If you've ever thought that you could design an item for an RPG, a new Dragon Age: Inquisition contest is giving you the possibility of getting an item in the game.
Called the Untold Relics of Thedas Contest, this competition tasks Dragon Age players with creating accessory items for characters in the game. Developer BioWare has compiled a list of different item attributes that can be changed, and submitted designs should use combinations of these stats to change gameplay.
Participants must also come up with names and backstories for their submissions. As BioWare wrote on its website, "Make [your item] funny, make it mysterious, make it sad, but above all else, make sure it affects gameplay in an interesting and unique way. Whether it's high risk/high reward or encourages nonstandard min-maxing, we want items that will get your fellow Inquisitors thinking about how they play in new ways."
Three winners will be selected and given Dragon Age prize packs, and the developer will possibly include the winning items in future content packs for the game.
If you have a design you want to submit, write an email to relics@bioware.com with your name, birthdate, email address, and item idea. Submissions are open now and run through Monday, July 20.
Are you going to submit an item idea? Let us know in the comments below!
The iOS App Store's sales charts had already suggested that Fallout Shelter was a success, but now we have a more specific idea of how well it's done.
According to research firm SuperData, Shelter earned $5.1 million in its first two weeks of availability alone. While Apple does get a 30 percent cut, that's still a very impressive figure, particularly considering Bethesda has said Shelter wasn't designed in order to make money.
And, indeed, as anyone who's played the game can tell you, the free-to-play game's microtransactions are limited to one specific aspect of the game. You're not restricted from playing as much as you want, and the only things to spend money on are optional lunchboxes, which reward you with in-game items and characters. You even earn these occasionally by simply playing, and it's no doubt thanks in part to this player-friendly approach that the game has been so successful.
Sorcerer King is something of an oddity. It opens with the premise that you've played some other fantasy 4X game and lost. The world is now under the rule of an evil wizard with god-like powers, and you're the ward of a small province under his control. Your goal is to build up your forces and form alliances to challenge him without drawing his suspicion. All the while, you'll see a ticking "doomsday counter," which marks how close the villain is to re-making the world in his heinous image.
That counter is a big pace-setter. Early on, when you're leading a pathetic band of covert rebels, you have little to contend with. As you grow your army, capture more territory, and forge alliances with other factions, however, the Sorcerer King will respond in kind--and you must be ready. Your basic troops, mostly bog-standard soldiers, pikemen, and archers can only do so much on their own, and they soon become obsolete unless you track down new items and equipment. This is where Sorcerer King's strongest feature--roguelike-inspired encounters--comes into play.
Let's defend this magical shard for the sake of humanity!
Throughout the map you'll find caves, dungeons, inns, abandoned villages, and plenty of other locations that offer isolated role-playing moments. Each one presents you with a situation that you have to resolve. Some are as simple as solving an obvious murder, while others require you to make judgment calls, such as guessing the intentions of a creepy-looking undertaker. How you proceed in each one of these situations will affect several stats, such as your fame in the world or your favor with the gods. Those traits, in turn, determine how other factions respond to you and how quickly the Sorcerer King recognizes you as a capable threat.
These vignettes do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to establishing and fleshing out the setting. Each is well written, often laden with nuanced takes on morality as well as a wink and a nod to leave you with a chuckle. In my time with this not-quite-retail build, I found dozens of scenes across two matches--and not once did I see a repeat. It's still too early to see if that will hold for much longer, but my initial impressions are positive.
It's great to see so much effort put into these scenarios because when it comes time for the mid-to-late game, they are the only way to get essential gear. As your poorly outfitted conscripts begin squaring off with ogres and dragons, they need more than dull knives and leather armor to survive. Completed quests will net your army a variety of rewards, such as a permanent reduction in the doomsday counter, holy weapons, or magic scrolls. You can then either equip your armies with the new loot or upgrade and enchant items for even bigger bonuses down the line.
The sweet smell of imminent victory.
Like many games of its type, Sorcerer King comes in two main pieces: big-scale strategy and tactical skirmishes. Both depend on each other, but the meat of the play is in the up-close-and-personal fights. Here, all the work you've put into crafting the perfect soldiers pays off. Depending on which items and enchantments your forces have, they'll gain powerful abilities or have the armor to shrug off all but the mightiest blows. Even before you hit that stage, the tactical battles are excellent. Archers, pikemen, and mounted units all have their own strengths that play off each other, making for a broad array of options. During one of my favorite moments, I ordered my soldiers to circle a group of ruffians. When it was time, I used a shield-bash to push the bandits into a narrow path. With the enemies blocked on all sides, my marksmen let loose a hail of arrows on the helpless scoundrels. Laying out these kinds of plans might sound involved, but Sorcerer King's interface makes it quick and easy.
On the other side of that coin you have the grand strategy. In this part of the game, you'll develop alliances, build cities, tap resources, and launch a broader assault on the wicked Sorcerer King. One of the biggest new additions to the game since its debut in Early Access last year is the "favor system" for courting potential allies. Given that the whole premise is founded on asymmetrical combat between rebels and an all-powerful mage trying to the end the world, you'll want some friends to help you out.
Well then, so what's plan B?
Yetis, wraiths, dwarves, and plenty more dot the map and await your olive branch, but there's a catch. The Sorcerer King isn't dumb, and he's working each of these factions too. Speaking with any group will cause your relationship with one of the others to deteriorate, pushing them closer into the Sorcerer King's eager embrace. The yetis and the dwarves, for example, don't have much love for one another--so you'd better be ready to make some sacrifices and figure out who will be the best match for your own strategy.
It'll be interesting to see how diplomacy plays into Sorcerer King's single-player campaign, but, at the time of writing, the story mode isn't live. So far, there's only a sandbox in which you can customize your leader and pick some options for your starting map. I haven't had time to finish one of these matches yet, putting four hours into one and eight into another. I'll have a more complete review in a few days when I've had the opportunity to dig into the end game and the campaign.
In the market for a new Xbox One? Here is a deal you might want to consider.
Dell is currently offering the 500GB $350 Xbox One Halo: The Master Chief Collection bundle with a $100 Dell gift card. The gift card will be emailed to you in 10-20 days; it expires 90 days after your purchase.
The offer ends Monday, July 20. One other thing to note is that the bundle comes with a digital copy of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, not a physical one, which limits its resale value.
According to Kotaku, you'll no longer have to move the controller around to throw grenades and cross logs in the first Uncharted. While you can switch on motion controls for grenades, the developer has removed motion support completely for walking across tree trunks.
In addition, the developer of the remasters, Bluepoint, is adding in another difficulty option for all three Uncharted games included in the collection. Although Bluepoint hasn't said much about it yet, the difficulty is supposed to challenge even the collection's QA testers.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution was about the world changing. Whether those changes were for the better or the worse was up to players; in the last moments of the game, protagonist Adam Jensen--a man made half-machine after a fatal encounter that should have killed him--was handed power over humanity's fate. Jensen's final choice, made by the player, could either warn humanity of augmentation's dangers moving forward or offer them a partial version of the truth. Alternatively, Jensen could place blame in such a way that augmentation and technological resource will flourish as humanity turns on its opponents in anger.
But there was one more ending. By doing nothing--choosing none of the above--Jensen would activate the self-destruction of Panchaea, the island home of the world's most ambitious geo-engineering projects. By destroying Panchaea and everyone on it at the time, Jensen makes a statement that it isn't up to one person or group to decide the world's fate; it's humanity's own choice to make.
It is this final choice that developer Eidos Montreal has chosen to use as the base for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, the sequel to Human Revolution. But in making this one ending canon, some fans of the series say it ruins the poignancy of the choices they made in Human Revolution. But according to Deus Ex executive art director Jonathan Jacques-Belletete, the path chosen for Mankind Divided includes elements of all possible endings. In wrecking Panchaea, you do many things--expose the truth, but not all of it, and allow humanity a chance to decipher the meaning of these things for themselves.
"We kind of went into that quite naturally, really, because we looked at what the Panchaea incident was and tried to evaluate how much of a shock wave it would've given the world, and how the world react to such a danger, or such an event," he explained. "Like what they say, it's like a shock treatment. That's what 9/11 was. That's what Pearl Harbor was. A global shock treatment. Its like people get literally in a state of shock, and that's when people make really rash decisions. That's when all sorts of control laws are installed, and that's usually when the state of the world changes quite a bit.
"We can analyze the Panchaea incident as being that, and it gave us leeway to have a very, very different state of affairs, a different state of the world while being in the exact same universe and explore different themes within that," he added. "That was definitely one of the reasons [we chose that ending] at a very high level. You have a little bit of all different endings in the canon ending we chose, because at the end of the day, you can still change the truth."
In moving from Human Revolution to Mankind Divided, the baroque influence on the series' art style has all but faded away. The artistic design hasn't changed much, Jacques-Belletete notes, but the clutter and congestion of Human Revolution has paved the way for how things look in this next game. This time around, however, players will be able to traverse more territory, working their way through huge vertical structures and rummaging through the flotsam and jetsam of a rapidly evolving world.
"Human Revolution was all about clutter and an orgy of details," Jacques-Belletete explained. "We made up like 100 brands, fake brands with the stickers everywhere and all that kind of stuff. It was pretty much unheard of at the time [in games]. With Mankind Divided, we have the true power now to do that vision that we had. Before it was the first stepping-stone to that vision, and now we can really achieve it. There's nothing new to it in terms of the high-level aesthetic goals and the amount of detail, but we looked at our sandbox and the tools that we had and now we're like, holy shit, we can really do what we've always wanted to do."
But what about all that black and gold? The colors are still present in Mankind Divided, but not as prominent. Some areas have taken on a bluish color wash, or have piled on shades of slate gray.
"The black and gold had to do with the baroque style, the transhumanist side of the debate," Jacques-Belletete said. "It was a whole cyber renaissance thing, the renaissance analogy to augmentations and transhumanism and all that stuff. Gold also represented the sun for the whole Icarus myth parallels. But now because the world has made a kind of 180 degree turn, augmentations are seen as something dangerous now. The world has moved to more of what we call corporate feudalism. That's the norm in the world and Mankind Divided. Corporations are taking over it.
"[Mankind Divided] is all based on the brutalism, the brutalist architecture movement, which has to do a lot with crude concrete, crude materials, harsh plain angles. It looks like fortifications. It's almost like we've gone back to the Dark Ages of the medieval era, before the Renaissance. Because of that, the palette is a lot more desaturated. There's a lot more blue. Whenever you have this kind of apartheid, or you have this kind of control over everybody, this is when you have the blues, this is when you have the desaturation, and this is when you have that gloominess. And when you go to the areas that are a bit more controlled by the augmented people, like in the ghetto, this is when the gold comes back, almost as if they're bringing their own little candles. It's all an analogy. It was really just with the story it made sense to have less of it."
In terms of designing the people of the Deus Ex world, Jacques-Belletete said that games have in a way moved past the uncanny valley of last generation, thanks to the latest consoles and technology. Without the uncanny valley to lean on, however, designing augmentations for Mankind Divided is a little trickier. You want people to seem creepy and unnatural, he said, but the powerful technology available to developers helps them really render their humanity--literally. That's why this time around players will see more characters walking around with robotic arms, facial implants, the works. Although there is a line between cool and stupid, Jacques-Belletete noted.
"I had that arm that went like a jackhammer, that was a crossed line right there," he said. "Yet they did it in the Avengers, right? I remember when I saw that, I was like, it doesn't look that stupid. Anyway, comics and film are two different moods, ambiance, and tones. Deus Ex is a very serious game. It takes itself very seriously. The humor is almost only in sarcasm that Adam has. He has a bit of sarcasm, but he's very stoic. You have to consider all this.
"We talk with a lot of real biologists and people that [work with] biotechnologies and augmentations and stuff like that," he added. "Because we work so closely with these things, it helps us make sure that it's credible and that it doesn't cross a certain line. But we've got to keep in mind that it's a game as well, so we have things like the gun arms now. It's a little more out there than Human Revolution, but I think it's still within the boundaries of that flavor we're always trying to keep."
In conversations with colleagues and on forums, I've seen a lot of comparisons between Mankind Divided's story as seen in the trailers and the basic plot of some X-Men stories. When asked about these comparisons, Jacques-Belletete said both stories share the same core idea of segregation.
"People are afraid of people who are different than them. They're afraid," he said. "I guess the through line is that. It's all about segregation. When you're afraid of someone that's not like you, you have a tendency to push away, racism, discrimination, all that stuff. I think that's what they have in common and, yeah, people are totally right. We knew it right from the beginning, it was even part of our references when we started.
"I think it's really just duality between what being a human being is and what the limitations are, and is it okay to modify these limitations," he continued, focusing on Deus Ex's central ideas on human augmentation. "Should we do it or not? What is the meaning? What kind of questions and moral stuff does it bring to the table?"
But in the grand scheme of things, the big connection between players and the story of Deus Ex is Adam Jensen. There is, however, one big thing separating Jensen from the players who control him: his lack of full humanity. Jensen is less man than he is machine, and with Eidos describing him in Mankind Divided as "man 2.0" and the gameplay footage we've seen so far, it feels as though the bits that make him human are receding. In recent demos, we see Jensen arguing with another augmented man, trying to wheedle the truth from him and ultimately save him. Human Revolution saw him as a blank canvas in which players could impress their moral choices, but this time around, with so much changes to the world and his body and his status as a double agent between the game's two warring factions, players will struggle to make the best choices in the moment.
"I think Adam is really a vessel. The game is a vessel for that, but Adam even more so because we never wanted Adam to be pro- or anti- whatever, that at the end of the debate, the transhuman debate, he's just kind of there," Jacques-Belletete said. "I think that's what makes him stand apart from the other [heroes] is that as you play him and as you experience the world, it really makes you ponder about all this stuff.
"Eidos Montreal still receives tons of letters and emails from people that are like, 'Oh my God. I'm going to go study this. I'm going to study that. This is what I want to do with my life.' I've heard from people that are scared shitless. It's like, 'No, no, no. These things are not going to happen.' But it also seems very plausible that it can go into that direction."
Jensen's story has had a genuine positive impact on players, Jacques-Belletete said.
"Some people with disabilities write to us saying, 'It's given me a positive view on my situation and what things could do.' Some people with disabilities wrote us that they were finishing high school and want to study biology or biotechnology. Adam is, for me at least, one of the strongest characters, and it really makes you think about an issue and what it means to be either on one side or the other of that issue.
"It was like that in Human Revolution, and we're just continuing that with Mankind Divided," he added. "Now with Mankind Divided, it's this: what happens with people that are now either against that new thing or afraid of it? It's the same polarization but with a new kind of a stone thrown in the water."
Randy Pitchford, head of Borderlands developer Gearbox Software, has suggested he is interested in bring back the Brothers in Arms series, but said the studio needs a partner to do it.
Speaking to IGN, Pitchford said "the next Brothers in Arms game has to be authentic," adding that Gearbox has been "working on that."
"I feel we have unfinished business there with both the fiction and the history and I'd like to get into that," he added. "I spend a lot of time thinking about it."
According to Pitchford, Gearbox is in discussions to make the new Brothers in Arms happen, but as of yet has not secured publishing, or found the right collaborators and creative team for the project.
"Sadly, it takes a lot of resources, energy, and money to do what must be done, so it's not something I feel I could completely do alone," he explained.
"I need good partners for it, so we've been talking to great folks but it's really putting all that together that's the limiting factor. Once we put all the partnerships together in terms of publishing, collaborators, and creatives, we can talk about it."
Pitchford believes he's "on the brink" of making it happen, but "not quite there yet." The game will be officially announced once the appropriate team and idea has been settled on.
"Once it happens development will really take off and then sometime after that--if we don't completely kill ourselves--we'll announce. But we're in the incubation phase with the next one there, for sure."
This is the second time the Gearbox has indicated an interest in bringing back the series. In March, chief creative champion (official title) Mikey Neumann said the studio "wants to go back to [Brothers in Arms]."
Pitchford also recently teased a "head-turning" new Duke Nukem game, saying Gearbox has done concept work for the follow up to Duke Nukem Forever, but added that it wants to find the "correct developer" to work with on it.
ESPN and one of its top personalities, Colin Cowherd--who criticized gaming in a big way back in April--have parted ways. ESPN boss John Skipper announced the news today in a formal statement.
"We've enjoyed a mutually beneficial run with Colin for over a decade," Skipper said. "He came to national prominence on ESPN with his unique perspective on sports and society. Endings also bring new beginnings, for ESPN and Colin, and we thank him and wish him the best."
No further details regarding Cowherd's departure were announced.
But Cowherd did give his ESPN Radio listeners a clue about the possibility of him leaving the company earlier this year.
"If ESPN ever forced me to cover that, or do play-by-play, I would quit."
"Somebody lock the basement door at mom's house, and don't let 'em out," he added, referencing the players. "I will quit this network if I am every asked to cover that."
Cowherd is the third high-profile ESPN personality to leave the company this year, following Bill Simmons and Keith Olbermann.
An upcoming indie game will launch with one of the more unique business models we've ever seen.
When Vogelsap's first-person asymmetrical multiplayer horror game The Flock arrives in Q3 2015 (sometime before October), the time left for people to buy the game will depend on the in-game death rate.
Basically, every time a player dies in the game, one life will be removed from the total population of the "Flock." There will be a population countdown widget available in the in-game menus, the Steam store page, and other social channels.
When the Flock's population hits zero, no one will be able to buy the game ever again. At this point, assuming it happens, only the players who already bought The Flock will get to participate in what Vogelsap is calling a "cinematic finale."
"After the ending, the game will go offline permanently and no longer be playable," the developer said.
This even applies to The Flock's offline mode, a representative for Vogelsap confirmed: "The game will not be playable offline. It is online multiplayer only."
Vogelsap did not announce how much The Flock will cost.
The Flock, which began as a student project, is set on an "uncrecognizable" earth in the year 3000. Horrible pollution has blocked out the sun, wiping out humanity in the process. You play as a new breed of monster creatures known as the Flock, who are prospering until a new race called Carrier emerges.
Here is a description of how the gameplay actually works, courtesy of Vogelsap:
"Each player begins as a member of the Flock, when a strange light emitting device known as the Light Artifact will suddenly appear somewhere on the map. The first player who touches the Light Artifact will transform into the Carrier, who then becomes the hunted."
"Equipped with the Light Artifact, the Carrier can defeat the Flock by using the Light Artifact to illuminate the creatures. The Flock can in turn avoid the light's lethal effects by remaining motionless when caught by the beam. When a member of the Flock successfully lunges at the Carrier, it seizes control of the Light Artifact and becomes the new humanoid hunted. The previous Carrier then respawns as a member of the Flock just arriving at the scene."
There is only one way to win a match of The Flock. You must survive as the Carrier while also not allowing the light to be extinguished--or you can capture objectives. Check out the video above to see how it all works.
Does The Flock sound interesting to you? Share you thoughts in the comments below.
Activision's Call of Duty series has taken players to all manner of locations, but could outer space be next?
Don't get your hopes up, according to Call of Duty: Black Ops III multiplayer director Dan Bunting. He says in a new interview with GamesRadar that, while Activision has a "never say never" attitude about it, the company is more likely to stick with grounded and believable settings.
"The way that we approach the creative on our game? I don't think we're ever going to reach a point where we just completely ignore finding authenticity," Bunting explained.
He went on to say that Call of Duty "needs to feel believable." The futuristic technology seen past games like Advanced Warfare and in trailers for the upcoming Black Ops III are not considered science-fiction because they are rooted in reality, according to Bunting.
This isn't the first time the topic of a Call of Duty game in space has come up. Former Infinity Ward producer Mark Rubin said in November 2013 that a Call of Duty game set in space "makes sense." But at the same time, he said there would be a number of gameplay and systems challenges to overcome.
"Grenades wouldn't work exactly right," he said. "Kill Streaks wouldn't work at all--can't have a helicopter in outer space. Or a dog for that matter."
The opening section of 2013's Call of Duty: Ghosts was set in space, but the action took place mostly inside of a space station.
It also appears that, at least at one point, Activision was considering a Call of Duty game in space. In May 2010, the publisher trademarked a game called Call of Duty: Space Warfare. However, Activision abandoned this trademark in August 2014.
Rockstar has announced a double reputation (RP) weekend for Grand Theft Auto Online's Prison Break heist.
The multiplayer caper, which tasks players with breaking Professor Maxim Rashkovsky out of Bolingbroke Penitentiary, will also give out twice as much GTA$ currency.
To help players who haven't yet reached the Prison Break heist, many activities around Los Santos also award double RP. These include:
Armoured Trucks
Collecting Bounties
Completing Daily Objectives
Crate Drop Collection & Enemy Kills
Destroy Vehicle Targets
Distract Cops
Flight School
Gang Attack Completion and Enemy Kills
Holding up a Convenience Store
Import/Export Vehicle Delivery
Impromptu Race
Killing a Mugger
Lester Kill Targets
Losing Wanted Levels
Plane Takedown
Finally, seven high-end Los Santos apartments have been discounted by 25%, the full list of which can be found on the Rockstar Newswire.
This is the second weekend in a row that Rockstar has offered double RP in GTA Online. Last weekend the developer celebrated the release of its Ill-Gotten Gains Part 2 update by doubling the reward for many in-game activities.
GTA Online subsequently ran into frame rate difficulties, allegedly due to anti-mod measures included in the update. Rockstar responded by saying it's investigating the matter.
The Witcher developer CD Projekt Red's PC storefront, GOG.com, continues to expand today with the arrival of three classic Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 games.
The games listed below are available now through GOG.com, marking the first time they have ever been released digitally. And as is true for all games sold on GOG, there is no DRM whatsoever to be found.
"These games have been next to impossible to find anywhere for years," GOG business development executive Oleg Klapovsky said. "Reviving them meant that we had to dig a lot deeper, but we're excited to have acquired the rights to re-release some of the most important entries in the Warhammer legacy."
GOG also stressed that, prior to the games' arrival this week, it "meticulously" tested and fixed them (where necessary) to ensure they run well on modern day operating systems. It's also worth noting that each game comes with a copy of their original soundtrack.
With just a few more weeks to go before Gamescom kicks off in Germany, Square Enix has announced its lineup for the big-time European show--and the Japanese publisher seems to be going big.
Square Enix's 1,100-square meter booth on the show floor will include more than 200 game stations, on which attendees can play some of the company's upcoming games.
Square Enix teases that "many well-known guests" will appear on stage to discuss the game and reveal "new insights" about it. Some fans will even get to play Final Fantasy XV's second demo, called Episode Duscae 2.0. More details about Square Enix's specific plans for Gamescom will be announced later.
Gamescom 2015 runs August 5-9. GameSpot will be reporting live from the show all week.
Oculus VR, maker of the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, on Thursday announced that it has acquired Israel-based depth-sensing and computer vision specialist company Pebbles Interfaces. They are not to be confused with Pebble, the company behind another Kickstarter success story, the Pebble Watch.
In a blog post, Oculus said Pebbles has been working for the last five years on creating technology that "uses custom optics, sensor systems, and algorithms to detect and track hand movement."
Oculus goes as far to say that breakthroughs in technology of this kind will "unlock new human interaction methods in VR and revolutionize the way people communicate in virtual worlds."
Take a look at some of Pebbles' astonishing work in the video below.
As part of the acquisition, the terms of which are being kept secret, Pebbles will join Oculus' hardware engineering and computer visions teams to create new solutions for VR and human-computer interactions.
As you might have guessed, Pebbles CTO Nadav Grossinger sounds excited about the deal.
"At Pebbles Interfaces, we've been focused on pushing the limits of digital sensing technology to accelerate the future of human-computer interaction," he said. "Through micro-optics and computer vision, we hope to improve the information that can be extracted from optical sensors, which will help take virtual reality to the next level. We've always believed visual computing will be the next major platform in our lifetime, and we're excited to join the Oculus team to achieve that vision for the future."
Last month, Oculus revealed a new proprietary controller called Oculus Touch.
Legendary computing brand Commodore is making a comeback, with a new smartphone called the Pet.
Details from official channels are scarce for the time being, but tech site Wired reports that the Pet will run a modified version of Android 5.0 Lollipop. It will ship with Commodore 64 and Amiga emulators pre-installed, however no games will be included out of the box.
Commodore has also revealed it's working with other software teams to bring classic games to the phone around launch.
The phone is due to launch in Europe at some point in July, and will ship in two versions. One will come with 32GB of storage and 3GB of RAM, while the other will ship with 16GB of internal storage and 2GB of RAM. They'll cost $365 and $300 respectively, though region-specific pricing is yet to be revealed.
Both versions will carry a 5.5-inch screen, a 64-bit, 1.7GHz Mediatek processor, and will have 4G connectivity. Front-facing and rear-facing cameras are 8MP and 13MP respectively, and both can be operated using a dedicated button on the phone's edge.
The phone will include a 32GB micro SD card, but also support cards with up to 64GB of storage. The three colours to choose from at launch are black, white, or beige.
The Pet, which takes its name from the line of Commodore PCs that started production in 1977, is not being made by the Commodore of old, though. This new smartphone is the brainchild of Massimo Canigiani and Carlo Scattolini, two Italian entrepreneurs who purchased the rights to use the Commodore name and logo back in March.
For more information on the Commodore Pet, check out the official website here.
It's the largest update to the game, which is closing in on 18 million downloads, to date. Previously released updates have introduced new storylines, characters such as Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, and even zombies. But Worlds in Conflict goes even further.
Worlds in Conflict adds a "brand new design" for the game overall and introduces the Galactic Map. This feature, the top fan request according to Disney, lets players relocate to and battle across all manner of famous Star Wars locations, including Hoth, Yavin IV, Dandoran, and Er'kit.
New Planetary Conflicts are available for Commander's PvP, while players can also take on new missions and claim additional victory bonuses along the way. At the bottom of this post, you'll find a rundown of the top new features for Commander delivered through the Worlds in Conflict update, written by Disney.
But first, check out a video for Worlds in Conflict.
Star Wars Commander Worlds in Conflict Key Features:
World Relocation – The Planetary Command building, which unlocks at HQ5, allows players to choose from up to four additional worlds to scout out and move to – Yavin 4, Hoth Er'Kit, and Dandoran.
Galaxy Map - Part of the Planetary Command building, this map of the greater galaxy provides tactical intel on each planet and allows players to circle through and decide which planet to engage battles on.
Updated Play Menu - This updated menu will surface information relevant to each world, such as friends and squadmates on the planet, conflicts and events, as well as chapter progress.
Planetary Conflicts - Players compete in PVP tournament-style planetary conflicts on a rotating schedule between the added worlds. Victory bonuses are given to the faction that wins each Conflict.
PvP Victory Loot Bonus - Placement in a medal tier at the end of a Planetary Conflict rewards loot bonuses. For a number of days after the conflict, earn bonus loot for victories against in PVP.
Planetary Leaderboards – PVP leaderboards will now allow a player to see their own rank as well as the top 50 Commanders. There will also be Planetary specific leaderboards so players will know their standing on their planet. Players will also now know when they've received donated troops, and from whom they were donated.
Star Wars Commander is available today as a free download on iTunes and Google Play.
Riot Games has removed Ranked play from its massively popular MOBA League of Legends after the developer discovered a major bug that was "negatively impacting games."
The Recall spell in League of Legends allows players to teleport back to their base after a short timer. The bug kills that counter, in turn allowing players to transport back to their base at will.
This undermines the whole experience.
Since the Recall spell applies to all Champions, the bug is that much more difficult to fix, Riot said in a statement.
"Unfortunately, this particular issue can't be mitigated by disabling a specific champion or item so we've temporarily disabled Ranked while we develop a solution," Riot said in a post last night.
The developer promised to share a status update later today. We'll have that information for you as soon as it becomes available.
[UPDATE] The first teaser trailer for Martyr has been released. Check it out below.
The original story is below.
Another Warhammer game is on the way.
Van Helsing and King Arthur developer NeocoreGames on Wednesday announced Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Martyr, which the Budapest-based studio describes as a "persistent sandbox action-RPG."
According to IGN, the game is currently scheduled to launch in 2016 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.
Neocore has high hopes for Martyr, saying in a statement that, even after you complete the campaign, the narrative will continue to unfold by way of its "colossal sandbox." This should allow players to continue to enjoy "years of constant entertainment" through regular add-on content and more.
The developer is working with Warhammer license-holder Games Workshop on Martyr. Neocore producer Zoltan Pozsonyi also assured hardcore Warhammer fans that the studio is right there with them.
"There's a reason why we chose the world of Warhammer 40,000: it's intense, brutal, visceral---a perfect material for an action RPG," he explained. "We're huge fans as well, so we care deeply about this game."
Deadpool's return to Steam came with no official announcement or promotion from Activision. This, however, is not unprecedented, as Activision also launched a Prototype remastered bundle this week with very little fanfare.
We have followed up with Activision to find out if the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Deadpool are also set to return.
Activision's Marvel games were pulled as a result of an expired licensing agreement between the two companies.
Why Deadpool has returned but not the others is unknown. However, the move comes after San Diego Comic-Con last week, where the 2016 Deadpool movie starring Ryan Reynolds generated a lot of buzz.
More than a decade after its release, Blizzard Entertainment's genre-defining PC MMO World of Warcraft continues to add new features. The latest is what Blizzard is calling Mercenary Mode for PvP.
In short, Mercenary Mode--coming to the game in an upcoming patch--will allow you to play as a mercenary for the opposing faction in World of Warcraft's PvP modes. "They say, "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer"--and soon, you'll be able to do just that," Blizzard said in its announcement.
Blizzard says the main goal for the new Mercenary Mode is to help people get into Ashran or unrated Battlegrounds without having to wait in long matchmaking queues "while still maintaining the spirit of the core Alliance vs. Horde fantasy." It's also good for a chuckle--just look at the image above.
Here's how it works, according to Blizzard's official description:
"Whenever your faction is experiencing a long wait time to get into Ashran or unrated Battlegrounds, agents of the enemy faction will appear in your base in Ashran (Stormshield for the Alliance, Warspear for the Horde). These agents will allow you to enter Ashran or Battlegrounds disguised as an enemy player, and actually fight as the opposite faction."
Blizzard notes that, when playing as a mercenary, you'll still get the same rewards if you were playing as your own faction--but faction-specific achievements are the exception. What's more, your race will automatically change to match the opposite faction.
Mercenary Mode will roll out "soon" on World of Warcraft's Public Test Realm before it becomes available widely sometime later.
Xbox One owners can pick up the puzzle-platformer So Many Me (normally $15), while Xbox 360 users can download a free copy of Epic Games' 2011 sci-fi shooter Gears of War 3 (normally $20).
An Xbox Live Gold subscription is required to get the free games.
Even if you don't own an Xbox One, you may want to pick up Gears of War 3. Although it is not currently on the list of Xbox 360 games that will work on Xbox One by way of backwards compatibility, Microsoft has said that it will expand the list of supported titles by the time the new feature rolls out publicly this fall.
For the time being, users will only be able to rent individual games for either 48 hours or 30 days, while subscriptions will follow later this summer.
Sony is also looking to launch the streaming service on more devices, including both PlayStation Vita and PlayStation TV, later this year.
PS Now allows you to play games without a disc or a download; instead, games are run on a central server and streamed to users via the PS Now app. Bear in mind Sony recommends a connection speed of at least 5mbps.
According to Sony, PlayStation 4 owners will be able to "see for yourself when a playable demo launches on the PlayStation Store later this summer."
The screenshots come by way of the Sony, while the new gameplay videos have emerged on various YouTube channels, showing the remastered version of an attack chopper sequence from Uncharted 2.
The Nathan Drake Collection will also be bundled with the first access to the multiplayer beta for Uncharted 4, Naughty Dog's latest entry in the series, which was recently delayed to Spring 2016.
Angry Birds 2, the sequel to the mobile hit Angry Birds, has been announced by developer Rovio Entertainment.
After 15 games and around 3 billion downloads for the series, Angry Birds 2 will arrive on July 30, and will be the first full sequel to the 2009 hit. Rovio is promising more information later in July.
Although this is the first full sequel, the original game spawned numerous spin-offs and licensed adaptations, such as Bad Piggies and Angry Birds Star Wars. It's also given rise to an animated movie, starring Game of Thrones' Peter Dinklage, and Angry Birds LEGO sets.
It's unclear at this time which platforms Angry Birds 2 will arrive on. The original came to iOS and Android, as well as PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii U as part of the Angry Birds Trilogy.
Rovio will be hoping the new release and merchandise helps its fortunes, after a round of layoffs last year affected around 16 percent of its total workforce.
The Angry Birds movie will launch in 2016, while Angry Birds 2 is due to launch on July 30.
Fixes for the problematic PC version of Batman: Arkham Knight will not be available until September of 2015, according to Australian retailer EB Games.
Citing internal documents sent to EB Games stores, Kotaku Australia reports the game's publisher, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, has indicated updates for the game will be released in Spring, which--in Australia--is September at the earliest.
"As previously advised, we have stopped sales of Batman: Arkham Knight PC while Warner and Rocksteady work on addressing performance issues with the game," the document allegedly says.
"The latest information from Warner is that the updates won't be available until Spring. Due to this we have made the difficult decision to recall all PC stock from stores to return to the vendor until an acceptable solution is released."
Neither Warner Bros. nor principal developer Rocksteady Studios has officially stated a specific date for when it plans to released updates for Arkham Knight on PC yet.
It is common for publishers to provide retailers with placeholder dates or rough estimates for upcoming releases. It may be that a similar approach is being taken for the re-issue of Arkham Knight. GameSpot has contacted Warner Bros. for a statement on the matter.
Following its release, the PC version of Rocksteady's third--and supposedly final--entry in the Batman: Arkham series was revealed to be carrying significant technical issues ranging from sporadic freezes and frame-rate stutters to audio glitches and texture degradation.
After a high-profile backlash from PC players, Warner Bros. announced its decision to remove the game from Steam and store shelves. Developer Rocksteady released a statement saying it was also working on remedying the port's problems.
Alleged internal sources have claimed that Warner Bros. knew about the PC version's problems "for months," but dedicated resources to helping Rocksteady finish the console version, instead of the team working on the PC port. These claims have not been verified.
StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void, the last expansion to StarCraft II, will have several different editions, developer Blizzard announced today.
There are three different versions of the game available for purchase: standard, Deluxe, and Collector's. Notably, the Deluxe and Collector's Editions come with a bunch of digital items for different Blizzard games. Both editions include:
The Collector's Edition also comes with Protoss-themed portraits and character skins for Legacy of the Void, a hardcover StarCraft field manual, a DVD with special features and the game's cinematics, and Legacy of the Void's soundtrack.
In addition, all versions come with a StarCraft character for Heroes of the Storm to be announced later.
Preorders for the standard, Deluxe, and Collector's Editions are open now. The Standard costs $40, the Deluxe is available for $60, and the Collector's Edition costs $80.
If you preorder the game, you'll have immediate access to Legacy of the Void's three-mission prologue, Whispers of Oblivion. The prologue is free and will be available to everyone later on, but people who preorder can play it now through the expansion's beta test.
Finally, Blizzard announced that Heart of the Swarm--the first StarCraft 2 expansion--is now available as a standalone game, meaning it does not require Wings of Liberty to play.
He started off by saying every creative undertaking that's seen by a wide audience is likely to face some kind of backlash from a percentage of fans.
Video games are no different.
"If you're making entertainment on a grand scale, if you're reaching millions, there will be tens of thousands of people who absolutely hate us, and some percentage of those will take it upon themselves to let us known how they feel," Pitchford said, as reported by The Guardian.
But the gaming executive doesn't necessarily see this as a bad thing.
"I read it in this way: we moved those people, we touched them--even the person who hates [your game] so much, you've affected them," he explained. "That's why we fight, we're creating emotion and experience--and some people thrive on that type of feeling, some people are sadists."
During his talk, Pitchford made an analogy to sandcastles on the beach. Some may simply walk by and admire or criticize the creation, while others might be eager to destroy it. This analogy applies to all mainstream entertainment, he said.
"There is always the person who's got to stand on the sandcastle, they must crush it," Pitchford said. "That's their way of relating to that. It's typically a less sophisticated mind. There's a dark part of us all that likes the idea of crushing a sandcastle, but most of us will respect it and let it be. That's why we like playing video games where we can blow stuff up and no one gets hurt."
Read the full story at The Guardian to hear more about Pitchford's thoughts on gamer criticism and more.
What do you make of Pitchford's comments? Let us know in the comments below.
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