Archived News:

Tuesday, Feb 26, 2008

Deadliest Catch Game

This press release announces development of Deadliest Catch: Alaskan Storm, a fishing simulation based on the Discovery Channel series Deadliest Catch, due this April for PC and Xbox 360. This YouTube video shows off a glimpse of the game's wave effects, and here's the announcement:
"Deadliest Catch Alaskan Storm" lets gamers captain their own boat in the frenzied search for an undersea jackpot. Gamers select one of five real crab boats, including the Northwestern, Cornelia Marie and Sea Star -- all featured on the series, or create and customize their own boat. Gamers then recruit and lead their own crew from a roster of twenty real crab fishermen. Selecting the wrong boat or recruiting the wrong crew member can mean the difference between landing a Bering Sea jackpot or disaster. Lead your fatigued, hungry and hardworking crew in the strategic search for King Crab and Opilio Crab, while battling to secure your catch and livelihood before other captains and crews get to the crab first.

Chris Taylor on PC Gaming

Gas Powered's Taylor 'PC Gaming As We Know It Is Dead' on Gamasutra reports some comments from Chris Taylor on the state of PC gaming. While he feels PC gaming is dead "as we know it," he is focusing on retail woes, saying that the web is where it's at, and that "Flash is the next console," and that "the web is kicking the console industry's ass."

Ships Ahoy - Mac Neverwinter Nights 2

Aspyr announces the Mac edition of Neverwinter Nights 2 is now available, offering owners of Intel-based Macs the chance to experience this D&D RPG sequel set in the unforgettable Forgotten Realms.

Far Cry 2 Movies

A pair of new trailers show off the environments in Far Cry 2, the upcoming sequel to Crytek's shooter that's currently in the works at Ubisoft Montreal. The large clips can be found on AtomicGamer, BitDaily, and Gamer's Hell.

Guild Wars Sales Milestone

This press release announces that Guild Wars has sold more than five million copies across three continents. The occasion inspired the following comment from ArenaNet cofounder Mike O'Brien: "Reaching the five million mark is extremely gratifying for us at ArenaNet because it shows the hard work and dedication we put into our games has resonated with the fans. We are committed to supporting all of our Guild Wars players, and at the same time, we're extremely excited to work on the game's evolution. Certainly the future of Guild Wars is as bright as its past and present."

38 Studios goes BigWorld

38 Studios, home of Todd McFarlane, R. A. Salvatore, and ballplayer Curt Schilling, announce they have licensed BigWorld Technology as middleware for their still-unannounced upcoming MMORPG.

Puzzle Quest: Galactrix Website

A Puzzle Quest: Galactrix Product Section is online for the just-announced puzzler, offering up some screenshots. Thanks Gamer's Hell.

4D Ruler's Horror Game

4D Rulers Website announces the developer is seeking "a publisher or investor to create an adventure horror game for the PC." A work-in-progress screenshot is supplied showing off an environment from the proposed project.

Love is in the Air

This page is home to Love, an unusual project described as a "first person not so massively multiplayer online procedural adventure game," being independently developed for Win32 (and possibly Linux and/or OS X) by Quel Solaar (thanks Mike Martinez and Kotaku). The site offers screenshots of the project, and information, though the summary on Rock, Paper, Shotgun gives a good sense of the game's offbeat approach:
You won’t be picking up rifles in your adventures, but more likely the plans for the rifle-building machine, that can then be utilised by everyone in your village. Part Zelda, part Tale In The Desert, part adventure shooter, and wholly abstract and beautiful, Love looks the kind of amalgam of art, programming and internet savvy that we’ve desired without even being able to imagine. It has the potential, and Steenberg has the huge intellect, for this to be one of the most precious events in PC gaming.

Nonetheless it’s unclear what’s going to happen to Steenberg and his project. He says he’s not doing it for the money and that he only needs 200-or-so subscribers to justify running the live game. From what I’ve seen he’ll be lucky to avoid being swamped by thousands, those hungry legions of gamers who want something quite different from their MMO experience, and just aren’t getting it.

Evening Previews

etc., etc.

PC Mass Effect May 6

Electronic Arts specifies May 6 as the precise release date for the PC edition of Mass Effect, which was already expected in May (story). The announcement fills in a few more details on how the PC edition will differ from the Xbox 360 original:
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (February 26, 2008) – Leading video game developer BioWare™, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), has announced that the award-winning space epic Mass Effect™ will be released for the PC on May 6, 2008 in North America. Re-designed for the PC, Mass Effect invites players to take the role of Commander Shepard as they set out on an adventure to save the galaxy from imminent destruction. Wrought with treachery, heroism, difficult decisions and a universe filled with unique and colorful species, Mass Effect delivers a truly compelling storyline.

Mass Effect for the PC introduces the following features:

    • New squad control interface – Players can now issue commands to individual squad members, providing a new level of depth to the tactical combat.
    • Hot-key functionality – Biotic powers and abilities can be mapped to individual keys, allowing a faster “run and gun” style of gameplay.
    • Re-designed Mako controls – Players can explore alien planets and engage in vehicular combat with an intuitive and fully camera independent control system for the Mako, their all-terrain vehicle.
    • Quick-save – New quick-save button and increased number of save slots.
    • New decryption mini-game – A new decryption mini-game invites players to test their skills as they avoid obstacles and move their icon to the center of the digital mechanism.
    • New inventory screen GUI and functionality – The enhanced inventory system makes it easier for players to equip and modify their weapons and armor.

Originally released for the Xbox 360™ videogame and entertainment system, Mass Effect has received critical acclaim throughout the world with more than 70 awards including Console Game of the Year and Role-Playing Game of the Year. Mass Effect has been named 2007 Game of the Year by The New York Times and has received 5 Elan Canadian Awards for the Electronic and Animated Arts. Combining a deep story with intense combat, Mass Effect challenges the player to make difficult decisions that can significantly impact the course of events. An innovative conversation system allows for lifelike interaction with some of the most realistic digital actors, voiced by Hollywood actors such as Seth Green, Marina Sirtis, Lance Henriksen and Keith David. Mass Effect for the PC has not yet been rated by the Entertainment Software Rating Board or PEGI.

Perpetual/P2 Closed?

WarCry Network is reporting that P2 Entertainment, the developer formerly (ironically) known as Perpetual Entertainment, has closed its doors for good (thanks FiringSquad), citing "multiple sources" for the news, though none are named. Perpetual/P2 has been in the news a lot lately, they were developing Star Trek Online until earlier this year (story), and more recently settled a legal dispute with PR firm Kohnke Communication (story).

Dead Space Date & Trailer - Updated

Update: We received a confirmation that the ommission of the PC edition from the below annopuncement was an oversight, and that Dead Space for PC will ship on Halloween along the the console versions.

Original Story: This press release announces an October 31 release date for the Xbox 360 and PS3 editions of Dead Space, using Halloween as a timely date for the horror/survival game. The Dead Space Website offers a new trailer from the game. On a related note, Glen Schofield immerses us in Dead Space on Play.TM is a Q&A with the game's executive producer, learning about the project's cinematic influences, competing in the survival/horror genre, gore, combat, reasons for a third-person perspective ("I feel its much more personal and visceral"), and more.

Universe At War Patch Plans

The Universe at War patch2 release notes on the Petroglyph Forums outline updates planned for the next patch for the real-time strategy game (thanks Gamer's Hell). The list of changes is pretty extensive, but no hints are offered as to when the patch will be released.

StarCraft II Footage

Gametrailers.com offers a new StarCraft 2 Protoss ShakyCam gameplay trailer shot off a monitor at the Game Developer's Conference. The clip, described by IncGamers as a bootleg, runs almost six-and-a-half minutes.

Champions Online Movie

Champions Online Website now offers a trailer showing off gameplay from Cryptic's recently unveiled superhero MMORPG. The clip is available in high and low resolutions. Thanks Gamer's Hell.

Witches Website, Trailer

A Witches Teaser Website is online as a preliminary Flash home to the upcoming fantasy-themed action game. The site includes screenshots, info in a Adobe Acrobat file (that made my Foxit Reader sad), and a new teaser trailer that shows a medieval fantasy setting, but none of the post-apocalyptic elements mentioned when the game was announced (story).

The Sims Online Becomes EA-Land

EA-Land is the name of a new online world born from the ashes of The Sims Online. This article outlines the revival, which says the new version "offers several improvements on the first game," not the least of which is that it is free. The environment is described as being similar to that of Second Life, with the distinction being EA's willingness to screen in-game content, so there will probably be fewer flying phalluses.

Morning Q&As

  • Ron Gilbert
    The Ron Gilbert Q&A on Eurogamer talks with the famed adventure game designer about his work with Hothead games on the upcoming Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness and DeathSpank.
  • Sins of a Solar Empire
    Ironclad Games and Sins of a Solar Empire Q&A Part Two on Platformers.net continues this conversation with Blair Fraser, Steven Mackay, and Craig Fraser of Ironclad Games about Sins of a Solar Empire, the 4X space game. They discuss cross-platform aspirations, interfaces, art style, what they love about their own game, patch plans, user-generated content, and more.

Morning Previews

Tuesday Game Reviews

Tuesday Hardware Reviews

etc.

Out of the Blue

It must be clear by now that I'm an inveterate name-dropper, so I with no apologies I'll share my brush with fame yesterday. I stopped by the vet's office to pick up some food and supplements, and someone was there dropping off one of Martha Stewart's Chow Chow's. These dogs can be quite a handful (I'm friendly with a Chow-mix who is a danger to any stranger she meets), but this dog seemed very friendly and calm. Apparently had I been there at the right time a couple of days earlier, I would have met Martha herself, but I'm more of a dog person than a craft person anyway.

Crafty Links: Thanks Ant and Mike Martinez.
Play: Wulfgar.
Daredevil 2.
link of the Morning: lowercase L. Thanks Neatorama.
Stories: "Smiling Bob" Verdict: Guilty. Thanks Devicer. Lying Bob.
United Airlines plane slides off runway in Wyoming.
Diver in chummed waters dies after shark bite. Who could see that coming?
Science!: Teenage anger linked to brains: study. Headline of the day.
Software, portal target, predict terrorist behavior.
The Best Cure for Hiccups: Remind Your Brain You're Not a Fish.
Images: 11 Neighbors from Hell. Thanks Digg.
Media: Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early. Thanks Digg.
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