It may seem hard to believe, but as of tomorrow (15th May 2014), Diablo 3 will be two years old. Cake and singing songs just isn’t in the style of the popular dungeon-based Hack-and-Slasher, however. Nor is a single day of celebration enough. No, Blizzard has something better in mind.

To celebrate the game’s second anniversary and the community that made it all possible, Starting tomorrow and running until May 22, players who log in to defend Sanctuary will receive double Rift Fragments as well as a +100% boost to their chance to find Legendary items.

While the buffs will apply to all characters; and will stack with other buffs a Player may have to add further bonuses to their drop rate etc, those with a console version of the game are unfortunately excluded – this event is for PC & Mac only. However, as Console releases already have better drop rates than the PC equivalent, this is hardly a big loss. What MIGHT be a big loss is the timing, as many Diablo 3 players are complaining the week-long event falls into a period where many students are completing major exams – thus limiting the time they have to take advantage. However, the most hardcore of Diablo 3 players are already clearing their schedule to make room for a whole week of non-stop action.

Whether you’re a casual or hardcore Diablo 3 player, looks like Diablo’s demons better prepare for a lot more bloodshed than usual.

In 2004, we had Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, remakes of the original Pokémon titles Red and Green. Then in 2010 (2009 for Japan) followed Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, remakes of the original Gold and Silver. While both had their own reasons for existing – FireRed and LeafGreen were to introduce Kanto Pokémon into Gen III games after all the previous games were rendered incompatible with the GBA due to hardware changes; while HeartGold and SoulSilver did the same for Gen IV due to the removal of the GBA slot for the DSi and 3DS, though fan demand was also obviously a factor – to many people’s eyes, a trend was emerging; and barely a few months into the release of HeartGold and SoulSilver, many people were speculating whether Nintendo would reboot the next games in the timeline – Ruby and Sapphire – with a DS or 3DS remake.

The logic was sound – with both Johto and Kanto getting their appearance updated to modern standards, Hoenn was now the only region NOT to have its own redesign. Many speculated we’d hear news of such a remake some time after Black and White – following the “two generations later” trend of the previous games – but instead, after two Black and White sequels, Generation V ended with not a whisper. Then came X and Y and the start of Generation VI; and suddenly people noticed teasers in the game that reignited the belief. 14 berries only obtainable from other regions? A backpacker who talked about a region that isn’t any of the known ones (even though this included Hoenn)?

It all added up to something; and now finally, Nintendo has delivered. Strangely timed to coincide with their annual earnings call and pre-dating E3 (itself subject to many speculations of its own) by many weeks, Nintendo this week revealed it is to launch two new Pokémon Titles, Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, worldwide this year.

At first, all we had to go on was the names of the games and some tentative box art, revealed in a short trailer; nothing of the game itself was shown. However, as of today, that’s changed. The first trailer showing actual footage from the game was posted on Pokémon’s official Youtube channel this morning. Strangely silent apart from dubbed-over sound effects which the trailer makes clear aren’t from the game, the Trailer appears to show Groudon and Kyogre activating their respective abilities – though whether these are cutscenes, or actual in-battle animations is unclear.

The trailer’s subtext also confirms that these titles will be 2D with “some areas in 3D”; this combined with the visual style of Groudon and Kyogre shown seems to suggest these games are built upon the same visual engine as X & Y.

While the new Trailer answers a few questions about the game so far, much else remains to be seen. First of all, is it ACTUALLY Hoenn? Many assume so, but the first Trailer talked about “a whole new World”; and what about that Backpacker saying he didn’t come from Hoenn? Plus, we still haven’t seen any game play. E3, anyone? Let’s just say, the next few months just got very interesting…

“We are making a new Unreal Tournament”. Seven words that will make many a gamer either punch the air with excitement or give them cringing reminders of just how much the more recent entries sucked and hopes this won’t be another of those. Epic Games’ community manager Stacey ‘Flak’ Conley used those very seven words to confirm the company’s plan to build what they’re already describing as their “next-gen competitive shooter”, which is planned for Windows, Linux, and Mac.

However, this time the game is taking a whole new approach, with a different business model and more focus on the Community. The Unreal series of games have maintained a long tradition of mod support, which is partially responsible for its enduring reputation; and now, the company wants to involve its loyal community from the beginning, letting them contribute ideas from the very first line of code, using forums and Twitch streams to keep in touch. As for modding itself, Players will be able to make maps, weapons, and near total-conversions to add into the game even if they can’t get them into the main code.

“Unreal Tournament is the perfect kind of game to do this with,” project lead Steve Polge said. “It’s always had a very open community.”

To facilitate the distribution of mods in the new game, the new Unreal Tournament will feature a marketplace from which they can all be downloaded. Modders will have the option to make their mods available for free or at a price, letting mod authors get recompensed directly for their work for the first time. The biggest news however is that Epic Games won’t be following suit and using the marketplace to implement micro-transactions into the game. In fact, the company don’t plan to make money from the game directly at all if reports are to be believed – not only is the new Unreal Tournament going to be free to play, but all Epic Games-published extra content will be offered freely as well!

The studio warned that the game will take many months to be playable, and will start off with a focus on standard Deathmatch only. Other series-standard modes like Capture the Flag and Onslaught will be added over time. Not that long-term series fans shouldn’t be used to waiting: The last major title in the Unreal series of shoot-em-ups was seven years ago, when Unreal Tournament III hit stores in 2007 releasing on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.

Nintendo are always a wild card when it comes to making appearances at E3. Most years, the company does not make a physical presence, instead releasing a special “Nintendo Direct” video detailing their plans for the year, which is broadcast during their segment of the show. This, they say, is a cost-cutting measure; as why come to the show to show off anything if you have nothing physical to talk about and a pre-recorded segment can do the exact same job? Therefore, usually when the company makes a physical appearance, chances are they have something big coming out for which only a physical demonstration can do proper justice.

A rumour earlier this month suggested that once again, Nintendo would forego a physical presence this year and rely on a Nintendo Direct instead. But earlier this week, a new rumour called that into question, when various sources each made similar claims that Nintendo was working on a new Hardware project and was considering a physical E3 appearance to show it off.

Though the company revealed in its most recent financial briefing that they were currently working on new Hardware, Chief excutive Satoru Iwata clarified this would be for a new ‘Quality of Life’ platform, seemingly implying they were not working on a new console or handheld successor to the existing Wii U or 3DS. He additionally stated Nintendo would reveal the system before the end of the current financial year – which opens a window between now and March 2015. However, little of this device is known.

While many gaming journalists originally ignored the new E3 Hardware Reveal rumour, some flipped on this position when the widely respected media outlet VideoGamer claimed it had heard from a third-party source that the speculation was true. VideoGamer linked the rumour to previous speculation about Nintendo planning a new hardware line, “Nintendo Fusion” – which we ourselves reported on several months ago – stating that similar technical specifications were once again quoted.

However, it now appears the original rumour was correct; as despite the above evidence suggesting Nintendo COULD have hardware to show off this year and the repeated rumours of E3 reveal plans, representatives from Nintendo contacted various members of the gaming press to state that there were no plans to make any such reveal in E3 – stating that they neither planned to reveal any new Hardware, nor any re-iteration of any existing platform. Nintendo have confirmed there is to be no physical presence at E3 at all, with the platform holder again hold a special Nintendo Direct on Tuesday, June 10 to share “further detail on the gaming experiences on the way for Nintendo platforms in 2014 and beyond”.

While we may now know Nintendo is not planning to be at E3 and will do a Nintendo Direct for it once again, the rumours remain interesting. Is Nintendo’s own admission of a planned hardware reveal next year actually a gaming device, or something health-related but nothing to do with gaming? Do the leaked Tech Specs mean anything at all, or are they a figment of someone’s imagination? Stay tuned to Sanitarium.FM and hear the latest as it’s discovered!

Call of Duty being the unstoppable juggernaut of a franchise it is, it was only a matter of time before its first new-gen iteration was revealed. Using the tagline “A New Era”, Call of Duty’s official Facebook page has for several weeks been touting a worldwide announcement for the next Call of Duty title, which we now know to be called Advanced Warfare, for modern generation consoles such as XBox One and PS4.

That Global Reveal was scheduled yesterday for the 4th of May; and the intention was for the company to reveal the game’s title and trailers for each region on the day. Unfortunately, one of those trailers got leaked on Facebook a little too early – the UK Trailer was discovered earlier today and was confirmed by Call of Duty as legitimate, with this message posted on their Facebook page:

This was scheduled for Sunday but it just leaked, so why wait? Here’s the first look at Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. #ANewEra begins now!

The Trailer consists of what is claimed to be footage of XBox One gameplay, and shows off the new gen graphics; details some possible actions; and offers an insight into the game’s story via select FMV sequences. I’m sure you’re waiting to see it yourself – so check the Trailer below, courtesy their official YouTube channel: