Not So Massively: Heroes of the Storm’s launch; Need for Speed’s online DRM

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Nintendo's quriky new online paint-battle game Splatoon officially launched this week to very positive reviews. Monster-battling game Moonrise entered early access and promises Pokémon-like online arena battles. EA revealed that the recently announced Need for Speed reboot will require an internet connection to play. Star Citizen's devs accidentally leaked secret assets from the game's development, including hidden star systems...

World of Warplanes’ new dogfight contest pits the P51D against the Bf109G

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Wargaming has unveiled a new contest in World of Warplanes that runs through July 1st. It pits two legendary World War II fighter planes against one another in a month-long duel to see which plane -- and which WoWP pilots -- reign supreme. Playing is pretty easy: pick your favorite plane and play a battle. Each week, "the top pilot...

LEGO Worlds releases on Steam early access

Since Minecraft more or less ripped off the very concept of playing with LEGOs, why not return the favor? That seems to be the premise of LEGO Worlds, a new title by TT Games that released on Steam early access today. Players will get to explore, mold, and exploit virtual worlds made of LEGO bricks. There's a heavy emphasis on...

CCP delays EVE’s next set of major sovereignty changes

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CCP is currently rebuilding EVE Online's sovereignty capture system, and as such the sci-fi sandbox developer is updating players on a couple of changes to the schedule via its latest website post. The target date for the next set of major changes is moving back one week (to July 14th), which means that they will "deploy as a one...

Shards Online gets pledge upgrades, a new playtest, and more

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Citadel Studios has released the latest Shards Online newsletter. It's got a new letter from project lead Derek Brinkmann, good news for backers looking to upgrade their pledges, and an announcement for the game's next pre-alpha playtest. It starts this Saturday, June 6th, at 2:00 p.m. EDT and it will feature a hunt through the game's Eldier Cemetery as...

GTA Online’s Ill-Gotten Gains, Part 1 debuts next week

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Rockstar is prepping a Grand Theft Auto Online patch called Ill-Gotten Gains, Part 1. It's due to release next week, and it features new vehicles, new weapons, and "hundreds of new clothing items and accessories" for all your gangster dress-up needs. New vehicles include the Pegassi Osiris, pictured above, as well as a solid gold helicopter, a solid gold jet, and several...

SuperData’s Van Dreunen on tomorrow’s Heroes of the Storm launch

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Tomorrow's the big day for Blizzard's entry into the crowded and uber-competitive MOBA market. Heroes of the Storm officially launches on June 2nd, and SuperData CEO Joost Van Dreunen has penned an editorial at GamesIndustry.biz that asks whether or not the new title can measure up to genre titans like League of Legends and Dota 2. Van Dreunen predicts that...

Camelot Unchained is adding lots of cosmetics without a cash shop

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Camelot Unchained's next stretch goal is going to take the Realm Honors concept to the next level, according to the game's website. In a nutshell, this means that the dev team will be adding "a whole bunch of cosmetic-only things to the game which will not be for sale in a cash shop." Rewards include items that may be displayed...

What World of Warcraft would look like in Unreal Engine

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Many words have been spilled about World of Warcraft's relative immunity to aging due to its stylized graphics. And while that art style is quite beloved, have you ever asked yourself what WoW would look like as a modern game? Now you can. Fan Daniel Luchau has been slaving away rendering WoW's Elwynn Forest in the Unreal Engine. The sights...

Sword and Bored: Trade

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Mo learns that objects in this brave new world are all too often... bind-on-pickup.