War Z removed from Steam, Valve offering full refunds
War Z, Hammer Point Interactive's online zombie survival shooter, was released a couple of days ago on Steam, but is now removed from the service thanks to public outcry. Players who bought the online game for $15 bucks claims that the game doesn't live up to several features promised by the developers.Â
You'd think it's a simple case of broken promises from a developer, but it's actually more than that. When the game was out for sale over at Steam, War Z's store page listed features of the game that was said to be in the game, but in actuality, some are not even included yet. Certain features like character skills, extra maps, servers with the capacity of 100 players, hardcore mode, and the given map size of 100 to 400 square kilometers were placed over at the game's key features. What was given when getting yourself a copy of the game was only 1 map, no skills, map size of around 100 square kilometers, and a player cap of 50 per server.
When Steam is offering refunds, you know it's serious. "From time to time a mistake can be made, and one was made by prematurely issuing a copy of War Z for sale via Steam," said Valve vice president of marketing Doug Lombardi to Polygon. "We apologize for this and have temporary removed the sale offering of the title until we have time to work with the developer and have confidence in a new build. Those who purchase the game and wish to continue playing it via Steam may do so. Those who purchased the title via Steam and are unhappy with what they received may seek a refund by creating a ticket at our support site here."
War Z is starting to look like a game filled with broken promises and false advertising. This sounds like a quick cash grab from the developers that pretty much took advantage of the Day Z hype, which I'm sure felt the pressure to release the game early since Day Z devs are working on a stand-alone version of the game.
A petition was even created asking Valve to remove the game from the Steam marketplace. Thankfully Valve was planning to anyway, with or without a petition.
The controversy doesn't end there. Kotaku posted a series of images to compare one of War Z's images to a series of photos from The Walking Dead tv series.
False promises coming from developers are nothing new, others have done it, but it seems like most of what made people excited for the game is not even implemented yet. With these lacking features, I can't really say what makes War Z different from Day Z at this point. When I noticed War Z was out on Steam, I checked out the game's store page and noticed that there will be skills and experience in the game, I got intrigued. I love character progression, and with it being a zombie survival shooter? Sounds good right?. So I did some research, watched players play the game and noticed XP flying per zombie kill. I asked about the skills but to find out it's not implemented yet. So why is the latest build showing XP earned, for kicks? I know this is considered an MMO, a game that is constantly evolving, but at least make it look presentable and not give the impression as if they just bought an unfinished version of the game.
You can read all the drama over at Steam's community page and Reddit, or check out Kotaku's amazing coverage over all of this War Z craziness.
[Source: GameInformer, Kotaku, Polygon]
Latest Fuse trailer just makes me miss Overstrike more
Fuse is an upcoming 4-player coop third-person action game being developed by Insomniac Games (Resistance, Ratchet and Clank). If you remember EA's 2011 press conference, this title was first revealed under the name Overstrike, but was sadly changed, and now we see a matured and a more military-like version of the game.
Now after seeing that trailer, you might think, "oh ok cool, a coop game". But if you saw what the game was when it was called Overstrike, your reaction to the trailer might be a bit different. check it out below.
Overstrike E3 2011 trailer
I'm not too sure what to say about the change in this new IP. The personality and style was completely scrapped, and with it now rebranded as Fuse, the once interesting concept has been replaced with a  more serious tone that I believe has been done too many times in shooters. If I had to pick only one game to be developed over Insomniac, it would be Overstrike in a heart beat.
Fuse is set for an early 2013 release for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.
Tomb Raider's 'Guide to Survival' video series
Crystal Dynamics is planning a series of developer diary's for Tomb Raider, and the first one, called "Smart Resourceful Lara", is now out. They explain core concepts in the game that lets Lara improve her equipment, learn new abilities, and see key components in the game in order to progress.
Everybody loves an Origins story, especially when it's about one of the most iconic female protagonist in gaming history. Everything shown so far about this game is completely out of what we'd expect from a Tomb Raider game, which is a good thing. This is a reboot after all. It's focus on how Lara Croft becomes the character we all know from past games, it's dark and harsh environment, plus the strong emphasis on survival, makes Crystal Dynamic's next take on the Tomb Raider series one of the most anticipated games for 2013. Well, for me that is.
Tomb Raider is currently planned for a March 5 release for Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.
Playstation's Holiday Essentials starts now
Sony is showing some holiday spirit with the Holiday Essentials, that will be providing 30% off and a 50% off for PS Plus members on great games over the next three weeks. Each week, the sale will be highlighting the best games available in the PSN store. First week is up, so have a look at the list below.Â
- Catherine (Sale: $27.99, PS Plus: $19.60, Regular: $39.99)
- Counter Strike Global Offensive (Sale: $10.49, PS Plus: $7.35, Regular: $14.99)
- Dyad (Sale: $10.49, PS Plus: $7.35, Regular: $14.99)
- Escape Plan (Sale: $10.49, PS Plus: $7.35, Regular: $14.99)
- I Am Alive (Sale: $10.49, PS Plus: $7.35, Regular: $14.99)
- LittleBigPlanet 2Â (Sale: $13.99, PS Plus: Free, Regular: $19.99)
- LittleBigPlanet PS Vita (Sale: $24.99, PS Plus: $17.49, Regular: $35.99)
- Magic: The Gathering – Dules of the Planeswalkers 2013 (Sale: $6.99, PS Plus: $4.90, Regular: $9.99)
- NHL 13Â (Sale: $41.99, PS Plus: $29.40, Regular: $59.99)
- Rayman Origins (Sale: $13.99, PS Plus: $9.80, Regular: $19.99)
- Rayman Origins PS Vita (Sale: $20.99, PS Plus: $14.70, Regular: $29.99)
- Resident Evil 4Â (Sale: $13.99, PS Plus: $9.80, Regular: $19.99)
- Retro/Grade (Sale: $6.99, PS Plus: $4.90, Regular: $9.99)
- Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition (Sale: $10.49, PS Plus: $7.35, Regular: $14.99)
The games above will be on sale until  December 18th to December 24th.
Next week will provide a whole new list of games on sale so be sure to revisit the store if by any chance nothing for the first week has caught your interest.
[Source: PS Blog US]
New Agni's Philisophy tech demo videos showcase character detail being tweaked
Have you seen Square Enix's tech demo called Agni's Philisophy? No? Ok click here, be amazed, then come back. That was done in real-time using Square's new game engine called "Luminous Studio. Now, two new videos have shown up on the net featuring some changes being done to a character's detail in real-time.
With the reveal of the tech demo in this year's E3, Square  Enix was simply advertising the power of their new engine. Agni's Philosophy isn't a game in production, but it definitely gave us an idea on what their games could look like in the future. This is Square Enix looking forward. It's hard to believe that 3D models like these with amazing visuals and detail can simply be manipulated by a simple slider on the side.
This engine is being created for next-gen, and as much as this looks impressive, it will be years until any game will be developed using this game engine. Hopefully, whatever title they have planned to be the first game under the Luminous engine won't take as long to develop as Final Fantasy XIII, or versus XIII (Which is not even out yet).