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Archived News:
Cyanide Studio announces the licensing of A Song of Ice and Fire and
their plans to create video games based on the fantasy series by author George
R. R. Martin: Cyanide, an independent video game studio, and George R. R.
Martin today announced their partnership to create the first-ever video games
inspired by the author’s award-winning, international bestselling ‘A Song of Ice
and Fire’
fantasy series.
Under the terms of the agreement, Cyanide has obtained the exclusive rights to
develop ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ video games for next-generation consoles and
PC, and in collaboration with George R.R Martin, development has begun. "We are
all huge fans of ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’, so it is a true honour for our teams
to be entrusted with creating the first video games inspired by this
masterpiece" stated Patrick Pligersdorfer, Managing Director of Cyanide. "The
twists and turns of the plot will allow us to deliver an experience which can be
enjoyed by both long-time fans as well as gamers new to the series."
Published most notably by Bantam Books in North America and Voyager Books in the
United Kingdom, the ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ novels have been translated into
more than twenty languages (including Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Russian) and
have been nominated for numerous prizes. Set in a world where nothing is simply
black and white, the rich web of characters makes it an ideal background for
numerous genres of video games.
‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ has already been adapted into a card game and a board
game. More recently, HBO acquired the rights with the intent of turning the
novels into a television series.
As noted on the Dawn of War
II Website, the promised patch for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II
is now automatically available via
Steam, updating the
sci-fi RTS sequel to version 1.3.1. The new version adds the Two-on-Two game
mode to ranked play, a pair of new maps, new kill animations, numerous
bug-fixes, and more.
Steam now features a new
automatic update for Tom Clancy's EndWar, though there is no word on what
is included in the new version of this real-time strategy game.
The Chronicles of Spellborn Website
announces the release of a new patch for Acclaim's MMORPG. The
patch notes
outline all that's changed, and word is: "The time has come to fight! Prepare
your blades, skill decks, and your most beautiful armors. House Maul has opened
the Arena for organized matches. You will be able to sign up in Hawksmouth or
the Quarterstone Arena District, to battle in The Chronicles of Spellborn!
Skirmish matches are open to anyone at any time; House Maul will make sure."
They also announce a live chat on Thursday: "Join us for a Live Spellborn
Webinar Thursday, May 14th, 2009 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM PT."
Steam News announces that
preloads are now available for
Killing Floor, so those interested can play the Tripwire's upcoming co-op
survival/horror game as soon as it's released on Thursday. Also, those willing
to pre-purchase the game before then will get a 25% discount. Also, there's a
Killing Floor Interview on Mod DB discussing the project with Alex Quick.
Gamestop announces preorder bonuses for Overlord II on any platform,
offering those who pre-commit to the action/adventure sequel one of four
miniature minions (thanks
Kotaku). We're digging the hype that GameSpot has attached to this: "Reserve
Overlord 2 and receive one of four different minion figurines. Save a space on
your shelf between your President Obama gold coins and your Larry the Cable Guy
Collector's Plates, because these are destined to become instant collectibles.
Available for online and in-store customers while supplies last."
2K Games announces that Sid Meier's Civilization IV: The Complete Edition
is now available in North American stores, offering a DRM-free collection of the
turn-based strategy sequel and its three expansions: New York, NY – May
12, 2009 – 2K Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.
(NASDAQ: TTWO), announced today that Sid Meier’s Civilization IV®: The Complete
Edition is now available in stores across North America. This definitive
collection for Games for Windows® delivers the complete Civilization IV
experience in one value-priced, DRM-free package.
As one of the most respected franchises in the gaming industry, Civilization has
sold more than 9 million units worldwide. Developed by 2K’s Firaxis Games,
Civilization IV: The Complete Edition combines the award-winning classic
Civilization IV experience with three expansions: Sid Meier’s Civilization IV:
Warlords®, Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword®, and Sid Meier’s
Civilization IV: Colonization™. This value-enriched package keeps players
immersed in the “just one more turn” gameplay that has been synonymous with the
Civilization series for decades:
id CEO
Hollenshead- Studio To Remain 'Games First, Licenses Second' on Gamasutra is
a conversation with id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead, who explains that the
independent developer is concentrating on its upcoming games, Rage and DOOM 4,
and this is taking precedence over licensing out the Tech5 engine that underlies both
titles. He explains the rationale behind this: "Our philosophy on that has been
that we'd rather have a small number of good-fit, high-quality developer
licensees than a bunch that aren't really good fits or that may not be that
bright of a licensee anyway."
The Sniper Update, Day One
on the Team Fortress 2 Website offers details on the sniper update for
Team Fortress 2, which Valve now says to expect for release soon. The update
introduces "The Huntsman," a bow and arrow setup to allow the immobilization of
your victim for further victimization. Valve says another free weekend is
"coming soon" for the multiplayer shooter. They also offer an interesting
history lesson, as it turns out that it was cavemen with arrows who wiped out
the dinosaurs.
Eidos Interactive announces that Battlestations: Pacific is available
today in North America, while the European release of the World War II
action/strategy sequel to Battlestations: Midway is planned for Friday. A
playable demo was released a couple of weeks ago, and here's word:
Redwood City, Calif. – May 12, 2009 – Eidos Interactive, Inc. and Warner
Bros. Interactive Entertainment announce that Battlestations: Pacific™ on the
Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Games for
Windows® LIVE launches today in North America and on May 15 in Europe.
The sequel to the critically acclaimed Battlestations: Midway™, Battlestations:
Pacific offers players the chance to relive or rewrite history with two
action-packed naval campaigns to challenge every armchair admiral. The U.S.
campaign picks up where its predecessor left off and takes players through the
key stages of the war by authentically recreating some of the grandest naval
battles of recent history. The Japanese campaign offers players a unique “what
if” scenario and the chance to change the course of history, starting from the
attack on the U.S. Fleet at Pearl Harbor and on through Asia, Australia and
beyond, expanding its empire throughout the Pacific Rim.
NCsoft and Paragon Studios
officially announce
the City of Heroes Going Rogue expansion revealed earlier,
filling in some of the details on the Bizarro-world alternate universe it will
introduce to the super-powered MMORPG. Here's a bit: In the Going Rogue
expansion, hero and villain characters will become immersed in the new parallel
universe known as Praetoria, which is governed by Tyrant™, the evil incarnation
of the game’s main protagonist, Statesman™. As gamers search for Tyrant and the
rest of his Praetorian guard, implacable foes and fierce resistance will arise
to face them from all sides, causing heroes and villains alike to question their
loyalties.
City of Heroes Going Rogue will introduce a new alignment system that helps
players explore the shades of gray that lie between good and evil. For the first
time, hero characters can become villains and vice versa, enabling hero
archetypes to cross over to the Rogue Isles™ and villain archetypes to
experience Paragon City™. Clearly marked missions, in addition to behaviors and
decisions made by the player, will move a hero’s or villain’s moral compass,
which could eventually change the hero’s or villain’s alignment. Going Rogue
will also introduce two primary new fictional characters representative of this
alignment shift in the game’s lore: Maelstrom, a pistol-wielding hero gone
rogue, and Desdemona, a demon-summoning villain who has been redeemed.
The BlizzCon 2009 Website
has the revelation that "Grunty the murloc marine" will be the special gift for
attendees of BlizzCon 2009 or who view the BlizzCon 2009 pay-per-view on
DirecTV.
IncGamers has a small screenshot, and here's how Grunty is described: "This
tiny terror is fully armoured and comes equipped with a gauss rifle, which he’ll
occasionally fire into the air to make sure no invisible spacecraft are swooping
in to attack." Also, the
BlizzCon 2009 has first details on some of the panels being conducted at the
event.
The City of Heroes Website
now features a new "Going Rogue" trailer showing off a planned expansion that
will add an alternate "mirror" world to City of Heroes, the super-powered
MMORPG. Prepare your mind to be blown in Going Rogue, where good is bad, up is
down, and Spock wears a dashing Van Dyke. The whole dealie is said to be coming
soon. Thanks
Kotaku.
A post on the
Firefly Studios Website that looks like it's from over a month ago, offers
the modding tools for Stronghold Crusader, saying these are the same
tools they used in creation of the construction and strategy game. Included is a
castle template editor to allow the creation of AI castle templates, a text
compiler tool which can change all the text in the game, a bmp to tgx convertor,
to convert images into the graphics format used in Stronghold Crusader, as well
as all their bmp files to play with. They also provide a
modding tools guide, and
a post from yesterday saying winning entries from a custom castle
competition will be posted on their site for download sometime today.
EA
adopts new bonus scheme on GamesIndustry.biz outlines a new bonus program
being implemented by Electronic Arts intended to reward productive employees.
There are various factors involved in giving bonuses to select employees, but in
special cases involving CEO approval, these bonuses can theoretically max out at
300% of an employee's base salary.
Eidos president talks Arkham, Thief, Hitman, Tomb Raider and lots more on
GamingIndians.com is a Q&A where the recently appointed life president of
Eidos Ian Livingstone discusses several franchises (thanks
Edge Online). Along the way he confirms IO Interactive is working on a new
Kane & Lynch game for a September release as well as a new Hitman
game, first mentioned in September, 2007, about which he says:
"It's being worked on, but there's been no announcement on the release date yet.
We haven't even announced the game yet, so everything you hear about the next
Hitman game is purely speculation at this point."
1C Company and Lesta Studio announce Empire: Time of Troubles, a
historical turn-based strategy game planned for release in the third quarter of
this year. A
Product section for the game is online with some info and screenshots, and
here's the announcement: MOSCOW - May 12, 2009 - Leading Eastern and
Central European publisher 1C Company and Lesta Studio today announced the
development of Empire: Time of Troubles. Empire is a turn-based, historical
strategy game which covers the events of 1350-1650 taking place in Russia,
Poland and the Great Lithuanian Princedom. Players will find themselves in a
large-scale campaign commanding one of 26 warring factions. By controlling a
hero character, and improving their skills in battle, the player can win wars
and rule their state any way they wish.
Empire: Time of Troubles allows players to have a well thought-out and
historically accurate system of building and assigning labor forces in cities, a
large selection of scenario based and random missions, an expansive and
realistic technology tree, more than 150 types of military units and beautiful
graphics and animations which bring the war to life.
Empire: Time of Troubles is scheduled for release on PC in 2009. Please find
more information about the game at
http://www.1cpublishing.eu/game/empire-time-of-troubles
Features:
- Large-scale military campaign where the player can turn a small principality
into a large and powerful empire
- 3D strategy map of Eastern Europe from 1350-1650 with authentic landscape and
military units
- 26 factions to control: Russian, Polish and Lithuanian princedoms, lands of
the Knight Orders and Eastern European monarchies
- Political, economic and role playing systems showing the intricacies of
diplomacy and wars in medieval Europe
- Dozens of famous historical personalities and hundreds of game characters,
each with their own unique specialties including rulers, commanders, priests,
alchemists and spies
The Dawn Of War II Website
says to expect the new version 1.3 patch for Relic's RTS sequel at 11:00 am
Pacific Standard (Daylight) Time, which is 2:00 pm EDT. In the meantime, they
offer the patch notes
for our perusal.
Bruckheimer to launch video game studio has more on previously
revealed plans for Jerry Bruckheimer's game studio. Word is they've hired a
couple of new presidents for a studio in Santa Monica, CA: Jay Cohen, formerly
of Ubisoft, as president of development, and Jim Veevaert, who was executive
producer on Halo 3, as president of production.
The Brief Long
History of DNF- Post-3D Realms Edition on Shacknews recaps the known history
of development of Duke Nukem Forever. They also
talk with Take-Two
about their DNF publishing deal, getting a clarification that while Take Two has
no ownership of any Duke IP, they have exclusive publishing rights (not just a
right of first-refusal), which will never expire to Duke Nukem Forever, even if
it seems unlikely the game will actually ever be completed.
Gamasutra - PC Game Piracy- Why Bother With DRM?
"I definitely believe this is all the result of a change in the public
perception of DRM, a sort of grass roots uprising," observes Ron Carmel,
co-founder of San Francisco-based developer 2D Boy. "Gamers are much more
vocal about it than they used to be, perhaps because they are so accustomed
to downloading music without too many restrictions." Carmel believes that
the extent to which a game is pirated is approximately the same whether it
uses any of the DRM technologies or not. If it is that ineffective, he asks,
why use it at all?
My other cleaning project of the weekend was giving the grill the once-over.
This included putting the cast iron grills in the oven for a self-cleaning to
take off a few rusty spots before re-seasoning them. This turns out to make a
hellacious mess in the oven for the sake of saving the $25.00 a new set of grates
would cost, but I'm obviously enjoying my manual efforts in these jobs. This is
especially evidenced by the two hours I spent scrubbing the warming rack with
steel wool to get a layer of crud off. That was from a lesson learned the
first time I used the smoker; which is to take out the warming rack unless you
want to smoke that as well (and they don't really turn out as good as ribs).
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