Monthly Archives: May 2015

Blitzkrieg 3 now on Steam Early Access

Blitzkrieg 3 now on Steam Early Access
Nival officially announces that from now on Blitzkrieg 3 is available on Steam Early Access and launches a special promotion!

 
“I’m a big fan of RTS games” said Sergey Orlovskiy, CEO and company founder. “But good RTS games are so rare nowadays, so we had to do it by ourselves. We put all of our 18 years of experience in strategy games in Blitzkrieg 3 to make it really innovative – to re-invent the genre, and set a new height.”
 

Everyone who buys Blitzkrieg 3 on Steam from May 6 to 12, will also receive a digital copy of the first and second part of the Blitzkrieg Anthology as a gift from developers.
 

Blitzkrieg Anthologies include the original games and all the official add-ons.
 

Blitzkrieg 3 will be available on Steam Early Access in two editions – Standard and Special. A detailed description of both editions and their price can be found at the Blitzkrieg 3 Steam store page.
 

All players who pre-ordered the game on the official website will be able to bind their activation keys to their Steam account.

Act of Aggression Gets New Website and Screenshots

Act of Aggression Gets New Website and Screenshots
Eugen Systems’ near-future real-time strategy game Act of Aggression today launches its feature-filled website, where you’ll find all the information about the game prior to its VIP beta to be announced soon. When you’re done learning about the gameplay mechanics of Act of Aggression and each of its three playable factions, take a look at the new screenshots as the US Army pit it out against the shady Cartel private organization, with the helping hand of the Chimera forces.
 
Soon, we’ll be showcasing the Chimera in a video dedicated to the elusive task force. Until then, here’s a brief overview of each faction in Act of Aggression.
 
– The Cartel: stealthy operatives born out of private military contracts, with the latest prototypes. Fragile and expensive but stealthy and powerful, this secretive faction is difficult to master.
– The US Army: exhausted by endless fighting across the world, are brute-force veterans; they can skill up in specific roles and improve their veterancy, but use current-generation technology.
– The Chimera: a UNO funded task force designed to have a plan in mind for every situation. You can mold their units through upgrades into specific roles, or leave them as a jack-of-all-trades.
 
Across large, authentic maps, players will harvest resources, build bases strategically, defend them, and produce all kinds of units to match the wit of their opponent. Extend your base network with off-base refineries for harvesting resources, and protect supply networks ensuring a stable income of cash and minerals. You’ll even fight other players for occupied banks as a supplementary income, and capture crews bailing out from tanks and planes or wounded on the battlefield to take as prisoners of war.
 
There will be a VIP multiplayer beta for Act of Aggression in the coming weeks — otherwise, Act of Aggression launches Spring of 2015.
 
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Vainglory Interview: First Official Tournament and Skins Update

Questions By Jaime Skelton (MissyS), Senior Editor
Answers By Kristian Segerstrale, COO Super Evil Megacorp

 
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Yesterday, Super Evil Megacorp made two major announcements for its hit mobile MOBA, Vainglory. First the details for the first official eSports tournament, hosted by ESL, were revealed; then the Skin system was introduced to players for the first time. We had the opportunity to sit and talk briefly with Kristian Segerstrale, COO and Executive Director, to gain more insight into these important milestones for Vainglory.

 

 

Kristian: Today’s a big day for us, because of the ESL announcement along with the update going live. This is the biggest update to the game ever. We’ve been pretty diligent about putting up updates every 4-5 weeks, and we’re finally launching the highly anticipated skin system. So far the community has been really happy and we’re excited to work with them to see where the system goes from here.

 
Vainglory Skin Reveal Interview
 

Jaime: Let’s talk about the ESL announcement first. I noticed that it’s currently set in Europe. Is there a specific reason why this tournament is located only in Europe, and when might North America see something?

 

Kristian: We actually started our preparations for ESL as early as last summer, and we’ve been incredibly impressed with them as they are a nearly a decade old eSports organization. They have been incredibly good at helping us think about the approach to eSports in general. Our dream at the end of the day is to make a game that’s just as fun to play casually with your friends at home as it is to play at a world class level in a stadium. This represents our very first step into eSports and one of the first for touch screen eSports. The reason we’re jumping into this in a small scale and testing the waters in Europe is because we’re actually hosting cup series at the ESL headquarters in Frankfurt. By hosting it there, we are both committed to learning as much as humanly possible about hosting eSports, and how to improve and scale up globally to ensure we have great Vainglory competitive environments in every region. To be honest the Vainglory community’s already organizing tournaments around the world so we’re very excited to be supporting those. This first official cup series is helping us so we can work with the community how to build the best eSports for Vainglory and improve from there.

 

 

Jaime: What will the prize pool will be like for this particular cup series?

 

Kristian: There is a grand prize of 1000 euros, plus NVIDIA Shields for the winning team. The individual bracket competitions also have small prizes associated with them as well. We want to emphasize, though, that this is our very first foray into eSports: it’s not about the size of the prize pool, but meeting the demand for competitive play in Vainglory. It’s important for us to start small and cautiously so we can work with the community and build out from there.

 

 

Jaime: What are your plans after the tournament in order to take a look at the data and experience and continue the eSports development?

 

Kristian: We want to build things one step at a time in close collaboration with the community. We believe very much in learning together with our community. Our plan is to kick off this cup series, learn what we can from it, and determine our next steps from there. I think our ambition and dream is to build the competitive Vainglory scene the way the community wants it to be. We’re taking a small baby step into what we believe will be an exciting world.

 
Vainglory Skin Reveal Interview
 

Jaime: Let’s shift to the skins update now, where players can find component cards in the spoils at the end of the match and use them to craft skins for their heroes. Are the cards that you obtain from spoils going to be tradable at all?

 

Kristian: They are not tradable at this moment, but it is an intriguing prospect. This skin update is the very first in a series of updates that will build up the skin system over the next couple of years. What we launched today is the very basic building blocks, the idea of skin tiers and cards. We will be building on those concepts over the coming months and years. So today, there is not any kind of tradability, but it is an interesting idea.

 

 

Jaime: Will all the cards be obtainable via spoils, or will any cards require a microtransaction purchase?

 

Kristian: There are four tiers of cards, common, rare, epic, and legendary. Today we only launched the first two tiers of cards, but even as the other tiers get launched, they are all earnable through spoils of war. Of course, the rare cards will be pretty rare.

 

 

Jaime: Let’s say a player is only missing one card from what they need to craft. Will they be able to purchase that card at all? Or will they be stuck working hard to get the card from spoils?

 

Kristian: Currently there is no way to purchase cards, but we do have a cards market that we are working on so that you can purchase cards you’re missing.

 
Vainglory Skin Reveal Interview
 

Jaime: What are the odds like for being able to obtain cards in spoils?

 

Kristian: You will not receive a card in every game, but we want you to receive cards fairly often. You won’t see cards after every game, but the more games you play, the more likely you are to find them.

 

 

Jaime: Are cards consumed when used, or do they remain permanently on the account?

 

Kristian: They are collected permanently and can be accessed anytime. Ed: Additional clarification provided by the team: “When you collect a card, it is saved in your player account and permanently yours. You can easily find them under “my cards” in your player profile. When you use cards to weave a skin, yes you do consume them, and the used cards vanish from your inventory.”

 

 

Jaime: One of the issues I was seeing mentioned by the community in response to this update is the ice cost of the tier one skin cards. Is this just an option in addition to crafting the card?

 

Kristian: Correct, there’s nothing in Vainglory at all that cannot be get by playing the game. You can unlock them with ice if you don’t want to take the time to earn them. But you cannot purchase any additional tiers with ice, they have to be crafted.

 
Vainglory Skin Reveal Interview
 

Jaime: And the cards/skins are completely cosmetic, correct?

 

Kristian: Right, they have no other significance or effect on gameplay.

 

 

Jaime: What kind of general timeline do you think you’ll have for getting the next step out there for the skin system?

 

Kristian: We are pretty diligent in launching an update every 4-5 weeks, so with that kind of cadence it won’t be long before we’re adding more skins and features.

 
Jaime: Thanks for your time Kristian. If you want to learn more about Vainglory and these updates, check out their official website http://www.vainglorygame.com/.
 

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Neverwinter: Underdark Coming in 2015

Neverwinter: Underdark Coming in 2015
This morning, in conjunction with Wizards of the Coast, Perfect World announced their newest module release for Neverwinter – tentatively titled Neverwinter: Underdark – which will release for PC in 2015 with Xbox One to follow. Although details are limited, Neverwinter: Underdark will see players travelling to Menzoberranzan where adventurers will fight alongside Drizzt Do’Urden. A new quest line written by Drizzt’s creator, R.A. Salvatore, will also be added.
 
Neverwinter: Underdark will be proceeded by Neverwinter: Strongholds, which will introduce guild housing and more.

The Secret World’s Season Finale is here!

The Secret World's Season Finale is here!
The Secret World® has just gotten a major content and story update with Issue #11: Reaping the Whirlwind. The game’s deep, dark and unique story has been told from launch and through eleven content updates, and now the first season finale is here!
 
The players fight their way through the Orochi tower, challenge eternal beings, grasp the ultimate power and will finally reap the consequences of their choices. Everything so far has been building up to this story climax, but it is of course not the end – it is merely the end of the beginning.
 
Issue #11: Reaping the Whirlwind offers hours of new content as the players can explore twenty-one unique levels of the Orochi tower in Tokyo, as they challenge the world’s largest corporation and its powerful CEO. The players will be rewarded with an Ultimate Ability based on their choices in the main story since launch. They also get a taste of what is to come, and learn that defying eternal beings comes at a heavy price.
 
You can read more about the update here, or watch the official trailer here.

Potato Killer Studios Announces Fangold

Potato Killer Studios Announces Fangold

“The battle was imminent. I was marching to the front when I met a weird Ferliath on the road. He asked me if I wanted to relax a bit before going to fight. I did not know if I would survive the next day, so I gladly accepted. That was how I found myself in canvas trousers, gambling the last shoe too in the luck of Fangold….” Potato Killer Studios is proud to present Fangold: the eventful adventures of Land of Britain, a new cross-platform free-to-play digital collectible card game for Windows®, Macintosh®, Linux®, Android® and iOS®,  set in the world of Land of Britain, the innovative fantasy MMORPG already presented in recent months.
 
In Fangold, the players will create their own deck of cards exploiting the skills of the 6 Heroes for each realm and for their ability to control the five elements (earth, fire, water, light and air). Each skill can be enhanced by gaining experience, thus giving a way to learn new skills.
 
You can choose between the classes already available in Land of Britain as the magician, the curator and the warrior. It will be possible to acquire new cards in the game and buy them with real currency or the in-game gold. Among the features that Fangold will have there will be online multiplayer, matchmaking and introductions of some new features such as the Adventures Draft and Dungeon’s Quest modes that will introduce a series of events, giving players a chance to win cards, gold and more challenges in PvE.
 
The game also provides a mechanism for crafting: you can delete the unwanted cards and acquire in exchange some Elements to be used to produce other cards – items that will be over-the-counter even in the Adventures Draft and Dungeon’s Quest modes.
 
The cards feature a sophisticated design, with artwork from the world of Land of Britain, so as to be attractive, but at the same time easy to read and interpret.
 
“Fangold is as much fun as simple, with mechanicals capable of giving great depth and therefore it is extremely interesting for the casual player, and for the most hardcore one too” – says Luca Panero, lead game designer and Killer Potato CEO and co-founder – “playing Fangold will be an incredible experience, there will never be a turn in which you cannot do something, there will always be a way to use your resources and being always in the game is something that we wanted to see in other games and we were able to put it within a dynamic and varied gameplay.”
 
With Fangold, Potato Killer Studios has a twofold objective – to introduce the players to the vast world of Land of Britain, offering a fun, enjoyable and suitable game for everyone; Fangold also allow us to raise the necessary funds to finance itself independently and continuing the development of Land of Britain. So Potato Killer Studios gives to the users the chance to test and evaluate directly the great capacity of the study technical development and game design, the same skills that are also employed for the development of Land of Britain, an ambitious project that for be achieved at the best level needs constant investments.

 
Next week we will launch Fangold Official website where you can find information on the gameplay, the cards for deck and many other things.
 
The Fangold project will be officially launched on Kickstarter soon, stay tuned!
 
Remember that…
 
“…You will use every single drop of your mana…
you will always play the protagonist in your game and you will never be the passive spectator…
every move has consequences…
You’ll have fun as hell my basement… we bet?”

Oculus Announces Consumer Version

Oculus Announces Consumer Version

Since the earliest days of the Oculus Kickstarter, the Rift has been shaped by gamers, backers, developers, and enthusiasts around the world. Today, we’re incredibly excited to announce that the Oculus Rift will be shipping to consumers in Q1 2016, with pre-orders later this year.

 

This is the consumer VR we’ve all been waiting for. The Rift delivers on the dream with compelling content, a full ecosystem, and fully-integrated hardware/software tech stack designed specifically for virtual reality. It’s a headset designed by a team of gamers, game developers, and industry legends to push the limits of what we believe gaming is and what it can be.

 

The Oculus Rift builds on the presence, immersion, and comfort of the Crescent Bay prototype with an improved tracking system that supports both seated and standing experiences, as well as updated ergonomics for a more natural fit, and a highly refined industrial design.

In the weeks ahead, we’ll be revealing the details around hardware, software, input, and many of our unannounced made-for-VR games and experiences coming to the Rift. Next week, we’ll share more of the technical specifications here on the Oculus blog.

 

Virtual reality is going to transform gaming, film, entertainment, communication, and much more. If you’re interested in building a next-generation VR game or application, everything you need to start developing for the Rift is available at the Oculus Developer Center.