Saturday 15 December 2012

NEWS: Saturday Roundup

Welcome to the Saturday Roundup, a weekly roundup of all the important news going on in the gaming world. If you’re sick of gaming websites' content turning more and more casual, or trying to pass off a single sentence and a link to a cool picture they saw on deviant art as ‘news,’  you've come to the right place. I aim to consolidate and summarize only the stuff that’s most important to gaming enthusiasts. It’s a mix of hard news, interesting features, and other tidbits that I feel like you guys would enjoy. Let’s see what’s been going on this week:
  • Megaman returns in Street Fighter X Megaman. The new platformer will pit Megaman against 8 of Street Fighter's most iconic characters, in place of the usual robot masters. The game is being released as part of a promotion for the 25th anniversary of both Street Fighter and Megaman. Best part? It will be released as a free download for PC on December 17th!
  • Last week I showed you how to build your own steambox, but what if you don't have the technical know-how to build your own PC? Don't worry, Valve have you covered, with plans to sell their own pre-built steamboxes. Gabe Newell, managing director of Valve, tells us that "our hardware (the steambox) will be a very controlled environment," and that some people will want a "turnkey" solution for their living room.
  • Half-life 2 has been voted game of the decade at this year's VGAs. The game was praised for it's well-paced, cinematic experience that went on to influence countless other games since it's release. Personally, I'm quite happy with this decision as Half-Life 2 is one of my favourite games of all time. How about you guys? Does Half-Life 2 deserve game of the decade, or is there a more worthy contender and why? Let us know in the comments.

  • South Park: The Stick of Truth is a game that is being made. I don't really know what else to say about it. You can see a trailer for the game here (skip to the 5 minute mark). The trailer shows all story, and what I'm assuming are cutscenes? I don't really understand how the gameplay is going to work. It seems very... strange, especially considering the last south park game.
  • The first piece of DLC for Dishonored has arrived! Dunwall city trials will put your combat, stealth and mobility skills to the test as you make your way through 10 distinct maps that feature a variety of challenges. While I myself haven't played it, Dishonored was generally well-received by critics.
  • Is Valve's hit MOBA, DotA 2, coming to tablets? Android Authority seems to think that the developer is suggesting android and ipad versions of the game are being worked on.

    “We were working on getting DotA 2 running on some tablets,” he (Gabe Newell) said. “That ended up being kind of a disappointment. But the good news is that tablets are getting faster very quickly, so I think we’ll get the kind of performance we want and other game developers want in the near future.”
I feel like the tablet interface would work well with MOBAs such as DotA 2
  • Bioshock: Infinite may have been delayed a month, but that doesn't mean the hype train isn't in full motion! Check out this new trailer recently aired at the VGAs. You'll be able to fight splicers in the sky on March, 2013.
  • What is The Phantom Pain? The 'mysterious' trailer was also shown at last week's VGAs. While it is quite a clever piece of viral marketing, fans were quick to point out that it was most definitely Metal Gear Solid V. What do you guys think? Is this MGSV? Do you even want MGSV? Should I be saying MGSV or MGS5?
  • I am excited about Aliens: Colonial Marines, so I think this recent hands-on that rock-paper-shotgun had with the PC version of the game is pretty interesting. The good news is that the game seems to hold up pretty damn well, and fans of the old Aliens vs Predator PC games will find themselves right at home here - especially in the multiplayer. The one complaint that the author had was that the game felt a little bit too centred on the Marines themselves, and the Aliens in single player didn't really feel like the Aliens from the films. The game releases on February 12, 2013.
(insert quote from Aliens)
  • SimCity is edging ever so closer to it's March 5th release date, so lets have a look at an all-new gameplay video from EA. This video highlights how the new 'multi-city play' feature will work. Even Australia's Financial Review seems to be excited for SimCity, last week publishing a headline that fans might recognize from the original SimCity games
  • The Secret World has dropped it's subscription fee. As seems to be par for the course for new MMO's, the company dropped monthly fees in favour of a 'buy-to-play' model, wherein purchasing the retail client grants you full access to all of the games features. Guild Wars made this model particularly popular, proving that you don't need a monthly subscription to have a successful MMO.
  • Speaking of MMO's, game update 1.6 is live for Star Wars: The Old Republic. The patch brings six new level 50 space missions as well as the 'Hypergate' PVP scenario. Bioware's MMO recently went free-to-play, though it's obnoxious restrictions for free players caused enough backlash that they are currently revising said restrictions.
Will the Hypergate update bring players back to The Old Republic?
  • Want to cash out your TF2 hat collection but are worried about scammers? This week, the developers of the world's number one hat simulator announced the community market.The market allows you to buy and sell TF2 items for funds in your steam wallet. At the moment, it's only available for one-use consumable items (such as keys) and Valve take a small transaction fee from every trade (like Diablo III's real money auction house).

So that’s the news for this week. Be sure to subscribe to my twitter for up-to-date news and blog updates, my youtube channel for gaming videos, check out my new digs over at non-fiction gaming for my regular Wednesday article (this week, it's a Borderlands 2: Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage review), and check back here every Saturday for more news!

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