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0 CommentsCivilization 5's Brave New World expansion trailer details Culture victory path
By Jenna Pitcher at 2:01a 05.10.13
A new trailer for Civilization 5's next expansion, Brave New World, details the game's new path to a Culture victory.
According to the trailer, the first civilization with the majority influence overall will achieve the new Culture victory. As great works, such as paintings, performances and writings are created, they can be stored in buildings like museums and opera houses. Bonuses are awarded for combining specific works with buildings and wonders. Influence is then spread by creating tourism with culture.
The expansion will add other new features, such as eight new wonders, new trade systems, nine new playable civilizations, such as the Polish Empire, and two new scenarios.
Brave New World will launch in North America July 9 on Windows PC for $29.99, and internationally on July...
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3 CommentsWorld of Tanks developer sues Chinese company over 'disturbingly similar game' Project Tank
By Michael McWhertor at 1:54a 05.10.13
Wargaming filed a copyright infringement suit against a pair of Chinese companies in a U.S. District Court in the northern district of Illinois this week, alleging that Gamease's Project Tank is "disturbingly similar" to its popular online game World of Tanks.
Project Tank, which also operates under the name Tanks Ground War and plans to operate under the name Ground War Tanks, according to Wargaming's complaint, is "an unoriginal and disturbingly similar game directly based on the World of Tanks." Wargaming's suit alleges that Gamease's tank game, which has been playable in a closed beta, "copied the plot, theme, dialogue, mood, setting, pace, and character of World of Tanks, in addition to copying specific features, items, tanks, and artwork."
The complaint filed by Wargaming...
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2 CommentsCD Projekt Red accidentally releases The Witcher 2 RedKit development tool early
By Jenna Pitcher at 12:57a 05.10.13
CD Projekt Red inadvertently let the upcoming RedKit mod tool files for The Witcher 2 go live for a short period of time, allowing users fast enough to download the files before they were pulled by the company, according to a post on the The Witcher's official forums.
CD Projekt Red community manager Marcin Momot apologized in the forums for any confusion caused and said the files will be officially released soon.
"We were running some tests on the website and it went public for a brief moment. Those of you who have downloaded the RedKit files have fun they are official so don't worry!," he wrote."Also, feel free to use the instruction posted by Kodaemon since it's legit as well."
The tool will allow users to modify the game's features, such as terrain, vegetation, camera...
Culture
0 CommentsStar Wars: A New Hope opening sequence recreated in Minecraft
By Jenna Pitcher on May 09, 2013 05.09.13
YouTube user "Paradise Decay," Star Wars and Minecraft enthusiast, recreated the first five minutes of Star Wars: A New Hope in Minecraft.
The fan film's creator Grahame Skeavington wrote that it is a work in progress, no mods were used in the film's creation and that he used a modified version of Minecraft architect StickFro's Star Destroyer schematic.
The fan film was created in memory of Skeavington's father, who passed away recently. As he remembers in the end credits: "He took me to see Star Wars in 1977, we had pancakes, watched the film and he even bought me the ‘Millenium Falcon' model."
Paradise Decay has also recreated other Star Wars sequences in Minecraft, such as the Death Star Run and Battle for Hoth.
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10 CommentsHalf-Life 2 gets official support for Oculus Rift VR headset
By Michael McWhertor on May 09, 2013 05.09.13
Valve added support for the Oculus Rift VR headset to its landmark first-person shooter Half-Life 2 in the latest update to the game that also added support for SteamPipe, Steam's new content distribution system.
Joe Ludwig, the Valve programmer who lead development of Oculus Rift support for Team Fortress 2, announced the feature on the Oculus developer forums. The virtual reality option for Half-Life 2 is included in the game's opt-in beta version, and Ludwig says it should ship "to everybody in a few weeks."
"This port is a bit more raw than TF2 was when it shipped," Ludwig explained, "so we would appreciate hearing about any bugs you find. Just like in TF2 this mode is experimental, so we really want to hear what you think."
Ludwig reports a few known issues, including problems...
Speed Run
20 CommentsSpeed Run: Sony, PS4, Ouya, empathy games
By Alexa Ray Corriea on May 09, 2013 05.09.13
Sony reported its first net profit in five years today in its fiscal year financial results, despite a "deteriorated" operating income in its video game department. The company is also not expecting to incur the same financial losses during the PS4 launch as it did during the development and launch of the PS3. Ouya's retail date has been delayed to the end of June, and the company received an additional $15 million in funding. A new feature explores empathy games and the ideology behind the growing sector of the indie community.
Sony makes first net profit in five years despite 'deteriorated' games sector
PS4 will not suffer major losses at launch "unlike PS3," says Sony
Ouya secures $15 million in VC funding and delays retail launch as its CEO works to build a "dream"
Gaming's new...
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6 CommentsCall of Duty: Black Ops 2 multiplayer free on Steam, double XP everywhere this weekend
By Dave Tach on May 09, 2013 05.09.13
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2's multiplayer component will be free on Steam this weekend and players on all platforms can earn double experience points during the same period.
The first-person shooter's free multiplayer weekend on Steam will run through 4 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 4. Black Ops 2 is also on sale through Valve's digital distribution service for $40.19, a 33 percent discount, until Monday, May 13.
According to a tweet from developer Treyarch Studios, Black Ops 2's double XP weekend begins Friday, May 10, at 1 p.m. ET and runs through Monday, May 13, at 1 p.m. ET and will be available to players on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Windows PC and Wii U.
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3 CommentsDecapitate zombies and blast skeletons with lightning in Hellraid trailer from Dead Island devs
By John Funk on May 09, 2013 05.09.13
A new trailer from Dead Island studio Techland shows what combat in the upcoming first-person hack-and-slash Hellraid is going to be like.
The trailer sees the player character fighting against the minions of Hell, dueling sword-wielding undead and blasting skeletons into bits with fireballs shot out of a magic staff. It's very reminiscent of Dead Island's combat, only in a fantasy setting — unsurprising, given that it too runs on Techland's Chrome 5 engine.
Hellraid was announced last month and is slated for a release on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PC sometime this year.
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4 CommentsDiablo 3 Auction Houses to remain offline for 'at least another 24 hours'
By Samit Sarkar on May 09, 2013 05.09.13
Diablo 3 developer Blizzard Entertainment was hoping to bring back the game's gold and real-money Auction Houses sometime today, but according to the studio's most recent estimate, they'll remain offline for "at least another 24 hours."
Blizzard took the Auction Houses offline earlier this week due to a gold duping bug that surfaced on May 7, when it patched Diablo 3 to version 1.0.8. The studio was able to fix the bug that night, but decided to put the servers into maintenance mode so it could perform a complete audit of all transactions made since the release of the patch. The team believed that to be a better choice than having to roll back everyone's progress.
"We feel that this is the best course of action given the nature of the dupe, how relatively few players used it and the...
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2 CommentsTimeGate Studios reportedly lays off entire staff in wake of bankruptcy filing
By Alexa Ray Corriea on May 09, 2013 05.09.13
TimeGate studios, the developer behind Section 8 and Gearbox's co-developer on Aliens: Colonial Marines, reportedly laid off its entire staff today, reports Kotaku.
According to Kotaku's sources, staff were sent home early today.
Earlier this month TimeGate filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Texas Southern Bankruptcy Court. Publisher SouthPeak Interactive, who was awarded arbitration in an ongoing lawsuit with TimeGate and could collect $7.35 million in compensatory damages, said the bankruptcy filing is a "ruse" to protect TimeGate executives from fraud judgment.
"The sole purpose of the TimeGate bankruptcy is to free these non-debtor insiders of the fraud findings and any alter-ego claims," lawyers representing SouthPeak told The Wall Street Journal. "On barely one day's...
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26 CommentsOrigin update embraces powerful PCs, tweaks interface, achievements and more
By Dave Tach on May 09, 2013 05.09.13
An update for Origin, Electronic Arts' digital distribution service, adds options for powerful computers, tweaks the interface, achievements and more, according to an update posted on the official website.
Origin version 9.2.1 adds a new "multilauncher" for 64-bit systems that gives "additional options for taking advantage of your hardware when starting supported games." Origin's Application Settings menu has also been revamped, and users can now track achievements and the Origin Points they earn from playing Battlefield 3, Mass Effect 3, and Dead Space 3 on their profile page. Finally, those who broadcast their gameplay now have the option to automatically archive it.
If you'd like to install the update for Windows PC or Mac now, you can sign up for the Origin beta program. Those...
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10 CommentsFormer 'Tron Legacy,' '300' SFX artists create open-world survival horror title The Forest
By Alexa Ray Corriea on May 09, 2013 05.09.13
SKS Games, a Vancouver studio made up of special effects artists whose portfolios include the films 300 and Tron Legacy, have posted their in-development open-world survival horror title, The Forest, on Steam Greenlight.
Players begin alone in a forest, the sole survivor of a devastating plane crash. To keep living, players must fell trees, build a fire and a place to sleep and scavenge for food.
As players explore the eerie forest and its connected network of underground lakes and caves, they will also need to set traps and learn to defend themselves again a race of cannibalistic mutants. Players can evade, hide or even engage them directly, seeking them out for an offensive fight.
According to the Greenlight page, the game will feature changing weather patterns, a day/night cycle...
Video
0 CommentsDisney Infinity trailer shows of the toybox universe of the Pirates of the Caribbean play set
By John Funk on May 09, 2013 05.09.13
A new trailer for Disney Infinity shows Davey Jones and Captain Jack Sparrow in toy-esque action.
Though most of the hype for Infinity thus far has revolved around its free-form build-a-game Toy Box mode, it will also include pre-created worlds and sets based on Disney's characters and stories. This trailer focuses on the play set based on the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, with roguish pirate Jack Sparrow and eldritch underwater abomination Davey Jones in a swashbuckling duel. Players ought to beware the giant kraken.
The end of the trailer shows the Pirates cast as they might interact in the aforementioned Toy Box.
Disney Infinity hits most major platforms this August.
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7 CommentsBattlefield 3 and Battlelog DDOS attack continues, upcoming double XP event postponed
By Alexa Ray Corriea on May 09, 2013 05.09.13
DICE and EA are still working to resolve issues with servers for Battlefield 3 and the Battelog service resulting from an ongoing denial-of-service attack, according to posts on the Battlelog forums.
Severs for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC versions of the game crashed late Tuesday night after an attack aimed at them by an outside party. DICE temporarily took the servers offline to reconfigure and perform "emergency maintenance," but the issues have persisted since they have been put back up.
"The current Battlefield 3 outages are a result of activity that appears to be aimed at overwhelming our back-end infrastructure," a representative for EA posted on the forums. "We are working on a variety of solutions to address this problem and are focused on resolution as quickly as...
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20 CommentsSaint's Row 4 gameplay walkthrough shows off super-powered combat to the tune of a dubstep gun
By John Funk on May 09, 2013 05.09.13
Volition has released a new gameplay video for the upcoming open-world Saint's Row 4, narrated by the game's senior producer Jim Boone.
The video is the demo that Volition showed at PAX East back in March, this time with added commentary. In it, the leader of the Saints — who has since become the President of the United States — is trapped in a twisted virtual version of Steelport by an evil alien race called the Zin.
In the walkthrough, Boone shows off some of Saint's Row 4's more ridiculous weaponry, like a gun that inflates enemies until they burst or a gun that literally shoots dubstep music. We also see the game's upgrade shops, where the player can customize a weapon's performance by boosting its damage or rate of fire. The design of weapon can now also be changed; the video...
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8 CommentsEuro Truck Simulator 2 developers experimenting with Oculus Rift support
By Alexa Ray Corriea on May 09, 2013 05.09.13
Euro Truck Simulator 2 is "mostly working correctly" with the Oculus Rift virtual reality hardware, according to developer SCS Software.
In a post on the company's blog, SCS wrote they have been experimenting with the hardware for a few days, and they have been able to get their truck-driving simulation game running on it.
"Looking around the cabin freely is incredible, it almost feels like being in there," reads the post.
SCS notes that the Oculus Rift, and subsequently Euro Truck Simulator 2's running on the device, isn't perfect yet but shows promise.
"It's not perfect, but it's a promise of great things to come for sure," SCS wrote.
In Euro Truck Simulator 2, players drive a truck across Europe, visiting cities along a delivery route, as well as picking up and dropping off...
