The
PlayStation.Blog has some details about
Tales from the Borderlands,
Telltale's upcoming installment in Gearbox's Borderlands franchise from Telltale
Games producer Andy Sarasohn. Among other things, he notes that there will be
loot pickups in the episodic game that apply to other games in the series.
Here's a list of details he offers:
If you play Borderlands simply for the
sake of shooting stuff, then you might not be a fan of Tales, but if you enjoy
being on Pandora, hanging out with and finding out more about all of the amazing
characters, and/or you’ve enjoyed what we did in The Walking Dead and The Wolf
Among Us, then this might be a game series for you.
What else can I say about this game series?
- The loot you grab in Tales will be available to
use in other areas of the Borderlands franchise
- It’s an episodic series that’ll be $4.99 per
episode (or you can save with the Season Pass)
- Your choices matter and will help create YOUR
version of the story across the season
- The series takes place after the events of
Borderlands 2. Handsome Jack is gone. Or is he? You might have seen the
trailer we put out a while back
- You’re going to play two different viewpoints.
Rhys works for Hyperion; he’s a company man with grand ambitions that have
been thrown off the rails. Fiona is a fast-talking con artist, with very few
people left on Pandora she hasn’t swindled one way or another
- They both have a very different opinion of the
events that brought them together, and the only way to find out something
near to the truth is to live their lives and make your own decisions
And the loot; don’t forget the loot!
The
Bethesda Blog
has details on plans to release
Wolfenstein: The New Order in Europe,
noting that they will offer a version for Germany that will not violate the
country's laws against displaying Nazi symbols, and that this will also be the
only version sold in Austria, based on "legal advice and industry standard
practice." In the most extreme effort to comply with Germany's regulations, they
are also attempting to circumvent Germans (and Austrians) from importing the
game, saying: "PC versions will be geo-locked so that they cannot be activated
within Germany." They also clarify at the end that no one should think that they
are condoning genocide by making this game, which is comforting.
The first round of BlizzCon 2014 tickets go on sale on Wednesday, and for those
interested, they have posted
an article with ticket buying tips, warning "if you want to attend this
year’s show, it pays to be prepared." They outline the process and how to make
sure you are set to enter and execute your order properly. Tickets go on sale
for $199.00 each
on this page on May 7th at 10:00 pm EDT and May 10th at 1:00 pm EDT
(careful, Blizzard's page lists the wrong time for that second batch of
tickets).
The
Bethesda Blog puts out the call for those in Texas and Maryland interested
in playtesting their games:
The past couple years we’ve been gathering
helpful feedback from those of you that have participated in playtesting at our
Dallas Play Test lab. This feedback has been imperative to improving games like
The Evil Within and Wolfenstein: The New Order. As a result of the success from
the Texas lab, we’re looking to add another one near our Maryland headquarters.
As always, we continue to look for new applicants — both in Texas and Maryland.
You must be at least 18 years of age, have a passion for games, and be willing
to take home some awesome giveaways.
To apply, visit playtest.bethsoft.com.
GameInformer.com previews coverage of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare from
their upcoming cover story on Sledgehammer's futuristic shooter sequel. They
talk a little about the reasons for the new setting, and explain the emphasis
being placed on realism, even though it is set almost 40 years from now. Here's
word on that: "Advanced Warfare is the newest universe in Call of Duty, and it
begins in 2052. Former Dead Space developers Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey
(along with their talented team at Sledgehammer Games) have carried out an
exhaustive level of research on future weaponry and technology, attempting to
make their solo debut as authentic as possible. They’ve consulted with the
government, futurists, and scientists to ensure that Advanced Warfare is a
realistic vision of our future rather than a lazy collection of robots and
lasers."
There's also more from that article
on MP1st where they got their hands on the print issue where Sledgehammer
discusses some of the history of the project, saying part of the reason
Sledgehammer bosses parted EA out of fear of "franchise fatigue." Oddly,
in light of that concern, they quote Glen Schofield saying their cancelled game
in a Vietnam setting was "definitely going for some Dead Space moments."
Finally,
GameSpot has parlayed its investment in the magazine into a preview of the
game. They say this is running on an unspecified engine, that Sledgehammer is
handling the Windows, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 editions, and that the game
takes a global counter-terrorism theme. There's also a description of a
Crysis-style exosuit: "You'll earn points every mission that can be used to
upgrade your EXO suit. Using the EXO suit, you can climb walls with magnetic
gloves, boost-dodge toward cover, perform super-jumps that let you get to higher
ground, use optic camouflage for cloaking, and hover in mid-air."
GameSpot has a response from Oculus VR to
recent
accusations from ZeniMax that Oculus is using technology that belongs to
ZeniMax to develop their upcoming VR headsets. Here's the bulleted
counter-argument:
- There is not a line of Zenimax code or any of its
technology in any Oculus products.
- John Carmack did not take any intellectual
property from ZeniMax.
- ZeniMax has misstated the purposes and language of
the ZeniMax non-disclosure agreement that Palmer Luckey signed.
- A key reason that John permanently left ZeniMax in
August of 2013 was that ZeniMax prevented John from working on VR, and
stopped investing in VR games across the company.
- ZeniMax canceled VR support for Doom 3 BFG when
Oculus refused ZeniMax’s demands for a non-dilutable equity stake in Oculus.
- ZeniMax did not pursue claims against Oculus for
IP or technology, ZeniMax has never contributed any IP or technology to
Oculus, and only after the Facebook deal was announced has ZeniMax now made
these claims through its lawyers.
- Despite the fact that the full source code for the
Oculus SDK is available online (developer.oculusvr.com),
ZeniMax has never identified any ‘stolen’ code or technology."
The
April 2014 Steam Hardware &
Software Survey results are now online, offering an overview of the types of
systems gamers are using to run
Steam games. There are no trends that
immediately jump off the page, though the penguin-powered
Linux Today headlines their story on this as "Linux Rises From The Ashes,"
so apparently the 0.22% increase in use of Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 64 bit0.22 is
significant. Thanks
Ant.
The top 10 listing for Steam sales last week changed after it was
posted here yesterday, so it seems like it was in
the process of being updated when we grabbed it. Apologies for any confusion
this caused, or any high-stakes bets lost as a result of this error. Here's the
updated top 10:
- Dark Souls II
- DayZ
- Star Wars Collection
- Prison Architect
- Watch Dogs
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- Space Engineers
- Rust
- The Elder Scrolls Skrim: Legendary Edition
- Arma III
The
Titanfall website has a preview of the upcoming Expedition expansion
for the mech shooter where designer Geoff Smith explains the thinking behind the
Runoff map, which he describes as "a pretty fun level that plays very
differently in each game mode." Here's more on what players will experience when
the add-on is released this month: "Runoff was an experiment to try and make a
small map but still allow Titans enough pathing options so that they don’t feel
constrained or limited. The core concept of the level is multiple layers of
paths: concrete canals filled with water and trash below, and upper levels that
are cleaner and more industrial. I thought the canals would be cool for Titans
to fight in, with Pilots able to jump across them. I also set out to make more
choke points in the level, something that is pretty hard to do in our game, at
least for Pilots with their enhanced mobility." Thanks
VG247.
A
launch trailer is
now available for
Bound by Flame, celebrating Friday's planned release
of Spiders' upcoming action/RPG. Here's word on the clip:
This latest
Bound by Flame video highlights one of the important elements in the game, the
background story and the gameplay: the relationship between the hero and the
flame demon that possesses him. The choices and decisions you make in the game
will determine if you allow your demonic side to predominate and gradually
transform you physically in exchange for his powerful fire magic, or if you
resist the demon's control and retain your humanity to develop your heroic
skills.
Your human/demon duality will have a notable impact not only on your approach to
the extremely tactical combat in the game, but also on the reaction of the
people around you, particularly your relationship with your companions. It is
therefore a central component in Bound by Flame that will influence your game
experience depending on your choices and also assure gameplay longevity: players
who want to try every possible way of progressing through the adventure are sure
to start the game again to make totally different decisions from the first time!
Continue here to read the full story.
Happy Cinco de Mayo! Whether cinco isn't your limit, or you choose to hold the
mayo, hope you have fun, and please be safe. Also, it's Wolfenstein 3D's 22nd
birthday today! Mein leben!
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