General Gaming News II: Steam Helpdesk Site Leak

[Pharaun]

^ That sucks, I loved the artwork for the Mana series. Even if the newer games were eehhhh the art was still topnotch.

[Doombear]

Absolutely. Sad news. It is a style that I will always remember quite fondly.

[Odin'sLaw]

That is really bad news i have such love and fond memories of the mana series, next we'll hear akira toriyama will be kicking the bucket, that will be the day my child hood died

[6souls]

Marlow Briggs and the Mask of Death
(360)
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/...s-banner-1.jpghttp://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/...s-banner-2.jpg

Spoiler: show

http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/...k-of-death.jpg

CD Projekt opens a new studio in Kraków, Poland
http://www.abload.de/img/cdprojekt____2xuja.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/cdprojekt_artist____8lu67.jpg

Is Namco Bandai teasing a Strelka Stories reveal for PS3?
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/...-new-title.jpg
http://www.bandaigames.channel.or.jp/list/sbs/

Spoiler: show

http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/...-stories-1.jpg
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/...-stories-2.jpg
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/...-stories-3.jpg
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/...-stories-4.jpg
http://www.cc2.co.jp/15th_project/

Katamari Damacy designer, Keita Takahashi, is teaming up with the Journey devs for a new project
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/...-takahashi.jpg

Yay! We are so pleased to announce that Keita Takahashi, designer of Katamari Damacy and Noby Noby Boy, is joining us here at Funomena to work on a new game!! At today’s Horizon event here in Los Angeles at the Museum of Contemporary Art, we spoke briefly about our collaboration and the inspiration behind the game.

Keita thought of the core idea while playing with his two-year-old son. He imagined what it would be like if the blocks suddenly sprang to life. This image shows some of his first thoughts about the idea. You can check out our short “Q&A” about this over on our Horizon page – which will be updated as we develop the title.

We have also updated our about page so you can see a bit more about some of the people helping bring this new project to life.

http://www.funomena.com/2013/06/new-faces/
http://horizon.venuspatrol.com/
http://horizon.venuspatrol.com/games/funomena/
http://www.funomena.com/about/

<<link and article removed due to copyright problems>>

[6souls]

The Witch and the Hundred Knights
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/...-knights-1.jpg
(PS3)

Deep within the forest, there live two witches: the beautiful marsh witch and the ugly forest witch. The two are engaged in a deadly war for supremacy. One day, the beautiful marsh witch encounters the legendary "hundred knights", whom she then used magic to summon into battle, in hope of gaining the upper hand against her rival.

Release date: July 25, 2013 (JP), TBA 2013 (NA)
Website: http://nippon1.jp/consumer/majo100/ / http://www.nisamerica.com/games/witch100/

[Grey Jorildyn]

Didn't see this anywhere yet so here we go...

Source

http://www.bubblews.com/assets/image...1371221985.png

allout 4 has (apparently) been absent from E3 this year. However, behind closed doors, Bethesda gave details and a 37 second trailer for the upcoming Fallout 4. Pete Hines of Bethesda is keeping tight lipped about the 45 minute presentation, but it seems there was a leaker inside who was willing to give this information.

> Fallout 4 has been in development since January 2011 by a small team, as the majority were working on Skyrim.

> As of February 2013, the team working on Fallout 4 is the size of the team which was working on Skyrim. This is due to Skyrim development ending.

> As it stands now, Fallout 4 will release on Xbox One, PS4, PC, Xbox 360 and PS3. However, this is still subject to change.

> The actual announcement for Fallout 4 will come BEFORE E3 2014, but will NOT launch in 2014.

> The expected launch is in October 2015.

> The game is (as of June 2013) 55% complete, consequently, voice actors will be hired towards the end of 2014.

> There is no planned multi-player, but there is a possibility of Co-Op locally.

> The game will take place in Somerville, Cambridge, Arlington (and surrounding areas). The main setting is in a Post-Apocalyptic Boston. However, this area will not be immediately accessible.

> The story is not clear, however, Vaults exist.

> The 37 second trailor starts starts with a half-broken phone sparking. The scene pulls out slowly with the stereotypical music you would hear. Slowly you work out the scene is pulling out of a belltower. As it pulls further out, you see a destroyed town around. This is Boston. Suddenly, you hear the bell chime loudly, and the screen changes black instantly. The words of Ron Pearlman are heard "War... War never changes...". The logo for Fallout 4 appears with the 5 platforms above listed.

Aside from all the rumours, this is the only confirmed news. It just looks like we have another 2 years before we'll be able to play the game.

----------

(VGleaks and Neogaf ran this story too but I've linked the true source)
Now THAT is something that would have made my E3 experience MUCH better. Gotta find this trailer to confirm it now...

[Qalbert]

I'd be a little surprised if they're still releasing major titles on 360/PS3 in late 2015. I mean I can see sports games/ MP shooters, etc, but a big ole RPG seems a bit unexpected.

[Cantih]

The end of life on consoles for RPGs is just a tad longer than average.
Yes, Working Designs doesn't quite count, but the Arc the Lad boxed set was released for PS1 in the US at about the same length into the PS2 lifecycle as this would be. (There was also stuff like Saiyuki and Hoshigami.)

Fallout may be major, but it's still very much a core RPG.

[Qalbert]

The 10 Cancelled Legacy of Kains (Mama Robotnik Research Thread)
pretty interesting stuff on GAF about the series, lot of stuff I didn't know, grain of salt with some of it

[Qalbert]

http://www.destructoid.com/please-ha...e-256599.phtml

Please happen: Steam may get game-sharing feature
References to possible new feature found in Steam file
The ever-watchful NeoGAF has stumbled across evidence that Steam may be adding the ability to lend your games to other players. Can you imagine? User Grief.exe found the following lines in the steamui_english file:

"SteamUI_JoinDialog_SharedLicense_Title" "Shared game library"
"SteamUI_JoinDialog_SharedLicenseLocked_OwnerT ext" "Just so you know, your games are currently in use by %borrower%. Playing now will send %borrower% a notice that it's time to quit."
"SteamUI_JoinDialog_SharedLicenseLocked_BorrowerTe xt" "This shared game is currently unavailable. Please try again later or buy this game for your own library."

Find this for yourself by updating to Steam Beta and going to Steam > Settings > Beta Participation and then looking for the aforementioned file in the /Steam/Public folder.

Such a feature sure would be nice. I'd no longer need to do the "offline" trick to let my sister check out my library.

[Arelian]

http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/mi...-dr/1100-4673/

The tug-of-war between Microsoft and Sony just got more interesting. Multiple sources inform me Microsoft will announce what amounts to a complete reversal on its DRM policies for Xbox One today.

What does this mean?

No more always online requirement
The console no longer has to check in every 24 hours
All game discs will work on Xbox One as they do on Xbox 360
An Internet connection is only required when initially setting up the console
All downloaded games will function the same when online or offline
No additional restrictions on trading games or loaning discs
Region locks have been dropped
It is unclear what caused this huge change in policy right after E3, a week where Microsoft executives spent days explaining, justifying, and talking about its policies to the press. I suspect Microsoft’s official announcement will say something to the effect of “we've been closely listening to consumer feedback.”

Based on what I’m being told, that’s definitely true.

I've reached out to Microsoft for comment.

[Kaisha]

So Microsoft is possibly pulling a.......360?

Spoiler: show

*ba-dum tsh*

[Exoduso]

So Microsoft is possibly pulling a.......360?

Spoiler: show

*ba-dum tsh*

You mean a 180.

[Kaisha]

Works both ways. They're making the One more like a 360. Also a 180 on their direction.

Spoiler: show

And my missed opportunity to say "They did a 360 and walked away".

[Qalbert]

You mean a 180.

[Hiryo]

Isn't the Xbone a lot more expensive in the other countries where its officially supported? Obviously not every consumer will import their console, but most stuff that is region locked also have a larger markup.

[Insanecyclone]

[6souls]

New Star Ocean & Occult Maiden trademarks
http://storage.siliconera.com/wordpr...06/image66.pnghttp://storage.siliconera.com/wordpr...06/image67.png

Since Square Enix went all Koihime Musou with Sangokushi Rumble we’re wondering what Occult Maiden will turn out to be. The publisher behind Dragon Quest also registered Star Ocean again. Trademark renewals happen all the time, but Square Enix tends to re-register a trademark right before using it.

Take Dragon-on Dragoon, the Japanese title for Drakengard, for example. Square Enix re-registered Drag-on Dragoon in early 2013, a few months before they revealed Drakengard 3. On the other hand, the plot of Star Ocean: Till the End of Time makes it difficult to continue the universe without acknowledging that plot twist. Perhaps, we’ll get a Star Ocean game where you play a Star Ocean simulation.

http://www.siliconera.com/2013/06/18...an-trademarks/

[6souls]

Atlus' parent company, Index, being investigated for “round-tripping”

http://www.vg247.com/2013/06/12/atlu...ing-the-books/

Index files for bankruptcy, going to make Atlus a social games business

The board of directors for Index Corporation, the company that owns and manages the Atlus brand of games, decided on Thursday to begin civil rehabilitation procedures, and it filed an application with the Tokyo District Court that same day. Civil rehabilitation is a relatively new form of bankruptcy procedures in Japan, having been passed into law in 1999. Index lists about 24.5 billion yen - about US$250 million - in debts.

The company plans to continue its operations under the supervision of the court and rebuild. It reported that recent sales in other countries did not increase, just as they expected. However, it anticipates that it will grow in social games and other areas of business with accelerating expansion. As a result, it is looking into selecting a sponsor or sponsors as quickly as possible to transfer its business operations and maintain their value.

Chairperson Masami Ochiai and President Yoshimi Ochiai intend to resign their positions.

Japan's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission has been investigating Index for allegedly improper accounting via fictitious transactions. Specifically, Index is under suspicion of exaggerating revenues using round-trip transactions. SESC searched Index's headquarters in Tokyo, as well as its chairperson's home, earlier this month.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...ion-bankruptcy
http://indexweb.jp/assets/files/shar.../130627-01.pdf

[Deader2818]

So what does this mean for Atlus? No more console games? Is social games like phone apps?