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Archived News:
The Bionic Commando
Website has instructions on how to access several "secret challenge rooms"
in the just-released platformer remake. The challenge rooms, most of which are
gaming website-oriented (which always helps at review time), are access using codes
entered with a controller, and this applies to the PC editions as well, as they
apparently not to create a way to enter the codes using a keyboard.
One-on-one with Valve’s Gabe Newell on Videogaming247 converses with the
Vale honcho on a variety of topics, including how he gets approached "a couple
of times a week" by potential investors or buyers, future Steam plans that
include peer-to-peer functionality, how Left4Dead is progressing, and more. On
the inevitable topic of PCs versus consoles he makes a point about how updating
PC games is more flexible, and how they are under pressure by the console
overlords to charge for the updates they provide to PC users for free:
The big concern I have right now is our ability to provide updates. On
the PC side, we’ve done as many as four updates in a day, and that’s great: we
can respond very quickly. If Nvidia puts out a new graphics driver and it
changes some way about how texture management works, then before our customers
know there’s any issue then the problem has gone away.
Or we can do the Pyro updates, and the Medic updates [and so on]. On the
consoles, they want us to charge money for them, because that’s in their model,
and our model is very much more to grow the community by giving out free
updates. That’s harder for us.
MTV Multiplayer has another follow-up from Mythic's Mark Jacobs on the
complaints from an anonymous developer about people not being credited for their
work on Warhammer Online ( story). He uses both the carrot and the
stick to try and inspire a break in this anonymity, first suggesting such a move
lacks "balls," but then saying it's possible someone has been left out of the
credits accidentally: If you really think that we’re doing something
wrong, at least have the balls to stand up and go ‘Hi, my name is so-and-so.’
[Leaving the person out of the credits] could be a mistake. I’m not saying it’s
not happening. I just don’t know who the heck this person is. So come out, stop
hiding behind the anonymity of the internet and the legal shield of ‘I’m going
to sue EA.’
A new Mercenaries 2: World in Flames "zero rules" movie showcases the
cooperative gameplay in the upcoming open-world action sequel. The movie mostly
uses split-screen and picture-in-picture views showing off two perspectives on
the same gameplay, but this is the way the clip was edited from two different
systems. The developer narration stresses that the entire game can be played
from beginning to end in co-op mode. You can find the movie on
AtomicGamer.
A lengthy new Prince of Persia trailer from the GC in Leipzig shows off a
number of features from the upcoming PoP game, as well a good deal of the game's
signature acrobatic locomotion, and some combat for good measure. The movie is
available on AtomicGamer,
Gamer's Hell, and
MyGameTrailers.
The Death Track: Resurrection trailer from the Games Convention offers a
look at the combat racing in the upcoming Death Track remake, as well as some of
the game's settings and destructible environments. The clip can be found on
AtomicGamer and
Gamer's Hell.
- Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures on
IGN.
- Alpha Protocol on
1Up and
IGN.
- ANNO 1404 on
GameSpot.
- Arcania: A Gothic Tale on
IGN.
- ArmA II on
IGN.
- BattleForge on
IGN.
- Call of Duty: World at War on
Eurogamer.
- Champions Online on
GameSpot.
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 on
GameSpy.
- Crysis Warhead on
GameSpy.
- Damnation on
GameSpy and
IGN.
- Dead Space on
IGN.
- Dragon Age: Origins on
GameSpy.
- Dream Of Mirror Online on
RPG Vault.
- Empire: Total War on
1Up,
GameSpy,
and IGN.
- Fracture on
1Up.
- FusionFall on
GameCyte.
- Heroes Over Europe on
IGN.
- James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace on
1Up.
- The Lord of the Rings: Conquest on
GameSpot and IGN.
- Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising on
IGN.UK.
- Prince of Persia on
GameSpot.
- Raven Squad: Hidden Dagger on
IGN.
- Shaun White Snowboarding on
IGN.
- Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization on
GameSpy.
- Spore on
GameSpy.
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky on
1Up.
- The Sims 3 on
IGN.
- The Witcher- Enhanced Edition on
IGN.
- Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. on
GameSpot.
- Two Worlds: The Temptation on
IGN.
- Age of Conan on
PCGH. DirectX 9 versus DirectX 10 comparison.
- Bionic Commando on
FileFront.
- GTA 4 on
PCGH. PC versus console comparison.
- Jumpgate Evolution on
FileFront.
- Operation Flashpoint 2 on
Tiscali Games.
In the forums today was concern for The Professional, as
it was reported Jean Reno had a heart attack. The
follow-up is far les dire, saying the actor had "heartburn and
gastroenteritis."
R.I.P.:
NFLPA head Gene Upshaw dies of cancer at age 63.
There's a video
interview with Crytek on GameStar, where the German site interviews the
German developer about the Crysis Wars multiplayer they are introducing
with Crysis Warhead. Interestingly, the questions are in German, but the
answers are in English. The clip also offers a Crysis Wars gameplay
demonstration accompanied by developer narration (also in English).
Will Wright on the origins of 'Spore' (thanks Mike Martinez) chats with the
Spore-meister about Maxis' imminent life simulation, inquiring about the game's
origins and development: "The earliest evolution of it had to do with the SETI
Project. The original concept was sort of a toy galaxy you could fly around and
explore. As we thought about, it became apparent that evolution was a very
important component. Some of the very first prototypes involved how you would
move around and visualize the galaxy. And then on procedurally generated
creatures. Could we actually generate creatures through evolution so there was a
vast variety of creatures rather than just the 20 or 30 fixed things that games
typically include."
A new trailer from Wheelman is now available, offering more hard-driving
action from the Diesel-powered action game due this fall. Here's Midway's
description of the new movie: "The trailer is a gameplay video narrated by
mission designer Mark Thompson, showing a level from the game called
'Introducing Benito'. The new trailer features cinematic driving moments,
vehicle super moves and on-foot action." The clip is found on
AtomicGamer.
A new "Stormdrains Level" movie from Mirror's Edge released at GC 2008 is
now available online, offering an extended look at gameplay from DICE's upcoming
first-person action game. The clip focuses on the game's acrobatic
parkour-inspired maneuvers, but a brief glimpse of combat is also included. You
can find the clip on
ActionTrip and
AtomicGamer. There is also a preview of
the game on Play.tm.
Crytek Q&A
on GamesIndustry.biz chats with Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli about Crysis
Warhead, console development, and the game development game. Along the way
we learn that everyone that Crysis needs expensive hardware to run is mistaken:
"Well, there's a misconception in the market right now about that, which is that
Crysis can only be played on PCs that are very expensive. It's not true - Crysis
can be played on a USD 600 PC at the second-highest configuration that's
better-looking than any console game, right now."
The cinematic introductory trailer from World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich
King is now available, setting the stage for the upcoming MMORPG expansion.
The clip is posted on the
North American and
European World of Warcraft
Websites. On a related note, a pair of interviews about the WoW add-on are
online, there's an interview with lead game
designer Tom Chilton and production director Jay Allen Brack on Play.tm and
an article-format conversation with Chilton and Brack on
Boomtown.
The Jace Hall Show, Episode 12 (NSFW) is live, offering more offbeat
interviews and other entertainment from KING OF TEH MONSTARS. After the Sony
commercial (in which Jace gets extra butt-smooch points for wearing his RROD
t-shirt), one of this week's victims is Monolith Productions, the company that
Jace helped found back in the day, and he takes advantage of his insider status
to score a brief peak at Project Origin, offering a ShakyCam view of a never-before-seen area in the upcoming F.E.A.R. sequel before getting
shut down by the man (or in this case the woman).
The American McGee's Grimm section on
GameTap offers the latest episode of Grimm, Puss in Boots, which will be
free for the first 24 hours, after which normal pricing and subscription fees
apply. Here's word on the fourth of the 24 episodes planned for the fractured
fairy tale game: "A miller dies and leaves only his cat, named Puss, to his
youngest son. The son believes he'll have to eat the cat in order to survive the
night, but Puss, asks for a brief reprieve and a pair of boots to prove his
worth. The resourceful Puss manages to outwit the King, defeat an Ogre, and
bring wealth beyond belief to his young master, but does he truly have his
master's best interests at heart, or are his motives a little more Grimm."
Eurogamer
has word that plans for a PC edition of Bully have been revealed at the Leipzig
Games Convention by a German poster for the game that translates to "Coming soon
for PC." No further details are yet available, but there's probably some renewed
hand-wringing to be expected over Rockstar's controversial game. Update:
IGN (thanks Tiscali Games) has confirmed the PC version of Bully: Scholarship Edition is
indeed coming to the PC, saying a release is planned for late October.
Hollenshead & Carmack - Part One on GameIndusty is part of a conversation
with id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead and technical director John Carmack that
was conducted at this year's QuakeCon. The main topics are engine licensing,
digital distribution, and piracy, and one bit they highlight
in a separate story that seems sure to spark some discussion is Todd's contention
that piracy of PC content is perceived as a "hidden benefit" to PC ownership, a
"dirty little secret among hardware manufacturers." Here are the two pertinent
questions and answers: Q: It's the barrier-for-entry thing isn't it?
It's really easy to pirate PC games whereas console games are much harder to
pirate so the returns are better. What can PC hardware manufacturers do to make
it harder for pirates?
Todd Hollenshead: There's lots of things that they could do but typically
just they just line up on the wrong side of the argument in my opinion. They
have lots of reasons as to why they do that, but I think that there's been this
dirty little secret among hardware manufacturers, which is that the perception
of free content - even if you're supposed to pay for it on PCs - is some sort
hidden benefit that you get when you buy a PC, like a right to download music
for free or a right to download pirated movies and games.
Q: You think they're secretly happy about it?
Todd Hollenshead: Yeah I think they are. I think that if you went in and
could see what's going on in their minds, though they may never say that stuff
and I'm not saying there's some conspiracy or something like that - but I think
the thing is they (realize) that trading content, copyrighted or not, is an
expected benefit of owning a computer.
And I think that just based on their actions...what they say is one thing, but
what they do is another. When it comes into debates about whether peer-to-peer
file-sharing networks that by-and-large have the vast majority, I'm talking 99
per cent of the content is (illicitly) trading copyrighted property, they'll
come out on the side of the 1 per cent of the user doing it for legitimate
benefit. You can make philosophical arguments that are difficult to debate, but
at the same time you're just sort of ignoring the enormity of the problem.
StarCraft
II Interview on VideoGamer.com recaps a conversation with Blizzard cofounder
Frank Pearce about the RTS sequel that took place at the Games Convention in
Leipzig. They extract three of the most salient bits, one being the
chance of console
StarCraft II 'very close to zero', another
that they still
can't predict a release date (stop the presses!), and the perhaps
counterintuitive thought that
Blizzard's success
with World of Warcraft makes a StarCraft MMO "difficult", though it doesn't
seem that they are ruling anything out: The StarCraft universe is really
rich, and it's got a lot of cool stuff in it that could be leveraged for any
number of different genres. A big factor would be what the development teams
want to work on. When the StarCraft II team is done with StarCraft II, a factor
is what they want to work on next, because the development teams plays a big
role in deciding what they're going to do. So if there was a development team
that was really passionate about leveraging the StarCraft universe for a
different genre then that's something we would seriously consider.
Matrix Games now offers the first patch for World War II: Road to Victory to
update this military turn-based strategy game to version 1.201. The accompanying
blurb indicates that the new version includes new features, most notably
play-by-email support, and that more new features will be included in future
patches: Matrix Games and IQ Software (www.worldwar2.pl)
are thrilled to announce the release of the first official update for the new
release World War II: Road to Victory. The new comprehensive update file will
bring the version of the game up to 1.201 and comes with dozens of bug fixes and
a handful of new features, including PBEM play. This is a major update for World
War II: Road to Victory and it concentrates on addressing all reported serious
issues with the initial release of the game to smooth out gameplay and assure
the best possible experience while conquering Europe!
With the 1.201 resolving most major issues, the IQ Software team is hard at work
putting new enhancements, features, and improvements into the game so stay tuned
for subsequent updates because there is much more to come. This is not to say
that the first update is without its share of enhancements and new features! The
AI’s garrisoning protocol is improved along with a tweak to make the AI better
at sea transporting. New features include PBEM support for up to 8 players, a
new “siege” function and rule set for surrounded cities, new sea zones,
Lend-Lease events, the addition of Malta as a territory, and much more!
Dark Sky Entertainment announces it has pushed back the release of the upcoming
sci-fi MMORTS game
Beyond
Protocol to November 21. There are new gameplay movies
on this page
showing simultaneous land and space-based combat, and here is word on the new
release date: While the game will be close to production status by the
end of August, sufficient time must be allotted for bug detection and
extermination. Many new features are about to be added to the game, in the
August 23rd patch. We at Dark Sky Entertainment would like to be sure that
customers receive the utmost in quality service.
This means two things. First it extends the free play time for any of you who
have preordered the game already, meaning the beta will last longer, free of
charge. Second, if you haven’t preordered the game, you just found another
reason to. In addition to a 24 head start on the public, on the permanent
servers, a special in game hull, and a month’s subscription, if you order now,
you’ll also be able to play the beta for about three months beforehand as a
bonus. If you can’t wait for November, but you don’t want to preorder, your
alternative is to wait for the open beta. Just hope that seats don’t fill up
before you get your chance!
The Agency Q&A Part 1 on The Agency HQ kicks off a recap of a lengthy Fan
Faire conversation with SOE about The Agency, the upcoming espionage-themed
MMORPG. This first portion concentrates on questions and answers about PvP play,
while
Part 2 of the Q&A continues on the PvP topic before moving on to learn more
about operatives and missions.
I propose we stop fooling around and just admit that August is just one big
gaming convention. Rather than several smaller demos, game companies could
concentrate on making a big splash at a single venue. We could call it AugustCon
or something, maybe… E3. Okay, maybe things are better this way.
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