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."
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.
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."
Early on in my conversation with Virtys' Laurent Devigne at PAX East, I find myself explaining why I haven't tried his studio's free-to-play MMORPG Therian Saga yet. I just haven't had the time, I say, because even though it looks really intriguing, it seems so complex for …"For a web game?" he said, laughing while doing so. "Go ahead, you can say it."It's true, and it's unavoidable. If there's still a little skepticism among a segment of the gaming community toward free-to-play games in general, there's even more for those that come to life within your browser. Virtys would prefer you not paint its game with too broad a brush."We don't want to be compared to a Facebook game," Devigne said. "We're web-based because we want people to enjoy it without installing 20 gigs."That's perfectly logical reasoning, but then everything about Therian Saga follows a sensible path. Originally dreamt up by a small group of French-speaking developers, it found a solid audience of about 40,000 to 50,000 players upon release in France and Quebec (as Fatecraft: The Therian Saga).
On April 16th, Valve announced that they have selected a new batch of 75 games for Steam distribution through the Steam Greenlight system. As always, the batch included games of all types: from puzzlers and platformers, to a game about shark attacks, and a game about a pixel in an old TV.This latest group features some stand-out games in terms of visual presentation (as well as gameplay). These are the games sure to catch your eye, even before you see them in motion.
Generally, people love getting presents in the mail. It's always a nice surprise to get a package from someone and exciting to open it up and see what's inside. Over the past few years, an industry has emerged that ships monthly subscription boxes full of random (generally themed) goodies to millions of people every month. In our nerdy corner of the world, Loot Crate and Nerd Block are the two big names competing with one another. Though starting this May, a new subscription service called Indie Box is set to launch.Each month, Indie Box celebrates the old days of gaming where buying a game involved opening the game's box, pulling the game out and sorting through all the goodies that came along with the game."Opening the game box was an event in itself," a promotion for Indie Box reads."After eight months of development, we're happy to announce we've launched Indie Box: independent games in a collector's edition box delivered to your door every month."
Here's some good news for all the up and coming game designers out there: in case being part of an indie studio isn't enough creative freedom for you, there's always the option of being an indie within an indie.That unique set-up was what Jason Cirillo explained to me as people played his upcoming game Woah Dave! on two stations at the Gaijin Games booth at PAX East. Though he modestly deflects talk of being a solo act, Cirillo is for all intents and purposes the lone member of Robotube Games, a company he started in 2006 that now operates as a sub-label of Gaijin."I develop games myself inside of Gaijin as sort of a skunk works or experimental lab," Cirillo said. "Gaijin is working on bigger projects now which are unannounced, so these are smaller games to kind of fill in the gaps."Woah Dave! looks every bit the kind of game that reflects the individual tastes of its creator. It's a platformer with simple but frantic action that has players chasing high scores by trying to stay alive as long as possible, avoiding aliens and attempting to "pick stuff up and throw it."