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Archived News:
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.
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."
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.
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.
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, 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.
A Puzzle Quest:
Galactrix Product Section is online for the just-announced puzzler, offering
up some screenshots. Thanks Gamer's Hell.
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.
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.
Thanks Mike Martinez and Ant.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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 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.
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).
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.
- 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.
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.
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