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Batman: Arkham City DX 11 Issues
Players Told To Use DX 9

BioWare's Next Game
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Assassin's Creed Revelations Review

Thursday, November 24, 2011
Sweet Savings During Steam Autumn Sale Day 2
- 0 Comments
Personally, I call the season "Fall", but tomatoes... tomatoes. Hrm, doesn't work in text! The Steam Autumn Sale is in to day two, and on the menu you'll find up to 75% savings on the following titles:

LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 Spells Gameplay Trailer
- 0 Comments

Hardware & Tech Roundup
- 0 Comments
Gaming

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Motherboards

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Memory

Power Supplies

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Dungeon Defenders Double DLCpalooza
- 3 Comments
Dungeon Defenders celebrates Thanksgiving with a holiday sale on Steam and two new DLC. Here's the dealio... First up, the core game of Dungeon Defenders is 50% right now. "The Great Turkey Hunt" DLC is free until December 2nd, and sees players hunting herds of turkeys and their Mega Turkey Boss.

Victory will unlock a brand new set of holiday costumes:

  • Apprentice – Pilgrim
  • Squire – Turkey Outfit
  • Huntress – Pocahontas
  • Monk – Conquistador


The Dungeon Defenders Hero Pack is $4.99 (on sale for $3.99 for the first week). The Hero Pack unlocks four new Hero classes -- gender-swapped versions of the main characters will be equipped with new abilities, stats and more.

  • The Initiate: A student of the mountain monasteries, this female monk can debuff all nearby foes with her “Enemy Drain” ability and buff the defenses of any nearby allies with her “Remote Defense Boost” ability.

  • The Countess: This noble female warrior can use her “Joust” ability to push through enemy lines with unstoppable force and her “Call to Arms” ability to rally allies to the cause increase their damage and damage resistance.

  • The Ranger: This elven hunter can cloak nearby allies and their defenses with his “Invisibility Field” ability and use his “Piercing Spreadshot” to tear through lanes of enemies in a wide arc.

  • The Adept: This female mage can destroy skeletons in a single blast and greatly damage their necromancer masters with her “Purifying Blast” and instantly upgrade any defense with her “Instant Upgrade” ability.

There is also a Warping Core Challenge Pack available for $1.99 which contains four new warping core missions.

Warping Core Challenges are on:

  • Royal Gardens
  • Endless Spires
  • Castle Armory Hall of Court

AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! Semi-Sequel Released
- 4 Comments
Dejobaan Games and Owlchemy Labs have announced the Steam release of “AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! for the Awesome" for PC and Mac. No fear, we can call it "Awesome" for short. The new title challenges players to base jump in a re-mastered version of the original game's 82 levels, as well as 43 brand new ones. "Awesome" is going for $9.99 on Steam, launching with a 33% off sale to thank fans of the original.

Topics: Games, Indie
Related Games: Aaaaa!!! -- A Reckless Disregard for Gravity (PC)
OnLive Announces Five-Day "Frag Feast"
- 7 Comments
OnLive is doing up the Thanksgiving holiday with a five-day frag feast featuring sales and free-play games for both new and current OnLive users. During the five days, users can play Homefront and Red Faction: Armageddon for free, plus take advantage of daily deals up to 75% off. The first new users to hop on will also be able to get their first OnLive game purchase of any title (including new releases) for $1 or £1 (while supplies last).
Topics: Games, Promotions
Gears of War 3 - Free Versus Booster Map Pack Today
- 0 Comments
Epic Games and Microsoft Studios are dishing out the Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol “Versus Booster Map Pack” for Gears of War 3 today. So generous, right? The XBLA freebie is a Thanksgiving holiday gift. But I'm more inclined to believe it is just a promotion for Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Paramount Picture’s spy adventure which is heading to theaters on December 21st. The “Versus Booster Map Pack” will feature five new maps available in social matchmaking playlists – two brand new maps, Bullet Marsh and Clocktower, as well as Azura, Rustlung and Blood Drive from the “Horde Command Pack.”

The teams at Paramount Pictures and Epic Games have created a new “Impossible Mission” for “Gears of War 3” owners to tackle. Players who watch the Mission: Impossible trailer on Xbox LIVE and then complete the “Gears of War 3” campaign on Insane difficulty by 25th December 2011 either in single or multiplayer mode, will unlock the exclusive Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol Weapon Skin Pack. The “Impossible Mission” 5-pack includes a “Ghost Protocol” Lancer, Hammerburst, Retro Lancer, Gnasher Shotgun and Sawed-off Shotgun. All players who register and attempt to complete the campaign on Insane difficulty will have a chance to win prizes, but only those who accomplish “Impossible Mission” by the deadline will receive the exclusive weapons pack. Those who have already completed the campaign on Insane will automatically receive the weapon skin pack on 31st December.
Topics: Games, Consoles
Related Games: Gears of War 3 (Xbox 360), Gears of War 3 (Epic Edition) (Xbox 360), Gears of War 3 (Limited Edition) (Xbox 360), Gears of War 3: Raam's Shadow (Xbox 360)
The Morning Juberish - Now With 100% More Siri
- 14 Comments
Good morning pipples! Happy Thanksgiving to anyone who has it! Who has it. Sounds like a disease. Of course, I'm in Canada and we have our Thanksgiving at a normal time. Far enough from Christmas so that we can have turkey twice in one season!

I had my first fun Siri experience this week. Here's what she had to say: "holy shit a giant cock just flew across the road jumped the fucking car almost got wife fun stuff to you by". Can you guess what I was saying? The first person to come closest to my original statement by 7:00 PM Eastern tonight will win a game code. Leave your guess in the comments, one per customer!

Topics: In-House, In Other News...
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
In-House: Battlefield 3 Review
- 0 Comments
Rose Wolfe reviews Battlefield 3 in the latest article to hit VE. Find out what she liked, disliked and what score Battlefield 3 ultimately received in the Battlefield 3 Multiplayer Review.

Note: Comments have been disabled in this thread, please leave your feedback here.

PlanetSide 2 Vanu Sovereignty Design Video & Vanu Screenshots
- 6 Comments


Topics: Games, MMOFPS
Related Games: PlanetSide 2 (PC)
Final Fantasy XIII-2 - A "Battle in Valhalla" Trailer
- 5 Comments

Topics: Games, Consoles
Related Games: Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PlayStation 3), Final Fantasy XIII-2 (Xbox 360)
Steam Autumn Sale Now On
- 24 Comments

Steam has kicked off their Autumn Sale starting today and going through the weekend to the 27th. Current discounts only last for 24 hours before a new batch of discounts pop-up, so be sure to check back every day if you don't see something you need today. Currently the games on sale are:

I picked up Orcs Must Die for under $4 - gotta love Steam Sales.

Topics: General News
Starcraft II On Sale For $29.99 At The Blizzard Store
- 7 Comments
Have you been waiting for a good deal on Starcraft II? Well, our friend chinesespammer let us know that Blizzard just cut the price of the digital version by half at the Blizzard Store, bringing the damage down to $29.99. No word on how long this deal lasts, so make sure to take advantage if you've got the funds to spare!

Topics: Games, Real-Time Strategy, Deals
Related Games: StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (PC), StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (Macintosh)
Batman: Arkham City PC DirectX 11 Issues, Switch To DX 9
- 38 Comments
People are none too pleased right now, wondering how something like this could get past testing through to launch -- Rocksteady is currently telling players that Batman: Arkham City should be temporarily run using DX 9 rather than DX 11. Apparently DX 11 is causing performance issues. While an update to address the issue is in the works, it could be a bit before it's released. In the meantime, the workaround is to run the game with DX 9 instead of DX 11.

"We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience with your gameplay experience and thank you all for your patience as we work to resolve this issue."

Instructions for changing DX 11 to DX 9

The Launcher can be accessed on Games for Windows LIVE and Steam to change DX 11 to DX 9 in the Settings menu. Change both DirectX 11 Features and DirectX 11 Tessellation to OFF.

Games for Windows LIVE
Start > All Programs > Games > Right click on Batman: Arkham City and select Launcher > Settings

  1. Open the Start Menu
  2. Select All Programs and then the Games folder
  3. Right click on Batman: Arkham City and select Launcher
  4. Choose Settings then click on the arrow next to DX options to change

Steam:
Launch Steam Client > Library > Right click on Batman: Arkham City > Configure PC Options

  1. Open Steam
  2. Select Library
  3. Right click on Batman: Arkham City and select Configure PC Options
  4. Choose Settings then click on the arrow next to DX options to change
Topics: Games, Action
Related Games: Batman: Arkham City (PC)
Skyrim PC Patch Leads To Civil Unrest
- 36 Comments
A small patch for the PC version of Skyrim has the game crashing to desktop for many players, and has locked game play to Steam. Eurogamer reported that Large Address Aware (LAA) mode stopped working with the patch, which has been a problem for players. LAA increased performance and stability of the game, allowing it to utilize 2GB of memory. Now that LAA has ceased to function, the CTDs have returned / started.

Bethesda has suggested the following workaround if Skyrim is crashing:

  1. Right click on the game in the Steam library and select Properties
  2. Navigate to the "Local Files" tab
  3. Click "Verify integrity of game cache"

Also note that verifying your game cache will reset your SkyrimPrefs.ini file. If you are manually editing settings in that file, create a backup prior to verifying the cache.

However, a community fix has also been posted in the official Skyrim forum in the form of a 4GB launcher. Patches for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game are expected to release after Thanksgiving.

Topics: Games, RPG
Related Games: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (PC)
RAGE Demo Hits XBLA, PS3 Coming Soon
- 3 Comments
Bethesda has announced that a demo for id Software's RAGE is now available for download on Xbox Live, and will be heading to PS3 on December 6th. The demo will allow players to explore the town of Wellspring and participate in races, games and other attractions; as well as providing a taste of combat against some Ghost Clan raiders.
Topics: Games, Action
Related Games: Rage (Xbox 360), Rage (PlayStation 3)
Rise of Immortals Is Heading To Asia
- 1 Comment
Petroyglyph and Omake Interactive Services have announced a new partnership which will bring Petroglyph's free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena game, Rise of Immortals, to Asian markets.

"We’ve had a lot of interest in Rise of Immortals from Asian publishers and are excited to finally bring our innovative MOBA game to this market," said Chuck Kroegel, CEO of Petroglyph Games. Adding, "Omake Interactive Services has a great reputation and unmatched experience in facilitating the formation of partnerships between Western developers and Asian publishers, and we look forward to working with them."

With years of experience doing business in Asia, Omake has employees on the ground in all of the major Asian territories, offering Petroglyph and Rise of Immortals seasoned representation in Asia.

Topics: Games, MOBA
Related Games: Rise of Immortals (PC)
Batman: Arkham City Demo Breaks OnLive Demo-Play Records
- 3 Comments
OnLive has reported that an exclusive free instant demo for Batman: Arkham City has broken both US and UK records for most OnLive demos played in a single day. The demo was released the same day as the North American PC release of Arkham City, so UK folks have been getting in some trial time prior to their PC launch. The demo is the first 30 minutes of the game, you can check it out at OnLive.
Topics: Games, Action
Related Games: Batman: Arkham City (PC)
New Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 Screenshots
- 2 Comments
City Interactive's Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 is going to hit shelves in Q1 2012 for the PC, PS3 and 360. The game is powered by CryENGINE 3, and new screenshots have been released to show off the level of detail and realism.


Topics: Games, Action
Related Games: Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 (PC), Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 (PlayStation 3), Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 (Xbox 360)
The Humble Introversion Bundle Goes Live, Good Games For Good Causes
- 3 Comments
You know what, I'm really starting to love these Humble Bundles. They're simple, effective, and very rewarding for both the buyer and the recipient(s). The Humble Introversion Bundle is much like the previous bundles, in that you can pay what you'd like to score the core Introversion games, and can get a couple other offerings if you pay more than the average purchase price. It's up to you where your money goes, whether to the developers, charity, or to the Humble Bundle, Inc. organization.

For any donation amount you can score the Introversion classics Darwinia, Multiwinia, DEFCON, and Uplink, along with two tech demos - a Subversion City Generator, and a Voxel Tech Demo. Paying more than the average also secures a copy of Aquaria, and Crayon Physics Deluxe. Each can be downloaded individually, or bound to Steam via codes. There are even a couple of game soundtracks included.

Topics: Games, General
Related Games: Darwinia (PC), Darwinia (Macintosh), Darwinia (Linux), Multiwinia (PC), Multiwinia (Macintosh), DEFCON (PC), DEFCON (Macintosh)
Could Bioware Be Involved In The Next Command & Conquer Game?
- 10 Comments

A little teaser went out for this year's Spike VGAs titled "The Next Game From Bioware", which shows a very short clip of what appears to be an overhead perspective strategy game at about 12 seconds in. I fancy myself a bit of an RTS guru, and considering the style of the tank, the environment, and the target vehicles, I'm going to put my money on it being the next Command and Conquer title which Victory Games announced early this year. What's interesting though, if indeed true, is any sort of Bioware involvement.

Add to that an image from Game Informer (above), which shows what looks to me to be a couple of GLA Technical vehicles (even the paint color matches!) under attack. It makes me more inclined to suggest that there may even be some sort of C&C;: Generals involvement. In Generals the gunner on the back of the truck occasionally flew off in such a way when the Technical blew up.

If that's the case, then bring it on EA! Generals was my absolute favorite in the series, for the multiplayer alone. A follow up to C&C;: Generals is something that I, along with my other fans of the franchise, have been asking for since C&C;: Generals - Zero Hour's release way back in 2003.

Topics: Games, Gossip, Real-Time Strategy
Related Games: Command & Conquer (PC), Command & Conquer Generals (PC), Command & Conquer Project (TBA)
League of Legends Season 2 Kicks Off
- 1 Comment
Riot Games has officially kicked off Season Two for League of Legends with a bang - a $5 million prize pool to be exact, which is reportedly the largest in eSports history. There are some changes to masteries and summoner spells this season, and players can now queue in ranked as a team via a new matchmaking option. Last but not least an open beta of "Spectator Mode" is also live, which as you can probably guess allows players to spectate games.

Topics: Games, Real-Time Strategy, Role-Playing Strategy
Related Games: League of Legends (Macintosh), League of Legends (PC), League of Legends (Collector's Pack) (PC)
Dead Island Bloodbath Arena DLC Released
- 0 Comments

Dead Island’s Bloodbath Arena DLC has been released. It is free for those of you who preordered the game and about $10 for those you who didn’t. Read on for the details.

In the 'Bloodbath Arena' DLC four different arenas offer new challenges that can be played alone or in coop mode. It’s a desperate fight for survival where waves after waves of unrelenting zombies attack, one more gruesome than the next! In this DLC characters can loot experience points and items and bring them over to the campaign mode. Players can also show off their skills in zombie fighting with the newly implemented leaderboards.

If this interests you, it may be purchased from Steam here.

Topics: DLC, Horror, Releases
Related Games: Dead Island (PlayStation 3), Dead Island (Xbox 360), Dead Island (PC), Dead Island (Special Edition) (PC), Dead Island (Special Edition) (Xbox 360), Dead Island (Special Edition) (PlayStation 3)
Richard Garriott Interview @ Industry Gamers
- 8 Comments

Industry Gamers has posted an Interview with Richard Garriott de Cayeux, the artist formerly known as Richard Garriott or “Lord British.” He’s probably best known for the Ultima series of games, of which there are about 20. Lord British talks a bit about his opinions on game design before giving some details about his upcoming MMO.

You know, it's really funny, as we got into the MMO era, it's a lot harder to tell stories like you can in the solo player era, to which I responded, “Look, I still love solo player games.” I'd love to tell solo player stories, but I've already made 20 of them, and by the way the market is ten times bigger over in the MMO space so that for me both the creative challenge as well as the economic opportunity is to try to reinvent roleplaying in an MMO era.

For now, the same thing is true for this casual and social gaming era. I believe this ten times bigger market are all people that will enjoy the kinds of games that I developed with Ultima Online. Think of the games that are currently popular in social media: Farming, pets, and shops. If you look at Ultima Online, that was a game where a third of the people did nothing but farming and pets and shops. The currently popular games are sort of a dissection of what I've already proved to be popular with Ultima Online. So I believe I'm uniquely qualified to bring in even these new consumers who would be very fearful of being dropped into the middle of a big virtual world where people are running around with armor and swords and where orcs were invading, and so really don't necessarily want or know if they want that kind of experience.

What I think they will like is this: If they like farming and their next door neighbor has a cafe, they can sell their produce to the guy with the cafe and guess what, a guy wearing armor comes in and needs a bottle of grog and he might bring me back a dragon to have in your pet shop and suddenly you have this big interwoven reality again, but where everyone has their comfortable role in a world where no one has been run off by having to play for three hours to find the kind of gameplay they like.

Topics: Interview
Related Games: Ultima Online (PC)
Magicka, Hearts Of Iron III And Cities In Motion Collections Released
- 0 Comments
Paradox Interactive has just released compilation collections for Cities in Motion, Hearts of Iron III, and Magicka. I've linked to the Steam store pages for these titles below, but the Magicka collection is slightly cheaper on Gamersgate. Read on for Details from the Press Release and Trailers.

Magicka Collection

Acclaimed by critics and gamers alike, Magicka Collection brings together the complete Magicka experience in one unbelievable package!

Included within the Magicka Collection are:

  • Magicka
  • Magicka Vietnam expansion
  • Magicka DLC:s including; Survival Kit, Caverns and Marshlands, Nippon, Final Frontier, Frozen Lake, Watch Tower and Robe Bundle

Hearts of Iron III Collection

Hearts of Iron III Collection allows players to lead any one of 100 different countries between the years 1936 and 1948 in a game of unrivalled historical accuracy combined with an unparalleled level of freedom of choice.

Included within the Hearts of Iron III Collection are:

  • Hearts of Iron III
  • Hearts of Iron III Semper Fi expansion
  • Hearts of Iron III For The Motherland expansion
  • The complete Hearts of Iron III Spritepacks comprising of - German, US, Soviet, German Infantry, Japanese Infantry, Soviet Infantry, Soviet Music, German II, MegaGerman

Cities in Motion Collection

Cities in Motion Collection spans 100 years of transportation history across some of the worlds’ great cities. Choose between more than 30 vehicles, engage in campaign mode as well as sandbox mode, and use the advance map editor to create your own cities.

Included within the collection are:

  • Cities in Motion
  • Cities in Motion Tokyo expansion
  • Cities in Motion German Cities expansion
  • Cities in Motion DLC:s including Design Classics, Design Marvels, Design Now and Metro Station

Topics: Action / Roleplaying, DLC, Releases, Strategy, Simulation
Related Games: Magicka (PC), Magicka: Vietnam (PC), Cities in Motion (PC), Hearts of Iron III (PC), Hearts of Iron III: For The Motherland (PC), Hearts of Iron III: Semper Fi (PC)
Blah... Oh Hey, It's The Day Before Gobble Gobble Day
- 13 Comments
Man, I passed out on the couch last night and woke up to the weirdest shit. There was a crazy ass scumbag looking evangelist selling blessed spring water backed by the most ridiculous of claims. There were these horribly staged testimonials from people that prayed over their bills with it, and received checks for $17,000+, had negative credit items wiped from their credit report, etc. Of course the dude also had his own church, where he'd put the "power of Jesus" into people, allowing them to ditch their canes, get new body parts, the whole bit. Can someone explain to me how these guys are legally allowed to advertise something so obviously bogus? Talk about being exploitative.

On the games front Jube and I were planning on jumping into Batman: Arkham City on the PC this past weekend, but things fell through when for whatever reason the early unlock file we needed didn't come through. It was pretty amusing actually, with both of us having to agree to an embargo, only to then have to sit there with an unplayable locked down copy through the entire period stated in the agreement. At least I was able to get in some time with Anno 2070, but being left in communication limbo on Batman kind of sucked. You can expect to see some in-house coverage of both Batman and Anno in the coming days (or weeks).

Not a whole lot else going on, I think most folks in the US are busy with Thanksgiving plans, and the same goes for most of us writer types at VE. Sucks to be Jube though, she's in Canada, and already celebrated. Rose too, being that she's in the UK. The rest of us will be clogging our arteries with buckets of gravy smothered turkey, mashed potatoes, and cornbread. Do you guys have any big plans tomorrow, or is it just another day for you?

Epic Peel Time anyone? Runner up: Epic Trick Shot Battle.

Topics: General, Giveaway, In Other News..., In-House

Archives: 11/23/11 | 11/22/11 | 11/21/11 | 11/19/11 | 11/18/11
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