Friday 28 February 2014

Customers become master thieves across GAME Retail stores today

PS4 unlocked at GAME Stratford in under 2 minutes


Square Enix® publishers of interactive entertainment products in Europe and across PAL territories, gave sneaky shoppers the chance to crack 1 of 10 chests in GAME™ stores across the UK today, to mark the highly anticipated launch of Thief today.

Would be thieves were given a standard issue lock-pick, a ‘how to’ guide to picking locks and just five minutes to break into a locked chest at each participating GAME™ store. Prizes include a PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, PlayStation®Vita handheld entertainment system, a high-end gaming rig from AMD, or Titan Books’ The Art of Thief signed by Nicolas Cantin, Game Director on Thief, with GAME store vouchers.

Yanni Anagnostou, 19, from Walthamstow picked the lock at GAME, Stratford in an impressive time of 1 minute 27.99 seconds to win a PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system.

A total of ten GAME™ stores across UK took part in today's challenge. 

 



PRODUCT INFORMATION
THIEF
Formats: PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XO
Out: 25/2/2014
Publisher: Square Enix



Xbox One bundle shots





PRODUCT INFORMATION
Titanfall
Formats: XO, PC, X360
Out: 03/11/2014 (XO)
 14/03/2014 (PC)
 28/03/2014 (X360)
Publisher: EA
Developer: Respawn Entertainment

GTA Online: The Business Update Coming Next Week, Tuesday March 4th


We are pleased to announce that more content for GTA Online is incoming next week.  Players will be able to enjoy the perks of rising through the ranks of their Los Santos and Blaine County business ventures with The Business Update, coming Tuesday March 4th to PSN and Xbox Live.  

Thrill-seekers and weekend warriors can hop in any of three all-new, blazing fast sports cars: theAlbany AlphaDinka Jester and Grotti Turismo R... or take to the skies in the new Vestra airplane.

Take to the skies in the luxurious Vestra.

Swing by Ammu-Nation to pick up two new weapons, the Heavy Pistol and Special Carbine, which both offer some serious firepower. 

Dress for success with formal and business casual attire options like new suit jackets, slacks, glasses, heels and blouses, or don new all-business hairstyles and currency themed tattoos. There's also a collection of new masks, perfect for disguising yourself during the next hostile takeover.


 The Heavy Pistol and Special Carbine, two new weapons available as part of The Business Update.
Just like the recent Valentine's Day Massacre Special, the new vehicles and weapons will be available in both Story Mode and Online. In Story Mode, weapons will be deposited into all three characters' inventory with two full ammo-clips and all three cars are accessible from their garage properties. In GTA Online, players will be able to purchase the new weapons and their attachments at any Ammu-Nation location while the vehicles will be available for purchase from Legendary Motorsport and Elitas.

 The Turismo R and Alpha evading LSPD pursuit through downtown Los Santos.

Don't forget that this weekend is the last chance for players to grab the Albany Roosevelt limousine, the Gusenberg Sweeper machine gun and all the rest of the exclusive items from the Valentine's Day Massacre Special before they're gone. Once purchased in-game, they are player’s to keep - but they will no longer be available to purchase after midnight EST this Sunday, March 2nd.

And stay tuned for details about our upcoming Business Update Event Weekend as well as more info to be revealed on future updates including Online Heists, the Capture Creator update, new Assassination and Flight School missions for Story Mode and much more...

PRODUCT INFORMATION
Grand Theft Auto V
Formats: PS3, X360
Out: 17/9/2013
Publisher: Rockstar
Developer: In-house



New Developers Sign On to ID@Xbox
A blog post by Chris Charla, Director of ID@Xbox

It has been an exciting couple months for ID@Xbox. We created this program to make it easy for independent developers to bring their innovative ideas to Xbox One, and the response from the community continues to be amazing!

In December, we gave you a first look at developers worldwide who joined the program. Without further ado, below are some more ID@Xbox developers hard at work on their games. Remember, this list is by no mean exhaustive – more than 200 developers are already creating games using dev kits provided by ID@Xbox right now – it’s just a sample of the many independent developers who will be bringing their games to Xbox One.

Honestly when I look at this list, all I can say is “wow.” It’s incredibly humbling to see so many fantastic studios there, from XBLIG and XBLA alumni like Ska Studios and Humble Hearts, to new studios like Glass Bottom Games and Heart Machine, and veterans including Robomodo, Zoë Mode and Playdead. We could not be more excited. 

ID@Xbox is a global program and we’re committed to bringing the best from around the world to Xbox One. The first ID@Xbox games are in certification now and, as always, we continue to look for ways to improve the creation process for our ID@Xbox partners with new processes and tools. Stay tuned for updates on both soon!

·         4gency
·         A Crowd of Monster
·         Alientrap Games
·         BetaDwarf
·         Big Ant Studios
·         Bloober Team
·         Blowfish Studios
·         Brain in a Jar
·         Brushfire Games
·         Cherry Pop Games Ltd
·         Codeglue
·         Code-Monkeys
·         Compulsion Games
·         Crunching Koalas
·         Deco Digital
·         Empty Clip Studios
·         Escalation Studios
·         EXOR Studios
·         FarSight Studios
·         Fatshark
·         Flix Interactive
·         Four Door Lemon Ltd
·         Frambosa
·         Frima
·         Glass Bottom Games
·         HB Studios
·         Headup Games
·         Heart Machine
·         Holmade Games
·         Humble Hearts LLC
·         I Fight Bears
·         Implausible Industries
·         Iridium Studios
·         iSquared Games Ltd
·         Larian Studios
·         Mediatonic
·         MeinMein
·         Mighty Rabbit Studios
·         Mimimi Productions
·         nDreams Ltd
·         NeocoreGames
·         No Goblin
·         n-Space
·         Piwot
·         Pixel Balloon
·         Playdead
·         Rebellion
·         Relentless Software
·         RetroCoders
·         Ripstone
·         Robomodo
·         Ska Studios
·         Smudged Cat Games Ltd
·         Snowrunner
·         Spry Fox
·         The Behemoth
·         Tiny Castle Studios
·         Toxic Games
·         Vector Unit
·         Vertigo Games BV
·         VooFoo Studios
·         Warhorse Studios
·         WaterMelon
·         Xona Games
·         Zoë Mode

Death is coming – Darksiders II returns on the WiiU

Darksiders II available now via Nintendo’s European eShop

Yes, they do still exist: amazing games for the WiiU! Nordic Games announced today the highly acclaimed Darksiders II has found its way back onto the European Nintendo eShop, after almost one year’s absence.

Alarmed by the end of days, Death, the most feared of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, embarks on a quest to save humanity and to clear his brother War’s name. On his journey, Death discovers that there are evils even more terrible than an earthly apocalypse, and is quickly drawn into a war between powers that could destroy all of creation…

The fantastic action-adventure based around the campaign of the Horseman of the Apocalypse, Death, has delighted critics and gamers alike. With an average rating of 85 (according to Metacritic.com), Darksiders II is one of the most highly rated WiiU games ever. In addition to Death’s main adventure, the DLC add-ons "Argul's Tomb", "Death Rides", "Angel of Death", "Shadow of Death" and "Deadly Despair" are also included in the newly re-released version of the game.

Death is coming – Darksiders II returns on the WiiU

Darksiders II available now via Nintendo’s European eShop

Yes, they do still exist: amazing games for the WiiU! Nordic Games announced today the highly acclaimed Darksiders II has found its way back onto the European Nintendo eShop, after almost one year’s absence.

Alarmed by the end of days, Death, the most feared of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, embarks on a quest to save humanity and to clear his brother War’s name. On his journey, Death discovers that there are evils even more terrible than an earthly apocalypse, and is quickly drawn into a war between powers that could destroy all of creation…

The fantastic action-adventure based around the campaign of the Horseman of the Apocalypse, Death, has delighted critics and gamers alike. With an average rating of 85 (according to Metacritic.com), Darksiders II is one of the most highly rated WiiU games ever. In addition to Death’s main adventure, the DLC add-ons "Argul's Tomb", "Death Rides", "Angel of Death", "Shadow of Death" and "Deadly Despair" are also included in the newly re-released version of the game.


Everyone's a thief

Become the master thief across GAME retail stores tomorrow

Square Enix® publishers of interactive entertainment products in Europe and across PAL territories, will be giving sneaky shoppers the chance to crack 1 of 10 chests in GAME™ stores across the UK from 11AM today, to mark the highly anticipated launch of Thief this Friday.

Would be thieves will be given a standard issue lock-pick, a ‘how to’ guide to picking locks and just five minutes to break into a locked chest at each participating GAME™ store. Prizes include a PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, PlayStation®Vita handheld entertainment system, a high-end gaming rig from AMD, or Titan Books’ The Art of Thief signed by Nicolas Cantin, Game Director on Thief, with GAME store vouchers. Over the course of tomorrow, until the lock is cracked at each location, a total of “10” high value prizes will be given out to participants who successfully manage to pick the locks.

Participating GAME stores include:

Westfield, Stratford –
https://twitter.com/GAMEStratford

Bullring, Birmingham –
https://twitter.com/GAME_Bullring

Trafford Centre, Manchester –
https://twitter.com/GAMETrafford

Meadow Hall, Sheffield –
https://twitter.com/GAMEMeadowhall

West Quay, Southampton –
https://twitter.com/GAMESouthampton

Lakeside, West Thurrock –
https://twitter.com/GAMELakeside

Norwich, NR2 1PT –
https://twitter.com/GAMENorwich

Newcastle, NE1 7XP –
https://twitter.com/GAMENewcastle

James Centre, Edinburgh –
https://twitter.com/GAMEStJames1

Cardiff, CF10 2ER –
https://twitter.com/GAMECardiff

To avoid disappointment, please check the relevant participating GAME™ stores twitter channels for regular updates on the competition and remaining prizes.

PRODUCT INFORMATION
THIEF
Formats: PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XO
Out: 25/2/2014
Publisher: Square Enix

Related Links

Official Homepage: thiefgame.com    
Official Facebook® Page: facebook.com/thief
Follow @Thief on Twitter®: twitter.com/thief

Thursday 27 February 2014

GTA Online Rockstar Verified Jobs Update: 10 New Additions Today

Today, we’ve got 10 more user-created Jobs officially approved and easily available across both platforms as the fourth installment in our series of Rockstar Verified Jobs. If your Job was not featured today, check out our recent tips and tricks articles which may help you refine your creations and ensure they are as intuitive and fun to play as possible. Also keep an eye out on the Rockstar Newswire for more news about the upcoming expansion to the Creator tool. Here’s a preview of the new Jobs with some detail on how they earned the Rockstar Verified stamp of approval.

LSC Great Eight - Created by DrAtomic1
While it may look like a simple figure 8 track at first glance, the changes in elevation and tighter hairpins require a steady hand and intense concentration. Running around different levels of the Olympic Freeway this course will challenge all aspects of your driving. A strong octo-theme runs through this race: as DrAtomic1 points out in the description, the track itself is 0.8 miles long, and the maximum number of players is, you guessed it, 8.


 The map view of LSC Great Eight on the right, and the aerial shot on the left.

Dirt Track Derby - Created by N8thok
While there are hundreds of Jobs arranged around the horse racing track in the Palomino Highlands, we picked out N8thok's effort due to the considered placement of obstacles and pickups around the track that change this from a simple lap race to a white knuckle derby. With 16 players jostling for position, the slightest nudge could force you into the back of a burnt out bus, or off the track entirely. Masters of the art of drifting should be able to nail the curve corners and slingshot their vehicles into the straight sections. Final positions in the race will be decided by inches, the smallest mistake could be fatal.

Observe and Race - Created by The_Gemte
In this one, 3 quick laps of the circuit leading up to the Observatory have been laid out using a variety of barriers to make for a very fluid and natural race. Overtaking skills will be put to the test as the only straight comes in the form of a narrow tunnel section where race leaders can easily defend against drifters. Corners will be your only option to snatch the lead, so aim for the racing line, brake late and hope for the best!

Getting High and Low - created by El_Cactus
Precision is the name of the game in this high octane motorbike race along the narrow dirt paths just above Cassidy Creek. Maintaining control of your ride is absolutely essential as overhanging pine bows could take you out at any moment. Go easy on your first run, the corners come thick and fast and the only way to win is to make the fewest mistakes. Anyone reaching the end without spinning off the path and falling into the creek below at least once should be pretty pleased with themselves.


 Breathtaking views of Blaine County. Getting High and Low(left) and Through The Grapeseed (right)

Through The Grapeseed - Created by LoveLikeJazz
As Creator LoveLikeJazz describes it, this is a "lengthy lap race around Grapeseed with lots of long stretches and a few tricky turns. Watch out for those Sandkings, they think they own the road." Also, watch out for the stretch that goes the wrong way up the Senora Freeway, adding an extra element of danger to each lap. Avoid oncoming traffic to gain the advantage over your fellow racers, and keep an eye out for some spectacular crashes.

Sandy Shores Circus - Created by datwista111
Creator datwista111 modestly describes Sandy Shores Circus as a "simple race", belying the difficulty of the 45 degree turns around Sandy Shores town that will send cars criss-crossing each other all over. There are a few extra features of this race that really make it stand out, including crashing through a fence and into a resident’s garden and a final straight that results in a high speed jump straight into the Alamo Sea… just the thing to cool down screaming hot engines.

Senora Desert Hills - Created by: ZardozToast
"Enjoy the best switchbacks in Blaine County with this winding off-road race up and down the hills of the Grand Senora Desert." A long and winding race that was selected for the unique way it allows players to drift down several dirt roads on the hills of the Senora Desert. Expert control and vehicle selection is essential in order to avoid drifting off the edge of a hill and down into the rocky valley below.


Switchbacks through the undulating terrain in Senora Desert Hills

Nurburgring - Created by Mr_Grandis
The latest real-world homage to get a verification nod is this impressive take on Germany’s famedNurburgring. As Mr_grandis describes it is a “very technical and dangerous track with blind corners, bumps and long straight road.” Recreated around Banham Canyon, Tongva Hills, Great Chaparral and Vinewood Hills, we like the way it challenges endurance and driving skill in equal measure.

Battle GTA - Created by KS-GTA
In the swamps outside Fort Zancudo KS-GTA, lone member of The Assassins Monks, has set up a pitched battle for 2 teams featuring power weapons and heavy machinery. The key to the success of this Deathmatch is balance: a cluster of incendiary props in the center field provides adequate cover for an infantry battle while powerful weapon pickups such as RPGs provide a fighting chance against aircraft. This is an excellent map for Crews to put their communication and teamwork skills to the test.


 The scene is set. Battle GTA (left) and Paintball! (right)

Paintball! - Created by yoduhh62
A flat expanse of sand on Del Perro Beach is transformed into a dynamic and challenging Speedball-style arena. With skillfully placed props like sandbags, construction fences, wrecked vehicles and tires, this Deathmatch forces players to dart between cover and expose themselves to gunfire when dashing for powerful weapon pickups. Stealth and timing are key here, and we recommend using teamwork to create distractions while you outflank and outmaneuver your enemies.

PRODUCT INFORMATION
Grand Theft Auto V
Formats: PS3, X360
Out: 17/9/2013
Publisher: Rockstar
Developer: In-house

Hey Cabela’s fans!

We’re pleased to let you know that Activision Publishing, Inc. has announced the next title in its top-selling hunting franchise* - Cabela’s® Big Game Hunter®: Pro Hunts – planned to be released on 26th March, 2014 to PlayStation Network and Steam.

Cabela’s Big Game Hunter: Pro Hunts takes players on a single-player campaign with four field-proven experts from the competitive world of big game hunting:

·         Wade Middleton – Besides being President and co-owner of Careco TV and host of several outdoor television shows, this veteran outdoorsman has worked for over 20 years as a hunting guide and outfitter
·         Jim Shockey – An award winning outdoor writer, professional big game outfitter and television producer, Jim has hunted in more than 40 countries and has taken nearly 300 SCI-recognised species and is the host and producer of Jim Shockey's Hunting Adventures and Jim Shockey's Uncharted on Outdoor Channel
·         Ralph & Vicki Cianciarulo – Bringing families together through hunting, America’s Favourite Hunting Couple® is known to educate, entertain and share their experiences through their very own TV show, Archer’s Choice®, featured on Outdoor Channel
All four renowned hunters will impart their unique hunting skills to players through an exciting series of pro-guided hunts against North America’s most cunning and sought-after trophy animals. Additionally, fans will find a richer, more engaging, first-person action experience, including improved ballistic physics, more realistic, thoughtful animal AI and four diversely populated, sweepingly beautiful environments across the continent.

Cabela’s Big Game Hunter: Pro Hunts is planned to be released on 26th March, 2014 for PlayStation Network and Steam. It will be compatible with the Top Shot Elite and Top Shot Fearmaster gaming peripherals. It is rated PEGI 16. For the latest game information, visit www.ActivisionHunts.com, and follow along on Facebook (www.Facebook.com/ActivisionHunts) and Twitter (@ActivisionHunts).






PRODUCT INFORMATION
Cabela's Big Game Hunter: Pro Hunts
Formats: PC, PS3
Out: 26/3/2014
Publisher: Activision