By Alec Meer on June 14th, 2011.
EA may not have given Battlefield fans the answer they wanted to hear, but meanwhile, back in the kingdom of Ferelden, things might be looking a little rosier. Eurogamer had a chat with EA bigwig Frank Gibeau about the reception to Dragon Age 2. He was careful not to actually slag off the game or its makers, but he did imply that the negative feedback has very much been taken on board.
Read the rest of this entry »
By Alec Meer on June 14th, 2011.
Following an online campaign that involved many, many upset emails to EA and DICE’s major executives – plus the rather less executive but rather more innocent staff of Rock, Paper, Shotgun – regarding a decision to make a trio of Battlefield 3 in-game items a retail pre-order exclusive, the great machine has settled on a public response to the matter. But not a climb down. DICE have posted a brief reply to the controversy, intended to appease fears that the Physical Warfare Pack (coming soon: the Metaphysical Warfare pack) will grant a frightful in-game advantage.
Read the rest of this entry »
By Jim Rossignol on June 14th, 2011.
The steely vigilance of Pixel Prospector has brought our attention to forthcoming voxel-RPG, Cube World. The creator of the game explains: “Cube World is (or will be) a 3D Voxel-Based game with a focus on exploration an RPG elements. The world is procedurally generated and features cave systems and basic procedural buildings.” It’s remarkable cute, as you can see in the footage below.
Interestingly, it’s only been in development for a few weeks.
Read the rest of this entry »
By Quintin Smith on June 13th, 2011.
Along with the new episodes of Winter Voices, Terraria is at the very top of my list of stuff that I need to try. Moreso now I’ve seen that the latest update adds everything from three new NPCs, to fish bowls and bunny hoods, to piranhas, jungle bats and two new rare enemies known as “Dr. Bones” and “The Groom”. Which, rather coincidentally, were both nicknames of mine at university. Is it still a nickname if you give it to yourself? I can’t remember. Click after the jump for the full feature list of the update. Phew, it’s a long one.
Read the rest of this entry »
By Alec Meer on June 13th, 2011.
IP! It’s all we really want. IP! It’s all games really are. IP! It’s more precious than gold. IP! Creators don’t matter, only owners do. IP! It’ll eat your children, and your little dog too.
Another Homefront game has been confirmed (to Eurogamer) by THQ, in spite of middling to scathing reviews, which is because it sold pretty well. Sadly, apparently not well enough to ensure the future of its primary creators, New York studio Kaos. They’re being closed down as we speak, with the given reason being “a strategic realignment.”
Read the rest of this entry »
By John Walker on June 13th, 2011.
Update: LulzSec have released what they claim to be everything they took from Bethesda, including source code and admin passwords, except for the 200,000 user details which they say they’re leaving out because, “We actually like this company.” (They also claim to have broken into senate.gov, and paste this as proof. That should bring them some dark-glassed attention.)
LulzSec, who have claimed responsibility for many of the gaming hacks of late, have announced they’ve had access to Bethesda/Zenimax’s data for a couple of months, and are planning on releasing details today. They’ve been winding up BethSoft all day, threatening to release details of a number of games, including Brink. However, in their usual way, they are suggesting they’ll go easy on them because “we love Call of Cthulhu.” They rather spuriously suggest this is motivated by a lack of details on Skyrim, but even if they received some, plan “to embarrass you anyway.”
Long live the king?
By Alec Meer on June 13th, 2011.
After a short wait and a bit of help from Gearbox, the new shooter from 3D Realms has quietly arrived on PC and console. It stars one Duke Nukem, a man of ACTION, BABES, BICEPS and MILLIONS OF MINI-GAMES. Is it worth a look and some of your money? Let’s see.
Read the rest of this entry »
By Quintin Smith on June 13th, 2011.
The three most exciting words in the English language today are “Batman: Arkham City”. It’s a fact. So you should be very interested to know that US game retailer Best Buy yesterday published a listing for Batman: Arkham City touting Robin as an exclusive, downloadable playable character for two challenge maps if you pre-order from them. See the listing for yourself and read my hasty conclusions after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »
By Quintin Smith on June 13th, 2011.
Oof, there’s no telling how long this one will stay online, but some scamp has posted footage of the behind-closed-doors showing of Hitman: Absolution (EDIT: turns out it was the Danish news. Oops.). According to our man John Walker, who actually saw the full demo, the following is an odd compilation of scenes from it, cut with scenes from the glossy, ambiguous cutscene that we did see. Odd.
Read the rest of this entry »
Grubby girl
By John Walker on June 13th, 2011.
The game I was most interested to see this year was Tomb Raider. Of everything on show, this was the one I was most intrigued by, based on Crystal Dynamics’ stellar record with the license so far, and the dark, gloomy tone that’s promised. Potential levels high. Which means I feel strange coming away from the demo a lot more concerned. Mostly by quick time events.
Bohemia Rhapsody
By Jim Rossignol on June 13th, 2011.
Last week I had a chance to talk to the Bohemia Interactive bossman, Marek Spanel. As one of the brains behind the original Operation Flashpoint, and then the three Arma games that followed, he is one PC gaming’s most ambitious developers. He’s now embarking on a huge project of developing three games across three studios at the same time: Arma 3, Take On Helicopters, and Carrier Command. I had a chance to talk to him about this bold undertaking.
Read the rest of this entry »
