Nexuiz – Dynamic Mutators
Nexuiz is an arena first person shooter, originally developed by Alientrap Software using a mod of the Quake Engine, but later rebuilt from the ground up using CryENGINE 3, to be published by THQ.
Dynamic Mutators allow players to change they way they play.. or the way the team plays, as Mutators come in five categories: everyone, your team, enemy team, yourself, and “WTF”. With over 100 Mutators to choose from, there are over 1.7 million combinations available..
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnvGBlhgBh0]
Nexuiz will be available on Xbox LIVE on the 29th February, with PlayStation 3 and PC versions to follow.
THQ Japan Shutting Down
THQ Japan is shutting down on February 29th, with all staff leaving the company. This is said to be due to the recent financial problems of the parent US company. Via VG247.
This closure was rumoured a fortnight ago, when THQ made employees in their Australian office redundant. These offices were said to be involved in distribution, rather than game development.
THQ have just announced a release date and pre-order details for Darksiders II, and the latest installation in their MMA franchise, UFC Undisputed 3, releases on Friday in the UK for PS3 and Xbox 360.
Humble Bundle Mojam
Mojang are teaming up with HumbleBundle.com this weekend, to create a new game with all the money going to charity!
Starting Friday, February 17th, and continuing through the weekend, the team will be livestreaming their progress while they create this game.. follow @Mojangteam and @notch for updates.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8MhLvjoBTs]
By donating, you will get the game produced during the weekend.. and will be some fun and silly incentives for reaching certain levels of donations, as well as giveaways and Q&As with the team.
That’s not all.. Mojang want fans to help choose the theme and genre of the game, by voting on their website here. the highest and lowest voted from each category will be combined for the game!
Be Mine.. Or Not..
The traffic to Groupee’s Be Mine games and music bundle was rather more than expected, with the site going down almost as soon as the bundle came on sale.
Server capacity is currently being boosted, and the bundle, along with the Antisleep music bundle, will be relaunched tomorrow instead.
Be Mine will contains five games: Wasteland Angel, Sideway New York, Xotic, Beep and The Ball. Customers can pay what they want, with a minimum of $1, and 20% of the proceeds will be given to Child’s Play.
Darksiders II – Release Date Announced
THQ have announced that Vigil‘s action-adventure Darksiders II will be released for the PS3, 360 and PC on the 29th June 2012.
Exclusive pre-order bonuses have been announced too: the ‘Death Rides’ pack from GAME contains extra side-quests, the ‘Deadly Despair’ pack is available via Amazon and adds a speed boost for Death’s steed, Despair, and the ‘Angel of Death’ pack will provide enhanced armour and weapons.. the shop this preorder will be available through has not yet been announced.
New Minecraft Map Format – Anvil
Mojang have developed a new map format for Minecraft, dubbed “Anvil”.
This new format increases maximum build height to 256 from 128, and added scope for many more block types by increasing block IDs to 4096, from 256, as well as a number of other changes to prepare for modding and improved compression.
The next snapshot, and Minecraft 1.2 will automatically convert worlds to the new format. You do not need to convert them yourself.
More information is available here.
Dear Esther Releases Today
The indie remake of the cult mod Dear Esther releases today for PC and will be available on Steam.
Dear Esther started as a mod for Half Life 2, an interactive ghost story with randomly generated audio telling a tale, created by Dan Pinchbeck and with a soundtrack by Jessica Curry.
The visual overhaul comes from professional game artist, Robert Briscoe., and the remake of Dear Esther has been supported by the Indie Fund, an investment model which aims to support the growth of gaming and indie developers.
Indie Gala Bonus Time!
The Indie Gala Bonus has now unlocked for Valentine’s Day, adding exosyphen studios‘ Hacker Evolution to all bundle levels!
Hacker Evolution is a hacking simulation game, with the player taking on the role of a former intelligence agent, hacking into computers and looking for exploits and information.
For those who unlocked the Big-Saver or Epic Gala Bundle, there’s also Ulrich Schnauss‘ album, Selection for Gala.
The download options for both the game and music can be found on your profile page on the Indie Gala website.
Be Mine – Indie Game Bundle
The Be Mine Indie Game Bundle, from Groupees, is launching for Valentine’s Day and will be available through till the 28th February. This bundle is pay what you want with a minimum price of $1, and 20% of the money goes to Child’s Play.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPSvCqAOMfc]
There are five games in the bundle, and all come with Steam keys: Wasteland Angel, a vehicular combat shoot ’em up from Octane Games, a puzzle-platform adventure called Sideway New York, by Playbrains and Fuel Entertainment, Xotic, an arcade-style first person shooter by WXP Games, Beep, a physics-based platformer by Big Fat Alien, and The Ball, an award-winning action-puzzle game built on the Unreal Engine 3, by Teotl Studios.
There is also a selection of music in the bundle, from: Celldweller, Fantomenk and Damage Vault.
Firefall: Battleframe Trailer Challenge
Red 5 Studios are hosting a competition for their fans to create a trailer using unreleased footage of the game.
This is a chance for the fans to create introductions for the Assault, Medic, Recon and Engineer battleframes, along the lines of the Dreadnaught Introduction.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcrCXrr1j-4]
The team have provided clips for use in these trailers as well as instructions, information and rules here.
Prizes include a trip to Boston to join Red 5 at PAX East, an Alienware M14x Laptop, and a Firefall-branded Astro Gaming A40 Audio System.