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Archived News:
SkillGround (thanks
Shacknews) is a newly
launched service from GrooveGames that features online competitions for real
cash money in WarPath, Close Quarters Conflict, Kung Fu: Deadly Arts, and L.A.
Street Racing. Games can be played for free, or you can put your money where
your mouse is and wager on yourself.
Introversion Software
announces plans for an amBX edition of DEFCON, as well as their goal of also
creating amBX editions of Darwinia and Uplink.
amBX is a multimedia peripheral system that adds lighting and wind control
to the gaming experience. This seems suited to action games, but they are
finding ways to adapt it to strategy games as well: DEFCON is the latest
offering from indie-developers, Introversion, which enjoyed a successful launch
in September 2006. DEFCON is an online multiplayer strategy game simulating
global thermonuclear war. The game, inspired by the 1983 cult-classic film
Wargames, superbly evokes the tension, paranoia and suspicion surrounding the
Cold War era.
‘amBX and DEFCON are ideally suited to each other’, commented Chris Delay, Lead
Developer at Introversion, ‘With our third game DEFCON we spent a huge amount of
time trying to create the atmosphere of being buried deep within an underground
bunker, slowly ending the world in the last war that will ever be fought. amBX
is ideally suited to enhancing that atmosphere, taking it out of the confines of
what’s right in front of you on-screen, and expanding it into your whole room.’
Combining DEFCON with amBX brings the whole messy scenario of nuclear war direct
to the player’s bedroom. Flashes of blinding white light and gentle rumbles
indicate when your missiles have hit home. Whilst a spine-chilling rush of air
announces the raining down of fallout on millions of innocents. Meanwhile the
dread of realisation approaches as the lights fade, the music slows, and your
population withers. DEFCON amBX is a harrowing experience that will ensure
you’re never so blasé about thermonuclear global war again.
LucasArts and SOE announce that the latest chapter in Star Wars Galaxies is
live: LucasArts and Sony Online Entertainment today announced that
Chapter 4: Armed and Ready for Action is now available to Star Wars Galaxies
subscribers. Chapter 4: Armed and Ready for Action is the latest in a series of
updates that Star Wars Galaxies subscribers will automatically receive
throughout the remainder of 2006 and into 2007, as part of their regular
subscription to the game.
To date, four of the Star Wars Galaxies professions have benefited from the new
Profession Expertise System, and with Chapter 4: Armed and Ready for Action, the
final three combat professions (commando, spy and medic) will see the system
introduced for them as well. In addition, commandos will receive a powerful new
battle boost as they rack up enemy casualties.
A new Penumbra: Overture movie offers a high-resolution look at Frictional
Games' upcoming first-person horror game, accompanied by developer commentary.
The clip can be found on
3D Gamers and
Worthplaying.
- Darkfall
The
Darkfall Q&A on MMORPG.COM talks with Tasos Flambouras about Darkfall,
Aventurine's upcoming MMORPG: "Darkfall features unrestricted PvP combat
with accountability. Combat is real-time and attacks are aimed. There's full
looting and an alignment system. Darkfall has a skill system where your
character's skills improve through use, and no levels. More than 10 thousand
players can be online at the same time. Player skill is as important as
character development. All items in the world are player crafted. There is
mounted and naval combat. There's a "real" weather and planetary system. The
terrain is fully hand-crafted, all locations are unique. There are more
unique mobs in Darkfall than in any other MMO. Clans can engage in empire
building, conquest, massive battles, and there is control and ownership of
areas. There's much more that we haven't and won't talk about before the
game is released."
- Mythic Wars
The
Mythic Wars
Q&A on gry.o2.pl offers a bilingual English and Polish conversation with
Alexey Kozyrev about 1C Company's turn-based strategy game: "It's a classic
turn-based war game with a plot and non-linear unit development. It is
important to create a good army and to learn how to use it properly, in
order to achieve mission goals. It is also necessary to know about
environmental influences and unique unit abilities. The only player resource
is money, which is acquired when cities are captured or after a mission is
completed. Money gives an opportunity to recruit new detachments and to
upgrade old ones. The whole army moves with player from mission to mission
and develops up to the end of campaigns."
We had a lovely mild day today, apparently putting us in the lucky minority, as
a severe winter storm has socked most of the country. We're supposed to get some
of it tomorrow, but even then, apparently it will be thunderstorms, and not
snow, like elsewhere. This certainly has been the mildest November I can recall.
ArenaNet announces plans to inflict the Domain of Anguish on players who have
completed Guild Wars: Nightfall in a special event this weekend: Fans of
Guild Wars® know that weekend events are part of the fun, and this weekend is
truly special as we launch the opening of the Domain of Anguish! Players who
have completed Guild Wars Nightfall™, the latest game in the award-winning Guild
Wars universe, will be given access to this elite area through the Chantry of
Secrets. Players will find four separate areas to explore, nearly a dozen
quests, new armor upgrade options, a system for acquiring novel weapons, and of
course a compelling mission as well. Stay tuned to
www.GuildWars.com for more details!
Dare I say, have fun in the Domain of Anguish!
Lighthouse Interactive now offers the second patch for Sword of the Stars,
updating Kerberos Productions' 4X space strategy game to version 1.2.1 (thanks
Frans). The patch is said to offer "an impressive set of features & fixes
further improving and upgrading gameplay" created in "Close co-operation with
the very active Sword of the Stars community and online forum." Word is: "The
patch can be used by both English as well as localized versions of the game
(except Russian)."
As noted on the
Football Manager Website, a new patch is available for the PC, Mac, and
Intel Mac editions of Football Manager 2007, updating Sports Interactive's
sports management sequel to version 7.01 (thanks Frans). Word is: "The patch
will fix a number of issues that were brought to the attention of the dev team
by the community, the majority of which only affect a small amount of users. The
patch is saved game compatible, but for the full effects, a new game should be
started." The Sports Interactive
Website offers a list of download locations for the patches.
This
forum post links to downloads of a new patch for the German edition of Armed
Assault, bring this localization of Bohemia Interactive Studio's military
shooter. The update also reproduces the read me for the patch, which is likewise
in German. Thanks The Patches Scrolls.
Steve Ballmer Kicks
Off Most Significant Product Launch in Microsoft's History is the press
release with more on the news, noted in an earlier Tech Bit, that Windows Vista
is now available to volume licensing customers, along with the 2007 edition of
Microsoft Office. Here's a bit from the announcement, which likely confirms the
newest edition of MS's OS will make its most recent consumer release date of
January 2007: NEW YORK, Nov. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- At a press
conference at NASDAQ MarketSite in Times Square, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT -
News) Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer announced the business availability
of the Windows Vista(TM) operating system, the 2007 release of Microsoft®
Office, and a host of other new product offerings designed to enable businesses
to thrive in a world of instant communication, expanding information and
constant change.
Today's announcement that Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office release
are available to volume licensing customers marks the beginning of the most
significant product launch in company history and the first simultaneous release
of Microsoft's flagship products since the joint launch of the Windows® 95
operating system and Office 95 more than a decade ago. Windows Vista and the
2007 Office system will be available to consumers and organizations without
volume license agreements on Jan. 30. In addition to Windows Vista and the 2007
release of Office, Ballmer discussed more than 30 new offerings for business
customers. A complete list is available at
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/default.mspx .
The Steam Website has word
that Prey will be released on the Steam service today. This solves the problem
for owners of the game by way of the now-defunct Triton service ( story)
who have not yet received their boxed copy ( story), and offers an
interesting counterpoint to negative comments about Steam from Scott Miller
just yesterday ( story). Word is: Prey will be available
Thursday, November 30 on Steam for $49.95. Previous purchasers of the retail or
downloaded editions of Prey can activate a copy on Steam at no cost by using
their existing product key.
GameTap and Telltale
Spread More Sam & Max Mayhem with Original Machinima Shorts and Episode 2
(thanks Frans) unveils plans for "Situation: Comedy" the next episode in the Sam
& Max series, to debut on GameTap on December 21, to follow on January 5, 2007
on the Telltale
Games website. They are also kicking off a series of machinima movie
releases to build towards the launch: ATLANTA, Nov. 30 /PRNewswire/ --
GameTap, the first-of-its-kind broadband entertainment network from Turner
Broadcasting System, Inc. (TBS, Inc.), and interactive entertainment pioneer
Telltale today unveiled exciting news about their critically-acclaimed Sam & Max
franchise. In addition to revealing details about "Situation: Comedy," the
second installment in the hilarious "Sam & Max: Season 1" episodic video game
series, today marks the premiere of the first original Sam & Max machinima short
on GameTap TV.
The new animated shorts were created using machinima, an innovative filmmaking
technique that utilizes the real-time 3D virtual environment of a video game.
Sam & Max use their newfound time in the spotlight to tackle whatever outrageous
issue they've happened upon. From reality TV to Aristotle, and from day-trip
destinations to turkey franks, everything and anything is fair game for the
dynamic detective duo. Beginning with today's debut, a new short will air on
GameTap TV every Thursday leading up to the launch of each new, full-length
episode of the "Sam & Max: Season 1" video game series. These shorts will be
released on the Sam & Max sites at both Telltale (www.telltalegames.com/samandmax)
and GameTap (www.gametap.com/samandmax)
four days after they are released to GameTap subscribers.
The French Ubisoft Forums offer word on plans for a single-player patch for
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic in addition to the planned multiplayer update
reported here last night ( story). Thanks to our French friends at
NoFrag for the news, as well as a rough
translation of what's in the works, which include ramping up the game's highest
difficulty level, a "very hard" difficulty level will be added, the later half
of the campaign will be more difficult to compensate for your characters
advancing abilities, new texture resolution options, and fixes for all the major
identified bugs.
The
World of Warcraft Forums describe the upcoming "before the storm" update for
Blizzard's MMORPG (thanks Ant and
WoWBreak.com) that will implement the new PvP honor system: The next
World of Warcraft content update, “Before the Storm,” will include the new PvP
Honor System, as well as other new features that will prepare us for The Burning
Crusade expansion. We are currently planning to release this content update next
Tuesday, December 5. Please note that the patch date is still subject to change,
and we will keep you informed of any changes to the plan as they happen.
If the patch goes live as planned, this will be the last week that new PvP ranks
under the old Honor System can be earned, as the patch will immediately
introduce the new Honor System. We will run one final honor calculation on
December 5 and update everyone’s ranking accordingly on that date so that
players who achieve a new rank for that week have the opportunity to display
that title on their character. Please note, however, that no new PvP rewards
will be unlocked for purchase with this final “old Honor System” calculation,
regardless of any increase in rank.
For those who have been seeking high-rank PvP armor and weapons, note that the
new Honor System will still include these item rewards, and it will actually be
easier to earn these items under the new Honor System than under the old Honor
System. Those who wish to see how their PvP abilities measure up against other
players will still be able to do so under the new Arena System.
Matrix Games announces
the availability of Forge of Freedom: The American Civil War, their new grand
turn-based strategy game: Western Civilization Software and Matrix Games
release their American Civil War grand strategy title.
Matrix Games and Western Civilization Software (www.west-civ.com)
are pleased to announce the release of Forge of Freedom: The American Civil War
strategy game. Based on the Crown of Glory engine, Forge of Freedom: The
American Civil War is the latest incarnation of Western Civilization Software's
already popular Napoleonic War title.
David Heath, Director of Operations expressed his excitement that the next grand
strategy project from Western Civilization has finally come to fruition: "Forge
of Freedom: The American Civil War includes all of the addictive gameplay that
brought such high acclaim to Crown of Glory while still capturing the look and
feel of commanding large armies during the Civil War. Forge of Freedom: The
American Civil War is a fun, accessible game for strategy fans and a rich
historical journey back to the 1860s for Civil War buffs and grognards."
Forge of Freedom: The American Civil War is a operational level turn-based
strategy game that allows the player to command brigades at the tactical level
in classic hex-based combat. However, Forge of Freedom: The American Civil War
is not only a standard operational military strategy game as it also gives you
complete control over military, economic and political developments.
ANACONDA now
offers a German language playable demo for Runaway 2: Dream of the Turtle, the
adventure sequel that just shipped to German stores. The demo is entirely in
German. Thanks Frans.
- World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade on
IGN.
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl on
ToTheGame.
MrsBlue and I think it's not our imagination that Gunnar seems to be responding
to his antibiotics pretty quickly. His eyes look clearer, and his incredible
liquid consumption already seems to have abated. We've still got our fingers
crossed, and are appreciative of all of you who are keeping our ailing poodle in
their thoughts.
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