|
|
 |
Archived News:
Steam now offers digital
distribution of the PC edition of
Watchmen: The End is Nigh,
saying: "With six chapters of intense fighting action, Watchmen is a
download-only game. Play as vigilante heroes Rorschach or Nite Owl using each of
their specific skills to clean up the streets, back alleys and rooftops of New
York." This
press release has details on the game, suggesting it should be available at
other digital distributors as well, though the only other place we've found it
is
Direct2Drive. A playable demo for the game is available on Steam as well as
AtomicGamer,
FanGaming,
FilePlanet (registration required), Gamer's
Hell, and
Games On
Net.
Though Hellgate London recently went offline, Korean
publisher/developer HanbitSoft has maintained they had the rights as owners of
the IP to operate this action/RPG by defunct developer Flagship Studios,
saying in January they were considering operating it in the west
as a subscription-free game. Now
GameCyte reports they have finally admitted that this is not in the cards,
as Namco Bandai holds the rights to operate the game in the EU and the US, and
they will operate and update the game for parts of Asia, ironically using the
services of a studio based in San Francisco.
Piracy Age is a new subscription-free
MMORPG from the folks who brought us The
Mafia Boss. Word is: "Piracy Age
is a Massive Multiplayer Online Game based on the real Pirates' Life. Pirate's
final objective is to reach absolute notoriety and fear on the seas, and use the
means of terror and force to achieve it. You want to be a daring swashbuckler,
bloodthirsty scoundrel or wicked rogue of the sea like Blackbeard and having the
seas shaking at the sight of your Jolly Roger; then you are at the right place!"
The Hunter Website has word
this virtual hunting game is now online and free to play, though there are
benefits to being a paid subscriber, and they are also offering a further
"Warden" perk, though this does not seem to enable you to cite folks for hunting
out of season.
A new Demigod developer walkthrough video offers narration from Brad
Wardell of Producer Stardock who shows off some of beta three of Gas Powered
Games' upcoming strategy/action/RPG. This includes gameplay in a presentation he
describes as "barely edited pretty amateurish video narration of the game in
action." The clip is available on
AtomicGamer,
Gamer's Hell, and
MyGameTrailers.
The Alganon Website now
offers the second video from this recently unveiled MMOG. Word is: "The video
takes you through the major areas of Xanjuis Plains, Threshmuck, Xukari Ruins,
and many other areas throughout Harraja."
Experiments and Innovations: The EA Approach on Gamasutra talks with Patrick
Söderlund of Electronic Arts Europe in a sweeping conversation covering their
approach to the game business. They discuss Need for Speed SHIFT, EA's
choices in development partners, their drive to improve quality, his feelings
that Mirror's Edge and Dead Space will be considered successful franchises in
the long term, and more.
The
Terminator Salvation Interview on GamePro discusses GRIN's upcoming tie-in
with the fourth Terminator movie. They set the story's timing as a prequel to
the movie, how they are making a Terminator game with no time travel, squad
dynamics, Terminators, other SkyNet units, weapons, and the "fantastic layer of
authenticity" movie actors bring to the game, though Christian Bale is not one
of the actors who is participating in the game.
There's a
N'Gai Croal interview on Gamasutra talking with the now-former games
journalist about his departure from Newsweek for a future as a creative
consultant for game companies. The conversation reflects on his role in the
evolving world of game journalism, and discusses his future plans, which sound
like they include doing much of what he did as a journalist, only for a
different audience: "Some games, I'll come in very early, and in other cases,
much further along. In the ideal situation... I would come in once there's
enough of a concept to really test, and at the same time, have a lot of room to
provide food for thought." He will continue to share thoughts with the audience
as well, through a soon to launch blog and his ongoing columns on Edge, though
he says he must cease discussing unreleased projects to avoid conflicts of
interest.
Games for Windows announces Batman: Arkham Asylum will be a Games for
Windows LIVE Enabled game, so the PC edition will have the same achievements and
GamerScore points as the Xbox 360 version. The listing on the website indicates
the Batman action/detective game is coming in the summer, saying: "Batman:
Arkham Asylum adds to a strong summer of Games for Windows — LIVE titles
including Stormrise, Battlestations: Pacific, and Red Faction: Guerilla." The
GFWL logo and the summer 2009 date are in the video posted on that page that was
released over a month ago, so we should have noted this sooner.
A new patch for Call of Duty: World at War updates the PC edition of the
World War II shooter to version 1.3. Word is: "The most notable additions to
this patch are the /record and /demo commands which allow you to record and view
your MP matches for submission to tournaments, leagues, etc." Downloads of the
patch are hosted on
ComputerGames.ro,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell.
Thriller New Media announces
itself to the world, an Austin, Texas-based game company with a focus on
"military and espionage-themed online games in the multiplayer and
massively multiplayer first-person shooter, action-adventure, strategy and
simulation genres under the brand, Thriller Games," a variation on the plans
announced when Thriller Publishing was formed. The company boasts
several industry veterans, including Chairman J.W. "Wild Bill" Stealey, one of
the cofounders of Microprose. The company is currently evaluating several games,
with Thriller president & CEO Fred Schmidt saying: "Thriller New Media affords
us the ability to focus specific resources and efforts in the immediate online
space to launch services within the next 12 to 18 months, maybe less."
A patch is now available on
V2play for War Leaders - Clash of Nations, updating the English,
Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese editions of Enigma Software's World War II
real-time strategy game to version 1.3. The patch was release in late January,
and was discovered by
The
Patches Scrolls, where they have it mirrored, and offer
the read me.
Downloads are also mirrored on
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell.
Infinity Ward sends along a follow-up to the rumored feature list for Call of
Duty: Modern Warfare 2 reported last night, saying that
theories it was a leak from a knowledgeable insider are false, as are the
contents of that list: The very same neogaf thread posted in the news
article already has posts from Fourzerotwo (our community manager) as well as
Rayme (one of our programmers) debunking the rumored list.
It didn't come from anyone who has access to our internal builds and indeed
contains several features that are already in CoD4 such as grass camo for
snipers. In short, it's BS.
Conspiracy Entertainment and Black Bean Games announce the North American retail
release of SBK: Superbike World Championship, saying the latest
installment in the motorcycle racing series is now available "for
next-generation videogame systems." Since that "next-generation" stuff is the
bizarre industry euphemism for consoles, we inquired about the status of the PC
edition of the game. Word is the Windows edition is not being released at this
time, and it does not yet carry an exact release date. The game
previously carried a May release date, so technically this may
not be a delay, but the PC edition was previously expected alongside its console
brethren.
The
Velvet Assassin Interview on Gaming Nexus talks with Inga Mittendorf, asking
the PR manager of Replay Studios about Velvet Assassin, their upcoming
World War II stealth game. Topics include general similarities to Assassin'
Creed, fighting World War II fatigue, sensitivities about WW2 in their home of
Germany, non-stealth gameplay, the difficulty of the stealth genre, the
shudder-inducing topic of the "taint stab," and more. The conversation concludes
with a new release date following the game's delay to early this
year, saying Velvet Assassin is due "End of April."
MCV reports that Square Enix and Eidos have agreed on buyout terms,
following reports last month that Japanese publisher Square Enix
made an offer for the struggling UK publisher. Word is an agreement has been
devised which will result in Eidos' complete share capital being purchased
by Square Enix in early May. They say shareholders are expected to approve the deal
later this month, and there are hopes a settlement will be in place by May 6.
The
Artem Kulakov interview on PC Games Hardware excerpts some quotes from an
interview with the lead designer on Stormrise, SEGA's real-time strategy
game that will be released for PCs later this month. The focus of
these quotes is how the game will be a DirectX 10 exclusive, with Artem saying
Stormrise was designed for DirectX 10 and Vista from the ground up, and that
"Integrating DX10.1 was an opportunity to increase performance and improve
visual quality even further." He explains why: DX10 has offered a lot of
advantages over DX9. First of all, DirectX 10 allowed us to simplify the
rendering engine. It matches capabilities of next generation consoles better
than DX9, which is important for us considering that Stormrise is a
multi-platform title. We had fewer driver-specific compatibility issues with
Stormrise compare to our previous games released with DX9.
VG247 has
word that the PC edition of Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X will be released on
March 20, a week later than previously planned. The aerial combat
game is still expected for consoles on Friday, and in the meantime, a
playable demo is available. No reason for the setback is offered.
GamesIndustry.biz talks with GamersGate
CEO Theodore Bergquist about digital distribution, who says their service
grew by 100% last year, and he expects up to 200% more growth over this year. He
says brick-and-mortar stores have an advantage in selling hardware, "But if it's games only, then no way - I can't see [them surviving]. I've
been in e-commerce since 1996 and I haven't seen a goods business model better
than this. It's so pure online in its nature - I can't really see how a
traditional retailer can survive, unless they decide to go online themselves."
Of course, he is biased, but that doesn't mean he's wrong. An arguably more
objective perspective on the topic is offered by Capcom's Christian Svensson who
discusses his company's increasing interest in PC games with
Rock, Paper, Shotgun in a conversation that also centers on digital
distribution: For me? Absolutely. No question in my mind. Digital
distribution on PC ties directly into our strategy. Capcom is trying to lead in
digital distribution, and I would go as far as to say that in the console space
we are already the leading software publisher. We’ve had the highest
revenue-generating Xbox Live title, we’ve had the highest revenue-generating Wii
title, we’re definitely in the top three or four on the PlayStation network. To
that end, on the PC side, I’ve spent the past year building up a digital
distribution channel that has about twenty different partners. We’re ready on
the console side, and we were the first Japanese publisher to do anything on
Steam.
The GameTap Blog
has news that a revamped GameTap will launch in just over two weeks, offering an
improved digital download store, and a new way to access and launch your games
that replaces the old GameTap player with a new plug-in they describe as
"slick…fast, lightweight, and silent." As a result, some GameTap Player
features will not be available at launch, specifically: leaderboards, Mac OS X
support, challenge play, customizable controls, instant messaging, save states,
and some personal playlists. They say some of this will be addressed going
forward, though it's not clear if OS X support will return: "Don’t fret too much
though, your existing save states, custom controls and leaderboard scores will
be saved, and any new high scores will be recorded in the background until the
leaderboard system is back up and running. Later in the week we’ll have some
tips outlining ways for you to work around these changes." Thanks
Joystiq.
With Empire: Total War now available,
Eurogamer has an article with details excerpted from
their Empire: Total War Live Q&A about the upcoming update that will offer a
multiplayer campaign mode to Creative Assembly's RTS game. They do not know
exactly when it will be released, and they are not sure whether the public will
be involved in beta testing. They offer an outline of the project from Kieran
Brigden: "Players will be given the option of fighting every battle as
the enemy, meaning whoever your friend fights wherever in the world it will
always be the two of involved in a deathmatch.
"It's an awesome new feature and one we've been keen to do for a while. The
basic code is there, now we're getting the rest sorted!"
Kotaku reports
86 of the 102 employees in Volition's quality assurance department will be let
go, and the troubled company's quality assurance will now be
primarily conducted through THQ's centralized QA facilities. THQ says these cuts
are part of the 600 layoffs they previously announced, and include
47 temporary employees who are not being renewed, and they quote THQ saying:
"All laid off employees (both full-time and temporary) will be given at least
sixty days' notice. We will do what we can to assist them in finding work in the
community or elsewhere in THQ."
Press
TV reports Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) has announced plans to use game
players to replace the combat-trained pilots operating unmanned Reaper drone
planes in frontline missions in Afghanistan. This Last Starfighter strategy is
described as a cost-cutting measure, but the story also references studies that
suggest video game players are actually better at this than their highly trained
counterparts. The article points out that small mistakes by such drone operators
can have severe consequences, and the US and NATO have come under criticism for
the increasing number of Afghan and Pakistani civilian casualties over recent
years. Thanks
GamePolitics.
Bloomberg.com reports Activision Blizzard is in a rare position in today's
market, as they are carrying no debt and piles of cash on hand (said to be as
much as $3 billion) which will allow them to bargain hunt for acquisitions as
the recession continues to make things difficult for their competitors. "The
combination of Activision holding a fair amount of cash and presumably prices
being depressed, not only for publicly traded companies, but also likely for new
intellectual property licensing rights, should certainly create opportunities,”
says Activision boss Mike Griffith, though they also offer another quote
indicating they are remaining prudent, as he says: "we won’t rush to judgment
just because we have cash. We will be very disciplined."
Blockbuster seeks debt overhaul, shares halted reports movie and game rental
firm Blockbuster is looking to overhaul its debt, though the company stresses it
has no plans to file for bankruptcy. Blockbuster shares plummeted more than 76%
on these reports before trading on the company was suspended. According to
spokesperson Karen Raskopf Blockbuster can implement a plan to self-fund its
debt through 2009 if needed.
Steam is now offering
digital distribution of Empire: Total War, the latest installment in
Creative Assembly's Total War RTS series. Also a launch trailer from the game is
posted on ActionTrip,
FileFront,
Gaming Bomb, and
MyGameTrailers. This hopefully means retailed boxed versions of the game can
now be authenticated online so they can be played, as
VE3D says this has prevented the game from being playable until now.
Presuming this has all been cleared up, here's a bit on the game:
Dominate the 18th century on land and sea. Command the seas, control the
land, forge a new nation, and conquer the globe. Empire: Total War takes the
Total War franchise to the eighteenth century Age of Enlightenment — a time of
political upheaval, military advancements, and radical thought, captured in
stunning detail in Empire: Total War.
Empire: Total War introduces a host of revolutionary new features, including
true 3D naval combat. For the first time in the Total War series, you will be
able to intuitively command single ships or vast fleets upon seascapes rich with
extraordinary water and weather effects that play a huge role in your eventual
glorious success or ignominious defeat. After pummelling your enemy with cannon
fire, close in to grapple their ship and prepare to board, taking control of
your men as they fight hand-to-hand on the decks of these wooden
behemoths.
Fudzilla reports publisher THQ may follow Midway into Chapter
11, quoting Janco Partners analyst Michael Hickey saying he gives THQ a 50/50
chance of going bankrupt, as there are reports suggesting that THQ "has mediocre
titles currently and on the horizon, and that they are running out of cash."
They report THQ CEO Brian Farrell's confidence that recent cost-cutting measure
will help the company become profitable. Thanks Will and
The
Bankruptcy Tech.
Manual versions of the new Fallout 3 patch are now available to
update Bethesda's action/RPG sequel to version 1.4. The new version can be
acquired automatically through Games for Windows Live, but manual patches are
also now available from the
Fallout Website.
The US patch is mirrored on
ActionTrip,
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, Gamer's Hell,
Gaming Bomb,
and The Patches Scrolls;
the UK patch is mirrored on
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, Gamer's Hell,
Gaming Bomb,
and The Patches Scrolls;
the French patch is available on
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, Gamer's Hell,
and The Patches Scrolls;
and the German patch is available on
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, Gamer's Hell,
and The Patches Scrolls.
The
Battle.net Forums have word on plans to update Diablo II once again with an
upcoming version 1.13 patch for the action/RPG, soliciting suggestions from the
audience. They are not promising to fulfill an entire wish list, but do want
users to outline the one patch note they would want to see if they were to get
an advance look at the patch notes for Diablo II 1.13. Thanks Bryan.
Dining With Developers, Vol. 1- Pete Wanat and Nick Torchia on Crispy Gamer
chats with the producers on Wanted: Weapons of Fate, using dinner as a fulcrum
to create a more conversational interview experience. They discuss the game and
other game industry topics, including a meta-conversation about the interview
that casts aspersions on less creative approaches to the whole 'tell us about
your game' scene.
The Northstar
interview on StrategyCore.co.uk talks with Martin "Mecron" Cirulis of
Kerberos Productions about their upcoming science-fiction RPG. Topics include
the vastness of their depiction of space, the role of trading posts, trade
goods, cooperative multiplayer support, mission variety, experience, NPCs,
appealing to fans of the X-COM series, playing as a pacifist, and even a bit on
post release support: "We always design around expansions and in the case of
Nstar, expect to see a unique twist in the form of Adventure Packs."
Pandemic's Tom French on The Saboteur
on Destructoid talks with the lead designer on Pandemic's World War II
stealth game. The game will offer open-world elements, and part of the
conversation covers that: "Above all, we’re working very hard to make The
Saboteur story one of the most gripping narratives you’ve experienced in
open-world games. Our main storyline is filled with intense character
performances and missions that will take players on a blockbuster roller-coaster
ride in an open-world setting never before experienced: 1940s Paris. When
combining the dark and rich story with the style of the period and the world --
from jazz-filled brothels to the black-and-white art style -- this makes The
Saboteur extremely special and unique indeed."
Ars Technica - Does a game have to fail to have an ending?
"It seems every game you play ends by pointing at a sequel, with story
threads left hanging, characters left floating in the depths of space, or
wars left unwon. When was the last time you finished a game and felt
completely satisfied by the experience? With Tabula Rasa, at least the
ending has come for everyone; there will be no final call from the governor,
no last-minute angel investor. The war is going to come to an end, and by
all accounts humanity didn't win, and the game ended with quite the bang.
Sure, it was a down note, but the game failed, and a happy ending would be
somewhat inappropriate for fans."
ABC cancels "Life on Mars." Oh well, another show we liked here in the
BlueTower bites the dust. At least they did it with enough notice to allow for a
series finale wrapping up loose ends. "Take a look at the lawman, beating up the
wrong guy. Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know he's in the best selling show. Is
there life on Mars?"
|
Twitter 
