Innehållsförteckning för February 2015 från New Age Gaming

www.facebook.com/ NAGMagazine Emilio Govender You guys ‘n this magazine rock, this is a really an interesting magazine that speaks my kinda language, keep up the good work. Gideon Kotze Oh magnificent leaders of all things gaming in southern most Africa, benevolent Lords and Lordettes of the great constellation of NAG Prime... Santa skipped my ass this year... Bradley Jordan Basic game-play in Sim City, when building more houses you need more power stations and not rely on the a few oldies. I think I should get President Zuma and Eskom a copy.…

Geographic location: -26.107235,28.063566 Favourite flower: Cyripedum parviflorum Enjoys sporting activities such as cheerleading and Frisbee golf. 2015 looks like it’s going to be a good one. Yes we say this every year (ok not every year, but it feels like it), but I say this because 2014 seems to have been a pretty awful one for most people I’ve spoken to. In the gaming sense however, 2014 had some amazing gaming highlights. Likewise 2015 has some massive titles on the horizon, and now that we’ve finally caught up to the rest of the world and have the option to choose between the PS4 and the Xbox One (and PC of course, please don’t shoot me!) we can finally appreciate the titles (and of course the exclusives) in all their glory.…

No catch-up piece would be complete without specifically mentioning the largest and most influential game development association in South Africa – Make Games SA. Recognised in the eyes of the government (insert necessary dun-dun-dunnns here) and frequented by the core of South Africa’s development scene (including the rockstarsuccessful crew of Free Lives, the pixel gods behind Broforce), MGSA is a hub for community news, events, tip-swapping and support for anybody interested in cobbling together some of their own digital fun. Visit at www. makegamessa.com .…

RELEASE DATE / February 2015 PLATFORM / PS4 GENRE / Third-person shooter DEVELOPER / Ready at Dawn / SCE Santa Monica Studio PUBLISHER / readyatdawn.com WEBSITE / Sony Computer Entertainment “The visuals are outstanding, with a range of eye-catching effects and incredibly detailed animations…” There’s something intrinsically compelling about cleverly crafted alternate-history fiction. It provides a glimpse into another dimension of “what if?” scenarios, allowing us to view humanity’s past through a kaleidoscope of possibilities. It lets us see what happens to the world when we spin the wheel in a different direction. That’s the most fascinating aspect of The Order: 1886, the soon to be released PS4 exclusive that’s set in Victorian-era London and flips our notion of history upside-down. The story goes something like this: many centuries ago,…

i pity the fool who tries to make a rugby game. It’s a sport filled with complicated rules and nuances. How do you incorporate things like knock-ons with believable AI? How do you keep a ruck dynamic while worrying about what the guy with the controller is actually doing to make it happen? The answer seems to be: “you don’t”. Since HB Studios’ last attempt with Rugby World Cup 2011, things have been all quiet on the rugby videogames front. Now that the next World Cup is around the corner, it seems that they’re giving this cash cow another milking. The problem is: they’re trying to milk some bull. Had they maybe taken a bit more time to iron out some of the seriously buggy bits and put even a…

t he concept of connecting an app to your game is nothing new, so it came as no surprise when London Studio designed the latest SingStar Ultimate Party around a dedicated mic app. Unfortunately, this, along with a lack of game modes, make the latest instalment in the SingStar series a sad step in the wrong direction. Even with 30 tracks to choose from, SingStar Ultimate Party lacks variety. Sure, you can attempt to sing hits like Happy by Pharrel Williams, or No Scrubs by TLC, but anyone looking to rap along to Drake will have to find an alternative method to polish their skills. The library has some great pop hits from the ‘80s up to now, but overall its focus is on the typical pop songs that you…

SPECS CPU Intel Core i7 4210H GPU NVIDIA GTX 860M 2GB MEMORY 8GB DDR3 1,600MHz (dual channel) STORAGE 1TB 5,400rpm SSHD (8GB NAND) OPTICAL DRIVE None WEIGHT 2.4kg If we all had unlimited resources at our disposal, we would all have the most powerful, slimmest notebooks on the market. All powered by the latest generation GTX 980M (or two) with several SSDs or M.2 drives in RAID. 4K panels and all the bells and whistles you are likely to find in the GT80 TITAN SLI for example. However, there aren’t many people who can afford close to R50,000 on a gaming notebook. The vast majority of us look to notebooks below the R20,000 mark and this is where the Acer Aspire V15 Nitro Black Edition comes in. Just in case…

*DISCLAIMER / Most of the letters sent to this fine publication are printed more or less verbatim (that means we don’t edit or fix them for you slow kids at the back), so ignore any spelling or grammatical errors. It’s not us… it’s you. letters@nag.co.za Letter of the Month February 2015 From: Marko Coetzee Subject: Too immersive? For a while now something has really been bothering me, in fact it all started when I finished “The last of us”. As amazing and challenging as the gameplay was, the thing that really gripped me was the story, the strangely lovable characters, the scenery and the developing relationships felt like a turning point for gaming to me, but even more so, a turning point for myself, because when I finished the game…

NAG, rAge and IGN Africa is looking for a Client Liaison/Advertising Sales Executive to join our team. If you can multitask, work under pressure, sell biltong to vegans, have a sense of humour, and understand the difference between frag and lag, then keep reading! The successful applicant will be responsible for selling advert space in NAG magazine, NAG Online and IGN Africa as well as liaising with the advertisers and editorial team. You will also be required to sell stands, floor space and sponsorships for rAge, as well as managing all these clients pre- and post-rAge. Experience in advertising sales is important and a recent proven track record is required. What you need Own transport with driver’s licence Residence in JHB Out-of-the-box thinking Ability to work in a team environment…

Mentioned in the article is Celestial Games’ arena shooter called Battle Arena Drones ( battlearenadrones. com ), a copy of which is included on this month’s cover disc (look for it under “Early Access”). Players engage in competitive spaceship-blasting mayhem within futuristic indoor battlegrounds. Described by the developer as “Descent 2 PvP with a few twists”, the game has had a much more open development process than Celestial’s earlier work, providing an early beta test program to South Africans and maintaining a dev report on the Make Games SA forums.…

Question / What’s your gaming guilty pleasure? CHRIS “SAVAGE” SAVIDES Not choosing a gun slot in CoD and running around knifing people while cloaked. Good times. CURRENTLY PLAYING Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, StarCraft II DANE “BARKSKIN” REMENDES In every game I play, no matter how terrible, I spend obscene amounts of time scouring the environment for secrets and collectible doohickies. I hate that I do it, but I can’t help myself. I MUST SEE EVERYTHING. CURRENTLY PLAYING Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, StarCraft II, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West DELANO “DELANO” CUZZUCOLI Key-hunting and maze navigation. Y’know, like in the early days of Apogee and id Software games. Yeh, I dig that. Bite me. CURRENTLY PLAYING Kairo GEOFF “GEOMETRIX” BURROWS Game soundtracks. I have many that I listen to as…

assassin’s Creed Unity launched as a total mess. Four patches later and the game still isn’t as stable as it should be. It’s safe to say that for Ubisoft and their most valuable IP, Assassin’s Creed Unity is a very poor first showing on a new generation of hardware. You play Arno Dorian, a cocky and forgettable protagonist who loses his family at an early age and is raised by the de la Serre family instead. Unbeknown to young Arno, the de la Serre family is up to their eyeballs in Templar affairs, with Francois de la Serre (Arno’s substitute father) being a Grand Master of the Templar order. Arno’s actual father was an Assassin; you’d think Ubisoft’s writers would lunge at the chance for some heavy themes with Arno…

t his intro went through many false-starts because it’s difficult to fully express an opinion for this game. It’s a game that really tries hard and is full of creativity, but at the same time has some let-downs. Did I just give away the entire review in the opening paragraph? Damn, my parents always warned me about doing that. Anyway, LittleBigPlanet 3 is the next in Sony’s flagship “platform for making games” series. As such, the game is basically split in two: playing it, and a robust creative mode. PLAYING A GAME Unfortunately, despite a healthy dose of creativity throughout, the story mode of LBP3 is largely forgettable. The now iconic Sackboy is whisked away to a planet called Bunkum by the obviously villainous Newton. There, Sackboy accidently releases some…

for the most part, gamers don’t care for scores. It’s largely seen as a frivolous relic from the early arcade era, but occasionally a game comes along that actually places tangible value in those elusive numbers, and Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions is a prime example. Like its predecessors, the game is a simplistic twin-stick shooter affair that is very easy to pick up yet quite the beast to master. Players take control of a basic craft that can move in all directions on a flat plain and fire in four directions independent to its movement. Your targets are similarly basic shapes that appear in great numbers and either pursue you, fire upon you or just get in your way. The required skill lies not just in effectively dodging and firing…

Like a baby bird pushing its way through the egg in which it has incubated for so long, it’s the trials in life that make us stronger, better, birdier. Be that bird, poke through your egg shell and fly free. Join us on the NAG forums, we will be that rock-hard shell through which you must break www.nag.co.za/forums QUESTION / What gaming-related New Year’s resolutions do you never keep? I don’t need to buy games at launch. - Gammaray “I will finish my backlog.” - Toxxyc I never keep any of my resolutions. It is the only thing I am truly consistent about. - nukehead This year I’m not buying any EA games. - Zoop I won’t start a new game until I’ve finished one that I’ve already started. -…

Geographic location: -29.551226,30.276533 Favourite flower: Sedum telephium Enjoys challenging activities such as matchstick modelling and rock balancing. The moment I’d finished watching the Star Wars: The Force Awakens teaser trailer for Episode VII, the first thought that popped into my mind was, “flip, gran is going to love this.” My gran, you see, is a massive nerd, and at 90 years of age she readily devours all manner of science fiction and fantasy epic films and novels. She’s just ploughed her way through A Song of Ice and Fire and is decidedly miff about the fact that Martin is yet to finish the books. “I’m 90. I don’t have forever you know. And if I peg before he’s done, I’ll be livid!” I grew up watching Star Wars with my…

Geographic location: -33.92543,18.424533 Favourite flower: Aruncus dioicus Enjoys sedate activities such as cloud watching and candle making. The local studio catch-up If you haven’t read this column before, welcome aboard! Have a biscuit. Oh, but you’re such a charmer! Go ahead, take two. Yes, this is a lovely time to come into the world of local game development. Welcome again. To new and old alike, I’m happy to report that local game development has been ever-so-vibrant for the past couple of years, and the community’s recent months have been among its strongest (involving several local game festivals and at least one Jacuzzi-laden mansion party). As the new year is still young, now’s probably the best time for a quick recap. What have some of the studios covered in 2014 been…

The biggest addition in Assassin’s Creed Unity is the drop-in-dropout co-op multiplayer. At times, a shadowy assassin will literally materialise in front of you to recruit you into somebody else’s co-op mission. If you accept you’re whisked away and plonked into a game with other players. It works rather well, until you try to air-assassinate a target and end up clipping through a merchant shop and getting stuck, resulting in all four of you failing the mission. You know what’s even more embarrassing than failing a mission due to a gameplay bug? Failing a mission due to a gameplay bug while three complete strangers look on and suffer the consequences. The good news is that the collection of co-op missions can actually be played solo, so if you’re averse to…

at The Crew’s E3 2013 announcement, jaws dropped at the mere thought that Ubisoft was developing a racing game. The tingles people got from the reveal trailer continued into the public alphas and betas and it largely survived public scrutiny. As Alex Taylor (voiced by Troy Baker), you are contracted out of prison to work for the FBI to take down a rogue senior official as well as avenge the murder of your brother, Dayton. With a sizeable cast of supporting characters, players spend about 20 hours in the main campaign working to increase the reach of the “5-10” gang across America and assist the FBI. During the game you make your way across a scale version of continental USA. The game world is so large and seamless and extravagant…

ALL BY MYSELF RELEASE DATE / Early Q2 2015 PLATFORM / PC GENRE / Adventure / horror DEVELOPER / The Brotherhood PUBLISHER / The Brothergood WEBSITE / www.stasisgame.com approximately 2.7 billion miles from Earth, the Groomlake cruises through the clouds of Neptune. All-but abandoned, the mammoth spaceship has seen more than its share of dark and crooked human experimentation – the sort of stuff that’s kept off the books. In the vastness of space, there’s no shortage of hiding places for the Cayne Corporation and its twisted purpose. It’s on the Groomlake where the story of Stasis takes place. John Maracheck awakens suddenly from his cryostasis chamber, severely injured and uncertain where he is or how he got there. The remaining stasis chambers are either empty or contain long-dead bodies.…

PSU Corsair AX1500i PSU R5,799 / www.corsair.com GRAPHICS EVGA GTX 980 Classified R11,999 / www.evga.com OS DRIVE OCZ Vector 150 R2,899 / www.ocz.com STORAGE DRIVE WD Black 4TB FZEX R2,999 / www.wdc.com CHASSIS Corsair Obsidian 900D R4,299 / www.corsair.com DISPLAY ASUS VG248QE R5,999 / www.asus.com KEYBOARD Razer BlackWidow Ultimate R1,899 / www.razerzone.com COOLER Cooler Master Nepton 280L R1,499 / www.coolermaster.com MOUSE GAMDIAS Zeus gaming mouse R869 / www.gamdias.com MOUSE MAT Razer Ironclad R599 / www.razerzone.com SOUND Creative Sound Blaster ZxR R3,599 / www.soundblaster.com HEADPHONES HyperX Cloud R1,099 / www.kingston.com INTEL INTEL CORE I7 5960X R13,999 / www.intel.com MSI X99S XPOWER AC R6,199 / www.msi.com CORSAIR VENGEANCE…

MOJANG MINECRAFT BEGINNER’S, CONSTRUCTION, COMBAT AND REDSTONE HANDBOOKS Supplier / Penguin Books Website / www.penguinbooks.co.za RRP / R120 each These books feature 80 quality pages each, bound together with snappy looking themed covers. That’s 80 pages of crafting recipes, tips and tricks – including some from Markus Persson (Minecraft creator) and Jens Bergensten (Minecraft developer) and much more. Besides all the stuff you do know there is plenty here that you don’t know. A quick page through doesn’t do them justice as they’re filled with smart tricks that even the veterans at the NAG office didn’t know about, like how to make charcoal from wood and using gravel as an elevator. There’s something for everyone here, even advanced concepts in the Construction and Redstone books for players with a…

How Lizard Squad stole Christmas On 25 December 2014, a hacker1 collective calling itself “Lizard Squad” effectively shut down Xbox LIVE and the PlayStation Network with a distributed denial of service (or DDoS) attack. If you don’t know what this means – and, going on the number of gaspingly outraged complaints about a “security breach” on social media, most people don’t so it’s okay – a DDoS attack is a forced server overload, usually by an overwhelming number of external communication requests from other, illegitimate sources2 . Because the server is already jammed with incoming network traffic, it is unable to respond to anything else, and the whole system crashes. If you’ve ever been stuck on hold on the phone for approximately forever because all the lines are busy, even…