Big Pharma is a colourful tycoon game that explores an ugly industry

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If you’ve ever looked at the horrible amounts of money big pharmacetical companies make out of human suffering and thought, “Gosh, I’d like to be part of that,” but you still want to keep your soul, then I have good news for you. There’s a game for you: Big Pharma.

Big Pharma is a strategy management game inspired by the likes of Transport and RollerCoaster Tycoon. You run your own company, developing new drugs through research and production lines with an aim to sell them all for a nasty profit. But some uncomfortable truths about the business of healing underpins it all. 

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Diablo 3 patch 2.1.1 arrives, bringing big changes for gamblers

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Diablo III patch 2.1.1 is upon us, bringing with it a slew of changes including class and pet tweaks, bug fixes and an increase to the amount of crafting materials dropped by Rift Guardians in Adventure Mode. 

Notably, the cost of gambling by spending Blood Shards at Kadala, the Horadrim merchant in Adventure Mode, has increased. But to balance this out, the chances of getting a legendary item from her have increased. Blizzard says it’s a quality of life improvement, though it’s been the cause of many threads popping up on the forums. 

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Don't play with matches: Riot clarifies its stance on third party applications in League of Legends

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Don’t mess with the in-game experience: that’s Riot’s golden rule when it comes to League of Legends players employing third party applications. The developer apparently gets a lot of questions in regards to what types of apps are and are not acceptable, so today it clarified its stance. 

“No software should interfere directly with the in-game player experience between when you press ‘Play’ and the end of game screen.”

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Roshan moves house (ever so slightly) in Dota 2's Rekindling Soul update

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“Even the land itself is not above being modified,” boast Valve of the map changes they’ve made to Dota 2 overnight. “It’s moving day for Roshan.”

Roshan hasn’t moved far - but in a manner befitting the creepiest of the creeps, the land around him has shifted to accommodate his new location. Elsewhere, patch 6.82 brings changes to couriers, the way match stats are displayed, and the abilities of Bloodseeker and Phantom Lancer. The Rekindled Soul in question is Shadow Fiend - returning with a “frightful” new look.

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Clear the calendar of inferior MMOs: Guild Wars 2 is about to be free for a week

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Guild Wars 2 has fewer barriers to entry than any other game on our best MMORPG list, and it’s about to rid itself of the last - its box price. For a week beginning tomorrow you can potter about Tyria, pulling up root vegetables and breaking up necromantic committee meetings, for free.

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Behind the scenes with the Alienware Alpha: the first Steambox

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You might have heard of the Alienware Alpha. When it was announced a few months back, a cynic might have called it a stopgap machine - something for Dell to produce while they wait for the delayed SteamOS and Steam Controller to come and kickstart the living room PC industry. But as it turns out, it’s far more compelling than that.

What Alienware have made is a Windows machine that never asks you to navigate Windows. Instead, the Alpha represents the marriage of Steam Big Picture Mode to Alienware’s own controller-friendly interface. It’s a living room PC that doesn’t require you to keep a mouse and keyboard under the telly; that takes full advantage of Windows’ swollen Steam catalogue, and ubiquitous developer support for the Xbox 360 controller.

It’ll be out before Christmas, and cost $549 or 499 euro.

“It’s unique,” says Alienware’s Frank Azor. “Very few companies will be able to provide something like this due to the amount of engineering, development and thoughtfulness we’ve had to put in.”

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Riot to punish badly-behaved League of Legends players with temporary ranked bans

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Riot want to redefine what it means to play competitively in one of the best free PC games available, League of Legends - so that it encompasses not only good laning, but good sportsmanship too. To that end, the studio’s Competitive and Player Behaviour teams have put their heads together to conceive a new punishment for biting the ears off your teammates: temporary bans from ranked mode.

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Watch the European Heathstone Finals live from DreamHack Stockholm on Twitch

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You’ll be at least passingly familiar with DreamHack - the grand LAN event that twice annually fills the convention building, racket sports centre and ice hockey arena of its Swedish home city of Jönköping.

This Friday will be the first day of a third event - a takeover of Stockholm’s Ericsson Globe designed to position Sweden as the leading eSports nation in Europe. I’ll be there, absorbing the sights and whiplash-fast wi-fi speeds. And the best of it will be streamed on Twitch.

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Runescape has been around for over 13 years, and somehow it's still growing

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Runescape is over 13 years old, and it should be in its twilight years. At a time when even the World of Warcraft giant is losing subscribers and Blizzard has accepted that it won’t grow again, then surely Runescape should be going through something similar. 

It isn’t. Somehow, it’s growing. Even a static playerbase would be impressive for a game of its age, but in July alone, Jagex saw a 20 percent increase in members. That’s a little bonkers.

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It does what it says on the tin: Steam's big update is already helping indies get discovered

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With the constant stream of new releases, Early Access games and Greenlight guff, it’s hard to get noticed on Steam. But for most developers, getting their game on the platform is key. While the Steam Discovery update is still in its infancy, and we’re all still playing around with it, getting our bearings, it’s already having a positive impact for some developers. 

Insurgency, based on the Half-Life mod, has been on Steam for a year, and developer New World Interactive relies on social media and word of mouth to generate interest in the game. According to creative director Andrew Spearin, store page visits have risen significantly, along with sales. 

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World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor's system requirements are unsurprisingly low

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While World of Warcraft gained a lot of bells and whistles since it launched a decade ago, it’s not the most demanding of games. Though it can get a bit dicey with everything on ultra while fighting through a massive raid. 

Despite the new character models for all the older races, it looks like Warlords of Draenor is going to be keeping things nice and easy when it comes to system requirements as well. Blizzard's just released the minimum and recommended list and you could probably run it on low with a toaster.

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Before, the prehistoric survival sim, joins the Facepunch Studios tribe

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It strikes me as unusual that so many survival games are solitary misadventures. It allows for greater focus on simply not dying, I guess; but the stakes are so much higher when more than one person is at risk. Adding more people into the mix offers the potential for exploring how relationships develop under stress, or how people fall into the roles of followers and leaders. And there’s something compelling about seeing loose groups of people coming together to overcome ridiculous odds.

That’s why I’m really rather excited about Before, despite only knowing a tiny bit about it. It’s a prehistoric survival game focusing on a struggling tribe of humans. And there are mammoths! I do love a good wooly mammoth. It almost ran the risk of not being anything more than an interesting concept, but Facepunch Studios, developer of Rust and Garry’s Mod, liked it so much the brought creator Bill Lowe into the fold. 

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Titanic: Cancelling Titan may have cost Blizzard over $50 million

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Blizzard’s cancellation of Titan after seven years of development, a project that had at its peak upwards of 100 team members, was an “excruciating” decision, Mike Morhaime said yesterday. And no small part of that must have been due to the massive investment that the developer made in its now dead MMO. 

Analysts told GamesIndustry.biz that the cost of development might have been as high as $50 million, or possibly more. That’s not a drop in the ocean, even for a company that has a game with over 6 million subscribers and some of the best selling titles in the industry. 

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Gat a load of this - Volition shows off 5 crazy minutes of Saints Row: Gat out of Hell

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Volition’s announcement of Saints Row IV standalone DLC instead of a brand new game was initially disappointing, and then overwhelmingly wonderful when it was revealed that it would not only put Johnny Gat in the driver’s seat, but also take him - with Kinzie in tow - to Hell. 

And Hell seems like a fun place. The weapons and diversions in Saints Row IV were some of the best in any open world game, but Volition’s clearly been sniffing some properly infernal glue in preparation for Gat out of Hell. So expect to summon demonic imps, fly with burning wings and blow enemies up using a comfortable armchair. 

Take a gander at the five minute developer walkthrough. 

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Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Gets New In-Game Trailer

Activision has released a new trailer for Sledgehammer’s Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, featuring in-game footage from this anticipated new COD title. This trailer gives us a look at what makes Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare the total gaming package (at least according to Activision), including the world premiere of the four-player co-op mode: Exo Survival. Enjoy! Continue reading →

 

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Ryse – New Videos Show 30 Minutes Of Gameplay Footage From PC Version, VRAM Requirements Detailed

September 24, 2014 John Papadopoulos 23 Comments

PC Master Race Argentina‘s Sebastian has informed us about two videos from the PC preview build of Ryse: Son of Rome, showing 30 minutes of gameplay footage. The first is from the first level (The Beginning), while the second is from the ‘The King.’ Continue reading →

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Infinite Crisis – New Update Adds Atomic Joker and Nightmare Robin + Tons Of Tweaks & Fixes

September 24, 2014 John Papadopoulos 0 Comments

Infinite Crisis, the free-to-play MOBA from Turbine based in the DC Universe, today launched its largest update yet introducing a new tutorial mode where players are coached by famed DC heroes and unlock six free Champions as they learn to master the game. Continue reading →

 

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World of Speed – New Trailer Focusing On Ford Mustang GT

September 24, 2014 John Papadopoulos 0 Comments

Slightly Mad Studios and MY.com have released a new trailer for their free racer that introduces the Ford Mustang GT – the latest car to join World of Speed. As the press release reads, the Ford Mustang GT will be the first American muscle car to be added to the game but certainly won’t be the last. Enjoy! Continue reading →

 

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Reflex – Competitive Arena FPS Inspired By Quake 3 – Gets Kickstarter Campaign

September 24, 2014 John Papadopoulos 5 Comments

Turbo Pixel has launched a Kickstarter campaign for Reflex; a competitive Arena FPS that combines modern tech with the speed, precision and freedom of a 90s shooter. The team aims to raise $360K in total and has 25 days to meet that goal. Continue reading →

 

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Diablo – Enjoy The First Part Of The Series With New Content & In HD Resolutions Thanks To This Mod

September 24, 2014 John Papadopoulos 4 Comments

Ah, the Diablo series. A series that will make you obsessed with looting and killing a few more enemies until you close it. And by the time you’ll start thinking about closing this damn thing, you’ll come to realize that it has already sucked you into its world. And… well… there is no turning back when you actually come to that realization. It’s already too late. Continue reading →

^Will it also be $1,000, or following what they have done with the other GTX 9x0 it will "only" be $949?

Also, 384-bit bus? Are they going with 6GB or will it have 12GB?

Steam Music Player launches today. Valve offering free game soundtracks

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The latest Steam client update is as melodious as they come, as Valve are finally releasing their Steam Music Player from its months-long beta phase.

The in-client player lets you listen to music as you play games, either by dragging your MP3 collection into its library or by downloading soundtracks from the Steam store.

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Ubisoft launches Assassin's Creed: Google Streetview Edition

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To promote the imminent arrival of their Parisian stab 'em up Assassin's Creed Unity, the Francophiles at Ubisoft have just launched Project Widow.

It's free to try now, and is pitched as "a unique online experience" in which you can stroll around present day Paris learning all about the sort of nastiness that led to the outbreak of the French Revolution.

That is to say, it's an interactive Google Streetview with some things to click on and Andy Serkis narrating.

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Football Manager 2015 will feature Twitch integration

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When Football Manager 2015 arrives in November it will have a big blue button somewhere that will immediately broadcast your capabilities as a football manager all over the internet, available to anybody who cares to look, because, as is the fashion of late, Sports Interactive's ball-and-man management game will feature full Twitch integration.

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Total War: Attila revealed - where Winter, and Barbarians, are coming

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Total War: Attila’s main enemy is climate change. In this new standalone Total War game, Creative Assembly have built a campaign driven by an ever-lengthening winter, with each passing year seeing more territory become inhospitable to settlers, forcing factions to migrate south, fighting their way to warmer climes.

There’s a million-strong Mongol horde, too, about to mount a Barbarian Invasion, but I think climate change is the key issue.

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Beta editors for Trine and Trine 2 have been released, so now you can do a bit of magic

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Trine and Trine 2 are rather lovely, so much so that even a miserable chap who isn’t much of a fan of platformers, like myself, has nice things to say about them. They’ve been around for a while, and they are so often on sale and in bundles that most of you probably have copies. So good news: you can now fiddle with them thanks to the editor, which has been released  in a public beta for both games by developer Frozenbyte.

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Ubisoft wants to remind people that Watch Dogs is still more successful in Europe than Destiny

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Publishers are a competitive bunch. Watch Dogs sold well, achieved mostly critical success and is now considered a major franchise by Ubisoft. And in May, the game became the fastest selling IP in both the UK and US. 

But recently, Activision came out with the claim that Destiny now held that title, beating Ubisoft and Watch Dogs’ record. The French publisher wasn’t going to take that sitting down, though. 

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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt video shows what Geralt can get up to as he hunts for monsters

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The CD Projekt Red developers should be working on The Witcher 3, but it looks like they are still stuck faffing around in ruined castles. They were there over a month ago when they detailed the world of The Witcher 3, and it looks like they haven’t left. Will someone please drive over there are give them a lift home? 

Until then, I guess we can watch them talking about what Geralt can get up to while he’s travelling the world, hunting down monsters. 

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Here's what you can expect from the PC version of Ryse: Son of Rome

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On October 10th, Ryse joins Dead Rising 3 by escaping the shackles of Xbox One, launching on PC. But what’s the difference between the two versions? Yesterday, Crytek detailed exactly that. 

The developer boasts that the PC edition will have improved visuals while offering greater control through customisation options, which is hardly a revelation. 

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Cities: Skylines looks promising and large

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Cities: Skylines will be big and offline. Developer Colossal Order and publisher Paradox Interactive like to remind us of that fact, because it immediately makes it sound like an interesting alternative to SimCity, with was neither of those things.

A new trailer shows a couple of the different types of cities you’ll be able to build, from small, dirty industrial towns to verdant utopias. There was a livestream earlier this evening, as well, where the game was finally shown off, with Colossal Order’s CEO Mariina Hallikainen detailing roads, zones and basic infrastructure. 

Watch both below. 

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Casting resurrection: World of Warcraft's getting an undelete character feature

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Have you ever, in a fit of rage after an unsuccessful PvP bout in World of Warcraft, deleted your character, only to regret it later? Perhaps an angry partner, sick to the back teeth of you raiding all night long, binned your hero? If so, Blizzard feels your pain.

A new feature is being brought in with the upcoming pre-Warlords of Draenor patch that will allow you to resurrect deleted characters. There are a few caveats though. 

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QuakeCon's 20th anniversary convention will be kicking off in July next year

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Quakecon is almost 20, and will be celebrating it’s two decade anniversary with QuakeCon 2015 in Dallas, Texas between July 23 - July 26th. Bethesda made the announcement today, while also noting that Quakecon still can’t go to a bar and get hammered. But that’s obviously because it’s going to the wrong bars. American ones. 

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The Evil Within – PC Recommended System Requirements, 4GB of VRAM, I7 CPU, 50GB Of Free HDD Space

As some of you already know, I'm curently waiting for more reviews of the GTX 970 to make the jump and get it (it's a battle now between it and the R9 290, with the Nvidia card having all the advantages), but with the ridiculous requirements some studios are asking for, that Ryse pic and The Evil Within are the lastest examples, I don't know if it would be better for me to wait for a 8GB version of that card to make the jump.

Seriously, asking for that much VRAM is a ridiculous so early in this gen of console ports... and what the hell does Bethesda mean with "i7 with four plus cores"? Are there any i7 with less than 4 cores? And does it mean that an i7-920 is ok but an i5-2500K isn't? Bah!

/rant

Ryse pic? I thought Ryse wasn't too insane with it's 3GB for 1080p max settings, 4GB for 4K. Do you mean the Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor optional downloadable ultra HD (probably raw uncompressed) texture pack that requires 6GB? Because if the later I wouldn't worry about it that is a setting for crazy people, and future proofing.

As for The Evil Within I guess you can just write that one off as "lol, Japan" and "lol, id Tech 5". That game will almost assuradly be a terrible port, and be esentially the PS4 version just dumped on PC without any optimisation for the platform.