Archived News:

Friday, Nov 30, 2012 Saint Andrew's Day

No Dead Island: Riptide in Germany

An interview on PCGamesN has word that Dead Island: Riptide will not be available in Germany when the RPG sequel is released next year, in spite of being partly developed in that country. Creative producer Sebastian Reichert explains that Techland is not creating a censored version of the game to comply with Germany's strict laws about depicting violence against human figures and "mutilation of corpses." In defending the game's content, he gladly throws GoW3 under the bus: "At the moment I'm really confused that you can buy Gears of War 3 in stores in Germany, but not Dead Island. Because where's the difference? I mean, [the enemies in Gears of War] are human-like, and they things you do to them... ah, they really have nice finishers! That flamethrower finisher, he rams the flamethrower into the body, pulls the trigger and the flames come out of every body part. That's in stores." Thanks VG247.

Elite: Dangerous Video Diary

This trailer is a second video developer diary for Elite: Dangerous, Frontier Developments' space shooter revival that's the subject of a current Kickstarter. The clip features David Braben explaining about "The Galaxy and How it Evolves over Time." Thanks Trueman832. Continue here to read the full story.

On Sale

Evening Screenshots

Into the Black

Link of the Day: Literal Hobbit Trailer. Thanks Ant.

New Steam Greenlight Approvals

Steam News announces a third set of games approved for release on Steam thanks to the Steam Greenlight program. "In just three months, the community has helped us identify 50 new titles for us to offer via Steam," said Alden Kroll of Valve. "With the help of Greenlight, the indie games market share of games sold on Steam has increased by 50 percent for a third consecutive year. That's a stat we are proud of, but one we also hope to increase as we learn more about Greenlight and continue to refine it in the new year." The newly greenlit project include a half-dozen programs and this baker's dozen games:

  • Blackspace
  • Darkfall Unholy Wars
  • Dawn of Fantasy
  • Dragon's Lair
  • Euro Truck Simulator 2
  • Gear Up
  • Kinetic Void - Space Adventure
  • The Light
  • No Time To Explain
  • Primordia
  • Sang-Froid : Tales of Werewolves
  • StarForge
  • Waking Mars

Far Cry 3 Uplay Workaround

The reddit community has presented a workaround for problems users were having playing Far Cry 3, as the shooter sequel is now available in Europe, saying simply setting the game's Uplay mode to "offline" allows it to be played even with the servers unavailable. As detailed on Rock, Paper, Shotgun, many users were unable to play due to Uplay servers being offline, leading to accusations of more Ubisoft always-on DRM. In the meantime, Eurogamer notes that besides the workaround, Ubi tweets that the servers are back: "Dear #FarCry3PC players, thank you for your patience, our servers are back up & running. Have fun playing!"

XCOM: Enemy Unknown Slingshot DC Next Week

The promised Slingshot DLC for XCOM: Enemy Unknown will be released on December 4th, reports Polygon. This is the second of three planned DLC packs for the UFO strategy remake, and they offers some hands on impressions of the pack, which they say adds about two hours of content. Thanks VG247.

Battle for Graxia Open Beta

The Battle for Graxia Website announces that this MOBA spin-off of Rise of Immortals is now in open beta testing on Steam. For more on the free-to-play game there's an interview on RTSGuru talking with Petroglyph's Steve Wetherill about what to expect from this. The developers have also been streaming live gameplay sessions on Twitch, and these are recorded for posterity on the game's YouTube channel.

Blizzard Registered ProjectBlackstone.com

Fusible reports that Blizzard has registered the ProjectBlackstone.com domain. This was filed earlier this week, but there are no other details on what this is about. Thanks VG247.

Ravaged Free DLC Plans

2 Dawn Games and Reverb Publishing announce a general roadmap for three upcoming free DLC packs to accompany the recent permanent price cut for Ravaged, their online vehicular first-person shooter. Here's word:
On Thursday, December 20, 2 Dawn Games’ first substantial content drop will hit Ravaged owners. The development team plans to deliver three free additions, the first of which will include an assortment of huge vehicles, new guns, maps — and new tech features.

The developer also will make available a new character skin, exclusive to players who bought their game from EA’s digital platform, Origin. Ravaged is the very first Kickstarter-funded game to be featured on EA’s growing digital distribution site.

Best known for its work on popular first-person shooters Desert Storm, Battlefield 2, and Frontlines: Fuel of War, the New York-based indie developer will offer gamers two additional DLC drops in January and February 2013 too.

Ravaged is available now and can be purchased on Steam and is not intended for younger audiences.

X-Motor Racing Patch and New Demo

A new version 1.41 of X-Motor Racing is now available, updating this indie racing simulation with a variety of technical and gameplay improvements, including new cars and tracks, support for 3.5 GB of RAM, improved multi-monitor support, and more. Besides a new full version, the demo located on this page has likewise been updated with these changes. Here are the patch notes:

  • Added lots of cars and tracks
  • Improved online sessions
  • Improved online statistics
  • Improved List of Hosts
  • Improved multi-monitors support
  • Supporting 3.5 GB of RAM
  • Increased max number of gears up to 10
  • Added instant hand brake button
  • Added best local time
  • Added last lap distance
  • New tire smoke
  • Fixed multiplayer replays
  • Added auto track rotation
  • Removed Off-road mode
  • Lots of minor improvements

Game Reviews

  • Defender’s Quest: Valley of the Forgotten on Techgage.
  • The Walking Dead Episode 5 on Examiner.com.

Hardware Reviews

Out of the Blue

This little cold of mine really barely qualified as such, it was really more of a sore throat. The aftermath, however is a pretty severe cough, so even though I never got very stuffy, I seem to have some real post-nasal drip. I have a bottle of Robitussin floating around, but I'm trying to avoid giving in to that, since I have an annoying history of giving myself a mild case of Dextromethorphan poisoning when I use that stuff, which can be a little unpleasant.

DM Links: Thanks Ant and Acleacius.
Play: Transmorpher.
Links: Reasons Why Los Angeles Is the Worst Place Ever.
Science: Water Ice Found at Mercury's North Pole.
Texas telescope spots biggest black hole ever observed.
Media: Chainmail Bikini Squad.
Why LEGO is the BEST Company in the World.
Epic Cosplay Fan Fights 2012.
Auction: Assassin’s Creed III trunk auctioned for charity.
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