THQ Nordic has now acquired the Carmageddon series from Stainless Games
- By Ash
- in News
Like many publishers that came before them, THQ Nordic has recently started expanding quite rapidly, but unlike their competition they have done so by picking up mid-sized studios and long-forgotten IPs. Just this past year they've revived the Darksiders series, acquired Deep Silver and the rights to the Metro and Saints Row games, purchased rights to classic IPs like TimeSplitters and Kingdoms of Amalur, and the list goes on for quite a while.
With that in mind, I'm sure it won't come as too much of a shock to hear that THQ Nordic has now picked up yet another oldschool series - Carmageddon. What exactly they plan to do with it, THQ Nordic has not announced just yet, but I think its safe to say we'll be getting either a remaster or a brand new sequel at some point in the near future.
XCOM inspired strategy game Mutant Year Zero has now landed onto PC and consoles
- By Ash
- in News
Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is a newly released adaptation of the "Mutant" pen and paper RPG that has been milling around since the 1980s. The premise is about as simple as it gets - Humanity has managed to nuke itself into oblivion, thus leaving the planet populated only by killer robots, old-world ruins littered with supplies to scavenge, and naturally, a variety of mutated humans and animals.
When it comes to the actual gameplay, however, Mutant Year Zero is a combination of XCOM styled turn-based combat and real-time exploration, along with a bit of stealth thrown in for good measure. In other words, you're able to freely roam across the world and explore it at your own leisure, sneak away from problems or set up ambushes, and then when you inevitably raise fifteen different alarms, transition to good ol' fashioned turn-based combat.
Epic has now announced the Epic Games Store as a serious contender for Steam's throne
- By Ash
- in News
If you were wondering why Epic has never released Fortnite onto Steam, wonder no more as they have now announced their very own Epic Games Store. Perhaps most interestingly of all, Epic will only be taking 12% of the revenue (compared to Steam's 30%), and if the game is using the Unreal Engine they will also ignore the usual 5% royalty fee. A pretty damn good deal for the developers out there, especially considering there's no cost to having their game across multiple storefronts.
The Epic Games Store will also have the ability for developers to incentivize content creators on Youtube and Twitch by offering affiliate links with customizable revenue sharing. As an additional little bonus, Epic will be covering the first 5% of creator revenue-sharing for the first 24 months.
Ubisoft will be releasing a brand new "The Settlers" game in late 2019
- By Ash
- in News
While the last few The Settlers games were unfortunately flawed in some rather massive ways, I'm still quite pleased to announce that Ubisoft is not letting the series fade away into nothingness. Instead, for the 25th anniversary of The Settlers series, they have announced that a brand new game will be coming in late 2019!
Besides greatly improved visuals, the newly announced and rather plainly named "The Settlers" promises to bring a fresh take on the familiar gameplay mechanics, along with new features such as food requirements and motivation in order to help spice up the gameplay. As for the campaign, it will be fully playable in either singleplayer or co-op, and will have various side missions and bonus objectives to help you build up your empire.
Monster Hunter: World's festive Winter Star event has now arrived on PC and console
- By Ash
- in News
If you've been away from Monster Hunter: World for a while and you're looking for an excuse to come back, you might be glad to hear that there's currently a couple of events going on, especially on the PC side of things. The past few updates have added new monsters and tempered versions of some of the Elder Dragons, while the latest update has also brought in the rather festive Winter Star event.
Much like the Autumn Harvest Fest, the new Winter Star event has arrived alongside a variety of new quests to complete and items to collect. The Handler has received a new outfit, there's new armor and layered armor to equip your character with, and perhaps most importantly of all, you can now dress up your Palico friend in a charming little snowman costume.
Battle Princess Madelyn is an upcoming Ghouls 'n Ghosts inspired action-platformer
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
If you're a fan of challenging gameplay and action-platformers in general, you might be interested to hear that the Ghouls 'n Ghosts inspired Battle Princess Madelyn is set to arrive this December 6th for both PC and consoles. As you might imagine from that description alone, Battle Princess Madelyn is all about scouring the various levels for secrets and new weapons, mastering the movement and combat mechanics, and naturally, trying to beat up giant bosses without losing any of your power-ups in the process.
You can get a pretty good idea of what Battle Princess Madelyn is all about, as well as what the visual style looks like, through the recently posted trailer down below. Have a gander, it's quite a charming game:
Warcraft 3 has now received yet another balance and quality-of-life update
- By Ash
- in News
Warcraft 3: Reforged is set to arrive in about a year, but thankfully the wait won't be all that excruciating as Blizzard has really gone all-in on updating the original Warcraft 3 these past few months. Last time around they rebalanced just about every single unit and hero, while this time they have tweaked some of the outliers and greatly improved how Custom Games are handled.
The Custom Game changes are a bit difficult to summarize, so if you're interested in all of the details you should head on over to the official website. On the other hand, if you're just interested in the latest round of balance changes, here's what you can expect to see: