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Archived News:
The Dota
2 blog has details on "Transitioning Into Launch Mode" for Valve's upcoming
MOBA, giving some concrete news to make up for the
innacurate report that the game no
longer requires invitations, saying they are indeed "retiring" the invite system
soon, but not just yet, so those sitting on invitations should use them. They do
indicate the process of adding more players will be done carefully with the
expressed goal of disrupting the existing playerbase as little as possible. As a
result, they say they "aren’t sure how long this is going to take," which has no
Valve Time
precedent.
Steam News announces the
release of Fist Puncher.
Here's word on this throwback brawler from Adult Swim: Return to the glory
days of sidescrolling beat-em-ups, courtesy of developers Team2Bit and Adult
Swim Games. The sinister Milkman holds the city of Las Cruces in his nasty
criminal grip, and it’s up to legendary black belt neurosurgeon Dr. Karate and
the rest of the Fist Puncher team to deliver old-school justice to the lawless
streets.
Steam News announces the
release of a free update for
Surgeon Simulator 2013 that adds Team Fortress 2 characters to the game
where medical practice rarely makes perfect. There's a clip showing the Medic
preparing to work on the Heavy, which may not go well. Here's word: In a
very rare agreement with Valve, the Bossa developers have integrated two
characters from the seminal TF2: the Medic and the Heavy. Inspired by Valve’s
“Meet The Medic” video, these characters will now take the roles of Nigel and
Bob in the game that set the internet alight this year, with around 1 million
Let’s Play videos now uploaded to YouTube, garnering well in excess of 70
million video views.
Two Tribes announces a delay for the release of Toki Tori 2+ on Steam,
saying the enhanced edition of their console puzzle/platformer is now due on
July 11th, rather than July 2nd, as
they originally announced, joking
that the setback is a "a time honored Two Tribes tradition." A
new blog
post has details on the delay as well as word on pricing, a launch discount,
and loyalty coupons.
The
Kickstarter for Armikrog has less than a week to go, and to help push
this claymation adventure game from Doug TenNapel and the creators of The
Neverhood, Pencil Test Studios is now offering original artwork as an add-on
award for backers, saying this will be "one-of-a-kind illustrations and
paintings of Tommynaut, Klaymen, and Earthworm Jim." Here's more from
an
update by Mike Dietz: "We just posted a new add-on: a bunch of character
sketches that I'll be drawing. To be honest, I've always found it a little
strange that anyone would assign any value to a drawing I've done, because to me
they're just drawings... I'd be off in a corner drawing whether it was my job or
not, it's just what I've always done. Ed talked me into offering these as
add-ons, so I hope you enjoy them. They're available as digital downloads or as
original pencil drawings on 8.5x11 animation paper. As an interesting side note,
the paper I'll be drawing these on is from a supply of animation paper we have
left over from the Neverhood -- it's the same batch of paper I used to draw all
the Willie Trombone movie player animation from the Neverhood."
A new trailer from
March of War offers an introduction to this upcoming MMOTBS game in the
works at Dutch developer ISOTX. The clip features gameplay footage and developer
commentary from ISOTX CEO Vincent van Geel, creative director on the project.
Continue here to read the full story.
Link of the Day: Thanks,
Textbooks. Just wow. Thanks Ant.
GosuGamers notes that Valve has quietly removed the requirement of a beta
key for Dota 2, though this is not the case for those playing the MOBA
game in China. Sure enough, checking on the game's listing on Steam included the
message: "You already own Dota 2." Thanks
Videogamer. Update: Apparently there was confusion here with spectator mode, and keys are still required to play the game. Apologies for the error.
The
Arma 3 website announces Bohemia Interactive's military shooter will
transition next week from the alpha phase into beta testing. This means there is only a limited time to get in on the lower
price of the alpha: Today Bohemia Interactive confirmed the 25th of June
as the official release date for the Arma 3 Beta. Building upon the
well-received Arma 3 Alpha, the Arma 3 Beta features a varied selection of brand
new content – including 10 vehicles, 7 weapons, 4 showcase missions (Combined
Arms, Supports, Commanding & Night), 2 multiplayer scenarios and 4 challenges.
Set against the beautiful backdrop of Stratis (20 km²), the Arma 3 Beta turns
its focus towards firepower and logistics. The Challenges game mode will also be
making its first appearance, enabling players to practice their weapons handling
and movement across a selection of firing drills. Plus, all of the content from
the Arma 3 Alpha will be available, alongside the popular scenario editor and
modding support.
“Having just showed off the Beta for Arma 3 at E3 2013, we are keen to get it
into gamers' hands quickly. Bringing some heavy firepower and additional
transport options will allow for more diverse scenarios in both singleplayer and
multiplayer. We also can't wait to open up the Steam Workshop scenario
publication, which will make content-sharing with other players much more
convenient.“ Joris-Jan van ‘t Land, Project Lead on Arma 3 People who are
currently participating in the Arma 3 Alpha will gain access to the Arma 3 Beta
through an automatic Steam update. Those who are new to Arma 3 can join in by
purchasing the Arma 3 Beta (which includes a version of the full game) from
Steam or Store.bistudio.com.
The price of the Arma 3 Beta, in comparison to the Arma 3 Alpha, will be
increased. The regular Arma 3 Beta will be available for 34.99 EUR/29.99
GBP/44.99 USD (current price: 24.99 EUR/19.99 GBP/32.99 USD), while the Arma 3
Digital Deluxe Edition will be sold for 44.99 EUR/39.99 GBP/59.99 USD (current
price: 39.99 EUR/34.99 GBP/49.99 USD). Please note that the current (heavily
discounted) Alpha deal, which includes Beta-access and the full game, will still
be available until Tuesday June 25th.
Those who would like to sponsor development further have the option to purchase
the Arma 3 Supporter Edition (69.99 EUR/59.99 GBP/91.99 USD) from
Store.bistudio.com. The Arma 3 Alpha Lite, a free but limited variant of the
Arma 3 Alpha, will be discontinued after June 25th.
GameInformer has word that troubled developer Team Bondi has raised some
development capital for Whore of the Orient, their planned next project.
Word is backer KMM has secured a modest grant, with the John in this case being
Australia: "KMM has received $200,000 in funding from New South Wales'
Interactive Media Fund. Screen NSW, the entity that handles the funding, is the
governmental organization that handles filming and related activities in and
around Sydney, Australia." $200K wouldn't pay for the pencil holders at 38
Studios, so it is probably not enough to complete the game, but as Game Informer
notes, this is a sign that the project still lives.
ArenaNet announces plans to patch Guild Wars 2 next week with a new
content update called Sky Pirates of Tyria for the MMORPG sequel. This is
scheduled for June 25th, and
this
page has details on what the new version will offer and a schedule of
related in-game events. There are more details in this announcement we received
directly: ArenaNet today announced the latest Guild Wars® 2 content
update, Sky Pirates of Tyria, which will is scheduled to go live on June 25. The
update brings players a robust update to the ongoing Living World saga, along
with a new dungeon to explore, new events, rewards and features, not to mention
the announcement that Custom Arenas and Spectator Mode is coming out of beta.
In regards to the Living Story content, Lion’s Arch is in chaos following a
murder at the Dragon Bash. Inspector Ellen Kiel is spearheading the
investigation and is gathering teams of deputies to capture the perpetrator.
Players will need to sharpen their weapons and skills to track down the slippery
culprit responsible for the crime. Players will join together and partake in
multiple events that will lead them through thrilling content and discoveries as
part of this update.
Nordic Games announces that the Heaven's Above DLC is now available for
Painkiller Hell & Damnation, the fifth such content release for The Farm
51's first-person shooter. Well, it's normally an FPS, as one of the features in
this DLC is a new top-down mode, saying: "With this never before seen viewpoint,
players will be able to take in even more of the run and gun action as they take
control of the battlefield from above." The pack is available
on Steam, and carries a
25% discount for the next week. Here's
a trailer and here's
more: Included in the DLC pack is 5 campaign maps; Graveyard, Town, Babel,
Angkor, and Pentagon which can be played in both single player and co-op mode.
Players will encounter bigger and badder boss fights that can be won using any
of the Vanilla Painkiller Hell & Damnation weapons plus the throwable mine!
“We’ve made a commitment to release several DLCs throughout this year to ensure
that we provide players with the best Painkiller experience possible,” said
Reinhard Pollice, Business & Product Development Director at Nordic Games. “It
started as an internal idea, then we prototyped Painkiller with top-down
gameplay and it looked promising so we were eager to further explore the idea
which ultimately led to this DLC. We know that this has the potential to be
something bigger but at the moment we’re looking forward to offer this rare
experience to our community and are excited to see their reaction.”
A tweet
from almost two weeks ago that we missed at the time (thanks
PC Gamer) has word from Mojang that Scrolls became profitable just
one week into open beta testing of the card-based strategy game. Word is: "Wow.
The revenue for one week of Scrolls in open beta now covers the entire
development cost. The game is profitable!"
A new trailer shows
off the first five or so minutes of gameplay from Tiny Tina's Assault on
Dragon Keep, the next DLC for Borderlands 2, Gearbox's role-playing
first-person shooter. The DLC is due next week for those holding out to play it
rather than watch it. Continue here to read the full story.
Happy summer to all of us in the Northern hemisphere, as the solstice passed at
around 1:00 am today, and the weather now has an excuse for being so hot. And to
those below the equator, happy winter!
Also, congrats to Miami on their back-to-back NBA titles. Personally, I was
rooting for the Spurs, being one of those who was turned off by the circus
surrounding Le LeBron taking his talents to South Beach. Pulling for Tim Duncan
did strike me as a little odd in light of that, since the Spurs drafted him by
compiling the third-worst record in the league during the lone season in the
last 24 years that they missed the playoffs. I am not alone in thinking they
dumped games along the way to hurt their record that year and help their draft
chances, and if that's true, it's a lot sketchier than a simple free-agent
signing.
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