Digital distributor GOG.com kicks off its Fall sale today, with over 700 games discounted on its online store. For the first 48 hours of the sale, customers are able to pick up a copy of open-world role-playing game Mount & Blade for free.
Two daily bundles and flash deals occurring every 40 minutes are planned for the duration of the Fall sale. Returning GOG.com customers will also be able to pick up free copies of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings and The Gamers: Director’s Cut film. As per the distributor’s usual approach, all games will be free of any DRM.
GOG.com turned six years old this in September this year. For more on how the site evolved from a niche online platform for classic games and plans for the near future, check out our interview with managing director Guillaume Rambourg.
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If you thought the PlayStation 4 was lacking in period fighting games, you’re in luck. Publisher Gun Media and developer SuperSoul have announced on the PlayStation Blog that their 1920s-themed fighting game, Speakeasy, is coming to the PS4 “soon.” No word yet on an Xbox One or PC version.
“Speakeasy is an incredibly simple to learn, but difficult to master game that will require you to match wits with your opponent, who happens to be standing right next to you,” producer Ben Strauss says.
In Speakeasy, you’ll play as a fighter who is trying to win the Fistcuffs League Champion crown. All you need to do is land one punch to win. However, you only get one punch, one block, and one fake to use each round. And because every round only last ten seconds, “you must choose your moves wisely.”
Speakeasy will feature characters inspired by celebrities and personalities of the 1920s, including Amelia Earhart and Charlie Chaplin, among others. Every character comes with multiple costumes, props, and unlockables so that players can tailor their fighter however they see fit.
The game also features multiple game modes, including those where you’re allowed to use two or three moves per match–though you’ll still only need to land one punch to claim victory. Speakeasy will also feature a Tag Team mode where teams of fighters will square off. Meanwhile, a King of the Hill mode lets up to four players fight at the same time.
Speakeasy also features a tournament mode, where up to 16 players can duke it out in a variety of settings. For more on Speakeasy, check out the image gallery below.
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Earlier this week, 343 Industries finally revealed how the multiplayer mode for Xbox One shooter Halo 5: Guardians will shake up the franchises’ formula with a range of new player abilities. Now, creative director Tim Longo says he thinks Halo 5 can play a role in helping arena shooters return to prominence.
“I think arena shooters are coming back,” Longo told Eurogamer. “I think we’ll see more and more of them, and we want to be at the forefront of that, because Halo’s always been about that.”
Halo 5 will push the arena shooter genre forward with its new player abilities, including sprinting, aiming down sights, boosting, and more, Longo says. But he’s also quick to remind fans that everyone will have access to these abilities, which should mean your success will mostly depend on pure skill.
“Add some of our new toys in the toy box, like Spartan Abilities, to expand upon it, so there’s still depth,” he said about the arena shooter category. “But then the even playing field, because everyone has them, skill will play a big part.”
Finally, Longo teased that Halo 5’s multiplayer arena mode is “just the tip of the iceberg” in terms of the game’s multiplayer support. “We’re only talking about arena now, but there’s more to multiplayer to come for Halo 5 later,” he said.
The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has published a new study that, among other things, claims the video game industry is growing at a rate four times faster than the US economy.
The new study, called Video Games in the 21st Century: The 2014 Report, also reveals that hiring trends for the video game industry are booming. From 2009 to 2012, the video game industry’s annual job growth rate was 9 percent, which was 13 times the rate of the United States labor market at .72 percent
Check out the chart below to see employment trends across other US industries.
The ESA tapped consulting firm Economist Incorporated to conduct its new study, which also found that the video game industry directly employs more than 42,000 people across 36 states as of 2012. This is up by more than 30 percent compared to data from 2009.
In terms of what video game developers are being paid, the study found that the average wage in 2012 was around $95,000, up from $92,000 in 2009. Similar to other industries, video game employee salaries can vary dramatically depending on company, title, and role.
Some other key findings of the 2014 report, per The ESA, include:
The US video game industry’s value added to US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was over $6.2 billion.
The real annual growth rate of the US video game industry was 9.7 percent for the 2009-2012 period. This compares to a real growth rate for the entire US economy of 2.4 percent.
California ranks highest in terms of total number of video game developers, with more than 17,000 employees in the state.
The next closest was Texas, which had just under 5,000 video game employees. Other top-ranking states include Washington, New York, Massachusetts, Florida, and Illinois.
If you’ve ever wanted to take a tour of a prominent video game studio, now you can do so virtually.
Photographer Kyle Giesbrecht, whose previous work includes the Google Maps corn maze, recently visited BioWare Edmonton’s office and snapped a series of photos for a new virtual tour.
Though you can walk down BioWare’s halls and peek into offices, don’t expect to uncover any secrets. After all, Giesbrecht’s tour was arranged by BioWare’s HR department.
He says the developer plans to use the virtual tour as one of its efforts to attract people to the studio. You can start you tour of BioWare Edmonton using this Google Maps link or through the embed above.
Grand Theft Auto fans on Xbox One now can preorder and pre-download Grand Theft Auto V so that when the clock strikes midnight on November 18, they can jump right into the action.
The game’s file size on Xbox One is 42.44 GB.
One of the benefits of preordering GTA V is that you’ll receive $1 million worth of in-game currency, split evenly between the game’s campaign and online modes.
GTA V will unlock at 12:01 Pacific / 3 AM Eastern / 8 AM UK on November 18.
The rumors were right. Swedish developer Avalanche Studios today announced, through a Game Informercover reveal, that Just Cause 3 is indeed in development. It’s coming to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC in 2015.
Game Informer editors played the game for several hours, and report that the game’s parachute and grapple mechanics have been improved. There is also a brand-new wingsuit.
Developing…
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Building new franchises is a “priority” for Resident Evil and Dead Rising publisher Capcom, the Japanese game giant says. The English translation of a post-earnings Q&A session with Capcom management was published today, and one of the questions had to do with the company’s efforts to establish all-new franchises.
Dead Rising 3
“Creating new intellectual property is one of our priorities,” Capcom said. “We allocate about 20 percent of our investments each fiscal year to intellectual property and are constantly working on developing new property.”
The publisher went on to explain that it doesn’t expect its new franchises to be runaway successes right away. “Producing an immediate hit from new intellectual property is not our objective,” the company added. “We want to build up this property in stages while incorporating the feedback and wishes of users.”
Capcom has more than 60 games that have sold over one million copies to date, which the publisher says puts it in a league all its own. One of the publisher’s biggest new franchises going forward is Deep Down, a free-to-play PlayStation 4 game being worked on by veteran producer Yoshinori Ono.
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First, the story details. Telltale’s Game of Thrones is based on HBO’s acclaimed series and will tell the story of House Forrester.
“Caught up in the events of The War of the Five Kings, they are placed in a precarious position where members of the household must do everything they can to prevent the house from meeting its doom,” Telltale explained.
“Our game series is based on the world, characters, and events seen in HBO’s TV show, which in turn is based on George R. R. Martin’s books (A Song of Ice and Fire),” the studio added. “The events in our game series begin towards the end of Season Three of the TV show, and end right before the beginning of Season Five. You will visit familiar locations such as King’s Landing and The Wall, as well as unfamiliar locations such as Ironrath, the home of House Forrester.”
One of the locations you’ll visit in Telltale’s Game of Thrones title is Ironrath, an “imposing stronghold” where the Forresters dwell. The house words are “Iron from Ice,” which is said to embody their strong spirit. “Like the ironwood itself, the adverse conditions and unforgiving landscapes of the North only makes them stronger,” Telltale explains.
“Ironrath sits on the edge of the largest ironwood forest in Westeros, which has proven to be a strategic advantage for the House,” the developer goes on to say. “The trees are a valuable commodity; many of the best weapons, ships, and defensive structures include the use of ironwood. House Forrester controls the majority of the ironwood forests in the Wolfswood, much to the chagrin of their bitter rivals, House Whitehill.”
“You’re truly playing the Game of Thrones…where you win, or you die” — Telltale
The Forresters have not appeared in HBO’s Game of Thrones, but Telltale reminds us that they are canon to the fiction created by George R.R. Martin, as they did in fact appear in the book A Dance with Dragons.
In terms of gameplay, in Telltale’s Game of Thrones, you’ll play from five different perspectives. “Each character you play as is a member of House Forrester; either a direct family member, or a person in service to the House,” Telltale says. “Scattered across Westeros and Essos, each character will play their part in seeking to save House Forrester from destruction.”
Telltale went on to say that playing as five different characters will have a sweeping and dramatic effect on how the game plays out. The actions of one character can affect everyone else; and when you multiply this by five, “you’re truly playing the Game of Thrones…where you win, or you die,” Telltale says.
The developer also confirmed today that the first episode–of six total episodes in the first season–is called Iron From Ice. This episode is due to launch by the end of the year, and it will be available digitally across PC/Mac, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and iOS. Additional platforms will be announced later, Telltale said.
THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS ABOUT ASSASSIN’S CREED UNITY
The review embargo for Assassin’s Creed Unity lifts at 9 AM Pacific today, but this doesn’t apply to comedian and late night TV host Conan O’Brien.
His latest Clueless Gamer segment, wherein he reviews new games, tackles Ubisoft’s open-world action game, Assassin’s Creed Unity, which was released today on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.
O’Brien starts the jokes right away, saying that “Ubisoft is what my wife said to me on my wedding night.” He also jokes about Unity hero Arno’s relationship with Elise, who ends up being his adopted sister.
Watch the whole clip above, and look for our review of Unity in just a couple more hours.
According to a previous report, some publishers pay to have their games appear on O’Brien’s Clueless Gamer segment, though it is unclear if this was the case with Unity.
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