Friday news, part two:
Laid-back puzzler Wilmot's Warehouse is getting a sequel, in which Wilmot ditches his job to do jigsaw puzzles at home
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/puzzle/laid-back-puzzler-wilmots-warehouse-is-getting-a-sequel-in-which-wilmot-ditches-his-job-to-do-jigsaw-puzzles-at-home/
Ultra-chill puzzle game Wilmot's Warehouse is getting an even more laid-back sequel in which titular character Wilmot ditches work to spend time at home doing jigsaw puzzles.
Wilmot's Warehouse garnered a neat little reputation for its relaxing organisation puzzles, in which players stacked objects around a factory floor. While there was a tacit goal of optimising the warehouse to be as efficient as possible, it was very much up to the player how they chose to arrange the space.
Original Fallout co-creator Tim Cain says 'critique of capitalism was never the point' of the games and if anything they're about how 'war is inevitable given basic human nature'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fallout/original-fallout-co-creator-tim-cain-says-critique-of-capitalism-was-never-the-point-of-the-games-and-if-anything-theyre-about-how-war-is-inevitable-given-basic-human-nature/
What's Fallout about? War? Nukes? Consumerism? Imperialism? How easy it is to misplace close relatives? All of the above? It's a debate that's raged for decades, and no wonder: Fallout is a pretty rich text as videogame series go, and there's all sorts of messages you can read into the likes of FO1, 2 and New Vegas. 14 years later, you can still click into any forum on the internet and find people arguing about which ending is best for the Mojave in NV (it's Yes Man).
But here's what it's not about, or at least what it's not inherently about: Anti-capitalism. That's according to Tim Cain, one of the series' original co-creators over on his YouTube channel. More specifically, Cain spoke about it in the comments of one of his recent uploads—a video prosaically titled "Capitalism"—in response to a fan asking about Cain's view on Fallout "as a critique on capitalist/corporative greed."
'It's very important for us to get this right': Songs of Conquest devs ask players what they think the upcoming DLC should cost
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/its-very-important-for-us-to-get-this-right-songs-of-conquest-devs-ask-players-what-they-think-the-upcoming-dlc-should-cost/
Rise Eternal is an upcoming "story-focused" DLC for Songs of Conquest, and although we don't have a release date yet, the devs are discussing what the price should be, giving players a chance to have their own say.
This city builder swaps traffic jams with human sacrifice, because you're the mayor of a huge Cthulhu cult
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/city-builder/this-city-builder-swaps-traffic-jams-with-human-sacrifice-because-youre-the-mayor-of-a-huge-cthulhu-cult/
(...)
Worshippers of Cthulhu is a city builder with a twist, and that twist is the mass of 100-foot-long tentacles writhing around in a pit in the middle of town. You're not just the mayor and city planner, you're the leader of a cult attempting to awaken the Old One who, apparently, needs a well-organized and maintained city before he'll bother making an appearance.
'People are pro crabs': WoW's artists tested leg angles and other features before choosing crabs for its new arachnophobia mode
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/the-leg-angles-matter-in-wow-s-new-arachnophobia-mode-that-turns-every-spider-into-a-crab/
When World of Warcraft developers were working on the new spider-themed Nerubian race for their new The War Within expansion, they brought in an arachnophobia expert to tell them what, exactly, makes spiders scary to some people.
The result is the expansion's new arachnophobia mode, which turns almost all spiders into crabs at a click of a player's mouse. Players who ponied up for the game’s Epic Edition pre-order will get a chance to dive into the new WoW expansion for the first time today during early access and see the new mode for themselves.
World of Warcraft director Ion Hazzikostas says the Worldsoul Saga is letting Blizzard give its villains some much-needed character: 'Dragons are really cool, but it's hard to grasp the motivations of a being the size of a city'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/world-of-warcraft-director-ion-hazzikostas-says-the-worldsoul-saga-is-letting-blizzard-give-its-villains-some-much-needed-character-dragons-are-really-cool-but-its-hard-to-grasp-the-motivations-of-a-being-the-size-of-a-city/
World of Warcraft is entering a new era. "Even though we're entering our 20th year, it's a time when new and returning players can get in on the ground floor of a story," Ion Hazzikostas, game director for World of Warcraft, said in an interview at Gamescom with PC Gamer's Harvey Randall. The Worldsoul Saga, the three-expansion arc beginning with the imminent release of The War Within, is giving Blizzard a chance to sculpt WoW's story with a broader scope. And according to Hazzikostas, no character better embodies the new age of Warcraft storytelling than Xal'atath, WoW's latest archvillain.
>> And the VP says that they should have listened players more.
Despite being one of the biggest Unreal Engine 5 games ever, Stalker 2's locations are almost entirely hand-crafted: 'It took a lot of time, took a lot of effort, but we're happy with the result'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/despite-being-one-of-the-biggest-unreal-engine-5-games-ever-stalker-2-s-locations-are-almost-entirely-hand-crafted-it-took-a-lot-of-time-took-a-lot-of-effort-but-we-re-happy-with-the-result/
Stalker 2 is set to be a big game: The official FAQ says the game map is more than 60 square kilometers in size, making it "one of the biggest open worlds in videogames to date." Despite that size, Stalker 2 technical producer Evgeniy Kulik told PC Gamer that the studio is not relying on procedural generation to bring it to life: Every location in the game is made "by hand."
You can tell the new Heroes of Might and Magic game is meant to be a throwback to when the series was good because they're not insisting we call it Might and Magic: Heroes this time
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/you-can-tell-the-new-heroes-of-might-and-magic-game-is-meant-to-be-a-throwback-to-when-the-series-was-good-because-theyre-not-insisting-we-call-it-might-and-magic-heroes-this-time/
Beloved turn-based strategy series Heroes of Might and Magic suffered a renaming six games in, with the last two entries known officially as Might and Magic: Heroes 6 and 7 just to mess with the order of your library. Publishers Ubisoft have relented though, and gone back to the HoMM naming convention for the next in the series, the recently announced prequel Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era.
It's being developed by Unfrozen, the studio behind Iratus: Lord of the Dead. That game demonstrated their ability to recreate Darkest Dungeon with a twist, so the studio seems like a decent choice for recreating HoMM 3, which is what Olden Era is most reminiscent of at first glance.
Asked about SAG-AFTRA's strike for better AI protections, Amazon Games Boss claims AI 'has nothing to do with taking work away' from actors because 'for games, we don't really have acting'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/asked-about-sag-aftras-strike-for-better-ai-protections-amazon-games-boss-claims-ai-has-nothing-to-do-with-taking-work-away-from-actors-because-for-games-we-dont-really-have-acting/
Amazon Games CEO Christoph Hartmann was interviewed by IGN this week, and he said several interesting things. He revealed that the upcoming Lord of the Rings MMO was "still early" in development, and commented on how "the bar is so high" for doing a new Tomb Raider game. But his most startling statement came on the subject of using generative AI in the games industry, leading him to claim that "for games, we don't really have acting".
>> What a load of Bullsh*t!
Bungie's pre-Halo FPS Classic Marathon Infinity just launched on Steam for free, meaning you can now play the entire Marathon trilogy for the low price of nothing
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/bungies-pre-halo-fps-classic-marathon-infinity-just-launched-on-steam-for-free-meaning-you-can-now-play-the-entire-marathon-trilogy-for-the-low-price-of-nothing/
Old timey FPS Classic Marathon Infinity has just landed on Steam, meaning you can now play all three Classic Marathon games via Valve's distribution service for free.
GOG doesn’t seem to have new deals, leaving us with just Steam:
+Steam
- HELLCARD will be free to try during the weekend and 40% off until the 29th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1201540/HELLCARD/
- The Early Access tittle SCUM and all its DLCs are on sale with up to 61% discounts until the same August 29: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/SCUMSale2024
- NARUTO TO BORUTO: SHINOBI STRIKER gets a 75% deal until August, the 29th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/633230/NARUTO_TO_BORUTO_SHINOBI_STRIKER/
- Diablo IV is free to try during 4 days and it’s also 40% off until the 2nd of September: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2344520/Diablo_IV/
- Desynced, still in Early Access, gets a 25% discount until the 5th of September: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1450900/Desynced_Autonomous_Colony_Simulator/
- Laika: Aged Through Blood has a demo and a 35% deal until September 5: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1796220/Laika_Aged_Through_Blood/
- Robin Hood - Sherwood Builders is going to be 40% off until September, the 5th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1159420/Robin_Hood__Sherwood_Builders/
- Skull and Bones gets a 60% discount until the 5th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2853730/Skull_and_Bones/
- And Publisher Fireshine Games has a page so you can see it’s upcoming games, but also has one game on sale, Core Keeper, with a 20% deal until the 5th (and it’s also free to try during the weekend): https://store.steampowered.com/developer/FireshineGames/sale/fireshinegamescom2024
That's it, those were all the news. Until the next time, I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.
Please excuse my bad English.
Currently gaming on a PC with an i5-4670k@stock (for now), 16Gb RAM 1600 MHz and a GTX 1070
Steam / Live / NNID : jonxiquet Add me if you want, but I'm a single player gamer.
