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Archived News:
Stardock announces Offworld Trading Company, an economics-based real-time
strategy game set on Mars, where "the marketplace is the battlefield," and "the
free market reigns, money is everything, and even the air you breathe is for
sale" (Cohaagen!!). Loosely based on M.U.L.E. and its offspring (mule jokes!),
this will be the flagship release from Mohawk Games, the new studio from
Civilization IV & III designer Soren Johnson. The Offworld
Trading Company website is online, and already accepting preorders of a
Founder's Edition and a Founder's Elite Edition, with the latter offering the
chance to play a prototype this fall even before it's released for Early Access.
The Mohawk Games blog also has an
update from Johnson introducing the game. Here's part of the announcement: Offworld
Trading Company’s quick and intensely competitive matches pit up to 8 players
against each other on randomly generated maps. Players must quickly determine
the best path toward building a self-sufficient colony that can extract the
abundant Martian resources while maintaining profitability – and surviving the
“talents” of shady black-market characters who are all too happy to raid any
player’s shipments or smuggle a paralyzing EMP device into any colony for the
right price.
Mohawk Games’ studio boss Soren Johnson, best known as the lead designer of
Civilization IV, is committed to an early and transparent community-driven
design process, “We want to get people in as early as possible. Offworld Trading
Company is unlike any other RTS out there, and we’re working to make sure our
community feels that it’s fun, memorable and something special. This is the game
I’ve always wanted to make.”
Unlike traditional RTS games, there are no military units and what you need to
win can change at a moment’s notice because on Mars, there are no rules in the
free market. None of the 13 resources is more powerful than any other, and
everything is for sale. Players gain cash by selling excess resources like
carbon, fuel, and silicon on the open market, and spend it buying the resources
they’re short on. Prices fluctuate in real time forcing players to adapt their
strategy; dump a bunch of iron on the market and its price will crater, making
other players’ stockpiles worth much less in the near term.
A playable demo is now available for Combat Mission Red Thunder, offering
a sample of the recently released new installment in the close combat series of
World War II strategy games. The demo is available
on this page for either Windows or OS X, and word is: "the game, which can
be purchased at www.battlefront.com."
Here's more on what the demo offers:
- two playable scenarios: Tankovyi Desant and
Monster Mash
- QuickBattles are disabled (but the QB setup screen
is visible)
- multiplayer modes (PBEM/TCP) are fully enabled
- the Scenario Editor is enabled and fully
functional, but it will not allow you to purchase units, load, or save any
maps
- contains nag screens during launch end exit of the
demo.
Steam News announces
they are now offering preloads of
Wolfenstein: The New Order
to pave the way for tomorrow's release of the alternate history shooter. Here's
word: Wolfenstein®: The New Order reignites the series that created the
first-person shooter genre. Under development at Machine Games, a studio
comprised of a seasoned group of developers recognized for their work creating
story-driven games, Wolfenstein offers a deep game narrative packed with action,
adventure and first-person combat.
Intense, cinematic and rendered in stunning detail with id® Software’s id Tech®
5 engine, Wolfenstein sends players across Europe on a personal mission to bring
down the Nazi war machine. With the help of a small group of resistance
fighters, infiltrate their most heavily guarded facilities, battle high-tech
Nazi legions, and take control of super-weapons that have conquered the earth –
and beyond.
The
BANDAI NAMCO blog discusses their efforts at finding an alternative way to
support multiplayer in Dark Souls besides Games for Windows LIVE, though
they stress GFWL functionality will continue "for the foreseeable future."
Here's word: Dark Souls, Games for Windows Live, and the Future
With the release of Dark Souls II, many players have been asking questions about
the continued support of Dark Souls I. We thoroughly appreciate the dedicated
fans who are adventuring through Lordran (maybe for the first time!) and we’d
like to clarify a few points:
- Dark Souls will remain fully functional on GFWL
for the foreseeable future.
- BANDAI NAMCO Games is currently seeking avenues
to continue support and ensure the functionality of Dark Souls on other
services. We will have more news and updates to share on this in the
coming months.
Stay tuned for future updates:
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Following the North
American launch of Minecraft Realms,
Mojang announces the service is now live in all territories: We’re
proud to announce that Minecraft Realms for PC and Mac is now available
worldwide!
Realms is the easiest way for you to host a Minecraft world online. You and your
friends can work on an awesome creation, adventure into the depths, or play one
of our featured mini-games with just a few clicks.
The servers are always available, and can be restored to an earlier point if
something goes wrong. Realms is run by Mojang and simple to set up.
Realms is currently only available for the PC/Mac version of Minecraft, though
we’re planning on releasing it on other formats in the future. For more
information, check minecraft.net/realms
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Monolith Productions offer a look
at weapons and runes in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor in a
new gameplay trailer
from the upcoming action/adventure based on Tolkien's fantasy universe. Here's
how the clip is described: "Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor delivers a dynamic
game environment where the player orchestrates their personal plan of vengeance
as they bend Mordor to their will. The game begins on the night of Sauron's
return to Mordor, as his Black Captains brutally execute the Rangers of the
Black Gate. Players become Talion, a ranger who loses his family and everything
he holds dear, only to be returned from death by a mysterious Spirit of
vengeance. As Talion's personal vendetta unfolds, players uncover the mystery of
the Spirit that compels him, discover the origin of the Rings of Power and
confront the ultimate nemesis." Continue here to read the full story.
Gameplay from Gas Guzzlers Extreme - Full Metal Frenzy is on display in
a new trailer from the
newly released DLC for the car combat game. Grab your dashcam, as this clip
shows off a demolition derby on the streets of Zagreb, capital of Croatia and
home of developer Gamepires Studios. Continue here to read the full story.
Aeria Games announces plans for further testing of F.E.A.R. Online,
saying the closed beta test will commence one week from today on May 26th.
Signups are being accepted on this
page, and here's word: F.E.A.R never dies! Aeria Games, a leading
global publisher of free-to-play online games is excited to announce the launch
of the beta of F.E.A.R Online, a new-look free-to-play version of the celebrated
horror series.
Player feedback from the alpha was taken into account to ensure an even better
and more terrifying experience for all players when they hurtle into the beta.
Extensive redesign and adjustments to the gameplay make for a truly unique FPS,
with new maps, a new scenario and a redesigned crafting system which allows for
making one-of-a-kind weapons.
Tensions will reach a boiling point as the F.E.A.R. task force investigates
Armacham Technology Corporation (ATC)’s unsettling experiments. F.E.A.R. Online
will remain focused on several team combat modes spanning over ten ominous maps
packed with grotesque details such as still-twitching bodies hanging from meat
hooks and messages smeared in blood.
The story also continues in cooperative scenarios that detail the terrifying
occurrences surrounding the F.E.A.R. team parallel to the events of F.E.A.R. 2:
Project Origin. Up to four players can team up and fight for their lives against
both hostile Armacham personnel and hideous monsters lurking around every
corner. All will be revealed soon.
The beta will commence on May 26th and beta keys will be available soon. Players
can sign up for the beta at
fearonline.aeriagames.com and keep up to date with news from the
official Facebook page.
IC Company is now offering Early Access to King's Bounty: Dark Side on
Steam and other digital
distributors, carrying a 20% discount off the full price the game will cay when
it's release in July. Here's word: King’s Bounty: Dark Side is the next
chapter in the award-winning King’s Bounty saga. Time has come to join the Dark
Journey to the other side of Teana and visit a mysterious part of the world
never before seen by royal bounty hunters.
For the first time in King’s Bounty series, players will be able to choose their
hero’s race as well as class. Become a fearless Orcs warrior, lead and heal your
troops as a Demoness, or use dark magic as a fearsome Vampire.
Here's
GFK Chart-Track's list of the 20 bestselling full-priced PC games in the
U.K. for the week ending May 17th, showing Football Manager 2014 maintaining its
toe-hold on the number one position. There are no new entries, just a pair of
re-entries, with all the same titles in the top 10, thought there's been a bit
of shuffling. Meanwhile, on the
all platforms chart, FIFA 14 kicks Titanfall out of the top spot. Here's the
write-up of this week's results: It’s FIFA’s turn to edge out ‘Titanfall’
this week as ‘FIFA 14’ (-8%) returns to No1 for a 12th week.
It’s a record number of weeks at No1 for a FIFA title, beating the 11 weeks set
by ‘FIFA: Road to the World Cup 98’. ‘Titanfall’ (-15%) slips one place to No2,
only a few hundred sales behind. Sony’s ‘Minecraft: Playstation 3 Edition’
debuts at No3, one place ahead of Microsoft’s longer-serving ‘Minecraft: Xbox
360 Edition’ which holds on to No4, having been in the Top 10 all year. There
are also non-movers at No’s 5 and 6 with ‘2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil’ (-14%) and
‘Call of Duty: Ghosts’ (-19%), while ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ (-39%) falls
from No3 to No7 despite the Xbox One version new out this week.
‘The Lego Movie Videogame’ (-29%) remains the biggest selling Lego game this
week at No8 ahead of familiar faces ‘Battlefield 4’ (-17%) at No9 and ‘Grand
Theft Auto V’ (+20%) at No10. ‘Kirby: Triple Deluxe’ enters the Top 40 at No16,
while a retailer promotion helps ‘Terraria’ (+132%) re-enter at No24. Another
retailer promotion pushes ‘Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2’ (+299%) back into the
Top 40 at No35.
The release of a new Godzilla movie has resulted in lots of the older films in
the series being shown all over the TV dial lately. I have to admit that my
familiarity with these is pretty sketchy, because when I was young enough to be
the proper audience for these I was too bothered by the bad lip-syncing to enjoy
redubbed films. I've actually enjoyed much of what I've caught in this revival,
and they obviously were a strong influence on the Gerry Anderson
"Supermarionation" shows I loved as a kid.
R.I.P.:
'Godfather' Cinematographer Gordon Willis Dead At 82.
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