Enemy Well-Known: Xenonauts development is just about done
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One downside of Steam Early Access is the deafening noise of industry. The constant clang of tools and wittering of blog posts can end up drowning out the most important bit - the sound of finished videogames announcing themselves to the world.
We’ve been keeping an ear out for Xenonauts, though - Goldhawk Interactive’s X-Com remake for those who miss extricating their troops from the Skyranger. It’s just this week arrived at version 1.0.
Half a million wizards have duked it out in Magicka: Wizard Wars
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Everyone, even if they won’t admit it to themselves, really just wants to throw on an ornate, flowing robe and make other robe-wearing individuals explode into a glorious shower of gibs. Paradox North is probably pleased about this, because it’s encouraged 500,000 downloads of Magicka Wizard Wars.
Take a look at these beautiful Elite: Dangerous system maps
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As of the most recent version (Premium Beta 1.0, launched last Friday) Elite: Dangerous is limited to just five navigable systems. There's a galactic map in there that lets you peek at any of the hundred billion or so other stars in our Milky Way, but not one of them has yet been lavished with a local system map. That is, the representations of the orbits and locations of the major bodies within the selected star system. They're important if you intend on pointing your spaceship in the right direction.
They're lovely too, mostly because they're pretty, but also as a helpful listing of all of the planets and stations a system has to offer. Frontier's executive producer has revealed some early mock-ups of what those system maps might look like in future versions Elite: Dangerous.
Timebomb: you’ve 24 hours to download Sniper Elite V2 for free on Steam and keep it forever
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Steam’s magical discount fairy has now run the gamut in recent World War 2 shooters. In April, uncompromising Western Front simulator Red Orchestra 2 went free. Today, we’ve flown right to the other end of the silly spectrum for Rebellion’s skull disassembly sim, Sniper Elite V2.
Defiant to the end: Trion Worlds' MMO shooter Defiance goes free-to-play
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Trion Worlds’ sci-fi MMO third person shooter, Defiance, joins Rift as it switches to the free-to-play model, effective as of today. This is just in time for the second season of the TV show, also titled Defiance, set in the same universe as the MMO.
Free players will be able to experience the main storyline as well as new story missions.
Ex-Steam boss Jason Holtman joins Oculus VR as head of platform
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Jason Holtman, who previously headed up Steam as director of business development at Valve and more recently worked at Microsoft, is Oculus VR’s latest big hire. Holtman’s taking on the mantle of head of platform.
“A driving force behind Steam since its earliest days, Jason brings incredible experience building entertainment platforms for both users and developers,” says the VR developer.
Legend of Grimrock 2 hits alpha, but won't be a Steam Early Access title
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Legend of Grimrock 2, sequel to Almost Human’s first-person dungeon crawler, has now hit alpha. The developers are calling it a hard alpha, as the game can already be played beginning to end. Balancing and polishing is on the agenda, “but in a sense the game is now ‘whole’,” said Almost Human. It’s due out this year.
Stardock: "Our poorest-selling DLC for PC games generates more income than nearly every iOS or Android developer app"
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Stardock, purveyor of strategy, released its Annual Customer Report for 2014 today, teasing the future of both developer and publisher. Since it’s over 20 pages long, I’m here to break down the highlights for you. No need to thank me, I’d do it for anyone.
EVE Online gets the first of 10 mini-expansions, Kronos; Crius now due out a month early
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Kronos, the first of ten announced expansions for EVE Online, was released today. With ten mini-expansions releasing between now and next April, they won’t be as big as the products of the old expansion cadence, but that doesn’t mean Kronos doesn’t come with a slew of new content.
Masochism: Dark Souls 2 getting three DLC episodes because you can never get tired of dying
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Dark Souls II isn’t finished with you. You’ll never escape Drangleic. Sorry.
From Software has announced three pieces of episodic DLC that expand the cursed kingdom of Drangleic. The Lost Crowns Trilogy will open up new areas and unleash more foes, starting with Crown of the Sunken King on June 22nd.
Dying Light E3 gameplay trailer shows us we're all murderers of zombies
"I'm not a murderer," the man in the new Dying Light trailer says, mere moments before setting off on a murder spree notable for both its creativity and the staggering number of victims. But is it murder if the victims are already dead? These are the questions that you may, or may not, ask yourself as you bury your hatchet into the forehead of a staggering, shambling creature that used to be somebody's mother.
Valve updates Steam Early Access FAQ, warns that some games may never be finished
Remember Earth: Year 2066? It was $20 on Early Access until Valve pulled the plug on it in early May because the game was such a train wreck. The War Z suffered a similar fate in 2012. Both games were high-profile examples of the risks of Early Access, and yet neither resulted in any immediate changes to the system. But Valve has recently, and rather quietly, updated its Early Access FAQ to note that things can, and will, go wrong.
he most expensive CS:GO weapon skins
In Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the only thing more important than accuracy is style, and nothing says style like "I've spent hundreds of dollars on slightly differently-colored skins for imaginary guns." After scouring Steam Marketplace for hours we've assembled the most expensive skins and what you might expect to pay—based on recent average prices, not crazy sales spikes—for each type of weapon in CS:GO. You'll no longer have to settle for just making holes in your enemies. Now you can make an impression!
Despite some of the crazy prices in this list, these aren't necessarily the most expensive skins ever sold in CS:GO. There's an estimated 1 percent chance of getting a knife drop from a weapon case, and an even lower chance of that knife being Factory New quality with a StatTrak counter attached. Skins like that are so rare that they're often not on the market. No permanent record exists for all items, so this is a reflection of the CS:GO market as it exists today.
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