The finished Oculus Rift will cost less than £250
Right now, you can order an Oculus Rift dev kit 2 for $350, or about £215. But if you’re not a developer you absolutely mustn’t, say Oculus. The dev kit isn’t for you. Instead, you must queue up at conventions, or wait for the headset’s consumer version.
There’s still no word on when we’re getting that - but we do know how much it’ll cost. No more than $400, or a little over £245. And that’s the upper end of the price scale Luckey and co. are looking at.
Dawn of War 2 sheds GFWL for Steamworks - but loses LAN and multiplayer pause
The ever-pious Relic have fulfilled their pledge to deliver Dawn of War 2 from Games for Windows Live. The game and its two expansions are now grounded in Steam's multiplayer platform, and will retain leaderboards and achievements on the studio’s own servers.
As with any work done in service of the forever-emperor, however, there is some measure of sacrifice.
Spacebase DF-9 Alpha 6 brings power to the people, but also the capacity for anger
Spacebase DF-9 might have been mostly void when it launched on Steam Early Access, but at least it wasn’t filled with fury. Its latest alpha update has introduced space-citizens to the concept of anger. They’ll be perturbed by poor job performance, berate bad food, and turn violet around violence. Given enough provocation, they’ll brawl with rivals in the corridors, lash out at strangers or sabotage base equipment.
Thank goodness, then, that Double Fine have also introduced the means to deal with these irate individuals.
Robin Williams tribute spotted in World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor
Blizzard are paying tribute to Robin Williams by seeding small references to his films across World of Warcraft. So far players have tracked down nods to Aladdin, Mrs Doubtfire, Mork, and Toys.
I’ve my fingers crossed for an insomniac psychopath to make an appearance but that might be too much to hope for.
Yogscast gift Landmark to all of Yogventures' backers
You might still be feeling a little bruised if you backed Yogscast’s Yogventures. The sandbox game project crumbled away as its developers, Winterkewl, realised they’d taken on more than they could manage and their coffers ran dry. Yogscast, who lent their name to the game and endorsed it during the funding stage, have been working to heal some of that hurt since.
To that end they’ve gifted a Landmark beta key to all the project’s backers.
Port Inspection - Dead Rising 3
Dead Rising 3 and its gargantuan zombie hordes have arrived on PC, signaling the end of another console exclusive. And this time around, it’s not shackled by awful Games for Windows Live - which is undoubtedly worthy of celebration.
But all is not well in Los Perdidos. The augurs suggested this of course, as did Capcom’s confession that we’d be faced with 30fps limit. In 2014. On PC. With a bit of fiddling, this limitation can be overcome, but it might not be enough to rescue this port.
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth will make you uncomfortable on November 4th
Are you haunted by nightmarish visions? Constantly feeling ill at ease, even in your own home? Do naked cultists lull you to fitful sleeps with infernal singing?
If not, you should probably watch this The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth trailer.
A fireside chat: Pillars of Eternity beta impressions
Jeremy and I have been dabbling in the world of professional adventuring. Consorting with dwarves, smacking ogres around a bit, forcing our way into the troubles of a small village that is not what it seems. Obsidian’s Pillars of Eternity backers beta has allowed us to get up to all sorts of mischief and heroic deeds.
But now we’re back in the warm embrace of an appropriately quaint rural tavern, sitting by the fire. Why don’t you come join us, as we veteran adventurers regale you with the stories of our journey. And maybe we’ll tell you what we think about the game, too.
Lost in the woods: Campo Santo shows off the Firewatch PAX demo
If you weren’t at PAX Prime last week, you missed design team supergroup Campo Santo showing off their first game: Firewatch. It’s a first-person mystery, putting players in the hiking boots of Henry, the new fire spotter stationed deep in a Wyoming forest.
Lucky for you, Campo Santo recently livestreamed the PAX demo on Twitch, with designer Sean Vanaman (The Walking Dead’s creative director) in the driving street, controlling Henry through an early section of the game. You can watch the whole thing now.
League of Legends champion designer explains Riot's approach to choice
Riot continues its commendable efforts to make League of Legend’s continued development transparent. Earlier today, lead champion designer Andrei Van Roon broke down what Riot considers one of the key tenets of League of Legends and putting a beating on other people online, generally: meaningful choices.
Van Roon reckons that its these choices that give PvP games depth. “The ability to make decisions that directly impact that state of the game is of absolute importance in driving satisfaction and mastery,” he says.
Mortal Kombat X launches in April, but without Goro unless you pre-order it
Mortal Kombat X is due out next year, in April. The UK release date has been confirmed as being April 14th. What’s been shown off so far look exceedingly promising, particularly the various - extremely distinct - combat styles that the kombatants will employ to sear flesh, blow off body parts and other lovely things.
Unfortunately, the lovable four-armed brute, Goro, who first appeared as a boss in the original game, and has been a playable character since Mortal Kombat trilogy, is being held back as DLC. To get him at launch, you’ll need to make a pact with particular retailers, and he’ll presumably reappear as premium DLC later.
What other characters should be stripped out, I wonder?
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