This Week in Video Games: ‘Grand Theft Auto Online’ Trips Out of the Gate, ‘Battlefield 4′ Beta Launches, ‘Half-Life 3′ Confirmed?

I know this column is titled "This Week in Video Games," even though it'll be on a bi-weekly basis. Unfortunately, "These Past Two Weeks in Video Games" doesn't have much of a ring to it; you'll just have to deal with it until we come up with something better. This week, we take a look at the launch of GTA Online (is it running yet?), the Battlefield 4 beta launches, and Valve unveils its new hardware, and maybe even confirms a certain game we've all been waiting for?

Check out all of your gaming news AFTER THE JUMP!

RockStar's Grand Theft Auto Online stumbled quite a bit, being plagued with technical difficulties since it was first launched on Tuesday. Luckily, an update was put out for the PlayStation 3 (Xbox 360 soon to follow) that promises to clear up log in issues.

Pok mon X and Y are due for a worldwide release of October 12^th, a first in the history of the series, but it seems that the street date was broken by a number of game shops in Canada and Italy. Nintendo wasn't having any of it, and is doing its best to get the leaked pictures taken down, but I'm sure you can still find them if you look hard enough.

The Battlefield 4 Beta launched this past Friday, for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC. You can check out the Beta's trailer above, and find info to sign up for the Beta HERE.

Tom Clancy, author of a whole slew of novels that were adapted into extremely popular video games, including the Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six, and Ghost Recon franchises, has passed away this week. Clancy's legacy is already reaching into the next generation of platforms with Tom Clancy's The Division, due out in 2014.

The big news coming out of last week was Valve's unveiling of their own hardware, the Steam Machine, along with their own SteamOS and Steam Controller (ABOVE). To learn more about Valve's announcement, click HERE!

Half-Life 3 confirmed? It seems like Valve very well may have confirmed that they are working on Half-Life 3. This is all still speculation at this point, but with the trademark being filed, it seems we should know for a fact sooner or later.

Check out some of these trailers for upcoming games!

Destiny: The Moon Gameplay Trailer

Super Mario 3D World Gameplay Trailer

Batman: Arkham Origins Deathstroke Trailer

Batman: Arkham Origins Knightfall DLC Trailer

South Park: The Stick of Truth Trailer

Upcoming Video Game Releases:

Beyond: Two Souls - Oct. 8^th - PS3

Pok mon X and Y - Oct. 12^th - 3DS

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes - Oct. 18^th - Just about every platform

Get those pre-orders out for these titles, as they're releasing in the next 2 weeks, and be sure to check back here on NerdBastards for your video gaming news!

Destiny Awaits

ncsuDuncan has put together a pretty sweet time line of all the tidbits that Bungie has been revealing to the world about their newest venture which we all think is called Destiny. Either way, it still awaits...


The image is from a find in the ODST Campaign which suggests Bungie had some concrete plans for a long time before any outsider got wind of Destiny.

Destiny titbits revealed by Demonware accidentally

Click in the image for the big picture.

It's being hailed as a massive leak but it's not really. It's a post from some dude who works for a firm called Demonware who got to attended Bungie Day and hear all about the new Destiny game.

There's no real specifics here, everything is mentioned in a broad, passing sense.

Still, Bungie will be pissed this kind of thing was disclose, probably in breach of an NDA.

Stand and deliver your virtual goods and money!

I spied this story about the real world harassment of a young RuneScape player to make them drop their in game loot.
"The Dutch Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the theft conviction of a youth who stole another boy's possessions in the popular online fantasy game RuneScape. Judges ordered the offender to perform 144 hours of community service.
The suspect's lawyer had argued the amulet and mask "were neither tangible nor material and, unlike for example electricity, had no economic value." Yet the punk held a knife to the kid and made him drop his loot in-game.
These 'virtual world' economies are nothing new in the digital sense, people often trade money in the real world for items in the digital realm.
The story did make me think about Bungie's new game, Destiny. Mooted to be set in world where players can come and go, it's been hinted that it will have some kind of in game economy (this was through a job advertisment's call for persons with experience in virtual economies).
One can only image what will happen if Destiny is the success we all want it to be. Given the stories that have abound such as kids shooting because they took their Halo away, or people travelling miles across the country to beat up someone who has offended them in game, there's likely to be ample room for such shennaigans to result from taking part in Destiny.
While there's no doubt Bungie is tuned into these problems of in game scammers and loot stealers and the like and they will make Destiny's economy a robust one, let's hope their Federal Reserve is a strong one.

Destiny news found in court documentation !!

According to the LA Times newspaper, Bungie (the makers of Halo, if you've been living under a rock) is currently developing four "sci-fantasy, action shooter games" code-named "Destiny."

This information was found in court documents relating to a case between involving Bungie's publisher, Activision.
First thing I'll say is I'm glad (very glad) that MMO was not mentioned in the description of what Destiny is about.

The Destiny games are apparently set to be released beginning in the fall of 2013, followed by subsequent releases in fall of 2015, 2017 and 2019. So that's a well planned quadrilogy!
In addition, Bungie has agreed to create four downloadable expansions known as "Comet," which will release in fall of 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020.

Which sounds like Bungie is betting the farm that their content will sell and sell well.

Almost very interestingly, the contractual arrangements between the parties allow Bungie to invest "no more than 5% of its staff to develop an action-shooter prototype dubbed Marathon while Bungie remains under contract with Activision."

This strongly suggests that the original Marathon is getting a remake. This should make some fan boys very happy! I also wonder if this is the project that Marcus Lehto has been working on lately?

You can read the whole contract here!

Destiny confirmed for the PS4

Here's what Bungie's Jason Jones contributed to the Sony PS4 release conference today, an in house video touting the Destiny game:



The key take away for me is that the graphics of Destiny will be absolutely first rate. The music sounded pretty good too.

Listen to the first piece of Destiny's music

First taste of Destiny's music found by the ARG players

The ARG for Destiny has revealed some Destiny music (have a listen), as written by long time Bungie composer Marty O'Donnell and some guy called Paul McCartney.

Whilst featuring a chanting choir, the great news is that the short piece sounds nothing like Halo.
You can probably surmise Marty was keen to avoid Halo comparisons given Destiny is a wholly new piece of art.

Have a listen and let us know what you think!

Destiny leaks coming thick and fast before Sunday's launch

Bungie's Destiny game is being formally revealed to the world very soon, so it's no surprise that things have started to leak out into the hands of keen Bungie fans. Journalists, gaming magazines and popular websites have been given the heads up so as to be ready for the big day, presumably under a tight embargo.

So it seems that Joystiq has jumped the gun with this poster (from Gamestop) of the Fallen, presumably one of the aliens that will feature in the game:

They have to be aliens as this twitter leak suggests the Fallen have four arms...

Une avant-go t des ennemis de #Destiny ? twitter.com/_RaHaN_/status...
- RaHaN (@_RaHaN_) February 14, 2013

That fellow looks a little more fearsome than a Promeathan Knight eh?

Arcadesushi reported that:

"Best Buy pre-order materials from Destructroid seem to indicate that Destiny will be a first-person shooter that revolves around the arrival of something called "the Traveler." There's mention of survivors, Golden Ages, civilizations, the last safe city on Earth, and a possible interconnected universe and story that will be the "evolution of entertainment.""

If it's true Destiny is a first person shooter, that will be a relief for many I'm sure. Tune in tommorrow for more Destiny details and we'll find out of it's been worth the wait.

Destiny titbits revealed by Demonware accidentally

Click in the image for the big picture.

It's being hailed as a massive leak but it's not really. It's a post from some dude who works for a firm called Demonware who got to attended Bungie Day and hear all about the new Destiny game.

There's no real specifics here, everything is mentioned in a broad, passing sense.

Still, Bungie will be pissed this kind of thing was disclose, probably in breach of an NDA.

Bungie sends some love to a little boy

Bungie get Halo. They get community. They get the fans and they get that fans sometimes need a little love beyond making great video games. Enter Bungie Foundation, a charity they set up to "to reduce distress and suffering of children." Here's a cool thing the Foundation was recently able to do.

Redditor fiscal_ posted trying to get some help with getting in touch with Bungie Foundation to arrange some Halo cheer for his Halo loving son who had just a massive liver replacement operation. One can only imagine the toll that takes on a young fellow. Some people talked to other people and the BF was able to come to the party and sent around Christine to deliver a card signed by some of the Bungie team, some swag and a spartan helmet.

Here's Fiscal_'s thanks on Reddit, and some pictures of him and his son, enjoying trying out Carter's Spartan helmet.

Nice work Dad and Bungie.

I couldn't help but notice what Christine was wearing - a Destiny shirt:

Bungie release Destiny screen shot after a leak

Woah! Finally an official thing from Bungie on their new game, Destiny.

Following a massive leak of images and details to IGN gaming site, Bungie responded with an official release of this screen shot stating:

"Go ahead. Take a peek. It's alright. We weren't quite ready, but we will be soon, and we can't wait to finally show you what we've really been up to.
Stick around, we haven't even started yet."

The screenshot shows an awesomely curved tank / battle gun of some kind, foot soldiers bearing arms and a landscape setting that appears to be er... snowbound.