Author: Game Infliction

World of Tanks Modern Armor celebrates its 10th anniversary with new tanks, challenges, and more

Can you believe it? Ten years of tanks! The game known today as World of Tanks Modern Armor officially made its debut in the console arena on February 12, 2014.

As one of the first free-to-play titles available on consoles, WoTMA (or just “World of Tanks,” as it was known then!) helped lay the foundation for experiences that PlayStation players would enjoy over the next decade. Of course, the game couldn’t have come as far as it has without the support of a thriving community… or without the efforts of a dedicated staff.

In fact, several of our Wargaming staff members who were present for the game’s early days are still part of the team today. Together, they’re taking a look back at the game’s history and a sneak peek at what’s ahead during the year-long event we’re calling Celebrations.

The past

It takes more than a few people to bring a game like World of Tanks to market, but five who made the game what it is today are:

  • Andy Dorizas, Art Director
  • Valerie MacCracken, Director of LiveOps Operations
  • Ben Crawford, Senior Player Experience Manager
  • JJ Bakken, Senior Producer
  • L. Daniel Burr, Live Game Director

Any of them will tell you that hard work and scrappiness were key to their efforts. Valerie MacCracken, who started at Wargaming in 2011 in a customer support role, drives the point home, saying, “The first North American office was brand new when I joined, and there were only maybe fifteen employees; I recall that on one of my first days, we assembled furniture for the lobby area!”

Physical infrastructure for various offices wasn’t the only challenge; there were technical challenges in developing the game, too. According to Andy Dorizas, who was Lead Artist at Day 1 Studios before it became Wargaming Chicago, “We had to trim things down just to get it to run on early hardware. Art assets had to be shrunk or compressed. Levels had to be simplified… It was a seriously large mountain to climb.”

JJ Bakken, who joined the Chicago studio as an Associate Producer in 2013, adds another issue the team faced: the novelty of what Wargaming was doing! “This was the studio’s first time developing a free-to-play game, and it was early in the days of F2P on console platforms,” he says. “Figuring out a new genre and a new way to connect with game players is always challenging, but exciting at the same time.”

How did they do it? MacCracken says that the process was gradual, “with the alpha, beta, [a] soft launch in certain regions, and then [the] full launch happening, back-to-back.” She also ran what she calls a “super-secret” forum, available only to early testers. “When I saw the passion that the game was creating among our early testers, many of which are still around today, I knew we had something good going.”

Bakken echoes this: “…there is always extra trepidation on launching a live-service game (will the servers perform, etc.), so we were hopeful all our technical efforts would be rewarded. Spoilers: it went pretty well and here we still are, ten years later!”

The future

Ben Crawford, who started with Wargaming Europe ten years ago as a Customer Experience Manager, is excited about the changes he sees in WoTMA’s technology and services, saying, “The evolution is evident in the updated portal [website], new support tools, expanded capabilities outside the game, and enhanced in-game features.”

Daniel Burr, who began at Wargaming as a Solution Architect managing network services, notes, however, that development brings new opportunities, and not just for Wargaming: “Ten years ago, the F2P space on consoles was very new, and so there were no console-specific best practices upon which to lean. Today, F2P on consoles is a much more thoroughly understood model, and new F2P games take full advantage of that.”

So, progress and challenges alike lie ahead, but WoTMA is prepared to embrace it all, starting with the Celebrations event!

At the heart of Celebrations is a dedicated website that will allow players to track their progress in each season throughout 2024, starting with the Lunar New Year-themed Year of the Dragon season that launched on January 30. Players will also be able to compare and share stats with their friends and work toward not one but two special reward tanks that will be awarded when Celebrations ends.

That’s not all. February brings players opportunities to claim two new 10th anniversary tanks, the Lago M38 and the MBT-B, complete the first Celebrations Monthly Challenge (as an Anniversary event with shared community goals and rewards), and so much more.

In the end, every aspect of Celebrations is intended to commemorate what makes WoTMA special: not the tanks (as much as we love them), but the people. “Not very many industry folks can say they’ve been at the same company for over a decade, but we have this stability that allows us to build bridges not only between each other, but between us and our community as well,” says MacCracken.

The game’s big ten-year anniversary is underway. Join us for the Celebrations!

Palworld Players Are Using a ‘Stairway to Heaven’ Strat to Effortlessly Kill Bosses

Palworld players have come up with an ingenious way of defeating the game’s toughest bosses, and it involves building an actual in-game ‘stairway to heaven’.

As reported by GamesRadar, the video posted to Twitter / X shows how one player created a huge stairway and led a level 50 Jetragon to the top. From there, it’s a simple case of jumping off, gliding to the bottom, and destroying the lower portion of the stairway. Without this foundation, the structure comes crashing down with the Jetragon, presumably so bemused it forgot it can fly, falling to its death. The power of gravity!

This strat is so simple you imagine it’s not long for this world. Palworld developer Pocketpair has yet to indicate its readiness to take action, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it’s noticed (the tweet above has had just shy of two million views, after all) and plans a fix in an upcoming patch.

Speaking of Palworld patches, update v0.1.4.1 is out now on Steam and makes more welcome fixes. The Xbox patch, v0.1.1.4, is also out now. There is a disparity between the Xbox and Steam versions of Palworld, not least in the Xbox version’s lack of dedicated servers, which limits the number of players who can play together. Microsoft has said it will work directly with Pocketpair to assist in supplying the resources necessary to keep the momentum of the monster survival game going strong, including providing support to enable dedicated servers.

Palworld is a smash hit, crossing over an eye-watering 19 million players across all platforms since going on sale January 19. It’s the most-played game on Steam, and the biggest third-party launch in Game Pass history with over seven million players and a daily player peak of just shy of three million. On Steam alone, Palworld has sold 12 million copies.

But Palworld is also one of the most controversial video game releases in recent memory. Developer Pocketpair has said its staff have received death threats amid Pokémon “rip-off” claims, which it has denied. Soon after launch, Nintendo moved quickly to remove an eye-catching Pokémon mod, then The Pokemon Company issued a statement, saying: “We intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to Pokémon.” IGN asked lawyers whether Nintendo could successfully sue.

If you’re playing, be sure to check out IGN’s interactive Palworld map.

Image credit: Twitter / X user @VmakeUmove

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Play piano, blag your book report, and navigate high school crushes in this gorgeous Philippines-inspired indie game

If you played and liked last year’s excellent slice-of-life adventure A Space For The Unbound, stop what you’re doing and go and download the Steam Next Fest demo for Until Then. Go on, I’ll wait. Right, sorted? Let’s continue. Like A Space For The Unbound, Until Then is a coming of age story where the ups and downs of everyday high school life start intermingling with strange, supernatural occurences.

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Ex-Call of Duty Dev Reveals How Activision Tried to Convince Infinity Ward Staff to Stick Around After Firing the Studio’s Founders

It has gone down as one of the most tumultuous days in video game development history, but even now, nearly 14 years later, we’re still getting insight into the day Activision fired the founders of Infinity Ward.

In March 2010, Infinity Ward co-founders Vince Zampella and Jason West were escorted out of the studio by security after being fired for breach of contract and insubordination. The shocking news came just a handful of months after Activision had released blockbuster hit first-person shooter Modern Warfare 2, developed by Infinity Ward and launched to $1 billion in sales.

What happened next is well-documented: West and Zampella sued the Bobby Kotick-led publisher Activision for $36 million. Activision counter-sued, accusing West and Zampella of meeting EA in secret “to steal the [Infinity Ward] studio.” Of course, West and Zampella did end up co-founding rival FPS studio Respawn Entertainment with EA, bringing plenty of disgruntled Infinity Ward staff with them, and went on to develop Titanfall before smash hit battle royale Apex Legends. Complaints about unpaid royalties were lodged. In the end, all the messy lawsuits were settled. What was left of Infinity Ward went on to release Modern Warfare 3 in 2011, with the help of the likes of Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software.

Now, as spotted by PC Gamer, NetEase games lead designer and former Infinity Ward member of staff Paul Sandler has penned an article on LinkedIn dubbed ‘That day when Activision fired Jason and Vince.’ It’s a fascinating read that reveals what it was like for the rank and file to go through such a dramatic series of events.

What sticks out for me is Sandler’s recollection of Activision’s attempt to prevent Infinity Ward and thus Modern Warfare 3 from collapsing:

“There was an emergency company meeting in the kitchen space. A group of top Activision high-ups were already at the studio, ready to steady the ship. The Infinity Ward team piled into the kitchen and glared at the group of executives standing behind the long kitchen island table. One of them tried explaining what was happening, which nobody on the development team bought or cared for. The response was mostly stoic silence. Then, a team member asked bluntly if we were going to be paid the bonuses we have already earned for shipping Modern Warfare 2. Reading the tense vibe in the room, another executive took his turn and tried a different strategy. Paraphrasing, he said: ‘Guys, if you stay with the studio to make Modern Warfare 3, you will receive your MW2 bonuses. AND we will also give everyone a fifty percent salary increase’. He paused slightly before repeating: ‘That is a five and a zero, fifty percent’. The looks on peoples faces did not change. If anything, most of the team was feeling even more upset. The executive spoke again: ‘Look, I get it. I know this is a tough situation. But, just take the money and get over it.’ I specifically remember him telling us to ‘Get over it’.”

IGN has asked Activision for comment.

As we know, despite Activision’s attempts, Infinity Ward suffered a mass exodus of staff following the firing of Zampella and West. Sandler says around 40 developers quit from a total headcount of about 100. “Activision had inadvertently splintered their flagship studio, which was also one of the best studios of all time.”

Much has changed over the course of the last 14 years. Infinity Ward endured a poor run of form with Call of Duty: Ghosts and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, before kicking off Call of Duty’s comeback with 2019’s soft reboot, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and the phenomenally popular battle royale Warzone. Infinity Ward has also released Modern Warfare 2 and last year’s Modern Warfare 3.

EA ended up buying Respawn in 2017 after the release of Titanfall and Titanfall 2. Apex Legends followed, with another team making the successful action games Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and its sequel Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. Respawn is currently working on a third Star Wars Jedi game, as well as an untitled Star Wars FPS. Zampella rose through the ranks at EA to become Group General Manager in charge of Apex Legends, Star Wars Jedi, Battlefield, and Need for Speed.

Image credit: Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Free Trial to Launch Alongside Season 2

Activision has announced a Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 free trial that launches a day after Season 2.

Season 2, which kicks off later today, February 7, is the first big update of 2024 to the first person shooter, and adds a number of new maps, a new battle pass, and of course new cosmetics.

The free trial runs from February 8 to 12 and grants access to the new Season 2 map Stash House as well as eight other multiplayer maps across Team Deathmatch, Hardpoint, Kill Confirmed, Domination, and Team Gun Game. It also grants full access to Modern Warfare Zombies.

Season 2 itself adds a good deal to Modern Warfare 3 Multiplayer. Four new core 6v6 maps arrive across Season 2, including three brand new 6v6 maps and a remaster of Das Haus. There are two “otherworldly” themed map variants based on Skidrow and Terminal as well.

There’s a new War map, Operation Tin Man, in which you assault a downtown Urzikstan skyscraper from the skies. Five new game modes (Team Gun Game, Snipers Only, Hordepoint and Bounty, and Juggermosh) and a Vortex Playlist are all in-bound. Elsewhere, expect Season 2 Ranked Play, and the new Ninja Vest for silent running, as well as a bonus knife and throwing star ammo.

As for Zombies, the Dark Aether story act continues with a new anomaly in the Exclusion Zone, the Second Rift, new challenges and schematics, and the addition of Warlord Keres, who’s set up shop at the Killhouse in the Orlov Military Base.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Season 2 Release Times:

  • West Coast North America: 9am PT
  • East Coast North AMerica: 12pm ET
  • UK: 5pm GMT
  • Western Europe: 6pm CET
  • Japan: 2am JST December 8

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Counter-Strike 2 update brings back Arms Race, the bestest best FPS mode

The latest Counter-Strike 2 update re-introduces Arms Race, a beloved multiplayer mode from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in which players level up and are handed new guns as they moider each other, with victory going to the player who levels all the way up and performs a final knifekill.

I’ve played many variations of this mode – which was originally a mod, Gun Game – over the years in other games, and it’s always a laugh, for the simple reason that it can be tuned to allow less proficient FPS players to catch up with their brethren, by introducing less powerful or harder-to-master weapons at certain levels as “speed bumps”.

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Random: Watch Switch’s Best-Selling Games Compete In This Neat Timeline Race

Novel graphics.

Thanks to yesterday’s quarterly financial results from Nintendo, we have updated figures for the company’s best-selling games on Switch. These numbers are perfectly interesting to look at in list form, but you know what would be more interesting? A fun graph, of course!

One creative on the YouTube channel Pierre485 has done just that and has turned Nintendo’s list of numbers into a bar chart race that documents the ever-changing order of the Switch’s best-sellers.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Celebrating 10 Years of World of Tanks on Xbox

Celebrating 10 Years of World of Tanks on Xbox

WoT 10th Anniversary Hero

Summary

  • We’re celebrating ten years of tanks throughout the whole year.
  • Enjoy a look at the Year of the Dragon season.
  • Get a preview of what’s coming this year in World of Tanks Modern Armor.

World of Tanks is hitting the big ten! Since 2014, the game’s been part of the Xbox free-to-play scene, bringing you only the best tank battles on console. It’s safe to say that the game wouldn’t be where it is today if it wasn’t for its first release back in the Xbox 360 days.

Wargaming CEO, Victor Kislyi himself reflects on his time at the Microsoft E3 2013 Press Conference. “As I look back, it was incredible to be on stage 10 years ago during the 2013 Microsoft press conference announcing World of Tanks for Xbox.  Wargaming was thrilled to bring World of Tanks, the game that has been my life, to a platform with millions of players. We were the vanguard of F2P on console, providing a new way to both play and discover games. This was only possible with the support and belief of our trusted partner, Microsoft, with whom we have continuously achieved significant results. It has been an amazing decade for World of Tanks on Xbox and here is to many more!”

Since then, it was full speed ahead to keep Victor’s vision alive. And Director of Live Operations Valerie MacCracken will vouch that it was quite the ride. “At the time, there weren’t many free-to-play games on Xbox 360… It felt like unchartered territory.” The hard work would eventually pay off. “The game has evolved tremendously since its release, from having only three tank nations to now having a full tech tree across two game modes, a ton of new features, with more coming up this year!”

From the World War II theaters to the high-paced Cold War battlefields, we’ve traveled across history with a roster of tough-as-nails vehicles of all shapes, sizes, and nations.

As a thank-you for ten incredible years of tanking, get ready for a yearlong celebration unlike any other with monthly gifts, special events and sales, and the opportunity to earn two end-of-the-year tanks with the year-long Celebrations event.

American Tier X MBT-B Heavy Tank Image
The American Tier X MBT-B Heavy Tank.

Firstly, enjoy your first gift by logging in on February 13 and unlocking the American Tier X MBT-B Heavy Tank (plus its exclusive Raider Skin) for free, or in discounted bundles. Your discount is based on the number of years you’ve been playing the game.

Leading into our tenth anniversary festivities, our January 30 update brought important updates to the game, particularly to Cold War mode. We’re calibrating the Silver and XP research costs for your Cold War vehicles, so you grind less, collect faster, and enjoy your time on the battlefield even more.

The latest update also brought the new Azure Coast community map, a fresh batch of War Chests, and limited-time Chinese New Year-themed bundles to the game. It also marked the end of the Resolutions event. Commanders who participated in it (by completing seasons throughout 2023) and finished at least five seasons will find the one-of-a-kind T34 Calliope waiting for them in their garage. This unique vehicle is the only World War II tank with rockets, making it a real collector’s item exclusive to console. And if you’ve completed six seasons, you’re getting the tank plus a side of bonus rewards!

World of Tanks Year of the Dragon image

And now, let’s dive into the Year of the Dragon season details. As in previous seasons, you have 100 levels where themed rewards are ready to be earned. In this season, inspired by the Chinese zodiac for 2024, there are three reward paths to choose from. All tank commanders automatically start on the Free path, where you can earn rewards every few levels ranging from the reliable Type 59-II Premium tank, the season Medal, a 2D Dragon Commander, Gold, War Chests, and more! Then you have the Season Pass, where you receive rewards at every level (in addition to the Free rewards), more tanks, and the new WZ-1224 premium tank once you complete level 100.

And for your third option, the Ultimate Season Pass will immediately give you everything in the Season and Free pass, plus the new Highlander 116-F3 Premium tank for World War II mode, a themed 3D Hero Commander, and 25 completed levels.

It’s World of Tanks Modern Armor’s anniversary, but it’s you who’s getting the gifts. New affiliations for Cold War mode, a new World War II Tech Tree line, and specials for D-Day’s 80th anniversary, Tankfest, and Halloween are among some of the highlights for 2024.

WZ-1224 tank image
The WZ-1224, unlocked by completing level 100 in the Year of the Dragon Season Pass.

Also, going back to Cold War and researching just for a bit, this February, you’ll be able to start a new Tech Tree line of German light tanks, from the Post-War Era (Era 1) all the way to the Détente Era (Era 3), and tank destroyers, from the Post-War Era (Era 1) to the Escalation Era (Era 2). If you’re new to the game, Cold War mode’s light tanks may look “light” at first, but they pack some serious firepower and are crucial for suppressing and ambushing the enemy thanks to their maneuverability. As for the tank destroyers, their name says it all.

There’s so much to look forward to with the release of Year of the Dragon and World of Tanks Modern Armor’s tenth anniversary’s yearlong celebrations.

Here’s to ten more epic years to come. Keep on tanking!


World of Tanks
Xbox Live

World of Tanks

Wargaming.net

☆☆☆☆☆
1590
★★★★★

Get it now
Xbox One X Enhanced

World of Tanks is a global online multiplayer free-to-play game dedicated to tank warfare in the mid-20th century. Custom built for Xbox, World of Tanks features realistic vehicles and environments, enabling players to command history’s most powerful tanks and experience combat on Xbox like never before.

Features:
• Strategic, fast-paced 15 vs 15 online action.
• Over 700 authentic tanks to choose from among 12 nations.
• Battle across a variety of environments with varying terrain and weather effects
• Built-in support for Xbox One X pushing the boundaries of graphic fidelity.
• Regular updates offer new content and frequent special events.

The post Celebrating 10 Years of World of Tanks on Xbox appeared first on Xbox Wire.

Palworld Steam Patch v0.1.4.1 Makes Even More Welcome Fixes

Palworld developer Pocketpair has released another patch for the all-conquering ‘Pokémon with guns’ survival game, this time bringing the Steam version up to v0.1.4.1.

The patch for the Steam version of the game, out now, makes a number of major fixes, improves some base-related issues, and further tackles cheating and exploits.

Of note, the patch fixes an issue from the previous update that affected save data, which remained in a broken state. Now, save data should load properly. Elsewhere, there’s a fix for an issue that caused some weapons equipped by other players to disappear when a player used a grenade in multiplayer, and there’s a fix for an issue that caused capture probability to not increase despite the game suggesting it had.

And, as always, there’s a funny change in the patch notes: a fix for an issue where if a Pal that was manually assigned to a breeding farm went to sleep, it would not wake up forever. Bleak!

The Xbox patch, v0.1.1.4, will be released soon, Pocketpair added. There is a disparity between the Xbox and Steam versions of Palworld, not least in the Xbox version’s lack of dedicated servers, which limits the number of players who can play together. Microsoft has said it will work directly with Pocketpair to assist in supplying the resources necessary to keep the momentum of the monster survival game going strong, including providing support to enable dedicated servers.

Palworld is a smash hit, crossing over an eye-watering 19 million players across all platforms since going on sale January 19. It’s the most-played game on Steam, and the biggest third-party launch in Game Pass history with over seven million players and a daily player peak of just shy of three million. On Steam alone, Palworld has sold 12 million copies.

But Palworld is also one of the most controversial video game releases in recent memory. Developer Pocketpair has said its staff have received death threats amid Pokémon “rip-off” claims, which it has denied. Soon after launch, Nintendo moved quickly to remove an eye-catching Pokémon mod, then The Pokemon Company issued a statement, saying: “We intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to Pokémon.” IGN asked lawyers whether Nintendo could successfully sue.

If you’re playing, be sure to check out IGN’s interactive Palworld map.

Here are the Palworld Steam update v0.1.4.1 patch notes in full:

▼Major Fixes

・Fixed an issue where the game would always crash and save data would be corrupted when the total number of Pals captured by the guild reached approximately 7000.

・In the previous patch, save data that had already been in this state (for servers, the server’s world data) remained in a broken state that made it impossible to load, but after applying this patch it will be resolved and will load properly.

・Fixed an issue where some weapons equipped by other players would disappear when a player used a grenade in multiplayer.

・Fixed an issue where, although the displayed capture probability increased when the capture power was strengthened with Lifmunk Effigies, the capture probability did not actually increase at all due to an internal processing bug.

▼Base related

・Fixed an issue where if a Pal that was manually assigned to a breeding farm went to sleep, it would not wake up forever.

・Fixed an issue where no wood would drop when Pal at the base felled a tree.

▼Others

・Implemented countermeasures against some cheats and exploits.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.