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Today at BlizzCon, Blizzard announced that StarCraft2: Legacy of the Void will be a standalone game and will not require a copy of StarCraft 2 to play. Game director Dustin Browder says this will allow first-time players and established fansx alike the chance to dive into Starcraft 2.
The new game will focus on the Protoss as the player attempts to reunite the scattered Protoss Tribe. Players will be able to use the Spar of Adun, and ancient Arcship to destroy an entire enemy army at the touch of a button. LotV will also introduces Archon mode, a new co-op and PVP mode in one. Teammates will have to work together to control a single army and base.
Another new mode is Allied Commanders, that allows players to join forces and fight through scenarios together, levelling up their commander’s as they go. LotV will also introduce new automated tournaments over Battle.net. And, as Browder teased “The Lurker is back.”
For the first time in many years, Blizzard announced a new franchise today: Overwatch, a team-based multiplayer shooter with Pixar-like graphics.
The game looks great. It’s a PvP shooter with classes, very reminiscent of Team Fortress 2. Here’s the cinematic trailer:
And, more importantly, here’s gameplay footage from the newly-christened Overwatch, which really does look fantastic:
Here’s Blizzard describing the game in a press release:
The action of Overwatch takes place in a technologically advanced, highly stylized future earth. In a time of global crisis, an international task force of soldiers, scientists, adventurers, and oddities known as Overwatch had come together to restore peace to a war-torn world. After many years, the group’s influence waned, and it was eventually disbanded. Overwatch might be gone now . . . but the world still needs heroes.
With an emphasis on accessibility and pure fun, Overwatch brings Blizzard’s signature easy-to-learn, hard-to-master gameplay to the FPS genre. Harnessing the power of their hero of choice, players will join forces in teams of six and battle each other across a range of futuristic global locations, from the hologram-lit streets of London to a bazaar in the shadows of a high-tech Egyptian pyramid. Every battlefield is iconic and built to highlight each character’s unique abilities, and fights can shift from streets to rooftops to open skies within the span of a breath.
“Overwatch is our take on a vibrant, near-future universe with amped-up characters and action-packed team-based gameplay,” saidMike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “With every new Blizzard game, we look at our favorite aspects of a genre and put our own spin on things. Our goal with Overwatch is to create an awesome FPS experience that’s more accessible to a much wider audience while delivering the action and depth that shooter fans love.”
The heroes of Overwatch each bring their own distinct weapons and superabilities to bear. Here’s just a glimpse of the numerous heroes that will ultimately fill Overwatch’s rosters:
– Tracer, a former British test pilot who shrugs at danger, can execute impossible acrobatic assaults thanks to her ability to teleport, drop energy bombs, and even reverse time.
– Reinhardt, a hulking German soldier in battle armor, can charge great distances and pin his enemies to a wall or slam the ground with his rocket hammer to knock them off their feet.
– Hanzo, a bow-wielding Japanese mercenary, has the ability to scale walls with his bare hands, fire off a tracking device that illuminates nearby enemies for his team, and unleash a huge spirit dragon that does grievous damage to all enemies in its path.
– Symmetra, an Indian architech, manipulates light and energy to shield her allies and damage her enemies—and she can turn the tide of any battle by building a device that instantly transports her teammates to the front lines.
The beta will be out in 2015 and you can sign up HERE!
Overwatch is a reworked version of the PVP portions of Blizzard’s Titan, the long-in-development MMO that was overhauled in mid-2013. Despite reports earlier this year that Titan had been cancelled, the game was actually turned into Overwatch last year, according to a person familiar with the project.
At Blizzcon today, the next expansion for Hearthstone was announced, although it seems that it’s not going to be whatever piece of gaming software they registered the “Eye of Azshara” trademark for earlier this week.
The name of the expansion is Goblins vs. Gnomes which ties into the goblinesque card back that’s recently been revealed. We already knew that this next expansion was due to bring over 100 new cards to the game, and now we’ve been told that the number is going to be 120 new cards and one of those will be an explosive sheep. Finally they’ll have use outside a Hunter deck!
The developers of Shadowrun have a new project on the table it seems, and it’s going to be an action roguelike.
Hairbrained Schemes have called the game Necropolis, which gives you several rather defined clues about the setting for the game. It’s one where you enter hunting for treasure, fighting enemies along the way and hoping that you don’t fall victim to anything nasty lest you join the hoards yourself. In-game it’s the final resting place of an archmage called Abraxis and the corridors change because of his servant, the magical intelligence called Brazen Head – who apparently does it when he feels like doing so. But the developers are hoping to make Necropolis a little bit different.
“At its core, Necropolis is an action game,” says the developer. “Unlike other popular Roguelikes, Necropolis features a combat system based on timing and animation. It’s fast and deadly – learn to anticipate enemy attack patterns, time your actions for maximum effect, and use smart combinations of heavy and light attacks to defeat your enemies. You can’t just button-mash and win.”
It’s not all bad news though, it seems that an ecology exists in the Necropolis between the monsters that make it home and the undead adventurers forced into servitude after falling victim to the dangers, and you can exploit that as you make your way through the levels.
If you want to find out more information, pop yourself over to their teaser website and learn some more.
Ubisoft have revealed the system requirements today for the new entry into the Far Cry series (well its PC version anyway), and they’re not too bad, although the amount of hard drive space required is still pushing it a bit for my liking. Still, we’re beginning to see the minimum requirements as a guideline so most machines should be able to run it.
The requirements are:
Minimum
Supported OS: Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8/8.1 (64bit versions only)
Processor: Intel Core i5-750 @ 2.6 GHz or AMD Phenom II X4 955 @ 3.2 GHz
Memory: 4GB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 or AMD Radeon HD5850 (1GB VRAM)
Direct X: Version 11
Hard Drive: 30 GB available space
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card with latest drivers
Optimal
Supported OS: MS Windows 7 SP1, MS Windows 8/8.1 (64bit versions only)
Processor: Intel Core i5-2400S @ 2.5 GHz or AMD FX-8350 @ 4.0 GHz or better
Memory: 8GB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 or AMD Radeon R9 290X or better (2GB VRAM)
Direct X: Version 11
Hard Drive: 30 GB available space
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card with latest drivers
If you’re running it with a GPU that supports Nvidia’s technology too you can expect some fancy shadows and anti aliasing during the gameplay too.
Far Cry 4 is due out November 20th in the UK and Europe, and the 18th across the water.
