Archived News:

Thursday, Jul 10, 2014

Mount & Blade: Warband Free Weekend Celebrates OS X/Linux/Workshop Support

Steam News announces a 75% off sale on Mount & Blade: Warband that coincides with a free weekend for the hack and slash game: "Mount & Blade: Warband now includes Steam Workshop integration and has just released on Mac & Linux! To celebrate, play the full game for FREE starting now through Sunday at 1PM Pacific Time. You can also pickup Mount & Blade: Warband at 75% off the regular price!" Here's more on the new platforms:
Mount&Blade Warband is now functional on OS X and Linux platforms and has enabled support for Module downloading with Steam Workshop. These features are only newly released and there might be a few hiccups. Just let us know in the Steam or TaleWorlds forums and we'll continue to fix and improve our support.

This is the reason for the patches occurring over the past couple of days. Happy Mount&Blading!

Ghost Recon Phantoms Changes, Giveaways

Ubisoft's UbiBlog outlines changes to Ghost Recon Phantoms along with a three-day Steam giveaway to inspire people to check out what's new in the free-to-play game, saying the changes are "aimed toward improving the balance, responsiveness and overall experience of the game." Here are details on the changes and giveaways:
As you can see in the infographic at the bottom of the post, update 1.2 has significantly rebalanced the weapons as well as made adjustments to the the speed at which players run and reload. Device recharging time has also been cut way down, meaning you can deploy them nearly two times faster than before. In the graphic, you can also see the restructured rewards tier. Newcomers will now be able to progress even faster and have access to higher-level weapons within just a few hours of starting the game. The improved Beginner and Lietuenant’s Playlist will let starting players spend more time training against people in the same skill ranking before they dive into the deep end to play against more seasoned players.

To sweeten the pot even more for these new players, Ghost Recon Phantoms will be running a special Steam offer for 3 days only, starting today. Every day from now until July 14 at 11:30pm PDT, you can download a free starter bundle. Grab three starter bundles (one for each class) this weekend and get started in Ghost Recon Phantoms, if you haven’t already. Play the tactical team-based shooter right now for free at the official website.

Rebellion "Could" Return to AvP Series

There's a quote from a yet-to-be-published interview on DSOGaming with word from Rebellion on the possibility they could someday return to the Aliens vs. Predator series. "Here at Rebellion we’ve got a particularly strong attachment to the AvP universe, so it could happen," Head of Programming Kevin Floyer-Lea tells them. "We had a lot of fun playing with people’s minds on the original game by randomising spawn positions so what was a health pack turned out to be an Alien on your next play through. So personally I’d love to see an AvP game with fully procedurally generated levels, where you literally never know what’s around the next corner."

Making of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel

Gearbox Software offers a new trailer with the ""Making of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Episode One," offering a behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming shooter between-quel. Word is: "The Making of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is a behind the scenes documentary series that will explore the origins, features, and future of the game. Episode 1, To the Moon, explores the origins behind the project itself and the collaborative relationship between Gearbox Software and 2K Australia. Future episodes will explore the new moon environment, characters, weapons, and more!" Continue here to read the full story.

On Sale

  • Goat Simulator on Steam. Save 40%.
  • Lost Chronicles of Zerzura on Steam. Save 10%.
  • The Red Solstice on Steam. Save 40%.

Into the Black

Link of the Day: Henry's Kitchen Is The Funniest Cooking Show You've Never Seen (NSFW). Thanks nin.

Ubisoft's Sales Growth

Ubisoft offers sales figures for their fiscal Q1 2014-2015, an unusual move separate from normal quarterly financial reporting, which is still about a month off based on their typical timing. This may have to do with the impressive growth represented by the news:
Sales for the first quarter of fiscal-year 2014-15 came to €360 million, up 374 percent (or 386 percent at constant exchange rates) compared with the €76 million recorded for first-quarter fiscal-year 2013-14.

The first quarter sales figure was higher than the target of approximately €310 million announced when Ubisoft released its full-year 2013-14 results. This performance reflects:

  • The success of Watch Dogs, which broke Ubisoft’s and industry’s sales record for, respectively, the launch of a new game and of a new brand, with over 8 million sell-in units.
  • Strong growth reported in the digital segment, with sales up 149 percent to €84 million, driven by Watch Dogs, the success of Ubisoft’s Free-to-Play mobile games and the releases of Trials Fusion, Child of Light and Valiant Hearts The Great War.

Stronghold Crusader 2 System Requirements

Firefly Studios sends word that Stronghold Crusader 2 is now in closed beta testing, taking the opportunity to also announce the minimum system requirements for the upcoming siege warfare sequel. "When we first announced Stronghold Crusader 2 one of the first pieces of information released was that the game will use a newly enhanced 3D engine," they explain. "By this point the team was so experienced with the Havok Vision Engine that learning something completely new and moving away from 3D would be a waste of that knowledge. Our stated goal with Crusader 2 was to create the best 3D Stronghold game yet and that’s exactly what we intent to deliver." Here are the system specifications:

  • Operating System: Windows® XP/Windows Vista/Windows 7/Windows 8 (latest service packs) with DirectX 9.0c
  • Processor: Intel Core2 Duo 2Ghz or equivalent
  • Memory: 2GB RAM
  • Video: NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800GT 512MB or AMD Radeon™ HD 2900XT 512MB or better
  • Storage: 6 GB available HD space
  • Internet: Broadband Internet connection

Unreal Engine 4 Livestream Today

Those interested in the latest details on Unreal Engine 4 can tune into Twitch this afternoon at 2:00 pm EDT for a livestream discussing development of Epic's next game engine. Word is: "And on this week’s Unreal Engine livestream broadcast, Unreal Engine General Manager, Ray Davis, and Sr. Environment Artist Ryan Brucks will give a preview of the upcoming 4.3 update, Technical Writer Lauren Ridge presents a documentation update, there will be a rendering update and more!" There will also be a Q&A and this thread has some of the questions that will be addressed.

Lords of the Black Sun Early Access Adds Multiplayer

Publisher Iceberg Interactive announces a major update to the Steam Early Access beta for Lords of the Black Sun, Arkavi Studios' upcoming 4x space strategy game. This update has details on the new version 1.2 patch, which adds multiplayer support along with a bunch of other changes. Word is: "Players are now able to forge in-game alliances with their best pals, or squash them with a galactic onslaught, in this original turn-based strategy game." Here's a refresher on the game:
In Lords of the Black Sun you take command of one race to join the struggle for supremacy in the galaxy. As the leader of your empire you are tasked with exploring the stars, colonizing new worlds, managing your empire and conquering whoever dares to oppose you. Within a framework of turn-based strategy and turn-based combat, Lords of the Black Sun endeavours to differentiate itself by allowing players to beat their opponents by using Generals, diplomacy, intelligence, trading, or plotting the downfall of enemies by financing wars against them or aiming to cause anarchy.

Cliff Bleszinski Talks a Blue Streak

A new Ask Me Anything session on Reddit with Cliff Bleszinski talks with the former Epic designer about recently announced plans for a free-to-play shooter called Blue Streak. Along the way he faces questions about his outspokenness ("Part of it was also not being held own by PR folks and being able to say a lot of what I really thought about the industry. Did I go a bit overboard? Probably."), whether the F2P game will feature microtransactions ("I've never shipped a Free to Play game before. That's one of the MANY reasons why we're going with Nexon, they can provide server structures and a global peek into gamers of all types and guide us into a game that's more 'Shut up and take my money' as opposed to "shaking you down for your hard earned cash'."), that the characters in the game will apparently not be the steroidal freaks depicted in Gears of War, that Tim Sweeney is spending money buying up most of North Carolina rather than paying him, and more.

Dragon Age: Inquisition Trailer

A new trailer from Dragon Age: Inquisition offers a look at the E3 demo for EA's upcoming RPG sequel, including developer narration. The clip runs over 16 minutes, and is listed as "part one," so there may be more of this on the way. Word is: "Join creative director Mike Laidlaw as he walks you through part one of the award winning Dragon Age: Inquisition E3 gameplay demo. In part one, explore the largest Dragon Age world ever created and lead your followers in a battle against a High Dragon." Continue here to read the full story.

Game Reviews

Divinity: Original Sin Review for PC on Cheat Code Central is drawing flack for shoddiness. Thanks Joao.

Hardware Reviews

Out of the Blue

A conversation in the forums got me to thinking about the missing screen and storm windows in our bathroom I mentioned yesterday. I had just measured the opening to see if I could find a replacement somewhere when it struck me that it would be very odd for someone to throw storm windows in the garbage unless they were completely destroyed. Sure enough, a little poking around in the corner of the basement that still contains mysterious odds-and-ends we found when we moved in here turned up a screen and both storm windows. They needed cleaning, but were otherwise in perfect condition, and slid right back into place. I guess they were removed for painting, and were never replaced when they couldn't get the window back open again, but whatever the reason, this was a satisfying conclusion to an odd situation.

Odd Links: Thanks Ant and Acleacius.
Play: Cover Orange Journey Wild West.
Candy Thieves.
Purrmageddon.
Links: How Domino's pizza lost its mascot.
Hipster Finds Lifestyle Too Expensive, Reverts Back to Mainstream.
Humpty Dumpty irreparably damaged after falling from wall.
Stories: An Error Puts a Church on George Carlin Way.
George R.R. Martin says 'f*ck you' to anyone who thinks he'll die before finishing 'Game of Thrones' series.
Science: Confirmed: Voyager 1 in Interstellar Space.
DARPA Wants a Memory Prosthetic for Injured Vets—and Wants It Now. Thanks Slashdot.
Shaken or stirred- Drone bartender battles bots in design challenge.
Images: Take a photo tour of Valve HQ – it’s as cool you’d imagine it to be.
Media: Urban Pallet Surfing.
Germany vs Brazil World Cup 2014.
Purrkour with Didga.
Follow-up: DC Comics Reverses Decision, Will Let Murdered 5-Year-Old Be Superman. Thanks nin.
Brazil, Germany Goals: How The Collapse Happened.
The Funnies: xkcd: Dominant Players.
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