Third Assassin's Creed game announced for 2014

Here's a trailer showing off the season pass for Assassin's Creed: Unity. The season pass will include some more missions set in Paris, as well as a darker story set in 1794 Saint-Denis, that will follow on from the events of the main game. Also included in the season pass will be some additional weapons and items to customise your character.

The most exciting season pass content has almost nothing to do with Unity, or revolutionary France. Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China is a 2.5D, side-scroller set in 16th century China. This means that technically there will be three new additions to the Assassin's Creed franchise this year. I'm really hoping Chronicles will not be a new gen. exclusive, and would definitely buy this if it were released as a stand alone download for either PC or PlayStation 3. Hopefully Chronicles' will also open the door for the development of a full game set in a similar time period, covering some more historical events in China.

You can also pre-order the season pass to get extra stuff, which I'd be rather weary of doing, since the main game hasn't even been released yet. Each to their own I guess.

Build your vault hunter here!

With the release of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel less than a month away, 2K Australia has released a neat little widget that allows you to experiment with the skill trees of the four new vault hunters.

Despite the lack of a collector's edition including a replica psycho mask and season pass I'm actually still quite looking forward to the release of this title. It looks as though the developers have tried to make this title stand out from previous Borderlands offerings, but stayed true to the 'shoot 'n loot' co-op gameplay that has made the series so popular. I'm hoping that the Pre-Sequel will contain some well thought out, and interesting back-stories, and not just be some drivel story slapped together to try cash in on the 'old gen.' one last time. Hell, cynicism aside, I'll probably end up pre-ordering the 'Pre-Sequel' in order to get the bonus challenge map, as well as having another title to tide me over until Borderlands 2: Game of the Year Edition hits South African shores.

Foo Fighters on Sonic Highways

Slipknot: new video, new masks, new member identities

Yesterday Slipknot released the official music video for The devil in I. The video features the new masks worn by the core band members, and reveals the identical masks worn by the two new additions to the band (see below).

The masks of the new members somewhat resemble the Scarecrow mask worn by Cillian Murphy in Batman Begins.

Apart from vocalist Corey Taylor's mask, those of the other band members appear to remain relatively unchanged; Sid Wilson's new look resembles a Deadmau5 helmet with the ears torn off. Chris Fehn's new mask is shinier. Craig Jones' spikes look to be a little longer. Shawn Crahan seems to be wearing one of his own creations. And lastly, Taylor's new mask is multi-layered. The top layer looks like Bad Grandpa from Jackass, while the second layer looks like the Engineer from Prometheus.

From the lack of patches on the new jumpsuits, it appears that the band may also have done away with assigning each member a number.

Apart from revealing the the band's new masks, the video may also have inadvertently revealed the identity of the new bassist. Using a screen grab from the above video, and some promotional photographs posted on Facebook, the detectives over at Metal Chapel identified the the bassist as Alessandro 'Vman' Venturella. Venturella is the guitar-tech for Masotdon's Brent Hinds, plays guitar in the UK based Krokodil, and now replaces Donnie Steele as Slipknot's bassist.

Left: Screen grab from The devil an I video. Right: Photograph of Alessandro Venturella from Krokodil's Facebook page. Note the tattoo on the back of left hand.

Sonoio - Thanks for calling

Sonoio (Alessandro Cortini) is back with a new single, Thanks for calling.

Certain parts of Thanks for calling, especially Cortini's vocals at times, sound as though this could be an Arcade Fire b-side, and that's a good thing! If you like what you hear, you can download an mp3 of Thanks for calling by follwing the link below.

Know your sh1t!

Yesterday my brother-in law sent me the following infographic about 'poop.' I'm not sure if he's genuinely concerned about my health, or if this is his idea of toilet humour.

There's also family-friendly version of this infographic if you want to share it with children, or people who may take offence to the word 'shit.' 

Photokina 2014: What does Canon have lined-up?

It's only a week until Photokina 2014, and there are already a lot of rumours regarding new kit to be unveiled at the show. As a Canon shooter, I'm most interested in the 30 plus rumoured EF lenses, as well as the official specs for the 'EOS 7D Mk II.'

Towards the end of last year it was reported that Canon would be releasing a "flurry of new lenses in 2014" with "as many as 8 " to be released before the end of 2014. So far we've seen two of these new lenses, the EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM, and EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM. It's been 'confirmed' that three more lenses will be announced at Photokina, these are a 400mm telephoto, budget walk-around, and an APS-C wide angle prime.

In addition to these, here are three more lenses I'd like to see announced before the end of the year:

1. EF 11-24mm f/2.8L - a full-frame equivalent to the new EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM. 
2. EF-S 15-85mm f/4 IS STM - an update of the EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM which was released around the same time as the EOS 7D. 
3. EF 100-400mm f/4-5.6L IS II USM -  an updated of the EF 100-400mm f/4-5.6L IS USM

An EF 11-24mm f/2.8L would be the full-frame version of the new '10-18mm,' the main difference being that on a Canon APS-C body the 11-24mm focal range translates to ~18-39mm [1]. In comparison the actual zoom range of a '10-18mm' is ~16-29mm. So the rumoured EF 11-24mm f/2.8L would have more reach than it's EF-S counterpart, be faster/ brighter, and offer L-series build and optical qualities. The only downside is the loss of ~2mm on the wide end, and a price tag that will likely be nearly 10x that of the 10-18mm. 

There haven't been many rumours regarding a new '15-85mm,' but quite a few folks seem to want an updated version of the lens. Many prospective buyers are asking for either a fixed aperture of f/4, or the addition of the STM focussing system. The latter seems more likely due to more of Canon's bodies featuring high-definition video recording capabilities. Regardless, we probably wont see an updated '15-85mm' any time soon, although I'm hoping we do, as that will likely result in a price drop in the original '15-85mm,' which is currently my dream lens.

I currently have an EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III USM for my telephoto requirements. A while back I was looking to upgrade to either the EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM or EF 70-200 f/4L USM, but ultimately I couldn't decide which suited my needs better, so I figured I didn't need either. My '75-300mm' lacks image stabilisation, which is one of the reasons I was considering the '70-300mm' as a replacement. After reading a few forum discussions, I discovered that the '70-200mm' was similarly priced, had a constant aperture, and offered better image quality. The compromise is that it doesn't have the desired image stabilisation, and is 100mm shorter on the long end. These are pretty big compromises considering I almost always use my telephoto hand-held, and zoomed in beyond 200mm. The EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM would be a better option, but it's double the price of the '70-200mm' and the non-L '70-300mm' above. 

Canon's next lens in the telephoto zoom range is the EF 100-400mm f/4-5.6L IS USM. This lens is currently the same price as the L-series '70-300mm,' and features image stabilisation. Apart from the variable aperture, it's everything I was looking for in a replacement telephoto, with an added 100mm on the long end! The downside is that the image quality of the '100-400mm' doesn't quite match that of the previously mentioned L-series lenses [2].

Depending on what new products Canon announces at Photokina will determine which lens I intend to purchase next. I'm leaning towards a combination of the EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM and EF 70-200 f/4L USM, which together cost only about 10% more than the EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM. I'll also wait to see if any good deals are announced for the 2014 Canon S.A Expo. Last year I picked up a battery grip, cable shutter release, and 'nifty fifty' for less than the regular price of the lens. If I'm lucky at least two of the three lenses pictured will see a remarkable drop in price before the end of the year. 

Notes

1. Canon's multiplier factor for the 35mm equivalent on APS-C bodies is approximately 1.62x

2. I included the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM in the comparison as there isn't a lens profile for the non-IS  f/4 lens on DxO Mark. Here 's a comparison of the three 70-200mm lenses that do have profiles-link

'Shock Drop Slaughter Pit' challenge map video

Here's a video from 2K giving us a quick look at the challenge map that is available when pre-ordering Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel.

Since the Shock Drop Slaughter Pit challenge map isn't included in the season pass, but will be available for a price at a later date, it's important to remember the Hyperion Company's motto, "Give us all your money right now, or we won't give you any of the cool stuff we make." Wait, I'm not sure Handsome Jack is quoting the right company.

I'm still deciding whether this is worth the pre-order, or whether to wait for the inevitable Game of the Year Edition. That said, I'm still waiting for the Borderlands 2: GotY to show up on local listings. Maybe an announcement of a collector's edition that includes a season pass, and some additional "cool stuff" (like a physical Psycho mask) could sway my decision.

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel to get a season pass

In a recent post I mentioned that Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is one of the few games coming out towards the end of the year that I have considered pre-ordering. One of the reasons I haven't placed a pre-order just yet is because I'm waiting to see if there are any collector's editions announced that may contain physical content. The reason I've been considering pre-ordering the game is for the Shock Drop Slaughter Pit challenge map incentive.

Now with the recent announcement of four DLC packs, and a season pass for the game, as well as the news that the Shock Drop Slaughter Pit will be "available for purchase at a later date," according to 2K, there is less motivation pre-order the game. Yes, pre-ordering will save me a few bucks, but nor pre-ordering will allow me to see some reviews before parting with my cash. 

Furthermore, it seems that there will be additional content available through playing Tales from the Borderlands, which is being developed by Telltale Games. So to get the maximum experience out of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, one actually needs to purchase the base game, the season pass, and a game from another development studio. 

On the plus side, it was also announced that the once "old gen. exclusive," may well get a current gen. release if there is enough of a demand for it. So while Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is being developed for older systems, there is some thought going into the process of making the jump to newer hardware.

I'm still pretty excited about the game, but I'm beginning to get a little less excited about the idea of pre-ordering it. Most of the DLC from the previous Borderlands titles has been incredible, but I still don't like the idea of a season pass, whereby you pay for something that hasn't even been fully thought out.