Archived News:
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!
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.
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."
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.
- Goat Simulator on
Steam. Save 40%.
- Lost Chronicles of Zerzura on
Steam. Save 10%.
- The Red Solstice on
Steam. Save 40%.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
|
Twitter 
