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'Monument Valley' creators to take on virtual reality in October

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Title: 'Monument Valley' creators to take on virtual reality in October
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Rating 5 of 5 Des:

The creators of the beautiful, haunting mobile puzzle game Monument Valley want to take players on another scenic trip — this time enti...

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The creators of the beautiful, haunting mobile puzzle game <em>Monument Valley</em> want to take players on another scenic trip — this time entirely in virtual reality.</div>
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Creative agency Ustwo's next game, <em>Land's End</em>, will take players across picturesque landscapes inspired by some of Earth's prettiest places. Much like <em>Monument Valley</em>, which won an Apple Design Award in 2014, the game looks particularly stunning.</div>
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<em>Land's End</em> is all about exploration. You move at a leisurely pace through striking scenes by finding the next available point and focusing on it. Once you've locked on, you're transported there at a comfortable speed — a compromise that lets a VR experience like <em>Land's End</em> work without a controller.</div>
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"When we first got our hands on a Gear VR kit, we spent two to three months trying to find a way for people to move around this world without feeling sick," said Peter Pashley, technical director of Ustwo Games. "We wanted an experience where we could explore the landscapes comfortably, where people feel like they were making choices and moving at their own free will, while not be too hard to control and not too on rails."</div>
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Through the game's five levels, there will also be some puzzles to solve, though gratification seems to be more important to the user experience than truly stumping those playing. Ustwo Games' lead designer Ken Wong told <em>Mashable</em> that balance emerged after testing the game on all sorts of people, especially those that don't normally play games.</div>
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<span class="microcontent" data-description="It turns out that when you have really, really smart people, they often don't use their full brain capacity when they are relaxing with a video game." data-fragment="it-turns-out-that" data-micro="1">It turns out that when you have really, really smart people, they often don't use their full brain capacity when they are relaxing with a video game.</span> They want to enjoy the sights and get through it and see this wonderful world," Wong said. "Making good puzzles has a lot do with intuition, where people are using pattern recognition. People see things that are out of alignment, they'll want to align them."</div>
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The team spent about a year working on the game and experimenting with virtual reality in leading up to <em>Land's End</em>, which was first demoed last September at the Oculus VR developer conference. Since then, Pashley said the team has kept learning.</div>
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"Really the biggest surprise is everything you think will work in VR probably won't," he said. "The way many people react to things in VR is different than how you'll react. We all have really unique brains, and the way our brains process VR is different for everybody."</div>
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<em>Land's End</em> comes to the Gear VR on Oct. 30.</div>
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<em>Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.</em></div>
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'Monument Valley' creators to take on virtual reality in October

The creators of the beautiful, haunting mobile puzzle game Monument Valley want to take players on another scenic trip — this time enti...

Destiny's first exotic gear sale of 'The Taken King' era is all about armor

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Title: Destiny's first exotic gear sale of 'The Taken King' era is all about armor
Author: Unknown
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

Every Friday is a holiday when you're a Destiny fan. That's when Xur, Agent of the Nine, appears in a random part of the game...

<img alt="Destiny-xur-speaker-door" height="359" src="http://rack.3.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA5LzE4L2I2L0Rlc3RpbnlYdXJzLjQ0ZWJmLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTk1MHg1MzQjCmUJanBn/81f1e11a/7f4/Destiny-Xur-speaker-door.jpg" width="640" /><br />
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Every Friday is a holiday when you're a <em>Destiny</em> fan.</div>
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That's when Xur, Agent of the Nine, appears in a random part of the game's social spaces to peddle his rare weapons and armor. As long as you have enough Strange Coins, a rare currency that can be picked up from random loot drops, Xur has the goods for you.</div>
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Xur deals in <em>Destiny</em>'s so-called "exotic" gear. In a game ruled by random loot drops, exotics are the most sought-after of them all. They're also the only class of gear in the game with usage restrictions; namely, you can only have one exotic armor piece and one exotic weapon equipped at any given moment.</div>
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Xur's in the Tower or the Vestian Outpost from 4 a.m. ET on Friday to 4 a.m. ET on Sunday. He's in the Tower this week. Turn left when you first spawn, then follow the hallway in front of you toward the Speaker's Chamber section of the Tower. Xur is directly across from the Chamber, standing right in front of the giant set of doors.</div>
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An Insurmountable Skullfort (Titan helmet)</h3>
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<img alt="Destiny - An Insurmountable Skullfort Y2" data-caption="" data-credit-link="" data-credit-name="Bungie/Activision" data-credit-provider="" data-fragment="m!1df4" data-image="http://rack.1.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA5LzE4LzczL0Rlc3RpbnlBbkluLmI1MDBmLnBuZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/9712d097/19e/Destiny-An-Insurmountable-Skullfort-Y2-640x360.png" data-micro="1" data-width="640" src="http://rack.1.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA5LzE4LzczL0Rlc3RpbnlBbkluLmI1MDBmLnBuZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/9712d097/19e/Destiny-An-Insurmountable-Skullfort-Y2-640x360.png" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" title="Destiny - An Insurmountable Skullfort Y2" /></div>
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Welcome to Year Two, An Insurmountable Skullfort. You're going to see a lot more use now than you ever did before.</div>
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On the surface, Skullfort is a Titan Strikers-only situation. The signature upgrade, Improved Transfusion, gives you the ability to have up to two melee charges stored and triggers health regen with every Storm Fist kill (the Striker's melee). That's supported by Invigoration, which grants bonus melee energy when you pick up an Orb of Light, and a one-or-the-other upgrade: Hands-On, which gives you bonus Super energy for melee kills in PvE, and Heavy Lifting, which does the same for heavy weapon kills.</div>
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Strikers definitely enjoy the added benefit of health regen from Storm Fist kills with An Insurmountable Skullfort, but Sunbreakers and Defenders shouldn't overlook it. The extra melee charge, which is a new feature for the Year Two version of this helmet, benefits both of the other subclasses enough that the Storm Fist-centric nature of the signature upgrade is easily overlooked.</div>
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<em>Cost: 13 Strange Coins</em></div>
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Young Ahamkara's Spine (Hunter gauntlets)</h3>
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<img alt="Destiny - Young Ahamkaras Spine Y2" data-caption="" data-credit-link="" data-credit-name="Bungie/Activision" data-credit-provider="" data-fragment="m!9edc" data-image="http://rack.1.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA5LzE4L2FjL0Rlc3RpbnlZb3VuLjY4ZjIwLnBuZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/30b94599/1ed/Destiny-Young-Ahamkaras-Spine-Y2-640x360.png" data-micro="1" data-width="640" src="http://rack.1.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA5LzE4L2FjL0Rlc3RpbnlZb3VuLjY4ZjIwLnBuZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/30b94599/1ed/Destiny-Young-Ahamkaras-Spine-Y2-640x360.png" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" title="Destiny - Young Ahamkaras Spine Y2" /></div>
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IMAGE: BUNGIE/ACTIVISION</div>
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Another Year Two upgrade. This one doesn't change a whole lot, so it's capabilities and uses are still the same. The signature upgrade for Young Ahamkara's Spine specifically benefits Hunter Gunslingers, providing an additional Tripmine Grenade charge and extending the amount of time a Tripmine remains active.</div>
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Gunslingers tend to be more common in PvP or lower-level PvE activities, since both the Bladedancer's stealth and the Nightstalker's support abilities are hard to pass up for tougher challenges. And that works just fine for these gauntlets. Having two Tripmines that last longer is useful for area control and denial, which is a particular concern in PvP. If you can lock down a couple of doorways with explosives, that's two less flanking routes to worry about.</div>
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Young Ahamkara's Spine also comes with two different pairs of upgrades where only one of each can be equipped at a time. There's Hand Cannon Loader and Sniper Rifle Loader, which gives you the choice between boosting the reload speed for either of those weapon classes. Then there's Fastball and Momentum Transfer; the former increases grenade throwing distance and the latter gives you bonus melee energy when your grenade deals damage.</div>
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<em>Cost: 13 Strange Coins</em></div>
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The Impossible Machines (Warlock gauntlets)</h3>
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<div class="microcontent-shares" data-description="" data-fragment="m!c15b" data-image="http://rack.2.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA5LzE4LzgwL0Rlc3RpbnlUaGVJLjY3NmZmLnBuZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/03daacbc/3a3/Destiny-The-Impossible-Machines-Y2-640x360.png" data-url="" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.25s ease; background: rgb(246, 245, 241); height: 0px; left: -47px; opacity: 0; padding: 5px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: opacity 0.25s ease; width: 30px;">
<a class="social-share microcontent-share-badge network-badge network-badge-facebook facebook" href="http://mashable.com/2015/09/18/destiny-xur-9-18/#" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease; color: #3b579d; display: inline-block; font-size: 3rem; height: 30px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 2px; padding: 0px !important; position: relative; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9900px; transition: color 0.3s ease; white-space: nowrap; width: 30px;"></a><a class="social-share microcontent-share-badge network-badge network-badge-twitter twitter" href="http://mashable.com/2015/09/18/destiny-xur-9-18/#" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease; color: #2daae1; display: inline-block; font-size: 3rem; height: 30px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 2px; padding: 0px !important; position: relative; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9900px; transition: color 0.3s ease; white-space: nowrap; width: 30px;"></a><a class="social-share microcontent-share-badge network-badge network-badge-google_plus google_plus" href="http://mashable.com/2015/09/18/destiny-xur-9-18/#" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease; color: #f02f16; display: inline-block; font-size: 3rem; height: 30px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 2px; padding: 0px !important; position: relative; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9900px; transition: color 0.3s ease; white-space: nowrap; width: 30px;"></a><a class="social-share microcontent-share-badge network-badge network-badge-pinterest pinterest" href="http://mashable.com/2015/09/18/destiny-xur-9-18/#" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease; color: #bf1e25; display: inline-block; font-size: 3rem; height: 30px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px !important; position: relative; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9900px; transition: color 0.3s ease; white-space: nowrap; width: 30px;"></a></div>
<img alt="Destiny - The Impossible Machines Y2" data-caption="" data-credit-link="" data-credit-name="Bungie/Activision" data-credit-provider="" data-fragment="m!c15b" data-image="http://rack.2.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA5LzE4LzgwL0Rlc3RpbnlUaGVJLjY3NmZmLnBuZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/03daacbc/3a3/Destiny-The-Impossible-Machines-Y2-640x360.png" data-micro="1" data-width="640" src="http://rack.2.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA5LzE4LzgwL0Rlc3RpbnlUaGVJLjY3NmZmLnBuZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/03daacbc/3a3/Destiny-The-Impossible-Machines-Y2-640x360.png" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" title="Destiny - The Impossible Machines Y2" /></div>
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IMAGE: BUNGIE/ACTIVISION</div>
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Warlock Stormcallers, you lucky rascals. You get the only actual "new" exotic (as in brand new and not just a Year Two upgrade) that's for sale this week.</div>
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The signature upgrade gives Stormcallers the Landfall perk, which delivers a bonus shockwave attack at the moment the Stormtrance Super ability is activated. So if you're surrounded and you pop your Super, Landfall immediately zaps everything around you.</div>
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The armor also serves up two either/or upgrade trees, just like Young Ahamkara's Spine. Pulse Rifle Loader or Fusion Rifle Loader boosts the reload speed of the referenced weapon class. Then there's Snap Discharge, which increases melee attack speed, versus Impact Induction, which gives you bonus grenade energy for every melee hit.</div>
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If you're using The Impossible Machines, look at pairing the free Landfall with Superconductor, which improves the effectiveness of Stormtrance's chain lightning, in PvE activities. Ionic Blink, which lets you teleport around while the Super is active, could be more helpful in PvP since most of the Crucible arenas are so tight and teams tend to cluster together already.</div>
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<em>Cost: 13 Strange Coins</em></div>
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Random Engrams</h3>
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Year Two brings an end to Xur's guaranteed weekly weapon offering, as many of the new exotic weapons have shifted to quest rewards. Now he'll bring along either a weapon or a random exotic engram (it costs 19 Strange Coins) that hasn't yet been decoded, meaning you've got to visit the Cryptarch to see what it is. The new engrams always roll with a <a href="http://destiny.wikia.com/wiki/Light" style="color: #00aeef; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Light Level</a> of 290.</div>
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<span class="microcontent" data-description="For this first week of Year Two, you can grab an exotic helmet engram." data-fragment="for-this-first-week" data-micro="1">For this first week of Year Two, you can grab an exotic helmet engram.</span> Due to the way engrams now work post-<em>The Taken King</em>, every one the Cryptarch decodes has an increased chance of turning into an exotic you <em>didn't</em> have in your inventory yet. So if you've been saving up those Strange Coins, you can spend a bunch this week to get yourself some fancy, new helmets.</div>
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Year Two Xur will also be selling a Legacy Engram (31 Strange Coins) every week. This is specifically aimed at collectors that want to possess every single exotic in the game. The engram only spits out Year One gear, but it's essential for filling any holes you might have in your arsenal. This first week's Legacy Engram is for heavy weapons.</div>
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Consumables</h3>
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The Xur inventory tweaks don't stop there. Xur's selection of consumables — which used to include weapon telemetries — is smaller now. You can still buy rare Sparrow upgrades: this week's options include a Plasma Drive that boosts the speed and durability of rare (blue) Sparrows and adds a blue contrail and an Emerald Coil, which works the same as a Plasma Drive but gives the Sparrow a green contrail. They cost 23 Strange Coins apiece.</div>
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Xur also still sells bundles of Heavy Ammo Synthesis, which refills your supply of heavy shots when used. The bundles are smaller now, however. You get three synths for every one Strange Coin you spend (it used to be five-for-one).</div>
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Finally, we have something completely new: Three of Coins. Sold in stacks of five for 7 Strange Coins a bundle, Three of Coins is a consumable that boosts your chances of scoring an exotic drop from the next Ultra-class enemy you face.</div>
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We're not clear on how the actual numbers shake out just yet, but if you've got a bunch of Strange Coins lying around, there's no harm in buying a few stacks of these. Xur's weekly exotic offering is steady and reliable, but Three of Coins plays into the thrill of <em>Destiny</em>'s inherent randomness. It makes those end-of-Strike boss fights that much more exciting.</div>
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If you want to dive even deeper on the relative value of Xur's offering this week, head over to the <em>Destiny</em> subreddit. User <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/aWrySharK" style="color: #00aeef; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">aWrySharK</a> (he's on <a href="https://twitter.com/aWrySharK" style="color: #00aeef; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a> now, too) is back this week with<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/3lesfg/xur_megathread_20150918/cv5oz3a" style="color: #00aeef; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">analysis</a> of each armor offering's stat rolls. Join the discussion for this week <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/3lesfg/xur_megathread_20150918/" style="color: #00aeef; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">right here</a>.</div>
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<em>Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.</em></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="for-this-first-week" style="color: #00aeef;"></a></div>

Destiny's first exotic gear sale of 'The Taken King' era is all about armor

Every Friday is a holiday when you're a Destiny fan. That's when Xur, Agent of the Nine, appears in a random part of the game...

'Star Fox Zero' aborts its holiday launch mission

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Title: 'Star Fox Zero' aborts its holiday launch mission
Author: Unknown
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

Fox, Peppy, Falco and Slippy will ride again — but not this holiday season. Nintendo announced that the Wii U title Star Fox Zero wil...

<img alt="Star-fox-zero" height="359" src="http://rack.3.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA5LzE4L2YxL3N0YXJmb3h6ZXJvLmJkZWYyLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTk1MHg1MzQjCmUJanBn/12c4e4d1/f16/star-fox-zero.jpg" width="640" /><br />
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Fox, Peppy, Falco and Slippy will ride again — but not this holiday season.</div>
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Nintendo announced that the Wii U title <em>Star Fox Zero</em> will be delayed from its holiday 2015 release window until early next year. The company posted the news on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/351440504930690/posts/894670933940975" style="color: #00aeef; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Wii U Facebook page</a> early Friday morning, with a message from the game's producer, Shigeru Miyamoto.</div>
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"While we have already reached the stage where it would be technically possible to release the title in time for the year-end holiday season, we want to polish the game a bit more so that players will be able to more smoothly grasp the new style of play that we are proposing," Miyamoto's message said.</div>
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"To the people looking forward to the launch of the game this holiday season, I am very sorry," Miyamoto continued.</div>
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<em>Star Fox Zero</em> takes the series staples of flying through different missions and adds HD graphics and a new control scheme, powered by the Wii U GamePad. While Fox and his Arwing are still the stars, the game has plenty of new vehicles as well.</div>
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Miyamoto now says <em>Star Fox Zero</em> will come out in the first quarter of 2016.</div>
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<em>Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.</em></div>

'Star Fox Zero' aborts its holiday launch mission

Fox, Peppy, Falco and Slippy will ride again — but not this holiday season. Nintendo announced that the Wii U title Star Fox Zero wil...

Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut Emerging In October

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Title: Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut Emerging In October
Author: Unknown
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

After releasing Wasteland 2 [ official site ] last September (it was pretty good, said we with a few grumbles), developers inXile Enterta...

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<a href="http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/images/15/jul/31wasteland2dc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/images/15/jul/31wasteland2dc.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; display: block; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="The world... OF TOMORROW!" /></a></div>
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After releasing Wasteland 2 [<a href="https://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #c1272c; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">official site</a>] last September (it was pretty good, said we with a few grumbles), developers inXile Entertainment set about polishing it up. That was partially for a console release, but also to make it fancier for us all.</div>
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Coming as a free update to owners of Wasteland 2, The Director’s Cut brings improved graphics, new character perks and quirks, a rebalancing, and other nice things. inXile have now declared a release date, a little later than their planned summer launch, but not too far away: October 13th.</div>
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The Director’s Cut upgrades to Unity 5, which it taps for fancier lighting, also boshing in redone character models and updated environment textures. They’ve added extra voiced lines for companions too. It’s not all cosmetics, mind. Characters can have Quirks that give both positive and negative effects and add a little personality (say, someone with Repressed Rage who can’t get critical hits until they’re hit by one themself, at which point they get a damage boost), and pick new beneficial Perks as they level up. They’ve also added Precision Strikes, which let you target individual bodyparts for different effects. Some of that will sound familiar from Fallout games, which inXile members of course worked on.</div>
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I’ve probably reeled off enough of that. Have a trailer from June:</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hNbEYHzheP0?rel=0&showinfo=0" style="border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="620"></iframe></div>

Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut Emerging In October

After releasing Wasteland 2 [ official site ] last September (it was pretty good, said we with a few grumbles), developers inXile Enterta...

Be BABS - BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT 'The Matter of Family' BATGIRL DLC Trailer

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Title: Be BABS - BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT 'The Matter of Family' BATGIRL DLC Trailer
Author: Unknown
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

Starting on July 14 for season pass holders and sold separately on July 21, gamers can play as Batgirl in the prequel game "The Matt...

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<img alt="Batgirl in ARKHAM KNIGHT" height="321" src="http://i.newsarama.com/images/i/000/150/986/i02/batgirl-arkham.jpg?1436368091" width="640" /></div>
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Starting on July 14 for season pass holders and sold separately on July 21, gamers can play as Batgirl in the prequel game "The Matter of Family," the first DLC to be released for <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Batman: Arkham Knight</strong>.</div>
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Set before the events of the game, the DLC finds Barbara Gordon fighting to save her father from the Joker and Harley Quinn.<br /><br />Here's the trailer:</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gF-gJLZ8xsg" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Be BABS - BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT 'The Matter of Family' BATGIRL DLC Trailer

Starting on July 14 for season pass holders and sold separately on July 21, gamers can play as Batgirl in the prequel game "The Matt...

Whatever happened to Age of Empires: World Domination?

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Title: Whatever happened to Age of Empires: World Domination?
Author: Unknown
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

In the past year, many readers of Windows Central have commented in our news stories and on our forums about the status of Age of Empi...

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<img src="http://www.windowscentral.com/sites/wpcentral.com/files/styles/larger_wm_brw/public/field/image/2015/05/Age_Empires_Castle_Siege_Lead.jpg?itok=-N7DF5QF" style="background-color: transparent;" />In the past year, many readers of <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Windows Central</em> have commented in our news stories and on our forums about the status of <a href="http://www.windowscentral.com/tag/age-empires-world-domination" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #53b7cc; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Age of Empires: World Domination</a>. This mobile strategy game is based on Microsoft's classic PC historical-themed real-time strategy series. The truth is that the development of this game has been cloaked in secrecy for the past year, and despite numerous attempts by us to get information about it from both Microsoft and its developer KLab, we are no closer to a definitive answer as to what's going on with AOEWD than we were a year ago.</div>
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The Beginning</h3>
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<img alt="KLab Games" class="image-large aligncenter" height="599" src="http://www.windowscentral.com/sites/wpcentral.com/files/styles/larger/public/field/image/2015/08/klabgames.jpg?itok=B4vLvwEV" style="border: none; display: block; height: auto; margin: auto; max-width: 100%; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 647px;" width="800" /></div>
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The public story of AOEWD begins over two years ago, in June 2013. <a href="https://www.klab.com/us/age-of-empires/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #53b7cc; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A press release from Japan-based KLab</a> announced an agreement with Microsoft "to develop a mobile game version of Microsoft Studio's Age of Empires franchise." Here are the main details:</div>
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"Under the terms of the agreement, KLab will develop a mobile game based on one of Microsoft Studio's flagship franchises, Age of Empires. The game will initially be developed in English for iOS and Android and will be launched globally. Localization for other languages is also planned. KLab and Microsoft Studios will also collaborate to bring the game to the Windows phone platform."</div>
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"KLab plans to work with the Microsoft Studio's team to provide its know-how and experience in social mobile gaming with a common goal to extend and bring the Age of Empires excitement in new ways to the new and existing fans."</div>
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All of this sounded very promising. Less than a year later, in April 2014, KLab<a href="http://www.windowscentral.com/age-empires-world-domination-coming-windows-phone-summer" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #53b7cc; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">revealed the title and the first details of the game</a> itself, complete with screenshots, a trailer and a "summer 2014" release date. The game's <a href="http://www.aoewd.com/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #53b7cc; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">official website</a>, <a href="http://facebook.com/aoewd" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #53b7cc; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Facebook</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/aoewd" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #53b7cc; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Twitter</a> pages all went live as well.</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" class="video-filter video-youtube vf-j2pexeo2ga0" frameborder="0" height="384" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/j2PEXEO2ga0?rel=0&autoplay=0&wmode=opaque&controls=2&autohide=1&showinfo=0" style="border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 363.9375px; margin: auto; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline; width: 647px;" width="682"></iframe></div>
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However, based on the introduction video and the information from the game's website, the gameplay details for AOEWD were a bit vague. We do know that players would have picked from one of several different civilizations to build their structures and army. However, the videos don't make it clear if its actual gameplay was a simple Clash of Clans style of playing or if AOEWD was going to be more of a full RTS game experience.</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" class="video-filter video-youtube vf-toskootzgg" frameborder="0" height="384" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tOsK-ooTZGg?rel=0&autoplay=0&wmode=opaque&controls=2&autohide=1&showinfo=0" style="border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 363.9375px; margin: auto; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline; width: 647px;" width="682"></iframe></div>
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In June, KLab released yet another gameplay trailer from AOEWD. Both videos had the label "Game is still in development", but many fans remarked that the graphics shown in both trailers were perhaps a little too simplistic.</div>
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However, it appeared that on the surface, everything was moving full steam ahead towards a summer launch of the game. Both the AOEWD Twitter and Facebook pages were updating on a regular basis. We even received a direct email from the online community head at KLab in June, to make sure we were aware of the game and its upcoming launch.</div>
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The delays</h3>
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On August 6, 2014, the official AOEWD website <a href="http://www.windowscentral.com/age-empires-world-domination-windows-phone-delayed-until-fall-2014" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #53b7cc; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">posted up a news update on the status of the game</a>:</div>
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"To all our fans eagerly anticipating the release of Age of Empires: World Domination - in the past months, our development team has been working hard on the game as well as releasing snippets of the game to you all. We have also been listening to what you, the gamers, have to say. To reflect those changes, we will, unfortunately, be pushing back the release of the game to fall 2014. We believe that the extra development time will give us the opportunity to create a first-rate mobile game experience that players will love. Thank you for your patience, and we will make a further announcement when an official release date has been decided."</div>
</blockquote>
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The game's official Facebook and Twitter pages kept updating with new information about AOEWD for a couple of weeks in August, but then they went silent. Both those social media pages have not been updated since August 16, 2014.</div>
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<img alt="Age of Empires Castle Siege" class="image-large_wm_brw aligncenter image-large" height="600" src="http://www.windowscentral.com/sites/wpcentral.com/files/styles/larger_wm_brw/public/field/image/2015/05/Age_Empires_Castle_Siege_Lead.jpg?itok=-N7DF5QF" style="border: none; display: block; height: auto; margin: auto; max-width: 100%; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 647px;" width="800" /></div>
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On August 25, Microsoft made a surprise announcement: a second Age of Empires game made for mobile devices was in the works and would be out in just a few weeks. Developed by Smoking Gun Interactive, <a href="http://www.windowscentral.com/age-empires-castle-siege-coming-windows-phone-and-windows-81-september" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #53b7cc; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Age of Empires: Castle Siege</a> was clearly inspired by the gameplay strategy model used by the popular Clash of Clans series. The game was released <a href="http://www.windowscentral.com/age-empires-castle-siege-xbox-live-now-available-windows-phone-tablet-and-pc" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #53b7cc; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">in September for Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 8.1</a> and has been updated with new content several times since then. In July 2015, Microsoft expanded the reach <a href="http://www.windowscentral.com/age-empires-castle-siege-available-ios-windows-10-august" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #53b7cc; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">of the game to iOS devices as well</a>.</div>
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The long silence</h3>
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On November 7, three months after KLab revealed a delay in AOEWD's release from summer to fall 2014, its official website <a href="http://www.windowscentral.com/age-empires-world-domination-windows-phone-delayed-again-until-2015" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #53b7cc; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">got another news update</a>:</div>
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"From day one, our mission for Age of Empires: World Domination has been to create a fresh and innovative mobile game. While we have come a long way in our development with this ambitious mobile game, we came to the conclusion that an earlier release would sacrifice quality. A 2015 release will allow us to give you a robust Age of Empires mobile experience for fans both old and new to the franchise. We are extremely grateful for all your feedback we've received so far, and look forward to hearing more as we continue to share exciting development updates with you. Thank you for your continued support and stay tuned!"</div>
</blockquote>
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That was the last public status report from KLab concerning the game's status. Over nine months later, the official AOEWD website has remained silent. <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Windows Central</em> has made numerous attempts through different avenues to contact KLab's for updates on AOEWD, but so far the company has not responded to any of our inquiries.</div>
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Microsoft has also not given <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Windows Central</em> any official information about the status of AOEWD. As with KLab, we have attempted numerous times to contact Microsoft's PR reps to see if they have any word on the game's progress. Unfortunately, those reps have either not offered us a comment or referred us to KLab. Most recently, our team member Jez Corden contacted Microsoft's Xbox head Phil Spencer about the <a href="https://twitter.com/XboxP3/status/633310857749917696" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #53b7cc; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">status of the game via Twitter</a>, but his response was similar to what we have heard before.</div>
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"Nothing on this right now, sorry."</div>
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Hopefully, this article will inspire either KLab or Microsoft to offer us some official statement on the game.</div>
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The future of Age of Empires</h3>
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Even though the future for AOEWD looks bleak at the moment, Microsoft seemed to be committed to its Age of Empires franchise. The company has already announced plans to bring Age of Empires: Castle Siege to Windows 10 later this month. We would assume this would be a version that would work both on Windows 10 laptops and tablets as well as smaller smartphones with Windows 10 Mobile.</div>
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In April 2013, Microsoft released Age of Empires II HD for the PC. It was a graphical remastering of the original 1999 RTS game that was first developed by the now defunct Ensemble Studios. Age of Empires II HD was a major hit when it was released via Valve's Steam service. In November 2013, Microsoft did something very unexpected: it released a new expansion for Age of Empires II HD. Titled The Forgotten, it added several new civilizations and campaigns, along with other features like direct <span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Twitch.tv</span> support and the ability to add new content via Steam Workshop.</div>
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<img alt="Age of Empires II HD The African Kingdoms" class="image-large aligncenter" height="450" src="http://www.windowscentral.com/sites/wpcentral.com/files/styles/larger/public/field/image/2015/08/age-of-empiresii-african-kingdoms.jpg?itok=qQv9pdd_" style="border: none; display: block; height: auto; margin: auto; max-width: 100%; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 647px;" width="800" /></div>
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That effort, created by the Forgotten Empires team, was also highly successful, and now that same team is working on a second expansion for Age of Empires II HD. In June, the title of the expansion was revealed: <a href="http://www.forgottenempires.net/age-of-empires-ii-teasing-at-e3-2015" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #53b7cc; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The African Kingdoms</a>.</div>
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Currently, it's expected to be released on Steam sometime in the fall of 2015.</div>

Whatever happened to Age of Empires: World Domination?

In the past year, many readers of Windows Central have commented in our news stories and on our forums about the status of Age of Empi...

Out This Week on Xbox One: Zombi, Pure Hold'em, and more!

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Title: Out This Week on Xbox One: Zombi, Pure Hold'em, and more!
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Every week, new games are released for the Xbox One . Whether they are indie titles or AAA titles, we want to make sure they're on y...

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<img height="480" src="http://www.windowscentral.com/sites/wpcentral.com/files/styles/xlarge_wm_blw/public/field/image/2015/08/elite-controller-case.jpg?itok=dN2DN8KW" width="640" /></div>
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Every week, new games are released for the <a href="http://www.windowscentral.com/xbox-one" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #53b7cc; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Xbox One</a>. Whether they are indie titles or AAA titles, we want to make sure they're on your radar. So get your wallet ready and clear some space on your hard drive. Let's take a look at what's coming out this week for Xbox One.</div>
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Adventures of Pip</h2>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" class="video-filter video-youtube vf-y2dhos0l324" frameborder="0" height="384" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Y2dHoS0l324?rel=0&autoplay=0&wmode=opaque&controls=2&autohide=1&showinfo=0" style="border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 363.9375px; margin: auto; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline; width: 647px;" width="682"></iframe></div>
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pixel perfect</h3>
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In Adventures of Pip, you play as a boy named Pip, who can evolve from a single pixel and into an 8-bit and 16-bit version of himself. Some levels require him to switch between his alternative versions to complete puzzles as each version of himself have their advantages and disadvantages.</div>
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The game takes a page from Super Mario as your main objective is to rescue the damsel in distress from Queen DeRezzia by making your way past her henchmen that she has sent to bring you down. The Adventures of Pip drops this Friday, August 21.</div>
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Zombi</h2>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" class="video-filter video-youtube vf-pix5pnoyztm" frameborder="0" height="384" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pIX5PNOyzTM?rel=0&autoplay=0&wmode=opaque&controls=2&autohide=1&showinfo=0" style="border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 363.9375px; margin: auto; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline; width: 647px;" width="682"></iframe></div>
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zombies + permadeath = the ultimate survival experience</h3>
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Zombi is the re-release of the hit Wii U game that has you playing as random survivors who are trying to escape the zombie apocalypse that has taken over the city of London. Your job is to collect items and weapons used to kill the zombies as you make your way to safety. If you die, that character will become a zombie, and you will play as another character. Want your loot back? Find your old character and kill him.</div>
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When the game first launched on Wii U, it was met with mixed reviews mainly because the game sounded great on paper, but the games ideas were poorly executed. It has been said that the gameplay has been refined for the Xbox one, but we'll have to wait to see if it performs better than the Wii U version when it launches tomorrow, August 18.</div>
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Velocity 2X</h2>
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future platforming</h3>
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Velocity 2X has you playing as Lt. Kai Tana as she makes her way across the galaxy to escape the clutches of the Vokh Empire. The game blends two genres: shooting and platforming. You blast through space at high speeds, dock and sabotage enemy bases on foot, and then return to the ship for more intense space combat.</div>
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This will mark the first time that the Velocity series has made its way out of the PlayStation ecosystem and onto other platforms. The game launches this Wednesday, August 19 and costs $19.99.</div>
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<a href="http://store.xbox.com/Xbox-One/Games/Velocity-2X/be3b4d02-13c4-4fcf-b2e9-1ce9cdc0b7f7" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #53b7cc; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Velocity 2X – Xbox Store - $19.99</a></div>
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Pure Hold'em</h2>
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Are you all in?</h3>
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Pure Hold'em aims to bring the first and best poker experience to the Xbox One when it launches on August 21. The game allows you to play with up to 8 of your friends online in an exhibition match or a tournament. You also have the ability to join open tables online if you're just looking for a quick poker fix.</div>
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Take your journey from the Joker table up to the Masters table and hope that Lady Luck is on your side. The game will set you back $19.99 but for you poker enthusiasts out there, I'm sure that price is nothing compared to the amount you've lost playing in real life.</div>
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Giana Sisters: Dream Runners</h2>
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never enough Giana Sisters</h3>
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Giana Sisters: Dream Runners take the Giana out of her platform adventure games and throw her into a platform racing game. Play as Giana in different costumes as you race against friends online and <span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">locally.As</span> with most arcade racers, Dream Runners allows to harness different power-ups to put you at an advantage or to give your competition a disadvantage.</div>
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The game features nine levels to race on and comes with five different costumes. No word on how much the game will cost at launch, but you can expect it to hit the Xbox One Wednesday, August 21.</div>
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<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Which of these games are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments!</em></div>

Out This Week on Xbox One: Zombi, Pure Hold'em, and more!

Every week, new games are released for the Xbox One . Whether they are indie titles or AAA titles, we want to make sure they're on y...

Sweet gifts rain from the sky in week-long Candy Crush Saga event

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Title: Sweet gifts rain from the sky in week-long Candy Crush Saga event
Author: Unknown
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

If you have a sweet addiction to Candy Crush Saga , you're in for an even sweeter treat throughout the week. Developer King is kicking...

<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: camptonlight, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.556; margin-bottom: 25px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="http://www.imore.com/sites/imore.com/files/styles/w400h225crop/public/field/image/2014/06/candy_crush_iphone_5s_hero.jpg?itok=5BV54HhR" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.imore.com/sites/imore.com/files/styles/w400h225crop/public/field/image/2014/06/candy_crush_iphone_5s_hero.jpg?itok=5BV54HhR" style="background-color: transparent;" /></a>If you have a sweet addiction to <a href="http://www.imore.com/candy-crush-saga" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #cb2c00; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Candy Crush Saga</a>, you're in for an even sweeter treat throughout the week. Developer King is kicking off a week-long event in which sugary treats will rain down on players from the cotton candy clouds. King is incredibly vague about what will be dropping from the clouds this week, but the company does say to keep checking back for gifts:</div>
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All week long, sweet gifts will pour down from the cotton candy clouds. Be sure to come back to the game, because you never know when it'll rain…</div>
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It's likely that "rain" will include plenty of boosters and things to help you progress through a level you may be stuck on. In any case, the event will run the entire week, from August 17 through August 22, so you have enough time to hop in for some extra sweet treats.</div>

Sweet gifts rain from the sky in week-long Candy Crush Saga event

If you have a sweet addiction to Candy Crush Saga , you're in for an even sweeter treat throughout the week. Developer King is kicking...

Darth Vader PS4 bundles cater to your 'Star Wars' cravings

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Title: Darth Vader PS4 bundles cater to your 'Star Wars' cravings
Author: Unknown
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

Between The Force Awakens , Battlefront and Disney Infinity , you're about to get your fill of Star Wars -- and Sony is determi...

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<a href="http://www.engadget.com/2015/08/16/darth-vader-ps4/" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Darth Vader limited edition PS4" data-credit="Sony" data-mep="920336" height="360" src="http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/53dabd1fb4862df5711d4e61adc477d8/202482072/ps4-darth-vader.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; margin-bottom: 15px; max-width: 960px; position: relative; z-index: 9999;" width="640" /></a></div>
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Between <em><a href="http://www.engadget.com/2015/07/10/star-wars-the-force-awakens-comic-con/" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration: none;">The Force Awakens</a></em>, <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2015/08/07/star-wars-battlefront-gamescom-2015/" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration: none;"><em>Battlefront</em></a> and <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2015/05/05/disney-infinity-3-star-wars/" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration: none;"><em>Disney Infinity</em></a>, you're about to get your fill of <em>Star Wars</em> -- and Sony is determined to capitalize on that sci-fi feast with some special PlayStation systems. It's <a href="http://blog.us.playstation.com/2015/08/16/star-wars-ps4-bundles/" style="color: #3399cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">releasing</a> two limited edition Darth Vader PS4 bundles that each include a distinctive 500GB console (emblazoned with the Sith Lord's face, naturally) and a controller whose red and white accents mimic Vader's chest panel. The core <em>Battlefront</em>Vader bundle includes both a Deluxe edition of its namesake shooter as well as a voucher for four vintage <em>Star Wars</em> games (<em>Super Star Wars</em>, <em>Bounty Hunter</em>, <em>Jedi Starfighter</em> and <em>Racer Revenge</em>). Head to Walmart, meanwhile, and you can spring for a<em>Disney Infinity 3.0</em> Vader bundle that replaces <em>Battlefront</em> with <em>Infinity</em> and a matching figurine kit. And if you're just interested in software, there will be a plain PS4 bundle that includes <em>Battlefront</em> and the classic games.</div>
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Sony hasn't divulged pricing just yet, but we'd expect at least the Darth Vader kits to carry a premium over run-of-the-mill 500GB systems. All of the new hardware will be available on November 17th, and pre-orders are poised to start "soon."</div>
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Darth Vader PS4 bundles cater to your 'Star Wars' cravings

Between The Force Awakens , Battlefront and Disney Infinity , you're about to get your fill of Star Wars -- and Sony is determi...

Why I love: Climbing towers in video games

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Title: Why I love: Climbing towers in video games
Author: Unknown
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

you're playing an open-world Ubisoft game, there's a good chance you'll be climbing some buildings. Whether you're asc...

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<a href="http://3ebd2a0c0ea48a333aea-1f531def8e8befb67be56667ce3edd11.r77.cf1.rackcdn.com/aa4bf66fa60425ddd65bcbfe04e9049bfd45db14.jpg__620x350_q85_crop_upscale.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: white;"></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://3ebd2a0c0ea48a333aea-1f531def8e8befb67be56667ce3edd11.r77.cf1.rackcdn.com/aa4bf66fa60425ddd65bcbfe04e9049bfd45db14.jpg__620x350_q85_crop_upscale.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://3ebd2a0c0ea48a333aea-1f531def8e8befb67be56667ce3edd11.r77.cf1.rackcdn.com/aa4bf66fa60425ddd65bcbfe04e9049bfd45db14.jpg__620x350_q85_crop_upscale.jpg" style="border: 0px; height: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; width: 618.578125px;" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"> you're playing an open-world Ubisoft game, there's a good chance you'll be climbing some buildings. Whether you're ascending the greatest architecture in Italy, destroying the radio in a series of barricaded towers run by a despotic dictator, or clambering up nondescript Chicago buildings and hacking into the ctOS mainframe, your goal is the same: Get to the top so you can reveal more sections of your in-game map. This design is so prevalent, it's even bleeding out into other developers' games, as you climb a precarious antenna to unlock a new safe house in Dying Light, or leap up a sky-high series of platforms in Saints Row 4. But whatever the reason, however common climbing towers in video games has become, I can't get enough of the thrill of the ascension.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">My first experience climbing things in video games came from the Ubisoft classic Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Its combat, while passable, wasn't my primary motivation - it was the thrill of of walking into a room, seeing the path laid before me, then maneuvering the Prince to bound past buzzsaws, wallrun across gaps, and leap skyward using perilous columns as stepping stones. This was a new kind of puzzle-solving for me, one that combines skill and mental acuity, requiring that I survey the surrounding geometry for the best path to my objective before diving into platforming gymnastics. Climbing up its myriad surfaces became a drug, and there was a time when I would go back and replay it every few months or so just for another fix. This was the evolution of a genre that games like Super Mario Bros. created, and I longed for more adventures to scratch that structure-scaling itch.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">I got my hands on Tomb Raider: Legend, Uncharted, Mirror's Edge, Infamous - anything that let me shimmy along cliff faces or clamber up the sides of buildings. But the one series that has always been there for me is Assassin's Creed. Don't get me wrong - I love exploring historical settings, I dig the feud between the assassins and templars, and I can even get behind the wackier sci-fi elements like the 'precursor civilization' introduced in the second title. What keeps me coming back, year after year, though, is the prospect of starting out at street level, looking up at the tippy-top of a building like the Campanile di Giotto or the Notre Dame cathedral, finding a proper foothold, and starting my ascent.</span></div>
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<span class="cms_image " style="display: block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><img src="http://3ebd2a0c0ea48a333aea-1f531def8e8befb67be56667ce3edd11.r77.cf1.rackcdn.com/272ee7d456a9157d432f27d2355ccc86e33450ba.jpg__620x350_q85_crop_upscale.jpg" style="border: 0px; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; width: 618.578125px;" /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">A good tower climb isn't just about escalating to dizzying heights. It's about finding the quickest, cleanest path. It's about solving miniature, moment-to-moment puzzles while finding that perfect route, about hitting a progress-halting wall in your climb, examining your surroundings, then finding a new foothold to continue. There's a flow to climbing a tower in a video game, as your eyes sweep the available outcroppings split-seconds before your virtual hands reach out for them. There's a gleeful anxiety to the climb, as you find yourself stuck without a way to proceed; how the only safe way down is to make it all the way to the top; how the encroaching vertigo instantly vanishes once you've wriggled your way around a corner to find the next step in your journey upward.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">And once you make it to the top, my God, that view. I could soak it in for hours. But inevitably, there are more pressing matters, so I hit that synchronize button (or do whatever it was I came up there to do) then leap off into the haystack below. Or find a zipline. Or just jump to the ground. Whatever the method, the trip down is usually over in a mere fraction of the time it took to get to the top, but it's the perfect release for the tension of the harrowing climb. Then I immediately run for the next tower and repeat the process for the next several hours.</span></div>
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<span class="cms_image " style="display: block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><img src="http://3ebd2a0c0ea48a333aea-1f531def8e8befb67be56667ce3edd11.r77.cf1.rackcdn.com/895791807da5e2d0ed119f61d425a34d3310b545.jpg__620x348_q85_crop_upscale.jpg" style="border: 0px; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; width: 618.578125px;" /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">There's no way in hell I could <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxBJfwAM7fg&ab_channel=RT" style="border: 0px; color: #ff6600; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">climb the Kotelnicheskaya Tower in real life</a> (even<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">with</em> a safety harness), but in a video game, I can be a parkour master with the press of a few buttons. Plus, I can climb any building in front of me without having to worry about the cops waiting for me when I reach the bottom. It doesn't matter if it's the third-person clambering of Assassin's Creed or the vertigo-inducing first-person climbs featured in Dying Light and Far Cry 4 - if there's some tall structure in front of me, I'm going to find a way to get to the top. Climbing hundreds of feet in a handful of minutes may be as commonplace in video games as super powers or ridiculous weapons nowadays, but I'll never get over the rush of tackling some of the virtual world's greatest structures and enjoying the view from the top.</span></div>

Why I love: Climbing towers in video games

you're playing an open-world Ubisoft game, there's a good chance you'll be climbing some buildings. Whether you're asc...

Fallout 4's biggest upgrade isn't visuals or scale. It's a real sense of 'being there'

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Title: Fallout 4's biggest upgrade isn't visuals or scale. It's a real sense of 'being there'
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Fallout 4 looks like one hell of an upgrade from its last-gen predecessors. I say that as a man who put a lot of time into Fal...

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Fallout 4 looks like one hell of an upgrade from its last-gen predecessors. I say that as a man who put <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">a lot</em> of time into Fallout 3, including one particularly legendary/troubling-in-hindsight 15-hour stint, and vastly more cumulative play time before even (accidentally) stumbling upon the main plot. Very long story short, I spent a lot of time in the Capital Wasteland. For all of its cold, irradiated decay, I just loved being in that place. But after seeing a fair amount of Fallout 4, and talking to the people behind it, I now feel like I wasn’t really there at all. </div>
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See, in comparison to Fallout 4’s Boston-set Commonwealth, Fallout 3’s wasted Washington no longer feels like the rich, expansive, living world I thought it was at the time. In comparison to Fallout 4, it now feels like a sterile, miniature lansdscape made of cardboard and stickytape. </div>
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The sense of presence is the thing. It’s a vastly under-rated talking point in the discussion of convincing game worlds, and not something you create with the broad-strokes flourishes of game design. It’s a product of the little things. The details. The small, innocuous elements of being a real person in a real place that we rarely pay attention to, day-to-day, yet which scream like a klaxon horn made of angry seagulls when they’re missing from a simulation.</div>
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In hindsight, Fallout 3 is a game of great, isolated areas and moments, held together with a connective tissue of suspended disbelief. Conversations are text-clicking stare-outs with vocal mannequins, glorified versions of old-school RPG character portraits whose stumbling attempts at being real boys and girls make them only more creepily artificial. Combat is <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">almost</em> a great hybrid of real-time FPS and strategic, quasi-turn-based skillshots, but in truth only half of that equation holds up, shoot-outs turning into clumsy feats of panicked back-pedaling whenever you don’t have VATS ready as a time-stopping safety net. Fallout 3 might look like an FPS in screenshots, but that stiff, clunky aiming means that the in-game reality isn’t much more dynamic than those still images themselves. </div>
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Even the disturbingly compulsive exploration can suffer from a sense of disconnection at times. Limited scope for interaction can make your character feeling more like a roving camera in first-person play, and the endearingly wonky animations of the third-person view do nothing but take a sledgehammer to immersion. Fallout 3’s scale, scope, and brilliant, surprising tonal variety make it an undeniably immersive cumulative experience, but the moment-to-moment stuff? It all feels a bit robotic, a mechanical means to a more enjoyable, holistic end.</div>
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So far, Fallout 4 does not feel like that at all. All the usual new-gen upgrades are present and correct of course; grander scale and increased graphical fidelity are to be expected. But what really hits me between the eyes with a big bolt of excitement is everything in between. </div>
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First up, that boosted, red-and-blue drenched colour palette isn’t just to combat criticisms of F3 as an exercise in grey and brown. That’s a large part of it, of course, but it’s also there to make Fallout 4 feel more real. Yes, we expect the apocalypse to be painted in all shades of Dulux’ premium drab range, but the fact is that that’s just a stereotype we’ve invented and taught ourselves to believe, over years of games that confused ‘gritty’ with ‘grey’, just because. Look out of your window. Count the colours you see. That’s what the world looks like, and it wouldn’t look too different if it was partly knocked down and rebuilt with the same parts. </div>
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Nukes aren’t paint bombs. Dust gets swept up. People clean, and tidy, and rebuild, and life goes on. Aesthetically and thematically - this is, after all, a game about a plucky, optimistic, ‘50s inspired civilisation that picked itself up after a global nuclear pounding - Fallout 4’s world is already vastly more real than Fallout 3’s, and that’s before you even get into the much more intricate, more organic modelling of its environments and various detritus.</div>
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Then there are the things you do in those environments. And here, we really have to talk about combat. In those still-frames, it looks immediately familiar, but in motion, Bethesda’s acquisition of id Software and MachineGames becomes obvious. Both the House of Doom and the rebuilder of Wolfenstein have helped to design Fallout 4’s shooting, and the result is much smoother movement, with more natural momentum and intertia, and greater nuance. As Joe points out in his combat overview from Gamescom, RPG stats and levelling disparities will still govern the ultimate effectiveness of your actions, but the point is that it really feels like this time around they’ll be your actions, rather than a twitchy, lumpen approximation of your intent.</div>
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But it’s not just about the obvious, big changes. It’s about everything inbetween. The new shooting looks immensely more tactile – emphasised further by more intricate level design that really makes the most of the newly legitimate FPS qualifications - but it’s amplified exponentially by Fallout 4’s ambient improvements. Dogmeat, for example, now the almost-living, almost-breathing personification of a developer’s real-life dog, is a constant, dynamic conduit between player character and game-world. </div>
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As a startlingly life-like, autonomous companion reacting naturally to every moment of threat, intrigue, interest, and surprise – but crucially, at a range expanded from your own point of view – s/he adds greater reach both to your own perception, and the feedback of the world coming back at you. Like a big, cute, furry radar expounding blips of pure ‘being there’. On paper, his/her abilities are similar to those in Fallout 3, but the sheer increase in life and realism in the beast, in conjunction with the seamless, flowing ability to issue very specific, point-and-go commands on the fly, changes the relationship for the far more intimate. </div>
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Factor in your newly voiced character’s various yelps, grunts, comments and musings when doing the most innocuous of things – exploring, discovering, picking locks, dealing with traps, you’ll react to all of it now – and for once in a modern Fallout game, you have a world you’re an active, reactive part of, not just observing. Same goes for the entirely new conversation system, which ‘simply’ has events happen around you in real-time, without a break. Events which you’re free to walk away from or shoot in the face, expressing your will in real-time, direct from sofa to virtual Boston, and having the repercussions follow suit in the opposite direction.</div>
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And again, all of this ties thematically back into what Fallout 4 is all about. I speculated at the time of the game’s announcement that its world looked unexpectedly civilised, almost as if humanity was getting back on its feet. There are newly rebuilt skyscrapers. There are airships. There are farms. There’s clean water, and the cities are serviced by newspapers. Where Fallout 3 was about exploring the shell of a dead world, traversing a place in mourning for what it once was, Fallout 4 is a world looking forward, not back. </div>
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<span class="cms_image " style="display: block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><img src="http://3ebd2a0c0ea48a333aea-1f531def8e8befb67be56667ce3edd11.r77.cf1.rackcdn.com/1aeb6a8bedd2afb33ea77afa8c897fc0d2cd2ca9.jpg__620x348_q85_crop_upscale.jpg" style="border: 0px; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; width: 618.578125px;" /></span></div>
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Where once your quest was to repair the ecosystem in order to deliver an echo of normalcy, a tinge of hope for survival, water is now plentiful, and everyone’s doing just fine, thank you very much, rabid Ghoul attacks aside. There’s no pining for a life long gone. There’s just this life. It’s normal. It’s now. It’s just the way things are. It simply<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">makes sense</em> that Fallout 4 should be concerned with involving you in it, in making you an active part of the here and now. And if that also delivers a game full of all of the series’ familiar joys, but which plays a hell of a lot better in a hundred tiny but important ways, then all the better. </div>
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Fallout 4's biggest upgrade isn't visuals or scale. It's a real sense of 'being there'

Fallout 4 looks like one hell of an upgrade from its last-gen predecessors. I say that as a man who put a lot of time into Fal...

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Why I love: Climbing towers in video games

Fallout 4's biggest upgrade isn't visuals or scale. It's a real sense of 'being there'

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