Author - Jerry Paxton

StarDrive Beta Live

2013/03/11

Haarlem, The Netherlands – March 11, 2013 – Videogame developer Zero Sum Games and publisher Iceberg Interactive announced today their hugely anticipated 4x space strategy gameStarDrive is now playable in Beta on Steam. Throughout the Steam Beta stage, StarDrive will be available at a 15 percent discount (pre-order and play now), StarDrive also made the best-seller list on Steam this weekend.

Download the beta HERE: http://store.steampowered.com/app/220660

As an appetizer for the beta launch, Iceberg has released an official teaser trailer. The trailer illustrates the action and dynamics, giving gamers new insights into the game. The video can be streamed at the Iceberg Youtube channel.

StarDrive is a space-themed 4X strategy game with deep ship design, colonization, diplomacy, research, and beautiful 3D graphics designed by new developer Zero Sum Games, which ran a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2011. StarDrive features include:

Real-time gameplay with a seamless zoom from a grand strategic view to a close-up action view
Choose from eight beautifully rendered alien races or design your own; interact, negotiate, and forge allegiances on your way to victory
Expand your empire and colonize all kinds of planets, terraform and populate them, and build them into specialized centers of trade or industry
Research and unlock an array of technologies to improve your military and industrial capabilities
Control your ships with classic real-time strategy commands or jump into the fray by taking direct ‘arcade’ control of any ship in your empire
Create your unique ship designs with the modular ship design system and determine your own fate in battle
Create custom fleet formations and set rules of engagement in the easy-to-use fleet editor
Steal technologies, incite rebellions, or rob your enemies blind with a rich agent-based espionage system
Deploy ground troops from orbit to defeat the enemies’ last planetary defenses in ground combat
Explore the rich universe that comes alive with random events, remnant elements, hidden treasures, deep space terrors and late-game threats

“After years of creating this game we are finally ready and hugely excited to be entering the beta stage on Steam,” Zero Sum Games CEO Daniel DiCicco says. “We are hungry for the feedback of the seasoned 4x gamers that have been following development. The game is still evolving and with the help of our fans it will only get better, while at the same time we are confident they will have a blast with StarDrive as it is now!”

“After having been in QA testing for over four months, we have a polished beta build, ready for the masses of fans who have been waiting patiently for this day,” Iceberg Interactive CEO Erik Schreuder adds. “StarDrive will challenge experienced 4X players and let them re-live the golden days of grand space strategy games. This is going to to be a very special occasion, when a guy who had a dream finally unveils his masterpiece, having dedicated so much to see it come to fruition.”

More information about the game can be found on the official StarDrive Website: www.stardrivegame.com/

Creative Labs Sound Blaster ZxR Review

2013/03/09

Jerry Paxton

News, Reviews, Tech News, Tech Review

The new Creative Labs Sound Blaster ZxR sound card is a behemoth of audio goodness. Un-boxing everything from the package, I was very impressed with the design style Creative Labs put into their new, flagship sound card. The sound cards feature black aluminum bodies with red accents and a pleasing shine. You did read that correctly: Sound cardS. As it turns out, the Sound Blaster ZxR comes with two cards that install into your computer system. The first card is the base ZxR itself, and the other is the DBPro daughter board. The DBPro board contains optical inputs and outputs as well as RCA audio-in ports. The third item I took from the Sound Blaster ZxR box was the ACM, or, Audio Control Module. The ACM is a small module which features both 3.5mm and 1/4″ inch headphone and microphone jacks. It also features a large, rotating volume knob providing fine adjustments, specifically for the headphones.

Installing the Sound Blaster ZxR took very little time and did not yield a lot of surprises. Installing the DBPro daughter card was a bit odd as it does not feature an PCI-E slot connector. It simply slides into where a card would usually sit and gets screwed down. The two cards are connected by a small daisy-style ribbon cable. After getting the two cards installed, I put my PC chassis cover back on and connected the Audio Control Module to the back of the sound card. Once I booted into Windows, I installed the drivers and control panel from the included software CD and let the auto-update program work its magic.

The main sound card features a built-in headphone amp capable of powering studio headphones with a 600ohm impedance. Additionally, it has all the hook-ups for very high quality 5.1 channel surround sound. My 5.1 speaker setup was rocking my gaming desk with just how incredible the sound was. The Sound Blaster ZxR’s 124dB Signal to Noise Ratio allowed for some very clear and powerful sound to be produced. Switching over to my headphones, I was equally-impressed, as my Sennheiser headphones could fully take advantage of the great sound quality. Most sound cards – especially on-board cards, do not put out very clear sound, so high end headphones go to waste. Not in this case, I am happy to tell.

Actually, I was really hoping that I could run two separate headphones from the Audio Control Module as it technically room for two. Unfortunately, you can only use one of the outputs (1/4″ or 3.5mm) at a time. One really cool feature of the Sound Blaster ZxR applies mainly to musicians looking to record their own tracks. The DBPro daughter board has a Sound Core 3D audio processor unit just like the main sound card. This means that you can apply the Sound Core 3D audio effects to the audio inputs from that source as well.

I did note a very infrequent, but serious bug with the Sound Blaster ZxR. Once in a great while, the card seemed to stopped outputting sound when the output selector was switched from “speakers” to “headphones” or vice versa. No matter what I did after that short of a full PC restart would correct the problem. Hopefully, this is a bug that Creative Labs can track down and patch out sometime in the future. Otherwise, I did not note any other bugs or problems.

This issue aside, the Sound Blaster ZxR is an incredible sound card for gamers, audiophiles, and would-be musicians looking to craft their own tracks. It carefully rides the line of purpose for musicians and gamers alike, paying service to each without skimping out on either. The Sound Blaster ZxR is one of the best sound cards on the market right now and easily the best Creative Labs sound card to date.

[easyreview title=”Sound Blaster ZxR Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”5″] Our Rating Scores Explained

Sound Blaster ZxR Images

Official Specs

General
Audio Processor:		Sound Core3D
Audio Resolution:		24-Bit
Digital Audio Convertor (DAC):		Burr-Brown
Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) (20kHz Low-pass filter, A-Wgt):		124dB
Maximum Playback Quality:		5.1 : Up to 96kHzStereo Direct: Up to 192kHz
Frequency Response @96kHz:		Front Channel Out : 10Hz to 45kHzRear Channel Out : 15Hz to 45kHzCenter Out : 10Hz to 45kHzHeadphone (33 ohms): 10Hz to 45kHz
Frequency Response @192kHz (Stereo Direct Only):		Front Channel Out : 10Hz to 88kHz
16-bit to 24-bit Recording Sample Rates:		8,11.025,16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, 48, 96 (kHz)
16-bit to 24-bit Playback Sample Rates:		8,11.025,16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, 48, 96, 192 (kHz)
Maximum Recording Quality:		Up to 24-bit/96kHz
I/O Ports (Main Card):		Headphone : 1 x Amplified 1/4″ jackSpeaker Out : 2x RCA (L / R) 2x 3.5mm jacks (Rear, C/Sub)Microphone In: 1x 1/4″ jack
I/O Ports (Daughter Card):		Line In : 2x RCA (L / R)Optical Out : 1x TOSLINKOptical In : 1x TOSLINK
Audio Control Module / Front Panel Connectivity:		Volume Control Knob Built-in Beam-Forming MicrophoneHeadphone-Out : 1x 3.5mm jack, 1x 1/4” jackMicrophone-In : 1x 3.5mm jack, 1x 1/4” jack
600 Ohm Amplified Headphone Output:		80mw TI TPA6120
Swappable OP-AMPs:		Yes
Included Acesssories:		Audio Control Module (with Beamforming Microphone Built-in)

Technology
Audio Enhancement:		SBX Pro StudioSurround™Crystalizer™Bass™Smart Volume™Dialog Plus™
		CrystalVoice™Noise ReductionSmart VolumeAcoustic Echo CancellationFXFocus
Speaker/Headphone Switch:		Software Controlled
Dolby Digital Live:		Encoding
DTS Connect:		Encoding
Upmixing of Stereo to Multi-Channels:		SBX Surround
DTS & Dolby Digital Decoding via Cyberlink PowerDVD Download:		via 3rd party software download
Scout Mode™:		Yes
EAX:		EAX 5.0 HD
Max.No. of 3D Voices:		128

Platform
PS3, XBOX360, PC or Mac:		PC – PCIe x1 Connection

Minimum Operating System
Windows/ OSX:		Windows 7/ 8

Dragon Commander Preview (PC)

2013/03/09

Jerry Paxton

News, Previews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Preview

Earlier this week, I trekked out to a very rainy and cool Santa Monica, CA to checkout Larian Studios upcoming Dragon Commander, a strategy title rife with political dilemmas and troop management. Of course, you also get to transform into a flying dragon on the battlefield to rain down fire on your enemies, but I digress…

During our preview of Dragon Commander, most of the presentation was spent aboard the protagonist’s airship, the Raven. You play a bastard prince, who’s father’s death has left the empire split into rival factions helmed by his sons. The world is based in a traditional fantasy setting, but it seems that demons have touched the world by bringing all manner of steam-punk style technology into it in. Your job is to unite the empire (through real-time strategic combat) and somehow rid the land of the “evil” technology.

Onboard the Raven, the overall interface is similar to that of the TCS Tiger’s Claw in the original Wing Commander. The ship has various rooms, each with NPCs to interactive with. This character interaction is the bread and butter of Dragon Commander’s storyline. You will often be presented with controversial decisions to make. These questions range from the mundane to whether or not gay marriage should be allowed. A few turns down the road, the decision gets even more complicated when you have to decided whether to allow gay folk into the army. This is just an example of the hard-hitting political decision-making you will have to perform.

The world is made up of several races, from Undead to Imps, and more. Each have their own cultural viewpoints and your decisions will undoubtedly affect how they support you (or not). The game never passes judgment on the player’s decisions, which is nice. After all, you are the prince, you make the rules. Who are they to nay say?!?

So, after you are done interacting with characters on the Raven, you can jump to the map view, which is setup in a Risk-like board game layout. From their, you can monitor all your territories, move troops, and build new units. Once you have moved all your units, you press the “end turn” button, and movement unfolds. Battles can be auto-resolved or manually-fought. One developer mentioned that the game can be played basically like a strategic strategy title, and RTS gameplay barely touched on if played smartly (the player just auto-resolving all combats). However, Larian Studios has put a lot of work into getting an RTS game into this turn-based game when battles are fought manually.

The fully 3D battle maps can be viewed via virtual camera in just about all directions. You click and select your units, direct them towards fortification points which can be used to build new battle facilities (such as barracks, factories, etc) and also smaller fortification points which can be used to create things like turrets. After assembling your army, you will most likely want to engage the enemy. It is important to note that all the armies of this game world share the same unit types – however, each grants bonuses to the ones they want. This is where armies will truly diverge in tactics.

The game’s namesake obviously points to dragon commanding combat, and you can do just that. At any point on the battlefield, so long as you are close enough to a friendly unit, you can transform the camera into a third-person view of your dragon flying about the sky. You can control the dragon like a ship could be controlled in the Descent games, and depending on what upgrades you have purchased for your dragon, you can reign some serious hell down on the enemy. While dragon-only combat is possible in some instances, it should be noted that dragons are very ineffective against enemy buildings, so you will most-likely have to take those with good old fashioned boots on the ground.

Overall, Dragon Commander promises to be a very intriguing and deep game where player decision will have a large outcome on their fate and that of the empire’s. Dragon Commander is scheduled for release on the Windows PC platform sometime in the middle of this year and, so far, is looking mighty polished.

Trailer

EA to Give SimCity Gamers Free Game For Troubles

2013/03/09

Jerry Paxton

News, Windows PC News

Looks like Electronic Arts is working hard to re-gain the favor of video gamers put off by the rocky launch of SimCity on PC. The company is going to be giving SimCity gamers a free game from the EA portfolio.

Full PR Text

A SIMCITY UPDATE…AND SOMETHING FOR YOUR TROUBLE FROM LUCY BRADSHAW

Here’s a quick update on the problems we were experiencing with SimCity – and a little something extra for people who bought the game.

The server issues which began at launch have improved significantly as we added more capacity. But some people are still experiencing response and stability problems that we’re working fast to address.

So what went wrong? The short answer is: a lot more people logged on than we expected. More people played and played in ways we never saw in the beta.

OK, we agree, that was dumb, but we are committed to fixing it. In the last 48 hours we increased server capacity by 120 percent. It’s working – the number of people who have gotten in and built cities has improved dramatically. The number of disrupted experiences has dropped by roughly 80 percent.

So we’re close to fixed, but not quite there. I’m hoping to post another update this weekend to let everyone know that the launch issues are behind us.

Something Special for Your Trouble

The good news is that SimCity is a solid hit in all major markets. The consensus among critics and players is that this is fundamentally a great game. But this SimCity is made to be played online, and if you can’t get a stable connection, you’re NOT having a good experience. So we’re not going to rest until we’ve fixed the remaining server issues.

And to get us back in your good graces, we’re going to offer you a free PC download game from the EA portfolio. On March 18, SimCity players who have activated their game will receive an email telling them how to redeem their free game.

I know that’s a little contrived – kind of like buying a present for a friend after you did something crummy. But we feel bad about what happened. We’re hoping you won’t stay mad and that we’ll be friends again when SimCity is running at 100 percent.

SimCity is a GREAT game and the people who made it are incredibly proud. Hang in there – we’ll be providing more updates throughout the weekend.

OverDog App Allows You to Play Your Favorite Athletes

2013/03/08

Jerry Paxton

Geek News, News

NASHVILLE- March 7, 2013- From the gridiron to the gaming console, professional football players like Matt Forte from the Chicago Bears, want to challenge YOU to Madden. Tampa Bay Rays cannon, David Price, dares you to hit his fastball in MLB 2K13. Are you up for it? New app, OverDog, connects athletes from all sports to their fans through any video game title. Fans who support OverDog on Kickstarter will receive exclusive access during the mobile app’s beta window which will be closed to the general public until Fall.

“So many athletes love video games. They’re young and competitive, and enjoy connecting with their fans. OverDog is an easy, efficient way to bring fans and players together. We’ve got NFL Pro Bowlers, UFC fighters, Olympic Gold Medalists – you name it,” says OverDog co-founder and former Chicago Bear, Hunter Hillenmeyer. “These athletes may have spent years mastering their sport with practice and weight training- but in the online gaming arena everyone is equal.”

Straight out of the OverDog playbook, here’s how this innovative and exciting application works: Simply put, athletes post video challenges through the mobile app which notifies subscribers. Fans who choose to accept the challenge are put into a random drawing by OverDog who streamlines the selection and “friending” process. One lucky gamer then faces-off against the challenging athlete for pride, glory and, of course, bragging rights. And, yes, trash talking is allowed!

Once the app is downloaded, supporters and subscribers can view the Lobby page which highlights which athletes are logged in. You’ll be able to browse an existing list of live challenge videos or wait until an athlete challenges you in your favorite game. OverDog delivers communications that are personalized based on fan and athlete user preference for an easier, enhanced gaming experience.

Working closely with the Player’s Associations, OverDog has recruited more than 100 athletes (i.e. Lance Briggs, Hank Baskett, Kei Kamara and Michael Boley just to name a few) to its gaming roster for the beta app launch in April. Only Kickstarter backers will have exclusive access to that version. The public OverDog app will be released this Fall.

Original OverDog members will also become a part of the development process by offering feature feedback and suggesting players they’d like to see part of the program in the future. OverDog is working on expanding its features for a more interactive experience which is why they’ve turned to Kickstarter for additional funding. Some features in the pipeline include Fan vs. Fan matches, leaderboards, automatic results-capture and game broadcasting.

For a full list of pledge options, please head to the OverDog Kickstarter Page.

You can also check out some of the OverDog athlete challengers HERE.

Ubisoft Announces PAX East 2013 Lineup

2013/03/08

Jerry Paxton

Geek News, News, PAX

SAN FRANCISCO — MARCH 8, 2013 — Today, Ubisoft® announced its lineup for PAX East, including Assassin’s Creed® IV Black Flag™, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell® Blacklist™, Watch Dogs™ and a number of acclaimed digital, PC and iOS titles. Attendees can check out Ubisoft’s lineup at booths 824 and 836 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center on March 22-24, 2013.

PAX East attendees that visit the Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag fully-enclosed theater will be treated to an exclusive look at the newest Assassin’s Creed world set during the Golden Age of Pirates. Meet our new hero, the brash and brutal Edward Kenway, a pirate trained by assassins. Session attendees will also receive a special-edition Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag inflatable cutlass sword (while supplies last) and can take sharable pictures in a photo booth featuring our new hero.

Attendees will also have the opportunity to see a new demo of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Blacklist, the next blockbuster title in the critically acclaimed Tom Clancy franchise. Special operative Sam Fisher is back and in control of the newly formed Fourth Echelon as he seeks to combat a group of terrorists behind “The Blacklist,” a series of escalating attacks on U.S. interests.

Never-before-seen Watch Dogs content will be unveiled in a closed theater presentation at the booth. All theater attendees will receive a PAX exclusive Watch Dogs lanyard (while supplies last). Players will assume the role of Aiden Pearce, a new type of vigilante who, with the help of his smartphone, will use his ability to hack into Chicago’s central operating system (ctOS) and control almost every element of the city. Aiden will be able to tap into the city’s omnipresent security cameras, download personal information to locate a target, control systems such as traffic lights or public transportation to stop a chase, and more. The city of Chicago is now the ultimate weapon.

Consumer Booths
PAX East attendees who visit Ubisoft’s booth can play some of this year’s most highly anticipated digital PC titles like ShootMania® Storm, Might & Magic® Heroes® VI Shades of Darkness and Might & Magic® Duel of Champions Online Card Game, also available on iOS.

Additionally, attendees can experience hands on demos of Spartacus Legends™ playing favorite combat moments from the show or; live the epic journey of a ruthless bounty hunter with Call of Juarez® Gunslinger on Microsoft Xbox Live® Arcade and Sony PlayStation Network™.

Pre-Order Incentives
Attendees can also take advantage of pre-order incentives for a few of Ubisoft’s biggest games at the show. Pre-orders for Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Blacklist, Watch Dogs or ShootMania Storm include a free t-shirt onsite (while supplies last).

For exclusive updates and behind-the-scenes photos from PAX East throughout the event, please visit Ubisoft’s Facebook page (facebook.com/ubisoft) or follow Ubisoft’s Twitter account (twitter.com/Ubisoft).

The Role Playing Company Unveils Nights & Candles

2013/03/08

Jerry Paxton

News, Screenshots / Photos, Windows PC News

Munich, March 8th 2013 – Established German publisher, UIG Entertainment, are excited to announce their brand new label The Role Playing Company, focusing on classical ‘old school’ RPGs and remakes of well-known and beloved RPG franchises beginning with Realms of Arkania – Blade of Destiny releasing in Q2 this year and followed by Nights & Candles, developed by Atmosphere Entertainment Studios.

In Nights & Candles a shadow of insidious evil has fallen over the city of Candlewind as foul creatures prepare to step out of the shadows. Afraid that these dark forces will soon overrun their kingdom, the city’s council desperately assembles a group of fearless heroes to search for an ancient artifact hidden in the deepest dungeons of the Frost Mountains, an artifact that could be their salvation.

Commenting on the creation of The Role Playing Company and its first two releases, Stefan Berger, Head of Business Development at UIG said, “This is a company specifically designed to cater to fans of so-called ‘old school’ RPGs beginning with Realms of Arkania – Blade of Destiny and Nights & Candles. This is an exciting new label that will release many more great role-playing games over the coming years, so lovers of the genre should feel very excited as we are doing this for them.”

“The team behind The Role Playing Company not only have many years of working on role-playing games behind them, they are also passionate about the genre, so I’m convinced that with that kind of combination of expertise and knowledge they will successfully introduce Nights & Candles to expectant fans all over the world” added Kiril Hristanow, Managing Director of Atmosphere Entertainment Studios.

Screenshot Gallery

Richard Garriott Begins New RPG Shroud of the Avatar Kickstarter

2013/03/08

Jerry Paxton

News, Windows PC News

AUSTIN, Texas, March 8, 2013 — Richard Garriott, award-winning game designer and creator of the hugely successful Ultima® series of games, is returning to the origins of game design that helped make him a pioneer and legend in fantasy role playing games. Shroud of the Avatar™: Forsaken Virtues from Portalarium™, Garriott’s Austin-based game studio, was announced today via simultaneous live stream on Rooster Teeth and the Shroud of the Avatar website. The announcement also falls on the opening day of SXSW Gaming taking place at Austin’s Palmer Auditorium.

The game is being backed on Kickstarter at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/portalarium/shroud-of-the-avatar-forsaken-virtues-0. Backers have a chance to fund the project via multiple levels of giving, which are all documented on the Kickstarter page. One of the most anticipated pledge levels will include access to in-game player houses. Available in multiple sizes and styles, the houses provide players a chance to own their own virtual property in the game. Players can outfit their homes how they want, gather there with friends and potentially run their own business from their properties.

“Shroud of the Avatar will include what I think are the keys to an ultimate role-playing experience,” says Garriott. “These important tenets include things like a fully interactive virtual world, deep original fiction with ethical parables such that players’ choices are relevant, cultural histories and fully developed alternative languages and text. Also we want our players to have physical game components like cloth maps, fictional manuals and trinkets. These are all things that people came to expect in my earlier works and we plan on bringing them all back to create Shroud of the Avatar.”

Players in Shroud of the Avatar will be introduced to the game, but then discover their own story. There is an overarching story woven into the player experience, and players may choose to follow the life of an adventurer or, if they prefer, focus on exploration and discovery. Players may even choose the life of a homesteader, either safely within the settled lands or on the dangerous but potentially lucrative frontier.

From familiar psychological profiling used to create your character to organically derived game response to player behavior, fundamental virtues and consequence of actions play a huge role in Shroud of the Avatar. Players will be free to choose their path, but must then live with the consequences of their actions.

Shroud of the Avatar will be a PC product available via digital download with episodic content available later for a charge. The game is being built to be enjoyed as a solo experience but it will also contain a persistent world where you can meet and share your experiences with friends both old and new. “This will not be a Facebook or casual game,” said Garriott. “We think it will appeal to a multitude of audiences, but we are planning on making a game that will harken back to the same design principles that you can find in my earlier games.

“And we couldn’t be happier to be introducing the game on Kickstarter, which has really changed the landscape for game developers. It allows us to connect directly with our fan base and it keeps us from being so dependent on the traditional publishing model. There’s now a direct feedback loop with people who like our game and have decided to back it. With Kickstarter we can listen to what our fans are saying about how we are developing the game and make changes and additions based on that feedback, before the game launches. We hope people will like what they are seeing and hearing about Shroud of the Avatar and back the project on Kickstarter.”

Those interested in backing Shroud of the Avatar on Kickstarter, can visit http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/portalarium/shroud-of-the-avatar-forsaken-virtues-0. For more information on the game you can also visit the website athttp://www.ShroudOfTheAvatar.com.

Toment Kickstarter Passes 2 Million

2013/03/08

Jerry Paxton

News, Windows PC News

Wow. Looks lilke inXile Entertainment’s new Kickstarter for Planescape: Torment follow-up, Torment: Tides of Numenara, has ALREADY surpassed the $2 Million dollar mark with more than 28 days to go on its Kickstarter campaign. Technically, the press release below is more specifically talking about its raising $1 Million dollars only seven hours and two minutes after going online but, come on, that was so $1 Million dollars ago! 😉

Full PR Text

(NEWPORT BEACH, CA) March 8, 2013 – inXile entertainment announced today that its latest Kickstarter campaign (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/torment-tides-of-numenera) for Torment: Tides of Numenera™ (Torment) eclipsed the previous record for fastest campaign to earn a million dollars in funding achieving that benchmark at seven hours, two minutes and besting the previous top mark by more than 80 minutes. Of 37,000 Kickstarter campaigns that have achieved their funding goal, only 21 have ever reached the million dollar milestone and inXile has accomplished that feat twice.

“Even though this was our second Kickstarter campaign, we were very cautious in our expectations. We knew there were some negative sentiments regarding crowdsourcing fatigue, and the fact that we are still finishing Wasteland 2, but the massive community acceptance to our latest Kickstarter effort was overwhelming, unexpected and a great honor. With great honor, comes great responsibility to our backers that we will deliver Wasteland 2 in October 2013 and then deliver Torment: Tides of Numenera by December 2014,” said Brian Fargo, CEO of inXile Entertainment.

With the initial success of inXile entertainment’s first Kickstarter project, Wasteland 2, which recently released a first look gameplay video to the game’s backers in February to an overwhelmingly positive response, they decided to forgo the traditional publisher-developer business model and focus on crowdsourcing for upcoming projects, beginning with Torment. inXile entertainment’s second successful Kickstarter campaign marks a historical first with Kickstarter as they become the first video game company to fund a second major project concurrently, thereby proving that crowdsourcing is a viable business model. In the history of Kickstarter, only 21 out of 37,000 plus campaigns have achieved at least one million dollars in funding and inXile entertainment now has two projects that have exceeded the milestone.

ABOUT THE GAME

Torment: Tides of Numenera will be a single-player role-playing game, distributed DRM-free for Windows (PC), Mac, and Linux. It will be available in English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Russian, and Spanish. Torment will continue the thematic legacy of the critically acclaimed Planescape: Torment™ by having to face complex and nuanced morality decisions, carefully contemplating deep and reactive choices with consequences that echo throughout the game all the while immersed into a new and strange vision taken from by renowned designer and writer Monte Cook’s new tabletop role-playing game, Numenera™.

In Torment: Tides of Numenera, players will have to decide for themselves the answer to the eternal question, what does one life matter? Numenera’s Ninth World is a fantastic vision of a world in which massive civilizations continue to rise and fall with only cities, monuments, and artifacts left behind to serve as reminders of their past existence. These reminders have become part of the accumulated detritus of eons and now this assortment of ancient power is there for the taking. The humans of the Ninth World call the ancient power left behind the numenera. One of these humans has discovered a way to harness the numenera to grow strong, to cheat death, to skip across the face of centuries in a succession of bodies. But he discovers an unexpected side effect: You.

Oingo Boingo and Toto Hit Rock Band Music Store

2013/03/08

Jerry Paxton

News, Nintendo Wii News, PlayStation 3 News, Xbox 360 News

Cambridge, Mass. – March 8^th, 2013 – Harmonix today announced that singles from Oingo Boingo and Toto are headed to the Rock Band™ Music Store of downloadable content for the Xbox 360^® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation^®3 computer entertainment system and Wii^™. Facetious

Rock Band provides the deepest and best selection of artists, songs and albums through the Rock Band music platform, which features more than 1,400 artists and more than 4,000* tracks via disc and download purchase (complete list of tracks atwww.rockband.com/songs). Rock Band’s gigantic music library dwarfs that of any other rhythm video game on the market. More than 100 million songs have been sold through the Rock Band Music Store since its launch on Nov. 20, 2007.

Tracks downloaded from the Rock Band Music Store are compatible with the award-winning full-band Rock Band 3 experience, as well as the controller-based rhythm-action title, Rock Band Blitz, available now on PlayStation^®Network and Xbox LIVE^® Arcade!

Rock Band DLC Additions for Xbox 360, PlayStation®3 system and Wii^™

On March 12^th, American new wave band Oingo Boingo’s “Weird Science,” from the band’s fourth studio album, 1985’s Dead Man’s Party, will hit the Rock Band Music Store! Led by composer/vocalist Danny Elfman, Oingo Boingo wrote the track for the cult classic 1985 sci-fi comedy film of the same name.

Toto’s Grammy Award-winning single “Rosanna,” from the 1982 album Toto IV, will also be available! Both “Rosanna” and “Weird Science” will feature support for keyboards; an optional Pro Guitar and Pro Bass upgrade will be available for “Weird Science” for an additional $0.99!

Available on Xbox 360, Wii, and PlayStation®3 system (March 12^th, 2013):

Oingo Boingo – “Weird Science” ^{O X}
Toto – “Rosanna” ^O

(These tracks will be available in Europe on PlayStation®3 system March 13^th)

Price:
$1.99 USD, £1.19 UK, €1.49 EU (160 Microsoft Points^™, 200 Wii Points^™) per song
$0.99 USD (80 Microsoft Points™, 100 Wii Points™), £0.59 UK, €0.79 EU per song for eligible Pro Guitar/Pro Bass upgrade

Tracks marked with “O” feature support for keyboards; tracks marked with “X” will offer Pro Guitar and Pro Bass expansions for $0.99 per song.

** Dates and pricing for Rock Band game tracks are tentative and subject to change. **

*Available on-disc, via download and disc export. Internet connection and export key purchase required. Wii™ Shop Channel has more than 1,500 song tracks available for purchase on the Rock Band platform on-disc, via song import, and download. Not applicable to Nintendo DS™.