Archived News:

Tuesday, Dec 11, 2012

A New Beginning - Final Cut

Steam News announces the release of A New Beginning - Final Cut, an updated version of Daedalic Entertainment's adventure game. The new version includes new features, new localizations, and OS X support. Here's a quick rundown on the game: "A New Beginning - Final Cut is a cinematic adventure-thriller done graphic novel-style. In this charming and witty adventure, earth is on the brink of impending climate cataclysm. It's essential to travel the world in order to spare mankind and save the whole from this terrible fate."

Updated Drox Operative Demos

Soldak Entertainment now offers new demos for Drox Operative, updated to the release version of the sci-fi action/RPG. Word is: "In the Drox Operative demo, you can get a taste of the dynamic and ever changing galaxy. There is no time limit, but it does limit everything to around level 6." The version 1.000 demos for Windows and OS X can be found on this page.

Star Wars: The Old Republic Patched

The Star Wars: The Old Republic Website solicits screenshots showing off your celebratory moments leading up to the first anniversary of the Star Wars MMORPG on December 20th. The site also offers details on a new version 1.6 "Ancient Hypergate" updated that's now live in the game. Word is: "Game Update 1.6 will introduce new PvP mechanics in the new Warzone: Ancient Hypergate, which locks Republic and Imperial force in an epic conflict to unleash the power of an ancient Gere technology. Also, see exciting gameplay of new Level 50 Heroic Space Missions. After viewing the video, be sure to log-in to The Old Republic™ and experience the new content first hand!"

SimCity Trailer

A new trailer shows off more of SimCity, the upcoming urban planning reboot, introducing how multi-city play will be handled. Here's an explanation:
With Multicity play, you no longer need to provide all the required city infrastructures in one city. Build a police station and share your growing police force with the greater region. Have your friend build a fire station in a neighboring city and soon you’ll see their fire trucks putting out flames in your city. Just like the world around you, neighboring cities support each other through shared resources. These are just a few examples of the Multicity play that you’ll see today in Stone’s gameplay strategy video.

Built from the ground up to be a fully connected experience, Multicity play in SimCity gives you the option to choose how you play. When you login and pick a region, you can decide to claim all the cities for yourself, invite your friends into your region to play alongside you, invite anyone in and make new friends, or join someone else’s region.
Continue here to read the full story.

Op Ed

GameFront - Diablo 3′s Auction House Economy Has Screwed New Players.
Diablo 3′s Auction House, an evil more nefarious than the series’ titular villain, is the reason anyone trying to get into D3 today will face the unfortunate results of having a game’s economy be the driving force behind its gameplay. Why? Because the game’s item drop rates were balanced around the idea that players will periodically use the AH to upgrade their gear, but the current state of the game makes doing so a near-impossibility for a new player.

Evening Screenshots

Into the Black

Link of the Day: Perfectly Timed Photos - 2012 Edition. Thanks Ant.

IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad Announced

1C Company announces a partnership with 777 Studios (Rise of Flight: The First Great Air War) to form 1C Game Studios, a new developer that's now at work on IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad, a new installment in the IL-2 Sturmovik series of combat flight simulators. Here's a bit from the press release on the IL-2 Sturmovik Website discussing the partnership, PC gaming, and the game itself:
Both 1C and 777 Studios see the flight-simulation genre as an important one for PC gaming with a dedicated fan-base that is eager to support interesting and immersive products. 1C Company is located in Moscow with offices throughout Europe and 777 Studios is headquartered in Southern California with development teams in Russia and Ukraine.

Battle of Stalingrad will include both single-player and multi-player scenarios for virtual pilots to enjoy as well as brand new gameplay modes. Initial client release is slated for early 2014 with add-on content and additional features and theatres to follow.

Dunwall City Trials Released for Dishonored

Steam News announces the release of the Dishonored: Dunwall City Trials DLC for Dishonored, Arkane's stealthy assassination game:
Enter the world of the Outsider in Dishonored: Dunwall City Trials, the first add-on pack for the critically-acclaimed first-person action game by Arkane Studios. Your combat, stealth and mobility skills will be put to the test as you make your way through 10 distinct maps that feature a variety of challenges. Creatively combine your supernatural abilities, weapons and gadgets to eliminate as many targets as possible, fight off waves of tallboys, guards, weepers and thugs, or take out targets in a non-stop run of drop assassinations. Dunwall City Trials also features a new set of achievements and trophies as well as a global online leaderboard.

Free Metro 2033 on Steam

THQ Demo's Facebook Page is offering free Steam keys for Metro 2033 for all who throw a "like" their way. According to Polygon, these free copies of the post-apocalyptic shooter are being provided "while supplies last."

Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams Free Level

Black Forest Games announces the release of a free Christmas level for Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams as a holiday gift for owners of the platformer, saying this will also soon be released on Steam for all as a free demo. Here's word on the level: "Giana runs, jumps and ice--]skates through a captivating snow--]covered winter wonderland, which transforms into a nightmarish barren wasteland at the press of the button. To get into the spirit, the designers created a whole lot of morphing holiday objects to be discovered by the players. And it requires all the skills that players can muster to make it through and to bash the vicious Santa-Owls. Here's word on availability and big picture support:
Owners of the game will receive this content automatically. It can be selected via the “Extras” entry in the game’s main menu and is available as a free update on Steam, GOG.COM and GamersGate, as well as the backer versions of the game. This Level will be also available as a free, stand-­‐alone download on Steam and gog.com, as a gift to gamers who haven’t played the game.

Similar to the full length game, players can change between cute and punk Giana, each with their own look and abilities. Anyone craving more morphing madness can always get the full game boasting 23 rich levels across 3 distinct worlds, each transforming into the two dream worlds. The new Steam version features two major improvements. In addition to the full controller support on Steam, Black Forest Games added Steam Big Picture functionality. Now players will be able to launch the game without the need of their mouse and keyboard and works on TV-sets with 1080p screen resolution.

Predestination's Northern Ireland Kickstart

The Kickstarter for Predestination announces this turn-based space 4X strategy game is now funded. They add that besides the game, this may also help kickstart game development in Northern Ireland: "Thanks to the extremely low cost of living in Northern Ireland and government schemes that will match any private funding we find, we only needed to secure $25,000 through Kickstarter to comfortably fund Predestination's development. Additional funds will be used to add features like multiplayer, a full story campaign and free level designer tools. Several independent Irish game developers have tried and failed to secure funding via Kickstarter in the past, but this success shows that crowdfunding could be the way forward for funding indie development in the UK."

Natural Selection 2 Patched

A new version of Natural Selection 2 is now automatically available, announces Steam News. They have the full notes on the update to the action/strategy sequel, which includes new features, optimizations, bug fixes, and improvements to the editor and SDK.

GeForce Optimizer

A new GeForce Experience Page is online, providing owners of NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards a way to automatically update their drivers and optimize graphics settings for a selection of games. Here's how the optimization works: "Want to know the best settings to play your games? GeForce Experience will figure it out for you. GeForce Experience connects you to NVIDIA’s cloud datacenter to download optimal game settings tailored to your PC based on your CPU, GPU and monitor. Optimal settings maximize image quality while maintaining great performance so you get the best experience. A built-in interactive screenshot viewer helps you learn more about each setting and their benefits." Thanks Charles.

World of Warcraft Fast Patch and Hotfix

World of Warcraft Website offers notes on a new version 5.1.0A "fast patch" for World of Warcraft, Blizzard's MMORPG. This is a fine distinction, not to be confused with a full patch or a hotfix. Speaking of the latter, they also announce a new hotfix as well.

Morning Previews

Hardware Reviews

Out of the Blue

Today is the 40th anniversary of the command module for Apollo 17 setting down, marking the last time man landed on the moon. One small step for (a) man. Too bad we've lost our stomach for giant leaps. Speaking of the calendar, I want to wish a happy Hanukkah to all who are celebrating, as we are now amid the festival of lights, which began on December 8th and runs through sundown Sunday.

Leaping Links: Thanks Ant and Acleacius.
Play: Liquid Measure 3.
Links: Pointer Pointer. I laugh every time. Thanks jimnms.
Stories: Shyamalan's new sci-fi flick doesn't look immediately terrible in new trailer. Thanks Neutronbeam.
Science: Smart Cups Detect Date Rape Drugs. Now we need drugs to detect dumb cups.
Media: Newegg TV- -Tech The Halls- Compilation Album.
Mission vs Bond.
Auction: A collector is selling every Super Nintendo game for $24,999.
The Funnies: Dilbert.
Follow-up: "Skyfall," "Twilight" Break More Records.
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