|
|
 |
Archived News:
A post on
Codeleak has purported leaked details on the next Battlefield game, saying
this may be called Battlefield Hardline. If accurate, this confirms
rumors this will take the series into the world of police action, rather than
the military. The Battlefield Daily
Twitter account has a bunch of images from the leak, and much of what was
revealed is summarized on
Eurogamer.net, including word the developer on this will be Visceral.
The Battlefield Blog announces that they are now offering a new way to
acquire Battlepacks for Battlefield 4, DICE's military shooter sequel.
Word is you can cut out the playing part of the process with cold, hard cash: Starting
today, we are introducing a new way to acquire Battlepacks, the bundles of
content that provide a mix of in-game items including accessories, emblem
shapes, profile pictures, dog tags, XP boosts, knives, and paints. Battlepacks
can still be earned through normal gameplay progressions, but we are now giving
players the option to purchase Battlepacks as a shortcut to catch up with their
friends on the Battlefield.
Bronze, Silver and Gold Battlepacks will be available for purchase at
Origin.com, Battlelog.com, through the in-game store, at Xbox Live Marketplace
and at the PlayStation Store. Pricing will be $1 for Bronze Battlepacks, $2 for
Silver Battlepacks, and $3 for Gold Battlepacks.
If you have any questions or comments about Battlepacks, don’t hesitate to reach
out to us.
Ubisoft
tweets about issues with Watch Dogs authentication, saying "We are
experiencing issues with the authentication services. Players may experience
long delays when trying to login in-game. More to come." This was
followed
by word they were still working on it, and
a post acknowledging the issue on their support site (thanks
Ars Technica).
The latest
tweet on the subject seems to indicate things are clearing up: "The
connection is rising and the issue still seems intermittent, the sign in system
might work after several tries."
The Evil Within will not be released this August
as planned, announces the a post
on
the Bethesda Blog that also includes another of
those videos showing
people being scared so badly by the game they literally die of heart attacks on
the spot (or at least jump and scream a bit). They don't explain the delay to
the survival/horror game, but do point out the game's new October release dates
will bring it in line with Halloween, the most terrifying holiday of them all.
Here's word on the new dates and some details on preorder bonuses: Thanks
to play testers we learn a lot about our games that help us make a better
project. Specifically with The Evil Within, we’ve also received plenty of
entertainment value. In our latest trailer for the game, watch actual reactions
from playtesters as they get their hands on the game for the first time.
The Evil Within will now terrify players right in the thick of Halloween season
– releasing on October 21st in North America, October 23rd in Australia, and
throughout Europe on October 24th, 2014. With your pre-order of the game, you’ll
receive The Fighting Chance Pack, which includes:
- Medical Kit – A vital health enhancement to enable
Sebastian to fight on.
- Green Gel – Used to upgrade Sebastian’s
attributes.
- Double Barrel Shotgun and Three Shells – A larger
and more formidable shotgun than the regular shotgun, it’s useful for tight
situations with multiple encroaching enemies.
- An Incendiary Agony Bolt – Capable of showering
nearby enemies with damaging fire sparks.
- A Poison Agony Bolt – Will draw enemies towards it
and poison them, allowing Sebastian time for a quick escape.
Continue here to read the full story.
Paradox Interactive has launched open beta testing for Magicka: Wizard Wars
on Steam, essentially a
soft launch for the PvP strategy game, since it is a free-to-play dealie. Here's
word from
the announcement, which also offers this
new open beta trailer: The
advance to Beta introduces a cauldron’s worth of new content to Magicka: Wizard
Wars, including a new Wizard Warfare map set in the dark caves of Galdrhöll
Halls – where the spectacular effects of players’ spells can really shine, along
with the slick red bits of Wizards who probably should have practiced a bit
more. A new ‘Raise Dead’ Magick has also been added, which conjures forth undead
zombie imps who hunger for enemy brains. New robes, staffs, and unique skins
also appear in this version, making it the most robust depiction of frantic
spellcasting in gaming today.
In Magicka: Wizard Wars, teams of Wizards go head-to-head in intense
player-versus-player (PvP) action, utilizing the celebrated spellcasting system
of Magicka, combining elements to generate on-the-fly spells. Players can also
hone their skills against one another in the one-on-one duel mode, utilizing all
of their tricks in order to be the last robe standing. With short battles,
skill-based spellcasting, and plenty of humor, Magicka: Wizard Wars presents a
new way to experience the chaos of Magicka with friends and foes
alike.
Continue here to read the full story.
Gearbox Software now offers a
PAX East 2014 Narrated
Gameplay Walkthrough video from Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, showing some
gameplay from the upcoming return to the Borderlands series, showing a new
playable character, new loot chests, new weapon affixes, how oxygen plays into
the setting of Pandora's moon, and more in a clip that shows off around 15
minutes of gameplay. Word is: "Check out the video above to see 15 minutes of
ice weapons, butt slams, and Athena's Aspis shield, plus hear commentary from
Gearbox’s James Lopez and 2K Australia’s Joel Eschler." They also point the way
to a new
interview on IGN discussing the game with writer Anthony Burch. Continue here to read the full story.
Capcom Unity follows up on
previously revealed plans
to drop Microsoft's Games for Windows LIVE service from the upcoming release
of Ultra Street Fighter IV with word that they will also be replacing
GFWL with Steamworks in Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition. This
includes what may be the first concrete word that GFWL is actually shutting
down, and they outline how the transition will work, even for those who
purchased the fighting game from GFWL.
Developer Wild Factor now offers Freaking Meatbags
on Steam as a freaking
Early Access title. Here's a
recent trailer showing
off the action/strategy game, and here's word on what to freaking expect: Freaking
Meatbags throws you into a futuristic world where robots have jobs, cephalopods
aren't confined to a single dimension, and humans pretty much just stand around
talking to themselves. As a lowly cleaning robot, your task is to gather
precious materials from each world before the solar system goes kaboom. As soon
as you land, you realize this gig isn't going to be as simple as you had hoped.
During the day you'll scramble to gather resources, build structures and keep
your base in good repair. But when it gets dark, get ready to fight. Those
rampaging wild robots aren't here to have a knitting competition.
At least you're not alone in your daily chores. Fleshy, unintelligent and very
unattractive human creatures live on these planets. You've discovered they're
quite amenable to being told what to do, even if those tasks are as limited as
carrying resources back and forth. Mix some DNA from a few different species,
however, and you can breed humans with special powers. Like, say... laser beam
eyes! A little mod here, a little hack there and they might turn out to be quite
useful!
Continue here to read the full story.
- AudioSurf on
Steam. Save 75.
- Audiosurf 2 on
Steam. Save 40%.
- Bastion on
Steam. Save 85%.
- Painkiller Hell & Damnation on
Steam. Save 80%.
- PC and Android 10 on
Humble Bundle.
- XCOM: Enemy Unknown on
Steam. Save 50%.
AMD now offers the promised new
Catalyst 14.6 Beta Driver for Windows, noting that as of this release they
are no longer supporting Windows 8.0, advising users to upgrade for free to
Windows 8.1 to take advantage of the new driver, noting they will leave the 14.4
beta available for Windows 8.0 users and will in the future offer a way for Win8
holdouts to use Windows 7 drivers. There is also a new
AMD Catalyst 14.6 Beta for Linux. Here are the performance improvements
promised from the new Windows driver:
- Watch Dogs performance improvements
- AMD Radeon R9 290X - 1920x1080 4x MSAA –
improves up to 25%
- AMD Radeon R9290X - 2560x1600 4x MSAA –
improves up to 28%
- AMD Radeon R9290X CrossFire configuration
(3840x2160 Ultra settings, MSAA = 4X) - 92% scaling
- Murdered Soul Suspect performance improvements
- AMD Radeon R9 290X – 2560x1600 4x MSAA –
improves up to 16%
- AMD Radeon R9290X CrossFire configuration
(3840x2160 Ultra settings, MSAA = 4X) - 93% scaling
August 5th is now when we should expect the release of Sacred 3, announces Deep
Silver. They offer the following on preorders: "All
fans who pre-order Sacred 3 will be able to jump into Ancaria primed for battle
with the playable Malakhim character, who uses mysterious blood magic to combat
the armies of Emperor Zane. Additionally, fans that purchase Sacred 3 at
GameStop will receive the Underworld Story mission pack, the playable Malakhim
character and the exclusive Z4ngr13f Weapon Spirit." They also have a
feature
on their website on that Weapon Spirit feature, shown off in
this video. Here's
word: Weapon Spirits are a brand new addition
to the Sacred universe in Sacred 3. Players will be able to enhance their
weapons with these upgradable and interchangeable weapon augmentations, each
with their own unique buffs and debuffs. Certain Weapon Spirits even take the
form of previous characters from the Sacred franchise, to help aid players of
Sacred 3 in their fight against the hordes of evil.
Sacred 3 features classic arcade Hack ‘n’ Slash action centered around drop
in/drop out cooperative multiplayer for both offline (2 players) and online (4
players) play. The game brings back favorite characters such as the Seraphim,
Ancarian, Khukuri and the Safiri, and introduces the aforementioned new
character, Malakhim. Each character class features its own unique skills and
weapons that can be upgraded to match the player’s very own combat style. Master
the art of war and fight through enemy hordes and try to outshine fellow
companions on the way to become the greatest hero of all.
Update: Fixed a mix-up with another game in the original version of this
story. Apologies for the confusion. Continue here to read the full story.
Firefly Studios announces
a September 2nd global release date for Stronghold Crusader 2, their siege
warfare real-time strategy sequel. "We are thrilled to finally give Stronghold
players a release date for the game," says Simon Bradbury, lead designer. "Fans
of the Crusader series have high hopes for Crusader 2 and although many want to
get their hands on a copy as soon as possible, it was never our intent to rush
the development process. Since the beginning of the project we have maintained
that Crusader 2 will pop its head above the parapet only when we are happy that
it is truly ready for battle. Well now we think it is almost there, we are about
to go into final testing and have recently been confident enough to demo our
baby at public events such as EGX London, Rezzed and PAX East. We will have a
sequel worthy of the Crusader name come September 2nd." They also explain this
will be require Steam: The September 2nd release date will be a
worldwide simultaneous retail and digital release. On launch day Stronghold
Crusader 2 will be available both online through Steam and in stores, with a
physical copy of the game on offer to fans looking to add Crusader 2 to their
collection. Both editions of the game will be exclusive to the Steam platform,
requiring the software to active. Please note you will still be able to play
Crusader 2 offline by setting the Steam client to offline mode.
Today marks the release of Watch Dogs, as Ubisoft now offers the
open-world hacking action game also written as Watch_Dogs. The
Watch Dogs
website has links to locate the dizzying array of different versions of the
game, some of which are listed as preorders, and therefore may no longer be
available. NVIDIA released drivers and a tweak guide for the game
yesterday, and
AnandTech says AMD will follow suit today, but a new Catalyst beta is not
yet available. The first reviews are online, and here are some of those, with
the PC review listed where available:
Ars Technica,
CVG,
Forbes,
GameSpot,
Hardware Heaven,
IncGamers.com,
PC Gamer,
PC Games (Germany),
Polygon,
Rock,
Paper, Shotgun,
Strategy
Informer,
The Verge,
and
Worthplaying. Also, this
ctOS
Mobile App FAQ has details on the accompanying Watch Dogs iOS and Android
apps, with links to get them that should go live when they are available. Here's
the official description of the game: Set in Chicago, where a central
network of computers connects everyone and everything, Watch_Dogs explores the
impact of technology within our society. Using the city as your weapon, you will
embark on a personal mission to inflict your own brand of justice.
Chicago's overarching network is known as the Central Operating System (ctOS),
and it controls almost all of the city's technology and information - including
key data on all of the city's residents.
You play as Aiden Pearce, a brilliant hacker and former thug, whose criminal
past led to a violent family tragedy. While seeking justice for those events,
you'll monitor and hack those around you by manipulating the ctOS from the palm
of your hand. You'll access omnipresent security cameras, download personal
information to locate a target, control traffic lights and public transportation
to stop the enemy... and more.
An
article on Forbes quotes AMD's Robert Hallock on
NVIDIA's GameWorks program, saying this "represents a
clear and present threat to gamers by deliberately crippling performance on AMD
products to widen the margin in favor of NVIDIA products." He goes on to explain
the program "precludes the developer from accepting AMD suggestions that would
improve performance directly in the game code," while of course allow easier
optimization for NVIDIA graphics cards, and says AMD is not allowed to use
source code from these games to develop drivers.
VG247 notes a response from NVIDIA has already appeared, as
a series of
tweets from John McDonald strongly refutes these contentions (though these
are personal reactions, rather than any sort of official statement on the
topic). Here they are strung together: "It is extremely frustrating to see an
article criticizing work you did at a former employer and not being able to
comment that the person who you are quoting from was just completely full of
unsubstantiated bullshit. And while I never did, and certainly do not now, speak
for nvidia, let me say that in the six years I was in devtech I *never*, not a
single time, asked a developer to deny title access to AMD or to remove things
that were beneficial to AMD."
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, TT Games and The LEGO Group announce
LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, saying the next installment in the
brick-based superhero video game series will come this fall to Windows, Xbox
One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3, Wii U, Vita, and DS. "Building on the incredibly
successful LEGO Batman franchise, we are working to make LEGO Batman 3: Beyond
Gotham the ultimate super hero videogame this year for all ages," said Tom
Stone, Managing Director, TT Games. "The TT Games team is bringing LEGO Batman
and an astounding amount of characters from the DC Comics universe to the next
frontier with a new epic story, more gadgets and unexpected challenges." The
LEGO Batman Facebook page
has details and an
announcement trailer and here's word: In LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham,
the Caped Crusader joins forces with the super heroes of the DC Comics Universe
and blasts off to outer space to stop the evil Brainiac from destroying Earth.
Using the power of the Lantern Rings, Brainiac shrinks worlds to add to his
twisted collection of miniature cities from across the universe. Now the
greatest super heroes and the most cunning villains must unite and journey to
different Lantern Worlds to collect the Lantern Rings and stop Brainiac before
it’s too late.
Players will unlock more than 150 unique characters from the DC Comics universe,
including members of the Justice League and LEGO big figures such as Killer
Croc, Solomon Grundy and many more. Fans of all ages will be able to control
their favorite heroes and villains with new gadgets and abilities. Brainiac’s
mind controlling abilities and the power of the Lantern rings bring unexpected
twists to the classic characters’ personalities.
Continue here to read the full story.
Logic Artists is now offering the Fabula Event Editor for Expeditions:
Conquistador, allowing owners of this strategy/RPG to create their own new
scenarios. This a free download for Windows, Linux, and OS X offered
through Steam. Word is:
"With this XML editor, players can change existing content or generate
completely new events. Players can change quests and rewards or write their own
narration. With these tools, they can modify the original campaigns to their own
tastes and share them with their friends."
1C Game Studios announces plans to release IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of
Stalingrad in September of this year, saying public beta testing of the
aerial combat game should begin during the summer. Early Access to the game is
now available for those who preorder the game,
and preorders of the $59.99 (not counting the 8% preorder discount) Standard
Edition are now offered alongside the $99.99 (not counting the 5% preorder
discount) Premium Edition. "We plan to dedicate the remaining months to
optimization and bug fixing," said Albert Zhiltsov, the game's producer. "The
game has been in the early access stage since November 2013. This spring we
opened up access 24/7 and we have been producing weekly updates for the past
several months, which means releasing a new game every seven days. This is not
the most efficient option for a development team, but this gives us a unique and
valuable opportunity to get feedback from users before the game hits stores."
I was delighted to find that BJs, which is the local warehouse "club" store we
use, recently began carrying Mexican Coca-Cola, a real treat thanks to the use
of sugar instead of HFCS as a sweetener. I've only come across this a couple of
times over the years, most recently in the local supermarket where it was sold
at a pretty hefty by-the-bottle price, and I and haven't seen the sugar-fuelled
throwback Pepsi in years, so this is pretty cool.
|
Twitter 
