Archived News:
A post to the
BeyondUnreal Forums that
BeyondUnreal
says is from Epic's Steve Polge indicates the major patch plans
mentioned today represents half of their planned Unreal Tournament 3
expansion, to be followed by "the Titan Pack" that will add all sorts of
goodness that they are not revealing just yet to their shooter sequel:
We've decided that the best way to deliver the UT3 expansion we've been
hinting about is in two parts. This patch is the first part. We aren’t quite
ready yet to start going into detail about the bonus content and gametypes that
will be in the Titan Pack, which is substantially bigger than any bonus pack
we've released in the past.
Gamasutra
reports that Hellgate: London may be continuing operation in the west as
a free-to-play game, according to comments from HanbitSoft, the Korean
publisher/developer that claims it is the owner of the IP to the game created by
defunct developer Flagship Studios. HanbitSoft says they plan future updates
aimed at "strengthening community features" in the action/RPG, and that a
"large-scale" patch is coming soon to combine the game's two play modes, and
updates are planned to balance classes better and create more of a distinction
between the game's five acts.
Steam News has word that
a new patch for Saints Row 2 is now automatically available to update the
open world action game. The new version fixes a number of bugs, removes the 32
FPS cap, smoothes out framerate spikes, and improves overall performance by
approximately 20%.
As described on the
Crysis Warhead Website, a Crysis Warhead "revoke tool" is now
available to help manage the digital rights management in Crytek's shooter
sequel, by deauthorizing the game on one machine so it can be installed again
elsewhere. The "download now" link is dead as disco, but the tool is available
from AtomicGamer and
Shacknews.
The UFO:
Afterlight Official Website offers a new fan-made patch to update the UFO
strategy game to version 1.7. The patch works with all DVD versions as well as
version downloaded from Sprocket and Steam. They also offer a new version 2.03.1
of the Total Rebalance modification for the game on the
ALTAR games
official forum. Thanks
StrategyCore.co.uk.
Edge Online
has an excerpt from an article called
The Death and Birth of an RPG Developer focusing on the formation of Crate
Entertainment following the demise of Iron Lore. They talk with Crate's Arthur
Bruno, who gives his perspective on the double-jeopardy of PC development, lower
sales, and higher risk: "People can say what they want about the number of PC
gaming machines being sold each year but the reality is that most titles
released for both PC and Xbox 360 see higher sales of the console version, in
some cases more than double even with a simultaneous release." On the bright
side, he also mentions that PC ports of console games are "relatively cheap,"
so: "I think there is a very good chance we’d port Black Legion to PC but that’s
a call we’re leaving up to prospective publishers."
Bethesda Reacts To Three Major ‘Fallout 3′ Criticisms on MTV Multiplayer
gets a response from Todd Howard of Bethesda Softworks to a few criticisms of
Fallout 3 they've heard leveled by gamers. The three complaints they ask about
are that the game is boring as a straight first-person shooter, that the ending
isn't very satisfying, and that V.A.T.S. is boring once you can headshot
everyone. Todd is remarkably open to all this; for instance his response to the
criticism that the action/RPG makes a boring shooter is "agreed."
A new behind-the-scenes movie from Spore Galactic Adventures offers gameplay
footage from the upcoming Spore add-on, accompanied by developer narration
describing what the expansion will add to the game. The clip is posted on
AtomicGamer and
MyGameTrailers.
The
Godfather 2 Interview on Strategy Informer chats with Joel Wade, producer on
The Godfather II, the upcoming life of crime sequel. Topics include changes in
gameplay from the first game, its mix of action and strategy, the story, the
main character, online support, how reviews for the first game sometimes felt
like they were punished for taking license with the license, and more.
YouTube
offers a ten minute segment from Polish Gram TV discussing video gaming in
Polish, naturally enough (for them at least). The program includes an interview
with Jerzy Cichocki from CD Projekt that reveals plans for a PC edition of
Resident Evil 5, a tidbit apparently picked up directly from Capcom. The comment
comes at about the 4:20 mark in the video, and here is a translation provided by
our tipster Kazek: "We know for sure that PC version RE5 will be released. We
don't know when exactly but we expect that it will arrive to shops in second
half 2009."
GAMEWAGER announces serial entrepreneur
Nolan Bushnell is now involved in this service that allows players to earn
tokens in their games that can be redeemed for chances at winning prizes, and even
wagered on themselves. The Atari and Chuck E Cheese founder's role is not clear,
they call him an "executive advisor." Not completely accurately they call this
gambling: "a first of its kind in the video game industry that is desperately
looking for new revenue streams to offset exponential development costs studios
now face." It is not completely clear, however, what the business model is for
this free service, much less how developers are supposed to share in the revenue
stream. As stated above, gambling on games is not as unique as they make out:
BringIt is a gaming service that offers
gamers the chance to wager on their video game skills, offering
support for the current generation of next generation consoles. Wagering is also
at the root of BETandRACE, a European
service offering its own free arcade racing game, and the chance to bet on races
using either play money or real cash. Finally,
WorldWinner offers the chance to play
Flash games for cash, fulfilling the fantasies of would-be professional Bejeweled
players all around the world. The legality of such endeavors varies by locality,
and in some cases it's not clear how to figure out how this will work in a given
area. A little clarity for US citizens is in the
BringIt FAQ: "The games that are being
played for cash prizes on BringIt are considered 'Games of Skill' and not games
of chance, and are allowed by the law. However, there are nine states within the
U.S. where the participation in skill-based video game tournaments for cash
prizes is not allowed. At this time, if you live in the following states, you
may not play for cash prizes on BringIt: Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida,
Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Montana, Tennessee, and Vermont."
BeyondUnreal
has details on what's described as a major update that's in the works for
Unreal Tournament 3, and the length of the change list they've posted is
indeed pretty major. No indication is offered as to when this patch will go
live, but the post is headed up by an intriguing note that says the patch is "a
very small part" of what Epic has in store, though there is nothing to give away
what they are hinting about. The patch will include enhancements to the server
browser, a UI overhaul, significant AI improvements, client-side demo recording,
improved network performance, improved Steam integration (including Steam
achievements), improved mod support, and more.
VentureBeat notes that one of last week's layoff's at
Microsoft was Chris Early, who had headed up the Games for Windows program.
Early has not been reached yet for comment, but his email now returns a bounce
message saying his time at Microsoft "has come to a close." Games for Windows
launched almost two years ago, but it hasn't quite taken the gaming world by
storm, and with belts tightening at Microsoft, author of the VentureBeat article
Dean Takahashi questions how long they will be willing to continue investing
heavily in this program. Thanks
Spong.
Edge Online has a report that casts the planned February 20
release date for The Sims 3 in doubt. The release date on the
game's product section
has reverted to TBA, and a number of retailers have changed their listings for
the upcoming lifestyle simulation sequel to say it is expected in the first half
of this year. EA's comments on the situation are vague, but the implication that
the game is delayed is clear: "The game looks great and in the near future we'll
have more information." Thanks Mike Martinez.
The
Digitalmindsoft Forums offer details on how to apply to participate in
closed multiplayer beta testing of Men of
War, the upcoming World War II tactical strategy game. You must post to the
forums and receive a CD key in return for entry. Word is: "Experience in one of
the older games of the series is not required, everyone can participate."
Midway Support Customer offers patches for Stranglehold, updating
the movie-inspired action game to version 1.1 (it looks like these came out some
time ago to little notice). There are three patches to cover
owners of the North American edition, the European edition, or the separate
German version. The new version address a number of bugs and changes the default
keyboard layout to allow the player to lean out from under cover. The US patch
is mirrored on
ActionTrip,
FileFront, Gamer's
Hell, and The
Patches Scrolls. The EU patch is mirrored on
FileFront, Gamer's
Hell, and The
Patches Scrolls; and the German patch is mirrored on
FileFront, Gamer's
Hell, and The
Patches Scrolls.
The War Plan
Pacific Product Section is serving up a new patch to update War Plan
Pacific, KE Studios' turn-based strategy game, to version 1.0.1.0123 (if the
devil is in the details, that version number needs an exorcism). The new
version addresses a number of bugs, enhances Allied AI, adds a new audio level
for laptop users, and more.
Happy New Year for those who follow the Chinese calendar, as today begins the
year of the Ox, the Earth Ox for those keeping careful track. In keeping with
grand tradition here, I will point out I will probably still be writing Year of
the Rat on my checks for another couple of weeks.
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