Titanfall Release Date Announced: March 11, 2014

The official Titanfall announcement is below. The $249 collector’s edition seems like a ridiculous amount, but for folks who are into badass statues, I guess it’s a bargain?

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We are happy to announce that Titanfall will be landing on store shelves for Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC beginning March 11, 2014 in North America and beginning March 13, 2014 in Europe.

Electronic Arts announced today that Titanfall™, the debut game from acclaimed independent videogame developer Respawn Entertainment, will be landing on store shelves beginning March 11, 2014. Already the winner of more than 80 coveted awards from critics around the world, Titanfall is winning over fans with its thrilling, dynamic first-person action gameplay featuring elite assault pilots and agile, heavily-armored, 24-foot titans. Crafted by one of the co-creators of Call of Duty and other key designers behind the Call of Duty franchise, Titanfall delivers a brand-new online experience that combines fluid, fast-paced multiplayer action with heroic, set-piece moments found in traditional campaign modes.

“Since we revealed the game in June we’ve been absolutely blown away by the reaction to Titanfall,” said Vince Zampella, a Co-Creator of Call of Duty and Co-Founder of Respawn Entertainment. “The feedback we’re getting from fans around the world is fueling our team as we head towards March and motivating us to deliver an experience that lives up to the hype.”

In addition to the standard edition of the game, the Titanfall: Collector’s Edition (SRP $249.99), will include an exclusive collectible 18” hand-crafted titan statue with diorama and battery-powered LED lighting, a full-size art book featuring more than 190 pages of rare concept art, and an exclusive full-size schematic poster of the Atlas titan.

Set in the near future on a distant frontier torn apart by war, Titanfall drops players in the middle of a conflict between the Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation (IMC) and the Militia. The action is rapid and varied – featuring parkour-style wall running, massive double jumps and the ability to hijack titans. The freedom to shift back and forth between pilot and titan allows players to change tactics on the fly, attacking or escaping depending on the situation and extending the action vertically to new heights.

Titanfall will be available for the Xbox One all-in-one gaming and entertainment system from Microsoft, PC and Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system on March 11, 2014 in North America, and beginning March 13, 2014 in Europe. Join the conversation on Twitter® at twitter.com/titanfallgame and #Titanfall, or on Facebook® at facebook.com/titanfallgame.

The Seven Biggest Upcoming Console MMOs (IGN.com)

I get that MMOs want to extend their reach to add console gamers. For real MMOs (especially MMORPGs), that market segment is virtually untapped. However, I don’t see consoles replacing my mouse+keyboard experience. FFXIV:ARR is a good example of that, especially when looking at tanks. Almost all of the tanks that struggle with positioning that I’ve run with have been console gamers (or just new to the dungeon).

For MMOs like Defiance and those that offer first person views, the overall game would probably be similar between consoles and PCs, but communication will always be substantially behind on consoles and only a small percentage of gamers are using Ventrilo, RaidCall, or other VoIP software.
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As long as video game consoles have had internet connections, enterprising studios have been creating massively multiplayer games for them. Early notable efforts include Sega’s Phantasy Star Online in 2001 and Everquest Online Adventures in 2003.

Still, despite these groundbreaking games, there’s no denying that for most MMO experiences, PC gaming has always been where it’s at. Until now, at least.

Sony’s Playstation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One are more PC-like than ever, and now talented AAA console development teams are finally wrapping their heads around how to create persistent online worlds and long-term character growth. As a result, next-gen might be the era that console MMOs finally come into their own. Below are the hottest console MMOs, both launched and upcoming, that you should be sure to keep on your radar.

Note: It’s still up in the air whether some of these titles will truly feel like traditional MMO experiences when they launch. The lines are blurring. Massive battles with hundreds of concurrent players might not constitute an MMO if the world isn’t persistent. A persistent world might not be an MMO if you can only explore it with small, controlled groups. However you define an MMO, these games are all, at the least, MMO-like experiences worth your hype and attention.

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn

PC, PS3, PS4
After a notoriously poor launch, Square-Enix doubled down on FF XIV, relaunching the game a full three years later, to critical and commercial success. It’s arguably one of the biggest turnaround stories in video game history.

Somewhat lost in all the headlines was the “small” detail that the relaunched game released not just for Windows, but on Playstation 3 as well, with a Playstion 4 version coming in 2014. The console version is fully playable with just a controller thanks to a completely revamped UI, or players can just plug a keyboard and mouse. FF XIV is the highest-profile MMORPG currently available on consoles and is an easy recommendation for console gamers.

DC Universe Online

PC, PS3, PS4
DCUO launched on PC and PS3 in 2011 to so-so reviews and managed to amass only a modest player base. But Sony Online Entertainment stuck it out, continuing to gradually improve and expand on the superhero MMO. The game gained notable momentum after switching to a freemium business model 10 months after launch.

The game makes excellent use of the DC universe via top-notch voice acting, an active, ever-expanding story, and hundreds of famous and not-so-famous characters and locations from the DC Universe. DCUO is tuned to get players to the level cap and into endgame content as fast as possible, making it a great MMO for superhero nerds to download and try out.

Planetside 2

PC, PS4
Sony Online Entertainment’s massive PC FPS hit Planetside 2 is due out on the PS4 later this year. Many were skeptical about Planetside 2’s massive scale and free-to-play model, but after trying it out for themselves, most came away believers. The payment model never gets in the way, and vehicular and on-foot warfare is always raging, with thousands of players all vying for territory control at once. Thanks to a solid class system and a steady stream of unlockables, Planetside 2 should have something for everyone when it hits PS4.

Destiny

PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
For how much we know about Halo developer Bungie’s ridiculously ambitious “persistent world shooter” Destiny, there’s an awful lot we still don’t know. Bungie itself has refrained from actually calling the game an MMO, for starters. Instead, the game provides players with a feeling of constant connection via seamless matchmaking that all happens in the background, with other players entering and exiting your game world on-the-fly.

Destiny’s emphasis on dynamic world events and “loot drops” also contributes to its MMO feel. Players will be able to socket and customize their weapons with powerful items dropped from foes. Dynamic events will help keep the world of Destiny fresh and keep players on their toes. We’ll have to wait until 2014 to find out just how MMO-likeDestiny truly ends up feeling.

The Division

PS4, Xbox One, PC
When a man-made pandemic collapses civilization, ruthless gangs vie for power in the ruins of New York. Sounds like a good setting for an MMORPG to us! Like Destiny, at this point we still aren’t sure how genuinely MMO-like Ubisoft’s dystopian FPS/RPG hybrid The Division truly is. But what has been revealed looks extremely promising.

Players are plunked into The Division’s unforgiving game world with three days’ worth of food and supplies. From there it’s up for you to explore and scavenge what you need, leveling up your character RPG-style along the way. Although solo play is an option, The Division includes extensive options for player-run clans and groups as well as drop-in/drop-out multiplayer, encouraging and rewarding players who team up and work together to tame its persistent, dynamic online world.

The Crew

PC, PS4, Xbox One
Like Destiny and The Division, just how MMO-like Ubisoft’s persistent world racing gameThe Crew truly is still isn’t known. But what we’ve seen so far is extremely promising. The arcade-style racing action takes place across the entire United States. A condensed version of it, sure… but still. Racing from Seattle to Miami in a seamless online/offline game world filled with hundreds of racing challenges? Yes, please!

The game will seamlessly and constantly fill your game world with hundreds of other real world players, giving the game its “MMO” label. You can party up to compete in races or cooperative events like taking down a single superpowered opponent. Yes, almost like a raid.

Elder Scrolls Online

PC, Mac, PS4, Xbox One
Elder Scrolls Online, in development for six years, is finally nearing its 2014 release window. Set 1000 years before the events of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the game’s major claim to fame is that it takes place across the entire continent of Tamriel. Not just a single country or region like all the other modern single player Elder Scrolls games.

Early impressions were mixed, wih many describing the game as a World of Warcraft clone set in the Elder Scrolls universe. While that’s still a plenty exciting concept on its own, many gamers wanted more. Thankfully, Zenimax Online listened. The game now has a first-person mode, a new Skyrim-like UI, further refined storytelling and plenty more tweaks that truly allow the game to feel like Skyrim with (thousands) of friends.

Plenty more!

The seven games above aren’t the only ones to keep in mind, but they’re probably the highest profile console MMOs in the works. Other upcoming console MMOs include:

War Thunder: A freemium flight sim MMO that’s been making waves on Steam. Due out for PS3 and PS4 in November. Watch the gameplay.

Warhammer 40K: Eternal Crusade: Not due out until 2015, this MMO based on the classic sci-fi license is slated for release on PC and both Xbox One and PS4. Read the news.

World of Tanks: Wargaming.net’s notorious PVP-heavy tank combat game has been available on Xbox 360 since this summer. Read the news.

Phantasy Star Online 2: Sega’s PSO sequel is out now on PC and Vita… in Japan. A US release date hasn’t yet been announced. US Release News?

Dragon Quest X: Like PSO 2, Square Enix’s Dragon Quest MMO hit Wii and Wii U in Japan last year to critical acclaim. But a US release is still up in the air. Watch the epic trailer.

Raptr: Most Played Games August 2013

Call of Duty: Black Ops II was the #1 game played for August. However, Raptr’s focus on this month’s review is about DOTA2 and LoL. For me, I really only cared about RIFT and the fact that their F2P subscription model continues to impress. Oddly, they did not reveal top PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 titles as they’ve done the past few months.

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RAPTR’S MOST PLAYED GAMES: AUGUST 2013 — DOTA 2 TOPS LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

A new champion has taken the field. And we’re not talking about Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, which is once again in at the top slot overall.

No, the big news is that after a few brief shots at the crown, Valve’s DOTA 2 surpassed Riot Games’ smash-hit League of Legends in both total players and total playtime for the month of August based on gameplay data from Raptr’s 18 million members.

Italicize that last part in your mind if you need to — Raptr’s membership skews more North America-centric than the total gaming audience, so we aren’t saying categorically that more people spent more time playing DOTA 2 than LoL. But among Raptr members, they definitely did, although it was close. Also, this list includes PC and Xbox 360 games only — Sony and Nintendo don’t let players share gameplay data publicly.

LoL vs. DOTA 2 Analysis

League of Legends shot to the top of our playtime charts due in part to its wildly popular spectator modes, tournament livestreams, and world championships. DOTA 2 officially launched (after an extended beta) on July 9 and just concluded its own livestreamed championship event, The International, which ran August 7-11.

No doubt that had a strong effect on DOTA 2′s numbers. LoL’s Season 3 World Championships just finished up last week, giving Riot a big opportunity to recoup.

But Valve’s challenger has nipped at LoL’s heels for months now. DOTA 2 first passed LoL in total players on March 3 — coincidentally, right when LoL servers went down (possibly due to a denial-of-service attack). That gave DOTA 2 a free shot at taking the lead for a day. A few isolated days followed where DOTA 2 came within a few hundred players of LoL’s total…or leapfrogged it by six or seven thousand without warning.

Those events occasionally coincided with Riot releasing major patches — typically a source of downtime for online games. But even with servers up and running at capacity, Riot’s numbers have taken a substantial hit of late. Total LoL playtime hours have dropped 13% in the last 30 days. New members in that same timeframe are up a healthy 27%, but overall unique active members are down 6%.

That suggests older, established players are drifting away, and the new players coming in aren’t engaging as deeply.

By contrast, in the same 30-day window, DOTA 2 saw an 11% increase in unique active members while new signups were down 3%. It’s the exact opposite of LoL’s problem…players are engaging long term, but the influx of new blood is starting to dip.

Pushing into the first week of September, it looks so far like a fairly even split between days favoring League of Legends and those carried by DOTA 2. With the glow of The International pretty much faded and LoL’s incredibly popular World Championships happening last week, it’s likely LoL’s numbers will angle straight up again in the middle of the month. But the recent erosion of its player base should be a serious cause for concern if the trend continues after the World Championships. And DOTA 2′s numbers prove that if Riot Games opens the door, Valve’s increasingly popular MOBA will walk right on through.

Grand Theft Auto V Crushes It With $800M Sold First Day (VentureBeat.com)

Selling $800 million in the first 24 hours, GTA5 sets a massive new record for best selling game of all-time at launch. Kinda makes the huge budget of $260 million seem paltry by comparison!

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Grand Theft Auto V’s main characters, Michael, Franklin, and Trevor.

Grand Theft Auto V sales added up to more than $800 million during its first 24 hours, making it the best-selling video game of all time for first-day sales.

Take-Two Interactive Software, parent of game developer Rockstar Games, said today that the title achieved first-day sell-through sales that beat those of any previous Grand Theft Auto game and any other title the company has sold.

Launched on Sept. 17 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the title is an open-world game with a narrative that focuses on three urban criminals. It was developed over five years with a budget estimated at $260 million.

GTA V is launching soon in Japan and Brazil.

“All of us at Take-Two are thrilled with the initial response to Grand Theft Auto V. Once again, the team at Rockstar Games have outdone themselves, setting the entertainment industry’s new standard for creativity, innovation and excellence,” said Strauss Zelnick, chairman and CEO of Take-Two. “Beginning at midnight on Monday, consumers around the world gathered in anticipation to be among the first to experience the evolution of this remarkable series. In North America alone, more than 8,300 stores opened their doors at midnight to welcome fans whose loyalty and enthusiasm were rewarded with what the New York Times called ‘the most immersive spectacle in interactive entertainment.’ We are incredibly proud of Rockstar Games’ creative achievement and could not be more pleased with the success of this launch.”

The game is both a critical and a commercial success. It has a 98/100 rating on review aggregator Metacritic for the Xbox 360, based on reviews from 38 critics. Our own Giancarlo Valdes gave it a stingy 95 out of 100, making it our highest-rated game in a long while. It’s rated Mature by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board.

Diablo 3: Auction House Feature To End

Given the amazing new loot system expected to launch in Loot 2.0, the Auction House certainly would have less appeal. However, I wonder just how much cash has actually been made via the AH thus far? Regardless, six months in *ample* notification.

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When we initially designed and implemented the auction houses, the driving goal was to provide a convenient and secure system for trades. But as we’ve mentioned on different occasions, it became increasingly clear that despite the benefits of the AH system and the fact that many players around the world use it, it ultimately undermines Diablo’s core game play: kill monsters to get cool loot. With that in mind, we want to let everyone know that we’ve decided to remove the gold and real-money auction house system from Diablo III.

We feel that this move along with the Loot 2.0 system being developed concurrently with Reaper of Souls™ will result in a much more rewarding game experience for our players.

We’re working out the details of how the auction house system will be shut down, but we wanted to share the news as soon as we made the decision in order to give everyone as much advance notice as possible. Please note that the shutdown will occur on March 18, 2014. We will keep everyone informed as we work through this process.

Josh Mosqueira and I wanted to provide everyone with a little more information behind this decision, so please have a look at the video, and stay tuned to this site for further updates in the months ahead.

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Diablo 3: Console Version Now Available For PS3 & Xbox 360

Today is September 3rd which means Diablo 3 is now officially available in console form for Xbox 360 and PS3 at the premium price of $59.99. Oddly, the Battle.net site actually takes you to GameStop by default, but you can choose Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, and Target from the drop-down menu before hitting “BUY NOW”.

Raptr: Most Played Games (PC, Xbox 360) in June 2013

There are some BIG surprises here. RIFT has a MASSIVE month, absolutely crushing its nearest competition and pulls in more gaming hours than the bottom half of the entire Top 20 combined.

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RAPTR’S MOST PLAYED GAMES: JUNE 2013 — NOW WITH PC AND XBOX 360-SPECIFIC TOP 20 LISTS

Aside from newcomer State of Decay and a resurgent Fable III, June’s Most Played list doesn’t hold too many surprises. Total playtime was up 16% over the previous month, however, and MOBAs League of Legends and DOTA 2 both posted significant playtime gains as well.

Note: This list, based on playtime data from Raptr’s 18 million users, includes PC and Xbox 360 games only — Sony and Nintendo don’t let players share gameplay data publicly, so that’s why no The Last of Us or Animal Crossing in the rankings.

The Share number by each game represents that title’s gameplay time as a percentage of the total time spent on the top 1000 games played by Raptr users, and is useful for comparing the relative amount of play time between particular games.

HIGHLIGHTS

Last month Rift enjoyed a big playtime bump among Raptr members due to a series of Raptr Rewards, but this month Rift’s transition to free to play was a significant factor. While we can’t quantify the F2P-related increase exactly, month over month Rift playtime is up 95%.

The rise and rise of popular free-to-play MOBAs League of Legends and DOTA 2 continued in June, with both posting their largest monthly playtime gains so far this year, up 36% and 45% respectively.

And if you’re wondering how Fable III, a game that came out in 2010, could suddenly catapult up 157 spots — it was a free download for Xbox Live Gold subscribers in the latter half of June.

State of Decay, on the other hand, earned its spot the old-fashioned way — by clearing over 250k copies in its first two days in the Xbox Live Marketplace and 500k in the first week, making it the second-best-XBLA seller after Minecraft. Not a bad debut for developer Undead Labs.

Borderlands 2 may have fallen a few spots this month, but the Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep DLC (launched on 6/25) is responsible for the largest playtime bump we’ve seen for the game so far. In the final week of June Borderlands 2 was the sixth most played game on Raptr.

A steady stream of content updates are definitely having a positive impact for Guild Wars 2 over the last three months — the Dragon Bash event and Sky Pirates of Tyria update both launched in June, and playtime was up 64% compared to the game’s low point this year, March.

PC HIGHLIGHTS

Rift and Rumble Fighter both enjoyed Reward-related boosts this month, while a free Steam weekend and sale in early June bumped Civilization V up the ranks. In the three weeks post Steam sale Civ gameplay was still about double what it had been before.

F2P MMO Marvel Heroes had a good launch, but by the end of the month it was definitely fading and won’t be in the top 20 next month, barring new content or other events to reignite the community.

XBOX 360 HIGHLIGHTS

Not a lot to report here — aside from Fable III’s rocket up the charts (discussed above), a couple other old-timers got a boost. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 playtime was up 25% month over month…and if you know why, tell us in the comments. And Dark Souls was the XBL Deal of the Week in early June.

Defiance: “Play the Game. Join the Show.” Contest Underway

During all the pre-launch hype for Defiance, the developers and TV cast made it clear that players would have opportunities to crossover into the the TV show from the game. Unfortunately, they didn’t really mean the “players”, they meant the player’s “characters”. That said, here’s the second push from the Defiance franchise to get players into the actual TV show. There are different ways to register based on using PC, Xbox 360, or PS3, so go to the official page to get specific details.

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PLAY THE GAME. JOIN THE SHOW.

The first Season of Defiance the Show has come to an end but your journey continues. Replay all of the Defiance cross-over content in the game from July 8th through July 30th and enter for a chance to have your character written onto the TV show. Get started now.

CONTEST DETAILS

How will the winner be chosen?
The top 10 ark hunters who complete the most arkfall events during the time period July 8th 10am PT to July 30th 10am PT will qualify to have their character written onto the show. The top 10 players will have their characters submitted to a Facebook voting contest. The top 5 players from this vote will then be submitted to the writers staff at Syfy. The final winner will be selected by Kevin Murphy, the lead creator the TV show.

How do I enter?
Follow the contest registration steps above, then complete the most arkfall events during the time period July 8th 10am PT to July 30th 10am PT will qualify.

What are Major Arkfall events?
Major Arkfalls happen in the game daily and are random events where players can salvage the most loot. When the event occurs the player will be notified on his player map.

What can I win?
The winner will have his/her character appear on the next season of Defiance the TV show. The writing staff will create the characters back story and give the character an appearance on one of the episodes.

When will winners be announced?
Top 10 finalists will be notified by email on August 2nd. The finalists will then be announced via Facebook on August 9th. Final Winner will be selected By September 15th.

How can I get alerts for future crossover contests?
Subscribe to the Defiance newsletter! You’ll get early info on upcoming contests, content, and offers from Defiance. To subscribe, log in to your Trion account, check the Defiance box in your “Newsletters” tab, and click “Save.”

Click here for official Contest Rules.

Minecraft: 11 Million PC Sales; Millions More than World of Warcraft

Kind of unbelievable that Minecraft has been picked by over 25 million users across all platforms. What a remarkable feat from a cult classic game of build-your-own adventure!

The creator, Notch, revealed milestone on Twitter:

Minecraft has now sold 11 million copies on PC/Mac/Linux! That’s more than the number of atoms in the observable universe!

Minecraft developer Mojang has sold more than 11 million copies on the PC. For a game that started on the PC, the Xbox version regularly reaches the top of the Xbox Live Arcade charts. The Xbox 360 edition has sold over 6 million copies and the Pocket Edition for mobile has sold over 10 million copies. And yes, Minecraft will be available on the Xbox One!

Defiance: Most Wanted Winner Announced

It’s great to see the conclusion of the first “Most Wanted” winner being announced. Unfortunately, it’s marred by many allegations of hacking/exploits. It seems highly unusual that the winner pulled in 273% more ark salvage per hour than anyone else in the entire game. Feels exploity to me.

Also, I  hope the “likeness” they put into the show is really worth all the effort the community put into that contest. From early announcements, the Defiance group made it seem like winners of contests would win cameo appearances on the TV show, not just have a wanted poster with their character’s name on it appear for a second.

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Just over a month ago we kicked off the first ever in-game crossover competition to get your likeness within Defiance. Fans of the show and community members from the game set out to take on the challenge and today we would like to announce the winner.

Congratulations to winner Zachary P. for raking in an incredible 173,383 ark salvage/hr – that’s 109,969/hr over the average Ark Hunter haul! You’ll be seeing Zachary’s likeness in an upcoming episode of Defiance so keep your eyes peeled.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Most Wanted contest.

Original Article