|
|
 |
Archived News:
The promised update is now live for Overwatch that adds competitive play
to Blizzard's multiplayer shooter. Word
in this update is,
"Competitive Play is designed for those who truly want to put their skills to
the test, and offers a more serious experience than our Quick Play or Weekly
Brawl! modes. To make sure everyone has a solid understanding of the game's
mechanics, maps, and heroes, Competitive Play will be locked until you hit level
25." They outline the way the matches will work and show off the golden weapons
that will serve as the mode's rewards. As for the future, they conclude by
saying, "This is only the beginning, though! With each new season, we'll be
making changes and other improvements based on player feedback."
This post
notes that this season will be a bit short, since summer is already underway.
Here's more: Shorter Summer Season
We also wanted to let players know that the first season of Competitive Play
will be an abbreviated one, lasting only two months instead of the normal three.
This is because our Competitive Play patch is launching in the middle of the
Summer 2016 season, which technically began on June 1 (a minor side-effect of
our real-world season system). As a result, our inaugural season will include
approximately 1.5 months of play rather than the full 2.5 months, ending on
August 18 across all platforms. The Fall 2016 season will then begin as
scheduled following our standard two-week off-season break.
We’re super excited to release Competitive Play, and we made the decision to
move ahead with a shorter season for two key reasons. One, we want players to be
able to start working towards their Competitive Play rewards as soon as
possible. And two, we believe this first season will teach us a lot of about
what works well, what doesn't, and what players are really looking for from a
competitive system in Overwatch. Competitive Play is definitely one of those
features that will take us a few iterations to get right, and by getting the
system out there sooner, we can start making improvements based on your feedback
sooner too.
To learn more about changes we already have planned for the Fall 2016 season,
click here.
GOG.com has word that the
Kickstarter campaign for Nightdive Studios' System Shock remake is now live,
supported by a playable demo with a sample of what they've got planned. Here's a
pre-alpha trailer, and
here's word: Play the Demo, then head to Kickstarter and support the re-imagined version
of the seminal sci-fi thriller.
A little over two decades ago, a first person action/RPG dared to blend diverse
gameplay elements with narrative-driven 3D exploration in a sci-fi horror
setting. System Shock soon became a timeless classic, its haunting charm still
resonating with thousands of people to this day. Now, Night Dive Studios wants
to bring it back as a new, faithfully re-imagined game and you can help them
fulfil that promise by supporting their
Kickstarter campaign.
System Shock is a
complete remake of the genre-defining classic from 1994, rebuilt from the ground
up with the Unity Engine and coming day one to GOG.com. The best part? You don't
have to believe the enthusiastic rumours circulating around cyberspace, you can
try out a Demo of
this ambitious effort right now and see for yourself! "We want to demonstrate
our commitment and passion for System Shock by providing a fun and exciting
experience to potential backers", said Night Dive. "This demo represents the
look and feel that we want to achieve with the final version we'll deliver to
you, our backers. Please be aware, this is a proof of concept; the performance,
features, and visuals are subject to change."
Grab the Demo and
enter the derelict halls of Citadel Station crawling with the horrors unleashed
by SHODAN, the maniacal A.I. with her own plans for the future of humanity. If
this is a future you want to live in, make sure to head over to the System Shock
Kickstarter page and help make it a reality.
Don't even try to resist her, SHE IS IN CONTROL.
Continue here to read the full story.
Eurogamer
almost quotes Friedrich Nietzsche in asking "Is Godus dead?" They attempt to
assess the state of Godus, the Kickstarted god game from Peter Molyneux
and 22cans, which has already gained notoriety for
failure to deliver, even in
light of the understanding that Peter Molyneux sometimes overpromises. They note
that it seems that the game's development staff has moved on to other projects
inside and outside of the company, and it sounds like the main focus of 22cans
is their next project, a mobile game called The Trail. "Gosh, it's still
going to be a long process! There's lots of areas to explore to finish," CEO
Simon Phillips explains when asked when to expect Godus to leave Early Access.
"Not a fixed time frame right now." Peter Molyneux apparently declined their
request for a comment.
WBIE and TT Games
announce the launch of LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the
movie/toy/videogame mash up using the new Star Wars setting. The game's
ten-or-so platforms include Windows and OS X, and the latest look can be found
in this video
spotlighting Han Solo and Chewbacca. Here's a bit on the release: LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens marks the triumphant return of the No. 1
LEGO videogame franchise, allowing fans and newcomers to relive the action from
the hit film in a way that only LEGO games can offer, featuring storylines from
Star Wars: The Force Awakens, retold through the clever and witty LEGO lens. For
the first time in a videogame, players can experience new adventures within the
Star Wars galaxy set in the time leading up to the movie, providing deeper
insights into the film’s characters and most memorable moments.
“LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens has given us a wonderful opportunity to
express once again the play themes of LEGO and Star Wars in a way that only
those two properties can,” said Tom Stone, Managing Director, TT Games. “All of
the classic play mechanics that make up a LEGO videogame are included in LEGO
Star Wars: The Force Awakens, plus we’ve added some new and innovative features
to entertain and enthrall the whole family. This marks the beginning of an
exciting new journey.”
Continue here to read the full story.
2K Games offers a new trailer with
a first look at England from Civilization VI, appropriately introduced by Queen
Victoria, who will rule in the game just as she did for six decades in real
life. The clip goes along with
this update that has details on one of England's unique districts and a
couple of its unique units. Here's word on the nation's Victorian leader: "Queen
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India and
Defender of the Faith, Queen Victoria was heiress presumptive at a tender young
age. Less than a month after her 18th birthday, her uncle, King William IV
passed away, and Victoria became Queen." Continue here to read the full story.
Arc Games offers an
official launch trailer for the upcoming Agents of Yesterday expansion for
Star Trek Online, the Trekkie MMORPG (thanks Perrin42). This will bring Chekov and Scotty into the
game along with the original USS Enterprise, who will play into the time travel
themes the add-on will introduce, and the description tells us this will launch
on July 6th. Word is: "Travel through both space and time as you fight for our
very existence. The Temporal War rages with Krenim and Na'kuhl forces working to
undo the very fabric of time and us with it. Join the Temporal Defense to aid in
the protection of our worlds on all fronts, before we are wiped from history
itself." Continue here to read the full story.
Bethesda.net has word to expect the first single-player patch for DOOM on
Thursday, saying it will come to shooter remake on all platforms at that time.
They offer detailed patch notes already, along with the following summary: "DOOM’s
first post-launch game update is coming June 30th to Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and
Steam. Update #1 introduces several new features, including a Photo Mode for
taking in-game screenshots, and a new weapon placement view option, which
centers your weapons similar to the original game. The update also includes
improvements, optimizations and fixes for more commonly reported bugs. See below
for a full list of everything in Update #1."
Activision offers details on Descent, the next DLC pack for Call of
Duty: Black Ops III, saying this will launch first for PlayStation 4 on July
12th. Its arrival for Windows will probably be about a month after that, which
gives plenty of time to memorize this outline of what this will bring:
Call of Duty: Black Ops III Descent features four new multiplayer maps
that takes the momentum-based, chained movement system across the globe to
unique settings that include a cryogenic prison, a Viking village frozen in
time, a giant robot combat arena and a modern day reconstruction of an ancient
Roman villa:
- Empire: Treyarch adapts its Black
Ops III movement system to the Call of Duty®: Black Ops II fan favorite map
Raid. The re-imagining of this classic, medium-sized map features an
authentic Roman villa that has been "recreated by a modern-day eccentric
billionaire," where a classic map structure mixes with the new gameplay
mechanics of Black Ops III.
- Cryogen: Located far off the coast
in the Dead Sea, an isolated compound holds some of the world's most
dangerous criminals in frozen isolation. Sentry towers keep watch over the
small map's circular design as frenetic combat is funneled around the
prison's cryogenic tubes, where opportunities for wall running attacks
abound.
- Berserk: Ancient sentinels from a
lost civilization guard the entrance to Berserk, a Viking village frozen in
time. Players will fight through blizzards, and control the center bridge as
they navigate this medium-sized map's wooden buildings, deadly rocky
outcroppings, and tight chokepoints.
- Rumble: Gamers battle amongst
larger-than-life mechanized warriors in Rumble, a stadium where giant robots
battle to the roar of the crowd. This medium-sized map funnels high-speed
combat to the central arena, where players battle their way through fallen
mechs and pyrotechnics.
Descent also thrusts players to an alternate universe of Nikolai's
motherland, the 1940s Soviet Union, in the next highly-anticipated chapter of
the Origins Zombies saga, Gorod Krovi. Players face-off against a swarm of
mechanized zombie infantry and dodge hell-fire from aerial dragon assaults, all
in the middle of a raging battle within the remnants of Stalingrad. Gorod Krovi
delivers the most exciting Zombies experience yet, filled with horrifying new
enemies, exciting new gameplay mechanics and an epic set of Zombie annihilating
weapons.
Ubisoft announces the promised release of Underground, the first paid
expansion for Tom Clancy's The Division, saying this is out now for
Windows and Xbox One, though the PlayStation 4 edition is still on the way. The
patch is accompanied by a new patch to update the open-world shooter to version
1.3, and the update has all the details on the patch as well as the expansion:
In the Underground expansion, agents must fight a war on two fronts.
Below the streets of New York, enemy factions are regrouping and preparing a
large-scale attack. Players will confront these threats with up to three friends
as they explore randomly generated dungeons comprised of subways, tunnels and
sewers and recover powerful loot. While in Hell’s Kitchen, the Dragon’s Nest
Incursion offers the biggest challenge to date where the Cleaners are developing
a devastating new weapon and have set their sights on the Base of Operations as
their first target.
Additional Expansion I: Underground Feature
- New Gear Sets
- B.L.I.N.D. – Control the battlefield with an
improved Pulse skill and flashbangs with this hybrid gear set.
- DeadEYE – Dictate long-range engagements with
powerful critical strikes or accurate headshots.
- FireCrest – Set enemies ablaze with this
offensive gear set.
- Reclaimer – Boost the entire group with this
ultimate support set.
In addition, starting today Update 1.3 will add new free content for all
players on Xbox One and Windows PC, and will be available on July 5 for the
PlayStation®4 system.
Update 1.3
- Find and equip 9 new weapon types.
- Experience Hudson Refugee Camp and Queens Tunnel
in Challenge mode for better rewards.
- Play the new Heroic difficulty to unlock top-tier
rewards in incursions and select missions.
- Get the all new Alpha Bridge gear set.
- Discover the Terminal, a new shared social space
inside the Base of Operations.
For more information about Tom Clancy’s The Division, please visit
thedivisiongame.com
Eurogamer has word that game-key e-tailer G2A is implementing some new
programs to counteract all the heat they get for their business practices, as
they are frequently accused of standing between developers/publishers and their
royalties by serving a grey market (they most recently had a
public fight with tinyBuild. There's no mention of this on
the G2A website but the company mailed
Eurogamer with some details, saying they will start testing things in a couple
of weeks and roll everything out by the end of next month: "As a leader
in the digital gaming marketplace, we recognise our responsibility to serve the
greater good for the entire gaming industry," a G2A rep told Eurogamer in an
email.
"Recent events have demonstrated that we need to move faster to introduce new
benefits designed with developers in mind, and invite them to play an even
bigger role in creating the marketplace of the future."
So, developers may now apply a royalty of up to 10 per cent for any of their
products sold on the G2A marketplace. This, G2A said, provides a way for
developers to monetise third-party transactions.
Assuming this works as described, the royalty system could be huge for video
game developers who for some time now have seen thousands of copies of their
games sell for peanuts on G2A.
G2A users have long been accused of using a database of stolen credit cards to
buy game keys in bulk from a bundle or third-party key reseller, then putting
them up on G2A to sell them at half the retail price.
To combat this, G2A announced plans to give developers access to its database to
verify sales, volume and timing to track the lifecycle of every key and help
identify illegal practices.
G2A is also adding a developer funding option, which lets customers contribute
funds directly through an additional button on the developer's product page.
G2A, then, is making all the right noises in its bid to improve its reputation
among the development community. But the very real problem of fraudulent
activity remains, and it's one publishers and developers are keen to see G2A
tackle head-on.
"We want to reassure the development community that we monitor our marketplace
extensively for any possible fraudulent activity," G2A said.
"In the small fraction of cases where fraud may be detected, we investigate and
ban offending parties from further participation. We work with law enforcement
globally to track fraud and we are committed to ensuring that the marketplace
remains safe. Dozens of payment providers work with us globally because they
have total confidence in our security process."
The Steam page for
Nightdive Studios' System Shock remake now offers system specification
for their upcoming remake of the original System Shock (thanks
DSOGaming). Here's word: MINIMUM:
OS: Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit versions)
Processor: Intel Core i5-2400/AMD FX-8320 or better
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 670 2GB/AMD Radeon HD 7870 2GB or better
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 2 GB available space
RECOMMENDED:
OS: Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit versions)
Processor: Intel Core i7-3770/AMD FX-8350 or better
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 970 4GB/AMD Radeon R9 290 4GB or better
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 2 GB available space
Forget pi day, today is apparently Tau Day, the
annual celebration of the circle constant τ = 6.283185.
Scientific American also argues is the
most mathematically perfect day of the year. Here's a bit on why: "June 28
is a perfect date because 6 and 28 are both perfect numbers, numbers whose
divisors add up to themselves. The numbers 1, 2, and 3 are the three divisors of
6 (other than 6 itself) and 1+2+3=6. Likewise, 28=1+2+4+7+14."
R.I.P.: Pat
Summitt, legendary women's basketball coach, dies at 64.
R.I.P.:
Former NFL coach, defensive guru Buddy Ryan dies at age 82.
|
Twitter 
