Author - Jerry Paxton

Toment Kickstarter Passes 2 Million

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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

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Cambridge, Mass. – March 8th, 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 PlayStationŽNetwork and Xbox LIVEŽ Arcade!

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

On March 12th, 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 PlayStationŽ3 system (March 12th, 2013): 

  • Oingo Boingo – “Weird Science” O X
  • Toto – “Rosanna” O

(These tracks will be available in Europe on PlayStationÂŽ3 system March 13th)

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™.

2K Games, Crystal Dynamics, Obsidian, and more developers join Videogamer: The Film

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Atlanta, GA. – (March 8th, 2013) – Videogamer: The Film is an exciting never-been-done-before full length movie exploring the creative process of making an innovative video game (and game related products and services) and the marketing involved to make it a successful release. What makes the Halo series such a smash hit game after game as compared to cult classics like Okami or Indigo Prophecy? And how will that innovation evolved as the industry shift towards digital game downloads and next gen hardware? By combining the views of developers, publishers, studios, journalists, writers, directors and gamers across the globe, this revolutionary film will no doubt spark a much needed conversation for transparency in the gaming community and influence the future of gaming.

The Kickstarter project, “Videogamer: The Film” approaches gaming as a whole with the idea-it’s bigger than just one country, it’s a worldwide industry. Videogamer: The Film intends to travel abroad to several countries to film at development studios and annual conventions. Studio visits in Japan, China, and Germany have been confirmed, and more are soon to come.

  • 2K Games and Gearbox Software have allowed us the opportunity to conduct some great interviews in preparing to announce the film. They’ve invited us to their studio for filming, and we intend to go behind the scenes to bring you closer to some of your favorite 2K games, and of course the incredible Borderlands series!
  • Crystal Dynamics has been hard at work on the critically acclaimed “Tomb Raider” for the past few years and that resulted in a very successful release! We visited the studio in December of 2012 and are happy to have their participation in Videogamer: The Film, providing us the opportunity to film the brilliant team behind “Tomb Raider”
  •  Obsidian has developed a number of remarkable titles: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords, Alpha Protocol, Fallout: New Vegas, and is actively working on a new project titled “Project Eternity” We are filming at their studio in Irvine, CA April, 2013.
  • Crytek is well know for both its Far Cry and Crysis series, and for the CryEngine. Crytek has consistently delivered highly polished games, and most recently added Crysis 3 to that list. Meeting up with the team behind the games is scheduled to happen at this years GDC.
  • Atlus has published many classic titles, and is well known for its championed library of role-playing games. A number of well know titles come from its Persona and Shin Megami Tensei series.
  •  More to be announced!

“Videogamer: The Film” maintains both a confident and realistic view on the promising future of gaming and the major players within the industry. “Videogamer: The Film” is being created with the industry’s future in mind, compiling only the best commentary from developers, publishers, journalists, and gamers.

The gaming industry is worldwide, and as such, “VideoGamer: The Film” will be a monumental documentary with international appeal. For more information on the film please visit http://videogamerthefilm.com

Divoom ONBEAT-X1 Bluetooth Gaming Speaker Now Available for Pre-Order

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Lake Forest, Calif.–March 8, 2013–CompuExpert, a division of Digital Interactive Systems Corp., today announced that the Divoom ONBEAT-X1, a Bluetooth gaming speaker specially designed for smartphones, tablets, and other Bluetooth-enabled devices, is now available for online pre-order at Amazon, GameStop, NewEgg, and NCIX. The ONBEAT-X1 is slated to ship in North America on March 27, 2013.

A compact, Bluetooth-based speaker system, the ONBEAT-X1 is expertly crafted to amplify the sound of any smartphone, tablet, or other Bluetooth-enabled device. With its earmark “Vibration Bass” feature, the ONBEAT-X1 offers a more realistic and enhanced gaming experience by producing shakes and vibrations in reaction to gameplay audio and music playback.

No Bluetooth? No worries–the ONBEAT-X1 also includes a traditional 3.5mm audio cable ready to use with non-Bluetooth media devices. The consumer-friendly speaker can readily be attached to the back of any device using three strong suction cups, and allows for up to 8 hours of music amplification provided by the built-in lithium ion battery, rechargeable via micro USB.

Amazon:

Amazon Link

GameStop:

NewEgg:

Newegg Link

NCIX:

NCIX Link

Call of Juarez: Gunslinger Teaser Trailer and Screenshots

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March 7th, 2013 — Today, Ubisoft is releasing a new teaser trailer for Call of JuarezÂŽ Gunslinger. From the dust of a gold mine to the dirt of a saloon, Call of JuarezÂŽ Gunslinger is a real homage to the Wild West tales and era. Players will live the epic journey of Silas Greaves, a ruthless bounty hunter who spent his life on the trail of the West’s most notorious outlaws. Now it is Silas’ time to tell his story, which is linked to the history of the Wild West era: a mix of myths and historical facts.

Made of memorable encounters with some of the West’s most notorious names such as Pat Garret, Jesse James and Butch Cassidy, the game blurs the lines between man and myth. Call of Juarez® Gunslinger lets players live the greatest legends of the Old West.

Teaser Trailer

Screenshot Gallery

Dogs of War Online Screenshots Revealed

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PARIS – Mar. 7, 2013 – Cyanide today unveiled images of Dogs of War Online, the free-to-play multiplayer game based on the universe of Confrontation. It will be released for PC in Q2 2013.

Dogs of War Online is a turn-based, tactical arena game with gameplay heavily influenced by the eponymous board game published by Rackham. Players are tasked with creating a squad of mercenaries made up of units of their choosing, and must send them to fight in fierce battles against other players. Movement and contact are based on a system of hexagonal boxes.

The player must also demonstrate leadership qualities and cope with frequent unexpected events related to the life of a mercenary company: desertion, tension between soldiers, and theft, among other problems.

To ensure that soldiers do not spend their free time ransacking the neighborhood, players will be able to send them on missions between battles and thus increase winnings.

Finally, each player will be able to customize existing mercenaries or grow armies by acquiring items and new units.

Set in a world where honor is an unknown concept, Dogs of War Online offers three armies at its launch: Ram, composed of undead minions, each one more sinister than the other; Lion, with its seemingly noble knights who are better known for their greed and deceit; and Wolfen, dangerous predators who consider every stranger their prey.

Today’s screenshots give a glimpse of a Confrontation between the Lion and Wolfen!

Planned for release in Q2 2013, Dogs of War Online is exclusively multiplayer and will be available for free.

For more information on Dogs of War Online,

First Screenshots

Arma 3 Announces Community Guide Video Series

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Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday 6th March 2013 — Building upon the successful launch of the much-anticipated Arma 3™ Alpha, Bohemia Interactive has joined forces with one of its community members to create a series of tutorial videos.

Over the next couple of weeks, Andrew Gluck – better known as Dslyecxi from the Arma community group ShackTactical – will introduce players to Arma 3 and share tips on topics like infantry combat, co-operative multiplayer and mission editing. The first video, which was just released, takes a more general look at Arma 3 and illustrates the authenticity, diversity and opportunity at the heart of Bohemia Interactive’s tactical military shooter.

“The Community Guide series is intended to introduce both new and old players alike to the wealth of possibilities that Arma 3 brings to the table, as well as familiarize them with the basic tactical concepts needed to survive in the realistic combat environments they’ll encounter on the Mediterranean island of Stratis. This first video sets the stage by talking about what makes the Arma series such a unique and compelling military sandbox experience“, explains Andrew Gluck aka Dslyecxi.

The Arma 3 Alpha provides players with the opportunity to try out a limited, work-in-progress build of Arma 3 and contribute to its development by reporting feedback. In comparison to the full game, the playable and sandbox content in the Arma 3 Alpha is considerably limited. It includes 4 singleplayer showcase missions, a subset of weapons and vehicles, 2 multiplayer scenarios, the scenario editor and modding support. The Alpha is set on the island of Stratis (20 km²), while the full game will feature over 290 km² of Mediterranean terrain.

Korneel van ‘t Land, Brand & PR Manager on Arma 3, concludes:
“The idea behind Dslyecxi’s Community Guides is simple: approach Arma 3 from a player’s perspective, highlight what’s new and what sets the series apart, and provide basic tips on how you can leverage the full potential of Arma 3. As a dedicated community member since Operation Flashpoint, Andrew pools from countless hours of experience and is able to share his enthusiasm like no other.”

Arma 3 Community Guide Video #1