All Articles: Evolve

Turtle Rock is no longer involved in the development of Evolve

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This Summer, Turtle Rock announced the PC version of Evolve would undergo a major metamorphosis to become Evolve: Stage 2. The struggling shooter became a free-to-play game overnight, and Turtle Rock continued to tweak the game while seeking feedback from the growing community.

Unfortunately, the developer has confirmed that 2K Games has decided not to renew their contract, and the future of Evolve now rests in the publisher’s hands. Writing on their Community Forum, Turtle Rock Co-Founder Chris “MacMan” Ashton had this to say:

Seems like the greater things you aspire to, the more time it takes. We had huge aspirations for Evolve, and while we got to spend five and a half awesome years on planet Shear with a ragtag group of Planet Tamers and fearsome Monsters, it still doesn’t feel like enough – we were hungry for more but unfortunately today is the last day that Turtle Rock Studios can work on Evolve.

While the split appears to be amicable (2K will continue to support Evolve’s servers “for the foreseeable future”), Community Manager Shane “Shaners” Meyer said that Turtle Rock “wanted to continue working on the project.”

To say goodbye to “their baby,” Turtle Rock plans to host a special livestream tomorrow, October 27, at 3:00 PM (Eastern Time) on Twitch.

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Turtle Rock announces “vigorous overhaul” for Evolve as it goes free-to-play on PC

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Even though it sold several million copies, Evolve more or less disappeared from the public eye after its release in early 2015. A confusing (and pricey) DLC structure seems to have pushed away almost everyone that was enamored by the game after its 2014 debut at PAX East, or its subsequent pre-release showings at E3 or Gamescom.

But Turtle Rock wants to revitalize their 4v1 shooter, and they’re going to start by making Evolve a free-to-play game on the PC beginning tomorrow, July 7. In addition to rebalancing the Hunter classes and making improvements to the maps, Turtle Rock wrote on their Community Forum that they plan to use this “Beta” relaunch as a testing ground for weekly updates to Evolve:

Here’s how it’s going to work: We’re going to make Evolve free on PC as a Beta starting on July 7. This is going to allow us to hit our new server infrastructure really hard and we need your help testing. Stuff could break, and that’s our hope, because that will give us time to improve things as we go. We’ll parse out major Beta revisions, updates and features over a period of weeks and months — a plan we’re going to continually communicate here. This allows us to test new features and major changes to make our game more accessible and ever closer to the joy we saw when we first showed our baby to the world. Just as importantly, this Beta plan gives us the flexibility and time we need to keep fixing bugs and making Evolve more stable.

Players who purchased Evolve before it went free-to-play will be given “Founder” status and periodically receive “gifts, rewards, and special access” from Turtle Rock. And according to another post by Turtle Rock, the free-to-play “Beta” will start on the PC, but the goal is to bring to the PS4 and Xbox One as well.

Turtle Rock will host a huge livestream detailing the changes coming to Evolve on Twitch tomorrow at noon (Eastern Time).

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New Releases: Call of Duty Black Ops III, Need For Speed, Yo-Kai Watch, More

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Are you ready to answer the call of duty? Right on schedule, Activision and Treyarch will release Call of Duty: Black Ops III for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One this week. Taking place in a near future where technologically-augmented soldiers form the backbone of modern war, the game will also be available for the PS3 and Xbox 360, though it won’t include the single-player Campaign Mode. Players in the market for a PS4 will also be able to pick up a 1 TB PS4 + Call of Duty: Black Ops III Bundle this week.

This week’s other major new release is Need For Speed, the latest entry in the long-running racing franchise. Developer Ghost Games considers the PS4 and Xbox One game a complete reboot of the series and has packed Need For Speed with five overlapping storylines and dozens of cars.

The kids will get their chance to play as well as Nintendo and Level-5 will release the Pokemon-like Yo-Kai Watch for the 3DS, while Little Orbit will launch Snoopy’s Grand Adventure for the 3DS, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

Finally, a number of games are getting special edition re-releases including Evolve: Ultimate Edition (PS4, Xbox One), Lords of the Fallen: Complete Edition (PS4, Xbox One), and Shovel Knight (3DS, PS4, Wii U).

A complete list of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)

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Xbox Store Today: Evolve Free Weekend, Rugby World Cup 2015, Super Toy Cars, more

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Evolve didn’t quite land with the blockbuster boom that Turtle Rock had hoped for, but it has sold almost three million copies and a lot of people seem to enjoy it. Publisher 2K Games is hoping to increase that number this weekend with a special “Free Weekend” promotion for the game, which kicks off today at 3:00 PM (Eastern Time), on the Xbox One and PC. Best of all, players will get the chance to battle alien monsters for an extra day as the promotion doesn’t end until Tuesday, September 8 at 3:00 AM.

If you enjoy your time with Evolve, you might also like to know that it’ll receive a temporary price drop next week as part of Microsoft’s Deals With Gold.

Elsewhere on the Xbox Games Store today, owners of Microsoft’s consoles will get the chance to dive into a scrum in Rugby World Cup 2015 on the Xbox One or Xbox 360. Also available on the Xbox 360 is an overhead shooter from Moss known as strong>Caladrius.

And if you’re looking for Xbox One exclusives, today marks the release of Super Toy Cars, a “tabletop arcade combat racing game” featuring penny racers; Broken Sword 5: The Serpent’s Curse, a murder mystery set within a Paris gallery; Quest of Dungeons, a procedurally-generated turn-based roguelike; and Nightmares From the Deep: The Cursed Heart, a “classic adventure game” about undying love.

More information about all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)

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Evolve: Behemoth and four new Hunters now available to download

A new Monster (Behemoth) and four new Hunters are now available to download in Turtle Rock’s 4v1 shooter, Evolve.

Behemoth is a massive rock beast that can also turn into a rolling ball of death to crush any Hunters that remain in his path. But the four new Hunters aren’t just going to lie down and die. The tattooed Torvald (Assault), enigmatic Crow (Trapper), psychotic Sunny (Support), and extraterrestrial Slim (Medic) all bring new weapons and abilities to the battle:

Torvald (Assault)
Punch through your enemies with the Assault character Torvald. His loadout includes a Mortar Cannon, Autofire Shotgun, and Shrapnel Grenades.

Crow (Trapper)
Ensnare your enemies with the Trapper character Crow. His loadout includes a Kinetic Long Rifle, Stasis Gun, and a Pet Batray.

Sunny (Support)
Give your teammates a boost with the Support character Sunny. Her loadout includes a Mininuke Grenade Launcher, Jetpack Booster, and a Shield Drone.

Slim (Medic)
Protect your fellow Hunters with the Medic character Slim. His loadout includes a Leech Gun, Spore Cloud Launcher, and Healing Drone.

Players looking to expand Evolve will find that these add-on characters don’t come cheap. Each Hunter has been priced at $7.49 apiece, while Behemoth carries a $14.99 price tag. A new trailer showcasing all five new additions to the game has been embedded above.

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Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D shoots the moon as the top-selling game in February 2015

legendofzeldamajorasmask-limitededitionThis just in… people really love the New 3DS XL. According to Nintendo, the consolemaker sold almost twice as many 3DS handhelds last month than in February of 2014. Though I guess that was probably going to be a given as people love every Nintendo handheld.

More surprising is the fact that people really love The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D. Long thought of as the black sheep of the Zelda franchise, it took the top spot in the NPD Group’s recounting of the best-selling games from February 2015. The handheld’s other major launch title, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, checked in at #10. When you add in digital sales, the game sold more than 290,000 copies in February, making it the best debut for any game in the entire series.

Majora’s Mask 3D beat out February’s other big release, Evolve, which managed to shoot its way to the #2 spot. Other new releases appearing in the February top ten include Dragon Ball Xenoverse (#7) and The Order: 1886 (#9), which only had a few days to rack up sales due to its February 20 release date.

The remainder of the top ten includes plenty of holdovers from January including the former #1, Dying Light. Techland’s zombie game drops to #3 and it’s followed by Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (#4), Grand Theft Auto V (#5), and NBA 2K15 (#6). Another strong showing by Minecraft keeps it in the top ten for another month, this time at #8.

Overall, Game Informer is reporting that sales of hardware, software, and accessories all saw major improvement last month versus February 2014. And while Nintendo may have dominated with the New 3DS XL, Sony has once again claimed the top-selling console with the PS4.

If you’d prefer to read the full top ten from February 2015 in list form, you can find it after the break. (more…)

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Monsters have a slight edge in Evolve after the first week (and other stats)

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Turtle Rock and 2K Games launched Evolve on February 10 and they’ve been busy collecting statistics on all the Monster versus Hunter action since then. Through February 18, nearly six million rounds pf Evolve have been played with the Monster emerging victorious 51.9% of the time. While the Monsters have a slight advantage in total victories, a 52-48 ratio proves that Evolve is an incredibly well-balanced game.

All told, those six million matches tallied 58,461,472 total minutes of playtime with the shortest round lasting a Tyson-esque 60 seconds. The longest round clocked in at 43 minutes with the average sitting at nine minutes and 43 seconds.

Turtle Rock has produced a beautiful infographic depicting these stats and more (including the most popular Hunters and Evolve’s Twitch popularity). You can find it after the break. (more…)

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Xbox Store Today: Evolve, Don Bradman Cricket

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Two very different games made their Xbox Games Store debut today.

First up is Evolve (Xbox One), Turtle Rock’s “4v1” shooter that asks players to take control of four Hunters and confront an eldritch abomination that would give H.P. Lovecroft the heebie-jeebies.

Also available to download this week is Don Bradman Cricket (Xbox One). Dozens of cricket simulations have been released in the UK over the years, but this is one of the first to make its way to America.

More details on both games can be found right here:

Xbox One Games

Evolve ($59.99)
Evolve is the next generation of multiplayer shooters featuring adrenaline pumping 4v1 action A player-controlled Monster must evade a team of four unique playable Hunters who are working together and stalking to kill. Evolve and overpower as the Monster or team up and outnumber as the Hunters. It’s survival of the fittest and any side can win. CHOOSE YOUR SIDE.

Don Bradman Cricket ($59.99)
Take a 16 year old aspiring cricketer through the ranks to international glory in Career mode. Fully customize your play experience, set-up tours, competitions, create players, teams and even umpires in the Cricket Academy. Hone your skills to perfection in the Practice nets before taking to the field. The most realistic physics ever seen in a Cricket game including thin edges, bat pad catches, intimidating bouncers and much more.

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