Archived News:
A new Friday the 13th game is in the works, reports
EGMNOW, noting that the last video game based on the horror film series came
25 years ago for the NES. They speak about the project with
Sean S. Cunningham, creator of
the series, who does not specify platforms or a developer, though they say he
"hints" that it's an experienced studio, and they say it is coming to multiple
platforms. They also have a release date, saying it's due in October of this
year, and an official announcement is expected in the coming weeks. In the
meantime, Cunningham says: "We have some exciting new ideas for a game that
supplies plenty of replay value, while delivering the kinds of thrills and
scares that fans of the franchise have come to expect."
Responding to concerns that the Windows edition of Grand Theft Auto V is
delayed, a post from last week on the
Rockstar Support site says: "GTAV will be coming to PC on January 27th. We
have not announced any changes to this date at this time." The fears of a
postponement were apparently prompted by a lack of communication recently,
particularly that Rockstar has not yet released PC specifications for the
open-world action sequel. With their post coming four weeks before the planned
release, it's hard to tell if they added the "at this time" qualification as a
real hedge, or just out of habit. Thanks
Blend Games.
Kotaku Australia reports that a directive has gone out to EB Games to remove
all copies of The Elder Scrolls
Online from their shelves by January 13, including prepaid cards for
Bethesda's MMORPG. This is helping fuel suspicions that the game may be
transitioning to a free-to-play business model, a theory that took form when
six month subscription option was removed last month.
MCV Pacific has a statement from EB Games that this is "part of a normal
stock recall" which includes other game, though Kotaku has a follow-up to this,
saying that games like Destiny and The Evil Within are having excess stock
returned, while the instructions for The Elder Scrolls Online is to remove every
single copy.
Mechs & Mercs: Black Talons is now available
on Steam, offering Camel
101's futuristic action/strategy game for Windows and SteamOS, and word is a
retail version is also expected sometime this year. The game carries a 15%
launch discount, and here's word on what it features: A devastating war
has torn the galaxy apart. Dozens of planets and star systems have declared
independence or forged new alliances, while governments fall and warlords rise
to power. Chaos and corruption are everywhere and so to maintain order and
negotiate peace between the ruling factions, private mercenary armies are called
to action.
You are commander of the Black Talons company, currently stationed in the Oberon
system. After an eventful campaign, the military Tzanar Union has overrun the
planet of Genai and blocked all departure from the system: leaving you and the
Black Talons stranded. The only means of escape is to help the Genai forces
repel the invading army and recapture the planet.
- Saints Row Weekend on
The Humble
Store.
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic on
Steam. Save 50%.
- Winter Wonders on
GOG.com. Save up to 70%.
-
Endless Dead - Steam Greenlight. "Isometric zombie shooter rougelike,
part RPG, part Gauntlet clone that focuses on looting, action, and zombie
carnage designed specifically with VR in mind."
This video from
Dying Light includes over 90 minutes of gameplay from Techland's upcoming zombie
game, taken from a livestream originally broadcast on Twitch. Also,
this clip offers a
look at what it's like to "be the zombie" in the game. Finally, there's also
this new video with a
look at some real live-action parkour inspired by the game, because reasons.
Here's word on the first clip: "Watch our pre-Christmas Twitch stream of Dying
Light! Join lead game designer Maciej Binkowski and producer Tymon Smektała for
90+ minutes of live Dying Light gameplay, insightful commentary, and Q&A chat
session. Get an in-depth look at the skill system, the Old Town area, and – last
but not least – the ‘Magic Fortress’ side-quest chain, which will give you a
sneak peek at the many captivating side-stories of Dying Light" Continue here to read the full story.
The nominees have been unveiled for the 15th annual
Game Developers Choice Awards to
be handed out at the Game Developers Conference
in March. There are three games available for Windows PCs in the running for
game of the year, these are Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor,
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, and Alien: Isolation. They say the
recipients of their three special awards, including their Pioneer award, will
also be released soon. And speaking of Pioneer awards (and shoehorned segues),
GamesIndustry.biz has word that the recipients of this year's Pioneer Awards
from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences will be Pong programmer Al
Alcorn and the late "father of video games," Ralph H. Baer. These awards will be
handed out next month at the D.I.C.E.
Summit. Back to the Game Developers Choice Awards, here's the full list of
nominees: Game of the Year
Bayonetta 2 (Platinum Games/Nintendo)
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith Productions/Warner Bros. Interactive
Entertainment)
Destiny (Bungie/Activision)
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (Blizzard)
Alien: Isolation (Creative Assembly/Sega)
Honorable Mentions: Titanfall (Respawn/Electronic Arts), Valiant Hearts:
The Great War (Ubisoft Montpellier/Ubisoft), Far Cry 4 (Ubisoft
Montreal/Ubisoft), Dragon Age: Inquisition (BioWare/Electronic Arts), Super
Smash Bros. for Wii U (Sora Ltd. and BANDAI NAMCO/Nintendo)
Continue here to read the full story.
The
Frontier Development forum has the follow-up on
their plan to decide how
to deal with the billions of spacebux that some Elite: Dangerous players
received as a result of glitches in the
game (thanks
Massively). Word is they are rolling back accidental windfalls, and will be
dealing with each case individually, though those who exploited the situation
may not receive such gentle treatment: The “Billionaires”
Firstly, I just want to clarify who I mean by the “Billionaires”. These are the
very few commanders who received large amounts of credits due to a bug in our
credit refund process following our brief database hiccup. These credits were
not given by a bug in our server – more in the tools and processes we use to
rectify commanders and their saves if something goes awry. This was of course
fixed, should we need to use the tools again.
Secondly... we hear you! After initially deciding we would offer the choice to
these affected commanders about whether to keep their credits or reset
themselves to their pre-credit-refund state; commanders in the community
questioned whether this would affect the integrity of the game and the wider
galaxy. In light of this (and after much deliberation) we have decided to remove
all credits, assets and gains from these commanders to balance the playing
field. We shall be contacting the affected commanders directly to reflect this
change in our decision. Which leads us nicely into...
The “Exploiters”
We are aware of the few exploits which existed for commanders to get credit
advantages over other players. We have since patched these exploits to avoid
further abuse. Over the next few days we shall be removing all credits and
assets gained from these exploits. We have also updated our code of conduct to
be completely clear on our stance on cheating, abusing exploits and hacking.
This can be read here:
https://store.elitedangerous.com/code-of-conduct.
Eurogamer reports hearing of incoming layoffs at Codemasters, attributing
this to "sources close to" the racing game developer, and confirming with the
company that "a small number of roles have been proposed as being at risk of
redundancy." They say about 50 jobs out of 500 are being evaluated by a team of
George Clooneys and about 30
of these will be eliminated. They go into detail about which teams and positions
seem to be safe and which are on the line, but nothing firm has been announced
yet. Word from Codemasters is: ""As Codemasters continues its programme of
strategic realignment in line with market changes, the company has reviewed its
current structures to focus on areas of increased importance and decrease
resources in areas where work requirements have been reduced."
Retro game publisher and developer DotEmu announces a January 15th release date
for Double Dragon Trilogy, a remake of the popular arcade beat-em-up
series for Windows PC. In the meantime you can keep up with this on the game's
Facebook Page,
which shows this to be a port of a mobile game. Word is this will offer the
ability to switch between the original sound and graphics and their modernized
counterparts. Here's more: Enter Double Dragon Trilogy, a compilation
including all three installments of the beloved arcade series: Double Dragon,
Double Dragon 2: The Revenge, and Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone. The first
one begins with Billy and his brother Jimmy, two martial arts experts, in a
mission to rescue Billy's girlfriend, Marian, who’s been kidnapped by the Black
Shadows Gang. All your favorite moves are here: punches, kicks, elbows, knees,
head-butts and an assortment of not-exactly-street-legal weapons.
FEATURES:
- Two game modes: “Arcade” (play the game from
beginning to end and go for the high score) and “Story” (unlock new stages
and achievements while playing through the game)
- Customizable controls (keyboard & controller)
- Three difficulty levels: “easy” (easier than the
original), “original” (similar to the arcade version) and “expert” (a real
challenge!)
- Choose between the original 8-bit soundtrack and a
brand-new remastered one!
- Choose between the original graphics or video
filter
- Local or online multiplayer
Independent developer BitMonster now offers early access
on Steam to GRAV, their
sandbox survival game. They note that this project blasted through the
Steam
Greenlight process in under two days. Here are
some screenshots, a
gameplay
trailer, and more details: GRAV is an action adventure sandbox survival
experience where players explore a multitude of procedurally built planets,
build and defend outposts, craft abilities, fight and hunt strange creatures and
try to survive while playing either with or against other players in the alien
hostile environments. GRAV is a Steam Early Access title and the developers at
BitMonster plan to work very closely with the community while we evolve and move
GRAV forward!
Continue here to read the full story.
Early access to BOID is now offered
through Steam, allowing
the chance to check out the in-progress version of this multiplayer RTS game.
This carries a 66% discount over the game's eventual full price, which combines
with an additional 15% launch sale, making the $9.99 game $2.54.
Word is "as the game gets more features, the price will increase." Here's a
bit on the game: "BOID is a Class-Based Multiplayer RTS about life and mutation.
Become the dominant life form in this tactical RTS. Take full control over your
units, and take over all bases on the map." Continue here to read the full story.
Feral Interactive announces to expect the release of the OS X edition of DiRT 3
Complete Edition later this month, offering Mac gamers the chance to get behind
the wheel with Codemasters' off-road racing sequel. Here's
a teaser trailer, and
here are more details on what makes this edition so complete: "DiRT 3 Complete
Edition expands DiRT 3 with all available add-on content, including 18
additional cars and 12 new routes at two locations set at the iconic Monte Carlo
region and an X-Games Asia event featuring multi-car Rallycross racing in
downtown Tokyo." Continue here to read the full story.
There's currently a lot of snow falling out there, which I don't think was in
the forecast, but I can't seem to find a number to call to report this and have
someone take it all back. I guess that means I have to do something about it
myself... maybe I'll make a snowman.
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