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Monthly Archives: September 2014
Forge of Empires: Now available on iPhone
InnoGames just released the iPhone version of its award-winning online game Forge of Empires. The game has already been available for iPad since May this year but the updated universal App now sports optimized screens sizes, graphics and a better user interface for the iPhone. The performance was improved with a priority for smooth game on devices from the iPhone 4 on. From now on, the game is available for download on the App store. As with the iPad-Version, players can login on an iPhone with their browser account, switch back and forth between devices or create an entirely new account on any mobile device.
The release is part of InnoGames’ ongoing Cross-Platform strategy and will be followed up by an Android version in the future. Forge of Empires recently reached 20 million registered users, partly due to the very successful iPad-Version. The game reached the overall top ten downloads in ten European app stores upon launch.
The optimized touch controls, visuals and direct play support allow for a true mobile gaming experience – the full cross-platform functionality in the app enables players with a browser account to log in via the iPhone or iPad, continue playing and then switch back to the browser or another device at any time, without ever losing progress. Accounts that are created on iOS devices can also be used to access the browser version.
For more info, visit http://www.innogames.com/en/browser-games/forge-of-empires/
Grimoire Alpha Press Preview
By Jason Parker (Ragachak)
Action, Excitement, Fireballs:
Grimoire is an intriguing FPS title. Though it is still in the Alpha Stage of development and there is much to do still, I was fortunate enough this weekend to play several matches with the developers to see what they have created so far and what to look forward to from this title. Grimoire is a first person shooter with wizards! As someone who occasionally delves into the FPS genre (moreso lately than ever) I was curious to see what will make Grimoire stand out, and I believe that it will take very little effort for it to make a statement. The goals are a little ambiguous in the mode that we played (Conquest) and the developers will be updating their Kickstarter soon to reflect how the game works a little better. It can be found here where more can be seen!
I was pretty excited to see Grimoire once I had heard a little about it. I’m a big fantasy fan, and to be able to battle it out with teams of wizards appeals to me just a bit more than teams of spec-ops. Again, this is a very early build and there is far more to come than what I’ve seen. At this particular point in the build there are five schools of magic, a generic pool of movement/defense spells, and only one game mode – but I have to say I was pretty pleased with what I did encounter. People who donate to the Kickstarter can get into the Alpha right away instead of having to wait for an early release, or a beta, so that’s pretty nice. Another interesting point is that the devs are looking to their community and fans for potential ideas for their next/upcoming classes for the game. I’m a big fan of crowdsourcing and I had no choice but to pitch an idea or two! Maybe we’ll see some awesome Time Mage shenanigans in Grimoire.
Infinite Magical Power:
The two houses Magnus and Validus vie for the Grimoire, a powerful magical artifact. Wielding it will decide the fate of land of Aesir – who doesn’t want that? Teams of mages will group together and unleash their infinite power against one another, devastating everything in their paths. The combat really feels as fast-paced as any other solid FPS title, while offering a combo of tactical MOBA-style gameplay. Each wizard has four spells, depending on their school (fire, ice, nature, et al), in addition to a small pool of movement and defensive spells that they can call on. There are cooldowns like you would find in a MOBA so that a player cannot simply spam their ultimate spell anytime they want.
There are three different styles of controls and each has their own appeal. Later builds will implement fully customizable buttons. I did take the time to ask if there would be controller support, but nothing is set in stone for that yet, although it is being looked at. The controls are pretty solid for a game in its alpha; there are of course bugs and glitches, but that is to be expected. The actual controls themselves are fairly simple, moving around the same way that a traditional FPS would with space jumping and WASD movement. It’s a little jerky and stiff right now, but that will only get better with time. Though I have to say I was both amused and horrified as I cast my golem as an earth mage only to have it spawn on top of a lamppost, or when it pummeled a dead body with its large, angry fists.
Conquest features nice large maps to navigate around, buildings to run up steps for, barrels to climb on, and other terrain to take advantage of. Victory is acquired by certain amount of points attained by holding choke points/flags that are scattered throughout the map. It does not take very long to take a flag, so it is important to keep on the move. There is not a lot known about the other modes, other than that one is a deathmatch arena mode; 3v3 or 5v5 duke it out in a nice small area where there are no respawns. I’m also looking forward to the Safeguard mode which is mentioned in their Kickstarter campaign; a group of wizards team up to fight against a horde of evil and the goal is to keep the city intact, instead of simply destruction. It should promote teamwork and strategy, which I am all for.
Final Thoughts: Looks Good!
Though my playtime was briefly only an hour or so, I’m really hyped for this game! It’s still a little rough looking, but it will grow and adapt with time. There are of course things I don’t like: some of the spells can be incredibly hard to hit and their movement belies their range, and other little things like that. Some spells fire way (WAY) farther than others which is fine, because all magic is different. The classes certainly play different, and do not feel like cookie-cutter builds off one another at all. I can’t wait to see what the other classes will be, and if there will be some kind of campaign/story mode (which I would absolutely love). Far too many FPS titles go the route of Modern Military (with obvious exceptions) but it is very nice to see something break out of that mold. In some ways, I feel like this is a throwback to Heretic, only with just wizards. Who played anything but the Wizard anyway?
Want to see more Grimoire? Check out our sister site MMOHuts’s First Look video below!
Total War Attila Announced
SEGA® of America, Inc. and SEGA® Europe, Ltd. today announced Total War™: ATTILA, the next installment in the multi award-winning Total War series of strategy games.
The Dark Ages approach. A time of famine, disease and war, where refugees in their thousands flee from a sweeping tide of destruction and death. Desperate barbaric tribes rally against the ailing might of a dying and divided Roman empire; the light of civilization gutters and dims. In the great steppes of Scythia, a vast and terrifying force gathers, led by a warrior king whose thirst for conquest is utterly unequaled.
The Scourge of God, the very herald of the apocalypse, Attila the Hun.
Total War: ATTILA introduces exciting new gameplay mechanics which improve and add to numerous core turn-based and real-time Total War systems. The world will darken around you as Attila’s forces descend on your homeland creating a unique vision of survival strategy.
“With Total War: ATTILA we will create a Total War game that will challenge and enthrall fans of the series,” said Janos Gaspar, project lead on ATTILA. “We’re reintroducing some features that fans have been asking for, such as family trees and skill trees, and improving many of the core aspects of Total War we know are important to them. But to really bring the period to life, we’re building on these foundations with many new strategic features for them to consider, such as advanced street-fighting, civilians, complete settlement destruction and dynamic fire that can rage across a city as armies clash. We want to push players to the limits of their skill to survive against the odds, and to love every minute of it.”
Total War: ATTILA is due for release in 2015 on Windows PC and Mac. For more information, please visit www.totalwar.com.
The Banner Saga Game Engine Licensed for New Title “BEDLAM”
Stoic announced today that Skyshine Games has licensed its proprietary game engine built for PC smash-hit and Geekie Award Winner, The Banner Saga to create BEDLAM, a role-playing turn-based strategy game with rogue-like elements and an epic storyline, which launched its Kickstarter campaign today.
“Stoic is excited to support BEDLAM with our engine and eager to see what Skyshine Games can do with it. We love the concept of the game and are happy that some of the ground that we broke with The Banner Saga is now going to contribute to another great project”, said John Watson from Stoic.
“The Banner Saga Engine and Tools have allowed us to hit the ground running, giving us a lot of flexibility in realizing the unique vision for our own game. Stoic has been an enormous support for us with BEDLAM and as a fellow independent developer, they have provided us with invaluable knowledge gained from their own successful experience. Skyshine Games could not have asked for a better partnership and we hope it continues for a very long time”, said John Mueller from Skyshine Games.
The Banner Saga, which recently had a price move to $19.99, is currently in the final stages of development for release on mobile later this month. Bedlam, which kicked off its Kickstarter campaign today, is scheduled for release in 2015.
For more info, visit https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/skyshinegames/bedlam
Age of Warriors Arrives in the US with All New Content
On September 25th, 2014, Age of Warriors, a new age strategy Role-Playing game, becomes available for free download on the US iOS App Store at https://itunes.apple.com/app/
Age of Warriors combines strategic combat, player guilds, and real-time multiplayer game-play with a free-moving camera, high-quality graphics and sound. RPG fans can customize heroes and utilize powerful battle spirit and abilities in various ways. In Age of Warriors, you play as a lord on a mission to unite a party of renowned heroes from across the land to overcome the evil. The battle for Elantra has already begun!
Features of Age of Warriors include:
- FREE TO PLAY
- 3D real-time strategy and fantasy RPG style gameplay.
- Epic storyline and top quality visual effects
- Six customizable hero classes, each with their own unique skills.
- Recruit, train and team up your heroes for battles
- Rally your friends in a League to dominate the leaderboard
For more info, visit http://aow.funcell123.com/
Guild Wars 2 to Crown First Global PvP Champs this December
ArenaNet, developer of the acclaimed Guild Wars franchise, today announced the roadmap to the 2014 Guild Wars 2 World Tournament Series Championships. It’s the game’s first truly international competition bringing together top PvP teams from North America, Europe and China. The company made the announcement from Eurogamer Expo in London, where it’s partnered with Twitch to showcase Guild Wars 2 on the show floor and through daily livestreams being broadcast from Twitch’s booth.
Additionally, ArenaNet used its presence at Eurogamer Expo (EGX) to launch a weeklong trial, letting new players try Guild Wars 2 for free from 12:00 a.m. PDT on September 25 through 11:59 p.m. PDT on October 1. The game is also running a 50% off sale from the start of free trial until October 5. Guild Wars 2 is a one-time purchase PC MMO game with no subscription fee. Details of both the free trial and sale are available at www.guildwars2.com.
The details of the roadmap to the first World Tournament Series (WTS) finals comes as players finish competing in the opening round. The WTS is a cash prize competition launched by ArenaNet and KongZhong, publisher of Guild Wars 2 in China. The two companies are organizing three global tournaments in the coming year that each culminate in WTS Championships. The championship events will be held in each region starting with China before moving on to North America and then Europe. Each event will pit four teams in a fight to become the world’s best Guild Wars 2 PvP players, with the top two teams from the host region facing off against two visiting teams.
The debut event is scheduled for December 4-5 in Beijing, where players will vie for a $50,000 (USD) prize pool and the title of first-ever Guild Wars 2 WTS Champion.
ArenaNet outlined the roadmap to the 2014 WTS Championships in a blog post published today. In it, ArenaNet Competitive Events Coordinator Joshua Davis writes:
“Before any teams can start making travel plans to Beijing, they will need to finish out the current open competition taking place in the Tournament of Glory. The Tournament of Glory was an open invite to anyone who plays PvP in Guild Wars 2 to see if they have what it takes to become a world class competitor. In round after round of fierce fighting, these players have been fighting to survive.
Recently posted was an update on the TOG qualifying rounds pointing to some of the teams already making their mark on the WTS circuit. Whether these players can stick around remains to be seen. Those who do will earn a spot in the TOG Finals taking place October 11-12.
The winners of the TOG Finals move on to the WTS Invitational Qualifier, scheduled for October 25-26.
Next stop – China.
The teams who survive the invitational will then get their passports stamped – and travel covered – for an early December trip to Beijing. That’s where they compete for the title of inaugural Guild Wars 2 WTS Champion!”
Davis will be among ArenaNet team members at Eurogamer Expo showcasing Guild Wars 2 and highlighting the game’s fast-paced PvP and World vs. World competitive modes. The livestreams take place on the Guild Wars 2 Twitch TV channel and are scheduled as follows:
Thursday, September 25, 1:00 p.m. GMT: What is Player vs. Player?
Thursday, September 25, 4:00 p.m. GMT: What is Guild Wars 2?
Friday, September 26, 1:00 p.m. GMT: Points of Interest
Friday, September 26, 4:00 p.m. GMT: What is World vs. World?
Saturday, September 27, 1:00 p.m. GMT: What is Living World?
Saturday, September 27, 4:00 p.m. GMT: Tequatl Boss Fight
Sunday, September 28, 2:00 p.m. GMT: PvP Exhibition Match
For more info, visit www.guildwars2.com.
Seldon Crisis Dev Diary 1: Gameplay
Get the juicy details of the ambitious sci-fi MMORPG, Seldon Crisis, now entering its Kickstarter phase.
Transformers Universe Pandemic Decepticon Reveal
Transformers Universe introduces Pandemic, a Decepticon made to ruin your battle plan.
Trials of Ascension: Less than 48 hours left on sale
The two year anniversary sale for Trials of Ascension has been an incredible success. Donations have totaled more than $62,000 which also means dragons will be a playable race when ToA launches.
There is less than 48 hours left until the sale ends and the huge discounts vanish, so fans don’t miss this opportunity to get in on the action.
Backers are also still eligible to win one of twelve items ends including a phoenix feather.
For more info, visit http://trialsofascension.com/store/











