Battlefield 4: Naval Strike's four maps will look like this, if you squint a bit
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Naval Strike is the name of Battlefield 4’s next round of maps - the conveyor belt for which has started rolling at full speed again now DICE have made a concerted effort to tackle the game’s myriad bugs.
Its headline feature is a new Carrier Assault mode DICE have been telling everyone is an explicit tribute to Battlefield 2142’s Titan mode. There’s one image of that, and three others, below.
Sci-fi sub club: Wildstar release date set for June 3, pre-orders start next week
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Wildstar might turn out to be the only MMO worthy of the designation ‘WoW clone’ - a hoverboard-powered attempt to rejustify the subscription from a team of former Blizzard designers at Carbine. It’s out before the Summer, on June 3.
Peter Molyneux apologises for Godus, went “back to the drawing board” for new update
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This is quite extraordinary. 22cans have pushed out Godus 2.0 today - their first update since the game was uploaded to Steam Early Access in October. And with it they’ve posted a video in which Peter Molyneux - accompanied by a minion making noises of agreement - says sorry for the sorry state Godus was released in.
When Godus was first pitched on Kickstarter, the promise was that players would enjoy reshaping an environment to new ends; the fact that they didn’t has meant their feedback has “literally reshaped” the nature of the game.
Nords are niche: Elder Scrolls Online is not an MMO for "everybody who plays games"
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Here’s a slice of received wisdom you can expect to see on a Total War loading screen one of these days: subscriptions are only for niche MMOs, like Eve.
So what’s The Elder Scrolls Online doing with one? Well, here’s the thing: according to Bethesda marketing man Pete Hines, it’s sort of a niche MMO.
“We’re not trying to make a game that everybody who plays games will automatically buy,” he said.
Win three rounds of Hearthstone and ride off into the sunset on the Hearthsteed
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Hearthstone launched yesterday, but you probably already know that. To celebrate the launch of its free-to-play digital crack, Blizzard is offering an equally free gift to all players in the form of a shiny new flying mount for World of Warcraft.
The Hearthsteed and its astral wings can be yours very easily. All you need to do is earn the “Mount Up!” achievement in Hearthstone by winning three rounds, and it’s all yours.
2K casting call suggests that Mafia III could be set in Louisiana
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2K recently put out a casting call for voice over and motion capture actors for an unnamed project that could be Mafia III. The third installment of the open-world crime series was believed to have been in development at 2K Czech, where the excellent first and uneven second games were developed. But layoffs and resource shuffling at that studio suggests that this may no longer be the case.
While the game was not named in the casting call, the character descriptions make it clear that the title will tackle the criminal underworld, and a period setting is suggested by the mention of racial segregation. Take a look at the character biographies below.
Star Wars Attack Squadrons beta impressions: a free-to-play attempt at reviving X-Wing
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There’s a surprising amount of weight on Star Wars Attack Squadrons’ shoulders. It’s the first Star Wars game to be made under the gaze of new custodian Disney, the first Star Wars game to be developed since LucasArts fell, and the first Star Wars flight game on PC since 2001’s Starfighter. Not only that, but the PC community harbours a deep love for classic Star Wars spacecraft sims X-Wing and Rogue Squadron. For Attack Squadrons - a free-to-play multiplayer browser game - to soar past fans with its hull intact is a challenge tougher than any exhaust port torpedo drop.
But as I pull back hard with my X-Wing to escape a target-locked concussion missile, only to swoop back in behind its sender and blast him to phosphorous-white smithereens with laser blasts, I realise perhaps that Attack Squadron - with its 16 players and deep-space battlegrounds - may be the X-Wing vs TIE Fighter successor nobody expected.
Blizzard shines the spotlight on Heroes of the Storm's heavily armed Assassin, Tychus the Terran Marine
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It’s going to be very, very strange mowing down the likes of the archdemon Diablo or huge murlocs with a gargantuan minigun while snugly ensconced in bulky Terran Marine armour. But that’s the sort of ridiculous match-ups that Blizzard’s Heroes of the Storm promises; a game where all the iconic characters from the studios huge franchises clash, regardless of how little it makes sense. It’s as exciting as it is silly.
Blizzard’s thrown up a spotlight for Tychus Findlay, one of Starcraft II’s Terran chaps. He’s a big ‘ol powerhouse, and in Heroes of the Storm he fills the role of the Assassin, the damage dealer.
The BAFTA results are in, and they're disappointingly predictable
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That’s the BAFTAs over for another year, which means Dara O Briain will be looking for some more work. The results for the annual doling out awards ceremony weren’t particularly surprising, but there were some unfortunate omissions such as nominees Gunpoint and The Stanley Parable.
PC titles were abundant in the nominations, but few managed to net any of those hideous golden masks that pass for awards.
Starcraft 2 senior game designer not comfortable with making big changes
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Starcraft 2’s senior game designers David Kim just finished up a Reddit AMA on Heart of the Swarm balance.
He managed to answer a lot of questions, and covered a lot of ground. But for anyone hoping that the team will start making bigger updates or big changes when the new expansions drops will be disappointed.
The point reiterated the most during the AMA was that Blizzard’s Starcraft 2 team are unlikely to ever change their minds about the effectiveness of large changes. And Kim seems quite risk averse, unwilling to make a change unless it’s “completely awesome.”
Diablo 3 2.0.3 now live; tweaks wizards and blacksmithing
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Diablo 3’s 2.0.3 patch is now live, at least for players in the American region.
It’s a small patch, but makes it so that all bosses drop rare quality items and tweaks blacksmithing and the wizard class. Direct your eyes below for the full patch notes.
New Tech Demo Of Unreal Engine 4 Running On FireFox Without Plugins
As we told you a while back, Epic Games is gearing up for this year’s GDC. It appears that the company has been working hard on making sure its next-gen engine is compatible with FireFox, and released today a new video that gives us a sneak peek of Unreal Engine 4 running in Firefox at near-native speeds. Game demos shown include: Epic’s Soul and Swing Ninja running on the Web without plugins. Epic will show more during GDC, so stay tuned for more! Continue reading
Unofficial Xbox One Controller PC Driver Version 1.0 Released
Bad news: Microsoft has not provided any official PC drivers for the Xbox One controller. Amazing news: Lucas Assis has released an unofficial driver that can be downloaded right here, right now. As Lucas said, this driver was created in just under a day and although it works great, it’s not really that easy to install. You can view below the download link as a video tutorial. Enjoy! Continue reading
Star Citizen To Be Powered By The Kythera AI Technology, Will Be Featured In The Dogfighting Module
Moon Collider, the company behind the ground breaking artificial intelligence (AI) system, Kythera, announced today a partnership with Cloud Imperium Games. Today the two companies drew back the curtain on the artificial intelligence underpinning in Star Citizen’s immersive universe. Kythera will be the guiding hand for computer-controlled characters and spacecraft throughout Star Citizen. Continue reading
Rumor: New Details About Mirror’s Edge Surface, Targets A 2016 Release
Rocket Chainsaw has uncovered some new information about the new Mirror’s Edge remake that is being developed by DICE. Since Rocket Chainsaw has not provided any evidence – and EA has not commented on this story – yet, we strongly suggest taking everything you are about to read with a grain of salt. Continue reading
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