Mass Effect 2 The Arrival DLC will have Shepard fighting alone

Commander Shepard will be flying solo for the final slice of Mass Effect 2 DLC. The Arrival will see you journey to the very edge of charted space to help out an operative with early intelligence on an imminent Reaper invasion, but none of your companions will tag along for the ride. It looks as though Bioware are planning a challenging end to the last piece of Mass Effect 2 DLC with plenty of combat and not much conversation.

Joystiq have taken an early look at The Arrival. The mission will be playable any time after the Horizon mission that takes place halfway through the game, and is described by Bioware as “kind of an epilogue.” Joystiq point out that there will be plenty of combat, and the grumpy, four-eyed Batarians will be the ones taking your bullets.

The solo nature of the mission will mean added challenge for those playing with an Engineer Shepard, or any poorly-armoured class. Luckily, there will be stealth options that will let you get around a few fights. It doesn’t sound as though there will be much in the way of conversation or choices to make, and the mission isn’t going to link Mass Effect 2 to Mass Effect 3, though it should shed more light on the Reaper threat that’s poised to strike.

The Arrival is coming out next Tuesday March 29.

Disclaimer: All information on this blog has been compiled from their respective official websites or through public domain sites and leading newspapers. Although, we have taken reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate information, but we assumes no responsibility for the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the Information and would advise you to verify it from the official product provider. We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct.

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Just Cause boss says hiring hackers and better games will beat PC piracy

Better PC games and a better relationship with hackers are the key to fighting piracy, according to Christofer Sundberg, the boss of Just Cause creators, Avalanche. Sundberg believes that common anti-piracy measures like DRM “punishes the people who have actually paid for the game,” and says that hiring hackers is a good way to discover new talent, admitting that “50 percent of the people that work for me come from a hacker background.”

Sundberg was speaking to CVG about better approaches to tackling game piracy, and his belief that there is plenty of potential in the piracy community. “I absolutely think that’s a fair approach, to think about how these people can fit on the right side of the law. It’s one way, at least. Perhaps the truest pirates are too much down the road of anarchy to ever work with you in a proper way; these are the guys who see us as evil!

“But in Sweden the [hacking] scene was huge. We’re the home of the Pirate Bay, you know. As a studio, we’ve found that there’s definitely a lot of talent [in the hacking community].”

As well as tapping the know-how of the hacking community, Sundberg believes that better PC games will reduce levels of piracy, but admits that poor PC ports are a common problem.

“I think piracy wouldn’t be as much of an issue if there were better PC games out there. We could just scrap the whole concept of stupid DRM,” he says, adding “I’ve always been of the opinion that we should design PC games for the PC players. PC players and console players are completely two different types of consumer.

“You end up just doing a port, so there’s not a lot of time, budget or creative thinking going into using the PC. I think that’s quite sad. We [as an industry] should take the PC platform, more seriously. Everyone is just complaining about piracy on the PC, but when it comes to in-game DLC or social connectivity, the options on PC compared to console are endless.”

“I would like at some point to do a really good PC game designed specifically for PC players.”

Disclaimer: All information on this blog has been compiled from their respective official websites or through public domain sites and leading newspapers. Although, we have taken reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate information, but we assumes no responsibility for the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the Information and would advise you to verify it from the official product provider. We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct.

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Heroes of Newerth’s latest champion, Tremble, will shake up the lanes

Heroes of Newerth players suffering from entomophobia (fear of insects) are about to get a nasty surprise: Tremble, the seventy-sixth hero to join HoN’s ragtag bunch, is sure to give hapless noobs nightmares. Combine the horrifying appearance of Warhammer 40K’s Tyranid Lictor with the creepy burrowing of StarCraft II’s equally horrifying Zerg, and you’ll understand why heroes should be terrified when the ground starts rumbling beneath their feet. Read on to find out more about the bloodcurdling beetle who’ll be coming soon to a gank near you.

Role:
Tremble, an Agility-based melee hero, has got it where it counts: his abilities make him both an excellent farmer and ganker. His early-game harassment and his ability to rake in gold can make him a force to be reckoned with mid-game, giving him free reign to roam around the map killing everything in sight (courtesy of his temporary invisibility). Players will have to use Tremble’s early-game advantages to stay ahead, lest they end up weak in the late-game when everyone else’s abilities that start scaling up. His Ultimate ability, Hive Mind, summons a powerful bug-pet, Shudder; this incredibly strong pet can effectively double your presence around the map. You can farm with Tremble while microing Shudder to aid your team with ganks and scouting. Check out Tremble’s four powers, with tips from S2 Games’ own [S2]Nome, the mind behind this hero.

Abilities:
Dark Swarm: When activated, Tremble becomes enveloped in a Dark Swarm of bugs. Enemies outside of Dark Swarm do less damage to Tremble, while enemies inside the Swarm take high magic damage.  In the lane, it can be used when going for a kill, or simply to farm creeps. Coupled with the slow from Impalers, Dark Swarm can make Tremble a difficult hero to pin down and eliminate. In team fights, activating Dark Swarm while engaging a target grants massive damage mitigation against ranged heroes, forcing them to enter the Swarm to take Tremble down.

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Duke Nukem Forever delayed to June 14

Duke Nukem Forever is still coming, after 14 years of development. But it's apparently not coming on May 3 anymore. In a new trailer (which you can see after the jump) Gearbox Software's Randy Pitchford is pretty much blindsided with the reveal that the long awaited first person shooter is now due for release on June 14 in the US (with a June 10 release date in other parts of the world).

While no reason was given for the delay we actually think this is a good thing since Duke Nukem Forever was originally being released in a very crowded month of May for new game releases, especially for first person shooters (both Brink and F.E.A.R. 3 are also due out that month). The new June date will be relatively free of new game releases.

Disclaimer: All information on this blog has been compiled from their respective official websites or through public domain sites and leading newspapers. Although, we have taken reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate information, but we assumes no responsibility for the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the Information and would advise you to verify it from the official product provider. We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct.

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F1 2011 due out in September

Codemasters' newest racing sim game franchise will get a second installment in September. MCV reports that F1 2011 will be released on September 23 for the PC and other platforms. Since that's on a Friday it's likely that the game will be released in the US a few days earlier or later.

Codemasters first released its first PC Formula 1-based racing game, F1 2010, last fall. Despite some issues with the game's AI that were fixed via patches later (along with post launch support for DirectX 11 graphics) MCV reports that the game was the most successful in Codemasters' history

Disclaimer: All information on this blog has been compiled from their respective official websites or through public domain sites and leading newspapers. Although, we have taken reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate information, but we assumes no responsibility for the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the Information and would advise you to verify it from the official product provider. We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct.

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