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Pride comes before a fall. Worse, actually. In this game, pride comes before a meteor shower to the face, an icy blast to the particulars and a death ray to the heart. Magicka: Wizard Wars continues to entertain me on a daily basis but it has been cruel to me these past weeks and I can’t help but feel that I brought some of the suffering on myself. The tale I have to tell is one of ice and fire, and of cruelty and claws. It is a tale of cat and mouse.

… [visit site to read more]

Pride comes before a fall. Worse, actually. In this game, pride comes before a meteor shower to the face, an icy blast to the particulars and a death ray to the heart. Magicka: Wizard Wars continues to entertain me on a daily basis but it has been cruel to me these past weeks and I can’t help but feel that I brought some of the suffering on myself. The tale I have to tell is one of ice and fire, and of cruelty and claws. It is a tale of cat and mouse.

… [visit site to read more]

There was a time when I spent most of my day posting about bundles, to the extent that I didn’t actually play any new games at all. I’d just list the contents of whatever bundle landed in my inbox, embed a video and check that the ‘pay what you want’ offer actually let people submit less than a dollar. Then I’d hit the publish button and move onto the next big thing. Which would be another bundle. I thought all of that was in my past but the Super BR Jam has caught my eye, with a decent set of commercial titles for anyone paying more than $5 and the results of the jam (now finished) available whatever the price paid. Dungeonland, Magicka, The Showdown Effect and Knights of Pen and Paper all have Paradox in common, and plenty of people probably own them already, but the standout is Qasir al-Wasat, which I wish I’d pointed more eyes toward when I played the demo.

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Most games would be content to play host to a series of Wizard Wars and frantic tactical multiplayer arena combat is almost certainly the focus of Magicka’s immediate future, but the wizards at Paradox have a few other tricks up their sleeves, and hidden beneath their robes. First up is the Dungeons and Gargoyles DLC, a continuation of Dungeons & Daemons. There’s a trailer for that below, as well as a video of Wizards of the Square Tablet, which is now available on PC following its debut on the titular tablets earlier this year. I didn’t play it back then but it sounds like a devious little time-killer, like Bruce Willis in that one film. I might take a look this weekend and I’ll definitely be playing some Wizard Wars. A multiplayer killathon that I’m not terrible at!

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I don’t think anything else has quite gripped me in the same way this year. The current version of Magicka: Wizard Wars features only one map, and is suffering some network woes, but the Early Access release of Paradox’s arena-PvP reboot of slapstick spell-combinating hit Magicka is shaping up to be a triumph.

Let me combine the magic of words with the arcane energies of meaning, and use a ray of physics to put them all in your face.(more…)

And I am going to jump right in, so expect some thoughts on it soon. I’ve been itching to get my hands on Magicka: Wizard Wars – Paradox’s pared down team combat version of Magicka – since I saw it in action at GDC earlier in the year, and I believe it could well be the arena-combat type game that suits my personal sensibilities as a giant dork. Paradox explain: “two teams of four wizards each will do their best to incinerate, refrigerate, and defenestrate one another in chaotic combat, utilizing the versatile, element-combining spell system of Magicka. With friendly fire in full effect, wizards will have to think on their toes and mind their aim as they contend with imps, enemy players, and each other.” A frankly rather weird new trailer creates fanfare for the appearance of the game, which you can see below.

The early access page is here and there’s a Steam page here.

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I killed all of my friends when playing Magicka. Sometimes I even did it on purpose. Fingers dancing across keys to program arcane combinations into a staff, which then unleashes…something. Maybe a flaming boulder that is determined to explode, perhaps a jet of steam that sears the skin off any sorcerers in its path. If Magicka were a fighting game, slipping up slightly mid-combo would cause your character to chew his own leg off or punch himself in the face so hard that both fist and face were reduced to powder. Wizard Wars is a PvP Magicka game. You will be reduced to powder, ashes and fragments. Jim is already a believer and I’m ready to join him. Alpha signups are now open and you can see the game in action below.

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Magicka – Wizards of the Square Tablet is hitting Android and iOS platforms, but it would be right at home on Nintendo hardware. Any chance of that happening? Here's what Paradox had to say.

“At this point there are no plans to bring the game to those platforms.”

Link

Patch 1.4.14.1 Small content update today. Bear in mind that it might take a while before youre able to purchase the DLC, depending on when it pops up in the Steam Store.

Content:
• Added new Versus DLC: Tower of Niflheim

Moments ago, Warner announced the existence of a DC Comics MOBA called Infinite Crisis and Paradox have now announced the existence of a Magicka MOBA called Wizard Wars. Unfortunately, I haven’t managed to learn everything there is to know about the genre in between those announcements so I’m just going to copy some words from the press release and pop the live action trailer below.

In Magicka: Wizard Wars, two teams of four wizards each will go head-to-lightning-bolt on the field of battle, wielding a wealth of magic spells as players adapt their tactics on the fly in response to their opponents. In true Magicka fashion, victory will go to the team whose wizards can combine the craftiest casts – and who can avoid the most friendly fire.

Element combinations are still the basis of spells, which means comically misplaced explosions should be par for the course.

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Patch 1.4.14.0 We have some new fixes for you today, mostly related to network.
Fixes:
• Fixed an issue that would sometimes allow Alucart and Necromancers to be used where they werent supposed to
• Improved the way in which players get revived during network play which previously had a high risk of making games desynch
• Reduced the risk of crashing in scene transitions during network play
• Fixed an issue where players using a 4:3 resolution ratio would get stuck in one of the scenes in The Stars are Left Chapter 3
• Fixed a crash when players spawn too many entities using staff summoning abilities (guess)
• Fixed a crash that would occur if players skipped the credits in Other Side of the Coin
• Fixed an issue where players would get stuck in a cutscene in Chapter 12 as a result of freezing one of the bosses
• Loading screens have been improved; many players report that they get stuck in loading screens, especially during online play. What actually happens many times is that the game loads a lot of things and it looks like the bar is stuck. This should now be better visualized.
• Reduced risk of game freezing during different parts of the game
• The Were-Zompire claws special effect no longer works on bosses
• Fixed a localization issue with the Rogue Robe
• Fixed an issue with Leaderboards for the "Invasion of Elwenhüs" challenge level
• Fixed an issue where Vlad sometimes would disappear during his fights.
• The Quick Join have been optimized to prioritize LAN games

#magicka One of PC gaming's finest co-op experiences is coming to a rectangular productivity-enhancing device near you. How many times will you "accidentally" kill your friends in Magicka: Wizards of the Square Tablet? More »

As the ice-god Wulþuz is exacting his revenge on the blasé warm bodies of Britain, it might be a good idea to sort yourself out with a game this weekend. You might get dripped on. You might nearly slip! Why even give yourself the option of leaving the house when you could be inside and away from the icy danger? You could just plug your name into Steam Roulette and see what pops up. Or, if you’re not one of the 1.8 million people that bought a copy of Magicka, then you could pop over to Steam and grab the free weekend. (more…)

1.4.13.1
- Free Jólnirs Workshop does no longer show up as being modified
- Fixed a reintroduced bug that would allow players to host modified content on VAC enabled servers

Patch 1.4.13.0 Major patch today, this update addresses several major issues and crashes players have experienced, it deals with both some great old ones as well as a few issues of the lesser castes. Weve also added a little treat for you, a free challenge you can pick up in the steam store; Free Jólnirs Workshop.
A big thanks to everybody who posts well described reports on the different forums. That really helps!
- Added free challenge DLC; Free Jólnirs Workshop. FREEEEEEDOM!
- Fixed the crash with the Magicka has stopped working windows prompt due to dependencies not being installed correctly. This should now be greatly improved. Crash of the Titans
- Fixed a crash when host attempted to change level with gamepad in online play lobby. Tango & Crash
- Fixed a crash when cutting the rope in the tutorial and any other physical objects in the game, while using the Which Dr. Robe. Crash Gordon. See a trend here?
- Fixed an issue where players would only be able to select a few game modes when hosting an online game. What can we say, were gracious hosts
- Fixed an issue where chapter select for Adventure and The Stars are Left would be empty. And though Adventure and The Stars are Left put their issues aside, they still parted ways. insert sad trombone noise
- Fixed a crash in Chapter 5 of the campaign when players killed the boss by freezing him and blowing him to bits. W-Men: First Crash. Getting difficult to keep this up.
- Fixed a crash when hosting online games using Italian language setting. Im running out of movies to use. Oh wait, how about Jumpin Jack Crash? Yeah, that works.
- Fixed several issues related to playing with gamepad and not running the game in BigPicture. Amongst other issues, we fixed a crash caused by a gamepad-wielding player trying to write in the chat with the gamepad as well as not being able to create a new profile using gamepad but not running steam in BigPicture. You think us putting crash into action movie titles was to promote The Showdown Effect? Naaaaaah, were not that smart. *coughMarch5cough*
- Fixed an issue where the main menu would sometimes lock itself before the tome is opened. Reminds me of that scene in Army of Darkness where Crash—I mean, Ash—unlocks the Necronomicon, except none of you are being attacked by the game when the tome opens. Sadly.
- Fixed an issue that caused the Revive Magick to be unavailable in the Vietnam Rescue Mission. Wait, why did we change that? Back in Nam, we didnt have no fancy Revive Magick. If someone went unconscious, we carried them in the mud. Barefoot. Uphill. Both ways. No bathrobe.
- Fixed an issue where the boss of The Stars are Left chapter 2 couldnt drown and ending up in the water would result in the player being unable to progress. What is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger."
- Fixed an issue where the Cultist Robe would be unavailable even though the Fthagn Once More achievement had been acquired. Just dont drink the punch!
- Fixed an issue where some people couldnt put on their Bathrobe. Yay!
- The Change Level button now correctly updates when changing language. Change is good, my mommy said so before sending me to boarding school.
- Some minor improvements done to main menu and leaderboards. We didnt want to overstimulate you with major, stupendous improvements.
- Fixed a visual issue with the versus map description for Pool of Undeniable Moisture as well as improving the presentation of map descriptions in general. Because maps are people too. No, wait, thats actually not true. Theyre just maps. We treat maps like people, though, and thats what counts.
- Fixed a bug where gamepad-wielding players could not change robe if the chat window was hovered with the mouse. Now this one was pretty specific. I mean, you had to 1) have a gamepad 2) have chat open and 3) have a mouse hover over the chat window. Bravo to you who found this, we can barely do two things at once and three things is just asking for someone to get blown up.
- Fixed a bug causing all remaining players in a lobby to get their robes changed when someone leaves the lobby. That was our version of a quick-change Magick act. For our next trick, well be making a goblins head disappear.
- Improved the process of logging out profiles in game lobbies as well as the method for exiting them. DONT LEAVE US!!! WE DONT WANT TO BE ALONE!!!!
- Improved focus when scrolling through community buttons in main menu using gamepad. Because a community that slays together, stays together. AWWWWWWWW. Trust fall time!

1.4.12.2
- Fixed a crash that would occur in Other Side of the Coin and Dungeons & Daemons when NPCs attempted to cast magicks.

1.4.12.1
We'll leave you with one small update before the holidays. Best wishes from the Magicka team!

- Modified levels are no longer listed when hosting a VAC-secure server.

1.4.12.0
Magickas menu has gotten a much needed facelift as well as several other improvements.
- The layout on the front page has been updated and made more visually exciting.
- New unused content is now marked with a star to make it easier for players to find their newly bought content.
- The level and robe selection screens are now sorted based on availability and have been updated with availability icons.
- The various pre-game lobbies have been slightly redesigned for better use of space and easier access for new players.
- "The Other Side of the Coin", "Vietnam rescue mission" and "Dungeons & Daemons" now have their own lobby and are shown under the "Adventure" tab when searching for online games.
- Some minor optimization and performance improvements included.

1.4.12.0
Magickas menu has gotten a much needed facelift as well as several other improvements.
- The layout on the front page has been updated and made more visually exciting.
- New unused content is now marked with a star to make it easier for players to find their newly bought content.
- The level and robe selection screens are now sorted based on availability and have been updated with availability icons.
- The various pre-game lobbies have been slightly redesigned for better use of space and easier access for new players.
- "The Other Side of the Coin", "Vietnam rescue mission" and "Dungeons & Daemons" now have their own lobby and are shown under the "Adventure" tab when searching for online games.
- Some minor optimization and performance improvements included.

The last we heard of The Showdown Effect, the new side-scrolling and cartoony shootybangbang game from the makers of the reliably silly Magicka, was back in April. Now, it’s spooling up its beta-testing mini-gun, and hopes to lure in passers-by by revelling shamelessly in as many action movie cliches as it can conjure up. CONJURE LIKE IN MAGICKA.(more…)

1.4.11.1
- In continued support of Magicka and the new Big Picture mode we've greased some of the machinery and among other small Big Picture fixes and adjustments, fixed the Manual (IP) connection dialogue updated to work with the Daisy Wheel.

1.4.11.0
Magicka now gets full controller support for steams upcoming Big Picture mode.
- Players can now access the steam-overlay with a gamepad and type text with the new "DaisyWheel" in Big Picture mode.
- The SteamStore, Facebook and Twitter-buttons visible in all menus can now be navigated with a gamepad.
- An icon has been added to players in the pre-game lobby to illustrate what controller they use.

Magicka 1.4.10.0
- This update supports the new Dungeons & Daemons DLC
- Also added support for the upcoming Grimnirs Laboratory, a Co-op challenge map with a twist that comes with new robes suitable for a magick labwork.
- Fixed an issue where health regen numbers showed even when at full health. Being more than fully alive is generally frowned upon in Midgård.

Also includes the PNotY Edition of Magicka (Patch Notes of the Year):
- Fixed an issue where the list of Magicks would give the wizards paper cuts and crash the game. Its edges have now been properly blunted as per Wizard Academy standards.
- Added some missing characters to certain fonts. Continuing our commitment to offering characters to all fonts everywhere.
- Fixed a pathfinding crash. Took us a bit, but we found it.
- Fixed disappearing boss Vlad. Turns out he was just at the bar up the street.
- Fixed a crash when killing frozen Khan (and possibly other bosses). KHAAAAAAN!
- Fixed camera issue when being revived by the fairy. Fairies werent previously aware of auto-focus.
- Fixed NPC spellcaster AI sometimes freezing up. After taking some public speaking classes, though, the NPC finally warmed up.
- Mobs are now able to spawn their own kind upon death. That sounds kinda gross, actually.
- Added some new functionality to scene scripts. Scene scripts run. Run, scripts, run!
- Reduced the physical damage resistance of Enraged Goblin Warlocks. Lets face it, Warlocks sound all-powerful but theyre really just a bunch of pansies.
- Fixed a localization crash. Que haya sido reparado.
- Fixed a crash with the Performance Enchantment magick. Talk to your doctor first.
- Fixed a crash that occurred when firing a water projectile during a level transition. Thatll show those pesky levels whos boss around here.
- Fixed an issue with collision checks that resulted in multiple fall damage. Large Hadron Collider consulted, collisions now in check.
- Fixed certain lights being removed when restarting a scene. Disco disco, good good.
- Fixed scores being inconsistent between client and host in challenges. Issues resolved with just a couple trust falls.
- Fixed script delays being reset when restarting a challenge level. No more delays, the movie will finally be coming out soon.
- Fixed element icons getting stuck highlighted when disabled (as in Elemental Roulette). Now if we could only get our cars dome light to turn off.
- Fixed a crash where players were gripped during level transition. Now theyll just be gripped in anticipation, amirite?!
- General stability improvements.

1.4.9.1

- Fixed a recently introduced issue where the list of Magicks would give the wizards paper cuts and crash the game. Its edges have now been properly blunted as per Wizard Academy standards.

Added the new Dungeons & Daemons DLC

We are a continuing our ongoing effort to improve your experience by casting the spells below that we learned in our forum.
- Added some missing characters to certain fonts. Continuing our commitment to offering characters to all fonts everywhere.
- Fixed a pathfinding crash. Took us a bit, but we found it.
- Fixed disappearing boss Vlad. Turns out he was just at the bar up the street.
- Fixed a crash when killing frozen Khan (and possibly other bosses). KHAAAAAAN!
- Fixed camera issue when being revived by the fairy. Fairies werent previously aware of auto-focus.
- Fixed NPC spellcaster AI sometimes freezing up. After taking some public speaking classes, though, the NPC finally warmed up.
- Mobs are now able to spawn their own kind upon death. That sounds kinda gross, actually.
- Added some new functionality to scene scripts. Scene scripts run. Run, scripts, run!
- Reduced the physical damage resistance of Enraged Goblin Warlocks. Lets face it, Warlocks sound all-powerful but theyre really just a bunch of pansies.
- Fixed a localization crash. Que haya sido reparado.
- Fixed a crash with the Performance Enchantment magick. Talk to your doctor first.
- Fixed a crash that occurred when firing a water projectile during a level transition. Thatll show those pesky levels whos boss around here.
- Fixed an issue with collision checks that resulted in multiple fall damage. Large Hadron Collider consulted, collisions now in check.
- Fixed certain lights being removed when restarting a scene. Disco disco, good good.
- Fixed scores being inconsistent between client and host in challenges. Issues resolved with just a couple trust falls.
- Fixed script delays being reset when restarting a challenge level. No more delays, the movie will finally be coming out soon.
- Fixed element icons getting stuck highlighted when disabled (as in Elemental Roulette). Now if we could only get our cars dome light to turn off.
- Fixed a crash where players were gripped during level transition. Now theyll just be gripped in anticipation, amirite?!
- General stability improvements.

Changelist for version 1.4.8.2
• Fixed an issue that would lock out players from using the Sporting Goods item pack
• Fixed localization for WOOT content
• Fixed a problem with the I put on my robe and wizard hat achievement

Changelist for version
- Removed debug content
- Added proper localization for the new DLCs
- Fixed an issue where the Holding Apparatus of Saumetheus never gave proper fire resistance

Changelist for version 1.4.8.0
• Added new DLC; Olympian Onslaught (4 new PvP arenas)
• Added new DLC; Triathlon of Terror (3 new challenge levels)
• Added new DLC; Athletic Techniques (Magick Pack)
• Added new DLC; Sporting Goods (Item Pack)
• Fixed various minor issues

I think we’ve all – at some point or another – turned on the television during a major sporting event and thought to ourselves “You know what? If I really put my nose to the grindstone and trained like a madman, I too could be an almighty elemental demigod wizard.” But that also sounds hard. And to that, I raise you videogames – specifically Magicka, whose WOOT Tournament DLC is mixing Arrowhead’s motley band of magicians with, well, pretty much the only thing left that they haven’t been mixed with: The Olympics.

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Some new content for use in Magicka's Challenge and Versus mode is set to debut tomorrow, and takes a cue from the ongoing Olympic games taking place in London right now - well, kinda. The Olympics doesn't try to kill its competitors, after all.

Magicka's WOOT Tournament DLC features four new PVP maps, three new challenge maps and a host of new items and magic spells for competing wizards. These items and spells include the Musketball Dunker - a gun that fires a volley of explosives - and the ever-important Wave maneuver, a mainstay at any sporting event.

Tomorrow's content dump will be free to all Magicka players. In the meanwhile, we've got some screens courtesy of Paradox to help pass the time, available in our gallery below.