Torchlight posts

One of the most important parts of any good action RPG are the monsters you slaughter. After all, if you fight the same old skeletons and oozes and imps, all that loot grinding can get a bit tedious! Runic has revealed some of the new monster designs for Torchlight 2 on the game's site, and they are rather impressive. The one to the left is one of our person favorites: dwarven automata.

They have also promised to reveal more information about the game every other week until E3 as well, meaning that we will soon get more than just monster pictures and backstories. We personally hope that they reveal the history of the world soon, since Torchlight got us quite interested!

A time-travel game, a game filled with dinosaurs, a game about a zombie apocalypse, a game about modern day fairy tales, an "M" rated animated cop game, and a revival of a classic adventure game series. Is Telltale the most varied game developer in terms of its settings or what?

• Steam has an automatic update for X3: Terran Conflict.
• You can now download the songs from the Magicka music soundtrack from the game's official web site.
• Check out this video of Valve head man Gabe Newell addressing a high school class.
• Farmville maker Zynga is now valued at $10 billion. Wow.
• Diablo III team members apparently love Torchlight and Borderlands. We wonder why.

Torchlight II was first announced with a "spring" or a "first half of 2011" release date time frame with the action-RPG sequel was also announced. Now it looks like the Runic Games-developed sequel won't make that release date window and is now targeting a time period sometime in July.

According to Digital Spy, Runic Games CEO Max Schaefer is blaming the team's work on the upcoming Xbox Live Arcade port of the original Torchlight as the reason for the delay for Torchlight II for the PC. However he added that some of the improvements and optiminaztion for the Xbox Live Arcade port will make its way into Torchlight II, saying, "We've got load times down, we've got some animation stuff that's a little bit better, and it's feeling really good right now."

[Via Blue's News]

The biggest new feature in Torchlight II, compared to the original game in the action-RPG series, is multiplayer support. In a new interview at VG247.com Max Schaefer, the co-founder of the game's developer Runic Games, says that co-op mode will be included, adding, "The sweet spot, just from playing in the office, is 1-4 players.

That doesn't mean the game can't handle more than four players, however. Schaefer admits, "There's no technological reason why we can't increase that, but once you get up to, like, eight players, it gets ridiculously crowded if you're at all in the same area." Schaefer says the team hasn't yet decided on what the final version will support saying, "It'll probably be between four and eight." Torchlight II, due out this spring, will also have a PvP mode but he says it's mainly just for kicks, saying, "We're not going to spend any time trying to really balance it very well [laughs], or make particular games for it."

The day before Christmas is the source of some last minute shopping by some. PC gamers have the opportunity to get some last minutes sales cuts from the Steam, Impulse and GamersGate web sites. On Impulse they have marked down Freedom Force Vs The Third Reich to just $4.99. GamersGate has Necrovision: Lost Company on sale today only for $4.99.

Steam has the following games that are all on sale from now until 1 pm Eastern time Christmas Day:

Overlord games - 75 percent off all games in the series.
Borderlands - 50 percent off game and all DLC releases
Torchlight - $4.99
Battlefield 2 Complete Collection - $5
King Arthur Complete Pack - $5.39
Devil May Cry 4 - $4.99
ArmA II - $9.99
Counter-Strike Source - $4.99
Saints Row 2 - $7.50
Fallout New Vegas - $29.99 or $24.99 if you own Fallout 3
Ghost Recon - 75 percent off all games in series
Sam and Max The Devil's Playhouse - $9.99

Steam's Thankgiving weekend sale continues as the PC game download site offers the rest of up game with big price cuts for the next 22 hours. The games include Burnout Paradise for $14.99, Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II Gold Edition for $13.60, Machinarium for $5, Tropico 3: Gold Edition for $7.50, Torchlight for $5, Empire: Total War for $14.99, ArmA II: Operation Arrowhead for $19.99 and Blur for $14.99.

In addition there is a new indie games bundle with five games (Iron Grip Warlord, Doc Clock: The Toasted Sandwich of Time, Eufloria, VVVVVV, and World of Goo) sold together for just $4.99. Finally there are new gift sets for Freedom Force ($7.49 for 10 copies), Portal ($14.99 for six games), Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II Chaos Rising ($39.99 for eight games) and Empire Total War ($59.99 for six games).

One year ago today, the folks at start-up game developer Runic Games released Torchlight, a downloadable fantasy action-RPG that was created by some of the folks behind Blizzard's first two Diablo games. Torchlight was a huge success for the developer; last August it revealed to Gamasutra that it has sold "well over" 600,000 copies.

That sales number is about to get even bigger. To celebrate the first anniversary of Torchlight's release, the developer is selling the game for just $10, a 50 percent discount, on its web site from now until 11 am Eastern time on Friday. And of course the team is working on Torchlight 2 which is due out sometime in 2011.

It's been well over two years since Blizzard first officially announced its plans for releasing Diablo 3, yet the third game in the popular action-RPG franchise seems no closer to its actual release than when it was first announced. In fact, a third game from another action-RPG franchise might be released before Blizzard's title.

Runic Games, formed in part by former Blizzard team members, launched its downloadable action-RPG title Torchlight in late 2009 to solid sales and critical response and a sequel, Torchlight 2, is already set for a spring 2011 release. However when asked by our sister site Joystiq if a possible Torchlight 3 could come out before Diablo 3, Runic Games' co-founder Max stated Schaefer, "I really think we will, I'm not joking about it."

Schaefer said the small size of the Runic Games team means that they could bring out a third title in the series before Blizzard finally releases Diablo 3. Still Schaefer says he doesn't envy the Diablo 3 development team in the least, saying, "Everything has to be super epic. More epic than anything that's come before, more epic than World of Warcraft. They have to do that. It puts them in a really tough spot, I don't envy them. It has to be perfect."

It should be noted that Torchlight 3 has yet to be officially announced and that Runic Games have stated that once Torchlight 2 has been completed the dev team plans to start working again on their previous announced MMO title set in Torchlight's fictional universe.

Torchlight was one of our favorite games of 2009, and a contender for game of the year as well. An independent title made by refugees from the Diablo development team, it blew us away with its visual charm and gameplay depth. However, it lacked multiplayer, which was the only crippling omission in such a brilliant hack'n'slash title. Developer Runic Games is correcting that with Torchlight 2, as this trailer shows so plainly.

There are two really interesting bits in this Gamescom trailer. First is that Runic Games actually read the criticism directed at the original game, both from fans and professionals. It's always good to know your opinions are getting heard. While this part of the trailer is hardly flashy, it's still satisfying. The other important part is the display of all the new features they've packed into Torchlight 2, such as outdoor environments, multiplayer co-op, and all those flashy graphics you know and love.

Download HD Torchlight 2 Gamescom Trailer (25 MB)
Check out all Torchlight 2 downloads

There's been some debate recently over just how big the market is for downloadable PC games in comparison to copies sold in retail stores. One study said downloadable copies of PC games have almost caught up with retail sales while another stated that retail sales still hold the vast majority of PC game units.

In a new chat at Gamasutra, Runic Games' CEO Max Schaefer stated that sales of its fantasy action-RPG Torchlight are now "well over" 600,000 units. However sales for the downloadable version of the game have topped the boxed copies by a ratio of almost four to one. Those numbers might be affected by the fact that Torchlight started as a downloadable game first, in October 2009, with a retail release coming a few months later in January 2010. Sales of Torchlight have trailed off by 10 percent every week, according to Schaefer but adds, "It still sells like crazy every time it goes on sale." The developer just announced plans for a sequel, Torchlight II, that is scheduled for a downloadable release in spring of 2011.