Archived News:
The Team Fortress 2 Blog announces the launch of the Team Fortress 2 Contribute Website to allow the community to contribute Team Fortress 2 items and avatars, which will be added to Valve's multiplayer shooter (pending approval). Word is: "we are now accepting submissions for fan-designed TF2 items and avatars, immortalizing you in the Team Fortress 2 pantheon forever while keeping our jobs safe. Pending approval, your item will get added to your backpack, and cycled into the random item drops in-game. Blow up stuff using a weapon you created! Kill an enemy, then let him know he died in a hat you designed! Weapons, hats, avatars -- designed by you, used by the entire TF2 community."
Another new update for Team Fortress 2 is available through Steam. The change list for this one is pretty lengthy. Continue here to read the full story.
Steam offers a new automatic patch for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. This list of fixes is pretty short: • Fix for latest texture hacks
• Fix to prevent players from getting inside geo
• Fix to prevent players with illegally pirated copies of Modern Warfare 2 from matchmaking with legitimate Modern Warfare 2 players
• Connection improvements for NAT-PMP routers
• Fix for "elevator" glitch that allows players to get out of playable area
I Am Alive is delayed again, reports IGN. It was very close to a year ago that the game was delayed into fiscal 2010, and IGN contacted the publisher after noticing the game's absence from today's financial report. They say the following quote is from a conference call: "We have been totally re-engineering the product, so it is still on the way," said Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot. "It will use the Splinter Cell engine. We think it can become a very good quality product."
Native American-owned A.N. Group announces the acquisition of the intellectual property rights to The Rook, described as "the popular graphic story series created by W.B. DuBay and Budd Lewis," saying they intend to bring the property to television, film, and gaming. The Rook, aka Restin Dane, is a time traveler, as he is a descendant of the time-traveling scientist in H.G. Wells' The Time Machine. Word is: "The Rook fights to right history's wrongs while exploring his own fascinating historical roots and saving those he loves from the ravages of time." Joystiq contacted A.N. Group with questions about this, and asked about platforms: "I would never frown on any format or any idea of that nature, but as far as the modules for the iPhones with touch -- I'm much more interested in the console or PC format," creative consultant Brady Baya told them. "It's still very much in the infancy stage -- I think there's some connections with EA, but really we're gonna network with all the major players to see who has a take on what. I'm thinking there's huge potential for an MMO as well as an adventure platform as far as where we wanna go with it."
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences announces Mark Cerny is this year's inductee into their Hall of Fame, and will receive his award from Brian Allgeier of Insomniac Games at the 13th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. The Awards, will take place during the 2010 D.I.C.E. Summit on Thursday, February 18, 2010 at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas, and will be broadcast on IFC-TV on February 25. Cerny, who received a lifetime achievement award from the International Game Developers Association in 2004, worked at Atari and Sega before founding Cerny Games, is described as "the closest we have come to a modern-day Da Vinci," by Joseph Olin, president, AIAS. "He is a diversely accomplished game designer, producer, programmer and technologist. Fluent in Japanese and one of the foremost Western experts on the Japanese game market, he's also one of the only top-level independents in a business dominated by institutions. His contributions to projects have been phenomenally successful, with sales of almost two billion dollars and over a dozen titles each exceeding two million units in sales."
Gamasutra follows up on the Rockstar Spouse letter they posted last week alleging exploitative working conditions at Rockstar San Diego. They have what's purported to be an internal Rockstar email denying the allegations in the mail, but urging employees to voice grievances, saying: "We are committed to working through any issues anyone at the studio may have, and to providing support wherever possible." The International Game Developers Association has also issued a statement on this, saying in part: "Events like these raise the awareness of quality of life issues in the industry and among the public. The IGDA has made clear its stance on excessive uncompensated overtime, and this instance represents an opportunity for reflection across the industry. Particularly with the stresses imposed by the declining economy, game studios, like other independent businesses, are under increased pressure and therefore are more susceptible to production concerns."
Bizpunk, a blog by former Electronic Arts executive vice president of mobile and online Mitch Lasky, is highly critical of EA 's business dealings in several areas, notably the transition to a digitally distributed future, saying, "EA is in the wrong business, with the wrong cost structure and the wrong team, but somehow they seem to think that it is going to be a smooth, two-year transition from packaged goods to digital." Lasky, a partner at tech investment firm Benchmark Capital, recounts outlining a plan to cut costs and prepare for a games-as-services future and being told by EA execs at the time, "they literally couldn't imagine going to Wall Street with a message of increased profitability rather than top-line revenue growth." He describes his take on the current state of EA's business: "The old EA model was a basically a three-legged stool: 1) a profitable, recurring sports business (Madden, FIFA); 2) franchise games that produced big hits on a less frequent basis (The Sims, Need for Speed, Command & Conquer); and 3) a collection of digital assets (e.g.: Pogo & JAMDAT, and now Playfish) and distribution/partnership titles (e.g.: Rock Band & Left 4 Dead). Of those, the only stool leg left intact is the third one. Without the digital assets and the EA Distribution titles, they'd be in even more serious hot water." Thanks Gamasutra.
Arcen Games announces the release of The Zenith Remnant, the promised first expansion for AI War, their science-fiction 4X Strategy/RTS hybrid. This forum post has the release notes, and the expansion, available on this page, can be installed as a trial to either the trial or registered version of the base game. Speaking of the base game, a new patch is now available for AI War: Fleet Command to update it to version 3.0. This forum post has the full release notes, and word is the game or demo can be updated through the "Check for Updates" button on the menu. The patch is extensive, adding updated art, new starships, co-op improvements, new ships, new minor factions, and more.
A post on superannuation notes no fewer than four new Trademark registrations by Sony Computer Entertainment (which ironically makes very little of its entertainment for computers). They have filed registrations for Digi-Tiles, Earthshield, Legend of Kunoichi, and Smashbreak.
As noted on the Bethesda Blog, a number of openings are posted on the id Software jobs page as id looks to fill several positions at their Mesquite, TX offices. Word is: "Within the current listing, they have several programming positions open, as well as positions in Animation, Art, Design, IT, and Management."
Link of the Day: Company creates sarcasm punctuation. Thanks [H]ard-OCP. Seems like a great idea, but I haven't paid the $1.99 to punctuate this sentence
The Fallen Earth Website announces part two of the graphics upgrade for Fallen Earth is now live. Word is: "Stage two of the environmental graphic improvements not only enhances the appearance of existing shadows—including character shadow details—but smoothes out all visible shadows throughout Fallen Earth, creating a more prominent, crisp look."
Irrational Games has a few job openings that suggest an unannounced multiplayer shooter is in the works at their Boston studio ( Project Icarus perhaps?). They have posted openings for a Multiplayer Level Designer "familiar with the current state of the art in game design across a wide range of genres on both PC and console," a programmer with "experience with Unreal Engine technology," and a level builder with "experience creating first-person levels using Unreal, Quake, Half-Life or similar technologies for commercial titles (this must be demonstrated through actual levels created for these engines)." Thanks Blend Games.
In answer to a question that's bounced around our forums recently, Steam is now accepting pre-purchases of Mass Effect 2. They are offering the same preorder bonus as Direct2Drive, a suit of Inferno In-Game Armor. BioWare's RPG sequel is slated for release on January 26 in North America and January 29 in Europe.
The Interview with Valve's Chet Faliszek on the Official Xbox 360 Magazine talks with the Valve writer about Left 4 Dead 2, in an interview that has apparently been carefully aged since before the release of Valve's zombie shooter sequel. They discuss various aspects of the game, including a revelation about a rejected Left 4 Dead 2 zombie, which was called "The Leaker," presumably in honor of the employee in charge of securing the Half-Life 2 source code. "With The Leaker, the idea was a kind of Boomer that could take damage, and shoot out spouts of goo. And you could plant yourself and explode - be this walking bomb," Faliszek explains. "The problem is there's a warning that you're going to do that. So when you go to plant yourself, everyone else runs away, and you just die and don't hurt anybody. It's pretty unsatisfying. The idea isn't entirely bad, and some of that we brought over to The Spitter."
Rob Bartel's LinkedIn profile has an interesting item listed as one of the past projects for the BioWare designer. His résumé includes an entry reading: "Principal Designer, Lead Multiplayer Designer - Unannounced multiplatform action title at BioWare EA." Thanks Blend Games.
Ubisoft announces registration is now underway for beta testing of The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom, the next installment in the long-running Settlers series of strategy games. You are being asked to pay for the privilege in this case, as registration requires a paid FilePlanet account (as well as a free Ubi.com account). Word is: "The beta will start January 19th and will offer the tutorial missions of the single-player campaign as well as skirmish maps for multiplayer mode or games against the AI. Registered beta testers will be able to discuss the game with developers in a closed board." The announcement has a feature list for the game.
The LinkedIn profile of Irrational Games programmer Shane Mathews mentions the codename of his current project, listing the following: "September 2008 to Present: Project Icarus." Hopefully this project will keep a safe distance from the sun. Shane's specialty is listed as "Unreal Engine Programming." Thanks superannuation.
1C's international publishing director Darryl Still accuses retail of failing to support boxed PC games in statements posted on MCV. "There is still demand, but retail is forcing PC games out. Digital is fantastic, and we’re very pleased with it. But it is not us as the developers and publishers driving products to digital – it is because the options for the PC at retail are so limited," says Still. "It is extra strange because there is a much better margin on PC games. The industry should be embracing PC more enthusiastically." He expresses the opinion that the PC marketplace will be completely digital sooner than most estimates, saying he expects the transition to be complete within a year: "Q1 2011 is my estimate as to when PC games will be sold completely via digital. I have seen the predictions that by 2013 more than 50 per cent of our revenues will be earned digitally. But if the PC games market has to wait until 2013 then we are all in trouble." This is in contrast to a report on GamesIndustry.biz that says 79% of handheld, PC, Mac, and mobile sales in Q3 2009 were physical media.
Ubisoft announces financial targets, revising sales figures downward: "The sales targets for third-quarter and full-year 2009-10 have been revised downwards to €495 million and around €860 million respectively, from the previously announced figures of €540 million and €1,040 million." The announcement includes news about a few games. Word is one of the factors in their forecast is: "The postponed release dates for Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction™ and R.U.S.E™, which were previously scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2009-10, and will now be released in 2010-11. Splinter Cell Conviction™ is now expected to hit the stores in April 2010." They offer initial info on their 2010-2011 lineup which includes word on a multiplayer installment in the Assassin's Creed series: The 2010-11 fiscal year will see a greater number of franchise releases than in 2009-10, including Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction™, a new game in the Tom Clancy™’s Ghost Recon® series, Prince of Persia The Forgotten Sands™, Driver®, Raving Rabbids™ 4 and a new episode of Assassin’s Creed®, which will be the first in the series to have an online multiplayer mode. The 2010-11 line-up will be more focused on the Xbox 360® and PLAYSTATION® 3, the consoles which are expected to experience sustained sales growth in games for gamers in calendar 2010. Other new franchises and innovations will also be announced throughout the year.
A new trailer for Transformers: War for Cybertron is now available, showing off more cinematics from the upcoming Transformers prequel game in development at High Moon Studios. The clip is accompanied by a new description of what to expect from the game: "Transformers: War for Cybertron features two distinct storylines: the AUTOBOT campaign tells a story of heroism to save their home planet against overwhelming odds, and the DECEPTICON campaign tells a story of an unquenchable thirst for power to control the universe. For the first time in a TRANSFORMERS title, fans will be able to play the game with their friends through team-based online co-op, or go head to head in a variety of intense, online multiplayer game modes. The game features a sci-fi art style that introduces to fans the entire living, metallic world of CYBERTRON, as well as all-new visualizations of the iconic TRANSFORMERS characters in their original Cybertronian forms." The trailer can be found on the YouTube and embedded below. Continue here to read the full story.
Telltale Games announces they are celebrating "Trogday," as today marks the seventh anniversary of the first appearance of Trogdor on Homestarrunner.com. They are commemorating the occasion on Trogday.com where they are offering the Trogdor-themed episode of Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People for free. If this inspires a burninating desire for more, they are also offering the full season of the episodic series for $19.95, a discount off its $29.95 list price.
A BioShock 2 article on Kotaku hears from BioShock 2 creative director Jordan Thomas about a couple of ways the gameplay in the underwater shooter sequel departs from the original game. One of the areas being changed is vita-chambers, which can be turned off in the sequel, and as Jordan explains, the vita-chamber exploits from the first BioShock are mitigated by the little sisters healing some of their big daddies' health while you are being reanimated. They also discuss how it will be impossible to backtrack to areas after they are completed, which Jordon confesses is more due to technical limitations than a design decision: "We came down to having to choose between supporting backtracking and much more interesting, readable features ...and decided to invest in things we thought people would actually notice. We also got some knock-on benefits like shorter loading times because of the way the memory was structured once backtracking was no longer an issue." He also explains how any unresolved little sister/big daddy conflicts will not be lost due to lack of backtracking, as they will be added to subsequent levels. Thanks nin.
The introductory trailer from Theatre of War 2: Kursk 1943 is now available to set the stage for the release of the next installment in 1C Company's World War II strategy series. Battlefront.com also now offers updated system specifications for the game calling for a 2.4 GHx dual-core CPU and a 256 MB GeForce 6600 or Radeon X1900 graphics card at minimum and recommending a Core 2 Duo E8400 or Phenom II X550 CPU and a 512 MB GeForce 8800 or Radeon HD 4850. The cinematic trailer is posted on the YouTube, and the complete system specifications follow. Continue here to read the full story.
A new hotfix patch for World War 2: Time of Wrath is now available to update the Matrix and GamersGate versions of Wastelands Interactive's World War II strategy game to version 1.70a. The new version improves stability during naval turns, corrects "lack of six" (oops!) during die rolls, and saves deploy preferences during gameplay. The download is available from AtomicGamer, Filefront, The Patches Scrolls, and WorthPlaying.
The Aliens Vs Predator interview part two Computer and Video Games hears from Rebellion co-founder Jason Kingsley about Aliens Vs Predator, their upcoming three-faction shooter. Jason says he believes the game has "game of the year" potential," and they are also looking to the future, as they hope to make a sequel, and already have DLC plans: "We're in the phase where we enter submissions. The teams are having a break and coming up with ideas... We're discussing things with Sega at the moment. The amount of DLC will depend on Sega's commercial requirement, but we'd definitely love to do a lot."
A Mass Effect 2: The Soldier feature on IGN discusses the Soldier class in Mass Effect 2 with Christina Norman, Lead Gameplay Designer on BioWare's upcoming RPG sequel. In addition to the conversation about this master of weaponry a gameplay trailer narrated by Christina Norman shows the Soldier in action using "way too many guns." The busy Ms. Norman is also the subject of a Mass Effect 2 Interview on Rock, Paper, Shotgun, discussing the game's increased shooter emphasis, "story death" versus "combat death," and gold bikinis. There's also a Mass Effect 2 Interview on Neoseeker discussing a variety of topics with BioWare's Casey Hudson. The trailer is also embedded below. Continue here to read the full story.
Activision Blizzard announces that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has passed $1 billion in worldwide retail sales according to their internal estimates. This is all the more impressive considering the game has only been available for about two months. "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has exceeded our expectations and shattered theatrical box office and video game records," says Activision CEO Bobby Kotick. "There are only a handful of entertainment properties that have ever reached the $1 billion mark, which illustrates the power of the Call of Duty franchise and mass appeal of this game."
A story on Reuters quotes a number of industry analysts suggesting CEO of Electronic Arts John Riccitiello is facing "growing negative sentiment" from shareholders, as EA share value has dropped 70% during Riccitiello's tenure, and fell 8% Tuesday after having risen only 2.7% in the past year. In contrast, Activision's shares rose 17% in the past year, Take-Two Interactive shares rose 35%, and THQ Inc rose 8%. They quote several industry analysts outlining investor concerns, though parting remarks from Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter indicate he thinks strong March and June quarters will save EA management from the chopping block: "I think their lineup is going to save them."
GameInformer.com has an article on Division 9, a co-op zombie shooter that was left for dead long before Left 4 Dead was released. They have quotes from Ken Levine and other Irrational staff describing a game that had base-building functions, strategic decision making, and relentless waves of zombie attacks. The article also includes a trailer showing off some demo gameplay. Word is the game came this close (picture two fingers very close together) to production, as they sold the game to Vivendi in a deal that was nixed by the sale of Irrational to Take-Two.
IncGamers has a screenshot of a temporary placeholder page from the Legendary Pictures website for the Warcraft movie. This comes as they eagerly hunt for indications that production on the Warcraft movie has begun following confirmation of indications that Sam Raimi is not directing Spider-Man 4, leaving him free to direct the Warcraft movie as planned.
Patch #3 for FIFA Manager 10 is now available to update the association football/soccer simulation to version 2.0.0.5 with new display options, new player pictures, and more. There's a change log on the FIFA Manager 10 Website, and the download is available from AtomicGamer, Filefront, The Patches Scrolls, and WorthPlaying.
Guardian.co.uk - Could it be the end for game endings?
Over the past few years, however, the idea of a game as simply something to 'finish' has shifted somewhat. For starters, the availability of downloadable content means no story need ever end, as long as the makers think there's a paying audience. Also, the ubiquity of broadband means multiplayer gaming is now the standard, not the exception it once was. There is no real 'finish' to most MMORPGs.
The Gunnar-man started limping the other night; he had no cuts or any such thing, so we tried to keep him from being too active to further aggravate what seemed to be a minor sprain. This is not easy with Gunnar, who is sort of a cross between Tigger from Winnie the Pooh and Rocky the Squirrel, as he tends to jump up and down when excited (his standing vertical leap is easily three feet) and fly off the back deck or front porch when we let him out. He seems better now, so we'll put his injury to the test today, as the dogs are climbing the walls after two days without getting out for a run on the doggie trail.
R.I.P.: Jeff Minter's sheep. Very sad. Thanks Morris.
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