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Archived News:
The Galactic Civilizations III
website announces the release of a new map pack for the 4X space strategy
game, saying: "The Map Pack DLC includes 8 new maps which range in size from
gigantic 18 player areas to intimate maps perfectly sized for two-player duels.
Players can also design their own galaxies with the all new custom map editor."
What custom map editor you ask? Why the one mentioned
in this post about the new
version 1.1 patch that adds it along with Steam Workshop support. Here's more on
that: The 1.1 update includes Steam Workshop integration, two new
difficulty levels, and UI improvements. With Steam Workshop integration, players
can easily share their ship designs and custom factions with other Galactic
Civilizations III players. There are already over 400 new ship designs and
custom factions available for download today on Steam Workshop!
This update also includes custom map support for multiplayer games, pirates in
multiplayer, and a ton of other improvements and fixes for the game. You can see
the full changelog here:
http://forums.galciv3.com/467453
Activision announces a new Shadows of Evil co-op mode for Call of Duty:
Black Ops III Zombies, showing it off today at the San Diego Comic-Con, also
revealing plans for a comic series and an exclusive Mega Bloks Zombies
figurine. There's also
a confirmation of reports that a special Juggernog edition of the game will
come with a working mini-fridge, because... we've got nothing. Back to Shadows
of Evil, this
time around it's set in the 1940s and the cast will star Jeff Goldblum, Heather Graham, Neal McDonough,
Ron Perlman, and Robert Picardo, as can be seen in
the reveal trailer
(NSFW). Here's word on the plan: Call of Duty: Black Ops III: Zombies –
Shadows of Evil drops players into a recognizable yet terrifyingly unfamiliar
world, as they uncover the secrets and challenges laid out for them by a shadowy
figure, who holds their fate in his hands. Set in a 1940s film-noir era, Shadows
of Evil introduces four unwitting characters – The Magician, The Femme-Fatale,
The Cop and The Boxer – into an unraveling experience masterminded by the
mysterious Shadow Man. Featuring voices and likenesses, the characters are
played by Jeff Goldblum (Jurassic Park, Independence Day), Heather Graham (The
Hangover 1-3, Californication), Neil McDonough (Captain America: The First
Avenger, Band of Brothers), Ron Perlman (Sons of Anarchy, Hellboy) and Robert
Picardo (Star Trek: Voyager, Stargate SG-1).
Continue here to read the full story.
A
Steam Community Group Announcement reveals a long-term partnership for
DiRT Rally with the FIA
World Rallycross Championship.
This trailer
celebrates the news, and here's word on what this will soon bring to the Early
Access racing title: Owners of the game will soon be able to drive a
selection of these monstrous cars for themselves across three different game
modes and experience the sheer speed, action, dynamism and performance that
makes World RX one of the fastest growing motorsports in the world. As with all
previous updates, this new content will be available free of charge to existing
and included for new owners of the game.
Continue here to read the full story.
Into the Stars is now available
on Steam as an Early
Access title, offering the chance to play this space simulation game before its
full release. "Our goal in forming Fugitive Games was to leverage years of AAA
experience to bring high-quality titles to the indie space," explains Ben Jones,
development director at Fugitive Games. "With Into The Stars our four-man team
has crafted a massive world that looks, feels and sounds more like a AAA title
than an indie game thanks to the power of Unreal Engine 4. We think Into The
Stars’ distinctive gameplay and replayability will resonate with the community,
and we look forward to fan feedback during Early Access to help enhance the
game." They illustrate the news with a
new
Early Access trailer showing off some gameplay, and here's word on the
game: Into the Stars is an open-world space survival simulation built in
Unreal Engine 4 that features an original score from legendary composer Jack
Wall. Players will take on the role of Captain as they explore a massive star
system in search of a new home for humanity. With each journey, players will
outfit their ships, hand pick their crew and set off on a voyage where they must
scavenge resources, shelter civilians and outrun a hostile alien force in order
to survive.
Continue here to read the full story.
SEGA of America announces Company of Heroes 2: The British Forces, a new
"standalone multiplayer army pack" coming for Relic Entertainment's RTS sequel
on September 3rd, bringing 15 new units, six new commanders, and eight new
multiplayer maps. They say preorders will get a 10% discount and owners of any
Company of Heroes game will receive a 20% discount off the MSRP of
$12.99/£9.99/€12.99. They also take the opportunity to also announce plans to
update "every title in the Company of Heroes 2 catalogue" to "greatly improve
the overall balance of all five factions," and add infantry unit animation and
visual improvements. There's no word yet on the seldom updated
Company of Heroes website,
but there are more details in the announcement: SEGA® of America, Inc.
and SEGA® Europe Ltd. today announced Company of Heroes® 2: The British Forces
from Relic Entertainment ™ - an all-new standalone multiplayer army pack
launching September 3, 2015 for $12.99, £9.99, €12.99. The British Forces
features 15 new units, six new commanders with unique abilities and a total of
eight new multiplayer maps portraying historic battlefield locations
representing the shattered infrastructure seen throughout Europe at the end of
World War II.
An authentic representation of the British army, The British Forces brings to
life the iconic vehicles, weapons and multicultural makeup of World War II’s
longest standing Allied force. The portrayal of the British army also extends to
how their fighting style was implemented into the overall game design. With a
military tactical doctrine that balanced mobility and defense, The British
Forces gives players a choice in how they progress through the tech tree. They
can either follow an ‘anvil’ approach by adopting powerful defensive positions
through the use of emplacements or they can take an aggressive ‘hammer’ approach
by using fast, hard-hitting units to wreak havoc on the battlefield.
Additionally, coinciding with The British Forces’ release, every title in the
Company of Heroes 2 catalogue will receive a major design upgrade that will
greatly improve the overall balance of all five factions featured in Company of
Heroes 2. The game also features animation and visual improvements to most
infantry units in the game, which further increase the authenticity of Company
of Heroes 2.
Continue here to read the full story.
Battle.net
announces that Blizzard has suspended or permanently banned "numerous"
Heroes of the Storm accounts for terms of service violations, including the
use of hacking programs (thanks
PCGamesN). These actions follow
recent evidence that map
hacks are in the wild for the MOBA, and Blizzard states cheats and hacks "will
not be tolerated." Here's word: Cheating and using hacks while playing
Heroes of the Storm or any Blizzard game will not be tolerated. These actions
undermine the spirit of fair competition that’s essential to play on Battle.net,
and can lead to stability and performance issues with the service. In Heroes of
the Storm, cheaters ruin the competitive atmosphere not only for their
opponents, but for their allies as well.
We recently suspended numerous accounts and issued permanent bans to Heroes of
the Storm players who were found to be in violation of the Battle.net Terms of
Use for cheating and/or using hack programs.
As always, maintaining a stable, safe, and secure online gaming experience is a
top priority for us. We'll continue to keep a close eye on cheating in Heroes of
the Storm and stamp out offending accounts to uphold the integrity of the
game.
A
lengthy post on the RSI Community Forums from Ben Lesnick of Cloud Imperium
Games' offers "some thoughts on concerns" that have been raised about Star
Citizen (thanks PC Invasion),
saying this is "all in the spirit of improving communication" about their
upcoming space game (even though one of the answers in the post says it's
"absolutely incorrect" that they have not been communicating with the
community). Questions about the state of the project have intensified amid news
of a delay to the FPS module, the
departure of the
game's executive producer, and the ongoing crowdfunding and
virual item sales that continually
add to the game's budget. The post takes on these issues and more, deeming
almost every concern expressed about the project to be inaccurate. Ben does
grant that they have not been communicating enough about promised features on
their website, but dismisses most other concerns. Here's a digest:
- ‘Star Marine is delayed indefinitely.’ -
"First of all: the phrase ‘delayed indefinitely’ being bandied around is
incorrect…"
- ‘Star Marine is Call of Duty in space!’ -
"First of all, let me speak out against reducing any concept to such broad
strokes…"
- ‘You are spending too much time polishing the
game.’ - "This is absolutely inaccurate. We are grappling with blockers,
not a polish…"
- ‘Feature creep!’ - "I don’t have much to
say to this, beyond that it’s not accurate…"
- ‘You’re spending all your time on concept
sales!’ - "We aren’t! Concept sales are something of a slow burn that
uses mostly outsource talent who would not otherwise be working on the
game…"
- ‘My ship isn’t flyable yet!’ - "Despite
rumors (and jokes, I promise!) to the contrary, we have not forgotten about
the Caterpillar, Banu Merchantman, Xi’An Scout, Constellation, Retaliator,
Orion, Herald, Vanguard or any of the others. :) Every ship we’ve sold (and
quite a few we haven’t) are on the block schedule and every dog will get his
day. Why are some ships prioritized before others? There’s a couple reasons
for that.…"
- ‘They’re only making assets for Squadron 42!’
- "This is also not the case…"
- ‘Sales are down, we’re doomed!’ - "We are
not concerned, and you shouldn’t be either…"
- ‘Where are the previous web features you’ve
talked about?’ - "This is a good question, and reviewing our past six
months of communication I believe it’s probably the most serious concern
here…"
- ‘Chris Roberts is wasting his time directing
the performance capture shoot.’ - "Positively untrue…"
- ‘X employee is leaving, we’re doomed!’ -
"As I said in a recent post, turnover sucks… but it’s a constant in this or
pretty much any other industry. The sky is not falling…
- ‘It’s not open development!’ - "I think
this is an easy one to attack because it’s a vague concept; there’s no
dictionary definition for ‘open development’ and if there were we’d still
argue about it. We see open development as sharing our progress with you
every step of the way, and I believe we do a fairly good job of that. We’ll
continue to get better, we’ll continue to work from feedback… but we make
the entire team available to interact with you, we tell you what we’re doing
on a weekly and monthly basis… we think it’s pretty open…"
- ‘CIG is not communicating with us!’ - "I
firmly believe that this is absolutely incorrect, but I also believe that
it’s a criticism that will never, ever go away…"
Issues have popped up for PC gamers who installed the
newly released Grand Theft Auto V
ILL-GOTTEN GAINS Update Part 2. Users have complained of
missing cars, which
Rockstar says may just be "rearranged," as well as complaints of stuttering
after the patch on the
Rockstar Forums and
Steam, though Rockstar has not yet responded to these framerate concerns.
Thanks
VG247.
A new
Cossacks 3 Musketeer Animations Short Film shows off some character
animations from GSC Game Worlds upcoming strategy sequel. To clarify the name of
the clip, this does not show off Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, nor is it meant to
show off three animations, rather it shows several animations from Cossacks 3,
which include shooting someone as well as getting shot, offering a take on
the circle of life without any Elton John music. They also offer note the recent
release of what they are calling
a video
screenshot, which is actually another video, offering a panning shot showing
the scope of a battlefield. Continue here to read the full story.
I've mentioned before my personal superpower is recognizing men's voices. This
caused me some recent puzzlement when I heard some ads for the PGA's "The Open"
on ESPN that I could swear were narrated by Brian Cox, except to go with the theme he was affecting this strong Scottish brogue. This had me thinking my
power had failed me in this case, but then I looked it up, and it turns out the
actor was born in Dundee, Scotland, so I guess I was right after all. I always
enjoy his performances, and now I'm all the more impressed that I've never
noticed his accent slip when he's played Americans or other non-Scottish roles.
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