Star Wars: The Old Republic Offers Free Trial

BioWare has announced a free trial for Star Wars: The Old Republic. Starting today, players can try the game with no time limit up to level 15 at no cost as long as they don’t have a previously active account.

Players in the free trial can use all eight character classes and explore the Origin World for each one, as well as their faction’s Capital World. They’ll also be able to participate in PVP warzones or play with friends through a Flashpoint.

The news comes just one month after BioWare said it was looking into free-to-play options for The Old Republic. The trial is open to players who have previously participated in Weekend Pass Free Trials or the Friends of Star Wars: The Old Republic Trial. Sign-ups are available on the game’s official site.

Plan to try The Old Republic for the first time? Be sure to check out the Star Wars: The Old Republic Starter Guide in our IGN wiki.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Westeros Recreated in Minecraft

An ambitious group of Minecraft players have painstakingly recreated several portions of The Game of Thrones continent of Westeros. To play it you'll need to join their server, as well as download custom texture packs. To get updates on the team's progress you can also follow them on Twitter.

Click the image to view a gallery of pictures from the Game of Thrones world.

This isn't the first world to be remade in Mojang's game of blocks, and it won't be the last. For more on Minecraft, be sure to check out our exhaustive coverage, as well as our ever-growing wiki.

Source : ign[dot]com

A Game of Thrones MMO gets a Title

The upcoming Game of Thrones MMO is called Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms, developer Bigpoint has announced.

The game, which will let players relive key moments from the series, is a free-to-player browser-based experience, and comes from the makers of the Battlestar Galactica Online, which surpassed two million registered players in its first three months of release. A new trailer for the game is set to debut at San Diego Comic Con later this month.

If you're wondering, the Seven Kingdoms of the subtitle refer to the seven kingdoms of Westeros, the great continent where the action of Game of Thrones take place.

The game is due for release sometime before the end of the year, but if you want to know more about the game read Charles's preview.

Daniel is IGN's UK Games Writer. You can be part of the world's worst cult by following him on IGN and Twitter.

Source : ign[dot]com

The Walking Dead: Episode 2 Having Issues on PSN

Today, The Walking Dead: Episode 2 launched on PlayStation Network. But unfortunately for many players trying to get into the experience, they’re unable to. IGN users rhoadesclark informed us of a thread on Telltale Games’ message boards chronicling the issue. As of the time of this story’s publish, the thread spans 14 pages.

The problem is associated with trying to launch the game. From dozens of accounts on Telltale’s message boards, when the game is downloaded, installed and launched, the game refuses to load and kicks gamers back to the CrossMediaBar (XMB). So the problem isn’t somehow in-game; the problem literally doesn’t let people play the game at all.

Telltale Games employees are trying to get to the bottom of the problem by asking users on the message boards questions, including if the game was deleted and then reinstalled and by which method the game was purchased (either individually or as part of the season pass). But there’s still no word on a fix, or when it might be forthcoming.

The problem isn’t only concentrated on Telltale’s forums. I put out a Tweet asking if any of my followers were having issues. They are. We’ve reached out to Telltale Games for official comment and, hopefully, a word on when these issues may be fixed. We’ll update when we hear back. In the meantime, let us know in the comments if you're having issues with The Walking Dead Episode 2 on PSN, and what the nature of your particular problems are, if any.

Colin Moriarty is an IGN PlayStation editor. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN and learn just how sad the life of a New York Islanders and New York Jets fan can be.

Source : ign[dot]com

Guardians of Middle-Earth chat with the devs

Do you know what a MOBA is? If you don't, it's pretty much a symmetrical three lane map that pits five players against another five players in an attempt to get through the enemy's towers to destroy their base. MOBAs like League of Legends and DoTA are played on PC — until now. The team at Monolith is bringing the MOBA experience to XBLA and PSN this fall. We had a chance to get in on a call with Ruth Tomandl, producer on the dev team, and Scott Compton, lead designer.

Scott mentioned how a lot of the team played MOBAs and really wanted to explore the idea of bringing the genre over to the console, so they created a strike team to adapt MOBA from PC to console. Things like controls and camera had to be figured out. After some initial and successful testing, they searched for a recognizable wrapper for this game — and that's where Middle Earth comes in. It brings a rich world setting and recognizable characters (like Legolas) that people would have expectations for. It helped the designers actually design the characters because they would already know what the expectations for those characters would be — abilities and what they could do out on the battlefield.

So how does Guardians of Middle Earth work as a MOBA on a console? Well one thing that they discovered in early play testing was that putting the player in direct control of the guardian was a really satisfying experience. Normally in MOBAs, you control a character, but it is through clicking with the mouse and then they respond to your movements. In GoME, the player is in direct control of the character with the left analog stick and driving the character around the battlefield. It's controlling instead of directing. They also wanted to develop a control scheme that would be to the liking of core gamers and veterans of the genre, as well as new players to these types of games.

This led them to come up with a twin-stick shooter type of feel to the game — where the left stick controls movement and the right stick controls targeting. They realized early on that targeting was going to be a major point that they really had to nail. With ranged and melee attackers, they had to make sure that the attacks could be pulled off very fast and timely; also, they wanted to make these iconic characters feel powerful with just their basic attacks. For example, the dwarf character has a basic attack that is a wedge and hits multiple enemies at a time. It feels very satisfying for even a novice gamer.

Abilities are mapped directly to the four face buttons, and guardians have four abilities, with one being an ultimate ability. The intuitiveness of the controller was a natural translation of controls coming over from keyboard. In addition to cones, other targeting systems are aoe around your character, aoe circles, single targeting, and others. With this, they decided to come up with two control schemes — basic and advanced. Basic has attacked triggered by the right trigger, and if you just tap a face button your ability will go off. If you tap and hold the face button, you get a pre-visualization to time the attack and see the range.

More MOBA-saavy players that want fine-tuned controls will like the advanced controls. Here, when you tap a face button, it give the pre-visualization and won't activate the ability until you use the right trigger. It gives you the ability to lead your skillshots. Depending on the guardian you're playing and the types of abilities they have, you might find yourself switching between the two control schemes. They also made sure they had a very forgiving camera that is set to let you judge distances on your abilities well.

 

Source : gamezone[dot]com

The Ville, ChefVille Are Zynga’s Next Social Games

Zynga has revealed the two newest entries in its Ville series: The Ville and ChefVille.

Coming tomorrow, The Ville is Zynga’s “house and people” game and allows players to build a whole life for themselves, including a house, career and even their own appearance. Players will be able to throw parties and invite their friends, leading Zynga to call the game its “most social game to date.”

Players will unlock new objects for their home as they level up and will interact with other players to build relationships. Interactions are key, and Zynga notes that the more people you talk to, the more happiness you’ll build up in-game. The Ville will be available on Facebook tomorrow and will be coming to Zynga.com “soon.”

Meanwhile, Zynga also revealed ChefVille, a new restaurant sim that “uses food to bring friends and family together.” Players will be able to create their own kitchen and build a restaurant by combining multiple ingredients to create new dishes. Each recipe a player creates will be emailed to them, allowing them to try the dish in real life for what Zynga calls a “Game to Table experience.” ChefVille will come to Facebook in addition to Zynga.com.

Beyond The Ville and ChefVille, Zynga also hinted that FarmVille 2 is coming soon and announced the latest game in the With Friends series. The company also unveiled new games including Zynga Elite Slots and Ruby Blast.

Look out for a full rundown of Zynga Unleashed in our additional coverage later today.



Source : ign[dot]com

Blizzard Explains Diablo III's Restricted Access

Update: Blizzard has issued a statement explaining why players who purchase Diablo III digitally from this point forward will need to wait up to 72 hours for full game access.

"For security reasons and to help ensure the integrity of the game and auction house service, players who purchase the digital version of Diablo III may have to wait until payment verification is complete before they can access certain game features."

"Similar to World of Warcraft, these restrictions were put in place to deter credit card fraud, which in turn helps reduce gold spam and other harmful activities that can have a negative impact on the game experience for everyone."

The level 13 cap and progress limit at the Skeleton King boss fight in Act I, as reported below, were not actually intentionally implemented, according to Blizzard. "An unintended consequence of these security measures, players who purchase the game digitally after patch 1.0.3 are temporarily being capped at level 13 and not able to proceed beyond Act I. We are working to correct this as soon as possible and will provide another update when we have more details to share."

Here's the full list of restrictions, aside from the mistake with the level and progress cap.

• No public game access for unverified digital purchasers


• No auction house access (real-money or gold) for unverified digital purchasers


• Unverified digital purchasers cannot trade items or drop items for other players to receive


• Unverified digital purchasers are not able to chat in any public or game channels


• Unverified digital purchasers cannot attach a custom message to friend requests, but they can send/accept friend requests, and play with their friends

• Global Play is not available for unverified digital purchasers

Blizzard claims that in most cases restrictions are lifted within 24 hours. Have you purchased Diablo III digitally within the last few days? What has your experience been like?

Original Story: Most of the staff at IGN has been enjoying Diablo III. In fact, many of us talk about it so much that we've convinced friends and other co-workers to buy it. While plenty of people are willing to go out to a store or purchase a boxed copy online, many more turn to Battle.net and quickly pick up a digital copy. As of the new 1.0.3, though, new customers can apparently only unlock the full game three days after purchase.

In a post on Blizzard's support forums, the details are made clear (though not explained at all):

As of patch 1.0.3, when purchasing a digital version of Diablo III through the online store or your Battle.net Account, players are restricted to the Starter Edition for the first 72 hours (sometimes less). Players on Starter Editions have the following restrictions:

• Act I up to the Skeleton King is available


• Level 13 cap


• Matchmaking available only with other Starter Edition players


• No Auction House access (Real Money or Gold)


• Global Play is not available. Players attempting to connect to Diablo III Starter Edition in a region other than their Battle.net Account's home region will receive Error 12. See the Global Play support article for more information.

Basically, people who go out and purchase the game in-full are restricted to the content from the Beta. We've reached out to Blizzard for clarification, since at the moment we're just left wondering why this step would be taken. Perhaps it has something to do with restricting access in order to help server loads? Or maybe keep would-be farmers from buying a bunch of copies to put a ton of auctions up and get around the 10-item per account limit? Let's all speculate together.

Source : ign[dot]com

E3 2012: Ubisoft Reveals ctOS

During its press conference today, Ubisoft revealed ctOS.

After two years of development, is set to “revolutionize the way players interact with each other.”

The game focuses on a computer controlling the city. Our lives are controlled by computers, "but who controls the computers?"

The game focuses on data turning against us. Data is interconnected and "everything can be hacked."

Creative director Jonathan Morin from Montreal hosted a short playthrough of the game, played on a PlayStation 3. The game follows a character named Aiden Pierce who uses his "fists and wits."

The game appeared to be set in Chicago and featured gameplay that included jamming technology, used in a group of people to make their cell phones stop working.

More details coming…

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Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/04/e3-2012-ubisoft-reveals-ctos

E3 2012: Need for Speed Most Wanted Revealed

As EA confirmed last week, Need for Speed Most Wanted is the next Need for Speed game. During its press conference today, EA revealed that the game will let players race against each other to become the most wanted.

Players will compete to jump the furthest, have the most pursuits, etc. to earn speed points. Speed Points let players move up the most wanted list. The game will use EA’s social service Auto Log for leaderboards.

More details coming…

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Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/04/e3-2012-need-for-speed-most-wanted-revealed

E3 2012: Wrecketeer Coming Xbox Live This Summer

Wrecketeer, a new title coming exclusively to Xbox Live, was shown off today during the Microsoft E3 2012 press conference. The game uses Kinect to let players laucnh canon balls and cause as much destruction as possible with a limited amount of ammunition.

Wrecketeer will be coming to XBLA this summer.

Audrey Drake is an Associate Editor of IGN and a proud member of the IGN Nintendo team. She is also a lifelong gamer, a frequent banisher of evil and a wielder of various legendary blades. You can follow her zany exploits on her IGN blog and Twitter. Game on!

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/04/e3-2012-wrecketeer-coming-xbox-live-this-summer

E3 2012: Nike Plus Kinect Training Revealed

At the Microsoft conference today, Nike announced that Nike Plus is headed to Xbox 360. Kinect will allow players to receive instant feedback and use the training methods recommended by Nike as they train.

Players can be reminded by phone when they’re due for a workout. Every 4 weeks players will receive a workout update. There is also Xbox Live integration.

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Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/04/e3-2012-nike-plus-kinect-training-revealed

E3 2012: Peter Molyneux Reveals New Game

Peter Molyneux has revealed Curiosity, the first project from his new company 22 Cans. The project is an app that features a giant black cube players will tap to break into.

The cube will actually be made up of thousands of smaller cubes, each of which is being tapped into by other Curiosity players. Curiosity will be the first of 22 “experiments” he forms under the 22 Cans monkier. It will hit PC and mobile.

Molyneux formed 22 Cans earlier this year after departing Microsoft.

Source: Eurogamer

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Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/04/e3-2012-peter-molyneux-reveals-new-game

Far Cry 3 Multiplayer Beta Incoming

Far Cry 3’s multiplayer will be available to console players this summer in a closed beta. Ubisoft revealed the event on its Facebook page, which asks for potential testers to ‘Like’ if they want a chance of getting in the closed beta.

Six classes will be on offer alongside 16-player matches and a variety of modes and maps.  It’s set to run for 2 weeks but PC gamers won’t be able to get in on the action this time.

Only 500 keys are being handed out at this stage, though Ubisoft has said that more will be available before everything kicks off in summer.  US gamers can guarantee their inclusion by pre-ordering Ghost Recon: Future Soldier from Gamestop before May 22nd.

Far Cry 3 is due out September 4th in the US and September 6th in Europe. Read our Far Cry 3 multiplayer preview here.



Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/18/far-cry-3-multiplayer-beta-incoming

Battlefield 3's Dedicated Console Servers Are Disappearing Ads By Google » Blog Tags Today's Most Popular Videos »

It seems that dedicated servers in the console versions of Battlefield 3 have largely disappeared since Electronic Arts and DICE launched the recent rent-a-server patch, allowing players to pay $30 for 30 days of private hosting. These lobbies can still be accessed from the in-game server browser, but they are subject to whatever rules that the renting player has established.

The news comes from various players via Venturebeat, which went and peeked at the server browser in the PlayStation 3 version of the game. Sure enough, only 17 EA-operated Battlefield 3 servers could be found amidst the multi-page list of multiplayer lobbies. I took a peek this morning at the Xbox 360 version of the game; without the rent-a-server patch downloaded, I found just three lobbies to choose from. Downloading the patch brought a flood of other servers into the browser, and just about all of them were of the rented variety.

This development isn't sitting well with some players. DICE community manager Daniel Matris took questions from fans on Reddit, responding that "there is only so much physical space and digital space where yo ucan have servers. The community requested [a rental program] and we delivered."

Matros went on to indicate that the change isn't necessarily permanent, and that the complaints aren't news to him. "I've heard this for awhile now and the feedback has gotten louder," he said in a May 7, 2012 posting. "This is definitely something I will raise when I get back into the studio tomorrow."

There's been no further official word on the matter yet. We've reached out to EA for comment and will update this post according if and when we get a response.


Source : http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/723702/battlefield-3s-dedicated-console-servers-are-disappearing/

Draw Something Charts Show Off The Perils Of Casual Gaming Ads By Google » Blog Tags Today's Most Popular Videos »

Well, that went South quick -- casual, mobile game Draw Something is hemorrhaging players at an amazing rate. It was only  a month ago that 14,300,000 gamers were drawing little pictures with the game. Now there are 9,100,000 iPhone and Android artists online. That's still a lot of players, but the percentage user drop is huge too, and if you check out the chart below (from Appdata.com) you'll see that the trend line is not moving in a positive direction--unless you think "toward the center of the earth" is positive. Something could happen to reverse the slide, sure, but if it doesn't...

So what happened?

Draw Something came out in February, and by April, the company that made it, OMGPOP, was purchased for $180 million dollars by small-game titans Zynga. Then, almost as suddenly as it blew up, Draw Something deflated. It's hard to say specifically why, but it seems to me that the answer lies in a simple idea that game companies sometimes forget, but gamers never do: It just wasn't fun enough to keep playing it.

Like everyone else, I played Draw Something when it came out. I was quickly enthralled with the simple gameplay, instant gratification and ability to draw dongs on everything (that's how I roll.) It's a simple game, unencumbered by extraneous material, and at first, that purity of function was really cool-- who doesn't like drawing things? I played DS pretty hardcore for a week or so, but then, suddenly and with no warning at all, I no longer had any desire at all to play the game, and never made another doodle. I put it down as casually as I'd picked it up.

I didn't think about it at the time, but it seems like my experience mirrored the overall player charts for Draw Something. Everyone seem to have quickly loved it, worn it out and moved on. Why is that? For me, the effort it takes to draw something, while fun at first, just doesn't "pay off" over the long haul. There are no levels to the gameplay. No risk. No reward. No depth. Just the same repetitive motions, again and again. The game's not-subtle-at-all attempts to pry my credit card out of my wallet didn't help either. Once I started noticing that the same clues came up again and again, and you had to buy new ones, I was right out. Words should be free, man. So should colors. How are you gonna make me pay (in either time or money) for the color orange while giving me the clue "pumpkin?"

Even something like Farmville has a cumulative effect over time. A reason to build your farm and harvest your crops. Angry Birds has varying levels, a cool combination of chaos and thought, and the audacity to make a sequel with radically different physics from the original.

The rise and fall of Draw Something (and the continuing success of Angry Birds and various "-villes") can be seen as a lesson in how to have a successful game. At the final level, marketing, buzz, hype and a huge payout can only take you so far. It's the game design that ultimately determines longevity for gamers, especially for casual games, which can be put down as easily as they are picked up.

Source : http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/723648/draw-something-charts-show-off-the-perils-of-casual-gaming/

How to Prepare for Diablo 3

A new guide explaining how to prepare for Diablo 3's launch next Tuesday has gone live on the Blizzard Blog.

In it, Blizzard explains what players should expect, how they can prepare, and when they can install and play the long-awaited title. Those who have already bought the game will be able to access the installer from Monday in order to patch the game and troubleshoot any issues they may encounter before launch.

The game will launch at midnight on May 15th, though Blizzard is warning that there may be delays of up to 40 seconds when logging in due to the volume of players. As an added precaution, it advises creating a BattleTag now to avoid queues.

The Global Play service, allowing you to play with friends from other regions, won't launch until the game goes live in North America at around 8am BST. Blizzard is promising to work round the clock throughout the launch period to help players overcome any technical difficulties they may encounter.



Source : http://pc.ign.com/articles/122/1224506p1.html