Archived News:
Joystiq points to a Norwegian newspaper article that's no longer available as a source of purported details on Mass Effect 2 DLC, which the article said will be available around the release of BioWare's RPG sequel. The DLC is said to include new weapons, an unlockable planet, and a new ally. As stated, the article has been removed, and there's no way of knowing at this point if it was accurate.
I Am Alive is getting a complete re-working, which is the reason for the recently revealed delay to the first-person survival game, which is now said to be due in 2011 at the earliest. "We have totally re-engineered I Am Alive. It's still on the way, it's going to use the Splinter Cell engine," Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot told Computer and Video Games. "We have amortized all the costs that were incurred with the previous developer" (the game was in the works at Darkworks before being Shanghaied by Ubisoft Shanghai). Guillemot adds: "Everything we do is fresh now on that product and we think it can be very good quality, but it's not going to come this financial year."
An updated version of yesterday's Dark Void demo is now available, though we're not clear on what's changed in this sample of Airtight Games' airborne action game. The new demo is available on ActionTrip, AtomicGamer, ComputerGames.ro, Filefront, and Gamer's Hell. Update: It seems the demo in this story is the same one from yesterday, and we are mistaken in thinking there was an update. Apologies for the error and any confusion it caused, especially to anyone who downloaded the dame demo a second time. On a related note, the sixth video developer diary for the game is also now available, it can be seen on the YouTube and below. Continue here to read the full story.
An early Into the Black tonight, as I have an engagement attend. This will probably mean some extra news tomorrow, as I was already a little behind before tonight's early departure (sorry about that).
Link of the Day: Jimmy Kimmel DESTROYS Jay Leno as a guest on 10@10. Thanks nin.
Eurogamer has word from DICE producer Gordon Van Dyke who explains that DICE makes "no profit" from the rental of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 servers, saying they are not publicly distributing dedicated server software to "protect the game's integrity on PC." While saying, "This does not earn DICE a profit," he leaves open the door to future policy changes by adding: "But we will see where the game goes and support it post launch."
Steam News announces the release of Aliens vs. Predator Classic 2000 very shortly after plans to revive Rebellion's first AvP shooter were revealed. The game carries a $4.99 USD price tag, and as noted earlier it does not include multiplayer support, which will be added by a future free patch. Word is: Aliens Versus Predator Classic 2000 features the Colonial Marine, Alien and Predator Campaigns and the frenetic single-player Skirmish mode from the original title: Alien Versus Predator Gold Edition, which was released to massive acclaim in 2000.
Alien Versus Predator Classic 2000 has been updated to run on modern PCs and laptops using DirectX 9.0c and includes support for Xbox 360 Controller for Windows, however, it does not currently support multi-player.
Continue here to read the full story.
There's a Just Cause 2 Multi-path Trailer on the YouTube offering the gameplay footage with the chance to control the action, Dragon Lair style, with branching outcomes that allow you to see various different aspects of gameplay in Avalanche Studios' upcoming action/shooter sequel. Word is: "Use your grapple and parachute to go in stealthily, coming in from the air and grappling guards out of towers; or go all-guns-a’blazin’, destroying everything and anyone in sight? Take a jeep and ride it down a mountainside or use an aerial bombardment of rockets from a hijacked helicopter? The choice is yours, and each clip will give you a different taste of the high-octane gameplay that will make Just Cause 2 one of the stand-out titles of 2010."
Oculus lives! declares a post to the Demigod forums by Stardock CEO Brad "Frogboy" Wardell, announcing the availability of Oculus, the second free post-release demigod for Demigod, Gas Powered Game's action/strategy hybrid. The new Demigod was actually made available in a low-key update on Wednesday with release notes that hinted how technically proficient users could get him early if they wanted. Brad Wardell explained to us why: "The original plan was that on Friday, we would release Oculus as a free Demigod in which people added him to their accounts via the store page. By doing this, we would be able to measure the current interest in DLC for Demigod to determine whether we could justify paying GPG to develop additional maps and demigods later." However, the subtle release resulted in complaints that users were being asked to "jump through hoops" to get the new Demigod, and as a result the Demigod was added to everyone's account. We spotted some forum posts where users referenced a belief that Stardock has stated that no new DLC will be coming as a result of the dust-up, but we asked about this and Brad says this is a misunderstanding: "In responding to the issues, one of our moderators implied that us having to do this would eliminate our ability to determine the active size of the Demigod community and therefore end any hope of additional DLC. However, the moderator was mistaken as we can determine the active userbase by the number of people who logon and work from that."
The 2010 Game Developers Choice Awards announce Valve co-founder Gabe Newell as the winner of this year's Pioneer Award. Newell will be receive his Special Award in march at GDC 2010 in San Francisco. Some of the thinking behind the award follows. Continue here to read the full story.
The first patch for the PC edition of Red Faction: Guerilla is available through Games for Windows LIVE as of December 22. The Red Faction Underground now has word on how to update your game with a manual patch, saying: "Some users have reported problems with the automatic patch download through Games For Windows LIVE." Downloads of the manual patch are mirrored on AtomicGamer, The Patches Scrolls, and WorthPlaying.
New patches are now available for the Divinity II - Ego Draconis to update the European editions of Larian Studios' to version 1.03. The patches are available on The Patches Scrolls and WorthPlaying. The odd thing is that these patches are hundreds of megabytes, while the US/English version 1.03 patch released a couple of weeks ago was 12 MB.
Here are the top 10 bestselling titles on Direct2Drive for the week of January 3-9 as reported by the digital distributor:
- Star Trek Online Digital Deluxe Edition (Preorder)
- Star Trek Online (Preorder)
- Dragon Age: Origins
- Dragon Age: Origins Digital Deluxe Edition
- Mass Effect 2 Digital Deluxe Edition (Preorder)
- Civilization 4: The Complete Edition
- Divinity 2
- Rise of Flight
- Torchlight
- Aion
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing is busting out of its console box and will be also racing onto PCs when it is released next month. This is noted on Voodoo Extreme where they picked up an image of the game's PC box from SEGA's European press site. Sure enough, the SEGA Website lists a Windows version of the game with the same February 23 release date as the console and mobile versions.
A new trailer for Greed Corp shows off the setting of this turn-based strategy game in the works at W!Games. You can view the trailer on the YouTube. This game was announced for PS3 and the PC version was announced after that, and we haven't really covered it until now, but there are details on the Greed Corp website. There's also a new elaborate Mistbound Community Website with more on the game's story.
Pandemic Studios Tweets about support for The Saboteur, the World War II action/stealth game from closed developer Pandemic Studios. The post is quite short, even for Twitter: "Final patch is being worked on."
Volition's Games Page now has a listing for "Secret Project X," indicating they don't want this to be too much of a secret. This was spotted by VG247 where they make the case for the belief that this will turn out to be a listing for Saints Row 3, the expected sequel for the open-world action game.
Ever vigilant superannuation has word that Certain Affinity has made a booty call on the US Patent and Trademark Office and filed a trademark registration for Legend of Booty. Certain Affinity developed the RTS game Age of Booty, and it looks like they plan to shake their booty again.
SEGA of America announces that Vancouver 2010 is now in US stores, offering the chance to go for the gold in this game based on the Winter Olympics. To celebrate, the SEGA America Blog offers the Vancouver 2010 launch trailer offering a brief look at the game. Word is: "The official 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia begin on February 12th. Get an early start on the sports action with Vancouver 2010 published by SEGA on your Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC today!"
IGN has word that Rebellion plans to release the original version of Aliens vs. Predator on Steam as they work on the upcoming follow-up to the 1999 science-fiction shooter. They say the game will ship with only the single-player mode at a bargain price, with multiplayer support to follow in a free patch. Rebellion CEO Jason Kingsley says: "It'll be very cheap – and it shows it's [sic] age a little bit, but it is frightening and it is difficult. We will in due course fix up the multiplayer – and we'll make sure it's a free download."
Gamasutra - The Cultural Clash Of Bayonetta. Thanks Joker961.
In the comments section discussion that followed the article, I professed my love for the game -- which Mastrapa interprets through the lens of his disdain. "You're not wrong for liking Bayonetta or forgiving its faults for its obvious strengths," he says. "I'd like to think that we can use opinion in this way to have interesting disagreements that help us learn more about what we like (story vs gameplay or style vs substance) and why we like it."
Today is Martin Luther King, Jr.'s actual birthday, though the occasion is celebrated (such as it is) on Monday. Also, happy birthday to María Rosario Pilar Martínez Molina Moquiere de les Esperades Santa Ana Romanguera y de la Najosa Raste, aka Charo.
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