You can pre-load The Sims 4 on Origin this week
The appearance of a new Sims game is always an event in PC gaming. It’s especially so now, given that co-developers Maxis still have their thermonuclear SimCity launch fresh in the memory.
In an effort to prevent their servers from melting like candles, EA have enabled players who’ve pre-ordered The Sims 4 to prep for its imminent release.
Blizzard plan to still be working on Hearthstone in ten years' time
As tricksy free-to-play models go, Hearthstone's is low-cost.
Oh sure, building an Arena-ready deck can require significant investment. But between Practice mode and the Curse of Naxxramas campaign, there are plenty of cheap opportunities to bulk up a competitive card collection. Blizzard have been “generous” - deliberately so.
“We’re here for the long run,” said producer Yong Woo. “We’re not here to make a quick buck. I want to be playing and working on Hearthstone 10 years from now.”
Shadow Realms is Left 4 Dead by way of pen and paper RPGs
I’ve heard Shadow Realms described as Evolve with a wizard. Four players fight through a dungeon packed with traps and monsters that are all controlled by a fifth player, the shadowlord. But, in practice, it plays a lot like Left 4 Dead, albeit with the AI director replaced by a human.
Human directors can be dicks.
Ataarrghi: Alone in the Dark and Haunted House reboots due on PC this Autumn
So continues the unusual resurrection of the artist formerly known as Infogrames, Atari. The once-great publisher has supplemented its diet of gambling games lately with an unexpected Rollercoaster Tycoon reboot, and now this: the return of its two most venerable horror licenses.
Alone in the Dark: Illumination and Haunted House: Cryptic Graves will be “suspenseful, action-packed” survival horror games. They’ll also be something survival horror games historically haven’t been: on PC.
Riot's plan to ensure relegated LCS teams "don't just disappear from the business"
This year’s North American LCS playoffs have been tumultuous and surprising. Teams like Curse and CLG had built strong new rosters for the 2014 season, and made commendable efforts to recapture old glories. But that wasn’t enough to keep some of the scene’s favourite personalities from dropping out of the Championship early.
Their relegations have made an old question more pertinent than ever. Deep prize pools may make the headlines in eSports - but how do Riot plan to support the also-rans?
“We want to build an ecosystem where teams who make it into LCS are ready,” said Riot head of EU eSports Jason Yeh. “And when teams get relegated out of LCS they don’t just disappear from the business.”
EA are giving Shadow Realm’s team “the ability to fail”
Shadow Realms is the first new IP we’ve seen from Bioware since they released Dragon Age: Origins back in 2010. It’s easy for a studio to get stuck releasing games in the same franchises, especially when under pressure from a major publisher like EA. While at Gamescom, James Ohlen, Shadow Realm’s creative director, explained to me how he got EA to take a chance on his 4v1 dungeon crawler and how he got the publisher to leave his team alone while they made it.
Korea's game rating board halts microtransactions in all Facebook games
Korea’s Game Rating and Administration Committee, the GRAC, has disabled in-app purchases for all Facebook games played in the country. The games will remain forcibly free until developers pay for them to be rated.
Now that's a reveal: Capcom are making a Resident Evil: Revelations 2
It’s testament to the state Resident Evil was in last year that a 3DS game ported as an afterthought to PC was heralded with over a million sales. But Revelations was a welcome throwback: an unapologetic survival horror game that asked its players to hug tight corners and wrestle with restrictive control schemes.
The same team have built a sequel. Resident Evil: Revelations 2 will drop the cast and setting of its predecessor, but presumably keep the ‘90s ethos.
This is what a 100-player game of Galactic Civilizations 3 looks like
Galactic Civilizations III is taking shape, with its beta simultaneously evoking its predecessor and something new; something bigger and more detailed. Designer Paul Boyer calls it the GalCiv 2 Stardock always wanted to make.
One of the biggest changes is the switch from 32 bit to 64. This means Stardock can do things that would never have been possible in the previous game, like create a galaxy with 100 factions. And that’s just what Stardock’s Derek Paxton did on the weekend.
Esportsify wants to make the business of eSports easier
This year’s Dota 2 International saw over 2 million concurrent online viewers drinking in the competitive spectacle, while teams from across the world fought for a prize pool of $11 million. It was even broadcast on ESPN, with the network saying they were “delighted” with their own undisclosed figures.
During Gamescom, at ESL One Cologne, 856 years of Counter-Strike: GO was consumed by nearly half a million people. The tournament broke viewing records for the game by 160 percent. ESL One Frankfurt had over 12,500 people filling up the arena each day, while millions watched the streams.
As the success and popularity of eSports reaches new heights, greater levels of professionalism and organisation are called for. Communities need to be managed, brands need to be developed and funding - for those trips all over the world - has to be found. This was the impetus for Esportsify, an eSports community platform developed by Xfire’s Gavin Weeks.
Gratuitous Space Battles 2 puts on quite the light show
Gratuitous Space Battles 2, the asynchronous strategy game filled with custom-built fleets duking it out in space, has been in development for over a year, but today we see the first glimpse of the titular battles.
In the first look at the sequel, Cliff Harris pits his armada of gaudy ships against an equally gaudy enemy fleet, and the whole thing looks rather gorgeous. It’s pre-alpha at the moment, but already the fights look more detailed and stimulating than its forebear. Take a gander below.
Have you herd? Flockers launches on September 19th
The wooly Lemmings by way of Worms puzzle game, Flockers, is set to leave Early Access this month, launching on September 19th.
Vast flocks of sheep will be yours to protect, as they make their way through deadly, steampunk abattoirs. It might make you think twice before using exploding sheep in your next Worms match.
The League of Legends World Championship final is expected to sell out Seoul's Sangam Stadium
The League of Legends World Championship final is expected to sell out Seoul’s massive Sangam Stadium, says Riot’s Dustin Beck.
The Championship’s stages will play out across four different cities, with the final taking place in South Korea on October 19th. And it looks like you might have to be fast if you want a ticket.
Civilization: Beyond Earth trailer details affinities and kills a kraken
If you don’t have a spare hour or two to sit through Firaxis’ dev streams of Civilization: Beyond Earth, then you might want to take a look at the new in-universe walkthrough.
AI lady Master Control narrates six minutes of Beyond Earth, offering an overview of combat, exploiting the orbital layer of the planet and the philosophical affinities that underpin factions.
A Region Reborn - NA League of Legends Championship Series Playoffs crown TSM
The five game final in the North American playoffs between Team SoloMid and Cloud9 was all about pride, and getting the best possible seed at 2014 Worlds. But while TSM won by the skin of their teeth, both teams’ reputations were secure. They remain the clear masters of the North American LCS division, and their real test is yet to come.
But for Counter-Logic Gaming and Curse, the playoff season was one of heartbreak and disappointment. Despite the two teams’ tremendous efforts to change their fortunes this season, and surprisingly strong showings from both of them over the course of the 2014 campaign, the bitter end of the season crushed both teams’ high hopes.
It also showed that, for these once-proud American teams, the road back to the top of competitive League of Legends is a lot longer than one season.
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