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Archived News:
Robot Entertainment announces a release date for Orcs Must Die! 2, their upcoming action/strategy hybrid that adds cooperative multiplayer to the mix: "Robot Entertainment is happy to announce today that you'll be defending the rifts with a friend in Orcs Must Die! 2 on July 30, 2012!"
The World of Tanks Website announces that a new version 7.4 patch is now available for the North American edition of Wargaming.net's MMOTPS. This is a major update which adds new combat modes, new maps, new tanks, and more. There's also word that Clan Wars will be unavailable for 24 hours and that premium players will receive a day's credit in compensation. The game's European website announces the new version is going live in Europe tomorrow. This page has a trailer showing off the new version.
This page offers new patches for the Drox Operative beta, updating the prerelease version of Soldak's sci-fi action/RPG to version 0.902 for Windows or OS X. Word is: "This patch addresses some energy, radar, minimap, and pacing issues and a bunch of other things." The change list has far more detail.
"I think, ultimately, those microtransactions will be in every game, but the game itself or the access to the game will be free." -- EA's Peter Moore.
Link of the Day: Luftbanza Airlines ( #Photoshop ). Thanks The Flying Penguin.
The BioWare Blog offers details on Operation: Savage, this weekend's Mass Effect 3 bounty event. Here's what's in store for players of the action/RPG sequel: Operation: Savage (June 22-24)
With so many planets conquered in Council space, we are relying on material support from the Terminus Systems. Eliminating risks to our supply line is a top priority.
Allied Goal: Eliminate 7,000,000 trooper-level enemies: Cerberus Assault Trooper, Husks, Cannibals, Geth Troopers
Squad Goal: Extraction on any difficulty with the squad using a mix of krogan, vorcha, or batarian classes
Special Circumstance: None
Squad Goal Success: Squad awarded a Commendation Pack
Allied Goal Success: All players awarded a Victory Pack
Operation Savage begins at 6pm PST Friday June 22 and ends at 4am PST Monday June 25. Packs will be distributed Tuesday evening if the mission is successful.
This trailer from PlanetSide 2 shows off a ground assault in SOE's upcoming MMOFPS sequel, showing a superior force prevailing, leading to the tagline: "Size always matters," a quote which we have not been able to find in Sun Tzu's Art of War. Continue here to read the full story.
The Paradox Interactive forums announce the cancellation of Magna Mundi, a project that began five years ago as a Europa Universalis III modification and was announced two years ago as a commercial project (thanks Joao). The announcement publicly calls out the game's developers with unusual candor, though it also leaves open the possibility the project could be finished by another studio. There is a response from developer Universo Virtual on their forums saying to expect a statement about this situation in the coming days from their "legal team." Here's the cancellation announcement: today Paradox Interactive decided to cancel Magna Mundi. It will not see the light of day under the current set up: Universo Virtual (UV) will not be part of this project any more.
The reasons for cancelling the contract with Universo Virtual include the following:
- Lack of progress; we have seen this project drag on and the code we have gotten has not shown significant improvement for many months. Some old and known problems persists and new ones appear with each delivery.
- Lack of trust; the leadership of UV has given a sunshine version of the project to Paradox and reacted with irritation and anger when we have pointed out obvious problems with the deliveries. It has come to a point where they claim the project is done, and the game is ready for release – despite the many critical issues found and reported on our end.
- Internal strife within the MM team; we have gotten information from members within the MM team desperate to save the project whom report to us that the project lacks active leadership. Key personnel in the project see what Paradox sees but instead gets silenced by the UV leadership.
All in all, these are not circumstances under which we can work with a team and it will now stop. At this point we have no more news than the above.
The Legend of Grimrock Website has an update on what's up at Almost Human as the work on post-release support for their dungeon-crawler. They mention the developers' lives have been made easier by the acquisition of proper rigs, and talks of how pleasantly surprised they are at the game's success, which is allowing them the luxury of some time to sort out what their next project will be, a process that brought them back to where they started: "It took us some time to evaluate these but in the end we realized that building our own games is the reason why we are here and the success of Grimrock tells us that it is a good reason. So we’re committed to keep working on Grimrock and see where that road leads us. The exact form, whether it be an expansion, a full blown sequel or even something completely different, is still undecided. Frankly, we were a bit exhausted with the whole concept of grid-based games after working so intensely for a year but as some time has passed we now think that we have more to give to this genre." In the meantime they continue to work on the editor, and there's a progress report on that as well.
A few different recent interviews are online about the Dead State Kickstarter to fund a new zombie survival role-playing game. A new Kickstarter update points to an interview on PC Gamer talking with Brian Mitsoda about the project (thanks nin). Also, Acleacius shows the way to another interview with Brian Mitsoda on IndieRPGs discussing the game, as well as an interview on RPG Codex that catches up with other members of DoubleBear for their perspectives.
THQ and Volition announce that the Enter the Dominatrix standalone expansion for Saints Row the Third will not be released as planned, but instead the content it was to include will be part of a planned new full installment in the open world action series, a game tentatively titled "The Next Great Sequel in the Saints Row Franchise." The expansion was planned for release this year, but the sequel is not due until calendar 2013. Here's the announcement, which includes the implications for THQ's bottom line: THQ Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI) and Volition, Inc. today announced development of the standalone expansion Saints Row®: The Third – Enter the Dominatrix™ will now be incorporated into production of the next great sequel in the Saints Row® franchise, tentatively titled “The Next Great Sequel in the Saints Row Franchise.”
“The Next Great Sequel in the Saints Row Franchise.” "When I looked at the Enter The Dominatrix expansion in production at Volition, I was blown away by the ideas and desire to expand the fiction of the franchise,” said Jason Rubin, THQ’s President. “I asked the team what it could achieve given more time, more resources, and a broader scope for the project. We all agreed we wanted to play that game. When it comes to Saints Row, it’s clear our fans want bigger, better, and even more over the top, and that’s why Enter The Dominatrix will now be incorporated into a vastly expanded, full-fledged sequel, scheduled for calendar 2013.”
Added Rubin, “We believe the potential for this sequel is far greater as a full-priced, full-length, high quality, connected experience.”
The change in production will shift net sales from THQ’s 2013 fiscal year into fiscal 2014. As a result, THQ currently expects to have an approximate $20 million reduction to non-GAAP net sales and an approximate ($0.03) impact to non-GAAP net loss per share for fiscal 2013 when compared with previously-announced guidance.
The European Diablo III Website announces the new version 1.0.3 patch is now live for the action/RPG sequel in Europe after yesterday's patch for the game in the Americas. They once again supply the complete patch notes. With the patch having settled in in the Americas, outrage over increased repair costs is growing, as there is this petition and this one looking to get Blizzard to address them.
Railsimulator.com Ltd announce the next version of Train Simulator will support user-created content through the Steam workshop.: Railsimulator.com Ltd., the market-leading innovator of rail simulation and modeling tools, announced today that the next game in the award-winning Train Simulator series will incorporate Steam Workshop, which allows players to download user-created content. The Steam Workshop functionality will be fully integrated into the game so players can view and choose user-generated content via a seamless interface.
"We're thrilled to be adding this functionality as a result of our strong community and great relationship with Steam," said Paul Jackson, CEO of RailSimulator.com. "A major feature of our game is the world editor, in which users may create new railroads and scenic settings from a blank canvas, and Steam Workshop opens up a new way of sharing content with other enthusiasts."
Steam Workshop will make it easy to find, play and share certain types of custom content created by fans and amateur developers. Users can post reviews of uploaded items, enabling content creators to become stars in the community. Initially Train Simulator's Steam workshop will contain game-play content adopting more features in the future.
Happy solstice, as summer begins later today in the northern hemisphere, when winter will get underway in the southern. And in one of those bits of appropriate timing, the weather report calls for a heat wave all up and down the east coast of the U.S. today, and the forecast for my area calls for a high of 97 °F and a heat index of 103. Happy summer!
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