The Unlikely Story Behind One of Gaming's Greatest Sports Titles

Professional hockey game NHL Hockey 94 is considered to be one of the most iconic and influential sports games of all time. So you might be surprised to learn it was developed in a barn in Maine by a man who knew nothing about hockey.

Maine news publication The Bangor Daily News has profiled NHL 94's lead programmer, retired game developer Mark Lesser, offering a fascinating look into his life and career.

"I'd never watched a hockey game, I didn't know anything about it," Lesser, an MIT graduate with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, said.

To get up to speed, Lesser took a trip to Electronic Arts' campus in California. Other developers working on the NHL franchise--intense hockey fans--took Lesser to a professional hockey game and taught him more about the sport.

"I didn't know what the heck they were talking about. I just smiled a lot," Lesser recalled.

Armed with this knowledge, Lesser returned to his cabin in Brooklin, Maine to get to work programming what would become NHL 94. It wasn't uncommon back then for a single person to program an entire game, with others working on art and other elements.

NHL 94 turned out to be a breakaway hit, introducing franchise-firsts such as one-timers and goalie control. A sailing slapshot could shatter the glass behind the goal, something never before seen in the NHL series.

Lesser, now 66, developed NHL follow-ups through 1999. His final game for EA was a motocross title released in 2000. He is now retired, living in his coastal Surry home overlooking Union River Bay.

NHL 94 is so beloved that 2013's NHL 14 included an "NHL 94 Anniversary" throwback mode that brought the look and feel of the SNES/Genesis game to modern consoles.

The full story is a fascinating read and is well worth your time if you're interested in video game history.

23.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

These Gorgeous Game Panoramas Were Captured With the Xbox One's Screenshot Tool

There's not likely a better way to celebrate the wonderful talents of video game artists than to just stand still and gaze at their work. That's what this Xbox One owner has demonstrated with a collection of beautiful, sweeping in-game panoramas taken with the console's new screenshot tool.

A Reddit user going by the name "Tastybread" has published five sweeping images taken during sojourns across the sun-kissed Himalayas of Far Cry 4 and the brooding alien wastelands of Halo 4.

Take a look at the pictures below (click on each one to view in full screen), while here you can see some other non-panoramic shots the player has taken during their travels.

Microsoft is preparing to roll out the Xbox One's screenshot tool during the next system update, scheduled for March. But those who participate in the Xbox Preview Program, who are given access to beta builds of Microsoft's firmware updates, have already begun to publish their snapshots online.

The five panoramas were achieved by taking several shots of the same scene, then merging them together on PC using the image tool Autostitch.

"I love the screenshot feature and how it's changing how people perceive how good games can look on the Xbox One," Tastybread wrote.

23.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Sony Exec Can't Commit to Free PS Plus DriveClub

New doubts have been cast over the free PlayStation Plus edition of Driveclub after the head of PlayStation Europe was unable to answer questions on whether the game would still materialise.

Jim Ryan, who manages SCEE, was asked in an interview with Metro whether the release of the free version--which was first promised in June 2013--was still part of Sony's plans.

"That's still being looked at," he replied.

When asked whether the free version would ever ship, Ryan replied: "I can't say anything at this stage." GameSpot has contacted Sony for further clarification.

At E3 2013, months ahead of the release of the PlayStation 4, Sony made a pledge that PlayStation Plus subscribers would be given a free abridged version of Driveclub as a reward for their membership.

Jim Ryan believes the technical challenges of a more open online infrastructure were "misjudged"

But the matter was complicated on several occasions, first in October 2013 when the racing sim was delayed just weeks ahead of its launch. It was delayed again in early 2014, and when finally released in October that year, it launched with major server issues that knocked its network infrastructure offline.

During the disaster launch, a decision was made at Sony to postpone the free version, likely in order to prevent the online problems worsening.

Months of waiting followed while fans hoped that the free version would still ship. Then, in early February this year, a representative for the game's developer, Evolution Studios, told a fan that the build "still needs a lot of work".

In his interview with Metro, Ryan wanted to explain that Sony had worked intensely to salvage Driveclub's disastrous online launch.

"Everybody in this building [Sony Europe HQ in London] and in the development community was absolutely distraught... I don't think anybody should labour under the opinion that there was any feeling of insouciance or anybody being relaxed about that being the case.

"People were working 24/7, and that's an expression that's lightly used but people were working 24/7 trying to fix this."

Jim Ryan on the Driveclub launch

"People were working 24/7, and that's an expression that's lightly used but people were working 24/7 trying to fix this.

"Now, should the game have worked at launch? Of course. Should people pay £50 for something and expect it to work? Of course.

"I think one thing that the industry appears to have misjudged in the generational transition--where there's a lot spoken about moving to a more straightforward PC architecture that should make it easy for developers to come to terms with next gen and all of that--is I think the massively enhanced online ambitions a lot of developers and publishers have identified as one of the opportunists of next gen, appear to have been way more technically challenging than anyone realised."

23.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Game Leaks Impossible to Stop, Xbox Boss Says

Information leaks, the likes of which Microsoft knows well, are here to stay. Leaks are commonplace in the technology sector, and, though they might be painful at times, are impossible to stop completely, according to Xbox executive Aaron Greenberg.

"Leaks are something that sort of just happens in technology, right? iPhones leak, new TV models leak, and games leak," Greenberg said as part of the latest Inner Circle podcast. "It's just the nature of the business. It happens. We don't plan for it. It's usually unexpected."

In January 2014, an anonymous NeoGAF tipster unloaded a ton of information about Microsoft's future plans for the Xbox One. Among other things, the source said Microsoft would release a white Xbox One and Halo 2: Anniversary in 2014, and revealed that Halo 5 and Fable Legends would launch in 2015. So far, this has all proven to be accurate.

"We don't get too distracted by it" -- Aaron Greenberg

Greenberg didn't address this leak specifically, but did say Microsoft doesn't spend too much time getting caught up in this noise.

"With the Internet and with so many people trying to guess what you're doing or speculate on what you're doing, quite often a lot of the things that appear as leaks either are not true at all or a lot of the information is wrong, but some of it might be right," he said. "Then there's stuff that's just 100 percent right. It's out of our control."

"We don't get too distracted by it," Greenberg added. "Our general philosophy is we don't comment on any of them. Whether it's the many, many things that aren't right or things that, 'Wow, they really got almost all of it wrong, but they did get something right,' we just don't comment. We generally tend to like to unveil things the way that we plan to."

Microsoft spends a great deal of time and effort in planning official game announcements, hoping to communicate the novelty and intrigue of a game as best it can with fans. Leaks get in the way of these plans, and can sometimes show games in a poor light, Greenberg explained. This is to say, he's not a big fan of leaks (as you might expect), though he acknowledges again that they are just part of the business.

"It keeps us on our toes. It's the nature of the beast," Greenberg said. "It's definitely not going to change or go away."

Also in the interview, Greenberg said whatever Xbox leaks you might be reading aren't coming from inside Microsoft's walls. He said the Xbox team is something like a family; people care about the products they're working on and don't want to share details before things are ready, he said.

Greenberg said all the planning and preparation for an announcement or reveal culminate in a special moment. This is a moment that not only Xbox employees long for, but also fans, Greenberg explained. "It's so lackluster to see a bad screenshot of something and try to speculate what it is," he said.

Of course, Microsoft isn't the only company that faces product leaks. All major game publishers have dealt with leaks to varying degrees, Greenberg pointed out. "There's no silver bullet for it," he said.

What do you think about video game leaks? Let us know in the comments below!

23.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

We Launched Xbox One at the Right Time, Says Microsoft Exec

As part of the latest Inner Circle podcast, Xbox executive Aaron Greenberg fielded numerous questions about the Xbox One, one of which had to do with launch timing. For the first time in two console generations, rival Xbox and PlayStation consoles were released in the same year. But the interviewer wondered: did the Xbox One launch too early? Did it launch in November 2013 only to ensure Microsoft wouldn't give Sony's PlayStation 4 a one-year advantage in the market?

"I don't think so," Greenberg said. "We had to launch head-to-head with them. We didn't know what they were doing. They didn't know what we were doing. You assume they're going to do some things; you get some right and some wrong. But we were pretty focused. The titles we had in development, whether it was Forza 5 or Ryse or any of our launch titles, we felt like we were ready."

"We were trying to do a lot more--if you think about Kinect and voice and TV integration" -- Greenberg

Greenberg also says that the Xbox One was actually "more ambitious" than the PS4 through its Kinect, voice, and TV integration. This came at a price, as the Xbox One--which originally came bundled with Kinect--was $500 at launch, compared to $400 for the PS4, which offers an optional camera. Microsoft has since dropped the Xbox One price multiple times; the system is available today starting at $350.

"We were trying to do a lot more--if you think about Kinect and voice and TV integration," Greenberg said. "We had perhaps a more ambitious vision. But with that said, no, no one has ever said that we shouldn't have launched [when we did]. That we didn't feel like that was the right time and place. We're off to a good start, but we have a lot more work to do. We never regretted or felt like we weren't ready."

The original Xbox launched in 2001, one year after the PlayStation 2. Meanwhile, the Xbox 360 was released in November 2005, a year before the launch of the PlayStation 3.

"So this is the first time we've ever gone head-to-head at the same time, so it's just a different dynamic," Greenberg said. "We saw what it was like being a year late, we saw what it was like being a year early, and now we're in a whole different space."

Sony is winning the early sales race, as the PS4 has sold more than 18.5 million units, compared to somewhere north of 10 million units for the Xbox One. As Microsoft has said numerous times in the past, however, this console generation is a marathon, not a sprint.

23.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Axed Legacy of Kain Project Revealed With 30 Minute Video

A thirty-minute leaked video has provided a world-first look at Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun, a AAA action game for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 believed to have been canceled in 2012.

Footage and images of the axed project were brought to light on the games forum NeoGAF, published by a user going by the username "Mama Robotnik." Among the tranche of data and details, the post claims that Dead Sun was developed by the independent UK dev Climax Studios for about three years before it was shelved.

"The game was not projected to meet Square Enix sales projections, and was scrapped, to the enormous disappointment of staff who had dedicated a lot of work to the project," the NeoGAF poster claims.

"One source recalled that staff came in at weekends to continue working on the game, while higher-ups already knew it was canceled."

It is said that the game featured an online deathmatch mode that was disconnected from the main campaign. "This was the only part of the project to survive the cancellation, and has now been heavily expanded upon and released as Nosgoth," the post read.

The area shown in the video is said to be called The Wetlands; a hub world featuring expansive dungeons housing huge bosses. "Think if HBO did Zelda," one alleged source said.

Meanwhile, the NeoGAF post also claims that the project was initially envisioned as being somewhat small, expanding into a AAA-sized Xbox 360 and PS3 game.

"In its final form, the game was strongly considered to be PlayStation 4 launch title," the post adds. GameSpot has contacted Square Enix for comment.

Images of the game (low resolution) can be found below:

Click on the thumbnails to view in full screen

23.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Forza 6 Release Date Confirmed for "Holiday 2015"

The release date for Forza Motorsport 6 has been confirmed for holiday 2015, the Microsoft executive Aaron Greenberg has confirmed.

A release this fall has been expected since the Xbox One game was announced in January, but this is the first time Microsoft has actually officially stated when the game will launch.

Greenberg mentioned the release window as part of the latest Inner Circle podcast. Other Xbox One console exclusives for this holiday from Microsoft include Rise of the Tomb Raider, Fable Legends (which is also coming to PC), Halo 5: Guardians, and Quantum Break.

This list could grow further still, as Microsoft is known to announce new projects at its summer shows such as E3 and Gamescom.

Microsoft officially announced Forza 6 in January at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The game is in development at series steward Turn 10 Studios and will feature the all-new Ford GT (above) as its cover star. For a closer look at the Ford GT, see the image gallery below.

Forza 6 will also feature other Ford muscle cars, including the Shelby GT350 Mustang (the car from the Aaron Paul Need for Speed movie) and the F-150 Raptor.

Microsoft's Forza 6 announcement was light on details, but the company promises it will offer a worldwide gameplay reveal at E3 in June.

2015 is a big year for the Forza series, as the racing franchise celebrates its 10th anniversary. The first Forza Motorsport was released for the original Xbox in 2005.

Click the thumbnails below to see full-size versions

23.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Marvel Heroes Co-Op Brawler Announced

Marvel Entertainment and mobile game developer DeNA on Monday announced Marvel Mighty Heroes, what they're calling a "real-time co-cop brawler" that stars heroes and villains of the Marvel Universe. The game will launch "soon" for iOS and Android devices.

In Marvel Mighty Heroes, gamers will choose from a deep roster of Marvel characters and build a "dream-team" of heroes and villains. Some of the available characters include Iron Man, Groot, Captain America, Star-Lord, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, and Spider-Man, as well as "dozens" of their allies and nemeses.

Each character has their own skillset and special abilities. Marvel Mighty Heroes also supports multiplayer (up to four players) and online leaderboards that will track how you stack up against friends and the world over.

Marvel Mighty Heroes will be a free-to-play title when it launches later this year for iOS and Android devices. While you wait for the game to launch, you can visit its newly launched website to vote for Hulk or Rocket Raccoon to receive as a free special hero at launch.

For more, check out the trailer above.

23.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

GS News Update: Google And Mattel Reveal Virtual Reality "View-Master"

You need a javascript enabled browser to watch videos.

Play

1. Games Gone Missing - Where are they now?
2. Scarra on his triumphant return to LCS, handshake blunders, and TSM vs CLG
3. 1 out of 10: The Worst Games Ever Reviewed on GameSpot
4. Link: "I think I bring a lot more to the team that a lot of people don't realize."
5. Xpecial on recent TL drama: "a miracle" that there were no roster swaps
6. Travis speaks with Prince Zuko Voice Actor Dante Basco at LCS about his LoL experience
7. The Point - DLC Still Sucks
8. Quick Look: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Remastered
9. GS News Update: GTA Publisher Says Game Development Is Expensive and Risky
10. GS News Top 5 - Tablet Power Surpassing Consoles; Free PS4 Multiplayer
11. GS News - Mass Effect 4 Multiplayer News; The Order: 1886 Controversy
12. GS News - Molyneux Sparks More Drama; Evolve's DLC Adds Up To $136!

Embed this video:

Please use a flash video capable browser to watch videos.

Sorry, but you can't access this content!

Please enter your date of birth to view this video

By clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's
Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

23.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

The Order: 1886 Leaks to YouTube in Full, Playthrough is Five Hours Long

YouTuber PlayMeThrough has uploaded a complete playthrough of The Order: 1886 to their YouTube channel. The footage totals roughly five hours of playtime, including both gameplay and cutscenes. The time devoted to cutscenes appears to be roughly half of that playtime, and the cutscenes are reported to be unskippable.

The leak has arrived shortly after rumours circulated that the game was only three hours long, and after Ready At Dawn founder and CTO Andrea Pessino responded to a query that the game was less than five hours long by stating that was "not true". Pessino later tweeted that he would no longer comment on such questions.

Another leak from NeoGAF user Renegade contains a screenshot of some of the game's ultra-violent gore effects.

For GameSpot's early thoughts on The Order: 1886, check out our hands-on preview. The game releases on Friday for PS4.

23.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

AU New Releases: The Order: 1886 Launches Exclusively For PS4

This week, Ready At Dawn's supernatural shooter The Order: 1886 hits Australian retailers on February 20. The game is set in a steampunk Victorian era and revolves around an order of knights who fight to protect the world from half-breed werewolves.

Weapons in the game are part based on real, Victorian-era technology, part science-fiction. Ready At Dawn has confirmed that inventor Nikola Tesla will appear in the game. If you think the game looks pretty visually impressive, Ready At Dawn studio co-founder Ru Weerasuriya told GameSpot in an interview that the game was built to showcase the power of the PlayStation 4.

The Order: 1886 has been in development for three and half years. For our early impressions of the game, specifically with regards to its gameplay, check out editor Mark Walton's preview.

Total War fans will be interested in this week's release of Total War: Attila, the latest standalone entry in the series of strategy games. The game is set in Europe around 400 A.D. Total War: Attila was positively received in GameSpot's review, praised for its gorgeous and well-scaled world map and unpredictability, but criticized for its glitches and cluttered interface. To see what everyone else is saying about the game, we rounded up all the reviews right here.

For more details on games out this week, check the full list below.

February 17, 2014

Total War: Attila (PC)

February 19, 2014

Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed (PS4)

February 20, 2014

Dead or Alive 5: Last Round (PS4, Xbox One)

The Order: 1886 (PS4)

23.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

UK Chart: Evolve and Majora’s Mask Clear Out the Old

Three new releases have helped reshape the UK games chart following weeks of stagnation, with the launch of Nintendo's New 3DS also boosting hardware sales.

Evolve, the multiplayer-focused first-person shooter, lands at the top of the list in its debut week. This is the first time since March 2013 that publisher Take-Two has produced a UK number one that wasn't Grand Theft Auto V. Evolve's week-one sales were evenly split between Xbox One and PlayStation 4 editions, with only a few non-digital PC versions produced.

In second place is Majora's Mask 3D, Nintendo's cult N64 adventure remastered for the 3DS handheld, which was supported by the launch of the New 3DS and New 3DS XL hardware. According to retail monitor Chart-Track, the new 3DS systems increased all-format hardware sales by about 57 percent.

Nintendo's media campaign for its new system has helped spur sales of another 3DS game, Capcom's Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, which jumps to fourth place in its first week. As many as three million units of the game have shipped worldwide, Capcom says.

Familiar faces populate the rest of the top ten:

1. Evolve
2. Majora's Mask 3D
3. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
4. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
5. GTA V
6. FIFA 15
7. Far Cry 4
8. Minecraft Xbox Edition
9. Assassin's Creed Unity
10. Destiny

23.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Xbox One Version of Telltale's Game of Thrones Scuppered by Bug [Update]

Update: Although Telltale Games has not responded to requests for comment from the press, the developer has said a patch to fix the bug has been sent to Microsoft.

Providing Microsoft gives the patch a clean bill of health, players will need to wait more than a week for it to arrive on consoles.

The studio writes on its forum: "We have submitted a patch to Microsoft to resolve the issue some customers have experienced where Episode One choices did not carry over into Episode Two. We expect the patch to be released in the next 7-10 days and will update this thread as soon as it is available. We really appreciate everyone's patience and hope to have you playing with your choices very soon."

Original story follows:

A spate of save data problems has been discovered on the Xbox One edition of Game of Thrones: A Telltale Games Series.

At the heart of the issue is a save data problem, with numerous people reporting that decisions made in episode one have not carried over to episode two. Affected players can still proceed with the game, but only with default decisions made form the previous episode.

Though there are many possible reasons for the issue with carrying over decisions between each episode, Telltale's support forums show that Xbox One players are specifically affected. (See threads 1, 2, 3, 4).

GameSpot has contacted Telltale Games for more insight into the issue.

The problem does not appear to be prevalent on other platforms, such as PlayStation 4, PC, Mac, iOS, Android, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.

Game of Thrones, the episodic point-and-click adventure, is the latest high-profile narrative from Telltale Games, following its work on acclaimed series such as The Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead.

Reviews for the interactive adaptation of George R. R. Martin's fantasy novels are fairly positive so far.

23.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate Sales Surpass 3m Units

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, Capcom's newest entrant in its flagship action-RPG series, has now shipped more than three million copies worldwide.

Released on Friday February 13 in North America and Europe, the game appears to have made an immediate impact, entering the UK all-format game charts at fourth. Sales were spurred on by the release of Nintendo's New 3DS handheld, which also launched across the west on Friday.

Capcom's latest action-RPG first launched in Japan on October 11, under the slightly amended name Monster Hunter 4G. Both Ultimate and 4G are the same game overall; an upgrade of the original Monster Hunter 4 that shipped in 2013.

While the original managed to surpass four million sales in about six months, Ultimate/4G is threatening to eclipse that feat already. On Monday, the publisher wrote in a notice to investors that "the resulting popularity of Monster Hunter 4G/Ultimate has propelled worldwide sales to more than 3 million units globally."

Since the first Monster Hunter game made its debut in 2004, the series has steadily grown into what Capcom calls a "mega-hit," now with cumulative sales of more than 32 million units worldwide.

Further reading: Monster hunter 4 Ultimate Review Round-up

23.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dying Light PC Patch Lifts Mod Ban

A new patch for the PC edition of Dying Light has lifted a previous block on modding the game, and also delivers numerous other tweaks and enhancements.

In Early February, developer Techland released a patch for the game as part of a wider effort to curb cheating in its Be The Zombie multiplayer mode, but the changes had also blocked out user-made mods.

Techland, upon discovering the restrictions, quickly released a statement suggesting that this was an unintended side-effect.

"Creating obstacles for modders has never been our intention. We are now working on a quick patch that will re-enable common tweaks while stopping cheating in the game's multiplayer mode," the studio said at the time.

According to Techland's summary of the new PC patch (1.4), modding is now fully enabled. Players who have the same mods installed will be allowed to play each other online (though this will not work for players attempting to connect without the same mod installed).

Among other changes is the removal of the infinite spit exploit in Be The Zombie mode, along with general stability improvements and a "significant" reduction on RAM resources.

Dying Light, which shipped across North America in late January, has yet to be released in the UK due to a distribution problem. The game is available digitally in all regions, however. The survival-horror FPS won GameSpot's Game of the Month for January, and in the US became the best-selling retail game that month.

A Hard Mode is currently in development for all versions (Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC), as part of Techland's plan to release various free expansions.

The full patch notes, written by Techland, can be found below.

Hardware, performance & stability issues

• Resolved various stability issues

• Numerous general performance optimizations

• Significantly reduced RAM memory usage

Gameplay issues

• Added option to disable film grain video effect.

• Fixed the issue with reaching Survivor Rank 25

• Optimized video memory management to eliminate "ResizeBuffers failed 0x887a0005" error message

• Fixed extremely long load times that some users were experiencing

• Resolved issues with unlocking certain achievements

• Fixed the issue with ammo disappearing from player's inventory when attempting shooting challenges

• Resolved issues with Personal Statistics menu

• Fixed problems with using keys assigned to gameplay features during chat

• Fixed duplicating weapons exploit

Be-the-Zombie mode

• Fixed the 'infinite spit' exploit in Be-the-Zombie mode

• Fixed several issues with connecting to games when playing as the zombie

• Added additional tools for tracking network issues

Game data integrity (modding)

• Games can be modded

• Modded games will not work online with original unchanged versions

• Modded games will work with other identically modded games

Graphical Bugs

• Resolved extremely low resolution textures on certain objects regardless of texture quality settings

Linux specific improvements:

• Fixed motion blur switching via main menu

• Fixed messaging when playing cross-platform session

Known issues we are still working on:

• Screen flickering when using dual-GPU setups

• Radeon support on Linux platforms

23.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Darksiders 2: Definitive Edition Confirmed for PS4

A remastered edition of Darksiders II is in development for next-gen systems, its publisher Nordic Games has confirmed to GameSpot.

Retailer Amazon stirred rumours when it listed a PlayStation 4 edition of the game, carrying the price tag of $40, but pulled the listing hours later. However, a representative for Nordic Games has since told GameSpot that "the authenticity of the listing is unquestionable", but added that it is not yet ready to discuss the project. An Xbox One edition is therefore likely but not yet confirmed.

Darksiders II was one of the final releases from the now-bankrupt publisher THQ, and was released to critical acclaim in August 2012. Upon its launch on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC, GameSpot critic Kevin VanOrd wrote:

Darksiders II is remarkably well put together, particularly in light of its impressive scope.

GameSpot's Darksiders 2 review

"Darksiders II is remarkably well put together, particularly in light of its impressive scope. Bigger doesn't mean better, of course, but this isn't a "more of the same, just bigger" kind of sequel. The game uses its expansive geography to cultivate a poetic tempo in which your intellectual triumphs are rewarded with the immediate pleasures of fleet-footed platforming and demonic brutality."

Later, a Wii U version would ship in time for the console's release in November 2012. Months later in January, however, THQ officially dissolved and its assets were auctioned off across the industry.

Nordic Games, a publisher headquartered in Austria, spent $4.9 million on a collection of THQ properties, including Darksiders, Red Faction, MX vs. ATV, Destroy all Humans!, Summoner, and Supreme Commander.

Lars Wingefors, the chief executive of Nordic Games, later revealed that THQ had spent roughly $50 million on developing the sequel, and suggested that no such investment would be repeated by his company.

Then, in May 2014, the creative director for Darksiders and Darksiders II hinted that the series may live on.

Answering questions from fans on his Facebook page, Joe Madureira told fans that Darksiders "is not dead!!! The new owner, Nordic, seems very committed to continuing the series."

23.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

First Selfies, Now World of Warcraft Is Adding A New Racing Mini-Game

Not long after Blizzard Entertainment announced plans to bring selfies to World of Warcraft, the developer has now revealed another new feature for the genre-defining PC MMO: a racing mini-game.

Currently available in the World of Warcraft Public Test Realm is a racing activity on the Darkmoon Faire island. Riding a special racing mount, your task is to zip through a course as fast as possible while avoiding electrical wires that can stun you. There are also sprint boosts and bouncy gears to hit that can speed up your time.

As Kotaku notes, using various other buffs and competing against other players could make for a Mario Kart-like level of chaos and fun. For more, check out the video above, from YouTube user zetzek, as well even more coverage at Wowhead.

What do you think about racing in World of Warcraft? Let us know in the comments below!

23.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Super Smash Bros. 3DS Amiibo Updates Arrives Tuesday

Nintendo on Tuesday will release a new update for Super Smash Bros. 3DS that enables support for the company's NFC-powered Amiibo toys, the company confirmed in a statement to NintendoLife.

The update, which will be free, arrives just days before the launch of the New Nintendo 3DS. The system will be released across North America and Europe on February 13.

The 'New Nintendo 3DS' is the latest variant of the popular handheld gaming system, which includes built-in NFC technology. This means users can simply place their Amiibo toy onto the system to "warp" it into the virtual world.

Nintendo also plans to release a peripheral for the existing 3DS, 3DS XL, and 2DS models allowing those devices to sync up with Amiibo toys. However, Nintendo has not announced an official launch date or price for the add-on.

Amiibo support has been available for Super Smash Bros. Wii U since November 2014. For more on how the Wii U version of Super Smash Bros. makes use of Amiibo toys, check out the video below.

Nintendo has sold around 5.7 million Amiibo toys worldwide to date. By comparison, Activision has sold more than 240 million Skylanders toys so far, though the Call of Duty publisher's line of toys have been around much longer than Nintendo's have.

Do you plan to utilize Amiibo support in Super Smash Bros. for 3DS? Let us know in the comments below!

23.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Battlefield Hardline Beta Hits 6 Million Players, More Than Destiny Beta

[UPDATE] As the Hardline Beta enters its final day, EA has announced that the number of registered users has surpassed 6 million.

The original story is below.

The Battlefield Hardline beta is proving to be incredibly popular as it passed the 5 million player mark.

"Wow, we've passed 5 MILLION players in the #BFHardline beta!" General Manager of developer Visceral Games and Executive Producer of Battlefield Hardline Steve Papoutsis said on Twitter. "So proud of our team. Glad you're having fun and keep that feedback coming."

To put things into perspective, Destiny's beta, which was the biggest for a new IP on consoles, had 4.6 million players. However, Battlefield Hardline's beta has the advantage of both being on the PC, and coming from a well established franchise.

The beta started on Tuesday, February 3 across North America, Europe, and all other major territories that the game will ship on, and ends Monday. It is available on PC (Origin), PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. The one exception is Japan, where the beta was not available on Xbox platforms.

The Battlefield Hardline release date is March 17 in the US and March 20 in the UK on Origin for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, and Xbox 360.

For more on the game, check out GameSpot's previous coverage of Battlefield Hardline.

23.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

$400 Gets You PS4 + The Last of Us + Shadow of Mordor

Looking to buy a PlayStation 4? Here's a deal you may want to consider. Online retail giant Amazon is currently selling a bundle that includes a PS4 system and copies of The Last of Us Remastered the Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor for $400.

All PS4 bundles now come with The Last of Us Remastered, but the Shadow of Mordor bonus is pretty nice. The game has won all kinds of awards lately, including GameSpot's overall Game of the Year.

Something to note with this bundle is that the copy of The Last of Us Remastered is digital while Shadow of Mordor is physical, if that matters to you.

Bundles are in stock as of 8 AM EDT today.

Looking for more video game deals content? Check back later today for GameSpot's comprehensive video game deals roundup, which compiles the day's best deals for all major platforms.

Via: Slickdeals

GameSpot's gaming deals posts always highlight the best deals we can find regardless of retailer. We also occasionally use retailer affiliate links, which means that purchasing goods through those links helps support all the great content (including the deals posts) you find for free here on the site. Got questions? Email news@gamespot.com or ask us in the comments!

23.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Sonic Boom, God of War Dev Hiring For "Immersive" Next-Gen Games

Independent American developer Sanzaru Games, which recently released Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal for Nintendo 3DS and before that made the God of War Collection for PlayStation Vita, appears to be shifting its sights to console and PC games in the future.

A level artist job listing at the Foster City, California developer spotted by DualShockers references a "next-generation" project for consoles and PC that appears to have major ambitions.

"Only developers who want to craft immersive experiences and breathtaking worlds need apply," reads a line from the job ad, posted February 6 on the Gamasutra job boards. Platforms Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC are associated with the posting.

Another job ad, this one for a game engineer and posted on January 30, also mentions "next-generation console and PC games." Interestingly, it also states that the person who gets the job will be responsible for "constructing gameplay systems from the ground up."

A third recently posted Sanzaru job ad, for a character artist, does not mention "next-generation" anywhere, but does state that the position is for console and handheld development. This position is either full-time or contract; it has not yet been decided.

What's this all mean? It's hard to know for sure. That Sanzaru would be hiring for a next-generation project is not at all surprising, but a possible shift toward console and PC development is more interesting, given that the studio's most recent games were released only for handheld devices.

Sanzaru, named after the three wise monkeys, opened in 2007 and is a registered PlayStation, Microsoft, and Nintendo developer. The studio has a Mobile division called Tomozaru.

What would you like to see Sanzaru make next? Let us know in the comments below!

23.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Buy Acclaimed Lord of the Rings Game Shadow of Mordor for $30

Retailer Best Buy has rolled out a pretty great deal on Monolith's acclaimed Lord of the Rings action game Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, offering it this week for just $30.

That price applies to all versions of the game: Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PC. Head here to pick up your copy. The deal ends February 14.

Shadow of Mordor launched last fall, garnering a positive critical reception, including GameSpot's overall Game of the Year for 2014. The game took home a total of eight awards at last week's D.I.C.E. Awards, including Outstanding Achievement in Game Design and Adventure Game of the Year.

Looking for more video game deals content? Check back later today for GameSpot's comprehensive video game deals roundup, which compiles the day's best deals for all major platforms.

23.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Watch New Trailer For Surgeon Simulator Studio's Next Game, Worlds Adrift

Surgeon Simulator and I Am Bread developer Bossa Studios has released a new gameplay trailer for Worlds Adrift, the company's intriguing-looking PC game that was originally announced in December.

The new gameplay trailer confirms that Worlds Adrift will have a day/night cycle, and that the main character has a multi-tool that allows players to harvest, repair, craft, and swing around throughout the world.

Worlds Adrift will also feature some form of multiplayer support. Players can use crossbows to fire arrows at one another, and Bossa notes that the projectiles "even behave like real physics objects!"

The environments you see in the trailer above are placeholder, but Bossa also took some time to explain that it is purposefully designing the world with flat colors and low poly counts.

"One thing that's always been really important to the vision of the game is the atmosphere," Bossa said on the game's development blog. "Lots of things contribute to how you feel when you're in a game, but perhaps none more than the art style. Besides stylizing everything with low poly counts and flat colors, we're trying to make sure the soft dynamic lighting gives Worlds an illustrated feel."

Bossa has not yet announced a release date for Worlds Adrift. For now, you can leave feedback for the developer through the game's forums. Check out the image gallery below for an even closer look at Worlds Adrift.

Surgeon Simulator recently crossed 2 million in lifetime sales.

23.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Battlefield Hardline Beta Extended

Battlefield Hardline developer Visceral Game has extended the game's beta by 24 hours. Previously scheduled to end yesterday, February 8, the multiplayer trial is now set to come to a close Monday, February 9, during evening Pacific time.

The Hardline open beta is currently available on Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PC. So far, more than 6 million people have played the beta.

Visceral has also spoken out to assure fans that, even though Hardline's release date is only about a month away, the developer still has time to sift through beta feedback and implement changes for the final game.

"I know what you're asking yourself. We're just five weeks away from the launch of Battlefield Hardline, how could we possibly be acting on that feedback?" executive producer Steve Papoutsis said on the Electronic Arts blog. "Well, I can assure you we are."

Popoutsis went on to say that Visceral is already prioritizing changes based on feedback received so far. "So you've still got a chance to be heard," he said.

The ongoing Hardline beta is actually the game's second public testing period, as EA offered a smaller trial in June for PlayStation 4 and PC.

The Battlefield Hardline release date is March 17 in the US and March 20 in the UK on Origin for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. For lots more on the beta, check out the video above.

23.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

$400 Gets You PS4 + The Last of Us + 12 Months Of PS Plus

Looking to buy a PlayStation 4? Amazon has a pretty nice deal going right now. The retailer is currently offering a PS4 console, a copy of The Last of Us Remastered, and a 12-month PlayStation Plus subscription for $400. It's not Black Friday-level good, but it's right up there.

Click here to get the deal. Notably, you're getting a digital copy of The Last of Us Remastered, not the physical version. There is no word on how long the deal will last, so if you're interested, you'll want to act quickly.

In the hunt for more gaming deals? GameSpot has you covered. Check back later today, February 2, to see our full roundup of the best deals for all major gaming platforms.

GameSpot's gaming deals posts always highlight the best deals we can find regardless of retailer. We also occasionally use retailer affiliate links, which means that purchasing goods through those links helps support all the great content (including the deals posts) you find for free here on the site. Got questions? Email news@gamespot.com or ask us in the comments!

23.07 | 0 komentar | Read More