Besthesda Announce New Survival Horror Title From Tango Gameworks

I find myself with 10 or so minutes to spare, so I thought I'd give you guys something interesting to read about!

It seems that Bethesda have announced a new Survival Horror game codenamed 'Zwei' from developers Tango Gameworks - The official announcement from Bethesda is here and the one from Tango here.

The above picture is the only artwork released so far, Survival horror fans what do you think?

It's likely fans of the Resident Evil & Silent Hill franchises will be looking forward to this and I will try to provide more info when there is more available.

I may even give this game a go although I haven't played a survival horror in years, I think the closest thing I've played to one recently is Bioshock - damn splicers making me jump. 

Aaanyways, as I said, I only had 10 minutes or so free, so that's that article done! Enjoy.

Brief Hiatus

Hey Guys,

As you've probably noticed, I haven't posted any updates for a while. This is primarily due to a heavy workload and a lot of stuff going on IRL (in real life - for those of you who aren't familiar with the acronym).

I hope to resume writing sometime soon, but for now I'm still on a bit of a break.

In the mean time, here are some of the larger news stories to break while I have been away:

• Mass Effect 3 Extended cut DLC announced
• Bethesda announce a new game - Dishonored
• Dark Souls confirmed for a PC port!

There are a few more, less important stories to break but I think the above three have gamers the most excited / interested. I wish I could find time to write an in depth article for each news story, but finding time is tricky.

Expect regular posts sometime soon guys, I will return!

Thanks,

Joe

News for Skyrim incoming?

As you may remember, back in mid march I found a possible Skyrim DLC leak that was posted on another website. While no dates of release were included, the site outlined the details of the 'leak' and summarised them for the internet to see.

Just looking at one of my old screenshots gets me wanting to play Skyrim again,
speculation about DLC adds to that tenfold

Now half a month later, Pete Hines (Vice president of Bethesda Softworks) has announced that April will be a time for news and surprises for their titles Skyrim and Rage (I never did get the chance to play Rage, maybe I'll buy it sometime). This definitely leads me to believe that this will be a DLC announcement for Skyrim, especially seeing as how the creation kit has been out for a while now, I can't really think what else would constitute as cool Skyrim news.

It seems that April is going to be an interesting month for us PC Gamers - Skyrim news, possible Mass Effect DLC news, WoW MoP Beta news and I'm sure that lots of other interesting stories will come to surface over the month, lets just hope that these aren't belated April fools jokes, because let's face it, the internet was a big pile of useless on the first.

But as always, I will do my best to keep you all posted as soon as I come across any more info! Fus Ro Dah! 

Bioware respond to Cupcake Craziness

If you remember, on Tuesday I wrote about the fans protesting Mass effect 3's ending in a rather unique fashion. Last night (for those of us in Europe), Bioware responded to the mad idea in, I must say, a rather humorous fashion. Bioware decided instead of going with the 3 options given to them, they would proceed to select their own fourth option in the form of donating them to charity. Ah, the irony.

The cupcakes actually look rather delicious.

I know there are quite a few fans out there who are angry with this decision, but you have to give credit where it's due. And those complaining about their decision are acting a bit hypocritical; I mean Bioware gave us 3 endings to ME3, we chose a fourth - complain and protest. Fans gave Bioware 3 options, they chose a fourth - donate to charity.

With so many hopping on the EA hate bandwagon and others acting like complete babies about the ending fiasco, they really are starting to make me get annoyed with the ME3 fan community. Saying a kind word about the ending or about EA or Bioware on the internet can get you floods of rage from angry forum users of late. Don't get me wrong, they're only a minority, the majority are forming well-produced and thought out criticism and providing accurate feedback regarding the ending.

But anyway, I digress... Just wanted to let you guys know about this as it definitely made me smile!

Up and Coming: SimCity

Happy Friday eve everyone! I'm going to be looking at something a little different today, rather than the usual Action RPG games I ramble on about. Today I'm going to be having a look into EA Maxis' next instalment in their much loved SimCity Series. 

Just looking at this screen cap makes
me want to play this game again.

Personally, the last SimCity I played was SimCity 3000 back when I was around 9, I remember getting it fairly close to the release date in 1999 and, boy, did I spent countless hours building up huge metropolis' only to plague them with earthquakes and other natural disasters (Space Junk was a barrel of laughs). But for some reason SimCity 4 flew under the radar. I think this may have been because at the time I was playing my consoles more frequently, but who knows?

So after looking at what SimCity (5) has to offer, I was rather impressed, along with heavy graphical improvements and the features from the older games will likely be included, there will be a lot more being implemented such as resource gathering playing an important part; Senior software engineer at EA Maxis Dan Moskowitz has stated, "If you've built up an entire city on the economic basis of extracting a certain resource, when that resource runs out your economy will collapse.".

Online play is another feature that is being added, which will allow you and your friends to build up a region of cities which sounds pretty awesome. But recent complaints have spawned from critics about this, why you ask? Well... to start up the game you will require an Internet connection. While for many of us having a stable, broadband, Internet connection seems like a standard amenity, many people without will not be able to play at all. Once the game has started, you won't get booted from the game, which I guess is some good news for those who use dial-up still, or have a very shaky connection. But still if your internet is down you can't play a local game...? That just doesn't make sense EA!

With a Simulation Engine called
'Glassbox' fans are expecting good things!

On the plus side however it has been announced by maxis that modding will be supported in this game, which is awesome for any PC game out there. If there are bugs, you can be pretty sure some modders out there will make a fix or a workaround. Also, the amount of fun cosmetic stuff the gaming community comes up with is astounding, so this was definitely a step in the right direction.

A new dynamic simulation engine is also being incorporated into SimCity which sounds interesting, simmed units dynamically and randomly creating traffic jams whilst they actually travel around town or to work, now that's attention to detail! Especially considering that many people will be hoping to build cities with populations in the hundreds of thousands.

As for release date, all that has been stated is that it will be a 2013 release, so I guess we'll have to be patient for a year, but this game has definitely piqued my curiosity and will be a game I'd love to invest in when it gets released. But for now I will leave you with the announcement video, enjoy!

Mass Effect fans protest ME3 endings with cupcakes.

So a former WoW guildie, one of the co-authors of drunk tank informed me that there has been another method of protest against the Mass Effect 3 endings. I am rather glad she informed me of this as it is rather hilarious.

As a note THIS MAY GIVE AWAY SOME OF THE ENDING STRUCTURE OF MASS EFFECT THREE - You were warned.

Basically, the player who started the campaign has raised over $1000 in a matter of hours to fund the creation of 402 custom cupcakes (three distinct colours to match the three ending choices) to Biowares offices in Edmonton in Canada. The cupcakes will also bear the message "No matter what colour you choose, they all taste the same!" - A pun referring to the distinct lack of difference between the available endings in ME3.

Some more info:

The thread that started the campaign: http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/355/index/10658883

The site that collected the funds for the order: http://retakeme3cupcakes.chipin.com/retakeme3-cupcake-campaign

And the receipt of the order: http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/2883/invoice.jpg

I'm personally astounded by the power of the internet, over $1000 donated in mere hours. I'm also suprised by the resolve of these fans willing to show how they feel even after Bioware announced they will be working to make extra content available, Fans definitely want more, and they aren't afraid to make bold (and brilliant) statements such as this.

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Beta now Live

You heard it folks, the first phase of the Beta for the upcoming expansion for World of Warcraft has been announced as live on WoW's US website. I'm not sure how these things usually work, but i'm guessing this is an indication EU servers will also be getting access to the beta very soon, if not immediately.

MoP has boasted a new continent, a multitude of new features and an overhaul of old talent systems.

According to the official website, this first live beta only focus' on the starting zones of the new race - Pandaren, and you will have the ability to play through the zone and level a Pandaren from 1-10. As with usual betas for WoW, content will be released in a staggered manner as and when Blizzard feel it's ready for public testing and feedback. 

Blizzard have taken a new approach this time on who is invited to the beta. Firstly, the purchase of an annual pass not only secured you a copy of Diablo III (release date May 15th) but also a beta invite, meaning a lot of people who would usually not bother opting in have actually been given the chance to test the up and coming content. For more information and FAQ on the beta opt in, check this link. 

Mists of Pandaria seems like it will be full of great features and content, but will it be enough to bring millions of ex-subscribers (myself included) back to the game, well, only time will tell.

Dr. Ray Muzyka, Co-Founder of Bioware addresses ME3 players.

Dr. Ray Muzyka has today addressed the fanbase of the Mass Effect series regarding the ongoing controversy surrounding Mass Effect 3's ending. His statement has no confirmation whether or not the ending will be expanded upon or changed, but he does mention that more information will follow throughout April.

Make what you will of the article found here. I for one am somewhat indifferent as to whether more content or a better ending is released, if it is - great! If it isn't - I can live with that too. As I think I've said in a previous article, I just want more information on what happens to the squad and the rest galaxy after the dying moments of ME3.

Dark Souls set for PC release?

Well, some breaking news today, news that I am hoping to be true.

While nothing has been confirmed yet, it seems very likely a PC port is coming.

Namco Bandai Games & From Software's action RPG title may be getting a PC port very soon. The rumours spread today after an image was spotted in Australia's PC powerplay magazine (below) and the twitter account of Rich Bantegui - Namco Bandai Games' community manager (above).

Fans of the game immediately identified this was
from the difficult title.

The lure of Dark Souls for many gamers is that it is a very hard game, reminiscent of 'old school nintendo' style difficulty, something that many games tend to avoid by providing a multitude of different difficulty settings. The game recieved excellent reviews and is very popular among the console gaming community, which is why I am looking forward to seeing it come to the PC.

Suited for more hardcore players, you will most likely find yourself dying a lot more than winning in this game. something I've been looking for in a game for a while. Whilst I do like to play the easy going games, more often than not I prefer to play my first play through on a difficulty above normal. 

So this is another piece of news I'll be keeping an eye one as it progresses, I really do hope the PC port goes ahead, another Action RPG title is always welcome in my gaming library.

Man, it does look awesome, too.

Skyrim DLC Leaked?

Well well, after a weekend of a mix of beer and intense play of Mass Effect 3 I hadn't had time to keep up to date with the breaking news of the gaming world. So today in my usual Internet trawl I stumbled upon this:

A post showing possible DLC details provided by an ex-Bethesda employee.
(Click to enlarge)

The source of this image was here, the post on that link has a nice summary of key points at the bottom for you all to read. Personally I think it seems legit, but as usual, with most of the stuff flying around the internet, I am going to remain calm and see this as a possibility rather than confirmed content. But if this is what is going to happen... wow! Damn it Bethesda, I've already clocked 200 hours on Skyrim, are you trying to make sure I have no time for anything else!

I will be sure to keep up to date when more info about this appears!

Elder Scrolls MMO?

Well, after a bit of browsing on the usual information sources on the net, I found out that something awesomely amazing is possibly in the works for Bethesda and Zenimax.

The article I found about it is Here, It's all very vague and I would advise fans not to go off the rails with this one.  A summary of the article:

• The game would take place a full millennium before The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and likely take place during the “Second Era,” hundred years before any of the other Elder Scrolls games. 
• Elder Scrolls Online will have three playable factions 
• Expect an announcement in May 2012, more info at E3 possible
• MMO  related job postings have been on ZeniMax’s website for quite some time
• Bethesda and Zenimax refused to comment on the above linked article

I tend to remain sceptical when it's 'Anonymous industry sources' handing out the info. Until I see an official statement from Bethesda or Zenimax, I am going to keep this as just a rumour in my head, so I won't be massively disappointed if this doesn't go ahead.

Would definitely play a stealthy archer class I think. My favourite style of play in Skyrim was this.

But if anyone can get me back into MMO's it would definitely be Bethesda, they are one of my favourite companies, and it would be interesting to see what they would bring into an MMO. This is definitely something I'm going to be keeping up to date with, and be sure to see more info when I can find it.

The link for the article again.