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OOTP Developments, developer of the Out of the Park Baseball management sim series, has announced the release of Franchise Hockey Manager 2014. The game gives players the chance to take control of one of more than 300 teams spanning 19 leagues, and run every aspect of the operation. FHM 2014 also offers historical NHL play as far back as 1947 and the entire WHA history from 1971 to 1979.

"We've learned a lot about developing sports management games after 14 versions of Out of the Park Baseball, so we felt it was time to apply those lessons to a new game," said OOTP co-founder Markus Heinsohn. "What better way to do that than with hockey?"

Franchise Hockey Manager 2014 offers the following features:

• The 2013-14 season for 19 leagues around the world, with real teams and players. Available leagues include the NHL, AHL, OHL, WHL, Liiga, EIHL, KHL, SHL, and more. (A complete list is found here: http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/franchise-hockey-manager/features.php.)

• Historical play as far back as the 1947 for the NHL, as well as the entire 1971 through 1979 existence of the WHA.
  
  
• Custom leagues set up in a variety of pre-configured ways, with fresh franchises stocked with fictional players who chart unique careers.

• A robust simulation engine that produces the most realistic hockey results possible, whether players want to reproduce the later years of the Original Six, replay the high-scoring 1980s, create fictional leagues, or anything else. A variety of league rules and settings can be changed to create different experiences.

• Plenty of stats, from the usual goals and assists to Corsi, Fenwick, time on ice in various situations, penalty specifics, fights won, and much more.

• Players oversee team finances, keep an eye on the salary cap, check on their assistance coaches and scouts, watch the waiver wire, put together trade packages, make contract offers to free agents, and much more. They also determine their team's long-term plan, keeping in mind the possibility that they could be fired if they don't live up to the owner's expectations. (That option can be disabled.)

• The ability to set lines and tactics for a variety of game situations, as well as watch games play out and make tactical decisions on the fly.

• A living game world complete with news articles, messages from other GMs and players, announcements of upcoming milestones (a player's 500th career goal, for example), and more. Players also have unique personalities that affect their performance, and they won't be afraid to say something if they're unhappy with how they're being used on the team.

• Support for importing player images, as well as team and league logos.

Requirements:

• Mac OS X 10.5
  
• Intel processor
  
• 512 MB RAM
  
• 1 GB HD Space

FHM 2014 Walkthrough Video

The Road To Release Part 1: All About Ratings

The Road To Release Part 2: Rewriting History And Creating Custom Leagues

The Road To Release Part 3: Scouting And Background Leagues

Franchise Hockey Manager

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Mac Game Store has added Virtual Programming's Sengoku to its list of game titles available for download and purchase. The character driven strategy game drops players into 16th century Japan where they will take the role of a nobleman struggling to unite the land of the Rising Sun through judicious use of diplomacy and military might.

Sengoku is a deep character driven strategy game set in 16th century Japan. Play as a Japanese nobleman and unite the land of the Rising Sun under your iron fist. Use your military might, your smooth talking tongue, and your guile to increase your power. Watch your enemies fall like cherry blossoms in the early dawn of spring. Doublecross your enemies in an honorable and auspicious manner. Always make sure you have competent heir, if you should die before your destiny has been reached.

Features:

• Play as a Feudal Japanese Lord and manage your relations with family, friends, and enemies
  
• Rise in influence and power inside your clan and then move on to claim the ultimate prize, the control of Japan
  
• Conquer and grow while rewarding your most valued retainers as you make a bid to become Shogun
  
• Detailed historical map of Japan, divided into over 350 different provinces, during the Warring States era
  
• Manage your relations with three different religious factions, the Shinto, the Christians and the Buddhists
  
• Employ the aid of powerful Ninja clans when your Samurai armies are not enough

Requirements:

• Mac OS X 10.6.7 or later
  
• Intel Mac
  
• 2 GB RAM
  
• 2 GB HD Space
  
• 512 MB RAM
  
• Video:
  • ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro
    
  • NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
    
  • Intel HD Graphics

Sengoku

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Obsidian Entertainment has released another new early development blog post focusing on the creation of its upcoming Project Eternity RPG. This time the post offers details about the stronghold players will have a chance to acquire during the game, including some of the benefits to be gained from its proper maintenance.

You will be offered the stronghold early in the game, before you finish Act 1. But the stronghold itself is old and dilapidated, and you will want to upgrade it as soon as you can. These upgrades will, in turn, open up new activities and events that can happen, which will make the stronghold a dynamic and fun place to own.

So let’s go through the many reasons why you will want to have a stronghold.

BONUSES:
There are five bonuses you will receive for getting and upgrading your stronghold.

1. Resting bonuses. Some of the upgrades to your stronghold will grant temporary bonuses to your attributes or non-combat skills when you rest there. As examples, you can build Training Grounds to improve your Strength or a Library to improve your Lore skill. Some of these upgrades are expensive, but you’re worth it.
   
2. Adventures for idle companions. You will eventually have more companions than will fit in your party, so you will have leave some of them behind. While they are idling away at the stronghold, they can take part in their own adventures, earning additional experience for themselves and extra money, items and reputation bonuses for you!
   
3. Ingredients. Many of the stronghold upgrades will generate ingredients used by non-combat skills. For example, Botanical Gardens create Survival ingredients over time, and a Curio Shop produces ingredients for use by both Lore and Mechanics.
   
4. Special offers. Sometimes visitors to your stronghold will have rare items for sale, or perhaps they will offer you items in return for something else. Pay attention to these visitors. Some of these items may be nearly impossible to find any other way!
   
5. Wealth. Don’t forget that by owning a stronghold, you also own all of the surrounding lands and impose a tax on all of the inhabitants. It will feel nice for a change to have someone recognize your high standing and give you the money that you so richly deserve.

These bonuses all sound great, right? Well, they are great, but they are just the passive benefits from owning and upgrading a stronghold. There are a lot of activities you can do too, once you take possession of your stronghold.

Project Eternity Stronghold Update

Pillars Of Eternity Hero Edition

Pre-Order Pillars Of Eternity Hero Edition

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Battlefront.com has announced pre-ordering has begun for Combat Mission Battle for Normandy: Market Garden, an upcoming expansion for the WWII ground warfare tactical simulator. In Market Garden players will get the chance to recreate the failed Allied attempt to cross the Rhine and enter Germany in 1944. The expansion will feature two new campaigns, new bridges, new map tools, new scenarios, master maps, new units, and new equipment.

Combat Mission: Market Garden depicts allied Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery's September 1944 dash across Holland in a daring gambit to leap the Rhine river and enter the heartland of Germany itself. Fielding U.S., British and Polish forces, Operation Market Garden was meant to be the lightning stroke which would end the war that year. It included the largest airborne operation seen to that day or since. Market Garden ended in tragedy, though, when the allies failed to capture their final objective, the Rhine river bridge at Arnhem. It was, in the famous words of Lt. General Fredrick "Boy" Browning, a bridge too far.

CM: Market Garden allows the player to recreate Monty's desperate struggles to reach and cross the Rhine in Holland. It is an expansion module to Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy and requires the base game in order to play, upgraded to 2.0! No other modules are required.

New, larger bridges!

For the first time, CM:Market Garden offers detailed, historical, to-scale models of the bridges involved in the Market Garden battles:

• Arnhem bridge
  
• Arnhem railroad bridge
  
• Eindhoven bridge
  
• Nijmegen bridge

Along with generic large bridges for creating your own fictional battles:

• Canal bridge
  
• Angled bridge
  
• Round bridge

New buildings!

New urban buildings, modeled after buildings near the Arnhem and Nijmegen bridges; and windmills!

New map tools!

New editor elevation tools, and a new terrain type: dirt footpaths

New Scenarios!

Ranging from tiny to huge and with a varied mix of forces, 14+ standalone scenarios focus on the new units, weapons and vehicles found in the module.

Master Maps!

The 7 "master maps" are huge maps, historically accurate, detailed and thoroughly researched, depicting the main areas around the bridges where most of the fighting happened:

• Oosterbeek
  
• Johana Hoeve
  
• Arnhem Road Bridge
  
• Oosterhout ( north of Nijmegen)
  
• Nijmegen
  
• West Nijmegen
  
• Elst

These master maps will help scenario designers in creating their own scenarios without the burden of having to create the maps from scratch. The maps can be cut to encompass smaller areas for individual battles.

Two Campaigns: Allied and German

THE ROAD TO NIJMEGEN – ALLIED CAMPAIGN

September 17, 1944. Holland.
15 missions.

A MOMENT IN TIME - GERMAN CAMPAIGN

September 19, 1944. Holland.
6 missions.

New Units and Equipment!

New Major Formations!

CMBFN: Market Garden Pre-Order

Combat Mission BFN: Market Garden

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