Archived News:
Ubisoft has reversed course on the Far Cry 4 keys that
were revoked due
to alleged fraud. Though
these keys were revoked, they now tell
GameInformer they are reinstating keys that were successfully activated,
though they are working to prevent a reoccurrence, and will continue to
deactivate keys obtained fraudulently. Here's word on the keys they are
reactivating: After further investigation into the matter of keys that
were fraudulently purchased on EA's Origin store, we are reinstating keys for
consumers who already had successfully activated and started playing the games.
Any remaining fraudulently obtained and resold keys have been
deactivated.
Origin is now offering the chance to preload the Battlefield Hardline beta
in advance of it getting underway tomorrow. There is also
a new post revealing the PC system specification for the police-themed
shooter accompanied by a new trailer where
the lead multiplayer designer Thaddeus Sasser explains what will make the PC
edition of the game "so awesome." Here are the specs and the clip: Check
out the following system requirements, which are same for both the beta and the
final release of the game:
Recommended:
OS: WINDOWS 8 64-BIT (with KB971512 Update)
CPU: INTEL QUAD-CORE CPU, AMD SIX-CORE CPU
MEMORY: 8 GB RAM
GRAPHICS CARD: AMD Radeon R9 290, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760
GRAPHICS MEMORY: 3 GB
HARD DRIVE: 60 GB
DIRECTX 11
Minimum:
OS: WINDOWS VISTA SP2 64-BIT (with KB971512 Update)
PROCESSOR: Athlon II/Phenom II 2.8 GHz, Intel Core i3/i5 2.4GHz
MEMORY: 4 GB RAM
GRAPHICS CARD: ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1 GB), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 (896 MB)
HARD DRIVE: 60 GB
DIRECTX 11
Please note: Machines with 4GB of RAM or less may experience issues in the
Battlefield Hardline open beta, as gameplay performance for lower-end PCs is
still being optimized. We suggest you close all other applications while playing
the game.
One of the many joys of being a PC gamer is having complete control over how a
game looks and runs on your machine – Battlefield Hardline is no exception. In
fact, the developers over at Visceral Games are so eager for you to see for
yourself what Battlefield Hardline has to offer that they sat down with us to
talk about their commitment to making the PC version of the game the best it can
be. Check it out here:
Continue here to read the full story.
Runic Games announces the Mac OS X edition of Torchlight II is now
available on
Steam. Here's word on the think different version of the action/RPG sequel,
and how it can be played online along with the Windows edition: Mac
gaming enthusiasts will find Torchlight II available on Steam this morning,
launching with a very special 80% off sale. Torchlight II for Mac will regularly
retail for $19.99 after the sale.
Players who already purchased Torchlight II for the PC on Steam will find the
Mac version available to them at no extra charge. In addition, if players
purchased non-Steam versions of Torchlight II, they will be able to redeem those
keys on Steam to get the complimentary Mac version.
“It is our great pleasure to finally be releasing Torchlight II for the Mac.
Although it’s been a long time coming, we hope you agree that it is worth the
wait,” stated CEO Max Schaefer.
Mac and PC users will be able to play multiplayer together, regardless of their
preferred platform. Existing users will also be able to carry their character
over to the new Mac version of the game if desired.
Sandbox Strategies announces a March 3rd Steam release date for
White Night, a
survival/horror game for Windows, Linux, and OS X from developer OSome Studio
(it is also coming to Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on March 6th. There's a
new gameplay trailer
on the game's official website
showing off the game's distinctive monochromatic art style, and here's a
description: Set in the 1930s and drawing from the rich themes of noir-era
storytelling, White Night blends third-person action, exploration and
puzzle-solving with the mature tension, challenge and tone of old-school
survival horror adventures. As players investigate a shadowy mansion in the dead
of night after a near-fatal car crash, what started as a search for aid will
become a desperate quest to unearth the secrets behind the manor’s tortured
past.
White Night's stylish black-and-white art direction plays pivotally into its
underlying mechanics. Light cuts through the darkness to reveal hidden paths and
clues, providing a sanctuary against the terrors lurking the estate--but it’s a
resource that must be managed carefully. White Night’s cinematic atmosphere is
further advanced with immersive sound design, a haunting soundtrack and chilling
VO.
Continue here to read the full story.
A new trailer from
Red Goddess shows off new gameplay footage from the upcoming platformer. Here's
word on what this shows: "We're delighted to share with you the new trailer for
our upcoming 2.5D platformer adventure Red Goddess, showing off a revised
edition of the gameplay. In particular, you get to see the gravity jump ability
as well as updated, the "Evil Mask" gameplay and User Interface, with world map,
player stats and quest. Divine (the main character) in action, with new
environments and characters, baddies to beat and NPCs to greet across the
vibrant, unique landscape." Continue here to read the full story.
Sony has sold Sony Online Entertainment, their eponymous studio behind their MMO
games, including the EverQuest and PlanetSide series. That name
obviously will no longer be appropriate, and
TechCrunch reports the company will be renamed Daybreak by its new owner,
investment management firm Columbus Nova.
They also say the new owners still plan on releasing EverQuest Next as
planned, though it sounds like supporting PCs is a low priority going forward,
as TechCrunch says they speak of plans to develop more game for PlayStation,
Xbox, and mobile. Financial terms of the deal are not being discussed at this
time.
There is a statement from Techland on
GameSpot confirming our suspicions that the mod blocking and DCMA takedowns
for Dying Light reported earlier
were not intended to shut down mods for the zombie game as they have, saying
they were an unintended consequence of fighting cheating. Here's the statement
from Techland saying they are looking to clear this up as quickly as
possible: With the recent patch (1.2.1) on Steam we blocked cheating to
make sure the game's PvP system (Be The Zombie) would not be abused. This,
however, had the side-effect of hindering mod-makers from making changes to the
game."
Creating obstacles for modders has never been our intention. We are now working
on a quick patch that will re-enable common tweaks while stopping cheating in
the game's multiplayer mode.
At Techland, we have always supported the mod community, and loved seeing how
our own game can be changed by the players. A big part of the original Dead
Island's success was the passion and creativity of mod-makers from our
community. We want the same for Dying Light.
The
Verge reports an interesting offer from Microsoft, as apparently they plan
to support the just announced Raspberry Pi 2
mini-computer with a free version of Windows 10. With the Raspberry Pi 2
carrying a $35.00 price tag, this will make creating a Windows PC easier on the
wallet than ever, though they note that this will likely only run
modern apps on its ARM-based processor. Thanks nin.
A
reddit thread has complaints from users that the Dying Light patch
released Friday hinders mod support for the
zombie game (thanks
Blend Games). In a further hindrance, word is Techland is issuing DMCA
takedown notices for mods, including a couple that simply
removed the game's film-grain visual effect, apparently the work of
MarkMonitor, who may be taking their
"brand protection" mission beyond expectations. Techland has not commented on
this development yet, but they did support mods in Dead Island, so it seems
possible this is unintended.
A post by
Jace Hall on Facebook has word from the one-time Monolith boss, who is now
owner of Twin Galaxies,
that he is interested in "providing" the rights to make another installment in
the Condemned series to an independent developer: I helped to
create a video game console franchise called "Condemned." I currently own the
entire franchise.
There have been 2 game titles released for the franchise, "Condemned: Criminal
Origins" and "Condemned: Bloodshot" - they both did well, and I am consistently
asked when a third game might be created.
Since I am focused on other things, and will be for quite some time, this
franchise is just sitting there.
I am contemplating finding an interested and proven Indie development team AND
PROVIDING IT TO THEM, so that they can take over the franchise and move it
forward.
As an indie, it can be very hard to get marketing/media attention for a title
that you work on. This franchise is already quite known, has market demand, and
is in an innovative genre/category.
Should I explore this idea further? What say you all?
Football Manager 2015 remains number one on the
PC top 30 while The Elder Scrolls Online takes a big jump from #11 to number
three, suggesting the plan to
drop
mandatory subscription fees is proving popular. On the
all platforms chart Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare advances back into the
top spot. Here's their
summary: This week it is Activision’s turn to re-claim No1 as ‘COD:
Advanced Warefare’ surges 27% in units over last week.
Rockstar/Take 2’s 3 week consecutive spell at the top ends as ‘Grand Theft Auto
V’ drops to No2 (-7%). It does mean that these 2 titles are neck and neck right
now when it comes to the number of weeks they have each had at No1 (seven) and
the number of consecutive weeks (three). EA’s ‘FIFA 15’ remains at No3 (-5%) and
Deep Silver/Koch remain at No4 with last week’s new release ‘Saints Row IV
Re-Elected / Gat Out of Hell’ (-38%). The tail end of the retail promotion on
‘Call of Duty: Ghosts’ (-37%) sees the title only dropping 2 places from last
week to No7.
The only other news this week is 505 Games’ ‘Terraria’ climbing 15 places to
No13 (+77%) thanks to the launch of PS4 and Xbox One versions.
Happy Groundhog Day! If the groundhog really does need to emerge from his hole
for his weather report today, he'll need a snow blower, as we're in the middle
of a pretty harsh nor'easter right now, and there's deep wet snow everywhere, so
I don't need to check the news to know that nobody's seeing any shadows around
here today, regardless of what
Punxsutawney Phil says.
Speaking of checking the news, this one time I'll finally remember to honor the
wishes of a long-time reader who was time-shifting the playoff games. I kept
spoiling outcomes by mentioning them here, but I can discuss the Super Bowl just
as easily without explicitly naming the winner. Of course congrats are in order
for the winners and their fans, but the ending of that game will perplex me for
the rest of my life, as I still cannot believe they called that pass play, and I
don't think I will ever be able to understand it.
Also congrats to Darkv for winning our
playoff pool, I had a shot at coming in second, but the last game crossed me
up. I had been on a pretty good roll, as this was only the second Super Bowl I
predicted incorrectly since Super Bowl XXXVI (the other was when I incorrectly
picked the Colts to beat the Saints a few years ago). Hopefully I'll start a new
streak next year.
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