Contact, Twitter, Login/Register

in News
Zeratul fighting against a hybrid in Starcraft Universe

Fan projects with grandiose ideas appear every once in a while, usually populate a single web page with a bunch of concept art and then slowly fade away into obscurity. When I first heard about Starcraft Universe (or World of Starcraft as it used to be called) I thought very much the same as the idea of a fan-made MMORPG within the Starcraft 2 engine sounded like pure madness... and yet, here we are.

Starcraft Universe, after being successfully Kickstarted back in 2013, has finally appeared on the Starcraft 2 Arcade with an open and completely free beta, and from what little I've experienced so far, its a pretty damn impressive mod. Most surprisingly of all, however, the dev team has created a fully CGI trailer to celebrate its launch, and while its not on the same level as Blizzard's professional work, its quality is simply astounding. Have a look:

in News
Prison Architect's gameplay screenshot

Despite releasing from Early Access last year Prison Architect has consistently been updated with new content, mechanics and balance changes. Among the various features that appeared throughout the patches the most interesting ones are the realistic weather effects, a hidden 3D mode, thermodynamics, and a constantly improving set of modding tools.

That already extensive list is soon going to get even bigger as Prison Architect's upcoming Update 2.0 brings with it a greatly redesigned and easier to use interface, a variety of new events to contend with, and best of all, another round of changed aimed at making the modding tools even better than they currently are. If you're interested in a detailed, hands-on look at all of these new changes, the developers have recently posted their customary preview video, though do be warned, its nearly 50 minutes long! Have a look:

in News
World of Warcraft: Legion expansion art

With World of Warcraft's massive Legion expansion right around the corner, Blizzard has recently released a pre-expansion patch filled with a ton of class changes and reworks, a brand new transmogrification system, and various other minor changes and additions. The biggest and most widely announced feature of this long-awaited pre-expansion patch however, the early access to the new Demon Hunter class, was and still is unfortunately missing.

Thankfully, there is some good news as Blizzard has just announced that the early access for the Demon Hunter class will begin on August 9 for everyone that pre-purchases the Legion expansion. Do bear in mind, however, that due to the Collector's Edition being purely physical, you're not going to be able to play the Demon Hunter class early as there is no way to confirm your ownership.

in News
Stardew Valley screenshot

Stardew Valley, as you might know, has been been entirely developed by ConcernedApe (Eric Barone) and while that has done wonders for its gameplay and visuals, the technical aspects of development are not so easy to handle alone. Thankfully, after the relatively recent partnership with the publisher Chucklefish, Stardew Valley has been announced for many more platforms as there is now an entire team working on the technical side of things while ConcernedApe handles future content updates.

The first example of this partnership in action has appeared yesterday as Stardew Valley has been released for both Mac and Linux platforms simultaneously. The Steam build has already been updated, so if you own a copy of Stardew Valley on Steam you will be able to play it on any of the platform without a single issue. The GOG version will only get updated in a couple of days, however, so stay tuned if you've bought it over there.

in News
Rainbow Six Siege tactical shield screenshot

Rainbow Six Siege is by many accounts a pretty damn good game, but despite featuring anti-cheat technology from the very beginning it simply couldn't do enough to prevent the slow but steady increase in cheaters on the PC version, which as you might imagine didn't go over well with the general public.

Thankfully, after many months of work Ubisoft has finally added an extra tool to their arsenal against cheaters, a client-side anti-cheat system. While it most likely won't stop every single cheater out there, this is an important step towards ensuring that Rainbow Six Siege remains as fair as possible, a notion the development team seems to share if the announcement message is anything to go by:

in News
Dota 2's VR Hub artwork

This year's The International is set to be the biggest one yet, and given the quality of the teams going to it and the obscene size of the prize pool, its definitely going to be one of the most exciting tournaments in Dota history.

While you can already watch it for free through the Dota 2 client or on Twitch, Valve has decided to take things a bit further by putting in a VR spectator mode! The whole thing is currently in its early stages and as such there are plenty of little bugs and missing features, but even with all of that considered its still beyond impressive. If you're wondering what it all looks like, here's a Youtube video that manages to perfectly capture the magic of VR Dota, just skip to around 1:20 to get to the good part:

in News
Hearthstone's next adventure is One Night in Kharazan

World of Warcraft's Kharazan is a somber place where the ghosts of those long-dead wander endlessly, bound there by demonic magic. The version of Kharazan arriving to Hearthstone on August 12, however, is a bit... different.

In a moment of madness, or pure brilliance depending on your perspective, the Great Magus Medivh has transformed the arcane tower of Kharazan into the ultimate celebration destination with plenty of dancing and feasting to be had by all. Perhaps it would be best if you just saw the trailer, and do try and pay attention to the lyrics, they're quite something:

Looking for more?