News::The Last of Us leads D.I.C.E. Awards with 13 nominations

The 17th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards take place in Las Vegas from February 4 to February 7 and the nominations have been announced by The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Last year the Sony exclusive Journey was up for 11 awards, and went on to win game of the year. This year we see another Sony exclusive, The Last of Us, with 13 nominations.

No word on who will be hosting the awards this year, but I'm hoping to see a return of Chris Hardwick, founder of Nerdist.com. He absolutely killed it as host last year. I'm also hoping another drunk developer crashes the stage again (2:07:30).

The award ceremony will be taking place on February 6 and will be livestreamed starting at 7:30PM PT.

Here's the full list of categories and awards:

Read more...



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News::Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes achievements leaked

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes' Achievement list has been leaked, and it's a curious one. Provided nothing gets shifted, the full 1,000 points are broken down between a mere 15 Achievements. Curious still, with the exception of the "Reunion" Achievement, all of them seem to be extracurricular: complete these side objectives, collect these tapes, unlock these bonuses. I'm going to stop just short of saying this looks like an easy 1,000 though, as a few require S-Rank completion for all mission and side ops.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes will release on March 18, 2014, acting as the appetizer to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain's main course.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes Achievements [Xbox Achievements]

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News::Rockstar is going after GTA Online cheaters

Grand Theft Auto Online has returned now that Rockstar's scheduled maintenance period is over. Some players have in recent times discovered an exploit which allows "game-breaking amounts of in-game cash" to be generated and given out to others -- against the recipient's will, in certain cases -- and the company is committed to releasing updates to target these exploits.

"Anyone who innocently received GTA$ as a result of these exploits but did not engage in cheating to acquire it will not face any further action -- the funds will just be removed, and you'll be able to keep any items you currently own," explained Rockstar in a blog post.

"Those who actively engaged in cheating and exploiting the game in this manner will, however, be subject to in-game penalties at our discretion. This may include being placed in isolated cheater pools or banned from GTA Online altogether."

My favorite part about this story is the comments section of Rockstar's post, which is just magical.

Taking Aim at GTA Online Cheaters [Rockstar]

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News::Play Company of Heroes 2, Saints Row IV for free on Steam

This weekend on Steam, both Saints Row IV and Company of Heroes 2 will be playable for free. If you like what you find and want to continue after 1:00pm Pacific on Sunday, which is when this promo ends, the titles are on sale to own for $19.99 and $13.59, respectively.

You surely don't need me to tell you these titles are worth the time it takes to download them, so I'll just say in the case of Company of Heroes 2 that all of the game's paid multiplayer commanders are also going to be unlocked during this free weekend.

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News::Steam to add support for 12 more currencies

Steam just keeps on growing at a steady pace, and thanks to the recent Steam Dev Days event, we have a little more information on how Valve is going to continue their plans for world domination. According to a slide from the event, Norway, Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand, The Philippines, Malaysia, Japan, Thailand, Mexico, Canada, Turkey, the Ukraine, and Norway are all going to have their currencies accepted in 2014.

That recent user count of 75 million is most likely going to increase due to this announcement, and Valve has another trick up its sleeve -- they also want you to be able to transfer cash between wallets. I'm looking forward to seeing all of the advances Steam makes this year, including the impact of the Steam Machine initiative.

Steam Database [steamdb.info]

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News::Become a dentist in Surgeon Simulator for iPad

I love and hate Surgeon Simulator 2013 , but mostly, I love it. Losing is hilarious at first, don't get me wrong. Then that humor begins to fade away as you repeatedly fail to complete the same objective over and over again because each of your fingers has a mind of its own. Finally, against all odds, you do manage to complete the operation and it's just the best.

Bossa Studios had been prototyping a version of the game for iPad and it looks as if that's moving forward. A brief teaser on YouTube called "Surgeon Simulator - Shh, I Dentist Now..." went up today and there is indeed footage of a "dentist" performing an "operation."

This is supposed to be coming soon to iPad and I for one hope the new procedures make their way over to the original Steam release. Well, maybe not. Teeth getting ripped out might be something I can do without seeing.

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News::There's a Titanfall alpha planned for Xbox One

Electronic Arts is sending invitations to an alpha test of Titanfall on Xbox One. Origin players with Battlefield 4 appear to be the ones being selected here, however, the alpha will be "extremely limited" according to the publisher. For what it's worth, there's a link to the registration page accessible even if you haven't received one of these emails. Couldn't hurt to sign up.

There's been a healthy amount of skepticism concerning Titanfall, which, fair enough. It's probably for the best that we don't get too caught up before playing it or any game for ourselves. That also goes for blindly hating it. The sooner we can all play this damn game, the better.

Titanfall alpha sign ups [Beyond Entertainment via Joystiq]

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News::Ubisoft is making Tetris for Xbox One and PS4

The Tetris franchise turns 30 this year and Ubisoft is the latest company to take on the classic puzzle game. There's a new version in the works for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One that'll be released digitally at some point. Possibly this year! (No release date was given.)

There aren't any real details, although then again it's Tetris. The announcement did include two quotes, both of which are amusing but for different reasons. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said the company "can't wait to combine [its] expertise and all the capacities of next-gen consoles to create an exciting new Tetris experience for fans." Riiight.

And then there's The Tetris Company managing director Henk B. Rogers, who said "I am 100% sure they will develop one of the best versions of the Tetris game ever." Maybe it's just me, but I cannot read that sentence without it sounding sarcastic.

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News::Guardian of Light's free now for Xbox Live Gold members

It's time for another predictable but helpful bi-weekly reminder that a new game is free for Xbox Live Gold subscribers. This time, it's 2010's Summer of Arcade title Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light . Of course, this offer won't be on the table once February rolls around.

The twin-stick shooter is held in high regard by most, especially fans of co-op play. Go ahead and give this one a download if you meet that whole "don't already own it and an Xbox Live Gold member" criteria. The worst that can happen is that you just feel the need to hit that delete button.

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News::Shreds Of Evidence That Pokémon X Is More Popular Than Pokémon Y

News::New Hitman will have the largest levels yet

IO Interactive is working on the next major installment of Hitman and today the studio shared a few details about the game. Most notably, it'll feature Agent 47 "at the prime of his career" and open-ended sandbox levels that are said to be the biggest the series has ever seen.

"The game concentrates on the core Hitman fantasy of using a wide range of tools to take out a diverse group of targets across expansive, exotic locations around the world," wrote IO. "We are building this game on the backbone of the Glacier 2 engine, using the best parts and what we have learnt through Hitman: Absolution and drawing inspiration from past titles like Contracts and Blood Money to fulfil the core Hitman fantasy.

"That means we're packing in an extreme level of detail on the largest levels we have ever built for a Hitman game. We've adopted an open, non-linear level design approach to the game, ensuring the game will play out across huge, checkpoint-free, sandbox levels. Our aim is to create living, breathing and believable levels which will allow gamers to play around with the AI to create those unique moments every fan of the Hitman franchise loves."

They've got the right idea here -- it sounds challenging and, as a result, satisfying. I didn't bother with Absolution but this description is exactly what I want out of the series.

An open letter to all Hitman fans [Hitman]

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News::Nintendo Download: Castlevania II: Simon's Quest

Today is an odd day for the eShop, with Unepic gracing the Wii U storefront after its original PC release in 2011. Also appearing on the Wii U is F1 Race Stars: Powered Up Edition, and Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. You may recognize the latter as one of the most hated NES games of all time.

Just like Zelda II, Castlevania II was a massive departure from what was established previously in the series, but not nearly as successful. Personally? I enjoy Simon's Quest (so did Conrad), but I'm a sucker for weird experiences and cryptic, maddening retro titles. I wouldn't recommend it, but if you've never played it, now might be a good time.

The 3DS is also getting Simon's Quest (ha!) as well as a discount for Etrian Odyssey Untold ($19.99 until January 27th).

Read more...



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News::Play with yourself in first-person shooter Time Rifters

Despite the strangely familiar name (hint: "rift" is a synonym for "split"), Time Rifters is not about gallivanting through various eras and throwing bricks through windows. Rather, it has more in common with the early vision of Super Time Force , where players fight through a level as one character, then rewind to the beginning and fight alongside a ghost version of previous attempts.

By the end, players will have controlled four different shooters, with the goal of destroying all of the red blocks on a level. To help keep things from being too confusing, not only are past selves visible, but so are the locations where each is looking at any given moment. It's classic divide and conquer, except that you are your only teammate.

Time Rifters was originally developed for use with Oculus Rift, but functions fine on a standard display. It is currently sitting at #4 on Steam Greenlight, so there is a decent chance we will be seeing a full Steam release in the near future.

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News::Creative Assembly release beta of Total War: Rome II Assembly Kit for modders

Modders assemble! Creative Assembly have just released the beta of the Rome II Assembly Kit which lets mod enthusiasts get their hands on approved methods to creating new content for Total War: Rome II. It's available in the Tools section of Steam to download. The strategy game's database, variants, "textures, models, animations" and other gems are all for the pillaging.



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News::Stronghold Crusader 2 exclusive to Steamworks, "majority" of players on Steam

Firefly Studios has announced that Steam will be needed in order to play Stronghold Crusader 2, as while they can handle "skirmish mode, AI, single-player" and other core bits on their own, some things they can't. They're referring to "achievements, game invites and gameplay stats" which will be "powered through Steam," which is where the "majority of our players come from." Trading Cards!



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News::Frogware is Developing a Next-Gen Call of Cthulu

Focus Home Interactive confirms a next-Gen Call of Cthulu game is in the works.



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News::Half-life 2 Darkness: Source 1.3 Mod Released

A fast-paced team game where humans and spiders fight for survival. Darkness is a Source SDK 2013 modification inspired by the Gloom Quake 2 modification.



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News::Review: Kickbeat | OnlySP

OnlySP: On the face of it, the idea of putting kung fu and a music-based rhythm game together sounds a little bizarre. Kickbeat is in fact a good and surprisingly addictive game, with an interesting concept that has been generally well executed. Unfortunately, there are a number of problems that prevent it from really standing out while it turns out to be a good rhythm game, its also less successful as a beat-em-up.



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News::First Update Of The Year Arriving This Week For Nether

Phosphor Games Studio today revealed the contents of the first patch of the year for the popular Early Access survival horror MMO, Nether. The game has already amassed an impressive fanbase following its launch on Steam's Early Access program and suggestions for new features have been flooding in by the hundreds - and the developers have been listening.



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News::War Thunder : new tanks and map available in Ground Forces

Gaijin Entertainment today announced that an array of new tanks has been added to the second wave of the Closed Beta for the Ground Forces expansion in War Thunder.



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News::Gone Home - How A Story Speaks To Everyone

TSA writes: "I didnt think Id be able to connect to Gone Home on any level, but then again I really didnt know what to expect. While I was aware of the mid-90s setting and premise, where you return home from a holiday to find your family gone and must then delve into the darkest depths of your house, I didnt know what Id find when exploring the seemingly normal family home. What I did find was a story which resonated with me in a way I could not foresee."



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News::Steam Machine hardware performance ranked by Futuremark with charts

Steam Machines come in a variety of forms with different hardware and prices. But how well would they perform? Futuremark run some test.



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News::eGamer Podcast 63: Podtoid Filler

Recorded 15 January 2014, this is episode 63 of the eGamer podcast. Topics discussed include finicky new motherboards, next-gen promises that werent fulfilled and everything but gaming. Shownotes are through the link.



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News::The Banner Saga Review | TwoDashStash

The Banner Saga is the premiere title from Stoic Studio, an Austin based developer that was formed by three guys from BioWare who wanted leave so they could make their dream game a reality. Being one of the early success stories of Kickstarter, and featuring talent from BioWare, The Banner Saga had high expectations to live up to. Stoic Studio blew past all the expectations and delivers a game with an enthralling story, memorable characters, challenging gameplay, and wraps it all up in a beautiful art style complimented with a stunning orchestral performance. The Banner Saga is one of the best ways gamers can kick off the 2014 year of gaming.



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News::Octodad launch trailer brings it down a notch

Octodad: Dadliest Catch , the cephalopod-masquerading-as-human simulator (we've all been there), is set to release on January 30 on Steam, the Humble Store, and GOG.com. To commemorate the occasion, developer Young Horses has put out the above launch trailer, which shows that Octodad isn't just a person who flails around and knocks things over, but also that he has some serious issues to deal with.

A potential antagonist is shown in the chef who appears to know Octodad's true identity, and perhaps wants to prepare some fresh tako or pulpo a la gallega. Additionally, a family trip to the aquarium is central to the trailer. Octodad seems reluctant to go, but once there he almost looks nostalgic for his former underwater life. Will he abandon his loving family? Will he be chopped into bits by the chef? We will find out later this month.

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News::Love Alchemy: A Heart In Winter - Review | AACG

Love Alchemy: A Heart In Winter is not bad as a standalone game, it is just not really memorable or exciting. Apart from the great graphics, the story is cheesy and the gameplay is ordinary.



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News::Witches' Legacy: Hunter and the Hunted - Review | AACG

Witches' Legacy: Hunter and the Hunted is great-looking, and still enjoyable even though there is no real challenge or innovation.



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News::The world of casual games is a lot more hardcore than you'd imagine

GameZone reacts to the passionate response of YoVille players and Zynga's decision to shut the game down.



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News::Dead Sky Review | Combo Caster

Dead Sky is a top-down shooter that is now on sale in the Steam store, after having successfully passed the process Greenlight. Fits the zombie survival genre, and with so many choices in this genre are no longer our disposal, is a complicated competition for Dead Sky. The game gives us the options single player and multiplayer first analyzing the single player, this is almost nonexistent and I think the main function is to provide a focus to what will be the core of this game, the multiplayer.



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News::15 for 14: Fitfteen Games to Look forward to in 2014

With 2013, officially over a couple of weeks ago, the leftovers from Christmas all in the bin, and all the arbitrary and highly subjective gaming awards all handed out, Its time to look at some of the gaming marvels await us in this, the cursed year of our lord 2014.



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News::My First Day In Rust

Blaine Smith of XMMORPG writes: Rust is yet another survival MMO to join the Steam Early Access program amidst competition from the likes of DayZ, Nether and 7 Days to Die, but how does it stand up? I originally found myself drawn to the survival genre as a break from the typical MMORPG formula but I quickly found myself growing tired of the loot - kill - die - repeat mechanic that plagues practically every survival genre available today. It was only through friends hassling me on a daily basis did I decide to purchase Rust but I've yet to regret it.



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News::Grammy-Nominated Journey Composer Austin Wintory Scores the Long Awaited Video Game The Banner Saga

Wintory became the first Composer in History to be Grammy Nominated for a Video Game Score in the category of Best Score Soundtrack - Visual Media with his score to Journey.



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News::Title Bout Championship Boxing 2013 Review [Capsule Computers]

Chris Chu from Capsule Computers wrote: Title Bout Championship Boxing was an original title released in 2008. Out Of The Park Development has since moved their focus onto their other games, mainly their baseball management simulation. After being sold to P.I.S.D. Ltd., Title Bout Championship Boxing 2013 is now fully available on the PC, Mac, Linux, and mobile platforms.



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News::10 Best Moments In Bioshock Infinite

WC - The Best of 2013 lists are out, and critics have almost universally decided that Bioshock Infinite belongs amongst the best of the best. While it has its issues (I for one am not a fan of the Lady Comstock sequences), the true sequel to one of the most beloved games of our time was also packed with wonderful, magical, passionate moments that made it the memorable experience that it is.



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News::IncGamers Podcast #148

This week: SimCity goes offline by some miracle, GTA V PC footage is (maybe) leaked and Steam goes VR. In games, it's DayZ, The Banner Saga and KickBeat.



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News::Respawn: Cloud Is What Enables Titanfall To Have All This AI

Respawn's Jon Shiring explains why the Cloud is crucial for Titanfall, not only for Xbox One but for all its versions, X360 and PC included.



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News::Top 5 Reasons I Love Being a Modern Gamer

BT writes: So2014 is here. A year that will be full of disappointment, more rage inducing announcements from Corporate fat cats that have lost touch with their customers and more beloved franchises will be hurriedly pushed out on the street to make a quick buck while over-entitled players will whine about the state of games until only the most streamlined and casual of gaming experiences get shoveled out. Lets be honest, gaming nowadays Su-SuSorry, I cant do this. I can be negative, I can rage over an unpleasant announcement till I become a bigger jerk than Don Mattrickbut at the end of the day, I think that right now is one of the best times to be a gamer, whether you have been gaming since the days of the brown box or just played your first round of Angry Birds. So today, there wont be any bile from me and we wont be focusing on one specific type of game, genre, platform, or even theme. Instead, let me share with you the reason I love gaming and why I look with optimism.



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News::Broken Age: Act One Review - IncGamers

IncGamers' Tim finds out if the first part of Double Fine's adventure was worth the $3.3 million it got from Kickstarter.



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News::9 Games more deserving of Game of the Year than The Last of Us

GameZone writes, "Don't get us wrong, The Last of Us is a great game. It's emotional, tense, and visually gorgeous. But out of all the games we've played this year, there are nine game more deserving of the "Game of the Year" award."



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News::Yakuza Ishin has fishing, gardening and sexy brothels

Quick, which of those three caught your attention? Fishing and gardening, for me.

This video offers a meaty look at Sega's upcoming Yakuza Ishin, which Dale raved about at TGS. I have to admit, that world looks like it'd be fun to explore. It's an underused setting, the actual urban bit of historical Japan, where people live, rather than barren battlegrounds for sword fighting.

There's also a closer look at the brothels, along with the models that inspired them. You can play an intense match of rock-paper-scissors and get virtually drunk with these digital ladies. I think the shmup-style minigame is a metaphor for sex.

There are quite a few lengthy looks at the game, which is out next month in Japan, on that channel.

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News::How To Score The Most Points In Resogun

News::Let's talk Titanfall: Respawn on Xbox One development and cloud AI

Jon Shiring discusses "a game that nobody's been able to make in the past". [OXM UK]



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News::Hitman 6: IO's open letter promises much, but can they still deliver?

IO Interactive's open letter suggested a return to roots for everyone's favourite bald assassin. But after the divisive Absolution, do IO have what it takes to make a proper Hitman game once more? Dealspwn's Matt Gardner hopes so.



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News::Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare has been Delayed

Alex from Twinfinite writes: Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, the upcoming 3rd person shooter by EA for the Xbox One and Xbox 360 where you shoot all sorts of lush vegetatation out at zombies (seriously) has been delayed from its initial launch date of February 18th.



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News::Gabe Newell Says He'll Do A Reddit AMA If Charity Reaches $500k

News::Hey Lords of the Fallen, show us actual gameplay already

Hey City Interactive, I'm really interested in Lords of the Fallen but enough with just releasing screenshots like the two new ones in our gallery. Yeah, you released a neat looking teaser, but where's some actual gameplay footage? Only people that have previewed it know what the game truly looks like.

Destructoid's Brett Makedonski has previewed the game for us in fact, noting that it has a lot of promise. But for the rest of us I think we're over the slow drip of screens. Come on already!

But the stuff I do read about the game is what's holding my interest still. Specifically how executive producer Tomasz Gop has compared Lords of the Fallen to Dark Souls.

"This is a game about you crossing the gap," Tomasz told VG247. "The difference and distance between being a random noob at the beginning, and skilled pro player at the end. This crafting of your skill is what this is about, and I thought Dark Souls was exactly about the same thing.”

Okay Lords of the Fallen, you still have my attention ... for now.

Read more...



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News::Grand Theft Auto V Profile Returns In AMD's 13.30Beta Drivers

DSOGaming writes: "A couple of months ago, we informed you about the presence of a GTA V profile in AMD's Catalyst drivers. Most of us thought that it was just a placeholder and nothing more, however AMD had removed that profile from its Catalyst drivers after that discovery. Fast forward a couple of months and here we are today with the return of GTA V's PC profile in AMD's latest BETA drivers."



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News::Review: Halo: Spartan Assault (DarkZero)

Thomas from DarkZero writes - "Halo: Spartan Assault is a game that started out life as a tablet experiment which has now being ported to Xbox One. That is not a good sign to start with - as it's proven games cannot jump between two such divergent platforms without a few hiccups. The next bad sign - one that should be marked with a big light up arrow - is that in the port over to consoles microtransactions are still on show. Its not just the buy once and be done kind of deal - they are consumable microtransactions - the one's you can buy multiple times. Of course, none of this nonsense would really matter if the core game played well. As I mentioned in another recent review, I've stepped around, and outright ignored, bad microtransactions before, simply because the core game was compelling enough without them. Sadly that's not the case for Spartan Assault."



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News::EDGE #263 - Review Scores

Take a look at the review scores of EDGE #263, February 2014 edition: Gran Turismo 6 and The Walking Dead S02E01 are featured.



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News::Sledgehammer hiring for new Call of Duty game

After having its third-person Call of Duty cancelled, Sledgehammer Games, which was founded by ex-Dead Space developers, went on to help with the development of Modern Warfare 3 . Shortly after its release, the developer was hiring for a new Call of Duty title. It wasn't Ghosts , though.

Whatever it is, Sledgehammer is hiring for it again. According to its website, the team has, "plans to add 40 more jobs before the end of the year in all disciplines and levels of seniority across the development team."

Are there about to be three main Call of Duty developers in rotation?

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