Free-to-play space ninja sim Warframe has slowly evolved into the weird space opera that it always wanted to be. In-between the procedurally generated missions and resource farming, there are some genuinely dramatic scenes, some likeable characters and even a few bold, game-changing twists. Today marks the release of The Sacrifice, a new chapter in the story that developers Digital Extremes has been teasing for the past year.
Pete MecumSweet!
Huge kudos to Disney who just updated the Steam build of the fourteen year old FPS Tron 2.0 [official site doesn’t even exist any more] to work properly on Win 10! … [visit site to read more]
Pete MecumCool.
Pete Mecumlolz
Juicero is a self-parodying high-tech juicing machine that raised millions in venture capital on the promise of delivering a highly calibrated squeeze to a pack of mulch sold in expensive, DRM-locked pouches, for a mere $400. (more…)
Pete MecumThe horror.
Pete MecumYou mean there isn't a company making games called "Battle"?
After twenty years, Blizzard plan to step away from the name Battle.net for their online platform and services. The Diablords and Warcrafteers today announced that they’ll be “transitioning away” from the name Battle.net, which they’ve been using since the first Diablo way back in 1996. No, Blizzard now want to name elements boring things like Blizzard Streaming and Blizzard Voice. Ah, the end of an era. Another icon falls.
Look, let’s be honest: names which are also domain names had become daggy by ooh we’ll generously say 1999. But don’t you see, Blizzard? A ’90s revival is going on – for the first time in yonks, the name Battle.net currently sounds cool.
Pete Mecum;D
We are touring King Baby in some schools and I love the kids
Pete MecumLadies and gentlemen, I present to you: The Internet.
Digital Homicide are known for two things: releasing a great many janky, junky games; and being fiercely, litigiously protective of those games. The small studio were best known for suing games critic Jim Sterling over his videos tearing into their games, but they’ve probably one-upped that. After Digital Homicide launched a lawsuit against 100 Steam users, Valve have pulled all the studio’s games from the Steam store.
Digital Homicide allege these users were involved in stalking, harassing, and even impersonating them. Valve say they have “stopped doing business with Digital Homicide for being hostile to Steam customers.”
Pete MecumIT BEGINS!
Pete MecumCool.
Stardew Valley [official site] is pure relaxation. Sure, building a farm from rocks and rubble is tough work, but there is nothing more soothing than the day to day routine; tending to crops, caring for your animals, trying to seduce your neighbors, and combing the mines for treasure. Now, Stardew Valley is bringing its therapeutic charms to Mac and Linux on July 29th, according to creator ConcernedApe.
Pete MecumInfinite Pew Pew Pew
When I first heard about No Man’s Sky [official site], I wanted to jump straight into a spaceship and explore infinite procedural planets. I wanted to look at all of the creatures in their infinite variety and I wanted to spend an infinite amount of time doing…well, what exactly? Observing? Collecting? Discovering? No Man’s Sky looked like a game in need of some verbs. What would we be doing on all of these worlds?
Pip’s splendid preview marked the first time I understood the verbs. Surviving! Learning! Gathering! Fighting! The latest trailer shows some of that fighting, on the ground and in space.
Pete MecumI miss Myst.
You may well chortle at John’s Myst ranting but it’s no joke to those of us around him. Talking about Myst sends John into a blood rage and even seeing those four little letters can be enough – I once saw him bite clean through a steel-cased DVD box set of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. But shh, John’s done for the day so I think I’m safe to post this as long as you don’t make any loud noises or sudden movements. Let’s go.
Myst makers Cyan have announced another delay for Obduction [official site], their shiny all-new adventure game.
Pete MecumIncoming data mining.
World of Warcraft: Legion [official site] won’t launch until August 30th but the demonic hordes are already making their move upon Azeroth. The traditional WoW pre-expansion patch is now live, implementing a fair chunk of the expansion’s big changes. Lots of classes are reworked, draw distances are increased, the transmogrification system is massively improved so you don’t need to stash loads of old items, equalised stats in PvP means you don’t need flash gear, and plenty more is changed.
Pete MecumOh hey, that game.
To save our Mother Earth from any alien attack,
From vicious giant insects who have once again come back,
We’ll unleash all our forces! We won’t cut them any slack!
The EDF deploys!
Which is to say that Earth Defense Force 4.1 The Shadow of New Despair [official site] is out now on Steam. These space-bugs won’t kill themselves, so hop to it.
Pete MecumFree to Derp
Evolve [official site], the first-person multiplayer action game of monsters vs hunters, is now free to play. Originally launched back in February of last year, the game, from Left 4 Dead creators Turtle Rock, is an asymmetrical shooter/stalker, in which players take on the role of either members of a four-person hunter squad or one of several monsters. The switch to free-to-play comes after what the Turtle Rock co-founders describe as “the DLC shitstorm” and a mixed reception. The free-to-play version launches later today and full details of the transition are below.
Pete MecumWooooo!
The multiplayer mod for Just Cause 2 is a ridiculous and special thing, partially for the accomplishment of fans adding multiplayer to a game not made for it and partially for the sight of hundreds of players flying, driving, parachuting, and exploding all over Panau. Mod team Nanos are working on a multiplayer mod for Just Cause 3 and, judging by a new wee video, it’s coming along quite nicely. Observe, a few folks parachuting and wingsuiting around together:
Pete MecumD:
Peter K. Rosenthal, head film critic for The Onion’s Film Standard, reviews Finding Dory.
Pete MecumIs it?
When a new space combat simulator looks as handsome as House of the Dying Sun [official site], that’s reason enough to raise an intrigued eyebrow. When it can evoke memories of TIE Fighter within minutes of loading it up, that’s reason enough to raise a celebratory fist to the torpedo-streaked heavens. But when all of the glories of its atmospheric non-atmospheric combat are packed into a few short missions, it’s also fair to raise some concerns.
Pete MecumHave you seen this, John?
I've never heard of this before.
Monster Factory is a funny web series, created by brothers Justin and Griffin McElroy for Polygon, that follows the two hosts as they use character creators to build deranged beings in popular video games and then let them loose for crazy adventures. Justin and Griffin provide hilarious voice overs while running for their lives in Dark Souls II as Squirtle, remaking a sitcom in Sims 4, destroying everything in Skyrim as Garfield, obliterating the face of Commander Shepard in Mass Effect 2, and more.
via The Mary Sue
Pete MecumFishnet stockings confirmed under Princess Toadstool's dress.
"With great star power comes great responsibility." - Benjamin "Ben" ParkerPete MecumWot?
From Reuters: "Actress Jamie Lee Curtis staggered people attending the global premiere of 'Warcraft' by turning up dressed as an 'Orc shaman' and talking about Hillary Clinton."
Pete MecumThe battles in the video do give off a lot of Chrono Trigger feels.
Zeboyd Games, the folks who redeemed one of the world’s greatest monsters in Cthulhu Saves The World and revived the Penny Arcade Adventures, have announced that their next retro-styled RPG is coming this summer. Cosmic Star Heroine [official site] is an intergalactic RPG about a space-super-spy on the lam, and Zeboyd namechecked inspirations like Chrono Trigger and Phantasy Star when they Kickstarted it in 2013. It won’t be long until we see how it’s worked out but, for now, we can have a peek in a new trailer:
Pete MecumTruth.
Knowing the difference could save your life.
Pete MecumMy brain hurts after reading any EVE Online news.
A year ago the Imperium was seen as an absolute—a kind of immutable law of the universe in EVE Online [official site]. They were the biggest coalition backed by the richest players armed with the most cunning diplomatic team. Around their central alliance, the Goonswarm Federation (‘goons’), were staunch allies who would hold the line if anyone dared invade. Their capital in the region of Deklein was thought to be an impregnable fortress from which flags with little bees waved in the solar wind. That’s not what Deklein looks like today. Their home system, YA0-XJ, now has a new flag flying above it, and the Imperium’s list of allies seems to be growing shorter by the month.
Pete MecumYay!
The Talos Principle 2 is coming. At some point. In some form. That’s all I can tell you. Croteam’s Alen Ladavac confirmed it during a talk at the Nordic Game conference this morning, and that’s all. It is coming. Which is grand!
The Talos Principle [official site] arrived in December 2014 so, although the philsophical first-person puzzler is pretty great, it got a little lost in the usual December busyness. But the Serious Sam gang followed it up with a fine expansion in 2015 and evidently all is right in the world, because a sequel is coming too.
Pete MecumIt begins again.
Remember how the Dota 2 International prize pool inflation of 2016 has started thanks to the launch of this year’s compendium with a FREAKING MASSIVE SIDE ORDER OF OTHER SHENANIGANS?
Here’s how it is doing so far:
TERRIFYINGLY WELL.
