Stardock tracks data about how people play their election strategy game, Political Machine 2016. They call these post-game stats the “exit polls”. In terms of which candidates people have been playing, it doesn’t look good for Hillary Clinton.
And in case you haven’t been told enough times, if you live in the US, vote.
Turtle Rocks Studios has released an unfinished campaign level for the original Left 4 Dead. Dam It is a gigantic scenario that combines Dead Air and Blood Harvest, ending with a climax in a hydroelectric dam. Although some of the scripting is not enabled, the scenario is playable once it’s added to Left 4 Dead as a mod. Turtle Rock co-founder Chris Ashton announced the release on the Turtle Rock forums, and the download page includes some developer commentary providing insight into the design of the project.
Turtle Rock Studios recently stopped supporting Evolve, after completing the game’s transition to a free-to-play business model on PC.
The Necromancer is coming to Diablo III. Blizzard has announced the Rise of the Necromancer DLC pack for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls which is scheduled for launch in 2017. Fans of exploding corpses and black leather can rejoice once again. But wait! Doesn’t the Witch Doctor control zombies? Won’t there be an overlap in undead abilities? According to Blizzard, the Necromancer differs in some important ways beyond his metal album fashion sense.
Necromancers can expect darker, more controlled gameplay centered around the raw materials of life: blood and bone. Grounded in a philosophical, pragmatic approach to life and death, they’re more like a calculated conductor of the darkest arts. Deadly serious in their practice, they are the experts of curses and reanimation – and their pets obey their every command.
The price and a specific launch date have not been revealed yet. Players who wish to purchase the Rise of the Necromancer pack will need to own Diablo III: Reaper of Souls on PC, or Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition on Xbox One or PlayStation 4.
As if the return of the Necromancer weren’t enough for nostalgia buffs, Blizzard also announced that they will be recreating the first Diablo game in Diablo III as part of an upcoming free update. The Darkening of Tristram content will include graphics filters to make the game look more like the older title.
There are two versions of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare on the PC platform. There is one on Steam and one exclusive to the Windows Store. You may be tempted to think they’d be able to play in the same lobbies. You’d be wrong. Players on the Windows Store version will only be in multiplayer lobbies with other Windows Store users, which could be a problem for players looking forward to a thriving community. According to the official FAQ, playing with friends on “another PC platform” is not possible.
No, you can only play these titles with other users of Windows 10 on Windows Store.
Consider this your public service announcement regarding the Windows Store build of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.
DriveClub, one of the most surprising games of 2014, is finally done. Evolution Studios may have left the project earlier this year, but before they drove off, they were able to create 15 new urban-themed tracks for use in DriveClub VR. Those tracks, freshly cleaned up and tweaked for the base game’s more detailed visuals, have been added for free as DriveClub’s final update. TeamVVV has details of the content. The new tracks include locations in Japan, India, Chile, Canada, and Norway.
Sony shut down Evolution Studios in March, but much of the team was nabbed by Codemasters in April.
Gears of War 4 is getting its first batch of free content. Microsoft will be releasing Checkout and Drydock for multiplayer. Both are remakes of maps from Gears of War 3.
As part of the new wave of shooters that promise free content updates for everyone with multiplayer being supported by optional purchases, the upcoming map pack is the start of a new pricing model for the Gears franchise. Season Pass holders can use these two new maps starting tomorrow, while regular players will have to wait until November 8th to partake in the legacy goodness. Owners of the $50 season pass will also have permanent (as “permanent” as any virtual goods can be) access to all DLC maps, while freeloading peasants are at the mercy of curated playlists.
What’s scarier than playing the new Doom? How about being forced to play it on an underpowered rig?
In related news, if you haven’t checked out the latest free update to Doom, you should give it a go. Update 4 added an Arcade Mode to the game featuring a score attack system with online leaderboards. Smashing demon heads is the perfect way to spend Halloween!
That’s “Omen” a short film made by Digic Pictures and Square Enix to promote Final Fantasy XV. Noctis, the magic-imbued protagonist, trips through a dream while accompanied by his faithful dog. Or something. Look, there’s a cool-looking car and some explosions. It seems like a Final Fantasy scene if the bad haircuts and melodramatic music are any indication.
The development team confirmed that six DLC packs are planned for the game, including one that will offer online cooperative multiplayer. Each DLC episode after the cooperative Comrades pack will focus on one member of the player’s party. A $25 season pass will be available, but players can buy each DLC separately.
Final Fantasy XV will launch on November 29th on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Behold the Windows 10 VR Headset! It’s a virtual reality headset. Just like everyone else’s. They’re going to start at $299. The big deal with Microsoft’s headsets is that they include inside-out tracking sensors, so you don’t need an external tracking camera. Oh, and since it’s Microsoft, there isn’t just one product. Acer, Dell, Asus, HP and Lenovo are all coming out with their versions of the headset. You’ll also need a Windows 10 system to use the headsets, which is par for the course with Microsoft.
https://youtu.be/_87zvl0LcEg
In this time of election drama, Brexit, and news gone mad, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare offers a getaway. “Screw it, let’s go to space!” The one thing you can count on every year is that Activision will spend beaucoup bucks to make a ridiculous live-action commercial for Call of Duty. This year, Danny McBride and Michael Phelps, among others, enjoy the cathartic Michael Bay of it all. In this case, it’s Peter Berg with the directing honors. Berg knows explosions.
Team Liquid is pushing for Civilization VI to be included in esports. Where there is competition, there’s money, and sanctioned tournament strategy videogames has been a thing for years. Why should it just be hardcore real-time strategy games? Why not turn-based gaming? As Team Liquid points out in their announcement, big-money esports began in strategy gaming, so it makes sense that the community would embrace Civilization VI’s multiplayer which includes a faster, goal-oriented version of it’s regular rules, made for shorter matches. The next time Ghandi nukes you, there could be money on the line!
Hey, Nintendo fans! It looks like you’ll finally be able to play The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on a Nintendo console soon. The Nintendo Switch, (formerly known by its work-in-progress designation “NX”) is a hybrid console that can be configured on the fly as a mobile game system, a home TV console, and weird tablet thing with detachable controllers. It’s probably easier if you just go watch the announcement video to see it in action.
The Switch is a progression of the Wii U console design, blending the traditional console experience with the newer generation’s mobile focus. The odd little controller bits, called “Joy-Con” by Nintendo, are the key to the strategy. They can be used as independent controllers, they can be configured to act cooperatively as one controller, and they can be used in conjunction with the tablet section to create a Wii U-esque gamepad. If that’s not your thing, a more familiar Pro Controller will be available as an option.
The Nintendo Switch will be available worldwide March 2017.
Come on, Funcom. This is just sad. A bargain priced jump scare simulator marketed to the kids on Twitch and YouTube? This is the opposite of horror and The Secret World deserves better. Sigh. If watching the exaggerated grimaces of people recoiling from cheesy funhouse gags is your thing, Hide and Shriek might fill the hole in your life.
It’s Halloween and the students of magic at Little Springs High and Innsmouth Academy are about to honor an ancient tradition: sneaking into school after midnight, turning themselves invisible, and scaring the living hell out of each other!
Hide and Shriek will launch on October 25th on Steam.
There’s a new Plants vs. Zombies game that you may not have heard about. It’s Plants vs. Zombies Heroes. It’s a collectible card game that has everything you love about CCG videogames. It’s got randomly sorted card packs you can buy with real money, haves-versus-have-nots multiplayer, and heroes with different powers to keep you occupied with unlocks and an XP grind. The PvZ twist is that the game features lanes of attack. You remember the lanes from the old Plants vs. Zombies games, right? They’re here, but now the attacking and defending units are cards.
Plants vs. Zombies Heroes is available on Google Play and the Apple App Store.
Sorry, Sleeping Dogs fans. You waited so patiently while United Front Games worked for a few years on the Triad Wars MMO boondoggle. You held your breath when the studio announced the early access microtransaction engine Smash+Grab. You bravely stayed the course, but it was all for naught. You’ll likely never get Sleeping Dogs 2 now. At least, not the one you imagined, if publisher Square-Enix ever revives the franchise and gives it to another studio. United Front Games is no more. Smash & Grab has already been de-listed from Steam and developer tweets from the Canadian studio responsible for the open-world Hong Kong brawler indicate the company has run out of time.
United Front Games was started in 2007, and besides Sleeping Dogs, they created ModNation Racers on the PlayStation 3 and worked on Halo: The Master Chief Collection on the Xbox One. You can read Tom’s thought on Sleeping Dogs here.
