Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Announced

Gearbox Software and 2K Australia have announced Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, a standalone game for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. It is currently being developed by 2K Australia in collaboration with Gearbox.

This DLC will be set between the events of Borderlands 1 and 2. The Pre-Sequel lets players get to grips with a fresh set of characters; Athena the Gladiator, Wilhelm the Enforcer, Nisha the Lawbringer and Claptrap the Fragtrap. People who have played the games will probably recognise those names. They will all work for Handsome Jack, the antagonist from Borderlands 2.

Athena was an NPC in the The Secret Armory of General Knoxx add-on for the original Borderlands. She’s an assassin for Atlas’ private military force, The Crimson Lance.

Wilhelm originally appeared as a robotic boss in Borderlands 2, however, in The Pre-Sequel he’s a human, to start with. As you fill his skill tree, he becomes increasingly cybernetic until, when the tree is complete, he should resemble the robot you faced off against in the previous game.

The story is about Handsome Jack’s rise to power. In the new game, Jack has been thrown off the moon’s base by Hyperion. Starting the game as a man with good intentions, The Pre-Sequel will show how Handsome Jack turned nasty and eventually became who he is in Borderlands 2.

The game won't be exclusively set on Pandora’s moon. However ,it will be where a big portion of the game plays out.

“One of the things that has been sorta taunting us as we played though all of the Borderlands games is the moon that’s always been up there in the sky and that moon base. We’re finally going to get up there, we’re gonna go to the moon. We’re gonna go up to that moon base and see a side of the universe that we’ve never seen before.”

— Gearbox President Randy Pitchford

The new setting facilitates a major new addition to the game: oxygen as a resource. Most simply oxygen is something you’ll need when you venture out onto the surface of the moon, in order to keep breathing. But there’s some more interesting applications too.

One of these relates to gravity. On the surface of the moon players can make huge, slow leaps into the air - leaps that can be extended with the use of a jetpack. Players are also able to ground pound, leaping up and then slamming down to take out multiple enemies with an area of effect attack. 

One of the new elements in The Pre-Sequel is ice. Called Cryo Effect in the game, Pitchford said Gearbox had been discussing whether the element should be included for years, but when 2K Australia got hold of it they said, “F**k it. We wanted ice bullets, so we’re gonna make ice bullets!”

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is set for a "Fall 2014" release.

GTA V Spring Updates to Include Heists

Rockstar shared some details on a few of the many Grand Theft Auto Online updates to be added throughout the spring and beyond. Here's a brief rundown of some of the new content, features, and enhancements that players can expect to see in the months to come.

Capture Creator: Coming next week, the Creator community will be able to make their own original customised Capture Jobs and add to the over 3.5 million (and counting) player-created Deathmatches and Races currently available on Social Club. Players can strategically place pick-ups, define weaponry, set location, and tweak tons of other variables to make their own unique Capture Job for others to take on. We will also be reviewing homemade Capture creations to stamp standout experiences as Rockstar Verified.

The High Life Update: The High Life Update will allow players to expand their foothold in Los Santos with new high-end apartment options, the powerful Bullpup Rifle, new wardrobe items, the Dinka Thrust motorcycle and three new lavish cars to choose from, including the Super class Pegassi Zentorno. The High Life Update will also feature the debut of multi-property ownership in GTA Online, which means players will be able to own two distinct properties (with garages) simultaneously. All this plus the new Mental State player statistic, which is designed to let players see just how passive or psychotically unhinged fellow players in their session really are, and a slew of new Jobs.

Heists: Coming this spring to Grand Theft Auto Online, players can team up with their most trusted Crew members or with random other mercenaries in Grand Theft Auto Online to pull off cooperative Heist Missions for glory and profit. Stay tuned for much more information to come.                                                     

And later this year, look for even more additions to both Grand Theft Auto Online and Grand Theft Auto V, including more holiday-themed updates, some very exciting Story Mode DLC and much more.

In upcoming Title Updates and via dynamic tuning, players can expect:

·         The addition of a 'Non-Contact' option for Races. This will allow you to play standard Races with collisions disabled between player vehicles. Other players will appear as semi-transparent and you'll still be able to collide with non-player traffic, structures and other scenery, but this mode - for those who want to play it - will eliminate the "rubbing is racing" mentality that some wish to avoid.

·         Players will be able to call Lester and have him tell his cop buddies to turn a blind eye to any crime you may or may not be committing for a short period of time.

·         As a reward for players who leave feedback on Jobs, there will be some bonus RP granted every time a player likes or dislikes content after playing it.

·         GTA$ payouts will be increased when completing Parachute, Races, Deathmatches and LTS Jobs with less than 4 players.

·         As part of Rockstar's ongoing commitment to target cheaters and keep the game as fair as possible, they are closing RP exploits and will be adjusting the RP totals of players who we know for certain to have gained illegitimate RP by cheating. Your RP will only be adjusted if you participated in mods, hacks, DNS redirects, manipulation of cloud files, or other similarly nefarious behavior. If you grinded short legitimate missions or otherwise gained a small amount of RP without modding, your RP should not be affected by this correction.

·         Rockstar will be fixing the issue where players who had upgraded personal vehicles prior to Title Update 1.10 were only able to sell them for $10,000.

All Pokémon Locations on Google Maps

As part of April Fools, Google Maps has received an update which has put 150 Pokémon on Google Maps. You can actually capture these by going to the set locations and tapping on them. You then click the capture button in the bottom of the screen and congratulations, you're a Pokémon trainer.

Please keep in mind that you can only do this from your mobile device!

1. Absol at F.D.R. Golf Club

2. Aegislash at Montevideo

3. Aggron at National Food Authority, Manila

4. Ampharos East of Pokelab (click Search, then click return to Pokelab)
5. Audino is near Charing Cross Road, London
6. Banette at Milan
7. Bayleef North of Pokelab (click Search, then click return to Pokelab)

8. Beautifly is at Puerto Ayora, Ecuador  (Northeast of Pokemon Lab building)

9. Blastoise at Galapagos - Isla Santa Cruz (East Coast) - zoom in really close to the water
10. Blaziken North of Tokyo Tower
11. Braixen at Diamond Head, Honolulu

12. Buizel at Charleston Slough, Mountain View (zoom 500ft)

13. Bulbasaur at West of Googleplex
14. Buneary is at the Statue of Liberty
15. Bunnelby at West of Roppongi
16. Chandelure at Tower of London
17. Charmander at Sydney Observetory
18. Charmeleon at Isla Fernandina (Zoom in really close on the North Western part of the mountain)

19. Charizard at Mount Yasur

20. Chatot just west of the Sydney Opera House
21. Chesnaught at Bird Safari Regent's Park, London
22. Chespin at Kuritsu Kashinomiya Park

23. Chikorita at Bedwell Bayfront Park

24. Chimchar at Mount Kilimanjaro alpine service

25. Cofagrigus at Bran Castle, Bran

26. Combee East of Parliament of New South Wales

27. Combusken at far north of Mt. St. Helens

28. Croagunk at East of Parliament of New South Wales

29. Croconaw at Lake Lagunita

30. Cubchoo at The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise (In Lake)

31. Cyndaquil at Sakurajima, Kagoshima, Japan (East of Mt. Ontake, in the cloud, zoom)

32. Dedenne at Nintendo Japan

33. Deerling at Roppongi
34. Delphox at Saitama
35. Dewott at Niagara Falls
36. Donphan at The Alamo
37. Dragonite is at the Pokémon Company, Seattle
38. Eevee at Yankee Stadium
39. Emboar at Odessa Meteor Crater, TX, USA
40. Emolga West of Pokelab (click Search, then click return to Pokelab)

41. Emopoleon at Sutro Baths, San Francisco

42. Espeon at South East of CERN
43. Fennekin at Ushuaia
44. Feraligatr at Pulu Blan Cocos (Keeling) Islands

45. Ferrothorn at Asukayama Park, Tokyo

46. Flareon - Sydney (Kirby Walk)
47. Froakie at South Charles Darwin Research Station
48. Frogadier at The Bellagio
49. Garchomp at East Great Wall
50. Gengar is at the Nelson Atkins
51. Glaceon - Mount Everest
52. Gogoat at Minato Park, Chiba
53. Goodra near Luxembourg Gardens
54. Greninja at West of The Alamo

55. Grotle at Kasairinkaikoen Station

56. Grovyle at far South of Sydney Observatory
57. Gyrados at Tel Aviv, Isreal

58. Haxorus at Taronga Zoo Sydney

59. Helioptile is at the Eiffel Tower, Paris

60. Heracross at Ulaanbaatar

61. HootHoot at JFK International Airport
62. Hydreigon at Louvre Museum
63. Infernape is North of Kinkakuji Temple, Kyoto
64. Inkay at East of Sydney Observatory

65. Ivysaur at Japanese Tea Garden, San Francisco

66. Jigglypuff at South of Sydney Observatory
67. Jolteon at Spasskaya Tower
68. Joltik - Googleplex
69. Kecleon at the Stadium Santiago Bernabeu
70. Kirlia at North-West of Area 51, Nevada
71. Lapras at Lake Mendota (Zoom in)

72. Leafeon at Setagaya Park, Tokyo

73. Lotad South West of Three Palace Sanctuaries Tokyo
74. Lucario at Shibuya station
75. Luxray and two others at Googleplex in Mountain View, California

76. Mamoswine at Whistler Mountain, BC (South)

77. Marill at Crater Lake

78. Marshtomp at Little Manly Cove

79. Mawile at the Palace of Versailles
80. Meganium at the White House
81. Meowstic (Female) and Helioptile at 1 Infinite Loop
82. Meowstic (Male) is at South St. John's Smith Square in London
83. Meowth at Sydney Observatory
84. Metagross at South of Pokelab (click Search, then click return to Pokelab)

85. Minccino at Saint-Gervais Church, Paris

86. Milotic South West of Kyuinao Shrine, Tokyo

87. Miltank at Arc de Triomphe, Paris

88. Minun at Google San Francisco

89. Monferno - East of Nagashio Hospital

90. Mudkip at North Johnstons Creek East Path
91. Munchlax at the Empire State Building, New York City
92. Munna at West Vauxhall Station in London
93. Noivern in Oslo, Norway
94. Oshawott in Singapore Bay
95. Pachirisu in Bletchley Park
96. Pancham at Bran Castle, Bran
97. Pichu at CERN Building 868
98. Pidgey is in Toronto at the CN Tower

99. Pidove at Anchorage Airport (west of marker, on lower runway)

100. Pignite at Meteor Crater, AZ, USA

101. Pikachu is over at Tokyo Tower, Tokyo

102. Piplup at South Basin, San Francisco

103. Plusle- McMurdo Station, Antartica
104. Porygon - Copacabana

105. Prinplup at North Basin, San Francisco

106. Psyduck at Pike Place
107. Pumpkaboo is at Red Square, Moscow

108. Quilava at Monaco

109. Quilladin at Boronia Park South Wales

110. Raichu at Cafe du Monde in New Orleans.
111. Rotom at Rockefeller Center, New York City
112. Sableye near La Fayette, Paris
113. Salamance at 16th Street and 8th Ave in New York City
114. Samurott at East of Sydney Observatory

115. Sceptile at Cocos Island, Puntarenas

116. Scizor at North of Austin

117. Scraggy at Alcatraz

118. Serperior at Central Park

119. Servine at Royal Observatory Greenwich, UK

120. Snivy at Rockefeller Garden, Jerusalem

121. Snorlax at The Vatican

122. Spiritomb at Catacombs de Paris

123. Spritzee at the Ghibli museum
124. Squirtly at Grand Hyatt Tokyo
125. Staraptor is at the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco

126. Steelix at Germantown, Ann Arbor

127. Stunfisk is at Marchena on Galápagos Islands (Zoom In Really Close)
128. Sudowoodo is at Pinta on Galápagos Islands (Zoom In Really Close)

129. Swampert at Alan Davidson Oval (south east)

130. Swirlix at West of Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin
131. Sylveon at Central Park
132. Taillow at Kathmandu
133. Talonflame Far East of the Grand Hyatt Tokyo

134. Tepig at Bordeaux, France

135. Togepi at Sagrada Familia, Barcelona
136. Torchic is at mount Vesuvius
137. Torterra Far South of the Grand Hyatt Tokyo
138. Totodile is in the Hoover Dam

139. Treecko at Gas Works Park

140. Turtwig at Parque Nacional do Jaú  (2 mile zoom)

141. Typhlosion - Krakatoa, Indonesia

142. Tyranitar is at Pompeii, Italy

143. Umbreon at Amazon Theatre, Brazil

144. Unown at West of Area 51, Nevada
145. Vaporeon - The Palm Jumeira
146. Venusaur at Alberta Legislature

147. Wailord at The Little Mermaid, Denmark

148. Wartortle North of Coloseum in Rome
149. Wobbuffet in Glasgow
150. Zoroark at Hotel Andreas Tulum (South of Marker)

April's Games with Gold Announced

This months Xbox 360 Games with Gold have been announced for Xbox Live Gold subscribers.

Hitman: Absolution and Deadlight are the two free games in April for Xbox Live Gold members, Microsoft announced today.

Beginning April 1, Hitman: Absolution will become free until April 15. Hitman: Absolution is a Square Enix-published game from 2012. We actually have a walkthrough of the Hitman: Absolution series, so feel free to check that out here. 

Starting April 16, Deadlight will take the place of Hitman: Absolution, and staying free through April 30. Deadlight launched in 2012 for Xbox Live Arcade.

Remember that only Xbox 360 users are able to download and play Hitman: Absolution and Deadlight for free via Xbox Live Gold. If the games are downloaded during their free two-week time period, players can keep them and play forever, regardless if they stay subscribed to Xbox Live Gold.

As for Xbox One owners, Microsoft plans on launching Games with Gold for the recently released home console this year. 

Minecraft Xbox/PS3 Edition Title Update 14 Out Now

The long awaited Title Update 14 for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 is out now on Xbox 360 and PS3.

The Xbox One and Playstation 4 editions are being worked on now, but there are no proper release date yet. Below is the full change log for TU14:

New Items:

-Emerald
-Emerald Ore
-Block of Emerald
-Ender Chest
-Tripwire Hook
-Enchanted Golden Apple
-Anvil
-Flower Pot
-Cobblestone Walls
-Mossy Cobblestone Walls
-Wither Painting
-Potato
-Baked Potato
-Poisonous Potato
-Carrot
-Golden Carrot
-Carrot on a Stick
-Pumpkin Pie
-Night Vision Potion
-Invisibility Potion
-Nether Quartz
-Nether Quartz Ore
-Block of Quartz
-Quartz Slab
-Quartz Stair
-Chiseled Quartz Block
-Pillar Quartz Block
-Enchanted Book
-Carpet

Other Features:

- Added new recipes for Smooth Sandstone and Chiseled Sandstone.
- Added new Mobs – Zombie Villagers.
- Added new terrain generation features – Desert Temples, Desert Villages, and Jungle Temples.
- Added Trading with villagers.
- Added Anvil interface.
- Added sideways log placement.
- Changed placement of half blocks and other blocks on half blocks.
- Changed placement of upside down stairs and slabs.
- Wooden Buttons and Wooden Pressure Plates can be activated with Arrows.
- Can dye leather armor.
- Can dye wolf collars.
- Can control riding a pig with a Carrot on a Stick.
- Added different villager professions.
- Villagers spawned from a spawn egg will have a random profession.
- Furnaces can use wooden tools as a fuel.
- Ice and Glass panes can be collected with silk touch enchanted tools.
- Nether mobs can spawn in the Overworld from Portals.
- Creepers and Spiders are aggressive towards the last player that hit them.
- Mobs in Creative mode become neutral again after a short period.
- Remove knockback when drowning.
- Doors being broken by zombies show damage.
- Ice melts in the Nether.
- Cauldrons fill up when out in the rain.
- Pistons take twice as long to update.
- Pig drops Saddle when killed (if has one).
- Sky color in The End changed.
- String can be placed (for Tripwires).
- Rain drips through leaves.
- Levers can be placed on the bottom of blocks.
- TNT does variable damage depending on difficulty setting.
- Book recipe changed.
- Boats break Lily Pads, instead of Lily Pads breaking Boats.
- Pigs drop more Porkchops.
- Slimes spawn less in Superflat worlds.
- Creeper damage variable based on difficulty setting, more knockback.
- Fixed Endermen not opening their jaws.
- Added new Host Options for flying, invisibility and invulnerability for remote players.
- Added teleporting of players (using the player menu in-game).
- Furnace will return an empty bucket when fuelled by a bucket of lava.
- Updated Bonus Chest content with more items.
- Added new tutorials to the Tutorial World for new items and features.
- Updated the positions of the Music Disc Chests in the Tutorial World.
- Updated all texture packs and mash-up packs with new TU14 additions.
- Changed the gray wool texture for City to be more like a road surface

Fixes

-Fixed a crash with Maps in Item Frames which happened when players were in the Nether or The End
-Fixed Chest locks showing through walls at a distance
-Fixes a couple of crashes related to the player’s banned level list
-Some lighting fixes
-Fix to Blazes so they go on fire before shooting fire charges
-Fix to allow drinking milk in Creative mode
-Fix to allow split screen players to see Splash Potion particles
-Fix to stop the held item being replaced with the first item in the Quick Select on exiting The End.
-Fixed an issue with throwing an Ender Pearl while travelling to The Nether or The End
-Fixed the active time for Wooden and Stone Buttons.
-Fixed a crash with Dispensers and Fire Charges
-Fixed a crash with local profiles in the Help & Options menu
-Corrected the leaves obtained using silk touch on Jungle trees

2014 Call of Duty Championship Begins Today

Beginning today through Sunday, March 30th in Los Angeles, 31 of the most skilled Call of Duty: Ghosts multiplayer teams from around the world are competing head-to-head on Xbox One for the honor of being named the "Call of Duty World Champions," and their share of the tournament's $1 million total prize purse. Fans can tune-in to every thrilling, action-packed moment through livestreamed coverage of the Call of Duty Championship, presented by Xbox on MLG.tv and at Call of Duty.com. Additionally, the tournament's final match will take place Sunday, March 30th with the livestream starting at 3:00 p.m. (PDT) on the Xbox Live Dashboard and on Xbox.com (in participating regions).

“The global popularity of Call of Duty continues. Last year alone fans logged over 5 billion hours playing Call of Duty, and now its time to see who’s the best of the best. The Call of Duty Championship is a celebration of Call of Duty, featuring a tailor made livestream for fans to experience and enjoy all the action in real-time. Last year’s finals came down to the final moments of the final match, and we can’t wait to see how it all unfolds this year.”

— Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing

These 31 teams from six continents around the world have trained extensively over the past few months, winning their respective fellow regional competitions in qualifying events conducted by the professional competitive gaming organisations of Major League Gaming (MLG), Gfinity, and the Australian Cyber League (ACL). Teams like NSP from South Korea, European Champions TCM Gaming from UK and Brazil 5 Star from Brazil, will compete against such notable teams from North America as CompLexity, EnVyUs, and MLG U.S. Champions Strictly Business.

The Call of Duty Championship, presented by Xbox begins with round-robin style pool play among eight groups of four teams. The top two teams from each group will advance to a 16-team double elimination bracket, where the team that places first will take home$400,000 of the tournament's $1 million dollar total prize pool. The remaining seven teams will each take home prizes ranging from $200,000 for second place to $25,000 for eighth place. Further details on the 2014 Call of Duty Championship, presented by Xbox, including full rules and regulations, Call of Duty: Ghosts maps and modes for the tournament, livestream information, prizing distribution and more are available at https://callofduty.com/esports.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Game Developer Walkthrough

Activision and Beenox have released a new gameplay walkthrough video for The Amazing Spider-Man 2. The video takes a look at the next-gen version of the movie tie-in and the various new mechanics being employed for the upcoming sequel.

One of the big changes to the game series is that web-slinging is now mapped to the controller's triggers, so if you want to web swing from a building to the right, you'll need to hit the right trigger, and then left trigger to swing left. 

Spidey's cell phone will also act as a menu and map, while also displaying your progress and charting your status a either a 'Hero' or 'Menace', which in turn bring about their own series of consequences. This time around, you'll also unmask and play as Peter Parker, visiting home to see Aunt May and sifting through the array of costumes in your wardrobe.

Taking you through Manhattan, the new walkthrough video also includes a slice of combat and some other insights into Spidey's latest outing. Check out the new trailer below. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is out on April 29th, 2014 in North America and May 2nd in Europe.

Watch Dogs: Welcome to Chicago Trailer Released

In the new video for the highly anticipated Watch Dogs, you'll see the examples of a few features.

Some of these features include a day/night cycle, systemic weather, physics, and 3000+ unique NPCs with their own identities, all of whom can be hacked. Chicago features six different districts to explore too, with 75 different vehicles including motorcycles, muscle cars, SUVs, off-roaders and sports cars, as well as over 100 hacks to deploy. The trailer also introduces you to Chicago, which will be your playground. 

Check out the trailer for more insight into Watch Dogs' life-like Chicago. Watch Dogs is set for release for Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3, PS4 and PC on May 27th.

Titanfall Fixes Matchmaking and Team Balancing

Respawn has updated Titanfall in order to improve the matchmaking and address a lack of variety in teams. This is following a series of complaints by players who are having a variety issues.

Speaking on the game’s official website, the developer explained that Titanfall will now make better use of its behind-the-scenes analytics tools.

“The game finds teammates and opponents for you by using this skill data. After we build teams and those two teams play a few matches it is usually very clear which team is better. However, we weren’t taking full advantage of this new information.”

— Respawn

To address this, Respawn has made two key changes:

1. Searching for teammates and opponents will now sometimes take more time to look for players that are a good skill level match, rather than purely prioritizing speed over quality. This will give us more time to build better teams and create closer games that are worth staying in for a longer period of time.

2. Rather than playing against the same opponents over and over, the game will periodically split the teams apart and search for new opponents for each team. This means if one team is dominating, we will update the skill for all of the players and then find each team a better suited match for the next round. Did you lose to a really great team? We'll make them disappear and replace them with a new opposing team - and they will have no idea that you just got your butts kicked. This should end some of the frustration with playing for extended periods when you're having an off night.

“We’re making these changes available immediately in a new ‘Improved Matchmaking (Beta)’ playlist that you can try right now under ‘Play Classic MP’. We may expand this into the other playlists after we watch the behavior and tweak things so that we’re happy with it.

We’re going to keep a close eye on game balance and refine things as needed to make everyone’s experience the best that we can.”

— Respawn

Predator Stalks His Way In To Call of Duty: Ghosts

Infinity Ward is teasing a new Call of Duty: Ghosts map which is due to be released. This is going to be themed around the classic 1980's action film, Predator.

The tease comes via an Instagram video posted by the developer, showing a soldier being attacked by the universe’s greatest hunter. The video caption reads, “If it bleeds…” The suggestion is that the map will form part of the upcoming Devastation DLC due from next month.

You can see the video below. It follows CoD: Ghosts’ Onslaught DLC which introduced a map in which players could take control of Halloween star, Michael Myers.