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Archived News:
Matrix Games announces Civil War II, a strategy game based on the
second American Civil War. No wait, that's not right: it is in fact a sequel to
American Civil War - The Blue and the Gray, Ageod's first game based on the war
between the states. A product
page has details and images, and
this page is accepting signups
for beta testers. Here's word: After the great success of American Civil
War - The Blue and the Gray, Ageod has built on its success with many more
features and content in this sequel to the classic game of the genre. The game
covers the entire USA, from the Eastern seaboard to the Rockies, from 1861 to
1865. It also stretches to Mexico and the Northern Caribbean. There are 5 main
scenarios from the battle of Shiloh all the way up to the Grand Campaign.
The map is divided into more than 3,000 regions, which contain a variety of
terrain, climates and civil development level. There are over 400 historical
leaders with historically characteristic strengths and weaknesses. The model
covers features such as Weather, Attrition, Supply, Fog of War and more!
Steam is offering early
access to Akaneiro: Demon Hunters, the action/RPG from American McGee and
Spicy Horse Studios. This is the revamped version of the game they recently
Kickstarted, and the early access will help ready it for release. Here's word,
which also tips the availability of a Linux beta: Grab the game now for
just $9.99 and get $30 worth of in-game currency and items, as well as an
exclusive item that you can only get via Steam Early Access. The Early Access
phase will help the Spicy Horse team improve the game in preparation for its
full Steam release, which will be free to play.
The Steam version of Akaneiro: Demon Hunters was made possible by thousands of
gamers who backed Spicy Horse’s successful Kickstarter campaign, which raised
more than $200k to expand and enhance the game. A Linux beta is also available
for download at
http://spicyworld.spicyhorse.com
Thanks j.c.f. and Acleacius.
Develop has a statement from IO Interactive saying that the developer
is in pre-production on a new triple-A Hitman game, which is their sole
focus after they have laid off almost half their staff and cancelled other
studio projects, saying this "difficult decision" was made to help "face the
challenges of today's market." Here's the bad news: We are making
significant changes at IO Interactive as we align our business against a
changing and challenging market.
Hannes Seifert, formerly Production Director for 3 years at the studio, will
take over the position of Studio Head at IO. The studio will focus resolutely on
the future vision for the Hitman franchise and is in pre-production on a new
triple-A Hitman project.
However we have taken the difficult decision to cancel other studio projects and
initiatives at IO and reduce the workforce in this studio, which will impact
almost half of the employees currently at IO, as we make internal adjustments to
face the challenges of today’s market.
For those affected, we are extremely grateful for the hard work which they have
contributed, and where it’s possible and appropriate to relocate staff to open
positions at other studios within the group, we will try to do so. We are also
reaching out to other companies for outplacement opportunities. We sincerely
wish them well in their future careers.
Meanwhile, if you are part of a company that is looking for additional
development talent, please contact us directly at
info@ioi.dk.
A post on NeoGAF
has an unverified, but legitimate-looking invitation to participate in a trial
alpha test for Battlefield 4. This says the version being testing is quite
incomplete, being an alpha and all, describing how there will be missing
textures, choppy performance, server lag, and downtime. This also says a strict
NDA is in place, so we shouldn't expect to hear impressions of the alpha from
those who are selected (thanks
Strategy Informer). There's a
fuller image of the invite from
MP1st (thanks
VG247 via
PC Gamer) with recommended system specs, indicating this will support
neither Windows 8 nor 32-bit Windows: OS: Vista SP2, Win7
Windows 8 not supported
64-bit! 32-bit not supported
DX10 or DX11 GPU with 1+ GB of RAM,
DX11 Highly recommended
25GB Free HDD space required
Latest Origin version required.
Community-run site
ValveTime has a confirmation from Valve of plans to officially launch
Dota 2 this summer. Valve's MOBA game is currently in the beta stage, but a
report in
PC Gamer Magazine says they game will be released prior to
The International 3
in August, and they got an email reply from Valve's Erik Johnson confirming that
this is the plan, subject, of course to the vagaries of their site's namesake
Valve Time.
GFK Chart-Track lists the 20 bestselling full-price PC games in the U.K for
the week ending June 15th, showing Football Manager 2013 still kicking
balls and taking names. Their
PC budget-price list has a new number one, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim,
which seems to mark the RPG's sequel debut as a budget title. Finally, on the
big board of their
all platforms all prices list: The Last of Us is, well, first. Here's
their blurb: Naughty
Dog’s critically acclaimed PS3 exclusive ‘The Last Of Us’ becomes Sony’s first
All Formats No1 since ‘Uncharted: Golden Abyss’ on Vita back in W8 2012.
It is the 3rd fastest selling game of 2013 behind ‘Tomb Raider’ and ‘Bioshock
Infinite’ and the biggest launch for a new IP since ‘L.A Noire’ in W20 2011. The
industry also receives a well needed shot in the arm from Nintendo’s ‘Animal
Crossing: New Leaf’ which debuts at No2 with the biggest 3DS launch since ‘Mario
Kart 7’ and the biggest 3DS launch ever for a non-Mario title. ‘Grid 2’ (-45%)
slips from top spot to No3 while ‘Tomb Raider’ (+53%) enjoys the spoils of a
price promotion, climbing from No7 to No4. After 3 weeks at No2, ‘FIFA 13’
(-32%) has to settle for No5 this week, ahead of a resurgent previous No1
‘Injustice: Gods Among Us’ (+47%), back in the Top 10 at No6 thanks to
competitive retailer pricing.
‘Far Cry 3’ (-1%) remains Ubisoft’s top seller, down from No5 to No7, while the
2 week old Legendary Edition of Skyrim (-6%) falls 4 places to No8. Animal
Crossing isn’t the only 3DS Top 10 title this week as sales of ‘Luigi’s Mansion
2’ are up 18%, minimising its drop to just one place to No9. ‘Assassin’s Creed
III’ (+18%) is a non-mover at No10, while outside the Top 10 there is a new
entry for ‘Rugby Challenge 2: The Lions Tour Edition’ at No12.
Kalypso Media announces a boxed edition of Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
is now available from retailers in select EMEA territories comprising the U.K.,
Scandinavia, Greece, Portugal, South Africa, Russia, the Middle East, and Asia.
They offer a new UK teaser
trailer to celebrate the release, along with a reminder of what the game is
all about: Sins: Rebellion is the next instalment of the hugely popular
and award winning RT4X title Sins of a Solar Empire. The standalone
expansion contains all of the content from the prior Sins’ titles and will
further grow the Sins universe with a wealth of new features including a new
story thread, new ship classes, new faction technologies, six massive Titans as
well as updated graphics and effects, AI enhancements and multiplayer
optimisations.
Continue here to read the full story.
Oops, I just noticed the Twitter feed here has not been updating... I'm looking
into that, by which I mean to say I have asked Frans to see if he can figure out
what's gone wrong there. In the meantime apologies for the inconvenience.
R.I.P.:
Bernard Sahlins Dead- Co-Founder Of Second City Theater Dies At 90.
R.I.P.:
Thomas Penfield Jackson, Outspoken Judge, Dies at 76. Judge in MS antitrust
ruling. Thanks
Slashdot.
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