Age of Empires 2 HD to come to Steam

Following recent leaks through Steam, Microsoft have officially announced Age of Empires 2 is to be released on Steam fully remastered in HD. This is awesome news to me, as I put hundreds of hours in to this game and cannot wait to play it again. In fact I recently tried to install my old disk version and found out that it would not run on my Windows 8 machine, so it has come at a good time indeed! The game will include all the campaign missions including the ones from the expansion pack 'The Conquerers', as well as full support of online multiplayer through Steam and even Steam Workshop support. The graphics have been updated slightly, though not enough to change the original feel of the game, just enough to make the high resolution not look ridiculous. It also features multi-monitor support, I'd say RTS games are probably one of the only genres of game where this is important so it's great to see them doing that.

The gameplay style of Age of Empires 2 has unfortunately died out a little with few 'base building' RTS games being released in the last 10 years so for this game to be touched up and HD-ified is a step in the right direction; hopefully it will be popular and will get some interest going. As Ensemble Studios (the original developers) have unfortunately disbanded, this game has been remastered by Hidden Path Entertainment who made Defense Grid: The Awakening (a 3D tower defence game) and Counter Strike: GO.

Thief 4 Revealed: Thief!

Thief 4 has just been revealed as the cover for next months 'GameInformer' magazine, and firstly the game is to be re-titled as simply 'Thief', probably since it has been 9 years since the last game 'Deadly Shadows'. Thief has always been a unique franchise and now 3rd person adventure games are becoming more popular (Dishonoured, Assassins Creed, etc.), it will be tough to stick to the original stealthy feel of the series, but I do look forward to seeing what is in store. The game is being developed for next-gen consoles so a generic release date of 2014 has been set but since they are now pushing the game to press, hopefully we will see more of the game shortly.

Read more on the story here or check out GameInformers Thief 'hub' here.

League of Legends: Quinn & Valor (Spotlight & Reveal)

The next League of Legends champion is "Quinn", alongside her trusty companion Valor, a pet bird to rival Ashe's feathery friend. The spotlight is up for the soon to be released champion is here and a rundown of her skills afterwards:

Quinn Passive Harrier: Marks nearby enemys, causing the next basic attack to do basic damage. This will target the champion you are fighting every few seconds but if out of combat it will instead mark nearby champions or minions. Very good for last hitting as it will prioritise low health targets and great in duels as extra damage on hit is always nice (see: Vayne's Silver Bolts).
Quinn Q Blinding Assault: Sends Valor out in a line, blinding enemies it hits and also dealing damage.
Quinn W Heightened Senses: Passively increases Quinn's attack speed after popping the Vulnerable debuff from her passive, Harrier. Very nice in duels as you will basically get free attack speed for any trades and to help clear waves. The active makes Valor fly up high and give true vision around Quinn, not a massive range but enough to see if there is anybody lurking in any nearby bushes - this will be particularly good at halting lane ganks, and against Twitch.
Quinn E Vault: Quinns dash, target an enemy to dash to them and deal damage and then 'vault' backwards a short distance. Good for chasing as can clear a distance even though it puts you at max attack range, and this also marks the target with the Vulnerable debuff.
Quinn R Tag Team: Move over Swain, a new bird-person is in town. Quinn is replaced with Valor for a short duration, you are now melee and have a huge movement speed boost when out of combat (and a smaller bonus when fighting). This alters your skillset slightly, becoming:

Valor Q Blinding Assault: Valor damages and blinds all nearby enemies, instead of it being a skillshot.
Valor W Heightened Senses: Passive attack speed is permanent and increased and the Active is the same.
Valor E Vault: Dashes to the target but does not leap off to Quinns attack range, instead staying in melee range.
Valor R Sky Strike: A second cast of this ultimate, or on the duration end, sees Quinn once again replace Valor on the battle field. She will return in a 'hail of bolts', damaging all nearby enemies, increasing against low health enemies (execute style).

Another interesting character in now a long line of complex mechanic characters who see their ultimate used more of a modifier than much else (Elise, Kha'Zix, etc.). She certainly looks fun and it's always nice to see a new AD carry.

Assassin's Creed 4 Announced

The next installment in the Assassins Creed franchise has been announced, subtitled 'Black Flag', it is speculated to star a pirate assassin (hence the subtitle) and make use of the well received ship missions from Assassins Creed 3. No further details have been announced with gameplay expected at Pax East and at E3 later in the year. They did however release the cover art, individually for each console (PC, PS3, 360 and WiiU), which explains that there will be exclusive content for PS3 owners. Nothing too exciting, but here you go:

Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm Vengeance trailer

Blizzard recently released a new trailer for the upcoming Starcraft 2 expansion 'Heart of the Swarm'. Focusing on the Zerg race this expansion is essentially a new game, with the 3rd installment focusing on the Protoss ('Legacy of the Void') which will probably be released in 2015 or so. The new trailer includes some content from other trailers but it's certainly pretty to watch and whether you're a SC2 fan or not I'm sure it's enough to interest you.

Blizzard always know how to impress with their CGI trailers.

Tomb Raider reviews unleashed

The new Tomb Raider is almost among us (March 5th) and reviews have just been released all over the web. The reviews seem over all positive though the promise of a completely new game experience seem to have fallen flat as usual; it's opener and it's like Uncharted, but it's Tomb Raider! Certainly something to check out if you're a fan of action adventure games, especially if like me you grew up with Tomb Raider 1, 2 and 3. I would like to see a more evolved level up system but that just seems to be my taste in games as of late - no matter what it is, stick an exp bar on there and I'll be thrilled! Here is a small list of reviews to check out:

Rev3 Games:

Penny Arcade

Polygon

Battlefield 4: Confirmed for next gen consoles (PS4 at least)

Following the Playstation 4 unveil, EA have given a group of game retailers an exclusive sneak peak at their next gen shooter - Battlefield 4. With how long Battlefield on this generation of consoles, learning that work is already underway for the next generation is very good news for FPS fans indeed. They revealed no details to the public; though if it's in a state to show anyone then it will surely be making an appearance at upcoming game shows (E3 is a long way off but Pax East is just a month away..); but they did reveal in a blog post that the game exists, in the video game world that is quite a big deal in itself.

Check out the blog post here.