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Archived News:
ARMA II is now
available on Steam, offering digital distribution of this military shooter
sequel from Bohemia Interactive Studios. A playable demo for the game was
released yesterday, and here's some of the spiel for the
game: Building on 10 years of constant engine development, ARMA II boasts
the most realistic combat environment in the world. It models real world
ballistics & round deflection, materials penetration, features a realtime
day/night cycle and dynamic wind, weather and environmental effects. The
simulation of a combat environment is so effective, the engine forms the basis
for training simulators used by real armies the world over.
Although ArmA II is set in the fictional ex-soviet state of 'Chernarus' the
gameworld is actually a 225 square kilometer chunk of the real world! ARMA II's
highly detailed landscape is a meticulous facsimile of real terrain, modeled
using extensive geographical data. This recreated region is brought to life with
spectacular environmental effects and populated with dynamic civilian
settlements and wildlife. Wild animals roam the atmospheric forests while the
people of Chernarus try to live out their lives among the war-torn
streets.
Steam News has word that
the promised free DLC for
Zeno Clash is now
available, and the 50% off sale for the weekend is now underway. The new DLC is
called The Pit, and here's how it is described: "The Pit consists of three new
extensions to the challenge towers. Gravity is the enemy and taking a wrong step
can be fatal. Destructible floors and dangerous traps await those who try to
reach the bottom."
Steam is now accepting
pre-purchase of Trine,
Frozenbyte's upcoming fantasy-themed action/platformer for which a playable demo
was released yesterday. The game is due for release next month,
and those who make an advance commitment in the meantime will receive a free
copy of Shadowgrounds,
Frozenbyte's debut game.
More bargains: The Heroes Pack
on Steam ( Dark Messiah Might and Magic, Heroes of Might and Magic
V, Heroes of Might and Magic V: Hammers of Fate, and Heroes of
Might and Magic V: Tribes of the East) is over 50% off. Also,
Steam now offers several
Novalogic Packages, including
The Novalogic Everything Pack for 60% off. Meanwhile,
Impulse is offering weekend deals on
Elven Legacy,
Space Rangers 2 Complete,
Supreme Commander Gold,
Sword of the Stars
Complete, AI War: Fleet Command,
and Aztaka. On
Direct2Drive Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is half-off. Finally,
48 Hour Madness on GoGamer includes loads of titles, including H.A.W.X,
F.E.A.R., and m.o.r.e.
All Things Must Come to an End on Online Games Are a Niche Market is a blog
post by Mark Jacobs following the news he has parted ways with EA
and Mythic (thanks Mike Martinez and
Kotaku). He talks a bit about the ups and downs of his 15 years with Mythic,
and says he plans on making frequent updates to that blog going forward to thank
people in the industry and talk about their efforts. He also promises not to
savage anyone he's left behind, and has some gracious things about EA. The intro
does, however, paint an odd picture of how his departure unfolded: After
15 years of leading Mythic Entertainment, my time with the studio (and EA of
course) I co-founded with Rob Denton has come to an end. Early in May,
Electronic Arts let me know that they wanted to make some changes within the
Games Label and as a result of those changes I have been out of the office (and
out of touch with the team, game, etc.) since that day. So, please accept my
apologies if you have tried to reach me over the last couple of months but
please know I wasn’t ignoring you.
Superannuation
note a couple of new trademarks that may offer clues about future game plans.
They point out that The Saul Zaentz Company, which holds the rights to The
Lord of the Rings,
has
filed a game-specific registration for The Lord of the Rings: War in the
North, as well as a
trademark registration for Aragorn’s Quest, which has already been
announced for Wii, DS, PS2, and PSP.
In a separate post
they also point the way to a
new
filing by Demiurge Studios (creators of the Mass Effect PC port) for the
tile Shoot Many Robots.
Leading The Design of APB on Gamasutra is a lengthy interview with EJ
Moreland of Scottish developer Realtime Worlds about All Points Bulletin
(APB), their upcoming open-world action game. The conversation takes a
particular interest in the game's customization options, which they suggest will
increase its appeal to audiences that are not ordinarily attracted to the game's
shooter-style gameplay. They also discuss design philosophy, tempering
over-ambitious feature sets, the fallacy of thinking a bad MMO launch can be
fixed with post-release improvements. On that topic, EJ says, "It has to be
stable, it has to be enjoyable, and it has to be worth the money, day one.
Period. End of story."
The
Bohemia Interactive Forums announce the release of a new version 1.02 build
58134 patch for ARMA II (thanks I Love Slippery Jim), even though a
version 1.02 patch was already released a week ago for the
military shooter sequel (which seems to defy the whole concept behind version
numbers). As described here, the new patch is to implement full support for
anti-aliasing: * our main reason to release an updated 1.02 version is
newly implemented full support for anti-aliasing in this build that we believe
increases visual quality significantly without any major performance impact
* this patch is compatible with all previously released versions (1.00, 1.01 and
1.02)
* all versions 1.02 remain compatible in multiplayer and also savegames from
various versions 1.02 are compatible so the transition process to this updated
version 1.02, build 58134 should be as seamless as possible for all
users
Another new patch for Blood Bowl is now available, just a couple of days
after the release of the first patch for Cyanide's fantasy-themed
sports game based on the Games Workshop's board game. The
Blood Bowl
Website confirms the game is now available for purchase via digital distribution, but
there's no word on the patch, so it's not clear what it does. This new version
1.0.1.1 patch is available on
The Patches Scrolls.
Kalypso Media announces applications to participate in closed beta testing of
Tropico 3 are being accepted on
the Haemimont
Games Website, and they say those accepted will be notified by mail in advance of the launch of testing on July 13. Word is: "The beta testers will be
the first El Presidentes of the modern Tropico Island, with new features such as
secret police, a lucrative oil industry, additional edicts and much more."
A new game update for The Sims 3 is now available automatically from
within the newest installment EA's lifestyle sim series to update the game to
version 1.2.7. The new version tweaks Speed 2 and 3 to be speedier, and
addresses a few bugs, including Mac connectivity problems and DVD authentication
issues. There is also a manual version of the patch for those who can work a
clutch, the 18MB download is located on
The Patches Scrolls.
IncGamers spoke with Sean Cooper, asking the game designer about the
possibility that EA is making a follow-up/revival of Syndicate, the Isometric
sci-fi game he helped create back when he was with Bullfrog. In spite of
indications that the game known as Project Redlime
is a new Syndicate game, Cooper, who now designs
online games for a casual audience,
expresses skepticism that such a project will get off the ground, "They've been
saying that for the last fifteen years," he says. "Looking at EA's track record
of announcing titles, saying they're going to revive it ... they don't tend to
do it, because I don't think they really understand what the original game was."
He therefore thinks even if a Syndicate follow-up comes, it won't be true to the
original, as apparently more than one Syndicate-game prototype was floated
during his time at EA, "Every time I've seen a prototype of a new Syndicate it's
just been misguided," Cooper opines. "They've tried to be too quirky. They've
tried to do things that aren't what the essence of the game was."
The
Runes of Magic Website has details on the Weeping Coast, a new area to
launch in the subscription-free MMORPG this August, as they begin to rollout
Runes of Magic, Chapter 2: The Elven Prophecy. They offer
a new
trailer from the new content, and the following description: Before
releasing “Chapter Two: The Elven Prophecy,” we’re making available a new zone:
the Weeping Coast.
The swampy land with its branching channels lies northeast of Ravenfell, and
dangerous creatures such as the Tiktaalik, Nagas and Trolls threaten passersby.
With the introduction of the Weeping Coast, we will raise the level limit to 52
and introduce 200 new quests.
Scheduled for August, the release of the Weeping Coast will mark the beginning
of the multistage launch of “The Elven Prophecy.”
GameAgent now offers digital distribution of the MacOS edition of Call of
Duty Deluxe, which combines Call of Duty and its expansion pack, Call of
Duty: United Offensive, saying this is "the first time Call of Duty Deluxe is
available for Intel Macs."
Voodoo Extreme has a follow-up to their complaints that Aion does not
have an inverted mouse option, which is a problem for many players used to
playing with the vertical axis reversed. According to NCsoft this issue was
noted in early alpha testing, and they plan on including an option to invert
mouse control before the MMORPG is released.
The Tech Report - Bad
call, Valve, bad call.
A lot of people on Valve's forums were up in arms over the content
announced for Left 4 Dead 2, suggesting that this is content that was
promised to them by Valve from the get go with the original Left 4 Dead. For
starters, I don't think Left 4 Dead was worth $50, much less $60 when it
came out, and I have a hard time even with $30. The game didn't really have
any more content than Team Fortress 2 did at release, and free patches to
Team Fortress 2 have brought it nearly in line with the Survival Pack for
Left 4 Dead, which added just enough content for me to consider it
"complete." But I don't think it would be far-fetched to suggest that in
some ways, Team Fortress 2 and its massive support and continued patching
kind of ruined Left 4 Dead.
Jimi Hendrix, dead at 27; Mozart dead at 34; Elvis, dead at 42, Michael Jackson,
dead at 50. It's almost like he beat the odds for someone in his position. I
attended a concert of his in the '80s, and while I'm more of an alternative
music sort myself, he was still probably the greatest performer I ever saw. It
will be interesting as time passes to see how much of his legacy is based on
those skills as a performer, and how much is based all his other disturbing
behavior over the years.
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