Ok, I knew a new game was in the works, but I musta missed the trailer recently, so here it is in case you missed it aswell

Thoughts?

Looks cool to me.  The original is in my list of games too hard to ever complete, but I still loved it (along with the Ghosts and Ghouls series)

The next generation of console gaming may have finally found its niche – as the generation that blurs the line between video game players and video game creators. That’s according to a new announcement by Microsoft, which confirms – like Sony with the PS4 – that XBox One owners can use the next-gen console as their very own development kit.

Xbox’s corporate vice president Marc Whitten said that all Xbox Ones will function as development kits, which are usually only available to licensed developers. This will give everyone who owns an XBox One the tools to build their own XB1 games as part of the very system they’re playing them on – a trend Ouya started with its independently-focused Android-based console; and subsequently adopted by Sony for the Playstation 4. To add to the appeal, reports spreading on the internet claim Microsoft will allow indie developers to self-publish on the Xbox One, though Microsoft are yet to comment on this part of the equation.

UPDATE: However,  the functionality WON’T be available immediately at the console’s launch; it will be installed on all consoles at a later date.

Here’s Microsoft’s official comment:

Our vision is that every person can be a creator. That every Xbox One can be used for development. That every game and experience can take advantage of all of the features of Xbox One and Xbox LIVE. This means self-publishing. This means Kinect, the cloud, achievements. This means great discoverability on Xbox LIVE. We’ll have more details on the program and the timeline at gamescom in August.

Let me be the first to claim this day, Global Gamedev Independence Day 🙂

UPDATED TO ADD:

Mark Whitten added in late-breaking news today that independently-published games will have just as much potential for exposure as professionally-published games, with Microsoft having no intention to separate the two from the future XBox Live Marketplace:

“My goal is for it to just show up in the marketplace. Of course there will be different pivots inside of that. There will be everything from what are we curating, kind of like spotlight content, to the normal discoverability stuff like recommendations, what’s trending, what’s got a lot of engagement on the platform. And you’d be able to find that content in any of those. There wouldn’t be any difference based on what type of game it was. Then of course there will be other type of pivots where you can go and look at whether its a genre of game or any other. But you shouldn’t think of it as there’s an indie area and a non-indie area.

Just as today, where we will highlight things that are coming in on the service, we want to make that more discoverable. We’ll make it things that we curate as well as the other ways that you find content whether that’s what your friends are doing or what we recommend based on your play behaviour. Or top listings. We want to make sure we have all of those types of discoverability mechanisms.”

Microsoft are yet to comment on whether indie developers will experience any cost to their own pockets to acquire devkits or publish their games. But you WILL have full rights to charge for the games if you prefer; and pricing is aimed to be similar to today’s Xbox 360 Marketplace. With little else revealed, Whitten says we’ll have to wait to Gamescon to know the rest of the details. Stay tuned!

Set to retail with an RRP of £49.99, compared to $59.99 in the States.

Microsoft has announced Xbox One games in the UK will come with a Recommended Retail Price (RRP) of £49.99.

OXM spotted the prices on the company’s online store, which currently lists Dead Rising 3, Ryse: Son of Rome, Forza Motorsport 5 and Kinect Sports Rivals for that price.

Last month, Microsoft announced that first-party Xbox One games would be sold in North America for $59.99, which is the same price games are currently sold for there. In terms of the UK, it’s worth remembering that retailers are likely to undercut Microsoft – in fact, Amazon is already listing Need for Speed Rivals at £43.99.

Sony has yet to announce any UK pricing for its games, though the company has similarly confirmed an American price point of $59.99.

Capcom has released a new trailer for Ultra Street Fighter IV showing off gameplay for four of the five new characters

Capcom announced Ultra Street Fighter 4 during Evo 2013. The update will introduce five new characters, six additional stages, new modes and features.

Four of the five characters have been confirmed as: Rolento, Poison, Hugo and Elena (pictured below). The fifth character, who has “never been in a Street Fighter game before”, remains unannounced. The six new stages include Pitstop 109, Mad Gear Hideout, Cosmic Elevator, Blast Furnace, Half Pipe, and Jurassic Era Research Facility.

Ono also recently said he’s not currently working on a new Street Fighter game for Xbox One and PS4 as he doesn’t currently have the research and development budget or the staff.

An alteration of the timeline for the superhero, The Flash, creates ripples that disastrously alters the Universe. The Flash must team with other heroes to restore the timeline while the Earth is ravaged by a war between Aquaman’s Atlantis and Wonder Woman’s Amazons

The DC animated film series has caught up with the changes for the “New 52” that happened in the comics

And strangely, the speedster is the reason for this HUGE change, unlike the usual suspects of Superman or Batman

The film starts with a young Barry Allen and his mum stuck on the side of the road, car broken down and instantly you see the bond this mother and son have (plus a very Spiderman-esque, “With great power, comes great resposibility” moment too).  This quickly shifts to Barry coming home to find his mother dead from a home invasion on her b’day.

Now I’ll admit, I’ve always seen the Speedster as the joker of the Justice League, but Flashpoint Paradox shows him as a responsible and loving member of the team instead.  Yes there are wise cracks, but this story shows even more so how Flash is the soul of this team.  Now we’ve seen what happens when Lex Luthor killed Flash, the JLA become the Justice Lords and took over the world, but what about a world where Flash’s mother survived the home invasion, Bruce died in the alleyway instead of his mother and father, Superman was found by the government instead of the Kents, Aquaman and Wonder Woman formed an alliance, that led to war after they have an affair and Mara is killed by Wonder Woman and Aquaman looks for revenge…  Well, the world is pretty fucked up to be fair and Barry Allen is the only man who can fix it (Well, Superman could if he wasn’t a reclusive frail man that has no clue)

I had to read up on this after watching it as I am MASSIVELY behind on DC comics of late (Sorry, but Marvel has held my attention far more in teh last few years)

Flashpoint was the end of the “52” years and the start of the “New 52” reboot and it makes complete sense.  BUT, unless you know what changed, you just have to accept the changes and the WTF moment you get at the end of this animated film

Now I’ve said this before and I will say it again.

Marvel have won the live action films for their heroes and although I loved Man of Steel, I was NOT a fan of The Dark Knight Trilogy.  I would be exceptionally happy if DC stuck to doing the animated films, while Marvel stick to doing the feature films.

Flashpoint Paradox is a perfect animated film from DC and leads us straight into Justice League: War, which is coming next year (there is even a little post credits scene that brings that into readiness)

The animation at the start was a little off and sometimes I’m not a fan of the animation style in this film, especially when it comes to some of the fight scenes where they are trying to show power in the characters (the elongated look of the character, almost Aeon Flux style), but I like the changes to the characters and the story is top notch aswell, so it is totally deserving a space in your DvD/BluRay shelves

8/10

Buy It!

~Lone