Reboot: This Week In Games:"GTA V" Is Making Billions, Xbox TV Programming and Nintendo Loses a Pioneer

Gaming is complex, catch up.

September 22, 2013

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Gaming is complex, so catch up each week with the short and dirty in Reboot: This Week In Games.

This week saw the release of Grand Theft Auto V, it turns out that the hype was true and Rockstar has produced a winner. Three days after the game's launch it had surpassed a $1 Billion in retails sales making it the best selling video game of all time.

Microsoft drops some more hints out its development of original TV-like programming for the Xbox One and has given out a few more details of the liquid-black box's design. Unlike the Xbox 360, the Xbox One was never designed to be used vertically.

Nintendo lost its former president Hiroshi Yamauchi earlier this week. Hiroshi was responsible for Nintendo turn around from a trading card company into the company that would bring us the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), SNES, N64 and the GameCube.

Three of the coolest trailers from the Tokyo Game Show.

The Tokyo Game Show was earlier this week produced a few new kickass trailers. Square Enix isn't offering much information on Final Fantasy XV,but it released this trailer featuring both cinematic and gameplay. The cinematic intro is movie quality and leads into some heavy combat gameplay, showing off a new style of fighting and the urban environments that the game takes place in.

Have you finally shaken those nightmares after playing Dark Souls? Have you worked through, with your therapist, the deep feeling of shame and impotence that come with not being able to comprehend the difficulty of it? Well there's good news! Dark Souls IIis set to drop in March of 2014 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. This trailer shows off one of the biggest components of Dark Souls, dying over and over again.

The father of survival horror Shinji Mikami, maker of Resident Evil among others, returns to complete one final masterpiece before he retires. The Evil Within looks like a mix of Resident Evil, Silent Hilland everything we love about the survival horror genre. The game also features a dynamic randomness that means every play-through will be vastly different. Check out the spine-tingling trailer here.

Next-gen news.

Microsoft is exploring hundreds of potential TV concepts for the Xbox One. Microsoft Studios head Phil Spencer told Bloomberg during the Tokyo Game Show in Japan: "they have literally hundreds of ideas that they are incubating right now." We assume “they” are those little writing monkeys hard at work.

Microsoft has already announced a Halo series spin-off with the help of legendary director Steven Spielberg. This will be Halo's first foray into Television and who better to lead it then one of the greatest directors off all time. After the popularity of Halo: 4 Forward Unto Dawn, the live-action web-series, it's exciting to see big name directors getting on board bringing to life some of our favorite games.

Also this week, Xbox senior director of product management and planning Albert Panello has confirmed that the Xbox One is not designed to operate vertically. Its previous console, the Xbox 360, can be used horizontally or vertically. Please inform your interior decorator accordingly.

PlayStation Access has released a video detailing the upgrade process for games that cross generations between PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4.

Not every title may be included in the crossover and features like save game saves also vary from title to title but a few games have been confirmed. Watch Dogs, Assassin's Creed IV, Call of Duty: Ghosts and Battlefield 4 will be available to upgrade into your next-gen system. Gamers will have to spend and extra $10 to make the conversion but it beats another run to the store.

Gaming loses a pioneer.

Nintendo’s former president Hiroshi Yamauchi has died of pneumonia at age 85. Mr. Yamauchi ran Nintendo for 53 years, taking it from the slightly seedy makers of trading cards and love hotel investors, into a the company that would bring us the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), SNES, N64 and the GameCube. Check out all of Nintendo's original NES releases on one poster put together by Pop Chart Labs.

Yet what Hiroshi built lives on with the release of the highly anticipated Pokemon X and Y right around the corner, electronica artist Pogo—known for his insane Disney's Snow White musical mash-up "Wishery"—has set his skills on breathing new life into the classic Pokemon theme.

In related news, nintendo is offering a free month of the Wii Fit U fitness program for Wii U owners starting November 1. The pack of fitness games can be downloaded from Nintendo's eShop starting the first of November and runs through the end of January 2014. During the trial period users can experience 77 different activities including 19 training modes, many of which will work with the Wii U Gamepad controller.

Madden, FIFA and Battlefield 4 coming in November.

Madden NFL 25, FIFA 14 and Battlefield 4 were confirmed as signature titles EA would be rolling out for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 release in November. Now, the team over at EA has given dates for all you waiting to start your countdown.

All three titles will be released November 19 (November 21 in Europe) for Xbox One and November 12 (November 29 in Europe) for PlayStation 4.

This week 2K released a new trailer showing off the improvements and upgrades to NBA 2K14. This year, the team over at 2K has made significant changes on both sides of the ball. A major concern in previous games was floor spacing and your players ability to move freely around the court. Developers have addressed this issue and increased the AI capabilities while off the ball. While it won't be perfect, there will surely be less computer players standing aimlessly on the block while trying to run a offensive set.

Grand Theft Auto V drops and crushes.

Grand Theft Auto V dropped this week - check out our review here - and only took three days to become of the most profitable video game ever released, making a over $1 billion in retail sales. We're sure everyone over at Rockstar is smiling this week. Check out the real-life faces of GTA V's three main characters.

Three sneaky gamers decided to dress us as cops and skip the launch line for Grand Theft Auto V at the Staten Island Mall in New York and nearly got away with it. One suspect is an auxiliary NYPD officer and another is the son of a retired officer.

There are tons of videos online showing all the crazy mayhem gamers can cause in GTA V but there is also a lot of very realistically boring things to do. Check out this spoof from College Humor. If you decide to skip all the water temperature games and go stright for the killing check out our huge list of cheats.