Archived News:
The Battlefield Heroes Website introduces their partners in providing
dedicated server support for DICE's upcoming subscription-free online shooter.
They describe why they are avoiding the peer-to-peer model of many free games
due to performance concerns, how their partners now have their own batches of
beta keys to hand out, and how players will have the chance to buy their own
servers and screw them up however they want with whatever settings they find
appealing.
Steam News announces the
release of a new patch for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II that's
automatically available via Steam to improve the Games for Windows LIVE
multiplayer experience. Word is: "Ranked and Custom game modes requiring Games
for Windows ® LIVE will now only match players using the latest version of the
game. Players should see a higher percentage of compatible games in the custom
games list and reduced search times during matchmaking."
Edge
Online has follow-up to reports earlier today that Midway has
large bonuses set aside as incentives for selling off Mortal Kombat to
another company, and that ex-employees are not being accrued paid/personal time.
Geoff Mogilner, Midway's head of investor relations, tells them "We're not going
out of our way to sell Mortal Kombat," though he admits there's as much as $3.3
million in bonuses to be had for a deal that will sell the franchise or allow
them to continue to develop it. His response to the paid time off issue is more
curious: "It's just a matter of the timing of things. ... It's a ridiculous
assertion that we're taking money from former employees and filling the pockets
[of execs]. The amount of the [paid time off] was much lower than the amount of
money that we're paying these key employees that are working so hard to get us
through this bankruptcy process." Oh, and then there's this:
Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon's $1 million bonus.
A new "Destruction Blues II" trailer is available for World in Conflict:
Soviet Assault, showing some post-exploidal depression in the upcoming World
War III RTS expansion. Depicting such downlifting elements as carpet bombing,
air strikes, daisy cutters, precision artillery, tank busters, incendiary bombs,
LASER guided bombs, and, well, the big one. The clip is posted on
AtomicGamer and
MyGameTrailers.
A new developer diary movie from Battlestations: Pacific showcases
multiplayer action with some gameplay footage from the upcoming real-time
strategy/simulation title. The clip is posted on
AtomicGamer.
OGPlanet.com now offers open beta
testing of BB Tanks, offering
cartoon tank combat game described as "Scorched Earth" on steroids. The open beta
gives the chance to try the game for free before it goes live, after which it
will be, well, free.
A patch for the German edition of Edna and Harvey: The Breakout updates
the German edition of Daedalic Entertainment's adventure game set in an insane
asylum to version 1.1. The patch is posted on
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, Gamer's Hell,
and The Patches
Scrolls.
- SBK-09 Superbike World Championship Screenshots on
FileFront.
BioWare Sets Up New Montreal Team to Work on Mass Effect 2 on GameDaily has
word that BioWare has established a development team called BioWare Montreal
within EA Montreal, with the team's first project being Mass Effect 2. The team will ultimately
include about 30 developers, with half the staff to come from BioWare's Edmonton studio
(including part of the original Mass Effect team), and the other half coming
from new hires, so they encourage interested parties to head over to the
Careers at BioWare page
to apply. They also learn from BioWare co-founder and CEO Ray Muzyka that the
company has a couple of "super secret projects" that they are not able to
discuss right now.
Guitar Hero Videogame Does Not Infringe: Court Rocks Gibson Guitar’s Patent
Infringement Lawsuit On Summary Judgment is a follow-up on
Gibson's lawsuit versus EA and Harmonix claiming a patent they
hold applies to Guitar Hero and Rock Band. It sounds like the
proceedings didn't go well for Gibson, as the court said the guitar maker's
interpretation of its patent could also apply to pressing the button on a DVD
remote or tapping rhythmically with a pencil, and the court also ruled:
"Gibson’s doctrine of equivalents arguments border on the frivolous."
The
GSC Game World Forums has word that GSC Game World has released an older
build of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, showing the state of the
first-person shooter in 2004, a mere year after the oft-delayed game's original
release date, offering insight into the evolution of S.T.A.L.K.E.R., which was
eventually released in early 2007. Thanks
4players.de and
ClanBase, where they shed a little further light on this xrCore build 1935
from Oct 18 2004, saying it uses "a completely different physics engine than the
one used in the final retail version. This build is fully playable and contains
all of the original levels as well as those that were cut such as Dead City,
Swamp and Generators." The
GSC thread has a torrent link and Clanbase points to an additional mirror on
Gameinator.
The
Bethesda Game Studios Forums have news that a new version of Fallout 3
is automatically available via Games for Windows LIVE and Xbox LIVE. The update
brings the game to version 1.4.0.6, adding support for multiple downloadable
content packages and achievements for The Pitt, in preparation for the release
of the second DLC for the action/RPG, as The Pitt is expected later this month.
Thanks Bill.
Kotaku reports that Midway is so eager to capitalize on its remaining assets
that it has set aside $3.75 million for bonuses to be paid to Midway upper
management if certain goals are met in selling them off. They state that court
documents how almost a half-million dollars in perks were picked up through
the deal with Ubisoft for Wheelman, and that selling off Mortal
Kombat is an important enough priority that it is listed in these documents
twice. The disturbing additional aspect to this story come from the internal
letters they reproduce indicating that fired Midway employees will now only
receive as much compensation for accrued paid/personal time off as is decided by
the courts under Chapter 11 proceedings, after initially indicating such PTO
would be paid in full. They say this is mandated by the bankruptcy filing, which
came all of three days after promising payment of PTO for severed employees.
A playable demo for the PC edition of Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X is now
available, offering a test-flight of Ubisoft's aerial combat game due for
release this week for consoles and next week for Windows (console demos are
also available).
The demo features two missions, two game modes, and jump-in/jump-out co-op
support for up to four players. The 1.24 GB download is available from
4players.de,
ActionTrip,
AtomicGamer,
ComputerGames.ro,
FanGaming,
FileFront,
FilePlanet (registration required), Gamer's
Hell,
Games On Net, and
IncGamers.
The
Stormrise page on the Games for Windows Website now offers a release date
for the Windows edition of Stormrise, Creative Assembly's console and PC
real-time strategy game, saying the game will be released on March 24 (thanks
Gamer's Hell). Here's the insta-overview of the game: "Stormrise is set on a futuristic
Earth made uninhabitable by a catastrophic event centuries ago. This extreme
change forced the planet’s inhabitants to adapt themselves in order to survive
the harsh new environmental challenges. This process of forced rapid evolution
created two distinct races, the Echelon and the Sai."
The
BattleForge Website announces open beta testing for this card-based strategy
game, so a beta key is no longer required to participate, saying: "The move to
open the beta comes after the most recent patch released all 200 BattleForge
cards and maps into the game, and approximately one month before BattleForge
goes live. For anyone looking to get started with the beta, the process just got
easier." That new beta client is available for download on
AtomicGamer and
Gamer's Hell.
Total War with multiple personalities on PC Format is an interview with Mark
Sutherns of Creative Assembly about Empire: Total War. Even though the
strategy sequel is expected in US stores tomorrow, the conversation is about beta
testing, as they plan a post-release multiplayer campaign which will begin
testing soon, saying: "that’s the idea of running this as a beta so that we can
refine what we have and introduce new ideas gradually with feedback from those
who want this mode more than anyone – our community."
Third Wire Productions announces a new
patch for Strike Fighters 2 is now available on their
downloads page. The
read me file
offers complete details on the update to this combat flight simulator, including
bug fixes and balance changes. The read me also offers the following warning:
"If you have applied any mods to the game, please check the list of updated
files to see any data files you've extracted have been changed. You must
manually delete and/or updated these files, or the patched game may not run
correctly." Thanks Gamer's Hell.
A new patch for Grand Ages: Rome is now available, updating the
historical strategy sequel for Imperium Romanum to version 1.09, even though the
game is not slated for release until March 17. The download is available on
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, Gamer's Hell,
and The Patches
Scrolls.
The Konami Website has word to expect a patch for the PC edition of
Silent Hill: Homecoming "soon" to address a problem with system stability
after changing screen resolutions. They also offer instructions on a workaround
in the meantime, but this carries the following caution: "WARNING: the following
procedure involves editing very delicate game configuration files, and this is
to be done only by users who have enough experience and are comfortable with
editing game configuration files." Thanks Gamer's Hell.
A study conducted on 310 Dutch children examining the impact of game warning
labels suggests that violence warnings make young people more likely to want to
play games, reports the
Chicagotribune.com. The study, published in the March issue of Pediatrics
magazine, should come as no surprise to anyone who has encountered a young
person, and the researchers even use the term "forbidden fruit," reminding us
this psychological principle is outlined in one of the earliest stories in the
bible. The researches also have their own drastic suggestions based on their
findings: "They suggest that youth should not be allowed to buy their own games,
that parents and physicians be aware of risk factors (such as a drop in grades)
and that policy-makers rethink the classifications (such as M, appropriate for
those 17 and older), which will only make the games 'unspeakably desirable'."
A Russian-language demo for A Stroke of Fate is now available, offering
the chance to sample this game based on historical attempt to assassinate Adolph
Hitler for those who speak Russian (or the adventurous). The demo is a 967 MB
download, available on
AtomicGamer and
Gamer's Hell.
Now what was that old saying again? Does March come in like a lion or a lamb?
(*Looks out window at a foot of accumulated snow*) Oh yeah, it was a lion. Oh
well, here's looking forward to eventual lambiness; but before that I have some
shoveling to look forward too.
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