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'Hearthstone' expansion is a Grand Tournament with new cards
That's 132 new cards, to be exact. The Grand Tournament is Hearthstone's latest expansion, due to hit in August with 132 new cards, plus fresh spells and weapons. It also introduces a new keyword -- a special attribute attached to certain cards -- called Inspire, which adds attack and spell boosts to some plays. Plus, the game board gets a revamp with tournament tents and competition grounds. The Grand Tournament comes at a price, of course: These card packs will be available for in-game gold or real money at the same price as standard packs, ranging from 100 gold for one pack and $3 for two packs, all the way to $50 for 40 packs. There's a pre-purchase price of $50 for 50 Grand Tournament card packs to be unsealed on launch day. The expansion launches sometime in August across iOS, Android, PC and Mac. Ready your decks, champions.
Don't spill your mead in the new 'Hearthstone' Tavern Brawl mode
Hearthstone, the massively popular digital card game from Blizzard, is getting a new mode that pits players against each other, one-on-one, in weekly battles with special rules. The mode is called Tavern Brawl and it's due to launch in mid-June. Tavern Brawl allows players to battle strangers or friends, though only for a limited time each week. "One week might feature preset decks, while another week could have you crafting a brand new Tavern Brawl deck following specific guidelines, while others might offer buffs to specific minion types—who knows!" Blizzard writes.
JXE Streams: Blending 'Advance Wars' and 'Hearthstone' in 'Duelyst'
Keith Lee and his partner Emil Anticevic have some serious gaming cred on their resumes. Lee was one of the project leaders on Diablo 3 and Anticevic is responsible in part for the cloud based technology that makes League of Legends work. Together they formed Counterplay Games, the studio currently developing an intriguing mashup called Duelyst. Halfway between Final Fantasy Tactics and Hearthstone, Duelyst blends card gaming with the spatial manipulation of tactical role-playing and tops it off with some truly fetching art. At 3:30PM ET/12:30PM PT we're going to stream an alpha version of Duelyst alongside Lee himself on JXE Streams.
Blizzard's 'Hearthstone' card game lands on your smartphone
There goes your hope of staying productive at work. Blizzard has updated Hearthstone for Android and iOS to support smartphones, so you can indulge in its Warcraft-themed free-to-play card gaming while you're stuck in your cubicle. You shouldn't lose any content in the translation, but there's an "all-new" interface designed for smaller screens. Just be sure to exercise some restraint -- it could be tempting to squeeze in one more round before that big meeting.
Blizzard blocks 'World of Warcraft' and 'Diablo 3' in Crimea
Players in Crimea can no longer access Battle.net, the service that houses Blizzard games World of Warcraft, Diablo 3, Hearthstone and others, The Moscow Times reports. Blizzard blocked its games in response to US sanctions against Crimea -- Google, Apple, PayPal and Valve have also suspended service to the region, the site says. The Moscow Times pulled its Blizzard report from Russian site Geektimes.ru, which published an email sent to Crimean Battle.net users. "In accordance with current trade regulations relating to the region of Crimea, we are legally required to suspend access to your Battle.net account," a translation reads.
Rumor: Leak suggests the next WoW expansion is nearly feature-complete
So, ready to jump on the rumor mill? Because it's churning out big stuff about Blizzard today. An anonymous source from inside the company has apparently claimed that World of Warcraft's next expansion has quadrupled its art outsourcing and is nearly feature-complete. The source also claimed that Hearthstone is doing banner business, with its next expansion set to release in April with a heavier PvE focus. Darker news was revealed for the other franchises under the company's banner. The next part of StarCraft II is done but with no release date. Overwatch is in the midst of debates over business model and payment plans, with the studio pushing for a 2015 release but most likely going for 2016. Meanwhile, Heroes of the Storm has low expectations among the upper management and the Diablo III team has been "completely gutted." It's up to you you believe the rumors, of course, although come April, they might look rather plausible.
2015 DICE Award nominations led by Shadow of Mordor
The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences announced the nominees for this year's DICE Awards, recognizing a total of 56 games. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor received nine nominations, including the Game of the Year award. The other Game of the Year nominees are Destiny, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Far Cry 4 and Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. Far Cry 4 received seven nominations, one being for Action Game of the Year. Destiny and Hearthstone each had six nominations, whereas Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Monument Valley received five apiece. The 18th Annual DICE Awards ceremony will be held at the The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas following the 2015 DICE Summit, which runs from February 3 through February 5. The event will be livestreamed on DICE's Twitch channel, starting at 10:00 p.m. ET (7:00 p.m. PT). Head past the break for a partial list of nominees; the full list can be found on AIAS' website.
GDCA 2015 finalists led by Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
The finalists for the 2015 Game Developers Choice Awards were revealed today, led by Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, which received five nominations. Monolith's third-person action game was nominated for Game of the Year, Innovation, Best Design, Best Narrative and Best Technology awards at the ceremony (on top of also being Joystiq's favorite game of 2014). The other nominees for the 15th annual GDCA's Game of the Year award are Bayonetta 2, Alien: Isolation, Destiny and Hearthstone. Blizzard's collectible card game received three nominations in total, the other two for Best Design and Best Handheld/Mobile Game. Destiny also received two other nominations for Best Audio and Best Technology. The ceremony for this year's Game Developer's Choice Awards will be held during the Game Developers Conference on Wednesday, March 4 at 9:30 p.m. ET (6:30 p.m. PT) at San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center. Head past the break to see the full list of nominees.
Best of the Rest: Thomas' picks of 2014
ATTENTION: The year 2014 has concluded its temporal self-destruct sequence. If you are among the escapees, please join us in salvaging and preserving the best games from the irradiated chrono-debris. Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved I love listening to music alone. When no one's looking, I'm free to tap out drum beats, put on emotional lip-synchs and flail in synch with a song's swelling heights. Playing Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved is a lot like those solo jam sessions in the way it grants a free pass to completely lose myself in a song's components. Sure, I look ridiculous, but I have to! Matching notes with halfhearted swipes and restrained punches just leads to broken combos, as if the Kinect is the all-knowing gaze of an instructor ready to belittle a cold, tired performance. Substituting instruments and creating remixes adds a welcome element of experimentation to Fantasia, but it's the core focus of moving with music that brings me back each week. It's increasingly difficult to ignore life's noise while playing a game as I grow older, but Fantasia's peak moments tune out every distraction, leaving me with an uninhibited excuse to enjoy twisted, endearing remixes of songs that I love.
Metareview: GOTY Edition
Over the weekend the Joystiq hive mind concluded its annual hive dance and deemed Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor the top dawg of 2014. Monolith's action-RPG may have hacked and slashed its way to the top of our list, but a glance at The Rest of the Internet makes one thing clear: When it comes to 2014's GOTY awards, there isn't One Game to rule them all. With that in mind, we've taken the Metareview format we use to collate other outlets' reviews and given it a GOTY paint job. As ever, it's just a sampling of all the publications out there and plenty of places have yet to dole out their awards. Nonetheless, here's a wee look at the best games of 2014 according to everyone else.
Best of the Rest: Richard's picks of 2014
ATTENTION: The year 2014 has concluded its temporal self-destruct sequence. If you are among the escapees, please join us in salvaging and preserving the best games from the irradiated chrono-debris. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter The best thing about The Vanishing of Ethan Carter might be that it tells its story in a way that only a video game can. Other games aspire to emulate other forms of media, to be more like movies or books. Ethan Carter, on the other hand, embraces the interactivity of the medium in a wonderful way, with an awareness of a video game's ability to let you live through a moment, rather than just witnessing it. At first, Ethan Carter feels like a typical paranormal mystery, and its investigation mechanics are cleverly implemented, asking you to put the events of the past in the correct order to reveal the truth behind a series of murders. The mystery elements turn out to be just a small part of The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, though, and you soon find yourself pulled into some of the greatest moments of pure fantasy that I've ever seen in a video game. I won't say another word, for fear of spoiling anything. If you appreciate a good mystery, and you believe in the transportational power of games, do yourself a favor and pick it up.
Hearthstone now available worldwide on Android devices
After a soft launch in select countries on Android devices, Hearthstone is now available worldwide for Android gamers. To run it, you'll need to have an Android device that's at least 6" or larger. Like the other platform versions, the Android edition of Hearthstone will sync up with your Battle.net account and allow you to use your existing cards (if you have any). Plans are in the works for an Android version to work on smaller-size phones. Hearthstone recently won the award for Massively's Best Pseudo-MMO of 2014. Android players can snag it on Google Play or through Amazon.
Hearthstone now available for Android
Android fans rejoice, for today Blizzard's super-addictive digital card game, Hearthstone, is available for Android tablets. Sure, it's been out on PC and iOS for a while, but it's a newcomer amongst the Android ranks -- and since it's a game that's really designed for the touchscreen experience, that's definitely a tough fact for Android owners to cope with. The rollout of Hearthstone for Android has already begun, with the game currently available for free on Google Play for players in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Gamers in other regions still have a bit of time to wait, but Blizzard promises that Hearthstone for Android will be available worldwide in the coming days (including on the Amazon Appstore for Kindle Fire owners). Android players will get to enjoy all of the content the game features elsewhere, including Curse of Naxxramas and Goblins vs Gnomes. Anyone playing a match on Android will also get a free pack of classic cards -- so there's no reason to wait! Unfortunately, not all Android tablets will be supported: you'll need a tablet with at least a 6" screen and 1GB of RAM that runs Android 4.0 or higher. Check out the system requirements for full details.
Hearthstone players struggle to buy expansion packs
While a new expansion to the hit card game Hearthstone is cause for much celebration, in some corners it's also been cause for consternation as players have struggled to buy the right packs from the in-game store. This and other expansion issues got so bad, in fact, that getting these CS requests sorted out forced Blizzard to slightly delay Goblins vs. Gnomes' European launch (although it is now live in that region). The problem, as dismayed players and streamers discovered, is that the default pack purchase option in Hearthstone's store was for the base game's cards, not the expansions. Gung-ho players would then accidentally mass-purchase a whole lot of packs thinking that they were from Goblins vs. Gnomes, only to discover that they just wasted hundreds of dollars on cards they already had. Touch Arcade has come to the rescue by pointing to a handy guide how to buy the right packs for the expansion.
Hearthstone expansion now live
Blizzard's first Hearthstone expansion is now live. Goblins vs. Gnomes boasts 120 new cards and "throws a big wrench into the way Hearthstone works," according to CEO Mike Morhaime. Logging into the game between now and December 19th will net you three free expansion card packs. You can obtain additional packs for either 100 in-game gold or real money. [Source: Blizzard press release]
Hearthstone's Goblins vs. Gnomes expansion available now
Hearthstone's first expansion, Goblins vs. Gnomes, is available now, featuring 120 new cards for the collectible card game with 20 million registered players. Anyone who logs into the game between now and December 19 will receive three free Goblins vs. Gnomes card packs. The new cards should give players plenty of strategies to test against the classic decks players have become quite comfortable with. The new GvG packs are priced identically to those of what are now referenced as the "classic" cards. Players can pick up packs, which include 5 cards, at 100 gold apiece, or spend real money. Hearthstone is available currently on PC, Mac and iPad, with plans for iPhone and Android in 2015.
Hearthstone launches Goblins vs. Gnomes on December 8th
It seems as if it was only a month ago that Hearthstone players learned the title of the game's first expansion, Goblins vs. Gnomes. Probably because it was a month ago. That expansion is launching on December 8th, adding 120 new cards into the card pool and displaying an alacrity that other Blizzard titles could only dream of achieving. The new expansion cards can be crafted, purchased, or earned via the Arena, just like the existing packs except with new cards. If you're interested in having a launch party, Blizzard is also interested in your launch party. If you plan your event, have it registered as a proper gathering by notifying the community team, and then submit pictures and stories about the event by December 22nd, you could win a little Hearthstone care package. Or you could just kick back and enjoy the new expansion by playing. Your call.
Hearthstone's November Ranked Play season ending soon
If you were hoping to earn the goblin-themed card back above, only two days remain to do it. As the reward for November's ranked play season, you must earn ranked 20 or better before the end of the month. As we've said previously, you can't lose stars (or ranking) until you've surpassed rank 20. Until then, you have nowhere to go but up. Given the Goblins vs Gnomes expansion launches next month, we're curious to see whether December's card back will follow the tinker theme or if we'll see a Winter Veil aesthetic.
Deathrattle in Hearthstone's Goblins vs Gnomes
The Deathrattle mechanic was a major focus of Hearthstone's Naxxramas adventure pack. While it isn't the central theme of Goblins vs Gnomes, Blizzard's latest look at the upcoming expansion makes it clear there may yet be strong synergy with Deathrattle cards. The expansion preview highlights three cards in particular: Feign Death Trigger all Deathrattles on your minions. Lil' Exorcist Taunt. Battlecry: Gain +1/+1 for each enemy Deathrattle minion. Scarlet Purifier Battlecry: Deal 2 damage to all minions with Deathrattle. Feign Death (a Hunter card, naturally) has the potential to be extremely powerful -- not only with Naxxramas cards, but also with the Hunter's own Savannah Highmane, which is already a powerhouse unto itself. Savannah Highmane on the field with Baron Rivendare followed by Feign Death would result in a full board of minions. Lil' Exorcist and Scarlet Purifier seem more of a reaction to Naxxramas, a small balance to some of the adventure pack's more powerful cards, though your Scarlet Purifier triggering an opponent's Nerubian Egg might be bad news.
Blizzard issues thousands (more) Hearthstone bot bans
Good news, Hearthstone players. If you've been using a bot to automate your gameplay, you'll log in today to find a shiny new prize! Specifically, that shiny new prize is not being able to log in because you've been banned. Your prize was being banned. Blizzard has awarded this prize to "several thousand" Hearthstone accounts using third-party tools to automate gameplay; the bans are permanent, so no need to worry about losing them at the end of the season. Players who have not been botting and violating the game's TOS will also log in to find a shiny new prize, which is a play environment with far fewer bots. Isn't that nice? The official post reminds players to report suspicious behavior by emailing the development team so that in the future another group of cheaters can wake up to find a brand-new lifetime ban locking them out of the game. Those of you who can still log in may also want to take the opportunity to vote on the next teaser for the Goblins vs. Gnomes expansion. [Thanks to Dengar for the tip!]