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Archived News:
An article on German magazine Heise.de from last week speaks with AMD Vice
President of Global Channel Sales Roy Taylor, who seems to say that they do not
believe Microsoft has any plans for DirectX 12. This is noted on
Slashdot (thanks Ant by way of
this story). This seems like one of those stories that will
inspire a correction of some sorts, but here is what a Google machine
translation makes of his comments, which do not sound nearly as final as
Slashdot's write-up implies: "But there will be no DirectX 12th That's it. To
our knowledge there are no plans for DirectX 12th If the vote should not and
someone wants to correct me - wonderful. But now we really need excellent games
like Crysis or Bioshock Infinite 3, on the one hand to encourage the industry
and also to reward our buyers."
The artist known as superannuation
(supererogatory) tweets about some domains just registered by WB, offering
an "I told you so" about plans for Mad Max games
MadMaxGame.com,
MadMaxTheGame.com,
and the wordier
WorldGoneMadLegendOfMax.com. Thanks
VG247.
Death Inc. website now offers
the chance to get instant paid access to the Windows, OS X, and Linux alpha for
Death Inc., the existential strategy game from Ambient Studios, a startup formed
by former Media Molecule employees. The
game's Kickstarted did not meet its
goals, and they have turned to this paid alpha program to fund the game,
offering a $10.00 tier with just the game and a $15.00 tier that adds some PDFs and the
soundtrack. Thanks
VG247.
Dejobaan announces Monster Loves
You! is now available for Windows via
Steam, offering a casual
action/adventure where you play as a monster. Here's word: In MLY, you're
born in the town of Omen, and make decisions that shape your future. Do you
stand up to the Big, Bad Wolf (+1 Bravery) or do you trick him (+1 Cleverness)?
Do you devour Hansel and Gretel as a snack (+1 Ferocity), or do you help them
find safety (+1 Kindness)? Your actions determine your personality and how
others see you.
Spoiler: You will get to read many words while playing!
As you approach elderhood, your choices become tougher. Do you encourage other
monsters to understand and study their arch-enemies, the humans (requires
Kindness)? Or do you use your cunning to lull the humans into a false sense of
ease while gearing up for a slaughter (requires Cleverness)? 14 endings mean
that there's a satisfying story both for players who like to rescue little
children and for those who would eat them alive.
Trion announces a bunch of perks for
Defiance players, admitting they are making amends for launch issues for
the MMOG that ties in with the television series of the same name. The games
first players will receive an exclusive launch-only in-game title of Daredevil
and one week boosts to Weapons Skill, Scrip, Loot, and XP. They also offer the
following list of changes planned for two upcoming patches, one expected next
week and the next to follow two weeks later:
Continue here to read the full story.
R.I.P.:
Comedian Jonathan Winters dies at 87. An absolute favorite from my
childhood.
Activision celebrates the imminence of the Xbox 360 edition of the Uprising
DLC with a double XP weekend for Call of Duty: Black Ops II on all of the
military first-person shooter's platforms. This gets underway at 1:00 pm EDT
today, and will run through 1:00 pm EDT on Monday. Uprising launches on Tuesday
for the Xbox 360, and will follow on other platforms at a later date.
Here's
a
Kickstarter for a motorcycle racing/combat game called Road Redemption
in the works for DRM-free, microtransaction-free release on Windows, OS X,
and Linux in July 2014. The game is in the works at DarkSeas Games, composed of
industry veterans boasting a combined 35 years of experience who say they their
goal is to create a spiritual successor to the Road Rash series. Road
Redemption began preproduction in 2009 and entered full development early last
year, and they are seeking $160,000 to complete the project. Here's
word: Road Redemption features a complex combat system involving classic
melee weapons, kicks, counters and parries. We are also introducing firearms and
explosive weapons to the fray.
Road Redemption’s single-player campaign includes races across deserts, through
bustling cities, atop skyscrapers, and other levels to be announced.
Road Redemption's online multiplayer will include free-for-all and team-based
combat racing missions.
Dark Souls director Yui Tanimura speaks frankly about the shortcomings of the PC
port of From Software's action/RPG in a story on
Shacknews, admitting this was not a high enough priority. He says they are
working on doing better with the sequel in comments translated by someone whose
knowledge of English idiom is not half-assed: "A lot of it was not very well
done, sort of half-assed," Tanimura says via translator Tak Miyazoe. "Yes, we
will definitely put more priority on the PC. Last time, we started working on PC
after the console version was complete. This time, because we are considering
the PC from the beginning, you can be sure there will be more care put into PC
development." There's also a translated Q&A on
Destructoid where Tanimura
tells them the game has sold more than 2.3 million units.
This Kickstarter from Pantera Entertainment hopes to raise $80,000 to
develop Theme Park Studio, new amusement park design and simulation game.
Here's word on the flexibility they say this will feature: Theme Park
Studio is a powerful set of tools that allows players to build amazing theme
parks of their own design. The simulator includes a robust coaster editor that
is both easy to use and flexible, allowing rails to be bent, twisted, and shaped
into almost any design imaginable. With brakes, accelerators, tunnels, and
custom mesh, there is virtually no limit to what players can come up with.
Prefabricated templates also provide the ease of click-and-drop designs.
Theme Park Studio breaks new ground with its new custom flat rides designer, a
unique tool that gives players the opportunity to design, build, and invent
custom rides, or simply select from the extensive library of pre-built rides.
Extensive landscaping tools, custom scenery importing, and advanced vegetation
solutions that make trees, bushes and flowers react to wind and turbulence make
it possible to create stunning, picturesque environments. A full particle
effects editor delivers amazing and realistic visuals, and full 3D stereoscopic
support lets you experience your rides in eye-popping 3D. When your park is
complete, open the gates and watch guests tour your park and enjoy the coasters
and rides.
bitComposer announces it will be publishing Expeditions: Conquistador,
the recently
Kickstarted tactical role-playing game based on the exploration of the
Americas. The game was previously
expected in February,
but now bitComposer says to expect it by the end of this quarter: Eschborn,
April 12, 2013: Expeditions: Conquistador, a tactical role-playing game will be
out by end of the second quarter 2013, offering PC adventurers an exciting and
until now rarely used theme: the time of the exploration and conquest of the
Americas. Players will face difficult moral decisions as they attempt to
successfully lead an Expedition of NPCs through the harsh wilderness of the
historical New World. The game project, developed by Danish development studio
Logic Artists was completed with the aid of a successful Kickstarter campaign.
bitComposer Games will market Expeditions: Conquistador worldwide.
The
Boston Herald has word that lawmakers in Rhode Island are weighing the
possibility of defaulting on the $75 million loan to 38 Studios that's left the
state saddled with about $100 million in debt. This is an interesting approach
to a situation where their complaint is about the company's
failures of fiscal
responsibilty, and the story does reflect an unlikelihood that they will
actually default, noting that Governor Lincoln Chafee has said the state must
honor its debts. On the other hand: "38 Studios was national news," says Rep.
Charlene Lima, sponsor of a bill favoring default. "It was such bad publicity
and such an embarrassment. It's the reputation that this state has that only the
politically connected get anywhere. It's all about insider deals. That's what's
hurting economic development in our state." Thanks
GameSpot.
The Diablo III
Forums now offer the outcome of the second "Ask the Devs" session discussing
in-game with the folks behind Blizzard's action/RPG sequel. Many of the
questions about bugs and other long-standing oddities were posed, but enough of
the answers remain vague that there is
another thread
suggesting they not even bother with these in the future, though several posts
from Blizzard point out they've been asked to be more transparent about
plans, even when they are not yet concrete. The outcome certainly can be
confusing, as shown in these two sentences pulled from the same answer from game
designer Travis Day: Best-in-slot is a subjective term. What is the best
for one class or play style isn't necessarily the best for everyone.
[…]
The problem today is that we have items that are universally best-in-slot,
regardless of your class or build. Right now, items that are best-in-slot for a
Demon Hunter are probably also best-in-slot for a Monk, and that's one of the
big things we're looking to address.
We had a pretty nice window of sun in the midst of the rain yesterday, so I was
able to run out an put a proper grilling on the twin to the steak I ruined the
other night (it's not like we have an aged beef locker: the local big box store
has started selling two-packs of premium steaks that are the price of good
ground beef). This one came out a perfect medium rare, which made me happy. I
still have pangs of guilt over the other one, though. It will probably be a good
long time before I try putting another steak in the oven.
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