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 dev sessions at EGX kicked off today with a presentation by both Yager and Deep Silver and a video with some demo gameplay from a pre-alpha build of the game.

Dead Island 2 is set in ‘sunny California’ with different locations located in and around LA and San Francisco and will be a co-op multiplayer game for up to 8 people in which the goal seems to be to move around the area, scavenge as much as possible and then upgrade yourself and your weapons to make surviving the apocalypse as much fun as it’s possible to have while fighting for your life.

The game will have a number of different playable classes, including 2 not yet seen in video demos, and all will have their own unique styles of attacking and special moves. For example the Berserker can execute a special move that lets them kick a zombie. Either into other zombies, creating a domino effect or just sending them flying over the horizon. You can also launch zombies with a moddable weapon that combines a bowling ball and a baseball bat, so I think you can see why this game is about making survival fun. And somewhat ridiculous in a hilarious way.

One of the things that this game does differently from previous Dead Island games is that crafting is no longer tied to worktables – you can now craft on-the-fly. However you’ll either need teammates to watch your back or to find a safe and secluded little corner of the map to do it, the world does not stop just because you need to equip some parts to your weapon. however crafting does allow you to add extra effects to your weapon, such as the ability to set enemies alight and electrocute them. The zombies will even blacken as they take fire or shock damage. There are set to be more weapons, more blueprints in the game and while weapons will still need repairing, they won’t ever be so broken they can’t be saved. There’ll even be a in-built system to distribute level-appropriate loot so that even if you’re a different level to your friends, no battle together ever feels like it’s a waste of your time.

The environment is set to be dynamic with interactable elements such as canisters of gas that can be used as flammable explosives and the ability to set traps. and obviously a lot of noise means that zombies will inevitably be attracted towards it, and some of the in-game tasks revolve around keeping said attracted zombies away from the noise source.

Dead Island 2 is being planned for release sometime in Spring 2015 for PC, Playstation 4 and Xbox One.

Seems that the rumours were true. Today Microsoft, Mojang and Notch himself have all confirmed that Mojang now belongs to Microsoft.

In a blog post Mojang said “remember that the future of Minecraft and you – the community – are extremely important to everyone involved” before answering a number of the most regularly posed questions fans might have about the acquisition. About the Playstation and other game editions that fall outside of Microsfot’s area or might represent some conflict of interest they said “There’s no reason for the development, sales, and support of the PC/Mac, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Vita, iOS, and Android versions of Minecraft to stop”, although they did note that they couldn’t predict the decisions of another company with regards to it. The main reason they were sold up is obviously down to Minecraft and because no one had ever expected it to grow as big as it did upon its original alpha release. Simply, it grew too large for Notch to handle. They also reassured everyone that “Stopping players making cool stuff is not in anyone’s interests.”

Notch himself talked about the deal on his own site, saying that he felt he’d become a ‘symbol’ and that was not what he wanted to be. He described himself as “not an entrepreneur… I’m a nerdy computer programmer who likes to have opinions on Twitter” and said that he wanted to break away from Minecraft so that he could focus on smaller things again, citing that despite leaving the development to Jeb a while back he still got a wave of hatred in the wake of the EULA episode a few months back. He thanked the fans for helping the game to grow but said that despite that he couldn’t be responsible for the game and its grown community anymore. He said that even though now Microsoft technically owned Minecraft that it’d always belonged to the community more and that the deal was less about the money but his own sanity at this point.

Microsoft issued a press release as well to announce the deal saying about the game “Minecraft inspires millions to create together, connects people across the globe, and is a community that is among the most active and passionate in the world.” They then talked more about how Minecraft added some diversity to their portfolio of titles and that “we see great potential to continue to grow the Minecraft community and nurture the franchise.” They also said that they planned to continue with making Minecraft available to all the platforms it is currently on.

The news will probably come as a shock to some, or you might be in favour of this development. The future for mojang and Minecraft though is as of yet is unknown.

Mojang “Yes, we’re being bought by Microsoft”: [x]
Notch “I’m leaving Mojang”: [x]
Microsoft “Minecraft to Join Microsoft”: [x]

The news about Microsoft’s possible purchase of Mojang, the studio famous for their popular hit game Minecraft took many by surprise because the news seemed to come out of nowhere. While opinions are still divided about whether it is a positive step or not, everyone’s waiting to see what will happen.

Now sources are saying the Microsoft are preparing a press release to announce that they have successfully bought out the Swedish studio in a deal supposedly worth about $2.5 billion. According to what we’ve heard the announcement will be made on Monday.

Previous updates on this story have told that Notch, the man behind Minecraft and Mojang was the person who started the talks with Microsoft months back. This was despite Notch having a reputation for loving the indie game scene and not really getting along well with larger companies and their interests, having once called Windows 8 a negative thing for indie gaming and famously pulled out of an Oculus-based version of Minecraft because the VR company was purchased by Facebook.

For now, all fans of Minecraft and Mojang’s other games can do is wait and see…

Forza 5 launched with some nasty micro-transactions, made more upsetting by the fact that people already spent $60 to buy it.

Players were pissed, and creator Turn 10 spent months re-tuning the otherwise solid racer. What does this mean for open-world spin-off Forza Horizon 2? No micro-transactions whatsoever.  At first.

Ralph Fulton, of Playground Studios’ (Forza Horizon 2’s primary developer) talked openly about the prospect of being able to spend real money on things—cars, upgrades, and the like—otherwise earn-able in-game at a recent preview event in San Francisco, and he didn’t mince words: the firestorm that came down on Forza 5 provided a valuable—though indirect—learning experience for the Horizon team.

“Obviously we couldn’t help but notice what happened with Forza 5,” he said. “Absolutely. But at the same time, I did feel bad for the team [at Forza Motorsport creator Turn 10]. They worked incredibly hard on that game and then things erupted.”

Their solution, then, is to launch at the end of this month with no in-game micro-transactions, no cars buy-able for real money, whatsoever.

You either earn your way to the top or stall out at the starting line. Why? Playground wants to make sure the game’s economy isn’t broken—that is, obnoxiously slow for people who don’t spend real money—like Forza 5’s initially was. They also want to show fans that this game is designed to be fair and rewarding first and foremost, that it won’t repeat the sins of its series cousin.

“We’re not trying to short-change anybody out of the experience,” he said. “We want a massive amount of content available to everyone on day one.”

“There’s a twofold strategy to that. First, we want to make sure our economy is as we planned it. From the start, we want to make sure progression, the economy, the amount of credits you get in the game—that all of that is fair and rewarding. Our job is to make you feel good about your progression. We need to make sure that’s the case once the game is out in the wild and people can play it.”

“The second half of that is to demonstrate to everyone else—to the players—that we have a game which is balanced such that you never need to spend a penny on it. It will reward you. You will feel great. You’ll feel like a rockstar for the progression you make through it.”

How exactly will that work, though? What’s the difference between “feeling like a rockstar” (or, you know, a famous race car driver, which might have been a more apt analogy) and feeling like you’re being swindled by a used car salesman? Fulton explained it like this:

“We tried to make the game really generous. We give you two or three cars in the first hour. The wheelspin mechanic [that gives you a random reward when you level up] is really important too. Everybody loves a slot machine, and you have that sense that you’ll be leveling up every 15 or 20 minutes. With that, you have this next opportunity to get more cash or even to get a car.”

Horizon 2’s world is allegedly three times larger than that of the first Forza Horizon, too. Fulton boasted that doing everything in it would take at least 100 hours.

Of course for now, that’s just a boast… empty air, no substance. What I can say with certainty is that in my experience of the game’s first hour, rewards came fast and furious. I leveled twice and got pretty good in-game money both times. I also won a championship in my muddy, thoroughly-dented-from-driving-like-a-maniac Camaro, which netted me even more glittering prizes. Also my car’s mutant healing factor kicked in after I crossed the finish line, so I didn’t have to pay pesky repair fees or anything like that.

As is, Forza Horizon 2’s economy—at least, at this early point—inspires confidence. We’re not entirely in the clear, though. Assuming players largely get on well with Forza’s new, more generous side, Playground hopes to add micro-transactions at a later date.

“I’m sure there will come a time when we want to offer our players more choice,” said Fulton. “But we won’t do that at first. The crucial thing is to make this point [about our economy] to our fans.”

An admirable goal. I’ll confess, I’m not in love with the idea of putting micro-transactions in a $60 game at all, but—for the time being—it’s looking like The Way Of The Future. Here’s hoping more creators opt to nail down the, you know, fun side of their reward systems first and then sweat the other details. If Playground keeps to its word, Forza Horizon 2 will at least provide a good model to follow.