Archived News:
The Team Fortress 2 Website describes
plans for changes to the environments in the multiplayer shooter, submitting a
list of questions to fans to get feedback. Here's how this is
introduced: One of the things we're looking at for the next update is the
creation of a new type of environment for our levels to be built in. We're
pretty happy with the way our environments have turned out so far, but as we
create more and more maps with these achievement packs, we want our level
designers to have more to work with in terms of giving their settings a unique
look.
The challenging part of this type of design process is in finding types of
terrain and structures that provide an understandable, interesting set of
visuals and at the same time staying within the constraints of what we want to
do with gameplay. In addition to this, we want to be able to stay within the
strengths of the engine that TF is built around.
GameCock announces September 30 as the release date for Legendary,
offering details on a preorder bonus for Spark Unlimited's mythology-inspired
shooter, as well as a graphic novel to be released simultaneously with the game:
Legendary will be in stores on September 30 to fulfill the desires of
anyone who has ever wanted to chop a werewolf’s head off with an axe in the
middle of an annihilated New York City (which is everyone, right?). Not only
does Legendary have an official release date, it also has official box art that
can be downloaded here:
Legendary Pre-Order Bonus
Don’t be left behind when the monster apocalypse strikes! Those who pre-order
Legendary through participating retailers will receive a full color book
personally put together by Steve Firchow, Art Director of Legendary, that shows
the painstaking care and detail that went into designing the characters and
creatures in the game. Those who just can’t be satisfied by visually still
frames will be glad to hear that the Legendary art book contains a DVD chock
full of trailers, videos and eye candy of a monstrous level.
Legendary Graphic Novel
It takes a legendary writer to translate a game like Legendary, and that’s
exactly what Spark Unlimited accomplished in assembling a team to create the
Legendary graphic novel. Mark Waid, author of such comic epics as Kingdom Come,
takes the helm of the 96-page graphic novel that translates the tale of
Deckard’s fight against the Black Order from video game to printed page. This
epic tale gives fans details not told on the television screen, and delivers
over-the-top action that can only be delivered from panel to panel. Be on the
lookout for the Legendary graphic novel on shelves at the same time the video
game hits shelves.
Quelling The Rage: Carmack and Willits Speak Out on Gamasutra is an
extensive Q&A with two of id Software's co-owners, primarily focusing on Rage,
their upcoming driving shooting game. An answer about digital distribution
includes the surprising admission that the one-time PC stalwart considers Rage
as primarily a console project: "Right now, we are looking at it - for Rage - as
the consoles are the most important 'legs' that this project is on. It's
definitely shipping on PC as well, and we would be willing to entertain
different distribution notions on that, but we would probably leave that up to
EA's decision on thereabout."
Big Download reports from QuakeCon that they've learned from id Software's
Tim Willits that DOOM 4 will not carry that title. The explanation is
that the next DOOM game will not be a continuation of the story in DOOM 3,
though they are not giving out any details about the setting or story at this
time. Of course DOOM 3 wasn't a continuation of the events of DOOM II
either, but that's their story.
A new Perimeter II: New Earth trailer shows off the Harkback technologies
( described here)
from KDV Games' upcoming RTS sequel. The clip is available on the
Perimeter II Website, and
here's a description: "The trailer is focused on the Harkback technologies and
illustrates the development of a typical Harkback base of operations. The video
also shows all units and terraforming features of this playable faction."
Two new Sacred 2: Fallen Angel trailers offer more looks at the upcoming
action/RPG prequel. Castle Battle and Shadow Warrior clips on
IGN, with one
or both mirrored on
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell. There's also a new
Sacred 2 update on the IGN Blog.
A new Saints Row 2 "developer diary" features porn star Tera Patrick
throwing herself into her role as one of the "producers" of the upcoming open
world action game in a clip that shows off a bit of gameplay, and enough
silicone to fill silicon valley. The clip concludes with the usual set of logos,
noteworthy in there is no PC logo, even though a PC edition of the game was
announced ( story). The clip can be found on
ActionTrip,
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell.
A new "What Makes Rise of the Argonauts an RPG" trailer is online, to
satisfy your burning curiosity on this topic. The clip is posted on the
Codemasters Website, and mirrored on
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell.
A new cinematic trailer from The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria
is now available, showing off the upcoming retail expansion for the
Tolkien-inspired MMORPG. The clip is located on
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell.
My cable modem went screwy again tonight... I couldn't be more pleased with the
decision to retain my DSL as a back-up. Redundancy FTW.
Blizzard Seeks Permanent Injunction Against MDY, Asks Court to Prohibit Making
Glider Open Source (thanks Ant and
Slashdot)
has word that following its legal victory over the makes of the WoW Glider
( story), Blizzard is now seeking a permanent injunction to
prevent the OpenSource release of this software that automates World of
Warcraft gameplay. Here's a bit: Blizzard has now asked the U.S.
District Court for the District of Arizona for a permanent injunction (.pdf)
which would functionally shut down Glider’s WoW presence. In addition, Blizzard
has asked the court for a relatively unconventional order prohibiting MDY from
making the source code for its MMO Glider software available to the public, and
prohibiting MDY from helping people develop other World of Warcraft automation
software.
Blizzard had previously asked the court to shut down MDY’s WoW operations in its
motion for summary judgment, but the court’s summary judgment order did not
address Blizzard’s request. Blizzard’s requests to prohibit open-source release
of MDY’s software and prohibit MDY’s assistance in development of independent
WoW bots are new to this motion — and seem likely to raise eyebrows in the open
source and digital rights advocacy camps.
NVIDIA has responded to
a report from this
morning saying that they were exiting from the business of developing
chipsets for computer motherboards. Though that original article claims that "silence" was the response from NVIDIA
to queries about this, but The Tech Report met
with more success, getting a denial from NVIDIA, which, as they put it, leaves
"little open for interpretation." Word from NVIDIA's Bryan Del Rizzo is: 1. The story on Digitimes is completely groundless. We have no intention of getting out of the chipset business.
2. In fact, our MCP business is as strong as it ever has been for both AMD and Intel platforms:
a. Mercury Research has reported that the NVIDIA market share of AMD platforms in Q2 08 was 60%. We have been steady in this range for over two years.
b. SLI is still the preferred multi-GPU platform thanks to its stellar scaling, game compatibility and driver stability.
c. nForce 790i SLI is the recommended choice by editors worldwide due to its compelling combination of memory performance, overclocking, and support for SLI. . . .
3. We're looking forward to bring new and very exciting MCP products to the market for both AMD and Intel platforms.
TotalVideoGames has word from an NCsoft media event that NCsoft is at work
on three unannounced projects (thanks Mike Martinez). Word from a translation is that the
Korean developer is at work on Metal Black: Alternative and Blade &
Soul, which are apparently MMOGs, as well as Steel Dog, which appears
to be an automotive combat game, though it's not clear if this is also an MMORPG
(like the NCsoft-published Auto Assault).
With QuakeCon in full swing, the first screenshots from Rage have been released.
You can find the pair of high-resolution shots on
Voodoo Extreme.
The Cal Ripken's
Real Baseball Website unveils a new plan where players can purchase new
levels, rather than earning them within the game, in what seems like the
equivalent of virtual steroids for the virtual sport (thanks DrDeath). These
level gains are permanent, and provide the same prerequisites to join leagues
and tournaments as game-earned levels. A quick run-through in our math-o-matic
2000 tells us a new player can now join the game and immediately jump to level
99 by spending (click, click, click, peep, buzz), $209.04.
GamesIndustry.biz has the latest complaint that piracy has a major impact on
PC game sales, quoting Capcom's Christian Svensson as saying the PC edition of
Devil May Cry 4 is "getting pirated to hell and back." This comment is
somehow connected to his comments about the the supernatural action sequel not
being distributed digitally, though how the two points interrelate is not
entirely clear (he does stress that Capcom plans to embrace digital distribution
for all titles eventually). The extent of this piracy is a little vague as well,
as the justification for his comment seems to be how the game "was up on
torrents literally the day it shipped," which is probably typical, rather than
unusual.
Carmack speaks
out on hardware issues on Eurogamer reflects comments from the id Software
technical director that while it would be "great" if the console life-cycle
would be longer, the lure of "first mover advantage" will probably "be far
too tempting" and will inspire an acceleration of the release of new hardware.
Thus he hopes that Rage will hit store shelves during the sweet spot of
the current console cycle, "and not when everybody knows what's coming next
Christmas." He concludes with a discouraging outlook for the PC, as he feels
that no amount of console missteps will reestablish the PC as the dominant
gaming platform: I think there are inherent challenges for the PC
platform that consoles don't have that I would be surprised to see that desktop
PC box making Sony and 360 and Wiis and everything obsolete. I don't think
that's going to happen.
Slicing and dicing more keynote tidbits.
The S.T.A.L.K.E.R.:
Clear Sky Website now offers the system requirements for GSC Game World's
upcoming shooter prequel (thanks Gamer's Hell). Here's the bad news for those hoping to
play without a keyboard and mouse: MINIMAL
• Microsoft® Windows® 2000(SP4)/XP/Vista (SP1)
• Intel Pentium 4 2.0 Ghz / AMD XP 2200+
• 512 MB RAM
• 10 GB free hard disc space
• 128 MB DirectX® 8.0 compatible card / nVIDIA® GeForce™
5700 / ATI Radeon® 9600
• Keyboard, Mouse
• LAN / Internet for Multiplayer
• Microsoft® Windows® XP/Vista (SP1)
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 / AMD 64 X2 4200+
• 1.5 GB RAM
• 10 GB free hard disc space
• 256 MB DirectX® 9.0c compatible card / nVIDIA® GeForce™
8800 GT / ATI Radeon® HD 2900 XT
• Keyboard, Mouse
• LAN / Internet for Multiplayer
RECOMMENDED
• Microsoft® Windows® XP/Vista (SP1)
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 / AMD 64 X2 4200+
• 1.5 GB RAM
• 10 GB free hard disc space
• 256 MB DirectX® 9.0c compatible card / nVIDIA® GeForce™
8800 GT / ATI Radeon® HD 2900 XT
• Keyboard, Mouse
• LAN / Internet for Multiplayer
IGN has some rumor
and speculation about the possibility of multiplayer support in BioShock 2
based on a
job posting on Gamasutra (thanks Ant). The indications that multiplayer
support will be in submerged shooter sequel include references in the help
wanted to familiarity with BioShock along with the following statement:
"BioShock had no multi-player mode. We don't believe in throwing in something
that can't go head to head with the big boys. No applicants will be considered
who aren't able to demonstrate they've got the skills to build an
industry-changing multiplayer design." A counterpoint that takes some of the
wind out of this rumor's sails is the fact that the job opening is in 2K Boston,
while BioShock 2 is being developed at 2K Marin. Treading the neutral ground
between confirmation and denial is 2K's response to the story, as they told IGN:
"We aren't prepared to announce or discuss any features for BioShock 2 at this
time."
A new patch for the PC edition of Mass Effect updates BioWare's RPG to
version 1.01a, though details about what's new or different are not available.
The download is available on
FileFront, Gamer's Hell,
and The Patches Scrolls.
Shacknews has posted
the extended trailer from Rage released at QuakeCon, promoting id's
upcoming vehicular shooter (thanks Ant). The clip may have been shot off a
monitor, but it is very high quality nonetheless.
There are some
QuakeCon 08 Wolfenstein Screenshots on Maximum PC showing off Raven's
upcoming shooter that once again sends one man army BJ Blazkowicz into battle to
save the day during World War II. The screens are also posted on
Voodoo Extreme in ludicrous resolution.
The Savage 2: A Tortured Soul
Website has word that the action/strategy sequel is on sale via Steam
starting today: "Starting tomorrow, Friday Aug 1 Steam will be selling Savage 2
at a $20.00 discount of $9.99 all weekend long. Take advantage of this awesome
offer!"
A new unofficial Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines patch is now available,
continuing the support of this action/RPG past the demise of its developer
Troika Games with a new version 5.5 update. As usual, the patch is available on
the official home of these unofficial updates,
The Patches
Scrolls.
Edge Online quotes Blizzard president Mike Morhaime during yesterday's
Activision Blizzard earnings call saying that the launch of Age of Conan cost
them some subscribers, but his estimate is about 40% of them have returned to
World of Warcraft. They also quote him as saying that they expect more former
players to return when the Wrath of the Lich King expansion launches later this
year.
Meet the Team - Rob Overmeyer on the Champions Online Official Website
introduces another member of Cryptic's development team for their superhero
MMORPG, acquainting us with one of the game's producers.
When do you need a shower after a bath? When it's after you've bathed your dog.
Yuck! Oh well, what better way to ring in the dog days of summer?
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