Archived News:
A message on the Darkfall
Forums indicates Aventurine's long-in-development MMORPG is live. The
update outlines some difficulties they've been working through that resulted in
an abortive start, as described by
Eurogamer. They also explain problems some folks have experienced with
preorders, and say a patch is on the way to clear up early issues, including
sync problems they are aware some users are experiencing.
This MassGate Forum
post announces the availability of the promised Airport and Bocage
maps for World in Conflict, putting even more S in the RTS game. Word is:
Grab your gear and roll out! The World in Conflict team is very proud to
announce the release of two new maps from the community! This time we have two
brand new maps available: Airport and Bocage. Airport, a domination map made by
“Luva”, brings the war to a beautiful large airport area while Slepnyrl’s tug of
war map Bocage takes us back to a battlefield with a great historical
background.
The maps can be downloaded when you log on to Massgate, so go grab them and
play!
The
Command & Conquer Website now offers downloads of Black Sheep, a map they
are calling the "Lost Mission of Command & Conquer Generals," honoring the
sixth anniversary of the release of the real-time strategy game. The map,
originally intended for release with the game, is a free download, though of
course a copy of Command & Conquer Generals is required. Word is: "Black Sheep
was originally slated to be the third mission in the Global Liberation Army
campaign where players were given command of the Toxin Tractor, a slow-going
farm vehicle modified to spray a deadly corrosive agent, and ordered to
eliminate a town that had been “corrupted beyond salvation” by the USA’s
propaganda. While the mission was ultimately removed from Generals, the Toxin
Tractor was available in other campaign missions, as well as in multiplayer and
skirmish modes."
This press release
offer an EVE Online: Apocrypha features list, outlining the contents of
the upcoming free add-on for CCP's MMORPG. Word is: "The full feature list is
expanded upon further at
http://www.eveonline.com/apocrypha, including links to blogs on specific
features written by members of the development team. The page also contains
interviews with our developers, screenshots, our teaser trailer and more. Check
back in for regular updates as we reveal even more of Apocrypha leading up to
launch."
Sports
Interactive Community now offers new patches for both PC and Mac editions of
Football Manager 2009/Worldwide Soccer Manager 2009 to bring this sports
sim to version 9.3.0, including an updated database which includes the latest
transfers from the January transfer window. The PC patch is also available
automatically for Steam users, and the manual PC patch is available on
FileFront and The
Patches Scrolls. Thanks Quboid.
Carmack-
Quake Live Gives PC A Chance To Shine on Gamasutra is a Q&A with id's
technical director where he says the following of
QUAKE LIVE: "Our modern triple-A stuff
has to be somewhat more console-centric, with the PC as a peer, while this is an
opportunity to do something where the PC will really stand alone." Also,
Big Download interviews id's Marty Stratton chatting in detail about the beta
launch of the browser-based shooter. When they ask about when the "beta" tag
will be removed Marty says: "Right now I don't envision us doing a 're-launch'
of the site (for example, we don't plan to do any stats wipes), but rather
working on everything mentioned above, rolling it out in pieces, and then just
feeling comfortable enough with where we're at and simply removing that image
from the site."
Two new movies are available for The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault On Dark
Athena. One is called Cargo Bay, described like this: "Riddick uses the
shadows and his eye shine to sneak up on drones in the cargo bay and take them
out with his ulaks. Once discovered, Riddick picks up a drone and uses its gun
to launch a storm of bullets." The movie is available on
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell. The other is called Crew Quarters, described like this: "Riddick takes
his trademark ulaks and a heavy club in hand to bring his cold rage to bear on a
bunch of unsuspecting, but fight-hungry mercs berthing on the Dark Athena ship."
The clip is posted on
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell.
Thanks Mike Martinez and Ant.
R.I.P.: Philip José Farmer. Thanks
DrEnter.
Ubisoft announces Dawn of Discovery is the new North American title for
Anno 1404, the next installment in the historical construction/RTS series
from Related Designs. They also announce a summer release for the game, which is
being touted for Wii, DS, and PC, in that order. Here is the feature list
included with the announcement: Build and sustain your own expansive
empire
• Explore the beautifully detailed world and discover new
places to create your civilization
• Set up trade posts in the spice mines of the Orient and
explore new trade routes to keep your nation growing
• Learn from other nearby cultures to expand your horizons
and master the challenges of establishing a prosperous society
Developed specifically for Wii, DS and PC audiences
• Unique art style and clever integration of the Wii Remote
and DS stylus makes building your empire more fun and interactive than ever
before
• All new scalable 3-D engine ensures unmatched visuals,
optimized for all PC's – from high-end to low-end desktops
• Seamless user interface delivers multiple gameplay modes
and faster player rewards for both long or short play sessions
Exclusive multiplayer modes across platforms
• Build your civilization and make history along with a
friend in the 2-player co-op mode for Wii
• Integration with Ubi.com allows PC players to track
achievements, climb leaderboards and challenge others online
Accessible for everyone from beginners to pros
• Intelligent help system offers contextual hints for any
situation
• In-game encyclopedia includes illustrated tutorial filled
with tips and strategies for building your civilization
A new installment in
American McGee's Grimm is now available on GameTap, and as usual, the new
episode in the adventure series is free for 24 hours. The new episode is called
Mulan, though there's no Disney to be found here, as the description indicates:
"A well-muscled young girl dresses up as a manly man and fights in the Chinese
army for twenty years, without a single awkward moment at the latrine. Highly
improbable. Grimm presents this classic Chinese tale in the original Mandarin in
American McGee's Grimm: Mulan. Oh, and if you ever wanted to how the 'Yellow
River' was named, Grimm has your answer!" They've also
rotated their free offerings, and now offer free access to
Sacred Gold,
Psychonauts, and
Metal Slug, and
have added Earthworm
Jim to their free area.
The good old gamers at GOG.com announce that
Duke Nukem
3D: Atomic Edition is now available from their DRM-free marketplace, updated
to work properly under Windows Vista and Windows XP. They also announce the
coming weeks will see the addition of
Duke
Nukem: Manhattan Project,
Blake Stone:
Aliens of Gold,
Blake Stone:
Planet Strike, and
Rise of the
Triad: Dark War, recalling the heyday of Apogee releasing games, and
this forum post
says one purchaser of Duke Nukem 3D will be selected to receive the
entire Apogee catalog for free.
The Freaky Creatures Website now
offers open beta testing of Abandon Interactive Entertainment's MMOG where
players engage in online battles using customizable critters. The open beta will
continue for an unspecified period, leading up to the game's full launch.
Concerned that plans for Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising will confuse
fans, Bohemia Interactive Studios has issued
a
statement to make it clear that they are not the developers of this sequel
to their first military shooter, and they object to it being marketed as such,
saying their ArmA games are the true sequels to Operation Flashpoint: Cold
War Crisis. The statement quotes an attorney for Bohemia Interactive saying:
"In the license agreement, Bohemia Interactive expressly reserved the exclusive
right to develop sequels to the original OFP game," saying: "Codemasters also
acknowledged that Bohemia owns all the intellectual property in the game –
except the words 'Operation Flashpoint'." The quote included from Bohemia
Interactive CEO Marek Spanel indicates they don't feel having rights to the
game's name does not give Codemasters the right to claim their upcoming shooter
is an OpFlashpoint "sequel," saying: "Since Codemasters has no right to use the
Bohemia Interactive game engine or any other component of the Bohemia-developed
game, how can it rightfully claim to produce a ‘sequel’?"
VideoGamer.com
hears from Vispi Bhopti, communications manager at Creative Assembly's Australia
division. When asked about the planned simultaneous release of Stormrise on PCs
and consoles, in light of comments that the staggered release of multiplatform
RTS game EndWar was due to PC piracy, Vispi expresses the thought that this is a
futile effort: That's not that much of an issue. There's no additional
thing that we're going for with that sort of stuff. That's pointless. If people
are going to pirate a game they're going to pirate a game. All you can do is
delay the piracy, really. But that's just the nature of the beast. We are a PC
developer, that's where we started, so you do what you gotta do. We've got Games
for Windows Live activation, so it's pretty solid.
A new installment of "Meet the
Team" on the Star Trek Online Official Site introduces Daniel Stahl,
producer on the Trekkie MMORPG. They discuss his devotion to Star Trek, which is
evidenced right off the bat by the authentic-looking Kirk shirt in his photo.
PWNING 9-5 - Mega-Irony: Microsoft Digs Up Apple's 25 Year Old Mistakes.
"The X360 is a cancer. No, not because it has had a negative effect on PC
gaming and I'm a PC fanboy, although all of that is true. It's because it's
a product and a business that leeches revenue, mindshare, and resources away
from Microsoft's core businesses. The XBox was supposed to be Microsoft's
key into the living room -- a way for them to capitalize on the "digital
convergence" that would occur there. But it ends up that XBox business unit
is really just a fortress in the living room that even the greater Microsoft
will never be able to add further value to, and digital convergence may
never actually occur... So it's a big ole rotten egg that has stolen from
Windows its only remaining 'killer app': GAMING."
AtomicGamer -
Video Game U.
"On the up side, the majority of courses are taught by people who know what
they're talking about, people who either used to work or are currently
working in the industry and there's no way to overestimate the value of
that. Game development still being something of an arcane art, any game
veteran can tell you that having a mentor who's been in the trenches is
worth more than a whole stack of instructional books. So unless you live
next door to Shigeru Miyamoto or your dad's the head of EA, a game degree
program may be the best (and only) way to find one of these."
Gamasutra - Opinion: Obsidian - Life Of The (RPG) Party?
"Very little was ever said about the Aliens RPG, but I'm sure that I would
have played it, regardless of whether it now gets completed. I've found that
Obsidian Entertainment, compared to every other developer that makes
party-based RPGs, has consistently had the most interesting and
forward-thinking ideas about party members and dynamics, whether in games
that I like (Knights of the Old Republic II) or ones that I don't
(Neverwinter Nights 2)."
Today is the 16th anniversary of the first World Trade Center bombing; an attack
I experienced first-hand from the World Financial Center right above the
underground garage where the bomb exploded. The lesson I learned that day is
that the powers-that-be will freely lie to you under such circumstances: We were
told that the explosion that rocked the building we were in was from an air
conditioner condenser blowing up, even as hundreds of emergency vehicles filled
the area to suggest that far more had happened.
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