MMO News |
- Weekly Recap #284 April 4th – Black Desert, Supernova, Warframe & More!
- Dungeon Defenders II Carnival Patch Preview (PS4)
- ASTA Leave Your Mark Meme Contest Winners Announced
- League of Legends Releases New Taric Comic
- Metal Assault Adding Several Game Improvements
- Dark Nexus Arena Shut Down
- Marvel Avengers Academy Hosts Guardians of the Galaxy Event
- Failure Pre-Alpha Kickstarter Demo Impressions
- SpeedRunners Launch Date Announced
- Underworld Ascendant Reveals New “Authored Look”
| Weekly Recap #284 April 4th – Black Desert, Supernova, Warframe & More! Posted: 04 Apr 2016 05:54 PM PDT Weekly Recap #284 April 4th – Black Desert, Supernova, Warframe & More! A quick look and discussion for every major announcement and update during the week! This week we discussed updates from the following games: Orcs Must Die! Unchained, SuperNova, Paragon, Dark Nexus Arena, Tribes Ascend, Black Desert, Luna Online Reborn, ARK: Survival of the Fittest, War Thunder, World of Tanks, Hearthstone, Elsword, Warframe, & Smite! Orcs Must Die: Unchained brings in new changes for open beta: Bandai Namco’s sci-fi MOBA/RTS hits open beta: Paragon introduces the tanky jungler Sevarog: Warhammer 40,000 Dark Nexus Arena has decided to end development: Tribes Ascend gets a new map and game changes in a recent update: Black Desert released the Mediah Expansion: Luna Online is back as Luna Online Reborn by Suba Games: ARK: Survival of the Fittest starts its monthly survivor league for cash rewards: ***** APRIL FOOLS!!! ***** World of Tanks visits the moon… again: Get your special butt pose animation in Black Desert: Hearthstone is evolving into a 3D MMORPG!: Elsword announces ELPS, its new first-person shooter mode: Warframe suggests new voice packs for Lotus: Smite finally gives us the God reveal for the Manticore! The post Weekly Recap #284 April 4th – Black Desert, Supernova, Warframe & More! appeared first on MMOHuts. |
| Dungeon Defenders II Carnival Patch Preview (PS4) Posted: 04 Apr 2016 03:15 PM PDT Available on April 5, the Dungeon Defenders II Carnival Patch for PS4 includes The Harbinger Awakens update, the Dragonfall Carnival update and all Steam patches up to Patch 10.10 from March 25th! The post Dungeon Defenders II Carnival Patch Preview (PS4) appeared first on MMOHuts. |
| ASTA Leave Your Mark Meme Contest Winners Announced Posted: 04 Apr 2016 02:51 PM PDT The winners of the ASTA “Leave your Mark” meme contest have been announced! Winners should check their email for their prizes. The first place winner, jerome, wins the right to name an NPC with their entry (shown above). Check out the other winners & runners-up here! The post ASTA Leave Your Mark Meme Contest Winners Announced appeared first on MMOHuts. |
| League of Legends Releases New Taric Comic Posted: 04 Apr 2016 02:17 PM PDT A Taric rework is in the for League of Legends, and today Riot Games has released a new web comic teasing the storyline that sets the new tone for the hero. You can find the comic here. Taric was also teased in a previous short cinematic. The post League of Legends Releases New Taric Comic appeared first on MMOHuts. |
| Metal Assault Adding Several Game Improvements Posted: 04 Apr 2016 01:41 PM PDT Today, WarpPortal will be pushing a quality of life update for Metal Assault. The update will include several improvements, including:
More will also be included in the patch. Get the latest details here. The post Metal Assault Adding Several Game Improvements appeared first on MMOHuts. |
| Posted: 04 Apr 2016 01:05 PM PDT On March 16, Whitebox Interactive announced that it has cancelled development of Warhammer 40,000: Dark Nexus Arena. On the game’s website, a statement from Whitebox Interactive CEO Jonathan Falkowski read:
The game’s servers were online until March 31, 2016 for active players. The post Dark Nexus Arena Shut Down appeared first on MMOHuts. |
| Marvel Avengers Academy Hosts Guardians of the Galaxy Event Posted: 04 Apr 2016 12:39 PM PDT Today, TinyCo and Marvel have announced the very first limited time in-game event for their recently launched MARVEL Avengers Academy mobile game, starting on April 1. MARVEL Avengers Academy is available to download for free on the App Store® and Google Play™. Featuring a fresh Avengers universe, which finds prominent Marvel Super Heroes and Super Villains in their college years, MARVEL Avengers Academy welcomes the famously beloved Guardians of the Galaxy team, reimagined as students, to campus! After escaping the villainous wrath of Ronan, the Guardians have crash-landed on Earth, directly on the Avengers Academy. Causing initial confusion on campus, players must investigate the Guardians' mysterious arrival and unlock a brand new fan-favorite Guardians member each week such as Star-Lord, Gamora and Rocket Raccoon. It will not be long until Ronan and his henchmen arrive on the scene, on a mission to return the Power Gem shards back to Thanos' possession. This brand new update also introduces the first phase of an all-new combat feature for MARVEL Avengers Academy, the Avengers students, along with the Guardians, will have to study, brainstorm and harness the skills they have learned in order to defeat the incoming Chitauri foes. In phase one of the combat feature, the combination of Super Heroes in battle is essential, as the approaching enemies will have varying levels of strength. Continue to battle and watch as their combat performances improve with more experience. The upcoming second phase of the combat feature will allow players to show off each character's special ability through the use of combat perks. With a single tap, players will be able to unleash the Guardians' special power to face-off against the evil Ronan and his henchmen. The post Marvel Avengers Academy Hosts Guardians of the Galaxy Event appeared first on MMOHuts. |
| Failure Pre-Alpha Kickstarter Demo Impressions Posted: 04 Apr 2016 12:04 PM PDT I’m an absolute fan of RTS games but in these past few years the genre has been in a serious drought. Even the icons of the genre like Starcraft II and Command & Conquer seem to be winding down and calling it quits. And this is honestly a real shame, since the RTS genre brought to life most games we know and play today, including many of our MMORPGs and MOBAs. But there is new light emerging from the shadows as a few indie devs refuse to quit the RTS race. I had a chance to test out a pre-alpha press build of Failure, a game that tries to bring a new sci-fi twist to the genre, and at the same time make it easier to understand and play.  Failure takes the concept of tower defense and turns it into an RTS. Let’s get the disclaimer out of the way; this build I tested was more a proof of concept than game. Visuals are all placeholders, though they still managed to capture the technofever scifi feel they hope to portray in the final version. Still in the world of RTS, even a proof of concept can clue you in to a lot of the goals and aspirations of a dev team. So let’s start with what the game is actually about! Failure takes a cyberspace approach and thus the game reminds me a lot of how the movie TRON displayed the world. Think of bright neon lights, but then instead of playing in the field, you get to overlook a big area with hexagons that act as the playing field of Failure. Each team gets their own set of hexagons to play around with, and the basic objective is to control as much hexagons as you possible can, so that you can get within striking distance of your opponent’s base. Obviously a digital form of Hex would make for a poor game in 2016. So granted the base concept has some complexity built into it to give players additional levels of tactics to learn. Hexagons aren’t all at the same elevation, and you can even adjust the playing field utilizing your Data (currency used to invest in turrets or other neat tricks) to put vital hexes out of enemy reach. This can buy a turret a little more time to make a last stand when under enemy fire. In essence it takes the minigame of properly defending a Starcraft base from every potential enemy approach, and removes the hectic APM intensity to let you plan your tactics as a leisurely pace. While not going to the extreme of being turn based, your Data Points accumulate slowly enough that you rarely feel rushed to make a decision. Whether you feel you need turrets, protective shields, a bomb, or a key playing field adjustment, you typically will have a few seconds to think that decision over before confirming your action.  Despite the game's simplicity, there's plenty of ways for you to win epicly or fail completely. Right now there are three different ‘turrets’ that you can put on the map. The first one, that is also the cheapest, is the normal Outpost. This provides you with the normal short range units that spawn in over time, and capture territory in the near surrounding area. If you’re on the offensive, these turrets are key to keep expanding your domain. Next in line is the Railgun. Railguns are best to place behind other turrets. They can’t take a lot of punishment but deal out massive damage, so buying them any extra time while they’re in range of fire can produce devastating results. Last but not least is the Artillery turret. Obviously this one sits all the way at the back and deals massive damage to the front lines. Now this is where Failure separates itself from the standard mold of RTS. The units your turrets produce are steered automatically. This puts all the tactics for victory into your choices of where to build turrets, understanding where the AI will push those spawned units. Combined with the ability to raise terrain, you can get pretty clever with deflecting enemy units or sneaking your own into routes the enemy doesn’t prepare for. Whether this is something that will appeal to RTS fans or not remains to be scene, but it certainly directs the focus of the game in a new direction.  Controlling the map instead of controlling units takes some getting use to, and bends your mind into new ways of tactically thinking. I love seeing games shape up into something I’d want to play even more from the basic bare bones preview through early access and into launch. It gives you insight into the type of people behind the game, where their values lie, and what kind of support you can expect post-launch. With Failure’s recent Kickstarter not over and unfunded, we will get to see how the developers react to this set-back. Their motivation to build the game without the funding is a good first start; we will keep an eye on Failure to see how progress continues. Conclusion From what has been shown so far, I can say I’m a fan of the artistic direction and more casual friendly introduction of the genre. But gamers are fickle, and it can be hard to convince them to try something too far out of their comfort zone. As of right now they are definitely facing a lot of big challenges to make the game better and building an audience in the process. With their distinct art style I hope they can do just that. If you’re interested in Failure though you have a wait ahead of you. The game is still in the very early stages and, without the Kickstater funding, I imagine it will take some time before we see a polished near finished project entering Early Access. The post Failure Pre-Alpha Kickstarter Demo Impressions appeared first on MMOHuts. |
| SpeedRunners Launch Date Announced Posted: 04 Apr 2016 11:58 AM PDT tinyBuild Games and DoubleDutch Games are today announcing that SpeedRunners, their hit multiplayer platform racing game, has sold more than 1 million units on Steam, and will fully launch on April 19 with tons of brand new features. tinyBuild has compiled a detailed breakdown of exactly how the game reached 1 million copies sold, including how piracy and bundles helped boost the game up the sales charts in its early days. Yes, tinyBuild gave away over $2m worth of SpeedRunners copies during Early Access and it only benefited the game. On April 19, the following features will be injected into SpeedRunners to celebrate the launch:
The full details of the launch can be found in this blog post on the tinyBuild website. The post SpeedRunners Launch Date Announced appeared first on MMOHuts. |
| Underworld Ascendant Reveals New “Authored Look” Posted: 04 Apr 2016 11:37 AM PDT OtherSide Entertainment is thrilled to debut the new "authored look" for Underworld Ascendant, the modern follow-up to LookingGlass' influential Ultima Underworld series. This art style, which attempts to replicate the fantastical feel of hand-sculpted tabletop miniatures, is the vision of OtherSide's studio art director, Nate Wells. "There's a 'reality bug' going around in TV, film, and games," says Wells, "where fantasy has become inundated by gritty photo-realism. With Underworld Ascendant, I want to bring back more whimsy and less brooding." Wells, who joined the company last fall, honed his artistic skills on immersive games like System Shock 2 and BioShock, before becoming art director on visual marvels BioShock Infinite, The Last of Us, and Rise of the Tomb Raider. "I asked myself, 'What if the world bore the authorship of a tabletop game?'" Wells says on the look's stylistic origins. "Think of the old lead figures and miniature play fields… Everything appears hand-crafted, as if sculpted by an artist, with a genuine sense of levity and naiveté to the art." "The authored look is a unique counterpart to Underworld Ascendant's Improvisation Engine," says OtherSide creative director and founder Paul Neurath. "It's a look that invites the player to interact and explore with the world in a more tangible way." "This will be an Underworld for the 21st century," notes OtherSide Austin studio director Warren Spector, who worked with Neurath on the original Ultima Underworld and System Shock games. "It's a modern continuation of LookingGlass' design tenets, where players are empowered to tell their own stories." OtherSide completed a successful Kickstarter campaign for Underworld Ascendant early last year and has continued crowdfunding on its web-site. Those interested in seeing more of the new look can check it out first-hand when the game's latest update is released to backers with Prototype Access later this month. The post Underworld Ascendant Reveals New “Authored Look” appeared first on MMOHuts. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from MMOHuts. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |
