Blood Bowl 2, the sequel to the video game adaptation of Games Workshop’s famous board game that combines American football with the fantasy world of Warhammer, today welcomes a new race on its pitch: The Necromantic, a fearsome new team backed by the bloodthirsty Werewolves, now available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The DLC was already available for PC and Mac.
The dead do not rest easy in the graveyards of the Old World. So it was only a matter of time before a Necromancer would decide to shackle these unstoppable killing machines with arcane and powerful magic, and soothe their tortured souls with a nice game of Blood Bowl!
The Necromantic teams are a very versatile team, but their best players are their Werewolves. These lethal killing machines are its main attacking force, providing pure psychopathic fury and claws that can render armour utterly useless. The Werewolves and the powerful Flesh Golems are expensive, however, so Necromantic coaches need to play cautiously.
We remind you that PC/Mac Steam players of Blood Bowl 2 can still benefit from THE FOUNDERS INCENTIVE. If you purchase the game before the release of the Nurgle team, you will receive this team for free as soon as it’s available.
Burbank, Calif. – Oct. 18, 2016 – Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Entertainment today announced that Batman™: Return to Arkham, which bundles award-winning Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City, is available now in North America for PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system and Xbox One for a suggested retail price of $49.99.
The new release is remastered by Virtuos and brings the two critically acclaimed games, including all Game of the Year and downloadable content from both titles, to the current generation of consoles with improved graphics, as well as upgraded models, environments, lighting, effects and shaders. Batman: Return to Arkham launches in Australia and New Zealand Oct. 19 and other international territories Oct. 21 for a suggested retail price of $49.99/€49.99/£39.99.
“Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City are two classic games from one of the world’s premier studios and we’ve worked diligently with Virtuos to deliver an experience that fans will equally enjoy on the current generation of consoles,” said Steven Chiang, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Production and Studios, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “We’re excited for players to delve deep into these games, whether they’ve already experienced the games or are jumping in for the first time.”
Originally developed by Rocksteady Studios and released in 2009 to a 92 Metacritic score, Batman: Arkham Asylum is where it all started. The game set the stage for DC’s “Arkhamverse” that fans know and love today, and introduced players to a unique, dark and atmospheric adventure that takes players to the depths of Arkham Asylum. Featuring an original story, gamers can move in the shadows, instill fear amongst their enemies and confront The Joker and Gotham City’s most notorious villains, including Harley Quinn, Bane, Killer Croc, Poison Ivy and Scarecrow, who have taken over the asylum.
Batman: Arkham City is Rocksteady Studios’ 2011 follow-up that builds upon the intense, atmospheric foundation of Batman: Arkham Asylum. Earning a 96 Metacritic score, the game sends players soaring through the expansive Arkham City– the maximum security “home” for all of Gotham City’s thugs, gangsters and insane criminal masterminds. Featuring an incredible Rogues Gallery of Gotham City’s most dangerous criminals including Catwoman, The Joker, The Riddler, Two-Face, Harley Quinn, The Penguin, Mr. Freeze and many others, the game allows players to experience what it feels like to be The Dark Knight and deliver justice to those confined within Arkham City.
October 18, 2016 – After seducing a large number of players on PC with its brutal and tactical gameplay, Mordheim: City of the Damned is available today for download on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Mordheim: City of the Damned, the first video game adaptation of Games Workshop’s cult classic, is a turn-based tactical game in which you lead your Warband into bloody and lethal skirmishes. The game blends RPG elements, fast-paced tactical combat and intricate unit customization in a time wrought by chaos and rivalry where only the strongest survive. Today, you can watch its Consoles Launch Trailer before recruiting your warband and invading the dark streets of Mordheim.
Mordheim: City of the Damned takes place during a grim conflict where factions, empires, and mercenaries fight for gems, called Wyrdstone, created by a comet impact that destroyed the depraved city of Mordheim. It will be your responsibility, amidst this chaos, to take command of your Warband and storm the ruins to battle other parties, avoid abominable monsters, and gather Wyrdstone. Each nail-biting decision has its consequences: Permanent death or crippling injury that could leave your recruits without a limb or an eye.
The game includes a full campaign for each of the four Warbands: The Human Mercenaries, the Sisters of Sigmar, the Skaven of Clan Eshin, and the Cult of the Possessed. Once you feel ready, you can also enlist your single-player Warband to compete in online multiplayer skirmishes!
Mordheim: The City of the Damned releases today on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The game is already available on PC.
October 18, 2016 – Today, Respawn Entertainment released the Titanfall 2: Official Single Player Gameplay Trailer. Titanfall 2 Single Player features Jack Cooper, a 3rd Class militia rifleman with aspirations of becoming a Pilot and a Vanguard class Titan BT-7274. When the Frontier heats up, Jack and BT must combine their abilities and risk everything to survive together against overwhelming odds. Read more about the Titanfall 2 Single Player campaign on the blog here.
NEW YORK, NY, October 18, 2016 – Rockstar Games®, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), is proud to announce that the highly anticipated Red Dead Redemption 2® will release worldwide in Fall 2017 for PlayStation®4 computer entertainment systems and for the Xbox One games and entertainment system.
Developed by the creators of Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption, Red Dead Redemption 2 is an epic tale of life in America’s unforgiving heartland. The game’s vast and atmospheric world will also provide the foundation for a brand new online multiplayer experience.
“With Red Dead Redemption 2, the team is working hard to push forward our vision for interactive entertainment in a truly living world,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “We hope to deliver players an epic experience that builds upon everything we’ve learned making games.”
Watch the Red Dead Redemption 2 trailer at 11:00 a.m. Eastern, Thursday October 20that www.rockstargames.com.
This year’s Sinister Pointe haunted attraction is titled “Fear the Mark” and, in the narrative, takes place right after their very entertaining, pre-season “Seance” haunted experience. Apparently, the resident medium opened a portal into four hell dimensions and it’s up to you to find your way through to safety. Depending on which demon you get “assigned” in a small Tarot card reading moment, you will get access to special “key rooms” just for that demon throughout the haunted attraction. This means that you have four possible configurations of the attraction to experience. This is a great concept, and when I first heard about it back at Midsummer Scream I was excited because of its ingenuity.
We got the chance to go through each of the demon experiences during our visit to Sinister Pointe. Our favorite of the four configurations was the demon “Rebus” – so if your medium pulls that Tarot card for you, expect fun things. Each of the demon paths offer something different in their special key rooms, some requiring guests to crawl, move through tight spaces, sometimes a combination of the two – and more. In typical Sinister Pointe fashion, they manage to pull a couple cool tricks out of their bag that I had not seen before in other haunted attractions.
Unfortunately, a few big problems plague the 2016 Sinister Pointe Haunted Attraction. The first of these is a strange disparity of of high and low production value when it comes to rooms inside the maze. Some look absolutely great – in fact, the first real room you enter has a creepy medium hand you a Tarot-style card with one of the four demons featured on it. This room has amazing decoration and design and was a high mark to set when just entering the experience. However, some rooms look really bad – mostly when considering the level of work Sinister Pointe is capable of (and has delivered) in past experiences. The best of the worst example for this is a central room that resembles a sort of skate park with a wedge/ramp in the middle that a monster can slide across. The walls of this black light lit room feature haphazardly spray-painted neon outlines of doors, not making a whole lot of sense. I don’t know if they just ran out of time or money or whatever – but this disparity of quality definitely shows. Finally, it didn’t feel as though there were many monsters in the maze – I would like to see more in there to scare guests. To their credit, the monsters that were inside the maze were doing their very best and delivering good creep-factor and jump scares where able, so big kudos to them as those monsters are going to make or break Sinister Pointe’s attraction this year.
A ticket for one time through the Sinister Pointe Haunted Attraction can be purchased for about $24 dollars. An “all-night”, pass which allows trips throughout every demon key room configuration, can be purchased for about $34 dollars. When we break down the cost of the all night ticket, it comes out to about $8 per demon – a really nice value considering the cost of one demon ticket is $24 dollars. Also, please note that tickets are sold in the front side of the shopping center that Sinister Pointe is located in while the actual entrance to the haunted attraction is located around the back of the center.
Overall, Sinister Pointe’s 2016 haunted attraction is an entertaining time so long as you pick up up the ticket allowing you access to all four demon paths in the maze. It’s a bit more expensive than the one-time through ticket, but well worth it as you will see all the special key rooms they have to offer.
Sinister Pointe 1851 W. Orangethorpe Ave. Fullerton, California
You can find out more about Sinister Pointe including ticket information at their official website.
IRVINE, Calif. – Razer™, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, today confirmed it acquired the majority of the assets of THX Ltd. and have brought onboard the management and employees of the company. Financial details of the transaction, which closed earlier this month, were not disclosed.
“Razer has a vision for innovation at every level of entertainment, a vision which THX has championed since its inception more than 30 years ago,” says Razer Co-Founder and CEO Min-Liang Tan. “This acquisition will allow us to reinforce Razer’s leadership in gaming and extend the brand into broader areas of entertainment, while at the same time empowering THX to develop into a global powerhouse, independently.”
THX will operate as an independent startup under its own management and apart from the ongoing business of its parent company. Further to the point, the audio technology business will have discretion to seek agreements with other product makers, service providers and financial partners apart from Razer.
“For over 30 years, THX has maintained a proud legacy of being one of the leaders in audio technology and certification worldwide,” said Laurie Fincham, Sr. Vice President of Audio Research and Development at THX. “With their focus on quality, design and innovation, Razer supports our vision to optimize and deliver the best audiovisual experiences to audiences worldwide.”
Ty Ahmad-Taylor, CEO of THX, says: “Our focus has always been on ensuring that anyone can experience high quality entertainment, regardless of their medium of choice. With Razer, we can now continue to strengthen our core lines of business while delivering excellence for our customers’ ever-changing needs. As a standalone company, THX will work with Razer but will primarily continue to service our partners in the industry in order to deliver great products to consumers.”
According to Tan, “The value of THX rests in its bedrock competencies with certification, optimization of audio and intellectual property development. We expect Ty, Laurie, and the executive team and employees of THX, who we have also retained, to continue leading the world in innovations and technology in the audiovisual space.”
October 17, 2016 – To celebrate that Sid Meier’s Civilization VI is now available to pre-load on Steam, 2K and Firaxis Games today revealed the Launch Trailer for Sid Meier’s Civilization VI.
The Launch Trailer features the Sid Meier’s Civilization VI theme music, ‘Sogno di Volare’ from Christopher Tin, the Grammy award-winning composer of Sid Meier’s Civilization IV theme music, ‘Baba Yetu’.
Summon Entertainment’s first tabletop game offering is Epic Roll. The premise of the game is that up to three players (a Warrior, Wizard, and Ranger/Elf) are attempting to defeat the Necromancy-wielding Lich that has polluted the land with monsters and undead creatures. However, killing this Lich is not easy, and players will have to fight through hordes of his minions to reach their target. The basic play sequence for a round is that a player will move one battle space forward towards the Lich, then roll an encounter die. This encounter die has various creatures on each side – creatures like ghouls, mummies, and more. Whatever that die turns up will be the creature the player battles for this space. Each creature has its own health level and two clear gems are placed on each. After this, it’s a simple matter of rolling dice – the hero’s die and the creature’s die. Whatever the dice land on is what action was performed. Actions can be a critical attack, basic attack, defenses, and misses – with each hero die having a different combination of these actions. For instance, the Wizard die is capable of a lot of damage but lacks any defense at all, whereas the Elf’s die is loaded with defense but lower damage. The basic monster die never changes, at least until the player “levels up” by reaching the midway point on his or her journey to the Lich.
Once a level up occurs, that player will roll a new “power die” as well as different set of encounter and monster dice – making things a lot more challenging. The new power die for leveled up characters is rolled along with their hero die and, if landing star side up, triggers the player characters “special ability”. These abilities are based on the player class and can turn the tide of a losing battle. These dice rolls continue, with the clear health gems being moved in the negative as attacks land until the player or monster is dead. If the player dies, they go back to the beginning or, if they have leveled up, the level up battle space. If the player wins, the move once step closer to the Lich and their health resets. Once the player reaches the Lich, the monster gets its own power die as well, so watch out as that evil boss is tough!
After successfully defeating a creature, the player will also gain a treasure card. These treasure cards are able to be played during battle and can add extra damage or defense to a dice roll. There are also “counter spell” cards which can be played during another player’s combat – nullifying their card effect. So, you can kind of screw your friend in this, but that’s just part of the fun – will the players be nice to each other? Who knows!
It should be noted that the first thing I noticed when opening the nicely-compact Epic Roll game box (the box also doubles as a dice cage FYI) were the graphics on the fold-open game board. Visually, Epic Roll has a clean sensibility with crisp graphics on both its game board and cards. In contrast to these crisp graphics, the player avatars are simple colored gems, but those could technically be swapped out with any D&D or Pathfinder mini-figure if so desired. However, despite their simplicity, the gems fit in with the game board well and are easy to keep track of thanks to each gem being color coded to its player class.
Overall, Summon Entertainment’s Epic Roll is indeed an epic roll of a time – especially for people who don’t have several hours to spend with their tabletop gaming sessions. Epic Roll is easy to learn, with plenty of advanced options for those desiring them, making it a great game for young and old geeks alike. The game retails for a reasonable $24.99 and is available now.
Stockholm – 17th October, 2016 – Paradox Interactive today released a new feature spotlight video outlining some of the upcoming features that players can expect with the release of Leviathans on the 20th October. Stellaris Game Director Martin Anward talks us through the mysterious and formidable Guardians, reclusive Enclaves, and the potentially world-shattering War in Heaven.
Also, starting today players are able to pre-order their copy of Stellaris: Leviathans exclusively from the Paradox Interactive store here.
