David Braben took the stage at EGX today in London in all his glorious, tech loving, nerdy….glory. Much of the presentation was given to talking about the changes coming in Beta 2 of the game, set to release on Sept. 30th. I’ve already covered that in detail, and you can read the full article here. To hit the high points though, Beta 2 will feature:

• 500 additional stars and systems
• New ships
• Combat ranks
• Faction reputations
• Exploration

Braben also went into some detail about the way that the game will change as players begin to explore, with factions responding and moving into territory, sending small space stations to be expanded upon and how this ties into player dynamics. He discouraged the idea of a firm guild or clan structure for the game, and actively stated he is totally against any form of Pay to Win strategy in the game. In addition, he talked about the scalability of the game’s technology. When asked about 4k displays and their relative cost, braben replied that they were building their game to use all future tech they could get their hands on, citing the inevitable drop in price for said displays, as well as being eager to test out Oculus competitors from Sony and Samsung. It was an interesting presentation, and the hype for Elite is reaching a fever pitch as the game becomes even more fully featured.

 
The full presentation can be seen right here:

Will you be roaming the stars with Digmbot and Lonesamurai once Elite:Dangerous launches?

At the EGX conference, Creative Assembly revealed their take on the critically acclaimed franchise with their latest game; Alien: Isolation. At the conference itself, we learned that Creative have spared no expense in creating an almost living, breathing replica of the 1979 Horror film. By digging deep into the 20^th Century Fox archives, CA have managed not only to find enough pictures of the original cast to rebuild the characters in a very well rendered style, but they have also managed to find the original analogue recordings of the soundtrack and sound effects. These finds have allowed CA to create a very impressive world that does a very good job of mimicking the tense, atmospheric feel that Alien delivered when it first hit the screens. CA stressed that they had spent a very long time replicating and expanding every detail of the film into the game, and this is shown in how even the everyday items like calendars are in the same place and position that they were to be found in the game.

One of the main points that came across during the stream was their emphasis on sound. CA talked about how sound made up a third of a good gaming experience, and they wanted to create  a game with sound that evoke a subconscious emotional reaction from the player as well as music that would fit the horror theme and keep the player on edge without exhausting them. Alien: Isolation features a newly built context driven sound engine. That is to say, a sound engine that will change and adapt the music within the game based on events that play out as you traverse the newly designed ship “the Sevastopol”. The sound (adapted from the original soundtrack with some tracks from the film added in for good measure) will change in volume, pitch and even climax as the Alien hunts you down and attempts to dispatch you.

This brings me onto the third aspect of the game discussed at the conference; the stealth. Gameplay footage played during the stream showed the player (revealed as Ellen Ripley) creeping through an abandoned ship. As as the Xenomorph is constantly hunting you, you must avoid him by remaining quiet, hiding under desks or in lockers; even crafting improvised weapons to distract him quickly become necessary to complete the puzzles you are presented with and to ultimately stay alive throughout the game .The music is low and ambient, portraying a feeling of being hunted, like the Xenomorph is coming personally for you, despite the fact that there are multiple androids and other human’s on board. These other characters will often hinder you, either acting aggressively or causing a commotion, which inevitably attracts the Xenomorph to your location. Whilst on the subject of mechanics and gameplay, CA has informed us that they are working with Oculus to bring Alien: Isolation to the Rift, allowing the player to fully immerse themselves in the Alien world. Pre-order content has also been made available, however CA says that it will be purely additional content separate from the main body of the game.

Are you ready to take on Xenomorphs in their latest digital outing? Let us know in the comments below!

With its simple gameplay and perfectly portable nature, independent studio Roll7 surprised a lot of people when it released the side-scrolling, skateboarding game-cum-reaction test OlliOlli; and the title quickly became one of the handheld’s best sellers. That success earned them a place at this year’s EGX London; where at 3pm today, the small team of indie developers announced what to expect next.

Currently in development, OlliOlli 2: Welcome to Olliwood is, as the name suggests, a sequel to the PS Vita hit, with much loftier targets in sight – not least emphasised by the franchise’s move from handhelds to the big screen. With the sequel hitting the Playstation 4, OlliOlli 2 features a complete visual overhaul to make it fresher and more HD-quality in order to be more appealing for TV and emphasise the fact that sequels always aim to be bigger and better. But it’s not just for show – the game now includes 7,000 more frames of animation making tricks look more realistic and fluid than ever.

The reason for the need to add detail to tricks is because, in OlliOlli 2, there’s going to be a lot more of them. In addition to all-new grinds and jumps to complement the existing set of tricks from the first OlliOlli, Roll7 has listened to player feedback and added the ability to perform manuals – lifting the board slightly and riding on two wheels, for the non-skaters – while on solid ground. An enhanced combo system makes it a lot easier to chain tricks together for higher points; plus there’s an extra incentive to the game’s overarching purpose of timing your landings to perfection: perform a perfect grind and you’ll be able to “switch” it, repositioning your board to perform another trick mid-grind and adding one more multiplier to your combo bar. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater fans should be very familiar with this mechanic, though the controls are slightly different.

Levels and Worlds in OlliOlli 2 are also taking on a whole new shape – quite literally. Thanks to a whole new engine for which the sequel is being built from scratch, OlliOlli 2 sheds the straight-line nature of levels in the original game; to bring in curved terrain and even ramps for greater air time. If you wanted to speed all the way downhill and perform a massive jump off a ramp at the bottom, you’ll get to do it in OlliOlli 2. Levels also feature split paths, allowing multiple ways to trick through each location – you might find yourself choosing from a low grind or going up high for massive air time. The “Welcome to Olliwood” part of the title references part of the game’s new theme – levels will be split into “Worlds” based around popular film genres, with decals and obstacles to match; such as an Aztec world with vibes of Indiana Jones.

Roll7 explain that, like the old OlliOlli, the current plan is for the levels in OlliOlli 2 will be procedurally-generated. Obstacles, rails and ramps will be generated based on what you’ve already skated, rather than a fully randomised affair – allowing players who regularly bail at one part of a level to memorise the layout and prepare for it next time, such that players hopefully progress further with every run and ultimately overcome any roadblocks they experience. This plan is regularly debated within the team, with some feeling an infinite-scrolling layout to allow levels to continue randomly for as long as the player can survive would be better; while others like the current method for ensuring that players cannot get completely stuck during a run. It will be interesting to see which camp finally wins out.

Of course, if one tires of taking on the game’s challenges and story or simply trying to beat their best runs, there’s always the fun of competing against others. Roll7 admitted that, on realising that they missed an opportunity in the original PS Vita title to implement online leaderboards comparing your run to other players, “we still wake up in a sweat wondering why we didn’t”. OlliOlli 2, therefore, will be incorporating them from the very beginning, letting you know just how your skating and reaction times compare to other players. But that’s not the only concession to multiplayer being considered. OlliOlli 2 will also feature a local split-screen multiplayer mode called “Combo Rush”, allowing up to four players to compete simultaneously to achieve the highest scoring run in 60 seconds. Roll7 claim the new multiplayer mode is also being used as a basis to look into potential future additions, such as online multiplayer and other types of competition.

OlliOlli 2 is planned to hit the PS4 sometime in 2015.

Omega Mode is free DLC for Street Fighter IV takes all 44 characters and gives them different (I’m hard-pressed to say new) abilities making them feel bigger, better, or in some cases, like the old versions of themselves. Capcom had a little something to say about it on its blog:

“As the primary goal for this mode was fun, we placed more emphasis on making the characters feel new, than on their balance.”

The video above gives far more detail and pretty moving pictures, so watch it and let us know what you think in the comments. Then look for the Omega Mode DLC later this year.

The newest Total War game was revealed today at EGX on stage in a dev session. With the help of an awesome trailer, they revealed that it was named Total War: Attila and was to be set in 395AD – a period of time when the Roman Empire was split in two and under attack from all sides by various armies.

Two different modes of the game were shown off, the Campaign mode where it was shown that maps of the empire area could be seen and interacted with. Graphics were said to be improved with different lighting levels and foliage types helping to invoke the sense of being in different areas of Europe and Africa as you moved across the map; markers to indicate where attacking armies were placed, as well as cities and a number of stats could be accessed from the UI, including the religious factions affecting different areas, sanitation levels etc. Family trees had also been re-added and you are able to assign important people to positions to allow their skills to ‘buff’ the places they are placed. Tech and skill trees will also be available to help players choose what way they choose to go to defend their territory.

The other gamemode shown was the Battle gamemode, in which one player is defending in a city and the other player is attacking it both multitasking by controlling many groups of soldiers at the same time. It was revealed that the condition of cities under siege will effect the morale of the defending armies; for example if a fire is allowed to spread unchecked the amount of destroyed buildings will have a small debuffing effect. Cities will also have pre-determined places you can choose to place barricades, either to block the way and station troops on top of to shoot down at the attackers or to funnel enemies where you want them. Untouched cities can also have civilian characters who will flee the city, hide in buildings or on occasion attack invaders themselves. Fatigue will also play a part in the battles, tiring soldiers in the thick of battle but allowing them to recover if they back off.

Both Roman Empires as well as many of their enemies are playable in the game, and Creative Assembly are planning a release sometime in 2015.