proteus
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EVE Online patches in Proteus
Deep space never looked as good in EVE Online as it does today, now that the Proteus release has gone live. This monthly update has made visual improvements to the Gallente Exequror and the asteroid fields that players will encounter on a regular basis. Other Proteus features include a balance pass on recon ships, additional high-end exploration sites, improvements to the beta star map, new player mining locations, and a streamlining of some module groups. You can check out the Proteus features page or read up on the patch notes for more info. EVE's next update, Tiamat, is scheduled for February 12th.
EVE Online video gives brief 'recon' of Proteus
Sometimes all it takes is a good preview video to ratchet up one's personal excitement and anticipation over an upcoming release. If you're an EVE Online fan, then you might get that rush from the following brief video in which the devs outline Proteus' main features. One of the biggest features of Proteus is a full rebalance for recon ships, including making them more sturdy and completely immune to directional scanners. The update will also contain the module tier side project, beta starmap tweaks, permanent places for newbies to mine, and visual improvements to one of the ships and asteroid belts. Check out the video after the break!
Latest EVE dev blog charts module rebalancing
EVE's forthcoming Proteus release will feature the second round of rebalancing work that CCP has termed Module Tiericide. Today's dev blog explains some of the changes courtesy of a sizable chart that shows stats like CPU usage, optimal range, powergrid usage, and more. There are a lot of numbers to parse, but if you're into that sort of thing, CCP says that it will be collecting player feedback and acting on it prior to Proteus' January 13th launch date.
EVE Online plans security crackdown on RMT rule violators
Players who have been skirting EVE Online's TOS might find themselves on the bad side of a ban come 2015, as the studio is rolling out tougher rules on violators in the new year. CCP posted a security blog in which it outlined how real-money traders will be punished, as well as those engaging in other activities such as input broadcasting and multiplexing. While CCP didn't post the number of bans it performed in 2014, it did show a few graphs illustrating where the problem areas lay. Banned accounts this year, permanent and temporary, were divided up by macro use (56%), ISK selling (18%), ISK buying (5%), modified clients (4%), ISK spamming (1%), and other (16%). On the brighter side of news, the team is hard at work on January's Proteus patch with sneakier combat recon ships, improved asteroid belt visuals, and the retirement of industry teams. [Thanks to Chrysillis for the tip!]
Humble Bundle celebrates IndieCade: Proteus, Ibb & Obb
This week's Humble Weekly Bundle is courtesy of IndieCade, the annual independent games festival being held in Los Angeles this week. The IndieCade 2 bundle features seven PC games and benefits both developers and the IndeCade Foundation, and it ends next Thursday, October 16. Three of the games are available to all donors: Cube and Star, Lyne and Ian Bogost's A Slow Year, an IndieCade 2010 award-winning game. Those that spend at least $7.25 as of this writing will receive Ibb and Obb as well as Proteus, the former as a "Best Friends Forever Double Pack" that includes a second Steam key to give to a friend. By dishing out at least $8, players will also get Dinosaur Polo Club's Early Access game Mini Metro and Incandescent Workshop's Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator. The latter is a multiplayer-only game, which is why it will also come with a second Steam key for fellow starship troopers to enjoy. The final tier gives players four more copies of Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator in addition to all the other games listed, for $17. [Image: Humble Bundle]
PlayStation Plus nabs Road Not Taken, Dragon's Crown in August
Sony has unveiled next month's PlayStation Plus lineup, announcing that subscribers will receive free downloadable copies of Road Not Taken, Crysis 3, and other featured games across its platforms in August. PlayStation 4 owners will receive Polytron's brain-bending puzzle-platformer Fez and Spry Fox's stylish roguelike Road Not Taken. PlayStation 3 subscribers get Crytek's futuristic FPS Crysis 3 and Ed Key's first-person exploration game Proteus, while PS Vita owners can look forward to Vanillaware's fantasy-themed beat-'em-up Dragon's Crown and Digital Dreams' "infographics action game" Metrico. Fez, Proteus, and Dragon's Crown are also available as Cross-Buy titles for the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita. All featured games will be freely downloadable for PlayStation Plus members in North America when the PlayStation Store updates next Tuesday. [Video: Sony]
Lone Survivor, Thomas Was Alone, Stealth Inc, Proteus in a PSN bundle
The Curve Studios Mega Bundle on PSN collects a handful of indie gems that are cross-compatible on PS3 and Vita, all for $15 ($13.50 for Plus members): Thomas Was Alone, Stealth Inc, Lone Survivor: The Director's Cut and Proteus. This is a broad bundle. Thomas Was Alone is a minimalistic platformer starring shapes as characters and narrated by an English gentleman; Stealth Inc is a rapid-paced, robot- and laser-laden platformer; Lone Survivor is an introspective, psychological thriller and survival game; and Proteus is ... Proteus. It's a procedurally generated exploration game in a mystical, illusive world with a soundtrack created by the immediate surroundings. Check out the deal right here.
Best of the Rest: Anthony's picks of 2013
Team Joystiq is barging into 2014 with a celebration of last year's best games. Keep reading throughout the week to see our assembly of ingenious indies and triple-A triumphs. DmC: Devil May Cry No game surprised me more in 2013 than DmC: Devil May Cry. That surprise has absolutely nothing to do with some diehard devotion to Capcom's internally developed quartet of games in the original series either. What surprised me was the fact that Ninja Theory finally made something that lived up to the promise of Enslaved and Heavenly Sword. Both games aimed high in trying to deliver bitchin' action and deeply human tales, but both missed the mark. In DmC, they finally nailed it. Young Dante's fight against the demons is classic coming-of-age stuff. Rushing through Limbo feels like if J.D. Salinger wrote Dead Leaves. The combat, meanwhile, felt meatier than the limp button mashing of Enslaved, but more accessible than ball busters like Devil May Cry 3.
Proteus patch brings PlayStation content to PC
Indie developer Ed Key has released a free update for the PC version of his meditative exploration-based adventure game Proteus, adding in content previously exclusive to its PlayStation 3 and PS Vita ports. The PC version of Proteus now includes the PSN version's "Wild Islands" feature, which introduces a series of unique graphical flourishes throughout the game's randomly-generated terrain. The feature is unlocked after playing through the game once, and players can adjust the frequency of these new effects or disable them entirely. Version 1.2 of Proteus also boasts a steadier framerate and improved audio mixing, among other tweaks and bugfixes listed here.
Experimental adventure game Proteus lands on PS3 and Vita next week
Ed Key and David Kanaga's short-form adventure game Proteus will hit the PlayStation Network next week as a Cross-Buy title for the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita, Sony revealed in the latest PlayStation Blogcast episode. Proteus is a first-person, exploration-focused adventure game in which players explore a pixelated island, accompanied by a mood-setting soundtrack. The upgraded PS Vita version of Proteus features new world-generation options that produce unique maps based on a player's physical location. Both the PS3 and Vita versions share a feature that creates procedurally generated content based on the time of day. Proteus launched earlier this year for PC platforms, and was subsequently featured alongside Hotline Miami and Thomas Was Alone in a Humble Bundle compilation.
Proteus launching on PS3 and Vita this month with new world generation options
Curve Studios' "video dream" Proteus will launch this month on PS3 and Vita. The exploration game will include new world creation features on the Sony platforms. Players can generate their worlds using the Vita's location-tracking option and by using the current date on both PS3 and Vita. Also, players will have the chance to "remix" their worlds by using the Vita's back touch panel, and can still let the game randomly create their pixelated dreamscape. Proteus first launched on PC and Mac in January. For those that can't wait for the PS3 and Vita versions, it is available on both Steam and DRM-free through the game's official site DRM-free for $10.
Proteus brings natural, pixelated beauty to PS3, Vita this fall
Proteus, the award-winning exploration experiment, will join the growing list of indies gracing PS3 and Vita this fall. Curve Studios, developer of Stealth Bastard Deluxe, is working with developers Ed Key and David Kanaga to bring Proteus to Sony's platforms. Proteus launched on PC and Mac in January (and later on Linux). Proteus offers a procedurally generated universe of exploration and is, in a sense, the epitome of an indie game. It's a beautiful world backlit by a soothing yet energetic soundtrack that the player creates as he explores all four seasons of a pastel island. It's a digital, on-screen experience that conveys just as much about the grandeur of nature as a real-life camp out. It's experimental and it has no classic "game" elements: no score, no leaderboards, no checkpoints. "Here at Curve we've been working with Ed to make the PS Vita and PS3 versions even better than the original, and over the next few months we're going to have more information on how we're using the power of PS3 and PS Vita to bring the absolute best Proteus experience to you guys," Curve Marketing Manager Rob Clarke writes on the PlayStation Blog. If you can't wait for Proteus on PS3 or Vita, it's available for $10 now on Steam, and supports Big Picture mode.
Humble Indie Bundle 8 serves up Hotline Miami, Proteus, more
The Humble Indie Bundle 8 launched today, offering up downloadable Windows, Mac, and Linux versions of Thomas Was Alone, Awesomenauts, Little Inferno, Dear Esther, and Capsized as part of its pay-what-you-want base package. Buyers who beat the average purchase price (currently around $5) will also receive Hotline Miami and Proteus. The package additionally includes a free Awesomenauts character skin; if you ever wanted to dress up as a chicken while playing a side-scrolling MOBA, today is the day that your dreams become reality. All games are available as DRM-free downloads, and Steam keys are included. Humble 8 also marks the first time that Dear Esther, Thomas Was Alone, Little Inferno, Capsized, and Awesomenauts are available for Linux. The Humble Indie Bundle 8 will be available through June 14.
World of Glue, Gurney, Spy Parity, more free in Mumble Indie Bungle
Pippin Barr is up to his academic tricks again, this time with a bundle of six new games based on popular indie titles as if they were misheard in conversation: Gurney, World of Glue, Spy Parity, Proteas, 30 Flights of Loathing and Carp Life. These make up the Mumble Indie Bungle, and five of them are completely free, available to download for PC and Mac on Barr's site. Carp Life – a play on IGF mega-winner Cart Life – is extra special, available for $1 or any price over it."The idea for the collection, in keeping with the titles, is that it's meant to be this set of crappy indie games that someone perhaps bought for you, mistaking them for the originals," Barr writes on his blog. "So you might excitedly unwrap your new bundle of games to find something like Subpar Meat Boy and Flour (Instead of Super Meat Boy and Flower). Not that I'm using those two titles, though both were originally near the top of the list."Gurney – a title parody of thatgamecompany's Journey – has players type out religious phrases as they scroll across the bottom of the screen, over the rolling, flickering lights of a hospital ceiling and anxious faces of doctors. The words become jumbled as the player loses consciousness, and Barr warns that eventually the game can cause seizures, so be careful with that one. Or, have fun.World of Glue is a platforming play on World of Goo, Spy Parity is a jab at Chris Hecker's Spy Party, Proteas is an experiment on Proteus and 30 Flights of Loathing is a step away from Blendo Games' Thirty Flights of Loving.Check out all the games your aging aunt thinks you're talking about on Barr's site, and buy Carp Life for whatever you think it's worth right here.
Indie Spring Sale bounces onto Steam
From now through March 29, Steam will be hosting a cavalcade of discounted indie games, both old standbys and newcomers alike, as part of its Indie Spring Sale. The list of discounted games (just click on "Specials") is as long as it is jam packed with great deals.For instance, 25 percent off of Kentucky Route Zero is something you can have in your life right now, as is the opportunity to buy To The Moon, Home or Jamestown for less than $5 each. Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien, Super Hexagon, Proteus, Retro City Rampage, VVVVVV; the list of discounted greatness goes on and on. There's even quite a few options for you Linux gamers out there, so apologize to your wallet and start restocking your gaming retirement fund.
EVE Evolved: Research: Reverse Engineering and Tech 3
In the first two parts of this guide to Research in EVE Online, I covered the basics of Tech 1 blueprint research and the "Invention" system that allows players to make their own Tech 2 blueprint copies. The reverse engineering process used to make Tech 3 blueprints is a lot like invention except with a new set of materials, equipment and skills. Though the process used to create it will be familiar to inventors, the end product is a strange beast. Unlike Tech 2, Tech 3 isn't just a straight improvement over lower tech levels and doesn't use Tech 1 or 2 as a base. Instead, it's an entirely new technology used to make custom, modular ships. At the moment, the only Tech 3 products we have are the modular "Strategic Cruiser" class but more is planned for future patches. Tech 3 frigates are rumoured to be next on the development table and it's entirely possible that we'll see strange new Tech 3 modules thrown into the mix too at some point. In today's part of this bumper guide to research, I look into EVE's newest addition to the researcher's repertoire as I examine Tech 3 and "Reverse Engineering". I'll look at how it all fits together to make a finished product, what's required to get involved and best practices for staying profitable in what has become a very competitive marketplace.
EVE Evolved: Research: Reverse Engineering and Tech 3, part 2
To install a reverse engineering job, you'll need more than just the relic. A hybrid tech decryptor for one of EVE's four races is required to specify which race of hull or subsystem your blueprint will be for. For example, using an Amarr hybrid tech decryptor will make the subsystem or hull blueprint it produces an Amarr Legion one.
EVE Evolved: Tech 3 Strategic Cruisers
With EVE Online's Apocrypha expansion came an entire new class of ship. Tech 3 Strategic Cruisers represent a new wave of technology in EVE. Rather than being simply improved versions of the existing Tech 2 ships, Strategic Cruisers are modular ships reverse engineered from ancient Sleeper and Talocan components. They allow players to design their own ship from a base hull and a set of five subsystems. Each subsystem has four options, with a fifth possibly in the works. Original designs called for the ship to improve as it was used, but this was replaced with a set of rank 1 skills and you lose a level of one of them if your ship is destroyed. A fully fit Tech 3 ship originally would have cost you upwards of two billion isk but prices have since dropped to around the 600 million mark and they're still falling. As these ships have become more affordable, I've had a chance to see some of them in action and see first hand what they can do.Join me in this visual gallery article where I dish out some information on Strategic Cruisers and then examine a few of the different ways these ships can be fit to fulfill different roles. If you have a particularly inventive setup, feel free to post it as a comment. %Gallery-71984%
Massively's Apocrypha expansion hands-on: Epic Mission Arcs and Tech III
Epic Mission Arcs and Lore EVE Online's setting of New Eden is one with a rich backstory, which is always being fleshed out further through regular Chronicles (short stories found on the game's official site), video footage tied into the game's lore and, as of last year, brought to life in the Empyrean Age novel. While not all players opt to delve into this aspect of the game, the content is there to immerse yourself in. The problem is that there's a disconnect between the story and gameplay because of how mission running (quests) work in EVE and the repetition that characterizes them.
EVE Evolved: Apocrypha expansion preview
As March 10th draws ever closer, EVE Online's Apocrypha expansion is coming more and more into focus. Information on the new game mechanics and content is being released in the form of developer blogs and the official expansion page complete with screenshots and artwork is already up. Most importantly, a test version of the expansion is live on Singularity, EVE's main test server. Like any good journalist, I took my camera crew onto the test server to get some pictures of Apocrypha in action. What I found blew me away, literally.In this gallery article, I take a visual sneak peak at parts of the impressive new Apocrypha expansion with a whopping 37 screenshots. In each screenshot, I talk about all of the new additions to the game. EVE Apocrypha preview gallery > > %Gallery-46236%
