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Archived News:
Devolver Digital announces the release of a playable tech demo for The Talos
Principle, Croteam's upcoming "metaphysical parable," offering it for
Windows, OS X, and Linux on
Steam as well as versions for
Android or
iOS.
They
also announce a release date for the full game, saying it is coming on
December 11th. Here's word on the tech demo: The public test for The Talos
Principle consists of four increasingly difficult complete puzzle levels where
players will be able to test the range of puzzle mechanics, and run and share
benchmarks if they choose. The demo is meant to serve as additional stress and
compatibility testing before The Talos Principle launches later this year and is
now available on Steam for a limited time prior to the game's release. The
Public Test initiative for The Talos Principle harkens back to 15 years ago when
Croteam released “Public Test 1” for Serious Sam, a then unknown game that went
on to become a multimillion dollar franchise.
In The Talos Principle, players assume the role of a sentient artificial
intelligence placed within a simulation of humanity’s greatest ruins and linked
together through an arcane cathedral. Players are tasked with solving a series
of increasingly complex puzzles woven into a metaphysical parable about
intelligence and meaning in an inevitably doomed world.
Independent Dutch developer Vogelsap announces they are offering closed beta
testing of The Flock,
their asymmetric multiplayer game. Testing will take place on weekends, and
those interested in participating can
sign up here. They also
announce the game has recently undergone a complete graphical overhaul, showing
off its new look in this
trailer. Here's word on the new look: We are proud to have showed you
the first new footage and complete graphical overhaul of our game since we have
rebuilt it from the original prototype it once was. Playing as the Carrier with
the new volumetric light is now more suspenseful than ever, and as a Flock the
light emitting from the Light Artifact looks and feels like a searing beam. For
the Flock we fully conveyed the feeling of being the monster that stalks and
hunts his prey through beastly 1st person movements. We tried to differentiate
the feeling of playing the Flock versus playing the Carrier as much as
possible.
Continue here to read the full story.
A new
Letter from the Chairman on the Roberts Space Industries has details on
what's being added to Star Citizen now that the space game's fundraising
campaign has passed the $60 million mark. Stretch goals for $61 million and $62
million are outlined, and word is these are from two "new companies": "You’ll
notice that both of these ships are from “new” manufacturers; that’s because the
Star Citizen universe is expanding! My feeling was that specialized ships, like
Star Citizen’s equivalent of an airliner, should have some additional backstory
to make sense in our world. So, enjoy two new ships AND two niche companies to
build them."
Kalypso Media now offers Joint Venture, a new DLC pack for Tropico 5,
the island dictator sequel. The version for Windows, OS X, and SteamOS for Steam
users is available on Steam
and the version for non-steam users can be purchased through the
Kalypso launcher. Here's
the pitch: El Presidente is the master of many impressive traits, such as
dictating, manipulating and undermining. He’s never been called a sell-out
before though, so now he wants to add that to his resume! Help him achieve his
dream and aid him in the brand new Tropico 5 DLC 'Joint Venture.' Abandon the
beauty of traditional Tropican cuisine and bring the riches of the fast-food
industry to the island. Build your own burger joint, destroy the competition and
adorn your El Prez in the magnificent McWig avatar accessory. Plus, there’s also
a brand new sandbox map and audio track to add to your game!
CI Games announces Ancient Labyrinth, an upcoming add-on for Lords of
the Fallen. This is coming to the Windows, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4
editions of their action/RPG this winter, bringing a "focus on puzzles and
exploration as well as challenging fights with undead demons." Here's a full
outline of what it will include: Ancient Labyrinth will contain:
- A powerful ancient Lord, a magical foe who changes
his powers continuously throughout the battle, keeping players on their toes
- A new location, The Library, filled with puzzles,
environmental riddles and history of Harkyn's world
- A new puzzle-based gameplay mechanic
- An all-new quest centered around the story of
immortal, powerful demons
- Side-quests and NPCs with an agenda that affects
the war between human and demonic realms
- New armor and weapons
Once installed, Ancient Labyrinth can be accessed through a new door found
within the game world.
There's a
preview on Ars Technica with some hands-on impressions of using an Oculus
Rift VR headset to play Elite: Dangerous, Frontier Developments' upcoming
space combat remake. The author gushes about the experience, and noting "that no
amount of screenshots or video can describe it," attempts to paint a picture
with those word things. Here's a bit: Even after weeks, Elite: Dangerous
with the Rift DK2 makes me stop and say "holy crap" at least once per session.
The game supports the latest Oculus SDK revision, which means that it can tell
not just where your head is pointed, but it also fully understands where your
head is. The positional tracking is executed with fluidity and grace. When using
the Rift with first-person games (like Alien: Isolation, for example, which has
experimental Rift support that can be enabled by flipping a single config file
option), you can use this positional tracking to lean around corners or duck
simply by moving your head, but that mobility only gets you so far when you have
to return to your mouse and keyboard to actually move your avatar.
Elite: Dangerous neatly sidesteps this issue by simply having your player
character remain seated. This solves the potential problem of reconciling the
Rift’s positional movement with your game’s character (like whether or not your
in-game avatar should shuffle left or right if you move your head laterally).
You’re strapped to your cockpit chair, and so there’s no need to worry about
what your avatar is doing or how to square "real" movement (i.e., where your
head is) with WASD input and mouselook.
This also neatly blends with what the real you is probably doing when you play
Elite—you’re almost certainly sitting in a chair. If you look down in the game,
your view pans down to see a flightsuited body also seated in a chair, grasping
the ship’s stick and throttle. If you also happen to have your left and right
arms extended in front of you holding a HOTAS-type setup, your body’s
proprioception matches nicely with what your eyes are seeing and you experience
an odd momentary blurring of self—proprioception is a weird thing, and it’s easy
to allow yourself, just for a moment, to think that the body you’re seeing is
yours.
- Fuse on Steam.
Save 75%.
- Wolfenstein: The New Order on
Steam. Save 50%.
- Grand Theft Auto V on
IGN. "30-Player Grand Theft Auto Online Events Are Madness."
There's an open letter on The
Witcher website from Marcin Iwiński where the Joint CEO of CD Projekt RED
reveals plans to follow the release of The Witcher III: Wild Hunt with 16
free DLC packs for the RPG sequel: “We love games. We love collecting
them, playing them, and everything connected to that experience. Every time we
reach out for a new release, we expect to be taken care of. We expect support if
we encounter any problems, we love updates constantly improving the experience,
and we feel really special when we receive free content that gives us more than
we initially paid for. It doesn’t have to be huge, it can be an awesome skin for
a character, or an extra sword, or armor.
Unfortunately this treatment is quite rare these days. As gamers, we nowadays
have to hold on tight to our wallets, as surprisingly right after release, lots
of tiny pieces of tempting content materialize with a steep price tag attached.
Haven’t we just paid a lot of cash for a brand new game?
As CD PROJEKT RED, we strongly believe this is not the way it should work and,
with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, we have decided to do it differently. Cutting to
the chase, everyone who buys Wild Hunt will receive 16 specially prepared DLCs
absolutely for free, regardless of platform. You don’t have to pre-order, you
don’t have to buy any special edition to get them -- if you own a copy of Wild
Hunt, they’re yours. This is our way of saying thank you for buying our
game.”
Minimum and optimal PC system specifications for Far Cry 4 can be found
on Ubisoft's UbiBlog,
giving a sense of how the shooter sequel will play on user's rigs. This is
another example of a recent trend of games requiring a 64-bit operating system.
Here they are, slightly reformatted for space MINIMUM
Supported OS Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8/8.1 (64bit versions only)
Processor Intel Core i5-750 @ 2.6 GHz or AMD Phenom II X4 955 @ 3.2 GHz
Memory 4GB
Video Card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 or AMD Radeon HD5850 (1GB VRAM)
Direct X Version 11
Hard Drive 30 GB available space
Sound Card DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card with latest drivers
OPTIMAL
Supported OS MS Windows 7 SP1, MS Windows 8/8.1 (64bit versions only)
Processor Intel Core i5-2400S @ 2.5 GHz or AMD FX-8350 @ 4.0 GHz or
better
Memory 8GB
Video Card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 or AMD Radeon R9 290X or better (2GB
VRAM)
Direct X Version 11
Hard Drive 30 GB available space
Sound Card DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card with latest drivers
UbiBlog announces
details on a season pass for The Crew, a bundle of post-release car packs
for the open-world driving game along with a couple of exclusive cars. Here's
word on pricing: "The Crew Season Pass is available for $24.99. Or, players can
purchase The Crew Gold Edition – available digitally on PC, PlayStation Network
and Xbox Marketplace (Xbox One only) – which includes the Season Pass.
Individual car packs can also be purchased for $6.99 each." They also note that
the DLC releases will be accompanied by free content for all owners of the
game: Of course, those cars are just a nifty bonus. The Crew Season Pass
includes four full-featured add-on car packs, totaling 12 additional cars.
Season Pass holders will also receive: 23 additional tuning kits unlocked to
spec out the Season Pass car lineup for premium performance on any terrain; all
official paintjobs and rims for each car; and an exclusive sticker with each
pack. Plus, Season Pass holders will get access to these packs one week early.
Here’s a full rundown of the four packs:
Extreme Car Pack. Performance vehicles that’ll help you stay ahead
of the pack in thrilling, high-octane missions. Available January 2015.
Speed Car Pack. These sports cars are finely tuned for racing at
breakneck speeds. Available February 2015
Vintage Car Pack. Visiting an iconic American locale? You’ll want to
be seen in these equally iconic rides. Available March 2015.
Raid Car Pack. When heading off the beaten path, you can’t do better
than these all-terrain vehicles. Available April 2015.
What’s the first thing you’ll want to do when you get these new rides? Test
them out in the game! Alongside the release of each pack, The Crew will unveil
new missions that fit with the pack’s theme. These missions (along with new PvP
modes, which will follow shortly afterward) will be available to all players
free of charge. Players can also look forward to new customization options,
paint jobs, rims, interiors and tuning specs, which will be released via the
in-game stores.
Square Enix offers the chance
to play FINAL FANTASY XIV for free on Steam with a 14-day trial for the
fantasy-themed MMORPG (thanks
DSOGaming). Here's the deal: TRY FINAL FANTASY XIV FOR FREE
Start your 14-day free trial and join over 2 million adventurers worldwide
who have already begun their journey throughout Eorzea.
Play for free up to level twenty and experience all the epic quests, battles,
and classic FINAL FANTASY elements you know and love, like Moogles and Chocobos!
HOW TO GET STARTED
-
Download and
install the Free Trial software
- Create a FINAL FANTASY XIV Free Trial account upon
launching the software
* The Free Trial is currently only available on Windows PC. Players can play
for free for up to 14 days from account creation to a maximum level of twenty.
Free trial players will have various limitations on available in-game
activities. For more details, please click
here.
Square Enix
announces ( Adobe Acrobat format) their
Consolidated Financial Results for the Six-Month Period Ended September 30, 2014
( Adobe Acrobat format). "During the six-month period ended September 30, 2014, in the
area of content for platforms such as smart devices and PC browser, 'SENGOKU
IXA,' a browser game has been showing steady performance. 'DRAGON QUEST MONSTERS
SUPER LIGHT,' a game for smartphones and 'SCHOOLGIRL STRIKERS,' a game for
smartphones released in April 2014 (Japan only), continue to post favorable
results. In the console game titles, sales of new titles increased in comparison
with the same period of the prior fiscal year, and repeat sales of titles
released in the last fiscal year were strong mainly in the Western market.
Massively mulitiplayer online role playing games such as 'FINAL FANTASY XIV' and
'DRAGON QUEST X' have been making favorable progress." Helpfully,
GameSpot has extracted some numbers: Overall, the Japanese publisher
posted revenue of ¥73.1 billion ($637.6 million), compared to ¥61.6 billion
($537.5 million) last year. Meanwhile, profit more than doubled, rising from
¥2.6 billion ($22.7 million) last year to ¥5.7 billion ($49.7 million) this
year.
Shadows: Heretic Kingdoms has suffered a small setback, as bitComposer
announces the action/RPG is now due on November 20th, one week later than
previously planned. The game is actually available now
on Steam, but until the
20th it will continue to carry the early access label. No explanation for the
delay is provided.
A new video from
Blackguards 2 introduces some new features in Daedalic Entertainment's upcoming
strategy/RPG sequel. The
clip kicks off a series of such clips, and here's word on its focus: "The
first of these video featurettes, available today, introduces all-new heroes
rallying around the game's protagonist Cassia, and gives a first impression of
the game’s turn-based battles as well as new useful combat tools." Continue here to read the full story.
- OBEY by
Daniel Dez — Kickstarter. "A competitive multiplayer action game. Stay
hidden, be smart, then force and bribe your opponents to pro-actively help
you win!"
- Grim Fandango on
Kotaku. "The Crazy Journey To Save Grim Fandango." Thanks nin.
- LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham on
GameWatcher.com. Video preview.
I went on a mission to hunt down charcoal to keep Manstovia properly supplied
throughout the fall and next spring, as local stores no longer stock such seasonal goods. I ending up finding a couple of bags at Home Depot, staving
off potential shortages for the foreseeable future. At the checkout I tapped my
phone to pay, but I had to get the cashier to do something to activate the NFC
dealie, and as she did, she asked if I actually felt it was safer paying with my
phone. I had to laugh, explaining I am carrying a brand-new card because of the
negligence at this very branch of her very store. She also laughed, and told me
she was too, so I suggested she might be a good candidate for Apple Pay or
Google Wallet as well.
Woops, almost forgot, but
NFL Week 10 begins this evening, so get your picks in!
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