Here are the many changes Riot have planned for League of Legends' Summoner's Rift
The Summoner’s Rift sees most of what goes on in the lanes in League of Legends. So how does one go about updating such a crucial map? Subtly, but decisively, it turns out.
“We want Summoner’s Rift to be the place we play together for years to come,” say Riot. “For this update, we’ve chosen a handcrafted art style that we think will grow and evolve over time, just like the rest of the game.”
Battlefield Hardline team pledge "great stability" for launch
Poor Visceral. They’ve inherited the Battlefield series at a time when its reputation has never been iffier. Battlefield 4’s launch was scuppered by server crashes, netcode problems, and low walls which occasionally killed vaulting players at random.
Now, with the world and their paymasters at EA watching, they’ve got to get Hardline off the pad without any of its engines exploding. But they’re a confident bunch.
Summer Games Done Quick: speedrunning charity marathon raises $100k in two days
Sonic, Mirror’s Edge, Mario Kart. Some of this planet’s best-loved games are about momentum. And Games Done Quick are in the noble business of making every game about shaving those seconds down to the root.
Twice a year, volunteers play games at incredible speed for the appreciation of a streaming audience. This time, they do so to provide medical care to people in more than 65 countries. And they’ve already made $100,000.
Star Citizen stretch goals see funding top $47m as community votes for them to continue
Star Citizen’s Kickstarter campaign may have ended in November 2012, but its crowdfunding push never did. Kickstarter's original $2.1 million total now constitutes less than 5% of the frankly absurd $47m raised to fund the game’s development. Yet even as Chris Roberts raises concerns that developers Cloud Imperium will run out of meaningful ways to expand the eventual game, the Star Citizen community have voted for the stretch goals to keep coming.
Set VCRs to record: Guild Wars 2 Season Two: The Gates of Maguuma trailered, out July 1
The leaves on Guild Wars' Living World might have yellowed in the months since the destruction of Lion's Arch and the downfall of Scarlet Briar, but ArenaNet have filled up the watering can and then some.
The first episode of Guild Wars 2’s second season goes live next week - and it looks like we’re going to need a bigger pot.
CIS-Game & Arrow Gaming denied visas into the US for the Dota 2 International
A series of posts on Chinese social-networking site Weibo has revealed that Dota 2 team CIS-Game have been denied visas into the US in preparation for The International next month. Translations reveal that they have no real idea as to why it was denied, with the embassy just saying “sorry”.
Meanwhile winners of the SEA qualifiers, Arrow Gaming, have also been denied visas. If either team cannot attend, they will lose their place in the prestigious tournament, and their chance at the biggest eSports prize pool in history.
David Braben prefers playing Elite: Dangerous with the Oculus Rift
Countless developers have recognised a creative and commercial opportunity in the Oculus Rift - but how many don the goggles when they get home?
Frontier’s David Braben is one. He doesn’t get motion sick, and plays Elite: Dangerous with a 5.1 speaker set-up rather than headphones, because that way the sound rotates with your ship rather than “with your head”.
“It does make a difference because you can hear the engines behind you and the guns going off,” he told PCGamesN. “You can hear yourself being hit right across the canopy. It’s that sort of level of immersion which does make a difference.”
That said, he isn’t sure the Rift is a mass market device.
DRM-free gets freer: GOG's Adrenaline Rush event promises hidden game giveaways all day
GOG have successfully one-upped the Steam Summer Sale. I’m not sure they’ve worked out how they’re going to make any money out of it yet, but they’ve certainly cracked the code: they’re giving away games for free.
You’ve probably just missed grabbing Omerta: City of Gangsters for the cost of a paper towel at a motorway service station. But it’ll be followed by three more giveaways throughout the day.
Inside Slitherine: the wargame publisher searching for new realms to conquer
If you conjure up the image of a CEO, you’d be hard pressed to fit JD McNeil into that mold. As the CEO of Slitherine, he oversees the 120 developers under Slitherine’s wing. His knowledge of the wargame genre is great, and he knows exactly how popular it is and how well each game does - not that he’d share exact numbers with a journalist, even after a few beers.
Beneath the jokes, though, he’s a shrewd businessman who has seen Slitherine go from strength to strength, and somehow he finds the time to be a magistrate in England. Maybe that’s why he’s able to listen to me jabbering on about Twitch - something Slitherine is only just exploring. He listens and analyses, looking to grow the publisher in ways that makes sense.
Arma 3 Karts DLC raises $50,000 for the Czech Red Cross
Arma 3’s April Fools joke turned DLC, Arma 3 Karts has been used to support the Czech Red Cross. Bohemia Interactive will donate a million Czech koruna to the charity from sales of the DLC. That's around £30,000 or $50,000.
Vroom: Grid Autosport launching soon; Codemasters announces season pass
I just made a series of loud engine noises at my dog, who slapped me. Why am I annoying my dog in this fashion? Because Grid Autosport launches today in North America on on June 27th in Europe. Vrooooooom.
“As with any game it’s always a nerve-wracking time for us,” writes Codemasters’ Ben Walker. “So much work has been poured into GRID Autosport by everyone involved, we’ve thrown in copious amounts of love, desire and creativity and it’s all with one goal in mind, to create a great racing experience.”
Oculus VR snatches up makers of the Xbox 360 controller and Kinect
Oculus VR is done with acquiring individuals; now it’s gobbling up companies. The VR behemoth - while its yet to release a commercial product - is clearly attempting to devour the entire world. The company’s latest acquisition is the Carbon Design Group, otherwise known as the creators of the iconic Xbox 360 controller along with Kinect.
The Carbon Design Group has actually been working with Oculus VR for a year, developing unannounced projects, the company revealed today.
The competition heats up: GOG's 24-hour Adrenaline Rush offers free games and more sales
GOG wants to remind you that there’s more than one big sale going on right now. In an effort direct our attention away from Steam for a moment, GOG’s putting on the 24-hour Adrenaline Rush.
That means 24 hours of giveaways, free games and a massive wall of flash sales. It’s all a bit manic, with deals popping up for short times, giveaways coming and going and game vouchers popping up at random.
Will Evolve be a successful new species of shooter, or a dead end?
I can’t shake my skepticism about Evolve.
It kills me to say that. I adored developer Turtle Rock’s Left 4 Dead games, and I love the concept of an asymmetric multiplayer FPS. But with games against both the revealed monsters under my belt, I keep running into the fact that Evolve seems less like a fresh new take on multiplayer and more like Left 4 Dead: Nothing But Tanks.
Elite Dangerous premium beta 2 adds big ships and bigger stations
The galaxy has just expanded, with Elite: Dangerous moving into the second phase of premium beta. Frontier Developments have added a slew of new content for premium beta 2, including a few things that were shown off by David Braben at E3, like the enormous Orbis stations.
Take a gander below at the update’s highlights.
Titanfall update 4 throws in temporary game modes and 14 new burn cards
Titanfall’s next big update showers pilots with 14 new burn cards, introduces a constantly changing Featured Game Mode and continues to improve matchmaking. Respawn says that it’s coming soon.
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