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Archived News:
A post on
CNC Generals World has word on an "official EA survey" they believe gives
indications on new directions being considered for Command & Conquer 4,
the next installment in the RTS series. A
subsequent post makes it clear that this is not 100% confirmed, but they are
confident in the survey's veracity (thanks Ant and
Planet Command &
Conquer), and
Shacknews has the link to the
online survey itself. Here are the parts that have everybody speculating:
Play in the first RTS game with MMORPG like player progression in which
you are rewarded every time you play. Every unit you kill in single player,
multiplayer, or skirmish gives you experience points that allows you to level up
your abilities and unlock new units, powers, and upgrades to your arsenal.
Introducing the first mobile base in RTS games: The Crawler. Focus on the action
as the Crawler becomes your all-in-one base, which can be deployed and
redeployed anywhere on the battlefield for even more strategic options
Play with all new, bigger and badder, units from GDI and Nod, including the
Crawler, the first ever mobile base in RTS games
Dive into an all-new story written by a new scriptwriting team and told through
trademark C&C cinematics taken to the next level with grittier, stylized FMVs in
the vein of Minority Report.
Play in the first ever class-based C&C game – a new challenge for C&C and RTS
players to master
Play the campaign on your own or tackle it with a friend, as co-operative
campaigns return
Play in epic 5 vs 5 online multiplayer with all new objective-based game
modes
Kotaku has
word that THQ is opening a large new office in Austin, TX that will serve as
home to their Vigil development studio, which is currently working on two
projects. Vigil's two projects are Darksiders, a console action game due
next year, as well as a Warhammer 40K MMORPG. According to the report,
the offices will occupy an impressive 33,000 square feet.
A new video diary from Dark Void straps on the jetpack with the
developers at Airtight Games about the emphasis on vertical combat in the
upcoming action game. They discuss how this concept came about, and the ways
gameplay changed once they had their vertical inspiration. The clip is posted on
ActionTrip,
AtomicGamer, and
Gamer's Hell.
A Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen cinematic launch trailer sets the
stage for tomorrow's release of the game tie-in with the new Megan Fox movie.
The movie is available on
AtomicGamer and Gamer's
Hell.
Thanks Mike Martinez and Ant.
Shacknews has
an article based on the 3D Realms/Take Two countersuit mentioned below. They
find some clarity on the topic of Duke Begins, as this project sounds
like it is not cancelled, but significantly delayed, which is an apparent bone
of contention for 3D Realms. As for Duke Nukem Forever, there is a
surprising note that though 3D Realms has "released the majority of its
employees working on the development" of Duke Nukem Forever, the company "admits
that it has continually worked on the development of the DNF for many years, and
continues to do so."
Joystiq follows up on e-tailer indications of an October release
date for Max Payne 3 by talking with Rockstar, who say that no specific date
for the next installment in the third-person shooter series has been set.
GamePolitics reports on plans for an unannounced game in the Duke Nukem
series "being developed in parallel by a separate well-known game developer
under contract with Take-Two," after digging through
court documents ( Adobe Acrobat format) from a countersuit Take Two's
Lawsuit against 3D Realms over Duke Nukem Forever. Their
subsequent story on the topic adds further detail, as digging deeper reveals
the title of this game to be Duke Begins, and the developer as 2K Games,
but the statement by Apogee/3D Realms makes it sound like this project may have
already been cancelled: On October 22, 2007, Apogee, Take-Two, and 2K
Games entered into an agreement in which Apogee granted 2K Games the exclusive
right to develop and publish a new videogame based upon Apogee's Duke Nukem
franchise... The new game was given the working title of "Duke Begins" and is
not the same game as the DNF game...
The original development schedule for the Duke Begins game provided that the
game was to be completed and commercially released by mid-2010...
Take Two and/or its subsidiary 2K Games halted or otherwise cancelled all
development work by the third-party game developer on the Duke Begins game in
April 2009... without Apogee's approval or consent...
When Apogee confronted Take-Two and 2K Games about the... cancellation of the
Duke Begins development work... Take-Two and 2K Games simply denied it...
Take-Two and 2K Games are taking such actions with a goal of pressuring Apogee
to sell the Duke Nukem franchise rights to Take-Two for less than their true
value.
Steam News announces the
automatic availability of the promised new update for Empire:
Total War, which brings the real-time strategy sequel to version 1.3. Also
now available is the Empire
Total War: Elite Units of the West DLC for the game, which adds 14 new
units to single player and multiplayer games for a $3.49 price tag. The patch
also adds 14 new units for free, which replace their generic equivalents that
came with the game. Also included in the patch are bug fixes, balance changes,
and promised performance improvements, as described here: "This update includes
the implementation of multi-threading in the game for multi-core processors and
many optimizations that will also help increase performance on single core
machines. Players will see huge benefits through increased frame rates
particularly in land and naval battles."
A post from last week on the
Bohemia Interactive Forums says we can expect a playable demo for ARMA II
this week. The sample of the now-gold military shooter sequel as early as today
(thanks Ant and
Joss). Word is: Demo will be released next week, I expect monday or
tuesday. We are now testing it, as we cut a lot of data and landscape it's quite
difficult to not forget anything. Size will be around 2 GB.
Massgate announces
update 11 is now available for World in Conflict, updating the real-time
strategy game to version 1.011. The update can be applied automatically from
within the game, and
this page links to manual downloads for the various language editions for
the retail edition or the Trymedia version, and the
Update Notes outline
what's new and different. Also, the
Massgate.net
Downloads Page also offers updated versions of the Broadcast Tool and the
Dedicated Server package for the game. Finally, they have also released the
first in a series of behind-the-scenes videos about the game's development,
which can be streamed via the
YouTube or downloaded
from
their website. The various language manual patches are also mirrored on
The Patches
Scrolls.
Bohemia Interactive and Got Game Entertainment announce July 7 as the North
American release date for ARMA II, the military shooter sequel that
was just released in Europe. Here's the deal: Prague, Czech
Republic, June 22nd - Bohemia Interactive, creators of award winning military
simulation Operation Flashpoint* and ArmA: Combat Operations and Got Game
Entertainment, US leading publisher of interactive entertainment games,
announced today their partnership for the North American retail release of ARMA
II, one of the most anticipated PC Game of 2009. The two companies have
partnered together to bring the game to most major retail outlets throughout
North America this July.
Bohemia Interactive once invented the genre of realistic military sand-box games
and it aims now to re-define that genre with its upcoming game ARMA II, the
ultimate military simulator, powered by the 3rd generation of their original
Real Virtuality engine that's also used to train soldiers in numerous countries
from Australia to the United States.
"North America is one of the most powerful and important markets in terms of a
game's marketing and distribution," said Marek Spanel, Bohemia's CEO. Spanel
continues "We were looking for responsible and credible partners who will focus
on ARMA II with the kind of drive and enthusiasm that this huge project
deserves. We feel Got Game Ent. will be the right partner for us and I believe
together we will make ARMA II a success in North America."
"We are very excited to bring ARMA II to the North American market," said Got
Game Entertainment President Howard Horowitz. "This caliber of game brings Got
Game Entertainment to a new level of excellence and certainly ushers in a new
era for our company."
ARMA II will offer the ultimate realistic combat simulation experience in a
modern day setting. With unprecedented freedom of movement, actions and tactics,
unbeatable detailed weapons and military hardware, easy-to-use built in mission
editor and one of the most dedicated online communities around. The game will
allow players to immerse themselves into the battle as never before.
ARMA II is scheduled for an in store Date of July 7th, 2009. For more
information please visit the official homepage at
www.arma2.com and
www.GotGameEntertainment.com
A listing on
Play.com for Max Payne 3 has an October 30, 2009 release date for
Remedy's upcoming shooter sequel. A follow-up on
LivePlayStation has a confirmation, for what it's worth, from Play.com who
tell them this comes from "the developers of the game," though publishers are
usually the ones who handle release dates. We shall see. Thanks Gamer's Hell. Update:
Joystiq has the expected follow-up from Rockstar indicating that an official
release date has not been specified, and the game is still expected this winter.
Beautiful Game Studios announces Championship Manager 2010, saying the next
installment in the soccer/football series is due this September: Monday
22nd June/...Beautiful Game Studios today announces the latest edition of its
classic franchise; Championship Manager 2010™ will be available in stores
September 2009.
Championship Manager 2010™ is the definitive football management game and the
first football title available for the 2009/10 season. This new version of the
game has been in development for over two years and will be released just after
the start of the new football season.
Championship Manager 2010™ features a host of unique, cutting-edge technology
including a bespoke 3D match engine with over 500 individual player animations,
a Set-piece creator giving users the chance to create their own unique free
kicks and corners, Scouting Networks allowing users to set-up local networks in
countries around the world and grow local player knowledge and Practice matches
helping users select their perfect team or trial new players.
Championship Manager 2010™ will also feature real player data and information
for the 2009/10 football season in a completely new gameplay innovation called
CM Season Live™.
In what is a first for football management games, CM Season Live™ is an
additional monthly update that lets players download the real-world 09/10
football season data, at that point in time, and then take charge of their
chosen club. All of the scores, competition standings, player transfers, player
stats, bookings, major injuries etc. from the ten leading countries in Europe,
downloaded directly on a monthly basis throughout the season - full updates of
49 major leagues and competitions. CM Season Live™ starts on October 15th and is
available at monthly intervals for 6 months.
“With this game we are genuinely looking to change the face of football
management games and raise the bar for consumers through bringing innovative
brand new features to the PC football management genre,” said Roy Meredith,
General Manager of Championship Manager™. “CM Season Live™ is the most exciting
innovation in football management games since they began with the original
Championship Manager™ game. This is the closest fans will get to ‘actually’
managing their team, fighting the relegation or promotional battles, dealing
with the big name injuries or transfers as they unfold in the real world,
throughout the real season.”
Championship Manager 2010™ will be fully localised into French, Italian,
Spanish, Turkish and Polish allowing fans in some of football’s biggest
countries to enjoy the game in their native language.
“Today’s announcement is one of the most significant in this much loved
franchise’s history and we aim to continually improve and innovate on this each
year.” continued Roy Meredith, “Everyone should continue to expect huge
announcements from Championship Manager™, 2009 is going to be a big year for
us.”
Matrix Games announces WW2: Time of Wrath, a World War II turn-based
strategy game in the works at Wastelands Interactive that's the sequel to
WW2: Road to Victory. The new game includes several improvements over the
original, and Matrix will be offering it for free to customers who have already
purchased WW2: Road to Victory. A
product section offers info and screenshots for the game, and here's a bit
from the announcement: Concentrate precious industrial resources on
building, training and upgrading a wide variety of combat units from airborne
soldiers and armored divisions up to nuclear weapons! Historical leaders enhance
the performance of your armies and hundreds of historical events like the
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Lend-Lease and more give you choices that can change
the course of history. WW2: Time of Wrath is fought across turns that vary in
length by season and 25 km hexes with divisions and corps, giving the player a
broad strategic picture of the war while still leaving enough room for
operational decisions.
Happy birthday to QUAKE, as id Software kicked off Operation
Counterstrike on this date in 1996 with the release of the debut game in the
first-person shooter series. 13 years! Where does the time go? Something to
think about while playing QUAKE LIVE today.
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