Valve announces a milestone, saying they have paid out over $50 million to
content creators since they launched the
Steam Workshop. They are
marking the occasion by releasing new tools and adding item creation and sales
for games by other developers:
Since the Steam Workshop launched in late
2011 over $50 mil has been paid to the community content creators producing
items for Team Fortress 2, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. To
celebrate and expand upon this success, Steam content creators now have the
ability to create and sell items for non-Valve games. And in addition, a new
suite of reporting tools have been introduced that allow content creators to
monitor and track the sale of their items in real time.
The
Fahrenheit website announces the availability of
Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy Remastered, an updated version of Quantic Dream's
2006 action/adventure that was known as
Fahrenheit or
Indigo Prophecy, depending
on the region (thanks
NeoGAF via
VG247). This is actually premature, as the "buy now" link shows this remake
from Aspyr will be released tomorrow for Windows, OS X, Linux, and iOS, with
the FAQ stating this is
coming to
Steam. They offer
this trailer
to show how the game has been updated, and here's word:
Originally released in 2005,
Fahrenheit (known as Indigo Prophecy in North America) was a breakthrough in
interactive narrative, teetering between the worlds of cinema and gaming while
also embracing them, carving its own unique genre in the entertainment
landscape. This newly remastered edition features updated graphics, full
controller support and is based on the uncut/uncensored international version of
the game.
Continue here to read the full story.
A
post
on Battle.net announces plans to nerf the Undertaker card in
Hearthstone. Here's word:
After the release of Goblins vs Gnomes, we kept
an eye on the state of game balance as more matches were played with the new
cards we introduced to Hearthstone. After careful consideration we have decided
to make a balance change to the card Undertaker.
The following balance change will be made in an upcoming patch:
Undertaker now reads: Whenever you summon a minion with Deathrattle,
gain +1 Attack.
- Undertaker was frustrating to play against. It
often gained both Attack and Health stats significantly above those of other
inexpensive minions very early in the game. With this change, we expect
Undertaker will still be better than other 1-Mana minions when played in a
deck with a Deathrattle theme, but more likely to die in combat against
other minions.
The golden version of Undertaker can be disenchanted for its full cost for a
limited time once this balance change goes live.
We will continue to make balance changes to Hearthstone when we feel they are
necessary in order to increase the variety of cards seen at all levels of play,
with the goal of making Hearthstone a more fun and interactive game for
everyone.
The
League
of Legends website now offers volume one of the soundtrack from
ArenNet's MOBA hit as a free download. Word is: "Experience moments woven within
the League of Legends universe through soaring scores and victorious anthems.
Listen as 15 new and classic League tracks come together for the first time
beyond the game. This is the Music of League." Thanks
Massively.
The
Stretch Goals
page on the Roberts Space Industries website shows
Star Citizen has now
attracted more than $71 million in crowdfunding for Cloud Imperium's upcoming
space game, though they have not posted any
stretch goals past the $65 million mark, and there's no accompanying letter from
the chairman at this time. What is new is a
Persistent Universe "town
hall" video presentation recapping a live session at PAX South.
Word is: "Watch as the Chairman, Tony Zurovec, and Mark Skelton outline the
future of the Persistent Universe! This presentation was recorded live during
the Town Hall at PAX South. We thank backers who where in attendance and are
eager to share our vision with the rest of our community."
Continue here to read the full story.
Gearbox Software Support announces a hotfix is now available for
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, addressing the
recently identified
issue using The Grinder after the most recent patch for the action/RPG
inbetweenquel. That post has been updated with the following: "January 28th
note: There is currently a hot-fix in place as a temporary solution until the
fix can be made permanent in the next major update."
Ubisoft has commented further on their
recent revocation
of
Far Cry 4 game keys, which they said at the time were fraudulently
obtained. In a statement
on Eurogamer.net they explain these keys were purchased illegally through Origin: "In
this case, we confirmed activation keys were recently purchased from EA's Origin
store using fraudulent credit card information and then resold online. These
keys may have been deactivated. Customers who may have been impacted should
contact the vendor where they purchased the key for a refund." They also have a
statement from a representative of game key vendor Kinguin about the situation,
which is similar to this recent statement from them
on GameInformer.com
(thanks Cutter):
A representative tells us that the storefront has “one
of the lowest fraud rates in the industry.” The company says that all sellers go
through a vetting process and the site offers a “100 percent Buyer Protection”
guarantee.
“The current case raised by Ubisoft is surely unfair towards the players. The
banned game copies in question were acquired through licensed wholesale
distributors and as such the origin of the ‘keys’ is the publisher himself,”
Kinguin chief marketing officer Bartłomiej Skarbiński told us via email. “From
the gamer point of view its like going out to the store, purchasing a copy of
the game, taking it home and suddenly a knock-knock on the door with Ubisoft
representative taking the copy away - not even asking you as a paying customer
to return it.”
Skarbiński questions whether the publisher had the right to deactivate the keys.
“We believe Ubisoft had no legal basis for its action,” he tells us. “They did
it just because they simply can. Kinguin of course is not going to challenge
Ubisoft in court as we are not match up for these giants. We will continue to
focus on customer's satisfaction and our customers know we have never let them
down.”
Matrix Games announces To End All Wars: Breaking the Deadlock, an
expansion coming to
To End All Wars, the World War I turn-based strategy
game, saying a beta should commence on February 24th. This will include five new
scenarios, and as the title implies, will offer a chance to break the stalemates
in the trenches. Here's a bit:
As the advancing central powers got bogged
down across Europe and the troops were digging in to their trenches, a stalemate
formed and the hopes of a quick victory were dashed on both sides. When all was
quiet on the western front however, both the Central Powers and the Entente kept
looking for opportunities gain the advantage elsewhere. Seeking out new allies
in the Balkan region, launching campaigns in the Middle-East and aiming for
breakthroughs on many different fronts. All this was done with only one goal in
mind: Breaking the Deadlock.
To End All Wars: Breaking the Deadlock is the first expansion to the most
detailed World War One wargame ever created. Adding 5 completely new scenarios,
this expansion aims to vastly increase the content in-game, giving players the
option to focus on specific campaigns in Italy, the Balkans and even the
Middle-East. In addition, the expansion also allows for the grand campaign to be
started in 1916, allowing him to seek out his own opportunities to overcome the
stalemate and win the War to End all Wars.
A
post on Battle.net from Blizzard discusses the upcoming conclusion to season
one in
Diablo III, and discusses the process of rolling over seasonal
content into player's main non-seasonal accounts, and the procedure for
launching season two. They still leave open the possibility the plan will
change, but they are trying to commit to a February 3rd end date for season one,
saying: "The earliest the Season will end is February 3, 2015. While it's
possible this date may shift, we will do our utmost to adhere to it. If any
scheduling changes occur, we will be sure to provide an update."
I want to thank Jon Stewart and
The Daily Show for expanding on my
comments about the "storm" yesterday with
a piece on Blizzapocalypsegeddon '15. The advance hype for the non-storm can
be justified, but the aftermath where they tried to keep up the pretense that
something actually happened was ridiculous, so again, hats off to TDS for the
reality check, with bonus points for calling out idiot reporters (or in this
case, *the* idiot reporter) for driving around broadcasting live from the
streets that they had just warned us were life-threatening.
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