Author - Jerry Paxton

Survival-Horror MMO Nether Announced

2013/08/15

News, Screenshots / Photos, Windows PC News

CHICAGO – August 15, 2013 – The first details were released today for Nether, the upcoming, online survival-horror game from developer Phosphor Games and game production company Nether Productions. A persistent-world, massively multiplayer online game based entirely in an urban setting, Nether challenges players to survive day-to-day while trying to uncover the truth behind the apocalyptic event that has changed mankind forever. Nether is slated for release in the fall of 2013 for the Windows PC platform.

“Our team has a strong and varied background that includes the creation of post-apocalyptic titles, so we’re really excited about Nether,” said Chip Sineni, Creative Director at Phosphor Games. “Our focus is to veer away from some of the ‘traditional’ survival-horror offerings in order to provide something new for the genre, with a great urban setting, a different type of story and an experience that excites us as fans and will be something definitely fresh and new for gamers.”

In Nether, players are thrust into a decimated, post-apocalyptic city where the remaining human population has degenerated into a chaotic state of lawlessness. A pervasive sense of evil looms over the land as people struggle to survive and rumors circulate of vile, demonic creatures that roam the cities to claim any souls still living. As one of the few remaining survivors, players must decide if they will Prey or Pray as they use skill and cunning to obtain food, weapons and other supplies necessary for existence while trying to determine whether or not to approach and trust other players or go at it solo.

Nether is currently in Alpha phase, with early-access planned for this fall. Players can visit http://playnether.com to be notified of updates and other information as well as sign up to be among the first selected to access the game. More information on this title can also be found at http://facebook.com/playnether or on Twitter @PlayNether.

Screenshots

Arma 3 Beta Gets Steam Workshop and 9 New Screenshots

2013/08/15

Jerry Paxton

News, Screenshots / Photos, Windows PC News

Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday 15th August 2013 — Before the official launch of Arma 3 on September 12, Bohemia Interactive has published a final update for the Arma 3 Beta. The absolute highlight of this update is the integration of Steam Workshop – which makes the sharing of user-created scenarios significantly more convenient.

Now, with Steam Workshop content sharing, players can upload and download both singleplayer and multiplayer scenarios. Arma 3’s in-game scenario editor is a powerful tool, allowing for the quick creation of missions, as well as more complex scenarios. Enhanced gameplay modules make life easier for aspiring designers to get started without having to learn the scripting language.

Having created a scenario, players can easily push it to the Workshop with a description and overview image. Other players can browse the Workshop for a scenario that looks appealing to them and subscribe to it. This will download the scenario and let players start it without restarting the game. Interacting with the author is made easy: players can leave comments, give a rating and updates are automatically downloaded. Authors themselves can post update notes and promote their scenarios with screenshots and videos.

Designer and Workshop caretaker, Jiří Zlatohlávek, expands:
“Even though we are dedicated to support the traditional ways of sharing content, used by many of the popular community portals – in the fast and easy to use world of app stores, streaming services and real-time feeds, we felt that sharing user content could be improved. What we see in the Workshop is a faster and easier way both for the creators to get their work out there to players and for the players to find and try it while providing feedback and encouragement, where it’s needed the most.”

The last update for the Arma 3 Beta also includes a long list of other improvements and fixes (overview here), and will be downloaded automatically via Steam.

Additionally, NINE new screenshots have been released – check them out:

Teaser Trailer Unveils Tropico 5

2013/08/15

Jerry Paxton

Mac PC News, News, Trailers / Videos, Windows PC News, Xbox 360 News

August 14, 2013, Ridgewood, NJ – Penultimo, the greatest communicator of all time, is pleased to announce that the votes have been counted and verified and we are proud to confirm that the glorious El Presidente will return for a fifth term in power on the island paradise of Tropico! Yes that’s right, Kalypso Media is delighted to announce that Tropico 5, the next installment of the highly anticipated and critically acclaimed Tropico city-builder series, is currently in development at Haemimont Studios and is slated for a 2014 release. Kalypso will release Tropico 5 on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Windows PC, Mac and Linux.

Fancy seeing how El Presidente spends his time when not planning his global domination? Check out the brand new Tropico 5 teaser trailer here:

Packed with a whole host of new gameplay features and all new artwork designed from scratch,Tropico 5 takes the series into a new and exciting direction – dynasties!

You, as El Presidente, will first take control of the infamous island of Tropico during early colonial times and then guide it through the centuries as the world changes and moves ever forward. You must tackle the changing needs of your people, as well as opposing governments and factions, and thus lay the foundations for your own dynasty. As you move through your years in office you can promote members of your extended family on the island to positions of power: such as ambassador, commanding general or even Supreme Ruler, to ensure your legacy thrives through the eras. As your influence and wealth grows, so do the threats to your burgeoning island superpower. Can you survive both World Wars, prosper through the Great Depression, rule as an iron-fisted dictator through the Cold War and advance your country to modern times and beyond? From the 19^th to the 21st century, each era carries its own challenges and opportunities.

As well as a wealth of other new features, including advanced trading mechanics, technology, scientific research trees and island exploration, Tropico 5 will add cooperative and competitive multiplayer for up to four players for the first time in the series’ history! Viva El Presidente!

Features of Tropico 5

The Eras – From the 19th century to the 21st, each era carries its own challenges and opportunities. Begin your reign during colonial times and advance your nation through the modern era and into the future!
The Dynasty – Each member of El Presidente’s extended family is present on the island and may be appointed to key leadership positions, earning skills and experience in their assigned roles.
Research and Renovate – Advance your nation by discovering new buildings, technologies and resources. Transform your old buildings into modernized, hyper-efficient designs worthy of an economic superpower!
Advanced trade system and trade fleet – Amass a global trade fleet and use your ships to secure import/export trade routes to neighbouring islands and key nations.
Explore your island – Discover what lies beyond the fog of war. Send prospectors to look for new mineral and ore deposits, but be wary of hostile animals and native tribes.
All new art – All artwork is reworked to provide Tropico 5 with a distinct historic visual identity. Choose from over 100 unique buildings from each of the individual eras.
Cooperative and competitive multiplayer – Up to four players can build up their own cities and economies on any given island map. Players can share resources and citizens, or declare war on each other.

For more information on Tropico 5 please visit the Kalypso Media website at www.kalypsomedia.com or the official Tropico website at www.tropico5.com.

Premonition: The Director’s Cut Official Visual Companion Announced

2013/08/15

Jerry Paxton

News, PlayStation 3 News

August 15, 2013 — Coming this October from Rising Star Games, The Official Visual Companion will give iPad users a whole new look into the world of Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut. This lovingly-produced 352-page, touch-responsive iBook is loaded with hundreds of high resolution images, interactive features, character biographies, secrets, and more!

Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut: The Official Visual Companion Features:

Over 100 interactive elements and loads of hidden secrets
Read Swery 65’s developer notebook and gain access to behind the scenes notes, storyboards and secrets that let users learn how the game was created
Three interactive ‘drag & zoom’ maps showing everything in the game
262 Gallery Images featuring never-before-seen concept sketches and high-resolution art
Play with the ‘Listen Here Zach’ soundboard, and listen to the game’s soundtrack
Play for hours with new puzzles, games, and the brilliant crime scene creator widget
And much more!

Preorder your copy today from the iTunes iBookstore: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/deadly-premonition-directors/id679978115?ls=1

WWE 2K14 Original Cover Artwork Contest Winners

2013/08/15

Jerry Paxton

News, PlayStation 3 News, Xbox 360 News

New York, NY – August 15, 2013 – 2K today announced Mike Rodriguez of Corona, Calif. as the North America winner, along with Alexis Zankowitch of Saint-Martin-le-Vinoux, France as the international winner, of the WWE® 2K14 video game cover artwork contest. The winning entries, both featuring WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan, will appear exclusively inside all retail copies of the game, respective to each geographic region, when the video game hits shelves on October 29, 2013 for North America and November 1, 2013 internationally.

While WWE Superstar The Rock® will serve as the official cover Superstar, WWE 2K14 marks the first time in the franchise’s history that consumers were presented with the opportunity to create and submit their own designs. The WWE Universe responded emphatically, with thousands of entries received by the contest deadline.

“We were blown away by not just the amount of contest entries received, but the overall creativity and quality of them as well,” said Chris Snyder, Senior Director of Marketing at 2K. “Both entries really captured the style and tone of WWE 2K14, and we are pleased to feature Daniel Bryan and these designs as part of our final product at retail.”

Become Immortal – 2K’s lineup of premier sports simulation titles expands with the Company’s upcoming release in the renowned WWE video game franchise, WWE 2K14. Developed by Yukes for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 system, WWE 2K14 is positioned to be the most electrifying, authentic and comprehensive WWE video game experience to date. WWE 2K14 is rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB. Fans who pre-order WWE 2K14 will receive Ultimate Warrior at no extra cost on launch day on October 29, 2013 in North America and November 1, 2013 internationally.

For more information on WWE 2K14, visit wwe.2k.com, facebook.com/WWEgames and @WWEgames on Twitter.

2K is a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO).

All trademarks and copyrights contained herein are the property of their respective holders.

The Purge Scare Zone Announced for Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood

2013/08/14

Jerry Paxton

Geek News, Halloween, News

The Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood Facebook and Twitter pages have announced “The Purge” scare zone for its October haunted event. Strangely, there is also a more extreme haunted house that was recently announced based on this movie property. It confuses me slightly – but, I am sure each will be scary as I have faith in the teams behind both. According to Universal’s social media channels, another scare zone will be announced “shortly”. Stay-tuned!

AirSplat Announces LA Grand Opening Event

2013/08/13

Jerry Paxton

Action Sports, Airsoft News, Articles, News

IRWINDALE, CA, August 13th, 2013 – AirSplat, the nation’s largest airsoft retailer, has announced the Grand Opening of its Los Angeles location making it their second retail store in the United States. Airsplat will be hosting a Grand Opening event for their newest retail store located in Irwindale, California. The event will be held on Saturday, September 14th, 2013 from 10:00am to 5:00pm and will feature booths from many popular brands in the airsoft industry, airsoft teams, free giveaways and in-store only specials.

The long awaited AirSplat Los Angeles retail store will be located at their headquarters in Irwindale, California. The store will feature thousands of the most popular airsoft guns, parts, accessories and gear. It will also feature a lounge area fully loaded with video games, arcade machines, and an onsite shooting range. Airsplat will also be the first in the industry to offer a unique “touch-and-feel” store approach by allowing its customers to walk into the store to touch, feel, and play with the guns. All guns and accessories will be out on an open display for customers to enjoy and test the guns before their purchase.

“The new store will be an amazing milestone for AirSplat. We are definitely aiming to provide our loyal customers in Southern California with a one-of a-kind shopping experience”, says AirSplat’s Marketing Manager Alfonso Fernandez. “As the largest airsoft retailer, we are committed to providing airsoft enthusiasts with the right product mix needed to complement their expectation.”

About AirSplat
AirSplat is the largest airsoft retailer in the nation. Its main warehouse and headquarters is located in Irwindale, CA which now features a recently opened retail store as well as an additional retail location in Seattle, WA. AirSplat is the first in the industry to offer eight unbeatable guarantees and remains competitive, innovative and always looking for creative solutions to maneuver through the ever-changing ecommerce market.

MWO Introduces 12v12 Combat

2013/08/13

Jerry Paxton

News, Windows PC News

VANCOUVER – August 13 , 2013 – Piranha Games and Infinite Game Publishing announced today that the popular free-to-play ‘Mech combat simulator, MechWarrior Online, now features long-awaited 12 vs. 12 match combat, forever changing the way the game is played. The update provides fans the ability to engage in true-to-MechWarrior combat, a crucial element of the official 1.0 launch later this summer. The latest enhancements to the game also sees the introduction of double XP for the first win of the day, allowing pilots to jump in and leap ahead in mastering their Battlemech’s abilities.

“The 12 vs. 12 gameplay changes combat dramatically,” said Bryan Ekman, creative director at Piranha Games. “Players now have a deep bench of options for a variety of strategies, more creative attacks and defense schemes and can alter their combat strategies in greater variety for each environment. This is true MechWarrior combat.”

Fans can tune in this Thursday, August 15^th for a celebrity showdown between YouTubers Total Biscuit and Angry Joe in a match set to showcase MechWarrior combat at its best as 24 pilots will go head-to-head in battle. Tune in to www.youtube.com/totalbiscuit or www.youtube.com/angryjoe at 1pm PT!

Also dropping in to the Inner Sphere a New Hero Mech ‘Golden Boy’ and a new map — Terra Therma. The Golden Boy sports a 30 percent C-bill bonus, three SRM-6’s, two SRM-4’s and four medium pulse lasers. Check it out now in this official Golden Boy trailer:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcgelolDFeU.

An environmentally terrifying new map is also now playable for pilots wanting to test thermal limits in combat: Terra Therma. Drop in on this tumultuous moon where pilots will be faced with ever-changing tectonic activity and violent volcanic eruptions. Rich in natural resources, Terra Therma is a valuable outpost – so valuable that ‘Mech pilots, ‘Mechs and expensive automated extraction technologies are considered expendable. The battle for the resources on Terra Therma will be as vicious as the landscape itself.

Set to launch on September 17^th, MechWarrior Online has garnered more than 1 million players since its initial announcement last year. The title has added loads of new content with regular updates since the game’s Open Beta announcement last fall.

For more information and to get in the game for free right now, visit http://mwomercs.com.

The Top 10 Most Social Video Game Companies

2013/08/13

Jerry Paxton

Geek News, News

The folks over at the Dachis Group have utilized their marketing analysis platform and released a list of the top 1o most-social video game companies, based on their social media/user-interaction.

The List

#1 Sony
- The creator of PlayStation seems to have landed on the perfect mix of audience size, brand publishing, and subscriber engagement. Whether it is content propagation, Engagement, or subscribers it’s rare to see Sony drop out of the # 1 or # 2 spots in each performance measurement – kudos to them for superior performance across the board. It’s no wonder that they have an audience base of 49,260,647 fans.
#2 Electronic Arts
- Who doesn’t love a game of Madden, or for that matter Crysis? Much like Activision, EA has an enormous social audience, but EA has an edge in the number of its subscribers that participate in the conversation EA promotes. This propels EA to #2 overall in the rankings.
#3 Activision
- With a whopping 63,263,857 fan base, Activision is the top brand among all publishers in terms of raw audience and the attention that comes with it, but their broadcasting to engagement ratio is higher relative to other brands on the list. And as a result they have to settle for “just” 3rd overall.
#4 Nintendo
- Nintendo revived its fortunes by making gaming social enough for anyone to take part. The same is true for their social presence where they are the #3 brand when it comes to the number of fans, 37,547,649 strong, and #2 in the number of branded conversation participants.
#5 Konami
- The strength of Konami’s content is clear in their propagation score (how frequently people repost brand content), where they rank second only to Sony. Konami ranks no lower than 8th in any other category among the various gaming brands.
#6 Warner Brothers
- Warner Brothers isn’t known first and foremost for its games like many of the ranked brands, but it is riding an outpouring of passionate praise for the Batman Arkham so that it stands as #6 in the rankings.
#7 Rockstar Games
- Rockstar ranks #3 in audience participation and does well in every every social metric relative to the competition. News of the upcoming GTA5 propelled Rockstar to its #7 rank.
#8 Ubisoft
- Ubisoft has a smaller audience, 5,673,607 fans, then some of the other brands on this list, but its passion, positivity, and content more than makes up for it. The brand ranks second overall for advocacy among gaming publishers.
#9 Microsoft
- The maker of the Xbox and the Kinect puts up impressive numbers for their audience size, 11,421,575 fans, but what really solidifies their #9 spot is their audience satisfaction score, where they rank #3.
#10 Epic Games
- Despite having the smallest audience size, 1,091,644 fans, Epic ranks #2 in satisfaction and #1 in passion. No doubt part of this is in part due to their massive user forum. Well played, Epic.

Age of Conan The Coils of Ubah Kan Screenshots

2013/08/13

Jerry Paxton

News, Screenshots / Photos, Windows PC News

August 13, 2013 — Funcom’s Age of Conan has just gotten an all new dungeon in the fresh Dragon’s Spine area. The Coils of Ubah Kan offers a brutal challenge for a six man party with great rewards awaiting those who succeed.

In the Coils of Ubah Kan the players enter recently excavated tunnels and can fight their way into the ancient underground city of the Serpent Men to uncover all its secrets. The primeval Serpent Man race has been biding its time for an age, but is now rising again to repel the invasion of their territory.

This new dungeon is found in Age of Conan’s newest area exclusive to Member players – Dragon’s Spine. Here players can take part in all new adventures and test their strength against terrifying monsters. The Coils of Ubah Kan is Dragon’s Spine second dungeon, and even more content will come to this area in the near future.

Screenshots