Adventurezator is a make-your-own point and click adventure game
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Games that help you make games have been a novel idea for a while now, but Adventurezator takes it a step further. Using the power of Steam Workshop, players can create their own point and click adventures, and share them with the community. Everything is customisable too, including characters, environments and cutscenes.
It’s out on Steam Early Access in just a few days, on July 23rd.
Darkwood interactive trailer proves that flash lights are still your best friend
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Darkwood is a promising top-down, roguelike, horror game coming to Steam Early Access on July 24th. To celebrate the release date, Acid Wizard Studio has released a special interactive trailer which allows you to choose the fate of our nameless wanderer.
Will you fight or flee?
Heroes of the Storm progression overhaul incoming; introduces hero levels and artifacts
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Heroes of the Storm is still evolving in its technical alpha; the latest announcement is that of a new leveling system. Players will not only have a player level, but individual levels for each hero. Increasing your hero level will unlock core gameplay features such as heroic abilities and talents, as well as cosmetic skins and mount variants.
Also announced is the introduction of artifacts, but their exact use is yet unclear. “We’ll have much more information to share on that in the coming days” promises the blog post.
Valve debut infamous cult hero Techies at the Dota 2 International
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TECHIES! That’s right, just as predicted Valve gave a spectacular debut of Techies in the All-Star match last night during the Dota 2 International main event. His absence has been the talk of the Dota 2 community for years, so there’s little surprise that both the crowd and internet went berserk.
Mighty No. 9 trailer shows off transformations and unique enemies
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Mighty No. 9 far exceeded its Kickstarter goal, clocking over $3.8 million dollars compared to its initial goal of $900,000. However there was some controversy when studio Comcept came back asking for even more funding to add English voice acting and more.
That hasn’t seemed to stop Comcept though, who’ve just released another trailer previewing their work with various transformations and unique bosses.
Warframe update 14.0 released; includes Mirage class and revamped tutorial
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Third-person space-ninja shooter Warframe has just received a huge patch with the aptly named update 14.0. Inside is a revamped tutorial and UI, a new warframe, weapons and the introductions of pets.
The new Warframe is named the Mirage - a master of illusion that confounds the enemy with smoke and mirror tactics. She's quite snazzy.
Meet Shadowmoon Valley: new Warlords of Draenor zone offers a "false sense of security"
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It’s like they say: never anger a riverbeast. Like heavily-armoured environmentalists on all fours, these rock-like hippoposters appear docile until their habitat is disturbed. After that, they appear as 4,000 pounds of fat and muscle charging headlong towards your avatar.
Level 90 or no, Shadowmoon Valley promises “countless hidden perils” for Warlords of Draenor first-timers once they’ve trudged through the Tanaan Jungle.
Star Wars: The Old Republic made $165m in 2013, according to SuperData report
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Despite Guild Wars 2, Wildstar, and its own efforts to split its playerbase into have-mounts and have-mount-nots, Star Wars: The Old Republic remains one of the best PC MMOs around.
That’s reflected in the findings of SuperData Research, who report that SWTOR made $165m last year. They say BioWare’s first MMO accounts for 8% of the market for MMOs with subscription options.
15 minutes of Brutal Doom v20 will do nicely in lieu of id's remake
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Our Tim’s first impressions of Doom from QuakeCon 2014 were that it’s gory. Players can rip open a demon’s jaws, or shoot all of its extraneous bits off until its torso looks like a wine gum. It’s fair to say that id have reclaimed the gib-factor that Brutal Doom made its headline feature.
But it’s worth remembering that the mod doesn’t just throw an extra pint of blood over an already-reddened engine. Rather, it imbues Doom 1 with some of the qualities modern developers would describe as visceral - though modder Sergeant Mark IV spends more time talking about actual viscera.
Watch a 15-minute, work-in-progress demo of Brutal Doom's most recent version below.
Visceral promise there won't be any "gravel voiced super soldiers" in Battlefield Hardline
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Battlefield Hardline creative director Ian Milham doesn’t want you to get him wrong.
“Don’t get me wrong,” he writes. “ Like all gamers, [Visceral] have enjoyed some great, linear, roller coaster style games in our day. We may have even made one or two. But these days we think gamers are looking for more tactical choice and depth in their games, not just whack-a-mole shooting galleries.”
The Battlefield Hardline beta might not have rang new - but Visceral say its single player relocation to the parking lots and precincts of Miami has allowed them to “fill [their] world with choices”.
Take another look at Star Wars: The Old Republic. It's quite good.
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Whatever it was that draws millions to Star Wars, many were unconvinced that The Old Republic had it. The feeling of adventure, heroism, mysticism and drama just wasn’t quite right. In the old days, SWTOR just didn’t feel “Star Wars-y” enough for core fans. It’s not an opinion I ever held, but I am an extremely patient person and SWTOR, in the early days, was tailored to a player like me. But I struggled to argue with the naysayers on a critical point, it was a poor MMO.
Over two years have passed since Star Wars: The Old Republic launched. And it has changed almost beyond recognition.
Battlecry preview: multiplayer mauling in a strange steampunk world
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It didn’t take long before I found myself slamming my mouse in frustration. Not because I was annoyed with Battlecry. Far from it: I think it’s going to be very good. I was slamming my mouse down because I wanted to win at Battlecry.
For a game that’s barely in beta, Battlecry is doing a lot of things very, very right.
Train Simulator 2015 will include trains from the future, of all things
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Dovetail Games, purveyor of sims, has become pretty prolific of late. After recently announcing Dovetail Games Fishing, a new Microsoft Flight Simulator and the studio’s acquisition of distribution rights for Microsoft Flight Simulator X, it’s only gone and announced new installment in its Train Simulator series.
Train Simulator 2015 will put you behind the controls of trains that won’t even be in use until 2018 - time travel remains unconfirmed however - and Dovetail hopes that it will open the doors to new players with the TS Academy training area.
ESPN2's coverage of the Dota 2 International is just too much for some viewers
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The growth of eSports, you could assume, has laid to rest the tired old arguments of what constitutes a sport and how Dota 2 or League of Legends don’t fit the bill. There are fewer and fewer things that separate traditional sports and eSports, and the latter becomes more like the former every year.
It looks like there are still plenty of folk who aren’t ready for eSports to be considered real sports, however. And there are quite a few who are genuinely outraged, because outrage is a compelling hobby. The Dota 2 International has been airing on ESPN2, and people have taken to Twitter to express just how devastating this is.
Dark Souls 2 receives a meaty update ahead of tomorrow's Crown of the Sunken King launch
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Ahead of the launch of Dark Souls 2’s first slice of DLC, Crown of the Sunken King, which is due out tomorrow, From Software’s slapped a massive update on the game. Really bloody massive. Some of the changes are rather sweeping, such as health recovery items not longer being usable in PvP, tweaks to continuous attacks and corrections to damage.
If you’re wondering if now is a good time to dip into the game, take a gander at my Dark Souls 2 review. Or I could just tell you right here that you should get it.
The myriad emotions of FIFA 15
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EA has just announced that the next FIFA game will introduce simulated player emotions, imbuing the tiny football men with every manner of mood and feeling known to science, transforming them from glassy eyed 3D automatons to living, breathing virtual creatures each with their own hopes and ambitions.
For example: one football man, upon doing an especially good kick, might feel "happy". Another, having witnessed a nice goal, might feel "humbled by the continuing spectacle of sport". It truly is an incredible time to be alive, and having now emulated the human condition down to the individual neuron, EA can finally create little football men capable of kicking the ball in a truly convincing manner.
But what emotions can we expect to see in FIFA 15, and what effects do they have on players? I'm glad you asked, because here they all are.
Slot up: Blizzard unveils Heroes of the Storm's artifacts system
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Last week, Blizzard revealed its already divisive plans for out-of-game levelling system in Heroes of the Storm. Today the developer has gone into the nitty gritty of one of these features: artifacts. The reaction from the community appears to be overwhelmingly negative.
When you hit Player Level 15, you’ll unlock one of three artifact slots. Two further slots can be unlocked with gold. Gems, relics and trinkets can be placed into their specific slots, conferring bonuses to the heroes using them. It’s not unlike League of Legends’ rune system.
NewBee wins the 2014 Dota 2 International
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NewBee have beaten ViCi Gaming in the Dota 2 International 2014 grand finals for a total of over $5 million dollars. The Chinese team have had a rollercoaster of a tournament: only last week they were fighting elimination from the playoffs. But since then they stormed through the brackets to secure their place in the grand final on day one of the main event.
The first place prize ensures that each player will receive at least one million dollars each, and automatically places them as the highest earning eSport players in the world.
Super 3D Noah's Ark might be the best Christian game built on the Wolfenstein 3D engine
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Wolfenstein is fairly violent. I’ve been faffing around in the latest incarnation, New Order, for a few hours and barely a moment goes by where I’m not shooting off limbs, slicing tendons or putting holes in faces. It’s progenitor, Wolfenstein 3D, didn’t skimp on the violence either.
That’s why it was a tad unusual when, in 1994, it spawned Super 3D Noah’s Ark, a game showing the harsh realities of life on the mythological Noah’s Ark. And when I say harsh, I mean you have to feed a lot of animals. It’s been re-released, too. And, not at all surprisingly, it’s on Steam Greenlight.
Behave: Riot is instantly banning toxic players in League of Legends today
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Riot’s running an experiment today in League of Legends. Any player in the MOBA who shows “toxicity” such as racism will instantly be banned for two weeks or permabanned.
Social system lead designer, Jeffrey Lin, dropped the news on Twitter today, prompting a slew of questions due to its somewhat vague nature. Lin took to Reddit to clarify how this works and that it’s just a one-day experiment.
Ultimate General: Gettysburg Early Access review
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It’s been about seventeen years since Sid Meier’s Gettysburg showed how you could do real-time tactical wargaming in a way that was both easy to learn and incredibly authentic and nuanced. For years it has been the gold standard for accessible battlefield command games, even as compatibility issues make it harder and harder to get working.
Fortunately, Ultimate General: Gettysburg has arrived on Early Access to fill this void and put a new spin on this most familiar of American Civil War battles. With lightning-quick pacing and a clever branching campaign, Ultimate General might do for battlefield wargames what Unity of Command did for the operational level.
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