Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

This week in gaming: The holiday season begins with Madden, Walking Dead, and more

By

week gaming holiday season begins madden walking dead nfl 15
There’s always one clear sign that the holiday release season is about to begin for video games: The annual coming of Madden NFL. It happens every August, usually with just a week or two before the latest NFL season kicks off in early September. Madden NFL 15 is hardly alone this week, and we’re left with our first blockbuster release week lineup of late 2014.

There’s plenty more to come, but let’s see what this week has in store …

Recommended Videos

Madden NFL 15

PS3/PS4/Xbox 360/Xbox One (August 26)
EA Tiburon’s latest entry in the 26-year-old Madden NFL series is the first one that has launched for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One before the NFL season begins (2013’s “next-gen” edition of Madden NFL 25 arrived alongside the consoles in November). The game changes an assortment of rules and adds some new features, same as always, though the biggest focus appears to be on making Madden’s defensive game more fun.

Other changes include tweaks to the way Connected Franchise (basically, career mode) works, the end of reserve decks in Madden Ultimate Team, and a deep revision of the Skills Trainer mode, complete with tutorials that teach football strategies and concepts. Find out more on EA Sports’ official website.

Infamous: First Light

PS4 (August 26)
Infamous: First Light returns to the near-future Seattle that we last visited around the launch of the PlayStation 4 in developer Sucker Punch’s superb Infamous: Second Son. The new story, which will be released as a standalone game, explores the back story of one of the key supporting character Conduits (super-powered beings in the Infamous universe) in Second Son. The set of powers that you get should be familiar to fans of the earlier game, but they’re tweaked and built on in First Light.

While you’re not required to own a copy of Second Son if you want to play Infamous: First Light, you can unlock a handful of extra game modes if you’ve got both. Learn more on Sony’s official website.

The Walking Dead: Season Two – Episode 5

Mac/PC/PS3 (August 26), Xbox 360 (August 27), iOS (August 28)
It’s been a long, grueling journey for fans of The Walking Dead, and the fifth and final episode of Telltale Games’ second season — titled “No Going Back” — puts a cap on things this week. There’s practically nothing we can say here about the episode or the season that wouldn’t fall into spoiler territory. All you really need to know heading into Season Two is that the world is still a dark, terrible post-apocalyptic nightmare where everyone is terrible and just fighting to stay alive.

If you haven’t played any of the series yet, do not start here. Go back to Season One, learn who Lee and Clementine are, take the journey that Telltale’s writing wizards have carefully plotted out. And if you have been keeping up, play the new episode as soon as you can, before reading any reviews. Thank us later.

Metro Redux

PC/PS4/Xbox One (August 26)
Two great games in one package! Metro Redux gathers together the post-apocalyptic shooters Metro 2033 and follow-up Metro: Last Light into a newly remastered package for the latest Microsoft and Sony consoles (and PC). In addition to across-the-board visual improvements — much more noticeable in the older 2033 — Metro Redux also gives players the option to run through the earlier game using Last Light‘s more shooter-oriented gameplay, or run through Last Light using 2033‘s survival-driven systems.

Whatever you choose, you get two exceedingly solid games for the price of a standard new release ($60), complete with touched-up graphics and tweaked play. Check out the official website for more details.

What else is coming:

  • Super Time Force Ultra (PC / August 25): Capy Games’ wonderful retro-styled side-scroller is much easier to get the hang of than its description suggests. You have to navigate a level full of enemies — bosses and all — in only 60 seconds. That’s not nearly enough time, but you can turn back the clock as much as you like, up to 30 times, with all past versions of yourself appearing and doing whatever they did during their timeline. The “Ultra” edition on Steam adds new characters from Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress 2.
  • Lichdom: Battlemage (PC / August 26): Newcomer studio Xaviant applies AAA development values and processes to an indie project. Lichdom is a fantasy-infused first-person shooter (of sorts) in which you play as a badass mage. Not only is the CryEngine 3-powered game a looker, it also offers a fresh take on playing as a fantasy-world wizard, and a stat-driven spellcrafting system that hearkens back to the likes of Diablo.
  • Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1 (PS Vita / August 26): Hyperdimension Neptunia is a JRPG with a story that amounts to a reinterpretation of the seventh-generation console “war” waged by Microsoft’s Xbox 360, Nintendo’s Wii, and Sony’s PlayStation 3. Totally bananas, but in an entertaining way. It launched for PS3 in 2010 (in Japan); Re;Birth 1 was a revival of the game, first released in Japan for the PS Vita in 2013. It’s now headed to North America with all of the Vita version’s enhanced features intact.
  • Appointment With F.E.A.R. (PC / August 26): This superhero adventure from Tin Man Games is described as an interactive motion comic. The story is set in the fictional Titan City during the 1980s, with players fighting to bring the Titanium Cyborg and his henchmen to justice. The game is actually based on a pen-and-paper RPG that Steve Jackson created and released in 1985.
  • Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (3DS / August 29): Two great tastes taste great together. Or that’s what Capcom and Level-5 hope, at any rate. PLvsPW:AA (holy crap, that acronym) takes the gameplay from each of the two series’ referenced in its title and swaps back and forth between them as it tells a story that ventures to the mysterious land of Labyrinthia. Puzzles and court cases. We’ve come a long way since the days of shooting space aliens as they descend from the heavens.
Adam Rosenberg
Adam Rosenberg
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…
How to revive dead companions in Baldur’s Gate 3
Withers offering services to the player in Baldur's Gate 3.

You're given a good bit of leeway during battles in Baldur's Gate 3 before you or a companion actually bites the dust for good. While in battle, if a teammate does take enough damage to drop, they aren't dead then and there. Instead, they will be downed with a chance to roll every turn to get back up. If they roll successfully three times, the battle ends, or you use another character to pick them up, they're good. If they fail that roll three times, however, they will be completely dead. That can be harsh when you've become attached to certain characters and want to further their stories, so you'll be looking for any way you can to bring them back. Thankfully you do have a few options for reviving companions in Baldur's Gate 3, but just like respeccing, they aren't so obvious.
Pay Withers to bring them back

Withers is a friendly undead you can find in a secret room in the Dank Crypt found inside the Overgrown Ruins. After finding and speaking to him in his sarcophagus, he will offer you various services, one of which is bringing back any dead companions. He won't do this out of the kindness of his heart (probably because it isn't beating) and will charge you a heavy fine of 200 gold to do so. Still, that's a small price to pay to bring back a beloved character. Once paid, that character will appear in your camp where they would normally be, so there's no need to go back to their corpse and find them.
Use a scroll of Revivfy or learn it

Read more
Every video game delay that has happened in 2023 so far
The player skates toward the moon in Skate Story.

Few things feel as inevitable in the video game industry as delays. Ever since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, game delays have only become more and more common as developers find previously set timelines unrealistic and adjust their release plans accordingly. More than halfway through 2023, we've already seen some notable AAA games like Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Skull & Bones, and Pragmata delayed pretty heavily. Because video game release date delays are so common, it can be tough to keep track of every game that has had its launch date shifted in some way.
That's why, just as we did in 2021 and 2022, Digital Trends is rounding up every game delay that's announced throughout 2023. Here are the high-profile ones that have happened so far, listed chronologically by their new intended release dates.
The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR (March 16)

As Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is one of the best games for PlayStation VR, The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR, Supermassive Games' PlayStation VR2 successor, is a highly anticipated launch title for the upcoming VR headset. Unfortunately, it will no longer make PlayStation VR2's February 22 launch and will instead be released on March 16. On Twitter, a message from Supermassive Games says this delay will ensure that players "receive the most polished, terrifying experience possible" at release. The game was released on that date to mixed reviews.
Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key (March 24)

Read more
Is Remnant 2 cross-platform?
Three characters shoot at a boss in Remnant 2.

Aside from the focus on firearms and integrating some randomly generated environments, the Remnant series sets itself apart from other souls-like games mainly with its focus on co-op. Both titles encourage you to team up with two friends to fight your way through the mutated monsters that await. After so many years of progress in terms of multiplatform games incorporating full cross-platform support, you might assume Remnant 2 will follow suit and let you make a group with anyone regardless of what platform they're on. However, the truth may be a bit more disappointing. Before you make plans with your squad, here's what you need to know about Remnant 2's cross-platform support.
Is Remnant 2 cross-platform?

Unfortunately, Remnant 2 does not have cross-platform play between PS5, Xbox Series X or PC -- and there's no word about it being added in the future.

Read more