The Last of Us, Tearaway, Gone Home lead this year’s GDC Awards

Posted on January 9, 2014 by John Scalzo

gdcawardsThe nominees for the 2014 Game Developers Choice Awards have been announced and The Last of Us, Gone Home, and Tearaway lead the field with five nominations apiece.

The Last of Us and Gone Home will be competing for this year’s Game of the Year award alongside Grand Theft Auto V, Super Mario 3D World, and Tomb Raider. Tomb Raider and Grand Theft Auto V are also in the running for multiple awards as each has been nominated in two additional categories.

Other multi-category nominees this year include The Stanley Parable, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Device 6, and Papers, Please.

This year’s Game Developers Choice Awards will be handed out on Wednesday, March 19 at the San Francisco Moscone Center during the 2014 Game Developers Conference. The full list of nominees can be found after the break.

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2014 Independent Games Festival finalists announced

Posted on January 9, 2014 by John Scalzo

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The Independent Games Festival announced the finalists for their 16th annual awards yesterday. This year, six titles will vie for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize including The Stanley Parable (Galactic Cafe), Don’t Starve (Klei Entertainment), Jazzpunk (Necrophone Games), Papers, Please (Lucas Pope), Device 6 (Simogo), and Dominique Pamplemousse in “It’s All Over Once the Fat Lady Sings!” (Deirdra Kiai Productions).

The Festival jury found a lot to like about all six of those games as they show up again and again throughout the full list of finalists. You can find the complete list of finalists after the break, including the selections for the Nuovo Award, which honors “Abstract and Unconventional Game Development.”

The IGF Awards will be held on Wednesday, March 19 at the San Francisco Moscone Convention Center, directly preceding the disbursement of this year’s Game Developers Choice Awards during the 2014 Game Developers Conference.

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WWE Network will be available through PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, mobile devices next month

Posted on January 9, 2014 by John Scalzo

Whatcha gonna do when the WWE Network runs wild on you?

That’s the question Vince McMahon asked today at CES when he revealed the WWE Network, a streaming subscription service for original and classic WWE content.

So what can wrasslin’ fans expect to find on the WWE Network? For $9.99 per month (with a six month commitment), they’ll receive live access to all 12 WWE Pay-Per-View events (including WrestleMania XXX, Summer Slam, Survivor Series, and the Royal Rumble). In addition to the live events, on-demand streaming of Raw and SmackDown replays will be available as well as original shows such as Countdown, WrestleMania Rewind, and Legends House. More details on these shows can be found at the WWE Network official site.

The WWE Network will be available through the WWE app on the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Roku, and mobile devices beginning February 24. Users will also be able to access WWE Network content through the WWE website as well. WWE Network support for the Xbox One and selected Smart TVs will be available this Summer.

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Who Will Play Agent 47 in the New Hitman Film? The Frontrunner and 4 Alternate Picks

Posted on January 9, 2014 by Andrew Rainnie

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With the sad passing of actor Paul Walker in November 2013, many were curious how Universal would handle his character’s disappearance from Fast & Furious 7. After a brief hiatus, it looks as though a combination of methods will allow the character to retire gracefully, in memory of the actor. However, the future of the gargantuan car chase franchise overshadowed the fact that Walker was due to don the suit and red tie of Agent 47 to play the assassin in a rebooted film version of IO Interactive’s Hitman. As the world moves on, as it must, we thought we’d have a look at which actor would be best to take on the title character.

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Posted in Etcetera, Features, Top Story |

Daily Scoop: January 9, 2014 – Frozenbyte Humble Bundle

Posted on January 9, 2014 by Nicole Kline

Anyone else out there using Raptr? I’m trying to get the hang of it, but it’s frustrating that it doesn’t work the same with every system. I can register my 3DS, but it doesn’t show what games I’m playing. It spams about PC games connected to my Steam account, but barely knows when I play games on the PSN. What’s the deal? I need the whole world to know the embarrassing number of hours I spend gaming. Get on it, Raptr.

A new week, a new Humble Weekly Bundle! This time, it’s Frozenbyte, with Shadowgrounds, Trine, and Jack Claw Prototype. Pay more than $6 to get Shadowground Survivor and Trine 2 Complete Story. And, as always, soundtracks are included.

There’s also a new bundle over at Indie Royale as well. Pay whatever the current minimum is for A Valley Without Wind, A Valley Without Wind 2, Cognition Episode 1: The Hangman, Cognition Episode 2: The Wise Monkey, Dungeon Hearts, Pid, Richard & Alice, and Waveform. Pay $6 or more for a bonus album!

Finally, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is another Midweek Madness deal at Steam for $7.49. The deal lasts until tomorrow.

Just one t-shirt today!

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Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

Atlus tells players “Don’t Look Back” in new Daylight trailer

Posted on January 9, 2014 by Andrew Rainnie

Atlus has released a new trailer for its upcoming procedurally-generated horror game Daylight. The PC and PS4 game is in development at Zombie Studios and both publisher and developer have warned “Don’t Look Back” as you watch.

The trailer shows the female protagonist waking up in a derelict hospital and being taunted by her mysterious captor, as well as other spooky voices. It certainly sells the creepiness and feeling of isolation, thanks in part to the graphics powered by the Unreal Engine 4. In addition to the randomly generated levels, the game’s main character will have to fend off the evil within using the magic of their mobile phone, which ingeniously helps players light their way through the level while also showing a map of the area. The above video also shows the main character wielding other items such as scissors and a Holy Bible.

Daylight is expected to be released in the first half of 2014, but no date has been set. When it does hit, expect it to send shivers down your spine.

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Nintendo Download: Chibi-Robo: Photo Finder, Gradius, Cocoto Magic Circus 2

Posted on January 9, 2014 by John Scalzo

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Welcome to another week of Nintendo downloads. Today, the company has added a trio of games to the Nintendo eShop… There’s the real-world picture-taking quest, Chibi-Robo!: Photo Finder (3DS); the classic NES shooter, Gradius (Wii U); and a shooting gallery game, Cocoto Magic Circus 2 (Wii U).

More details on all three games can be found right here:

3DS eShop

Chibi-Robo!: Photo Finder – Become one of the world’s best tiny robot helpers by taking pictures of real-world objects using the Nintendo 3DS Camera to help open a new museum. Collect Happy Points by vacuuming, picking up trash and helping a cast of colorful characters. Collected Happy Points can be used to purchase in-game film that lets you photograph real-world objects and transport them into the game for the museum’s displays.

Wii U eShop

Gradius – In the classic game Gradius, pilot the Vic Viper through seven stages, while shooting, dodging and collecting various power-ups, including missiles, lasers and shields. The only way to end the war is to plunge deep through the enemy forces and destroy them from within.

Cocoto Magic Circus 2 – Knock out Cocoto’s enemies and save his friends!

Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U |

Get Even uses photorealistic graphics to ask “What Is Real?”

Posted on January 8, 2014 by John Scalzo

Polish developers The Farm 51 are best known for budget titles like 2009’s Necrovision, last year’s Painkiller: Hell & Damnation, or the Indiana Jones-esque Deadfall Adventures. But for their first next-gen project, the company is getting a little ambitious.

Get Even plays with memories like The Matrix and drops players into a world that melds single-player and multiplayer gameplay. Which “memories” a player chooses to follow will change the how the game progresses. And, according to the developer, “[Other players] on the network can join the quest as enemies, so players never know whether their opponents are human or CPU-based.”

The game will also make extensive use of a brand new 3D photoscanning technology that will literally drop these images into the game to create “expansive and lifelike environments.” “Advanced lighting effects” will add to the immersive images to create an even more realistic world. The developer plans to combine these elements to create a unique shooter that stands out from the crowd.

Wojtek Pazdur, CEO of The Farm 51, said: “As an independent developer, it would be foolish to go head-to-head with the larger companies and create a ‘me too’ knock-off, and frankly we wouldn’t be interested in doing it. We believe that there is still a ton of content and design creativity that has yet to be explored in first-person genre, as well as an audience beyond the warfare player — those are the people we are going for with Get Even.”

Get Even will be available sometime in 2015 for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

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