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Archived News:
FCC votes for net neutrality, a ban on paid fast lanes, and Title II.
What can you do as an encore after that?
Overturn state laws that protect ISPs from local competition. Then you drop
the mic. Here's word on the net neutrality decision from FCC chairman Tom
Wheeler: The Internet is the most powerful and pervasive platform on the
planet. It is simply too important to be left without rules and without a
referee on the field. Think about it. The Internet has replaced the functions of
the telephone and the post office. The Internet has redefined commerce, and as
the outpouring from four million Americans has demonstrated, the Internet is the
ultimate vehicle for free expression. The Internet is simply too important to
allow broadband providers to be the ones making the rules.
This proposal has been described by one opponent as "a secret plan to regulate
the Internet." Nonsense. This is no more a plan to regulate the Internet than
the First Amendment is a plan to regulate free speech. They both stand for the
same concepts: openness, expression, and an absence of gate keepers telling
people what they can do, where they can go, and what they can think.
The
Fable Legends website announces this will be a free-to-play game, saying,
"You’ll be able to play Fable Legends from beginning-to-end without spending a
penny. That means you’ll have access to the entirety of Fable Legends’ storyline
and all of the quests we release this year and forever." Here's
a trailer where
Lionhead game director David Eckelberry explains the new business plan for the
four versus one action game. Here's word: So what does free to play mean
for Fable Legends? To help explain our approach to free to play, we’ve laid out
three clear commitments: OPEN
You’ll be able to play Fable Legends from beginning-to-end without spending a
penny. That means you’ll have access to the entirety of Fable Legends’ storyline
and all of the quests we release this year and forever.
FAIR
Everything in Fable Legends that affects gameplay can be earned by simply
playing the game.
GENEROUS
Our goal is to have a happy community of players. We’ll be updating the game
with exciting new quests to play through, Heroes to play as, Villain creatures
to control, and lots more.
So how does Fable Legends work as a free to play game?
In Fable Legends, whether you’re adventuring as a Hero or smiting as a Villain,
you will earn Silver to spend in-game. Everything that makes your Heroes or your
creatures more powerful can be bought with the silver that you earn.
You’ll also be able to buy gold with real-world money, which can then be used to
purchase many of the items that are also available for Silver.
Continue here to read the full story.
BANDAI NAMCO announces Supernova, a free-to-play MOBA with RTS elements they
plan to launch for Windows PCs later this year. The
Supernova website is online, accepting signups for alpha testing, which
commences today. They also offer a
cinematic trailer as
well as a gameplay trailer.
Here's the announcement: BANDAI NAMCO Games America Inc. announces the epic new addition to their
growing free-to-play lineup, Supernova, set to launch on PCs later this year.
Set in the distant, space-faring future Supernova takes an innovative approach
to the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) genre by adding real-time strategy
(RTS) elements and promises an exciting science fiction setting with vast
potential.
In Supernova the universe is the battle arena, and players must battle as humans
or aliens for their race’s right to exist. Commanders from across the galaxy pit
themselves against each other to save their race from extinction -- only the
strongest commanders can save their species from interstellar annihilation.
Players choose from a wide variety of commanders to control, such as giant
robots, cyborgs, or interstellar races adapted to the unyielding harshness of
space.
Atop this creative foundation, Supernova, allows lane minions to be upgraded in
ways familiar to any RTS player providing an additional element of strategy to
this truly unique MOBA. Infantry, mechanized land and air units provide a
rock-paper-scissors triad to push the lane with depth only possible in
Supernova.
Continue here to read the full story.
The
Battlefield website has an article on the Windows edition of Mike Glosecki,
gameplay systems producer for Battlefield Hardline and self-professed
hardcore gamer, who gives a rundown on what's being done to ensure Battlefield
Hardline is a great PC game. He starts off explaining this is not a port of a
console game: "Battlefield Hardline is being built on PC alongside the other
platforms. We’re doing what we can to take advantage of people’s different
system with the graphics, framerate, controls, etc. We’re not just porting it
over. Battlefield started on the PC with 1942 and we know we have a passionate
fan base on this platform. Fans can expect the huge 64-player battles with that
rock, paper, scissor gameplay that they have come to love in Hardline as well."
Here's more on the PC edition: What About the Power of PCs?
The PC allows you to customize the experience to your liking. You can play at
much higher resolutions, 1920x1080 and beyond up to the capabilities of your
video card. You can also use much higher graphic settings on PC – which you
gives you the best texture filtering, texture quality, and anti-aliasing in
addition to other benefits. You can adjust your field of view or run higher than
60 FPS if you choose. You can even play with a three monitor setup for an
immersive experience. Lastly, you get to use a mouse and keyboard which gives
you the best control setup for a first person shooter.
How Stable Will the Game Be on PC?
Stability has been one of the largest areas we’re focusing our attention at
Visceral while developing Hardline. I think we can all agree that Battlefield
4’s stability at launch was less than stellar. In order to address stability for
our game at launch, we’ve had the game up and running in the multiplayer
environment for the last two years with both the development and quality
assurance teams playing in daily matches. We’ve run two betas for the game as
well, one at E3 and the pre-launch beta which just completed on Feb 9th. Both of
these have not only helped us solidify the stability of our servers, but have
also provided great feedback for us to address in the game. As a side note, we
are also making changes to Battlelog to include a new pop-up on how to activate
the plugin in your browser since this was an issue for some of our
players.
Steam News announces a
free weekend and sale are underway for
Europa Universalis IV.
Here's the description of the strategy sequel: Paradox Development Studio
is back with the fourth installment of the award-winning Europa Universalis
series. The empire building game Europa Universalis IV gives you control of a
nation to guide through the years in order to create a dominant global empire.
Rule your nation through the centuries, with unparalleled freedom, depth and
historical accuracy. True exploration, trade, warfare and diplomacy will be
brought to life in this epic title rife with rich strategic and tactical
depth.
CapCom Unity has posted a
Resident Evil Revelations
2 - Episode 2 teaser trailer with a TV-style approach. It may be a
dubious decision to watch, however, as they say: "I wouldn't necessarily consider these
spoilers, but if you want to remain completely out of the loop
maybe read up on Raid Mode or something :)" Continue here to read the full story.
The Dying Light website
offers an interactive "Life and Death in the Quarantine Zone" feature promoting
Techland's zombie game. Here's word: In the zombie apocalypse, when the
night falls the rules of survival change. Who lives and who dies can be
determined at the simple flip of a switch. Released today by Techland, “Life and
Death in the Quarantine Zone” is an interactive story that seamlessly showcases
the drastic changes between day and night in Dying Light.
The video presents daytime and nighttime side-by-side where the viewer can
switch between the scenarios by pressing ‘Z’ on their keyboard and see how the
same story of the quarantine can unfold in two very contrasting
directions.
Hang on to your spinal column, as
a new trailer shows
off fatalities in Mortal Kombat X, the upcoming brawler sequel. Continue here to read the full story.
- Emergency 5 - Deluxe Edition on
Steam. Save 50%.
- Galactic Civilizations Series on
Steam. Save
up to 75%
- Humble Weekly Bundle: Made in Japan on
Humble
Bundle.
Link of the Day:
February's Best News Bloopers. "The poop!" Thanks nin.
Get ready for some bigfoot sightings, as
Ubisoft announces March 10th is the release date for the Valley of the Yetis
add-on for Far Cry 4, the first-person shooter sequel. They offer
a new trailer from the
DLC and the following explanation: Players step back into the role
of Ajay at the moment his helicopter crashes on a perilous Himalayan ridge.
Stranded with no shelter, players must capture a camp and guard it from a
mysterious cult who will return to reclaim their encampment. If players
persevere, they will have more to fear than a stand-off against the cult, as
yetis lurk in the shadows.
Players can take on Valley of the Yetis in single-player or with a friend in
co-op as they fight to survive in the harsh Himalayan Mountains. While searching
for a way out of the valley, they will unravel the mysteries behind the yetis.
Valley of the Yetis is available as part of the Far Cry 4 Season Pass or can be
purchased separately. The Season Pass includes Valley of the Yetis as well as
The Syringe, Escape from Durgesh Prison, the Hurk Deluxe Pack and
Overrun.
Continue here to read the full story.
Indie developer Camouflaj announces that the first three episodes of
République Remastered are now available for Windows and OS X on
GOG.com,
Humble Store, and Steam
(hats off to Steam for being the only service to gracefully handle the
ill-advised "é" in the game's title). Word is the remake is the first game to
show off the power of the Unity 5 engine: "RÉPUBLIQUE REMASTERED is the first
commercial game to fully utilize the power of Unity 5, the next generation of
the Unity multiplatform engine and development tool. Camouflaj has fully
embraced the engine’s features, including physically based shading, real-time
global illumination, and reflection probes." Here's a refresher 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).
ArenaNet announces they will add new camera options including a first-person
viewpoint to Guild Wars 2 in a patch for the MMORPG they plan to release
on March 10th. They plan on unveiling this further in a livestream tomorrow
on Twitch
which should get underway at 3:00 pm EST (9:00 pm CET/ 20:00 GMT) and that will
be followed by a new article on the plan on
GuildWars2.com. Here are the
details they are revealing for now:
- First-person Camera
Zooming in all the way will allow players to experience a first-person view.
First-person mode is available while standing in place, walking, running,
jumping, playing PvP and just about anything else. There aren’t any
restrictions on where first-person can be used.
- Field of View
A much requested feature, the field of view slider is a setting that will
allow players to adjust how much can be seen in the game world. Players can
use a slider to shrink or enlarge the field of view.
- Position Slider
The Position Slider has been split into two different options, horizontal
position and vertical position. The horizontal position slider will offset
the camera to the left and right. An ‘over-the-shoulder’ view can be created
as well to keep the centre of the screen clear. The vertical position sets
the maximum height the camera can go when the camera is at maximum distance
from a character. The actual camera height will adjust the more you zoom in
to ensure that your character is always on the screen.
- Collision Sensitivity
When enabled, this setting will adjust how much stuff (trees, walls, rocks,
etc.) needs to be between a player’s character and camera before the camera
snaps in.
- Character Height
No matter the race or size, the camera will now focus on a character’s head.
This is going to give norn players a relatively taller feeling than their
asura-playing friends. This change might affect players who frequent jumping
puzzles, so to counteract this, there is an adjust camera to character
height toggle. When unchecked, the camera will move to a consistent position
above the character’s feet, regardless of how big or small the character is.
Steam now offers
A Druid's Duel for
Windows, OS X, and Linux, saying this is a variation on a "board game like
chess" (are we at the point where board games need context like that?). Here's
more: To understand A Druid's Duel, take a board game like Chess, where
each piece has a set of rules that govern it. Then, add in the ability to
capture, create, and destroy tiles on the board. Finally, use the captured land
to generate resources to buy new pieces. Perhaps Tom Chick, professional
strategy game reviewer and the big boss over at Quarter to Three summed it up
best, "A wonderfully plucky exercise in territory control, chess-like
simplicity, mana management, landscaping, and rampaging bears."
- Homeworld on
Kotaku.
Concept art. Thanks JDreyer.
Today is the 86th anniversary of the establishment of Grand Teton National Park
in Wyoming. I'm hoping this means the U.S. is the only nation on Earth with
something so officially commemorating big breasts, which is what grand tetons
means in French (and everyone thinks we're prudes!). Starts to make you wonder
if there's some hidden meaning to the name of Jackson Hole. Just saying.
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