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Archived News:
There are indications in the recently released console editions of Batman:
Arkham Asylum that some free
DLC is coming on September 17. Now
Shacknews has word
that although the PC edition is not due for release until a week from today,
this DLC is coming to Windows as well as consoles. There is no word yet on what
the DLC will include.
Frogster America
announces "Course of Terror," a new mini-game to be added to Runes of
Magic on September 15 as part of the final content update for Chapter II – The Elven
Prophecy. A
batch of new screenshots accompany the announcement, and here's a bit to
explain how this will work: The dungeon consists of a chamber containing
45 fields, each with a seal that hides a range of different obstacles to
challenge the adventurer. Each of these demands a special tactic: For example,
ice barricades can only be overcome by using a heavy artillery piece. Players
have to use the right tools for the job during the game‘s ten minutes. Clown
ghosts constantly appear, making matters even worse for our heroes. Once
adventurers discover the field containing the key, they’ll receive rewards as
well as an entry into the next round. Special titles can also be unlocked using
‘ghost cards’, to reward players for completing the challenge.
A post on
superannuation links to a
LinkedIn profile for Carl Ross where the Senior Lighting Artist listed the
PC as one of the target platforms for LA Noire, the upcoming film
noir-style game in the works at Team Bondi. This note has since been removed.
Thanks
VG247.
Vindicia announces
Realtime Worlds has signed on to
use CashBox
for billing in All Points Bulletin, the upcoming online life of crime
game. It was recently revealed in the
game's FAQ that APB will not use "the
traditional monthly subscription model," so that's apparently not how this will
be utilized, though word is: "Realtime Worlds will leverage Vindicia CashBox™
for its ability to support multiple business models -- subscriptions, virtual
goods and virtual currencies -- and to simultaneously manage fraud while
optimizing customer acquisition and retention."
Another trailer is now available on the
DiRT2 UK Website to
unpave the way for the imminent release of the rally racing sequel. The console
versions of the game are out in North America as of today, and should be hitting
Europe later this week, with the PC edition slated for release this December.
The new clip is set at the Estadio Del Ray Rallycross. Vroom! The clip is also
available on
GameTrailers.com.
Still working on a new format for this so it's not so unwieldy as new items are
added throughout the week. The list is still manageable for now, so here goes:
EA announces
the availability of the new Stygian Abyss expansion for Ultima Online,
the eighth add-on for the Methuselah of MMORPGs. The add-on is available via
digital distribution from the
EA Store as well as the
UO Game Code Store. Here's a bit from the announcement, please note the URL
for UOGameCodes.com below is incorrect: Ultima Online: Stygian Abyss
revolves around the introduction of the playable Gargoyle race. Players will
also find expansive new areas to explore, including Ter Mur, the Gargoyle
homeland, and the Stygian Abyss – the largest dungeon area ever introduced to
Ultima Online. This sprawling dungeon contains new boss monsters of unparalleled
difficulty, including the Medusa, Primeval Lich and the Stygian Dragon, as well
as Player vs. Player zones where adventurers are turned against one another.
“We could not be more proud to release Stygian Abyss as the 8th expansion of
the storied Ultima Online franchise,” said Jeff Hickman, Executive Producer for
Mythic Entertainment. “As the 12 year anniversary of Ultima Online approaches,
we are thrilled to offer a brand new Ultima adventure, including the new
Gargoyle race and the massive Stygian Abyss dungeon, to both new and existing
players.”
Ultima Online: Stygian Abyss will be available via UOGamesCodes.com and the
EA STORE:
• Stygian Abyss Expansion: $29.99 (EXISTING & FORMER
ACCOUNTS ONLY)
• Stygian Abyss Expansion & 30-Day game-time: $39.99 (NEW
ACCOUNTS ONLY)
Additionally, consumers who purchase Ultima Online: Stygian Abyss from September
8th – 29th will receive a multi-use Alteration Token to transform current
characters into Gargoyles, an exclusive gargoyle craftable pet, and decorative
Stygian Abyss mob boss statues.*
Episode one in a series of webisodic movies for Borderlands is now
available, offering a lighthearted promotion for Gearbox's upcoming role-playing
shooter narrated by Claptrap the robot, who channels a little Christian Bale for
us. The clip is available on the
YouTube. Also, the
Gamescom 09 Borderlands Interview on MTV GameOne is an article in German,
but the embedded interview with Randy Pitchford is in English (with German
subtitles). The interview begins at about the 1:45 mark, and Randy once again
explains the genesis of the game, the art change, the size of the game's
arsenal, and other fairly familiar territory.
The Penny Arcade Expo organizers report a case of the
2009 H1N1 Flu (aka the "swine flu")
has been confirmed in one of the attendees of this weekend's Penny Arcade Expo,
tweeting the following advice for attendees: "PLEASE if you feel symptoms (fever,
etc) go to the doctor." Penny Arcade's Robert Khoo tells
Kotaku: "This is the real thing. If you get this number of people together
in this close a proximity it is the perfect storm for these kind of wild fire
virus spreads." Thanks nin.
Darkest of Days, the new first-person shooter from 8monkey Labs, is now
available in North America, offering the chance to change history by influencing
the outcome of some famous historical battles. The game is available via digital
distribution on
Direct2Drive and Steam
News, with Steam offering a 10% discount until September 15. A playable demo
is available, and here's a bit of the official pitch for the
game: Have you ever wondered what could happen if time travel was a
reality? Have you ever thought about the possibility of going back in time to
rewrite history for the better? That possibility is a reality in Darkest of
Days, where players will travel back and forth through the annals time to relive
some of mankind's most dire hours. By fighting through terrible events such as
The Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest conflict of the Civil War, and vicious
battles from both World War I and II, the player will attempt to save certain
key individuals who were never meant to become involved in these truly monstrous
events and thereby change human history for the better.
Eidos Interactive announces that Mini Ninjas is now available, offering
this miniaturized martial arts action/adventure from IO Interactive for Windows,
Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, and DS. A playable demo for the game was released
a couple of weeks ago, and here's the news on the release:
Mini Ninjas™, co-published in North America by Eidos Inc. and Warner
Bros. Interactive Entertainment, will be available from today for the Wii™,
Nintendo DS™, PLAYSTATION®3 Computer Entertainment System, Xbox 360® video game
and entertainment system from Microsoft and Games for Windows. Developed by IO
Interactive, Mini Ninjas will take you on a journey to feudal Japan where you’ll
join Hiro, Futo, and the rest of the ninja clan on their biggest ninja adventure
ever, as they embark on an epic and electrifying quest to restore harmony to a
world on the brink of chaos.
“We are really excited to be launching MINI NINJAS™. It has been a fantastic
adventure giving life to these fierce little guys.” Niels Jørgensen General
Manager of IO Interactive. ”The game came from a deep passion within IO to
develop something completely different and new for a wider audience. We really
hope that people will enjoy the game as much as we do."
Mini Ninjas is rated Everyone 10+ with Cartoon Violence and Crude Humor. To
learn more about Mini Ninjas at the official webpage:
www.minininjas.com and join the fan
group on Facebook.
The US demo for Cities XL is now available, following last
week's release of the European demo for Monte Cristo's urban
planning/management game. The demo will be active for the month of September,
requiring online registration and allowing the creation of cities with
populations of up to 22,000 on any of three maps. The demo is just under 1 GB,
and the download is available on
AtomicGamer,
Big
Download,
ComputerGames.ro,
FileFront,
and Gamer's Hell.
Word is: Players will be able to build their city across three available
maps (the full version of the game will include 25 maps for solo mode and 50 for
the Planet Offer). Inter-city trading, the chat function and a limited avatar
builder have all been included, along with the possibility to visit Capital
City, a town that offers an example of what can be created with Cities XL.
Players can also create their own city journals and start a new city as often as
they wish for the duration of the demo period. Developed by Monte Cristo Games,
CITIES XL™ expands upon all the features that make city builders fun and
interesting, while also letting players take their game online, as they interact
with others in a persistent online environment.
Paradox
Interactive announces Arsenal of Democracy, a new game based on
Hearts of Iron II being developed by mod team BL-Logic planned for release
in December of this year. Here is
the box art and some screenshots, and here's the announcement:
ARSENAL OF DEMOCRACY - A “Hearts of Iron” Game The ultimate World War II
simulation arriving this December
NEW YORK – September 8, 2009 – Paradox Interactive are excited to unveil a brand
new Hearts of Iron game entitled Arsenal of Democracy, set to release on PC in
December.
Developed by BL-Logic, a development studio made up by fans of the Hearts of
Iron series and active member of the modding community, Arsenal of Democracy is
the ultimate World War II simulation and is described by Project Leader Lennart
Berg as “Hearts of Iron II on steroids!”
Describing the idea and process behind the creation of Arsenal of Democracy,
Berg goes on to say, “During the years of the Hearts of iron II lifecycle, I
made a list of improvements in the forums and these became the guidelines to the
new game. So we went ahead and implemented these along with many more ideas
until we had pretty much replaced and enhanced everything from the original. The
end result, in our very humble opinion, is the ultimate World War II
simulation.”
KEY FEATURES
* Increased resolution and windowed mode freely selectable
* Totally reworked combat mechanics, new missions and realistic combat behavior
and losses
* Several new technologies
* New espionage interface and reworked espionage system
* One of the most detailed economy and production system found in any Hearts of
Iron game
* Realistic logistics system
* Everything is moddable
* AI reworked and now poses a genuine threat, even to experienced players
* 4 new battle scenarios
This Twitter Tweet
announces Tropico 3 is gold, and is still presumably on track for its
recently revised October 16 release date (September 24 in
Germany). A sample of the island dictator sequel developed by Haemimont Games
should be released this week according to that same release date
announcement. Thanks
Voodoo
Extreme.
USPTO Assignments on the Web lists Zenimax as the new owner of the Prey
trademark showing it was transferred from Scott Miller's Apogee to
Scott Miller's Radar Group in June before a subsequent transfer in July to
Bethesda and id Software parent Zenimax Media. Also,
this
listing and
this
listing show new trademarks they've subsequently filed for Prey since then.
Thanks
superannuation. Prey was announced in the '90s, dropped off the map for a
while, and was ultimately developed by Human Head Studios and released
in 2006. In May 2008 Prey 2 was announced by Radar
Group, but we recently heard from Human Head that they were not
developing the sequel, and Radar Group was non-responsive to questions about the
topic.
Eurogamer has word from Realtime Worlds that beta testing for All Points
Bulletin ( APB) will commence in weeks. With community officer Chris
Collins telling them: "We're weeks rather than months away from starting closed
beta." Beta applications are
still being accepted if you want to help test the upcoming subscription-free
online crime game.
CNBC.com has news that Bungie
co-founder Alex Seropian has joined Disney Interactive Studios to oversee
in-house video game development. The move also includes the acquisition of
Wideload Games ( Stubbs the Zombie & Hail to the Chimp), the studio
Seropian formed in 2004, but financial terms are
not being revealed. The article speaks of convergence between casual and core games,
"Look at Pixar," they quote Seropian saying. "They are successfully making films
that appeal to both families and film nerds – and that opportunity exists in
games." There's no word on how Disney's recent acquisition of
Marvel will play into this, since that deal is not officially finalized yet.
A new Battlezone II
patch 1.3 Public Beta 5.1 continues the unofficial support for Pandemic's
action/strategy sequel by original programmers Nathan Mates and Ken Miller. The
new version has new DirectX 9 performance optimizations (most noticeably in the
terrain rendering), re-enables high-res shadows, addresses various crash bugs,
and updates the max vertex count for models from 2730 to 20,000 verts/model to
allow mod authors to use more complex models.
A new King's Bounty: Armored
Princess Website is live, with more background on 1C Company's upcoming
adventure/RPG. The site includes media, hosts the game's official forums, and
has loads of details on characters and gameplay from the project.
I'm thinking of a number between 750 and 870:
- ASUS MAXIMUS III Formula Motherboard on
Motherboards.org.
- ASUS P7P55D Motherboard on
Elite Bastards and
Overclock3D.Net.
- Cooler Master Sentinel Advance Gaming Mouse on
OCIA.net.
- Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H50 Self-Contained Liquid CPU Cooler
on
ThinkComputers.org.
- ECS P55H-A Black Edition Motherboard on
PureOC.
- GIGABYTE GA-EP55-UD6 Socket 1156 Motherboard on
ProClockers.
- GIGABYTE P55-UD6 and P55M-UD4 Motherboards on
Legit Reviews.
- Intel Core i5 750 CPU on
Benchmark Reviews,
Elite Bastards, and
TechSpot.
- Intel Core i5 750, Core i7 870 CPU on
AnandTech,
Bjorn3D,
Boot Daily,
Hardware Canucks,
Hardware Secrets,
Neoseeker,
Overclockers Club, PC
Perspective, and
TweakTown.
- Intel Core i5 750, Core i7 870 Linux Benchmarks on
[Phoronix].
- Intel Core i5 750, Core i7 860, and Core i7 870 CPUs on
Guru3D,
HEXUS.net,
Legion Hardware
- Intel Core i7 870 CPU on
Overclock3D.Net.
- Intel Core i7 870/Core i5 750/P55 Express Chipset on
HotHardware,
Motherboards.org, and
The Tech Report.
- Intel Lynnfield CPUs on
bit-tech.net,
LostCircuits, and
PC Games Hardware.
- Intel P55 Express Chipset on
The Tech Report.
- Intel P55 Express Chipset on Linux on
[Phoronix].
- MSI P55-CD53 Motherboard on
Motherboards.org.
- Mushkin GeForce GTX 295 Single PCB 1792 MB Graphics Card on
techPowerUp.
- OCZ Behemoth Gaming Mouse on
Verdis Reviews.
- SilverStone Grandia GD03 Case on
MetkuMods.
- ThermalTake Element G, T Case on
Bjorn3D.com.
- Vizo Master Panel II on
Tech-Xtreme.com.
We had a fine old time at a Labor Day cookout yesterday, and the food was great,
in spite of not being cooked by me. We also had a grown-ups and kids touch
football game which was a lot of fun, but now has me pretty sore, a reminder
that I should probably be a little more active on a day-to-day basis.
R.I.P.:
Louis Rosen, 91, dies, worked on first nuclear bombs.
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