Blizzard have released some new and very enticing details concerning the 3rd part of the StarCraft 2 trilogy. The campaign will be called Legacy of the Void and it will follow the legendary Protoss in their epic battle against the Queen of Blades and the Zerg swarm.
The Legacy of the Void is not an expansion like the previous games it is a standalone game but it would be better if you own the previous games if you want to take on the campaign.
The game will of course bring forth a new campaign this time around it will be for the Protoss but the game will also upgrade the multiplayer units. The Zerg will be getting the Lurker and Ravager, the Terran’s will be getting the Herc and the Cyclone, and the Protoss will receive the Disruptor.
This game will be the third and final game in the trilogy and will be released on PC on an unknown date.
CD Projekt Red the developers behind the upcoming masterpiece The Witcher 3 have confirmed that the game will be getting 16 pieces of FREE DLC.
In an Open Letter from Marcin Iwiński, co-founder and Joint CEO of CD PROJEKT RED.
“We love games. We love collecting them, playing them, and everything connected to that experience. Every time we reach out for a new release, we expect to be taken care of. We expect support if we encounter any problems, we love updates constantly improving the experience, and we feel really special when we receive free content that gives us more than we initially paid for. It doesn’t have to be huge, it can be an awesome skin for a character, or an extra sword, or armor.
Unfortunately this treatment is quite rare these days. As gamers, we nowadays have to hold on tight to our wallets, as surprisingly right after release, lots of tiny pieces of tempting content materialize with a steep price tag attached. Haven’t we just paid a lot of cash for a brand new game?
As CD PROJEKT RED, we strongly believe this is not the way it should work and, with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, we have decided to do it differently. Cutting to the chase, everyone who buys Wild Hunt will receive 16 specially prepared DLCs absolutely for free, regardless of platform. You don’t have to pre-order, you don’t have to buy any special edition to get them — if you own a copy of Wild Hunt, they’re yours. This is our way of saying thank you for buying our game.”
The DLC will be available to anyone who purchases the game and at any time they purchase it. The DLC will range from some beautiful horse armor to quests. The Witcher 3 DLC will release weekly commencing on the games release date February 24th 2015.
The Witcher 3 is an Action RPG releasing on February 24th 2015 for PS4,Xbox One,and PC.
The upcoming best seller games for Ubisoft have been pulled from Valve’s Steam store for an unannounced reason. The games include Far Cry 4, Assassins Creed Unity and The Crew. Ubisoft as well as Valve are yet to make any statement on the removal of the upcoming triple A titles.
It is still unsure if pre-orders will be processed through Steam or if Ubisoft will hold all control through their own digital distribution software, U-Play.
New Ubisoft games pulled from Steam
With more big publishing companies such as Ubisoft and EA producing their own digital distribution platforms the removal of such titles may become more common with the upcoming releases.
David DeMarini, an Executive over at EA said “We take direct responsibility for providing patches, updates, additional content, and other services to our players” in regards to EA pulling games from Steam back in 2011. “Unfortunately, if we’re not allowed to manage this experience directly and establish a relationship with you, it disrupts our ability to provide the support you expect and deserve”.
It’s thoroughly refreshing for one of the primary games hyped throughout the year to live up to what has been said. Sunset Overdrivebreaks the trend of games that either failed to meet my expectations or just failed period.
Sunset Overdrive doesn’t reinvent the wheel or anything but it’s a new take on a favourite genre that is genuinely fun to play. Basically, a malevolent soda company plies the town with a new kind of energy drink that converts them into mutants.The player, alongside several factions of survivors, has to combat the threat and escape the city.
The Titular City is Abuzz With Life Fitting of the Game’s Message
Sunset Overdrive plays very similarly to Infamous: Second Son. It’s an open-world romp through a city with strangely low gravity. Except that instead of zipping along as a neon blur, players grind along telegraph poles and bounce on pool loungers. Of course the similarities pretty much end there.
Sunset Overdrive places a huge amount of emphasis on movement. The player will be killed very quickly if he or she stands still. Even so much as grinding slowly on a fence, however, makes it almost impossible for enemies to hit you.
Running around town, players aspire to complete two primary objectives: complete quests and find certain collectibles. Many of the quests follow similar patterns. Characters expect you to either find something or go somewhere and kill a bunch of mutants. It’s easy to overlook the lack of variety. Each mission feels charged with such energy and the mandated bouncing and grinding around freshens the experiences that all share a similar core.
This is something that Sunset Overdrive has in spades: exuberance. The entire game is a celebration of gaming culture and everything related to it. Wherever possible, Insomniac Games have thrown in references to anything from Portal to Killer Instinct.
Every inch of the experience is absolutely joyous. Seeing or hearing a small nod to one of the great games gone by can put a smile on your face and endear you to Sunset Overdrive all the more.
The referencing and willingness to break the fourth wall puts the game in a curious position. In some cases, the protagonist interacts with the disembodied voice-over / narrator-type figure or your objective references “conveniently placed” objects. In others, there is a resignation to trundling along with established conventions – be they narrative or gameplay in nature.
Which is one of my primary concerns with Sunset Overdrive. It is the king of anti-climactic moments and often loses conviction in its humorous and sarcastic take on the medium which results in scenes of character growth that are exceedingly out-of-place.
Nothin’ But the Hits bounces vinyls around to each enemy
Normally I am an advocate of games that tell poignant stories and lambaste games that overlook this. In the case of Sunset Overdrive, however, I feel that the only level of narrative depth required is that to advance the plot. So much of the focus is on the bad-assery and witticisms of the protagonist and celebrating games in general that there need not be any emotional growth.
I was concerned that the sarcastic nature of the comedy would result in typical American bad boy above the rules with a James Bond complex. Someone whose good guy armour would inflate his ego to unholy proportions to the point where we would spend the game spurning our helpless colleagues, mocking enemies, and saving token females.
Thankfully Sunset Overdrive navigates this minefield expertly. Our protagonist is a quick-witted hellion but one that we find ourselves drawn to with his understandable exasperation with all the follies of normal gaming conventions.
The Small Details are Fun and Reminiscent of Earthworm Jim
Sunset Overdrive offers the players the option to customise their character and purchase a slew of additional weapons. The choices range from being a laser-shooting cross-dresser to a wolf cosplayer fond of acid sprinklers.
While these weapons are slightly less ridiculous than those of Earthworm Jim 3D, they have a charm of their own. Launching explosive TNTeddies or the Kitty Cannon can be lessons in cuteness and awesomeness simultaneously.
The most dangerous teddy since Naughty Bear
The customisation goes a step further, allowing players to equip “amps” to each weapon and five to the character. This creates avenues for combination attacks. For example applying the electric stun ammunition amp to the Hi Fidelity gun (bouncing vinyl records) can chain stun large groups of enemies.
I really enjoyed this feature for two reasons: it incentivized the collection of the resources found around the map and it lets the game do more with the not-entirely-huge range of weapons available.
There is an online component to Sunset Overdrive that I have, unfortunately, missed out on. My refusal to engage in Xbox Live Gold or Playstation Plus really doesn’t help when things like this come along.
From what I gather, much of the core experience of the online component is very similar to the single player mode. Although I cannot fairly assess the mode, not having played it, I feel that it will expand the experience of the game. Something akin to Grand Theft Auto Online: not different enough to be meaningful but fun enough to be worthwhile.
Overall
Some small complaints aside, Sunset Overdrive is a triumphant success. It expertly mixes humour with a genuinely exciting gaming experience. Each quip of the characters is enough to keep you smiling between crushing hordes of mutant energy drinkers.
Some more casual players will need to dedicate some time to learn how to micromanage movement with fighting but once they perfect this skill they will be able to fully enjoy the boisterous celebration of our shared culture.
This is the game that Xbox One owners can finally lord over the Playstation owners.
So with mere weeks before the release of the highly anticipated release of Far Cry 4, Ubisoft have released another trailer for the upcoming AAA title.
The new Far Cry 4 trailer does showcase some of the more interesting aspects of the game and also gives you a little taste of the story. Ubisoft are very keen to let the players know that it is a “massive open world environment” and that decisions played out during the game will have dire consequences to the characters.
FarCry 4
We’ve been told that the Far Cry 4 exploration starts at the get go. The player will receive their wingsuit a lot sooner than the previous title and that the mountainous environment will make for some great visual moments throughout the game.
For one I was a little disappointed with the Far Cry 4 demo at PAX AUS mainly due to the lack of innovation that I was expecting from the title. Hopefully the game will impress everyone upon release.
“It’s tough” is pretty much the consensus during my time at PAX Australia 2014. With the amount of press badges I saw floating around it can honestly be said that gaming journalism is only getting more popular.
Listening to some of the journalists on the showroom floor at PAX AUS I began to realize that one of the things that makes a good journalist is enthusiasm for the profession.
Changing the Face of Journalism Panel
The independent game showroom was a great example of good journalism, I saw many young journalists, along with photojournalists, interviewing passionate indie developers about their unique and quirky games. Every interviewer and interviewee had such conviction and passion for the topic at hand. Listening to the all of the independent developers talk about the product gave me such satisfaction to continue the pursuit in gaming journalism.
Watching an interview with the team over at Assault Android Cactus that went for a good 30 minutes I could tell that the amount of passion and dedication both parties had for the gaming industry is something that everyone needs to become successful.
So Here Are Some of My Tips as a Starting out Gaming Journalist
The panel started out as a critique on game reviewers, but strayed as most panels did into breaking into the profession and critiquing the practices of gaming journalists. The main points that everyone sitting in on the panel took away was “persistence” and breaking the mould of conventional journalism. Alanah said “stray away from the traditional structure of a review with intro, gameplay, graphics, sound and conclusion” she continued to say “only mention the qualities of the game that shape your experience and the critique of the game”.
When the question regarding females in journalism was raised it sparked up a discussion on the whole “Gamersgate” issue, but the female panelists were quick to reinforce their point of “we need females in gaming journalism and PLEASE do not give up on your passion”.
Start up a YouTube Channel
Do it now. Every panelist recommended producing your very own content and making your style noticeable.
Having only the one skill is not very desirable within the realm of journalism and you should become a multimedia expert incorporating video editing and production in your arsenal of tools.
Non-Fiction Gaming’s very own Dan filming video at PAX Australia
Social Media is a Must
Social media is important when networking with your fellow journalists, but more importantly, the game developers. When asking for a review copy of a game the developers want to be able to verify your existence on the interwebs, Alexandra Bruce the developer of Antichamber said “I’d rather not give his game out for free to someone posing as a gaming journalist”. Having some sort of media presence is a mandatory part of working in journalism in the digital world.
Freelancing like a Pro Panel
One last piece of advice would have to be never giving up on your passion for journalism or whatever you want to do with your career. It will take time and you will fall sometimes, but if you stick to it and give it your best you will succeed.
Are you interested in getting into games journalism but don’t know where to start? Send us an email or comment below.
Star Citizen is anything and everything when it comes to the pushing the boundaries. It’s ambitious and risky, but if the line stretched around Melbourne Theatre was any indication, there’s an audience keen for everything Robert Space Industries. Supporters poured forth and we were lucky enough to have a centre seat to the latest Star Citizen update.
Star Citizen FPS Module
Admiral Chris Roberts, took to the stage on a Saturday night during PAX Australia to show off the first footage of team battles on a space station. This was the first reveal of the FPS ‘module’ in the game, received by cheers and applause by a packed hall of dedicated gamers.
The FPS module will allow players to run and gun when not in the pilot seat, either infiltrating stations, planetfall or just popping out for a quick lap around the hangar.
Chris made a point of explaining how the first person mode is different from other FPS games. Even things as simple as how the camera and model movement interact has been built from the ground up to provide an immersive experience.
Two teams took to the stage to show off a live demo of some PVP action, It’s a bit rough but brimming with possibility.
Check it out below.
Star Citizen is big and ambitious in everything it’s doing to the PC gaming world right now. There are years of development ahead and the excitement is still palpable in the Melbourne crowd.
The addition of this game module adds another facet to the growing mashup that is Star Citizen. The ultimate goal isn’t clear from where it stands now, but zero gravity gun battles and infiltration are excellent additions to what is already a solid starship game.
Doing a live demonstration of an alpha build takes guts, the game comes through as rough around the edges with a solid core.
We try not to buy into hype, especially with a game so far away from completion, but Star Citizen looks pretty solid, the question will be if it’s too broad or is too ambitious.
The team behind Star Citizen’s FPS module, Illfonic took to the stage to talk about their experience working in secret for Admiral Chris Roberts.
What other game modes are being secretly worked on is anyone’s guess.
Omega Force has been quite busy this year! In the last two months they have released Hyrule Warriors for the Wii U, Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate for everything else, and now Samurai Warriors 4 for PlayStation 4.
But what does Samurai Warriors 4 offer that makes it stand out? After all, most critics proclaim all these games are exactly the same. But how wrong and foolish they are indeed, for Samurai Warriors 4 is a wonderful little title that I fear many will overlook. And how I pity them.
Samurai Warriors 4 Review
Platforms: PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita
While Dynasty Warriors focuses on The Romance of the Three Kingdoms tale from ancient China, Samurai Warriors4 details the historic unification of Japan. Though the story content is not necessarily more interesting in Samurai Warriors 4, it is executed better than Dynasty Warriors 8 making it a more enjoyable and coherent experience.
Players have a number of campaigns to choose from in Story Mode that detail the struggles of different Japanese clans fighting for their independence, land or survival. After playing through these prequel-like events, you unlock two final chapters in the unification of Japan. Since players experience the war from almost every characters perspective, it avoids painting anyone in particular as a true villain (except Nobunaga Oda, that black armour wearing ****). Your enemies motivations are clear and they become more than opponents to destroy.
WHY!? WHY DID IT COME TO THIS!? WAAAAAAH!
While the story is interesting on a nationwide scale, what improves the story telling over Dynasty Warriors are the more personal moments. Based on what characters you use, there are short scenes before and after battle that explore their relationships and motivations. These small, but important additions help add context and depth to all the warriors.
Visually, Samurai Warriors 4 is gorgeous. The PlayStation 4 showcases the vibrant beauty of feudal Japan with stages filled with traditional Japanese castles and buildings, war torn battlefields, and gardens bathed in pink sakura petals (it IS Japan after all).
I mean, what’s the point of even setting a game in Japan without sakura petals?
In true Warriors tradition, the character models for the playable officers are beautifully rendered with highly detailed and ornate clothing that cover the full spectrum of colour. Not a single piece of “realistic” grit to ruin their perfectly fabulous clothing can be seen. However there are some visual shortcuts sprinkled though out the game such as obviously two-dimensional leaves glued onto tree branches. Fortunately during the heat of battle, these visual inconsistencies go mostly unnoticed.
Who can complain about ugly leaves when we have beautiful pink afros?
Double Trouble
While the story in enjoyable, what truly stands out in Samurai Warriors 4 are the numerous changes and additions to the Warriors series combat system.
Players must choose two officers to bring into battle, controlling one at a time while giving basic commands to the other using a simple grid system. Who you control is switched at the touch of a button to help accomplish multiple objectives at once and cover more ground quickly. This is crucial when exploring the maps as bonus objectives are unlocked by fulfilling certain tasks that yield extra rewards.
Samurai Warriors 4 also adds new Hyper Attacks specifically designed to dispatch large groups of enemies quickly (the cannon fodder that litter the map in other words). This sounds ridiculously overpowered at first until you realise the Hyper Attacks are completely worthless against enemy officers. Only Normal and Power Attacks come in useful against the officers, as well as two stage Musou (super) attacks and a Rage mode that unlocks a Hyper Musou attack. There are 55 playable characters available who specialise in either Hyper, Normal or Power attacks, so strategies should be planned accordingly.
Specialties include lacrosse (obviously)
Enemy morale also plays an extremely important role in Samurai Warriors 4. Areas of the map controlled by the enemy are highlighted in red and any foes found within become extremely powerful. Even the generic waves of enemies can do devastating damage in large groups.
“This is going to hurt, isn’t it?”
Local co-op returns, however each player picks one character each as opposed to two. Two human controlled players make most battles a little too easy though. Local co-op also suffer from a handful of hindrances. The camera is not optimised for split-screen play, so both players see much more of the floor than necessary. Vision will further be obstructed by objective and dialogue boxes blocking more screen real-estate.
Lastly, while the single player game runs smoothly there is a frustrating amount of op-in and out during local co-op. There are times when you need to kill certain enemies but they phase out of existence before your eyes, only to appear again a moment later for only a second.
In local co-op, groups of 20 enemies can look like this
Create your own Legend
Samurai Warriors 4 also suffers from a lack of gameplay options with the only alternative to Story and Free mode being Chronicle modes. Luckily Chronicle mode is sizeable enough to take a huge chunk of time and players to create their own unique officers to play as. Players are then tasked with exploring a map of Japan and battling with or against famous officers. This unlocks more customisation options, more officers to use within Chronicle mode and biographies for all the historic characters.
The mode feels repetitive as players have to traverse the same areas constantly using different life goals (such as being the best swordsman, best historian, etc) if they wish to unlock all the weapons and characters for chronicle mode. It’s sure to please completionists but it lacks the variety of challenge presented in the adventure mode map from Hyrule Warriors.
Final Verdict: 8/10
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With the additions of two-character combat, hyper attacks and a compelling narrative that spans multiple army perspectives, Samurai Warriors 4 is a great addition to anyone’s library. It is only hindered by a limited amount of game modes and a patchy local co-op experience.
Samurai Warriors 4 is another must own for fans of any of the Warriors series (Hyrule Warriors, Dynasty Warriors). Anyone interested in a romanticised retelling of history should give the game a try, as well as fans of action orientated beat-em-ups like Double Dragon or Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game.
Samurai Warriors 4 is available on PlayStation 4. It is also available for digital download on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita.
