chapter
Latest
Alternate 1980s RPG Majestic Nights is one big conspiracy
Some choose to believe the Apollo 11 moon landing of 1969 was a hoax, or that the United States government is keeping extraterrestrials in a hidden building somewhere in the Nevada desert. Epiphany Games is playing off these types of conspiracies with its freshly-announced episodic game, Majestic Nights, which will debut in September. In the alternate 1980s game, these sorts of conspiracies aren't just theories, but are "truths." Players guide an intelligence operative known as Cardholder and a private investigator named Cal in the isometric RPG, uncovering clues to the criminal cover-ups and world-breaking facts about events like alien abductions. The first season of Majestic Nights includes six episodes and kicks off with a "Chapter Zero" prologue for free in September, which dives into the aforementioned moon landing. Majestic Nights' subsequent chapters will come at a cost; the first is expected to arrive in October, with the season's conclusive sixth episode currently slated for April 2015. The game is in development for PC, Mac, iOS and Android, and while Epiphany didn't put a price to each chapter, season passes will be available for players to guarantee access to the whole shebang. [Image: Epiphany Games]
Muramasa Rebirth cursed with third DLC chapter, is pretty sickle of it
The third piece of story DLC for Muramasa Rebirth is now available to download for $4.99. Titled "A Spirited Seven Nights' Haunting," the chapter stars the ninja Arashimaru, who is on a quest to survive after receiving a curse that limits his life to seven days. Armed with a sickle and kunai, players can tackle both new and old enemies as Arashimaru and also summon the snake-like spirit threatening to kill him in order to overwhelm enemies. The Genroku Legends series of four downloadable episodes for Muramasa Rebirth was announced in November and features new characters and stories with each entry. The first chapter, "Fishy Tales of the Nekomata" arrived in January followed by the second episode, "A Cause to Daikon For," in February. Muramasa Rebirth launched in June 2013 as the Vita port of Vanillaware's original Wii game, Muramasa: The Demon Blade. The game is free for PlayStation Plus subscribers to download this month. [Image: Aksys Games]
Witness the power of this fully armed and operational SWG update
Despite its rocky past, Star Wars Galaxies still has a solid base of players who crave new content. To meet the demand, SOE has been releasing major updates every couple of months. It's been a longer wait than usual since the last Chapter, which went live way back in May.Now Chapter 7 has finally hit the streets. Is it worth the delay? Read the release notes and come to your own conclusions. The quick of it is: new epic encounter instances, a new town where high-level players can congregate in preparation for said encounters, and over 90 "collections" for the patient, OCD gamer.Oh, and RPG Vault's Jonric interviewed LucasArts Associate Producer Tim Temmerman about the update yesterday; be sure and glance over that for some more insight. Of course, if you're a Star Wars Galaxies player you can just log in and play the thing yourself.
GameTap VP of Content: Episodic games should reflect TV shows
Rick Sanchez, Vice President of Content at GameTap, outlines his thoughts on the potential of episodic games. After defining episodic content -- regularly scheduled chapters of a game that can stand alone -- he focuses on why this method of game design fits the market.Sanchez says that the production and life of episodic games could reflect a TV show. When looking for a publisher, developers could create an episodic pilot of a game, like the TV pilot season allows producers to attempt a variety of shows at a relatively low cost. A publisher could order a series of episodes based on the game pilot, and even more episodes could be schedule based on consumer purchases and feedback.Sanchez also notes that the casual gamer could support the bite-sized style of episodic publishing. We sometimes avoid -- or don't complete -- 60-hour games because we don't have the time. While we're not casual gamers, we prefer frequently playing a game for a short duration. Does the pick-up-and-play aesthetic inherently relate to gameplay -- like Katamari Damacy or Tetris -- or can chapters of a first-person shooter also fit that ideal?
