Monthly Archives: July 2015

Hi-Rez Studios announces the SMITE World Championship presented by Xbox One

Hi-Rez Studios announces the SMITE World Championship presented by Xbox One news header

Today Hi-Rez Studios revealed the first details for the SMITE World Championship presented by Xbox One (SWC), which will close out Season 2 of the action MOBA and eSports sensation SMITE.

 

From Jan. 7 to Jan. 10, 2016, teams from North America, Europe, Brazil, Latin America, China, and, for the first time, Oceania (including Australia and New Zealand) will compete for the grand prize and the title of SMITE World Champions at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in Atlanta, Ga. The 2016 SWC will feature two thrilling tournaments: the SMITE PC World Championship and the SMITE Xbox One Invitational.

 

“The 2015 SMITE World Championship made SMITE an instant leader in competitive gaming entertainment,” said Todd Harris, co-founder and COO of Hi-Rez Studios. “This year, in collaboration with Microsoft, we are excited to debut the SMITE Xbox One Invitational which marks the arrival of MOBA eSports on console.”

 

Hi-Rez Studios recently revealed it will cap the SMITE PC World Championship prize pool at $1 million in an effort to distribute winnings to a greater share of SMITE players at events throughout the season. The company plans to award well over $2 million in crowd-sourced prizes across the span of this Season, thanks in part to community initiatives like the SMITE 2015 Season Ticket and individual team-branded Treasure Chests.

 

The SMITE Xbox One Invitational will bring together four top teams from SMITE’s emerging new Xbox One competitive scene, competing for a total prize pool of $150,000.

 

Harris will be speaking about SMITE and eSports as a guest speaker at the Develop Conference in Brighton, England on July 14, where he will provide additional information on the 2016 SWC.

Forsaken World Mobile Officially Launching on July 23

Forsaken World Mobile Officially Launching on July 23 news header

Combatants, we are on the brink of a truly epic battle! Fedeen Games today announced that Forsaken World Mobile, successor to the acclaimed PC series, will be released on July 23! A soft launch is currently under way in Canada. Fedeen will be publishing the game in 92 countries all over the world.

Players who are eagerly awaiting the release of Forsaken World Mobile can take a short character class quiz right now for a chance to win rare in-game items for use when the game is released on July 23.
Take the Forsaken World Mobile character class quiz at www.fedeen.com/games/forsaken-world/quiz/ and prepare for the trials ahead!
Fedeen Games will be hosting two live Q&A sessions on Twitter using the hashtag “#ASKFWM.” The first session will take place on Sunday, July 19 at 7PM (PST), and the second session will take place on Wednesday, July 22 at 11AM (CET). Each session will last for 30 minutes. More information can be found at www.fedeen.com/forsaken-world-mobile-live-twitter-qa/.

Wars and Battles Unlocks October War 1973 Campaign

Wars and Battles Unlocks October War 1973 Campaign news header

Paris-based game studio Battle Factory and publisher Kermorio S.A. have today released the October War 1973 campaign for their wargame, Wars and Battles. Previously only available for Apple’s iPad, Wars and Battles is now also playable on Android tablets. PC and Mac versions are pending, along with support for cross-platform multiplayer.

Wars and Battles delivers the complexity and depth of tabletop wargames to tablet devices, offering an intuitive and user-friendly interface suited for strategy game newcomers and veteran armchair generals alike. Featuring rich graphics and challenging turn-based gameplay in either 2D or 3D modes, Wars and Battles lets players recreate or defy the outcomes of history’s most epic engagements.

Wars and Battles currently includes two campaigns: Normandy 1944 (playable as Axis or Allied forces) and October War 1973 (playable as Israeli or Arab Alliance forces). Both campaigns may be enjoyed against a challenging AI or online via multiplayer. Additional Wars and Battles campaigns are planned for periodic release and each will offer a significant number of complementary scenarios, along with advanced scenarios available as optional in-game purchase.

Designed with a high standard of realism and a tabletop-inspired rule system that takes into account historical circumstances and modes of warfare, Wars and Battles has been meticulously designed by a team with decades of combined game development and wargame design experience. This includes wargaming veterans Nicolas Stratigos (Editor-In-Chief of the famous wargame magazine, Vae Victis) and Frederic Bey (a Napoleonic era expert and author of the Jours de Gloire series, based on Napoleon’s conquests).

The War and Battles’ October War 1973 campaign was designed by Pierre Razoux, the Paris-based Research Director of the French Institute for Strategic Research / Ecole Militaire (IRSEM). As a recognized specialist on the Middle East and the Arab-Israeli Wars, Razoux shared his expertise with Battle Factory.

October War 1973 depicts Israel facing off against the combined Egyptian and Syrian Armies, following a surprise attack during the Yom Kippur holiday. Lasting only twenty days, the October War is notable for its historical impact across the Middle East, and the extensive use of (at the time) state-of-the-art military technologies, including surface-to-air missiles and sophisticated anti-tank weapons. Players can choose to play as Israel, facing overwhelming allied Arab forces, or take advantage of the element of surprise by playing as the Egyptian and Syrian coalition.

Supernova Announces Closed Beta Date and New B.R.O. Commander

Supernova Announces Closed Beta Date and New B.R.O. Commander news header

BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America announces today that Supernova — a Real-Time Strategy (RTS) inspired Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game for PC — will be entering Closed Beta on July 23, 2015. Along with the game going into Closed Beta, Supernova will be releasing their teased Alpha Reward, the fierce commander, B.R.O.

Battle Robot Operations was a private company started for the sole purpose of selling robotic defense units during the Gliesan Civil War. One of their least popular models was the GTL-360, a mid to close range unit with a powerful, arm mounted sword. Soon, the company was forced to close, and Battle Robot Operations units everywhere were discarded for newer, better models. Sometime later, a discarded GTL-360 unit rebooted itself and awoke on the junkyard moon of Carrion. Unable to recall anything about its past or its purpose, the robot’s only clue was a branding of letters on the inside of its arm, which it took to be its name: B.R.O.

In his search to discover his purpose, B.R.O. found a pre-recorded human hologram datastem from the Lunacy Ninety Day Workout Program who yelled, “Are you ready to find the REAL you, bro?!” Ecstatic that the human knew him by name, B.R.O. became a dedicated disciple of his teacher’s program for over 40 years until he was picked up by a group of scavengers.

Along with the new commander B.R.O., Closed Beta will also include a new unannounced commander, five new commander skins, two new force skins and new profile icons.

Closed Beta for Supernova begins on July 23, 2015. To sign up for closed beta, visit www.supernovagame.com.

Fallout Shelter Mobile Review: Overhyped Resource Management

By Ojogo, Mobile Guru

 

Fallout Shelter Review

If there was one company who could do no wrong during the whole E3 week, that would be Bethesda Studios. The teasers leading to the E3 showcase of the latest Fallout title has the gaming community in an uproar regardless of their chosen platform. And as if to add more to the already sweet, sweet cake that is Fallout 4, we now have a Fallout mobile title to sink our teeth in, Fallout: Shelter.

 

Fallout Shelter Review

Overview

Fallout Shelter, is a resource management game for the mobile. You are put into the shoes of the venerated (or hated, depending on how you look at the setup) Vault Overseer in one of the numerous Vaults created by Vault-tech.

As Overseer, it is your responsibility to handle the dwindling resources your vault has. You need to create rooms that generate these resources which are namely: power, food, and water. It is also within your responsibility to make sure that your dwellers are happy because as the saying goes, “a happy dweller is a productive dweller.”

 

Fallout Shelter Review

Dwellers

Each individual entering your vault has a set of stats that create the word SPECIAL. S stands for power, P for perception, E, endurance, C, charisma, I, intelligence, A, agility and L, for luck. Dweller stats influence the amount of resource output the room generates for a duration, with Luck mainly providing the random multiplier of the resource output.

The rooms you create in FO Shelter have stat biases and that usually determines where your vault dwellers go and work. Putting your dwellers into the “proper’ rooms would not only provide you with a higher chance of creating more resource from the room, it will also influence the dweller’s happiness percentage since they’ll feel like they are working on their “dream job.”

I’ve already let slip that a happy dweller is a productive dweller. But, happiness is not just tied to productivity. You will be marked at the end of each day on your progress as overseer, and depending on your overall happiness rating, you will be given bonuses for making your dwellers such happy campers.

Fallout: Shelter also allows you to send out your dwellers to scrounge up items and equipment that your dwellers will really need as you progress through the game. To keep things interesting, these assignments can level these dwellers up, providing better bonuses on whatever work you assign them at.

 

Fallout Shelter Review

Rooms

The whole room creation aspect of Fallout Shelter is more of a customizable version of how another mobile game, Tiny Tower, does it. You create various rooms within your workable space, and as you put people in, you get resources per room.

The big difference between Tiny Tower and FO Shelter is that you are restricted to just creating rooms vertically in Tiny Tower, whereas in FO Shelter, you can create rooms horizontally or in a vertical manner as long as you are working within the borders of the mountain you are in.

Also, FO Shelter allows you to connect the same rooms in a horizontal manner. For example, you can create three of four consecutive power rooms in a line, and the game will then link them together to create just one room with a higher power output. You can do this to all the rooms you create in FO Shelter which drastically affects how you plan out your vault schematic.

 

Fallout Shelter Review

Random Situations

Another tactical consideration you have to consider are the random encounters that you’ll be facing as vault overseer.

The game throws in Radroach infestations in your various rooms which your dwellers can kill either by using their fist or an equipped weapon. Another encounter you’ll be experiencing is the random room fires that need extinguishing. The last encounter you’ll be experiencing are raider attacks.

The room centric random encounters need to be dealt with as soon as you can since they will also affect the other rooms within your vault, whereas raider attacks would mean that they will be stealing your hard earned resources.

All encounters are lethal to your dwellers so equipping them with weapons and armor is integral as you continue on with your task as Vault Overseer.

 

Fallout Shelter Review

Making Babies

Yeah, you read that right, as vault overseer you can influence people to get together within the vault to create the next generation of vault dweller as one of its features.

While the whole baby creation process in FO Shelter is really simple, you’ll rely mostly on this as it offers the a higher probable chance of getting better stats out of characters instead of relying on the random individuals your radio station will bring in.

 

Fallout Shelter Review

Critique

I have to be frank but, I think that Fallout Shelter is an overhyped title where the game just mostly mashes the Tiny Tower gameplay with the Sims. The game just clung on the coattail of Fallout 4’s mass appeal which explains the hype it had earned during the E3 week.

I must admit though, I did like how the game puts a more insider look at how the dwellers lived and interacted with one another outside of the Fallout titles. But, they are not enough to keep my attention glued to the game since after the first day of playing, you’ll only have to sporadically play the game in short bursts.

The lack of any other things you can do in game is what kind of kills the whole FO Shelter experience. Unless you are a goodness to gracious fan of the series, I doubt you’ll have the urge to put up with it for long. That said, FO Shelter does well what it sets out to do, whether you’re a fan of the series or have no idea what Fallout is. There’s few alternatives in this niche mobile genre that compare.

 

Fallout Shelter Review

Conclusion: Fair

I loved that this game added more to the whole Fallout mythos without relying too much on what made the PC/console such a hit, and it’s a gem on its own right. With that said though, I would still highly suggest this game to anyone who’s looking for a game that doesn’t take too much of their time (at the start) but is engaging enough to check on once or twice a day.