Dying Light producer decries “lazy” Mirror’s Edge, Dead Island comparisons
Comparing Dying Light to other first-person action games only paints “a very small part of the picture” of what TechLand is trying to do, according to producer Tymon Smektala.
Battlefield 4: pre-match squad creation will not be implemented, DICE confirms
Battlefield 4 lacks the option to squad up with your mates in the lobby before diving into online play. The feature was last seen in Battlefield 3, but won’t be making a return any time soon, according to developer DICE.
Blizzard issues apology after sexualised character debate
Heroes of the Storm game director Dustin Browder has issued an apology after replying to recent questions over the sexualisation of female characters in MOBA games.
APB Reloaded updated to version 14, new Steam-exclusive DLC released
APB Reloaded has received a game update, bringing the MMO sandbox up to version 14. The content drop is full of new features and Steam-exclusive DLC packs.
FIFA Manager series culled, founder issues open letter
FIFA Manager has been halted by publisher EA Sports. Founder and designer Gerald Köhler has issued an open to discuss the issue. Read it here.
Hearthstone survey hints at potential new features, co-op raids mentioned
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft was given the survey treatment at BlizzCon a few weeks ago, in an attempt to gauge interest in potential new features. Among the list, co-op raids, spectator modes and other interesting features were mentioned.
Evil in the Metro - The peculiar morality of the Metro series
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I’m always surprised when I get the bad ending in Metro games.
In both the original Metro 2033 and now Metro: Last Light, I’ve played what I thought were pretty “moral” games. I’ve not killed lightly, though I’ve definitely gotten my hands dirty when I had to. I defended myself as best I could, helped people out when I could. But in the end, that’s not good enough. My character is not evil. The Metro games don’t really let you be evil. I’m just... human.
CEO Brad Wardell on Stardock's big picture: strategic development and rise of the managers
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In recent weeks, Stardock has made a number of moves that point to a very different direction for the Michigan-based publisher-developer. In addition to announcing a new edition of their Galactic Civilization franchise, they have also helped fund and launch Civilization IV developer Soren Johnson’s new studio, Mohawk Games. They also helped found Oxide Games, a new developer that’s working on a 64-bit engine specially designed around strategy games.
It’s all driven by something called the “Stardock strategic investment fund”, which sounds a bit like something a supervillain would use to fund the construction of an underground bunker and cyborg research. It’s how Stardock are reinvesting the proceeds of the sale of their digital platform, Impulse, into repositioning the company as a more diverse publisher and a more professionalized developer. Given how ambitious Stardock CEO Brad Wardell’s plans for the company sound, however, the underground bunker may not be far behind.
League of Legends One for All mode went live this weekend, will shuffle off on December 12
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It’s not so hard to encapsulate the appeal of League of Legends’ new One for All mode - it’s duplicate champions, in one arena, finally given the official okay. It's Riot, throwing up their carefully curated game balance in a controlled environment.
Its consequences for the game’s intricate metagame, however, will take a little longer for its dedicated players to catalogue. And they’d better be quick about it. They’ve only got a couple of weeks before the next in Riot’s new cycle of off-kilter modes throws the MOBA into (optional, good fun) disarray.
Steam Reviews are for people who write words good and rate games good too
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Valve are providing us with a new tool to recommend games on Steam. Their review system lets anyone write a review for the game’s they own on Steam. That review will sit on the store page for all to see and the rating you provide will be tallied along with all the other game’s reviews to provide a score along with the metacritic rating.
Garry On Garry’s Mod’s Endlessly Rising Sales Figures
By Graham Smith on November 25th, 2013 at 2:00 pm.
Last week, Garry Newman tweeted a sales chart that backed up what we already knew: that his game Garry’s Mod is extremely successful and that its sales have not slowed down since its release back in 2006. The extra detail was a little surprising though. July 2013 was the game’s best month ever in terms of copies sold, the number of copies sold doubles each year, and it has sold 3.5 million in total since launch.
Even accounting for Steam sales, those are remarkable numbers. I emailed Garry to ask him how this has happened, and also why, and also how, and what? Fwuh?
Read the rest of this entry »
Paper Sorcerer Is Out, Demoed, Rather Pretty
By John Walker on November 25th, 2013 at 5:00 pm.
Every now and then a Kickstarter asks for so little that you wonder if the developers have really thought it through. With such a low target, can they really achieve their goals? Well, RPG Paper Sorcerer could. Asking for only $5,000 back in June 2012, it went on to make rather more with $13,151 in donations. A year later than planned, the game is now out. And it still looks as striking as it did back then. It’s now on Greenlight, of course, and there’s a demo for your judgement.
Fallen Empires: The Age Of Decadence
By Adam Smith on November 25th, 2013 at 6:00 pm.
Age of Decadence belongs to the diminishing group of games currently in development that I first took am interest in because of a post on this ‘ere website long before my ugly mug was ever on the ‘About Us’ page. I spent some time with the demo at the end of last year and my interest levels rose so high that my Wonga alert sounded at full blast. I was expecting something similar to Baldur’s Gate but the reality is something else entirely. The game is now available on Steam Early Access, with 60% of the content included and the complete set of features from the finished product.
Talk Of The Terrace: Football Manager Interview
By Adam Smith on November 25th, 2013 at 9:00 pm.
Football Manager is an enormously complex simulation. On a global level, the game tracks thousands of careers, ambitions and relationships, and on any given match day, weather, morale, skills and individual personal issues can contribute to moments of brilliance or abject failure. Talking to Sports Interactive’s director Miles Jacobson, I found that the simulation model is even more elaborate in some areas than I’d expected. Read on to find out about the game’s expanding narrative engine, how climate change is forcing the team to update the code that generates weather patterns, why the ugliest aspects of football have no place in FM and how a non-contract player’s family situation might prevent him from playing for your club.
Brazilian Bundle: Super BR Jam
By Adam Smith on November 25th, 2013 at 8:00 pm.
There was a time when I spent most of my day posting about bundles, to the extent that I didn’t actually play any new games at all. I’d just list the contents of whatever bundle landed in my inbox, embed a video and check that the ‘pay what you want’ offer actually let people submit less than a dollar. Then I’d hit the publish button and move onto the next big thing. Which would be another bundle. I thought all of that was in my past but the Super BR Jam has caught my eye, with a decent set of commercial titles for anyone paying more than $5 and the results of the jam (now finished) available whatever the price paid. Dungeonland, Magicka, The Showdown Effect and Knights of Pen and Paper all have Paradox in common, and plenty of people probably own them already, but the standout is Qasir al-Wasat, which I wish I’d pointed more eyes toward when I played the demo.
Indie “Space Engineers” Sold Over 100,000 Copies In Its First 3 Weeks
Keen Software has announced that Space Engineers has sold over 100,000 copies in the first 3 weeks and was also featured on the Steam Top Sellers. According to the team, the game’s community has also created thousands of creations which are available in Steam Workshop. Continue reading
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