The
Starbound
website has an update from Chucklefish about plans to officially launch
Starbound with the imminent release of version 1.0 of their extraterrestrial
sandbox adventure game that's currently in early access. They say this is
"close," though they don't specify exactly when it's coming. The post is very
lengthy, describing a bunch of changes and new features in version 1.0, in spite
of saying these are "just a few" of the changes the launch will bring. This
includes word on how multiplayer will change, though it's not clear if this will
take effect with the launch of version 1.0 from how it's worded:
A New
Style of Multiplayer
Multiplayer in Starbound has always been a bit technical to get off of the
ground, requiring the player to set up a server, forward ports, share IPs and so
on. We’re hoping to use Steam to massively streamline this process though there
are still some technical hurdles we’re working through. Our goal is to create
two kinds of multiplayer experiences.
- Drop in/Drop out of a friends ‘singleplayer’ game,
through steam invites. This would be limited to 4 players max by default
(edited via config). This method would require no server hosting, no IP
sharing or port forwarding. Simply invite your friend to the game you’re
currently playing offline.
- Dedicated Servers. This would continue to use the
server/client model and be entirely configurable by server admins. The goal
being to provide as flexible a solution as possible.
We’re also looking at what security improvements we can make, though this is
going to be a tough one with the degree to which Starbound is moddable.
Battle.net announces
Blizzard will celebrate the upcoming conclusion of their Heroes of the Dorm
tournament by unlocking all heroes in
Heroes of the Storm for all of next
weekend, allowing everyone to play any character instead of actually watching
the finals. They will also start handing out 50% more experience in the MOBA for
10 days starting on Friday. Here's word:
It’s all come down to the final
four teams, who are right now hard at work preparing for this weekend’s grand
finale of Heroes of the Dorm 2016 in Seattle. To help celebrate their victories,
and the incredible efforts of every team competing in this tournament, we are
making every Hero available to play completely free and granting everyone 50%
bonus XP!
Log into Heroes during the following time frames to take part in these events:
Unlocked Heroes Event
April 8, 10:00 a.m. PDT (All Regions) - April 11, 10:00 a.m.
PDT (All Regions)
50% Bonus XP Event
April 8, 10:00 a.m. PDT (All Regions) - April 18, 10:00 a.m.
PDT (All Regions)
Don't forget to make the most of the event by inviting a friend and you'll
both gain a 50% friend bonus on top of the event XP for every game played in a
party together!
Now is the time to hop in and find a new favorite Hero, check out some new team
compositions with some friends, and celebrate Heroes of the Dorm by enjoying
bonus XP!
A new
Alive animated
short from
Overwatch introduces the Widowmaker character from Overwatch,
Blizzard's upcoming multiplayer shooter. The clip features a face-off with
Tracer as they battle to see who has the best aim and the worst accent. Word is:
"'Alive' weaves a tale of Widowmaker, the peerless Talon assassin who stalks her
prey with deadly efficiency. In this episode, we spend a fateful night in
London’s King’s Row—where you’ll discover how one death can change everything."
Continue here to read the full story.
The Sims 4 is number one this week on the
GFK Chart-Track top 30 chart of bestselling PC games in the U.K. for the
week ending April 2nd, showing this swapped places with Football Manager 2016.
On the
all platforms chart, Tom Clancy's The Division retains the top spot for the
fourth week in a row.
This
week's write-up is a bit shorter than usual, here's word:
‘Tom
Clancy’s ‘The Division’ (-37%) holds on to No1 for a fourth consecutive week,
becoming Ubisoft’s longest unbroken run at the top of the All Formats Chart.
‘Far Cry Primal’ (-8%) continues to claw its way back up the chart, climbing one
place to No2, giving Ubisoft the top two games this week. It is a quiet week for
new releases with no new titles breaking in to the Top 40. The only titles in
the Top 10 to benefit from sales jumps are ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ (+18%) up from
No6 to No4 and ‘Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6: Siege’ (+21%) also up two place, rising
from No10 to No8.
More snow today, which contrasts well with the opening of the baseball season.
Speaking of which, it was a mean trick of fate to pit the Mets against the
Royals for the opener... I still haven't gotten the image out of my mind from
the World Series of them racing around the bases, and here we are again. Oh
well, it's not like Yoenis Céspedes was going to make an amateurish play on the
first batter... After all, you can only muff balls that are hit to you, so he
was able to hold out for the second batter (I actually think the Mets made the
proper move signing him, but I need to keep up my tradition of crabbing about
the team to commemorate the start of the season).
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