Grave Gamer News & Views — rumor

High Seas Swashbuckling Revealed in Leaked Assassin’s Creed IV Poster?

The curious piece of supposed marketing you see above may be our first sneaking glimpse at the next installment of Assassin’s Creed.

Sent in to Kotaku by a daring reader, the poster, if legitimate, confirms the game’s title as Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and the artwork – which many are positing is by Todd McFarlane’s hand for no other reason than it just resembles his style – not-so-subtly suggests pirates of the “Yo-Ho” variety are a focal point of the story.  The marketing is alleged to start circulating stores by March 4th.

Ubisoft recently revealed that we’d see a sequel sometime before March 2014 and, unlike the chain of spin-offs featuring Ezio after ACII, would revolve around a brand new assassin instead of ACIII’s Conner (sorry, brother).  While its protagonist may be bucked from the spotlight, one would figure Assassin’s Creed III’s surprisingly fun naval warfare can find a more fitting home in the seemingly pirate populated ACIV.

More to ponder, it’s interesting to see Ubisoft pump out another numbered title so soon considering it was once promised a hard number wouldn’t be present unless the game in question significantly advanced the series’ concept.  How significant of an evolution can Black Flag make with an impending March announcement given that ACIII just hit shelves last October?

Who the hell are we kidding?  This is obviously an elaborate hoax perpetrated by Todd McFarlane.

Aliens: Colonial Marines Tester Sheds Light on the Game’s Dark History

Hardly a week since its release the internet has been swept up by the behind-the-scenes controversy encircling Gearbox Software’s licensed abomination, Aliens: Colonial Marines.

Following the anonymous allegation that Gearbox outsourced the majority of the title to different studios, namely TimeGate Studios (Section 8, F.E.A.R. Files), a recently yanked Reddit AMA with a “confirmed” Sega employed tester has been brought to light.  Obviously breaking their non-disclosure agreement in two, user “soetester” not only says Colonial Marines was handed over to TimeGate early on, but also claims Gearbox was using Sega’s Aliens financing to secretly fund both Borderlands installments.

More shocking, soetester says the title didn’t degrade from the promising E3 2012 demo that sent fans’ hopes skyward.  In fact, the tester alleges Sega never got their hands on anything like that demo, that the gameplay shown wasn’t even running on Unreal 3 (like the final game), and lambasts the footage as “100% false advertising.”

While the AMA was removed – giving it an air of inadvertent legitimacy – you can still view a capture of the session here.  Below are some highlights:

• The game wasn’t released under the pretense it was anything more than awful.  By the time Gearbox turned its attention on it “the damage was done.”
• Sega only received it to test in the middle of last year.  Unwilling to delay it further (and lose more money), the game released as you see it today.
• soetester posits Sega may take legal action against Gearbox.
• The Wii U version may very well be “the worst” of them all.  Framerate issues, slow texture loading, and poorly conceived GamePad mini-games may keep the Wii U A:CM from seeing the light of day.
• Gearbox “did much more of the game than [TimeGate]” evidently.  soetester admits TimeGate’s contribution left the game in a horrid state, though.
• Cutscenes better explaining some of the game’s shittier plot choices were cut; interactive parts of the game including a proper, playable introduction to the marines and the Sephora were folded into cutscenes.
• In response to how much the tester enjoyed the game: “I hate it.”
  

In more hopeful news, the Sega tester also claims they’ve seen a build of Creative Assembly’s Alien game which is intended for next-gen hardware.  The tester says their game’s shaping up to be dark, atmospheric, and “slow paced (in a good way)."  I think after this disaster, the gaming public would openly embrace more horror and less horrible.

If you need another stern warning against Colonial Marines, check out my review.

Resident Evil Revelations Console Bound?

In order to retain the blog’s name, my lawyers inform me I’m legally contracted to write about Resident Evil whenever it makes a blip in the news.  As my legal representation figures it, I have 1,468 articles left to write pertaining to RE before Capcom allows me ownership over The Red Herb with impunity (make that 1,467 as of now!).  All righty, let’s give her the old college try for the umpteenth time:

According to a listing recently made by the Korean Ratings Board, Resident Evil Revelations – one of the better reasons to spring for a 3DS and possibly the scariest entry in Capcom’s modern Resi lineup – has been rated for both the PS3 and Xbox 360, hinting at a console release for the once handheld exclusive.  The listing holds the potential of being a mistake, but the NeoGaf forum user that brought light on this news mentions that in addition to already having an existing rating for Revelations on the 3DS, the Korean Ratings Board has definitely leaked games before (such as the DMC HD Collection and Dragonball Z for Kinect), effectively beating publishers to the announcement punch.

Naturally, this is completely unconfirmed, but “Capcom” and “re-release” tends to reserve the same spot in gamers’ minds all the same.  I doubt we’ll see a full-on retail disc (both Resident Evil 4 HD and Code: Veronica X HD skipped out on stores and went straight to digital), but at the right price and with some hi-definition upscaling, Revelations would be perfect for PSN and Xbox Live Arcade.  Feeling burned by the series’ focus on bullets over scares?  Resident Evil Revelations comes at a high recommendation for survival horror fanatics that preferred running from boulders in days of yore instead of punching the shit out of them (ten more boulder-punching references and the company sends me a mug).

The Biggest, Most Ambitious Zelda Title Ever Coming to the Wii U in 2014?

According to Wii U Daily’s anonymous source (a repeat tipster that claims to be apart of Nintendo Japan’s operations), we won’t be seeing a next-gen Legend of Zelda until sometime in 2014.  Why such a long wait for the Wii U successor, especially after that fanciful tech demo that debuted at last year’s E3?

For one – despite how impressive it was to behold – that tech demo isn’t being used; it wasn’t even crafted by Wii U Zelda’s team.  Secondly, this new title (rumored to be on the drawing board as early as 2010) is a massive undertaking, pegged as the largest production in the company’s history comprising of a team of hundreds led by Skyward Sword’s director Eiji Aonuma.  Wii U Daily’s source calls it “a huge investment in money and manpower” adding that “this is Rockstar/GTA territory” in terms of scope.

There’s a bevvy of information on this unnamed Wii U Zelda to be had hereabouts, but I’ll laundry list the most prominent details:

• Wii U’s Zelda is humungous.  The source claims the game wouldn’t be possible if not for the console’s optical discs and their 25GB storage capacity.
• The game will feature roughly the same amount of dungeons as previous entries, but their size is awe inspiring.  One dungeon is described as literally a forest greater in length than Ocarina’s Hyrule Field.
• Taking into account the increased girth, some dungeons have been segmented.  These uber dungeons are said to take hours to complete.
• The title will of course play host to HD graphics “with the most advanced visual features Nintendo has ever made."  The game’s engine is being built from the ground up and actually utilizes a lot of third party tech for physics effects and rendering.
• However, it’s imperative to note that the designers are not going for realism in their visuals (like the "Just a Tech Demo” tech demo).  At Nintendo’s behest, Wii U Zelda will have a visual art style on par with Skyward Sword so as to stay true to the “core values of Zelda.”
• It may be dangerous, but you’re going to have to go it alone.  No form of multiplayer will be present in the game nor is the notion even being toyed around with.  There may be online functionality with Miiverse, but only as far as exchanging hints with friends.  The online component “is not a big priority” for the development staff at this point.
• Rather than being created with the Wii U’s GamePad in mind, the GamePad may have actually been molded with this particular Zelda in mind.  At least one major feature was brought to the controller only because the development team “figured out they could do something cool with it.”
• As such, the entire game revolves around the GamePad’s use, each dungeon supposedly offering a unique gameplay experience with the tablet controller.  “Every single feature in the controller is used to its full potential.”

The anonymous source goes on to promise Wii U Daily that this new Zelda packs one fantastic feature after another, predicting that its innovations will be copied for years to come.

It all sounds too good to be true, and what with rumors being rumors, that could exactly be the case here.  A magnificent, well told lie if nothing else.  But if this really is our first sneak peek at Nintendo’s grandest, most ambitious Legend of Zelda to date…It’s a crying shame for the Wii U that it’ll be another two years before this game makes the console an absolute must-have.

Next Skyrim DLC, “Hearthfire,” Turns You into a Real Estate Tycoon?

The winds traveled the news to us a short while ago that Bethesda had trademarked the name “Hearthfire” pertaining to the Elder Scrolls license, leading fans to suspect a DLC follow-up to Dawnguard was on the way.

Once again thanks to the leaky well of information that is Reddit, we’re rumored to have our first synopsis detailing Heartfire. For the story driven, it’s probably not quite what you expect:

Hearthfire, the next official game-add on for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, has arrived. For the first time in the Elder Scrolls universe, purchase land and build your own home from the ground up – from a simple one-room cottage to a sprawling compound complete with armory, alchemy laboratory, trophy room, and more! With Hearthfire, the possibilities of what you can build are endless.

Hmm, well there goes all that speculation pegging Hearthfire as a potential in for a zombie infested add-on similar to Red Dead’s Undead Nightmare or Borderland’s Zombie Island of Dr. Ned.  Sure, I wanted to Dragon Shout waves of the undead into a massive, red pulp but, uh, this is good, too.  Can’t wait to accessorize the shit out of my dungeon, I guess.

Of course, Bethesda has yet to comment or announce anything solid.  This could very well be a clever misguide or outright bull.  And with Dawnguard an absolute no-show on the PS3 (still), it’s going to be some time before we get around to whatever Hearthfire ends up being…fantasy-world real estate simulator or not.

UPDATE: Count this one as true.  Bethesda has announced the home improvement focused Hearthfire will be available for download through Xbox Live on September 4th.  It’ll set you back 400 MS for any of you would-be, virtual Bob Vila’s.  No announcement has been made regarding a PC or PS3 release.