Check out Larian Studios’ Divinity: Original Sin – Kickstarter ending > 13 hours

If there’s a Kickstarter project you should be checking out and backing, it is most certainly Larian Studios’ newest RPG, Divinity: Original Sin. The Belgian developer launched their first Kickstarter in hopes to raise $400K for their upcoming prequel to the 2002 Divine Divinity. At this moment, they have already doubled their initial funding goal and looking to complete their last stretch goal that’s available at $1M. With less than 14 hours to go, they are a little more than $167K away from reaching it. Their last and final goal to integrate NPC schedules is certainly one that would add so much more depth into the game. If $1M of funding is reached, NPCs will go to sleep at night and the weather and moons will influence the NPCs and monsters’ activities as well as the schools of magic.

For those of you who have not played Larian Studios’ former games, their new installment is certainly one game that shouldn’t be overlooked, especially considering how amazing of an effort you can see from the developers’ consistent video updates. In fact with the countdown looming around the corner, many gameplay videos have appeared showing off the isometric cRPG. One earlier today was created with Destructoid’s Jim Sterling and Swen Vincke, founder of Larian Studios and director of Divinity: Original Sin, playing and showing of the unique cooperative dialogue system. Additionally, Total Biscuit and Jessie Cox each both did pre-alpha commentary videos which shows the stunning graphics and the turn-based combat. Also the world is highly explorable which in fact those who go off the beaten path and delve deeper into the game will be rewarded. In the video below, Swen explains a scenario where players are rewarded for exploring. So once I get my hands on the game, I will certainly try to find the city, The Black Cove, as Swen mentioned.

 

Larian Studios’ is even integrating more realistic combat by incorporating the manipulation of elements. As you can see in the screenshot below, the monster is frozen in place and the next spell used is a fire one, which naturally melts the ice and turns it into water. Additionally, if there was a lightning attack against a water doused opponent, the opponent would receive more damage since water can conduct lightning. Therefore if you are playing with a friend, you could freeze your opponent while your partner then burns them to create water and thus allowing your friend to then throw out a lightning spell to incite more damage against your enemy.

Along with a highly reactive world, deep character development, and a plethora of interactive items, the game will include drop-in/drop-out co-op multiplayer. Additionally, you aren’t required to follow your partner around, you may explore freely as well without being limited by your pesky comrade! With the unique dialogue system, you have your own voice and are not required to stick to the party leader’s idea. You can disagree with decisions which will ultimately affects your relation with your party members as well as your personal traits.

Therefore with such a great board of ideas, Larian Studios undoubtedly will be creating an immersive and unforgettable RPG once their funding is deemed successful in 12 hours. But it doesn’t end there with all these ideas. There’s even going to be a complete level editor available due to Larian Studios combined efforts with Valve’s Steam Workshop. Many fans will be able to create their own adventures (single or cooperative) and play them out and share them among their fellow Divinity enthusiasts. So never fear, if you finish the game, you can make your own level or enjoy endless adventures shared by others!

Hopefully some of the ideas, have opened your eyes to the developer, Larian Studios, as well as their great Divinity RPG series. Although the Kickstarter is ending very soon, you can still pledge now. Also if you don’t have a Kickstarter account, you can pledge at Divinity: Original Sin‘s official website using Paypal, which will surely be open for a few weeks after the Kickstarter ends like former Kickstarters have done.

If you are interested in the game, check out Divinity II: Ego Draconis and Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga both available on Steam to hold over your appetite. There is even a demo for Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga for you to try! I know this is a such a small overview of Larian Studios’ great efforts and works, but seriously check out their Kickstarter and peruse their updates, which would leave you in love with the revitalization of RPGs.

Transistor to release in 2014 as Supergiant Games’ next adventure

Taken from Eurogamer

Supergiant Games has announced their next project titled, Transistor. You have probably heard about their 2011 RPG hit, Bastion. Well their next game will feature a young woman named, Red. The game will take place in a futuristic city and will also include Ashley Barrett again. It’ll be release in 2014 and might possibly be available on next generation consoles.

Humble Bundle VI is available

In case, you haven’t gotten enough out of indie bundles yet, Humble Bundle is back again with its sixth bundle. For just $5.79 at the moment, you can pick up six awesome indie games. The main highlight of this bundle is certainly Torchlight. In fact, Runic Games has just released their sequel to the amazing RPG. Torchlight 2 was finally made available to play yesterday. If you haven’t picked up Torchlight, this bundle is definitely a must-have for anyone who enjoys a good RPG and indie games in general. In addition to the games, you’ll also receive five soundtracks as well as any other material Humble Bundle will unlock. Paying at least $1 of the pay-what-you-want model will also net you Steam keys. As always when you purchase the bundle, you can divvy up your donation among two charities, EFF and Child’s Play, HB tip, and of course, the developers. Don’t delay, the Humble Bundle VI will disappear in less than 11 days and 6 hours, pick it up here.

• Dustforce
• Rochard
• Shatter
• S.P.A.Z.
• Torchlight
• Vessel

Steam discounts S: S&S EP with Game of Thrones bundle in the first September midweek madness

Steam for the first midweek madness of September has discounted an amazing indie game, Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery along with Cyanide Studios’ Game of Thrones Bundle. Game of Thrones Bundle is available at $23.80 (66% off). The bundle includes A Game of Thrones – Genesis, the 2011 strategy game release, and Game of Thrones, the 2012 RPG game release. Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP reduced by 50% off and purchasable for just $3.99 that is an absolute steal since the Steam purchase also comes with the wonderful Jim Guthrie soundtrack. Tomorrow the sale ends at 7pm EST.

Here’s a mini description taken from one of my former posts:

I actually have S:S&S EP on both my PC and my iPad. Words cannot describe how amazing S:S&S EP is. The pixel-art is absolutely lovely as Jim Guthrie’s wonderful musical plays in the background of your adventure as this warrior girl who tries to understand the mysterious Megatome. The point and click adventure game is simplistic in that you don’t have to worry about your deaths or your inventory for that matter. It is a casual-style game that allows you to focus on the taking in the entire game through the amazing visuals and wonderfully humorous dialogue. Also Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP will be available in Japan on June 21st and a new remix soundtrack created by many famous Japanese composers will be available to purchase on the same day for $5. So if the game and its soundtrack isn’t enough, you have an amazing reworked soundtrack of Jim Guthrie’s innovative music on its way.

Torchlight 2 release date finally announced

Torchlight 2 isn’t coming out in the summer, but it’s certainly a lot closer now with a definitive release date. Torchlight 2 will be hitting PCs on September 20th. A much anticipated sequel to the indie RPG is receiving a lot more content than the original. The RPG, which has been highly compared to Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo, will certainly be an amazing sequel that has undoubtedly taken flaws from the original and its Diablo counterpart and improved them. Check out the chart below to see just how much the developers added into Torchlight 2. Also new features will include: online or LAN co-op multiplayer, four new classes, and Steam Workshop support. A Mac version will be released sometime in the future after the PC release.

Indie Royale’s Getaway Bundle available now

Indie Royale is back, of course, with a new bundle titled the Getaway Bundle. This bundle features six games and some music as usual. For a little under $6, you can pick up Analogue: A Hate Story, Shattered Horizon, Da New Guys, Waves, Miniflake, and Super Amazing Wagon Adventure. Each game is available for Desura except for Shattered Horizon; however, Shattered Horizon, Analogue: A Hate Story and Waves are the only available games for Steam. If you pay $8 or more, you’ll receive the album Handheld Heroes Volume 1 by Handheld Heroes. Also by just paying for the bundle, you’ll also receive the Da New Guys, Waves, and Analogue: A Hate Story‘s official soundtracks with the six games. Check out the trailer below along with the official blog post detailing all the games. Also here’s the official website.

Indie Royale is back with a bundle that will take you on unique adventures from the comfort of your own living room: “travel” to the moon, the American Old West, a starship called the Mungunghwa, and more with the Getaway Bundle featuring six independent games, including exclusive debut Super Amazing Wagon Adventure!

The first exotic location on the itinerary is the moon where you can fight a zero-gravity death match in Futuremark’s unique multiplayer FPS Shattered Horizon available for Windows on Steam. Celebrated by Strategy Informer for game mechanics that create “thought-provoking gameplay”, Shattered Horizon offers unique combat features, realistic space gameplay, 32 player battles and huge levels that offer hours of gameplay. Top contributors will be rewarded for their generosity in this bundle; the top 10 contributors will receive a Shattered Horizon t-shirt; in addition, the top 5 contributors will also receive a meteorite sample from the Sikhote-Alin meteorite (Russia, 1947) with display case and certificate of authenticity. NOTE: Shattered Horizon requires DirectX 10, a DirectX 10 compatible video card, and Windows Vista or Windows 7.

Next up is Christine Love’s visual novel-style game, Analogue: A Hate Story, which takes place thousands of years in the future and is also loosely based on the Joseon Dynasty in Korea, available for Windows, Mac and Linux on Steam, Desura and DRM-free. A current Indiecade Finalist, this game is focused around finding out the fate of a ship with the help of the ship’s two AIs after it re-appears 600 years following its mysterious disappearance whilst on a mission to establish an interstellar colony. Also included are the Space and Science DLC and the original soundtrack. PC Gamer calls Analogue: A Hate Story “ingeniously constructed” and states that “watching its narrative clockwork spinning is a huge part of the appeal.”

Offered along this journey is an Indie Royale exclusive debut; adventure on the Oregon Trail with Sparse Vector’s game, Super Amazing Wagon Adventure available for Windows on Desura and DRM-free. This 2D shooter offers random gameplay elements and a mission to traverse fires, avalanches and time travel while fighting against bears, giant spiders, buffalo herds, snakes, scorpions, sharks, bandits, wolves and aliens. Originally developed for XBLIG, Eurogamer raved about the XBLIG version of Super Amazing Wagon Adventure : “Hilariously weird, with a solid gameplay base, it’s really quite brilliant.”

Also offered on the “getaway” is a look behind the scenes of a professional wrestling ring with retro point-and-click adventure from Wadjet Eye Games: Da New Guys, available for Windows on Desura and DRM-free (also included is the original soundtrack). Da New Guys is based on 3 wrestlers from England (Brain, Simon and Defender) who have immigrated to America. The story begins with the kidnapping of Brain and his recently won medal; Simon and Defender embark on a journey to save Brain which leads them to the city’s darkest corners. Da New Guys offers pixel hunts, puzzles, a lighthearted story, tongue-in-cheek RPG elements and quirky dialogue.

Included in the Getaway Bundle is a twin-stick shooter from Squid In A Box Waves, available for Windows on Steam, Desura and DRM-free, which offers a rather unique destination that is “out of this world.” Waves is different from other games of its kind by rewarding you for killing your enemies by triggering a slow-motion buffer and the ability to bomb them; it offers quite lively chiptune tracks and some strategy elements when it comes to killing enemies. Offering five different modes, leaderboards and 20 levels Waves was recognized by Eurogamer as one of the “finest examples of the twin-stick arcade shooter genre to arrive in recent years.”

Last up is I-Game-Art’s retro 1bit RPG miniFlake available for Windows on Desura and DRM-free. A roguelike RPG, miniFlake offers great chiptune music; retro sound effects; and randomly generated dungeons, overworld maps location names, and NPCs. The goal of the game is to pillage dungeons, and this gets increasingly difficult with each level. MiniFlake is still an Alpha: an updated build will be made available on your Indie Royale Key Page every time developer updates it (and the Desura version will automatically update).

Finally, those who pay $8 USD or their currency equivalent during the Getaway Bundle will get ‘Handheld Heroes Volume One’ a project, directed by Saskrotch which consists of 41-tracks from leading chiptune artists. Featuring familiar artists like Wizwars, Alex Mauer, Heosphoros, little-scale, OxygenStar, Goto80, zabutom, IAYD, Bit Shifter, this compilation pays homage to Game Boy, Master System, NES, Game Boy Advance, Amiga and a myriad of other “old skool” consoles.

You can find more information on Getaway Bundle, including real-time statistics and its current price, on its official website or via its Facebook and Twitter pages. And a final reminder – get in early while the prices are still low (unless generous contributors drop the price), so “get away” and grab a bundle today!

Indie Royale’s Gone Fishin’ Bundle has launched

Indie Royale is once again back and this time, they have Gone Fishin’. This new bundle includes six games going with the pay-what-you-want model, but with a minimum pricing of $5.52 at the moment. It offers Sol: Exodus, All Zombies Must Die!, Cubemen (first three all available through Steam), Squids, Platformance: Castle Pain, and Platformance: Temple Death. Every game except All Zombies Must Die! is available through Desura and DRM-free downloads. In addition, Cubemen and Squids are the only available games for Mac. Also upon purchasing the bundle, you’ll receive VectorGeddon, its PC debut, and Sol:Exodus‘ artbook and official soundtrack. Check out the video and official blog post below that each highlights the games included and look at the official website here. There’s still seven days left to claim your bundle now. Oh and if you pay $8 or more, you’ll receive Floex’s aka Tomáš Dvořák, who created the Machinarium soundtrack to Amanita Design’s point-and-click game, wonderful album, Pocustones.

The first bait on the hook is Seamless Entertainment’s Unreal Engine-powered 3D space-action game: SOL: Exodus now available for Windows on Steam, Desura and DRM-free. Save humanity from the dying sun by finding a new home, and blast your way through multiple missions while enjoying easy-to-grasp Wing Commander-esque controls and core gameplay alongside an involved story. Destructoid calls SOL: Exodus an “accessible, exciting spacefighter sim” and suggests that “(a)nyone looking for a good space dogfight should feel obliged to give it a try.”

If that isn’t enough to reel you in, Doublesix Games’ undead-heavy topdown shooter All Zombies Must Die! will surely tempt you to bite. Available for Windows on Steam, this game offers a smattering of role-playing and strategy features, an unexpected cartoon-like art style and witty dialogue filled with clever pop-culture references. For those who played All Zombies Must Die! on the PSN or XBLA, you’ll be pleased to note that the PC release offers relief to zombie swarming by adding a new ‘treacle’ mechanic, “which will allow players to wade through otherwise impassible zombie crowds.”

Also offered in this tempting bundle are two games from 3 Sprockets, led by Cubemen, an acclaimed tower defense title now available for Windows and Mac on Steam, Desura and DRM-free. Play out the epic battle between red and blue by placing pixel men on the board to defend your base across 35 levels. The Skirmish mode offers what Gamezebo calls “a refreshing twist on tower defense” where players get to play against the AI or in multiplayer mode across 25 additional levels. Also from 3 Sprockets is bonus game VectorGeddon available for Windows and Mac as a DRM-free standalone exclusively on Indie Royale. It’s a fast-paced Missile Command style game where players spawn missile silos around the planet, and target incoming asteroids to destroy them in order to keep the population of Earth from hitting zero.

Suitably included in this ‘fishy’ bundle is Squids from The Game Bakers, available for Windows and Mac on Desura and DRM-free. Offering a clever mix of action strategy and RPG, this game is based on saving the world of the squids from an evil black ooze that threatens to destroy civilization by building a team of heroes to fight epic turn-based battles against corrupted crabs and shrimps. Touch Arcade calls the iOS versions of Squids “kinetic, clean, charming, and particularly streamlined” and says the game “has a ton of character, fun, and unique constructs to share.”

Last on the fishing lure are two PC debuts from Magiko Gaming: Platformance: Castle Pain and Platformance: Temple Death, both devious side-scrolling ‘masocore’ platformers available for Windows on Desura and DRM-free. Originally developed for Xbox Live Indie Games, these games are tough as nails but satisfying to beat. Platformance: Castle Pain stars a heavily armored knight who must overcome various challenging platform goodness to save the princess. Also debuting is Platformance: Temple Death, which is based on saving famous starlet Grace Belly by navigating though traps and challenges as an adventurer with a hat and whip. Indie Gamer Chick notes that the series is “pretty to look at, sound wonderful, and (…) offers a legitimate challenge without going out of their way to be unfair.”

Finally, those who pay $8 USD or their currency equivalent during the Gone Fishin’ Bundle will get ‘Pocustone’ the debut album from Floex (aka Tomas Dvorak), the Czech musician who created the lauded Machinarium soundtrack. This critically acclaimed album bridges relatively isolated genres such as nu-jazz, electronic and modern contemporary music, and appears in a bundle for the first time here.

Gamersgate’s summer sale is here

In case you missed the huge Steam Summer Sale, Gamersgate is having one of their own. The summer sale lasts a whopping four weeks and each week highlights a genre. This week is RPG Games. In addition, there are four daily deals. Today they are BioShock Complete Pack, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale, and Dark Messiah Might & Magic. Check out the catalog of RPG games here to catch a bargain.

Here’s a hint for the upcoming deals tomorrow:

“Tomorrow we´re going to space with our pockets filled with Interstellar Kredit! After that, off to the beautiful island of Faranga for some temple ruin sightseeing (monster slaying included!), and last but not least: some classic D&D dungeon crawling!”

Indie Royale has launched their July Jubilee Bundle

Indie Royale is back with the July Jubilee Bundle and brings six games for your pleasure. The games that are included are: Puzzle Agent, Geneforge Saga, Oniken, Mutant Storm Reloaded, Swift☆Stitch, and Unepic. Puzzle Agent along with the Geneforge Saga and Mutant Storm Reloaded are all available on Steam and Desura. The other games, Oniken, Swift☆Stitch, and Unepic are available on Desura. Each game is playable on Windows; however, Puzzle Agent, Geneforge Saga,  and Swift☆Stitch are the only ones available on Mac. The current pricing is set at the minimum of $5.46. Pick up your bundle here before it ends in less than seven days. Also here’s a detailed description of the games after the trailer.

First up is a super-smart indie adventure with a puzzle twist: Telltale Games’ Puzzle Agent. Downloadable for Windows and Mac on Steam, Desura and DRM-free, this game uses indie comic creator Graham Annable’s unique art style to reveal FBI Agent, Nelson Tethers, who is on his first mission for the U.S. Department of Puzzle Research. Check out the game that AdventureGamers dubs “a charming lite adventure filled with quirky characters and challenging puzzles that anyone can enjoy solving”, featuring 30+ puzzles spanning math, logic and spatial thinking.

Next up are five old-school, open-world RPGs brought to you by Spiderweb Software: the Geneforge Saga, now available for Windows on Steam and Windows and Mac on Desura and DRM-free. Set in an alternate sci-fi/fantasy universe, DIY Gamer explains of the old-school RPG: “The whole series is very highly regarded, with each game giving you a rough overarching goal, but lets you go about it however you see fit, developing your own character and your personal squad of mutant minions to tackle the challenges.” So what are you waiting for?

Also offered in this bundle is a much buzzed-about 2D platformer inspired by 8-bit action games from the NES era: Oniken, available for Windows on Desura and DRM-free. Play a ninja named Zuku as you slash and hack your way through a dystopian future and battle a dominant military organization of cybernetic warriors known as the Oniken. Offering uber challenging boss fights, a campy sense of humor and great old school 8 bit music, this game can’t be missed. Destructoid celebrates Oniken for its presentation: “Oniken feels like a project holistically designed around one person’s love of ’80s action film and ’90s anime imports.”

Included in this bundle is Pom Pom’s critically acclaimed psychedelic shmup Mutant Storm Reloaded available for Windows on Steam, Desura and DRM-free. Offering over 89 (!) levels of frenetic fun, each level starts off easy, but quickly works up to large, tentacle creatures and regenerating enemies that are require skill to beat. You can’t miss this game, recognized by Eurogamer for being “thrilling, constantly surprising, and possessed of a wonky beauty that makes it unforgettable. … It’s a bit like finding yourself in the midst of a parasite disco staged within the womb of a jelly baby.”

Also “marching” in this parade of great indie games are two games from Sophie Houlden: Swift*Stitch available for Windows and Mac on Desura and DRM-free and a bonus game that was created during the Indie Buskers game jam: Rose and Time available for Windows and Mac as a DRM Free standalone. Swift*Stitch offers a plethora of levels, and this game challenges you *not* to press buttons to power your ship but to press the right buttons at the right moment to make it to the end of the maze. Included is a trancelike soundtrack from Aeronic that nicely contrasts to Swift*Stitch’s razor-focused play. Also included is Rose and Time, a clever time travel stealth game offering ten levels with a catch: you have to make sure the past you doesn’t see the present you, because that would create a paradox.

Rounding out the bundle is Francisco Téllez de Meneses’ labor of love, Unepic available for Windows on Desura and DRM-free. Unepic cleverly combines an RPG with a platformer and offers a quirky sense of humor throughout. Play as Daniel, an average gamer/geek who gets teleported to a fantasy castle while using the restroom during a D&D Game. Destructoid calls Unepic a “unique gaming experience” suggesting that this game is definitely worth a try if you “enjoy running around in castles, jumping around platforms and figuring out the best way to slay monsters.” Also available to July Jubilee Bundle purchasers are the “Royale Ring” (offering extra health and experience in each game) and 100 “Unepic Credits” (available via a downloadable key) that you can use to grab special in-game items.

Finally, those who pay $8 USD or their currency equivalent during the July Jubilee Bundle will get ‘Insert’ from Japanese chiptune legend Prof.SAKAMOTO, a $7 value on its own. This clever concept album, about a future where inhabitants have game cartridge slots on the top of their heads, comes from an artist also famous for his unique Final Fantasy piano performances on YouTube.

Lili to release in the coming weeks for iOS

Lee Perry, the ex-Gears of War and Fortnite designer, founded his new studio, BitMonster Games. The first game that will release from the recently formed studio will be Lili, an adventure RPG hybrid. The new title will soon be available for iOS devices. In addition, the game will us Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3, after BitMonster Games signed a deal to use the engine for its upcoming releases. Perry assures the new studio will release games for PC as well. He stated: “‘Epic has been extremely supportive of our new studio and in helping us build the game of our dreams. We set out to create an adventure that is appropriate for nearly anyone. As a designer, it’s exciting to see that the Unreal Engine 3 tools are better than ever, and they provide everything we need to achieve a gratifying and imaginative experience'” (Eurogamer).

Game of Thrones becoming a free-to-play MMORPG

I don’t know much about Game of Thrones, in fact I don’t really know anything about it at all. I know it’s an HBO show and recently, there was an RPG release that fell short. Well now there is a free-to-play browser-based MMORPG on the way developed by Bigpoint Games, the developer of Battlestar Galactica Online and Drakensang Online. The new game is based on the HBO series rather than the series written by George R.R. Martin and here’s a trailer shown at Comic-Con. Honestly, it doesn’t look very impressive at all for an MMO.

Steam’s midweek madness reduces indie tower-defense, Dungeon Defenders

Supposedly Steam’s summer sale will begin on the 12th making this midweek madness sale the last for the next two weeks. Dungeon Defenders has received the special Steam discount this week at 66% off. Dungeon Defenders latest Quest of Lost Eternia Shards DLC is available now at just $3.99. But even if you don’t want to shell out $4 for a DLC, the other DLCs are all 66% off and range from $0.33-$1.69. Additionally if you don’t own this indie tower defense game, you can pick up the game for just $5.09 as pretty cheap try-out. The Trendy Entertainment game mixes tower defense, action, strategy, and RPG into one allowing you to immerse yourself in the quirky game solo or with a buddy or two. The game supports both PC and Mac versions and uses Steamplay (just a one time purchase and you get both editions). The sale ends on Thursday at 7.oopm EST.

Give me loot! Diablo III receives loot hotfix

You can now have a better chance of finding high-end gear levels 61 through 63 in Diablo III’s Act III and VI on Hell difficulty and in all the Inferno difficult Acts.

Hell – Act III and Act IV

• iLvl 61: 9% to 13.9% (old drop rate to new drop rate)
• iLvl 62: 1.9% to 3.45%
• iLvl 63: 0% (no change)

Inferno – Act I

• iLvl 61: 17.7% to 23.9%
• iLvl 62: 7.9% to 12.6%
• iLvl 63: 2.0% to 4.8%

Inferno – Act II

• iLvl 61: 18.6% to 23.3%
• iLvl 62: 12.4% to 18.6%
• iLvl 63: 4.1% to 9.3%

Inferno – Act III and Act IV

• iLvl 61: 24.1% to 27.1%
• iLvl 62: 16.1% to 21.7%
• iLvl 63: 8.0% to 16.3%

Deus Ex franchise reduced to 75% off for the weekend on Steam

This weekend Steam has selected the Deus Ex franchise to be 75% off. The complete Deus Ex Collection is available for just $14.99. It includes: Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Explosive Mission Pack, Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Tactical Enhancement Pack, Deus Ex: Human Revolution – The Missing Link, Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition, Deus Ex: Invisible War. Play as Adam Jensen, a security specialist, in this action RPG that integrates stealth, hacking, and direct combat in this open world game. Pick up the game before the deal ends on Monday at 1pm EST.

Additionally the Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Augmented Edition is available for $9.99 and includes the following:

• Exclusive 40-page Artbook – Showcasing the concepts behind the world of 2027. Discover the origins of the design, the characters and the weapons of Deus Ex: Human Revolution
• 44-minute making-of chronicling the trials and tribulations of the Eidos-Montreal team
• Motion comic based on the first issue of the DC Comics adaptation
• Game soundtrack composed by Michael McCann
• E3 Trailer and animated storyboard

Secrets of Grindea receives Game of the Year award

This cute retro RPG, Secrets of Grindea, recently received the Game of the Year award at the Swedish Game Awards. The RPG will feature co-op once it launches sometime late 2012 or early 2013. Additionally, the game has a detailed loot system that allows for crafting and the developers implemented a nice gameplay hint system where the Bag will help you if you are stuck versus certain special enemies or you’re unsure of where to head next. Check the official website which features an update devblog and the trailer below.

Blizzard provides refund to South Korean gamers; two Canadian gamers defeat Inferno Hardcore Diablo as world first

If you’re in South Korea and you play Diablo III, well you can get a full refund from Blizzard Entertainment. This is due to their awful launch when most people couldn’t even play and if they could’ve, they were soon to be plagued by Error 37 or something else that prohibited gameplay on the much-anticipated release of the third installment of Blizzard’s popular RPG. Previously the South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission ‘raided’ Blizzard’s headquarters in Seoul in order to find evidence against the company. Many Korean gamers filed complaints against the company and subsequently demanded for a refund; however before this sudden realization to refund their customers back, Blizzard originally has a strict no refund policy. With the recent change, I would hope Blizzard realizes it is unacceptable to release a game that people can barely play or not even at all play on the launch date.

Additionally, Blizzard has already released Patch 1.0.3 that adds class balance changes and altered item loot drop rates among many other tweaks. Check out the video below which features two Canadian gamers, Kripp and Krippi, who defeated Inferno Diablo III using their hardcore characters and obviously never died once. The achievement certainly deserves a lot of respect and admiration considering how much time they spent to finish the feat before Blizzard’s latest patch nerfs Inferno mode.

Diablo III patch 1.0.3 live

Diablo III‘s patch 1.o.3 is now live in the United States. The patch includes a bunch of new balance changes among the classes as well as a serious overhaul concerning the cost of crafting as well as adjusted loot drop rates, user interface changes, and bug fixes. The patch will release today for both Europe and Asia and will require the game to be offline from the hours of 2am GMT/3am CEST on the 20th until noon GMT/1pm CEST, therefore plan your Diablo III playing time accordingly.

Check out all the patch 1.0.3. notes below.

General

To prevent monsters from being unintentionally kited into town from other areas of the game, portals have been placed at both ends of the bridge from New Tristram to The Weeping Hollow. Towns have always been intended to be a safe haven from combat, and this change will help keep the denizens of New Tristram safe from the dangers that lurk beyond its walls.

Battle.net

General
Friends will now sort alphabetically by name within the Friends List, first by Real ID and then by BattleTag
The Quick Join menu will now also sort alphabetically by name, first by Real ID and then by BattleTag
Chat settings and preferences will now be saved whenever you log out
Reporting another player using the Report > Spam option will now mute that player for the duration of your gaming session
Bug Fixes

Using the /who command in a heavily populated chat channel should no longer cause the client to crash
The “Invite to Party” button should no longer become grayed-out if a player:

Declines a party invite
Requests a party invite and then declines it
Accepts a party invite, but immediately then leaves the party

The character screen should now always display the display the correct act and quest information
If Real ID has been disabled for a Battle.net account, attempting to add a Real ID friend in Diablo III will now prompt the player with the following error message: “Battle.net is unable to add friends because you have Real ID disabled.”

Classes

Barbarian
Active Skills
Ignore Pain
Skill Rune – Contempt for Weakness
The amount of damage reflected will now cap at the player’s maximum Life

Overpower
Skill Rune – Crushing Advance
The amount of damage reflected will now cap at the player’s maximum Life
The tooltip has been updated to represent that both melee and ranged damage are reflected

Weapon Throw
Tooltip now displays the correct duration for how long a target will be slowed: “Hurl a throwing weapon at any enemy for 100% weapon damage and Slow the movement of the enemy by 60% for 1.5 seconds.” (The functionality of the skill has not changed.)

Passive Skills
Relentless
Now reduces the Fury cost of all skill by 75%, down from 100% (the 50% damage reduction remains unchanged)

Demon Hunter
Active Skills
Cluster Arrow
Skill Rune – Dazzling Arrow
Tooltip now displays the correct type of weapon damage dealt by Dazzling Arrow: “Enemies hit by grenades have a 55% chance to be stunned for 2 seconds and changes the damage to Physical.” (The functionality of the skill has not changed.)

Grenades
Skill Rune – Stun Grenades
Tooltip now displays the correct duration for how long a target will be stunned: “Hurl grenades that have a 25% chance to Stun enemies for 1.5 seconds.” (The functionality of the skill has not changed.)

Bug Fixes
Caltrops
Skill Rune – Jagged Spikes
Effect will now only stack up to 10 times on a single target

Elemental Arrow
Skill Rune – Nether Tentacles
Tentacles will now only hit each target once

Monk
General
Monks can now use two-handed axes, two-handed maces, and two-handed swords

Active Skills
Serenity
Skill Rune – Instant Karma
The amount of damage reflected will now cap at the player’s maximum Life

Seven-Sided Strike
Skill Rune – Sustained Attack
Tooltip has been updated for clarity: “Reduces the cooldown of Seven-Sided Strike to 23 seconds.” (The functionality of the skill has not changed.)

Mantra of Retribution
Damage will now cap based on the maximum Life of the target

Bug Fixes

Near Death Experience

Fatal damage absorbed by Serenity will no longer trigger Near Death Experience

Witch Doctor

Active Skills

Summon Zombie Dogs

Skill Rune – Leeching Beasts

Tooltip has been updated for clarity: “Your Zombie Dogs heal 50% of the damage they deal as Life divided evenly between themselves and you.” (The functionality of the skill has not changed.)

Wizard

Active Skills

Diamond Skin

Skill Rune – Mirror Skin

The amount of damage reflected will now cap at the amount of damage absorbed by Diamond Skin

Magic Weapon

When activated, a buff icon will now appear that displays the amount of time remaining

Meteor

Skill Rune – Star Pact

Now deals damage as Arcane instead of Fire

Passive Skills

Paralysis

Tooltip now displays the correct duration for how long a target will be stunned: “Lightning damage dealt to enemies has up to a 8% chance to Stun the target for 1.5 seconds.” (The functionality of the skill has not changed.)

Items

General

+ Attack Speed bonus values on weapons and armor have been reduced by 50%

This change does not apply to quivers

High-end items (items level 61-63) will now drop in all Acts of Inferno and Acts III and IV of Hell difficulty

The new approximate drop rates are as follows:

Hell – Act III and Act IV

iLvl 61: 9%
iLvl 62: 1.9%
iLvl 63: 0%

Inferno – Act I

iLvl 61: 17.7%
iLvl 62: 7.9%
iLvl 63: 2.0%

Inferno – Act II

iLvl 61: 18.6%
iLvl 62: 12.4%
iLvl 63: 4.1%

Inferno – Act III and Act IV

iLvl 61: 24.1%
iLvl 62: 16.1%
iLvl 63: 8.0%

Please see the Patch 1.0.3 Design Preview for more information and specific details

Repair costs have been increased for item levels between 53 and 63
Magic Find will no longer be considered when looting objects in the environment such as chests, barrels, vases, pots, and corpses
The item quality of all components needed to craft the Staff of Herding, as well as the Staff of Herding itself, have been changed from Common to Legendary (i.e. their item names will appear orange in color)
The Staff of Herding can no longer be salvaged or dropped
Crafted items that are dropped on the ground due to a player’s inventory being full can no longer be seen or picked up by other players
Unique monsters in Hell and Inferno difficulty are no longer guaranteed to drop two Magic items when slain
Weapon racks will no longer drop weapons 100% of the time
Destructible objects no longer have a chance to drop items, and will only have a small chance to drop gold when destroyed

Weapons and Armor

“Balanced” superior items (i.e. Balanced Short Sword) will now grant a percent attack speed increase that only affects the weapon itself, rather than a flat increase to attacks per second that affected both equipped weapons when dual-wielding
Crowd Control Reduction from items and skills will now reduce the percentage value of Slow, Chill, and Attack Speed debuffs rather than reducing how long the debuff lasts

For example: previously, if you were debuffed by a 60% slow that lasted for 2 seconds while wearing gear that provides 20% Crowd Control Reduction, your movement speed would be reduced by 60%, but only for 1.6 seconds. Now, the same amount of Crowd Control Reduction will reduce the Slow effect to 48%, but the effect will remain for the full 2 second duration.

Manticore now has one additional bonus affix

User Interface

Minimum damage and Maximum damage values will now display separately in an item’s tooltip (i.e. “+2-4 Damage” will now display as “+2 Minimum Damage” and “+2 Maximum Damage”)
Tooltips for items on the ground will now show comparison stats
Resist values will now be taken into effect when calculating the Protection comparison stat (the Protection value is an average protection estimate of all your resists)
When comparing a two-handed weapon against two currently-equipped one-handed weapons, the game will now simulate the removal of both one-handed weapons (instead of simply removing the main-hand weapon, which resulted in an inaccurate comparison)
When selling items to a vendor, the most recently sold items will now always display at the bottom of the Buyback tab

Bug Fixes

Items level 50 and above will now display their item level in the tooltip
Damage Over Time (DoT) skills will now properly benefit from items with the +Critical Chance affix
Legendary items with the +Attack Speed bonus will now correctly provide a bonus to attack speed

Please note that this fix will only affect new Legendary drops. Existing Legendary items will be addressed in future patch.

Players wearing +Life on Kill items should no longer receive a benefit from this affix when “killing” friendly monsters (e.g. when a witch doctor re-summons a Spider Queen while another Spider Queen is still active)
Fixed a bug with linking items with socketed gems in chat
Fixed a bug where vendors would occasionally not have any items for sale
Fixed a bug where selling more than 12 items to a vendor and then buying back 1 of those items could cause multiple items to disappear from the Buyback tab
Fixed a bug where swapping a 1-slot item (i.e. a ring) with 2-slot item (i.e. a weapon) in the second or third tab of a player’s stash would sometimes cause the 2-slot item to be filtered incorrectly to the first tab
Fixed a bug that was causing Collector’s Edition dyes to sell for the same price regardless of stack size

Crafting

General

The gold and material crafting costs for all items level 1-59 have been reduced by 50% to 75%

Blacksmith

The gold cost to level the Blacksmith has been reduced by 50%
The number of Pages of Blacksmithing, Tomes of Blacksmithing, or Tomes of Secrets required to level the Blacksmith has been reduced

Base levels now require 1 page/tome, down from 5
Milestone levels now require 2 pages/tomes, down from 5

The number of Pages of Blacksmithing and Tomes of Blacksmithing required to craft items level 1-59 has been reduced
Items with 3 affixes no longer require Pages of Blacksmithing or Tomes of Blacksmithing to craft
The gold cost of crafting items with 4 affixes and 5 affixes (including items in Inferno difficulty) has been reduced
Weapon crafting costs have been reduced
The chance for level 60 items to produce Legendary crafting materials when salvaged has been reduced

Jeweler

The gold and material cost to combine gems ranks 2-8 has been reduced

Combinations for these ranks now only require 2 gems, down from 3

The gold cost to combine each rank of gems is now as follows:

Rank 2 – Flawed: 10 gold (down from 500 gold)
Rank 3 – Regular: 25 gold (down from 750 gold)
Rank 4 – Flawless: 40 gold (down from 1250 gold)
Rank 5 – Perfect: 55 gold (down from 2000 gold)
Rank 6 – Radiant: 70 gold (down from 3500 gold)
Rank 7 – Square: 85 gold (down from 7500 gold)
Rank 8 – Flawless Square: 100 gold (down from 20,000 gold)

Followers

General

Bug Fixes

Fixed a bug where the maximum Life of your followers was being displayed as different values in different parts of the game UI

Enchantress

Skills

Mass Control

Radius reduced from 15 yards to 8 yards
If Enchantress also has Reflect Missiles trained, Mass Control will no longer accidentally hex the player when both skills are activated
Skill will now correctly target enemies in all circumstances

Bosses

General

Bosses have had their pathing improved
The quality of the item for the fourth stack of Nephalem Valor from bosses has been slightly reduced

Skeleton King

Abilities

Will now summon Skeletal Archers in Hell and Inferno difficulties

The Warden (mini-boss)

General

Now has Fast and Molten affixes, in addition to Jailer
In Inferno difficulty, the Warden will also gain the Desecrator affix

Butcher

Bug Fixes

Fixed an issue where the corner panel fires in the Chamber of Suffering were doing twice as much damage as intended

Ghom

Abilities

Gas Cloud

Radius of Gas Cloud has been slightly reduced
Slowing effect has been removed
The amount of damage dealt by Gas Cloud when first entering the cloud has been reduced, but the amount of damage incurred for remaining in the cloud has been increased
In Inferno difficulty, Gas Clouds will last longer, spawn 2 at a time, and (after 4 minutes) spawn more quickly

Maghda

Bug Fixes

Punish Dust projectiles can no longer be reflected

Zoltun Kulle

General

Zoltun Kulle will now enrage in Inferno difficulty after 3 minutes, using his Ceiling Collapse ability more often and for much higher damage

Abilities

Ceiling Collapse

Can now be cast at a player from any range

Fireball

Fireball attack now moves slower
Can now be cast at a player from any range

Teleport

Will now Teleport and run away from the player less often
Will now occasionally Teleport to the player

Belial

General

Belial will now enrage in Inferno difficulty after 3 minutes in his final phase, increasing the number of green pools dropped across the entire encounter platform

Bug Fixes

Fixed a bug that was causing Belial to use his breath attack away from the player rather than towards the player under certain circumstances

Siegebreaker

General

Overall damage has been reduced
No longer vulnerable to Confuse and Charm effects
Will now drop a health globe every 25% health mark (i.e. at 75%, 50%, and 25% health)
Now enrages after 4 minutes
In Inferno difficulty, Siegebreaker will now gain the Reflects Damage affix

Cydaea

Abilities

Spiderlings

Spiderlings will now have an easier time hitting players, but their damage has been reduced by 20% to compensate
In Inferno difficulty, Spiderlings will now live longer, be more spread out, and (after 4 minutes) spawn more often

Rakanoth

General

In Inferno difficulty, Rakanoth will now become much more aggressive after 3 minutes

Izual

General

Health pool has been increased
The number of Oppressors that join the fight has been reduced from 4 to 2
Will no longer target Followers or Tyrael as frequently

Abilities

Base Attacks

Base attack damage has been lowered
No longer does Cold damage on top of base attacks

Charge

Charge damage has been reduced
Knockback has been removed
Will Charge slightly more often, but will only target players

Frozen Bombs

Frozen Bomb damage has been reduced
Bombs will now explode faster
Only 8 Bombs will now spawn around the player rather than 12
Bombs will spawn at Izual’s feet less often

Frost Explosion

Frost Explosion damage has been reduced by 70%
Duration of freeze has been increased
Damage dealt to players while frozen will now break the effect
Players can now use defensive cooldown while frozen
Players can no longer avoid being frozen by doing high amounts of amount to Izual

Bug Fixes

Izual will no longer spawn twice if a player skips his introductory cut-scene

Diablo

Bug Fixes

Damage Over Time (DoT) effects will now be properly cancelled when Diablo becomes invisible and casts Shadow Clones in Phase Two
Diablo “Stomp” ability is now correctly classified as a debuff instead of a buff
Fixed a bug that was causing pets to not attack Shadow Clones

Monsters

General

Champions, Rares, and Uniques have had their pathing improved
Elite packs (Champion/Rare) now drop an additional item for players with 5 stacks of Nephalem Valor, which is guaranteed to be of Rare quality
Damage from monsters in Acts II, III, and IV in Inferno difficulty has been reduced
Colossal Golgor base damage has been reduced
Herald of Pestilence tentacle attack damage has been reduced
Soul Ripper and Soul Lasher damage has been reduced and both monsters will now run away less often
Wasps in Act II, Mage Constructs in Act II, and Winged Mollocks in Acts III and IV will now run away less
Succubus monsters will now run away less and for a shorter distance
The health pools of Woodwraiths in the Highlands now match the health pools of Woodwraiths in the Fields of Misery
Lacuni and Scavenger Rares and and Champions will now un-burrow when called by their allies
Bloodclan Warriors no longer knockback when buffed and attack slightly slower
Morlu no longer have the Invulnerable Minions, Health Link, or Fire Chains affixes
Plagued, Arcane Enchanted, and Electrified monsters no longer have resistance to Poison, Arcane, and Lightning damage (respectively)
Leaders of Invulnerable Minions packs have had their health pools reduced
Mortar monsters can now hurl projectiles farther, but their minimum range has also been increased by 100%

Bug Fixes

Interrupting a monster attack before it lands will now properly trigger its cooldown
Treasure Goblins will now drop gold piles for all nearby players
Lacuni Warrior Rares and Champions will now reset their enrage timer correctly in Inferno difficulty
The Succubus “Blood Star” debuff will no longer affect the player if the damage from the projectile is dodged/blocked/etc
The damage from the Succubus “Blood Star” debuff will now scale based on the current cost of a player’s skill, even if the cost is reduced by items or skill runes
Monsters with the Extra Health affix should no longer gain more health every time players leave and join the game
Monsters with the Reflects Damage affix will no longer reflect Follower damage back to the player
Monsters with the Health Link and Knockback affixes will no longer knockback friendly monsters
Fixed a bug that was causing Champion Wallers to occasionally create walls at their location rather than the player’s location
Fixed a bug where Sandwasp projectiles could sometimes become invisible

Bug Fixes

General

The experience bar for characters at level cap on a Guest Pass account will now display 0/0 experience. If the account holder upgrades to the full game, their characters will be at 0/41000 experience towards the next level.
The speed of the animation that plays when resurrecting another players should no longer scale with your attack speed
Attempting to cast a skill while spamming the Town Portal hot key will now correctly interrupt the Town Portal cast and animation
Players who use Town Portal while in a tar pit will no longer keep the tar pit debuff after being teleported
It is no longer possible for players in Hell difficulty to skip to Inferno difficulty by creating and leaving Public Games
It is no longer possible to prevent character death in a single-player game by pausing the game in one game client and then logging into the same account from a different game client
Fixed a bug where The Lyceum in the Southern Highlands was not appearing
Fixed a bug where players could switch their offerings in the Trade window right before clicking “Accept” and, due to high latency, the game would not always be able to verify that both players were accepting the same offerings
Fixed a bug that was allowing players to temporarily pick up items that belonged to another account
Fixed a bug that was causing players to become stuck when using a banner to port to another player that was in an “un-walkable” location (i.e. to a barbarian in the middle of performing Leap)
Fixed a position desync bug (aka “rubberbanding”) that could happen when some movement skills (Strafe, Whirlwind, Tempest Rush) ended because the player ran out of the appropriate resource
Fixed several issues where a player’s character would get stuck or “rubberband” while moving if their movement speed was slowed in any way
Several performance improvements have been made to both the PC and Mac client

Auction House

Item tooltips in the auction house will now correctly reflect stat bonuses provided by socketed gems
Items with class-specific affixes should now display the class restriction properly
It should no longer be possible for players to purchase a stack of items so large that it cannot be sent to their stash
The data displayed in each auction house tab should now properly reset when logging out

Diablo III’s real-money auction house is live

Now if you so choose, you can spend your lovely paychecks for items to don your Diablo III character in (well at least for North America). Yup, you can purchase this lovely 279.6 DPS spear for $250. $250 is the maximum bid you are allowed to place on items and with each successful auction Blizzard will take $1 and the minimum requirement is $1.25. In addition, any money you make and wish to place not for you Battle.net account balance, then you are subjected to a 15% withdrawal fee. If you do happen to use the auction house and make some dough, well you can use your account balance to pay for your WoW subscription or pets or the purchase of other Blizzard games through your Battle.net account. There is no idea when the real-money auction house will hit other regions yet. If you wish to use this new feature, you are required to have a Battle.net authenticator associated to your account, obviously for security purposes. Check out the the official Diablo III site for more information.

For Equipment (weapons, armor, accessories, and other unique items)

• Transaction Fee (Gold Auction House): 15% of final sale price
• Transaction Fee (Real-Money Auction House): $1.00 USD per item / $1.00 AUD per item
• Transfer Fee (when sending proceeds to PayPal or other authorized payment-service provider): 15% of amount being transferred

For Commodities (gems, materials, dyes, pages, recipes, and other non-unique items)

• Transaction Fee (Gold Auction House): 15% of final sale price
• Transaction Fee (Real-Money Auction House): 15% of final sale price
• Transfer Fee (when sending proceeds to PayPal or other authorized payment-service provider): 15% of amount being transferred

Larian Studios’ Divinity: Original Sin scheduled to release in Q1 2013

The Belgian developer, Larian Studios, is producing a new title in the Divinity franchise. Divinity: Original Sin is scheduled to release in 2013 and is in fact set before Divine Divinity (2002). The turn-based RPG is bringing back the hack n’ slash RPGs. Additionally the game is a cooperative game that not only allows players to work together, but also in fact has the players work completely together in battle and quests and even in the dialogue. Therefore, both players will be required to interact with the NPC in a three-way conversation rather than continually have one player hand in a quest and hear the NPC ramble on and on. As well as the innovative co-op dialogue, the Reputation and Attitude system is different and there’s even going to be a complete level editor available due to Larian Studios combined efforts with Valve’s Steam Workshop.

“Despite being turn based, it’s impressively fluid, based heavily around use and manipulation of the elements. Cast a rain spell and you’ll create a puddle that can then be electrified, evaporated or frozen, each with their own appropriate effects. There’s even the threat of slipping up on the ice, knocking yourself over for a turn. Despite being relatively simple with its elements, it’s obvious that there is that breadth of experimentation that made, say, Magicka so successful” (IGN).

If you are interested in the game after viewing the recent E3 trailers below, check out Divinity II: Ego Draconis and Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga both available on Steam. There is even a demo for Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga for you to try!

 

CD Projekt RED announces new AAA RPG title, Cyberpunk

Wait no longer, CD Projekt RED has officially announced its next AAA RPG, Cyberpunk, which is clearly fitting to the image they teased of well, a cyberpunk. In fact the video game is a “version of Mike Pondsmith’s classic ’80s pen and paper RPG series Cyberpunk” (Eurogamer).

The game is “a mature RPG for a mature audience” claims the Polish developer. There is still no word on which platforms(s) it’ll release on, but hopefully it’ll at least release on PC, considering the amazing backing CD Projekt RED has gained from The Witcher series as well as their digital distributor, Good Old Games a.k.a. GOG.

Also no word on the launch date, but check out TheWitcher.com tomorrow at 1pm EST for details about their upcoming RPG in a livestream.

“For over two decades, I’ve been proud to say that Cyberpunk’s been the gold standard of what it means to be a true cyberpunk game. And it’s been a huge success for me and our many fans, with over 5 million players worldwide,” commented the US author and game creator.

“But over all that time we haven’t found the right team to bring our cyberpunk world to full digital life – until now. CD Projekt Red is the team we’ve been hoping for. Their incredible work on The Witcher and The Witcher 2 shows that they share the same dedication and love of great games that we do at Talsorian.

“I’m especially stoked that they want our participation in making this game a fantastic project that will live up to everything Cyberpunk fans (old and new) have been waiting for. Trust me – this game is going to rock” (Eurogamer).

CD Projekt RED set to release more details about their new project in a livestream tomorrow

CD Projekt RED, developer of The Witcher and The Witcher 2, released a new image above teasing their next RPG in-development. You can hear more about the details of this project at 1pm EST tomorrow from TheWitcher.com by viewing the livestream footage.

Kalypso Media releases Dark trailer, scheduled to release in 2013

Kalypso Media has introduced a trailer for their upcoming Xbox 360 and PC game, Dark. Published by Kalypso Media and developed Realmforge Studios, this new RPG is a stealth action game that puts you in the reins as a vampire. This game will release in 2013 at some point. Check out the details, screenshots, and trailer below.

Dark‘s features:

• Stealth and action combine as players walk the world in darkness and silence, attacking their unsuspecting foes with supernatural fury
• Use powerful vampire abilities and hard-hitting melee attacks to defeat dangerous enemies — turn into a puff of smoke and disappear, or close with your foes in an instant!
• Powerful and intelligently controlled AI enemies mix the fantastic with the real-world. Battle police and elite special forces along with ghouls and other vampires
• Castles, museums, skyscrapers, nightclubs and more are rendered in stunning 3D cel-shaded graphics, beckoning the player to explore — but beware, powerful enemies hide everywhere
• RPG element mix with a compelling story – players will build up their skills through successful evasion and combat, while advancing the story through conversations with NPCs

Diablo III is the fast-selling PC game ever, breaks new records

If you haven’t already heard, Blizzard has been receiving a lot of criticism surrounding the newly-released Diablo III. Most recently the news has focused on hacks concerning Diablo III player’ accounts. But in lieu of the recent news, Diablo III has officially become the fastest-selling PC game ever as well as the biggest PC game launch ever too. Diablo III sold over 3.5 million copies in the first 24 hours on sale. Also that statistic doesn’t include the 1.2 million people who claimed the game through Blizzard’s Diablo III World of Warcraft annual pass promotion. In addition to being the fast-selling PC game, it also boasts as the most pre-ordered PC game of all-time on Amazon.com. Also Diablo III is the best day-one sales for any PC game ever on the digital shop. Blizzard’s Mike Morhaime had this to say concerning Diablo III‘s record-breaking achievements and Diablo III players inability to play due the constant maintenance:

“We’re definitely thrilled that so many people around the world were excited to pick up their copy of Diablo 3 and jump in the moment it went live. We also regret that our preparations were not enough to ensure everyone had a seamless experience when they did so. I want to reaffirm our commitment to make sure the millions of Diablo 3 players out there have a great experience with the game moving forward, and I also want to thank them for their ongoing support. Regarding today’s announcement, we recognise that setting a new launch record is a big achievement. However, we’re especially proud of the gameplay feedback we’ve received from players worldwide. We’re pleased that Diablo 3 has lived up to players’ high expectations, and we’re looking forward to welcoming more players into Sanctuary in the days ahead” (Eurogamer).

Getting errors in Diablo III?

What all the Diablo 3 Error messages mean, and what to do about them (Eurogamer)

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 15 May, 2012

Error 37, Error 12 and more.

As thousands struggle to play Diablo 3 and servers buckle under the strain, Blizzard has explained the various error messages players are receiving as they attempt to log-in – and offered advice on how to deal with them.

Two of the more popular error messages are 37 and 12. Error 37 simply means: “The service is undergoing maintenance, please try again later.”

Error 12 is caused by “the Global Play feature being disabled until all regions are active”. Blizzard advised players who receive this message to make sure they choose the correct region when starting the game.

Diablo 3’s server issues explained.

Blizzard’s advice in full:

• “If your installation disc has been ejected, please reinsert and try again. If not, or if you keep seeing this error, log in to Battle.net and install Diablo III digitally” – If you downloaded the installer digitally, this error indicates that it did not convert the files correctly. This can often be caused by closing the downloader early. Though the downloader may show 100%, please allow some time for it to fully complete. To resolve this issue, log into Battle.net and re-run the downloader.
• Error 108 – Similar to “An unexpected decryption error occurred”, the error 108 can be caused by corrupted, damaged or incomplete installation files. This can often times be caused by closing the downloader early. Though the downloader may show 100%, please allow some time for it to fully complete. You may be able to fix this by running the downloader and pointing it to the same saved location so that it may scan and download any missing files.
• Error 12 – This error is caused by the Global Play feature being disabled until all regions are active. Please make sure you choose the correct region when starting the game as per this sticky
• Error 33 and 34200 – The service is undergoing maintenance, please try again later. (Please note that Diablo 3 will not be available for play until May 15 at 12:01 a.m. PDT.
• Error 37 – The server is full. This is likely due to high login traffic. The only solution is to keep trying to log in.
• Error 24000 – Once logged in you may run into this error when attempting to start a game. We’re aware and are working to resolve it as quickly as possible.
• Error 3004, 3006, 3007, or 300008 – There are a number of possible causes for these errors. We’ve found that one of these suggestions can help.
• Error 315300 – If you’re sure you’re typing your correct account information, check to make sure no additional spaces were added before or after your email address. If you’re still running into this issue, there may be an error in your foreign language appdata files. Some players have found a workaround, but please be aware the steps they provide are not something we can currently support.
• Gray login button – You need to use your Battle.net email address as your account name. Your BattleTag is a nickname, not your account name.
• No License Attached – Please create a BattleTag for your account. You can do so here.
• Unable to Initalize Streaming – This error can generally be caused by security software on your computer. During this time, however, it’s possible that the error is caused by the number of people hitting the servers. Please double check your firewall settings and try again.
• Updating Setup Files – If you’re stuck on “Updating Setup Files” try these troubleshooting steps, as well as these.

Torchlight 2 class guides in one handy list

I’m sure many people including myself are getting ready for Diablo III. However, if you also like Runic Games’ Torchlight or prefer it over Blizzard’s Diablo series, here are a list of Torchlight 2 class guide videos to help you prepare. Also if you’d like to pre-purchase Torchlight 2, you may do so here from Steam which will net you a free copy of Torchlight if you don’t have it or if you do, you may gift it to a friend.

Torchlight 2 engineer class guide

Torchlight 2 beserker class guide

Torchlight 2 outlander class guide

Torchlight 2 embermage class guide