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Archived News:
Rockstar Games
Acquires Mad Doc Software (thanks Gamer's Hell) has word that the formerly indie
developers are now Rockstars: NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Rockstar Games, a
publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO - News),
announced today the formation of Rockstar New England through the acquisition of
substantially all of the assets of Andover, MA-based Mad Doc Software, one of
the premier independent development studios in North America.
“The team at Mad Doc Software is extremely talented,” said Sam Houser, Founder
of Rockstar Games. “Bringing them within the Rockstar Games family will enhance
our core technology and further support our commitment to creating progressive
and innovative gaming experiences.”
Established in 1999 by Dr. Ian Lane Davis, Mad Doc Software has led development
on and provided contracting services for triple-A titles, with a particular
focus on artificial intelligence and networking. The studio most recently worked
with Rockstar Games on the Xbox 360 version of the critically acclaimed Bully:
Scholarship Edition.
“To be a part of Rockstar Games is an amazing opportunity for everyone here,”
said Dr. Davis, Studio Head of the new Rockstar New England. “We’re eager to
bring our expertise to bear in the character-driven, open-world stories that
make Rockstar Games titles so uniquely compelling.”
The
Star Wars Galaxies Website offers patch notes for the imminent Chapter 9 in
the Force-wielding MMORPG. The new chapter will add the Temple of Exar Kun
Heroic Encounter, new collections, new props for the storyteller system, and
more.
Making Of Jumpgate The
Reconstruction Initiative on Rock, Paper, Shotgun talks with Ryan Seabury of
American Idol and NetDevil fame to learn about development of the original
Jumpgate as the space MMOG undergoes its upcoming resurrection. More of this
sort of reminiscence can be found in
Gamasutra's TimeShift Postmortem, looking at the ups and downs of the
"strange and convoluted" development cycle for Saber Interactive's 4D shooter.
A new behind-the-scenes trailer for Iron Man offers a glimpse at development of
this armor-clad superhero tie-in. The clip can be found on
ActionTrip,
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, Gamer's Hell,
and
MyGameTrailers.
- Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor on
GameShark.
- Numen: Contest of Heroes on
RPG Vault.
A news blurb from yesterday on the
Eidos Montreal Website
teases the fact that they are working on another project besides Deus
Ex 3: "Eidos-Montréal is proud to announce the recruitment for our
2nd “AAA” project. … A hint! The title begins with the letter “ T ”… "
(thanks Kaz). If we speculate that this will be for an existing
franchise (otherwise it's not much of a hint), knowing that the
TimeSplitters series has moved to EA and that Tomb Raider: Underworld
is being developed by Crystal Dynamics, this leaves us with reason to
hope this may indicate a return of the stealthy Thief series.
We're just sayin'…
In other Eidos-related rumors, the
Guardian Unlimited reports that Eidos parent SCi's shares are on the rise
amid renewed takeover speculation. Potential bidders they specifically mention
are Ubisoft, Infogrames, and Time Warner, pointing out that Time Warner already
owns a 10% stake in SCi.
The
Battlefield Website has word that the crackdown on stat padding has resulted
in the closure of a number of modded Battlefield 2 servers and the reset
of some player stats: With the help of our community and partners we have
located and shut down a number of modified servers which were being used for
sending inflated scores to the stats leaderboards. During this crackdown process
we have also wiped over 1000 players of their stats to best protect the
leaderboard integrity. Some players may have joined these modified servers
during the time they were active and found their profiles reset. This reset can
not be undone as all resets have been fully investigated by the Support team and
proven to be invalid scores.
We are continuing to work with our server providers to prevent these servers
appearing but be aware there are some servers that could inflate your scores
artificially so we suggest trying to play on servers you trust and know.
Please report any servers or players you suspect of cheating and/or padding to
EA Customer Support through the website at
http://support.ea.com.
Ensemble Studios announces
the discovery of bugs in the recent version 1.01 patch for Age of Empires
III: The Asian Dynasties, so they are working on a version 1.01a patch in
hopes of releasing it as early as next week (thanks Gamer's Hell). The main concern is a
bug that can give the player wood (seriously), and they say exploiting this bug
in online play will get players banned. Meanwhile, if this bug gives you wood
for more than four hours, call your doctor. Here's word: A bug was
discovered in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties following the release of
patch 1.01. A French home city card lowers the Church building cost to a
negative number, so that a player can receive wood for placing a Church.
Exploiting this bug in games is subject to a ban from online play.
We are working on a fix for some bugs, including this one, and we will be
releasing a 1.01a patch for The Asian Dynasties, hopefully as soon as next week.
Saved and recorded games using the 1.01 patch will not be compatible with the
game once it has been updated to 1.01a.
That is the situation at the moment, we'll do our best to keep you updated on an
ETA for patch 1.01a as we get closer to having it finalized.
The Empires Mod Website features a
server hotfix for this Half-Life 2 modification (thanks Gamer's Hell). This fix
closes a hole that players could exploit to cause servers to crash.
Matrix Games is
serving up a new patch for Gary Grigsby’s World at War: A World Divided,
updating the World War II turn-based strategy game to version 1.020. Here's what
they have to say about this: "The v1.020 update includes some important
improvements to the rules for artillery, carrier strikes, bombardment attacks
and other areas. A variety of new features including improved retreats and
resource movement as well as further increases in mod-ability, especially in
tweaking political events. In addition, the update includes several bug fixes
and a brand new scenario called Global Glory which puts a special emphasis on
oil resources and additional realism options." The download is located
on this page.
The Zero Ballistics Website
announces the launch of open beta testing for Zero Ballistics, a
multiplayer tank combat/first-person shooter in the works at QuantiCode. Here's
the deal: Zero Ballistics is a unique blend of first person shooter and
tank combat, focusing on multiplayer gaming exclusively. To learn more about the
details, read the
Game section.
We are glad to announce that an open beta version of Zero Ballistics is now
available. To download the free beta go to the
Downloads section.
The open beta features:
• Two levels set in an alpine environment
• Three different main weapons, and one secondary weapon
• Three different skills Deathmatch and Team Deatchmatch
modes
• Best of all, it's absolutely FREE to play
Deathmatch and Team Deatchmatch modes are available and if your graphics card
supports shader model 2.0, then there is no reason why you aren't already
downloading the open beta of Zero Ballistics and start playing right now!
Have fun and come back to check for the first of many updates introducing new
features.
Please feel free to leave comments in our
Forum, good ideas are
always welcome.
An updated version 0.2.3.7 Nitro Stunt Racing Trial is now available on
the Nitro Stunt
Racing Website, renewing this sample of Game Seed's overpowered stunt racing
game. Word is: "This update contains a new jump track named 'Red Run'. It fixes
bugs with Windows Vista, and offers many other improvements." The 300 MB
download is mirrored on
AtomicGamer,
FanGaming, and Gamer's
Hell.
The
TrackMania Website announces the release of a new trailer for TrackMania
Nations Forever and reveals April 16 as the release date for this free
installment in Nadeo's racing series. The trailer is mirrored on
ComputerGames.ro and
Gamer's Hell, and here's a bit on how this is intended to help unite
TrackManiacs: The coming of TrackMania Nations Forever will also allow the
convergence of the large TrackMania community. For the first time, players of
the free versions will be able to play online with players from the retail
version of TrackMania United on servers dedicated to the Stadium environment
that is common to both games. Players of the TrackMania United retail version
will also gain a brilliant free extension named "United Forever". In addition to
being compatible with Nations Forever, this extension will offer many bonuses -
including tracks that have never been seen before, new design blocks for the
seven game environments and a spectacular graphics update for the three historic
environments (Desert, Snow and Rally).
Wrapping a triple-header of racing news, a new GRID "gameplay features"
trailer shows off the next installment in Codemasters' Race Driver
series with narration from designer Ralph Fulton. This clip can be found on
ActionTrip,
AtomicGamer,
ComputerGames.ro, and
Gamer's Hell.
VSTEP announces the New Horizons add-on for
Ship Simulator 2008 is available
for online purchase: Challenge your friends online with NEW HORIZONS, the
official add-on for the hit game Ship Simulator 2008. Try your hand at sailing a
luxury cruise liner & a classic yacht or feel the impact of the waves as you
guide your fishing vessel home through a storm! NEW HORIZONS offers new highly
realistic enviroments and adds eight exciting new vessels for your sailing
pleasure. Includes all new missions and free roaming multiplayer mode too!
NEW HORIZONS requires a valid installation of Ship Simulator 2008
The Adventure Company asks you to answer the riddle of the tomb, as
Cleopatra: Riddle of the Tomb should now be available in North America: Toronto,
Canada, April 3, 2008: The Adventure Company, a leading publisher of interactive
entertainment software around the world, today announced the adventure game
Cleopatra: Riddle of the Tomb for Windows® is shipping to retail stores across
North America.
Created by award-winning developer, Kheops Studio, the game development of
Cleopatra: Riddle of the Tomb is based on historical research of Egyptian
culture. Authentic monuments such as the Lighthouse, the Library and the city of
Alexandria have been incorporated into the game and the multitude of game
puzzles reference Egyptian culture and science.
“Egyptian themed games have always been a favorite among adventure gaming fans,”
said Byron Gaum, Global Product Marketing Manager at The Adventure Company.
“Cleopatra: Riddle of the Tomb offers players a realistic exploration into
history with an engaging story, a host of mysterious characters and varying
gameplay experiences based on the astrological sign that a player chooses. It’s
a must-have for every adventure game fan.”
Making of System Shock 2 on
Rock, Paper, Shotgun looks back at development of the classic shooter/RPG
sequel, taking advantage of access to Ken Levine to get his personal
recollections from the creation of the System Shock 2. Piece of cake, right? "No time. No
money. I had no experience. I’d never shipped a game before that."
The Spore
Website now features a new behind-the-scenes for Spore (or is it SPORE?),
the upcoming evolution game. Curious about how creative and diverse the
developers at Maxis are? Hear about it from their own mouths! The clip is
mirrored on AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell.
So my 'net connection gets choked off late in the day yesterday, similar to a
problem I had a couple of weeks ago. As it persisted, I called Verizon tech
support again to ask if there was a system problem. After going through a couple
of automated menus that asked for redundant information, someone picked up and
asked for the same information once again. He then started to work through his
checklist that involved me rebooting routers and such, continually ignoring my
objections that I was calling to see if there was problem on the
Verizon end (besides their phone support). It eventually occurred to me that my
questions about this were overloading his English skills, so I made him stop and
listen to a careful, simplified version of my question. He then finally checked
something, and told me there was indeed a system problem, and that their techs
were working on it. Before getting off the line I thanked him, and he reminded
me that they were there to help anytime I called. For some reason that didn't
reassure me as much I imagine he hoped it would.
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