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Archived News:
Meridian 4 Games
now offers a trial version of The Chosen: Well of Souls allowing the chance to
sample Rebelmind's just-released action/RPG. The trial offers one hour of play
with the full game, which can be unlocked to a full retail release with a key
that can be purchased online. The 426 MB download is mirrored on
AtomicGamer,
ComputerGames.Ro,
FileFront,
Gamer's Hell, and
Internode
Games Network.
An Assassins Creed
video interview on Gametrailers includes word that there will be no playable
demo for Assassin's Creed. The statement, by Jade Raymond included the
explanation that a sandbox-style game that includes three "huge" cities will
be difficult to cut down into a sample. Thanks
FiringSquad.
Carbine Studios reveals themselves to
the world, an Orange County, California-based MMORPG developer partnered with
NCsoft for an unannounced project "that promises to break new ground in
massively multiplayer gaming." Carbine includes 17 former Blizzard employees
"including lead and senior developers from the World of Warcraft team," headed
up by Kevin Beardslee (a lead developer on WoW), Tim Cain (Fallout programmer
and co-founder of Troika), and Jeremy Gaffney (City of Heroes and Asheron’s
Call).
OCRegister.com has a story up introducing the developer (thanks Veng3ance),
saying Carbine admits their debut project is a cross-genre MMOG with some
fantasy elements (and dancing).
Big Changes in Store for
MMO Fury on GameSpy has word that Auran is overhauling certain aspects of
gameplay in Fury, under two weeks from the launch of the PvP MMORPG, though some
of the planned changes may not be implemented by their launch date of October
16. Changes include the elimination of Incarnation Rank so all players begin on
the same level, Avatar Rank based on skill, the ability to purchase an all
ability unlock, the addition of an introductory training ground, and more.
Strategy First
Announces Culpa Innata has Gone Gold is the press release announcing this
strategy game from Momentum AS is gold, nearly a year after it was declared gold
the first time in late October, 2006 ( story). No explanation has
ever been offered for that abortive announcement, but presumably the new notice
carries a bit more weight, as it offers an October 23 release date:
Canada, MONTREAL October 4th, 2007. Publisher Strategy First Inc., a
subsidiary of Silverstar Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ: SSTR), is pleased to announce
that the adventure game of the year “Culpa Innata” developed by Momentum AS, has
officially gone gold today. Culpa Innata is due to hit stores across North
America October 23rd, 2007. Attached are some fantastic new screenshots for
Culpa Innata.
About Culpa Innata
A World Union citizen is murdered in Russia, one of the few remaining Rogue
States. This murder oddly coincides with the accidental death of a prominent
professor in Adrianopolis, an important border town between the World Union and
Russia. Peace Officer Phoenix Wallis is assigned to lead the investigation of
the murder. Still young and inexperienced, she will soon make discoveries beyond
her wildest imagination, as skilled hackers and subversive characters begin
taking an inexplicable interest in Phoenix. Her investigation reveals enigmatic
clues that lead her deeper and deeper into a mystery that challenges not only
her case, but her very beliefs in the worldview she has sworn to protect.
Features
Original, complex story with a detailed history in a fully realized game world
Environments and characters rendered in 3D with dynamic camera implementation
Cinematics rendered with in-game engine for seamless graphics integration Click
and go character control; user friendly mouse-driven interface Over 50
interactive characters, each created with Momentum-patented 3D facial animation
technology Intuitive dialogue system with player choice and branching
conversation paths Non-linearity and optional player activities offer rewarding
replay-ability Character journal capturing all key game moments More than 40
unique locations Diverse range of integrated challenges, from standalone logic
puzzles to hi-tech gadgetry to inventory and dialogue obstacles Original
soundtrack Culpa Innata will be in stores across North America October 23rd, at
the retail price of $29.99. Culpa Innata is rated M for Mature by ESRB.
For more information and to pre-order your copy today visit:
http://www.strategyfirst.com/en/games/culpainnata/
The Loki Forums
offer a new version 1.0.7.0 patch for the European DVD version of Cyanide Studios'
action/RPG (thanks The Patches Scrolls). There is also
a subsequent
forum post with word on plans for an upcoming version 1.0.8.0 patch that will
close off an aspect of the game that can be exploited, and that the Loki Battle
Round #1 will be postponed until the release of this patch, which is "at least"
three weeks off.
Firaxis Games now offers a new patch for Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond
The Sword, updating the turn-based strategy expansion to version 3.13. The patch
is a robust 121 MB download. The patch is also automatically available for the
Steam
edition.
The UFO:
Extraterrestrials Downloads Page now offers downloads of Patch #2 for all
English versions of the science fiction strategy game. There's no word on what
the 2.4 MB patch addresses. Thanks The Patches Scrolls.
The
Neverwinter Nights 2 Forums offer hotfixes for the various language editions
of Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer addressing a problem with missing
text in the D&D RPG expansion. Thanks The Patches Scrolls.
The
BioShock IGDA-Montreal Presentation - Saying Yes to the Player is a lengthy
video of a recent presentation where the evolution of BioShock is shown off,
including footage of three prototypes that did not make the cut.
- Hellgate: London
The
Hellgate: London Q&A on IncGamers talks with Dave Brevik about
Flagship's upcoming action/RPG. They discuss a couple of features not in the
game, balance issues, tile sets, leveling up, and more.
- Empire Earth III
Empire
Earth III Q&A on GameSpot discusses the warring factions in the coming
strategy sequel with Downtown Jeff Brown. They go into detail about the
game's three factions, stressing that keeping the number of factions so low
allows them to make each of them unique.
- Depths of Peril
The
Depths of Peril Q&A on Generation: Gamerz kicks off a three-part
interview with Steven Peeler of Soldak Entertainment discussing their
action/RPG. Topics include his departure from Ritual, what a Soldak is, how
deep the Depths of Peril are, and more.
- Horizons
RPG
Vault's Horizons: Empire of Istaria Acquisition Q&A talks with
Virtrium's Rick Simmons and Jason Murdick about the Horizons purchase, and
what the future holds for the well-travelled MMORPG.
- CCP
Rock,
Paper, Shotgun's EVE Online Q&A chats with Nathan Richardsson of CCP
about their science fiction MMORPG. They talk about his continued passion for
the game, and go into detail about various aspects of gameplay.
- Into The Pixel
Into
The Pixel: The Artists Speak on Gamasutra talks with some of the
luminaries involved in this art competition.
The powerful scent of skunk is coming through my window, and it is so strong I
am afraid when I go downstairs MrsBlue will tell me Hudson the wonder dog is
outside, which may be where she's going to spend the night if she's been skunked
again.
Shacknews has word
that the PC edition of Gears of War is expected in stores on November 6.
Accompanying this tidbit they offer a bunch of screenshots including looks at
new multiplayer maps and the game editor as well as their
hands-on preview.
On a semi-related note,
GameDaily BIZ
has a Q&A with CliffyB where he discusses plans for the Gears of War
movie.
The Age of Empires III Website offers
downloads of a trial version of Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties, the
now-gold RTS expansion. The demo allows the chance to play as the Japanese or
British for a 612 MB download, which is mirrored on
3D Downloads,
ComputerGames.ro,
FileFront,
FileShack, Gamer's Hell,
and
PixelRage.
Eurogamer
reports that beta testing has commenced for
Savage 2: A Tortured Soul for
those who have preordered S2 Games' upcoming RTS/FPS hybrid.
The Company background
page on the Turbine Website now lists Jim Crowley as President & CEO of this
Massachusetts-based MMOG developer, indicating that Jeff Anderson is no longer
filling that role. This is reported on
WarCry, where they note that
they interviewed Anderson just last week and got no indications from him
that any changes were in the offing. The website changes occurred overnight, and
no explanation is presented at this point.
Paradox Interactive announces that Crusader Kings: Deus Vult is now available
for purchase online via
GamersGate. Here's word on the strategy expansion: New York, USA
(October 4, 2007) – Paradox Interactive announced today the release of their new
- download only - expansion: Crusader Kings: Deus Vult. The
expansision is now available for download on GamersGate and is retailing for
$14.99. Strategy gamers missing the original Crusader Kings will be able to find
it on GamersGate as well.
Critics have called Crusader Kings an impressive addition to the Europe
Universalis family. Aim to create the most powerful dynasty of medieval Europe
in the period of 1066 to 1453 A.D. Amass prestige; increase the greatness of
your lands and your treasure coffins, build Cathedrals and Castles, appoint
vassals and battle traitors, introduce laws and set taxes while interacting with
hundreds of courtiers and nobles.
The much awaited expansion Deus Vult brings:
·A graphical overhaul to increase player experience
·Various added inter-character relations, representing loyalty inside courts,
relations between countries, as well as friends and rivals for all characters.
No longer will realms just fall apart, a beleaguered King will always have
friends who will support him. Also beware as your smoothly running realm could
run into trouble when your nice loyal vassal becomes your rival.
·Introductions of new gameplay aspects like the stability affecting realms,
numerous traits for characters and options for diplomacy, such as the
possibility to send fosterlings to other courts. In addition an all-new system
for children has been added. No longer will a 3 year old be able to run a realm
effectively. Children are all now born with 0 stats and then develop over
childhood. You'll never know how good your heir will be until he matures.
·A revised interface to streamline gameplay, with several completely redesigned
windows. Immediate alert icons highlight immediate problems with your realm and
a full ledger with more than a dozen detailed pages.
·A variety of new events as well as a substantial amount of changes and
improvements to the tools used by modders.
Read the brief gamer overview
here.
The In-Hell
Page offers a new version of the In Hell modification for DOOM 3 (thanks
Ant), though the page is entirely in German. There is a summary of this in
English on
Planet Doom, where we learn this is called a Director's Cut, though
Jean-Claude Van Damme fans will still have to wait for a director's cut of the
In Hell movie.
- Valve
Valve
'Will Not Charge' for Community Features on 1UP hears from Valve Project
Manager/Engineer Erik Johnson (thanks
Voodoo Extreme) in a snip from a coming GFW magazine article, saying:
"We will not charge for The Steam Community and its features. Never even
entered our mind. Part of it is to address the fact that when folks first
bought Half-Life 2, Steam didn't offer many reasons to stick around. It
didn't do enough for customers, and it didn't justify itself. So I suppose
we're paying off a debt now."
- Bounty Bay Online
Bounty
Bay Online Q&A on games xtreme talks with Konstantin Drewitz, producer
and product manager on this seafaring MMORPG, discussing competing in the
crowded MMOG marketplace, pricing, favorite and least favorite features, MMO
development, and more.
- The Chronicles of Spellborn on the
Official Website.
[Art Journal] "About that High House Torque."
- Empire Earth III on
IGN AU.
Graphics Showdown Empire Earth II versus III.
- Team Fortress 2 on
bit-tech.net.
It was 10 years ago today that version 1.0 of GameSpy was released. It was a 971
KB download. Man do I feel old.
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