Cover Story
Issue
19
May 25, 2016
Designing Mirror’s Edge: The making of a franchise
Go behind the scenes with DICE on the creation of Mirror’s Edge and Mirror’s Edge Catalyst.
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13 CommentsWorld of Warcraft's most recent expansion now part of base game
The fifth and most recent World of Warcraft expansion, Warlords of Draenor, is now available as part of the base game. A member of Blizzard Entertainment's customer support confirmed that all players have access to the add-on content after a Reddit user noticed it was no longer up for sale online.
Warlords of Draenor cannot be bought on its own at retailers or on Battle.net, Blizzard said. A boost bringing characters to level 90 included with previously purchased, individual copies of the expansion may still be claimed by those customers, however.
That Warlords of Draenor now comes included with World of Warcraft is typical for the popular massively multiplayer online game. All five expansion packs have been folded into the basic game, which costs $20 before a monthly subscription...
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Deals
19 CommentsEverything in The Witcher franchise is on sale at GOG
GOG.com is running a two-week sale on the entirety of The Witcher series, offering discounts of as much as 85 percent.
The sale is occurring "in preparation for" The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's second and final expansion, according to GOG.com. The add-on, Blood and Wine, launches May 31. In addition, this Thursday, May 19, happens to be the one-year anniversary of the release of The Witcher 3.
Here's a list of everything that's on sale:
The Witcher: Enhanced Edition: $1.49 (85% off, regularly $9.99)
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings - Enhanced Edition: $2.99 (85% off, reg. $19.99)
The Witcher Adventure Game: $1.49 (85% off, reg. $9.99)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt: $24.99 (50% off, reg. $49.99)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt + Expansion Pass bundle: $49.99 (33% off, reg. $74.99)
The...
Movies
6 CommentsSee Warcraft's trailer done with World of Warcraft's visuals
The Warcraft movie looks intriguing and sounds faithful to the 22-year-old series' lore, but all of its trailers seem at least a bit alienated from the familiar because it's a live-action take on something with a very colorful, distinctive style. Here to bridge that gap is a shot-for-shot recreation of the trailer using Warcraft assets.
The trailer, by Ivan Kuzkin, doesn't feature any dialogue but it does match up the important sequences of the launch trailer, many with perfect fidelity (such as Lothar leaping aboard his flying mount). If you want a closer look, Kuzkin supplied this side-by-side comparison of key shots.
Warcraft premieres, at long last, on June 10. Perhaps not coincidentally, World of Warcraft's next expansion, Legion, arrives this summer.
News
3 CommentsHands-on with Shiny, the nonviolent platformer
The second-best thing about Shiny is what you don't do. But the best things about Shiny are all of the things you can see behind it.
Shiny is the product of Garage 227 Studios, a game maker based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, which is about as far away from the mainstream metropolises of development as you can imagine. And yet, the tiny team there is on the verge of releasing Shiny on Steam, thanks to community support from Steam Greenlight, and Xbox One, thanks to Microsoft's self-publishing for independent developers, ID@XBOX.
Garage 227 is a, well, shining example of the democratization of the enormous changes distribution and publishing that have emerged in the last few years. Gone are the days of teaming up with publishers and console platform owners granting tokens to publishers....
Esports
14 CommentsWorld Esports Association seemingly leaked, includes major esports teams and brands
In a post on the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive sub-Reddit today, someone leaked the picture of a poster above. This image appears to reveal the existence of something called the World Esports Association, or WESA. The Redditor was then accused of leaking a major announcement and deleted the image.
So what is WESA? The mystery figure who leaked the image did not provide that information. However, it's clear from the picture that this Association includes some big names in the esports world, including tournament organizer ESL and major esports teams such as Fnatic, Na'vi, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Mouseesports, G2, Virtus Pro and more.
All of the team organizations listed have devoted Counter-Strike teams, though many also have teams focused on other popular competitive games such as League...
News
6 CommentsHeroes of the Storm ranked-play overhaul kicks off in June with first season
Heroes of the Storm's ranked play is getting a complete overhaul in mid-June, Blizzard said on Friday, introducing the game's first ranked season with new tiers and divisions and other features.
The tier-and-division system, broadly speaking will separate players according to skill level and then, within that, note how close those players are to being promoted or demoted to a different tier, ranging from Bronze to Diamond.
The top tier, called Master, will display rank differently. Masters will have a badge showing how many rank points they have accumulated in that season's Master league. Grand Masters are Master league members who are the top 500 point earners in their region. Their badge will note that numerical rank. The rank is updated daily.
As a result of the new tiering...
Esports
3 CommentsReport: Big-time German soccer club acquires spot in League of Legends championship series
Here's a twist: an esports league has a new team: a soccer team. A German soccer club, that is, one of the nation's largest.
Esports Observer reports that FC Schalke 04 has acquired a place European League of Legends Championship Series, replacing Elements. The deal has not been formally announced but Esports Observer cited multiple sources saying the deal had gone through.
FC Schalke 04 is not the first professional sports club to get into esports. Others in European soccer also sponsor teams and just this week West Ham United F.C. of the Barclays Premier League signed up an esports professional to represent it at FIFA tournaments (the video game series, not the global organization). Eports Observer notes Schalke's move is the first significant foray into a top-tier league, however.
...
Movies
17 CommentsHere's what Khadgar looks like in the Warcraft movie
Warcraft's latest trailer showcases another mainstay character of the 22-year-old franchise. Here is Khadgar the mage, portrayed by Ben Schnetzer in his first major role.
In Warcraft's canon, Khadgar is the apprentice of Medivh and commands the Alliance's expedition into Draenor. In Warcraft II he closed the Dark Portal but was trapped in Draenor when it went kaboom. He was presumed dead, but really, when is that ever permanent. Khadgar went on to several more appearances in Warcraft, and will return in World of Warcraft's next expansion, Legion, coming this summer.
Warcraft, as in the movie, will premiere June 10.
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