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Archived News:
Following the news of their
PAYDAY
acquisition,
Starbreeze announces they have acquired the rights to Cinemaware's roster of
classic Amiga and Atari games, including Defender of the Crown and Wings.
The announcement indicates they will use these to power their StarVR
initiative, as well as to other platforms.
Here's more: Starbreeze will thrill your imagination and ask - Who
wouldn't like to save England on horseback, pick up a bow and arrow like Robin
Hood, fight epic Samurai battles or pilot a WWI biplane against the Red Baron in
our IMAX centers in full StarVR® resolution and fidelity. Starbreeze will bring
the Cinemaware legacy forward and into location based entertainment centers and
beyond, entertaining gamers for decades like the original creators already have.
The full list of IP's included in the transaction are:
- The Cinemaware brand
- Defender of the Crown
- Wings
- The King of Chicago
- Sinbad and the Throne of the Falcon
- Lords of the Rising Sun
- Rocket Ranger
- It Came from the Desert
- It Came from the Desert II: Antheads
- SDI
- TV Sports: Basketball
- TV Sports: Baseball
- TV Sports: Boxing
- TV Sports: Football
- TV Sports: Hockey
The rights include all brands, websites, existing products and licenses
including the Cinemaware label. The Cinemaware library is intended to be one of
Starbreeze resource banks for years to come. It will be selectively used in
Starbreeze internal development and its external publishing business.
The Elder Scrolls Online website announces the Dark Brotherhood
is now available as promised for the Windows and OS X editions of The Elder
Scrolls Online, Bethesda's MMORPG. The console versions of the expansion will
launch in a couple of weeks. Here's a bit on what's new from the game's Creative
Director Rich Lambert: As always, this update isn't solely focused on the
DLC. We've added in a ton of new base-game features and improvements for
everyone. Veteran Ranks have finally been removed, which simplifies and unifies
leveling into one system. In addition to Veteran Rank removal, we've added in a
number of new systems and improvements, including things like:
- Quality-of-Life: Nameplates, Item Locking, Repair
warnings, Enchanting updates, Class balance adjustments, Trait Improvements,
Poison making, Hats and Personalities
- Grouping Tool/Activity Finder: Vote to Kick, Ready
Check, and Deserter Debuffs
- PVP: Cyrodiil latency improvements, Imperial City
district capture, and new vendors with scaled gear
I'd also like to take a quick moment to specifically single out all of our
ESO Plus Members – your support and dedication has been amazing over the years.
With the Dark Brotherhood DLC, we've added a new exclusive feature for you all -
the Craft bag. It's a nearly limitless storage bag for your crafting supplies
and it is our way of saying thank you for your continued support.
Deep Silver and Techland announce the release of the Dead Island Definitive
Collection, which bundles the original edition of this zombie game, the Dead
Island: Riptide expansion, and the new Dead Island Retro Revenge arcade game.
Here's word: Within the collections, and making its debut in the mix of
flesh-rending zombie chaos is a new gem just waiting to be discovered: a classic
side-scrolling/endless runner action game, Dead Island Retro Revenge.
The rebuilding of both Dead Island and Dead Island Riptide on Techland's next
gen engine brings with it a significant visual & performance overhaul,
introducing many cutting edge current-generation graphical effects:
- Higher Quality Textures
Game textures have been redone in a higher resolution and the level of
quality has been improved across the board
- Photorealistic new lighting system
The lighting system in the game has been vastly improved, providing a much
more realistic look to the beautiful sunny tropical setting
- Physically based shading
The introduction of new physically based shading techniques due to the
latest iteration of the Chrome Engine means a higher quality look to the
game models and objects as they react in a more realistic way to various
lighting conditions
- Image quality enhancements via anti-aliasing
The addition of more sophisticated anti-aliasing means that console players
can now experience Dead Island without unsightly “jaggies" – meaning a much
cleaner look throughout
- Improved-quality game models and geometry assets
All major geometry assets (for example: NPCs and character models) highlight
a marked quality increase
- HBAO and motion blur effects The introduction of
Horizon-based Ambient Occlusion adds a extra layer of depth and realism to
the world
Through a better implementation of object shadows, while the all-new motion
blur effects will provide a much more cinematic feel to the game experience
- Updated game UI
Providing a more consistent look between both Dead Island and Dead Island
Riptide. Increase to equal quality level for seamless game experience
- The Current-gen Console Experience
The Dead Island Definitive Collection will also of course take advantage of
the latest console features such as Online 4 Player Co-op, PS Vita
Remote-Play (PS4), Share-Play (PS4), streaming and recording
- Power Fists Power-up (One Punch Mode)
And last but not least, The fan favourite unofficial PC mod will also now be
added to both products. Punch your way through the mayhem with craziest
power-up ever
Dead Island Retro Revenge
Features at a glance:
- Retro look meets melee-based combat
- Featuring leaderboards, achievements and plenty of
depth
- Game mechanics include power-ups, super attacks
and a combo system
The
Minecraft blog discusses a change in policy that will reduce the ability for
companies to promote themselves through Minecraft, though Mojang stresses that
this does not impact non-commercial fan-created projects. Here's a bit: We
want to empower our community to make money from their creativity, but we’re not
happy when the selling of an unrelated product becomes the purpose of a
Minecraft mod or server.
That doesn’t feel right, or more importantly, fun. The new rules are an attempt
to stop these things from happening. You can read the new rules in the section
of the Guidelines called Building Promotions with Minecraft, but here’s a quick
breakdown for convenience.
If you are an ad agency, corporation, non-profit, or politician, you can’t do
these kinds of things or hire someone to do them:
- Build a Minecraft mod or server that promotes
unrelated products in playable form; e.g., if you are a restaurant chain,
you can’t market your restaurant by releasing a mod that includes your
restaurant built out of Minecraft blocks.
- Build a Minecraft map or mod that markets a movie
or TV show; e.g., if you’re a movie studio, you can’t make a map that uses
Minecraft blocks to build out the fictional world of the movie or its
characters, and you can’t make an official movie trailer out of gameplay
footage from that map or mod.
- It’s worth mentioning that fans of a particular
restaurant, movie, or some other thing are still free to build things in
Minecraft that represent or celebrate it so long as the goal or focus is not
to promote or sell that stuff. The new rules only apply to companies or
organisations that are using Minecraft to sell their products or promote
their causes.
And that’s it! Hope that all makes sense.
A
post on Battle.net from Jeff Kaplan explains that Blizzard is working on a
way to export Overwatch highlight clips "someday," should the technology become
available to permit such a miracle (thanks
PCGamesN).
Here's word: The game will temporarily archive 5 highlights from your
last play session. Playing only one game will only result in one highlight.
Highlights are not currently saved if you close the game and come back. Our hope
(and what we're working toward) is to allow players to save highlights or export
them to a video format someday.
PAYDAY developer Starbreeze announces they are now also PAYDAY owner
Starbreeze, following the completion of a deal that grants them rights to the
series from 505 Games in exchange for a pile of Starbreeze stock. This includes
details on how revenue sharing will play out for the series, and that also
confirms plans for a third game in the heist series: "Furthermore, 505 Games
will retain a 33% revenue share of Starbreeze's net revenues from future sales
of PAYDAY 3 capped at 40 MUSD, and after Starbreeze has fully recouped its
development and marketing costs." An accompanying
post on Steam announces the news along with details on an update 100 for
PAYDAY 2 coming this Thursday, revealing that this will end the game's
unpopular microtransaction system.
Here's an accompanying video
and here's word: Update 100 is here! What a day! Today we talk about
update 100 for PAYDAY 2 that is going live on Thursday.
We own PAYDAY again The PAYDAY franchise is ours again and to celebrate it,
we’re giving away a community grenade, the skills tree and we’re making the
black market free for everyone going forward. Check out the video above for more
details.
Continued support 18 more months! We will continue to develop stuff for PAYDAY 2
for another 18 months. We’re excited tol continue working on the game until the
end of 2017!
Website with FAQ on Thursday! The website that describes the update in full will
go live this Thursday. Up until then, feel free to ask your questions in this
here below thread, and we’ll create a FAQ to explain exactly what the changes of
update 100 will mean for you.
Ask your questions here:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/218620/discussions/8/364043054115255313/
AMA on Twitch.tv on Friday! OVERKILL_Almir, OVERKILL_Joakim, OVERKILL_Hampus and
OVERKILL_Jules are doing an AMA on Friday between 4pm-6pm EST. Make sure to pop
in and ask all your questions about the skill changes, the black market changes
and more.
E3 Teaser!
Last but not least - THANK YOU for your support, thank you for sticking with us
through thick and through thin, and thank you for playing PAYDAY 2.
Update 100 goes live this Thursday.
Continue here to read the full story.
GOG.com announces the release of the Blood and Wine for Witcher
III: The Wild Hunt, the final planned expansion for the fantasy-themed RPG
sequel. Here's word on how this adds a new region and a final quest to the game:
Become professional monster slayer Geralt of Rivia and explore Toussaint,
a remote land untouched by war, where you will unravel the horrifying secret
behind a beast terrorizing the kingdom. With all trails leading to dead ends,
only a witcher can solve the mystery and survive the evil lurking in the night.
Introducing an entirely new realm to traverse, new characters and monsters,
Blood and Wine is a 30+ hour adventure full of dark deeds, unexpected twists,
romance and deceit.
Avalanche announces the MECH LAND ASSAULT pack for Just Cause 3 is
coming on June 3rd for season pass holders, and a week after that for those who
have not made such a commitment. They also add that BAVARIUM SEA HEIST,
the final part of the AIR, LAND & SEA Expansion Pass, is due by the end
of the summer. Here's word on the new content MECH LAND ASSAULT will bring:
MECH LAND ASSAULT takes Rico Rodriguez to the new island of Lacrima, home
to an abandoned eDen research base and a prison camp run by the mysterious Black
Hand. Defended by huge powerful Mechs, Rico will need the new Bavarium Power
Core rifle to disable their shields and hijack them. Once inside, Rico can use
their powerful cannons and the GRIP Gravity Guns to hurl and smash the enemy
into pieces.
Features
- Pilot two types of powerful Mech and drive them
anywhere in Medici.
- Unleash the Mech’s Gravitational Remote Influence
Projector or “GRIP” to attract and hurl objects at your enemies.
- Jump and smash helicopters from the sky or ground
pound tanks with the GRIPS’s “Force Pulse” attack.
- Prove your skills and earn upgrades in Mech arena
challenges.
- Call in a Rebel Mech buddy for extra firepower
when the going gets tough.
- Includes a powerful new energy weapon, the
Bavarium Power Core rifle.
The Bavarium Wingsuit from the Sky Fortress DLC fundamentally changed how
Rico could traverse Medici. This time, we wanted to shake up how Rico interacts
with his environment in a similar way,” explained Tobias Andersson, Senior
Producer at Avalanche Studios. “The new Mechs allow Rico to throw enemies,
vehicles and chaos objects around like tennis balls – increasing the scope for
physics-based fun. Whether you’re juggling a small car or punching helicopters
out of the sky, the Mechs give you the opportunity to mess with your
surroundings in creative, explosive ways.”
GfK Chart-Track held off their weekly U.K. sales charts for Memorial Day, but
they are online now. The top two on their
PC top 30 chart are new, as Overwatch debuts at number one, just
ahead of Total War: WARHAMMER. Overwatch also takes the top spot on
the all-platforms chart, knocking Uncharted 4 into the number two
position. Here's their
summary of the week's activity: Launched on Tuesday across PS4, Xbox
One and PC ‘Overwatch’ shoots straight in at No1.
It is the fastest selling Blizzard title on console with 47% of launch week
sales on PS4, 36% on Xbox One and 18% on PC. ‘Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End’ (
-37%) makes way, dropping to No2, but managing to stay ahead of ‘Doom’ (-41%)
which also falls one place, down to No3. ‘Homefront: The Revolution’ (-41%)
slips from No3 to No4 in its second week of release. Only ¼ of the Top 40 lose
sales this week as Half Term bundling and promotions give older titles a boost.
At No5, sales of ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops 3’ are up 26% while ‘Ratchet & Clank’
(+114%) bounds back in to the Top 10 thanks to retailer hardware bundling, up
from No12 to No6. Previous No1s ‘FIFA 16’ and ‘Tom Clancy’s The Division’ are
not left out of the promotions with EA’s blockbuster up 3 places to No7 on the
back of a 91% sales increase, while Ubisoft’s ‘The Division’ falls one place to
No8 despite a 42% sales jump. ‘Total War: Warhammer’ debuts at No9 ahead of
‘Grand Theft Auto V’ which slides 2 places to No10 despite a 49% sales increase.
The only other new title to break in to the Top 40 this week is Activision
Blizzard’s ‘TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan’, new at No18.
- AMD Athlon X4 845 CPU on
Neoseeker.
- G.Skill Ripjaws V 3200 MHz 32 GB (2x 16 GB) RAM on
techPowerUp.
- Intel Broadwell-E Core i7-6950X, i7-6900K, i7-6850K and i7-6800K CPUs
on
AnandTech.
- Intel Broadwell-E Core i7-6900K & 6950X CPU on
Vortez.
- Intel Core i7-6900K CPU (On ASUS Strix X99 Gaming) on
HardwareHeaven.com.
- Intel Core i7-6950X 10-core Broadwell-E CPU on
PC Perspective.
- Intel Broadwell-E i7-6950X & i7-6900K CPUs on
Hardware Canucks.
- Mad Catz S.T.R.I.K.E. M Wireless Keyboard on
Mad Shrimps.
- MSI X99A Gaming Pro Carbon Broadwell-E Motherboard on
HARDOCP.
- XCELLON 12,000mAh Rechargeable Power Bank with AC & USB Outlet on
ModSynergy.com.
I just discovered I failed to return the cable modem when I cancelled my
previous internet service, which is annoying because I made a trip to drop off
the router and just forgot it. The good news is I caught this with a day before
they started charging me a fee for not returning it, even though I'm sure I paid
for it a couple of times through rental fees over the years. I better return
this right now... I bet one month's late fee is also about equal to the full
value of the hardware.
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