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Tag: patches

  • Far Cry 3 to Get New Difficulty Level, Outpost Reset

    Though Far Cry 3 ended up on many 2012 best-of lists, it hasn’t seemed to be Ubisoft’s focus. Instead, the publisher has been touting its new Assassin’s Creed III alternate history DLC and appeasing upset Wii U Rayman fans.

    This week, though, an Ubisoft developer over on the Uplay forums revealed that, although there hasn’t been any true post-release DLC, the game will be getting some quality-of-life upgrades that may tide gamers over until future DLC is announced.

    Perhaps the most vital upgrade the game will get is the ability to reset outposts. The option will allow players to set all outposts to hostile, as if they had never been taken over. They can then be re-taken, allowing gamers to experiment with different strategies and abilities. Also, if players are finding outpost-taking a little too easy now that all of their skill trees are filled, a new “Master” difficulty setting could be just the challenge they need.

    For multiplayer content, Ubisoft will be revamping the feedback system for user-created maps and adding beta map testing and a spectator mode for map-making. The player kick for being idle in custom and private matches matches will also be removed.

    These features will be released in “upcoming patches,” and no dates have been announced. It’s likely that these changes will hit PC versions of Far Cry 3 first, and come to consoles once they go through approval processes.

    (via Joystiq)

  • Star Wars: The Old Republic Patch 1.3 Brings Group Finder Tomorrow

    The next major update for the Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) is coming to servers tomorrow morning, June 26. Patch 1.3 brings a feature the SWTOR community has been clamoring for since the game debuted: a group finder tool. The update also brings a host of smaller changes to the game, including new legacy perks.

    The new group finder will help players quickly find a group for Flashpoints, Operations, or Heroic planet missions. The legacy perks unlocked in the new patch include advancement perks that give experience boosts for Warzones, Flashpoints, Story Missions, and Space Missions. The crafting system has received some changes as well, with new augment kits that unlock an augment slot on already-made armor. Take a look below at all of the features announced for patch 1.3:

    Though patch 1.3 brings some needed features to SWTOR, it doesn’t bring any new content, in the form of new Operations or Warzones, the way patch 1.2 did. The free server merges that Bioware offered two weeks ago have significantly consolidated the remaining SWTOR player base, but questions remain about just how many subscribers the game still has. Back in May, when the Electronic Arts’ quarterly financial results were announced, it came out that SWTOR had lost 400,000 subscribers since its release. Though EA tried to spin this number as simply players who only played for the free month that comes with purchasing the game, anecdotal evidence suggests that since then the Diablo III launch hit SWTOR’s population hard, meaning EA will have a lot to explain in their next financial report. The massive layoffs that hit Bioware only weeks after the EA announcement were more evidence that the game was in financial trouble.

    With the group finder finally implemented, the SWTOR developers will now have to turn their attention to expanding the game’s content if they want to extend the amount of time it has before going free-to-play.

  • Skyrim Patch 1.6 Includes Mounted Combat

    With all of the features Bethesda is putting into The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, you would think players were paying a monthly subscription fee to play it. In the past month, Kinect voice support has been added to the Xbox 360 version of the game, new execution animations have been added, and the first downloadable content (DLC) for the game, Dawnguard, has been announced.

    Today, Bethesda Game Studios has announced that its next game update will include mounted combat as a feature. After the free update, players will no loger have to dismount their trusty steed to one-shot a wolf. Mounted combat was a highly-requested feature from the Skyrim player community, and if another highly-requested feature – spears – are implemented, then mammoth-mounted giant jousting mods can finally become a reality. Though there is no word on any kill-cam animations for the feature, there will be disappointment if Bethesda has not included at least one head-lopping slow-mo. Also, dragon shouts should, presumably, be possible while mounted.

    The other items in the 1.6 patch notes are all minor bug fixes. Bethesda hasn’t announced when the new patch will be released, but players of Skyrim on the PC can try it out today by opting-in to Skyrim’s Steam beta updates. The setting for beta updates is located in the Account tab of the Steam Settings menu.

    (screenshot courtesy Bethesda)

  • Players React to Star Wars: The Old Republic Patch 1.2

    Star Wars: The Old Republic’s patch 1.2 (satirically dubbed “the Jesus” patch by some fans) was finally released this morning, and now fans and detractors alike are weighing in on whether the huge changes it brings will help the game garner more subscribers. Just 24 hours from the patch’s release, it was announced that one of the most anticipated features of patch 1.2, rated player vs. player (PVP) combat would not be implemented. It was disappointing for a large number of subscribers, so Bioware is already fighting an uphill battle to please fickle MMO fans.

    The patch is almost 1GB, meaning it will take a while before players can jump into the action. Players can read the patch notes now posted over at the Old Republic site to get an idea of the specific changes to classes, quests, and gear. Users have already been raving and ranting about the new changes on Twitter. Popular tweet topics include the missing ranked PVP, the new customizable interface, the much-lauded “legacy system,” and possible bugs associated with the patch:

    The performance improvements with the new #SWTOR patch are amazing, I’m steadily at ~120 fps now up from getting lagspikes down to 10ish 2 minutes ago via TweetDeck ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    The Jesus Patch (1.2) is here! Now if only it would hurry up and download! #SWTOR 5 minutes ago via Twitter for Mac ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    I’ll be the first to be critical of #SWTOR but people are freaking out about the ranked WZ’s for no reason – The “preseason” was a joke. 2 hours ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Just finished all the dailies in the new zone, 6x Black Hole Commendations from Weekly – Starting Lost Island Run shortly #SWTOR 1.2 2 minutes ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    @SWTOR So glad for the interface editor feature in the new patch, now I can use my Razer Naga properly! http://t.co/j5op13WT 9 minutes ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Wow. Completely missed the huge honking words “Interface Editor” when I hit the ESC key. #welcometosenility but my UI is rockin now! #swtor 11 minutes ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Was lil disappointed but will live with it, that #bioware #swtor said xp buffs would be in 1.2 legacy. But am now seeing they coming soon. 4 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Unify to chest isnt working with head slot items. @SWTOR said they are aware and should have more info soon. #SWTOR 6 minutes ago via Echofon ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    So with the new update I lost all my hair #swtor 🙁 6 minutes ago via Twitter for Android ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Best thing about 1.2? Ship droid is quiet!!! Finally! #SWTOR 13 minutes ago via RockMelt ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    @SWTOR 1.2 is maybe what should have been released day 1. I don’t see this content patch bringing back all of the people who have left!! 10 minutes ago via TweetDeck ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Married my trooper to my bounty hunter in #SWTOR because it’s my FemShep toon hooking up with a blue chick again. All’s right in the galaxy. 14 minutes ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    @SWTOR Any official response regarding the now-useless Sorcerer/Sage? 1 minute ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Thank you BioWare for making Sprint a level 1 skill in #SWTOR. The starting zones take a bit too long without it.
    Awesome. New characters! 3 minutes ago via Twitter for Mac ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    #SWTOR 1.2 or as I call it, the big NERF. My BH got nerfed and my SI force bending got nerfed. Booo And dont get me started on bugs! 56 minutes ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

  • AOL’s Tim Armstrong On: Project Devil, Patches’ Success & TechCrunch “Chaos”

    Following up with their company’s financial earnings being released this morning, Tim Armstrong, AOL CEO and Chairman, and Arte Minson, AOL CFO, took some time this morning to conduct a Q&A with the media about the implications of the Q4 2011 report and to speculate on what AOL hopes to accomplish in 2012.

    Armstrong spoke at length about AOL’s marketing strategies (it wasn’t their fault this was mostly what they talked about – this is what reporters were asking about) and how Project Devil, their advertising platform, is changing advertisements into actual site content. Mentioning how companies like Proctor & Gamble and Unilever have already adopted Project Devil, Armstrong said, “We believe most of the clients in the world, through their agencies, could extend their content through advertising.” He continued, “Project Devil is an enterprise system that would go inside the holding companies where we’re taking our software and user-interface and basically white labeling it for the holding companies.”

    Armstrong also talked about the success of Patches, AOL’s platform for providing local news coverage to individual areas. Although it wasn’t mentioned in the press conference earlier today he did confirm that it had been an overall success thus far. Similar to his explanation for AOL’s general success, he said Patches has been done well because of their organizational strategy and sales teams. AOL has implemented 863 Patches overall, each of which they bunch into bundles of 30 to assess the quality and success of each Patch.

    When addressing how Patches became profitable, Minson added, “We don’t want Patches to be a success based on an individual basis because we could theoretically muscle any Patch into being profitable.” He said that the true value of Patches “should be considered within Patches’ overall success.”

    Eventually, someone was going to bring up the big jaundiced bruise on AOL that is TechCrunch and the defection of employees that occurred last year. Deflecting the suggestion that the news site was in “chaos,” Armstrong redirected the focus to TechCrunch’s “tremendous year” and pointed out some highlights like the conference they hosted in Beijing and the upcoming Crunchie Awards. “Chaos around TechCrunch,” he said, “is a limited factor because the site has acquired a lot of value.” He went on to explain how TechCrunch has added more talent to their staff and has been receiving “strong interest” from advertisers.”