EA CEO acknowledges Dungeon Keeper reboot struggled to "stay true to its essence"
Nobody was pleased with Mythic’s Dungeon Keeper remake. Old Bullfrog fans didn’t like its social game stylings; Peter Molyneux didn’t like its “ridiculous” demands on player time; and absolutely nobody liked feeling cheated by its in-app purchases.
After a critical pummelling and a few months’ distance, even EA CEO Andrew Wilson isn’t particularly keen.
“For new players, it was kind of a cool game,” he said. “For people who’d grown up playing Dungeon Keeper there was a disconnect there. In that aspect we didn't walk that line as well as we could have. And that’s a shame.”
Say no to MMO: introducing Cube World's "more exploration-based" quest system
It’s hard to shake the feeling that Cube World lost a whole lot of momentum a couple of corners back. A year and a half ago, the voxelly action RPG seemed poised to become a DayZ or Terraria, buoyed by alpha sales and incremental updates. But its tiny team of two were rocked by DDoS attacks, and fell off the web entirely for long enough to worry even their most dedicated followers.
But they’ve pushed onward throughout, and alpha feedback has led to a brand new way of questing - free from WoW trappings and wholly Cube World’s own.
Riot temporarily shut down public chat rooms for League of Legends; "They just don't work"
Riot Games have decided to close their official public chat rooms. They say the space now belongs to the worst element of the League of Legends community: RP sellers, scammers, and Elo-boost spammers.
In its place, they’re planning a redesigned ‘hangout’ system for specialised in-game communities: mentoring groups, champion theory-crafting channels, casual ARAM collectives and the like.
Looking Glass founder working on spiritual sequel to Ultima Underworld: Ascension
The Underworld series is down one ‘Ultima’ prefix but up one sequel in Paul Neurath’s Underworld Ascension. The Looking Glass founder has built a new independent studio in Boston named OtherSide, and set to work on a new, unofficial entry in the “long fallow” series.
Escape Dead Island is the spin-off nobody saw coming: a stealth-driven survival mystery
Whoever thought Dead Island would get so franchisey? Techland’s ambitious but flaky first-person Diablo has become a multi-limbed monster. There’s the servicable expandalone in Dead Island: Riptide; the unasked-for MOBA in Dead Island: Epidemic; the outsourced sequel in Yager’s Dead Island 2; and now the obligatory comic-vignette psychological stealth thriller in Escape Dead Island.
Er, hang on.
Broken dreams: Dreamfall Chapters' first episode launches this autumn
It’s been eight years since Dreamfall: The Longest Journey was released, ending abruptly with a bit of a cliffhanger. But Red Thread Games’ resurrection of the adventure series, Dreamfall Chapters, is on the horizon.
The first episode, Book One: Reborn, is due out this autumn. Take a look at the episode’s trailer below.
Garrett goes to Hollywood: A Thief movie is in the works from the makers of Hitman
Thief is the latest game franchise to be swallowed up by the Hollywood movie-making machine. Garrett’s adventures will be making their way to the big screen courtesy of Vertigo and Prime Universe.
Despite the automatic cynicism that movie spin-offs inspire, there are plenty of elements in the venerable franchise that would be a joy to watch in the cinema. The City, especially, is something I’d very much like to see given life.
Warning bells are already going off though.
Check out that bass: Dovetail Games Fishing announced
What’s the next evolutionary step for a developer known for its train simulators? There’s already a truck sim on the market, so maybe a cargo ship sim? Dovetail Games decided to leap instead of step, and the result is Dovetail Games Fishing.
Using the Unreal Engine 4, former EA execs Rob O’Farrell and Chris Roberts (no, not that Chris Roberts) are at the tiller, promising “breath-taking detail” and leisurely or competitive angling. Oh yeah, and they’re aiming to expand into eSports.
Exclusive no more: Watch Dogs Deluxe Edition DLC available to everyone tomorrow
Ubisoft’s releasing a three-mission DLC for Watch Dogs tomorrow, if you’re not ready to bid near-future Chicago farewell. Accompanying the three missions, which will presumably be filled with stuff to hack and men to shoot, are a bunch of new guns and perks.
The Deluxe version of the game came with these missions, while season pass holders got access to the DLC last week.
@TheVoxelman on twitter
Essay Pro