Electronic Arts has announced a new subscription service that gives Xbox One owners access to some of its biggest games for a small monthly fee. Called EA Access, the service is launching to select users in beta today, with a starting price of $4.99 (£3.99) per month or $29.99 (£19.99) per year. The company says EA Access will “launch for everyone on Xbox One soon.” Paying for the subscription will get you access to what EA calls its Vault, a collection of games you’ll have unlimited access to as long as you’re subscribed. During the beta, that will include a sampling of four titles — FIFA 14, Madden NFL 25, Peggle 2, and Battlefield 4 — though the company says more games will be added “soon.”

The service will also get you early access to some of EA’s upcoming titles. Subscribers will be able to play trials for upcoming games like Dragon Age: Inquisition and this year’s EA Sports titles “up to five days” ahead of their launch date. Additionally, EA says subscribers will save 10 percent when buying EA games through the Xbox One game store. “This is something we’ve never done before and we’re excited to share it with you,” the company says. EA calls the service a “partnership” with Microsoft, and there’s no word on whether it will be available on other platforms as well.

So, the BETA weekend for Destiny has come and gone and i played most for the weekend on the 360 version.

Ok, I’ve played first person shooters since some of the first came along and MMO’s for as long as they’ve been around (any one that’s seen my XFire game time list will attest to that), and such, I have high impressions for both genres.

Games like Borderlands kicked things off for me int he right direction for Multiplayer shooters with an RPG element, and Destiny is very much in that vein, but has massive leanings to HALO, for obvious reasons.

BUT, this is a console game, which means it also suffers in every way a typical console based FPS falls flat.  The Controller!

HALO is spot on, its built around a controller, it has just the right amount of twitch and its easy to get going, even our own Digmbot can’t disagree with that.  Destiny, somehow, drops the ball on that perfect HALO balance.  The controls feel at times stiff, at others, too sprung.  The auto aim is more a hindrance than a help, then turning it off (thank the gods you can turn it off), the aiming then becomes clunky, especially for a twitch shooter

Then there’s the maps and map transitions.

Between maps, the loading screen is your ship flying down to the zone you are heading too…   This was cool once or twice…  The third time? I took the chance to go get a drink.

Then there is the maps themselves.   I played the same map four times for four different missions.   And every time, it started me at the same point in the map, even though I then had to slog across the map I had already done to get to the next point.  I honestly found it a little boring to do it over and over again.

Now one thing I did like was the Melee attack, as you can see in the screenshot below, it’s more a close range force push, but it has a few second cool down, meaning you can’t just run around force pushing all the enemies, and some of the enemies come at you thick and fast for sure…

So, did I like the game?

Honestly, not so much, I got bored very quickly and just wanted to go back to playing HALO.   I very much doubt I’ll get it on console, but I may change my mind next year IF and ONLY IF the rumoured PC version makes an appearance.

Did you play the beta weekend?   Let us know what you think in the comments below!

Focus Interactive dropped a new Space Hulk: Deathwing trailer!
The First-Person Shooter set in the famous universe of Warhammer 40,000 from Games Workshop, can now reveal its summer trailer!

Still not showing gameplay footage, but damn, the CGI looks cool.  Check it out below:

This first in-game video, created using the game engine (Unreal Engine 4), plunges you headlong into a Space Hulk, with the game’s main character – a Librarian of the Deathwing,and a squad of Deathwing Terminators, in their a head-on confrontation with the merciless Genestealers. A clash that will prove deadly for the elite warriors of the Dark Angels and the outcome of which has a HUGE surprise in store.

 

This explosive video showcases the amazing work and meticulous attention to detail by developers Streum On studio. Theelite squad of the Space Marines repels the attacks of the Genestealers with heavy fire from their Storm Bolters and Assault Cannons, destroying the most reckless creatures with crushing blows from Force Swords and Power Fists. You can see the incredible level of detail on the smallest game elements: the Tactical Dreadnought Armour of the Deathwing Terminators, their weapons, the Genestealers, and the backdrop are all rendered with a care that will astound any fan of Warhammer 40,000!

Looking forward to this game, lets hope we get some gameplay footage soon!

Destiny’s closed beta will land on Xbox One and Xbox 360 in “late July”, a trailer for the game has confirmed.

The date suggests that the beta will arrive on Xbox platforms 1-2 weeks after it hits PS3 and PS4 on July 17.  To access the beta you’ll need to pre-order the game and register the code supplied by participating retailers.

Destiny releases on Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4 and PS3 on September 9 alongside a fancy new white PS4.

Behaviour Interactive posted up a ton of marketing/gameplay videos today, plus a HUGE FAQ for the game and Founders packs…

Lets start with the videos:

Now, onto the FAQ and recommended requirements are:

CPU: INTEL Core i5-750 / AMD Phenom II X6 1045T
GPU: NVidia GTX 660+ or similar video card
Memory: 8 GB DDR3
Hard Drive: 50GB Free Disc Space
OS: 64-bit Operating Systems (Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, SteamOS, MacOS X 10.9)

 

NOTE: This is just a predicted hardware setup. Details can change slightly over time as the game is still under development. More details to come.

Now, did everyone else notice that? 8Gb RAM?!? What game needs 8 bloody gigs of RAM?!?

You can see the rest of the FAQ here

and relax…

So yeah, the founders packs and initial store items…

Founder packs come in three varieties: Warrior, Sergeant or Captain. All of them come with a game key and four character slots ($40 value) as well as Founder program exclusives including Rogue Trader Points (RTP), Pre-Launch Game Access, Early Game Module Access, etc. And you can see them all here

Umm… Lets look at the top most Space marine pack:

Captain Pack

 

A Game key and 4 character slots ($40 value) with Captain Founder program exclusives including:

120,000 + 25% Bonus RTP to Spend in the Rogue Trader for a total of 150,000 points
Pre-Launch Game Access – First come, first serve!
Early Game Module Access – Initial Access – First Wave
Limited Edition Banner
Arkhona Vanguard Title
Exclusive Founder Lounge Access in Forum
Reserve Character Name
Reserve Guild Name

 

NOTE: For now, Founder packs will only be for PC versions of the game.

 

 

Now this is £70.80 or $120.00

Yes Captain pack owners start in the first of the three phases of Early Access roll out, but what else?
Well honestly, not much that I (or Digmbot) can see looking at the webpage

Now I admit, we’re AT LEAST a year away from release, but am I tempted to buy a founders pack?

Yes, but not the main factions, instead, I’ll be buying the £5.00 Ork founders pack instead

You can see all the founders pack options here

So, I’m still really interested in the game, I’ve been following Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade for ages now and what Behaviour Interactive has shown so far is looking promising, but the pricing is a worry