Our live radio broadcasts are currently on hiatus while we work on improvements to Sanitarium.FM's core services. For further information, visit our Discord.
Developer Relic Entertainment has pulled resources from Dawn of War 3, in order to dedicate them to other projects.
The move effectively freezes the Warhammer 40,000-universe RTS/MOBA hybrid as it is now. In a statement to Eurogamer, Relic Entertainment said: “While Dawn of War 3 has a dedicated player base, it didn’t hit the targets we were expecting at launch, and it hasn’t performed the way we had hoped since. When a game underperforms, plans need to change. With Dawn of War 3, we simply don’t have the foundation we need to produce major content. We’re working in close partnership with Sega and Games Workshop to determine the best course of action, while shifting focus to other projects within our portfolio.”
While that statement stops far short of saying that Relic is abandoning Dawn of War 3, it’s clear that will not be any further races, or indeed content of any sort added to the game. Dawn of War 3 may have been the victim of falling between two stools, with existing Dawn of War fans put off by its MOBA elements, and those MOBA elements failing to appeal to new players.
But the move at least allows Relic Entertainment to dedicate further resources to the new Age of Empires game it is developing for Microsoft.
It is a real shame though, I personally really enjoyed Dawn of War 3 and you can check out my gameplay at release last year below
From the deepest dungeons to the intrigues of the royal court, lead a band of adventurers on a dangerous journey of amazing depth and intelligence. Develop your characters through an unique skill point system and take part in an epic clash between the Ancients. Gather your forces, forge new allegiances and destroy all who oppose you. The fate of the world is in your hands!
Might and Magic 6 is part of one of the oldest, and in this writer’s opinion, best RPG series available; minus one or two of the later games in the series. The game itself was released in 1998, and so is definitely not a game most people would have played. The series was created by the now defunct studio, New World Computing, and was published by 3DO, before being sold to Ubisoft.
Might and Magic 6 is the first game in the series to use a 3D engine, although this is only really used to create the environment and make it a semi open world, with 2D sprites used as the NPCs. Although this has the advantage of the NPCs having a lot more detail compared to just regular 3D models of the time; compared to more modern games, it hasn’t aged well graphically, but has aged much better than other games released around the same time. This is mostly due to the aforementioned implementation of sprites instead of 3D models, but the game was never really played for the graphics, more for the story and gameplay.
The world the game is based in is called Enroth, and is set several years after an invasion of alien demons following a war with another race called The Ancients. During an attack by the demons, the player party is transported by a warlock to prevent them from being killed and to save the world.
Enroth is split into 12 different zones, which have many different types of enemies, ranging from Goblins and Mages in the starting areas, to Minotaurs and Hydras in the later areas. There is also at least one dungeon in each area related to a quest, and except for one or two, are not locked to the players. If you’re not strong enough for the dungeon, it will be impossible to complete them without leveling up.
Each NPC can be spoken to around the game world to provide some backstory or even an extra follower, for the right price. The conversations, while one sided, can provide a lot of information, depending on the purpose of the NPC, with quest givers providing a huge amount of backstory. All NPCs wandering around the world can be killed, but if you’re at a lower level this can badly backfire, so murder at your own risk.
Both enemies and NPCs respawn after a set amount of ingame time, ranging from a few months to a couple years depending on the area. This doesn’t just affect the world map but also the dungeons in each area, so they can be cleared out again for the extra xp.
The party, unlike some RPGs, is only made up of a single race, but there are a choice of 6 classes which affect the skills of the characters. During creation, there a number of shared skill points which can be used to increase the usual stats associated with RPGs, such as might, accuracy etc, making changes easy to determine. Each attribute and skill also has a hover description which provides useful information. The classes are easily recognisable, with 3 magic based, and 3 physical based, with each class only able to use certain skills from the pool, but each class isn’t too restricted to what they can choose to do with the skills.
The magic system is based on a points system, with the points increasing as the characters level up, as well as with a skill called Meditation, which increases the pool based on the amount of points in the skill. Health works the same way, but the skill to increase the number of points is called Bodybuilding.
The main story is a long quest series which can be completed as and when the player wants, along with numerous sides quests, which as mentioned previously, are set in the dungeons found throughout the land. The main story revolves around the demons discovered in the later game. During each quest, several objects of note may be found that provide more backstory, or even solutions to quest puzzles. An interesting feature is the quests don’t have markers pointing out where to go and what to grab; the complete opposite of what most modern games do: hand holding and spoon feeding every detail needed to complete the game.
The combat is kind of unique in how it can be approached. Most of the game is in real time, and so combat will be too, but the game allows you to go into turn based mode, with the priority of which character gets to act first based upon their speed attribute. It is worth remembering that the enemies are also affected by this. In the later games the turn based option wasn’t fully implemented as you are unable to move between rounds, but the monsters could.
I have played this game probably between 10 and 20 times over the years with varying degrees of completion, depending on what was happening in my life, but along with a handful of other games, this is one I always come back to, at least once a year.
Overall the game is as good in terms of gameplay as it used to be, even if graphically it hasn’t aged well. If you like RPGs, give this game, as well as the series, at least one play through, to see how games from the 90’s were made compared to how they are now, especially regarding the quests and storytelling.
Hold onto your saddles and revolvers, it’s finally happened!!
As of almost one hour ago of writing, Rockstar Games officially announced Red Dead Redemption 2 has got its release date. And that date, is October 26th 2018.
Yes it is a while away and definitely misses the projected Q1/Q2 release originally stated by Rockstar, but hopefully the game will be worth the extended wait. The announcement has been met of course with mixed reactions. Some people are just excited the game has a date, while others are not so excited. Since Rockstar made the announcement, it has been met with a backlash of comments including “Why the delay again?” and “All I can say is, Delayed again? WTF”
While developers sometimes do this on purpose to further hype a game before release, Rockstar have a very valid reason for the delays. Red Dead Redemption 2 is the studio’s first true Next Gen (Xbox One/PS4) title, and will want to make sure the game is near enough perfectly polished for the waiting fans. Some may argue that Grand Theft Auto 5/Online is a next gen title, however this is only half true. Grand Theft Auto 5/Online on Xbox One And PS4 was only a port over with improved graphics. In simple terms, a copy and paste of the original release, although Next Gen versions continue to receive expansion packs where as previous gen versions last update, was the original Heists update in 2015.
I for one, will be waiting with anticipation to see what Rockstar have done with the game and how it will turn out, and looking forward to once again roaming the wild west of the USA.
You can Preorder Red Dead Redemption 2 over at Rockstars site
Following rumours earlier today that Microsoft is said to have an interest in acquiring several gaming-related businesses, Polygon has asserted that a “Reliable source close to Microsoft” believes that the Xbox One platform-holder is actually genuinely considering one such acquisition.
Earlier today, Twitter was awash in rumours suggesting Microsoft, perhaps fuelled by the fact that the Xbox One has found itself lacking in console exclusives, was potentially considering making purchase offers to three companies: Valve, PUBG Corp (the people behind Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds), and Electronic Arts – commonly known as EA. Polygon’s sources believe that the EA rumour is indeed true – that Microsoft is definitely in serious thought about the move, with the other two suggestions also being “whispered”.
Although Xbox One owners can anticipate exclusive releases this year in the form of Sea of Thieves (currently in a closed beta phase), Crackdown 3 and State of Decay 2, this small amount of confirmed titles pales in comparison to major rival Sony’s Playstation 4 line-up, which alongside a remake of Shadow of the Colossus, currently also lists exclusive such as Days Gone, Death Stranding, Detroit: Become Human, God of War, Spider-man and The Last of Us Part II. An aquisition of EA would bring many important franchises to the XBox One – although many of the bigger franchises, such as FIFA, Battlefield and the upcoming Anthem, are currently cross-console and Microsoft is likely to cause uproar were they to change the status quo.
The lack of exclusive content for the XBox One, however, is very likely to be weighing on Microsoft’s mind. Sony’s Playstation 4 has so far dominated this generation of console sales, with over 73 million sold to date; Microsoft, meanwhile, is believed to have only shifted around half this number of XBox Ones although the company refuses to disclose actual sales figures.
Further fuelling the rumours is Phil Spencer’s apparent appetite for an acquisition. Spencer, who was promoted to Executive Vice-President of Gaming late last year, is on record as having stated the following in an interview with Bloomberg:
“Our ability to go create content has to be one of our strengths. We haven’t always invested at the same level. We’ve gone through ups and downs in the investment.”
So what do you think? Do you think a potential acquisition offer is on the cards? Let us know in the comments!
Alongside claims that the service now attracts 10m users per month, Microsoft has announced a number of familiar-sounding features it plans to introduce to Mixer – its streaming service and rival to Twitch.
In order to allow videogame streamers to monetise their channels, Microsoft has announced plans to add direct tipping, so that viewers can donate to their favourite streamers as they watch directly through Mixer, without the need of external services.
For streamers who are playing games that are available through the Microsoft Store (for Windows 10 or XBox One), viewers will soon also be able to quickly buy a digital download of the game, or any DLC being played, with Microsoft planning to introduce new “Direct purchase” options.
While Microsoft is no doubt playing catch-up with Twitch, the service is quickly gaining popularity – helped, no doubt, by Microsoft baking support for the platform into both Windows 10 and XBox One (where it can be found directly on the console’s Dashboard). Even though the upcoming new additions may strike as copycatting, making it easier for viewers to both start playing games they like and donate to their favourite streamers may prove to be an important move in growing that audience even further.
