When asked about AionGuard, he expressed regret over its troubled development cycle and even said that it could have achieved what Crimson Desert has managed, and done it a long time ago. “I haven’t played Crimson Desert enough, but we had everything that I’ve seen from Crimson Desert in the plans for that game.”

AionGuard was touted as a pretty ambitious game back in the day, putting us in the shoes of a knight-sorcerer with a wide arsenal of abilities and the ability to recruit locals to his cause or even sabotage enemies in various ways (similar to the Just Cause franchise). It could have been a fantasy that unfolded very well, although hindsight tells us that it couldn’t hope to achieve Pywel’s visual splendor on the generation of gaming hardware it was being made for. And yet, Sundberg’s words make it sound like a wasted opportunity to push the boundaries of gaming quite early, and he was discontent at how Avalanche was forced to pull the plug on a project that it was clearly passionate about.

“It was signed with a big publisher that has a lot of famous IPs…And then they just changed business direction again and wanted to focus on their existing IPs instead of new ones. They broke up with us on a text message, which I will never forgive them for.”

Alas, AionGuard has crawled so that Crimson Desert could fly. We’d say it’s better late than never as far as games with ambitious ideas are concerned.

Just Cause 4 was announced by Square Enix and Avalanche at Microsoft’s E3 stage this year, featuring more of the open world, explosions driven systemic chaos gameplay that fans have come to love, except now with tornadoes and windstorms to boot. Which sounds awesome, doesn’t it?

Well, if you want to see what that would be like in action for yourself, check out the footage below. It’s 15 minutes of real time gameplay footage, and it gives us a good idea of what we can expect from the game. I think it will do a great job of selling you on the game- it looks so ridiculously over the top, you can’t help but be impressed. Seriously, this is great stuff. I just hope Avalanche doesn’t mess up the modding community this time around.

Just Cause 4 is due out this December. It will be launching on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC, and per Microsoft, it will run best on Xbox One X.

Not many people had asked for RAGE 2, the sequel to id Software’s RAGE from the previous generation, a pretty but ultimately fairly mediocre game that launched almost a decade ago. But one is coming anyway- and the great thing is, it actually looks pretty good. Working with Avalanche Software, it seems like Bethesda and id Software are trying to make the new game beyond what the original title was.

“It’s definitely much more than a straight up sequel, because the gameplay and the partnership with Avalanche has really shaped it into something unique and special. It really has been a buddy movie of love working with the Avalanche team and sharing ideas and knowledge,” said id Software Studio Director Tim Willits in an interview with the Official PlayStation Magazine.

Willits confirmed that unlike the brown and drab environments of the first game, this new one will have more varied environments, with more personality to each area, and stories told within and by each. He also stated that players themselves will be able to affect the world and the story and how it unfolds by engaging with it, hinting at dynamic storytelling for the new game.

It sounds great- it does. And depending on how the showing for the game turns out to be this Sunday during Bethesda’s show, I think many people, even those who were burned by the original, may end up being won over by it. RAGE 2 is due out on PS4, Xbox One, and PC next year.

The release of Just Cause 3 is due out in exactly one week and now a couple of screenshot leaks have allowed us to find out just how big the world map is going to be for the game. Gearnuke has managed to get its hands on the screenshots and also helpfully posted an old screengrab from Just Cause 2, allowing us to compare the size of the two maps.

It turns out that the world for Just Cause 3 appears to be about the same size as Just Cause 2. The website has also said that developers have told them the map size for the upcoming title is going to be about 400 square miles, and it turns out that’s about the same size as what we saw from the last iteration in this popular series.

Apparently the big difference between the two maps is that the terrain has been adjusted to allow for a lot of vertical movement as well in the new game. What we can tell you is that the world map for this game is pretty darn big and there will be lots of different ways to travel it, including the much loved jetpack. This information comes on the heels of other information coming out including the PC requirements. Check out the screenshots below. The first two are from Just Cause 3 and the third is the map of Just Cause 2. Just Cause 3 is due out for the PS4, Xbox One and PC on December 1.

Avalanche Studios’ Just Cause 3 is almost here. And if you are a true Just Cause fan, you will be getting this game on the PC, where it will benefit from, hopefully, a mod scene as active as the one that kept Just Cause 2 alive for so long.

But a game like Just Cause, which looks gorgeous, and renders a dynamic, destructible open world, can be taxing on your machine, so it is good to know whether or not this is out of the league of your PC. Happily, we now have the minimum and recommended specs needed to run Just Cause 3 on hand:

Minimum System Requirements:
OS: Windows Vista SP2, Win 7 SP1, Win 8.1 (64-bit operating system)
CPU: Intel Core i5-2300 2.8GHz 2.93GHz or AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 2.8GHz
RAM: 6GB
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 (2GB) or AMD Radeon HD 7870 (2GB)
DX: DirectX 11
HDD: 45GB

Recommended System Requirements:
OS: Windows Vista SP2, Win 7 SP1, Win 8.1 (64-bit operating system)
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770 3.4 GHz or AMD FX-8350 4.0 GHz
RAM: 8GB
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 (3GB) or AMD Radeon R9 280X (3GB)
DX: DirectX 11
HDD: 45GB

So, not too shabby- they’re not the most demanding specs in the world, but you can’t have your grandma’s 2007 Windows 7 machine run the game either.

Mad Max sounds better and better the more I hear about it. It sounds like it will be an open world adventure game in the classic sense, with players being largely allowed to determine their own progression, but some areas nonetheless being gates to further progress through the game’s story.

This seems to derive largely from the bases that the player will encounter- it sounds like there will be multiple bases, and players can go through them however they wish to. Some bases will be harder than the others, however, and others will be harder still, acting as ‘bosses’ for that area.

Speaking to GamesRadar, producer John Fuller said this allows players to tailor their experience by deciding how much of a challenge they want at any given time.

“We do sort of telegraph difficulty, with every camp has a difficulty marking,” said Fuller. “Then you’ll see maybe one or two in each territory that are called Top Dog camps, kind of like a finale for that region where you have a boss fight.

“The level of difficulty is greater there, the number of enemies is pumped up, and so on. We want to allow you to make choices, and if you consistently choose to go in gung-ho without preparing yourself, then obviously you can give yourself a very hard gaming experience.”

This is the kind of game I like- it sounds very Zelda/Souls-esque. Mad Max releases later this year on Xbox One, PS4, and PC. Stay tuned.

Sega have released the trailer for the PC version of Renegade Ops,which was announced yesterday.

Renegade Ops is available on the PlayStation Network for $15.00/ £9.99/ €12.99/ 15.00 AUD$, Xbox LIVE Arcade for 1200 MSP and PC Digital Download for $15.00/ £9.99/ €12.99/ 15.00 AUD$ this Month..

So you are a huge fan of Just Cause and you support the games as much as you can, but still it goes without saying that there are some things that really need to be fixed. The short and skinny of it is that there are technical bugs and a lack of interesting stories. Many of the missions are quite repetitive and it seems now that Panau has been developed completely and looks amazing, we should be seeing a little more attention to detail in the story. We would really like to see something more than just a few of very similar cut scenes that don’t stimulate our interest in the plot. Just Cause 3 should really focus on making a more cinematic style of game, to really get the player into the mood for how amazing of a world you actually get to explore.

Along with the bad, which we will be sinking farther into shortly, there is a lot of things that Just Cause was able to approve upon releasing the second installment. The most noticeable is the island, and overall world. It is absolutely unrivaled in my opinion, to create a world this beautiful and big, takes a lot of time and designing. That could of course explain why it does lack some of the more important features like good writing and depth filled game play. Going from the first to the second game for a lot of things, was a dramatic improvement, some of which are things that probably should have been corrected before the first game was released, like running animations and a bit of a “shotty” aiming system. The amount of explosions was greatly increased and I’m hoping that it’s taken to the next level for JC3.

The world itself is big enough to have fun in just playing around by your self, and there are plenty of other missions and side quests to do. Looking for upgrades and hidden items is always a good way to spend your time. Not to mention that jumping from vehicle to vehicle is just flat impressive. You can literally just repeat the small things that Just Cause got right and have a pretty good time with the game. It would be nice to see some kind of a merger in styles between Just Cause and Grand Theft Auto, because GTA really has a grasp on putting players in a very likable story and sticky situations. Just imagine this giant world but with all of the choices and alternatives that GTA has to offer.

What can we expect to see as an improvement in the world and landscape? This is a really hard question to answer right now; there is room for improvement it’s just difficult to imagine what kind of innovation there will be. Going from JC to JC2 the number of things that could explode was great increased and of course the graphics got a lot better. We are just hoping that by the time JC3 releases there have been even more updates to maybe have destructible buildings or even landscapes. There are some innovations that can be made to the world, as previously stated its just kind of hard to know what they want to go with as they are on the fence of making or breaking the series with good or bad third game.

One of the most impressive things that has been implemented into the Just Cause games it the hook and parachute combo. You are out of your mind if you don’t like traveling around like this. Its pretty awesome being able to grapple around the city, so it’s safe to say that if Avalanche Studios got something right it was this, though it won’t keep the series alive on its own. They really need to step up for the third game. What kind of innovations can we see though? The grappling hook and parachute thing isn’t totally possible; this leaves the door open for all types of not so realistic weapons and features.  Not saying I want to see lasers and jetpacks, but it’s not totally impossible that something of this nature may make its way into the long list of weapons and vehicles.

Speaking of vehicles there has already been a lot of stuff made available for us. Jets and boats, cars, motor bikes, and even monster trucks, it makes the mind ponder what could be coming next. Once again hoping that there is some innovation in the story, there may be new vehicles to look forward to, and hopefully they don’t bring back underwater flying with planes. All jokes aside, it would be nice to see some cool ideas come to life here. There isn’t anything particularly that needs to be added but variety doesn’t hurt.

There are a few patterns that need to be addressed when JC3 comes about. For the most part it’s the buggy game play and the story isn’t quite there. To break these patterns there needs to be a lot of focus on how the game actually feels and make sure that it’s nice and smooth.  Don’t get me wrong JC2 fixed a lot of what was looking terrible, but there is still a whole bunch of room for better physics and animations. Sound has never really been too big of an issue really; most of the voice acting is standard for a B movie, which is typically a hit game.

So overall I think that whenever it may be that Just Cause 3 has an official release date, we can expect to see some pretty big improvements. It’s pretty safe to say that what ever other open world games are around at the time will probably have a lot of competition. There is always Red Dead, GTA, and Assassins Creed. Will Just Cause have what it takes to secure the number one spot? I suppose we will have just to wait and see.  Right now there is no talk about a release date for Just Cause 3.

“Games have become a luxurious form of entertainment and piracy has scared the market to start implementing ridiculous DRM solutions that only limits the consumers that actually PAY for their games, not stopping the pirates,” said Sunberg.

“As PC sales constantly dropping, they are a small group of very dedicated PC players who deserves a game designed for them and I strongly believe that PC games and console games are two completely different games.

“If we constantly keep on delivering console ports and not games design for the PC player, the PC market will suffer from bad sales, piracy and bad DRM solutions. I strongly believe that most PC players are online players and online games are so much easier to design that we both protect the developer against piracy – and the consumer against a limited game experience.” he added.

“I wish that future PC projects are treated just the same way as we would treat Wii, PSP or DS – they are treated as separate projects in order to deliver a different but equally entertaining experience to all players.”‘

Many publishers will start using DRM as well, Sega has started using it with their all new Alpha Protocol, and it would come to no surprise if companies like EA or Activision will restrict PC gamers in the near future as well.

Nicholas Lovell has also made a complaint about Ubisoft’s DRM.

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