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Archived News:
The
Electronic Arts Forums offer details on the first patch for Command &
Conquer: Tiberium Wars. The version 1.1 update is available as an automatic
update from within the RTS sequel. Word is: "This day 1 patch addresses some
very important fixes and exploits. I also want to note that we are already
working on patch 1.2 which will technically be our first major patch with
balance changes, more bug fixes, added maps, etc. That is slated for late April.
But today... you get to download patch 1.1 :o)" A manual edition of the patch
is not yet available, but the change notes are on
Gamer's Hell.
Bethesda announces that the PC edition of The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles
is now shipping in North America. Yes, this is the same announcement as the 360
edition from earlier… I somehow missed that at the time, I think I have a
better cold-meds buzz than I realized: ROCKVILLE, Md., March 27
/PRNewswire/ -- Bethesda Softworks®, a ZeniMax Media company, and 2K today
announced that The Elder Scrolls® IV: Shivering Isles(TM), the official
expansion for the award-winning The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion®, is now shipping
to retail stores throughout North America for Windows. Shivering Isles is also
available today on Xbox 360(TM) video game and entertainment system from
Microsoft via Xbox Live® online entertainment network.
Shivering Isles features more than 30 hours of new gameplay and allows you to
explore an entirely new plane of Oblivion -- the realm of Sheogorath, the
Daedric Prince of Madness. Shivering Isles adds to the existing world of
Oblivion so you can continue playing with your existing save game/character, or
create an all new character just to explore the new content.
Within the Realm of Sheogorath, players can explore the two extreme sides of the
god's madness -- the sublimely creative and the completely psychotic. Something
is happening to the Shivering Isles and Sheogorath himself looks to you to be
his champion and defend his realm and its inhabitants from destruction. Do you
have the strength to survive his trials, tame a realm fraught with paranoia and
despair, and wear the mantle of a God?
The Shivering Isles features a bizarre landscape split between the two sides --
Mania and Dementia -- filled with vast, twisting dungeons mirroring the roots of
the trees they are buried within. You'll encounter more than a dozen new
creatures including hideous insects, Flesh Atronachs, skeletal Shambles, and
amphibious Grummites. Throughout your adventure, you will discover all new
items, ingredients, spells, and much more. Or, you can have the talented
craftsmen of Crucible and Bliss forge new armor and weapons just for you.
Released in March 2006 for Xbox 360(TM) videogame and entertainment system from
Microsoft and Windows, Oblivion sold more than three million units in 2006.
Among the countless awards and accolades it has garnered to date are Game of the
Year and RPG of the Year honors from numerous outlets, including Spike TV's 2006
Video Game Awards, G4's G-phoria, the Golden Joystick Awards, GameSpot.com,
ShackNews.com, Voodoo Extreme, FiringSquad.com, and many more. Oblivion received
the #1 ranking on PC Gamer's (UK) list of the top 100 games of all time and is
the highest rated Xbox 360 game of all time according to Gamerankings.com and
Metacritic.com.
The Windows version of Shivering Isles is available at retail and is
co-published by Bethesda Softworks and 2K, while the Xbox 360 version is
available through Xbox Live® online entertainment network by Bethesda Softworks.
For more information on Oblivion, Shivering Isles, or The Elder Scrolls, visit
the official web site:
www.elderscrolls.com.
Aspyr Media,
Inc. Ships Star Wars: Empire at War for Intel-Based Macintosh announces the
release of the Star Wars RTS game for Intel-based Macintosh computers. A
playable demo for the Mac edition came out last week ( story), and
here's a bit of the announcement: Using an entirely new game engine
created by the Las Vegas-based developer Petroglyph, Empire at War features
beautifully rendered land and space battles set on memorable planets such as
Yavin IV, Tatooine and Dagobah, as well as never-before-seen environments taken
directly from the Star Wars films and expanded universe novels. In the game,
players choose to join either the Rebel Alliance or the Galactic Empire,
building and setting up tactical forces to unleash upon the enemy in real-time
3D. Memorable Star Wars hero characters can be brought into the action to help
turn the tide of the battle as players build, manage and upgrade their space and
ground-based units, vehicles, troops and base structures.
A new Eastside Hockey Manager 2007 patch updates the hockey simulation to
version 3.0.4.
This forum post has instructions and details, with the patch for the PC
edition on
3D Downloads,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell, and the patch for the Mac edition is available on
Gamer's Hell.
New "welcome" and "medical" movies show off Bioshock, Irrational Games' upcoming
action/RPG. The welcome trailer can be found on
3D Downloads,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell, while the medical clip is available on
3D Downloads,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell. Also,
Codemasters offers a new cinematic trailer from The Lord of the Rings
Online: Shadows of Angmar (thanks Gamer's
Hell).
The Team Fortress 2 Q&A and
The Team Fortress 2 Q&A Part 2 on GameInformer each talk with Robin Walker,
Charlie Brown, and Doug Lombardi about Valve's upcoming classy teamplay remake:
"The answer to both of them–yes. We messed around with a few different things.
We really just play tested a lot of stuff. Some of the previous classes were
buckets that were useful, not necessarily stayed the same. The Pyro is really
different, the Scout is really different, the Medic, in terms of their role. We
call the Scout a Scout and there was really some discussion if we should call
the Scout something else because he’s so different, but it doesn’t seem to be
too important, but the name still implies a role that’s pretty analogous to what
he does. We were able to find a unique space for all of them. I think the
trickiest ones were the combat classes. But that worked out really well. The
difference between playing a Pyro and playing a soldier which is sort of the
'these classes aren’t that different' in TFC. I think they’re more unique now.
Seeing a Pryo instead of a Scout, your reaction is totally different than if you
see a Soldier."
My cold has worsened, and I've had to resort to cold medication. And I see that
my favored variety has the dreaded pseudoephedrine, which has been
restricted, so now I have to ration my remaining supply until I can see if it is
still for sale.
The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows
of Angmar Open Beta World Tour offers the chance to sample the open beta of
Turbine's coming Lord of the Rings MMORPG for over two weeks before the game
goes live. Word is they are inviting over a million players to sample what the
game has to offer beginning on April 6, allowing them to progress up to level 15
between then and the official launch on April 24. Word is: "We decided to
launch the World Tour of Middle-earth because of the overwhelming demand from
players to get into the closed beta," said Jeffrey Anderson, President and CEO
of Turbine, Inc. "We expect the World Tour of Middle-earth to be a spectacular
event like nothing that you've ever seen before."
Free access to this hotly anticipated game combined with the staggering size and
scale of the World Tour of Middle-earth make this an unprecedented event in the
MMO industry. Players can pre-order the game at select retail stores nationwide
or at www.lotro.com/preorder and
start their adventures in Middle-earth beginning on March 30th.
An updated version 2.0.243 of the multiplayer demo for
Massive Assault
Network 2 is now available. Word is: "The new Demo version is extremely
refined and provides a quantity of new features and enhancements aiming to make
the process of gaming more addictive. It introduces the new rating system, which
is totally different from the previous one and tends to bring marvelous
experience to each gamer. Besides, the Demo version is performance-optimized and
simplifies the process of registration. In addition, the new Demo presents the
Mentoring system that stimulates newbies to learn battle tactics from the
strongest players of MAN 2 universe." The download is available from
3D Downloads,
FanGaming,
FileFront,
Fileplanet (registration required),
Fileshack, Gamer's Hell,
Internode
Games Network, and
VGPRO.
A new patch for Genesis Rising is now available, updating the science fiction
RTS game to version 1.03. The new version adds server migration, single-player
and multiplayer stability improvements, balance changes, and more. It is warned
that older saved games will no longer work after applying the new patch. The
download is available from
3D Downloads,
FileFront,
FileShack, Gamer's Hell,
and
Internode Games Network.
NCsoft and ArenaNet officially announce Guild Wars 2 and the Guild Wars: Eye of
the North expansion, following the PC Gamer Magazine confirmation
( story) of a rumor about both projects ( story).
Here's word on Eye of the North, expected in the third quarter of this year, and
Guild Wars 2, which is expected to reach beta testing by the second half of
next year: Tuesday 27th March/...NCsoft® Europe and ArenaNet® today
revealed their exciting plans for the future of the hugely successful Guild
Wars® franchise. The companies announced that development already is underway on
a full sequel to the original Guild Wars games. Guild Wars 2™ will draw from the
game mechanics that made the original Guild Wars one of the most popular online
games ever and will add a fully persistent world. It was also revealed that,
like its predecessors, Guild Wars 2 will not have a subscription fee. No launch
date was announced, but the ArenaNet team anticipates that Guild Wars 2 will go
into beta sometime in the second half of 2008.
In addition, ArenaNet developers are working on the first true expansion for the
Guild Wars franchise, Guild Wars Eye of the North™. Due to hit store shelves
during the Q3 2007, Guild Wars Eye of the North™ will require at least one of
the previous Guild Wars campaigns (Prophecies™, Factions™, or Nightfall™) in
order to play. It’s a game that will benefit long-time players of the Guild Wars
games, with all of the content targeting existing Guild Wars characters.
“We felt it was extremely important to reward those people who have been playing
Guild Wars since the game first launched in 2005,” said Jeff Strain, co-founder
of ArenaNet. “Those players have seen three very large campaigns created in a
little under two years and so we think it’s time to begin filling in the details
of the existing world and to provide more content for current characters. We are
thrilled to focus our time on something that our players have been asking for.”
Set largely in the dungeons and caverns of the lands of Tyria that players first
explored in Guild Wars Prophecies, Guild Wars Eye of the North will have 18
large, multi-level dungeons, 150 new skills across all 10 Guild Wars
professions, 10 new Heroes, 40 new armor sets, and even more items, weapons and
titles. And for those looking even further down the road at Guild Wars 2, Guild
Wars Eye of the North will provide a Hall of Monuments where players'
accomplishments are memorialized and eventually inherited by their Guild Wars 2
characters, unlocking exclusive items and bonuses in Guild Wars 2.
“It’s the payoff we hope players will appreciate as we continue to build on the
Guild Wars franchise,” said Strain. “We’re excited to announce these two new
products and we want players to know that Guild Wars has an extremely exciting
future in the months and years ahead.” More information on the Guild Wars
franchise can be found at
http://www.guildwars.com.
New patches are now available for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, updating
GSC Game World's just-released first-person shooter to version 1.0001. There are
separate patches for the U.S., Russian, and International editions, with mirrors
and change-notes listed in the
VALUE5games Forum
(thanks Matt). Numerous bugs are addressed by this update, which is accompanied
by a warning that saved games from the old version cannot be loaded after
patching. The U.S. edition can also be found on
ActionTrip,
FileFront, Gameguru Mania,
Gamer's Hell,
Internode
Games Network, The Patches Scrolls,
and
Strategy Informer. The international version can be found on
ActionTrip,
FileFront, Gameguru Mania,
Gamer's Hell,
Internode
Games Network, The Patches Scrolls,
and
Strategy Informer. Finally, the Russian version can be found on the
Russian S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Website and
mirrored on Gamer's Hell
and The Patches Scrolls.
- Sword of the New World
The
Sword of the New World Q&A on Ten Ton Hammer talks with Peter Cesario,
producer on Sword of the New World: "The multi-character control (MCC) is
one of the biggest strengths of Sword of the New World. As it stands you can
easily control your family with just the mouse, or use a combination of
mouse and keyboard shortcuts to maximize effectiveness. This is truly the
great thing about MCC; it can be as simple or as deep as you want it to be!
It’s really all up to the player and their individual play style! What we
have found in testing and watching new players enter the game is that it
takes almost no time for them to pick up the basics of the control system
and start completing quests right away. But once players learn how to
utilize all of the hotkeys they can really maximize the MCC’s potential!"
- Fury
The
Fury Q&A on Ten Ton Hammer talks with Tony Hilliam about Fury, Auran's
PvP MMORPG: "Early on we recognized that people come to a game because of
the graphics and the gameplay, but they stay in a game for the friendships
and the rewards. So we have really focused on giving players meaningful
reasons to be involved in Clans, and on top of that, we’ve added a whole
Realm vs. Realm aspect. Rather than competing against a faction within your
server, in Fury, everyone on your server (Realm) works for a common cause.
You fight with your Realm-mates and the matchmaking system finds you
opponents from one of the other Realms."
The
Magna Mundi Q&A on Strategy Informer talks with Carlos and Josh about the
Magna Mundi modification for Europa Universalis III.
Ubisoft's PS3 Giveaway.
Along with some games.
The temps are supposed to approach the 70s around here today, which is making me
very happy.
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