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A motorized bike will help you survive the apocalypse
When the apocalypse arrives (zombie or otherwise), you'll need to be prepared for anything. Part of said preparedness should certainly involve transportation, and thanks to the folks at Motopeds, there's a legit option. The Survival Bike: Black Ops Edition hits the trail with a compound crossbow, fuel storage, shovel, tomahawk, harpoon, blade saw, climbing gear, lights and a smattering of tools and knives. To keep you on the correct (read: covert) path, there's a handlebar mount for that trusty smartphone or GPS unit needed to navigate. Unfortunately, there's no word on pricing, but the company's regular chassis kit includes everything you'll need minus the 4-stroke engine for $1,999.
Dino-survival: Hands-on with The Stomping Land's early access alpha
Yesterday, I examined up-and-coming dinosaur-survival MMO Beasts of Prey. Today, let's look at another game in the same niche genre: The Stomping Land. The Stomping Land isn't technically billing itself as an MMO, but it boasts a semi-permanent world. But my experience in it was nothing like the trailers shown back in May. The current game is totally different. In fact, it seems to have regressed. There's no customization, there are no berries, and no one I talked to knew how to name a tribe. It feels like a semi-permanent shooter, similar to other survival games except without a lot of the building. You either make a teepee or you don't. You make a bow or you don't. You have a dinosaur mount or... you don't. The biggest servers I saw had 24 people, meaning I was able to avoid other players very often, but the game was more fun when I encountered people -- at least people who didn't one-shot me and waltz away.
Dino-survival: Hands-on with Beasts of Prey's early access alpha
When I first dived into the horror-survival genre, I knew there would be zombies, but I never expected dinosaurs. You don't get much bigger than a T-Rex stomping around your neighborhood (though I am still waiting for an underwater survival game that randomly has blue whales unintentionally ruining your kelp fort as they hunt for krill). When dinosaurs started to replace zombies, I knew that my inner child would drag me in, even if I once again had to pay for alpha. It's this very idea of "paid alpha" that inspired me to tackle not one but two titles from the newly spawned dino-survival based genre. Apologists will say that it's just alpha, but the reality is that you get only one launch, and to me, launch is you start letting people buy your game and don't hold them under an NDA. With this in mind, I decided to try my hand at both Beasts of Prey and The Stomping Land to see which, if either, feels the most deserving of my time (and money). Today, I'll start with BoP.
Why do games prompt cruel behavior?
Games like DayZ and Rust have become a whole genre unto themselves: open-world survival sandboxes that quickly turn into simulations of human cruelty. But why is that, exactly? Why do people in a sandbox devote so much of their energy to tearing one another down with such vigor? A recent article on Wired asks exactly that question, exploring these open-world games and why they tend to provoke such abject cruelty in their participants. The piece comes to no hard and fast conclusions, speaking both from personal experiences and from interviews with other players. One player speculates that the core of it is that these games give you nothing but tools, so players invent their own fun by using other players as content. Another possible explanation is the very nature of catharsis, envisioning dark behaviors whilst knowing that you would never carry them out in the real world. Take a look at the full article if you'd like a deeper look at why players spend so much time in games where anything goes by clubbing others with rocks.
Meet Durango, Nexon's dino survival MMO
Pop quiz, hotshot! Which of these things do not go together: dinosaurs, wooly mammoths, hot air balloons, chainsaws, survival gameplay. It's actually a trick question, because in Durango, Nexon's newest MMO, they all do. Nexon recently revealed the survival-based dino-tastic MMO with a teaser site. From the looks of it, players will be put into a mish-mash prehistoric isometric setting and challenged to survive by making tools, constructing traps, fighting dinos, and building up a safe home. The title is being made by the folks who did Vindictus. In an interesting twist, Durango will be heading primarily (from the looks of it) to mobile platforms, including iOS, Android, and Nvidia Shield. You can check out the teaser trailer after the jump.
Would Apocalypse Survival Guide help keep you alive?
Are you prepared for the upcoming zombie apocalypse? Okay, so you believe in zombies, but are you prepared for the apocalypse in a more general sense? Let's presume for a moment that you don't have a massive stockpile of weapons, food, and water just in case society falls apart. When the neighbors start chewing on each other for nutrients, what is your game plan? Apocalypse Survival Guide is an iOS that aims to aid you in your quest for making it through the bad times alive so you can start rebuilding society. Right out the gate, the app gives you two free scenarios, a zombie outbreak and the more likely global warming. There are more scenarios available as in-app purchases, but presumably the iTunes store won't be working when the crap hits the fan. If you think there's the potential for a volcano/UFO/meteor strike in the future, you can make those purchases now. Once you pick your apocalypse situation, the app provides you with a set of reading material, checklists, GPS options, and a quiz to help see how survival-ready you are. The supplied reading materials are well done, taking a real world approach to some of the app's more ludicrous ideas. Rather than tell you about zombies in pop culture, the reading focuses on whether or not a zombie outbreak could actually happen, including listing actual diseases that might bring about similar effects. The readings aren't particularly long, but by keeping the focus on real world possibilities there's some interesting meat to be found. The tips for each of the two provided scenarios are hit and miss. Guess what? You'll need a weapon if there are flesh eating monsters outside. Also, did you know food spoils? These are just some of the killer hits you'll be given by the app, or by watching a single episode of the Walking Dead ... or any zombie movie ever made. Next up is the "Check Your Surroundings" portion of the app. Utilizing your GPS or Wi-Fi, the app tells you where the nearest sources of food, medicine, shelter, weapons, hardware, or gas are. It's selection success depends on what you're looking for. Once you have a route or list of addresses planned, the app allows you to print them all out via the "Look. Listen. Learn" page. The map search results are mixed. I live in the middle of Atlanta, yet most of the returns when I searched for food were all the various Quick Trip's in the area. It doesn't show me any of the Walmarts or local grocery stores, but I'd be covered on Ding Dongs. When I search for where to find weapons, all of a sudden the app knows where every single Walmart in the Atlanta region is. The app also adds in Chuck's Firearms for a more authentic Southern experience. Once you've checked your surroundings, it's time to build your survival kit. The zombie and global warming plans have many of the same basic suggested supplies, so one plan will largely cover the other. Once you've checked off the items on your list you should go ahead and use the included print feature because if society falls apart, your iPad battery isn't going to be useful for long. It's a silly app that actually provides a few useful tips for surviving in hostile situations; maybe not a zombie outbreak, but a riot or weather disaster to be sure. There's just one major hitch that sort of ruins that app: the survival quiz. At the top of the each situation screen is a stat that shows your survival percentage for the scenario in question. Underneath that is little box that says "Update Your Chances of Surviving _________." Here you'll find the survival quiz that allegedly wants to help you find your survival percentage, but the quiz is completely broken. Here's what you see when you try and answer a question in the drop down menus for each answer: There's nothing worse than when you have to guess the surrounding population of your area only to discover all the suggestions are "?". This happens every time you click a question. Terrain? All question marks. Weight class? All question marks. Do you wear glasses? Ok, that's not a big issue, but it's still all question marks. This would just be an annoying quirk of the app if it allowed you to easily change your answer. Apocalypse Survival Guide, however, knows the end of the world doesn't come with second chances, so you'll just have to guess the right answer. If you get it wrong, you have to then select the text of your wrong answer, manually delete it, and guess again. If this feature was around in an actual zombie apocalypse, I'd leave it to be eaten alive. There are some really solid ideas in this app. The art design is beautiful and it's a fun way for parents to start talking about disaster planning with their kids. Sadly, solid ideas don't matter if they're wrapped up in a frustrating user interface. Currently the maps aren't useful enough to rely on when your lives are in danger, and even if they were, the broken quiz makes it impossible to tell how prepared you actually are for the end. How can I survive without my survival rate percentage? I'd be a dead man feeling all cocky because I think I've got a 78% when I'm really working with a 45%. Apocalypse Survival Guide is worth a fun afternoon of time killing, but when it comes time to form your post-apocalypse posse, this is one hombre you should probably leave at home.
Don't Starve Together multiplayer expansion coming this summer
Klei Entertainment's single-player roguelike survival game, Don't Starve, will receive a free expansion that adds multiplayer options late this summer. While the developer noted some uncertainty on what the final version of the expansion will look like, Don't Starve Together is expected to have "most (if not all) the normal features in Don't Starve, balanced for multiplayer," and "potentially" new features. Klei believes that Don't Starve Together will "support 2-4 players simultaneously. Could be more, but we are aiming for 4 minimum." The expansion will be free for all current Steam or standalone PC players to download, though the price of the standard game will increase by $5 (to $19.99) once the alpha version of Together launches. Meanwhile, Klei just launched its single-player Reign of Giants DLC. Update: When asked about multiplayer support for the game's PS4 version, Klei tweeted that it would "like to do PS4 as well, but it's far away from knowing if it's possible." [Image: Klei Entertainment]
Hands-on with TUG, The Untitled Game
In my youth, my father handed me nails, wood, and a hammer and told me to build whatever I wanted. I managed to create swollen fingers and a few tangled heaps of wood and nails. Nerd Kingdom is a lot like my father, but instead of wood, the studio is handing me TUG, or as I like to call it, everything. TUG is a sandbox RPG akin to Landmark or Minecraft, but something about TUG is different. Maybe it's the development team that contains working titles like Economist or Behavioral Scientist. Or perhaps it's the data-driven design philosophy, which claims to deliver a better experience by analyzing how we play. Regardless, it's clear that Nerd Kingdom is attempting to give us more tools to create, both for the players in game and the modders outside of it. My recent demo, interview, and hands-on session showed me how TUG will unlock the creator's imagination -- with fewer swollen fingers.
Echo of the Wilds strands you in the middle of nowhere with ghosts
Goblins, aliens, Nazis, zombies, monsters ... all of these are scary video game enemies, for sure, but none hold a candle to Mother Nature. Well okay, Mother Nature and spooky ghost-deer-people. Such is life in indie PC game Echo of the Wilds, where players explore randomly-generated wilderness brimming with harsh elements and aforementioned spirits. You'll need to craft tools and survival gear to survive the harsh elements, while also gathering food and seeking shelter. There's a bit more of a narrative focus here than in games like Don't Starve, as your character's ultimate goal is to escape from the wilds and the apparitions that haunt him. Those who want less story and more gameplay have the option of playing in Endless mode, which removes the game's narrative and instead challenges players to survive increasingly difficult odds. Echo of the Wilds is available now via developer Caiysware's website, and is also up for voting on Steam Greenlight. [Image: Caiysware]
The Daily Grind: How can survival sandboxes keep the challenge fresh?
Shawn and I have had several conversations about the conundrum present in Fallen Earth. Namely, that the first part of the game is really exciting because you get that cool feeling of scrounging for survival and clawing your way out of the wasteland -- but then this turns into a different game when "survival" makes way for "laser tag with high-tech gear in PvP zones." It's made me wonder how MMOs that are being built with a survival sandbox angle are planning to keep that sense of challenge and building yourself up fresh. I think that there's a point in these games where you have accumulated and built enough to keep yourself comfortable unless the game deliberately removes that attained protection or keeps escalating the danger past the point of lunacy. So this is our thinking exercise for the day: How can survival sandboxes keep the challenge fresh for players? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Nether adds crafting, creature mode, and tribes
The mean streets of Nether are easing up a bit on players, as Phosphor Games has patched in a slew of helpful systems for its February update. The trio of new features includes crafting, a creature mode, and tribes. Crafting encourages players to scavenge from their adventures and fashion gear and weapons to use and trade. If being a bad guy is your thing, then the new creature mode allows users to step into the twisted role of a nether to stalk victims. And tribes, Nether's version of guilds, are now in the game with bases, a skill tree, and special objectives to be patched in later in the month. Players who join a tribe from now through February 15th will earn special bonuses including currency and a free uniform. We've got a video showing some of the February update features after the jump, so get a move on, little doggy! [Source: Phosphor Games press release]
Rust alpha sells 750,000 copies
Rust, the MMO-meets-survival game from Facepunch Studios, sold 750,000 copies in a month and a half since entering Steam early access. The news is courtesy of an update from creator Garry Newman, who described the sales mark as "an amount we never even imagined selling over the game's lifetime." The PC/Mac/Linux game's success has been consistent since its launch, as it reached 250,000 players less than two weeks ago. Newman is the developer of the ever-popular Garry's Mod, a Source engine-based physics sandbox that saw 3.5 million copies sold as of November 2013. As for how Rust compares to Newman's mod, the developer says it "already made us 2/3rds the amount of money that Garry's Mod has made in 8 years." Garry's Mod is priced at $9.99 on Steam, whereas the alpha version of Rust can be purchased for $19.99 on Steam Early Access. Newman described Rust's success as "both a blessing and a curse," citing a "sensory overload" on the behalf of the developer from its popularity. "We see all these amazing things happening, voices from all directions, ideas, bugs, cheaters.. and we're scrambling to catch up with everything," he wrote.
Scattered Shots: Beast mastery vs. survival raiding
Every Thursday, WoW Insider brings you Scattered Shots for beast mastery, marksmanship and survival hunters. This week, your host Adam Koebel, aka Bendak will be discussing the differences between survival and beast mastery raiding. It's been a long time since I felt the need to agonize over what spec I want to play on my hunter in raids. Usually there's one clear cut winner, but in Siege of Orgrimmar both survival and beast mastery are doing pretty darn well. Maybe we're not putting out warlock numbers, but we're well into the upper half of the charts when it comes to DPS. The recent hotfix to Aspect of the Hawk gave us just enough of a kick to keep us competitive as everyone continues to gear up. Marksmanship has cemented itself as a popular PvP spec in 5.4, and maybe it's OK that one spec is more PvP oriented. At least we have large numbers of hunters playing all three specs -- it's not a luxury we've always had in the past. One of the most common questions I see from new hunters is what spec should they play for the best DPS? It's difficult to answer such a question, and it reminds me a lot of the "what is the best pet?" question. If we're talking about PvE it really comes down to beast mastery vs. survival. I haven't forgotten about marksmanship, but in my opinion it's just not as versatile for raiding this tier, or this entire expansion for that matter. As for choosing between survival and beast mastery, the best place to start is to learn the differences.
Undead Labs says 'big things are going on with State of Decay'
Is Undead Labs working on its long-rumored State of Decay MMO? Maybe so and maybe no, but the company is working on something big according to founder Jeff Strain's latest blog post. "We'll be able to share details later this year," he writes, "but as with State of Decay, we think it's best if we just keep our heads down and build some prototypes before we talk too much. For now, suffice it to say there are big things going on with State of Decay. Strain also intimates that whatever it is will take quite a while. "It's been a long haul from the original vision to this point, and the road ahead of us will take years to travel. We hope you're up for the trip, because we can't do it without you," he says.
Field Journal: Seeking instant gratification in RIFT
I've always been pretty open about my feelings on RIFT: I have an immense admiration for the mechanical ideas and the sheer effort Trion makes, but the world-building and aesthetic choices put me to sleep. The game firmly belongs in the category of those games I wish I liked but don't. While I played the game's first 20-something levels (not to mention trying out several alts into their teens) early in its existence, it just could not hold me. Further attempts, such as during free weekends, in the unlimited free trial, and after the conversion to free-to-play, uniformly resulted in my milling about for a couple of hours before getting bored and uninstalling yet again. Maybe if I ignored the world entirely and focused purely on constant activity, I could get into it. Fortunately, RIFT's Instant Adventure system offers just what I need to test that theory.
DayZ still not ready for release
You can't really call what's happening to DayZ a series of delayz, since the game haz never formally announced a release date. But a lot of potential playerz are still waiting patiently for the standalone version to see the light of day. Lead developer Dean Hall took to Reddit recently to respond to player questionz regarding the long-awaited standalone and explain why the game still isn't out. In short, it isn't the game itself; it's the strain of keeping the game going around a large enough number of people. According to Hall, the big element holding the game back iz the continued work on ensuring client stability and framerate with a large enough number of playerz and zombiez. Hall cites 15 FPS az a bare minimum for the game to function, something that haz yet to be achieved even with existing optimizationz. Not that thiz will assuage those looking forward to playing the standalone version of the zombie survival simulator, but at least it clearz up the reasons for the wait.
Scattered Shots: A hunter retrospective
Every Thursday, WoW Insider brings you Scattered Shots for beast mastery, marksmanship and survival hunters. This week, your host Adam Koebel, aka Bendak will be discussing the nine year history of the hunter class. Last week, we talked about the community's ideas for the future of hunters. This week, on the eve of BlizzCon, we're going to look in the other direction at the nine year history of hunters. Recently, I was browsing through some ancient screenshots (which you'll find peppered through this article) and I was struck with some mixed emotions. I was extremely nostalgic for vanilla, but at the same time I would never want to go back to how it was. You veteran hunters can put on your rose-tinted glasses as I dive back into the era of pet happiness and mongoose bites, and the rest of you can find out just how much our class has changed over the years. Our story begins in beta patch 0.9, released on August 17, 2004. This was a very special patch because it's when hunters were added to World of Warcraft -- the last class to be added, in fact. Things were different back then. The survival specialization was known as "outdoorsmanship" and marksmanship was known as "ranged combat" because it was the only specialization actually focused on ranged combat. Prior to this patch, all classes were able to learn tracking but now it was made exclusive to hunters (and rightfully so). Feign Death was a rogue and druid ability before the hunters came and took it over. To this day, the name of the Feign Death icon is "ability_rogue_feigndeath."
Scattered Shots: Hunter wish list for 6.0
Every Thursday, WoW Insider brings you Scattered Shots for beast mastery, marksmanship and survival hunters. This week, your host Adam Koebel, aka Bendak will be discussing the future of the hunter class. In little more than a week, we'll know what we have to look forward to in the next expansion at BlizzCon. Whether or not we hear something about hunters specifically remains to be seen. There's no class panel scheduled and class questions won't be allowed during the Q&A panel. We have had some hints from the developers here and there, but ultimately our future is a mystery and may remain so until we see the first beta patch notes. Arth over at the Warcraft Hunters Union has been compiling a community-generated list of hunter ideas and suggestions intended for the developers known as The Hunter Project. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the hunter class as it stands, but there are some areas where I think some changes are needed. We'll take a look at some of the suggestions put forth in The Hunter Project and I'll add my own input to the mix.
Scattered Shots: Siege tips and tricks, part 2
Every Thursday, WoW Insider brings you Scattered Shots for beast mastery, marksmanship and survival hunters. This week, your host Adam Koebel, aka Bendak will be discussing the finer points of pew pewing in The Underhold and Downfall wings of Siege of Orgrimmar. Some of you have been waiting 6 weeks for the Downfall wing to unlock, but now all hunters will get their opportunity to turn Garrosh Hellscream into their own personal pin cushion. If you missed the column from a few weeks ago, you can go check out part 1 of the Siege tips and tricks, covering Vale of Eternal Sorrows and Gates of Retribution. The fights in the latter half of the raid range from purely single target, such as Malkorok, to complete AoE binges like Spoils of Pandaria. In this guide we'll be focusing on mechanics in flexible and normal mode, but some of this can apply to raid finder difficulty. Keep in mind that a lot of the forthcoming tips are simply suggestions and that your mileage may vary. What works for me may not work for you, but this will give you an idea of how our abilities can be utilized on the final six bosses. Stock up on some Tomes of the Clear Mind and let's get started.
Sandbox survival game Eden Star powered by Unreal Engine 4
Flix Interactive recently launched its Kickstarter project for an Unreal Engine 4-powered, first-person adventure game called Eden Star. The developer is seeking £620,000 ($1,003,284) by November 29 to fund the project. Billed as a "sandbox survival-creation game," Eden Star has players gather resources from the hostile world of Pharus 7 to bring back to a desolate Earth, guarding their "Eden Kit" power source from imposing alien forces. In the project description, Flix Interactive put an emphasis on the game's physics-driven combat and "free-running movement system." The developer also opened a Steam Greenlight page to get the PC game on Valve's distribution service.
