Mar 25, 2013

After DC DOTA, A Magicka MOBA: Wizard Wars

Magicka - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Adam Smith)

Moments ago, Warner announced the existence of a DC Comics MOBA called Infinite Crisis and Paradox have now announced the existence of a Magicka MOBA called Wizard Wars. Unfortunately, I haven’t managed to learn everything there is to know about the genre in between those announcements so I’m just going to copy some words from the press release and pop the live action trailer below.

In Magicka: Wizard Wars, two teams of four wizards each will go head-to-lightning-bolt on the field of battle, wielding a wealth of magic spells as players adapt their tactics on the fly in response to their opponents. In true Magicka fashion, victory will go to the team whose wizards can combine the craftiest casts – and who can avoid the most friendly fire.

Element combinations are still the basis of spells, which means comically misplaced explosions should be par for the course.

(more…)

Mar 4, 2013

Paradox to announce a new Magicka game during GDC

Magicka

Paradox Interactive has told PC Gamer that it will be announcing something new related to Magicka for the PC during GDC later this month. We've been told it's not a port, and it's not more DLC (which Magicka already has a huge amount of on Steam.) The stars seem to point to a potential Magicka 2, or perhaps some kind of spin-off in the same universe, with different gameplay.

I got a look at Wizards of the Square Tablet at PDX Con, which was quickly discarded from my mind into the nearest Icelandic memory recycling bin when I heard it wouldn't be coming out for PC. Since we know it isn't that, it has to be a brand new title. One of the only other things we know is that there are some ex-DICE guys working on it, but we shouldn't expect something FPS-ey, despite the Battlefield pedigree.

We'll be in the GDC trenches to bring you more details from Paradox as soon as we can get our Frost/Fire Tentacles of Journalism on them in just a few weeks. What would you guys like to see out of a potential Magicka 2?

Mar 1, 2013

Magicka Update Released

Magicka - Valve

Patch 1.4.14.0 – We have some new fixes for you today, mostly related to network.
Fixes:
• Fixed an issue that would sometimes allow Alucart and Necromancers to be used where they weren’t supposed to
• Improved the way in which players get revived during network play which previously had a high risk of making games desynch
• Reduced the risk of crashing in scene transitions during network play
• Fixed an issue where players using a 4:3 resolution ratio would get stuck in one of the scenes in The Stars are Left Chapter 3
• Fixed a crash when players spawn too many entities using staff summoning abilities (guess)
• Fixed a crash that would occur if players skipped the credits in Other Side of the Coin
• Fixed an issue where players would get stuck in a cutscene in Chapter 12 as a result of freezing one of the bosses
• Loading screens have been improved; many players report that they get stuck in loading screens, especially during online play. What actually happens many times is that the game loads a lot of things and it looks like the bar is stuck. This should now be better visualized.
• Reduced risk of game freezing during different parts of the game
• The Were-Zompire claws special effect no longer works on bosses
• Fixed a localization issue with the Rogue Robe
• Fixed an issue with Leaderboards for the "Invasion of Elwenhüs" challenge level
• Fixed an issue where Vlad sometimes would disappear during his fights.
• The Quick Join have been optimized to prioritize LAN games

Feb 5, 2013

Paradox cancelled four games last year, promises no more “unplayable” releases

Magicka

Gettysburg Armoured Warfare review thumb

In an interview with GameSpy, Paradox's CEO Frederik Wester has revealed that the publisher cancelled four games in the past year, in an attempt to ensure that consumers weren't paying for buggy or unfinished titles.

Wester's comments were in response to questioning about the much maligned alternate history Civil War RTS Gettysburg: Armoured Warfare. Wester said, "That was terrible. We did not do our homework. It was a one-man team with some backup... we learned a lot from that release. We've had many bad releases before that, as well, and we learned something every time."

"In 2012, we also closed four game projects. This happened after Gettysburg. We looked at them and said, 'These games are not up to the standards we're currently looking for at Paradox, so we're going to close these projects.' We're not going to have any more games that are unplayable at release."

Gettysburg wasn't the only Paradox title in recent history to launch in an unfinished state. Both Magicka and Sword of the Stars 2 were released with significant problems. Wester admits that previously, Paradox couldn't risk the financial hit of cancelling projects. "We needed to release the best product we could release at the time in order to get at least some of the cash we invested back."

The success of Magicka and Crusader Kings 2 has put Paradox in a position were they can afford to be more diligent. "An internal quality assurance team has been built over the past year," Wester says. "Previously, we didn't have an internal QA team. Now we have a team of eight dedicated people in-house. We have a dedicated QA team for the Paradox development studio, specifically for the Crusader and Europa games, and we also now work with a number of external QA studios to stress test our multiplayer games, compatibility testing so it runs on different hardware, etc."

Wester closes by saying, "That's what you'll see from Paradox – fewer and better titles. The quality improvement is the most important thing we're working on right now."

Thanks, VG247.

Feb 5, 2013

What Sorcery is This? Magicka Casts Its Spell on Largely Rectangular Tablets

Magicka

One of PC gaming's finest co-op experiences is coming to a rectangular productivity-enhancing device near you. How many times will you "accidentally" kill your friends in Magicka: Wizards of the Square Tablet?

Developed by Ludosity, the folks behind the lovely Bob Came in Pieces, Wizards of the Square Tablet is a whole new adventure in the Magicka universe, capturing all the hallmark features of the series and trapping them in a flat rectangle of power. It's got four-player online co-op. It's got the elemental-combination spell system. It's got plenty of accidental murder. Throw in exclusive items for the iPad and Android versions, cross-platform play and the ability to touch yourself for hours (well, a digital representation of yourself... or whatever, just don't tell me), and you've got a game that most certainly is this one.

I mean, I can't say it'll be amazing, I've not played it yet. I can be excited though, so imagine meet hooting and hopping in my chair.

Magicka: Wizards of the Square Tablet is coming. They didn't specify, so I can't say soon. Before you die, surely. Hopefully.

Jan 22, 2013

Paradox launch new web store, hold tactically optimal sale

Europa Universalis III Complete

To the west: the vast, all-powerful expanse of the Holy GabeN Empire. To the East: the notably less powerful, but still somewhat impressive Kingdom of GamersGate. Paradox Interactive have been successfully trading with both for years, but, in a shock bid for independence, they've now launched their own store.

Currently in beta, the Paradox Webshop is selling the publisher/developer's catalogue directly to fans. Well, not quite directly. Rather than providing downloads, users are given a Steam key on purchase. Still, to celebrate the launch, Paradox are offering 55% off the majority of its games.

That means cheap deals on the feudal feuding of Crusader Kings 2, the samurai strategy of Sengoku, the madcap mayhem of Magicka and... lots of other games. Sorry, I couldn't sustain that level of alliteration.

The store's still missing some of Paradox's back catalogue. At a glance, it seems that CK2's trade-based expansion The Republic has yet to dock. But the homepage assures that, "Eventually all our titles will be offered along with lots of other fun goods and surprises."

Thanks, RPS.

Jan 18, 2013

Magicka Update Released

Magicka - Valve

Patch 1.4.13.0 – Major patch today, this update addresses several major issues and crashes players have experienced, it deals with both some great old ones as well as a few issues of the lesser castes. We’ve also added a little treat for you, a free challenge you can pick up in the steam store; Free Jólnirs Workshop.
A big thanks to everybody who posts well described reports on the different forums. That really helps!
- Added free challenge DLC; Free Jólnirs Workshop. FREEEEEEDOM!
- Fixed the crash with the “Magicka has stopped working” windows prompt due to dependencies not being installed correctly. This should now be greatly improved. Crash of the Titans
- Fixed a crash when host attempted to change level with gamepad in online play lobby. Tango & Crash
- Fixed a crash when cutting the rope in the tutorial and any other physical objects in the game, while using the Which Dr. Robe. Crash Gordon. See a trend here?
- Fixed an issue where players would only be able to select a few game modes when hosting an online game. What can we say, we’re gracious hosts
- Fixed an issue where chapter select for Adventure and The Stars are Left would be empty. And though Adventure and The Stars are Left put their issues aside, they still parted ways. –insert sad trombone noise–
- Fixed a crash in Chapter 5 of the campaign when players killed the boss by freezing him and blowing him to bits. W-Men: First Crash. Getting difficult to keep this up.
- Fixed a crash when hosting online games using Italian language setting. I’m running out of movies to use. Oh wait, how about Jumpin’ Jack Crash? Yeah, that works.
- Fixed several issues related to playing with gamepad and not running the game in BigPicture. Amongst other issues, we fixed a crash caused by a gamepad-wielding player trying to write in the chat with the gamepad as well as not being able to create a new profile using gamepad but not running steam in BigPicture. You think us putting “crash” into action movie titles was to promote The Showdown Effect? Naaaaaah, we’re not that smart. *coughMarch5cough*
- Fixed an issue where the main menu would sometimes lock itself before the tome is opened. Reminds me of that scene in Army of Darkness where Crash—I mean, Ash—unlocks the Necronomicon, except none of you are being attacked by the game when the tome opens. Sadly.
- Fixed an issue that caused the Revive Magick to be unavailable in the Vietnam Rescue Mission. Wait, why did we change that? Back in ‘Nam, we didn’t have no fancy Revive Magick. If someone went unconscious, we carried them in the mud. Barefoot. Uphill. Both ways. No bathrobe.
- Fixed an issue where the boss of The Stars are Left chapter 2 couldn’t drown and ending up in the water would result in the player being unable to progress. “What is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger."
- Fixed an issue where the Cultist Robe would be unavailable even though the Fthagn Once More achievement had been acquired. Just don’t drink the punch!
- Fixed an issue where some people couldn’t put on their Bathrobe. Yay!
- The Change Level button now correctly updates when changing language. Change is good, my mommy said so before sending me to boarding school.
- Some minor improvements done to main menu and leaderboards. We didn’t want to overstimulate you with major, stupendous improvements.
- Fixed a visual issue with the versus map description for Pool of Undeniable Moisture as well as improving the presentation of map descriptions in general. Because maps are people too. No, wait, that’s actually not true. They’re just maps. We treat maps like people, though, and that’s what counts.
- Fixed a bug where gamepad-wielding players could not change robe if the chat window was hovered with the mouse. Now this one was pretty specific. I mean, you had to 1) have a gamepad 2) have chat open and 3) have a mouse hover over the chat window. Bravo to you who found this, we can barely do two things at once and three things is just asking for someone to get blown up.
- Fixed a bug causing all remaining players in a lobby to get their robes changed when someone leaves the lobby. That was our version of a quick-change Magick act. For our next trick, we’ll be making a goblin’s head disappear.
- Improved the process of logging out profiles in game lobbies as well as the method for exiting them. DON’T LEAVE US!!! WE DON’T WANT TO BE ALONE!!!!
- Improved focus when scrolling through community buttons in main menu using gamepad. Because a community that slays together, stays together. AWWWWWWWW. Trust fall time!