Archived News:
The promised Early Access to
Wasteland 2 is now available
on Steam, offering the
chance to buy into the beta testing of the post-apocalyptic RPG sequel.
Steam News says:
"Welcome back to the Citadel, Rangers! Join the over 70,000 Kickstarter backers
and interact with the development team to help shape the ending of an already
historic post-apocalyptic story. The Wasteland's hellish landscape has been
waiting for you to make your mark… or die trying."
The first Steam patch is now live, and here's a bit from inXile
entertainment on the release: Now, time was we could get a publisher to do
the beta for us… but like the United States in 2112, those days are long gone, a
windswept, radioactive memory. Like the Desert Rangers risin' from the ashes of
the old world, we’re building a new community, a new reality for the world as it
is: from the Kickstarter community to the Steam community, this new world only
works when people are weighing in with their ideas and impressions.
We’re starting out at $59.99 and you’re going to get a lot for your money over
time, including a truckload of digital extras, including:
-- A free copy of Wasteland 1 - The Original Classic
-- Two digital novellas set in The Wasteland world
-- Mark Morgan's Wasteland 2 OST in digital format
-- A digital concept art book
* We expect the final release price will be lower, but the free copy of
Wasteland 1 and the extra goodies are exclusive to Early Access
You also are joining our indie dev team. Your participation is going to make
this game better.
IGN speaks with Laurent Detoc, president of Ubisoft North America, who
explains Ubisoft's silence following a shakeup to the development team for
Rainbow Six: Patriots. Detoc now admits they basically had to start over on
the shooter sequel: "We had a core team. They had a good vision. They got
started, and then the game wasn’t working. So [they had] to start again," Detoc
explained. "There’s an editorial group in Ubisoft, a big group, very
influential. If the game is not good enough, they say it’s not good enough. Most
of the time, the team will say, ‘yeah, I know.’ But sometimes they want to
continue in a direction where you say, ‘no, it’s not going to work’." He goes on
to say the new console generation will benefit the final product, and he does
not rule out the prospect that the Patriots name and the proposed
counter-terrorism storyline may be ditched before it's all said and done.
Valve has released the first public version of SteamOS, offering
the promised chance to check out their
game-centric Linux fork. A
new SteamOS FAQ has all you need to know about this, and it seems advisable
to remember their earlier warning that a comfort level with Linux is advisable
before playing with this. Here's word on the origins of this: SteamOS
is a fork (derivative) of Debian GNU/Linux. The first version (SteamOS 1.0) is
called 'alchemist' and it is based on the Debian 'wheezy' (stable 7.1)
distribution.
The major changes made in SteamOS are:
- Backported eglibc 2.17 from Debian testing
- Added various third-party drivers and updated
graphics stack (Intel and AMD graphics support still being worked on)
- Updated kernel tracking the 3.10 longterm branch
(currently 3.10.11)
- Custom graphics compositor designed to provide a
seamless transition between Steam, its games and the SteamOS system overlay
- Configured to auto-update from the Valve SteamOS
repositories
Here's more Early Access on Steam, where
7 Days to Die is now
available in beta form, offering the chance to play this "survival horde
crafting game." Here's the deal: "Building on survivalist and horror themes,
players in 7 Days to Die can scavenge the abandoned cities of the buildable and
destructable voxel world for supplies or explore the wilderness to gather raw
materials to build their own tools, weapons, traps, fortifications and shelters.
In coming updates these features will be expanded upon with even more depth and
a wider variety of choices to survive the increasing dangers of the world. Play
alone or with friends, run your own server or join others."
Steam News announces the
release of Teslagrad
for Windows, OS X, and Linux, and the Windows and OS X versions are also on
GOG.com. Here's the
just released
launch trailer, and
here's word on the puzzle/platformer: Teslagrad is a 2D puzzle platformer
with action elements, where magnetism and other electromagnetic powers are the
key to go throughout the game, and thereby discover the secrets kept in the long
abandoned Tesla Tower. Gain new abilities to explore a non-linear world with
more than 100 beautiful hand-drawn environments, in a steampunk-inspired vision
of old Europe. You play as a young boy who suddenly finds himself embroiled in a
long-forgotten conspiracy, involving the despotic king who has ruled the nation
with an iron fist for several years. Jump into an outstanding adventure told
through voiceless storytelling, writing your own part. Armed with ancient
Teslamancer technology and your own ingenuity and creativity, your path lies
through the decrepit Tesla Tower and beyond.
Stick it to The Man! is now available
on Steam, offering a
Windows edition of this platformer that's already available for PS3 and PS Vita.
The game is available at a 40% discount for the next week. Here's a description
from Steam news: Meet
Ray, he lives in a world where everything is made out of paper and stickers. One
day he has an accident and wakes up with a giant pink spaghetti arm sticking out
of his brain. This gives him awesome powers and he can suddenly change the world
around him by folding it, tearing it, pulling stickers off and sticking them
elsewhere!
Link of the Day: Rap Boat.
NSFW (I think).
Startup Oculus VR is securing another $75 million in funding as they work to
bring affordable Oculus Rift virtual reality headsets to the public.
Wired.com
reports that this round of Series B funding should close today, adding to
$16 million in Series A funding raised in June
and the $2.4 million raised by
the project's Kickstarter for a total of over $93 million. The first units
for consumers are expected next
year, and according to Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe they are not looking to raise
any more capital between now and then: "We’re certainly planning for this
to be it as far as funding until the consumer version launches."
City Critters is now available as the seventh DLC pack for Painkiller
Hell & Damnation, The Farm 51's first-person shooter sequel. This is
available on Steam
separately or as part of the
game's DLC Bundle 2. Word is: "In the latest DLC for Painkiller Hell &
Damnation, players will be able to riot in an all-new urban environment and are
invited to unleash their Tarzan of doom in these concrete jungle surroundings."
One,
two,
three,
four,
new screenshots apparently from Alien Isolation are now available through
this Twitter account. There's no
word on their source, but a post
on Eurogamer says they have confirmed "they are indeed in-game screenshots
from Creative Assembly's new Alien game," though the mystery continues a bit, as
they don't say who confirmed this. The clips show a pair of space suits, a
computer monitor, a doorway, and the memorable 2D horizontal plane motion
tracker.
Happy Friday the 13th! I have to confess to being vaguely superstitious: I tend
to avoid saying things like "look, we're not hitting any traffic" to avoid
jinxing things, though I rationally know there is no causation there. On the
other hand, at I times wore number 13 when I played softball, and when I was
younger I owned the most awesome black cat in the world (a
Bombay), so I guess I
have a little cred to fall back on in this regard. Anyway, here's hoping you get
lucky today.
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