RipTen Videogame Blog » Release-Date

Gotham City Imposters to Release on February 7th

Garrett Hartman — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:30:52 +0000

Warner Bros. Interactive has given a release date for their upcoming Batman themed shooter Gotham City Imposters. Imposters is now set to release next week on February 7 on PSN, PC, and Xbox Live.

Gotham City Impostors is an original first-person shooter where up to 12 players battle for control of an unhinged Gotham City overrun by impostors inspired by the DC Comics characters Batman and The Joker. Players can engage in deliriously fast paced, uniquely vertical, and completely unconventional urban warfare where progress supports leveling up and access to a mind-boggling array of customization options. Fans can unlock new Bats or Jokerz Impostor costumes and build their own specific load-out from a huge assortment of traditional and homebrew weaponry, equipment, and perks. Gadgets such as the Glider Rig, Grappling Hook, and Spring Boots give gamers unprecedented mobility options, while support items like the Bear Trap, Boomerang, and Body Armor open up new tactical options. The game will feature maps and modes inspired by DC Comics’ Batman license.

Read our hands-on preview.

Rayman Origins to Release on PC in March – Minimum System Requirements

Garrett Hartman — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:00:11 +0000

Ubisoft has announced the popular and highly acclaimed Rayman Origins will be coming to the PC on March 29th.

Since release on November 15th, Ubisoft’s platformer has sold close to a million copies and has an aggregate score on Metacritic at 87%.

Before Rayman Origins hits the PC, a Vita version is expected on February 22nd followed by the 3DS on March 20th. Below are the Minimum and recommended PC specs:

Minimum configuration

OS: Windows® XP SP3 / Windows Vista® SP2 / Windows® 7 SP1
Processor: Intel Pentium IV 3.00 Ghz or AMD Athlon64 3000+ @ 1.8 Ghz
Memory: 1 GB Windows XP / 1.5 GB Windows Vista – Windows 7
Graphics: 128 MB DirectX®9 / Radeon X600XT or GeForce 6800GT
DirectX®: DirectX 9.0c or higher
Sound: DirectX 9.0-compliant sound card

Recommended configuration

OS: Windows® XP SP3 / Windows Vista® SP2 / Windows® 7 SP1
Processor: Intel Core2Duo E4400 @ 2.00 Ghz or AMD Athlon64X2 3800+ @ 2.00Ghz
Memory: 2 GB Windows XP / Vista / Windows 7
Graphics: 256 MB DirectX®9 / Radeon HD 2600XT or GeForce 8600GT
DirectX®: DirectX 9.0c or higher
Sound: DirectX 9.0-compliant sound card

Namco Bandai Delays Inversion to Ensure Quality

Justin Carter — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:06 +0000

Namco Bandai’s Inversion was originally announced to come out this February 7. That’s no longer the case. The publisher has pushed the game back to a later date. Here’s why:

This additional development time will allow the team to polish several key aspects of the game ensuring Inversion is of the highest quality.”

Typical response, yeah? As soon as the game has a release date, we’ll let you know.

via [Game Informer]

I Am Alive to Release March 7th as Part of XBLA House Party

Garrett Hartman — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:30:03 +0000

Ubisoft today announced that I Am Alive will be part of the XBLA House Party promotion and will be available on XBLA March 7th. Below is a description of the game from the press release:

I Am Alive follows an everyman’s journey to find his wife and daughter, who were lost during the “Event.” A year later, he finds Haventon, his hometown, in shambles. Buildings are destroyed, toxic ash fills the streets and society has been torn, causing inhabitants to take all necessary actions to survive.

In I Am Alive, players will be challenged by both the environment and the enemies. Stamina and resource management are key when being exposed to deadly atmospheres and scaling enormous buildings in search of supplies. The unique combat system requires players to utilize intimidation – cowards are easily swayed with an empty gun, while other enemies will put players to the test.

Check out the gameplay trailer here.

I Am Alive will cost 1200 MSP.

Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition Available February 7

Drake Hess — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:00:40 +0000

The Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition is coming to retail stores in the US on February 7th and Europe on February 10th. It will include all the DLC for the low low price of …. TELL EM HOW TO ORDER BILLY!!

For more information head on over to the Fallout website, and tell em Billy Mays sent you!

Shank 2 Releases February 7th – Watch Uncut Gameplay Video

Garrett Hartman — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:00:34 +0000

EA has announced that it will release Shank 2 on PSN and XBLA on February 7th. Shank 2 is an old style 2D side scroller with lots of attitude and action. It improves upon the original Shank by adding a new survival mode that will include co-op play.

Shank 2 will cost gamers 800 MSP or $9.99 when in becomes available for PSN and XBL on February 7th.

TERA to Launch May 1st in North America, May 3rd in Europe

Jensen Walker — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:00:10 +0000

It’s been a long time coming, but TERA finally has a release date for the North American and European regions.

What’s so great about TERA? Read about why we gave it best MMO at E3 2011.

En Masse Entertainment posted the launch announcement earlier today, noting that a standard and collector’s edition would be available, with further details to be provided in February.

The announcement comes hot on the heels of the news that folks are now able to sign up for the MMO’s beta.

For more information, head over to the official site.

Blizzard Denies Diablo III Release Date Rumors

Catherine Cai — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:30:34 +0000

Best Buy has recently been stirring up the rumor pot that Diablo III‘s release date is set for February 1st. A photo of a Best Buy showing off a large poster with the same release date in a retail store in Rochester, Minnesota has been floating around on the internet (shown above) started the rumors in the first place. Although the photo has since been taken down, Best Buy’s online store still shows the same release date.

Sadly, Diablo III fans, it appears that Best Buy’s release date is false. Blizzard community manager Bashiok denied the February 1st release date on his Twitter feed, stating,

“Diablo III does not have a release date. Any store or person claiming otherwise is guessing,

Retailers will not know a date until its officially announced through a press release.

We can’t really keep every individual retail shop from making up a date.”

It looks like we’re back in the waiting game boat. The best thing we can do now is pray hard for an early 2012 release.

[Via VG247]

Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus Dated for PS Vita Launch, Stunning New Screens

Garrett Hartman — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 18:44:58 +0000

Tecmo Koei has announced today that Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus will release on February 22nd – the PS Vita launch day. Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus will be much more than a simple remake of its PS3 brother as it will make use of Vita features such as the touchscreen, gyro sensor and rear touch pad. Players will also have the ability to toggle through first and third-person view.

As you can see from the screens below, it’s quite a good looking portable game.

Finally, Some New Spec Ops: The Line Gameplay

Dave Oshry — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 02:15:58 +0000

Spec Ops: The Line is finally on the way, and finally we’ve got some new gameplay to show you.

I could have sworn Dubai was a nice place to live…

Spec Ops: The Line launches in Spring 2012.

New Syndicate Trailer Shows Off Your Agent’s Tech

Dave Oshry — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 03:30:52 +0000

Hungry for more knowledge on the abilities you can use in Syndicate, agent?

Well, look no further than this latest training video from Eurocorp:

Syndicate is set to boot up on February 21st.

Anomaly: Warzone Earth Finally Coming to XBLA in 2012 (Yay)

Dave Oshry — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:30:16 +0000

11 Bit studios critically acclaimed “Tower Offense” game Anomaly: Warzone Earth is finally coming to XBLA next spring. How criticially acclaimed? 94% on Metacritic. That’s like Arkham City good. All batmen aside, here’s the rundown from 11bit:

The ultimate Tower Offense strategy game tasks you with saving near-future Earth from an alien onslaught. The unwelcome invaders have captured the world’s major cities, building huge turrets that destroy everything in their path. It’s up to you to lead an armored squad through the streets of cities like Baghdad and Tokyo. By putting you on the attack, Anomaly Warzone Earth turns tower defense on its head and presents an extraordinary mixture of action and real-time strategy perfectly suited to the Xbox 360.

- Enjoy innovative Tower Offense gameplay – you’re the attacking side!
- Experience a new approach to strategy games on consoles – a strategy game designed to be played with a gamepad.
- Dive into six Xbox-exclusive Tactical Trials levels that will test your puzzle-solving skills in the Anomaly world.
- Play for hours on end in the engaging story campaign, as well as the two exciting Squad Assault Modes.
- Immerse yourself in the game with great visuals and atmospheric audio.

For more information, visit http://anomalythegame.com.

Or you could just watch the Cynical Brit talk about it in a funny accent:

If you can’t wait, you can always get the game right now on Steam or your iThingy.

Death Lives in Darksiders II (Trailer)

Dave Oshry — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:51:19 +0000

If there’s one thing that gets RipTen founder Chad Lakkis excited about video games besides Gears and Madden, it’s Darksiders.

The only thing cooler than Darksiders is the artist behind it, Joe Mad. The only thing cooler than Joe? WAR. The only thing cooler than WAR? DEATH!!

Darksiders II will be coming to Xbox 360, PS3, PC and the WiiU in Summer 2012.

For more on Darksiders, be sure to check out the RipTen Review of the original game. 10/10 bitches.

Codemasters Unveils DiRT Showdown, Coming May 2012

Dave Oshry — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:00:08 +0000

If there’s anything we here at RipTen always want more of, it’s DiRT.

Codemasters seminal rally racing series is the best there is and Showdown aims to keep that trend alive:

Here’s the rundown from Codies:

There are three broad categories to DiRT Showdown’s action-sport racing. Players will use nitrous to blast past rivals and negotiate courses filled with ramps, multiple routes and obstacles in full-contact Racing events. Gaming’s most advanced damage engine is unleashed in Demolition Derby themed events where players smash and crash their way to victory in bone-jarring style. Finally, in Hoonigan events, gamers will send fans wild in huge stunt parks where accessible new controls offer every player the chance to become a freestyle driving hero.

From San Francisco to Miami and London to Tokyo, players will dominate their rivals and wow the crowds. Pyrotechnics, lasers and thousands of fans give each venue a sports entertainment atmosphere, becoming the perfect stage for players to perform. Over 50 different events across four championships will challenge gamers in a variety of conditions – sun, snow and rain – through the day and under the floodlights at night.

DiRT Showdown will feature an exciting new line up of off-road machines. Ken Block’s all new Gymkhana FOUR H.F.H.V. Ford Fiesta debuts alongside an eclectic mix of vehicles across a range of classes. From saloons and muscle cars to pick-up-trucks, hearses and vans, players have a wide selection of custom cars to trick, race and destroy.

DiRT Showdown will be Codemasters’ most connected game ever – split-screen multiplayer, eight-player online racing, on and off-line quick-fire party games and YouTube integration all come as standard. Players will also be able to issue “Showdown” Challenges’ to compete with friends whether they are online or not.

Powered by the award-winning EGO Game Technology Platform, DiRT Showdown will be uncaged May 2012 for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft®, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and PC.

DiRT Destruction Derby? I’m game.

LoTRO’s Armies of Isengard Update Now Live

Jensen Walker — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 23:15:43 +0000

Today’s the day for the deployment of the latest patch for The Lord of The Rings Online, which introduces a bucket load of new content including five new end-game dungeons.

These dungeons come in different types: 1 three man, 1 six man and 1 twelve man, meaning there’s plenty of variety and something to suit everyone’s tastes.

The Update also furthers The Prince of Rohan’s storyline and adds a much requested instance finder to make finding groups a breeze.

You can read the full patch notes from Turbine below.

Update 5, Armies of Isengard Release Notes – Official

Of Special Note

Isengard Instances are here!

Five new instances have been added, rounding out the challenges of the Rise of Isengard Expansion. These instances are free to all players who purchased the Rise of Isengard Expansion. If you have not purchased the expansion pack, these instances will also be available a la carte in the LOTRO Store. Learn more about these instances in the Developer Diary.

The Epic Story Continues

The time has come for you to part ways with the Grey Company. Update Five will see the Rangers continue with their mission while steering clear of the coming war for as long as possible. You, however, will be taking on the tasks set forth in, Volume III, Book 5: ‘The Prince of Rohan.’.

Instance Finder

Instance Finder is a new tool that will help players form and fill Fellowships to tackle the various instances, raids and skirmishes found throughout Middle-earth. With Update 5 the first phase of the Instance finder will be available to players. This initial implementation does have some limitations and restrictions. We’ll be improving the system in future updates and look forward to hearing your feedback and input on ways to make Instance Finder better. Currently, Instance Finder allows you to set the following options:

Content: Skirmishes, Isengard Instances, and/or Scaled Instances

Scale: Solo, 2-man, 3-man, and/or 6-man

Difficulty: Tier I, II, and/or III difficulty

Role: Defence, DPS, Healer, Support

Once a player or partial group places themselves in queue, the system will intelligently match them with other players for a random instance within their selected parameters. Once a match is found, the system will notify the player who can then accept the match and travel immediately to the instance. In addition, while using the Instance Finder, players can take advantage of additional bonuses and rewards! Full details of this new tool and some of our plans for improving it in the future can be found in the developer diary.

Track Nearby Quests

A new option has been added to the Quest Tracker and the Radar called “Track Nearby Quests.” Track Nearby Quests works by finding up to five quests in your quest log with nearby objectives, and attempting to add them to the Quest Tracker. Only unlocked quests in the quest tracker will be replaced in this way. If all the quests in the tracker are locked, you will receive an error message.

Additional notes:

Track Nearby Quests doesn’t work when you are within an interior location (a dungeon) or an encounter. The options are hidden in this case. If you trigger Track Nearby Quests via an input action while in a dungeon, you’ll get an error message.

Track Nearby Quests only looks for nearby quests, not for deeds.

Unified Currency – Skirmish, Classic and Instance reward systems

All the various marks and tokens that appear in Skirmishes and Classic Instances are being collapsed into three new currencies; Marks, Medallions and Seals. These three currencies will also be used in the new Isengard instance cluster, as well as future instances. A complete explanation can be found in the Developer Diary, but here’s a quick look at what’s changing:

Wait, what? In practice, this should change little about how Skirmishes, Classic Instances and Instance Clusters are played. Enter an instance, collect currency for beating bosses and taking control points, than spend it at barter vendors. The big change is that now all instances share three main currencies, instead of a wide variety of special marks. This will greatly simplify things and draw a strong line between the gameplay styles.

What about all my stuff? When Update 5 launches, all of the various marks will be converted into Marks, Medallions or Seals automatically. Skirmish Marks will become Marks, though acquired Skirmish traits will be unchanged. To be specific, the following items will disappear from the game and be replaced with some amount of the new currencies: • Eruilan Campaign Mark • Adlan Campaign Mark • Naillan Campaign Mark • Cannuilan Campaign Mark • Lefnuilan Campaign Mark • Enguilan Campaign Mark • Odothuilan Campaign Mark

• Annúminas Mark • Eregion Mark • Helegrod Mark • Great Barrow Mark • Inn of the Forsaken Mark • Halls of Night Mark

• Superior Fourth Mark • Veteran’s Fourth Mark • Fourth Mark • Superior Third Mark • Veteran’s Third Mark • Third Mark • Veteran’s Second Mark • Second Mark • Veteran’s First Mark • First Mark

Reputation System Revamp

The reputation system has been changed to be more player and inventory friendly. Be sure to read the developer diary for all the details.

Lua Plugin Manager

At long last, a manager UI has been added to support all of your Lua plugins!

During character selection, you can open the manager via the “Manage Plugins” button. There you can define which plugins you would like to load automatically each time you log in with the characters selected via a drop-down menu present for each plugin entry. Please note: the character selection list includes both normal characters and monster play characters linked to your account on the given server.

You can also access the manager when in game (logged in) via a start menu entry under the system sub-menu for both normal characters and monster play characters. Here, you will not only be able to change the auto-loading status of your plugins, but you can also immediately load/unload plugins.

The in game plugin manager also introduces support for plugin-defined option panels that can be accessed by hitting the “Options” tab when a plugin is selected. What these options do for a given plugin is completely defined by the plugin authors. If a given plugin has not defined an options panel, then the tab will be disabled.

It’s the little things that count

Coffee is here! After much lobbying by players and quoting of various passages in Tolkien’s works, coffee is now available! Westfold Famers will have new recipes to grow the aromatic beans for Westfold Cooks who wish to concoct this stimulating beverage!

Release Notes

General

We have re-balanced a few of the ratings granted by some items to increase their impact. This primarily affects avoidance ratings (block, parry and evade) but some critical ratings and incoming healing ratings are also affected.

All items that currently have Melee Offence, Ranged Offence, Tactical Offence or Outgoing Healing ratings have been changed to have either Physical Mastery (Melee Offence and Ranged Offence) or Tactical Mastery (Tactical Offence and Outgoing Healing). These Mastery ratings function in all ways like the replaced ratings only the Mastery works for both at the same time.

Players can now revive properly in Mirkwood Landing

The Butcher in the Warg caves should now spawn properly.

Multiple barter item currencies have been consolidated down into 3 new currency types. There is now a tutorial hint which describes the conversion process and only appears if the conversion has affected you.

When earning the new item currencies that are placed in your Barter Wallet, you will receive overhead text showing you how much you just earned.

All containers now have particle effects to help distinguish them from the landscape.

After much consideration the mystery meat inside the cafeteria burritos shall remain a mystery. Trust us, it’s better that way.

Fishing: All types of fish now have a max stack size of 100.

Trollshaws: Elder Stonehoof boars found in South Trollshaws now drop Sturdy Hides occasionally.

Fixed an issue that could prevent a new character who skipped the tutorial from receiving the Basic Training passive skill.

The Ale Association quest “Inn League Disaster” unfortunately had to be removed from the game… Some changes were made to world event scheduling, and this quest did not get along well with the changes!

Mounts – Both variants of the Galadhrim War-horse now have unique icons.

Classes

Burglar

With the Opportunist trait slotted, the Trick from Counter Defence can now once again be overwritten by any other Trick from the Burglar.

Fixed an issue in which item links in loot messages generated by the Burgle skill would show incorrect tooltip information.

Captain

The Captain’s tactic skills are now usable while riding.

Captain trait Alert Guard now displays the bonus to Parry Rating granted by Defensive Strike

Tactic: Relentless Attack will now display its buff on the character panel instead of in the critical rating tooltip.

In Defense Middle-earth Duration Legacy scroll descriptions are now fixed.

The Captain skill Tactics: Focus will now scale its effects after level 65.

The various Song-brother skills will now affect the Herald’s healing skills

Captain’s First Age Legendary Emblems will no longer have -Healing Threat inherently.

Champion

The 4-set trait bonus of Ardour no longer references Deathstorm, it now references Improved Great Cleave

The Martial Champion set trait line now correctly states that the morale bonus is only obtained while in Glory.

Improved Great Cleave will now reset AoE skills when it is activated.

True Heroics should now apply all of the beneficial effects when it is activated regardless of an enemy being affected or not.

The (Glory) Hedge Armour Rating legacy no long references the outdated sudden defence legacy.

Fight On! will now drain power from nearby enemies when activated.

Hedge will now correctly enable parrying in Fervour stance.

The Bersker trait line will now apply the damage bonus to merciful strike while in fervour. (Ultimately, this was a display issue and not a functional issue.)

Corrected a tooltip issue that existed with the trait Time of Need. The trait was referenced instead of the skill.

Cleaned up the tooltip on Adamant and Invincible to include the bonus values added by each fervour point.

Cleaned up the description of Vigour of Champions to show that there is a benefit to the trait.

Fixed an issue with the Trait Controlled Fury where the skill Controlled Burn was not named as the skill modified.

The Swift to Anger Trait now correctly identifies that it will alter the Swift Strike skill to become a frontal AoE skill with 3 targets called Swift Blade.

The amount of fervour generated by the traited version of Exchange of Blows while in Glory has been reduced slightly. This is to ensure that the fervour generation while in Glory is not too great.

Champions can no longer use Merciful Strike without a cooldown when four deep in The Berserker Trait line and not in Fervour stance.

PvMP- The 6-set bonus “+30% Brutal Strikes chance to remove the fervour cost of Ferocious Strikes” will no longer trigger from Improved Feral Strikes.

The Hedge skill will now properly allow parrying while in Fervour stance.

Guardian

Challenge the Darkness now grants Tactical Mitigation as Guardian’s Ward Tactics at all levels.

The display of the Guardian legacy Reactive Block damage has been corrected.

Guardian skill Take to Heart can no longer be resisted.

Guardian’s Threat will no longer trigger a visual effect when other effects are applied to the guardian.

The Guardian trait Heart of Fire will now improve the unified Critical Defence stat displayed on the character panel not each individual Melee/Ranged/Tactical Critical Defence shown on the tooltip.

Hunter

Improved Strength of the Earth Legacy is now a flat percentage increase to morale amount, maxes at 40%.

Lore-master

The Lore-master’s Spirit of Nature companion has been upgraded. Its Flashing Flank skill now has a 45 second cooldown. Its Nature’s Gift healing skill no longer requires the Spirit’s sacrifice. The Spirit of Nature will no longer accumulate threat for any action that it takes nor from any threat transferred to it. The Physical and Tactical mitigations of the Spirit have been much increased. Finally, and most importantly, the Spirit is now a Creature of Nature.

The Spirit of Nature also has an Aura effect that reduces an enemy’s chance to hit by 5%.

Sign of Power: Vigilance will now affect the pet’s ability to see through stealth.

Fixed an issue where the wrong icon was appearing for the debuff of Improved Sign of Power: Command

The trait Dúnadan-learning will no longer allow for the Lore-master to stack buffs meant to be handled by the Master of Beasts trait.

Sign of Battle: Wizard’s Fire should now benefit from the legacy that enhances the damage done by the skill.

The Deed, Magic Adept, was moved to a level 60 only skill as part of the Rise of Isengard launch. This has been fixed. Burning Embers will now increase this deed starting at level 30 in addition to Sticky Gourd. All improved versions of these skills will advance the deed as well.

Display for the health gain portion of the legacy Morale – Sign of the Wild: Protection now displays correctly.

A typo in the description of agility for Lore-masters has been fixed.

A typo in the skill Knowledge of the Lore-master has been fixed.

Outgoing healing will now affect the healing from the Sign of Battle: Wizard’s Fire.

Lore-master skill Sign of Battle: Wizard’s Fire initial pulse will now be equivalent to all subsequent pulses.

Minstrel

Anthem of the Third Age, now works on critical regardless of spec depth in Power of Song.

Sheet music should once again stop induction interruptions

Improved Story of Courage now only applies the beneficial buff once to targets

We have made the delay between codas and the action of other skills a little more tolerable.

Enhanced duration and removal of the buff now work correctly on Anthem of War applied to fellows. The buff is removed from all members of the fellowship when the coda is activated.

Anthems that are overridden by more potent minstrels will not quash the ability of the minstrel to activate the bonuses to the coda – anthems will still be overridden.

Call to Greatness reduced to 5 minutes, the bonus trait from Power of Song 2 deep increased to 60

Anthem of Sympathy now affects Coda by producing negative threat when the coda is used.

Melody of Battle now uses a sound scheme that is more appropriate

Fixed a typo in tooltip for Enduring Morale

Fixed a typo in tooltip for Absolute Pitch

Fixed a typo in tooltip for Call to Fate

Fixed the text for Improved Cry of the Chorus (War-speech)

Bolster courage is once again affected by the Song of the Hammerhand bubble.

Song of Distraction and Improved Song of Distraction no longer generate threat. If the skill is resisted by a target that target will not become immediately aggressive to the player.

The benefit of the Anthem of Compassion has been changed to: Places an effect on you that reduces threat generation by 5% for 30 seconds.

Clarified the bonus on some instrument bonuses from a display of 0.XX to XX%

Removed errant wording from the Song of the Hammerhand effects and skill tooltips.

Outgoing healing will now affect the heal-over-time portion of the Improved Chord of Salvation.

Monster players will no longer receive an error stating that they cannot use the Sturdy Steel Lockboxes, instead they will be told that they are missing the required key.

Dirge-singer armour now has finesse at the cost of a little will. Hands and Chest pieces now have finesse

Warden

Shield tactics now properly increases tactical mitigation.

Aggression now properly uses aggression in potent and non-potent states. It also provides the correct information in its tooltip.

Never Surrender and the associated debuff version now have the correct icons.

Way of the Warden now includes a bonus to Critical Defence equivalent to the benefit gained with Determination.

Never Surrender has been changed: The ability is activated by the Warden and will last for five minutes. During those five minutes the Warden cannot be defeated unless their health drops below 10%. At this point, they are healed for 50% of the Morale and Power (Both based off of maximum power) and they can now be defeated as normal. Cool down on the skill is 15 minutes.

Shield Tactics will now apply the stun immunity buff when the skill is activated.

Improved Javelin toss now gains the javelin being used.

Iconography for Never Surrender has been updated.

Deflection now benefits from the trait A Keen response

Deflection now has the correct FX when used against a target.

FX and animations have been adjusted for all the new double builders, Deflection, Aggression and Shield Tactics.

Aggression now has the correct animation playing when used.

Sound added to Shield Tactics.

Animation for Shield tactics now uses the shield.

Warden heals have been adjusted to scale with elevated monster damage added with RoI.

The new effect that provides wardens with a boost in their partial defensives has had it’s duration increased to 20 seconds.

Monster Play

General

Creep Resistance potions have been converted to the new Resistance Rating stat. Since this now makes one set of the potions redundant, Phial of Mazuak’s Saliva/Blood have been removed from barter and loot. The existing potions will remain accessible to players that had acquired them before this change, but they provide the same benefit as Phial of Gorgoris’ Bile/Blood and do not stack.

Monster players can now open their Traits panel with the same hotkey (default: ‘J’) as Free Peoples.

Existing monster player characters logging in for the first time in Rise of Isengard will now see trainable traits on the Monster Player Trainers without having to relog.

New Creep Skill “March!” A new skill has been added to each Creep’s starting skill set: “March!”. This skill increases Creep out of combat movement speed by 32%- enabling them to traverse the map more efficiently. This skill toggles off the moment the Creep enters combat.

The existing Root Duration modifier on items has been replaced with a new (functional, I swear) property that reduces the duration of roots applied to the target by a percent.

Hotspot effects (Traps, Blight, Banners, etc) now work on the Troll and Ranger

Troll & Ranger auto-attack damage significantly increased

Ranger quest is now removed on log-out.

Delving of Fror: Boss monsters now have a chance to drop Creep consumables.

Chieftain Fimfash: Chieftain Fimfash’s health has been increased to match that of his Freep counterpart.

Battlefield Promotions: Icons now match the rank they unlock at.

Lainedhal’s Insignias and Akulhun’s Brands have had their usage cooldowns reduced. These now range from 120 minutes for the Rank 1 version of the insignia/brand to 5 minutes for the Rank 15 version of the insignia/brand.

Burglar PvMP Armour -Boots, Legs, and Helm have had their stats revised to include Agility.

Containers now have particle effects to help distinguish them from the landscape.

Auto-attack Super Critical Damage multiplier increased by 30% (Both Freeps & Creeps)

Pet Ranged skills can no longer be Parried (Both Freeps & Creeps)

Creep Delving potions are no longer removed on death.

Outnumbered Buffs “Akúlhun’s Challenge” & “Lainedhal’s Call to Arms” now increase Infamy/Glory Gains by 20%

Freep Scaling Cloaks: Amount of finesse given on the the cloaks has been significantly increased.

Brands and Insignias now provide Immunity and/or Dispels for Silences, Disarms, and Slows in addition to other Crowd Control effects.

Mobilize speed buff reduced to 35%

March! speed buff reduced to 25%

Delving of Fror Movement Speed potions have been removed from barter and loot. Potions currently in player inventory will not be removed, but the effect will not stack with Mobilize and March and their potency has been reduced to 5/7/10% from 10/15/20%

Creeps

The cost to slot traits has been normalized

1 Silver 60 Copper per Corruption

22 Silver 50 Copper per Class and Appearance

45 Silver per Racial & Appearance

Uruk Racial Skills

Imposing Presence now increases the targets Health and Power pools by 10%

Warleader

Mobilize speed buff increased to 50%, power cost increased by 100%, shares the same recovery channel as “March!”

Weaver

Hatchling attack damage type changed to Acid.

Strong Brood: Mandible Strike’s Devastating Critical Multiplier increased from 1.7 to 2.5

Scytode Brood: Auto-attack cooldown reduced from 3s to 1s.

Toxin tooltip no longer says it’s uncurable.

Clinging and Entangling Webs no longer share the same cooldown.

Mephitic Kiss DoT now named “Mephitic Kiss” and icon matches the skill (all other functionality remains the same)

Enhanced Trapdoor Sanctuary now restores 5% of Max Morale every 2s for the duration of the skill

BlackArrow

Steadfast Barrage now does fire damage when “Feel the Burn!” is traited

Steadfast Barrage combat log revised to state “Steadfast Barrage” instead of “Deadly Common Damage”.

Revenge’s critical chance and critical damage multipliers have been reduced.

Warleader

Mobilize now dispels and blocks stealth for all fellowship members, while active.

Fracture now interrupts and dismounts Freeps.

Purge now usable while under the effects of “Knocked Out” crowd control

“Get A Grip!” no longer applies the heal to pets.

Purge now useable while in the “Knocked Out” state.

Warg

“Rend Flesh” now properly consumes the Critical Response when used.

“Rend Flesh” and “Sudden Pounce” base damage increased by 50%.

“Rend Flesh” power cost reduced

“Bloody Maul” base damage increased by 60%

Skills that do bonus positional damage are now called out in tooltips.

“Bestial Claws”, “Sudden Pounce”, and “Bloody Maul” damage increased

“Sudden Pounce” & “Bloody Maul” power costs increased

“Claws” power cost reduced

“Flea Bitten” fixed a bug that caused the effect to be applied to the Warg instead of enemies.

Long Strides now provides +5% Stealth Movement Speed

Four-legged Foe now provides +5% Stealth Movement Speed

Enhanced Stealth- Stealth Movement Speed buff increased by 10%

Reaver

“Enhanced Skill: Upper Hand” tooltip corrected to state that it reduces Block and Parry ratings, not Evade.

Defiler

“Blessing of Darkness” no longer usable while moving.

Raid, Skirmishes, Instances

Draigoch’s body and limb health has been reduced

All raid skirmishes will wait 10 minutes before sending you out after completion

The Skirmish Soldier trait Ultimate Banner of Protection will now affect the unified Resistance stat displayed on the character panel instead of individual resistances.

Skirmish Camp

Reduced the prices of various crafting materials.

Added tier 7 optional ingredients to crafting vendors. [Clump of Peat, Pinch of Westfold Herbs, Drop of Birch-tar, Bit of Pure Calenard, Inspired Note]

Added tier 6 Craft XP recipes and ingredients.

Added level 70 and 75 scrollcasses.

Added Cracked Rhi Helvarch Sigil.

Draigoch

Tweaked some logic and timing that should decrease the likelihood of him going braindead.

The School at Tham Mirdan

Challenge quest now requires you to defeat Commander T?rsh in addition to saving the burning books

Inn of the Forsaken

Skeletons will no longer spawn in the wall causing players to be unable to attack them

/stare will once again solve Riddle #17

Dol Guldur – Sammath Gul

The firespout effect will occasionally spout our of the grates even when the player isn’t in combat with the boss following a wipe.

Items

Items – Hunter – Draigoch Set – The 5-set Hunter bonus “Intent Concentration recovers all Archer’s Art skills” will now reset Split Shot.

The following items have been re-named

Dirge-singer’s Gloves is now Dirge-singer’s Bracers.

Dirge-singer’s Robe is now Dirge-singer’s Jacket.

Dirge-singer’s Shoes is now Dirge-singer’s Boots.

Hood of the Riddle Teller is now Helm of the Riddle Teller.

Hood of the Impossible Shot is now Helm of the Impossible Shot.

Spellweaver’s Gloves is now Spellweaver’s Bracers.

Spellweaver’s Hood is now Spellweaver’s Helm.

Spellweaver’s Robe is now Spellweaver’s Jacket.

Spellweaver’s Shoes is now Spellweaver’s Boots.

Gloves of the Clever Counselor is now Bracers of the Clever Counselor.

Hood of the Clever Counselor is now Helm of the Clever Counselor.

Robe of the Clever Counselor is now Jacket of the Clever Counselor.

Thadur’s Shield of Old – The size of Thadur’s Shield of Old is more in-line with other Warden’s Shields.

Legendary items, Relics, Legacies

Relics: All non-unique Settings (tiers 1-7) now increase both Tactical Mastery and Physical Mastery, instead of either offence or healing, depending on relic.

The following item advancement titles have had the melee defense and tactical defense changed to Physical Mitigation and Tactical Mitigation:

Stout Defender

Steadfast Protector

Stalwart Guardian

Firm Resolve

Iron Will

Resolute Heart

Legacy replacement scrolls that say they were In Defense of Middle-earth Duration legacies were lying. They now correctly identify themselves as Words of Courage Pulses legacies.

Several legacies with higher than expected values have been normalized.

Burglar

Pulse Modifier for Glee

Stealth Level

Trick Range

Riddle Range

Captain

Pressing Attack Max Targets

Words of Courage Pulses

Champion

Ardour/Glory Pip Interval

Rend Pulses

Hamstring Range

Minstrel

Soliloquy of Spirit Pulses

Story of Courage Range

Call of the Second Age Targets

Lore-master

Cracked Earth Range

Burning Embers Range

Ancient Craft Targets

Fire-lore Targets

Bane Flare Targets

Wizard’s Fire Pulses

Burning Embers Pulses

Hunter

Endurung Quick Shot Threat Down

Stealth Detection

Maximum Targets for AoE Skills

Guardian

Shield Wall Range

Targeted Melee Skill Range

Guardian Area Effect Melee Targets

Guardian Bleed Pulses

Challenge Targets

Warden

Dark Before Dawn Power Restored

Exultation of Battle Threat Up

Javelin Skills Max Range

Rune-keeper

Pulses Prelude to Hope

Vivid Imagery Targets

Crafting

General

Corrected text for all Supreme proficiency craft profession tutorial hints.

An issue where greater crafted relic recipe scrolls became unusable after obtaining Westfold mastery has been fixed.

Cook

All crafted campfires now provide additional out-of-combat morale and power regeneration boosts while the campfire is active.

Woodworker

Corrected the plural name of Westfold Nestad Infused Parchment.

Slightly reduced the physical and tactical mitigations found on all “Steadfast Protector” / “Iron Will” Spear, Shield, and Fist Warden Carvings.

Corrected crafting panel categories for the following Woodworker recipes: Westfold Bow, Westfold Club.

We have removed the rare component as a necessary portion of crafting the baseline tier 7 pibgorn.

Tailor

Corrected the icon and description for the following recipe: Wyrmscale Cloak.

Metalsmith

Renamed the Master Metalsmith Ancient Steel Scale recipe/item: “Elf-steel Scale”

Prospector

Renamed the Master Prospector Elven-steel Ingot recipe/item: “Elf-steel Ingot”

Scholar

New Lore-master parable recipes are now available for the Scholar profession. Novice Scholar trainers sell the Journeyman recipe while higher tier versions can be found in treasure.

UI

Quest reward items with very long names now get more space to show the name in. If they have to be truncated with a “…” anyway, the tooltip will now be the correct item examination tooltip instead of just the name.

Items

Scaling items from instances are no longer marked as Unique, allowing multiple versions of them to exist in your vault or pack.

Housing Decorations – The firework launchers for exterior housing decorations have been updated with bigger and more impressive firework fx.

Quests & Deeds

Carreglyn — Punishing the Wicked: Previously, if someone spawned the boss fight, but a second player actually tagged and killed the boss, the first player could not complete the quest. The boss now can be respawned.

Carreglyn — Munfaeril’s Warning: There was a bugged that caused a player to not be able to get their quest rewards upon completion. If two players used the same copy of Munfaeril to complete the wrapper, the second player’s events got switched so that they spoke to Munfaeril first and used the shrine second, which broke the rewards screen. Now multiple players can complete their quest off the same copy of Munfaeril (if she is not present, the shrine must still be used to summon her, but completion will happen correctly.)

There was a further complication with Punishing the Wicked, which caused the boss to remain stuck in NPC mode. This is being resolved by causing the entire encounter to despawn immediately if combat ends (due to player death, Hide in Plain Sight or other combat-ending skill). The detection hotspot also now has a cooldown of three minutes before it resets the encounter.

The two hostile mobs in Lower Barnavon that were put there due to overwhelming player feedback have been removed due to overwhelming player feedback.

Starkmoor Quest Completion deed quest count has been brought down a little bit more since the patch to match other Dunland/Gap/Isengard zones better.

Quests: Book 14, Chapter 6: Laerdan now holds his bow properly.

Forochel – Quest: “Cold as Death” – Frost-rimmed Braziers can only be used to summon Delucheleg when you have the quest.

Moria – The Forgotten Treasury – Deeds can now be started by players of level 50 and above (down from 55).

The three level 75 repeatable quests in Galtrev, “The Defense of Galtrev”, “Glinting in Forgotten Pools” & “The Forges of Isengard”, now give Legendary Item titles, relics and runes as rewards. Also, the quest “The Forges of Isengard” now gives reputation with Theodred’s Riders.

Ninja Release: Trine 2 Is Out on Steam?! Sweet.

Dave Oshry — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:45:22 +0000

So, Trine 2 came out today.

You’d think that the follow up to a critically acclaimed and absolutely gorgeous platformer would release with SOME fanfare, but nope.

Maybe ATLUS and FrozenByte will ramp up the marketing a bit for the console releases the week of December 2oth? Who knows.

Anyway, it’s out, so go get it on Steam if you wanna.

Here’s a pretty trailer:

Latest Battlefield 3 “Back to Karkand” Trailer Goes Back To Wake Island

Dave Oshry — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:30:31 +0000

The Back to Karkand map pack is already available for you lucky PS3 owners, but in one week the rest of the world will get to go… wait for it… Back to Karkand!!

One of the most anticipated maps in this pack is Wake Island. One of the all time favorite Battlefield maps that is being brought back once again.

However, It’s been given quite the update thanks to DICE and the Frostbite 2 engine:

I believe The Notorious BIG said it best: I’m going going, back back, to Karkand Karkand. Yeah, something like that.

See you on Wake Island next week!!

Trine 2 Finally Gets a Release Date

Dave Oshry — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 23:00:23 +0000

It’s about damn time. The sequel to one of the most beautiful and well received side scrolling platformers in years has finally gotten a release date… next week!

That’s right, Trine 2 is coming to PC and Mac on December 7th and to consoles on December 20th!

Here’s the full release from Frozenbyte:

Helsinki, Finland – 5 December 2011 – Finnish game developer Frozenbyte is pleased to announce that the Steam and PC/Mac retail versions of Trine 2 will be released on December 7th, 2011.

“FINALLY!” says Lauri Hyvärinen, CEO of Frozenbyte, but continues: “Alas, fans will have to wait a little longer for the console versions. Trine 2 will be available in North America for PlayStation 3 system via PlayStation®Network on December 20, and worldwide for Xbox 360 system via Xbox LIVE Marketplace on December 21. A European release date for the PS3 system version of Trine 2 is still awaiting confirmation but we hope it won’t be far behind if delayed at all. The console releases might be arriving a bit later, but they are still in time for the holidays!”

Trine 2 is available for pre-purchase now on Steam and other channels, including GamersGate and Direct2Drive. The regular edition is priced at $14.99/12.99 euros/11.99 pounds. The Collector’s Edition is available for $24.99/19.99 euros/17.99 pounds. The Collector’s Edition includes a digital artbook with developer commentary and the original soundtrack by the acclaimed composer Ari Pulkkinen. All PC/Mac versions use Steamworks for easy multiplayer, Achievements, Steam Cloud and Steam Play support. A DRM free version of Trine 2 is coming in 2012.

Focus Home Interactive is releasing the retail, physical copy of the PC/Mac Trine 2 Collector’s Edition in Europe this week. The retail Collector’s Edition includes the beautiful physical artbook and the digital version of the soundtrack.

Trine 2 is set for December 7 release on Steam for PC/Mac, December 21 for Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, December 21 in North America and later in December in Europe for PlayStation®Network for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, later in 2011 in the Mac App Store for Mac, and in 2012 for Linux.

So there you have it. Pre-order now! It’s so pretty!

Final Fantasy V Now Available on PSN

Dave Oshry — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 17:45:39 +0000

You know that list of Final Fantasy games you keep in your head? The one where you rank your favorites? You know what’s probably near the bottom of that list? Final Fantasy V.

There’s nothing really wrong with FFV, it just wasn’t very compelling. Sure, it introduced the class system we all know and love, but it was still boring as hell and if anyone reading this actually has any fond memories of FFV then more power to ya.

Originally released in Japan in 1992, FINAL FANTASY V would not be published in North America until 1999 as part of the FINAL FANTASY ANTHOLOGY on the PlayStation®. Now the hugely popular and critically acclaimed FINAL FANTASY V returns, allowing players to indulge in a true gaming classic at home and on the move.

Anyhow, if you’ve got $9.99 and want to see what none of the fuss is about, you can get Final Fantasy V on PSN right now. Better yet, go get Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger or Alundra on PSN instead.

2K Finally Drops Trailer for Spec Ops: The Line, Promises Shock and Awesome

Dave Oshry — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:48:12 +0000

Not long ago we learned that Spec Ops: The Line was, in fact, not dead.

2K originally said that the game was coming in 2013, but are now saying spring 2012.

In this new trailer, get ready to be shocked, awed, and intrigued:

In Spec Ops: The Line players will assume the role of Captain Walker, a U.S. Delta Force soldier on a harrowing rescue mission to save the damned 33rd squad of the U.S. Infantry. Set against the backdrop of a sandstorm-ravaged Dubai, Spec Ops: The Line is 2K’s first foray into the modern military genre, combining its trademark narrative depth with compelling action to move players beyond the simple conflicts of good-versus-bad.