Just weeks after a dust-up involving the banning and reinstatement of Image Comics’ Saga #12, digital comics distributor Comixology has once again pulled dozens of comics with explicit content get pulled from their iOS app, Comic Book Resources reports.

For all the articles and interviews about The Witness, people have been wondering what the experience of playing the next game from the creator of Braid would look like. You can get a glimpse of The Witness in action in an interview on the official PlayStation Blog.

In addition to the gameplay snippets, Jonathan Blow talks about his upcoming first-person open-world exploration game and discusses the benefits of being an independent game-maker. Every once in a while, it's nice to hear someone involved with video games say that making a profit isn't the most important priority.

And you can always go join the voices talking about video games and life in TAY Classic and in the TAY: Open Forum.

New video game hardware is coming down the pike and those machines are going to need showpieces, games that show off why the PS4 and Xbox One are a significant step ahead of their predecessors. The guys making Need For Speed Rivals—the next installment of the long-running racing series–believe that they’re making one of those showpiece games. It’s coming out on November 19^th for current-gen consoles (except Wii U) and PC, with PS4 and Xbox One versions to follow later this year.

You play as either cops or illegal racers in Need for Speed Rivals, which is an open-world title set in fictional Redview County. Racers’ rewards are tied to dodging cops, driving as crazily as possible and capturing those stunts on video. Cops, of course, are trying to stop all of that.

Rivals is being made by Ghost Games, a new studio in Sweden staffed by former developers from DICE. Ghost Games executive producer Marcus Nilsson worked on the Shift franchise and built Shift 2: Unleashed with co-workers. Criterion director Craig Sullivan is part of that team now and Nilsson calls Rivals a co-operative effort between Ghost and Criterion.

Yes, they’re aiming to make the next Need for Speed an eye-popping visual feast that takes advantage of DICE’s Frostbite 3 engine. But, Marcus Nilsson says that it’s connectivity—and not graphics—that’s pushing the evolution of NFS.

The game’s AllDrive feature is supposed to smash the line between single-player and multiplayer, said Nilsson. “Imagine you’re playing Need for Speed Rivals as a cop in a pursuit,” Nilsson said, starting in on an explanation of the new mode. “You’re going through the levels of the game and collecting points. I’m your friend, so when I join the game, I’m being put in your world. The world is pretty big, right? I can be on a different side of the map and I’m doing my thing in my play progression, being a racer, being chased by cops and collecting Speedpoints.”

“Then, our experiences can merge so we happen to be on the same street, which means that you can start going after me. Or if we’re both cops, we can go after the racer that we were chasing together,” Nilsson continued. “Really, we’re going seamlessly through player action from playing alone to playing in co-op. The game will then adjust to this and give you objectives which are based on playing together with a friend and change the score to make it obvious to you that you’re playing together with someone.”

“That carries on as you have more people join this world and with the different roles they take, the game will offer you more variation on how you can play the game, depending on how many people their are in your world,” Nilsson told me. "This is why I think Rivals is all about the next generation."

In light of the confusion around the Xbox One, I asked him if the next generation versions of Rivals would need to be constantly online, since we spoke on the day after the reveal of Microsoft’s new console. “You can play this alone with a disconnected box as much as you want,” Nilsson answered. “It will work with AI in the open world, and it will take you through the single-player progression of the game. That’s something that is very dear to us, and foremost Need for Speed is a game that you play through yourself.”

“But, when you’re online, you get this interaction with other people in a kind of disorganized fashion, which is a really cool thing that don’t necessarily see in other normal racing games.”

You’ll be able to wield upgradeable weapons and tech like jammers and EMP bursts for racers or roadblocks, shockwaves and helicopters for cops. You’ll also be able to personalize your ride, too. “We’ve gone deeper on weapons and are trying to make them a more integrated part of the driving experience,” Nilsson said.

“We wanted to build a new studio to embrace the next generation, to get some new energy into thinking differently about racing games,” he offered. “Racing games need innovation.” We’ll see if Rivals’ chase-focused open-world showdown is the game that brings it.

Sam Lake—you bastard child of Vincent Price and Stephen King—don't you ever change. Even when explaining the massive disappointment that was the distinct lack of Alan Wake 2 at yesterday’s Xbox One reveal, the guy who put words in Max Payne’s mouth still manages to come across as hypnotically charming.

Lake says that reveals that the psychological horror franchise has sold 3 million copies over its lifetime and promises that Quantum Break will fold in everything they learned from making Alan Wake and Max Payne games. But, man, that last scene… not exactly a wellspring of hope for AW fans, huh, Sam?

The quote in the headline comes from Don Mattrick, talking to the Wall Street Journal about the Xbox One when the topic of backwards compatibility came up. But that’s not the only head-scratching statement to come from the man in charge of all things Xbox.

The newspaper article covers the different strategies behind Microsoft’s next-gen offering and the console coming from Sony, including what they’re choosing to prioritize and how they use the cloud:

Imagine a typical game: there are characters in the foreground that interact with the player, and a background landscape with trees, hills or an ocean. Mattrick said Microsoft’s new servers, which the company increased to 300,000 from 15,000 currently used by the Xbox 360, will be able to do some of the work creating images for that background landscape and then stream them back to the console and TV, while the Xbox One focuses on making the characters look as impressive as possible.

The basic concept in the quote above makes sense, as it’s essentially a distributed computing set-up. But what’s disturbing about the scenario is how it hints at a possible divide in the end experience. It seems to indicate that your game will look and/or play the way it’s supposed to if your Xbox One is online, because it’ll be able to take advantage of that cloud-computing back-end. It's a nice advantage to provide to developers, sure. But, if your console won't be online, then you probably won't want to buy games that use that back-end.

Furthermore, what about consoles that are online but won't have always the best bandwidth? Will the Xbox One have to work differently or harder if the connection falters? Will there be missing detail or inconsistent visuals? There’s probably going to be some sort of sliding scale protocol for the cloud processing but, if there’s any kind of noticeable difference in performance, Microsoft will have a big problem on their hands.

Microsoft and Sony Diverge on Gaming ‘Cloud’ [The Wall Street Journal]

And you can always go join the voices talking about video games and life in TAY Classic and in the TAY: Open Forum.

The solo and small-team game-makers who’ve made games like Fez, Braid and Limbo won’t be able to control their own destinies on Microsoft’s next game console, according to a Shack News report.

The article quotes Matt Booty, who is Microsoft’s general manager of Redmond Game Studios and Platforms, as confirming that indie devs will still need publishers to get their games onto the newly revealed console. Booty does say that Microsoft will explore new business models, though.

This news comes in stark contrast to Sony’s promises that indies will be able to self-publish content on the PS4. The publisher model, of course, means that some other entity has to decide whether to take a risk on helping get a game on a console and that someone else gets a cut of profits.

Looking back on it now, the Xbox Live Indie Games space wound up becoming a neglected ghetto for creators trying to find an audience. The energy that that scene once held migrated to mobile and has blossomed PC, where platforms like Steam let creators chart their own way. One thing that’s enabled indie creations to find success has been the ability to set and change release windows and prices as they see fit. No need to charge more money to ensure multiple partners get a cut and no need to rush out a game that still needs polish because someone else says you have to. If you're an indie developer, chances are that Xbox One just became a lot less attractive to you.

You don't need to feel sorry for the Flash. Despite what it looks like, he's doing okay.

The Flash series has been one of the quieter success stories of DC Comics' New 52 reboot. The Fastest Man Alive hasn't had the kind of high-profile crossovers that Batman, Superman or Green Lantern's books have had. Hell, even Aquaman got a big-deal storyline tied into the Justice League book. But The Flash has managed to be a reliable read without the hype of those kinds of editorial stunts.

Creators Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato have re-configured the powers, mythos and cast surrounding DC's pre-eminent speedster just enough for plot twists to feel surprising, while keeping much of the charm that made previous iterations popular. Barry Allen is weighed down by a ton of dysfunction or angst, making him feel more like a regular guy you can root for.

Just look at these preview pages from today's issue #20. He's moving in with a girlfriend, making peace with a messed-up childhood and putting some recent drama behind him. But the newest incarnation of the most vicious Flash villain ever is waiting in the wings. If you don't know about Reverse Flash, he's a villain who killed the Flash's wife in a prior continuity. And Flash snapped his neck in the ensuing fight. There's bad history here.

And what we've seen of the character so far hints at a more psychologically twisted take on Flash's opposite number, with bloody victims left in his wake. That girlfriend, that new apartment, that troubled past hidden from view… chances are that the Flash's darker mirror image will be screwing around will all of those in the storyline to come.

Go ahead and take a look: the new pieces of hardware that form the hub of Microsoft’s upcoming gaming experiences aren't exactly cute and cuddly. They’re kinda foreboding, the way they float and squint at you, all one-eyed and unknowable.

But these shots are the best visuals yet we have of the new Xbox One components. You’ll see some of the design language from the Xbox 360 Slim hardware refresh in there, with slanted vent s slashing across the console and Kinect camera. And the texturing on the controller’s analog sticks might mean improved grip. What jumps out at you from these shots?

Kotaku bossman Stephen Totilo is on the ground at the Xbox reveal event and sent along two videos that let you see the Xbox One controller and the console itself. It's almost like you're there!

Update: Here's another video that shows the back of the console, including the ports.

Update 2: Here's another video where Totilo compares the console's size to a few items that he has handy.

Remedy Entertainment showed off a mind-warping glimpse into their next-game during today's Xbox event and it looks utterly stunning.

Quantum Break appears to move the TV-centric style that Remedy used for Alan Wake out of psychological horror and into the realm of sci-fi. I'm willing to bet money that it's going to be released episodically, too. Not a lot of money. But some.

Update: Here's the official description of the game from a press release. The release also contained this line: "Format: Exclusive to Blu-ray for the Xbox One video game and entertainment system." That sure sounds it won't be downloadable episodes like I previously speculated. Guess I owe somebody some money.

Developed exclusively for Xbox One, Quantum Break blurs the line between television and gameplay, integrating the two into one seamless, uniquely immersive experience. From Remedy Entertainment, the critically-acclaimed creators of Alan Wake and Max Payne comes a revolutionary entertainment experience that weaves the cinematic action of intense gameplay with the tension and drama of scripted television, creating a world where each has a direct impact on the other.

In Quantum Break, our desperate hero fights a highly personal battle to save the future before time literally runs out. As time breaks down, impossible, split second moments of destruction turn into epic stages of time powered action. The actions you take, and the choices you make, shape your experience as the narrative unfolds. As you play, a personalized ‘director’s cut’ of the show is created just for you, based on the decisions you make during the game.

Quantum Break will lead the new generation of interactive entertainment, as the show and game deliver a holistic entertainment experience made possible only on Xbox One.

The evolution of the Xbox online service got shown on stage today at Microsoft’s reveal event. Users will keep their current accounts but have access to a slew of upgraded functions like a game-recording DVR and dynamic game achievements.

A 300,000-server network—compared to today's 15,000—will serve as the spine of Xbox Live. You’ll be able to look for match-ups in one game while playing another game, watching a movie or browsing the internet. They call it Smart Match. Exec Marc Whitten also promised bigger online matches and persistent worlds via server-side computations. No word on any next-gen troll-filtering measures, though.

At today’s Xbox reveal event, Microsoft showed how their new console will change how you’ll interact with your TV. Snap Mode lets users run multiple functions simultaneously and switch between them with voice commands without having to shut them down individually.

A demo showed live TV being shown on the TV and when a Microsoft exec on stage said “Xbox, snap Internet Explorer,” the TV image shrank to make room for a new search window pane. From there, he went to a Favorites menu and navigated to buy movie tickets via a companion smartphone app.

Snap Mode and its Instant Switching multitasking could be the thing that delivers most on Microsoft’s promises that the Xbox One will be the only thing that you’ll need in your entertainment area. It's certainly a quantum leap for them and rivals anything else available in the living room.

It’s pretty damn cool.

And you can always go join the voices talking about video games and life in TAY Classic and in the TAY: Open Forum.

Batman and Joker are two sides of the same crazy coin, according to some comics in the Dark Knight’s 74-year history. The thinking goes that you have to be insane to do what each character does and that their unique relationship binds them in a symbiotic way. So it makes a weird bit of sense that the same guy is going to be playing both characters, albeit in a different medium.

Troy Baker—the voice actor who’s probably best known for being Vincent in Catherine and Booker DeWitt in BioShock Infinite—isn’t just doing the voice of the Joker in the Batman: Arkham Origins video game. He’ll also be doing the voice of Batman in LEGO Batman: The Movie – DC Super Heroes Unite, the upcoming movie that parallels last year’s Bruce Wayne + everybody else video game. There’s no footage yet of Baker’s portrayal of the Joker but you can listen to how he voices Batman in these LEGO Batman clips

Baker’s no stranger to playing other Bat-universe characters, either. Not only did he play Two-Face in Batman: Arkham City, but he also played Robin in that game’s Harley Quinn's Revenge DLC, too. Hell, Baker played Batman, Two-Face, Sinestro, Brainiac and Hawkman in Lego Batman 2! Pretty soon, there’ll be a Batman game where Baker plays all the characters by his damn self. Those are going to be some crazy recording sessions. Crazy, I tell you.

The world's first reveal of the PlayStation 4 hit earlier today. Yes, it was blurry. And frantic. But those 39 seconds held some images of actual details from the upcoming console. We just don’t know what they are yet. So let’s take some guesses. Please tell us what you think each part does, won't you?

The mosaic above contains stills from the PS4 teaser video, with various vents, ports holes and rounded bits captured for your perusal. These things are probably important, right? They must be, or else they wouldn’t be hightighted in a teaser. Or maybe Sony’s marketing department just put a unit on a lazy susan, spun the thing around and picked out a few random shots to troll us all. Either way, see what sense you can make of this hardware design by annotating the image above.