Ubisoft Officially Reveals Assassin's Creed Syndicate, Coming to PS4, Xbox One, and PC this October

We got the first bit of details the day we were recording this week's podcast, but now Ubisoft blew the lid wide open regarding Assassin's Creed Syndicate. Here's what we know.

Ubisoft is going all out with regards to Syndicate. For one, we know Ubisoft Quebec is in charge of this project, with nine other Ubisoft studios helping out (Montreal, Singapore, Annecy, Montpellier, Reflections, Sofia, Shanghai, Kiev, Bucharest). Syndicate has been in development for two years.

The game is set in 1868 London, during the Industrial Revolution. You play as Jacob Frye, an assassin taking back the city controlled by the templars. Oh, and he has a top hat.

Here's the full description of Syndicate via Ubisoft's Blog:

London during the Industrial Revolution. It’s a time of great technological and philosophical advancement, but it’s also a time of great hardship. The Church and the monarchy are losing power and money is rapidly becoming one of the chief dictators of human behavior. And when money is king, those who have it are the ones in control while those without it are tossed aside and forgotten. Desperation grows among the lower class, leading many of them to lives of crime in order to survive. It is here that we see the birth of organized crime, and the birth of a new era.

The Assassin Brotherhood has been all but eradicated, long kept away by the Templars controlling the city. But now – in the year 1868 – two young Assassins have arrived in London to reclaim the city by force, with street gangs as their armies and the oppressed masses as their eyes and ears. This is Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. Welcome to the Family.

Official Reveal Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifhdLJFIHQ8

In terms of gameplay, there are new additions to best suit the given setting. For one, you have a grappling hook to easily climb tall buildings, and vehicles like a stagecoache to quickly travel around the city. Fighting seems more fast paced thanks to Frye's brawler style with brass knuckles equipped, which is a good change from the dull swordplay that didn't have much change as the series progressed.

It is also confirmed that Syndicate will not have multiplayer. Ubisoft is considering this a single player experience, going back to the series' roots.

Gameplay Walkthrough

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psUgnkQ7mMs

The setting is really what's winning our hearts at the moment. A perfect time in history to explore for the series. How will the game perform? Too soon to tell since it was just revealed, but consider us curious of this year's Assassin's Creed.

What do you think about Syndicate so far?

Paid mods pulled from Steam Workshop, full refund to those that purchased

Thanks to overwhelming feedback regarding the new paid mods in the Steam Workshop, Valve is pulling the plug on the new feature.

We didn't like the idea when it was announced last week, and it looks like those affected share the same feeling on having to pay for game mods.  Valve announced the removal of the new payment feature in a Steam Community post.

"We're going to remove the payment feature from the Skyrim workshop. For anyone who spent money on a mod, we'll be refunding you the complete amount. We talked to the team at Bethesda and they agree.

We've done this because it's clear we didn't understand exactly what we were doing. We've been shipping many features over the years aimed at allowing community creators to receive a share of the rewards, and in the past, they've been received well. It's obvious now that this case is different.

To help you understand why we thought this was a good idea, our main goals were to allow mod makers the opportunity to work on their mods full time if they wanted to, and to encourage developers to provide better support to their mod communities. We thought this would result in better mods for everyone, both free & paid. We wanted more great mods becoming great products, like Dota, Counter-strike, DayZ, and Killing Floor, and we wanted that to happen organically for any mod maker who wanted to take a shot at it."

Bethesda also updated their blog post and released a statement on the matter.

After discussion with Valve, and listening to our community, paid mods are being removed from Steam Workshop. Even though we had the best intentions, the feedback has been clear – this is not a feature you want. Your support means everything to us, and we hear you.

Last week, Valved introduced a payment method for creators to charge players for the content they create for their game. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was the first game to implement the new feature. The charge was made optional, giving the creators the choice to charge players any amount or give it for free.The feedback was mostly negative.

What we think: We see the  reason to why they introduced this feature, but how it was implemented shows ways to abuse the feature and overall affect the modding community in a negative way. Valve tested the waters  with Bethesda and it looks like they will have to go back to the drawing board if they want to try anything like this again.

If they really want to support modders to earn from all their hard work, a simple donate button would be enough to do just that. Or they could just leave the modding community alone and let them do what they do best.

What are your thoughts on paid mods? Is it a good idea and needs to be looked at in the future? Or let game mods stay free?

Konami Confirms Cancellation of Silent Hills

It seems Konami is going through a rough patch. With the rumors of Hideo Kojima leaving after Metal Gear Solid V, everybody is wondering on the current status of the announced Silent Hill game by Kojima and Pacific Rim director Guillermo del Toro. Konami has finally reached out to kill the rumors and confirmed that Silent Hills is now officially cancelled, but is still developing the Silent Hill series. 

The worry that Silent Hills might get the axe started when Konami announced that the interactive teaser P.T will be removed from the PS4 PSN store on April 29 because the "distribution period and licence usage for the demo has now expired". Over the weekend, a tweet shared a statement from Guillermo del Toro confirming that Silent Hills will no longer happen.

https://twitter.com/tvsmatthackney/status/592177537427447808

Then, The Walking Dead's Norman Reedus, the main lead for the game, tweeted about the cancellation making it more likely that this is the case.

https://twitter.com/wwwbigbaldhead/status/592412551457198080

Now, Konami has finally released a statement regarding Silent Hills. In an email sent to Gameinformer, it is confirmed that Silent Hills is no more.

"Also, in response to what Del Toro said during the Q&A, Konami is committed to new Silent Hill titles, however the embryonic ‘Silent Hills’ project developed with Guillermo del Toro and featuring the likeness of Norman Reedus will not be continued."

P.T. was released in the PS4's PSN Store during last year's PlayStation Experience with no prior knowledge of what it was all about. Upon playing and completing what people considered one of the best games to have in your PS4 system, it was revealed to be a concept demo for a new Silent Hill game called Silent Hills by Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro starring Walking Dead's Norman Reedus.

It's a bit disappointing to hear the cancellation. I finished P.T. and based on what I experienced, It got me excited on the collaboration and felt like this is what the franchise needs to get back on track.

To those that own a PS4, we highly suggest you find the time to download P.T. and play an amazing concept that won't see the light of day. If you miss your chance to download and play the interactive teaser, don't worry, there's always Youtube.

Heroes of the Storm enters Open Beta on May 20, official release on June 2

Looks like Heroes of the Storm will be leaving beta very soon. Open beta starts on May 20, with the Blizzard MOBA officially releasing on June 2.

With the success of League of Legends, DOTA, and DOTA 2, MOBA has become one of the most played genre in this generation. Since it was born in Blizzard's backyard, it only made sense that they try to penetrate an already crowded scene. Heroes of the Storm is their take on the 5v5 battle arena, and they gave quite a twist to the formula.

If you've played MOBA's before, then you have an idea on what you're getting into. But don't consider it a carbon copy. With changes like the absence of items in the game and map objectives being the primary source of success, this is one game worth giving a shot for veteran and casual players alike.

Account wipes have stopped from what we know. So players should know that your progress will carry over as they move into open beta and then officially release on June 2. The game will come with 30 playable heroes (known characters from Starcraft, Diablo, and Warcraft) and 7 dynamic battlegrounds.

Wanna give it a shot? Get your account ready in Battle.net before open beta starts.

Source: Blizzard

Microsoft's Phil Spencer Giving Some Love to Bloodborne for Hitting the 1M Mark

Now you don't see this everyday. Xbox head Phil Spencer took the time to congratulate Sony and Bloodborne hitting 1 Million in sales via Twitter. See, Xbox and PlayStation are friends. Now why can't we all be like them?

Bloodborne is the latest exclusive title for the PlayStation 4 and is getting a lot of good praise from critics and fans of the souls series. It just hit its 1 million sales mark and it's indeed a big achievement with it being a new IP (Intelectual Property) only available on one platform. A

https://twitter.com/XboxP3/status/588040165005910017

We had our fair share of the punishing action RPG with Miggy trying it out before it's release. Our review is currently in progress and will be out in a couple of days.

I loved every minute of Bloodborne, but to get a fresh and accurate judgement on From Software's latest game (I'm a huge fan of From Software games), I will take a step back and give Willem the reins on the site's full review. My impressions of the game is already out  on episode 76 of the TMG Podcast, so if your interested in what I think about the game, have a listen now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5Qb9XutVVI

Bloodborne was developed by From Software (Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Dark Souls 2), and it's now available exclusively on the PlayStation 4.