Sing a festive carol for Dying Light
It’s not in slow motion, and it isn’t being played backwards, but Techland’s Christmas advertisement for their upcoming zombie survival parkour game, Dying Light, is short and sweet.
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At least there’s no danger of seeing a rebar impalement in Lara croft: Reflections
How would you follow up the critically acclaimed Tomb Raider reboot? If your answer is “with a free-to-play iOS card game” then you’d be doing exactly what Square Enix is doing with Lara Croft: Reflections. The game features Lara collecting cards and fighting enemies with upgradeable weapons. Players can purchase upgrades through in-app offers. If the image above is accurate, Lara can fight herself which likely explains the “reflections” part of the title.
Lara Croft: Reflections just launched in Australia and New Zealand and will presumably be available in other territories at a later date if Square Enix follows the same publishing strategy that was used for Plants vs Zombies 2. EA and PopCap launched Plants vs Zombies 2 in the Australia and New Zealand iOS markets to test pricing and balance before launching in more populous regions.
Typing of the Skullgirls brings new meaning to button mashing
Skullgirls Encore, the upcoming re-release of Skullgirls, will include an optional mode inspired by Typing of the Dead. During a Twitch livestream, design director Mike Zaimont announced that Lab Zero Games will add “Typing of the Skullgirls Encore” mode in the new version of the game. The mode will require players to quickly type out words when using a super-move. Bonuses to damage will depend on the player’s accuracy and speed when typing out the challenge. The option will be available in Story, Arcade and Versus modes, but not Tournament or Online.
Skullgirls is re-launching as Skullgirls Encore in January due to a split between Lab Zero Games and Konami.
Zoo Tycoon offers ways to finally make Kinect work for the good of the world
Zoo Tycoon, one of the more low-key launch titles for the Xbox One, is offering players ways to help real-world animals. According to the Xbox Wire, Microsoft Studios is letting the player community vote on which of three challenges they can participate in. When the community attains the goal of the winning challenge, Microsoft and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums will make a donation to the related charity. The three charities are Rhino Rescue, Komodo Survival Program, and Tiger Species Survival Program.
Release 1,000 Rhinos to the wild in Zoo Tycoon and Microsoft and AZA will donate $10,000 to help protect and deter further poaching of rhino horns in Africa.
Adopt 1,000 Komodo Dragons in Zoo Tycoon and Microsoft and AZA will donate $10,000 to support the Komodo Survival Program’s work with the Indonesian Government to protect this species.
Release 1,000 Sumatran Tigers into the wild in Zoo Tycoon and Microsoft and AZA will donate $10,000 to the Tiger Species Survival Program to help reduce the number of Sumatran Tigers killed, displaced or caught in snares.
Zoo Tycoon’s challenge voting can be found in-game within the community features.
Whatever happened to that documentary about the E.T. landfill?
Back in May, a TV station in Alamogordo, New Mexico, reported that the city had struck a deal with a documentary filmmaker to excavate the legendary landfill that may contain the buried remains of millions of unsold E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial cartridges for the Atari 2600. Where is that movie? This rumored treasure trove of video gaming history must be uncovered!
It turns out that the film has gone to Xbox Entertainment Studios. According to Hollywood Reporter the documentary will be the first episode of an as-yet untitled series that will feature stories about gaming and the digital generation. The series will be produced Oscar winner Simon Chinn and his cousin Jonathan Chinn. The E.T. landfill episode will be directed by Zak Penn who also co-created Alphas for SyFy.
“When Simon and Jonathan Chinn approached me about this story, I knew it would be something important and fascinating. I wasn’t expecting to be handed the opportunity to uncover one of the most controversial mysteries of gaming lore.”
Shooting will begin in January. The series will be exclusive to the Xbox 360 and Xbox One entertainment systems.
Bryant Gumbel’s Real Sports debates professional gaming events
Gamers are hilarious, right? Check out the nerds trying to gain legitimacy for their games by having so-called “cyberathletes” compete for money! Laughter abounds! These nerds are missing their Star Trek conventions! Neeeeerrrrrrds!
Monaco’s creators cut down their own game
The creators of Monaco have posted some data here about how many people got all the way through the game. Fewer than one in ten players saw it through to the end. Which, naturally, must be frustrating for the developers, not to mention the people who didn’t finish. So today’s update cuts out big chunks of content in what’s labeled an “enhanced” version of Monaco.
From the linked developer’s blog:
We want more people to finish the campaigns, and we also personally kinda hate some of the levels. Certain areas feel redundant, certain levels feel tedious. Do you remember hating these parts? Both boat levels with the dogs, crossbows, and fire. Second floor of the hospital (the one that winds around amongst exam rooms). The giant, hard, palace level.
We did too!
In addition to cutting major parts of these, every level has seen some streamlining with this patch. Don’t worry, if you liked the old levels, they are still available if you play “Classic” mode, rather than “Enhanced”.
The new release also includes some revised gameplay, refined tutorial levels, and new maps. Also, the leaderboards are reset, so now is your chance to post a score in the top thousand or so, before all the serious Monacists get their heists on.
Now you can capture things in Grand Theft Auto Online
Today’s free update for Grand Theft Auto V adds new capture-the-flag game modes. These are called “jobs”, which I presume explains why you get money for doing them. Not to mention “job points”. And these are no mere flags, which is why the modes aren’t technically called “capture-the-flag”. Instead, they are raid, hold, grand theft auto, and contend. Read the details about each mode here.
Or, heck, just jump online and start playing without having any idea what you’re supposed to do. It’s worked for me. I didn’t get my online character to level 12 by reading rules.
Batter up with Shadow Warrior’s new survival mode
Flying Wild Hog’s bloody reboot of Shadow Warrior has been updated with a free gameplay mode and a new alternate weapon skin has been added. Update 1.1.0 comes with a wave-based survival mode. Players will face off against hordes of enemies in the Cemetary, Old Town or Fortress arenas. As part of a crossover promotion with Interceptor Entertainment, Rise of the Triad’s Excalibat uber-weapon can now be used in Shadow Warrior, while Lo Wang can be used in Rise of the Triad’s multiplayer modes.
Previous cross-promotional additions to Shadow Warrior have included the ice axe from The Walking Dead, and the Penetrator weapon from Saints Row IV. Let me know when they add – You know what? Nevermind. Nothing is going to be better than the Penetrator.
Open world survival peaks with zombies, spaceships, and genitals
If you’ve paid any attention to the best sellers on Steam, you may have noticed that three open world survival games are dominating the top slots. It’s a crafting, gathering, killing, and building heyday! These games are hot and they’re not even complete yet!
After the break, we erect a hut, and hole up for the night! Continue reading →
Motor Rock is a throwback to a simpler time of plagiarism
Motor Rock is $6.99 on Steam. It’s an isometric racer in the same style as Blizzard’s old Rock ‘n’ Roll Racing. That’s not particularly newsworthy, but what does raise an eyebrow is the development team’s blatant repurposing of Blizzard’s game. (Note that until recently, the game was actually called Rock’n’Roll Racing 3D.) Here are some choice bits from their official FAQ:
Primarily we looked up to Rock’n’Roll Racing which was released on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and the Super Nintendo game consoles and became a real hit. Rock’n’Roll Racing 3D is inspired by and developed in the traditions of the original game.
Question: And with copyright will not have problems? How about Blizzard?
Answer: We haven’t received a formal complaints. Playing a non-profit, and it’s based on the old brand. Much closer to the game, we will write to the Blizzard, just in case. I hope that we will not closed down.
Hey, they sent Blizzard a letter! I’m sure that’s good enough, right? If you want it, I’d advise you to get Motor Rock before Blizzard’s lawyers get wind of this game.
Star Citizen executes an inside loop to target dogfighting
Star Citizen, Chris Roberts’ return to spaceship combat, will not be releasing the long-anticipated dogfighting module this year as originally planned. The module has been pushed back “a couple of months” because the record breaking crowd-funding effort has resulted in a much larger project than anticipated. In an open communication to fans, Chris Roberts explained the delay.
I feel that the Dogfighting module, especially with Star Citizen’s greatly increased profile, needs to be more polished than a typical “alpha”. There are a lot of eyes on the game, and more than a few people wanting us to fail. Because Dogfighting is the first module that will involve significant gameplay, it has to be good – I don’t feel that we will get a pass just because it is pre-pre alpha.
Roberts promised to show off some of the dogfighting work-in-progress during a special livestream scheduled for 9:00 AM PST on Friday, December 20th. Star Citizen has raised over $34 million in funding so far.
Tales of Maj’Eyal is bad news for achievement completionists
That busy screenshot above comes from Tales of Maj’Eyal, or ToME, a roguelike that just released on Steam last week. It’s exactly as fiddly and deep as you think it appears to be. ToME has been around in one form or another since 1998. The version on Steam has been cleaned up and given a new life thanks to a relatively easy to use graphical interface and mod support through the Steam Workshop. All that is fine and dandy, but there’s really only one thing you need to know about this game. There are 1,225 achievements. You read that correctly. A whopping 1,225! According to the developer, Nicolas Casalini, it’s a new record.
“I’ve been told by Valve this is the game with the most, by far, achievements on Steam, enjoy collecting them all!”
Tales of Maj’Eyal is currently $5.99 on Steam to celebrate its launch.
Energy Hook is swinging onto the PlayStation 4 and Vita
Energy Hook, Jamie Fristrom’s game about futuristic thrill-seekers getting in touch with their inner Peter Parker, will be coming to the PlayStation 4 and Vita systems in 2014. Fristrom revealed the new system ports during a Reddit exchange. He credited Twitter for helping him to get in touch with Sahid Kamal, business development manager at Sony. Fristrom explained that he had been turned down by Sony previously, but that through Twitter he was able to reach out to Kamal and negotiate a new deal.
“I’d previously been turned down by @nsuttner and pub fund, so it goes to show you can pitch to one department, blow it, lower your price (but also lowered what I offered, from complete exclusivity to just one month) and pitch a different region or department in the same company and still get in. Twitter has been amazing for my indie career.”
Jamie Fristrom spoke to Quarter to Three during our June 5th gaming podcast. Energy Hook is inspired by Jamie’s own work on the open world gameplay of Spider-Man 2.
Ultra Street Fighter IV will let you embarrass yourself faster
Capcom’s Street Fighter IV must hold some kind of record for longevity. The game has been going strong in the tournament scene since its release in 2008. Rather than reinvent the wheel, Capcom has kept it fresh by adding expansions with balance tweaks and new features. Ultra Street Fighter IV is coming in 2014. As the video above shows, you’ll be able to have 3 vs 3 team battles and train online. Why spend hours in the singleplayer training mode, only to go online and get your pants kicked off? With Ultra Street Fighter IV, you can get your pants kicked off right in training!
The full retail version of Ultra Street Fighter IV will be $39.99 on consoles and $29.99 on PC. The digital upgrade from previous versions of Street Fighter IV will be $14.99 on all platforms.