Originally slated for a PC release only, Hyper Light Drifter has received the green light for a PlayStation 4 and PS Vita port later this year.
Hyper Light Drifter will support co-op along with competitive multiplayer. Interestingly enough, the co-op experience will be similar to that of Dark Souls where the developers won’t be holding your hands throughout its narration. You can take a glance at some of the gorgeous environments in the stills and gifs below.
Source, PS Blog.
H-Hour has come to an end on one one of it’s many production cycles and SOF Studios is now discussing some of its upcoming plans.
In a detailed blog post, creative director David Sears outlined the many bugs that have been fixed in the extremely early test version of the game, though some still remain. In the promised time that they detailed to backers of the Kickstarter, SOF has completed one full map, three characters and have added plenty of weapons and explosives, which mean it’s time to start delivering on some more promises. In the coming weeks, backers can expect high resolution wallpapers and the game’s very first gameplay trailer, which is said to be arriving very “soon”.
The studio will also be broadcasting a live Twitch feed, including a special guest, where they will be discuss more about H-Hour. It will also be an opportunity to win a spot in the upcoming Beta. The Twitch discussion will be held on March 25th on their official studio channel.
H-Hour: World’s Elite is set to launch sometimes later next year on the PlayStation 4 and PC.
This May, Crytek is making its cutting edge graphics engine, the CryEngine, available to all for a royalty free $9.90 per month subscription through the company’s new “Engine-as-a-Service” program.
Developers will have access to recently announced features like Physically Based Shading, Geometry Cache and Image Based Lighting, all which were showcased during Crytek’s presentation at this year’s Game Developers Conference.
The company also launched two new showcase trailers highlighting some of the up and coming CryEngine games from both triple-A studios and indie developers. You’ll catch some new Evolve footage from Turtle Rock’s next-gen shooter in the video above, as well as some Star Citizen gameplay from Cloud Imperium Games.
Check out what some of the indie studios have in the works below:
[youtube id=”MShEe8twY6g”]
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare is already dubbed one of the weirdest shooters out there. So how exactly is PopCap HD going top the experience with its latest DLC offering? It’s simple, actually: Launch new content for free.
Upon downloading the parody-filled mandatory Garden Variety update, you’ll be greeted with a seriously overwhelming amount of new content: over 120 new customization items in total, new potted plants/summoned zombie types, three new weapon skins for every Zombie class and their variants, three new skills for every class, a new medium sized map called Chomp Town, and my personal favorite, a new game mode called Gnome Bomb.
Chomp Town will cater to both close-range and long-range fighting styles. Areas near the middle will offer some of that close-quarters combat while those seeking ranged battles can stick to the outskirts of the map.
Gnome Bomb, a parody of Battlefield 4’s Obliteration, tasks players with fighting over one bomb that must be planted on three enemy objectives. Destroying all three wins the match.
Of the two versions, Gnome bomb is, in my honest opinion, actually the better of the two, as PopCap HD take has taken measures to make the mode less “campy” and encourage the bomb carrier to actually plant the bomb. Bomb carriers have less than 90 seconds to go to one of the three bomb sites and arm it before they blow up alongside the device, making the game intensely fun and forcing everyone to work together for the win. If your team successfully manages to destroy a bomb site or diffuse the bomb, a new bomb will randomly spawn at a point on the map.
Gnome bomb carriers must be cautious, as once you pick it up, you won’t be able to use any of your special abilities. Without abilities, expect the Plants team to be filled with nothing but Peashooters. They are clearly the best Plant class for this mode due to an above average movement speed, small hit box, and high damage output. Sadly, this can lead to a pretty annoying experience for the Zombies team, depending on how you feel about the Peashooter’s Chili Bean Bomb ability, which is now amplified with the Sombrero Chili Bean Bomb, and upgraded version of the former.
Say hello to your worst nightmare in the Gnome Bomb mode.
Speaking of special abilities, Garden Variety contains a plethora of new ones that you can look forward to unlocking via Sticker Packs. Each new upgrade greatly alters how many of the vanilla abilities are used. For instance, the Long Bomb, an upgraded version of the All-Star’s Imp Punt, now flies through the air and deals massive amount of damage to anything it touches. However, unlike it’s original counterpart, it will explode on impact making it very tricky to use if there are no objects in your way. If you manage to master it, it can be very effective in clearing out Gardens in Gardens And Graveyards.
With the addition of these new abilities, it also means that certain classes, such as the Sunflower, can now be more of an offensive powerhouse, instead of just being a support type. The Potted Dark Flower skill, for example, which replaces the Potted Healing Flower skill, can deal tons of damage in short periods of time. If you’d rather not use the new abilities found in Garden Variety, you can also opt to use the traditional skills or mix and match between old and new abilities, spicing things up and adding complexity to the game.
To simply put it, I’m impressed with how much content PopCap HD was able to add for free, since the DLC itself is well worth something like $9.99. It introduces a much-needed and very fun new game mode that non-casual gamers can easily get into. The Gnome Bomb mode needs a few small tweaks to make the other Plant classes more effective as the Peashooter, but that’s the only gripe I have with the new content so far. The Garden Variety add-on for Plants vs. Garden Warfare receives a score 4.5 out of 5 and is a fantastic reason to revisit PopCap HD’s quirky shooter if some some of the more recent released have been hogging too much of your time.
Epic is unleashing Unreal Engine 4 unto the world today.
Speaking at this year’s Game Developers Conference, the company showcased the brand new graphics engine that can be accessed for a monthly rate of $19, along with a 5% royalty. Check out the 5-minute presentation above highlighting the engine’s impressive new features.
Epic founder Tim Sweeney recaps the company’s history in the video below and talks about their new approach to the business.
[youtube id=”cS6q1H23njM”]
The keen Battlefield 4 community may have found the T-Rex on Rogue Transmission, the exploding ship on Hainan Resort, and solved the mysteries of the Phantom Prospect, but there’s still more to find, according to DICE.
Co-hosting a portion of today’s Battlefield 4 Naval Strike live stream with Alex “GoldenBoy” Mendez, DICE associate producer David Sirland talked about some of the secrets that Battlefield still holds, as well as a few of the new balance tweaks arriving with the Naval Strike expansion on March 25 for Premium members.
Bringing vehicular warfare to the forefront with Naval Strike, DICE hopes to tweak a few gameplay elements in order to create a better balance between them. “We’ve been looking at helicopters, and of course helicopters have been a little bit on the weaker side,” said Sirland. “So in this release we are buffing them a little bit, making it easier for helicopter pilots to stay alive, basically.”
“There’s also other fixes, of course,” he added. “Like it’s really hard to kill something with two hits of the javelin rocket now. I’d say it’s impossible which is great.”
At one point during the stream, the topic shifted to the massive easter egg hunt that took place earlier this year, an event that brought much of the Battlefield 4 community together working towards one specific goal.
“It’s awesome. We couldn’t really fathom how big it would be,” Sirland explained. “I’m really happy it went that big.” But there’s more, he says. “The only thing I can say, I guess, is there’s more to find.”
We never did find that Megalodon.
DICE also hopes to expand on a few of the Premium-exclusive events that went over well with the community.
“We have our awesome Premium Calandar that contains a lot of items that we release. We’re also looking at other things that we can do for community members in the future – kind of looking at the community, again, seeing what works and seeing what doesn’t work as well and trying to do more of that, or things like that,” said Sirland.
He specifically mentioned the Phantom program and how quick the community was to figure that puzzle out.
“We get really good feedback and really happy feedback on a lot of things like, for instance, the Phantom program we talked about. It’s really nice when they – it becomes this community thing where you have this hive mind trying to break your puzzles really quickly.”
“So, we kind of took that and ran with it,” he added. “A game within the game, if you will.”
It appears that Respawn Entertainment’s sci-fi shooter Titanfall has already performed well enough to warrant a sequel.
According to “a reputable source,” EA has secured rights to Titanfall 2, says GameSpot.
Other than a sharp increase in Xbox One sales in the UK, no official Titafall sales numbers have been announced by EA, but the source indicates that the decision to secure sequel rights was based on a well-received launch. “We do not comment on rumor or speculation,” said EA. “Right now all our focus is on supporting all the fans worldwide enjoying Titanfall.”
Though the original was destined to remain an Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC exclusive for the entirety of its life time, EA later expressed interest in eventually bringing the IP to other platforms as well. Respawn CEO Vince Zampella also mentioned he “could see a sequel working, absolutely,” in an interview earlier this month.
Earlier today, Titanfall’s Xbox 360 version was delayed yet again to April 8.
Following up after the video teaser earlier this week, Battlefield 4 developer DICE is showing off the game’s upcoming ocean combat-themed DLC, Naval Strike, in a brand new gameplay trailer.
Naval Strike, Battlefield 4’s third DLC drop after China Rising and Second Assault, will be the last multiplayer expansion developed by DICE Stockholm as production moves to DICE LA for the remaining expansions, Dragon’s Teeth and Final Stand. Naval Strike will offer up new weapons, vehicles, maps, assignments and the new game mode Carrier Assault.
Naval Strike launches for Premium members first on all platforms March 25, April 8 for non-Premium subscribers.
Be sure to catch the mountains of Naval Strike gameplay footage that dropped earlier today.
The Amazon Spring Outlet Event is hitting Infinity Ward and DICE’s shooters across all platforms this week.
Both Call of Duty: Ghosts and Battlefield 4 will be discounted with prices ranging in between $30 to $53, depending on the platform.
Check out the full price list below and simply click on the titles to be taken to the game’s official product page on Amazon.
Oddly enough, you can also save three cents the next Halo game for Xbox One that Amazon has listed for release on December 31, 2014 as a placeholder.
Xbox One and Xbox 360 users will be able to try Call of Duty: Ghosts Onslaught DLC this weekend for free.
The trial begins this Friday, March 21 at 10 am PDT and lasts through to Monday, March 24 at 10am PDT. According to the announcement, it looks like players will have full access to the DLC’s offerings, including the four maps Bay View, Containment, Fog, and Ignition, as well as the new Maverick Assault Rifle and Sniper Rifle and Extinction Episode 1: Nightfall.
You can catch gameplay footage of the new content, including the new maps and weapons, right here.
Are you going to give it a try this weekend?
Here’s a new look at the Snowdrop Engine, the impressive new game engine powering the next-gen massive multiplayer online shooter coming to the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC later this year, The Division.
While at this year’s GDC, the developers at Ubisoft Massive took the time to demonstrate their powerful new engine in this fascinating new tech demo that you can catch above. Interestingly, you’ll also catch a glimpse of some new scenes from The Division, so don’t miss it. Here are some new screens
Be sure to tell us what you think! Pretty impressive, right?
Naval Strike is coming to Battlefield 4 late March.
A number of Battlefield community members who’ve gotten some hands-on time with the ocean combat-themed expansion have posted their thoughts and gameplay of the new maps, mode, weapons and vehicles.
For more, be sure to tune in to today’s Naval Strike live stream right here at 12pm PST / 3pm EST.
Check out the round-up below:
[youtube id=”L3I_xOKb3JM”]
[youtube id=”kK8p1lIKztA”]
[youtube id=”42kNE8HcxfU”]
[youtube id=”N6hDmjLizPY”]
[youtube id=”RRrTuckNTbU”]
[youtube id=”51E8h4YWyOY”]
[youtube id=”52SXi1ohtR4″]
[youtube id=”IIXXKyYbhFg”]
[youtube id=”mG9ijYuDXAA”]
[youtube id=”vYKgQ-h__fA”]
[youtube id=”sxv3zqnbkJA”]
[youtube id=”JwKwwgAa5Hs”]
[youtube id=”b_kPAX-iwqY”]
[youtube id=”lqKnhyX1E0Y”]
[youtube id=”qmTKGvigBcQ”]
[youtube id=”BARsxT4TziM”]
[youtube id=”XJlZfw0NSgo”]
Significant new updates are coming to Sony’s PlayStation 4 in the upcoming weeks.
“I’m happy to report that, as a direct result of your feedback, we’ll soon be bringing some of your most-requested features to PS4 with a system software update in the upcoming weeks,” writes director and product planner Scott McCarthy in a recent PS Blog update. “These features and additions will help make your PS4 even more socially connected by further enabling you to customize your most epic gaming moments and granting even more options to show them to your friends.”
In a future update, Sony will add a rich video editor with a simple tool to help personalize video clips. You’ll also be able to export and save videos and screenshots with the SHARE button to a USB drive. For recording purposes with third party devices, Sony will also allow users to turn off HDCP for capturing gameplay via HDMI.
Sony is also working with Twitch to deliver the ability to archive Twitch broadcasts, as well as to increase broadcast quality to a 720p resolution.
“We’ll have more to come on these updates and more in the coming weeks,” says McCarthy.
Well, that’s one way of dealing with invaders in the horrific Belfry Tower.
In Dark Souls 2, this area in general is probably the most PvP-centric in the entire game, which is no surprise, seeing that you virtually get invaded every few steps.
Check out the video above and stay tuned for our full review.
This is the second time Electronic Arts has pushed back the 360 version of Titanfall, which was originally slated to release along with the Xbox One and PC versions.
EA’s Executive Vice President, Patrick Söderlund, made an announcement on the EA Blog earlier today, saying, “I want to update everyone on Titanfall for Xbox 360 in development with Bluepoint Games. I’ve been playing the game a lot, and it is fantastic. But we see a few things that can be made even better, so we’re giving Bluepoint a little more time to do just that and deliver an epic Titanfall experience for Xbox 360 players.”
“Titanfall for Xbox 360 will now be releasing on April 8 in North America, and beginning on April 11 in Europe. The game will feature the same 6v6 gameplay, maps, modes, weapons and Burn Cards as the Xbox One and PC versions of the game.”
You can read more about the rumored resolution for the Xbox 360 version.
On the heals of Sony’s major “Project Morpheous” Virtual Tracking Headset reveal, the company also announced it’s support for CCP’s multiplayer dogfighting shooter, EVE: Valkyrie.
Originally slated for release the Oculus Rift virtual reality display, it looks like it will now also be coming to Sony’s new device. A demo of the game will be playable on the floor at this year’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
Check out the original EVE: Valkyrie announcement trailer above.
Today, Sony has officially announced the long-rumored virtual reality headset coming to the PlayStation 4.
Dubbed “Project Morpheus,” the work-in-progress will help the company in “driving the future of innovation at Sony Computer Entertainment,” said Sony Worldwide Studio President, Shuhei Yoshida, during their GDC conference.
The device has been in development since 2010, and will be playable at the GDC show floor starting tomorrow. Here’s what it looks like.
Project Morpheus is “a Virtual Reality device for PS4,” Sony tweeted as they described its looks as “sleek and futuristic, black and white with blue highlights.” It will deliver low latency, high framerates, clean visuals, and 3D audio in order to properly create ‘presence’, along with these six key requirements: sight, sound, tracking, control, ease of use, and content.
“Content is king for VR and Project Morpheus,” the company added. “‘We want to make PlayStation the best place for VR’ – not just playing, but developing.”
Tentatively, the dev kit will display at a 1080p resolution and will offer a 90+ degree field of view with 360 degree head tracking with an accelerometer and gyroscope sensor is built into the unit. In addition to the PlayStation Camera, the device will work with the DualShock 4 controller and PlayStation Move. Sony hopes to get it in the hands of developers as soon as possible in order to foster support, and so its reveal at this year’s Game Developers Conference was fitting.
What do you think? Are you interested in virtual reality gaming?
Ever wonder what the best weapon is to kill a Titan in Respawn Entertainment’s sci-fi shooter, Titanfall?
Denkirson forum user Dissentia has compiled a substantial amount of weapon data from the PC version of the game, including weapon damage levels, rate of fire, reload times, and time-to-kill against Titanfall’s three different Titan chassis; the Atlas, Ogre, and Strider.
The numbers were extracted directly from the game’s files, so they should be fairly accurate. Check out the details below.
Click on the chart below to enlarge.
On a strictly time-to-kill basis, it appears that the Spitfire LGM is the most effective weapon to use against a Titan with the Kraber-AP Sniper being the least. Of course, these numbers refer to the time it takes to kill a Titan by rodeoing it (climbing up top its back and shooting its weak spot).
Naturally, each weapon in Titanfall has its own unique strengths and weaknesses. What might be ineffective against a Titan is perhaps more deadly when facing other pilots. We’re pretty sure the Kraber-AP Sniper will rip most Pilots to shreds with one bullet, for example.
What’s your favorite weapon in Titanfall so far?
To check out all of Titanfall’s weapons and unlocks, be sure to visit this page right here.
On the release of Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare’s first DLC, Garden Variety, a new bug appears to affecting the Xbox 360 and Xbox One player base.
According to reports and personal testing, this nasty little bug is causing players on platforms to freeze constantly. Unfortunately, exact problem hasn’t been pinned down. But it seems that the community has been experiencing a high rate of freezing when attempting to load up the Driftwood Shores map on Gardens And Graveyards after the update.
Sadly, the recent update also managed to revert the coins earned per game back to how it was when the game first launched. Buffed payouts were introduced earlier this month in another update.
Thankfully, creative director Justin Weibe has announced that the studio will reverse the payouts back to how they were before the update went live and will be working hard to address the freezing issues.
Weibe has updated followers on Twitter, mentioning that the studio is “Narrowing down the issues.”
“Looks like we have a couple server fixes ready to roll out soon. Again thx for your patience.”
In another update, Weibe says that “Once the server updates later tonight to fix stability the next step will be to restore the prev patch.”
“The Good news is the server fixes have been deployed,” said Weibe in another update. “Bad news is that it didn’t fix all of the issues. We’re still on it!”
Stay tuned for more details, as well as our review of the Garden Variety DLC.
Ubisoft is rebranding the studio’s free-to-play online shooter, Ghost Recon Online, as “Ghost Recon Phantoms” that will be officially launching on Steam this April 10.
But why? Producer Corey Facteau has the answers.
“The end of open beta is a new start to the game,” said Facteau in a recent Q&A session. “The difference between where the game started and where it is now is considerable.”
“The name change is directly linked to the new backstory and the new geopolitical context of the game. Ghost Recon, the brand, is about showcasing a realistic depiction of tomorrow’s battlefield. The very nature of conflicts is changing,” he continued.
“Our characters have also become gray, so to speak. On one side, there are the Ghosts. You already know them. The Ghosts are Special Forces serving the United States and a certain idea of order and freedom. The Phantoms are basically ex-Ghosts – a rogue faction who disagreed on the purpose of their fight, or just realized that by bringing enough money to the table they could lead their own war and push their own interests.”
Lastly, he explained that “Ghosts and Phantoms are not that different; they are feuding brothers – two sides of the same coin – and the border between the two is very thin.”
In-game, this will also translate to a complete reworking of lighting and level design on a majority of the maps, all based on the statistical analysis of players’ behaviors during the beta.
Here’s a look at one example:
With the launch of Ghost Recon Phantoms, the development team also plans to tackle matchmaking improvements and the introduction of a new weapon camo system called “Mod Master”.
Facteau says fans can expect many of the new features to be outlined in an upcoming community video “releasing soon”.
What do you think of the new makeover? Ya dig?
