Without resorting to any spoilers, this PSA is fairly simple. Whenever you obtain a Templar follower in Diablo III, do not equip him with a new shield. In fact, don’t equip him with anything just to be sure.

Eurogamer is reporting that this issue apparently is restricted to the Demon Hunter class (wouldn’t you know it, my favorite class), but just in case, I wouldn’t recommend trying it with any class if you value your playtime.

If you engage the glitch, you’ll not only be booted out of D3′s servers, but you’ll be unable to re-enter them until Blizzard pushes a fix. An absurd workaround is noted by some users, consisting of creating a new Power User Windows account, and attempting to log in that way.

Blizzard is investigating. As a temporary workaround it suggested players not give the Templar any gear until after they have accepted him as their follower through the user interface pop-up.

[Eurogamer]

Developer Ronimo Games proved with Swords & Soldiers that they’re adept at merging real-time strategy gameplay with a two-dimensional world. But how did they do marrying MOBA mechanics with frantic side-scrolling action? The following should give you a hint:

When you start playing a game that features a giant robot, a space cowboy, a monkey with a jetpack, and the word “awesome” is mentioned well over five times within the intro movie, you know you’re in for something out of the ordinary. Welcome to the world of Awesomenauts.

The first thing you notice about Awesomenauts is its fantastic art style. Reminiscent of over-the-top 80s cartoons, the characters and environments hearken back to a time when GI Joe was on TV and hair metal was popular.

The intro movie sets the stage–there’s an interstellar war with two sides locked in a robotic stalemate; only the elite mercenary team known as the Awesomenauts can break it. That’s really all you need to know. There are robots and bad guys to fight. Get to it.

Awesomenauts is a 2D MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) style game that combines some of the deeper genre nuances seen in titles like League of Legends with some of the more whimsical sensibilities of side-scrolling brawlers.

Each team of three starts out in their home base on opposite sides of the map, and the objective is to destroy the enemy’s “drillcore” located in the middle of their base. Sounds simple enough, except that you have to contend with automated turrets, computer controlled droids (creeps to those well versed in MOBA nomenclature), and of course, the enemy players. You accumulate Solar–the game’s currency–over time and when you destroy enemies. This currency is used to upgrade your character’s abilities and unlock new ones.

Players can choose to play as one of the six Awesomenauts: a self-destructing robot, a space cowboy armed with dynamite, a monkey with a jetpack, an alien brain, a frog with a laser gun shaped like a fish, and a French lizard with a sword. Each character looks visually distinct and handles quite differently. For example, the robot functions as a tank and has a bite attack that can steal life from opponents. On the other hand, the lizard has no ranged attacks but can cloak himself and move around the battlefield like a stealthy assassin.

While it’s cool that all the characters play pretty differently, some of them feel more useful than others. It feels a little unfair when the cowboy can throw multiple sticks of dynamite, shoot you with a gun, and then knock enemies back with a ghost bull, but the lizard is stuck with a tongue move that works like Scorpion’s harpoon and no ranged attacks.

Plus, the characters you unlock as you level up seem to be better than the original starting three. Zoltar, the alien brain, has abilities that let him heal his allies. It makes certain matches feel a little unfair if you’re facing an enemy team that can heal itself in the thick of battle and your team can’t because all three of you are playing with the starting characters.

However, as became the case with most my time with Awesomenauts, I couldn’t tell if my struggles with certain characters had to do with my inexperience or actual imbalances in the game. The developers have already announced that a patch is on the way to address balance issues brought up by players in the forums, so it will be interesting to see what they tweak once the patch is released.

While Awesomenauts can be played alone with bots (why would you want to do that?), it’s much more fun to be played with other players. The game features up to three player split screen and drop-in/drop-out functionality. All of the games I played online took almost no time at all to get set up, and there was virtually no lag to speak of.

While MOBA purists that cut their teeth on League of Legends or Defense of the Ancients might complain that Awesomenauts is too simple, there’s plenty of depth for both more casual players and seasoned veterans. Each character has two main skills and several different ways to level them up. For example, the frog character has a dashing, lunging attack and a tornado attack. By spending Solar you can upgrade the range or damage of the dash attack, or if you’re feeling fancy you can add a damage-reducing shield to the tornado attack. The multiple tiers of upgrades give Awesomenauts a lot of depth.

In my case most of my first ten matches were spent learning how the characters work, and even after that, my time with the game still feels like a learning process. Occasional hiccups like strangely large hitboxes–being not close to an enemy but their special attack hits anyway–lead to some head-scratching moments, by doing away with the inherent seriousness in some MOBA-style games, Awesomenauts makes learning to adjust your tactics fun. If you were killed by that special attack the last time, make sure you’re anticipating it the next time.

Some gamers might get a little frustrated when they win their first match and then go on to lose ten more in a row. But at the same time, because Awesomenauts is so inviting with its ridiculous aesthetic, it’s hard to resist the temptation to play “just one more round.” With Ronimo promising that more characters are on the way, there’re plenty of reasons to stick with the game. You will lose matches; you will feel like other players are so much better at the game than you, but Awesomenauts will make you want to learn its intricacies and improve.

This review is based on review code of the Xbox 360 version of Awesomenauts, provided by Ronimo Games.

While there were rumblings of GameStop having an exclusive deal with Steam to distribute Steam Wallet giftcards, it looks like the cat is officially out of the bag. As of today, there are $20 and $50 gifcards available to apply towards your wallet, which will certainly help all the younger gamers out there, or anyone not comfortable sharing their financial account information over the internet.

While it is a bit weird given that GameStop and Steam are both technically PC game distribution outlets, it’s nice to see an option in regards to funding your Steam account.

Amazon is reporting today that Diablo III is their most successful PC game ever in terms of pre-order sales — which is quite a big deal for both Blizzard and Amazon. Even though various parties across the internet are claiming to boycott the game due to contentions with Blizzards “always on”  single player DRM, and issues with “dumbed down gameplay” compared to Diablo II, it looks like Blizzard is going to be fine.

Even though the above reasons are certainly a valid excuse to abstain from a purchase, there are also a number of people who don’t plan on playing the game just because it’s “Activision”. Here’s a message for everyone who’s going to ignore Diablo III, even if it turns out to be a good game, in favor of Torchlight II because it’s “indie”: why not try both?

[Joystiq]

PixelJunk fans, unite! As of yesterday, PJ Racer, PJ Monsters, PJ Eden, and PJ Shooter are all on sale for $1 on the PSN. If I had to choose one game for you to buy out of the lot, I’d easily say Monsters, but you can’t really go wrong with any of them (particularly Eden, which I think is extremely overlooked).

In addition to their classic line, two of their newer games are on sale as well: PJ Shooter 2 and PJ Sidescroller are $5. All of this lasts until May 18th, when their brand new PixelJunk 4am launches. This sale doesn’t personally effect me, as I already have all of their games. They’re just that good!

According to a source that spoke to Siliconera, “Sony Computer Entertainment is recording a teaser for a future Killzone game” that apparently will take place after the events of Killzone 3. The rumor hints that Visari’s daughter–seen briefly in Killzone 3‘s opening cinematic–will be a feature character in the future game.

Siliconera’s source also revealed the dialogue for what appears to be the game’s opening political diatribe, a staple of the Killzone series.

My sons and my daughters, today we take the first step toward our imperial future.

For years, this once-great nation has stagnated in the shadow of its enemies. Governed by scoundrels who flaunted the ideals established by my father, these traitors… these enemies of our race have diluted and exploited the triad of Duty, Obedience, and Loyalty.

This regime, this corrupt regime, has been dissolved. In its place does rise an era of stability and strength. A time of opportunity born from a promise that we shall return our people to their proper sphere of dominance.

If the rumors about Visari’s daughter taking his place are true, this could be an interesting direction for the series. Personally, I think it’s interesting that they are bringing up the triad because it shows that the developers might be showcasing the series’ lore and backstory a little bit more–something I’m all in favor of.

[Source: Siliconera]

Gamers on the go don’t usually have a whole lot of specialized options in terms of headgear. While you could jury rig just about anything into a microphone-enabled headset with a Hands Free 3.5mm Adapter, if you can find a solid built-in option, there’s no reason to go through all the trouble.

Turtle Beach’s new “mobile” line offers three models: the M1, M3, and M5. Each subsequent model not only ups the bulkiness, but the functionality as well — not content with anything but the best, we got our hands on the Earforce M5.

Look

The headphones themselves have a sleek black finish on the outside, with the unmistakeable Turtle Beach logo emblazoned upon the outer-cups. The inside hosts a grey looking material that looks cheap at first glance, but feels comfortable on your ears, and does a decent job of keeping out sound (although they’re nowhere near noise isolation, as I can still hear a lot of outside sound, even with the volume turned up).

Keep in mind that the Earforce M5 is available in a wired option only — in case you were looking for a Bluetooth enabled option, you’ll have to find it elsewhere. Cord length is probably the worst part of the unit — it’s a mere 39 inches long (compared to their other non-mobile Earforce options, which run at least 4-5 feet). As a result, you may need to bust out the extender if you’re planning on using it outside of portable devices.

The plug type is a standard 3.5mm 4-pole connector, but it has a separate PC adapter for dual microphone and headphone use (for reference, these are the green and salmon connectors). Thankfully, the ear-cups fold very nicely, which means you’ll pretty much never find yourself in an uncomfortable position, whether they’re on your ears, around your neck, or packed away. Overall, they feel pretty comfortable on the ears.

Functionality

For the purposes of this review, I tested my Earforce M5s with the 3DS, Playstation Vita, Apple iPhone 4, Kindle Fire, and a PC. Out of all of these devices, I was most satisfied with the sound quality from the Playstation Vita — the 40mm speakers seemed to capture every nuance, and every high and low that my games could deliver.

While the maximum volume level wasn’t as powerful on the 3DS and the iPhone, the headset is still able to produce quality sound. For select devices (like iPhones), the M5 also contains music functionality, as well as an in-line mic that’s attached near the top of the cord. Using the mic’s button, you can pause, play and skip tracks (or videos) — I never had any issues during my testing.

The mic itself can not only be used on iPhone itself for incoming and outgoing calls, but with the aforementioned connector, you can use it on PC. Although the functionality is nice, it would be nice if there was a volume adjuster on the mic unit.

Overall

The $49.99 M5 is a great middle-ground between a light convenient headphone solution, and a giant bulky full stereo headset. I’m already finding myself keeping them close at hand whenever I need to review any Vita or 3DS games, and occasionally I take them along on trips for use with my iPhone. Alternatively, if I’m in a jam and I need headphones for any of my various PCs, I have that option as well.

If you’re in the market for some new headphones, I’d take a close look at the M5s — they may just suit your needs.

[Prototype] kind of just came out of nowhere. In a world full of serious sandbox games, the ability to play as infected anti-hero Alex Mercer allowed us to dip, dive, glide, and destroy more objects than any game since Hulk: Ultimate Destruction.

Now, the tables have turned, as Alex is on the other side of the curtain, taking on a more villainous role. Sergeant James Heller is the protagonist now, freshly infected by Mercer and set to do his bidding.. While the story plays itself out, the real question is, from a gameplay perspective, can Heller really fill Mercer’s shoes?

Prototype 2 starts off with a pre-infected human James Heller, whose wife and daughter was just recently allegedly murdered by Alex Mercer. As you work your way through the intro that teaches you the basics of the controls, Mercer eventually infects you with his own virus, granting you powers, and pretty much setting up the rest of the game.

From there, the narrative takes a predictable turn. Is Mercer really to blame? Or does the fault lie with Blackwatch, the militaristic presence that’s essentially holding New York City hostage? Without spoiling anything, you won’t really care about any of this by the time the game is over — like the first title, the fun factor in this series lies with hardcore visceral action — not an award-winning touchy-feely epic.

P2 has a God of War feel to it, in terms of character motivations. What I mean by that is the character is not exactly a sympathetic figure. Heller is motivated by revenge, nothing more, and will leave a trail of unadulterated death in his wake.

James Heller may not be the king of cursing, but he’s up there in the Pantheon of Video Game Crudeness. Of course, I don’t really have an issue with this; it just exemplifies the dichotomy between Heller and Mercer, from a narrative standpoint. Whereas Mercer was kind of a silent badass, Heller will announce himself openly to enemies all the time, often times taunting them into a conflict.

Simply put, after a short hour, you won’t feel the slightest bit of sympathy for Heller, or be able to relate with him in any way. That said, the game is still an incredibly fun action romp, so I didn’t mind this setback personally: you just have to go in with the mindset that there will be blood, and lots of it.

Weapon-wise, Heller will have access to everything Mercer had, with one major addition: tendrils. Tendrils are basically infected tentacles that are a ton of fun to use. By holding down the attack button, Heller can use black-hole ability, which shoots your tendrils in every direction at a target, pulling in everything around it like a magnet (or…black hole!).

Besides your standard weapons, where Prototype 2‘s action really shines is the inclusion of a heap of new abilities, most notably the bi0-bomb. The cool thing about the bio-bomb is that it’s use is multifaceted. You can not only engage this ability at will, creating a bomb out of pretty much anything, but you can also execute it from stealth-mode to distract other enemies.

Heller also has the ability to instantly kill vehicles (after unlocking an ability), and summon infected Brawlers (basically big mutated apes) at will. The level-up system is also expanded upon quite a  bit, adding a perk system to the typical statistical increases found previously in the series.

Like most open world games, you have the ability to tackle story missions, side missions, or just go willy nilly about the town, gliding around to your heart’s content. Like Prototype, there are a number of side quests to find, like collectible blackboxes to locate (similar to Grand Theft Auto’s suitcases), research teams to kill, infected lairs to breach, Blackwatch soldiers to stalk, and so on.

This time, New York is divided into three districts: yellow, green, and red. Yellow is more of a shanty-esque district, Green is mostly free of infection but has a high militarized presence, and Red, Mercer’s home district, is basically completely infected. You can access each district via a helicopter “sky bridge” at set points on the map, just like a”flight path” in an MMO.

Even though it sounds like a fragmentation of the open world, I actually enjoyed the ability to run around in three distinctly different districts at will. In the original Prototype the city would change over time, which was cool fro m narrative standpoint, but ultimately if a particular area you liked romping around in was wrecked, you had to just deal with it. Here you can just high-tail it to a new area if you want to engage in a mass murder spree, or explore areas without much interruption.

If you buy the game new, you’ll have access to “RadNet”, which is basically a “Call of Duty Elite“-esque network for Prototype 2. Essentially, this is a collection of various challenges similar to the ones in Prototype 1, but a bit more varied in nature. One perfect example is the ability to “bowl for soldiers” after jumping down from the top of a skyscraper.

Like the first Prototype I didn’t really focus in on these, as they’re mostly forgettable. If you’re bonkers about completion however, RadNet adds quite a bit of content for you to work through in addition to everything else in the game.  It also allows you to unlock an Alex Mercer skin if you beat all of them, which is really cool (and draws comparisons to Ubisoft’s uPlay).

Similar to Prototype 1, if you aren’t the biggest action fan, you’re most likely going to find the sequel to be repetitive unless you heavily invest in the RadNet challenges. Likewise, the story is fairly by-the-book, which isn’t doing it any favors.

Thankfully, Prototype 2 does what it sets out to do: let the player live as an utter badass. At the end of the day, there are very few franchises that evoke a sense of power just like the Prototype series, and the sequel doesn’t disappoint: just don’t expect anything groundbreakingly new.

Star Wars day is here again, prompting this gamer to reflect back on all the franchise games that have been published throughout the years. First memory takes us all the way back to the late 1980′s playing the titular DOS wire frame shooter in the morning hours before having to be shuttled off to school. Some of the other Star Wars games don’t bring back the same pleasant memories.

Instead of a celebrating with a list of all the Star Wars titles that have graced PC, console and arcade screens throughout the years (which I’m sure has been published elsewhere today), lets focus on one in particular – Star Wars Trilogy Arcade.

This Sega produced title hit the arcade scene in 1998 and was the sole eater of many quarters. The primary allure, at least for me, was the promise of fighting Darth Vader in first person. Imagine my frustration and self-deprecation after finding out that this was a bonus battle accessed only after making it passed several levels. Needless to say my arcade skills with a joystick aren’t the best.

They key to providing replay value was not only the promise of the bonus battles (another is with Boba Fett adjacent to the famed Sarlacc pit), but also the game’s focus on the key, high action segments of the original Star Wars trilogy. You are on an adrenaline ride from the beginning no matter if you choose the Battle of Yavin, Battle of Hoth or Battle on the Moon of Endor.

Even though the game is on rails, things move really fast putting players in control of an X-Wing, Snowspeeder or Speederbike. Speed is the name of the game; and the joystick controls are perfect. Albeit, there are several times where you’re playing first person on foot, where the joystick seems a little out of place (for me at least; I watched my cousin master this game with just fifty cents).

If I were ever to get an arcade box in my house, it would be Star Wars Trilogy Arcade, hands down. May the fourth be with you.

Another year, another humongous list of MMOs to sift through. Right on the heels of Blizzard’s own Diablo III, worldwide Korean MMO TERA is on a mission: to tear you away from whatever MMO you’re playing now, and earn the right to collect your subscription fee at the end of every month.

At first glance, TERA‘s main selling points are beautiful landscapes, controller support, and action oriented gameplay that forces you to manually aim your attacks, as well as block and dodge enemy assaults. But how well does it work? Is action-adventure gameplay viable for an open world MMO?

As previously mentioned, without hesitation, the biggest draw of TERA is easily the combat system. While other dungeon crawler titles such as Phantasy Star, Vindictus have adapted a less traditional method of combat, those games are heavily instanced: full action combat isn’t exactly a stand-out mechanic in open world MMOs. Immediately when you boot up the game, you have the option to utilize native 360 and PS3 controller support, as well as your typical mouse and keyboard MMO staple.

Imagine conflict in your favorite action RPG, from Amalur to Dark Souls — that’s basically how combat works in Tera. Although it isn’t as nuanced or twitch as those few titles, it does get fairly deep the more you level up, as you gain a number of different skills that both complement, and literally chain off one another. On the screen is a small reticle, which allows you to aim all of your attacks despite what direction the camera is facing.

I ended up choosing the Warrior class, and using a 360 controller: to my surprise, the experience translates perfectly, as it felt like I was playing a typical console action title.  It also helps that my class lends itself incredibly to a controller, given that it isn’t your prototypical manifesation of “MMO Warrior”. TERA‘s Warrior is actually more akin to a rogue, opting for quick movements and attacks — the Lancer, Slayer, and Berserker classes are more slow and deliberate in terms of melee interaction.

By pressing the back button, I was able to map pretty much everything I wanted to every button on the controller. My setup uses LT to initiate conversations/pick up items, “A” to jump,  “LB and RB” to change my list of skills, “X, Y,” are mapped to attacks, and “B” initiates an awesome Spider Man-like evasion flip.When I hold LB, RB, or LB+RB, I can switch to different pages of skills, and use those by pressing A, B, X, Y, or LT/RT with the aforementioned bumpers held down.

Using a 360 controller is great for leveling, but will it be viable long term? While I can’t imagine using a controller at end-game for serious raiding, TERA does make concessions to potentially make the tactic feasible. For instance, it is possible to deliberate choose certain attacks and combo them into other attacks, meaning you don’t have to list every single skill on your controller map. Not only does this help for end-game controller fans, but it’s also a really fun way to help more casual fans not get overwhelmed by a large amount of skills.

TERA also makes a number of concessions for people who don’t normally play MMOs. For instance, you get your first mount for free once you reach level 11 — no questions asked. Typically in MMOs, you have to wait until at least some point in mid-game (around 20 or later) to have the right to pay a ton of in-game gold for a means of travel — thankfully TERA lets you start chugging along fairly easily. Flight paths (nodes which are used to easily travel across the game’s world) are also significantly shorter than most MMOs, as they have a Star Wars “warp speed” type clip that expedites travel across long distances.

Keep in mind though, that at it’s core, TERA is very much a traditional MMO. It has the holy trinity of classes, people can steal your quest items and kills, and quests progress fairly similarly in regards to 90% of the MMOs on the market, in that they consist largely of a number of fetch/kill quests. Thankfully, TERA manages to stay engaging because of the combat system: a testament I’ve seen many players also reiterate through in-game chat. Because you are consistently involved in combat, it never quite feels like a grind — group bosses are also much more exciting given the fact that you basically have to constantly move around.

While I haven’t embarked in my first instance/dungeon (the first one is level 20), there is (thankfully) a dungeon finder tool readily available in the game (take notes, TOR!). As far as group composition goes, things are fairly traditional in terms of the “holy trinity” (tank, healer, DPS). Lancers are generally agreed upon as the “main tanks”, but Warriors can evasion tank as well, provided they’re skilled. Mystics and Priests are on heal-duty, and everything else is DPS. As a Warrior, I’m looking forward to trying my hand at tanking, but for now, I’ll keep leveling and reporting my thoughts.

All in all, TERA can be a great distraction from whatever MMO you’re playing now, whether it’s TOR, Rift, LOTRO, Aion, WoW, DCUO, or anything else. Provided you have open mind towards the decidedly anime aesthetic, TERA‘s combat system alone might be worth the price of entry.

Bethesda finally let the cat of the bag: an Elder Scrolls MMO is in the works.  The game is set to center in on the story of Molag Bal and his quest to overtake Tamriel. Lead developer Matt Firor has stated that they are on track to create “the best MMO ever made — and one that is worthy of The Elder Scrolls franchise.”

Personally, I’m pretty excited to see what they can do with Tamriel, because outside of Arena, this could potentially be the first time we’ll ever see the world of TES in it’s entirety. I’m really excited to see the Summerset Isles, and all of Morrowind, not just the portion of it they featured in the third Elder Scrolls game.

The game will be developed by Zenimax Online Studios, meaning Bethesda will still be perfectly free to keep working on Fallout 4 and another Elder Scrolls game down the line. Bethesda has also announced the game will be compatible with both PC and Mac platforms.

The latest Korean MMO has just dropped in the US — TERA Online. Combat is done in an action oriented manner, forcing players to dodge enemy attacks while launching attacks of their own. To supplement this action approach, the game has support for traditional controllers in addition the typical keyboard and mouse setup. Standard MMO tropes like the healer, tank, and DPS trinity exist,  as well as the inclusion of a traditional quest system, world encounters (BAMs), and instances.

In addition to the aforementioned gameplay elements, the developers have also adapted a version of Eve’s PLEX system, which allows for a currency called Chronoscrolls to be purchased by players for real cash. Chronoscrolls can be subsequently sold or bought on the action house, as dictated by the player economy — using them will net you extra game-time. In case you’re interested,  expect more TERA coverage from Gamer Limit in the coming weeks.