High Explosive Anti-Tank shell 53-BP-540 left us at 1:00 am PDT today. It was 26 months old. It is survived by Armor Piercing shell 53-G-530 and High Explosive shell 53-OF-530. Condolences should be sent to the Soviet KV-2 Heavy Tank.
Today’s 8.6 update to World of Tanks represents the most ambitious re-imagining of Wargaming.net’s popular “freemium” game since its 2011 launch. Even major changes like the physics patch or the removal of “pay to win” components of the game pale in comparison. This update hopes to resolve some of the legacy problems that have been around for so long they had begun to feel like features.
Over the next few days I’ll examine the patch and the current state of World of Tanks. But balance changes often have a feeling of “two steps forward, one step back” and the 8.6 update is no exception. Buried in the massive list of patch notes was the change that signaled the death of one of my favorite tanks:
KV-2:
Added shell MPB mod. 1915/28.
Removed shell 53-BP-540
After the jump: requiem for a derp Continue reading →
Cameron Booth, a graphic designer and illustrator, has accused Naughty Dog of appropriating his redesign of the Boston MBTA Transit map from 2012 and used it in The Last of Us. In this Tumblr, Booth alleges that the game developer used his map in their game without securing prior permission or compensating him for his work.
“For a software developer – especially a big developer working on a blockbuster title like this – to casually appropriate someone else’s work and incorporate it into their game without any discussion with the owner of that work is completely unacceptable. (Not to mention hugely ironic, as the software industry is always complaining about piracy of their work.)
Naughty Dog seems to have known that they couldn’t use the official map without paying a hefty license fee, so it looks like they just went on the internet and found another one. Cos, you know, images on the internet are free for anyone to use, right? Not.
To be clear: at no point have Naughty Dog contacted me about using my intellectual property (this visual representation of the Boston rapid transit network) in their product.
To be even more clear: if you want to use my work commercially, payment before usage is required. If you’re making money from your product, then you can pay me for my work as well.”
Naughty Dog has not responded to the accusation at this time.
UPDATE: Cameron Booth removed his earlier blog post (reprinted above) and noted that he spoke to Naughty Dog representatives via phone and they “acknowledge their error” and that “matters will be resolved to everyone’s satisfaction.”
Sorry, Aussies! You won’t be getting the same Saints Row goodness the rest of the world will see. Australia’s newly revamped Government Classification ratings system, which now allows for adult rated “18+” videogames, has issued a Refused Classification rating for Volition’s upcoming Saints Row sequel. Being refused means that the title cannot be sold in the country. GamesIndustry International reports that the ratings board objected to the moral content of the game.
“Saints Row IV, includes interactive, visual depictions of implied sexual violence which are not justified by context. In addition, the game includes elements of illicit or proscribed drug use related to incentives or rewards. Such depictions are prohibited by the computer games guidelines.”
Volition and publisher Deep Silver said they are reworking elements of the game for resubmission to the board. Saints Row: The Third was given a MA 15+ rating under the old system.
Leveling up your characters in Guild Wars 2 is only one form of advancement. There’s also your score, which tracks all manner of things you’ve done with all your characters, broken down into categories of achievements: crafting, combat, PvP, fashion, exploration, and so forth. The score doesn’t mean anything, but it’s a helpful way to compare how much you’ve played compared to your friends. For instance, Jason McMaster has 1078 points. I have 1226, thanks in part to the careful application of a flamethrower. I rest my case.
One of the cool things about events like the ongoing Dragon Bash is that the points system — known in some circles as achievement whoring, but there’s no need to be nasty about it — is used to encourage us to do stuff related to the event. For instance, I’ve been gathering all this taffy that gives me a brief boost if I eat it. Big whoop. Frankly, I can’t be bothered. So I’m sitting on about a hundred pieces of taffy that I might as well throw away.
Oh, look, there’s an achievement for eating the taffy. I might as well start pounding it down. After about ten pieces of the dragon-themed candy, the above screenshot ensues. Pretty sneaky, ArenaNet. Also realistic.
My favorite instance of overindulgence gimmicks in an MMO was in Lord of the Rings Online. Turbine tried mightily to make player housing and guild housing relevant. Among their attempts was furniture and trophies you could use in the instanced housing. Such as the keg someone put in our guild’s house. It had a warning label on it that basically said the ale in the keg was too powerful and you therefore shouldn’t drink it. “Seriously,” it suggested, “just don’t!” So, naturally, you drank it. At which point you were teleported to a random location and told that you didn’t remember anything that had happened. This triggered a cute Hangover style quest in which you talked to various people to piece together what you’d done during your blackout.
But my favorite part of the gimmick was that when you were teleported to the random location, you appeared without your pants on. But not to worry! You hadn’t lost your Reinforced Mithril Britches of Budgeford! They were safe in your inventory.
UPDATE: After finishing off all my taffy and vomiting a few more times, my score is now up to 1228. Jason McMaster’s score is still only 1078.
Reuters reports that Microsoft is bringing Age of Empires to mobile platforms. The mobile version of the game is being developed by KLab and will come to iPhone and Android before the Windows Phone version.
Microsoft did not explain why the game is coming to other mobile devices before its own Windows Phones. A Microsoft spokesperson did say that there were no further announcements at this time of other Microsoft-licensed titles being released on competitor’s platforms.
Age of Empires II HD (pictured) was released on Steam in April.
Company of Heroes is a classic real time strategy game for a reason. It brought design innovation and Hollywood kick to the genre, and it did it with a stultifyingly familiar setting. You loved Company of Heroes no matter how badly you were burned out on World War II! It did so many things right: the interplay of infantry and armor, the destructible terrain, the commander abilities, the four factions, the victory conditions, the various game modes, the voice acting, the interface, the fancy graphics, the gratifyingly tactical fiddliness.
After the jump, what would possibly go wrong with the sequel? Continue reading →
Well, that wasn’t nearly as difficult as I thought it was going to be. I logged in, dinked around with my skills a bit, and ambled over to check out a dynamic event in which some centaurs had occupied a human settlement. If I had five silver for every time that happened in Guild Wars! In the occupied settlement, I found three other players working on the event. They invited me to a party and there went the rest of the evening. I had been playing a necromancer based on debuffing enemies, which is a bit of a finicky way to fight a battle. However, I was able to easily rejigger her into a more accommodating pet class. Let my bone fields, blood fiends, shadow fiends, flesh golems, explosive bone minions, and adorable little jagged horrors get in there for the fighting while I get reacquainted with what’s what. It still got a bit chaotic. At one point, I didn’t even notice my party had moved on. Hey guys, wait for me and my army of freaks!
Crafting, on the other hand, looks like it’s going to be a nightmare to relearn. I think I’ll just let that sit for a while. As for the player vs player stuff, I can’t help but feel the allure of the new skill system for the world vs world larger-scale multiplayer. That was already a hole you could fall into for days at a time. Now it looks big enough to fall into for weeks at a time.
The worldwide event currently in progress, Dragon Bash, involves smacking dragon pinatas, burning dragon effigies (pictured), and some minigames that I have no desire to play, including bird race betting in the capital. A huge illusionary dragon presides over the capital, which seems like it would be unnerving for the people who live there. A series of new missions are playfully styled as fantasy noire. Unfortunately, I think they’re above my necromancer’s level (level 33 out of 80), as I’m being tasking with finding a suspect in an area with level 55 monsters. I’m not sure I’ll be able to progress into the next stage of the event, which begins tomorrow. It’s something about sky pirates. I’m tempted to call in the big guns (i.e. my level 80 engineer).
Tomorrow’s update also includes what ArenaNet calls the “largest balance patch ever”. What better time to relearn how to play?
One of the surprise announcements at E3 was that World of Tanks, the free-to-play PC juggernaut, will be coming to Micrsoft’s consoles. Xbox has struggled with the free-to-play concept, so how would Wargaming’s tank warfare MMO work with Microsoft’s notoriously difficult console game pricing and certification schemes?
Wargaming’s CEO Victor Kislyi spoke to GamesIndustry International about how they plan to “educate” the stodgy console industry.
“Everybody knows Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are traditional console companies which are huge in their own merit. They have lots of divisions, lots of departments, lots of regulations. We respect that, and whining and complaining about that structure does not help,” says Kislyi. “We’re now working hard with Microsoft’s people as a team to build this and to break a couple of rules inside Microsoft.”
“We as a company are definitely insisting on breaking all the rules. That’s the definition of free-to-play. Free-to-play has to be transparent, right? And Microsoft traditionally, as a retail boxed business model, has a lot of restrictions – technological, legal, and whatnot. For them and for us this is a big move forward and it’s quite risky,” offers Kislyi.
Kislyi said that he realizes that some compromises will need to be made on Wargaming’s side to bring the game to a console audience. He insists however that console companies need to adapt to the new realities of the F2P model or find themselves in “hard times.”
High Moon Studios has been doing yeoman’s work with the Transformers games. Can they rise to the absurdity required for a good Deadpool game? We find out this week.
Nintendo’s latest collection of Wario minigames comes out for the Wii U under the name Mario & Watch. I’ve played the multiplayer, where I found exactly one mode worth playing more than once. It’s a Super Monkeyball style game where you and other players try to land your pieces on scored targets. I mainly like this mode because I don’t have to dig out any Wiimotes to play an old copy of Super Monkeyball. Otherwise, I don’t see the appeal of Wario & Game for anyone who isn’t a Wario completionist.
Endless Space, a strategy game without an AI, gets DLC called Disharmony. Among the additions is an “Adaptive Multi-Agent Artificial Intelligence System”. I didn’t make that up. The developers made that up. That’s actually one of the new features. In my experience, the fancier the name for the AI, the dumber the actual AI. But I’d love to be wrong. Endless Space is far too stylish a sci-fi game to be left to languish brainlessly.
The DLC I’m really excited about is the dedicated Tiny Tina add-on for Borderlands 2. Or, as I like to call it, the Burches are back. The conceit is that Tiny Tina is dungeonmastering a session of Bunkers and Badasses. I just failed my saving throw to resist.
This year’s Magic the Gathering release, Magic the Gathering 2014, gets a new sealed deck tournament and more flexible deck-building. These seem like fine additions to an already fine game. At this point, the biggest drawbacks to these digital versions of Magic the Gathering is that you’re still only playing Magic the Gathering. I can think of about a dozen other card-based games I’d rather play.
If you like your vampires in hoodies, Dark is an action/stealth RPG from the German studio that made a Dungeon Keeper clone called Dungeons.
Finally, Company of Heroes 2 is out this week. Have you played the original Company of Heroes? If so, you’re good to go.
Ellen Page wants you to know that she is in a videogame, but that it’s Beyond: Two Souls, and not The Last of Us. Page participated in Reddit exchange over the weekend in which she expressed her displeasure that Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us may have originally based the Ellie character on her likeness.
“I guess I should be flattered that they ripped off my likeness, but I am actually acting in a video game called Beyond Two Souls, so it was not appreciated.”
When Naughty Dog first revealed their fungal zombie apocalypse videogame, one of the consistent comments in previews was that the character of Ellie looked a lot like movie actor Ellen Page. Ellie, (as seen in the image above) did originally look more like the star of Juno before she was redesigned by Naughty Dog. The developer told IGN in May that the change was done to make her more closely resemble her motion capture actor Ashley Johnson and to make her a slightly younger character.
After Ellen Page’s comment in the Reddit chat, Naughty Dog creative director Neil Druckmann tweeted support for Ashley Johnson.
When there’s no more room in hell, Damon Lindelof will help write a confused Brad Pitt thriller that has some poorly directed zombie scenes in it. If you want to avoid World War Z spoilers, jump to the 59-minute mark for this week’s 3×3 about cheese. Yep, it’s about cheese.
Next week: Byzantium
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Sometimes a rollback happens in an online game and it’s no big deal because you weren’t playing and didn’t lose anything. Most times, it’s one of those things that happens to other people.
After the jump, this isn’t one of those times Continue reading →
I love the sound of this muscle car’s engine, especially as I slow down to cruise by a farmhouse I spotted from the main road. Should I go in? Are there survivors in there? Is it safe to look for salvage? My stamina is low, so I could use some food. And we’re in dire need of food back at the base. Three of us are weak from hunger. However, my machete broke when I foolishly tried to clear out an infestation at the gas station back there, and I only have four rounds for the shotgun. Do I head home and hope someone else found some food? Or do I make the one last stop?
After the jump, if the zombies don’t get you, the decisions will Continue reading →
Oregon-based Fullbright Company posted on their blog today that they will not show their game at PAX Prime in Seattle despite securing a spot in the coveted Indie Megabooth showcase. Gone Home, their game currently in development, will not be part of the convention and Fullbright Company members will not attend the event.
Studio co-founder Steve Gaynor cited numerous reasons for not participating at PAX. The issues center on what he considers to be the ethical failings and gender insensitivity of Penny Arcade creators Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins.
We believe that people’s opinions and actions on social issues and business ethics are important. We believe that agreeing to pay the organizers of PAX over $1,000 for booth space, and to present our game on their showfloor for four days, provides explicit support for and tacit approval of their publicly demonstrated positions on these subjects. And we have finally come to the conclusion that we cannot support Jerry, Mike, and their organization by participating in this event.
This would not be the first time that actions from Penny Arcade’s creators have caused issues for their PAX event. In 2010, there was a controversial comic which some people objected to and the ensuing Twitter war between Krahulik and rape survivor support groups got ugly. A boycott of PAX was organized, but attendance records were still broken.
In response to this latest incident, Krahulik posted an apology on the Penny Arcade site, vowing to remain silent on issues outside of his immediate realm.
Microsoft has published its Games for Gold schedule and the news is good. From now until the end of the year, Xbox Live Gold subscribers will be able to download – and keep – a free game on the 1st and the 16th of each month! We like free, right?
The current game available in the Games for Gold program is Fable III. At the end of the month, Fable III will no longer be available for free, but one of the July selections will take its place. The games being offered in July will be Halo 3 and Assassin’s Creed 2.
Unlike the free games offered with PSN Plus, the Games for Gold program allows members to keep the downloaded games even if their subscription lapses. Once it’s added to your Live account, the game is yours to download again and play at a later date.
