Victor shares his thoughts on the Storybricks shutdown, and wonders what it means for the tech of Storybricks itself
General: GDC 2015: Is VR the Future of Role-Playing Games?
At GDC this week, Valve rocked the gaming world with the unveiling of the virtual reality headset, the Vive. Not to be outdone, Sony revealed their updated Project Morpheus VR headset which leads the industry in hardware, but remains exclusive to PlayStation devices. With release dates of less than a year, virtual reality is coming, but will it succeed?
General: GDC 2015 Recap
As is appropriate for a convention with the name "Game Developers Conference," GDC seems to be becoming more and more developer-centric and less a space for press reveals and previews. At GDC 2015 this past week, there was a noticeable trend towards showing off new tech, such as Nvidia’s Shield and Valve’s SteamVR, along with a host of new (or new versions of) indie games.
General: 8th Annual G.I.R.L. Scholarship Submissions Open
Daybreak Games Studio has announced that submissions are now being accepted for the 8th annual G.I.R.L. (Gamers In Real Life) Game Design Competition. This year, two scholarships will be awarded, one for Art & Design and the other for Programming & Engineering. Each recipient will receive $5,000 that can be applied to offset course work or other educational expenses at the winner’s college or university.
Elsword: Deal with PWE Brings Game to Arc Platform
KOG Games and Perfect World Entertainment have entered into a deal to bring Elsword to the Arc platform. Elsword is already available on Arc and the team will be on hand later today to conduct a live stream event to celebrate the occasion.
Guild Wars 2: Two Heart of Thorns Demos Playable at PAX East
PAX East attendees will be able to get their hands on the Guild Wars 2 expansion, Heart of Thorns. Fans can check out a PvE demo that takes them on the earliest steps into Maguuma or a PvP demo that shows off Strongholds.
General: Funcom Financial Report Reveals Decline in Fiscal 2014
The Funcom 2014 financial reports have been published that show a slight growth over the previous earnings quarter but an overall decline in 2014 over 2013. "Aging titles" are cited for the decline. According to the investor presentation, earnings grew ~$300,000 over Q3 2014. Additionally, LEGO Minifigures Online is in line with predictions that monetization of the game is taking more time than expected.
General: Shadow of Mordor Takes Game of the Year at GDCA ’15
Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor took home top honors at the 15th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards. Other notable awards included The Banner Saga’s Stoic Studio for Best Debut; Blizzard’s Hearthstone for Best Design; Bungie’s Destiny for Best Technology; and Elite: Dangerous took home the Audience Award.
Crowfall: Todd Coleman on Being Funded
After passing their initial funding goal, Crowfall’s Todd Coleman chats with Red Thomas about what being funded means for the team as they moving and how they plan for what comes next.
Trials of Ascension: Kickstarter Canceled After Dismal Two Weeks
Forged Chaos has posted on the Trials of Ascension KickStarter page that the fund raising initiative has been canceled. The project began on February 19th and to date had only raised $25,616 out of a hoped-for $600,000 to complete the game.