New Riddick Game Coming from Escape from Butcher Bay Devs
Members of the development team at Starbreeze responsible for The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay have been brought back together to develop a third game in the Riddick series, Vin Diesel has confirmed.
Diesel, who is the founder of Tigon, the video game production company that primarily focuses on games that Diesel stars in, didn't provide any further details on the new game. When asked to tease something about it back in July, he told us, "There is this huge concept which is more of an MMO game that would be centered around people being able to play mercs, and it's basically the merc trade. And there's a very cool game concept behind that."
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
The Xbox 360 will go for another three years
The Xbox 360 will "go for another three years
according to remarks made by Xbox chief marketing and strategy offer Yusuf Mehdi. Speaking at the Citi Global Technology Conference, Mehdi said that the Xbox 360 was "incredibly profitable now in the tail." According to Mehdi, Microsoft still plans to ship over 100 more new Xbox 360 games. Microsoft also plans to keep supporting Xbox Live on Xbox 360, which currently serves over 48 million members.
according to remarks made by Xbox chief marketing and strategy offer Yusuf Mehdi. Speaking at the Citi Global Technology Conference, Mehdi said that the Xbox 360 was "incredibly profitable now in the tail." According to Mehdi, Microsoft still plans to ship over 100 more new Xbox 360 games. Microsoft also plans to keep supporting Xbox Live on Xbox 360, which currently serves over 48 million members.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
PS Vita TV
Sony revealed a ton of stuff tonight at its pre-TGS press conference, but perhaps the biggest surprise (well, other than a PS Vita redesign) was the unveiling of an all-new piece of Vita-related hardware. It’s called PS Vita TV, and it lets you play Vita games on your television... and do a bunch of other stuff, too.
More info
PS Vita TV is a tiny piece of hardware. It’s about as big as a deck of cards, measuring 6cm by 10cm. It’s the smallest PlayStation hardware ever.
The idea of PS Vita TV is to let you play Vita games on the big screen using a DualShock 3 controller, but there’s actually more to it than that. While PS Vita TV has a card slot for Vita games, and accepts Vita memory cards, it will also let you use video streaming services (such as Hulu) and more. It will even let you play your PlayStation 4 via Remote Play with DualShock 4; this functionality will come later via system update. No us release date was given
More info
PS Vita TV is a tiny piece of hardware. It’s about as big as a deck of cards, measuring 6cm by 10cm. It’s the smallest PlayStation hardware ever.
The idea of PS Vita TV is to let you play Vita games on the big screen using a DualShock 3 controller, but there’s actually more to it than that. While PS Vita TV has a card slot for Vita games, and accepts Vita memory cards, it will also let you use video streaming services (such as Hulu) and more. It will even let you play your PlayStation 4 via Remote Play with DualShock 4; this functionality will come later via system update. No us release date was given
Assassin's Creed Liberation HD
As we reported earlier last week of a leaked Ubisoft image that looked to show its upcoming games, well today At its Digital Days event in Paris, Ubisoft confirmed the rumored HD upgrade to the Vita entry in the Assassin's Creed saga, Liberation. The title takes place in Louisiana and follows the story of Aveline de Grandpré as she investigates Templar activity while hiding her identity as an Assassin.
In addition to upgraded visuals, the title will boast re-mastered music, an improved gameplay experience, and new missions that further explore Aveline's history. Liberation will be coming in early 2014 to Xbox 360, PlayStation Network, and PC as a digital exclusive
In addition to upgraded visuals, the title will boast re-mastered music, an improved gameplay experience, and new missions that further explore Aveline's history. Liberation will be coming in early 2014 to Xbox 360, PlayStation Network, and PC as a digital exclusive
Friday, September 6, 2013
Final Fantasy XIV Online refund from Sony
Customers who purchased Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn on the PlayStation Network from August 27-28 are receiving a full refund from Sony.
Customers who did purchase the game through the PlayStation Network on August 27 or 28 will find a full refund, and the game will reappear in the PSN download list.
The refund comes as a result of unstable servers, a problem plaguing the MMO since its relaunch last week. Director Naoki Yoshida explained on developer Square Enix's forums why the servers have been problematic.
"Considering the outcome of our first launch, our sales estimates were decidedly conservative," he said, "as we believed that there would be a more gradual rise in users over the opening weeks and months.
"Instead, to our pleasant surprise, we experienced tremendous support from a great number of players who were eager to get into the game from day one."
Yoshida said that FF XIV was designed to support 5,000 simultaneous players in any given world at one time. However, high concentrations of players in the same three city states toward the beginning of the game led to crashes, followed by more when all of those players tried logging back in at once.
This follows the news that Sony will be allowing an extra week of free play to anyone who registers before September 9, because of the same server problems.
Customers who did purchase the game through the PlayStation Network on August 27 or 28 will find a full refund, and the game will reappear in the PSN download list.
The refund comes as a result of unstable servers, a problem plaguing the MMO since its relaunch last week. Director Naoki Yoshida explained on developer Square Enix's forums why the servers have been problematic.
"Considering the outcome of our first launch, our sales estimates were decidedly conservative," he said, "as we believed that there would be a more gradual rise in users over the opening weeks and months.
"Instead, to our pleasant surprise, we experienced tremendous support from a great number of players who were eager to get into the game from day one."
Yoshida said that FF XIV was designed to support 5,000 simultaneous players in any given world at one time. However, high concentrations of players in the same three city states toward the beginning of the game led to crashes, followed by more when all of those players tried logging back in at once.
This follows the news that Sony will be allowing an extra week of free play to anyone who registers before September 9, because of the same server problems.
Upcoming Ubisoft Digital Games Reportedly Leaked
In image, discovered by A9VG and posted onto NeoGAF, has surfaced showing the names of several yet-to-be-announced Ubisoft games, including Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD.
While none of these titles have been officially confirmed, Liberation is presumably going to be a remake of the Vita game released last year under the same name.
Other titles shown on the image are Child of Light (the game revealed at GDC Europe last month), Assassin's Creed: Pirates, Rayman: Fiesta Run, Rabbids: Big Bang, Endwar Online, Valiant Hearts: The Great War, and Autodance (which we assume is Just Dance-related).
Little is known about what these games might be, but since they're rumored to be announced at Ubisoft's Digital Day event, they're most likely going be mobile, downloadable and/or free-to-play.
While none of these titles have been officially confirmed, Liberation is presumably going to be a remake of the Vita game released last year under the same name.
Little is known about what these games might be, but since they're rumored to be announced at Ubisoft's Digital Day event, they're most likely going be mobile, downloadable and/or free-to-play.
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Diablo III A Smooth transition from PC to console. Review
Diablo III A Smooth transition from PC to console. Review
But as time has gone on and technology has evolved, so have video games, and the concept of porting a beloved PC ARPG to a console is no longer an impossible notion as it was once was. Blizzard has spent a lot of effort making sure that gamer can play a refined version of Diablo 3 on both their current gen and next gen consoles, and now it’s time to look at the end result.
What is different from the PC version to the console version?
One thing that's big is you don't have to always be online to play!
A lot has changed. With controller support, Blizzard has added an 'dodge' function (called Evade), the camera has been zoomed in slightly for better views, monster density has been customized for console to make sure you have enemies on the screen, ‘Nephalem Power Orbs’ have been added which drop randomly (like health orbs) and give a slight, but temporary boost to your character’s abilities.
the console version does not have an auction house, but players can still trade as usual. so The gold cost for crafting on the Console version has been drastically reduced to accommodate for the lack of the Auction House.
How does looting work on the console version compared to the PC version?
It’s not all that different from PC, with just a few exceptions. For example, loot is shared between local players (so ‘first come, first serve’). It’ll still work the same for online players, though – meaning if you’re being matched into an online game, your loot will be personal. You only share loot with players playing on your same machine. There’s also a new ‘Fast Equip’ bar that will display basic stats (health, dps, and defense) of every item you pick up. So, at a glance you can see if an item is really good for you, really bad, or can’t even be equipped by your character. You can immediately equip an item, drop it, or open your Inventory screen from the Fast Equip bar.
Difficulty levels and Monster Power operate a little differently on console. There will still be Normal, Nightmare, Hell, and Inferno, and completing one mode will unlock the next mode -- just like on PC. Also, within each of these modes players will able to select from different difficulty levels to suit their preferred level of challenge. On console, however, there are only 8 settings: Easy, Medium, Hard, Master I, Master II, Master III, Master IV, and Master V.
And Yes Elective mode works in the console version of Diablo III just like it does in the PC version.
Also in the console version Pressing the D-pad up while in game will allow you to Fast Equip items. Pressing the D-pad right will cast your Town Portal, and pressing the D-pad down will allow you to access your full-screen map.
How exactly does the controls work. For someone like a DH how do you control the range of stuff like spike traps or RF bombardment?
Skills will automatically center on whatever monster you have targeted, or fire off in the direction your hero is facing if you don’t have a monster targeted.
There is no cross play between PC and console.
But now what you all are here for How is the GAME???
Does the team at Blizzard Entertainment deliver a demon-stomping experience on the PS3 or is this a series better left to the PC crowd?
Diablo III sets gamers up 20 years after the events of Diablo II, in the dark world of Sanctuary. After a mysterious star falls from the sky and levels the Tristram Cathedral, your selected character arrives in New Tristram to investigate the cause of the falling star and the sudden rise of undead around the world. With the help of Deckard Cain and his niece Leah, you are now tasked with solving all the wrongs that just keep popping up.
Before the whole story actually gets off and running, players must select one of five distinctive classes: Barbarian, Demon Hunter, Monk, Witch Doctor, and Wizard. The Barbarian and Monk are up-close mashers, with an emphasis on power attacks. The Demon Hunter is a girl with a killer bow; Witch Doctor is a crazy shaman with his own horde of undead minions; and the Wizard has every spell you could think of to hurt your opponent. Each class has a primary attribute, such as the Demon Hunter having dexterity, and the Barbarian, strength.
Apart from the primary attribute, each character has nine skill slots to customize as you level up, with six of those slots being active and three being passive. As you progress through the game and gain levels, you will begin to unlock new skills to assign to these slots. Your six active skills are assigned to different buttons on the DualShock 3, making things easily accessible during combat and really providing a lot of depth to the control scheme. As you continue to level up, you can also unlock secondary attributes for each skill. For instance as the Witch Doctor, you have a skill that can raise two dogs to fight with you. You can upgrade this skill to add venom to the dogs attack or increase the number from two to three. Each of the six skill slots has four different skills that you can learn throughout the game and assign to them, giving you plenty of options for a customized combat experience.
The control scheme that has been provided for console gamers really takes the series in a different direction. Gone is pointing and clicking on where you want to go, replaced now with God of War-type action, using the right thumb stick to dash around the battlefield. Being able to go in and lay a trap as the Demon Hunter or turn an enemy into an ally with the Witch Hunter, then back flip out of danger brings out a new element to the Diablo series. It is extremely assuring as a fan of the series to see how great the combat has transitioned from home PCs to consoles, and done so in serious style. Not everything in the combat is top notch, however, as I noticed some lag during my trek through Sanctuary. The odd thing is, this mostly happened with one or two enemies on screen and not ten or more as you would expect.
The world of Sanctuary is rather large, with plenty of areas to check for that last bit of loot and more than enough enemies to swing your weapon at. The four main areas of the game that you will visit are unique in their setting and enemies you face. The dungeons inside each area however, are often time carbon copies of each other, with maybe a turn or two difference to be found and maybe a different mini boss to fight. It’s nothing that annoying but it would have been nice to see a bit more variety in the dungeons.
Outside of combat, you will have plenty of stuff on your plate to take care of. There is a blacksmith in town to sell, repair, and salvage your armor and weapons. Salvaging your equipment can gain you valuable materials which can then be used to have the smith make you new weapons and armor. Make sure you train him whenever you can so he can use learn new equipment to make. As with previous Diablo games, item names are colored by how rare they are to obtain. Gray is your run-of-the-mill item, while Orange is extremely hard to find. There is also a place to take jewels you find in your journey and have them placed into weapons and armor that have an available socket.
One thing I've noticed that was definitely different was the inventory system, which uses a radial menu for sifting through your inventory and equipping various weapons and armor. The system doesn't really fail in its function, but from what I've seen the PC inventory system could have been done a lot better!
Loot drops are more relevant to the character class you have selected, so you will get find mostly gear that pertains to you. Meaning, you won’t find that much you can’t use, but you will also spend more time figuring out what’s better for your character.
With any game of this type, it is always best played with friends and thankfully Diablo III gives you all sorts of options to bring them along for the fun. The game’s story can be played with local friends, online ones, or a combination of the two. The addition of four-player local coop is a nice one, One thing with the local co-op is loot drops are shared between all four players and of course bringing up the inventory screen pauses the game for all four. The game does employ a quick equip option to try and save face with your friends over, but this option fails to display magical attributes, so you are left to go into the inventory screen anyway. Online play runs extremely smooth though, with players able to go wherever they please and drops not being shared between players and drops being different per each player. Now of the issues I found was with the local co-op, it was like Borderlands in that if you are level 15 and your friend is level 5, so you are left to replay earlier missions to get them to the same level as you, While this might be okay for those who don’t mind grinding, but you can see where this becomes a pain I will say It’s in no way a show stopper or a reason not to play, but it is definitely a snag in the coop experience. Now Blizzard has said they'er working on a way to fix it.
Visually, the game looks stellar on the PlayStation 3, with enemies and effects all popping extremely brightly. Yes, it doesn't look quite as crisp as the PC version (no console games can truly match a powerful enough PC), but the differences in production values are not that far apart. The worlds are full of color, the equipment looks solid as it changes the appearance of your character on screen. On the audio front, things are what you would expect from a Diablo game. The sound of a sword swooshing through the air or a reanimated corpse rising from the ground are top notch. Voice work for the characters is good though not overly exhilarating.
Diablo III for home consoles has everything die hard fans have come to expect of the series, with a few very well-placed changes!. It's definitely worth picking up on the console of your choice (PS3-360) and reliving the fun of Diablo from the comfort of your couch. I give it 9.0 out of 10
With four acts and four difficulty settings, Diablo III is a game that will easily take up hours upon hours of your time without you even realizing it. A Smooth transition from PC to console.
P.S if anyone of you want to play Diablo III with me on the PS3 you can add me Sk8RickyB
Review by Rick Brewer-Smith. He is One The host of TheGamersTalk Podcast on iTunes, You can follow him on Twitter @Rickyb19 and Instagram @TgTRick. Also you can keep up with show on Twitter @TgTPodcast and on FaceBook TheGamersTalk Podcast and Instagram @TheGamersTalk
What is different from the PC version to the console version?
One thing that's big is you don't have to always be online to play!
A lot has changed. With controller support, Blizzard has added an 'dodge' function (called Evade), the camera has been zoomed in slightly for better views, monster density has been customized for console to make sure you have enemies on the screen, ‘Nephalem Power Orbs’ have been added which drop randomly (like health orbs) and give a slight, but temporary boost to your character’s abilities.
the console version does not have an auction house, but players can still trade as usual. so The gold cost for crafting on the Console version has been drastically reduced to accommodate for the lack of the Auction House.
How does looting work on the console version compared to the PC version?
It’s not all that different from PC, with just a few exceptions. For example, loot is shared between local players (so ‘first come, first serve’). It’ll still work the same for online players, though – meaning if you’re being matched into an online game, your loot will be personal. You only share loot with players playing on your same machine. There’s also a new ‘Fast Equip’ bar that will display basic stats (health, dps, and defense) of every item you pick up. So, at a glance you can see if an item is really good for you, really bad, or can’t even be equipped by your character. You can immediately equip an item, drop it, or open your Inventory screen from the Fast Equip bar.
Difficulty levels and Monster Power operate a little differently on console. There will still be Normal, Nightmare, Hell, and Inferno, and completing one mode will unlock the next mode -- just like on PC. Also, within each of these modes players will able to select from different difficulty levels to suit their preferred level of challenge. On console, however, there are only 8 settings: Easy, Medium, Hard, Master I, Master II, Master III, Master IV, and Master V.
And Yes Elective mode works in the console version of Diablo III just like it does in the PC version.
Also in the console version Pressing the D-pad up while in game will allow you to Fast Equip items. Pressing the D-pad right will cast your Town Portal, and pressing the D-pad down will allow you to access your full-screen map.
How exactly does the controls work. For someone like a DH how do you control the range of stuff like spike traps or RF bombardment?
Skills will automatically center on whatever monster you have targeted, or fire off in the direction your hero is facing if you don’t have a monster targeted.
There is no cross play between PC and console.
But now what you all are here for How is the GAME???
Does the team at Blizzard Entertainment deliver a demon-stomping experience on the PS3 or is this a series better left to the PC crowd?
Diablo III sets gamers up 20 years after the events of Diablo II, in the dark world of Sanctuary. After a mysterious star falls from the sky and levels the Tristram Cathedral, your selected character arrives in New Tristram to investigate the cause of the falling star and the sudden rise of undead around the world. With the help of Deckard Cain and his niece Leah, you are now tasked with solving all the wrongs that just keep popping up.
Before the whole story actually gets off and running, players must select one of five distinctive classes: Barbarian, Demon Hunter, Monk, Witch Doctor, and Wizard. The Barbarian and Monk are up-close mashers, with an emphasis on power attacks. The Demon Hunter is a girl with a killer bow; Witch Doctor is a crazy shaman with his own horde of undead minions; and the Wizard has every spell you could think of to hurt your opponent. Each class has a primary attribute, such as the Demon Hunter having dexterity, and the Barbarian, strength.
Apart from the primary attribute, each character has nine skill slots to customize as you level up, with six of those slots being active and three being passive. As you progress through the game and gain levels, you will begin to unlock new skills to assign to these slots. Your six active skills are assigned to different buttons on the DualShock 3, making things easily accessible during combat and really providing a lot of depth to the control scheme. As you continue to level up, you can also unlock secondary attributes for each skill. For instance as the Witch Doctor, you have a skill that can raise two dogs to fight with you. You can upgrade this skill to add venom to the dogs attack or increase the number from two to three. Each of the six skill slots has four different skills that you can learn throughout the game and assign to them, giving you plenty of options for a customized combat experience.
The control scheme that has been provided for console gamers really takes the series in a different direction. Gone is pointing and clicking on where you want to go, replaced now with God of War-type action, using the right thumb stick to dash around the battlefield. Being able to go in and lay a trap as the Demon Hunter or turn an enemy into an ally with the Witch Hunter, then back flip out of danger brings out a new element to the Diablo series. It is extremely assuring as a fan of the series to see how great the combat has transitioned from home PCs to consoles, and done so in serious style. Not everything in the combat is top notch, however, as I noticed some lag during my trek through Sanctuary. The odd thing is, this mostly happened with one or two enemies on screen and not ten or more as you would expect.
The world of Sanctuary is rather large, with plenty of areas to check for that last bit of loot and more than enough enemies to swing your weapon at. The four main areas of the game that you will visit are unique in their setting and enemies you face. The dungeons inside each area however, are often time carbon copies of each other, with maybe a turn or two difference to be found and maybe a different mini boss to fight. It’s nothing that annoying but it would have been nice to see a bit more variety in the dungeons.
Outside of combat, you will have plenty of stuff on your plate to take care of. There is a blacksmith in town to sell, repair, and salvage your armor and weapons. Salvaging your equipment can gain you valuable materials which can then be used to have the smith make you new weapons and armor. Make sure you train him whenever you can so he can use learn new equipment to make. As with previous Diablo games, item names are colored by how rare they are to obtain. Gray is your run-of-the-mill item, while Orange is extremely hard to find. There is also a place to take jewels you find in your journey and have them placed into weapons and armor that have an available socket.
One thing I've noticed that was definitely different was the inventory system, which uses a radial menu for sifting through your inventory and equipping various weapons and armor. The system doesn't really fail in its function, but from what I've seen the PC inventory system could have been done a lot better!
Loot drops are more relevant to the character class you have selected, so you will get find mostly gear that pertains to you. Meaning, you won’t find that much you can’t use, but you will also spend more time figuring out what’s better for your character.
With any game of this type, it is always best played with friends and thankfully Diablo III gives you all sorts of options to bring them along for the fun. The game’s story can be played with local friends, online ones, or a combination of the two. The addition of four-player local coop is a nice one, One thing with the local co-op is loot drops are shared between all four players and of course bringing up the inventory screen pauses the game for all four. The game does employ a quick equip option to try and save face with your friends over, but this option fails to display magical attributes, so you are left to go into the inventory screen anyway. Online play runs extremely smooth though, with players able to go wherever they please and drops not being shared between players and drops being different per each player. Now of the issues I found was with the local co-op, it was like Borderlands in that if you are level 15 and your friend is level 5, so you are left to replay earlier missions to get them to the same level as you, While this might be okay for those who don’t mind grinding, but you can see where this becomes a pain I will say It’s in no way a show stopper or a reason not to play, but it is definitely a snag in the coop experience. Now Blizzard has said they'er working on a way to fix it.
Visually, the game looks stellar on the PlayStation 3, with enemies and effects all popping extremely brightly. Yes, it doesn't look quite as crisp as the PC version (no console games can truly match a powerful enough PC), but the differences in production values are not that far apart. The worlds are full of color, the equipment looks solid as it changes the appearance of your character on screen. On the audio front, things are what you would expect from a Diablo game. The sound of a sword swooshing through the air or a reanimated corpse rising from the ground are top notch. Voice work for the characters is good though not overly exhilarating.
Diablo III for home consoles has everything die hard fans have come to expect of the series, with a few very well-placed changes!. It's definitely worth picking up on the console of your choice (PS3-360) and reliving the fun of Diablo from the comfort of your couch. I give it 9.0 out of 10
With four acts and four difficulty settings, Diablo III is a game that will easily take up hours upon hours of your time without you even realizing it. A Smooth transition from PC to console.
P.S if anyone of you want to play Diablo III with me on the PS3 you can add me Sk8RickyB
Review by Rick Brewer-Smith. He is One The host of TheGamersTalk Podcast on iTunes, You can follow him on Twitter @Rickyb19 and Instagram @TgTRick. Also you can keep up with show on Twitter @TgTPodcast and on FaceBook TheGamersTalk Podcast and Instagram @TheGamersTalk
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