Archived News:
The Official Microsoft Blog announces Microsoft has acquired Havoc, the 3D
physics middleware provider, from Intel. Here's a bit: As we welcome
Havok to the Microsoft family, we will continue to work with developers to
create great gaming experiences, and continue to license Havok’s development
tools to partners. We believe that Havok is a fantastic addition to Microsoft’s
existing tools and platform components for developers, including DirectX 12,
Visual Studio and Microsoft Azure.
Havok is an amazing technology supplier in the games industry and the leading
real-time physics creator. We saw an opportunity to acquire Havok to deliver
great experiences for our fans. Throughout the company’s history, they’ve
partnered with Activision, EA, Ubisoft, Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft and many
others to create more than 600 games including Halo, Assassin’s Creed, Call of
Duty, Destiny, Dark Souls and The Elder Scrolls.
Microsoft’s acquisition of Havok continues our tradition of empowering
developers by providing them with the tools to unleash their creativity to the
world. We will continue to innovate for the benefit of development partners.
Part of this innovation will include building the most complete cloud service,
which we’ve just started to show through games like “Crackdown 3.”
There's
a new article on The Escapist defending for
their recent Star Citizen article from
accusations that some of
the anonymous quotes in their story about turmoil at the developer of the space
game were lifted from unverified posts on
Glassdoor, rather than comments made directly to the site from vetted
current and former Cloud Imperium employees. While continuing to protect the
identities of their sources, they offer a detailed timeline of the interactions
with all the individuals quoted in the story, while also commenting on the
dangers and pitfalls of anonymous sources. They also address allegations that
this is all spurred by Derek Smart, saying: "To be clear on further allegations:
None of our sources were Derek Smart and we did not get our information from
Glassdoor. However, we do know that a couple sources did post on Glassdoor after
talking to Lizzy."
There's a lengthy article
on Battle.net outlining changes coming to the StarCraft II user
interface in an upcoming version 3.0 patch as Blizzard prepares for the release
of the Legacy of the Void expansion for the real-time strategy sequel.
They cover improvements intended to make a more social experience, new multiple
window views, chat improvements, and other changes to help improve things. They
also offer this video
with a look at what's in the works. No ETA for the patch is offered. Continue here to read the full story.
A new developer blog
has details on a combat changes coming to Star Wars: The Old Republic in
the upcoming launch of Knights of Fallen Empire expansion for the Force-powered
MMORPG. Here's the into to what is a pretty lengthy update: "With the launch of
Knights of Fallen Empire, we are planning quite a few general changes to combat.
This includes everything from how some stats work to a new feature called Level
Sync. Let’s jump in and talk about these changes."
Gearbox Software offers some facts and figures about Battleborn, describing
how the upcoming team shooter has 49,576,665,600 different hero and team
configurations, 1024 ways to play each base-level hero, and more big numbers
like that. They provide
this video as sort
of a motion infographic. Word is: "There's a lot of different ways to play
Battleborn. And we're not just talking about the
cooperative Story Mode and three
competitive multiplayer modes. With 25 playable heroes that can be
customized each match, we figured that number would be pretty huge -- and it
turns out we couldn't even capture the depth of Battleborn in one
infographic. But that didn't stop us from trying!" Continue here to read the full story.
Wargaming now offers this
"first look" trailer for Master of Orion, debuting gameplay footage
from WG Labs' upcoming resumption of the 4X strategy series. Here's the deal:
"Tune in for an exclusive Galactic News Network (GNN) broadcast to get a first
look at Master of Orion’s campaign in action. Let the quirky, robotic GNN
anchors be your interstellar guides with a breaking news report on the fearsome
Sakkra and the ancient and intelligent Psilon Quanta. As the broadcast
continues, discover how various game mechanics will function, as each galactic
news segment details everything from interstellar warfare to specialized
research to diplomatic negotiations with other races. During this exclusive
exploration, learn more of the potential dangers lurking in the star lanes,
whether they be battles against malevolent forces or encounters with other races
whose intentions are always in question." Continue here to read the full story.
A
Steam Community Group Announcement from Warner Bros. Interactive
Entertainment has word that the Windows edition of Batman: Arkham Knight
should go back on sale by the end of this month along with the release of a new
patch for the action/adventure (thanks
GameSpot). Sales of the superhero sequel were
suspended in June due to bugs and performance issues, and they've been
working on getting things into proper shape since then. Here's word: As
many of you know, we released a major patch for Batman: Arkham Knight PC a few
weeks ago. While there were significant performance improvements made to the
game, the teams are continuing to work on the additional updates that were
outlined in our previous post. We expect these updates to be ready at the end of
October, at which time the PC version will be made available for purchase. In
addition, support for all DLC that has been released for the console versions
will be in place.
Thanks again for your continued patience and support. We’ll be sure to update
everyone as soon as the update is live.
A
post on Reddit notes that some of the quotes purportedly from anonymous
employees of Cloud Imperium Games included in
The Escapist article about Star Citizen development posted
yesterday originally appeared in posts on
Glassdoor. The reaction to this is mixed, and some take this as a sign that there are issues with the accuracy of the article. It is noted that
the identity of posters on the site are not verified, though it's possible The
Escapist did their own separate verification, and their article
does also have quotes that do not appear on Glassdoor.
AMD now offers a Catalyst 15.9.1 beta driver for Windows, another beta
driver for AMD/ATI graphics cards. They don't specify what's different from the
beta they released earlier this week. Thanks
AnandTech.
The Three Fields
Twitter account is teasing plans for a "spiritual successor" to the Burnout
series from this studio that includes former developers from Criterion (thanks
Veni Vidi Vici).
They say this will be the second of two projects, as they are also working
on a multiplayer sports game. As for the Burnout homage, they
say it will include "Speed. Traffic. And Crashing. Lots and lots of
crashing," but they
also add they are not sure which game in the series they hope to honor:
"Spiritual successor to which one though??? The second, the third or the fourth
one?? #decisions."
The Heroes of the Storm
website has details on changes Blizzard is testing for Heroes of the
Storm to improve gameplay flow in the MOBA. They are experimenting with
lengthening early game death timers and a way of preventing matches from
snowballing by adjusting player scaling with levels to make it less of a
disadvantage to team fight when you are behind levels, though being behind in a
talent will remain an obstacle. They are testing a custom version of the Cursed
Hollow map on the PTR today, and will add this as a custom map for testing to
the live game on Tuesday if you want to help them work through things.
2K announces that NBA 2K16 has set a franchise sales record, having sold
over four million copies in the first week of the release of the sports sequel.
They say this is not the only sales highlight for the new installment in the
series: "In addition to the critical and commercial success of NBA 2K16, this
year’s iteration also has achieved several incredible year-over-year milestones
since launch, including doubling sales through digital download and nearly
tripling the number of games played online."
A post to the
Eagle
Dynamics forums has word that version 1.5.0 of DCS World is now available in
open beta, offering the chance to test fly updates to this combat flight
simulation that includes a graphics revamp (thanks InBlack). They
also
announce that open beta testing is underway for their L-39 Albatros module
that adds this light jet to the game.
This
page is where to find the downloads along with details on testing, and
this video shows off
the L-39 Albatros. Continue here to read the full story.
Indie developer stillalive studios announces Drone Swarm, a sci-fi strategy
game coming to Windows and OS X, though it does not yet carry a set release
date. You can find preliminary details on
this page,
where they offer this
teaser trailer. Here's word: stillalive studios today announced the
development of Drone Swarm, a new and unique sci-fi strategy game for PC and
Mac. In the game the player assumes the role of the commander of a gigantic
space ship and is exploring the universe in a desperate hunt for a new habitat
for mankind. He is in charge of a swarm of thousands of drones that he controls
directly and that allows him to use unique tactics when fighting enemy aliens.
Both the mighty mother ship, the “Harbinger” and the drone swarm can be upgraded
and improved by new alien weapons and technology which need to be acquired or
researched first.
Tactical battles are an important part of the game, but the metagame has a lot
more to offer. During the exploration of the universe the player encounters
alien civilizations that constantly evolve – with our without his influence or
interaction. Negotiations with these aliens require diplomatic skills; the
choices the player makes have direct influence on whether he makes new friends
or bitter enemies. The same goes for the group of counselors on the mothership;
they have conflicting goals and react actively to the decisions the player
makes.
Continue here to read the full story.
All Games Beta has some scans from Famitsu leaking a new character named
Laura coming to for Street Fighter V. In more official news,
CapCom Unity also has word that Zangief will return as one of the characters in
the brawler sequel. They offer a
Zangief reveal trailer and here's part of their rundown on what the
character brings to the game: A popular mainstay within Street
Fighter, Zangief is the most prominent wrestler within the series. Zangief has
made appearances in Street Fighter II, Street Fighter Alpha II and III, and
Street Fighter IV, all the while fighting for “Mother Russia.”
When it comes to raw strength, not many in the world can compete with Zangief.
Training day and night, Zangief believes that the only way to victory is to have
a body complete with perfect muscles. Due to his intense training, which
includes wrestling bears, Zangief can lift the heaviest opponents with ease!
In SFV, Zangief shows off the results of his training through his newfound
V-Skill, Iron Muscle and new V-Trigger, Cyclone Lariat. These two skills are
just the tip
Continue here to read the full story.
'Terminator Genisys' Sequels Reportedly 'on Hold Indefinitely.' Used to be
if a movie did really well it got a sequel. Nowadays they plan a series and
cancel the sequels if the first one tanks (see Lost in Space, John
Carter, The Lone Ranger, etc.). Seems backwards, no?
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