Tag: #gaming

Husband and wife renovation team announce PC house building game Hometopia

Real-life home renovator and longtime game developer couple at The Isn’t Company today announced their upcoming house building PC game, Hometopia, with an official trailer.

Build, design, and renovate beautiful homes across five unique neighborhoods, or freely build dream houses and neighborhoods from scratch alone or with friends online. Hometopia is participating in the Steam Next Fest from October 1st – October 7th with a free playable demo of the game’s Sandbox building mode available on Steam.

Features:

  • Build entire homes from scratch – foundation to rooftops
  • Create homes and neighborhoods with others in online multiplayer
  • Play in First Person or Overview camera modes
  • Design furniture and change materials for everything for full customization
  • Grid-less designing and 360 degree item rotation
  • Lay out the floorplan and designate where every room goes
  • Create plots of any size
  • Build entire neighborhoods with roads, street lights, trees and more
  • Steam Workshop support – share your creations and upload custom items and textures
  • Renovate, buy and sell homes across 5 unique neighborhoods (Trailer Park, Suburb, City, Beach, Mansions) in Career mode
  • Free-build in creative Sandbox mode
  • Multiple biomes (Forest, Lakes, Desert, Beach) to select from
  • Thousands of items to design and build with at launch with more available through modding
  • Adjust time of day and sun direction to take the perfect shareable photos
  • Take before/after photos automatically in-game
  • Advanced lighting system
  • Build elaborate gardens and exteriors
  • Paint color wheel to use any color


Hometopia can be played in First Person or in an Overhead perspective and offers two different modes:  Career and Sandbox.

Sandbox:

In Sandbox, build your dream home without the pressure of market conditions or the limit of resources. Create a cozy bungalow in the forest, a modern marble and glass mansion on the beach, or a massive over-the-top palace overlooking estate grounds and share your creation with the world on Steam Workshop. Need even more items to design with? Hometopia offers full modding support for limitless additions.  In multiplayer, create entire neighborhoods with other players – from planning the plots and laying down roads to creating parks and designing homes – there’s no limit to the worlds you can build.

Career:

In Career mode, players renovate 30 different homes across five distinct neighborhoods that range from a run-down mobile home park to a posh beachside community with lakefront gated mansions.  Buy rundown properties and fix them up to earn top dollar…after cleaning the space, start by improving the layout and flow. Think buyers in this neighborhood would prefer three bedrooms with a garage and nursery instead of a large master closet and sunroom? Use the Floorplanner tool to designate what every space in the home is intended for, then get down to renovating!

Paint the walls, install new flooring and premium appliances, put in new doors and windows, add high end fixtures, or create a beautiful outdoor space for good curb appeal. Feeling ambitious? Build out a fancy multi-car garage, expand the footprint of the home, create a third level, or even demolish the entire property and rebuild it from scratch – foundation all the way up to the roof! Stage the property from a massive collection of over 2,000 unique pieces of furniture, lighting, decor and accent pieces (or make your own unique pieces using hundreds of materials available to customize each item) before putting it on the market. Fulfill all the needs of an ever-changing market and you could have a bidding war on your hands!


“We’re a small, independent team of five, but we’ve been developing games for the past two decades,” said Alex Ahlund, founder of The Isn’t Company.  “We had a lot of success with our mobile games; Design This Home and Design This Castle, attracting over 20M players and igniting our love of home design.”

He continued, “After my wife and I fully renovated our 120-year-old former fraternity house by ourselves, we knew we wanted to bring that same experience to others in a more accessible but less exhausting format.  There aren’t really any games out there that let you build and renovate realistic homes from scratch with other players online, either, so we knew that was an important feature we wanted to incorporate.”

Builder. Designer. Renovator. What’s your Hometopia?

Hometopia launches in January 2022 and will be available in English, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, and Polish.

 

Design your own dream home by grabbing the free demo of Hometopia on their Steam page from October 1st to October 7th and wishlist the game to be the first to hear when it launches, and don’t forget to join their active Discord community of passionate home designers, builders and renovators.

Balsa Model Flight Simulator launches today. #Pilots #Gaming

Following a 4 week open beta which saw over nine thousand pilots shape their dream balsa models and take to the skies, Felipe “HarvesteR” Falanghe, creator and lead developer of the original Kerbal Space Program, is soaring into the troposphere as Balsa Model Flight Simulator from Floating Origin Interactive takes flight on Steam Early Access from today.

BMFS is designed to offer something truly unique in the flight sim category and takes the next step in player-built flight simulation games with its detailed, powerful editor where players can design, build, fly and battle their own model aircraft, delivering an entirely new, multi-genre experience for virtual pilots of all skill levels.

“I was really nervous about launching such an extended Beta test for Balsa but really wanted to get back to that feeling of creating a game with the community from the very beginning” commented Falanghe “It has been an amazing few weeks for us to finally have a version of the game in the hands of fans, and their feedback has been amazing! So much so we’ve decided to bring up our schedule a little and we’re so excited to officially launch the game for sale via Steam Early Access.”
Falanghe concluded “We really wanted to make sure we were launching a game with the absolute best foundation before we put it into Early Access, just like we did with Kerbal Space Program 10 years ago, and the players so far have really made it a joy to get the game to this stage. Can’t wait to see what happens over the coming weeks and months”

Key Features:

1. In-game Vehicle Editor – Build anything you can imagine using parts that snap together in a hands-on, intuitive way. Plus paint and apply decals to your vehicles to make them completely your own.
2. Advanced Physics-Based Flight Model – Every design decision counts, as Balsa’s aerodynamics account for even the tiniest changes to your model’s geometry.
3. Single Player Career mode – Tackle a range of challenges and build up your reputation as the greatest RC pilot ever!
4. Free-Flight Sandbox mode – Hone your skills, tweak your designs, or just enjoy the experience of flying.
5. Paintball Combat – Create and take your aerial combat machine up against other players and AI in model-scale paintball dogfights.
6. Moddable to Extremes – Designed from the ground up to support modding. Players are able to add custom content inc. everything from new planes and parts to maps and modes.
7. Steam Workshop Enabled – Share your designs, missions and mods in the Steam Workshop, and subscribe to an endlessly-expanding collection of player-made creations.
8. Fully supported multiplayer – Up to 16 virtual pilots.
9. A fully featured Scenario Editor – Create your own Missions and Game Modes using a powerful module-based gameplay logic system.

Buckle up and take flight with Balsa Model Flight Simulator HERE 

Youtubers Life 2, will launch on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch on Tuesday 19th October, 2021.

Youtubers Life 2, will launch across PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch on Tuesday 19th October, 2021.

Following up the multi-million selling original Youtubers Life, the new game opens up its world to its players and lets them step out of the bedroom for the first time to explore ‘NewTube City’.

But this brand new metropolis isn’t just a playground: Its streets will also serve as the player’s connection to the hot new trends they need to be making content about. Players will be able to hunt out the new trends other content creators are unaware of, making the most of their appeal with fresh videos. NewTube City is the key to your Youtuber taking on the world. They’ll even have a cute and customisable drone who follows them around on their adventures, recording videos to serve as content as they go.

What’s more, Youtubers Life 2 also features huge YouTubers actually in play, including PewDiePie, Crainer, LaurenzSide, Rubius, Paluten, InoxTag, Willyrex, GermanLetsPlay, Vegetta777 and xFaRgAnx.

“It’s almost five years since the first Youtubers Life came out, and the game still has a large loyal player base, which is exactly why we wanted to take what they loved from the original and make it even bigger and better with this follow-up,” offers Sergio de Benito, Marketing Director at Raiser Games. “The addition of NewTube City takes that original bedroom setting from the first game and turns it into a fully-functional world, featuring activities and trends content creators can use to power their videos. Plus, actually building in real YouTube talent has been an honour. We think Youtubers Life 2 is the ultimate content creator simulator.”

In Youtubers Life 2 you will be able to: –

  • Create content on different apps: NewTube, Glitch, and InstaLife.
  • Explore NewTube City throughout three different neighborhoods: The City Hall, Downtown, and the Port. Each one has unique stores, leisure centers, activities, and other Youtubers (NPCs) with whom we can build a social relationship.
  • Follow different trends triggered at different times, take pictures to Instalife, or record VOD and streamings on the way. The city is alive and will be a key to your development as a Youtuber.
  • Record your progress on your Drone – your closest, customisable friend who will follow you on your adventures.
  • New customisation options for your character and for your home. For the first time in the franchise, we will be able to customize our home and setup with our preferred style.

Youtubers Life 2, will launch across PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch on Tuesday 19th October, 2021 for $29.99/£24.99 on PC, and $39.99/£34.99 on console.

4 Expert-Level Hacks to Optimize Your PC for Gaming

Gaming on PC provides you with entertainment, and it helps you learn different skills. However, to enjoy your favorite game, you should make sure your computer is optimized for that purpose. Here are 4 expert-level hacks to optimize your PC for gaming.

 

1. Close Background Processes

First and foremost, you should specifically get a computer that is meant for gaming. There are special machines designed for games that you can get on the market. Whether you are using a PC for gaming or just a Windows computer to play games, make sure you close all background programs that are open in the background. These programs may prevent your computer from achieving its full potential in gaming. Any open programs can affect the speed of the game, which leads to a poor experience. Therefore, make sure you close all the windows that you do not need if you want to enjoy your favorite game.

2. Choose The Best Components For Gaming

There are different components like graphics cards, CPUs, storage devices, and memory that affect your games. Additionally, you also need to consider the motherboard for gaming which ensures enough connectivity for the vital components required by the games. There are different types of motherboards designed for gaming; you must get something that suits your needs. You need to check the best motherboard that suits your needs. In addition, it is vital to tweak the graphics settings for your games. For instance, lowering the resolution of your game can go a long way in ensuring that you get more frames per second.

3. Update GPU Drivers

To boost the performance of your PC for games, you should update its GPU drivers. If you update the graphics card, your GPU will deliver 100% of its potential performance. You will observe a significant increase in FPS. To achieve this, you can look for the best software to update your drivers for PC gaming. With the right program, you will get the latest updates that will help improve your gaming experience. If you want, you can set your PC to install automatic updates at given times. This helps to ensure you do not miss any critical updates.

4. Remove Unwanted Programs

If your PC for gaming consists of programs that you rarely use or no longer need, it is a good idea to remove them. These programs affect the performance of your computer by competing for precious RAM. This means you will have lower FPS while gaming. You can uninstall all programs you are not using. On top of that, you should clear all outdated updates since they can affect your RAM. Reduce startup programs or deactivate them so they do not affect the speed of your computer.

 

Computer gaming is exciting since it plays a crucial role in entertaining different people. To enjoy the maximum experience of gaming, you must have an optimized PC. There are different measures you can take to improve the performance of your computer when playing games. While the list is not exhaustive, the above tips can help you enjoy your favorite game to the fullest.

Tennis Manager 2021 takes centre court – launching today on Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG & Mac App Store

Rebound CG is delighted to announce the full release of Tennis Manager 2021 on PC and Mac and is now available for $39.99 // 39,99 € // £34.99 on Steam, the Epic Games Store, GoG and the Mac App Store.

After several months in Early Access and five major patches, the game has evolved greatly, achieving some impressive milestones. To date, Tennis Manager has reached its highest user score on Steam with +85% positive reviews, thousands of players, and millions of matches played (aces and double faults alike!);

Honoured with comparisons to the most successful management simulation, ‘Football Manager’ and a growing audience including a FIFA eSports World champ’ and amazing pro tennis players Gael Monfils top 10 ATP and Holger Rune world #1 Junior, there’s a real audience for Tennis Management simulation. All these sucesses are made possible by our community, whose feedback has been vitally important, helping us to finish the game that we were all working so hard to create.

Tennis Manager’s launch is a huge achievement and an important step moving forward for our small indie studio of 10 full-time developers and we continue our efforts on mobile, as we look forward to seeing tens of thousands of mobile players take a step onto the court in our new adventure.

Enter the Nightmare Realm as Crown Trick launches on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 today

Team17 and NExT Studios have announced the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 launch of adventure roguelike Crown Trick, following its launch on Nintendo Switch™ and PC in 2020. Crown Trick features unique synchronous turn-based combat so that enemies, and deadly traps only react when the player does. As Elle, a combination of skills, magical Familiar skills, weapons, and strategic thinking is required to escape the labyrinthian procedural dungeons of the Nightmare Realm alive.

Crown Trick key features:

  • Engaging strategic gameplay: Monsters and traps move only when the player moves; carefully thought-out strategies are key to escaping the labyrinthine dungeon
  • Fight how you want: Create and develop a unique combat style with 40+ active skills, 60+ passive abilities, 30+ usable items, and 170+ special relics, all of which create different ways to cut through enemy encounters
  • Learn from enemies: Gather elite ‘Familiar’ skills by overcoming enemies ready to unleash on others deeper in the dungeon
  • Different dungeons every time: The procedurally generated maze ensures players have unique experiences every time they enter The Nightmare Realm.

The Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions of Crown Trick are currently available with a launch discount of 20%, making them $15.99/ €15.99/£12.79 until 13th September.

Crown Trick is also available now on Steam for PC  and Nintendo Switch™ for $19.99/ €19.99/£15.99.

 

PewDiePie and Crainer On Board to Serve as Mentors in Content Creator Simulator ‘Youtubers Life 2

Entire Team of Superstar YouTubers Will Appear in the Game to Inspire the Next Generation

For the past decade, PewDiePie – known as Felix Kjellberg to his friends – has been one of the most popular YouTubers on the planet, with more than 110 million subscribers around the world at last count hanging on his every word, for better or worse.

Who better, then, to pass on the fruits of his wisdom to the next generation of content creators?

Raiser Games and UPLAY Online are excited to announce that PewDiePie will be headlining a  cast of real life YouTubers who will all appear in forthcoming content creator simulator Youtubers Life 2. Taking on the role of guardians – or ‘Senpais’, as PewDiePie fans may be more accustomed to hearing – Kjellberg and a cast of 10 YouTubers in total will appear in the game in side-missions, offering players the opportunity to increase their knowledge and experience in specially set challenges.

Also joining the line-up will be Crainer, LaurenzSide, Rubius, Paluten, InoxTag, WillyRex, GermanLetsPlay, Vegetta777 and xFaRgAnx. Youtubers Life 2 will offer aspiring content creators the opportunity to live out their YouTube dreams in relative safety when it launches on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch later this year.

According to Sergio de Benito, Marketing Director at Raiser Games, working with some of the world’s most popular YouTubers should give players an example of the responsibility that comes hand in hand with wielding considerable influence.

“Fame is a fickle beast and – like film stars, pop stars, and sports stars before them – YouTubers have spent the last decade finding out that, once you hit the big time, everything you do or say is under the microscope,” says de Benito. “We thought that having real life YouTubers in play was a must for Youtubers Life 2, because they are the only people on the planet who can, with some authenticity, pass on advice based on the highs and lows they’ve both enjoyed and endured whilst in the public eye. They really will be the players’ guardian angels.”

All of the YouTubers will appear in dedicated, specialised side-missions, challenging players to carry out fun tasks increasing their knowledge and experience in the process. They will act as the icing on the Youtubers Life 2’s considerable cake, adding an extra slice of realism to proceedings.

“It’s been really interesting working with the Youtubers Life 2 developers to make sure my likeness comes across in play,” adds Crainer. “I hope my subscribers get a real kick out of seeing me in the game.”

In Youtubers Life 2 you will be able to: –

  • Create content on different apps: NewTube, Glitch, and InstaLife.
  • Explore NewTube City throughout three different neighborhoods: The City Hall, Downtown, and the Port. Each one has unique stores, leisure centers, activities, and other Youtubers (NPCs) with whom we can build a social relationship.
  • Follow different trends triggered at different times, take pictures to Instalife, or record VOD and streamings on the way. The city is alive and will be a key to your development as a Youtuber.
  • Record your progress on your Drone – your closest, customisable friend who will follow you on your adventures.
  • New customisation options for your character and for your home. For the first time in the franchise, we will be able to customize our home and setup with our preferred style.

Raiser Gamers and UPLAY Online will have more to announce regarding Youtubers Life 2’s forthcoming launches in the months ahead.

Maneater: Truth Quest, Out Now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S #gaming

Developer and publisher Tripwire Interactive announced today the launch of  Maneater: Truth Quest, the first downloadable content (DLC) for Maneater, the award-winning Action-RPG (shARkPG) where you play as a shark! Out now for the PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®5 computer entertainment systems, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S console systems, and PC (via Steam and Epic Games Store), the Maneater: Truth Quest DLC requires the completed base game, Maneater, to play, and is available for $14.99 / €14.99 / £12.99 MSRP with an ESRB rating of M for Mature, PEGI 18 rating, and USK 16 rating. Players looking for the best bang for their bite, can also look forward to the Maneater Apex Edition, which includes the base game, Maneater, plus the Maneater: Truth Quest DLC, available for $49.99 / €49.99 / £42.99.

 

Maneater: Truth Quest Key Features Include:

New Story

  • Play through a new full narrative, story-based expansion as Trip Westhaven (voiced by Chris Parnell; SNL, 30 Rock, Rick and Morty) is back to narrate, having now been relegated to the online video streaming platform “ViewTube.”
  • New Evolutions
  • New Evolution Set
  • Maximum level cap increased to 40
  • Five new organ evolutions with one additional organ slot unlocked at level 35 (requires DLC ownership)

New Wildlife

  • New “Uber” Apex Predator
  • Battle fierce wildlife, including evolved hunt creatures as you eat your way up the food chain to regain regional dominance.

New Military Forces for Bounty Hunter System

  • Nicknamed “Site P,” the Plover Island Military complex hosts land forces will launch attacks from beaches and fortifications
  • Helicopters will hunt by air
  • Five new Bounty Bosses
  • New weapons and vehicles for military Bounty Hunters

New Objective Types

  • Failure to Communicate: Tail-whip objects to destroy the target objective
  • Time Trial: Swim through the rings before time runs out!

The original Maneater is a single player, open-world action-RPG (ShARkPG) where YOU are the shark. Starting as a small bull shark pup you are tasked with surviving the harsh world while eating your way up the ecosystem. To do this, you will explore a large and varied open world encountering diverse enemies — both human and wildlife. Find the right resources and you can grow and evolve far beyond what nature intended, allowing the player to tailor the shark to their play style. This is fortunate, because to get revenge on the cruel fisherman that dismembered you will take evolving into a massive shark, an apex predator of legends. Eat. Explore. Evolve.

The PS5: Did It Live Up to The Hype?

Now that the PS5 has been out and available to the public for almost a year now, we can finally take a look back and have a look at just how much the PS5 was able to live up to the expectations people had.  

The hype and excitement surrounding the PS5 leading to its launch was truly mind-boggling, and seemingly everyone knew that the PS5 was right around the corner, both gamers and non-gamers alike.  

In this article, we will be taking a look at if the PS5 was able to live up to the hype it received before its launch to find out if the hype was warranted or if it ending up being a slight disappointment and people’s expectations may have been too high. 

The controller Is Truly a Vital Innovation 

The new haptic feedback feature that the new PS5 controllers feature is truly a game-changer. 

There are only a few other times where the same feeling that haptic feedback gives has been properly implemented, and such a culture shock is a welcomed addition in the sea of familiarity and sameness that seems to have taken over the gaming industry today. 

Haptic feedback is a process in which in-game movements and touch are brought to life through the controller. For example, let’s say you are playing the newest call of duty and you are firing a machine gun. Well, with haptic feedback, it will almost feel like you are firing a machine gun in real life.  

The new controllers are able to give players much more immersion. This dedication to creating the most immersive experience possible is one that has come to define the entire length and breadth of the gaming industry.

In hardware, this translated to more sensorial experiences. In software, it demands a great deal more creativity from developers. For example, one of the most popular parts of the gaming world is the casino industry, in which online slots have been designed to be as similar as possible to the real thing by incorporating a variety of features with that exact goal in mind, or how video communication apps like skype allow people to have an experience that almost rivals that of real life. 

Every minuscule feeling you’d expect to find on a real-life machine gun such as the sound and feel of reloading, the recoil when shooting, and even the sound and feel of a bullet leaving the chamber can now be felt through the controller thanks to haptic feedback.  

It’s a difficult concept to explain, and it’s hard to give haptic feedback the true explanation it deserves. However, as soon as you get your hands on a PS5 and pick up the controller, you will have absolutely no doubt about just how good haptic feedback is.  

Endless Possibilities and increased Capabilities 

Of course, with every new generation of console comes a drastic increase in power and performance, the PS5 is no exception. 

The capabilities of the PS5 and the quality of the games it can run are truly impressive, so much so that you will probably need to get a new specially made PS5 TV in order to utilise it to its maximum capacity. 

We have only just begun to see what the PS5 is capable of, and in reality, it will take game developers a while to even start producing games that are able to fully utilise the PS5’s abilities.  

It’s not only the graphics that have gotten a huge upgrade. In addition to the new eye-watering graphics, the overall performance of the PS5 is a substantial improvement over its predecessor.  

This means that most games are easily able to run at 60FPS consistently, which was only ever achieved by a few select games in the previous generation. This leads to the whole experience with the PS5 being much smoother and seamless, offering performance of the likes that has never been seen before.  

More of the Same, Which is Not a Bad Thing 

If you are a long-time owner of a PS4 and looking to make the switch to the PS5, there really won’t be too much of a difference in how it feels.  

Of course, the drastic improvements in performance and graphics and the increased frame rate will certainly be a welcomed addition, and the haptic feedback does provide a unique experience. Although, the whole experience with the PS5 is not too much different from its predecessor.  

While this may sound like a bad thing at first, that could not be further from the truth. The PS4 was a great console that was loved by many, and to make changes to an already near-perfect system would be unnecessary and perhaps counter-intuitive.  

The PS5 takes everything that was good about the PS4, and simply improves it.  

Sure, this may be disappointing for those who were expecting a completely brand-new experience from the PS5 compared to the PS4, but the PS5 is a great console that works well in every way.  

Overall, the PS5 is an amazing console. Sure, perhaps it didn’t live up to the hype, but when people have such high expectations and hopes it’s hard for any product to do so now.  

The common consensus in the gaming community is that the PS5 is a great addition to the PS5 series, offering a huge boost to performance as well as the truly unique haptic feedback in the controller.  

The only people who seem to be disappointed with the PS5 are those who set unrealistic expectations that no console would have ever been able to live up to.