Monthly Archives: December 2014

Divinity: Original Sin Conquers America

Divinity Original Sin

The little RPG that could, Divinity: Original Sin, began as an idea funded by the fans. From there it proceeded to a critically-acclaimed launch on Steam, and now it rolls into all major US retailers including Wal-Mart, Best Buy, GameStop, and Target just in time for Christmas.

Looking for the perfect gift for that special someone (or for an excuse to ignore your uncle’s political opinions at dinner)? Divinity: Original Sin features a 50 hour campaign – and co-op, if you want to bring a friend! – and the retail version is patched and available at major retail stores near you when you need an excuse to get out of the house. It also comes with the Source Hunter DLC included, for even more relative-avoiding action, and all for just $39.99.

The end of this journey requires a small celebration and the Larian team put together this video to commemorate their journey from Kickstarter to major retailers and to show how the feedback from the fans helped to shape the game.

Divinity: Original Sin is also available in major digital outlets including Steam.

Company of Heroes 2: New Ardennes Assault Video Revealed

Company

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge – a battle generally regarded as the turning point of World War II and referred to by Winston Churchill as “arguably the most important victory in American military history.”

The battle began on December 16, 1944 when German troops unleashed a brutal artillery on the Ardennes region with an intense barrage that took Allied troops by surprise. Leveraging poor weather and thinly spread out Allied forces, the German forces then invaded the area in an attempt to divide the U.S. and British troops.  Despite being significantly outnumbered and struggling with the coldest weather on record, U.S. forces valiantly held the line until reinforcements arrived. The Battle of the Bulge would ultimately go down in history as the bloodiest battle for U.S. forces in World War II, helping to set the stage for Allied forces to finally end the war. The sacrifices made by all soldiers involved were significant both in losses sustained and in the role this victory played in the war.

Company of Heroes 2™: Ardennes Assault is based on the Battle of the Bulge, and allows players to take on 18 all-new single player scenarios as they attempt to drive the advancing German forces out of the Ardennes region and lead their heroes on a path to glory.

Battle of the Bulge Infographic

In this completely standalone Company of Heroes 2™ experience, players will be able to utilize the unique abilities and skills of four US Force Companies; Airborne, Support, Mechanized and Fox as they tackle the German forces on Company of Heroes 2: Ardennes Assault’s revolutionary new meta-map system. This all new feature to the series adds an extra layer of non-linear strategy and tactical planning to an already deep and challenging RTS experience and allows players to plot their own way through the campaign, adding a huge amount of variety and replayability.

Company of Heroes 2: Ardennes Assault is available on Windows PC to purchase online and in stores with an MSRP of £29.99/$39.99/€39.99.

For more information, visit www.companyofheroes.com

Great Big War Game on back on Steam

Great Big War

Rubicon Development are delighted to announce that their critically acclaimed strategy title Great Big War Game is now available on Steam once more.

The indie studio’s hit title (9.5/10 from IGN, 5/5 from TouchArcade, BAFTA nomination) was removed from the store after the game’s publisher stopped paying Rubicon’s royalties. After legal discussions and some help from Valve, Rubicon are now selling the game directly via Steam.

“One publisher made a particularly good pitch, including a presence in Walmart, Target and Steam,” explained Paul Johnson, co-founder of Rubicon. “While they did get us onto Steam, those big retailers never happened.

“From the Steam sales, we got two paychecks from the publisher over the next six months, which seemed very low ball compared to the volume of new players… and then we never heard from them again.”

Johnson noted that Valve have been extremely helpful in assisting the company with their troubles, but worried that the damage may already have been done.

“It doesn’t qualify as a new title, so we’re not getting any of the usual release fanfare that all Steam titles get to kick them off. And, of course, the elephant in the room here is that anyone interested in buying the game probably already did by now, and paid someone else for it.

“The game initially shipped with some bugs… we fixed these diligently, but the publisher was slow in pushing the updates live, and the bugs attracted a lot of heat from customers. So we attracted ill-feeling too.”

For more info, visit http://store.steampowered.com/app/216670

Elite: Dangerous Available Now

Elite

Frontier Developments plc (AIM: FDEV) today launched Elite: Dangerous, the fourth game in the groundbreaking, genre-defining Elite series.

Elite: Dangerous is the fourth in the Elite series of games, following on from the seminal 1984 Elite, developed by David Braben and Ian Bell, 1993’s Frontier: Elite 2, and 1995’s Frontier: First Encounters.

Elite: Dangerous was crowdfunded via Kickstarter and Frontier Developments’ own website, beginning in November 2012. Throughout 2014, backers have had access to the game’s Alpha, Beta and Gamma stages.

The story begins today with the Empire in disarray. The Emperor is sick and a bitter fight for succession has already begun. The Federation has a weak President, and some frontier States are looking to leave it.

Players are free to throw themselves into the story wholeheartedly, participate a little, or not at all. How players choose to respond will directly affect the outcome of the current events, and the unfolding story beyond.

Elite: Dangerous is available now at elitedangerous.com/store for £39.99 ($59.99, €49.99).

For more info, visit http://www.elitedangerous.com/

InnoGames Starts Developing with Unreal Engine

logo_innogames_standard_400

InnoGames continues their mobile offensive with a strong development partnership. The Hamburg-based company announced a contractual agreement with Epic Games for licensing its Unreal 4 engine. InnoGames will develop a role-playing game for iOS and Android with the engine.

“The mobile games market is heavily fought over and the competitive landscape leads to a number of high quality products. This trend will not cease in the near future – which is why our goal is to adhere to the standards of the mobile market. We aim at offering high quality apps and provide players with the best possible gameplay experience”, says Dennis Rohlfing, Head of Production at InnoGames. “The Unreal Engine is a great technological foundation, especially for the development of prototypes. This way, we can focus on gameplay and optimized usability right from the beginning. Also, using a solid engine allows us to focus on platform agnostic development for iOS and Android equally.” Currently, about 25 people are already working on the project, which is planned to become a cornerstone of InnoGames’ 2016 release schedule. The game is part of a company-wide mobile-focused strategy of the formerly browser-only publisher and developer.

With about 150 million registered players, InnoGames is one of the world’s leading developers and providers of online games. The Hamburg-based company employs over 350 people from around 30 nations and scored major successes with the games Tribal Wars, Grepolis and Forge of Empires.

Wildstar: New Content Confirmed for 2015

Wildstar

Chad Moore, creative director for Wildstar, has just posted a letter to players detailing the focus and content of the game’s upcoming update. In addition to new player customization options, this update includes a variety of changes based on player feedback, bringing new quality of life improvements and enabling WildStar players to enjoy more of the game’s content, regardless of their level or playstyle preference.

These updates include expansions to Shiphand missions, new content for max-level players and other improvements across the board. We are also adding a new currency, Glory, that is awarded for completing dungeons and raids and can be spent on high-quality gear in capital cities.

For more details, visit http://wildstar-online.com/en/news/2014-12-16-a-look-at-our-first-major-update-of-2015

F.E.A.R. Online Celebrates Christmas

FEAR Mechry Christmas

What better way to spend the Christmas holiday than with F.E.A.R. Online? The free-to-play horror shooter from Aeria Games is getting ready for the upcoming holiday season with the debut of a new game mode. Armored Front is a domination-style match in which players can use mechs, vehicle turrets, rocket launchers, and stun chaff grenades to help capture control points. In addition, new weapons like the craftable Vollmer Ultra92 Shotgun and the M4A1 SAS, along with new Psionic abilities such as Curse and Melee Master, are now available in-game.

Aeria Games is also kicking off a “Twelve Nights of Christmas” celebration to help players get into the Christmas spirit. The in-game event rewards players for logging in during the holiday season. Players are also charged with finding Christmas-themed item skins and fun gear to equip – such as Reindeer antlers and a Rudolph nose.

The update is live now, so players can log in and start celebrating immediately!