Deus Ex: Human Defiance trademark filed by Square Enix [Updated]

Update: Mysterious gaming sleuth superannuation reports a couple whois searches for the Human Defiance domain shows CBS Films as the registrant, a strong suggestion that the title is for the upcoming film adaptation from CBS and Eidos Montreal. Previously, director Scott Derrickson and co-writer C. Robert Cargill said they’re targeting a cyberpunk vibe for the film’s theme.
Original: Time to activate your speculation augmentation. You did all get that particular upgrade, right? Honestly, giant arm swords are all well and good, but they’ll hardly help you to deal with the news that Square Enix have filed a new Deus Ex trademark. The trademark application – submitted February 26 and spotted by NeoGAF – is for Deus Ex: Human Defiance, and has a classification class that heavily focuses on words like “computer”, “video”, “game” and “software”. What could it all mean?
Best case scenario: a follow-up to the excellent Human Revolution. Worst case? Probably an iPad game/movie tie-in for the upcoming cinematic adaptation. Other possibilities? A port of DX:HR, a standalone time-trial of all the boss battles, an HD remake of Deus Ex: Invisible War…
Okay, clearly my speculation drives have failed. What do you think Square Enix have in store? (And more importantly, if Eidos Montreal are set to make a sequel, where the hell is Thief 4?)
Thanks, CVG.

THQ’s remaining properties to be auctioned in April – Homeworld and Darksiders up for grabs

The date’s been set for the final court-supervised auction of THQ’s remaining properties. Those titles not bought in January’s fire sale have been divided into lots, with initial bids due in April 1st. Final bids are required by April 15th, then, pending court approval, THQ expects to sell the remaining vestige of its existence by mid-May. *Sniff*
While the tastiest morsels have already been picked away, there’s still some meat clinging to the THQ bone. Darksiders, Homeworld and Red Faction are all looking for a new home. In an ideal world, the Homeworld license will be picked up by someone who’ll actually use it, and Red Faction will end up somewhere that recognises the brilliance of Guerrilla over the mediocrity of Armageddon.
Here’s the full list:
Lot 1: Red Faction

• Red Faction
• Red Faction Armageddon
• Red Faction 2
• Red Faction: Guerrilla

Lot 2: Homeworld

• Homeworld
• Homeworld 2

Lot 3: MX

• MX Alive
• MX vs ATV Untamed
• MX Superfly featuring Ricky Carmichael
• MX vs. ATV Alive Tournament
• MX Unleashed
• MX vs. ATV Unleashed
• MX vs ATV Reflex
• MX vs. ATV: On The Edge

Lot 4: Darksiders

• Darksiders
• Darksiders 2

Lot 5: Other Owned Software

• All Star Cheer Squad
• Elements of Destruction
• All Star Cheer Squad 2
• Fantastic Pets
• All Star Karate
• Frontlines: Fuel of War
• Baja: Edge of Control
• Full Spectrum Warrior 1
• Full Spectrum Warrior 2: Ten Hammers
• Battle of the Bands
• Beat City
• Juiced
• Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights
• Big Beach Sports
• Big Beach Sports 2
• Lock’s Quest: Construction Combat
• Big Family Games
• Neighborhood Games
• Crawler
• Pax Imperia
• de Blob
• de Blob 2
• Stuntman: Ignition
• Summoner
• Summoner 2
• Deadly Creatures
• Deep Six
• Terranium
• Destroy All Humans!
• Destroy All Humans! 2
• Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed
• Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon
• The Outfit
• Titan Quest
• Titan Quest: Immortal Throne
• uDraw
• Dood’s Big Adventure
• World of Zoo
• Drawn to Life
• Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter

Lot 6: Licensed Software

• Costume Quest
• Stacking
• Scripps Spelling Bee (Scripps)
• Daniel X (SueJack)
• Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of Osborne House
• Deepak Chopra’s Leela (Curious Holdings)
• Fancy Nancy: Tea Party Time! (Harper Collins)
• Supreme Commander
• Supreme Commander Forged Alliance
• Jeopardy
• Jeopardy 2
• The Biggest Loser
• Journey to the Center of the Earth
• Truth or Lies
• Let’s Ride Best of Breed
• Vampire Legends: Power of Three (dtp)
• Marvel Super Hero Squad: Comic Combat
• Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet
• Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet 2
• Wheel of Fortune
• Wheel of Fortune 2
• World of Zoo
• Nancy Drew: The Hidden Staircase
• Worms 2
• Worms Battle Islands
• Worms Open Warfare
• Worms: A Space Oddity
• Worms: Open Warfare 2 (Team 17)
• Nexuiz
• Paws & Claws Marine Rescue
• Paws & Claws Pampered Pets Resort 3D
• PurrPals 2
• Rio
• You Don’t Know Jack (Jellyvision)
• Rocket Riot
• Screwjumper (Frozen Codebase)

Wow, that’s a mixed bag of Other and Licensed properties.
Wishful thinking time! Who would you like to see bidding on the various series?
Thanks, GI.biz

The War Z is back on Steam

Following customer complaints over misleading information on The War Z’s Steam page, Valve removed the unfinished multiplayer zombie survival game in December. It’s back, and Valve has explained the decision to give the controversial shooter a second chance in a brief announcement:
“Valve and Hammerpoint Interactive collaborated to address community feedback, update the Steam store page, and make the title available for purchase worldwide. In addition, a patch has been released to update existing customers. As such, the special refund offering extended for The War Z Steam customers who previously purchased the title has concluded.”
Below is a comparison of the Steam information from when The War Z launched in December and now.

Original Steam store page

New Steam store page

Details that are not yet implemented or not available in the Foundation Release, such as areas as large as “100 to 400 square kilometers,” have been omitted. The phrase “single purchase” is also gone. While it’s technically true that the game can be played with one purchase, microtransactions extend to individual bullets, making it only technically true, with italics.
Selling bullets was one of many problems we dissected in our review of The War Z. The lack of voice communication, poor sound design, homogeneous landscape, exploits, hacking, and even spawn camping were among the criticisms that resulted in our 30% verdict. On that note, the new Steam store page also displays the game’s now-available Metacritic score of 23/100.

A screenshot from The War Z’s Steam page

The War Z’s Steam forum is filling with the expected mixed reactions. A thread titled “Petition to remove ‘The War Z’ from Steam” sits next to a thread inviting new players to a private server. Another thread trolls with “Should I buy War Z or Aliens: Colonial Marines?” while others take issue with specifics of The War Z’s return to Steam, arguing that the screenshots remain misleading.
The question, as I see it, is: should Valve be responsible for curating Steam, making judgments based on a game’s reception, or should it take a laissez-faire approach and let us decide (given accurate information) what to buy on our own? Given the introduction of Greenlight and some of Gabe Newell’s recent comments, the latter approach seems to be the direction Valve is traveling.

Fifth set of Steam Greenlight games greenlit: Anodyne, Distance, Organ Trail, and more

Valve has announced the fifth set of games to be promoted from Steam Greenlight to Steam distribution. The service gives everyone with a game and $100 the chance to earn a Steam distribution deal—so far, 76 games have been greenlit, and 16 of those have been completed and released on Steam. The latest batch is below:

• Anodyne
• Distance
• Evoland
• Huntsman:The Orphanage
• Kingdom Rush
• Legends of Dawn
• Organ Trail: Director’s Cut
• Receiver
• Surgeon Simulator 2013
• War Thunder

Surgeon Simulator 2013 will make a fantastic addition to the seemingly endless cavalcade of [MLG] Pro simulation videos. [Update: by "will make a fantastic addition" I clearly meant that someone already made one last month, which is like a year in internet time.]
While these developers should be proud of their accomplishment, Valve doesn’t seem too proud of Greenlight: Gabe Newell recently called the experiment “a bottleneck rather than a way for people to communicate choice.” He wants to go further, doing away with “artificial shelf space scarcity” entirely. We game in exciting times.

DayZ Mod update 1.7.6: new zombie logic, arrows, and a fight about cans

A screenshot of wandering zombies by Reddit user fitzybaby.

DayZ changelogs are so much fun. Update 1.7.6 adds some important stuff, like a six arrow crossbow quiver and reusable wooden arrows with a 20% chance to break on use, and some less important stuff, like cans of Rabbitman beer and Chef Boneboy Ravioli. Or it did, until Hotfix 1.7.6.1 removed the modder-named cans after a big community argument. Darn, and I just said how fun these are.
But first: zombie logic. Zeds’ max target range has been reduced from 300 meters to 120 meters, they should zigzag less, and their running speed has been reduced. That doesn’t mean you can rest easy: “zed attraction” now causes the undead to “loiter closer to players over time,” sending them wandering into new territory. Early reports indicate it’s a welcome addition.
In other DayZ news, it’s now super easy to install the mod if you own Arma 2: Combined Operations on Steam. There’s an extra step to jump to 1.7.6, though: after installing, right click on the mod in your library, select “Properties,” hit the “Beta” tab, and select 1.7.6.1 in the drop down menu.
Oh, about the cans. 1.7.6 added new cans named for contributors to the mod, presumably because it seemed like a fun idea. A segment of the community did not think it was a fun idea, and said so (some more civilly than others), prompting the hotfix which removes them.
DayZ creator Dean “Rocket” Hall attempted to toss a bucket of water on the flames, writing in the forums, “Let’s not slaughter everyone just because something didn’t go quite according to plan and some people think it’s going in the wrong direction.”
I’d have been fine with tossing back a few Rabbitmans while eating my Herpy Dooves Canned Muffins, but I understand the complaint from hardcore roleplayers. I’m more of a LARPer, in that I would actually like a beer and a few muffins if anyone has some.