Ubisoft has released a new video featuring 8 whole minutes of Watch Dogs multiplayer gameplay, including commentary, for your viewing enjoyment.
Author - Jerry Paxton
In this episode of Machinima’s cross country-gaming challenge web series, AFK, YouTuber’s JeromeASF and MINECRAFTUNIVERSE go head to head in a demolition derby. Prepare for lots of smashing!
Video
Piranha Games has released the first screenshots and details of its upcoming Adder mech, which is part of the Clan Collection of mechs.
Screenshots
IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Alert your guilds, clans, houses, and fellowships—Blizzard Entertainment today announced plans for its eighth BlizzCon® gaming convention, taking place Friday, November 7 and Saturday, November 8 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Southern California. Terrans, nephalem, Alliance, and Horde from across the multiverse are invited to join Blizzard for a two-day celebration at the nexus of all things Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo®.
Tickets to BlizzCon will go on sale in two batches, one on May 7 and the other on May 10. In addition, a limited number of tickets to an exclusive pre-BlizzCon dinner to benefit Children’s Hospital of Orange County will go on sale May 14.
“BlizzCon is always the biggest highlight of the year for us,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “With Hearthstone™ and Reaper of Souls™ recently launched and Heroes of the Storm™ and Warlords of Draenor™ gearing up for beta, 2014 is already shaping up to be an epic year for Blizzard gamers. We can’t wait to celebrate and share what we’ve been working on with everyone this November.”
In addition to serving as the gravitational gathering point for Blizzard Entertainment’s gaming communities, BlizzCon will offer attendees a chance to enjoy:
- Hands-on play time with the latest versions of Blizzard Entertainment games
- Global finals for Blizzard eSports, including the StarCraft® II World Championship Series Global Finals
- In-depth discussion panels with Blizzard game developers and artists
- Competitive and casual tournaments for players to showcase their talents
- Community contests with great prizes
- Commemorative merchandise based on Blizzard Entertainment’s game universes
- More activities and attractions to be announced
Tickets to attend the convention will be priced at $199 USD (plus applicable taxes and fees) each and will be available for purchase from the online event ticketing service Eventbrite via their website (www.blizzcon2014.eventbrite.com) in two separate batches. The first batch goes on sale at 7 p.m. Pacific time on Wednesday, May 7, and the second batch goes on sale at 10 a.m. Pacific time on Saturday, May 10.
Tickets to the BlizzCon Benefit Dinner, which include admission to BlizzCon, will be priced at $750 USD (plus applicable taxes and fees) each, with proceeds going to Children’s Hospital of Orange County (http://www.choc.org) to support their Feeding Therapy Program. Taking place the evening of November 6, this exclusive event offers guests an opportunity to /eat, /drink, and geek out with developers, artists, and other folks from Blizzard before the show—all for a great cause. Approximately 200 tickets to the benefit dinner will be available for purchase beginning 7 p.m. Pacific time on Wednesday, May 14 through www.blizzcon2014.eventbrite.com.
Gamers from the far reaches of Azeroth, the Koprulu sector, and Sanctuary looking to enjoy BlizzCon from the comfort of their own home will once again have the option to order a BlizzCon Virtual Ticket, offering comprehensive live coverage of the event via a multichannel Internet stream. Further details on the Virtual Ticket, including pricing, availability, and programming information, will be announced at a later date.
For further details about BlizzCon 2014, including ticket availability and pricing, visit the official BlizzCon website (www.blizzcon.com). Those interested in attending the show in person can make advance hotel reservations now and receive special BlizzCon rates by booking through the BlizzCon hotel website.
Blizzard Entertainment is currently hiring for numerous open positions. More information on available career opportunities can be found at www.blizzard.com/jobs.
Haarlem, The Netherlands– April 22, 2014 – Indie developer Arkavi Studios has issued a one-two punch announcement today by revealing it’s changed its name from Star Lords to Lords of the Black Sun, while simultaneously reaching the all-important Beta stage of development on Steam. The Beta features highly improved AI that utilizes the ship design component, making for more powerful ships and tougher battles, and offers streamlined gameplay and interface functionality, better lighting, and more.
The brand new gameplay trailer emphasizes what sets apart Lords of the Black Sun from other entries in the 4X realm. Check out the all new gameplay trailer HERE:
Important Beta Updates:
- Improved AI: Now the AI fully uses the ship design component and its latest additions, designing more powerful ships and better managing its military forces making it a significantly tougher opponent.
- Major bug fixes and fixed some crashes and stability issues. Bug and crash fixes include the corrupted save files bug and the Trade Routes menu crash.
- Multiplayer is now being tested internally. While it’s not available in this first Beta release, it will be included soon.
- Added revamped Light and Medium Draakian ships models.
For a full list of changes please visit the official Steam community hub HERE: steamcommunity.com/app/246940
“We at Arkavi Studios are very happy to see Lords of the Black Sun reach this new stage of development,” says Mike Domingues from Arkavi Studios. “We’ve been working hard and the community has been incredibly useful since we went into Early Access, and for that we want to thank everyone involved. However, we still have a long road ahead of us and we hope to continue having the community by our side, helping us make the great space strategy title everyone wants and expects.”
In Lords of the Black Sun, players take command of one race to join the struggle for supremacy in the galaxy. As the leader of an empire, gamers are tasked with exploring the stars, colonizing new worlds, managing their empire and conquering whoever dares to oppose them. Within a framework of turn-based strategy and turn-based combat, Lords of the Black Sun endeavors to differentiate itself by providing players with the ability to beat their opponents by using generals, diplomacy, intelligence, trading, or plotting the downfall of enemies by financing wars against them or aiming to cause anarchy.
Lords of the Black Sun has now entered Beta and is available on the Steam Early Access program at $24.99 at store.steampowered.com/app/246940/
Key Features
- Eight major races each with their own ship designs, technologies, unique traits and unique abilities, meaning playing with each race is a different challenge and offers new ways to approach the game.
- Big, living universe: In addition to the major powers, independent races and pirate clans also claim the galaxy as their residence; their existence can be an annoyance, or a blessing if gamers take advantage of them.
- Deep economic and political layer: War isn’t the only way to weaken players’ rivals. Diplomacy, intelligence and trade can be one of many powerful tools that, if used properly, can be very effective as well.
- Tactical turn-based combat.
- Create and customize ship designs.
- Generals: These unique and powerful units evolve as they battle and if used well can be the difference between defeat and victory.
- Randomly generated universe, tech tree and units: gamers will never play the same game twice.
- Empire shattering: Unrest might lead rebels to start a civil war, which in turn might lead to the creation of a new, independent empire that might grow to rival one’s own.
- Plotting: Secretly finance a war against one’s rivals in order to weaken them or prepare a surprise joint war along with allies in a bid to destroy that frighteningly fast growing empire.
- Human-like AI that doesn’t cheat and plays by the same rules as human players, while presenting a constant challenge; conversely, play with one’s friends in Hotseat mode.
EDMONTON, Alberta – April 22, 2014 – BioWare™, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA), today announced that the highly-anticipated, epic role-playing game, Dragon Age™: Inquisition will be available in stores and for digital download on October 7 in North America and October 10 in Europe. In Dragon Age: Inquisition, the expansive, beautiful world of Thedas is being torn apart by a massive, mysterious breach in the sky. Players must assume the role of the Inquisitor and lead a team of legendary heroes to uncover the truth behind the impending devastation.
Discover all-new gameplay from Dragon Age: Inquisition in “The Inquisitor” trailer:
“Our goal with Dragon Age: Inquisition is to usher in the next-generation of role playing games.” said Aaryn Flynn, General Manager of BioWare Edmonton and Montreal. “Players will experience the rich storylines and characters that they’ve come to expect from BioWare, in an expansive world with large open environments just begging to be explored.”
Players can pre-order* Dragon Age: Inquisition to get special bonus content. Visit the Dragon Age website for more information on editions, including the Deluxe Edition available for pre-order and the upcoming Inquisitor’s Edition.
Become a fan of Dragon Age: Inquisition on Facebook and follow us on Twitter® via http://www.twitter.com/dragonage.
Dragon Age: Inquisition is in development at BioWare in Edmonton and will be available for the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft, Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system from Microsoft and PC via Origin™. The game has not yet been rated the ESRB and PEGI; visit www.esrb.org and www.pegi.info for more information.
*Conditions and restrictions apply. See https://www.origin.com/store/buy/dragon-age-inquisition/pc-download/base-game/digital-deluxe-edition for details.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has released the launch trailer for the Cold, Cold Heart DLC pack for Batman: Arkham Origins.
Trailer
COSTA MESA, Calif. — April 22, 2014 — BenQ America Corp., the fastest growing display brand in North America1, today announced the availability of three new additions to its XL-Z series of first-person shooter (FPS) purpose-built gaming monitors: the 27-inch XL2720Z and 24-inch XL2420Z and XL2411Z widescreen full-HD displays. Featuring BenQ’s exclusive RevolutionEyes™ technology for exceptional monitor performance, the displays are packed with enhancements such as Motion Blur Reduction, Low Blue Light, ZeroFlicker™, gaming refresh rate optimization management (GROM), and 1-ms GTG response times. In addition, the new models offer BenQ’s latest firmware, which enables third-party utility support for further optimization options. The end result is striking visual clarity, seamless motion fluidity, and added viewing comfort for hours of action-packed game play.
“The design of our gaming monitors reflects our overall philosophy of delivering market-first features that give gamers an opportunity to conQuer the game. That’s why we design all of our gaming products in close collaboration with professional gamers,” said Bob Wudeck, Associate Vice President, Strategy and Business Development at BenQ America Corp. “With the latest release of our XL-Z series, we’ve pushed the limits of performance once again by becoming the first major brand to provide Motion Blur Reduction technology for smoother game play. Add in our other exclusive features, and the XL-Z series gives players fully loaded monitors made to turn opponents on their heads.”
The enhanced XL-Z series packs in all of BenQ’s renowned gaming attributes such as Black eQualizer, Display Mode, Smart Scaling, and Height Adjustment Stand. Furthermore, the series adds BenQ’s latest innovations, designed to support gamers by providing an ultra-smooth gaming experience via improved resolutions, faster response times, and quicker refresh rates. Equipped with RevolutionEyes enhancements, the monitors provide a new direct LED backlight system and BenQ’s ZeroFlicker technology — which eliminates backlight flickering at all brightness levels — so that gamers can engage in longer sessions with improved visual comfort during competitive play.
With BenQ’s unique Motion Blur Reduction technology, blurring effects and associated eye fatigue are dramatically reduced on the majority of the screen for a smoother gaming experience. This doesn’t mean that ghosting and/or crosstalk have been entirely eliminated (low levels can still occur), but gamers will notice a substantial improvement in the way action moves across the screen. Equipped with new firmware, the XL-Z series monitors also add support for authorized third-party optimization utilities. As an example, the Blur Busters Strobe Utility optimizes the XL-Z series monitors’ blur reduction settings, allowing gamers to customize their monitors according to their own personal gaming preferences.
Featuring Low Blue Light technology, the XL-Z monitors successfully manage the exposure of blue spectrum light emitted, resulting in more comfortable viewing. To help gamers protect their eyes during extended periods, the monitors provide several adjustable low blue light levels that automatically adjust emission without affecting quality. With the GROM management system, gamers also gain the freedom to custom-build their personal gaming experience according to viewing preferences such as refresh rates (100/120/144Hz), display resolutions, and screen sizes.
Now shipping, BenQ’s new XL2720Z gaming monitor retails at an MSRP of $529, while the XL2420Z and XL2411Z retail for $499.99 and $329 respectively. Additional information on BenQ’s full line of products is available at www.BenQ.us.
Six Flags Great Adventure has revealed their calendar of May events, which kicks off on May 1, 2014 with an Academic Adventures day. See the full list of events below.
Academic Adventures: Biology Day – May 1
Six Flags is proud to bring biology students up close and personal with 1,200 animals from six continents in the 350-acre wildlife preserve, and marine mammals such as California sea lions and Asian small-clawed otters in the theme park. Experienced safari tour guides and marine mammal experts lead the day, and complete it with a fun and interactive game show in Showcase Theater. This event must be booked in advance and takes place on exclusive education days when the theme park is only open for schools/educational groups – park is closed to general public.
Cinco de Mayo presented by Ortega® – May 4
Six Flags Great Adventure will celebrate Cinco de Mayo presented by Ortega® on May 4 with a Fiesta Event featuring games, activities and trivia beginning at 1 p.m. Additionally, guests with valid event wristbands will be able to enjoy exclusive ride time on select rides 30 minutes after the park closes. Theme park admission is required to participate.
Academic Adventures: Safari Off-Road Education – May 6, 7, 13, 14
Now incorporating the new Safari Off Road Adventure, Six Flags takes students grades K-6 on a journey in learning with 1,200 animals from six continents through the 350-acre wildlife preserve lead by experienced tour guides. This program is limited to 400 students per day, and tickets are $19.99 + tax per person. This event must be booked in advance and takes place on exclusive education days when the safari is only open for schools/educational groups – theme park is closed to general public.
Theme Park Daily Operation Begins – May 22
Six Flags Great Adventure, which has been operating weekends since April 12, 2014, will begin daily operation May 22. For a full operating calendar with daily opening and closing times and a complete list of special events, visitwww.sixflags.com/greatadventure.
TEEN TRUTH Anti-Bullying Day – May 23
TEEN TRUTH gives youth a voice, challenges you to think differently, and empowers everyone to be the difference in the movement against bullying. Featuring the most dynamic speakers, student-shot films and issue-focused programs in the industry, Teen Truth builds safe and connected school communities around the world. Assembly will take place at 10:30 a.m. (subject to change). Ticket and pricing information is available online.
Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Opens for the 2014 Season – May 24
Six Flags Great Adventure will celebrate Memorial Day weekend with the 2014 season opening of Six Flags Hurricane Harbor. The 45-acre, elaborately-themed water park is one of America’s largest, and features a million-gallon wave pool, one of the country’s longest “lazy rivers,” a giant, two-story family water playground, and more than 25 high-speed thrill slides. The park’s signature water slides include the six-slide Big Wave Racer, the giant Tornado and venomous King Cobra.
R5 Concert: MIKE AND IKE® ZOURS® Six Flags Summer Concert Series – May 25
R5 released their EP, Ready Set Rock, in 2009 and in April 2012 they signed a record deal with Hollywood Records. For the past two years, they have been headlining and selling out shows across the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia. In early 2013, R5 put out another four-song EP titled Loud as they racked up their followers and fans on social media. Music has not been the only success for this foursome family from Denver, CO (plus a friend), with two of the brothers landing roles on Fox’s Glee and Disney Channel’s Austin and Ally. The concert is included with theme park admission or Season Pass in the Plymouth Rock Assurance® Arena and begins at 6 p.m.
More information is available at www.sixflags.com/greatadventure or by calling 732/928-2000.
Los Angeles, Calif. (April 14, 2014) – VIDEO GAMES LIVE, a complete celebration and multimedia concert experience featuring music from the most popular video games of all time, is making its way to Los Angeles at Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE on Wednesday, June 11, 2014 at 8:00 p.m. Ticket prices starting at $25.95. Tickets for VIDEO GAMES LIVE go on sale Wednesday, April 23, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. at www.AXS.com. For more information, visit: www.videogameslive.com.
It’s the power & emotion of a symphony orchestra mixed with the excitement and energy of a rock concert and the technology, fun and interactivity of a video game all completely synchronized to amazing cutting edge video screen visuals, state-of-the art lighting, special fx and special on-stage interactive segments with the audience.
VIDEO GAMES LIVE is a multimedia concert experience featuring the best music and exclusive synchronized video clips from the most popular games from the beginning of video gaming to the present. Performed by top orchestras and choirs, the show combines exclusive video footage and music arrangements with synchronized lighting, solo performers, stage show production, special FX, electronic percussionists and unique interactive segments. Whether it’s the power and passion of the more recent blockbusters or the excitement of remembering the sentimental classics you played growing up, it will truly be a special night to remember for the entire family. The show has a segment dedicated to the old retro arcade classics – but there is also modern music and older, more memorable pieces that no one has ever heard played live.
A show created and produced by legendary video game composer and industry icon, Tommy Tallarico is personally involved in every show. Aside from producing, Tommy is on stage for every show as emcee and performing on guitar. The video game industry puts on the show to help encourage and support the art and culture that video games have become. VIDEO GAMES LIVE bridges a gap for entertainment by exposing new generations of music lovers and fans to the symphonic orchestral experience while also providing a completely new and unique experience for families and non-gamers.
In 2010, Video Games Live and PBS joined forces to create an exclusive nationwide PBS special based around the highly successful Video Games Live concert series. Recently described by the New York Times as “Captivating!” and “Bombastic!”, the record breaking and award winning Video Games Live has continued its mission to demonstrate to the world how artistic and culturally significant video games and their music have become. Performing to sold-out crowds around the globe, Video Games Live has been thrilling gamers, families and mainstream audiences since its initial inception in 2002. “This is an incredible opportunity for us to reach an audience that normally may not be familiar with how far video games have come and how amazing the music can be,” said prolific game composer and CEO of Video Games Live, Tommy Tallarico.
The live show features audience participation with special interactive segments where people from the audience come up and compete while the orchestra plays the music in perfect synchronization with the visuals on screen.