Archived News:

Monday, Oct 13, 2008 Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples' Day (USA) - Thanksgiving (Canada)

Champions Online Beta Sign-ups

The Champions Online Website has word that applications are now being accepted for closed beta testing of Champions Online, the super-powered MMORPG in the works at Cryptic Studios. Sign-ups are being conducted on this page and testing is supposed to begin in the middle of next month to pave the way for the game's release in the spring of next year. Word is: "This closed beta is an exciting step in the evolution of Champions Online,” said Jack Emmert, chief creative officer for Cryptic Studios. “All of us here in the Cryptic offices have been playing the game for a while now, and we’re excited to invite others in to have as much fun with Champions Online as we’ve been having internally."

Blizzard Denies Milking StarCraft II

Edge Online has a Q&A with Blizzard's Bob Colayco about the revelation that StarCraft II will be released as three different products. Bob flatly denies that this is a pernicious effect of the Activision Blizzard merger and also decries accusations they are trying to milk the science fiction RTS franchise: "Activision doesn’t really factor in, because ultimately the people calling the shots on how this game is going to turn out is the StarCraft II dev team. This trilogy decision was really made by that team. Effectively, what are we really talking about here? We’ve always done our RTS games with one expansion pack. So now we’re releasing two. Is it really that weird?"

Vista 64-Bit NIA Drivers

OCZ Technology Announces the Availability of Vista 64-bit Drivers for the neural impulse actuator (NIA) gaming peripheral, saying: "The migration to the Vista 64 environment with the unified ver. 2.0 software suite required a complete recoding of the human interface device library, but in view of the increasing acceptance of 64-bit computing, the effort was worthwhile." Drivers with Windows XP support are not available, however. The download can be found on this page.

New XTAC

The XTAC Website now offers an updated version 2.0 XTAC client and a corresponding updated XTAC server for your online strategery. Word is: "XTAC makes creating, editing and sharing your strategies and tactics easier. Have a look at the features list and see how XTAC supports any existing FPS/RTS/MMORPG game: America's Army, Armed Assault, GRAW 2, Counter Strike, Counter Strike Source, Battlefield 2, Battlefield 2142, Crysis, FEAR, SWAT 4, Unreal Tournament, Half Life², Call of Duty 4, Team Fortress 2, Enemy Territory, Warcraft III, Company of Heroes, WOW... you can even use XTAC tactical software for Paintball, Airsoft and collective sports training."

Evening Previews

Evening Screenshots

Into the Black

Turbine West Formed, Dave Brevik is Creative Director

Turbine announces plans to open a west coast office, saying: "The new studio will be a vital part of Turbine’s corporate vision as it brings new titles to market, expands the platforms it supports and introduces new technologies to expand and grow the communities that are the foundation of online games." The press release quotes Turbine president Jim Crowley saying: “The opening of our West coast studio is a major milestone in Turbine’s long-term growth plans as it allows us to complement the outstanding talent we have on the East coast with the pool of extraordinary talent available on the West coast." Specific projects are not mentioned, but they also announce that Dave Brevik will join the studio as is Turbine’s newest Creative Director after having been Chief Visionary Officer at Flagship Studios. They offer a bit more from his résumé: "Prior to co-founding Flagship Studios, he spent seven years as both president for Blizzard North and as a Director of Blizzard Entertainment. As a member of numerous internal and external project oversight teams, he brought a unique vision and understanding of design and technology to Blizzard’s games, especially the Diablo series. Dave also played an important role in the initial and iterative structural design of Blizzard’s free online gaming service, Battle.net, which launched with the original Diablo."

Dead Mountaineer's Hotel Delay

This press release announces a delay to Q1 2009 for Dead Mountaineer's Hotel, the "whodunit" mystery adventure previously planned for release next year. Here's word on the delay to this game based on the works of the Strugatsky Brothers: "Originally scheduled to release this year, they have decided to extend the production schedule in order to further polish the game. Dead Mountaineer's Hotel is a character-driven, non-linear game with multiple endings, inspired by award winning Russian sci-fi novelists, the Strugatsky Brothers. Players must solve the astonishing murder of one of the hotel's guests and unveil the startling secrets surrounding the mystical Dead Mountaineer's Hotel."

Morning Chuckle

The Shrapnel Games Forums offer a laugh based on the announcement that StarCraft II is being split into three games (story). Thanks James for this presumably tongue-in-cheek announcement:
A sneak peek for all you blog readers. Dominions IV: The Profiteering will feature eighty playable nations, and since that's way too much game to fit on one disc it will be broken up into eighty full games. Furthermore, Dominions IV: The Profiteering will introduce the concept of the collectible manual! Each copy will feature ten pages of the manual. Collect all games to get the full manual!

Expect episode one, EA Ulm, to ship Q4 2009, with episode eighty, LA R'lyeh to hit the streets Q2 2017.

Thanks Blizzard, couldn't think of this without you!

Morning Preview

Game Reviews

Hardware Reviews

Out of the Blue

For a tackle football fan, Sunday without a game for your team is a little disorienting. I managed to make it through yesterday with no withdrawal symptoms, as the Giants play tonight. They haven't always been so stellar over the years on Monday Night Football, but hopefully they'll acquit themselves properly tonight.

Tackle Links: Thanks Ant and Mike Martinez.
Link: Top 5 Outstanding Wall Climbing Robots.
Story: Disney classic Bambi named top 'tear-jerker' film of all time. I can't watch it.
Images: Pee … If You Dare!
Media: Marriage Proposal via Video Games.
The Big Bang Theory Video- Dragon Fodder.
A Night Time Ride In Knight Rider's K.I.T.T.
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