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Ubisoft celebrates 20 annums of the Anno series by giving away free copies of
Anno 1602 for the next week, and offering signups for Anno 1800 beta
testing, which should get underway at the end of next month. Anno 1602 is the
game that kicked off the historical construction and management series in 1998,
and you can get a free copy of that through Uplay on
this page
between now and December 22nd. As for the next game in the series, Anno 1800
is expected on February 26th, and they plan a closed beta test between January
31st and February 4th. Those interested in participating should sign up
on this page. Here's the
plan: Today, Ubisoft announced that Anno 1602: Creation of a New World
will be available for free starting today, December 17 to December 22 on Windows
PC. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the famous City-Building video game
series, players will be able to discover or rediscover this flagship episode
where they will be able to create a realistic and vivid world entirely based on
their imagination. In addition, Ubisoft announced that the registration for the
Closed Beta of Anno 1800 is nowopen, registered players will be able to play the
game from January 31 to February 4 on Windows PC.
For the 20th Anniversary of the Anno franchise players can play Anno 1602:
Creation of a New World, originally released in 1998, for free. The game is set
in the Early Modern period of history and invites players to discover an island
world, to colonize and expand it and to trade with other islands – along with
protecting it against potential enemies. First of a long series of a successful
city-building video games, Anno 1602 was a Genre pioneer 20 years ago. Starting
today, players can download the game on their Uplay account for free until
December 22.
Moreover, players can now register to play the Closed Beta of Anno 1800 from
January 31 to February 4*. Anno 1800 combines beloved features from 20 years of
Anno history, delivering a rich city-building experience, including a
story-based campaign, a highly customizable sandbox mode, and the classic Anno
multiplayer experience. Anno 1800 will see the return of highly requested
features such as individual AI opponents, shippable trade goods, randomly
generated maps, multi-session gameplay, items and more.
Continue here to read the full story.
Get ready to check for fake IDs, as Stardock announces the release of Minor
Factions, new DLC for Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion with 15, well, minor factions.
This requires the base version of Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion, and this
RT4X game is available for free for the next two days
on Steam for those who missed the last time this was given away.
This forum post has
details on the new DLC along with screenshots, and word on a limited time 10%
launch discount. Here's word: The DLC includes factions such as the Nilari Cultists, which indoctrinates nearby populations to accelerate their
cause, or the Grost Scrappers Union, which can convert obsolete frigates into
very profitable scrap. Players will also be able to recruit the Viturak
Transport Cabal, who will grant access to some valuable black market Vasari
travel technology. All of the factions provide abilities and advantages that are
unique to their themes and roles, which include mercenaries, xenophobes,
pacifists, resistance fighters, and much more.
Sins of a Solar Empire blends the epic strategy and empire management of the 4X
genre with the fast-paced and tactical elements of real-time strategy. You are
the leader of a civilization embroiled in a galactic war, fighting for the
survival of your entire race against relentless foes, and every decision you
make (and every second that you take in making it) counts.
In a
new letter to the Battlefield V community on Reddit, the Battlefield team
explains they are reverting the recent TTK (time to kill) changes in
Battlefield V. They had
announced plans to add
more core playlists with original TTK values, but have decided to just
straight-up unpatch the previous changes across the whole game: Hello
Battlefield Community,
We’ve committed to giving you an update this week around Battlefield V’s TTK
(Time To Kill) adjustments, as seen in last Friday’s letter to the community.
After rolling out those changes last week, we’ve listened to your feedback,
reviewed our statistical data, and have made the decision to return to the
original TTK values seen at launch.
Our intent with the TTK changes was to see if we could evolve the Battlefield V
experience and make it more enjoyable for new players, whilst also making sure
the Battlefield vets have a choice with a more “core” experience suiting their
preferred play-style. Clearly we didn’t get it right. Veteran players didn’t ask
for the change, but as game developers, we took it upon ourselves to make those
changes based on extensive data and deliberation. It truthfully wasn’t an easy
decision for us.
Continue here to read the full story.
Geneshift is available for free
on Steam for
the next two days, offering the chance to own this early access game described
as battle royale turbo. This is inspired by Grand Theft Auto 2, and is
played from a similar top-down perspective.
This post has details on the game and the giveaway: For the next 48
hours you can get a copy of Geneshift for free! No questions asked, just add it
to your library and its yours free to keep forever. This is the base game,
featuring the awesome new Battle Royale mode, where each round lasts only 2
minutes.
I'm doing this to build a playerbase for our multiplayer community. I also just
want to see people play my game - I've spent 9 years on this thing and I'm
really excited to get new players. So spread the word, tell your friends and hop
on!
4 New Languages!
The more the merrier! Welcome to all Chinese, Russian, Portuguese and German
speaking gamers. I hope you enjoy Geneshift! The game has been translated from
members of the community and I am eternally grateful to them for the hours of
work they put in. There were a LOT of descriptions to update! As these
translations are brand new there might be a few errors, so if you find any
please contact me on Discord and we'll fix them as soon as possible.
Complete Edition DLC
If you want to support the game you can also buy the Complete Edition DLC, which
is 30% off for the next 48 hours. Honestly Battle Royale is my favourite mode
and you get that for free, but the DLC has a few cosmetics and extra game modes
you might enjoy.
Mortal Royale is now available for Windows
on Steam,
offering a battle royale game in a fantasy setting, as opposed to the normal
realism of a genre where you build structures with your mind and can overcome
heavily armed foes with a frying pan. This is in Early Access, but is
free-to-play, so this can probably be considered the game's soft launch.
This trailer talks
about 1000-player melee focused combat, though it doesn't really show it in
action. Here's more on what to expect from this: Everything from the size of the playing area to timers and loot dynamically
changes to best fit the amount of players in the battle.
Find and tame mounts to give you not only speed but a powerful advantage on the
battlefield.
Scavenge the lands for armor, weapons,bows and powerful magic to execute the
unworthy and stand as the final surviving champion when the storms finally ends.
Key Features
- Battle Royale on a massive scale with up to 1000 players in a match.
- Melee,archery,magic and mounted combat.
- No registration required simply login with your Steam-account.
- Deep combat system with individual hit boxes all with their own armor
mitigation.
- Hundreds of weapons.
- 21 Different armor sets with 10 individual pieces.
- 60+ powerful spells.
- Free to play
- Ancestry character customization with lots of options.
- 64 sqkm map
Continue here to read the full story.
Steam
now offers a new free update for Bus Simulator 18 that adds new
free-roaming and sandbox elements to the Windows mass transit sim as well as the
ability to put skins on Windows, which sounds pretty creepy without the context
of this being about game modding.
This post has all the details on the free update, and here's an overview:
With their sixth update for the popular Bus Simulator 18 the team of
stillalive studios enhances the game with two new exciting game modes. The Free
Roaming drive mode offers players the opportunity to freely cruise around
Seaside Valley and explore the different city districts without sticking to
routes and timetables.
The second great improvement is the Sandbox Mode – one of the most fervent
wishes of the Bus Simulator 18 community. In this new game mode, virtual bus
drivers will be able to access all city districts and buses right at the start
of a new game without having to unlock them by completing a number of missions
first. This game mode not only offers more freedom for experienced bus drivers
to create their very own public transport company, but also the option to freely
test the modding of buses and other community created content.
Link of the Day:
Olena UUTAi Shaman
lady. Thanks JDreyer. Don't eat the brown acid!
Konami
announces the release of PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 2019 LITE, a free-to-play
edition of the latest installment in their association football/soccer series.
Here's a trailer
showing off a bit of what to expect from this. The Windows edition is offered
on Steam, and carries the following description: A free-to-play
version of "PES 2019" is here!*
Now you can play the Online myClub and PES LEAGUE Mode, as well as the Offline
Exhibition Match and Training Mode all for free!
Create your very own dream team with myClub, where current and historic
superstars can be signed. World renowned legendary players like Beckham and
Maradona feature, as well as FC Barcelona's Ronaldinho, and Inter's Recoba,
Cambiasso, Djorkaeff and Adriano. More Legend players will appear in-game
throughout the year in myClub!
Aim to be the best PES player in the world by competing in this season's PES
LEAGUE. Users will be able to qualify for global events by participating in the
CO-OP (3v3) ONLINE Championship, time limited tournaments, or the newly
introduced PES LEAGUE myClub 1v1 competition.
PES LEAGUE is an online mode which features exciting tournaments to compete
against each other to become the best PES player in the world.
(*Offers in-app purchases)
Continue here to read the full story.
Tank Universal 2 is out of Early Access and is now in its official release
on Steam,
offering a Windows game which invokes memories of Tron and Battlezone. A recent
"final" Steam trailer
offers a look at the wireframe graphics that evoke that comparison.
This post discusses the release, which is the output of a lone, dedicated
developer, who says a patch or two will likely follow the release. Here's word
on the game: Inspired by the shapes and spaces of Tron and the gameplay
of Battlezone, the sequel to 'Tank Universal' has arrived!
Take control of your cyber-tank and confront the forces of Gorgon in explosive
first person combat. But remember, you are just one unit among many on the
battlefield!
Key features
- EASY TO USE FPS CONTROLS. WASD for
movement, mouse look to swing your turret about. Easy to pick up and play.
- UPGRADE YOUR TANK. Bonuses both permanent
and not so permanent if you lose your tank in battle. Can you keep the same
tank for the entire game?
- EXIT YOUR TANK for a quick spot of repair
or jet-pack to a new tank and take control.
- ATTACK-DEFEND-CAPTURE. Take the fight to
the enemy or defend your base from epic waves of enemy tanks and other
vehicles.
- CUSTOM BATTLE BUILDER. Select your
battleground and the strength of the forces that are to clash. Then hit
start to place yourself in the heat of the battle.
Continue here to read the full story.
This
post on Reddit is an open letter to the Battlefield community, apologizing
for the long TTR (time to respond) to the controversy over their TTK (time to
kill) changes in Battlefield V. It's not clear if these changes had the
desired effect of making the game more newbie friendly, but they sure did
alienate veterans, and DICE now says they will be launching "Core" versions of
all playlists this week for core players: Hi Battlefield Community,
On behalf of the Battlefield team, I’d like to apologize for the silence over
the past couple of days on the TTK topic. We’ve seen it’s been a big talking
point and causing a divide in the community, which was never our intention. We
have been listening closely to what you’ve all been saying.
Changes to the game carrying this kind of weight needs clearer, earlier
communication before getting rolled out. We will improve how we roll out updates
in the future and respond more quickly when you have questions or concerns.
So, why change TTK now? The intent came from us observing that new players are
having a very hard time with the game compared to our core players, and we
wanted to see if we could improve this over the holidays so more players can
have a great time.
As many of our veteran players know, Battlefield games constantly evolve and
change over time in our collaboration with the community. Battlefield V is no
exception. We heard your feedback that many of you prefer the old TTK values,
with one playlist featuring only Conquest using the “Core” settings clearly not
being enough. To fix that, we will be adding a “Core” version of all playlists
in the game next week, giving you a clearer choice between new and old settings.
We’ll update you early next week on when the new playlist will be added.
We want to hear from you about the changes we’re making. We’d also like to thank
all of you for the constructive discussions and feedback we’re seeing. Thank
you.
~ The Battlefield Team
GOG.com announces they are now selling DRM-free editions of
BioShock and
BioShock 2
Remastered, and these come with a 75% launch discount. Word is the original
"classic" versions of each will be released down the road as a free bonus: The
legendary shooters emerge from somewhere beyond the sea, dripping with that
deliciously claustrophobic atmosphere of decay, corruption, and human ambition
gone wrong.
Widely considered as the gold standard for story-driven shooters with light RPG
elements, they have been remastered to feature higher resolution textures and
models, director's commentary, and several other additions that ensure time will
never wash them away.
Pump yourself full of plasmids, pump your enemies full of bullets, and dive
right back into Rapture's beautifully rotten halls.
Note: The classic versions of both games will be added as a free bonus at a
later date.
GFK Chart-Track
announces Red Dead Redemption 2 returns to the top spot on their
all platforms chart tracking last week's game sales in the U.K. On the
PC top 30 chart for the same period Overwatch makes a surprise return.
Here's the top 10 from the PC chart:
| POS. |
|
TITLE |
LABEL |
LAST WEEK |
| 1 |
- |
FOOTBALL MANAGER 2019 |
SEGA |
1 |
| 2 |
- |
THE SIMS 4: GET FAMOUS |
EA GAMES |
2 |
| 3 |
- |
FARMING SIMULATOR 19 |
EA GAMES |
3 |
| 4 |
˄ |
FALLOUT 76 |
BETHESDA SOFTWORKS |
8 |
| 5 |
- |
THE SIMS 4: SEASONS |
EA GAMES |
5 |
| 6 |
- |
THE SIMS 4 |
EA GAMES |
6 |
| 7 |
˅ |
BATTLEFIELD V |
EA GAMES |
4 |
| 8 |
* |
OVERWATCH |
BLIZZARD |
- |
| 9 |
˅ |
THE SIMS 4: CATS & DOGS |
EA GAMES |
9 |
| 10 |
˄ |
FORTNITE: DEEP FREEZE BUNDLE |
WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE |
11 |
Well, just a week to go before Christmas Eve, so the season is in full swing. We
knocked off our most important mission of the season, finding gifts for the
twins, so the rest from here is gravy. Or better yet, eggnog. Ho, ho, ho!
R.I.P.:
HQ Trivia and Vine Co-Founder Colin Kroll Found Dead in New York Apartment.
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