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Archived News:
Though it has a headline saying "Art Director, Unannounced Project,"
this Blizzard job posting also has a sub-heading that flat out says " Diablo,"
which seems like a pretty strong hint about what game series this is for. They
also list the following as one of the pluses for the position:
"A passion for games with a deep understanding of the Diablo franchise." The
overview of the listing says: "Blizzard Entertainment, the developer of the most
epic games in the world, is seeking an exceptionally skilled and passionate art
director to help develop Blizzard’s next hit game!" Thanks
GameInformer.com.
GamesIndustry.biz says Norwegian developer Funcom is "actively seeking
interested parties for discussions surrounding a possible investment,
acquisition, merger, or any other available options." They say the company has
debt to resolve by next June, but the
recent relaunch of LEGO
Minifigures Online has fallen short of expectations. "The game is currently
not meeting internal revenue forecasts," Funcom said several weeks after the
re-launch. "This is mostly due to low sales on the PC platform. Sales on the iOS
platform have performed better, mainly due to the featuring in the Apple Store
during the launch week, but as the price point of the game on this platform is
lower, these additional sales are not enough to compensate for the low sales on
PC for the time being."
Take-Two Interactive Software Fiscal First Quarter 2016 results are now
public, showing what they call "strong" performance as non-GAAP net revenue grew
142% in the period to $366.4 Million. The highlights include word that " Grand
Theft Auto V has now sold-in over 54 million units across PlayStation 4,
PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC." Here's a summary of the financial
data: GAAP Financial Results
For fiscal first quarter 2016, GAAP net revenue grew 119% to $275.3 million, as
compared to $125.4 million for fiscal first quarter 2015. GAAP net loss was
$67.0 million, or $0.81 per diluted share, as compared to $35.4 million, or
$0.45 per diluted share, for the year-ago period. GAAP results for fiscal first
quarter 2016 reflect the deferral of net revenue and cost of goods sold related
to sell-in of certain titles during the quarter.
During fiscal first quarter 2016, the Company’s cash and short-term investments
balance increased to $1.191 billion as of June 30, 2015, up from $1.098 billion
as of March 31, 2015.
Non-GAAP Financial Results
For fiscal first quarter 2016, Non-GAAP net revenue grew 142% to $366.4 million,
as compared to $151.6 million for the year-ago period. Non-GAAP net income
increased to $34.2 million, or $0.31 per diluted share, as compared to Non-GAAP
net loss of $11.2 million, or $0.14 per diluted share, for the year-ago
period.
The
BioWare blog has the notes for patch nine for Dragon Age: Inquisition,
though they don't specify when this next update will come to BioWare's RPG
sequel, and
this page
offers the notes in languages other than English. In addition to the changes
listed, they also note the patch will introduce Pala the Silent Sister, a new
playable multiplayer character. Here are the notes: Fixed an issue where
resetting options of any category could also reset the game difficulty.
Fixed an issue which could cause Multiplayer potions to be consumed if target
mode was entered and cancelled.
Fixed an issue which could cause the Yavanalis staff headpiece to not display in
Multiplayer.
Added a hot key for Salvage in Multiplayer.
Fixed some issues that caused some localized text to not fit in their proper
display areas.
Fixed an issue that could cause XP and other stats to double in Multiplayer.
[PC] Fixed an issue which could cause on-screen flickering when using AMD
Crossfire dual GPU and Mantle.
[Xbox One] Fixed unnecessary “online connection” popup at game launch
[PS4] Fixed an issue which could cause the game to become unresponsive when
losing connection while joining a full Multiplayer session.
The Square Enix Collective program to support indie developer pitches for older
Square Enix IPs should grow over time, company president and CEO Phil Rogers
told
GameInformer at Gamescom. They note that Gex, Fear Effect, and
Anachronox are among the franchises currently open to this process,
though there's no indication that development is underway for any of them. At
the show Rogers told them they plan on accepting treatments on other IPs
eventually. "Getting treatments? This is what I’d love to see more of," he says.
"In 20 years or 10 years, to have a team say, ‘I’ve got a great idea for
Legacy of Kain or Final Fantasy or Tomb Raider.’ We’re being
very careful. We’re very clear about the IPs that we would like to give to
people."
- Earthlock: Festival of Magic on
MyGamer.
ArenaNet congratulates The Abjured, winners of the Guild Wars 2 World
Tournament Series in Cologne. They also take the opportunity
to
announce new PvP leagues as the culmination of their plans to revamp PvP
play in the MMORPG sequel they will launch later this year. Here's an intro to
how this will work: The launch of PvP Leagues in Guild Wars 2: Heart of
Thorns sets the stage for the future of top competition in the game. PvP Leagues
will introduce six divisions, from division one, Amber, where every player will
start out, all the way to the top Legendary division. Divisions will be broken
up into tiers, and each tier has several pips. To earn a bump in tier players
must earn pips that they can acquire by winning matches outright or putting in
impressive performances, depending on the skill level of their opponents. In
divisions two and three, players can lose pips they’ve earned but they will not
lose tiers. Once players reach division four and five, where competition is
expected to really heat up, both pips and tiers will be at stake based on
performance.
PvP Leagues will incentivise competition with unique rewards including a new
legendary back item, the legendary backpack. Along the way, participants can
also earn badges for their character nameplates that change as they move into
higher divisions. There is also the opportunity to work towards the Wings of
Glory by earning league tokens that can be exchanged for different levels of
wings to display. ArenaNet plans on adding new items in the future, and new
items will always be offered for league tokens at a discount to encourage
continuous practice and play. Guilds are also getting a boost with the
introduction of Guild Teams in PvP Leagues. Guilds who form PvP teams will be
able to track their progress on Guild Team Leaderboards, which will be based on
the Elo system as skill-based comparisons between teams. Ratings will decay over
time, meaning Guild Teams will need to stay active in PvP League play to
maintain their ranks.
This website is offering closed beta
keys for Rainbow Six: Siege, the next installment in the tactical shooter
series.
DSOGaming says this is offering keys for all, though the presentation
suggests this is related to RTX
2015, which was held over the weekend. We cannot test this right now, as
using the form return an error saying the site is "broken," so we cannot say if
this will eventually work or not.
This trailer shows off
the latest progress on Energy Hook, celebrating plans on releasing this
though Steam Early Access on Thursday. This game from Spider-Man 2
developer Jamie Fristrom of Happion Labs beat its one dollar Kickstarter goal by
$41K, and now this will be released on August 13th at 7:30 pm EDT. They plan to
kick off a live launch party 30 minutes before the release
on Twitch. Here's part of the
game's Steam description: Energy
Hook athletes use their jury-rigged gravity beams to perform death-defying
stunts. Fall great distances and use your momentum to launch yourself to
dizzying heights! Run on walls, and perform loops, spins, and aerial tricks!
You play Delilah, Energy Hook athlete who is making a name for herself in a
future transformed by gravity tech, teleportation, and climate problems. By
proving yourself on the obstacle courses set up by the Energy Hook underground
you'll gain street cred, giving you access to better gear and new levels.
Energy Hook challenges you to chain together sequence of tricks, wall-runs, and
stylish moves for massive scores; hurtle through time challenges by using tricks
to gain speed; and seek out collectibles hidden throughout the
levels.
Continue here to read the full story.
The Sims 4 returns to the top spot on the
GFK Chart-Track chart of the 30 bestselling games in the U.K. for the week
ending August 8th, bumping Football Manager 2015 to second place. On the
all platforms chart Rare Replay debuts at number one, dropping
LEGO Jurassic World to number two. Here's
their write-up: Released
on Tuesday ‘Rare Replay’ enters the chart at No1 - the first Xbox One exclusive
title ever to achieve this feat (as Titanfall was also available on PC at
launch).
It is also the first Rare developed title to reach No1 since Banjo-Kazooie on
N64 back in 1998 and is the first entirely budget priced All Formats No1 since
Wii Fit Plus back in W45 2009. It does not have much competition this week with
no other new releases of note to give it a run for its money. Sales of ‘Lego
Jurassic World’ drop by 21% as it falls to No2 with ‘Batman Arkham Knight’
(-22%) also down by a similar margin, slipping one place to No3. ‘The Elder
Scrolls Online’ (-8%) climbs two places to No4 on the tail end of last week’s
promotion, pushing it ahead of ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ (-22%) which slides two
places to No5. EA titles ‘FIFA 15’ and ‘Battlefield Hardline’ both see sales
drops of 25% at No’s 6 and 7 respectively. No1 two weeks ago, ‘Rory McIlroy PGA
Tour’ (-42%) drops another four places, down to No8, ahead of another sports
title ‘F1 2015’ (-40%) at No9. The Top 10 is rounded off by the evergreen
‘Minecraft: Xbox Edition’ (-7%) which bounces back into the Top 10 again, up two
places to No10.
I think I'm in a significant minority here, but I liked the second season of
True Detective better than the first one. Both seasons had significant
issues, and there are lots of things I'd change about the second one, but in the
end I found the characters strong, the show was compelling and interesting
throughout, and I thought it made a better payoff on all that it set up than
season one did.
R.I.P.:
Frank Gifford, husband of Kathie Lee Gifford, dies at 84 at Connecticut home.
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