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Archived News:
The Left 4 Dead on Steam Page
announces the promised "Freaky Friday" event is now underway,
offering 24 hours of free play in Left 4 Dead. They also announce a sale
for this weekend offering the multiplayer zombie shooter for 40% off. Meanwhile,
Steam has another new
automatic update for Left 4 Dead that fixes some Survival mode issues and a couple of other bugs.
Finally, the Left 4 Dead Blog
describes the new game stats pages Left 4 Dead players can now access, allowing
them to see statistical breakdowns of their play in various modes, and compare
their success with other players.
Positech announces Gratuitous Space Battles, a science-fiction
strategy/management/simulation game. The
Gratuitous Space Battles
Website is online with screenshots and a gameplay trailer, and here's word
on the game: GSB is the next game from UK developer 'Positech Games'. It's
a strategy / management / simulation game that does away with all the base
building and delays and gets straight to the meat and potatoes of
science-fiction games : The big space battles fought by huge spaceships with
tons of laser beams and things going 'zap!', 'ka-boom!' and 'ka-pow!'. In GSB
you put your ships together from modular components, arrange them into fleets,
give your ships orders of engagement and then hope they emerge victorious from
battle (or at least blow to bits in aesthetically pleasing ways).
Gratuitous Space Battles aims to bring the over-the-top explodiness back into
space games. The game is for everyone who has watched big space armadas battle
it out on TV and thought to themselves 'I could have done a much better job as
admiral'. This is not a game of real-time arcade twitch reflexes. GSB is about
what ships you design, and what you tell them to do. Your individual ship
commanders have total autonomy during the chaotic battle that unfolds. This is
not a tactical game, it is a strategic one. These gratuitous space battles are
not won by plucky heroes with perfect teeth, but by the geeky starship builders
who know exactly what ratio of plasma-cannons to engines each ship in the fleet
will need.
The Need for Speed Website has
details on two new content packs for Need for Speed Undercover, which are
both now available on the PlayStation Network, and are coming soon for Windows
and Xbox 360. One is a free Challenge Series pack that adds 60 events across two
gameplay modes, and the other a premium Boss Car pack that gives access to the
entire fleet of boss cars in Undercover for 400 MS points, or $5.00 in money.
Here's word on the Challenge Series: • Highway Wars is the ultimate
fusion of Undercover’s signature Highway Battles with the adrenaline fueled
competition of sprint racing. In this mode, players will race at top speeds
through traffic filled highways against three AI opponents in a winner take all
battle to the finish line.
Highway Checkpoint forces the player to push their car to the limit as they
weave through traffic in an attempt to make it to the next checkpoint before
time expires.
• Players can also earn three new vehicles as they complete the Challenge
Series. Each vehicle is available for use in career or online and has been
specifically tuned to compete against the top cars in the game.
• Battle Machine Mazda RX-7 will be awarded upon completion
of the first 30 events.
• Speed Machine Porsche 911 GT2 with matte black paint and
custom gold liveries will be awarded after completing all 60 of the Challenge
Series events.
• Dominator Corvette Z06 is for players that dominate a
minimum of 31 events.
The promised closed beta testing of
Warrior Epic should be getting
underway right about now. Those who have been accepted into the beta for
Possibility Space's upcoming action MMORPG can join in, while those interested
in participating can still sign up to be eligible for invitation in the future.
GamePolitics reports that Valve has sued Activision Blizzard over
underpayment of royalties. At issue is a royalty check for just under $2 million
that was $424,136 shy of the $2,391,932 awarded to Valve by an arbitrator after a 2002 dispute with Sierra, which Activision claims settle past
overpayments to Valve. Word is: "Against that backdrop, Activision cut Valve a
check last week for $1,967,796 - the amount handed down by the arbitrator less
the disputed $424K. According to Valve's suit, Activision said that it wouldn't
pay the rest and if Valve went to court Activision would countersue. Valve has
apparently called Activision's bluff and the parties are now once again at
odds."
Steam News also announces
the release of a new automatic update for Day of Defeat: Source to close
off exploits in the World War II shooter that allowed users to fire guns without
any recoil.
A new movie from Batman Arkham Asylum is now available, which is
described like so: "In Batman Arkham Asylum, enemies attack you from all angles.
Groups of The Joker's henchmen rain down successive punishing blows, one after
the other. Only by mastering the timing of attacks and countering will you
understand the true meaning of 'freeflow combat' and help Batman discover what's
really going on at Arkham Asylum..." The clip is posted on
ActionTrip and
AtomicGamer.
A new "Mission Variety Module" from PROTOTYPE is now available with
another look at Radical Entertainment's upcoming open-word action game. The clip
features gameplay footage narrated to explain what's being depicted. The clip is
posted on ActionTrip
and AtomicGamer.
SimBin announces the
RACE ON Website is live
for their upcoming racing game. The site offers information on the game as well
as media, including a new gameplay trailer. Thanks Gamer's Hell.
Steam now offers X-Blades,
Two Worlds Epic Edition,
and Helldorado. GoG.com
has a new deal for
Microïds
games on their DRM-free marketplace, beginning with
MegaRace 1 and 2.
Finally,
Impulse Driven announces they now offer Gobliiins 4.
More of the new Borderlands art style:
Thanks Mike Martinez and Ant.
Thanks Mike Martinez and Ant.
- PLAYXPERT offers a
tool to allow players to tweet from within any game, helping ease the
Twitter shortage…
GSC Game World officially announces S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
(working title), which turns out to be a new project in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
series, due for release this autumn, rather than an add-on, as was speculated
when the project was first discovered. The announcement is
accompanied by two
screenshots, and here's the deal: GSC Game World is glad to announce a
new project in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series – S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
(working title) for PC.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat will become a third stand-alone game in the
highly-acclaimed Survival FPS S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series.
The project is slanted for release in autumn 2009.
The events of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat unfold shortly after the end of
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. Having discovered about the open path to
the Zone center, the government decides to hold a large-scale military "Fairway"
operation aimed to take the CNPP under control.
According to the operation's plan, the first military group is to conduct an air
scouting of the territory to map out the detailed layouts of anomalous fields
location. Thereafter, making use of the maps, the main military forces are to be
dispatched.
Despite thorough preparations, the operation fails. Most of the avant-garde
helicopters crash. In order to collect information on reasons behind the
operation failure, Ukraine's Security Service send their agent into the Zone
center. From now on everything depends on the player.
Key game features:
• Photorealistic exclusion Zone – Pripyat town, Yanov
railway station, Jupiter factory, Kopachi village and more, recreated by their
true-to-life prototypes.
• New story, a number of unique characters.
• Extended system of side quests.
• New monsters: Chimera and Burer. New behaviour and
abilities for all monsters.
• New A-Life system, created using the players' best-liked
elements of the first two games in series.
• Emissions considerably influence the world of the Zone.
• Sleep function added into the game.
• New player's interface.
• Possibility to continue the game after completion in a
freeplay mode.
• The game is developed on X-Ray engine v.1.6
Eidos announces the availability of the PC edition of the Battlestations:
Pacific demo that's also now available for the Xbox 360. Mirrors of the PC
demo are listed on
Battlestations Portal (thanks Ant) and the demo is also mirrored on
AtomicGamer,
Gamer's Hell, and
GameShadow. Word is:
Thursday 30th April/...The official demo for Battlestations: Pacific, the
immense sequel to the critically acclaimed Battlestations: Midway, is now
available through Xbox Live®, Games for Window Live, Gamespot.com, IGN.com and
Steam.
Published by Eidos, Inc. and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and
developed by Eidos Game Studios, Battlestations: Pacific completes the entire
Pacific War with two massive single-player campaigns, the historically based US
campaign and a historically possible Japanese campaign. Players will experience
one war through two epic sagas to be a part of history or change it. Commanding
the US Fleet, players relive the grandest and most critical naval battles of the
Pacific War and for the first time, as the Japanese, players lead the IJN Fleet
to a completely different ending to the war.
No other game delivers the challenge of an RTS with the rush of real-time WWII
flight and naval warfare. Players need intelligence and expertise to plan their
moves in order to remain one step ahead of the opponent while commanding both
strategy and action to turn the tide of war.
The Battlestations: Pacific demo features:
• In-game tutorials
• One action-packed mission (Divine Winds of Leyte) from the US campaign
• Two multiplayer modes (Island Capture and Siege) that can be played in
“Skirmish Mode,” a new mode which allows players to tackle multiplayer maps
against AI-controlled enemy
To download the Xbox 360 demo directly from the Xbox Live® Marketplace, please
click on the link below:
http://marketplace.xbox.com/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d80253438802?cid=BSP852
The Games for Windows Demo is available at numerous download sites including IGN
Direct2Drive, and Valve Steam.
Stormrisers reports that Creative Assembly has cancelled plans for
a second patch for
Stormrise, the multiplatform RTS game, saying this is "due to costs and
risks associated with testing and certifying the new changes and features."
IncGamers got a statement about this from a spokesperson from Creative
Assembly Australia: "All we can say is that what's being said on the community
forums is true and we're sorry we can't get the patch out."
EA reveals Sims 3 online feature set has EA's plans to offer
microtransaction purchases in between expansions for The Sims 3 as part
of the game's online support, as well as a virtual online town to share Sims
movies: A Web site,
TheSims3.com, will feature downloadable content. In addition to the
“regular” town included with the game, players will be able to log on to the Web
site download a second virtual town called Riverview. The site will also let
players create and share their own movies showing their Sims in action and
purchase additional content.
The Sims 3 Store lets players buy and download exclusive in-game items, such as
new outfits or furniture, appliances or other custom items you wouldn’t have
access to otherwise. SimPoints redeemable at the store can be purchased using
real money either using a credit card, PayPal or EA cash cards.
Edge Online quotes the quotable head of EA sports Peter Moore, who explains
that the business model of shipping EA Sports games on physical discs for PCs
"simply isn’t working." Taken from a
full interview
with Moore, the excerpt has indications that he thinks the future of EA
sports games on PCs will rely on digital distribution: "And along the context of
making the right choices with our resources and making sure that we’re
delivering a return on investment for valuable employee time, I’ve got to find
innovative ways to bring our content to life on the PC and online is the way
that that’s going to happen." Chatty Mr. Moore is also quoted on
GamesIndustry.biz saying that online is also key to his feeling that
publishers have to find a way of taking advantage of used game sales and
scads of
money they generate.
SouthPeak Games announces that the
stealthy World War II action game
Velvet Assassin is now sneaking in and out of North American stores for
both Windows and Xbox 360. Here's the deal: MIDLOTHIAN, VA – April 30,
2009 – SouthPeak Games announced today that Velvet Assassin, their
stealth-action WWII title has departed on its final mission to retail shelves in
North America. Released for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system
from Microsoft and Windows PC, Velvet Assassin chronicles the life and times of
Violette Summer, a British secret agent behind enemy lines in Nazi Germany.
Sneaking through the shadows, armed only with a knife and firearms procured
on-site, Violette faces some of the most heart-stopping missions the world never
knew.
“Velvet Assassin is one of the rare cases where players get the chance to delve
into World War II and see the atrocities of war that often escaped the
mainstream eye,” said Richard Iggo, VP of Marketing at SouthPeak Games. “The
ability to bring this visceral and realistic view of the world into a video game
was incredibly important to us and will undoubtedly prove instrumental in the
immersion of the player into the world of Violette Summer.”
Inspired by the real life secret agent Violette Szabo, Velvet Assassin tasks
players with stealthily infiltrating Nazi strongholds to complete missions most
would deem suicidal. Playing through the memories of the now hospitalized
Violette, players will experience each mission with a sense of remembrance only
enhanced by the surreal art style and intense musical accompaniment. The heart
of gameplay keeps players in the shadows, using stealth kills and the virtue of
patience. Utilizing items and weapons found during missions, Violette is
completely alone in a world of sheer madness and macabre scenery. Completely
alone in the heart of darkness, facing the greatest war-machine ever created,
Violette must use everything to her advantage; including environmental traps and
enemy weapons against themselves.
VideoGamer.com and
TotalVideoGames.com each report learning from Ubisoft that Call of
Juarez: Bound in Blood is planned for a July 3 release in Europe, which is
in line with the summer release window announced earlier this year
for Techland's wild west shooter prequel.
StarcraftWire.net outlines heavy speculation about a countdown timer on the
website of NetEase, Blizzard's Chinese distributor. The timer will expire in
about a week, and they are hopeful this relates to the launch of beta testing
for StarCraft II, as they have seen other indications from Chinese fan
sites that beta testing of the RTS sequel may be near.
Player receives Developer item in the mail, one-shots Ulduar on the WoW Insider
offers a little detective work suggesting that the surprising success one
World of Warcraft guild was having knocking off Ulduar's toughest
achievements is the result of one of the guild's members coming into possession
of a developer item called "Martin Fury" that's not intended for player
ownership, which allowed one hit kills on the game's roughest monsters. They
speculate how this may have come about, but the incident seems to be over: "The
whole thing is essentially wrapped up now, the accounts are banned, the item is
gone, but it's certainly a memorable event." Thanks John.
The
Game Blowout on NewEgg offers a number of games at discounted prices for all
platforms, with many costing less than $10.00 with free shipping, and lots of
hardware on sale as well. Also, "Download Days" are underway at
Gamers Front, the official online store of Shrapnel Games, this event is, "a
festive sale in which all products available for download have had their
download price reduced by 12%! From Battle Group Commander to Weird Worlds:
Return to Infinite Space, if it can be bought and downloaded the download
(important, not the physical versions) is on sale! Download Days is happening
right now and continues through May 12, 2009."
A playable demo for Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason allows the chance to
sample this just-released first-person shooter set in the balmy arctic circle.
The 1.1 GB download is available on
NVIDIA's nZone
and the EVGA website (thanks
Jacob), and the EVGA website links to the beta version 185.68 video drivers
recommended playing the demo on NVIDIA hardware. The demo is a 1.1 GB download,
but there is no read me indicating its content. Update: The demo is now
mirrored on AtomicGamer,
FanGaming, and Gamer's Hell.
Matrix Games now offers Close Combat – The Longest Day, a remake of
Close Combat: Invasion Normandy. Here's word on the World War II strategy
remake: "This highly anticipated re-release brings the same immersive tactical
action as its predecessor but with greatly expanded features and loads of
improvements, including a full grand campaign that connects all the airborne
landings and all the beach landings."
Utopia Kingdoms is now live,
offering a subscription-free MMOG played in a browser. Here's word on the road
to Utopia: "Play as one of 9 unique races in this complex real-time strategy
game. Command and create your army, with a choice of 16 different battle units
and 9 unique race-specific units. Select a set of buildings and skills to
drastically affect your chances of survival, and your game-play style. Compete
live, head-to-head, with thousands of players all over the world."
Steam has a new
auto-update for Zeno Clash, ACE Team's newly released fighting game. The update
fixes some bugs, tweaks game balance, and adds the ability to throw a weapon
using the "block" key.
Valve's Robin
Walker on Item Drops and the Future of Team Fortress 2 on Shacknews is an
interview with Valve's Robin Walker about future Team Fortress 2 plans. Topics
include backpack and headgear slots and how they will be put to use, plans to
decouple achievements from unlockables, the possibility that future updates could
allow character customization within their silhouette based class identification
paradigm, and more. Thanks David.
The
Rogue Warrior Developer Interview on IncGamers is a NSFW video interview
with Sean Griffiths, senior producer on Rogue Warrior, Bethesda
Softworks' upcoming first-person shooter loosely based on the actual exploits of
Navy SEAL Richard Marcinko. They discuss how the game captures the subject
matter, why it is set in the 1980s, multiplier support, "kill moves," working
with Mickey Rourke and Richard Marcinko, and more.
Binge Gamer - Konami: Cowardice of the Highest Order.
By dropping support for Six Days in Fallujah, you help to reinforce the
long-void belief that video games are a lesser medium than film. Too many
game makers are afraid to take risks — not design risks, but artistic risks.
The few games that do take true artistic risk are usually buried under the
next big FPS starring ‘roided-up muscle men. The result? Games like Halo are
mislabeled as “revolutionary” when the games that take true chances are
almost completely ignored.
ihobo- Ten Game Development Vices, Part One. Thanks
GameBizBlog.
In this piece, each of the departments involved in making a videogame are
examined and accused of one particular vice. In making these assessments,
the assumption behind each is that the purpose of the videogames industry is
to make games that players want to play, and not to make the games that
developers want to play. Small indie developers may have that luxury – they
can afford to be developing for a niche market that they themselves also
represent. But this is rarely true of any developer with scores of
employees. It is to developers such as these that the following criticisms
are addressed.
After suffering from holes in our backyard a few years ago that turned out to be
from skunks, we have started finding new holes in the lawn. These are smaller
than the skunk holes, and we are at a loss figuring out what could be the cause.
The skunk-holes had these little piles of dirt around them cluing us into the
digging involved, but these look as though someone has been poking the ground
with something a little fatter than a pencil. Weird.
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