Gaming News: Watch PS4's Ratchet & Clank in Action, Including the Dance-Inducing Groovitron

Insomniac games today released the first gameplay footage from the upcoming reimagining of Ratchet & Clank for PS4, and it's looking quite good.

Ratchet & Clank, as it's called, is not a simple HD remake of the original game of the same name. Instead, it's using that game as a basis, and then adding new content and working in the story from themovie that debuts in April 2016. As the trailer jokingly describes it, it's "the game, based on the movie, based on the game trailer."

You can get an overview of the game (and check out some gameplay) in the video above, and see the new trailer below. We also have new videos of a boss fightand a chunk of gameplay from Aleero City.

In addition to the much-improved visuals, Ratchet & Clank will feature new planets, bosses, and weapons, as well as a modernized control scheme. These weapons consist of both brand-new weapons and some returning from the Ratchet & Clank Futuregames, such as the Groovitron that forces nearby characters to dance. Also making a return here is the Bouncer weapon from Going Commando, but you'll need to preorder the game in order to get your hands on that.

Following a recent delay, the new Ratchet & Clank is set to land on PS4 sometime next spring. A price has not been announced, but Amazon is listing it for just $40.

Expect to hear much more about the game as we approach E3 next week.

Gaming News: DmC Dev's Hellblade Gets New Gameplay Trailer, Details on Key Themes

Ninja Theory, developer of Heavenly Sword,Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, and DmC: Devil May Cry, has released a new trailer for Hellblade, its upcoming third-person action game.

Along with the trailer, which you can watch below, Ninja Theory has also discussed some of the themes at the heart of the game.

"Mental health and psychosis are the key themes explored in Hellblade," the studio said.

In order to accurately and authentically explore these themes, the studio is working closely with Paul Fletcher, University of Cambridge's professor of health and neuroscience. Ninja Theory is also consulting with people who have an experience of mental health difficulties.

"True understanding of mental health is not simply about the books, lectures, or verbal descriptions but from deeper engagement on all levels," said Fletcher.

"Working with Ninja Theory has shown me the potential that gaming has for sharing in a character's experiences and engendering empathy in ways that go well beyond those offered by simple academic descriptions. Maybe this approach will contribute powerful new ways of challenging stigma.

"Tameem Antoniades, Ninja Theory's chief 

creative officer, added that the studio is "pursuing creative independence in order to explore a compelling subject matter and gaming experiences that would not be possible under the current retail model."

"In movie terms," he continued, "this would be a quality independent film, not a Hollywood blockbuster. Digital self-publishing means that we can offer a smaller, but high-quality game at around half the price of retail games."

Ninja Theory has also revealed that the project is supported by the Wellcome Trust, a charitable foundation aimed at improving the understanding of science and health.

Despite its similar name, Hellblade is not connected to previous PlayStation 3 exclusive Heavenly Sword.

"It's a brand-new IP. Senua is a new character," said Dominic Matthews, product development manager at the studio. "It's not tied to Heavenly Sword at all. I saw someone describe the name as someone just putting Heavenly Sword into Thesaurus.com and going 'Oh, it's Hellblade.'"

Gaming News: Battlefield Hardline Adding These New Cars and Guns Through First DLC

Battlefield Hardline developer Visceral Games has published a detailed blog post that lists off the new vehicles and weapons coming to the cops-and-robbers shooter through Criminal Activity, the game's first piece of add-on content.

Visceral explained that it is approaching all four Hardline expansion packs in a different way. For Criminal Activity, the focus is on fast-paced, infantry combat.

As a result, what you'll see in terms of guns are weapons and attachments that are better suited for close-quarter combat.

The weapons, equipment, and vehicles listed below will be available only for people who buy Criminal Activity.

However, Visceral will also release a free gun for everyone in the form of a new submachine gun that can be used by cops or criminals.

This gun will be delivered to all players through an update scheduled to go live when Criminal Activity lands later this month, first for Battlefield Premium members.

Check out Criminal Activity's new guns and vehicles below, while detailed descriptions of each are available at Visceral's website.

The add-on also introduces four new multiplayer maps, a new Bounty mode, and more masks.

Weapons:

• Pump action Bullup shotgun (cops)
• New battle rifle (criminals)
• New assault rifle (cops)
• Nail gun (cops and criminals)

Equipment:

• Armor Piercing Tracer Rounds (cops or criminals)
• Breaching Rounds -- (cops or criminals)

Vehicles:

• Lowrider
• Pickup truck

Gaming News: PES 2016 Cover Star is Brazil's Neymar

While we are yet to learn anything substantial about Pro Evolution Soccer 2016, Konami has confirmed its cover will feature Brazillian forward Neymar da Silva Santo Junior.

Although Konami still hasn't provided any further information on PES 2016, or even released the official box art. It is expected to reveal more about the game on June 12. Watch the teaser below.

Neymar is currently one of the highest-profile players in the world and, having been part of the Spanish and Champions League-winning Barcelona squad, he has recently earned even more praise and accolades.

"This is a real honour for me to be cover star for PES 2016," said Neymar Jr. "The series has long been praised for its sheer level of control and utter realism and I am delighted to be working with such a talented team as Konami.

"I am fascinated by the huge amount of work involved in putting together the game and ensuring the world's top players look and play just like the real things, and cannot wait to see myself in action as soon as possible," he added.

Neymar will be available to use in PES 2016's myClub mode for preorder customers. Konami has said it will provide more details on this at a later date.

Konami recently addressed reports of its intention to distance itself from the console gaming market in favour of mobile, as well as rumours surrounding the departure of Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima.

According to company president Hideki Hayakawa, Konami still intends to support consoles, as well as alternative platforms such as arcades and mobile.

"Konami will continue to embrace the challenge of creating entertainment content via different platforms," he said. "Not only mobile platforms, but for home consoles, arcade units, and cards, to meet the changing needs of the times."

Gaming News: Hyrule Warriors Announced for 3DS With New Characters

[UPDATE] The video has now been removed, suggesting the announcement went live a little too early.

The original story is below.

Koei Tecmo has announced Hyrule Warriors will be released on Nintendo 3DS.

A short trailer for the game reveals that The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker character Tetra will be added.Tetra will be wielding a cutlass and pistol.

The trailer, which you can watch below, also shows The King of Hyrule and The King of Red Lions will also be available for players to use. Both new characters can also be transferred to the Wii U version of the game.

Hyrule Warriors was previously released for Wii U and is a spin-off that blends Legend of Zelda with the gameplay of Koei Tecmo's Dynasty Warriors.

In January, it was reported that the Hyrule Warriors has shipped more than one million units worldwide since its launch last fall.

In our Hyrule Warriors review we gave the game an 8/10 score. Reviewer Miguel Concepcion praised the game's balancing of Dynasty Warriors map management with Zelda-style objectives and said it delivered true Zelda fan service from beginning to end.

Gaming News: GTA 5 Now Lets You Drink Champagne and Smoke a Cigar on a Solid-Gold Plane

The next update for Grand Theft Auto Online, the multiplayer mode for Grand Theft Auto V, is now available. Called "Ill-Gotten Gains Update: Part One," the update introduces a range of luxury-themed content and activities to the open-world game, including four high-end cars.

These are:

• Pegassi Osiris
• Albany Virgo
• Benefactor Stirling GT
• Enus Windsor

The update also includes two new "deluxe" aircraft in the form of a solid-gold airplane and helicopter.

Outside of new vehicles, Ill-Gotten Gains
Part One introduces new outfits, necklaces, earrings, and watches. There's also another new weapon to buy from Ammu-Nation: the Combat PDW. In addition, the update brings new "Luxury Engravings" that you can adorn your weapons and attachments with.'

What's more, the update introduces "luxurious interior activities" for passengers in the new Luxor Deluxe and Swift Deluxe aircraft. The new activities, which involve booze and cigars, are listed below and are also available in first-person.

• Drinking Champagne (Both)
• Smoking Cigars (Luxor Deluxe)
• Browsing Internet (Swift Deluxe)

As part of this update, developer Rockstar Games has also brought the first-person vehicle hood cam from the PC edition of GTA V to the Xbox One andPlayStation 4 versions of the game for the first time. There are so many more changes, mostly fixes, made through the 1.27 update, all of which you can seehere.

Rockstar is also holding a special weekend event for the Ill-Gotten Gains update--read about it here.

Are you going to jump back into GTA Online to check out the new content? Let us know in the comments below.

Entertainment News: First 007 Spectre TV Spot is All-Out Action

MGM has released the first TV spot for the upcoming 007 movie Spectre, which hits theaters in November.

The minute-long video, which aired last night during the NBA Finals, trades the first trailer's understated tone for the kind of full-on action that fans have come to know and expect from the series.

The first 30 seconds contains footage from the first trailer, but the second half is all new.

Car chases, people jumping off buildings, airplanes careening down a snowy mountain, a short snippet of Dave Bautista's character, and more are all on display.

And of course it ends with Bond's signature line.

Spectre opens in theaters on November 6, starring Daniel Craig as 007 and featuring Christoph Waltz as the bad guy.

Gaming News: Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons PS4, Xbox One, Mobile Release Date Confirmed

Publisher 505 Games has confirmed Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons will be available on PlayStation 4 andXbox One in summer 2015.

The re-release for the latest batch of consoles will feature "director’s commentary, soundtrack, and concept art gallery content."

In addition to consoles, Brothers will be released for iOS, Android, and Windows phones and tablets in the same period.

Brother: A Tale of Two Sons was first released on Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and PC in 2013. The game places players in control of two brothers, with each one mapped to the two thumbsticks on a controller.

The pair must journey to the Tree of Life and acquire its water to save their sick father. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons received critical acclaim for its emotionally charged narrative, exhilarating platforming, and challenging puzzle design.

In GameSpot's Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons review, we awarded the game a score of 8.

"Sure, the puzzles are suitably challenging and mighty clever in places, and the imposing environments are beautifully realised, but it's all there to build those emotional ties, and create moments that hit you right in the pit of your stomach," said our reviewer.

"Brevity is the only real misstep here, and you can't help but feel that with a little more time to build up the characters those emotional highs would have an even greater impact. But it's not enough to detract from what is a great achievement: an ambitious, emotionally affecting adventure that's short, but oh so sweet."

Entertainment News: The Simpsons: Homer and Marge are Splitting Up This Season

Homer and Marge, one of the best-known and most beloved television couples, are splitting up.

The Simpsons executive producer Al Jean says in a new interview with Variety that the premiere episode of the longrunning animated show this fall will see the famous couple "legally separate."

"It's discovered after all the years, Homer has narcolepsy and it's an incredible strain on the marriage," Jean says about their forthcoming split.

Later in this episode, Homer falls in love with his pharmacist, who is voiced by actress Lena Dunham.

It is unclear if the separation will last. If I had to bet, I'd say they get back together.

Simpsons fans may recall that this won't be the first time Homer and Marge call it quits on their marriage. The 1996 season six episode "A Milhouse Divided" saw Homer secretly file for a divorce after he decided Marge could probably do a lot better. The two are remarried at the end of the show.

Jean also revealed some other storylines for upcoming episodes, including Lisa befriending a homeless woman who turns out to be a great singer. Another episode sees the return of Spider Pig, while the show will also air an episode inspired by the movie Boyhood where we'll see flashbacks and flashforwards about Bart.

We also recently learned that this year's Treehouse of Horror episode will see Sideshow Bob finally kill Bart.

In other recent Simpsons news, the show has been renewed for two more seasons, although Mr. Burns may not be a part of it them. The show's producers also recently said that it's unlikely that a Simpsons Movie sequel will be made anytime soon.

Gaming News: Awesome-Looking Dino Game, Which Isn't Even Done, Has Already Generated $10 Million

Incredible-looking dinosaur survival game Ark: Survival Evolved is off to a hot start.

An unfinished version of the game was released last week on PC through Steam Early Access, and has now moved more than 400,000 copies. The game sells for $25, which means it's already brought in more than $10 million in pure revenue.

Developer Studio Wildcard cofounder and cocreative director Jesse Rapczak points out in an interview withGamesIndustry International that it's too early to say how profitable the game will be. But, this initial revenue has already covered the game's $1.5 million development costs over the past seven months.

Ark: Survival Evolved is scheduled to launch one year from now, in June 2016, across PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. Though the game is still a long time out, Rapczak says its core components are set.

"80 percent of the main game is done, with hundreds of hours of gameplay there already," he explained. "It's just down to balancing and feedback from the players. If all goes well we may even add more content once the community gets their hands on the mod tools. More on that later."

Also in the interview, Rapczak said one
reason why Ark: Survival Evolved is seeing such strong support out of the gate could be due to the fact that it enjoyed a week on Twitch's front page. "Watching people stream the game is better than the best focus group money could buy," he said.

Rapczak also said it didn't hurt that "dino fever" is sweeping through popular culture right now with Jurassic World set to hit theaters this weekend.

"We knew dino fever would be at an all-time high right now for us to take advantage of, and we wanted to be the first truly great dino survival game on the market," he said.

Be sure to read GamesIndustry International's full interview for lots more on Ark: Survival Evolved, the debate around Early Access games in general, and more. You can also watch our Now Playing feature through the video embed above.