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Archived News:
Variety reports on the Video Games Ratings Enforcement Act, a new Federal
bill aimed at penalizing stores that do not check for IDs from purchasers of
games rated "M" or "AO" by the ESRB: Reps. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) and Jim
Matheson (D-Utah) introduced the Video Games Ratings Enforcement Act on
Wednesday to ensure that children “can only access age appropriate content
without parental permission,” according to Terry.
“The images and themes in some videogames are shocking and troublesome. In some
games high scores are often earned by players who commit ‘virtual’ murder,
assault and rape,” Terry continued. “Many young children are walking into stores
and are able to buy or rent these games without their parents even knowing about
it. Many retailers have tried to develop voluntary policies to make sure mature
games do not end up in the hands of young kids, but we need to do more to
protect our children.”
Bill would require ID checks for purchases of games rated M (mature) or AO
(adult only). It would also compel vidgame retailers to post ratings system
explanations in the store. Retailers found in violation of either requirement
would face a $5,000 civil penalty.
Several state legislatures have enacted similar laws, but each has been struck
down by courts on First Amendment challenges.
Spacetime Studios follows up on news that their publishing deal for a space
combat MMOG called Blackstar died ( story) with news that they
have successfully negotiated with NCsoft for the rights to the IP, and are going
forward with development of the game, now titled Blackstar Chronicles:
AUSTIN, Texas – May 8, 2008 -- Spacetime Studios, LLC announced today it
has acquired the rights to the Blackstar IP from its previous publisher NCsoft.
Spacetime Studios, an independent game development studio made up of industry
veterans, now fully owns all the tools, technology and intellectual property
from their previous publishing deal. Set in the far future, Blackstar is a fresh
universe full of wildly original space fighters, horrifying demonic enemies and
epic drama. “The IP lends itself to almost any kind of gameplay that one could
ask for, and was specifically designed to be a long-term franchise,” said Cinco
Barnes, creative director and co-founder of Spacetime Studios. “It’s a nice
sweet spot when you own all the puzzle pieces and we now have extraordinary
flexibility in where to take the game universe next.”
“After two years of development, the Blackstar universe is quite near and dear
to our hearts” said Gary Gattis, executive producer and co-founder of Spacetime
Studios. “Owning the IP as well as the engine and tool set puts a tremendous
amount of potential in our hands. With all the developed components under the
Spacetime team’s control, the options for the IP are diversified.”
The new “Blackstar Chronicles” development underway is a space fantasy combat
game based on the single-player traditions of “Wing Commander” and the
multiplayer feel of “Descent.” “The Blackstar Chronicles is a very powerful
product,” said Jake Rodgers, art director and co-founder of Spacetime Studios.
“The Blackstar universe has the potential to be something special and it’s great
that we are able to bring the IP to fruition.”
The
Battlefield Website has word that a beta of the upcoming version 1.50 patch
for DICE's military shooter is now available, offering two maps. Word is: Starting today you can be part of the Beta
phase of Battlefield 2142 Update 1.50. Update 1.50 is a big step for Battlefield
as it is the first time we have included community created maps and included
them into an update. Wake Island makes a come back thanks to The Sir. Community
and appears alongside a brand new map new to Battlefield created by Jason Brice,
Operation Shingle. Also, for those who prefer to fight on foot, we have added a
No Vehicle option to a number of maps to allow you to fight without worrying if
you’ll come face to face with a Battle Walker. Also, as requested by match
broadcasting groups we have separated the Commanders voice volume from the Sound
Effects so you can keep the explosions and gun fire without the Commander
interrupting the broadcast.
The Lost Cases Of Sherlock Holmes demo is now available to allow you to sample
this mystery game (presumably your first assignment is to find the lost cases).
The full game is available for purchase online from
Legacy Interactive and the 124 MB demo is available from
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell.
The Penumbra Black
Plague online purchase page now offers sales of the Linux edition of
Penumbra Black Plague, the latest installment in Frictional Games' horror
series (thanks Ant and
LinuxGames). For those interested in a sample, a playable demo for the
penguin-powered edition of the game was recently released
( story).
The Witcher
Website has word that the debut of The Witcher: Duelmail has suffered a
setback (thanks Gamer's Hell), and will be delayed by a few days to accommodate
suggestions from testers: Duelmail’s premiere planned for this Friday had
to be slightly rescheduled. The team responsible for the final version of the
game (one2tribe and CD Projekt RED), guided by the remarks given by the players,
decided to dedicate some more time to polish elements connected with balance,
items and animation.
We reassure you that the delay in Duelmail’s premiere will not be long. This
time it’s the case of a few days of adding some finishing touches and perfecting
elements, which were asked for by the players.
At the same time, we do not give up the beta tests, so all the players are more
than welcome to continue their duels! Precise information about the final date
of the premiere will be given next week. Tomorrow, we will give you details
concerning Thursday’s chat with the creators of the Duelmail!
Microsoft's Unangst 'PC Will Always Be At The Center Of Innovation' on Gamasutra
is Q&A with Games For Windows senior director Kevin Unangst about how things are
going over in GFW high command. Topics include developer response to the
program, Vista take-up, standards, and the topic highlighted in the article
title, his feeling the PC remains the source of gaming innovation: I
think that we're uniquely in both the console business and the PC business, and
I think there are certain instances where consumers like playing in their living
room for some types of games. I like playing on the biggest screen in the house.
But I think we share the view that the PC will always be at the center of the
innovation that is happening for gameplay -- new game types, new business
models, new distribution models.
It's lead in the Internet, it's lead in the acceleration of graphics, and I
don't see any reason to believe that the PC will change, and that trend will go
away any time soon. It is at the forefront, and I believe it will continue to be
at the forefront.
And who knows, in that vision of the future, everything may be called a PC,
right? Everything's going to get more intelligent and more Internet-connected,
and the investments that Microsoft's making in both of those worlds I think will
allow us to bring better experiences to consumers, no matter where they come in.
They start on the consoles? We're going to make sure that when they add a PC to
the mix that that experience gets better, and vice versa.
A new version 1.1.0 of Kong is now available, updating this top-down shooter.
Word is: "The reason for the long wait is that I embarked on quite a few major
changes all in one go and it has taken this long to finish them all off. In
future I will concentrate on one thing at a time and try to make more regular
releases." The game is available from the Kong
website, mirrored on
AtomicGamer and Gamer's
Hell.
The Fistful of Frags Website now
offers a new version 1.40 beta for this western-themed modification for
Half-Life 2. Here's a description of the new version: "Version 1.4 is our most
complete release until now, isn´t easy to summarize the amount of work from a
lot of people which beta 1.4 has supposed. There are 2 new maps, many fixes and
changes in existing levels, the much awaited dual peacemakers, many new sound
effects and taunts, new music, final vigilante player model and a brand new
feature to play with: whiskey!"
id Software announces development of
DOOM 4, putting out the call for job applicants, as this will be developed
in-house, like the rest of the DOOM series: Production has begun on DOOM
4™, the next journey into the legendary DOOM universe. We are expanding our
internal team and are currently hiring to work on this highly anticipated title.
"DOOM is part of the id Software DNA and demands the greatest talent and
brightest minds in the industry to bring the next installment of our flagship
franchise to Earth," said Todd Hollenshead, CEO, id Software. "It's critical for
id Software to have the best creative minds in-house to develop games that meet
the standards synonymous with our titles."
The DOOM franchise is one of the most recognizable and important in gaming
history, having been named "one of the ten most influential games of the decade"
by PC Gamer and "the #1 game of all time" by GameSpy. DOOM 4 will join the
award-winning series which has consistently topped sales charts throughout the
world.
We are looking for talented, ambitious and passionate individuals eager to join
our accomplished team of developers working on the industry’s most innovative
and anticipated games. For a complete listing of available positions, visit our
id Careers page.
Resumes can be submitted via email to
jobs@idsoftware.com. All applicants must be authorized to work in the United
States.
Fireglow Games announces plans for a free add-on for Sudden Strike 3: Arms
for Victory that will be accompanied by a map editor for the World War II
strategy game: Today Fireglow Games presents to you a part of a free addon
for Sudden Strike 3 Arms for Victory, which will be released with a map editor.
Three new single-player missions and two multi-player missions will be shipped
along with the addon. Two of new single-player missions form a Campaign, in
which player will fight on a German side against USSR forces at summer 1942.
Third is an independent single-player mission, where player will take command of
an Allied forces in Ardennes at autumn 1944 and will try to stop German
invasion.
One of the multi-player missions is designed for 4 players, the other is for 6
players. Also we have reworked our old missions to bring the replayability.
Exact release date for the addon will be posted later on
www.suddenstrike.com.
FileFront is giving away free copies of
SAGA, saying they've teamed up with Silverlode to offer a whopping 50,000
copies of the MMO RTS game. The game normally carries a $19.99 retail prices, so
they are giving out almost a million dollars worth of software. The offer will
run through May 11, or while supplies last.
This Shrapnel Games Press
Release announces they are accepting registrations for open beta testing for
War Plan Pacific. Here's a bit: War is coming to your PC! Vast flotillas
of warships under an umbrella of air power will soon be striking at bases across
the Pacific ocean in a bid for total regional domination in KE Studios' debut
strategy title, War Plan Pacific. Shrapnel Games is looking for a few good men
(or women, but really, how many women are into grand strategic wargames?) to
ensure smooth sailing. If you're interested in enlisting in the USN and IJN for
a brief tour of duty before the rest of the world gets in on the action please
read on.
The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows
of Angmar Website has details on a "Welcome Back Weekend" that will offer
free access to former subscribers to the Tolkien-inspired MMORPG. Word is the
event will run from tomorrow through Sunday: "Play your old characters, check
out the LOTRO Anniversary celebration events, explore new areas, and tackle new
quests. Just log into your LOTRO account from May 8-12, 2008 and we'll take care
of the fun and adventure."
Mikael Nyqvist Q&A on Adventure Classic Gaming talks with one of the folks
behind MDNA Games, Swedish developers and publishers of the Carol Reed mystery
game series.
Inspired by the realization that my DirecTV DVRs now offer the ability to stream
from my PC, I have finally embarked on digitizing all our CDs, recklessly
hurtling us into the 21st century. I'm actually not that upset over having
procrastinated about this for all these years, since between advances in
software and hardware, I've been able to crank through almost half of our fairly
daunting music collection in just a few hours.
R.I.P.:
Baskin-Robbins co-founder dies.
R.I.P.:
Morgan Sparks, transistor inventor; former Bell Labs researcher and Sandia Labs
Director.
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