Monthly Archives: July 2015

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Supremacy Available for PC and PlayStation

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Supremacy DLC Coming to PS and PC News Header

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Supremacy, the third DLC pack for Call of Duty®: Advanced Warfare is now available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PC. London and Moscow are just two of the locations players will experience in a diverse collection of multiplayer mayhem, including the return of one of the most iconic multiplayer maps in Call of Duty® history, “Highrise,” which first debuted in 2009’s Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 2, now transported to the year 2054. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Supremacy includes four new, action-packed multiplayer maps, all featuring the new Exo Grapple mechanic, which adds a layer of fun and strategy to the experience.

  • Parliament: Docked on the River Thames, this military cargo ship delivers a view of the London cityscape along with a fast-paced combat experience. Mixed site-lines provide opportunities for all styles of play to dominate this medium-sized map.
  • Kremlin: Gamers must prepare for intense combat in Red Square. Secure elevated positions to give the team a strategic advantage, or use exoskeleton capabilities to avoid being caught in the minefield that activates mid-match.
  • Compound: Players take combat preparation to the limit in an Atlas training facility hidden away in the Colorado wilderness, as they’ll have to be quick on the trigger in this small, symmetrical map, which funnels high-speed combat through tight corners to the main tower structures.
  • Skyrise: Players deploy to an Atlas Skyscraper overlooking the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. Based on the fan-favorite Highrise, from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 by Infinity Ward, this map brings new exoskeleton mechanics to the classic multiplayer layout. Gamers must dominate the power positions in the center of this small-to-medium sized map to control the key navigation points.

The popular Exo Zombies saga continues in the all-new experience, Carrier. Bruce Campbell (Burn Notice, Bubba Hotep) steps in and joins the battle-hardened cast, including John Malkovich (In the Line of Fire, RED, Burn After Reading), Bill Paxton (Aliens, Titanic, Edge of Tomorrow), Rose McGowan (Planet Terror, Scream), and Jon Bernthal (Fury, The Wolf of Wall Street). In Carrier, players are trapped on an Atlas aircraft carrier and encounter advanced new weaponry, enemy Atlas Strike teams, and a host of new zombie enemies.

Fantasy War Tactics Dev Interview with Jungkeun Lee

Questions by Andy Skelton (Outfoxed)

Answered by Jungkeun Lee, Director, NEXON GT)

Earlier in June I had a chance to speak with Jungkeun Lee on the next big mobile game to head our way from Nexon’s new mobile gaming focus. Though nothing on the game was known other than a small teaser site, we have high hopes that this would be the game with both the mechanics, and mobile accessibility, to finally break the fantasy tactics genre into the mainstream of free to play gaming. With that in mind, we had to wonder why Nexon would suddenly push such a game, and how exactly they intended to go about it. Jungkeun Lee was more than happy to answer.
QUESTION: What kind of Heroes might we see: the standard humanoid fare, or perhaps some variety like beasts, dragons, etc.?

 

 

Lee: There’s going to be a great variety of different heroes in the game, including human characters and super-human and non-human characters, like angels, devils, humanoid animals, robots, and many more. The game will launch with 50 different Heroes and we’re making sure to include tons of variety, and they can all be used in player-versus-player (PvP) battles as well.

Fantasy War Tactics Interview

 

QUESTION: Are spells and abilities character specific? Or can you create, say, a mage that’s competent in melee as well?

 

Lee: You can level up your Heroes in totally different ways. By upgrading your Heroes’ powers, equipment and using specific item sets, costumes enable you to make your Heroes stronger in their own unique ways. For example, melee characters can focus on dishing out stronger attacks, or building up a stronger defense – it’s up to the player to decide! We tried to make this a bit more streamlined for users by using a skill upgrade system rather than a skill tree system. Equipment is universal for Heroes, but each Hero can also get a unique costume, which empowers them by upgrading their stats.

 

The real variety is going to come from the way you build your teams, since you can have multiple Heroes on your team at one time.

 

 

QUESTION: Is the story going for a lighthearted approach, or something more serious or sinister?

 

Lee: The story has a bit of a lighthearted quality to it, yes. Your character is an ambitious wizard who will stop at nothing until he takes over the world. Then he finds out that someone else already did. So your quest is still to take over world…from the wizard who already took over the world.

 

QUESTION: Many iOS/Android games have little to no involvement from other players when it comes to PvP modes. What will set Fantasy War Tactics apart from competitors when it comes to PvP gameplay?

 

Lee: Player versus player (PvP) will definitely be involved. You’ll be able to take on opposing players in one-on-one matches, as well as in other modes we’re currently working on. PvP will be strategic and offer a lot of variety, taking into account all of the tactical considerations of Fantasy War Tactics – terrain, unit speed, ranges, and tons of different Hero abilities.

 

Fantasy War Tactics Interview


QUESTION: How do players unlock new heroes (campaign, random “drops”, daily quests)?

 

Lee: You unlock new Heroes by playing through the campaign. To make sure more players can get the full game experience, we’ve designed the Fantasy War Tactics campaign to drop every single playable Hero in the game – free of charge. You won’t need to spend a dime to add all of the Heroes to your roster.

 

 

QUESTION: Is there any form of crafting present in the game?

 

Lee: There’s no formal crafting system in the game – instead, players can strengthen their Heroes by going after in-game items.

 

QUESTION: Are you using any sort of energy system for the game, or can players freely play through the single-player experience?

 

Lee: There will be a stamina system, but stamina isn’t fixed or locked – your stamina constantly increases as you level up, so the more you play, the longer you can continue to play.

Fantasy War Tactics Interview

QUESTION: What has been your favorite part of developing Fantasy War Tactics?

 

Lee: The Fantasy War Tactics team members are all big fans of the classic strategy role-playing games (SRPGs) of the 1990s and 2000s, so it’s been a lot of fun to relive the nostalgia of our favorite tactical games through the development and testing process. We also really enjoy experimenting with different team compositions to come up with new strategies.

 

 

QUESTION: Is the game built around planned future expansion? For example, new storylines, new heroes, additional PvP modes?

 

Lee: It’s a bit early to talk about the future of the game, but we’d definitely be interested in adding more Heroes, more story content, and more PvP. (Stay tuned in the future when we can talk more about that kind of thing!)

Fantasy War Tactics Interview

 

QUESTION: What are some of your favorite SRPG’s from the late 90s/early 00s? How much did that influence the development of the game?

 

Lee: We enjoyed all the classics, including Final Fantasy Tactics, Fire Emblem and especially Matsuno Yasumi’s excellent Tactics Ogre! It’s hard to pick a single game that gave us the most inspiration – especially since these are all very different games – but suffice it to say, we’re trying to include the great tactical gameplay from those classic games while optimizing Fantasy War Tactics as much as possible for mobile.

 

 

We should mention that the game will be soft-launching in late July in the Netherlands, Finland, Australia, and Malaysia, and we’re hoping to get lots of good feedback from those territories in advance of our global launch. In any case, we hope that the turn-based tactical combat, story mode, and variety of playable Heroes of Fantasy War Tactics will scratch the same nostalgic itch for other players as this project has for us.

New Mist Champions Revealed for Guild Wars 2’s Stronghold PvP Mode

New Mist Champions Revealed for Guild Wars 2's Stronghold PvP Mode news header

Today ArenaNet has announced Mist Champions, an all-new element for the Stronghold PvP mode set to debut in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns. Stronghold brings a new competitive experience to Guild Wars 2, introducing a PvP mode rich with lore where players fighting as pirates or knights infiltrate enemy lines and try to kill the enemy lord. The addition of Mist Champions fundamentally alters the gameplay associated with this power struggle by allowing combatants to purchase highly specialized champions which can be summoned to turn the tide of battle.

 

Mist Champions will give players three options to choose from, all of them with devastating super weapons at their disposal:

 

  • Turai Ossa – Savour of Elona: This battle-hardened warrior can summon a protective barrier to aid the defense of friendly players and their Lord.
  • Nika – Obsidian Flame Assassin: Long-time Guild Wars fans will remember this hero from another celebrated expansion, Guild Wars: Factions. Nika has the handy ability of being able to stealth a whole team at once, and their lord.
  • Grymm Svaard – Sailor and Sword-for-hire: Supported by his flagship Nomad II, Grymm has the ability to call in cannon barrages which burn and knock down any enemies they hit.

 

A blog post from Game Designer Branden Gee and Stronghold Game Designer Hugh Norfolk offers more details about Mist Champions and each of their abilities, which include war cries, passive skills and elite skills. The post is live on the official Guild Wars 2 website linked here.