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Archived News:
Steam now offers digital
distribution of the Windows edition of Sacred Citadel, Deep Silver's and
Southend's new brawler set in the Sacred universe. A new
Sacred Citadel release
trailer celebrates the occasion, and here's word on the game: Sharpen
your axe, string your bow, brew your potions! Ancaria needs heroes like you.
Grab your friends to join the resistance!
The once peaceful land of Ancaria is in grave danger. The evil Ashen empire has
enslaved its population and is using the orc-like Grimmoc to wipe out the
Seraphim, who swore to protect it. In order to defeat the empire you will have
to prove yourself as a warrior by riding terrifying mounts, acquiring earth
shattering skills and looting powerful weapons and valuable treasures. Grab your
friends and join the resistance!
Paradox Interactive announces the release of Victoria II: Heart of Darkness,
the new Joseph Conrad-inspired expansion for their imperialistic strategy
sequel. Here's an outline of the game's prerequisites and discounts that lower
the bar to enter: "Victoria II: Heart of Darkness is available on all major
digital download portals for $19.99. Select retailers are also offering up to
75% off the original Victoria II and its first expansion, A House Divided—which
are both required to play Heart of Darkness. Three small DLC packs—German Unit
pack, Interwar Engineer Unit pack, and Songs of the Civil War music pack—are
also available for $1.99 each." Here's word on the add-on: Victoria II:
Heart of Darkness offers a competitive and cutthroat colonization experience,
and introduces new crisis mechanics that forces the Great Powers to pay
attention to seemingly quiet corners of the world. A revised naval system fills
in the gaps between ironclads and dreadnoughts and the customizable newspaper
feature guarantees that you can follow major developments half a globe
away.
Kerberos Productions announces Mind Games (or do they?), an upcoming expansion
for Sword of the Stars: The Pit that will add new characters and gameplay
along with additional content to their sci-fi turn-based strategy game. They say
this should launch in July after a beta in June, which players will be able to
join if they preorder the game. Here's a feature list:
- 2 New Playable Characters to choose from! In
addition to the original game’ Marine, Pilot and Engineer characters, a new
Human Psion is added and the first playable alien — the Tarka Ranger
- 10 New Floors of ancient, evil science to beat —
in addition to the original 30
- New Room Types, including Open Artificial Areas
- New traps, new weapons, new items, and new recipes
- New game mechanics, including Psionic Powers
- New Psionic monsters and enemies drawn from the
Sword of the Stars universe
- 2 New Play Modes, “Infinite” Mode and “Seriously?”
Mode — a Level of Difficulty Beyond Insane
- Expanded Meta-Game aspects, including the Ability
to “Bank” XP and spare items during one session and start the next run of
the game on a deeper level, with your “Banked” starting equipment.
Big Robot announces preorders of Sir, You Are Being Hunted are now
available (thanks nin via
Joystiq). Word is preordering can get you early access along with all the
cool kids who supported their Kickstarter: Lots to come in the next few
weeks, but we’re starting with the pre-order, thanks to those lovely folk at
Humble. Pre-order folk will get early access in our second round of testing
prior to release, along with the base Kickstarter tiers. This will come about a
month after the Kickstarter early access tiers get their access. This will all
kick off at some point in the summer. It’s so close we can taste it!
The
Kickstarter page for Guns of Icarus Online—Adventure Mode announces
the successful funding of this version of Guns of Icarus Online with large-scale
PvE support, as they have passed the $100k mark. Word is: "This primary goal
covers the costs associated with creating AI controlled ships, planes, and
missions/maps dedicated to a PvE setting." They now turn their attention towards
their stretch goals, which have major milestones at $350K and $500K and
incremental goals from every $50K from here to $900K (along with a
pie-in-the-sky goal of $1.5 million and a pie factory-on-the-moon goal at $10
million).
Joystiq by way of
All Games Beta has word on a titanic trademark filing by Respawn
Entertainment, where they have registered "Titan," which is also the codename
for Blizzard's upcoming MMOG, surely a coincidence, since Respawn founders Jason
West and Vince Zampella have
so little history with
Activision. There's not much on what this signifies,
the trademark is for: "Video and computer game programs; video games discs;
video game software." Thanks nin.
These patch notes have
details on a new update that's now live in
MechWarrior Online, which is described as the game's "first step toward
launch later this summer" as it adds in-game team structure as part of an update
that implements in-game Commanders, Lance Leaders, and overall Lance structure,
called the key precursor to the 12 v 12 matches to be added later this spring.
Besides new Mechs for purchase in the mech lab, they say: "Other new features
include new user-friendly UI tips, loading tips, and host state rewind for
ballistic weapons all wrapped in a new pattern fans can grab now from the Mech
Bay, the Fractal pattern."
The Metro: Last Light website
offers a second Ranger
Survival Guide video even though the first person-shooter sequel isn't due
for another month, since Sun Tzu places such emphasis on preparation. So what's
this about? Glad you asked: "The second video in a series of three, “Enemy
Danger” prepares the player against the hostile inhabitants of the Metro, both
human and mutant. While deadly creatures control the desolate Moscow wastelands,
the human survivors, having splintered into extremist factions, gangs of
bandits, and the order of Rangers, try to maintain a hold on the tunnels of the
Metro. To stand up to them, the player has a choice: will he try to sneak past
the threats, save their lives and rare ammunition, or will he seek direct
face-off to wipe them out once for all? Both ways carry risks and every action
has consequences within the tunnels of the Metro."
The
Bethesda Blog has word on the availability of The Knife of Dunwall,
the new story-based add-on for Dishonored, Arkane's action/stealth game.
They say it's available now in all territories for Windows and Xbox 360, and
will be released for PlayStation 3 in North America later today and in Europe
tomorrow. Word is: "THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN In Dishonored: The Knife of
Dunwall take on the role of Daud, the legendary assassin who killed the Empress.
This second add-on pack for the award-winning first person action game from
Arkane Studios gives you a new perspective on Daud, and access to his weapons,
gadgets, allies and supernatural abilities."
Bethesda
Softworks tweets a teaser video on
Vine showing some flashes of images with no explanation of what it is. As
for what it is not,
Pete Hines
tweets a response to shoot down speculation that this is a Fallout tease,
saying: "Guess again." Thanks nin via
Kotaku.
Out of the
Park Developments now offers Out of the Park Baseball 14, the latest
installment in their sports simulation series for Windows, Linux, and OS X. The
game has garnered endorsements from athletes, including
Curt Schilling, wrestler
Steve Corino, and relief pitcher
Pat Neshek, with Schilling saying: "There is no comparison to any sports sim
I've ever played." The new version can be purchased
on this page
where they have details on the many changes from last year's edition. Here's an
overview: OOTP 14 lets players run a major league team from top to bottom,
setting lineups and pitching rotations, determining defensive and offensive
strategies, and making dozens of game-time decisions, such as when to steal a
base or employ a hit-and-run. A play-by-play text stream, combined with a visual
representation of what's happening on the field and such audio effects as the
crack of the bat and the roar of the crowd, make an OOTP game session feel like
a radio broadcast.
Between games, players define scouting budgets, make trades, handle the amateur
draft, scour the waiver wire, sign free agents, negotiate contract extensions,
demote underperforming players to the minors and call up hot prospects, manage
team finances, and more. Many tasks can be delegated to computer-controlled
personnel, letting players focus on the aspects of baseball management that
appeal to them most.
OOTP also features solo or online play, an historical mode featuring all seasons
from 1871 through 2012, the ability to create custom leagues stocked with
fictional players, a staggering set of league reports, and a realistic
statistical engine based on modern baseball theory such as DIPS (Defense
Independent Pitching Statistics).
Matrix Games announces Conflict of Heroes: Ghost Divisions, the first
expansion for Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear, the World War II tactical
strategy game. Word is: "Similar to the Awakening the Bear release, Conflict of
Heroes: Ghost Divisions adds new content that has never been available before to
Conflict of Heroes players, while staying true to the original board game rules.
It also adds an exciting new feature – the ability to play any campaign
multiplayer against a human opponent!" They say the release is imminent, and
that this requires ownership of Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear and it
"will also work with the upcoming Conflict of Heroes: Storms of Steel."
Soldak Entertainment
now offers a mod SDK for Drox Operative, allowing players to exercise
their creativity within their sci-fi action/RPG. Word is: "The SDK has a lot of
documentation on how to mod Drox Operative, a few example mods, and a few tools
(font/model related)." They also outline rules for mods, which basically center
around not stealing anyone's IP.
This video offers over
17 minutes of multiplayer gameplay footage from Rise of the Triad, the
upcoming remake of, well, Rise of the Triad. Fighting the trend of shooters
growing slower to accommodate regenerating health and other soul-crushing
elements, the clip shows the game's throwback movement speed, which seems as
fast as the original DOOM, which we recall had players running at the equivalent
of 90 MPH. Continue here to read the full story.
With the
Kickstarter for Infinite Space 3: Sea of Stars about 25% from its
initial goal, Digital Eel
offers a look at some concept art from the upcoming space adventure sequel
and reveal stretch goals for the project. If they surpass their $30K goal by
$10K the game will include the Space-o-Tron, described as "a digital
encyclopedia that combines a game manual with all kinds of cool background
information and stories about the intelligent species of Infinite Space." If the
campaign hits the $50K mark, they will create OS X and Linux editions to
accompany the Windows version. Finally, if they raise $60K, they will add the
Enhanced Combat Simulator, an improved version of Ripcord's Combat School in
Weird Worlds they say is "practically its own game mode" with pre-defined
scenarios and a scenario editor.
The first teaser trailer
for Ashes Cricket 2013 celebrates the approaching release of the next
installment in the sports simulation series. You now how sometimes a publisher
releases a trailer that's basically 30 seconds of a 3D unveiling? Yep, this is
one of those.
Kotaku - We Need Better Video Game Publishers.
To give you an idea about how bad publisher influence can be, consider
this: during production meetings, publishing execs often have someone—often
the developer—“drive” a game so they can see how it is coming together. The
publishing people all watch and then make passive, aesthetic appraisals of
active, functional aspects of a game. This is because the bulk of execs
can’t and don’t want to play or understand how games work. They don’t want
to play. This would be akin to editors in literary publishing being unable
to read or write.
It's very sad about the bombings in Boston yesterday, as it is any such attacks,
and our sympathies are with all those effected by this. The world we live in is
a violent and complicated place, and unfortunately the innocent are so often the
victims. This is another of those times when words don't seem to suffice.
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