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Live-action version of iconic Dead Island trailer is even sadder
Grab some tissues, because the tear-jerking, award-winning trailer from Dead Island has been remade in live-action. That's right: Instead of looking into the soulless, dead eyes of a computer-animated horde of zombies, you can look into the soulless, dead eyes of real-life zombies and the family they devour. Aren't video games fun? The trailer comes to the Internet courtesy of Machinima, and save for the very end, is a shot-by-shot recreation of the infamous trailer. We assume the reason for the ending remaining a CG animation is because there is, in fact, no Royal Palms Resort on the island of Banoi, and building an entire hotel for roughly 10 seconds of footage is a pretty tall budget order. Or maybe the creators just didn't feel like tempting fate and starting the zombie apocalypse. While this is a fan film, it nonetheless gives us an idea of what that Dead Island movie from Lionsgate might look like, should it ever be finished.
Dead Island dev's Hellraid reschedules the siege for 2014
Hellraid has been postponed to 2014 – "or to be more precise: when it's done," Producer Marcin Kruczkiewicz writes. Dead Island developer Techland needs more time to polish Hellraid for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, with plans to add new features, game modes and a revamped magic system. "If we released our game this year we would have to make too many compromises and the final product probably wouldn't meet all our promises and your expectations," Kruczkiewicz says. He outlines some changes to the game's magic system that spawned from internal playtesting: "For example, we want to redesign the magic system to make it even more powerful and diverse, add new ways of casting spells and a set of new, more visually stunning spells." Hellraid is a dark fantasy, hack-and-slash RPG that supports singleplayer to four-player co-op, pitting players against the armies of Hades. We'll see how long Techland can hold their demons at bay.
Dead Island Riptide is free to play on Steam this weekend
Dead Island Riptide is free for Steam users to play this weekend until Sunday at 1:00pm PT. The game is also 66 percent off ($13.59) until Monday, September 30, a good deal for those wanting to keep the game after this weekend's free trial. The Game of the Year Edition of the original Dead Island is discounted on Steam this weekend as well, as it is 75 percent off ($4.99) until Monday. The special edition includes the full game, Bloodbath Arena DLC, Ryder White DLC and Ripper mod packs.
Pre-ordering Dying Light lets you Be the Zombie
Warner Bros. and developer Techland are looking to lock in pre-orders for Dying Light by offering an exclusive PVP mode called "Be the Zombie." In "Be the Zombie," players assume the role of a night hunter – a super fast zombie with a special tendril for navigating the environment – and battle each other for supremacy. Dying Light, an open-world action game with parkour elements (and zombies) was announced prior to E3 earlier this year. Due on Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3 and PC in 2014, Dying Light is the second zombie-based property from Dead Island: Riptide developer Techland.
Dead Island developer Techland opens Vancouver studio for work on Dying Light
Polish-based developer Techland (Dead Island series) has jumped across the mighty pond of the Atlantic to open Digital Scapes Studio in Vancouver, Canada. As VentureBeat reports, former Radical Entertainment Technical Director Marcin Chady will serve as the studio's managing director. Digital Scapes will be treading familiar territory, as they'll be at least partially responsible for developing Techland's upcoming zombie-themed first-person melee game, Dying Light, which is set to be published by Warner Bros. Interactive sometime in 2014. In short: the technical director from the studio that brought us Prototype 2 will be leading a team that promises Mirror's Edge-style free-run gameplay plus zombie slaughter. Yeah, we're cool with that.
Dying Light debut gameplay shows free-running zombie slaying
The first gameplay demonstration of Warner Bros.' Dying Light showcases a marriage of a day-and-night cycle with gameplay elements from Dead Island, Mirror's Edge and Mark of the Ninja. The video depicts a character's efforts to survive in the remains of an infected city, scrounging for supplies to craft weapons like electrified blades a la Dead Island. The survivor scales buildings with ease and essentially treats zombies as goombas by lunging over them in free-running sprints reminiscent of Mirror's Edge. A time-sensitive choice is shown in the demo between saving a child or rushing to beat opposing forces to a supply drop, serving to make the passing of time more than just an aesthetic change to the overworld. The game's website states that nightfall makes zombies more aggressive and draws out predators that "only appear after sundown." A stealth mechanic called the "night sense" disperses soundwaves that depict whether an enemy poses a threat or is aware of the player's movement, similar to Mark of the Ninja. Dying Light is planned to launch sometime in 2014 for the PC, PS3, PS4, 360 and Xbox One.
Steam weekend deals aim for Dead Island series' head
This weekend's Steam deals have a decidedly undead slant, offering content from the Dead Island series at a reduced price. The original Dead Island is down to $5, while this year's entry, Dead Island: Riptide, is $20. DLC for some extra costumes and a special blade have also been reduced. Last week at E3, developer Techland revealed a new zombie game being published by Warner Bros. called Dying Light. It mixes parkour elements in a "ruined-world game," as our own Ludwig Kietzmann put it, with a full day/night cycle.
Hellraid unleashes E3 gameplay trailer
Dead Island developer Techland is still planning to ship Hellraid later this year for current-gen systems and PC. Here's the game's E3 gameplay trailer, which is a meatier morsel on the tease from late last month.
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger review: Back in the saddle
It's pretty rare for a game series to get as many chances as Call of Juarez has. After a middling debut, the series drummed up lots of critical goodwill with Bound in Blood, and then absolutely threw it all away with the awful The Cartel. Now, Techland has ventured back to the Wild West with Call of Juarez: Gunslinger, and the developer's got something to prove. Perhaps seeking to distance itself from The Cartel, Gunslinger is a different beast in almost every way, and it works. The most immediately obvious difference is the art style. Instead of the mostly realistic style of past Juarez games, Gunslinger opts for a more stylized and bombastic look. It's as if the developers threw anime, Mad Max, and The Good the Bad and the Ugly and Borderlands into a blender. That might sound weird, but it's a refreshing and enjoyable change. Gunslinger also has very little in common with its predecessors when it comes to story. The only real connection is a collectible with a short biography of Ray McCall, one of the protagonists from the first two games. This time around, Gunslinger puts players into the dusty spurs of bounty hunter Silas Greaves.%Gallery-186457%
Dying Light adds a dash of Parkour to Techland's zombie tour
Techland is keeping its zombie vendetta going in Dying Light, a new first-person action game coming to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2014, care of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The ruined-world game hinges on a realistic day/night cycle, as well as the agility and Parkour skills of the protagonist turned traceur. Day is pitched as a preparation phase, in which you scavenge a warmly lit urban wasteland for supplies and craft weapons to fend off undead walkers. The night requires a stealthier approach, if not a swift homeward retreat from deadlier monsters. Combat in Dying Light appears to be largely based on upgradeable melee weaponry (eg. an electrified machete), with bone-breaking blows triggering an x-ray visual effect. Zombies can also be pushed into spiked walls with a jump-kick to the chest. The frequency of fighting drops once night arrives and faster, more powerful creatures emerge. These can be detected via an on-screen pulse – one of the abilities you have by virtue of being an infected human yourself. When the monsters of the night do give chase, the camera can quickly flip 180 degrees to show their proximity, even while you dash and vault in the opposite direction. Movement certainly appears to be more fluid than in Techland's Dead Island, with which Dying Light shares a theme of smashing zombies in the tropical sun. The openness of the environment, overall game structure and the true nature of nightfall, the publisher says, are details left for another day.%Gallery-188905%
A little ditty about Call of Juarez: Gunslinger
The latest Call of Juarez: Gunslinger trailer is "The Story of Silas Greaves," a fine little ditty about the pistol-packin' gunman. Where's our sing-along bouncy ball?
New info and trailer for Techland's Hellraid
The first few details of Techland Hellraid have been revealed to Eurogamer's Polish site. The game is a horror/fantasy-style first-person RPG using Techland's Chrome Engine 5 to portray melee and spell-based fights with various demons, skeletons, and other bad guys. Just like Dead Island, the game will have four player archetypes that can work together, though they'll be classes rather than characters: Warrior, Paladin, Mage and Rogue. The game will be influenced by older games like "the first Quake, [and the] second Hexen or Diablo," says producer Marcin Kruczkiewicz. Hellraid's maps will be less open than Dead Island, and the experience system will be simpler, with skill trees that unlock as characters level up. Techland is currently looking for a publisher for the game, which it expects to have out this year on the Xbox 360, PS3, and the PC.
Dead Island dev Techland's 'Project Hell' now Hellraid, out this year
Initially revealed back in August, Techland's Project Hell now has the official name of Hellraid. A first-person, co-operative hack-and-slash fantasy game, Hellraid started as an internal weapon mod for Dead Island, eventually snowballing into a full-fledged game for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3, due some time this year.Hellraid is built upon a melee combat system relying on timing and precision, with a parry mechanic tossed on top. There will be a single-player campaign, but Techland says the main focus is the four-player cooperative multiplayer component, where a Game Master (think: Left 4 Dead's AI director, or a D&D dungeon master) will govern loot and enemy spawns, plus pose different online challenges. Techland promises more information in the weeks to come.%Gallery-187080%
Dead Island Riptide surfs the crest of this week's UK charts
Dead Island Riptide is the new chart leader in the UK. Like Dead Island before it, the zombie-stuffed continuation may be critically divisive, but commercially it's doing the business so far. Having said that, Riptide's first week sales come in at less than half of the original's. Dead Island sliced through the 5 million mark for sales earlier this year. Caught in the high Riptide is Injustice: Gods Among Us; last week's number one washes up this week in number two. Meanwhile, enhanced re-release Dark Arisen also matches its original's first week chart performance, notching third spot just like Dragon's Dogma did. The third of four new releases in this week's top ten is Star Trek; it boldly goes into fourth place. The last top ten debutante is Lego City Undercover: The Chase Begins, the 3DS version doing what its sibling failed to; the Wii U version debuted at 12th earlier this year. Outside of the new releases, this week's musical chairs are very interesting. Tomb Raider continues its impressive run, only down from fourth to fifth. FYI, Square Enix, that's eight weeks it's been in the UK top five, and it's ahead now of BioShock Infinite. After five weeks, Irrational's sky-high shooter is floating just below in sixth. Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon is another consistent performer, and five weeks in the 3DS game is still haunting the top ten.
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger answers on May 22
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger will meet at high noon in the center of Digital Distribution town on May 22 to dispatch XBLA, PSN and PC for $14.99.Beyond the release date announcement, Ubisoft also kicked off its pre-order program for the PC version of Gunslinger through its Uplay digital distribution network. Those who pre-purchase the game on Uplay will immediately receive Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood as a bonus.Gunslinger returns the Call of Juarez franchise back to its wild west roots because, frankly, we all want to forget The Cartel ever happened.%Gallery-186457%
Dead Island Riptide gameplay trailer thought it was safe
If you'd like to know how Dead Island transitions into the upcoming Riptide spin-off, watch this video. If you'd rather not have Dead Island's ending pseudo-spoiled for you, look away now. If you're indifferent about all of that and just want zombie carnage, why are you still reading?
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger trailer slings some guns
As promised, Ubisoft has released a "reveal" trailer for Call of Juarez: Gunslinger. We're not sure what's so much more revealing about it than last week's offering. Believe it or not, the gameplay involves shooting things with revolvers.%Gallery-181526%
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger gets a teaser trailer, more coming March 14
Ubisoft has released a teaser trailer and some new screenshots for Call of Juarez: Gunslinger, a new downloadable entry in the Techland-developed Wild West series. We wrote about it last year when it was announced for Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and the PC.Call of Juarez: Gunslinger will focus on Silas Greaves, a bounty hunter who bumps shoulders with the infamous Pat Garret, Jesse James, and Butch Cassidy.%Gallery-181014%
Dead Island: Riptide UK pre-order bonuses slice, dice, BBQ zombie flesh [Update: US too]
Very few things will survive the zombie apocalypse. One thing that will make the cut: pre-order bonuses. Quite literally in this case, as Dead Island: Riptide bonuses in the UK will include the Survivor Pack, which features the BBQ Blade seen above. The hefty machete has a fuel tank attached that, presumably, will set the blade on fire. If a giant flaming knife just isn't enough for you, the pack will also include a special in-game shop with discounted items and a higher chance for rare items. Furthermore, the Survivor Pack includes a booster for both XP and stats.Finally, those who pre-order from GAME will also get the Fashion Victim pack, which includes new skins for all playable characters. New skin is probably handy for those times when you find all of yours gnawed off by the undead.We've contacted Deep Silver to find out if these bonuses are headed to North America as well. At the moment, US retailers are listing a pre-order special edition including a Steelbook case, weapon mods, character skins and a digital map. That's not to be confused with the $80 "Rigor Mortis" Edition.Dead Island: Riptide launches April 23.Update: Amazon now lists the same pre-order bonuses for the US as well.
Dead Island sales pass 5 million
Counting both retail and digitally distributed copies of Dead Island, total sales for the weird zombie action-RPG have surpassed five million units globally, Deep Silver announced today. In meaningless, arbitrary statistics, that shakes down to about 402.18 units sold an hour since the game was originally released in back in September of 2011.By December 2011, Dead Island had shipped 3 million units worldwide, with a fourth million added to that total after another eight months. Today's figure, however, is our first look at how the game has actually sold, since shipped figures count all units sent to retailers, while sell-through/net sales only count what is actually purchased by a consumer. We're sure those Steam sales didn't hurt anything.
