New Games |
- Cue mass hysteria: WoW loses 600,000 subscribers
- Kerbal Space Program version 0.21 is live
- Dota 2 users contribute $1 million to prize pool
- Symbiote Studios Doom and Elder Scrolls figures are sweet
- Phil Fish has meltdown on Twitter, rashly cancels FEZ II
- You can now pre-purchase Space Hulk on Steam
- Deus Ex film free to be its own movie
- Yay! Yuji Naka's Rodea the Sky Soldier still exists!
- Download Rockman Xover's free but hilariously short OST
- Towerfall creator talks multi-platform support and more
- Chucklefish exploring idea of Starbound on Sony platforms
- Dominic Monaghan is an agent for The Bureau
- Ballmer: We made too many Surface RT tablets
- The Daily Hotness: Cos Comic-Con Can Play
| Cue mass hysteria: WoW loses 600,000 subscribers Posted: 27 Jul 2013 03:00 PM PDT I can't help but chuckle when Activision Blizzard releases subscription figures for World of Warcraft, because even when there are significant losses, the number of continuing subscribers remains astronomical. By the end of June, the gargantuan MMO was down to a measly 7.7 million subscribers, losing 600,000 subscribers over the last quarter. What a ghost town. Despite my snark, that is over a million subscription fees that Activision Blizzard won't be able to enjoy, so it's still a sizeable loss. For most MMOs, such a loss would basically be a death knell, yet I don't think Activision Blizzard is in the dire straits that some drama-hungry folk claim. Considering its eight-year-and-change run and its continuing ability to weather the changes in the industry -- the shift to free-to-play most notably -- I'd be surprised if anyone is particularly worried. Though I suspect that the boost provided by Mists of Pandaria was shorter than anticipated. Back in May, WoW's potential successor Titan had some staff "restructuring" and was pushed back, which set tongues wagging. No release window has been announced, however, but it's unlikely to appear any time soon. WoW will have to keep swallowing up folks' time for a couple more years, at least. World of Warcraft drops to 7.7 million subscribers [Games Industry International] |
| Kerbal Space Program version 0.21 is live Posted: 27 Jul 2013 11:00 AM PDT I just bought Kerbal Space Program off of the Steam Summer sale and am already loving it. It's got that "beauty in chaos" feeling that many of the great simulation games have perfected. Creating a monstrosity of a spaceship while crossing your fingers and hoping that it just launches is both hilarious and engrossing. Plus, I love the character design so much; these guys are adorable as they smash into the Earth's surface. The newest update to the game is the first step of many that works towards the Career Mode of the game. You can now hire specific crew members and assign them to specific parts of the ship, which will likely become the ground layer of the bigger "mission" process of the Career Mode. I, for one, can't wait for a Career Mode, since adding some direction to a game like this will certainly help keep new players on track. The update also includes terrain updates, a better Space Center, and much more. The full changelog can be read here. |
| Dota 2 users contribute $1 million to prize pool Posted: 27 Jul 2013 10:00 AM PDT Never underestimate the power of the people. Through the purchase of Dota 2 Compendiums, users have donated over $1,000,000 to The International 2013's prize pool, which currently sits at a whopping $2,671,525 after starting at $1,600,000. For those out of the loop, each purchase of a $10 Compendium, which allows users to create Dota 2 fantasy teams and make predictions for the upcoming tournament, donates $2.50 to the prize pool. This means that over 400,000 Compendiums have been sold to date. It also means that each Compendium owner now owns a fancy Immortal item in their backpack. The Heroes Pudge, Kunkka, Abbadon, Vengeful Spirit, and Lone Druid all have Immortal items that users may receive, some of which even have special animations associated with them. I got the Kunkka item and I couldn't be happier! In other Dota 2 news, the game recently hit over 400,000 concurrent players, with that number seemingly growing all the time. With The International 2013 right around the corner, I am very excited to see what kind of viewer numbers the tournament brings in. Have you jumped on the Dota 2 train yet? |
| Symbiote Studios Doom and Elder Scrolls figures are sweet Posted: 27 Jul 2013 09:30 AM PDT Every year there are some pretty awesome exclusive toys and figures to grab at Comic-Con for the would-be collector. With this year's holy grail being none other than the Green and White Ranger's Legacy Power Morpher -- which easily fetches over three times its value on Ebay at the moment. While I was fortunate enough to obtain this rare treasure -- after shoving my way through a sea of vicious early morning toy vultures -- it is not the coolest looking trinket I snagged for my shelves. That honor would go to two sweet looking vinyl figures from the fine folks at Symbiote Studios. Their booth was tucked into the nether realms of the crowded show floor, but it was hard not to notice them once you caught a glance of their Bethesda branded figures. The Elder Scrolls V Astrid and Dark Elf in Daedric Armor are both pretty slick looking, but my favorite goes to the amazingly smug looking Space Marine from Doom that comes complete with removable helmet and BFG. Neither of the Bethesda figures were exclusive to the show and infact have been available for quite some time on the Symbiote Studios website, but I'm glad I discovered them when I did. With their simple yet charming design, I looking forward to what video game related figure they sculpt next. |
| Phil Fish has meltdown on Twitter, rashly cancels FEZ II Posted: 27 Jul 2013 07:30 AM PDT [Update: Phil Fish has posted on Twitter: "to be clear, im not cancelling FEZ II because some boorish fuck said something stupid, im doing it to get out of games. and im getting out of games because i choose not to put up with this abuse anymore.] [Note: Fish has protected his tweets. To view them, you must be following him on Twitter. I have included images of the sourced tweets.] Phil Fish, developer of FEZ, has had yet another colossal meltdown today on Twitter, this time in response to the "Annoyed Gamer." On a recent episode of GameTrailers' Invisible Walls, Marcus "Annoyed Gamer" Beer goes off on Phil Fish and Jon Blow about not giving quotes to Game Informer about the potential (at the time) news that the Xbox One will allow indies to self-publish. Mr. Fish, after seeing this today, went off on Mr. Beer and even told him to kill himself. This eventually led to Phil Fish cancelling the recently-announced FEZ II. The official Polytron Twitter account also made the announcement. Fish did say that he was waiting on the news to be official before saying anything, as Microsoft had not yet officially said anything on the matter. To me, this just seems like two guys being complete jerks to each other for no real reason. Beer is unnecessarily harsh on Phil Fish and Jon Blow, immaturely calling them "hipsters" in an attempt to demean them. As a big fan of the first FEZ, I really hope that Phil Fish collects himself and revives the project somewhere down the line. It's clear that he is emotionally unstable in some way and really needs to sit and reflect before moving on with his professional career. He mentions that he doesn't think Marcus knows "how much this shit hurts," yet throws similar mean-spirited remarks back at him. Maybe they both need to think before they speak, a lesson that most teenagers often hear from their teachers and parents. @Polytron [Twitter] |
| You can now pre-purchase Space Hulk on Steam Posted: 27 Jul 2013 07:00 AM PDT If you've been hankering to purge Tyranids then you'll be glad to hear the new version of Space Hulk is now available for pre-purchase on Steam. It's been 20 years since the original PC version and with XCOM: Enemy Unknown raising the profile of combat strategy games recently, it feels a good time to dust off the old Terminator armor and kill some Genestealers. The game will cost you $29.99/£22.99 and you'll get a special Genestealer skin as well as an exclusive banner for the multiplayer mode. I think the multiplayer is what has me excited the most; it's been a long time since I played any Space Hulk and I'm keen to pit my wits against the Tryanids again. What's interesting is that Full Control is doing asynchronous multiplayer on PC, Mac, and iOS platforms. Space Hulk is looking really true to both the original board game and the videogame; the character models look spot on and the new game will feature missions from the original board game which is great news. We will all find out when Space Hulk is released a few weeks from now on August 15. |
| Deus Ex film free to be its own movie Posted: 27 Jul 2013 06:00 AM PDT We all know the record of videogames being translated into good movies whilst being true to the source material is... well, pretty poor. Whilst games don't tend to have the best stories around, much of the challenge is condensing them into a watchable 90-minute experience. Speaking at Comic-Con, Deus Ex screenwriter C.Robert Cargill said his script will have all the game's central themes but isn't strictly tied to the games. Cargill confirmed Adam Jensen, the central protagonist from Deus Ex: Human Revolution, will be the main character in his screenplay, though some specific story beats from the game might not make it in for the sake of a cohesive story. Cargill is clear on the approach he's taking: "It's not a videogame movie, it's a cyberpunk movie. Eidos Montreal has given us a lot of freedom in terms of story." Whilst I understand why fans of a game want a slavish adaptation, I'm more than happy to see a Deus Ex film stick with the core elements of the story: trans-humanism, conspiracies, wearing sunglasses even when it's dark outside. A Deus Ex film with all those things is something I want to see. Deus Ex movie will be a cyberpunk movie, not a videogame film [Polygon] |
| Yay! Yuji Naka's Rodea the Sky Soldier still exists! Posted: 27 Jul 2013 05:00 AM PDT Oh, wow! Never thought I'd hear about this guy again! What a pleasant surprise! About two and a half years back, Yuji Naka's Prope studio announced a new Wii / 3DS title called Rodea the Sky Soldier, which looked like a much more action-oriented NiGHTS into Dreams. The title sounded promising enough that I named it one of my most anticipated games of 2012, but unfortunately, publisher Kadokawa Shoten decided to sit on the completed Wii version and offer no further details on the state of the 3DS version. In a recent interview with 4Gamer, Kadokawa president Yoshimi Yasuda revealed that the game is still coming and that the reason for the silence was simply a lack of media interest (Hey! I was interested!). Since the Wii version relies heavily on the Wii Remote, the past year or so has been spent working with the 3DS to figure out a sensible control scheme. The 3DS build is currently 70% complete, and more information will arrive in the near future. I'm super stoked that Rodea wasn't scrapped, though I wonder what Prope and Kadokawa plan on doing with the Wii version. Perhaps they'll use the knowledge gleaned from their 3DS experience towards a Wii U up-port, which will of course still allow the option to use the Wii Remote as originally intended. I don't care what they decide on; I just want this game. Rodea the Sky Soldier Still Coming to Wii, 3DS [Nintendo World Report via 4Gamer] |
| Download Rockman Xover's free but hilariously short OST Posted: 27 Jul 2013 04:00 AM PDT I think I've said all that really needs to be said about Capcom's free-to-play abomination that is Rockman Xover. But in all fairness, I have not personally played the game and thus can't judge the accuracy of others' damning impressions... yet. Capcom is still tooling around with the idea of a localized release, so maybe I'll get that opportunity one day. While those chuckle monkeys get that business sorted, you can download Xover's soundtrack from the Capcom sound team page complete free of charge. Composed by Masahiro Aoki, member of the in-house Capcom band ROCK-MEN, the music departs from the series' usual electronica styles and enters full hard rock territory with wailing guitars that wouldn't feel out of place in Guilty Gear. It's surprisingly not complete doo-doo, and the main theme is quite catchy. On the downside, it's only six tracks long. One track was added to the game along with the fan-created Arcade Man boss, and another is a piano / violin arrangement of the main theme. In other words, the game only had four songs initially. That's kind of pathetic, but whatevs. To download the individual tracks, visit here and click on the song titles under the "REVIEW" section. Rockman Xover Original Soundtrack [Capcom via Nubuwo] |
| Towerfall creator talks multi-platform support and more Posted: 27 Jul 2013 03:30 AM PDT Last Sunday on Sup Holmes (now on iTunes) we met the young talented heartthrob named Matt Thorson. Matt has made tons of games, more than I knew before starting the show, which was embarrassing. I thought I'd played them all, but I somehow missed the Metroidvania-style action adventure title An Untitled Story, which is particularly shameful because it's free. Wait a minute, almost all of Matt's games are free! That's amazing! You should play them. Matt's been making games since he was 14, often for no financial reward. He's paid his dues, which should make you slightly less jealous of the fact that he's currently got Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft all barking at him to port his latest game to their consoles. We talked about his plans for Towerfall on PC, what consoles other than Ouya are most likely to to get Towerfall next (hint: rhymes with bony), his inspirations (Yoshi's Island and Donkey Kong Country 2 to name a few), his first game, the similarities to Jumper and Super Meat Boy, teaming up with other developers, and so much more. Thanks again to Matt for hanging out with us, and join us this Sunday at 1pm PSt/4pm EST when we welcome artist Paul Veer (Super Crate Box, gallery times) to the program. I'm currently sick with stomach flu, so I may throw up! It's going to be great. |
| Chucklefish exploring idea of Starbound on Sony platforms Posted: 26 Jul 2013 10:00 PM PDT Development on the open world (open galaxy?) space exploration game Starbound is coming along well, as detailed in the daily updates on the title's development blog. This nugget of news comes not from there, but from the PlayStation community forums, and it may just put Sony fans over the moon. Lead developer Finn "Tiy" Brice posted a message asking fans if they would be interested in seeing Starbound on a Sony platform some time after its PC launch. The response thus far is a pretty resounding "yes," with many of the responses expressing interest in a PlayStation Vita release. It really would make perfect sense for the handheld, joining games like Spelunky and Terraria on what is becoming the premiere indie platform. |
| Dominic Monaghan is an agent for The Bureau Posted: 26 Jul 2013 08:00 PM PDT The live-action trailers for The Bureau: XCOM Declassified just keep on coming. This time instead of creepy clown shows, we've got Dominic Monaghan of LOST and The Lord of the Rings fame, as Agent Enis Cole, chasing an unseen foe around a field at twilight. He's got the upper hand -- or does he? I like how these trailers have had this understated menacing vibe, usually coming from foes unseen or obscured. When we last saw Agent Cole he was faced with the decision of hitting the booze or maybe taking more drastic action with his service revolver. Submitted for a community vote, the booze won with 51% of the votes. After tragic events, it's unclear whether he'll continue with the Bureau but it looks like his tale won't have a happy end. [Thanks, Harrison] |
| Ballmer: We made too many Surface RT tablets Posted: 26 Jul 2013 06:00 PM PDT Microsoft's Windows Surface RT tablet hasn't exactly been the hottest commodity since its release, and the boss men are finally coming to terms with it. CEO Steve Ballmer recently admitted at a company meeting that the technology giant hasn't seen its take on a tablet perform as expected, as reported by Neowin. "We built a few more devices that we could sell," Ballmer told Microsoft employees alluding to the fact that the Surface RT saw weak sales figures. In hopes of somewhat rectifying this, the tablet just received a $150 price drop to help spur sales and clear out inventory. The languishing performance isn't exclusive to the Surface, however; all Windows 8 products are struggling. Ballmer added "we're not selling as many Windows devices as we want to," with regard to PCs, phones, and tablets. On the bright side, maybe the release of Halo: Spartan Assault will help move some units. Yeah, you're right -- probably not. Ballmer states that Windows is not selling well enough, next gen Surface in testing [Neowin] |
| The Daily Hotness: Cos Comic-Con Can Play Posted: 26 Jul 2013 04:59 PM PDT FACT: You haven't really ended Comic-Con proper until Sneaky Zebra makes a music video about all the cosplay. Today, Divekick gets a release date, murmurs of a black 3DS XL abound, Saints Row IV crowns itself with the Game of the Generation Edition, and Chris reviews Halo: Spartan Assault. But wait, what's this?! Jim continues with his Aliens Colonial Marines: Stasis Interrupted Let's Play. We have broken him people, we have broken him. Destructoid Originals: Community: Contests: Reviews: Previews: |
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