EverQuest Next has been revealed and it’s voxel-based. Sony Online Entertainment presented information on their next-gen MMO at SOE Live in Las Vegas and they’re not just going to revamp the engine and pretty things up. They’re building a whole new MMO on technology that encourages player creation as well as destruction. Director of development David Georgeson explained to Kotaku how the voxel-based engine will enhance gameplay.
“Everything is made out of pieces. We can literally destroy anything at any time. We might not let you destroy it. For instance, a player-city we might not make player-destroyable but monster-destroyable. Otherwise, it would be a player parking lot.”
“We have a procedural system that can generate all these lost cities and ancient temples and buried areas and so on and so forth. And then we have occasional earthquakes in the world that destroy areas and reconstitute them so that players can constantly be finding new content as they explore.”
Along with terrain and structural destruction, EverQuest Next will have better NPC and monster AI. Monsters can be added to the world and dynamically decide where to set up camp or attack based on what’s around them. Georgeson said this procedural AI will help make the world feel alive instead of rigidly keeping monsters rooted to where they appear.
Before you play EverQuest Next, SOE wants you to jump into EverQuest Next Landmark and help create stuff for the main game. In Landmark, players will claim a plot of land, gather materials, and craft voxel-based items that can then be submitted to a Player Studio. Other players can purchase those creations using real-world money and the creator will collect a percentage of the sale! The best items that stay within the guidelines for Norrath’s style will be chosen for inclusion in EverQuest Next.
PS3 owners will get to fly supersonic jets in raging combat while high-strung wingmen yell at them in clipped sentences for free soon. Namco Bandai announced that Ace Combat Infinity is being developed exclusively for the Sony PS3 as a free-to-play title. Olivier Comte, Senior VP of Namco Bandai Europe, explained the new franchise direction
“The Ace Combat franchise has evolved dramatically over the years, but never before have we been able to offer its amazing graphics and tactical action for free. The team at Project Aces listens very carefully to its players, and is bringing the best the series has to offer to Ace Combat Infinity, with plenty of new surprises too.”
Solo campaign missions and online co-op multiplayer will be offered when the game launches later this year. Based on previous games in the franchise, paid DLC will likely include skins and other customization options. What’s more awesome than a smiling anime girl painted on the wing of your $28 million strike fighter?
What a great set of expressive faces in this music video for The Doubleclicks‘ “Nothing to Prove”! I could do without the random dudes showing up, but otherwise, this is a lovely parade of lovely people proudly displaying lovely messages.
World of Tanks developer Wargaming.net has purchased the rights to both Total Annihilation and Master of Orion. Wargaming.net’s CEO Victor Kislyi confirmed the purchase during a press conference held in the company’s home city of Minsk, Belarus.
“Total Annihilation and Master of Orion are strategy game classics. Although it’s too soon to disclose any details, we are more than willing to give a new lease of life to these games most of us grew up playing. It’s exactly where our major focus will be. Definitely, whatever we do, and whatever games we make with those franchises, they will be big AAA, massive titles with all of Wargaming’s Power behind them.”
According to court documents, Wargaming.net acquired the licenses to the games in July when Atari auctioned off the majority of their holdings. The ownership of Total Annihilation would seem to fit in Wargaming.net’s portfolio since they also own Chris Taylor’s studio Gas Powered Games. Taylor founded Cavedog Entertainment, the studio that originally created Total Annihilation.
What a difference a day makes! Yesterday, we reported that Saints Row IV had been denied a rating from the Australian Classification Board for the second time. Take heart Saints! The board has finally approved the game for release in Australia following Volition’s edits to the game. Saints Row IV will have a “MA15+” rating when it hits the shelves for Aussie gamers albeit in an edited form. Publisher Deep Silver clarified what was cut from the game to pass muster.
“To achieve this rating one loyalty mission featuring the character Shaundi has been removed. This mission has been widely reported on and contains the use of alien narcotics to obtain certain superpowers. This mission represents approximately 20 minutes of gameplay out of the hours available to purchasers. The removal of this mission has no negative impact on the story or the superpowers and will not detract from the enjoyment players will get from their Saints Row IV experience.”
The alien Rectifier anal probe weapon was also removed from the game, based on the objections of the board when Saints Row IV was first submitted for approval, but will be available to Australian players as part of optional add-on content.
Wolfenstein: The New Order has been delayed to 2014. The game was originally scheduled to release in the fourth quarter of this year for consoles and PCs. Bethesda’s Pete Hines, announced the delay on Twitter.
We have confirmed today at QuakeCon that Wolfenstein will ship next year, all platforms. Felt it deserved some additional time for polish.
Wolfenstein: The New Order is set in an alternate timeline in which the Nazi forces have taken over the world by the 1960s. The developer, MachineGames, has several ex-Starbreeze staffers on the team who worked on The Chronicles of Riddick.
If you’re chomping at the bit to show some Nazis what for, consider playing Rise of the Triad by Interceptor Entertainment. The enemies look suspiciously like extras from an Indiana Jones movie, which is good if you want to blast Nazis with a rocket launcher. The Triad troopers look like Nazis because the original Rise of the Triad: Dark War started out as a sequel to Wolfenstein 3D and the reboot purposely carried that design forward. Tom talked about the new game on the most recent podcast and thinks it’s full of endearingly dumb stuff.
Another month, another Marvel Heroes goat rope. Yet another rollback, yet another borked patch, yet another comedy of errors in which they try to fix one thing and break another thing, at which point the fix for the broken fix breaks two more things. Online games is hard.
How did this happen when Game Update 1.11 was on Test Center for all this time?
That’s what we’re trying to figure out ourselves. It’s a mystery right now. We were hoping it was an error in the deploy process, but we’ve been through that checklist and it’s not the case.
There are some truly admirable changes in this patch (notes here), including a move away from random hero drops to a resource called eternity splinters you can spend on whatever hero you want. The game sorely needs performance improvements, and that’s a promised part of the latest patch. Furthermore, Marvel Heroes will get options for graphics setting beyond the previous slider bar (in other words, it will finally work like every other PC game). Some overdue common sense is introduced into the interface, such as a level range for different areas. If you’re like me and you like seeing numbers pop out of your target, Marvel Heroes is finally getting that.
There’s no ETA for the patch, which was supposed to be out yesterday morning.
After the jump, exclusive transcript of the Gazillion meeting where they named eternity splinters.Continue reading →
That’s the Swedish AJS 37 Viggen which is now part of Eugen’s Wargame: AirLand Battle thanks to today’s free DLC. The hefty Vox Populi DLC brings 24 new units, five new multiplayer maps, a new Conquest mode, and campaign co-op to the RTS set in the Cold War. The update will also add the ability for skirmish players to choose the deck used by the AI. Time to roll through a mass of infantry with my glorious Soviet tanks!
Each side is getting 12 new units. There will be 6 planes, 7 infantry units, 9 vehicles or tanks, and 2 helicopters, but the new units will not be spread evenly throughout the armies.
New units are being added for two purposes:
– to meet some popular request and/or fill some omissions in the original decks.
– to “buff” NATO individual minor nations, while strengthening “Pact brotherhood” mixed deck.
Tom adored Wargame: AirLand Battle in his review. We’ll see how he feels once the newly balanced might of the Motherland crushes his puny armies of decadence.
What is going on Down Under? The Australian Classification Board has given Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto V an “R18+” rating but denied Saints Row IV classification for the second time. The board judged that Grand Theft Auto V was R18+ due to “high-impact” drug use while the sex, violence, and language was only of “strong impact.” Meanwhile, Saints Row IV was resubmitted to the board following its earlier refusal due to the game’s use of an alien anal probe. The self-censored version of the Saints Row sequel (presumably with less probing) was denied classification again. The board objected to drug use that was “related to incentives.”
Undead Labs’ zombie apocalypse survival game State of Decay, was originally refused classification in Australia as well because of drug use tied to incentives, but was approved by the board once the game was changed to comply with their guidelines.
Microsoft confirmed via Twitter that there will be an adapter solution for gamers that want to use their Xbox 360 headsets with the Xbox One. Microsoft product planning manager Alberto Penello tweeted the news after he was asked if there was any plan to allow current “hi-end” gaming headsets on the new console. Penello later clarified that the adapter would be sold separately.
The Xbox One Chat Headset uses a proprietary connection exclusive to the console and does not come with the base hardware. It is sold separately for $24.99. Microsoft has explained the lack of a pack-in headset by saying that the Kinect sensor can be used to communicate.
Each Xbox One includes the new Kinect sensor, with highly sensitive multi-array microphones designed to enable voice inputs and chat as a system-level capability, both in-game and with Skype and other experiences.
Sony’s PS4 will ship with a headset in the box. It’s also been confirmed that the console will allow gamers to use any Bluetooth headset for communication, so frugal folks will be able to continue yelling into whatever they’re yelling into now.
In the latest Tom vs Bruce, we get tres European. I’m the Czechs, Bruce is the West Germans, Sweden is our stage, and Wargame: Airland Battle is our game. I don’t want to spoil anything, but since it isn’t turn-based and doesn’t have hexes, you can imagine how it turns out. Check it out here.
Nintendo reported that quarterly profits for April through June were up while sales of the Wii U console were low. Although Nintendo made 8.62 billion yen in profit, they also revealed that only 160K units of the Wii U console were sold in the world during this period. The disappointing sales of the console were attributed to the lack of key software titles released during the quarter. The primary driver of profits for the company appears to be the Nintendo 3DS and 3DXL. The handhelds sold 1.4 million units worldwide.
Nintendo plans to continue to push the 3DS in all territories with key software titles such as Animal Crossing: New Leaf and Pokemon X and Y. For the Wii U, their strategy will be to concentrate on proactively developing first-party titles to attract hardware buyers. Nintendo also plans to leverage their console communications systems to reach out to consumers.
Nintendo strives to improve sales by communicating the compelling nature of our hardware and software to as many people as possible through our new netwrok service called “Miiverse,” which offers an environment where people can empathize with others and share their gaming experiences. We also strive to improve hardware profitability by reducing its costs.
In related news, Siliconera reports that Nintendo will be allowing customers to make digital eShop purchases through the web on PC and smartphones soon.
Oh, sure you’ve driven a big rig across France in Euro Truck Simulator 2. Maybe you’ve even grown some hay and brought the harvest in with Farm Simulator 2013. Time to step up your game, blue-collar wanna-be! Railsimulator.com has announced that Train Simulator 2014 is coming to PC on September 26th. The new game features an upgraded interface, an enhanced career mode, and Steam Workshop integration!
Train Simulator 2014 delivers everything you love about trains with the exhilaration of speed, stunning graphics, and a variety of trains, real-world routes and challenging assignments. Whether you love driving trains, creating new routes or just watching the landscape fly by, the choice of how you play is yours. This is more than just a game; Train Simulator is a digital hobby.
If you already own a previous version, they’ll upgrade you to the 2014 version for free! Now you only need to buy the 122 DLC items to complete your collection. There’s a short teaser that shows how the logo was made all steely and manly-like.
Your saved games from Crusader Kings II can be ported into Europa Universalis IV. Paradox Interactive updated the Europa Universalis IV site with the news that one of the preorder bonuses available to players that purchase the game is a Saved Game Converter for Crusader Kings II that will read and transfer the older game’s Middle Ages data for use with the new game set in the years 1444 to 1821.
Fans of Crusader Kings II will be able to maintain the empires they have established and guide them through the age of exploration in an all-new strategic experience, continuing their personal stories of expansion and conquest.
That’s one way to make sure your divine rule extends through the centuries! My Europa Universalis IV world is going to look really weird with the Aztec empire firmly entrenched in France.
Update: As Dave Oshry, from Rise of the Triad developer Interceptor, points out in the comments section, the dumbness that’s forcing me to replay levels — read on for the specifics — is partly a matter of my own dumbness for me not realizing there’s an option in the menus to go to any previously reached checkpoint.
I can’t help but enjoy the aggressively retro dumbness of the Rise of the Triad remake out this week. It captures the unhinged creativity and unabashed idiocy of the Duke Nukem era. It also demonstrates that a game can be big and dumb without being insultingly bad, Duke Nukem Forever style. However, if there’s one kind of dumb I can’t abide, it’s the sort of dumb that means I will probably never make any progress in Rise of the Triad.
After the jump, how many times am I supposed to play each level?Continue reading →
