Voice over IP is a standard feature of most, if not all multiplayer games. Some games decide to limit who can hear in-game chatter, keeping team chat streams break away each other. In an open-world game like GTA Online, however, there aren’t any teams, so the in-game chat could be heard by anyone who’s logged into that specific session. This implies unless fellow GTA Online players are actively muting their counterparts, they could hear the entire verbal diarrhea being spewed. This, unfortunately, includes poor attempts to flirt with virtual strippers who appear inside the game.

As you’ll discover within the lead video, such attempts at flirtation can result in funny and embarrassing results. Who knows? Maybe the man being recorded was only goofing off, however the outcome is pretty cringe-worthy. Again, this may be the intended reaction by the lady’s man being recorded; but when it’s not, then the awkward level increases exponentially.

With that during mind, what did we learn from this little public service announcement? Everyone on your GTA Online session can hear what you are saying, unless they’ve muted you. Granted, one of these feature only invites the trolls to come back out, but that’s why Rockstar was kind enough to incorporate the mute option. For sure, some players want to get rid of the default open mic status, but I’m undecided how realistic that’s. Rockstar has already patched GTA Online a couple of times, and the open mic status remains. This suggests player awareness is vital. When playing, do not forget that in case your mic-or PS Eye camera is on-everyone who logged within the same game can hear everything you’re saying.

Tread appropriately.

[Lead image via Rockstar]

The Walking Dead proved last year that the journey game genre was still alive and well. It also proved once and for all you could take a great popular license and transfer it to a different medium without losing what made the unique work so special. Now the developers at Telltale Games are back for season two, and a well-known face is here to greet fans.

In the premier trailer for Telltale’s The Walking Dead: Season Two, gamers are treated to what an older, presumably more seasoned Clementine seems like. In a bigger surprise, gamers would be ready to control Clementine this time around as she’s the primary character in season two.

Here’s the official synopsis:

The Walking Dead: Season Two continues the tale of Clementine, a tender girl orphaned by the undead apocalypse. Left to fend for herself, she was forced to profit how you can survive in a worldwide gone mad.

Many months have passed for the reason that events seen in Season One of the vital Walking Dead, and Clementine is are trying to find safety. But what can a regular child do to stick alive when the living may be just as bad — and often worse — than the dead?

As Clementine, you may be tested by situations and dilemmas so they can test your morals and your instinct for survival. Your decisions and actions will change the tale around you, on this sequel to 2012′s Game of the Year.

As inside the first season, players may be tasked with making hard decisions that affect the end result of every episode. Telltale also notes that decisions made in season one and 400 Days will impact the events in season two. In other words, you better get those saves ready for when The Walking Dead: Season Two hits the PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Mac and iOS within the coming months.

[Image: TelltaleGames/YouTube]

The launch of the Xbox One is below one month away now. Microsoft is ramping up its big ad campaign for the brand new console, and today the corporate released a brand new teaser trailer for one among its biggest launch titles, Ryse: Son of Rome.

Though the trailer would not include any gameplay, it does give an concept of the extraordinary, bloody story that developer Crytek has crafted for the sport. Gamers will tackle the role of Marius Titus, a Roman soldier who’s seeking revenge against those that murdered his family. Judging from the hot trailer, Titus will quickly become embroiled in a bigger conflict – one who the fate of the Roman Empire itself may hang on:

Ryse is scheduled to debut on November 22 together with the Xbox One.

FIFA 14 is the fútbol simulation to possess annually. Sure, there’s Konami’s PES franchise, but EA Tiburon has proven time and time again that it gets soccer better than anybody else. That, at the least, was certainly true at the PS3 and Xbox 360, but what in regards to the versions of FIFA 14 hitting the PS4 and Xbox One?

EA Sports released a brand new trailer today for FIFA 14 claiming that each one the gameplay on show is captured from the PS4 version. It’s also the flagship title for EA Sports’ next-gen rendering engine – IGNITE.

So, how does it look? You be the judge:

Personally, I can’t tell that much of a difference. Granted, I’ve been absolutely spoiled by what 2K Sports is doing with NBA 2K14 on next-gen consoles. NBA Live 14 running on IGNITE doesn’t even come close, but i used to be personally expecting something a bit better from FIFA 14.

To be fair, I’m sure the sport plays incredibly well. The extra processing power afforded by the PS4 and Xbox One will obviously result in a much better gameplay experience. It’s just that many sports fans were probably expecting a leap in graphic fidelity and realism besides. That doesn’t seem to be the case here because the character animations and designs look to be almost lifted straight from the PS3 version.

It ought to be noted that it is a compressed gameplay trailer on YouTube. The general product at the PS4 and Xbox One will obviously look a bit better, but it is advisable to probably keep your expectations in check when picking up FIFA 14 on November 15 or 22 for the PS4 or Xbox One.

And hey, no less than Xbox One buyers in Europe get it at no cost.

[Image: PlayStation/YouTube]

Fortune online game writer John Gaudiosi reported today that the most recent Assassin’s Creed franchise entry, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, is predicted to sell 8 million copies.

The number comes from online game analyst for Wedbush Securities Michael Pachter, who said “I think Assassin’s Creed is successful as a result of its novelty. It’s a 3rd-person adventure game with easy-to-learn fighting style, the historical setting is novel, and the role-playing game features make it an attractive hybrid. That provides it something for everybody.”

Peter Warman, the founding father of online game research firm Newzoo, said of the demographics that “The Assassin’s Creed franchise is likely one of the biggest console/PC franchises around with sales of over 57 million copies through retail… A minimum of 50 million Americans and 40 million Europeans still play an Assassin’s Creed game now and again. The pirate theme will entice the more youthful demographic that Ubisoft attracts with this franchise. Fifty-one percent of Assassin’s Creed players are under 35, in comparison to 44% of Activision’s Call of Duty players.”

In case you haven’t already heard, the sport casts players inside the role of a pirate with Assassin’s roots within the years 1713 to 1722, a period rich with famous pirates. “Players may be capable of interact and play with probably the most infamous pirates of all time,” said Ubisoft creative director Jean Guesdon.

Assassin’s Creed‘s fiction has leaped and bounded throughout history, permitting players to have interaction across time with historical figures of immense gravitas, including Richard the Lionheart and Leonardo da Vinci. Assassin’s Creed III had placed players on the helm of both the yankee Revolution and a brand spanking new Privateer sailing mode.

Assassin’s Creed was an especially unique series for its ability to contain stories that interweave between the fashionable day and the distant past. Guesdon: “This [storyline] allows us to attach any period of time we wish to explore right into a cohesive and protracted transmedia universe. That’s how we will switch between different time periods and historical events without making a new world each time.”

As for the discharge, the wide-open world is anticipated to maintain players busy well into the discharge of the game’s first DLC package. The series’ co-creator Jade Raymond is reported to be engaged on another story, and a film according to the primary game is in development.

[Image via Ubisoft]

Last month, Nintendo released a Zelda-themed Wii U to correlate with the launch of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD. Now the corporate is doing it again with its handheld line to celebrate the launch of The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.

Nintendo announced this morning that the gold-and-black special edition 3DS XL might be coming to North America. The system has gold top and black bottom to mirror the parallel worlds of Hyrule and Lorule that seem within the game. Each side have a Triforce emblazoned around the side to mirror this in addition.

Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma made a quick video announcing the hot bundle and explained the history behind the Zelda series infatuation with gold:

“This beautifully designed Nintendo 3DS XL system continues a convention that has delighted our fans for many years,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice chairman of Sales & Marketing. “It’s a unique bundle for an awfully special online game.”

Both the special edition 3DS XL and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds shall be available on November 22. The 3DS XL bundle will retail for $219.99 and are available with a download code for A Link Between Worlds.

[Image: Nintendo/Business Wire]

For years now, sales of game consoles and games was declining as a result of a stagnating console generation choked with sequels. Though some market watchers have predicted that the approaching console generation won’t rise to the degrees of the former, at the very least one market research firm is predicting increased sales within the short-term.

Gartner today predicted that total revenues for the online game market will rise to over $93 billion by the tip of this year. That’s an important increase from 2012, when revenues reached only $78.8 billion. The upward push in revenue is seen on every platform, including consoles, handhelds, mobile, and PC. Total revenues are expected to achieve $111 billion by the year 2015.

Console game sales are expected to be up over 18% this year, reaching $44 billion. That market is anticipated to achieve $55 billion by the tip of 2015. PC games are expected to work out an identical rise to $22 billion by 2015, handheld game revenue is absolutely predicted to drop to just $12 billion by that year, down from an estimated $18 billion this year.

“Sony and Microsoft are releasing their game consoles in November and pent-up demand for these new consoles has caused a short lived reduction in game console hardware sales during 2013, but growth will resume during 2014 and sales of existing console hardware are forecast to grow from $15.9 billion today to $22.7 billion in 2015,” said Brian Blau, research director at Gartner. “In stark contrast, dedicated game handheld devices and conventional PC games will play a smaller role within the game market and cease to be important game platforms.

The mobile games market is, again, predicted to have the strongest growth. Mobile game revenue is predicted to succeed in $22 billion in 2015, overtaking sales within the PC games market. These factors are directly related, as Gartner predicts the installed base for PC games will decline as consumers replace their traditional PCs with tablet devices.

“As mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) keep growing, the mobile game category will show the most important growth a result of entertainment value provided by games compared with other app categories,” said Blau. “This growth is fueled by healthy premium mobile device sales globally and a desire by consumers to play games on these multifunction devices which are able to displaying increasingly sophisticated game content.”

For nearly twelve months now, Nintendo has struggled to sell its Wii U console. The dearth of must-have games for the system has created apathy for gamers, who’re now waiting for two competitor consoles from Sony and Microsoft. This, just as Nintendo is finally getting some fun-looking games for the Wii U.

Nintendo last week released Wii Party U, its Wii U follow-as much as Wii Party for the Wii. The sport is a Mario Party-style virtual board game with dozens of mini games for players to play with one another. While other publishers are specializing in online multiplayer, Nintendo continues to be encouraging people to occasion in one front room, and who better to advertise this idea than comedian Wayne Brady. Wait, what?

Nintendo today released a sequence of ads starring Whose Line is it Anyway‘s Wayne Brady. Within the videos, Brady appears to make use of his improvisational skills to harass the assorted members of 2 stage families. Essentially the most bizarre ad, though, is one where he raps on about Wii Party U because the families dance (poorly):

Two other ads were also released within the series. One sees Brady annoying two children attempting to play a baseball mini-game at the Wii U GamePad. The opposite features Brady and the daddy from the rap ad passing some awkwardly forced male-bonding time together.

Do racing games desire a story? Need For Speed: The Run proved that story modes in racing games are literally sort of lame. All you want is a few fast cars and great track design to make a good racing game. Need for Speed Rivals appeared like it’d be ditching the type of stories that bring about stuff just like the Need for Speed movie, however the latest trailer for the title leaves one skeptical.

In a brand new Need for Speed Rivals trailer released today, the narrator lays it on thick as we’re introduced to a worldwide where the police are under investigation for using excessive force to bring down street racers. The police aren’t going to let these racers embarrass them, however, and are actually pursuing them with extreme prejudice. The trailer than ends with a melodramatic one-liner about how the cops were once rivals, but now they’re enemies.

It’s really silly installed, but we are able to only hope that it doesn’t get within the way of the sport. In spite of everything, racing games never take advantage of a narrative mode. All we have to know is that there are cops and racers, and that these two sects of cars will occasionally butt heads.

In the top, we will only hope that we come to be with a game that’s like a cross between Need for Speed: Most Wanted and wish for Speed: Hot Pursuit. The rest, and things might get messy.

Need for Speed Rivals will launch November 19 on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. The PS4 and Xbox One versions will launch three days afterward November 22.

[Image: EaGamesAus/YouTube]

Earlier this year, Microsoft debuted a Halo-branded top-down shooter called Halo: Spartan Assault. The sport was designed primarily with tablets and smartphones in mind, and Microsoft tried to used the sport to sell Windows Phone 8 smartphones and the Windows 8 OS by limiting access to the sport to these platforms.

Obviously, with Windows Phone 8 representing a minuscule share of the smartphone market and only around 5% of Windows users on Windows 8, the game’s audience was extremely small. Today, Microsoft announced that it’s correcting this example and can be launching Spartan Assault on consoles this year.

The game will come to both the Xbox One and the Xbox 360 as a digital download sometime in December. Along with the complete content present in the mobile version of Spartan Assault, the console versions will feature an internet co-op mode, though cross-play between Xbox 360 and Xbox One systems should not available. It also comes with the “Operation Hydra” expansion for the sport.

The mobile version of Spartan Assault featured a tie-in with Halo 4 during which various armors and logos may be unlocked in Halo 4 by playing the mobile game. It’s unclear whether the console version of Spartan Assault will support these features, and additionally it is unknown whether the console version may have the microtransactions featured within the mobile game.