This Multiplayer Game Will Be Taken Off the Market Once Everyone Dies
Upcoming horror game The Flock will feature a depleting population based on player deaths - and once that population has run out, the game will no longer be playable.
Dutch indie developer Vogelsap puts The Flock's lifespan in players' hands. Players will play as one of the creatures that make up the titular Flock - but with each player death in-game, one life will be taken from the Flock's population. When the population reaches zero it's game over, and The Flock will never be available to purchase or play again.
The Flock's population countdown will be available to view in menus, on the Steam store page, at Vogelsap's website, and on The Flock's subreddit so that players can monitor the number of lives left.
Fallout 4 Actors Recorded Over 13,000 Lines of Dialogue
Since Fallout 4 will have a voiced player character and the option to play as either a man or a woman, every line and piece of dialogue from the protagonist must be recorded with two actors. In a game as vast as Fallout, that's a lot of talk to cover.
In an interview with Telegraph, director Todd Howard revealed that voice actors Courtenay Taylor and Brian T. Delaney have spent two years recording over 13,000 lines of dialogue each for the upcoming Fallout 4.
Female Characters Coming to Rust
A partial implementation of female character models is currently under way in Rust, with a full rollout coming in the future.
According to the latest Rust dev blog, server admins will be switched to the female model, presumably to help with testing. A full rollout hasn't happened yet because Facepunch Studios still has "some stuff to work out, like making alternate clothing models for her."
However, once fully implemented, sex will be assigned at random upon character creation based on your Steam ID - just like attributes such as skin colour.
"To clear up some confusion, when we it does go live you won’t get a choice of whether you’re female or male," says developer Garry Newman. "We’re not 'taking the choice away' from you. You never had a choice."
Google’s Self-Driving Cars Have Been in 14 Accidentsd
As Google's driverless cars continue to travel across the country, they're experiencing one of the hazards of being on the road: fender benders.
Google cars have been the victims of fourteen small accidents since they initially deployed in 2009. 11 of them have been rear-enders, the most recent of which being the one that took place on July 1. According to data, the car was struck from behind by a human driver going 17 miles per hour. No major damage was done to the Google car, although the other car did lose a bumper. This is the first time in the self-driving car's lifespan that anyone reported any injuries, resulting in four people suffering minor whiplash.
Google's Chris Urmson spoke about these accidents, claiming they were caused by human error and not a malfunction of the car's computing or system mechanics.
This Week in the Nintendo eShop
In this somber week following Satoru Iwata's passing, the Wii U and 3DS eShops are light. The biggest releases are Blaster Master on the Wii U Virtual Console and Tiny Galaxy on the Wii U eShop. The other notable release is the demo for Etrian Odyssey Untold 2, where your playtime in the demo can be transferred to the final release in early August.
Blaster Master ($4.99)
The 1988 NES game shows it ages, but it still presents a variety of interesting ideas. It's almost Metroid-like in that you're presented with an expansive world that you have to explore to find different weapons and levels. In this world, you explore in the vehicle SOPHIA in a side-scrolling manner. Once you find levels, then gameplay shifts to a top-down perspective as you control the intrepid Jason through action-focused stages. If you bought this game on Wii, you can upgrade for $1.
Justice League: Gods and Monsters #9 Preview
We have an exclusive preview of the ninth and final chapter of DC's digital comic Justice League: Gods and Monsters. The series serves as a prologue to the upcoming direct-to-DVD animated film and further fleshes out these unusual versions of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Fittingly, this final chapter sees the trio coming together for the first time and struggling to work together as a team.
Justice League: Gods and Monsters #9 features a story by Bruce Timm and J.M. DeMatteis. It's scripted by DeMatteis and drawn by Thony Silas. Check out our exclusive first look below:
Justice League: Gods and Monsters #9 is priced at 99 cents and will be released on Saturday, July 18 on various digital comics services like Comixology, iVerse, the Kindle Store, iBooks and the DC Comics app.
New Batman & Superman Comics in October
DC released their full lineup of solicitations for October 2015 this week. The big news in October is the debut of DC's latest weekly Batman comic, Batman and Robin Eternal. Also look for a new wave of Convergence spinoffs spotlighting pre-New 52 characters and a robust new offering of Vertigo titles that month.
New Series:
- Art Ops #1
- Batman and Robin Eternal #1
- Clean Room #1
- Justice League: Gods and Men one-shots
- Superman: Lois & Clark #1
- Survivor's Club #1
- Telos #1
Shenmue 3 Breaks Another World Record
Earlier today, Shenmue III became the most funded video game Kickstarter ever.
At time of writing, there are 11 hours to go in the Shenmue III Kickstarter campaign and it has currently raised a little over $5.6 million. This means that it has broken the previous record of $5,545,991 set by Koji Igarashi's Bloodstained.
The Shenmue III Kickstarter had already smashed the world record for fastest crowd-funded game to reach $1 million.
Thousands Pay Tribute at Satoru Iwata Funeral
Satoru Iwata's funeral ceremony was held this morning, and thousands have been visiting his final resting place.
Nintendo's president Iwata passed away earlier this week at the age of 55. Over the past few days, over 4,000 fans and Nintendo employees have visited the Kyoto temple where he has been laid to rest.
Among those at the ceremony were Shigeru Miyamoto, Yuji Naka, Dylan Cuthbert, and Reggie Fils-Aime.
Genyo Takeda and Shigeru Miyamoto will be leading the company forward while Nintendo looks for a new president. According to the Wall Street Journal, Takeda said during a eulogy this morning that they would both "strive to complete the work that Mr. Iwata started."
Total War: Warhammer Gets its First In-Engine Trailer
SEGA has released the first in-engine cinematic trailer for Total War: Warhammer.
The trailer, which you can check out below, focuses on Emperor Karl Franz, the leader of the Empire, as he rallies his army of men and imperial artillery in a battle against a horde of Greenskins. This is the Battle of Black Fire Pass, a full developer walkthrough of which will be released on July 30.
For those confused about what an "in-engine cinematic" entails, the developer has posted a blog post to clarify the issue. In essence, it's about some of the custom animations on show not making it into the final game.