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Strike Vector half-off now, new co-op mode scheduled for next month
Aerial arena shooter Strike Vector, which launched earlier this year, intends to continue adding more free content into the foreseeable future. "Each month we are making new maps, new modes ... for free. We decided to make all our DLC for free," Ragequit Corporation co-founder Jeremy Chaïeb told us today at PAX East. The team is showing off the game's new map today at PAX East, but the next mode scheduled for the game is a co-op experience with teams of six against AI. This is a significant expansion from the current game, which currently focuses on player-vs-player deathmatch modes. To ease new players into checking out the game, Strike Vector is currently discounted on Steam for the next week at 50 percent off for $12.49. If you're attending PAX East, the game can be found in the Indie Megabooth. [Image: Ragequit Corporation]
Four new Heroes revealed at PAX East
Heroes of the Storm's PAX East panel has unveiled four new heroes, from left to right, Brightwing, Zagara, Li li and Murky. There's already a trailer for Brightwing, and the Heroes of the Storm official post supplies more information on the new heroes. While it's surprising that iconic characters which appear on the main screen of the game, such as Chen Stormstout, are not yet in the game, while these other heroes are. Nonetheless, they're really exciting additions, as the official post elucidates their roles in the game we can really see how interesting and varied the hero roles and abilities are thanks to the different playstyle. Hit the break for their abilities and information.
PAX East 2014: First impressions of Warlords of Draenor
The biggest problem that Warlords of Draenor is facing right now is one of first impressions. This isn't a mark against World of Warcraft so much as it's the nature of the beast. I wrote a while back about how World of Warcraft can't really be back, all things considered; it's too firmly a part of the establishment to ever shake the image that it's created over the past several years. You know what it is. You know how it plays. Odds are good that you've played it. Warlords of Draenor also features no new races, no new classes, no overhaul of the talent system, and in the build I got to play, very few of the new models. That's where the first impression problem crops up. A lot of the things that are being baked into the expansion just don't show up at first glance. That isn't to say that the first glance is bad, just that it overwhelmingly sends the message of "this is still World of Warcraft; no need for elaboration."
Just rolling with the apocalypse in Mushroom 11
In the aftermath of global annihilation, Mushroom 11 gives rise to a bioluminescent blob that looks like someone made radioactive jello in a murky swimming pool. It expands, contracts, squeezes and climbs through dilapidated nooks and crannies, never losing its total mass while the player prods it into motion. It's easy to play and hard to look away. The quirky growth must use its weight and mass in clever ways to advance, be it creeping through the windows of a skyscraper about to crumble, splitting itself to trigger simultaneous mechanisms, or to roll past the attacking arms of a mutated plant. The trick is to realize that your touch (or mouse-click) removes adjacent pieces of the blob, which then immediately regrow, attached elsewhere. Closer observation shows it to be a living lattice of gelatinous material, moving and shifting its weight as it grows in response to your prodding. This makes Mushroom 11 a slower, methodical game, and different from fluid manipulation games like Pixeljunk Shooter. The other trick to Mushroom 11, according to designer Itay Keren, is to teach players how to handle their blobs without resorting to text and obvious tutorials. The game is striving for subtlety, both in its story of how the earth came to ruin, and in its teaching phase.
PAX East 2014: Star Citizen and the DFM are 'more than just PvP'
Chris Roberts took the stage at a backer-only pre-PAX event in Boston last night to show off some of Star Citizen's alpha dogfighting footage. Despite a few technical glitches, fans were able to get an extended glimpse of the game's first playable module, which Roberts said will likely release in a month or so. The dogfighting module will be presented as part of the in-universe fiction and thus will take the form of a space sim called Arena Commander which released to gamers in the year 2944. Players will load into the DFM through their pre-existing hangar module where they'll choose between five alpha game modes: Free Flight, Battle Royale, Squadron Battle, Capture the Core, and Vanduul Swarm (basically a horde mode). Cloud Imperium is including leaderboards and plenty of stats which will show up both on Star Citizen's web-based player and organization profiles as well as in the finished game. The upcoming module will also feature co-op capabilities along with PvE AI. "At the end of the day, for me, it's not all about combat," Roberts explained, "so if [combat's] not your thing you don't have to worry about it." Click past the cut to watch the full livestream.
Blizzard headed to PAX East this weekend
If you're heading to PAX East in Boston this weekend, you'll want to download the PAX guidebook app (for iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry) and check out the schedule to make sure you don't miss anything. But con-goers, whatever their schedule, will be glad to know that Blizzard will out in full force at Booth #848. Lucky attendees will be able to check out demos of: Hearthstone for iPad Warlords of Draenor with updated character models as well as the intro experience Diablo 3's still-in-development Ultimate Evil Edition for PlayStation 4 Heroes of the Storm featuring brand new heroes There will also be Blizzard developers on hand, plenty of prizes given away, and a panel on Heroes of the Storm on Friday April 11 at 10:30 a.m. EDT. For everyone staying home this weekend, the panel will be streaming live on PAX's Twitch channel, so if you're itching for new Heroes info, be sure to check it out.
The Daily Grind: What do you hope to see at this year's PAX East?
Massively will be on the ground in Boston at this year's PAX East, which officially starts on Saturday. We'll be scurrying all over convention land to check out WildStar, Landmark, EVE Valkyrie, Warlords of Draenor, Guild Wars 2, Star Citizen, The Repopulation, PlanetSide 2, Guns of Icarus, State of Decay, and Infinite Crisis, among others. A few big MMO studios won't be present, of course; I think everyone will grok why ZeniMax Online might be a bit too busy for another con just now. But big guns like Carbine and SOE and Blizzard will all be in attendance at the first gamer-centric rather than media-centric con of the year. So what are you looking forward to seeing out of PAX? 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 2014: The Complete Joystiq Panel Schedule
Like a fleet of Viking long ships descending on a harbor ripe for plunder, the Joystiq crew is sailing into Boston for PAX East this weekend hungry for games and hanging out with the people who love games. Not only will we be wandering the PAX East show floor and hanging with developers so as to populate Joystiq.com with quality coverage, the staff will also be moderating and/or appearing in 12 separate panels between Friday and Sunday. Included in that line up is Game Show Night, orchestrated by our own Susan Arendt, Joystiq's Managing Editor. It will not only be funny-both ha ha and weird-it will also include sweet prizes from the likes of Square-Enix, 80sTees.com, and BioWare. Do not salivate over these prizes in your brain. Come and claim them for yourself. After the jump is a complete Joystiq panel schedule, listed by time EST. Additional information can be found at the PAX East website.
Saints Row's Johnny Gat signed up for Divekick: Addition Edition
In why-the-hell-not news, Johnny Gat of Saints Row fame is the newest combatant to join the ranks of Divekick: Addition Edition. The Steelport gangster first arrives in the two-button fighter's PS4 and Xbox One versions, before cruising "shortly after" onto PS3, Vita and Steam. There remains no word, dive or kick on a release date for PS4 and Xbox One. Iron Galaxy released the Addition Update for those original platforms last week, bringing a swathe of tweaks to the existing roster along with various other features including blind selection for ranked matches and d-pad input for the menus (yep, really). Finally, If you've got to get your Gat on ASAP, the good news is you can take him for a spin on the PAX East showfloor in Boston this weekend. [Image: Iron Galaxy]
Telepathic crime and noir stealth due in spring with Third Eye Crime
Third Eye Crime, the telepathic stealth game from a team of former Bungie developers at Moonshot Games, is due out in spring for mobile devices from publisher gameblyr. Moonshot will have a playable iOS build at PAX East later this week. Third Eye Crime stars Rothko, a criminal with the ability to predict the moves of his enemies – Rothko must use his telepathic powers to set up false leads for the authorities, allowing him to get away with nasty deeds. It's top-down puzzle and stealth in a noir setting, and it was almost a completely different game. Moonshot Games entered the indie industry with Fallen Frontier, a downloadable co-op shooter for consoles, but funding fell through. Moonshot switched up its business plan, targeting the mobile market, and until now it funded Third Eye Crime from the team's own pockets. "Post-PAX [2011] we came to the grim realization that the market had shifted pretty substantially since we first started working on the game," Moonshot co-founder Damian Isla said in 2013. "The console downloadable platforms had plateaued somewhat, and publishers were less excited about investing there. A game that had sold itself easily the first two times all of a sudden became a much harder sell the third time. By that time, the real interest and the accompanying dollars seemed to had moved on to mobile and social." We'll see if Moonshot is still on the right path with Third Eye Crime in spring. [Images: gameblyr]
WildStar LEGO rocket house landing at PAX East
If the Venn diagram of your interests overlaps at "loves LEGO" and "looking forward to WildStar," then boy howdy will PAX East appeal to you. Carbine Studios has commissioned a LEGO artist (yes, that is a real thing) to create a massive 50,000-piece rocket house for PAX East's main lobby. This ship will be donated to Child's Play with $10,000 after the convention, and a smaller version of the LEGO rocket house will be given away to one fan who pre-orders WildStar while there. WildStar will be at booth #562 during the show. [Source: Carbine Studios press release]
Hotline Miami 2, Hyper Light Drifter headline PAX East's Indie Megabooth
Indie Megabooth has announced its lineup of featured games for PAX East 2014, revealing that Hotline Miami 2, Hyper Light Drifter, La-Mulana 2, and other indie standouts will be on display at next month's event in Boston. Megabooth offerings include upcoming games like Die Gute Fabrik's Sportsfriends, Tiger Style's Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon, and Ronimo's Swords & Soldiers 2. Event organizers will also host the Indie Minibooth, a smaller venue that will feature a rotating lineup of games on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. PAX East will be held in Boston on April 11-14. A full list of all featured games is after the break below. [Image: Indie Megabooth]
Blizzard unveils its PAX East plans
Blizzard has revealed their PAX East schedule, and for attendees of the Boston-based convention, it's going to be quite a weekend. There's something for almost every game the company makes, all to be found at booth #848 from 10am to 6pm Friday through Sunday. On offer at the booth will be: Warlords of Draenor playable demo, with updated models and the intro zone -- likely the same as we saw at BlizzCon. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft on iPad. A demo for Heroes of the Storm, featuring new Heroes that haven't yet been played anywhere outside of Blizzard. And playable time with Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition, on PlayStation 4. There's also developers standing by to talk to fans, a Heroes of the Storm presentation at the Albatross theatre on Friday, April 11 at 10:30 a.m. EDT, as well as giveaways, prizes and more! We wouldn't be surprised to see some new merchandise debuting, as has previously been the case for PAX conventions. It promises to be an exciting weekend all round!
Blizzard is going on a PAX East road trip
Blizzard is refueling the company RV and making a mix tape of John Denver and Megadeth for its upcoming cross-country trip to PAX East. The studio announced today that it will have a presence at the convention to show off Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, and World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor. Blizzard will be at booth #848 from April 11th through the 13th. Hearthstone will be available to play not only on demo stations but on the iPad as well. Fans can also check out a hands-on demos of Warlords of Draenor, Diablo III for PS4, and Heroes of the Storm with new heroes. The studio won't just be confined to its booth for the duration of the weekend, as it's planning a presentation on April 11th at 10:30 a.m. EDT about Heroes of the Storm. This presentation will be livestreamed for those who can't make it.
PAX East 2014 panels bring you joy(stiq)
If you're one of the few that managed to pick up tickets to PAX East 2014 in the narrow window they were available, then your schedule of events is now available to view. The Joystiq staff will be at PAX East this year in full force, and they're even headlining the event's list of fascinating panels. If you're looking to maximize your odds at high-fiving folks like Joystiq's Managing Editor Susan Arendt, News Content Director Alexander Sliwinski or Reviews Content Director Richard Mitchell, you'll want to attend panels such as "Was I Wrong? Revisiting Controversial Reviews," "We didn't start the DLC fire, but we fed the monster. Now what?" and "Keep Your Opinion to Yourself: The Myth of the 'Objective' Game Review." We promise that not every panel will take multiple tweets to tell your friends about. When you're not attending every one of Joystiq's panels, the PAX East Indie Showcase appears to be a good destination for PAX-goers, as six mobile indie games will be on display this year. PAX East 2014 will be held in Boston on April 11 through April 13. [Image: PAX East]
Play EVE: Valkyrie on the Oculus Rift at PAX East
Ready to hop on the virtual reality hype train? Make sure you stop by the Oculus spread at this year's PAX East, as the company behind the Rift headset is partnering with CCP to bring you some hands-on time with EVE: Valkyrie. PAX East happens in Boston from April 11 through April 13. If you can't make it, don't worry because we'll be there with silly goggles on our head.
212 devs are working on Star Citizen, dogfighting launch 'shortly after PAX'
Feel like you're not getting enough info on Star Citizen's development progress? Cloud Imperium chairman Chris Roberts has penned an epically long update that's now live on the game's website. "The concept is simple -- a high level monthly production progress report from the various teams from around the world working on Star Citizen," he writes. Those teams include a whopping 212 developers, which Roberts says is more people than typically work on a triple-A console title and which makes SC the largest space sim project in history. In terms of alpha progress, Roberts says that CIG will unveil the long-awaited dogfighting module at a special backer-only pre-PAX event. It will be playable "shortly after PAX." There's much more to the post, including updates from all of CIG's studios, so grab your favorite beverage and click through the links below to get caught up.
Wayward Souls, The Spookening headline PAX East Indie Showcase
The PAX East Indie Showcase stars six mobile games from independent studios around the world: Crowman & Wolfboy, Wither Studios LLC: US Duet, Kumobius: Australia Framed, Loveshack: Australia The Spookening, Modesty: Sweden Tiny Dice Dungeon, Springloaded: Singapore Wayward Souls, Rocketcat Games: US The Indie Showcase at PAX East is a mobile-specific sampling of games, rather than the yearly lineup of higher-profile, mainly console and PC indie games in the PAX 10 at PAX Prime. This distinction is on purpose, Penny Arcade co-founder Jerry Holkins wrote in a blog post. "It may not be apparent outside of my own mind, but the PEIS has a specific mission to promote games on mobile," he said. "PAX10 is more broad. But mobile is an especially scary place to make games right now, and I think there's good to be done thereby. Unlike a lot of games at a show like this, a lot of times you can just grab your phone out of your pocket and buy something you like right there. As magic tricks go, that's a pretty good one." [Image: Rocketcat Games]
Limo-spinner Roundabout coming to Xbox One, playable at PAX East
Remember that game about the spinning limo? It's called Roundabout and it's been confirmed for Xbox One today. Roundabout will be self-published by developer No Goblin through the ID@Xbox program. Roundabout, also coming to PC, Mac and Linux, is a game in which players attempt to guide a spinning limousine past urban obstacles and through narrow streets. Roundabout is the product of Dan Teasdale's No Goblin, an indie outfit he started after stints at Harmonix and Twisted Pixel. If you'd like to sample Roundabout ahead of its launch later this year, No Goblin will have a playable build on showcase at PAX East. This year's PAX East show takes place April 11 - 13 in downtown Boston, and will be held once again at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Unless you've already purchased your ticket, however, the odds of getting into PAX East are pretty much nonexistent. [Image: No Goblin]
PAX East 2014 is sold out
PAX East sold out, man. It totally sold out. We're not trying to wax poetic here; it has literally sold out. No, we are not using the new meaning of "literally" from the Oxford English Dictionary. It has completely sold out; you cannot buy any more tickets. It sold out. What did you think we meant? The convention is slated to start on April 11th of next year, but there are no longer any badges available for the event. So if you haven't already purchased one, we're sorry, but at least you'll be able to save some money. And as always, we'll be doing our best to elbow through the throngs to bring you coverage of MMO news from the show floor.
