EA have sent word that the nifty-looking little indie title WARP -- in the works at Canadian developer Trapdoor Inc and being published by the EA Partners label -- has been slated for a February 15th 2012 launch on the Xbox Live Arcade for 800 MS Points, as part of Xbox's upcoming Arcade House Party promotion.
In Warp, gamers play as Zero, a loveable - yet lethal - little orange alien with a big score to settle. Captured and experimented on by cruel scientists, Zero must escape the Commander's research facility by deploying powerful and deadly abilities. The choice is up to players to take bloody revenge on every human in the incarcerating facility, or hide and plan their escape for a no-kills, stealth game.
For those not familiar with the game, a playable demo was showcased at some of last year's trade shows and the most memorable highlight was the ability of the cute little protagonist to teleport inside his scientist captors and burst out of them in a shower of animated kibbles. Watch the walkthrough video below to get a better idea.
We're happy to mention that we now have OzGameShop and Green Man Gaming listed as partners on our game pages! Thanks to their cooperation, we now are hooking into their systems to find matches between our games so you can simply look at our game pages to compare prices from a wide variety of sources.
Both sites have been popular destinations for AusGamers members for a while now, looking to evade the often excessive local markup we unfortunately fall victim to in this otherwise pretty great country.
We've also added the UK pricing for Steam - so we now have European pricing (sourced from their French shopfront) as well as the US pricing so you can compare the difference to what we get here.
Now that these pages include a wide variety of pricing we'll be referencing them around the place a little bit more. We'd also like to take the time to point out that our links to Green Man Gaming are actually affiliate links - if you buy from them after visiting our site, we'll get a little taste. So please feel free to support AusGamers by buying from them :)
According to Inside Mobile Apps, Microsoft is rumoured to be dropping support for Microsoft Points, a virtual currency used to purchase apps and games on several of their platforms.
Apparently Microsoft are looking at moving all transactions by the end of 2012 to a real world currency system like Sony's PlayStation Network, where the price is set by real world dollar. This will effect developers who use the Windows Phone, Xbox Live or the Zune Marketplace.
While the decision to eliminate Microsoft Points may seem to be a surprising move, Microsoft has been gradually introducing cash purchases to Xbox Live, the most popular platform where Points are used. It makes sense for the company to move to a single cash-based payment system, as it brings it in line with its app market competitors and eliminates a consistent criticism of the system — that the Points to dollar conversion ratio is not only confusing, but it forces consumers to purchase more Points than they actually need.
This whole move seems to be a step in the right direction, by removing unnecessary steps when it comes to purchasing items from Microsoft. Currently you are shown a real world dollar amount, but when buying the item, the amount is converted to Microsoft Points.
Hopefully this will be good news for Australians, where we are often given a unnecessary hike in prices when trying to buy games from online stores such as Steam or Origin. Leave us a comment on your thoughts.
The guys over at MMO-Champion have high confidence that World of Warcraft's next patch, 4.3.2, will be coming out this week. Of course this hasn't been officially stated by Blizzard yet, but when has MMO-Champion been wrong?
This patch is bringing us Cross Realm raids for older content with RealID friends, a few item tweaks and new items, a few new achievements, and a reduced game client install size. It also brought testing of the 64-bit client which didn't appear to have widespread or major bugs, however I'm not really sure if it will be available on the live realms.
Cross Realm Raids is the biggest addition in this patch, which will allow players to group up and form raids from any server using the Looking For Raid tool in-game.
This will allow you to join up with your Real ID friends from other realms and:
Form a cross-realm raid and use Raid Finder
Jump in to any classic dungeon or raid and be automatically placed in the same instance
Join forces and dominate the Battlegrounds
Please note, you will not yet be able to run normal or Heroic Dragon Soul with cross-realm Real ID raids.\
So, for you current players of World of Warcaft, what do you think of this new system? Will it help with getting those extra gear pieces when you can't find someone? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
As always, the official patch notes can be found over here or if you want a more in-depth look, check out MMO-Champions patch notes.
"HBO has optioned IGTM for the basis of a (fictional) series. It is NOT a comedy. It is NOT a sitcom."
The above was a Facebook post from the directors of Indie Game: The Movie, a documentary that follows a handful of independent game developers and their projects (including Super Meat Boy, Fez and Braid), which premiered over the weekend at the Sundance Film Festival to apparent critical acclaim. According to an exclusive report over at Deadline, HBO and super producer, Scott Rudin, optioned the rights to craft a fictional drama around the documentary after its showing, though this information was quickly distorted to suggest it would in fact be a comedy of some sorts. Thankfully, and from the horse's mouth no less, it won't be.
(At least for now.)
Not every project that is optioned for production actually makes it off the ground, but as an avid gamer and an avid fan of almost everything HBO produces, if this did find its legs, I'd watch the shit out of it.
Check out the official trailer for Indie Game: The Movie embedded below.
A playable demo for THQ's UFC Undisputed 3 -- the latest addition to their flagship mixed martial arts licensed franchise -- can now be found on Xbox Live for Xbox 360 and PlayStation Network for PlayStation 3. Here's the brief:
Consumers will explore a fantasy UFC matchup between current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and current UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva. In addition, they will relive a classic PRIDE® Mode bout between renowned UFC fighters and former champions Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Wanderlei Silva. The playable demo will also offer mirror matches, enabling consumers to play against friends or opponent AI as the same fighter, in the ultimate test of skill.
Undisputed 3 breaks from the usual sports game annual development cycle, with the intent of offering a bigger leap in features from the previous game so, so this demo is a good chance to see for yourself whether that move has paid off.
UFC Undisputed is due on February 16th 2012 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Watch the trailer below for a preview of the demo contents and for some more details on the game, check out Steve's most recent interview with THQ Producer Nevin Dravinski.
The much talked-about post-apocalyptic survival actioner I Am Alive from Ubisoft finally has a light at the end of its long and storied development tunnel, with the publisher revealing the digital-only game will be arriving on Xbox Live Arcade, March 7, 2012, for 1200 Microsoft Points (around AU$20).
I Am Alive follows an everyman’s journey to find his wife and daughter, who were lost during the “Event.” A year later, he finds Haventon, his hometown, in shambles. Buildings are destroyed, toxic ash fills the streets and society has been torn, causing inhabitants to take all necessary actions to survive.
In I Am Alive, players will be challenged by both the environment and the enemies. Stamina and resource management are key when being exposed to deadly atmospheres and scaling enormous buildings in search of supplies. The unique combat system requires players to utilise intimidation - cowards are easily swayed with an empty gun, while other enemies will put players to the test.
Originally revealed at E3 2008 as a project headed by Ubisoft's Jade Raymond, the game disappeared into the proverbial post-apocalyptic dust, rearing its head only through rumour and speculation until Ubisoft confirmed that the game was still very much alive, last year.
It's still apparently arriving on the PlayStation Network, but Ubisoft has yet to offer any solid release details for Sony's home console.
Saints Row The Third (includes Saints Row The Third Seasonal Pack consisting of four DLC drops) - AU$59.95 (£26.57 from Green Man Gaming)
With sequels to both Darksiders and Metro 2033 due this year, anyone who hasn't picked up either of these could do well to grab them now at a discount. Meanwhile, the Saints pack is a decent bargain, but remember, you only have until January 31st to get in on the sale.
Thanks to Steam's beta functionality, Bethesda are utilising early user access to their The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim update, patch 1.4, which is still very much in the works, to ensure it rolls out as complete as possible.
Bethesda warns though, you enter this beta at your own risk, and remind anyone interested to back up your saved games (these will work unaffected should you back out of the beta at any point). To get in on it though, here's what you need to do:
Log into Steam
Click on *Steam* in the upper menu
Select *Settings*
Under the Account tab, go to the Beta Participation section and select "Change".
A drop down menu will appear. Select "Skyrim Beta".
Select "OK".
Steam will now restart. After Steam restarts, Skyrim will be updated to the Beta version currently available.
Obviously then, Bethesda are encouraging anyone who does use the beta to jump into their forums to provide feedback on your experience. Let us know in the Comments section if you plan on getting in on the 1.4 beta action.
Benchmark and graphics-card enthusiast site Guru3D are reporting that Ubisoft have slightly relaxed the copy-protection restrictions on the PC version of Annoy 2070, in response to criticisms that the limited number of product activations were preventing them from being able to adequately test the game on a range of different hardware.
Under the game's original DRM implementation, Anno 2070 would only permit three activation attempts and if a user changed something as trivial as a graphics card in their PC, the game would view this as an attempt to install the game on a whole new PC and use up another activation attempt.
It's not exactly cause for celebration, but developer BlueByte have now confirmed that they have "removed graphics hardware from the hash used to identify a PC as a unique machine" -- meaning you can now swap video cards around as often as you like (but probably not processors or motherboards, or heaven-forbid want to play the game on your laptop or office PC).
Really though, it's still poor form from the publisher, who doesn't seem to understand that the game will still be cracked and pirated despite their overbearing efforts and it's only their legitimate customers that are being inconvenienced here.
When Eidos unveiled their new take on Lara Croft in the upcoming Tomb Raider reboot at E3 last year, the biggest change for the franchise was in the tone -- the gameplay demo showed us an intensely gritty new take on gaming's most recongisable heroine, with a much more down-to-earth and human quality about her.
We knew that we could expect more brutality as Lara battles to survive the elements, wildlife and human antagonists on this new island adventure, and that a much greater focus was being placed on character development and storytelling, so it was certainly within the realm of possibility that some romance elements could have worked into that formula.
However, in a recent community Q&A on the Edios forums Crystal Dynamic's Brand Director, Karl Stewart, has confirmed Lara won't be getting any lovin' -- at least not in this first new outing.
I’ve read and fed into the script now on many, many occasions, and I can tell you that there is no love interest in this game. She is trying to survive. She is busy. Surviving the situation is all she can cope with right now; surviving a relationship would be a bit tough. In one of the next releases we could possibly see this more human Lara meet someone, but that is way over the horizon.
Interestingly, romance has factored reasonably heavily into some of Tomb Raider's recent genre competitors -- such as Prince of Persia and the Uncharted games -- but would the average gamer be as accepting of such an experience when the protagonist/love interest gender roles are reversed (Nate Drake and Sully's complex relationship notwithstanding)?
Regardless, we can't wait to get another taste of the new Tomb Raider, which according to the same Q&A should be a look at the combat system, closer to E3 in June.
Tomb Raider is in the works for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 for a late 2012 launch.
Our friends over at Player Attack have found a YouTube video of Kim Dotcom, CEO of alleged pirate network MegaUpload.com, showcasing his superb skills at Activision's latest Call of Duty title, Modern Warfare 3.
The video uploaded by "MrKimDotCom" shows the troubled CEO enjoying a marathon of Modern Warfare 3 where he takes the number one spot on the leader boards and number one position for kills.
Apparently Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was the second most pirated game on the BitTorrent network. Ironic?
Kim Dotcom has been remanded on bail and may find himself being extradited from New Zealand on charges of racketeering, conspiracy, various copyright infringement counts and conspiring to commit money laundering.
Survival-horror looks to be heavy on the cards this year, if Capcom has anything to say about it. On top of a host of games arriving via digital platforms and handhelds, they also have the recently revealed, and very tantalising, Resident Evil 6 dropping across all platforms in November, leaving horror gaming fans with plenty to lap up.
Which brings us to the year's first survival-horror experience, AMY, as reviewed by industry veteran, James Cottee, on Xbox 360. It's definitely safe to say you'll be better off waiting for Capcom's entrants this year in the genre, and like the proverbial zombie-apocalypse survivor, locking yourself in a safe room and avoiding this one at all costs.
Nintendo has sent through word the 3DS is now a viable demo machine, with a slowly-expanding library of game demos coming for download on the handheld, including Capcom's forthcoming Resident Evil: Revelations (which looks mighty good, we might add).
Cooking Mama 4, Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D and Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games are fleshing out the demo manifest for the short term, though there will be more games to add to that list, obviously, as they become available.
All demos and much more are available from the Nintendo eShop on the 3DS.
Somewhat random and shocking news: Steve Parker, the Senior Game Producer for Diablo III has left Blizzard according to a Twitter update.
It's not quite known whether this is for personal reasons, or if he didn't agree with Blizzard's recent system changes to Diablo 3.
Hey Twitter, I'm no longer working at Blizzard or on D3. I've had a great 5 years there and those guys are going to kill it with Diablo.
Hopefully there wasn't any bad blood between Blizzard and Steve Parker, but by the looks of his follow up tweets, there doesn't seem to be. Perhaps this just means the game is ready to go, and he feels he is no longer needed, and thus moving onto future projects.
Projektsnake
@retailsails Gotcha. Best of luck in your future endeavors. I salute you for your contributions to Blizzard. /salute
@retailsails Steve Parker
@Projektsnake Thank you! It’s been a great pleasure to work on the game.
About six minutes ago (2:27pm EST / 11:27pm PDT) he updated his twitter:
“@mumper @westofhouse @el_pollo_loc0 Packed and ready to go. Time to dominate.”
Blizzard are now looking for a Senior Producer for Diablo 3, so if you feel lucky, apply over here.
In a recent post over on the official Mass Effect forums, BioWare's Chris Priestly has laid out the minimum and recommended system requirements for the PC version of Mass Effect 3 -- ahead of the upcoming demo launch. Here's the goods:
Minimum Spec:
OS - Windows XP SP3/Vista SP1, Win 7
*Supported chipsets: NVIDIA 7900 or better; ATI X1800 or better. Please note that NVIDIA GeForce 9300, 8500, 8400, and 8300 are below minimum system requirements, as are AMD/ATI Radeon HD3200, HD3300, and HD4350. Updates to your video and sound card drivers may be required.
CPU - 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (equivalent AMD CPU)
RAM - 1GB for XP / 2GB RAM for Vista/Win 7
Disc Drive - 1x speed
Hard Drive - 2.5 GB of free space
Video - 256 MB* (with Pixel Shader 3.0 support)
Sound - DirectX 9.0c compatible
DirectX - DirectX 9.0c August 2009 (included)
Recommended Spec:
OS - Windows XP SP3/Vista SP1, Win 7
CPU - 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (equivalent AMD CPU)
RAM - 2GB for XP / 4GB RAM for Vista/Win 7
Disc Drive - 1x speed
Hard Drive - 2.5 GB of free space
Video - AMD/ATI Radeon HD 4850 512 MB or greater, NVidia GeForce 9800 GT 512 MB or greater
Sound - DirectX 9.0c compatible
The Mass Effect 3 demo is due to launch on February 14th 2012, with the cooperative multiplayer component exclusive to qualified 'early multiplayer access' customers until February 17th, at which point it will open up for everyone else.
For more details on the demo's contents or how you needed to qualify for the early multiplayer access check out the full post.
Mass Effect 3 is due on March 8th 2012 for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
THQ have released a new promotional video for Darksiders 2, offering another glimpse at their upcoming action adventure sequel -- once again under construction by comic book veteran Joe Madureira and his studio Vigil Games.
Darksiders 2 introduces a new protagonist, the oldest of the four horsemen brothers, Death and today's behind the scenes style video features the Vigil crew describing some of the many ways that he differs from the red-rider War in the first game.
The long awaited Creation Kit and Steam Workshop tools for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim are nearly ready, says Bethesda, after players have been waiting patiently since the games release last year.
We’re currently working with members of Valve and our modding community to do some final testing, and we’re on track for a public release near the end of the month. We think Skyrim modding is one of the game’s best features, and we have the best modders of any game. It’s been a lot of exciting work for us, and we can’t wait to unleash it.
Our current update plan for the PC is to first release our updates as “beta” versions through Steam. This is something you’ll be able to opt into through Steam and back-out of if needed. This is an extra safety check for everyone going forward and should expedite and improve our updating process for our PC users. We’ll have more info soon on how this will work.
Also mentioned in the blog is a current changelog of patch 1.4, featuring a massive list of bug and quest fixes which will definitely help create a more sturdy and fun game environment. As always, this is just a current changelog, so stay tuned for the full release when it's available on Steam, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
You can check out the list of changes over here, or Wuld Nah Kest (Whirlwind Sprint for those not Dragonborn) your way over to what we thought of Skyrim in our review here.
Bethesda have sent along a new trailer for the expected Ultimate Edition release of Fallout: New Vegas - a new standalone retail pack that will bundle the base game with every last piece of downloadable content.
This complete package, which includes the full version of Fallout: New Vegas as well as the Dead Money, Honest Hearts, Old World Blues and Lonesome Road add-on packs, allows you to experience everything that New Vegas has to offer. To sweeten the pot, you’ll be armed with the latest cache of unique weapons, ammo types and recipes from the most recent add-on packs Courier’s Stash and Gun Runners Arsenal.
Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition is due on Australian shelves on February 9th 2012, watch the trailer below for a showcase of the contents.
Capcom have lifted the veil off Resident Evil 6, the next true sequel in the long-running franchise known as BioHazard in its native Japan.
The debut trailer clocks in at around three and a half minutes and in addition to a mix of CG-rendered and in-engine game action, it also packs a release date -- promoting November 20th 2012 as the expected Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 launch point, with a PC offering set "to follow".
Resident Evil 6 portrays a world where an escalation in bioterrorist attacks across the globe has led to widespread fear among the population. In an attempt to quell the panic and curb the bioterrorist activity the President of the United States has decided to speak to the nation but not before the very location of the address itself comes under attack. With the President’s safety compromised the situation for the rest of the world seems hopeless.
In a first for the franchise, Resident Evil 6 sees series favourites Leon S. Kennedy and Chris Redfield come together to face this unprecedented threat. They will be joined by new characters, each with their own unique perspective and involvement in this relentless dramatic horror experience enacted on a global scale.
Watch the announcement trailer below or click here for the HD video page, and stay tuned for more details as they become available.
Over the years, games have taken up a more ‘casual’ playing style than the pre '00 era of games, where they offered a more difficult play-through, and challenged the player. Unlike games of today, you couldn't stand in one spot taking a barrage of bullets to then go behind a rock and heal up instantly.
Irrational Games have heard the plea from old school gamers and announced today that Bioshock Infinite will feature a new mode titled "1999 Mode". This mode is designed to challenge players with a riskier play through, instead of just artificially inflating the difficulty of enemies.
“We want to give our oldest and most committed fans an option to go back to our roots,” said Ken Levine, Creative Director of Irrational Games. “In 1999 Mode, gamers face more of the permanent consequences of their gameplay decisions. In BioShock Infinite, gamers will have to sweat out the results of their actions. In addition, 1999 Mode will demand that players pick specialisations, and focus on them.
The new mode is set to feature more demanding weapon, power, and health management along with a "Game Over" screen if you die and no respawning if you lack the resources to stay alive.
It’s not simply a matter of adjusting the difficulty sliders in the game – the team went much further than that. Resource planning? If you’re to survive this mode, proper planning will be crucial. Combat specializations? You’ll need to develop them efficiently and effectively throughout the story; any weapon will be useless to you unless you have that specialization. Combat? You will need to carefully target every shot, and your health will be set to an entirely different baseline.
BioShock Infinite is set for a 2012 release on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. You can check out our game page for more info, screenshots and videos.
Ubisoft have today announced that the iconic platforming game Prince of Persia is now available for purchase on the 3DS Nintendo eShop and the Wii Virtual console.
Prince of Persia is considered a pioneer in the platforming genre and will have players venturing through sprawling levels, dodging deadly traps and engaging in swordfights, before facing the evil Grand Vizier, in order to rescue the princess.
So get your puzzle hat ready and take on the adventures of a classic tale once again!
The Wii version will be using Prince of Persia's SNES incarnation and 3DS owners will be offered the Game Boy Color version. Prince of Persia is available for purchase for £4.50 from the Nintendo 3DS eShop and 800 Points from the Wii Virtual Console.
