The
GSC Game World website is back online
following news that the Ukrainian developer is
back
in operation. There is not much there about their future plans, though
there's a splash graphic that does refer to their "eagerly anticipated
comeback." What they do provide is a retrospective on their past games, and
contact information for back-catalogue publishing inquiries and technical
support. Thanks Rhialto.
The Repopulation is now available for early access
on Steam, one of a pair
of new milestones, as today also marks the end of the non-disclosure agreement
for this sci-fi MMORPG.
The Repopulation website has this news, also announcing that they have
opened up three new servers to bolster their backend for new players joining for
what they say will be the final round of alpha testing. They also offer a
new alpha four video
showing the latest state of the game.
Continue here to read the full story.
A
new "Karma" trailer
from
Battlefield Hardline teaches us that what comes around goes around in the
upcoming police-themed Battlefield shooter. The 90 second clip is a mix of gameplay
footage and cinematics.
Continue here to read the full story.
The
Deus Ex blog offers a little gift: "A little holiday gift: download for free
Deus Ex: Fallen Angel, prequel novella starring Malik!
http://bit.ly/DXFallenAngel."
Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the shareware release of
Rise of the
Triad, Apogee's first-person shooter designed by Tom Hall. Former 3D
Realms/Apogee webmaster/community manager Joe Siegler was one of the developers
on ROTT, and he has posted
a
retrospective on his blog discussing the game in amazing detail, covering
its history, the development team, insider anecdotes from its development, the
recent ROTT remake, and more. The piece also includes behind-the-scenes photos,
a video of unused capture
sessions, and a tender homage to former 3D Realms programmer William
Scarboro, who
died in 2002. For those interested,
the original Rise of the Triad is still available on
GOG.com.
GfK Chart-Track is not taking a holiday today, as they are back with their
weekly summaries of game sales activity in the United Kingdom.
Football
Manager 2014 continues to kick ass and take names from the number one spot
on the
PC entertainment top 30, where the top five remains unchanged from last
week. The big mover is
The Crew, which pulls in at number six after
sitting in the 12 spot last week. On the
all platforms chart,
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare lands at number
one after swapping places with
FIFA 15.
Assassin's Creed Unity
jumps from 10 to five while The Crew ends up at number six after being number 11
last week.
Here's
their summary of
the action:
‘Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare’ (+33%) becomes the 5th
Call of Duty game to claim the coveted Christmas No1 with a well-timed promotion
on the PS4 version helping it leapfrog ‘FIFA 15’ (+8%).
Last year ‘FIFA 14’ pulled off a similar trick, sneaking ahead of ‘Call of Duty:
Ghosts’at the last minute to claim the festive top spot and it appears that
Activision Blizzard were set on exacting revenge in 2014. ‘Grand Theft Auto V’
(+16%) holds on to No3 while the PS4 version remains the top selling game for an
individual format this week.
‘Far Cry 4’ (+17%) is also a non-mover at No4, meaning it is Ubisoft’s top
selling game over the festive week, despite a 97% surge in sales of ‘Assassin’s
Creed: Unity’ pushing it up from No10 to No5 as well as a huge price promotion
on Ubisoft’s ‘The Crew’ boosting sales by 92% and propelling it from No11 to
No6. The average selling price of the PS4 version of ‘The Crew’ is down around
£15 from last week. ‘Destiny’ (+32%) climbs two places to No7, while the Xbox
version of Minecraft (+14%) remains ahead of the Playstation edition (+10%),
both down one place to No’s 8 and 9 respectively. ‘Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham’
(-11%) slips 5 places to No10 to round off the Christmas Top 10.
Well the onset of winter saw a light dusting of snow around here, more of a
token to the change of seasons than anything (if it was a movie, it would have
seemed like CGI). There was actually a little snow/frost on the ground this
morning, but the forecasts suggest the chances of a white Christmas are
practically null in these parts.
Also, happy Hanukkah to all who are celebrating. I meant to mention this
already, but luckily an eight-day holiday provides plenty of margin for error, as
the festival of lights runs until sundown Wednesday.
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