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Archived News:
Activision Blizzard announces "record" fourth quarter and full year earnings
per share, saying digital revenues are at an all-time high and announcing a
stock buyback program. Along the way, CEO Bobby Kotick cites the success of
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, and calls Destiny "the biggest new
IP launch in industry history."
VG247 also has details from their post-earnings conference call, where they
confirmed Treyarch is the developer on a new Call of Duty game coming
this year, and that the CoD franchise has now made the company over $11 billion
(in case you were thinking of questioning the wisdom of their annual releases).
Here are some big numbers to crunch: For calendar year 2014, Activision
Blizzard delivered record non-GAAP earnings per diluted share of $1.42, as
compared with $0.94 per diluted share for 2013. On a GAAP basis, the company
delivered record earnings per diluted share of $1.13, as compared with $0.95 per
diluted share for 2013.
For calendar year 2014, Activision Blizzard delivered non-GAAP net revenues of
$4.81 billion, as compared with $4.34 billion for 2013. On a GAAP basis, the
company delivered net revenues of $4.41 billion, as compared with $4.58 billion
for 2013. For the calendar year, non-GAAP net revenues from digital channels
were $2.20 billion and represented a record 46% of the company’s total net
revenues. On a GAAP basis, for the calendar year 2014, net revenues from digital
channels were $1.90 billion and represented 43% of the company’s total
revenues.
March 10th is when to expect the release of the Windows edition of Assassin's
Creed Rogue, announces Ubisoft, who say this is also available as a deluxe
version with extra in-game content, and that preordering either edition from the
Ubishop will also receive two bonus
packs as well as the choice of one of six additional bonuses. A PC version of the templar-focused installment in the action/adventure
series was confirmed last year, but
we haven't heard much about it since. Now we have
a new PC launch trailer
this announcement complete with fairly modest system specifications: Today, Ubisoft® announced that the Assassin-turned-Templar action-adventure
game, Assassin’s Creed® Rogue, will be available for Windows PC on March 10.
Developed by Ubisoft Sofia, in collaboration with Ubisoft’s Singapore, Montreal,
Quebec, Chengdu, Milan and Bucharest studios, Assassin’s Creed Rogue takes
players to new adventures with Shay Patrick Cormac, a member of the Brotherhood
who becomes an Assassin Hunter. Starting in 1752, Assassin’s Creed Rogue is set
during the Seven Years War and gives players new locations across North America
to explore, including the frozen North Atlantic, the Appalachian River Valley
and New York. As Shay Patrick Cormac, players suffer the brotherhood’s betrayal
and experience the Assassin’s Creed universe through the eyes of a Templar.
Ubisoft Kiev adapted Assassin’s Creed Rogue for Windows PC.
The acclaimed naval components from previous Assassin’s Creed games have been
enhanced in Assassin’s Creed Rogue. The game also gives players new weapons to
use on both land and sea in pursuit of taking down the Assassins, including a
new ship called the Morrigan.
The Assassin’s Creed Rogue PC development team in Kiev have partnered with Tobii
Tech to integrate eye tracking input as a component of gameplay. This is the
first game of this scale to offer this entirely new, complementary input to the
keyboard and mouse. Players using the SteelSeries Sentry (with Tobii eye
tracking) when playing Assassin’s Creed Rogue will experience true gaming
immersion: as the player looks to the left or right of the screen, the camera
will pan to accommodate the exploration of this new visual territory, creating
an “infinite screen” experience.
Continue here to read the full story.
Digital Extremes announces they will be announcing a new role-playing game
being crated by n-Space one week from today, though they offer an intriguing
hint for now, saying this will be set "within a world-renowned fantasy
franchise." They also say this will be released this year, and will feature
developers from familiar RPG franchises: In a show of total commitment to
the unannounced RPG, n-Space has recruited top industry talent, including the
director of Dragon Age™: Origins and key contributors from the Neverwinter
Nights© and Baldur’s Gate© RPG series. The n-Space team has nearly two years of
self-funded development invested into this title, their first independent game
project. Utilizing both their vast experience creating high-profile game
franchises and veteran creative talent with success in nearly every game genre,
n-Space is driven to realize this new development initiative and is firmly
committed to delivering an innovative and entertaining RPG in 2015.
The Ashen Horse Trailer
offers a look at Total War: ATTILA, demonstrating that it takes a village to
make a Hun in Creative Assembly's upcoming strategy game. Here's word: "The
Huns’ expert horsemanship makes them formidable foes. In battle, their
combination of ranged attacks and the speed at which they can cover ground is
breath-taking – and terrifying – to behold. In Total War: ATTILA the Huns’
starting hordes are strong, but need time to grow before they become a major
force with which to scour the world. With their unique, unrelenting faction
traits, the Huns could develop into an overwhelming force with the right guiding
hand. They will need a legendary leader… will it be you?" Continue here to read the full story.
A new
"enthusiasm trailer" from RIVE looks to raise interest in this upcoming
platformer by showing all the ways you can fail in the game, as developer Two
Tribes employs some sort of reverse psychology Jedi mind trick to promote the
game. Here's how they rationalize this: "When demoing RIVE at Gamescom and EGX
London we noticed players really, really like it when they fail in RIVE. It
makes for great video material as well, so here we go, the new RIVE Enthusiasm
Trailer, featuring myriad ways to fail while having fun!" Continue here to read the full story.
- Battlefield Hardline on
EA News. "15 Improvements Made Since the Last Beta."
Independent developer Camouflaj announces RÉPUBLIQUE REMASTERED, a new
edition of their three-episode stealth/adventure game RÉPUBLIQUE coming on
February 26th for Windows and OS X. This includes the original three episodes as
well as pre-purchases of episodes four and five, and the graphics are updated
with Unity 5, the latest version of the Unity game engine. Word on this is:
"Camouflaj has fully embraced the engine’s features, including physically based
shading, real-time global illumination, and reflection probes." Here are
some
screenshots, including comparisons between the old and new engine, and
here's word on the game: In RÉPUBLIQUE REMASTERED, players assist Hope, a
desperate young woman struggling to escape from a secret, Orwellian state.
Communicating using a stolen phone, Hope contacts the player and asks them to
hack into the nation’s surveillance system, assume control, and guide her out of
the clutches of the omnipresent Overseer. Literary works such as 1984 and Brave
New World, and current geopolitical events including global surveillance and
Internet censorship serve as key sources of inspiration for both the narrative
and the stealth-survival gameplay. Players expand their control over
surveillance cameras and other network-enabled devices, growing into an active
threat to the Overseer and his grip over his shadowy nation.
RÉPUBLIQUE REMASTERED introduces Rena Strober as the voice of Hope, backed by an
all-star voice talent team. Jennifer Hale (Commander Shepard, Mass Effect
series) plays Hope’s mentor, Mireille Prideaux, while David Hayter (Solid Snake,
Metal Gear Solid series) gives voice to Zager, revolutionary and ghost in the
political machine. Also featured are veteran voice actors Khary Payton (Batman:
Arkham Origins), and Dwight Schultz (killer7).
Available on February 26th for PC and Mac on Steam, GOG, and Humble Store, the
Standard Edition of RÉPUBLIQUE REMASTERED will retail for $24.99, and includes a
pre-purchase of the upcoming Episode 4: God’s Acre and Episode 5: Terminus. The
Deluxe Edition adds the complete soundtrack, an hour-long making of documentary,
and two early prototypes (exclusive to the desktop version) for $34.99. For
launch week only, both the Standard Edition and Deluxe will debut at a 20% off
sale price ($19.99/$28.99).
Fatshark announces Warhammer: End Times Vermintide, a new co-op first-person
shooter/brawler set in the end-times of the Warhammer universe (we were hoping
for something more reality-based after mistakenly reading this as "Warhammer:
End Times Verisimilitude" at first). This is expected in the second half of this
year for Windows, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. A
new website is now live, offering details
on the game and an
announcement teaser trailer with a look at some cinematics. Here's word:
Independent developer Fatshark announced today the development of
Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide, a co-operative action first person shooter
and melee combat adventure set in the End Times of the iconic Warhammer Fantasy
universe. Vermintide is scheduled for release in the second half of 2015, for
Windows PC, the Xbox One, all-in-one games and entertainment system from
Microsoft via the ID@Xbox self-publishing program, and PlayStation®4 computer
entertainment system.
In Vermintide, the city of Ubersreik is under siege as players select from a
band of five heroes with different play-styles and abilities, all equipped with
unique gear and personalities. Working together cooperatively, players must use
their individual attributes to survive an apocalyptic invasion from hordes of
relentless, power hungry Skaven, across a range of environments stretching from
the top of the Magnus Tower to the bowels of the Under Empire.
“Combining gritty combat with cooperative multiplayer action, Vermintide will
provide the player with a completely new perspective of the Warhammer Fantasy
universe, through the eyes of the heroes they play,” said Martin Wahlund, CEO of
Fatshark. “Staying true to the fantasy lore, with familiar foes and locations,
we look forward to winning the hearts of enthusiasts and newcomers with this new
take on the Warhammer story”.
Continue here to read the full story.
The Crew website now offers patch notes for a new patch for The Crew
Ubisoft hopes to launch on February 12th "to tune and fix major gameplay
elements" in the open-world driving game (thanks
CarGamingBlog). In addition to tuning, this will also add new content,
including four new faction missions and a new PvP elimination racing mode with
10 new tracks. Here are the detailed notes: Our team has been working on
several changes and updates to tune and fix major gameplay elements. We’d like
to give you a look at the main changes that will be applied to The Crew in our
next major patch, coming February 12.
New Content
- New PvP mode
The new PvP mode is an elimination race with 10 new tracks available.
- New faction missions
Four new faction missions will be released with the patch on Thursday,
February 12.
Fixes and Updates
Continue here to read the full story.
The Cities XXL website now offers the
release of Cities XXL via digital distribution, saying the retail version of the
urban-planning sequel is due in stores next week. The game carries a 20% launch
discount, which increases to 50% for those who already own Cities XL. A
new launch trailer
provides a look at what to expect, and here's a rundown: The Cities XL
franchise returns with Cities XXL, available today for download and next week in
stores! Cities XXL is a bigger, more complete city-builder pushing the city
limits to the edge of your imagination. Running on an improved game engine for
enhanced performances, Cities XXL offers classic and extended city-building
content, including over 1000 buildings and structures, over 65 maps including
new landscapes and environments, and ecological features making Cities XXL the
'greenest' Cities XL game yet.
Continue here to read the full story.
Though South Park: The Stick of Truth is a critical and commercial
success, the release of DLC for the action/RPG is "unlikely," developer Obsidian
tells Polygon. Feargus Urquhart explains the sale of the game property to Ubisoft as part of
the THQ breakup is the reason
post-release support for the game is probably not happening, though he does not
completely rule out the possibilities of a DLC release. "As far as we know
[Ubisoft and South Park] are done," said the Obsidian CEO, adding:
"I don't know what that could be," when saying Obsidian has reached out to
Ubisoft to explore possibilities for extending the game. He indicates
DLC was part of the roadmap while the game was under development, but the
property changing hands combined with the pressure of living up to the
expectations of all the parties involved in creating a licensed game created
fatigue that has hurt the project's future. "After all of the stress of the game
getting done and changing publishers," he said, "I think everyone sort of needed
a hug."
The H1Z1 website points to
patch notes on Reddit for SOE's Daybreak's zombie survival
MMOG indicating that its latest update also involves a full server wipe (thanks
Ten Ton Hammer). A
separate post has further details on the wipe: Tomorrow as part of
our normal game update, we will be doing a complete server wipe. What does that
mean for you? Think of it as a factory reset. We are going to be wiping the
world clean of any player built structures, vehicle placement, everything. We
are also going to be doing a full character wipe as well. Your characters will
not exist on any servers, so you will have to create new ones.
What won’t be going away are any account locked items. These items are things
like crates and crate keys. All the cosmetic skins you found inside the crate or
won from Battle Royale will be safe and be locked to your account. The things
that will not be safe are anything you have on your character or hidden in the
world at the time of the wipe.
For people who purchased the Premium or upgraded to the Premium Edition will be
topped off up to 3 Airdrop Tickets. If you already have 3 or more Airdrop
Tickets you won’t be receiving any additional ones. This won’t happen at the
exact time of the wipe but will be granted to your account within a few business
days afterward.
Full server wipes are a part of Early Access and this won’t be the last one.
They help make the game better in substantial ways. We appreciate your support
in H1Z1 and the game has already grown a huge amount because of the
collaboration between us.
GameSpot has details on the latest financial reports from Square Enix,
saying the Japanese publisher/developer has doubled its profits over the same
period last year: Revenue was ¥118 billion ($1 billion), up 16 percent
compared to last year when company posted ¥102 billion ($870 million) in sales.
Profit also showed year-on-year gains, more than doubling from ¥5.2 billion
($44.4 million) last year to ¥10.9 billion ($92.9 million) this year.
Meanwhile, Square Enix's game-specific division, called Digital Entertainment,
posted revenue of ¥75 billion ($639.6 million), up 33.4 percent year-over-year.
Operating income also jumped, rising 107.6 percent to ¥14 billion ($119.4
million).
- Corsair Gaming K70 RGB Mechanical Keyboard on
techPowerUp.
- Corsair Graphite Series 760T on
LAN OC.
- Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 2666MHz Kit on
Neoseeker.
- Cougar 500K Gaming Keyboard on
ocaholic.
- Emtec International Power Plus X150 240GB Solid State Drive on
Pure Overclock.
- Kingston Class 10 UHS-I SDXC Card (256 GB) on
Tech ARP.
- Kingston DataTraveler microDuo 3.0 OTG 64GB USB Flash Drive on
Nikk Tech.
- Lepa LV12 on
Technic3D. German.
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 2GB Graphics Cards In SLI on
eTeknix.
- Patriot Memory Supersonic Boost XT 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive on
Mad Shrimps.
- Raijintek Aidos CPU Cooler on
Hardware Slave.
- ROCCAT Ryos TKL Pro Mechanical Keyboard on
Techgage.
- Seagate Enterprise Performance TurboBoost 15K 600GB HDD on
TweakTown.
- SilverStone SFX SX600-G on
pcGameware.
- Xigmatek Aquila Micro-ATX Chassis on
eTeknix.
Had a weird experience playing Borderlands 2 on Monday with my mutant
cohorts, as we tried to kill Pete the Invincible in another of the game's
over-the-top boss-fights. There's an exploit that makes this near unwinnable
battle possible involving a weird wall hop to get to a safer position to do
battle, but I was the only one of our crew who could not accomplish this
seemingly simple maneuver, which involved spamming the jump button to get on a
ledge. We theorized my keyboard was at fault, but a little Googling shows my
Logitech G510 gets high marks for not having any USB ghosting issues, so I don't
know what's up. The irony here is that I am considered the best player in the
group at reaching difficult spots, often hanging around the rooftops of
Sanctuary like the proper Batman Zer0 I am, but this one ledge
remained maddeningly out-of-reach.
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