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Most Recent: Mobile
Square Enix trademarks “Luminaries of the Legendary Line” in the US
Get ready to start theorizing! Square Enix has trademarked “Luminaries of the Legendary Line” and “The Seeds of Salvation” here in the good old USA. What could it mean?
There’s plenty of speculation going around. Siliconera thinks it could be for remakes of Dragon Quest Monsters or Dragon Quest VII, or perhaps even a smartphone remake of Dragon Quest III. “Luminaries of the Legendary Line” could also be interpreted as an Americanization of the currently Japan-only Dragon Quest X: Rise of the Five Tribes. The Wii/Wii U MMORPG is a huge hit in Japan and it’s suprising it hasn’t made its way across the Pacific yet. But I personally love what Technology Tell had to say about the alliteration:
As you may recall, the last four DS games in the series that we received were Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen, Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride, Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation, and Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies.
So yeah, both titles likely refer to future Dragon Quest games. And with so many games in the series, the possibilities are close to endless.
Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us wins ten statues at 2014 DICE Awards
When Santa Claus asks if you’ve been naughty or nice, if you’re a game developer, you might want to answer “naughty.” During last night’s DICE Awards in Las Vegas, Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us took home the top prize in ten categories (out of 13 possible nominations). The only other game to win multiple awards was BioShock Infinite, which took home two (Action Game of the Year and Oustanding Achievement in Original Music Composition).
With such a big haul, The Last of Us naturally took home Game of the Year honors. The game also won Adventure Game of the Year, Oustanding Achievement in Game Direction, Oustanding Achievement in Story, Oustanding Achievement in Animation, Oustanding Achievement in Art Direction, Oustanding Achievement in Visual Engineering, Oustanding Achievement in Sound Design, Outstanding Innovation in Gaming, and Outstanding Character Performance (for Ashley Johnson’s portrayal of Ellie).
A few other games did manage to wrestle a few awards away from Naughty Dog, but that’s mostly because The Last of Us didn’t qualify for every category. For example, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons won Downloadable Game of the Year, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds won Handheld Game of the Year, and Plants vs Zombies 2 won Casual Game of the Year.
The complete list of winners can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged BioShock Infinite, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Diablo III, FIFA 14, Forza Motorsport 5, Grand Theft Auto V, Injustice: Gods Among Us, Plants vs Zombies 2, Super Mario 3D World, The Last of Us, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, World of Tanks, XCOM: Enemy Within
EA wrangled up in “ratingsgate” controversy over Dungeon Keeper
It seems that EA Games, everyone’s favourite publishing powerhouse, is intent on winning the title of Worst Company in America for a third year running. Not content with the bug-ridden release of Battlefield 4 and the lawsuits that arrived in its aftermath, the company has been accused of rigging the ratings system for the updated mobile version of Bullfrog’s classic Dungeon Keeper. The game, which has garnered less than stellar reviews, has employed a unique ratings system. When the in-game pop-up asks you to “Rate Your Experience,” gifting the game five stars will deliver you straight to the Google Play store. However, dare you wish to give the title a star rating below five, players will be whisked away, not to the Google Play store, but to an online feedback form, circumventing the Google Play store rating altogether.
The reason for this? An EA spokesperson has issued the following statement:
“We’re always looking at new ways to gather player feedback so that we can continue to improve our games. The ‘rate this app’ feature in the Google Play version of Dungeon Keeper was designed to help us collect valuable feedback from players who don’t feel the game is worth a top rating. We wanted to make it easier for more players to send us feedback directly from the game if they weren’t having the best experience. Players can always continue to leave any rating they want on the Google Play Store.”
As they say, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. However, preventing players from offering a rating other than “Perfect” does not seem like a noble endeavour, no matter what the excuse is. If EA was really concerned about feedback, its developers could read the reviews left on the Google Play store. What this new feature amounts to is a deliberate circumvention of the ratings system in order to inflate the game’s score.
Players can choose to rate the game separately on the store outside the game, and as a result of “ratingsgate,” the one-star ratings are exploding. It seems that what we have witnessed is the ugly mutation of a cult classic into yet another freemium cash cow from EA’s mobile division.
[Source: Eurogamer]
Posted in Mobile, News
Tagged Dungeon Keeper
The 90s Arcade Racer development is going well; Summer 2014 launch planned
There’s been an update about The 90s Arcade Racer over at Nicalis news blog. The developer is excited to announce that porting the game from PC to Wii U is going well, despite having its “fair share of challenges.” There are a few things that aren’t translating to Wii U (and likely won’t be able to work on other consoles, either).
However, the developers have emphasized that “fidelity, image quality and a smooth framerate are our priorities,” and they are happy so far. The main goal for them is to make a “fun arcade experience,” and they want for there to be 30 cars you can race against in each race.
There’s no release date yet, but Nicalis’ goal right now is a mid-2014 release for The 90s Arcade Racer on the PC and the Wii U.
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, Wii U
Tagged 90s Super GP
Hyper Light Drifter will be out by the end of the year
Hyper Light Drifter, the stunning indie game that took Kickstarter by storm last year, will not be coming out in July as estimated. Heart Machine, the developers, made an announcement on Friday, saying they were not going to “rush the project.”
The team had originally planned to make a much smaller game, but the amount of funding they received (they got $645,158, which destroyed their $27,000 goal) means they are making a much larger game. The plan is to have the beta available to backers in June, and to release the game “at the end of the year holiday season.” Steam and PC will be released first, with other platforms (including the PS4, Vita, Wii U, and Ouya) to follow.
Hit the jump for an amazing preview sprite that was also included in the update. (more…)
Kickstart This! The 4K 2K14 Edition
2014 is barely three weeks old and already there is so much to be excited about. The next-generation consoles are stepping into their stride, CES gave us our first taste of the next wave of 4K televisions, and there is a treasure trove of potentially awesome games seeking funding on Kickstarter. Like Noah going into the ark, we’re kicking off the first edition of the year with some pairs. We have two RPGs, the collective world-building Story, and the more classic adventure RPG The Meridian Shard. After that is a pair of robotic logic puzzle games, Level and Algo-Bot. Finally, there is a single space-set games project vying for your cold, hard cash: Space Pioneer.
And a-one, and a-two… (more…)
Posted in Features, Mobile, PC, Top Story
Tagged Space Pioneer
Candy Crush Saga maker has trademarked the word “candy”
Are you secretly Brucer Banner (AKA The Incredible Hulk)? If so, you may want to skip this article as it will make you angry, very angry. And I don’t want any reason not to like you.
King, the publisher behind the massively popular Candy Crush Saga, has trademarked the word “candy.” They don’t own all rights to the word “candy.” You can still go to your local grocery store and ask the shopkeep for a big bag of candy. And you can still joke about how something is easier than taking candy from a baby. A huge proportion of this country’s strippers will also not have to change their stage names.
Sadly, King’s trademark covers practically everything else.
According to US Patent and Trademark Office, King’s trademark covers hundreds of items including “video game software,” “spectacles cases,” clothing of all kinds, “amusement parks,” all educational services or workshops, and “downloadable music files.” They actually believe that anyone that uses the word “candy” in a music file should have to pay them a royalty fee. And just in case you thought you were safe across the Atlantic, the publisher has also been granted a trademark on the word “candy” by the European Union’s Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) as well.
Surprisingly, few games actually use the word “candy” in their title, but according to Gamezebo, King has already sent cease and desist orders to those that do on the iOS App Store.
However, King’s victory (if you can call it that) is likely to be short-lived. According to the USPTO, their trademark has been approved, but not yet been published for opposition. And when it is, I imagine that the makers of Candy Land (which was first published in 1945) will have a problem with it. As they, and we all, should.
Posted in Mobile, News, PC
Tagged candy crush saga
The Last of Us leads 2014 DICE Awards with 13 nominations
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has announced the nominees for this year’s DICE Awards. This year, The Last of Us leads all games with 13 nominations, including “Game of the Year.” It will compete against four other games for the honor: Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, BioShock Infinite, Grand Theft Auto V, and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.
Each of this year’s “Game of the Year” nominees has a chance to collect multiple awards as Grand Theft Auto V (seven), BioShock Infinite (six), and Assassin’s Creed IV (five), and A Link Between Worlds (three) were all nominated in multiple categories. With five nominations, Tearaway is also up a huge number of awards. All told, 61 games received nominations in 24 categories this year.
The 2014 DICE Awards ceremony will take place on Thursday, February 6 during the close of this year’s DICE Summit. A complete list of nominees can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, BioShock Infinite, Grand Theft Auto V, The Last of Us, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds