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Archived News:
EA and Coldwood Interactive announce the release of Unravel, their
Windows, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4, offering an adventure game starring a
plucky yarn thingy. Here's the spiel: Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA)
and Coldwood Interactive today launched Unravel™ via digital download on Origin™
for PC, Xbox One®, and PlayStation®4. Unravel is a unique physics-based puzzle
platformer centered around a tiny, endearing character named Yarny. Small in
size, but big in heart, Yarny is a positive force in a world filled with life’s
challenges.
Yarny begins tethered to something important at the start of the game and goes
on an adventure riddled with challenges, attempting to make it to the end
without unraveling. Some challenges are simple, like using Yarny’s thread to
swing across a gap, or rappel down a tree. But others are more complex, and
players will need to use Yarny’s thread in clever and creative ways to find the
path forward. Along the way, players will unlock a heartfelt story about love
and longing, and the ties that bind, with Yarny as the red thread that runs
through it all.
Continue here to read the full story.
The
Beamblog announces David Gaider is now a Beamdog, as he has hired on as the
new creative director at Beamdog, the folks behind Enhanced Edition remakes of
Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 and Icewind Dale. They are currently working
on a game set between the two Baldur's Gates, and we've seen speculation that
they may eventually make Baldur's Gate 3, and it's worth noting that David
worked on Baldur's Gate 2 while at BioWare. Here's word: We're very
pleased to welcome David Gaider to the company as our new creative director.
Originally we advertised for the position of senior writer, but when David
contacted Trent about the position, we upgraded the role.
David is well known for his design and writing work on Baldur’s Gate 2, Star
Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Dragon Age: Origins. He brings 17 years
of experience to our little team and we couldn't be happier to work with him.
David will lead the writing team and direct new creative endeavors for the
company.
Sega announces a Slavic Nations Culture Pack DLC for Total War: ATTILA,
and reveal there will be a chance for owners of the game to get if for free as
part their Make War Not Love 3 of
Valentine's Day. Here's word: Make War Not Love 3 is the third annual
Relic vs Creative Assembly community event and will commence on February 14th at
6pm GMT/10am PST/7pm CET and run until 6pm GMT/10am PST/7pm CET, February 20th.
Total War: ATTILA will be competing against Company of Heroes 2™ and Warhammer
40,000®: Dawn of War II™.
Total War: ATTILA will be available to buy at 75% off for the duration of the
contest and will be available to play for free from Thursday, February 18th
until Saturday, February 20th at 9pm GMT/1pm PST/8pm CET. Percentages mean
prizes with all matches/skirmishes completed in each game tallied up and then
weighted to decide the winner.
Announced today, the Slavic Nations Culture Pack brings three new playable
factions to Total War™: ATTILA. The Anteans, Sclavenians and Venedians may be
used in Single or Multiplayer Campaign modes and Custom and Multiplayer battles.
Steam news announces
that Firewatch is
now available for Windows. Here's word on this mature first-person shooter: The
year is 1989. You are a man named Henry who has retreated from his messy life to
work as a fire lookout in the Wyoming wilderness. Perched high atop a mountain,
it’s your job to look for smoke and keep the wilderness safe. An especially hot,
dry summer has everyone on edge. Your supervisor Delilah is available to you at
all times over a small, handheld radio—your only contact with the world you've
left behind. But when something strange draws you out of your lookout tower and
into the forest, you’ll explore a wild and unknown environment, facing questions
and making choices that can build or destroy the only meaningful relationship
you have.
A Note: Firewatch is a video game about adults having adult conversations about
adult things. If you plan on playing with a younger gamer, that might be good to
know going in.
Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia is now available for Windows,
PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, offering the final installment in the 2.5D spin off
for the series. They offer
this trailer showing off the whole series. Here's the deal from the
UbiBlog: Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Russia is now available for
download on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. The third and final chapter in the 2.5D
Chronicles series follows Russian Assassin Nikolaï Orelov as he attempts to
retrieve a special artifact and rescue the tsar’s family from the Bolsheviks.
Unfortunately, Orelov’s mission doesn’t go according to plan, and the Templars
begin their pursuit of Orelov, the artifact and Princess Anastasia.
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Russia joins the two previous episodes (China and
India), which can be purchased together in the Assassin’s Creed Chronicles
Trilogy pack, also available today for download on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. A
retail version is available for PS4 and Xbox One as well.
Continue here to read the full story.
Ubisoft announces plans for open beta testing for Tom Clancy's The Division
that will run from February 19th through the 21st on Windows, PlayStation 4, and
Xbox One. They say preloads of the beta client will commence on the 16th, and
that Xbox One players will actually get additional access 24 hours before everyone else.
The news comes with a new
"enemy factions" trailer, and details on what additions have been made since
closed beta testing concluded. Here's a press release on the topic:
Today, Ubisoft® announced an Open Beta for Tom Clancy’s the Division
which will take place February 19-21 on Xbox One, PlayStation®4 computer
entertainment system and Windows PC and everyone can pre-load the content
starting February 16. Xbox One players will also have exclusive 24-hour early
access beginning on February 18.
With the highly anticipated release of Tom Clancy’s The Division just weeks
away, and following the recent Closed Beta, the Open Beta is an invitation for
all players to get a taste of the game’s mid-crisis New York ahead of its
official launch on March 8. This Beta will test the game systems further, and
provide player feedback that will benefit the game experience at launch.
In addition to the content that was featured in the Closed Beta, the Open Beta
will include an all new story mission for players to explore in their pursuit to
save the city. Furthermore, everyone who participates in this latest testing
phase will receive a special in-game reward which will unlock for players when
the full game is released.
Tom Clancy’s The Division takes place weeks after a devastating pandemic sweeps
through New York City on Black Friday. One by one, basic services fail and in
only days, without food or water, society collapses into chaos. The Division, an
autonomous unit of tactical agents leading seemingly ordinary lives among us, is
activated to save society. Team up with other players to investigate the source
of the virus, protect civilians from dangerous factions, and reclaim the city
from the overwhelming turmoil. To discover more about the factions in Tom
Clancy’s the Division please visit:
https://youtu.be/0rdX4uzgbcM
For more information about Tom Clancy’s The Division, please visit
www.thedivisiongame.com.
Continue here to read the full story.
As promised, closed beta testing of
Overwatch resumes
today, offering testers an updated version of the teamplay shooter. Those
interested in participating can attempt to solicit an invitation by opting-in
though Battle.net, or by pre-purchasing the game. ( Updated:
Nope, preorders don't guarantee access, apologies for forgetting that). There's
an post on this on the GeForce website with specific details for owners of
NVIDIA graphics cards, as well as some details on the past and future of the
beta: Set in the near-future Earth where the United Nations forms the
Overwatch international task force to combat an artificial intelligence robot
uprising, Overwatch is a new multiplayer first-person shooter from the masters
of fantasy, Blizzard Entertainment.
In Overwatch, players select from one of four distinct hero classes—offense,
defense, support and tank—as they battle an opposing team in intense 6v6
squad-based multiplayer combat.
Overwatch is slated to arrive on PC later this year, but you don't have to wait
to play the game as Blizzard Entertainment is kicking off a new closed beta for
the game starting today. The game's first closed beta began on October 27, and
after an extended break the closed beta is back. If you participated in the
previous closed beta, you'll be able to take part in this new closed beta.
The new closed beta introduces an all-new progression system, two brand new maps
to battle in, a new game mode and a variety of hero balancing updates. It also
features Private Game updates, including full A.I. matches.
Techland announce the release of Dying Light: The Following - Enhanced Edition, a
remastered version of their zombie game and all its DLC along with a new
campaign and new features. They offer a
launch trailer with a
look at what to expect, and here's word: Dying Light: The Following -
Enhanced Edition has officially launched. The new and remastered version of
Techland’s most successful zombie survival game adds features such as a
brand-new difficulty level called Nightmare Mode, 250 special Legend Levels to
unlock, all-new Bounty system, and a massive expansion pack titled
Dying Light:
The Following. On top of that, the Enhanced Edition includes all previously
released DLCs, community-made maps and many more gameplay and performance
upgrades.
Dying Light: The Following – Enhanced Edition | Launch Trailer can be viewed
here
Continue here to read the full story.
Amazon announces Amazon
Lumberyard, a free, cross-platform game engine with Amazon Web Services and
Twitch integration baked in. They are also launching
GameLift, an associated service to
ease multiplayer game deployment. Lumberyard is currently available in beta for
PC and console developers for free, thought standard AWS fees will apply should
developers choose to use them. Here's more: Amazon Web Services Inc. (AWS),
an Amazon.com company (NASDAQ: AMZN), today announced Amazon Lumberyard, a free,
cross-platform, 3D game engine for developers to create the highest-quality
games, connect their games to the vast compute and storage of the AWS Cloud, and
engage fans on Twitch. Amazon Lumberyard helps developers build beautiful
worlds, make realistic characters, and create stunning real-time effects. With
Amazon Lumberyard’s visual scripting tool, even non-technical game developers
can add cloud-connected features to a game in minutes (such as a community news
feed, daily gifts, or server-side combat resolution) through a drag-and-drop
graphical user interface.
AWS is also announcing Amazon GameLift, a new service for deploying, operating,
and scaling session-based multiplayer games. With Amazon GameLift, Amazon
Lumberyard developers can quickly scale high-performance game servers up and
down to meet player demand, without any additional engineering effort or upfront
costs.
Amazon Lumberyard is free, and available today in beta for developers building
PC and console games, with mobile and virtual reality (VR) platforms coming
soon. Amazon GameLift has a small per-player fee, plus for both Amazon GameLift
and Amazon Lumberyard, developers pay standard AWS fees for AWS services used.
To learn more about Amazon Lumberyard, visit
http://aws.amazon.com/lumberyard.
To learn more about Amazon GameLift, visit
http://aws.amazon.com/gamelift.
Daum Games is now offering name reservations for those who have preordered
Black Desert Online, saying they will continue to pre-sell the upcoming
MMORPG though February 26th. They also offer details on the second beta test for
the game, saying this will run from February 18-22. This is open to all preorder
customers, but anyone who wants in can also
sign up here to try and snag an invitation, and anyone who wants can still
download and play with their
character creator.
Here are some pertinent details: Players who have pre-ordered the
Explorer’s or Conqueror’s package will be automatically entered in the second
Closed Beta Test, which runs from February 18 at 8:00 a.m. UTC to February 22 at
the same time. Anyone else can still register on the sign-up page for a chance
to participate.
Daum Games has collected feedback from the community during the first Beta test
in December and has made several improvements to the game. Players jumping into
the second Closed Beta next week will be able to observe the following changes
and features:
- Revamped Karma system, which balances player kills
and death penalties
- Addition of voiceovers
- French and German localization
- Addition of tutorial videos
- Adjustments to experience gain
- Maximum player level of 55
- Improved user interface
There will also be a number of scheduled in-game events happening throughout
the Beta phase. More details will be revealed on the official forums at a later
date.
The
Roberts Space Industries website has more details on the
recently announced plan
to split Star Citizen into two separate games. The post is titled
"Package Split Information" (and if you've ever had your package split, you know
how painful that can be), and it also includes word that they are extending the
current "free fly" period for the crowdfunded space combat game(s). Here's part
of what it says: Last week, we announced the date for the impending Star
Citizen/Squadron 42 ‘package split.’ Today, we’d like to clear up some confusion
about exactly what’s happening!
First of all: the package split does NOT impact any current backers. If you’ve
already pledged for Star Citizen, you will have access to both the persistent
universe and the Squadron 42 single-player campaign. All ‘Squadron 42’ packages
sold before the split also include access to the persistent universe. The split
applies only to any new packages purchased after February 14, 2016.
Additionally, we would like to announce that the current Free Fly has been
extended up until February 14th. Our hope is that this will give anyone
interested in Star Citizen a chance to try the game and see the progress we’ve
made before the split occurs, letting them get in at the lower price.
Here are some other common questions we’ve seen in the community:
Why split Squadron 42 and Star Citizen?
When we started Star Citizen’s crowdfunding campaign, the plan was that earlier
backers would get a lower price on the Star Citizen starter package than those
that backed later. The plan was to first gradually increase the price and then
split up various modules for “a la carte options.” This gave backers who joined
the project early on and helped get it off the ground an advantage. With the
package split, we’re accomplishing this objective without increasing the amount
of money needed to join the persistent universe. The ‘package split’ is the
first introduction of the anticipated a la carte option: you can pick which part
of the game you’re interested in, for now the single player campaign or the
persistent universe, and then can choose whether or not to purchase the other
module as an add-on.
Are Star Citizen and Squadron 42 still connected?
Continue here to read the full story.
UbiBlog now offers a
new trailer from Far Cry Primal, highlighting Takkar's Arensal in the
upcoming shooter. This is a "101" trailer intended to show the big picture of
how the game will play. Here's word: In the land of Oros, survival
depends on your ability to not only learn and adapt, but also conquer those who
seek to do you harm. A new Far Cry Primal gameplay trailer shows how you can do
all of those things thanks to the rather large Stone Age arsenal Takkar – a
skilled beast master driven to rebuild his life and his tribe – has at his
disposal. Clubs, arrows, and spears lay the foundation for Takkar’s weaponry,
but add a little fire to the mix and each suddenly opens new doors for wreaking
havoc on unsuspecting enemy tribes. Then there are the beasts. The new trailer
shows how Takkar can befriend a number of intimidating Stone Age creatures that
will both defend and attack. You can see more of Takkar’s weaponry by watching
the video below:
Continue here to read the full story.
- ASUS Cerberus Gaming Peripherals on
eTeknix.
- Fractal Design Core 500 SFF on
Mad Shrimps.
- G.Skill Trident Z DDR4-3400 16GB Memory on
Overclockers Club.
- Jonsbo UMX1 Plus Windowed Case on
ocaholic.
- Kingston HyperX Savage 128GB USB 3.1 Gen 1 Flash Drive on
Nikk Tech.
- Kotion Each G9000 Gaming Headset on
One Angry Gamer.
- Lexar Professional 2000x 128GB SDXC UHS-II-U3 Flash Drive on
Legit Reviews.
- Patriot Viper V760 Keyboard on
Modders-Inc.
- Swiftech H220 X2 Prestige Cooler on
techPowerUp.
- Thermaltake Core P5 Wall-Mounted ATX Chassis on
HARDOCP.
- TP-LINK Archer C2600 MU-MIMO Wireless Dual-Band Router on
TweakTown.
We got as little dusting of snow overnight, so there's a gradual sense that
we're getting a little winter in spite of El Nino. I was able to take care of
this with a broom, which is the exact right amount for me, though it's a little
light for Gunnar-man, our snow-loving pooch, as he requires it to be deep enough
to chomp (why I haven't turned him into a Flintstones-style snow blower is
beyond me).
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