Grave Gamer News & Views — fps

New DLC Has Snoop Dogg Narrating Call of Duty: Ghosts Matches; “It’s the Coolest Game in the Hood” Apparently

Well, in just about the best news I’ve heard in 2014, a new personalization pack for Activision’s annual cash-in, Call of Duty: Ghosts, allows you to replace the multiplayer narrator with – and I am in no way shitting you – hip-hop legend Snoop Dogg’s smooth-as-thousand-dollar-velvet voice.

I’m uncertain what brought us to this reality. I understand micro-content; it makes sense for a corporation to further monetize their top selling product. I get that. And I understand personalization tweaks; for a few bucks, you can download weapon skins so people who don’t instinctively double-tap out of the Kill-Cam can see they were murdered by someone with style.

But Snoop to the Dee Oh Double Gee Dogg? Saying shit like “Squad Member active – a brother from another mother” and “Yeeahh, crizz-ay” during an online match? This is a stroke of idiotic genius. It’s completely stupid, yet I will purchase the voice-over pack with less hesitation than I’d have saving my own child from drowning. Just watch this video and try not to smile. Just fucking try.

Ghosts is a rather dry product – admittedly the least amount of fun I’ve had plugging into this series since Call of Duty 3 – butlittle stunts like adding Michael Myers and the goddamn Predator into the game provide the necessary flavoring that stops me from ejecting this vanilla wafer entry out of my collection.

The Snoop Dogg Voice-Over Pack, obviously trumping The Last of Us’ Left Behind expansion as the most emotionally affecting piece of DLC this year, releases April 22nd on Xbox platforms, priced at $2.99.

Witness the Rise of Handsome Jack in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel

Strap on your spacesuits and reload your guns – you aren’t on Pandora anymore, kids.

2K Games and Gearbox President Randy “The Man” Pitchford have turned rumor into fact this morning by announcing Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. Before you sharpen your Pitchford pitchforks over Randy’s firm statement that Borderlands 3 wasn’t in development (and it still isn’t), here’s a little context:

Borderlands 3 will happen, says Pitchford, but it’ll be a next-gen affair chasing after bigger, bolder design goals. The Pre-Sequel, on the other hand, is built on the Borderlands 2 engine and is meant to cater to the massive install base found on PS3, 360, and PC.

The Pre-Sequel, as it’s so oddly but, for this series, fittingly labeled, is plopped snugly between the time our first Vault Hunters cracked open the vault in Borderlands 1 and when our new heroes led a resistance against the sociopathic, goblin-faced Handsome Jack in the second game. It’s a sequel to 1 and a prequel to 2, ya follow? “Mid-quel”? I don’t know what you’re saying and, frankly, your made up word offends me. Moving on.

This go around, your battlefield has been moved from the wastelands of Pandora to the low-gravity, nil-oxygen moon orbiting the planet. Your team, as usual, is a rag-tag outfit of personalities, each possessing skills unique to their class. Instead of a group of vigilante Vault Hunters, however, this “new” cast serves under a way less murder-y Handsome Jack, Hyperion’s leader. While never-before playable, Borderlands fans should already know this lineup of characters.

Athena, a Crimson Lance soldier formerly seen in the DLC The Secret Armory of General Knoxx, returns as your “Gladiator” class. Her shtick? The ability to kinetically propel a shield at her enemies for high damage. The shield, once upgraded, can either serve you defensively or offensively, depending on your tastes.

Nisha, the “Lawbringer,” puts in her time as her boyfriend’s pistol carrying right hand before residing as Lynchwood’s oppressive, tortuous sheriff.

Wilhelm, Jack’s “Enforcer,” brings experience and brutality to the team. At this point in time, he hasn’t gone all Borg yet; mechanical augmentation can be seen, but he’s a far cry from the hulking, robotic monstrosity he ends up becoming in BL2. 

Finally, Claptrap rounds out the cast in his first playable role in the series. Yes, it really is the annoying, dancing robot you ally yourself with by the second game. Yes, his perspective is only a couple of feet off of the ground. Claptrap will be your “Fragtrap” class, whatever that could entail.

As a heads up, Gearbox Software is not developing The Pre-Sequel themselves – 2K Australia will be handling that job. Already, they have interesting ideas that Randy himself says are impressively fun (low-gravity gunplay does seem thoroughly enjoyable). It’s not Borderlands 3, sure. But, upshot, it is more Borderlands, and I love me some Borderlands.

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is set to launch sometime later in 2014. Check out the official gameplay reveal right here.

What’s Next for Titanfall?

Respawn Entertainment’s community manager, Abbie Heppe, dropped some subtle hints to IGN about what players can come to expect, and not expect, from their mech-centric online shooter’s still brewing DLC.

For starters, if you were hoping to clamor aboard any titan models besides the three available on-disc, Abbie’s about to crush your dreams like a mech flattening a pilot. It seems appeasing you mecha fetishists out there – Wikipedia says I should call you technosexuals but that makes you sound like you get off to Moby – could possibly endanger the game’s stability.

“In order to [add a Titan] it takes so much balancing to make all the Titan abilities work with each other, and then against pilots. It’s a huge undertaking,” Heppe divulged. “Originally we just had the Atlas titans and then the team refused to add in the rest of the Titans until we were all sure that that one fitted perfectly with everything else in the game, so… I’m not announcing any new Titans right now!”

Spot-on balancing has been the cornerstone area of praise in almost every positive review Titanfall garnered since dropping from the stratosphere and into stores Tuesday. Not impossible to add new titan units, but not a task the dev team is anxious to jump at this soon after launch.

What we may see instead in future DLC are more of the exotic aliens indigenous to the battlefield IMC and Militia soldiers wage war upon. “We’re trying to give players as much of a varied look at things as we can so that is definitely a possibility,” said Heppe.

Once Titanfall is successfully released in its projected territories, the Respawn team will shift focus to free updates that’ll pad the game with additional features and modes. Downloadable content, the marquee of which is brand new maps, will follow.

Afterwards, what of sequels? Will Sony consoles see the first-person grace of Titanfall? IGN asked and Heppe “answered.”

“Vince, our CEO, has come out and said that while we’re exclusive for this game, it doesn’t limit us regarding console exclusivity for any of the future things we do.”

What a very exciting future that could be indeed. In the meanwhile, excuse me while throttle my PS4 until it learns to read X1 discs.

Booze, Mechs, and Texas: The Red Herb at Titanfall’s Launch Party

So us members of the Glitch crew gained access to the Titanfall launch party held in Austin. I’d like to send a very warm thank you to Annie and Phil Spencer for making that magic happen, especially on such wickedly short notice. By the way, absolutely lovely meeting you and I hope you enjoy the shirts (they bought them, of course; no one was bribed despite my unwholesome, checkered past of bartering in cloth).

Quite the eventful evening, all in all. After closing up SXSW’s Gaming Expo on Sunday, we were lucky enough to be the last group to get into the Game of Thrones Exhibition held at Austin Music Hall. Fantastic shit. We saw props, wardrobes, and an assortment of art relating to the best show you’ll ever put your eyes to. Didn’t get to sit on the iron throne but that’s okay; Westeros will be mine in time.

Trekking by foot from the music hall to the unexpectedly snug club the launch party was held at, we were met by a half-mile accordion of people lined up around the block. The event was open to the public but I’ll be damned if I can see how much more than those waiting at the tip-top of the line ever got in. The club was filled to the brim with VIP attendees as it was.

Your eyes didn’t have to travel far to spot a who’s who of industry figureheads. Larry Hryb, Xbox Live’s very own “Major Nelson,” was bouncing from conversation to conversation; Bonus Round’s Geoff Keighley was lounging about; and I’m confident I saw Respawn’s Vince Zampella vincing around.

The club was lined by several smooth and bright monitors, each accompanied by a sealed Xbox One unit, a corded headset (a Triton, if my memory doesn’t fail me) that swanky custom controller, and housing a full-on retail copy of Titanfall. You had a few guests lording over some stations – like one kid, who, either insanely or devotedly, spent his day waiting in line from 10 A.M. up until 9 P.M. when the doors opened – but most would throw down a match (or three) and allow the closest spectator to hop on.

It wasn’t long before I got my chance behind the wheel. Before the party, I’ve never played the game. Let me be curt: Titanfall is the truth. If there were ever a game capable of slamming Call of Duty into the ground, Titanfall is qualified for the job. It’s fast, engaging, and once that unfamiliar honeymoon stage learning the controller and the game’s quirks is gotten past, it plays like a goddamn charm.

Master Chief Unofficially Confirms Halo 2 Anniversary

Remember that massive list of Xbox related leaks that hit the web oh not so long ago? The one that seemed too good to be true yet, suspiciously, Microsoft was lawyering up over? Welp, another bullet point rumor has seemingly come true.

Steve Downes, the gravelly voice behind our beloved Master Chief’s helmet for nearly thirteen years now, says we’ll be seeing a Halo 2 Anniversary Edition released later this year, as prophesied in the leak. Unfortunately, we’re getting the remake in lieu of a proper sequel to Halo 4.

In a yet to be posted interview with GameZone, the sometimes DJ, sometimes savior of the Earth commented on 343 Industries’ next installment saying, “I think you may be ahead of yourself on Halo 5. I wouldn’t expect anything until 2015.” However, “What you can look forward to this year is an anniversary edition of Halo 2.”

It fits. This year does indeed mark the tenth anniversary of Halo 2 (my god, I need to start getting serious about my will). Mr. Downes didn’t specify which system(s) we’d see the remake on, but according to that rumor monster of a list, we should expect it out on Microsoft’s latest and greatest, the Xbox One.

Giving more credence to the leak, Downes also backs up Halo 5’s slip into 2015 (the Big M originally was dead set on pumping out Chief’s new adventure in ‘14).

I’m obligated by the journalistic gods to inform you none of this information is official. But seriously. If you’re not going to believe Halo news straight out of Master Chief’s mouth, what’s it going to take?

UPDATE: IGN took a minute to reach out to Steve Downes about his revealing quote. His reply? That GameZone misquoted him. Downes claims he merely said he heard some rumblings online about there possibly being a Halo 2 Anniversary and that he didn’t intend on implying he had any inside info in the least.

Oh, well. Rumor debunked, internet. But brake your warthogs, Spartans. IGN was then emailed the original interview that took place between the Chief and GameZone. Low and behold, Downes’ spiel about online rumors and this “possibly” talk are nowhere in sight. Curiouser and curiouser. Consider this rumor… bunked still?