Some Things You May Have Missed
More Borderlands 2 DLC and a new IP?
The Tiny Tina DLC is not the last you’ll see from Gearbox when it comes to Borderlands 2 DLC. Randy Pitchford said earlier this week on the Nerdist Podcast that there will be more than the four DLC packs that are included in season pass. Gearbox still has plans for more content to contribute to the Borderlands 2 universe, but they don’t have any details just yet to the new things they plan to try out. Not only are they planning on adding more to one of the funniest adventure FPS games of this generation, but Pitchford also teased that Gearbox is working on a new IP for the next generation consoles.
-PC Gamer
State of Decay finally alllowed to come out in Australia with R18+
State of Decay has finally received an R18+ rating in Australia on their second, and now amended, submission of the game to the Australian Classification Board. The open-world zombie survival title was originally denied classification because State of Decay features use of “illicit or proscribed drug use” as incentives in the game. In other words you use these items to regain health and the Australian government didn’t like that. Such use of these types of items is prohibited in the guidelines that the Australian Classification Board has set. I do still not quite understand what the point in an R18+ rating is if the games can’t have adult themes, since the rating was created to allow adults to enjoy in adult themed games. Nonetheless, State of Decay will be making it to Australian Xboxes soon so those down under can enjoy in a title that released over a month ago.
-Polygon
Epic’s Tim Sweeney talks about the gaming industry, and mobile gaming
At a Develop Conference yesterday Tim Sweeney spoke about how EPIC has managed to survive during their life in the gaming industry. Sweeney, and industry veteran, spoke about the changes that EPIC had undergone the last couple of years, as well as the fact that it’s all about leading rather than following that can keep a game studio in the industry. Just three years into EPIC being a studio they had realized that games were moving from 2D to 3D, so they had to make some major business changes early on as a necessity. Then they switched from PC games to console games within the last decade as they saw the PC market begin to decline. Now they have finally realized that the mobile gaming market is booming right now, and as part of that survival instinct they have at EPIC they hoped on board; with a mission to prove that AAA gaming could be brought to the mobile platform. Sweeney also noted, “You’re not seeing console gamers giving up on console games and moving to mobile, there’s just lots more new players who enjoy mobile games.”
-Gamasutra
Skyrim in Space? Oh let it come true!
According to Kotaku sources Obsidian have a sci-fi game in development in 2011 that was built using the Skyrim engine and Skyrim’s “Radiant AI” system called Backspace. The design doc for Backspace calls for “simple time travel” and combat similar to Skyrim, but a wee bit faster because there is no concept of blocking in this new universe. You’d be playing a game that is pretty much a mixture between games like Mass Effect, Skyrim, Borderlands, & System Shock 2; and you’d be traveling to various worlds that are all linked together by a central space station. As opportunities came up the concept game was moved to the back burner, but the good news is that it hasn’t officially been cancelled. While it hasn’t been officially greenlit either, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel where there is a universe that Backspace exists.
-Joystiq
Some Interesting Tidbits
New world record for a Half-life 2 Speedrun
The world record for Half-life 2 speed runs was broken earlier this week by a valve-centric speedrunner group by the name of SourceRuns. With the use of 14 members and several of Half-life 2’s glitches they were able to run through the game at 1 hour, 27 minutes and 51 seconds.
-Polygon
USA GameStops stop taking PS4 reserves
“Due to high demand for the system, GameStop is not currently taking additional store reservations for the Playstation 4” was the official announcement by a GameStop spokesperson. Essentially they sold out of their allotment for day one consoles.
-GamesRadar
Jailbroken devices don’t support Deus Ex gun violence
Consumers with jailbroken iOS systems will be very surprised when they try to use guns in their copy of Dues Ex: The Fall. None of your guns, including the tranquilizer, will be functional. The message that pops up states, “We are sorry but you can’t fire on jailbroken devices.” You’ve been warned.
-Joystiq
