The week in gaming news - Dec. 14
This is the news
Its been a tumultuous week in video game new this week. YouTube has delivered a catastrophic blow to video game bloggers with new copyright tech, Microsoft is once again locked in government snooping controversy, and the first new-gen console sales figures rolled in to kick off the new console war. Which console came out on top?
If you missed any of that, youre in the right place. This is GamesRadars roundup of all biggest headlines that rippled through the internet over the past week, including Telltale new game announcements, new trailers for 2014's biggest titles and a first look at an impressive new indie game.
Walking Dead developer Telltale games is very busy
Telltales Games is going to be hive of very busy people in the coming few years. Its got its much-anticipated The Walking Dead Season 2 to complete, and recently added its new series, Fables: The Wolf Among Us. But it seems that wasnt enough work for the developer, which has lumped not one but TWO major new projects onto its To-Do list.
The studio last weekend revealed Tales From the Borderlands (opens in new tab), a spin-off of Gearbox Softwares much loved franchise, and a Game of Thrones episodic game (opens in new tab). Nothing was shown of either game, presumably because theyre both still in the earliest stages of development. But heres everything we know about Tales from the Borderlands (opens in new tab).
Indie game steals the spotlight from Titanfall and Destiny
If you managed to grin a bear the perpetual awkwardness of Spike TVs VGX event last Saturday, your steely resilience will have been rewarded with a fair few stellar trailers. Our colleagues at CVG covered the whole show, so if you missed it, heres where youll find the videos.
Two trailers of the much-anticipated Respawn debut game Titanfall were shown (opens in new tab), revealing new Ogre and Stryder Titans. The Witcher 3 put on another amazing performance (opens in new tab) with new in-game footage. Bungie teased us all with new gameplay footage of Destiny (opens in new tab). But perhaps the game that stole the show was indie developer Hello Games ambitious procedural space exploration epic, No Mans Sky (opens in new tab). If it turns out half as good as it looked we could have a sleeper hit on our hands. A roundup of all the shows news is here (opens in new tab).
Microsoft unaware of government snooping on Xbox Live
Microsoft told CVG that if the government is snooping around on Xbox Live, it knows nothing about. This after new reports that US and UK spy agencies have targeted the Xbox service, as well as major gaming portals like World of Warcraft, as part of its efforts to uncover terrorist activities.
"We're not aware of any surveillance activity," said a Microsoft spokesperson (opens in new tab), denying all knowledge of any NSA surveillance on Xbox customers. "If it has occurred as reported, it certainly wasn't done with our consent," they added. Microsoft later announced it has implemented new features to boost security (opens in new tab) for Microsoft account holders.
PS4 wins the first sales race
Microsoft announced on Wednesday that it had sold two million Xbox One units in its first 18 days (opens in new tab) on sale, marking an excellent start to life for the new console. But, unfortunately for Microsoft, that wasnt the big sales-related headline of the week.
Industry tracking firm NPD Group confirmed on Thursday that the PS4 was the top-selling console in North America (opens in new tab) in November--the debut month for both Microsoft and Sonys new consoles. Strong launches for both machines, along with continued success for 3DS, pushed NA hardware sales up 58 per cent year-on-year. But with only around 220,000 units sold in the month--despite Black Friday sales and Christmas looming--the Wii U continues to see disappointing performance at retail.
All hell breaks lose as YouTube culls game video monetization
YouTubers who earn a living posting video game footage or Lets Plays were left in a state of despair this week after the Google-owned website launched new copyright detection tech that promptly issued mass copyright flags on video game content (opens in new tab).
Copyright flags on a video essentially removes monetization rights for that video from its uploader. Meanwhile, several major game publishers including Blizzard, Capcom, Ubisoft, Valve and Deep Silver among others, have spoken in defense of affected YouTubers, clarifying that theyre not directly responsible for the copyright flags, and pledging to resolve disputes on videos featuring their IPs. In an official statement, YouTube invited users to dispute invalid Content ID claims (opens in new tab).
Fallout 4 is happening, claims yet another leak report
That other Fallout 4 thing? Yeah, that was totally a hoax. Some guy actually spent hundreds of dollars to fool you (us) all. Hilarious. No, this new Fallout 4 report--this is no joke. Documents from an alleged Fallout 4 casting call have apparently found their way into the wild.
They reveal, well, not much really; A few character names they may not even appear in the final game, and a mission you may never play. But they do apparently heavily tip a Boston, Massachusetts setting for the new--and still unannounced--game. Unsurprisingly, Bethesda refused to play ball. "We don't comment on rumor and speculation," said a company spokesperson.
Thats all folks
That concludes our roundup of this weeks heavy-hitters, but if there are any other stories that got you all riled up, feel free to discuss them in the comments below. Or you could just get into a heated console war debate over the first monthly sales results. Because, you know, fanboy rants are always fun to read.
Looking for more next-gen debate? Check out our pick of the Best PS4 Games (opens in new tab) so far, and the franchises that should be resurrected on the PS4 (opens in new tab).