Archived News:
The All Aspect Warfare Website
reveals development of All Aspect Warfare, a new game from 3000AD that
departs from the studios' favored space combat genre by featuring first- and
third-person ground and aerial combat, though science fiction is still the order
of the day. The game is due by the middle of next year, with beta testing to
precede the release. Here's a bit from the Adobe Acrobat-format
press release: All Aspect Warfare chronicles the adventures, mishaps and
all around tomfoolery of an “elite” team of combat marines who crash landed on
the enemy planet they were sent to completely destroy. Stranded and left for
dead on a planet with a deployed thermo-nuclear weapon ticking somewhere, their
only chance of escape lies deep within hostile territory. With no way of
locating the weapon, their's is a race against time to get off the planet before
detonation.
Set on a remote four hundred square mile stretch of a near desolate planet, the
game features fast and furious action in first or third person perspective,
vehicular and aerial combat with a vast array of player controlled air, ground
and naval assets. With six playable classes, over twenty first person weapons of
mass destruction, thirty player controlled units and breathtaking vistas, this
open world game is best in class. Instant action missions for quick engagements,
an involving multi-branching campaign storyline that never plays the same way
twice and various multiplayer modes, the game offers something for every action
gamer. Whether you are a first or third person gamer or a flight combat jock,
the game has something for you to excel at and enjoy with your friends.
Steam now offers digital
distribution of the Windows edition of Silent Hill Homecoming, a bit later than
was predicted when the delay to this edition of the survival/horror
game was announced. Here's a bit about the game: "In Silent Hill Homecoming,
Alex Shepherd has returned to his hometown of Shepherd's Glen to investigate the
sudden disappearance of his brother. From Shepherd's Glen to the foggy streets
of Silent Hill, Alex will face the darkest of horrors while struggling with his
own grip on reality. Alex must unravel the mystery behind his nightmares,
discover the truth behind his brother's disappearance, and confront the evil
that has taken hold of his soul."
MTV Multiplayer has word from Ubisoft that they've dropped the plans for a
game based on the Heroes television series that was announced in July,
2007. Word is: "The rights to the ‘Heroes’ video game have reverted back to
NBC Universal. Ubisoft will no longer produce a video game based on the TV
series."
The Frontlines Website now offers
a new patch for Frontlines: Fuel of War, updating Kaos Studios' military
shooter sequel to version 1.3.0. The new version addresses issues with the
leaderboards and server browser, and also adds four new maps.
Open beta testing is now underway for
zOMG!, a casual MMOG from
the folks behind Gaia Online. Word is: "zOMG! is a new casual MMO that
takes the millions-strong community of Gaia Online and brings it to life in the
form of a huge virtual with plenty of interesting characters to meet and
monsters to battle. Inanimate objects are coming to life and threatening to
overwhelm all of Gaia, and it's up to you to stop them! Forge alliances with
others, collect and trade powerful rings, and get silly in fun social
mini-games."
The Godfather II Website
now offers a new "black hand" trailer from the upcoming gaming return of the
Corleone family. The NSFW clip can be found on
the game's media page, and it offers glimpses of the making of offers that
can't be refused, or maybe it's the outcome of having refused such offers.
- Call of Duty: World at War on
IGN.
- The Chronicles of Spellborn on
Eurogamer.
- Left 4 Dead on
GameSpy.
- The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria on
FileFront.
Thanks Mike Martinez and Ant.
Bethesda Softworks now
offers the first patches for the Windows edition of Fallout 3, updating
the post-apocalyptic RPG sequel to version 1.0.0.15, with separate patches for
the North American English edition and the international English editions of the
game. The links to the patch notes are broken as of this writing, so there's no
word on what's changed. Thanks Bill.
A demo for Alarm for Cobra 11- Burning Wheels offers a sample of the next
installment in this racing series based on a German television series. The 286
MB download is available on
AtomicGamer,
ComputerGames.ro, and
Gamer's Hell.
A new patch is now available for DIRT: Colin McRae Off-Road, updating
Codemasters' rally racing game to version 1.2.2. The patch can be found on
this page, where word is: "This update will resolve errors, experienced by
some users, reported during the disc check. No other fixes or updates are
included. You must have downloaded and installed patch 1.2 before installing
this update." The 3.3 MB patch is also mirrored on
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell.
Challenge Online Games announces the launch of
Warstorm, a subscription-free MMOG based
on collectible card strategy games. Word is: "Warstorm simplifies the complex
deck building required by typical collectible card games by introducing an
innovative squad concept. A player, known as a warlord, selects a hero card
which can support a squad consisting of up to six units, artifacts, or spells.
The player can then engage in battles with one or more squads against other
players or through various quests."
A Welcome Back Weekend
kicks off today for The Lord of the Rings Online, as they prepare for the
launch of the Mines of Moria expansion for the Tolkien-inspired MMORPG.
The welcome back event offers free play to former players whose accounts were in
good standing when their subscription ended, but there's also good news for
current players, as Turbine is also offering an XP bonus between now and the
17th: "From November 6-10, we're offering free LOTRO access to our former
players*! Returning players are invited to patch up, jump in, and start playing
on their old characters to get them ready for Moria. And from November 6-17,
there's +25% bonus experience gain on mob kills** for everyone who logs in and
plays! ** The bonus XP stacks with rest XP as well!" Thanks
Massively.
Bethesda Softworks Announces Successful Launch of Fallout 3 is the press
release with some very large numbers from the launch of Fallout 3 that
make it hard to dispute their use of the word "successful." Bethesda announces
having shipped approximately 4.7 million copies of the post-apocalyptic RPG
sequel for Windows and consoles, saying this represents $300 million in sales:
"Released on October 28 in North America at midnight store openings in over
2,000 retail outlets nationwide jammed with fans eager to get the game, Fallout
3 quickly became one of the industry's top sellers around the world. For
example, in the United Kingdom where it was not released until Friday, October
31 the rapid sales of Fallout 3 have led the game to be ranked number one among
all video games, as well as being the number one game on each of its three
platforms."
The
Double Fine Website has a gift from Tim Schafer, who is offering downloads
of the design document from Grim Fandango, the adventure game he wrote
that was released by LucasArts just under a decade ago. The document is in Adobe Acrobat
format, with the 96 pages weighing in at around 2.3 MB. Tim's accompanying
description comments on how design docs have changed since this was written, how
surprisingly fiendish some of the puzzles are in retrospect, and a vey amusing
confession about the game's conclusion: "We didn’t have the last puzzle designed
when I wrote that document, so I wrote two nonsense paragraphs and then
overlapped them in the file so it would look like the final puzzle description
was in there, but obscured by a print formatting error. That way I could turn
the document in by the deadline. As if anybody was going to read it all the way
to the end anyway. Ha ha. Obfuscation triumphs again! I delight in Evil!"
Judd and Plenty- An Interview With Capcom's Ben Judd on Crispy Gamer talks
with Capcom's Ben Judd, Producer on Bionic Commando, talking about the
project, digital distribution, and more. An interesting aspect of his life he
mentions is dealing with the different approach to game development in Japan and
the US: "[This is] the biggest problem that I face right now: I'm supported by
the Japanese side. But in order to get the game sold, I need to market it ... to
U.S. gamers. Right now, the thing that U.S. gamers seem to respond to is a
community approach. They like to connect, to be a part of the process. It's 180
degrees different from the Japanese approach, where they censor information;
they lock it down, and keep it away from the public. So I often find myself in a
place where I let too much information get out. And I find myself getting in
trouble for it."
Valve sends a reminder that early access to the Left 4 Dead demo begins today
for those who have preordered the multiplayer zombie shooter for either Windows
or Xbox 360. These customers will be able to play the demo for several days
before it opens up to general access for seven days starting November 11:
Early access to the Left 4 Dead demo begins Thursday, November 6 on both
the PC and Xbox 360. The early demo access is scheduled to begin around 2 am PST
on the Xbox 360 and 7 am PST on the PC. This promotion is being offered in
addition to the 10% savings for those who pre-order and applies to all Steam PC
pre-orders and all PC and Xbox 360 pre-orders from GameStop and EB Games in
North America. On November 11 the demo will be made available to all PC and Xbox
360 gamers worldwide, with no obligation to purchase. The demo concludes on
November 18, when Left 4 Dead will be made available at retail outlets across
North America and worldwide via Steam.
Crypic Studios announces
scheduled maintenance on their account system for a chunk of today: "On
Thursday, November 6th from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. PST, we will be performing
scheduled maintenance on the Cryptic Account system. During this time you will
not be able to create any new accounts on any Cryptic web site; this would
include the Champions Online and Star Trek Online official web sites. All forums
will not be affected, and will remain available during this time."
Ever-industrious Frans has worked a little more of his magic, in this case it is
magic of the mobile variety, as he's ironed out the mobile feed for the site.
You road warriors can point your mobile device at either
wap.bluesnews.com or
m.bluesnews.com and you'll be, as The Who
once put it, going mobile.
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