Project Spark is an Xbox One F2P world building tool that allows gamers to build their own scenarios and share them with players throughout the XBox One Network.
Yearly Archives: 2013
Microsoft Game Studios
Microsoft Game Studios
Tank Ranger Intro Trailer
Tank Ranger combines real world tank models with cartoony graphics and plenty of customizable parts for players to experiment with.
Tank Ranger
Tank Ranger puts you in the cockpit of cartoony looking versions of true life models used during various warfare in history. Customize your tank to your specs and then jump into battle across various game modes with easy to learn controls but plenty of advanced tactics to learn over time.
Features
Game Modes: Test your metal in Team Death Match, Turret Mission, Survival Mission, and Escape Mission.
Turret System: Various maps contain turrets that can be captured and utilized as automatic armed deterrents against enemy movement.
Customization: Players can attach different armaments and other vehicle enhancements to customize the feel of their tank. Of course various decals, paint, and flags can add a visual touch to set yourself apart on the battlefield.
Two View Modes: Whether you prefer a more MMO style ‘over the turret’ view or a more traditional FPS scope view, Tank Ranger delivers.
Olive Games
Olive Games
Pockie Saints
Pockie Saints take players into the world of in which three nations (glory, star, and dark) are constantly at war to gain the divine blessing of the Zodiac Lords ruling over the stars and constellations. However the Zodiac Lords were not immortal and have finally succumbed to the power of the World Tree. In a final attempt to ensure resistance against the World Tree’s Chaos, they have released medals containing portions of their power to the mortal realm in the hopes that new warriors will rise up to stand strong against the chaos. But now that their seal on the Holy Blade has vanished, the three nations’ battle grows ever more vicious to control this sacred weapon.
Features
Pets: Raise and customize the build on your pet to assist you in battle.
Three Classes: Choose from the tanky warrior, agile and deadly assassin, or mystical mage that can channel the power of the elements or heal allies.
Zodiac Goals: Take on a list of challenges to form the figures of the zodiac and unlock powerful armor sets.
Zodiac Medals and Starsouls: Zodiac Medals are collectable and offer powerful new skills to players. Through quests and killing other players, you can access starsouls that when combined with the four elemental starsouls can power up Zodiac Medals.
CCP CEO Talks Expansion and Strengths in New Interview
It’s not often you get to hear one of the heads of the industry anomaly indie studios talk about what differentiates them from the larger less flexible publishing companies in the MMO industry. Well other than Mark Jacob who will tell you about it nearly every week of the year.
Yet Games Industry International did just that this week with CCP’s current CEO Hilmar Petursson. Check out the full interview to get a feel for CCP’s goals and how they’re determined to continue breaking out new innovation in the industry before the larger companies have time to catch up and copy them.
Path of Exile Announces New “Descent League” for Race Season Three
Grinding Gear Games today announced the third season of race events for their online action RPG, Path of Exile. With it comes a challenging new Signature Event–the Descent league. Race events are short-term leagues separate from the main game with separate characters and varying goals that test the player’s skill and luck. Season Three commences on Saturday, June 29th and will feature approximately fifty Descent events over the course of the following six weeks.
Offering a completely new scenario from the core Path of Exile plot, the Descent league places players at the outskirts of the Phrecian Forest with the objective to search out and explore a forgotten cathedral. As participants descend into its depths and explore its vast dungeons, they will encounter various combinations of monsters and bosses from all areas of the game.
Concluding each Descent level is a pair of special chests, which contain distinct sets of predetermined items to help players specialize their character builds. However, only one chest may be chosen per level, and choices made can drastically alter how the event is played.
Adding to the intensity, there is no town to return to in Descent league, and no waypoints nor portals for travel. Flask charges will only be restored by slaying monsters or leveling up. Furthermore, the Descent events are a 100% solo experience. Players will spawn and perish alone in their quest.
“Allowing players to replay the same event every few days is really interesting from a game design point of view,” said Chris Wilson, Path of Exile’s lead designer. “We expect that as players work out the best ways to build characters to handle the challenge we’ve constructed, they’ll get deeper and deeper into the cathedral.”
Grinding Gear Games will keep track of players who have reached the highest levels with each character class over Race Season Three and award them with prizes. Characters and their items will be permanently destroyed once a Descent event ends to preserve the integrity of the regular Path of Exile community.
Further information about Race Season Three and Descent events can be found on Path of Exile’s website.
Former 49Games Heads Jan-Hendrik Ohl and Peter Cukierski Establish Hexagon Game Labs
Newly-established Hexagon Game Labs GmbH (http://hexagongamelabs.com) is an independent game development studio and publisher specializing in the design of platform-independent, free-to-play online games (F2P games). The Hamburg-based start-up was founded by Jan-Hendrik Ohl and Peter Cukierski, who are now returning with their new game studio a year and a half after the take-over of their 49Games development team by Bigpoint. With the proprietary HTML5-based “Ubique Game Engine”, Hexagon Game Labs is set to revolutionize the F2P market.
A multi-device game title for tablets, smartphones, PCs, gaming consoles and smart TVs based on this proprietary engine is currently under development. In keeping with the company’s philosophy, the F2P game will be playable on any device with any commonly used browser. By employing cloud technology, the platform can be changed at any time during a session without interrupting gameplay. With a loading time of less than two seconds* irrespective of the platform used, the fun can begin instantly. Plug-ins and downloads are now a thing of the past.
Hexagon Game Labs GmbH is built on a lean corporate structure, an efficient game engineering process and international development partners. Vying to advance their ambitious expansion plans, the two founders intend to convince additional investors of the merits of their pioneering HTML5 technology and F2P games. At present, the company is fully independent and self-financed.
Jan-Hendrik Ohl, founder and CEO of Hexagon Game Labs, describes the new development studio’s philosophy: “With Hexagon Game Labs, our mission is to leverage the idea of a flexible and barrier-free, multi-device usage of modern F2P games. Thanks to our revolutionary ‘Ubique Game Engine,’ platform-independent premium games have now become a reality. Our games will convince players through their ability to transition seamlessly between different gaming devices, and revolutionize the way we look at cross-platform gaming.”
By establishing the game development company, “49Games Softwareentwicklung und -publishing mbH”, and his work as the firm’s managing director, Jan-Hendrik Ohl has already proven his expertise and profound knowledge of the games industry. Ohl and his long-time companion, Peter Cukierski, Hexagon Game Labs co-founder and CGO, are currently working on the ongoing development of their proprietary engine and their first, as-yet unannounced, game project.
With 18 years of games industry experience under his belt, Cukierski had a decisive role in shaping the fate of 49Games in his former position as Executive Producer. Between 2004 and 2012, the design team at 49Games successfully developed and brought to market more than 20 games for PC, Playstation 3, Playstation 2, Wii and Xbox 360. Following the take-over by Bigpoint, Peter Cukierski joined the 49Games development team in the move to the Hamburg-based online game giant and as Senior Producer went on to engineer cutting-edge online games and technologies for the booming free-to-play games market.
*2 seconds equivalent to loading an Internet page containing 500kB
War Thunder Announces Twitch-Powered Live Streaming
War Thunder, a next generation MMO combat game developed by Gaijin Entertainment, now enables live broadcasting to Twitch, the world’s largest platform and community for gamers. At the touch of a button, War Thunder players can now stream directly to their Twitch channel. For optimum presentation, they can customize the quality and resolution of the stream up to FullHD!
War Thunder’s recent global update 1.31 featured highly anticipated social components including Twitch and Facebook functionality alongside new planes, maps and numerous improvements to the gameplay. Beginning today, every War Thunder virtual pilot can easily align their Twitch channel to their War Thunder account, as well as customizing the broadcast quality and enabling commentary during broadcasts, so they can live stream instantly at the click of a button.
Gaijin Entertainment, the Russian-based developer of War Thunder, values this partnership with Twitch since it enables them to offer their community a new social component.
“Working with Twitch is a very important step in War Thunder’s social campaign,” said Gaijin Entertainment CEO Anton Yudintsev. “Streaming War Thunder is very common among our community, so by adding live streaming functionality to Twitch with the touch of a button it will make this element of the game even more popular.”
Since War Thunder is one of the most popular games among Twitch’s international audience, the integration of instant broadcasting capabilities is expected to exponentially grow the title’s appeal.






