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Gamescom 2014: Guild Wars 2 outlines convention plans
Are you ready for a week of gaming news from Germany? Of course you are. Were you worried that Guild Wars 2 might not be part of the festivities? Of course it is. Yes, ArenaNet has gone to Gamescom 2014, complete with chances for fans to win plushies, shirts, and Collector's Editions of the game. The Gamescom events will also include the All-Stars Tournament event. If you're not attending the convention in person, you can still watch the matches on Twitch and follow the developers on Twitter to get in on the giveaway action, assuming you're not too busy with the latest part of Living Story content to notice.
John Romero: 'I haven't made a shooter since 2000, so ...'
John Romero is working on a shooter for the first time in 14 years. Romero made the announcement on Monday night's recording of the Super Joystiq Podcast Gamescom Special, alongside special guests Mike Bithell and Brenda Romero. Here's how it went down:
Dear game devs: YouTubers want your Steam codes
Mike Rose of industry insider site Gamasutra's "How to Get Your Game Covered by YouTubers" presentation at GDC Europe 2014 held many solid takeaways, but it was the follow-up to the first question he received about paying YouTubers for coverage that held some surprising details. Rose, who surveyed 141 YouTubers for his presentation data, noted that as someone from the written press it's hard for him to admit the sales spikes that come from written gaming articles don't even compare to those caused by top YouTubers. However, he's not out of a job just yet, as the data shows YouTubers with over 5,000 subscribers found the games they decided to cover from video game press sites.
Driveclub Special Edition peeling out (stickers) in Europe
Sony's socially-driven racer, Driveclub, is getting the special edition treatment in Europe. The special edition comes packed with some bonus in-game goodies, most notably access to five cars, including the McLaren P1, Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Coupe Black Series, Ferrari 458 Italia, Aston Martin v12 Vantage S and Alfa Romeo 4C, and each will feature an "exclusive" livery design. On top of that, players will get access to two more exclusive livery designs. Finally, in an apparent effort to corner the crucial Trapper Keeper demographic, the special edition will include two vinyl stickers of the Driveclub emblem. The special edition has a suggested retail price of €69.99. Driveclub launches October 8 in Europe. We've contacted Sony to find out if the special edition will be available in North America as well. [Image: Sony]
Gamescom 2014: World of Speed's team racing trailer
Slightly Mad Studios and My.com have released a new World of Speed trailer ahead of this week's Gamescom convention in Cologne, Germany. The brief video focuses on team racing and demonstrates how you can assist your mates even if you're not running up front. Side objectives like sliding, slipstreaming, and pathfinding are in the mix, though the clip doesn't explain how they work. It's worth watching if you like gearhead eye candy, though, so click past the cut and have a look.
Toy Soldiers: War Chest brings rainbow doom to the diorama
War is an unrelenting gauntlet of hell, I think, watching a band of heavily armored rainbow ponies spill over a grassy field. Bursts of mortar fire end their horror-trotting advance, but the opposing men can't replenish the ammo quickly enough to stop what's next. A shadow crawls over the European countryside, darkening the prospects of all who look up to see a great, looming doom. It's a castle floating on a cloud, primed to end the war with a devastating slash adorable glitter-nuke.
Square Enix gets real, reveals time-bender Life is Strange
Square Enix and DONTNOD, the studio behind Remember Me, are working on a new IP to be released in digital, episodic chapters: Life is Strange. That's not a commentary on the chaotic nature of existence; it's the name of the game. Life is Strange stars Max Caulfield, a high school senior who's just returned to her hometown of Arcadia Bay, Oregon. She discovers that her classmate, Rachel Amber, has disappeared under "mysterious and rather uncomfortable circumstances," as the Square Enix blog describes it. Max reunites with her friend, Chloe, and attempts to discover the truth behind Rachel's disappearance – and then Max finds out she has the power to rewind time. "Thus begins the story for a game that everyone here at Square Enix has fallen in love with," the blog post reads. "I know I've mentioned this before, but Life is Strange is something entirely different .... Each and every texture in Life is Strange is a hand drawn work of art and every action enacts a butterfly effect – but with the power to rewind time, what would you change? And would it turn out to be a change for the better or worse?" Life is Strange is in development for PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC. Two months ago, we reported that Square Enix and Dontnod were working a new project that was a "twist on traditional story-driven games." This seems to fit that bill.
Award-winning Monument Valley recouped costs in one week
Monument Valley, winner of an Apple Design Award and an all-around beautiful brain-buster, made back its development costs after just one week on the App Store, Lead Designer Ken Wong said during a presentation at GDC Europe. Even though it's a $4 app and it launched alongside other premium games, including Hitman: Go, FTL and Leo's Fortune, Monument Valley crested 1 million sales within four months. "Now, that doesn't make us rich by any measure, but we made our money back and it means that the team can stay together and make another creative, crazy project with complete creative freedom," Wong said. "This is all we ever really wanted, not to get rich, but to be sustainable."
Boid boils real-time strategy down to essentials soon
Mokus Games, creators of 2011's iPad Game of the Year, Contre Jour, revealed a new game called Boid this morning. Published by SpeedRunners developer TinyBuild, Boid is an extremely streamlined multiplayer real-time strategy gaming coming "first" (and soon) to Steam. We tried Boid's demo last night in Germany, where we're staying for this week's GDC Europe and Gamescom, and the concept of the game is super lean, and a classic example of "easy to learn, difficult to master."
In the shadow of Gamescom: Germany's game scene struggling to grow up
Germany hosts the world's largest annual gaming convention, Gamescom, which last year drew 340,000 attendees and 635 exhibitors from 40 countries. Gamescom kicks off again this week in Cologne for what is sure to be an even bigger, sardine-packed public weekend. For these few days, it feels like Germany is the place to be for video game developers – and then the show leaves, exhibitors return home, and German studios large and small face the realities of operating in a country still in game development puberty. Germany's video game industry is finding its footing economically and socially, and there's a quiet undercurrent of discontent among developers. Things are getting better – states in Germany offer a handful of programs for studios to find funding, though these trail behind the support seen in countries such as France, Finland, Sweden, Canada, the UK or the Netherlands. "The German government is clearly not doing enough to support our industry," says Timo Ullmann, CEO of Dead Island 2 developer, Yager. "But our local governments – Berlin, Bavaria, Hamburg – are much further ahead of things and have identified our industry as an important partner. However, there is always room for improvement. There are simply not enough projects being run in Germany to support a greater number of studios and developers. And that is what we would need in order to have a more flourishing scene. Eventually we will get there over time, but I am unsure how to fix it."
Prep for PlayStation, Xbox and EA news at Gamescom
Welcome to a week of Joystiq coverage from GDC Europe and Gamescom, the world's largest game convention. We'll be here all week bringing you the latest news, previews and random observation that may occur in our travels. There are three press conferences planned for the show: Microsoft is Tuesday at 2PM CEST (8AM ET, 5AM PT, 1PM UK) Sony is Tuesday at 7PM CEST (1PM ET, 10AM PT, 6PM UK) EA is Wednesday at 10AM CEST (4AM ET, 1AM PT, 9AM UK) Don't yell at us about EA, we didn't schedule that time!
PlayStation mystery project hides behind bloody, icy teaser
Sony's apparently got something big planned - big enough to warrant a mysterious teaser video - though the above footage does little to explain what this project might be. In its scant, 10-second runtime, the video alternates between images of serene frost and splattered blood. First, we see a snowflake accompanied by a falling droplet of blood, then blood stains a sheet of ice that proceeds to violently crack apart. The only real hint Sony offers to this mystery lies in the video's title, though "#PlayStationGC" merely suggests that whatever is being promoted here is likely to be properly fleshed out at the upcoming Gamescom conference. With no reasonable conclusions to draw from this video, we leave it you readers: What's Sony alluding to here? The return of Jet Moto? An inexplicably frosty Vib-Ribbon sequel? Leave your thoughts in the comments below. [Image: Sony]
German, Austrian, Swiss games at Gamescom's Indie Arena
Independent developers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland are heading to Gamescom this year with the second annual installment of the Indie Arena, a showcase of games from smaller studios across those regions. Games due to display this year include The Last Tinker from Mimimi, The Masterplan from Shark Punch, Mercury Shift from Klonk, Beatbuddy iOS from Threaks, Schein from Zeppelin Studio and Paperbound from Dissident Logic. The Indie Arena is in Hall 9, booth A-032. Last year the Indie Arena featured games to play, developers to talk to and walls to write on. There's a bit of overlap between Indie Arena and the Indie Megabooth, which is making its glorious Gamescom debut this year. Double the indie booths, double the fun. [Images: Indie Arena]
Watch Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare's multiplayer reveal on Xbox Live
Developer Sledgehammer Games will introduce Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare's multiplayer during Gamescom 2014. What's that, you say? Checking out of reality for a week to go play games in Germany is a bit infeasible? Well as long as you can get on Xbox Live, there's a consolation prize: Sledgehammer's trailer reveal will be broadcasted live on Xbox Live at 1 p.m. Eastern on August 11, with interviews also planned during the presentation. That Xbox locked in a multiplayer reveal on its own channels shouldn't be much of a surprise, considering that Advanced Warfare's DLC will arrive on Xbox One before any other platform. Hopefully Sledgehammer has some neat game modes in store for us – we can only entertain ourselves by fighting Kevin Spacey's army for so long. [Image: Activision]
Catch the Metal Gear Solid 5 preview at the Gamescom gala
In a powerful demonstration of the mantra "go big or go home," Konami will be previewing Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain not on a show floor, but at a special gala event in Cologne, Germany, the company has announced. The celebration will take place at the Cologne Musical Dome at 8 p.m. CET on August 13, coinciding with Gamescom 2014. The event will also be streamed via Konami's Twitch page, meaning you won't have to be a globe-trotting super-spy in order to attend. Simply tune in at 11 a.m. Pacific / 2 p.m. Eastern to catch the preview as it happens. A related Konami press release promises a live Q&A session with Metal Gear Solid series creator Hideo Kojima, as well as "a few surprises." Considering the last "surprise" turned out to be a massive fake-out revolving around a fake company and a Swedish pseudonym, we can't even begin to imagine what Kojima has in mind. [Image: Konami]
Indie Megabooth reveals Gamescom lineup
The Indie Megabooth announced its lineup for Gamescom this morning, featuring 34 teams showing off their babies at the world's largest video game convention. The Megabooth has become a staple of PAX conventions over the past couple of years, but a PAX is nothing compared to the crushing flow of over 300,000 attendees that come to Gamescom. For Gamescom attendees, the Megabooth will be located in Hall 10.1. We've posted the full lineup with links to games after the break.
Skyforge to premiere at Gamescom
Skyforge, the upcoming MMO from Obsidian Entertainment and the team that brought you Allods Online, will be making its debut at this year's Gamescom in Cologne, Germany. Along with World of Speed and Armored Warfare, Skyforge will be presented by My.com at its booth in the business hall and as a playable demo for press. This will be the first reveal of two of Skyforge's classes and brand new locations. Interested players can also sign up for the closed beta for all three games at the official websites linked below. [Source: My.com press release]
World of Warships on board for Gamescom 2014
Fans of Wargaming's selection of multiplayer military games will be happy to hear that the naval battle MMO World of Warships will be available to play during Gamescom 2014 next month. This will be the game's first public debut as a playable demo for anyone in attendance. Gamescom will be held from August 13 - 17 in Cologne, Germany, and Wargaming aims to go big again this year with game presentations, talk shows, on-stage giveaways, and more on its 720-square-meter stage in Hall 8. [Source: Wargaming press release]
Perfect Ten: Why the second half of 2014 will be awesome for MMOs
In the midst of mid-summer doldrums, it's easy to fall into a mild depression thinking that everything cool that was going to happen this year already has -- especially in gaming. The spring launch blitz is now officially over, with two highly anticipated MMOs launched, and now some people might be wondering if the rest of 2014 will be all downhill. Spoiler: It will not be. We started talking the other day in the Massively office about just how much there's coming for the latter half of this year and why we're excited to see what the fall and winter months bring. There's so much to look forward to, in fact, that it was incredibly difficult to narrow it down to a mere 10 entries. But that's my job, and that's what I did. Here's why the second half of 2014 will be awesome.
Vote for your Guild Wars 2 International All-Stars tourney reps
ArenaNet and Twitch are joining forces to bring you the "first-ever truly global" Guild Wars 2 competition. It's going down at Gamescom 2014 and it's called the Guild Wars 2 International All-Stars Tournament since it matches players from North America, Europe, and China. Fans can choose their regional representatives via a voting drive that starts today, and the winners will receive all-expenses paid trips to Germany to compete.
