Archived News:
Bellevue, WA-based indie developer
Motiga announces Gigantic, an online game they call "genre-bending"
(though it sounds an awful lot like a MOBA) coming to PCs in 2015 bringing "a combination of teamwork, action and strategy
to a vibrant fantasy world."
This announce trailer
shows off the concept, and points the way to the
GoGigantic website where they are
conducting alpha signups. One of the developers on this is StarCraft and Guild
Wars lead designer James Phinney. "The gameplay in Gigantic is about creating
opportunities to be heroic," says Phinney, "Whether you’re rescuing an ally,
sneaking behind enemy lines or facing off solo against a towering guardian,
there are dramatic ways to turn the tide of battle." Here's word on the game: In
Gigantic, five players charge across a fantasy battleground alongside their
guardian, a five-story-tall monster they’ve sworn to protect. Players start by
choosing from a roster of unique heroes that fits their gameplay style, then
aim, dodge and leap across the map until they defeat the enemy guardian. Every
battle in Gigantic lets players earn rewards, unlock new heroes and fine-tune
the gameplay to fit their style.
Continue here to read the full story.
The
Firefall website reveals that the early access period for Firefall is now
underway, a two-week period that will culminate in the official launch of the
MMO shooter on July 29th. Any player who created an account before July 8th is
entitled to participate, and while the game is free-to-play, anyone without an
account already who wants to join in before the launch must buy a
Firefall Launch Pack. They
celebrate the news with a
new campaign trailer highlighting the game's story. The game hit version 1.0
for the early access launch, and
here are the
patch notes, though they note that the game is still officially in beta for
now. Continue here to read the full story.
Publisher Devolver Digital and indie developer Roll7 announce OlliOlli is
coming to Steam on July
22nd, offering a skateboarding game for Windows, OS X, and Linux that's already
found success on the PlayStation Vita.
Steam has images, and
here's word: The boom-sick gnarly content in OlliOlli includes more than
250 challenges including the insane RAD mode that unlocks only after you’ve
mastered all other challenges. With more than 120 different tricks and grinds to
perfect, OlliOlli will test your skills to the limit and engage you in
increasingly competitive gameplay, as you try to shred your way up the
leaderboards.
With more than 35 international game critics kick-flipping 80+ review scores for
OlliOlli, the PC release is a do-not-miss summer title.
A
Steam Community announcement outlines details of a patch that's now live for
Divinity: Original Sin with the first official update for Larian Studios'
new RPG. The
Larian Studios forums have the enormous list of changes in the patch, which
brings the game to version 1.0.72 for those keeping score at home. Here's the
summary, outlining the new AI personalities feature this introduces: We
just released the first official patch for Divinity:Original Sin which
introduces the concept of AI personalities.
During character creation, you can now select a specific personality for your
characters. When a personality is active the AI will automatically make dialogue
choices (based on its personality) for the avatar that isn't selected.
In addition to this, we've made a lot of improvements as well as bug fixes and
balancing changes. You do not need to start a completely new game for these
changes to work. Of course, your savegames will keep on working.
You'll also notice that you can now publish to Steam Workshop using the Divinity
Engine Toolkit.
Steam now offers
Wayward Manor, The Odd Gentlemen's adventure game written by famed author
Neil Gaiman, though as noted
by Destructoid, the early Steam reviews for the game are not sterling.
Here's word on the game: Wayward Manor invites you to jump into the
afterlife of a disgruntled ghost, trying to reclaim his house from its newfound
owners. Set in the 1920s, this puzzle/adventure game transports players to an
era of dark screwball comedy where they must unlock the secrets of a twisted
mansion. Players will discover the quirks of Wayward Manor’s unwelcome guests
and choose how to prey on their darkest fears.
- Aperture Tag: The Paint Gun Testing Initiative on
Steam. Save 30%.
- Humble 2K Bundle on
Humble Bundle.
Expanded.
- Tomb Raider on
Steam. Save 75%.
- STRIDER on
Steam. Save 40%.
A new Reload Studios website is live as
a home to a new independent studio formed by veterans of Infinity Ward and
Call of Duty development (though interestingly one of their advisors is
co-founder of an online casino). Word is: "Reload is developing contents to
entertain [an] ever expanding audience by making games for upcoming Virtual
Reality and existing platforms" According to
IGN Reload is on the verge of announcing their debut project, saying this
will be a first-person shooter for "next-gen consoles, VR, and, mobile" to
launch next year.
BioWare's Michael Gamble rolls the dice on
a tweet
soliciting opinions on what gamers want from Mass Effect 4 through
this survey about the RPG
sequel. The brief questionnaire asks about other games you play, expectations
for a new Mass Effect game, RPG tastes, plans to attend gaming conventions, and
whether you engage in deviant behavior like cosplay or games journalism. Thanks
Eurogamer.
There are purported Dishonored 2 details on
NowGamer they say were revealed by "a source with knowledge regarding the
game's development." According to this, Dishonored 2 is being developed at
Arkane's Lyon studio with Harvey Smith heading the project, that the game will
take place after the original, explore new locations, and feature a new
protagonist. As a rumor, it's not certain how accurate this was to start with,
and this is complicated by the fact that it's a year old, as they note "that
this information relates to discussions that were happening at Arkane around 12
months ago," and that: "Our source does not know how development of the game has
progressed since that point and, as such, it is possible that significant
changes could have been made." Thanks
VG247.
Shacknews.com Opinion- How DLC lost its way.
Other problems have been more subtle and pervasive. Some publishers pump
out far too much DLC, or overprice it. Activision has been criticized for
its regular practice of putting out four maps (three new, one revised) in
each Call of Duty pack for $15. Worse yet is when the content unlocks some
extra weapon or ability that makes the game a cakewalk, as Square Enix tends
to do with small DLC like Tomb Raider's Adventure Pack. This is still
especially problematic when it comes to pre-order DLC, which is all too
happy to ease you through the first half of a game with an overpowered
weapon. Meanwhile, even DLC that sounds great upon announcement sometimes
fizzles in practice. BioShock Infinite had ambitious plans and a season
pass, but we ended up with some combat challenges and an uneven story
presentation.
I got some interesting feedback on my idea about getting a blue-tongued skink,
including warnings that they are illegal to import and that they are poisonous,
but neither of those is accurate. What may be more accurate was my conversation
about them with a pet store owner who explained that skinks have a more typical
lizard personality than I was seeking, describing them as "snakes with legs."
His suggestion based on my comments about wanting a pet with personality that
was more omnivorous than the gecko was a bearded dragon, a great choice based on
the name alone. Reading more about this seems to support his opinion, and it
seems obvious why these are such popular pets. This is nothing I'm jumping out
to do anytime soon, but I'm definitely contemplating eventually going on an epic
quest for a dragon.
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