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Archived News:
The
Steam Users Forums (thanks
Shacknews) announces
that Valve called shenanigans on approximately 20,000
Steam user accounts yesterday, and
has disabled access to them. Word is: "The method used was extremely easy for
Valve to trace and confirm, and so there is no question that the accounts
disabled were used to try and illegally obtain Half-Life 2." The post goes on to
describe the circumstances under which Steam accounts will be revoked, as well
as avenues to follow should you feel your account was banned erroneously. They
also go on to debunk what has become the popular myth that they released a bug
to the warez circuit to entrap pirates: Valve did not put out any kind of
fake key or fake warez or hack instructions to trap people. The hack came from
the "community" as do they all.
'World of Warcraft' Now
Available (thanks Frans) is the press release announcing the North American
retail launch of Blizzard's highly anticipated MMORPG: Blizzard
Entertainment® today announced that "World of Warcraft®," its eagerly awaited
massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), is now available in
North America, Australia and New Zealand. With a monthly subscription, players
can experience the epic adventure of the "Warcraft®" series in an immersive and
continually evolving online environment. "World of Warcraft" is already in Open
Beta in Korea and Closed Beta in Europe, and further details regarding the Final
Beta Test in Europe and additional beta tests in Asia will be announced in the
near future.
Update: On a related note,
Slashdot | Vivendi Jilts WoW CE Pre-order Customers (thanks Mike Martinez) outlines
problems some customers have experienced getting their pre-orders for the
Collector's Edition fulfilled.
Video Game
Industry’s Double Messages are Double Trouble for Parents Despite Efforts, Youth
access to Violent and Sexually Graphic Games Still Major Issue National
Institute on Media and the Family, Sen. Lieberman, Sen. Kohl, and U.S. is
the concise headline of the press release announcing the results of the ninth
annual MediaWise Video Game Report Card, an annual castigation of the gaming
industry by "the nation’s leading resource on the effects of video games on
children." Included is their annual list of "M" rated games that shouldn't be
played by children, as well recommendations for kid-friendly fare. Likewise,
criticism of this criticism can be found on the
Interactive Entertainment Merchants
Association Website, where they defend efforts at keeping adult games out of
the hands of minors, saying "It is our belief that it is premature to judge the
effectiveness of new and not yet fully-implemented industry self-regulation due
to the timing of the research in question."
A new World of Warcraft movie is up
on
Blizzard's FTP server (direct link) showing off some of the imminent MMORPG
with narration from some of the developers. The 95 MB movies is also available
on 3D Gamers,
Boomtown (registration required), and
Filerush (torrent). Also, a new Hearts of Iron 2 Rolling Demo (movie)
is now available on the
Paradox
Entertainment Website, showing off some of Paradox Entertainment's WW2 strategy
sequel. Finally, a new Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
"Time Powers" movie is now available, and can be found on
Gamer's Hell.
- Auto Assault
The
Auto Assault Q&A on
JIVEMagazine discusses the upcoming MMORPG with NetDevil's Scott Brown:
"Auto Assault has a lot of designers that have played Car Wars but it wasn't
a defining influence for us. In Auto Assault, you play a character that owns
many different chassis. Your character levels-up as you play, giving you a
chance to spend skill points to acquire new abilities and powers. We also
have a massive loot system which is augmented by a very exciting crafting
system."
- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
The
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Q&A on IGN talks with Bethesda about the next
installment in their RPG series: "It's an all-new story. It does take place
after the events of the other games, but we do each game to be its own thing
-- a new game, and not necessarily a sequel to the previous game(s). The
story itself follows the death of the Emperor, and an invasion from
Oblivion. You have to find the true heir to the throne to stop the demons
from Oblivion."
- PoP: Warrior Within
Prince
of Persia: The Final Interview on IGN discusses the new installment in
the Prince's adventures with Ubisoft's Yannis Mallat: "The fast forward and
the slow motion in the Sands of Time were cool powers, but the problem is,
the player was not really using them. He was able to go through the game
without using them. The more clever or interested gamer would use them, but
still it was not an in-depth gameplay mechanic. This was the main thing that
the team has worked on, giving that to [Warrior Within]."
- World of Warcraft
The
World of Warcraft Q&A on GameSpy asks 10 questions of the quest designer
in the new MMORPG as it gets set to launch: "It's important to pace the
storylines in a way that makes for a climactic ending. For example, we knew
from the beginning that the Defias storyline would start and end at a
relatively low level. In fact, the majority of the storyline is played out
before level 30. Because this is a lower level quest theme, we were able to
pace the quests accordingly. We also have some larger quest themes that took
on a slower pacing."
- Titan 2.0
HomeLAN
Fed's Titan 2.0 Q&A chats with Rich Goodman of Stainless Steel Studios
about their new RTS game engine: "Over the years, we have seen the barrier
to entry for new young game developers rise substantially. The era of
garage-game start-up companies is almost a thing of the past. We wanted to
provide an opportunity for enthusiastic young game developers to bring their
concepts to market. In the long run, we think this will help broaden the
ever-narrowing choices of games available to players and allow aspiring new
developers to succeed in a competitive industry."
- Second Life
Why
Learn to Type With Mavis Beacon When You Could Learn Game Design With Second
Life? on GameZone is a Q&A with Robin Harper about Linden Labs' about
their online education: "Campus: Second Life kind of grew out of the fact
that we have had over the last couple of years classes from several
different universities visit Second Life and realized that there was an
opportunity to take advantage of the tool in Second Life as part of their
curriculum."
- The Sims 2 University
There are Q&As about the newly
announces collegiate expansion for The Sims 2 on
GameSpot,
GameSpy, and IGN.
- The Matrix Online
A new
Question of the Week on The Matrix Online Vault learns more about beta
testing and European preorders for Monolith's upcoming MMORPG.
An official version 3339 patch for the Mac & Linux editions of Unreal Tournament
2004 is now available, bringing these platforms in line with the Windows version of
Epic's multiplayer shooter. Word is: "The Linux version needs 3339 installed
AFTER the Editors' Choice Bonus Pack, since it fixes issues in the BP. If you
install the Bonus Pack after 3339, you'll break your installation...in such a
case, just reinstall 3339 over top of it. You must apply 3339 after the Bonus
Pack. The Editors' Choice Edition disc (on sale now!) installs the Bonus Pack by
default, so you can just drop 3339 on top of that without fussing." Downloads
are available on icculus.org
and mirrored on 3D
Gamers.
A StarGate: The
Alliance Teaser Website is online, paving the way for the upcoming launch of
a full site dedicate to the game based on the cult-hit television series.
There's currently some background information there, with the promise of more to
come. On tap are the first three screenshots from the project.
Demos of MTX Mototrax demo are now available, allowing the chance to test-drive
Aspyr's new dirt-bike simulation. The PC demo is available from
3D Gamers,
FileFront,
Filerush (torrent), Gameguru
Mania, Gamer's Hell,
JustGamers, and
Worthplaying.
The Mac edition of the demo can be found on
MacGameFiles.
- Kohan II Beta
A new beta patch for Kohan II is up on the
TimeGate Studios Website, updating the game to version 1.2.0 beta.
Thanks Frans.
- Euro SuperPower 2
This
DreamCatcher Europe Support Page features the European edition of the
recent SuperPower 2 patch. Thanks Frans.
- The Fall (German)
The
German The Fall: Last Days of Gaia Website (thanks Frans) now offers a
new version 1.2 patch for the German version of Silver Style Entertainment's
post-apocalyptic RPG. The update includes performance improvements for
RADEON 9700 accelerators.
- Starship Tycoon
A
Starship Tycoon patch is now available, updating the space mogul game to
version 2.28.
- Men of Valor (Europe)
This
VU Games FTP directory offers downloads of patches for various European
editions of Men of Valor. The updates are mirrored on
3D Gamers.
- Space HoRSE
Shrapnel
Games has a new version 1.04 of Space HoRSE, the M.U.L.E. homage, along
with an updated M.U.L.E. demo and a new Net Game Matchmaking service to help
hook up to play online games.
Toronto Fun League's IAOD Gaming
Expo & TFL Winter Fragfest 2004 is slated for mid-December, and sign-ups are
now being accepted. $60,000 in cash and prizes are at stake.
On game reviews,
Grading on a Curve analyzes online and print review patterns, finding
IGN/GameSpy the easiest and 1UP and GameSpot the toughest reviewers in the
business:
I was already running a little behind this morning, and a little plumbing
problem set me even further back. According to our friendly neighborhood
plumber, the pipe to the radiator in our second-floor bathroom, which had
apparently been rusting for years, finally failed, causing a (thankfully minor)
flood in the basement. Turns out this is sort of good news that this finally
came to a head, as he says this was impeding the heat on the second floor as
well as my office above, so having the pipe repaired may well help us keep our
house warmer.
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