From Doublejump:

• Ayden took a look at KK Game Studio’s Early Access strategy first-person shooter, Freeman: Guerrilla Warfare, a game that’s “complex in its simplicity and really gives the player a memorable and fun experience.”
• For April’s collaborative feature, the staff put together one of Doublejump’s best releases to date: a very candid look at some of our fondest gaming memories.

Major news releases:

Microsoft is testing AMD FreeSync support for Xbox One:

Microsoft announced that it has begun testing AMD FreeSync support through the Xbox One Preview Program. The feature will allow compatible monitors to synchronise their refresh rates to the frame rate of the games being displayed, thereby reducing the occurrence of stuttering and screen tearing that can be very jarring when in the middle of a game.

As of this writing, Sony has yet to announce FreeSync support for PlayStation 4.

Spider-Man is swinging to PS4 this September, won’t feature micro transactions:

As part of its May cover story, Game Informer revealed that Insomniac Games’s virtual take on the crime-fight web-slinger is due on September 7 exclusively on PS4.

When asked about purchasing additional costumes and content through microtransactions, Insomniac Creative Director Bryan Intihar noted that the game will not feature any in-game microtransaction purchase. However, players will be able to unlock addition suits through gameplay and acquire them as part of the game’s three planned downloadable content expansions.

Activision announces remasters of the original Spyro the Dragon trilogy:

Early last week, Activision Publishing confirmed that it was following up Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy’s success with a remastered collection of the first three Spyro the Dragon games.

Aptly titled Spyro Reignited Trilogy, the compilation includes fully-reworked versions of Spyro the Dragon, Spyro: Ripto’s Rage!, and Spyro: Year of the Dragon featuring a high resolution art style that stays faithful to the games’ original look.

Spyro Reignited Trilogy is slated for a September 21 release on PS4 and Xbox One. A Nintendo Switch version is yet to be announced.

Square Enix is developing more Final Fantasy XV Episodes:

The company made the announcement during a panel at PAX East (via ResetEra), revealing that it will release four new Episodes — three main ones and one “Side Story” — sometime in 2019.

Episode I stars Ardyn, Aranea stars in the Episode Side Story, Luna leads Episode II, while Episode III follows our original hero Noctis. Square Enix noted that it plans to release the episodes on a monthly basis, with the first slated for a Summer release.

PUBG’s Miramar update is coming to Xbox next month, everyone’s getting access to Team Deathmatch as well:

Speaking during a PAX East live panel (via Polygon), Creative Director Brendan “PLAYERUNKNOWN” Greene announced that PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS’s second map, the desert-themed Miramar, is headed to the Xbox One version in May. He did not reveal a specific date for the map’s Xbox release.

Bungie is inviting popular Destiny personalities and more to a “Community Summit”:

In the latest This Week at Bungie post, Community Manager David “DeeJ” Dague announced that the beleaguered developer will be hosting an event later this month to gather more feedback about upcoming Destiny 2 changes.

Dague assured readers that Bungie has invited more than just YouTubers and Twitch streamers to the event in effort to garner more insight into what players want.

“For this gathering, we tried to select a good cross-section to represent all kinds of Guardians. Some of them are familiar faces. Others are new voices that we want to know better,” he explained. “Some of them are leaders with large constituencies. Others are solo players we have come to know with strong opinions. We’ve targeted the hardcore elite who have mastered every challenge and the average players with a deep love for the game.”

Dague also said that this event was the first step in a concerted effort on Bungie’s part to improve its standing with players through better communication — something that Massive Entertainment has already done with its Elite Task Force initiative for The Division.

“This is a new step we’re taking to be more collaborative, more transparent, and a little less worried about keeping secrets,” Dague said. “This is not the first time we’ve welcomed players to see where we work and meet the people who make our games. It won’t be the last.”

Here’s hoping that Bungie takes a page out of Blizzard, DICE, and Ubisoft’s books when it comes to communicating upcoming changes going forward.

Explore Blackwatch’s dark history in Overwatch’s newest event:

At an Overwatch League event early last week, Game Director Jeff Kaplan unveiled a new player-versus-environment (PvE) environment event starring the infamous Blackwatch organisation.

The event, titled “Retribution”, is scheduled to begin on April 11 and will feature Genji, Moira, McCree, and a pre-Reaper Gabriel Reyes. The Retribution mode takes place on a new map named Rialto, which is set in Venice, Italy. Kaplan noted that the new mode is designed to be more dynamic than last year’s Uprising mode and later revealed that there will be two versions of the new map: a nighttime one for Retribution and a daytime one for general multiplayer in Payload guise.

Major video releases:

Vampyr — Story Trailer:

It’s hard out there for a super-powered vampire.

Ghost Recon: Wildlands — Year 2 Announcement:

Ubisoft continues its trend of supporting games over multiple years.

Call of Duty: WWII — The War Machine DLC 2 Trailer:

I want to fly planes over WWII-era Europe!

God of War — New Gameplay: Trolls, Exploration and More:

April 20 can’t come soon enough!

Overwatch — Developer Update | Overwatch Archives:

The game’s popular Uprising Brawl mode is returning soon.

Interesting reads:

• We all knew that Hideo Kojima was a genius, but GamesRadar explores how the auteur and his creative team predicted today’s issues of information control and data surveillance in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

Other news:

• Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata passed away earlier this week: Forbes
• Sam Fisher will be dropping in to join the action in Ghost Recon: Wildlands: Polygon
• Variety is shoring up its gaming editorial effort by hiring former Glixel and Kotaku editor Brian Crecente: GamesIndustry.biz
• Disgaea 5 is coming to Steam next month: PC Gamer
• World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth is slated for this August: Polygon
• Firewatch is headed to Switch later this Autumn: Official
• LawBreakers developer Boss Key is moving on from actively improving the game: Eurogamer
• Astro gaming has announced a Switch headset: Polygon
• Blue Mary is entering the fray in The King of Fighters XIV: YouTube
• No Man’s Sky NEXT is a PS4 Pro and Xbox One X-enhanced version of the controversial title: Official