Archived News:
A new update to the
Kickstarter Page for Akaneiro: Demon Hunters discusses continued
support for the action/RPG, revealing the project has put developer Spicy Horse
in serious debt, which has lead to downsizing the game's support staff to just
two developers (thanks nin via
Joystiq). American McGee explains they've put about $2 million into the
game, which only raised a tenth of that through crowd-sourced funding and a
twentieth of that in revenue. "In simple math: We've spent $2 million, we've
made $300k," he explains. "We're 'in the hole' $1.7 million." Here's what that
means to the future of the game, the studio, and their next project: Given
this situation, we now have no choice but to radically alter the approach we're
taking to maintaining and improving the game. The core development team has been
reduced in size to just two people. They will continue to address bugs and make
improvements while working towards goals like multi-player and tablet support,
but progress will be slower. Depending on the success of our other remaining
title, The Gate, we may one day find ourselves in a position to throw greater
resources at Akaneiro. We certainly hope that will be the case.
What's written here quickly in a few paragraphs represents some truly painful
internal decisions and adjustments. Our Shanghai-based development team recently
underwent downsizing so that all resources can be directed towards the one game
that offers the greatest chance of bringing much-needed stability to our studio.
If we can achieve our goals with The Gate, then we can bring greater attention
to Akaneiro.
Life as an independent developer is filled with the constant threat of failure.
This isn't the first time in our 8 year history we've faced this sort of
challenge. It's not the first time we've had to reduce staff on one of our
games. It is different because of the demand for transparency that comes with
being a part of Kickstarter. In providing transparency like this, I am asking
for your understanding and I am hoping for your support.
Preorders of The Elder Scrolls Online are now being accepted on
the official website for
Bethesda Softworks' upcoming MMORPG through the
newly launched Elder
Scrolls Online Official Store. There are both physical and digital editions,
and each of these is available as an " Imperial
Edition," and the physical/retail Imperial Edition indeed contains the
bonuses revealed earlier via a leak.
There are also pre-order bonuses to be had, including early access for Windows
and OS X players, listed as five days for all of the SKUs except the standard
retail version, which for some reason comes with only a three day headstart.
For bargain hunters who are interested in this,
Dealzon has a coupon for 12 bucks off when buying from
Green Man Gaming. Here's the just-released
opening cinematic from the game, and here are the bonuses that come with all
preorders:
- The characters you create can join any alliance,
no matter which race you choose
- The Scuttler, a tiny but loyal vanity pet
- A bundle of four bonus treasure maps
Continue here to read the full story.
Gamereactor UK reports that preorders of a still-unannounced PC edition of
Grand Theft Auto V will begin on Friday, saying they've confirmed this
through Nordic retailer Elgiganten. This seems a little thin from their
explanation that this news came "via a manager of one of the Swedish stores,"
but there it is. Rockstar has been asked for comment, but no response has
appeared yet. Thanks
MCV.
Danish developer Full Control has completed Linux support for Space Hulk,
and the penguin-powered edition of the Warhammer 40K strategy game is available
along with the Windows and OS X versions
on Steam. "We’ve always
wanted to offer gamers different options on what platform they choose to play
Space Hulk," said Full Control CEO Thomas Hentschel Lund. "We actively support
Valve's push for Linux as a gaming platform and the future release of steam
machines, that will push PC gaming into the living room."
DICE has started laying out some plans for rebalancing Battlefield 4 with
core gameplay tweaks for the military shooter sequel. They offer
an article
on upcoming pistol tweaks and another one
on
upcoming soldier weapon tweaks.
Conquest of Champions
is a virtual card-based strategy game from Kihon Games, founded by the
developers of PoxNora. The game is now in public beta, as a Windows or OS X
download, as well as through a browser-based version. The game is expected
within the next couple of months, and you can scope it out through
this gameplay trailer. Continue here to read the full story.
Battle.net offers an
image showing the contents of the Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Collector's
Edition, a fancy-pants retail package for the upcoming action/RPG expansion.
Word is this "is available in limited quantities only at select retail
locations, so be sure to check availability and pre-order soon."
- Mark of the Ninja on
Steam. Save 75%.
- Outlast on GOG.com.
Save 60%.
- Our Darker Purpose on
Steam. Save 33%.
- Saturday Morning RPG on
Steam. Save 25%.
Link of the Day:
Team Snow Fortress. Thanks Ant.
Funcom is apparently being investigated by Norwegian authorities over possible
financial irregularities, reports
Rock, Paper, Shotgun, where they link to a
report explaining what's going on with The Secret World developer.
They say trading of the company's stock is once again underway after it was
temporarily halted earlier today. Here's word on what's going down: Økokrim
(the Norwegian National authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic
and Environmental Crime) has charged Funcom N.V. based on suspicion of
infringement of the provisions of the Securities Trading Act with regards to the
financial information given to the market regarding The Secret World from August
2011 until the launch of the game in July 2012 and the two months following the
launch. In the view of Økokrim, there also exists a probability that the company
has not maintained the required log of information within the company during
that time.
The Company is fully cooperating with Økokrim.
Seeking Alpha transcribes the conference call conducted by EA following
their latest financial reporting (thanks
CVG). Saying there are lessons to be taken from the troubled launch of
Battlefield 4, they plan on learning from this to launch future
multiplatform titles like Titanfall, though it could be argued that they
may have missed similar opportunities to take lessons from launching previous
installments in the Battlefield series. Here's word from Patrick
Söderlund: I'll cover Battlefield 4, and I'll quickly touch on kind of
what happened, what we've done and how we're learning from it? So on the first
segment, the what happened part is when Battlefield 4 launched, it was a very
complex game, launching on 2 entirely new console platforms, as well as
current-gen and PC. We were pushing innovation heavily and we're delivering 60
frames per second gameplay for 64 players plus the ability to connect via mobile
tablet as a commander into the product, coupled those with some very innovative
features in the gameplay side. Based on our prelaunch testing, our beta
performance, we were confident the game was ready when it was launched. Shortly
after launch, however, we began hearing about problems from our player
community, and the development team quickly began to address the situation. So
what have we done since we encountered the problems is we were fortunate to have
an architecture in place that allows us to adjust and update the game rapidly,
and that's actually what we've done. We released multiple software updates
across all platforms to resolve the primary issues and game stability has
significantly increased. To the final point, which is how are we learning from
this? The challenge that we've faced with Battlefield 4 were different from
anything that we've seen before with other games. There were different issues
that only manifest its scale in the post-launch live environment. We're taking
multiple steps to evaluate what occurred and incorporate those learnings into
our development process for future products, so we don't experience the same
problems again. I would close on the fact that Battlefield 4 remains an amazing
game with massive innovation, and we're confident that gamers will be logging on
to play for a long time to come.
GameTrailers has details on The Elder Scrolls Online Imperial Edition, a
collector's version of Bethesda's upcoming MMORPG with digital and physical
extras that was accidentally posted to Amazon's product page for Dishonored
before the error was discovered and the information was removed. Here's word on
the physical contents this listed:
- Collector's Edition Box & Steelbook Packaging
- Molag Bal Statue – A collectible 12" statue
featuring Molag Bal, Daedric Prince of domination and enslavement
- Map of Tamriel – A printed map detailing
alliance-controlled zones and the ultimate conquest: Cyrodiil
- Emperor's Guide to Tamriel – A 224-page
illustrated guide annotated by the Imperial scholar, Flaccus Terentius
Ultra Runaway Games has release
Paper Sorcerer via digital distribution, offering a stylized turn-based RPG
This previously released
trailer shows off the game's papery monochromatic style. The game is offered
through multiple services, including
Steam after a successful
Greenlight campaign. Here's word: "Paper Sorcerer is a stylish single player
turn based RPG focused on strategy, party-building, and environmental puzzles.
Fight with the skills and spells you've learned in a battle system that
emphasizes strategy over grinding. Assemble a party of monsters and dark
creatures to fight alongside you." For those interested in a demo, there is a
Unity-based Paper Sorcerer
Web Demo to check out.
AGEod announces The Bloody Road South, an expansion for Civil War
2 coming to the war between the states sequel on February 6th. Here's
word: The Bloody Road South releasing worldwide on February 6th
We’ve just announced the imminent release of Civil War 2 The Bloody Road South,
a brand new expansion pack for Ageod’s latest effort that released last year and
was named “the best game about the American Civil War”.
The Bloody Road South features seven scenarios spanning from 1862 to 1864; with
smaller battle scenarios focusing on a specific engagements over a few weeks,
annual campaigns in the eastern and western theaters in the crucial year 1862,
and full theater campaigns with later starting points for each of the years
after 1861.
The Bloody Road South is a true simulation where players are challenged to
create armies and fleets, organize, sustain, reinforce and maneuver them, while
always keeping a close eye on the military, economic, political and diplomatic
parameters.
It’s coming early next month!
Call of
Duty website has details on a new patch that's now live for the Windows
edition of Call of Duty: Ghosts. This includes some new playlists,
stability fixes, new anti-cheat measures, balance tweaks, eSports changes, along
with bugfixes, and more. Here's the lengthy change list: Hotfixes
- Killstreak count maintained across rounds in
Search and Destroy, Search and Rescue and Blitz.
- Shorten countdown timer for Clan v Clan playlist.
- Extinction alien balance adjustments.
New Features
- PLAYLIST UPDATE: Gun Game replacing Heavy Duty.
- PLAYLIST UPDATE: Adding Hunted FFA.
- PLAYLIST UPDATE: Add eSports Rules to Clan v Clan
(except friendly fire), and 1-4 persons can join.
- Added Heavy Duty health options to Private Match.
Continue here to read the full story.
GuildWars2.com now offers a
new trailer showing
off the Edge of the Mists update coming next week to Guild Wars 2,
ArenaNet's MMORPG sequel. Word is: "In the eerie 'Edge of the Mists' preview
video, the camera glides over the complex of floating islands that make up this
new map, revealing the variety of terrain and landscapes players will encounter
with the next release arriving Tuesday 4th February. Dense cloud forests, icy
mountains and crumbling temples provide players with a challenging new terrain
to battle over. As the video reveals, the players won’t be the only ones
battling for control of this new realm." Continue here to read the full story.
It's time to tell you about Duke Nukem 3D's birthday and chew bubble gum,
and I'm all out of gum. As
mentioned yesterday,
today is the 18th anniversary of the release of the Duke Nukem 3D shareware in
1996. The 2.5D shooter came just months before Quake brought us into the 3D era,
but the game still had plenty of previously unseen technical improvements and an
amazing fun factor. I was heavily into DWANGO at the time (shout out to
Irontoes, Nagel and other regulars on the New York server) and a testimony to
the game's enjoyment was how much we played the shareware after it was added to
the service, as we're not only talking about a place were we typically only
played DOOM all the time, but basically
on one single map. Happy birthday
Duke... first round at the strip club is on me.
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