93% of RPS readers bought a PC game digitally in the last year, dwarfing the 7% who only purchase via traditional retail. 71% of them bought more than four digitally. In terms of the percentages of purchases via a digital channel, there’s 25% who say that fewer than 20% of their purchases are digital - but there’s also 17% who purchase more than 80% of theirs online. In fact, the spread across the four 20% groupings (25%, 19%, 21%, 18%, 19%) lacks an obvious peak.
Dhabih threatened us in various ways not to show anyone his Scout concepts, so we told him we wouldn't do that. Luckily, he doesn't read the internet much, preferring to spend his time sipping lattes at locally owned organic vegan coffee shops, so if you don't tell him you've seen the this concept art, we won't.
Need for Speed: Shift will be made by Slightly Mad Studios of GT Legends and GTR 2 fame, with help from EA Black Box producer Michael Mann and EA Games Europe bigwig Patrick Soderlund.
Shift focuses on simulation racing - not just the realistic movement of cars, but also driver behaviour. This, EA marketing boss Keith Munro told Eurogamer, is what will set the game apart. Also, less baggy jeans and hip-hop.
"The urban underground was a manifestation of style in some past Need for Speed games for sure, but Shift focuses less on these style cues and more on mirroring the driver experience, that athleticism of being in a wickedly-intense race, and what it really feels like to be behind the wheel," Munro told us.
It is hard to believe that the day has finally come when Ensemble Studios closes its doors and we move on to whatever is next. I was employee #4, starting in February of 1995, and will always be grateful to Tony and Rick Goodman for remembering me and getting me involved in what will probably be the defining experience of my career.
There was a genuine caring at ES for colleagues, and the games we made, which was special. The mission of our studio was to create a great place to work and make great games, stressed by Tony in that order. I believe we stayed on mission throughout and often it was a lot of fun.
It is worth mentioning that about 60% of the people who worked on Age of Empires I were with the studio to the end. And it was a really special group of people who pulled together for the long hours and hard work to finish our last game to our standards.
The update will bring over 50 Steamworks Achievements, along with "a host of new features and enhancements in AI, Server Browsing, Demo Recording, Mod Support, and more." A more detailed list of the upcoming changes is available here. Steam registration is only required for the achievements.
The in-game tools of Elemental are designed to let players create their own items, their own worlds, their own graphical elements to the world, their own creatures, their own races and pretty much anything else they might want to expand the game. They’re the same tools we use to add content to the game. The idea is we want players to be able to create their own sub-games and sub-genres to extend replayability and keep the game always fresh and new. They’ll be able to control this content with the bestiary screen to essentially build their own game scenarios.
"To offer a completely smooth experience for players, DICE announced today that the DLC map pack for Mirror's Edge on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC will be delayed until February. However, the free exclusive map for PlayStation 3 players will be available to download on January 29 as previously announced. "
