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Archived News:
A tweet from
Infinity Ward indicates we should not expect a demo for Modern Warfare 2,
before the next Call of Duty(ish) game is released. Word is: "No plan for
a Demo before launch. The entire team is focused on polish all the way up to
ship of the full game." This tweet is from a couple of days ago, and for some
reason (brain fart) was not reported here until now, apologies for that.
Relic.com has a look back at Homeworld on the 10th anniversary of the
release of the space RTS game. Also to celebrate the event,
they announce the rerelease of the Homeworld Raider Retreat
standalone demo on
Relicnews. Word is: "Raider Retreat is a version of Homeworld that has five
single player missions (including one that was not in the original Homeworld).
It also allowed unrestricted skirmish against the AI and full multiplayer over
LAN." Homeworld online multiplayer operated through the long-defunct WON.net,
but they have worked with the GameRanger
server browser to add internet support for the game's LAN play as well.
EA announces
the Mac edition of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning will be released on
October 28 via digital download for $19.95 USD (including 30 days of play time)
for new subscribers, while those already subscribed for WAR can get the Mac
client for free if they have a Mac they want to play on. In the meantime, they
are offering the beta version of the Mac client to current subscribers for free,
while those without a WAR subscription can get a free ten-day trial of the Mac
client. Word is: "Players who participate in the WAR Mac beta test will receive
an exclusive title and trophy reward for their characters within the game."
The Kalypso
Forums have details on plans for a Tropico 3 patch in the next few
days to update the dictator simulation to version 1.04. Here's the preliminary
change log they provide: - Fixed multiple issues with the German
translation
- Fixed overflow in safty/crime overlay
- Overall performance improvements
- Improved performance on single core CPUs
- Radio system made more robust
- You can no longer build two Secret Police Headquarters
- Subtitles no longer show while in main menu
- Always stop music playback in main menu
- Citizen camera tweaks
- Arrows point at the builders of the selected construction
Steam News announces the
availability of a new automatic update for the Steam client, addressing some
bugs, and offering: "Improved support for displaying third-party DLC CD keys."
Steam News also heralds
the release of a new automatic update for Osmos that fixes a couple of
bugs and adds alternative controls to allow mouse-only play.
Project Reality Single Player version
0.87 is now available, offering the chance to play all 25 current maps in the
Project Reality modification for Battlefield 2 in solo play. They say
this of the new version: "Along with a full complement of maps, the AI has
gotten tougher and more realistic with countless vehicle and weapon tweaks, bug
fixes and improvements." Thanks Ant via
Planet
Battlefield.
NVIDIA's
OpenCL Download Page now offer the public release of NVIDIA's OpenCL drivers
for Windows and Linux (saying "OpenCL drivers are released as part of the Mac OS
X Showleopard [sic] operating system."). Also available on that page are betas
of their OpenCL Visual Profiler for Windows and Linux and GPU Computing SDK code
samples for Windows, MacOS, and Linux. Thanks Ant via
[Phoronix].
CNBC.com reports that California's
appeal to the US Supreme Court over their violent games bill may
be heard by the US's highest court. The article is titled "Debate on Violent
Video Games May Finally Get Settled," which we don't imagine is actually what
will happen, regardless of the court's decision. Word is: "Justices were
scheduled to meet Tuesday in a closed conference, where they will decide whether
to put the case on the docket. A public information officer at the court said
the orders list, which will either grant the request for oral arguments (and
move the case forward) or deny it with no further comment (letting the lower
court ruling stand), is expected to be issued as soon as Wednesday."
Kotaku outlines EA's lawsuit to cancel five trademarks held by Tim
Langdell's Edge Games. These trademarks have been used in a number of legal
actions for various products with "Edge" in the title, with EA's concern focused
on legal threats over their Mirror's Edge property. In short, they
report: "On Sept. 11, EA filed a petition with the Trademark Trial and Appeal
Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to wipe out five trademarks
involved in the case, saying they have been threatened by Langdell for a year
over the distribution of Mirror's Edge." In long, they offer a lot of background
detail on the whole situation, including the related legal documents. Word is:
"In comments to Kotaku, EA portrayed its actions as done on behalf of the
development community."
- DC Universe Online on
Blue's News. Green Arrow concepts and screenshots.
- Postal 3 on
PC Games.
- Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes on
Blue's News.
Link of the Day:
WTF? No, TFW. Thanks Ant via
Boing
Boing. Missing the golden opportunity to go FTW.
A new patch is now available for
Blood Bowl, updating this strategy game that crosses American tackle
football with a fantasy universe to version 1.0.1.8. This is a cumulative patch,
with the content of the previous patches, as well as new changes to gameplay,
the GUI, and teams. The download can be found on
AtomicGamer,
FileFront,
and The Patches
Scrolls.
A patch for Conquest! Medieval Realms came out late last week to update
the real-time strategy game to version 1.8. The
Slitherine Strategies Website
stopped reporting new patches at version 1.4 for some reason, but they are still
hosting
the
new patch (direct link), and the patch is also mirrored on
AtomicGamer and
The
Patches Scrolls.
Turbine
announces December 1, 2009 as the release date for the Siege of Mirkwood
expansion for The Lord of the Rings Online
and pre-launch offers for the game and add-on, including LOTRO Lifetime
Memberships, a new bonus-laden LOTRO Adventurer’s Pack, and opportunities to get
the expansion for free. Here are the prelaunch offers: Starting today,
players can take can take advantage of several special pre-launch offers to
celebrate the release of the second expansion to LOTRO:
• The LOTRO Lifetime Membership is now available for $199.
• Any current or former player who renews or upgrades their subscription
to any multi-month plan by October 31st gets the Siege of Mirkwood digital
expansion for FREE!
• All players can pre-order the new LOTRO Adventurer’s Pack which
contains 2 character slots and one shared storage slot that allows players to
share items with all of their characters on the same server for $19.99 and get
the Harbinger’s Cloak which provides 8% speed boost and the Dusky Nimblefoot
Goat mount for FREE!
• Starting today, existing Lifetime Members who pre-order the LOTRO
Adventurer’s Pack get the Siege of Mirkwood digital expansion plus two in-game
items (Harbinger’s Cloak which provides an 8% speed boost and a new mount) for
FREE!
These special offers will be available for a limited time. For more information,
please visit www.lotro.com/mirkwood.
Steam News announces a
new update is now automatically available for Left 4 Dead that adds the
free Crash Course DLC to Valve's co-op zombie shooter. They also announce
Left 4 Dead is on sale for
half-off for the next three days, and they are offering a Left 4 Dead 4 pack so
you can gift your friends with copies of the game. Update: The price on
the four-pack has now been corrected to $44.99 USD, reflecting the sale. Here's word
on the DLC and the sale: Crash Course delivers new single-player,
multiplayer and co-operative gameplay and bridges the storyline between the No
Mercy and Death Toll campaigns in the original game. To celebrate, we are
offering Left 4 Dead at 50%
off for 3 days. Or share the fun - get the
Left 4 Dead Four Pack and
give the game to your friends.
While containing both Survival maps and a Co-operative Campaign, the primary
goal of Crash Course is to deliver a complete Versus mode experience in just 30
minutes, resulting in a streamlined version of the game's existing Versus
campaigns.
Learn more about the free, all-new free Crash Course DLC on the
Left 4 Dead Blog.
Direct2Drive announces the top 10
sales their online marketplace for the week of September 20-26th. The list
is dominated by games on sale for $5.00 in honor of their five-year anniversary:
- Aion Collector's Edition, NCSoft
- Aion, NCSoft
- Fallen Earth, Fallen Earth, LLC
- Neverwinter Nights 2 (5 year promo), Atari
- Assassin's Creed Director's Cut (5 year promo), Ubisoft
- Titan Quest Bundle (5 year promo), THQ
- Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir (5 year promo), Atari
- Champions Online, Atari
- BioShock (5 year promo), 2K
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, LucasArts
BioWare and LucasArts announce they are now accepting sign-ups to beta test
Star Wars: The Old Republic, the upcoming Star Wars MMORPG. This comes very
shortly after reports suggested that this might be near. They will
be choosing testers from members of The Old Republic community, and you can
register for that here. A
Game Testing FAQ is
online answering questions about this (including: "A date for the commencement
of testing has not been finalized. Once we feel that we are ready for testers,
we will contact the selected applicants via email with further instructions"),
and here's the deal: BioWare and LucasArts today announced that they have
started accepting applicants to assist them in testing Star Wars™: The Old
Republic™. Limited testing slots are reserved for The Old Republic Community
members, so those interested need only sign up at
http://www.swtor.com/user/register
if they haven’t already. Once signed in, members can log in and click the My
Account page to opt in for testing. Testing will be an ongoing process, and
spots are limited, so people need to sign up early to give them the best
possible chance of getting selected.
New Scientist reports on a study that pitted male gamers against groups of
friends or groups of strangers in Unreal Tournament 2004, and measured their
testosterone levels, learning: "Victorious gamers enjoy a surge of testosterone
– but only if their vanquished foe is a stranger. When male gamers beat friends
in a shoot-em-up video game, levels of the potent sex hormone plummeted." This
jibes with previous research involving dominos players, and helps them reach
this conclusion: "This suggests that multiplayer video games tap into the same
mechanisms as warfare, where testosterone's effect on aggression is
advantageous." Thanks Mike Martinez.
Paradox Interactive announces three new expansion packs for
Elven Legacy will launch for the
fantasy-themed Wargame over the next three months, with the release of one pack
per month in October, November, and December. These include the
previously announced Ranger expansion, which will be followed by a
pack called Siege, concluding with the Magic expansion. Here's word on all three
packs, with a reminder of the current sale where you can pick up Elven Legacy
for half the price of any one of these add-ons: NEW YORK – September 29th
2009 – Great fictional moments come in threes. Now gaming has its own in the
form of the Elven Legacy Trilogy, three epic expansion packs for the Fantasy
Strategy title Elven Legacy from Paradox Interactive, releasing in October,
November and December 2009.
Continuing the intense tale of a world that pits elf against human, the first of
the trilogy, Ranger, is set to release on October 20th and will feature 16 new
campaign missions, two new main heroes, along with new artifacts and spells.
Fans will then only have a month to wait for the middle chapter, Siege, which
will follow on November 17th and will contain 19 new campaign missions (as well
as additional unlockable bonus missions), two different armies and three new
heroes.
The concluding chapter in this epic saga, Magic, will then be available on
December 1st and will comprise of 15 new mission campaigns (along with a bonus
mission), a new hero and the return of some older heroes, additional tactical
possibilities, and new spells and magical artifacts.
Ranger, Siege and Magic will be exclusively available for digital download at
all major digital download portals for a suggested retail price of €9.99 and
$9.99. For current Elven Legacy promotions, go to
http://www.direct2drive.com/7857/product/Buy-Elven-Legacy-Download.
IncGamers has a screenshot of what is alleged to be the RSS feed from the
Star Wars: The Old Republic Website
(currently down for maintenance). The shot shows an announcement of sign ups to
beta test the game that is said to have been removed shortly after being posted,
with the accompanying story theorizing this was a premature posting of an update
that will return soon, though they also point out that beta signups still could
mean the launch of the closed beta could still be months off. It could also
simply be a hoax, which would not be the first time some false news
was purported to be from an RSS feed.
Funcom announces "cost reductions and forced leave" are underway at the
Norwegian arm of the developer to help control costs (thanks
GamesIndustry.biz via
E24). Word is
about 20% of their workforce are impacted by cuts or forced leave, and that this
will delay The Secret World, their upcoming MMORPG: Funcom N.V has
initiated a program of cost reductions, reductions in head count and use of
forced leave (permittering) to better align the Company's operations to the
current marketplace.
Around 20 % of the staff of the Company will be affected by headcount reductions
or forced leave, mostly in the Company's Norwegian subsidiary.
The Company's development of the Age of Conan expansion pack and its
preparations for launch in Korea will continue as planned, as will the
preparations for the limited beta of its first free- to-play MMO scheduled to
take place during Q4. The development of The Secret World will be some months
extended due to the initiatives with even more focus on ensuring the delivery of
a game that is fully in line with the high expectations amongst fans and gamers
across the world.
Uforia announces the first closed beta testing session for Mercenary Wars
is now underway for the online military shooter. This is revealed on the
new website for the game, which
includes info, images, and movies from the game, as well as sign-ups for the
beta, which is running through tomorrow night. Here's a bit on the game:
Unlike other first person shooter games available today, Mercenary Wars
features a unique stat system that players can use to upgrade and customize
their lifelike characters. The combat in the game is designed to feel very
realistic, while also allowing players to adjust their speed, accuracy, and
health stats. Mercenary Wars is set in the not so distant future in a world
where order and society as we know them are a thing of the past. The economies
of the world have crashed and have been replaced with total chaos. New alliances
have been forged and the world is now controlled by well-trained groups of
mercenaries. Players must determine who to swear their allegiance to and fight
side-by-side to the death, if necessary, in the quest to ensure becoming the new
global powerhouse.
Shrapnel Games
is now giving an infinite discount on Strange Adventures in Infinite Space,
as they offer the original game in Digital Eel's Infinite Space series
completely free. The game is available for Windows, Mac OS 9, and Mac OS X. They
also offer another Digital Eel game for free, a Windows match-3 game called Soup
du Jour. Here's a bit on Strange Adventures in Infinite Space: Strange
Adventures in Infinite Space is twenty minutes (at a time) of pure retro sci-fi
gaming bliss. Explore a randomly created universe, meet aliens, acquire
artifacts in the name of scientific progress and stellar manifest destiny. If
you're a fan of Weird Worlds take a trip to see where it all began. If you have
yet to experience either game there's no better way to get your feet wet. Enjoy
the free, full game and when that desire for more sears your soul be sure to
check out the sequel, Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space.
Retired NFL players seek to join EA lawsuit is an Associated Press article
on the tangle of litigation surrounding the use of former players' images in
video games. This is noted on
GamePolitics, but
Kotaku points the way to the more interesting nugget at the end of the
article, where they report that last week a federal judge in Los Angeles tossed
out hall-of-fame running back Jim Brown's lawsuit against EA for using his image
as a vintage player in Madden NFL, saying this is protected by the first
amendment to the US Constitution. Word is: U.S District Court Judge
Florence Marie-Cooper ruled that video games are much like realistic paintings
of athletes depicted in real-life situations, which are protected by the First
Amendment as artistic expressions.
"The Madden NFL video games are expressive works, akin to an expressive painting
that depicts celebrity athletes of past and present in a realistic sporting
environment," Cooper wrote.
MCV
reports that licensing agency PPC Enterprises is shopping around a license to
make video games based on Monty Python's Flying Circus, the cult classic BBC
comedy series. This year is the show's 40th anniversary, but like the plague
victim in The Holy Grail, the franchise is apparently not dead yet.
Operation
Flashpoint: Dragon Rising's Tim Browne and Michael Smith on What it Takes to
Make a Realistic Shooter on GameZone interviews a couple of the code masters
at Codemasters about their military shooter. Some of the subjects they tackle
include vehicles, the vast size of their virtual battlefield, simulating
platoon-based combat, the games graphics and audio, and more.
GarageGames announces
Torque 3D is now out of beta and ready for prime time. The price tag on this
development suite is $1,000.00, and here's a bit describing it: "Architected
from the ground up for maximum flexibility and performance across a wide range
of hardware, Torque 3D comes equipped with a full suite of tools and APIs to get
your game to the finish line, no matter what your goals. Add publishing paths to
PC, Mac, Xbox 360, Wii, iPhone, and the web, and you have the power to
distribute games almost everywhere they are played."
The doggies and I were walking on the doggie trail yesterday when we passed
this branch on the ground. It had neat twists at the top and bottom, so as we
walked by I eyed it as a possible walking stick. Just as the thought struck me
that it actually resembled a snake, it moved, immediately changing the snake
diagnosis from vague theory to confirmed fact (the first one I've seen in the
nine years we've lived here). It looked like a relatively harmless water snake,
but it was also close to four feet long, so I shouted at the dogs to hustle out
of the vicinity, which caused each of them to immediately stop, as that is
usually my desire when I give them an urgent command. Luckily I got them out of
the area quickly enough, as Hudson the wonder dog would surely have wanted to
engage it, and non-venomous as they are, water snakes will bite to defend
themselves, so we would have ended up with a dead snake and a bleeding doggie,
and no one needed any of that.
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