Skyrim fans yearning to explore the game’s fantasy world with other people will get the chance next year, as Bethesda Softworks today announced The Elder Scrolls Online, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game take on the long-running series, set for release in 2013.

Bethesda didn’t reveal any gameplay details, but aGame Informer tease for the magazine’s cover story on Elder Scrolls Online revealed that the game will cover the entire continent of Tamriel, including the lands featured in previous Elder Scrolls games like Cyrodiil, Skyrim, and Morrowind. The game will be set 1,000 years before the events of last year’s hit Skyrim and will put players into the world on the brink of demonic assimilation at the hands of the daedric prince Molag Bal.

Elder Scrolls Online will also feature three player factions, though they were not detailed. However, a rumor that made the rounds in March and correctly predicted the game’s announcement suggested that they will be represented by animals: a lion, a dragon, and an unspecified bird of prey.

The Elder Scrolls Online will be the debut game from Zenimax Online Studios, which was established five years ago with Mythic Entertainment cofounder Matt Firor (Dark Age of Camelot) heading up the operation. Firor is also serving as game director on the project.

source from: gamespot

With all due respect to the man, that sounds like a pretty ridiculously low number. Diablo is an incredibly popular series that sells well all over the world. And now it’s backed by the ever-increasing reputation of Blizzard. GamesRadar’s resident analyst (read: whoever happens to be writing the article) thinks this guy is underestimating the staying power of an Blizzard game.

Here at GamesRadar we’ve probably bought 2-3 copies each of Diablo 2 over the years, because 12 years later it’s still that freakin’ good. Twelve years later you can still find the Diablo bundle pack on Best Buy store shelves. What’s more, all the way in 2008, the Diablo Battle Chest was stillnumber 18 on the top-selling PC games chart.

We’ll have to wait and see, but we’d be shocked if Diablo 3 only sold 0.5 million copies from 2013 onward. About a month ago, an analyst from Cowen and Company predicted 5 million sales in just the first year. Now that sounds like a more reliable figure.

source from: gamesradar

Star Wars Day was spawned about seven years ago when George Lucas was asked by a TV interviewer to say the famous phrase, “May the Force be with you.” The interview was later translated into German, and came with an odd quirk.

The translator screwed up a bit and instead of saying, “May the Force be with you” it was translated into “We’ll be with you on May the 4th.” So when you’re explaining to your friends why you decided to pick up SWTOR you can tell them, “It all started in 2005 when a George Lucas interview was translated into German…”

source from: gamesradar

The idea was created as an “accelerated game development Event” where participants are given a weekend to create a game based on what the community has voted.

“Ludum Dare was founded by Geoff Howland, and held it’s first competition in April of 2002,” the official website reads. “Since then the community has run more than 22 regular Events, several dozens of practice competitions, collectively creating many thousands of games in just a weekend each. “The event attracts developers from all sides of the industry. Students, hobbyists, industry professionals from many well respected game studios, as well as many independent game developers.”

During the last competition 891 projects were submitted, rewarding over 61 submissions with medals in categories ranging from Audio to Coolness.

So head on over to this year’s entries and start playing, games can be accessed by simply using your browser.

source from: xbigygames

It’s no surprise Nintendo has a new Mario game in the works for the Wii U, but the publisher has confirmed it will be showing off the portly plumber’s first next-gen excursion at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June.

A shot of the Wii U New Super Mario tech demo.

First word of the game came in a report from the Spanish news site El Mundo, which today published an interview with Shigeru Miyamoto in which the Mario creator was paraphrased as saying that a new Super Mario for the Wii U would be on display at E3. A Nintendo representative later confirmed that tidbit for Eurogamer.

Nintendo featured a New Super Mario Bros. tech demo at last year’s E3, though the company emphasized that it–like all of the Wii U content shown–was simply a conceptual idea and would not necessarily be made into a full game. As with New Super Mario Bros. Wii, the Wii U tech demo featured four players in side-scrolling levels. It also let players put Mii faces on top of characters’ bodies.

The Wii U is scheduled for launch later this year. Although Nintendo has only specified a holiday release window, rumors have circulated that the system would see a North American launch on November 18, followed the next week by a Japanese debut.

[UPDATE] Nintendo of America confirmed the news for GameSpot, as well as the game’s origins in last year’s E3 tech demo.

“In a recent interview, Mr. Miyamoto confirmed that a new Super Mario Bros. game for the Wii U system will be shown at this year’s E3 Expo,” a Nintendo representative said. “This is based on the Mario experience that was demonstrated at last year’s E3 Expo. We’ll have more to announce about our plans for the E3 Expo at a later date.”

source from: gamespot

Crysis 3 will be released for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC in spring next year, EA has announced. The Crysis 2 follow-up, set in 2047, sees returning character Prophet discover New York sealed inside a dome by the nefarious Cell Corporation. Under New York’s Liberty Dome, the city has become an “urban rainforest teeming with overgrown trees, dense swamplands and raging rivers,” according to EA, and is split into seven distinct and treacherous environments known as the Seven Wonders.

 

Crysis 3 out spring 2013.

 

EA confirmed a 2013 release for the next in its sci-fi shooter series in the wake of last week’s leak of the game in Origin.com product pages. The game will be powered, as Crysis titles before it, by developer Crytek’s proprietary engine, CryEngine. In it, Prophet will wield a lethal composite bow (as seen in the box art), an enhanced nanosuit, and “devastating alien tech” against human and alien enemies on his mission for retribution against Cell Corporation.

Crysis 3 Hunter Edition is available for preorders from today for $60 or £40, and includes a bonus XP boost up to level five, a unique bow skin, and three exclusive dog tags. Select retailers will also offer preorder bonuses in the shape of early multiplayer unlocks. The Stalker Pack makes the semi-auto Jackal shotgun available earlier; the Overkill Pack gives early access to the Typhoon assault weapon; and the Predator Pack unlocks the Feline submachine gun.

source from: gamespot

Apple could be getting back into the console game market with a helping hand from Valve, according to a report on Cult of Mac.

Is the console market big enough for Apple, Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo?

The Apple-focused news site followed up reports that Apple CEO Tim Cook visited the Bellevue, Washington, headquarters of Valve last week with an explanation for the executive’s trip. According to Cult of Mac sources, Apple is preparing a TV set for release later this year that “will come with an Apple-branded, Kinect-like video game console.” According to the site, the system will rely on motion and touch controls, possibly through a touch screen remote that will come with the TV.

The news follows rumors of Valve’s entry into the hardware market. Last week, the developer posted job listings for an electronics engineer to join its hardware team, which is creating “whole new gaming experiences.” The company has also said it is investigating the field of wearable computing and augmented reality.

Neither Apple nor Valve returned requests for comment as of press time.

This would not be Apple’s first attempt at cracking the game console space. The company teamed with Bandai in 1995 to launch Pippin, a multimedia console based on the Macintosh operating system that also allowed users to access the Internet. The system flopped, selling just 12,000 units in the US before Bandai pulled the plug on it.

source from: gamespot

Ryu and Akuma have never been shy about crossovers, and the pair will be capping off Capcom’s downloadable content for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 action beat-’em-upAsura’s Wrath.

Capcom today detailed its remaining slate of Asura’s Wrath DLC, culminating in May with a pair of add-ons that will pit Asura first against Ryu and then against Akuma in bare-handed (but many-armed) combat. The Ryu battle will arrive May 9, with Akuma’s DLC debut set for May 16. Each pack will cost $2 (160 Microsoft points).

Before those matchups take place, Asura has a handful of optional adventures to punch his way through. This week and next, Capcom is launching half-step episodes for $2 (160 Microsoft points) that fill in gaps between chapters from the base game. The meatiest of the content arrives April 24, with a four-episode epilogue for the game that Capcom is using to “continue the story of Asura’s Wrath and reveal an extra twist.” Set after the events of the base game, the bundle will cost $7 (560 Microsoft points).

source from: gamespot

“When it’s done.” It’s been id Software’s development motto since the times before there were 154 Land Before Time movies, and its reach certainly doesn’t stop at major game release dates. Case in point: RAGE has been out since October, but a promised 64-bit version and mod tools have failed to surface. Resident id Software mega-brain John Carmack, however, insists that his company hasn’t left its post-apocalyptic opus to the ravages of time. “It is still in QA, but it is definitely going to be released,” he tweeted of the 64-bit update. Mod tools, meanwhile, got a “We’ll be sharing new information soon.” So that’s nice and vague. But hey, free is free. And we got that Doom 3 source code eventually, didn’t we?

source from: gamespy

Update: Notch has responded via Twitter. “I’m sure EA is very successful at monetizing games, but the more we don’t do what they would do, the happier I am,” he says.

Original article: EA employees say the darndest things. 30-year industry vet and Chief Creative Officer Rich Hilleman, though, isn’t one to run his company’s name through the mud. Instead, his statements tend to be bold, a bit ridiculous, and, well, sort of un-EA-like. His latest drop of mad science, however, may very well take the cake. In a nutshell, he’s pulling for Origin to throw its managerial weight behind Minecraft for free.

He explained his reasoning to Gamasutra:

“What I’ve told the guys who run Origin for us is that we should do it for free, because as you can see my vision of that business, that’s not where the money comes from anyway.”

“As somebody who has had to reinstall Windows on my son’s computer after he attempted to install Mod Manager on that machine, there’s a lot of value to be provided for the customer in making Minecraft and its mods and installations something that’s a more commercial and predictable product. Those are the kinds of things that Notch needs help with, and that without the help of a publisher or other support, he’s probably not going to get there completely by himself.”

“Now maybe his community will, and I’d love to see that happen. It’s a great experiment; I’m really anxious to see what happens. The reason I wish we were involved is because I think we’d learn from him. And the other thing that’s true is Notch is a true talent of this business; I just like us being associated with great talent.”

Admittedly, it’s not something that sounds terribly plausible — especially given Notch’s past quibbles with any sort of “restrictive” policy, ala Steam — but Hilleman’s heart seems to be in the right place. Plus, let’s be honest: at Origin’s current rate of evolution, it probably won’t wriggle onto land and sprout a mod manager until the year 2057. At which point Steam Workshop will have transformed into a sentient factory powered by tiny nanomachine elves that bear a striking resemblance to Gabe Newell.

source from: gamespy