Sadly, however, the game’s shelf life is effectively over. Spec Ops: The Line recently started being delisted from online stores, including both Steam and the Xbox store, and it was confirmed not long afterward by 2K that the shooter was set to be delisted from all online stores across the board due to expiring licenses.

A 2K representative told journalist Stephen Totilo, “Spec Ops: The Line will no longer be available on online storefronts, as several partnership licenses related to the game are expiring. Players who have purchased the game can still download and play the game uninterrupted. 2K would like to thank our community of players who have supported the game, and we look forward to bringing you more offerings from our label throughout this year and beyond.”

With Spec Ops: The Line being taken off digital stores, given the fact that it’s a twelve-year-old game that is available only on PC, Xbox 360, and PS3, purchasing the game is going to be effectively impossible going forward, either physically or digitally.

"Players who have purchased the game can still download and play the game uninterrupted. 2K would like to thank our community of players who have supported the game, and we look forward to bringing you more offerings from our label throughout this year and beyond." 2/2

— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) January 30, 2024

YAGER Development shot to fame with Spec Ops: The Line, while also building a solid following with space sim Dreadnought. However, now it’s announced a new first-person shooter called The Cycle that will be going into alpha testing soon. Check out the announcement trailer below.

The Cycle sees players venturing out into the world of Fortuna III to complete different contracts or quests during matches. A faction called The Federation apparently attempted colonization of the planet, but were stopped by enormous storms referred to as the Cycle. Each match will last for 20 minutes but it’s implied that you can stay on the planet longer than that. It’s “bad for your health”, obviously, but it’s still possible. There will be 20 players in each match, along with lots of alien monsters and some native wildlife.

The alpha will be made available initially on PC in the next few weeks with plans to release it for consoles later. YAGER has stated that the game will be available through Steam so an additional launcher won’t be necessary. Those interested in alpha testing can fill out the form by heading here.

The ambitious tactical space combat simulator Dreadnought has been quietly in beta since early 2016, but now at least on PlayStation 4, all systems are go for the official launch. The development team at Yager will of course continue to work on the game to maintain balance and provide new content, but they’re also working to deliver the first post-launch update for PS4 by January. PC should leave beta sometime early next year.

The tactical space game first opened its beta in August 2017 following a positively received closed beta. The Free-To-Play game takes a strategic bend to a class based game like Overwatch, meaning it’s not just the heavy damage dealing, titular ships that are important, but their whole support network too. It’s basically the Star Trek game we’ve always asked for.

There’s still a few bugs to squash, such as the PS4 having the tendency to crash in a few cases, but the developers have already send out a hot fix. Will you be trying your hand at piloting in Dreadnought? Let us know in the comments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ums77uAN7XE

Yager Development’s Spec Ops: The Line was one of the most interesting third person shooters to emerge last generation, mostly due to its story-telling that was inspired by Apocalypse Now.

Those who are still holding for a sequel might want to forget it – Yager made it clear that a sequel won’t be happening and now the game’s writer has revealed that the developer would sooner eat broken glass before making a sequel.

Responding on Twitter, Walt Williams said the development process was “brutal, painful” and that everyone involved would “eat broken glass before making another.” Of course, there’s also the fact that the original game didn’t sell all that well in the first place.

Yager is doing pretty good for itself though. Its free to play sci-fi ship battler Dreadnought is currently in open beta and has received numerous updates and new content. Even if this hasn’t dulled the hope for a Spec Ops sequel, don’t count on Yager being a part of it.

https://twitter.com/waltdwilliams/status/915344356919439360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Publisher Deep Silver has announced its line-up for the upcoming Gamescom convention and will have 150 different stations for attendees to play games on.

These include Metro Redux, a remastered version of Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light for Xbox One and PS4; Risen 3: Titan Lords; the recently released Sacred 3; Dead Island Epidemic, which is a free to play MOBA based on the Dead Island franchise; and Emergency 5, a Rescue Strategy title which will have a new graphics engine.

However, the key attraction is arguably Dead Island 2, confirmed to be in development at E3 2014 and heading to Xbox One, PS4 and PC in Spring next year. Spec Ops: The Line developer YAGER will be involved and this will be the first time the game will available in a playable state. If you’re wondering where’s the best place to combat zombie Californians, Gamescom is it.

Held in Cologne, Germany, Gamescom 2014 will take place on August 13th to 17th.

While we didn’t expect to see YAGER Development creating a sequel to its psychologically impactful third person shooter Spec Ops: The Line, it was still somewhat surprising to see it working with Deep Silver on Dead Island 2 at E3 2014.

Speaking to Gamestar, the developer revealed some new details on their shooter and how it failed to sell despite a long development cycle. “The title, which inspired people to write whole books on their confrontation with Captain Walker and his descent into madness, could not justify its development.”

Spec Ops: The Line took five years to developer and finally found a publisher in 2K Games. The latter reported that the game’s sales didn’t meet expectations but thankfully, it still found a compelling new project to work on with Dead Island 2. The studio is also working on Dreadnought, a sci-fi aerial armada action game. Stay tuned for more information on both games in the coming months.

There also indications that this project will be releasing for Xbox One and PS4 with applicants to “support a team embracing the latest technology on the next generation hardware”. The requirement for Xbox Live, PSN or Steamworks experience along with experience programming on consoles seems to indicate as much too.

It also seems that Yager will be working with Unreal Engine, with the listing stating that applicants “will work closely with engineers, content creators and designers to get the best out of Epic’s latest technology and extend it where needed to deliver our shared vision of the game.” Could that “latest technology” mean Unreal Engine 4?

Considering that Spec Ops: The Line’s multiplayer was considered tacked on and heavily panned by Yager itself, it would be interesting to see what is done with this latest title. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.

About Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2013 :

Game Overview:
With the release of Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2013 right around the corner, Activision is proud to present some exciting news about its revolutionary new peripheral, the Top Shot Fearmaster. Utilizing heartbeat sensors on the controller’s grips and an infrared camera (Xbox 360 and PS3 only), the Fearmaster can actually detect a gamer’s heart rate and hand stability. As any hunter knows, keeping cool, calm, and collected is key for creating a more precise shot. This is no different in Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2013.

Publisher : Activision

Developer : Yager Development

Platforms : PS3, Wii and X360

Release Date : 23/10/2012

Stay tuned to Gamingbolt.com for more news and updates.

Enormous plot spoilers below. 

For the first edition, I’ve been in discussion with the Lead Writer of the truly fantastic Spec Ops: The Line, Walt Williams. Last month I gave Spec Ops: The Line 9/10, the best score of any game I’ve played this year, so here’s our chance to dig deeper and walk The Line with one of it’s main creators.

You have been warned: huge, bone-crushing spoilers below.

Jordan Garland: To anybody who has completed Spec Ops: The Line, the stand-out scene in the game has to be White Phosphorus. That scene was both compelling and mortifying in equal measure, what challenges did you face when depicting something so horrific?

Walt Williams: There are 3 challenges when trying to create a scene like “White Phosphorus.” The first, and to me this was the biggest challenge we faced throughout the game, was making it feel organic. It would have been very easy for a game like Spec Ops to fall back on exploitation and shock value. But we made a choice early on that every horrific moment in the game had to be earned. If it wasn’t the obvious result of cause and effect, and if it wasn’t absolutely key to the narrative, then we threw it out.

The second challenge was getting the Player to take part in such a terrible act. This is where the brilliant designers at Yager had the idea of mimicking the “Death From Above” mission in Modern Warfare. The idea was that we, as gamers, have been trained to disconnect from a game when the gameplay experience drastically changes. We stop thinking about the enemies as Soldiers and instead see them as glowing dots that need to be turned off. Once the Player disconnects from the reality of the situation, something truly horrible happens. And it hits Players in the gut, because now they have to face the consequences of their actions. They don’t get teleported to the next location. They have to face the human cost of their actions.

Finally, the third challenge is animation. Writing a scene for an actor is very different than writing it for an animation team. Walker’s reaction to what he has done is told almost entirely through his facial expressions. Again, that we were able to pull this scene off is due entirely to the amazing animators at Yager.

JG: In creating something so compelling and, to some extent, distressing, did you ever find yourself in a position where the creative process had desensitized you to the horror it depicted?

WW: In many ways, I wish it had desensitized me, but unfortunately, it did not. To be honest, Spec Ops was emotionally a very hard game to write. You don’t simply come up with horrible scenes, you also have to live them through the eyes of your characters. You have to get inside their heads, see these horrors through their eyes. Then, you have to destroy them on every level.

This would be hard enough to experience just once. But, writing a project like this takes time. About 3 years, to be exact. That is a very long time to be immersed in a game like Spec Ops. There were definitely times when I wanted to walk away from the project, because it was taking a serious toll on my life. But in the end, I couldn’t walk away from a story and project that was so personal to me and the team at Yager.

JG: Is it a nod towards real-life atrocities, such as the infamous Wikileaks ‘Collateral Murder’ video?

WW: No. We made a decision early on to not connect Spec Ops with any real world conflicts or situations. The connection “White Phosphorus” has to reality is simply that these things do happen. Our actions do not always play out as intended. We cannot always control the consequences of our decisions. Horrible things happen to people every day. They have to make the decision to keep going. Whether that involves lying to themselves or to others, that’s entirely up to them.

JG: It’s quite refreshing to see a genuine comment on another title beyond pure mindless tribalism. Is Spec Ops: The Line not only a critique of war itself, but its portrayal in video games in general?

WW: The reference is real world video. But the strength of the scene comes the established DfA sequence in Modern Warfare. When two games draw from the same real-world source, you cannot avoid comparisons. That Spec Ops forces the Player to face the aftermath of this reality could be seen as a critique of war in games. But really, we just wanted to be true to the situation. We didn’t want the Player to be able to hide from the consequences of his actions.

JG: Did you ever consider making the mortar scene optional, like other instances further down the line?

WW: It is optional, to an extent. The Player can open fire on the Soldiers using their normal weapons, but they are severely outnumbered. The Player will eventually run out of ammo and be overcome. Is that necessarily fair? No. But it’s not until you’ve used the mortar and seen the consequences of your actions that you start to wonder, “Could I have done something different?” And the answer is no. It was your only real option. To which you might say, “That’s not fair.” And I’d say, “You’re right.”

That’s a real emotional response and I can guarantee it’s exactly what Walker is feeling in that moment.

The choice isn’t “Do I use the mortar or not?” The real choice is “Can I keep going, knowing what I’ve done?”

JG: After that scene, you’re thrown straight back into the action and I for one was totally bewildered, was this yo-yoing of emotion something you wanted to explore?

WW: It is. We didn’t want the world to cater to the Player’s desires. In that moment, you wanted to digest what just happened. But there are other people in the world and they want to kill you for the same reason. In many ways, this is what “The Line” is all about. Some people think it means “The Line you don’t want to cross or have to cross.” But really, it’s The Line between expectations and reality. As gamers, we expect a game to embrace us… to yield to us and our actions. Spec Ops, however, opposes you. It subverts your expectations and reminds you that you are not in control. And that was entirely by design.

JG: Is Spec Ops: The Line a comment on the shooting genre, rampant glorification of war depicted with very little consequence, was this something you consciously wanted to address?

WW: “War is hell” isn’t just a saying. It’s true. You’d probably find it difficult to find someone who disagrees with the statement. And yet, we have allowed war to exist strictly as entertainment within video games. No other medium treats war strictly as a spectacle. With Spec Ops, we weren’t trying to make people feel bad about playing shooters, although that certainly is one reaction people are having. Our goal was simply to make people think—about the games the play and the reasons they play them.

JG: Was the player’s experience always intended to mirror Walker’s? You enjoy the killing and destruction as much as he does, so did you desire for the player to also feel guilty?

WW: Absolutely. On the surface, Spec Ops can be classified as a military game—you are a soldier in conflict against soldiers. But really, Spec Ops is a story about who we are as gamers… about the entertainment we choose to consume and our reasons for doing so. Walker comes to Dubai, wanting to feel heroic and powerful. He wants to overcome obstacles and save the day. Just like us, every time we sit down to play a game.

JG: Spec Ops: The Line’s various flash-points provide gamers with split-second decision points, where the most obvious route ‘out’ is arguably the most objectionable. How did you want players to react in these desperate situations?

WW: Believe it or not, we had no specific desire for players to make one choice over another. We tried very hard to remove any judgment from those scenes. Our hope was that players would follow their own hearts… whether their heart was feeling vengeful or merciful, that was entirely up to the Player.

JG: Nolan North, the voice actor for Captain Walker, also voiced the indomitable Nathan Drake, known for his almost blasé approach to the merciless slaughter of hundreds. Were you involved in the casting process and was casting him a conscious decision?

WW: I was involved with casting and I’d love to say we were brilliant to cast Nolan as a means of subverting Player expectation. But, the truth is, we hired Nolan simply because he is a fantastic actor with tremendous range. He’s also a great guy and a pleasure to work with. In fact, Nolan worked on Spec Ops for at least 4 years. He was the very first actor we cast. He even did the scratch VO for an internal vertical slice demo. Needless to say, he spent a long time with Captain Walker and really took the opportunity to explore his darker side.

JG: You’ve managed to make a great game with great endings, the holy grail of everything video-games. Just how many endings are there in total?

WW: There are 4 official endings and 1 unofficial ending. 1 in Konrad’s penthouse. 3 in the epilogue. And 1 in real life, for those players who decide they can’t go on and put down the controller.

And that’s all for the very first Aftermath, and I hope it was as insightful for you as it was for me. Spec Ops: The Line is a prime example of substance over gameplay, but give me a choice and I’ll choose narrative every single time.

Developed by YAGER, Spec Ops: The Line features an intense single-player narrative that unfolds within Dubai after a series of cataclysmic sandstorms cut the city off from the rest of the world. Playing as Captain Martin Walker, gamers fight through Dubai in this gripping third-person shooter in their search for Colonel John Konrad and his missing battalion, The Damned 33rd. Players will blast their way through sandstorms with a variety of weapons and explosives, even using sand as a weapon to strategically bury enemies in their path.

***Please note this walkthrough was not uploaded by GamingBolt.com

Special thanks to Youtube user SSoHPKC for uploading this walkthrough.

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Without further ado, let’s begin!