TriplePoints of Interest: May 18

TPoI this week features Rage 2 from Bethesda which suffered from the Walmart Canada E3 leak, the new Tomb Raider reportedly cost between $75-100 million, and Microsoft rolls out a new controller made for disabled gamers.

Rage 2 Announced Plus Gameplay Trailer

Bethesda announced Rage 2, a sequel to their 2010 post apocalyptic shooter, with a teaser followed by a gameplay trailer this week. Set to release in 2019, the game is developed in partnership with id software, known for the DOOM and Quake franchises. The game was previously mentioned in the Walmart Canada E3 leak and gamers should expect to see more on the title at E3 next month, according to Variety, GameSpot, Digital Trends, Mashable, and more.

Cost of Shadow of the Tomb Raider

A large number of gaming enthusiast outlets including Kotaku, IGN, Destructoid, and GameRevolution reported on an interview between GamesIndustry.biz and David Anfossi of Eidos Montreal who commented in his interview that the game Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the newest title in the rebooted Tomb Raider franchise set to release on September 14, 2018, reportedly cost between $75 million to $100 million. This budget points to a growing trend among AAA games to have high production and development costs, which has spurred trends like microtransactions, season passes, and more to help cover costs.

Microsoft Unveils New Controller for Disabled Gamers

The MIT Technology Review, CNET, The Hollywood Reporter, Tom’s Hardware and more covered a new Xbox controller made by Microsoft that aims to help gamers with limited mobility to play video games more accurately. The “Xbox Adaptive Controller” features two large touch-sensitive circular buttons that make it easy for players to match standard controls and has ports at the top to represent other buttons on the controller, which can be controlled in a variety of ways to create an experience that works best for the user. Currently, the controller will be priced at $100 dollars and will release later this year.