Archived News:

Friday, Oct 19, 2012

Quest for Glory Creators' New Kickstarter

This Kickstarter is for Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption, described as "a turn-based RPG with adventure game puzzles and immersive story, by the award-winning designers of Quest for Glory." They are shooting for a Fall 2013 release, and have so far raised about $50K of a $400K goal. There's a preview of this on Kotaku (thanks nin), and here's word:
Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption is a classic 2D RPG by award-winning game designers Corey and Lori Cole (Quest for Glory, Castle of Dr. Brain, and more). In our genre-bending style, Hero-U combines classic RPG skills and combat with the rich character relationships of Persona, and the story and puzzles of Quest for Glory in a single challenging game experience.

  • A classic role-playing game with exploration, combat, and skills
  • Tactical combat that is much more than "hack and slash"
  • A rich story that changes based on the way you play
  • Characters with unique personalities and their own agendas
  • Adventure-style puzzles that are an integral part of the story

There is danger and intrigue within the hallowed halls of Hero-U. Danger? Ha! Rogues laugh in the face... well, actually, they sneak up behind danger and bop it in the head, then run really, really fast. You can be that Rogue!

Quoteworthy

"Consumers won’t pay for crap." Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello on social gaming. Thanks Joao.

Commander Europe at War Patch

Matrix Games offers a new community created patch for Commander Europe at War, updating the grand strategy game to version 2.10. The patch is available from this page, the changelog is here, and here's word: "The v2.10 update for the grand strategy game features a ton of changes, from the manual to the game board, environment, units, and historical/political features. Game balance improvements were made in v2.10 update to control “blob” strategies, as well as more rail heads added to supplement the rail movement rules. Historical and political changes include new prerequisites for Spain becoming an Axis ally, and Britain now requires 8 home guard forces units in country to avoid morale loss."

GOG.com's Interplay Sale

There's a pay what you want sale on GOG.com which offers a sliding scale which includes the option of their entire Interplay catalogue for USD $34.99. Here's word: "Pay a penny or more and get 8 games including BioWare's first title, Shattered Steel. The average price paid is about $13, which nets you 20 classics like or the classic Giants: Citizen Kabuto. For just $34.99 you can get every single game from GOG.com's Interplay catalogue -- that's 32 games for about a buck each, including the Fallout series, Freespace 2 and many more."

Into the Black

Link of the Day: Warners Sets -Justice League- For 2015. Thanks Ant.

PlanetSide 2 Next Month

The PlanetSide 2 Website reveals that November 20th is the launch date for PlanetSide 2, SOE's MMO first-person shooter sequel:
Grunts, the war is coming. Prepare yourselves now for epic combat on a massive scale like you have never seen before. PlanetSide 2 launches November 20th!

If you weren't watching our livestream from SOE Live in Las Vegas, you definitely missed out on this and more exciting PlanetSide 2 news. Beyond PlanetSide 2 launching in November, the team also informed us that the battle for Auraxis will soon expand to a third continent, dark, swamp-infested Amerish, following from rocky Indar and arctic Esamir. But we can’t have you running around without solid intel, so let’s get you fully briefed on what’s happening.

The most important thing to know is an official launch date has now been announced, so this is not a drill. On November 20th, PlanetSide 2 will officially launch completely free to play for everyone. This means no more closed Beta, character wipes, and any of the other fun stuff associated with testing. No more do overs. Live ammunition will be issued, and you have authorization to go weapons free. Your empire’s future depends on you.

Gather your squads, your platoons, and your outfits. You will need to hone your skills, certifications, and equipment to a finer edge than your combat knife. Choose your empire now and swear your allegiance while you can. If you wish it, you will need to join the Alpha Squad very shortly, or forgo the honor forever. You will need to master your ground vehicles, your aircraft, and your infantry classes. You will need to study your battlefield and know it whether blind or bleeding, day or night. Indar. Esamir. Amerish. This is your home now grunt.

When the warpgates open, when the drop pods fly, when the first shots break the silence, remember this. There is no turning back. Remember your training and you will survive. This is it. This is war.

This is PlanetSide 2.

For continuing news coverage and to continue your preparations, please join us on our Twitch.tv channel to see what you’ve missed, and we’ll see you on Auraxis on November 20th!

Gemini Wars Multiplayer Coming

Iceberg Interactive announces a free update coming in two weeks to Gemini Wars which will coincide with the arrival of the 4X/RTS game on Steam at a new lower price point. The free update will come on November 2nd, adding the promised multiplayer support to the game along with updates for Skirmish mode. "Gemini Wars is an indie developed 4x space strategy game with a refreshing twist to the genre," says Iceberg Interactive CEO Erik Schreuder. "Unlike other 4x games, the structure of Gemini Wars is entirely mission based, with 16 challenging missions providing a very long gameplay time. Not only are we now adding skirmish and multiplayer features, we have also sped up the tempo in the game - all based on player feedback. The 4x genre has really seen an upswing in 2012 and those players that are curious for an alternate experience will now be able to acquire it on Steam very soon as well." Here are the details on what this will bring:

  • Three unique factions, with different units and strategies.
  • Epic 16-mission based single player campaign.
  • Skirmisch and multiplayer gamemodes providing endless re-playability.
  • Control fleets of starships, space stations and planetary bases.
  • Cinematic battle camera and CGI cinematics during the campaign.
  • Research tree leading to powerful units and upgrades.
  • Planetary colonization, planetary invasion and boarding actions.
  • Battles across the galaxy in multiple star systems.
  • Unique gameplay providing a refreshing twist to the 4x RTS genre.

Diablo III Hotfixes

The Diablo III Website lists hotfixes applied to Blizzard's action/RPG sequel since the recent version 1.0.5 patch (they also offer a patch 1.0.5 information round-up collecting all the details on the patch). Here are the listed October 18th bug fixes:

  • Fixed a bug with the Reflects Damage monster affix that caused it to generate errors and deal no damage when triggered by a pet
  • Fixed a crash that could occur when Arcane Enchanted monsters spawned their arcane beams in locations outside of the game world
  • Fixed a crash that could occur when "uber" Skeleton King (in the Realm of Discord) or "uber" Rakanoth (in the Realm of Chaos) teleported outside of the game world
  • Fixed a crash that could occur when "uber" Siege Breaker (in the Realm of Turmoil) used his Roar attack while holding a player in mid-air

IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover Patch

The 1C Company forum has word that a new patch for IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover is now automatically available via Steam. The patch notes say: "We are hoping that this patch finally makes this game worthy of the Il-2 Sturmovik name and that simulation fans will give our game another look and a new chance." This sentiment is echoed in the forum post, which says: "We really hope that the new steam version that includes many great new additions will finally be something the community is excited about. The free release Su-26 aerobatics plane is a very small token of our appreciation of your support." They also note they have plans for the future of this combat flight simulator, but they are not disclosing them just yet: "I know all of you are anxious to know about what happens now. Unfortunately we’re not ready to post that just yet. We will post announcements and a more detailed roadmap in a very near future."

Morning Previews

Game Reviews

Hardware Reviews

Out of the Blue

Well I guess it's the week for technical difficulties, as I've gotten a couple of reports of people getting a couple of different bounce messages when emailing the BlueTower. I've had a couple of go-rounds over the past couple of years trying to find a new mail provider to adopt that would be more to my liking, but have not succeeded, but it seems apparent it is time to rectify this.

Bouncy Links: Thanks Ant and Acleacius.
Play: Bubble Tanks Tower Defense 2.
Links: Yoda-Speak Generator. Thanks Network World.
12 Dangerously Irresponsible Steps to Building Your Own PC. Thanks reddit.
Science: Playing tricks on invasive rats may help keep birds from vanishing.
Media: First Look At Firefly Browncoats Unite Special.
Grand Theft Mario: The Gritty Reboot. NSFW.
Will It Blend? iPhone 5 vs Galaxy S3.
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