Archived News:
Open beta testing is now underway for Mercenary Wars, Uforia's online first-person shooter, offering launch events that include chances to win prizes. Word is: "The open beta test includes the latest content update featuring two new maps, the Black Market System cash shop and a new anti-hack system. Besides the open beta test, players will also be introduced to the brand-new Mercenary Wars homepage which includes new features. Along with the new website, Uforia is unveiling an all-new game trailer highlighting all of the intense action!" The trailer they mention is here, this press release has all the details, and here's a bit: 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.
Steam News announces a new automatic patch is now available for Team Fortress 2, updating Valve's teamplay shooter with a number of fixes, crafting improvements, and achievement fixes. The lengthy change list follows. Continue here to read the full story.
The Paradox Interactive Forums now offer patches for East India Company to update the naval RTS as well as its Privateer expansion. The "Designer's Cut" Patch 1 can apply to any prior version of the game, while the Privateer patch obviously also requires that add-on, and both patches are available in your choice of English, German, and French languages. For the Designer's Cut, the English patch is mirrored on The Patches Scrolls, the French patch is mirrored on The Patches Scrolls and WorthPlaying, and the German patch is mirrored on The Patches Scrolls. For Privateer, the English patch is mirrored on The Patches Scrolls and WorthPlaying, the French patch is mirrored on The Patches Scrolls and WorthPlaying, and the German patch is mirrored on The Patches Scrolls and WorthPlaying. The patch notes for each follow. Continue here to read the full story.
The Steam Holiday Sale is underway, offering up to 80% off through January 3.
A Capcom investor document ( Adobe Acrobat-format) lists a few titles delayed out of Capcom's fiscal fourth quarter, which concludes on March 31, 2010. These are console titles, but included in the list is Lost Planet 2, which has been rumored to be PC bound. The rescheduled titles will be "spread across all four quarters" of Capcom's fiscal 2011 (April 1, 2010-March 31, 2011), which is when the document says to expect Dead Rising 2. The delay to these titles is to: "Avoid competing with the major titles that other companies plan to introduce in the 4th quarter" (many of which were delayed to avoid competing with releases in the current quarter). The report also has a downward revision of sales estimates for Dark Void from 1.3 million units down to 600,000. Thanks Joystiq.
The Red Faction Underground has news that a new patch for Red Faction: Guerilla is now available automatically through Games for Windows LIVE (thanks AgentX7). Details on the long-awaited update follow. Continue here to read the full story.
As a holiday gift, S2 Games announces that Heroes of Newerth has kicked into open beta testing mode. Word is anyone desiring a beta key can pick one up freely between now and Christmas. The Heroes of Newerth Create a Beta Account Page is where to go to create an account.
The QUAKE LIVE Website has details on a new update that's now live in QUAKE LIVE, id Software's free online shooter. The update includes a holiday-themed Capture the Flag arena called "Silent Night" that's a reworking of the Team Arena map called "Distant Screams," of which they say: "It's primarily outdoors and larger than most of our other arenas, so it supports up to 32 players." There are also new Santa and Vixen player models. This preview page shows off the new content, and this change list has all the details on the new version.
The Command & Conquer Website has a new "Tiberium Harvesting" trailer from Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight, since the stuff isn't just going to harvest itself. The clip includes commentary from game designer Jeremy Feasel, producer Raj Joshi, and art director Chris Tamburrino, who discuss how gameplay in the RTS sequel involves a scarcity of Tiberium, and how Tiberium is acquired through a new harvesting mechanic. They discuss the thinking behind the changes, and how this alters gameplay from prior C&C games.
A new trailer from Aliens vs. Predator narrated by Karl Bishop Weyland (Lance Henriksen) starts as a reassuring corporate promo for the loyal and caring Weyland-Yutani Corporation, before the inevitable Aliens show up. The clip from Rebellion's first-person shooter remake features Aliens, Predators, Colonial Marines, and the mayhem that inevitably ensues when the three mix. You can view the trailer on the YouTube or below. Continue here to read the full story.
A new Mass Effect 2 trailer introduces the Infiltrator class from BioWare's upcoming action/RPG sequel. The clip is narrated by Christina Norman, lead designer on the game, who describes Infiltrators as master assassins and covert operatives, saying these experts in long-range combat bring a variety of tech powers to the battlefield. The clip concentrates on the powerful "tactical cloak," and the combat advantages and disadvantages to being invisible. Accompanied by a pair of new Mass Effect 2 screenshots, the clip is on the YouTube and an embedded version follows. Continue here to read the full story.
Wired's Vaporware 2009 "honorees" are now online, with their annual celebration of failed releases. There are two games on this year's list: Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode 3 and StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (which nailed down the top spot). They also choose to pick on a mod for some reason, singling out Black Mesa Source over the million mods that have never seen the light of day. Vaporware was once a name for products that would never actually be released, but the term seems to have evolved to cover anything with a long development cycle. Thanks Mike Martinez.
The Dead Space 2 Interview on Computer and Video Games chats with some of the folks at Visceral Games about Dead Space 2, their horror-themed shooter sequel. They discuss various aspects of the game, and address the departure of GM Glen Schofield and COO Michael Condrey, with Executive Producer Steve Papoutsis saying: "It takes a lot more than 2 people to make a great game. The entire team did a tremendous job on the original. We are fortunate to have the majority of those folks back on the sequel. I think the work that is happening now is fantastic and surpasses what we did on the original. We are not being held back at all on Dead Space 2 and hopefully people will see that when they get to see more of the game."
The opening cinematic is now available for Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot, the second DLC for Borderlands, Gearbox Software's role-playing shooter. The clip outlines Moxxi's quest for a suitable mate, which for the time being she is sublimating to her quest to find a suitable target. We've posted the clip to the YouTube and embedded it below. Continue here to read the full story.
The promised version 1.05 patch for ARMA II is now available, updating Bohemia Interactive's military shooter sequel with changes, bug fixes, a new gameplay mode, and the Eagle Wing free DLC. There are full details on the patch in this announcement and thoughts on the topic from Marek Španěl in this developer's blog discussing improved AI, new anti-cheating measures, the removal of DRM, and more. Word is the patch can be applied to the Steam edition of the game, as well as any previous version of the retail edition. The patch can be found on the ARMA II website and it is mirrored on ActionTrip, AtomicGamer, FanGaming, FileFront, Gamer's Hell, The Patches Scrolls, and WorthPlaying. There is also an updated Linux standalone server on the ARMA II Website, which is mirrored on AtomicGamer and WorthPlaying.
Learn to Let Go: How Success Killed Duke Nukem on Wired hashes through the development history of Duke Nukem Forever, the unreleased first-person shooter that could serve as a poster child for vaporware after a 12 year production cycle. Though 3D Realms' George Broussard and Scott Miller did not participate in interviews and Broussard requested the same of their former employees, they got enough access to put together an inside look at what lead to the failures of this ambitious project. They discuss the problems caused by chasing technology and multiple engine switches, the "problem" of having too much money, the trials of managing a staff working on a project with no apparent end in sight, and the project's final days when 3D Realms finally needed outside money to complete the game. The conclusion includes this outlook on whether the game will ever be released: Many observers think Take-Two is attempting to bleed 3D Realms dry until it has no more cash, then convince a judge to force Broussard and Miller to hand over intellectual-property rights to the Duke Nukem franchise to repay the $2.5 million advance. “It’s an IP grab,” says one Dallas-area developer. If Take-Two actually secured the rights to Duke Nukem, it might likely throw out the by-then-aging Duke Nukem Forever and simply hire new developers to produce new Duke games. But even without the suit, there is only a short window for Duke Nukem Forever to come out in its current form before it will have to be revised yet again, to keep pace with changing technology.
An update to the Team Fortress 2 Blog has word on back-end fixes underway: "We've got one more update to go out to our backend item system. After that, we'll be granting all the missing items that weren't granted properly when you finished achievements." In a far more substantial update, they announce that you can beta test the current incarnation of Team Fortress 2 bots that Valve is cooking up for the multiplayer shooter. They outline how you can test the bots in King of the Hill on koth_viaduct, koth_sawmill, and koth_nucleus, ad explain what to expect from your AI playmates: TFBots are "players", and take up player slots. They run the exact same code that human players do, moving and firing weapons by pressing "virtual buttons". The bots have simulated humanlike senses, and only know what they see, hear, and touch. They also have realistic reaction times and aiming limitations. They don't "cheat" or use omniscient knowledge of the server state to make their decisions.
The Planet Calypso Website has details on the new version 10.6.2 that's now live in MindArk's MMORPG. The new version adds the winner of their community "create-a-critter" contest as well as a new item enhancement system. Full details on the new version are in the Version 10.6.2 Content List. Planet Calypso, formerly known as Entropia Universe, is a game that runs on a real cash economy.
The Slitherine Strategies Downloads Section now offers a patch for HISTORY: Great Battles Medieval to add the multi-language support from the new international version of the strategy game announced yesterday. Word is: "If you do not want the new languages you do not need this patch and as its [sic] about 500MB it is probably best not to bother unless you really want the other languages!" The download is mirrored on WorthPlaying.
The Assassin's Creed II interview on Kotaku is a conversation with Patrice Desilets of Ubisoft Montreal looking back at development of Assassin's Creed II. The lengthy interview covers a wide range of topics, including how some of the content originally planned for the stealth/action sequel was out on the back-burner for release as upcoming DLC so they could complete the game and give players something to look forward to after the game's release, with Desilets saying: "I think we gave them so much content that they cannot say that we owe them, that we didn't give them a lot for their 60 bucks."
Well the Giants gave their fans an early Christmas present last night by thumping the Redskins. At least I think they did: I'm afraid to turn on a sportscast this morning for fear I'll learn I was dreaming.
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