This Week In Gaming 7-25-17

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The oral history of EVO, three new Telltale games announced, how art funding helps the game industry, John Romero reveals who the original Doom Guy was, how games can better accommodate disabled players and what Xbox is doing to improve things, why Raiden was the best thing for Metal Gear, Raycevick's story and gameplay analysis of Spec Ops The Line, Waypoint spends the week looking at how gaming intersects with prison and prison culture, Twitch's charity numbers, Unseen64 looks at two cancelled Bioware games, Uncharted The Lost Legacy gameplay, the image problem of Unity, sacrifices Gigantic’s team made to save it from development hell, how developers deal with bugs, and more.

 

Gaming News (Announcements, previews, release dates, interviews and writing on upcoming games, DLC, game updates, company and developer news, country news, mods)

 

Telltale Games: Summer 2017 Update

COMIC-CON 2017: TELLTALE'S THE WALKING DEAD SEASON 4 IS FINAL SEASON, COMING IN 2018

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One last chance to play as Clementine.

COMIC-CON 2017: TELLTALE'S BATMAN SEASON 2: THE ENEMY WITHIN ANNOUNCED, EPISODE 1 RELEASE DATE

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Get ready for The Riddler.

COMIC-CON 2017: THE WOLF AMONG US SEASON 2 ANNOUNCED FOR 2018

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Welcome back, Bigby.

 

Absolver's weapon disarming mechanics and Tension Shard-powered attacks look neat

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Take what's rightfully theirs.

 

Destiny 2 open world activities detailed

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New Public Events, Lost Sectors, World Quests and Flashpoints have all been explained by Bungie.

Destiny 2: Exploring the New Survival PVP Mode and Altar of Flame - IGN First

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Lars Bakken takes us through the details of Survival, a new PVP mode coming to Destiny. He also takes us on a tour of a new map Altar of Flame.

Destiny 2: 7 Minutes of Survival Gameplay on Altar of Flame - IGN First

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Survival pits guardians against each other in the Crucible, but with a finite amount of lives each team can expend. Here's gameplay of one dominating Titan.

The ‘Destiny 2’ Beta Is Fun, But Doesn’t Answer Some Big Questions

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An exciting campaign mission and a thrilling strike doesn't tell us very much about the long arc of the game.

Six perspectives on the Destiny 2 beta

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Hardcore, lapsed, casual, sceptic, latecomer and noob.

 

First man on the moon: hands-on with Star Citizen Alpha 3.0

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I landed on a moon in a build of the upcoming 3.0 update, and now I feel like a real (virtual) astronaut.

Star Citizen shows off derelict ships and in-game economy in new videos

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"Several different scenarios" for the fully explorable abandoned crafts.

 

5 Hours With The New Layton: Great Writing, Weak Puzzles

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Professor Layton is back! Well, it’s actually his daughter Katrielle this time around. But other than that, Layton’s Mystery Journey is the return of everybody’s favorite London-based puzzle adventure game series. Here are my first impressions, about 5 hours in.

 

The Mysterious Fighting Game (Title Still Undecided) STAFF PLAY

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It is a bad match of staff who used the EVO version.

 

Killing Floor 2 coming to Xbox One on August 29

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Killing Floor 2 is coming to Xbox One on August 29, developer Tripwire Interactive announced in collaboration with Deep Silver and Iceberg Interactive.

 

New .hack//G.U. Last Recode trailer attempts to answer the question of what the G.U. stands for

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It was announced just over a month ago that .hack//G.U. Last Recode would be coming to PC as well as PS4. Now, we’ve got a brand new trailer for the 15th anniversary of the first .hack//G.U. game.

 

Steve Gaynor – Tacoma

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Before co-founding the Portland-based independent studio The Fullbright Company, Steve Gaynor worked on the acclaimed BioShock franchise for several years. Even after leaving the AAA space, Steve and his colleagues remained committed to the concept of environmental storytelling. However, for the studio’s critically acclaimed debut title Gone Home, Fullbright disentangled themselves from all action and RPG elements, while tightly connecting exploration with strong characterizations and a naturalistic family drama plot. As the developer’s second title Tacoma is about to be launched on PC and Xbox One in early August, I got hold of the game’ s writer and designer on Skype for an in-depth discussion. Read on as Steve shares plenty of game design insights, elaborates on why Fullbright's new explorational story game sends player to an evacuated space station seventy years in the future, and explains how Tacoma expands on the team’s previous work.

 

XCOM 2: War of the Chosen - Inside Look: The Hunter

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Get an in-depth look at one of the Chosen tasked to take on the resistance: the Hunter.

 

Abandon Ship teases horrid sea monsters and doomsday cults

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Any game that describes itself as "FTL-meets-Sunless Sea in the golden age of sea" is likely to turn heads, and, having watched Abandon Ship's first public demo at this year's PC Gamer Weekender, it'd seem Fireblade Software's debut venture is on track to live up to its billing.

 

A new Observer trailer reveals Rutger Hauer as a Blade Runner-like 'neural detective'

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The 'cyberpunk horror story' will be out in August.

 

Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom E3 2017 gameplay walkthrough

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30 minutes of gameplay by the Bandai Namco team.

 

Here's Our First Look At Call Of Duty: WWII's Zombie Mode

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Activision showed off the trailer for the zombie mode in Call of Duty: WWII at a San Diego Comic-Con panel this afternoon and, surprise, there are a lot of Nazi zombies!

 

More of the Same Is Rarely So Fun Looking as ‘Yakuza Kiwami’

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My style? My style is the art of fighting… lots, and lots, of fighting.

 

Frank West, Haggar, Nemesis, and Spider-Man confirmed for Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite

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Haggar from Final Fight wasn't in the Capcom roster leak, and nieither was Dead Rising's Frank West. Both will be showing up, though. Frank looks like a blast, levelling up mid-fight and pulling out jury-rigged weapons.

 

Official Shadow of War Shelob Reveal Trailer

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Shelob - you know her name, but what of her intentions? Can you trust the Spider?

 

Steven Universe: Save the Light SDCC 2017 trailer

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Cartoon Network Games and Grumpyface Studios have released the San Diego Comic-Con 2017 trailer for Steven Universe: Save the Light.

 

Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition launches September 12

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Switch version of latest Rayman game dated.

 

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice reveals Photo Mode

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Easily capture Senua and the Viking wildlands.

 

13 Minutes of Uncharted: The Lost Legacy Gameplay

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Chloe and Nadine trek through the mountains and explore some fortresses, though obviously there are some enemies in their way.

'Uncharted': Latest Game Balances on the Precipice of Evolution and Disaster

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Evocative characters weighted down by aging game mechanics

 

Total War: WARHAMMER - Norsca Gameplay First Glance

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A first glance at Norsca, our early adopter bonus for Total War: WARHAMMER II, out on 10 August 2017.

In the Shadowlands - lands bereft of hope - tribes of men are driven by primal fury; born of slaughter beneath the calamitous gaze of their Ruinous gods. The Norscans fight relentlessly, raiding far and wide for a worthwhile foe. Let the Old World tremble, for the Northmen come!

 

Deep Silver have made an Agents of Mayhem sex tape before the game is even out

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The modern world is about reacting to trends. Communicate on common ground, be on the same platforms as your players, make sure you’re addressing concerns. In 2017, that means the, ahem, fan art needs to start before the game is even out. Such is the plan for Agents of Mayhem, which had its own little adult video go up before it’s even been released.

 

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel coming to PC next week

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Port of the 2013 JRPG arriving on Steam, GOG, and Humble Store.

 

Pyre sizzles in new trailer ahead of next week’s launch

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The hand-painted art style shown in the trailer trailer is absolutely stunning. It’s no surprise, really, given Supergiant Games’ past efforts.

 

Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time adds Amanda, Constanze, and Jasminka; teaser trailer, gameplay

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Bandai Namco announced new new information, and debuted a new teaser trailer and 16 minutes of gameplay of Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time during a live stream today.

 

Gundam Versus open beta, pre-order bonuses announced for the Americas

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And one of them won't be sold separately.

 

The Evil Within 2 - 'Survive' Gameplay Trailer

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Take a look at this gameplay trailer for The Evil Within 2, the forthcoming psychological thriller and true survival horror title being developed by Shinji Mikami and the talented team at Tango Gameworks.

 

See a world built from 'physically simulated' pixels in Noita's lovely debut trailer

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That means you can burn, melt, freeze, evaporate, and otherwise wreck just about everything you see.

 

THQ Nordic to show new games at Gamescom - one a sequel to a well-known horror

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THQ Nordic have revealed their Gamescom plans ahead of September's conference, and it seems like there’s going to be a couple of surprises.

 

Planetoid Pioneers gets a simpler, cheaper edition

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If you were balking at the £30/$40 price tag for the Early Access physics-based building game Planetoid Pioneers then balk no more.

 

Immortal Planet is an action-RPG 'Souls-like' from the creator of Ronin

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Check out a new trailer ahead of the release later this week.

 

TimeSplitters Rewind devs are "in talks with CryTek" to try and keep it going in CryEngine

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The developers behind TimeSplitters Rewind have issued an update following their previous blogpost which described how development had slowed.

 

Terry Crews's Crackdown 3 character revealed in new video

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You may have read Joe's extensive interview with PC gaming fanatic (and Hollywood actor) Terry Crews last week, in which the White Chicks star spoke of his excitement at being a playable character in upcoming open world superhero game Crackdown 3. "It's more than I could ever have dreamed of," he said.

 

Watch a new Rogue Trooper Redux trailer compare the old graphics with the new

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A launch date has been announced.

 

A new Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Martyr trailer showcases major 'alpha 2.0' update

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'Base gameplay' is nearly complete.

 

Song of Memories coming west for PS4 this fall, Switch and PC ports in development

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Pure Wish also working on its next "Song of" title.

 

Hollow Knight's 'Hidden Dreams' update will release on August 3

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Free update will usher in new bosses and more.

 

DOOM is free this weekend and all its multiplayer DLC is free forever

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The best bit, for those of you who’ve held off spending money, is that as of this update all of DOOM’s multiplayer DLC has been folded into the base game for free. Look for new maps, weapons, armour sets and demons.

 

A Cryptic ARG Suggests a Big 'No Man's Sky' Expansion is Near

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The search for deep-space El Dorado continues.

 

Injustice 2 - Official Starfire Gameplay Trailer

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As the next Queen of Tamaran, Princess Koriand’r found herself the victim of her fratricidal sister's vengeful plot that resulted in their planet being conquered. Now a royal exile on Earth, Koriand’r uses her ability to absorb and convert ultraviolet energy as Starfire. SHOW MORE

 

The 12 months of free Dying Light DLC will come in the form of 10 new DLC packs

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It was announced just last month that Dying Light would be getting 12 months of free DLC over the next year. They teased the first bit of DLC in this series, which would add new enemies, back then too, but have now released another video which has a few new details.

 

Crash Bandicoot Remaster Trilogy Gets Long Lost Level As DLC

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Stormy Ascent was a level in the first Crash game that originally got scrapped because it was ultimately considered too difficult. During a panel at San Diego Comic-Con, Vicarious Visions revealed that the lost level would be available as a download via the PlayStation Store.

 

Starpoint Gemini Warlords: Titans Return teaser shows the massive ships arriving next month

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The upcoming expansion will also add a new storyline and two new races.

 

Ghost Recon Wildlands 'Ghost War' PvP mode beta test to begin later this summer

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The four-on-four team deathmatch mode will go live in the fall.

 

Garrosh Hellscream is coming to Heroes of the Storm

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The Mists of Pandaria villain is expected to hit the PTR around July 31.

 

Overwatch could be getting new weapons or weapon skins

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Everyone loves Overwatch’s character skins, but some players would love to see more variety in the combatants’ weapons — or, perhaps, the ability to separate the two. There’s a chance that that’s on the way, according to evidence discovered by Reddit sleuths in a recent video from developer Blizzard Entertainment.

Overwatch’s Roadhog will soon take 50% less damage while healing

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Blizzard have revealed more details on Roadhog's upcoming defensive buff, which should make the tank hero much more viable when under sustained fire.

 

Day of Infamy adds two free maps, including Dunkirk

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You might have heard that a little film called Dunkirk has just come out. The folk at New World Interactive certainly have

 

PUBG next monthly update pushed to August 3, in-game skin system not due till launch

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Bluehole also reveals Gamescom Invitational where it plans to test new crate and key system.

 

Queen Amanitore leads Nubia into Civilization 6 and she's going to build everything

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The latest civ to arrive in Civilization VI are the Nubians, led by Kandake (Queen) Amanitore. She ruled the ancient Kushitic Kingdom of Meroë - later or also known as Nubia - at a time when some of its grandest construction projects were completed. Accordingly, she confers some powerful production bonuses to the Nubians.

 

Rainbow Six Siege alpha packs impress community in first week

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The rollout of Rainbow Six Siege's alpha packs continues as they're due to hit Xbox today and PlayStation 4 next week. After their rollout to PC last week, initial reactions from players seem positive.

 

Path of Exile: The Fall of Oriath is coming in August

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The new expansion will double the size of the game.

 

'Paid mods [are] a way for us to get more free art content to players,' says Ark dev on future of sponsored scheme

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In February, Ark: Survival Evolved developer Studio Wildcard unveiled a sponsored programme that would pay mod creators on a monthly basis for their work. Offering a stipend of $4,000 per month, each individual's work would be evaluated, and it would thereafter be determined if those modders would continue to be paid for the next month.

 

Valve Shutters ‘Dota 2’ Secret Shop Amid Flood of Complaints

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Maybe a little too secret.

 

Private Warcraft server restoring original Burning Crusade shut down hours after going online

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Another private server recreating an older version of World of Warcraft has been shut down — barely hours after coming online — vaporizing four years of work by its creator.

 

2017 Charity Update: Twitch community gives back at record pace!

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Ever since Twitch was but a wee babe, it has been clear that one of the community’s most important goals has been helping others. The passion for giving has been self-evident through the constant support for broadcasters and assistance for community members in need. This is especially pronounced in the astonishing amount of funds raised for charitable causes. Since Twitch’s launch, the community has now officially raised over $75,000,000 for over 100 different charities!

 

Blizzard composer Russell Brower has been laid off

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You may not immediately recognize Russell Brower's name, but if you've played a Blizzard game over the past decade you've almost certainly heard his music. The studio's senior audio director/composer has credits on everything from World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade to Overwatch, with StarCraft 2, Diablo 3, Hearthstone, and various expansions in between. That run has come to an end, however, as he announced on Facebook today that his job has been eliminated.

 

ShareGamingHub wants to be the YouTube of videogame photography

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Billed as "a platform to upload, share and enjoy gaming screenshots," ShareGamingHub is a burgeoning file sharing community, currently in beta, whose goal is to popularise videogame photography in the same way YouTube promotes 'influencers' and Instagram showcases selfies and food snaps.

 

Game Developers Conference welcomes new GM Katie Stern!

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Game Developers Conference organizers are delighted to name Katie Stern as the new General Manager of the GDC events. Stern joins parent company UBM Technology as of August 7. GDC is the world’s largest and longest-running event serving professionals dedicated to the art and science of making games.

 

The Romeros: “We have at least 20 to 30 more years of making games”

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Legendary developers John and Brenda Romero say they're nowhere near retiring on the latest GamesIndustry.biz Podcast

 

Making games under threat of nuclear war

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Why Estonian developer ZA/UM is moving its team to the safety of a new London studio

 

Overwatch Devs Explain Why Terry Crews Isn't Doomfist's Voice (And Other Inside Stories)

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Terry Crews, fighting games, Doomfist bug fixes, and the surprise response to healers at Comic-Con.

 

Banned PUBG streamer DrDisRespect creates a new account and taunts devs

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After all that, DrDisRespect is back, as he's created a new account to bypass the ban. He's streaming as normal but now his in-game name is "GlassWindow." The first stream he did was named "Jump Kicks," so he's really leaning into his character now, despite the measured response from Greene previously.

Battlegrounds Bans

Playerunknown's Battlegrounds player banned for team-killing a team-killer

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"[Sxk7] was AWAY from his friends and the TK'er, it's an 8x8 map," Slyvinlisha wrote. "If he wanted to go on w/o his friends he could've gone away but he didn't. He turned around, went to the TK'er, killed him and quit the game. He also broke the rules!"

 

Streamer banned from Twitch during last year’s CSGO gambling controversy wants a fight

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Phantoml0rd says “I am looking forward to asserting my rights to the fullest extent of the law”

 

Smash Bros. Fan Game Takes The Characters Back To Their 8-Bit And 16-Bit Roots

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Super CLASH Bros is rough and unfinished, but look and sounds alone will win you over.

 

Esports News

 

The Oral History of EVO: The Story of the World's Largest Fighting Game Tournament

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The history of the Evolution Championship Series as told by the people who have been there from the beginning.

 

The Weekend In Esports: DreamHack Atlanta, Counter-Strike Finals In Poland, And More

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Below you’ll find where and when you can catch all the weekend’s biggest events in competitive gaming. Let us know what you’ll be watching in the comments or if you think there’s something we might have missed. You can find a complete list of tournaments being held this weekend at DreamHack and their schedules here.

 

Riot Games Extends NA LCS Franchise Deadline, Investors Reportedly Under “Extreme Pressure”

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Riot Games has extended the application deadline for teams looking to purchase a franchise spot in the 2018 NA LCS to July 28th.

 

Alibaba Turns to Local Organizers for WESG, Following $22 Million Costs for Last Event

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Alibaba has publicly announced their plans to partner with cities and subsidize the costs of the annual World Electronic Sports Games competitions.

 

VS Gaming Hosts South Africa’s Richest FIFA Event Yet, with $115,000 Prize Pool

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This weekend, VS Gaming hosted a South African tournament with the country’s highest prize-pool yet, with the winner becoming the highest-earning South African esports competitor overnight.

 

DSPORT to Broadcast CS:GO Matches from the ESL India Premiership

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DSPORTS has signed a partnership deal with NODWIN Gaming to bring broadcasts of the ESL India Premiership to its premium sports television channel. DSPORT is owned by Discovery Communications, an American media company holding various international media properties including the Discovery Channel and Eurosport.

 

ESL lifts lifetime ban against Counter-Strike: Global Offense match fixers

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The former iBUYPOWER players will be eligible to return to competitive action on August 1.

 

Knife In Overtime Steals The Show At Counter-Strike Major

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There’s flashy ways to win in overtime, but few as good as a leaping knife slash to ensure a bomb goes off.

Counter-Strike Team Caps Off Dominant Run With First-Ever Majors Win

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Nine of the ten players in today’s PGL Major finals had never made it to a Valve major finals before, with one team having never qualified for a major ever. Only Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko had competed in the finals of a major prior, and he’d been snubbed twice.

 

Finland Out-Dances Russia, Great Britain At In The Groove World Cup

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Markus “Hippaheikki” Kokkonen just secured a second first-place finish in this year’s In The Groove World Cup. The Finnish dance gamer is a well-known champion in Europe’s In The Groove scene, having placed first in the Doubles tournament at last year’s EuroCup. He scored first in yesterday’s Doubles tournament at the World Cup. There are three cup trophies to take home, and Hippa has already guaranteed two will be in his suitcase.

 

League of Legends' World Champions Suddenly Can't Stop Losing

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After this week’s League Champions Korea matches, the reigning world champions of SKT T1 have gone 0-8 in the last two weeks. It’s an unprecedented slide for a team that has been the de facto best in the world. SKT T1 is a three-time world champion, whose roster includes not just the god of mid lane Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, but a long list of superstars.

 

Last Year's CS:GO World Champions Still Haven't Been Paid Their Prize Money

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On October 9, 2016, Team Argentina placed second in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive World Championships, winning $20,000. But months later, they still haven’t seen the money, and other teams who competed and won prizes say they haven’t been paid either.

 

Pro Smash Bros. Melee Fox Player Is Merciless

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Nobody likes getting trapped in the corner.

 

The New 'Rocket League' Champs Fight to Stay on Top of a Changing Game

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Pressure follows triumph as RLCS champions Northern Gaming move to the much larger EnVyUs organization.

'Rocket League' Pros Lose Championship After Scoring on Themselves

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It's hard enough to lose a premier Rocket League tournament in game seven of the grand finals, but even harder when the deciding goal comes off of your bumper—and into your own goal.

 

Dreamhack Atlanta Showed H1Z1 Could Be an E-Sport for the Masses

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H1Z1: King of the Kill is a “massively multiplayer arena shooter.” If you find that confusing, think of it this way: What if the film Battle Royale was a game? What if you hunted your enemies across land and water, urban shock zone and open field? More importantly, what if you did that competitively?

 

INTERVIEW: Ralf Reichert, CEO of Turtle Entertainment – “We Want ESL Content to be on Every Screen in the World”

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During ESL Cologne 2017, The Esports Observer had the chance to speak with Ralf Reichert, CEO and co-founder of Turtle Entertainment about the company’s momentum and how it plans to stay afloat amidst the rising esports tide.

 

What Prevents Esports From Taking Off In Japan

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Esports is big business. Yet in Japan, home to many talented players, it has yet to reach the same money-making heights as elsewhere.

 

The traditional sports world is taking eSports into the mainstream

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How the NBA, ESPN and others are starting to embrace a new type of athlete.

 

Crowdfunding News (not sharing everything I find, just ones that look interesting, have known talent behind them, and a chance to succeed)

 

BOUNTY BATTLE

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In Bounty Battle, characters from Darkest Dungeon, Awesomenauts, Guacamelee (and many more) meet up for the ultimate indie fighting game!

 

The Lighthouse

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Thriller with glimpses into psychotic, alternate dimensions. Search for Lily Beaumont at the abandoned Wescott Property in Maine 1964.

The Lighthouse is neat-looking crowdfunded horror thriller, alpha demo out now

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Enter a dark and supernatural '60s neo-noir world.

 

Content I found interesting this week (interviews, think pieces, history, music, culture, design, art, documentaries, criticism, etc)

 

John Romero finally reveals who the original Doom Guy really is

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The cover for the original Doom is one of the most iconic pieces of videogame box art ever created. It's simple, stark, and perfectly evocative of the game experience: One man, unbowed and heavily armed, fighting off a horde of rampaging demons. But who is he? That's a question that, to be perfectly honest, I had never even considered before now. After all, it's just a drawing, right?

The Multiplayer Mode of ‘DOOM’ Almost Never Happened

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Well, it was certainly a panicked, last-moment addition. But it all worked out OK, John Romero remembers.

 

At Play in the Carceral State: A Letter from the Editor

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All week, Waypoint will be diving into stories about how gaming intersects with prison and prison culture. Here's why.

Inside the Gaming Library at Gitmo, America's Controversial Military Prison

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When detainees need relief, they turn to Harry Potter and PS3 games.

 

Why the man who oversaw Tomb Raider turned his back on games

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“I love where games are ... but it’s just too big a business,” Heath-Smith says. “It's turned into a multi-billion dollar revenue business now, which it was always going to do. For me, that kind of takes some of the fun out of it.”

 

How Yacht Club Games made Shovel Knight a success

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'Having multiple ways to get into something, it just like makes it that much more lovable.'

 

How Games Can Better Accommodate Disabled Players

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From colorblindness to subtitles, the medium still has a way to go before it’s really for all the players.

 

Castlevania's long battle with tone

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Somewhere in the series' tangled history lies support for every interpretation, from feel-good to grimdark.

 

Raiden Was The Best Thing To Happen To Metal Gear

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Raiden was a perfect repudiation for players who loved Metal Gear Solid. The point of Metal Gear Solid is not how badass Solid Snake is, it is how bad it is to be an action hero.

 

Blade Runner Inspired Two Very Different Video Games

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Blade Runner fuses together a morally ambivalent story about godhood with a visual panache that has shaped cinematic science fiction since its 1982 release. While it has inspired many games like Snatcher, Mean Streets, and the forthcoming Cyberpunk 2077, there have actually been only two Blade Runner video games, each of which approaches its source material in unique ways.

 

Stories of Resistance Need to Stop Dehumanizing Everyone Who Isn't the Hero

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This "the only one" trope of dystopian fiction needs to go, as evidenced by 'Black the Fall'.

 

A Body, Divided | Pathologic

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Pitching Pathologic as a survival game under time pressure, though, ignores one of the most compelling aspects of the game—the environment itself. Conventional wisdom says that settings, particularly in the horror genre, can be characters in their own right, with Silent Hill and its titular town being the most-cited example. Developer Ice-Pick Lodge, when creating Pathologic, fleshed out their town’s identity by pulling influence from Moscow’s architecture, both new and old, and projecting anatomical traits on the town, through naming houses after body parts and having them display symptoms. Through this, they created an externalization of the player character’s own body, trying to maintain its health while slowly being besieged with more complications.

 

The sacrifice Gigantic’s team made to save it from development hell

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Delays, layoffs, and lack of funding. Gigantic has survived them all.

 

Arms at length: The big Nintendo interview

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Yabuki has become something of a cult figure amongst fans ever since he was thrust into the limelight at this year's E3 - and breaking out into Min Min's winning pose after pulling off the now famous combo certainly did his popularity no harm. He's also part of the new generation that's been placed at the forefront of a Nintendo that has, in the wake of the success of 2015's Splatoon, been keen to place an emphasis on its younger talent.

 

OPENED WORLD: A LIVING OUT OF DYING

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Amidst videogames’ studio-centric, collaborative labor practices, the stylistic authority of figures such as Goichi Suda wholly informs the studio identity. Suda is actively drawing from his life story to create his games, and a greater appreciation of his craft demands that these autobiographical aspects be recognized. In particular, I want to examine Suda’s body of work from one particular angle: his fascination with death.

 

Fueling the 'Pyre' with Supergiant Games' Greg Kasavin

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The originality of Supergiant's work – the studio's refusal to lean into narrative and design concepts audiences have seen before – is the result of a team that not only possesses a fascinating imagination, but the discipline and creative process required to make its visions a reality.

 

Yoko Taro, Yosuke Saito, Takahisa Taura & others discuss the future of NieR with Famitsu

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After four months have passed from the extremely successful release of Square Enix's NieR: Automata, Famitsu put up a special coverage for the game on this week's issue of Weekly Famitsu magazine, which includes an interview with producer Yosuke Saito, director Yoko Taro, game designer Takahisa Taura, composer Keiichi Okabe, and character designer Asahiko Yoshida.

 

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver - the genesis of today's open world tech?

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In today's video games, the open world is now commonplace - a single, continuous gameplay area that offers a vast canvas for developers to populate, to varying degrees of success. At the most fundamental level, what makes these sandbox games work is their ability to stream in world data on the fly as you play, with no loading whatsoever to disrupt the flow during traversal. What is now the norm was once the most ambitious of gaming concepts - one that initially came to fruition in the console space with the classic Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver for the original PlayStation.

 

Everyone has an opinion on “booth babes” — but here’s what they actually have to say about the job

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More and more, booth modeling seems like an obsolete relic from a less enlightened era of gaming, and I came to E3 to find out why companies still rely on it. But the seven current and former promotional models I spoke with made it clear that there’s more to the booth babe than meets the eye.

 

Arkane Studios: "Lots of people have done elves and dwarves. F*** that"

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Dishonored creative director Harvey Smith offers advice on how to create a distinct and memorable fictional universe

 

Phil Harrison sees a "golden age" for games - and it's still to come

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"The reach is there, the tools are there, the distribution is there," Harrison said - now all we need are the stories

 

How death can breathe life into video games

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The industry's evolving relationship with death is a sure sign of the medium's maturity

 

How developers really deal with bugs

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Everybody knows bugs. There are funny ones and stupid ones. There are annoying ones and actually-damaging ones. But however they manifest themselves, bugs sit right between a game's maker and its player, a sudden manifestation of mistakes that have been made, a crack in the simulation, a bump right back down to Earth.

 

Protect your Steam Keys

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I reached an important milestone, lately. I published a Kickstarter-supported indie game to Steam. The game, now selling for $4.99 USD, was developed entirely by my best friend, my wife, and I, entirely in our free time. As you might imagine, it's small, silly, and full of bugs.

Unfortunately, in nearly the same breath, I became aware of the existence of Steam-key 'reselling' websites, like Kinguin, G2A, and GameFlip. I have a particular problem with the existence of these sites, and a few of the symptoms they seem to cause. While I acknowledge that they're not breaking any laws, I think they do a few things that are harmful to indie devs, and honestly to devs in general.

 

Unity Has An Image Problem (The Jimquisition)

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Unity has an image problem, but who is to blame? According to at least one developer, it's the media's fault. Fake news!

But Unity, now linked heavily to some of the worst games in the world, really doesn't seem to care, that might be the real heart of the issue.

 

Unity

 

Ludonarrative Dissonance

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Clickbait Title: this happened to me ~~~~pseudo-intellectual nonsense~~~~ STORYTIME #SocialExperiment

When I teased this video the initial reaction was a near-unanimous slow-motion "oh no," like a comedy action hero leaping on a grenade that's revealed to be a dude or a prop or it was actually just a bagel. I'm not saying this looks like a grenade, but is really just a bagel, but I am saying that I find the tepid anti-intellectualism that has become calcified in video game circles to be exhausting. It's reached a point where so many intelligent, engaged people are on the brink of giving up entirely because any attempt to improve the language we use to talk about games as they exist and operate is met with suspicion and mockery, painted as little more than bloviating wankery, and trotted around like Quasimodo as a target for rotten turnips. Ludonarrative dissonance has earned a reputation not through any irreparable flaws in the concept, but because pundits catering to an anti-intellectual base coined stupid names like "ludonarrative disco biscuits" because pretending big words are hard is a sure way to get a laugh from the worst kinds of people.

 

Arts Funding - Helping Games that Help Us - Extra Credits

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Games have made great strides in the last few years towards public recognition and arts funding in the United States, but all that could fall apart unless we step up to support the programs like the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities which make it possible.

 

Spec Ops The Line... 5 Years Later

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00:00 - Introduction
00:51 - Pre-Production
07:28 - Gameplay
12:20 - Story
29:25 - Multiplayer
38:20 - Conclusion
Written, Voiced, and Edited by Lucas Raycevick
Support the Channel at: https://www.patreon.com/raycevick
Tweet Me @Raycevick

 

Jade Empire 2 + Revolver: Cancelled Bioware RPGs | Unseen64 Ft. ItsaDogandGame

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What happened to Jade Empire 2 and what is Revolver, the ambitious Bioware RPG we'll never play? In the mid '90s BioWare was a favorite team to western RPG fans thanks to cult classics such as the Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights series. At the end of the ‘90s they wanted to enter the console market and developed MDK2 for Interplay, but unfortunately that did not set the market on fire as they could have dreamed for. After Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Bioware decided to embrace a more action oriented combat system suitable for controllers and the results was one of the best action RPGs to be released on the original Xbox: Jade Empire, published in April 2005. Only a few months later Microsoft released their new Xbox 360 and in November 2005 BioWare co-founder Ray Muzkya teased the existence of a sequel for Jade Empire, already in development at the time.

While Jade Empire is now a cult classic, unfortunately it did not sell as much as expected on the original Xbox and after a few months of concepts and early prototypes, Bioware decided that Jade Empire was not popular enough for their new plans. Jade Empire 2 was chosen as the core to develop a new action RPG series for both consoles and PC: the mythical chinese martial-arts setting of Jade Empire was dropped in favor of a more urban, near-future sci-fi setting. With the Jade Empire name removed from the project, Bioware gave it a new codename: Revolver.

 

The Lost Episodes of Half-Life 2

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In 1998, following the release of the critically-acclaimed Half-Life, Valve Software assigned themselves with the difficult task of creating a sequel that would not only live up to fans' expectations, but surpass them in every way. Half-Life 2 would feature an exciting new engine capable of rendering the game-world in stunning photo-realism, an engaging story, as well as a diverse set of characters and enemies. It was one of the most ambitious projects in gaming history, sadly, it would also prove to be one of the most troubled ones. With the game having suffered a number of delays and at one point even being leaked to the public in its entirety, to say that Half-Life 2's development was a stressful challenge for its creators to overcome would be putting it mildly.

 

Game Boy Advance (GBA) - Did You Know Gaming? Feat. Dazz

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In this episode, Did You Know Gaming takes a look at some facts, secrets, Easter eggs and history of Nintendo's Game Boy Advance. The GBA was the follow up to the popular Game Boy system, and featured all of Nintendo's hit franchises at the time, including Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Pokemon, and even Metroid. The system started it life as Project Atlantis, but had several iterations. The Game Boy Advance SP and Game Boy Micro were made later in the handheld's life, and the console also had a private adapter to work with the Nintendo 64 (N64), and was emulated on the 3DS and Wii U, and will likely come to the Nintendo Switch. Through our analysis of the console's development, GBA games and their gameplay and beta builds, we hope to show some of the more interesting facts from the making of the Game Boy Advance and have its history explained.

 

Making a powerful punch sound from scratch

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This video is all about creating FAT hand-to-hand combat sounds from scratch. Is it worth it to go the extra mile and record your own punches? ... probably not but I did it anyway.

 

Shigeru Miyamoto's 1999 GDC Keynote

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In this 1999 GDC Keynote, Nintendo creative director Shigeru Miyamoto shares some of his core thoughts about the art of game design, and provides a vision of a world where games are part of a bigger, broader world.

 

Friendship, Curiosity & Challenge: Focusing Your Career as an Indie Dev

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In this 2017 GDC talk, Inquisement's Jenn Sandercock provides a set of guidelines to help indie game developers shape the course of their career by building positive relationships and knowing when it's time to move on.

 

An Approach to Holistic Level Design

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In this GDC 2017 talk, Arkane Studios' Steve Lee advocates for a holistic approach to level design where level designers not only think about many aspects of the player's experience (primarily gameplay, presentation and story), but focus specifically on how all of these things work together.

 

(Opportunity) Cost Effective Marketing & PR for Indies

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In this 2017 GDC talk, Chris Dwyer, who's worked on PR/marketing for games like 'Gone Home: Console Edition', 'Overland', 'Night In The Woods', 'Thimbleweed Park' and more, discusses how to arm indie developers with limited financial, mental and time budgets with good (and more importantly efficient) marketing & PR strategies.

 

Things I found entertaining throughout the week relating to video games, game communities, or game companies

 

A streamer with 100 followers now has the most watched Twitch clip of all time

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One streamer has been catapulted to fame in 24 hours because he was terrified by his infant daughter while playing Outlast 2.