Archived News:
inXile entertainment announces that Jason Anderson, one of the original
Fallout design team members and Troika cofounder, has joined the company as
creative director for a new, unannounced role-playing game. Word is Anderson
recently left Interplay, saying his second stint there was as creative director
on the Project: V13 ( thought to be the Fallout MMOG). There is
an
interview with Anderson about the move on Gamasutra.
The Paleo Entertainment Forums address issues with yesterday's
release of Merchants of Brooklyn via Steam, as the new CryENGINE
2 first-person shooter exhibited a number of bugs. It turns out an alpha version
of the game was accidentally distributed instead of the final build, naturally
leading to problems. Logging out of Steam and logging back in should correct the
problem. Thanks Shacknews.
Massively shows the way to
a forum thread on the f13.net forums discussing private messages they report
some City of Heroes players have been receiving in-game from Cryptic
Studios. According to the post, Cryptic (who developed City of Heroes before
parting ways with NCsoft) is attempting to recruit CoH players to beta test
Champions Online, leading to an extended discussion of whether or not this
is appropriate. There's an official comment on this on the
City of Heroes Official Forums, where NCsoft says: "Although we cannot stop
someone from initially communicating with you - whether it be RMT (real money
transaction) related, another game company trying to lure you to their competing
product, or general spamming...we are in a position to investigate the situation
(and potentially take action) once a solicitation has occurred, for it is a
direct violation of our Rules of Conduct and EULA (End User License Agreement)."
Codemasters' Overlord II
Page now offers a new movie from the upcoming action/adventure sequel,
showing off the new Overlord (same as the old boss), starting with his childhood
as an Overlad. The clip is narrated by Lennart Sas of Triumph Studios, who
explains the role of the Overlord accompanied by gameplay footage. The clip is
also available on
ActionTrip,
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell.
The
Ubisoft Forums now offer two new patches for Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X,
updating the boxed and digitally distributed editions of the aerial combat game
to version 1.01. The update also be received through the game's internal
auto-update function. The downloads are mirrored on
Gamer's Hell.
A new demo for
Jutland is now available, updating this sample of Storm Eagle Studios' World
War I naval combat game to version 1.024. The demo actually contains the full
game, as explained here: "The Demo allows you an unlimited trial period to play.
It included two scenarios that you can play to completion. You can play them as
many times as you like for free. Both of these scenarios can be played in
Multi-Player mode and is an excellent opportunity to try out JUTLAND's
Multi-Player features. We also give you the ability to get a 10 min. sneak peak
at the remaining scenarios to wet your nautical whistle and give you a sense of
what we are offering. The Battle Editor (also referred to as the scenario
editor), is not accessible from within the Demo version and is only available in
the JUTLAND Pro Edition." The download is available from
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell.
1C Publishing
now offers a new patch for NecroVisioN to update the European editions of
the supernatural World War I shooter to version 1.1.
This change list
(thanks The Patches
Scrolls) describes what's changed in the new version, including improved
rendering performance and reduced load times. The download is mirrored on
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, Gamer's Hell,
and The Patches
Scrolls.
MindArk announces they have been granted a
license from the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority to operate a real bank
within Entropia
Universe, their virtual world. Here's hoping depositors get a copy of
venerable screensaver After Dark, as it would mean the virtual bank was giving
out virtual toasters (a joke that shows my age in more than one way). Here's the
deal: GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN--(Marketwire - March 18, 2009) - The Swedish
Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen) has granted a license to
conduct banking activities to virtual universe developer MindArk PE AB's wholly
owned subsidiary Mind Bank AB. The unique step of integrating MindArk's virtual
universe Entropia Universe with the real world will allow Mind Bank AB to
function as a central bank for all virtual worlds within the Entropia Universe.
MindArk CEO Jan Welter Timkrans comments, "This is an exciting and important
development for the future of all virtual worlds being built, using the Entropia
Platform. Together with our partner planet owner companies we will be in a
position to offer real bank services to the inhabitants of our virtual
universe." This will take the integration between real life and virtual life to
a whole new level.
Mind Bank AB will be the first bank that fully incorporates real money
transactions with activities in a virtual world. Millions of transactions can be
processed by the bank for further transfer to MindArk and the virtual universe.
Mind Bank will also offer selected bank services to customers on the
conventional market.
This Drivers & Tools
Page outlines the release of new version 9.3 reference drivers for ATI
accelerators. There are new drivers for Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows 7
in both 32-bit and 64-bit variants. For the curious,
HEXUS.net has
benchmarked the new drivers with a number of different high-end video cards.
Thanks Neutronbeam.
MyCrysis
outlines plans for a new patch for Crysis Wars on Friday, updating the multiplayer mode
included with Crysis Warhead to
version 1.4, including fixes "that should really improve stability and enhance
performance," as well as modification support (thanks Gamer's Hell). Mod support on its
own is only so useful, so they are also releasing their editor program at that
time, predicting the release for precisely 19:00 CET on Friday, and they say
full patch notes for the editor will be released within the next 24 hours.
Here's perhaps the most interesting item in the patch notes: "All graphic
settings are now available on DX9 machines." Update: A note from
Crytek's Official
Modding Portal mentioned in our forums helps understand the editor/SDK
situation: In order to keep the community focused on just one modding
area based upon the same engine version, we decided to make the AI in Crysis
Wars available again to allow singleplayer levels to work and concentrate on
supporting this game with editor and SDK. Together with most of the assets from
Warhead which are included in Patch 1.4 we are confident that the community will
benefit the most out of it by keeping singleplayer and multiplayer modding and
level creation to one game.
A post to the
Hockey
Downloads Forum has news that NHL 10 will not be coming to the PC and PS2
platforms, and the division devoted to these platforms has been reassigned to
the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 editions, citing economic pressures for why these
editions in the hockey sim will not dress, to use the parlance of the sport.
Thanks Tiscali Games and
Eurogamer.
At first glance
InstantAction Brings Tribes To Your Web Browser on Kotaku seems like another
article about Fallen Empires: Legions, the browser-based game that's been
called a "spiritual successor" to Starsiege TRIBES. Of course, this is
why second glances were invented (well, that and thong bathing suits), since
closer examination reveals this unveils plans to bring TRIBES itself to
InstantAction, so the highly
regarded shooter by GarageGames progenitor Dynamix is returning as well. Word is
they will debut the TRIBES revival at GDC next week, showing off improved
graphics and modding options.
This press release from Electronic Arts announces plans to update The Godfather
II with free patch adding additional multiplayer support in the form of a "Don
Control" mode that brings the game's "Think Like a Don" concept into multiplayer
play. Here's word on the patch, which is due right around the release of the
mafia game sequel early next month: REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS
WIRE)--Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) today announced that a new multiplayer
mode, called Don Control, will be coming to The Godfather® II game. This new
mode will be available as a free downloadable* patch right when the game
releases on April 7th in North America and April 10th in Europe. Don Control
takes the “Think Like a Don” strategic gameplay into an online environment and
allows players to build a family, command them in battle and view the action
from a bird’s eye view above.
Don Control introduces an additional layer of gameplay on top of the four
multiplayer modes and six maps already available in the game and invites players
to compete to see who is the ultimate Don of Dons. Players can now challenge one
another in 16-player battles for their in-game currency from the single-player
game. As a Don online, players can recruit others to join their family by giving
them a cut of the profits. But if a player loses as Don, the in-game currency
they wagered will be removed in their single-player campaign and their empire
can come crumbling down.
GamesIndustry.biz reports that Namco Bandai has upped their stake in
publisher D3Publisher to 95%, and plans on acquiring the remainder of the
company as well. This includes D3's development studio, Vicious Cycle, and the
company's US and European arms, as this is part of Namco's efforts at bolstering
their position in western markets. Word is D3Publisher's operations will remain
"unchanged at this time," and: "Development of our current and unannounced
titles is ongoing and will move forward as planned."
GarageGames' Torque 3D Engine And Web Publishing on Gamasutra chats with
GarageGames business development VP Bretty Seyler, who outlines the new web
publishing features coming to the Torque 3D engine, clarifying how this differs
a bit from their InstantAction Portal
for web-based gaming. While InstantAction is more about a "AAA" gaming
experience in your browser, the Torque 3D engine lowers the bar for web game
publishing: "If what you want to do is blast your game out a huge audience, get
it in front of Facebook users, share it quickly and cheaply with friends or
publishers you want to pitch the game to, Torque 3D would be an easy way to show
it has traction," is a quote from Seyler, who says: "It's an extremely
low-overhead publishing option."
The debut release of The Nameless
Mod is now available, a single-player total conversion for Deus Ex
that started as an expression of inside jokes from the Deus Ex forums, but
eventually evolved into a project of vast scope that ended up taking seven years
to complete. The site has media and information about the project, which is
summarized in
this preview on Mod DB, where they have also mirrored
downloads of the mod.
A new teaser trailer from Dark Void is in the tubes to show off more of
the futuristic combat in Capcom's upcoming science fiction game. The clip is
posted on ActionTrip,
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell.
So Here's How Many Games I Sell is a post by Spiderweb Software's Jeff
Vogel, who offers a frank discussion of the sales figures for Geneforge 4:
Rebellion. Jeff says: "I am not the first Indie developer to reveal this sort of
information. However, most public sales figures come from projects that were
either blockbusters or disastrous. But our games have never landed in either
pool."
Gamasutra - Episodic Games - And Now, The Conclusion.
"It’s truly mystifying then, when games produce a TV-like atmosphere,
without the traditional TV wait-and-see moments. Alone in the Dark does
this, and while it can be a puzzling decision at times, in the long run it’s
a decision that makes sense."
PC Format - Gaming addiction - a positive side.
"I don't have a problem with playing the game. As I said, I still have a
well-lived life despite the inordinate amount of time I spend managing a
fantastical version of a football club, I just don't sleep."
Playing a twitch shooter like QUAKE LIVE made me painfully aware of how slow
the polling was for my trusty MX518 mouse under Windows Vista. I looked it up,
and sure enough it was 125Hz, and apparently forcing a higher rate under Vista
requires more hax0ring than seemed worth it. So I picked up a snazzy new laser
G9 jobbie with the interchangeable shells and weights and all, as it supports a
1000Hz rate. I have to say the difference surprised me, and I immediately went
from being a little below average to a little above. It's funny how many other
shooters I played where I never noticed this, but in Quake it was painfully
evident right away.
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