The D&D Team at Wizards of the Coast is excited to debut D&D Direct, a jam-packed thirty-minute video presentation on April 21 at 9:00 AM Pacific Time.
Tune in to see exclusive reveals from the world’s greatest roleplaying game, including video games, entertainment, and more, guided by hosts Anna Prosser and B. Dave Walters.
Rebellion, one of the world’s most successful independent studios, has today released a new video for Sniper Elite 5 which gives in-depth insight from the development team about the variety of weapons in the game as well as the incredible customization options available to the player. The new Weapons & Customization Spotlight also reveals the steps the team at Rebellion takes to recreate the authentic weapons in minute detail and is available to view here:
Rebellion worked with renowned military historian and star of the Combat Dealers TV show, Bruce Crompton, as well as the Imperial War Museum and Royal Armouries Museum to capture thousands of reference images and audio recordings of World War 2 weapons and vehicles to help ensure maximum authenticity. The new video takes you behind the scenes and shows the meticulous level of detail that goes into creating the game.
Sniper Elite 5 offers a level of customization never seen before in the franchise with players able to change a weapon’s stock, magazines, receiver, barrel, scopes and iron sights as well as the materials. This enables the player to finesse their weapons to best suit their playstyle, whether that is stealthy and methodical, ‘run and gun’ or a mixture of the two. Customization options can also be accessed during gameplay as the player discovers Workbenches in the game maps. These will in turn unlock further customization options.
The latest game in the award-winning franchise, Sniper Elite 5 will release simultaneously on Xbox Game Pass, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4 & 5, Epic, Steam and the Windows Store on May 26, 2022. The game is available to pre-order now and players that do pre-order will receive an additional Target Führer campaign mission titled “Wolf Mountain.” A Deluxe Edition is also available, which will include Season Pass One, as well as the P.1938 Suppressed Pistol for pre-orders.
To keep up to date with all the latest Sniper Elite 5 news please visit sniper.com and follow the game on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
MOUNTAIN, creator of innovative, premium peripherals with user-centric design to enable gamers and content creators to perform at their best, introduces its first small form factor keyboard with Everest 60. Staying true to its mission of delivering peak performance, MOUNTAIN cut no corners with the latest entry to the Everest product family.
Everest 60 comes in the extremely compact 60% form factor but does not cut necessary functional corners, as arrow keys remain part of the layout. Contrasting its sleek and minimalistic exterior is a complex and sophisticated interior design, using multiple layers of foam and silicone to create a satisfying and muted sound profile.
Featuring a plethora of high-end tuning, the manufacturing of Everest 60 includes countless extra steps to achieve a premium result. Unheard of outside of the keyboard enthusiast DIY space, including additional materials and hours of manual precision work, this intricate attention to detail delivers value unlike any other keyboard on the market today.
Premium switches are a key element to a superior mechanical keyboard. MOUNTAIN developed its very own lineup of mechanical switches with MOUNTAIN Linear 45, Linear 45 Speed, and Tactile 55 switches, which make their debut on Everest 60. Factory-lubed and optimized for smooth and precise operation, these switches are rated for a lifetime of 100 million actuations.
Rounding off its meticulous sound design are Cherry stabilizers, hand-clipped and hand-lubricated from the factory to enable rattle-free gaming and typing experiences. All Everest 60 keyboards ship with double-shot keycaps made of extremely durable PBT, guaranteeing translucent legends that never fade or wear off.
Much like Everest, Everest 60 is modular and upgradeable with its separately sold Everest 60 Numpad, which is hot-pluggable and can connect on either side. The switches are hot-swappable and easy to replace or exchange with any other Cherry MX style 3-pin or 5-pin switch.
Customization is at the heart of MOUNTAIN’s user-centric design philosophy. To enable every user to make Everest 60 truly their own, its launch is accompanied by the release of ten MOUNTAIN Mineral keycap sets. Also made of PBT and featuring translucent double-shot legends, a wide choice of colorways is available, inspired by some of the world’s most beautiful minerals.
“MOUNTAIN’s strong focus on putting users’ needs front and centre of every step in our product development bears fruit in a 60% mechanical keyboard unlike any other,” says Tobias Brinkmann, Founder and CEO of MOUNTAIN. “Everest 60’s custom layout ensures that, despite its portable form factor, functionality for both gamers and content creators remains intact.”
“The enormous success of Everest Max showed that our idea of a modern and innovative mechanical keyboard resonates incredibly well with gamers and content creators” added Bram Rongen, Brand Strategy Manager of MOUNTAIN. “We condensed the very essence of Everest in Everest 60 and introduced some of the latest trends in enthusiast keyboard tuning, such as multi-layered noise-dampening, 5-pin hot-swappable switch support, and more.”
MOUNTAIN Everest 60, Everest 60 Numpad, MOUNTAIN Mineral keycap sets, and MOUNTAIN Switches are now available, in stock and ready for immediate dispatch at https://us-mountainggshop.com
Big Brane Studios and nDreams are delighted to announce that nDreams will publish Big Brane’s upcoming title Sushi Ben VR (working title), coming to all major VR headsets.
Sushi Ben VR is the second title that nDreams are confirmed to be publishing following the creation of their Third-Party Publishing Initiative in 2021. We’ll be revealing more Sushi Ben VR details in the coming months.
“When we started looking for publishers nDreams was the first one we wanted to send our pitch deck to and, after speaking to just about every other VR publisher, nDreams wound up being the publisher we connected with the most!” said Kane Tyler, Head of Big Brane Studios. “I’m thrilled to have nDreams’ support and I can’t wait to share more about the game in the coming months.”
“When we first met Kane and the Big Brane team, we knew we had to work with them,” said David Corless, VP of Publishing at nDreams. “Sushi Ben VR is a captivating narrative adventure, and the imaginative use of Japanese-inspired narrative devices works brilliantly in VR. We’re excited to work with Big Brane to bring Sushi Ben to the world.”
Sushi Ben VR is a narrative adventure game where you have to save your favourite Sushi restaurant from going out of business by convincing the local town’s folk to eat there with you. However, not everyone will be easily convinced to come and dine with you. You’ll need to complete various tasks and help townspeople out of predicaments in order to earn their trust. Different narrative encounters will take place depending on your interactions with the game’s NPCs.
The game uses 3D manga panels as a unique narrative device and features an anime inspired art style. Kane previously worked in a sushi bar and Sushi Ben VR is loosely based on the life of his former colleague at the bar. After its initial reveal, Sushi Ben VR was nominated for two awards at the 2021 Raindance Immersive awards.
There’ll be more Sushi Ben VR updates in the coming months so be sure to follow Sushi Ben VR on Twitter and nDreams on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube to be first in line to find out the latest updates.
Today Aspyr Media, a wholly owned subsidiary of Embracer’s Saber Interactive operative group, has entered into an agreement to acquire the video game studio Beamdog. Best known for bringing beloved Dungeons & Dragons role-playing games like Baldur’s Gate and Planescape: Torment to desktop, tablets and modern consoles, Beamdog will operate as an independent studio within Aspyr. The closing of the acquisition is subject to regulatory approval and other agreed-upon closing conditions.
Founded in 2009 by former BioWare leads Trent Oster and Cameron Tofer, Beamdog is one of Canada’s most established game studios. Its team of 80 artists, designers and developers has relationships with top licensors, including Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro, as well as an impressive catalogue of RPG titles. Through the acquisition, Aspyr will add a veteran North American development team, which will continue to be led by Oster.
The two companies will collaborate closely on Beamdog’s newly revealed MythForce, which Aspyr will publish as an early access title on the Epic Games Store on April 20, 2022. Inspired by beloved ‘80s cartoon franchises like Thundercats and He-Man, MythForce unites colorful swords and sorcery with gripping first-person combat in a roguelite adventure.
“Beamdog is a tremendously talented group that we’ve admired for a long time. Their development philosophy and studio vision are perfectly aligned with ours. We look forward to seeing them realize their ambition with MythForce while maximizing the long-term potential of an incredible archive of classic games,” said Ted Staloch, CEO of Aspyr.
“This acquisition will open up a ton of exciting opportunities for us. Beamdog can now focus our talent, efforts and imagination on building the great games we want to play while properly looking after established fan-favorite RPGs. Beamdog’s first original IP is a fun-filled start to our studio’s next chapter,” said Beamdog CEO Trent Oster.
For more information on MythForce, visit www.MythForce.com, and follow @MythForce on Twitter for the latest updates.
Stranger Things 4 Vol. 1 premieres May 27th, only on Netflix.
It’s been six months since the Battle of Starcourt, which brought terror and destruction to Hawkins. Struggling with the aftermath, our group of friends are separated for the first time – and navigating the complexities of high school hasn’t made things any easier. In this most vulnerable time, a new and horrifying supernatural threat surfaces, presenting a gruesome mystery that, if solved, might finally put an end to the horrors of the Upside Down.
“Ave Imperator, Morituri te salutant!” (“Hail, emperor, those who are about to die salute you!”) – a sentence shouted by the warriors, who were about to risk their life not for their country or a greater cause but for glory itself: The Gladiators! In ancient Rome, it was all about “panem et circensis” (~ “bread and games”) to entertain the masses and to keep them satisfied with the current rulership.
With its brand new DLC “Death or Glory”, the critically acclaimed CRPG Expeditions: Rome will bring the feeling of these ancient roman games to your PC by introducing a new class – the Gladiator – and adding arenas to the different regions, you’ve visited throughout the campaign. You can now prove the combat prowess of your praetorian guard in the sands of the arena and fight against various enemies, including ferocious lions and very talented champions – will you claim their titles for yourself?
The new DLC is out today and a legion of other additions are coming along with the Gladiator-class, and its unique set of 24 skills. There are the new arenas, new weapons, new armours, new crafting recipes, and new enemies as well as new customization options for your legion and your praetorians. The DLC content will be included into the campaign or can be accessed directly by starting the game in the new “Gladiator Mode”.
The Expeditions: Rome DLC Death or Glory launches today, April, 12th, 2022 on PC at an SRP of $ 9.99 | € 9.99 | £ 7.99 and comes with a 20% release discount.
Try before you buy? Download the Expeditions: Rome demo now on Steam, you can even continue playing from your save game if you get the full game: https://thqn.net/rome-steam
Frontier Developments plc (AIM: FDEV) invites players to experience Planet Zoo: Wetlands Animal Pack, a brand new expansion for the ultimate zoo simulation, launching today on Steam for a suggested retail price of £7.99 / $9.99 / €9.99.
With the arrival of Planet Zoo: Wetlands Animal Pack, players can now welcome eight mesmerizing new species from one of the world’s richest biomes to their zoos. The laid-back Capybara, the remarkable-looking Platypus, the graceful Asian Small-Clawed Otter, the peeping Spectacled Caiman, the agile Nile Lechwe, the magnificent Wild Water Buffalo, the elegant Red-Crowned Crane, and the distinctive Danube Crested Newt Exhibit Animal are certain to fascinate zookeepers and guests alike.
Players can ensure their new arrivals will thrive with new enrichments. Watch as the Capybara bathes under the Hot Water Tap, or find the Platypus using its webbed feet to burrow into its home. The Small Underwater Feeder, Underwater Buoy, and Natural Water Jet will also add comfort and fun to habitats.
Planet Zoo: Wetlands Animal Pack also provides players with the chance to try their hand at an exciting new timed scenario set in Brazil’s breath-taking Pantanal region, one of the largest and most diverse wetlands ecosystems in the world. Budding zookeepers must help to rescue animals who cannot return to the wild and ensure they can truly flourish, in this welfare and conservation-focused challenge.
Alongside today’s pack launch, players can also enjoy a free base-game update, bringing a range of exciting extras and enhancements, including roaming educator talks, a new ‘Explore Cam’ feature that allows players to experience their zoos at guest height, new water customisation options, and more.
While Planet Zoo: Wetlands Animal Pack brings the much-requested Capybara to the game, Frontier will be celebrating today’s launch by bringing the real thing to Twitch with a special stream in aid of conservation. Streaming from Cambridgeshire’s Shepreth Wildlife Park, viewers will get a deeper insight into the daily habits of these notoriously relaxed and sociable animals via carefully placed habitat cameras and zookeeper talks, and take a closer look at gameplay from the pack. All proceeds from the stream, which runs from 11am-7.40pm BST on 12th April, will go directly to the Shepreth Wildlife Conservation Charity, which helps support conservation efforts at Shepreth Wildlife Park and donates grants to a number of projects worldwide.
Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) today announced that it is acquiring D&D Beyond, the leading digital toolset and game companion for the Company’s groundbreaking fantasy franchise, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, from Fandom. Fandom, the world’s largest fan platform, has owned and operated D&D Beyond since 2019 and has grown the direct-to-consumer business to be the leading role-playing game (RPG) digital toolset on the market with close to 10 million registered users. This strategic acquisition, for $146.3 million in cash, will further strengthen Hasbro’s capabilities in the fast-growing digital tabletop category while also adding veteran talents to the Wizards of the Coast team and accelerating efforts to deliver exceptional experiences for fans across all platforms.
Since 2017, D&D Beyond has helped to power DUNGEONS & DRAGONS tabletop play and deliver the brand’s eighth consecutive year of growth in 2021. Over the last three years, the royalty paid to Hasbro by D&D Beyond has represented a significant contribution to the fastest growing source of revenue for DUNGEONS & DRAGONS. The strategic acquisition of D&D Beyond will deliver a direct relationship with fans, providing valuable, data-driven insights to unlock opportunities for growth in new product development, live services and tools, and regional expansions. As part of Wizards, the brand’s leadership will soon be able to drive a unified, player-centric vision of the world’s greatest role-playing game on all platforms.
“The acquisition of D&D Beyond will accelerate our progress in both gaming and direct to consumer, two priority areas of growth for Hasbro, providing immediate access to a loyal, growing player base,” said Chris Cocks, Hasbro Chief Executive Officer. “Hasbro’s gaming portfolio is among the largest and most profitable in the industry, and we continue to make strategic investments to grow our brands, including in digital.”
“This is the perfect next step for the talented D&D Beyond team, who built a transformative digital product that engaged and delighted millions of D&D fans around the world,” said Perkins Miller, CEO of Fandom. “We can’t wait to see what this team will do next as an integral part of the D&D franchise, and I look forward to investing in more brands and products to super serve Fandom’s 300 million+ global fans.”
“D&D Beyond has been one of our most valuable partners in the digital space for the past six years and we’re excited to bring their best-in-class talent onto our team,” said Cynthia Williams, President of Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming. “The team at D&D Beyond has built an incredible digital platform, and together we will deliver the best-possible DUNGEONS & DRAGONS experience for players around the world.”
Hasbro’s continued investment in Wizards of the Coast’s digital growth for its two iconic franchises, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS and MAGIC: THE GATHERING, is representative of the significant opportunity in PC and mobile gaming, an industry that represented over 3 billion players globally and $129 billion in revenue in 20211. With the launch of Magic: The Gathering Arena on PC in 2019 and on mobile in 2021, Wizards has built a unique ecosystem of best-in-class tabletop and digital play to create deeper player engagement and satisfaction and grow revenue across all expressions and regions. Similarly, with more than 80% of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS fans having already played the game virtually in 2021, aided by online digital platforms such as D&D Beyond, this acquisition accelerates the game’s ability to penetrate new markets, gather valuable consumer insights and provide players with the best DUNGEONS & DRAGONS experience on all platforms.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and the receipt of certain regulatory approvals, and is expected to close during the second or third quarter of 2022. The transaction will be funded out of cash on hand and is expected to be immaterial to revenue and earnings per share in 2022 and accretive to earnings per share in fiscal year 2023 and beyond. The transaction has been approved by both Hasbro’s and Fandom’s Boards of Directors.
Stardock announced the April 26th release date for Galactic Civilizations IV today. The newest installment of the award-winning space 4X strategy sandbox game series takes the best of what its predecessors had to offer and adds new features like multi-sector maps, the ability to customize your civilization mid-game via policies, internal factions, a unique mission/quest system, and so much more.
As the all-powerful leader of a spacefaring civilization, players will seek out new star systems and discover the exciting potential of the subspace realm. With over a dozen starting civilizations to choose from – plus the ability to create unique custom civilizations from scratch – the possibilities for each playthrough are endless, leaving players with a truly unique experience every time they start up a new game.
“Galactic Civilizations IV is the result of years of thinking about the exciting innovations that have been occurring in strategy games,” said Brad Wardell, Stardock CEO. “We want to give players the ultimate turn-based strategy experience, and we’ve accomplished this by adding in tons of new features that add to the depth and scope of the game while incorporating feedback over several alpha and beta testing phases.”
For nearly 30 years, the Galactic Civilizations series has focused on four main pillars: a simulated universe, strong AI opponents, rich lore, and multiple paths to victory. Galactic Civilizations IV supports this approach through several new features.
Multi-sector maps add a new depth to the scope of Galactic Civilizations IV. While players will still be able to play a smaller map, the ability to span an adventure across an enormous map with multiple sectors gives a true feeling of galactic conquest and exploration. Each sector is connected by subspace streams that will allow the player to travel between them.
While the idea of citizens was introduced in Galactic Civilizations III, their role was not as distinct as it is now. Citizens have individual approval ratings and keeping them happy is important – a disloyal and unhappy governor might just take their planet and corresponding colonies with them and start a new empire if the player isn’t careful. The story of the game changes depending on which characters are recruited and how their various backstories manifest throughout.
Galactic Achievements solve the age-old problem of a player seeing a clear trajectory to victory that is locked behind another couple hours of gameplay. Historically, many players quit at this point and don’t bother finishing their game because they “know they are going to win,” but it’s hardly a satisfactory victory. With this new feature, players can take on a challenge to earn “prestige points” that will go toward a total necessary for them to win the game. This cuts down on the “grind” of late game and allows a story to come to a much more interesting conclusion.
The concept of the Core Worlds system was introduced to reduce micromanagement. Previously, players would have to manage each world they conquered individually. When a player colonizes a subpar world, it will feed into a core world that the player has already established. With this system, players will directly oversee a lower number of worlds, but still receive the benefits of colonizing and conquering as many as possible.
To further support a unique experience for every game of Galactic Civilizations IV, players will now be able to set and update policies and issue executive orders during gameplay. Policies allow a player to shift priorities as they play by choosing between different buffs and focuses, while executive orders allow the player to spend a new resource called control to do things like print money or draft colonies.
There are many other features that comprise the Galactic Civilizations IV experience, including several new additions for helping newer players. An in-game tutorial and advisors that offer strategic and tactical advice make getting started easier than ever before. Many old and beloved features from previous games – including the ship designer and civilization creator – are also included.
For more information or to get into the beta now, visit www.galciv4.com.
