Titanfall is "the Very Core of our DNA" – Respawn

Following comments by the studio's community coordinator Jason Garza, Respawn Entertainment clarified its stance on the Titanfall franchise. It noted that the franchise the "very core of our DNA" while also teasingly stating, "Who knows what the future holds…" While it didn't outright deny that Titanfall 3 was happening, it didn't confirm it either.

Regardless of what's being planned for the future, Respawn is undoubtedly busy with other projects. Its free to play battle royale shooter Apex Legends (which is set in the Titanfall universe) crossed 100 million players in April this year and recorded $1 billion in life-to-date net bookings in May.

Then there are the rumors of its follow-up to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order – EA has already confirmed its desire to continue investing in it. The action adventure Souls-like also crossed 20 million players as of June 2021. Either way you slice, Titanfall 3 – whether it happens or not – is a long way off.

Minecraft Dungeons is Now Available on Steam

Mojang's Minecraft Dungeons, an action RPG looter spin-off set in the Minecraft universe, is now available on Steam. Along with the base game, PC players on the platform can also purchase the Ultimate Edition which includes all of its DLC released till now. This includes Jungle Awakens, Flames of the Nether, Hidden Depths, Echoing Void, Howling Peaks and Creeping Winter along with some digital artwork and the soundtrack.

Each DLC pack introduces new areas, story missions and loot while numerous free updates have added other new features. Though not as complex or mechanically demanding as, say, Path of Exile, Minecraft Dungeons has garnered a decent amount of acclaim for being a more streamlined looter. It even has cross-platform play with support for up to four players in co-op.

For more details, you can check out our official review of the game here. Minecraft Dungeons is currently available for Xbox One, PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch along with being available on Xbox Game Pass. It also supports 4K and 120 FPS on Xbox Series X.

Halo Infinite – Big Team Battle Showcased in New Livestream

After announcing the next set of dates for Halo Infinite's upcoming multiplayer tech previews, 343 Industries held a livestream to showcase some of the new content that was coming. Big Team Battle, which has seen its share of changes, was showcased – check around the 50:00 mark below. Along with slaying the opposing team, the map even has a "loot cave" to explore.

Described as a "sub-objective", it's essentially a large vault that has to be hacked. While this is going on, players must do everything possible to survive. Completing the objective will award the player with numerous Power weapons for possibly tipping the scales in favor of their team.

Halo Infinite's next set of multiplayer tech previews starts tomorrow and is available till September 26th from 10 AM to 2 PM PT and 5 PM to 9 PM PT. It goes live again from October 1st to October 3rd with Big Team Battle making its debut. The full game releases on December 8th for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC with a day one launch on Xbox Game Pass.

Project Magnum Looks Amazing And Here's Why I Am Excited For It

The newer generation of consoles has dawned upon us and has brought with it a plethora of new and exciting opportunities. It's always great to see new developers using the technology in new and unexpected ways to create unique experiences. More developers than ever have been taking inspiration from multiple sources in order to create something great, which of course – benefits the industry and the medium at large.

The Xbox 360 and PS3 generation kickstarted the whole AAA blockbuster experiences with games like Uncharted and The Last of Us from team Sony and the likes of Gears of War and Halo 4 from team Microsoft. Ever since, many developers have continually been pushing for more experiences within the same format – but there are games like Death Stranding which veer away from the mainstream but they are a rarity.

As a result, the biggest games of the industry can feel very samey at times, which begs for experiences that are different or just weird. NAT Games' Project Magnum is one such game and is supposed to be releasing on PC and consoles, with PlayStation platforms being confirmed as a launch platform, for now. But the vague press release that accompanied the announcement trailer  suggests that the game could be releasing on Xbox platforms as well, although no word of confirmation has been said as of now.

It doesn't take much to guess that Project Magnum is still in the pretty early stages of development, given that there's still no confirmation of an original name of the game. There's still no information for a release date, and thus fans shouldn't expect to play Project Magnum anytime soon, and the wait could easily extend further if things go awry. Hence, a lot of what makes this game unique or sounds intriguing could still change given its current state in development, but one thing is for sure – the game definitely looks dope, and I am pretty excited for it. 

Project Magnum is a looter shooter RPG set in a desolate sci-fi setting, although there's no confirmation of co-op elements as of yet. The planet where the game takes place seems to be on the brink of an apocalypse at the start of the trailer, with a giant ball structure slowly descending to the surface, seemingly covering everything in darkness. This sets the stage for what's looking to be an intriguing narrative, with environments and characters showcasing some great art direction all adding to an alien and ominous vibe. 

I particularly have a soft spot for narratives that break away from the mold, and actually manage to say something in the most unlikely of scenarios. Project Magnum's snippets in the trailer seem eerily similar to something like a NieR game, the latter of which has a surprisingly deep and emotional story that isn't delivered in an overtly obnoxious manner. You could, of course, skip the story entirely and still manage to have loads of fun slashing swords in NieR: Automata, but those who invest the time to learn more about the world and the overlying narrative will certainly have a lot more to take away from the experience. 

Project Magnum also looks great in a similar fashion, with the trailer showcasing just the bits and pieces that are just enough to get one tantalized to know more. Given how thin details surrounding Project Magnum are right now, NAT Games gets to have the benefit of the doubt in this regard since it's entirely possible that the narrative turns out to be barebones. But of course, one could be wishful and optimistic right now and well, hope for the best.

project magnum gameplay

However, as mentioned from the NieR comparisons – the story may not be the big focus here but if told well can be an added benefit over the top of some well-realized and polished game mechanics. Project Magnum's gameplay looks to be extremely fast-paced, with characters jumping and sliding across the various environments at great speeds. Players also seem to have a lasso or grappling hook of sorts, which can be combined with the jumping and sliding to create a careful dance of maneuvers – which again, looks pretty slick and has me excited to learn more about the game. 

The actual combat, however, is also looking to be equally fast-paced and flexible to allow for a multitude of playstyles. Project Magnum will see players defending what looks to be hordes of robots and monsters using an arsenal of weapons. There's a great focus on the actual feel of the gunplay, with a great deal of both audio and visual feedback. It's not confirmed whether players will be fighting in a squad like Destiny or will command a band of A.I.-controlled companions, but will have some special powers – that would probably operate on some cooldown timer. 

For instance, the trailer showcases a player character breaking a shield of the enemy by using a giant hammer. Another instance showcases a player using the power of the wind to whirl a group of enemies into the air, which adds to the feeling of power fantasy that NAT Games seems to be aiming for. The traversal system also fits in neatly with the gunplay, and while the trailer didn't showcase any particular feats of both combat and movement coming together in interesting ways – it's certainly an interesting premise that I'm particularly looking forward to seeing more of. 

In addition to the general assortment of enemies, players will encounter a number of gigantic bosses that will flood the screen with a litany of different attack patterns. Not a lot of actual gameplay has been shown in the trailer with regards to boss fights, but a couple of cinematic sequences shows the aforementioned combination of shooting and parkour in downing these behemoths. As someone who enjoys challenging boss fights where the best parts of the game come together beautifully, Project Magnum's offerings certainly look right up my alley. 

project magnum cover

Project Magnum is a looter-shooter, but not a whole lot of the looting has been shown as of yet. Korean developers have continually shown a penchant for delivering great live-service RPGs and developer NAT Games has already worked on titles from the same genre. What makes this possibility so endearing or "dope" as some might say, is the inherent simplicity within the game's mechanics. Of course, that's just speaking from outside based on what's known – but Project Magnum could be one of the more mechanically sound games in this genre. Sure, games like Destiny and Borderlands are also easy to get into and roughly fall under the same bracket as well, but we can all agree that the industry and the genre have the place for games like Project Magnum.

Project Magnum is NAT Games' foray into AAA development, with this project easily being their most ambitious since its forgoing mobile platforms in favor of the more powerful consoles. The studio's output has been fairly consistent, albeit quite similar. Its upcoming game has a lot to live up to, now that more eyes than ever are set on Project Magnum. 

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Deathloop's Creative Director Breaks Down Game's Design Philosophy

After a few delays and a lot of high profile marketing, Deathloop finally released earlier this month. The game got critical acclaim (we were big fans ourselves), and it looks like the title is also going to be a financial success. Like many of Arkane's previous titles, it has gotten heavy praise for its gameplay and level design. Now, the good folks at NoClip have a special long form interview all about that.

Deathloop's Creative Director Dinga Bakaba spoke with NoClip for over 20 minutes about the game's design. The lengthy video is broken into multiple parts. Bakaba talks about the game's opening, who he feels the title was designed primarly for, and then goes in depth on things like what went into the design of the 4 areas as well as scrapped combat ideas. It's very much worth taking a look at.

Deathloop is available now on PlayStation 5 and PC. The PC version did have some issues, but Arkane has worked to try and fix that, which you can read more through here.

Chorus Developer Teases Announcement For Tomorrow

It's been awhile, but you may recall the announcement of a game called Chrous being announced. The game was a space combat title from Deep Silver and a new development studio under them called Fishlabs. It looked quite promising, but there's been pretty much radio silence about the game for over a year now. Well, it seems that may be changing very soon.

On the official Twitter for Fishlabs, they released a brief video, which you can see below. It shows very little outside a small snippet from gameplay, but does say they are ready to make an announcement tomorrow, September 23rd. There's obviously no word on what that could be, but it seems a release date could be in the cards. We'll just have to stay tuned.

Chorus has been announced to release on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC and Stadia. You can check out the developer's vision for the game, which includes story, gameplay, and more through here.

Century: Age of Ashes Has Been Delayed to Steer Clear of Battlefield 2042

Playwing's multiplayer dragon combat game Century: Age of Ashes has caught a few eyes since its was first unveiled, and with its early access launch coming up in November, many had been expecting to go hands-on with it soon. If you did, too, you're going to have to wait just a little bit longer.

In an update on the game's Twitter page, the developers confirmed that Century: Age of Ashes has now been delayed to December. The reason? Well, Battlefield 2042 was recently delayed to November 19, which is just a day after Century: Age of Ashes' planned launch, and Playwing wants to steer clear of it, what with it being one of the biggest releases of the year, and also a multiplayer-centric game.

An exact new release date for Century: Age of Ashes hasn't been confirmed yet, but will likely be shared in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for more details until then.

https://twitter.com/PlayCentury/status/1440692431121387525

Titanfall 3 isn't Going to Happen Anytime Soon, Respawn Says

Fans have been desperate for a new Titanfall game for some time now, but the continued success of Apex Legends, among other things, has resulted in the series being sidelined by Respawn Entertainment. Time and again the developer has said that it's not working on a Titanfall 3, and they do so once again, firmly quashing hope for a new game in the series anytime soon.

Speaking on a recent stream (transcribed by Dextero), Respawn Entertainment's community coordinator Jason Garza said when asked about Titanfall 3 that Respawn has nothing in the works, and given how many other irons the studio has in the fire, that's likely not going to change in the near future.

"Don't get your hopes up, man," he said. "I've said this before. We don't have anything in [the] works. There's nothing. There's nothing there. We've got too many other games in the works right now."

Titanfall's been in the news lately, mostly thanks to a string of hacks, though Respawn admits that it has been working on fixing those issues behind the scenes. Meanwhile, EA chief studios officer Laura Miele has said in the past that whether or not Titanfall 3 gets made will be up to Respawn, not EA. Read more on that through here.

Alan Wake Remastered Could be Tweaked to Connect to Other Remedy Titles

Remedy Entertainment has made it abundantly clear by now that it plans on creating a larger universe that is shared by several of its games. There's been talk of a Remedy Connected Universe in the past, while Control's second expansion, AWE, was, of course, the developer's first step toward making that a reality, by bringing Alan Wake into that expanded universe.

With Alan Wake Remastered coming up soon though, might we see Remedy go back and alter somethings so that it better connects with their other titles, and perhaps even furthers the universe? It's possible.

Speaking with Axios, Remedy's communications director Thomas Puha said that the upcoming remaster will remain largely unchanged as far as actual content is confirmed, but also suggested that it might have some connections to other Remedy titles. When asked the question, he said, "Definitely pay attention by playing the remaster, is what we're going to say."

We do know that Remedy Entertainment is currently working on a new AAA title that is set in the same universe as Control and Alan Wake. In fact, that game, which has now entered full production, has been heavily rumoured to be Alan Wake 2.

Alan Wake Remastered launches on October 5 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Check out its PC requirements through here. Recent developments seem to suggest that the remaster could launch for the Switch as well- read more on that through here.

Steam Has More Outages Than Xbox Live and PlayStation Network – Report

A survey conducted by Tooltester calculated the number of outages experienced by 30 frequently visited sites over a period of one year. The results reveal that Steam suffers a lot more outages than Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, and you can check out the detailed list through here.

Discord topped the list with 129 outages, and Steam experienced 99 outages in a year. In comparison, Xbox Live and PlayStation Network experienced 63 and 49 outages respectively. These make for some interesting numbers and comparisons, indicating that Microsoft's offerings might need some improvements to keep up with Sony's network infrastructure.

Of course, both of them are nothing when compared to Valve's Steam – which has outages nearing the numbers of Xbox Live and PlayStation Network combined. Most of these outages from Sony and Steam cause users not being able to log in to the services, but Microsoft's majority of outages have issues related to online gaming.