This is EGM Weekly, a round up of the top news, reviews, and features from the past seven days.
This week, DriveClub gets taken back to the drawing board, an Amazon-branded videogame controller is spotted, Maxis reveals that SimCity‘s offline mode is in the final stretch, layoffs hit PopCap, clues pointing to a Louisiana-set Mafia III emerge, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt gets bumped back to 2015, and much more.
Plus, the EGM Crew reviews Titanfall, Dark Souls II, and Yoshi’s New Island. We also share the hardest games we couldn’t beat that still haunt us, Eric shares the latest J-related news, the Crew assembles to play Titanfall live, and put out another episode of the Game Over Podcast.
Here’s this week’s best:
News Stories
Driveclub taken ‘back to the drawing board’
By Chris Holzworth, News Editor
Sony and Evolution Studios are going “back to the drawing board” with Driveclub, PlayStation software product development head Scott Rohde told IGN in a recent interview. READ MORE
Controller photos seem to offer more proof of Amazon console coming soon
By Eric L. Patterson, Executive Editor
With all of the talk lately about Amazon releasing their own game console, photographs of what seems to be the system’s controller have now made their way out into the wild. READ MORE
Game rental listings spotted on the PlayStation Store
By Chris Holzworth, News Editor
Game rental options, albeit non-functioning ones, have been spotted on the PlayStation Store by users across NeoGAF, MP1st, and and PSN Stores. READ MORE
SimCity offline update ‘is in final testing’
By Matthew Bennett, Associate Editor
The highly anticipated offline update for SimCity is now in the final stages of testing, according to developer Maxis. READ MORE
Unknown number of PopCap employees laid off today
By Chris Holzworth, News Editor
An unknown number of PopCap employees have been laid off, according to a statement issued by general manager John Vechey. READ MORE
The Last Guardian is still ‘absolutely in the mix’
By Matthew Bennett, Associate Editor
The Last Guardian is still “absolutely in the mix” at Sony Worldwide Studios, according to Sony’s Scott Rohde. READ MORE
Concept art points to Forza Horizon sequel set in the Deep South
By Chris Holzworth, News Editor
A pair of concept art pieces from videogame production service Dhruva Interactive suggests that a Forza Horizon sequel set in deep south is in the works, IGN reports.READ MORE
Take-Two casting call hints at a Mafia III set in Louisiana
By Josh Harmon, Associate Editor
A new casting call for an unannounced Take-Two project might have outed the first details about the next Mafia game. READ MORE
Titanfall dev avoided on-disc DLC, wants future content to reflect player feedback
By Josh Harmon, Associate Editor
Titanfall developer Respawn Entertainment intentionally shied away from including any on-disc DLC in the high-profile multiplayer FPS. READ MORE
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt set to release February 2015
By Matthew Bennett, Associate Editor
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will now release for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC in February 2015, CD Projekt Red announced. READ MORE
Features
The Fast Five: The hard games that still haunt us
By EGM Staff
Each week, the EGM Staff bring you The Fast Five—in which we choose a topic related in some way to the week’s news, and five editors pick their top answer to the question. READ MORE
Japan Service: What’s New This Week in Japanese Gaming
By Eric L. Patterson, Executive Editor
This week on Japan Service: Assault Suit Leynos suits up to live again on the PS4, Sega’s early era mascot Opa-Opa goes 3D, and Namco Bandai’s ShiftyLook project comes to a close. READ MORE
Weekend Play: 99 Luftstryders Go By
By EGM Staff
Welcome to EGM’s Weekend Play, a weekly account of what games the editors of EGM are currently playing, and an open conversation with you, the reader, about what you’ve been playing. READ MORE
EGM Playdate: The Crew plays Titanfall live [archived]
By EGM Staff
EGM’s livestream shenanigans live on—this week with Respawn Entertainment’s spectacle of a first-person shooter, Titanfall. READ MORE
Reviews
Titanfall
By Chris Holzworth, News Editor
After years spent off the radar, Respawn Entertainment returns to first-person shooters with the slayer of giants. READ MORE
Dark Souls II
By Eric L. Patterson, Executive Editor
The bonfires of From Software’s Souls series still burn, just not quite as bright as before. READ MORE
Yoshi’s New Island
By Ray Carsillo, Reviews Editor
Yoshi’s New Island feels like nothing but a sad rehash of a classic platformer. READ MORE
Podcasts
EGM Game Over Podcast 067: Prepare for Toadfall
By EGM Staff
The EGM crew brings you the Game Over Podcast, our end-of-the-week conversation where we discuss some of the biggest recent events in gaming. LISTEN HERE