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Archived News:
Steam
News announces a new update is now automatically available for Team Fortress
2, and also that the free Team Fortress 2 weekend is now underway: A
worldwide Team Fortress 2 Free Weekend is now under way! Join now, and play the
full game for free, including the new content just released in the
TF2: Gold Rush Update.
The Free Weekend is open to players around the world, and there is no obligation
to purchase to participate; all that is needed is a Steam account to join.
To join in the fun and learn more about Team Fortress 2, please visit
www.steamgames.com/goldrush
The Free Weekend ends Sunday, May 4th at 1pm PDT.
A new playable demo is now available for Strategic Command 2: Patton Drives
East, the expansion that adds alternate-history scenarios to the World War
II strategy game. The demo is 141 megabytes in
size and is ready for download immediately. The demo includes three different
single-player campaigns, each playable in games limited to one year of game
time. The download can be found on
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, Gamer's
Hell, and GameZone.
Activision, Vivendi discontinue ESA membership on GamesIndustry.biz has word
that both Activision and Vivendi have parted ways with
The Entertainment Software Association, the
video game trade group. They have statements from the ESA and Activision, with
Activision saying: "We appreciate the work that the ESA has done over the years
in promoting the interactive entertainment industry with state and federal
governments and wish the ESA best of luck with the show."
Kotaku has word that a number of other developers, including NCsoft and id
Software, will eschew this years E3, though they remain ESA members. They quote
industry sources who indicate that this may be related to displeasure with the
leadership of ESA president Mike Gallagher.
CDV announces the North American retail boxed edition of Theatre of War,
the World War II RTS game available for sale online for over a year now, is gold
in preparation of its scheduled appearance on shelves on May 19: Cary,
NC, May 2, 2008 – Theatre of War, the WWII battlefield simulation/RTS title for
PC, has gone gold today. Created by Battlefront.com, a leading developer of
strategy games, Theatre of War offers an extensive real-time WWII experience. By
combining the look, feel and historical elements of World War II, Theatre of War
creates an unrivaled tactical battlefield recreation that spans major campaigns
from the Battle of Moscow to Normandy. With more than 50 missions spread across
multiple campaigns and a rich do-it-yourself mission and map editor included,
Theatre of War rewards armchair generals with tremendous gaming and replay
value. For more information about the game, which will be published by cdv
Software Entertainment USA in North America on May 19, please visit
http://www.cdvus.com.
- World in Conflict: Soviet Assault
A new World in Conflict:
Soviet Assault Yulja trailer show off the upcoming RTS expansion. The clip
is available on
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and
Gamer's Hell.
- Bionic Commando: Rearmed
Three new Bionic Commando:
Rearmed multiplayer trailers show off multiplayer action from Capcom's
upcoming classic remake. The clips can be found on
Gamer's Hell.
- Supreme Ruler 2020
The first trailer from Supreme Ruler
2020 is online, offering a look at BattleGoat Studios' upcoming
simulation of geopolitical conflict. The 19 MB download is available on
FileFront and
Gamer's Hell.
- Zero Ballistics
The
Zero Ballistics
Website has a new trailer showing off features from this upcoming tank
combat game. The clip is mirrored on
Gamer's Hell.
The Valve
Q&A on Computer and Video Games talks with Valve's Doug Lombardi about
what's in the pipes at Valve, including the highly anticipated Portal sequel and
Half-Life 2: Episode Three. One interesting answer concerns whether they'll
diversify from the FPS genre at some point: I think Portal was sort of a
baby step outside of our comfort zone. There weren't any weapons, so to speak.
No real combat. The success of that has encouraged us to keep trying new things
outside of that comfort zone.
There's a lot of people at Valve who are parents and would love to make a game
for kids. We all play the Wii a lot and we think that the proper way for Valve
to approach the Wii would be to make something cool designed specifically for
Wii.
I mean, I'm not making any announcements but there's a lot of desire internally
to do something for kids, do something on the Wii.
Gabe's [Valve co-founder, Gabe Newell] a huge fan of MMORPGs and he's always
wanted to make one, but that's a big risk to venture out on. I think at some
point you'll see us move a little further out of our comfort zone than Portal
was, but it's not going to be this year or next.
But definitely, before we're done, years from now we'll diversify a little more
and move outside of PC FPS.
- Battlefield Heroes
The
Battlefield Heroes Q&A on bit-tech.net talks with Ben Cousins about the
upcoming free-to-play Battlefield game, discussing the microtransaction
business model, cartoony graphics, comparisons with TF2, and more.
- Action/RPGs
RPG
Vault Focus: Action/RPGs offers Q&As with Flagship's Max Schaefer and
Gas Powered Games' Steve Bauman about the action/RPG genre.
- Ground Branch
The
BlackFoot Studios Q&A Grupo 97 talks with John Sonedecker about his
background as a designer on the Rainbow Six series and about Ground Branch,
their upcoming contribution to the tactical shooter genre.
The
Ensemble Studios Blog has updates from Bruce Shelley on Age of Empires
III and what's going on at Ensemble Studios (thanks Gamer's Hell). He mentions an
AOE3 hack in the wild that contains a trojan (which should not be the only
reason to avoid that), plans for an AOE3 ladder update, a Halo Wars update, word
on an Ensemble family picnic, and more.
The Age Of Conan: Hyborian Adventures Website offers a couple of new
tutorial movies for Funcom's barbaric MMORPG (thanks Gamer's Hell). Word is: "One tells
you more about how to use the GUI and the other teaches the basics of combat. So
both videos are very useful for any new Hyborian adventurer." For some reason
the clips are on FilePlanet, so registration is required to get these, but the
combat video is also mirrored on
ActionTrip,
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell. The GUI movie can also be found on
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell.
The
Evochron Renegades Website has a new version 1.788 of this freeform space
exploration and combat game, as usual, serving as an update for the full game as
well as an updated playable demo. Word is: "The main focus of this update is an
all-new multiplayer system, so it is required to retain multiplayer
compatibility as it is not compatible with earlier versions." There is a
corresponding server program, and also, a new
Evochron Renegades Strategy Guide is online.
The
Age of Conan PvP Q&A on GameSpy talks with Funcom's Gaute Godager about the
barbarian-on-barbarian violence found in multiplayer play in Age of Conan:
Hyborian Adventures, Funcom's upcoming MMORPG. Various aspects of
multiplayer combat are discussed, including prerequisites that must be satisfied
before certain gameplay modes can be accessed.
The Battlegroup42 Website now offers
a new version 1.4 of the Battlegroup42 modification for Battlefield 1942
(thanks Ant and
Planet
Battlefield). The
change log outlining what's new and different is quite extensive.
Iron Man opens today! I've still got things I'm dealing with here after
changing computers and ISPs recently, but I am very motivated to make the time
to get out and see this soon. First, because I'm greatly looking forward to it,
and second, because I don't want to be exposed to negative reviews, should there
be any, as that can really take the wind out of my sails (I still haven't seen
Spider-Man 3).
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