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Archived News:
Facebook page for America's Army announces that
this America's Army: Proving Ground
page is now accepting signups to beta test the next installment in the
first-person shooter created as a recruiting tool by the U.S. Army (thanks
Joystiq via
GameSpot). Word is: Wanted: Beta Testers
We bet that got your attention, huh? That’s right, we’re looking for volunteers
for our Beta Tester team to help test the next version of America’s Army which
is due out this year!
Let’s say that again, THIS YEAR!
Go to http://portal.americasarmy.com/
to register your Soldier name for a chance to be selected as one of our new Beta
Testers!
Good Luck Soldiers!
Irrational Games now offers
the promised alternate box
art for BioShock Infinite, Irrational's first-person shooter sequel. Word
is: A few months ago, we asked our fans to vote on your favorite
alternative cover that would come with all copies of BioShock Infinite. Design
#4 ended up winning with 38% of the vote, and can be seen upon opening up your
very own case. As originally promised, though, we’re now making every cover from
the original voting process available for download and printing, along with a
few more custom designs.
To view them all, and to choose your platform of choice,
click here. Please
remember to read the printing instructions before downloading, since we would
hate to see our fans waste a few nice sheets of glossy paper from a
misprint.
The Unreal Engine Twitter feed
has results of the 2013 Make Something Unreal Live competition, offering
Facebook photos of the festivities. Here's word from
the official announcement: "Epic Games, Inc., creators of award-winning
games and game technology, announced from the Gadget Show Live, that Dead Shark
Triplepunch, the winning team at Make Something Unreal Live 2013, has won a host
of hardware prizes in addition to the main award of a commercial Unreal Engine 4
licence. The team, from Belkinge Institute of Technology in Sweden, blew away
MSUL judges with their game Epigenesis, which was developed with Epic’s Unreal
Development Kit (UDK), the free edition of the award-winning Unreal Engine 3."
Epic also announces the top two finalists will receive an additional Unreal
Engine 3 license specifically for the publication of the games they developed
for the competition, which must be packed with action, since this year's theme
was "Mendelian inheritance: genetics and genomics."
A
Kickstarter is now underway in an effort to fund Grimlands, the
post-apocalyptic FPS/MMORPG
announced in 2011
before being cancelled last month. The game
has actually been in development for five years now, "Grimlands is the MMORPG we
always wanted to play," says Lucjan Mikociak, the game's head of development.
"We strive to mix the shooter- and RPG-gameplay inspired by Fallout 3 and
Borderlands with the social dynamics and freedom of choice like in Ultima
Online." They outline their plans for what they would do with the $650K they
seek and how the game's hybrid subscription/free-to-play model will work.
The
Kickstarter campaign for Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues has
concluded, having collected nearly double the $1 million target set for the
upcoming RPG from Ultima creator Richard "Lord British"" Garriott. Here's
word on what follows: A sincere thank you goes out to all our backers for
pledging your support to “Shroud of the Avatar” and helping us raise almost
double our Kickstarter goal! This game would not be possible without your
dedication and feedback – what a fantastic experience it’s been to interact with
all of you, learning what is most important and desired in our new world.
And we very much look forward to continuing that interaction, so please follow
us to our official site at
ShroudOfTheAvatar.com and join us in our continuing discussions and efforts.
We’ll have regular updates and information for friends old and new. You can also
find us on Facebook and
Twitter, or tweet us with
#LBSOTA to keep the conversation alive!
The new
GfK Chart-Track Listing of the 20 bestselling full-priced PC games in the
U.K. for the week ending April 6th. SimCity has returned to the top spot
in a chart that's always been Sims heavy (40% of the chart is Sims games,
supporting the franchise's infinite SKU approach). BioShock Infinite
falls to number two this week on that chart, but retains the number one position
on the
all-platforms chart, where Tomb Raider remains number two and
Defiance debuts at number three.
This clip features live
action performances from Peter Stormare and J.B. Smoove to promote the upcoming
Uprising map pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. Stormare reprises his
role as "the Replacer," who has enlisted Smoove as a new partner so the pair can
fill in for your "regular" life as you play the military shooter sequel. The
clip shows several examples of the replacers at work replacing, but also
concludes with some footage of gameplay from the add-on. Continue here to read the full story.
This trailer offers a
look at Distance, the
recently Kickstarted arcade racing game in
the works at Refract Studios. The footage is pre-alpha gameplay that was shown
off to attendees at the just-concluded Game Developer's Conference. To accompany
the clip, here's a refresher on the game: Distance is a Windows/Mac/Linux
survival racing game that combines the intense action of arcade racing with the
exploration of an atmospheric world. You control a unique car that allows you to
boost, jump, rotate, and even fly through a chaotic and twisted city. The world
has a mysterious history, and as you explore you'll be able to uncover pieces of
its past.
The roads are treacherous and unpredictable with obstacles around every corner.
Instead of doing laps on a loop, you'll be trying to survive to the end in the
quickest time. Since your car has several abilities, it allows you to not only
drive fast on the track but also upside down and on buildings and walls! You can
also fly to discover new shortcuts and paths.
Continue here to read the full story.
A new trailer from
Thunder Wolves
offers a look at this upcoming helicopter combat game from Most Wanted
Entertainment. The clip's description is in German, but a translation shows it
touts "hard-hitting action and massive explosions," which are indeed
included. Continue here to read the full story.
Gamasutra - VGVN Touts 500k Members- Does It Really Mean Anything?
For many months, the ESA openly claimed support of SOPA. They claimed it
was necessary to protect their members’ interests and profits from online
piracy. However, many consumer groups opposed the legislation as it would
have had severe unintended consequences for free speech online.
Many consumer organizations were in opposition of SOPA except the VGVN.
Throughout the whole debate and the site blackouts all over the internet,
the VGVN never once spoke up in support of its members. It never once said a
single thing in regards to SOPA. Despite many attempts to contact someone at
the VGVN, I never once heard back from them. This event showed that those
500,000 members it claims to represent don’t matter when the interests of
its publisher controlled master clash.
So what should you do if you are a “member” of the VGVN? That’s up to you
ultimately. However, my suggestion is to
unsubscribe.
I have no idea if that will delete you completely and you will no longer be
counted when it touts its numbers, but at least it sends some kind of
message. My other suggestion is to join a gamer organization that actually
cares about you. One that is independent of any corporate masters. A group
like the Entertainment Consumers
Association. (disclaimer, I am a member and work with them over at Game
Politics as well as other aspects) This group has done wonders over the
years to protect the rights and interests of gamers. Yes it costs money to
be a member and to stay a member, but the benefits you get in return far
outweigh the costs.
Don’t be fooled by big numbers like those touted by the VGVN. Those are mere
distractions from what really matters, its record. What does it really stand
for and who is it really speaking up for. That is what matters in the end.
If it is not 100% on your side, then you should not be on its side.
My rack of lamb was a success last night. The tricky thing with lamb is how
small the window is before it starts to overcook, and I hit medium rare on the
nose, which was pretty awesome. And to all of you who pointed out that grilling
is actually the more traditional method than the oven, I grant you are correct,
but to see your ball-busting and raise it: For those who say grilling would be
the most traditional method, I'll point out eating the lamb raw probably
pre-dated that. So there.
R.I.P.:
Acclaimed documentary maker Les Blank dies at 77.
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