Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo Among Companies Accused of Violating European Consumer Law

The Norwegian Consumer Council (NCC) has accused several online storefronts of violating European consumer protection laws, it has emerged. The complaint, which was filed on Thursday to the Norwegian Consumer Authority, specifically names Battle.net, Origin, Steam, Uplay, Nintendo eShop, Playstation Store, and Xbox Store.

The NCC has taken issue with Nintendo not offering consumers appropriate rights to cancel contracts. This specifically pertains to preorders that customers are unable to cancel. In addition to this, Steam, Origin, and PlayStation Store were allegedly found to be in violation of EU’s “right of withdrawal” rule, which allows customers (under certain conditions) to withdraw a purchase from the day of sale up to 14 days after they’ve received the product. The complaint reads:

Steam (owned by Valve Corporation), Origin (owned by Electronic Arts), and Playstation Store (owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment) are in breach of the right of withdrawal by not getting express consent from the consumer and his acknowledgement that he thereby loses his right of withdrawal.

NCC’s letter states that the digital video games market is sometimes marred by issues such as unfinished products, “invasive” digital rights management technologies, and misleading advertisements “combined with preorders.” The watchdog has been making efforts to safeguard consumer rights when purchasing video games digitally.

[Source: NCC via Gamasutra]

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Gran Turismo Sport Update 1.18 Adds New Events, Toyota GR Supra Racing Concept Car, and More

Polyphony Digital has detailed Gran Turismo Sport‘s incoming patch (1.18), which will add new events and a new car alongside the usual bug fixes and improvements. You can find all the details below.

1. The following 3 events will be added to the ‘GT League’:

■ Compétition de France (Beginner League)
Cute, sporty, a clash of the unique. An event for French made cars.

■ Gr. B Rallycross (Amateur League)
By grip or drift; your fate lies in total control of your machine. A race for Group B rally cars.

■ Vision Gran Turismo Trophy + (Professional League)
A race of dream cars, for the Vision Gran Turismo’s. Who will be the king of them all!?

In addition, new Rounds have been added to the following events: FF Challenge (Beginner League), J-Sports Meeting (Amateur League), La Festa Cavallino (Professional League) and Gr.3 Endurance Series (Endurance League).

2. The ‘GR Supra Racing Concept’ car, unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show, will be added.

3. A new layout for the popular ‘Dragon Trail’ track will be added.

This is another facet of the Dragon Trail, embraced by the azure blue Adriatic Sea and lush Croatian nature. Its name is taken from the green olive fields looking down on the course. The pit facility has a rather local feel to it, and the layout is more technical in nature compared to the Seaside version. The 4.3km track contains tricky combined corners and 90 degree turns, with more to discover the harder you drive. Its reverse layout, ‘Gardens II’ will also be included.

4. More additional features will be added.

SCAPES
・Added ‘Hawaii Islands’ to the ‘Featured’ section.

BRAND CENTRAL
・When taking photos in brand-related Spots, you can now choose cars from both the showroom and the garage (limited to cars of that brand).

・BMW-related Spots have been added.

CIRCUIT EXPERIENCE
・Tsukuba Circuit has been added to the ‘Circuit Experience’.

The patch will go live before the month is over. For more details on the above, check out the game’s official website.

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Another Rating for Hitman: Sniper Assassin Appears Online, Confirms PS4 Release

In February this year, the Australian Classification Board rated Hitman: Sniper Assassin for multiple unspecified platforms but in the absence of an official announcement, fans guessed that a mobile spin-off was on its way. Now, the Korean rating board has published a listing for the same title but the organization has gone a step further to confirm PlayStation 4 as one of the platforms that it’s headed to.

It seems that Sniper Assassin will be similar to last gen’s Sniper Challenge that was offered as a pre-order bonus with Absolution. With Hitman: Definitive Edition releasing on May 18, it’s likely that we’ll hear something soon.

The IO Interactive franchise was picked up by publisher Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment earlier this month. The company will be publishing the Definitive Edition.

In case you missed the initial announcement, here’s what the upcoming version offers:

The Hitman: Definitive Edition will feature new in-game disguises for Agent 47 inspired by classic IO Interactive titles – Freedom Fighters, Kane & Lynch and Mini Ninjas – celebrating the Danish studio’s 20th anniversary, in addition to all previously released content and game updates from the first season of Hitman.

We’ll update our readers when IO Interactive makes an official announcement so stay tuned.

[Source: Korean Rating Board, Australian Classification Board]

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God Eater 3 Has a New Development Partner in Marvelous’ First Studio

Longtime followers of Bandai Namco’s God Eater series may have grown familiar with Shift, the development company which had been working on the series games up until God Eater Resurrection which was released in 2015. However, it seems like Shift will not be developing God Eater 3, as Bandai Namco has announced that they will be instead partnering with Marvelous‘ First Studio to develop the highly anticipated sequel in the series.

As a reference, Shift is also recently known to have developed the PlayStation Vita-exclusive multiplayer action game Freedom Wars in addition to God Eater series, while Marvelous’ First Studio is known for developing the hack and slash action game series Fate/Extella, with the newest game Fate/Extella Link slated for release in Japan on June 7 and in the West later this Winter.

Here’s what the major Japanese gaming news site Famitsu wrote about the announcement.

In the development summit, they first made an announcement that God Eater 3‘s development partner is Marvelous, which also developed Soul Sacrifice and more in the past. The God Eater series had been developed by Shift until now, but it looks like they are also renewing the development team itself for God Eater 3.

Another Japanese news site 4Gamer also corroborated on this confirmation as they mentioned Bandai Namco’s reasons for the development partner change.

At the beginning of the development summit, it was revealed that GE3‘s development partner is Marvelous’ First Studio. This new organization is done not only due to the fact that GE3 is aimed for home consoles, but also because they are gazing at a further challenge. Mr. Ittetsu Suzuki from Marvelous’ First Studio appeared in this development summit as GE3‘s development director.

God Eater 3 will be released worldwide for PlayStation 4 and PC via Steam. A release timeframe has not been announced yet as of this writing.

[Sources: Famitsu, 4Gamer]

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God Of War Collector’s Edition Map Contains a Clever, Hidden Puzzle

Warning: This article contains spoilers.

Considering how vast and immersive God of War is, players were bound to look for – and be rewarded with – plenty of secrets and hidden objectives throughout the game.

What very few people expected was to find a puzzle accessible only in physical form (as opposed to exclusively within the game). And that’s exactly what happened when some very loyal fans uncovered a riddle in God of War’s physical map, which is only available in the game’s Collector’s Edition.

It all started with YouTuber BRKsEDU after he discovered a cleverly designed puzzle within the map’s many runes. With the help of in-game alphabets to decipher a complex riddle, the scattered text tells the story of how Sindri and Brok started their journey for treasure.

This subsequently led loyal Reddit players to search for various treasures across the game as they slowly made progress with the riddle, with user SkipOneEBR uncovering the final clue within the physical map.

Annotated physical map, courtesy of SkipOneEBR:

Puzzling letters essentially corresponded to steps throughout the map which retraced Brok and Sindri’s footsteps. This eventually led to the Muspelheim Temple, where players can unlock a rift containing a special pommel for Kratos’ axe.

You can read the full riddle here, courtesy of Kotaku.

This unexpected riddle is just one way Sony has gone above and beyond to make God of War a truly unforgettable experience. In addition, the studio has been updating the game with numerous bug fixes and performance improvements since its release.

Be sure to check out our full God of War review if you’re still on the fence. The game is out now exclusively on PlayStation 4, and it’s one we wholeheartedly recommend.

[Via: Kotaku]

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Get Devil May Cry’s Dante Armor and Weapon in Monster Hunter: World Now

Announced a number of weeks ago, you can finally get your hands on the Devil May Cry Dante armor and weapon in Monster Hunter: World. In order to craft the crossover event items, you’ll need to complete the Code Red event quest. Code Red is an eight star Arena quest that requires Hunter Rank 14. You’ll be taking on an Anjanath, Odogaron, Rathalos, and Teostra, the most red of Monster Hunter: World’s monsters.

Completing the quest by taking out all four monsters will net you Red Orbs, the required item to craft the Devil May Cry gear. Each armor piece needs on Red Orb, and the Devil Sword (a Charge Blade) requires two, meaning that you’ll need seven Red Orbs to get the full set of gear. Beating the event may sometimes give multiple Red Orbs, so you don’t necessarily need to play the tough quest seven times.

Code Red goes away on May 10 at 5 PM PT, so make sure that you get at least seven Red Orbs before then. Devil May Cry’s Dante is the last of the announced crossover event quests. We’ll likely see some old ones rotate through again over the next couple of months, with new events and the future of Monster Hunter: World to be announced at E3.

A huge update recently brought a new location and monster to Monster Hunter: World, along with a number of other balancing updates and tweaks. More recently, a new patch fixed a few bugs that were introduced in update 3.00.

And finally, if you want to know which Monster Hunter: World monsters would be the tastiest to eat, we’ve got five recipes that you could make from the creatures that roam the world, from Anjanath ribs to Mosswine pork chops. If you aren’t hungry before reading it, you’ll be salivating by the time you’re done, wishing for food from creatures that don’t even exist.

Will you be playing the Monster Hunter World Devil May Cry event to look like Dante and wield his sword?

Mosswine - Pork Chops

Why wouldn’t you want to eat a Mosswine? They even take you to bunches of mushrooms so that you have a side to go with their porky goodness. I’d feel a little bad eating one after it’s picked out what it goes well with, but a Mosswine would make for a great set of porkchops once it’s been cleaned and prepared – you don’t want to eat any of its moss, after all!

Porkchops, mushrooms, and perhaps a few herbs from your journey come together to create a hearty meal, and one that’ll reinvigorate you to go back out on your monster slaying adventures.

Anjanath - BBQ Ribs

Anjanath’s short little arms may not be willing to give much, but he has a massive body. That means that Anjanath can provide plentiful ribs! What goes good with ribs? BBQ sauce. You know that the Handler likely has an excellent BBQ sauce recipe, because her love for food knows no bounds. Whilst this would be a simple meal of endless stacks of ribs coated in a warm, smoky BBQ sauce, you’ll not be left unsatisfied. That meat will fall right off the bone and honestly readers, I’m at risk of dribblin’ right now.

Lavasioth - Chili-coated Fish

Monster Hunter: World doesn’t offer many options in terms of seafood, but the fiery Lavasioth could provide fish food with a bit of a kick. Sure, it doesn’t come from the sea of water, but it comes from a sea of lava! You can guarantee it’ll be hot when it reaches your plate, and you might find going to the toilet to be a bigger challenge than facing down any monster. What people would do for food, eh?

Give me that fish fillet with a chili coating, chili oil, and a jug (or several) of water to wash that hot inferno down. This is a dish for those Fivers who think that they could eat even the hottest food, but the Hunter’s Guild and Research Commission team don’t take responsibility for those brave – or foolish – enough to try it out.

Rathian - Beef Bowl

You know what Rathians have that not many other monsters have? Eggs. They lay eggs, and they’re massive. You don’t even need to carve the Rathian to create a good meal with what it has to offer, but shredded beef on a bed of rice with egg cracked on top sounds pretty darn great, doesn’t it? This is Monster Hunter, so of course the amount of rice and beef has to be comparable to the size of Rathian’s eggs. Maybe Yu Narukami of Persona 4 fame could tackle such an endless beef bowl, as he’s tackled the meat dimension once before and come out on top. Anybody else? Who knows?

Kulve Taroth - Golden Feast

The Kulve Taroth is the big one. A feast fit for a king or queen. She can’t be slayed right now, but you can only imagine the gold-lined meal that she’d provide once she’s finally taken down. Food with gold in the ingredients are considered to be delicacies, and Kulve Taroth’s gold plating would accompany an insane platter of meat. It’s the largest creature in the game, so it’s suitable that its meal is nigh-impossible to eat in its entirety.

 

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MLB Home Run Derby VR Now Available for PSVR and HTC Vive

If you’re a baseball fan and happen to own a PlayStation VR set, then you’re in luck. Major League Baseball has just released MLB Home Run Derby VR, its first-ever virtual reality game, for PSVR and the HTC Vive.

Let’s take a quick look at this MLB Home Run Derby VR trailer:

Serving primarily as a batting simulator, the game allows you to step into Marlins Park in Miami, Progressive Field in Cleveland, as well as Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. These have been beautifully recreated and promise an authentic, realistic 3D experience.

Players attempt to hit as many home runs as possible in timed competitions through the use of motion controls. Total points are then shown in worldwide leaderboards that showcase everyone’s standings.

Home Run Derby VR was already available in a limited fashion prior to its release, including last year’s MLB Battlegrounds in London, along with several offseason events over the past year. That said, the game is still being showcased and will be featured at the Padres-Dodgers series in Mexico between May 4-6.

Fans can also get a taste through various MLB clubs later this year, including the D-backs, Braves, White Sox, Astros, Marlins, Twins, A’s, Cardinals, Padres, Giants, Rays, and Nationals. Each event will feature a 3D recreation of its respective ballpark within the game.

Lastly, the 2012 mobile version of Home Run Derby is available for iOS and Android devices. It was recently updated with 30 MLB ballparks, realistically-rendered Derby participants from the past weight competitions, and a redesigned multiplayer mode.

Ready to hit a home run? Be sure to grab MLB Home Run Derby VR for $19.99 on PlayStation VR and HTC Vive devices.

[Via: MLB.com]

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