PC Gaming News Message Board older than one year ago

Here’s a tricky spot. A group called NotGames have created a GTA spoof, called Not GTAV, with all of the proceeds going toward trying to save a charity. The charity is Peer Productions, a youth arts project, that brought the people who made the game together. And they’re doing great things in the South East of England, working with young people, teaching them acting, arts projects, and peer education. Due to a lack of funding, the charity will have to close its doors this Summer, unless they can raise a big pile of cash beforehand. The issue? The spoof game is not very good. The charity, however, is.

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Meet Endless Legend, an interesting middle ground between conventional fantasy 4X tactical combat and Civilization V-style world-only tactics.

A new trailer released today reveals that Frictional Games' upcoming horror-themed adventure game Soma takes place underwater, contrasting the game's previously assumed space setting.

First revealed in October last year, Soma is the latest project from Amnesia: The Dark Descent developer Frictional Games. While little has been revealed regarding the game so far (thus the previous confusion regarding its setting), players in Soma are tasked with a salvage mission aboard a derelict craft where "machines are taking on human traits and alien constructions have started to interfere with routine."

Soma is due to launch for PC platforms and the PlayStation 4 in 2015.

[Video: Frictional Games]

Unclaimed World is a sci-fi colony sim game that took to Steam Early Access a few days ago. Right now it’s only a fragment of the full game, so everything’s subject to change and expansion, but its science-led approach drew to me to trying its initial public release anyway.

I’m a sucker for science-heavy science fiction games right now. This perhaps has much to do with understanding very little science. Where, as a child, science seemed dull, as an ill-informed adult science now seems to be magic. I revel in my ignorance. SCIENCE. So it is that the idea of my stranded spacefarers in Unclaimed World creating a cooking pot out of bits of crashed spaceship, or a fishing from an alien tree, is a more thrilling accomplishment to me than Johnny SpacePecs sacrificing his own life to defeat the ancient curse of Skeletron or Ian Soldier blasting the entire empire of Big Evil Bastards to smithereens with the fabled Garglelator 9000. That guy just built a saucepan out of litter. That guy is now my hero. … [visit site to read more]

Betrayer's gorgeous presentation can't save it from being a first-person shooter with an identity crisis.

Oh dear. Oh no. This can’t be allowed, surely. The rules are that Skylanders gets to exist because it’s marketed so cynically at kids that we’re all too embarassed to go out and buy them for ourselves. They get one radically cool design per release and everyone but the parents goes home happy. Prodigy is breaking these fundamental laws by doing something similar to the model-battling juggernaut, but with an awesome fantasy style. For the unacquainted, this is an RPG where party members are represented by actual physical models and are then moved around a board, which communicates with the electronics in their base. Devs Hanakai Studio have put it up on Kickstarter asking for a meagre $100k, towards which they are already halfway at the time of writing. Have a look below.

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The Arkham Knight is far from the first mirror-image Batman villain. These are 10 of Batman's most deadly villainous comic book counter-points.

The first part of my conversation with Full Control CEO Thomas Hentschel Lund covered the main mechanical and interface changes that have been implemented in Jagged Alliance: Flashback. Taking Jagged Alliance 2 as its base, the game’s alpha has now been released to backers, giving a first insight into the combat mechanics. In this second part of our extensive interview, I spoke to Lund about the pressure of working with a license and living up to expectations, as well as the vital importance of modding in the future and past of Jagged Alliance.

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At times I just want to list off a series of descriptions for a game, because I don’t think there’s a better way to sell it. Tentacles: Enter the Mind is about being the horrible black beasty you see above invading the brain of a scientist. A scientist who’s obsession with cute has driven him mad. Also, his head is a dolphin. While within, and I quote directly from the developers Press Play, you will “explore [his] libido” and eat the eyes of the beings now living in his brain. His dolphin brain. Based on that screenshot, you’ll even get to wear cute hats! If you’re not excited, I just don’t know how to make you happy any more, but maybe this trailer will do it.

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Game broadcasting service Twitch is adding group chat functionality to the platform. Group chat allows users to create private and invite-only windows that are separate from the normal chat channel. Pssst, don't tell anyone, but it's where the cool kids will hang out. The champagne room of Twitch... and now we can't erase that image.

"You have Facebook for your life, LinkedIn for your job and Twitch for your gaming. Because of our prominent presence in the social arena, introducing Group Chat offers a compelling new way for the community to interact," said Twitch VP of Marketing Matthew DiPietro.

The beta period begins Thursday and is only for members in the Twitch Partner Program, but any user can be invited to join a group chat. The full launch is still to be determined. The service also recently announced more European support, Xbox One integration and PS4 upgrades.

Oh bother. I was inevitably going to find Frictional’s SOMA a troubling proposition, having winced through Penumbra and Amnesia while trembling like a jelly in a jalopy. SOMA’s sci-fi horrors creep me out on a level that spooky castles and mad alchemists don’t – Amnesia was scary because it was dark and the sound design was excellent rather than because the setting or story peeled back the skin and twanged at the nerves. SOMA’s experimentations fill me with dread though and the latest trailer reveals something that had previously been hidden from us. I’ll let you find out for yourself while whimpering underneath my desk.

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And yea, they did speak of times past when the Earth was more innocent. Gods and monsters moved among us, entire pantheons warred, and we were pleased. Yet today’s impetuous youth sneer “Yeah but it doesn’t even have ambient occlusion does it?” All right clever clogs, look here: following a little tease earlier this year, Microsoft has revealed the revamped Age of Mythology Extended Edition for release in early May.

Beyond obviously making Ensemble’s 2002 RTS play nicely with modern operating systems and monitors, it’s a bit shinied up with improved graphics and Steam gubbins.

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Bethesda has released a new infographic for its upcoming MMO The Elder Scrolls Online, revealing over 5 million people registered for the beta.

21 seconds may be sufficient time to flow, but to save the world you really should schedule in 30. And then another 30. And then oh! hurry! another 30, if you make it in time. That’s the big idea of Half Minute Hero: The Second Coming, which doles out bursts of action as your hero runs around whacking monsters and levelling up on a 30-second timer, hurrying to reach a shrine and top up time before it runs out.

The clock’s a-ticking, as the action-RPG sequel is now confirmed for a Steam release on Friday.

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Diablo III: Reaper of Souls has sold 2.7 million copies in its first week on sale, according to developer Blizzard.

Hello! The War Thunder Ground Forces beta – that means games of multiplayer tanks, as is so popular in these modern internets – is about to bombard these lonely shores, and Gaijin have sent us over a big batch of keys to give away.

You can grab them (and all the requisite info) below.

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Space isn’t so much gaming’s final frontier as it is a packed waiting room, filled to the brim with shady businessmen in coats and besuited all-stars vying for your attention. Since Star Citizen and Elite blew the top off the money cannon, only zombies and sports hold a candle to the potential seen beyond the stars. VoidExpanse‘s top down solution to the tradin’, fightin’, explorin’ mix isn’t exactly new, but this (or, really, post-1990) generation of graphics is a step up. Plus, as an early access – but not Early Access – game, we’ve got the uniquely nu-teens opportunity to shape development. There’s a trailer and some very initial thoughts from a play of the current build through the warp gate.

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First-person adventure Ether One aims to explore a difficult subject – dementia – through storytelling and puzzles. The debut game from indie team White Paper Games is out now, and I’ve had a play. And a struggle. You can read my thoughts below.

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Though it's currently unclear to what extent, it appears layoffs have taken place at Microsoft Studios.

Procedural spooks! Daylight is the horror game that randomises the ghost train every time you play. Your first playthrough might involve trundling past a dangling skellywobbler at the first turn, while repeated visits might see a couple of tatty plastic bats in place of dem bones. Maybe a Freddy Krueger knock-off with spatulas strapped to his fingers will pop out one time, or a banshee that screams like a dog in a war. I’d be sceptical about the claim of procedurally generated scares if everything I’ve seen of the game didn’t make it look like the main activity is walking down a corridor while a randomised soundboard squawks and honks in the background. A new video shows more.

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It’s not often you’ll get a phwoar out of me, but: phwoar. As if the oncoming no-technology apocalypse wasn’t enough to get my juices flowing, The Long Dark devs Hinterland Games have only gone and posted the most incredible looking series of screenshots. While there had been mock-ups, renders and concept art before these are the first taken from inside the engine to be released. The survival game is shaping up rather sexy after the successful++ Kickstarter campaign. If the gallery of prettiness below isn’t enough for you, take a look at it in motion here or read an interview from October here.

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Recent releases like The Elder Scrolls Online and Wildstar are sporting a sub fee, so why isn't EverQuest Next?

Have you read about my experiences in virtual reality? There was the time I peered through the clouds above Stalingrad like a bride examining the distant altar through her veil. That’s the highpoint of my limited experiences with the Rift so far but it’s my adventures in first-person corpse-carrying that are relevant here. I found Loading Human interesting as an application of tech – motion controls as well as VR – but there is promise in the narrative. A man journeys through his own memories to unlock the mysteries and romance of his life. A new trailer shows how VR can make the mundane magical.

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The next-gen shooter that allows you to invade other players' worlds will support both Oculus Rift and Project Morpheus.

On the PC, we’re well supplied with nostalgia bait and fond memory ruiners. Not a day goes by without a Kickstarter or Greenlight campaign for another slice of the past or up-to-date take on a “classic.” However, the itch I find myself unable to scratch most often is for JRPGs. While a little effort to keep Steam stocked has been made by mega-corp of the genre Square Enix in recent years, it’s hardly as common as I’d wish. Timely over the horizon comes Earthlock: Festival of Magic, seeking its $150,000 fortune. Along with expected tropes, there’s a fine selection of systems that tickled my fancy in the demo, which you can read my impressions of and feast your eyes on a trailer for post-jump.

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The beloved RTS returns with some modern updates.

Those that follow crowdfunded gaming projects know the drill: As most developers' Kickstarter deadlines draw near, they like to remind you to pledge your monetary support so their visions can come to life, enticing you to do so by offering concept art or videos. In the case of Frog Fractions developer Twinbeard, with a week left to go in its Frog Fractions 2 campaign, it opted to launch a brief adventure game called Kickstarter Simulator 2015.

Kickstarter Simulator 2015 is a browser-based "autobiographical game about running Kickstarters" that features videos of real-life friends of Frog Fractions creator Jim Crawford. Players click on the actors to keep them on track with the zany crowdfunding project so that it sees success a week from today. The point-and-click game is as quirky and hilarious as one might expect from Twinbeard, so it's worth checking out on the developer's site. The Frog Fractions 2 campaign is just under $9,000 away from its goal and ends on Wednesday, April 9. [Image: Twinbeard]

A recent study by SuperData says that eSports viewership doubled over previous year in 2013.

Savor the additional time you have until Daylight crams you into its creepy corridors: The first-person survival horror for PC and PlayStation 4 is missing its launch date of April 8 and moving to April 29. According to Atlus, developer Zombie Studios is taking a little extra time to tighten up the scares on level three.

Atlus is also updating its pricing plans for Daylight, which will be regularly priced at $14.99. For two weeks after the game's launch, PlayStation Plus subscribers can grab Daylight for $9.99, with non-subscribers charged $11.99. Folks who pre-order Daylight on PC before launch can grab it for $9.99, then go screaming into Starbucks for that Caramel Macchiato they just saved.

Ether One, the first-person, mind-plundering thriller from White Paper Games, may bring its special brand of brain-busting to PS4, designer Pete Bottomley told Joystiq during our livestream this week.

"Officially at the weekend I found out that I could say that we are licensed Sony developers," Bottomley said. "I met with Guy [Richards] from SCEE at the weekend when we were at Rezzed. The guys at Sony have just been awesome, so so nice, just always checking in and seeing how development is going. So we were chatting at the weekend about possible PlayStaiton 4, so we're gonna look into that."

Bottomley adds that there is "nothing confirmed yet," but the option is on the table.

In Ether One, players are Restorers, professionals able to jump into the minds of people suffering from mental disorders. The patient you're helping this time around has dementia, and as a Restorer, you must traverse the person's memories, collecting red ribbons scattered around the landscape to repair that mind. It's part puzzle, part exploration, and the ending hides a surprising twist that we found to be brilliantly pretentious (in a good way).