The Gaming News Thread

[Monk]

You gotta love sensationalist journalism. Make an article titled "why console gaming is dying" and then sum up by saying it's not really dying about halfway through, just in a slump. A slump that isn't hard to understand when you consider this is the longest console cycle we've ever experienced.

Oh well. Interesting read i suppose.

[Gregoshi]

A slump that isn't hard to understand when you consider this is the longest console cycle we've ever experienced.

And isn't that great? Unlike just about every other area of technology - hardware or software - where there are upgrades every 6-12 months. It is nice to know a console will be relevant for several years.

[Lemur]

It is nice to know a console will be relevant for several years.

And since so many PC games are specced with console stats in mind, it means I can milk another couple of years out of my aging Core2Duo gaming PC. Yay me.

[Fragony]

Black Ops 2 sounds GOOD, I like these oddballs at Tryarch it takes a lot of guts to be this ambitious when handling an already established formula. The multiplayer is no doubt awesome as usual but the single player sounds great as well. Never played the first but I like what they did with the hellish World at War, gory hehemuhaha the goriest game I ever saw. Nothing like the sound of a cracking skull of someone that gets his head blown of SICK

[Fragony]

Far Cry 3 also sounds great, Far Cry and Far Cry were flawed gems but it sounds like they nailed it.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...r-cry-3-review

[Crazed Rabbit]

A Kickstarter for a tactical sci fi combat game:




CR

[Crazed Rabbit]

The perils of making a game for mobile devices and trying to make money at it:

When presenting your software to the media as a developer, you find you are standing in a line hundreds deep that exponentially increases as the days pass. To ensure our spot closer to the head of the line we went out of our group and hired Triple Point PR. We had done some research and found that their representation held a level of quality and credibility with some of the more successful mobile titles out there. Though we have yet to sell enough copies to replace the funds for this service, it proved to be the right choice as Triple Point were able to get our trailer displayed on both Kotaku and IGN a week or so before we launched. The trailer was made in-house and for a budget of almost 0 dollars, and we considered it a small victory. When reviews trickled out they were rife with compliments and perfect to near-perfect scores. Though this was ideal, it was far more important that reviews existed at all. The process of being noticed among the million or so apps on the iTunes library is arduous, so any exposure or attention is paramount in this endeavor.

CR

[rajpoot]

The perils of making a game for mobile devices and trying to make money at it:

CR

Interesting article on the ground realities of the business.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Some details on Bungie's (creators of Halo) next game:



CR

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

I think they're overselling the depth of the Halo universe a tad. It was in its element when looking at the small scale. While MC saves the universe, the best bits were the small unit action. Despite being a cyborg messiah, his first job was a marine - that is to say, a rifleman. Little suggested details, like passing references to military hardware like it had a development and deployment history that existed without exposition, that's good stuff. Sgt. Johnson listening to (technically centuries-old) rock music and the grunts hating it is equal parts funny and badass.

Versus the utterly unconvincing alien half-jaw guy segments and the new canon about how humans were allied with the aliens thousands of years ago to fight different aliens and nobody cares 343 studios.

Hokey alien religions and ancient weapons are no match for a .50 caliber pistol at your side, kid.

From the just about zero details of the IGN piece, it sounds like destiny will have both, again. :/

[Fragony]

Some new Bioshock: Infinite footage. It looks fantastic, but I hope the second half is a boss-fight as it looks a bit too actiony for my tastes. I am really impressed with the sound.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...ootage-emerges

[Fragony]

And this is why Dark Souls is awesome http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...s-true-purpose

[Fragony]

Meh, Eternal Darkness 2 is officially cancelled. That better be an insanity effect.

This can't be happening.

[Fragony]

More trailer awesemness, Metro: Last Light http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...nderground-man

[Monk]

More trailer awesemness, Metro: Last Light http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...nderground-man

Last Light is one of my most anticipated games of 2013. I really can't wait to get my hands on it.

[Fragony]

Owwwwww gawd want want want no NEED a Wii-U. Dear oh dear it's pretty


http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/di...nds-wii-u-demo

[Fragony]

Like the looks of this it's so sinister http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-GHXkKu-0nE

[TinCow]

So, apparently the Steam Box actually exists and is awesome.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013...for-steam-box/

[Fragony]

Beat me to it, this looks like win. The prototype is also the sexiest thing I have seen since the ps2 slim. The price-point they are aiming at might ruin this excellent concept though, if they must take a loss on production they should, people are not going to understand why even the budget-model will probably be twice as expensive than the soon to come next-gen consoles, and hardcore pc-gamers will probably stick to their desktops. They should find a way to keep it at 300 max.

[drone]

The THQ garage sale is in progress.

Looks like Sega is taking Relic, does this mean Sega now has the full rights to all Games Workshop IP?

[Graphic]

I'm joyed that Sega got them. They're actually who I wished for back when it became apparent that THQ was gonna be sold off piece by piece. They've handled TW well IMO.

[Monk]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013...e/#more-139465

Metro ended up with Koch Media, which publishes games under the "Deep Silver" studio. Deep Silver was responsible for publishing S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Clear Sky.

In an amusing twist, the entire reason 4A and the Metro franchise came about was because of a disagreement on the direction of the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R game. The Dev team was split between those who wanted a more focused experience, and those who wanted a sandbox. The split lead to the creation of 4A and the development of Metro 2033 which was very linear, while the team who stayed completed the sandboxy first Stalker. Now, Metro finds itself under the wing of a publisher who helped one of the Stalker games see the light of day.

I don't know. Not important in any way but I found it pretty interesting. It's a small world I guess.

[Graphic]

In a way I'm kind of glad THQ died. They started to get pretty damn ridiculous with the DLC whoring.

http://store.steampowered.com/dlc/56437/
http://store.steampowered.com/dlc/55230/

more info:

Purchase price 26.6 million, backup bid from Zenimax (bethesda!) for 26.3 million. They gathered the most cash of any studio. (I hope Relic is proud of that. More or less PC developer beat out half a dozen console developers)

Smoking Gun Interactive Inc doing work "mapping company of heroes to Steam". (I like that. Installing and patching the disc version of CoH is a NIGHTMARE)




memo sent to THQ employees

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

To All THQ Employees:

We now have the answers we’ve been seeking through our financial restructuring and
Chapter 11 case. While much will be written, here are the facts of the bids and auction
that occurred t:

• Yesterday morning, we received a competing bid for the operating business,
  along with Clearlake’s offer, and numerous offers for separate assets.
• During an auction process that lasted over 22 hours, the final conclusion was
  that the separate-asset bids would net more than a single buyer for the majority
  of the company.
• Shortly, we will, present the results to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, which must
  concur with our assessment.
• The proposed sales of multiple assets is as follows :
• Sega agreed to purchase Relic
• Koch Media agreed to purchase Volition and Metro
• Crytek agreed to purchase Homefront
• Take 2 agreed purchase Evolve and
• Ubisoft agreed to purchase Montreal and South Park

We expect these sales to close this week.

Some assets, including our publishing businesses and Vigil, along with some other
intellectual properties are not included in the sale agreements. They will remain part of
the Chapter 11 case. We will make every effort to find appropriate buyers, if possible.

What this means for employees

We expect that most employees of the entities included in the sale will be offered
employment by the new owners. However, we cannot say what these owners may
intend, and there will likely be some positions that will not be needed under the
new ownership. You should receive notice this week or early next week if the new
owners intend to extend employment to you. Please note that the terms of your new
employment, including pay and benefits, may be different from the current terms of
your employment with THQ.

If you are an employee of an entity that is not included in the sale, we regret that
your position will end. A small number of our headquarters staff will continue to be
employed by THQ beyond January 25 to assist with the transition. THQ has sufficient
resources to pay these employees for work going forward, and we will be contacting
these employees immediately to ensure their continued employment during this
transition period. We are requesting the ability to offer certain severance pay to
minimize disruption for employees of non-included entities as they determine the next
steps in their careers.

We know you will have many questions about this news. We’ll be meeting tomorrow
when we return to talk through this announcement and to answer any questions you
have. You will receive a benefits fact sheet and FAQs with answers to some questions
that may be on your mind. Please review these materials closely.

A personal note

The work that you all have done as part of the THQ family is imaginative, creative,
artistic and highly valued by our loyal gamers. We are proud of what we have
accomplished despite today’s outcome.

It has been our privilege to work alongside the entire THQ team. While the company
will cease to exist, we are heartened that the majority of our studios and games will
continue under new ownership. We were hoping that the entire company would remain
intact, but we expect to hear good news from each of the separate entities that will be
operating as part of new organizations.

For those THQ employees who are part of entities that are not included in the sale, we
are confident that the talent you have displayed as part of THQ will be recognized as you
take the next steps in your career.

Thank you all for your dedication and for sharing your talent with the THQ team. We
wish you the best of luck and hope you will keep in touch.

Sincerely,

Brian Farrell
Chief Executive Officer

Jason Rubin
President

[Monk]

In a way I'm kind of glad THQ died. They started to get pretty damn ridiculous with the DLC whoring.

http://store.steampowered.com/dlc/56437/
http://store.steampowered.com/dlc/55230/

If you look at it from the perspective that they were getting desperate for money, their DLC policy becomes much easier to understand. Still impossible to justify, since 90% of those are pure skin packs and the first DoW featured a full skin creator/army painter, but certainly understandable.

[Beskar]

Look at who bought Relic and remember who has themselves a Warhammer franchise...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Sega owns Creative Assembly (Total War) who is working on new Warhammer game.
Sega just bought Relic who created the recent-ish Warhammer 40k games. (Dawn of War, Space Marine, etc)

[Graphic]

If you look at it from the perspective that they were getting desperate for money, their DLC policy becomes much easier to understand. Still impossible to justify, since 90% of those are pure skin packs and the first DoW featured a full skin creator/army painter, but certainly understandable.

When it comes to DoW2 the Last Stand DLC war gear are all completely broken. If you get a Tau on your team you might as well put your feet up and watch because he's going to hog 90% of the kills.

[Monk]

Victoria II: Heart of Darkness anounced

http://www.paradoxplaza.com/games/vi...rt-of-darkness

A second full fledged expansion to Vicky 2 coming, seemingly, out of nowhere.

"Victoria II: Heart of Darkness, the second expansion for the grand strategy/ political simulator focuses on the Scramble for Africa as you compete with other colonial powers and experience international crises which require Great Power mediation if the world is to avoid war.

Become a truly great power by the dawn of the 20th century in Victoria II, an experience crafted by Paradox Development Studio, the masters of Grand Strategy"

Feature list:

• Experience a brand new colonization system: Use your navy to expand your empire, compete against other colonial powers and struggle to maintain your overseas control. Colonial conflicts can spiral out of control and become international crises where they will have to be decided by diplomatic negotiations or risk costly wars.
  
• Battle your enemies in the new naval combat system: Together with the new colonization system, your navies are more important than ever. We have revamped the entire naval combat system and made it much more detailed and exciting with a new system of gun ranges and maneuvering into positions for battles. New powerful battleships join the other classes of ships to bridge the gap to Dreadnoughts.
  
• Prepare for International Crises: Around the world international crises continually call on the Great Powers to mediate and compromise, with war always being the last resort. As one of the lesser powers, use your influence to stir up the local flash points so you can use fleet footed diplomacy to get the Great Powers to right the wrongs that have been committed against your nation!
  
• Follow the global events with the new newspaper system: You will receive reports on local and global events as well as the world's changing situation to keep up to date and get a greater sense of immersion. Over 60 newspapers, both historic and otherwise, periodically present you with the latest news reports of war, major events, royal gossip and other matters of interest.

[Fragony]

New Bioshock Infinite trailer, it's truly gorgeous http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...finite-trailer. Despite the incredible setting I didn't really like Bioshock but this looks sooooo good

[Monk]

Dead Space 3 launches with 11 day one dlc packs: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...ting-character

11 dlc packs. That's one more than ten. And that's awful.

[Fragony]

No buy