Keen Software House has released some alpha footage from their soon in Steam Early Access sandbox game, Space Engineers. You can play on October 23, 2013 when the game hits Steam as part of their Early Access program.
Author - Jerry Paxton
Ubisoft has released a new trailer for their upcoming Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, titled “Pirate Heist”.
Trailer
Activision and Bungie have released the official box art for their upcoming sci-fi epic, Destiny. Also, look for a new game trailer tomorrow!
Knott’s Berry Farm’s “Halloween Haunt”, or, “Knott’s Scary Farm” as it sometimes known, had its 2013 media night last week and we got the chance to go and check out the park. Knott’s has been doing a theme park-wide haunted attraction since 1973, so it has a lot of pressure on it to do well in the face of rising competition. Our evening started with media check-in, followed by their annual hearse procession down Grand Ave in Buena Park, CA. All sorts of hearses were present, even a monster truck-size one. After that, we all lined up at the main gate and were startled when the park’s “Green Witch” decided she didn’t like us very much and sent her band of “Tricksters” out to scare. After the gate opening, we got to experience a VIP reception at the Knott’s Berry Farm Hotel across the street. The food selection was good – however, there was a lack of plates and flatware as most of the food were “finger foods”. In particular, I really enjoyed their mashed potatoes and mac ‘n cheese shooters – very tasty! We were then assigned into groups and sent to tour the various attractions inside Knott’s Scary Farm.
Walking through the park, I was very impressed with the amount of fog and lighting effects employed throughout the street zones. The monster talent of Ghost Town, Boardwalk, and Necropolis were all energetic and, I assume, happy to be scaring guests once again after the year-long break since last season. We didn’t stay long to gawk, however (that would come later), as we were moving along at a good clip towards our destination.
Uncle Willy’s Slaughterhouse was a real treat for us as it seems like they keep adding things to it each year. This year, we noticed a couple new rooms and even an exclusive “skeleton key” room. But – more on the Skeleton Key program later. The Slaughterhouse was terrific and I cringed at learning this might be its last year. It wouldn’t be so bad if the maze was the same as it always was, but they keep adding such good stuff to it!
Black Magic is a terrific new haunted maze through a Houdini-inspired theater. The props and set design of this maze were very impressive, and it even featured a “flying” performer that was really cool. Other Houdini-inspired props and gimmicks abound, such as water torture devices, straight jacket escapes, and eye-gouged magicians performing for attendees. They even added a couple “crushing”, spike-laden walls. Of all the new mazes this year, I rank Black Magic as my overall favorite.
We also got the chance to hit their take on a traditional house of mirrors, “Mirror Mirror”. The maze actually seems rather short and, unfortunately, there really is no way out of it until attendees decide to open the exit door. Until then, you find yourself aimlessly walking about in circles and occasionally bumping into reflected versions of yourself and even other patrons. That being said, the monsters and characters inside the experience did a good job of being creepy and trying to sway guests into walking a particular direction.
I am somewhat mixed on another of the Scary Farm’s mazes, the new Gunslinger’s Grave. The experience is set in the Old West and features elements that one would expect in such a setting. The maze is filled with cowboys in little-to-no makeup and not wearing any masks (aside from some wearing desperado bandannas). Because of this, it kind of felt like walking through the regular Calico Ghost Town area of the park during non-haunt hours. I just didn’t get scared by them – although I commend them for staying in character, using period drawls and phrases. It must be said that, while I didn’t find the talent to be very scary, the two other people in my group did. Also, I commend Knott’s for trying doing something original with the maze – it is always good to innovate. Finally, I have to give a lot of credit to the designers and builders for coming up with some great sets.
Midway through the evening, we stopped by the Wagon Camp to do a press conference with the maze designers. This was not a good idea. We were already out in the park for a couple hours, all pumped-up from getting scared and seeing all the great stuff out there. We were here for about an hour and it completely squashed all that energy. The Wagon Camp stage is so far away from the audience that you either had to squint to see the designers or use a camera zoom. Now, it’s not that I think getting to ask the maze designers questions isn’t a good idea – it absolutely is. But, this should probably have been done earlier in the evening at the reception or at a pre-event.
Thankfully, the lull in energy resolved itself quickly after hitting Dominion of the Damned – one of the park’s returning, yet all-new mazes. Last year, the vampire maze was a bit of a mess. The maze has been re-tooled and was a so much fun this year. It felt like a more modern version of the much-lauded Dominion of the Dead maze that used to be at the Scary Farm so many years ago. The vampires were reserved, yet intense when provoked and I even loved the small hedge maze out in the front of its facade.
Forevermore, another new maze this year, delves into the works of Edgar Allen Poe, brought to life by a serial killer. The maze featured some great set design and an outstanding climax which I won’t spoil in this review. I did find myself a bit confused by the costuming of the talent in the maze. I didn’t understand why everyone seemed to be wearing white sweat suits. Also, the SWAT guys at the beginning of the maze had all-white TAC gear – another thing I didn’t get. If anyone knows, please leave some comments with the answer as I am positive there is a reason. Aside from that, loved this maze!
After this, we broke off from our tour guide for the evening and headed out into the street zones to take some photos of the various monsters we encountered. As I stated earlier, the talent was on their game and had a lot of energy coming out of the gate. Knott’s has always had some terrific monster talent, and provides a more creative and free environment for them to dynamically craft their scares. This freedom has been put to good use by the monsters, and we always enjoy watching them work.
Finally, we rounded out our night with a viewing of Elvira’s Sinema Séance, her first show at Knott’s in many, many years. During our show, it seemed that The Mistress of the Dark was suffering from a mild case of laryngitis or, perhaps, a slight cold. But, the veteran entertainer continued on and gave an excellent performance, letting rip with one-liners and musical numbers. The show seemed a bit shorter than I recall her past ones being, but I digress. It was really cool to see her back at Knott’s and I hope she stays a few more years.
One new aspect for this year’s Halloween Haunt is the “Skeleton Key” program I touched on earlier. Some of the mazes have special introduction areas that give fans of the haunt some additional chills and information. Only Skeleton Key pass holders are eligible to see this room. So, when buying your tickets, be aware that if you want to do the Skeleton Key experience, there is an additional charge for it. This is different than Trapped: The New Experiment, which is an additional charge on top of that. We did not get to check out Trapped: The New Experiment due to their being backed up the night we visited. In short, Trapped is a more extreme, challenge/puzzle-based experience.
Overall, I award the 2013 Knott’s Scary Farm a 4 out of 5 stars. I wouldn’t say it is perfect in every detail, however I definitely enjoyed the experience even more so than I did last year and would gladly pay to come back on another night. You can get more information and purchase tickets for Knott’s Scary Farm over at their official website.
[easyreview title=”Knott’s Scary Farm 2013 Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″ ]
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*Update: We apologize as we accidentally posted an earlier draft of our review this morning with a different review score. This current score is reflective of the event’s final grade.
Knott’s Scary Farm 2013 Image Gallery
Unfortunately, we were unable to personally-attend the MusclePharm Arnold supplement series launch event at Venice Beach the other day. I am a big proponent of gamer fitness – that, actually, was the concept behind our entire Airsoft column as a way for gamers to stay healthy while having fun. So, when I heard that MusclePharm had teamed up with “the big guy”, I had to check it out. Here are some of the photos from the event and a link to the product line, which includes proteins, weight gainer, and more.
Photos
2010’s The Dead was one interesting zombie flick. The undead hordes were back to being slow, plodding husks instead of Olympic sprinters in many recent genre movies, and the realism the movie took to dealing with them was very cool. The Ford Bros., the directors of that film, have returned with The Dead 2: India. Here is the latest trailer for the movie.
Trailer
Here is one of the most un-tapped IPs that could be made into a kick-ass video game, IN video game form. A 2004 video from the Dead to Rights 2 team at Namco Bandai, of their in-development Snake Plissken’s ESCAPE. Set in the world of Escape from New York and Escape from L.A. (the latter, I felt, was not quite up to par with the first one), the game would have featured the cooperation of BOTH John Carpenter and Kurt Russell himself. Unfortunately, this game will never come to fruition now, but we can dream.
I reminded of a line from the first film that I always thought was great. Listening to Lee Van Cleef’s “Bob Hauk” tell Snake, “I’m about to kick your ass out of the world, war hero…”. Damn, that movie has some great genre lines.
Trailer/Dev Video
Montréal (September 27, 2013) – Square Enix® and Eidos-Montréal™, the award winning studio behind the critically acclaimed Deus Ex: Human Revolution®, are pleased to announce that a digital download MASTER THIEF edition will be available on February 25, 2014 in North America for Windows PC.
The MASTER THIEF PC digital download edition is now available to pre-order at the SQUARE ENIX STORE* and includes the following:
- Official Digital Artbook – stunning concept art that offers a sneak peek into the shadowy world of THIEF.
- Digital Comic – Delve deeper into the shroud surrounding Thief’s obscure world with this complete collection of digital comic books.
- Booster Pack – Get access to an exclusive bundle of optional in-game consumables that can empower you and hasten your progression through THIEF.
- Director’s Cut Original Soundtrack – a remarkable collection of THIEF tracks.
- THE BANK HEIST in-game mission: Infiltrate the City’s most secure location, Stonemarket First Bank, to steal a coveted family heirloom called the Star of Auldale. To this day, this heavily guarded and treacherous place remains impregnable, but that’s about to change…
- A challenging mission that will put your thieving skills to the test.
- Outsmart security measures found exclusively in this mission
- Search for the Bank’s unique loot and many other secrets
- A true homage to the Bank mission in Thief II: The Metal Age.
*The MASTER THIEF edition is also available at all other major digital distributors – please check with your preferred retailer for full details.
Bohemia Interactive reports that they have released official update 1.02 to their epic wargame, Arma 3. Checkout the official changelog below or over at their website:
CHANGELOG – DATA
- Potential Altis performance optimization (especially when using a lot of AI units): removed class properties from models in Structures_F that don’t need it
- Many small Altis object positioning tweaks and other terrain fixes
- Fixed: Flipped moon texture
- The moon halo object can now be different from the sun halo object (new world config parameter moonHaloObject)
- The light reflected by the moon has been made more realistic
- Added: New runway parts for left and right airstrip on Altis
- Runway lights have new models and configuration
- Fixed: Darker runway at a distance and with overcast weather
- Fixed: Ladder on hospital building has been reversed (http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=13399)
- Fixed: Blinking resolution LODs on signs
- Configured power line wires to be destroyed along with power line towers
- Animals should be avoiding roads more now
- Fashionable LCD panels for MBT gunners instead of old-style optics, and new reticles displayed on them
- Player tank driver can turn out, while commander is turned in
- Civilian (and FIA) trucks have been revamped
- Added: Ability to mount Marshall driver position from right side
- Fixed: Slammer recoil
- Added: T-100 recoil animation for main gun
- T-100 commander optics features in line with OPFOR tracked vehicles
- T-100 back armor made thinner
- Improved handling of terminal ballistics on armored vehicles
- More realistic water fording ability for tracked armor
- Added compass and additional radars for copilot seats
- Removed magic disappearance of rotor blades for some helicopters
- AH-99 badly placed exhausts fixed (http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=9909)
- Adjusted position of Blackfoot pilot crosshair in HMD
- Added stabilization for UAV optics
- Fixed: Incorrect duplicate of get-in points for Speedboats
- Fixed: Zooms of armed offroad gunner set to standard naked eye level (http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=14213 and http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=14699)
- Added: Mortar/HMG/GMG/Bipod/Tripod bags for every faction
- Added missing backpacks for Mk6 weapon
- Capacity tweaking for mortars, GMGs and HMGs (inventory)
- Fixed: Animations of static weapons
- Tweaked: Bag weight for static weapons. It was too high for our maximum soldier load.
- Fixed bombs of CAS UAVs
- Re-balanced mine damage and overall mine usability
- Tweaked: Pistol weights to match maximum soldier load count
- Fixed: Negative friction of 120mm shells
- Reticle materials for 3D scopes now glow in the dark
- Fixed: Problem with 3D scope alpha sorting
- Added: BIS_fnc_unitPlay function severely optimized. Unit playback is now smooth even when applied on multiple vehicles at the same time. Backwards compatible – will improve already released missions without need to change anything.
- Tweaked: Action menu priorities
- Increased action priority for weapon assembly
- Fixed: Radio protocol is no longer played during story conversations triggered byBIS_fnc_kbTell
- Fixed: Some groups spawned by Sites module had their skill set too high
- Fixed: CAS bombing issues in Supports Module
- Fixed: Rare occurrence of undefined variable for civilian randomization scripts
- Fixed: Game sometimes got stuck in loading screen after respawn (http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=14474)
- Added: Warning about using BIS_fnc_addRespawnPosition – calling the function on client at the mission start will result in data not being broadcasted correctly
- Fixed: Modules were not executed in the right order on server
- Fixed: Sending multiple recipients to BIS_fnc_MP caused the function to be ignored in singleplayer
- Added: Recipient sent to BIS_fnc_MP can now be string – variable name of an object. The function will be executed where the object is local.
- Fixed: Incorrect returned value when task checked by BIS_fnc_taskCompleted didn’t exist
- Fixed: “Vehicle Respawn” module didn’t recognize airplanes, rendering them non-respawnable (http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=13078)
- Fixed: HQ entities created by Headquarters module (used for example in Defend and Seize missions) were all using European voice. Correct voices (English for NATO and Persian for CSAT) are assigned now.
- Fixed: “Set Task Destination” module is now optional, destination can now be configured in “Create Task” module. The same is true for task state (http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=4144)
- Fixed: Functions with tag without specific name (i.e., no ‘tag’ attribute) were incorrectly categorized in the functions viewer
- Fixed: BIS_fnc_sandStorm was using incorrect particle texture (http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=13773)
- Added: Delay before respawn menu is applied only when player is simulated
- Fixed: “EndMission” respawn template failed a mission even when some players were still alive after respawn tickets were exceeded
- Fixed: Module effects were applied to vehicle commanders, not to vehicles themselves
- Fixed: Debug console was not available for logged admins (http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=13764)
- Fixed: Respawn display sometimes didn’t close once player respawned
- Fixed: Advanced hints save / load issue
- Added: BIS_fnc_countdown – allows setting and managing countdown
- Function BIS_fnc_findInPairs renamed to BIS_fnc_getFromPairs and now supports all variable types
- New function BIS_fnc_findInPairs returns index of an item from the associative array found under the key
- Fixed: Notifications are no longer displayed after player dies in singleplayer missions
- Fixed: Zone Restriction module would sometimes fire a warning event when a unit left a vehicle
- Fixed: Info about ability to sync “Respawn Position” module to a vehicle was missing
- BLUFOR soldiers are now able to switch textures via setObjectTexture
- CSAT soldiers have been trained to distinguish fixed-wing UAV of their side better when standing next to it
- Less pronounced character lip sync animations
- Fixed: Several inventory capacity issues
- Fixed: OPFOR pilots ammo load
- Fixed: Guerrilla Rifleman AT backpack load out
- Fixed: Guerrilla Engineer bag type
- Fixed: Khaki vest camo for OPFOR snipers and Olive vests for AAF
- Minor fix in BLUFOR repair specialist chest rig
- Added: New icon for BLUFOR chest rig
- Added: New icons for Guerrilla uniform types
- Added side-specific textures and pictures for mortar bags
- Introduced mass difference between normal and light helmets
- Various characters models and textures tweaks, most notably the US flag being removed from AS and SMDI maps
- Civilians are more prone to be fatally wounded by anything (damage tolerance and armor)
- Tweaked hitpoints of civilians. Now they will be fatally injured by one hit (5.56 mm and better caliber) to torso.
- Configured destruction of wreck_heli_attack_01 (Blackfoot wreck)
- Added Korean and Japanese characters from other fonts to EtelkaMonospacePro (fixes missing texts in e.g. establishing shots in those languages)
- Font: EtelkaMonospaceProBold added for backwards compatibility (inherits everything fromEtelkaMonospacePro)
- Rolling credits now end after finishing and a short timeout
- Fixed: Class name in title bar can’t be edited any more in Insert Unit and Insert module in mission editor
- Fixed: Positions of location labels (e.g., town names) in Splendid Camera were offset
- Fixed: Respawn position selection list was blinking
- Fixed: Tile effects were interactive, stealing mouse focus
- Fixed: Error message for “Viper Green in trouble” conversation in Showcase Vehicles
- Removed: Showcase Night radio at the enemy camp
- Tweaked: Showcase Night player is now sitting on the front of the boat during insertion
- Tweaked: Showcase Night boat driver now has a beanie hat
- Tweaked: Showcase Night when player is detected near a site, enemies should now better hunt him
- Tweaked: Showcase Night enemy patrols on sites are now on in safe behavior
- Tweaked: Showcase Night enemies now play ambient animations
- Tweaked: Showcase Night when player is detected on an enemy site, the nearest, not yet cleared, enemy site will become combat aware
- Fixed: Showcase Night random patrols had skill of 1, now it’s 0.4
- Fixed: Showcase Night soldier leaning on the lighthouse was going through it
- Fixed: Showcase Night enemies don’t have NVGoggles any more (they wrongly had them because of class name changes)
- New: Showcase Night enemy vehicle will now come and investigate the south after half the chaos threshold has been reached
- Fixed: In Combined Arms single player you could kill insertion choppers crew without triggering friendly fire
- Fixed: Defend Syrta character classes had wrong backpack
- Fixed: Defend Syrta CSAT AA class had wrong backpack
- Fixed: Seize and Defend missions were sometimes not executed properly on Dedicated Server
- Tweaked: Civilian vehicles are now unlocked in MP scenarios
- Tweaked: Lowered cost of enemy vehicles by 0.5 in MP scenarios
- Tweaked: Tanks should now only spawn on last zone (MP)
- New: Added Spotter and Sniper load outs on the last objective (MP)
- Changed: Defend Syrta now has disabled AI by default
- Firing Drills: CoF Green – removed manual hiding of barriers now they were removed from Stratis globally
- Firing Drills: CoF Red 3 – disabled detecting statue as no-shoot until new solution is found (old one removed due to map optimizations)
- Music has been reorganized to new class names, old ones are kept for compatibility
- Main menu music track fix (different version of same track)
- British Radio Protocol voices added (1 x Jay Crowe + 3 x Jayholder as data placeholder for future recordings)
- Removed occasional animation glitch after Team Switch
- Digital Deluxe Edition: Tactical Guide updated with various tweaks
- Digital Deluxe Edition: Map updated with higher resolution
ENGINE
- Many AI tweaks and fixes
- Enabled blood when Korean language is selected
- Improved: Tank collisions / flipping
- epeImpulseDamageCoef parameter can now be changed for any vehicle
- AI drivers are now better able to navigate out of obstacle and unstuck themselves
- New possibility to turn off adaptive crosshair in options
- Fixed: Favorite sessions in LAN view
- Increased the limit of shown servers in the server browser from 500 to 10000
- Fixed: Broken location detection of MP clients – people should be finally able to see servers close to them
- Fixed: Country detection in MP
- Crouch (toggle) now works correctly for launchers
- Fixed: Aiming while holding ‘sprint’ key and not moving
- Removed zoom warp (by using sprint while in optics)
- Fixed: More strange zoom while sprinting with fatigue removed
- NRemoved strange zoom when aiming while trying to sprint with high fatigue
- Improved: Helicopter dropping like a stone when AA hits them
- Fixed: Crash when player engages in conversation and has no topic
- Added: Random angular velocity for dropped weapons in ragdoll
- Fixed: DnD with container on soldier’s container tab caused wrong behavior
- Fixed: DnD with container on soldier’s linked backpack caused wrong behavior
- Fixed: Replacing linked weapon from weapon stored in backpack caused wrong behavior
- Fixed: Bag disappearance and duplication
- Fixed: Gear shows no magazines except handguns
- removeWeapon can also unlink assigned items now
- Fixed: Command removeBackpack
- Fixed: removeAllContainers leaves unit with uniform model even though their uniform is removed (http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=7879)
- Fixed: Action Drop Backpack was not working
- The Men category is now properly sorted in the unit dialog in editor
- Fixed: saveStatus and loadStatus commands did not work
- Fixed: CheckCursorActionTarget performance
- Skybox lighting is now done per-pixel
- New scripting commands for getting and setting identity parameters
- New scripting command for getting fog parameters (fogParams)
- Added parameter turretCanSee config parameter to distinguish usability of compass for copilots
Nordic Games has released a new CGI trailer for their upcoming Deadfall Adventures, which is due out this November. Enjoy!