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Archived News:
This page is where to sign-up for those interested in beta testing Genesis
Rising: The Universal Crusade, the upcoming RTS game. Word is they will be
accepting applications for the next week: Toronto, October 12, 2006 –
DreamCatcher Games today announced that it is accepting applications for Part 2
of the Public Beta Test of its highly anticipated futuristic 3D RTS game,
Genesis Rising: The Universal Crusade. Due to overwhelming demand we have
started a brand new application process that will begin on Thursday, October 12,
2006 and will close on Thursday, October 19, 2006.
Valve announces the addition of the Call of Duty series and GUN to their Steam
online store, saying they will be offering GUN, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty,
and Call of Duty: United Offensive. They also announce that City Life, Monte
Cristo's urban-planning game is now available via Steam. In similar news,
GamersGate announces they've added a bunch of Battlefront games to their own
broadband store: Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord, Combat Mission: Barbarossa to
Berlin, Combat Mission: Afrika Korps, Strategic Command - European Theater,
Strategic Command 2 Blitzkrieg, Down in Flames, and T72 - Balkans on Fire. To be
outdone, GameTap
announces a Twisted Sister Christmas album listening party.
The first European patch for Gothic 3 is now available, updating Piranha Bytes' RPG
sequel that's slated for release in Europe tomorrow. The patch is available from
3D Gamers,
Boomtown (registration required),
FileFront, Gamer's Hell,
The Patches Scrolls, and
Worthplaying.
The Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45
Website offers some new Panzer IV H screenshots and outlines plans for a
coming content patch for the World War II shooter, due by the end of this month:
This update will include two new vehicles and a new map. We will give you
more detail on the second vehicle and the map over the next week or so, but
first we can confirm the arrival of the German Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausfuhrung H
– otherwise known as the Pz IV H. This model went into production in April 1943
and was the most common version produced during the war. In comparison to the
existing Pz IV F2, it carries a slightly longer 75mm gun, for a little more
hitting power, plus an additional 30mm of armour on the front. The version you
will see in game also comes equipped with Schürzen. These were thin soft steel
sheets hung off the side of the hull and turret to protect against shaped-charge
weapons such as the Panzerfaust. They also serve to protect against those pesky
anti-tank rifles and do provide a small amount of extra protection against enemy
main gun rounds.
The Ugo Volt Website is now online in a
preliminary form, replacing the Flash stub for the upcoming tech/noir
action/adventure game (thanks Frans). Included is
a gallery offering the
first four screenshots.
A new Armed Assault movie offers a look at Bohemia Interactive Studio's upcoming
military first-person shooter. The high-resolution clip showing off US vehicle
and infantry units can be found on
3D Downloads, 3D
Gamers,
FileFront, Gamer's Hell,
and Worthplaying.
Also, another new Warhammer: Mark of Chaos movie is now available, once again
showing off Black Hole Games' upcoming fantasy-themed RTS game. The clip is
available on 3D Gamers,
Gamer's Hell,
GameSpot, and
Worthplaying.
- Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising
The
Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising Q&A on ActionTrip talks with Stieg Hedlund
about Perpetual Entertainment's MMORPG: "Right from the beginning of the
game things will be different; the agents and emissaries of your god will
require you to perform certain tasks on his behalf and if you successfully
complete these tasks, you will be rewarded in various ways, including in
some cases, the ability to call upon the powers of your god. Each god has
different powers that go along with his personality and areas of influence,
moreover these traits are matched with the classes that can choose that god,
so Apollo, god of archery is a natural choice for the Scout class that deals
with ranged combat, and many of the powers that Apollo grants you affect
those abilities-together, of course, with abilities that reflect his aspects
as a sun god and a god of curing plagues…."
- Flyff
The
Flyff Q&A on MMORPG.COM converses with Yoon Im, Producer on
Flyff: Fly For Fun: "Currently we
are working on the 7th version and are planning to release the update this
Holiday season. In 7th version update, there will be a new skill point
system, new high-level armors, and other attractive items. Also, we will be
introducing some new pets, specifically puppies and kittens faithfully
awaiting their masters! In addition to all this, there will be many other
things to look forward to with 7th version update. We are confident that
these additions will enhance the overall user experience and gameplay."
- SAoC
Dark
Age of Camelot Dev Profile of Howard Marans on MMORPG.COM. A quick
personal Q&A.
Okay, off to the ballpark. The interesting coincidence is that I did a little
reminiscing about the Mets today and see that today is actually the 20th
anniversary of the first playoff game I ever attended. It was game three against
the Astros in '86, won in the bottom of the ninth by Lenny Dykstra's walk-off,
or rather sprint-off homerun. We were in deep left field, which was a perfect
angle to track the ball, but I recall being the only one in my area of the
stands to know that it was gone as soon as he hit it. Anyway, 20 years to the
day… Small world (or small centerfielder).
Maelstrom Campaign Details Sweep In on the Codemasters Website offers new
details on KDV Games' upcoming action/strategy game, including word that the
game's release date has been pushed back to February 2007: Thursday, 12th
October (2pm UK time) - Codemasters today reveals new details and screens of the
campaigns in the explosive action strategy title Maelstrom from KDV Games.
Codemasters and KDV Games also announce that Maelstrom will benefit from further
development time to realize the game’s ambitious design and is now scheduled for
release in February 2007.
Set on an ecologically ravaged future Earth, Maelstrom will deliver innovative
RTS gameplay featuring transforming tech, landscape terraforming and fully
destructible environments. The first three campaigns of Maelstrom will each
focus on a different faction: first, the guerrilla freedom-fighting Remnants;
second, the technologically advanced Ascension forces; and third, the aquatic
alien race, the Hai-Genti.
Dracula Twins
Gone Gold; Spine-Tingling Tale Swoops into Action This Halloween has word
that Dracula Twins is gold, and due in European stores and for online
distribution in time for a Halloween, with a North American release to follow
next year: Gothenburg, Sweden, October 12th 2006 – Swedish
indie-publisher Legendo Entertainment today announced that its spine-tingling
casual action title for the PC, Dracula Twins, has gone gold and is being
distributed through online and retail channels in time for Halloween 2006 and
beyond.
Dracula Twins will be available for online purchase beginning the week of
October 21st on major games portals including BigFishGames.com, BigFishGames.de,
Codemasters’ funsta.com, trygames.com, and Reflexive Arcade’s
reflexive.net. In addition, the game will also be available at legendo.com.
The downloadable version is multi-lingual and includes English, German, French,
Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Finnish languages. The trial
version offers players a free-play period that allows access to the entire game.
Once time’s up on the trial period, you can continue to play the game for
a one-off payment of £9.99 (UK), €19.99 (EU) and $19.99 USD (US),
respectively.
In addition, the game will be available through retail channels in Sweden,
Denmark, Norway, Finland (Nordic Softsales), Spain (PROEIN), Benelux (Transposia),
Slovenia (Colby), Poland (Play Publishing) and Russia (Noviy Disk). Dracula
Twins will be published and distributed through US and Canadian retail channels
in North America starting in 2007, with more details to follow shortly.
“This cross-territorial online and retail rollout of Dracula Twins is utterly
unique," said Bjorn Larsson, CEO Legendo Entertainment. "It just goes to show
that traditional and digital distribution models can co-exist and complement one
another nicely, especially in the case of high-quality, family-friendly and
cost-affordable PC games."
Smart Bomb Interactive
(thanks Frans) announces that Snoopy vs The Red Baron is gold, and the aerial
combat game based on the cartoon beagle and the real World War I flying ace is
due in stores on October 24: We are happy to announce that Snoopy vs. the
Red Baron has been approved for manufacturing, and will be released to retail on
October 24 for the Playstation 2, PSP, and PC! We're delighted with how the game
turned out, and proud to have contributed to Peanuts history by bringing these
characters into the 3D realm for the first time.
Early previews of the
game are very positive and we hope Peanuts fans have as much fun playing the
game as we had making it (but without the late nights). Check out the official
game trailer here!
Planet rome.ro (thanks Daz) now offers the
release of the source code for the maps in the original Quake. Here's the
accompanying word from John Romero: Since it's Quake 1's tenth
anniversary this year (starting June 22nd) I thought I'd dig up and release all
of Quake's original map sources. For all these years the only possible way to
glean any information from Quake's internal format was from BSP deconstruction
programs - but those had problems with tons of brushes generated from insane BSP
splits. So finally, here are the originals with the dust blown off of them,
shined-up and zipped up. Have fun, mappers!
- Half-Life 2: Episode One
The
Half-Life 2: Episode One Q&A on Computer and Video Games talks with
Valve's Marc Laidlaw and David Speyrer about the first episode in the
Half-Life 2 follow-up: "Because these games take place in real-time, it
doesn't matter how big the back-story is. You have to ask yourself: 'Just
how much can we tell about this thing in a one-minute scene?' We have a lot
of story, but we can't ever come right out and tell you. You get a little
glimpse of it when you're playing the game and hopefully that plays on and
on in your mind - figuring out what the connections are between all these
different things, and as time goes by the story unfolds and some of those
things you speculated about will be confirmed. The pace of development means
that we have to do these things in a slow fashion in terms of unrolling the
entire story - but in terms of the timing of the story itself, it's all
taking place in a matter of hours. It's one of those things that's wired
into the foundation of the game."
- Genesis Rising
The
Genesis Rising Q&A on FiringSquad talks with Goran Milisavljevic about
Metamorf Studios' upcoming space strategy game: "The story takes place in an
unknown distant future, 3000 years after a human known as The Savior has
been crucified. Humanity is united under the Church of the Savior and rules
most of the universe. The player takes on the role of Captain Iconah, who is
sent to conquer the last free galaxy, believed to be the location of the
heart of the universe, an entity sacred to humans. This time around, the
humans are not presented in a typical positive light. We are not the ones
protecting our planet. We are the aggressive conquerors this time."
- Ryzom Ring
The
Ryzom Ring Q&A on Ten Ton Hammer is a conversation with Daniel Miller of
Nevrax about their free MMORPG expansion: "The features range in size and
complexity from entire game systems such as an adaptation of the foraging
system that we are working on integrating through to small additions to
existing systems such as the addition of a ‘text broadcast’ chiseled into
the event system to allow one to easily broadcast a chat message for the
players whenever something important happens in the adventure. The list goes
on and on."
- City of Heroes/Villains
Boomtown's
City of Heroes/Villains Q&A talks with Cryptic designer War Witch about
City of Heroes/Villains: "Everybody’s feedback is important, I mean you
can’t obviously make everybody happy all of the time but I do show up on the
boards as you guys have noticed. Although I may not post as often as I’d
like to I do like to get your feedback. European feedback is very similar to
American feedback because everybody has kind of the same game play
experience and the same issues that they have to deal with, so it is very
important to me."
- dSonic
The
dSonic Q&A on Gaming Nexus talks with Kemal Amarasingham about game
audio: "My brother had been working as a composer/sound designer at Looking
Glass Studios for 6 years – on titles such as System Shock 2 and the Thief
series - it unfortunately went out of business in 2000. At that point I had
been composing music and sound effects as a freelancer for everything from
film to commercials to games for a good 10 years and so we started talking
about working together. We both agreed that the game industry was the most
interesting place to be as it represented a new frontier for music and
sound, so we conceived of dSonic as an audio production company exclusively
focused on the game industry. We can handle all aspects of sound content in
a game – music, sound effects, dialogue and also the process of integrating
those sounds into the game, the implementation."
- Blizzplanet has word
that the World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade closed beta has begun…
Turns out with last night's rainout, our tickets for tonight's Mets game are
still valid, even though this will be game #1 instead of game #2. The forecast
looks like the weather will hold up, so expect an unusually early evening update
so we can make it out to blustery Shea Stadium in time.
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