The Weekly Roundup
TALKING POINT: NEXT-GEN IS HERE
Well, sort of. While America is officially starting the next-gen celebrations this weekend with the PS4's release on Friday, here in the UK we've another fortnight to wait for Sony's machine, while Microsoft's Xbox One launches over here this coming Friday.
After near a year of teases, previews and demos - not to mention a slew of marketing spins that have hammered both sides of the next-gen divide - we're just looking forward to sitting down and putting hyperbole and claims aside to just test the consoles and the games. While technically we've already tasted next-gen on the likes of Call of Duty: Ghosts, Battlefield 4 and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag as current and next gen versions rubbed shoulders, the first 100% next-gen review hit this week with Killzone: Shadow Fall, as well as our unboxing video of a retail PlayStation 4. (Or you can go for Sony's own official one.)
And that's just the start of what's coming.
While we're not at liberty to say what they are, next-gen plans are afoot on the site, and this coming week we'll have plenty of impressions, verdicts and - yes - scores appearing as we kick-off our proper rundown on what to expect in the eve of the next generation of consoles.
But even as companies lumbered up to launch, Sony were already seeding the next year, with the announcement of a PS4 Uncharted title, and some PS exclusives - such as special MGSV: Ground Zeroes mission, and PS4 owners getting their hands on Destiny earlier than expected.
TALKING POINT: BLIZZCON INTERVIEWS
While the event itself wrapped at the end of last weekend, our GRTV crew has spent the week putting together a series of excellent interviews from the show. There was plenty to talk about given the number of announcements Blizzard dropped there. Gamereactor's Rasmus Lund-Hansen tracked down key staff to discuss at great length (and great detail) what's been cooking over at the developer giant lately, with interviews with Heroes of Draenor lead encounter designer Ion Hazzikostas about how the new expansion factors into the lore of World of Warcraft, while Heroes of the Storm production director Chris Sigaty talks why the company went MOBA. There's also a chat with lead designer Eric Dodds and lead artist Benjamin Thompson about Hearthstone.
Phew.
This Week of GRTV...
<bild></bild>
We met with Watch Dogs' cinematic lead Lars Bonde to discuss privacy issues, the recent delay, performance capture and more.
If you're still weighing up whether to pick up Call of Duty: Ghosts (which landed at the number one spot in this week's charts) then maybe our GRTV Review may help decide you either way.
This Week's other Headlines...
<bild></bild>
As mentioned earlier, Sony dominated the headlines for the week's close, but a small tidbit also surfaced, as the publisher teased The Last Guardian again.
Both PS4 and Xbox One were confirmed not to support 3D films out of the box.
And Finally...
<bild></bild>
Tugging on those fears of home invasion (or maybe the fear of being seen playing games in your pants), we give you the Xbox One Kinect Privacy Cover... Alternatively you could take the twenty quid you were going to spend on this piece of plastic and drape it over the lens instead. Playa.