Weekly Recap: Huge Titanfall Update, Sunset Overdrive Is 900p, and Jade Raymond Leaves Ubisoft

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Did you step away from the Internet this week? Check out a roundup of some of the week's biggest stories here.

 

 

(Some Of) The Big Stuff:

Ten-year Ubisoft veteran Jade Raymond left the French video game giant this week. She produced the original Assassin's Creed, its sequel, and various entries in the Splinter Cell series. Most recently, she worked on Watch Dogs and was managing director of Ubisoft Toronto. She called the decision to leave Ubisoft "one of the hardest decisions" of her career. No word yet on what she's doing next. Her replacement is Splinter Cell and Rainbow Six veteran Alexandre Parizeau.

Sunset Overdrive creative director Marcus Smith this week explained why the upcoming Xbox One game runs in 900p, not 1080p. He said developer Insomniac Games had the game running at 1080p at one point, but decided to shift to 900p so it could create a level of on-screen mayhem that would makeTransformers director Michael Bay proud.

On Wednesday, Respawn Entertainment announced details on Titanfall's biggest ever update. The wide-ranging update includes multiple new game modes, including a co-op, horde-style mode that you can play against AI, and not real-world players. Be sure to read our detailed coverage of the update to get up-to-speed with everything the update introduces. It's available today on Xbox One and PC.

The Other Stuff (Stories We Like, But Didn't Cover With a Standalone Post):

Pornographic website YouPorn is getting into gaming. The site says that after fielding "hundreds" of requests (who knows how many were actually serious) it is close to reaching a sponsorship deal with aneSports team. There are quite a few sex jokes to make here.

Halloween is nearly here, and Disney is celebrating by updating its mobile games with new features and functionality focused around the freaky holiday. Marvel Puzzle Quest got a spooky new character called Blade on October 24, while a new mission is coming to Marvel: Avengers Alliance that sees playersfighting off a demonic threat.

Oculus Rift creator Palmer Luckey says in a wide-ranging and fascinating interview with Smithsonian that when the Oculus Rift consumer version is eventually released, it won't be perfect. But that's OK, because the Ford Model T wasn't either, he says. "This is the Model T," he said about the first edition Oculus Rift. "We want to be where the Tesla is eventually. What we have now is something that's affordable, that's good enough for people, and that will be able to sustain the growth that’s needed to get to the Tesla."

Who will win next week's UFC 179 featuring fighters Chad Mendes and Jose Aldo? EA Sports simulated the bout in EA Sports UFC, and Aldo came out on top, finishing off Mendes with ground and pound moves to win his seventh consecutive title. We'll find out if EA was right when the actual fight takes placeSaturday, October 25 at the Ginasio do Maracanazinho in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Mass Effect's Commander Shepard has killed more than 300,000 people. That's according to an in-depth analysis done by one super-dedicated fan. Writing on Reddit, user mocha820 reports in extremely detailed depth about how many people Shepard killed in Mass Effect 1-3 and all of the game's DLC. The total bodycount is even broken down by race and faction.

Remember that awesome arcade game Time Crisis? It's coming back! Bandai Namco's classic light gun franchise is returning to arcades in March 2015 in the form of Time Crisis 5. Per a new report fromPolygon, the new game will feature left and right foot pedals, which will allow you to flank enemies. The game will be played on 55-inch monitors, and the gun controller lets you to cycle through weapons. The Time Crisis series debuted in 1996, and the most recent release was 2006's Time Crisis 4.

A new report from security solutions company Symantec reveals what you probably already knew: gamers are a top target for DDoS attacks. "Short DDoS attacks against competing players are unfortunately very popular among online gamers," Symantec writes in the full report.

Expansion alert! Boston-based indie studio Disruptor Beam this week announced (and released) the first expansion for mobile and Facebook title Game of Thrones Ascent. It's called The Long Night, and it features a new World Event, new Alliance tactics system, and new quests and items. You can read moreabout The Long Night in a blog post here.

Think you're good at Tetris? You might be, but you aren't better than Harry Hong. He won the recently concluded Annual Classic Tetris World Championship, which took place in Oregon. Gamers from around the world competed in round after round of 8-bit Tetris on NES. After two days of qualifying rounds, Hong--who hails from Los Angeles--took home the crown. He cleared more lines of Tetriminos (the name of the falling shapes) and scored more points than everyone else. For his victory, he won $1,000 in prize money and a grand prize trophy. Nice work!

There's no NHL 2K game on consoles or PC this year, but now you can play NHL 2K on the go. 2K Sports this week released the game for iOS and Android. You can buy the game, developed in-hour at Visual Concepts, for $8. 2K Sports calls the game a "full-featured professional hockey game" and it includes aMy Career mode, live roster updates, asynchronous multiplayer, and classic modes such as NHL Winter Classic and Free Skate. Download it today from iTunes and Google Play.

A group of filmmakers are looking to make a Legend of Zelda parody movie in the vein of Family Guy'sStar Wars episode, Blue Harvest. They've turned to Kickstarter to help fund their dreams, asking for$225,000 to make the project a reality. So far, they've raised just over $500. You can read more about the campaign here.

Microsoft announced this week that all 104 Microsoft Stores will celebrate the release of Xbox One game Sunset Overdrive with launch parties kicking off at 10 PM on Monday, October 27. Attend one of the events and you'll get to play the game early, take part in special giveaways, and more. Plus, be one of the first 25 to show up and buy a copy of the game and you'll receive special Sunset Overdrive swag.

A group of Spanish video game developers have launched a Kickstarter campaign for a Christian-themed mobile game called A Journey Towards Jesus for iOS and Android. They're looking for $8,500 to make the project a reality, and have so far received over $3,400 in pledges. "We believe that Christian contentavailable for mobile devices is scarce and sometimes poorly designed," the developers say. "Young people have many ways to spend their free time. Unfortunately there are currently few Apps that serve to evangelize, teach, and entertain them. Our idea: Why not create quality Christian Apps, so that all interested young people can have fun while learning more about the Word of God?"

Time for another Super Meat Boy game? Maybe. Probably not. Who knows. But the studio behind the 2010 game made a tease on Twitter this week, saying: "4 years ago today Super Meat Boy was born. Since then the world has been constantly going down hill. Time for another Meat Boy game I think." I personally would not object. How about you?

Interested in the history of video game development? A pretty neat new interactive graphic fromPriceSpy lets you explore the history of famous game developers, including information about where and when they got started, what they created, and lots more. See it here.

A new professional study from Ryerson University suggests that kids eat less after playing video gamessuch as Angry Birds. On average, children consume 50 fewer calories at mealtime compared to when they didn't play video games, the study found. Reading this made me hungry, so I guess I should now go play video games.

The World Series started this week, and it's now been revealed that the Kansas City Royals' love for Supercell's mobile hit Clash of Clans nearly ruined the team's season. The team got so swept up playing the game that they often played in the locker room instead of devoting their energy to improving their real-world baseball game. It all worked out in the end, though, as the Royals are now playing against the San Francisco Giants for a World Championship.

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