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Archived News:
There's a new "The Making of Coruscant" trailer on the
Star Wars: The
Old Republic Website where the folks at BioWare discuss the development
of the dynamic city world that serves as the capital of the republic for the
upcoming Star Wars MMORPG. Also, as
noted here,
the seventeenth issue of
Threat of Peace is online, with the latest installment in this comic series
that's part of the game's back story.
Edge Online has a statement from Activision confirming
yesterday's rumor that developer Shaba Games ( Spider-Man: Web
of Shadows) has been shut down. "Activision continually evaluates the
resources at our studio properties to ensure that they are properly matched to
our product slate and overall strategic goals, reads the statement. "As part of
this process, we recently made the difficult but necessary decision to close
Shaba Studios. We are grateful for the studio's contributions and wish this
talented team success in their future endeavors."
Steam News announces a
new automatic update is now available for Left 4 Dead. The new version of
the co-op zombie shooter fixes a few bugs, and makes available the variable to
allow users to set the maximum acceptable ping for a dedicated server.
- Cricket Revolution on
Steam. Save 10% on
pre-purchases.
- Machinarium on
Direct2Drive. Preorders save 25%.
- Painkiller: Resurrection on
Steam. Save 10% on
pre-purchases and get PK: Black and PK: Overdose free.
- Painkiller Universe on
GamersGate.
Save 50%.
- Strategy First on
GamersGate.
Save 20% on all titles.
- Team Fortress 2 on
Best Buy and FRYS.com.
Only $9.99. Thanks Johnny.
- Velvet Assassin on
GamersGate.
Save 50%.
Still on sale (previously reported)
- Battlestations: Pacific on
Direct2Drive. Only $5.00.
- Borderlands on
Direct2Drive. Save 10% on preorders.
- Brothers In Arms: Road to Hill 30 Download on
Direct2Drive. Only $5.00.
- Cellblock Squadrons on Impulse. Save 50%.
- 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%.
- Gratuitous Space Battles on
Impulse. Save 13% on
preorders.
- Hearts Of Iron II Collection on
Direct2Drive. Only $5.00.
- Hitman series on
Steam. Save 50%.
- Metal Drift on Steam. Save 20% on pre-purchase and get beta access.
- Nemesis of the Roman Empire on
Impulse. Save 47%.
- Oddworld Games on
Steam. Save 66%.
- Raven Squad on Steam. Includes a free copy of Legendary.
- Restaurant Empire 2 on
Impulse. Save 30%.
- SFI Mission 4-Pack on
the Strategy First Website. Four games for $19.99.
- Sins of a Solar Empire on
Impulse. Save 33%.
- Sins of a Solar Empire Bundle on
Impulse.
Save 14%.
- Spiderweb Software Store. All games 10% off through October.
- Supreme Commander Gold on
Direct2Drive. Only $5.00.
- Tex Murphy Series on
GOG.com. Save 30%.
- THQ Classic FPS Bundle on
Impulse.
Save 25%.
- Tropico 3 Pre-purchase on
Steam. Save 10%.
- Tropico 3 on
Direct2Drive. Preorders save 10%.
- Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Dark Crusade on
Direct2Drive. Only $5.00.
- Warlords Battlecry III on
Impulse. Save 47%.
- Wolfenstein on
Amazon. Save
44%.
- World in Conflict Gold Edition on
Direct2Drive. Only $5.00.
Gearbox Software
announces that development of Borderlands is complete,
and the now-gold role-playing shooter will hit stores this month as expected.
The PC edition will ship in North America on October 26, and the international
release will follow on October 30, while the console editions will ship on
October 20 in North America and October 23 Internationally. The "Buy Now" option
on the Borderlands Website
brings up a list of retailers offering preorders, some of which are offering
bonuses.
With the previously announced Double XP weekend and welcome back
program in City of Heroes
currently underway,
Paragon Studios
announces the first missions created by their
guest author program will be going live next week. They promise
four missions will go live on Tuesday, October 13, outlining three of them,
which are authored by New York Times bestselling writer Bill Willingham, Red vs.
Blue originators Rooster Teeth, and PvP author Scott Kurtz. In the meantime,
the City of Heroes website outlines a new mission arc that's now live,
called "How to Save a Convention" in honor of their upcoming
Hero-Con.
TopWare
Interactive announces Scivelation, a third-person shooter set in a
dystopian future in the works at Black Wing Foundation for release in mid-2010
for Windows and unnamed consoles. They've released a
few
screenshots showing off the game's Unreal Engine 3 visuals. Also,
GBASE has some background on this in their native German, saying this
project started as a Source Engine game titled Salvation before the engine and
title change, and it was originally announced for PC and Xbox 360, which may
indicate the game's target console. Here's the announcement: Las Vegas -
Dnepropetrovsk, October 9th, 2009. TopWare Interactive has acquired the
exclusive worldwide publishing rights to Scivelation, Black Wing Foundation’s
ambitious, story driven, action game. Armed with the Unreal III Engine,
Scivelation is slated for a mid-2010 release for PC and next-gen consoles.
Scivelation will transform the Third-Person Shooter genre into an unrelenting
interactive experience, hurling the player into a blockbuster journey, steeped
in conflict and veiled in uncertainty.
Set in the distant future, Scivelation’s universe is a world born out of the
ashes of conflict and misery. An oppressive global dictatorship, known as the
Regime, has risen to power after the aftermath of the Apocalypse; aggressively
seeking out and eliminating any opposition to their tyrannical government. With
this capricious, dystopian reality as a backdrop, the player will take his or
her place amongst the ranks of the resistance, waging war throughout the
furthest reaches of the globe in this action-packed battle for freedom and
survival.
GameSpot Australia reports that World of Warcraft has finally
received a rating in Australia, after operating for several years without a
classification, as MMOGs have been allowed to operate unclassified. Blizzard
explains this: "However, back in 2004, we were advised by the Office of Film and
Literature Classification (OFLC) that the online-only nature of World of
Warcraft was unclassifiable under its definition of computer games at that time.
Recent changes at the Classification Board have led to their ability to classify
online only games such as World of Warcraft." The classification board
disagrees, saying it should have been rated all along: "It is the Board's view
that World of Warcraft meets the definition of a computer game provided in the
Classification Act and therefore can be classified." Either way, the game and
its Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King expansions all now carry an M
rating for "fantasy violence," along with consumer advice stating "online
content variable." Thanks
Big Download.
There's a
Star
Trek Online Interview on Eurogamer where Cryptic's Craig Zinkievich
answers some questions about the upcoming game looking to boldly go where no
MMORPG has gone before. They also discuss the change of pace the sci-fi genre
represents after working as producer on the two "City of" comic book games,
ground combat, melee combat, and more. They discuss how the Klingons are a fully
playable race in the game, though it will take several hours of gameplay to
unlock the ability to roll up a Klingon. They also go into how Klingon gameplay
will differ from Federation gameplay, involving a more PvP focus, and while
the game will launch with only two factions, they plan to add more after launch,
saying: "the Romulan Star Empire, the Cardassians will come back - there's a
huge number who want to play as them, but not within the Star Fleet, not within
the Federation." Weird side-note of the day: My spell checker thinks "Klingon"
should be changed to "Clinton."
The latest episode of
Gametrailers TV is now online, offering a look at Modern Warfare 2
straight from the offices of Infinity Ward. The clip features thoughts on the
game from Vince Zampella and other developers along with a bunch of gameplay
footage. They also discuss the revelation in the recent trailer
that some of the game's battles will take place in the US, and Vince stresses
this will only be part of the game, but is cagy about answering questions about
whether the player is part of the attacking or defending forces on US soil. They
also discuss and show off multiplayer play, including a look at the co-op Spec
Ops mode.
Today is the scheduled release date for Cities XL in North
America, following yesterday's release in other territories. In
addition to the retail release, Monte Cristo's urban planning game is available
via digital distribution on
Direct2Drive, Impulse,
and Steam or as a Limited
Edition on
Direct2Drive, Impulse,
and Steam. A playable
demo was released last month, but this was only playable during
the month of September.
Got Game
Entertainment announces they will be publishing Worldshift in North
America, offering the futuristic real-time strategy game from Crytek Black Sea
that was released last year in Europe. Here's a bit from the press
release: In the aftermath of a massive asteroid collision, Earth’s
survivors splintered -- many now live in futuristic mega-cities, while others
represent the tribal remnants of civilization's past. A third faction, an alien
race, also stakes its claim in this bold new universe. Playing as Humans,
Tribes, or Alien Cult, your daily battles and missions for precious resources
will require a shift in thinking and a shift in strategy to prevail in this
world shift!
The
Interview with Lorne Lanning on Bitmob discusses the Oddworld series
with the co-founder and creative director of Oddworld Inhabitants. Along the way
he reveals plans to bring previously console-only titles Oddworld: Munch's
Oddysee and Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath to the PC via digital
distribution: So yes, we will be seeing more from Oddworld. Regarding the
library, we are in the process of converting Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee and
Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath to the PC, so that all four of the major Oddworld
games will be re-releasing this winter in a package called "The Oddbox." This
will be the Abe games, Munch, and Stranger as one package for Steam's digital
distribution network, as well as a few other digital distribution
outlets.
Planet Diablo outlines
problems users have been reporting trying to run Diablo II under Windows
7, some unable to run the game in full screen mode, with others reporting other
graphical bugs, and even crashes. They also outline some solutions and
workarounds that may help get the old school action/RPG running on the new
school OS. Thanks Ant.
A
Yahoo! Tech article outlines a new crackdown in China, on online games
"operating illegally and featuring content deemed to be unhealthy." They say the
Beijing News reports authorities have shut down over 45 online games that
"encouraged players to engage in illegal activities such as drug trafficking and
prostitution."
Modus Pwned – Forced ‘Fun’- Video Games and Compulsive Behavior. Thanks
Mike Martinez.
For example, I often speak to people who have forced themselves to finish
the main quest in games that they stopped enjoying partway through. A friend
of mine spent over fifty hours playing Baten Kaitos, even though I heard
nothing but complaining beyond the fifteen-hour mark. Many online discussion
forums are littered with people speaking about forcing themselves to
complete games that they hated. (Although ‘finish what you start’ is a
valuable life principle, we should be careful not to apply it too broadly!)
Kotaku - Is Single-Player Gaming In Danger Of Extinction?
There is some cause for concern for the solo-only player. Massively
successful games like Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and
Valve's Left 4 Dead offered shorter campaign modes in favor of a more robust
multiplayer feature set. And StarCraft fans may be more than perturbed about
the late release of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, already sliced into
three campaigns, largely due to delays with Battle.net, Blizzard's
multiplayer service.
Destructoid - The little things that every RPG should have. Thanks Mike Martinez.
Even worse, a great many RPGs shun them altogether, despite how easy they
are to include and how big a difference they can make, despite their
subtlety. Obviously, we cannot let that stand. Good roleplaying games have
been throwing in quiet-yet-wonderful touches without applause for far too
long, and it's about time we took notice of the little things.
- Left 4 Dead 2 on
GameSpy. Multiplayer preview.
- Mass Effect 2 on
IGN. "...the
series' Empire Strikes Back."
As hard as it is to believe, today is the 13th anniversary of this site moving
to its own domain, as it was on this day back in 1996 that bluesnews.com went
online. I would like to thank you all for your support over the years, as well
as to thank those who send in news tips and other links. This also seems like a
good opportunity to mention some changes are in the works over the next few
weeks here. I won't go into detail now, which is bound to provoke speculation,
but not to worry, I have no doubts that these will be viewed as positive
developments.
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