gameplay videos would have been “viewed as wasted time” by the publishers as they mapped out their showcase structure.

That said, Ryan appears equally keen to allay fears that this temporarily diminished role for the indie sector means a decline in its output on PlayStation consoles lies around the corner.

“You know,” he says, “right now, we have tonnes of indie content on the [PS4] platform. And the fact that we elected, along with many other things such as Gran Turismo and PlayLink, not to give it its own spot on the stage […] in no way means it is not important, or it is not there, or we don’t worry about it.”

Whatever lies in store for the PS4’s indie offerings going forward, though, rest assured we here at D-pad Joy don’t plan on forgetting the oft-unsung wonders of the gaming industry anytime soon. Stay tuned for plenty more coverage of titles both as iconic as Assassin’s Creed: Origins and as up-and-coming as Inside and 10 Second Ninja in the days ahead…

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered standalone re-release inbound

by Tom Buxton, posted in Posts

UPDATE – Activision has just officially confirmed that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered will launch on its lonesome next week, coming to PS4 “first” in stores and via PSN on June 27th, then to Xbox One and PC at a TBC later date.

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If the prospects of the just-released Zombie Chronicles spin-off or this November’s WW2 outing weren’t enough to leave Call of Duty fans salivating this year, then the rumour-mill suggests series publisher Activision may have a further nostalgic ace up its sleeve.

The ace in question? A standalone re-packaging of last year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered purportedly set to grace video game retailers the world over on June 27th, if CharlieIntel’s reports of its shipping to GameStop and other stores already hold weight.

Originally released in a hefty £90 special edition bundle with 2016’s divisive space-bound COD effort Infinite Warfare, the FPS remake resurrected its critically adored 2008 source material in sparkling HD form with both its visceral, refreshingly grounded campaign (“All Ghillied Up” included, naturally) and similarly acclaimed online multiplayer modes intact.

That didn’t save the Infinity Ward developed – and somewhat egotistically-titled, thinking about it – Infinite from underwhelming sales though, with analysts reporting a sales drop of over 50% from 2015’s Black Ops III despite the long-awaited Remastered’s inclusion.

Indeed, it’s hardly a stretch to guess six months on from the 13th Call of Duty instalment’s launch that the special edition’s sales might have outpaced the standard edition’s, prompting Activision’s enthusiasm to capitalise on Modern Warfare’s evidently long-lived appeal.

Whether this gamble will pay off, however, inevitably depends on two factors, namely the veracity of CharlieIntel’s claims and the volume of ardent franchise fans remaining who haven’t shelled out the extra cash for Infinite’s premium bundle already.

There’s certainly evidence in the former regard, with US superstore Target for instance recently thought to have added a standalone version of Remastered to their website listings for $39.99 (£25), but the latter question remains far harder to quantify for the time being, and misjudging the fervour for such a release would likely prove costly to Activision at best.

Expect to hear more from Activision on Remastered’s future – or lack thereof – shortly, but until then, don’t miss our guide to all of the key details on how the COD franchise is returning to its roots with Call of Duty: WW2 this November.

Viewpoint: 5 Reasons Why A Doctor Who Game Can’t Work

by Tom Buxton, posted in Viewpoints

I present to you 5 reasons why a Doctor Who game can’t work. (Believe me, I would really want it to).

THE CHARACTERS: Any fan of Who will be able to safely say that one of the show’s most impressive traits that has secured its place in television history for forty-eight years now is its character drama.

When the programme returned in 2005, it placed a central focus on the life of Rose Tyler, a teenage shop worker who found herself caught up in the life of a time-travelling alien. We followed Rose and the Doctor over the course of thirteen episodes, witnessing the tragic destruction of the planet Earth, the invasion of London by the Slitheen, the horrifying effects of the return of a lone Dalek on the Time Lord and ultimately his startling regeneration prompted by love and loyalty from his most devoted companion. More than ever before in the ‘classic era’, Russell T Davies placed a distinct focus on the companion and each of the emotional ramifications of these ground-breaking events on her, something which made for brilliant television seven years back and still rings true with Steven Moffat’s interpretation today.

Now, unless game developers have plentiful cut scenes to the point of Metal Gear Solid, Doctor Who video games are going to have to tone down the focus on the emotions and actions of the protagonists to the point that much of the heart of the show may be removed in the process, thus possibly leaving us with a dull imitation of the programme rather than a realistic depiction.

THE VISUALS: A simple one to explain, really: until BBC Worldwide actually invests some proper time and cash into making the graphics of a Doctor Who video game look as if they were intended for a current-generation console release rather than for the PlayStation 2 or GameCube in 2004, we’re never going to be able to be totally satisfied with the results of the final product. We had the atrocious 2010 frankenstein creature that was Return To Earth for the Nintendo Wii, and the hideously retro style of the Layton-alike DS effort Evacuation Earth. We need a modern game with modern graphics.

THE MYSTERY: Ever since An Unearthly Child kicked off the show’s extraterresterial and time-shifting exploits with its romp to the age of cavemen in 1963, fans have been constantly amazed at what the BBC can achieve in terms of Who’s special effects budget and rendering of alien worlds and past/future timelines. As soon as you move into the video games industry, then, you’re given an obligation to try and match that sense of wonder and mystery that comes every time the Doctor and his companion step outside the TARDIS doors, an obligation which BBC Worldwide ignored as they brought us spaceship corridors, junkyards which are hugely reminiscent of Earth’s and other lifeless environments.

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Eternity Clock at least used multiple time periods and incarnations of London (as well as Storm Cage, an alien prison), a more daring set of locations than any past endeavour by developers, yet that was still fairly lacking in ambition on SuperMassive’s part. Nothing will surprise me quite as much as the show can when I walk out of those blue police box doors, and that that will always be the case in Doctor Who video games.

THE SCRIPT: Once again, this comes down to the format of the episodes in their modern day context, but to an extent it relates back to the ’63-’89 era too. If you go back and look at any single story of Who, I guarantee that you’ll be able to find some great one-liners that come back to haunt the characters later (“It is returning…it is returning through the dark…and then, oh but then…he will knock four times…”), romantic or family-based heart-warming dialogue to bring the audience together in joy or laughter (“I’ll suffer if I have to kill you.” “More than the entire universe?” “Yes.”

The grand extent of the humour in Return To Earth was the Cyber-Men demanding an AI be converted, only for her to keep retaliating with “But I do not want to be converted”. Really?

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THE PLOT RESOLUTIONS: How can you ever top the huge cliffhangers the show has in video game? It’s in moments like these where Doctor Who shines totally as a television show, and which convince me that there is no way of accurately portraying the drama in a gameplay-focused product without losing a whole heap of what makes it great along the way.

What are your thoughts reader, can there ever be a good Doctor Who game?

Fable Fortune launch date revealed

by Tom Buxton, posted in Posts

Fortune favours the brave, but can that adage extend to a spin-off from Microsoft and Lionhead Studios’ Fable series which boldly takes inspiration from The Witcher 3‘s Gwent card game?

Either way, there’s officially not long now until we know for sure, since developers Flaming Fowl Studios and Mediatronic have confirmed that Fable Fortune will launch – albeit in an early access build of the full product – this July 11th.

Set for release on Xbox One and PC, Fortune tasks franchise veterans and newcomers alike with gathering the cards to wage tactical, turn-based warfare either in single-player or PvP modes.

On top of that, the standalone offshoot’s main gameplay trailer (below) teases the chance to relive “old memories” from Fable‘s fantastical past or “create new ones”, with characters both iconic and original seemingly appearing along the way.

The idea of pitting such a nostalgia trip against other Collectible Card Games (CCGs) in a crowded market featuring Gwent, Magic: The Gathering and more would already seem daunting in and of itself, but a far greater challenge lies in Fortune‘s path.

In the wake of original dev Lionshead’s closure last year, Flaming Fowl took the project on and – after an ineffective Kickstarter campaign – had to scrap together funding itself, meaning they’ll doubtless want its sales to justify such costly toil on their part.

Indeed, given the underwhelming sales of Kinect spin-off Fable: The Journey in 2012 and the lack of further franchise announcements from Microsoft, Fortune could feasibly serve as the long-running saga’s swansong. No pressure, then.

With any luck, though, by launching in its quasi-alpha form next month rather than during the kill-or-be-killed autumn season of blockbuster AAA titles, this potential series finale may well reap plenty of much-needed recognition ahead of its full-scale release.

Come July 11th, expect to see Fable Fortune‘s early access build hit Xbox Live for £9.99 / $14.99 / €12.99 sporting a 20 pack of cards including rare Flaming Fowl and Giant Egg designs, with a free-to-play version following at a date TBA in late 2017.

Expect our review of Fortune around that time as well (not to mention our coverage of Microsoft’s other major 2017 titles as they’re revealed at E3 this week), but until then, here’s the full gameplay trailer in all its top-down glory…

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War Delayed

by Tom Buxton, posted in Posts

One does not simply walk into Mordor for a second time without encountering a few development setbacks along the way.

That’s the impression we’re getting from Monolith Productions anyway, since their follow-up to 2014’s Game of the Year-winning Lord of the Rings spin-off Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor has had its release date pushed back by two months.

Rather than shipping in August as developer Monolith had originally planned, the Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment-published Middle-Earth: Shadow of War will now launch on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC this October 10th worldwide.

Once again taking place before Peter Jackson’s two LOTR trilogies – which appear to have influenced its grim, quasi-gothic visual style and brutal action – the sequel will reprise Mordor‘s unique Nemesis system, enabling players to dismantle Sauron’s Orc hierarchy and build their own army in the process.

Yet despite this returning mechanic, resurrected protagonist Talion will have his fair share of new challenges this time around as he strives to gather the forces necessary to confront the Dark Lord himself, not to mention tame the tempestuous influence of a recently-forged Ring of Power over the course of his odyssey.

As for precisely what’s holding Talion’s journey back from hitting consoles this summer, Monolith doesn’t have much to say on the matter beyond wanting to “ensure that Middle-Earth: Shadow of War will deliver on [their] promise” of “the highest quality experience” expected from their hit licensed series.

News like this inevitably always comes as a blow for industry fans, particularly long-term devotees of such a prolific brand as the Tolkien-inspired Lord of the Rings, but from GTA V to South Park: The Stick of Truth to WB’s own Batman: Arkham trilogy, the list of past titles which have benefitted from extra development time goes on as long as The Return of the King: Extended Edition.

Monolith and WB don’t look set to rest on their laurels when it comes to providing samples of Shadow of War in its current state, though, with new livestreams uploaded each week and an E3 gameplay demo guaranteed to lie around the corner.

In other words, while you might wish that news of this delay had never come to you, that’s not for you to decide – all you have to decide is what to do with the time that’s given to you between now and October 10th. Why not check out this weekend’s new Skills-driven Shadow of War walkthrough video for starters?

The Witcher Netflix Series Commissioned

by Tom Buxton, posted in Posts

In the wake of CD Projekt Red’s critically acclaimed The Witcher 3 scooping up over 800 awards – several Game of the Year nods included – back in 2015, devotees of the hit video game franchise soon justifiably wondered where the series might head once the threequel’s DLC campaign had reached its end.

Two years later we have our answer, though the truth of the matter may shock those anticipating a follow-up announcement from series publisher Bandai Namco Entertainment. While there’s every chance of another virtual Witcher outing being announced at E3 next month, that’s not the medium where Geralt of Rivia will appear next.

In fact, we’re about to witness the rugged, war-wearied protagonist’s adventures anew, since Netflix have begun development on an English-language TV drama adapting the original Witcher novels upon which the storylines of Bandai Namco’s RPG titles were originally based.

Written by Polish novelist Andrzej Sapkowski, the books carry the overarching title The Witcher Saga, depicting the escapades of Geralt alongside other witchers journeying through quasi-medieval lands on mythical quests to rid them of supernatural monstrosities galore.

“I’m thrilled that Netflix will be doing an adaptation of my stories, staying true to the source material and the themes that I have spent over thirty years writing,” Sapkowski said of the streaming studio’s new adaptation. “I’m excited about our efforts together, as well as the team assembled to shepherd these characters to life.”

Indeed, the team in question has its fair share of expertise when it comes to spearheading accomplished big and small-screen productions, between executive producers Sean Daniel and Jason Brown’s work on the Mummy film franchise, and co-exec Tomek Baginski – who’s also set to direct an episode per season – having helmed the BAFTA-winning movie The Fallen Art.

They’re scarcely lacking in enthusiasm for the project either, with Daniel and Brown praising Sapkowski’s “original, funny and constantly surprising” characters, and Baginski – as well as co-producer Jarek Sawko – noting the “moral and intellectual depth” in the source material which attracted him to the show.

Will their passion translate to a AAA Netflix series capable of matching its esteemed inspiration, the beloved video game saga and the studio’s other hit shows like House of Cards, however? With no targeted airdate set as of yet, it’ll be some time before we know for sure.

LEGO Marvel Superheroes 2 Unveiled With Full Trailer

by Tom Buxton, posted in Nintendo, Posts

Until recently comic-book devotees had assumed they should ‘only’ expect a PS4 exclusive Spider-Man title and a genre parody with South Park: The Fractured But Whole this autumn, but evidently that’s far from the case.

Enter LEGO Marvel Superheroes 2, the de facto follow-up to 2013’s LEGO Marvel Superheroes which, unlike recent franchise spin-off LEGO Marvel Avengers, looks set to embrace the sheer lunacy of the superhero world via a gleefully ridiculous original plot.

Whereas Avengers kept its focus firmly on the various MCU movies released to date – from Age of Ultron to The Winter Soldier to Ant-Man – this long-awaited sequel will bring together characters and events from across Marvel’s printed lore as classic and modern heroes and villains team up to wage war on the open-world plane of Chronopolis.

The action won’t be limited to one period of history either; the 23rd major LEGO licensed console effort since 2005’s LEGO Star Wars will let players deploy time-warping mechanics to battle Kang the Conqueror across multiple settings – including Sakaar, NYC and the Wild West – in the campaign as well as in four-player competitive arenas to boot.

If that premise didn’t already sound bonkers enough, then the first full trailer ups the ante considerably, initially playing with fans’ expectations via a neat homage to MCU blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2‘s opening set-piece before throwing in waves of comic-book characters from myriad alternate realities for good measure.

Indeed, from Spider-Man 2099 to Spider-Gwen, from Captain America to Captain Texas and from Groot to the ever-adorable Baby Groot, the array of caped (or branched in Groot’s case) crusaders seems staggering at this point and knowing TT Games’ past LEGO rosters, what we see here will probably represent but the tip of the iceberg.

LEGO Marvel Superheroes 2 will assemble worldwide on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC this November 14th. Until then, be sure to follow the mantra ‘Keep Mine D-pad’ and stick with us for further details on the crime-busting sequel.

Star Wars: Battlefront II Featurette Teases Story Campaign

by Tom Buxton, posted in Posts

Not so long ago on a wave of internet forums not so far away from our fine domain, EA incurred their fair share of wrath over the absence of a single-player campaign mode in Star Wars: Battlefront.

But if the latest featurette for their upcoming follow-up to the 2015 franchise reboot, Star Wars: Battlefront II, reveals anything, it’s that the publisher and its development teams appear to have learned their lesson two years later.

Titled ‘Telling a New Story’, the video (below) describes – via the words of Lucasfilm’s creative execs – how EA’s Motive team pitched “a soldier’s story” set between 1983’s Return of the Jedi and 2015’s The Force Awakens to developers DICE and the Lucasfilm Story Group, an Imperial-aligned lead character its USP.

According to Motive’s Game Director Mark Thompson, we can expect protagonist Iden Versio to be “a loyal member of the Empire” and the “perfect candidate” to believe in her tyrannical employers’ merits given her family’s Imperial heritage.

“Something we really wanted to get into in the story is to meet the people inside the Empire,” Thompson says. “Stormtroopers and everyone inside the Empire, they aren’t conscripted or forced – they’re brainwashed and programmed from an early age to believe.

“And what we do with the audience is we take them to a place where they can understand Iden, why she makes the decisions that she does.”

But while comments like these – and the team’s voiced commitment to delivering “great character and gameplay moments” during the campaign – will surely generate hype for the FPS sequel, that doesn’t mean fans will give it a free pass.

After all, few will likely have forgotten the intense controversy surrounding not only the 2015 Battlefront outing’s absent campaign but also its overall lack of launch content, especially compared to the noughties Pandemic originals’ ample offerings.

The quasi-reboot released with just four planets – Hoth, Endor, Sullust and Tatooine – that November, with the other four – Jakku, Bespin, the Death Star and Scarif – as well as plenty of locked gameplay modes only becoming available once players had swiped up the hefty £40 / $60 Season Pass.

Already DICE has confirmed Battlefront II won’t follow its predecessor’s staggered content strategy, the Season Pass ditched for now and the DLC approach (if any) still to be determined, with goodwill also having been built by the presence of Yoda, Luke (who’ll also star in the campaign), Rey (ditto) and other fan favourites in the launch trailer.

Until EA brings a fleshed-out gameplay demo along to the studio’s EA Play event at E3, though, the true likelihood of Battlefront II‘s success where its predecessor failed remains as uncertain as Rey’s parentage.

Star Wars: Battlefront II hits Xbox One, PS4 and PC this November 15th, with its EA Play showcase due on June 10th-12th.

Call of Duty: WWII Details & Teaser Trailer

by Tom Buxton, posted in Posts

After teasing a global announcement over the weekend, Activision have kicked the marketing train for their fourteenth Call of Duty entry fully into gear, unveiling new details on what’s to come when the franchise returns this November 3rd on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.

Dubbed Call of Duty: WWII, the Sledgehammer Games-developed spiritual successor to 2008’s World at War will – in Activision’s words – aim to convey “the story of heroism on a global scale”, presenting fans with a supposedly “gritty, intense campaign” which professes to pack “overwhelming odds and hostile terrain across Europe”, not to mention Transformers star Josh Duhamel’s chiselled features in digital form.

Indeed, Duhamel’s presence represents just one of a number of unexpected twists contained within the teaser trail regarding the single-player storyline, with other surprises including the reprisal of Call of Duty 2‘s iconic Normandy landings; the Apocalypse Now-esque psychological turmoil evidently awaiting our newly-recruited Texan protagonist and his comrades on the battlefields; and the opportunity to gain access to a pre-release private multiplayer beta for those keen enough to pre-order the title.

The news from Wednesday’s hour-spanning livestream reveal didn’t end there, either. Answering a variety of probing Twitter questions from their intrepid fan-base, Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg and other members of the WWII development team confirmed COD‘s famed multiplayer offerings will return in full force.

Ranging from the Divisions class system with its myriad perks to War Mode’s challenge of pitting factions in a prolonged conflict over multiple locations, from the sure-to-be brag-laden Headquarters social platform to a co-op campaign once again featuring – yes, you probably guessed it – hordes of undead Nazi foes for players and their comrades to mow down, there looks set to be no shortage of offline and online modes to keep fans sated until the next annual instalment.

Yet while DICE apparently intends to halt its Marmite season pass model for Star Wars: Battlefront II this autumn after the backlash that emerged from its predecessor’s lack of recent content, we’re hearing nothing of the sort on Activision’s part in this instance. Quite to the contrary, a WWII Season Pass has already been confirmed, available for approximately £40 / $50 on its lonesome or as part of two bumper packages set to retail alongside the standard edition.

Indeed, those willing to go the extra mile in monetary terms for their next COD dosage can sleep safe in the knowledge that both a Digital Deluxe and Pro Edition of Sledgehammer’s second full franchise contribution are available for pre-order as we speak, with the former housing the Season Pass “and more” exclusive content while the latter adds a steelbook to the equation for £80 / $100.

Expect plenty more coverage from us soon on Call of Duty: WWII‘s E3 gameplay reveals (we can hear the explosions already), subsequent announcements and the title’s overall prospects amidst the horde of AAA licences making their returns this autumn, but until then, check out the full livestream recap below for further details on what the Second World War holds for players 80 years on.

Call of Duty: WW2 announced: The times are quite literally a’changing

by Tom Buxton, posted in Posts

It would seem that the times are quite literally a’changing for the Call of Duty series this year, as Sledgehammer Games prepare to transport players back to the historical era where it all began.

Following countless rumours from Eurogamer and other sources surrounding the title’s existence, the FPS franchise’s official Twitter account confirmed yesterday that its fourteenth instalment will indeed go by the name Call of Duty: WWII. “After three years in the making,” Eric Hirshberg, the CEO of publisher Activision, tweeted, “Call of Duty is going back to its roots.”

Short of a colossal rug-pull of M. Night Shyamalan proportions, the news all but confirms that as with the first, second, third and fifth core COD entries, fans will swap the space-bound action of last year’s Infinite Warfare for the trench combat and gruelling brutality of the Second World War (1939-1945) here.

The possible reasons for this sudden time-jump after years of the annual saga dabbling with modern and near-future conflicts are endless, but that EA’s rival shooter Battlefield 1 ditched its franchise’s recent modern warfare trappings last year and scored 10 points higher than Infinite Warfare on Metacritic won’t likely have gone unnoticed despite the latter’s superior sales.

Further details are few and far between at present, though UK retailer GAME’s pre-order listing of a “standard edition” of WWII may hint that announcements of the franchise’s trademark special editions mightn’t be far behind. What’s more, if Sledgehammer views EA’s recent FPS development strategy as a guide, then the revelation that Star Wars: Battlefront II won’t feature a season pass could prove influential too.

What we do know for certain, though, is that more information on the project will follow this Wednesday, April 26th at 10am PDT / 1pm EDT / 5pm GMT via a worldwide reveal on WW2‘s official website. Expect talking heads aplenty, war movie references by the bucketload and – God willing – 100% less discussion of dog animations than was the case with Advanced Warfare, but whatever happens, be sure to check back at D-Pad Joy afterwards for a full rundown of all of the key details.

In the meantime, why not check out this video retrospective on some of the Call of Duty franchise’s finest moments to date…