NEWS | Week beginning July 6th | BO3 Zombies, Lack of Justice? & No Man's Sky

Good afternoon guys, welcome back to another video-games news round-up! Let's get into it!

First up, Treyarch has announced that Black Ops 3 will be getting a Zombie Mode, called "Shadows of Evil". As per usual, the mode will feature 4 characters, simply named 'The Magician, The Femme-Fatale, The Cop and The Boxer' and will most notably star actors Jeff Goldblum and Ron Pearlman.

A short blurb covering the plot of the mode suggests that these 4 characters are investigating "The Shadow Man" who is behind the awakening of the undead horde.
Treyarch studio head Mark Lamia said that "Treyarch has crafted a totally unique and face-melting gameplay experience for our loyal Zombies community, with Call of Duty: Black Ops 3: Zombies - Shadows of Evil. The development team has packed Shadows of Evil with more gameplay and fun than any other experience before it, and has an appropriately twisted and deep narrative, performed by fantastic acting talent, that will keep our fans spinning."

A Collectors Edition for any
die-hard Call of Duty Fan!

Activision also launched a charity campaign which will give players a chance to have their likeness turned into a zombie in Shadows of Evil. To be entered into this competition, players have to donate $10 or more to the "Call of Duty Endowment Fund", which aids war veterans in finding work after their time in service. Along with that, Activision also announced the 'Juggernog Collectors Edition', which comes with concept art, gun skins and a functioning mini-fridge! It does however cost quite a bit of money, around £180! Better get saving!

Moving onto the trailer, I think it looks very cool! For this rendition of the much loved Zombies Mode, Treyarch have gone for a 50's Noir style, and it looks to be good match. You see the scenery and locale early on, as well as seeing the characters for the first time. Then, it's pretty much what we expect to see from Zombies, killing! The trailer introduces some new weapons, such as a Samurai Sword and a shield with rocket jets? Oh, and you can turn into a tentacle monster!
You know what, i'm going to stop ruining the trailer for you guys and you can go and watch it for yourselves! Enjoy!



Next up, the Lizard Squad Hacker that took down PSN for several days during the Festive period has avoided jail. Do you Playstation users remember these few dark days, when we couldn't connect to PSN, and we couldn't play our new games? I certainly do!

Hacker Julius "zeekill" Kivimaki, was tracked down by Finnish authorities after it was believed that he was responsible for over 50,000 computer crimes. He has been convicted of around 50,700 charges related to computer crimes, yet he avoided jail, and has received a two-year suspended jail sentence instead, and as a result, his online activities will be monitored by Finnish authorities for the foreseeable future.

The 2011 attack is still considered as
one of the biggest hacks ever...

Around the time of the hackings, he gave an interview to Sky News, stating that he only attacked PSN to 'raise awareness' of the 'low state of computer security' on PSN.

In a way, I understand his reasoning for doing so. In April 2011, Playstation Network has hacked, and around 24.7 million Sony Online Entertainment accounts had been accessed, with credit card details, passwords, emails, etc all being stolen. This hack and the month downtime on PSN cost Sony around $171 million dollars. This breach is still considered as the biggest internet security break-in ever. The fact that some random hacker managed to take down PSN by himself for days highlights the fact that PSN may still be vulnerable to attacks. Of course, hacking services and causing misery to millions of Playstation users is not good, and illegal, but it does show that Sony need to step up their game and make sure that all of their PSN users are protected!

Finally, have any of you guys heard of No Man's Sky? If not, then No Man's Sky is a "game about exploration and survival in an infinite procedurally generated galaxy" - (www.no-mans-sky.com).

So simply, it's a really really big game with a whole lot of exploring to do, that never ends.

On Monday, IGN released an 18 minute video of No Man's Sky gameplay with commentary from developer Sean Murray. 

After watching the gameplay, I must say that the game looks amazing. Breathtaking at times.

One of the many trading posts in
No Man's Sky...

The gameplay covers various topics in the game, such as how the game works, the different ways in which you can play the game, how expansive the No Man's Sky universe is, etc.
From the gameplay, it is easy to tell how expansive the No Man's Sky universe will be. Each planet is 'planet sized' and even Murray said that "I can walk in any direction for days and days, weeks and weeks...", meaning that you could potentially spend your whole time on one planet if you wanted too! It wouldn't be much fun, but it goes to show how the big the game is!

Unfortunately, not much else has been revealed about No Man's Sky, and the game does not not have a release date yet, but when it does, I know I'll be looking to getting myself a copy of the game!
Here's the gameplay footage from IGN if you haven't already seen it:

So what are your guys' opinions on this weeks news? Will you be pre-ordering the Juggernog Edition of Black Ops 3? Do you think that the PSN hacker should have got jail time? Does No Man's Sky look appealing to you? Let me know in the comments down below!

As always, thanks for reading!

Connor :)