Notch announces new project

Minecraft creator to work on new space game.

Markus Persson, better known by his internet alias "Notch", today announced his next project 0x10^c. Not much is yet known about the game as it is still in very early development, however Notch aims to have the game follow the same development cycle as Minecraft by allowing players to purchase the game early and help shape the game throughout. 

The game, which was originally announced on April 1st as "Mars Effect", promises to fully emulate a 16-bit computer which will be not only be used to control the ships in-game, but will be fully programmable by users, with the specifications being released on the website for advanced users to get a head start in coding. This combined with the ridiculously silly back story will provide a great treat for the programming-literate, whilst also presumably attracting the attention of Sci-Fi fans with it's promise of "hard science-fiction". As not much else has been revealed the rest of the game play is left to pure speculation, but with the website hints at a full space sandbox for players to explore. Multiplayer enthusiasts will also be interested in the proposed monthly fees for the online aspect, with the game being fully simulated even when the players are not currently playing. 

Notch will be working on 0x10^c full time after handing over creative control on Minecraft following it's release on 28th November 2011. Currently with over 5 million purchases, the pressure will really be on for Notch to meet up to his previous game.

MonsterT3ch reach 100th video!

We've reached our 100th video, and we want to give one subscriber a free copy of Dungeon Defenders for Steam. Please watch the video for the rules, and feel free to enter. It's not a competition, just a thank you giveaway. Good luck! 

Link to our YouTube channel here!

(written and edited by Heather)

A New Direction for RIM

A New Direction for RIM

More big news from the technology industry this week as Canadian telecommunications giant Research in Motion, the makers of the Blackberry, announced a dramatic shift in their business focus. Acknowledging that they are unable to compete with Android and Apple in the smartphone market, they have decided to instead concentrate their attention on business customers. This move is being seen as a withdrawal from the hard-fought battle for the consumer market, and arguably a return to Blackberry’s roots.

Perhaps keen to limit as much of the damage as possible, Research in Motion was eager to stress that they are not intending to remove the Blackberry completely as a personal phone. Rather, what they are hoping for is a phone that users will want to buy for their own private use as well as use in the corporate environment.

The reasoning behind this move appears to be RIM acknowledging that they were playing outside of their comfort zones. The Blackberry’s strong image as a business phone meant that RIM had a hard time competing with Apple and Android in convincing customers to purchase it for personal use. The Blackberry also ran applications much slower than its rivals, and the lack of a keyboard on its touchscreen models failed to win the public over.

This could be seen as RIM trying to return to playing to its strengths. Indeed, CEO Thorsten Heins said “We can't do everything ourselves, but we can do what we're good at."
After a difficult year, characterised by falling profits and layoffs (in the last 3 months alone, RIM posted a $125 million loss) hopefully this ambitious play will turn out to be the bold move Blackberry needs.


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(written by Al, edited by Heather)

Game forced to call in administators

40% of Game and Gamestation workers lose their jobs.

Further troubles for UK video games retailer emerged this week as the company collapsed into administation. The company has been covered extensively in the news in the past month due to suppliers refusing to stock the stores, after deeming the company a credit risk. Amongst the suppliers refusing to stock the stores are EA, this meant stores had to pull pre-orders on Mass Effect 3, as reported here by MonsterT3ch.

Administrators were called in this Monday(26th March) after CEO Ian Shepard stepped down, causing an immediate closure of 277 of the company's 609 stores, causing an estimated 2089 people to lose their jobs, approximately 40% of Game's workforce. Unless a buyer is found soon, the rest of the stores also risk closure. The company's retail website, Game.co.uk, released a statement today regarding the administration:

"MJA Jervis and SD Maddison have been appointed as Joint Administrators of The GAME Group plc, Game Stores Group Limited, Gameplay (GB) Limited, Game (Stores) Limited, Games Station Limited, Game (Retail) Limited and Gamestation Limited on 26 March 2012, to manage their affairs, business and property as their agents and without personal liability. "

It is widely regarded that Game Group's troubles began when the company could not keep up with online retailers, such as Amazon, as well as large chain supermarkets such as Asda and Tesco. They simply could not combat the lower prices offered by these companies. Add in the increasing popularity of digital download services such as Steam and the company's troubles proved too great. 

It is currently rumoured that US based retailers Gamespot are interested in buying the remaining stores. However if this falls through, the company will be broken down piece by piece, following the footsteps of fellow UK retailer Woolworths, who were forced to close in 2008 after falling into administration themselves. Only time can tell if Game will avoid the same fate

A full list of stores closed on the 26th of March can be found here, although expect the list to grow if a buyer is not found soon.

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(written by Adam, edited by Heather)

Diablo 3 release date confirmed!

Sequel to the 2001 Game of the Year coming May 2012

Originally announced back in June 2008, Diablo 3 will at long last be coming to gamers in North America and Europe May 15th 2012. Coming 11 years after the release of the Lord of Destruction expansion to Diablo 2, players will once again find themselves traversing the world of Sanctuary, drastically changed due to the actions of the player during Diablo 2, 20 year previous.

Diablo 3 has a familiarity to it that veterans of the series will enjoy, primarily being an Action-RPG at heart. That is not to say that it's exactly the same as the other installments, not at all! While the interface is primarily the same, the "belt bar" from previous games has been upgraded to a generic action bar. In addition to being able to map potions, players will have the opportunity to map a variety of spells, scrolls and elixirs to the number keys. Overall, the game will remain very familiar to players, with the new action bar giving the players some fun tricks to play with while they slay the minions of evil.

One thing that veterans will notice however is the massive changes in character building compared to the old games. Attributes have been overhauled and points are now invested automatically instead of being awarded to the player to spend where they wish. Gone too, is the skill tree system of Diablo 2.  Players will now be able to choose from around 25 skills for each class separated into Signature Skills, Active Skills and Passive skills. These skills can all be further customized with the new rune system, which now modifies spells with new effects rather than being used with armour. These new options give a vast array of customization so that each class can be mix and matched to suit anybody's play style.

It's not all good news though. In order to release the game in time, some things have to be dropped from the initial release. The biggest of which being PvP. The PvP in Diablo 3 is similar to the WoW arena system with players pitted against each other in arranged teams using your characters from the Campaign or Cooperative modes. The plan is also to add a 1v1 duel system and a system to allow a group of friends to split in two to fight in arenas. However, players anticipating this will have to wait for future patches as it has been pushed back in the development cycle so that we can all enjoy the game earlier. All in all Diablo 3 looks like the game that will keep our attention for the next decade, just like Diablo 2 before it.


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(written by Adam, edited by Heather)

GAME pull Mass Effect 3 preorders!

Rumours of EA pulling stock from GAME

So for those of you who haven't been following the news, it has been rumoured that EU retailer GAME have been facing some financial issues. Various anonymous sources have claimed that this is the reason you will not find a new EA release at GAME for the moment, however there are no official statements to either confirm or deny this.  

The only statement we have been able to find was the following:

"No credit from the agencies means no stock for the stores. It's going to get worse before it gets better. You won't find a new release this Friday." - Anonymous

However, a representative from GAME denied this.

It all seems a bit strange, but with so many sources reporting the same story, one has to wonder! There is no smoke without fire after all, and with this article from Eurogamer it would appear there are going to be many disappointed gamers on Mass Effect 3 release day.

Our advice would be, if you have preordered from GAME, order somewhere else as soon as possible.   

(written and edited by Heather)

Mass Effect 3 - demo and trailer!

Mass Effect 3

After announcing Mass Effect 3 back in December 2010, Bioware have had us fans gripping the edges of our seats and salivating with anticipation for the release date. Obviously we were given the date a while back now, and as we get closer and closer to that date (9^th March!) the excitement is really picking up.  

Gameplay in Mass Effect 3 will be heavily influenced by the previous 2 games and will continue on from Mass Effect 2 DLC expansion Arrival. The gameplay will be influenced by decisions made previously in Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2. Combat has been tweaked slightly with the main changes being made to the cover system, there will be more options for moving around the battlefield, instant melee kills and improved AI.

And the biggest plus in my opinion, 4 player multiplayer co-op! The decisions you make in co-op mode will impact the outcome of your single player campaign, this mode will be called "Galaxy at War".

Another thing worth noting is that the soundtrack for the game has been scored by Clint Mansell, that might not mean a whole lot to some people, but he is without a doubt one of my favourite composers, so all in all Mass Effect 3 is definitely one of the most hotly anticipated games this year.

MonsterT3ch's Luke is hopefully going to be getting some demo footage up on the YouTube channel for you guys to have a look at, but for now, I'd really like to know if any of you readers have played the demo yet? And what do you think so far?

If you haven't seen it already, check out the teaser trailer here.

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MonsterT3ch – Heather

(written and edited by Heather)