GamersFirst has announced a deal with retail distributor, IGS, to bring APB Reloaded to North America. The purchase price has been announced as $29.99 with over $50 worth of in-game items, including a permanent in-game high-performance vehicle, a permanent in-game weapon and 30 days of premium access that provides increased cash rewards, reputation gains and a 20 percent in-store discount.
CCP Games has announced that the voting booths are now open for EVE Is Real, an online "museum" filled with player-created images, videos and more. Fans are asked to vote for their favorites. Winners in the image voting contest will receive one of twenty video cards. The winner of the video contest will be awarded the grand prize high-end PC.
Planet War players will want to check in between now and August 30th to participate in the Legion's Summon event with tons of in-game rewards available including unique titles, resource packs, generators, and assorted vouchers. During the event players band together to form legions with the top legion scoring some lucrative in-game swag.
It's hard to accurately predict what will be popular in the MMO-space these days. Last week, we took a look at a 2009 piece predicting the success of certain MMOs in 2012 that...ain't gonna make it. In The List today, MMORPG.com Managing Editor dons the swami's hat and prognosticates about 2012 and what he believes will be the real success stories of the year. Read on!
In his latest "One Jump Home" column, MMORPG.com's Ross McDermott, also a member of the Council of Stellar Management, has penned a new article about the adventure of finding war....and having a hard time doing it. Check out One Jump Home and then add your thoughts to the mix in the comments.
During last week's Gamescom, MMORPG.com's John Milburn had the opportunity for some quality hands on time with En Masse Entertainment's TERA. See what John's impressions of the game are in his latest Gamescom report. Let us know what you think in the comments.
In the latest Engineering Report posted on the Star Trek Online forum, Cryptic's Dan Stahl starts the discussion with the comment that he is "incredibly happy that Cryptic Studios is now a subsidiary of Perfect World Entertainment." He outline his reasons why before launching into the Engineering Report which outlines what the team is testing, investigating, developing and discussing with regard to STO.
Overwolf has announced taht Ezra Hoch, Ph.D. has been brought on board as the vice president for research and development at the company. In addition, former X-Fire technology exec Chris Kirmse has been brought on to the company's advisory team.
SubaGames has announced that it has partnered with MasangSoft to sponsor both regional and worldwide tournaments for ACE Online players. North American combatants will face off in 1v1 duel tournament play with the top two players representing the continent at the worldwide championships to be held in Korea later this year.
Indie developer, Tindalos Interactive, has announced the release of its MMORTS, Stellar Impact. The battle takes Allies and Axis forces into space with commanders taking charge of battleships in what developers call a "teamplay" game.
Beginning at 12:00 p.m. CST, Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising servers will be taken offline to deploy the latest patch to the game. The update features bug fixes, quest updates, and adjustments to combat & feats.
I did not invent the word "metroidvania." I have, however, played some small role in its popularization due to my willful abuse and misuse of the term in high-traffic venues such as 1UP, and for that I apologize. It's not a particularly good word, and in some ways it actually does a disservice to the games it describes. On the other hand, it does have the advantage of being concise, catchy, and somewhat on-the-nose: Important survival traits in the harsh evolutionary testing ground of modern linguistics.
In its proper, original sense, the term "metroidvania" referred specifically to Castlevania games that aped the map and layout structure codified by Super Metroid -- Symphony of the Night, Harmony of Dissonance, Aria of Sorrow, etc. -- hence the mash-up of "metroid" and "(castle)-vania". In the decade since I first read the term online, though, it's become synonymous for any two-dimensional platform-style action game that emphasizes exploration and progression through the acquisition of skills and tools. The format seems to wax and wane in popularity as time goes by; it was huge in the 8-bit era, faded away to a handful of notable releases in the following decade, and has seen a resurgence through portables and independently published PC games in more recent years.
Nintendo has some major changes up its sleeve for the 3DS, according to a new report. Those include the release of a second analog stick attachment for the current system and a revamped version of the handheld, reports French website 01net.
An anonymous source that supposedly works within Nintendo delivered the news to the site, which previously had information about the Vita and Wii U prior to their respective announcements. According to a translation by NeoGAF, Nintendo feels it made a mistake in leaving out a second analog stick (or circle pad, as the case may be). As such, it is reportedly now working on a separate device that connects to the right side of the system and is sold for about $10.
That presents a number of questions like how would it connect and if the system can close with it attached. (You'd also have to worry about your finger slipping off and hitting the Power button.) It's possible this bit is outright wrong or simply being misinterpreted; the attachment could be solely for the benefit of developers working to create games for a new version of the 3DS.
From time to time you get a game that is named in such a way that it perfectly encapsulates what the player will be doing. Shoot Many Robots is one of those games. As seen in the trailer above, this side-scrolling action game has you blasting up copious amounts of robots on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.
Calling it a side-scrolling action game isn't good enough for Ubisoft. A press release sent out today contains a description screaming for a comma: it's "a four-player co-op run-n-gun side-scrolling RPG shooter filled with tons of weapon and item customization." Besides a traditional side-scrolling mode, there will also be a Survival mode where you have to fight waves of enemies, Horde mode-style.
If it looks and sounds a bit like Borderlands (cartoony graphics, lots of guns), that could be because developer Demiurge Studios helped to create that game's Arena mode. It's also worked on a number of other titles since being established in 2002; it ported Mass Effect to PC and developed the Pinnacle Station DLC, helped to create BioShock's opening sequences prior to entering Rapture, and more.
Obscured by the ever-growing fame of those crazy Rabbids, Ubisoft's mascot finally returns with a new platform game that's also a reboot. It will explain, as the title suggests, Rayman's origin. It initially was supposed to be released via digital delivery, but has now been delayed for a November retail release on Xbox 360, Wii and PS3. A Nintendo 3DS version will follow shortly, and in March 2012, Rayman Origins will be available on Vita as well.
The game's visuals come courtesy of the UbiArt Framework, a development tool by Ubisoft explicitly conceived to allow artists to implement their art seamlessly into the game engine. And thanks to it, Rayman Origins looks just like a beautifully animated digital painting -- that also runs smoothly at 60fps in HD resolution. But it's not a matter of numbers: The game world's incredibly detailed and alive thanks to the talent of the artists working on it. UbiArt has indeed great potential, and it gives artists freedom and a prominent role in the actual development by allowing them to easily manage collisions and animations.
Announced at E3 just a couple of months ago, this Xbox 360 remake of Halo: Combat Evolved is a project created explicitly for all the fans that were strongly asking for it. Original developer Bungie has passed the torch to Microsoft's internal studio, 343 Industries, who will oversee development of the title. Here's a quick refresher on what you'll be seeing when you play it for yourself at Halo Fest this week.
Halo: CE is one of the most important FPS in videogame history, often cited as responsible for Xbox's huge success in the west. For this reason, 343 Industries couldn't get away with just another one of those lazy remakes that lately have been plaguing the market, so explains Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary producer Dennis Ries and executive producer Dan Ayoub. They promise that this new Combat Evolved won't offer just a simple HD facelift; it will be packed with new content, goodies and surprises conceived to please the players who've always followed and loved Master Chief's franchise. The Anniversary edition also supports Kinect -- though the demo station we see had a regular controller.
What we knew as Blizzard DOTA last year has been dumped and completely reworked in an effort to get it "right." And while it still is a Defense of the Ancients-inspired game, Blizzard may end up dropping the Dota name to avoid getting involved in a trademark dispute with Valve.
Valve filed for a trademark on "Dota" last year amidst rumors that it was working on a game based on Defense of the Ancients, which Dota is short for. Valve confirmed it was working on nothing less than a sequel to Dota, known as Dota 2. Shortly thereafter, Warcraft maker Blizzard announced it was creating a mod for StarCraft II known as Blizzard DOTA.
Dota is both the name of a genre (also sometimes called Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, or MOBA) and the name of a Warcraft III mod that spawned the genre. The original Defense of the Ancients was itself based on the Aeon of Strife map for StarCraft, and the Dota genre -- sort of a sub-genre of real-time strategy games -- has become more than just a mod with the creation of a number of standalone games including League of Legends, Demigod, Heroes of Newerth, and Dota 2.
As is customary around this time, the many companies that will be at PAX Prime this weekend are letting us know what games they'll be bringing with them to promote at the show. Along with the games you'd expect Square Enix to say it's bringing with it like Dead Island, Final Fantasy XIII-2, and Deus Ex: Human Revolution, is a mention that Airtight Games will be revealing a new game. This is significant because the project features Kim Swift as its creative director, Swift being well known for her role as team lead on Portal and a developer on Left 4 Dead.
Swift and other members of the development team will be participating in a panel on Saturday, August 27, at 7pm in the Pegasus room. According to today's press release, those who attend will get to "hear their explanation of how they are bringing an incredibly fascinating and quirky game to life." Unfortunately, that's about as much of a hint as we were given, though we do know that when she was hired it was to work on games for "a more diverse audience."
Airtight Games was formed in 2004 by former FASA Studio and Microsoft employees, many of which worked on the well-regarded Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge. It's located in Redmond, Washington, a short drive away from Valve's headquarters in Kirkland. It brought out its first game, Dark Void, early last year on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, not long after hiring Swift. The game managed to receive mediocre reviews; it was the Other Ocean-developed DSiWare game Dark Void Zero that was the standout of the two.
Duke Nukem Forever may have been an absolute mess in the minds of many, but that doesn't mean it'll be the last we see of the series. Gearbox reportedly has plans to reboot the franchise by reviving a project it was working on before it got its hands on Forever.
Duke Begins is the name of a game Gearbox was developing several years ago, as revealed in court documents at the time. It was planned for release in 2010 but ended up being canceled, a move that further fueled a legaldispute between Take-Two and 3D Realms. The matter was resolved out of court and Gearbox came to own the franchise. As was rumored, it worked to finish the very-long-in-development Duke Nukem Forever and brought it out this past June to less than pleasant reviews.
Like it or not, Take-Two says the game will be profitable, which apparently is enough reason to commission more Duke Nukem. According to CVG, the October issue of the Official Xbox Magazine has word on a tasty rumor: Gearbox will reboot Duke Nukem in the form of "the long-discussed Duke Begins." This won't happen until one of its current projects, Aliens: Colonial Marines, is finished.
Bedlam Games is reportedly on the verge of being shut down after laying off the large majority of its staff in July.
This was first mentioned on Twitter over the weekend by an anonymous account that knew of trouble at Team Bondi last year, well in advance of the past few months' reports about poor working conditions and issues with Rockstar. According to the tweet, Bedlam "laid off most of its staff and effectively shuttered last month." Following up on this, Joystiq confirmed the news with a separate anonymous source who indicated about 90 percent of the staff have been put on "temporary layoffs," with none of them receiving severance pay. Some have gone on to find new jobs, and with so many people being let go, the studio's future isn't looking especially bright.
The Toronto-based Bedlam was founded in 2006 and brought together a number of former staffers from The Warriors developer Rockstar Toronto (known earlier in its life as Rockstar Canada). It finally released its first game, Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale, on PC and Xbox Live Arcade in May. It's an action-RPG that was poorly received. A PSN version was delayed and still hasn't been released.
1UP's Call of Duty: Black Ops Rezurrection Giveaway How To Play
Are you ready to visit the moon? That's right, Rezurrection, the all-Zombies content pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops, comes out TODAY and we've got codes to giveaway! Rezurrection is the climax of the Call of Duty Zombies saga, and the first to take you into space. With new weapons, updated gear, and a more fearsome zombies, Moon is the most challenging & exciting Zombies map yet. Here's what it takes to win:
We'll post a secret message on our homepage, right next to our Top Story area. Here's a pic:
Simply copy the phrase and Tweet it to @1UPsweeps.The first to tweet wins! The winner will be contacted via a direct message, so be sure to follow @1UPsweeps. Keep your eyes on 1UP.com for your chance to win!
OFFICIAL RULES 1UP's Call of Duty: Black Ops Rezurrection Giveaway
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If you look at the logo above, MARK actually stands for Middle Ages Rising Kingdoms... Which does not make any sense to me with the last word. No matter, MARK Online is the maiden title for Korean developer Blacksmith Games, which was first announced last month. Touted as a "hardcore" MMORPG, Blacksmith Games started out with a group of friends gathering together and sharing new game technologies back in 2008. However, the studio only officially form in October 2010, with the game then known as Gideon Project.
Heavily influenced, or should I say totally influenced by the Middle Ages, the game's design stay true to the cultures and history of the era. Focused on open world PvP/ PK, the PvE aspects is rather interesting as well, as the monsters and bosses in dungeons are set to spawn randomly, with the developers not knowing when will they spawn next. Oh, the dungeons' entrances spawn randomly across the world as well! With that said, if a team enters and another team follows soon after, open PK might occur if one team gets aggressive.
For the quest system, players are able to pay a fee to another player to help him or her gather the required materials to complete the quests. There will also be a personal bounty system, where players can pay another to PK someone for them. Before I forget, if Player A kills Player B, Player B's entire inventory will be looted by Player A. To make sure there is some balance, there will be a skill where players can use to send items back to their storage. It is like remembering to save your Powerpoint slides in case the computer shuts down suddenly.
Open PK will not be made easy for high level players camping at low level maps. These areas are heavily protected and patrolled by strong NPCs. Once reaching open PK maps, all players are free to PK anyone except their fellow guild members. Players can gain EXP from both PvE and PvP. Finally, strong guilds will be able to build a guild castle, as seen in the second trailer above. There will then lead to siege warfare and so on.
There are no classes in the game, with players having the freedom to choose what skills to use and build their own unique characters. MARK Online is scheduled for its first Focus Group Testing (FGT) in September next month, with a release scheduled for next year.
With the English server recently getting the Path of Glory update, the main Chinese server for Jade Dynasty will be getting its own mega expansion this coming September. The title this time round will be Jade Dynasty: Prelude. The main addition in this update will no doubt be the 2 new Hero classes, 1 each for Athan and Human. But I shall not translate those names since it will sound really weird.
As you can see above, the Athan's Hero class will be a melee brawler using his fists and gauntlets. The Human's Hero class will be a wizard sort of character, wielding the mystic flames to both attack enemies and defend himself.
There will of course be new maps, instance and bosses as well! The new bosses are shown below in their artwork form, with the bottom being the main boss of the Prelude expansion.
Furthermore, all existing classes will apparently get their skills strengthened, with thousands of lower level equipments getting upgraded stats and new looks as well.
In order not to spoil the fun, these will be the few new stuff I will be posting. Jade Dynasty seems to be getting really interesting with more updates!
Snail Game China, the developer for the much anticipated martial arts MMORPG, Age of Wulin, recently held a summer camp for a group of lucky chosen players. They were invited to the company's offices to try out Age of Wulin and provide feedback for the game. The summer camp had players of both gender and from different age range, hence I see it as a really good experience for both the company, including the ever-present CEO Mr Shi Hai, and the players.
So what information was leaked from the participants of the camp? Well, even though there are clans (Shaolin, Wudang etc) for players to choose from, players will eventually join guilds as well. During certain times, there might be certain times where a Wudang disciple from Guild X having a random PK (not PvP) fight with a Shaolin disciple from Guild Y. If another Shaolin player from Guild X helps to PK the opponent, he will apparently be kicked out of the Shaolin clan and be hunted by other Shaolin players. Do note that this is just a brief description and no finer details were disclosed.
For PvP, there will be clan wars as well (Shaolin Vs Wudang etc). One clan will be the defender while the other being the attacker. Do note that this is clan, not guild. Leaders from either side will be able to call upon other friendly clans to help. Once again, this is just a brief description. How will all these systems work out? The Closed Beta in China will begin in October, hence more information should be available by then. Search for more info on the game here (link)!
As is customary around this time, the many companies that will be at PAX Prime this weekend are letting us know what games they'll be bringing with them to promote at the show. Along with the games you'd expect Square Enix to say it's bringing with it like 
