By Anonymous on Apr 20, 2015 11:53 pm
The upcoming online shooter Dirty Bomb from developer Splash Damage is still in beta, but a few big additions are coming later this week: a new Merc design, a new mode, and a new map. If you're unfamiliar with the game, you can read our impressions from last month. But in short, Dirty Bomb is a multiplayer-only game set in a near-future London. The city has been ravaged by a radioactive weapon, and you take on the role of a mercenary to loot the city for money, meds, and information.  We recently talked with the developer about the additions coming to the current beta as well as how monetization is going to work in Dirty Bomb. GameSpot: We've seen Nader before, but this Merc's been changed up considerably it seems. Can you tell us more about her? Splash Damage: Nader's still German and fond of her grenade launcher. We had a few improvements we wanted to make to how her grenade launcher works, which both makes it feel better to use and less likely to cause unexpected explosions! Where does Nader fit in compared to the other characters in the game? What's she great at compared to the others, and where are her weaknesses? Who is she best paired up with in a three-character loadout? In many ways, Nader is a more mobile version of Fragger; her grenades aren't quite as powerful, but she has more of them and can use them in mid-range combat more easily. Normally either Nader or Fragger are picked to give solid front line hitting power and the capability to quickly clear out enemy deployables like mines and health stations, letting Proxy and Bushwhacker get to the objective for a quick C4 plant or defuse. Nader's Martyrdom ability is the other reason that she tends to end up a bit closer to objectives than Fragger, as her last resort detonation can sometimes be the thing that prevents a last-second enemy defuse.  You're also unveiling a new mode--Execution. What's this mode all about? Execution is Dirty Bomb's take on the classic "bombing run" game mode, with a series of attacking and defending rounds and one life per player. It's a fairly familiar ruleset for shooter players, but when you add in our Merc synergy and energetic action, it really feels like something different… suddenly a single Merc ability use can change an entire round, be it a timely revive on Proxy or Bushwhacker, a Heartbeat Sensor that reveals an enemy rush to a particular bombsite, or an Airstrike that wipes out an entire enemy team. Add the ability to swap Mercs in between rounds to counter the enemy's strategy, and it really makes for an interesting tactical battle outside of the moment-to-moment gameplay. It is a prototype game mode, which means we plan to see what players think of it and evolve it rapidly before adding final polish. The game's primarily built on pace. What sort of strategic concerns will people have to take into consideration when playing Execution? In a phrase, "balanced aggression." No respawns means that attacking players will often back off quickly after the first engagement, and the defenders are left with the choice of pushing forward to finish off the enemy or keep to the objective defense locations.  The various Merc support specialties of healing, ammo supply, and quick C4 plant/defuse are what give the gameplay its most interesting facets. It's to a degree true in Objective and Stopwatch modes, but no respawns ends up making Defibs and PDAs real game changers! Let's talk about this new map. What details can you share? How will the action flow through this new location? Many players from earlier in the Closed Beta will have played iterations of this map, which we feel has taken many of the best aspects of the other maps to make a really well-playing Dirty Bomb level. It's set in the Greenwich area of London and called Dome, as the distinctive Millennium Dome lurks in the background. The map has been designed with our movement system foremost in mind, and also features numerous secondary objectives for each primary objective stage, which gives a great ebb and flow to the carnage. The most striking thing about the map visually is that it's most definitely far from finished! Just like Execution Mode, we want to get player feedback and collect metrics before we start layering on the polish, as mentioned we've already been doing this with Dome, and have made adjustments to the blockout geometry each time we've made it available for play. Dirty Bomb's a free-to-play game. Can you talk a little about how monetization will work?  The current monetization centers around Mercs and their Loadout Cards. Players can spend gameplay-earned Credits or real money to permanently unlock the various Mercs. We're also working on various other elements such as Credit Boosters, Elite Cases (which contain higher rarity Loadout Cards), and various bundles containing Merc unlocks and Loadout Cards or Cases. Loadout Cards let players pursue different playstyles for a particular Merc by swapping out weapons and Augments, which are bonuses that apply to in-game action. The majority of these configurations are available at low rarity so they can be acquired easily, whereas the rarer Loadout Cards have visual improvements over their lower rarity counterparts. We're already working to address some player feedback on the overall balance of the Augments, as it's a paramount concern of ours that they be on an equal playing field. Again our approach to our content is similar to how we're developing Execution Mode and new maps like Dome: We want to have different items ready to go, but ultimately we'll be prioritising according to what players want. We hope to grow the catalog organically, just as the community of Dirty Bomb players grows. Dirty Bomb is still in closed beta, but sign-ups are available on the developer's official website here.
By Anonymous on Apr 20, 2015 11:35 pm
It's been more than 25 years since the original Chip's Challenge, an addicting tile-based puzzle game developed by Chuck Sommerville, was released back in 1989 for Windows 3.1 and Atari Lynx. But now the original, and its previously unreleased sequel, are coming to Steam--and soon.  Nkidu Games, the publisher of Chip's Challenge, announced today that the original game and the sequel will be released on Steam on May 28. The original will cost $2, while the sequel will be $5. A special bundle that includes both games, along with a map editor for the sequel, will be available for $5. As for why Chip's Challenge 2 was never released, Sommerville says the game's original trademark was sold to another company, which asked him to fund the publishing of the game. He says he couldn't afford to do this, and had to shelve the game. "When I couldn't release Chip's Challenge 2, it hit me really hard," Sommerville said in a statement. "Not only had I spent two years perfecting it, I also felt I'd let down the fans too. I generally thought the only way Chip's Challenge 2 was ever going to see the light of day was by having my wife leak it on the Internet on my death." But it doesn't have to come to that, as the game is finally coming out of the shadows. Chip's Challenge 2 delivers 200 new levels and packs in 79 additional total game elements, including more abilities and monsters. In addition, you get to play as the hero of the first game, Chip, as well as his girlfriend Melinda. A trailer for Chip's Challenge 2 is above. I played so much Chip's Challenge growing up and am eager to try the sequel. What about you? Let us know in the comments below!
By Anonymous on Apr 20, 2015 11:23 pm
 Today's best deal comes from Best Buy, which is offering Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor for just $20 on all platforms. Amazon also has it for $20 on most platforms. Best Buy also has a nice deal on the Borderlands 2 PlayStation Vita bundle, offering it for just $170. On eBay, you can buy a year of Xbox Live Gold for $39. Get 10 percent off a PlayStation 4 with Target Cartwheel (the company's mobile coupon app), potentially saving you upwards of $40. Below you'll find the rest of today's best deals divided by platform: PlayStation 4Amazon is offering an $80 bonus toward the purchase of certain PS4 bundles when you trade in eligible consoles and bundles (including Xbox 360 and PS3), giving you the chance to save anywhere from $150-$350. Groupon has manufacturer-refurbished PS4s for $330. Or, if you prefer to shop elsewhere, eBay also has seller-refurbished systems for $330. Amazon is offering a bundle with Mortal Kombat X and a blue DualShock 4 controller for $100. The next week of Sony's Spring Fever is primarily focused on the GTA series for PS3, and it's nearly over. PlayStation Plus members can get Grand Theft Auto III for $2.50, Grand Theft Auto IV for $5, or Grand Theft Auto V with $1.25 million in GTA Online cash for $30 (on PS3) or $60 (PS4). You can find the full lineup of the PSN games included in Spring Fever here. Other PS4 game deals: PlayStation Plus' free games for April include Tower of Guns, Killzone: Mercenary, and Dishonored, and are available now. Xbox OneGameStop has launched a new offer where you can get a new Xbox One for $225 when you trade in a select PS3 or Xbox 360. Best Buy will take $20 off the price of a one-year Xbox Live Gold membership when you buy any Xbox 360 or Xbox One. You'll also save $10 if you buy a new controller with an Xbox One. Get $50 in Xbox gift cards for $45 at Best Buy. Microsoft's latest Deals With Gold promotion is on, discounting a handful of Xbox One and Xbox 360 games. The Evil Within is $30 on both systems, while Xbox One's Defense Grid 2 is just $6.25, and the Metro Redux bundle is $24.75. You can check out all the deals here. Other Xbox One game deals: The free Games with Gold titles for April are available now and include Child of Light on Xbox One and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag on Xbox 360. 360 owners will be getting twice as many games as usual this month, with the third and fourth games now available. PCThe newest Humble Bundle features various EA games. You can pay anything to get games like Dragon Age: Origins, Peggle, and Dead Space 2, while beating the average sale price (currently $4.93) will also get you Dragon Age II, Mass Effect 2, and more. Best of all, 100 percent of the money can be sent to charity--EA isn't taking a dime. There's also a new Humble Weekly Bundle featuring strategy games. Paying any price will get you games like Skulls of the Shogun and Frozen Synapse Prime, while a $12 purchase will get you Endless Space: Emperor Edition and more. Green Man Gaming is currently offering discounts on orders for some of the year's biggest releases. You can get Grand Theft Auto V for $46.79, Batman: Arkham Knight for $43.79, Battlefield Hardline for $50, Magicka 2 for $11.24, The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited for $46.79, Project Cars for $37.49, Pillars of Eternity for $32.84, or Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward for $30. You can find all the discounts in Green Man Gaming's VIP page, for which you can sign up for free. You can get 20 percent off at Green Man Gaming with the code: SAVE20-APRILD-EALSON The original Syndicate is free on Origin. Other PC game deals: Wii UIf you don't mind a refurbished system, Nintendo's online store has a Wii U bundle with Nintendo Land for $200, or Nintendo Land and Super Mario 3D World for $225. 3DSWalmart is offering a New 3DS XL bundle with Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and your choice of select Amiibo figurines for $230. Alternatively, the retailer has a New 3DS XL bundle with your choice of select games for $209. Eligible games include Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, Code Name: Steam, and quite a few more. Target Cartwheel is offering 15 percent off Nintendo 3DS XL systems (a deal that doesn't include the New 3DS XL). Get Pokemon Omega Ruby or Alpha Sapphire and your choice of Groudon or Kyogre collectible figurine for $31 at Walmart. PS VitaAmazon is selling the Wi-Fi PlayStation Vita for $170. HardwareAmazon prices are accurate as of publishing, but can fluctuate occasionally throughout the day. GameSpot's gaming deals posts always highlight the best deals we can find regardless of retailer. We also occasionally use retailer affiliate links, which means that purchasing goods through those links helps support all the great content (including the deals posts) you find for free here on the site.
By Anonymous on Apr 20, 2015 11:12 pm
 Blizzard's free-to-play online team brawler Heroes of the Storm launches on June 2nd.
By Anonymous on Apr 20, 2015 10:48 pm
In The Charnel House Trilogy, I found a box full of dirt and worms in a train compartment, where a groaning freak was protecting it. I understand what that box represents, but I'm perplexed by The Charnel House Trilogy itself, a side-scrolling, low-resolution, point-and-click adventure that depicts a series of unsettling images that never coalesce into a story worth connecting with. That isn't to say that The Charnel House Trilogy's three-chapter mystery is overly secretive, only that, unlike the train it takes place on, it never arrives at a distinct destination. In fact, one of the game's central enigmas is overtly revealed in much of the preceding dialogue, causing later events to land with too little weight, their power sucked away by lines that unearth secrets before they're given enough time to fester and simmer. This occurs in the game's central chapter, Sepulchre, which was originally released as a standalone short in 2013, and is notable for its overt but unsettling story of Harold, a man on a train. Yet like so many allegorical works, Sepulchre is not really a story about a man on a train--it's a story about mistakes and consequences, about how a single choice sets devastating events into unstoppable motion. You can finish the trilogy in under two hours, so this statement isn't exactly true. It's difficult to analyze a game like this without divulging key information, and almost every detail of Sepulchre--its main character's profession, the name of the aforementioned groaning freak, the state of the train's windows--points to its obvious conclusion. And its that lack of subtlety that proves the chapter's ultimate unraveling. This kind of setting has been used in a similar manner in fiction many times before, leaving the game's individual sights and sounds to provide most of the impact. I did find myself pulled in by some of these details: the high-pitched buzz that punctuated an important moment, the horror of the lights blinking off and on again, and the troubling sight of particularly oversized luggage among them. Yet given all the foreshadowing, I was only mildly disturbed; with the wind snuffed from Sepulchre's sails so quickly, I could only wonder which path it might take to arrive at its obvious finale. Sepulchre is bookended by another story, told in chapters titled Inhale and Exhale. Inhale is remarkably short, and unusual in how it almost parodies other point-and-click adventures, to the game's overall detriment. The Charnel House Trilogy is hardly humorous, so Inhale's self-referential in-jokes, such as the heroine's sarcastic description of an object behind a lamp that clearly isn't there, sets a tone the ensuing adventure doesn't follow through on. It is an odd prologue, providing some background on Alex, The Charnel House Trilogy's other main character, but its out-of-place humor, its focus on puzzles, and its failure to adjust object interaction dialogue after certain story events make it a poor tone-setter for what's to follow. (Alex's reactions to books in her bookcase, for instance, make no sense once the related puzzle has been solved.) Ah, yes. They're always catching a ride to the end of the line, aren't they? Exhale is the final and longest chapter, and its story is simultaneously more straightforward and more vague than Sepulchre's. The events that led to Alex's presence on the train are plainly exposed, yet the game's attitude towards her is more positive than its ultimate depiction of Harold. Alex's choices drove her towards her predicament, yet her horror is not self-made in the way Harold's is. Alex's role as victim allows The Charnel House Trilogy's horror elements to finally bloom, driving Alex to learn hair-raising truths, and intriguingly, to interact with her past more directly than Harold does. Alex's awareness of her unusual circumstance is the game's most successful narrative beat, as it happens. She accepts the supernatural turn of events, and uses it as an opportunity to grow. What she discovers is horrifying, but where Harold can only accept fate, Alex tries to direct it. There are other players in this story whose roles are left mostly unexplored, though The Charnel House Trilogy's conclusion hints that there will someday be answers to lingering questions. If you wonder why I haven't described the game's puzzles in much detail, it's because there isn't much to describe. You have an inventory that holds objects like your wallet, or cigarettes and a lighter, but most of the time, the dialogue informs you what you must do and where you must go; your interactions aren't usually puzzle-solving so much as they are direction-following. The Charnel House Trilogy is focused almost exclusively on its story, a story I wish impacted me more than it did. Inhale's in-jokes about adventure games and video game reviewers left me cold; Sepulchre's obvious foreshadowing neutered the story before it had any hope of grabbing me. It was Exhale that pulled me in, and its final, unresolved events left me longing for clarity, yet thankful for story strands that give me something to chew on. Overall, however, I am left puzzled by The Charnel House Trilogy, not because I don't understand it, but because its mishmash of themes and tones can't find a way to coexist.
By Anonymous on Apr 20, 2015 10:22 pm
 Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China will be available in North America on April 21.
By Anonymous on Apr 20, 2015 09:43 pm
Ubisoft on Monday released the launch trailer for Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China, the first of (at least) three 2.5D side-scrolling platformers based on the popular stealth-action series. The 90-second trailer shows off the game's 16th Century China setting along with its new female hero, Shao Jun, whom we first met in the Assassin's Creed Embers short.  In the game, players will travel to famous real-world places like the Maijishan Grottoes, the Port of Macau, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall of China. Jun is equipped with all manner of deadly weapons, including a secret shoe blade, rope darts, and daggers, among other things. In terms of story, Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China is all about vengeance. Jun returns to her homeland (after leaving to train under Ezio Auditore from Assassin's Creed II) and exacts her vengeance upon those who killed off her Assassin compatriots. Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China launches tomorrow, April 21, for PlayStation 4 and PC, while the Xbox One edition arrives April 22. The game is free for people who bought the Assassin's Creed Unity DLC pass (before it was removed) and is $10 for everyone else. The game was developed by Climax Studios (Silent Hill: Shattered Memories) in association with Ubisoft Montreal. Looking ahead, Ubisoft will release two more Assassin's Creed Chronicles games after China. They are Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia (set during the Red October revolution) and Assassin's Creed Chronicles India (set in the 19th century Sikh Empire). Release dates for these games have not been announced. As for the core Assassin's Creed series, the next entry in the franchise is rumored to be the Victorian Era London Assassin's Creed Victory. Check back later this week for GameSpot's review of Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China. For now, you can check out the images in the gallery below.         
By Anonymous on Apr 20, 2015 09:30 pm
Poor Esteban has a bit of an image problem. The shy, blue bull wants nothing more than to collect vibrant decorations to use in his art to share with the world. Sadly, due to his perfectionist nature, he is never satisfied with anything he creates. That is the conceit of the Insomniac-developed Slow Down, Bull, a game set up to donate half its profits to Starlight Children's Foundation, a charity aimed at improving the lives of children and their families. Slow Down, Bull is an item-collection game with wisdom to share for the overachievers in all of us. It's a fair game, if not an innovative one, pleasant to the eyes, though unfortunately held back in places due to rigid controls and some frustrating level design. In Slow Down, Bull, you don't control Esteban so much as you guide his direction. The bull dashes forward across colorful 2-D landscapes. You can alter his course only by pressing two buttons which steer him left or right, accessing these buttons either by the clicks of a mouse, or the triggers on a controller. You bounce off walls to gain speed, avoiding dangerous obstacles and wandering creatures that inhabit the worlds, while collecting decorations ranging from buttons to shells and googly eyes--which follow in a floating clump behind him--for Esteban's beloved art projects, all within a time limit. Ramming trees and hedges along the walls causes them to drop decorations as well as stars, which add a multiplier bonus to the items you collect, while picking up random spawning clocks provides a few extra seconds. Holding down both buttons allows you to charge, but watch that stress level.Stress is the central element to watch for in Slow Down, Bull. It quickly builds up every time you steer, as well as when you hold down the buttons to briefly charge forward. Reaching the breaking point causes Esteban to become enraged and lose control, sending him on a path of destruction, trampling decorations into useless grey clumps. Hitting one of the many meandering inhabitants scatters your inventory onto the ground. And the inhabitants become impossible to avoid if they're right in front of you when Esteban snaps under pressure. Running straight, bouncing into walls, or splashing into a pool of refreshing water causes Esteban's stress levels to fall back to normal. The progression in Slow Down, Bull takes its cues from many popular mobile games. As in Vector or Candy Crush Saga, levels are split into sections, each ending in a locked gate. Opening the gate requires you to collect a set number of hoof prints (replacing the more common stars), which are gathered by reaching point objectives during levels. You can collect up to three colored hoof prints in a level. The required number of decorations needed to gather all three is displayed by a progress bar that fills with every payload of collectables dropped into bins that dot each level. Finishing a stage rewards you with a single hoof print, but moving on from a section can require multiple attempts. In some levels the action gets too hectic, leading to some frustrating moments.Slow Down, Bull is challenging, though mostly in a positive way. As your bull-steering expertise grows, so too does your ability to gather even more treasured goods. You will begin to notice the areas in levels which promise to yield a high number of trinkets, as well as recognize the best times to turn in your collection of items before returning to nab some stars in order to eventually yield an even larger surplus of decorations. In many of the more well-designed levels, gathering two or even three hoof prints occurs smoothly, leaving you feeling both rewarded and satisfied. However, this isn't always the case. There are a few levels that are far too trying in their attempt to stop your decoration-collecting schemes, made more difficult due to stiff controls. These stages waste little time swarming their rooms and corridors with vase- and window-carriers, blocking all but the narrowest of escape routes. If you can imagine awkwardly steering a bovine rocket through these obstacles, as you try to gather random souvenirs while an angry bull hunter gives chase, knowing that one mistake means a restart, then you have a sense of just how aggravating this game can become. Better controls could have made things flow more naturally, but sadly they only exacerbate the issue. When you're presented with too many obstacles (and you will be), trying to make precise turns to dodge them becomes a useless endeavor. It becomes especially difficult when much of that fight is against Esteban's fickle stress level. During the worst moments, for example, trying to hastily avoid every danger onscreen merely enrages the stressed-out Esteban, who runs directly into the very enemy you're desperately trying to avoid in the first place. Let's just say that Esteban isn't the only one occasionally hitting his head against a wall over events in Slow Down, Bull. Esteban can move quickly. Watch out for obstacles! The playful, clever art design, however, is wonderful, and kept me from staying too irritable with the light-hearted Slow Down, Bull for long. The aesthetics shrewdly mimes what you would expect from a child's imaginative art class presentation. Popsicle sticks make up barriers encompassing scenery crafted of pieces of green and yellow construction paper, creating a colorful grassland field, where blue patches of water crumple and bend as Esteban tramples across. In other areas, colored pasta makes up the shells of a sandy beach, and pink flowers attached to sticks bring the beautiful pink hues of a cherry blossom tree to Japanese-themed stages. Esteban himself is made up of blue and purple hatching lines of a crayon or colored pencil. This drawing technique is further highlighted in the game's adorable cut scenes, which star Esteban and other characters such as his sassy feline sister Mango and the relentless bull catcher Annette. Despite some nagging issues, Slow Down, Bull is charming, with plenty of good messages to share for the whole family. During some cut scenes, the game takes a moment to provide lines of encouragement, from the value of hard work to never giving up on your goals, even if what you create, be it art or otherwise, isn't quite perfect. It's fair to say that the game would sit well with children or parents looking for a game with a cheerful nature and some worthwhile advice--though some of the more difficult stages do tarnish the theme. Still, Slow Down, Bull is a mildly entertaining little adventure, worth a look if only to help support a good cause. And that's something of which I feel Esteban would calmly approve.
By Anonymous on Apr 20, 2015 09:26 pm
 In part one of our three part series, Danny investigates the history of this beloved RPG franchise and introduces how Wild Hunt's prologue area attempts to introduce newcomers.
By Anonymous on Apr 20, 2015 09:20 pm
Universal Pictures on Monday released a new trailer for Jurassic World, and it does not disappoint.  The "official trailer," as they're calling it, dives into the story of why park organizers decided to make a mutant dino (you can probably guess why). And it also has some nice action sequences and beautiful vistas. We also get a closer look at the monster-sized genetically modified dinosaur that is, unfortunately for park attendees, super-intelligent. It even hunts for sport. On top of that, the video shows off Chris Pratt's character working together with velociraptors (and dudes with machine guns) to hunt hunt down the mighty dino and bring peace to the park. Jurassic World hits theaters on June 12. You can watch the movie and then enjoy E3 a week later.
By Anonymous on Apr 20, 2015 08:30 pm
 Matt and Randolph share their experiences playing as Vergil, Trish, and Lady, the new characters in Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition.
By Anonymous on Apr 20, 2015 06:00 am
 NetherRealm has released patch 1.02 for Mortal Kombat X, which includes a classic skin for the ice-wielding ninja Sub-Zero, and makes a few gameplay changes.
By Anonymous on Apr 20, 2015 05:30 am
 Valve has introduced a new policy that aims to reduce cases of spam and phishing on Steam by limiting what users can do before they spend at least $5.
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