Players have discovered the rumoured Diablo 3 secret level only a few days after the game’s release. It’s called Whimsyshire, and it’s a playful poke in the ribs for anyone who accused the game of being too colourful back when its art style was originally unveiled. Whimsyshire is a neon-green children’s cartoon complete with rainbows and playful little happy clouds. Hooray!

You can find a guide to opening Whimsyshire over at Diablowiki.net.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/05/18/diablo-3-secret-level-uncovered/

Η Κωνσταντινούπολη σε πρώτο πλάνο, ο Ντάνιελ Κρεγκ να φοράει για τρίτη φορά τα κουστούμια του Τζέιμς, μια Ελληνίδα στο πλευρό του και ο Χαβιέρ Μπαρντέμ ως κακός. Το Skyfall τα έχει όλα και συμφέρει.

«Κάποιοι έρχονται να μας σκοτώσουν. Πρέπει να τους σκοτώσουμε πρώτοι». Αυτή η ατάκα, λιτή και θανατερή, είναι χαρακτηριστική του νέου και άκρως τσαμπουκαλεμένου Τζέιμς Μποντ που επιστρέφει για 23η φορά στις οθόνες μας με το Skyfall.

Building the best character in Diablo 3, whether you picked Barbarian, Demon Hunter, Monk or Witch Doctor, can be tough. There are a dizzying number of options, but here are a few of our personal favorites, with full skill builds, playstyle explanations and stat recommendations for each.

Barbarian build: The Inexhaustible Berserker

See the build: Inexhaustible Berserker

RAAAAAGE! This build is all about maximizing your “enrage powers,” making you a self-buffing death machine. Your key skills are Battle Rage and Wrath of the Berserker. The first is your everyday use enrage which, with this build, should be active more or less at all times with only one trigger at the beginning of combat. Wrath of the Berserker is your “hard enrage,” which you’ll have to use more sparingly. Since crits extend the duration of your Battle Rage, dual-wield works best, with either a mace/axe (crit chance from Weapons Master) or spear (attack speed from Weapons Master) in the main hand. Frenzy, with its quick blows, leads to more crits and is a natural primary skill. Leap and Furious Charge keep you in the thick of things, where you need to be, while generating extra fury. Hammer of the Ancients with the Smash rune is a great Elite/Boss killer.
Note: At higher levels, you may want to swap out the Ferocity rune on Battle Rage for Into the Fray, essentially turning Battle Rage into a “piggyback” to extend the duration of Wrath of the Berserker.

Preferred stats: Attack Speed, Crit Chance, Strength, Weapon Damage

Barbarian build: The Punter

See the build: Barbarian Punter

Half the fun of playing a Barbarian is watching bodies fly in every direction as you smash your way through the herd. This build maximizes the simple joy of ragdoll physics by giving you every opportunity to proc knockback effects. Your primary skill Bash has a 20% chance to send people packing while generating Fury to unleash your three major corpse-tossers: Seismic Slam, Ground Stomp and Earthquake–all runed to boost the potency of their aoe knockbacks. Furious Charge and Threatening Shout ensure you stay alive to keep kicking the undead to the curb. The passives Brawler, Juggernaut and Unforgiving stops your compulsive need to punt people from hurting your damage output.

Preferred stats: Lightning damage(procs on knockback), Knockback Chance, Strength, Weapon Damage

Barbarian build: The Immortal Tank

See the build: Barbarian Immortal Tank

Some of us don’t want to die. There’s no shame in that–you’re brave simply for stepping outside your home to battle the hoards of undead. I dare anyone to call you a sissy when you’re on the front lines, entering a Frenzy and bloodletting everything in sight with Rend (both of which heal you, don’t worry!). Revenge let’s you turn incoming damage into an aoe attack with massive health regen. If things get hairy, a correctly runed Ignore Pain can turn most any bad situation around, coupled with a War Cry if your allies are in trouble as well. But a good tank always has a backup plan for his backup plan, so keep Wrath of the Berserker in your back pocket for those truly desperate situations. Protective passives like Pound of Flesh, Inspiring Presence and Superstition will help keep you hacking and slashing unfettered.

Preferred stats: Armor, Vitality, Elemental Resistance, Strength

Demon Hunter build: The Explosives Expert

See the build: Demon Hunter Explosives Expert - Updated 5/16

Bad guys go boom with this explosives-heavy build for the Demon Hunter. Cluster Grenades is your free skill, so chuck those little bouncing bombs like crazy and follow ‘em up with endless rockets from Rapid Fire and Cluster Arrow. One rune swap adds homing rockets to your Sentry turret, which’ll guard your back while raining down fire. Bola Shot and Spike Trap give you two more volatile chunks of metal to hurl around. (Bonus: the Sticky Trap rune on Spike Trap lets you slam the explosives right onto the enemy’s chest and watch his death rain pain on everyone around him.) The passives are absolutely essential to this build: Ballistics, Grenadier and Custom Engineering add a massive damage boost to all those rockets.

Preferred stats: Dexterity, Weapon Damage, Vitality, Armor

Demon Hunter build: The Untouchable

See the build: Demon Hunter Untouchable

The Demon Hunter isn’t really a touchy-feely kinda gal—in fact, she’d rather you just never get close to her at all. This build plays right into her nomad, loner image, letting you kite bad guys like a pro—if you’ve got the skill. Entangling Shot in your primary slot lets you tie up four enemies every second, Elemental Arrow with the Frost rune slows down larger packs, and Strafe lets you unleash hell while still running at full speed. Use the ridiculously low-cost Vault to keep your distance as the pack closes in on you, and if one of the devils catches you off guard, Evasive Fire lets you blast ‘em up close and backflip away (+2 for style points). If you manage to screw all of that up—or are facing Sonic the hedgehog zombies—Smoke Screen lets your reset the battle by vanishing. Cull The Weak, Tactical Advantage and Steady Aim are perfect passives, helping you stay out of harm’s reach while boosting damage on hindered foes.

Preferred stats: Movement Speed, Dexterity, Weapon Damage, CC reduction

Monk build: The Tornado of Death

See the build: Monk Tornado of Death

Turn your Monk into an unstoppable wave of pain who jumps into the middle of groups to kick-punch everything around him. Every skill in this build hits multiple targets. Soften them up with broad Crippling Wave kicks, and follow it up with a fierce Lashing Tail Kick to cut ‘em down and knockback any left standing. Mantra of Conviction rewards you for fighting in the middle of the enemy pack, and Seven-Sided Strike let’s you show them that superior numbers won’t help them. If you bit off more than you can chew, Serenity’ll absorb damage and reflect attacks back at the hellspawn. Best of all, Sweeping Wind turns your metaphorical tornado of pain into a very literal one, creating lightning tornadoes when you score critical hits—very likely with so many aoe attacks. The passives, Chant of Resonance, The Guardian’s Path and Combination Strike, give equal boosts to your defense and attack.

Preferred stats: Critical Chance, Dodge, Armor, Vitality, Dexterity

Monk build: The Balanced Healer

See the build: Monk Balanced Healer - Updated 5/16

This is as close as Diablo III gets to a full support character, but you still have to punch people to build up the Spirit needed to fuel those refreshing glowy lights. This isn’t a viable solo build, but because it’s so easy to hop into friends’ games, you could easily progress as a healer. Fists of Thunder is the perfect primary skill because it regenerates Spirit faster than the others. Inner Sanctuary and Serenity are solid preventative measures to keep your friends out of harm’s way, and Breath of Heaven and Cyclone Strike will help you refill those health bars when preventative measures aren’t enough. Mantra of Healing’s heal-over-time is brought to set-it-and-forget-it status thanks to the Chant of Resonance passive that triples its duration to 10 minutes. The best part is that every one of those support skills will hit all allies within range—so everyone’s safe. Lastly, Exalted Soul and Transcendence passives boost your Spirit efficiency to let you hang in there on those long boss fights.

Preferred stats: Attack Speed, Spirit Regeneration, Max Spirit

Witch Doctor build: The Plaguebringer

See the build: Witch Doctor Plaguebringer - Updated 5/17

The ten plagues of Egypt got nothin’ on this build. Sure, you’ve got the standard plague stuff with Plague of Toads, and flesh-eating Locust Swarms, but the real key is poison stacking with the right runes. Your frogs and locusts are both poisonous, and Acid Cloud lets you rain less animated liquid death on the enemy. Zombie Charger brings old-school leprosy back with the right rune, and Fetish Army summons the final plague of death. And while that’s enough to drive most civilizations to madness, Mass Confusion will completely shatter any particularly stalwart minds, forcing them to kill each other for you. The Bad Medicine passive is paramount, as it causes your plentiful poison damage to cripple enemy attacks, while Fetish Sycophants and Spiritual Attunement are just small perks to keep things moving quickly.

Preferred stats: Intelligence, Weapon Damage, Maximum Mana

Witch Doctor build: The Zombie King

See the build: Witch Doctor Zombie King - Updated 5/16

There’s something especially satisfying about watching minions do your dirty work while you sit back and cackle maniacally—especially when your minions are zombies. There are so many things you can do with zombies in Diablo 3: you can drop them from the sky (runed Grasp of the Dead), stack them on top of each other and push the undead tower over (Wall of Zombies), bursting from the ground (Zombie Charger runed to make them BEAR ZOMBIES), or stomping all over the place (Gargantuan). Most of them only stop by for brief encounters, but you can always count on your trusty Zombie Dogs to chomp through bad guys. A few passives play into this style perfectly: Fierce Loyalty, Jungle Fortitude and Zombie Handler increase the number of zombies you can control, add your Thorn and Health Regen stats to them and reduce the damage they take. When you run low on corpses, just toss out jars of creepy Corpse Spiders to regen mana.

Preferred stats: Intelligence, Weapon Damage, Thorns

Wizard build: The Glass Cannon

See the build: Wizard Glass Cannon - Updated 5/17

A primal urge within all of us wants to see big numbers flash on the screen when we attack, and this build lets you get the biggest digits of any class in Diablo 3. Core skills get a bonus effect on crit: your primary, Electrocute, and Storm Armor lash out lightning attacks, and Meteor‘s molten fire boils over when it crits. The Critical Mass passive reduces the cooldown on your spells by 1 second every time you crit, and Arcane Dynamo lets you boost your next attack by 75% to achieve truly absurd single-hit numbers to brag about to your buddies. The other abilities center on making sure you crit as often as possible, with Disintegrate, Frost Nova and Explosive Blast all hitting multiple targets with some absurdly high weapon percentages–each with its own chance to be crit. With all these perks tossed in, an explosion from Volatile blast is doing 800% weapon damage before crit and with no gear stats calculated in (that’s 1,200% or higher on a crit)!

Preferred stats: Critical Chance, Critical Hit Damage, Weapon Damage, Intelligence

Wizard build: The Battle Mage

See the build: Wizard Battle Mage

Not every Wizard is squishy, but the battle mage is one of the most coveted archetypes that rarely makes it way into games because, frankly, it’s usually way overpowered. The first step is to give your Wizard a melee weapon: Spectral Blade takes it one step further by making your primary attack a massive, magical sword that heals you when it crits. Next, you’ve got to bolster your defenses so you can stand on the front lines without crumbling like wet tissue paper. Diamond Skin, Ice Armor, Archon and the passive skills Galvanizing Ward and Blur turn you into a veritable tank with insane armor and a ton of sweet spells. The last thing you need to complete your battle mage toolkit is a couple devastating aoes to unleash when things get hairy. Arcane Torrent and Energy Twister can both be runed into the perfect tools, and the Unstable Anomaly passive gives you a boost right when you need it most.

Preferred stats: Armor, Intelligence, Vitality, Elemental Resistance

http://www.pcgamer.com/

The gates of Diablo III will open in a couple of hours and here we are now with all the cut-scene cinematics from the game:

Diablo III Starter Edition & Guest Pass Details – preview
Battle.net offers details on Blizzard’s plan to offer Diablo III Starter Editions & Guest Passes for the action/RPG that’s going live today. They say the Diablo III Starter Edition will not be available without a Guest Pass until further notice, and that Guest Pass keys are included in all box copies of Diablo III. Here’s what the Starter version will include:

Players on Starter Edition game licenses have the following restrictions:
- Act I up to the Skeleton King is available
- Level 13 cap
- Matchmaking available only with other Starter Edition players
- No Real Money Auction House access

Electronic Arts and Crytek have officially announced Crysis 3:

The hunted becomes the hunter! Electronic Arts Inc. and award-winning developer Crytek GmbH, today announced Crysis 3, the premier sandbox shooter experience of 2013. Powered by Crytek’s proprietary CryENGINE,
Crysis 3 advances the state of the art with unparalleled visuals and dynamic shooter gameplay. Players take on the role of ‘Prophet’ as he returns to New York, only to discover that the city has been encased in a Nanodome created by the corrupt Cell Corporation. The New York City Liberty Dome is a veritable urban rainforest teeming with overgrown trees, dense swamplands and raging rivers. Within the Liberty Dome, seven distinct and treacherous environments become known as the Seven Wonders. This dangerous new world demands advanced weapons and tactics. Prophet will utilize a lethal composite bow, an enhanced Nanosuit and devastating alien tech to become the deadliest hunter on the planet.

“Crysis 3 is a thrilling mix of sandbox gameplay, advanced combat and hi-tech human and alien weaponry that shooter fans will love,” said Cevat Yerli, Chief Executive Officer of Crytek. “Leveraging the latest CryENGINE technology, we’re able to deliver seven unique themes that offer stunning and visually loaded gameplay experiences. We cannot wait until people get their hands on the game.”

Set in 2047, Prophet is on a revenge mission after uncovering the truth behind Cell Corporation’s motives for building the quarantined Nanodomes. The citizens were told that the giant citywide structures were resurrected to protect the population and to cleanse these metropolises of the remnants of Ceph forces. In reality, the Nanodomes are CELL’s covert attempt at a land and technology grab in their quest for global domination. With Alien Ceph lurking around every corner and human enemies on the attack, nobody is safe in the path of vengeance. Everyone is a target in Prophet’s quest for retribution.

Crytek also announced that players who are ready to start the hunt can pre-order the Crysis 3 Hunter Edition today. The Crysis 3 Hunter Edition gives players the tools to become the ultimate hunter in multiplayer with early access to the new signature bow and its attachments, plus the Hunter Nanosuit module which adds additional power and functionality to the super-suit. Gamers who pre-order now will also have a head start when playing online with a bonus XP boost up to level 5, a unique bow skin and three exclusive dog tags to hunt in style. The Crysis 3 Hunter Edition is available on Origin.com and other participating retailers for $59.99.

Focus Home Interactive has released a new trailer for the upcoming Game of Thrones RPG game.

Μόλις κυκλοφόρησε το Fall of the Samurai και αμέσως στο Stem ανέβηκε ένα tera-patch με βελτιώσεις και support για το Shogun 2 και το Fall of the Samurai. Διαβάστε παρακάτω τις αλλαγές και τις βελτιώσεις

Full patch notes

The majority of these also apply to Shogun 2.

General fixes/additions

• Fixes for known multiplayer campaign desyncs
• Introduced option to auto-trigger abilities through right-clicking
• Towers can now be ordered to fire at specific targets
• Domination (capture all points) victories added for multiplayer
• General optimisations across all areas of the game
• Ability to queue technology tree research
• Ability to set groups to AI control
• Ability to lock group formations with new UI button
• Fixed missing siege models
• New front-end background camera pans
• Campaign AI turn-times reduced due to pathfinding optimisations
• Naval campaign AI improved significantly

Naval battles

Fixes:

• Fixed attack intercept position when in and around islands
• Fixed bug where some submerged ships did not surrender
• Fixed several rare crashes in naval battle.
• Improved circling behaviour for all ships
• Improved range detection for Fire Bomb Kobaya
• Removed stop-start movement for AI ships moving in a group.
• Improved target selection for naval AI

User Interface

• Modified the Standard Camera in naval battles to ensure that the horizon is always visible.
• Added UI toggle to battle HUD (bottom left corner), so can hide UI elements
• Mousing over unit cards now highlights the corresponding unit as if mousing over them
• Double pressing group frame or double pressing group number shorcut zooms to groups
• Added lock formation button for groups; groups act like did before, locked into formation by default, but can be unlocked to behave like a selection group. This provides an easier interface for players just wanting selection groups. (Can still quickly create a selection group pressing ctrl+g, which can also be used to toggle lock)
• Added UI support for more units in a single battlefield, card system now goes onto double rows when required
• Cursor no longer gives option to attack unmounted horses, as doing so would give order to attack riders which could be confusing
• Inspiration range now drawn for all units with inspiration aura, not just for the general (like hero units)
• Added ship schematics to info panel for boshin ships, to provide more detail on ships state
• Fixed graphical issues with naval fire arcs in night battles
• Added player names to MPC tooltips
• Added fade transitions to info panels
• Unit cards now coloured based on unit category
• Added support for unbound keys, so can disable shortcuts rather than having to give obscure shortcut
• Added page numbers to tooltips
• New group frames to support double rows, and now highlight when moused over or group selected; as well as showing group number rather than japanese number for easier access via shortcuts
• Multiplayer postbattle screen reworked
• Added option to invert camera’s x-axis
• Can now move around battlefield when battle results present
• Can no longer use debug camera from preferences while in multiplayer battle
• Fixed text running off battle tooltips for some gempei units
• Fixed bug where info panel would not update while paused during a replay
• Bridge icons on battle radar given better image, and now orientated correctly
• Fort walls now visible on radar map/loading map
• Pings placed on invalid terrain no longer appear in middle of map
• Ship tooltips/cards number of men take into account officers
• Inactive battle hud buttons have tooltips
• Fix for rotated UI images behaving incorrect when running widescreen resolution
• Fix for realism mode setting being lost for campaign
• Officers taken into account for ship numbers on unit cards/tooltips
• Fixed in game chat highlight issues
• Building info panel resizes unit entries dynamically to fix unit names being clipped in certain languages
• Can now use context and tracking cameras in replays
• Fixed issue where pasted invalid characters into text inputs
• Neatend effect bundle tooltips so not larger than need to be
• Can now double click on ground in battles to move to that location
• Drag out units display now shows two arrows when will result in run on release, 1 arrow when will result in walk
• Improved target/path marker spline quality so doesn’t stretch out, and head now represents movement speed of unit it represents (so know if running or walking to current target)
• Added ability to view replays at end of battle/replay, rather than routing player back to front-end then back into battle
• Post-battle screens now appear for replays
• Tweaks to main menu button animations
• Fix for inconsistent naval crew-icons on ship cards between front-end/campaign and battle
• Battle-lobby countdown timer moved so retainer panel not obscured
• Tweaked UI banner-scaling (slightly smaller) and UI splines brought closer to ground (fire arcs, paths, etc)
• Fixed cinematic borders not always being flush to edges of screen, resulting in gaps at top and bottom
• Added UI to toggle auto-triggered abilities. Right-clicking on a supported ability button will toggle it to auto-trigger, where the AI will decide when to use the ability, in order to save the player some micro-management.
• Chat-toggle button now hides all chat when currently visible rather than input, and button is highlighted when player has unread messages
• Group number shortcuts are now rebindable
• Moved pings to left-click rather than right-click for UI consistency
• Realism mode changes: radar visible during deployment, morale visible on minimal tooltips

Campaign

• Fixed rare case where pre-battle camera would trigger too early if an agent or neutral army was between the attacker and the defender under certain circumstances.
• Campaign variable “family_rounds_between_wife_offers” now also determines the earliest round a wife can be offered
• Stopped generating movement extents for armies on the pre-battle screen
• Fixed rare campaign lockup caused by an agent being forced out of its reserved area
• Fixed very rare campaign lockup involving an ambush across a land bridge, where an agent or third party neutral army is between the acting army and the ambusher
• Fixed multi-turn AI actions against the human player causing the game to drop out of speed-up mode even though the action will not complete that turn
• Changed format of campaign height-map to reduce load time and significantly reduce memory usage
• Fixed very rare crash caused by autosave saving an army in an incorrect order
• Fixed bug when issuing orders to agents on navies against target agents in armies
• Fixed trade-route tooltip which showed only one imported resource per route
• Fixed a rare lockup caused by a successful agent action causing an army to move, whilst another army is also in motion under certain circumstances
• Fixed rare crash when two multi-turn embark orders – to embark two different armies onto two different navies – resulted in an attempt to perform both embarks at the same port in the same turn
• Fixed rare crash caused by the Daimyo’s brother not being demoted from command of an army when the Daimyo dies while there is a superior general in the army
• Fixed a few issues with commerce-raid value updates when merging and splitting raiding navies
• Added information about when a diplomatic action would be considered dishonourable by other clans
• Selecting an agent in an army now shows the agent’s movement extents.
• Improved rope visuals on campaign map buildings
• Fixed trade-route information not being updated when a port is damaged
• Fixed obscure issue which prevented other factions’ movement extents showing if they had military access to player’s territory, but player did not have military access to theirs.
• Modified several game areas to fail gracefully instead of crashing when loading incorrectly modded data
• Various memory-usage optimisations
• Fixed being able to get more than three agents in a city
• Fixed unusual crash in pathfinder related to blockaded ports
• Fixed crash in event-log system
• Fixed crash when issuing an order to a previously merged army
• Fixed crash related to capturing artillery
• Fixed bug where reinforcement armies solely comprised of units that can’t enter as reinforcements (such as artillery) were counted as reinforcements in pre-battle
• Fixed bug where region ownership for unseen rebel regions was visible
• Fixed bug where attrition-indicator showed on rebel banners when they weren’t suffering attrition
• Fixed crash when bribing cities that are under siege
• Fixed issue with missing army-templates causing lockups
• Fixed crash in sound tracker
• Fixed crash in agent-options dialog
• Fixed issue with ‘surrender imminent’ message
• Fixed issue where certain melee and charge bonuses were not working correctly in battle
• Fixed issue where shroud was updated many times when a Clan dies, causing some slowdown
• Fixed unit exchange issue when in ports
• Fixed issue where some characters destroyed in battle remained alive
• Fixed issue where pre battle UI appeared in odd order when player was playing as AI in MPC
• Fixed issue where campaign thought ships needed 0 crew to function
• Fixed case where MPC players are forced to spectate an AI-vs-AI game
• Fixed issue where MPC co-op allies received message that enemy is retreating when allies are retreating
• Fixed issue where ambush cursor did not show for characters in garrisons
• Fixed bug where a force would act on incorrect orders after capturing units
• Fixed issue where recruited agents were unable to enter the settlement they were recruited from on the turn they were recruited
• Fixed missing building name in ‘legendary building built’ event-log entry
• Player now gets full spying information on a force after attacking it
• Improved campaign experience-handling
• Removed timer from certain battles to prevent exploit
• Port selection marker is now centred around the flag
• Armies now only get region-unrestricted replenishment in enemy regions
• Tweaked some message events to be more informative
• Various campaign load-time and memory usage optimisations
• Reduced memory usage in front end startup process
• Reduced campaign animations memory-usage
• Improvements to campaign building-display resource usage
• Fixed religion/allegiance zeal display in religion tooltips for more than two religions
• Various mission bugs fixed
• Fix to clear military crackdown repression on handover of region
• Only primary generals now get full XP in battles; generals commanding reinforcements get reduced XP
• Technology goal can be selected to guide auto-selection of next tech when research completes
• Save games: compression and other size reductions to make files dramatically smaller; Steam Cloud support added

Battles

• When units are climbing walls men can now fire their bows or guns when at the top of the walls while men in the same unit are still climbing
• Movement arrow now appears when units are ordered onto positions on zones such as fort walls
• Fixes for units not being able to fire at units behind fort walls in certain circumstances
• Unit destination proxies (shown on space bar) now update when the game is paused
• Fire arcs now only turn off when ‘fire at will’ is off and melee mode is enabled
• Improvement to display of fire arc facing when defending a zone (e.g. on a fort wall)
• Fix for not being able to turn off fire at will when defending a zone (e.g. on a fort wall)
• AI unit shooting-line analysis tweaks
• In siege battles where the AI is attacking, artillery can now deploy on multiple lines.
• Units now change their tactic state more effectively if they are idle and under fire in siege battles (when AI is attacking)
• Stopped units behind fort walls being unfavourably targeted by artillery
• Fixed several fort-reinforcement AI bugs
• Stopped units from being issued attack orders when they are climbing fort walls
• Stopped units from prioritizing the capture of distant towers in siege battles
• Fixed several bugs with idle cavalry during AI-attacking siege battles
• Fixed bug where AI was unable to place units on a sensible fort approach
• Fixed strange movement bugs in AI fort defence
• Fixed rare crash-issue resulting from a scenario where the player enters a battle with no units because they are reinforcing another player, and all their units are artillery (which cannot be deployed as reinforcements)
• The ‘last stand’ morale state, triggered when castle defenders are fighting to the death, now imposes penalties on ranged accuracy and reload rate
• Battle AI is more likely to deploy cavalry on both of its flanks, allowing for greater opportunities when flanking and executing a double envelopment
• Fixed an issue where naval reinforcements sometimes did not fully enter the map
• Introduced a variety of improvements to the battlefield AI’s use of outflanking and double envelopment manoeuvres, making these tactics more effective overall
• Fixed a rare issue where some reinforcement units did not enter the battlefield because they were not correctly resized to avoid obstacles outside the playable area
• Battle AI now performs a deeper analysis when it decides between walking and running, resulting in the AI moving more swiftly when appropriate and tiring its troops out less often
• Fixed an issue where ships left a battle with incorrect experience data, causing them to gain experience prematurely
• Fixed an issue in Battle AI which delayed its ability to move to a good defensive position outside its deployment zone once the battle starts
• Fixed several issues in the way that the Battle AI assembles and holds a defensive line. The AI is less likely to reform when an enemy is near, and will be more stable when holding the line
• Battle AI now does a better job of advancing a firing-front towards an enemy, by performing a more robust selection of a direction from which to attack
• Mounted shooters now avoid shooting through friendly units before firing in the same way that infantry shooters do
• The duration of the friendly-fire penalty has increased from 6 seconds to 30 seconds
• When trying to set buildings alight, archers no longer continue to fire on buildings after their flaming arrows are spent
• When a unit is within range of multiple friendly passive inspiration auras, it is now given a bonus equivalent to the largest single aura; the multiple auras do not stack. Previously only the commanding general’s aura was ever applied

General multiplayer fixes

• Fixed issue where a veteran unit could gain its statistics bonus prematurely during the battle, once enough experience points had been earned but before the end of the battle
• Fixed issue where LAN server browser contained wrong information
• Fixed some crashes with multiplayer
• Improved chat-room population system
• Fixed issue where battle voice was not working
• Fix for rare case where land units could be taken into naval battle

MP abilities

• Stand and fight: melee attack bonus reduced from 3 to 2
• Standand Fight: reload bonus reduced from 10 to 5
• Hold firm: melee defence bonus reduced from 6 to 3
• Rally: morale bonus to non-routing units reduced from 2 to 1 (bonus for units already routing is unaffected)
• Naval whistling Arrows duration halved
• Special abilities for towers

MP unit caps

• Kisho Ninja capped at 4 per army
• Mounted Samurai capped at 3 per army

MP retainers

• Infantry officer: +1 morale
• Way of the Ikko-Ikki: +1 morale, +2 melee defence & +5% cost for monks and ashigaru
• Rennyo’s teachings: -1 melee attack, +3 melee defence all units
• Stricken unholy forge: -1 armour to enemy melee troops
• World-Weary: -1 morale (enemy veterans)
• Shirabyoshi dancer: +1 morale (veterans), +5% cost (monks, nuns)
• Naginata Warrior Monk Cavalry no longer affected by retainers affecting all monks, to bring them in line with their Samurai equivalents.

MP skills

• Fire by rank: cost reduced from 250 to 120
• Rapid Volley: cost reduced from 250 to 120

MP key buildings

• Reduced morale bonus from Shrine

MP unit costs

• Yari hero (decreased from 1200 to 1100)
• Bow hero (decreased from 1500 to 1400)
• Bow ashigaru (decreased from 450 to 400)
• Matchlock ashigaru (decreased from 500 to 450)
• Bulletproof samurai (decreased from 1000 to 950)
• Nuns (decreased from 900 to 850)
• Tetsubo monk hero (increased from 800 to 850)

The following brand new Fall of the Samurai maps will also be made available in Shogun 2:

Land battles:

• Awa Ridge Pass
• Gigu Crossing
• Happo Ridge
• Ishiyama Ruins
• Iwaki Foothills
• Jigokudani Valley
• Kawabe River
• Kurobe Gorge
• Nishizawa Valley
• Osaka Plain
• Ubayu Onsen
• Usui Pass

Naval battles:

• Hokuriki Coast
• Seto Inland Sea
• Tohuku Sea
• Tokai Coast
• Tsugaru Straits
• Sea of Japan

Siege battles:

• Iburi Castle
• Satsuma Castle
• Uzen Fortress
• Wakasa Fortress

EDIT: Additionally added fixes

• Rally (land & naval)
• Active time reduced to 60; recharge time reduced to 180

Hold firm

• Range reduced to 30
• Active time reduced to 30

Stand and Fight

• recharge time increased to 45

In the distant future, two superpowers control Earth and fight each other for all the solar system’s natural resources. When one side dispatches a team to a distant planet to terraform it for human colonization, the team discovers an indigenous race of bio-mechanoid killers.

Ridley Scott, director of ‘Alien’ and ‘Blade Runner,’ returns to the genre he helped define. With PROMETHEUS, he creates a groundbreaking mythology, in which a team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a thrilling journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.

The End of Days approaches…. Diablo III will be unleashed from the Burning Hells on May 15, 2012, and you can be ready to play the minute the servers go live by pre-purchasing the game digitally on Battle.net today.

Beginning May 15, players around the world will be able to return to Tristram to discover the dark secrets of a fallen star and begin their quest to save Sanctuary from the impending demonic invasion. To secure your place as a barbarian, monk, demon hunter, witch doctor, or wizard right now, simply log in to your Battle.net account, and then purchase and download* Diablo III, and you’ll be ready to play when the game launches.

Official GDC 2012 announce trailer for SimCity by EA Maxis. SimCity is an online city building simulation game from Maxis Studios. It is the quiessential city builder franchise that started a genre.

The pre-order page of SimCity unveils lots of details about the game. The most important is the system requirements. We have the full details of it below. The publisher is also currrently working out SimCity Limited and Deluxe Edition. SimCity Limited Edition will feature super hero and evil villain lairs, characters, and crime waves, along with associated items, whereas SimCity Deluxe Edition will bring British, French, and German city sets to include landmarks and iconic imagery like the Eiffel Tower in Paris or the double-decker bus in London. Check out SimCity System Requirements below.

Processor:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4000+ or better
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor 2.0GHz or better

Operating system:
Windows XP/Vista/7
RAM:
1.5GB (Windows XP)
2GB (Windows Vista / Windows 7)
2GB (built-in graphical chipset)
Graphics card:
ATI X1800 or better*
nVidia 7800 or better*
Intel 4100 Integrated Graphics or better*
(*Minimum of 256MB of on-board RAM and Shader 3.0 or better support)
DVD-ROM:
8x or better

Eight years after the much loved original, Crusader Kings II is the long awaited sequel to Crusader Kings, developed by the acclaimed team behind the Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron and Victoria series. A game of choice and a reflection of each player’s personal morality, how will you play this very personal game of Strategy? Rule with an iron fist oppressing your population through fear? Perhaps lead your kingdom through respect and benevolence, instilling loyalty in your subjects instead? Or maybe marry your way to power. These are the weighty decisions that await you in your quest for influence and territorial domination.

Crusader Kings II explores one of the defining eras in world history, covering the volatile period of the 11th to 15th century, in an experience crafted by the masters of Grand Strategy. Medieval Europe is brought to life in this epic title rife with rich strategic and tactical depth.

Crusader Kings II

On YouTube, a new video footage has arrived that gives out complete details about all the new features that are included in Rockstar Games recently revealed title Grand Theft Auto V.

Ubisoft have made the decision to go one day earlier with the awesome new CGI Far Cry 3 trailer, so here it is for your viewing pleasure. The game is scheduled for release on September 7th and will launch across all major platforms; PS3, PC and Xbox 360.

A surplus of Far Cry 3 details has been shared by Gaming Everything, originating from the latest edition of Edge Magazine, which details the protagonist, game mechanics, and the title’s open ended mission structure. Far Cry 3 has a suggested release for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC sometime in March.

- When you pause Far Cry 3, you’ll see regular menu options
- There is also “a blobby, butterfly-winged shadow of a Rorschach ink blot fill the screen, with peeks of lush foliage visible between splotches of darkness”
- Open-ended combat
- Plan bouts with enemies well before you face off
- You may decide to charge in for a frontal attack, hang back and snipe enemies from a distance, or place C4 on the side of a jeep and send it to an enemy encampment
- Freedom is tied to the story
- Unlike Far Cry 2¡äs “hard-edged political cynicism”, Far Cry 3 is “a focus on the personal, charting one man’s spiral into violence, and quite possibly madness, on an archipelago where everyone else seems to have a head start”
- One mission is “a hallucinatory push through an island’s underground caves”
- In this mission, protagonist Jason Brody is injured and is searching for a doctor
- Brody heads up a slope and encounters a wooden house; Dr. Earnhardt is inside
- The doctor quickly administers an injection; he’s also “rambling to himself in a jittery, dreamy fashion”
- Earnhardt asks Brody to gather some mushrooms from a cave system nearby
- No shooting in this mission
- Platforming/exploration instead
- “Brody makes running jumps over precarious drops which can only be accessed through an underwater tunnel at the bottom of a cliff”
- There are crumbling handholds
- Things become unpredictable as you head into the caves’ depths
- “Colors begin to saturate before changing hue entirely. Perspective becomes unreliable, and objects that appear within reach one moment suddenly shrink from view.”
- Brody looks at his hands that are “leaving ephemeral trails as they move through the air”
- Cave appears to be reshaping: walls become floors when he tries to climb them, plants pop up randomly
- Eventually Brody locates the mushrooms; setting has become night
- “Far Cry 3 isn’t going to be quite this psychedelic, but the scene clearly demonstrates the preoccupation with mental states that runs throughout the game”
- Dr Earnhardt is crazy while the island’s enemies are unstable as well
- Brody is beginning to lose his grip
- Although Brody was your typical guy on holiday with friends/his girlfriend, he is now thrown into a situation “that threatens to send him off rails”
- Players will have to contend with native fauna and domesticated animals
- Dev. team wanted the game “to be emotional and raw”
- Insanity was a word that came up often in early meetings
- Producer Dan Hay: “When we really felt like we captured it was when we got Vaas. That’s when the word ¡®insanity’ crystallized for us”
- There are numerous villains in addition to Vaas
- Vaas is “a sociopath, and very nearly a psychopath”
- You’ll hear Dr. Earnhardt muttering about him
- Guards seem to hint at a respect that’s built on fear
- Vaas’s voice actor, Michael Mando, had auditioned for the role of a more typical villain who was six-foot-six, 300 pounds, stoic/series, and unemotional
- Mando’s audition was completely opposite of what the team was looking for, and didn’t land the job
- Even so, Mando’s agent called him three weeks later and told him that Ubisoft was willing to make a character based on the audition he did because they liked it so much
- “There are hints that Vaas will be more than just a two-dimensional threat”
- Ubisoft doesn’t think of Vaas as a sociopath/villain; he has a lot of pain, and “everything’s just an extension of that”
- Not clear if Vaas is the one holding Brody’s loved ones captive
- Next part of the demo involves Brody being sent in to interfere with Vaas’ communications
- He has to shut down Medusa, the radio tower of a beached cargo ship
- “It’s a set-piece designed to show off the fact that, despite Far Cry 3¡äs madness theme, the game is still, in Hay’s words, ¡®a shooter first’”
- Brody begins in the ocean, heads toward the beach, and quietly takes out a knife from a guard’s back pocket
- He stabs him with the knife and follows this process for another guard
- With a third guard, he throws the knife into his skull (seen in the E3 demo)
- Since he’s fairly close to the boat, Brody takes out binoculars so he can assess the situation
- Ubisoft is making the game with a “360 degree” design approach
- Each scenario will contain “stealthy, action-focused and creative approaches”
- “The sand is strewn with cover for those who wan an open-air gunfight, while stealthier players can hide within the exposed hold of another beached vessel as they move towards their goal”
- Reinforcements arrive in hovercraft on the beach
- There was one tester who found a hang-glider and approached the radio tower this way, which allowed him to avoid battle
- Another mission has Brody looking for a friend; he has to invade a ship
- More linear environment shown with fewer options, though it lets players experience “an ear-splitting shotgun at close quarters”
- Brody opens the hold doors, causing an explosive booby trap to flood the ship
- “His struggle to escape is the kind of scripted setpiece that makes up the entirety of games such as Call of Duty, and is more than a little reminiscent of a chapter of Uncharted 3¡å
- Hay: “It wasn’t like we set out to make it on an island, but we wanted it to be a lawless frontier, we wanted it to be beautiful, all that stuff. The more we talked about it, and the kinds of experiences we wanted to have, the more we wanted the feeling of isolation.”
- Game designer Andrea Zanni: “We have land animals and sea animals. They’ll be there as threats, they’ll be there for you to utilize ¨C you can go out into the jungle and go hunting, which is all part of Jason growing and surviving on the island. If you go deep into the jungle, you’re going to have some encounters that may not be so pleasant. So they’re a part of the ecology of the island, and really making the island this savage place for the player.”
- You’ll see a lizard during the cave mission
- There are sharks circling floating bodies after there is an explosion in the ship mission
- Hints from the team that there is a dark history to the archipelago
- Open-world designer Jamie Keen: “It’s about making sure that the player is constantly feeling enabled by what you can do in the world and enabled by the world itself. You feel like the world’ inviting you to make you feel like you constantly want to move through it, constantly want to know more about what’s going on there. Recently, we put a mineshaft just on the way down to a lighthouse. And players heading to the lighthouse see it, and everyone just goes, ¡®Oh look, a mineshaft!’ and they have to explore. We want to constantly surprise people [with] how much they’re going to find when they do go exploring and follow their nose.”
- No weapon degradation

Λίγο πριν την πρεμιέρα της πολυαναμενόμενης ταινίας Χόμπιτ και ενώ η τρέλα που προκάλεσαν οι τρεις ταινίες «Άρχοντας των Δαχτυλιδιών» συνεχίζεται, οι ήρωες του Τόλκιν ετοιμάζονται για νέες περιπέτειες, αυτή τη φορά με την μορφή Lego.


Η γνωστή εταιρεία παιχνιδιών αποφάσισε να λανσάρει μια νέα σειρά από φιγούρες εμπνευσμένες από τις ταινίες και το βιβλίο και τις παρουσίασε για πρώτη φορά στο ευρύ κοινό στα πλαίσια ενός φεστιβάλ παιχνιδιών στο Λονδίνο, το περασμένο Σαββατοκύριακο. Φυσικά η Lego υπόσχεται να δημιουργήσει ολόκληρη σειρά με τουβλάκια και ήρωες από τον Άρχοντα των Δαχτυλιδιών και τα nerds σε όλο τον κόσμο τρίβουν τα χέρια τους από ικανοποίηση

Screenshots από τους pvp του αναμενόμενου Guild Wars 2

Capcom today confirmed Resident Evil 6 is in development and is coming this November. The game is arriving on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on November 20, 2012. A PC version is coming at a later date.

Capcom today confirmed Resident Evil 6 is in development and is coming this November.

The game is arriving on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on November 20, 2012. A PC version is coming at a later date. Capcom describes the game as a “blending action and survival horror” and is “the most ambitious, immersive and feature rich title of the series to date and promises to be the dramatic horror experience of the year.”

Resident Evil 6 will follow Leon S. Kennedy and Chris Redfield who will be “joined by new characters, each with their own unique perspective and involvement, in this relentless dramatic horror experience enacted on a global scale.”

Here’s a synopsis of the game’s plot:

It has been ten years since the Raccoon City incident and the President of the United States has decided to reveal the truth behind what took place in the belief that it will curb the current resurgence in bioterrorist activity. Due to be by the President’s side is his personal friend and Raccoon City survivor, Leon S.

Kennedy, but when the venue suffers a bioterrorist attack, Leon is forced to face a President transformed beyond recognition and make his hardest ever decision.
At the same time, Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance member Chris Redfield arrives in China, itself under threat of a bioterrorist attack. With no country safe from these attacks and the ensuing outbreaks, the entire world’s population is united by a common fear that there is no hope left.

“Resident Evil 6 represents a giant stride forward in the evolution of the series,” commented Katsuhiko Ichii, Head of R&D and Global Marketing. “The development team, led by Hiroyuki Kobayashi, is working tirelessly to deliver the most impressive Resident Evil title ever both in terms of scope and production values.

“We are all genuinely excited by the title and cannot wait to share it with the world.”

Resident Evil 6 is also getting numerous retail pre-order bonuses. GameStop, Best Buy and Amazon.com will each get an exclusive map that will function with various modes in the game. Additional details will be revealed at a later date.

The standalone expansion Total War: Shogun 2 – Fall of the Samurai doesn’t have a firm release date just yet, but there’s a new story trailer:

Μια ινδική εταιρεία που ειδικεύεται σε παραγωγές στο Διαδίκτυο, η Shaadi.com λάνσαρε πρόσφατα στην Ινδία, ένα νέο video game – παραλλαγή του γνωστού Angry Birds με τον τίτλο «Angry Brides» δηλαδή θυμωμένες νύφες.

Όπως αναφέρει στο Reuters ο πρόεδρος της εταιρείας στόχος τους ήταν να αφυπνίσουν το κοινό για τον παρωχημένο θεσμό της προίκας, που ακόμα είναι σε ισχύ σε πολλές περιοχές της Ινδίας, αλλά και σε άλλες χώρες στην νοτιοανατολικής Ασίας.

Μολονότι το έθιμο έχει κριθεί παράνομο εδώ και 50 χρόνια, πολλοί είναι αυτοί που ακόμα και σήμερα απαιτούν προίκα και μάλιστα πολλοί είναι αυτοί που μετά τον γάμο απαιτούν ακόμα περισσότερα χρήματα από τα πεθερικά τους ενώ συχνά φέρονται βίαια στις συζύγους τους προκειμένου να εκβιάσουν τα πεθερικά. Πολλές γυναίκες οδηγήθηκαν στην αυτοκτονία μην αντέχοντας την καταπίεση, ενώ το πιο φριχτό είναι η τιμωρία της νύφης που δεν έδωσε καλή προίκα με «ψήσιμο» που είναι μια απάνθρωπη πρακτική κατά την οποία η σύζυγος περιλούζεται με κηροζίνη και στην πορεία την καίνε ζωντανή. Σύμφωνα με στοιχεία του 2007 υπάρχει ένας θάνατος γυναίκας λόγω προίκας κάθε τέσσερις ώρες στην Ινδία.

iefimerida.gr

Το τηλεοπτικό δίκτυο HBO ανακοίνωσε πως η πρεμιέρα της δεύτερης σεζόν για τη σειρά Game of Thrones θα γίνει την πρώτη Απριλίου του τρέχοντος έτους. Βασισμένο στη δημοφιλή σειρά βιβλίων A Song of Ice and Fire του George R.R. Martin, η βραβευμένη με EMMY σειρά φαντασίας επιστρέφει δυναμικά, προσφέροντάς μας για άλλη μια φορά εξαιρετικές σκηνές δράσης και αγωνίας.

Στη διαδικτυακή πύλη Yahoo θα προβληθεί η σειρά “Electric City” του Τομ Χανκς. Είναι η πρώτη φορά που ένα σίριαλ θα κάνει πρεμιέρα στο Διαδίκτυο. Πρόκειται για μία σειρά κινουμένων σχεδίων, συνολικής διάρκειας 90 λεπτών, η οποία θα προβληθεί στο Yahoo σε 20 επεισόδια.

Το σενάριο διαδραματίζεται στο μέλλον σε μια μεγαλούπολη ύστερα από μια μεγάλη καταστροφή.

Ο διάσημος ηθοποιός είχε επιχειρήσει να γυρίσει αρχικά το “Electric City” με μαριονέτες, αλλά στη συνέχεια ενέδωσε στον πειρασμό του των ψηφιακών χαρακτήρων. Οι θεατές θα μπορούν να παρακολουθούν το σήριαλ στους υπολογιστές τους, τα έξυπνα κινητά και τους υπολογιστές ταμπλέτες, αλλά και στις τηλεοράσεις που έχουν σύνδεση με το Ίντερνετ. Επίσης θα κυκλοφορήσουν σύντομα εφαρμογές που θα επιτρέπουν στους χρήστες να παρακολουθούν τη σειρά στα αγαπημένα τους κοινωνικά δίκτυα, αλλά και σε άλλες γλώσσες εκτός της αγγλικής, αρχής γενομένης από τα γαλλικά και τα ισπανικά.