PAX-East-2013
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PAX East 2013 in pictures
There's nothing quite like the experience of being on the show floor at PAX East. From fan gatherings to the booths to the general atmosphere throughout the show, it's a unique experience. It's also a unique experience you probably don't get to have if you're not in the northeastern part of the United States, since traveling to Boston is a dicey proposition at the best of times. And most people can't afford to give up rent for a month just to go to a game convention. Obviously, the Massively away team is doing its best to give you a sense of the show floor through our articles about the big reveals, but what about the rest of the festivities? We've collected a gallery of our pictures taken on-site throughout the three-day exposition, and we'll be updating it through the remainder of the weekend. It's the next best thing to being in Boston and standing in line for an hour to see a panel about stuff you already knew! %Gallery-183635% Massively's on the ground in Boston during the weekend of March 22nd to 24th, bringing you all the best news from PAX East 2013. Whether you're dying to know more about WildStar, DUST 514, or any MMO in between, we aim to have it covered!
The Daily Grind: Are you excited for WildStar's housing?
Yesterday was a big day for existing WildStar fans, as it was a chance to finally take a look at the game's housing system. It was also a big day for people who hadn't previously been fans of the game, as a lot of people sat up and realized that yep, this game will have quite a robust housing system at launch. It's one thing to be told that the game will have a housing system and quite another to be told exactly what it will do, how much it will benefit you, and how many different playstyles can take part in the fun. Of course, some people may still be unmoved. Maybe they still have a hangup about WildStar's graphics. Maybe they're not convinced that the housing video is anything more than a beautiful lie. Or perhaps they're just opposed to in-game housing. So today we ask you, dear readers. Are you excited for WildStar's housing system? Does it make you eager to play the game or just reinforce an existing eagerness? 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!
PAX East 2013: Hands-on with The Elder Scrolls Online, round two
Last October, I paid a visit to the ZeniMax Online studios in Maryland in order to get some hands-on time with the studio's upcoming MMO, The Elder Scrolls Online. Well, today at PAX East I got to pay the lands of Tamriel a second visit to see how far the team has come since my first look at the game. Honestly, I was initially dreading writing this because I was sure that I wouldn't have anything to say that I hadn't said in my previous review, but thankfully, I was worried for nothing. The game was hardly recognizable to me because of the sheer amount of attention that's been given to it since I first played it in its alpha stage last fall. Gone was the functional-but-barebones UI with which I was familiar; it's been replaced with a sleek, polished interface leaps and bounds above the (notoriously awful) interfaces seen in the single-player entries of the series. On top of that, I got my grubby paws on a different faction, swapping my Dunmer of the Ebonheart Pact for a Breton of the Daggerfall Covenant. After character creation (which, by the way, is insanely detailed with dozens of appearance sliders and customization options), I was dropped into Stros M'Kai, the starting zone for members of the Daggerfall Covenant. From there I was let loose to roam, explore, quest, and fight for a solid two hours.
Renegade Kid takes 3DS to 'Cult County'
Renegade Kid is most recently known for the side-scroller Mutant Mudds, but initially came to prominence with Dementium and Moon, both first-person shooters for DS. The developer is returning to its handheld horror roots with Cult County, a new FPS for 3DS unveiled at PAX East.The developer posted some 3D images on its website, which you can see by going here with your 3DS browser, or using the QR code here. The page notes that these images are from an early "atmosphere" demo. The atmosphere is, it would appear, dusty.
Two new Awesomenauts on the way, latest map in two weeks
Ronimo Games is demoing a new level for Awesomenauts called Aiguillon at PAX East. The level takes inspiration from the game's character Leon, as it features a power-up that grants Leon's stealth ability to whoever grabs it first. Ronimo tells Joystiq that the map will undergo a closed beta phase before being released in two weeks on Steam.Awesomenauts will also receive two new characters, one of which is currently in production. The other character will be the result of a community survey on Facebook, which gives fans a chance to see their character designs in the game.
PAX East 2013: Marvel Heroes releases June 4th, will have PvP on launch
The news from PAX East 2013 keeps on flowing. Gazillion Entertainment has announced that Marvel Heroes will officially launch on June 4th, with early access early access starting May 28th for owners of the Founders pack. For those of you who just can't wait until the early access or launch, closed beta is still ongoing and has been expanded to include owners of the Premium pack. At the PAX East panel, Gazillion also confirmed that PvP will be available at launch and talked about endgame content in the form of boss runs and "ultimate powers." Massively's intrepid PAX East team will be meeting with Gazillion to talk about Marvel Heroes, so stay tuned for more information. [Update: We've updated this post with the new villain trainer after the break!]
PAX East 2013: Diablo III console video sizzles, Blizzard hints at other platforms
Diablo III's console edition is the cornerstone of Blizzard's booth at PAX East this weekend (but by no means the only product on display), so it stands to reason that the team would have cut together a new trailer to promote the coming console conquest. As we mull over the prospect of Blizzard winning over large swaths of the current console market, the PA Report discovered that Diablo III might not stop at just the PlayStation 3 and 4. In an interview, Blizzard did not want to make any official announcements but did state that the Diablo III console edition was "not necessarily a Sony exclusive." You can watch the "sizzle reel" of Diablo III with the adjusted UI after the jump! Massively's on the ground in Boston during the weekend of March 22nd to 24th, bringing you all the best news from PAX East 2013. Whether you're dying to know more about WildStar, DUST 514, or any MMO in between, we aim to have it covered!
Diablo 3 for consoles 'not necessarily a Sony exclusive'
Diablo 3 is a beast, a monster that Sony wrangled down for what appeared to be an exclusive, but that doesn't appear to be the case. Speaking to the Penny Arcade Report, Diablo 3 Senior Producer Julia Humphreys clarified the game's platform agnosticism saying, "We don't have any announcements to make at this time ... But we're not necessarily a Sony exclusive."Diablo 3 for consoles has only been confirmed for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 at this point. The version shown at PAX East today was the PS3 version.Features noted for the PS3 version include less spammy loot drops, an easier system to equip items directly form the main game screen and reiteration of no real-money auction house and the ability for offline play.
PAX East 2013: Hi-Rez Studios' Todd Harris talks SMITE, Global Agenda 2
SMITE just recently celebrated the release of its 32nd playable deity, Aphrodite, but she's far from the last thing in the wings for Hi-Rez Studios' borderline blasphemous MOBA. We got the chance to catch up with Hi-Rez COO Todd Harris at PAX East to find out what awaits in the studio's future. Obviously the studio's immediate focus is on its new golden child, SMITE, for which Hi-Rez (partnered with Twitch.tv) is holding a $10,000 tournament at PAX East over the weekend. Harris also mentioned that SMITE is looking to officially release once its roster reaches about 40 deities, which he says will likely be sometime this summer. And for those of you with itchy trigger-fingers, Harris also mentioned that Global Agenda 2 is, in fact, still alive and kicking, though right now further details are scant. What we do know is that the team is focusing on the game's PvP for launch, which may be somewhat disappointing to fans of the original Global Agenda's co-op PvE, but Harris says that the studio wants to put forth the most polished PvP experience possible before looking into expanding the game into PvE territory. Unfortunately, that's about all we know right now, so we'll just have to content ourselves with knowing that it hasn't been relegated to the realm of development hell. Massively's on the ground in Boston during the weekend of March 22nd to 24th, bringing you all the best news from PAX East 2013. Whether you're dying to know more about WildStar, DUST 514, or any MMO in between, we aim to have it covered!
PAX East 2013: A first look at WildStar's housing and new zones
If you've been keeping up with activity here on Massively over the past couple of years, you know that I'm pretty excited about WildStar. So I was pretty happy to sit down and get a look at the game's high and low areas, not to mention the game's housing system. I was a bit less happy that said look didn't include a chance to play the whole thing myself, but if I had that opportunity I probably never would have let go of the demo station. While the demo was hands-off, it did give plenty of opportunity to see a sample of the game's starting areas, what the high-level regions look like, and what players can expect when they sit down to start building their homes. So let's start out at a region that's both high in level and high above the rest of the game... because it's in high orbit. (And don't forget the housing video past the break!)%Gallery-183604%
Volition explains relationship between Saints Row 4 and 'Enter the Dominatrix'
Volition explained to us at PAX East today that Saints Row 4 isn't "Saints Row 3.5" nor the canceled Saints Row: The Third standalone expansion "Enter the Dominatrix" in a different package. The team told us that work began on Saints Row 4 about two months before The Third finished, with another team split to do Dominatrix."We had to go in and totally gut the [Dominatrix] story for Saints Row 4. Everything that was the missions or the story we did for Dominatrix was totally thrown out," Steve Jaros, creative director at Volition told us. "All the voice recording that we did all thrown out. We redid the entire story. The game is mission wise the same length as Saints Row 3, plus other open worlds on top of it."Senior Producer Jim Boone told us that in June last year, shortly after Jason Rubin took on his short-lived role as president at THQ, the agreement was made between Rubin and Volition to combine the games and focus the team on one full project."Everyone on the team had the same concern, we didn't want to make a 3.5, we aren't making an expansion pack. What we put out to the world has to be worthy of the name Saints Row 4. I really think everyone on the team will stand behind it," added Jaros. "So much stuff has been changed and thrown out. Even the best of the [Dominatrix] stuff that we liked and pulled into the game we still changed. Nothing was drag and dropped in."Saints Row 4 will launch on August 20, featuring weapon customization, mechs, a new alien enemy and a... dub-step gun.
Capcom reveals DuckTales Remastered, developed by WayForward [update]
Capcom is bringing back DuckTales in a new game developed by WayForward Technologies. This is one of the two new games teased by Capcom ahead of the "World of Capcom" panel, along with Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara.The new DuckTales, of course, is inspired by the NES classic, a Mega Man-esque game in which Scrooge McDuck used his cane as both a golf club and a pogo stick. The new version has new hand-drawn sprites, and features original voice work. It's coming to Wii U, PSN, and XBLA for $15.Update: DuckTales Remastered is actually a full remake of the NES game, with new features including a museum and "A MONEY BIN YOU CAN ACTUALLY SWIM IN!" So we've now solved that mystery, and rewritten history to reflect it.
Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara collects classic D&Ds
]During a panel at PAX East, Capcom confirmed plans to port its two Dungeons & Dragons games for release on Wii U eShop, Steam, PSN, and XBLA as "Chronicles of Mystara." The collection comprises 1993's Tower of Doom and 1996's Shadow Over Mystara, both beloved four-player arcade fantasy brawlers set in D&D's Mystara world.The only previous home release for these games was on the Saturn in 1999, which limited the games to two players, and further limited the games to being played by people who owned a Saturn.The new version integrates a challenge system, and includes drop-in, drop-out online multiplayer using GGPO. A new "house rules" system will let you change the mechanics, turning it into a time attack or losing money instead of health when damaged, for example.The Wii U version will include WiiPad enhancements, including touchscreen item management. All versions will have online leaderboards. Chronicles of Mystara will be released in June for $14.99.
Transistor preview: A beautiful, tactical twist on action-RPG
Red is a fallen star, beautiful and talented yet broken and nearly defeated – until she finds the Transistor. In Supergiant Games' demo of Transistor, Red stumbles upon this giant, pulsating sword immediately, embedded in the gut of a corpse. The Transistor speaks with the voice of that dead man, urging her to take it and run. She does, with little hesitation; Red may have known this dead man once, as suggested by the stream of apologies and compassion overlaid on the gameplay.Transistor is gorgeous, seemingly hand-painted in muted neons backlit by futuristic skylines, similar in style to Supergiant's first game, Bastion. It plays, at first, with similar mechanics, as Red uses her initial two attacks to take down two robotic members of The Process, the main enemies of Transistor. In Red's world, more than 100 people have gone missing in the past year, and the imprints of the dead litter the streets, lorded over by floating white robots with glaring red sensors.%Gallery-183226%
Capcom having 'ongoing discussions' for new Mega Man game, more classics coming to 3DS eShop [Update: New Mega Man not confirmed]
After lots of high profile cancellations over the last few years, it looks like Capcom may finally be ready to breathe some life back into the Blue Bomber. Speaking at the World of Capcom panel at PAX East, Capcom community manager Brett Elston dropped some good news for mega fans. First and foremost, Capcom is developing a new game in the Mega Man series, but it's "not ready" to fully announce it just yet.Two more of the series' 8-bit classics are slated to hit the 3DS eShop in the next two months, with Mega Man 4 arriving April 25 and Mega Man 5 on May 16. Capcom will also be releasing a special light-up figure to commemorate Mega Man's 25th anniversary.Update: Capcom has clarified Elston's comments, saying that a new Mega Man game has not been confirmed. The company is having "ongoing discussions about Mega Man," but it "won't announce anything until something is ready."
Deus Ex: Human Revolution boss fights on Wii U 'as they should have been'
Eidos Montreal didn't mess around when it came to fixing one of the most widely criticized aspects of Deus Ex: Human Revolution in the upcoming Wii U Director's Cut."The boss fights are now as they should have been," Emile Pedneault, game designer on the Director's Cut told us today at PAX East. "We took them and completely rebuilt them. We couldn't change [the boss' character] model and the way they need to die because of the story telling, but we changed the level layout. We tweaked their AI and we've added tons of ways to deal with them."He continued, "You can deal with a boss fight in a stealth way, you can deal with a boss fight in a hacking way. We even have for each boss fight a way to kill them without firing a single bullet."Pedneault showed us the first boss fight, pointing out all the different ways that it could now be completed using other skills beyond "throw every grenade in your inventory and just keep shooting." There are several corridors now for stealth attacks and turrets for hacking, along with other goodies for players to discover.The boss fights were widely criticized when Deus Ex: Human Revolution originally launched, with Eidos Montreal eventually admitting it farmed out that portion of the game to an outside developer. Deus Ex DLC "The Missing Link," bundled with the Wii U version, designed in-house at Eidos Montreal gave a far more flexible experience. %Gallery-183306%
PAX East 2013: Blizzard announces Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft CCG
What's the "something new" that Blizzard promised at PAX East? Is it Titan? A Diablo III expansion? The Lost Vikings Online? Nay, it's Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, a digital collectable card game. Blizzard announced Hearthstone in the opening minutes of the convention. The game is being developed by a new, smaller team at the studio that wanted more freedom to experiment and create quicker titles. Hearthstone is a free-to-play title that will pit players against each other over an animated 3-D table with nine classes from World of Warcraft. It will use Battle.net matchmaking to pair up users. Packs of five cards (with varying degrees of rarity) can be either earned through playing the game or purchased separately. The team wanted to make the game intuitive and simple to play, as well as dynamic and exciting to watch. Duplicate cards can be disenchanted to create new cards as well. You can watch the trailer after the jump. [Update: To be clear, the cards are earned through Hearthstone play, not WoW play.]
Ms. Splosion Man bringing power-ups to iOS by the end of March
Ms. 'Splosion Man will launch on iOS by the end of March, Twisted Pixel told Joystiq at PAX East. The game introduces power-ups, which will be specific to the iOS version of the game. Power-ups include "nuclear 'splode," a bullet-time item and a option to cheat on the game, skipping a level entirely.The "cheat" power-up isn't new to the series, as Ms. 'Splosion Man originally gave players the option to move past a level should they fail a little too much. In this case, the iOS version offers that choice via power-ups in the in-game power-up store. The game is also coming to Steam and Windows Phone.
Hearthstone Cinematic
Blizzard has just released the cinematic for HearthStone, embedded above. It's fun and goofy, which is the impression I have of the game itself! The voice-over goes through some of Warcraft's most notable heroes: Thrall, Jaina, Illidan, Garrosh, and settles on some beer-swilling dwarves telling you to forget about blood and honor and just sit back and enjoy yourself. Kind of sounds like a Saturday night in Ironforge, doesn't it? I'm already looking forward to this game more than I would have thought. I'm a sucker for cartoonish fun, which this game looks to have in spades. I've always enjoyed card games like Magic: The Gathering but I hate physically collecting cards, and I've moved so much in the last ten years that I lose them anyway. Digital card games are growing in popularity, and Hearthstone seems like a solid addition to the genre.
Dean Hall: DayZ standalone alpha won't launch until at least June
DayZ, the standalone zombie survival game spawned from the popular Arma 2 mod, will enter official review in June, with plans for a widespread alpha sometime after then, creator Dean Hall tells Joystiq."We're going to review the situation in June," Hall says. "So there'll be no release between now and June. And we're quite hopeful that we'll go then. I know that people get really frustrated because they want to play, but I just think this is the best option."DayZ is basically ready for an alpha run, but Hall and his team are waiting to perfect the client-server architecture. Hall currently has 25 people in a small pre-alpha, and he hopes to get a few hundred playing DayZ before opening the alpha. DayZ alpha keys will go live in batches, possibly 50,000 at a time, and Hall is looking at a possible Kickstarter-inspired distribution model, where players would pay certain amounts to opt into the alpha and snag other goodies, in tiers."We want to release the keys in chunks of what we have servers available," Hall says. "The idea is to very, very quickly try to release something out there, because that allows us to start capacity testing. We've got one final thing we're waiting for with the release date, which is the completion of our client-server architecture. It's basically making the game into an MMO, and pretty much the moment that's done, we'll release."
