Developed by Crytek and powered by the proprietary cutting edge CryENGINE technology, Crysis 3 is the next installment in the award-winning Crysis franchise. The series is known for its spectacular visuals, dynamic, open gameplay and its signature Nanosuit that grants players unique powers to assess, adapt and attack in any situation. In Crysis 3, players return to the fight as Prophet on his quest to save mankind. Set in New York, the city has been encased in a Nanodome that has turned this once thriving metropolis into a veritable urban rainforest teeming with overgrown trees, dense swamplands and raging rivers. Seven distinct and treacherous environments become known as the 7 Wonders. This dangerous new world demands advanced weapons and strategies, including the enhanced Nanosuit which provides players a tactical advantage. In addition to the powerful Nanosuit, players wield the devastating Predator bow and cutting-edge alien weaponry to become the deadliest hunter on the planet.
Crysis 3 also contains a robust multiplayer experience featuring 12 visually stunning maps and eight heart-pounding gameplay modes including the all new Hunter mode. An asymmetrical, time based mode, Hunter mode pits 2 players vs. 10 (2 vs. 14 on PC) in matches that begin with two cloaked hunters stalking 10 opposing CELL troopers. Armed only with enhanced Nanosuits and the lethal Predator bow, hunters must systematically stalk and kill the CELL operatives, who in turn must work together as a team as they fight to stay alive before the round ends. The twist is that once a CELL trooper is killed, that player will then respawn as a hunter, joining the others in their attempt to eliminate the remaining CELL operatives before the clock strikes zero. Crysis 3 multiplayer will also feature the debut of the New York Feed, a brand new in-game social feed that will showcase the accomplishments of gamers and their friends while offering dynamic challenges to complete.
Nobody has ever built a game quite like this. It’s a shooter, but a shooter that brings you to very uncomfortable and dangerous places. I can’t demand that you play the game; I can promise you, however, that once you have, it will be an experience you won’t soon forget.Continue here to read the full story.
Who is Booker, and what is the debt that drives him to Columbia? What are Elizabeth’s powers and why has she been locked up since she was a child? Why does Booker have the letters “AD” branded into his right hand? And what, in God’s name, is the Songbird.
Columbia is a city teeming with mystery. I’m glad to say that one mystery is over: On March 26th, you will be able to play BioShock Infinite.
In 2013, we expect to release fewer games based on license properties and as a result are realigning our structure to better reflect the market opportunities and our slate. Approximately, 30 full-time employees have been impacted globally, which represents approximately one half of one percent of Activision Blizzard's employee population. We are offering those employees who are impacted outplacement counseling services.
Take control of one of the great powers of Europe and push for land and naval dominance in a decade swirling with fire, smoke and dark acts of betrayal as each nation pushes towards its objectives.
Set at the height of the Napoleonic Wars, "March of the Eagles" is a wargame friendly to newcomers to Paradox Development Studio’s stable of award-winning strategy titles, while still having the streamlined diplomacy perfect for cutthroat scheming for both newcomers and veterans alike. Go forth to the battlefield and take on your friends and rivals in multiplayer games for up to 32 players, that will have you not talking to each other for weeks afterwards.
Accompany Jerry as he travels this mystic world and unravel the Marquis' sinister secret. 12 year old Jerry's greatest dream is to become a wizard. During the final days of summer vacation this dream seems to become reality: a tall, elegantly dressed rabbit, the Marquis de Hoto, appears out of thin air and offers Jerry an apprenticeship.
Both of them venture into a fantastic world; a world where talking animals and magic, mysterious creatures dwell. But as the spell of the vile wizard Zaroff takes hold of the people and the world itself, Jerry's magic adventure turns into a nightmare. And slowly the boy comes to realize, the enigmatic rabbit had his reasons to make him his apprentice.
Will Jerry and his friends, Plato and Kitsune, succeed in foiling the Great Zaroff's schemes? What sinister secrets does the Marquis try to hide? The answers are buried deep within the dark woods of a mystical world...
Sixteen-year-old D'arc has spent most of his life training in the elemental arts, in hopes of becoming a respected Mage of Iginor. Now he must prove himself by succeeding in three tasks around the perilous Iginor countryside. With the storytelling and puzzle solving of an adventure game and the customization and stat building of an RPG, Mage's Initiation is a unique hybrid that will be experienced differently by everyone who plays it.
Son of Nor is an action adventure with puzzle elements involving supernatural abilities like telekinesis, terraforming and elemental magic. The game takes place in Noshrac. A harsh desert world where humankind is at the brink of extinction. You play a Son of Nor, a mage with telekinetic powers and the ability to bend the elements to your will, trained to defend the remaining humans from the onslaught of the Sarahul Empire and the perils of the desert. Solve puzzles using your telekinetic powers, venture through long forgotten temples, terraform the desert and fight to the death alongside your friends in this co-op fantasy action adventure.Continue here to read the full story.
IRVINE, Calif. – February 19, 2013 – Gather your guildmates, muster your minions, and summon your swarm! Blizzard Entertainment today announced plans for its seventh BlizzCon® gaming convention, taking place Friday, November 8 and Saturday, November 9 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. For two epic days, members of Blizzard’s gaming community from around the globe will descend on Anaheim to meet, play, and celebrate their shared passion for all things Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo®.“BlizzCon gives us a chance to connect with our players and share our latest projects in a very personal way,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “Members from all of our gaming communities have helped make this event bigger and better every time, and we look forward to meeting up and celebrating with them in November.”
In addition to serving as a gathering place for Blizzard Entertainment gaming communities, BlizzCon will offer attendees a chance to enjoy:
- Hands-on play time with the latest versions of Blizzard Entertainment games
- Global finals for Blizzard eSports, featuring top pro gamers from around the world
- In-depth discussion panels with Blizzard game developers and artists
- Competitive and casual tournaments for players to showcase their talents
- Community contests with great prizes
- Commemorative merchandise based on Blizzard Entertainment’s game universes
- More activities and attractions to be announced
The previous BlizzCon was held in Anaheim in October 2011. Tickets to the event sold out in seconds, and highlights included the unveiling of the fourth World of Warcraft expansion, Mists of Pandaria®, and an epic closing concert featuring rock legends Foo Fighters.
Further details about BlizzCon 2013, including ticket availability and pricing, will be announced on the official BlizzCon website (www.blizzcon.com) as the event draws closer. Those interested in attending the show in person can make advance hotel reservations now and receive special BlizzCon rates by booking through the BlizzCon hotel website.
SAN FRANCISCO - February 19, 2013 - Today, Ubisoft® announced the launch of The Infamy, the first episode in the three-part Assassin's Creed® III The Tyranny of King Washington downloadable content series for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Windows® PC.
In the first episode of The Tyranny of King Washington, our hero, Ratonhnhaké:ton, awakens from an unsettling dream to find, despite his efforts to deliver justice in the newly founded United States of America, that a new king has been crowned: George Washington. The Infamy takes gamers through the beginning of the journey to dethrone this new king.
Assassin's Creed III The Tyranny of King Washington continues in two more episodes: The Betrayal and The Redemption, releasing March 19 and April 23, respectively.
Each episode of The Tyranny of King Washington can be purchased individually for 800 Microsoft Points on Xbox LIVE or $9.99.
The three episodes of The Tyranny of King Washington are available through the Assassin's Creed III Season Pass, which is available for purchase for 2400 Microsoft Points via the Xbox LIVE® online entertainment network for Xbox 360, or $29.99 on PlayStation®Network and Windows PC. The Season Pass will include the Tyranny of King Washington campaign and the previously released Hidden Secrets and Battled Hardened packs. It can also be purchased at GameStop and Best Buy.
All Assassin's Creed III downloadable content packs will also be available through the Nintendo eShop on the Wii UTM system from Nintendo.
Assassin's Creed III is now available on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 system and Wii U. For Windows PC gamers, the Assassin's Creed III Deluxe Edition is available as a digital download and includes all future downloadable content.
Ars Technica - Sorry to say it, but keyboard and mouse are losing the FPS market.
Let's start with the current best-selling franchise in all of gaming: Call of Duty. The best console-specific data I could find for the series of late was first-month sales statistics for Black Ops released by NPD back in 2010. Apparently the game sold 8 million copies on the PS3 and Xbox 360 combined and less than 400,000 on the PC. Even if the unreported digital sales on the PC were ten times as strong as those at retail, and assuming that PC piracy added another 50 percent on top of legitimate downloads, that would still mean there were roughly four console players using a controller for every three playing the PC version in the game's first month. That adds up to a deficit of millions of people for the mouse-and-keyboard crowd, and one that's likely compounded by other Call of Duty games.Rock, Paper, Shotgun - Mouse & Keyboard Still A Major Player In FPS Market.
Obviously Orland’s maths here is entirely fictional. But let’s play long with it. It’s critical to understand that the stated 400,000 really is just those sold at retail, into a PC market in the US and UK that’s strongly dominated by online sales (either by design or necessity, since finding a PC copy of a game in a shop is quite the trial). It’s reasonable to imagine it represents just a fraction of the real sales, so let’s go along with the guesses. Without piracy, we’ve got the PC representing, er, half the sales of the consoles combined. So that would be a roughly even split, a third each. (I’m sure that’s not realistic, but hey, these are the numbers being used to prove the PC is irrelevant to shooters!) Tack on our piracy and we’ve now got a huge majority of FPS players choosing the PC over either the 360 or the PS3. Even allow the two consoles to be added together, to truly get a representation of the methods of controls, and the estimate here is that 3 out of every 7 players is on mouse/keyboard. 43%. Almost half. And that’s despite everything mentioned above regarding the mainstream explosion of the console. Good grief, the PC is a massive force in FPS, and the Bungie comments couldn’t be more wrong! I’d say with this information, it’s pretty damned hard not to argue with Jones.Gamasutra - What are video game previews for?
Preview culture is of dubious merit to the games industry, too. These events are expensive. Publishers pay for venues, travel, accommodation, food, fancy USB keys full of assets, pens, messenger bags, swag. I don't believe the common complaint that this stuff sways writers -- we often get so much of it that we don't care to have any more, have been doing this long enough that a branded squeak toy isn't going to make us feel unduly positive.
But is all that cost worthwhile to the publisher as budgets skyrocket and staff cuts are everywhere? Is the lost time worthwhile, for devs who are tasked with frantically cobbling together stable pockets of preview build, pre-rendered trailers, media rehearsal, when they might rather be making their game?
Hot Links: | Thanks Ant and Acleacius. |
Play: | Color Tanks. |
Links: | Jose Canseco Just Explained Gravity to the Internet. Thanks nin. |
Stories: |
James Bond novel by William Boyd out in September. Mom accused of hiring strippers for son's Sweet 16. |
Science: |
Project Seeks to Build Map of Human Brain. Scientists on the verge of major dark matter discovery. Food labelling underestimating calorie content of some foods, scientists say. |
Media: |
Electroshock football/soccer. Thanks reddit. Fainting During Skydive. |
Auction: | Metal Gear Rising sliced police car auctioned on eBay for charity. |