GOG.com started its "Battle of the Games" promotion today, in which players can vote on which games they'd rather purchase at a cheaper rate. The sale offers two sets of three games every morning at 7:00 a.m. ET, accumulating votes throughout the day to determine which set receives a 75 percent discount and which is 60 percent off the next day.
Currently, the digital retailer is pitting the trio of Red Faction and Red Faction 2 as well as Chaser against Unreal Gold, Unreal Tournament and Unreal 2: The Awakening. To get the sale started, GOG.com is also offering discounts on six games for the day: The first three games in the Heroes of Might and Magic series for $2.49 each, Blackguards Special Edition ($22.49) and the enhanced editions of The Witcher ($1.99) and The Witcher 2 ($3.99). The Battle of the Games sale ends April 21.
[Image: CD Projekt Red]
Polish developer CD Projekt Red's excellent RPG series, The Witcher is free to play on Steam this weekend until 1pm PT on Sunday, February 16. If you'd like to continue playing each past this weekend, both games have been drastically discounted until February 18: The Witcher: Enhanced Edition is currently $2 and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition is $4.
In our review of The Witcher 2 we said it was "polished for the most part and Polish throughout, though its unique origin is reflected more in the grounded fantasy than in the charming, brassy localization. There's no apocalypse in sight, only a well-written web of murdered monarchs, racial tension and freedom fighting - with just a dash of magic."
The third entry in the series, The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt, aims to wrap up the story of silver-haired protagonist Geralt, but will not necessarily be the last game in the franchise. The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt is an open-world take on the role-playing series and is currently being planned for release on Xbox One, PS4 and PC later this year.
[Image: CD Projekt Red]
Microsoft is offering some tempting discounts for Xbox 360 owners this week. From now through January 27, Xbox Live is slashing prices on downloads of Dark Souls, Call of Duty: Ghosts and more.
Ghosts is down to $40, while Dark Souls is only $5. Final Fantasy XIII-2 is an odd-yet-cheap $6.59, The Witcher 2 is a similarly oddly-priced $9.89 and, rounding out this week's smattering of deals are Tales of Vesperia and Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara - both under $5.
The deals are live when viewing each individual title on Xbox Live, though the Xbox Live Deal of the Week section is still showing last week's discounts - which highlight Darksiders for under $7, Darksiders 2 for under $20 and Painkiller: Hell and Damnation for $15.
Cosplayers LastSoul and GreatQueenLina, along with photographer La-Clover, sure know their Witcher, because everything about this shoot is perfect, from the outfits down to the super-depressing lighting.Read more...
There are no surprises in the Xbox Cyber Monday sale, with today's deals lining up as announced last week. That said, there are at least a couple of offers worth highlighting, including one for the most appropriate game this Cyber Monday: Far Cry 3 - Blood Dragon. The standalone follow-up to Far Cry 3 is at 75 percent off, meaning you can gorge on all its 80s cyber-cheddar for $3.74.
That's the standout deal to us, but the excellent Dark Souls at just $5 is not far off it. Other nods go to Red Dead Redemption, The Witcher 2, and L.A. Noire, each of those going for $7.49, and to co-op beat-em-up Battleblock Theater, which is down to $4.94.
For the full list of one-day-only cyber-discounts, head over to Xbox.com.
As part of The Witcher's sixth anniversary, series developer, CD Projekt RED announced this morning that to date the series has sold six million copies worldwide.
"Since the very beginning of our journey we have seen that the approach of inviting gamers into a dialogue with the developer is really important and can shake up the - sometimes self-destructive - business side of games," said CD Projekt RED head Adam Badowski. "We hope you'll stay with us for the years to come and that we will continue to make these changes together."
The Witcher series, which includes the The Witcher and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings continues to be on the rise. The window between sales of a million units is getting smaller and the next installment of the series, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, is scheduled to go monster hunting next year.
If price was the monster you feared in your quest to own CD Projekt RED's Witcher series, Steam has come to your rescue. Now through August 26, "enhanced editions" of both The Witcher and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings are available for 75 percent off from Valve's digital storefront, priced at $2.49 and $4.99, respectively.
In case digital rights management emerges as another terror, CD Projekt's own digital platform - the DRM-free GOG.com - is also offering both RPGs at the same discounted prices on PC and Mac. The Enhanced Editions feature additional quests, the soundtracks and a few more bonuses from the developer.
CD Projekt RED has released REDkit, an official set of tools that allows amateur modders to make The Witcher 2 even witchier than ever before.
REDkit, originally launched as a private beta back in August, is a robust toolkit that lets users create new characters and quests within The Witcher 2. If you want to further tweak your mod's fantasy setting, REDkit also allows modders to edit terrain and plant virtual forests using the SpeedTree system. User-created content can be shared with fellow Witcher series enthusiasts at CD Projkt RED's website.
Would-be modders might want to check out REDkit's wiki before delving too deeply into the REDkit's world of character creation and tree-planting.
#thewitcher
A giant cataclysm. Hordes of monsters roaming around. Mutated monster hunters addicted to potions and mushrooms...That's all you need to know to feel like home when playing The Witcher. You can forget the novels and all those journal entries. More »
Hey, OnLive, it's been a while! Remember when you made that offer of a free PC or Mac copy of The Witcher 2 with an OnLive purchase of the game? What, that's now? Silly us!
The cloud gaming platform told us that, starting today, a $14.99 purchase of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition grabs you a PC or Mac copy via GOG.com. CD Projekt's action RPG is also one of the over 200 games in OnLive's PlayPack, which you can subscribe access to for $9.99 a month.
#thewitcher
Open world role-playing game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is headed to the PS4, the game's developers revealed today. And boy do they seem excited! More »
CD Projekt's The Witcher games continue to enchant gamers into buying them, with the franchise now over the 5 million mark for copies sold. The figure represents a combined total for The Witcher and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, and with both games on sale this week, it could be on the rise quicker than you can say Gwynbleidd.
A few months after The Wither 2 arrived on Xbox 360, CD Projekt announced the franchise was up to 4 million copies sold. With a further million sold in the six or so months since, it's not surprising to hear CD Projekt SA CEO Adam Kiciński say the console port "largely contributed" to the franchise's new milestone.
To celebrate the announcement of The Witcher 3: Witch Harder, CD Projekt Red has instituted a 50% off sale on previous Witchers on GOG and Steam. On GOG, The Witcher: Director's Cut is $5, and The Witcher 2: Enhanced Edition is $15 (both with extras) through Friday at 10:59am GMT.
On Steam, The Witcher is $5, and The Witcher 2 is $10, as is its Prima Guide. In addition, CDP has permanently dropped the MSRP of the Xbox version of The Witcher 2 to $29.99/€29.99/£19.99. Perhaps the company wants you to play these before the new one comes out.
#showus
The recent launch of Path Of Exile's open beta—a new hack & slash action RPG known especially for its enormous skill tree, as you can see in the pic above—inspired us to collect some of the best looking skill and research trees spanning a variety of genres. It's interesting to see how creatively devs can handle this part of a game. More »
Have you guys ever noticed how our money and a Steam Holiday Sale are never in the same room at the same time? Like, the same way that no one has ever seen Bruce Wayne and the Batman together in the same place? It's just weird, is all; almost as if our money was somehow being removed by the sale, or something.
Some mysteries will never be solved, we suppose. Today's Steam Holiday Sale offerings include 50 to 75 percent off of Skyrim, its DLC and its predecessors, 75 percent off various Grand Theft Auto games, BioShock and BioShock 2 for a collective $10, 75 percent off both Witcher games, Galactic Civilizations I and II for $6.24 and Payday: The Heist for $5.
At some point the GOG holiday sale became unfair, an awfully cheap proposition that no fan of computer games could simply overlook. With rotating daily deals of up to 75% off and discounts up to 50% off on everything in GOG's catalogue, the platform is truly making a case for the season of giving to one's self.
The sale lasts until January 3. Today's daily deals include The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings for $12 and The Longest Journey for $5, among other quality offerings. As for general standouts during the promotion, we'd have to say Syndicate for $3 is a nice deal, and so is Legend of Grimrock for $3.74. Mac gamers aren't left out in the full-priced cold either, with deals on SimCity 2000 for $3, Fallout for $5 and Descent and Descent 2 for $5 to consider.
For the full list of 475 games on sale during GOG's promotion, follow the source link below.
#thewitcher
The Witcher 2 is getting mod tools. We previously knew...that fact and that fact alone, but at GamesCom last week developers CD Projekt showed off the game's upcoming REDkit, and it's looking terrific. More »
Adding a feature to a game might seem like a fairly straightforward process, but even a simple feature can have much bigger ramifications than you might think at first glance. During GDC Europe 2012, CD Projekt Red gameplay producer Marek Ziemak and lead gameplay designer Maciej Szczesnik detailed the process that the developer uses to evaluate any features that could make their way into a project.
CD Projekt Red uses a set of internal documents that the studio's employees all have access to. Using these documents, developers can describe their features and the rest of the staff evaluates them. In some cases, staffers even apply numerical values to a proposed feature, with the final "score" affecting the likelihood that a feature will make it into the game. The overarching idea is to fully analyze the risk of a feature and the consequences of implementing it.
If you want to try to make your own even Witchier Witcher adventure, you need to familiarize yourself with the new REDkit modding tools. And to help you do that - and to help build a robust modding tool - CD Projekt Red has opened up a beta for the toolkit.
Signups for the beta are being accepted here through September 30. The form has spaces for "Your website" and "Your mod samples," so you're probably more likely to make it to the top of the list if you have experience making your own levels or otherwise messing with your games.
If witching is one of your favorite things, you'll be happy to hear that a whole bunch more content is headed to the game industry's favorite witching game, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. Developer CD Projekt Red announced late last week that its "REDkit" mod tools will be shown at this week's German game convention, Gamescom.
Beyond the ability to make Geralt into a perfect facsimile of Laa-Laa from Teletubbies, the tools enable PC users to create "new, non-linear adventures," "great looking locations," and "much more." There's no word on when the tools will be available, but we'll be sure to ask CD Projekt later this week when we check out the mod kit.
And yes, we'll ask about the possibility of turning Geralt into Po as well. Fine.
Valve's onslaught on your wallet continues with yet another day in the Steam Summer Sale. Today's deals include horrifically slashed prices on Amnesia: The Dark Descent and the Alan Wake franchise. RPGs have taken a critical price hit as well, including the Witcher franchise, Fallout: New Vegas and Krater.
Still not satisfied? Dip into even more savings on Plants vs. Zombies, Sniper Elite V2, Gratuitous Tank Battles or yet another Indie Bundle.
Update: If you're looking for Sniper Elite V2, Amazon actually has a better deal and is currently offering a PC download for $15.
The Witcher franchise has managed to conjure up 4 million units in sales, developer CD Projekt Red has revealed. That means a combined 4 million units of The Witcher and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings have been sold across PC, Mac and Xbox 360.
The Witcher 2 moved 1.1 million copies in 2011, while the original moved 400,000. As of May 2012, The Witcher 2 had sold a total of 1.7 million copies.
The Witcher 2 will expand its reach later this year with the launch of the Japanese Xbox 360 version and a Mac port. Rumor has it the canceled console version of the original Witcher has been resurrected as well.
Developer CD Projekt Red has sold over four million copies of The Witcher and The Witcher 2, it said today in a press release. That's a combined total for both PC and consoles. Impressive stuff! More »
While the focus of CD Projekt Red's summer conference was its new Cyberpunk RPG, the company still doled out a few tidbits about its best-known title, The Witcher 2. Specifically, the game has moved 1.7 million copies across the PC and Xbox 360 platforms.
The company hopes to sell a few more copies by bringing the Xbox version to Japan. To be published by Spike Chunsoft, the Xbox version of The Witcher 2 will arrive in Japan on August 23. Finally, The Witcher 2 will be available on Mac this fall. We're guessing you'll probably need a Mac with a dedicated graphics card to actually run it.
#pullquote
Over at Grantland, the occasionally notorious but always thoughtful writer Tom Bissell has weighed in on The Witcher 2. He is… not impressed. In fact, after 6 hours with the game, he decided he'd seen enough. More »
#thewitcher
It's easy to take personal offense when you disagree with a game review. It's easy to believe dissenting opinions mask ulterior motives. More »
Wondering how significant the latest update to The Witcher 2 is? The fine folks at CD Projekt RED are more than happy to go into specifics for you, right here.
#burningquestions
Welcome to Burning Questions, a new Kotaku feature where Jason Schreier and Kirk Hamilton chat about the games they're playing, the news they're hearing, and the comings and goings of the world of video games. More »
#watchthis
In honor of The Witcher 2, which was rereleased as an enhanced edition for Xbox 360 and PC last week, here's an awesome action sequence that was inspired by the game's frenetic spell-filled combat. It's quite well done. More »
