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Archived News:
The manual patch to update F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin to version 1.04
adding the Armored Front DLC is now available. The 900 MB download is available
from
ActionTrip,
AtomicGamer, and
FileFront. The automatic Steam edition of this update was
released last week.
Impulse has news of the release of automatic patches to update Sins of a
Solar Empire to version 1.17 and the Entrenchment expansion for
Ironclad's space strategy game to version 1.03. Here are the highlights:
Highlights of these updates include:
• Rebalanced all races' carrier cruisers to help prevent
"kiting" around the gravity well.
• Improved pathfinding in regards to travelling between
gravity wells.
• Updated Marza Dreadnought's Missile Barrage ability to
last longer while doing less damage; also updated particle fx.
• Improved ICO support for non-English character sets.
• Fixed issues related to the zoom-to-cursor functionality
when attempting to zoom into a small target.
Highlights for the Entrenchment update are:
• Rebalanced Advent Transcencia Starbase's Final Judgement
ability.
• Reduced the Advent Transcencia Starbases' Meteor Storm
area of effect.
• Added the ability to queue starbase upgrades for
starbases that are under construction.
Steam News has word on a
new automatic update for
Hinterland to update the action/RPG from Tilted Mill Entertainment with
the Orc Lords expansion. Word is: This update is free to anyone who owns
Hinterland and will automatically become Hinterland: Orc Lords, with this
update.
• Introduces two playable Orc Classes: Lord (Warrior) or Shaman
• Playing as an Orc expands gameplay, Orcs : consume twice as much food, learn
martial skills faster, manufacture items slower, and the Shaman uses totems to
summon creatures
• Introduces several new items regardless of character class
Soldak
Entertainment now offers a multiplayer expansion for Kivi's Underworld,
adding all sorts of multiplayer mayhem to either the Windows or Macintosh
edition of their casual, hack and slash game. The expansion adds multiplayer
play over a LAN or the internet to the original game, which is required.
The Jace Hall Show Season 2, Season Finale (extra NSFW) offers the last
episode in the new season of this series starring KING OF TEH MONSTARS. The show
includes some new old footage from when they played Duke Nukem Forever in
season one. The footage is ShakyCam shot off the monitor, but features actual
unfiltered gameplay.
Matrix Games has released PureSim Baseball as a completely free game,
saying: "Previous owners of PureSim Baseball should download this new free full
release to enjoy all the new features and improvements and future updates."
Here's a bit on this sports simulation: PureSim Baseball doesn't stop
there, though; imagine any and every baseball conversation you've ever had. Ever
argue with anyone about how Nolan Ryan might fare throwing to Babe Ruth? Or
wonder if the 1947 Yankees could crush the 2000 Yankees? With the incredibly
detailed Lahman Database included, you can play or incorporate virtually any
team or player that touched the diamond from 1900 through the present!
PureSim Baseball also lets the slugger in you design your own teams and leagues,
giving you the opportunity to field a real 'fantasy' team against any opponent
in online or offline play. Your players, like your organization, will grow;
their skills fluctuate, they age, and eventually, they retire. All the while you
pull the purse strings and negotiate the hard contracts that will ensure your
dynasty has the power it needs to stay on top. In PureSim Baseball, the only
limit is what you can dream.
A post from Blizzard on the
Battle.net Forums breaks their silence about the version 1.13 Diablo II
patch promised in April (thanks Rhialto). Word is: Work on
the patch was put on hold for a while due to higher priority issues, but it
commences, and it is nearing.
A post on the
World of Warcraft Forums outline plans for changes in how mounts and
training are handled in World of Warcraft, part of the gradual process of
allowing new players to progress more quickly in Blizzard's MMORPG as time
passes. They outline several specific changes, with this general overview: "In
the next major content patch, we intend to adjust mount requirements to further
improve the leveling experience in World of Warcraft. In addition, cast times
for summoning all mounts will be reduced to 1.5 seconds, down from 3 seconds.
The following is a breakdown of the upcoming cost and level requirement changes
we are making for each riding skill." Thanks
Destructoid/Mike Martinez/ WoW.com.
Mythic Entertainment announces the Rise of the Tomb Kings will launch on
June 16, beginning the third and final chapter in the Call to Arms! story arc
for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, leading up to the release of the
new Land of the Dead dungeon later this month. The event will include
competitions, exclusive titles, and rare item drops. There is an associated
online puzzle that will unfold over the coming weeks; more details on this can
be found in
this blog post.
New patches are now available for Age of Empires III, updating the
real-time strategy sequel, in spite of the closure of developer
Ensemble Studios. The various language version 1.13 patches for Age of
Empires III: The Age of Discovery are on
Gamer's Hell and
The Patches Scrolls, new version 1.05 patches for Age of Empires III: The
Warchiefs are on Gamer's
Hell and
The
Patches Scrolls, and new version 1.02 patches for Age of Empires III: The
Asian Dynasties can be found on
Gamer's Hell and
The Patches Scrolls.
Tribal Trouble 2 is now
officially out of beta, offering subscription-free (microtransaction-supported)
multiplayer real-time strategy gaming. Word is: "Tribal Trouble 2 is a
fast-paced realtime strategy game set in the wacky Viking age where pillaging
and plundering were everyone's favorite pastimes! Create you own Viking chieftan
[sic] (or chieftess), sail quests to foreign places, challenge other online
players to battle and then go spend your loot on more Viking gear!"
The promised playable demo is now available for Overlord II, the
action/adventure sequel from Triumph Studios that gives you dominion over a
legion of minions. Here's the official take on this: "In the Overlord II demo,
players step into the big spiky boots of a new Overlord whose sights are firmly
set on becoming the king of chaos, the bringer of evil and the master of
Minions. As the demo opens the Overlord, aided and abetted by a team of brown
fighter Minions, emerges from his underground lair into the ice caves only to
discover a Yeti frozen in a block of ice. The Minions can, in their inimitably
violent way, 'defrost' him and then give chase as he knuckles out into the snowy
wastes of the Hunting Grounds, near the town of Nordberg." The Windows demo is available on
The Overlord Show Website where
they have a
Whack-a-Seal mini-game to play during the 964 MB download, following the
game's good to be bad theme. If you don't need to club any seals, the demo is
also mirrored on
4players.de,
ActionTrip,
ComputerGames.ro, and
Gamer's Hell.
Matrix Games has the release of a new patch to update Crown of Glory:
Emperor's Edition to version 1.0.9. They say: "The comprehensive 1.0.9
update comes with heaps of improvements and bug fixes in addition to two key new
pieces of documentation: The Advanced Economy: Help and Advice for the New
Player, and the Modder’s Guide. As for the hefty list of bug fixes, the most
notable item resolved is the mouse lag experienced by some in certain parts of
the interface. In addition, the update includes improvements to the AI for both
the strategic and tactical portions of the game, several significant
improvements to the overall interface, and two dozen “fine tune” rule changes to
enhance historical accuracy." The patch is on
this page and it can apply to any previous version of the game.
Opening The Valve: The Gabe Newell Interview on G4tv.com hears from the
Valve boss as well as Doug Lombardi about the announcement of Left 4 Dead 2.
Gabe describes the project management considerations in planning the sequel,
talking about some smaller projects actually coming out on time, and their
assumption fans would be "super excited" about a Left 4 Dead sequel. He also
talks about continuing to develop for both games, how Xbox limitations are
going to impact the PC version, and how they are trying not to screw PS3 customers
"again." They go on to discuss the evolving games as a service business, but
when asked about Half-Life 2: Episode 3, Gabe refuses to regret the
decision to make a quick series of episodic expansions that has turned out to
have taken years now. He says they can't talk about Episode 3 right now, but
they are happy with how the decision to make the episodes has turned out:
I want to make sure that I don’t sound like I’m dismissing user’s issues,
right? I get a ton of email everyday saying why aren’t you talking about Episode
3? And there are very good reasons why we’re not talking about Episode 3, which
I can’t talk about yet, but I will. So, I think there’s frustration there and
I’m not somehow going to say that that’s not legitimate or length isn’t a
concern or regularity. The speed with which these updates are coming out, people
say, “Hey, gee, these episodes are supposed to be shorter and you take 25 years
to ship each one.” So, I don’t wanna somehow dismiss those, or sort of throw
them under - but I think we’re in much better shape than would have been, in
terms of our ability to move stuff, technology, products, uh, forward faster by
changing how, ya know, being different than, ya know, there was Half-Life 2 and
then there was post-Half-Life 2 in terms of how we were approaching these things
and yea, I think that we’re overall pretty happy without somehow dismissing the
legitimate complaints that people should have towards us. But, we’re happy with
that choice that we made.
Well, I accomplished my birdfeeder project over the weekend but it was perfect
timing to mention it and the whole squirrel situation yesterday, as all day I
got to experience the impact of rodents on a feeder. First I found the feeder on
the ground, as even though I installed a swivel, a screwed together part came
unscrewed. I replaced it (and all the spilled feed), and a little later it
happened again. Hmmm. I fixed it again, and made sure these parts were screwed
together tighter, so next time I checked, the ring that holds the top in place
was still hanging, and the feeder was again on the ground, so clearly the
squirrels have already learned right is tight and left is loose, as they were
deliberately unscrewing it. I tightened that screw further, and the feeder has
stayed in place since, but I have seen a (chubby) squirrel working on it again a
couple of times already. I had a conversation with him this morning about not
knocking the feeder over, but I'm not sure he understood.
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