Rock, Paper, Shotgun

For a company whose latest flagship game spells its name with MIGHTY MONOSYLLABIC CAPS, Hi-Rez tends to run a pretty quiet operation. Today, however, it suddenly decided to open fire on all fronts, so I had to reinforce this post’s already formidable RPS Knowledge Entrapment Box with ores from the stars just to contain the sheer magnitude of it all. Many tireless hours later, I am here, and I have so much news for you. First off, god-powered MOBA SMITE (see?) is now in open beta. You can play it, I can play it, your cat can’t play it – but theoretically could if it were physically capable. Meanwhile, Tribes Ascend has – finally kowtowing to requests hurled with blue-plate-special-level fervor – halved its XP cost for all unlocks.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve always thought “Ares” feels a bit of a softie name for a god of war. It’s the sort of name you could give to washing powder. “Ares – fights for the whites.” But the free-to-play SMITE, from Hi-Rez, assures that he’s a melee magical tank.

Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a new screenshot of SMITE. What’s SMITE, you ask? You’re so forgetful. It’s Hi-Rez’s Thor-themed DOTA-inspired hyphen-inciting free-to-play multiplayer that we mentioned back in April. Why are we posting when there’s only one bloody screenshot in the last three months, when you’d think a developer proud of its game would release hundreds to make sure we can all see how great they think it is? Because this one pic is rather pretty, and I like pretty things. Oh, and I’ve put in the other seven pics they’ve released so far this year below.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sorry, I’m really tired. But not as tired as DOTA-type gamers are going to be if they bother to play all the DOTA-inspired games that are coming out. Yes, another one has been announced. This time from Hi-Rez Studios. It’s called SMITE. Todd Harris explains: “”With SMITE, we draw inspiration from DoTA-style RTS titles, but leverage the Unreal 3 Engine to introduce original action oriented combat mechanics, great graphics, and a mythology-themed setting. These session-based games depend upon balanced class design, sophisticated stat-tracking, and matchmaking functionality.”

Not a whole lot more information that than right now. But wow, people really are trying to cash in on the DOTA audience. I am not sure what it is about it. Is it purely down to companies recognising that there’s a decent size number of players interested in this stuff? Or do all game dev CEOs secretly love DOTA? I suppose it’s the same as all the Counter-Strike clones a few years ago. But still, there’s a lot of stuff you could be inspired by to make new games. Truck Simulator, for instance.