Project Eternity Kickstarter drive ends with record-breaking pledge total

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Nicole Kline

Project Eternity, the Kickstarter for a new RPG by Obsidian Entertainment, still has a few hours left, but it’s already broken records with a total (as of this writing) of $3,753,196 [Update: The final tally was $3,986,929]. It has already beaten out the previous record holder, Double Fine Entertainment’s Double Fine Adventure, which ended at $3,335,265.

Obsidian is responsible for many groundbreaking games, including the Baldur’s Gate series, the Icewind Dale series, Planescape: Torment, Fallout, and Fallout 2. Project Eternity is a fantasy-based isometric RPG that will be available for Linux, Mac, and PC. You still have some time to get in on the Kickstarter, which will, at the very least, net you a copy of the game at a much lower price than what retail will be when the game releases in April 2014.

Just $25 will get you a “Digital Downloadable Copy of Project Eternity. This price is only available for those who help fund before the game is released! All Kickstarter backers will receive a special Kickstarter only in-game achievement and item. (The item will not affect the game’s balance). Includes Cooking with Tim – An RPG-themed e-Cookbook, and Making of Project Eternity Documentary (streaming).”

A cookbook? Count me in.

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Fall 2012 Dashboard Update, featuring Internet Explorer, now available

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Mike Ryan

Xbox 360 owners; start your systems – Microsoft has released the 2012 Fall Update for your system’s dashboard!

The most notable addition is the inclusion of Internet Explorer for the console, which was announced a few months ago during the E3 Expo.

Here’s a more complete list of dashboard changes, straight from the good people at Microsoft:

  • Refreshed Xbox 360 Dashboard: We’ve updated the UI with a few things, including an updated layout with more tiles, a combined TV & Movies channel and, in the US, a Sports destination.
  • Internet Explorer for Xbox: With Internet Explorer on Xbox, you can easily find and view internet content on the biggest screen in the house, including HTML5 videos.
  • Recommendations and Ratings: Recommendations will allow you to discover new favorites, generated based on a number of variables including the content you previously viewed, what your friends are consuming and what is most relevant and popular with our Xbox community. You can now rate content yourself and also see Rotten Tomatoes ratings.
  • Pinning: Pinning lets you personalize the dashboard by saving your favorite movies, TV shows, games, music, videos and websites right to the home screen. It’s as easy as opening an app or a favorite movie and clicking “pin.”
  • Xbox Video: Formerly called Zune Video Marketplace, Xbox Video offers hundreds of thousands of TV shows and movies for buying or renting in instant HD streaming.
  • Recent: Previously called Quick Play, the Recent view gives you a list of movies, games, apps or other types of content that you most recently accessed on the console.
  • Enhanced Search: The last Xbox Live update brought Bing voice search to Xbox so you could use voice to search for movies, TV shows, actors, directors and artists. This year we added genre search to the list, so now you can search for action, comedy, romance, drama or sci-fi. Bing voice search now includes results for video across the Web, including YouTube.
  • International Expansion of Voice Search: We’ve expanded our Kinect voice search capabilities to 9 new countries – Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Italy, Spain, Austria, and Ireland.

Microsoft has also announced that a separate update, which will add Xbox SmartGlass support, will be made available on October 26th, the same day as Windows 8.

For the full press release, check out Major Nelson’s blog.

Posted in News, Xbox 360 |

First screenshots from standalone version of DayZ released

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Nicole Kline

The DayZ creators have been hard at work building their standalone game, and have just released the first screenshots from it. The shots are from in-progress work, “with only basic texture work and initial lighting passes.”

These buildings were made in the original ArmA 2 game with no thought about interiors, and the DayZ creators are going in and giving each building guts, to give the players more opportunities for scavenging for much-needed items. As it says on their development blog,

“The village I used to take the screenshot in now has all its buildings enterable, including the sheds. Most focus has so far been on the buildings that are situated outside of the center, but focus now is turning to doing interiors for the city buildings. This is complicated by our desire to dramatically increase performance, and given the scene complexity inside cities we need to balance this with the desire to increase building scavenging opportunities inside the cities.”

Check out the full post, as well as more screenshots, at the DayZ blog.

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Daily Scoop: October 16, 2012 – Plans within plans

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Nicole Kline

Nothing like having a full agenda and getting nothing done! I swear that’s been my life lately. Try to get one thing together and a million other things seem to fall in the way. Oh, and also, today is kind of a natural bummer of a day – it’s the day BioShock Infinite was supposed to come out. Boo!

Anyway, what’s going on for today? John Scalzo, our Editor-in-Chief, let me know that Gamefly is having a nice sale – it’s an under $15 sale on used games. You can get Mass Effect 3 or Syndicate for $9.99, or Binary Domain or Batman: Arkham City for $14.99. Or you could just spend your money on the Borderlands 2 DLC that came out today, or saving it up for the new Sleeping Dogs DLC that was just announced. Scoop those up, people! For sure.

Some great t-shirts are up for sale today!

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Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360 |

Sleeping Dogs “Nightmare in North Point” DLC launches on October 30

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Nicole Kline

Sleeping Dogs is about to get a scary makeover with its new DLC game mode, “Nightmare in North Point.” Square Enix and United Front Games showed off the new mode at this weekend’s New York Comic Con. Check out the video above for some very awesome gameplay. Wei Shen, now with lightning powers, like he’s in Big Trouble in Little China? Holy crap yes.

“Nightmare in North Point” will be out on October 30 for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. Be sure to grab a copy of Sleeping Dogs so you can play this scary DLC expansion in time for Halloween.

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ToeJam & Earl boogie to PSN, XBLA this November

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Mike Ryan

Sega announced recently that classic 16-bit characters ToeJam & Earl will be crash landing onto the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network on November 7th. Don’t get your hopes up for a new outing, though; we’re just getting emulated versions of ToeJam & Earl and its sequel, ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron. The two titles will be available separately on PSN for $4.99 each and available as a bundle, Sega Vintage Collection: ToeJam & Earl, on XBLA for 800 Microsoft Points ($10). Per the Sega Blog:

In the original ToeJam & Earl, players have to help the alien duo explore the craziest planet they’ve ever visited: Earth! After a rough crash landing, pieces of their spaceship have been scattered across a giant, constantly-changing landscape. Help them avoid hazards and collect all the pieces so they can get home to planet Funkotron.

Genesis sequel ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron, meanwhile, has our alien heroes return safely to their home planet only to discover that their ship had stowaways! Funkotron is now infested with wild Earthlings who need to be put into jars and shipped back home.

I know a lot of people are looking for a new TJ&E; let’s hope enough people purchase these re-released games to warrant a new title.

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Gearbox releases Borderlands 2 Mecromancer, Pirate’s Booty trailers

Posted on October 16, 2012 by John Scalzo

It’s a good day to be a Borderlands 2 player. Today, Gearbox released the game’s first DLC expansion, “Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate’s Booty” as well as officially launching the fifth character class, Gaige the Mechromancer. You can check out the launch trailer for the expansion above as well as read up on exactly what you’re getting yourself into.

In Captain Scarlett and her Pirate’s Booty, up to four players cooperatively enter the hostile sand dunes and wastelands of Pirate Bay in search of ancient treasures. The add-on content campaign features new characters, including the eccentric and eager Shade; locations such as the town of Oasis; enemies including the Sand Pirates and Anchormen; and special weapons and loot that make it a must-play experience. No trip to Pandora is complete without a stop in Pirate Bay.

Both add-ons have been priced at $9.99/1200 Microsoft Points apiece and you can get a closer look at the Mechromancer’s skills in another brand new trailer after the break.

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PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale beta begins today for PS Plus members

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Nicole Kline

PlayStation Plus members and Vita owners are about to get a special treat: starting today, October 16, the PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale beta will be available. It will open up to the general public on October 23, but Plus subscribers and Vita owners will get a full extra week of full-on brawling. The beta will close on October 30.

According to the PlayStation Blog, here’s what you can expect:

  • Playable characters are Kratos, Sweet Tooth, Colonel Radec, Sly Cooper, PaRappa, and Fat Princess
  • Stages are Metropolis and Hades
  • Tournament types will be four-player online tournaments and 2 v 2 online tournaments (For the latter, friend invites will be supported, meaning you and friend can take on another team online)

They’ve also unveiled all of the pre-order bonus skins. Check the image after the jump to see what you’ll be getting!

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