That will be your first reaction to Gremlins Inc, a videogame boardgame that’s looks awfully, well, busy. Busy would be the kind way to put it. Mess is more likely what you’ll think. It’s what I thought. What a chaotic tangle of tiny pictures and arrows! Is that some sort of artwork lurking behind it all? What is that back there? A gremlin warren? Is there a way to see text labels for all these icons? Or even just a legend?
Two Worlds II, the plucky open-world fantasy roleplaying game from Reality Pump, is getting a significant engine overhaul including user interface improvements, higher resolution detail, achievements, and cooperative multiplayer. Why upgrade a game from 2010? In the announcement, publisher TopWare Interactive revealed that they will be releasing two new DLC installments for the game. Call of the Tenebrae, coming this year, and Shattered Embrace, which will follow afterwards.
In the wake of a rash of disappearances across the land, the Hero receives an unexpected letter from DarPha, compelling him to travel across Antaloor to assist her in solving the mysterious kidnappings. He arrives just in time to see a group of robed figures seemingly murder DarPha before disappearing into a magical portal. The Hero is thrust into a decades old mystery while a new race of horrific, rat-like creatures attempt to destroy Antaloor for good.
In addition to the upgrades for Two Worlds II, fans of the series can look forward to Two Worlds III. According to TopWare, they’ve begun work on the sequel and are planning a development schedule that spans 36 months.
I present you with the six most memorable minutes from my four hours of playtime in Dark Souls III. And while you’re watching, please subscribe to the Quarter to Three YouTube channel while we get it set up for an official launch.
So you don’t play boardgames? That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t listen to this podcast about boardgames. On the contrary! Guests Tony Carnevale and Bruce Geryk help Tom Chick get down to brass tacks. What’s the best way to get into boardgames? Which games? Which games should you avoid? We even teach you how to speak boardgame.
Right after the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Kotaku published a report alleging that Sony was working on a kind of “PlayStation 4.5” that would be a half-step between the current console and a next-gen hardware target. This console would feature an iterative advance on specifications rather than a complete revision. A little more oomph here and bit more razzamatazz there to make current games play more smoothly, better support PlayStation VR’s graphics-hungry requirements, and take some steps into the 4K resolution space. According to Kotaku’s sources, there wasn’t a clear timetable for when this was coming, but Sony held meetings with developers and publishers to discuss the concept.
Eurogamer’s Digital Foundry says they have independently verified the existence of this iterative console. Their contacts told them it’s being referred to as the PlayStation 4K, and that the machine already exists as a prototype.
The most obvious flaw in this plan is that the audience may not be ready to buy another PlayStation. The PlayStation 4 launched only three years ago, and the console being discussed doesn’t offer much more than a slight upgrade. Unfortunately, if developers and publishers target the hardware of the PlayStation 4.5/4K for their next games, owners of the plain old PlayStation 4 may find themselves left behind.
Remember when Microsoft announced they were going to publish a new Phantom Dust for the Xbox One? Yeah, that was pretty cool. Of course, it didn’t happen since Microsoft has better things to do. So Danish developer Betadwarf, who might not even realize they’re doing it, is taking up the slack.
Well, well, well, look what showed up today on the Playstation Store! Rockstar’s Bully is now available for $15. The text implies it’s a direct port of the Playstation 2 version, which was available as part of the classics catalog for the PS3. I’m not sure how it might compare to the sketchy remastered edition for the Xbox 360, but surely Sony and Rockstar took the time to do right by the best game of 2006.
Okay, now let’s get Red Dead Redemption playable on my PS4.
After the jump, is Bully really the best game of 2006?Continue reading →
Sony’s latest announcement about the developer of the troubled Driveclub:
Regular reviews take place throughout SCE Worldwide Studios, ensuring that the resources that we have in such a competitive landscape can create and produce high quality, innovative and commercially viable projects.
As part of this process we have reviewed and assessed all current projects and plans for the short and medium term and have decided to make some changes to the European studios structure.
As a result, It has been decided that Evolution Studio will close.
The irony is that after Driveclub’s half-baked marketing and botched release, Evolution devoted their resources to a steady stream of remarkable improvements. As of today, there is no better pure racing game on the PS4.
Zombies are coming to Rise of the Tomb Raider. The Cold Darkness Awakened DLC features Lara Croft exploring a secret Siberian outpost full of infected soldiers. They’re more 28 Days Later than Night of the Living Dead, but we all know what it means when a disease turns people into “bloodthirsty killers who thrive on carnage.” They’re zombies. They may not be technically undead, but the death sequences when you screw up will probably be just as gruesome.
Cold Darkness Awakened will launch on March 29th. It is the third and final piece of DLC for the game’s season pass bundle. It will also be available separately for both Windows and Xbox One versions.
The Division’s upcoming patch will fix a few exploits. Farming lucrative encounters is a tried and true technique with any loot-heavy game, but the ability to kill named enemy characters (the equivalent of Diablo 3’s mini-bosses) was being abused to a ridiculous level in The Division. Run to mob. Kill mini-boss. Hoover up loot. Die. Rinse and repeat. Apparently, this is engaging to some people. The upcoming 1.0.2 patch does away with this loophole, putting the grind back to where Ubisoft wants it to be.
Named NPCs will no longer respawn after being killed in the Open World. This will prevent situations where players were able to kill a same named NPC over and over again.
If you want to watch Tom Chick and Jason McMaster play The Division the correct way, start here.
This week we see the sequel to that beloved found footage giant monster movie. But this time, the monster… well, we don’t want to spoil anything. At the 1:20 mark, we talk a bit about Jeff Nichols’ latest movie, Midnight Special. Then we discuss cancer in movies.
If you’d like to check out Battlefield Gothic Armada in motion, join me as I explore issues like whether space torpedoes are any good, the real value of ships being able to turn quickly, and how many points are worth putting into your navigator’s skill. For maximum space porn, I recommend watching in HD.
If you like that video and would like more like it, please subscribe to the Quarter to Three Youtube channel, which is currently a work in progress, so pardon our dust.
I know it’s hard to believe the people behind the Xbox One could be tone deaf to the state of the industry. But it seems Microsoft hired go-go dancers dressed as schoolgirls for their GDC party. The dancers writhed and wriggled around the periphery of a dance floor that had been set up for partygoers. Presumably people would come into the party, see the school-girl dancers, and think, “Yowsa, I gotta get me a copy of Halo 5!”
Frankly, what I find offensive is the idea of a dance floor devoted to the awkward gyrations of all those privileged white males.
