Like the previous Metro, Last Light is characterized by the unforced mellow melancholy of a post-apocalypse some people call home. This is not the apocalypse we know and love. The Fallout games could never shake Bethesda’s penchant for fantasy quests and character builds and elaborate inventory subgames and dialogue trees and hearty faithful sidekicks. But Last Light has the somber sense that an apocalypse is not fun. It can be sad, small, dim, and lonely.
After the jump, mayday over Moscow Continue reading →
We regret to inform you that The Great Gatsby podcast will be assimilated into the Star Trek Into Darkness podcast. Or that the Star Trek Into Darkness podcast will be borne back ceaselessly into The Great Gatsby podcast. Tune in next week to find out!
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CD Projekt Red has released the beta of REDkit, the official Witcher 2 editor and SDK. The editor allows users to make new adventures for the steely-eyed white-haired witcher as well as modify existing game content. It’s free for owners of The Witcher 2. The editor wiki can help budding modders get started on their custom creations. There are nude models of Triss Merigold already in the game, so the hard work has already been done for you.
CD Projekt Red also announced the creator of the best mod during the closed beta period for the editor. Philipp Weber’s work-in-progress mod, Lykaon, has netted him a custom-made witcher sword to hang on his wall or sweep over his head like a monster hunter. The mod has Geralt dealing with women from his past. Lykaon will be the CD Projekt Red featured mod for the month. Weber has posted a helpful video tutorial to show folks how to start using the editor.
Did I mention there are nude models of Triss already in the game’s files?
Alleged Sony network hacker, Todd M. Miller, was sentenced on May 9th to one year of house arrest and three years of probation for obstructing a federal investigation. Miller was suspected of being one of the hackers of the Sony PSN servers from 2008 to 2011 that caused disruptions in worldwide services.
At the time, Sony’s reactions to the hacks were kept secret and any leaks of customer data was hidden even from higher level management within the company. It wasn’t until the 2011 hack of the PSN network that Sony was forced to publicly admit to the breaches due to the high-profile nature of the intrusion.
The court convicted Miller of obstruction because he smashed his computers and destroyed evidence before the FBI presented a warrant to him in 2011 for the incriminating hard drives. Without the data, the FBI wasn’t able to gather enough evidence for the prosecuter to bring Miller up on the hacking charges.
If he had been prosecuted of the hack, Miller could’ve faced up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
This week’s wallet threat is dire. Metro Last Light is every bit as good — and unique — as Metro 2033, and far more gorgeous than any game about a grey wasteland should be. The five-star review — spoiler! — will post later tonight.
Also out this week is Anomaly 2, the sequel to the tower defense game that’s actually a tower offense game. The first Anomaly was clever enough, although it was still “just” a tower defense game. Anomaly 2 has a nice twist — all the units have two forms that you can shift at any time — but what cinches this one for me is the potential of the new multiplayer mode, in which one player sets up towers and the other player wends his convoy around the map trying to take them down. Also this week, you can download Dust 514, a free-to-play shooter for the Playstation 3 made by the developer of Eve Online that intends to take the MMO planetside. See what I did there?
Square Enix reported their Q4 earnings and posted a 13.7 billion yen loss. SE cited “strategic initiatives such as a change in its development policy, organizational reforms, and redesign of some business models” for the extraordinary losses. Additionally, sluggish performance of arcade machines led to an operating loss for the Amusement segment of the business.
The SE report states that the company will revamp their strategy regarding the mobile space by targeting more development for tablets and smartphones.
The business environment surrounding the Group is in the midst of major changes, where smart devices such as smartphones and tablet PCs are spreading rapidly, while the console game markets in North America and Europe are increasingly competitive and oligopolistic. In light of such environmental changes, the Group is focusing all efforts on a substantial earnings improvement through driving reforms of business structure in order to establish new revenue base.
Strategic resource allocation will also see changes due to the company’s shift in focus. Less will be spent on new engine and technology development, while more money will be spent on marketing.
