Celebrating All Things Geek

Steam Offers Free Modern Warfare Weekend

Yuri Walkiw — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 06:21:46 +0000

As a continuation of their habit to provide gamers with cheap and free games, Steam is offering free Modern Warfare 3 online play this weekend. All you have to do is download the game free of charge, and until Sunday night you'll have free access to all of the game's multiplayer game modes. It's a great way to try out the game if you've been hesitant to buy until this point. Call of Duty has grown a reputation to be a tremendously over-hyped franchise, but that doesn't mean it still isn't a AAA quality online title. Last year Steam ran a similar promotion where you could try Black Ops for free. Although I never ended up buying the game, I still participated, and ended having a pretty good time. If you plan on playing this weekend, be sure to queue up your download right away, as the game files are quite large. Happy kill-streaking!

(via Steam)

Assassin's Creed 3 Coming This October

Yuri Walkiw — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 06:53:33 +0000

Ubisoft's chief, Yves Guillemont has confirmed that yet another installment in the very successful Assassin's Creed franchise will be releasing this fall. Officially titled Assassin's Creed 3, the game is slated to drop on October 30. This is one to look forward to, according to Guillemont. It's supposed to be a big step forward in the Assassin's Creed franchise, and Ubisoft is apparently heavily invested in the title. The stories of Ezio and Altair were wrapped up in Revelations, so this game will likely move to new characters in fresh locales. This could explain the lengthy 3-year development time for the game (lengthy in comparison to Brotherhood or Revelations, that is). All kinds historical locations for the game have been rumored, like revolutionary France, colonial America, and even the present day. I can't wait to see what they have in store. They'll need to bring out something really impressive to compete during this year's holiday season, which is shaping up to be killer in terms of electronic entertainment. This will be the fourth straight year with a new Assassin's Creed game. If Ubisoft doesn't continue to make exciting and innovative games, this is a franchise in danger of "Tony Hawking" itself into Oblivion.

(via Joystiq)

Pre-Order Mass Effect 3, Get Battlefield 3 For Free

Yuri Walkiw — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 06:50:00 +0000

Everyone knows that the best way to jumpstart digital goods stores is to give away free stuff. The most popular mobile apps are almost always free versions, and Valve's Steam service wouldn't be nearly as popular as it is if it weren't for heavy discounts and game bundles. EA's Origin service is trying a new promotion that is sure to turn some heads. Gamers that pre-order a copy of Mass Effect 3 via the online gaming platform will be treated to a free copy of one of the top shooters from last year, Battlefield 3. There are a few disadvantages to the special deal. First of all, it doesn't guarantee to give you access to BF3 before the release of Mass Effect 3 in March, which doesn't make sense, as the game has been out since last October. It also isn't available for those who already have activated Battlefield 3 on Origin, so you can't gift it to a friend. Lastly, it forces you to use Origin. However, this deal may be good free enough to make up for it. Check it out here.

Mass Effect 3 Has Gone Gold

Yuri Walkiw — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:40:11 +0000

Bioware's next blockbuster and one of Hex19's most anticipated games of 2012 has gone gold. The content of Mass Effect 3 has been finalized, and the discs can now be printed. The team at Bioware will probably spend the rest of the time until release working on ironing out any remaining bugs and problems. These are the types of changes usually included in a patch at release. The full game will be released in North America on March 6th, and a free demo including a glimpse at the new multiplayer mode is out tomorrow. Be sure to get in your perfect playthroughs before the game is out so you can import a pristine save into Mass Effect 3!

(via Twitter)

Unreal 3 Demo Required 'Ten Times the Power of the Xbox 360'

Yuri Walkiw — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 06:56:00 +0000

It looks like Epic Games is going all out on the creation of their next engine. According to a the founder of Epic, Tim Sweeney, a recent demo of the capabilities of the Unreal 3 Engine would have required a system 10 times as powerful as the Xbox 360 to run properly. This is on the same engine that was first utilized by Gears of War (2006) on the 360, and has since become one of the most licensed video game engines, powering games like Mass Effect, Army of Two, Borderlands and Rainbow Six: Vegas. With Unreal 3, Epic has proven that an engine can evolve significantly, so I'd be willing to bet that we'll see a similar transformation with UE4 games. The next iteration of the engine is supposed to be ready for 2014. There's no telling how much graphical processing power will be necessary to push the new technology to its limits. It's unlikely that even the new console generation will be able to full take advantage of the features of Unreal 4. With games looking as good as they do today, I was expecting new advances in gaming tech to be subtle. The VP of Epic, Mark Rein, says we should "expect rapid visual advances in computing graphics." I am excited. My wallet is not.

(via Kotaku)

Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 Leaked By Korean Ratings Board

Yuri Walkiw — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 06:19:58 +0000

The existence of yet another Magic: The Gathering electronic game has been outed by a posting on South Korea's main video games rating board. It would appear that Stainless Games is transitioning their very popular franchise to a yearly model that matches the releases of the Magic: The Gathering card game core sets. I'm guessing that Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 will be released on XBLA, PSN and Steam, like previous entries in the franchise. Last year, we already saw a leaked cinematic that will likely serve as an introduction to the game.

Many hardcore Magic fans criticize the Duels of the Planeswalkers series for it's very limited customizability. Although it does lack this major aspect of Magic, I think it makes up for it with a killer interface, tons of unlockable cards, and a very agreeable price. I feel a little disappointed that they are switiching to yearly releases. They will have to continue to add more game modes to make gamers want to buy a whole new release each year. If it's just new cards and decks we're buying, it should be an expansion DLC, and not a separate game. If Stainless games remains consistent, we'll see if Duels 2013 is worth buying this June.

(via Joystiq)

Obsidian Entertainment Catches Double Fine Fever and Asks Gamers What They Want

Yuri Walkiw — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 06:55:37 +0000

Obsidian Entertainment, a development studio well known for producing sequels to well established franchises like Fallout and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, is taking a page out of Tim Schafer's book. After seeing the huge amount of positive feedback Double Fine received for turning to the community, Obsidian is doing the same. However, they're not even close to the stage of planning that Double Fine is at. On their forums, they're actually asking their fans what kind of game they should start a Kickstarter project for. They're not even committed to a genre, but it's likely that it will be of the RPG style that they're experienced with. I think it's a good idea for game creators to listen to the community, but I think it's a little unnecessary to get Kickstarter involved with everything. Since Obsidian is a private studio, it should still get good grassroots support. If EA or Activision were to try something like this, I'd expect a huge backlash from gamers across the internet.

Diablo III Delayed Once Again

Yuri Walkiw — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:19:10 +0000

Blizzard's upcoming hack n' slash dungeon crawler, Diablo III, has been delayed once again. The game had previously been delayed to a time frame of early this year, but information from Activision Blizzard's fiscal call today now pegs the game for the second quarter. Considering it's been almost 12 years since Diablo II, another few months shouldn't dissuade anyone who was planning to buy the game. However, this news, coupled with growing anxiety towards the auction house features of the game may send action RPG fans running into the hands of Runic's Torchlight II (which was also pushed back for a release in 2012). I feel that it's a race between these two companies to get their game to market. I'm more likely to download the one that hits digital shelves first, just sayin'...

(via GiantBomb)

Give All The Money to Double Fine Adventure

Glenn Meyer — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:17:46 +0000

Double Fine, creators of some awesome games such as Psychonauts, Costume Quest, Stacking, and Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster, have recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund their brand new, point-and-click adventure game. The development team will be lead by Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert, creators of three of the greatest adventure games of all time including Day of the Tentacle, Grim Fandango, and Monkey Island. A target release date of October 2012 has been set and the game will be made available on Steam, with the amount of money received beyond their goal determining what other platforms the game could be ported to. 2 Player Productions will also be filming the project from beginning to completion and releasing a documentary which will be available online or as an HD download to Kickstarter supporters.

Amazingly, the project has already more than doubled its goal with $1,000,000 being raised in the first 24 hours. This is an investment opportunity that no fan of adventure games should pass up.

The Kickstarter project can be found HERE

Over 10 Million Dovahkiins Have Played Skyrim For Too Many Hours to Count

Yuri Walkiw — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:52:32 +0000

According to Bethesda's Todd Howard, game director for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the game has been played by over 10 million people, for an average time of 75 hours a piece. This is based on information that Bethesda received from players using the game online via the Steam service. When you take into account that drakonopobics probably quit the game permanently after the opening five minutes, you realize that there are some fanatics that have spent significantly more than 75 hours in the game. I'm not actually sure if Hex19's Glenn Meyer has stopped playing the game since its launch in November, besides some much needed Star Wars: The Old Republic breaks. I decided to do some number crunching on these statistics. It turns out that if humanity hadn't wasted all of those man hours crafting iron daggers, we could've cured cancer 18 times. Oh well.

(via Joysitq)

Mass Effect iOS Revealed, Impacts Console Gameplay

Aaron Raham — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:39:43 +0000

Bioware released some photos today of their new Mass Effect iOS game, Mass Effect Infiltrator. Infiltrator is a third person shooter game where you play the role of a soldier in a story line that occurs at the same time as the events of Mass Effect 3. As this soldier, you are to infiltrate multiple Cerberus bases in order to free prisoners, and may even end up learning a bit more about the pro-human organization. Both of these actions can increase the Galactic Readiness meter in the same way the Mass Effect multiplayer does.

Mass Effect Not Limited to a Trilogy, According to Bioware

Yuri Walkiw — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 06:17:12 +0000

Bioware's Casey Hudson, executive producer of the Mass Effect franchise, recently told PS3 Magazine that "there will be more Mass Effect for Mass Effect fans, I'm Sure." Although the game universe is only confirmed to be a trilogy, we have already been treated to various books and comics, and a new anime is already in development. I think it's a safe bet that Mass Effect 3 won't be the last we see of Krogans and Asari. It's very rare that a critically acclaimed blockbuster video game franchise is discontinued these days. Ever marginally successful series aren't killed off until they have been driven into the ground by constant releases each year. While I believe that ME3 and any associated DLC will be the last of Shepherd's story, I wouldn't mind seeing games focused on different characters during a different period of time. Alternate genres are not out of the questions either, as Bioware recently revealed that they are working on a new Command & Conquer RTS. Whatever is in store for Mass Effect, I hope that Bioware keeps a close eye on it, and ensures that it retains the high level of quality that they are known for.

(via CVG)

Why the Next Xbox Launch is Further Away Than You Think

Yuri Walkiw — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:28:18 +0000

As I write this article, it's difficult to believe that the Xbox 360 is now over 6 years old. Yes, it was a cold day in November of 2005 when geeks across North America lined up outside of retailers to get their Geometry Wars fix. Over 300 XBLA Wednesdays later, it's no surprise that rumors of the successor to the Xbox are erupting out of blogs like there's no tomorrow. We recently got a peek at what could be the next Xbox GPU, and there are rumblings about a terrifying new DRM scheme. However, I don’t think we'll see a new Xbox this year, or even the announcement of a new console. Here's why.

Mass Effect 3 Demo Includes Free Xbox Live Gold Functionality

Yuri Walkiw — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 06:58:13 +0000

In an effort to promote the debut of multiplayer in the third installment of the epic Mass Effect series, EA and Microsoft are teaming up to do something rather untraditional. Non-paid silver members of Xbox Live will temporarily have restrictions from their account lifted to try out the co-op mode of the Mass Effect demo. You usually have to pay about $60 dollars/year to participate in online play over Xbox Live, but in this case, the fee is waived. The demo will be available for Silver and Gold members simultaneously on February 14th. There was some confusion over how this free XBL Gold would work. This promotion does not apply in any way to parts of the Xbox experience outside of the demo. Downloading the ME3 demo will not allow you to play other games online, or use Gold-only services like Netflix and ESPN. I think that this is a good move, and hopefully it will win over gamers that have been skeptical about the game's multiplayer, and also don't maintain an Xbox Live Gold subscription. If you've been strategically utilizing 48-hour free trial cards instead of paying for Xbox Live, you won't have to waste one to get your Mass Effect co-op fix.

(via Gamepur)

Indie Gem 'The Fourth Wall' Is Amazingly Awesome

Glenn Meyer — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 04:26:46 +0000

It's not very often that a free 10 to 20 minute long indie title can wow me as much as a game like Braid or Bastion, two of my favourite indie titles to date. Actually, I don't believe that has ever happened until now. The Fourth Wall, a charming little puzzle platformer from the Pig Trigger team at DigiPen Institute of Technology, has to be one of the most simplistic but innovative games I have played in months. From the second I was dropped into the world without any explanation, to the moment the credits rolled across the screen, I was completely enthralled.

Expect to Meet TF2's Pyro in 2012

Yuri Walkiw — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 06:53:14 +0000

Most game developers produce trailers and videos to promote their game in the weeks leading up to release. Some even come out with a special launch trailer on the day of release, or to promote DLC or a "Game of the Year" edition. Valve takes promoting their games to completely new levels. Even though it's been almost five years since the release of the shooter Team Fortress 2, Valve plans to release a new short, "Meet the Pyro", in 2012. This is the final character in the game to get his own short animated film, and if the previous "Meet the Team" videos are any indication, this one is going to be good. Valve even confirmed that this one will feature "lots of blood, pretty much all the way through." I suspect that this video, along with the now free-to-play TF2 should distract gamers bitching about the lack of Half Life news for at least a little while.

(via Joystiq)

Hex19's Chuck Podcast Special

Yuri Walkiw — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 06:48:18 +0000

Chuck has had a bumpy ride through five seasons on NBC. It faced constant threats of cancellation, uncertainty about the length of seasons, and it only survived because of the dedication of its fans and the generosity of Subway. Last Friday, Chuck aired its final episodes, much to the chagrin of Nerd Herders everywhere. Glenn and I are the two Chuck fanatics at Hex19.com, so we decided to get together to record a special podcast episode to celebrate five years of Team Bartowski. We even got a special guest to join us: friend of Hex19 and Chuck expert, Brian DeRoy. You can listen to the episode here, or subscribe on iTunes.

The Simpsons Arcade Game Coming to XBLA Friday

Yuri Walkiw — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:21:15 +0000

The Simpsons arcade game released by Konami over 20 years ago was one of the staples of 90s gameroom play. However, as the numbers of physical arcades dwindle, the game has become harder and harder to come across. I fondly remember pouring tokens into one of these machines at my local Chuck E. Cheese whenever my birthday rolled around. On this Friday, The Simpsons Arcade will become available to the masses once again when it is released on Xbox Live Arcade (and soon after on PSN). This release recreates the entire experience of the original game, and even includes the ability to unlock the japanese version of the title. The game will include online multiplayer, as well as an HD visual presentation. It is unknown if we'll be fighting through an upscaled version of Springfield, or completely remade environments. Either way, I'm excited to revisit my past for the low price of 10 bucks on February 3rd.

(via GameInformer)

Mass Effect 3 Voice Cast Preview Includes Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jessica Chobot

Yuri Walkiw — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:39:52 +0000

A new YouTube video posted by the official Electronic Arts channel takes a look at the various voice actors in BioWare's upcoming Mass Effect 3, as well as their thoughts on the game. Of note in the video are two voice actors that are new to the series: Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jessica Chobot. Prinze Jr. plays the bad ass recruit James Vega, while Chobot plays Diana Allers, a character clearly modeled after her real life self. Many criticize Chobot for getting her start in the industry by licking a PSP, but since then she has at least partially proven herself as a legitimate journalist at IGN. It is still unknown how well she will do in the realm of voice acting, however. Much of the previous excellent Mass Effect voice cast also return for the final installment of the trilogy, including Martin Sheen, Seth Green, Keith David, Tricia Helfer, Jennifer Hale, Ali Hillis, and Chuck's Australian belle - Yvonne Strahovski. Mass Effect 3 releases on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on March 6, 2012, so be sure to get your perfect playthroughs in before then.

Bungie to Shut Down Halo Functionality as 343 Takes Over

Yuri Walkiw — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:40:34 +0000

A post on Bungie.net today explains that the data transition process from Bungie to 343 Industries will be complete on March 31st, 2012. At this point, Bungie, the developers of every console Halo title outside of Halo Wars and Anniversary, will be unable to update new stats, host new user generated content, or manage the Bungie pro service. I would hope that Microsoft has their act together, and that they're ready to continue all of this functionality at Halo Waypoint. If the 343i community content and stats pages aren't at least as good as what Bungie offers, I'm going to be disappointed. As consolation, Bungie will continue to host historical gameplay data for the time being. One upside to all this is that it may free up more Bungie resources to continue work on their upcoming projects, whatever they may be.

(via Bungie)