With Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate out tomorrow, we’ve all been pretty busy finishing recent releases — several titles have been sitting on the back burner. I, for one, made sure I had enough time to knock out the final episode of Life is Strange this week. Transitioning from an episodic tale of teenage angst to a bloody, open playground is probably going to be a bit odd, but, I digress. While we wait we might as well get to some news.

In today’s Gaming Daily, 343 Industries’ Bonnie Ross wanted to oversee the Halo franchise similar to how George Lucas ran Star Wars, Adam Jensen is back and ready for action in a new Deus Ex: Mankind Divided gameplay trailer, Bethesda announces dates for the Doom Alpha, somebody created a fully-functional Arkham Knight Batmobile go-kart, and Sony announces which games will be playable at PSX.

Halo boss Bonnie Ross wanted to run the franchise like George Lucas

We’ve been talking about Halo 5: Guardians a lot lately, but I think you’ll find this next bit of news interesting. During an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, 343 Industries’ head honcho Bonnie Ross–who’s in charge of the Halo franchise–said that she wanted to run the show similar to how George Lucas ran the Star Wars franchise.

“People felt like, Let’s get another Halo or two out, and it’s the end of the franchise,” Ross says. “The thing I asked for was: If I take it over, I want to be George Lucas. I want to own everything, and I want to do things differently.”

From what we’ve seen so far, it feels like the developers have added more depth to the series’ story with Halo 5: Guardians. Pitting Spartan Locke against the Master Chief definitely feels like the story is heading in a refreshing direction. A lot of this, it seems, has to do with Ross’ knowledge of the franchise.

In the same interview, Halo franchise director Frank O’Connor reflected on the dawn of 343–back when he was still working for Bungie. He stated, “Bonnie came in and really surprised everyone,” he said. “Because she’d read all the novels, she was deeply immersed in the fiction, and she’d played all the games.”

[HT: Bloomberg]

Square Enix releases new gameplay trailer for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything about Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. Well, I guess there was that one “Augment Your Pre-order” program that was announced, and then subsequently cancelled, but we’d rather forget that ever happened. On a lighter note, Square Enix released a new gameplay trailer for the title today. In it, they showed off a few new locales, and a new and improved Jensen 2.0. While our favorite badass aug has had more training, it looks like he’s going to have a tougher time in the next entry. He never asked for everybody to hate his kind, but I guess that’s just the way the cookie crumbles in the cyber-punk Illuminati-filled world. For more on the game, check out the trailer above, and head on over to our full article below.

[HT: Nerdist]

Bethesda reveals Xbox One/PS4/PC Multiplayer Alpha dates for Doom

When Bethesda opened sign-ups for the closed multiplayer Alpha test for Doom last week, a lot of people wondered when they’d finally announce the testing period. As someone who’s been waiting for news on the Beta ever since I pre-ordered Wolfenstein, I was happy when they released a video today not only announcing the Alpha dates, but showing off a bit of what the testers should expect in terms of gameplay.

In the above video, they revealed that the testing period is set to begin tomorrow, October 23 on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC at 12:01 EDT, and will run until Sunday, October 25, at 11:59 PM EDT.

Those who are chosen to participate in the test will get to play 6v6 team deathmatch games on a map titled Heatwave. They will have access to a total of six weapons, and two pieces of equipment. It is important to point out that this is not the Beta, nor is it a demo. Bethesda was really insistent in reiterating the fact that the closed tests will feature limited functionality. There will only be one map, one mode, and a partial selection of weapons and equipment.

There will, however, be several “game changers” which will appear in the arena. Check out the list below:

• The Demon Rune, which can turn the tide of a battle by transforming a player into a bad-ass Revenant fully loaded with dual rocket launchers and a jetpack.
• The Gauss Cannon, a high-powered weapon that can destroy a foe in a single blast.
• Power-ups like Quad Damage and Invisibility – you can guess what each of these does.

It sounds like it’s going to be a hell of a lot of fun.

[HT: Bethesda]

Super Gamer Builds created a Batman: Arkham Knight Batmobile go-kart

Although the Batmobile may not have been everyone’s cup of tea in Batman: Arkham Knight, the go-kart version the folks over at AWE Me’s Super Gamer Builds built certainly could be. After winning the contest, a fan named Francis requested that the artists transform an ordinary two-seater go-kart into the Batmobile. Yeah, it’s basically the coolest thing ever. Find out how they did it in the video above, and read our our full article (link below) for more details.

[HT: Nerdist]

Sony unveils Exhibitors List and Playable Games for PlayStation Experience 2015

It’s hard to believe that the second annual PlayStation Experience is almost upon us. While tickets for the event have already begun to sell out, Sony finally took to the PlayStation blog to reveal some of the exhibitors (pictured above) and games that will be making an appearance at the show.

While the list of playable games is incomplete, according to Sony, it’s still odd that No Man’s Sky didn’t make the list. There’s been speculation that the folks at Hello Games were gearing up to release the title next Tuesday, but we honestly doubt that’s going to happen. I guess we will just have to wait and find out.

Check out the list of some of the games that will be playable at PSX below:

• Amplitude
• Assault Android Cactus
• Blind
• Chasm
• Cosmic Star Heroine
• Crypt of the NecroDancer
• Darkest Dungeon
• Death Tales
• Death’s Gambit
• Distance
• Drifter
• Drive!Drive!Drive!
• Dungeons & Dragons Sword Coast Legends
• EarthNight
• Firewatch
• FutureGrind
• GNOG
• Gunsport
• Invisible, Inc.
• Kerbal Space Program
• Killing Floor 2
• Klaus
• Life Goes On: Done to Death
• Lost Sea
• Manifold Garden
• Metrico+
• Moon Hunters
• Night in the Woods
• Nuclear Throne
• Randall
• Ray’s the Dead
• Revolver360 RE:Actor
• ROCKETSROCKETSROCKETS
• Salt and Sanctuary
• Screencheat
• Sentris
• Severed
• Skytorn
• SmuggleCraft
• Soft Body
• Space Dave
• Stories: The Path of Destinies
• Strike Vector
• The King of Fighters XIV
• Thumper
• To Leave
• Tumblestone
• Videoball
• Viking Squad

Which one are you most excited for?

[HT: PlayStation Blog]

That’s it for today everybody. Keep Nerdist tabbed for upcoming gaming news, reviews and features!

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IMAGES: 343 Industries