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In space, no one can hear you scream. Unfortunately the same is not true on Earth, and our E3 2014 preview of Alien: Isolation concluded that gamers who strap in for this sci-fi horror may end up embarrassing themselves in front of flatmates, significant others, neighbors and… anyone who happens to be walking by their house. Set on Sevastopol, a remote trading facility, Alien: Isolation puts players in the quaking boots of Amanda Ripley....

The Assassin’s Creed series has a proud tradition, but we’re not talking about the blending of historical fiction with modern sci-fi genetics. We speak instead of pre-order bonuses, and the extra content, custom skins, and additional missions awarded to players who decide to put their money down early. With Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag, the old format is getting a distinctly piratey twist. That twist comes in the form of the Black Island Pack, awarding players the chance to explore an additional island, and in the process, acquire the costume, the weaponry, and the flagship of Captain Henry Morgan (yes, that Captain Morgan)....

While a larger portion of Call of Duty’s record breaking sales numbers comes from its Xbox 360 iteration, that doesn’t stop publisher Activision from putting the series on as many platforms as possible. Just this year, for example, we will not only see the release of Treyarch’s Black Ops 2, but the first Call of Duty title for Vita, Black Ops: Declassified. But there is a new console entering the fold this holiday, and there have been some questions as to whether or not Black Ops 2 will be releasing on that platform as well....

indisputably the biggest series of the last console generation, just a few years ago it seemed that Call of Duty might never be usurped from its position as king of the fall release schedule. However, sales of critical responses to last year’s Ghosts hinted that its crown might be slipping — and now it seems that Advanced Warfare might continue that downward trend. A new report by research firm Sterne Agee suggests that Advanced Warfare will ship 15% fewer copies in Q4 of 2014 than its predecessor did last year....

If the Oculus Rift headset has any chance of success it will need some amazing experiences to bolster its technology. We know of a few games that are looking into incorporating VR, and support has already been patched into some existing games, but what the Oculus truly needs is that “killer app.” Enter EVE Valkyrie (formerly known as EVE VR), the forthcoming title from EVE Online developer CCP Games. EVE Valkyrie looks to be one of the first titles to truly highlight what makes the Oculus Rift special, and as a result the folks at both CCP and Oculus are doubling down on that relationship....

It may not have been the most shocking element of Microsoft’s Xbox One reveal to hear that Forza Motorsport 5 would be showcasing the graphic potency of the new console, Turn 10 Studios didn’t let that stop them from delivering one heck of a trailer. Jaw-dropping visuals in a cinematic trailer are nothing new to the franchise, but simulation racing fans will be glad to know that when the Xbox One hits store shelves later this year, Forza 5 will be right next to it....

Sony and developer Guerrilla Games have revealed first details for their upcoming Insurgent DLC Pack for Killzone: Shadow Fall. This is the first substantial DLC offering for the PS4 exclusive and includes a new mode, a new class, as well as a few new weapons. As the name implies, the Insurgent Pack introduces a new multiplayer class called the Insurgent. This class starts out limited, with only a pistol, but can slowly become powerful thanks to its ‘Steal’ ability....

Choice has always been an integral part of any good BioWare RPG, but typically in service of a dual morality system those choices come down to “the good option” and “the bad option.” In the Mass Effect series, those good and bad choices delegated a set of points, Renegade or Paragon, to the player that determined whether they were a good or bad person in the game. The system was fairly black and white, and usually resulted in the player skewing one way or the other from the outset, and not deviating too far from that pattern as Commander Shepard’s adventure continued....

Thanks to a Mass Effect-themed ‘Mash Up’ DLC pack released last week, owners of Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition are now able to build their own BioWare-inspired playground in the crafting, survival game. As sales for the mining game continue to soar, it’s no surprise that there is still plenty of demand for additional content. According to a few tweets by the 4J Studios account, consumers may eventually also find some of the texture packs currently available for the PC version of Minecraft in the Xbox Games Store....

One of the most interesting dynamics of the recent games created by NetherRealm Studios are the guest fighter inclusions. Fans have been treated to the likes of Nightmare on Elm Street’s Freddy Krueger and Kratos from God of War both making it as playable combatants in the past, and that trend doesn’t appear to be going anywhere with the upcoming Mortal Kombat X. The creator of Mortal Kombat, Ed Boon, has already confirmed that there will be guest fighters in MKX, and it looks as if one of them could be the demonic anti-hero Spawn....

Just one more day and anxious Elder Scrolls fans everywhere will be able to play the most massive and complex game in the franchise’s long and stellar history: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. While our own Rob Keyes has probably not slept in 3 days while he puts the finishing touches on Game Rant’s review of Skyrim, there is a very big feature that we’d like to share. Big? That’s an understatement....

Wadjet Eye Games has plenty of experience when it comes to publishing games in the cyberpunk genre, and Technobabylon aims to be the next big hit on their list of point-and-click mysteries. The game was initially planned to release through 8 separate freeware chapters from independent developer Technocrat Games, but Technobabylon was soon picked up by Wadjet Eye Games and developed into a cohesive singular experience aimed for a retail release through Steam....

Announced back at E3 2013, The Division is one of Ubisoft’s most highly anticipated titles. The game is an MMO like expeirnece that takes place in New York City after an illness has swept the city during the holiday shopping season. As part of a team called ‘The Division’, players must help to restore order by retaking bases, fighting against enemy factions, and sometimes by fighting against one another. Unfortunately, players have been forced to wait to get their hands on this urban sandbox after Ubisoft delayed The Division from ’late 2014’ until sometime in 2015....

When a show has been around for as long as The Simpsons, those involved are unfortunately bound to lose a few friends along the way. Few were prepared for the loss of Marcia Wallace in 2013 after she had played elementary teacher Edna Krabappel on the show for decades. So it’s no surprise that the writers continue to pay tribute to the iconic character even to this day. On Sunday’s episode of the now 32 season-long series, Bart finds a diary that he quickly discovers belonged to his late teacher....

As a follow-up to 2010’s War for Cybertron, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron had some pretty big shoes to fill. Couple that with the disappointment that was Dark of the Moon, a movie tie-in that lived up to the stigma, and gamers could argue that High Moon Studios needed to blow them out of the water in order to get back in their good graces. Thankfully what we’ve seen of Fall of Cybertron so far has not only dazzled but also showcased a true evolution of this new franchise....

Despite being a poorly kept secret, PlayStation 4 owners were happy to receive official word that they’d be able to play all three main Uncharted games on their newer console. The SKU that’s bringing all of these games to the new system, aptly titled Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, will allow players to relive (or experience for the first time) the unique settings and action-packed vistas that inhabit Nathan Drake’s in-game universe....

The review aggregator Metacritic launched in 2001 and has since become a go-to source of information about video games, films, tv shows, and more. The site’s Metascores, which are aggregated from numerous different review outlets, have become such an integral part of the gaming industry that many publishers base their bonus structure around the Metascore that their games receive. Chris Avellone, the cofounder of Obsidian Entertainment, once revealed that Obsidian received no royalties for Fallout: New Vegas as the game obtained a Metascore of 84, one point below the 85 that was required....

Microsoft throwing their hat into the ring of the console wars was no laughing matter. Sony and Sega had been relatively equal-sized competitors, but Microsoft, by raw currency alone, eclipsed both of them combined. Immediately, the Xbox was hotly anticipated by both gamers and anybody with a sense of business. Already hosting a lineup of games due to their successful Windows platform, they looked to hit the market from a fresh angle....

While the story of the latest Hyrule Warriors game, Age of Calamity, is much more in-depth than most other Legend of Zelda games in the past, it is still pretty focused on the alternate history event of The Great Calamity and doesn’t diverge from this path too often. However, there are several smaller plot points that are easily missed if you aren’t paying attention. With the introduction of the Champion descendants in particular, there are several more story elements injected into the original plot, as they weren’t around the first time Calamity Ganon rose to power and result in some aspects of the war playing out very differently from the first time around....

To this day, it’s safe to assume that no one person in the world can confidently claim that they know what Dark Souls is all about. Heck, even the game’s creator likely doesn’t know what his own video game franchise is about. For all we know, he just wanted a difficult video game and making the lore and the story hard to understand is part of the meta-difficulty for all three Dark Souls games....