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Archived News:
BeyondUnreal has a list of changes planned for beta patch 2 for Unreal
Tournament 3. According to the accompanying blurb, these changes are expected to
be finalized soon as the first official patch for the shooter sequel.
Another new patch is now available for World in Conflict, bringing Massive
Entertainment's RTS game to version 1.004. There are patches for the various
international editions of the game, which can be found on
AtomicGamer and
FileFront and additionally the US/English patch alone can be found on
FanGaming and
FileShack. The patches aren't yet on the
World in Conflict Website, but
the site does say to expect the mod toolkit for the game soon: "The World
in Conflict team is proud to announce the upcoming release of the much
anticipated mod kit. The mod kit, along with the already released map tool
WiCEd, makes all aspiring modder's dreams come true. With a wide assortment of
different tools, the mod kit will let gamers create just the mods they
like, be it a small balancing mod with tweaks on unit stats or a full-blown
total conversion mod. Keep your eyes peeled for more information when the mod
kit is released."
The Petroglyph
Games Website has word that Universe at War: Earth Assault is gold, and the
science fiction RTS game is nearing release (thanks
FiringSquad). The announcement is pretty sparse, here it is: The game
is at the manufacturer as I type this, and we'll be hitting store shelves soon!
Thanks to all of you who have been following the development, participating on
the boards and playing along. It's been a hell of a ride.
(Now to see what I can do about that beta patch.)
Codemasters
Studios to shift race gaming to a higher gear with Race Driver GRID
announces GRID will be the next racing simulation from the folks behind the
Colin McRae, so it's possible that the rally driver's untimely death may have
ended his namesake series, though this game seems focused primarily on paved
tracks and roads. The new game is in development for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 for
release in the middle of next year. Here's word: Codemasters® today
announced Race Driver: GRID™ as the full and official title for the game
introduced under the working title of Race Driver One. Race Driver: GRID is the
new racing experience from Codemasters Studios, creators of Colin McRae: DiRT™
and the Race Driver™ series, and is set to deliver a step-change in the racing
genre.
Coming mid 2008, Race Driver: GRID is set to capture every moment from the
starting grid to the chequered flag and concentrate those moments into an
intense and dramatic race experience. Race Driver: GRID is being developed for
the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft®, the
PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Games for Windows®.
" Race Driver: GRID is all about the race." said Gavin Raeburn, Executive
Producer at Codemasters Studios. "The next iteration of our DiRT engine combined
with a decade of experience in developing driving games enables us to put the
player at the centre of the action like never before. Damage, packed grids,
intelligent opposition and unprecedented race day atmosphere will combine to
deliver an experience like no other.
Says Ralph Fulton, Chief Game Designer. " GRID focuses on everything that
happens between the start grid and the chequered flag: the drama, the rivalries,
the aggression and the crashes. This is not a game about collecting cars or
spending all of your time in the front-end tuning suspension settings or
designing liveries. We want to make racing exciting again."
Race Driver: GRID will take players to beautifully realised and dramatic race
locations over three continents to compete in an unprecedented variety of racing
events. Packed with the most powerful race cars – new and classic, circuit and
drift – players will compete to conquer the most prestigious official race
tracks and championships and then go beyond to compete in challenging city-based
competitions, through to road events and urban street races.
In Europe, race gamers will compete on the greatest official tracks in prestige
Marques including Aston Martin, Koenigsegg and Pagani.
Iconic cities across the U.S. – including San Francisco, Washington DC and
Detroit and each with their own atmosphere and events – play hosts to diverse
street races. Here, high-performance V8 muscle cars set the pace in aggressive
closely fought pack competitions.
In the Far East, Japanese racing culture sets the tone where night races,
including Drift racing, take drivers through neon illuminated cities and to
outlying mountain roads. There is also the opportunity to compete in races that
operate on the fringes of legality in the back streets and industrial areas of
Yokohama.
Race Driver: GRID is coming mid 2008 for the Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3 system and
Games for Windows. To register for future driver briefings and get a place on
the grid, be sure to visit
www.codemasters.co.uk/grid
Randy Pitchford
calls moaning developers cry babies on VideoGamer.com has a quote from the
head cog at Gearbox from interview to be published tomorrow. During a recent
Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway event Randy describes how pleased they are
working with Epic and the Unreal engine, not specifically naming Silicon Knights
in suggesting that developers having issues with Unreal support may themselves
be to blame: "I've seen some of the stuff on the internet about the problems and
I don't know if these developers are maybe new, or not used to using other
people's technology or if they've gotten too many inexperienced developers or
they're just cry-babies. I just don't know." There's
also a Q&A
with Randy on Computer and Video Games discussing BiA, but not to be left
out of the controversy,
they also
except s quote from Randy where he expresses the opinion that the Medal of
Honor franchise is "in trouble," saying: "there's something just missing about
what's in the heart of what the fantasy is of playing these kinds of games and I
think somebody needs to get hold of that franchise that really cares and can do
that."
Matrix Games is now
serving up a new patch for Flashpoint Germany, updating this alternate-history
Cold War strategy game to version 1.13. Word is: "This latest update comes with
a handful of changes which include an improvement to browsing unit waypoints and
a fixed memory leak in Windows Vista."
The Point of Existence Website
now offers downloads of the version 2.1 dedicated server to pave the way for
tomorrow's planned release of the client files for this Battlefield 2
modification (thanks Ant and
Planet
Battlefield). In the meantime,
this changelog is where to check out the changes, fixes, and tweaks in the
new version.
I looked down at the Gunnar-man last night and it struck me that I'd forgotten
his birthday, which was November 2, making our monster poodle three-years old now. That helps explain (or at least rationalize) how I overlooked the
date at the time, as at this age he should have clearly emerged from puppyhood
by now, which has not turned out to be the case. Anyway, I'm not going to sweat failing to
mark the occasion. As I've pointed out before, every day is a special day for
Gunnar, no external effort required.
Blacksite's
Harvey Smith Asks, Why The Low Scores? on Wired.com (thanks Mike Martinez) offers
comments about BlackSite: Area 51 from Harvey Smith (thanks nin). The game's
producer says he would score the shooter sequel higher than its 69% GameRankings
average, saying some of the more subversive elements of the game's storyline
went unappreciated, but in a surprisingly frank assessment says he understands
why the game was not well-received. Harvey cites lack of polish as a factor as
the game jumped to final form shortly after reaching the alpha stage, and does
not shy away from blame, saying he is to be faulted as the game was the less
favored of the two projects he was overseeing during development. When asked why
he was publicly knocking his own project so soon after release the man also
known as Witchboy replied, "I believe in personal accountability."
BeyondUnreal has word that a new patch for the PC edition of Gears of War is
now available automatically via Windows LIVE. For those having issues with the
auto-update dealie,
this
page offers the manual patch, accompanied by a note explaining why this may
be the case: "The Gears of War for Windows Title Update fixes various
performance issues, including the Games for Windows – LIVE update issue."
Additionally,
this post
outlines a registry hack for users who apply the update and lose personal
preferences like resolution settings or cannot find custom maps on the map
list.
- Mark Rein
The
Unreal Man: Mark Rein Speaks on Gamasutra is a Q&A with the Epic
spokesman about whether Unreal 3-engine games have a distinctive look,
console development, PC/PS3 interoperability, mod support, and more.
- RF Online
WarCry
Network's RF Online Q&A chats with Kyle Rowley and Chris Dye about the
latest changes to the PvP MMOG.
- Penny Arcade Adventures
RPG
Vault's Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Q&A
talks with Jerry Holkins of Penny Arcade and Joel DeYoung of Hothead Games
about the upcoming PA game, which DeYong considers to be "hardcore," in
spite of being an episodic adventure: "At Hothead, we're focused on making
games for people who consider themselves hardcore, but who want games to
allow them to play in the small chunks that their busy lives allow, and
finish in a reasonable amount of time. Making the game episodic supports
that very well."
- Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor on
GameSpy.
- Jack Keane on
GameZone.
The Warmonger: Operation
Downtown Destruction Website now features the release of the free full
version of this first-person shooter developed by those devils at NetDevil.
Here's word on the game and how it can take advantage of an AGEIA PhysX card,
which is recommended, but not required: "NetDevil today announces the launch of
the much anticipated, next-generation FPS game Warmonger, Operation: Downtown
Destruction. Available now for free download, Warmonger pushes the limits of
destruction technology where game environments can be shaped and manipulated by
players at will. Taking full advantage of AGEIA’s PhysX card combined with Epic
Games’ Unreal Engine 3 (UE3), the powerful game mechanics combine high
performance action and stunning fluid and cloth effects that reflect the cutting
edge of gaming visuals and physics today." The full game can be found on
this page, and the 437
MB download is mirrored on
AtomicGamer,
ComputerGames.ro,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell.
An update on the
Crymod Modding Portal has details on the promised Crysis Patch #1, though
they are still not venturing to offer a release date for the first new version
of Crytek's first-person shooter following its release. They say this will not
be a major patch, with overall performance and adjustments to LAW and grenade
balance in multiplayer the primary changes. The update also offers information
for those having trouble acquiring their preorder bonus APC as well as a
workaround for a weapon sound loop bug. Thanks McSterls.
This press
release provides an oddly sparse announcement of Two Worlds: The Temptation,
an upcoming expansion for Reality Pump's RPG planned for release for PCs and
consoles in the first half of next year. The
Official Two Worlds: The
Temptation Website is online, though the teaser site only offers a few
screenshots for the time being. Here is the entirety of the
proclamation: Karlsruhe, 28. November 2007 – Head for a new horizon! With
the add-on, “Two Worlds – The Temptation”, the “Two Worlds” universe continues
to grow, introducing new game content, extended gameplay and providing you with
the answers to many questions and mysteries which arose in the main story!
The developers are focusing on a blend of the proven and the new: besides
several well-known regions of Antaloor, there are also completely new
territories to explore. The combat system has been further enhanced too – now
you can use active blocking, for example. Many other additional developments
have been added – developments which have enabled a completely new means of
transport and a much enhanced reaction from NPCs – but more on these and a whole
host of other surprises shortly! The release of “Two Worlds – The Temptation”
for PC and consoles is planned for the first half of 2008. You can get an idea
of what to expect at
www.2-worlds.com/temptation.
This press
release has word from sunny Iceland that the Trinity expansion for EVE
Online will be released for free to subscribers to the outer space MMORPG on
December 5, a user-base that CCP announces has crossed the 200,000 player
threshold. A complete list of new features can
be found here,
and a trailer for the expansion is on
this page. Here's a
bit on Trinity that describes its emphasis on updated graphics: The
release of the Trinity expansion fortifies EVE Online's position at the
forefront of three-dimensional game graphics, creating a breath-taking cinematic
experience during actual gameplay. In order to achieve its visual goals, CCP
developed a new graphics engine, architected for Shader Model 3.0 and above. In
this first showcase for the new engine, all ships, stations and stargates have
been reconstructed. EVE Online: Trinity employs advanced lighting techniques and
complex surface materials to make these highly detailed models even more
realistic.
Rumor: New
Leisure Suit Larry Game In Production is a report stemming from yesterday's
Howard Stern Show where comedian Artie Lange dropped a tidbit indicating he is
to voice a character named Big Al in an upcoming Leisure Suit Larry game. No
other information beyond this hint was provided. Thanks
FiringSquad.
This press
release announces Corrosion: Cold Winter Waiting, an adventure game in the
works at UK developer Viperante for release in August 2008. The
Corrosion: Cold Winter Waiting
Website is online with information and media from the project, and here's a
bit of the announcement: Corrosion: Cold Winter Waiting is a dark,
shocking, uncompromising, and fear charged horror adventure game, that casts the
player in the role of Sheriff Alex Truman as he attempts to break the monotony
of life by piecing together the history and origins of a disturbed and
unidentified car crash victim.
Set entirely underneath an idyllic country farmhouse, in the deserted and
claustrophobic confines of a mysterious and secret underground complex, players
will explore a place nobody knew existed, and uncover a twisted past that gets
more and more terrifying with every corner turned, every door opened, and every
note read.
What happened beneath Cold Winter Farm? What does it have to do with the
stranger, who survived a terrible crash, only to sit and mutter the farm’s name?
And if the place is supposed to be deserted, what do you keep seeing out of the
corner of your eye?
Backed by atmospheric pre-rendered 3D scenes, and a chilling yet beautiful
score, Corrosion: Cold Winter Waiting weaves a tangled and brutal tale of love,
revenge, jealousy, and bitter rivalry to create a horror experience that will
bring new meaning to the concepts of hope and trust, and leave you questioning
whether what you know, is really what you know!
The
City of Heroes Forums have word on today's new content update for City of Heroes and City of
Villains bringing the superhero/villain MMOG combo to issue #11 (thanks JonB).
The City of Heroes
Community Site has highlights of the new release, which is titled "A stitch
in time."
The
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars Website now offers episode three of
Aftermath, the C&C-centric podcast, featuring new information and footage from
the upcoming Kane's Wrath expansion for the RTS sequel as well as an interview
with the game's cinematic director. Thanks
Voodoo Extreme.
Matrix Games announces
the availability of a new patch for Advanced Tactics: World War II, bringing the
turn-based strategy game to version 1.02. Word is: "This latest 1.02 official
update brings over 20 fixes, balance tweaks, and improvements to the table.
Specifically, many minor bugs were fixed, the Europe at War scenario has been
updated, unit costs were tweaked a bit, and the balance of units like scouts,
flak, level bombers, heavy tanks, and more has been improved."
I enjoy the Mayberry quality of our little village, but someone needs to explain
to the local citizenry that with about three street lights in the whole area
that they need to be more careful when crossing the streets at night. Last night
I avoided hitting a pedestrian in spite of his best efforts to remain in the
shadows while crossing an intersection (at a traffic circle, no less), and I
swear he never even noticed I was there. If I was someone like my father, for
instance, whose advanced years have taken their toll on his night vision, this
story would be about running someone over.
R.I.P.:
Quiet Riot's Kevin DuBrow Remembered By Rockers.
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