Telltale Games and Mojang today announced that Minecraft: Story Mode – A Telltale Games Series is in development and is set to premiere in 2015.
Minecraft: Story Mode will be an all-new narrative-driven, episodic game series, developed by Telltale in collaboration with Mojang and members of the Minecraft community. Set in the world of Minecraft, the game series will introduce new characters and familiar themes, but will be an entirely original Minecraft experience inspired by the game.
Minecraft: Story Mode will be a standalone product, separate from the core Minecraft game, and will be available to download in 2015 on Xbox One and Xbox 360, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3, and PC.
Crystal Dynamics announced that the Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris Community Challenges are now live and loot laden chests are ready to be raided. Community Challenges are hosted regularly where players must complete community goals to unlock exclusive items including gems, weapons, rings, and amulets. Community Challenges can include beating specific bosses, destroying certain enemies in a set amount of time or with certain weapons. There will also be opt-in challenges where the player is barraged with falling meteors, ice storms, and/or lightning bolts – players can opt-out of these challenges as they wish via a switch in the Options menu.
Lara and the team have also discovered the Sunken City. This new zone found in the Overworld provides players with new challenges and collectables. The Sunken City will become the gateway to new tombs in the very near future.
The Steam Holiday Sale is on now thru January 2nd, 2015. Throughout the sale, Steam customers may take advantage of special deals running every 12 hours and new Featured Deals happening each day. In addition, holiday shoppers may vote in the Community Choice promotion to determine which games receive deeper discounts. And those who participate in the sale may also earn exclusive Holiday Sale Trading Cards.
NIS America has released a new trailer for Criminal Girls: Invite Online, which will be available on February 3rd exclusively for the PlayStation Vita.
Another original Dead Island hero makes her way to Dead Island: Epidemic, as Xian Mei joins the fight. A new video has been released today, detailing Xian Mei’s unique skills and gameplay styles — and gives a few tips on how to best put these to good use, versus both zombies and other survivors.
And from ice-cold assassins to ice-cold killers, Deep Silver and Stunlock Studios have also recently added the ice-powered, mutated character, Hailey, just in time for the winter and holiday season. The specially festive themed Dead Island: Epidemic Survivor Snowdown details Hailey’s cool repertoire of skills and abilities.
Dead Island: Epidemic is now in open beta for free on Steam.
Rockstar Games kicks off the holiday season with a Festive Surprise for all the residents of Los Santos. Today’s GTA Online update includes new weapons, gear, vehicles, a forecast of snow, and a number of fixes.
Updates/Fixes
Explosive Stocking Stuffers
Brand new items stocked at Ammu-Nation: a new Homing Missile Launcher and Proximity Mines are here just in time to make spirits bright. These items will be permanently available to acquire and keep.
Snow Days
Those dreaming of a white Christmas are in luck as the forecast calls for the extremely rare phenomenon of San Andreas snowfall to hit on a few special days this holiday season. Be on the lookout and ready to round up your Crew for a friendly snowball fight.
Free Seasonal Christmas Gear and Masks
Add some merriment to your mayhem with a slew of holiday pajamas, ‘ugly’ Christmas sweaters, new scarves, hats, masks and more are now all available absolutely free to add to your inventory and wear now through Monday January 5th.
Four All-New Vehicles
Treat yourself to some new toys this holiday season and fill your garage (now that you can own a third property and garage) with four all-new vehicles to purchase – including a tricked out Hot Rod Christmas Ratloader, the sturdy Slam Van, and the fast and flashy Massacro and Jester sports cars with all new Race liveries. These vehicles will be permanently available to acquire and keep.
Holiday Special Crate Drops
Keep your eyes on the sky as Holiday Special Crate Drops will be dropping frequently now through January 5th, stuffed with goodies to collect for your inventory – including a few of the rare vintage GTA tees that you may have missed in some of our Social Club Event Weekends over the past year as well as some brand new ones never before available.
Christmas Day Gifts
On Christmas Day, December 25th, as you’re relaxing in your Los Santos apartment beside your Christmas tree, make sure to check your inventory for a few extra gifts.
Set Off Some New Year’s Fireworks
Ring in the New Year with a bang – the Firework Launcher and Firework rocket ammo are coming back and will be available to acquire and use from Christmas Eve until Monday, January 5th. You can score one for free on four special days: Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day.
2K and Turtle Rock Studios announced today that the Open Beta test for the 4v1 shooter, Evolve, is coming exclusively to Xbox One January 15 – 19th, 2015.
From the moment the exclusive Xbox One Open Beta begins at 6AM ET on January 15th, players can experience Evolve’s core “Hunt” mode, while unlocking new Monsters and Hunters as they play. New Hunter and Monster characters unlocked in the Xbox One Open Beta will carry over to the final retail version of the game. Starting on January 17th, Xbox One Open Beta players will gain exclusive access to Evacuation, Evolve’s campaign that combines the full array of maps and modes into a unique and replayable experience.
2K and Turtle Rock Studios also announced the third playable Monster character today, as well as an all-new way to experience Evolve offline.
Kalypso Media today announced that ‘Waterborne,’ the first major expansion for the city-builder/political sim Tropico 5, is now available to download for PC via Steam and the Kalypso Launcher for $19.99. Whatever type of Presidente you are, ‘Waterborne’ challenges players to expand their nation into the unknown waters of adventurous opportunity and fully harness the power of the ocean.
With the launch of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD just a few months away, Square Enix today released two trailers that highlight each of the students from Class Zero.
The first trailer gives the perspective from Orience News – reporting from the frontline, Orience News is the only trustworthy provider of information across all of the four states and has unprecedented access to the resistance, namely Class Zero and its allies. In “Orience News Special Report,” players find out more about the personalities within Class Zero and their fight against the invading Militesi army.
In response to “Orience News Special Report,” High Commander Marshal Cid Aulstyne has quickly responded with a new propaganda film, “Traitors of Orience,” discrediting the cadets of Class Zero. The film attempts to show the students’ arrogance and petty in-fighting within the group, pushing the ideals of the Empire once more.
Tripwire Interactive unveiled the newest installment of the multi-part developer diary series for the upcoming PC and PlayStation 4 title, Killing Floor 2. In this installment, Weapons and Perks: Part 1, the team gives an inside look at the weapons and perk systems – traditional weaponry, sci-fi-themed armaments and post-apocalyptic hybrid arms.
Killing Floor 2 is slated for release in 2015.
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