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Archived News:
Electronic Arts Reports their preliminary Q2 FY15 financial results, beating
expectations, and raising their outlook for the fiscal year as a whole. "By
emphasizing player engagement and our digital live services, we’ve grown
revenue, expanded gross margins and delivered EPS well above prior year and our
guidance," said Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen. "We are raising our
annual non-GAAP net revenue guidance by $75 million to $4.175 billion and annual
non-GAAP diluted EPS by $0.20 to $2.05." This includes a list of highlights that
includes word that Battlefield Hardline is delayed, as the SWAT-themed shooter
which was
planned for February 2015 is now expected on March 17th in North America and
March 19th in Europe: Selected Operating Highlights and Metrics:
- Calendar year to date, EA continues to be the #1
publisher on PlayStation®4 and Xbox One consoles in the Western World, led
by FIFA 15, NHL 15, Madden NFL 15, EA SPORTSTM UFC®, TitanfallTM,
Battlefield 4TM, and FIFA 14.
- In fiscal Q2, EA’s players logged more than 1.9
billion hours of gameplay on console and PC.
- Monthly active users for EA’s mobile titles
averaged over 155 million in Q2.
- EA’s mobile sports games averaged more than 40
million monthly active users in Q2, up 250% year-over-year, driven by Madden
NFL Mobile and FIFA 15 Ultimate Team™ Mobile.
- To date, players have logged more than 89 million
games of Madden NFL 15, up 48% year-over-year.
- Battlefield Hardline™ will launch on March 17,
2015 in North America, and beginning on March 19, 2015 in Europe.
Electronic Arts
tweets a release window for Star Wars Battlefront, DICE's upcoming
Force-powered shooter. Word is: "May the Force be with you: Star Wars
Battlefront will release for Holiday 2015." Thanks
Eurogamer.net.
Humble Bundle now offers a free copy
of Teleglitch: Die More Edition as a Halloween gift. Anyone who provides
their email address will receive a key for the top-down action game
on Steam. Here's a
refresher on the game: In a cold, dark future dominated by
mega-corporations, a small lonely planet on the edge of habitable space is the
site of a shadowy research facility specializing in necrotic tissue
reactivation. You are a scientist who has suddenly awoken to the realization
that you are the lone survivor.
Steam now has the release
of Daedalus - No Escape, a top-down multiplayer shooter for Windows, OS
X, and Linux, carrying a 10% launch discount for the next week. Here's a
release trailer and a
rundown: Daedalus - No Escape is a multiplayer top down arena shooter
inspired by games such as Quake 3 and Alien Breed ( the old ones on amiga ).
You're in control of a space marine in a closed map, and you have to fight
against other players in different game modes using weapons that you pick on the
map. The particularity of Daedalus lies in the controls coupled with a fog of
war that gives you the same kind of sensations as in a FPS ... but with a
different point of view.
The Frontier
Forums have word that beta 3.0 of Elite: Dangerous is now available
for backers of the space combat remake. The list of changes in the new version
is gigantic, as word is: "The update has all the features we’d previously teased
as well as hundreds of other smaller, equally important, updates." Thanks Dave.
- BioShock Infinite on
Steam. Save 75%.
- Humble Indie Bundle 13 on
Humble Bundle.
- SPINTIRES on
Steam. Save 40%.
- Transformers: Fall of Cybertron on
Steam. Save 75%.
SEGA announces the release of Corporate Lockdown, the first of five
planned DLC packs for Alien: Isolation, Creative Assembly's
survival/horror game. They offer a
let's play video
showing off gameplay, and here's word on what this entails: The first of
five add-on packs for Alien: Isolation™, ‘Corporate Lockdown’, releases today,
offering players three new challenging and terrifying maps for the game’s
Survivor Mode. Each challenge pack offers a new perspective on the events
on-board Sevastopol Station in the days before the arrival of the Weyland-Yutani
team, with a new playable character, a unique set of objectives and a new game
mode.
In ‘Corporate Lockdown’, Seegson Executive Ransome has learnt that he has been
abandoned by his paymasters. Knowing that the Torrens is on the way, he decides
to make his escape and hitch a ride on board, taking decoded Nostromo data with
him. However, while escaping he wants to tie up a few loose ends… Across three
new challenge maps, ‘Severance’, ‘Scorched Earth’ and ‘Loose Ends’, players are
challenged to compete against others through Alien: Isolation’s online
leaderboards, to escape the station in the fastest possible time or attain the
top score through numerous side quests and hidden bonus objectives. New to
‘Corporate Lockdown’ is the addition of Gauntlet Mode where players are
challenged to top the Gauntlet Mode leaderboards by completing all three
challenge maps back-to-back without dying.
‘Corporate Lockdown’ will be available to download via online marketplaces for
available platforms today, priced at MSRP $7.99/€6.99/Ł5.59 and will be followed
by four more packs: ‘Trauma’, ‘Safe Haven’, ‘Lost Contact’ and ‘The Trigger’.
Each will feature a new playable character alongside a mix of new maps,
objectives and game modes to challenge even the most proficient player. Players
wishing to explore every inch of Sevastopol Station can take advantage of the
Alien: Isolation Season Pass, offering access to all five Survivor Mode add-on
packs at up to a 25% discount. All add-on packs are scheduled to be released by
March 2015.
Continue here to read the full story.
Rockstar Games announces details on some bonuses for Grand Theft Auto V
players who plan on buying the open-world action game again when it is
re-released for Windows, Xbox One, and PlayStation 3. Here's word on the
exclusive content this will earn: New Events & Rewards
Encounter new events happening all across the world, and complete the challenges
they present to unlock exclusive new vehicles like the menacing Imponte Duke
O’Death and that veritable GTA classic bird of flight, the Dodo seaplane.
The Imponte Duke O'Death: As you might expect, when you first stumble upon this
near-indestructible mayhem machine, trouble will follow. Deal with it
judiciously and this beauty’s all yours.
Murder Mystery
As Michael, follow a trail of cryptic clues to unravel a grisly murder mystery.
Put the clues together and you'll unlock two Noir Style Filters, which will give
your Story Mode gameplay and Snapmatic photos the feel of a gritty old school
crime classic.
Get to the bottom of a murder mystery that strikes right at the heart of Los
Santos' most cherished industry.
Weapons: The Rail Gun & Hatchet
Obliterate your adversaries with the high-powered, high-velocity Rail Gun. This
piece of experimental military technology also has its own set of Shooting Range
Challenges at your local Ammu-Nation shooting range. Or hack and slash foes up
close and personal with the brutal Hatchet melee weapon.
The futuristic new Rail Gun unloads powerful rounds of explosive ammunition upon
foes.
Continue here to read the full story.
The timer on GOG.com has hit zero, and the
DRM-free game marketplace now confirms the new publisher they have a deal with
is indeed LucasArts. Their games from the publisher are now available, including
titles like KOTOR and Monkey Island, as well as the highly
anticipated GOG.com releases of
STAR
WARS X-Wing Special Edition and
STAR WARS: TIE Fighter Special Edition, which have not previously been
offered via digital distribution. Word is the TIE Fighter release also includes
1998's TIE Fighter - Defender of the Empire and the X-Wing bundle also includes
both the Imperial Pursuit and the B-Wing expansions. Be aware that TIE Fighter -
Defender of the Empire requires a joystick (thanks nin), while all the other
games in these bundles can also be controlled via mouse and keyboard.
SEGA tweets a
confirmation of yesterday's
indications that a PC edition of console strategy RPG Valkyria Chronicles
is in the works. Here's the short and sweet tweet: "Gallia, to arms! Return to
the original battle on PC. More info coming soon... "
A post on Battle.net
has word from Blizzard that they've banned "several thousand" Hearthstone
accounts for the use of third-party software to play as bots in the virtual card
game. Word is cheaters are getting about a two-month time out to think about how
bad they've been, and that such transgressions will result in perma-bans going forward: We've recently banned several thousand Hearthstone
accounts that were associated with the use of third-party programs that automate
gameplay, otherwise known as “bots” or “botting.” These accounts will be banned
until 2015. As we’ve stated, fair play is at the core of the Hearthstone
experience, and cheating and botting will not be tolerated.
We’re committed to creating a fun and rewarding environment for our players, and
we will continue to closely monitor activities within Hearthstone and take
appropriate action against cheating in any form, as outlined in our Terms of
Use. From this point on, accounts found to be cheating will be permanently
closed without warning.
If you believe that you’ve encountered a possible bot or other form of
exploitation, please let us know by emailing our Hacks team at
hacks@blizzard.com.
The
Spacebase DF-9 Blog has word that Spacebase DF-9 is now available,
along with
word on the version 1.0 that represents the official release of Double Fine
Productions' space strategy game for Windows, OS X, and Linux. They also
announce they are giving a free copy of
Hack ‘n’ Slash to supporters
of this game (and vice versa), along with a price change and a bundle offer, all
likely a response to
complaints
about changing plans for the game which
Tim Schafer
subsequently addressed. Here's word: The 1.0 release also sees the
game’s price drop to the science-fictionally appropriate price of $20.01 US. In
addition we’re introducing a new bundle of our two community-voted Amnesia
Fortnight turned Indie Funded projects, Spacebase and Hack ‘n’ Slash, for
$24.99. As a bonus for the customers who have supported us thus far, anyone who
already owns the game gets a free copy of Hack ‘n’ Slash, and anyone who owns
Hack ‘n’ Slash gets a free copy of Spacebase.
As we’ve done with all our alpha releases, we’ll roll out minor updates in the
next few days or weeks to fix any issues that come up.
Thank you so much for your support and patience for the past year. We’ve learned
a lot and are proud of what we managed to accomplish, and it’s all thanks to
your support. And now, we must return to our home planet… hope to see you on
worlds beyond!
The
GameAgent Blog updates Linux and OS X gamers on the status of their ports of
Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth, the just-released turn-based
strategy game (thanks Ant via
GamingOnLinux/ Linux
Today). They report being able to play through each version and say that
cross-platform multiplayer support is in and being tested. They also outline
some performance issues they are tracking, expressing confidence that these can
be overcome: Our current focus is on improving performance. So far
performance has been the biggest development hurdle as we’re facing an engine
based on Direct X 11 vs. Direct X 9, which Civilization V was based on. This
upgrade means lots of new driver issues and development hurdles for the team.
This is also why our current preliminary system requirements are much higher
than Civilization V or the Windows PC version of Beyond Earth. However, our
development team is extremely good at what they do, and we expect to make
significant strides in performance improvement over the next several
weeks.
Surprise Attack Games ambushes us with the news that we should expect the
release of Particulars on November 19th, saying that's when the space
game will emerge from early access for full release on the
Humble
Store and Steam for
Windows, OS X, and Linux. Here's a
launch announcement
trailer and here are the particulars: That's right folks, Particulars
is launching on November 19 via Steam and Humble. The full version contains over
100 levels, as you journey with Alison through the dark and sometimes mysterious
corners of her life. You'll also learn a tonne of awesome science stuff thanks
to our handy Particlepedia that provides information on each particle in the
game, the nuances between the real world and the game world and links to other
sources.
Of course, you can still buy Particulars today for US$9.99 and start playing the
beta version, which contains the first eight chapters for you all to explore. We
want to make sure that you have some content awaiting you on November 19.
Also we're exhibiting at PAX Australia, so if you're coming down to the show,
make sure you stop by Booth 2708 and say hello!
Continue here to read the full story.
The Team Fortress 2
blog has details on this year's Halloween celebrations in Team Fortress 2.
Noting this event was becoming the equivalent of leaving a bucket of candy for
trick-or-treaters to help themselves, this year they plan to make sure this will
be fun for more participants by tightening up distribution. They explain this
means gifts will be better this year: "Because historically the total number of
gifts has been unbounded, and the distribution incredibly skewed, we have been
greatly limited when it came to what sort of content we could distribute. As
we're now more tightly controlling the distribution, we can grant a wider
variety of more interesting content and we look forward to seeing you all get
your hands on some of it in just a few days." Here's why they changed
things: When gift drops were introduced way back in 2011's Scream Fortress
update, they were intended to be a small value-add — a simple bonus for all
players participating in the update. As time went on and Halloween updates came
and went, however, some players spent more and more time focusing on gifts,
often to the detriment of the players they were playing with. The Halloween
experience for many players now consists of sitting idle in a custom server
while a plugin teleports them from gift spawn point to gift spawn point.
Ordinarily we don't mind if players do things that we don't personally enjoy as
long as their fun doesn't harm the quality of experience for other players. In
this particular case, however, because the overwhelming majority of gifts
claimed went to a tiny handful of accounts, we feel comfortable characterizing
the current system as blatantly and transparently unfair: While some farming
accounts claimed more than five hundred gifts just last year, the median numbers
of gifts claimed was only five.
As before, we're continuing to iterate on gifts for this year's event. In line
with our original goals of giving all participating players some free Halloween
content without affecting the core experience, this year we'll be giving every
player one guaranteed gift bundle just for logging in during the event. This
bundle will contain a random sample of some of this year's content, including
some that would otherwise only have come from crates. To keep some of the fun of
getting multiple gifts through the event, all players can earn a secondary
bundle by completing some of the event achievements. Put together, these two
bundles will grant more items per player than the median five gifts from last
year.
I'm pretty hobbled at the moment, as on Sunday I re-sprained the ankle I
recently mentioned spraining. This was not the recommended way to deal with such
an injury, and the baseball-sized swelling this produced is grotesque enough to
be the basis of a really gruesome Halloween costume, but I don't want to
traumatize any kids. I'm no Robert Griffin, the 3rd, however, as the Gunnar-man
has only missed one walk as a result.
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