After a lot of waiting and distribution of dev kits to developers, Oculus have finally announced in a blog post that they’re preparing to start taking pre-orders for the release version of their virtual reality headset.

The day in question will be this Wednesday, the 6th of January at around 8am Pacific it’s estimated. There’s been no confirmed price or shipping date for the headsets in the post unfortunately, but the post has said that they’ll be revealed on the 6th as well. It also confirms the two pre-order games it will come with: EVE: Valkyrie an N64-style platformer game, Lucky’s Tale.

The CEO of Oculus, Palmer Luckey will also be doing a Reddit AMA on the same date to answer questions from gamers and also to do some general PR. A link will be made public closer to the time. There’s also been some hints from him that shipping might come during Q1 of 2016, although the Oculus Touch hardware has been confirmed to be delayed until the second half of the year.

Are you interested yet? Do you think that the Rift will win the VR race this time round or will it fall behind now that competition has emerged?

Another year, another set of game releases. 2015 is coming to a close, and it’s time to do that cliched YouTuber/journalist/blogger look back deal. Oh yay, you cry! Another totally subjective Top 10 of the best and the worst. To you I say: Hold on just a minute. For starters, you clearly didn’t read the title of the article! Theres that whole most disappointing category! Besides, I hate top 10 lists. However, this will be a totally subjective set of games. My criteria were simple. How much fun did I have with the game? Thats pretty much it. So, on to the land of subjective 2015 awards we go!

Most Surprising Game of 2015: Press X To Not Die

Hear me out. This game was something that Scarlet Dragon and I picked up on a whim for It’s On Steam, How Bad Can It Be? If memory serves me correctly, it was her suggestion. We weren’t expecting much out of this game. It looked like a bunch of quicktime events sewn together with lousy GoPro footage. What we got instead, was a solid evening of the most face hurting, side splitting, stomach muscle cramping laughter I’ve had in quite some time.  As the main character, you exit your room only to have your friend tell you that you must “Press X to not die!” moments before he is stabbed to death. From there, you embark on a journey to save your girlfriend and escape the rampaging townsfolk. That might sound simple, and it is. But for me, it’s the writing, the sincere acting and the utterly insane setups that make this game such a huge surprise. Prompts such as “Press X to not be choked to death by a clown” or “Press Y to kick him in the balls” or even the great “Press B to spy on your girlfriend in the shower” (spoiler, that one leads to you being gutted by a katana as she calls you a loser) are just some of the examples of the humor that the team over at All Seeing Eye Games infused into their game.

With multiple choices to make, a gallery of deaths, high scores and different endings, Press X To Not Die had us rolling with laughter. I can’t wait for a sequel. The game was funny, fun to play and came out of absolutely nowhere, which is why it is my Most Surprising Game of 2015.

Most Disappointing Game of 2015: Fallout 4

I can see the pitchfork wielding mob outside my house right now.  Like many gamers, I was swept up in the hype machine of Fallout 4. I loved Fallout 3, and I had huge hopes for the fourth installment. Complete character customization for male and female characters? New wasteland areas to explore? Gun crafting and settlement building? Fallout 4 was going to be GREAT!

And then it released. It was a buggy mess. But thats fine, it’s a Bethesda game. After I sorted through the INI files to uncap the framerate, turn off mouse smoothing and fix the terrible FOV, I set out to really explore Fallout 4.  Thats when I realized something. As an RPG, it is arguably one of the worst in the genre I’ve played in the past 3 years. Conversation choices are limited,with no way to tell if your character is going to say what you intended them to.  The factions are way to quick to welcome you as the chosen hero of legend etc. after you complete only one mission for them. And there is literally no opportunity for actual roleplay in the game. The character you play is simply a pair of pants that you pilot about the game and fill with tin cans and desk fans.

As a first person shooter, it is merely servicable, and even that is being a bit overly nice to it’s gunplay. Movement is sluggish, the gunplay feels stiff and awkward and NPC animations are oftentimes just as stiff and awkward.  When it comes to telling a meaningful story, I’m still not even sure what the story of Fallout 4 IS. I got distracted by shiny things within three seconds and the game doesn’t punish me for it or impart any sense of urgency into anything I do. However, as a junk collecting simulator, Fallout 4 excels as no other game in recent memory has. I happily wandered away from the supposedly imperative story arc of saving my son to scavenge for typewriters for 5 hours, all to feed my growing addiction to screws that I needed to feed my ever growing demand for better guns.

Do I dislike Fallout 4? No. I’ve had a decent amount of fun with it. But it’s not an RPG. Nor is it a first person shooter. It’s something in between, a sandbox littered with tons and tons of junk for you to convert into weapons and settlements, story and sidequests that have little to no emotional impact and NPCs that oftentimes look like partially melted action figures. Add that on top of the fact that Bethesda has been trotting out the same engine, with the same bugs game after game while only slapping a fresh coat of paint over the rust, and I’m beginning to lose a lot of my goodwill towards the studio. Fallout 4 isn’t a bad game. It just falls far short of the hype leading up to its release. Honestly, I feel that even without that hype the game would still be disappointing. It’s a breathtakingly vast expanse of wasteland with the depth of a kiddie pool, and that is why Fallout 4 is my Most Disappointing Game of 2015.

Worst Game of 2015: Ninja Guy

I don’t even know where to start with this game. Awful graphics, terrible controls, boring level design, repetitive objectives and racist jokes. I think this game ticks all the boxes for bad game design. You play as the titular Ninja Guy who must…prove himself to his Cow Sensei as he battles from a peaceful village to a twisted hellscape. At least, the game’s description promises a twisted hellscape. Personally, I gave up after the second level. The very walking animations hinder the game. Stiff and unwieldy, anything more unlike a ninja than Ninja Guy would be hard to imagine. Almost all attacks cause you to lose directional control of the ninja, the one liners are repetitive and borderline racist. In fact, I feel like I’m being repetitive with this description of the game. Its bad. Really bad. I’ll let past me walk you through his suffering, I can’t endure the flashbacks.

Ninja Guy. Worst Game 2015.

Best Game of 2015: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

There are few games that have ever left me as awed as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. From the moment you step into the shoes of Geralt, you know that you are in for something special.  The beautiful, haunting and often cruel landscape of Witcher 3 is packed full of things to do. Sidequests in this game often have as much voice actinv and meat to them as the main quests of other RPGs. From the outset, you can feel that Geralt is not a one man world saving machine. Your actions have consequences, often unseen for hours, but they won’t shift the entire world. Sure, they may influence one city or change the fate of a character. But rarely are they as earth shattering as conventional RPGs. With a focus on deep lore, deep conversation trees and two vast open areas to explore, it might seem like thats all you need from a game. But CD Projekt Red has taken things one step further. Geralt’s formidable combat abilities are further enhanced by oils, bombs and the help of weapon and armorsmiths you find in the world. Careful preperation is the key to taking down fearsome Griffons and Basilisks. Seldom do you come across one of these beasts and not feel a bit of awe.

Of course, we haven’t even touched on Gwent. This ubiquitous card game is more than a distraction in Witcher 3. There are entire events that can be shaped and changed depending on playing a card game. I personally know several friends who are hopelessly addicted to Gwent, yet won’t even touch Hearthstone. While I’m not overly fond of it, it speaks volumes that so many people are clamoring for a standalone release of Gwent.

Put simply, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a vast, sprawling world packed with interesting lore, deep and meaningful quests, colorful NPCs and enemies and an amazing wealth of things to do- all while staying far away from the typical open world trap of throwing in filler activities. With an engrossing storyline and free DLC coming out steadily, this is one RPG that will sink its hooks into you and won’t let go. From the joy of visceral combat against a gang of Drowners to the breathtaking seas of Skellige, Witcher 3 is one of the best RPGs ever made, let alone in 2015. And thats why The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is my best game of 2015.

What games did you love or hate this year?

Let us know! Tweet us @sanitariumfm

As we wind down the year that was 2015, we like to look back and think about certain events. Then, if you’re like me, you like to ask yourself “Did that happen this year, or the last one?”

No worries. If you’re wondering what happened in the world of Hearthstone this year, this article has you covered. And what a busy year it was, with two adventure arcs being made available to play and an expansion that added over a hundred new cards to the game and made the Paladin hero one of the most popular in the current meta.

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Undertaker Nerf – Jan 29th

We started off the year with Blizzard addressing the problem of a card that had been added with the Naxxramas adventure earlier – the Undertaker card. A 1-mana cost Minion, it gained +1/+1 for every Deathrattle Minion that was played after it on the friendly player’s side, which led to it sometimes getting bloated quite fast for a simple 1-cost Minion. Blizzard decided shortly after the year started that the time had come to nerf the card slightly, removing its health buffing ability but letting it keep its attack buffing in a patch applied January 29th.

 

“Undertaker was frustrating to play against. It often gained both Attack and Health stats significantly above those of other inexpensive minions very early in the game. With this change, we expect Undertaker will still be better than other 1-Mana minions when played in a deck with a Deathrattle theme, but more likely to die in combat against other minions.“

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Blackrock Mountain – April 2nd/3rd

The first adventure of the year came out at the beginning of April, allowing us to journey through a single-player route that saw the bosses and setting matching that of the Blackrock raid from World of Warcraft (adding in its own Hearthstone twists of course). Having been announced March 6th at PAX East, Blackrock Mountain saw you fighting first against Ragnaros for Nefarian, then later wings saw you then taking on the black dragon himself as well as his sister and other associated creatures from the Blackrock Spire. It also introduced to the game the new Dragon Minion type, with several new Dragon cards being released as well as some older cards being re-designated Dragons. New card effects came to use what was in the hand of players now, such as the combinations of cards that rely on held Dragon Minions that now see wide use in the like of the Dragon Priest decks.

Hearthstone on mobile – April

April also saw the release of Hearthstone onto mobile devices at last, with the delay being partially down to the need to reorganise the elements on screen to fit the smaller screen of a phone. The mobile versions were to be updated at the same time as the computer and tablet versions and the same account data was shared between devices.

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Tavern Brawl – June 17th

The middle of the year brought a surprise with the implementation of a new game mode that Blizzard had apparently been working on since Hearthstone launched. Starting with the “Showdown at Blackrock Mountain” Brawl that let players randomly play either as Ragnaros or Nefarian as they had appeared in the Blackrock Mountain Adventure, Tavern Brawl launched on June 17th. With new rules every week, the Tavern Brawl opens for five days every week to allow players to take on random other players using pre-constructed decks for the fight or constructing decks to take advantage of crazy rules in play, such as each destroyed Minion spawning a new Minion that cost 2 less mana in its place or both players having the costs of cards in their hand randomised each turn. The first win each week also nets the winner a free Classic pack of cards to open (except for the Gift Exchange Brawl which gifted the Winter Veil Wreath card back).

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New Heroes; Magni Bronzebeard – June

Also at the beginning of June the news was announced that Blizzard were going to make alternative Heroes available for classes, with Magni Bronzebeard being the first as another Warrior. The Heroes were purchasable cosmetics from the store and some criticized them at time of release because it was felt that the price was a little bit excessive, as the Hero Powers remained the same and all the changes were just purely cosmetic.

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The Grand Tournament – August 24th

On July 22, 2015 Blizzard hosted a special event at The Folsom Street Foundry, San Francisco at which Eric Dodds announced the next big Hearthstone expansion that was coming – The Grand Tournament! Released on August 24th and based around the Argent Tournament (or at least what happened in the years after the major lore-important Argent Tournament), Blizzard had an offer on that saw players able to pre-order 50 of the new packs at a discount before the expansion released which also gifted an exclusive cardback. Added were 132 cards, with all the Heroes getting a few decent new spells and Minions from it. A new keyword was added to the game with Inspire – a special effect that triggered upon the player using their Hero Power. Joust was also added, although not as a keyword but rather a sub-type of Battlecry. Jousts require both players to draw a Minion from their decks, and if the Jousting player has the higher cost card, an effect is triggered based on what the Minion has on their card (example: Armored Warhouse gains Charge). This led to an upsurge in the popularity of the Paladin Hero (including with myself mostly due to Murloc Knight), and with the Mysterious Challenger led to the deck now known as the ‘Secrets Paladin’ (or the Christmas Tree Deck).

In the same patch Ranked now had a change made so that based on how high a rank you achieved during a month, you also now earned golden cards, gold and arcane dust at the beginning of a month. Blizzard made this change after feedback made them realise that players didn’t see much point to leveling beyond Rank 20 and getting the month’s new cardback anymore. Arena was also changed so that card packs given as prizes could now be of any of the 3 packs types.

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Warsong Commander Nerf – October 30th

Blackrock obviously had brought with it some new cards as well as winnable prizes for completing bosses, one of which was the Grim Patron. A 3/3 5-cost mana Minion that could summon another full health Patron upon being hurt as long as it wasn’t fatal damage, it quickly found a place in the hearts of Warrior players and the Grim Patron deck was born. This deck relied on the use of the Patron’s effect as well as that of a Warrior exclusive card, Warsong Commander, that gave Charge to all Minions with 3 or less attack. As this was a deck that was almost impossible to fight back against, Blizzard stepped in again for the second time in the year to apply a nerf in the October 20th patch. It was the Warsong Commander who felt the blow, as its effect was changed to merely giving all Charge Minions +1 attack. The change was met with mixed reception, although mainly positive from players there were some that called it the end of the Patron deck (although the deck itself hasn’t suffered too much so far, still being played a lot in tournaments).

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Hearthstone World Championship – October & November

The next big Hearthstone event was of course the World Championship where players from across the world competed to become the Champion of the world, succeeding last year’s winner Firebat. The best four players from the four representing regions (North America, EU, China and Asia-Pacific) came together at the end of October to fight double-elimination brackets to see which 8 of them would journey onwards to Blizzcon the next week. Then at Blizzcon the eight remaining players were matched up and took on each other to advance higher in the standings for a chance at first place. It eventually came down to Ostkaka of Europe and Hotform of America in a grand final match fought on the 7th of November. Eventually Ostkaka walked away the winner, only the second ever Hearthstone World Champion.

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The League of Explorers – November 12th/13th

Of course, that wasn’t the only Hearthstone related thing that came from Blizzcon, with the second Adventure of the year announced in fairly retro and inspiring little trailer to set up The League of Explorers. A slightly shorter Adventure at four wings, The League of Explorers was released on November 12th/13th depending on region and took a break for a week for Thanskgiving part way through. Again, something new was added to the game through this Adventure, and it was the keyword of Discover. Playing a Discover card would then present you with 3 random cards that fit the boundaries of what you were allowed to Discover. You then chose one of the 3 and it would be added to your hand. It also introduced us to a special type of Adventure battle, one where there was no actual opponent and you merely had to survive 10 turns without dying to win.

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Sanitarium.FM Hearthstone Winter Open Tournament – December 5th/6th

Finally on a slightly more personal level, one of the big Hearthstone highlights for us at the Sanitarium.FM was the Winter Open Tournament we hosted at the beginning of December on the 5th and 6th. Eight listeners of the station entered hoping to win the prizes offered to them (first: an Expansion or 15 Card Packs; second: a Hero or 7 Card Packs). The tournament was streamed live from the station’s Twitch channel as the matches happened and were commentated upon by myself, with Scarlet and Digmbot joining in as well. The tournament did of course see Agtheo take top prize with a strong Dragon Priest deck and we look forward to seeing everyone for the next tournament as he defends his title.

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And that was what happened in the world of Hearthstone in 2015, big major events and a smaller one too. We’ve seen the introduction of new Minion types, new keywords, new ways to trigger effects as well as a couple of nerfs to rein in parts of the meta that were getting out of control.

Let’s hope 2016 will be just as good for those of us who play this card game.

Update 3: Valve has issued a statement regarding today’s issues.

“Steam is back up and running without any known issues,” a Valve spokesperson told GameSpot. “As a result of a configuration change earlier today, a caching issue allowed some users to randomly see pages generated for other users for a period of less than an hour. This issue has since been resolved. We believe no unauthorized actions were allowed on accounts beyond the viewing of cached page information and no additional action is required by users.”

Update 2: Steam appears to be back online, and the issues have seemingly been resolved. Valve has still yet to release any kind of official statement regarding today’s incident.

Update: It now looks as if the Steam store may be down; numerous users, myself included, are unable to access it and are receiving an error when attempting to do so.

Also, while it’s still unclear what’s going on, Steam tracking website Steam Database has suggested this is all due to a caching issue. That said, the site recommends not attempting to remove your credit card, PayPal account, or anything of the sort. Whether that is indeed the best course of action remains to be seen, as Valve has still yet to officially comment on the situation.

Original Story: Steam is running into something of a catastrophe right now, giving players across the world access to other people’s accounts. It’s not yet clear how this is happening, but it’s a doozy.

Various players across the world are logging into their Steam clients to find that their homepage has changed to Russian or another random language. When they check the “account info” section of Steam, they find that they have access to another user’s account, complete with e-mail addresses, buying history, and other private information.

Going to Steam’s website will also grant you access to a random user’s account.

Based on some rudimentary testing I’ve done on my own Steam client, it seems like trying to view purchase histories and licenses will bounce around other random accounts, too, which is fun…

The account that my client accessed is using Steam Guard, the tool Valve provides to help prevent unauthorized account access. So clearly that hasn’t helped.

We’ve reached out to Valve for more information and will keep updating you guys as we learn more.

Until then, join us laughing at this, cos we all know it’s about right…

Steam support right now pic.twitter.com/QZ8fozpPMD

— Lucas Moura (@DrTeflon) December 25, 2015

 
Teehee… Damn hackers…
Merry Christmas all!

Recently Blizzard have brought down the banhammer on a number of World of Warcraft accounts who were found to have been using third-party bot programs to play parts of the game for them.

The Community Manager Lore was the one who revealed the bans on the forums saying “We’ve recently taken action against a large number of World of Warcraft accounts that were found to be using third-party programs that automate gameplay, known as ‘bots.’ As a part of this action, we have removed various currencies and inventory from these accounts including, but not limited to, gold, PvP currencies, and gear. The penalty for those identified as repeat offenders has also been increased.”

The accounts in question haven’t been permanently banned though, instead given six months time out in suspension. The reasons why Lore says is that research has revealed that it’s the better way to cut down on botting players.

Those with banned accounts apparently often go to buy a new account and most often continue where they left off, while those with suspended accounts are more likely to just wait out the suspension period and then when they do get their accounts back they may give up the botting out of fear of being caught again and permanently kicked next time. In other words the shock of being caught and almost losing what they worked on often acts as a better deterrent than actually permanently losing it all.

Interesting stuff.