Mojang doesn’t want advertisements in Minecraft, at least not the ones they didn’t have a hand in creating. Mojang has added language to their commercial guidelines that forbids promotional material made by corporations, businesses, advertising agencies, non-profits, and governments within or associated with Minecraft. No more commercial Crystal Pepsi servers or Red Man tobacco mods allowed unless you’ve worked out a deal with Mojang.
We want to empower our community to make money from their creativity, but we’re not happy when the selling of an unrelated product becomes the purpose of a Minecraft mod or server.
The studio noted that individuals not receiving payment may still create fan-related Minecraft material with branded themes. If you’re just a nut about Adidas, and not affiliated in any way with the company, go right ahead and build that giant redstone sneaker.
You mostly notice it in the Fallout series, which has always intended the freedom to be utterly immoral. In the original Fallout, you could kill anyone. Men, women, children. In fact, the developers at Interplay knew you might do it, so you got a unique title if you killed children. But that was the pre-Columbine apocalypse. In the post-Columbine apocalypse, when you go into Little Lamplight, Fallout 3 loads a separate section where you can’t use your weapons. If you want to kill adults in Fallout 3, that’s fine. Have at it. But not kids. This limitation isn’t unique to Fallout. How many hapless child pedestrians died while you figured out the driving controls in Grand Theft Auto V? None, because there aren’t any child pedestrians. You won’t find children in the streets of Saints Row, Assassin’s Creed, or Hitman, either. Because children aren’t allowed to die.
I don’t have a single opinion on the subject, because it depends on what type of game you’re making. I don’t mind that Snake has to use nonlethal tactics against the child soldiers trying to kill him in Metal Gear Solid V, because it’s a character choice. Snake wouldn’t kill a kid, pre- or post-Columbine. But I think it’s a bad call that there are no zombies under the age of 18 in Dead Rising, Left 4 Dead, or State of Decay. Child zombies are a significant part of the mythology, as you’ll see in Night of the Living Dead, 28 Days Later, and the Walking Dead. But in videogames, they’re a casualty of Columbine. The post-Columbine videogame sensibility delivered a headshot to child zombies.
This War of Mine got its share of attention when it was released a few years ago because it claimed to be an authentic recreation of the experience of civilians in a war zone. Yeah, whatever, This War of Mine. You’re a survival game — a decent one, to be sure — trying to stand out in a glutted genre. You’re not the politically conscientious arthouse game you’re pretending to be. You’re another furniture crafting game, but with stealth platformer sequences. That you’re so serious about it doesn’t make you special.
But today, the developers at 11 Bit Studios raise the stakes with DLC called The Little Ones. It adds kids. Who can die. Now, as you’re crafting furniture, you might have a waif running around the house. Her portrait blinks in the lower right hand corner of the screen. Her current state is “sad”. She’s going to be hungry tonight. It obviously depends on how much of a paternal instinct you have, but for me, this is the kind of pull a game lacks when it lets the violence at Columbine sanitize content. And while I think This War of Mine taking itself so seriously isn’t half as meaningful as its press would have you think — good lord, this video — the DLC makes a difference. Furthermore, 11 Bit Studios deserves credit for supporting War Child, a charity based on helping children displaced by war. They’re donating a dollar to War Child for each copy of the DLC sold.
The Grand Canyon State. The land that refuses to fall back or spring forward. Joe Arpaio country. Arizona. American Truck Simulator, which is pretty much Californian Truck Simulator with big plans, now has an early version of Arizona available for your driving and delivering pleasure. Just enable the beta in Steam, download version 1.3, and explore an in-progress build of some brand new desert real estate. It’s as if the American West was a wild frontier all over again!
The beta also lets you simulate having sex in various parts of your truck. From the list of features:
Physically simulated truck and trailer coupling
So far, that’s the series’ second most hardcore nod to realism, after being able to not use your blinkers when you change lanes.
The standard trailer coupling allowed for quite some room in the relative positions of the kingpin and the fifth-wheel. You could also “cheat” it by approaching the trailer from an angle. The new trailer coupling option uses full physical collision simulation for the kingpin and fifth-wheel – you will be faced with the same challenge as a real truck driver. Expecting this precision from a newbie player may be too intimidating, so we are keeping the standard simple coupling as a default…
When a new map comes out for a shooter, I’m usually all, yeah, whatever, wake me when you’ve got some single-player content. So you’d think Electronic Arts releasing a new map for Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 wouldn’t be of any interest to me. But remember there’s nothing in Garden Warfare 2 that isn’t both single-player and multiplayer, offline against bots or splitscreen with my friend, all going into the same character progression, loot grind, and quest system. Garden Warfare 2 won’t judge, limit, or segregate how I play. It’s all good. So when EA boast a big new city map, it’s not just a new place for online matches. It’s a new place for pretty much everything Garden Warfare 2 does.
The map is part of today’s free update, which includes a balance overhaul leaving no plant or zombie untouched (read the specifics here) and 1200 (!) new customization items. Because everyone’s plants and zombies weren’t already gaudy enough.
When we first saw this work-in-progress space combat game from Mike Tipul in 2012, it was called Enemy Starfighter. It was a name so bland that it was tough to care about the game despite the striking art style, promise of procedurally generated scenarios, and perma-death campaign. Now it’s called House of the Dying Sun which is so much more evocative and intriguing. Whose house? Why is the sun dying?
The game has also taken a mighty change in direction. Instead of being a string of dynamically generated encounters, the game’s campaign is now made of 14 hand-crafted scenarios. Replay is encouraged with bonus objectives and unlockable goodies.
The combat in House is HIGHLY dependent on positioning and timing to make it sing. This means old-school encounter design. I really came to grips with this last summer and immediately shifted gears. Now the game runs on highly crafted, lightning fast fights that have designed enemy setups, sight lines, engagement ranges, reinforcements, custom AI behaviors, and more.
One of the strengths of Renowned Explorers, a game I liked so much that it was the third best game of 2015, is its score chase. Sure, it tells a great story. Sure, it’s full of memorable characters, treasures, and encounters. Sure, it forces you into difficult but gratifying choices as you decide which three adventurers to bring along this time. Sure, its combat is unique in a genre that can’t stop chasing X-com. But in the end, it all comes down to your renown. Your score. How famous did you get? How did you rank on the list of world’s most renowned explorers? And how did you rank on the list of other players? Did you beat my score of 1,917 renown? The six of you on my friends list with higher scores aren’t invited to answer that question.
But the score chase is about to get a whole new leaderboard when developer Abbey Games releases the generically titled More to Explore DLC. Which does indeed offer more to explore. Two new expeditions, to be precise.
The Andean Adventure: A 3-star expedition into ancient Incan mountain territory. Find extremely valuable treasure by helping the different cities rise against the oppressive Emperor. Pay for the Llama Express to jump between areas of the map quickly.
The Lost Island: in this new end-game expedition the secrets of the Anti-Explorers will finally be revealed…if your crew is capable enough to make it through. Go above and beyond, and you might just find the prehistoric and dangerous secrets hidden in the mysterious pink mist that covers this island.
That’s good and well, but I still haven’t beat Shangri-La, so whatever is behind the pink mist on Lost Island is well beyond my reach for the time being. But where the More to Explore DLC is really going to be my downfall is with the innocuously named campfires.
After the jump, grab a marshmallow on a stick and have a seat.Continue reading →
Player versus player gameplay is coming to Minecraft. More specifically, Microsoft, Mojang, and 4J Studios are making mini-games for Minecraft: Console Edition, the first of which will be a competitive multiplayer mode. People have been making up their own Minecraft multiplayer games for years, but Microsoft wants to offer players an official set of rules. Battle introduces a bit of arena fighting to the free-form gameplay.
Players in Battle matches use randomly generated resources found in chests placed in specially designed PVP maps and combat one another in a free for all death match until the final victor is determined.
The new mode will be added for free to owners of Minecraft: Console Edition in June. Future map packs – there’s the money! – will be sold for $2.99 periodically.
Now that The Division has settled into a comfortable grind, Ubisoft would like to remind everyone that they have another open-world shooter coming. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands features a whole lot of Bolivia for the player to explore. It’s got deserts, jungles, mountains, cities, and highways for the players shoot up. Thankfully, you won’t have to walk everywhere. There’s a variety of ways to traverse these environments like motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles. Plus, Wildlands offers parachuting to cover z-axis insertion. It’s like Just Cause with slightly less explosions, but more brow-furrowed military guys grimly going about the business of killing.
Facing an almighty adversary in a massive, hostile environment, you will have to muster your strength, hone your skills, and sharpen your mettle to become a Ghost and take Bolivia back from its criminal tyrants.
Serious business. Ghost Recon Wildlands will eventually release on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
The new Automated Competitors DLC for Gremlins Inc, a great example of a videogame boardgame, gives each of the tokens a special ability. Imagine Monopoly — I know, I know, eww! — where the little dog gets extra movement, the battleship can attack other pieces to drive back a space, and the top hat, uh… Never mind the top hat. Let’s say the iron gets the ability to, uh… Okay, never mind the iron. The thimble gets to, well, uh… Look, I’m sure you get my point. Quit badgering me about stupid Monopoly.
In Gremlins, Inc, these abilities add a nice bit of flavor and gameplay. For instance, in my game with Kelly Wand (you can watch it here), my devil guy would have gotten victory points for mucking around in hell and he could have chosen among misfortunes instead of just taking whatever he draws. Kelly Wand’s garbageman would have gotten less money and would have been better at digging around in the dump. Our AI opponent, the prosecutor, would have gotten the best deal. With the new DLC, a prosecutor can steal votes to be elected governor, he pays reduced bribes to the police, and he can extort money from the other players. I call dibbs on the prosecutor in my next game! As part of the game’s thorough iconography — Gremlins Inc understands what it takes to make a videogame boardgame — any events associated with the new abilities are indicated by a light bulb.
Automated Competitors is the second DLC for Gremlins, Inc. It’s available today for five dollars. The first DLC, Uninvited Guests, was just cosmetic stuff. It was released last month, also for five dollars. A new patch, free to everyone, is also available today. It adds some new interface stuff and new cards. One of the cards is called Astral Elevator. It builds a permanent bridge between the bank and the astral plane, but only for the person who played the card. How is that fair? Unless, of course, I play it.
Correction: The character abilities are part of the free update and they’re completely independent of the paid DLC. This latest DLC, like the previous paid DLC, only adds cosmetic options such as character portraits, new music, and ingame emoticons. Everyone gets the new character abilities and furthermore, the developers have said they’re committed to making gameplay updates available to everyone free of charge. Thanks to Mysterio for the correction!
Yes, there’s another expansion for Goat Simulator coming. Waste of Space puts your intrepid ruminant in the wild yonder of the universe, or as Coffee Stain Studios puts it, “Fly and shoot stuff in space, because nobody makes games about flying and shooting in space anymore.” There is a bit of pointed commentary right from the get go as the premise of the DLC involves a running gag based on crowd-funding. Very subtle, Goat Simulator.
Goat Simulator Waste of Space launches on iOS, Android, and Steam tomorrow.
If you’re like the majority of gamers today, you’re either playing Overwatch, waiting to leave work or school to play Overwatch, or watching streams of Overwatch. Let’s say you’re in that tiny minority of gamers not doing any of those three things. Instead, you’re waiting in a queue to start an Overwatch match. What to do? Stare at the character screen? Heck no! You can spend more money on Overwatch. Cosmetic loot boxes are now available for purchase! 50 loot boxes for $39.99 sounds like the best deal. That’s like 80 cents per box!
Kathy Rain is a bit of Nancy Drew for adults meets Gabriel Knight for non-hardcore adventure gamers. So far I haven’t run into any puzzles involving cat fur and maple syrup. Instead, it seems to focus on characters, relationships, and something intriguing that doesn’t come along until a little further into the mystery than I’m comfortable revealing. I haven’t played it nearly as much as I’d like, but I’ve played it enough to know I want to keep playing it.
Unfortunately, as of two weeks after its release, it’s a financial failure. But Jonas Antonsson from publisher Raw Fury doesn’t mind. He figures they’re going to make their money over the long run. He figures the positive critical response is going to give Kathy Rain a long sales tale. But he acknowledges this is particularly problematic for a developer, in this case a dude in Sweden named Joel Staaf Hasto. Slow sales mean it takes that much longer for a developer’s cut of the revenue to kick in. As Antonsson says:
Way too often the developer can’t survive this sort of scenario, usually because they don’t have other sources of income. They are — to put it frankly — fucked. This is especially true for newer and smaller developers.
That’s why Raw Fury and Hasto have an unusual deal. As part of the publishing agreement, Raw Fury is paying Hasto to keep working for the next year, regardless of what he’s working on. I don’t know how common this is, and I’m sure it’s easier for Raw Fury to do this with a one-man team than, say, a small studio. But it’s nice to read about a game that has the dubious honor of being a “critical success” (i.e. it’s not making much money) without putting the developer in dire straits.
Having only recently launched, Battleborn is already getting a new hero. The first of a planned five free heroes that will be added to the game’s roster, Alani is coming on May 24th for season pass holders and the 31st for everyone else. She’s another healer character, so players can expect her to be called on to support other heroes’ engagements and be a key support figure in team strategies.
Alani will cost 47,500 in-game credits to unlock for use. That’s a lot of lane pushing. Alternately, players with the season pass can unlock the new character using a free Hero Key that will come with the update. With the release of each new hero, Gearbox will supply season pass holders with a Hero Key to get a jump on all the dirty peasants that will be forced to grind for their heroes. Hero keys can be used to unlock any character the player isn’t able to access. If you’ve been stuck trying to beat all the co-op missions on advanced difficulty and you’re still not at Command Rank 40, you can use a Hero Key to bypass the requirements for Ghalt. Better yet, once you do fulfill the requirement for Ghalt, you’ll get your key back and can use it on another locked hero.
Stop already. Just stop. Everyone knows how great you are. Everyone has already had to tear himself away from World of Warcraft, Starcraft II, Diablo III, and Heroes of the Storm. And you know we’ll have to do it all over again when Overwatch comes out next week. So why would you release new content for the co-op mode in Starcraft II now, today, mere days before Overwatch arrives? Why would you give us playable Abathur, more room to advance our favorite characters, and “mutators” to add a greater challenge to familiar levels? And why would the first mutator be a zombie train called Train of the Dead that I’m going to have to play because zombies and trains are two of my favorite things? At least you’re charging $5 for Abathur, which makes it easier to pretend I’m going to say no. But why would you continue to make Starcraft II relevant to guys like me who are above the single-player campaign but below the demands of competitive multiplayer? Why now? What are you trying to prove? That you can upstage Total War: Warhammer, the latest Fallout 4 DLC, Doom, Uncharted 4, and Homefront: Revolution? That your old games hold just as much sway as everyone else’s shiny new games? It’s too much. It’s simply too much. Just stop for a while and give everyone else a chance.
Yours truly (no, seriously, I mean “yours” in an unhealthy way!),
On the off chance that you ever actually uninstalled Marvel Heroes, Gazillion announced they’re about to do that thing where you can start playing as soon as you start downloading. This will make it convenient to jump back in whenever you have the inclination to drive around a Marvel hero. And given the frequency of new movies and TV shows, that’s probably pretty frequent. For instance, I can’t be the only one who thinks this would be the ideal weekend to level up Jean Grey. In the near future, I’ll be able to do that without waiting for a 20GB download.
By the way, what level is my Jean Grey again? I’ll let you know in about 14GBs.
