Secret Obsidian-made CryEngine MMO is called Armored Warfare; is more World of Tanks than Warcraft
If South Park: The Stick of Truth was a departure for Obsidian, with its 2D willy-bum comedy and turn-based JRPG combat system, then this is a defenestration: a tactical vehicular MMO that crushes dialogue trees beneath the tracks of “incredible, modern destructive machines”.
Furrowed brows all round, then. But if you’re looking for an explanation, it’s probably worth remembering a fundamental part of Obsidian’s business: they’re contractors.
Unreal Engine 4 subscription will make the AAA world "affordable and fair" for everybody
Yesterday, Epic Games announced plans to make Unreal Engine 4 available to developers big and small as a $19 monthly subscription service. They’ll drop Unreal 3’s finickity licensing system in favour of a 5% gross revenue royalty on whatever the developer makes - and in return, the dev will get access to the Unreal Editor and C++ source code.
It’s an exercise in simplification. By Tim Sweeney’s account, that’s the philosophy that drives engine development at Epic. Last night, the company founder talked to our Rob about making something as exponentially complex as game making “affordable and fair”.
Riot believe Team Builder helps League of Legends players uncover their "inherent" good
Here’s a fun fact: the nastiest 1% of League of Legends players are responsible for only 5% of reported negative experiences. Who’s ruining everyone’s evening the other 95% of the time, then? Paradoxically, it’s all the nice people: the 78% who regularly receive honor and are barely if ever reported.
It’s Riot player behaviour specialist Jeffrey Lin’s job is to track toxic chat of League of Legends players and work out how to stop it from happening. That starts, he says, with creating a context that makes it easier to for the “inherently good” majority to play nice than to start “flipping tables”.
“Our goal is to make sportsmanship the path of least resistance,” said Lin. And that's what Team Builder is all about.
Guild Wars 2 to get 40 new traits via first-ever features-only update on April 15
Guild Wars 2’s year-long living story initiative, which ended with the death of antagonist Scarlet Briar just this week, has ensured the lion’s share of each bi-weekly update has belonged to new story content rather than features.
Consider April 15’s update an all-out features blowout, then: a “sweeping range” of new systems and enhancements - and in particular, traits - where previously we’ve become accustomed to a slow trickle.
Wildstar PVP Battlegrounds hands on: Walatiki Temple
Wildstar’s PVP is fun and chaotic. I recently had the pleasure of playing in an grudge match between EU and US games journalists in one of Wildstars battlegrounds: Walatiki Temple. It’s a capture the flag map, except the flags are replaced with voodoo masks. Spoilers: we - the EU side - lost, but the match demonstrated the kind of tactics and moves you can expect from battlegrounds in Wildstar.
While it’s not particular daring in design, it works.
Nvidia will help Respawn get Titanfall running at 4K
Most PC shooters grow old and wrinkly fast. A little known fact: Quake’s levels shrivelled like prunes through the noughties - so embarrassing the game that it covered its shrunken scenery with cardboard boxes, now commonly mistaken for polygonal architecture.
Titanfall will escape the fate that’s befallen its predecessors, at least for a short while: Nvidia are determined to work with Respawn to keep their vertical shooter “at the cutting edge of image quality”.
New pre-order: Wolfenstein trailer has us board the train to Berlin and disembark with wet pants
Wolfenstein is a shooter, first and foremost. But it'll also take advantage of its first-person perspective to put you in a variety of palm-sweat inducing situations. You might remember one from our Tim's The New Order hands-on, involving a leather-clad Delores Umbridge and her pet Nazi, named Bubi.
It's every bit as unnerving in the frame as it was in text - an Inglorious Basterds table scene infused with Blazkowicz's B-movie monotone. Enjoy.
Summon volcanos and smack werewolves around 3 weeks early in Warlock 2: The Exiled
Warlock 2: The Exiled is finished, apart from the editor tool, but it won’t be released until April 10th. Ino-Co Plus and Paradox Interactive think that it’s a wee bit silly to make you wait for that long when you could dive in right now. So they’ve decided to let you do just that.
Buy any of the game’s three versions and you’ll be able to play straight away. Bonus and special edition content as well as the editor tool will be available on the launch date. That’s all rather lovely, as waiting is just awful.
Heroes of the Storm: "a triumph"
Blizzard call Heroes of the Storm a hero brawler. Others call it a MOBA. We call it a triumph. It is Blizzard’s version of what Dota and League of Legends do so well: a compulsive mix of strategy gaming, timing, 5v5 teamplay and ridiculous shoulderpads. Even now, in it’s early alpha stage, it feels a complete blast.
Here’s why.
Grab Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls and get a pack of expert cards for Hearthstone flung at your face
It’s hard to just play one Blizzard game. It’s not just that they are rather moreish; they keep bloody offering you things in other games. Splashing out on the deluxe versions of World of Warcraft expansions nets you a plethora of stuff for Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2, playing Hearthstone lets you ride a flying horse in World of Warcraft and now there’s another offer dragging you between games.
Pick up the upcoming Diablo 3 expansion, Reaper of Souls, and you’ll find yourself in possession of a pack or packs of expert cards for Hearthstone. This is something you probably want, because Hearthstone is simply delightful.
DirectX 12 Officially Unveiled, Will Work On All Microsoft Platforms, First Details Inside
During this year’s GDC, Microsoft has unveiled its latest DirectX API, DX12. DX12 will be a faster API than its predecessors, and will let developers create more complex scenes. This new API will work across all Microsoft platforms, and will be supported by excellent tools. Continue reading
First Official Details Unveiled For Unreal Engine 4-powered Couch Knights, New GDC 2014 Trailer
Epic Games has unveiled the first details for its Oculus Rift title that will be powered by Unreal Engine 4, Couch Knights. Couch Knights is described as a multiplayer game, in which you control half of a cheeky battle set in a metropolitan living room scene. Continue reading
Sniper Elite 3 Gets A Developer “Q&A” Diary
Rebellion has released a new developer diary for Sniper Elite 3 in which the development team answers the community’s questions. Sniper Elite 3 is coming to the PC on June 27th and will support AMD’s Mantle API. We’ll have an interview with Rebellion about the PC version of Sniper Elite 3, so stay tuned for more. Enjoy! Continue reading
Gabriel Knight: 20th Anniversary Edition – GDC 2014 trailer
Phoenix Online Studios has released the GDC 2014 trailer for Gabriel Knight: 20th Anniversary Edition. Gabriel Knight: 20th Anniversary Edition is a remake of the first Gabriel Knight game that packs high res graphics, an all new remastered soundtrack, behind-the-scenes goodies, and the great gameplay and story of the original. Enjoy! Continue reading
Here Is The Forza 5 Tech Demo Running On PC In DirectX 12, Powered By Nvidia’s GTX Titan Black
Microsoft and Turn 10 Studios showcased earlier today a tech demo of Forza 5 running on the PC via its new API, DirectX 12. Well, time to take a look at what was shown. YouTube’s channel ‘Bright Side Network’ has uploaded the video showing off Forza 5 running with constant 60fps at 1080p on the PC. The PC that was used was equipped with an Nvidia GTX Titan Black. Enjoy! Continue reading
Cloudbuilt, Free-running Platformer, Is Now Available
Rising Star Games, in conjunction with Swedish developer, Coilworks, today announced that their free-running platformer, Cloudbuilt, is now available on Steam for PC. Continue reading
Wargame: Red Dragon – Available Via Early Access, Comes With A 25% Discount, Gets New Trailer
Focus Home Interactive and Eugen Systems announced today that Wargame: Red Dragon is available in beta phase via its Steam Early Access program. According to the press release, the Beta will let all players who pre-order the game to start playing now in the very first multiplayer battles of Wargame: Red Dragon. Continue reading
Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty – Gameplay Trailer + New Screenshots
Oddworld Inhabitants has today released a new gameplay trailer for its upcoming platformer-adventure Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty. According to the press release, the gameplay footage, which shows off the game’s dynamic lighting, organic animation and special effects, is designed to showcase the vast improvements made over the original Abe’s Oddysee, on which New ‘n’ Tasty is based. Continue reading
This May Be Your First Look At The New Assassin’s Creed Title
Kotaku has leaked some new images from what seems to be the next Assassin’s Creed title. This new Assassin’s Creed game will be called – according to the leaked images – Assassin’s Creed: Unity and will be set, at least partly, in 18th-century Paris. Continue reading
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