Activision and Infinity Ward have used the Xbox One reveal event to pull the cover off the new Call of Duty game, Ghosts. It’ll launch as an Xbox One exclusive, which means a delayed PC launch — and this is unfortunate, because one of the biggest selling points of this one is a completely overhauled graphics engine.

One of the biggest features of the new engine is the use of Fast Subdivision, a technique used by places like Pixar to quickly increase the amount of vertices on a model surface in real time. This is supposedly scalable to older console architecture as well, meaning that even the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game should look pretty reasonable.

Ghosts is set in a world damaged by meteor strikes, with the United States (and the world) as we know it apparently considerably changed. Syriana and Traffic writer Stephen Gaghan is behind the script, which should hopefully bode well for a more self-aware and less hoo-rah US-centric storyline. Also, there’s a dog!

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Ubisoft have released a trailer for Splinter Cell: Blacklist‘s co-operative mode, and it shows an impressive evolution beyond the co-op last seen in Conviction. It also promises fourteen maps, four mission types, and 2-player split-screen action (not for me, but nice to have). Fisher’s partner is Isaac Briggs, a CIA operative who you can see being rescued by Sam in this very early trailer.

Murray shouts ‘BANZAI’ at the top of his lungs and hurls himself at the enemy, bringing to you his impressions of Red Orchestra 2′s latest expansion. With asymmetrical warfare and amazing one-sided battles, Rising Storm sounds very impressive.

To celebrate Diablo III‘s one-year birthday, Blizzard have released an infographic detailing the staggering numbers behind the game.

The image, which you can see below, includes figures such as a total play time of over 2.8 billion hours, spread between 14.5 million unique players, who have collected a total of 648 trillion gold to date.

Take a look below for the full image (click to enlarge).

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EA have revealed that Battlefield 4‘s first piece of DLC will be a series of “sprawling” multiplayer maps by the name of ‘China Rising’. The DLC will allow you to “fight for dominance across the vast and majestic Chinese mainland in four massive maps, using all-new vehicles and high-tech military equipment.”

IF you pre-order the game through the official website or through Origin you’ll get China Rising for free, but there’s no word on how much it’ll be otherwise.

This seems like a good time point out our editorial from James explaining why the current practice of DLC needs to stop.

Source: PC Gamer

Microsoft revealed the existence of the Xbox One overnight, unveiling their new “all-in-one entertainment system” in a performance that seemed to continue the company’s trend of focusing on TV, Skype and music over actual video games. Get all the info inside.

ArenaNet have sent word that the price of Guild Wars 2 has been permanently dropped by $10 across all editions.

The standard edition now costs $49.99, while the Digital Deluxe edition now costs $69.99. These prices are effective as of today.

The price-drop coincides with the Last Stand at Southsun event, which will kick off on May 28. Get the details here.

Guild Wars 2 has no subscription fee — once you pay for the game, playing is free.

One of the seven new Games Workshop titles in development has been revealed: Armageddon is due out in Q1 of 2014, and it’s a turn-based title in development over at Slitherine Games.

Set during the second war for Armageddon, players will control the Armageddon Steel Legion of Imperial Guard, as well as the Blood Angels, Ultramarines and Salamanders chapters of Space Marines as they attempt to drive out the ork invasion.

Slitherine are promising a branching campaign with 30 major scenarios, 100 unit types, complex plots which can change during battle, and persistent unit growth enabling you to field veterans who carry over from multiple games.

It will also have “extensive modding options”, and support for Slitherine’s play-by-email system integrated. Count me in.

Source: VG247

I’ll just come out and say it: I hate DLC.

Once upon a time, developers and publishers would laud an upcoming game on its merits alone, highlighting the work done on a compelling story or new gameplay mechanic. We’d buy into the hype after a couple of screenshots, an interview or even a video if we were lucky. But now we’re lucky to hear an announcement or see a trailer that doesn’t mention the bundle of pre-order extras or day one DLC that’s available. Extra guns? $5. Extra missions? $10. Feel like recruiting that master assassin into your ranks? Well, that’s $7, or part of the package if you sign up for the MasterEliteUltraPass that guarantees you all* of the extras for one low, low price of half the initial game’s cost, again.

Skyforge is an MMO in development by Allods Team, the same people who made the aptly-named Allods Online — and at the recent Russian Game Developer’s Conference, they announced that they’ve brought Obsidian on board to assist in development.

We haven’t heard anything about the game since its announcement in 2012, and even that flew under many people’s radars. The involvement of Obsidian may act to counteract that however, with the high-profile RPG developer known for their successes in storytelling.

“Skyforge is very interesting and promising project, claimed Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart in a statement. “I am glad that Obsidian Entertainment is involved in working on this game.”

“I am confident that the cooperation with the Allods Team will be a great experience for all of us.”

The only known Skyforge trailer was released last year, and can be seen here. It is expected to launch in 2014.

EA’s attempt to join the MOBA scene with new title Dawngate comes at an odd time, with League of Legends currently generating enough concurrent players to populate a small nation, and DotA 2 ripping up the Steam charts. But nevertheless, launch it they will — and here’s what it looks like (courtesy of Machinima).

According to the team, there are territorial control points on each map, including ones that deliver economic boosts to your team by spawning workers to harvest resources. Your towers serve as your bases like normal, but the creatures which guard them can be set loose to roam the map, and the energy flowing down lanes can be redirected. Interesting stuff.

If you’re keen on trying it out, beta testing will begin on Friday May 24. Sign up here.

With the news that Path of Exile were launching a gateway to bring down the lag for players in Australia and New Zealand, we called Grinding Gear Games’ Chris Wilson to get the low-down on where the F2P-ARPG is at, why now is the right time for a low-ping gateway, and their plans for the future.