XCOM: Enemy Unknown will launch in the iTunes App Store on Thursday, June 20, 2K and Firaxis Games announced today. The strategy game will be available for $20 and is compatible with iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown for iOS was announced in March and is described as the "complete XCOM experience." It includes GameCenter support and makes use of iCloud functionality, allowing players to save games across every iOS device they own.

The game's head-to-head multiplayer mode will not be available at launch, but will see release "at a later date" as a free update to the title.

Supported devices for XCOM: Enemy Unknown iOS include: iPad 2, iPad 3, iPad 4, iPad mini, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, and iPod Touch 5th Generation.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown for consoles and PC launched last October.

Microsoft's Xbox One games will retail for $60, the same price as Xbox 360 titles, the publisher has confirmed.

This pricing will put Xbox One games level with PlayStation 4 titles, as PlayStation executive Jack Tretton said in February that PS4 titles will max out at $60.

Other publishers--like Activision, Electronic Arts, and Ubisoft--have yet to disclose pricing information for their next-generation games.

Industry analyst Michael Pachter in March predicted that Xbox One and PlayStation 4 titles would follow the previous generation in jumping by $10 from $60 to $70.

The Xbox One ($500) and PS4 ($400) launch later this year.

Mario Golf won't come to the 3DS on time. Nintendo revealed during an E3 2013 analyst briefing this week (via Polygon) that Mario Golf: World Tour has been delayed into 2014.

The game was announced in February with a summer 2013 release window. No reason for the delay was provided.

Mario Golf: World Tour is in development at series shop Camelot Software and promises to offer modes that both simplify the series for beginners and add complexity for experts.

Mario Golf: World Tour will be the sixth Mario Golf game in a series that has been running since 1999, with previous titles appearing on the N64, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, and GameCube.

Now that the show has ended, what were the best games of E3 2013?

GameSpot editors have chosen our favorite games from this year's show, finalizing a list of 12 titles highlighted below.

Games up for nomination had to be playable in some form, whether by GameSpot or during a live presentation.

Battlefield 4
Bayonetta 2
Destiny
Fantasia: Music Evolved
Forza Motorsport 5
Mario Kart 8
Rayman Legends
The Crew
The Division
The Witcher 3
Titanfall
Watch Dogs

The recently announced Super Smash Bros. Wii and Super Smash Bros. 3DS won't feature cross-platform play, developer Sora Ltd. has said.

In an interview with Joystiq, director Masahiro Sakurai said cross-play between the two games wouldn't be possible due to both games having completely different stages.

There will be interactivity between the two versions of the game, Sakurai adds, mentioning that customised characters will be able to be sent from the 3DS version to the Wii U version. The customisations weren't specified in detail, only that they wouldn't be alternative costumes.

Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U and Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 3DS will be released in 2014.

The Legend of Zelda director Eiji Aonuma has told Engadget that it is imperative that Nintendo breaks new ground with its future Zelda titles.

"If we don't change we might die," Aonuma said. "We need to evolve. Things need to change. Things need to grow."

Fans may then ask why Nintendo is launching The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD on the Wii U this fall. Aonuma said development on the HD remake has helped the team "learn what it is the Wii U can do...[and] what the system is capable of."

Aonuma said he has heard calls from fans to shake up the series and change the formula, and though he thinks it is important to do this, changing too much would be a problem as well.

"With regard to...breaking the mold or changing the formula, I certainly hear the thoughts of fans. The impressions of fans that maybe it's getting a bit stale," Aonuma said.

"If we change it too much, I'm also concerned people will say, 'OK, is it no longer Zelda if we don't have this formula?'"

The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD launches this fall, while the Wii U's all-new Zelda game currently has no release window.

Overkill Software's upcoming heist-themed action game Payday 2 will not feature microtransactions, lead designer David Goldfarb has confirmed with GameSpot.

Asked if Overkill Software anticipated putting microtransactions in the game, Goldfarb bluntly stated, "No. No. God, I hope not. Never. No."

Payday 2 launches in August for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

Payday 2 includes a number of features not found in 2011's original Payday: The Heist, including a skill and progression system. In addition, the game features four different professions, each with its own unique abilities.

For more, check out GameSpot's demo of the game with commentary from Goldfarb embedded below.

The Xbox One's new achievement system will include in-game "challenges" that encourage the community to work together, Microsoft has announced.

According to an outline of the new achievement system for the Xbox One, achievements and challenges are both considered Xbox Live achievements. This means:

You can unlock them and win their rewards.
Once unlocked, they are saved to your achievement history.
They each have an icon to visualize the cool thing you did.
They often are associated with a Game DVR capture to show your friends that you are better than they are.
Developers can release more of them after the game's initial release.

That's where the similarities between achievements and challenges end, however. Challenges will be time-based, meaning they will be available for only a certain period of time, and they also will not give out any Gamerscore.

In addition, challenges can span multiple titles, while achievements cannot. On top of this, challenges can be unlocked by the community and will typically represent tasks that a single player cannot accomplish alone.

"Imagine, for example, a game releases a headshot weekend challenge that requires players to cumulatively headshot 1 million baddies in a three-day period," said Xbox Live Achievement manager Cierra McDonald. "And every person who participates and meets the challenge's goals gets the unlock on his or her achievement history and reaps its reward."

Lastly, Xbox Live's new achievements system is cloud-powered, which McDonald said will allow developers to add new achievements and challenges on the fly after their game is initially released.

According to McDonald, this will allow developers to learn from and respond to user activity in a way that enhances gameplay.

"For example, let's say a certain game is known on community forums to have a fun little sub-game of kicking chickens," McDonald said. "Wouldn't it be amazing if the game developers noticed the community enjoying an unintended aspect of the game and creating a challenge around it, with a reward to boot?"

McDonald also reiterated that Xbox 360 Gamerscore will carry forward to the Xbox One and that users can unlock digital artwork, new maps, characters, and temporary statistic boots through achievements on the Xbox One.

In addition, achievements will no longer be tied to games, allowing those who use video and music apps to unlock early access, sneak-peek content, or subscriptions. However, only gamers will net players Gamerscore.

The Xbox One launches this November for $500, a full $100 above the PlayStation 4.

Upcoming multiplayer-focused, mech-based first-person shooterTitanfall won't be getting any day-one downloadable content, developer Respawn Entertainment has said.

Speaking in an interview with GameSpot, producer Drew McCoy said the studio wasn't looking to "nickel-and-dime" its customers. When asked about Titanfall's post-release plans, McCoy said, "We're not talking about our plans specifically, but I can say we're not going to have day-one DLC, and we're not gonna have microtransactions or anything like that."

"We want to make sure people understand we're not going to nickel-and-dime you with microtransactions, and we don't expect you to buy a game, put it in your console, and the first day get asked to spend more money for more content. What you get on the disc is what you bought, and that's how we're going to do it."

Titanfall mixes agile, free-running pilots with heavier mech-based combat, and fills its multiplayer confrontations with dozens of AI NPCs to give players the chance to mop up some easier kills when they're not confronting other human players.

Titanfall will be released for the Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC in spring 2014.

E3 2014 will be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center June 10-12, 2014, organizers announced today on the final day of E3 2013.

The dates for next year's show were revealed in a banner hanging near the entrance of the LACC today.

"See you next year! June 10-12, 2014," reads the banner.

E3 will remain in Los Angeles through at least 2015. The annual gaming gala has been held in Los Angeles for 16 of its 18 years of existence. Other host cities have included Santa Monica, California (2007), and Atlanta, Georgia (1997).

EA has confirmed that it will be the DICE studio in Stockholm handling primary development on Star Wars: Battlefront.

EA recently established DICE LA to specifically handle development on Star Wars titles, but EA Games Label chief Patrick Soderlund said in an interview with Eurogamer that the new LA outfit will be taking a supporting role.

"We will support a lot of what's made in Stockholm from LA," said Soderlund. "Imagine stuff like potential expansion packs and premium services being managed and handled out of LA. But the main game, Battlefront, is being built in Sweden. And so is Mirror's Edge. And so is Battlefield 4."

"It's a way for us to expand the DICE universe, to be able to do more. They are helping. Who knows where this will take them long term? Right now they're focused on helping."

"When you're in Sweden, Stockholm is a gigantic gaming city with DICE and Mojang and all the other companies, but we realised we needed to extend our reach if we wanted to get to the breadth of talent we wanted."

Soderlund also added that the upcoming Star Wars: Battlefront would be DICE's "interpretation" of the series.

"This is DICE's interpretation of what Battlefront should be," he said. "That's the best description you can have. There are absolutely things in the previous Battlefront games that you'll recognise and remember, but DICE wants to put its own flavour on it. That's the only way we can do it. Hence it's called Star Wars: Battlefront, without a 3 at the end. We want to say it's something new."

EA signed a multiyear deal with Disney at the start of May to make "core" Star Wars titles.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain will include a "vast" multiplayer mode, creator Hideo Kojima has confirmed in a new interview with CVG. He explained that this new mode will be developed by Kojima Productions' recently established Los Angeles studio in collaboration with the company's main outfit in Japan.

"Yes, we plan on creating Metal Gear Online," Kojima said. "Multiplayer right now is being created at our LA studio as well as us. We're working closely to create a vast multiplayer for all the fans."

No further information about the open-world game's multiplayer mode was divulged.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is currently in development for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. It will feature real-time weather, new stealth options, various modes of transportation (tanks, horses, cars), and is said to offer "unparalleled strategic freedom."

Kojima also recently revealed that the final version of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain will look better than the trailer shown off during Microsoft's E3 briefing on Monday.

Games industry legend Shigeru Miyamoto has likened Nintendo's role in the issue of game ownership to that of a "toy company," adding that consumers want to be able to buy games they can "go back to and experience again."

Speaking in an interview with Eurogamer, the Mario creator said that he wants to maintain the idea of games as a product users can keep hold of for many years.

"What's really important is viewing Nintendo almost like a toy company where we're making these things for people to play with," said Miyamoto. "As a consumer you want to be able to keep those things for a long time and have those things from your youth that you can go back to and experience again."

"I really want to retain that product nature of the games that we create so that people can do that and have that experience. To me that's something that's very important about entertainment itself. So from the approach of continuing to create things that are entertaining for people, that's an important direction for me that I want to maintain."

Nintendo also said yesterday that it would release a free-to-play game before the end of its current financial year.

Developers concerned about the implications of used-game sales should make their games compelling enough so that consumers will not trade them in. That's according to Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime, who told Polygon that Nintendo embodies this strategy and has one of the lowest trade-in percentages in the business as a result.

"We have been very clear. We understand that used games are a way for some consumers to monetize their games. They will buy a game, play it, bring it back to their retailer to get credit for their next purchase," Fils-Aime said. "Certainly, that impacts games that are annualized and candidly also impacts games that are maybe undifferentiated much more than [it] impacts Nintendo content. Why is that? Because the replayability of our content is super strong."

"The consumer wants to keep playing Mario Kart. The consumer wants to keep playing New Super Mario Bros. They want to keep playing Pikmin," he added. "So we see that the trade-in frequency on Nintendo content is much less than the industry average--much, much less. So for us, we have been able to step back and say that we are not taking any technological means to impact trade-in, and we are confident that if we build great content, then the consumer will not want to trade in our games."

Nintendo is not the only major game maker to have such a philosophy on used games. Grand Theft Auto parent publisher Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick said last month that the company's stance is not to "whine" about missing out on revenue, but rather to focus on creating compelling experiences so gamers do not trade their titles in.

"Our view about used games has been, as opposed to whining or figuring out ways to punish the consumer for buying used games, we've figured out we better delight the consumer," Zelnick said at the time.

Used games have been a much-discussed industry topic with next-generation consoles from Microsoft and Sony heading to market later this year.

The Xbox One supports used games as a platform, though decisions about allowing secondhand titles will be left up to publishers. Sony's PlayStation 4, on the other hand, will not feature any "gating restrictions" at all for software.

Similarly, Wii U owners can freely trade in titles without any restrictions.

As E3 draws to a close later today, one analyst has claimed Sony has emerged in a better position than Microsoft, though the battle is far from ended.

"Clearly, Sony is emerging from E3 on stronger footing, contrasting the PS4 against the more pricey Xbox One," Robert W. Baird analyst Colin Sebastian said in a note to investors today.

Sebastian pointed out that the PS4 is currently outselling the Xbox One on Amazon and GameStop, but said that if Sony wants to maintain its edge, it must "engage gamers proactively" with new software announcements.

Concerning the Xbox One, Sebastian said sentiment surrounding the platform is "mixed," due in part to backlash over its used-game and connectivity policies from a "vocal group of core gamers." Still, Sebastian remarked that many Xbox One titles should generate buzz for the system, including exclusives like Ryse, Quantum Break, and Titanfall.

Microsoft's Xbox One will retail for $500, but the company may offer alternative pricing options, Sebastian said, referring to subsidized models.

"Also, with Microsoft positioning Xbox One as a premium entertainment hub, we believe there is still an opportunity to salvage the launch, for example, through alternative pricing plans," he said.

Earlier this week, Xbox boss Phil Spencer suggested that Microsoft was considering leveraging its paid Xbox Live service to "meet consumer price points."

"The nice thing about Xbox Live is consumers do see value in it; they continue to sign up; they continue to grow," Spencer said. "And I think that diversity of business models to both meet consumer price points and different services that they're integrating their Xbox experience with is something that we definitely look at."

Sony is also exploring "many pricing options" for the PlayStation 4 in addition to the core $399 model.

The Xbox One and PS4 will both launch later this year.

Fez 2 has been announced by developer Polytron.

The existence of the game was first announced at the end of the Horizon Indie Game Conference at E3 2013, with the Polytron website releasing a short teaser video for the game shortly afterward. No specific details on the game were revealed.

Fez was released on the Xbox 360 in 2012, after five years of development, and saw a PC release in 2013. Developer Phil Fish's journey to release the game was chronicled in Indie Game: The Movie.

Polytron announced in April that the original Fez has sold 200,000 units on the Xbox 360.

Fez is a 2D platformer with a pixel art aesthetic style. The game starts with its protagonist, the Fez-wearing Gomez, being given the ability to see in the third dimension.

Former Epic Games design director Cliff Bleszinski believes the disc-based console market is falling apart in favor of free-to-play games and microtransaction-enabled titles.

"Newsflash. This is why you're seeing free-to-play and microtransactions everywhere," Bleszinski said on Twitter. "The disc-based day-one $60 model is crumbling."

Xbox executive Phil Spencer offered a different sentiment recently, saying that the disc-based market is "really important" for the Xbox One and that the retail market will remain a major component of Microsoft's business strategy moving forward.

Bleszinski's comments came as a punctuation of a message about another industry hot topic: used games. He said AAA games and the secondhand/rental market cannot coexist due to ballooning development budgets.

"You cannot have game and marketing budgets this high while also having used and rental games existing," Bleszinski said. "The numbers do NOT work people."

"The visual fidelity and feature sets we expect from games now come with sky high costs. Assassin's Creed games are made by thousands of devs," he added.

Ubisoft has eight studios working on Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.

The Xbox One supports used games as a platform, though decisions about allowing secondhand titles will be left up to publishers. Sony's PlayStation 4, on the other hand, will not feature any "gating restrictions" at all for software.

Microsoft has not been shy about using the term "next-gen" to describe its games and experiences for the Xbox One, but what exactly does it mean? Speaking with GameSpot, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said the term is multifaceted and at times difficult to convey.

"I think it's multiple things. Graphic fidelity is clearly going to be one of those...and I think graphic fidelity is always going to be at the top of what gamers think about," Spencer said. "But more and more you're seeing connected games. Titanfall is a great example, even [Forza 5] was a great example. And other briefings had similar functionality."

"The mix of exactly what makes a new generation game is now more faceted than it used to be because there's just more capabilities in the platform," he added. "Visual fidelity continues to excel here, but you actually just have a lot more capability in the hands of the creator, and you're seeing that show up."

Spencer explained that next-gen even extends beyond visuals and connected experiences to the creative teams behind the games themselves.

"And it's why, when I'm onstage, I will show something like Below that certain people look at and say, 'Is that really a new-generation game?' But I'm also just in love with the creative talent that teams have," Spencer said. "Because in the end, I think, it's about fun games. It's about fun games that people love to play."

Spencer also admitted that getting across to consumers what makes a next-gen game compelling will be difficult, considering the change is no longer standard definition to high definition in terms of visuals.

"It's a good challenge," Spencer said, of marketing next-gen experiences. "If you think about the original Xbox to Xbox 360, it was SD to HD. You saw those differences. I do think you're seeing visuals now that are remarkably different, but yeah, in your mind's eye you might think they look similar, but you put them side by side, and there's a dramatic difference."

The Xbox One launches in November for $500, a full $100 above Sony's competitive product, the PlayStation 4.

The final version of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain will have better visuals than the trailer shown at the start of Microsoft's E3 2013 press conference, game director and series creator Hideo Kojima has said.

In an interview with Polygon, Kojima says that the team is currently focusing around the Fox engine on a PC development platform, but with the 360 and PS3 in mind. "While we were developing on current-gen," says Kojima, "next-gen came along. We're really trying to reach the peak of the current generation right now--360, PS3--and then see how much we can take it up for the next generation."

The trailer shown at Microsoft's E3 2013 press conference was "more tuned to current generation" models and textures, according to Kojima.

"Once we start going into development for next-generation we're definitely looking for something better than [what] we have shown today," concluded Kojima.

Support for mobile and tablet features will also be included in Metal Gear Solid V. "I feel that [using] multiple devices, tablets, and smartphones and how to interact with it socially is a big step forward," said Kojima.

The Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain were formally confirmed this week at E3 2013.

3D Realms has filed a new breach of contract suit against Gearbox Software, claiming the studio failed to pay more than $2 million in royalties and advances related to Duke Nukem Forever. The lawsuit--obtained by PCGamesN--stems from the 2010 agreement between the two parties that saw the Duke Nukem IP officially shifted to Gearbox.

In addition, 3D Realms claims Gearbox blocked an independent audit of royalties earned on Duke Nukem Forever, a point the 2010 agreement should have kept them from doing.

"3D Realms has therefore been required to file this lawsuit to enforce the purchase agreement, to recover the amounts due and owing from Gearbox and to enforce the audit right provided by the agreement to enable it to conduct an audit of Gearbox's royalties," reads a line from the statement.

Gearbox Software issued a defiant statement to GameSpot on the lawsuit, calling out 3D Realms founder Scott Miller as someone who has had "more lawsuits than shipped games." The company's full statement is below.

"Ironically, Scott Miller himself provided the best response when he wrote: "Filed lawsuits are entirely one-sided statements, based on knee-deep BS and with more spin than a top," a Gearbox representative said.

"The reality is that Apogee / 3D Realms (3DR) received the full benefit of its bargain. Gearbox, in its fulfillment of its commitments, enriched 3DR, saved 3DR from its debts and rescued 3DR from its litigation surrounding its failed dozen-plus year attempt to ship Duke Nukem Forever."

"Everyone wished that 3DR's game was better received by the market for the benefit of gamers and profit to its creators. While 3DR might not wish the reality that the results make clear, 3DR turned out to be the only beneficiary of the deal. Gearbox Software, meanwhile, experienced damage to its credibility and loss of its money."

"It's unfortunate that 3DR did not abide by the objective audit rules outlined in the agreement and even more unfortunate that it chose to blame its failures on Gearbox. Since 3DR seems unable to accept reality and has chosen to become hostile, Gearbox is forced to bring its actual claims of breach of contract against 3DR and is confident Gearbox will prevail."

"Perhaps the lesson learned here is to never enter a gaming business deal with a person who has had more lawsuits than shipped games."

3D Realms exists today in name only, after being effectively closed in 2009. The game's legal name is now Apogee Software.