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Archived News:
The Diablo III Website has word that a new version 1.0.2b patch is now available in Blizzard's action/RPG sequel. This includes some bug fixes as well as changes to the auction house. Blizzard also offers this preview of the upcoming version 1.0.3 patch for the game, which will offer more significant changes when it's released later this month. These changes include much more liberal drops of higher level items, the addition of guaranteed rare item drops for killing a bosses when stacking Nephalem Valor, the dropping of monster bonus damage in co-op, the increase of repair costs, attack speed fixes, a drop in blacksmith and jeweler prices, and more. They say that class balance tweaking will not be a focus in this patch, and this will likely wait until version 1.1.
There are various quotes on Eurogamer where From Software explains the difficulty they are having porting Dark Souls to PCs. "To be completely honest, we're having a tough time doing it due to our lack of experience and knowledge in terms of porting to PC. First we thought it would be a breeze, but it's turned out not to be the case. We're still developing right now - we're crunching right now," says producer Daisuke Uchiyama. "In Japan there's not much of a PC market and we haven't really taken into consideration that audience before. That's one of the reasons why we haven't been able to step up on the PC platform until now." He also admits that they are not including any PC optimizations, and have not been able to overcome the framerate issues the console versions exhibited in some areas. "In terms of the PC version, the quick answer is no, [we won't be fixing the frame rate problems]. Because we wanted to get the PC version out as soon as possible, it's more strictly a port from the console version. We haven't been able to step up into doing any specific optimisation for PC," he says. "However, in exchange for that, we have prioritised adding new content for both original players and new players."
There's a John Carmack video interview on PC Gamer talking with the id Software Technical Director about the virtual reality headset he is demonstrating behind closed doors at E3, an interestingly similar thrust to his former colleague Michael Abrash's work on wearable computing. This is a prototype built by someone else that's similar to a device of Carmack's making that was not ready for the show (for months his Twitter feed has included comments about refresh rates and small screens to the extent that they now seem like obvious clues about this). Here's Mr. Carmack's take on this: For a certain part of the hacker/maker crowd, this is going to be awesomely cool to work with, because there is honest to god cutting edge research to be done on the ergonomics, the focusing adjustment, software integration with other titles. These are things that people can do in their workshop that can make a difference in the next twelve months and yes, somebody big is going to turn this in to a real product in the coming years.
The BioWare Blog announces Operation Mastiff, this weekend's special operation for Mass Effect 3, their action/RPG sequel: Operation MASTIFF (June 8th-10th) We are dropping the new reinforcements onto occupied worlds to supplement resistance movements. Retrieving data of how the Reapers conquered those worlds is of paramount importance.
Allied Goal: Complete 100K retrieval missions. Personal Goal: Extraction on Silver difficulty with one squad member of the Rebellion Pack classes: Vorcha, Phoenix Project Defectors, or Quarian Male. Special Circumstance: None.
Completion of the personal goal awards that player a Commendation Pack. Completion of the Allied goal awards all players a Victory Pack that has a guaranteed N7 weapon.
Operation Mastiff begins at 6pm PST Friday June 8th and ends at 4am PST Monday June 11th. Packs will be distributed Tuesday evening if the mission is successful.
This Kickstarter looks to raise funds for Dead State, an upcoming zombie-themed survival/horror RPG from DoubleBear Productions (thanks Cliff), an indie developer founded by Brian Mitsoda (Black Isle, Troika, and Obsidian - writer/designer for Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines) and Annie VanderMeer Mitsoda (Obsidian, Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir). Here's a bit on the game: Dead State is a compelling, high-tension RPG set at the beginning of the zombie apocalypse. As society is beginning to fall apart, the player must organize allies, fortify a shelter, scout for food and supplies, and make uncertain alliances, attempting to hold together a group as humanity teeters on the brink of extinction. And although the zombies lurk as an ever present threat, the biggest obstacle to the player may just be other humans with the same goal: survival at any cost.
Ubisoft announces a June 26th release date for the Windows PC edition of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. They include a list of PC-specific features in the military shooter sequel, as well as system requirements:
PC Version Key Features:
- Support DX11 (adding stunning amount of visual details on characters through displacement mapping, as well as some global illumination effects.)
- More complex materials (like parallax occlusion mapping or gloss and specular maps.)
- Improved dynamic lighting
- Volumetric lighting effects
- Soft shadows
- Improved post-processing with better HDR and motion blur
- Playable with keyboard and mouse, or with wired and wireless X360 pads
- Will be available via digital distribution
- Windows XP patch coming shortly after release
Continue here to read the full story.
The recently revealed Dawnguard expansion may be coming to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim sooner than expected, reports Joystiq (thanks nin via Shacknews). They quote Bethesda's Todd Howard saying "Tentatively, it's coming on June 26." Since the first two DLC packs for Skyrim will be exclusive to Xbox 360 for 30 days, this means the earliest PC gamers can expect this release is around July 26th. Related to The Elder Scrolls series of RPGs, the Bethesda Blog points to the E3 2012 Teaser Trailer for The Elder Scrolls Online, the upcoming MMORPG based on the series, though this is much more teaser than trailer. Continue here to read the full story.
Paradox Interactive announces Hearts of Iron III: Their Finest Hour, a third expansion for Hearts of Iron III, expected to come to their turn-based strategy sequel by the end of this year. Here are some screenshots, and here's word: One of Paradox Interactive's and Paradox Development Studios' most expansive games will get even bigger this fall. Hearts of Iron III, the deepest and most expansive simulation of World War 2-era politics, science and warfare, will see a new expansion that offers players a greater connection to the period's history and new ways to jump straight into the action.
“Their Finest Hour” is the third expansion for Hearts of Iron III, and comes three years after the original game's release – further evidence of Paradox's commitment to building and growing their games well after the launch period, adding features and ideas requested by their active and involved international online community.
You can expect the expansion Hearts of Iron III: Their Finest Hour to land with a bang later in 2012.
Continue here to read the full story.
TopWare Interactive announces Sacrilegium, a survival/horror game in development at their in-house developer Reality Pump Studios. The game will utilize a new graphics engine and one of those vampire themes that's all the rage. The announcement doesn't offer details like a release date or target platforms, but the Sacrilegium Website is live with some info and screenshots, and it features logos for PC-DVD, Xbox LIVE, and PlayStation Network. Here's word on the game: Now the cat is out of the bag: The German Publisher TopWare Interactive announced at E3 in Los Angeles that "Sacrilegium" will be the next title from the company owned developer - Reality Pump Studios. The in-house development team that’s responsible for creating many successful franchises such as the "Two Worlds" titles, or the acclaimed "Earth" series, is looking to revive and renew the survival horror genre in terms of story and atmosphere, as well as in the gameplay and level design, as they look to set the new standards.
Continue here to read the full story.
Geek.com reproduces an alleged email exchange with Valve's Gabe Newell saying we should expect the Linux version of the Steam client before the end of this year (presumably by the end of 2013, Valve Time). An email to Valve's Managing Director asked if the client will be released to the public by the end of this year, and the long, drawn out response Gabe purportedly supplied was "Yes." Thanks Ant via Slashdot.
The ArenaNet Blog announces the second Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend Event begins this Friday. They say participants in the first beta weekend will be able to use their existing characters and experience some higher level content in the MMORPG sequel, and proceed to offer an outline of what this content will include.
Thanks Cutter.
Gamasutra - Video game detractors becoming weaker, weirder.
Increasingly, the views of guys like Dr. Zimbardo and Bennett look crankish and odd. To make a connection between the popularity of online pornography and games seems like lazy thinking, a bizarre coupling of sexual compulsions with the compulsions to succeed built into some games by their designers. These are complex human behavior patterns that deserve to be studied and compared, not thrown together as a catch-all explanation for complicated socio-economic and cultural changes that may take us decades to unravel.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun - E3 Day Zero- When Game Violence Becomes Vile.
Yesterday, I saw games that treated violence as the raddest, most Mountain-Dew-can-crushed-against-your-forehead thing in the world, an utterly bone-chilling, blood-curdling last resort, and quite a few things in between. But wow, it sure didn’t look that way. And, if we don’t stay mindful of what game-makers are doing and how we’re acting in response, it won’t be that way for too much longer. So pay attention and speak up. Sure, a thousand hands clapping paints a pretty damning picture, but you know what’s a thousand times worse? Silence.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun - E3′s Press Events Do Not Represent The Gaming I Know.
And that’s just one example of the hoary, outdated tone all these pressers took. Embarrassing moments were scattered throughout, from a peculiar display of esports in tight-fitting clothing, to hosts declaring that they’re “a gamer first and, er, er, a woman seventh”, all punctuated throughout the night by producers holding controllers and pretending to control cutscenes like kids in a service station yanking the steering wheels of the driving arcades while “INSERT COIN” flashes on screen. The message is a peculiar contempt for the audience – of course they’re not really playing! In any game where you can get killed by the enemy, or, as so many of those shown wished you to believe, events are procedural and unscripted, not having a pre-filmed sequence in a live show would be just stupid. Stop pretending – it’s embarrassing.
CNET - Video game violence at E3: Too much, yet still not enough.
Unfortunately, E3 this year has done little to impress anyone who isn't already either a fan or an apologist for mind-numbing game violence. If anything, it's successfully buried the vibrant, creative, nuanced, clever, and amazing games that could help the industry get its mojo back.
Today is the 68th anniversary of D-Day, an occasion that always brings to mind the incredible bravery and sacrifice of those who can put the safety of others ahead of their own.
Things have been a little hectic here, and we just last night got to watch the season finale of Game of Thrones, which was fantastic. We watched all of season one at once about six months after it ran, which meant we had a much shorter wait until season two than most fans, but having watched the second season mostly on-time, now we get to experience the longer version of the anticipation of the continuation of this great series.
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