At PAX Aus 2013, Riot Games brought out the big guns with their intense League of Legends Tournament which compiled the best teams in Oceania to duke it out in an all out clash of champions.
The League of Legends Tournament undoubtedly rocked the house, drawing a massive crowd all day every day with their incredible showcase of intense battles, cosplay fun and prize giveaways.
As for the competition itself, victory belonged to Team Immunity who thumped the opposition to take away a $20,000 prize as well as a place in the world championships at GAMESCOM in Germany next month. You can check out the smackdown Team Immunity delivered to Exile5 below.
Attendees were also able to pick up some great loot at the League of Legends booth, including some nifty lanyards and exclusive rare character skins only available to PAX Aus attendees.
All in all it was a great showing from Riot Games that really brought the League of Legends culture to the foreground of the show, introducing new players to the game as well as embracing veterans with rewards for their support. Stay tuned for more information on the world championships for League of Legends as they take place next month.
Board games might not be as popular as they used to be, but that’s not stopping their legacy from going digital. Games Workshop (Warhammer 40,000) released the hit solo board game Chainsaw Warrior in 1987, pitting players against twisted forces from another reality hell bent on dragging New York into their world.
So why did an indie studio from Bristol dig up and resurrect such a relic? Auroch Digital’s Design & Production Director, Tomas Rawlings explains why, “It’s a game I played as a kid and loved. I see it as the pre-cursor of First Person Shooters when video games technology could not really do the first person or the shooting.”
Fans needn’t be worried about the original feel and difficulty curve getting lost in the transition to video game format, “Don’t expect to win the game easily. This was the Dark Souls or Super Meat Boy of its day. Players didn’t want to buy the game and run out of challenge at first play. The game has many ways to kill you and is unafraid to use them – which makes it all the sweeter when you finally win.”
A game based on tabletop/board gaming, the challenge of Dark Souls with chainsaws sounds like a surefire winner. When was the last time we saw a chainsaw in a game? This is the latest in a line of Games Workshop adaptations coming soon, such as Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade and Space Hulk.
Chainsaw Warrior is due out at the end of summer for the iPad, iPhone and Android systems with the exact date and price still TBA. The PC and Mac versions will follow soon after.
Jagex has launched the future of an ever popular MMORPG franchise (RuneScape) by unleashing the newest installment – RuneScape 3. Maintaining a free-to-play concept, players can jump into the game now and start forging a brand spanking new adventure without downloading a client. RuneScape 3 can run off the more popular internet browsers granting nearly instantaneous access (client download is available). Once players have entered the world of Gielinor, they will encounter the Battle of Lumbridge that houses dynamic events that will mold the very future of RuneScape. Mark Gerhard, CEO of Jagex, had the following to say:
The RuneScape 3 development team has worked tirelessly to delight our community with this significant upgrade. The Jagex team and I are truly honoured to be able to be part of this formative occasion and to provide our cherished community, past and present, the RuneScape update of a decade. Married to the concept of our players determining the future of RuneScape, we believe RuneScape 3 is the most ambitious game ever launched on this cutting-edge future technology and lays the foundation for our upcoming expansion onto tablets.
Since launch, more than 220 million RuneScape player accounts have been created, we’ve developed 12 years of regular content, and the game is still growing. With the launch of RuneScape 3 we are looking forward to welcoming new and old players alike back to the magical world of Gielinor.
Players can also purchase memberships to gain exclusive bonuses for in-game content encompassing housing, ports, full weapon & skills access, full character customization, over 160 quests, and no in-game advertisements. To give an idea for pricing, one month subscription to RuneScape 3 will cost $7.95 but enable the content above plus much more. Take a look at the membership options (here) and see all the goodies that can be accessed. Enjoy the launch trailer below and join the fight for FREE today!
Down at the Ubisoft booth at PAX Aus I was able to get an interview with Hugues Ricour, the Senior Producer on Assassin’s Creed IV:Black Flag. He shared some details with us such as the challenges and benefits of working in a big team and some of the new features we can look forward to in Assassin’s Creed IV. Check out the full interview below.
CC: Assassin’s Creed is being developed by eight studios and over 1000 people. How you do go about managing a development team of that size and ensuring consistency and quality in the final product ?
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is indeed developed by eight studios for Ubisoft and it’s a very interesting challenge trying to get everyone to collaborate nicely with all the efforts into technology, game design and art direction and making sure there is consistency. The way it works is we have one creative director and he makes the critical decisions. We have one producer. They are both based in Montreal. The producer is in charge of collaboration and making sure that everyone has the same tempo, same schedule and uses the same technology.
We started the big co-development structure with the first Assassin’s Creed. We developed a very nice way to communicate between studios, we know eachother well, we have a team in place dedicated to collaboration, we have tools like the weekly videos we send to all the studios. We work in the same engine, the same build. It has its challenges of course, however it works and it makes us ready to innovate and ready to take on new challenges every year.
CC: Will there be any elements of the old Assassin’s Creed games returning ?
Assassin’s Creed IV is a good continuity on the previous establishment, especially Assassin’s Creed III. They did great work with the naval battles and the studio I come from, Singapore studios, were involved in having the first shot at the naval battles.The tree climbing worked really well, they had a great combat system, we took this and we’re taking it to the next level and also next-gen this year as well. Edward the main character will have a number of abilities that you will discover as you play the game.
CC: Why was it decided Assassin’s Creed IV would revolve around pirates and did you perform alot of research on the topic ?
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag came quite naturally after the push that we did for naval battles in Assassin’s Creed III. The first playtest we did with the ship combat, the return was phenomenal, the ocean simulation looked really good so we knew we were onto something. The golden age of piracy in the 17th to 18th century was a great period of histroy to research and work with. We read alot of books, did a few trips. Some of the guys even went to the Carribeans and so on, came back with ton of references and good stories. The writers did phenomenal work to put together a very compelling story that’s very true to what happened. It’s part of the DNA of the franchise to make sure we stay close to the real historical events and characters of that time. So the pirates in Assassin’s Creed IV are not the kiddish and traditional pirates that you have in mind, they are very serious ones and very true to that era.
CC: Assassin’s Creed III also featured ship battles, have ship battles been improved since then ?
So the naval combat in Assassin’s Creed IV has evolved, as I mentioned the ocean simulation took a new step this year with beautiful graphics. We worked on the AI and improved the depth of the weaponary that your main ship, the Jackdaw, will have. The economy system really matters because you have to unlock and then buy upgrades for the Jackdaw, otherwise you will have a really hard time against Man o’ Wars or bigger ships as you progress through the game.
CC: Will there be any new features in the multiplayer for Assassin’s Creed IV ?
The multiplayer is constantly evolving as well and the reception is getting better and better. At E3 they showcased a new game mode where you can customise your rules and the way you want to play and I think that was a very big success.
CC: We have been told ship battles won’t be appearing in multiplayer. Can you tell us why that is?
The main challenge we took on this year was to create a seamless world and a huge world to explore. So the big technology push was to make it so you can literally explore two thirds of the Carribeans, and go from ship to ship through boarding sequences and visit an island and get back on your ship, climb up there then go visit another island and so on. That gives us a huge toy and tons of objectives and activities so that was really the focus on this game.
CC: Have there been any additional features added to the combat system this year ?
So Edward Kenway will have a few weapons that you have not seen before. His a dual sword specialist. He has four pistols which you will unlock through the game and they allow you to kind of clear the area when you have too many enemies on you. There’s a huge push for stealth and one of the weapons to do that is a blowpipe with various types of darts. There are tons of new features and depth added to the combat system.
CC: Where does this game fall into the Assasin’s Creed timeline ?
Black Flag is a prequel to Assassin’s Creed III, it happens a few years before. Edward Kenway is actually the grandfather of Connor and the father of Haytham, so you will discover much more about the stories of these characters.
CC: That brings me to my next question. Will we have any specific references to the character of Haytham from Assassin’s Creed III ?
So I will not give any spoilers and I won’t reveal too much about the story. I really hope you play the game. The game is coming out on October 31st in Australia and I’m pretty sure you guys will love it.
CC: Thank you very much for being here with us today Hugues. One final question that the fans want to know, will we ever see Desmond again ?
(Laughs) In the game you are going to play yourself as an employee of Abstergo. And the Desmond story is kind of over, now it’s about you and that gives us alot of opportunities to go back in history.
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag will be releasing on all current gen consoles on October 31st and next gen consoles upon release. You can check out the latest trailer for the game here.
In the video we see the team from SEGA Studios Australia, discussing the importance of maintaining the Disney charm, wonder and entertainment from the original in their re-imagined platformer. Studio Director, Marcus Fielding stated, “We are not going to reinvent Mickey Mouse, we have to respect the style of Mickey, the look and feel, the characteristics, the animation cycles, the walk cycles”.
In terms of technological advancement in making Castle of Illusion more dynamic, Jeremy Taylor, lead audio at SEGA, stated; “From a sound perspective we’ve been able to help Mickey into the 21st century by primarily being able to do a lot more with the sound effects, the mixing, the environmental effects and these are all the things we come to expect without realising it, so we’re are able to go further with interactive music, sound effects and voice as well.”
The trailer stars Dominic Monaghan (Lord of the Rings, Lost) as Ennis Cole, an agent in the aftermath of the first Pima Incident. Whilst writing a report detailing the damage, casualties and actions taken during the incident, Cole flashes back to his family. Tweet #GrabTheGun or #GrabTheBottle by July 24th to decide his fate.
For more information, check out the official site. What will happen to Agent Ennis Cole? Check out the trailer below and decide.
2K Games and Gearbox Software announced today that the DLC for Borderlands 2 isn’t done yet. Though the Borderlands 2 Season Pass is complete, there is still more sweet content headed to Pandora’s biggest first person shooter. Some of the changes include another level cap increase, epic new boss battles, and new head and skin sets.
This autumn, players will be able to pick up the “Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack 2: Digistruct Peak Challenge.” This DLC will raise the level cap from 61 to 72 and will be available for 400 Microsoft Points.
You will now also be able to download boss fights and bonus content on an individual basis. Each pack will give players a quest that leads to a boss fight, an additional loot drop, and a unique head and skin for each playable character. If all you want is the skin and head sets, they will be available for 80 Microsoft Points each.
For more information, you can check out the official website here. You can also keep up with the conversation on Twitter by following the #Borderlands2 hash tag.
For those already suffering from withdrawal symptoms after the end of Steam’s Summer Sale, Bundle Stars has the cure! The Superfly Indie Bundle contains ten indie games for the low price of $5.00.
The SuperFly Indie Bundle contains Galaxy on Fire 2 Full HD, Afterfall Insanity Extended Edition, Disciples III Renaissance, Dungeons: The Dark Lord, The Journey Down: Chapter One, Zeno Clash, Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space, Cargo Commander, and Kung Fu Strike. All ten titles are redeemable on Steam and run on Windows PCs. The Journey Down also runs on both Mac and Linux, while Cargo Commander also runs on Mac.
A portion of the profits from the SuperFly Indie Bundle will go to support the British charity SpecialEffect, which helps those with physical disabilities and veterans of war play video games.
The head chef for the Straw Hat Pirates has created a special wedding styled cake for all of his real life female fans, which will be on sale through the Bandai online store in Japan.
The two layered Gateau Decore Je T’aime cake looks pretty delectable; the top layer covered in what appears to be blueberries and strawberry jam, with a ring of orange slices around the second layer. All of this is topped off blobs of icing and a ribbon of pink icing to wrap the whole thing up. As if this wasn’t a gift enough, the cake also comes with a small figurine of the One Piece cook, who is also holding a smaller version of the cake in his right hand.
As delicious as it may look the cake does come frozen and it is only 9cm high with a 15cm diameter, which is pretty small compared to its 3,500 Yen (35USD) price tag. Pre orders can be made now through the Bandai online store and the cake is expected to ship in October.
Let us know in the comments what you think about this One Piece cake, and what other anime food items you would like to see be made.
The new game, being developed for Xbox 360 and 3DS by Magic Pockets, will be based off the same universe as the popular Nickelodeon animated series and will bridge the gap between the first and second seasons of the show. Players will be able to take on the roles of Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael. The Xbox version of the game will have drop-in/drop-out cooperative gameplay. It will also feature character upgrades, secondary items, and multiple gameplay modes.
On top of that, they released a new trailer that features some gameplay footage for fans excited to see what’s to come. You can check that out in the video player below this article. You can also check them out on Facebook here.
Board games might not be as popular as they used to be, but that’s not stopping their legacy from going digital. Games Workshop (
