Blog

Blizzard Entertainment has revealed the return of The Lost Vikings, who make their debut in Heroes of the Storm. Unlike other heroes, The Lost Vikings start without any basic abilities and have three units which players control.

Each Viking can move, attack, and be killed individually. Respawn timers are also unique to each Viking. The Vikings are required to be near each other when the player wants to use their ultimate ability, Longboat Raid. Grouping the Viking’s together also allows them to break the chests on the Blackheart’s Bay map very quickly.

Each Viking has unique traits. Erik the Swift moves the fastest of the trio and possesses longer attack range. Olaf the Stout has the most health of the group, has faster regeneration, and can charge to slow enemies. Baleog the Fierce deals splash damage to enemy units behind those of his target. Blizzard also revealed alternative skins for the Vikings, including Pajama Party and Master skins.

The Lost Vikings game was first released in 1992 as a puzzle action game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The game was added to Battle.net as a free download in 2014.

The Lost Vikings were first confirmed for Heroes of the Storm by Blizzard during Blizzcon last year. The game entered closed beta last month, which players can gain immediate access to if they purchase the Founder’s Pack. For more on Heroes of the storm, check out GameSpot’s previous coverage.

Click the thumbnail to view the full-sized image.

Powered by WPeMatico

More information on Ubisoft’s unreleased, completed Wii U game has been revealed by the Unseen64 podcast (via Polygon). Titled Know Your Friends, the party game was never released, put on hold in 2014 while the publisher waited for the Wii U to become “more mass-market,” according to Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot.

The game is described by Nintendo World Report as a multiplayer “quirky party/quiz game” which uses the Wii U GamePad in “interesting ways, mostly playing on social interactions.” An example question cited by Unseen64 asked each player to list their competitors on the touch screen in order of those who were more likely to invite friends over for dinner.

Eurogamer cites the ESRB and reports that other questions include asking what players “would accept doing in the name of love during a steamy night in?”, choosing “three objects for a sensual moment as a couple,” and asking “which part of the female anatomy do people look at first?”

Speaking in an interview during E3 last year, Guillemot described the game as having “been done for six months. It’s on the shelf, waiting for more families to have the console.”

Ubisoft first filed trademarks for Know Your Friends in January last year. GameSpot reached out to the publisher for comment, who said, “We don’t have anything to announce at this time.”

Would you have played this game? Let us know in the comments below.

Powered by WPeMatico

The video games of tomorrow could be mind-blowing experiences, the likes of which we can’t even conceive right now. But the industry won’t get there unless creators are willing to take risks and embrace new challenges. That’s according to Borderlands creator Gearbox Software president Randy Pitchford, who shared his vision for the future of games in a recent interview.

“The oldest problem our species has faced is that we can’t realize and manifest everything that we can imagine as quickly as we can imagine it,” Pitchford said in the latest episode of The Bonus Round video show. “So the only solution to that problem is to make choices. And to pick one thing and abandon another. And that can be difficult if there’s a part of our minds that loves the thing that must be abandoned and is afraid of the new frontier that should be embraced.”

“But progress demands that we look forward,” he added. “And the biggest and most exciting things that we’re going to do be doing in interactive entertainment in the future are things that we can’t even conceive of today. And we’ll never get there unless we actually are comfortable taking some risks and trying things we haven’t done before.”

Pitchford’s comments came in response to a statement from interviewer Geoff Keighley, who suggested virtual reality technology like Oculus Rift or Project Morpheus could become one of the next major platforms for gaming. Pitchford said he hopes the VR revolution doesn’t happen too quickly because, “I’m still trying to figure out how to make games with the medium we have” now.

While Sony–and Microsoft, too–have bold visions for virtual reality as it relates to gaming, those appear to be longer-term plans rather than anything to expect soon. That isn’t to say they aren’t exciting pieces of technology, only that VR as a consumer medium isn’t going to take over the world tomorrow.

What do you make of Pitchford’s comments? Let us know in the comments below!

Powered by WPeMatico

With just about a month to go before Battlefield Hardline‘s release on March 17, developer Visceral Games has updated the game’s website to show off all of the title’s gadgets and vehicles.

Each side–cops and criminals–has ten classes of vehicles to use, including counter-attack trucks, sedans, bikes, and boats, among others. The criminal variants of each vehicle have an edgier flair to them–see the comparison image below.

Hardline also has tons of gadgets, including grappling hooks and ziplines, both of which are new the series and were tested out extensively during the game’s recently concluded beta. See the galleries below for lots more on Hardline’s gadgets and vehicles.

The Hardline release date is March 17 in the US and March 20 in the UK on Xbox 360, Xbox One,PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PC. For lots more on the beta, check out the video above.

Vehicles:

Gadgets:

You can see the rest of Battlefield Hardline’s gadgets at the game’s website.

Powered by WPeMatico