Bithell Games’ John Wick Hex is an intriguing strategy title, not least because it features the iconic John Wick character. However, throughout the game, players adhere to a timeline that will pause and start the gameplay depending on what you do. It’s dynamic, but previously, this was meant to be a more traditional turn-based strategy title.

DualShockers spoke to studio head Mike Bithell at E3 2019 and he explained why that system didn’t really fit the original vision of the films.  “It was XCOM with one character and it sucked,” said Bithell. “It was the worst version of what you imagine when you think of a John Wick strategy game. It was slow, it was deliberate, and you’d do your move and then you’d watch as five guys would just take turns to shoot John.”

Co-designer and lead programmer Nic Tringali also felt the same, and said it was important to have other characters busy while you’re engaged in the action. As for the turn-based system, Tringali said, “It doesn’t really feel right even though all the moves are there, the look is there… it doesn’t feel suited to what’s going on in the movies. So [we] pulled that out and went ‘ok, you have actions and it’s all on this timeline system.’

“The most important thing is everyone is always doing something while you’re doing it…so that’s the fast-paced action of it…While the whole game will stop and pause and let you do your own thing, as soon as you hit go again, it’s full speed.”

John Wick Hex is a prequel to the films, and though its combat system functions more on a timeline, it still contains many of the genre’s tropes. Fog of war, hex-based grid movement, and more can be expected. As of now, the game doesn’t have a release date, but it will be coming to PC via the Epic Games Store. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.

You’ve probably stumbled across GungHo Online Entertainment every now and then. It’s served as the publisher for games such as Dokuro and Grandia 2: Anniversary Edition. Recently, it published Grasshopper Manufacture’s free to play title Let It Die. Apparently the company has quite the slate of new releases coming up as indicated in its Q1 fiscal year 2018 results briefing (via ResetEra).

Essentially, the company said that it had ten “new release pipelines” and noted that games would be releasing on smartphones, consoles and “new fields”. One is assuming that these new pipelines are brand new games although we’re still curious about “new fields”. Whether they’re new platforms or something the company hasn’t really tried before – like Virtual Reality – remains to be seen.

Either way, you can look forward to more information at E3 2018 from June 12th to 14th. Don’t expect Grasshopper and Suda51 to have something ready since the studio is developing Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes for the Nintendo Switch. What do you hope to see from GungHo Online Entertainment? Let us know in the comments.

Tablets and smartphones have been making steady gains on home consoles in terms of processing power and resources for a while now, and EA thinks that by 2018, they may end up finally overtaking home consoles in terms of power, an outcome that leads to some real quality gaming  on them.

“What gets us the most excited is the power, the computing power, of mobile devices and the speed at which that’s growing,” Electronic Arts CFO Blake Jorgensen said at the 2015 Technology, Internet & Media Conference. “What that might mean is that a tablet, three or four years from now, has more power than what a typical console has. And that will open up a whole new set of people to console-style games that are much more immersive, much deeper, much more character-driven than simply a static mobile game that you might play for a small burst of time while you’re waiting for the bus.”

“And so we’re looking for ways that we can essentially blend those two models to have a more immersive but movable game experience,” he added. “Could be in your living room, could be on the bus, or it could be in a friend’s house. Much more portable than it is today. And that for us is a huge opportunity.”

Of course, I think this is a misguided line of thought- lacking power has never been the limiting factor in getting ‘console style’ games on mobile platforms, including tablets (current tablets already rival Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3), the issue is how limited these platforms are in terms of input (with only inaccurate forms of input such as capacitive touchscreens and gyroscopes providing primary control) unless one invests in a bulky add on that negates the chief advantage of the platform to begin with- mobility.

Till such time that this problem is solved (basically, unless something like a Vita or Wii U takes off), I don’t think this is going to change any time soon.

Bohemia Interactive has finally announced a release window for the final full release of DayZ. The open world zombie sandbox survival title will be out in the first half of 2016 and will cost $50, up from the current alpha price of $35. The developer has also revealed a road-map for the game’s various features, including a development of a console prototype to start in Q3 2015.

Producer Brian Hicks stated that, “2014 has been an immensely successful year for DayZ. We could have never hoped for so many people to join us for the adventure of Early Access development.”

As for upcoming features, players can look forward to basic vehicles, new zombies AI, diseases and a basic stealth system in Q1 2015; advanced vehicles (which can be repaired and modded), dynamic events, player stamina and a new UI in Q2 2015; traps, barricades, aerial transport and animal predators in Q3 2015; and base building and Steam community integration in Q4 2015 among many other features.

What are your thoughts on these upcoming features? Let us know in the comments below.

A new study has come out that has established that, statistically speaking, men seem to like first person shooters, while women like role playing games. What this says about me, a man, who prefers role playing games to shooters, I have no idea. Probably that, scientifically and/or statistically speaking, I am a woman.

The latest study out of SuperData Research has shown that women are now the largest demographic group playing RPGs, while 2 out of 5 MMORPG players are also women. Which sort of goes against the traditional fat, Cheetos guzzling basement nerd stereotype that people get when they think of PC gamers.

The report also gave us a breakdown of the age of the players playing MMORPGs.

“Players between 18 and 30 account for 50% of the US MMO audience,” said SuperData in its report. “These players represent the largest age group, many of which started playing MMOs as children, during the segment’s early years, and have continued into their adulthood.

“This generation is expected to expand the older markets as they age since they are the first generation to have grown up with MMOs.”

So much for RPGs, single player or online. For shooters, the breakdown is equally interesting, if a little predictable, with 66% of the players being male, and the rest being females.

Check out the full study for more interesting statistics, including a breakdown of demographics across PC and consoles.

Gamestop has made a killing out of just selling used stuff. You know, you take your perfectly fine games, consoles, and controllers to them, they pay you money (almost never a whole lot of it), and then they mark it up to an obscene extent, and roll in the dough.

Well, now it looks like they want to extend that empire of used games business, as Gamestop today expressed an interest in selling used DLC for consoles.

Now before we actually start sputtering in outrage at the sheer preposterousness of the idea, let’s actually ask ourselves: how is that even possible? Digital content by nature is non re-saleable and locked permanently to one account (or in Nintendo’s case, one system). How does Gamestop plan on getting around that, exactly?

“It would require a partnership between retailers and publishers, but absolutely, it could go that way,” Gamestop’s Mike Hogan said. “We’re absolutely interested in pursuing that. There are lots of examples where people have taken digital content and made it transferable from one consumer to another. Think of World of Warcraft and its third-party item sales. There’s no fundamental or technological reason why that couldn’t happen on other platforms. If the consumer wants it, and it provides value, then we believe it will happen over time. The consumer will speak for that.”

Yeah, well, good luck trying to get publishers on board for that, Hogan. Although the sad part is, if somehow you did make it work, people would actually buy into it.

The PlayStation 4 has had an amazingly successful launch, and a lot of this has to do with how well Sony has handled the system, and everything related to it, centering the console, its design, and its policies squarely on core gamers. But an equal lot of this also has to do with how badly the competition fumbled- if the Wii U or the Xbox One were handled as well as the PS4 is, then it’s unlikely that the current console race would be half as one sided as it appears to be right now.

Whatever the reasons, one analyst, who works for Merril Lynch/Bank of America, believes that Sony could actually go ahead and make the console space its exclusive domain.

“Sony has the potential to make the game console market its exclusive territory,” said Eiichi Katayama to The Wall Street Journal (a subscription fee may be needed to view this content).

Yeah, right. That sounds hyperbolic and unlikely in the highest degree. If the all empowering and encompassing PlayStation 2, which had the full support of every single facet of the development community, couldn’t do it, what makes anyone think the Playstation 4 will? I think a lot of people forget how quickly fortunes change in the console industry- the PS2 was great, and then Sony went from that to the PS3, before pulling a comeback, and then releasing a successor with the PS4. Meanwhile, just five years ago, Nintendo was at the top of the world, and unstoppable, and look where they are now.

Do you enjoy your brand new Playstation 4, Xbox One, or Wii U? Well, have fun with them while it lasts, because Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter thinks  that consoles will soon be obsolete, and replaced by new Micro TV and streaming solutions, including things like the Chromecast, and smartphones. He also thinks that Microsoft knows that this shift will happen, and they are preparing for the shift when it comes.

“I think consoles are going away, because you used to need a console because you could not connect a microprocessor to your TV screen,” Pachter said to VentureBeat. “Now, if you have a Chromecast stick or a Roku box, you can. So why do we buy consoles? I mean, your phone will be powerful enough to power any game in two more generations. And, so, why buy a console? I think Microsoft actually knows that.”

Of course, as it stands now, phones currently are powerful enough to render games that look like something from the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, which is mighty impressive, but also still a full generation behind current consoles. Of course, phone tech is developing at an almost alarming rate, but consoles are not exactly slowing down, so we’ll see what happens.

Crytek has announced a new multiplayer IP for PC and consoles just in time for E3. HUNT: Horrors of the Gilded Age will be a third person co-op action title wherein four players team up to face various hulking beasts and monsters. It’s being billed as the debut title from Crytek USA and will be showcased at E3 from June 10th to 12th. Check out the reveal trailer for the game above.

CEO of Crytek USA David Adams said, “In HUNT: Horrors of the Gilded Age, players will be counting their bullets and crying out for help as they delve deeper into the shadowy world we’ve created. From the outset of the development process, we’ve poured our imaginations into the game so that everyone who plays HUNT will discover a challenging experience that feels fresh, captivating and rich in possibilities.”

HUNT will take place in the late 1800s and involve various myths and folklore. A special content generation system promises that you won’t see the same environment and fight the same enemies twice. HUNT enters closed beta testing for PC later this year and you can sign up for the same here.

After a teaser trailer for the same leaked today, Crytek has finally announced the online multiplayer title Arena of Fate, which is billed to be arriving for both PC and consoles. The game will focus on 5 vs. 5 battles and reportedly have a huge roster composed of famous characters like Frankenstein, Jack the Ripper and Baron Münchhausen.

Vesselin Handjiev, who is Managing Director of Crytek Black Sea and the Game Director for Arena of Fate, boiled down the game’s premise. “Imagine Joan of Arc and Robin Hood cooperating to hunt down Little Red Riding Hood – Wouldn’t that be terrific?

“But besides the game’s iconic heroes, which everyone in the team really loves, we are also challenging ourselves to carefully craft a streamlined player experience that allows for both greater accessibility, and rich, deep, action-packed gameplay. We are very excited to meet the first wave of players in the arena this summer, and will be listening carefully to the feedback we receive and making the community’s contribution a key part of our efforts to perfect the fun.”

Arena of Fate is being developed by Crytek’s Sofia studio and will enter Early Access beta testing on PC this Summer. It will also be playable at E3 from June 10th to 12th so stay tuned for more information on the game.