Dota 2 will be out in early August
Dota 2 will launch proper in early August, Valve has confirmed.
Speaking with Gamespot, Valve VP of marketing Doug Lombardi said that the full game would be available before this year's The International championship, which begins on August 7.
The International’s top prize is US$1 million, and this will be the tournament’s third year.
Dota 2 entered beta in 2011, and early access keys are still available for US$30 via Steam. However, once the game launches, it will employ a free-to-play business model.
Dota 2 holds the record for the most concurrent users in Steam history with around 330,000 simultaneous players online in May of this year. That figure was higher than the rest of Steam’s top ten games combined.
Remote Play, cross-game chat built-in on PS4
All PlayStation 4 games will support Remote Play on the Vita because the function is baked into the console, Sony has announced.
"On PlayStation 4 , it just happens. You just make a PS4 game, it supports Remote Play," Sony Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida told Engadget.
"The single biggest issue, why there are not many PlayStation 3 games that support Remote Play, was that it was optional – the system didn't do much.
Microsoft is "over-delivering value" with the Xbox One – Mattrick
Microsoft has defended the Xbox One’s price, claiming that the console will be better value than any competing devices on the market.
The company's interactive entertainment business president Don Mattrick told Bloomberg TV that the console’s NZ$749 price tag was “a lower number than some of the analysts had forecast".
"We're over-delivering value against other choices I think consumers can get, said Mattrick.
State of Decay sequel likely as game crosses half million sold mark
Although State of Decay is the fastest-selling original game in Xbox Live Arcade history, developer Undead Labs is still waiting for its sequel to be given the go-ahead by IP holder Microsoft.
An open world zombie sandbox title, State of Decay has sold over half a million copies since its launch on June 5, with half those sales occurring within its first two days on the market. That makes it the fastest-selling XBLA original game in the platform's history.
The proposed follow-up, codenamed Class4, would be an MMO according to Undead Labs.
IO Interactive halves staff to refocus on Hitman
Almost half of IO Interactive’s staff have lost their jobs as a result of the studio cancelling all development not related to its Hitman IP.
The job losses have seen three-year production director Hannes Seifert named as the new studio head.
"We are making significant changes at IO Interactive as we align our business against a changing and challenging market," said an IO spokesperson.
Kickstarter roundup – week of June 17
We missed a week because of E3, but the Kickstarter Roundup is back! Below are a handful of games that in the past fortnight have been added to Kickstarter, hit their funding goal, or failed miserably on the popular crowdfunding site.
Recently Funded Battle Tails!Wicked Paradise is a virtual sex game for Oculus Rift
Well it was only a matter of time: a virtual sex game has been announced for Oculus Rift.
The game, Wicked Paradise, is described by its creators as “the world’s first fully immersive Erotic Virtual Reality Adventure Game specifically designed to make use of the amazing capabilities of the Oculus Rift”.
“Instead of watching an erotic movie or reading an erotic book in which the main character has exciting sexual adventures, you become that character!”
“Imagine playing Leisure Suit Larry but instead of watching a screen, you are inside the game. Imagine the world and its inhabitants look highly realistic. Imagine walking into a bar in Wicked Paradise, noticing a beautiful lady, talking to her, and seducing her.
“Imagine playing your cards right and having passionate wild sex with her. Imagine all this in high quality, immersive virtual reality. Welcome to Wicked Paradise!”
New CD Projekt Red studio will focus on smaller premium titles
The Witcher developer CD Projekt Red is opening a new studio in Poland that will work exclusively on small, premium quality titles.
The studio will open next month in Kraków, and will house 20 employees.
"As we informed in our strategy outlook some time ago, aside from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077, the studio aims to develop two smaller (approximately 20 hours of gameplay) premium quality titles,” said CDPR managing director Adam Badowski.
Xbox Live's new reputation system will affect matchmaking
Xbox Live's new Smart Match system will take a player’s reputation into account when populating lobbies, Microsoft has announced.
As detailed in a post by Xbox Live's Michael Dunn on Major Nelson’s blog, players with bad reputations will only be matched with equally disruptive gamers.
However, players headed towards this low reputation level would see many different alerts before their matchmaking was altered, said Dunn.
Warfighter studio Danger Close dismantled by EA
Medal of Honor studio Danger Close has been disbanded, EA has confirmed.
EA's Patrick Söderlund told Eurogamer that those working at the studio had moved to other projects.
"Danger Close as it was doesn't exist anymore," he said.
Xbox One gets The Witcher 3 so players aren't "punished" – CDPR
Although it disagrees with Microsoft’s DRM policies, CD Projeckt Red says The Witcher 3 will be released on Xbox One so no-one misses out on playing it.
However, those wanting to play the game DRM-free should do so on PC, The Witcher 3 game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz told Gameplanet.
“We have the same philosophy we had before. On the first day [of release] the game will be available on gog.com without any DRM. At the same time, we cannot punish players who don’t have PCs.
Shorter production cycles, Xbox Live brought Sunset Overdrive to XO
Insomniac's CEO Ted Price has taken to his company’s official blog to explain why its upcoming open-world shooter Sunset Overdrive is an Xbox One exclusive.
The just-released Fuse and one Facebook game aside, since 1996 Insomniac has only ever released games on PlayStation hardware.
“It may surprise some of our longtime fans that we have partnered with Microsoft Studios to develop Sunset Overdrive exclusively for Xbox One,” wrote Price.
E3: Ubisoft may withdraw support for Wii U
Ubisoft will not develop any more Wii U exclusive games until Nintendo sells more Wii U systems, CEO Yves Guillemot told Kotaku at E3.
Guillemot was blunt about the situation: “We need more sold,” he said.
Ubisoft has been Nintendo's strongest supporter among third-party publishers since the launch of the Wii U in November last year, creating ZombiU, Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2013, Sports Connection, and Rabbids Land specifically for the platform.
Duke Nukem lawsuit evidence Apogee "unable to accept reality" – Gearbox
Apogee Software is suing Gearbox Software for unpaid royalties and fees related to 2011's widely-loathed Duke Nukem Forever.
As reported by Polygon, Apogee claims it is owed US$2 million (AU$2.1 million) in unpaid royalties in addition to an unspecified sum from when Gearbox purchased the franchise. It also claims that Gearbox has refused to allow it to independently verify how much money the game made.
In response, Gearbox said that it had fulfilled all its commitments to Apogee/3D Realms (3DR), and that in doing so, Gearbox “enriched 3DR, saved 3DR from its debts, and rescued 3DR from its litigation surrounding its failed dozen-plus year attempt to ship Duke Nukem Forever”.
"Ironically, Scott Miller [founder of Apogee] himself provided the best response when he wrote: '…filed lawsuits are entirely one-sided statements, based on knee-deep BS and with more spin than a top,'" said Gearbox.
"Everyone wished that 3DR's game was better received by the market for the benefit of gamers and profit to its creators. While 3DR might not wish the reality that the results make clear, 3DR turned out to be the only beneficiary of the deal. Gearbox Software, meanwhile, experienced damage to its credibility and loss of its money.
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