Archived News:
id Software has released Wolfenstein-3D for the iPhone, offering a mobile
version of their original World War II first-person shooter. The 10 MB download
is available on
id
Software's FTP server, and
here are the
release notes, which includes info about the history of this release. There
are further details in
this included document on iPhone development written by John Carmack with
extensive details, concluding saying: "I'm going back to Rage for a while, but I do expect Classic Doom to
come fairly soon for the iPhone." Frans, who dug up this scoop, was inspired to
momentarily come out of retirement and post a mirror on
Gamers.org.
IGN Video offers a video from GDC showing Crytek's upcoming CryENGINE 3 in
action. The clip shows off natural landscapes, lush foliage, and most
importantly, what happens when you shoot at them.
Steam News has word that
new automatic updates are now available for Team Fortress 2 and Day
of Defeat: Source, addressing a few bugs.
GameZone Sits Down
with Volition's Dan Cermak to Discuss Red Faction: Guerilla is a Q&A about
Volition's upcoming destructible shooter sequel, discussing the switch to the
third-person perspective, the new more open-world approach, weapons, vehicles,
and more. Also, a new "Tools of Destruction" trailer from Red Faction:
Guerrilla is now available showing vehicles and weapons from the game. You
can get your eyes to Mars on
AtomicGamer and
Gamer's Hell.
The
Wheelman Video Interview Special on IncGamers talks with producer Joe Neate
and creative director Simon Woodroffe about the open-world nature of Wheelman.
Meanwhile, a new "fly high" trailer from Wheelman shows off some of the
gravity-defying stunts in the upcoming action driving game. The clip, which
demonstrates pretty clearly this is not a pure simulation, can be found on
FileFront, Gamer's Hell,
and
MyGameTrailers.
A new launch trailer for Wanted: Weapons of Fate shows off the imminent shooter
based on the bullet-curving action movie that's due in North American stores
tomorrow. The clip is posted on
AtomicGamer,
FileFront, and Gamer's
Hell.
A new "Space Captain" trailer from Spore: Galactic Adventures shows off
how you'll be able to get in touch with your inner Kirk in the upcoming Spore
add-on as the greatest space captain of all time. The clip is posted on
AtomicGamer,
eXp Download,
FileFront, Gamer's Hell,
and
MyGameTrailers.
A new movie from Ghostbusters: The Video Game shows off Alyssa Milano
talking about her role in the upcoming video game installment in the Ghostbusters
series, in a clip that also features gameplay footage. Who's the boss? Who you
gonna call? And where did I leave my car keys? So many questions, so few
answers. The movie is posted on
ActionTrip,
AtomicGamer,
and
FileFront.
Thanks Ant and Mike Martinez.
We mentioned the lack of a PC logo on the Wolfenstein trailer from
Gametrailers on
Saturday, and our lack of real concern over it. Sure enough the
response from Activision to our question about this reassures all that Raven's
World War II shooter will invade PCs: Wolfenstein is being simultaneously
developed for Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3 and PC and will be released on all three
platforms.
Steam announces
Assassin's Creed: Director's
Cut Edition is on sale for 24 hours via Valve's digital distribution
service, as part of a week-long promotion of
Ubisoft games on
Steam. A different Ubisoft title will be on sale for 50% off each day this week,
with the action/stealth game kicking things off today with a $9.99 price.
Jack Thompson Asks Obama
For Nationwide Ban On "Killer Games" reproduces a letter from disbarred but
unbowed anti-gaming zealot Jack Thompson, addressed to United States President
Barack Obama. The letter references the recent school shooting in Germany and,
taking a page from the playbook of fellow fanatic David Grossman, repeatedly makes use of the phrase "murder simulator." He also outlines highlights of his ten-year campaign combating violent video games that began after his
attempts to blame society's ills on rap music began falling on deaf ears. After
a decade of effort, he has finally concluded the only solution is to ban violent
games altogether: I conclude by asking you, one father to another, to
take the bold moves necessary to get these murder simulators out of America. We
have more guns than people in this country. We are training our teens to be
Manchurian Candidates to use them and to author what will be more Columbines,
more Virginia Techs, and more shattered communities.
The Battle for Wesnoth Website now offers
a new version 1.6 of this free multiplatform turn-based strategy game for
Windows, MacOS, and Linux. The
release notes outline the major changes since version 1.4, including the
addition of a new mainline campaign, a number of solo and multiplayer changes,
improvements to the map editor, and more. For the lengthy, full treatment, the
change log has complete details. Thanks Ant and
Slashdot.
The
PC Gaming Industry in 2008 is a 33 page Adobe Acrobat-format document from the
PC Gaming Alliance assessing the
state of PC gaming through last year and looking ahead to the future. Their take
is that things are going quite well: "The PC is the largest single platform for
games with annual worldwide revenue of about $11 billion. This is more than any
of the console and portable systems from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo." They
repeat their support for the theory that much of the reported decline in the PC
market is due to failure to properly assess the impact of MMOG subscriptions and
online game sales, adding the "growing presence of game cards at major retailers
such as 7-Eleven" to that list. They do offer a critical assessment of Vista's
impact on PC gaming, but express optimism that Windows 7 will correct this. They
also find positive aspects to low-cost PCs ("they are helping drive growth in
the mass market and emerging markets that can not yet afford high-end systems")
and the decreased number of PC games sold at retail, saying this has helped the
sales of higher-profile games when they do appear on store shelves. Here's a
portion of the summary: The PC Gaming Alliance expects to report solid
growth despite troubling global economic times. The PCGA also expects to
showcase minimum systems requirements and anti-piracy industry alignment that
will help ensure that this growth does not slow as we head into the next
decade.
The A Vampyre Story 2 Website
is online, revealing development of A Vampyre Story 2: A Bat's Tale, a sequel to
the blood-sucking point-and-click adventure from Autumn Moon Entertainment and
LucasArts vet Bill Tiller (thanks Gamer's Hell). The project doesn't have a release date
yet, but there are details about the story in the sequel; here's the short form:
"The sequel to the award-winning A Vampyre Story, AVS2 follows the comic
adventures of Mona de Laffite, French opera starlet-turned-vampire, and her
wisecracking bat, Froderick."
Take-Two
Interactive Announces Max Payne 3, saying the sequel to Remedy's gritty
shooter series is being developed by Rockstar Vancouver for release on Windows,
Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 this winter. The preliminary
Max Payne 3 product section
is live, and here's the announcement: New York, NY – March 23, 2009 –
Rockstar Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.
(NASDAQ: TTWO), is proud to announce that Max Payne 3 is currently in
development and scheduled for a winter 2009 release on the Xbox 360® video game
and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment
system and PC. Developed by Rockstar Vancouver, Max Payne 3 tells the story of a
retired police detective embroiled in a world of corruption, turmoil and intense
violence.
The award-winning Max Payne franchise put players in the role of Max Payne, a
hard-boiled New York City detective with a penchant for violence, out to avenge
the death of his family. The latest installment delivers more of the classic
elements and hyper-intense action that fans have come to love, while moving the
story of Max in a new direction.
"We're starting a new chapter of Max's life with this game," said Sam Houser,
Founder of Rockstar Games. "This is Max as we've never seen him before, a few
years older, more world-weary and cynical than ever. We experience the downward
spiral of his life after the events of Max Payne 2 and witness his last chance
for salvation."
Since leaving the NYPD and New York itself behind, Max has drifted from bad to
worse. Double-crossed and a long way from home, Max is now trapped in a city
full of violence and bloodshed, using his weapons and instincts in a desperate
search for the truth and a way out.
Max Payne 3 will be available in winter 2009 for Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3 and PC.
For more information, log onto
www.rockstargames.com/maxpayne3.
Need for Speed SHIFT from EA Races into Retail This September offers a
September 17 release date for Need for Speed SHIFT in Europe and a
September 22 North American release date for the next installment in the street
racing series that was announced with a fall release window.
There's also a new trailer for the game on Xbox LIVE, and on the tubes on
ActionTrip,
AtomicGamer,
ComputerGames.ro, eXp
Download,
FileFront, Gamer's Hell,
MyGameTrailers, and
VG247.
Amazon.com's Mass Effect 2 Listing has some details on what to expect from
BioWare's sci-fi RPG sequel (thanks
Kotaku).
Word is: The second chapter in the Mass Effect trilogy takes you to the
darkest reaches of space, where you must uncover the mystery behind the
disappearance of humans across many worlds. Prepare yourself for a suicide
mission to save mankind. Travel the galaxy to assemble a team of soldiers and
combat specialists, and launch an all-out assault on the heart of enemy
territory.
• The second act of BioWare's epic sci-fi trilogy continues
the story of Commander Shepard and humanity's first steps onto the galactic
stage
• Success - or failure - depends heavily on the crew you
assemble and their loyalty to you and the mission
• Stunning graphics and a refined dialog system will draw
you into the story like never before
• Numerous improvements to the intense, third-person
shooter combat
• Deep character customization options let you create your
own vision of Commander Shepard
The first teases for BioShock 2 indicated 2K Games' upcoming
shooter sequel would be titled BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams, but
last week it was reported this subtitle had been dropped. Now
Eurogamer reports the subtitle is still in place, saying they've learned
this from 2K (allegedly the source of news it was being dropped).
Since the subtitle is about the most important element in a modern video game,
we will continue to pursue this burning issue to the depths of the oceans.
1C Publishing announces Death to Spies: Moment of Truth, a sequel to
Death to Spies, their stealthy counter-espionage game. The sequel is planned for
release in Q3 2009, and the
Death
to Spies: Moment of Truth product section is live with some info and Smershy
screenshots. Here's word: Moment of Truth is a sequel to the popular
stealth action title Death to Spies. The game's main character is Semion
Strogov, a captain in the 4th department of the Soviet counterintelligence
service called SMERSH. SMERSH literally means in Russian, Death to Spies, which
was the name for a set of counterintelligence departments in the Soviet Army
formed during World War II. Strogov is back from his previous missions and must
now participate in a series of even more complicated and exciting military
operations under the code name "Death to Spies: Moment of Truth". The hero
possesses all the skills required to accomplish especially dangerous missions
including, getting information about the disposition of hostile military and
civil units, assassination of enemy agents and representatives of Wehrmacht’s
high-ranking officers and espionage. By the order of his supreme commander
Strogov, who passed through a serious retraining, will have to accomplish
various top secret missions. His task is to capture spies, saboteurs and gather
information about their actions using unique technologies and devices.
Mob Ties Tokyo is now available, as well
as a playable demo for the first installment in a planned series of first-person
shooters from Electronic Visual Elements. As noted when the game
recently went gold there is an "M" version of the game as well as
a toned down "T" version, but it is not clear which version the demo is taken
from. The demo is mirrored on
AtomicGamer and
Gamer's Hell.
Eurogamer reports that problems reported last week activating
the EU PC edition of Last Remnant via Steam have been cleared up. The
PC edition of Square Enix's RPG will not launch on Steam for a couple of
weeks, but copies bought at retail can now be activated successfully.
The game show schedule has gotten so full over recent years it seems that an
event-free week is the exception, rather than the rule. This week's show is a
biggie, though, as the Game Developers
Conference 2009 gets underway today in San Francisco. Wonder if there will
be any big surprises this year?
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