|
|
 |
Archived News:
Though development of Prey 2 is said to be in
limbo,
GameSpot notes that Zenimax has filed three applications to extend their
Trademark for the first-person shooter series into other areas including
television shows and online games /
magazines and comic books and
feature films. They inquired about the
significance of these filings, and say a company representative declined
comment.
The
Bethesda Blog announces preregistration for QuakeCon 2013 will begin on
April 15th. As always, the show is free for attendees, but they have packages
that include selections of SWAG packs, seating reservations, and guaranteed
spots at the panels and presentations. They say these will sell out quickly, so
note they should begin selling at 8:00 pm EDT on Monday.
The
SimCity Website has word that Maxis plans to launch the OS X edition
of SimCity on June 11, saying the this will be offered as a single purchase with
the Windows edition, and confirming this will support cross platform play
(thanks
Polygon). They have a full FAQ, and this overview: "Good news, Mac Mayors –
today we can officially confirm the release date for the Mac version of SimCity
is June 11, 2013. If you already own SimCity on PC, you will also receive the
Mac version at no additional cost (and vice versa). If you don’t already own
SimCity on PC and just wish to purchase the Mac version, you will be able to
pre-purchase your copy on Origin starting April 10th."
An article on
Kotaku called "The Last Months Of LucasArts" offers purported details from
purported insiders about the run up to Disney
closing the developer after acquiring
LucasFlim. They describe receiving assurances from Disney's Bob Iger that it
would be "business as usual" at the studio six month before the closure, and the
slow motion train wreck of the intervening period. They also have video showing
all sorts of ground and vehicle combat in the Star Wars universe, showing
speeders, AT-ATs, X-Wings, TIE Fighters, Walkers, and more. The clip starts
saying Star Wars Wingman and they say it was internally called Version Two, but
that multiple sources tell them this was actually
the
cancelled Star Wars Battlefront III.
VG247 offers a
video preview of Star Trek: The Video Game with a look at some new
footage from the upcoming co-op Trekkie game and hearing from Digital Extremes'
Brian Miller about what to expect. Here's what they say about their experience
with the game: "Since it is a third-person shooter, the game will contain all
the conventions players are used to: cover, run in stealth, and other tenants.
However, the game is more tailored to co-op so while Kirk really wants to rush
into battle guns blazing, Spock will advise to take things more stealthy, which
will give players experience points to upgrade their weapons should they choose
a particular way of handling a situation." Continue here to read the full story.
A
Dark Souls 2 Gameplay Reveal on IGN offers screenshots and a pair of
videos, one offering 12 minutes of gameplay footage from the action/RPG sequel
and the other a Q&A session. Word is: "Start with our a 12-minute demo, then
check out our Q&A session below, both of which feature FromSoftware director Yui
Tanimura and Namcobandai global producer Tak Miyazoe, both hosted by IGN's Marty
Sliva."
Nival announces they are now accepting signups for closed beta testing of
Prime World, their upcoming role-playing
strategy game. This page is where to
apply, here's
a new
gameplay trailer, and here's word on the game: Prime World merges MOBA
battles, persistent RPG hero development and castle building. You can equip and
train your hero between battles using collectible and upgradable talents, build
a thriving economy in your city, and play together with your friends. You can
even start your own clan and fight other clans!
Prime World steps beyond the classic three lane map of modern MOBAs – there are
currently six game modes, with more to come: from fast and fierce 3v3 Outpost to
dark and moody 4v4 Dragonwald.
Prime World is more than a game in its country of origin. In Russia, several
books based on Prime World have been published, some from best-selling authors
Vadim Panov and Alexander Zorich. Over three million gamers have enjoyed Prime
World’s battles in Russia since April 2012 and it continues to grow.
PC Gamer - Ultra-widescreen- can 21-9 be a new standard for gaming?
I’ve used multi-screen displays to create a wraparound image in-game for
some work I’ve been doing recently, using stereo drivers from both AMD and
Nvidia. The extra width that offers gives you peripheral vision for FPS
games and an extra sensation of speed in driving titles too. These 21:9
screens simply don’t offer the same benefits. The image is flat in front of
you so there is none of the positives from the wraparound peripheral images,
and you’ll still suffer from lower frame rates as the extra resolution width
makes greater demands on your hardware.
This
document ( Adobe Acrobat format) offers Stardock's 2012 Consumer Report, an annual
look behind the curtain at the company's business, offered as a goodwill
gesture, since they are not publically traded and thus not subject to quarterly
public financial reports. They outline a very successful year, noting this was
spurred by them releasing three titles when they would typically release one.
They then proceed to indicate they plan on announcing "at least" two games this
year and also announce that Derek Paxton is now in charge of their development
studio: I suspect we will have at least, two new game announcements in
2013.
We have continued to follow-up on bringing in top-tier game designers to
evaluate, tweak and enhance future titles. This process started with Derek
“Kael” Paxton who developed the popular Civilization IV mod “Fall from Heaven”.
His work has been transformative both in terms of how games get designed here
but in how they get produced. As a result, I’m pleased to announce that Derek
Paxton is VP of Stardock Entertainment and in charge of the studio.
After Derek Paxton joined us, Jon Shafer joined us to help on Fallen Enchantress
and help design an unannounced game. After Fallen Enchantress was completed, he
founded his own company (Conifer) to work on a new strategy game called At the
Gates.
This year, with the “next generation” of Stardock games in pre-production, we’ve
brought Soren Johnson (designer of Civilization IV) to work on the designs for
our new titles for the next few months. The emphasis on dedicated game design
has resulted in greater confidence that new franchises will not have to go
through the rocky experience that Elemental: War of Magic went through.
Ubisoft announces the release of ShootMania: Storm, the first-person
shooter from TrackMania developer Nadeo. To celebrate they are holding
ShootMania 4 All, a worldwide release party for the game's first players.
Details on how to join in the festivities can be found on
this page. The game is
available through
ShootMania.com and Steam
and
they say Uplay, but the site
says it is down for maintenance, which
GameSpot says is to clear up security issues which lead to
the leak of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. They inform
those who participated in the betas that their accounts have been converted to
trial accounts, but add that new players cannot create trial accounts at this time,
saying: "Free trial accounts with access to Elite and Royal will come back in
the future along with more updates of the game." Here's
the launch trailer and
here's word: SAN FRANCISCO – April 10, 2013 – Ubisoft® and Nadeo have
released ShootMania Storm, an online multiplayer first person action game built
from the ground-up for fast-paced competition and endless variation via
intuitive content creation tools for users. ShootMania Storm is now available
for personal computer via the game's official web site and the Steam digital
distribution service for $19.99.
“ShootMania Storm delivers on two fronts: incredible, fast-paced competition for
newcomers and pros alike as well as easy-to-use creator tools that empower users
with the ability to imagine, design and build their own worlds,” said Joshua
Milligan, Senior Director, Online Strategy, Ubisoft. "ShootMania Storm revives
the pure, skill-based competitive gameplay that help give birth to professional
gaming as it is known today. And with its familiar controls and balanced playing
field, anyone at any level can jump in, have fun and instantly compete against
the best in the world."
The release of the game follows a wildly successful open beta period in which
hundreds of thousands of players from around the world competed for global
domination on the game's ladder ranking system. In addition, players took
advantage of the intuitive game editing tools, creating more than 35,000 custom
maps and dozens of unique modes.
Continue here to read the full story.
A new update to
the Kickstarter for Shadowrun Returns says the release of Harebrained
Schemes' upcoming cyberpunk tactical RPG will be release in June, and that those
interested in the Collector's Edition should get their preorders in by April
28th. They also mention another deadline, saying the Harebrained Account Website
is now online, and that backers should soon begin receiving emails with login
information, stressing that it is essential that backers login and fill in their
information by April 22nd in order to receive their backer rewards. They also
announce the game will be distributed through Steam and support the Steam
Workshop, noting that Steam will make it easier for them to support it across
Windows, OS X, and Linux. This does not, however, mean they are going back on
their promise of a DRM-free game: We realize that for some of you, releasing on Steam isn’t your first choice
but there are a lot of really great things we get from this decision that allow
us to focus on the game rather than on making things like backend servers to
deploy and manage shared content. From the start, we’ve had to make practical
decisions like this one to ensure we get the most out of the support you’ve
given us. We consider this to be the best option for everyone.
Now, that may prompt the question, “What about DRM-free?” To honor our
original promise of a DRM-free version of the game, the Harebrained Account
Website will also contain a downloadable version of Shadowrun Returns that does
not include Steam integration. While this version will include the Seattle story
(and Berlin, via a one-time update), without Steam integration, it will be
unable to browse and play community-created stories from within the game. Any
future DLC will only be available through Steam.
The Gearbox
Software Forums have a thread about the new update that went
live yesterday for Aliens Colonial Marines, eventually reporting it
was fixed to sort out the user complaints the new version generated. In spite of
the patch notes containing only two entries ("Added toggle for film grain
filter" and "Increased security to address cheats and exploits"), the patch
caused problems for many users, including missing downloadable content and an
inability to use legitimate ini tweaks, attributed to the anti-cheating changes.
This lead to Gearbox pulling it from Steam entirely, saying: "The update will
be temporarily removed from Steam while the team investigates the corrupt DLC
error and works to resolve that. More details as I have it." This is followed by
a wee hours update saying a new version of the update was rolling out, and the
subsequent posts indicate this has solved the reported problems. Thanks Guille.
The Bethesda
Blog has details on a patch deploying this week for Dishonored to
update Arkane's stealth/action game to version 1.3 and pave the way for the
upcoming The Knife of Dunwall add-on. Here's the change list, which is almost
entirely bug fixes: Continue here to read the full story.
The
Obsidian Forums now offer an update about environments in Project
Eternity, offering a
new trailer showing off the environments in the upcoming RPG (thanks
PC Gamer). Word is: "The Infinity Engine games were known for their art, and
we wanted to hit the high standard of visual quality established by games like
the Icewind Dale series. We also wanted to introduce dynamic elements into the
environment that were mostly absent from the classic games, like dynamic water,
movement in foliage, and dynamic lighting of the scene." Continue here to read the full story.
This trailer offers
insights into the making of Grimlands, DRAGO Entertainment's upcoming
MMOFPS/RPG that is the subject of a new
Kickstarter. The clip kicks off a three video series where the game's
developers discuss their sandbox design, lack of classes and item requirements,
the minimal use of instancing, clan support, and more. Continue here to read the full story.
I would so watch a show about
‘Better Call’ Saul Goodman. I can't think of many things that will help ease
the regrets over Breaking Bad wrapping up, but that is about the best way I
could imagine.
"I'm gonna get you a second phone call, OK? You're gonna call your mommy or your
daddy or your parish priest or your boy scout leader, and they're gonna deliver
me a check for $4650.00. I'm gonna write that down on the back of my business
card. Four, Six, Five, Zero, OK? And I need that in a cashiers check or a money
order, doesn't matter. Actually, ah, I want it in a money order and ah, make it
out to 'Ice Station Zebra Associates.' That's my loan out. It's totally legit...
its done just for tax purposes. After that we can discuss Visa or Mastercard,
but definitely not American Express, so don't even ask, alright? Any questions?"
|
Twitter 
