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The Walking Dead: A New Frontier’s third episode will be released on March 28
In addition to discussing their upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy game, Telltale Games used this year’s PAX East convention to confirm The Walking Dead: A New Frontier‘s third episode will be released on March 28.
The episode will be known as “Above the Law,” and it’ll be available to download on the PC, PS4, Xbox One, and mobile devices. Telltale also premiered a new trailer for “Above the Law,” and it’s embedded above.
Telltale reveals first screenshots, plot details, and cast for Guardians of the Galaxy
The Boston Convention and Exhibition Center will open the doors to PAX East 2017 in just a few hours, and Telltale Games is using the expo to more fully reveal their episodic series based on Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
First, the developer announced a few details about the game’s plot, which won’t tie in to the first Guardians of the Galaxy film or the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2:
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series is a brand new story of the universe’s unlikeliest heroes: Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket, and Groot. In the wake of an epic battle, the Guardians discover an artifact of unspeakable power. Each of them has a reason to desire this relic, as does a ruthless enemy who is the last of her kind, and who will stop at nothing to tear it from their hands.
From Earth to the Milano to Knowhere and beyond, and set to the beat of awesome music, you wear the rocket-powered boots of Star-Lord in an original Guardians adventure, where your decisions and actions drive the story you experience.
Telltale also confirmed the film franchise’s cast won’t appear in the game, nor will the actors from the Guardians of the Galaxy animated series on Disney XD. Instead, Nolan North… naturally… will replace Bradley Cooper as Rocket, and he’ll be joined by Scott Porter as Star-Lord, Emily O’Brien as Gamora, Brandon Paul Eells as Drax, and Adam Harrington as Groot.
The cast will take the stage at PAX East, alongside several developers from Telltale, as part of the Telltale Games: Interactive Storytelling 2017 panel. The discussion will begin at 6:00 PM (Eastern Time), and if you can’t make it to PAX East, you’ll be able to follow along at home through the convention’s secondary Twitch channel.
Guardians of the Galaxy will also make an appearance at the 2017 SXSW Gaming Expo on Friday, March 17. The game will make its public debut in Austin as Telltale Games plans to host a Crowd Play night for an early version of the first episode. It seems likely that Telltale will release the first trailer for the game shortly after.
In the meantime, you can find the first four screenshots from Guardians of the Galaxy: Episode 1, which will be released this Spring, after the break. (more…)
Zach Gage will release Typeshift on March 18
About a month ago, Zach Gage revealed to fans that he was working with Merriam-Webster to create a brand new word game. That’s right, Merriam Webster, the dictionary people. It makes a certain kind of sense, and it was certainly welcome news for the many fans of Gage’s first word game, SpellTower.
Today, the developer unveiled the fruits of that partnership… Typeshift is a letter-sliding word game, and it’ll be available to download through the iOS App Store on March 18.
Gage has uploaded a trailer to give fans a better look at how Typeshift will work, and he’s added a few sample puzzles to his official website that you can try out right now.
Uncharted 4 leads all games at the 2017 BAFTA Games Awards with 8 nominations
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced the nominees for the 2017 Games Awards, which will be handed out in a special ceremony in London on April 6. Viewers at home will be able to watch a livestream of ceremony through BAFTA’s Twitch channel.
This year’s top nominee is Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, which scored eight nominations including “Game of the Year.” Nathan Drake’s final adventure will also compete in the “Artistic Achievement,” “Audio Achievement,” “Music,” and “Narrative” categories, as well as with three separate nominations in the “Performer” category (Troy Baker, Nolan North, and Emily Rose).
Uncharted 4 will fight for BAFTA’s “Game of the Year” honor against five other critically-acclaimed games from 2016 including Campo Santo’s Firewatch, Playdead’s Inside, Blizzard’s Overwatch, Concerned Ape’s Stardew Valley, and Respawn’s Titanfall 2.
The complete list of nominees in all categories can be found after the break. (more…)
Overwatch is “Game of the Year” at the 2017 GDC Awards
Overwatch continues to rack up year-end awards for Blizzard Entertainment, and it picked up two more statuettes last night during the Game Developers Choice Awards. After more than a month of deliberations, the GDC committee choose to bestow “Game of the Year” status on the team-based shooter, as well as “Best Design” for its colorful world.
Two other games collected multiple awards at last night’s GDC Awards. Playdead’s platformer, Inside, earned “Best Audio” and “Best Visual Art.” And later in the night, Campo Santo’s Firewatch was selected as “Best Debut” and its story was honored with “Best Narrative.”
“This year’s amazing slate of winners is a testament to the diversity of experiences in games,” said Meggan Scavio, General Manager of the Game Developers Conference.
Scavio added: “Pokemon Go [“Best Mobile/Handheld Game”] took gaming outdoors using AR, while Job Simulator [“Best VR/AR Game”] showed how lo-fi aesthetics could meet cutting edge tech for a winning VR experience. Overwatch once again proved Blizzard’s uncanny ability to make a perfectly balanced multiplayer game, and Inside delved deep into our dark psyches to unearth our scariest nightmares. These nominees speak to the strength of games as a medium, but also show the various textures and possible creative outlets that interactive entertainment can provide. Congrats to all of the winners and nominees for following their visions and thanks to all developers who strive to make amazing games for us day in and day out.”
The full list of winners from the 2017 Game Developers Choice Awards can be found after the break. (more…)
Video Game History Foundation wants to create a digital record of the industry’s past
Frank Cifaldi is a developer who has worked on Mega Man Legacy Collection and IDARB, but he is also the founder of the Video Game History Foundation, a new non-profit that seeks to preserve and digitize the history of video games.
The Video Game History Foundation launched their first “Digital Collection” yesterday, focusing on The NES Launch in 1985. Cifaldi is also seeking donations to expand the scope of the Foundation, as detailed on their “What We’re Doing” page:
The heart of the Foundation is its digital library, an online repository of artifacts related to the history of video games and video game culture. The ultimate goal is to create a searchable, organized, always-online archive of verified, high-quality material that is accessible to researchers and historians as a public education resource.
All donations to the Video Game History Foundation are tax deductible, and I can’t wait to see what collections they come up with next.
Overwatch wins “Game of the Year” (and three other awards) at 2017 DICE Awards
Blizzard made their mark on last night’s DICE Awards presentation when Overwatch took home the trophy in four categories, including “Game of the Year.” The shooter was also honored as “Action Game of the Year,” as well as for “Outstanding Achievement in Game Design” and “Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay.”
It was also a good night for Naughty Dog, as the developer claimed four victories for their work on Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End including “Adventure Game of the Year,” “Outstanding Achievement in Story,” “Outstanding Technical Achievement,” and “Outstanding Achievement in Animation.”
The full list of winners at the 2017 DICE Awards (including Pokemon Go for “Mobile Game of the Year,” Pokemon Sun and Moon for “Handheld Game of the Year,” and three awards for Inside ) can be found after the break. (more…)
More than 80 games will be on display in the Indie Megabooth at PAX East 2017
PAX East 2017 will open its doors in exactly 336 hours, and the Indie Megabooth has finally announced which games it’ll have on display at the Boston-based convention this year.
Dozens upon dozens of indie titles will get a chance to shine in a couple of weeks, including some of our favorites from years past. We selected Vertex Pop’s Graceful Explosion Machine, Hypersect’s Inversus, and Pocketwatch’s Tooth & Tail for our Best of PAX East 2016 roundup and all of them will be on display in the Indie Megabooth this year. Refactor, an alumnus of our Best of PAX East 2014 roundup (when it was known as Tetropolis) has also earned a spot in the PAX East 2017 edition of the Indie Megabooth.
The Indie Megabooth continues to grow and change, and this year, in addition to the Minibooth area and the Tabletop area, it’ll also have a “Visual Novel Reading Room” within its carpeted confines for PAX East attendees.
You can find the full list of games set to be included in the Indie Megabooth at PAX East 2017 after the break. (more…)