Archived News:
Computer
and Video Games reports a rumor that EA is at work on a remake of
Syndicate, vaguely referring to their source as "source," "secret agent,"
and their "deepthroats." Interestingly, this news comes just a week after Peter
Molyneux mentioned the cyberpunk, espionage-themed RTS game as one of his
projects he'd like to revisit ( story). They speculate that
Starbreeze might be the developer, recalling the announcement of the game
codenamed Project RedLime
( story) was described as a revival of "one of EA’s most acclaimed
classic franchises."
Meridian 4 Games announces that
Space Trader
is gold, and Hermitworks' science fiction-themed game of combat and commerce
will be available in stores "in the next couple of weeks." Word is: "As a
Trader, you will attempt to amass a fortune beyond your wildest imagination,
buying and selling commodities and taking up arms against the oppressors or even
accepting bounty missions, hunting down crime bosses and their thugs." It is not
clear, however, whether this will allow you to make the Kessel run in under 12
parsecs.
The second patch for Dark Horizon is now available, addressing two
different bugs in Paradox Interactive's recently released space combat game. The
download is available on
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell.
Turbine
Talks Multiplatform Initiatives And The Future Of PC Retail on Gamasutra
chats with Turbine CEO Jim Crowley about their ambitions to expand their
offerings to consoles. This does not mean they still don't feel strongly about
PCs, as he says: "And the PC platform is an incredible platform, and one we will
be dedicated to forever. At the same time, as both a business and as a creative
force as well, we want what we create to be consumed and shared on as large a
population as possible." He goes on to observe that a reduced PC games presence
in retail stores is an issue going forward, but one that they are prepared for:
"Things are shrinking there -- but that’s the decision of the retailers… it’s
not for me to judge those. But I would highlight that within the MMO space,
there is an incredible ability to just drive your product digitally, and when
appropriate."
There's a
State of The Game post on the Warhammer Online Website where Mark Jacobs
looks back at the first month of operation for Mythic's MMORPG and discusses
plans for the future. The update is pretty lengthy, here's a small portion on
plans for RvR enhancements: "Moving on to some more good news for our RvR
players; we have brought additional resources to bear on, and augment, our RvR
gear and overall itemization. In 1.1 (and beyond) we will be doing a myriad of
things for our RvR players, including improving gear drops, increasing drop
rates, and implementing an RvR-influence system to compliment the current
PvE-influence system. We will also be giving players more incentive to engage in
open RvR by improving the rewards for both assaulting and defending in RvR. WAR
is an RvR-centric game and we will continue to do whatever is necessary to
encourage people to join in RvR and reward them when they do so." Thanks Mick.
Also,
GamesIndustry.biz has quotes from Jacobs about competing with WoW: "This is
the beginning of a rather lengthy battle with the guys at Blizzard. We’re in
this space to be successful and, when you have a competitor that is as
successful and important to the games industry as WoW has been, you don't go
into this space unless you're willing to spend money and spend time and really
compete against them. It's a marathon, not a sprint. We've got a lot of stuff
going in, not only this fall but then there's spring and then after that."
Steam News announces
Steam is now hosting Red Orchestra mods, and that the World War II shooter is
on sale for $4.99 through the weekend in celebration. The first mod on tap is
Mare Nostrum, which "adds
three new nationalities to the game including the British, Australians and
Italians as well as adding the German Afrika Korps."
A new Red Faction: Guerilla "End of MP Beta" trailer offers another look
at Volition's upcoming groundbreaking shooter sequel. The clip shows off maps,
weapons, various backpacks, and of course, environmental destruction. Find the
movie on AtomicGamer,
FileFront, Gamer's Hell,
and
MyGameTrailers.
- Bully: Scholarship Edition on
GameSpot.
- Left 4 Dead on
1Up.
- The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria on
IGN.
Thanks Mike Martinez and Ant.
A patch for X3: Terran Conflict updates EGOSOFT's space
combat sequel to version 1.2. The new version adds a new mission, enables mouse
control for external views, improved boarding functionality, UI enhancements,
and more. The download is available from
AtomicGamer,
FanGaming,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell.
A new movie from Need for Speed: Undercover is now available, showing off
a "Highway Battle," which in this case is a no-holds-barred street race where a
Lexus inexplicably keeps up with a Lamborghini. The clip is posted on
ActionTrip,
AtomicGamer,
ComputerGames.ro,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell.
It's tanks for the memories, as Mythic Entertainment announces plans to add two
heavily armored classes to Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, one for
each Realm: LET THE TANK RUSH BEGIN! Mythic Entertainment today announced
that two new careers, the Empire’s Knight of the Blazing Sun and the Dark Elf
Black Guard, will be added to Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning this winter.
They may be on different sides of the war, but these two heavily armored
warriors have one thing in common: they can take as much punishment as they deal
out on the battlefield!
The Knights of the Blazing Sun are devoted to the cult of Myrmidia, goddess of
warfare and protector of civilization. These frontline combatants specialize in
Battlefield Commands, using applied tactical knowledge to outmaneuver their
enemies and lead their allies to victory.
Dark Elf Black Guard, on the other hand, care little for tactics or guile. The
embodiment of hatred and disdain, they make up the elite of the Witch King’s
soldiers. Equipped with the finest armor and sharpest blades, the Black Guard is
an indestructible wall of hate against which all foes are crushed.
GamesIndustry.biz has reassurances from CCP Games CEO Hilmar Petursson that
the company and EVE Online, its flagship MMORPG, are both safely
insulated from the uncertainties caused by the current worldwide financial
crisis, which has hit CCP's home of Iceland particularly hard. Petursson says
the diverse international audience for EVE Online helps protect them from local
financial woes, and that they have taken further steps "with various financial
institutions around the world, giving us the agility needed to manage our global
operations around the effects of the credit crunch." I guess we should expect no
less from a company with its own in-house economist ( story).
Mike Morhaime
on DRM, WoW and the Next MMO on Wired.com is a conversation with the
Blizzard CEO and co-founder conducted during BlizzCon that covers a range of
topics, including those highlighted in the article's title. On DRM for Diablo III
and StarCraft II, Mike says this: "Those are things we’re still evaluating, but
we do wanna make it pretty easy for players to play the game, wherever they are.
Nowadays people have multiple systems. They shouldn't necessarily be able to
play the game ... they shouldn’t be able to log in multiple times on as many
computers as they have without buying multiple copies of the game. Like, you can
play WarCraft III, or World of Warcraft even, from multiple locations. I think
you should be able to do that." As for their secretive "other" MMORPG. Mike lays
to rest rumors that this will be a World of Warcraft sequel: "So let’s just say
it’s going to be different and it’s not going to be a sequel to World of
Warcraft. It will be different. We’re not trying to replace World of Warcraft
with this new MMO. We’re trying to create a different massively multiplayer
experience, and hopefully World of Warcraft will still be going strong when that
one is released."
Three new videos for The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria are now
available to show off more of the upcoming MMORPG expansion. Two of the clips
introduce new classes, one for The Warden and the other for The Rune-keeper. The
third clip highlights The Foundations of Stone, a new area to be added to the
game. All three clips are available from
FileFront and Gamer's
Hell. There's also
a new
Mines of Moria Q&A on Gaming Nexus discussing the add-on, including those
topics of Rune-Keepers, Wardens, and the Shadows of Angmar. There's also a
Legendary Items Page on
the LotRO Website (thanks
Massively), with detailed information about the new legendary items system
in the add-on.
Ripten has a quote from the new print issue of Game Informer Magazine,
where the Valve boss complements the acumen of the typical gamer: "It seems by
and large that gamers are incredibly smart,” he said. “The average gamer seems
to know more about what makes a good game than the average person at a
publisher." Hear hear! Thanks
Edge.
ACE Team announces that Zeno Clash
is delayed until early next year, after originally planning to release this
Source-engine action/fighting game sometime this year ( story).
They are shooting for a February release, saying: "The bright side of the delay
is that the additional time we’ll spend on the game will ensure that we deliver
a quality experience, true to the expectations of our fans. Being an independent
studio has allowed us to develop this game without external pressures, so we
chose not compromise the game’s quality by releasing this year." They also
announce they will be entering the game into the
Independent Games Festival, and accompany these announcements with
three new screenshots.
2404's Left
4 Dead Interview talks with Chet Faliszek about Left 4 Dead, Valve
Software's multiplayer zombie shooter that's due for release next month. They
discuss the various unusual aspects of the game, and get a concise explanation
of how the game's procedurally generated content will work. There's also a
Left 4 Dead
Interview on Shacknews where Doug Lombardi answers questions about the game,
saying the Xbox 360 edition is in certification, and the PC edition is nearly
complete, as well, "The PC version, we're just putting the finishing touches on
it. You know, doing final testing, putting polish on the matchmaking, and
getting ready to go. We announced the pre-orders today on Steam. So yeah, we're
getting down to those last little.. putting polish on stuff, getting the demo
ready."
The
Champions Online Q&A on Gaming Nexus hears from Chris Lena, Senior Producer
on Champions Online, Cryptic's upcoming super-powered MMORPG. One answer touches
on the lesson learned from City of Heroes/Villains: "One aspect in super hero
games that is much stronger than other genres is personal identity. Being able
to create the exact character that you have in mind is extremely important to a
lot of people. This is why we are putting so much emphasis on customization:
costume, power choice, animation stance, nemesis, etc."
The
Crysis Warhead Post Mortem Q&A on The Armchair Empire is a chat with Crytek
Producers Bernd Diemer and Eric Lagel looking back at development of Crysis
Warhead following the release of the shooter follow-up. One answer explains how
seriously they took feedback about the original Crysis when they designed
Warhead: "We do try to pay attention to all feedback; no matter of where it
comes from it is very valuable for us. When we started working on Warhead, we
spent a lot of time going through forum posts, reviews and emails to identify
the major gripes people had with Crysis, and tried to find solutions for them-
Alien AI, performance, vehicles and the gameplay shift in last third of the
original game received the most focus. Feedback stings if it is negative, but it
is extremely valuable and important to look at it. After all it comes from the
players, and one general rule of game design is that the player is always
right."
Isildur
on AvCom Changes on Pirates Of The Burning Sea Vault is an interview with
Kevin "Isildur" Maginn about plans to change avatar combat in Pirates of the
Burning Sea, Flying Lab Software: "What I've done is moved balance to a model
that's closer to our ship combat. In this analogy, your health is similar to
structure, and your Guard is similar to armor. As you lose Guard, more and more
of an attack's damage goes through to your health. And particularly effective
attacks can bypass your Guard entirely, dealing direct health damage. The major
reason for this change -- and there were a lot of minor reasons, as well -- was
brought up in the discussion thread on my devlog."
An update on the Team
Fortress 2 Website by the Valve writing staff offers a humorous postmortem
on their "Meet the Sandvitch" trailer, explaining "how something we'd boasted
would be 'our magnum opus,' 'over four hours long' and 'make Citizen Kane look
like something dumb a complete idiot would make,' ended up being one un-dramatic
minute spent inside a refrigerator."
More tweaking to things around here by the tireless Frans has been underway.
There are some behind-the-scenes things that clear up some HTML errors and
inconsistencies. He also revived the ability to send email to forum users who
enable this option for themselves that was disabled somewhere along the way.
We're not sure how much use such a feature will get, but who knows?
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