Ubisoft announces they will publish
World in Conflict: Soviet Assault in
March, settling the fate of the RTS expansion left with an uncertain future
after
developer Massive Entertainment was put up for sale, though
this new arrangement seemed pretty likely once
Ubisoft turned out to
be the buyer. Word is: "World in Conflict: Complete Edition, the retail
version of the much awaited add-on to the critically acclaimed strategy game
will include the entire original World in Conflict title, as well as the Soviet
Assault add-on and other exciting all-new features. Players that already own
World in Conflict will have the option to download the Soviet Assault expansion
pack exclusively online." Some new screenshots from the expansion are on
Gamer's Hell.
The
Battlefield Heroes Website is now accepting sign-ups for the next phase in
beta testing of
Battlefield Heroes, the upcoming subscription-free online
shooter. Those with beta keys from previous phases need not reapply, as they are
already entered.
Global Game Jam is an international
collaborative game development project scheduled to get underway a week from
Friday: "From 5:00 p.m. on Friday January 30th, until 5:00 p.m. Sunday, February
1st, more than 1,000 college students, faculty and members of the game industry
will join together for a 48 hour game building marathon, in the first Global
Game Jam (GGJ). Participants will be given the details of the game design theme,
constraints and mechanics allowed when the clock reaches 5:00 p.m. local time in
each region. As the time zones change, so will the constraints, mitigating any
advantage location might give one team over another. While individual and
regional Game Jams have been held in the last few years, there has never been
one the size and scope of the GGJ."
Whatisfear.com, the homepage of the
F.E.A.R. franchise, has been re-designed in honor of the coming of
F.E.A.R.
2: Project Origin, and will serve as the launching point for tomorrow's
Windows demo of Monolith's horrific shooter sequel. The site offers tidbits to
fill the gap between the original game and the sequel, including a new "intel
briefing" video. Word is: "Players can also investigate Alma’s sordid past in a
section called 'Alma’s Reality,' and read character dossiers on the F.E.A.R. 2
team page. In addition, fans will discover an inside look at the mysterious
Armacham Technology Corporation and the company’s top-secret projects."
A new trailer from
Battlestations: Pacific offers a look at the upcoming
sequel to the World War II action/strategy gameplay of
Battlestations: Midway.
Here's what Eidos and Warner Bros. have to say about this: "The trailer features
a sneak peek at one of the five new multiplayer campaigns in the sequel. Quickly
toggling from realistic battleship and airplane simulation to RTS map battles,
the video showcases the broad gameplay options in this new title." The movie is
posted on
AtomicGamer,
BiTT News, and
Gamer's Hell.
A new
Street Fighter IV trailer shows off the entire cast of the upcoming
fighting game sequel; the clip is available on
ActionTrip,
AtomicGamer,
BiTT News, and
Games On Net.
Ubisoft has issued some official release dates for a few upcoming games,
shedding a little light on a few topics. Included is a long-anticipated
confirmation of plans for a PC edition of
Endwar, as a Windows edition of
the Tom Clancy console RTS game is scheduled for release in March. A PC edition
of
I Am Alive is also confirmed, along with a Q1 2009 release for the
survival horror game, a window which was confirmed by
Eurogamer even though it seems early. They also confirm I Am Alive does not
involve the efforts of producer Jade Raymond, much to the disappointment of a
legion of stalkers. A March release is also confirmed for
H.A.W.X., the
Tom Clancy aerial combat game, and a Q2 release is predicted for
Bound in
Blood, the
Call of Juarez prequel.
Battlefront.com is now selling the new
Theatre of War Mission Pack,
which carries the imaginative title "mission pack," offering two new campaigns
and more than a dozen new maps to the World War II tactical combat game. Word
is: "Fight for the Liberation of Belorussia in June 1944 as Russian forces begin
to push the Germans back to their own borders, or join French Army units as they
try to avoid encirclement in the opening stages of World War Two in France. As
an additional bonus, the Mission Pack also includes the full "Über-patch" on
disc, especially useful for those who have difficulties in downloading large
files over the internet (more than 1GB of data). The Über-patch contains,
besides a number of important bug fixes and features, a third full campaign
(Battle for Moscow)." The add-on is compatible with all three editions of the
game; the original Battlefront.com version, the CDV USA retail version, and the
Kalypso Media European version.
1C Company announces that Aspyr will distribute five of their upcoming titles in
North America, saying
Cryostasis,
Death Track: Resurrection,
Men of War,
NecroVisioN, and
4X4 Hummer will all be shipping
in the new world in the spring. This seems to be a setback for the North
American editions of Cryostasis, Men of War, and NecroVisioN compared to their
European counterparts, as a February 20 release date for PAL territories
was recently announced for all three of those titles by 505 Games.
On a semi-related note, a new movie showing some of the motion capture in
NecroVisioN is now available on
Gamer's Hell.
Edge Online
- The Live Aid of Games.
"Even though it’s over 3 decades old, our (surely by now) mature industry
could certainly boast a better track record when it comes to giving back to
society. As a matter of fact, OneBigGame, the world’s first non-profit games
publisher, was set up partially because of this strange situation. We felt
it was slightly embarrassing that an industry continuously boasting it’s
bigger than music and movies and worth some $40 billion, was doing so much
less in terms of giving back than our entertainment industry cousins."
Gamasutra - Video Game Regulation- Where We Are Now?
"Many see games as trifles, kid's stuff; and yet for all the talk that we
journalists and researchers talk about breaking molds and making new genres
of games, at the moment there's already a unique diversity and depth in
today's video games. A fish doesn't know that he's in water."
A little off schedule here this morning... should be back on track shortly.
Twitter 
