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Archived News:
Deep Silver announces the promised summer
release of Sacred 3: The Fight for Glory will be August 26th in North
America. They offer
a couple of screenshots and the
first gameplay trailer
from the action/RPG sequel to celebrate the news. Here's the deal: Publisher
Deep Silver pulled back the curtain on the upcoming and anticipated Sacred 3
today, revealing the first eye-popping gameplay footage for the arcade Hack ‘n’
Slash title. The trailer introduces a selection of unique character classes that
will be available giving fans a glimpse of the fast-paced co-op action against
countless enemies. The newest installment of the classic Sacred series will be
available on August 26 in North America for the Xbox 360 games and entertainment
system from Microsoft and the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system as
well as Windows PC.
At launch, Sacred 3 will include the Malakhim class as well as the unforgettable
Underworld Story DLC. In Underworld, players have to forge their way to the top
of a mysterious tower where they have to confront the Black Seraphim, a
notorious rival from Sacred 2.
Continue here to read the full story.
Epic announces the release of Unreal
Engine 4, opening access to a wide range of developers by offering access to the game engine and its source
code for $19.00 per month and 5% of the game's gross revenue. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney writes of the significance of
this on
the Unreal Engine blog and also offers a message about the news in
this video, saying:
"What we’re releasing is both simple and radical: everything." Here's a new
Unreal Engine 4 features
trailer from GDC. Continue here to read the full story.
The
Bethesda Blog announces more QuakeCon 2014 preregistration will begin at
8:00 pm EDT tonight at
registration.quakecon.org. They are offering 500 of the following packages
to the summer gaming convention for $150.00 each:
- Select and Reserve a guaranteed seat of your
choice in the BYOC area
- Official QuakeCon 2014 T-Shirt
- Official QuakeCon 2014 BYOC T-Shirt
- Official QuakeCon 2014 Lanyard
- TWO Special Limited Edition T-Shirts
- Poster and Exclusive Drawstring Backpack for The
Evil WithinTM
- QuakeCon 2014 Branded Logitech G430 Surround Sound
Gaming Headset
- The Elder Scrolls® Online Branded Mousepad
- 1-year ‘Pro’ Subscription to QUAKE LIVE®
A new
trailer shows off gameplay from Battlefield 4 Naval Strike, as DICE
announces the military shooter expansion will be released on March 25th for
premium members
and on April 8th for the unwashed masses. Here's an outline of what this will
offer: Battlefield 4 Naval Strike introduces four all-new maps:
- Lost Islands: Blow open a crashed passenger plane
and capture fishing villages across these tropical islands.
- Wave Breaker: Drop a submarine on your foes as you
infiltrate a naval base or rush between shipping docks and rocky islands on
this massive map.
- Nansha Strike: Wage war across stormy seas in the
largest ocean stretch in a Battlefield map yet.
- Operation Mortar: Storm an abandoned cliff-side
resort, or get lost in the breathtaking vistas in this map.
The Battlefield 4 Naval Strike expansion pack also introduces five new
weapons, two additional gadgets, the amphibious hovercraft vehicle, ten
assignments and the all-new Carrier Assault mode, which is an homage to the
fan-favorite, Titan mode from Battlefield 2142.
Continue here to read the full story.
Soldak Entertainment
now offers a playable demo for the Linux version of Din's Curse, their
action/RPG. Though the Windows and OS X demos for the game include content from
the Demon War expansion, but apparently this Linux demo does not. Here's
the rundown on the game: In Din's Curse, you will explore an extensive
underground, slaying dangerous monsters, solving dynamic quests, dodging deadly
traps, and in your spare time, plundering loot. Quell uprisings, flush out
traitors, kill assassins, cure plagues, purge curses, end wars, and complete
other dangerous quests or the danger WILL escalate. Not all is as it seems
though, traitors will gladly stab you in the back, renegades can revolt against
the town, spies can set up ambushes, and items might even curse or possess your
friends.
Choose one of 141 class combinations and journey to an infinite number of
dynamically generated towns with vastly different problems. Every game is a
surprise! Your actions have real consequences in this dynamic, evolving world.
Your choices actually matter!
Slitherine Group announces the Drums of War are now beating with the release of
Drums of War, a new
turn-based strategy game. This is available as a boxed version/download combo or
as a download only, and includes an in-game campaign editor. Here's the pitch: You
play the role of a hero-leader. As the campaigns unfold the size of your armies
can increase by up to 16 varied units. By participating in battles, all of the
units become more experienced while naturally getting stronger. Players have the
ability to hire new recruits, buy potions and distribute artifacts obtained in
battles between fights. Each unit can be outfitted with one artifact and two
potions. In addition to common units the player's army can include up to three
unique heroes.
The turn-based fights take place in field divided into traditional hexes. Just
as in role-playing games, each unit is an independent fighter with their own
skills and outfit. Almost every environment object is interactive – one can chop
down a tree, set it on fire, or even turn it into an ally using magic. Each unit
has its own action points which can be spent for any action – movements,
attacks, spells or active skills. The player can randomly move units during his
turn.
A
Steam Community announcement reveals another 75 titles will be distributed
on Steam thanks to Valve's Greenlight program.
Here
is the full list off all the new approvals.
The Free to Play: The Movie now
offers several ways to watch Free to Play, Valve's new documentary film
centered on the lives of three professional Dota 2 players. Here's word
on the film: Created internally at Valve, Free to Play takes an intimate
look into the lives of three professional computer gamers. All three speak
different languages, and live on different continents (Asia, North America, and
Europe). But they all share a passion for the same online game and made major
sacrifices to train and compete professionally.
The film takes viewers around the globe as we get to know the players, their
families, and their loved ones as they prepare to play for the first $1 million
prize ever awarded in pro gaming.
Dota 2 is one of the most played online games in the world with over 7 million
active monthly players.
Publisher NCSOFT and developer Carbine Studios announce they are
accepting preorders
for WildStar, their upcoming MMORPG, offering in-game perks and beta and
early access to the game as an incentive for buying in advance (the folks
at Dealzon have
rounded up the best deals on this if you are interested). WildStar is currently
expected to launch on June 3rd, and this is the outline of what to expect from
the game and preordering: Pre-orders are now live for NCSOFT® and Carbine
Studios’ highly anticipated MMORPG, WildStar. Unlike anything currently
available, WildStar engages players with a beautiful and distinctive animation
style, robust housing customisation and high-action combat that truly tests
players’ skill with its combination of movement, aiming and ‘telegraphs’. In
addition, the game’s personality is distinct in its own right; humorous but
laced with a mysterious undercurrent that implies there is more happening on
planet Nexus than meets the eye. WildStar’s innovative Path system rewards
players for their individual style of play, while providing an unprecedented
level of exploration and discovery within the world.
Players who pre-order have early access to several closed and open beta events
and will receive a variety of exclusive in-game items and perks, including:
- Early game access beginning Saturday, 31st May
(three days prior to the game’s official launch)
- An exclusive Rocket House
- A mini-ship housing decoration, which grants
players additional rest experience points
- A 10-slot storage bag to increase character
inventory
- The opportunity to reserve character and guild
names prior to launch
Two versions of the game are available for pre-order: Standard and Deluxe,
with the latter available digitally or at retail as a limited edition
collectable Steelbook™. More information can be found at
www.wildstar-online.com/en/preorder or through select third party retailers
such as Game and Amazon.
BioWare and LucasArts announce Star Wars: The Old Republic: Galactic
Strongholds, a new expansion that will bring player housing to the
free-to-play Star Wars MMORPG beginning with early access on June 24th followed by general admission in August. Here's word on the add on and their enticements to
pony up for a subscription before then: In Galactic Strongholds, players
can live on multiple planets and customize their prestigious apartments. Players
can live in the heart of their faction’s capital world, live in style among the
high-rollers of Nar Shaddaa, or even both by owning multiple Strongholds.
Hundreds of unique decorations will be available for players to express their
own personal style, as well as to boost their Prestige score to compete for top
ranking in the Stronghold Directory. Friends can be invited and transported to a
player’s Stronghold from any in-game location to socialize. At official launch,
Guilds will also be able to launch powerful Guild Flagships where members can
meet, plan, and strategize for their next adventure.
Continue here to read the full story.
A post in the
Battle.net forums from Blizzard acknowledges that they are investigating why
some Diablo III players are missing some items on logging into the
action/RPG sequel, saying in most cases logging out and logging back in (perhaps
repeatedly) will straighten things out. The problem is trickier for hardcore
players, as apparently some have logged in to find their characters are missing
altogether. This prompts them to offer the possibility of rolling back these
missing characters: We’re
currently investigating an issue that’s affecting some characters, causing
their items, armor, and weapons to go missing upon login. Although this issue is
in most situations temporary and can be corrected with repeated login attempts,
there are reports that some Hardcore heroes were lost as a result of this. For
accounts which were specifically impacted by this issue, our Support team is
investigating the possibility of providing a special one-time exception to allow
for a rollback of the account, and subsequent restoration of the fallen heroes.
To contact our support with the request for this specific rollback exception, we
encourage you to create a ticket through the following support portal with
‘MISSING GEAR DEATH’ in the body of the ticket:
https://us.battle.net/support/en/help/ticket/d3/297
Please know that the decision to allow such an exception is not an easy one to
make, and that this is not a guarantee that we will offer the rollback to all
accounts that petition us with this request. Only accounts which we can verify
were affected by this missing gear issue leading to the death of a Hardcore
character will be considered for these rollbacks. With that said, we do want you
to know that we are continuing to address this issue, and ask for all players to
be aware that the issue is currently ongoing.
Obsidian Entertainment announces they are partnering with Paradox Interactive
for the launch of Pillars of Eternity, their upcoming crowd-funded
role-playing game. "This game would not have happened if not for the passion and
generosity of our backers, and their faith in us to create the game they
wanted," says Obsidian Entertainment CEO Feargus Urquhart. "How we are
developing Pillars of Eternity has not, and will not be, changed; we will
deliver the game we promised to our backers, and we will deliver it this year.
Having Paradox as a partner, with their expertise in independent games like
Pillars of Eternity, lets us put all of our focus on making an incredible game."
They offer a
partnership FAQ for backers to address any concerns this may raise. Here's
more: Paradox will assume key marketing and distribution responsibilities
for the title, which will support Obsidian by allowing them to concentrate
entirely on development.
“When we signed this partnership we called it two independent players in the
games industry supporting each other to stay independent by doing what we do
best,” said Fredrik Wester, CEO of Paradox Interactive. “The fans backing this
game—many of us included—are looking forward to a classic RPG as envisioned by
the designers at Obsidian, and that’s exactly what they’re going to
get.”
Player Attack has word that Blizzard has quietly launched local Battle.net
servers for Diablo III in advance of next week's launch of the Reaper
of Souls expansion for the action/RPG sequel. They say that these appear to
be hosted in Sydney, and gamers in Australia and New Zealand can now play the
game with sub-100ms pings, though apparently authentication and other
administrative functions are still being handed off to other regions for the
moment. On a related note,
Battle.net now offers a
new trailer showing off gameplay for various classes in the expansion,
saying: "Watch this official gameplay trailer to discover what new challenges
and rewards await your heroes in Diablo III: Reaper of Souls." Continue here to read the full story.
Ars Technica - How to break games out of the “act like a man” box.
Boys are conditioned to play certain types of video games like Halo or
Call of Duty, Wiseman said, because those games enforce the behaviors that
draw from the "act like a man box." These same characteristics tend to lead
to popularity in school. Those games perpetuate the behaviors to be expected
from boys who want to be perceived as being strong. The boys Wiseman polled
were not blind to the way these games perpetuate expected behaviors for boys
who want to be perceived as strong—and some of them didn't like it.
Tomorrow the March Madness of
the annual NCAA college basketball tournament tips off, or at least the 64-team
part of the process. The joys of college sports are lost on me, which leaves me
completely in the cold for all this, and incredibly unqualified to participate
in the joys of trying to pick winners and fill out brackets and such, so
there's nothing in it for me. I guess there are local teams to root for, as
Albany and Syracuse are participants. At least I think that's Albany and
Syracuse, New York... the listing I saw showed them part of the south bracket,
along with other southern mainstays like Pittsburgh and Colorado. So even the
logic of college sports is lost on me. Go Great Danes!!
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