Fallout 3 Broken Steel Screenshot Features Giant Robot!

 

Bethesda released new screenshots for the upcoming downloadable content, Broken Steel. A developer diary is also available on the games official site that looks at the challenges at continuing the Fallout 3 storyline beyond the ending of the original game. Screenshots below:

 

If we were to increase the level cap to 30, we first needed to figure out which factions we wanted to support the new cap.  Super Mutants were one creature we knew we had to support.  The decision was made to keep the Super Mutant Behemoth at the top, so we needed to fill the gap between the Behemoth and the Super Mutant Master.  Thus was born the Super Mutant Overlord - a creature much stronger than a Super Mutant Master and one that is beginning to take on the shape and form of a Behemoth.  Its posture is beginning to show signs of the Behemoth with its large, thick neck and slightly forward head.  Given enough time, the Overlord would eventually grow to become a Behemoth.

 

 

 

Team Fortress 2 Major Gameplay Changes Planned?

 

Shacknews has posted an interview with Team Fortress 2 designer, Robin Walker about the future changes to Team Fortress 2. The interview is quite revealing about Valve’s plans for the game and it explains the new additions that came with the latest update.

 

Asked about the new head gear slot in the character setup screen, Robin Walker explains that:

 

Shack: Are the head-slot items being added before the Sniper update?

Robin Walker: The plan is for the head-slot items to be out before the Sniper pack is out, but if we don't get them done in time they'll just be bundled into the pack.

Shack: How will these items work on a basic level? Will they randomly drop from players that people kill?

Robin Walker: We're going to try a few different things, but the first ones won't manifest themselves inside the game itself, because it'd allow servers to cheat the system.

Shack: Will these items carry bonuses that impact gameplay?

Robin Walker: Right now they're all cosmetic only, but it's obviously more interesting if they become more than that, so we're still thinking about that. Shipping them without gameplay changes seems like a good way to tackle the first problem, which is to ensure we don't break our silhouette based class identification. It also starts us on another path that we're interested in, which is allowing players to have some control over their appearance.

 

The rest of the interview highlighted the fact that Valve are looking into all possibilities of add on items and the key point is they base their new additions based on feedback.

You can read the interview here

And Yet It Moves Demo Impression

 

And Yet It Moves is another one of those indie 2D Platform Puzzle games that recently has been on sale on Steam, Gamersgate and Greenhouse. A demo has been available for sometime now and here is my impression of the demo.

 

Developed by a group called Broken Rules, And Yet It Moves features puzzle elements that involve rotating the world to navigate to the end of a level. It features a simple physics mechanic that adds momentum to your character falling and other objects in the world.

 

The game features a character that seems to have been cut out from paper and must be reunited with the paper it is cut out from. It just an artistic(and original) representation of the age old find the exit 2D platformer mechanic.

 

The world of And Yet It Moves features a collage like environment whereby bits and pieces of the world are taken from photos and the background uses a crumpled paper effect. It is unique and has a sort of a storybook come to life effect. It still doesn’t stand out when compared to the art in say a game like Braid.

The puzzles can be very difficult and many of them require precise timing of rotating the world to fall in the correct ground. Overdo it and the forward momentum will crush you as you land to the ground. In many cases, it requires a lot of trial and error as you find the sweet spot to land and figure you way to the end of the level.

 

I often found that framerate was a little uneven at times even in full screen mode(there was serious framerate issues in windowed mode). The jumping felt unresponsive at time(could be due to the framerate) but most of the time it was fine.

The final version of And Yet It Moves has 17 levels and features a global leaderboard. You can compare you level completion time with other peeps and challenge yourself to best yourself and be the top of the pile. At USD$15, And Yet It Moves is a pretty expensive game for only 17 levels and even with the leaderboard, I doubt it will have a long shelf life for most people.

 

You can try the demo out here

Lost Planet 2 Trailers

 

Gametrailers posted two new trailer on Lost Planet 2 from Capcom. While the game is set for an XBOX360 release, a rumoured PC version is looking more likely as bigdownload.com reported that(trailers below):

 

One hint is that the original Lost Planet, along with its expanded version Lost Planet Colonies, were both released for the PC (indeed Lost Planet Colonies is one of the few games that supports PC-Xbox 360 cross platform multiplayer). In a recent press event, Kotaku reports that Capcom was demoing Lost Planet 2 on a PC rig, not an Xbox 360 dev kit. The Capcom rep, when asked if a PC version was indeed in the works, stated, " . . . . there may be something we can announce fairly shortly."

 

 

Street Fighter IV PC Will Be GFWlive!

 

Bigdownload.com confirmed that Capcom’s Street Fighter IV for the PC will be a Games For Windows Live! game. While there is still no release date for it yet, more information about the PC version crept into Capcom’s unity blog:

 

The game itself will be a Games For Windows Live title which means support for things like achievements and voice chat. You can also expect higher resolution support and a way to switch the shaders on the game to look different. In addition to the game's normal look there will be art shaders for "Watercolor," "Poster," and "Sumi-e ink" styles.

 

I’m no big fan of GFWlive!. It has always been a pain to log on to it compared to Steam. Having different colour filters sounds cool but is really insignificant to the overall game.

Kosong Sen: Closure

 

For this weeks Kosong Sen, I’ll try something different that I don’t normally cover. A Flash game. But it’s no ordinary Flash game. This one’s called Closure. Created by Tyler Glaiel and animation/art by Jon Schubbe. Closure is a challenging puzzle game that will require good observation and timing skills.

 

Closure plays around the mechanic of manipulating light and darkness. You illuminate the path to the exit. If there isn’t enough light you fall off. There are light sources(small light balls) around a level that you must use to get around the level.

 

This simple game mechanic leads to some really devious(and frustrating) puzzles that can challenge hardcore puzzle fans. In the more difficult puzzles timing becomes more important as you need to make your move as certain platforms move the light around the level. My best is just an embarrassing level 10.

 

The music reminds me of Silent Hill a lot and is decidedly creepy. The art is what I call ‘scribbly art’ something that looks like its been scribbled with a pencil. Due to the uniqueness of its art style and puzzle elements, Closure is a one of a kind puzzle game that is just as good(even better some would say) that any puzzle game on the portable platforms.

 

Play it here

Need For Speed Shift Developer Video Interview

 

Gametrailers has posted a new video interview of Jesse Abney, producer for Need for Speed Shift. Developed by Slightly Mad Studios, Shift is planned for release at the end of September. Video interview below:

 

Konami Drops Six Days In Fallujah

 

After announcing that it will publish modern day realistic shooter Six Days In Fallujah, Konami today ditched the game after mounted criticism over the choice of setting. Shacknews reported that A Konami representative told the Asashi Imbun dropped the ball. And I quote:

 

"After seeing the reaction to the videogame in the United States and hearing opinions sent through phone calls and e-mail, we decided several days ago not to sell it."

Six Days purported to be a documentary-style recreation of six days from the 2004 second battle of Fallujah in Iraq, seen through the eyes of a single US Marines squad.

"We had intended to convey the reality of the battles to players so that they could feel what it was like to be there," said Konami. Yet when we saw Six Days, our impressionwas that it was anything but realistic--players took bullets without breaking a sweat.

 

Bigdownloads.com states that the developer, Atomic Games, will be having a press statement soon.

Empire: Total War Getting Patched Next Week

 

Kieran Brigden posted on the official forum that the gameplay update that is planned for release next week(tentative release date) will feature a plethora of fixes and balance changes. He said there is a total of 70 bug fixes(not including balance tweaks). He said:

 

The final version of the patch has gone into beta community testing, and we're going to test it over the weekend. We had hoped to have it on general release tonight but it was felt there should be longer dedicated to international version testing.

There are over 70 bug fixes in this upgrade, plus a tonne of balance and feature tweaks.

Some of the key game breakers that were fixed include: Fixing the crash caused by AI capturing a ship after naval combat. Fixed the 'port selection' crash when selecting a port in North America as Great Britain, we fixed a crash on building capture notification, we fixed the 'stuttering loading bar' issue and the mid-battle crash related to audio. We fixed the garrison outisde playable area crash during land battles. We also fixed the crash caused by certain factions attempting to assasinate gentlemen inside a school. We also addressed the hang loading into battle problem.

We hope to have this gameplay upgrade out the early part of next week following the weekend's testing, meaning hopefully, you'll all see a marked improvement.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to talk about Naval invasions if I may. The technology behind naval invasions is actually really rather heavy and is still causing some issues. The gameplay upgrade will make naval invasions possible but they will be rare. The AI now has a proper mechanism for the planning involved and can execute that mechanism when required, however increasing its frequency is a balance issue we haven't been able to get fixed in time for this upgrade. So in short, naval invasions are now possible and may occur, but they will not be frequent, which means we have to up that likelihood.

As a ray of hope to those concerned with this issue, I've seen the work we're doing on the AI for the next patch coming on leaps and bounds. There are a large amount of significant performance fixes that we're working on for the upcoming upgrade, this included. The primary purpose of the gameplay upgrade that will be released next week is to fix the AI aggression issues, remove the vast majority of game breaking crashes and tweak the unit behaviour whilst laying groundwork for naval invasions.

Again, many thanks for your patience. Hopefully you'll all be discussing these changes next week.

Kind regards,
Kieran

 

It’s great to know things are being improved and continually upgraded. I believe CA will support Empire for a long time.

Battlefield 1943 Dated and Priced(New Trailer)

 

EA DICE’s next major game, Battlefield 1943 has a date and price now. According to bigdownloads.com, 1943 will arrive for the PC on September and will be priced at USD$15. The game will be released on the XBOX360 and PS3 on June.

 

Battlefield 1943 is a recreation of the classic 1942 and includes three classic maps, Wake Island, Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal. 1943 will be using the newer Frostbite engine that will feature a more destructible terrain. The game will support 24 player multiplayer matches. There is a new trailer too. Trailer below:

 

 

 

Bioshock 2 First New Screenshots

 

After the release of the debut trailer for Bioshock 2 hit the webs, now there appears to be a bunch of new screenshots that seem legit. These are Bioshock 2 screenshots. Screenshots below(XBOX360 version):

 

 

 

Left 4 Dead Survival Mode – How To Survive

 

 

The much touted main feature in the newly released free DLC for Left 4 Dead is the new Survival Mode. The objective in this mode is to just hold out as long as you can can. It is a timer based mode that ramps up the number of zombies the longer you survive. I’ve had a run in the new mode and here’s my take(and tips) on it.

 

Survival mode is really, REALLY hard! Most people will probably manage to survive in any one map for not more than 5 minutes if you are lucky. All the finale and crescendo events are included as smaller maps and also a new Last Stand map(which you can see a preview in the new main menu) makes its entry.

 

The premise is simple. Stay alive as long as possible and if you read the recent blog entry by Valve, you will know that thing ramps up rather quickly. Valve has added a leaderboard in game now that you can use as a motivation to best your friends fastest time(for the competitive minded people).

 

The skillset required in survival mode is not so much different from the other modes like the campaigns and versus mode. Its still pretty much about staying close together, working together as a team, managing medikits, and using strategic locations to hold out. Survival mode however, puts a lot more emphasis(in fact I would say it is critical) on managing your ammo and timing your reloads.

 

It definitely seems like people who would like a real challenge will really embrace survival mode. While most people who play casually that do not enjoy getting trounced might find it getting old(or frustrating) quickly. It has to be noted that almost all the maps are redone to discourage camping in small enclosed areas(closet technique).

 

Each map is a little different and you can’t really employ the same strategy simply because of a multitude of factors like ammo areas, zombie spawn locations etc. There is no one single type of location for all maps rather each map will require its own approach or location to holdout. So be sure to analyse and scout the maps properly and have a good run in them.

 

I dare say playing survival mode would improve your skill at playing Left 4 Dead as you get more adept to reacting to a situation faster. It’s a blast to play with a friend and hopefully Valve will release new maps and the SDK soon. With that, here are a couple of tips I’ve managed to compile.

 

Survival Mode Tips

 

1) Use a mic! It is easier to shout out tank positions than to stop and type it.

 

2) Save ammo by using your dual pistols. This is key in survival. The last thing you want is to run out of ammo before a tank arrives.

 

3) If you use the shotgun, use dual pistols when shooting distant zombies. You will be wasting ammo if you use your shotgun for long range.

 

4) Don’t run away from the tank. This one is a different approach from the other modes but tanks have been slightly balanced to do less damage and die faster(not by much). Stand your ground and fire away. If you run away from your group you just increase the risk of getting pounced by special infected.

 

5) Use the deployment phase to discuss your plan. Communication is key. Everyone on the team has to understand what to do.

 

6) Find all petrol cans and gas tanks to place them around the level to be used whenever possible. You don’t want to be doing this once the zombies come pouring in.

 

7) Stick really close together since the number of zombies have been increased, it will be extra difficult to keep tabs on zombies and the status of your teammates if you are too spread out. By being close by, you can react whenever a teammates gets pounced or dragged by a special infected quicker.

 

8) Looks for spots close to the ammo area so that you can grab ammo quickly.

 

9) Take note of areas with collapsible wall and don’t stand with your back facing it.

 

10) Just melee the teammates that are grabbed by the smokers tongue and then go for the kill.

 

11) Keep on reloading your shotgun after every round you fire. This keeps your shotgun fully loaded when a tank arrives.

 

12) Melee fatigue is on. You can only melee for five times in quick succession before you are fatigued so keep count of this.

 

13) Pipe bombs are your friend. Use them when you need to distract the horde to revive a friend. Do not waste them needlessly!

How do you tackle survival mode?

Left 4 Dead Survival Pack DLC Gone Live!

 

Valve has released the first free DLC for Left 4 Dead today. The new update contains two new versus maps, survival mode and a host of fixes(and new achievements too). It also has to be noted that Left 4 Dead is currently being discounted on Steam. You can get it for USD$39.90 now. Change list below:

 

Survival Mode

• New gameplay Mode
• 16 maps including Last Stand
• Leaderboards
• 7 new achievements

Versus Changes

• 2 new versus campaigns
• Fixed a case where versus team score would continue to be recalculated after the score panel was displayed
• Fixed an issue with recalculating the versus score health bonus for a player when they are rescued from being incapacitated
• Fixed being able to start a swing as an infected, then teleport to the survivors and have the claw swing hit a survivor
• Fixed a case where teleporting to the survivors would not reset the ability timer
• Fixed an exploit where you could load the chamber of a weapon with bullets by holding down the melee key
• Fixed a case where it was not possible to join a game while it was in a finale
• Fixed a rare case where listen servers would speed up the game over time
• Removed convars related to melee fatigue
• Fixed a case where infected players would get a respawn time on their initial spawn into a map

Server Changes

• Made ms_force_dedicated_server not require cheats
• Add a message when queuing a heartbeat
• Simplified setting of game mode
• Removed convars director_no_human_zombies and director_holdout_mode
• Added mp_gamemode [coop,versus,survival]

General

• Added lobby join and leave messages

 

Hope to get a hands on with survival mode tonight! Interesting to see leaderboards added for survival mode.

Fallout: New Vegas Announced

 

Shacknews posted new information trickling from a UK Bethesda press event. The big news is that Bethesda announced a new game called Fallout: New Vegas. It will be developed by Obsidian of KOTOR II, Neverwinter Nights 2, Alpha Protocol fame. It is unclear whether it will be an expansion(which most probably it is) or a completely new engine. According to shacknews:

 

New Vegas will be an RPG in the style of Fallout 3, Bethesda noted, but the company did not confirm if it uses the same engine. The studio also stressed that it came up with the idea for New Vegas internally and then pitched it to Obsidian, not the other way around.

 

These are about the only info about the new fallout game. Will keep updated with new info. It sounds a lot like a standalone expansion pack. I believe it will used the Fallout 3 Gamebyro engine.

"It is not a sequel to Fallout 3," said Bethesda marketing VP Pete Hines. "It was just a great opportunity we thought to work with some guys who very clearly know Fallout--Feargus [Urquhart] and those guys were there in the early days of Fallout."

Obsidian Entertainment was founded in 2003 by several former employees of Black Isle Studios, the company responsible for the original Fallout titles.

"We approached them. And obviously they were like, 'Yeah!' That was a pretty easy conversation," Hines continued. "It's definitely an RPG. Same sort of experience as what folks got in Fallout 3. It's not Fallout Tactics, it's not Brotherhood of Steel. It's another Fallout game in that universe."

More info from IGN:

The game is being developed by Obsidian Entertainment and is due out sometime in 2010 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. The game is not a direct sequel to Fallout 3, though it is an RPG and Bethesda has said that you can expect the "same type of game," despite the fact that a different developer is working on it. 

Bioshock 2 Developer Video Interview

 

Gamespot has posted the first exclusive Bioshock 2 preview and a lengthy developer video interview. What is said in it is very interesting. It is confirmed that you play a big daddy in Bioshock 2. You are still given the moral choice of harvesting or(first time in this game) adopting them. Must watch interview if you are a fan. Video below:

 

Sacred 2 Developer Files For Bankruptcy

 

Bigdownloads.com featured a story that highlights the fact that Ascaron Entertainment has filed for bankruptcy recently. Known for the Sacred series of action RPG, the German developer(that just released Sacred 2 on the PC and is prepping up for the console release) has posted on their german site the details of the success they have had for Sacred 2 on the PC and that the consoles version should be out in mid May. A victim of economic circumstances?

Street Fighter IV For The PC Release Date Announcement Soon

 

Kotaku has reported that Capcom has posted on the official SFIV blog that they will be announcing the release date of the PC version on May 1st. I’m not sure if its such a big deal announcing an announcement for the release date. What irony!

Mafia II First Gameplay Video

 

joystiq has posted what looks like the first piece of footage of actual gameplay from the upcoming Mafia II. Being developed by 2K Czech, Mafia II will feature a new cover system for the game. Be warned that the footage contains some foul language. Video below:

 

Mafia 2 first ingame scene
by Xboxygen

Left 4 Dead Survival Mode Analysed

 

Valve’s Kerry Davis and Scott Dalton posted on the Let 4 Dead blog about the challenges and the lengths they went to balance the upcoming survival mode.

 

Survival Mode draws on the planning and communication aspects of a successful Finale or Crescendo event, while taking it to another level. It rapidly hits a fever pitch that only a well coordinated team will be able to successfully survive. Everything from simply covering a reviving teammate, to making every shot count to minimize reloads becomes crucial in Survival Mode.

Given the importance of pacing in Survival Mode, we need to define as precisely as possible how the difficulty ramps up during the course of a round. We have numerous variables to work with: mob spawn frequency, special infected spawn frequency, number of each type of special infected, total number of special infected, tank spawn frequency, total number of tanks, and so on. We need all of these variables to work together to create a fairly smooth difficulty curve.

 

 

Read the entire entry here

Starcraft II Battle Report 2 Gameplay Video

 

Blizzard has released the second battle report that sees StarCraft II team's associate game balance designers, Matt Cooper and David Kim battling it out on the Blistering Sands map. This is the first battle report with the Zerg in it. You can also download the video here. Video below:

 

Final Fantasy XIII Demo Video

 

Shacknews featured the Final Fantasy gameplay videos that has been spotted on the net. The gameplay is from a demo that is planned to be released with the Blu Ray version of Final Fantasy: Advent Children Complete. Video below:

 

R.U.S.E Gameplay Trailer

 

IGN has posted the first of a series of gameplay walkthrough for Ubisoft’s upcoming Real Time Strategy game, R.U.S.E. Trailer below:

 

More R.U.S.E. Info

Painkiller Resurrection First Screenshots

 

Bigdownload.com posted first screenshots of the recently announced Painkiller Resurrection. Published by JooWood and developed by Austrian studio, HomeGrown Studios, Painkiller is a fast paced arcade like first person shooter a kin to Serious Sam. Resurrection is said to use a enhanced version of the Painkiller engine:

 

As we reported last week the new game will use an enhanced version of the original Painkiller engine but with new features such as " . . . improved shadows, a higher texture resolution, moveable light sources, post processing, motion blur and ambient occlusion . . ." The game will also have an new co-op campaign mode, the first such mode for any Painkiller game.

 

 

 

Demigod Street Date Broken

 

Bigdownload.com reported that Gamestop has started selling copies of Demigod before it’s release date. This has led to a lot of people jumping in the online component of the game before the servers have gone live. Brad Wardell, CEO of Stardock has stated in his blog:

 

First, it was Easter weekend. And many of us had just finished a good solid 8 weeks of massive crunch and were looking forward to the weekend to recover. Instead, we found ourselves back at work having to turn on and configure the multiplayer matchmaking servers (we had enough for a beta but not for thousands of people).

Second, since Demigod has zero copy protection on it, it meant that that piracy on this title will, in theory, be maximized. Stardock’s position on piracy is pretty straight forward but to repeat it here: It’s not that we don’t think piracy is massive. We just aren’t convinced that it results in that many lost sales. Or more to the point, we don’t think intrusive, obnoxious copy protection will result in more sales than we lose from people who don’t want to mess with it.

 

It’s sad but it’s always been happening before. Anyway good luck Stardock. I hope you guys work it out with Gas Powered Games and have massive success with this title.

Braid A Short Review

 

Jonathan Blow’s xbox live arcade indie hit Braid has finally been released on the PC and I have got my hands(well not literally since it’s a digital download version) on it. You can purchase Braid currently on Steam, Gamersgate, Impulse, or Greenhouse for USD$14.99. Lets just get one thing out of the way, Braid is awesome!

 

 

Braid is a 2D puzzle game that takes the shape of  a platformer. It incorporates a time manipulation mechanic to devise devious puzzles that are mind bending and will drive you mad at times.  Braid has many reference to Super Mario Bros from the Goomba like enemies to the end of level flag pole and princess saving goal of the game. Each level carries a piece of a jigsaw puzzle that you collect to give you some insight into the story. The game never really forces you to get these pieces, you can rush through the levels to reach the ‘end’ level.

 

There are 6 worlds with many levels in each world. Each world has its own ruleset that changes how you manipulate time. For instance in one world, moving to the right moves time forward and moving to the left moves time backwards. By learning the rules of the different worlds and observing the objects you can manipulate by rewinding time in a level, solving a puzzle often involves a clever use of the rules of the world and objects in the level.

 

 

What makes Braid a fascinating experience is the way the narrative is weaved into the game. The gameplay mechanics of time manipulation and the princess are all allegories to Tim’s(the character in the game) battles with his conscience. There are quite a bit of text to read but they always have a deeper meaning and Braid’s story feels awfully personal.

 

Despite it simplistic(yet beautiful) art style and simplicity(gameplay mechanics), Braid has a plot that I feel many will be able to emphathise with. It has a stronger emotional impact compared to many fancy graphics triple A games. Jonathan Blow weaves a realistic tale in the form of a fairy tale video game. Some aspects seem like its obvious and some others seem a lot more open to interpretation. I won’t spoil the story but it’s something everyone should play to figure it out and there is an interesting twist in it.

 

 

Braid looks beautiful like a painting that has come to life. Art is done by Daniel Hellman and it plays along with the poignant story of the protagonist. Braid is an experience not to be missed. It is a gaming landmark in terms how the narrative and simplistic gameplay mechanics can mix together. The perfect union of narrative and gameplay. It doesn’t last very long but it is a game everyone should play.

 

The Good

• Fascinating story
• Challenging puzzles that are not unfair and do not require amazing platforming reflexes
• Great art style
• Priced at only USD$14.99

 

The Bad

• It’s short(but good)
• Not much replay value

 

Rating : 4/5

 

Demo link here