Something for the Weekend
Diablo III will apparently not have PvP at launch, as the systems aren’t up to scratch yet. Instead, they’ll be patched in when they are ready. In the meantime, Blizzard are apparently putting the finishing touches on the game.. for which there is still no confirmed release date.
CryEngine 3 is now available for free non-commercial use! AI, animations, dynamic lighting.. check out the preview from IGN:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TtgW20IEm0] (more…)
Quantic Dream’s Kara and Other Videos
Quantic Dream have created an amazing demo video, featuring an android called Kara. The video shows off new development tech and some fantastic writing too..
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtbDDqU3dVI] (more…)
The Resurrected Scroll of Resurrection, and Other News
Blizzard are encouraging WoW players to bring their friends back to the game, with the latest version of their Scroll of Resurrection. The player referring their friend gets a Spectral Mount, while the returning player gets a free upgrade to Cataclysm, a boost to level 80 for one character, and free character move if required, so they can join their friend’s realm and faction.
In the News – 6th March
Mass Effect 3 launched today for the Americans, with the UK release due on Friday. The game currently has a Metacritic score of 93, while the user score is currently at 2.5. Political voting? I think so.
The latest that the multiplayer will have an effect on the ending of your singleplayer game. As you complete missions and earn the support of different people, you gain them as War Assets: the game takes the number of collected War Assets into consideration when calculating your ending.. and it seems that you need a fairly high number of them. During multiplayer, you can improve your Readiness rating. This rating is used as a multiplier against your War Assets, so has a positive effect. (more…)
News of the Leaked Variety
Almost all the news that has caught my eye today has been leaked in some way or other.. maybe this is the new thing for bored PR? 😉
Ubisoft have released a CGI launch trailer for the American Revolution-themed Assassin’s Creed III:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVUMPrv8oRw] (more…)
Valve Developing “Steam Box”?
A rumour is circulating that Valve may be developing their own console!
This console would play PC games, use Steam and perhaps even competing services.. and would use The Big Picture, which offers easy-to-read and simple navigation designed for the TV, controlled by either a gamepad or mouse and keyboard. Game developers wouldn’t have to pay for a license to develop for the platform, unlike for other consoles.
In an interview with Penny Arcade earlier this month, Gabe Newell made mention of Valve building their own hardware to make use of their own innovations.. which may include biometric measurements and augmented reality games.
Is there room for another box under the telly? We have a PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and a media PC already. I think I could make room for something that brought interesting augmented reality games along.. games that react to how you are feeling, or allow players to see the state of other players in multiplayer, like in the special build of Left 4 Dead. Though.. I think I’ll stop short of the skull implants 😉
In the News – 2nd March
Assassin’s Creed 3 will be set in North America during the second half of the 18th Century and the events of the American Revolution. These details and others appeared in the latest issue of Game Informer magazine, and subsequently were posted to NeoGAF.
In the News – 1st March
The release date for Irrational Games’ BioShock Infinite has been revealed: October 16th in the US, and on October 19th internationally, for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The game will also support the PlayStation Move motion controller, with more details to follow later.. though Eurogamer spotted a “special” BioShock Infinite peripheral on Sony’s website back in November.
Mojang have released Minecraft 1.2 today, adding a slew of new features including new blocks and items, a new jungle biome and a map height limit of 256. On the creature front, ocelots become cats when tamed, and tamed wolves can now have puppies! (more…)
The Bukkit Team Join Mojang!
The four main developers of Bukkit and CraftBukkit, the server-side mod for Minecraft, are now joining Mojang!
This means that we can expect improved mod support in future, not only for Minecraft, but also for those of us running servers! The plan is to build a new server API, and then extend this to support client-side modding.
In the meantime, the team are working to make Bukkit compatible with Minecraft 1.2, to avoid a long gap while the official Minecraft server catches up.
You can read the Bukkit story over on their forum.
Nioki Adventure
Nioki Adventure is a co-operative 2D sandbox game planned for released on PC and Xbox 360, and the first game for French indie studio, Bidogames.
The website for the game has launched today: check it out here.
