The Elder Scrolls Online is being developed for PC and Mac under the leadership of industry veteran Matt Firor, who has spent the last two decades working in online game development. Details about the game are revealed in an exclusive cover story in Game Informer®’s June issue, which ships to subscribers and newsstands this month.

“We have been working hard to create an online world in which players will be able to experience the epic Elder Scrolls universe with their friends, something fans have long said they wanted,” said Matt Firor, game director of The Elder Scrolls Online. “It will be extremely rewarding finally to unveil what we have been developing the last several years. The entire team is committed to creating the best MMO ever made – and one that is worthy of The Elder Scrolls franchise.”

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim® is the most recent title set in the award-winning Elder Scrolls universe. Skyrim, developed by Bethesda Game Studios, was released in November 2011 and enjoyed worldwide critical and commercial success. Skyrim earned hundreds of ‘Game of the Year’ awards, including top honors at the 2012 Game Developers Choice Awards, the 15^th Annual 2012 Interactive Achievement Awards held at the 2012 D.I.C.E. Summit, and at the 2011 Video Game Awards. Internationally, Skyrim shipped over 10 million units within the first month of its release, was the second highest grossing title in the industry last year, and is the fastest selling title in Steam’s history.

The Elder Scrolls Online will be featured on magazine covers across Europe and in online stories in the coming months which will provide gamers with more information about this exciting title.

The Elder Scrolls Online has not yet been rated by the ESRB.

©2012 Game Guide World. All Rights Reserved.

If you have been living under a rock–without an internet connection–the past few months let me catch you up.  En Masse Entertainment has been working on a new type of MMO, which released today, called TERA.  The game focuses on contextual combat with an emphasis on position and timing.  Players actively aim, dodge, and block as the game’s real-time combat system takes into account player skill and position as well as stats and gear.

“TERA ushers in a new era of true action MMO gameplay that advances the online roleplaying genre,” said Chris Lee, vice president of publishing at En Masse Entertainment. “It’s time to move past yesterday’s repetitive combat mechanics and embrace a more intense and deeply immersive approach to MMO gaming, where every player is actively engaged in skill-based combat and the most savvy players rise to the top through an innovative political system.”

Players will begin their journey through TERA’s world of savage beauty by creating a highly customized character from any of seven races and eight classes. After creating characters, they will join with an alliance of all races to save their homelands from ravaging armies that threaten to destroy the very gods who hold the world together. TERA also introduces a revolutionary political system in which players wield power in a province based on their in-game political prowess.

Two collector’s editions of TERA are available—a traditional boxed edition and a digital download. The digital edition will grant players unique in-game items, including the Regal Frostlion mount for in-game travel, along with two valuable necklaces: the level 15 Velik’s Bloodstone necklace and the level 40 Shakan’s Bloodstone necklace. The Digital Collector’s Edition is available for $59.99.

Available in limited quantities, the physical Limited Collector’s Edition includes all of the in-game items from the digital edition and also includes collectable items such as a Letter of Marque, a canvas world map, a field guide, a Valkyon Federation-issued compass and a game soundtrack, all for $79.99. All versions, including the standard edition, include 30 days of game time. Additional game time is available for $14.99 per month.

We hope to have our review for TERA up very soon and are very excited to cover it!

©2012 Game Guide World. All Rights Reserved.

I’ll just leave this amazingly awesome Firefall Intro Cinematic trailer video over here…

That is all.

©2012 Game Guide World. All Rights Reserved.

“Adding a new dimension to Skyrim‘s gameplay, the Kinect for XBox 360 integration offers Voice Commands throughout the game including Dragon Shouts, Hotkey Equipping, Follower Commands, and all Menus (Items, Magic, Map, Barter, Container, Favorites, and Skinns).  With Voice Commands, quickly create and load saves during gameplay and access menus and inventories.  Skyrim‘s Kinect for XBox 360 support also adds new functionality including special map functions, additional hotkey options, and the ability to sort inventory items by name, weight, and value.”

For a detailed look at the Voice Commands check out this video posted on the Elder Scrolls website.

Skyrim Kinect for Xbox 360 Support is the latest in free feature updates that Bethesda Game Studios has added to enhance Skyrim, and more are coming. In addition, Bethesda Game Studios has been hard at work on creating the first set of game add-ons that will be exclusive to the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. This additional content will add new quests, locations, features, and much more to the world of Skyrim. Stay tuned, we hope to officially announce what it is soon.

©2012 Game Guide World. All Rights Reserved.

Game Guide World (GGW): Hello Phr00t thanks for doing this interview with us today.  Let’s start from the beginning: If I’m someone looking to purchase a new indie title and somehow haven’t heard of 3079, give me a quick pitch as to what 3079 is about and why I should purchase it.

Phr00t (P): 3079 is an open-world futuristic action role-playing game.  I know that’s a mouthful, but it really takes great things from many different genres and combines it all into one game.  You can wander the endless, unique terrain, looking for action and loot to better your character–all while trying to figure out what is causing an endless war on the planet.  I’d recommend at least trying out the demo: you may like it!  All of the weapons, items, quests, terrain and enemies are randomly generated so even in the demo there is plenty to see and do.

GGW: When you say open-world, can you elaborate on that point a bit more?  Is it open world in the sent of free roam exploring, or open-world sandboxing with the random generation systems?

P: Both–Sandboxing, because you’re free to explore, kill, build, hijack ships, and take on quests at your own pace, right from the start of the game.  Random generation is a major factor as well because the terrain is randomly generate based off several different biomes such as mountains, seas, deserts, snow, poisonous areas, etc.

GGW: Due to all the randomly generated content, is every new game essentially completely different from another?

P: There will be many parts that are different, and some others that will be the same.  For example, you will start out with a different weapon, all of the terrain will be different, placement of cities and enemies will be different, etc.  Items will also have different statistics that are randomly generated.  However, some key elements such as the overall story and starting in a friendly town will remain the same through all playthroughs.

GGW: Okay now let’s say I’m someone who already owns 3079…at what stage in its life would you say the game is at in terms of receiving new content and updates?

P: It’s hard to say for certain, since new ideas and players are always coming in.  However, 3079 has just reached a “stable” milestone, so players should expect a complete feature set and a reliable, fun gaming experience.

GGW: What can players look forward to in the immediate future and in the more distance future in terms of extra content or features?

P: A highly requested feature, maps, are coming in the next release.  I’m also getting in some explosive “satchel” bombs that will allow you to blow up the sides of buildings and deal a lot of damage.  I’m also looking into a few reported bugs that are still remaining such as enemies not showing up in multiplayer games for everyone.

Phr00t Gives us an exclusive look at his upcoming map feature in 3079.

GGW: When can gamers expect this new release?

P: Right now I’m planning on this weekend: usually new releases are pushed out on Saturday.

GGW: Where can someone interested in picking up a copy of the game (which all of you should be!) do so?

P: 3079 is available for sale on BMT Micro, Desura, & GamersGate.  I’d recommend getting it on BMT Micro, since you will have the quickest access to updates.  However, Desura or GamersGate offer more ways to be notified of updates, so if you prefer those systems feel free to pick it up there too!

GGW: Thanks a lot for your time Phr00t, and congratulations on the game hitting a stable milestone.  I hope it continues to see great success!

©2012 Game Guide World. All Rights Reserved.

Sine Mora (XBLA)

Grasshopper Manufacture Inc. & Digital Reality

Microsoft Studios

Reviewed by Beatrice Moulin

At the start of Sine Mora you are briefed on the backstory so far.  While it is a bit much to read all at once, it does offer great insight as to why you’re fighting and who you are fighting against. Before you know it, you find yourself thrown right into the middle of all the action.  As you would expect from any good arcade game, there is plenty of action to go around in every aspect; and the artwork across all avenues is amazing!  Right from the beginning of the game you can see the amount of time and effort that went into the little details we tend to overlook, especially when it comes to art. The scenery, the ships, the bosses: they all look amazing.

As the game progresses, you will run across some well thought out bosses and fights that while they aren’t incredibly challenging, there’s certainly enough challenge there to keep you on your toes. Oh and did I mention you can control time? The game features a unique time shift system that is pretty handing because there are plenty of times when you’ll find yourself needing to use those special time abilities.  Instead of having lives and/or other ships to rely on, it’s all based on your time of progression.  If you kill things you add time to the clock and if you get hit you loose a few seconds.  Trust me when I say, sometimes those few seconds can make or break whether or not you are successful; I learned that the hard way.

The one thing that I found a bit lacking were the voice-overs. I don’t really mind the fact that it’s in a language I don’t understand or recognize, but when they stop the action for a cut scene (yes, cut scenes inside scrolling shooter, and yes they managed to make it work) and I have to read subtitles and all of a sudden I have to shoot again, it becomes a bit tedious and frustrating.  Also, make sure you have time to sit down and play.  Despite being a side scrolling shooter, Sine Mora is definitely not a “oh I have 10 minutes so I’ll play a level or two” kind of game.  If you stop half way through the stage, expect to start from the beginning when you boot the game back up again, and the same can be said for the ‘game over’s; I wish the game was more forgiving with a checkpoint system.  At the same time, this added challenge can be seen as a positive as most games today don’t offer much of a penalty and allow on-the-fly game playing sessions.

So in summary, Sine Mora is very fun and very pretty.  At times the scenery is so colorful and vibrant that you completely forget it’s an M rated game.  Is it challenging? Sometimes yes and sometimes no, but overall it has a balance of difficulty.  Does it have its quirks?  Certainly, but nothing major that can’t be overlooked; Especially if you’re a fan of arcade shooters.  If side scrolling shooters aren’t your cup of tea, chances are you already plan on skipping Sine Mora.  If this is your genre, however, I would certainly recommend checking it out. Just make sure to keep your eye on the clock and grab those power-ups.

Final Score: ★★★★★★★★☆☆ 

©2012 Game Guide World. All Rights Reserved.

Wanderlust: Rebirth (PC)

Part of IndieFort Bundle

Reviewed by Steven Mills

Wanderlust: Rebirth is defined by its developers–an impressive 3 person team–as an online 4 player co-op retro arcade-action RPG that offers more content than most professionally-funded games.  While at first glance that may seem like too many features and claims to be incorporated an indie title, I assure you: that is a very accurate definition.  At its core, Wanderlust: Rebirth has an old-school appeal to it in terms of graphics.  Reminiscent of RPG classics such as Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana, the game combines the retro role playing adventure feel with a hint of new age features and techniques.

Character creation is standard for any RPG.  The user is presented with his choice of male or female, each capable of taking on the role of one of four classes: Fighter, Alchemist, Cleric, and Elementalist.  The initial tutorial of the game teaches the player all about the easy-to-learn but hard-to-master combat system.  While it’s possible to play through a majority of the game in its single-player form, Wanderlust: Rebirth truly shines in its co-op nature.  Using a simple host / join game system, players can team up with up to four players and take on the monsters–not to mention the incredibly fun to fight bosses–with their friends.  Like any good RPG, Wanderlust: Rebirth rewards you for your gameplay by allowing you to level up your character and place stats as you wish, as well as loot drops to help make your character even stronger.

Being a fan of games that reward users for the adaptation to the games systems as well as skill-based decisions rather than games that expect you to crunch numbers to figure out which stat point gives you the overall “best character”, I found that Wanderlust: Rebirth was a breath of fresh air.  In the game, pushing the right key to block will mitigate damage, so even if you’re a bit “under leveled” for a certain part of the game, you can make up with it with mastery of the block and dodge techniques.  The bosses in Wanderlust: Rebirth are an enormous amount of fun, especially with a friend (or two or three).  Not only are they fun, they give a big sense of accomplishment due to the fact that bosses in this game are no pushover.  In fact, while players who have mastered the ability to dodge and block can probably take down the final boss in ten minutes or so, another group might find themselves trying over and over for hours.  Not once did I have to pause the game and crunch some numbers to figure out how to be the “best character”.

The story in Wanderlust: Rebirth is nothing too in-depth, but its certainly there.  Most indie titles have practically no story and while Wanderlust: Rebirth has a lot of typical RPG cliche’s those looking for an RPG with a story won’t be disappointed.  I didn’t realize it until a bit of the way into the game, but I am very thankful for the dialogue in the game.  Having recently played games like Tales of Graces f and Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2, it was refreshing to not have to sit and read through enormous walls of text just to progress through the game.  The ending of Wanderlust: Rebirth is actually pretty cool, and even after beating the game you unlock epic mode which is a much more difficult version of the game with some added content and bonus ending if you beat it on epic mode.  The replayability based off the co-operative gameplay as well as epic mode is insane(in a good way) and I would expect there to be at least 100 hours of content with epic mode.

Graphically, Wanderlust: Rebirth encompasses a crisp 8-bit artwork style with its sprites, environments, and animations.  I was surprised to see just how large some of the enemies–primarily bosses–turn out to be since most games of this type typically keep to the same enemy sizes throughout the game.  Despite being an older style of art, the environments are detailed and well made and the spriting and level designs hold up to AAA titles like Zelda and Chrono Trigger.

If your a fan of classical RPG music in games like Final Fantasy, Wanderlust: Rebirth will not disappoint you with its score of music.  Upbeat music when entering towns and intense battle music is no longer a pleasure of the past as Wanderlust: Rebirth manages to do it perfectly.  The sound effects from battle and the little things such as menu navigation fit well with the game and even when music would loop I never found myself getting overly bored with it or tired of hearing it.

Overall, it’s tough not to recommend Wanderlust: Rebirth to everyone.  At its incredibly low cost and hours and hours of gameplay, not to mention all the fun to be had with the co-op multiplayer, you’d be doing yourself a disservice by not picking it up.  Wanderlust: Rebirth is the first indie game since Terraria that I’ve excited told all my gamer friends to pick up so we can play online together, and I have to be honest: if I can get three friends together I expect us to suffer the same fate that we did with Terraria; hours of non-stop co-op action until the only reason we stop is due to lack of sleep.  The game is a sincere reminder that indie games can be just as much, if not more fun than AAA titles.  If your looking for co-op fun, action RPG style gameplay, or a classic refresher to just how fan games used to be, then hurry up and pick up Wanderlust: Rebirth.  Now.  You can get the game and five others for just $5.99(though you better pay more!) as part of the IndieFort bundle through April 12th.

Final Score: ★★★★★★★★★½ 

©2012 Game Guide World. All Rights Reserved.

Earlier today GamersGate officially launched the new IndieFort Bundle.  If you’re not excited, something is wrong with you.  The bundle is practically handing out six of the best indie games for $60 less than what their already-low price is to purchase.  The games in the bundle are Kenshi(Alpha), Cardinal Quest, Black Market, Wanderlust: Rebirth, Devil Whiskey, and Steel Storm: Burning Retribution.

In order to purchase the bundle, head over to the GamersGate IndieFort bundle page and pick it up.  To do so, scroll down to where it says Buy now! and in the scrollable “Extra to the devs:” box enter a value of $15+.  Okay okay, so you don’t *have* to do that, but you should!  Sure $6 is a great price for six awesome games but why not support the developers while still getting a great deal on the games?  Doing so not only supports them and tells them how much we want them to continue making us great games, but doing so unlocks the goodies listed on the bottom page as more and more units are sold and sales are generated.  We almost have the Cardinal Quest Soundtrack and Puckbang (Arcade Game) as added goodies, but I know we can easily unlock the secret as well as push forward to Mordor V1.1 The Grim!

Hurry over and purchase this great bundle today, as you only have one week to do so.  Don’t wait, you won’t be disappointed!

©2012 Game Guide World. All Rights Reserved.

Alongside the announcement of their new IndieFort platform is a new indie game bundle: the IndieFort bundle.

This bundle will include: Cardinal Quest, Black Market, Kenshi, Steel Storm: Burning Retribution, Wanderlust: Rebirth and Devil Whiskey for just a donation.  The minimum is $6, but they deserve much much more than that for such a great deal on six great games.

All of these games have received great reviews on all aggregates.

Cardinal Quest

Normally $4.95

Cardinal Quest is an arcade-style dungeon-crawler inspired by 1980s classics such as Gauntlet, Red-Box D&D and Golden Axe: Choose your champion and begin your quest to slay the Evil Minotaur!

Three distinct characters await you, each providing their own unique experience:

• The Fierce Fighter – who can stir himself into a berserk frenzy.
• The Stealthy Thief – a mysterious assassin who dispatches his foes from the shadows.
• The Mystical Wizard – able to bend the forces of the elements to his will.

Black Market

Normally $9.95

In Black Market fight or fly, trade or die. Machines scheme, ghosts plot, corporations conspire; space can be a dangerous place. Equip your ship, explore new worlds and unravel the mysteries of the Market…

Kenshi

Normally $11.99

Kenshi is a free-roaming squad based RPG. Focusing on open-ended gameplay features rather than a linear story. Be a trader, a thief, a rebel, a mercenary, a business owner, a doctor, a bandit… the list goes on. Aid or oppose the various factions in the world while striving for the strength and wealth necessary to simply survive in the harsh desert. Purchase and upgrade your own buildings to use as safe fortified havens when things go bad, or use them to start up a business. Train your men up from puny victims to master warriors. Carry your wounded squad mates to safety and get them all home alive.

Steel Storm: Burning Retribution

Normally $4.95

Steel Storm: Burning Retribution is a top down action shooter with old school spirit. It marks the return of top-down shooters with new twists. The game has score oriented competitive gameplay, and is designed for people who like fast paced action, hordes of smart enemies, destructible worlds and ground shaking explosions.

The events take place in an alternative universe where you control an advanced hovertank, packed with the most advanced and sophisticated weapons. Your task is simple, but nevertheless not trivial. In the fight against extraterrestrial invaders, you must prevail!

Wanderlust: Rebirth

Normally $9.95

Wanderlust: Rebirth is an online 4 player co-op retro arcade-action RPG.

Wanderlust: Rebirth offers more content than most professionally-funded games including story and survival modes, online high-scores, over 40 enemies types, 15 boss battles (including 4 secret bosses), over 50 unique skills between 4 uniquely crafted character classes, 3 different endings, AND MUCH MUCH MORE!

Devil Whiskey

Normally $24.95

Devil Whiskey, originally produced by Shifting Suns Studios this is a turn-based RPG in the tradition of The Bard’s Tale Series with beautiful graphics.

You can contact @alexpoysky for further details.

©2012 Game Guide World. All Rights Reserved.

The upcoming patch 0.45 for Towns keeps the excitement going.  Here’s just a few of the features and changes in store:

Soldiers

Soldiers have been reworked and have now fallen into a more defensive role.

Guard Area – Soldiers will be assigned an area to guard, they will attack any enemy that enters their line of sight.

Guard citizen – Soldiers will follow the chosen citizen and guard him. perfect for deep jungle chopping

Patrol – Issue a patrol route via way points.

“Boss around” – Soldiers will wonder around town and will boss other citizens, the effect on the citizen is such that the citizen will work much faster, but will be very unhappy about it. perfect for creating a totalitarian town. Long live the dictators!

Soldiers will now sleep on dorms type rooms with multiple beds specially built for them.

In addition, your defensive force will also see guard badgers as a lower cost guards (will only be able to guard around their kennels)

Trees & Farms

Trees can now be planted and harvested/chopped automatically using the APS, so are all the plant related farms. what it does is make sure your townies wont waste all their time hauling unneeded wheat around, you wont need to manually order chopping of trees, nor the harvesting of fruit trees. another thing it does is making the priority system more accurate as Buildings were messing that up.

Hospitals

Wounded citizens/soldiers now sleep in the hospital beds and are healed faster if the hospital do have beds.

The citizens/soldiers will now also look for the nearest hospital in opposed to the first built one.

Arena

Arena is a recreation zone that will boost happiness. it can be built in any shape you want and can be used to be a badger fighting arena or a chicken race tracks.

Misc

Xavi have been hard working at recoding basic procedures, this has vastly improved performance.
Relation between creatures is more dynamic now – Froggies can hate citizens but wont harm skootenbeetens, Goblins may hate zombies, etc.. its not a simple Eenemy vs Neutral, citizens.

The fluid mechanics are coded better, again, this has improved performance.

New map generating options – we now have a randomly generated froggy camp, a map that is generated according to heights (for example, iron will more likely be seen on mountains)

There are few new workshops: the dye maker, for making colors and also mixing colors to create more color types and the Skinner workshop to peal the animals skin in order to make nice hats, coats, and dresses.

Rework of Hunger and Happiness mechanics

Hello Hunger-lock, nice to meet ya, very pleased to kick ya. yes, hunger lock is no more. now hunger affects the walk and work speed of the townies, if your citizens are getting starved, they will gradually start walking and working at much slower rates. this makes sure there is a punishment for not having a fine tuned food production, but also takes away the frustration of seeing the citizens locked in their places when an apple tree is just next to them. also, we will balance it so that starving citizens may die faster, so it wont make the game too easy.
Happiness will be also related to Walk and Work time. if your citizens are not happy, there is no reason they should work at the same speed as a joyful citizen. this will make sure that players will aim to make their citizens happier regardless of immigrants.

Heroes

Finally ha? Yes, in this next patch we are introducing the heroes. Heroes are a big thing that affects everything so you wont see the entire system in the next patch, rather, we will improve and enhance them and things relating to them from patch to patch.
Stuff That might or might not be in this patch

Fear mechanic – this is an interesting mechaninc, every living thing will have a fear factor, if, for example, townies has 35 fearfactor, and froggies has 10, the froggy will try to run away from the citizen, however, if 5 froggys are together, their added fear factor will be 50, so in this case, the citizen will try to run away from the froggys.

There will also be a constant always fear mechanic in addition – Mice will always fear cats, regardless of how many mice there are near the cat. this will also be applied to items, so, for example. a goblin head on a pole might really scare froggies, but not hobgoblins. this will also work in the opposite direction, players will have the ability to build items that scare citizens away but do not tickle heroes. items that scare lower level heroes but are a laugh to the veteran ones, etc.
Vanity items – citizens will be able to wear vanity items (regardless of armor) that will increase their happiness and make them pretty.

Fog of war – no more seeing the entire underground level as soon as you dig in, now you will have to explore it and if you want to maintain the visibility, build candles/torches to light up the area.

Stuff that will probably be in the patch after this one

Zoom.

More heroes related stuff.

UI rework – we are rethinking the UI and will rework it for the next patch.

Pressure plates, Traps, Mechanisms.

So what do you think?  Personally, having played a good bit of Towns, this patch has me nothing but excited.  Great work from SMP as always.

©2012 Game Guide World. All Rights Reserved.