Personal Computer Game News

[Poke]

Here's an early taste of the 'System Shock' remake
Man hope they do it right this was a classic to play..

http://www.engadget.com/2016/03/15/system-shock-remake-pre-alpha-footage/

Two decades after its original release, System Shock is being remade. Night Dive Studios, the developer in charge of the project, released some pre-alpha footage, and it looks great.
If you've never played the original, it's a hugely influential atmospheric first-person RPG in a sci-fi horror setting. A great game in its own right, it spawned a more successful (and arguably better) sequel, System Shock 2. Some of the minds behind the originals went on to create games you've almost certainly heard of. Ken Levine made BioShock, considered by many to be a spiritual successor, while Warren Spector made Deus Ex, which also leans heavily on the System Shock 2 formula.

Night Dive's video describes the game as System Shock 1 Remastered, but it's clear that this is more remake than remaster. The original artist is on board to help upgrade the original assets, and with that some of the level layout is changing. Speaking with Polygon, the developer explained that many people's only exposure to the series is through BioShock, so it's making some tweaks to cater to modern gamers' tastes. That means the tone of the narrative is also set to shift, as is some of the gameplay. but the overall plot will remain.

System Shock is due for release in 2017. A bonafide sequel, System Shock 3,is also in the early stages of development, with Spector at the helm.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Let's hope they work on streamlining the interface and toning down the difficulty a bit. I mean System Shock 1 & 2 are considered PC Classics but their design haven't exactly aged like wine. SS 2's difficulty was notorious and it wasn't uncommon for players to get stuck because they hadn't attributed stats correctly or did proper item management. There's a reason why such schemes died in the 90's along with adventure games, because it wasn't fun. Still, if they can pull this off, more power to them.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Cliffy B's Lawbreakers is going to be a timed PC exclusive that is no longer F2P and will get a "more mature shift" in art direction (read: They're going to ejaculate gun metal brown on everything.)

http://www.engadget.com/2016/03/17/gears-of-war-creators-lawbreakers-is-a-timed-steam-exclusiv/

 

[yourbeliefs]

SOMA devs Frictional Games released some interesting info about SOMA's sales and reception to mark the 6 month anniversary of release. It's a pretty interesting read.

http://frictionalgames.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/soma-6-months-later.html

I've had this on my wishlist for a while. As soon as it hits that 50% off mark I'll be all over it. I love those immersion exploration games, although since everyone says the enemies make the game suck I'll definitely be implementing the "wuss mode" mod.

 

[king3pj]

SOMA devs Frictional Games released some interesting info about SOMA's sales and reception to mark the 6 month anniversary of release. It's a pretty interesting read.

http://frictionalgames.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/soma-6-months-later.html

I've had this on my wishlist for a while. As soon as it hits that 50% off mark I'll be all over it. I love those immersion exploration games, although since everyone says the enemies make the game suck I'll definitely be implementing the "wuss mode" mod.

Now that I know this mod exists I will definitely play SOMA. The premise of the game sounds awesome. The Giant Bomb guys said the enemies were a real pain in the ass and they felt like they punished people who wanted to explore the area fully.

 

[yourbeliefs]

If for some reason you REALLY want Rock Band 4 to come out on PC but don't want the hassle of downloading all the songs you want individually, well Harmonix (in a move that TOTALLY does NOT reek of desperation) will allow you to get EVERY DLC song for the low price of $2,500! Of course, even if you feel like donating that much to fund the game you better hope a lot of other people do so also because they're still 2/3rds away from their $1.5 million fundraising goal, and they have 11 days to raise it.

http://www.polygon.com/2016/3/25/11304410/rock-band-4-pc-fig-crowdfunding-all-dlc-songs

 

[yourbeliefs]

Here's all the customizable PC settings for Quantum Break

http://remedygames.com/quantum-break-pc-settings-revealed/

 

[yourbeliefs]

We all know how Steam has no quality control over what it allows on its store, but apparently it was SO bad that someone was able to get a game on Steam without even going through the Greenlight process. Valve has since patched this exploit but Jesus Christ. As a developer the fact that all this information was out there for someone with a simple HTML reader to read is just bad design 101.

 

[Poke]

How Blizzard is building a brand new world with Overwatch

http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/28/11318706/overwatch-blizzard-worldbuilding

Overwatch isn’t just a brand new franchise for Blizzard — it’s a new way of thinking about story.

The company is known for building huge franchises, from Diablo to Warcraft, andOverwatch represents its first new property in close to two decades. In the past, when Blizzard created a new world, it started from a high level, figuring out the overarching themes and game ideas before it filled in the details, by adding characters, places, and more. “Instead of starting 1,000 feet up, [Overwatch is] starting at the ground and moving upwards,” says Chris Metzen, Blizzard’s SVP of story and franchise development, and creative director on the game.

Overwatch is primarily defined by its characters. It’s a shooter where players can choose from 21 different heroes, each with their own personality and history. And it’s those personalities and histories that have come to define its near-future world. Overwatch takes place at an unspecified point in the future, and stars former members of the titular group, a one-time peacekeeping organization that has since disbanded following accusations of corruption. The game’s version of Earth is recognizable, but also fantastical. “We definitely wanted to do a near-future franchise that wasn’t 1,000 years in the future on the far side of an alien galaxy,” Metzen says.

The roster includes a talking, cybernetic gorilla named Winston, a nature-obsessed robot called Bastion, and Tracer, a former Overwatch agent with the ability to travel through time. Metzen describes the setting as “a recognizable Earth that was near enough that we could inject sci-fi hooks, fantastical hooks, and just be able to conjure whatever heroes we wanted, but had more of a tether to the familiar world we share.” It has a bit of an Avengers vibe, with all of the world’s most powerful heroes joining together for battle.

 

[meStevo]

aka, how to repurpose years of developing lore for a failed MMO effort.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Killer Instinct is now available for Windows 10 http://www.engadget.com/2016/03/29/killer-instinct-reaches-pc/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

 

[king3pj]

Killer Instinct is now available for Windows 10 http://www.engadget.com/2016/03/29/killer-instinct-reaches-pc/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

I'm not a big fighting game player but I messed with the Xbox One version a couple times. One thing this article failed to mention is that you automatically get access to all the characters you own on Xbox One if you use the same Xbox Live account. It also has cross-platform play with the Xbox One.
https://news.xbox.com/2016/03/28/killer-instinct-season-3-launches-on-xbox-and-windows-10/

If nothing else, I'll check it out just to see what the Windows 10 Store and Xbox Live integration looks like on PC.

 

[yourbeliefs]

If you have 776 thousand dollars burning a hole in your pocket, you can donate it to make Rock Band 4 on PC a reality because that's how much more money they need within the next 13 hours.

https://www.fig.co/campaigns/rock-band-4-pc#about

 

[yourbeliefs]

We all know how Steam has no quality control over what it allows on its store, but apparently it was SO bad that someone was able to get a game on Steam without even going through the Greenlight process. Valve has since patched this exploit but Jesus Christ. As a developer the fact that all this information was out there for someone with a simple HTML reader to read is just bad design 101.

In case you were wondering if this game WAS anything, it was. Here's the "game" in action.

 

[yourbeliefs]

If you have 776 thousand dollars burning a hole in your pocket, you can donate it to make Rock Band 4 on PC a reality because that's how much more money they need within the next 13 hours.

https://www.fig.co/campaigns/rock-band-4-pc#about

Big shock, the funds weren't raised.

http://www.polygon.com/2016/4/5/11364352/rock-band-4-pc-crowdfunding-campaign-fails-fig

 

[Poke]

Ubisoft decides to start banning cheaters from the PC version of The Division
Good Cheaters have no skills.

http://www.neowin.net/news/ubisoft-...-cheaters-from-the-pc-version-of-the-division

 

[king3pj]

http://lawbreakers.nexon.net/en#

You can sign up for the Lawbreakers Alpha now.

 

[yourbeliefs]

So this is pretty cool...

Sega has allowed for official mod support of their classic Genesis/Mega Drive games on Steam via Steam Workshop. So now instead of dealing with having to find random ROM hacks, you can actually get "legit" ones that can do all sorts of things to their classic games. Also, in commemoration of this update, you can get all the classic Genesis games released by Sega on Steam for really cheap. You can basically get 50 classic Sega games for $12.75 AND already lots of Mods are out there that you can download and play with.

http://store.steampowered.com/search/?snr=1_6_4__12&term=sega+genesis

More Info here: http://www.polygon.com/2016/4/28/11530338/sega-genesis-rom-hacks-steam-workshop-mega-drive-hub

 

[yourbeliefs]

Wow, REALLY few people on Steam are using Linux...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Steam-Linux-April-2016

 

[king3pj]

Wow, REALLY few people on Steam are using Linux...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Steam-Linux-April-2016

Yeah, I'd say the Steam Box idea has failed, at least the Steam OS version that Valve was trying to push. I still think there is a market for console sized PC's like the Alienware Alpha in the living room. I'm just not sure why anyone would buy the Steam OS version of the Alpha that can only play a fraction of the games when there is a Windows 10 version that can play everything for $50 more.