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Archived News:
Steam News announces the
release of the promised new patch for Empire: Total War
(which is on sale for
half-off), updating the RTS sequel to version 1.5,
also announcing the
release of the Warpath expansion as well as new
Special Forces Units & Bonus
Content. The patch notes for version 1.5 mention various balance changes and
bug fixes, but say nothing about the promised multiplayer maps. Here's a bit on
the new Warpath expansion: Voyage to North America to explore the new
campaign map which expands the Empire: Total War experience, with 5 brand new
American Indian factions, new units and technologies. Experience battles in the
new Warpath Campaign and lead one of the five new factions in an epic war to
defend your lands and drive out the invaders. Or, take these units and their
unique strengths into multiplayer battles.
EA and IDW
announce the planned January launch of ongoing comic book series based on
both Army of Two and Dragon Age as both digital and traditional
comics, with the Dragon Age series penned by Orson Scott Card. Here's a
bit: Written by veteran comic book writer Peter Milligan (X-Men, Batman,
Hellblazer), Army of Two is being published as a comic starting in January 2010.
Rising star Chester Ocampo is the cover artist while the interior
artist/penciler, Dexter Soy, is a ‘hot newcomer’ on the comic scene. Soy’s work
suggests influences from well-known comic artists such as Whilce Portacio and
Leinil Francis Yu. The first story arc, “Across the Border”, follows ex-Army
Rangers Salem and Rios as they form their own Private Military Corporation:
Trans World Operations. The story of the comic follow the events of the first
Army of Two game but takes place before the deadly invasion of Shanghai by The
40th Day initiative in the videogame sequel. In the comic, Salem and Rios get
more than they bargained for as they are unexpectedly caught in a brewing war
between the Mexican Army, drug cartels, and The Maras – one of the most powerful
street gangs in Mexico.
Inspired by the highly-anticipated BioWare™ RPG, Dragon Age: Origins, the Dragon
Age comic book series will be written by award-winning fiction writer Orson
Scott Card (Ender’s Game, Ultimate Iron Man). The cover artist is the critically
acclaimed Humberto Ramos. Story details and the interior artist are expected to
be announced shortly.
Valve announces
plans to promote the upcoming launch of Left 4 Dead 2 with a $25 million
ad campaign, spending almost 40 times the budget of George Romero's original
Dawn of the Dead to support the co-op zombie shooter. Here's
word: "Based on the strength of pre-orders, Left 4 Dead 2 will be the
fastest-selling product in Valve's history," said Gabe Newell, president of
Valve. "Left 4 Dead 2 has consistently run at 300% of Left 4 Dead's numbers."
Last year, Left 4 Dead was the top selling new property for both the Xbox 360
and PC. Sales were driven by strong word of mouth, top reviews, and a $10
million advertising campaign.
"We'll be supporting Left 4 Dead 2's launch with a $25 million campaign," said
Doug Lombardi, Valve's vice-president of Marketing. "Left 4 Dead 2 has already
set the record for greatest number of pre-orders in our company's history, and
we're still over a month out from shipping."
In the USA, the campaign will include Monday Night Football and UFC television
broadcasts, roadside billboards, and popular lifestyle and gaming sites.
This year's European plan is also more aggressive than last year's, with
television advertising in all the major markets appearing during sports and
lifestyle programming, plus strong outdoor investments in more cities, as well
as online and print advertising.
Konami is planning a new installment in the long-dormant Rocket Knight
series for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 for release next year.
1UP has a preview,
including details on the game's elaborate back-story, saying: "Unlike Rearmed,
this isn't simply a tarted-up remake of an old game; Rocket Knight is a sequel,
set 15 years after the last game in the series, 1994's Sparkster for Genesis."
Develop has word that adventure game vet Charles Cecil is working on a
Christmas Carol game to be released alongside a new film version of the
Dickens holiday classic being directed by Robert Zemeckis. Details like
platforms or a release date are not provided, but the
IMDB lists the Christmas
Carol movie for release next month.
A new Dragon Age: Origins trailer offers a look at the "living world"
BioWare is creating for their upcoming RPG. In the clip the games developers
show off some of its locations and describe how they tell stories of their own.
The clip is posted on
GameTrailers and
GameVideos.
A new Cities XL trailer offers a narrated walkthrough of single-player
gameplay in the urban panning game, showing the tools at the players' disposal
to create city that suits their goals. This movie is available on
GameTrailers.
- Battlestations: Pacific on
Direct2Drive. Only $5.00.
- Brothers In Arms: Road to Hill 30 Download on
Direct2Drive. Only $5.00.
- Codename: Panzers - Cold War on
Direct2Drive. Only $5.00.
- Company of Heroes Gold on
Direct2Drive. Only $5.00.
- Delta Force: Land Warrior on
Direct2Drive. Only $5.00.
- Delta Force: Task Force Dagger on
Direct2Drive. Only $5.00.
- Dreamkiller on
Steam. Pre-purchase and save 10%.
- Empire: Total War on
Steam. Save 50%.
- Hearts Of Iron II Collection on
Direct2Drive. Only $5.00.
- Supreme Commander Gold on
Direct2Drive. Only $5.00.
- Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Dark Crusade on
Direct2Drive. Only $5.00.
- World in Conflict Gold Edition on
Direct2Drive. Only $5.00.
Still on sale (previously reported)
- Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales on
GoGamer. Save 50%.
- ANNO 1404 on
GoGamer. Save 30%.
- AudioSurf on Steam.
Save 50%.
- Borderlands on
Direct2Drive. Save 10% on preorders.
- Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood on
GoGamer. Save 14%.
- Champions Online on
GoGamer. Save 20%.
- City of Heroes Architect Edition on
GoGamer. Save 10%.
- Cities XL: Pre-Purchase on
Steam. Limited
Edition for the standard edition price plus in-game bonus items.
- Dark Void Preorders on
GameStop. Outlines the preorder bonus.
- Dark Void Preorders on
Game Crazy. Get a limited edition Trexi.
- Fallen Earth on
GoGamer. Save 10%.
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on
GoGamer. Save 74%.
- Heroes of Might and Magic V on
GoGamer. Save 50%.
- Nemesis of the Roman Empire on
Impulse. Save 47%.
- Oddworld Games on
Steam. Save 66%.
- Painkiller Black Limited on
GoGamer. Save 85%.
- Premier Manager 2010 on
GoGamer. Save 44%.
- Raven Squad on Steam. Includes a free copy of Legendary.
- Red Faction: Guerrilla on
Direct2Drive. Save $5.00 with the code 5OFFREDFACTION at checkout.
- SFI Mission 4-Pack on
the Strategy First Website. Four games for $19.99.
- Shaun White Snowboarding on
GoGamer. Save 75%.
- Spiderweb Software Store. All games 10% off through October.
- Stronghold Legends on
GoGamer. Save 90%.
- Tex Murphy Series on
GOG.com. Save 30%.
- Tropico 3 Pre-purchase on
Steam. Save 10%.
- Tropico 3 on
Direct2Drive. Preorders save 10%.
- Ultimate Flight Collection on
GoGamer. Save 84%.
- Warlords Battlecry III on
Impulse. Save 47%.
- Wolfenstein on
Amazon. Save
44%.
- WWII Battle Tanks- T-34 vs Tiger on
GoGamer. Save 58%.
This
Press Release announces Ubisoft has acquired Nadeo, though terms of the deal
with the TrackMania developer are not revealed (thanks Frans). The
announcement is pretty brief, so here's the whole shebang: Paris, France
– October 05, 2009. Today, Ubisoft announced the acquisition of the development
studio Nadeo, creator of TrackMania, the cult multiplayer car racing video game.
Set up in 2000 in Paris and comprising a highly talented team of developers, the
Nadeo studio has won acclaim for the quality of its multiplayer technology which
offers one of the best available on-line game experiences and has already
notched up 10 million registered players. Its flagship game – TrackMania – has
700,000 unique players a month and is a pioneer in the sharing of creations
(almost 15 million custom tracks created since 2008). It is also the first
eSport franchise for racing games.
"The acquisition of Nadeo is an important step in our expansion within the
on-line gaming sector", said Yves Guillemot, Chief Executive Officer of Ubisoft.
“Through Nadeo, Ubisoft will gain an expert team, one of the best on-line
technologies around as well as a flagship multiplayer game that enjoys an
unrivalled reputation among a loyal and committed community. We are excited
about the idea of introducing TrackMania to an ever-wider audience and sharing
the expertise of Nadeo's teams with our Group's other developers”.
"Joining Ubisoft is a huge opportunity for us to develop and innovate and
take Nadeo to new horizons", said Florent Castelnérac, Chief Executive Officer
of Nadeo. “Nadeo’s team was keen for this acquisition to happen. Like players in
a community, we see ourselves as being a complementary fit with Ubisoft and
believe that we can share and quickly move ahead together".
Electronic Theatre has an updated
Activision Blizzard Release Schedule that indicates the PC edition of
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will be delayed for the PC platform. November
10 is still listed as the release date for the console editions, but the Windows
edition of the military combat sequel has been pushed back two weeks according
to this schedule, which lists PC Modern Warfare 2 for a November 24 release.
Thanks Preston.
Micah
Lapping-Carr's LinkedIn Profile has an intriguing note in the résumé of this
software engineer currently at Microsoft, with a listing of his time at
Electronic Arts suggesting the Medal of Honor series may follow Call
of Duty from World War II into the modern era, saying here was a production
intern in the summer of 2008 and he: "Worked on a Medal of Honor modern combat
title in various roles, including design and software engineering." Thanks
superannuation.
The Modern
Warfare 2 Website now features a new trailer called "Infamy" from
Infinity Ward's upcoming military shooter sequel. The clip shows off a lot of
gameplay, and some fairly epic tableaus, and concludes with scenes showing
combat in a war-torn Washington DC, showing the game's storyline involves combat
on American soil, also supported by this bit of voice-over: "The world has been
your battlefield. Everywhere you go the blood of brothers and sons screams out
against you. Perhaps you can not yet hear it, because the soil is not your own.
But you will... You will."
The
Oleg Maddox On IL-2 Interview on IncGamers talks with the designer about
IL-2 1946, IL-2: Birds of Prey, and other flight simulators from Maddox Games.
Along the way he reveals they are working on an unannounced series based on
the Battle of Britain: There are not many people in the team, but every
one of them is very talented. Often we will work very late into night. Right now
we are working full steam on a new simulator series, and the opening release
will be dedicated to the Battle of Britain in 1940. The guys are using
state-of-the-art technologies to achieve the highest realism possible starting
with the visual side and ending up with a real feeling of flight. We are
developing the engine with an eye to the future. It will be capable of much more
than will appear in the first release of the series. And you will see this
gradual development coinciding with the improvement of PC performance and
capabilities.
Lance
Stites Talks About the State of Aion Today on the Aion Website discusses the
ups and downs of the launch of Aion, NCsoft's MMORPG (thanks
IncGamers). The good news according to the NCsoft West executive producer is
the fact that the game is "polished and incredibly fun," and the bad news is the
server queues where players are spending too much of their time. He explains how
they so badly miscalculated demand for the game, and what they are doing to cut
down on waiting time going forward: I’m sure many of you are thinking,
“That’s all fine-but how does that help me get in and play the game? What is
NCsoft doing for me?” Fair question. First, we have already and will continue to
increase server capacity to ensure that we have server space for every user. The
reality of the situation is that some servers quickly become very popular
servers, with lines queued up to enter, but other servers have plenty of space
to accommodate players. Obviously, adding servers won’t help in this case. If
you’re waiting to enter a full server, 100 extra servers won’t help.
So the next question may be “What about my character I’ve already spent time
on?” Another good question. I’m excited to confirm that we are currently working
on implementing a server transfer service beginning next month. Specifically, we
will offer every player a free one-time server transfer for a limited time to
select servers. You can rest assured that addressing the demand for Aion is our
biggest priority. And I know a big question is “Why did you not deploy more
servers?” Most of you are savvy enough to realize that a healthy MMO server
needs a robust population. We have to calculate our reasonable concurrency
numbers in a week and in a month and beyond. The last thing we want to do to our
players is spread them out so that the “massively” in “massively multiplayer”
gets lost..
The Ships of the Line list on the
Star Trek Online Website outlines all the ships that will be part of Star
Trek Online, Cryptic Studios' upcoming Trekkie MMORPG. Well, almost all, as one
of the listings is "classified," with cloaked references to some sort of Romulan
secret weapon. Thanks
Massively.
Venezuela to outlaw violent video games, toys reports that Venezuela's
proposed legislation to outlaw violent toys and video games is
moving forward, and should be coming up for a final vote in the coming weeks.
The Bill is intended to address the South American country's soaring murder
rate, while critics point out that this might impact some retailers and
cyber-cafes, but will likely not impact Venezuela's "thriving market for pirated
video games."
Students in Singapore spend an average of 27 hours a week playing World of
Warcraft, Maple Story, and other such video games, reports
Straits Times. This is some preliminary information from an ongoing National
Institute of Education study that's been underway for three years now, and
should be completed by the end of this year.
I have passed the two week mark without coffee, and am doing okay with it. I
won't say I don't miss it, because that would be a lie, but that's not
addiction, that's just preference. I also recently related the story of being
nearly debilitated by withdrawal from lack of coffee a few months back, and am
happy to be past the prospect of that. I think like most immature adult males
raised on movies and comics, I have this background understanding that I someday
may be required to save the world from an invasion of zombies or aliens or
something, and it would be a shame to let the world down by becoming
incapacitated by lack of caffeine.
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