Items tagged with DLC
In the last few weeks, Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Unity has become a cautionary tale of how treating a franchise as a perfunctory once-a-year update machine while simultaneously stoking player expectations can catastrophically backfire. Once it realized how unhappy its player base was, Ubisoft snapped into action, stepped up to the plate, and courageously blamed everybody else for its own wretched game. Now that it's clear that this strategy has failed, Ubisoft is instead handing out genuine apologies, a promise to do better in the future, and free DLC. Yannis Mallat, the CEO of Ubisoft Montreal, sent out the following mea culpa today: Unfortunately, at launch, the overall quality of the game...
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Looks like Electronic Arts is not holding back this year with its sports games. The video game publisher is expecting to make around $1 billion in revenue from downloadable content and is also taking steps to crack down on cheaters for its various sports titles. Madden NFL 15 is one of the key games to EA’s strategy. Aside from players paying $60 for the standard game, EA is pumping out a plethora of add-on content such as Ultimate Team players, jerseys, coaches, playbooks, and stadiums. The Madden Ultimate Team packs, which can be purchased with Madden Points, are a huge moneymaker for EA that comes with at least one gold or elite player, nine other players, and some. Analysts, such as...
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One of the great universal truths of modern gaming is that preorders suck. The term refers to the practice of ordering a title at some point before it actually ships in order to get access to a variety of minor outfit tweaks, a few starting weapons, or a few boosts to early gameplay. Today, some publishers take this practice to truly ridiculous levels; the recent game Watch Dogs has no fewer than nine preorder options, and none of them include every single perk or capability. GameStop, perhaps sensing that there's pressure building against the model, wants to turn the dial up to 11 -- and create preorder-locked, GameStop-specific content. According to financial analyst Colin Sebastian,...
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If you've ever been to Disneyland or Disney World (or any of the five theme parks around the world, then you've seen at least a glimpse of Tomorrowland. Maybe you thought to yourself, "That's not how I envision the future." Well, what does your version of the future look like? One way you can show it is with the upcoming SimCity Cities of Tomorrow expansion pack. The first DLC for SimCity will be available on November 12, 2013. If you decide to snag it, you'll be able to take your current cities that you've already worked so hard on and transform them in into futuristic looking buildings and roads. "But what will cities look like 50 years from now? Better yet – how will they be constructed?...
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The more that things change, the more things stay the same. It's not always true, but funnily enough, it has a way of continuing to be a solid adage. Despite incredible advances in graphical technology, one of the world's most popular games at the moment involves precious little resources: Minecraft. It's a pixelated masterpiece, and it has engrossed a huge chunk of gamers far and wide, platform to platform. Soon, another major title will joining forces -- in fact, one of the world's most graphically intense titles will be coming to one of the most graphically simple titles. The Xbox 360 edition of Minecraft will soon be treated to a Mass Effect Mash-Up DLC Pack. That's right: Minecraft and Mass...
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With the release of Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep, we were led to believe that Borderlands 2 would be seeing no more DLC. As it turns out, we're just not going to be seeing more DLC that introduces vast new worlds. At PAX Australia, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford, who just last month showed us around the Gearbox offices and his humble abode, announced that the biggest piece of upcoming DLC is called Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack 2, which increases the level cap by 11, adds a "Digistruct Peak Challenge", and allow gamers to "over level" the game, in order to continue getting a challenge that "Ultimate" would imply. That "over level" feature is one I'm curious about, because the Borderlands series...
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When it comes to creative advertising potential, it's hard to beat a game like SimCity. In most titles, the idea of in-game advertising makes little sense. Sarah Kerrigan doesn't shop at Victoria's Secret, Booker DeWitt is an unlikely fan of Coca-Cola, and the post-apocalyptic setting of Metro 2033 isn't exactly prime McDonald's turf. But SimCity? SimCity is a game where it makes perfect sense to integrate real-world brands and buildings. A city filled with familiar logos and advertising is a city that more closely resembles the real world. That's undoubtedly why EA decided to partner with Crest Toothpaste. Yes, toothpaste. And not for in-game advertising, either. The Nissan Leaf DLC that the...
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In a surprising change of pace, it appears that GameStop will be returning to the PC games market with an announcement that customers can now place pre-orders for digital downloads. Seemingly following EA's lead, the brick-and-mortar retailer has begun shifting the some of its focus off of packaged goods sales and onto digital distribution. GameStop recently nabbed up the Impulse digital distribution platform, in a bid to compete with Steam and EA. The first game to receive the new treatment will be Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which launches August 23 in-store and online. Customers looking to purchase the game can even put store credit from trade-ins towards the pre-order if they so choose. "This...
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Video games publisher Electronic Arts says that the end is coming for brick-and-mortar video games stores. Speaking to Eurogamer in an interview yesterday, EA Sports Vice President Andrew Wilson made clear his thoughts on the future of game purchases. "There will come a day where I think that people will stop going into GAME and GameStop. And I use those purely as examples of retail," said Wilson. "It's important for retailers and us to understand what the consumer wants in the future." EA, of course, has something to gain in the possible demise of chains such as GameStop, as the company just launched a direct-download service named Origin last month. Compounded with the publisher's recent...
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We’re back for the latest installment of our weekly video podcast. In this episode, we talk about Zotac’s sleek, new, Blu-Ray equipped ZBox nettop, malware riddled GPUs (not really!), the OCZ IBIS high-performance solid state drive, and RIM’s upcoming Blackberry Playbook tablet. We also take a couple of reader questions, talk about Valve’s upcoming DLC for L4D1 and L4D2, hint at a new contest and more... Show Notes: 00:19 - Zotac Blu-ray HD-ID34 Nettop / HTPC Review 02:53 - New Whitepaper Claims GPUs Threaten Malware Security 05:20 - OCZ IBIS HSDL Solid State Drive Preview 07:24 - RIM Unveils Its PlayBook Tablet 10:44 - Reader Questions: What To...
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Valve just sent over a trailer and screenshots for "The Sacrifice" DLC, which is in development for both Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2. As fans of the franchise will know, "The Sacrifice" is going to explain why Bill, one of the original four survivors from the first game, is dead in "The Passing" map, which was released for L4D2 a few months back. "The Sacrifice" downloadable content is due for release on October 5, 2010. It is the prequel to "The Passing," and takes place from the L4D Survivors' perspective as they make their way South, before meeting up with the quartet from L4D2. In addition to advancing the story, "The Sacrifice" introduces a new style finale featuring...
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LEFT 4 DEAD "THE SACRIFICE" COMING OCTOBER 5 Latest DLC Coming to Both L4D1 & L4D2 September 27, 2010 - Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Half-Life, Portal, Team Fortress, and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced the new add-on for its co-operative zombie thrillers -- "The Sacrifice," in development for both Left 4 Dead (L4D) and Left 4 Dead 2 (L4D2) -- is due for release on October 5, 2010. "The Sacrifice" is the prequel to "The Passing," and takes place from the L4D Survivors' perspective as they make their way South. In addition to advancing the story, "The Sacrifice" introduces a new style finale featuring "Sacrificial...
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