Anachronistic issues aside, hunting dinosaurs is something that passes through the minds of most children, —and speaking for myself, many adults. Sure, Jurassic Park spoiled the fun by showing us the realities of such a pursuit, but here's to hoping that most of our readers don't honestly see a porta-potty covered in bamboo as ample cover from a Tyrannosaurus Rex.The Stomping Land, from game developer Alex Fundora, may be the closest thing we get to hunting dinosaurs within our lifetime. Within The Stomping Land, players will have to hunt dinosaurs to survive in the game's vast wilderness. The multiplayer aspects combined with the survival mechanics position The Stomping Land akin to Day Z as far as gameplay goes. You know how anxious you get in Day Z, when a random player comes running your way, out of the woods? Imagine how you're going to feel when a random player comes storming out of the woods...on the back of a 15ft tall carnivorous dinosaur.Last summer, Fundora took The Stomping Land to Kickstarter where he managed to pull in over $100,000 to go towards the game's development. Nearly a year later, development is coming along nicely, with Fundora working on implementing one of the coolest features I've seen in a game: celestial navigation. There is no map in the game, and players will have to use the stars to navigate their way at night. During the day players will have to look out for footprints and listen for dinosaur roars to indicate the location of specific species.
Earlier in the week, Mojang launched their Realms service for Minecraft. For $13 a month, Realms allows players to host their own Minecraft server which 20 players can visit and play within. Currently, Realms is only for PC gamers, but Mojang has revealed plans for Realms to come to both Mac and Pocket Edition players in the future.Hosts of a Realm (the subscriber) have complete control over who can join the server as well as the ability to add and remove players from the guest list. Frequent server-wide backups ensure that the host can easily revert the realm back to an earlier state if something goes wrong. Mods and texture packs are not yet supported, but Mojang plans to add them in the coming months.Mojang also revealed plans to have Minecraft on the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4 by the end of the year."They probably won't be released simultaneously," Mojang's Owen Hill explained to Polygon. "We're going to release on each format as soon as it's ready."
Did that headline get your attention? Of course it did. Everybody wants to know how much money everybody else is making. And Chinese game makers, it seems, don't make much.The exact answer to that question is below, but if you really want some perspective, be sure to see what the cost of living in China is too.As always, our thanks go out to the Chinese gaming site Laohu.com for providing this round-up for Gamezebo readers. For daily news out of Beijing and more, be sure to give them a visit.
I've never seen the draw of player-versus-player in MMOs. My favorite aspect of such games is exploration and cooperation, both of which fall away immediately when stuck in a tiny arena with a bunch of goons more interested in killing each other than completing objectives.Ignoring either of those issues, PVP (outside of EVE Online) feels pointless. It's sectioned off: a means to its own end that doesn't result in the completion of quests, leveling up or fighting massive bosses.The Elder Scrolls Online remedies the first two problems, only to introduce a new, creative kind of boredom.
Horribly disappointed by RollerCoaster Tycoon 4 Mobile? Eager awaiting RollerCoaster Tycoon 4 for PC? Whatever your situation, spending $4.99 on RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 Platinum is just about the best move your wallet can make this weekend.The latest offer on Gamezebo Deals will net you a Steam Key for this seminal simulation classic that's good for both PC and Mac. What's more, the "Platinum" part of the package means you'll be getting both of the game's expansions, Soaked! And Wild!.What are you waiting for? Build a park and wash the taste of RollerCoaster Tycoon 4 Mobile out of your mouth already.
One For Eleven, branded 'a new brand of football management game' by its publisher Actoz Soft (that's soccer to us North American folks), has been released for iOS and Android devices.Boasting a breadth of tactical options, you can also sign real life players across 25 positions, 30 different abilities, and 50 unique skills.You control how your team is set-up, the tactics they employ during matches, and making sure players work together perfectly.
There are some game developers that consistently churn out pure gaming gold, while others tend to be a little hit or miss. In our experience, Tasty Poison Games falls into this latter category. We fell in love with Pocket RPG, had our hearts broken by Neon Shadow, and now, with Tom Sparks and the Quakes of Ruin, we're learning to love once more.A top-down action game destined for Steam (you can upvote it on Greenlight here), Tom Sparks sets players on the loose as a steampunk hero trying to figure out why his world is being ravaged by mysterious earthquakes. The developers are citing Ratchet and Clank as a gameplay influence, and it's not hard to see why. Players will be exposed to a variety of weapons, each of which will be unlocked with the currency you collect by smashing things with a giant wrench… and that currency looks an awful lot like bolts.They don't list Tom Sparks middle name anywhere, but I'm pretty sure it's "Homage."
When he's right, he's right. Back in January, Gamezebo founder Joel Brodie made a bold prediction: Apple and Google would start pushing companies for exclusives on mobile games, in the same way that Microsoft and Sony do in the console space. This weekend, the Wall Street Journal released a feature that suggests Joel's assumption is now well underway."The two Silicon Valley giants have been wooing game developers to ensure that top-tier game titles arrive first on devices powered by their respective operating system," WSJ reports, citing sources close to the situation.When you have only two big players, though, I suppose a situation like this is an inevitability. Especially when both seem equally matched in appeal for developers. Apple might be less effected by piracy, and developers may see more success with paid games as a result, but the install base of Android dwarfs what Apple is doing on a global scale. If you're not sure who to develop for first, being courted by either Google or Apple for an exclusive might make that decision a whole lot easier."When people love a game, and it's not available on an alternate platform, they'll change platforms," Kogregate's Emily Greer told WSJ. "The level of attachment a person has to a game can exceed almost anything."