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Archived News:
Shacknews has a report
from John Carmack's QuakeCon address where the id Software Technical Director
indicates that the future of the Quake series is probably depended on the
success of their upcoming free Quake Live project, quoting him saying:
"The door is not completely shut for another Quake project, and I'd say probably
the success of Quake Live is going to determine whether or not we do another
Quake Arena project." They
also say Mr. Carmack says the Wolfenstein franchise is not as
likely a candidate for the free-to-play model as Quake, based on the realism
factor: "You're running around fighting the Nazis and there's a billboard with
[an advertisement] on it." A final note of interest from the talk is that the
Quake Live name change was because the
Quake Zero title was
thwarted by a domain squatter.
What Activision Can And Can't Change About Blizzard on Kotaku is a Q&A with
World of Warcraft game director Jeffrey Kaplan about how the formation of
Activision Blizzard may influence the future of the company (thanks nin). A
couple of interesting topics are covered, including the possibility that changes
could be made to how World of Warcraft is monetized, something they are not
eager to do, but that Kaplan admits is within Activision Blizzard's powers. A
similar point is made about the possibility that microtransactions could be part
of the Diablo III landscape, as D3 lead designer Jay Wilson says, "I think we
always look to make the game we want to make, and then figure out the kind of
financial model that works with that game." Perhaps most interesting, though, is
Kaplan's comment about consoles in speaking of Activision's strengths: "They have
a lot of expertise in the console area, where we're very-headed in addition to
PC and online."
The
City of Heroes Website announces that the superhero MMORPG now offers the
option of purchasing character Respecs: City of Heroes has
expanded their suite of available purchasable services to include Character
Respecs (short for Respecifications). Over the course of leveling up, there are
many powers that a character can choose from. A Character Respec allows the
character to re-select their powers from their chosen primary and secondary
powers, along with any other pools of powers they have access to. To be clear,
this optional purchasable Respec does not allow the primary or secondary
powerset to be reselected; it functions like existing respecs currently
available in game.
Optional Character Respecs are available via the in-game store found at the
character select screen for the per transaction price of $9.99 USD.
There are already multiple in-game methods that players can obtain a Respec.
Now, if the convenience of purchasing a Respec is desired, it is available.
Having a purchasable option has been an often heard desire from the game's
customers.
Once players purchase a Respec, they must then visit a Respec Contact in-game to
use it, in the same manner as the in-game obtainable respecs are done. The
Respec Contacts include: Jack Wolf in Galaxy City and Arbiter Lupin in Nerva.
Turbine announces it has partnered with WBIE to distribute the Mines of Moria
expansion for Lord of the Rings Online, revealing that they will be
offering a retail edition, a collectors' edition, as well as a digital option
for existing subscribers: > The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria
Complete Edition will include the original The Lord of the Rings Online™:
Shadows of Angmar™ game (Volume I), all content updates released since launch,
and The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria (Volume II). The Complete
Edition will be available at retail stores nationwide and offers new players who
wish to journey through the most complete and authentic recreation of
Middle-earth the full, award-winning experience.
> The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria Collector’s Edition will feature
the content of the Complete Edition as well as compelling digital and physical
items for collectors. Limited quantities of the Collector’s Edition will be
available at retail outlets in a unique leather-bound book packaging and will
include:
· 3 exclusive tokens that can be exchanged for the player’s choice of 8
different in-game items
· 22” x 22” premium quality cloth map of the Mines of Moria
· Special gold-plated ring complete with chain and pouch
· Mines of Moria poster
· The Lord of the Rings Online Art and Music Collection with the official Mines
of Moria Soundtrack
· A full color Collector’s Edition Starter Guide
> The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria Digital Expansion is a digital
upgrade that will allow existing subscribers to The Lord of the Rings Online:
Shadows of Angmar to continue the ultimate interactive adventure into the vast,
terrifying and unparalleled world beneath Middle-earth.
MCV reports an
October 3 release date for FIFA ’09, getting word straight from EA, who also had
this to share about the new edition in the soccer/football series: "We’ve made
over 250 improvements from last year and we wanted to give the team the time
they needed to make the best FIFA game possible. We’re continuing to build on
the solid foundation from last year which saw us create the most successful FIFA
both in terms of sales and quality."
Creative Support now offers new drivers for X-Fi cards running under Windows
Vista, which should, as pointed out by
Gizmodo, "finally put that whole driver fiasco behind them." According
to
Giz the drivers add DVD audio playback. Thanks Mike Martinez.
The Wolfenstein QuakeCon trailer is online, offering an expanded version of the
clip that debuted at E3 ( story). There is also
a Wolfenstein preview on
IGN that includes a video interview with Eric Biessman, a
Wolfenstein preview on GameSpy that includes the newer trailer, and
another preview on
1Up. The clip is also available on
AtomicGamer.
A fourth interview movie for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky is now available
with more from Oleg Yavorsky on GSC Game World's upcoming shooter prequel.
Today's topic is multiplayer modes, as Oleg describes a new "capture the
artifact" modes, which unsurprisingly "compares to this capture the flag kind of
mode." Gameplay footage illustrates this new mode. The clip can be found on
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's Hell.
A behind-the-scenes movie for Legendary is now available, along with
narration by producer John Garcia-Shelton and other developers, who describes
the games premise, inspired by the Greek myth of Pandora's box. The clip is
posted on ActionTrip,
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell.
A new "build" trailer for X3: Terran Conflict gives a look at the
upcoming standalone space combat expansion. Here's a description: "The video
shows some new stations and ships as well as a brief look at the new, improved
interface and menu system. In the voice-over it also mentions more about some of
the other upcoming content such as new ship classes." The movie is available on
the
DeepSilver Website, mirrored on
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell.
A new Empires of Steel trailer shows off this upcoming turn-based
strategy game. Word is: "Atomicboy Software game developer Brit Clousing
narrates this newly released video for the upcoming turn based strategy game,
Empires of Steel. This video showcases many core game functions such as how the
simultaneous turn resolution system works, how to issue unit orders, researching
new technologies and negotiating trade with other players. Other topics covered
include an overview of the unique "Review & Replay" past turns feature as well
as a brief introduction to the in-game player email function. Future videos are
planned to cover other game features and innovations." The download is available
on AtomicGamer and
FileFront.
A new patch for Pro Cycling Manager 2008 is now available, updating the
sports management simulation to version 1.02.2, among other things addressing
some exploits. The patch is available from
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, Gamer's Hell,
and The
Patches Scrolls.
The Crysis Warhead
Community Q&A on Gamer's Hell offers a community Q&A where Crytek answers
questions about their upcoming shooter sequel, covering topics like multiplayer
modes, AI, gameplay tweaks, and more. The Q&A is accompanied by
a batch
of new screenshots.
- Red Faction: Guerrilla on
IGN.
- Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II on
Eurogamer.
- Wizard101 on
GameZone.
Thanks Mike Martinez and Ant.
This space intentionally left blank.
Gamasutra
reports that Korean-based T3 Entertainment has put out the help wanted to fill a
San Francisco office they are establishing to continue development of
Hellgate: London and Mythos following the implosion of Flagship
Studios (thanks Mike Martinez). T3 recently acquired HanbitSoft, who claim ownership of
both IPs as collateral on their investments in Flagship. The report concludes
saying: "It is unclear whether the San Francisco studio will include core
Flagship staff members such as Bill Roper and Max Schaefer, or whether it is a
wholly independent entity with no former Flagship staff. Gamasutra has contacted
HanbitSoft PR representatives for more information."
Bloomberg reports that hall-of-fame NFL running back
Jim Brown
is seeking court orders to stop the use of his likeness in the Madden
series and is suing Sony and Electronic Arts, seeking unspecified damages for
trademark infringement, unauthorized use of his likeness, trademark dilution and
unfair business practices and competition. Word is: The character, part of
the ``Real Old School Teams and Players'' series, is a muscular,
African-American running back wearing the number 32 jersey who is featured in
the game's ``All Brown's Team,'' Brown said in a complaint filed yesterday in
state court in New York.
Brown, who was number 32 for the Cleveland Browns, said in the complaint that he
``never signed away any rights that would allow his likeness to be used.''
Professional athletes now typically sign agreements allowing the use of their
names and likenesses, according to the complaint. Brown said in the complaint
that, when he played football, ``the NFL had league wide policy that players
shall have no lawyers or agents when negotiating compensation. Video games were
not invented yet and no union to obtain rights from existed.''
Representatives of Sony and Electronic Arts, the world's second-largest
video-game maker, couldn't be immediately reached for comment.
This press
release announces the launch of
StationVoice, a free
in-game voice chat service for EverQuest II and Star Wars Galaxies
that will also launch for EverQuest next month, with the eventual plan of
integrating the service into the Station Launcher and future games like The
Agency. Here's word: SAN DIEGO, July 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Station
Voice(TM), a service powered by Vivox® that allows players to talk to each other
in online games, is now available in the role-playing games EverQuest® II and
Star Wars Galaxies(TM), Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE), announced today.
Station Voice, which is scheduled to be available next month in EverQuest, is
available for players at no additional cost with their current subscription
plan. "In-game voice chat is an enhanced new feature gamers of all levels can
enjoy. Now, SOE's players can easily talk to one another and better enjoy the
online gaming experience," said John Smedley, president of Sony Online
Entertainment. "The integration of Station Voice into these initial games was
seamless, and we look forward to incorporating this added gaming experience into
other SOE titles, as well as implementing the next phase of features to come
soon."
The initial launch of Station Voice will allow players to:
-- Talk person-to-person in game with any microphone and headset combo
-- Chat with their party, guild or any other group in game
-- Play and communicate without worry of a significant increase in game lag
-- Manage group/user participation with moderator controls
-- Individually mute and set volume per user
-- Set up easily without the need for separate software, accounts or
registration
"SOE's commitment to the player experience and their game communities is
unrivalled and presents an incredible opportunity to demonstrate the power of
voice," said Rob Seaver, CEO of Vivox. "Through a magnificent implementation,
SOE has delivered high quality voice chat, seamless access, instant groups,
intuitive controls and a fantastic and immersive experience for their players."
In addition to these current features, SOE is planning to implement other Vivox
services into Station Voice later this year, such as voice fonts and the ability
to connect to games from Station Launcher. SOE's plan to integrate the service
with Station Launcher should allow anyone who uses the Station Launcher, even if
he or she doesn't otherwise subscribe to an SOE game, to take advantage of these
powerful voice chat capabilities. These features, which are intended to support
hundreds of players in a channel, are also slated to be extended to other
current and future SOE titles, such as The Agency(TM).
For specific details and tips on how to use Station Voice in each game, log onto
http://www.station.sony.com/stationvoice/
Feral
announces Sid Meier's Pirates! for Mac has word on plans for a Mac edition
of the seafaring remake that was released for PC in 2004, saying a release is
expected on August 29 (thanks Ant). Word is: "The game will be released under
the Feral Legends label, which aims at bringing previously unreleased, top
quality older titles to the Mac. The game will retail for $30 and will be
compatible on both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs."
Akella announces Night Watcher
calling this a temporary name for a horror adventure game named "Nochnoy
Smotryaschiy" in Russian, planned for release in Q3 2008. There are screenshots
on this page from this game
based on a novel by Russian author Oleg Divov, and here's word: The
journalist Andrei Luzgin arrives in the town of Posolsk to find his missing
friend. On arrival, he observed that something strange was happening in the
city: people were disappearing without a trace. Corpses with terrible injuries
were being found everywhere.
Luzgin is involved in a journalist investigation, during which he learns a lot
about the terrible details that involve this city, where secret research and
scientific experiments are being conducted. A few years after these experiments,
Posolsk step-by-step becomes quiet and empty.
Luzgin noticed that he was followed by someone, and this is clearly not a human
being.
The police investigator, who agrees to cooperate with him, advises Andrei to
terminate the investigation, but Luzgin refuses. Eventually he starts to keep an
eye on Dima Smirnov, who once was linked to the disappearance. The suspect says
that all the disappearances are accidents, and are the work of security
services. It would seem that a crime has been solved, but not being able to
bring his case to an end, Luzgin disappears.
After some time, FSB (an organization successor of the KGB) lieutenant colonel
Vladimir Dolinsky arrives in Posolsk with a secret mission to investigate the
incidents in the city. But he has his own motivation, his wife is infected with
the rare disease, licantropia. To create a vaccine, the genetic material from
the infected is needed. During his investigation he learns about the missing
journalist from Moscow. The investigator, who worked with Luzgin, sends Dolinsky
into the morgue. Observing the corpse, Dolinsky has doubts that this is Luzgin.
The further the investigation progresses, the more incredible and horrifying are
the facts that pop up…
Game features:
• Game is created after the fictional novel “Night Watcher”
by Oleg Divov;
• It is a Classic third person view Quest with fascinating
puzzles in the best tradition of the classic horror quest, such as Gabriel
Knight: Sins of the Fathers, and The Black Mirror;
• There are two characters the gamer is switching between
during the the game;
• The atmosphere of a small Russian town and its suburbs is
carefully recreated;
• 3D-characters and backgrounds;
• Intriguing plot keeps player in constant tension until
the very end;
• Scrupulously detailed locations;
• 45 gaming locations, including arcade inserts;
• Intuitive & user friendly controls;
• Realistic animation;
• 25 individual characters;
• Five puzzles integrated into the gaming process;
• 15 hours of game play
The Battlefield
Heroes Website follows the news that DICE's upcoming free-to-play shooter is
delayed ( story), saying that additional beta keys are coming as a
consolation prize: Since there were a couple of disappointed comments to
our recent news of delay (very glad to see so many people are looking forward to
our game), we've decided to give away some extra Beta keys.
Starting next week and ongoing for 4 weeks, we'll be posting a news item twice a
week, at a random time.
Why is this so special, you might ask.
Well, here's the thing: the first 20 people to comment will get a Beta key sent
to them within a couple of days.
A cool side effect of this is that those people will then be able to enter our
weekend Beta key contest and win even MORE keys to give out to friends.
The
Warhammer Herald outlines system specifications for Warhammer Online: Age
of Reckoning (thanks
Strategy Informer). The post lists specific supported graphics cards, and
here's general word on what it will take to run EA Mythic's upcoming MMORPG: For
Windows XP
· 2.5 GHz P4 (single core) processor or equivalent
· 1 Gigabyte RAM
· A 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
· At least 15 GB of hard drive space
For Windows VISTA
· 2.5 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
· 2 Gigabyte RAM
· A 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
· At least 15 GB of hard drive space
GameTap has now launched A Boy
Learns What Fear Is, the first episode of American McGee's Grimm, the
episodic fairy tale-inspired adventure series. As mentioned earlier
( story), the episode is free to download and play for the first
24 hours as an ad-supported release. Here's word on the first episode:
In this episode, when a young boy wants to learn the true meaning of the
word “fear,” his father advises him to leave the safety of their village home
and venture out into the wilderness. Along the way, the boy's quest for “fear”
leads him to the hanging gallows, a haunted house, and even a wedding. However,
he doesn't truly encounter fear until Grimm decides to enter the story.
GameCyte has the latest rumor on possible PC plans for a console product
based on a listing on the
Entertainment Software Rating Board Website. They point out a listing for an
unannounced PC variant of Guitar Hero: World Tour is on the site,
recalling that Aspyr has already created a PC port of Guitar Hero III:
Legends of Rock. Their requests for a comment from publisher Activision were
met with: "that title has not been announced yet."
Bungie.net
Forums offer an a new hotfix for the PC edition of Halo, updating the
unofficial patch that addresses an exploit in Bungie's sci-fi shooter. The new
hotfix confusingly carries the same 615 build number as the prior hotfix
( story), something the accompanying post says will be addressed
for the "real release" of a patch. Word is: "Today's update just contains the
Halo PC and CE dedicated servers; the real patch will have the clients as well,
but these fixes don't affect you unless you are the server anyway." Thanks Gamer's Hell.
PCGH excerpts a portion of an interview with Intel's Michael Vollmer to
highlight his thoughts on progress towards seeing games using real-time ray
tracing. One answer explains that the visuals in a recent QUAKE 4
proof-of-concept ray tracing movie ( story) were not more
impressive because it was utilizing existing assets, and he says, "A complete
demo, which contains the graphical aspect, too, is likely to look different." In
response to a question about whether there are game developers who already want
to work with ray tracing techniques, he thinks "in two to three years time we
will see something," saying: We keep in touch with companies all over the
world - I dare say that in two to three years time we will see something. There
already are some individual approaches, especially in the science sector, which
show that Raytracing algorithms are scaling very well with the numbers of cores.
But the migration to a new programming technology takes years; Raytracing is
still in an early stage.
GameTap is launching American McGee's
Grimm today with the launch of A Boy Learns What Fear Is, the first
episode in the fairy tale-inspired adventure game series. The episode will be
free to download for the first 24 hours, supported by "minimal up-front
advertising" ( story). Here's word on the series: The
newest GameTap Original title, American McGee’s Grimm, consists of 24 individual
standalone game episodes, each of which is based on a classic fairy tale such as
Little Red Riding Hood or Beauty and the Beast.
The game’s main character, Grimm, is a crude dwarf who believes that the lessons
offered in the original tellings of famous fairy tales have been lost over time
as the stories have been watered down with talking woodland creatures and
Happily Ever After endings for all of the characters – whether they deserve it
or not. As Grimm, players transform these toothless interpretations of the tales
into dark and twisted versions of the story.
A new S.T.A.L.K.E.R.:
Clear Sky Website is online, dedicated to GSC Game World's upcoming shooter
prequel (thanks Daniel). The site reveals a
collector's edition for the
game that includes a DVD and poster/map, but this seems to be
for
Europe only. As a result, there's a
petition looking to
inspire a North American Collector's Edition.
The TrackMania
forums offer another pair of new patches for TrackMania United Forever
and TrackMania Nations Forever, updating Nadeo's racing games to version
2.11.16 (thanks Frans). The post mentions new dedicated servers, which can be
found via this
forum post. The new versions fix score sorting and a problem with scoring
for disconnected players.
A new "deep storyline" trailer from Rise of the Argonauts offers gameplay
footage while attempting to impress us with the substance of the game's
narrative. The clip is on the
Codemasters Website
and mirrored on
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's Hell. Prior to that a second "meaningful choices" trailer from the
action/RPG was released, showing more of the player's impact on the game world.
You can find this one on
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell.
Another Dead Space developer diary movie is now available, providing more
background on the upcoming science-fiction horror game, discussing how essential
timing is in creating fear in the player. The clip is available on
ActionTrip,
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's Hell.
Digitalmindsoft
offers downloads of a new movie from Men of War, the upcoming World War
II strategy sequel, a clip that can also be streamed via
YouTube. Word is: "This
trailer shows you, that in Men of War even superior enemies which can't be
defeated with weak weapons, can be stopped if you search for their weak points.
Open you the possibility to engage the enemy tank from different directions and
take him out with alternative weapons or force the crew to retreat."
The Larian Studios Website has word that
this developer (Divine Divinity) has some job openings they are looking to fill
(thanks Gamer's Hell). There are openings for a C++ Programmer, a Game Designer, a 3D
Artist, a 3D Animator, a Flash programmer, a Producer, and a Game Tester, with
full details in their jobs section.
Larian's offices are located in Belgium. Indications are
Divinity 2 will debut at GC 2008
( story), so this may be related to development of the RPG sequel.
So here's another early Out of the Blue, as promised. With a few leftover movies
posted today I've caught back up, so I'll have a fair chance at seeing how a new
posting schedule will work out.
R.I.P.:
Harriet Burns, first woman Imagineer.
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