Archived News:

Friday, Oct 14, 2016

King's Quest – Chapter 5: The Good Knight This Month

Sierra says we can expect the release of King's Quest – Chapter 5: The Good Knight on October 25th for Windows and consoles. This will conclude the episodic series and fulfill its season passes. Sierra's King's Quest page is home to the project, though it's a little out of date already, and the Windows edition of the series is available on Steam. Here's word on the finale:
Sierra™ has announced that King’s Quest™ – Chapter 5: The Good Knight, the exciting finale of the new King’s Quest series developed by The Odd Gentlemen, is expected to release worldwide on Oct. 25 for the PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment systems, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Windows PC via Steam. King’s Quest – Chapter 5: The Good Knight looks back on King Graham, now an old man even in flashbacks, preparing to go on one last adventure for the kingdom he loves. But as his health deteriorates, can Graham’s memories still be trusted?

"Watching King Graham grow up through each chapter has been surreal for our team, as we ourselves have grown as game developers and humans right beside him," said Matt Korba, President and Creative Director of The Odd Gentlemen. "It's a rare opportunity to be able to cover the lifetime of a character in one series of a video game, and as we approach the end, we are incredibly excited for players to experience the final pages of this vision of King Graham's journey.”

Sierra also announced plans to release a retail edition of King’s Quest: The Complete Collection, a bundle* containing all five chapters of the game with a bonus playable story epilogue, for the PlayStation®4 system, Xbox One and Xbox 360 on Oct. 25.

Drawing from one of adventure gaming’s most acclaimed franchises, the new King’s Quest reimagines the legend of King Graham for longtime fans and new generations alike. As an aging Graham shares the lost stories of his extraordinary youth with his curious granddaughter Gwendolyn, players will get to experience firsthand all the puzzles, places and personalities of a life of daring, danger and discovery.

Project Space Sector Announced

SpaceSector.com announces they are developing a 4X space strategy game called Project Space Sector. The site began as a destination for space game enthusiasts, but now they are taking the next step and embarking on creating a game of their own, saying the site will gradually transition to be a home to the project, but will continue to cover other games as before. This is intended as a spiritual successor to Master of Orion 2, a classic in the genre, and they offer some details about their vision:
We believe that no game has stuck to the MoO2 formula to the extent that would please fans who would like to relive the experience with all of its fundamentals. For us, the fundamentals are (more or less in this order of importance): Turn-based tactical combat; ship design; free space-based movement with range limits; race customization; leaders; deep colony management and espionage. This is the foundation upon which all other aspects of the game will be built.

We also knew from the start that we wanted to alleviate a bit the excessive micromanagement felt on MoO2 both on the colony management and space combat aspects, especially by the mid/late-game. So, that was taken into consideration in our design since the beginning. Espionage has also been simplified in concept.

Regarding the new stuff, we added more meat to the exploration phase, terraforming and to leaders. We also added strategic resources, a social engineering system, modding support and introduced a few novelties to the space combat.

By the way, the game will be single-player only (i.e. no multiplayer).

With all of this we believe we have all the ingredients to make a worthy successor. One that will please the fans who want to feel the atmosphere and that “feeling” of Master of Orion 2, but also want to experience something new and fresh, with all the complexity and depth of a big and complex 4X game.

Streamship Ahoy - Farabel

Steam now offers the promised release of Farabel for Windows, Linux, and OS X. This is a turn-based strategy game where you start at the end and work your way backwards to the beginning. One person developer Frogames is also working on a free update they hope to release next month to add sandbox and challenge modes to the game. Here's a trailer along with a full description:
Farabel is a turn-based strategy game where you start at the end of the story; but that’s not all. In Farabel, the whole gaming experience is turned upside-down.
You start your adventure with a hero at maximum power. With each jump into the past, your character is left slightly weakened, as the game become more and more complex. Develop your cleverness, your strategic prowess, and your inventive capabilities in order to survive!

  • Play as Cendor, lord of Farabel
  • Go back in time to save the city
  • A campaign of 26 epic and challenging battles
  • 40 different units
  • 18 different spells and abilities

Continue here to read the full story.

Evening Crowdfunding Roundup

  • NITE Team 4 - Military Hacking RPG by Alice & Smith — Kickstarter. "NITE Team 4 is a story-driven military hacking simulation game with strategy and RPG elements featuring cyberwarfare scenarios." They say this is inspired by Funcom's MMOG The Secret World.
  • Solaria Moon -- Steam Greenlight. "Solaria Moon is a space adventure in 3D in which we will be on board of the enormous cargo spacecraft Taranis. Our protagonist, a young computer engineer named Lucy Lambert, wakes up completely disorientated in her hibernation capsule without a hint of what has happened. From that moment, it will take place a new adventure full of challenging puzzles to solve and mysteries to uncover."

Into the Black

Link of the Day: US lifts import limits on Cuban cigars, alcohol. I would like to declare Monday "Cohiba Day."

Battlefield 1 Play First Trial on Origin

Origin Trials now offers the Battlefield 1 Play First Trial, a demo of the World War I shooter for Origin Access customers. This is the chance to play the full game for up to 10 hours. If you then decide to buy it, all your progress will carry over. Subscriptions to the service are $4.99 per month, and offer access to full versions of over 30 games.

New WoW Game Director

A post on Battle.net from Tom "Kalgan" Chilton announcing he is stepping down as World of Warcraft game director. He says he is moving on to something else within the company, but does not specify if it's a new game, saying: "it's with a mix of excitement, sadness, and gratitude that I’m saying farewell to the WoW team and moving on to a new adventure within Blizzard." Here's what this means to the MMORPG:
My personal journey working on WoW as Game Director is at an end, but my journey with Blizzard isn’t. I’ll still be here, but will be focusing on another project within the company. However, it’s with great pleasure that I announce Ion Hazzikostas will be taking my place as Game Director for World of Warcraft.

I know that WoW will be in great hands with Ion at the helm. He’s been an integral part of the team for more than eight years and has contributed to so many aspects of the game’s development—from class design to encounter design and nearly everything in between. He also has an amazing team at his side—the same epic crew that brought you all the content you’re enjoying in Legion.

As a member of the WoW team, I can assure you that the future for World of Warcraft continues to be bright—and as a player, I’m excited to discover what’s in store next alongside all of you. World of Warcraft is the product of the passion of both the team and all of its players, so I’d also like to thank each of you for the wonderful journey that working on the WoW development team has been.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Resparks Inferno

The Counter-Strike Blog announces the return of the Inferno map for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, calling this "an instant classic and a mainstay in competitive CS:GO through the years." This page has all the details on updates to the map, explaining a focus on "quality-of-life upgrades and gameplay-tweaks instead of a complete rework." Here's how they wrap up the news:
While there have been upgrades and adjustments throughout the map, the core gameplay remains more or less the same. By releasing the new Inferno early as a beta we were able to collect valuable player feedback and made many fixes ahead of this official release. Thank you to those who contributed. We will continue to observe the gameplay and make tweaks and fine-tune the map as we collect more feedback.

Stable Orbit Early Access

Green Man Publishing announces early access is now underway for Stable Orbit, a space station simulation from start up developer Codalyn. You can pick up a copy on Green Man Gaming, Humble Store, and Steam. Here's a bit on the game: "Tasked with building the next international space station, the Early Access release of Stable Orbit will allow players to get to grips with the basic mechanics of the game, the early modules available to astronauts, and see how large your space station (and bank balance!) can grow. With feedback from the community and players, Stable Orbit aims to create a realistic, deep, and engaging simulation game."

Farming Simulator 17 Garage Trailer

It takes a big garage to house over 250 pieces of farm equipment, a new trailer from Farming Simulator 17 shows off the various tractors, harvesters, and combines in the imminent simulation sequel. Here's the deal:
Farming Simulator 17 releases for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on the 25th of October, only a few days away. The Farming Simulator franchise has entranced millions of players along the years thanks to its popular setting, its addictive gameplay, and the hundreds of vehicles from the world's biggest agriculture brands available. With today's Garage Trailer, we're giving you a sneak peek of Farming Simulator 17's immense garage that includes more than 250 faithfully reproduced vehicles and equipment spanning 75 brands - and for the first time, AGCO brands: Challenger, Fendt, Massey Ferguson, and Valtra.

Farming Simulator prides itself in its meticulous attention to detail. Every vehicle's interior and exterior is faithfully recreated in Farming Simulator 17 thanks to loyal partnerships between GIANTS and the vehicle brands.

Some of the vehicles and equipment can be customized: engines, wheels and other pieces and accessories can be replaced to adapt to specific activities, such as equipping a front loader to handle bales, for example. You can also change the color of some of your vehicles so that you're always driving around in style.
Continue here to read the full story.

Resident Evil Escape Experience in LA Next Week

CapCom Unity announces a live experience based on the Resident Evil series that will get underway next week in Los Angeles. They offer this link to buy tickets, but that's broken for now, hopefully to be fixed soon. Here's an outline of the event and a related art sale:
October is a month dedicated to scares and spooks, and a popular time for people to revisit some of their favorite horror franchises. As part of the Resident Evil series’ 20th anniversary, Capcom is teaming up with iam8bit to bring the franchise to life as an interactive escape room with the Resident Evil Escape Experience! There are no tricks here, just a special treat for RE fans in the Los Angeles area from October 20th to November 6th. Check out a unique escape game experience themed around the popular survival horror series as you attempt to escape a series of rooms full of scares and secrets. While no previous or in-depth knowledge is needed to enjoy the escape room, fans will definitely notice some obvious and obscure nods to various Resident Evil games, including the upcoming Resident Evil 7 biohazard. This special escape game experience will be running for a limited time for the next few weeks, including Halloween weekend, so be sure to grab tickets today! Need more info? Read on.

There’s more to see than just the escape game itself, as iam8bit will have an art gallery featuring unique Resident Evil-themed art in a celebration of the series’ 20th anniversary. Limited edition art prints art and other exclusive merchandise will be available for sale in limited quantities, as well. Tickets for the event will be going for $35 per person, with a limited number of spots for each session from October 20th through November 6th. If you’re interested, be sure to grab your friends and tickets to see if you can successfully survive and escape!

Game Reviews

Hardware Reviews

  • be quiet! Dark Power Pro 11 850w on Play3r.
  • GIGABYTE GTX 1060 Xtreme Gaming 6GB Video Card on Hardware Asylum.
  • GIGABYTE P57X v6 GTX 1070 Gaming Laptop on eTeknix.
  • Nitro Concepts E200 Gaming Chair on Play3r.
  • noblechairs EPIC Series Chair on eTeknix.
  • PowerColor Devil Box on BabelTechReviews.
  • ResMed S+ Sleep Tracking System on Play3r.
  • Seagate Innov8 Bus-Powered 8TB Desktop HDD on TweakTown.
  • Thermaltake Toughpower SFX 600W Power Supply Unit on Nikk Tech.

Out of the Blue

Westworld is dominating my thinking about the new television series, but I want to mention the other new show that's a new favorite around here. It's a half-hour sitcom from ABC called Speechless about a family with a special needs kid. The actor playing the kid actually has CP along with a world of charm. We have an affection for subversive comedies in the BlueTower, and this one has the right stuff.

Links: Thanks Ant and Acleacius.
Play: Traffic Collision 2.
Science: Comet impact 'linked' to rise of mammals.
Media: Great White Shark Cage Breach Accident.
Honest Political Ads - You're F*cked.
Norm Macdonald Is Married To A Real Battle-Axe.
About That Ad Blocker
We see you're using an ad blocker. While we strive to make our ads behave, we understand your desire for peace and privacy. So please consider becoming a supporter to take advantage of the no ads version of Blue's News. This will help sustain our efforts to bring you the best in gaming and tech news without requiring you to see ads or suffer a guilty conscience. You'll even get a nifty forum badge that will be the envy of the neighborhood!
Support the Site!