MMO Update: New super heroes arrive to Marvel Universe
Gazillion Entertainment has announced that Jean Grey, Nova and Luke Cage
are going to join Marvel Universe . These iconic super heroes join the
25 heroes that the game already have that includes Spider-man, Iron Man,
Captain America, Hulk and Wolverine. Source of information: Gazillion
Entertaintment press release
MMO Update: Guild Wars 2 has announced its first major content update, Shadow of the Mad King
On 22 October, Guild Wars 2 is going to release its first major content
update, called the Shadow of the Mad King. “Halloween has a long history
in Tyria, and in times past was always marked by the spirit of Mad King
Thorn cavorting among the people unleashing his own brand of insanity.
There
is no question that World of Warcraft has been the top dog in the pack
for many years. But we contend that Rift is beginning to beat the leader
at its own game. Find out why we say that and then let us know what you
think in the comments.
The
Defiance website has been updated with a new interview with Nathan
Richardsson. For those not in the know: Richardsson was announced as the
brand new Executive Producer for Defiance and comes with a wealth of
experience from CCP Games.
The
Diablo III forum has been updated with the announcement that server
maintenance will be conducted on all regional servers on Tuesday,
October 16th. The express purpose of the maintenance is to bring patch
v1.05 to live status
KingsIsle
has announced that the doors have swung open on Pirate 101, the latest
game from the Austin studio. Like its predecessor, Pirate 101 is a
family friendly offering, this time focusing on pirate-y goodness.
Our
own Garrett Fuller was at GDC Online this past week, and spoke with
several members of ArenaNet's programming team for Guild Wars 2,
including Cameron Dunn, Studio Technical Director, Braeden Shosa,
Gameplay Programming Team Lead, Chad Taylor, Engine Programming Team
Lead, and Stephen Clarke-Willson, Server Programming Team Lead.
Bohemia Interactive has posted a new (and short) developer blog on the
DayZ site. Packed away within the blog are several awesome screenshots
showing off interiors the team has been working on lately. They are
clearly labeled "works in progress" but look pretty dang good already!
Trion
Worlds and the Rift team have announced that a live stream event will
take place this Friday, October 19th. The team has plans to show off the
new Dimensions feature that will arrive with the Storm Legion
expansion. Dimensions are fully customizable living spaces for player
1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF OCTOBER 15 | GAMING'S GREATEST MYSTERIES
Dissecting the Horror: The Mysteries of Spec Ops The Line
Cover Story: Writer Walt Williams discusses the enigmatic beats of this year's biggest surprise.
W
hen we look back on 2012 decades from now, I have no doubt that one of the defining titles will be Spec Ops: The Line. 2K Games managed to use the framework of a third-person shooter to create a horrific tale of what war does to man. Spec Ops tackled topics and utilized a lens our medium has rarely dared to dabble in. Its depictions of PTSD, justified murder, and moral ambiguity contributed countless emotional beats that lingered with the player long after the credits rolled. 1UP had a chance to sit down with writer Walt Williams and discuss his story's inspirations, ramifications, and ultimate goals in the continuing maturation of our medium.
1UP: So just kicking things off... At the start, I'm wondering how the story came to be. Was it the setting first? Did you always know this was going to be Dubai? Or did you start writing the story and all of a sudden the setting... We need to have this place with such a stark juxtaposition between the lavish and the impoverished...
The way Call of Duty Elite -- the subscription service for the massively popular FPS series -- worked never really seemed like the most sensible way to go. By having free and premium tiers, there was always a great deal of confusion among gamers, and this led to some unfair criticisms about how the money-hungry Activision was charging for stat-tracking services other games offered for free when, in reality, that was not the case. As Elite approaches the beginning of its second year in existence with the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops II next month, Activision is doing the sensible thing: it's making Elite (sans downloadable content) free for everyone to access.
When it was originally launched last year, the $50-per-year version of Elite offered a year's worth of downloadable content, extra storage for replay videos, the ability for clans to level up, tournaments with real-world prizes, and Elite TV. The DLC was obviously the big attraction, as on its own that same content would cost $60. But the manner in which DLC was handled was not immediately apparent: If I purchase an Elite membership this past June, do I get all of the previously released content? Do I get Black Ops II DLC released prior to next June? It was needlessly confusing.
1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF OCTOBER 15 | GAMING'S GREATEST MYSTERIES
The Unfinished Swan Review: Abstract Art
Cover Story: A gentle storybook comes to life in another excellent addition to the PSN library.
G
iant Sparrow had me at hello, although their greeting was a bit on the untraditional side. Upon entering the world of The Unfinished Swan, the very first thing a player can do is toss a ball of black paint onto the stark-white canvas of a three-dimensional world. The entire game is built upon variations of this wildly simple action, but the sheer joy that comes from filling in the geography of Swan's environments immediately demanded my attention. After playing through the brief, but lovely title multiple times over the course of a single day, it became clear to me that Giant Sparrow has created a PSN title that embraces the pleasures of exploration, all through the guise of a Golden Book come to life.
You play as Monroe, an inquisitive boy stuck in a world comprised of questions. At the birth of his adventure, he finds himself amidst the infinity of a featureless landscape, and armed only with a supply of paintballs. Every ball of paint that you hurl answers countless riddles about the environment around you, and in such, Monroe's journey through this magical kingdom is inherently tied to the core act of uncovering the secrets of the world. Each area of The Unfinished Swan is uniquely gorgeous in a way that ties in with the core mechanics of that given moment. When you're painting in the world around you, the final artistic result stems directly from the type of player that you are. Those who go trigger happy and flood the world with color will find themselves in an environment that looks wildly different from someone who plays the game with an eye for conservative minimalism.
1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF OCTOBER 15 | GAMING'S GREATEST MYSTERIES
Cover Story: Gaming's Greatest Mysteries
Join us all this week for a thorough exploration of digital enigmas.
It's no coincidence that some of the most popular games of all time contain their share of secrets; both Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda kept people talking long after they defeated the final boss, if only to share intel on hidden items, warps, and Easter eggs. The answer to some mysteries, like Samus Aran's gender, became common knowledge after hitting the pages of Nintendo Power, but these early examples taught us all that poking and prodding at a game's exterior could eventually yield a beautiful bounty. And though modern games tend to overexplain themselves for the benefit of a wider audience, contemporary developers have learned from these classics of the 8-bit era, causing most new releases to include at least a handful of squirreled-away secrets for the most diligent of players.
The advancement of narrative in gaming would eventually present many opportunities for mystery, as games that show rather than tell fill our minds with questions and leave us wanting more. Stories that don't end with a definitive conclusion keep us wrapped in discussion years after their original release, as we've seen with titles like Ico, Silent Hill 2, and Portal. (Though fans of Mass Effect don't seem to appreciate this approach.) And these mysteries aren't just limited to the games themselves; the fickle, unpredictable nature of the industry brings forth even more head-scratching opportunities, as projects and people fade from relevance, never to be seen again. Needless to say, with so many of its elements shrouded in mystery, our little hobby does an excellent job of appealing to the natural curiosity of the human brain.
1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF OCTOBER 15 | GAMING'S GREATEST MYSTERIES
Among the Missing: Notable Games Lost to Time
Cover Story: Why we can't play some intriguing pieces of game history.
I
n a perfect game industry, nothing would be lost. Developers would back up every project assiduously. Companies would archive every scrap of data. And every commercially released game would be perfectly stored by anyone who bought it. Yet ours is not a perfect game industry, and even today's technology allows a few games to slip into oblivion. A look back into earlier eras reveals that some games were rescued by pure luck, while other endangered titles have never bobbed to the surface.
We discuss canceled games in another feature this week, and here we explore those lost games that were apparently complete. Some vanished just before hitting stores, and a few even disappeared after they were available to the public. All of them share one unfortunate trait: they haven't yet been rediscovered in an age where the great majority of older games are preserved and disseminated for anyone to enjoy.
The framing device of a video game can often have a profound effect on a its presentation, especially if used creatively. Games like Viewtiful Joe, LittleBigPlanet, and Kirby's Epic Yarn each present their own unique devices and closely tie them into game play. Just think of those cardboard cutouts, the strips of duct tape on the sets, and the adorable hand-stitched nature of LittleBigPlanet's world, and you'll realize how perfectly it represented the idea of a canvass for virtual do-it-yourself ideas.
Revealed this past August for the PS3, Puppeteer takes a similarly inspired approach -- one where the game takes place on a theatrical stage and resembles a 3D animated puppet show of sorts. Surprisingly, the title comes from a diverse set of talent that include Sony's Japan Studio, Gavin Moore as game director (formerly the lead animator on The Getaway), lead game planning by Kazunobu Sato (formerly a lead character designer on Siren and Siren 2), and producer Takashi Mizutani -- who previously served as a lead artist for three installments of the Metal Gear Solid series.
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SWTOR's upcoming patch 1.5 will bring out a quest that allow players to receive the famous HK-51 Assassin Droid as a companion. I was able to obtain this companion on the PTS and I want to give you guys a sneak peak at this newest companion coming to SWTOR with patch 1.5.
Watch the show. Play the game.Change the world. Yes, that's what Defiance has been advertising. Now Syfy channel has released a new trailer for its TV serie attached to the MMOG Defiance. The show and game are both due out in April, 2013.
Riot Games recently released a new infographic that shows how League of Legends stacks up against other popular games with online play such as Halo, Call of Duty and others.
Since District 187: Sin Streets kicked off open beta test on October 8th, the development team had posted a notice to remind players that playing on their regional servers will improve gameplay and latency issues for all.
Today, Turbine celebrates the launch of the Riders of Rohan expansion for its award-winning MMO, The Lord of the Rings Online. Players across North America and Europe can purchase and play Riders of Rohan for PC now by visiting the Lord of the Rings Online site.
Whats up gamers im your host Zach Sharpes here with my annual series "The State Of The MMO Genre" where I give you guys my opinion on the Biggest Flop, Biggest Innovation, and the Biggest Success of the year. Keep in mind this is all interactivity based, so make sure to post your opinions down in the comment section below.
NEW YORK – October 15, 2012 – The battles within War of the Roses have been brutal to say the least, but soon players will receive a whole new arsenal to wield havoc with on the field. Paradox Interactive and Fatshark today revealed more details on new content coming to medieval melee action title War of the Roses, including brand new sets of weaponry and armor, additional game modes, and some wintry new maps.
Jagex announced today the official Beta Registration for its upcoming MMO Transformers Universe. This is a browser game, but I believe you will be exciting like us.
Gravity Interactive, a publisher of MMORPGs, invites players and fans alike to participate in spooky celebrations in all of WarpPortal's games such as: Ragnarok Online, Rose Online, Requiem: Memento Mori, Dragon Saga and Maestia: Rise of Keledus.
