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PSN fall sale: save on Limbo, Outland, Clash of Heroes HD, and more
When you're making the obligatory "things I'm thankful for" speech around the table this Thanksgiving, you may silently include Sony among the honorees. From tomorrow through November 28, the publisher is holding a Fall Sale on PSN that drops some recent releases into temptingly affordable territory. Limbo will be $10.49 (just $7.34 for PS Plus members) during the sale; the lovely Outland is down to $6.99 ($4.89 for Plus); and Might & Magic Clash of Heroes HD drops to just $10.49 ($7.34 for Plus). Find the full list after the break, and don't actually thank Sony out loud when you're at the dinner table. Your relatives already think you're weird enough.
Xbox Live Marketplace sales bonanza, starting today [update]
Microsoft is taking a set of sharp blades and ravenously cutting prices across the board on Xbox Live Marketplace content, starting right now. Already inexpensive (and wonderful) title Outland will cost you a cool 400 MS Points ($5), while deep multiplayer fare like Monday Night Combat and Section 8: Prejudice are going for 600 MS Points ($7.50) and 800 MS Points ($10), respectively. Also, hey, if you're not one of the over 2 million people who own and adore Trials HD, here's another chance to grab it on the cheap (600 MS Points/$7.50). It's unclear when the "Extreme Shopping" sale will end, so we've asked Microsoft for more info. For now, enjoy the sweet, sweet savings while you can. Update: This post originally had ilomilo listed as on sale for $5, which is false. Sorry about that! [Image credit: Ronald Wong]
Outland and Clash of Heroes on XBLA drove Ubi's digital sales growth
We were sitting here feeling bad about Child of Eden -- those sales numbers really cut into the "hope and happiness" vibe we were getting from the game -- when we got some happier news about two other beautiful games published by Ubisoft. In its fiscal Q1 2012 sales release (PDF), Ubisoft declared a 45% increase in "online sales," up to €12.5 million. It highlighted two games as having "performed well": the XBLA versions of Outland and Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes. The PSN versions, of course, were unavailable for most of the quarter, and thus probably didn't do as well.
Outland will be out on PSN June 14
Hey, PS3 owners! Remember Outland? Remember how great that sounded, and how excited you were to buy it -- right up until the PSN disappeared for over a month? Well, now you can relive all the thrill of the leadup to Housemarque's colorful platformer, followed by an actual opportunity to buy it! A post on the PlayStation Blog reveals that Outland, originally due for release right when PSN went down, is now scheduled for release on June 14. You should run, slide, and jump ... to the store to buy some PSN credit.
Know Your Lore: The Warcraft cosmos, Tinfoil Hat edition
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. Last week, we wrapped up the second half of the Warcraft cosmos series and covered the additional planes of existence within the Warcraft universe. These layers of planes and the way they interlock is a tricky topic that, quite frankly, gives most people a headache when they think about it too long -- myself included. However, now that we've got the basic layers and interaction between all these planes of existence, there is an incredible amount of speculation to be done. That's right; today's a Tinfoil Hat edition of Know Your Lore. If you are unfamiliar with the Tinfoil Hat concept, these are columns in which we take existing known lore and place our own spin on it to try and speculate on future events. None of the Tinfoil Hat columns should be taken as actual lore by any stretch of the imagination. However, there is a great deal of fun to be had in picking things apart and trying to predict, so let's see what we can come up with, shall we? But first, let's clear up the matter of demonic death.
Know Your Lore: The Warcraft cosmos, part one: The Material Plane
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. Even now, the true battle between the forces of Light and Darkness approaches. We will all be called to join, and in the face of this conflict, all mortal suffering will be meaningless. -- Prophet Velen Far beyond the tiny planet of Azeroth, beyond the shattered shores of Outland -- or Draenor, as it was once called -- there lies the Great Dark Beyond. This dark, empty void between worlds exists even beyond the Twisting Nether. It is the space between planets, existing in the same material plane as the planets themselves. While the Twisting Nether exists within it, it should not be confused with the Nether, because they are two distinctly different entities. In the existing universe of Warcraft, only a small handful of planets have been defined, floating somewhere out there in the vast, empty space of the Great Dark Beyond. All of these planets are connected, which gives way to a larger, slightly more tinfoil hat theory regarding the greater Warcraft cosmos and what it all means, when it comes down to it. But before we indulge in any speculation, we should define what lies within that Great Dark Beyond and how it all plays together in the vastness of the universe.
Outland review: Will and grace
This admission is better read than said: I'm hopelessly addicted to will and grace. A video game provides the ideal arrangement for someone -- like me -- whose extreme athleticism remains dormant in reality, but seeks expression just a few feet away from the couch. It's the basis for the accord I once made with the Prince of Persia. "With my will and your grace, your grace," I said, "we'll get through this elaborate death chicane in under an hour. And if you end up squirming with a spike through your chest, we'll just put that on me. Deal?" In the low fidelity of Jordan Mechner's classic, the prince's form of movement became a mesmerizing, superhuman display of perfect movement ... and when it didn't you reverted to an older save. Outland, a visually arresting 2D platformer from Finland's Housemarque studio, is just as reverent to grace, personified by a tall, inexhaustible silhouette in search of the meaning behind his dreams. He runs and leaps with such intense confidence, some of it starts filtering through the controller and into you.
Outland coming to PSN on April 26, XBLA on April 27
Outland, a vibrant 2D adventure that exudes elements of Ikaruga, N+, Tron, Super Metroid and a bunch of other things that you like, is set to launch on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade later this month. Developed by Finnish outfit Housemarque, the game will be available on Sony's platform for $10 on Tuesday, April 26, followed by the Xbox version on April 27 for 800 Microsoft Points. Peek past the break to find a new trailer that showcases Outland's arresting imagery, two-player co-operative challenges (online only) and light combat.
Blizzard comments on Outland and Northrend leveling in Cataclysm
Community manager Nethaera commented recently on players' concerns that the new Cataclysm leveling experience from levels 1-60 now severely overshadows the relatively old Outlands and even Northrend content. The gist? Questing and leveling in Outlands and Northrend is leaps and bounds better than the original World of Warcraft, and updating the 60-80 leveling experience is not high on Blizzard's priority list.
Outland preview: Grace anatomy
Not to besmirch the pleasures of mowing down aliens with the aid of a lumbering, gun-toting calzone of muscle and gruff one-liners, but I usually gravitate toward avatars that exhibit speed and panache. Games like Prince of Persia and N+ make quite a show of even basic movement, conveying an easily perceptible sense of momentum in their acrobatic lead characters. You can generally tell whether these games work within just a few minutes of motion -- and Outland, like those games, is love at first flight. Housemarque's previous efforts are just as quickly decipherable, with both Super Stardust HD and Dead Nation built on solid twin-stick shooting, but Outland captures attention at mere sight. The graphics are "traditional" in the sense that they elicit a tribal reverence of nature, with gigantic tree silhouettes softly obscuring the vibrant blues, yellows and greens of the background sky. Outland's bold art seems to draw inspiration from Japanese shadow plays (before Nin2-Jump did it) and even Tron, with a dash of Incan history and mystery mixed in. There's an interesting, cyclical element to the story, which sees your warrior-in-training slipping into slumber to experience the life of a previous hero, who counts defeating a pair of evil gods (and climbing the best ladder since Metal Gear Solid 3) among his accomplishments. You're much less powerful when the dream ends, of course, but you wake up with a taste of the abilities you'll unlock in further Metroid-esque exploration of the world. At its most basic level, Outland is about bounding, sliding and falling through the jungle in the quest for coins, switches and the next power-up.%Gallery-103848%
The Daily Grind: When has an MMO made you feel least like a hero?
For me, it was the early days of World of Warcraft's first expansion, The Burning Crusade. After years in Azeroth, honing my uber-skills and collecting my uber-armor (everything was uber back then), I gave a battle cry and leaped through the portal to Outland with adventure in my heart. "Oh hey, you're here," the unsurprised NPC said. "Here's a bag. Go collect boar droppings." "Boar droppings? Shouldn't the janitor take care of that?" I replied, fingering my sword. "They're, um, hellboars. So this poop can only be handled by a level 60 character. You have 0/6, by the way. Get cracking!" A little part of me died that day. But I still did the quest. Whether it's picking up poo, collecting flowers or escorting little children on their quest to find a flute, all MMOs have those moments when we have to do things that are decidedly unheroic. What were the times when an MMO made you feel least like a hero? 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!
BlizzCon 2010: Outland and Northrend revamps eventually planned
One of the problems with changing the world in Cataclysm to bring all of the classic storylines up to date is that you suddenly go to Outland for an event that happened in the past. You also follow this up with going to Northrend and fighting back the undead which were already shown to have fallen back in the content before you ever went to Outland. Chris Metzen discussed the fact that this really doesn't mesh well and the internal Blizzard lore folks aren't really happy with it. They plan to eventually go back and make Outland and Northrend fit with the revised storyline. The problem they ran into is purely a lack of time. As an example, Wrath of the Lich King had around 1000 quests in Northrend. Cataclysm has 3500 quests without touching either Outland or Northrend. So, these changes to make the lore line up are planned, but there is absolutely no schedule as to when they will be implemented. BlizzCon 2010 is upon us! WoW Insider has all the latest news and information. We're bringing you liveblogging of the WoW panels, interviews with WoW celebrities and attendees and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
Trailer and screens for Ubisoft's Outland look outstanding
Housemarque's (Super Stardust HD) experiment in side-scrolling action game meets light/dark projectile absorption a la Ikaruga is a real looker. You can see just how remarkable Outland's visual style and intriguing play mechanic look in motion by rolling the following video.
Know Your Lore, Tin Foil Hat Edition: The final boss of Cataclysm
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. The image above was taken from a blog post I made back in January of this year, a post discussing possible links between the Old Gods, the dragonflights and Deathwing. Unfortunately, not more than a month or so after it originally aired, several points in the post were disproved, largely due to the release of the Stormrage novel and revelations contained therein. But with the release of Cataclysm and the events playing out on beta servers, I feel this deserves another look -- because what we are potentially looking at is a sequence of events that prove that Deathwing isn't really the one responsible for all this disaster we're going to see on Azeroth, nor is Deathwing the one we should really be worried about. Please note that this post is a "Tin Foil Hat" edition. It is pure speculation based on events already presented in Warcraft lore and certain things I've seen lurking around the Cataclysm beta servers. There are potential spoilers for Cataclysm in this post -- but only if my mad, deranged theories are somehow correct. However, I am going to include several screenshots from the Cataclysm servers, so if you'd rather not be spoiled in any way by the upcoming expansion, I'd advise steering away now.
Outland preview: When shmups grow legs
If you need proof that the upswing of independent game development is having an impact on more mainstream devs, look no further than Outland, the upcoming XBLA and PSN release just revealed by Ubisoft during PAX 2010. Just tell me this doesn't seem like one of those way-out-there ideas, the product of one-man coding in his spare time: It's a beautifully rendered animated platformer that draws aesthetic inspiration from classics like Out of this World ... oh, and it's sort of based on Ikaruga. Crazy, yes, but also very real and, as I can attest after one of the levels and a boss battle, very beautiful. %Gallery-101170%
Outland developed by Housemarque, gameplay detailed
When Ubisoft first revealed Outland for PSN and XBLA earlier this week, the company didn't provide many details. Now, thanks to a preview on IGN, we've got a much clearer picture of the title. Outland is being developed by Housemarque, the studio behind the PSN shooter Super Stardust HD and the upcoming Dead Nation. According to IGN, the game is essentially "a cross between retro platformers like Prince of Persia or Out of This World and the color-switching of shoot 'em up Ikaruga." If just the thought of those two play styles combined has you short of breath, we wouldn't blame you. Like Ikaruga, players can switch the protagonist between two forms, white and black, rendering him impervious to bullets of the same color. At the same time, players must navigate jungle settings on branching pathways looking for secrets and, of course, boss fights. Outland isn't scheduled for release until next year, but rest assured we'll be taking a closer look during PAX. %Gallery-101170%
Ubisoft to reveal 'Outland' for PSN and XBLA at PAX
Ubisoft has announced its lineup for this week's PAX convention, including playable demos of Your Shape and MotionSports for Kinect, and public demonstrations of Child of Eden, Just Dance 2 and H.A.W.X. 2 multiplayer. The company will also have a brand new title on display: Outland for PSN and XBLA, for which attendees will be able to see "a sneak peek." It's possible this game is related to the upcoming Outland movie remake. Ubisoft hasn't given any clues other than the title, so it could be a game based on the comic strip, for all we know. We'll all find out at PAX, unless everyone is too busy pre-ordering Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (you get a free T-shirt for pre-ordering the game at PAX) or staring at Child of Eden to notice.
Cataclysm Beta: New loading screen gallery
A new build of the Cataclysm beta just dropped, and with the update came a makeover for the loading screens for all four continents. They now feature the faction leaders for Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, Maiev and Akama for Outland, and the most recent Lich King in Northrend. Check out the gallery below. %Gallery-99394%
Know Your Lore: Current Horde politics -- the Blood Elves
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. Before I begin, I'd like to thank all of the people that commented on the last post I made that covered orc politics. Apparently orcs are a hot topic of conversation, and while I didn't respond to everyone, I did read through everything said. I do have a couple of points to address, however. First, yes, I am aware that orcs are not all brute-minded savages. There's a lot more to orcs than simple savagery; however, that savagery is something that is a basic part of what makes an orc ... orcish. It's an innate part of being an orc. Thrall seems to lack that savagery for the most part and almost seems to want to cull it from orc society in favor of a more gentle and diplomatic disposition. Garrosh, on the other hand, embraces that savagery to an alarming degree. That's where the conflict between the two of them rests. One has what the other does not. Both are extreme cases in either direction. Second, evoking the name Garrosh Hellscream sets people off. I'm not quite sure what to make of this, but I'd have to say it's a telling statement to the storytelling department that Garrosh, regardless of how much or how little he's been developed, is provoking this kind of reaction from players. Given that most writers like to evoke some sort of emotion in their readers, I can only imagine they are secretly pleased with the outrage. Right, moving on! The blood elves, or sin'dorei as they've taken to calling themselves, have been a largely quiet presence in Wrath of the Lich King. Given this, they may seem like an odd choice to cover. Why bother talking about a race that hasn't done much to speak of since the days of Burning Crusade? Well... that's sort of the point. While the orcs, trolls, and tauren were natural additions, and the forsaken a little different but accepted at large, the blood elves were a very odd choice for an ally to many Horde players, and through the course of Burning Crusade, there was very little light shed on what made these creatures a valuable ally to the Horde because a large amount of blood elf history stemmed from events that happened prior to World of Warcraft.
Know Your Lore: The Draenei
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how, but do you know the why? Each week Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. I love the draenei. Ever since their incorporation into World of Warcraft I've been fond of our indigo skinned (well, colors range from a light whitish-blue to an almost black), tentacle bearded, cloven hooved dimension exile friends. Yes, I'm aware that Chris Metzen had to take some heat for having contradicted his own backstory (and isn't it fascinating how the guy who wrote the original story can still be lambasted for having 'gotten it wrong'? Truly, fandom is wondrous strange.) but to my eyes, having a chance to play one of the draenei is worth all the handwaving. Their history as it has been incorporated into the game is one that I find equal parts tragic, epic and inspiring. Not many races in the universe can be said to have survived the personal attentions of Kil'jaeden the Deceiver for tens of thousands of years. Even now, after the near total genocide of the orcish Horde, the draenei endure. They have a slight problem with steering Naaru dimensional ships, though. They've crashed two, by my current count, one becoming the mountain Oshu'gun (ironically one of the orcs most sacred sites before they fell to darkness and corruption is a crashed Naaru vessel) and the most recent being the Exodar section of the Naaru fortress seized by Kael'Thas Sunstrider and renamed Tempest Keep. So who are the draenei? Well, for that we need to go back more than 25,000 years. Luckily, this talking dog and small child happen to have a wayback machine and no means to prevent me from stealing it from them. Hopefully Nozdormu doesn't find out.
