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Space is awesome. Spaceships are awesome. And blowing things up in spaceships is…well…awesome. With that bit of wisdom out of the way, it seems that Frontier Developments has decided to make Elite: Dangerous just a bit more accessible with the launch of Elite Dangerous: Arena. They’ve taken the Close Quarters Combat (CQC) mode of the full game and made it available as a stand alone for just $7.49. CQC pits teams of 4 against each other in fast moving space battles. Players can choose from one of 4 ships, level up and customize their craft in three different modes. Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag are all available for those budding Luke Skywalkers out there.
Having sunk a fair amount of time into Elite:Dangerous, I have some experience with CQC. Having it as a standalone mode is an interesting decision, and should hopefully expose more people to Elite without the intimidating massive galaxy of the full game. However, it should be noted that as of the time of this writing, I have spent upwards of 30 minutes in queue waiting for a Capture the Flag match. This is nothing new, and as I primarily enjoy objective based game modes, has reaffirmed my opinion that CQC has nothing to offer to my playstyle. If you enjoy TDM though, give it a try.
If you were thinking about getting the season pass for Fallout 4, one of the most popular games of last year, you’d probably better get it soon if you want to pay less. The price has been confirmed to be going up as a result of the 3 pieces of upcoming DLC.
Starting from March Fallout 4 is going to be getting a new DLC once a month, the first being Automatron that will introduce new robotic material and enemies as well as letting you use their parts to construct your own robots. After that we’ll get Wasteland Workshop that will allow for the entrapment and possible taming of several creatures across the Commonwealth as well as new settlement building options and finally a new adventure with Nick Valentine as you’re introduced to the island of Far Harbor in the DLC of the same name – the largest and therefore most costly of the upcoming DLCs.
Automatron will retail at $9.99 in the US, £7.99 in the UK and $16.95 in Australia; Wasteland Workshop will cost $4.99/£3.99/$7.95 AUD; and Far Harbor will cost $24.99/£19.99/$39.95 AUD. Bethesda have also said that they plan to introduce “up to $60” worth of more Fallout material over the year.
Obviously the season pass does allow you to get access to all this DLC and at the moment it is priced at $29.99 US, £24.99 UK and $49.95 Aus. From March 1st it is due to increase to $49.99 US, £39.99 UK and $79.95 AUD which is quite an increase in price.
So if you want to keep up to date with what’s happening in the Commonwealth, you’d better move fast. Your time’s running out.
It seems that another small studio has bitten the dust. Rodeo Games who were behind boardgame-turned-videogame Warhammer Quest have been forced to shut up shop after the sales of their last title, Warhammer 40,000: Deathwatch didn’t sell as well as hoped.
Rodeo was founded around six years ago, made of developers from other studios such as Lionhead, EA and Codemasters; and was mainly a developer for mobile platforms, but both Quest and an enhanced-version of Deathwatch found their way to computers through Steam last year.
Their fat was revealed through the Touch Arcade forums where former employee Matthew Spencer addressed those who were wondering about the lack of bug fixes and updates to Deathwatch as of recently:
“I and the majority of the team left four months ago, so [as far as I know] there’s no one to offer support or make content. Like most indie developers, you’re only as good as your last game, and even though Deathwatch was Rodeo’s highest metric game, it didn’t make enough so we had to move on.”
If you’re a fan of handheld consoles and want to try something different, here’s something interesting you could look at. An Indiegogo campaign is soon due to launch for a follow up handheld to the Sinclair Vega, aptly named the Vega+.
It’ll come pre-loaded with 1,000 different licensed games on launch, dating from around the time when the Sinclair Spectrum was still being made; and will be marketed by Retro Computers Ltd. of which Sinclair Research Ltd. is a shareholder. It uses low-cost components and software to enable to to run the games and priced at an affordable level, as well as other games being available for download for free to the device.
Product development has already completed and a functioning prototype made, so the campaign fundraising is to help the device enter production on a larger scale within the UK. Backers can even receive their own Vega+ at certain backing levels, as well as some special edition device colours being on offer as well as exclusive backer items.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for several months, you might be aware that 2016 has been declared the “Year of Pokémon” by Nintendo in honour of the franchise’s 20th Anniversary. Nintendo are definitely the kind to celebrate in style, with plenty of Pokémon-themed treats announced for the year, such as a Tekken-Pokémon Cross co-developed by Namco Bandai themselves (Pokkén Tournament); and new 2DS and “New 3DS XL” Designs with the original Pokémon Red and Blue built in – but what could be sweeter than to get some free Pokémon for your games?
Following the Announcement that download codes for Mew are being made available and can be picked up from any GAME store in the UK until the end of February, Nintendo have now announced that for the rest of 2016, there will be another Legendary Pokémon given away every month for the first four weeks of the month. Some of the Pokémon will be made available in-game for download via Mystery Gift; others will be in-store promotions with Nintendo’s retail partners.
Which retailers? Our sources reliably inform us that American distribution of the Pokémon we’ve marked as “Retailer” below will take place at most GameStop stores. And for the UK? Well, Nintendo typically partner with GAME for promotions such as these; and with Mew already available there until the end of the month, it’s a pretty safe bet we’ll see the others hit there too.
So here it is – the full list of Pokémon being given away, when and where:
Celebi: March 1 – 24 (Nintendo Network)
Jirachi: April 1 – 24 (Nintendo Network)
Darkrai: May 1 – 24 (Retailer)
Manaphy: June 1 – 24 (Nintendo Network)
Shaymin: July 1 – 24 (Nintendo Network)
Arceus: August 1 – 24 (Retailer)
Victini: September 1 – 24 (Nintendo Network)
Keldeo: October 1 – 24 (Nintendo Network)
Genesect: November 1 – 24 (Retailer)
Meloetta: December 1 – 24 (Nintendo Network)
With every generation having a legendary represented, never has there been a better time to catch them all!
