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Archived News:
CDV announces that War Front: Turning Point is shipping, and the
alternate-history World War II RTS game is now in North American stores:
CDV Software Entertainment USA and 10TACLE STUDIOS today announced that
their highly anticipated alternate-history RTS - War Front: Turning Point – has
shipped to North American retail outlets. The game places players on the most
exciting battlefields of an alternate WWII, while arming them with unique super
weapons. More information about War Front: Turning Point is available at
http://www.warfront-game.com.
What would happen if the German Dictator had been assassinated early on in WWII
and the German war engine came under control of a new regime? Digital Reality,
10TACLE STUDIOS and CDV Software Entertainment USA aim to answer that question
in War Front: Turning Point, bringing gamers an "alternate reality" real-time
strategy game. Gamers will be exposed to a whole new WWII timeline, new battles
and a variety of secret and experimental weapons. Eye-popping graphics and a
refreshing plot will keep gamers pinned to their PCs as they attempt to alter or
ensure the outcome of vastly different World War II.
CDV also announces that Blitzkrieg 2: Fall of the Reich has begun its blitz on
North American retail, and the World War II RTS expansion should now be
available: CDV Software Entertainment USA today shipped Blitzkrieg 2:
Fall of the Reich to North American retail. Fall of the Reich, the standalone
expansion to Blitzkrieg 2, will have gamers battling through famous campaigns of
the final days of WWII, including the "Siege of Budapest," "Fortress Kurland,"
and the Soviet "Operation Bagration." Fans of the original Blitzkrieg will find
the game returning to its roots with this expansion, which puts the focus
squarely on sound strategic planning and optimal resource management over
fast-action and armor-rushes. For more information, please visit the official
Web site at http://blitzkrieg.cdvusa.com.
Blitzkrieg 2: Fall of the Reich is the first official expansion for the popular
WWII RTS - Blitzkrieg 2. Fall of the Reich spans three major offensives from the
final days of fighting on the Eastern front, and covers both the Soviet and
German offensives in the long "Siege of Budapest", "Fortress Kurland" and the
Soviet "Operation Bagration." Fans of the original Blitzkrieg will also enjoy
the thorough challenge presented in Fall of the Reich, with mission and campaign
design that provide success only to those armchair generals that employ
realistic tactics and strategies, managing scarce wartime resources
effectively.
Study: Surgeons who play video games more skilled suggests you'd rather have
Doogie Howser as your surgeon than Marcus Welby, presuming the younger doctor
has been keeping up with his gaming. Apparently gaming is a more significant
factor than the surgeon's training or even level of experience: CHICAGO,
Illinois (Reuters) -- Playing video games appears to help surgeons with skills
that truly count: how well they operate using a precise technique, a study said
Monday.
There was a strong correlation between video game skills and a surgeon's
capabilities performing laparoscopic surgery in the study published in the
February issue of Archives of Surgery.
Laparoscopy and related surgeries involve manipulating instruments through a
small incision or body opening where the surgeon's movements are guided by
watching a television screen.
Video game skills translated into higher scores on a day-and-half-long surgical
skills test, and the correlation was much higher than the surgeon's length of
training or prior experience in laparoscopic surgery, the study said.
Out of 33 surgeons from Beth Israel Medical Center in New York that participated
in the study, the nine doctors who had at some point played video games at least
three hours per week made 37 percent fewer errors, performed 27 percent faster,
and scored 42 percent better in the test of surgical skills than the 15 surgeons
who had never played video games before.
- Age of Conan
The
Age of Conan Q&A, part two on Computer and Video Games continues to
discuss Funcom's upcoming MMORPG with Erling Ellingsen: "One of the key
features of Age of Conan is the player-versus-player content. There are
basically three types of PvP combat in the game, varying from what's really
simple to get into and that have no strings attached, to the more
large-scale challenges that requires more involvement. At the bottom is the
drunken brawling, a feature that allow players to get drunk in a tavern and
fight with other players - regardless of level or equipment. How much damage
you do and how well you fight is determined only by what you drink! There
are no penalties."
- Frontlines: Fuel of War
The
Frontlines: Fuel of War Q&A on ComputerAndVideoGames.com talks with Joe
Halper about the upcoming military shooter from the folks who created Desert
Combat: "What we didn't want to do was bring buildings right down to the
ground, like the entire structure. If that happens too much, you can get
kind of 'destruction fatigue' from that. What we wanted was to make it more
strategic. So, if you have a wall, you can create a new path by blowing
through it. Or if you have a bridge, you can blow it up to impede the enemy.
But you can't just lay waste to an entire city."
- Lineage II
The
Lineage II Q&A on WarCry discusses NCsoft's MMORPG sequel with its North
American development team: "We continue to plan and create content for all
levels of play as shown with the Chronicle 5 update. Interlude will be no
different. Key features that benefit mid levels will be weapon augmentation
system and the shadow weapon system. Weapon augmentation can be preformed on
items of C grade or higher and can bestow benefits such as P.Atk, M. Atk.,
or even base player statistic increases. Shadow weapons are limited duration
items that can be acquired when a player completes a class transfer quest."
- Gamecock
The
Mike Wilson
Q&A on Eurogamer is another discussion of the new publisher, learning
the name they rejected in favor of their cocky moniker: "Electronic Arse."
- Desert Island Games
Desert
Island Games: Silicon Knights' Denis Dyack on Gamasutra offers another
installment in this series on developers' choices of games to take to a
presumably gaming friendly deserted island.
- Enemy Territory: Quake Wars on
PC Gamer.
An article omitted from the print issue due to an error (Adobe Acrobat format).
- Lord of the Rings Online on
1Up and
Kotaku.
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl on
FiringSquad.
New patches for Neverwinter Nights 2 are now available, which are the final
editions of the version 1.04 update that's been in beta. The various language
editions of the patch are available on
Gamer's Hell and
The Patches Scrolls.
Stormregion now offers new patches for
Codename: Panzers Phase One and Codename: Panzers Phase Two, bringing Windows
Vista compatibility to the World War II real-time strategy series. The version
1.20 Phase One patch requires version 1.10, and the download is mirrored on
3D Downloads and
The Patches Scrolls. The version 1.07 Phase Two patch that must be installed
over version 1.06 is mirrored on
3D Downloads and
The Patches Scrolls.
- Warhammer Online
The
Warhammer Online Initial Preview of Chaos and Empire on The Game Musketeers
offers a transcript of a conference call with Jeff Hickman, Paul Barnett,
and Josh Dresher about EA/Mythic's upcoming MMORPG: "Chaos is Humanity gone
bad and corrupted by Chaos. Chaos has Marauders, huge vikings [sic] types
whose bodies and arms are living weapons twisted by Chaos energy. Claws,
Hammers and TENTACLES!!! are theres [sic] to command in melee combat. The
Chosen, armored behemoth Chaos Knights. Zealots, using light weapons and
enchantments who act as healers for the Chaos army and lastly the Magus
Sorcerers, who hovers on a floating disc of Chaos hurling lightning and
other Chaotic magicks upon their foes."
- THE HISTORY CHANNEL: Great Battles of Rome
THE
HISTORY CHANNEL: Great Battles of Rome Q&A on Strategy Informer talks
with Slitherine's Iain McNeil about the upcoming cable TV tie-in strategy
game: "The game starts at the dawn of Roman history and follows the rise to
power of this once small city. Through the game the player will fight along
side the mighty Caesar, face Hannibal and his war elephants, go to war
against the mighty Gauls and many many more. The story line was written for
us by great leaders over 2 millennia ago, though our script writers have
done a great job making that story feel modern and relevant. Once we had the
scripts we gave them to the creative team to bring this great story to life
through the use of totally immersive movies, superb voice over and
atmospheric music. The combination is so powerfull [sic] that when I see the
movies and hear the music it still makes the hairs on the back of neck stand
up!"
A new version 4.4 of the Qtracker server
browser is now available, for registered users only. The
Release
Notes outline what's new in the new release, which is primarily to add
support for Armed Assault. The changes in this new version are coming for the
public version of the program in the next 20-30 days.
Happy President's Day! Here's hoping you got all the gifts you asked for.
Breaking out another grand Blue's News tradition, today we are honoring some of
the more obscure presidents of the US who don't get to be on any currency,
and generally get skipped over in history lessons (courtesy of
Encarta). John Quincy Adams, for instance, was given to pre-dawn skinny
dipping in the Potomac River. That was probably too early to get up for tenth
president John Tyler, who fathered no fewer than 15 children. Last but not least
we honor 29th president Warren G. Harding, who apparently once lost an entire
set of White House china in a poker game.
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