games news

• So Much To Do, So Much To See

  19-02-2016 23:15
  To celebrate the anniversary of a successful Kickstarter campaign, the developers at Pixel Titans have released a new tongue-in-cheek trailer for the upcoming FPS Strafe. The offbeat video celebrates the life and death of an unfortunate grunt.  
  Strafe is an homage to the fast-paced first-person shooters of the ‘90s with roguelike elements peppered in.  Players explore an overrun spaceship, blasting their way through procedurally generated areas and purchase upgrades from mercha
  
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• Game Scoop!: The Fallout from Fallout 4's Season Pass

  19-02-2016 22:59
  
  Welcome back to Game Scoop!, IGN's weekly video game talk show. This week we're discussing Fallout 4, Fire Emblem: Fates, underrated games, and more. Watch the video above or download the podcast below.
  Download Game Scoop! Episode 378
  Or subscribe in iTunes and never miss an episode.
  
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• BioWare: Would You Play 'Dragon Age Tactics'?

  19-02-2016 22:36
  
  BioWare would like to know if you want a tactical Dragon Age game. Dragon Age Executive Producer Mark Darrah asked fans directly via Twitter, polling players on whether or not they'd play a "Dragon Age Tactics" game.
  Darrah then clarified, saying that "tactics" referred to games like XCOM and Fire Emblem. Both of which have had new entries in their respective series very recently. By contrast, the last full Dragon Age release was Dragon Age: Inquisition in 2014.
  About one hour after posting
  
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• IGN Overclocked: Street Fighter 5, Dota 2, and XCOM Mods

  19-02-2016 22:31
  
  With the help of Miranda Sanchez and Vince Ingenito, IGN Overclocked's usual host Mitch Dyer and Dan Stapleton run down what's to love and loathe with Dota 2's new Winter Battle Pass, the problems with the otherwise excellent Street Fighter V, and XCOM 2's most ridiculous and helpful mods. This is probably the only place you'll ever hear about Jakiro, Dhalsim, and Hatsune Miku in the same hour. Enjoy.
  Download Episode 21 (MP3)
  New to IGN Overclocked? Check out our first 10 episodes.
  Continue rea
  
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• Get a job: Kabam is hiring an experienced Rendering Engineer

  19-02-2016 21:28
  Mobile game maker Kabam is looking to hire an experienced rendering engineer to take a senior role among the team making mobile games at Kabam's San Franciso, CA headquarters. ...
  
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• How devs are working to design game AI that plays like a human

  19-02-2016 20:55
  
  The developers of SpyParty and Talk of the Town -- a game where the AI can misremember and even lie -- talk to New Scientist about designing game AI that's tough, yet fallible -- like a human player....
  
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• 5 monetization methods for indies with limited resources

  19-02-2016 20:41
  "When indies go free-to-play, it's critical to think about how to keep up with player demands for consuming content. Large studios have the advantages of being able to consistently add content to their game."...
  
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• Fallout 4 Wins Game of the Year at DICE Awards 2016

  19-02-2016 20:25
  
  The 19th annual DICE Awards have wrapped, and Fallout 4 was the big winner of the evening.
  The announcement was made this evening at the Pete Holmes-hosted affair at The Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. Other notable winners were The Witcher 3, Ori and the Blind Forest, and Rocket League with 3 gongs each.
  As well as the standard game awards, late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata was the recipient of a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award, while Hideo Kojima was inducted into th
  
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• Reading the end of Firewatch

  19-02-2016 20:18
  "Some players think that the point of Firewatch was going to be a reveal of the terrible truth about what is really going on. The ending we actually get is more unusual, more mature, and more interesting, in my opinion."...
  
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• Don't Miss: How Bloodborne's design makes you the experience points

  19-02-2016 20:15
  
  This timeless 2015 Tim Rogers feature takes us on a tour of Bloodborne's design -- and that of the Souls series, while he's at it -- to explain what makes the games work as well as they do....
  
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• The Division: First Look at Level 25 Agents on a New Mission – IGN First

  19-02-2016 20:00
  
  We're incredibly excited to bring you your first look at a mission in hard mode, Hudson Refugee Camp, from the simultaneous perspectives of three different players, as part of our month-long Tom Clancy's The Division IGN First coverage.
  With this interactive video stream, you can view the entire mission from the perspective of any one of the three agents involved.
  Use the nav to the right of the main video to hover and preview each agent's perspective (available on desktop browsers only). T
  
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• Video: How Telltale designs narrative-driven games

  19-02-2016 19:50
  
  At GDC 2015 a panel of Telltale writers and designers (moderated by writer Tom Bissell) discuss what they've learned about storytelling in games from years of designing narrative-driven adventures. ...
  
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• Classic board game meets Warhammer in Talisman: The Horus Heresy

  19-02-2016 19:47
  
  Indie studio Nomad Games already created a digital versions of classic board game Talisman. Now they're creating a Warhammer 40K version of Talisman....
  
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• Akira Saito, programmer for Japanese dev M2, passes away

  19-02-2016 19:35
  
  The company best known for its facility with high-quality ports of retro games -- and some great original titles -- has lost one of its star programmers after a battle with cancer....
  
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• Play Quantum Break A Month Before Release

  19-02-2016 19:30
  
  Quantum Break comes to Xbox One on 5th April, and to make the wait easier, we've teamed up with Xbox to put on a fan event that will allow readers to play the game a month early.
  We're giving away 18 pairs of tickets to attend the Quantum Break event in Central London on the 3rd March in the evening. You will exclusively be able to get hands-on with the time-bending game and indulge in some food and drink while you're there.
  For a chance to win a pair of tickets to this event, send an email to u
  
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• Here are your GDC 2016 Narrative Summit poster session winners

  19-02-2016 19:03
  
  Organizers of GDC and the Game Narrative Summit are happy to announce the 2016 Student Narrative Analysis Competition winners, who all receive passes to this year's March conference....
  
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• Why Kojima Hopes to Keep His New Studio Small

  19-02-2016 18:45
  
  Hideo Kojima hopes to create a more intimate studio environment for the new iteration of Kojima Productions.
  Speaking to IGN at DICE in Las Vegas, Kojima explained that he wants the developers on his team to feel comfortable and have opportunities for growth.
  “In order to create something that is really of quality, you need technology, but more than technology, you need people,” Kojima said via a translator. “You need talented people. I’ll create an environment where thes
  
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• Smite Officially Coming to PS4

  19-02-2016 18:31
  
  Smite is officially coming to the PlayStation 4 and will enter closed alpha testing today.
  The popular MOBA will then enter a closed beta in early March, which you can sign up for here. The beta will introduce several new skins for the gods of Smite, according to a post on the PlayStation Blog. Players will unlock Odin’s “World’s Collide” skin by linking their PS4 accounts to their Hi-Rez PC accounts and can access Kulkulkan’s “KuKu4” skin
  
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• GDC 2016's Game Design Challenge: Design a game that takes 30 years to play

  19-02-2016 18:03
  
  Organizers run down a few great Design track talks at GDC 2016 next month, including a special return of the popular Game Design Challenge. This year's task: Make a game that takes 30 years to play!...
  
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• MS Feared XBLA Would 'Completely Destroy' Consoles

  19-02-2016 18:00
  
  Despite the fact that Xbox Live Arcade grew to become an incredibly-successful platform for Microsoft, it wasn't initially welcomed with open arms. In fact, there was an internal fear at the company during the early days of Xbox that XBLA would bring about the end of the console business.
  XBLA creator Greg Canessa recently stopped by the IGN office to discuss the online platform, revealing that many at Microsoft "didn't understand" that Xbox Live Arcade offered different types of gaming experien
  
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• Designing the procedurally generated universe of No Man's Sky

  19-02-2016 17:27
  "We have people that will fly down from a space station onto a planet and when they fly back up, the station isn't there anymore; the planet has rotated. People have filed that as a bug"...
  
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• The new Fire Emblem on Nintendo 3DS is perfect for beginners

  19-02-2016 17:06 via news.yahoo.com
  
  First, a confession: I’ve never played a Fire Emblem game before. Despite enjoying plenty of portable strategy games, like the Final Fantasy Tactics and Advance Wars series, I never got around to checking out Nintendo’s beloved entry in the genre, which first started in Japan in 1990 on the original NES. The first thing you’ll need to do when you decide to play Fates is which version to buy.
  
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• Deconstructing Clash Royale

  19-02-2016 17:06
  "Supercell has made a lot of smart choices with this game. They have a fun, competitive, forward-thinking game that exemplifies what modern free to play design should feel like." ...
  
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• Firewatch Patch 'Significantly Improves' Experience on PlayStation 4

  19-02-2016 17:00
  
  Campo Santo has released patch 1.02 for Firewatch on PS4, which it says "significantly improves the experience across many aspects of the game."
  The developer listed the most important parts of the update on its blog.
  "Draw distance and shadow render distance have been improved, which should remove significant texture popping," and "many instances of unstable framerate have been improved."
  Auto-saves will now occur less frequently, as they were causing some of the worst instances of framerate hi
  
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• Latest Tips Video Shows How To Go With The Flow

  19-02-2016 16:55
  The Molasses Flood's rogue-lite The Flame in the Flood is coming to Xbox One and PC next week, and they've released another video in their wilderness-preparedness series to help get prospective players up to speed. Today, they're showing how rafting works. Even if you understand how the current works and that you should make a point of avoiding rocks, the clip features a bunch of new river-based gameplay footage to soak in.
  You'll have to navigate treacherous waters and the equally inhospitable
  
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• Nisekoi's Chitoge Comes to Super Mario Maker

  19-02-2016 16:23
  
  Chitoge Kirisaki, a character from the popular manga/anime series Nisekoi, joins Super Mario Maker via a new character costume, which is now available in Japan and the US.
  In order to unlock the costume, players must complete one of the two new Event Courses, which, according to Nintendo News, are called "Nisekoi: Chitoge & Kosaki" and "Nisekoi: Tsugumi & Marika." The courses each have two different routes, all themed around a different Nisekoi character.
  Super Mario
  
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• Quantum Break Has Gone Gold

  19-02-2016 15:51
  
  Creative director at Remedy Sam Lake has taken to Twitter to announced Quantum Break has gone gold.
  This means development on the game has been completed. Quantum Break is due for release on Xbox One and PC on April 5.Gone GOLD #QuantumBreak @remedygames pic.twitter.com/ClINo3dkv7
  — Sam Lake (@SamLakeRMD) February 19, 2016
  According to IGN's preview, Quantum Break is a "shooter with brains." It mixes time manipulation with combat and superpowers to create a "refreshingly different action g
  
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• Road to the IGF: Pol Clarissou's Orchids to Dusk

  19-02-2016 15:26
  "Lots of games give as much agency as possible to the player and build the game around them, I wanted to make something where your interaction wasn't one where everything revolves around you."...
  
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• Ragnaros & Alexstrasza Look Glorious in Art Preview

  19-02-2016 15:00
  
  With Dark Horse's new hardcover World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 1 releasing on March 15, we've summoned up a 21-page preview of the tome that will tell the history of Azeroth.
  The book features stories and artwork about Azeroth's most iconic and powerful characters like Ragnaros the Firelord and Alexstrasza the Life-Binder. Look, you've probably raided Blackrock Mountain and downed Rags a dozen times, so you at least owe it to yourself to learn the ancient history of the guy.
  Also, Dark Hors
  
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• Video game stories don’t have to suck

  19-02-2016 14:54 via news.yahoo.com
  
  It’s been said so much now that it’s become cliché: "It has a good story, for a video game." Games have garnered little respect over the decades for the stories they tell, and for good reason. Video game narratives were, and often still are, largely afterthoughts, more of an excuse for the action than a contribution in their own right.
  
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• Pokken Tournament Aims for More Pokemon, Less Tekken

  19-02-2016 02:32
  
  Pokken Tournament, by the development team’s own admission, may have started life as a “Tekken enginewith some Pokemon characters” thrown in. But it most certainly didn’t end up that way.
  “As we worked on it,” began development director and producer of the Tekken series Katsuhiro Harada, “We knew we wanted to show off the Pokemon, and that led to implementing theField Phase, and we just really realized quickly in that prototype phase that we needed to ju
  
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• Your Road To The Top

  19-02-2016 01:09
  Capturing the belt is not easy, and this new video for EA Sports' UFC 2 shows you the steps in the game's career and online modes that can lead you there.
  It's not as easy as just fighting the matches that come your way, as training and who to fight and when are important things to consider. The video also covers online championships. 
  For more on the game's Ultimate Team component, click the link for this video.
  UFC 2 comes out on March 15 for the PS4 and Xbox One.
  (Please visit the site
  
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