Diablo III patch 2.0.2 keeps auction house running, for now
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On March 18, Blizzard will break apart Diablo III’s auction house themselves. They’ve finally come to realise that it “ultimately undermines Diablo’s core play”, and that the business of killing and looting demons is better off without it.
Until that day, however, they’ll defend it to the last. The headline change for the game’s latest patch is a fix to the loot exchange system: gold can once again be purchased and sold on the Real Money Auction House.
So that's where they went: Criterion co-founders start up new engines at Three Fields
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If you haven’t heard of Three Fields Entertainment, don’t worry yourself - you’ve still got it. They’re new.
Three Fields are the indie outfit assembled in January after Criterion co-founders Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry exited stage left from a dramatically reduced version of the onetime Burnout studio.
We don’t know what they’re working on - only that they’re based somewhere in Britain (probably Surrey). Which in this age where many a talented developer is forced to board the swish, mostly-glass boats to Canada, isn’t something to be sniffed at.
New Batman: Arkham map is five times the size of City - and the Knight isn't who you think
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It’s just twist after twist over at Game Informer’s staggered reveal of the new Batman, Arkham Knight - like being trapped in the dance hall with Cliff Richard and The Shadows for an entire month, until the torsos of young men and women have twisted clean off.
First - shock - we learn it’ll be developed by series originators Rocksteady. Second - gasp - that it’ll be the last in a quadrilogy. And now, in a scenario worthy of Patrick Stewart’s quadruple take, we’re told that not only will its map be several times larger than that seen in Arkham City, but that the Knight of the title isn’t even Batman.
Sit-down com: revisit the Seinfeld set in Jerry's Place VR
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“Television is virtual reality in some ways,” muses Seinfeld fan and developer Greg Miller. “We make believe that Jerry's place is actually a Manhattan studio and Monks Cafe is just down the street. We suspend the reality that his apartment is just a set in Hollywood, with tons of cameras and lighting dangling overhead.
“I thought it would be a novel virtual reality experience to take a place that only exists in Hollywood magic, and make it for the Oculus Rift as if it were real. Virtual Reality Virtual Reality.”
Watch Dogs trailer leaks, reveals May 27 release
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Watch Dogs finally has a release date after its abrupt disappearance from the 2013 release calendar. Thanks to a leaked trailer that slipped out through Xbox.com, we now know the open-world hacking game comes out on May 27.
And thanks to leaked trailer, we can also be prepared for some very dubious voice acting.
Hard times for Protoss in latest StarCraft 2 balance patch
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Blizzard’s latest balance patch for StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm attempts to address the disparity between Protoss and Terran, which has become one of the biggest issues in the game.
In keeping with Blizzard’s cautious approach to balance, they’ve made some significant tweaks that will hopefully address the major problems without radically overhauling the way the factions play. Still, there’s no getting around it: Protoss are hit hard with this patch.
Infested Planet leaves early access, starts slaughtering aliens
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Over the last year, Infested Planet has been one of those games I keep firing up whenever I’m at a loss for how to spend a few minutes. It’s the gaming equivalent of an earworm: something simple and catchy that I never quite appreciated how much I liked until I realized I’d invested several hours in it over the course of a week.
Today, it comes out of Early Access and emerges as a full-grown real-time tactics game, one with heavy overtones of Starship Troopers and maybe just a hint of StarCraft.
Dragon Age: Inquisition trailer shows off Orlesian decadence, lovely forests and the Frostbite engine
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Frostbite-powered Thedas is looking very pretty, if a little bleak. Certainly not something you could say about the world as it was presented in Dragon Age: Origins or II. Apart from the bleak bit, of course.
This brand-spanking new Dragon Age: Inquisition trailer is all about places! Screw people; they aren’t nearly as nice to look at as sun-dappled forests or ostentatious ballrooms. And Inquisition has those things. Look below before you call me a liar.
Ship makeover: Paint your ships in EVE Online come March 11th
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So you’ve saved up for a new battleship in EVE Online, and you’re eager to start blasting stuff into space dust, but there’s one problem: your battleship looks a little boring. How are you meant to strike fear into the hearts of your enemies if you can’t paint it hot pink?
CCP are aware that this is a concern, and to give pilots more creative control, the developer is kicking off a ship painting pilot program. Yes, you are one step closer to your rainbow monstrosity.
The Midas touch: Hearthstone's golden heroes coming with the next patch
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How are your fellow Hearthstone players to know if you’ve got countless victories under your belt? When you boast about all of your fallen foes, do your chums scoff? No more, says Blizzard. Because if there’s one tried and tested method of showcasing your talents; it’s with a spot of bling.
With the next patch, when you reach 500 ranked wins with a particular hero, they’ll become gilded in gold. These golden heroes will have unique animations added to their portrait and hero power, and all the world will know that you beat up a lot of people in a card game.
Feast your eyes on a whirlwind tour of two centuries in Tropico 5
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The banana republic city-builder, Tropico, is returning this year with its fifth installment. Welcome back, El Presidente.
I does look a little bit like a slightly shinier Tropico 4, which looked like a slightly shinier Tropico 3, but underneath the wee visual upgrade there’s been a lot of expansion. Feast your eyes on the first gameplay trailer below.
Homeworld HD is now Homeworld Remastered Collection
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Homeworld HD, the re-release of the classic sci-fi RTS, has become Homeworld Remastered, Gearbox’s Chris Faylor revealed in a blog post yesterday.
“Previously, we'd been referring to this effort as Homeworld HD but as work progressed it became clear that title didn't properly communicate the scope of the work,” Faylor explains in the post.
“This is more than a simple re-release or up-res -- given the input we've received from fans, mod makers and series veterans, the result is full-fledged remastering of nearly all aspects alongside the archival Classic versions.“
Farming, a new UI and a TF2-style item editor are all in the cards for Rust
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In a Rust weekly update, Garry Newman’s laid out Facepunch’s future plans for the Darwinian survival game. The game hasn’t seen any major updates recently, which Newman apologises for, and he notes that the team are working on getting them out quicker. But that’s going to take longer than a week.
In the mean time, there are future plans. Plans for farming, a Team Fortress 2-style item editor and a new UI.
Dark Souls 2 – Official PC Release Date Announced
Namco Bandai and From Software have just announced that the PC version of Dark Souls 2 will be coming on April 25th. According to the publisher, the PC & Steam version of Dark Souls 2 will benefit from PC capabilities with increased texture resolution and an enhanced frame rate option. On top of that, From Software have been working to perfectly adapt the game for a mouse & keyboard combo. Continue reading
Battlefield 4 – March 6th Update Increases Max Rank To 120, Improves Stability
DICE has released a new update for Battlefield 4 that increases max rank to 120, improves the game’s stability, fixes various crashes and fixes the issue with blood effects, damage indicators, and health bar updates in the HUD that were out of sync. This update will be auto-downloaded and you can view its complete changelog below. Continue reading
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