|
|
 |
Archived News:
A Minimum website is online,
heralding development of this "action packed free-to-play shooter set in a
stylized world of endless possibilities" coming soon to Steam from TimeGate
Studios, most recently implicated in the he-said/she-said co-development of
Aliens: Colonial Marines along with Gearbox Software (thanks
Polygon). A FAQ is online with
word on the game, saying early access will begin on April 16th. The also have
a trailer showing the
game's minimized, texture-free look. Here's word on how they are looking to
crowd-source ideas for where they take development from here: For us,
MINIMUM is a different type of game. We’ve been on this journey of creativity
and discovery and we’ve learned just how multi-faceted a world we were creating:
this limitless, unbound opportunity that every member of our team contributed
into. We’ve only scratched the surface so far, we know this. The trick has been
to unhinge ourselves by not limiting ideas to any one person, but rather
crowdsourcing ideas from the entire team. Now, the best way for MINIMUM to
realize its potential, we believe, is to bring you – the players, the fans – to
the development table with us.
This is our promise to you. We believe in MINIMUM, and want your Influence, your
ideas and your creativity to steer us. Not only will we listen, as every other
developer promises to do, but we are also creating a mechanism to empower you,
just as our entire team is empowered. The fun, the heart of MINIMUM is no longer
just ours, and we can’t wait to see where we collectively go from here.
So keep an eye out for MINIMUM’s Closed Alpha launch on Steam’s Early Access
channel very soon. Until then, browse around our site, take in the info that’s
available, and start chatting with us on the forums. We’re thrilled to have you
here and can’t wait till you can play the game!
Continue here to read the full story.
CapCom Unity outlines the preorder bonuses for Lost Planet 3,
offering video showing the various perks in action. They also have images for
each of the offers that all say "Available August 27." The third-person shooter
sequel was previously expected on June
25th, and there's no word on why this has changed, but a Capcom rep told
Eurogamer it was due to "business reasons." So at least we know it isn't
personal.
The
Kickstarter page for Divinity: Original Sin announces that the
campaign to raise $400K to polish up Larian Studios' upcoming Divinity RPG is a
success with two weeks still remaining. They include
this trailer to offer
thanks from the team (literally the entire team) and to highlight what they plan
on doing with the funds, including adding weresheep. They are starting to talk
about stretch goals, and in the meantime confirm the game will be coming to
Linux and OS X as well as Windows. Divinity: Original Sin is an
open-world, traditional RPG featuring turn-based combat and single-player and
cooperative gameplay, in which the actions and choices of players have true
significance and consequences. It will ship with the editor that was used by the
developers to make the game, making it the first game in a long time to sport an
RPG editor that supports multiplayer.
Continue here to read the full story.
Gamefly.com now features Europa Universalis III Chronicles
as a free download, offering a gratis copy of this RTS bundle that normally sells for USD $29.99.
The offer is good through 1:00 am EDT on Friday, or "while supplies last" in the
following territories: United States, Canada, Mexico, American Samoa, Antigua
and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Barbados, Chile,
Colombia, Costa Rica, Cayman Islands, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guam, Honduras, Haiti,
Jamaica, Japan, Cambodia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Korea, Republic of, Saint
Lucia, Northern Mariana Islands, Nicaragua, New Zealand, Panama, Peru,
Philippines, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Taiwan,
Province of China, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Venezuela, Virgin Islands,
British, Virgin Islands, U.S., and Samoa.
The Consumerist has word that EA has triumphed for a second consecutive year
in their annual "worst company in America" poll, beating out the likes of Bank
of America, Ticketmaster, Comcast, Walmart, Time-Warner Cable, ATT&T, and a late
run by Carnival Cruise Lines. They conclude their write-up by suggesting the
higher-ups at EA reflect on the following question: When we live in an era
marked by massive oil spills, faulty foreclosures by bad banks, and rampant
consolidation in the airline and telecom industry, what does it say about EA’s
business practices that so many people have — for the second year in a row —
come out to hand it the title of Worst Company In America?
The
SimCity Facebook page (thanks
Polygon) has word that Cheetah speed has returned to the city builder, as it
continues to emerge from crisis mode. They say version 2.0 of the game
nears: Yes, it's true -- we've recently brought back Cheetah Speed. We're
also working on Update 2.0, so stay tuned for more info.
Cliffhanger Productions announces their plans to completely overhaul Jagged
Alliance Online for the upcoming Steam release, saying they were not
merely content to make this a "port" of the web-based game. After listening to
players' reaction to the game they say they are "reworking nearly every facet of
gameplay." Here's what they say to expect from the game's free-to-play release
on Steam later this month:
- Improved F2P model – all items in the shop are
available through regular play, and can be earned more easily. All known
pay-to-win tactics have been eliminated.
- Total class, weapon, and armor rebalance -
starting classes are more balanced, and changes to weaponry allow more
freedom to customize a character to your play-style. Sniper with a heavy
machinegun? Sure, why not?
- Better PvP maps – more tactics and fewer Mexican
standoffs.
- Improved mercenary and gear rules – all
mercenaries and gear are fully restored after each mission so you can
immediately jump back in the game. Players should never be penalized for
simply playing.
- Action Point rebalance – increased Action Points,
faster movement speeds, and reduced ready-costs make tactical maneuvering
more important while creating a far more exciting gameplay experience.
- Increased HitPoints, new critical hit rules,
status effects, new exotic weapons and armor, improved AI, and more.
The Batman: Arkham Origins
website is now online as official home to the
newly revealed installment in the
Arkham series of stealthy Batman games. The site allows you to sign up for
updates, preorder the game, and read the press release announcing the game,
which says: Batman: Arkham Origins features an expanded Gotham City and
introduces an original prequel storyline occurring several years before the
events of Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City. Taking place before the
rise of Gotham City’s most dangerous villains and assassins, the game showcases
a young, raw, unrefined Batman as he faces a defining moment in his early career
as a crime fighter that sets his path to becoming the Dark Knight. As the story
unfolds, witness identities being formed and key relationships being
forged.
The World of
Warcraft website
describes how Blizzard is adding a "feature-limited" in-game web-browser to
their MMORPG as a support tool in the upcoming version 5.3 patch. They hope
players will help test this "new venture" on the PTR, and explain how it should
help them support the game: We’re adding a feature-limited web browser to
World of Warcraft that will replace the in-game support system with a direct
portal to the Battle.net Support site. Our aim is to give players in-game easy
access to the site’s robust knowledge base and support contact system.
We’ve gone to great lengths to improve our website support systems and we want
to offer access to all of its robust features in-game. The new browser will make
it it easier to find information to help you resolve issues you’re experiencing
or contact our representatives if you need a little extra help.
Link of the Day:
'Elysium'
Theatrical Trailer. Thanks nin via
Kotaku.
GameInformer.com has a preview of the cover story from the May issue of Game
Informer Magazine, revealing Batman: Arkham Origins, an upcoming prequel
to Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City coming to Windows
and consoles on October 25, 2013. They offer
this trailer where the
folks from WB Games Montreal show off some concept art while talking about it
being "humbling" to work on a "franchise of this magnitude" as they are
"standing on the shoulders of giants" in following the success of Rocksteady's
previous Arkham games. They talk of this being the first Arkham game set on the
streets of Gotham City where "we have eight of the best assassins in the world
who have come together in Gotham City on one night, Christmas Eve of all nights,
to kill The Bat." The print edition of the magazine should be in subscribers
hands in a couple of weeks, and in their
Batman: Arkham
Origins Hub will be home to details about the game they will share online.
In the meantime, here's how they describe what they know: Warner Bros.
Games Montreal has taken the mantle of the bat from Rocksteady Studios this time
around for Batman: Arkham Origins. WB Montreal has full access to Rocksteady's
custom modified Unreal engine to capture the look and feel of the Arkhamverse.
As the title suggests, the game takes place years before both of the previous
Arkham titles when a young, unrefined Batman encounters many supervillains for
the first time. On our full cover image below, fans will recognize the assassin
Deathstroke, who appears for the very first time in a core Arkham game.
The Diablo III
website announces that the upcoming version 1.0.8 patch for
Diablo III is now live on the Public Test Realm for Blizzard's
action/RPG sequel. They offer full instructions on how to set
yourself up on the PTR if you want to experience the improved
monster density and other changes coming to the game. They offer a
set of Public
Test Realm Patch 1.0.8 Notes explaining all the changes, but at this
point there's no indication of when this patch is expected to leave
testing.
This document ( Adobe Acrobat format) offers an outline of a briefing
from SQUARE ENIX about their revisions to their Consolidated Results
Forecasts for the fiscal year ending March 2013. This includes a
clarification of how the new Tomb Raider reboot managed to
fall short of their sales
goals in spite of setting a franchise record. Though the game
sold 3.4 million units out of the gate, apparently they were
expecting it to double that, projecting 5-6 million sales in an
estimate they still felt was a conservative 80-90 percent of how the
game would actually perform. Apparently their optimism was based on
the expectation that the game would score highly
on Metacritic (which it has,
averaging 86 across three platforms), which would significantly
boost sales, which it hasn't. They thought there were being
similarly conservative in their sales estimates for Sleeping Dogs
and Hitman Absolution, and were apparently similarly
optimistic instead, as each of those games also fell short of their
projections. Thanks
Eurogamer.
A
post on Kotaku points to a video showing someone playing Far
Cry 3: Blood Dragon, the apparently real upcoming installment in
the Far Cry series, though the footage has since been yoinked
(oddly, at the request of the uploader, not Ubisoft). This continues
a bit of a circus which began with the game's announcement being
nestled within
an
April Fools' gag and the
association of Michael Biehn with the project. At first this
seemed like a console project, but the now-removed video was
apparently from a PC edition. Thanks
VG247
The
Star Wars: The Old Republic website announces that the
early access period is now underway for the new Rise of the Hutt
Cartel digital expansion for the Star Wars MMORPG. Also, as
noted on this
page, the new version 2.0 "Scum and Villainy" update is live for
all players of the game. There are loads of details on the new
version in the
on
this page, explaining the new level 55 cap and other changes.
Steam announces
they are accepting preorders of
Poker Night 2,
and they are upping the ante by providing everyone who goes all in
on this blind a free copy of
Poker Night at
the Inventory, the first installment in Telltale's game hero
poker game. Here's word on the sequel: The chips are down and
the ante is up in this sentence already bursting with poker clichés!
Take the fifth seat in Poker Night 2, at a table featuring Claptrap
(Borderlands 2), Brock Samson (The Venture Bros.), Ash (Army of
Darkness) and Sam (Sam and Max series). Play to unlock new Team
Fortress 2 items and win unique skins and heads for Borderlands 2!
Your dealer is GLaDOS (Portal series), but at no point will you be
considered as a candidate for a visit to Aperture Science’s
Enrichment Center. Unless you lose.
games.on.net - Ubisoft and PC gamers- This new relationship is not off to a
good start.
It’s a broken system that Ubisoft is even cramming into its Steam titles,
forcing you to launch uPlay even when you’ve purchased your game through
Steam — or even Origin! Why would I want to use one DRM system that launches
another? Why would I want to have to maintain all these different friends
lists?
And now, we’re seeing that this system is so broken — so completely broken —
that players can actually manually tear the curtains aside, using something
as simple as a text editor, and see what they’re not allowed to have. Or
even take other games they haven’t paid for!
This is really, really, dumb. Why are we using uPlay again?
Consumerist - EA Admits It “Can Do Better” But Blames Worst Company Success
On Homophobes And Whiny Madden Fans. Thanks
GamePolitics
In coming out and responding to its previous win — and possible repeat
victory — EA had the opportunity to show the gaming community the respect it
deserves, but instead has insulted its intelligence by asking it to accept
that its quite obvious faults are really just minor problems and that the
actual source of trouble are faceless, homophobic hatemongers.
IncGamers.com - The bird, or the cage: What BioShock Infinite says about
choice and fatalism.
It’s an elegant meta-comment on the many, many people in the real world
playing through BioShock Infinite, but also seems like a bit of a cheeky way
of suggesting that the sort of choices offered in other games are ultimately
meaningless if they bring you to the same point every time.
What’s your take on all of this?
Okay, creepiness time, as the news is telling us to brace ourselves for the
coming of "billions of cicadas," which will begin swarming around the U.S. East
Coast in the immediate future, as we have come to the end/beginning of their 17
year cycle. This is going to be simultaneously really creepy and really cool.
R.I.P.:
Celebrated Producer Andy Johns Dead at 61. To quote former Go-Gos member
Kathy Valentine, of all people: "Crank up #ExileOnMainStreet and help send his
soul off to the big mixing board in the sky."
|
Twitter 
