Help this cat get his furry paws on some delicious fish, in this crazy puzzle game!
venerdì 25 novembre 2016
Not All Mass Effect Species Will Make It to Andromeda
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But additional species may appear in future installments.
By Alex Osborn
BioWare has confirmed that not every species players encountered in the original Mass Effect trilogy will be featured in Mass Effect Andromeda.
Speaking with Game Informer, creative director Mac Walters explained that while not every alien race from the Milky Way Galaxy that was established in the first three games will be making it to Andromeda, the studio isn"t ruling out the possibility of them appearing in future installments.
"We"ve designed the IP in such a way that they can all show up," Walters said. "For hopefully obvious reasons, they"re not all going to show up in the first game."
For a detailed overview of what we currently know about Andromeda, including details on the story, main characters, and confirmed species - that"ll be humans, asari, turians, krogans and salarians so far - check out IGN"s Mass Effect Andromeda wiki guide.
While you"re at it, be sure to read up on the latest details on the game"s side missions, bosses and biohazards, and then check out Rewind Theater analysis of Andromeda"s new cinematic trailer below.
Alex Osborn is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter and subscribe to his video content on YouTube.
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Not All Mass Effect Species Will Make It to Andromeda
Share.
But additional species may appear in future installments.
By Alex Osborn
BioWare has confirmed that not every species players encountered in the original Mass Effect trilogy will be featured in Mass Effect Andromeda.
Speaking with Game Informer, creative director Mac Walters explained that while not every alien race from the Milky Way Galaxy that was established in the first three games will be making it to Andromeda, the studio isn"t ruling out the possibility of them appearing in future installments.
"We"ve designed the IP in such a way that they can all show up," Walters said. "For hopefully obvious reasons, they"re not all going to show up in the first game."
For a detailed overview of what we currently know about Andromeda, including details on the story, main characters, and confirmed species - that"ll be humans, asari, turians, krogans and salarians so far - check out IGN"s Mass Effect Andromeda wiki guide.
While you"re at it, be sure to read up on the latest details on the game"s side missions, bosses and biohazards, and then check out Rewind Theater analysis of Andromeda"s new cinematic trailer below.
Alex Osborn is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter and subscribe to his video content on YouTube.
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Blog: The price of frustrating game design
The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutras community.
The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.
A former USA Olympic weightlifting coach once told me that when they started experimenting in secret with anabolic steroids, the visible results were so striking that they got a lot of questions from observers. Why were they so big? What was their new strength training secret? “Isometrics” was the answer. This is where you hold a static contraction as long as you can. It"s one of the worst possible ways to train as it leads to very limited strength gains and puts the athlete at risk of cardiac hypertrophy or even outright heart attack.
But the public bought it and even today when I am in gyms I see personal trainers teaching isometrics to their clients. This is some 50 years later. They don"t know why they are teaching isometrics, but they know that they"ve seen people doing them in the gym their whole lives so they must be good.
When Zynga became hugely successful on Facebook, they publicly attributed it to two things. “Fun Pain” and aggressive data collection. I"ve already addressed the limitations of business intelligence (BI) in the gaming space in previous articles, and I briefly discussed fun pain in my 2011 “Two Contrasting Views of Monetization”.
Both ideas are still intensely pervasive in the gaming space years after the Zynga implosion, and more than 5 years since I predicted this and discussed the real reasons for Zynga"s success in my 2011 “Zynga Analysis” paper which I wrote for 2K Games and later published.
How do you make a consumer pay for something you already gave them for free? It"s not an easy question to answer, and the solution coming from Zynga was that if you didn"t make a player uncomfortable enough, they wouldn"t spend. If you made them too uncomfortable they would churn out. But somewhere in the middle...there was this Holy Grail spot where you could make players spend and they wouldn"t be able to stop themselves. Finding this spot was the job of BI. Well the spot turned out to be mythical so millions (if not billions) spent on BI never found it and conversion rates stayed at a tragic <2% level.
Competitive “midcore” games managed a slightly less tragic ~5% conversion rate by sacrificing game lifespan and the female demographic.
There are signs that developers are waking up to the reality that perhaps you can actually make more money from players that are not frustrated while playing their games. This transition is not easy, because for every team member who says “why do we want to frustrate our players?” there will be two team members who will champion a pro-frustration mechanic, because “that"s what we do”.
I saw this struggle play out as I was enjoying the recent “free weekend” for Elder Scrolls Online on Steam. The game originally launched with the archaic “retail plus subscription” business model, but they tried to also capture some microtransactions on top of that, much in the way Arena.net did with Guildwars 2. A year later they made the subscription “optional”, and the retail price is inching towards $0 (but officially still at $29.99 on Steam).
I had a lot of fun playing ESO. I love exploring dangerous and dark locations and being rewarded by finding loot in really weird places. I most enjoyed collecting bugs which I could later use for either fishing bait or for alchemy recipes. Even junk items like old swords or shields had some value because I could break them down for materials and craft xp back in town. The early game economy was much better designed than what was done for Guildwars 2. If you are curious how I analyzed the Guildwars 2 economy, you can read that here.
The problem I ran into was that the inventory space is extremely limited (60 bag spaces and 60 bank spaces), so even with stopping quests and running back to the bank (tripling the time to complete quests) to offload items, I ended up being “inventory locked” after five hours. Inventory lock occurs when you have to destroy something valuable every time you want to pick up something else that might be more valuable. People don"t like being forced to destroy their own valuables, and having to choose which one survives and which doesn"t. It"s one of the most frustrating things you can subject a person to. It"s like reward removal but even worse because instead of just taking away something you just gave the player, you make the player have to choose what to destroy. It might be something the player has been lugging around for hours or days.
And it is there by design.
Just as in Guildwars 2 the dev team decided to frustrate players by offering them a game where they would experience inventory lock and then be frustrated into buying additional inventory space. Spending more than $5 for 10 more inventory spaces would have delayed inventory lock by perhaps another hour. This game demands at least 500 inventory spaces, and if you play for a year I can imagine needing over 2000. When I saw this mechanic I was ready to quit a game that I was really enjoying for the first few hours.
The game also allows the player do everything themselves, and thus fosters no interdependency. This is a problem because it creates a Massively Singleplayer environment. More detail on why that is bad can be found in my Star Wars: TOR review.
But there is a light at the end of the tunnel here. The development team must have seen the problems and reacted with the “ESO craft bag”. This is quite brilliant and player friendly. It automatically sucks all crafting materials (which is the vast majority of what you will pick up) into an infinite bank space that all your characters share. You don"t have to run to town or anything, it happens instantly and automatically. When you craft something, it draws from this craft bag without you having to open it.
Now with the craft bag, the player is free to actually play and enjoy the game without spending most of their time frustrated while they deal with inventory management issues. This is quite liberating and clearly a victory for the “anti-frustration” faction at Bethesda. I"m sure it was hotly contested back in the design room. The compromise that allowed it into the game was to make it “subscription only”. So yea you can play the game for free for about 5 hours until inventory lock, and then you have to pay for the subscription to keep playing without constant extreme frustration.
It would be nice if Bethesda was more transparent about how limited gameplay is without the subscription, but by (current) industry standards, this product now gives a lot of value to the consumer if they are willing to pay every month for an epic high quality RPG instead of paying once.
Following the victory of the anti-frustration camp at Bethesda, the BI team is no doubt reporting much better metrics coming out of the game. These are the numbers they were hoping for at launch. Better late than never, and now that the game is player-friendly, ZeniMax has decided to essentially “relaunch” the game with a new round of marketing funds.
So if you are in a studio right now making a game, and wondering “why am I being asked to frustrate my players?” Well now you know. If you don"t like it, say something. You might get shamed at first, but your voice could lead later to product success and a nice promotion. This is perhaps a selfish suggestion on my part, because when I talk to studio heads and they ask me for the game equivalent of an “isometrics coach”, this is a really awkward situation for me that I have not figured out a politically correct solution for.
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WW2 Codebreaking Mansion to Become School for Elite Hackers
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So... can we call it the "Techs-Mansion"?
By Joe Skrebels
Bletchley Park, the British World War II codebreaking HQ made famous after its staff cracked the Nazi Enigma Code, is to be turned into a boarding school for teenagers "gifted and talented" in the realm of cyber defence.
Planned by Qufaro - a not-for-profit cybersecurity group - and due to open in 2018, the training college would be free to attend, and require no specific grades to enter, instead setting aptitude tests and favouring those with proven exceptional skills.
After a £5 million restoration, the school will take in around 500 16-19 year olds, with 40% of teaching focusing specifically on cybersecurity - an area the UK is said to be lacking a skilled workforce in.
"There is some real talent out there, people with extraordinary capabilities in this area," explained Qufaro chair, Alastair MacWilson to CNN, "and it"s usually youngsters that are good at gaming theory and hacking systems."
Bletchley Park, and the work performed inside it, was was such a closely-guarded secret that its role in helping end WWII only became known decades after the end of the conflict.
Much of The Imitation Game, the Benedict Cumberbatch-starring biopic of codebreaker Alan Turing, was set at Bletchley. Turing even created one of the world"s first computers, Colossus, on the premises.
Joe Skrebels is IGN"s UK News Editor, and he thinks a good bit of Friday fun is Googling "Bletchley Park". Follow him on Twitter.
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Win an Xbox One, FFXV Ultimate Edition and Coleman Camping Gear
Final Fantasy XV /
25 Nov 2016
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Outdoor Fantasy.
By IGN Staff
Final Fantasy XV is all about road trips, friends and the great outdoors... plus the occasional Bandersnatch.
So in light of our recent IGN Premiere for FFXV, we"re giving away the ultimate gaming bundle to one happy camper!
We"re giving away an Xbox One console, an Ultimate Edition copy of Final Fantasy XV, and a Coleman Camping set including a tent, chairs, lamps, and a cooler which were all displayed at the event.
How to Win
To win this prize you must follow IGN UK"s Official Twitter page and re-tweet the below:
This competition closes at 10am on 2nd December 2016 is only open to UK residents over the age of 18. Full terms and conditions can be found on the next page.
Continues
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WW2 Codebreaking Mansion to Become School for Elite Hackers
Share.
So... can we call it the "Techs-Mansion"?
By Joe Skrebels
Bletchley Park, the British World War II codebreaking HQ made famous after its staff cracked the Nazi Enigma Code, is to be turned into a boarding school for teenagers "gifted and talented" in the realm of cyber defence.
Planned by Qufaro - a not-for-profit cybersecurity group - and due to open in 2018, the training college would be free to attend, and require no specific grades to enter, instead setting aptitude tests and favouring those with proven exceptional skills.
After a £5 million restoration, the school will take in around 500 16-19 year olds, with 40% of teaching focusing specifically on cybersecurity - an area the UK is said to be lacking a skilled workforce in.
"There is some real talent out there, people with extraordinary capabilities in this area," explained Qufaro chair, Alastair MacWilson to CNN, "and it"s usually youngsters that are good at gaming theory and hacking systems."
Bletchley Park, and the work performed inside it, was was such a closely-guarded secret that its role in helping end WWII only became known decades after the end of the conflict.
Much of The Imitation Game, the Benedict Cumberbatch-starring biopic of codebreaker Alan Turing, was set at Bletchley. Turing even created one of the world"s first computers, Colossus, on the premises.
Joe Skrebels is IGN"s UK News Editor, and he thinks a good bit of Friday fun is Googling "Bletchley Park". Follow him on Twitter.
All copyrights for this article are reserved to http://feeds.ign.com/ign/all
Win an Xbox One, FFXV Ultimate Edition and Coleman Camping Gear
Final Fantasy XV /
25 Nov 2016
Share.
Outdoor Fantasy.
By IGN Staff
Final Fantasy XV is all about road trips, friends and the great outdoors... plus the occasional Bandersnatch.
So in light of our recent IGN Premiere for FFXV, we"re giving away the ultimate gaming bundle to one happy camper!
We"re giving away an Xbox One console, an Ultimate Edition copy of Final Fantasy XV, and a Coleman Camping set including a tent, chairs, lamps, and a cooler which were all displayed at the event.
How to Win
To win this prize you must follow IGN UK"s Official Twitter page and re-tweet the below:
This competition closes at 10am on 2nd December 2016 is only open to UK residents over the age of 18. Full terms and conditions can be found on the next page.
Continues
All copyrights for this article are reserved to http://feeds.ign.com/ign/all
Gearbox CEO Teases Duke Nukem Announcement Next Week
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Get the cigars in.
By Joe Skrebels
Gearbox is planning to reveal... something Duke Nukem-related next Thursday, December 1.
The hint comes from CEO Randy Pitchford, responding to a fan"s interest in a Duke Nukem-Gears of War crossover:
While it"s unlikely it will be as straightforward as the tweet suggests (although, Gears of War 4 isn"t exactly free of unusual cameos, considering it includes hip-hop duo Run the Jewels already), it does seem probable that the announcement will be made at The Game Awards, which take place on the same day.
It"s long been suspected that Duke would be added to Gearbox"s hero shooter Battleborn, which would satisfy the crossover criterion, but with Duke Nukem 3D celebrating its 20th anniversary, it wouldn"t be all that surprising to learn that a new game in the series is on the way.
It"s fair to say that Duke"s recent history has been a little less than illustrious - something Gearbox will likely be keen to remedy with whatever they announce next.
Joe Skrebels is IGN"s UK News Editor, and his dad accidentally bought him Duke Nukem 3D for him when he was 12, then noticed the age rating and wouldn"t give it to him until he was actually 18. It remains a great injustice in his brain. Follow him on Twitter.
All copyrights for this article are reserved to http://www.gamespot.com/feeds/mashup/
Gearbox CEO Teases Duke Nukem Announcement Next Week
Share.
Get the cigars in.
By Joe Skrebels
Gearbox is planning to reveal... something Duke Nukem-related next Thursday, December 1.
The hint comes from CEO Randy Pitchford, responding to a fan"s interest in a Duke Nukem-Gears of War crossover:
While it"s unlikely it will be as straightforward as the tweet suggests (although, Gears of War 4 isn"t exactly free of unusual cameos, considering it includes hip-hop duo Run the Jewels already), it does seem probable that the announcement will be made at The Game Awards, which take place on the same day.
It"s long been suspected that Duke would be added to Gearbox"s hero shooter Battleborn, which would satisfy the crossover criterion, but with Duke Nukem 3D celebrating its 20th anniversary, it wouldn"t be all that surprising to learn that a new game in the series is on the way.
It"s fair to say that Duke"s recent history has been a little less than illustrious - something Gearbox will likely be keen to remedy with whatever they announce next.
Joe Skrebels is IGN"s UK News Editor, and his dad accidentally bought him Duke Nukem 3D for him when he was 12, then noticed the age rating and wouldn"t give it to him until he was actually 18. It remains a great injustice in his brain. Follow him on Twitter.
All copyrights for this article are reserved to http://feeds.ign.com/ign/all
Q& A: Ocelot Society on building Event[0] around an AI chatbot
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Holiday Warrior – Turkey Time
We don"t normally do Weekend Warrior on Thursday, but it"s Thanksgiving so all the rules have gone out the window. Most of us will be staying in from the cold, eating with our friends and families, and playing those video games we"re all so fond of. So how will you all be spending holiday?
Ben Hanson (@yozetty) – Hey! It’s the big weekend! Gobble gobble, right y’all?! I’m going to spend an unhealthy amount of time in Alola, playing up through the second island in Pokemon Sun to get ready for our Game Club discussion next week on the podcast. Join along!
Brian Shea (@BrianPShea) – With the long weekend looking like it’s bringing a winter wonderland our way, I’ll probably be stuck inside most of the time. That’s probably a good thing for my ambitions to trim my backlog. I recently started the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare campaign, so hopefully I can get through that, but I also have so much Pokémon Sun to play. On top of that, I’d like to start Watch Dogs 2. Knowing me, though, I’ll probably get sick of being cooped up midway through the first day, so I’ll probably bundle up and use Pokémon Go’s double XP/stardust event as an excuse to go for a walk or run each day.
Kristin Williams (@kristincreate) – I will be playing whatever I end up picking up for Black Friday deals. I’ve got some ideas, but we’ll see what actually happens when I get to the store. I also recently got Overcooked, so I’m hoping to try that out. It seems especially appropriate for the weekend to play a cooking game.
Kevin Slackie (@KSlackie) – I’m going to be home for the holidays, so I’m looking forward to opening my Overwatch Halloween Loot Boxes (I still haven’t gotten to them), playing a ton of Pokemon, and eating my girlfriend’s home cooking. It’ll be nice to take a break from the snot-freezing Minnesota weather.
Kyle Hilliard (@KyleMHilliard) – I’ll be making dinner this year, which is something I have come to enjoy. I like cooking when I have the time and can devote myself to it. My wife, siblings, and one of her co-workers who will be joining us, are all South Carolina transplants living in Minnesota, which is a strange theme, but it works for us, I guess. I just need to convince Javy to come over. As far non-food stuff, I am very excited to see Moana and make some headway on Dishonored 2. Also, if it snows enough, it might be time for some sledding. No promise, though.
Ian Boudreau (@iboudreau) – I finally got around to starting an XCOM 2 campaign this past weekend, and the beating I received at the hands of Advent was swift and brutal. So my holiday plan while staying here in Minneapolis is to have my revenge. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I’m going to try to get back into Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate because I’ve been treating my 3DS like it’s a relative I only see on special occasions.
Elise Favis (@elisefavis) – I bought Dishonored 2 a few days ago, but I still haven’t had as much time as I’d liked to explore Karnaca, and I’m hoping to delve deeper in the game during the holiday break. I’ve only heard good things, and loved the first game, so I’m sure I’ll enjoy this sequel. Also, I’d like to finally play Paper Mario Color Splash, since I’ve been meaning to for a bit now.
Michael Leri (@OrangeFlavored) – The only California home I"ll be seeing is in Watch Dogs 2, which I will complete during the holiday, platinum trophy and all. While it is a long break, I"m also going to try to play some Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Dishonored 2. Hitman, Titanfall 2, and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided are also sitting on my digital shelf, but I know I won"t even start those, even with upcoming snow that will keep me inside the house. I should probably also call my parents, huh?
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The Long Road to Diablo 4 is Paved with More Diablo 3
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And that’s good thing.
By Kosta Andreadis
Like many hardcore Diablo fans, I was hoping for an announcement related to Diablo 4 at this year’s BlizzCon. In fact, I almost expected it. Over the course of 2016 we’d seen a handful of Blizzard job listings around an “unannounced project” related to Diablo, and leading up to the show, things had been quiet on the Diablo 3 front – unusually so for a game that has had a steady stream of updates since Reaper of Souls was released more than two years ago. And to cap it all off, this year is the series’ 20th anniversary. Perfect timing, right?
It wasn’t to be. Diablo 4: Dream Warriors wasn’t announced, but the show did play host to a string of announcements related to Diablo 3, and in a strange turn of events, I actually think that this is the best-case scenario for how things could have turned out. Like that family in that film that couldn’t afford Christmas presents, I’ve realised that what I was looking for was right here all along. My humble copy of Diablo 3.
With these changes, Diablo 3, a game that has already gone from strength to strength since the release of Reaper of Souls, is now on the cusp of entering Paragon 700 Barbarian territory*, so let’s run through the three big additions that will keep this game fresh through 2017.
Party Like it’s 1996
We might be living in the age of remakes and HD re-releases, but by Blizzard’s own admission, the mechanics, pacing, and content of some of the studio’s earliest efforts haven’t necessarily aged as gracefully as one might hope. To re-release Warcraft: Orcs and Humans (1994) or Diablo (1996) in HD in 2017 would be antithetical to how Blizzard approaches game development. Sure, the studio’s library is full of sequels and numerical instalments and franchise offshoots, but each new game builds significantly on what has come before, making the earliest games a big step back by modern standards.
On the other hand, the value that we place on nostalgia, especially for games we played during our formative years, is hard to ignore. 20 years of Diablo is a big deal, so Blizzard has decided to celebrate the original in a way that both honours it and modernises it. What we’re getting, in other words, are the dungeons from the original Diablo (1996) recreated in Diablo 3. And by utilising existing Diablo 3 combat mechanics alongside retro-inspired visuals and sound effects, I can’t help but think that this is the right kind of throw-back.
“It was a fun journey,” Diablo 3’s Senior Producer Julia Humphreys tells me. “One of the challenges was that we already had so much nostalgic throw-back content in Diablo 3 to begin with, and there were already quite a few one-to-one comparisons. In terms of the environments that we were using, to the monsters, and even many of the bosses – including the Butcher, Skeleton King, which were all in the original Diablo. So, for this to work we needed to do a lot of things like re-skin the bosses, and then re-do monster AI and animation to more closely represent what they felt like in the original game. But as there was so much raw content to build off to bring Diablo 1 over, it made sense to do it.”
The whole endeavour was treated as a way for the team to not only give back to the community, but to also celebrate the origins of the franchise. And the best part is that it will be a free event that will run throughout the month of January.
The Necromancer is Back from the Dead
You might be of the mind that what Diablo 3 needs right now is a new expansion; another Reaper of Souls. But I don"t think that"s the case. In its current state Diablo 3 is essentially feature complete, and whether you play it for a few dozen hours or a few hundred, the experience has grown with each patch and bit of content to the point where it’s arguably the best action RPG ever made. Right now, this game is a temple of streamlined controls and skill-use that continuously rewards players with new build options and subtle variations. An expansion in the traditional sense, then, where level caps are raised, new story content and character classes are added, and all items and sets and other bits of gear are reset, would fundamentally change the game as we know it today. Maybe even destroy it.
“
Even in an early state the Necromancer is a fun class to play, with a clear focus placed on blood magic, gore, and using an army of skeletons to deal with hordes of monsters.
An expansion may be a bad idea, but adding a new class isn’t and there’s one particular protagonist that fans have been asking for since Diablo 3 was first announced way back when - the Necromancer. Now that it’s coming to the game in 2017 I couldn’t be happier. One of the best things about the new class is that the Necromancer is being designed for Diablo 3 as the game exists today and not as it existed a few years ago. Still early on in development, the work that’s currently being carried out with the Diablo 3 Necromancer is to find the right feel. “At the moment we’re still focusing on the class itself,” Diablo 3 Senior Game Designer Matthew Berger explains, “And that means all the skills and the runes that are going to go with them. Because once you’ve identified all the skills and the runes and the specific types of gameplay that you want, that’s when you can break it, expand it, and overpower it with sets that are going to take advantage of this skill or that skill or this combination.”
Even in an early state the Necromancer is a fun class to play, with a clear focus placed on blood magic, gore, and using an army of skeletons to deal with hordes of monsters. And although that may sound gruesome to those that haven’t played the game (also, how are you enjoying this article so far?), as a series Diablo has always struck the right balance between the dark and the disturbing and the fun. That means that even though the Necromancer utilises fresh corpses as IEDs to take out groups of hideous beasts, it’s really just a lot of fun to have an army of the dead at your disposal.
Bringing the joy of Corpse Explosion to Diablo 3.
Zoning Out in Adventure Mode
Okay, so let’s backtrack a bit to the whole no new expansion thing. Perhaps the only negative part of not having another Reaper of Souls-style expansion is that we won’t get a new Act to explore, or linear Diablo story to experience. Since the release of Reaper of Souls, most Diablo players spend their time in Adventure Mode where access to Bounties and Rifts provide the bulk of the end-game content. With subsequent content patches, new Adventure Zones have been added, which are essentially new environments to explore, equipped with new monster types to deal with.
Of course, it doesn’t stop there. Things like Legendary Gems and Kanai’s Cube has meant the Diablo 3 end-game has changed and evolved over the years. And always for the better. The secret it seems, lies with a design philosophy that sounds like it probably shouldn’t work. “One of the great things about having Adventure Mode,” Matthew Berger explains, “is that you’re never really breaking it as much as you’re simply adding a new dimension. Adventure Mode is a wonderful framework in which to build and add new features, some of them big and some of them much smaller. There is a philosophy that everything doesn’t need to be balanced and things should be overpowered. What’s important is that everybody has a good time, everyone is enjoying the class that they’re playing, and everyone feels that the class that they’re playing can deliver on the fantasy and whatever content they want to explore. So, whenever we add a new feature - like Kanai’s Cube for example - if the answer is yes to ‘is it too strong?’ then that’s a good sign. If the answer is yes to ‘is it too strong for everybody?’ then that’s a great sign.”
“
Several quality of life changes are coming, from turning the management of crafting materials into a currency-style system to something called the Armory, which lets you swap out builds with a single press of a button.
Needless to say, we’re getting new zones next year. And possibly another Kanai’s Cube-style update, though Blizzard wasn’t willing to shed any light on what that might entail. But in terms of the new areas being added, they’ll be more substantial than the ones we’ve seen in the past. “People love going through the story,” Michael adds. “So we’re asking ourselves how can we deliver narrative in this new context, and how can we push what we did with Greyhollow Island [the last adventure zone added] even further.”
Several quality of life changes are also coming, from turning the management of crafting materials into a currency-style system to something called the Armory, which lets you swap out builds with a single press of a button. The team at Blizzard are placing a lot of focus on Diablo 3’s endgame, with a vision almost entirely devoted to Adventure Mode and the Rift system and giving players what they want. One particularly cool new idea is the arcade-like time trial mode that utilises Challenge Rifts. The way it works is that Blizzard curates and captures specific Greater Rift runs from players and then open them up for everyone to compete for the best times - using the same character build and gear setup.
And to fully cement Blizzard’s commitment to providing the same content across all formats, Seasons are also headed to the console versions of Diablo 3 in 2017.
Suit up.
The Long Road
It’s really not surprising that Diablo 4 wasn’t announced at BlizzCon given how much life Diablo 3 evidently still has left. And in casual chats that I had with a few Blizzard employees at this year’s show, I got the impression that the studio was very much shifting its focus to only discussing the near future. It makes sense. Every one of Blizzard’s games and franchises is a living and breathing thing. From Overwatch to StarCraft II to Hearthstone to Heroes of the Storm, continual updates, tweaks, balance changes, and new bits of content are being added regularly, keeping the player base engaged. Why put the focus on a future Diablo game when there are bloody wars to be waged right now?
Diablo 4 is almost certainly in development, of course, but likely won’t be announced until the finish line is in sight. That approach worked for Overwatch, which was announced, went into beta, and was subsequently released in the space of 18 months, and kept players hooked every step of the way. The long and windy road that we’re on will eventually lead us to Diablo 4: The Wrath of Cain, but it’s great to know that it will be paved with more Diablo 3.
Kosta Andreadis is an Australian electronic music producer and freelancer who has written about a ridiculous assortment of classic adventure games for IGN. Check out his tunes and follow him on Twitter.
*Once you hit a high enough Paragon level, all you can do as a Barbarian is add more points into your base stat - Strength. Which is a riff on the whole strength to strength remark from earlier in the sentence. Ahem. To anyone who got this reference first time around, get in touch, we should probably start a support group of some kind.
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The Long Road to Diablo 4 is Paved with More Diablo 3
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And that’s good thing.
By Kosta Andreadis
Like many hardcore Diablo fans, I was hoping for an announcement related to Diablo 4 at this year’s BlizzCon. In fact, I almost expected it. Over the course of 2016 we’d seen a handful of Blizzard job listings around an “unannounced project” related to Diablo, and leading up to the show, things had been quiet on the Diablo 3 front – unusually so for a game that has had a steady stream of updates since Reaper of Souls was released more than two years ago. And to cap it all off, this year is the series’ 20th anniversary. Perfect timing, right?
It wasn’t to be. Diablo 4: Dream Warriors wasn’t announced, but the show did play host to a string of announcements related to Diablo 3, and in a strange turn of events, I actually think that this is the best-case scenario for how things could have turned out. Like that family in that film that couldn’t afford Christmas presents, I’ve realised that what I was looking for was right here all along. My humble copy of Diablo 3.
With these changes, Diablo 3, a game that has already gone from strength to strength since the release of Reaper of Souls, is now on the cusp of entering Paragon 700 Barbarian territory*, so let’s run through the three big additions that will keep this game fresh through 2017.
Party Like it’s 1996
We might be living in the age of remakes and HD re-releases, but by Blizzard’s own admission, the mechanics, pacing, and content of some of the studio’s earliest efforts haven’t necessarily aged as gracefully as one might hope. To re-release Warcraft: Orcs and Humans (1994) or Diablo (1996) in HD in 2017 would be antithetical to how Blizzard approaches game development. Sure, the studio’s library is full of sequels and numerical instalments and franchise offshoots, but each new game builds significantly on what has come before, making the earliest games a big step back by modern standards.
On the other hand, the value that we place on nostalgia, especially for games we played during our formative years, is hard to ignore. 20 years of Diablo is a big deal, so Blizzard has decided to celebrate the original in a way that both honours it and modernises it. What we’re getting, in other words, are the dungeons from the original Diablo (1996) recreated in Diablo 3. And by utilising existing Diablo 3 combat mechanics alongside retro-inspired visuals and sound effects, I can’t help but think that this is the right kind of throw-back.
“It was a fun journey,” Diablo 3’s Senior Producer Julia Humphreys tells me. “One of the challenges was that we already had so much nostalgic throw-back content in Diablo 3 to begin with, and there were already quite a few one-to-one comparisons. In terms of the environments that we were using, to the monsters, and even many of the bosses – including the Butcher, Skeleton King, which were all in the original Diablo. So, for this to work we needed to do a lot of things like re-skin the bosses, and then re-do monster AI and animation to more closely represent what they felt like in the original game. But as there was so much raw content to build off to bring Diablo 1 over, it made sense to do it.”
The whole endeavour was treated as a way for the team to not only give back to the community, but to also celebrate the origins of the franchise. And the best part is that it will be a free event that will run throughout the month of January.
The Necromancer is Back from the Dead
You might be of the mind that what Diablo 3 needs right now is a new expansion; another Reaper of Souls. But I don"t think that"s the case. In its current state Diablo 3 is essentially feature complete, and whether you play it for a few dozen hours or a few hundred, the experience has grown with each patch and bit of content to the point where it’s arguably the best action RPG ever made. Right now, this game is a temple of streamlined controls and skill-use that continuously rewards players with new build options and subtle variations. An expansion in the traditional sense, then, where level caps are raised, new story content and character classes are added, and all items and sets and other bits of gear are reset, would fundamentally change the game as we know it today. Maybe even destroy it.
“
Even in an early state the Necromancer is a fun class to play, with a clear focus placed on blood magic, gore, and using an army of skeletons to deal with hordes of monsters.
An expansion may be a bad idea, but adding a new class isn’t and there’s one particular protagonist that fans have been asking for since Diablo 3 was first announced way back when - the Necromancer. Now that it’s coming to the game in 2017 I couldn’t be happier. One of the best things about the new class is that the Necromancer is being designed for Diablo 3 as the game exists today and not as it existed a few years ago. Still early on in development, the work that’s currently being carried out with the Diablo 3 Necromancer is to find the right feel. “At the moment we’re still focusing on the class itself,” Diablo 3 Senior Game Designer Matthew Berger explains, “And that means all the skills and the runes that are going to go with them. Because once you’ve identified all the skills and the runes and the specific types of gameplay that you want, that’s when you can break it, expand it, and overpower it with sets that are going to take advantage of this skill or that skill or this combination.”
Even in an early state the Necromancer is a fun class to play, with a clear focus placed on blood magic, gore, and using an army of skeletons to deal with hordes of monsters. And although that may sound gruesome to those that haven’t played the game (also, how are you enjoying this article so far?), as a series Diablo has always struck the right balance between the dark and the disturbing and the fun. That means that even though the Necromancer utilises fresh corpses as IEDs to take out groups of hideous beasts, it’s really just a lot of fun to have an army of the dead at your disposal.
Bringing the joy of Corpse Explosion to Diablo 3.
Zoning Out in Adventure Mode
Okay, so let’s backtrack a bit to the whole no new expansion thing. Perhaps the only negative part of not having another Reaper of Souls-style expansion is that we won’t get a new Act to explore, or linear Diablo story to experience. Since the release of Reaper of Souls, most Diablo players spend their time in Adventure Mode where access to Bounties and Rifts provide the bulk of the end-game content. With subsequent content patches, new Adventure Zones have been added, which are essentially new environments to explore, equipped with new monster types to deal with.
Of course, it doesn’t stop there. Things like Legendary Gems and Kanai’s Cube has meant the Diablo 3 end-game has changed and evolved over the years. And always for the better. The secret it seems, lies with a design philosophy that sounds like it probably shouldn’t work. “One of the great things about having Adventure Mode,” Matthew Berger explains, “is that you’re never really breaking it as much as you’re simply adding a new dimension. Adventure Mode is a wonderful framework in which to build and add new features, some of them big and some of them much smaller. There is a philosophy that everything doesn’t need to be balanced and things should be overpowered. What’s important is that everybody has a good time, everyone is enjoying the class that they’re playing, and everyone feels that the class that they’re playing can deliver on the fantasy and whatever content they want to explore. So, whenever we add a new feature - like Kanai’s Cube for example - if the answer is yes to ‘is it too strong?’ then that’s a good sign. If the answer is yes to ‘is it too strong for everybody?’ then that’s a great sign.”
“
Several quality of life changes are coming, from turning the management of crafting materials into a currency-style system to something called the Armory, which lets you swap out builds with a single press of a button.
Needless to say, we’re getting new zones next year. And possibly another Kanai’s Cube-style update, though Blizzard wasn’t willing to shed any light on what that might entail. But in terms of the new areas being added, they’ll be more substantial than the ones we’ve seen in the past. “People love going through the story,” Michael adds. “So we’re asking ourselves how can we deliver narrative in this new context, and how can we push what we did with Greyhollow Island [the last adventure zone added] even further.”
Several quality of life changes are also coming, from turning the management of crafting materials into a currency-style system to something called the Armory, which lets you swap out builds with a single press of a button. The team at Blizzard are placing a lot of focus on Diablo 3’s endgame, with a vision almost entirely devoted to Adventure Mode and the Rift system and giving players what they want. One particularly cool new idea is the arcade-like time trial mode that utilises Challenge Rifts. The way it works is that Blizzard curates and captures specific Greater Rift runs from players and then open them up for everyone to compete for the best times - using the same character build and gear setup.
And to fully cement Blizzard’s commitment to providing the same content across all formats, Seasons are also headed to the console versions of Diablo 3 in 2017.
Suit up.
The Long Road
It’s really not surprising that Diablo 4 wasn’t announced at BlizzCon given how much life Diablo 3 evidently still has left. And in casual chats that I had with a few Blizzard employees at this year’s show, I got the impression that the studio was very much shifting its focus to only discussing the near future. It makes sense. Every one of Blizzard’s games and franchises is a living and breathing thing. From Overwatch to StarCraft II to Hearthstone to Heroes of the Storm, continual updates, tweaks, balance changes, and new bits of content are being added regularly, keeping the player base engaged. Why put the focus on a future Diablo game when there are bloody wars to be waged right now?
Diablo 4 is almost certainly in development, of course, but likely won’t be announced until the finish line is in sight. That approach worked for Overwatch, which was announced, went into beta, and was subsequently released in the space of 18 months, and kept players hooked every step of the way. The long and windy road that we’re on will eventually lead us to Diablo 4: The Wrath of Cain, but it’s great to know that it will be paved with more Diablo 3.
Kosta Andreadis is an Australian electronic music producer and freelancer who has written about a ridiculous assortment of classic adventure games for IGN. Check out his tunes and follow him on Twitter.
*Once you hit a high enough Paragon level, all you can do as a Barbarian is add more points into your base stat - Strength. Which is a riff on the whole strength to strength remark from earlier in the sentence. Ahem. To anyone who got this reference first time around, get in touch, we should probably start a support group of some kind.
All copyrights for this article are reserved to http://feeds.ign.com/ign/all
How to Get Shiny Pokemon in Sun and Moon
Shiny Pokemon are extremely rare, alternate colored Pokemon. This page describes shiny Pokemon and how to capture these elusive Pokemon in Pokemon Sun and Moon.
Shiny Pokemon were first introduced in Pokemon Gold and Pokemon Silver back in Generation 2. Every time one of these Pokemon appears in battle, shiny sparkles flash around them, earning them the name "shiny Pokemon."
Though quite rare, these alternately colored Pokemon don"t come with any other benefit compared to your average Pokemon. It won"t be stronger or weaker stat wise--just a different color!
These Pokemon are so rare that some trainers still haven"t seen one! The exact odds of finding a shiny Pokemon are 1 in 8192. They can be found in the wild or through breeding. Other than the alternate color and sparkles, there is nothing special about them. Some Pokemon trainers will be willing to trade some valuable Pokemon for lesser shiny Pokemon simply based on their rarity.
There are a few ways to increase your odds of finding Shiny Pokemon in the wild or through breeding. Below are a few methods.
The Shiny Charm is a Key Item that is quite difficult to obtain in the Pokemon games. It usually requires the completion of the National Pokedex -- but in Pokemon Sun and Moon, only the Regional Alola Pokedex needs to be completed! Once you have a complete Pokedex, visit the Game Director in Heahea City to receive a congratulatory Shiny Charm.
This method was named after Game Freak"s Director of the Board, Junichi Masuda.
If you have two Pokemon from different language Pokemon games, you can breed them and raise the odds of finding a shiny Pokemon to 1 in 1366. An example would be breeding a Japanese Charizard with an English Dragonite.
There"s a new mechanic in Pokemon Sun and Moon where wild Pokemon will call for help if its health gets low enough. Then, an additional Pokemon will appear to battle. The more Pokemon that are called to battle in this way, the more likely they"ll be shiny. It"s a pretty simple strategy! Here it is:
1. Use an Adrenaline Orb: These can be purchased from many shops from early on in Pokemon Sun and Moon. They increase the chance of wild Pokemon calling for help.
2. Weaken the Pokemon: Get the first Pokemon"s health down so that it will call for help. False Swipe will help immensely with this, as it ensures the Pokemon will remain with at least 1 HP.
3. Knock Out the New Pokemon
4. Repeat Step 3: It would be helpful if your Pokemon had a healing move, like Roost or Recover, to stay healthy in battle while simultaneously stalling if you need to wait for another ally Pokemon to be called!
Here are a few tips to maximize your S.O.S. Battle chaining and get a shiny Pokemon!
1. Choose a Pokemon: This may seem like an obvious step, but really think about the Pokemon you"re targeting, beyond just the fact that you want one. Can you do it? A drawn out S.O.S. battle means your Pokemon will be getting attacked, often, and will in turn be attacking, often. Are your Pokemon a high enough level to reliably one-shot your target Pokemon? If not, reconsider coming back to your target once you"re strong enough to streamline the process.
2. Plan Ahead: Now that you have chosen a Pokemon, make sure your own Pokemon are prepared! Does your target have any Moves or Abilities that will hinder your attempts? Does it have any moves that that will allow it to escape, like Growlithe"s Roar or Abra"s Teleport? Make sure to use a Pokemon with a move like Mean Look to prevent it from getting away. Remember that Mean Look will only remain active if the Pokemon who used it remains in battle!
You"ll also want some Pokemon on your team with False Swipe. This move always leaves a Pokemon with at least 1 HP, so this is essential to reliably keeping a Pokemon alive so that it will keep calling allies.
3. Stock Up on Items: You may be facing dozens of opponents at a time in this battle, so make sure you have plenty of healing items like Lemonades and Potions, Revives, Ethers and Elixers to make sure you remain healthy and able to battle. How awful would it be if, 20 ally Pokemon in, you"ve run out of healing items and get knocked out? Or if you run completely out of False Swipe power points (PP)? What a waste!
4. Further Planning: If you want a Pokemon that is both awesomely rare and viable in battle, you may want to have a Pokemon with the Ability Synchronize. This Ability gives wild Pokemon a 50 percent chance at having the same Nature as your current Pokemon. The easiest Pokemon to get in Pokemon Sun and Moon that has this Ability is Abra. Of course, this would take a ridiculous amount of planning, so proceed at your own risk of losing all of your free time! You would need to breed or catch an Abra that has the Nature you want your target Pokemon to share, then level it up so that it"s strong enough to withstand a drawn-out battle. After using False Swipe to get one of the Pokemon down to 1 HP, you would switch out to the Abra (or Kadabra or Alakazam), and continue one-shotting the newly called Pokemon until a shiny appears. This works especially well considering Kadabra can learn Recover, which can be used to heal and stall if needed.
Sometimes Shiny Pokemon are given away as Event Pokemon. Check the Event Pokemon page for upcoming events.
Next
Event Pokemon
Previous
Legendary Pokemon
All copyrights for this article are reserved to http://www.gamespot.com/feeds/mashup/
How to Get Shiny Pokemon in Sun and Moon
Shiny Pokemon are extremely rare, alternate colored Pokemon. This page describes shiny Pokemon and how to capture these elusive Pokemon in Pokemon Sun and Moon.
Shiny Pokemon were first introduced in Pokemon Gold and Pokemon Silver back in Generation 2. Every time one of these Pokemon appears in battle, shiny sparkles flash around them, earning them the name "shiny Pokemon."
Though quite rare, these alternately colored Pokemon don"t come with any other benefit compared to your average Pokemon. It won"t be stronger or weaker stat wise--just a different color!
These Pokemon are so rare that some trainers still haven"t seen one! The exact odds of finding a shiny Pokemon are 1 in 8192. They can be found in the wild or through breeding. Other than the alternate color and sparkles, there is nothing special about them. Some Pokemon trainers will be willing to trade some valuable Pokemon for lesser shiny Pokemon simply based on their rarity.
There are a few ways to increase your odds of finding Shiny Pokemon in the wild or through breeding. Below are a few methods.
The Shiny Charm is a Key Item that is quite difficult to obtain in the Pokemon games. It usually requires the completion of the National Pokedex -- but in Pokemon Sun and Moon, only the Regional Alola Pokedex needs to be completed! Once you have a complete Pokedex, visit the Game Director in Heahea City to receive a congratulatory Shiny Charm.
This method was named after Game Freak"s Director of the Board, Junichi Masuda.
If you have two Pokemon from different language Pokemon games, you can breed them and raise the odds of finding a shiny Pokemon to 1 in 1366. An example would be breeding a Japanese Charizard with an English Dragonite.
There"s a new mechanic in Pokemon Sun and Moon where wild Pokemon will call for help if its health gets low enough. Then, an additional Pokemon will appear to battle. The more Pokemon that are called to battle in this way, the more likely they"ll be shiny. It"s a pretty simple strategy! Here it is:
1. Use an Adrenaline Orb: These can be purchased from many shops from early on in Pokemon Sun and Moon. They increase the chance of wild Pokemon calling for help.
2. Weaken the Pokemon: Get the first Pokemon"s health down so that it will call for help. False Swipe will help immensely with this, as it ensures the Pokemon will remain with at least 1 HP.
3. Knock Out the New Pokemon
4. Repeat Step 3: It would be helpful if your Pokemon had a healing move, like Roost or Recover, to stay healthy in battle while simultaneously stalling if you need to wait for another ally Pokemon to be called!
Here are a few tips to maximize your S.O.S. Battle chaining and get a shiny Pokemon!
1. Choose a Pokemon: This may seem like an obvious step, but really think about the Pokemon you"re targeting, beyond just the fact that you want one. Can you do it? A drawn out S.O.S. battle means your Pokemon will be getting attacked, often, and will in turn be attacking, often. Are your Pokemon a high enough level to reliably one-shot your target Pokemon? If not, reconsider coming back to your target once you"re strong enough to streamline the process.
2. Plan Ahead: Now that you have chosen a Pokemon, make sure your own Pokemon are prepared! Does your target have any Moves or Abilities that will hinder your attempts? Does it have any moves that that will allow it to escape, like Growlithe"s Roar or Abra"s Teleport? Make sure to use a Pokemon with a move like Mean Look to prevent it from getting away. Remember that Mean Look will only remain active if the Pokemon who used it remains in battle!
You"ll also want some Pokemon on your team with False Swipe. This move always leaves a Pokemon with at least 1 HP, so this is essential to reliably keeping a Pokemon alive so that it will keep calling allies.
3. Stock Up on Items: You may be facing dozens of opponents at a time in this battle, so make sure you have plenty of healing items like Lemonades and Potions, Revives, Ethers and Elixers to make sure you remain healthy and able to battle. How awful would it be if, 20 ally Pokemon in, you"ve run out of healing items and get knocked out? Or if you run completely out of False Swipe power points (PP)? What a waste!
4. Further Planning: If you want a Pokemon that is both awesomely rare and viable in battle, you may want to have a Pokemon with the Ability Synchronize. This Ability gives wild Pokemon a 50 percent chance at having the same Nature as your current Pokemon. The easiest Pokemon to get in Pokemon Sun and Moon that has this Ability is Abra. Of course, this would take a ridiculous amount of planning, so proceed at your own risk of losing all of your free time! You would need to breed or catch an Abra that has the Nature you want your target Pokemon to share, then level it up so that it"s strong enough to withstand a drawn-out battle. After using False Swipe to get one of the Pokemon down to 1 HP, you would switch out to the Abra (or Kadabra or Alakazam), and continue one-shotting the newly called Pokemon until a shiny appears. This works especially well considering Kadabra can learn Recover, which can be used to heal and stall if needed.
Sometimes Shiny Pokemon are given away as Event Pokemon. Check the Event Pokemon page for upcoming events.
Next
Event Pokemon
Previous
Legendary Pokemon
All copyrights for this article are reserved to http://feeds.ign.com/ign/all
Don Bradman Cricket 17 Release Date Confirmed
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Console versions to hit the crease just in time for the Boxing Day Test.
By Luke Reilly
HES and developer Big Ant Studios have today confirmed Don Bradman Cricket 17 will be padding up on December 22 on PS4 and Xbox One. The game will be available at retail and via digital storefronts.
The PC version will be available via Steam “one month later.”
Don"t mind the lack of licensed content; players have already been creating it in the PC demo.
“We have built completely new batting, bowling and fielding mechanics based on player feedback,” explains Big Ant CEO Ross Symons. “With Don Bradman 17 releasing right in the heart of the Aussie cricket season, we’re looking forward to players recreating the classic moments of the summer of cricket in their homes.”
“We were overwhelmed by the success of our first run at Don Bradman Cricket. To this day players from around the world play it daily, whether they are simulating their favourite test team matchups, or playing games with as little as one over each side. We think they’re going to love the enhanced career mode, refined on-field mechanics, and enhanced visuals and animation. After all, many of the changes came as a direct result of feedback from our most dedicated fans.”
Don Bradman Cricket 17 is promising honed on-field action, custom player, stadium, team, and logo creator modes, women’s teams, an improved career mode, and more.
PC players who can’t wait until January can still download the free nets mode for DBC 17 via Steam.
Luke is Games Editor at IGN"s Sydney office and sincerely hopes the game can keep up with all the Australian Test team changes. You can find him on Twitter @MrLukeReilly.
All copyrights for this article are reserved to http://www.gamespot.com/feeds/mashup/
Holiday Warrior – Turkey Time
We don"t normally do Weekend Warrior on Thursday, but it"s Thanksgiving so all the rules have gone out the window. Most of us will be staying in from the cold, eating with our friends and families, and playing those video games we"re all so fond of. So how will you all be spending holiday?
Ben Hanson (@yozetty) – Hey! It’s the big weekend! Gobble gobble, right y’all?! I’m going to spend an unhealthy amount of time in Alola, playing up through the second island in Pokemon Sun to get ready for our Game Club discussion next week on the podcast. Join along!
Brian Shea (@BrianPShea) – With the long weekend looking like it’s bringing a winter wonderland our way, I’ll probably be stuck inside most of the time. That’s probably a good thing for my ambitions to trim my backlog. I recently started the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare campaign, so hopefully I can get through that, but I also have so much Pokémon Sun to play. On top of that, I’d like to start Watch Dogs 2. Knowing me, though, I’ll probably get sick of being cooped up midway through the first day, so I’ll probably bundle up and use Pokémon Go’s double XP/stardust event as an excuse to go for a walk or run each day.
Kristin Williams (@kristincreate) – I will be playing whatever I end up picking up for Black Friday deals. I’ve got some ideas, but we’ll see what actually happens when I get to the store. I also recently got Overcooked, so I’m hoping to try that out. It seems especially appropriate for the weekend to play a cooking game.
Kevin Slackie (@KSlackie) – I’m going to be home for the holidays, so I’m looking forward to opening my Overwatch Halloween Loot Boxes (I still haven’t gotten to them), playing a ton of Pokemon, and eating my girlfriend’s home cooking. It’ll be nice to take a break from the snot-freezing Minnesota weather.
Kyle Hilliard (@KyleMHilliard) – I’ll be making dinner this year, which is something I have come to enjoy. I like cooking when I have the time and can devote myself to it. My wife, siblings, and one of her co-workers who will be joining us, are all South Carolina transplants living in Minnesota, which is a strange theme, but it works for us, I guess. I just need to convince Javy to come over. As far non-food stuff, I am very excited to see Moana and make some headway on Dishonored 2. Also, if it snows enough, it might be time for some sledding. No promise, though.
Ian Boudreau (@iboudreau) – I finally got around to starting an XCOM 2 campaign this past weekend, and the beating I received at the hands of Advent was swift and brutal. So my holiday plan while staying here in Minneapolis is to have my revenge. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I’m going to try to get back into Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate because I’ve been treating my 3DS like it’s a relative I only see on special occasions.
Elise Favis (@elisefavis) – I bought Dishonored 2 a few days ago, but I still haven’t had as much time as I’d liked to explore Karnaca, and I’m hoping to delve deeper in the game during the holiday break. I’ve only heard good things, and loved the first game, so I’m sure I’ll enjoy this sequel. Also, I’d like to finally play Paper Mario Color Splash, since I’ve been meaning to for a bit now.
Michael Leri (@OrangeFlavored) – The only California home I"ll be seeing is in Watch Dogs 2, which I will complete during the holiday, platinum trophy and all. While it is a long break, I"m also going to try to play some Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Dishonored 2. Hitman, Titanfall 2, and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided are also sitting on my digital shelf, but I know I won"t even start those, even with upcoming snow that will keep me inside the house. I should probably also call my parents, huh?
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Don Bradman Cricket 17 Release Date Confirmed
Share.
Console versions to hit the crease just in time for the Boxing Day Test.
By Luke Reilly
HES and developer Big Ant Studios have today confirmed Don Bradman Cricket 17 will be padding up on December 22 on PS4 and Xbox One. The game will be available at retail and via digital storefronts.
The PC version will be available via Steam “one month later.”
Don"t mind the lack of licensed content; players have already been creating it in the PC demo.
“We have built completely new batting, bowling and fielding mechanics based on player feedback,” explains Big Ant CEO Ross Symons. “With Don Bradman 17 releasing right in the heart of the Aussie cricket season, we’re looking forward to players recreating the classic moments of the summer of cricket in their homes.”
“We were overwhelmed by the success of our first run at Don Bradman Cricket. To this day players from around the world play it daily, whether they are simulating their favourite test team matchups, or playing games with as little as one over each side. We think they’re going to love the enhanced career mode, refined on-field mechanics, and enhanced visuals and animation. After all, many of the changes came as a direct result of feedback from our most dedicated fans.”
Don Bradman Cricket 17 is promising honed on-field action, custom player, stadium, team, and logo creator modes, women’s teams, an improved career mode, and more.
PC players who can’t wait until January can still download the free nets mode for DBC 17 via Steam.
Luke is Games Editor at IGN"s Sydney office and sincerely hopes the game can keep up with all the Australian Test team changes. You can find him on Twitter @MrLukeReilly.
All copyrights for this article are reserved to http://feeds.ign.com/ign/all
Holiday Warrior – Turkey Time
We don"t normally do Weekend Warrior on Thursday, but it"s Thanksgiving so all the rules have gone out the window. Most of us will be staying in from the cold, eating with our friends and families, and playing those video games we"re all so fond of. So how will you all be spending holiday?
Ben Hanson (@yozetty) – Hey! It’s the big weekend! Gobble gobble, right y’all?! I’m going to spend an unhealthy amount of time in Alola, playing up through the second island in Pokemon Sun to get ready for our Game Club discussion next week on the podcast. Join along!
Brian Shea (@BrianPShea) – With the long weekend looking like it’s bringing a winter wonderland our way, I’ll probably be stuck inside most of the time. That’s probably a good thing for my ambitions to trim my backlog. I recently started the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare campaign, so hopefully I can get through that, but I also have so much Pokémon Sun to play. On top of that, I’d like to start Watch Dogs 2. Knowing me, though, I’ll probably get sick of being cooped up midway through the first day, so I’ll probably bundle up and use Pokémon Go’s double XP/stardust event as an excuse to go for a walk or run each day.
Kristin Williams (@kristincreate) – I will be playing whatever I end up picking up for Black Friday deals. I’ve got some ideas, but we’ll see what actually happens when I get to the store. I also recently got Overcooked, so I’m hoping to try that out. It seems especially appropriate for the weekend to play a cooking game.
Kevin Slackie (@KSlackie) – I’m going to be home for the holidays, so I’m looking forward to opening my Overwatch Halloween Loot Boxes (I still haven’t gotten to them), playing a ton of Pokemon, and eating my girlfriend’s home cooking. It’ll be nice to take a break from the snot-freezing Minnesota weather.
Kyle Hilliard (@KyleMHilliard) – I’ll be making dinner this year, which is something I have come to enjoy. I like cooking when I have the time and can devote myself to it. My wife, siblings, and one of her co-workers who will be joining us, are all South Carolina transplants living in Minnesota, which is a strange theme, but it works for us, I guess. I just need to convince Javy to come over. As far non-food stuff, I am very excited to see Moana and make some headway on Dishonored 2. Also, if it snows enough, it might be time for some sledding. No promise, though.
Ian Boudreau (@iboudreau) – I finally got around to starting an XCOM 2 campaign this past weekend, and the beating I received at the hands of Advent was swift and brutal. So my holiday plan while staying here in Minneapolis is to have my revenge. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I’m going to try to get back into Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate because I’ve been treating my 3DS like it’s a relative I only see on special occasions.
Elise Favis (@elisefavis) – I bought Dishonored 2 a few days ago, but I still haven’t had as much time as I’d liked to explore Karnaca, and I’m hoping to delve deeper in the game during the holiday break. I’ve only heard good things, and loved the first game, so I’m sure I’ll enjoy this sequel. Also, I’d like to finally play Paper Mario Color Splash, since I’ve been meaning to for a bit now.
Michael Leri (@OrangeFlavored) – The only California home I"ll be seeing is in Watch Dogs 2, which I will complete during the holiday, platinum trophy and all. While it is a long break, I"m also going to try to play some Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Dishonored 2. Hitman, Titanfall 2, and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided are also sitting on my digital shelf, but I know I won"t even start those, even with upcoming snow that will keep me inside the house. I should probably also call my parents, huh?
All copyrights for this article are reserved to https://www.gameinformer.com/b/mainfeed.aspx?Tags=news
Hearthstone: Every New Card Revealed so Far
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See what the next expansion has in store...
By Cam Shea
More than 90 cards have now been revealed, so I"m breaking them out into individual slideshows by class, gang and rarity, and will continue to update these through to launch. Please bear in mind I"m waiting for the official image for each new card, so will generally be a couple of cards behind. Here"s where we"re at, as of November 24:
Druid Cards (6/9)
Hunter Cards (6/9)
Mage Cards (6/9)
Paladin Cards (9/9)
Priest Cards (7/9)
Rogue Cards (5/9)
Shaman Cards (3/9)
Warlock Cards (4/9)
Warrior Cards (6/9)
Neutral Common Cards (12/15)
Neutral Rare Cards (5/6)
Neutral Epic Cards (5/6)
Neutral Legendary Cards (4/9)
Grimy Goons Cards (3/3)
The Kabal Cards (3/3)
Jade Lotus Cards (3/3)
Oh, and that reveal trailer again in case you missed it!
Cam Shea is senior editor in IGN"s Sydney office and tends to write most of the Hearthstone content for the site. Tweet at him here.
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