One of the biggest enhancements going into this patch is the new approach we have made with our end-game city siege experience. After months of feedback from you, the players, and our own personal experience playing the game, we realized we needed to step back and reevaluate the city siege mechanic from beginning to end. Specifically, how can we make the city siege experience something players will strive for? How can we reinforce RvR in the endgame and not RvE?

Now, before diving too deep into the changes we made, I want everyone to know this is really just step one. We simplified the flow, removed barriers, and most importantly refocused the gameplay on killing your opponents. We set up the city end-game experience so we could easily expand it down the road to make them even more epic.

You know, we really haven't talked about that very much. I mean, I would imagine that, as we have done with all of our games, and you know, honestly it's something we may to sit down and have a discussion with [id owner] ZeniMax about. We've always released the game source and a sample for people that want to create their own content.

Rage content creation is a lot different than what we've done previously. It is going to be difficult for amateur developers to make art in the game, just like it was difficult for people to make Doom 3 art. Rage is probably even that much moreso--you don't have to do all the normal maps and that stuff, like you did in Doom 3, but just the texture density and variety and being able to use the tools and all that stuff. We do have some stuff that makes our guys fast, but there's a fairly steep learning curve that the mod guys are gonna have to get over.

We don't comment on our product pricing strategies, however, we believe that Modern Warfare 2 will deliver a film-like narrative as well as countless hours of rich multiplayer gaming long-after its release.

    • QUAKE LIVE is now available for Mac OS X and Linux. We did just have an issue come up with the very latest version of Firefox on Mac (which came out after we finished the build), so this update is Safari only, but we've pushed a ticket with the folks at Mozilla and hope to have the Firefox build fixed very shortly.
    • Leaderboards are once again online.
    • We've increased the maximum allowable size of a personal config file from 16KB to 64KB.
    • Fixed an issue where players could lose their key binds after rebinding Mouse 1.
    • Added Instagib CTF servers (they were a blast on the BYOC).

The actual single-player mechanics will have to change, Sigaty explains. "What we're doing with multiplayer, we haven't even begun to scratch the surface of, so all those things, we're just starting to move into discussions about now," he says. "I really don't expect us to get into any action on it until we actually ship the game."

Does that mean it may be several years until all of StarCraft II is completed? "Yes," says Sigaty. "That's a fair statement."

And while the general guideline is a four- to six-month beta period, "we're not going to ship the game until it's ready, is the bottom line," Sigaty states. "We're trying to get the beta out as quickly as we can. We're really excited about where it is from a multiplayer standpoint. I don't know what it means other than we won't ship it until it's ready."

Roswell, GA, 18 August 2009: Tripwire Interactive is delighted to announce that we will now be self-publishing, starting with the retail version of our own Steam hit zombie co-op shooter – Killing Floor. Tripwire will be the publisher for Killing Floor in North American stores, with the boxes due for shipping to retail outlets in USA and Canada shortly. As always with Tripwire titles, the retail version will be fully supported going forward with additional free updates for the game. MSRP will be $19.99 in the USA.

About the game
Killing Floor is a Co-op Survival Horror FPS taking place in the devastated cities and countryside of England, after a series of cloning experiments for the military goes horribly wrong. You and your friends are members of the military and police, dropped into these locations with a simple mission: survive long enough to cleanse the area of the failed experiments. The only problem is, these “experiments” aren’t waiting to be taken out – they’re coming for YOU!

• Fallen Earth on MMORPG.COM.

• FCC document indicates Sony planning 250GB PS3 Slim.
• Sony 'Expecting Nice Uptick' in PS3 Sales.
• Brutal Legend Demo Announced.
• Dante’s Inferno Releases February 2010.
• Harmonix Announces 44 of 45 Tracks for The Beatles: Rock Band.
• Ubisoft officially reveals 'Just Dance,' for people who don't mind looking like this.
• Is Gran Turismo 5 Coming Out This Year?
• New Heavy Rain trailer is all about love.
• TRINE on PlayStation Network in Sept., says Nobilis.
• Canadian Deal, $38.00 for Batman- Arkham Asylum on PS3 or Xbox 360.
• PSN cards, Video Store available this fall in Europe.

• Sony's big plans for OLED HDTVs may slip to next year.
• Coming Soon: Microsoft's Beefed-Up 720p LifeCam Cinema Webcam.
• Verizon Will Beat The Crap Out Of You For No Extra Charge.
• Budget PC brands see biggest gains in consumer satisfaction.
• A life recorded in bits and bytes.
• Did Woz cause tech's 'Dancing' snub?
• The Press Releases of the Damned. Thanks Slashdot.

• PSP 100MB minis Unveiled.
• Exploding iPhones 'isolated incidents', say Apple.
• Apparently, Wireless 911 Will Kill You.
• iPhone OS 3.0 bug allows deleted emails to rise from the dead.
• LocoRoco Midnight Carnival coming to PSP in Japan.
• Register your PSP Go quickly, get Gran Turismo PSP free.
• Eye of Judgment seen on PSP.
• Digital Reader brings comics to the PSP this December.
• Turquoise, Lilac and Pink PSP-3000s hit Europe in November.

• Dissecting the Casts of Valve’s Left 4 Dead Series…
• Activision's World at War Map Pack Revenues Equal to Another Million Units Sold, says EEDAR…
• EA labels Activision ‘huge and ugly monster’…

Players will discover vast new locations in `Rise of the Godslayer', such as the far-stretching Northern Grasslands, the deceptively serene Chosain Province and the magnificent Pillars of Heaven. Adventurers will find that the new regions are torn apart by conflict between its inhabitants, and you will be able to take part in these conflicts by joining up with many of the warring factions. Faction gameplay plays a large role in `Rise of the Godslayer', presenting the player with choices that earn them both allies and enemies in Khitai. Through questing and adventure players can advance through faction ranks, rewarding them with incredible treasures such as epic new armor and weapons. Players can choose to continue their adventures with existing characters, acquiring new combat abilities and spells through a robust alternate advancement system, or start over again as a Khitan – an all-new culture. No matter what the choice may be, adventurers will find a wealth of new high-level content, but also low-level content in Khitai available immediately after leaving Tortage Island. The expansion also introduces new mounts such as the Tiger, and through adventure players will see them grow from a weak cub into a ferocious fighting companion.

As players embark on an all-new mission deep in the heart of the Third Reich, they will have access to an arsenal of upgradable conventional and sci-fi weapons, while battling a multitude of escalating enemies, from Nazi combat troops and super soldiers to paranormal forces and experimental creatures.

Following in the footsteps of its predecessors, the Wolfenstein multi-player experience features the Axis and Resistance squaring off against each other in Team Deathmatch, Stopwatch or Objective based games. With three classes from which to choose, players can fight on the frontline as a soldier, heal their compatriots as a medic, or help gather objectives as an engineer all while using the Veil powers in special ways. Additionally, the persistent gold found within the multiplayer maps allows players to purchase upgrades for weapons and Veil powers on the fly, ensuring a deep and continuous variety of action along with tremendous replay value.

NEWBURYPORT, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Muzzy Lane, developer of the upcoming strategy game MAKING HISTORY II: "The War of the World,” has charted a bold new course for its online multiplayer mode with the inclusion of social-enabled features like chat rooms and personal user pages.

By offering a game that can directly access social tools and services, MAKING HISTORY II changes how grand strategy games are played and paves the way for more meaningful multiplayer sessions. Features currently available include personal user pages, a new web-enabled messaging system, friend lists and a single login that brings both Making History forums and Gaming Headquarters’ audiences together for the first time. After the launch of MAKING HISTORY II additional features will be enabled such as leaderboards, multiplayer matchmaking, persistent hosted games, and group management support. Players are notified by email when a new turn is pending. These changes make the online multiplayer sessions function much smoother than in most strategy titles.

DUST 514, featuring first-person shooter and RTS-style gameplay, will interact directly with EVE Online, CCP’s critically acclaimed flagship MMO. This interplay between the two games opens the EVE universe to console gamers and gives them a chance to become part of one of the most massive cooperative play and social experiences ever.

“We launched EVE Online in 2003 and have experienced steady annual growth – a fact we appreciate as a rarity in the world of MMOs, especially given the global economy of the past year,” said Petursson. “Our success with EVE Online has afforded us the highest caliber global design and production talent in gaming. With a team of the best minds in the industry, we conceived an ambitious new take on virtual world development with DUST 514.”

The primary gameplay of DUST 514 features brutal ground combat that takes place on the surface of planets from EVE, delivering the visceral, adrenaline-fueled experience of futuristic firefights. Developed for the current generation of consoles, DUST 514 combines equal parts battlefield reflexes and strategic planning, giving commanders and ground infantry real-time configurable weapons and modular vehicles to manage dynamic battlefield conditions.

Now entering its third year of production, DUST 514 is the primary development focus of CCP’s Shanghai studio. The team includes veteran designers of EVE Online and experienced talent from various sectors of the video game industry.

The problem for multi-platform game developers making PC games is that at some point you have to say “stop” when it comes to extra hardware features. You can always add higher-resolution options in the PC game, but you begin to upset the guys in control of the game's budget if you start putting serious man hours into developing graphics features that are only available to a small number of PC gamers, let alone console gamers. “I know people are going to read this and say, god that guy's telling us that we've bought all this hardware for nothing,” says Bozz, “but the reality is that as much as I'd like to support this stuff, I can't do that at the expense of the other 98 per cent of gamers.”

A very common bugbear for PC gamers is that they feel that the graphics in a PC version of a game have been compromised, simply because the consoles wouldn't be able to handle the same level of graphics. However, Red Faction: Guerilla's system architect Dave Baranec disputes this, and says that in fact “we usually find it's the opposite”.

Part of the problem is that multi-platform games are usually developed primarily for consoles, which means that they're heavily optimised for those architectures. Baranec explains that “content targets, system design and overall structure tend to be tailored towards what the consoles do best. It isn't uncommon to find that even high-end PCs have a hard time holding up against the sorts of deep optimisations you can make on fixed hardware.” However, he also concedes that “the situation could certainly be reversed – you could build a game that caters to the strengths of PCs, and find huge problems trying to get it to run on a console”.

The researcher hypothesized that one reason for the apparent mental health benefits of video games is that many people in Western countries find it impossible to switch off; they are always alert and stressed out. When those Type A people try to relax, they get bored because they have come to require a certain level of stressful arousal. Playing certain video games, Russoniello said, offers just enough mental challenge to keep such people occupied while putting them into a state of relative mindlessness. That state appears to have salutary effects on stress and other mental problems.

The one thing that really comes through with Paul is his enthusiasm for making things right with core players. His insistence on developing a solid PC experience with dedicated servers and solid controls is there, even if he can't actually officially confirm any specific plans or details in these specific areas. And while this will be a simultaneous PC and console launch (PC gamers can quickly point to dozens of titles out there that were made worse because of the three-platform simultaneous release date), the dream of having successful, fun titles on three major platforms at once has been realized quite a few times in the last couple of years. To say that those developers have bottled lightning multiple times and that no one else can do it, well, that seems silly. If we're to learn anything from Quake Wars, it's that Splash Damage needs to work on the console editions more than the PC version, but with Bethesda's considerable budget and console experience behind them, it seems quite likely that that won't be nearly as much of a problem as when they worked under the wing of id Software.

• Blizzard Hits Houston During Summer.
• Gamescom welcomes global industry.
• Activision to showcase highly anticipated games line-up at Gamescom 2009.
• Shadow Complex Early Access Sweepstakes on G4tv.com.

• Aion on GameZone along with The Despair of Innocence: Chapter One. Part one of a five part fictional backstory.
• APB on VG247. Epic's Mark Rein's impressions.
• Black Prophecy on the Official Website. Developer Diary - Art Direction: The Game Environment.

• Kmart confirms ‘new PS3’.
• SingStar- Beatles on the way. PS3 exclusive.
• Disney Interactive Studios Announces Spectrobes: Origins Has Arrived.
• Ten L.A. Noire storyboards leaked online. Thanks Mike Martinez.
• Games on Demand- Saints Row and Rockstar Table Tennis.
• Dyack on Eternal Darkness 2: "The future is bright".
• Will family-friendly controllers cripple the console giants?

• Interview with Galaxy; Edward Chow on Hardware Bistro.
• Tweaking and Optimising Windows Vista.
• Windows 7 to get Dolby Digital Plus support.
• XP Users Are Willing To Give Windows 7 a Chance.

• PSP Go App Pricing To Rival iPhone's.
• Jolicloud The Free OS For Netbooks: Ready For Prime Time?

• U.S. Indicts 3 in Theft of 130 Million Bank Cards. Thanks j.c.f.
• How 10 digits will end privacy as we know it. Thanks Mike Martinez.

• Court Greenlights Class-Action Suit Against EA for NFL Exclusivity.
• Microsoft Files -Emergency Motion- To Ship Word.
• FCC enforcing imaginary laws in P2P ruling, says Comcast.
• Georgia cyberattacks linked to Russian organized crime.
• Microsoft Trial Misconduct Cost $40 Million.
• Former Secret Service informant named in 'largest credit card data breach ever'. Thanks Ant.

• ArmA II on Gaming Nexus.
• Hearts of Iron III on Gameplanet Review.
• Killing Floor on Hooked Gamers.
• Panzerkrieg: Burning Horizon 2 on Armchair General.

• A-DATA 32GB XPG Series Xupreme Flash Drive on Legit Reviews.
• AeroCool Touch 2000 LCD Fan Controller on ThinkComputers.org.
• AMD 785G Chipset IGP Video Performance on Neoseeker.
• AMD Phenom 955 II X4 CPU on XSReviews.co.uk.
• ASM09 Gaming Mouse Mat Roundup on MetkuMods.
• ASUS EAH4770 FML-DI-512MD5-A Radeon HD 4770 Graphics Card on PCSTATS.com.
• ASUS G51VX-RX05 Gaming Notebook on HotHardware.
• ASUS GTX 285 Matrix Graphics Card on MADSHRIMPS. Fastest single-GPU card?
• ASUS Rampage Gene II MicroATX LGA1366 Motherboard on X-bit labs.
• B-Gears B-Envi HTPC And Gaming Chassis on OverclockersHQ.com.
• BFG LS1200 1250W PSU on Hardware Bistro.
• Chieftec BL-01B Case on Overclockers Club.
• Choiix Netbook Easy Fit Sleeve C-ND01 on MEGATech Reviews.
• Kingston SSDNow V 128GB Laptop Upgrade Kit on Bjorn3D.com.
• Nokia Surge 6790 Cell Phone on Digital Trends.
• Samsung SyncMaster P2350 LCD Monitor on CCE Reviews.
• SilverStone Raven RVS01 Case on [Phoronix].
• Thermaltake Element G Mid Tower Case on Big Bruin.
• Thermaltake Element T Case on PureOC.
• Thermaltake ISGC-100 CPU Cooler on Hardware Secrets.

• Play Classic DOS Games on Ubuntu Linux. Thanks Linux Today…
• The Ten Commandments of Batman: Arkham Asylum on IGN…
• The DiRT 2 Facebook Page reveals the track list for the soundtrack from the rally racing sequel…