Category: PC

New Harvest Moon Coming to PC!

Harvest Moon: Seeds of Memories was announced this week on the Natsume Inc. Twitter, but that isn't the most interesting piece of news in that tweet. No, the most interesting thing is that the game will be coming to Wii U, iOS, Android, and PC! Hit the break to hear my thoughts on this most intriguing of news pieces.
Now that all the posers have left and it's just us good friends, I have a confession: I freakin love me some Harvest Moon! There is something about the simplistic farming and NPC interaction that draws me in like magnet. It's the same reason I played Minecraft, because I used it as a farming simulator. Sadly, it was lacking in that respect and so it didn't stay in the rotation long.I've been waiting for what seems forever for a  PC version of Harvest Moon, a reason I found Wild Season to have such potential. Now it looks like we'll be getting a proper PC game out of the deal, but the announcement of iOS and Android as well has me worried. Will it be a terrible cash store bananza? I hope not, and the fact that it's on the WiiU as well gives me hope that it'll be a true sequel, but only time will tell.

What do you think of this announcement? Are you excited? Do you not care? Are you already playing your old Harvest Moon games because the addiction is back in full? Let us know in the comments below or shoot me a tweet @Amuntoth.

Steam/Valve Confirms The End Of The World

I hope you’ve packed your survival bag, stocked up on canned food and maintained your nuclear shelter, because the end is nigh. No, I’m not talking about Fallout. A: We already did that. B: It’s just a video game, stupid.
This is real.

Steam announced that they will offer refunds, starting now.

We’ve tried our best, but we couldn’t reach our Twinstiq foreign correspondent who is currently residing in Hell, so my guess is, that Hell is already frozen solid.

Anyway, refunds will be possible “for nearly any purchase on Steam – for any reson”. You just have to go to help.steampowered.com and request one. There is one thing you have to keep in mind though: It will only work within the first 14 days of purchase and only if you’ve played it less than 2 hours. This includes DLC, but beware: make sure to keep a save game from before the purchase, otherwise you might run into the issue, that your save will no longer be compatible once you’ve requested the refund.
In-game purchases are also on the list, but only guaranteed on Valve-developed games within 48 hours of purchase.

There are a couple more rules on this, so go to the Steam help page for more information. Hurry up though! Rumor has it, that there is already blood raining from the sky in Antarctica.

LEGO Worlds Now Available On Steam

LEGO Worlds is the next high caliber release on Steam Early Access. Looks like this might become a trend for non indies now. But what exactly is LEGO Worlds?
From the description it sounds a lot like Minecraft. Exploring, building, procedurally created worlds and blocky (or should we say bricky?) graphics. No crafting though from the looks of it.
To get a better overview, you might want to watch Nerd³’s first steps in this strange new world.
Source: Nerd³

New Steam Store Releases: Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R

This week saw a ridiculous number of new games hit the Steam Store. The stand-out, in my opinion, is Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R (yes, the title is a bit absurd, but the game itself is glorious). If you're a fan of arcade games or fighting games (or arcade fighting games), I would recommend picking it up without hesitation.Accent Core Plus R represents the last of several updates to Guilty Gear XX. As such, it is the last in the Guilty Gear series (probably) to feature hand drawn sprites, as well as the last to be displayed in standard 4:3 aspect ratio (although you can't stretch the image to widescreen, you can disable the sidebar art). Also out this week, a previously PlayStation-only JRPG, a previously PlayStation-only Japanese Beat 'Em Up with a clothes-stripping twist, a previously mobile-only Game-of-the-Year award winner, and many others. Destroy your opponent and then jump past the break to see more of this week's new releases.

  • Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R (Arc System Works, Single & Multi-player, $14.99) (Controller Support, Steam Achievements)
  • Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2 (Idea Factory, Single-player, $29.99) (Controller Support, Steam Achievements)
  • Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed (Acquire, Single-player, $29.99) (Controller Support, Steam Achievements)
  • Badland (Frogmind, Single-player & Co-op, $9.99) (Controller Support, Steam Achievements)
  • Bladestorm: Nightmare (Koei Tecmo, Single-player & Co-op, $59.99) (Controller Support, Steam Achievements)
  • Magicka 2 (Paradox Interactive, Single & Multi-player, $14.99) (Controller Support, Steam Achievements)
  • A Bastard's Tale (No Pest Productions, Single-player, $4.99) (Controller Support, Steam Achievements)
  • Magnetic: Cage Closed (Guru Games, Single-player, $14.99) (Controller Support, Steam Achievements)
  • Audiosurf 2 (Dylan Fitterer, Single-player & Co-op, $14.99) (Controller Support)
  • Catlateral Damage (Chris Chung, Single-player, $9.99) (Controller Support, Steam Achievements)
  • Flame Over (Laughing Jackal, Single-player, $11.99) (Controller Support, Steam Achievements)
  • The Next Penelope (Aurelien Regard, Single & Multi-player, $12.99) (Controller Support, Steam Achievements)
  • Horizon Shift (Flump Studios, Single-player, $4.99) (Controller Support, Steam Achievements)
[Image: Arc System Works]

Andrew J Amideo

Telltale Telling Tales on Gog Galaxy

Hello adventure game fans, I've got some great news! Several Telltale series are coming to Gog.com very soon, and they're going to have Galaxy support. What does all that mean? Which games? Continue past the break to find out.
The Game of Thrones series is already launched on Gog.com, with The Wolf Among Us, Tales From the Borderlands, and The Walking Dead to follow shortly afterward. As in the above image, they're coming with Gog Galaxy support, which means Achievements, tracking of game time (As a reviewer I love this), and optional auto-updates (as a player this makes me very happy). All in all this is a very exciting announcement for adventure game fans, especially those that may be on the fence about buying into the Steam ecosystem.So what do you think of this news? Interesting? Have you already bought and played these games on Steam? Thoughts on Gog Galaxy? Just let us know what's on your mind in the comments section below.

Author: Billy C
Source: Gog.com

World of Warcraft’s Selfie Competition: Don’t you look fabulous?

Yes, you read the title, yes it's about selfies, but just don't pass this article over just yet, the rewards are actually pretty darn worth it. Blizzard has announced that for the next few weeks they will be having a new contest for World of Warcraft players. What do you have to do exactly? Well for one, if you already play WoW avidly just go visit this website and follow the directions.
For those of you who are new to WoW or don't play, all you have to do is recreate the image Blizzard posts of a sample selfie. There is an in-game camera the S.E.L.F.I.E. Camera MkII, that players receive after a number of in game missions.
After you get you're selfie camera, you go to what you think if the location already photographed by the Blizzard GM's and put on your best duck face. Step three is to submit what you think is the Bread Winner. Each week the guys at Blizzard decide that which selfies are the best ones submitted; if chosen you may receive one of these prizes:

  • Blizzard gear
  • Battle.net Balance codes
  •  iPhone 6's

For someone that goes above and beyond a grand prize of a Trip for 2 to BlizzCon 2015 will be awarded.

Hurry because the contest is already in full swing, visit Selfie Contest to submit you're entries today!

Picture

Rumblypoots@Cho'gall

Picture

You can see me selfing around Ogrimmar for week one of the contest!

~Tisnight


New Steam Store Releases: The Witcher 3

Again we see that the stand-out release on a digital store this week is none other than the The Witcher 3. And it seems to be with good reason, if our own First Look at the game is any indication. Also out this week is an update of a controversial classic, a Minecraft clone with guns, and an old-school cyberpunk adventure game. Track your quarry past the break to see more of this week's new releases.
[Image: CD Projekt RED]

Andrew J Amideo

Nvidia and AMD in Each Others’ Hair

Like AMD's TressFX before it, Nvidia's HairWorks is a software routine that's optimized for their own GPU line. Nvidia's technology is closed source, making it difficult for AMD to optimize routines in the software to run better on their GPUs.  This results in lower performance for users when it is enabled on AMD hardware.
A CD Projekt Red developer says "unsatisfactory performance may be experienced, as the code of this feature cannot be optimized for AMD products."
The incentive for a GPU manufacturer to develop a proprietary API optimized for their hardware is high, especially if it raises their product above the competition. For game developers, the main draw in using these APIs is help from the hardware maker, or sometimes a marketing deal. Many games have sported the "Nvidia: The Way It's Meant to be Played" splash screens. In other markets there are similar strategies, Intel has their own code compiler optimized for their CPUs, for example.

Perhaps these features would never have made it in if it weren't from help from the hardware developer, but this situation unfortunately results in a fragmentation of the end user experience.

High end graphics cards are expensive, so it would be difficult to justify buying both an AMD and Nvidia GPU to have the optimal experience at any given time. As a PC gamer, what do you make of this situation?

Source: ArsTechnica

Rumour: Armello [And Other Games] Potentially Coming To GOG? [Update!   Rumour confirmed]

This post has been updated with new information, please see the final paragraph for the update.

While browsing through the GOG releases from the past few years, I stumbled across – hidden way deep down in the bowels of pages and pages of games – potential listings for Armello, Nekro, Starcrawlers, World of Magic and Satellite Reign.

For a little more information about each of the games and what might be going on with regards to their potential release to the GOG store, feel free to head past the break.

None of these are for sale yet, and all of these might turn out to be false positives, but it is worth noting that Armello, Starcrawlers and Worlds of Magic at least, have store pages.  Right now, all one can do on these is wish list the game in question – the other two simply lead to the listing of games you might have been looking at whenever you click on them.
The Game Page for Armello listing it's various GOG attributes plus the ability to wishlist it.

Would I like to wishlist Armello? If I could do it more than once, I totally would.


Nekro seems like a strategy/rpg hybrid in the vein of games like Sacrifice, Overlord and Dungeon Keeper where you use a necromancer to summon vile demons to aid your cause in taking over everything and everyone that stands in your path.

Nekro released to early access on 2 May, 2014

Satellite Reign looks to be a modernized, more colourful version of Syndicate. In Satellite Reign you take a handful of soldiers and let them loose on a cyberpunk-influenced world.

Satellite Reign has no release date attached to it but went into Early Access on 11 December, 2014.

Starcrawlers is a Legend of Grimrock in space.  It is essentially a turn-based role playing game in which you play a collection of Crawlers [folks who take jobs for fame, fortune and the like] who roam around the galaxy.

Starcrawlers released into early access on 17 March, 2015

Worlds of Magic is essentially Master of Magic for modern machines.  This means that it is a fantasy-styled 4x game that is turn-based.  In Worlds of Magic, you create a hero from a faction who attempts to control the land via spellcraft, diplomacy or pure force.

Worlds of Magic released to Steam on 19 March, 2015

Armello is a dark, turn-based fantasy-themed board game that has card-game and strategy elements.  It utilizes a Studio Ghibli approach to its visuals, which are quite charming.  Each of the factions you can play is an anthropomorphic animal of some sort.

Armello released into early access on 22 January, 2015

One of the potential reasons none of these are out on Gog yet is that they are all in Early Access [except for Worlds of Magic] and have yet to move into 1.0/release status.  Gog generally doesn’t tend to sell games that are still in a beta of some persuasion.

Update!  Armello is confirmed for a GOG release at some stage.


Source:  Gog Games Listing [this WILL change with time as more games are added to the GOG list]

Source:  Armello Game Page

Updated Source:  Tweet confirming that Armello is coming to GOG

Humble Sale Day 13

2 Days to go, and a new round of publisher deals that accompany those: Telltale Games, Focus Home Interactive and Nordic Games.

On the Telltale side you can go for pretty much everything besides Jurassic Park, Nordic offers Darksiders 1&2 for -80%, Red Faction Guerrilla for -75% and if you are into click and point adventure games Unwritten Tales for -80%, and Focus has the enjoyable, but rough Sherlock Holmes games on sale (-50/75%).
Deals of the day, by Dr. S:

Proteus -80%
Not much of a game, but great for relaxation. Stroll through a beautiful and mysterious pixel-art world, not much else to say, not much else to do. Still a nice experience though.


OlliOlli -75%
Think Tony Hawks Pro Skater in 2D with 1 life per run. If you already own the sequel, you can skip this one, but if not: go for it.


Botanicula -80%
A highly creative and fun point and click, with an amazing soundtrack. Most puzzles are weird and might require some thinking outside the box, but far from impossible. Great game and really cheap.


Freedom Planet -63%
Disclaimer: I’ve never actually played this myself, but word on the “street” is, that this is the best classic Sonic game available. Probably will buy it myself.


Home -77%
Can a horror game work in 2D? Home proves: yes, it can. The atmosphere is so thick, you couldn’t even slice it (you know, because it’s so thick it’s hard? Does that make any sense?). Most of it comes from the superb sound design, so make sure to play it with headphones. It’s dirt cheap, so if you like horror games, give this one a try.


Little Inferno -72%
One of my favorite games ever. Again not much of a game, because all you do for the most part is burn stuff, but the deeper message in it and how it’s delivered is great. It’s a very unique experience, calming and smart at the same time.