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Time-bending shooter 'Quantum Break' arrives on Steam
Quantum Break is a strange video game. Not for its time-bending story, or the way it combines a live-action TV show (although both are pretty interesting) but how Microsoft and developer Remedy have decided to release it. The game started as an Xbox One exclusive before branching out onto Windows 10. Now, it's also available on Steam, giving even more players the chance to adventure as Jack Joyce. In addition, there's also the Timeless Collector's Edition, a physical package that includes five game discs, a 'Making Of' Blu-ray and book, the soundtrack and two posters.
Raise some Hell on your commute with the 'Doom' soundtrack
In case you wanted to listen to the crushing beats and guitar riffs of Doom's soundtrack during your daily trip to work or school, now's your chance. Composer Mick Gordon's industrial-metal score is available to purchase and stream from Google Play, iTunes and Spotify. A tweet from Gordon outlines what's available in the digital version: 31 tracks with new mixes spanning a 128 minute runtime. And at least a few pentagrams and numbers of the beast if you run it through a spectrogram.
Steam is turning into the App Store and that's OK
Steam changed the video game industry in the same way Netflix changed television. Digital distribution was a natural evolution for gaming in the early 2010s, allowing PC players to skip the midnight-release lines at Gamestop and purchase new titles with the click of a button. While Steam wasn't the first hub to offer digitally distributed games -- Valve debuted it in 2003 -- it quickly gained a massive following and by 2011 was undoubtedly the largest platform for finding, buying and playing games on PC, Mac and Linux. Today, Steam hosts more than 10,000 titles and nearly 160 million active users per month, according to Steam Spy and EEDAR. Steam is Netflix on pixelated, interactive steroids.
Indie game darling 'Firewatch' is heading to movie theaters
Physical photographs aren't the only way Firewatch will invade the real world. Developer Campo Santo recently revealed a partnership with production house Good Universe (Neighbors and Last Vegas) to make a movie based on the indie game about a fire lookout in a Wyoming forest, according to The Hollywood Reporter. No other details are available at the time, but fingers crossed that some enterprising Ford dealership doesn't repurpose the movie's eventual trailer for a summer sales event.
Next 'GTA Online' expansion will make a biker out of you
Motorcycle gangs aren't exactly new ground for Grand Theft Auto, sure, but GTA Online will play host to the one percenters in the future. The refreshingly conservatively named "Bikers" expansion will add eight-player gangs, "a massive slate of new competitive and co-op gameplay," new properties to buy and a bunch of new bikes, according to a post on Rockstar Newswire.
Valve is changing how Steam reviews work
Valve is cracking down on Steam reviews in an effort to prevent developers from artificially inflating a game's review score on the service. Valve says that the fixation on review scores is driving some developers to use nefarious means to boost them, thus potentially driving sales higher.
'Forza 6: Apex' adds racing wheel support and exits beta
Steering wheel support is essential for any racing simulation that wants to be taken seriously. And now, some four months after launch, the free-to-play Forza Motorsport 6: Apex is finally ready for the pricey -- and extremely precise! -- accessories. The PC game will play nicely with a number of wheels from Logitech and Thrustmaster (including the latter's very nice T300RS). A post on Xbox Wire notes that more wheels will be supported later this month.
'TowerFall' ups the mayhem with eight-person local multiplayer
The developers behind TowerFall are working on more than just a game about climbing a mountain. That's right: Matt Thorson has also released an official mod that brings support for up to eight players to the charming, retro (and possibly violent, depending on your friends) local multiplayer component of TowerFall. It'll run you a fitting $8.88 to download from the game's itch.io page. Thorson is quick to note, however, that this isn't TowerFall proper.
'Overwatch' season two takes cues from 'League of Legends'
Overwatch's 15 million-plus players are going to see some pretty big changes come the game's second season. First up is how rankings work. The current 1 - 100 skill ranking is going away in favor of a 1 - 5,000 rating that breaks down into seven tiers like bronze, silver, gold and, at the highest level, master and grandmaster -- similar to League of Legends and, most recently, Halo 5: Guardians. Game director Jeff Kaplan says that the idea behind this overhaul is to make it feel less like you're performing poorly overall just because you had a bad night. "We want skill rating to be a gauge of where you are as a player," he says in the video below. "We don't want that number to be the thing you associate with you as a competitive player."
Capcom plans harsher punishments for 'Street Fighter' quitters
Capcom has been combating quitters in Street Fighter V since the game's debut. And tomorrow, the publisher/developer is apparently making the penalties for disconnecting before a match ends even more harsh. Like before, cowards will have League Points docked, and will also be locked out of matchmaking for an ambiguous period of time, according to a post on Capcom Unity. It sound exactly like what's in place currently, but that's supposedly working pretty well. There's more comprehensive update coming, too.
Crafting the algorithmic soundtrack of 'No Man's Sky'
While you've no doubt heard of No Man's Sky, the game, chances are you can't say the same of the band that scored its soundtrack. That's fair. UK noise/drone rock group 65Daysofstatic (65DOS) has quietly been releasing records since 2001. Its songs regularly stretch past seven minutes, and if they feature vocals, the singing is buried so deep in the mix that it's almost indistinguishable from the maelstrom surrounding it. All that is to say, the band doesn't write the type of music that gets stuck in your head. Which makes multi-instrumentalist Paul Wolinski's hopes for the score all the more surprising. "We wanted it to be hummable," he told Engadget.
Fan-made 'No Man's Sky' app catalogs your interstellar journey
The galaxy-faring sci-fi fest No Man's Sky isn't out until next week but one enterprising fan has already made parts of the game perhaps a little less daunting. Reddit user Aleator83's NMS Ally is a companion app that will, among other things, generate custom names for the planets you visit and creatures you find, and upload your screenshots to share with other users of the app. Polygon notes that it'll also track where you find resources. It's live for Android at the moment, and Aleator83 says that the iOS version is pending approval from Apple.
Play Doom's premium maps for free (if your friends bought them)
Id and Bethesda want to make sure that the action never stops in the new Doom's multiplayer. That's regardless of whether or not you're buying the recently announced premium map pack, "Unto Evil." With PartyPlay, so long as someone in your party has bought the add-on, everyone can keep playing together and vice versa.
'Darksiders' rides again on PS4, Xbox One and Wii U
Aside from the next Legend of Zelda Wii U owners don't have much to look forward to in terms of forthcoming games. Breath of the Wild is the lone glimmer of hope in the console's twilight years, but there could be another -- perhaps even before that new Zelda makes its debut next spring. If those folks are hankering for something similar, albeit with a post-apocalyptic take, maybe Darksiders: Warmastered Edition will fit the bill.
'Quantum Break' studio's next project isn't what you expect
Historically, Remedy Entertainment has only worked on one project at a time, releasing only a handful of games since 2001's Max Payne. The company recently announced it was moving away from that fan-frustrating workflow and was becoming a studio that has more than one iron in the fire at a given moment. Now, a few months after the fantastic Quantum Break, we know what one of the team's next projects is: creating a campaign for the next installment of free-to-play shooter CrossFire, the aptly named CrossFire 2.
Crowd Play puts the audience in control in Telltale's 'Batman'
There are plenty of gripes that your choices in Telltale's point-and-click adventure games don't make a difference in how their stories play out. But with the studio's take on Batman, that appears to be changing. What's more, you won't be the only one making the often incredibly difficult narrative decisions. The studio is introducing feature called "Crowd Play," and according to Shack News it's something you turn on at the outset of a game. Doing so creates a shareable web link, and people with the URL can vote on different dialog options, which are then tallied live onscreen.
Try passing 'The Turing Test' August 30th on Xbox One
Given video gaming's reliance on artificial intelligence and penchant for sci-fi themes, it's surprising that only now there's a game named after Alan Turing's famous A.I. test. Here we are though, with The Turing Test hitting Xbox One on August 30th. It's also been promised for Steam next month. A post on Xbox Wire makes the game sound an awful lot like Portal, to be honest. It's a first-person puzzler set in a sterile research facility on Jupiter's moon Europa wherein you'll use a gun of sorts to control A.I.-powered machines and "solve puzzles that only a human could solve." That's in addition to other tasks designed to bend your brain.
Take a look at how 'No Man's Sky' handles combat
In the almost three years since we first saw No Man's Sky, gameplay videos and previews have focused mostly on its exploration and survival aspects. Now, mere weeks ahead of its PlayStation 4 launch, we're getting a better look at how the game earns its "fantasy violence" descriptor from the Entertainment Software Ratings Board. The clip embedded above focuses on combat not only in outer space against armadas of ships, but also the various procedurally generated (and dangerous) creatures on the planets you'll galavant around.
The fourth 'Kentucky Route Zero' chapter is finally here
Kentucky Route Zero's fourth chapter is really, actually, truly here. Seriously. Following a two-year-plus gap since the adventure game's third installment, you can finally grab the penultimate episode from your digital distributor of choice (including Steam, GOG, Humble Store and itch.io). "This has been a challenging process for us, but we're excited about the work and [are] eager to share it with you," developer Cardboard Computer writes.
The new 'Overwatch' hero is causing all kinds of trouble
Online shooter Overwatch is dominating the conversation surrounding video games lately, but not for the reasons developer/publisher Blizzard probably wants. First with the good news: healing sniper Ana is finally available for PC players. And, well, that's where the favorable bits end. Ana's appearance has caused some problems both on PlayStation 4 and PC.
