Author - Jerry Paxton

PLANET OF THE APES THE ROLE-PLAYING GAME Pre-Order Campaign Announced

Premium graphic novel and games publisher Magnetic Press has announced the launch date for their pre-order campaign for the official tabletop Role-Playing Game based on 20th Century Studios’ world-renowned property, THE PLANET OF THE APES, along with details about campaign-exclusive offerings, to be hosted by popular platform Kickstarter.

Developed by a team of award-winning writers and game designers led by acclaimed writer/designer Andrew E.C. Gaska, this roleplaying game will include material inspired by the canon established in the original five-film series, with brand new lore and adventures added to the original, sprawling science fiction universe.

PLANET OF THE APES: THE ROLE-PLAYING GAME will be available for pre-order on Kickstarter soon with numerous pre-order incentives and exclusive items that will only be available through this event. Such exclusive offerings include additional gaming materials, new miniature gameplay piece sets, physical in-world artifacts to assist roleplay, and bonus gameplay enhancements that will not be available in retail.

This new tabletop RPG will consist of four primary components, starting with the hardcover CORE RULEBOOK, which features cover artwork by legendary artist Bill Sienkiewicz. This deluxe 300+ page volume contains all of the rules, statistics, and lore necessary to introduce new players to the world of Planet of the Apes while a separate sourcebook, THE ANSA FILES, will provide references and resources specific to the classic films and novels. Two limited-edition Slipcase Sets of the two hardcovers will be available exclusively through the campaign featuring unique textured casing in one of two collectible colors.

In addition to these hardcover books, the FORBIDDEN ZONE Campaign Adventure Box will contain an assortment of supplemental tools and content to help players explore this dangerous world. Contents will include a campaign adventure book, unique maps and player markers, a set of 12 thematic “Alpha and Omega” 6-sided dice, a 3-panel LAWGIVER Reference Screen with handy tables, and a deck of game statistics cards.

To further immerse players into this adventurous world, the campaign will showcase the RUINS OF TOMORROW Miniatures Set of plastic playing pieces that will only be available directly from Magnetic Press. These detailed game pieces capture the various character types, both ape and human, for strategic tabletop gameplay. Additional sets of plastic playing pieces will be revealed throughout the campaign as unlockable “stretch goals.” Such unlockable additions include the ANSA astronaut spaceship, a Statue of Liberty dice tower, and many other character types and locations featured in the original films. Unlike the two core rulebooks, these plastic gameplay expansions will not be available at retail.

Fans are encouraged to visit www.PlanetoftheApesRPG.com to pre-register for the upcoming campaign and to receive an exclusive linen cardstock art print of the cover by Bill Sienkiewicz added to their pre-order for free.

Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II Announcement Trailer

Kasedo Games & Bulwark Studios last night announced Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II, the sequel to the critically acclaimed turn-based tactical game, is coming to Windows PC, PlayStation®5 & Xbox Series X|S.

The highly anticipated announcement headlined this year’s Warhammer Skulls Showcase, with Games Workshop’s annual festival for licensed video games culminating in the world premiere of the reveal trailer for the awaited sequel.

After millennia of slumber, Vargard Nefershah mobilises her dynasty’s legions to annihilate the Adeptus Mechanicus interlopers who unknowingly settled upon her world. Across the galaxy, Magos Dominus Faustinius is summoned to bring his hard-won expertise to bear and ensure the Necrons do not succeed. The conflict soon becomes a crucible of unanticipated significance, drawing to it external actors stranger and more deadly still.

In an exciting addition for the sequel, players will not just be battling as the Adeptus Mechanicus against the awakening of a Necron tomb world, but will also be able to fight as the Necrons for the resurgence of their dynasty , with both sides now fully playable over multiple campaigns.

Strategic gameplay is again at the forefront of the action, with players able to manage their territories’ garrisons and assemble forces for each mission, choosing from a vastly expanded selection of fighters from each faction’s range. New environmental mechanics will also require players to maneuver their forces like never before and play to their chosen faction’s strengths and weaknesses – take cover behind terrain as the Mechanicus, or destroy it as the Necrons.

Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II is once again expertly bringing the setting to life with awe-inspiring music and audio design by critically acclaimed composer Guillaume David and the gripping continuation of the Mechanicus saga by veteran author Ben Counter, best known for his Black Library novels. The epic conflict, skillfully woven over multiple campaigns, is replete with narrative events, with the player choices shaping not just the course of the war, but its climactic outcome.

Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II is coming to Windows PC, PlayStation®5 & Xbox Series X|S.

Alaskan Road Truckers: Highway Edition Console Edition Coming Soon

Green Man Gaming Publishing today announced Alaskan Road Truckers is coming to Xbox Series S|X and PlayStation 5 on 11th July. Developed by Road Studio S.A and co-publisher Movie Games S.A, Alaskan Road Truckers: Highway Edition includes all DLC released on PC to date. Find the announce trailer here:

Alaskan Road Truckers: Highway Edition brings life on The Last Frontier to Xbox and PlayStation fans in a wintery mix of driving simulation and on-foot survival mechanics, on 11th July. As a daring trucker, take perilous routes to save time, perform roadside repairs on your rig and brave the dangerous conditions in challenging survival-based gameplay, as you travel across 6,000 miles of roadway in 260,000square miles of country.

Drive

  • Travel the wilds of Alaska in a sprawling map as you battle a dynamic weather system
  • Haul a range of cargo through the toughest conditions
  • Gear up and prepare for the journey ahead, with truck maintenance, emergency repairs and other challenges to contend with

Survive

  • Stranded and low on funds for roadside assistance? Leave the safety of your cab and fix your truck, if you can brave the wintery conditions
  • Don’t just fuel your rig; contend with hunger, fatigue and body temperature to keep yourself healthy
  • Battle the elements with mudslides, avalanches, fallen trees and blizzards
  • Tackle three game modes; casual, standard and hardcore, for the most challenging experience

Thrive

  • Make your mobile home your own – customise your truck and stand out from the crowd
  • Build your reputation, manage your HQ and be the master of your own destiny

Following a successful launch on PC, the Trucker community has banded together and helped shape the ongoing development of the game, with hundreds of improvements and three DLC packs to date, all included in Alaskan Road Trucker: Highway Edition at launch.

Green Man Gaming CEO and founder, Paul Sulyok, said, “The passion from the community is testament to what we have believed from day one; the Road Truckers brand is something to be reckoned with. The mix of driving and on-foot survival offers something new and refreshing and our Truckers have been asking for console versions for some time now, so we’re delighted to grow this community even further.”

Michał Puczyński, Road Studios CEO, said “Our dream to combine on-foot survival and driving simulation into something new was a goal that the entire studio felt passionately about, and our journey from idea to launch has been a brilliant challenge. We look forward to what the future holds.”

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 – Multiplayer Modes Reveal

Take a look at the multiplayer game modes coming in Space Marine 2, including a brand-new 3-player co-op mode and the return of PvP! Prepare to customise your Space Marine from helm to greaves and heed the call of war on September 9.

In addition to the already-available retail pre-orders, digital pre-orders for the game are also open on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, Steam and Epic Games Store.

Besiege: The Splintered Sea Features Trailer

From Spiderling Studios, the new expansion to the acclaimed indie game, Besiege, is out now on Steam! Set sail and show off your maritime might in The Splintered Sea expansion with new challenges, building blocks, and physics. Join Besiege’s community manager, Sam, today at 6pm BST/1pm ET on Twitch as he shows off all the ins and outs of this long-awaited addition.

Aquatic Adventure Awaits
The Splintered Sea is set to turn all eyes back onto the fan favorite as it officially brings water to the game. After three years of development, this expansion offers impressive immersion and impactful gameplay through carefully designed water simulation, marine engineering physics, and eight new building blocks dedicated to nautical success. Ten new oceanic zones await as players look to conquer the seas both on the surface and in the depths below.

A Cult Classic
After five years of early access, beloved sandbox builder Besiege was fully released in 2020, adding additional blocks and levels, a level editor, and the Besiege Multiverse multiplayer experience along the way. Now, the base campaign features fifty-five levels of machine-building fun as players are challenged to conquer the islands of Ipsilon, Tolbrynd, Valfross, and Krolmar. The sky’s the limit for ambitious designers, as creations come to life block by block through the intuitive building system, featuring over seventy building blocks. Over the years, fans of the game have created transforming dinosaurs, walker mechs, and more; what will come off the drawing board next as players embark along The Splintered Sea?

Join Devolver Digital for Volvy’s 15th Birthday Party This June

Devolver Digital, proud purveyors of hand-crafted indie games and substandard legal advice, invite you to join them at devolverdirect.com on June 7 at 5:00p.m. Pacific Time for what promises to be another summer video game showcase.

This year Devolver Digital is celebrating their beloved mascot Volvy’s 15th birthday, and as such will be showering partygoers with a big handful of gaming gifts, including updates and release dates for upcoming titles as well as some exciting new reveals.

Clocking in at approximately 20 minutes, Volvy’s 15th Birthday Party is a short but sweet opportunity to gather around your loved ones and celebrate gaming’s favorite mascot without anything weird happening. Tune in to the totally normal festivities to learn why on earth we would say that.

Midsummer Scream Launches 2024 App and Schedule

Halloween may be five months away, but the Halloween season begins July 26 to July 28 with MIDSUMMER SCREAM. The world’s largest Halloween and horror convention, has unveiled its official app, which allows attendees to plan and schedule their spook-filled days at this year’s event — and with all there is to do, a schedule is a must.

The Midsummer Scream app can be downloaded free for Apple and Android devices. To download, guests can either search the Apple or or Google Play app stores for “Midsummer Scream,” or download links provided at midsummerscream.org/app (a link to an online, app-less version can be found at that link).

“It’s shaping up to be our most thrilling Midsummer Scream yet,” said David Markland, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Midsummer Scream. “We have almost 100 hours of different panels, presentations, and performances, over 300 vendors to browse from, along with haunted houses to visit. We highly encourage downloading and using the app to help organize a single day or a whole weekend’s visit to Midsummer Scream.”

Always among the most popular highlights of Midsummer Scream are presentations and panels by the most popular — and most terrifying — Halloween events throughout California. This year’s Midsummer Scream is no exception, with planned presentations from (in alphabetical order, per day):

Saturday, July 27

  • Castle Dark at Castle Park, Riverside
  • The Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor
  • Six Flags Magic Mountain’s Fright Fest

Sunday, July 28

  • Knott’s Scary Farm at Knott’s Berry Farm
  • The Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group, with a presentation covering three of their local events: LA Haunted Hayride, Delusion and the Magic of the Jack O’Lanterns
  • Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights
  • Winchester Mystery House

The app includes info on these presentations, as well as panels and talks with with Cassandra Peterson (Elvira, Mistress of the Dark); a reunion of cast from Universal Studios theme parks’ Beetlejuice Revue shows; a live performance by composer Alan Howarth (Halloween II-VI, Escape from New York) of some of his most famous scores;, a panel with Hispanic horror filmmakers; and more.

This year’s Midsummer Scream theme is “A Haunting,” exploring real and fictional ghost stories and other paranormal activity. Midsummer Scream also boasts a celebrity guest lineup that includes Roger L. Jackson (the voice of Scream’s Ghost Face); John Kassir (Tales from the Crypt); Boulet Brothers (Dragula); Garret Sander, creator of Monster High, accompanied by voice cast from the animated TV series; Victoria Price, daughter of horror movie legend and cinema icon Vincent Price; cast members from M3GAN and The Black Phone; plus  many more surprises.

Midsummer Scream’s renowned Hall of Shadows — a massive dark zone filled with haunted attractions created by some of the world’s most talented professional and home haunters — also boasts extra added elements this year, which will be announced soon.

Favorite Midsummer Scream attractions will also be on hand throughout the Long Beach Convention Center, including the “Pumpkin Patch” scare-free kids’ zone; the Black Cat Lounge, with kitten adoptions from Kitten Rescue; and the Screaming Room Film Festival, presented by HorrorBuzz. What’s more, some 350 vendors will be on site selling their spooktacular wares.

General admission passes for Midsummer Scream, along with a limited number of VIP “Gold Bat” passes, which sold out in 2023, are available now at www.MidsummerScream.com. Children under 10 are free with an accompanying adult.

Midsummer Scream is presented by David Markland (Co-Founder/Executive Director), Gary Baker (Co-Founder/Executive Producer), Claire Dunlap (Co-Founder/Producer), and Rick West (Co-Founder/Creative Director). Their goal is to showcase the diversity of Southern California’s haunt and horror community as a welcoming beacon for fans around the world to converge on Los Angeles for a weekend of excitement, networking, and non-stop spooky fun!

Warhammer 40000: Rogue Trader Void Shadows DLC Teaser Trailer

Today, cRPG developer Owlcat Games is excited to announce Void Shadows, the first DLC expansion for Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader. Announced as part of Warhammer Skulls, the expansion adds hours of new content and will be available on all platforms on August 8, 2024.

Void Shadows is the first DLC for Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, offering a massive amount of content with about 15 hours of gameplay and a new romanceable companion, all fully integrated into the game’s main story. The DLC allows the players to personally delve into the depths of their voidship in an enthralling story that will pit them against an entirely new enemy who is trying to bring ruin to the von Valancius dynasty from the inside.

  • A new story — Enjoy 15 hours of tense, new adventures on board the voidship with unexpected threats, various quests, two new archetypes with unique abilities, and new lore content, all fully integrated into the main campaign.
  • А new companion — Gain the loyalty (and possibly love) of Kibellah, a Death Cult Assassin ready to pledge her life in service of the von Valancius dynasty just as her predecessors did for generations before her. This new companion will have romance options as part of the new story.
  • New crew members — Interact with high-level officers integral to the player’s voidship operation. These new crew members play a significant role in the new story.
  • А new looming threat — Arising from within the deepest and darkest bowels of the player’s very own voidship is the malignant Genestealer Cult – a horrific breed of xenos who work from the shadows and infect your crew with their genetic code to convert them and slowly twist their loyalties for their wretched goals.
  • New locations to explore — New quests mean new nooks and crannies hidden around the voidship where no Lord Captain has explored before, until now.
  • New feature of the voidship — Upgrade your voidship with a new hangar, able to launch groups of fighters and bombers to succeed in desperate, massive space battles or even bigger threats.

Full Steam Deck support

The development team at Owlcat Games is excited to offer players another way to experience the Lord Captain’s grand starfaring adventures, as Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is now fully tailored for Steam Deck! Players can take their voidship on the go with confidence and carry out the will of the God-Emperor… or choose a different path.

Expeditions: A MudRunner Game Breaking Ground Trailer

Expeditions: A MudRunner Game, the latest creation from Saber Interactive, the renowned studio behind MudRunner and SnowRunner, today launches the “Breaking Ground” free major content update for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC. Check out the update’s new trailer featuring a breakdown of the new earth-shattering map, vehicles and over 20 missions awaiting all players today!

Unearth a long-buried mystery

After an earthquake strikes the heart of Arizona, the environment no longer looks the same. Use all your wilderness exploration skills to find your way through dangerous hills and canyons in the aftermath of a natural disaster. As a scientific explorer, you’re about to reveal to the world the existence of an unknown civilization – follow the clues, observe tracks and take part in one of history’s greatest discoveries!

And for the first time in the MudRunner series, Expeditions’ “Breaking Ground” update offers a teaser of a new environment still to come to the game. Experience an introduction to the Kanab Creek caves, and get ready to continue the adventure underground in future updates!

A content-fueled update: new map, vehicles and objectives!

To help you with the 22 missions featured in this update, two new vehicles are now available: the SIRO 72 T8-H and the AFIM Hornet 622T. A new specialist has also been added to your team, Marcus Kingsley, whose skills will be very handy.

Continued development and roadmap of future updates

Expeditions will continue to offer loads of free content, including new game mechanics, specialists, and vehicles, in addition to new paid content included as part of the Year 1 Pass. Between now and Season 1 later this year, the teams are working hard to improve the game and give players the best possible experience. We’re also happy to announce that the long-awaited co-op mode is coming this summer!

For more on what’s to come, check out Expeditions: A MudRunner Game’s full upcoming content roadmap on Steam. Discovery awaits!

Todd Mcfarlane’s Violator: Origin Miniseries Launches This August

Todd McFarlane Productions proudly unveils its latest addition to the Spawn Universe with a highly anticipated series, Violator: Origin. Written by Eisner Award winning writer Marc Andreyko and featuring an incredible lineup of artists—including Piotr Kowalski, Kyle Hotz, Jonathan Wayshak, Gianenrico Bonacorsi, Cully Hamner, and Von Randall—this six-issue saga will reveal the mythos behind one of the most popular figures in the Spawn Universe.

In Violator: Origin, readers will embark on a fantastic journey through time, revealing the long-awaited origin of the Violator. The story is narrated by the devious storyteller, Violator, himself. It begins with his celestial inception to his catastrophic decent into the fiery depths of hell, and ultimately his banishment to the mortal realm of earth.

The story will run throughout earth’s history, as Violator lurks in the shadows, manipulating the course of events and ensnaring some of the most influential figures to ever walk the earth. With six extra-length issues, and six talented artists—each artist doing a different chapter to the series—readers will be transported through six distinct eras.

Todd McFarlane, creator of Spawn and President of Image Comics, said: “Strangely, that in the 30 year history of the Spawn-Universe, we have never written the origin story of one of the main characters of this mythology. So now, after such a long wait, Marc Andreyko and his crew of artists have delivered a story that is a multi-era spanning telling of how this villain came to be Spawn’s main antagonist. Since his first appearance way back in 1992, I’ve been asking writers to think about doing this story. Luckily Marc has enthusiastically jumped on that request.”

Violator: Origin invites readers on a thrilling journey through the depths of the Spawn Universe with captivating narrative and stunning artwork.

Violator: Origin #1 will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, August 14 (the Final Order Cutoff deadline for retailers is Monday, July 8):

  • Cover A by Piotr Kowalski – Lunar Code 0624IM246
  • Cover B by Francesco Mattina – Lunar Code 0624IM801
  • Cover C by McFarlane – Lunar Code 0624IM802

Violator: Origin will also be available across many digital platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Google Play.

Get ready to embrace the darkness and prepare to uncover the secrets that lie beneath the surface of reality!