Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve seen quite a few Assassin’s Creed releases since the first one hit shelves back in 2007, and even though we’ve met a lot of different characters along the way, one thing has remained the same: modern-day assassin Desmond Miles is constantly featured throughout the series. That may not be the case for much longer, however, as Assassin’s Creed 3 creative lead Alex Hutchinson tells Polygon that the Desmond story line has to wrap up sooner or later, presumably with the series continuing after Desmond’s tale has come to an end. According to Hutchinson, the Assassin’s Creed series risks losing “resonance” with fans if Desmond’s over-arcing story line continues on for too much longer.

“I think Desmond needs to end,” Hutchinson said. “At some point. You know what I mean? Things that go on too long lack resonance. We’re asking people to remember seven years’ worth of story. Which is like saying you were in junior high and now you’re finishing college. And you need to remember what you were doing in junior high.”

Hutchinson compared Desmond’s part in the Assassin’s Creed universe to Rod Sterling’s role introducing each episode of The Twilight Zone, saying despite the fact that each episode had its own unique story, Sterling was there at the beginning of each one. Therefore, Desmond and Sterling both kind of serve as the one constant in an otherwise always-changing universe.

If you’ve seen any screenshots or trailers for Assassin’s Creed 3, then you know it’s a pretty radical departure from the rest of the series. Hutchinson says that it’s “90% a new game” and, were it not for the continuation of Desmond’s story, Ubisoft “could have called it anything else, and people would have said okay.” Assassin’s Creed 3 won’t be the only title in the series to step into uncharted territory, as the PS Vita‘s upcoming Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation doesn’t even feature Desmond at all. It looks like Desmond’s last hurrah may be coming up sooner rather than later folks, so get in some quality time with the character while you still can.

Ubisoft: Desmond’s Assassin’s Creed days are numbered is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Gearbox gave all of the Borderlands fans out there something to get excited about today: it announced that work on Borderlands 2 has officially wrapped up. The studio is getting ready to send the game out for certification, which means that all of the on-disc content has been finished and can no longer be changed. Now that the studio has essentially put the base game behind it, Gearbox says that it will begin work on post-launch content.

First up is the development of BL2‘s fifth class, the Mechromancer. The Mechromancer class was announced a few months back as one of the free bonuses for Premiere Club members. Everyone who pre-orders Borderlands 2 gains access to the Premiere Club, which along with the Mechromancer class also grants players access to other in-game goodies, such as a golden key that unlocks the ultra-rare Sanctuary loot chest, a handful of new guns, and the Vault Hunter’s Relic, which increases your chances of finding rare loot.

All of the DLC included with the Premiere Club membership is scheduled to become available “roughly 60 to 90 days” after the launch of Borderlands 2. Borderlands 2 is the highly anticipated follow-up to 2009′s excellent Borderlands, and is releasing for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC on September 18. Be sure to check out our story timeline below for more information on Borderlands 2!

[via Gearboxity]

Borderlands 2 officially finished, now on the way to certification is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Yesterday, Electronic Arts announced an “exclusive” Battlefield 4 beta for those who pre-order Medal of Honor: Warfighter Limited Edition. Shortly after the announcement, Battlefield 3 community manager Ian Tornay took to Reddit to answer any questions fans may have about the upcoming sequel, and as it turns out, a lot of fans had a problem with the use of the word “exclusive” in EA’s announcement. Tornay has clarified the announcement a bit, saying that purchasing Medal of Honor: Warfighter will not be the only way to gain access to the Battlefield 4 beta.

“There will be other ways to get into the beta aside from MoH Warfighter,” Tornay said. “At this time, however, it is the only way to guarantee entry.”

He also commented on fan concerns that Battlefield 4 was coming too soon after the release of Battlefield 3, saying that he “truly” believes DICE is in an excellent position to offer the next game in the extremely popular franchise. “I truly believe that we’re in one of the best positions to be creating our next title,” he said. “Frostbite 2 has matured, we’ve been gathering fan feedback like crazy, Battlefield 3 continues to expand with features which we can learn from, and we’ve got more data about how people play than ever.”

Finally, there’s no need to worry about support for Battlefield 3 disappearing while DICE begins to ramp up work on Battlefield 4, as Tornay says that the studio is committed to supporting Battlefield 3 in the same way it supported Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Since the Battlefield 4 beta isn’t taking place until Fall 2013 – and keeping in mind very real possibility of the game itself not making it to shelves until 2014 – it sounds like Battlefield 3 will be supported well into next year (and perhaps even beyond).

Battlefield 4 beta not exclusive to MoH: Warfighter after all is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Playdead’s Limbo took the indie world by storm when it launched on Xbox Live back in 2010, but Sony could have had the game on PSN before it went to any other platforms. Instead, Limbo was exclusive to Xbox Live Arcade for an entire year before it became available on PSN and PC, and even though the game sold well on PSN when it finally did arrive, that period of exclusivity would have netted many more sales. So, why didn’t Limbo hit PSN before any of the other platforms? It’s because Sony botched the deal.

“I maybe shouldn’t say this, but we had issues when we were trying to sign Limbo because of the IP,” said Sony Computer Entertainment executive producer Pete Smith during a talk about pitching a game to publishers at the Develop Conference. Apparently, Sony was in talks with Playdead to bring Limbo to PSN first, but when Sony said that it wanted the rights to the IP, Playdead went to Microsoft instead. Limbo went on to sell 300,000 in its first month on Xbox Live and 500,000 by the end of 2010, long before the game arrived on PSN.

Still, despite losing the exclusivity deal to Microsoft, Smith says that there are benefits to giving up the IP when you have a game you want to see made. “There are obvious benefits to keeping it, but also to giving it up: you’re way more likely to get the deal,” he said. “Remember: 100 per cent of nothing is nothing. A publisher is much more likely to commit to marketing and merchandising if they own the IP.”

This whole admission from Sony makes you wonder how things might have changed if Playdead had given up the rights to Limbo and released on PSN first. Would we have another Limbo title already? Would it have sold more being exclusive to PSN, or less? We’ll never know the answers to those questions, but given the immense popularity Limbo has experienced since release, we doubt that the folks at Playdead care much anyway.

[via Edge]

Limbo could have been on PSN first, but Sony wanted IP is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Here’s an interesting bit of news for you: Sony may be planning to unleash a brand new PS3 model. Images of the redesigned console were first revealed in an apparent Sony filing with Brazilian telecommunications regulator Anatel and were quickly picked up by Technoblog. Now the images are spreading across the internet like wildfire, and we have to say that they have us pretty intrigued.

This new model looks relatively similar to the PS3 Slim we all know and love, but there are a few pretty major changes. First up, the new console appears to be smaller than the PS3 Slim and looks as if it’s ditching the disc slot in favor of a top-loading disc tray. This new PS3 also comes with a ridged texture, which admittedly looks a little out of place when compared to the sleek consoles of the current generation.

The database on Anatel’s website also shows that Sony Brasil is after approval for three different versions of this new PS3 model, each with a different size hard drive: 16GB, 250GB, and 500GB. Other than the difference in hard drive sizes, however, these consoles are the same. The idea that Sony is planning to offer a version with a measly 16GB hard drive suggests to us that the company is looking to market this new console to budget gamers and families, much like Microsoft has done with the 4GB Xbox 360 S.

Of course, these images could all be fake, which remains a very real possibility. Remember though that we saw the first images of the PS3 Slim through a leak similar to this, and back then a lot of people thought it was a hoax as well. The low-quality images do make a us bit suspicious, so we’ll have to wait until Sony makes a comment on these new pictures before we can make the call. Perhaps if this is all real, we’ll get an official reveal at Gamescom in Germany next month? Stay tuned.

[via Joystiq]

New PS3 model possibly on the way as images surface is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.