Rebellion – New Aliens vs Predator Game Could Happen, Would Love To Return To This Franchise

Why don't you own Mount & Blade: Warband yet?

Grim Fandango remake announced on 9th July for PC and 9th June for Playstation. Now console manufacturers even pay for one month exclusive announcements lol.

I will try Mount & Blade: Warband with the free weekend.

InXile on Early Access success: “we have doubled Wasteland 2's initial budget”

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Along with Double Fine, InXile were one of the big Kickstarter successes, raising almost $3 million for Wasteland 2. Turns out they’re also a big success in Steam’s Early Access program. According to a post on Kickstarter, by selling copies of the unfinished game InXile have “doubled Wasteland 2's initial budget.”

“Every penny coming in from sales is still going back into making Wasteland 2. I can promise that the game we are close to releasing would not have been the same without [Early Access].”

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Riot Games plan to increase number of teams in 2015 League of Legends Championship Series

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Expect ten, not eight, teams in the North American and European LCS playoffs next year. While Riot “can’t promise it’ll happen”, they’ve outlined a number of reasons why they’d prefer that setup. They want abolished Super Weeks, a consistent schedule, shortened splits, longer, more exciting playoffs - and more diversity in the players and teams we see filter through to LoL’s top competitive layer.

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ArcheAge saw players bribing jurys “within the first week of alpha”

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XL, the makers of ArcheAge, created a spawling MMO that gave players freedom to build kingdoms, design spawling trading routes, and preside over their own in-game justice system. It took less than a week for them to be bribing the jury.

Trion couldn’t be happier.

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Overkill tease what’s next after Payday 2

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We liked Payday 2. We liked how unrepentantly bad it made you be. We liked its focus. And we liked its crimes. We could happily play a Payday 3 and 4. But Overkill might have other plans.

A page went live yesterday on the Overkill website that teases what’s next. So far, it’s suggested something to do with personal trainers and loo seats.

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Neversoft goes out in a blaze of glory. Literally

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A couple of months ago Activision said they’d be closing down Neversoft, notably the studio behind the Tony Hawks games, and merging the team with Infinity Ward. Well, yesterday was their last day and they celebrated with fire and big ol’ bowie knives.

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Pillars of Eternity hits the homestretch: backer beta launches on August 18th

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Backers of Obsidian’s Pillars of Eternity are on the cusp of being able to get up to their elbows in isometric RPG goodness. A backers-only beta will kick off on August 18th, the studio announced in an update on the Kickstarter page. 

Obsidian hasn’t made it clear how much of the game will be made available or how backers can join the beta, but says that more details will be revealed in the next backer update this month. 

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Taken – New Horror Survival Game – To Be Powered By Unreal Engine 4

Blizzard's Mike Morhaime on inclusivity: "We are challenging ourselves to draw from more diverse voices"

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Blizzard president Mike Morhaime has said that the studio is making and effort to ensure that its games and stories are as inclusive and epic as possible.

The comments were made in a response to an open letter from a player who has drifted away from Blizzard’s games due to the lack of gender and ethnic diversity in the likes of World of Warcraft and Diablo III. 

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Spend the weekend watching Red Bull Battle Grounds Atlanta right here

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Red Bull Battle Grounds is in Atlanta for the weekend, seeing competitors duke it out over three days in StarCraft 2. The victor gets a spot in the Battle Grounds Grand Finals in Washington DC this September. 

A whopping 128 players will be whittled down to one across the three day event. It’s a diverse bunch of players, too, as it was an open registration format, welcoming old pros and new competitors alike. Take a gander below to watch the stream, and come back each day for more StarCraft 2 battles. 

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Dragon Age: Inquisition E3 demo is chattier and more moustachioed than the last

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BioWare’s just posted the second part of Dragon Age: Inquisition’s E3 demo. Part one showed off dragon-slaying and a spot of exploration, but the second part focuses on the Inquisitor's companions and they make their way through Redcliffe Castle. 

We get to see an angrier, more savage version of Leliana, obviously hardened since Origins, and we’re introduced to the moustachioed mage, Dorian, who David Gaider says is the first gay character he’s written. 

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Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor writer says it's built on the foundation of Tolkien while still being new

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Warner Bros. and Monolith have thrown up a new trailer for Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, which is unfortunately going to be competing with Dragon Age: Inquisition when it launches on October 7th. 

Troy Baker - who voices protagonist Talion and is starting to become as prolific as Nolan North - joins co-writer and director Christian Antamessa for a blether about where the game sits in the story of Middle-earth and what the team is trying to do with the IP. 

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PC gaming hardware worth $21.5 billion; will grow over the next three years

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The PC Gaming hardware market has grown to over $21.5 billion dollars, which is over double the value of the console market. The growth comes not from casual users, but from PC gamers who are buying more expensive high-end hardware.

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More mouths to feed: Don't Starve Together teased in prototype trailer

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Klei Entertainment have given us a sneak peek at their multiplayer addition to their Tim Burtonesque survival game, Don’t Starve. Details are sparse, but we know it’ll support four or more players and It’ll be free for those that own the game already.

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Path of Exile announces one-month leagues; to cycle through multiple properties

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Grinding Gear Games have announced a new one-month league event for their hack n’ slash RPG, Path of Exile. The league will be available in hardcore and non-hardcore variants, and will cycle through all of the past league properties every four days. Prizes will also be awarded to players who reach the highest levels, and include the likes of in-game cosmetic items and t-shirts.

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Trackmania 2 Universal Demo – Now Available, Includes Track Building Tool

News

Dark Souls 2 – Latest Update Detailed, Going Live On July 18th

July 12, 2014 John Papadopoulos 6 Comments

Namco Bandai and FromSoftware revealed the changelog for the latest update of Dark Souls 2 that will go live on July 18th. This new patch will update the PC version to ‘Ver: 1.04 Regulation: 1.08′ and the console versions to ‘Ver: 1.06 Regulation: 1.08′. Continue reading →

Interviews

Rebellion Talks Sniper Elite 3 Tech – Tessellation, Mantle, DX12, Multicore CPUs, Obscurance Fields Shader

July 12, 2014 John Papadopoulos 33 Comments

A couple of days ago, we had the pleasure of interviewing Kevin Floyer-Lea, Head of Programming at Rebellion. Kevin shared some new details with us about the tech features of the Asura Engine, its Multicore CPU capabilities, and the ‘Obscurance Fields’ setting (that most of you didn’t know for what it was responsible for). In addition, Kevin shared his thoughts on Mantle, DX12 (as well as DX11.2), a possible new Aliens vs Predator game and the advantages/disadvantages of self-publishing a PC game. Enjoy the interview after the jump! Continue reading →

Gamefy apologise for leaking Team DK's tactics at The International

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Gamefy have apologised for its camera crew at this year’s Dota International, saying they “entered and began filming the player’s rooms without the permission of Valve and Team DK.” The footage they uploaded contained DK’s drafting strategy for their upcoming match against Evil Genius.

While DK still won their game against Evil Genius, Weibo user Dr_Kleiber wrote to Valve saying that “DK’s core strategy and their drafting ideas has been completely exposed in this video, which would put them in a very negative situation in their following games not only against EG but also against other teams.” And calls for a strict penalty against the company.

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Valve’s Erik Johnson on The International: “a lot of the same things could be applied directly to Counter-Strike”

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With Dota 2’s The International in full swing, Valve have to be looking at their other games and thinking they could, too, have a massive tournament. According to Erik Johnson, one of Valve’s business development authorities, “a lot of the same things [that work for The International] could be applied directly to Counter-Strike.”

He didn’t “have anything to announce right now” but “the guys working on Counter Strike have made a lot of progress on supporting the professional community.” It sounds like they might be gearing up to it.

I mean, Valve have already made more than $30 million from Compendium sales, the digital item

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Aliens, Trolls & Dragons – New Fantasy/Sci-Fi Game From “The Witcher 3″ Former Developer

Surviving Warcraft 3: The Red Solstice Hits Early Access

Alien: Isolation's cast-reuniting pre-order DLC will be available after launch too

Creative Assembly set the standard for pre-order DLC last week with the announcement of two Alien: Isolation missions: sourced directly from 1979 Alien’s third act and featuring the determined tenor of Sigourney Weaver for the first time ever in a vidyagame.

But some were understandably peeved that the missions necessitated a pre-review purchase or deals with retailers they’d never normally cross the front page of. Thankfully, Creative Assembly have admitted that both missions will be available elsewhere after the game’s release.

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The Walking Dead Season 2: Episode 4 is called Amid the Ruins, now "within arm's reach"

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Within Arm’s Reach could be the name of the next Walking Dead episode, couldn’t it? A perfectly ominous fit for this series so often about hope snatched away. You'll remember The Walking Dead Season 2: A House Divided drove our Fraser to whisky and cigarettes.

In actuality, though, episode four in titled Amid the Ruins - and “within arm’s reach” is simply Telltale’s way of telling us it’ll be on Steam shortly.

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Fanfare for Firefall: Red 5's MMO shooter is on Steam now, unlocks July 29

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In the last year, we’ve seen Firefall PvP taken offline, Red 5 CEO Mark Kern dismissed by his board of directors, and a $23m funding boost to Firefall’s development. In fact, Firefall has been developed and redeveloped enough times now that you’d be forgiven for assuming it’d been released already somewhere along the line. 

But it deserves a bit of trumpeting. Full-time MMO, part time competitive shooter, Red 5 Studios’ debut can claim to be not quite like anything else in either genre. Perhaps you’ll consider playing it for nothing in just over two weeks' time.

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How Team 17 very nearly lost the Worms license to a publisher in the '90s

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We’ve become used to developers alluding to cruel and crippling contracts they’ve signed with publishers in their pre-Kickstarter pasts. But we’re rarely privy to their particulars.

It’s tough to imagine a deal harsher than that Team 17 signed for Worms in the late ‘90s. The endless PC game that has kept the British studio going all these years was almost lost to a third-party - and only saved after the studio beat a sales target by 1.7 percent.

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Nvidia are working on a post-Shield handheld PC, reports suggest

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Nvidia have put together a handheld device designed to tap into your PC’s graphics card from afar, say the Beeb.

The Android machine will reportedly be sold alongside a budget controller, and is also capable of streaming PC games to TVs via its HDMI-out port. Which is definitely something, given the most recent Steam Machines delay.

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What does an indie MOBA look like? Meet Lightbulb Crew's Games of Glory

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EA. Blizzard. Deep Silver. Crytek. Warner Brothers. All monied publisher-developers with MOBAs on the horizon. And above them all, unchallenged at the top table, sit Riot Games and Valve.

Is there any room for a young indie studio with a fun idea to contribute to this most conservative of genres? Lightbulb Crew are about to find out. They’ve built a game named Games of Glory, and come armed only with ambition and a curious definition of the genre: “a mix of golf and Ultimate Fighting - and football”.

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Now we're even: Oddworld Inhabitants reduce New 'n' Tasty's EU pricing to match the US

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Callooh! Callay! Oh, frabjous day. The unusual folks at Oddworld Inhabitants have quietly done something that deserves to be celebrated: the right thing. They've evened out pricing for their New 'n' Tasty game across the continents.

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The best PC games of 2014 so far

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UPDATE: We've just added even more PC games to our now-bustling list of 2014's greatest. Now included are the best PC games released between April and July 2014. Think we've missed something? Drop us a comment below!

2014 is already shaping up to be a classic year for PC gaming. Not for us, the parched early months of the console cycle; where publishers and developers save up all their releases for the end of year. Already, in the first half of 2014, we’ve seen the release of new classics: games that will stand the test of time. To celebrate, we’ve rounded up the best games of 2014 so far. We’ll have more to add as the year continues.

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Arma 3's Bootcamp update will get you ready for battle

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Listen up, maggots. Arma 3 received an update today that will turn you into battle-ready soldiers instead of the pitiful, sad excuse for soldiers that you are now. The Bootcamp update introduces new single and multiplayer tutorials, a virtual reality training sim and the Virtual Arsenal, which lets you view equipment, weapons and soldiers in a VR space.

Get clued up with the video below.  

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Assassin's Creed Unity celebrates Bastille Day with murder

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While the French celebrate Bastille Day, remembering the storming of the Bastille and the subsequent uprising, the rest of us can just watch a new Assassin’s Creed Unity trailer, showing off new single-player footage and lots of jumping and murdering interspersed with hyperbolic accolades from E3. 

Take a gander at the video below. 

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Payday 2 director leaves Overkill and AAA to start an indie studio and subvert genres

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Payday 2 game director David Goldfarb has left Overkill Software and AAA development behind. He’s making his own indie studio in Stockholm, where he hopes to subvert genres and have complete creative freedom. 

“I knew that at some point the thing that I always wanted was to make my own thing,” Goldfarb told Polygon. “It doesn't matter who I work with: the desire was never to make other people's games, no matter how good they are.”

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Shocking: Raiden will fight in Mortal Kombat X

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Shocking absolutely nobody, Christopher Lambert Raiden, the silver-haired thunder god, is one of Mortal Kombat X’s violent roster. The hat-loving deity has three fighting styles, allowing players to switch between ending combos with devastating electric blasts, teleporting around and trolling enemies, and planting bombs. The sneaky bugger. 

Check out the old fella in action below. 

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World of Warcraft's art director unveils Draenei 2.0

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The vanilla races of Azeroth are getting a pretty major aesthetic overhaul with World of Warcraft’s fifth expansion, Warlords of Draenor, but some of the newer races are getting a quick nip tuck too. 

The latest Artcraft reveals the male Draenei’s new look. It’s a much subtler change than what’s been done to the original races.

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Watch 30 seconds of Battlefield 4: Dragon's Teeth before its Premium launch tomorrow

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Battlefield 4’s newest expansion, Dragon’s Teeth, launches tomorrow for Premium users. For everyone else, there’s another two week wait.

To tide you over until then, you can just watch this 30 second teaser trailer over and over again for the next 14 days. 

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EA hire eBay exec as their new CTO to help improve their games "as live services"

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EA have made a Chief Technology Officer of an eBay veteran, the company revealed last night. Ken Moss comes from eBay’s Seattle office, where he headed up their Marketplace Technology, Science and Data organisation.

Moss will be responsible for overseeing the digital platform that has fuelled EA’s shift to “games as live services” - a move they’ve visibly struggled with over the past year.

“My goal is simple,” writes Moss on his LinkedIn page. “to create services that make people’s lives better.”

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Getting to know H2O: SOE explain H1Z1's dynamic weather system

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What’re the most atmospheric weather conditions under which to endure a zombie attack? Fog has them lurching from the white at an uncomfortably close draw distance. A no-brainer, as it were. But then, blazing sunshine offers that horrible juxtaposition of death and the domestic that the Walking Dead excels at.

Luckily, sandbox shooter H1Z1 can do both, and plenty in between. SOE programmer Ryan Favale's had rain, clouds, surface wetness and a host of other weather systems working for a while now - and is currently finishing up dynamic snow which forms and melts according to temperature, humidity and wind.

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Diablo III becomes the last major Blizzard game to get a Chinese launch

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Diablo III occupies a strange rockpool in the space-time continuum. Just two years old, it feels like it’s been with us forever: never not being streamed, and never quite finished - even after Reaper of Souls.

But there’s still one major market on the planet where Diablo III never arrived: China. Blizzard will partner with local internet company NetEase to lower the final of their five series pillars into place in the region.

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After Reset RPG – Inspired By Fallout, Baldur’s Gate & Planescape: Torment – Gets New Kickstarter