Saturday, March 16, 2013

News::Tomb Raider Will Have a Second Game

Very few is known about this matter, however the story line will probably take place in another supposed deserted island or in some mysterious place inhabited by tribes. What's certain is that the new Lara Croft will be coming back with a breathless adventure.



via N4G: pc news feed http://n4g.com/news/1209608/tomb-raider-will-have-a-second-game

News::Battlefield 4, unveiled the cover of game

4News.it written: Ready for a fight war in the near future? The March 26, 2013, the date set by DICE for Battlefield 4 show the Game Developers Conference 2013 (GDC) in San Francisco, is approaching. Electronic Arts is not yet willing to release official information on the subject, while the insiders anticipate the debut churning in the network the first images.



via N4G: pc news feed http://n4g.com/news/1209380/battlefield-4-unveiled-the-cover-of-game

News::The Sonic / Mega Man comic fangasm continues

Destructoid exclusively revealed a pair of cute variant covers for Part 9 of Archie's upcoming Sonic / Mega Man event "Worlds Collide." Archie distributed similar exclusives around the web, and I'm here to round 'em up and throw 'em in yo' faces.


Comic Book Resources shared the regular newsstand cover for Part 9 (Sonic the Hedgehog #250), a lovely wraparound featuring decidedly non-chibi versions of our heroes and villains. Comics Alliance took a step back to deliver Part 8 (Sonic Universe #53), which finds Sonic and Mega Man battling the Chaos Devil, a fusion of the Sonic Adventure water spirit Chaos and the Wily death machine Yellow Devil. Finally, Newsarama has the skinny on Part 10 (Mega Man #27), where the not skinny Dr. Eggman is ready to lay the hurt down on the equally husky Dr. Light.


But that's not all! iFanboy premiered an "Evil Friends Forever" variant of Part 8, starring Wily and Eggman getting their fighting game on with the "EggsBox." Look at those two, acting like they are 10 years old! It's almost as good as the cover featuring the duo riding a tandem bicycle. Their unholy friendship is seriously the best thing to come out of this crossover, even more so than the heroes' team-up.


[via The Mega Man Network]


The Sonic / Mega Man comic fangasm continues screenshot


Read more...



via destructoid http://www.destructoid.com/the-sonic-mega-man-comic-fangasm-continues-248872.phtml

News::Amazon bought copies of SimCity seemingly disappearing

Tanya Valdez writes: While the representative from EA was unable to offer any advise, other than for him to contact the retailer in which he purchased the game from, this raises eyebrows in what exactly happened to his copy.



via N4G: pc news feed http://n4g.com/news/1209540/amazon-bought-copies-of-simcity-seemingly-disappearing

News::Score Cheap Square Enix Steam Games This Weekend

Gamesta.com has another savvy deal for budget gamers that want the most for their buck. Through a Brazilian digital download platform, gamers can acquire some prime Square Enix games for pocket change. Don't worry; it's redeemable through Steam keys, so it works just like it would always work.



via N4G: pc news feed http://n4g.com/news/1209467/score-cheap-square-enix-steam-games-this-weekend

News::The Witcher 3 Q and A - Swordplay, The Wild Hunt, and branching storylines

8Bit Envy interviews Marek Ziemak, gameplay producer on the final installment of The Witcher series.



via N4G: pc news feed http://n4g.com/news/1209516/the-witcher-3-q-and-a-swordplay-the-wild-hunt-and-branching-storylines

News::Dead Island: Riptide preview | Gaming Capacity

GC writes - Dead Island: Riptide. The more we say it, the more we think about how nicely it rolls off of the tongue. Youd find it hard to find someone who has never heard of Deep Silvers take on a zombie epidemic game. If you didnt see the first trailer for Dead Island when the game was announced, then the rock you were living under has worse reception than we first assumed. Techland and publisher Deep Silver are bringing us back into the Action/RPG world on a new island named Palanai, with just as many zombies. This is Dead Island: Riptide.



via N4G: pc news feed http://n4g.com/news/1209591/dead-island-riptide-preview-gaming-capacity

News::SimCity Review | PC World

PC World: "City building simulator SimCity is one of the most beloved PC franchises of all time. Almost every gamer remembers SimCity 2000 with a kind of fondness and attachment that most game developers can only dream of. And now EA has gone and squandered it."



via N4G: pc news feed http://n4g.com/news/1209576/simcity-review-pc-world

News::The first minutes of The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct

Take a look at the first minutes of The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct.



via N4G: pc news feed http://n4g.com/news/1209590/the-first-minutes-of-the-walking-dead-survival-instinct

News::onStart Anomaly 2 Preview - onPause

onPause writes: Anomaly 2 has been described as a tower defense game taken to a completely new level. With my short time with the preview code of the game, I couldnt find a better way to describe the newest game from 11 bit studios.



via N4G: pc news feed http://n4g.com/news/1209547/onstart-anomaly-2-preview-onpause

News::Review: Vampire Crystals

The rare act of generosity aside, support for WiiWare has been reduced to almost nothing, leaving the platform to shuffle along until the earth swallows it up. How fitting then that one of its few releases in recent months would revolve around vampires hunting zombies -- the undead preying upon one another is the perfect visual metaphor for WiiWare's current status.


Vampire Crystals is but a modest twin-stick shooter in the vein of Smash TV. It actually does one better than the arcade classic by allowing up to four people to play cooperatively or competitively. Fun in small bursts for anyone who wants to shoot up rotting corpses on a Sunday morning.


And after about an hour or so, it becomes both painful and painfully boring.


Review: Vampire Crystals screenshot


Read more...



via destructoid http://www.destructoid.com/review-vampire-crystals-248791.phtml

News::Defiance PC Beta hands on - Mature-Gaming

MG writers Stephen Hanley and Jake Mulholland get down and dirty with the Defiance PC beta to see what the fuss is about.



via N4G: pc news feed http://n4g.com/news/1209534/defiance-pc-beta-hands-on-mature-gaming

News::Black Ops 2 PC Patch offers improved CODcast support

A new Black Ops 2 patch for PC has been signed off this week, and it creates a multitude of fixes for Revolution, as well as CODCast. A major new update has been released this week for the PC version of Black Ops 2. Among the major fixes are impovements for CODcast, as well as the rebalancing of weapons. Treyarch have also added the ability to view past seasons for all leagues a team has been part of.



via N4G: pc news feed http://n4g.com/news/1209509/black-ops-2-pc-patch-offers-improved-codcast-support

News::StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm review -- Ironhammers PC Gaming

Ironhammers writes: "In a world of day-one DLC, its becoming far less often that we see a full on expansion pack but Blizzard is still rolling them out as full on as they come. With more than two years passing since Wings of Liberty ceased a twelve year long StarCraft hiatus, the next installment is here. Read on for our full Heart of the Swarm review, by our resident StarCraft fanatic, Bobby."



via N4G: pc news feed http://n4g.com/news/1209514/starcraft-ii-heart-of-the-swarm-review-ironhammers-pc-gaming

News::The 10 Greatest Call of Duty Campaign Moments

Eskimo Press: Say what you will about Call of Duty, but the series has delivered some awesome moments in its campaigns throughout the years. Explosive action set pieces and shocking scenes alike, you can always count on Call of Duty offering thrills that give the Hollywood action blockbusters a run for their money. We've put together a list of some of our favorite moments from the various CoD campaigns.



via N4G: pc news feed http://n4g.com/news/1209544/the-10-greatest-call-of-duty-campaign-moments

News::GotGame: Review | Mass Effect 3 Citadel DLC

GotGame: After six amazing years, it is finally time to say goodbye to Commander Shepard and the crew of the Normandy. Even with all the schism around the ending of Mass Effect 3, the Citadel DLC is a must by for any fan of this ground-breaking sci-fi trilogy. Though this is not an alternate ending, like many fans were hoping for, the story and message conveyed in Citadel seems very final and a much more heartfelt farewell to hero we have crafted over the years but also the colorful cast of characters that have made the made this particular gaming experience into something very special.



via N4G: pc news feed http://n4g.com/news/1209498/gotgame-review-mass-effect-3-citadel-dlc

News::SimCity Review | GIZORAMA

GIZORAMA - SimCity 4 came out more than a decade ago, and people are still playing it to this day. Its not hard to see why: Maxis delivered on the dreams of gamers and wannabe civil engineers, giving them both a sandbox and a toolbox to build the sprawling metropolis of their dreams. Fans of the series have been waiting a long time for a new SimCity, and its finally here. Unfortunately, its unlikely that this latest release will satisfy their simulation hunger. SimCity is a city-building game in the most traditional sense. Youre combination mayor, city planner, industrial mogul, and god all rolled into one. Every city starts out as an empty plot, a blank canvas on which to paint your ideal version of society. Youll be in charge of zoning residential, commercial, and industrial areas, as well as providing basic services to your miniature citizens. The game adds the concept of city specialization, a focused industry that lends your town a sense of personality and a healthy rev...



via N4G: pc news feed http://n4g.com/news/1209537/simcity-review-gizorama

News::EA censors its own support number on its forums

EA's SimCity saga has provided no shortage of comedy. Maxis general manager Lucy Bradshaw just yesterday proudly announced that the company is "hearing from thousands of people who are playing across regions, trading, communicating and loving the Always-Connected functionality." Surely EA must be receiving a mountain of complaints as well, unless it somehow found a way to prevent customers from even contacting the support team. Hmmm...


As EA forum member LeLedg and others have accidentally discovered in a thread about customers trying to make a legitimate SimCity complaints, EA is preventing the customer assistance hotline number from even appearing in the forums. When you type out the number 866-543-5435, it is replaced by an asterisk, a common message board function typically used to block course language. Just to be safe, the forum-goers typed other permutations of the number in addition to completely different phone numbers -- it's only EA's number that's censored.


There is a likelihood that this is a big misunderstanding, that this function was implemented well before the SimCity debacle to prevent people from spamming the number in the forums. Yeah, about as likely as being able to reach EA via any other means, so not very. A handful of customers have already noted that speaking to a rep via live chat session is ineffective, instead insisting on phone calls. Actually tracking down the number on EA's site is a fruitless endeavor, but the fact that EA is blocking said number from visibly appearing in the forums makes it seem like EA wants to pretend that everything is hunky-dory in Sim Land.


Just in case EA decides to delete these posts, LeLedg decided to share screen grabs of the hilarity in action. Check those in the gallery below.


Simcity forum censors EA customer care phone number. [reddit] (Thanks, David!)


EA censors its own support number on its forums screenshot


Read more...



via destructoid http://www.destructoid.com/ea-censors-its-own-support-number-on-its-forums-248865.phtml

News::Shut up and get excited for 'Saints Row IV'

StickSkills said, "The Third celebrates the game-ness of the genre, ratcheting every aspect upwards beyond the expected norm. Playing it is like going on vacation with your id at the wheel; it's loads of fun with a good amount of weird sprinkled throughout. So now that we have confirmation of Saints Row IV, the obvious question is, 'should we be excited?' My answer is a resounding 'hell yes.'"



via N4G: pc news feed http://n4g.com/news/1209536/shut-up-and-get-excited-for-saints-row-iv

News::Something About Japan extra: BitSummit in pictures

News::Something About Japan: the indie verdict after Valve pitches Steam at BitSummit


On 9 March, independent game developers from across Japan decamped to the historic city of Kyoto for BitSummit, a conference designed to unite the scattered indie scene and present options for small devs to get their software into the hands of gamers across the world.


One of the highlights for most of the developers I spoke to was a presentation by Al Farnsworth and Dan Berger from Valve on the merits of the Steam platform. While Steam is ubiquitous in Europe and North America, it has yet to catch on in Japan, where PC gaming is niche and the language barrier a formidable hurdle.


But even if no gamer in Japan touches Steam, the opportunity it presents Japanese developers to take their games overseas – without any publisher to kowtow to – is obvious.


“I’m considering Steam for my next game,” said Yohei Kataoka of Crispy’s, the young loon behind PS3 cult hit Tokyo Jungle. “I was delighted Steam came to present at BitSummit. I felt like I was at E3 or Gamescom.”


“I think it’s interesting,” said Masaya Matsuura, creator of PaRappa The Rapper and top dog at NanaOn-Sha. “A lot of people are using a platform like Steam to play games – but not many Japanese people yet. Watching that presentation, I thought it might hold some possibilities for (independent developers) like us.


“Steam is more indie-friendly than the big console makers. Also, the PC environment is changing, with Windows 8 on Intel’s Ultrabook, lots of new products like that. It’s somewhere between an iPad and an Alienware-style graphics-heavy computer, and it looks like a gamer-friendly setup.”



PaRappa The Rapper creator and NanaOn-Sha boss Masaya Matsuura.



One developer at BitSummit who has firsthand experience of Steam was Takumi Naramura of Nigori, whose game La-Mulana did the rounds on Windows and WiiWare for a few years before Japanese game aggregator Playism helped to get it onto Greenlight, where Steam users vote on which games will be allowed to be sold on Steam. Developers cannot put their game on Steam without first clearing Greenlight; with Playism’s help, La-Mulana got through and is now being prepared for sale.


“Now Playism is able to offer that route for Japanese developers onto Steam, and if things go well then it could mean access to the West for Japanese developers,” said Naramura. “But the problem is that it’s very difficult to get Japanese gamers to support a campaign on Greenlight, as Steam is still not that popular among those who don’t speak English.”


Indeed, the Greenlight system is not ideal for Japanese devs: There is a risk of public failure, and Japanese companies and individuals are generally averse to losing face. Also, getting one game past Greenlight does not give a developer a fastrack route with their next game – each title must be voted through on its own merits, which makes it difficult to plan ahead.


“It would be a lot easier if Japanese publishers could make a deal to sell on Steam directly,” said Naramura. “Greenlight is problematic. La-Mulana already had a fan base overseas, and that helped us to progress to Steam. But I don’t think it’s the case that all the games that get past Greenlight are necessarily the most interesting ones.”


Continue >>


The post Something About Japan: the indie verdict after Valve pitches Steam at BitSummit appeared first on Edge Online.






via Edge Online http://www.edge-online.com/features/something-about-japan-the-indie-verdict-after-valve-pitches-steam-at-bitsummit/

News::Still Alive, Bohemian Rhapsody, and Six Other Amazing Songs Re-Imagined With Minecraft Note Blocks

Leviathyn.com | From the Star Wars theme to Gangnam Style, these creations will most likely make you think less of yourself as a Minecraft player.



via N4G: pc news feed http://n4g.com/news/1209518/still-alive-bohemian-rhapsody-and-six-other-amazing-songs-re-imagined-with-minecraft-note-blocks

News::Games That Hate You: Aliens: Colonial Marines

K Valentine of Ludos-Mundi.com continues the Games That Hate You series I usually avoid most video game trailers to prevent my expectations and wallet from getting a solid thrashing release day, which generally results in the realization that the games are overpriced crap. But a facehugger known as the Gearbox Software marketing department latched itself onto my face and impregnated my mind with nostalgia for Aliens.



via N4G: pc news feed http://n4g.com/news/1209505/games-that-hate-you-aliens-colonial-marines

News::Vanguard Princess: Cheap and Cute Girl Fighting Fun

Having watched my friends play and over analyze the timing of their button presses and even worked on a couple of fighting games as a tester, Ive grown tired of major fighting games. I wanted to try something where a down forward punch doesnt always mean the game will yell Hadouken in acknowledgment.



via N4G: pc news feed http://n4g.com/news/1209513/vanguard-princess-cheap-and-cute-girl-fighting-fun