Humble Bundle boosts Insurgency’s player numbers to more than a million
The Humble Jumbo Bundle 3 has led to a huge boost in the number of people playing Insurgency. The community has grown to more than 1,000,000 players and the last 30 days has seen almost 3,000 people playing concurrently each day.
Runescape's subscription cost is rising for all new members
Jagex haven’t decided on the exact pricing yet but Runescape’s subscription costs will be raised in early 2015. However, unlike in other MMOs, if you’re already a subscriber you won’t have to pay the hiked rate, it’s only being charged to new players.
Well, new players and inconsistent players. If you let your subscription lapse for more than two weeks then you, too, have to pay the new rate.
Dark Souls: Prepare to Die will excise GFWL in December, not November
Back in October FromSoftware announced plans to strip Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition of its Games For Windows Live integration. This would allow players to port their saves and achievements over to Steam, something they’ve not been able to access since Windows shuttered GFWL’s doors.
FromSoftware planned to have this process completed for release this month. It’s now been delayed into December.
Gigantic trailer reveals MOBA where your ancient is a giant, angry monster
Dota sees you protecting an ancient tree from the enemy team. League of Legends? A crystal obelisk. Gigantic doesn’t bother with that guff, your job is fight in the coattails of a giant, rampaging monster.
Yes, it’s another MOBA but this one’s designed by James Phinney, creative director on Guild Wars and the lead designer of Starcraft.
Crookz is a disco-themed heist simulator
As the old adage goes: fail to plan and you plan to fail, but fail to plan to fail and things will probably go alright for you. That’s the mantra behind Crookz, a heist simulator with a ‘70s twist so groove-tastic that the game’s title has had its ‘s’ transform into a ‘z’.
Youtubers told to flag promotional videos by ASA. All thanks to biscuits
Youtubers are now required to reveal whether they’ve been to promote a product and it’s all thanks to Oreos.
We’ve learned about a number of instances where marketing companies have paid youtubers to promote a game, often with strict guidelines about what they are allowed to say, but this is the first time the Advertising Standards Authority has stepped in to say what it considers appropriate.
The following story includes Oreos, children’s television, licking, and a government body.
You’ve been warned, the following story might be difficult to digest.
Mea culpa: Ubisoft offers free DLC to Assassin's Creed Unity players and a free game to season pass holders
Assassin’s Creed Unity’s launch has been a troubled one. A slew of bugs have hampered the journeys of would-be Assassin’s, resulting in a patch that had to squash over 300 bugs, and issues persist elsewhere. The mobile companion app still doesn’t work on all advertised devices, and it’s the only way to get some of the exclusive content, while the Assassin’s Creed Initiates site is still broken.
Ubisoft Montreal head honcho, Yannis Mallat posted an update on the Ubisoft blog, acknowledging the unacceptable number of issues. In addition to today’s patch, he said, Ubisoft would be providing free DLC to all Unity owners and a free game to season pass holders. The season pass has also been discontinued.
DayZ's 2015 roadmap has been revealed; final version will release in the first half of 2016
DayZ launched on Steam Early Access on December 13th, last year. That makes it almost a year old, and with the first 12 months of early access development nearly over, Bohemia Interactive has revealed what the next year will have in store for the sociopath paradise. The developer also announced a release window of the first half of 2016.
“2014 has been an immensely successful year for DayZ,” said producer Brian Hicks. “We could have never hoped for so many people to join us for the adventure of Early Access development. As the team looks forward to our goals and features set for 2015, the vision of an open world sandbox where the player creates their own story and experiences comes closer to completion.”
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is getting super zombies with the Havoc DLC next year
Zombies have, inexplicably, become a mainstay in Call of Duty, starting with World at War and its Nazi zombies. The shambling undead were skipped over in Ghosts, where aliens took their place. Really, it seemed like a missed opportunity not to force players to deal with cheeky poltergeists.
We already knew that Advanced Warfare would be going back to the walking cadavers, but that it would be kept out of the core game and only available in DLC or to season pass holders. Boooo, etc. That zombies were making a comeback was teased in a nauseating trailer the end of the Exo Survival mode, which you can watch below. They’ll be made available in the Havoc DLC early next year.
Get covered in Grey Goo on January 23rd
Talk to me about Grey Goo and you’ll witness my transformation from the grumpy, hirsute Fraser of 2014 back into the bright-eyed giddy Fraser of the ‘80s and ‘90s, excited about everything and bouncing off the walls.
The likes of Blizzard and Relic dominate the RTS scene with their different but equally polished formulae, and there’s little in the way of refreshing surprises. But there’s Grey Goo, and it’s pretty bloody different. Petroglyph have taken the idea of asymmetrical factions and run with it, really, really far. The beta, humans and titular goo might as well be playing a different game, each compelling in their own right.
And it’s coming soon.
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