Most Recent: PC

The Last of Us, GTA5 lead 2014 BAFTA nominees

Posted on February 13, 2014 by John Scalzo

baftagameThe nominees for the 2014 BAFTA Awards have been announced and… drumroll please… The Last of Us and Grand Theft Auto V both racked up a ton of nominations.

Both games will be competing for the coveted “Best Game” award against Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Tearaway, Super Mario 3D World, and Papers Please. Due to its British origins, GTA5 is also competing in the “British Game” category against Tearaway, The Room Two, Lego Marvel Super Heroes, Gunpoint, and DMC: Devil May Cry.

In addition to “Best Game,” The Last of Us was nominated for nine awards including “Artistic Achievement,” “Audio Achievement,” “Game Design,” “Original Music,” “Story,” “Action and Adventure,” and “Multiplayer.” Two “Performer” nominations (one each for Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson) round out the game’s honors. As for GTA5, it received seven additional nominations including “Audio Achievement,” “Game Design,” “Game Innovation,” “Story,” “Action and Adventure,” “Multiplayer,” and “Performer” (for Steven Ogg as Trevor Phillips).

The 2014 BAFTA Awards will be awarded on Wednesday, March 12. The complete list of nominees can be found after the break. (more…)

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Broken Age Review: A Point-And-Click Game For A New Era

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Andrew Rainnie

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Since the introduction of crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo, there have been a number of high-profile successes that have managed to capture the collective imagination of the public and skyrocket beyond their original goals. Double Fine Productions’ Broken Age is one such title, dwarfing its initial target of $400,000 by raising $3.3 million, one of the highest amounts ever raised for a game. The reason for the excitement was simple; industry veteran Tim Schafer, designer on classic point-and-click games such as LucasArts’ Full Throttle, Grim Fandango, and co-designer on the incredibly funny Monkey Island series, was returning to the genre. But how does his latest endeavour stand up against these unforgettable games? (more…)

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Xbox 360 version of Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate spotted on Xbox Live Store

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Nicole Kline

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A placeholder page for a Deluxe Edition of Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate was recently added to the Xbox Games Store, along with the announcement of a March 25 release date. The page has since been taken down, but here’s what the product description looked like:

Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate – Deluxe Edition amplifies the 2.5-D game with new maps, enemy encounters, difficulty levels, batsuits, and enhanced visuals. A companion game to Batman: Arkham Origins, players can continue the storyline of the console version and discover more details of the Dark Knight’s past. Featuring stealth gameplay, free-flow combat, and Batman’s famed arsenal of gadgets, the genuine Arkham experience is reproduced in a deep, action packed side-scrolling adventure.

Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate was originally released for the 3DS and Vita last October. Now that the Xbox 360 version has been leaked, hopefully there will also be PC and PlayStation 3 versions announced soon. More than likely they will be.

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Techland introduces you to the humans of Dying Light in new trailer

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Nicole Kline

In the latest Dying Light trailer, “Humanity,” we’re given a glimpse into the humans of the game – the humans who are now trapped in a quarantine zone teeming with infected. These human beings view the zombies not as just a slew of monsters to tear through, but rather, as something else entirely: people. Or, at least, they were people, before all of this happened. The survivors were all “doctors… teachers… fathers… sons,” as the narrator tells us. But so were the zombies, once.

The PlayStation Blog gives us an ever deeper look, with some comments from the game’s producer, Tymon Smektala. Smektala talks about the difficult choices the game gives you:

When traversing the city of Harran, the player will encounter survivors in a variety of situations. You may find them hidden, trapped or surrounded by the infected in the most unlikely places, calling hopelessly for help. Your help. It’s up to you whether you’ll decide to come to their aid or not. Lending a helping hand, be it out of kind heart or want for reward, is always a risk, though. The grim reality of Harran doesn’t allow any safe choices.

Dying Light’s gritty realism will grace store shelves sometime this year on the PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

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Roundabout is headed to Xbox One, GDC, and PAX East

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Nicole Kline

Roundabout, the “city with a twist,” will be coming to Xbox One as part of the ID@Xbox program. Developer No Goblin is “super honored to be included with one of the first waves of developers to release through the program,” according to their website. (And yes, they “will investigate yelling “Xbox, HONK HONK” to activate the limo’s horn.” Ha!)

The game will be playable at GDC next month, for those who want to try it out early. And if you can’t make it to GDC, they’ll also have their own booth at PAX East in April. So that’s two great chances for you to take the limo for a spin… literally!

Roundabout is currently available for pre-order for Windows, Mac, and Linux at No Goblin’s website right now for $9.99. The developers will be announcing a release date soon.

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Ubisoft’s Child of Light will be released on April 30

Posted on February 11, 2014 by Nicole Kline

Ubisoft’s utterly gorgeous Child of Light has a new trailer, and it’s lovely. This fairytale-like game takes players through Lemuria, which looks like a beautiful painting. This coming-of-age story lets you play as Aurora, who is fighting to return to the home she was stolen from. The game looks like Ico as a traditional JRPG, with added skills and crafting abilities. In short: it’s just the kind of game I want to play.

Child of Light will be out on April 30 for Xbox 360 and Xbox One (XBLA), PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 (PSN), the Wii U (Nintendo eShop), and the PC (Steam).

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Pillars of Eternity will be released in the second half of 2014

Posted on February 11, 2014 by Nicole Kline

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Pillars of Eternity, the well-funded Kickstarter project by Obsidian Entertainment, has had a few hiccups along the way. Their Kickstarter campaign originally predicted the game would launch in April 2014, but their most recent development update says otherwise:

“However, before we get to the art, we wanted to officially update everyone that we are looking good to release Eternity by Winter 2014. So, look forward to getting your hands on Pillars of Eternity later this year,” wrote Rose Gomez, the newest producer on the game.

Pillars of Eternity – originally just Project Eternity – hasn’t had a Spring 2014 date for some time. Eurogamer spoke to project lead Josh Sawyer last May, and even then, he hinted at a Winter 2014 release.

But no, according to project lead Josh Sawyer, who spoke to me recently, “It’s not going to be in spring.” What about summer? Probably not.

Is it realistic, then, for people not to expect Pillars of Eternity in the first half of 2014? “Yeah,” he answered. “It’s going to come later.”

And then he explained: “We foresaw needing a bit more time when the Kickstarter ended. It’s understandable that people don’t know this but when you start a Kickstarter, once it goes live, you can’t change that [estimated release] date. You’re not allowed to change to that date.

In 2014, we’re no strangers to delayed Kickstarters, though I’m sure there are more than a few disappointed people out there. Keep yourself occupied with your backlog until Winter 2014 comes around when you can get your hands on Pillars of Eternity.

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Disney Infinity 2 in the works after Infinity 1 sells a ton

Posted on February 11, 2014 by Nicole Kline

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Disney Interactive had a 38% revenue growth (to $403 million) and a 600% quarterly operating income growth (to $55 million from $9 million), according to their quarterly earnings call, which took place last week. Chairman and CEO Bob Iger attributed the success primarily to Disney Infinity. Hopefully this means that last week’s rumor about layoffs was just that: a rumor.

But wait – there’s more great news. Iger confirmed that there would be additional entries in the Disney Infinity series, saying, “On the interactive front, there will be new iterations of [Disney] Infinity.” The executive also said that Disney Interactive would explore more mobile possibilities – could Infinity be coming to mobile platforms as well?

The company plans to focus more on licensing their iconic characters (for example, their deal with EA for two Star Wars games) instead of publishing when it comes to console – with the exception of Infinity. Iger also said they are “tracking what we are seeing in the industry” and “moving off of some of the more traditional platforms into mobile-to-mobile space, mostly for social games and for other casual games.”

With how much I see little kids stealing their parents’ phones to play Minecraft and other games, putting more Disney games on mobile would be sheer genius.

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