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Archived News:
EA announces that
Battlefield 3 for Windows is being offered for free for the next week
through their
Origin On the House program alongside Plants vs. Zombies for Windows and OS
X. Here's the deal: Battlefield 3 for PC is absolutely free for a limited
time with
Origin On the House.
You read that right.
Battlefield 3 on PC is totally free, but only for a week.
All you have to do is add it to your
Origin game library and it’s yours to keep forever. Just download it when
you get a chance.
Already playing Battlefield? We’ve
got something for you, too.
Plants vs. Zombies on PC and Mac is also free right now with Origin On the
House. Same deal, just add it to your game library and it’s yours for as long as
you want it.
For more chance to score free games, look out for
Origin
Free Code Friday and read up on the
EA Tuesday Exclusive.
On the House titles change frequently so keep checking back.
Remember, you can download Battlefield 3 on PC right now, for free, but only
until June 3.
Obsidian Entertainment is now accepting applications to beta test Armored
Warfare on the official website for their
upcoming team-based modern military vehicle combat game. They also offer a
new Shattered World
trailer from the game in advance of showing it off at E3 next month, and
here's word on what it shows: "Showcasing new in-game environments players will
engage across fully destructible battlefields in Armored Warfare, rendered by
CryEngine 3 and completely at the mercy of players. Players can smash their
tanks through walls at full speed, or strategically collapse buildings with the
blast of a cannon, creating a constantly evolving warzone that forces players to
always think about their next moves. From sleepy hamlets to war torn desert
outposts to snow covered cathedrals, nowhere is safe from destruction in Armored
Warfare." Continue here to read the full story.
Ubisoft announces Watch Dogs has set their company record for first day
sales, by selling some completely undisclosed number of copies, saying this is
based on internal estimates of worldwide sales. There are lots of quotes, but no
concrete numbers in
a
related update on the UbiBlog, and Ubi has never announced a one-day sales
record before, so there's nothing to base an estimate on. The closest we can
recall is an announcement
from 2012 that Assassin's Creed III had set a first month record by selling
over 7 million units.
The CD Projekt RED and GOG.com summer conference kicks off on June 5th (the
actual start of summer notwithstanding), and those unable to attend in person
are being offered the opportunity to attend virtually through a livestream of
the proceedings. This will be viewable on
The Witcher website or the
GOG.com website beginning at 6:00 pm GMT (2:00 pm EDT). Here's what to
expect: Leading the fight against DRM and DLC evildoing, the studio’s
co-founder and conference host Marcin Iwiński will join forces with the GOG.com
team to bring you some very exciting news about The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and the
future of GOG.com.
“If you think you’ve seen it all, we hope we’ll make you think again,” said
Marcin Iwiński, CD PROJEKT’s co-founder. “This year’s conference is going to be
really special, as we’ll be unveiling details about the much anticipated Witcher
3: Wild Hunt and its Collector’s Edition, and also taking a look at how what you
love about GOG.com can be made even better,” Iwiński added.
NVIDIA has responded to
accusations from AMD that
NVIDIA's GameWorks program was "deliberately crippling performance on AMD
products to widen the margin in favor of NVIDIA products," because it "precludes
the developer from accepting AMD suggestions that would improve performance
directly in the game code." There was a quote from an ex-NVIDIA developer in
our earlier story on
this, but
The Tech Report spoke with Cem Cebenoyan, Director of Engineering for
Developer Technology at NVIDIA about the claim. "It's definitely not true. We've
never done anything like that, where we preclude people from working with our
competition or taking suggestions from our competition or getting access to
builds," Cebenoyan told them. "I don't know the specifics, because it's not
really our business as to who has access to our games developers partners'
builds. That's up to them, right? But my assumption is . . . all the competitors
have equal access in terms of getting builds." They do, however, note the
GameWorks license agreement does indeed make it possible that AMD is denied
access to portions of a game's source code that contains proprietary NVIDIA
middleware, though Cebenoyan says. "In general, most game developers don't
really give people source code, anyway." The article also includes his thoughts
on why AMD has had trouble with NVIDIA sponsored titles along with an counter
accusation about the same sort of shenanigans: Cebenoyan then chimed in,
"We spend a lot of energy on those titles. We really look at them carefully and
try to make the experience as good as possible for Nvidia customers. Maybe in
the process of doing that, that makes it so that it's noticeably better than on
AMD. I don't know. But it's not a functional way to work with developers where
you suggest things to them that hurt a significant portion of their user base.
That's just not gonna fly with any competent developer. So that's not something
that we ever do."
Somewhat contradictorily, Cebenoyan went on to tell me that, in "at least" two
instances, AMD's own developer relations efforts impeded Nvidia's work with game
developers. "We know of real examples where we have actually explicitly been
forbidden from seeing builds—forget source code, even just binary builds—of
games that include high-end effects," Cebenoyan said. "The full game with all of
the effects, the important PC ultra quality settings, [was] hidden from us until
say a few weeks before launch, something like that. These were things that were
contractually obligated."
Steam News announces
that CRYENGINE
subscriptions are now being offered through Steam: CRYENGINE
is Now Available on Steam with 1, 3, and 6-month Subscriptions*!
CRYENGINE is the first all-in-one development solution with truly scalable
computation, multi-award winning graphics, state-of-the-art lighting, realistic
physics, intuitive visual scripting, high fidelity audio, designer friendly AI,
an efficient 3D stereoscopic solution across all platforms and much, more -
straight out of the box.
With CRYENGINE, developers are fully equipped to create standout experiences for
PC, using the engine behind games like Ryse: Son of Rome and the Crysis Series.
*Steam customers can sign-up for, manage, cancel or renew Subscription Plans at
any time, online directly through Steam. Visit Steam Support for
more information about Steam Subscription Plans.
Steam announces another 75 titles were greenlit for Steam today. You
probably know the drill by now: "While they were Greenlit today, these titles
will be released independently in the weeks or months ahead, as they complete
development and integrate any Steamworks features they are interested in
utilizing."
Here
are the details on the new approvals.
- Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs on
Steam. Save 66%.
- Armored Bloodwing and Blossoming Ancient on
World of Warcraft.
Save35%.
- Stacking on GOG.com.
Save 60%.
The Bethesda
Blog announces BATTLECRY, a 32-player online action game that will be
an eponymous first release from BattleCry Studios, the Austin-based developer
founded by Bethesda and BioWare expatriate Rich Vogel in
2012. They offer this
reveal trailer for the game, tout the launch of the
official BATTLECRY website, and provide the following early
details: Welcome to the WarZone! BATTLECRY, a 32-player online team action
game, is the first project from our Austin-based team, BattleCry Studios.
In the reveal trailer above, get a first look at the world envisioned by Viktor
Antonov (Half-Life 2, Dishonored) – where gun powder has been banned following a
cataclysmic world war at the dawn of the 20th century. Traditional warfare is
now a relic of the past and all conflicts are settled head-on by elite teams of
chosen warriors in sanctioned WarZones. Trained and bred for battle they face
off for the glory of their nations.
To learn more on BATTLECRY – planned to be in Beta in 2015, visit the game’s
official website — featuring an introduction blog post from Rich Vogel — and the
BATTLECRY social media channels:
Official Website –
http://www.battlecrythegame.com
Facebook –
https://www.facebook.com/BATTLECRYTheGame
Twitter –
http://www.twitter.com/battlecry_game
Continue here to read the full story.
Here's a new video
that shows off "Build Mode" in The Sims 4, showing how easy it is to
create the house of your dreams in the upcoming lifestyle simulation sequel.
Word on this includes a reference to
the recent "Create-a-Sim"
trailer, the power of the game's editing tools, and that we can expect more
about the game in a couple of weeks at E3: Two weeks ago, we shared The
Sims 4 Create A Sim Official Gameplay Trailer that introduced a powerful new way
to create the most relatable looking Sims ever. Today, we’re revealing The Sims
4 Build Mode Official Gameplay Trailer that shows how we’ve completely rebuilt
this tool from the ground up to make it easier to use, and still offer the depth
that our players demand. You can see this video right
HERE.
Build Mode gives you the ability to create stunning homes with ease. With a
tactile and intuitive interface, players can simply drag and drop complete
rooms, creating stunning homes with flexibility and speed.
The Sims 4 combines revolutionary Sims with powerful new creative tools, and
dynamic, emotionally-rich gameplay, creating a life simulator where, for the
first time, your choices shape not just this single moment but the entire life
journey of your Sims.
The Sims 4 is in development for PC at The Sims Studio and is not yet rated by
the ESRB. More information for The Sims 4 will be revealed during the EA E3
Press Conference starting at Noon Pacific on Monday, June 9.
Continue here to read the full story.
A new McLaren in Moscow
trailer from World of Speed offers a look at racing in the Moscow
track in the upcoming motorsports game, cut together with real-life footage of
Russian racing (bring your won dashcam). Those interested in the game can sign
up for the closed beta on the World of Speed
website. Here's word on the realism and fantasy this clip represents: "The
trailer features a McLaren 12C as it cruises around the game's never-before-seen
Moscow track, with in-game footage spliced together with real racing from the
Moscow City Racing 2013 event. See how World of Speed brings real-world
locations to life like no other racing game, and even lets players drive through
landmarks like Moscow's Red Square, where cars aren't even allowed in real
life!" Continue here to read the full story.
A new Battlefield Hardline
website is online, as EA DICE takes a hard line on the
leaked details about the next
installment in the shooter series. The site offers newsletter signups, and
promises an unveiling at E3 on June 9th at 3:00 pm EDT. A
leaked trailer is also
online, though this may disappear soon judging by the "confidential" and "do
not distribute" watermarks (thanks
DSOGaming). Finally, there's an accompanying announcement on
the EA website where Steve Papoutsis confirms this is being developed by
Visceral Games and that this will depart the military theme for more of a cops
versus criminals shooter. Here's word: On behalf of everyone at EA and
Visceral Games, I’m fired up to confirm our next project – Battlefield Hardline.
The game launches this fall and it’s a brand new series in the Battlefield
franchise, set against the backdrop of a genre we all love – the war on crime
and the battle between cops and criminals.
Several years ago, I was at an internal EA meeting in Barcelona with creative
leaders from across the company. It was there I met Karl Magnus Troedsson, the
GM of DICE, for the first time, and we immediately began talking about games –
I’ve always loved Battlefield and KM was a huge fan of Dead Space, which I was
working on at the time. We started talking about different ways we could work
together, different ways we could take Battlefield and action games in a new
direction. It was then that this project that became Battlefield Hardline was
born.
There’s been a lot of buzz today about Battlefield Hardline – we’re getting
ready for E3 and fans found some details on our website about what we’re working
on for the show. We’ve been reading all of your comments and we’re excited to be
going into more detail soon on the ways we’re adding new twists and turns to the
foundation of Battlefield multiplayer and more about how we’re bringing our
strengths at Visceral to single player.
Continue here to read the full story.
Valve announces a delay to the launch of Steam Machines, the SteamOS-powered
gaming boxes, saying they are now anticipating launching these in 2015, rather
than sometime this year, implying that tuning the Steam Controller is the issue.
Here's the post from
the Steam Universe group (thanks
Ars Technica) announcing how
Valve Time has
struck once more: We've been getting emails from the Steam community
asking us how our in-development Steam Machines are coming along. It's great
that you're excited about it, and we know you appreciate it when we keep you in
the loop on stuff like this, so we wanted to give you all a quick update.
We’re now using wireless prototype controllers to conduct live playtests, with
everyone from industry professionals to die-hard gamers to casual gamers. It's
generating a ton of useful feedback, and it means we'll be able to make the
controller a lot better. Of course, it's also keeping us pretty busy making all
those improvements. Realistically, we're now looking at a release window of
2015, not 2014.
Obviously we're just as eager as you are to get a Steam Machine in your hands.
But our number one priority is making sure that when you do, you'll be getting
the best gaming experience possible. We hope you'll be patient with us while we
get there. Until then, we’ll continue to post updates as we have more stories to
share.
As always, we love getting feedback on the Steam Machine and Steam controller
from the community. After all, you're the people we want to be happiest when we
release them.
Indie French developer Exkee has released Kill The Bad Guy
on Steam for Windows,
Linux, and OS X, offering the chance to rid the world of some villains with all
sorts of environmental puzzles. A new
launch trailer shows
off how this works. Here's word: Kill The Bad Guy is a puzzle-based game
with a seemingly calm, utopian atmosphere, but in actuality, it is a veritable
playground for which to serve vile evil doers their just desserts! Players will
act as a shadowy justice, manipulating the tangible world from afar as the
unsuspecting Bad Guy goes about his day.
Players will use intelligence, cunning, and trickery to find the best way to
lure the Bad Guy into a deadly trap. Once the Bad Guy is zeroed in on, players
can choose accessible tools best suited for the job: a runaway car, a
razor-sharp propeller from a defective air-conditioner unit, or perhaps a
wrecking ball which happened to "accidentally" detach itself from an excavator.
What will it be? Every level provides players with the possibility to splatter
and destroy the Bad Guy using various weapons and traps. Simply put, it is up to
the player to put the Bad Guy in the wrong place at the right time!
Continue here to read the full story.
Publisher BitComposer and developer Games Farm announce Shadows: Heretic
Kingdoms will enter Early Access on Steam on June 13th. They offer a new
Early Access teaser
trailer from the action/RPG, and here's word on the plan: "Offering many
hours of gameplay with over 10 different maps, gamers can experience the whole
first chapter of the game, including the first bossfights, as one of the game’s
main protagonists. More features, such as voiced dialogues and a crafting system
will be added throughout the course of Early Access." Continue here to read the full story.
CNN retracts report saying Manhattan-sized killer asteroid will hit Earth on
March 35, 2041. Great... now I have to find all those people who bought all
the possessions I sold in a panic.
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