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Archived News:
Subject to the approval of the bankruptcy court, the results of the auction of
more of the assets of defunct publisher THQ
have been revealed besides word from
earlier that Gearbox now owns Homeworld. In this we learn that Gearbox
paid $1.35 million for the RTS series, Nordic games paid almost $5 million for
several IP, including Darksiders, Red Faction, and Supreme
Commander, and someone wanted the Drawn to Life franchise: The
$6.55 million sale of the IP assets breaks down as follows:
- $4.9 million from Nordic Games Licensing AB, a
Swedish-based video games publisher, for Darksiders, Red Faction, MX vs ATV,
Other Owned Software (includes Destroy all Humans!, Summoner and more), and
Other Licensed Software (includes Marvel Super Hero Squad, Supreme Commander
and more);
- $1.35 million from Gearbox Software, LLC, a Plano,
Tex.-based developer of interactive entertainment, for Homeworld; and
- $.3 million from 505 Games Srl, an Italian video
game publisher, for Drawn to Life and Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter.
The company expects the Bankruptcy Court to hear the sales motions on May 13,
2013 and to finalize the sale transactions thereafter.
Stardock announces a
release date for Fallen Enchantress - Legendary Heroes, saying the
strategy expansion is due on May 22nd as a standalone release, an expansion for
Fallen Enchantress, and a promised free upgrade for early adopters of Elemental:
War of Magic. Word is: "The expansion, Fallen Enchantress – Legendary Heroes,
picks up where Fallen Enchantress left off. The world of Elemental is seeing new
monsters invading the land and new champions have arisen to aid the player in
their quest to bring order and civilization back to the people. The expansion is
loaded with new features including a new champion system, an improved tactical
battle experience, a new leveling system, new monsters, more spells and quests,
larger map sizes, improved visuals, smarter AI, Steamworks achievements and much
more." The news is accompanied by minimum system specifications:
- OS:Windows 8 / 7 SP1 / Vista SP2 / XP SP3
- Processor:2.4 GHz Processor
- Memory:1 GB RAM
- Graphics:256 MB DirectX 9.0c Compliant Video Card
w/Pixel Shader 2.0 (Radeon x1600 / GeForce 6800)
- DirectX®:9.0c
- Hard Drive:5 GB HD space
- Sound:DirectX 9.0c Compatible Sound Card
- Additional: To activate this game you must create
a Stardock account while launching the game
Saints Row IV is not due until August, but Deep Silver announces a
Saints Row IV Commander in Chief Edition, a special version of the
"open-world and-other-PR-words" sequel that's offered as an incentive for
preordering. Here's word on the bonuses this entails, including an Uncle Sam
outfit in case you don't like being noticed, oddly, available in all
territories: Larkspur, Calif., - April 22, 2013 – All hail POTUS as Deep
Silver announces today that the Commander in Chief Edition for the upcoming
Saints Row IV™ is available as a free upgrade to pre-orders at major
freedom-retailers across North America. In this ball-busting, open-world
and-other-PR-words installment in the Saints Row franchise, developer Volition
continues the story of the Third Street Saints by elevating their status to the
highest level – the leaders of the free world.
But the leaders of the free world are under attack from an alien invasion in the
land of the free, and it’s up to you and your gang to save the world,
Saints-style. To help you combat the alien terrorists you will encounter, the
Commander in Chief Edition is a free upgrade for all pre-orders at participating
retailers and comes fully loaded with a Screaming Eagle that fires rockets out
of its talons and can invoke the “Sonic Scream” attack, leaving your enemies
dazed, confused and likely scarred for life.
Additionally, if you’re going to save the world you should look good while doing
it, which is why the Commander in Chief gives you a limited-edition Uncle Sam
uniform, made in the US of good ‘ol A (apple pie not included.) And since you
need the best [read: most ridiculously overpowered weapons ever conceived]
fighting tools available, Volition and Deep Silver are giving you a stimulus
package, “'Merica”, full of incredibly astonishing firepower: flamethrowers,
ultra-powered dub step guns and rocket launchers are yours for the taking. Crown
thy good with brotherhood, indeed.
The Commander in Chief Edition is priced at $59.99 (console) and $49.99 (PC).
The Commander in Chief Edition will be available globally.
The Mighty Quest For Epic Loot
website offers a new trailer for Ubisoft Montréal's upcoming meta-titled
free-to-play hack-and-slash game. Here's word on the game, the video, and the
current alpha test: SAN FRANCISCO – April 22th, 2013 – Today, Ubisoft®
unveiled the first gameplay trailer for The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot.
Developed by Ubisoft Montréal, the game puts players in an outrageous medieval
fantasy world called Opulencia where wealth, status and looting are the name of
the game.
In this video Sir Painhammer takes players through the world of Opulencia and
gives a lecture about the fundamentals of The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot:
stealing neighbours and protecting players’ treasure from their greed.
For ongoing updates about the game, and to register for Closed Alpha please
visit the official website:
www.themightyquest.com
Spring Sale on GamersGate.
Lots of weekly deals as well as new deals every day.
- Bastion on
GamersGate. Save 75%.
- Construct 2 on
Steam. Save 40%.
- Counter-Strike- Condition Zero on
Steam. Save 75%.
- Dead Island Riptide on
Green Man Gaming. Save 20% with coupon from
Dealzon.
- Double Fine Bundle on
GamersGate. Save 50%.
- Endless Space on
GamersGate. Save 50%.
- Euro Truck Simulator 2 on
GamersGate. Save 50%.
- Overlord Complete Pack on
GamersGate. Save 70%.
- Patrician IV Gold Edition on
GamersGate. Save 75%.
- Perimeter 2: New Earth on
Steam. Save 75%.
- Postal 2 Complete on
Steam. Save 60%.
- Post Mortem on
Steam. Save 75%.
- Primal Fears on
Steam. Save 50%.
- Resonance on
Steam. Save 75%.
- Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army on
GamersGate. Save 50%.
- Sonic Collection on
GamersGate. Save 70%.
- SpellForce on
GamersGate. Save 75%.
- Still Life 2 on
Steam. Save 75%.
- Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack on
Steam. Save 50%.
- Tropico Absolute Complete Pack on
GamersGate. Save 75%.
- Zombie Pirates on
Steam. Save 75%.
Gearbox Software announces they are the winner of the Homeworld IP
that was auctioned off as part of the bankruptcy of THQ (thanks nin). TeamPixel
indicated that the rights to the sci-fi RTS series had been sold to someone
other than them last
week in announcing refunds for their Kickstarter to buy the IP. Here's word
from Gearbox: Gearbox Software has prevailed as the highest bidder in the
acquisition of the Homeworld franchise from THQ. Brian Martel, Gearbox
Software's Chief Creative Officer, has great love and respect for Relic's
brilliant, fun and innovative game and personally spearheaded the acquisition.
Brian intends as first priority to direct Gearbox's interest to preserve and
assemble the purest form of the original acclaimed and beloved games, Homeworld
and Homeworld 2, with the intent of making them accessible on today's leading
digital platforms.
Please visit the
Gearbox
Software Forums to share with us and Brian what you think should be done
with Homeworld moving forward. And, please try to get our attention if you have
capability and interest to join the effort in developing or enabling Homeworld's
future.
Ubisoft announces a release date for Call of Juarez Gunslinger, saying
the next installment in their western shooter series will be released for
Windows and consoles via digital distribution and retail on May 22nd for USD
$14.99. They also announce that preorders of the game will include a free copy
of Call Of Juarez: Bound in Blood, and that preorders through their Uplay
service will include a pack of legendary weapons, though
the link they include for this
promotion seems to be broken at the moment. Here's word on the
game: Call of Juarez® Gunslinger is a real homage to the Wild West tales
and era. Players will live the epic journey of Silas Greaves, a ruthless bounty
hunter who spent his life on the trail of the West’s most notorious outlaws. Now
it is Silas’ time to tell his story, which is linked to the history of the Wild
West era: a mix of myths and historical facts.
Made of memorable encounters with some of the West’s most notorious names such
as Pat Garret, Jesse James and Butch Cassidy, the game blurs the lines between
man and myth. Call of Juarez® Gunslinger lets players live the greatest legends
of the Old West.
The Virtuix Omni website shows off a
prototype of the Virtuix Omni, which adds
fancy footwork to the virtual reality gaming experience with an "omni treadmill"
to track player movement. Their videos
page has clips showing this being used with Crysis Warhead and Skyrim as
well as for exercise, and
here's a trailer noted by
HotHardware (thanks Ant via
Slashdot), showing it being used in conjunction with an Oculus Rift headset
to play Team Fortress 2, demonstrating how it tracks player movement and
orientation for some next-level holodeck style gameplay. Word is they are in the
process of preparing a Kickstarter campaign to develop this for production.
Here's more: The Omni is the first omni treadmill that is affordable for
household consumers, fits in a living room, and above all, enables the user to
walk freely and naturally in virtual environments.
Applications of omni-directional movement in virtual reality stretch far beyond
gaming: training and simulation, fitness and exercising, virtual tourism,
virtual tradeshows and events, virtual meet-ups and multi-person adventures,
virtual workplaces, virtual museums, physical therapy, VR architecture, VR
concerts, etc. The possibilities are limitless. Virtual reality is the
future.
NYTimes.com offers "Curt Schilling, Rhode Island and the Fall of 38
Studios," a very lengthy and detailed look at the startup studio that ended up
costing baseball star Curt Schilling and the state of Rhode Island a lot of
money. Nobody comes out looking too good after all this, as the article details
the naïveté of game development neophyte Schilling taking on the most ambitious
type of game in undertaking an MMORPG, and the sketchy history of politics in
Rhode Island ("Rhode Islanders are used to being played by their politicians.
What makes them cringe is the suspicion that virtually all their elected leaders
might have been played by someone else."). They touch on an interstate rivalry
with Massachusetts which played a part in Rhode Island's overreach here, and the
behind-the-scenes machinations to facilitate the state's hefty loan to the
company, which prompted the one dissenting voter to say: "Scandal finds money."
The article is filled with detail on problems inherent in this situation, such
as 38 Studios needing to control costs at the same time they were trying to live
up to the pumped-up promise that they would bring new jobs to the state and how
former 38 Studios CEO Brett Close urged releasing Amalur in smaller phases,
rather than "trying to build the skyscraper horizontally and then standing it
up." They sum up the current legal proceedings between Rhode Island and
Schilling, and offer this interesting take: "At bottom, 38 Studios may be that
rare political scandal that grew not from any lies that anyone told the public,
but from the stories that desperate politicians told themselves." Thanks nin via
Kotaku.
Here's the new
GfK Chart-Track list of the 20 bestselling full-priced PC games in the U.K.
for the week ending April 20th. We have the same top five games this week with a
bit of shuffling, with SimCity holding onto the top spot. There is a new number
one on
the all-platforms chart, where Injustice: Gods Among Us takes the top spot
an Fire Emblem: Awakening is the new number three. Here's
their blurb on the new
charts: Warner’s ‘Injustice: Gods Among Us’ debuts at No1 and is the first
Warner No1 since ‘Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes’ which debuted back in week 25,
2012 and held on to the top spot for 5 consecutive weeks. ‘Injustice’ is a
fighting game from Netherrealm, the Warner studio that brought us the ‘Mortal
Kombat’ reboot which debuted at No2 back in week 16, 2011 (behind ‘Portal 2’ in
that week).
The last fighting game to gain a No1 footing was THQ’s ‘UFC Undisputed 3’ back
in week 7, 2012 which sold almost exactly the same amount in week 1 as
‘Injustice’, with both games released for 360/PS3. 2K/Take 2’s ‘Bioshock
Infinite’ (-43%) drops to No2 after 3 weeks at the top and at No3 we have the
only other new entry of the week, Nintendo’s 3DS ‘Fire Emblem: Awakening’ which
launched alongside a limited edition 3DS XL Blue, taking 31% of all 3DS XL
hardware sales this week, helping 3DS XL hardware sales to increase 49% over the
previous week.
Wargaming is rewarding players with in-game currency in World of Tanks for changing
their passwords. This went down last week, we just noticed word on
GameSpot. This
page has the details, and while we see reports this move is in response to
a security breach, the article doesn't mention that.
Happy Earth Day! Here's hoping you got the Earth something nice, and no, a card
won't cut it. As my elementary school principal once said: "Every day should be
Earth Day." And he was a bit of a sociopath, so that tells you something, though
maybe more about me than Earth Day. Anyway, here's to a good one. And hug a tree or
something.
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