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Archived News:
Blizzard now offers sales of a
Heroes of the Storm
Founder's Pack, a US$39.99 bundle of in-game items that also
includes beta access to the upcoming MOBA (thanks
VG247)In addition to a beta key, the includes three hero
unlocks, three bonus skins, a stylish mount, and 2,500 gold. They also warn that
there is no price reduction for players who already "own" any of the included
virtual items. They say: "Prepare for battle deep within the Nexus, the swirling
trans-dimensional storm at the heart of all Blizzard games. Whether you’re
already in the Heroes of the Storm beta test or you're a fresh recruit to the
front lines, the Founder’s Pack is the perfect opportunity to enter a bold new
realm of team-based hero brawls."
EA announces
that Theme Hospital is the latest game they are offering for free through
Origin as part of their
On the House program. Word is: "Manage your very own high-tech hospital
filled with patients suffering from goofy problems. This classic simulation
gives you a number of scenarios to play though, testing your skills with
epidemics, earthquakes, and all sorts of wacky issues."
The Path of
Exile forums has an update on Race Season 10 in the action/RPG along with
the announcement of the release of a new version 1.3.0k patch (thanks
Massively). They also call out some cheaters, saying as of today, 3912
players are getting a warning over the cheating software detected on their
systems. For some reason they are choosing to warn these users about bans,
rather than banning them outright. Here's word:
There will be no further warnings. All incidents that didn't result in bans
before this post have been treated as warnings, but from this point forward we
will close accounts that run cheating software.
Many people have asked us to clarify our stance on what people are allowed to
run. The list is pretty much this:
- Single-action hotkeys (like an alt+f4 macro)
- Tools that don't require the client to be running,
like Procurement
We don't want to hear "I was only running the tool for QOL improvements". If
you got the warning, you had the maphack turned on (or worse). Frequently
requested quality of life issues will be addressed, don't worry!
Ubisoft announces the release of the Extreme Car Pack for The Crew, their open
world driving game. This can be found
on Steam and presumably
soon in
the Ubishop. Word is this adds new cars for those who buy the pack, and new
content for all owners of the game: NEW DLC CAR PACK
Featuring three electrifying new cars, the smooth and extremely rare Aston
Martin V12 Zagato, the ferocious 2013 SRT Viper GTS and the zippy Abarth 500,
the Extreme Car Pack will have racers hugging turns and flying across the United
States. New customisation options including paint jobs, rims, interiors and
tuning specs are available in the in-game store for select cars.
NEW CONTENT FOR ALL PLAYERS
Four new missions, themed for extreme racers, are now available to all players
free of charge in the Extreme Live Update. In the new faction mission,
“Vertigo,” outrun racers in a high speed and high stakes race along the Colorado
River. Race to the top of a mountain and fly down it full speed in
“Rollercoaster.” Push the pedal to the metal and keep your car steady on a
treacherously icy route to secure the fastest time possible in “Slip and Slide.”
Defy gravity in “Hurricane” with difficult jumps on a demanding stunt-filled
course located in a construction site.
The Extreme Live Update also comes with new unlockable content. Enrich your car
collection with new tuning specs for five of your favourite cars and show your
ride’s wild style with the new “animal” and “nature” stickers.
The cancellation
of season passes for Assassin's Creed Unity resulted in free DLC for
the action/adventure sequel, but the release of new
Secrets of the Revolution DLC
on Steam provides the chance to buy additional content for the game,
including missions, weapons, and gear. Here's word: The Revolution is not
over, the people of Paris still need your help.
Discover the last secrets of the French Revolution with this pack including:
- 3 missions: “The Chemical Revolution”, “The
American Prisoner”, and “Killed by Science”
- 8 weapons ranging from powerful rifles and
pistols, to razor-sharp axes and swords
- 6 pieces of gear to equip Arno with the finest and
most resistant armor
A
Steam Community Announcement has word from From Software that the
multiplayer region lock has been removed from the Dark Souls: Prepare to Die
Edition (thanks
Eurogamer.net). The post also states this addresses a crash that could occur
when opening the Book of Guilty, though several users have replied to say this
problem remains. Here's word: A nice fix is available for all players
since January 19th 2015 to completely remove the infamous multiplayer region
lock in Dark souls: Prepare to die edition.
This patch also fixes the crash that could occur when opening the Book of
Guilty.
To update your game, simply launch it from Steam with the auto-update option on.
Are you ready to die again?
Deep Silver announces the North American release of Saints Row IV: Gat out of Hell, the
Saints Row IV expansion. The
launch trailer was
released the other day
offering "four minute long Infomercial of Awesomeness™," and there's more on the
release on the Saints Row website.
Here's word on what this brings to the open-world action game: "After the space faring antics of Saints Row IV, many fans asked
what we could do next... the answer? Shoot The Devil in the face. Play as either
Johnny Gat or Kinzie Kensington for the first time in the Gat out of Hell
expansion where you'll tear apart Hell in a quest to save the leader of the
Saints’ soul. Historical icons, old friends, older enemies, a talking gun, a
full length musical number, and a whole lot of other shenanigans all await you
in the open world standalone expansion playground that is Saints Row: Gat out of
Hell." Continue here to read the full story.
Daedalic Entertainment announces the release of Blackguards 2, saying the
fantasy-themed strategy/RPG sequel is now available worldwide for Windows and OS
X via digital distribution through portals such as
GOG.com and
Steam.
Here's the official launch
trailer (in "Englisch"), and here's word
from GOG.com:
Blackguards 2 presents a non-linear story of a ragtag group of antiheroes
in the gritty world of the The Dark Eye. This hexy, turn based, tactical RPG
series is best known for its deep combat system, and Blackguards 2 once again
gives players an unprecedented amount of choice on the battlefield. Anything
goes out there - knock down a wall and crush your opponents, or drench them in
water to go in for a devastating electrical shock. Blackguards 2 is everything a
sequel should be: deeper, hexier, and more complex. The combat system saw many
requested improvements, with a plethora of fresh and exciting gameplay mechanics
waiting to challenge veterans and new players alike.
Continue here to read the full story.
ATLUS announces the release of Citizens of Earth, saying Eden Industries'
retro-inspired RPG is now available in the Americas. The Windows edition is available
on Steam,
where for the next week it is 20% off and will include the full soundtrack. The
launch trailer
provides
a look, and here's word: Kick back with some political kickbacks and get
ready to grant a vice presidential pardon for whatever other responsibilities
that might jeopardize free time, because Citizens of Earth is available to the
earth constituency beginning today. The retro-inspired RPG from indie developer
Eden Industries and published by ATLUS can be purchased on Steam,
PlayStation®Network for PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®Vita, and the Nintendo
eShop for Wii U™ and Nintendo 3DS™. The game is available for a base price of
$14.99, and for a limited time can be purchased at a discount based on platform
and territory.
Citizens of Earth is available now for the Americas, beginning Jan. 21 for EMEA
PlayStation users, and Jan. 22 for EMEA Nintendo users. EMEA base price is
€11,99 and for a limited time can be purchased at a discount based on platform
and territory.
Continue here to read the full story.
Wargaming announces this weekend will see them hosting another beta test of
World of Warships, their upcoming MMO naval combat game. The "Wings Over the
Water" event will run from January 23-25, and those interested can sign up
through the game's localized official portals for
North America,
Europe, and
Asia. Word is the testing will also
include a fourth class of warship with the addition of Aircraft Carriers. Here's
word: With the introduction of the aircraft carrier class, bringing the
total class of warships up to four, players also have the chance to take
advantage of stealthy destroyers, stalwart cruisers and devastating battleships.
Aircraft carriers offer a unique angle to combat, delivering RTS style gameplay
and the ability to launch three types of warplane squadrons (fighters, dive
bombers and torpedo bombers) against any opponent.
With ten tiers available, testers will be able to level up and unlock a few of
America’s and Japan’s iconic military vessels: the USA has the Pensacola cruiser
and Fletcher destroyer; Japan has the Nagato and Yamato battleships and the
Shimakaze destroyer.
A new trailer from
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare shows off more Exo Zombies action from Havoc, the
upcoming first DLC pack for the military shooter sequel. The description of the
clip is pretty straightforward: "Watch gameplay from the new Exo Zombies mode,
starring John Malkovich, Bill Paxton, Rose McGowan, and Jon Bernthal. Exo
Zombies is included with Havoc, the first DLC pack for Call of Duty: Advanced
Warfare." Continue here to read the full story.
- Total War Wiki
has a link to read the first three chapters of The Sword of Attila, a
new Total War novel…
The Dungeons & Dragons website has details
on Elemental Evil, the newest storyline Wizards of the Coast is
introducing to the role-playing series. This includes
a link
meant to share information about an Elemental Evil expansion coming to
Neverwinter, the online version of the RPG, but for now the link leads to the
Neverwinter overview which contains nothing about the expansion. Their
announcement does provide some details on this, however, including word it will
raise the level cap to 70: The product line-up includes the release of a
new downloadable module—Neverwinter: Elemental Evil—for the highly acclaimed
free-to-play Dungeons & Dragons MMORPG from Cryptic Studios and Perfect World
Entertainment. Serving as an additional way for fans to experience the
storyline, Neverwinter: Elemental Evil brings a new playable class—the
Paladin—and increases the game’s level cap to 70. Neverwinter is set in the
Forgotten Realms, and the new expansion launches in early 2015. Cryptic also
recently announced Neverwinter on Xbox One will be available in early 2015 as
well.
Capcom Unity announces that Resident Evil HD is now available, saying
the Windows edition of the survival/horror remake is
on Steam. They also
highlight the support for the game on
RESIDENT EVIL.NET, saying: "Your RE1 Overview on Resident Evil.Net displays
a quick summary of your game progress, along with a number of objectives that
unlock exclusive icons and award RE Points. By logging into ResidentEvil.net
Players will be able to monitor their own progress as well as check out how
their friends are getting on in the mansion - the race for 100% completion
begins!!" They also
announce plans to stream the first hour or so of gameplay
on Twitch this evening starting
at 7:30 pm EST. Here's word on the release from Steam News: The game that
defined the survival-horror genre is back! Check out the remastered HD version
of Resident Evil.
In 1998 a special forces team is sent to investigate some bizarre murders on the
outskirts of Raccoon City. Upon arriving they are attacked by a pack of
blood-thirsty dogs and are forced to take cover in a nearby mansion. But the
scent of death hangs heavy in the air. Supplies are scarce as they struggle to
stay alive.
Developer Robotoki has ceased
operations for the time being, and development of Human Element is "on hiatus,"
reports
Joystiq (thanks nin). Robotoki is a startup formed by Robert Bowling after
his departure from Infinity
Ward where he served as evangelist for the Call of Duty series. Human Element
is a zombie game meant to be their debut release, but the announcement
late last year that
Robotoki was breaking from publisher Nexon and that Human Element was no longer
planned as a free-to-play title have created the need for additional funding.
Here's the statement from Bowling: "This week we have ceased operations at
Robotoki and the development of Human Element is on hiatus," Bowling told us in
a statement. "We were actively negotiating a new publishing deal for the premium
version of Human Element but unfortunately I was unable to continue to self-fund
development until a deal was finalized."
Update: The original version of this story repeatedly referred to Human Element as Almost Human. Apologies for the error and the sloppiness.
GOG.com
announces Wave II of their LucasArts collaboration is now underway with the
release of six classic Star Wars titles on the DRM-free marketplace, including
three games never before available via digital distribution, X-Wing vs. TIE
Fighter, X-Wing Alliance, and the Galactic Battlegrounds Saga.
They celebrate the news with a bunch of discounts, and say the six Star Wars
releases "are barely the beginning." Here's word: Lucasfilm strikes back.
A long time ago in a galaxy near you, ©Disney Interactive and GOG.com teamed up
to bring you the holy grail of classic gaming: six Lucasfilm cult-classics were
added to our DRM-free catalog, including three titles which saw their digital
premiere on GOG.com. We also made a promise to bring you many more cult-classics
in the future and, believe us, we did not forget.
Today, with great pride and joy, we're excited to announce Wave II of Lucasfilm
games on GOG.com! Starting right now, six new Star Wars™ classics are available
in our DRM-free Lucasfilm/Disney catalog.
This includes three amazing titles available, for the first time in digital
distribution, exclusively on GOG.com:
Star Wars™: X-Wing
vs. TIE Fighter - digital distribution debut, on GOG.com!
Star Wars™: X-Wing
Alliance™ - digital distribution debut, on GOG.com!
Star Wars™
Galactic Battlegrounds Saga - digital distribution debut, on GOG.com!
We're also celebrating the DRM-free release of these Star Wars™ games with a
72-hour 20% launch discount:
Star Wars™ Battlefront™
II
Star Wars™: Dark Forces
Star Wars™ Knights of the Old Republic™ II: The Sith Lords™
Just in case you missed your chance last time, you can grab three more Lucasfilm
classics for the same 20% discount, until Friday, January 30, at 1:59 PM GMT!
Star Wars™
Knights of the Old Republic™
Indiana
Jones® and the Fate of Atlantis™
The
Secret of Monkey Island™: Special Edition
Our Lucasfilm/Disney is made that much
more impressive today thanks to our team-up with ©Disney Interactive. The 6 new
Star Wars™ releases, which include 3 digital premieres exclusively on GOG.com,
are barely the beginning. We're not saying more right now, but we know the wait
will be worth it for six great reasons - keep watching the front page and stay
tuned for more exciting Lucasfilm titles releasing on GOG.com when the timer
strikes zero!
Paradox Interactive announces the chance for Europa Universalis IV to
travel the road to El Dorado next month, as they announce plans for an El
Dorado expansion for the grand strategy sequel (apologies for referring to it as
an RTS game), saying this will be released next month for
Windows, OS X, and Linux. As the title implies, this is loosely based on Spain's
obsession with gold in the new world, and their friendly ventures into Central
and South America to hunt for it while also teaching the native populations
European hospitality. The add-on will also introduce Nation Designer, a new tool
to allow the customization of your starting nation. There are screenshots on the
Europa Universalis IV website
along with an announcement
teaser trailer, though this doesn't offer much. Here's word: Legends
tell of a great city deep in the jungle. It is rich in all the pleasures of
mankind, and is so full of gold that the residents count this metal as nothing.
The daring explorer that finds this city will bring glory to his king – and
infinite riches to his pocket. Now Paradox Development Studio brings the
adventure and politics of the Spanish conquest to life with the El Dorado
expansion for Europa Universalis IV.
The centerpiece of El Dorado is the Nation Designer, a tool that let’s you
customize your starting nation in a campaign. Choose your starting capital and
neighboring provinces, modify your starting culture and leader and then lead
this new nation to new and original heights of glory. The infinite replayability
of EU4 has just gotten even more infinite, if that’s possible (the company
mathematician is still on holiday).
This expansion’s historical focus on the Central American and South American
theaters of exploration will challenge you with new decisions worthy of a king
or conqueror. As the Aztecs, subject the Mexican plain to your rule but make
sure you have enough vassal kings to sacrifice to your angry gods. As the
Europeans, push deeper into the jungles of the Amazon, following rumors of lost
cities and magical fountains. Defer to the Pope as he intervenes to divide the
New World among squabbling empires.
Features include:
- A deep Nation Designer gives you new starting
options for your games, including national ideas and custom monarchs
- Experience the new Nahuatl, Inti and Mayan
religions with blood sacrifices or Sun Worship
- Send your conquistadors to hunt for the Seven
Cities of Gold, or your explorer on exploration missions around the world
- Gold Fleets can traffic New World wealth back to
Europe, and be targeted by your privateer fleets
- Use your trade fleets to hunt dangerous pirates
- Maintain good relations with the Pope so you can
get a corner of the world to call your own in the Treaty of Tordesillas
Continue here to read the full story.
The BioWare Blog
offers notes for a version 1.03 patch in the works for the Windows edition
of Dragon Age: Inquisitions, their RPG sequel, saying "our primary focus
was on fixing bugs, particularly ones that blocked progression or hampered the
player experience." They don't specify when this will go live, but offer a
detailed description: "We targeted several issues in multiplayer, fixing the
case that caused keys to not drop, as well as fixing issues with the Reaver’s
rampage ability. There were also some balance changes, including tweaks to the
Demon Commander and the Strength of Spirits ability to make it more useful. We
added some much-requested features, including key binding that allows walking
for PC and push-to-talk functionality in the multiplayer end of match summary
and armor upgrade menus. We also added a new multiplayer Destruction route, and
players can now challenge themselves in the fiery Elven Ruins." Here are the
notes: From a development standpoint, Patch 3 was a small, bug-fix only
patch to address some high-frequency issues affecting the majority of our
players.
General
Added key binding that allows players to walk.
Added mouse cursor scaling.
Fixed issue that could result in the mouse getting stuck in mouse-look mode when
players alt-tabbed out of the game in full-screen mode.
Fixed display bars to correctly reflect items that alter maximum health.
Single-Player
Changed party banter system to be less random to prevent extra-long periods
where no conversations would occur.
Fixed issue that could result in one of Dorian’s conversations not being
available for some players.
Continue here to read the full story.
The
Daily Dot presents the case that a professional Counter-Strike match
last summer was fixed, as elite American team iBUYPOWER lost what "should have been an easy match" against NetcodeGuides.com. They say that for
some reason this was revealed in advance by one of the participants to "a young
esports journalist," who shared screengrabs of the conversation, but they are
only reporting this information now after receiving "new corroborating details
from multiple sources that strongly indicate the game was fixed." There are
statements from various parties involved in the scene, and the site says that they
have verified that incriminating bets were placed on the match on behalf of
participants, as apparently betting on eSports is actually a thing, in spite of
the obvious potential for stories like this one. Thanks
MCV.
A new short virtual reality adventure game called InMind is now available
as a free download on Steam,
offering an experience specifically designed for Oculus Rift DK1/DK2, though a
VR unit is not mentioned in the system specs, which cover Windows, Linux, and OS
X. Though developer Nival VR (a new subsidiary of Nival Interactive) doesn't
mention Fantastic Voyage,
the game sounds like it is inspired by the 1966 sci-fi movie: "With the help of
nanotechnologies a surgical prototype bathyscaphe allows its operator to shrink
to a microlevel and travel inside the patient's body."
This video shows off
gameplay, and here's word: "This first demo allows players to experience the
journey into the patient's brain in search of neurons that cause mental
disorder. Submerge into the microworld and experience the miracles of the human
mind!" The accompanying quote from the developer stresses the educational
aspects of this: “Virtual reality opens new exciting opportunities for
the gaming industry,” said Sergey Orlovskiy, CEO and founder of Nival. “We have
long-term history as a developer and believe that games can be much more than
just entertainment. As well as education can also mean fun. Our aim is to
combine both – education and entertainment. Previous attempts of gamification
were not convincing enough. We invested our experience as a game developer and
our funds in the new concept. InMind is the first step in this direction. We
have already shown our results to the members of the academic community and are
excited to share our vision with the wide audience.”
GameBlast is a
gaming marathon slated for February 20-22 to raise money for gamers with
disabilities. Developer Jagex announces that this year their support of this
event will center around Block N Load, their action game currently in
beta on Steam. "The
Ace of Spades: Battle Builder community were really supportive during
GameBlast14, so we can’t wait to see how the burgeoning Block N Load player base
performs this year," says David Solari, vice president of Jagex. "We’re
currently in the beta phase of development, so the 24-hour GameBlast marathon
will really put the game through its paces ahead of its launch!"
There's a
postmortem on Gamasutra where design director Michael de Plater looks back
at Monolith's development of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, their
Tolkien-inspired action game. He discusses what went right, such as the Nemesis
System, core gameplay and controls, and usability, as well as what went wrong,
including the process of combining a couple of smaller development teams into a
larger one, though this turns out well, as he says: "We didn’t just make a game,
we also made a great team."
-
Steam Greenlight -- Starship Rubicon. "Starship Rubicon is a space
shoot-em-up that modernizes the physics and mechanics of Asteroids combined
with the ship modification and roguelike elements of FTL. "
- Avernum 2: Crystal Souls on
GameWatcher.
- Citizens of Earth on
IncGamers.
- Resident Evil HD Remaster on
GameWatcher,
PC
Gamer,
Polygon,
and
Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
- Saints Row: Gat Out Of Hell on
GameWatcher,
Giant Bomb,
PC
Gamer, and Rock,
Paper, Shotgun.
- Alienware 13 + Graphics Amplifier on
TechSpot.
- AMD Radeon R9 290X 4GB vs 8GB at 4K with maxed out settings on
TweakTown.
- ASUS Rampage V Extreme Motherboard on
PC Perspective.
- ASUS ROG GTX 980 MATRIX Platinum Video Card on
HARDOCP.
- ASUS X99-Deluxe Motherboard on
Neoseeker.
- CHERRY MX-Board 3.0 Professional Keyboard on
Techgage.
- Corsair Graphite Series 380T on
LAN OC.
- Cougar 600M Laser Gaming Mouse on
TweakTown.
- ECS LIVA-X Mini PC (Intel N2808) on
techPowerUp.
- PAPAGO! GoSafe 520 2K Ultra-Wide Dashcam on
MEGATechNews.
- Patriot Fuel iON Magnetic Wireless Charger on
Legit Reviews.
- Rapoo V900 on
ocaholic.
- Samsung Portable SSD T1 on
AnandTech.
- Tt eSPORTS CHALLENGER Prime Gaming Keyboard on
TweakTown.
The Monday Night Mutants completed the Long Way To The Top mission from the
Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage DLC for Borderlands 2. I just have
this to say: Badassasaurus? Really? I won't expand on that comment to avoid
spoiling it for those who haven't played it yet, but those who have will know
why I express mystification about this boss battle.
R.I.P.:
Tony Verna, inventor of TV instant replay, dies.
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