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Archived News:
IGN has first details on Orcs Must Die! Unchained, a new OMD-based
MOBA from Robot Entertainment, saying this will make its free-to-play launch
later this year. They have first details on this "5v5 multiplayer game (with
solo and co-op vs bots!) for the PC that fuses the OMD! action, strategy, and
style with elements of both MOBAs and customizable card games." The game is on
display at PAX East and
a reveal trailer. Here's a bit: “We’ve been calling it a fortress
siege game,” Robot CEO Patrick Hudson says, explaining the simultaneous
attack-and-defend flow. Picture it: instead of just defending against waves of
enemies with a maze of gleefully sadistic traps, you get to do that and lead
waves of AI allies into head-on battle in an effort to push through someone
else’s sadistic traps to reach the other team’s fortress.
By the time of its anticipated launch in late 2014, Robot plans to offer dozens
of playable hero characters on two factions: humans of the Order (which has been
rebuilt by the War Mage and the Sorceress after OMD2) and the new monster heroes
known as the Unchained, who’ve emerged from newly discovered rifts. Each hero is
designed with a role in mind, such as offensive melee-focused characters,
“leaders” that buff minions, support characters that buff other heroes,
defensive classes that can improve traps, and more. Most characters will have at
least some ability to sabotage enemy traps to help their minions.
The
Supergiant Games blog announces that Transistor will be released on
May 20th for PC and PS4 (thanks
MCV). They say they will be showing off the sci-fi action/RPG at PAX East
this weekend, and will be releasing more details as the release approaches. They
are not offering preorders at this time, but they are "looking into it."
Paradox Interactive announces the release of Warlock 2: The Exiled, the
turn-based strategy sequel from Ino-Co Plus. The
Warlock 2 website leads to where the
game can be purchased in one of three flavors, a Great Mage Edition, a Lord
Edition, or the standard edition, which we'll dub the thrifty peasant edition.
Here's word: Paradox Interactive today announced that wrongly exiled
magicians and sorcerers everywhere can begin their quests to retake Ardania in
Warlock 2: The Exiled, the turn-based strategy-fantasy wargame from Ino-Co Plus.
Available today via digital retailers worldwide, Warlock 2: The Exiled
challenges players to conduct wizardly warfare with a selection of magical
creatures, devastating spells, and cunning strategy as they face off against
their fellow Great Mages. Warlock 2: The Exiled is available on Windows PC for
$29.99, with premium editions also available for $39.99 and $49.99.
Wizards of the Coast announces Magic 2015—Duels of the Planeswalkers,
saying the next installment in their virtual card-based strategy series will be
released this summer for Windows via Steam as well as Xbox One, Xbox 360,
iPad, , Android, and Kindle. Here's word: The time has come for gamers to
Hunt Bigger Game. Wizards of the Coast today announced Magic 2015—Duels of the
Planeswalkers, the latest installment for the popular Duels of the Planeswalkers
franchise and the first version to release on the new next-generation gaming
console, Xbox One. Starting this summer, Magic 2015 will put players at the
center of the action as the deadliest hunter in the Magic Multiverse, Garruk
Wildspeaker, shifts his hunter’s instinct away from beasts of the wild to the
ultimate quarry—you!
Magic 2015—Duels of the Planeswalkers will take the game to a whole new level,
deeply engaging fans like never before. With new features including the ability
to build customized decks, new booster packs with premium downloadable content,
and an even more robust deck builder, players will take on their fiercest
opponents culminating in the ultimate battle against Garruk. Magic 2015 will
offer gamers the perfect way to start playing the world’s best strategy trading
card game priming them for even more action with the upcoming Magic 2015 Core
Set. In addition to Xbox One, Magic 2015 will be also be available on Xbox Live
Arcade, iPad via the App Store, PC via Steam, Android via Google Play, and
Kindle via Amazon Marketplace.
Activision announces a May 8th release date for the PC, PS4, and PS3 editions of
the Devastation DLC for Call of Duty: Ghosts, the military shooter
sequel. Word is: "Call of Duty®: Ghosts players on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3
and Windows PC will have access to Devastation, the game's second of four
massive DLC Packs planned for this year, on May 8, 2014. Devastation delivers
four small-to-medium sized multiplayer maps, the all-new tactical 2-in-1
"Ripper" SMG/Assault Rifle, and "Episode 2: Mayday" - the next chapter in
Extinction's four-part episodic narrative. Devastation is available a la carte
for a suggested retail price of $14.99, or as part of the discounted Call of
Duty: Ghosts DLC Season Pass."
Double Fine sends word that Hack 'n' Slash is "just weeks away" from an Early
Access release on Steam. To help pass the time until then they offer
this
launch trailer blending live action and gameplay, saying: "Hack ‘n’ Slash,
our upcoming puzzle adventure game about hacking and reverse engineering, is
just weeks away from its Steam Early Access release! The game will be available
at launch on PC, Mac, and Linux for $14.99. To mark the occasion we’ve made a
fresh new trailer featuring HnS creator Brandon Dillon himself, as well as a
funky beat, crazy special effects, and an important message about the dangers of
hacking." Continue here to read the full story.
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Ubisoft announces that Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Phantoms is now available for
Windows PCs, offering a free-to-play shooter set in the threat-filled world of
the late thriller author. The game is available on the
Ghost Recon Phantoms website as well as
through Steam, and they
say the worldwide launch is being supported by new servers in Asia, Australia,
and South America to complement those already covering Europe and North America.
Here's a new launch
trailer and here's word: Today, Ubisoft announced that Tom Clancy’s
Ghost Recon Phantoms is now available on Steam and Windows PC. Formerly Ghost
Recon Online, Ghost Recon Phantoms launches with a new identity, new features
and worldwide distribution.
A brand-new gaming experience built upon community feedback
Ubisoft has built a new identity for Ghost Recon Phantoms that includes a new
background story, new user interface as well as new character and weapon designs
for all three classes. Three maps have also been updated with a complete
lighting and level redesign. Players will also be able to fully customize their
weapons and characters with the new ModMaster feature to help them stand out on
the battlefield.
In addition, matchmaking has been improved to guarantee a fair gaming experience
by taking into account player skills and level of equipment. To start new
players off on the right foot, the new user experience has been retooled to
offer players access to better weapons, sooner.
Continue here to read the full story.
An H1Z1 website is now online as home to
a newly announced MMORPG SOE plans to bring to PC and PS4. Oddly, the site is
basically a link to the sub-reddit devoted to the game,
which offers links to various articles, including
a video from
GameTalk Live where SOE boss John Smedley introduces gameplay footage,
showing this to be a zombie game reminiscent of DayZ and Rust. They
highlight word that they expect "anyone" to be able to play this within four
to six weeks, though there is some confusion over whether this will cost
$20.00 or be free, as the game is described as free-to-play. Continue here to read the full story.
Frontier Developments announces the premium beta for Elite Dangerous
begins today, allowing access to a single-player build of the space combat
remake for those who have backed the game on that level, saying a full premium
beta build with multiplayer support will come on May 30th. For other preorder
customers, they are also
selling
upgrades to the premium beta, but they do not bandy the term "premium" about
lightly, as this carries a $150.00 price tag. They also describe plans to
release one additional alpha to test travel and trading, confusingly saying this
will precede the premium beta release, which we presume refers to the May 30th
"full" beta. Those who wish to access the alpha can still
buy in for the
next two weeks, which will set you back $295.00. "The Alpha process has worked
well for us. We have gradually built out the key elements of the game, first
locally, with single player combat, then with a few thousand players across the
internet. On 30th May the Premium Beta extends this to many thousands of players
worldwide, with an increasingly rich game," explains David Braben, CEO of
Frontier. "I want to take this opportunity to thank all those who have played
such an important role in Alpha testing, and I’m very happy that we will
continue to benefit from their valuable input as they test Beta builds
approximately 2 weeks in advance of release."
A
Kickstarter update for Wasteland 2 has word from inXile entertainment
that a new beta is expected to go live next week, which, among other things,
will offer the first Linux build of the crowd-funded RPG sequel. They also say
they currently expect a "normal playthrough" of the game to take about 50 hours
to complete, and describe what they are currently working on: One thing we
were excited to look into were stats showing how long people were playing the
game. It can be hard for a developer to estimate exactly how long a game takes
because even when playing through fully, we're still too familiar with it to not
go through it fast. But now that we've had people playing it and based on how
long they've been taking on the live content, we can estimate the full game will
likely take the average new player around 50 hours on a normal playthrough.
Though it'll take quite a bit longer if you're looking to fully explore every
location and mission.
Now let's talk development: at this stage we are working not just on beta builds
and polishing those areas, but on tweaking the game's systems and taking lessons
learned from beta feedback and applying them throughout the game. Every day our
level designers are adding new touches and various levels of reactivity to the
game. For example, in this next update you'll find major areas are now open to
you right from the moment you leave Ranger Citadel, rather than being
plot-gated.
As we're finishing up more Arizona areas we are intensifying our work on Los
Angeles, and for the entire game we are making great progress. Much of the team
is on California right now, adding layer after layer of depth into the current
design.
The
Telltale Community blog announces the the promised release of
Episode 3 of The Wolf Among Us has occurred, noting that that the entire season
is on sale on Steam for
40% off. Also, a new
trailer is already online showing off the upcoming fourth episode in the
series. Continue here to read the full story.
There's an
interview on PC Games Hardware with the English translation of their German
conversation with Creative Assembly about Alien: Isolation, the upcoming
game based on the Alien/Aliens film franchise. Here's their explanation of the
technological advantages to be enjoyed on the PC edition thanks to their custom
engine: Different platforms afford different advantages. Modern PCs with
high-spec graphics cards cannot be beaten for shear raw power. What this
translates into are higher resolutions and frame rates, which are always good.
Also we can afford to scale assets (geometric, textural, animation, etc.) to
take advantage of the extra fidelity. With higher resolution and more raw power
available tessellation can occur earlier. Shadow algorithms can also be more
realistic.
Many full screen effects can be refined due to the available power, for example
ambient occlusion, anti-aliasing techniques, motion blur and depth of field and
high resolution multi-monitor support can only be achieved by utilizing the GPU
power available on the modern PC platform. We're also looking at support for 4k
resolution for the best fidelity possible.
[...]
Our engine scales very well with multiple cores. Certainly I can confirm that
more cores will increase the performance, if you don't get limited by GPU
performance! We have a generalized job system with priorities and dependencies.
All of our code uses this. This means, for instance, that if an AI routine can
run simultaneously alongside a rendering routine then it 'just will' if the
opportunity arises.
ATLUS announces it will publish Citizens of Earth, as the retro-inspired RPG
reverts to a traditional funding model after a Kickstarter campaign failed to
raise the capital needed for the project. Word is the game will come to Windows,
PS4, PS Vita, Wii U, and 3DS later this year as a download-only title. Here's a
Citizens of Earth teaser
trailer and more can be found on the
Citizens of Earth website.
Here's the announcement of the game, including details on
a contest to help
design one of the game's titular citizens: Being the Vice President of the
World means asking not what you can do for your countrymen, but what your
countrymen can do for you! And specifically in the case of Citizens of Earth, it
means making them fight your battles for you -- and we're talking literal
battles here, since Citizens of Earth is a role-playing game from indie
developer Eden Industries and published by Atlus U.S.A., Inc. The game will be
released later in 2014 as a download-only title for PC, PlayStation®4 computer
entertainment system, PlayStation®Vita handheld entertainment system, Nintendo
3DS™, and Wii U™. For more information, check out the official website:
http://www.atlus.com/citizensofearth
The retro-inspired Citizens of Earth pits players as the second-highest-paid
bureaucrat in the land. The game begins just after winning a long, drawn-out
candidacy, and the VP returns to his hometown for some taxpayer-funded rest and
relaxation. But after just one night passes, the VP awakens to find the world
gone berserk! As elected official he has two responsibilities: investigate
what's caused people to go crazy... and delegate as much of the dirty work as
possible. Citizens of Earth has 40 wacky citizens to recruit and send into
battle. Wait, did we just say there are 40 playable characters? Why not make
it... 41!
ATLUS Holding Open Contest to Contribute a Playable Citizen to Citizens of Earth
That's right, we're letting Joe or Jill Schmoe get their taste of that game
development brass ring by holding a contest to contribute their ideas for a
citizen that Eden Industries will then add to the game! Full contest rules and
online entry form can be found here:
http://www.atlus.com/citizensofearth/coty
Continue here to read the full story.
Polygon - Snobbery and fear drive criticisms of free-to-play games and
ethics.
After seven years in the "traditional" industry, I've spent eight years
building free-to-play projects, so I'm especially sensitive to and
interested in these criticisms. The attacks and criticism of free-to-play
mechanics are often unfair and selective, and leave questionable but
traditional business practices alone.
This is snobbery; evidence that the old guard is scared of where the
industry is headed.
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I keep meaning to offer an annual installment in my description of the pain of
being a Knicks, fan, but in a timely move, the
Bleacher Report did so for me, saving me a little additional anguish of
trying to encapsulate their self-inflicted badness. The Mets are already under
.500 too, so for my rooting interests, its basically time to start anticipating
the NFL draft, but this is a sad state of affairs I am all too used to by now.
R.I.P.:
Ken Forsse, Who Brought a Toy Bear to Life, Dies at 77. Thanks Ant.
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