Archived News:
Gamasutra
reports that Ubisoft is acquiring Massive Entertainment, the Sweden based
developer of World In Conflict that became available after the
Activision Blizzard merger. Financial terms of the deal are not
disclosed, but they have quotes from all parties concerned, who seem pleased as
punch at how things have worked out.
Steam News has a reminder
that the Left 4 Dead demo will be available to all tomorrow: "The
Left 4 Dead demo goes
public tomorrow, Tuesday, November 11 for the PC and Xbox 360. The demo
concludes on November 18, when Left 4 Dead will be made available at retail
outlets across North America and worldwide via Steam."
They also announce an
update for the demo is now automatically available.
Sacred 2 Preorders Page
has details on the Collector's Edition of Sacred 2 - Fallen Angel, soon
to be available for preorder in North America. Included is a Carrier Imp in-game
"pet," and a disk of high-resolution textures for those planning on running
Ascaron's action/RPG sequel on high-end systems. There is a clip showing off the
carrier imp on
FileFront.
Two new Tomb Raider: Underworld movies are available; one is a
behind-the-scenes clip on "mastering the environment" in the game with narration
from Eric Lindstrom (Creative Director), Dan Neuberger (Lead Artist), and Harley
White-Wiedow (Lead Designer). This clip is posted on
AtomicGamer and
Gamer's Hell. There's
also a new "sinking ship trailer" showing off some action aboard a ship in the
upcoming return of Lara Croft (spoiler alert, the ship may be sinking). This
movie is available on
ActionTrip,
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell.
A "map trailer" from Need for Speed Undercover shows off some of the
locations to be seen at excessive speed in the imminent street racing sequel.
The clip is available on
ComputerGames.ro,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell.
Kalypso Media announces a name change for Imperium Romanum II, saying the
upcoming historical strategy sequel will now carry the title Grand Ages: Rome,
so apparently all that talk of Latin being a dead language may be true. Often
the closing of one door leads to the opening of another, and in this case the
end of the Imperium Romanum series represents the beginning of the Grand Ages
series, as this is described as a new "umbrella" brand for Kalypso Media's
strategy games, "and will be extended with other high-quality strategy games in
the future." Grand Ages: Rome is scheduled for North American and European
release in February 2009.
Codemasters Online and NetDevil announce that they have collected over 150,000
registrations for the upcoming beta testing of Jumpgate Evolution, the
space combat MMOG remake. The game is due for release some time next year, and the beta
is set to go live soon, but they stress that signups are still being accepted on
the Jumpgate
Evolution Website, so those interested in testing should head over with all
due hyperspeed.
Interview with Glen "Famine"
Swan on Ten Ton Hammer talks with the US Community Manager for Age of
Conan: Hyborian Adventures about his background, how he got his position,
what his work entails, dealing with community hostility, how things are going in
Hyboria, and more.
Electronic Arts announces Need for Speed Undercover is gold, and Black
Box's latest installment in the long-running street-racing series will hit
stores for Windows, consoles, and hand-helds as planned on November 18 in North
America and November 21 in Europe. Word is: "Need for Speed Undercover has
players racing through speedways, dodging cops and chasing rivals as they go
deep undercover to take down an International crime syndicate. The new game
heralds the return of high-intensity police chases and introduces the all-new
‘Heroic Driving Engine’ -- a unique technology that generates incredible
high-performance moves at 180 miles per hour during breathtaking highway
battles."
Nexon announces a promotion in
conjunction with convenience store 7-Eleven to promote their various
subscription-free MMORPGs, offering game disks and promotional Slurpee cups
offering in-game items. We know 7-Eleven has a passion for Slurpees, but now we
learn they also feel strongly about such free-to-play online games: "'7-Eleven
is a great advocate of free-to-play online games, and now millions of its
customers will have the chance to join in the fun through the pre-loaded DVDs
that allow them to quickly install our games with the click of the mouse,' said
Min Kim, vice president of marketing for Nexon America. 'Then, once they’re in
one of our games, which span from role playing to first-person shooters, they
can use the Slurpee game codes to access free, exclusive content.'"
How to Make a
Monster on Edge Online is written by Jason Allen, lead designer on Silent
Hill: Homecoming, who outlines the psychological and environmental
considerations in creating frightening monsters for games. He also discusses the
difficulty of finding completely original concepts, invoking the high-end
biology concept of "morphogenic fields" to describe how shared ideas evolve.
Thanks Mike Martinez.
Valve's Gabe Newell on Becoming a Game Developer on GameCareerGuide.com is a
conversation with the Valve managing director about how best to pursue a career
in the game development business. The interview is conducted by Dave Perry, who
asks "Should I lie?" on how to get past the Catch-22 of needing experience to
get a development job, and catches a bit of a slap in Gabe's response: "Don't
lie. That's just a disaster on multiple levels. The best thing to do is to start
making content using the mod tools that are out there. Whether you use
Civilization or Warcraft III or Hammer doesn't matter as much as that you are
building and shipping stuff to customers, getting their feedback, and then
iterating your work. Mod development is better in a lot of ways of both honing
your skills and demonstrating your talent to a potential employer than work
experience as there are going to be fewer institutional barriers and creative
constraints to limit the work you do." Thanks Mike Martinez.
JoWooD Productions Announces the completion of development of Gothic 3 –
Forsaken Gods, saying the RPG expansion is being duplicated for release on
November 21. Here's the description of the expansion provided with the
announcement: "Gothic 3 - Forsaken Gods includes new quests, new monsters and
many of the old friends whom gamers around the world got to know in previous
episodes. Gothic 3 - Forsaken Gods will answer all the questions which have
risen in the past and will slowly introduce the fans to a new chapter..."
Thanks Gamer's Hell.
New patches are now available for Dominions 3: The Awakening to update
the Windows, MacOS, and Linux editions of Illwinter Game Design's fantasy
turn-based strategy sequel to version 3.21. All three patches are posted on the
Dominions 3
Website. Numerous bugs and balance issues are addressed by the new version,
which also adds new "summonable" spirits. The Windows edition of the patch is
mirrored on AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell. The MacOS edition is also available from
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell. For mirrors of the Linux edition, point your penguin at
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell.
Auran announces closed beta testing is
underway for Trainz Simulator 2009: World Builder Edition, the next
installment in their rail tranzportation zeries. Over 1,000 testers have already
been accepted from the registered user base at
TrainzDev, where they have information about the beta, and word is more
testers will be accepted over the coming weeks. Discounted preorders are being
accepted at the Auran Store,
and the announcement also includes news on the Engineers Edition of
Trainz that will follow this one: "The 2009 World Builder Edition includes a
major upgrade in the graphics capabilities, new content management tools and a
host of new features in the famous 'Surveyor' module. It will be followed early
in 2009 by 'Engineers Edition' (TEE) which will deliver new content and new
routes, plus a range of new Driver-specific features. Content from previous
versions in 99% compatible and users will be able to import and upgrade their
favourite routes and locos."
Lighthouse Interactive announces the release of Rhiannon: Curse of the
Four Branches in the UK, offering modern-day first-person adventures based
on Celtic mythology. Word is the game: "is set on the Celtic fringes of Britain;
a place where myth and magic spill into reality, threatening the sanity of a
teenage girl named Rhiannon Sullivan. An ancient battle for revenge engulfs Ty
Pryderi, the remote Welsh farmstead Rhiannon now calls home. She begins to hear
unexplained noises, see disturbing visions, and experience other chilling
paranormal phenomena. There is an ancient evil lurking in the walls of Ty
Pryderi that holds a terrible connection to a timeless struggle between man and
magic fabled in the Mabinogion Legends. Her parents take Rhiannon away, leaving
Ty Pryderi to your watch and exploration, but their absence can only postpone
the inevitability of revenge and death. Unless you can stop it!" Rhiannon was released in North America last month, and a pair of
playable demos are available to allow the chance to sample a
couple of chapters from the full game.
A new trailer show off more of the futuristic racing in Pyroblazer, the
upcoming anti-gravity action game. The clip is available from
the Eipix Entertainment Website, and the beefy clip is mirrored on
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell. Pyroblazer was recently declared gold, and the game will
be released via digital distribution on Thursday.
Best Buy
announces plans for midnight madness (muahahahaha!) in New York City for the
launch of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, the upcoming
expansion for Blizzard's MMORPG. The add-on is due on Thursday, November 13, so
beginning at 8:00 pm on Wednesday gamers can congregate at the Times Square in
Best Buy with Blizzard's Mike Morhaime and Frank Pearce and television
personality Geoff Keighley to be among the first to get their hands on the game
at the stroke of midnight. This is the only such event scheduled for the US east
coast, and word is the festivities will include interviews, trivia and prize
giveaways.
The reworked Tomb Raider Website is
online, offering a multinational portal for Tomb Raider: Underworld, the
new installment in the action/platformer series that's due for release a week
from tomorrow. In this case, this is not just a website about a game, it offers
mini-games itself, using Tomb Raider: Underworld footage to create challenges
that can provide in-game rewards: "Every section of the site is playable and
provides visitors with a set of diverse mini challenges based around some of the
events that take place within the Tomb Raider: Underworld™ game. Those
completing the challenges on the site will be rewarded with a series of
exclusive unlockable items."
In years past, we have bought bags of candy for Halloween with a variety treats
to hand out, almost always covering a range from things that have some sort of
appeal to us to things that don't. This year, however, we seemed to find
assortments that were all pretty good, so as a result, the leftover candy from
this year is pretty much already gone (thank goodness there wasn't too much of
it, or we'd have another Cornholio incident). We do still have a handful
leftovers from last year and the year before that. How long do SweeTarts last
anyway? I'm guessing they've got a few more years in them (actually I wouldn't
bet against them outlasting us all).
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