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The Road to Mordor: What would Lord of the Rings Online 2 look like?
It's safe to say that I've been around the block a time or two in this column, and as such I've grown quite familiar with a few of the war chants that some players like to spout in every single comment section. Yes, the character visuals are off-putting and a travesty that should be investigated by the United Nations. Yes, Turbine is a sinister money-grubbing organization with no love for the game, only for your wallet. Oh, it's not enough to say it once; there's a comment quota to be had! But the one that both makes me roll my eyes the most and makes me think a bit is the comment that states that the franchise should be given to some other studio to make, I dunno, Lord of the Rings Online II: Shire Reckoning. It's an interesting thought exercise that I feel has very little possibility of ever happening. Turbine has the license for at least a few more years, and anything past that would require Warner Bros. and the Tolkien estate to be convinced that a Lord of the Rings MMO could be done better and made more profitable elsewhere. Wishful thinking is one thing, but practical reality is another. However, let's say for the sake of argument that the commenters got their way and Brandybuck Studios was commissioned to make a new MMO for Middle-earth. What would it look like?
Disney Infinity 2.0 arrives this August with Marvel heroes [Update]
Update: D23 has since posted a correction, noting it "erroneously reported about the launch of the next chapter of Disney Infinity" and that the information it provided was incorrect. It added that further information on the future of the series will be revealed on April 30. Original story: Disney Infinity 2.0 is slated to launch this August, according to a since-removed snippet from Disney's official fan club site, D23. While the D23 blog entry in question is still available to view, a cached version of it notes that the Disney Infinity follow-up "is coming in August 2014, and a teaser trailer can be viewed at Marvel.com," likely referencing the teaser posted by Marvel earlier this month. "The teaser promises such Marvel-ous additions to the game as familiar Marvel characters, objects, and vehicles-the possibilities are infinite," the site continued. The previous sandbox-style adventure game from Avalanche Software did wonders for Disney Interactive, driving its revenue to $403 million in the first fiscal quarter of 2014. The company also saw losses in Q2 2013 and Q3 2013 to the tune of $54 million and $58 million, respectively. That led to layoffs in its games and Internet divisions in March that numbered 700, at which point Disney said it plans to scale back annual game output "by as much as 50 percent." We've reached out to Disney to confirm the release window for Disney Infinity 2.0 and will update as we learn more. [Image: Disney]
Canceled Diddy Kong Racing sequel details emerge
Diddy Kong Racing, developer Rare's take on the kart, hovercraft and airplane-racing genre, is fondly remembered by many Nintendo 64 fans. Unfortunately the game's canceled successor, Donkey Kong Racing, never had a chance at earning the same sort of reputation. It's always interesting to learn more about projects that never reached the public though, and Nintendo Life's recent interview with Donkey Kong Racing Lead Designer Lee Musgrave shares details on what the game began and ended as. Musgrave explained that Donkey Kong Racing swapped out standard vehicles for animals, which the above trailer suggests included Rambi the Rhino, Engaurde the Swordish and Ellie the Elephant from the Donkey Kong Country series. Players could swap out animals mid-race, which would let the player smash through obstacles or offer better handling depending on the animal's size. When Rare was purchased by Microsoft, Musgrave said the Donkey Kong license was dropped as Rare made the racer an "open-world game with Tamagotchi-style features, in which nurturing your animal became a key mechanic." Musgrave explained that the animal-raising mechanic eventually became the game's main feature, resulting in a "cute version of Grand Theft Auto set in Africa." This open-world adaption of Donkey Kong Racing was called Sabreman Stampede, but its development "went off into the woods a little bit," Musgrave explained. Sabreman Stampede was never released, but Musgrave added that despite the effort put into its development, he feels the final product would not have been worth the resources. [Image: Nintendo]
Bravely Second details attend magic university
More details for Bravely Second, the sequel to Square Enix's RPG Bravely Default: Flying Fairy announced just last week, have surfaced. The game's familiar locale is that of Luxendarc, "several years" after the Warriors of Light saved the world, according to a translation of the game's official site provided by Gematsu. Specifically, players will be concerned with the "magic university town" of Istantarl, built under the decree of the Lakrika prime minister on the Nadarakes continent in the game's world. The professors of the university helped to develop a "new structure of magic" at Istantarl, indicating that the game may feature some new magic-based battle elements for players to enjoy. Additionally, the silver-haired lady's moniker Magnolia isn't short for "Steel Magnolias" like we'd hoped, but rather "Devil King Buster Magnolia Arch." Magnolia "appears in unexpected places at unexpected times," and also has a "daredevil attitude." Magnolia is the lone survivor of the moon nation, has strong fighting skills and also rescued Tiz Oria, one of the Bravely Default's primary characters. Bravely Second will launch on 3DS in Japan at a to-be-determined date.
General Chaos 2: Sons of Chaos marches to Kickstarter
Game Refuge CEO Brian Colin began leading the charge to fund General Chaos 2: Sons of Chaos on Kickstarter last week. Both Colin and the Game Refuge studio worked on the original General Chaos for the Sega Genesis. The page states that Sons of Chaos is "primarily a reinvention of the fast paced original," but will add mouse controls and 3D environments to enhance the experience. Game Refuge will prepare the troops for battle should the Kickstarter campaign's funding goal of $125,000 be met. Sons of Chaos' controls will allow players to send single units around the terrain with a few clicks of the mouse. "Tactical terrain" options and squad formations will also stand as improvements over the original game, allowing players to navigate their forces with multi-point lines of guidance. Online multiplayer and LAN connectivity will also grant players their own "dynamic, scrolling 3D view of the battlefield." Although the core game is limited to a PC version, Sons of Chaos' stretch goals include additional game mechanics, support for touchscreen tablets and ports to consoles, Mac and the iPad. The Kickstarter page notes that Game Refuge will do their best to "do everything on this list regardless of how much we raise," but reaching the financial goals for each feature is the only way to ensure they'll have the funding to do so. [Thanks, Lee!]
Daily iPhone App: Kingdom Rush Frontiers makes great TD better
We've mentioned Kingdom Rush Frontiers here a few times before, so odds are you might know a little something about it already. But the long-awaited sequel / expansion to one of the best tower-defense games on the App Store has now gone live, for US$2.99 on iPhone and $4.99 on iPad, and you can now download it and defend towers to your heart's content. Kingdom Rush has been on the App Store for a while (it originally began life as a Flash game), and Frontiers takes the winning formula of unit-based tower defense, and adds a whole lot of new content and extras. In addition to a whole new map and story to play through, there's a new upgrade tree to unlock as you go, which will buff up your towers in various ways. And there's now a "hero room," as you can hire and upgrade heroes to fight for you. There are new enemies to face in combat, all themed to fit the new environments. And finally, there are new powers to play with as well, which add even more strategy and excitement to the fights. In other words, Kingdom Rush Frontiers takes a great game, and makes it a real classic. If you like tower defense at all, this one shouldn't be missed, and even if you just want to see one of the best games in the genre, you should give this one a look. Kingdom Rush Frontiers is available on the App Store now.
Kingdom Rush Frontiers coming to iOS next week
Kingdom Rush, as you probably already know, is one of the best tower-defense games on the App Store right now, and the developers behind it have been teasing an expansion/sequel, called Kingdom Rush Frontiers, for a while now. But it turns out the wait is almost over: Kingdom Rush Frontiers is set to arrive on iOS next week, on June 6. The game will be out for both iPhone and iPad, and there's a new trailer out as well, showing off some of the various new enemies, towers and maps you'll see. I played a bit of Kingdom Rush Frontiers back at GDC earlier this year, and I can confirm that the new units add plenty of extra variety and charm to a title that's already packed full of it. Ironhide Games has done a great job here expanding its already very successful title, and I can't wait to get a chance to play it as soon as next week. Stay tuned -- we'll have a full review of the game coming shortly. In the meantime, mark your calendars: Kingdom Rush Frontiers will be out on June 6.
Rumor: Bluehole is recruiting for TERA sequel
According to respected Korean news source ThisIsGame, Bluehole Studio is looking to add more people to its team for either a sequel to TERA or a whole new MMO entirely. Some are saying that this will, indeed, be a sequel to TERA, but this has yet to be confirmed by Bluehole, hence the rumor tag. The studio is currently hiring for several positions, including server programmers, UI designers, artists, and more. [Thanks to everyone who tipped us on this!]
River City Ransom sequel announced, crowdfunding to begin this summer
Indie development house Combit Studios has announced that it will be partnering with River City Ransom EX developer Million to create "an official, worldwide follow-up to River City Ransom." The game will be available for Windows in August of 2014, according to Combit's official blog.Further information will be released at a later date, leading up to an eventual crowd-funding drive scheduled for sometime this summer. In the meantime, an official placeholder website will gladly add your email address to its mailing list.Combit Studios' project appears to be completely unrelated to that other official sequel to River City Ransom that was announced back in 2011. Developed by Miracle Kidz and originally slated to launch on WiiWare sometime last year, River City Ransom 2 was shelved in favor of original projects.
Daily iPhone App: Super Stickman Golf 2 updates a modern classic
Super Stickman Golf is a great title that I've been playing for years -- it's a big standby for games journalists in particular for some reason, and every time I come to a conference full of games writers, like this week at GDC, there's always someone playing it at any given time. The company behind the app, NoodleCake Studios, has just released a sequel called Super Stickman Golf 2, and it's now available for US$0.99. In terms of gameplay, the sequel is basically the same as the original. You are still playing golf on a 2D course, with some wacky obstacles and layouts in your way, and just a single "Go" button to take your shot and then set your power. But of course, as it's a sequel, there is plenty of new content included, with lots of new courses, new powerups and new ways to customize your characters. Hats are a big deal this time around, with some of them providing extra bonuses and stat boosts as you play. There's also a new turn-based mode, so you can pass turns back and forth among your friends, and there's lots of new social integration in the game itself as well. The race mode is back, and in general, the gameplay seems much smoother and better-built. And there are lots of other fun extras, including iCloud support and Bluetooth multiplayer again. Super Stickman Golf 2 is an excellent app -- it's not a groundbreaking update over the first game, but it's a solid sequel, and definitely worth the 99 cent price.
Mutant Mudds 2 is in progress
It's official: Renegade Kid is working on Mutant Mudds 2. Renegade Kid co-founder Jools Watsham tells Twitter he hasn't kept the sequel a secret, but this is certainly the first we've heard it confirmed.Mutant Mudds Deluxe, the Wii U version of Mutant Mudds, is coming to the Nintendo eShop in Q1 of this year, along with ATV Wild Ride 3D for 3DS. Mutant Mudds hit the 3DS eShop back in January, followed by a launch on PC in August and on iOS devices in November.
Barkley RPG sequel seeks $35K on Kickstarter
As expected, the developers behind the strange indie title Barkley: Shut Up and Jam Gaiden have launched a Kickstarter campaign to support a sequel sporting the the unwieldy title of The Magical Realms of Tír na nÓg: Escape from Necron 7 - Revenge of Cuchulainn: The Official Game of the Movie - Chapter 2 of the Hoopz Barkley SaGa. Or, as they call it, just Barkley 2 for short.The campaign is seeking just $35,000 (and they've raised about half already), and in return is offering lots of digital rewards, game soundtracks to download, and weirder bonuses like a full-sized Cyberdwarf body pillow and more.To get interest growing for the sequel, the developer has released a free Mac version of its initial Barkley title, so even on an Apple computer, you can witness the aftermath of The Great B-Ball Purge of 2041 for yourself.
New Hotline Miami content will more likely be 'like a sequel, kind of'
Hotline Miami's creators Jonatan "Cactus" Söderström and Dennis Wedin have shared some insight on where the game might be headed next in an interview with Eurogamer, and Söderström says it'll probably be "quite a big project." Instead of smaller pieces of downloadable content, it sounds like the team is aiming for a full followup release. "It will be like a sequel, kind of," says Söderström, "but building on the story."He adds that this possible new game "will probably have more playable characters than the first game did. And a couple of different stories and angles." And Wedin says it might have a map editor as well: "We're looking at if it's possible to do that. I think it would be really cool to let people do their own stages."The first game, says Söderström, took quite a while to develop. But with an engine already built, a new release would primarily focus on adding new content, he says, so the process should be shortened. "We hope it would take no longer than four or five months to make the sequel, but we're not sure at this point." That's fine, Cactus. We'll just don our finest creepy pig mask and wait here patiently for more news.
Julian Gollop's Chaos sequel campaign, multiplayer detailed
If you're currently enjoying XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the Firaxis reboot of the PC classic, then you owe part of that enjoyment to Julian Gollop, the man who designed the original and other subsequent installments in the series. Last week, Gollop revealed he was working on a sequel to his classic turn-based strategy game from 1985, Chaos: The Battle of Wizards.Gollop started up a development blog over the weekend for what he's calling Chaos Reborn, revealing the single-player side is broken down by regions, tasking players (as a newbie Wizard) with setting out on the most noble quest of killing the Wizard King as quickly as possible – with each turn, the Wizard King's forces grow stronger. It's just one of the perks of being a Wizard King. The downside is other Wizards are always trying to kill you.Multiplayer will consist of arena battles for up to eight opponents, in both asynchronous and direct connection formats. Chaos Reborn will showcase deathmatch and team-based mode, and let players go up against AI-controlled opponents. Pass-and-play on mobile devices is also mentioned.Chaos Reborn is little more than specs on a page right now, so get in on the ground floor of Gollop's RSS feed now for future updates through the source link below.
David Braben is kickstarting a new multiplayer Elite sequel
Elite and its sequel Frontier: Elite II were arguably two of the most influential early space games ever made. They dropped the player into an immense sci-fi sandbox with just a tiny ship and a handful of credits. You could work your way up to larger and larger hauling ships, fight off pirates intent on taking your loot, travel the stars in search of lucrative deals or just wormhole into deep space. If that sounds familiar, it's because Elite was part of the inspiration for sci-fi MMO EVE Online. Space in Frontier was especially deep, with a full-scale galaxy containing 100 billion stars and several empires with their own legal systems and trading outposts. Players could choose to raid other ships or play it straight, mining moons, scooping fuel from gas giants, and landing on planets to survey them for materials. The magic that made this colossal universe possible was procedural generation and some incredibly good programming by developer David Braben. Today David took to Kickstarter to launch possibly the most anticipated sequel in the history of sci-fi sandbox games. Elite: Dangerous promises a Frontier-style sandbox with modern 3D graphics, a ton more content, and a seamless peer-to-peer multiplayer experience with no lobbies. Whether this will qualify as an MMO or not remains to be seen, but the project promises to blur the line between what is and isn't massively multiplayer.
The Daily Grind: Does your MMO need a reboot?
MMO reboots, revamps, and pseudo-sequels seem all the rage these days, from Global Agenda 2 to Darkfall: Unholy Wars to Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. Sometimes it makes sense to start over and take developed assets and lessons forward to a much improved version. Once in a while, the first launch of an MMO is so disastrous that only by hitting the reset button does the game have a chance for the future. But what about your favorite MMO? Is it in sore need for a massive overhaul or a big reboot? Did it fail to gain a significant audience the first time around? Does it need the push of additional development and media coverage to succeed in its second chance? If so, let us know what you'd recommend developers do if they rebooted your game. How could they feasibly make it much better and perhaps take a slightly different course than what exists today? 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!
Do we need a World of Warcraft II?
I read the forums. I do so because it's part of my job, because I like seeing what people are saying, and because sometimes a thread actually makes me think. This thread, asking people what they'd like to see in a sequel to World of Warcraft, did that and then some for me. First, the response from Vaneras that got me the most interested in talking about it. Vaneras - WoWII? I really hope they will do it some day, but if they do it, they won't do it sooner than 5 years, at least. The idea is basically the same game, but with way better graphics, new features, new NPCs/Items etc etc. It would be cool, because the skeleton would be the same, but the rest would be new. But that doesn't sound like something that would require an entirely new game though, but of course that is just my personal opinion. As I see it, these things could just as well be upgrades to the current game through patches and expansions, much like what we have seen already in the game's evolution from its release until today. I think something more would be required in order to rationalise the end of WoW in favour of WoW II :-) source When EverQuest II came out in 2004, its predecessor was the largest MMO in the world. One of the charges leveled at EQII was that it looked and felt so different from EverQuest itself that it split the player base and, since this happened just around the time that World of Warcraft was launching, left the door open for the upstart game to get a serious footing. It's possible that if it weren't for EQII, we'd have ended up with a smaller MMO scene where a game with a million subscribers was considered a rousing success. Now, I'm not arguing that it's always a bad thing to have a sequel to an MMO. There are MMO's out right now which run concurrently with a sequel and seem to be doing fine. The question becomes, does World of Warcraft need one?
Kojima would 'really like' to make a Metal Gear Rising sequel with Platinum
Speaking during the Metal Gear 25th Anniversary panel at this year's PAX in Seattle, Konami kingpin and Metal Gear mogul Hideo Kojima gave a bit of insight into the future of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance as a series, as well as his continuing relationship with Platinum Games."First of all, I'm not a huge fan of spin-offs," Kojima said. "But as far as Rising is concerned, if it works out well, I'd really like to work with Platinum again to make a sequel."Kojima also said that he'd "really love to make" a game with The Boss as a main character, but that it would be part of the main series if it were to ever happen, rather than a spun-off title like Rising. Kojima couldn't comment on whether Platinum Games would be involved with that game's hypothetical production, only that he's "really loving working with Platinum."
Ocarina 2 arrives on iOS
Smule has released Ocarina 2, a sequel to its immensely popular Ocarina app for iPhone. Like the original, the app allows you to blow into your iPhone's microphone to create a tone, which can be changed and adjusted depending on where you hold your fingers on the touchscreen. The new version brings features like a dynamic harmony, and the ability to choose songs to be played rather than just playing freestyle (which seems similar to the options in Smule's Magic Piano app, and means Smule is once again selling extra songs as an in-app purchase). And there's also a new "Whistle Mode," and achievements that make the whole thing a little more game-centric. The last Ocarina created plenty of really wild videos and cover tunes, and odds are this version will do exactly the same. Below, you can see a video of a beta tester playing the Tetris theme on the new app. If you want to start tooting away on your own, you can grab the app right now from the App Store for free.
Fieldrunners 2 coming next month
Subatomic Studios, the makers of one of the iPhone's biggest early titles, Fieldrunners, have announced that a sequel is headed our way as soon as next month. The popular tower defense title is being updated with twenty new hand-painted levels, twenty towers (including a Link tower, which seems to be two towers with a deadly attack between them, as well as both a Nuke and a Railgun tower, for AoE or sniper damage, respectively). And there are two new game modes, to go along with the standard survival and time trial maps, there are now puzzle and sudden death maps to play as well. It sounds like a great title -- if you've been playing iPhone games since the beginning, you'll probably have fond memories of Fieldrunners. Fieldrunners 2 will arrive on the iPhone at the end of June, with an iPad version coming soon after.
