Dying Light, the upcoming open world zombie survival game from Polish studio Techland, features an array of interesting female characters with rich backstories, at least according to one of the title's writers, Dan Jolley.

Dying Light launches next year and promises to deliver an impressive-looking zombie survival experience that takes place in a Turkish city that's been invaded by the undead. Besides fighting the actual monsters, players will also have to go through some intense situations involving the remaining survivors in the city.

Female characters are important to Techland

While the main character is a male one, Techland writer Dan Jolley confirms on his Tumblr that he and the team went to great lengths to ensure that female characters are represented in a great way in the upcoming title.

Even if this aspect of the games industry is controversial nowadays, Jolley emphasizes that these questions have already been raised inside Techland's staff ever since work began on Dying Light a few years ago.

He explains this point of view with Jade Aldemir, one of the main characters in the game, whose backstory evolved from a rather cliché beauty pageant winner to that of a kickboxing champion that emanates power.

"From there, we added reasons for her to be as skilled and resilient and determined as we felt she should be. We gave her a detailed backstory, an on-screen personal tragedy, some complex, conflicted emotions regarding the story’s protagonist – in short, we did our level best to put her on the same footing as any male character."

Bland characters equal bad writing

The writer also explains that crafting one-dimensional female characters isn't just insulting to female gamers, but also reeks of bad writing, so no creative mind should actually resort to it.

A few other women have also been remodeled in the game to have a bigger impact on the story and some of the other characters.

The writing team also had help from some of the female developers at Techland so that everything could work out as well as possible.

"We tried our damnedest to take Dying Light’s female characters out of the one-dimensional, trope-defined roles seen so often – way, way too often – in games, and turn them into real, multi-faceted people. I can’t say that all of our female characters (or male characters, for that matter) live happily ever after; Dying Light is a grim, brutal game. But if we’ve done our jobs right, we have given these women believable, realistic lives. Lives players will care about," he concludes

Dying Light launches in January of next year across the PC, PS4, and Xbox One platforms.

FIFA 15 might still cause a lot of discussion when it comes to core mechanics and the elements that EA Sports should change in a coming update, but the community is in excitement for the arrival of the Team of the Week package for the Ultimate Team mode.

This week’s installment is now ready to go live and gamers can get access to a number of very capable players that can boost the power of a team as long as they are properly integrated.

The Team of the Week package includes Zlatan Ibrahimovic from PSG as the leader of the attack line after his very good performance and his overall rating of 91.

He is joined, when it comes to attack moves, by Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid and by Andy Carroll.

Support in midfield is being offered by Perisic and Carillo on the wings and by Barnetta and Dzsudzsak in the center of the pitch.

The 3-4-3 system means that defensive options are still relatively limited, but gamers can get access to Hummels, Heurtaux and Gimenez.

The goalkeeper is Allan McGregor and there are also seven substitutes to choose from.

The Chemistry of the Team of the Week is a lowly 41.

FIFA 15 is ready for the holiday season

Christmas is approaching fast and fans of the FIFA series can now pick up the special Holiday edition of this year’s installment, which includes more in-game currency to spend and some new moves to execute when goals are scored.

At the same time, fans of the Ultimate Team concept can start a campaign and use Lionel Messi, the highest-rated player in the football sim, under loan for a five-match period to get a solid start.

EA Sports is also preparing to offer some special events and deals in order to celebrate Christmas.

Recently, FIFA 15 received its third major title update, which is designed to fix some of the bugs the community has mentioned and to introduce some changes to crossing mechanics and defensive positioning.

There are some members of the community who are asking the developers to change the way pace is implemented in order to make matches more tactical.

Presumably, EA Sports is evaluating such a possibility for the patch that is traditionally delivered in late February with the main aim of updating the lineups of the virtual experience to match transfers that happen in the real world during January.

Sega announced that it would be bringing the hit action adventure video game Yakuza 5 to the west sometime during Q3 2015.

The title was released back in 2012 on the PlayStation 3 home entertainment system from Sony, and now it will be releasing internationally, with the game headed to both North America and Europe.

The title is the fifth entry in the Yakuza series (the main one, not counting spin-offs) and was developed and published by Sega in Japan.

It has been regarded as a sort of Japanese Grand Theft Auto, sharing the same open world gameplay, complete with mini-games and optional missions.

The announcement was made during the PlayStation Experience event held in Las Vegas at the end of last week, and it's also made it over to the Sega forums.

In addition to this, Sega has also announced that Yakuza 4 and Yakuza: Dead Souls are available on the PlayStation Network now, for everyone to enjoy.

Until now, three of the five main Yakuza games have seen releases in the West. The last game to have received the localization treatment failed to perform financially, leading to the following two skipping that step.

Now it seems that Sega has had a change of heart and is looking to finally bring the coveted action adventure video game to English-speaking audiences.

Some rumors of this move started circulating at the beginning of the year, with some saying that Atlus might be up to the task of localizing Yakuza 5, should Sega not be interested in doing the actual work.

What the deal with Yakuza 5 is

The title features five distinct locations across Japan, Kamurocho, Sotenbori, and three new cities that have not been featured in previous installments. The fictional cities are based loosely on actual Japanese cities and districts.

The truce previously enforced by the leaders of the Tojo and Omi Alliance clans is about to be broken, as the chairman of the Alliance is on his deathbed. In order to prepare for the ensuing war, the Tojo clan is looking to strengthen its position by striking deals with other old families across Japan, with the end goal being to create a new organization, similar to the Omi Alliance.

Yakuza 5 was meant to be a sort of series reboot, being considered as having the best scenarios in the franchise, as well as being developed on an all-new graphics engine.

Just like in past iterations, gameplay in Yakuza 5 is broken down into two components, Adventure Mode and Combat Mode.

The Adventure Mode enables users to explore the cities and discover various spots where they can play mini-games and engage in a diverse array of activities, and the transition to Combat Mode kicks in whenever you encounter enemies while adventuring.

Yakuza 5 will be available exclusively for the PlayStation 3 home console, via the PlayStation Network, in the second half of 2015.

The third installment in the Stronghold series of games has just received a major update that will bring lots of multiplayer features much sought by players of the strategy game.

Even though Stronghold Crusader 2 has been getting lots of mixed reviews from both players and the media, developer Firefly Studios seems to be determined to iron out all the problems that prevent it from being a great game.

The so-called “Winter Update” focuses on multiplayer features and Steam Workshop in order to enable the community to create customized content, which could be shared among players.

That being said, the update that’s now live on Steam adds full Workshop support, which means that players will be able to upload and share maps through Steam, as well as download and play user-created maps and missions.

But that is not all, as Stronghold Crusader 2 players will now be able to vote, subscribe to, and comment on any maps created by other players. It’s worth mentioning that players who decided to create new maps and missions will be able to publish them directly to Steam Workshop from the Map Editor included in the game.

New classic maps have been added in the update as well

Besides Workshop support, Firefly Studios announce the update contains a Classic Map Pack, which includes six skirmish maps voted by players: The River, North vs South, A Friend Indeed, Great Euphrates, Green Belt, and The Ford across the River.

The new multiplayer advanced options confirmed by developers include strong walls, Double strength walls, trade restrictions, no trebuchets, no assassins, no traps, no engine towers and no fire. Each of these options can be either enabled or disabled before starting a multiplayer game.

Some other changes have been included in the update as well, such as the Waterfalls that have now been added to the Map Editor and the Steam Group Chat button that was added to the Multiplayer lobby.

Multithreaded pathfinding improvements and optimization for formation movement code are among the most player-requested changes included in the update.

Last but not least, developers confirm that the Winter Update should increase the range at which Siege Camps can be placed near the enemy units and buildings.

Although Stronghold Crusader 2 received a few updates in the past, this is the first major update released by developers. Not to mention that it adds quite a few new features that should change the way the game is played in multiplayer mode.

In order to celebrate the launch of the Winter Update, Stronghold Crusader 2 has been discounted by 33%, which means it’s available on Steam for €23.44 ($23.44)

Since Microsoft purchased Mojang for $2.5 billion (€1.9 billion), it was just a matter of time before Minecraft, the game developer’s smash hit, came to Windows Phone platform.

Having millions of fans on iOS and Android operating systems already, Mohjang’s work on a Windows Phone version may or may not have been in the cards at all due to the rather low market share of the OS.

However, once Microsoft acquired the company, Minecraft was teased to arrive on Windows Phone back in September and then confirmed one month later.

Although no exact release date had been given at that time, it was clear that Microsoft wanted to bring the title to Windows Phone users as fast as possible.

Well, it looks like Minecraft fans who own Windows Phone handsets did not have to wait more than two months to get to play their favorite game on their smartphones.

Minecraft – Pocket Edition has just been released in the Windows Phone Store, and the good news is that the game supports most smartphones, including those packing only 512MB of RAM.

It only supports smartphones powered by Windows Phone 8.1

The only downside would be that it will only run on smartphones that run Windows Phone 8.1, so those who have yet to receive the update won’t be able to play it.

Just like the Android and iOS versions, Minecraft for Windows Phone includes the Survival and Creative modes. The multiplayer aspect has been included as well, but it requires Wi-Fi network in order to play.

You can play either alone or with your friends if you have access to a Wi-Fi network. Those who have yet to experience Minecraft may want to know that this game is all about creativity. You can build your own environments using blocks.

The game features infinite worlds, caves, biomes, mobs, villages, forests, deserts, waterfalls, and anything else that you can think of. Some of the world’s most famous buildings have been created in Minecraft by using millions of blocks and by pouring in a tremendous amount of gameplay time.

Suffice to say, you can create just about anything that exists in the real world, as long as you have the time and the patience. Are you up for the challenge?

If yes, then you can now download Minecraft – Pocket Edition for Windows Phone for $6.99 (€5.49) via the Windows Phone store. As mentioned earlier, Microsoft’s game is only compatible with devices powered by Windows Phone 8.1 and up.

December 16 can't come soon enough, as developer Frontier has just released the launch trailer for the upcoming Elite: Dangerous space simulator.

Think of it as the spiritual successor of the Elite space trading game developed by David Braben back in the 80s. In fact, Frontier Developments, the company that ran a successful Kickstarter campaign for Elite: Dangerous, has been founded by David Braben as well.

The launch trailer that has just been released comes less than a week from the game's official launch date. The amazing soundtrack that you can hear in the background is performed by Royal Blood. The song is called “Out of the Black,” in case you're wondering.

Elite: Dangerous is a dogfigting simulator that comes with full support for 4K ultra-high definition, 3D TV, Track IR and Oculus Rift VR.

The game is now available for pre-order for £35 ($50 / €40), which is a £5 discount from the £39.99 launch day retail price. For the time being, Elite: Dangerous – Mercenary Edition is only available through developer's online store.

However, the game will be launched on Steam on December 16, but those who pre-order the game directly from the Frontier's online store will receive Steam keys as well.

Here is what the Mercenary Edition of the game contains: digital version of Elite: Dangerous, an Eagle fighter ship docked in a secondary location in-game, an exclusive pack of ship paint jobs, a “day one” ship decal, digital players guide, digital concept art book, along with loads of more digital goodies that will be announced in the coming weeks.

Developers promise more content with lots of new features in the future

Just like the predecessor, Elite: Dangerous throws player into a huge galaxy with only a ship (two if you pre-order the game now) and 100 credits. It's your job to make more money, legally or not, but using your trading or dogfighting skills.

In Elite: Dangerous players can take part in co-op mission alliances, free-for-all group battles and team raids meant to bring down planetary economies.

Basically, you can either fight, trade or hunt your way across a galaxy so big that it can fit 100 billion star systems.

Moreover, developers promise “real freedom” in choosing what you want to be: pirate, bounty hunter, trader, assassin, or even a jack-of-all-trades.

According to Frontier, the release of Elite: Dangerous will not be the end of the development. New content and new features will be added in the future, including planetary landings, as well as the option to leave the ships and explore space stations or board enemy vessels.

If that didn't get you hooked yet, then you're probably not interested in this genre. We can't wait for Elite: Dangerous to go live, we promise a review will be published as soon as possible.

The development team at The Creative Assembly might be working on Total War: Attila, but it still has the time required to introduce more content for the already solid Total War: Rome II, with a new expansion called Wrath of Sparta set to be launched on December 16.

The new campaign map that gamers will be able to explore is more focused on the Greek world, especially the cities of the mainland and the adjoining islands as they looked in 432 BC, with 22 provinces, 78 regions, and more detail for one part of the world than the studio has ever created before.

In Total War: Rome II – Wrath of Sparta, gamers will be able to see 12 wonders which include the impressive Trojan ruins, the majestic temple of Zeus, and the Royal Tombs of Macedon.

Each turn played will represent one month of real-world time, allowing players the space they need to create and implement cool strategies to take over the Hellenistic world.

The announcement states, "As the legendary warriors of Sparta are called into open conflict against an arrogant Athens by scheming Korinthos and Boiotia, Wrath of Sparta challenges you to dominate the Hellenic world. However, while the City States vie for control of their homelands, across the Aegean sea the vengeful Persian Empire watches its old foe closely…"

The development team says that the period covered in Wrath of Sparta is characterized by highly tactical battles and by use of units that will define the way warfare evolves for the coming centuries.

Total War: Rome II has evolved all through its lifetime

When Total War: Rome II was launched, the team at The Creative Assembly was criticized for the relative lack of depth of its new strategy title and the fact that it did not come with some core features that gamers expected, like family trees and deeper politics systems.

Since then, patches were offered to tweak the core mechanics and increase the tactical elements of the experience and the studio also delivered a number of downloadable content packs, designed to both add factions to the map and to introduce more focused campaigns, covering the Gallic wars, the conflict between Rome and Carthage, and the fall of the Republic.

At the moment, most of the resources of The Creative Assembly are focused on Total War: Attila, which will be offered in the middle of February next year and will deliver a more brutal take on history as the Roman Empire falls and the Huns invade.

Dragon Age: Inquisition has just received a brand new hotfix update on the PC platform to solve the issues encountered by players after getting patch 2 for the game via the Origin service relating to graphics issues.

Dragon Age: Inquisition launched last month and it quickly attained both critical and commercial acclaim, as millions of fans were very impressed with the medieval fantasy role-playing experience across the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One platforms.

Patch 2 added new issues on PC

While the title's launch period went off without any major hitches, there were some errors and glitches that plagued it in terms of content, gameplay, and graphics. In order to solve them, BioWare rolled out a second patch for the game yesterday, which was designed to fix some of the ongoing issues.

Unfortunately, for fans of the title on the PC platform, the update also brought forth all-new issues relating to the graphics options. More specifically, no matter what settings players chose in the menu, the game still ran with lower-quality visuals. A workaround was quickly announced by BioWare, while a hotfix was confirmed to be in development.

The hotfix is finally available for download

Now, the hotfix is available for download on the Origin platform for the PC version of Dragon Age: Inquisition. According to the official forums, the new smaller update ensures that the graphics settings are working correctly for everyone.

BioWare explains that because the game originally had some wonky issues with the graphics settings, it intended to lock them down with patch 2, but unfortunately, it didn't work out as planned.

"However, this patch wasn't properly implemented, and it forced shader quality to Low. We provided a command-line workaround Tuesday, but that still required players to ensure that the new shader quality matched their mesh settings," the studio explains.

"This hotfix will correctly bind the mesh and shader settings and eliminate this issue. However, now that shader quality is being set correctly for everyone, players using lower settings will notice a decrease in the quality of visuals."

The new hotfix is now live on the Origin digital distribution service and will be automatically downloaded the next time you start the game. Bear in mind that it weighs in at around 17MB, but the title does perform a 300MB check, presumably for the patch 2 files, before downloading and installing the new hotfix.

The development team at 343 Industries working on Halo: The Master Chief Collection is continuing to try and improve the overall multiplayer experience that the title is offering, and a new server-side update is designed to re-introduce the SWAT as a featured playlist. At the same time, the company is working hard to re-introduce other player-requested modes.

The official update says that gamers will now be able to experience game types from Halo 2: Anniversary, Halo 2 Classic and Halo 4 in SWAT and Halo 3 will be added to the fold in a future update.

The developers add, “As we roll out additional content updates, we’ll be bringing other playlists back into the rotation - these include Halo: CE, Halo 4, Team Hardcore, and future featured playlists, such as Team Doubles, Team Snipers, and more.”

Feedback about Halo: The Master Chief Collection coming from the community will determine which ones receive the most attention and get added first.

343 Industries is also announcing that the player count for Team Slayer, Halo 2 Classic, Halo 3, and Halo Championship Series has been updated to 4 versus 4, which means at least 6 players and 8 at the most can take part.

There are also plans to move the ranked version of the Halo 2: Anniversary playlist to the 4 versus 4 standard, but at the moment games can also engage in five versus five matches.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is still not up to standard

The new title in the Halo series was in rough shape when it launched on November 11, and it seems that despite the efforts of 343 Industries, the game is still not up to the standard of the community.

The studio says that “Our next content update is scheduled for early next week, and we’ll provide additional details of what’s included in the near future. We thank you for your continued feedback, patience, and support.”

Halo: The Master Chief Collection introduces updated versions of the core four titles in the series, and the 343 Industries team has suggested that some extra content will be offered to players as a reward for sticking with the game despite its issues.

Those who picked up the package can also get into the beta stage for Halo 5: Guardians, which is set to be launched on December 29 and will run for three weeks.

The new Master Chief title will be offered only on the Xbox One in the fall of 2015.

Satellite Reign, the spiritual successor to Syndicate and Syndicate Wars, is coming to Steam Early Access later today.

The title is a real-time class-based action-strategy game where you assume control of four highly trained agents, each with their own array of abilities and a different specialty, doing various missions and fighting it out in a cyberpunk city of the future.

The title is being developed by independent video game makers 5 Lives Studios, after concluding a successful Kickstarter campaign, back in July 2013.

The game is designed to expand on the classic Syndicate formula, offering a rich and open game world, designed to facilitate emergent gameplay and to encourage gamers to create their own strategies and scenarios, having the necessary tools to play however they choose to.

Gamers will be able to use brute force, infiltration or propaganda to influence the citizens of the city and overthrow the competition, gaining and securing ever more influence over the sprawling metropolis.

The premise

As any cyberpunk fan or citizen of today's world can attest, the world's governments are ruled by corporations and base their decisions on the availability of natural resources.

As such, democracy is conducted in a way that favors the highest bidder, and those in power reap the rewards of well-placed propaganda and ignorance.

Society has a very vertical structure, with the rich living lives of luxury in the upper tiers of the city, the vast middle class living a comfortable lie, and the poor forced to live in squalor in the underbelly of the great machine.

Corporations enforce the status quo via a brutal police state where any malcontents are dealt with expediency and lethal force, all under the guise of safety.

You play the role of a resistance movement rising from the streets below, bribing, stealing, hacking and killing your way to the top.

Whether or not your goal is to free the people from oppression or simply to divert power from them to you is something that is yet undecided.

Gameplay

The game will enable you to customize a team of agents and choose your path, whether your ascension will be done through an all-out Western shootout or through cunning, hacking and infiltrating the opposition, having your way without anyone ever knowing of your presence.

Missions won't be as static as the ones in XCOM or other similar titles, with clear fail states, but will instead feature various dynamic objectives, and failing one will open the door for other opportunities later on but will also be penalized.

There will be a variety of weapons to make use of, divided into several archetypes, each with its strengths and weaknesses, in order to accommodate for different playstyles.

The visuals have been crafted to reflect the grim world of the futuristic dystopia, managing to evoke a strong feeling of familiarity for those who have experienced the works of William Gibson or who have played Syndicate.

If you're interested to see how the game actually plays, you can have a look at the Early Access trailer and the developer gameplay videos below.

Satellite Reign is available on Steam Early Access starting today, December 11, and will be fully launched at an unannounced later date.

A brand new patch for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has just been rolled out by developer Valve, which makes some big changes to the first-person shooter, from the return of classic map Train to major nerfs to the CZ75-Auto pistol and plenty of other tweaks, such as the enabling of the holiday mode.

CS:GO has been around for a few years already and its popularity doesn't show signs of stopping, as thanks to major eSports competitions, such as the recent Dreamhack Winter, not to mention constant updates from Valve, the game is amassing fans all over the world.

A fresh update is now available with big changes

Now, a brand new patch just been released by developer Valve, and the studio has stayed true to its word from last week, as it's a big update with plenty of changes to the multiplayer-only first-person shooter.

First up, veteran fans will enjoy the return of Train, a classic map that was a part of the standard rotation a few months ago but was retired so that Valve could work on it and give it a new lease on life. The revamped version features plenty of major changes and is available currently as part of the Operation Vanguard map group, which is offered for free to all owners of the game.

Besides the returning map, the update for CS:GO makes some key changes to the controversial CZ75-Auto pistol, which was introduced earlier this year and made a big splash due to its overpowered nature.

Thanks to the patch, the magazine size of the pistol has been reduced to just 8 bullets, from the original 12, but it now comes with 3 magazines in total. Its damage and fire rate have been "reduced slightly" according to the studio, while the draw animation is twice as long, showing an extended process of locking and loading. The kill reward has been reduced, while its description has been updated.

Other tweaks are also included, while the holiday mode is turned on

The patch also makes some tweaks to a few other weapons, as the M4A1-S now has a steeper price of 3100, while the Desert Eagle is cheaper, at 700. The Tec-9 firing sound has been updated, while the M4A1-S muzzle flash should no longer be seen through smoke.

Errors with the bomb defusal process on ledges are eliminated, while players should no longer receive money after the first round if they didn't earn it.

A few other bugs have been squashed, while the winter holiday mode is once again in effect, meaning you'll get to see snow on the main screen, as well as freeze-cam borders. Gifts can also be purchased and offered to those in your match.

Check out the full changelog, via the official website, below. You can download the latest patch via Steam right now, and it weighs in at around 339MB.

Ubisoft has released a new update for Far Cry 4, meant to address some of the stuttering issues that PC gamers have been facing, and to introduce a number of additional graphical fixes.

The patch is apparently pretty hefty, clocking in at about 1.3 GB, and will be downloaded automatically the next time you launch either Steam or Uplay, if you haven't already.

Many users report that the majority of the stuttering issues have been resolved by the update, but some instances of it are still present, especially when transitioning from one region to another or when using the glider.

However, the issues are no longer as severe as they were pre-patch, and the update also delivers some additional fixes, such as some aim assist and mouse input corrections, as well as proper support for 21:9 aspect ratio.

The update also delivers fixes for a few miscellaneous control, user interface and Session Browser issues, and adds Russian text and subtitles to the worldwide game version.

The Nvidia graphics preset has been removed, and overall, users should notice a reduced performance drop during gameplay streaming.

Some people drew the short stick

However, many gamers are still reporting experiencing issues with Far Cry 4, even after downloading the patch. The game got a pretty rocky launch, at least as far as graphics and performance are concerned, and PC gamers are still not satisfied with how the first-person shooter runs on their machine.

Posts on both NeoGAF and Ubisoft's official forums show that the launch problems still persist for a portion of the community, more specifically stuttering and some shadow inconsistencies.

Moreover, one user has even revealed that, after downloading the update, the game crashes at the main loading screen.

The console editions of Far Cry 4 have not been without their share of issues, and the developer has released patches for both the last-gen and the current-gen platforms. Some users accused Ubisoft of removing some of the eye-catching graphical features (God rays) in order to improve overall stability.

Ubisoft seems to be having some problems with launch titles lately, as both Watch Dogs and Assassin's Creed Unity had major performance issues on PC, addressed (for the most part) with post-launch patches.

Far Cry 4 has only been out since November 18, so there is still time for Ubisoft to patch things up, but many gamers are seeing this as an emerging, worrying trend, especially since those who are the most excited about the new experience are the ones that are impacted the most.

The team at Bungie might be focused on the launch of The Dark Below, the first full expansion for Destiny, but there are developers who are already thinking about the future of the social shooter and there are some player complaints that the studio wants to move to the front of the line for fixing.

David Dague, who is best known to gamers as Deej and serves as the main community liaison, says that he is aware of the limited weapon, armor, and item slots that are included in the Vault and wants to add more space to it in the coming months.

Bungie was apparently not expecting players to be so diligent when it came to exploring the game world in order to find items and to then choose to level up so many of them.

Dague explains that “People want to be collectors. And, if we need to expand the Vault in order to let people hold on to their things, then it's something that we're talking about.”

When it comes to limitations for characters, the development team is also exploring ways of making it easy to move around the in-game currency, called Glimmer, which is at the moment limited to 25,000, but it's unclear when the issue will be addressed.

The developer adds, “We're very sensitive to what people want, and we'd like to work as quickly as we can to integrate that stuff into the mix. So, while I can't make promises about the specific elements, I can say that we're going to continue to support this game.”

Destiny has a ten-year long development plan at Bungie and Microsoft

Destiny might be just getting its first full expansion, but the team that created it believes that it has the potential to capture the attention of players for as long as ten years, as long as the universe evolves in the right direction.

At the moment, Bungie is already working on a second expansion, programmed to arrive in the middle of next year, and a small team is rumored to be already laying the foundation for a full sequel.

Apparently, such a game will allow gamers to choose which aspects of their characters they want to transfer over.

Some commentators believe that a second Destiny title will be prepared for 2016 and that it will no longer be so heavily associated with the PlayStation 4 home console from Sony.

BioWare confirms that, due to a glitch, Dragon Age: Inquisition on the PC platform used before the release of patch 2 the Ultra setting on both the Shader and the Mesh Quality options, despite players not wanting such a thing due to poorer performance on underpowered configurations.

Dragon Age: Inquisition launched last month and millions of fans flocked to BioWare's open world role-playing experience in order to see whether or not it was worth their time. The end result was very impressive and a lot of people across all platforms embarked on their sprawling adventures in the virtual world of Thedas.

Unfortunately for quite a few of them, the title encountered errors relating to broken quests, glitched out characters, or poor performance, especially on the PC platform.

Some performance problems were due to locked settings

Apparently, this was due to a special glitch that made the game automatically run the Shader and Mesh visual effects at the Ultra quality, despite players opting to lower them to high, medium, or even low in the settings.

BioWare explains this on the official forums, saying that patch 2 did solve these problems, although it's also created other ones.

"It’s also important to note that pre-patch 2, all users on PC were being forced to use the Ultra Shader quality. This means that those of you playing on lower settings will notice a decrease in quality, particularly players using low or medium settings," the studio says.

Shader and Mesh settings need to match to avoid problems

The studio also advises Dragon Age: Inquisition players to ensure that both the Shader and the Mesh quality settings are identical, as differences can result in other visual problems.

"To achieve the same visuals as pre-patch, users on lower settings will need to change their settings to Ultra, which should likewise be used in conjunction with Ultra mesh quality. Mismatching the mesh and shader settings will result in other visual artifacts like overly shiny hair. Please be aware that changing settings to Ultra may impact performance on some machines," the studio explains.

The second update for Inquisition also caused some bigger issues for PC owners, as no matter the actual visual settings they introduced in the game's files, it ran in a lower quality mode due to an error.

BioWare has since released a temporary workaround, and just a few hours ago, a special hotfix update was rolled out via the Origin digital distribution service on the PC.

Microsoft-owned Mojang has just announced that beginning today they will remove the beta tag from their Scrolls strategy collectible card game. In the works for a few years now, Scrolls was in open beta since last year and has been confirmed to launch in late November.

However, the team decided that releasing Scrolls last month won’t be such a good idea possibly due to some changes that needed to be implemented. The good news is that later today, fans of CCG genre will be able to play Mojang’s Scrolls game on both PC and Mac.

According to developers, an Android version for tablets will be available for purchase in Google Play Store as well, but players will have to pay $5 (€4) in order to get it.

iPad users have been definitely skipped from the initial launch of Scrolls, but Mojang says that “an iPad version of Scrolls is also on the way, but it won’t arrive until some time in the new year. Sorry for the delay, but putting games on the App Store is serious business.”

So, apparently the whole process of submitting apps to the App Store is to blame for the delay of Scrolls on the iPad, but let’s hope that it won’t take too long for Apple to approve the game.

Scrolls will be launched on Android tablets as well, but iPad users will have to wait a bit more

The game mechanics is simple at first glance with just four types of scrolls in the game and a single objective: to destroy three of your opponent’s five idols.

Things start to get more complex when you start building your deck with the four types of scrolls included in the game: creature, structures, spells and enchantments.

Scrolls is about finding the right combinations and synergies between your cards, which will help you win over other human players.

Since the game is in development for a few years, Mojang released quite a few updates that added lots of new features and improvements. The game will continue to receive such updates even after the official launch later today.

New scrolls will probably be added and new mechanics, which further enhance the gameplay experience. For now, however, it’s important for Mojang to establish a solid foundation on which to continue to build in the coming years.

Those who aren’t sure about Scrolls can try out the demo, which is available on both PC and Mac. Keep in mind though that you will need to create a Mojang account before starting playing.

If you’ve already heard about Scrolls and would like a more in-depth look on what it has to offer, then stick around as we will be back with a review next week.

Good news for Tropico fans, as the latest installment in the series will receive the first major expansion very soon. Publisher Kalypso has just announced “Waterborne” DLC will hit PC on December 17.

The expansion will be available via Steam and Kalypso Launcher and those who already own Tropico 5 will be able to purchase it for £14.99 (€19.99 / $19.99).

As the name suggests, the expansion adds water-based game mechanics above all else. This is the first time that a Tropico game gets such mechanics, so fans of the series might be in for even more hours of fun if they decide to go for the expansion as well.

We’ve just been informed by Kalypso that “Waterborne” includes a brand new campaign and 6 epic scenarios. There’s also new dialogue and story especially flavored for the new water-based motif. In addition, all new content and off-shore gameplay has been confirmed to work with existing sandbox maps and multiplayer modes.

The new expansion brings a brand new campaign, new buildings and events

But what exactly does the new expansion bring into the mix to be worth your while? According to developers, there are lots of new features and enhancements included in “Waterborne” such as water traffic, larger coastal areas and new events that promise to keep even the most experienced players on their toes.

In “Waterborne,” players will be able to build specific structures across the coast. Players can even build new off-shore alternatives for defense, food, energy, entertainment and housing.

Oyster and Kelp farms are some of the new structures to be introduced with the upcoming expansion. You’ll be able to manage and organize transport to these production buildings, but you can also construct tidal power plants as an eco-friendly alternative to nuclear power and build luxurious floating apartments.

But what will a Tropico game be without any military structures or weapons? Fret not, as “Waterborne” has military submarines that you can add to your naval forces.

If you’re more on the peaceful side, then you can certainly, and by all means we recommend, create an exotic bathysphere attraction with the sole purpose of complimenting your bustling tourist paradise.

Last but definitely not least, the expansion brings 4 new music tracks, 2 new avatar costumes and no less than 6 new avatar accessories.

Home for the Holidays is the first holiday album from Capitol Nashville recording artist Darius Rucker. The Grand Ole Opry member tells Billboard it was something he had been considering for awhile.

"The label has been asking for the last four or five years if I was going to do a Christmas record. My producer and I were ready to do it. We wanted to do something special, so we got together and made it."

Rucker said he was pleased with how varied the album came out. "We wanted to have a little something for everybody. We wanted to make a crooner record with that old Frank Sinatra/Bing Crosby/Johnny Mathis kind of way, but we also wanted a couple of things that could be for the younger audience. As it came together, I became more and more excited."

One cut from the disc he says is special to him is the Dr. Seuss classic "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch," which features his children Dani and Jack. "When we decided to do the record, that was one of the first ones to come to mind. That's such a part of our childhood growing up. When we cut it, I thought, 'I've got to get my kids on this.' They were so excited, and came in the studio and did their thing. I'm just so proud to have them on one of my records."

When asked about his Christmas memories growing up, Rucker said many of them revolve around the television set he was watching growing up in Charleston, SC. "I remember watching Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and all of them. I remember once Thanksgiving was over, everything that came on, I'd just sit and watch those three channels we had as a kid for everything that was on. Now, those things play all the time," he says. "A Charlie Brown Christmas is another one that tells the story of what Christmas is about so well. Forty years after we're dead, they will still be playing it."

Another guest on Home for the Holidays is Sheryl Crow, who adds her distinctive vocals on a playful version of "Baby, It's Cold Outside," which the two actually recorded together in person. "She and I were in the vocal booth together, and I think that comes across. We could look at each other and hear what each other was singing. We could play off of each other. We've been friends for 20 years now, and it was great to be in there with her and having a good time. It's such a fun song to sing, and I love our version of it."

The title cut is also one that has a special meaning for Rucker. "That's one of those songs that has always been near and dear to me. I've always loved it – almost every version I have heard of it is great. For me, traveling so much, I wanted to put that on as a homage to my family. Christmas is the one time that they know I'm going to be home. I'm not going to play somewhere in Europe or anything like that. Our version sounds like it could have came out in 1960. I love how it turned out."

Home for the Holidays also includes a pair of newly written songs: "Candy Cane Christmas" and "What God Wants for Christmas." Of the latter, Rucker says that he and co-writers Frank Rogers and Monty Criswell were surprised that nobody had written a similar song before. "As we started to write it, I couldn't believe that nobody had ever written the song before. We researched it, and there wasn't any song like it. We wanted to write a religious song and put God back in Christmas. Right now, there is such a big march to take God out of Christmas. What is Christmas without God? We wanted to write a religious song that people could relate to."

As his own schedule slows down for the holiday season, what are some of the modern-day traditions in the Rucker household? "Our biggest tradition is just being together. I don't think we consciously think about it, but all of us are so busy with our lives -- my wife is in school, I'm on the road, so during that period, it's all about family time. We love going around and looking at all the Christmas lights. There's a lot of eating, and it's all about being together as a family."

While they might drive around Charleston looking at the lights, he stresses that nobody is going to mistake the Ruckers for the Griswolds. "We're really boring," he says with a laugh. "We put up our Christmas decorations, but nobody goes gaudy or anything like that."

Bruce Springsteen was the guest of honor at the 2013 MusiCares Person of the Year benefit, which featured an eclectic mix of artists – including Neil Young, Elton John, Jim James, Mumford & Sons and Mavis Staples – covering classics from the New Jersey icon's massive songbook. A televised version of the event, "A Tribute to Bruce Springsteen," will premiere December 5th at 9 p.m. ET on PBS, as part of the network's Arts Fall Festival 2014.

The Jon Stewart-hosted benefit features Young performing the Springsteen staple "Born in the U.S.A.," Elton John handling "Streets of Philadelphia" and Tom Morello and Jim James teaming up for a duet of "The Ghost of Tom Joad."

Other tributes include Mumford & Sons' version of "I'm on Fire," Patti Smith's "Because the Night" (a song co-written by Smith and Springsteen), John Legend's piano-driven take on "Dancing in the Dark," Alabama Shakes' intense interpretation of "Adam Raised a Cain" and a collaborative "My City of Ruins" from Zac Brown Band and Mavis Staples. To close the concert, Springsteen takes the stage with the E Street Band for "Thunder Road" and "Born to Run," and the all-star performers all join in for a grand finale.

In early November, Springsteen participated in the Stand Up for Heroes charity event in New York City, performing an unplugged five-song set of classic tunes. Since the benefit also featured some of the world's top-billed stand-up comedians, the singer-songwriter also unleashed a few punchlines of his own. "On the New Jersey Turnpike the other night, a truck was hijacked by a group of thieves," he cracked at one point. "The truck was full of Viagra. The New Jersey state police are now looking for a group of hardened criminals."

YouTube is planning to launch a new streaming music service called YouTube Music Key, which will offer a mixture of audio and video streams. The content offered by the service will include full albums from artists signed to all 3 major labels, along with hundreds of independent labels.

Google revealed that the service would be available in both free and paid versions. The free version will be funded by advertising, while the paid one will cost around $9.99 per month. The rumors are that the early adopters of the service may get their first 6 months for free, and then use it at a discounted rate. The company also confirmed that Music Key would sit alongside Google’s existing music service, Google Play Music All Access. In other words, if you subscribe for paid version of Music Key, you will also get an All Access subscription, and vice versa.

Google launched a 6-month trial in 7 countries thus far: the UK, the US, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Finland and Ireland. Apparently, the service in beta will be invitation-only and focus on heavy music-video viewers on YouTube at the first place.

It is known that YouTube Music Key will initially be available through YouTube’s applications for Android and iOS and on its website, though the emphasis will be made on mobile. Google explained that paying subscribers would be allowed to download songs and videos to their mobile devices and listen to them in the background. Its biggest rival is Spotify, accounting for 50 million active users, of which 25% are paying subscribers. Music Key will also compete with Deezer, Rdio, Rhapsody and its European brand Napster, and Apple-owned Beats Music, which has yet to launch outside the United States. It should be mentioned that Amazon also has a streaming service as part of its membership scheme.

It is also known that YouTube shares Spotify’s policy and insists that catalogues in the service must be available to both free and paying users. However, this point of view seemed controversial to some artists, including Taylor Swift, who decided to remove her entire back catalogue from Spotify a few days ago.

However, even before its official start, YouTube’s new streaming service has already ignited arguments within the music industry. For example, indie labels complained that Google offered them worse terms than to major labels.

014 has been a banner year for Cole Swindell. Between his own singles "Chillin' It" and "I Hope You Get Lonely Tonight," as well as writing such hits as "Roller Coaster" for Luke Bryan and Thomas Rhett's "Get Me Some Of That," Swindell has seen some of his biggest dreams come true.

"I am so happy to be able to do what I love. To have the songs I've written for other artists go No. 1 and my songs go to No. 1 has been amazing. We're going to keep writing and making new music and see what happens."

Swindell has an early Christmas present for his fans: new music. The Georgia native just released a new five-song digital EP this week titled The Down Home Sessions. "When we were making our debut album, I just knew that we weren't going to be able to put all of the songs that we cut on the album. Not all of these songs are those, but a couple of them are. Fans would hear us play different ones, and ask why they didn't make the cut. I would tell them that you can only put so many on the album."

He is grateful that Warner Bros. is allowing him to release some new material for his fans. "The fact that my label is behind me and supporting me and letting me put a few new songs out there - some of which I feel people should have heard on the first album – is great,' he says. The EP release coincides with his headlining tour of the same name, as he will be hitting the club circuit through December after opening for Luke Bryan this year. "Hopefully, we can do this every year - go out and play some of the clubs. I've been on some crazy stages this year with some big artists, but to go back to the clubs like I started, and getting in front of the fans, that's going to be fun."

Swindell says it's been interesting watching the charts this year -- especially with "Roller Coaster" and "I Hope You Get Lonely Tonight" both vying for the top spot. "I think you have to enjoy it. A lot of people ask, 'Why didn't you keep those songs for you?' I've been here for seven years, and some of those songs have been pitched to every artist in town, and finally, they got to make my album. To have my single go No. 1 and have Luke at No. 2 with a song that I wrote is nerve-racking, but it's not really something you can complain about. I still get to play them live, and as a new artist, you don't have that many songs on the radio. So to be able to play songs that I've written that have gone No. 1 will do a lot for my live show. It would be nice to have some of those songs for myself, but you never know how long this is going to last." For the record, he went two-for-two on that competition, with Bryan's single succeeding the Swindell track at the peak of the Billboard Country Airplay chart.

Opening up for the CMA Entertainer of the Year has been an eye-opening experience for Swindell. "Walking out in front of that many thousands of people going crazy for every song -- that makes it real," he says. "Everything has changed so much. We were direct support for Luke on the tour this year, and this one was the best one that I've ever been on. I think that's a result of the year I've had and the support I've had."

Headlining his own shows is a challenge, but one he says he relishes. "You have to approach it a whole different way. You've got to take care of yourself and your voice. These fans are buying tickets. I don't want to let them down, and not be able to do it. Ninety minutes is a lot different than twenty-five. I want them to have the best time they can. I'm going to be comfortable, as they are there to buy tickets to see me, not Luke or somebody else. I will feel more like it's my deal."

Swindell has just released his third single from his self-titled debut disc, called "Ain't Worth the Whiskey," which he has a lot of high hopes for. "Coming off of two No. 1 singles, you want to come with another one. This is a country ballad, which is so special to me because it came from a real place. I had just broken up with this girl, and I could not shake it. One of my buddies threw out the title, and I said, 'I know somebody who might not be worth it that we can write this about.' I'm glad I'm getting to put out a country ballad because with me growing up listening to '90s country, there were so many great songs. I want people to know that I'm not just 'Chillin' It.' I'm a real person. There's heartbreak and trials, and I hope I put that in my music. It's always gotten a great reaction live and has always been one of my favorites, so we'll see what country radio thinks."

It's an interesting time in country music. The format's biggest-selling star of the last decade, Taylor Swift (25 million albums sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan), has departed for pop music with her latest album, 1989. Meanwhile, Garth Brooks, who has sold more albums than any artist, country or otherwise, since SoundScan pioneered tracking sales in 1991 (69.8 million), is back with his first studio album in 13 years, Man Against Machine.

(Perspective check: Brooks first charted in March 1989. Swift was born that December.)

Brooks' return, however, has been greeted with a fairly lukewarm reception, as the album debuts at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 with 130,000 copies sold in the week ending Nov. 16. Still, it starts as his 14th No. 1 on Top Country Albums. On the big chart, it's far behind 1989, which spends a third week at No. 1, selling 312,000.

Brooks is able to capture the top slot on Top Country Albums since 1989 is a decidedly pop project, and thus doesn't qualify for the genre survey. All of Brooks' studio projects have reached No. 1 on Top Country Albums except for his self-titled debut, which peaked at No. 2 in 1990.

(Dating to Brooks' first week at No. 1 on Top Country Albums, with his iconic 41-week leader No Fences, Brooks has spent 161 weeks at the summit, easily the top total. Shania Twain ranks second with 96. In third place? Swift, with, fittingly, 89.)

Despite its instant No. 1 status, the new album earns Brooks his softest start for a studio album in the SoundScan era. He logged his previous low when Ropin' the Wind bowed at No. 1 with 300,000 in 1991. (If one counts Brooks' adventurous 1999 alter-ego release In… the Life of Chris Gaines as a studio project, then that garnered his lowest launch until this week: 262,000.)

So, what happened with Man Against Machine? Well, if an act has essentially been off the market for more than a decade, it's hard to lure new fans to the fold. Secondly, the album's first single, "People Loving People," didn't set radio on fire, as it peaked at No. 19 on Country Airplay. Brooks hasn't notched a top 10 airplay hit since 2007's No. 1 "More Than a Memory" (which stands as the only song ever to debut atop the list).

Lastly, Brooks' near-complete absence from social networks and digital retail services has lowered his visibility over the past decade. He joined Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at last on Nov. 11, while his catalog continues to be absent from all but one digital retailer. The lone digital service with Brooks' music is his own GhostTunes … and the retailer did not report sales of his album to SoundScan.

It's only a week in, and Brooks' new single, ballad "Mom," has just gone to country radio, but at the moment, Swift is ruling pop with 1989 -- while Brooks is hoping to return to the steep country heights that he began reaching that same year.