The following games are participating in the Trading Cards Beta:

• CS:GO

• Team Fortress 2

• Dota 2

• Portal 2

• Half-Life 2

• Don’t Starve

Whilst playing these games, players who are in the beta will be eligible for Trading Card drops. Up to half the card set is dropped through gameplay and since players are only given a limited number of card drops, the rest must be obtained through trading. According to the site, the Trading Card drops for free to play games such as Team Fortress 2 and Dota 2 are based on your in-game purchasing history.

If you’ve made purchases in-game prior to the Steam Trading Card Beta, or if you purchased TF2 prior to the Free to Play Update, you’ll have 4 or 5 drops available for these games. You’ll receive more card drops when you buy items in game, approximately one card drop for every $9 USD spent.

Collect all the Trading Cards in a set and you’ll be eligible to craft a badge which can be displayed on your Steam profile.

In addition to getting the Game Badge itself, you’ll get:

• a random emoticon item created for the game you can use in chat or discussions;
• a random profile background item created for the game that can use on your Steam Community profile
• a chance to get a discount coupon for a different game or DLC
• 100XP, which may increase your Steam Level

If your Steam Level increases, you’ll get the limit on the size of your friends list increased by five, and potentially unlock the ability to customize your profile with showcases.

As mentioned above, Steam Levels have been introduced to Steam profiles and give a summary of your badges and allow you to show off your trading card collection and participation in Steam events. Each badge earned increases your XP, and every 100 XP gives you an added Steam Level (at least to start). Increasing your Steam Level allows you to have more friends on your friend list and gives you more ways to customise your profile.

Simply join the Steam Trading Cards Group or receive an invitation from one of your friends to join the beta!

You can check out the official Steam page for the beta and for more information here.

The post Steam Trading Cards Beta begins appeared first on Gamer Nation.

This weeks update sees the return of the Worldsmith. Previously known as the Tauren Chieftain in DoTA, Elder Titan is a formidable Strength hero who can deal deadly area of effect damage with his long range spells and can enhance both the magical and physical damage output of his team due to his aura.

His abilities are as follows:

• Echo Stomp - Elder Titan and his Ancestral Spirit both stomp the ground, damaging and knocking nearby enemy units unconscious around their locations. The Elder Titan stomp deals physical damage, while the Spirit stomp deals magical damage. Unconscious enemies will wake if they take damage.
• Ancestral Spirit – Elder Titan sends forth his Ancestral Spirit, a spiritual mimic. The Spirit damages any units it passes through. When it rejoins the Titan, it grants bonus damage and movement speed for each unit it damaged. The Ancestral Spirit possesses the Echo Stomp, Return Spirit, and Natural Order abilities. The Spirit can be returned with Return Ancestral Spirit.
• Natural Order - Reduces all elements to their basic levels, removing base armor and magic resistance from nearby enemy units.
• Earth Splitter – Sends forth a jagged crack in front of Elder Titan. After 3 seconds, the crack implodes, slowing them while dealing damage based on the maximum life of units caught in the area.

His lore is as follows:

Well may you ask, “How did this world take its form?” Why of all the worlds in creation, has this one its strange properties, its diverse and motley collection of creatures, cultures and lore? “The answer,” One whispers, “lies with the Titans.”

These original progenitors were there near the Beginning–if not actual witnesses to the creation, then born with it still echoing in their ears. Stamped with the earliest energies of the universe, they wished nothing more than to continue as creators themselves. Thus they bent to the task of shaping matter to their will: hammering and heating, bending and blasting. And when matter proved less challenging than they liked, they turned their tools upon themselves, reshaping their minds and reforging their spirits until they had become beings of great endurance. Reality itself became the ultimate object of their smithing. Yet, along the way, they sometimes erred. In cases of great ambition, mistakes are unavoidable.

The one we know as the Elder Titan was a great innovator, one who studied at the forge of creation. In honing his skills, he shattered something that could never be repaired, only thrown aside. He fell into his own broken world, a shattered soul himself. There he dwelt among the jagged shards and fissured planes, along with other lost fragments that had sifted down through the cracks in the early universe. And this is why the world we know resembles an isle of castaways, survivors of a wreck now long forgotten. Forgotten, that is, by all but the One who blames himself. He spends his time forever seeking a way to accomplish the repairs, that he might rejoin the parts of his broken soul, that we and the world alike might all be mended. This is the One we know as Elder Titan.

Jim French, who voiced Bill in the Left 4 Dead series and Father Grigori in Half Life 2, lends the vocal talent for Elder Titan.

You can find this weeks patch notes here.

The post Elder Titan added to Dota 2 appeared first on Gamer Nation.

The event, which will take place three weeks before this year’s E3 conference in June, will be hosted by President of interactive entertainment Don Mattrick at Microsoft’s Redmond campus.

Below is an image of the invites, which were sent out to press and other industry professionals alike yesterday, ahead of the announcement:

Be sure to stay tuned to Gamer Nation for more info, as it happens.

The post Next gen Xbox reveal set for 21st May appeared first on Gamer Nation.

This week sees the arrival of the powerful Skywrath Mage in Dota 2.

With a deadly set of spells at his arsenal, Dragonus is an Intelligence hero who is the very definition of a glass cannon. His frail nature lends him to being a hero recommended for experienced players, as although he can dish out a lot of damage he cannot take much himself.

His abilities are as follows:

• Arcane Bolt – Skywrath launches a slow-moving bolt of arcane magic, dealing damage to an enemy unit based on Skywrath’s intelligence.
• Concussive Shot – Skywrath sets off a long range shot that hits the closest hero within a long range. Upon impact, it deals damage and slows in an area of effect.
• Ancient Seal – Skywrath seals the targeted unit with an ancient rune, silencing it and causing it to take additional damage from spells.
• Mystic Flare – Skywrath uses his ultimate magical ability to conjure a precise and violent mystical field that lays waste to his adversaries. Deals massive damage distributed evenly among any heroes in the area over 2 seconds.

His lore is as follows:

A highly placed mage in the court of the Ghastly Eyrie, Dragonus lives a troubled existence. Sworn by birth to protect whoever sits within the Nest of Thorns, he hates the current Skywrath queen with all his soul. As a youth, high-born, he was a friend and companion to the eldest Skywrath princess, Shendelzare, first in line for the Nest. He had loved her warmly and unshakably, but as his studies took hold, his mind turned to arcane learning and the mastery of Skywrath sorcery.

Obsessed with matters aetherial, he missed the mundane signs of courtly treachery that hinted at a plot against Shendelzare, and lost his chance to foil it. When the court was shaken by a swift and violent coup, he emerged from his studies to discover his oldest and dearest friend had been lost to him. The Nest of Thorns now belonged to Shendelzare’s ruthless younger sister, and Dragonus could do nothing. The magic of the Skywrath Mage serves only the sworn protector of the Skywrath scion, so to act against the Nest would render him helpless. He clings to his post, believing it to be the best hope of one day restoring his true love to her rightful place. Meanwhile, his secret is known only to the goddess Scree’auk, whose magic it was transformed Shendelzare from a crippled physical creature into an embodiment of pure vengeful energy.

While he dreams of restoring his beloved queen to the Ghastly Eyrie, he dreams even more desperately of restoring Shendelzare herself to a fully healed physical form. The duplicity of his role at court tortures him, for he is a noble and good-hearted creature; but the worst torture of all is imagining the hatred that Vengeful Spirit must hold in her heart for him.

TJ Ramini, who voiced Bristleback and Timbersaw, provides the vocal talent for Skywrath Mage.

You can find the patch notes for the update here.

The post Skywrath Mage added to Dota 2 appeared first on Gamer Nation.

The Kickstarter event is aiming to see the implementation of an Adventure mode to Guns of Icarus Online, with plans to expand the game to feature towns, trade, player factions, and a persistent online world.

With $100,000 raised so far, PvE mission types for solo and co-op will be added to the game and will allow players to fight against enemy biplanes, boss ships, all controlled by a fiendish AI Director. You can check out the video below to see the in-dev testing of the new AI.

The next goal in Muse Game’s sights is for the implementation of an Econo-Political System with a pledge goal of $350,000.

You can find the Kickstarter page for Adventure mode here.

The post Guns of Icarus Online Kickstarter reaches $100,000 goal appeared first on Gamer Nation.

To celebrate the game is on sale for 50% off until April 8th (2 PM Pacific Time).

A new launcher synchronizes any mods you have subscribed to, and lets you customize their activation state and loading priority. In addition, when playing Internet games in the lobby, you will be able to filter modded games by mod combination, and with a single button click, subscribe to those mods. Torchlight II will then restart, synchronize them, and activate them before returning you to the game.

The Steam Workshop is also fully integrated with GUTS, the in-house editor for Torchlight II. You can publish directly to Steam Workshop when you compile your mod, making it available immediately for others to play. Mods that have already been made with GUTS can also be quickly imported into the Steam Workshop.

The Workshop launch also introduces new content into the base game, including:

• The NetherRealm tileset – new NetherRealm dungeons can be found via portals throughout the world
• New Monsters
• New armor sets
• New weapons
• New pets – including the Headcrab!
• New endgame map content
• Some additional new dungeons in New Game plus modes in large overworld areas

You can find Torchlight II on Steam here.

The post Steam Workshop Now Available for Torchlight II appeared first on Gamer Nation.

A formidable Strength hero, Rigwarl sports one of the highest intelligence gains for a non-intelligence hero and has two active skills that are spammable due to their low cooldown. By using abilities, Bristleback gains stacks of Warpath which give him increased movement speed and damage.

His abilities are as follows:

• Viscous Nasal Goo - Covers a target in snot, causing it to have reduced armor and movement speed. Multiple casts stack and refresh the duration.
• Quill Spray – Sprays enemy units with quills dealing damage in an area of effect around Bristleback. Deals bonus damage for every time a unit was hit by Quill Spray in the last 10 seconds.
• Bristleback – Bristleback takes less damage if hit on the sides or rear. If Bristleback takes 250 damage from the rear, he releases a Quill Spray of the current level.
• Warpath - Bristleback works himself up into a fury every time he casts a spell, increasing his movement speed and damage. The first stack (base) provides larger bonuses.

His lore is as follows:

Never one to turn his back on a fight, Rigwarl was known for battling the biggest, meanest scrappers he could get his hands on. Christened Bristleback by the drunken crowds, he waded into backroom brawls in every road tavern between Slom and Elze, until his exploits finally caught the eye of a barkeep in need of an enforcer. For a bit of brew, Bristleback was hired to collect tabs, keep the peace, and break the occasional leg or two (or five, in the case of one unfortunate web-hund).

After indulging in a night of merriment during which bodily harm was meted out in equal parts upon both delinquent patrons and his own liver, Bristleback finally met his match. “Your tusks offend me, sir,” he was heard to drunkenly slur to one particularly large fellow from the northern wastes whose bill had come due. What followed was a fight for the ages. A dozen fighters jumped in. No stool was left unbroken, and in the end, the impossible happened: the tab went unpaid. Over the weeks that followed, Bristleback’s wounds healed, and his quills grew back; but an enforcer’s honor can be a prickly thing. He paid the tab from his own coin, vowing to track down this northerner and extract redemption. And then he did something he’d never done before–he actually trained, and in so doing made a startling discovery about himself. A smile peeled back from his teeth as he flexed his quills. Turning his back to a fight might be just the thing.

TJ Ramini, who voiced Timbersaw, provides the vocal talent for Bristleback.

The update also saw the release of a new chest – Anuxi’s Treasure of the Shaper Divine Chest. This chest features items made by the contributer Anuxi.

You can find the update notes for this patch here.

The post Bristleback added to Dota 2 appeared first on Gamer Nation.

The game will be released here in the UK on the 26th April, and will come bundled with a free 30 day trial for PlayStation Plus for a limited time.

Those who pre-order the game from either GAME or Amazon will also receive some exclusive (yet currently unnamed) DLC.

In January, the game’s developers Rising Star Games released three gameplay videos showcasing the game’s various improvements.

The post Deadly Premonition: Director’s Cut launching this April appeared first on Gamer Nation.

The coming weeks will see a poll being generated for the Kickstarter backers, who can vote for the top three languages they want the game translated into.

Night Light Interactive plan to port the game onto the Android platform should they receive the $4253 they need to reach the next stretch goal of $25,000. Next week the official website will be accepting PayPal payments, which will go towards this goal.

You can find the latest trailer for the game below, which features a baby tortoise.

Check out the Alpha Demo here  and be sure to find the game, and vote for it, on Steam Greenlight.

The post Whispering Willows meets Kickstarter stretch goal appeared first on Gamer Nation.

Pre-order the Horror Puzzle game at the $10/£7 tier or more on Kickstarter and receive the Victorian Elena outfit, an alternate outfit for the main character. The outfit was chosen by Kickstarter backers in a poll that included a Ghostbusters outfit and even a Pyramid Head style Elena! It’s just a shame they can’t all be included in the game, the concept art looked pretty impressive.

The Stretch Goals for the game include the following:

$20,000- Translations- I have been approached by various translators from all over the world wanting to help and translate the game. We would love to include every possible language translation, but there is a lot of testing and work that goes into each language’s implementation. If we reach $20k we will let YOU our backers choose 3 languages to have the game translated in!

$25,000- Android- If we reach our main goal of $15,000 we plan on releasing for OUYA, PC, Mac, and Linux. If we reach $25,000, Android is the next console we would be creating the game for. Porting to mobile takes quite a bit of work. Everything from optimizing our graphics and lighting to creating new controls and UI, takes a lot of time and energy.

$30,000- Voice Acting- If we reach $30,000 we would love to include voice acting. This could be anything from sighs to grunts for the spirits to bring them to life more. We don’t plan on having Elena speak, but we are considering one particular ghost to have full dialogue.

$35,000- iOS, Gamestick- Finally we would love to bring Whispering Willows to some of the other popular devices that have been requested. If we reach $35,000 we will bring it to as many platforms as we can, starting with iOS devices (iPhone and iPad) and the Gamestick.

The Kickstarter for Whispering Willows has three days left with their goal just out of reach, give them a hand and find their page here.

You can find the latest trailer for the game below, which features a baby tortoise.

Check out the Alpha Demo here  and be sure to find the game, and vote for it, on Steam Greenlight.

The post Bonus Content and Stretch Goals revealed for Whispering Willows appeared first on Gamer Nation.