Author - Jerry Paxton

Arma 3 Main Campaign to be Released in 3 Episodes

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Prague, Czech Republic, Tuesday 6th August 2013 — Bohemia Interactive is planning to release Arma 3’s campaign in 3 free episodes after the game’s initial launch. Supplied as free DLC, the first episode, Survive, will be made available within one month, while the following episodes, Adapt and Win, are slated for release in the months thereafter. This means that, with the free campaign arriving later, the game will premiere with the large island terrains of Altis (270 km²) and Stratis (20 km²), 12 singleplayer showcase missions, 3 faction showcases, 9 multiplayer scenarios, a set of 10 firing drill challenges, over 20 vehicles, more than 40 weapons, 5 factions, the powerful scenario editor and modding support.

Following an eventful past year, and a splendid reception of the Arma 3 Alpha and Beta, the studio honestly admits to the difficulties it experienced with its parallel development. While the team was developing the full game, at the same time it was supporting the Alpha and Beta. However, since the game has made tremendous progress as a result, Bohemia Interactive felt confident to maintain its quality-over-quantity mind-set and take some additional time to perfect the campaign. By releasing the expansive platform and adding the free campaign in 3 separate DLC episodes shortly thereafter, players (as well as mod-makers) will be able to get their hands on the full game as soon as possible, and take on the complete military package in Arma 3’s massive sandbox.

Joris-Jan van ‘t Land, Project Lead on Arma 3, elaborates:
“This was not a decision we made lightly. As game creators, we love developing and playing through campaigns so, to those awaiting ours, we say: sorry for the delay. After talking a lot about a focus on quality over the last year, it simply did not feel right to compromise now. Rather than pushing back the entire game, we launch this year with an awesome package – a splendid kick off for the Arma 3 experience.”

To further explain the motivations behind the decision, Bohemia Interactive has published a new post in their developer’s blog.

War of the Vikings Announced

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NEW YORK — August 6, 2013 — Paradox Interactive, a publisher of games and a cultivator of epic facial hair, today announced War of the Vikings, an all-new multiplayer game built upon the technology that drives Paradox’s medieval squad combat title War of the Roses. Developed by Fatshark, War of the Vikings is a new standalone entry into the War franchise that will pull players into the brutal and bloody Viking Age, challenging them to design a personalized warrior and sack England as a mighty Norseman – or defend it as a brave Saxon. Featuring intense close-quarters combat, authentically inspired settings and weaponry, rich customization options, and large-scale 64-player battles, War of the Vikings will add a new unforgettable experience to Paradox’s close combat arsenal.

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“War of the Roses was a fantastic experience for us to launch, and as it’s evolved over time, eventually growing into its current Kingmaker edition, we’ve been inspired many times over by the possibilities of the close-combat genre,” said Gordon Van Dyke, Executive Producer for the War of the Roses franchise. “It’s clear to us that that there are many more experiences we can share with our players, and War of the Vikings is our next step in establishing Paradox and Fatshark as leaders in the art of online war.”

The intensity is greater and the beards are longer in War of the Vikings, where players must band together on the battlefields of 9th and 10th Century England and fight to conquer or defend Britannia. Environments, weapons, and visuals drawn from Viking Age history will immerse players in a bloody new conflict between the Vikings and the Saxons, with each warrior hand-designed by its player from a wide variety of customization options. Built on skill-driven gameplay and a deep combat system, War of the Vikings will bring close combat closer than ever.

Players can apply to join the Alpha for War of the Vikings by heading to http://signup.warofthevikings.com/

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified HungoverX Mini-Game

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August 6, 2013 — 2K Games has released a new mini-game for The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, titled HungoverX. Follow hung over “agent” Bill Carter after a long night of video-gaming, energy drink guzzling, and testing his own homemade liquor as he tries to survive the work day the next morning. Give orders to your “squad mates”/co-workers to help get Bill caffeinated, fed, and out of the office early without anyone noticing. There are multiple ways to play, and you’ll have to use your finest XCOM tactics to outwit your colleagues and the big boss upstairs.

To play the game, visit http://hungoverx.com.

MSI Unveils GS70 Gaming Laptop

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City of Industry, Calif. – August 5, 2013 – MSI Computer Corp, leading manufacturer of computer hardware products and solutions, unveils the GS70, the world’s thinnest and lightest 17-inch portable gaming powerhouse designed to fuse the power needed to tackle the most demanding games with the portability required to take battles on the road.

The answer to portable gaming players, the GS70 features a lethal arsenal of cutting-edge components, including the latest 4th generation Intel® Core™ i7 processor, NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 765M, Killer™ DoubleShot and a SteelSeries full color backlit keyboard with Anti-Ghosting keys.  In addition, it showcases MSI’s latest ultra-thin and light brush aluminum chassis, measuring less than 1-inch thick and weighing only 5.7 lbs.

The GS70 comes equipped as a mobile battle station with a 17” Full HD anti-reflective display at a 1920×1080 resolution and a 2.1 speaker system with integrated sub-woofer featuring Sound Blaster Cinema capable of delivering the quality of 5.1 surround sound.  However, it takes full advantage of NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 765M capabilities with the Matrix Display that simultaneously supports up to 3 external displays via the HDMI and mDP ports, transforming it into the ultimate multimedia and multi-tasking desktop replacement.  It also has the ability to output HDTV resolutions, up to 4k, for viewing your games or movies in true HD.

“The GS70 has the capability to crush the most demanding games and the featherlike portability for on-the-go multi-tasking or gaming,” stated Andy Tung, vice president of sales for MSI US.  “We understand the needs of our audience and are committed to delivering solutions that exceed even the highest expectations.”

“The MSI GS70 sets a new mark for gaming rigs,” said Brian Choi, Senior Product Manager at NVIDIA. “With the super-fast and super-efficient GeForce GTX 765M GPU on board, MSI is able to offer the thinnest chassis ever seen in the gaming segment.”

The GS70 is the first dual fan laptop with a unique thermal solution design that pulls heat from the top side of the laptop and dissipates heat at a 45 degree upward angle, guaranteeing superior performance and a cool gaming experience even under the most intense battle sessions.  Available in two configurations starting at $1,799.99 MSRP, both models come with 16GB of DDR3L memory, 4 USB 3.0 ports, 3 audio jacks and a 720p HD webcam.

For more information about the GS70 or the entire line of G series gaming notebooks, please visit http://www.msimobile.com or www.usgaming.msi.com.

Black Sabbath: 13 3D Maze Coming to Halloween Horror Nights

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Universal Studios Hollywood has announced that the next maze in their Halloween Horror Nights lineup will be called “Black Sabbath: 13 3D”.

Maze Synopsis

This year, guests will be engulfed in a nightmarish landscape of doom as they enter the maze “Black Sabbath: 13 3D” and cross through horrifying graveyards, disturbing madhouses and bone-chilling battlefields. The new maze will also be the only attraction to incorporate a 3D video, which will show scenes inspired by their recent #1 Billboard album, “13”. The legendary multi-platinum rock band pioneered the Heavy Metal genre with their doom-laden sounds so Tony Iommi’s dark, iconic riffs, Ozzy Osbourne’s haunting vocals and Geezer Butler’s sinister lyrics provide endless inspiration for a blood-curdling maze.

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SOE Reveals EverQuest Next

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LAS VEGAS – August 2, 2013 – Fourteen years ago, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) changed the way people play games together online with the introduction of the original EverQuest™. Today, SOE offers a new vision for the future of online games with the worldwide debut of EverQuest Next (EQN).

“With EverQuest Next, we’re going back to our roots — a space we defined with the EverQuestlegacy — and ushering in a new era of MMOs: The Emergent Era,” said John Smedley, President, Sony Online Entertainment. “Today, many MMOs fail because players consume content faster than developers can create it. With EverQuest Next, we’re creating a living world that players are part of and empowering them to produce new content alongside the development team. What does the future hold for EverQuest Next and Sony Online Entertainment? It’s in the players’ hands, and we like it that way.”

“EverQuest Next is not the continuation of a familiar story. It represents the fundamental reimagining of the characters, lore and environments of the EverQuest universe,” said Dave Georgeson, Director of Development for the EverQuest Franchise, Sony Online Entertainment. “Make no mistake; while great care has been taken to respect the extraordinary influence thatEverQuest has had in this industry and with our player community over the years, this is a boldly different game unlike anything that has come before.”

EverQuest Next has been in development since 2009. Nearly two years ago, SOE made the decision to rethink core creative and technical aspects of the design and start from the ground up to build a new kind of game. As a result, EQN is different from all of the MMOs that have been made before in very important ways, including:

Multi-Classing – EQN will offer players the ability to explore and interact with the world according to their individual style of play. There are no levels in EQN, but there will be more than 40 distinct classes (or professions) at launch, with multi-tiered abilities and specialized weapon skills to collect and master. Players will even mix and match abilities from each class, creating truly custom characters that feel distinct and powerful.

Destructible Environments – No modern MMO has successfully implemented destructible environments that stretch across an entire seamless game world — this changes forever with EQN. Every piece of the world is fully destructible and players will have the ability to manipulate almost all of it. They will interact with and explore the world in amazing ways; venturing down into the deep bedrock beneath the surface and using powerful combat abilities to blow gaping holes into the ground. The EQN world will extend far into the heavens and deep into the procedurally-generated earth through 10,000 years of known lore and history.

Permanent Change – Players will also have the ability to cause the world to change around them, permanently, in dramatic ways. Through the concerted effort of the world’s inhabitants, including players, creatures, and non-player characters (NPCs), city walls will be built and destroyed, large-scale wars will be fought and won, and epic stories will unfold over months and years.

Emergent AI – In EQN, NPCs will have specific motivations and preferences that direct behavior in nuanced and unpredictable ways. Players will find themselves in a world where NPC decisions are based on core values, not dictated by static spawn points. For example, Orcs may attack opportunistically because they want an adventurer’s gold, not simply because a careless hero wanders into an attack radius.

A Life of Consequence – Finally, each character in EQN will have a unique story; they will not follow a predetermined path. Instead, they will seek out adventure, fame and fortune in a constantly changing sandbox world. The game will remember every choice and action that players make and will organically deliver increasing opportunities to do more of the things players like to do … from crafting armor and exploring the wilderness to purging goblins from the forests.

“We believe that the bold choices the team is making with EQN will result in a product that provides players with an absolutely new kind of game experience,” said Laura Naviaux, Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing, Sony Online Entertainment. “However, there is something even more important to us. As an organization, we are dedicated to partnering with our community to give them a voice in the games we create. With EQN, we are taking this idea even further and offering our players the opportunity to actively build EQN with us.”

INTRODUCING EVERQUEST NEXT LANDMARK

This winter, SOE will introduce EverQuest Next Landmark™ (Landmark). Essentially,Landmark will combine the powerful and intuitive building tools SOE is using to create the fully destructible world of EQN with all of the social functionality expected from a modern MMO.

The game will feature huge persistent worlds that each support thousands of other players and varied terrain inspired by the environments of EQN. Most importantly, Landmark will provide anyone who wants to participate with the opportunity to actually build structures, and eventually create other types of content, to be considered for inclusion in EQN. Landmark will enable players to:

Create Amazing Things

  • Build highly detailed structures with powerful and intuitive tools.
  • Quickly design complex projects or collaborate with friends to undertake massive shared builds.
  • Lay claim to and control specific areas of huge persistent worlds.

Share Your Imagination with Friends

  • Landmark‘s persistent servers will enable players to interact with and experience the collective imagination of thousands of players in a unique shared world.
  • Players will have compelling reasons to explore and interact with others. They will congregate at crafting hubs, build design templates to share and trade, and journey across the world to collect the resources required to build and craft.

Build EQN with SOE — Using the Same Tools

  • Landmark players will gain increasing access to many of the same tools that SOE is using to construct the game world of EQN.
  • Not only will Landmark give players access to these world building tools, SOE will provide specific guidance on what we want help building.
  • Through this collaborative approach, EQN may eventually represent the largest overall collaborative development effort in the history of online games. For anyone who has ever thought about becoming a game developer, here is your chance. Together we will build extraordinary things

PRICING AND AVAILABILITY

Landmark will launch this winter as a Free To Play. Your Way.®” offering and the first step in a multi-phase release strategy. It will serve as the gateway to EQN and as the collaborative building hub where SOE will guide the development of selected structures and environments for inclusion in EQN.

No formal date is set for the launch of EQN. Additional information, assets and answers to frequently asked questions can be found at www.everquestnext.com.

To view the livestream visit: http://www.twitch.tv/everquestnext.

WarGame AirLand Battle Gets Free Update

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August 2, 2013 — The war is far from over! Wargame AirLand Battle, the successor to Wargame European Escalation and the new real-time strategy hit from developers Eugen Systems that won enthusiastic acclaim from gamers and critics alike, has produced its first DLC, “Vox Populi”!

As well as containing substantial extra content, the Vox Populi DLC is totally free, so Wargame AirLand Battle players will find their game has been automatically updated with the download next time they launch the game.

VOX POPULI has been developed specifically to respond to the demands of the community… and has just landed with a whole arsenal of new features! “CONQUEST” mode, a really popular feature in the previous Wargame, makes a great comeback in AirLand Battle both in Multiplayer mode and against the AI, offering a range of new objectives to commanders all over the world. Unlike DESTRUCTION mode, victory in CONQUEST doesn’t depend on the destruction of the enemy forces, but on your ability to capture and hold more territory than your opponent. All the existing maps in Multiplayer are of course playable in this mode.

In addition to this new game mode, CAMPAIGN, already playable in Versus mode, is now available in CO-OPERATIVE mode and allows you to join forces with a friend to play any campaign against the AI. In Skirmish mode you can now select the type and nationality of the equipment of any AI opponent.

Last but not least, we have introduced 24 new units and 5 new maps (playable in Destruction and Conquest modes) for even more frenzied multiplayer contests! This is a great opportunity for any gamers who haven’t yet engaged in active combat to rush headlong into battle!

Mars War Logs Soundtrack Released for Free

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AUGUST 2, 2013 — Mars War Logs, the RPG developed by Spiders studios, is continuing to attract an increasing number of fans. After a remarkable release on PC in April, Mars has already been among the top selling games worldwide on Xbox LIVE® Arcade for a week! PlayStation®3 owners can rest assured they’ll be blasting off for Mars in just a few days when the game arrives in the PlayStation®Store on August 7th (Europe) and August 13th (US) !

But prior to the release, the developers are delighted to offer the Original Game Soundtrack by Sylvain Prunier, that contains 44 dark, gritty and often spellbinding themes!

Mars War Logs takes you to Mars, nearly a century after a huge cataclysm that threw Mars and its colonies into chaos. You play as Roy, a renegade caught in the middle of a civil war, while different corporations fight over the most precious resource, water. Follow an immense main quest in which every choice counts, develop your character and your combat style by choosing among many different talents and skills. In dynamic, real-time combat, face fearsome opponents including some of the most terrifying creatures of Mars. The craft system lets you create and modify your equipment, your weapons and your armor. Your behavior during dialogues, as well as your choices and decisions will influence your companions and the fate of the people who will cross your path… and maybe the fate of all the colonies on Mars.

Mars War Logs is now available on Xbox LIVE® Arcade, and will be available on the PlayStation®Network from August 7 in Europe and from August 13 in US. The game is also available worldwide for download on PC.

– Download the Original Soundtrack of Mars War Logs