Here it is: The Official Release Date for Shadowrun Returns is July 25, 2013.

We know we've been saying June for some time, but now that we've reached this final stage of development, and although our Kickstarter funding was spent some time ago, we've decided to invest additional time in bugfixing and polishing the game. That means a longer crunch period for a tired team, but everyone agrees that it's worth it.

One of the most common pieces of Backer feedback we've received over the past year is that we should take the time we need to ship this game. We really appreciate that, and we know we've thanked you already about a hundred times already, but we're doing it again because we mean it. Thanks.

You gifted us with your trust as well as your funding and we take that responsibility very seriously. You gave us the opportunity to contribute to something bigger than ourselves and something we think is worth all the time, sacrifice, and hard work. Soon, we'll give it all back to you.

Important Note for Kickstarter Backers:

Your Steam key (for Windows & OSX) will be available a day early, on July 24th, from the HBS Accounts website, though the game will not activate until July 25th. (If you need help getting access to this site, contact info@hbs-studios.com.) On July 25th, you will also be able to download your DRM-free version of the game and all Kickstarter digital rewards directly from the HBS Account website. More information about physical rewards delivery will be forthcoming in a separate Kickstarter update.

This week's Doom Ray is something a little different. In a two-part epic interview we talk with Lars Simkins, designer of the incredible-looking Frontiers. An awe-inspiring open world exploration game lovingly created by one man. Lars has a background in VFX with credits that include The Hunger Games, Breaking Bad and the stunning Pushing Daisies. Now he has turned his considerable talents to games design and the results look nothing short of breath-taking. If you're as blown away by Frontiers as we are, check out the Frontiers Kickstarter and consider backing it. Thanks again to Lars for his time and for giving us a glimpse behind the development of this stunning game.

Today, Akaneiro launched on Steam's Early Access program. This is critical milestone for us; something we had been working towards completing for several weeks now and we're all very proud to have made it. Launching Akaneiro through the Early Access program has been a controversial decision, for in doing so we have made the game available at a cost of $10. This $10 gifts the player with $30 of in-game items, but as a game that it available elsewhere as free-to-play it has garnered more than a few questions.

Why $10? Our initial launch of Akaneiro across our SpicyWorld platform and Kongregate, though successful, simply hasn't provided us with the necessary feedback to prepare the game for the next stage, for crafting and co-op. When Valve discussed placing Akaneiro in the Early Access program, we saw this as an opportunity to leverage the experience of the Steam community before opening the game to a wider audience.

What about Kickstarter backers? As a Kickstarter backer, you've already "paid" for the game once. We're not going to ask you to pay a second time. If you wish to play Akaneiro on Steam now, e-mail Ophelea and she will provide you with the necessary key.

Can I transfer my account from SpicyWorld/Kongregate? No. This is simply not possible as it breaks the Terms of Service with Valve. We cannot move account information from one platform to another.

What about Groupees participants? If you are a Groupees beta tester and wish to receive your free Karma for beta testing, please contact Ophelea and she will provide you with the necessary key.

Xenonauts Beta is looking really nice and it already offers an enjoyable experience. Although it doesn't feel finished yet (well, because it isn't) - some art assets are still missing (with placeholders at the moment) and more interesting maps are needed, in my opinion - Xenonauts managed to keep me fairly interested through my 10h play session. Until I faced a Terror Site mission that is, and failed miserably (complete squad wipe).

So, although I've been playing X-COM games for years, this was my first serious Xenonauts game where I definitely felt a challenge. This Beta didn't captivate me as much as X-COM: UFO Defense once did, no. Not the same amount of attachment felt. But, it's too soon to judge the game to that extent. I only played for about 10 hours, and only up until the first Terror site mission appears. I only saw an armor upgrade and had the first few glimpses on the Alien weaponry and story. And, Xenonauts is still in Beta, so there's still a lot to discover and lots of room for improvement.

But, overall, I feel that after the new UI and the missing assets are in place, a few more art injections are made, more and better maps are produced, the game will be ready for prime time. And, it will be, most probably, a very enjoyable game. I'm confident on that because Xenonauts is already enjoyable now.

Horizon's End is proud to present its first game, The Great Gaias. This modern take on the classic JRPG genre brings forth the best qualities of these forgotten games. With more than sixty hours of gameplay including sidequests, hidden characters, crafting, and multiple endings, we hope to rival such classics as Chrono Trigger, Xenogears and the Final Fantasy series.

The Great Gaias is an ancient tome authored by the Gods that is able to reincarnate the souls of ones who have led a life that was supremely influential and helped shape history. The First Men, the Chosen Ones, having been granted immortality by the Gods and free will, were charged with the governance of lesser man and ruled justly and righteously their new city called Validus. After years of prosperity, a stranger from the east, Grindelwald Maultor, brought magic to the First Men, and with this new-found power came tyranny.

Using this mighty gift he corrupted the immortal First Men, transforming them to wickedness. The Gauf, as these ten immortal warlords were named, waged a bloodthirsty war against the other free folk of Tenat. It wasn't until the Warriors of Old, souls birthed from The Great Gaias, battled Validus, and pushed their forces back, imprisoning the immortal Gauf and Lord Maultor within an ancient Tower of the Gods.

Peace has reigned for a millennia, but a new age is dawning in which an ancient magic is returning to the world. The souls of the Great Gaias have all been reborn into existence once again, and the seals of the ancient tower are weakening. It is up to a small group of unlikely adventurers to uncover the past and fulfill an age-old prophecy that will undoubtedly shake the very foundations of the modern world and shape the direction of a new age.

The Great Gaias will employ many features that were cherished by the players of this classic style. Throughout the game you will encounter an elaborate and highly developed lore supported and developed upon by the many systems revolving around it. Features such as the bestiary, biography, quest journal, and The Grand Arcanum, all help to compliment our vision of this rich and detailed world.

How ambitious are you being with the open-world design?

Oh pretty ambitious! That comes down to some of the feedback from Dragon Age II and wanting to give people a lot more exploration. That's one of the reasons why we chose Frostbite as an engine, because we went through a big review of that.

We knew that our own engine Eclipse that did Dragon Age Origins and Dragon Age II was getting pretty long in the tooth. Continuing to develop on that engine would've taken a lot of investment and time. But when we lined up a lot of the opportunities for engines, one of the things that we loved about Frostbite was that it did terrain streaming and big open environments quite well.

So we thought that if we could take that and then layer on beautiful open-world systems and quests, that would be a pretty killer combination. That was a big priority for us.

The first and second Dragon Age titles are quite different games. How are you going to balance Inquisition in terms of incorporating various elements from those games?

The idea for 3 is obviously that the medium has moved ahead again. So we have to take advantage of that and figure out first and foremost where the medium is going. Then from there based on where we see it going, which is to bigger, open areas and more things to do, we then have to decide what from Origins and Dragon Age II we're going to bring in to that.

Each game has things that we like. For example, Origins has a great, tactical combat feel. I personally like that Dragon Age II has a faster, more action feel to it. So we want to blend those and bring them in to Dragon Age: Inquisition and then have it play out in larger, open spaces.

Will player choices from the previous two games factor in the Inquisition story?

Certainly we want to respect the investment that people have made in the first to games. We don't have a specific comment yet on how we're going to do that, but it's become a really big 'BioWare-ism' to do that so want to keep it going. We just don't know how we're going to do it yet so we can't comment.

XCOM's Jake Solomon on MASSIVE CHALICE
Recently Brad and John Skyped with Jake Solomon, lead designer of XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Jake spoke about some of the challenges he encountered during the development of XCOM and how the team at Firaxis overcame them. Along with lessons learned from making a modern turn-based strategy game, Jake gave his unique perspective on the early design direction of MASSIVE CHALICE. Check it out below or on Double Fine's YouTube channel!

To see veterans like Jake back the project is super exciting for us! If you'd like to discuss this chat then head over to the forums!

Reddit AMA Tomorrow
Brad and Tim are going to be on Reddit answering questions tomorrow, June 18th starting at 11am Pacific! Keep an eye on the MASSIVE CHALICE Facebook page and the Double Fine twitter feed for more details!

Bitcoin Support
You asked for it and we listened! Our tireless web team has added another method of backing MASSIVE CHALICE by supporting Bitcoin. Head on over to www.massivechalice.com/back and select either Bitcoin or PayPal to show your MASSIVE love for MASSIVE CHALICE!

A love letter to J-RPG classics from the Playstation era like Final Fantasy, Breath of Fire, Suikoden, and Persona.

Story
The Tempest Reef is a protective barrier of storm clouds that Medonia sits on. This barrier is the only thing keeping the islands safe from the terrors of the Ink corruption that ravages the planet below. Nothing can pass through the Tempest Reef without being utterly annihilated.

And Now...

300 years after it's conception, the Tempest Reef is weakening, and the Islands of Medonia are dying and falling from the sky. There are rumors of a passage called Cloud's End that will allow a ship passage through the Tempest Reef to the surface world below. It is assumed that Mithos' father had found this passage, but he left no trace of its existence behind. The Guilds of Medonia now search for Cloud's End in hope to find a cure for their dying islands somewhere on the surface of Oterra.

What's a Disastercake?
Disastercake is one normal guy with one large dream: to make games he's passionate about. This guy's name is Mike Gale... and that's me! I've been working on Soul Saga for years as many roles including a programmer, game designer, and technical artist. I also outsource a lot of Soul Saga's art to talented artists around the world using my life's savings. I use to work at Microsoft in their games department, but I've quit that comfy job to work on Soul Saga, a game inspired by classic J-RPGs.

Why a J-RPG?
J-RPGs (Japanese Role Playing Games) are the reason I fell in love with the game industry. When I was young, I spent countless hours playing games like Final Fantasy, Breath of Fire, Suikoden, and Persona.

What attracted me to J-RPGs was that they are one of the most impressive forms of multimedia to date. They contain nearly all forms of media in one beautifully orchestrated piece of art. Traditional art, graphic design, 3D, music, sound, lighting, cinematography, choreography, script writing, acting, story telling, and a whole lot more!

But it's a fine balance. If one part seems off, the rest suffers greatly. For this reason, it's also one of the most challenging forms of media to orchestrate successfully. I hunger for that challenge!