Braid is arguably the strongest example of what can be accomplished by an independent game designer
From GDC to DICE, the title has deservedly collected numerous accolades and, along with World of Goo, Audiosurf and many others, is redefining the way people think about 'Independent Games
Battle of Brandywine Creek
After landing from his transport ships on the American coast, Major-General Sir William Howe led the British troops eastwards, with the intention of capturing Philadelphia. In preparation, American General George Washington readied most of his units to defend from this frontal assault around the narrow crossing of Chad's Ford on the Brandywine. The Creek flows through the countryside of Pennsylvania, enveloped by sheer cliffs and heavily wooded hills on both sides. Safe in the knowledge the fast flowing creek could not easily be crossed; Washington was confident of holding his position. However, more detailed surveillance of the terrain would suggest that alternative routes could turn the battle in the favour of the British.
Battle of Lagos
As so often in 18th Century warfare, French plans to invade England during the Seven Years War were reliant on ships from the naval base at Toulouse joining ships from Brest. The British had both ports blockaded, and the French had to wait for one of the blockading fleets to withdraw for re-supply before attempting any rendezvous. The opportunity came when the British fleet under Admiral Boscawen at Toulon withdrew to Gibraltar. The French under Jean-François de la Clue-Sabran left Toulon, and began to make their way towards Brest. Passing the Straits of Gibraltar, the French were spotted by Boscawen's lookout ships. Giving chase, Boscawen's fleet was only slightly larger than the French force, and caught up with them off the coast of Portugal where battle was joined. Take control of the British and defeat the French to end the invasion threat to Britain.
New features
Added The Force-A-Nature, The Sandman, and Bonk!
Added 35 new Scout achievements
Added crit boosted on/off sound effects
Added new sounds for upgraded teleporters
Added new sound for a fully charged medic dying
Add bonus points section to scores
Scouts earn a bonus point for killing Medics who are actively healing a target
Added several new speech concepts, mostly hooked up to new Scout lines
Added new "Remember last weapon between lives" option to the Multiplayer Advanced dialog
Spies can now control which weapon the enemy team sees them holding. Hitting the "last disguise" key while disguised updates the disguise to show the Spy's currently held weapon
Added several new Arena mode announcer speech events.
Added "First Blood" to Arena mode
Removed 2x item respawn times in arena
Changed backstab handling to fix facestabs
Spies disguised as enemy team can now see player IDs for enemies
New maps
Added community maps: cp_egypt, arena_watchtower, and cp_junction
Updated cp_fastlane with Arttu's new version
Mapmaker requests
Added new input for forward speed modifier to FuncTrainTrain
Added TeleportToPathTrack input to func_tracktrain
Bugfixes
Fixed a bug where players would sometimes gib from non-gib damage kills
Fixed stat screen showing an entry for a class called "map."
Fixed item model panels not using team skins
- Fixed obscure bug where spectators were able to carry the flag
Mr Ernest Khoo, head of video games and media content at MDA, said that whether full-frontal male nudity is allowed depends on the context in which it occurs.
In this expansion pack, he said, the depiction is 'non-sexual and can hence fall within the M18 rating', which is also the rating given to the original GTA IV. He added that with the M18 rating, only those 18 years old and above will be buying the game and its expansion pack.
Going by the video game classification system MDA introduced last year, games for online download do not need to be sent for classification before sale here.
USS Constitution
Dahomey Amazons
CP_Egypt
created by Sean ‘Heyo’ Cutino
A Dustbowl-style control point map, Egypt is visually striking, full of great combat spaces, and features some really interesting uses of vertical space. Classes with the ability to ascend rapidly (Soldiers, Demomen, and Scouts using the new scattergun unlockable ) have lots of options for traversing the arenas. In addition, the ruins provide Engineers with a large number of potential sentrygun locations.
CP_Fastlane
Fastlane is an update to one of the first community maps we shipped. This release features a wide variety of changes, from spawn and capture timer tweaks, to geometry and art modifications, to exploit fixes.
Hi guys,
I am pleased to report that our official Empire: Total War demo will be available via Steam from 4pm GMT on Friday 20th February.
Giving you a taste of the epic engagements that you'll be experiencing from 3rd March, the demo will take you through the basics of land and naval command and then unleash you in two historical battles!
You will get to play as the mighty British Empire as they do battle against the Americans in the 'Battle of Brandywine Creek' and then take on the French Navy in the 'Battle of Lagos'...
Battle of Brandywine Creek
After landing from his transport ships on the American coast, Major-General Sir William Howe led the British troops eastwards, with the intention of capturing Philadelphia.
In preparation, American General George Washington readied most of his units to defend from this frontal assault around the narrow crossing of Chad's Ford on the Brandywine. The Creek flows through the countryside of Pennsylvania, enveloped by sheer cliffs and heavily wooded hills on both sides. Safe in the knowledge the fast flowing creek could not easily be crossed; Washington was confident of holding his position.
However, more detailed surveillance of the terrain would suggest that alternative routes could turn the battle in the favour of the British.
Battle of Lagos
As so often in 18th Century warfare, French plans to invade England during the Seven Years War were reliant on ships from the naval base at Toulouse joining ships from Brest. The British had both ports blockaded, and the French had to wait for one of the blockading fleets to withdraw for re-supply before attempting any rendezvous.
The opportunity came when the British fleet under Admiral Boscawen at Toulon withdrew to Gibraltar. The French under Jean-François de la Clue-Sabran left Toulon, and began to make their way towards Brest. Passing the Straits of Gibraltar, the French were spotted by Boscawen's lookout ships.
Giving chase, Boscawen's fleet was only slightly larger than the French force, and caught up with them off the coast of Portugal where battle was joined. Take control of the British and defeat the French to end the invasion threat to Britain.
We hope that you enjoy playing our demo, which will give you a small taste of Empire: Total War action in preparation to leading your own empire to victory in March!
Thanks,
Mark O'Connell
(aka SenseiTW)
Bonk Energy Drink
Runnin’ rings around all them molasses-slow dummies out there on the battle- field is thirsty frickin’ work. But when it comes to quenchin’ that thirst, only one thermonuclear thirst detonator packs all the “Atomic Punch” you’ll ever need. Bonk! is fulla radiation, which as we all know is pretty great for givin’ people superpowers. Just one can’ll blast ya into a few-second rush of radioactive energy so powerful you’ll be dodgin’ bullets like they ain’t even there!
The Titan Pack bonus content introduces 11 new multiplayer maps for Deathmatch, CTF, Vehicle CTF and Warfare modes, plus eight popular maps from the first UT3 bonus pack and Xbox 360 version (you can check out details on all the new maps in our feature article - ed). In addition, players will experience two new game modes: Greed mode, a "tug of war" style kill points battle, and Betrayal mode, a cutthroat style of play where alliances and teams can shift fluidly throughout a match. The Titan Pack also rewards gamers for performing tasks like collecting all the power-ups in a level. There are 57 awards that can be attained as Steam Achievements for PC and Trophies for PS3.
Hostile (Warfare)
Many research vessels were lost in the early days of Na Pali exploration. When the terrain or local fauna proved to be too dangerous for recovery, equipment was often abandoned and forgotten. But when it was learned that the Necris had moved in to recover this equipment for their own purposes, the NEG dispatched military salvage units to reclaim their property.
Confrontation (Warfare)
Confrontation Canyon serves as a training ground for Axon forces, improving unit readiness by providing highly realistic, stressful training across the full spectrum of infantry and mechanized conflict. It is the premiere facility for heavy armor training, and all forces must complete courses here before assignment to a Leviathan unit.
Arena _Watchtower created by Joshua ‘JoshuaC’ Shiflet
An Arena map that plays unlike any of Valve’s Arena maps, with a heavy focus on vertical space and long, open sight lines. Control of the central building is a key decision that teams must wrestle over. More Sniper friendly than most Arena maps, it’s a perfect complement to the Scout update. Batter up!
CP_Junction created by Sean ‘Heyo’ Cutino
A Gravel-Pit style map that the community has been heckling us to include for months. Junction is a sharp contrast to Watchtower. It’s full of tight spaces and short sight lines, which create combat opportunities dominated by ambushes and explosive weaponry.
