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Batman: Arkham Knight stands watch atop the best-selling games list for June 2015

Posted on July 17, 2015 by John Scalzo

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Rocksteady’s Arkham trilogy went out with a bang last month, and it looks like a lot of fans went along for the ride, as The NPD Group has confirmed Batman: Arkham Knight was the best-selling game for June 2015.

Aside from the problems with the PC version, WB Games had a pretty good month as four of the publisher’s titles placed in the top ten. Newcomer Lego Jurassic World joined Arkham Knight near the top of the list in the #3 spot, while The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (#4) and Mortal Kombat X (#8) held over from May. NPD’s Liam Callahan told GamesIndustry.biz, “Warner Bros. Interactive is the top corporate publisher so far in 2015, with dollar sales growing 217% versus the first half of 2014.”

But WB Games wasn’t the only company having a nice Summer as Bethesda has a hit on their hands with The Elder Scrolls Online. It was also a good month to be a squid as Nintendo’s Splatoon held strong at #5, and became the only platform exclusive to crack the top ten.

The industry as a whole should be very happy about last month’s sales as consumers spent a lot more than they did last year. Overall sales were up 18%, $869 million versus $734 million, over June 2014. And that includes increases in hardware (+8%), software (+21%), and accessories (+34%).

The complete top ten list of best-selling games for June 2015 can be found after the break. (more…)

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The Flock will live as long as its players do this Summer

Posted on July 16, 2015 by John Scalzo

The Flock is a “first-person asymmetrical multiplayer horror game” from Dutch developer Vogelsap (it literally means “Bird Juice) scheduled for release this Summer. Players will be divided into two groups, The Flock and The Carrier, as they battle for control of the Light Artifact…

The Flock is a first person asymmetrical multiplayer thriller game for three-to-five players. All player start out as monsters, called the Flock. When the coveted Light Artifact is grabbed by one of the players that player transforms into the Carrier, and the hunt begins.

The Carrier is slower, smaller and more vulnerable. It has to protect itself from the Flock that try to gain the Artifact for themselves, using the intense light that is emitted from the Artifact. The Flock are vulnerable to the light, and will burn to death if they don’t stand still when shined upon. If a Flock stands still, it will turn into stone and be safe from the light.

If one of the Flock succeeds in attacking the Carrier, that player will turn into the new Carrier, and the attacked player returns as one of the Flock. The player that can stay being the Carrier long enough wins the game. The gameplay in combination with the dark and ghastly atmosphere makes for a thrilling psychological experience.

However, Vogelsap has an interesting plan to turn The Flock’s PC launch (via Steam) into a limited-time event this Summer. Each time a player dies, their lost life from be subtracted from The Flock’s total population. When the game’s population reaches zero, the game will permanently go offline and, though players who have already purchased it will get to participate in a “climactic finale.” This could take years… or it could take days.

“A multiplayer game can take players to incredible heights, but at some point gamers will start to play less, get disinterested and stop playing altogether,” said Jeroen Van Hasselt, the Creative Director of Vogelsap. “In opposition to other multiplayer games, we want The Flock’s experience to inspire a sense of awe, to keep players eagerly anticipating what is coming next and to end with a memorable climax.”

The Flock will be playable at this Summer’s Gamescom expo as part of the Indie Arena Booth.

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The Elder Scrolls Online’s Imperial City expansion will be available soon

Posted on July 16, 2015 by John Scalzo

Bethesda has announced that the first downloadable expansion for The Elder Scrolls Online will be available next month. The Elder Scrolls Online: Imperial City will be released for the PC on August 31 (a PS4 and Xbox One release will follow on September 15), and it’ll be a free download for all ESO Plus members. Everyone will be able to purchase the add-on through the Crown Store for 2,500 Crowns.

Here’s what players can expect to find in the Imperial City:

Description
The Imperial City, the heart of the Cyrodiilic Empire, has fallen to Daedric Prince Molag Bal and now all three alliances must battle not only against the Daedric forces, but each other. Imperial City, the first DLC game pack for The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited, adds hours of additional gameplay featuring new areas, quests, enemies, and exclusive items for those adventuring on their own, in small groups, or with hundreds of others.

Features

  • New PVE and PVP Content: Featuring six distinct Imperial Districts, battle against the forces of Molag Bal as well as the other Alliances.
  • Additional Dungeons: The extensive Imperial Sewers network offers new PVP and PVE challenges for small groups of adventurers, while White-Gold Tower and Imperial Prison challenge PVE adventurers with Normal and Veteran versions.
  • New Quests, Enemies, and Characters: Whether participating in massive PVP battles in the Imperial Districts, or adventuring in one of the new dungeons, players will be introduced to new quests and enemies, including the Xivkyn.
  • Addition of New Currency, Weapons, and Armor: Fight the forces of Molag Bal to plunder Tel Var Stones, a new form of currency you can use for exclusive Veteran Rank 16 weapons and armor, or search for new Treasure Vaults containing other rare finds.
  • Imperial City-Exclusive Collectibles and Items: Exploring Imperial City or visiting the Crown Store will reward the player with a host of new collectibles including pets, mounts, costumes, and polymorphs!

The first trailer for The Elder Scrolls Online: Imperial City has been embedded above.

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Telltale will release Game of Thrones: Episode 5 on July 21

Posted on July 16, 2015 by John Scalzo

Things aren’t looking good for the Forrester family in this trailer for the fifth episode of Telltale’s Game of Thrones adaptation. Hopefully, things will turn out better once Game of Thrones: A Nest of Vipers is released next week:

In this penultimate episode, the actions of every Forrester are vital to the survival of the house. Rodrik’s alliance with House Glenmore, and his defiance of the Whitehills, has drawn the ire of an even greater threat: Ramsay Snow. Far across the Narrow Sea in Essos, with Meereen now a free city, Asher is close to securing the army he desperately needs to return home, and save his family. In King’s Landing, Mira’s activities at Tommen’s coronation have not escaped the attention of Margaery Tyrell, and Cersei has realized that the handmaiden may prove useful in her political games. Finally, beyond the Wall, Gared’s unlikely allies are reluctant to help in the search for the North Grove… but this far into the frozen wilds, Crows and Free Folk have a common enemy; and Winter is coming.

As usual, Game of Thrones: A Nest of Vipers will be available through a number of digital storefronts. Here’s the release schedule, courtesy of Telltale:

  • Tuesday, July 21: PC/Mac, PS3, PS4
  • Wednesday, July 22: Xbox One, Xbox 360
  • Thursday, July 23: iOS, Android

The final episode of the series, Game of Thrones: The Ice Dragon, will likely be released sometime this Fall.

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First Shenmue III trailer revealed as Kickstarter campaign enters its final days

Posted on July 16, 2015 by John Scalzo

The Kickstarter campaign for Yu Suzuki’s Shenmue III is nearing its end. With less than 36 hours remaining, the project has already racked up more than $5.1 million in pledges. Right now, it trails only Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night on the list of most-funded video games. To celebrate these milestones, Suzuki and his team at Ys Net have released a short scene from the game:

Ryo and Shenhua arrive at the Lake of the Lantern Bugs after their long journey. Entranced, they watch the gentle flight of the lantern bugs upon the mirage-like oasis.

Shenmue III still has a long way to go, but this is certainly a start. If all goes according to plan, it’ll be released for the PC and PS4 in late 2017.

Posted in News, PC, PS4 | Tagged

Randy Pitchford’s #AskRandy Q&A goes horribly wrong for the developer

Posted on July 15, 2015 by Josh Griffiths

gearbox-logoTwitter is a wonderful place. But sometimes, it can be a truly horrifying place where your worst nightmares come to life. That’s the position Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford found himself in Monday when he agreed to participate in an #AskRandy Q&A for Develop Brighton.

The intended goal was to get people to ask Pitchford questions about game development, which seems fair enough. The only problem was the timing. On Friday, Pitchford made a statement in regards to Sega’s agreement to a settlement concerning the lawsuit centered around Aliens: Colonial Marines. Sega and Gearbox were being sued by gamers who argued that Sega used false and unrepresentative demos, trailers, and screenshots to sell the game. Gearbox was included in the lawsuit as the developer of the game, though most of the work was reportedly outsourced to TimeGate Studios, and Gearbox was dropped from the suit similar this year.

Pitchford went on the attack in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, saying, “the legal system failed as it was being manipulated by what appeared to me to be, essentially, mafia-style extortion tactics.” He continued by stating the free market was the only judge for the game: “The market proved it was doing its job perfectly. The market is dispassionate — rewarding what it likes and punishing what it doesn’t. There is an objectivity and fairness in the open market’s harsh, firm justice.”

Of course, the whole lawsuit was about the game being sold on a bed of lying screenshots and trailers, and the infamous E3 2013 demo, but that’s neither here nor there.

Monday also marked the release of the latest episode of Jim Sterling’s Jimquisition show, “Aliens: Colonial Marines – Game Over, Randy,” in which he disagreed with Pitchford’s comments from Friday. This coincided with Develop Brighton’s launch for the hashtag campaign, and with the powder keg primed, angry fans were handed the match.

A sampling of the tweets Pitchford received can be found after the break. (more…)

Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Sega releases trailer for fictional “Shia LaBeouf DLC” for Sonic Generations

Posted on July 15, 2015 by Josh Griffiths

As a game critic and commentator, it’s my job to commentate on things like this. But… what is there to say? Sega has posted a video on it’s official forums advertising a “Shia LaBeouf DLC” for Sonic Generations. This is definitely a real thing that is definitely not happening, but it was uploaded to the official Sonic the Hedgehog YouTube Page yesterday, and is being promoted by Sonic’s offical Twitter account.

Sonic’s social media accounts have been extremely interesting, to say the least, over the last few weeks. Allow me to demonstrate:

This could be the start of a recent attempt by Sega to regain the public’s trust after publicly apologizing for recent missteps. I can see an old man at Sega HQ saying, what better way to reconnect with “da kids” than by quoting memes (like Shia LaBeouf’s “You can do it!” message) and posting bizarre jokes to Twitter? Maybe he’s got his feet up on the desk, with a big fat cigar in his mouth, yelling at Peter Parker to get those pictures of Spide-Man while he’s at it.

Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Personal user data exposed after a hack of Epic Games forum

Posted on July 15, 2015 by Josh Griffiths

epicgames-logoEpic Games, the creator of Gears of War and the Unreal Engine, has released a notice detailing a hack of their community forums. The full details of the hack and what Epic is doing to fix the problem can be read right here:

Dear Epic Games Forum Member,

We have just discovered that the Epic Games forums located at https://forums.epicgames.com were compromised by a hacker. We are sorry to report that the incident may have resulted in unauthorized access to your username, email address, password, and the date of birth you provided at registration.

We have taken https://forums.epicgames.com offline. When the site reopens, your password will be reset. If you use the same password on this site which you use on other sites, we recommend immediately changing your password on those sites as well.

The affected forum site covers UDK, Infinity Blade, Gears of War, Bulletstorm, and prior Unreal Tournament games. However, the separate forum sites covering Unreal Engine 4, Fortnite, and the new Unreal Tournament were unaffected.

We apologize for the inconvenience this causes everyone. To further understand what’s happened and prevent it in the future, we’re working with a computer security firm to identify the nature of the compromise. We will report further information on the forums when they reopen.

While the investigation into the security compromise is ongoing, we are reaching out to you directly to let you know of the potential unauthorized access to information you provided at registration. It is possible that any information stored or sent by you using the forums may have been accessed. Since this is a public forum, we do not collect or maintain financial information, but we advise you to be alert for suspicious email such as phishing attempts.

Thank you for being a part of our community, and for your attention to this issue.

Best Regards,
The Epic Games Team

Best of luck to everyone affected by this hack.

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