Limited Edition + Language Pack (MULTi7)

English/German/French/Spanish/Italian/Russian/Japanese

Obsidian is making a game about tanks. Not epic fantasy worlds or imaginative sci-fi futures. The studio behind Fallout: New Vegas and the upcoming Pillars of Eternity are working on a tank battle MMO called Armored Warfare. Weird, right? I was a little puzzled at first, myself, but Armored Warfare does show some hints of the studio’s story-heavy DNA that might surprise you if you were expecting a World of Tanks clone.While you can safely expect competitive modes that pit up to 30 large, metal objects with guns against one another, Obsidian is really hoping to turn some turrets with objective-based PvE missions. I took a nimble Leopard 2 A-V through one of these, with three other journalists in a mix of modern era heavy hardware from around the world rounding out the platoon. Our brief demo was a fairly simple corridor shooter, taking us through a wooded valley dotted with destructible structures. Our only goal was to make it to the end of the valley while AI-controlled tanks attempted to halt our progress using, for the most part, explosions.

“We want the PvE mode to be a completely valid way of playing the game,” Obsidian designer Rich Taylor said. “It’s not like, oh, well, you play this first, and then you graduate to PvP. If you want to only play PvE, our goal is to have that be a very satisfying experience with full progression available in it.”If you’re used to that other popular tank game, the first thing you’ll notice about Armored Warfare is that almost everything in the environment is destructible. Whether you’re in the mood to lob shells at a bunker, or roll through the ground floor of a bed and breakfast with no concern for the vacationers within, “hard cover” is clearly a relative term in this CryEngine-driven physics playground.
Obsidian is making a game about tanks. Not epic fantasy worlds or imaginative sci-fi futures. The studio behind Fallout: New Vegas and the upcoming Pillars of Eternity are working on a tank battle MMO called Armored Warfare. Weird, right? I was a little puzzled at first, myself, but Armored Warfare does show some hints of the studio’s story-heavy DNA that might surprise you if you were expecting a World of Tanks clone.

While you can safely expect competitive modes that pit up to 30 large, metal objects with guns against one another, Obsidian is really hoping to turn some turrets with objective-based PvE missions. I took a nimble Leopard 2 A-V through one of these, with three other journalists in a mix of modern era heavy hardware from around the world rounding out the platoon. Our brief demo was a fairly simple corridor shooter, taking us through a wooded valley dotted with destructible structures. Our only goal was to make it to the end of the valley while AI-controlled tanks attempted to halt our progress using, for the most part, explosions.“We want the PvE mode to be a completely valid way of playing the game,” Obsidian designer Rich Taylor said. “It’s not like, oh, well, you play this first, and then you graduate to PvP. If you want to only play PvE, our goal is to have that be a very satisfying experience with full progression available in it.”
If you’re used to that other popular tank game, the first thing you’ll notice about Armored Warfare is that almost everything in the environment is destructible. Whether you’re in the mood to lob shells at a bunker, or roll through the ground floor of a bed and breakfast with no concern for the vacationers within, “hard cover” is clearly a relative term in this CryEngine-driven physics playground.
The tanks themselves also feel appropriately bulky, and are rendered in enough detail to pass muster for current-gen consoles, if not the best the PC can deliver. Even though my Leopard was described as one of the quickest and most maneuverable in the current build, I still had to fight semi-realistic amounts of mass and gravity with my furious WASDing in the heat of combat. Your accuracy suffers when you’re on the move as well, and when you move the camera to aim, it takes a second for your turret to catch up.

The shooting feels satisfying, especially when you hit just the right part on an enemy tank to knock a chunk off of its health bar or turn it to scrap completely. The vehicles have realistic damage modeling, though the baddies in the demo could be easily dealt with by concentrated firepower to any part of their chassis. More satisfying, however, are the destructible elements. I spent a fair portion of my time largely ignoring the enemies to see how many different ways I could get a mountain villa to collapse by treating it as a shortcut.In my 30 minute press demo, PvE combat mostly involved small groups of three to five bargain bin mooks ambushing us every few hundred yards. They didn’t really coordinate or use different machines for different roles. Conversely, we didn’t have to strategize, either. We just point-and-clicked them out of existence. Even though I often left myself exposed and didn’t make much use of my Leopard’s speed advantage, I never felt like I was truly in danger of losing.To be fair, it was a 30-minute press demo, and most likely isn’t representative of the scope of PvE content that will be featured in the full game.
What we didn’t get to see, but were assured would play into Armored Warfare’s final loadout, were narrative and character elements. Details were sparse, but in true Obsidian fashion, the team wants to weave storytelling and persistent faces into the PvE content, with new twists and plotlines coming down the barrel with patches and updates across the game’s tour of duty. You'll get to know vendors and weapons dealers, making picking up some new kit more than just visiting a menu screen while you have the wiki open on your phone.

Limited Edition + Language Pack (MULTi7)

English/German/French/Spanish/Italian/Russian/Japanese

Markus "Notch" Persson is "selling" his first video game since Minecraft.The Swedish developer is requesting payment for Cliffhorse in the virtual currency Dogecoin, although it can be downloaded without doing so.
He has tweeted that the game - in which the player controls a galloping horse that can chase an animal-skinned ball - only took him two hours to create.
Other posts indicate the game is a deliberate spoof. However, that has not stopped people from paying for it.
Mr Persson noted that his initial tweet advertising the "early access" title had raised more than $100 (£60) in the hours after he posted it.
He later created a website to promote the game, which pointedly states that there is "no guarantee of future updates".

Scott Grill, a writer for the Examiner news site, is among those who have interpreted Cliffhorse as being a means to criticise the sale of other "early access games that have been appearing on Steam and other places where very little work and semblance of a game exists".Examples of controversial uncompleted PC games put on sale include:
Towns - a city-building game sold for $14.99 via Steam Greenlight, whose developer abandoned plans to complete it himself after reporting weaker than expected sales.
The War Z - an open-world zombie-themed survival game that cost $15, which was pulled from Steam after complaints that it failed to offer promised features. It later returned under a new name but continues to attract poor reviews.
Earth: Year 2066 - a sci-fi game costing £19.99 that was removed from Steam following a campaign on Reddit that alleged customers were being sold a "broken" title.
The controversy has prompted the US-based owner of the Steam platform, Valve, to update its Early Access Games FAQ last week to state: "You should be aware that some teams will be unable to 'finish' their game. So you should only buy an Early Access game if you are excited about playing it in its current state."

However, an English gamer known as PewGeminiLive suggested some people were reading too much into the release."Notch and I came up with the idea during one of my live streams on Twitch while playing Skyrim," he told the BBC.
"The game was a simple joke to make fun of the "horse mechanics" whilst on a cliff."
'That's crazy'
The world-building game Minecraft was itself an "early release" game - sold as first an "alpha" and then "beta" branded title over the first years of its life.
It has gone on to become one of the best-selling and best-reviewed games of all time.
Cliffhorse Cliffhorse can be downloaded for Windows computers
This is what, perhaps, convinced people to pay for Cliffhorse despite the fact it appears to be a spoof.
Nonetheless, one UK games blogger was left dispirited by the reaction.
"It's an obvious joke and from what I know of the Unity Engine, most of the assets from the game are already defaulted in-engine, and all Notch had to do was look through the asset store and download a free horse model," wrote Justin Ross on the Pixel Gate site.
"Really no work whatsoever had to go into making this game, and there's even people spending money on this thing. That's crazy."
Mr Persson's stunt was released on the eve of the video games industry event, E3.
Although the Los Angeles expo tends to focus on console titles, there is also a PC-themed spin-off - the Nvidia Gaming Expo - organised by the computer chip-maker, which runs over the same period.

 

 

 

Limited Edition + Language Pack (MULTi7)

English/German/French/Spanish/Italian/Russian/Japanese

A new developer, human factions, open-world multiplayer and a mo-capped cat. Here’s 8 reasons why Yager’s Dead Island 2 could be your next go-to gore-fest.Dead Island 2′s reveal trailer was one of the highlights of Sony’s E3 conference. Funny, lively, crude and with a perfect soundtrack, it set the scene for a return to a surprisingly successful zombie shooter.
But then we remembered the trailer for the first Dead Island, one that provoked emotional responses and a little controversy. It was slick, violent and well-directed, but it was no representation of the finished game.
So is this another case of “nice trailer, shame about the game”? We sat down with 30 minutes of Dead Island 2 at E3 last week out of morbid curiosity and came away buzzed at the prospect of another hot game with plenty of twists on the zombie genre. Here are eight reasons why we’re keeping the faith for Dead Island 2.

It’s surreally violent in all the right placesPicture the scene. You turn up at a wedding reception and the room is littered with corpses. You walk up to the turntable and drop the needle on disco classic Love Is In The Air. The sound attracts the zombies and the corpses in the room. As John Paul Young sings “You’re something that I must believe in, and you’re there when I reach out for you”, you bury an axe in the face of an undead wedding guest. As the music plays the body parts fly. It’s a beautiful thing and it makes your special day even more memorable.
It’s made by Yager, not Techland
This is an important thing. We like Techland, don’t get us wrong. Its games are a bit ropey around the edges but they’re full of ideas and madness. But Yager is the team that brought us Spec Ops: The Line, one of the greatest true war games ever made. With violence, commentary on the futility of war, an excellent use of soundtrack and beautiful graphical effects, it’s one of the most underrated games of the last generation of consoles. You should buy it, it’s probably $10 in a bargain bin somewhere. Yager’s take on Dead Island looks to be all those things and more.

It’s a first-person Dead RisingCrafting weapons is central to Dead Island 2, much like it makes Dead Rising games a lot more fun. In fact, the weapons you make are almost identical in their stupidity. As well as the usual array of handheld weapons such as the machete, sledgehammer and axe, you can tweak things like the crossbow to add electric shock and exploding bolts. Or create motorised weapons for more damage but be aware they make noise, which attracts zombies, and they also require fuel, which is in short supply. More importantly, you don’t need to find a stupid workbench to improve your weapons as all crafting can be done on the fly. Oh, and what’s better than an axe? Two axes. Dead Island 2 has dual-wielding.
You’re not just fighting zombies
Dead Island 2 features human factions who you’ll interact with (fight) and fight with (also, fight). You’ll need different skills and techniques to combat psychopathic humans, looters, prisoners and ex-Marines who’ve been abandoned by the military – but you can play them off against the undead. As humans attack the player in a relatively safe zone, you’re able to unlock the gates to the world outside, inviting in a horde of hungry zombies who attack the other humans. Of course actions like that could go either way, so you’ll need to keep on your toes. But it sounds like it’s worth embracing Dead Island 2′s chaotic opportunities.
Now you can smash brains with your pals
As Dead Island 2 is going open-world (isn’t every game?) it is also going multiplayer with players able to drop in and out, to help and/or hinder others (isn’t every game?). Play through the game like Left 4 Dead in co-op or just be a grumpy old single-player lone wolf, it’s up to you.
It’s got a motion-captured cat
Some games have fish AI or realistic dog fur. Dead Island 2 has a motion-captured cat. He’s called Rick Furry. I’m not sure if that breaks any animals-in-the-workplace laws, but I like to imagine a little tabby wearing spandex with pingpong balls all over it. Imagine the confusion on it’s stupid little moggy face.

Limited Edition + Language Pack (MULTi7)

English/German/French/Spanish/Italian/Russian/Japanese

Diablo III is an action role-playing video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the third installment in the Diablo franchise and was released in the Americas, Europe, South Korea, and Taiwan on May 15, 2012, and Russia on June 7, 2012, for Microsoft Windows and OS X. A console version was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on September 3, 2013. Versions for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are planned to be released on August 19, 2014.In the game, players choose one of six character classes—Barbarian, Crusader, Demon Hunter, Monk, Witch Doctor or Wizard—and are tasked with defeating the Lord of Terror, Diablo.
Diablo III set a new record for fastest-selling PC game by selling over 3.5 million copies in the first 24 hours of its release, and was the best selling PC game of 2012, selling more than 12 million copies during the year. Across all platforms it has sold over 15 million copies. Diablo III received generally positive reviews from critics, although its digital rights management that requires an internet connection at all times, in game auction house, and lack of end game content were criticized.

The expansion pack Diablo III: Reaper of Souls was released for the Windows and OS X editions of the game on March 25, 2014. For consoles the expansion pack content will be released as part of the Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition version, which is being released for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on August 19, 2014. Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition will include the original console version of Diablo III and Diablo III: Reaper of Souls expansion pack.Much like in Diablo and Diablo II, equipment is randomized. In addition to base stats (such as damage and attack speed for weapon or armor points on armor), higher-quality items have additional properties, such as extra damage, attribute bonuses, bonuses to critical hit chance or sockets (which allow items to be upgraded and customized by adding gems for various stat bonuses). Magic-quality have 1 to 3 random properties, rare-quality items have 4 to 6 random properties and legendary-quality items typically have 6 to 8 properties with varying degrees of randomness (for example, the Mempo of Twilight, a legendary helm, always has a socket, bonuses to elemental resistance, attack speed and life, a bonus to either Intelligence, Dexterity or Strength, and one additional random proprety, however the magnitude of these bonuses varies from item to item), and set items are a subtype of legendary items which provide additional, cumulative bonuses if multiple items from the same set are simultaneously equipped. Higher level monsters tend to drop higher or level items, which tend to have higher base stats and bonuses.

Gameplay is similar to that of previous titles in the Diablo franchise. The game is classified as an action adventure game that is played primarily like Diablo I and Diablo II.
Diablo III's skills window depicting the abilities of the wizard class.The proprietary engine incorporates Blizzard's custom in-house physics, and features destructible environments with an in-game damage effect. The developers sought to make the game run on a wide range of systems without requiring DirectX 10. Diablo III uses a custom 3D game engine in order to present an overhead view to the player, in a somewhat similar way to the isometric view used in previous games in the series. Enemies utilize the 3D environment as well, in ways such as crawling up the side of a wall from below into the combat area.
As in Diablo II, multiplayer games are possible using Blizzard's Battle.net service, with many of the new features developed for StarCraft II also available in Diablo III. Players are also able to drop in and out of sessions of co-operative play with other players. Unlike its predecessor, Diablo III requires players to be connected to the internet constantly due to their DRM policy, even for single-player games.
An enhanced quest system, a random level generator, and a random encounter generator are used in order to ensure the game provides different experiences when replayed.

Limited Edition + Language Pack (MULTi7)

English/German/French/Spanish/Italian/Russian/Japanese

Doom (stylized as "DOOM" and originally known as Doom 4) is the upcoming multi-platform installment of the Doom series by id Software. It is slated for simultaneous release on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. After years in development with almost no news from id Software, it was restarted completely in 2011 with Bethesda Softworks as publisher for the game.The game was announced as in production on May 7, 2008, after John Carmack, then lead developer at Id, hinted at it at QuakeCon on August 3, 2007. Id Software's CEO Todd Hollenshead suggested that, like Doom II: Hell on Earth, it will take place on Earth, and will feature gameplay more akin to the original Doom games rather than the horror styled gameplay of Doom 3. In April 2009, Hollenshead said Doom 4 was "deep in development." Asked if Doom 4 would be "a sequel? A reboot? A prequel?", his response was: "It's not a sequel to Doom 3, but it's not a reboot either. Doom 3 was sort of a reboot. It's a little bit different than those."

On June 23, 2009, ZeniMax Media, best known for Bethesda Softworks, acquired id Software and announced that all future id games will be published by Bethesda Softworks, including Doom 4 in addition to Rage and future Quake titles. Carmack said at Quakecon 2011 that once Rage shipped its development team would move to Doom 4 to speed up on that project. Doom 4 might also feature dedicated servers unlike Rage.On August 1, 2008, John Carmack said that Doom 4 will look three times better than Rage does, intended to run at 30 frames per second; on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3; rather than 60 that Rage targets. In its Windows version, Doom 4 was intended to run at 60 frames per second with state-of-the-art hardware. In 2009, he revealed that the multiplayer component is being developed separately and will run at 60 frames per second. Carmack stated in 2011 that "you can't have 30 guys crawling all over you at 60 frames per second at this graphics technology level because it's painful. -- So, [in single-player] we can have 30 demons crawling all over you on there."

In April 2013, Kotaku published an exposé describing Doom 4 as trapped in "development hell". Citing connections to id, the article claims that Doom 4 has suffered under mismanagement, and that development was completely restarted in 2011. Inside sources described the pre-2011 version, which was to portray the uprising of hell on Earth, as heavily scripted and cinematic, comparing it to the Call of Duty franchise. The pre-2011 version was criticized as mediocre, but the sources also described the new version as "lame" and a "mess." Id's Tim Willits said during Quakecon 2013: "Every game has a soul. Every game has a spirit. When you played Rage, you got the spirit. And [Doom 4] did not have the spirit, it did not have the soul, it didn’t have a personality."At the 2011 QuakeCon, Carmack mentioned that new Doom will be using a new scripting language that is based on C++, and called it "super-script". This so-called "super-script" is a subset of C++; with features like scheduling and type safety. In February 2012, some alleged screenshots were released on Official Xbox Magazine UK's website, but the images were discredited by id Software's creative director Matthew Hooper. In November 2013, Carmack left id Software to commit to his work at Oculus VR.