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Archived News:
The Battlefield website is
counting down to a Battlefield world premiere, and the timer will hit zero
tomorrow afternoon, confirming indications
last week that we would soon learn about the future of this military shooter
series. To tide everyone over until then, they offer a
Battlefield World Premiere
teaser trailer. Word is: "The future of Battlefield is being revealed on May
6 at 4 PM ET/9 PM BST. Join us on Battlefield.com to learn more." Continue here to read the full story.
Bethesda.net celebrates next week's launch of DOOM with a
launch trailer, a
release schedule, and system requirements for the new installment in the shooter
series. Word is that Windows preloads will begin in Steam at midnight EDT on May
11th and that the game will launch at midnight local time on May 13th in most
territories. Here are the system requirements:
Minimum:
- Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit versions); Intel Core
i5-2400/AMD FX-8320 or better;
- 8 GB RAM; 55 GB free HDD space; NVIDIA GTX 670
2GB/AMD Radeon HD 7870 2GB or better
- Contains a single disc. Download of additional
files from Steam (total amount 45 GB) is required to run the game.
- Requires Steam activation and broadband internet
connection for Multiplayer and SnapMap.
Recommended:
- Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit versions); Intel Core
i7-3770/AMD FX-8350 or better;
- 8 GB RAM; 55 GB free HDD space; NVIDIA GTX 970
4GB/AMD Radeon R9 290 4GB or better
- Contains a single disc. Download of additional
files from Steam (total amount 45 GB) is required to run the game.
- Requires Steam activation and broadband internet
connection for Multiplayer and SnapMap.
Continue here to read the full story.
Activision Blizzard announces first quarter 2016 financial results, calling
them "better than expected," reporting record quarterly digital revenues, more
than half a billion monthly active users, and record Q1 non-GAAP revenues and
EPS (up 29% and 44% respectively year-over-year). Here's a wall of very large
numbers with more: For the quarter ended March 31, 2016, Activision
Blizzard’s GAAP net revenues were a Q1 record $1.46 billion, as compared with
$1.28 billion for the first quarter of 2015. On a non-GAAP basis, the company’s
net revenues were a Q1 record $908 million, as compared with $703 million for
the first quarter of 2015. For the first quarter, GAAP net revenues from digital
channels were an all-time quarterly record of $926 million, up 59%
year-over-year, and represented a Q1 record 64% of the company’s total revenues.
On a non-GAAP basis, net revenues from digital channels were an all-time
quarterly record of $797 million, up 48% year-over-year, and represented an
all-time quarterly record of 88% of the company’s total revenues.
For the quarter ended March 31, 2016, Activision Blizzard’s GAAP earnings per
diluted share were $0.45, as compared with $0.53 for the first quarter of 2015,
down year-over-year primarily due to purchase price accounting related to the
acquisition of King Digital Entertainment. On a non-GAAP basis, the company’s
earnings per diluted share were a Q1 record $0.23, as compared with $0.16 for
the first quarter of 2015.
Trion Worlds announces a new business plan for Atlas Reactor, saying the
team tactics game will be sold via digital distribution, rather than be a
free-to-play game as was originally planned. The
April Producer’s Letter on the game's website explains how this works, and
what it means to players who have already purchased credits during the beta
under the F2P model, adding that open beta testing is on the way: To
everyone who has already supported us by buying a Founder’s pack or purchasing
in-game credits, thank you so much for your support. We want to make sure you’re
taken care of in this transition. As a result, if you have already bought $10 or
more of in-game credits, or bought any of the current Founder’s packs, you now
own the game! Additionally, if you purchased the Starter Pack, Freelancer Pack,
or Trust Pack, you will be receiving a ton of additional rewards.
Today we are announcing 3 new ways to access Atlas Reactor. You can view the new
pricing structure here, as well as the premium gifts we are awarding to pre-sale
purchasers. These will be available in a few weeks.
$29.99 for full access to Atlas Reactor allows us as developers to focus on the
things we believe you care about the most: The competitive, balanced fun rather
than store mechanics.
We’re going to be discounting the Atlas Pack to $19.99 for a short period of
time. We will also be giving many opportunities to try the game before buying.
Free weekends (including the weekend of May 13th – 15th), trials, friend
referrals, and the Open Beta are all on the horizon.
Steam News announces a
free weekend is underway for
EVE Online. This coincides with a sale on CCP's outer-space MMORPG where the
game is 75% off, the Premium Edition is half-off, and you can get a 10% discount
on content packs, PLEX, and subscriptions.
This post has more details, and explains that this celebrates the game's
13th anniversary: "In celebration of the 13th anniversary of EVE Online on May
6th with Capsuleer Day and the EVE Online: Citadel expansion, we offer EVE
Online on Steam for free this weekend from May 5th to 8th without any
restrictions."
Arc Games announces Star Trek Online: Agents of Yesterday, a third expansion
coming to the Trekkie MMORPG (thanks Perrin42). Word is this will allow players
to create a new captain, and will include the participation of Walter Koenig,
reprising his role of Chekov, and James Doohan's son Chris. They say this will
launch this summer, and provide a look in
a new trailer. Here's more from the announcement: Agents of Yesterday will allow players to create a new captain in Star Trek:
The Original Series era and will set them on an adventure featuring classic
story lines, locations, celebrities, and era-appropriate starships. In 2270, the
year following the third season of the original series, the player will
adventure with Walter Koenig, reprising his role of Chekov, and Chris Doohan,
filling in for his father as Scotty. There is a new threat to the security of
the Federation, and they are invading with hopes of overwhelming the past to
destroy our future.
In addition to the ability to create a brand new Star Trek: The Original
Series Starfleet captain, we will be introducing a new episode arc for players
of every faction, the Temporal Initiative Resistance Reputation, a Temporal
Operative Primary Specialization along with brand new Bridge Officer powers.
Players who create their captains during the first six weeks of launch will also
be able to participate in the new Temporal Agent Recruitment system for bonus
personal and account-wide rewards, a new iteration of the popular Delta
Recruitment system that released a year ago. This release is packed with content
to keep you engaged in the classic Star Trek: The Original Series era - and
beyond.
Continue here to read the full story.
A new trailer from
Riders of Icarus shows off gameplay from the upcoming MMORPG, focusing on
the game's dragon-riding mechanic. Also,
this page offers sales of
Founder's Packs for the game that will include early access for a week before
launch, currently scheduled for July 6th. Here's a refresher on the game: "Take
the battle to the sky with fantastical flying mount combat unlike anything
you’ve seen before in Riders of Icarus, the new unprecedented action-adventure
MMORPG experience that lets you ride and fight on the back of the realm’s most
dangerous winged beasts… dragons. As a Rider with legendary combat abilities,
you will explore a majestic world to tame, collect and train hundreds of
different wild beasts as your very own mounts each with unique special
abilities. Master the skills of aerial combat with other battle-ready heroes as
you fight your way through an epic experience filled with massive boss battles
by both land and air." Continue here to read the full story.
National Museum of Play announces a new round of inductees into the
completely official World Video Game Hall of Fame. This is only the second
class, so they still have way too many qualified games to select from. Here's
word on the process: The games in the second class of The Strong’s
World Video Gamed Hall of
Fame® span multiple decades, countries of origin, and gaming platforms, but
all have significantly affected the video game industry, popular culture, and
society in general. Grand Theft Auto III, The Legend of Zelda, The Oregon Trail,
The Sims, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Space Invaders have been selected from a field
of 15 finalists that also included Elite, Final Fantasy, John Madden Football,
Minecraft, Nürburgring, Pokémon Red and Green, Sid Meier’s Civilization, Street
Fighter II, and Tomb Raider.
The
Overwatch website announces that the early access period has concluded for
the Overwatch open beta, and testing of Blizzard's multiplayer
first-person shooter is now open to everyone. Testing will continue until the
9th, at which point it will go offline for a couple of weeks to pave the way for
the game's official launch on May 24th. This
previous post has
details on how to participate, including a FAQ which notes that all progress and
unlocks from the beta will be wiped before the official launch. If you want more
details on the game, head over to
the Overwatch website. In
short: "In Overwatch, you control one of several heroes in competitive 6-person
team shooting matches. Battle over objectives, take down the other team, and
achieve victory."
The
Microsoft Store now offers the Forza Motorsport 6: Apex Beta for
Windows 10 (thanks
VG247). Here's word: "Forza Motorsport 6: Apex” brings the
award-winning Forza franchise to Windows 10. Built for Windows 10 PCs with
DirectX 12, and powered by the state-of-the-art ForzaTech™ graphics and physics
engine, this free Forza experience features all new race modes designed to
showcase the thrill of “Forza Motorsport 6” in breathtaking graphics at up to 4K
resolution.
A CURATED FORZA EXPERIENCE ON WINDOWS 10
- Experience the world of Forza on Windows 10 PCs
for free, with many of the best racing experiences that “Forza Motorsport 6”
has to offer, as well as Forza’s trademark innovations such as Drivatar™
opponents and Forzavista™ cars – each with working cockpits and full damage.
- Discover new ways to play and compete, including
an all-new Showcase Tour, Spotlight Series, in-race bonus objectives and an
all-new scoring mechanic.
- Race a diverse selection of more than 60
Forzavista™ cars curated from fan favorites, reflecting a variety of
automotive interests, including hot hatch, muscle, touring, exotics, GT
racing, track toys, prototypes and hypercars.
- Compete on six tracks based on world-famous
tracks, featuring immersive wet-weather and night racing conditions.
Frozenbyte specifies May 17th is the release date for Shadwen, following the
recent announcement that the stealth/action
game was due this month for Windows, OS X, Linux, and PlayStation 4. Here's word
on the game, which had its price set through a demo
promotion. Here's a recent release trailer
and here's a rundown on Shadwen: Shadwen is a stealth-action game where the only rule is to remain unseen.
Stay hidden - or the ruthless guards will kill you on sight!
Shadwen, an assassin on a quest to kill the king, has a chance encounter with
an orphaned girl, Lily. She follows Shadwen on her dangerous journey, but when
the ruthless guards get too close, Shadwen must take action right in front of
Lily's eyes.
Will Shadwen risk the girl's budding trust by resorting to violence, or try
and find another way while keeping her real purpose concealed?
To kill or not to kill - that is the question.
Continue here to read the full story.
The
AMD website now offers new version 16.5.1 non-WHQL drivers for AMD graphics
cards. These promise up to a 27% performance increase in Forza Motorsport 6:
Apex compared to running the game on an AMD Radeon R9 Fury X using their
version 16.4.2 drivers. They also note a number of outstanding issues, though
it's not clear if these are also present in previous drivers. Thanks Mashiki.
There's a
Difficulty and Balancing Blog on the Total War Wiki discussing game balance
in Total War: WARHAMMER, the upcoming fantasy-themed strategy game. The
post features campaign designer Eva Jobse discussing each faction's early game
experiences. There's also a
new forum post revealing full mod and workshop support for the game, in
spite of previous indications they were not part of the plan: Official
Mod Support & Steam Workshop for Total War: WARHAMMER!
Back when we originally announced Total War: WARHAMMER, we explained that
we wouldn't be able to support the game with official mod tools, as unlike other
TW games, it wasn't just our game we were making this time.
However, I'm pleased to say that both Creative Assembly and Games Workshop have
been working away on the paperwork over the last few months to see if we
actually could get both the Assembly Kit and Steam Workshop support added to the
title. And the good news is, we have.
We are aiming for this to be available from launch on day one, you will be able
to:
1) Visit Steam Workshop For TW: WARHAMMER
You'll be able to browse, follow, discuss and install available mods straight
from Steam and access and manage them from the new Total War Launcher Mod
Manager:
If you're a modder, you'll be able to upload, host and promote your work on the
Workshop to the widest audience of players. We'll also continue to feature the
best and most striking new mods on our official social media channels and the
new Launcher itself.
Continue here to read the full story.
A
job posting on the Turtle Rock Studios website reveals plans for a new
intellectual property in the works at the Evolve developer. Here's word
from this listing for an animation programmer: "We are searching for an
exceptional programmer to help us in developing unique and stunning characters
for an unannounced, cutting edge game targeting next generation hardware. Join
us and be a part of an incredible studio and project!" Thanks
IGN.
Happy Cinco de Mayo! As always, this apparently remains a more significant
occasion in the U.S. than in Mexico, but wherever you are, have a safe and fun
time. Today is also the 24th(!!) anniversary of the release of Wolfenstein 3D.
Mein Leben!
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