Archived News:
Bizarre Creations is working on an unannounced title, reveals a job listing on their website for an "experienced designer." The listing says this is for "a currently unannounced, extremely high-profile major movie license," and the skills they are seeking suggest this is a shooter, asking for: "Proven ability to design and help create engaging gaming experiences (preferably experience in a 1st/3rd person shooter)." Thanks VG247.
Steam News announces the release of a new patch to automatically update Team Fortress 2, Valve's teamplay shooter sequel. The update includes three brand new hats, and a bunch of other stuff that isn't as cool, since you can't wear it on your head. The patch notes follow. Continue here to read the full story.
New beta version 196.34 ForceWare reference drivers are now available for NVIDIA accelerators, addressing last week's WHQL-certified drivers that prevented overclocking. There are new drivers for Windows XP, Windows Vista/Windows 7 32-bit, Windows XP x64, and Windows Vista/Windows 7 64-bit. Thanks Firing Squad.
The Grey Dog Software Website now features online sales of Total Extreme Wrestling 2010, the latest installment in their simulation of the pseudo-sport of professional wresting. They also offer a free demo version for download, as well as a tool to update the demo to the full version of the game. The demo is also mirrored on AtomicGamer, FileFront, Gamer's Hell, and WorthPlaying.
A post on the Red 5 Studios Website confirms yesterday's rumors of layoffs at this studio formed in 2005 by veteran's from the World of Warcraft development team, adding they have recently received "additional investment from a strategic partner in the online games industry." Also, Kotaku has a bit of speculation about what Red 5 had been working on, saying one source tells them the developer had been building an MMOFPS using Offset Software's game engine (and and who knows what's happening with Project Offset), and this source tells them this has been put on hold following the buyout and layoffs. They add: "Red 5's development focus is said to have shifted to another project, one "aimed at the Chinese market'." Update: Meanwhile, Big Download has word from the studio that 35 employees remain, but they "plan to grow the team where necessary," and that studio co-founder William Petras was one of the departures, and confirming that Red 5 is using the Offset engine for whatever it is they are developing. Here's Red 5's statement: Red 5 Studios, Inc. is currently working on an unannounced massively multiplayer online game. Recently, the team formed around a new direction and took on additional investment from a strategic partner in the online games industry.
Red 5 remains committed to releasing a AAA quality, online title targeted for a worldwide release. The company has restructured the team in order to accomplish this goal. As part of the restructuring, some team members chose to part ways while others were let go. Red 5 has great respect for these departing team members and the contributions they have made.
For more information on Red 5 Studios, please visit http://www.red5studios.com.
There's a BioShock 2 Multiplayer and Matchmaking Q&A on The Cult of Rapture as 2K Games interrogates itself about plans for multiplayer support for the underwater shooter sequel. They describe how there is no distinction between ranked and unranked gameplay, discuss dealing with griefers, and outline systems that will allow you to stay buddied up with a group of friends. They also explain that the game will not support dedicated servers or LAN, saying this is due to time considerations: Do you support LAN play on consoles or PC? Do you support dedicated servers?
Short answer, no and no. There is always a finite amount of time for the development of a game. Bringing Multiplayer to BioShock was a daunting task between the tech (there was no multiplayer support in the codebase from the first game) and the expectations of the community. Either you try to do everything and so nothing feels finished or you focus your efforts to do a smaller number of things really well like an accessible online experience. We chose to spend the time we had creating a solid game foundation and unfortunately that did not include LAN play or dedicated servers.
A new State of the Game post on the Champions Online Website looks at upcoming happenings in Cryptic's superhero MMORPG, tying in with an upcoming "Kitchen Sink" Patch that's now in testing on their play test server, offering patch notes of incredibly large size, which represent "over two months worth of fixes and changes to the game." The state of the game update also looks beyond the patch towards plans for new costume sets, a return of the Blood Moon event, and reveals plans for the game's first expansion: We’ve had a big secret here at Cryptic, and we can’t hold it in any longer. Over the past few months we’ve been working like mad on our first expansion for Champions Online! Vibora Bay is one of the Gulf Coast’s largest and most exciting cities. It’s a center of commerce, culture, tourism, and some incredibly strange goings-on. It maintains unusual traditions of mysticism and religion along with an eclectic group of inhabitants and frequent paranormal activities. Heroes constantly face threats of global proportions, but this time the crisis is greater than ever. The apocalypse has come, and it rides upon the half angelic / half demonic wings of Therakiel.
A web page is currently in the works that will feature screen shots, a video trailer, and detailed information on this level 37 – 40 mega-adventure pack, so stay tuned for more information!
A new patch is now available for Solium Infernum to update Cryptic Comet's turn-based strategy game to version 1.05a. The patch is available on AtomicGamer and The Patches Scrolls.
The Cities XL Website announces plans to end the online aspect of Monte Cristo's urban-planning game, which offered the ability to connect your virtual cities with those of other players, saying the service will end on March 8, 2010 at which time a patch will be released to refocus the game on solo play (thanks Massively). This note explains the simple reason: "Three months after the launch we have to admit that the subscription rate is lower than what we expected and therefore the Planet Offer is no longer sustainable. Not enough players decided to subscribe." They also reveal plans for Cities XL 2011, which sounds like it will feature the return of online play in spite of its apparent failure in the current game, as Cities XL shipped in October, and the online mode will only have lasted five months as of March 8. Word is: "Cities XL will be refocused as a solo game. The current online game will be supported until it ends; but until Cities XL 2011 is released no new content or patches will be published either for the current online game or solo game."
The Cities XL End of Planet offer page details how this will work, saying certain online components such as avatars will be going away, others like the bus will be added into solo mode, while other elements will be added to the sequel and content packs: "The Blueprints gameplay will be redesigned and retrofitted to be part of Cities XL 2011. Actual megastructures will be spread through multiple paid content packs." For current subscribers they say Profile pages and city journals will also be closed on March 8, and they will not offer on automated option to convert online cities to solo mode, but there's an unsupported "manual and risky process to import Planet Offer cities into your Solo mode," which will be revealed in the coming weeks, and: "As a Planet Offer subscriber, once Cities XL 2011 will be released you will be automatically granted with all the content present in the European Pack which will include new maps, Megastructures and the Old England building pack."
New version 10.1 reference drivers are now available for ATI graphics cards running under Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. They announce the release of a new Linux driver as well, though we can't find them posted anywhere. The various Windows packages can be found on the GAME.AMD.COM Drivers & Support Page. The new Windows drivers offer small improvements in Left 4 Dead 2 and Crysis for 5700 and 5800 series accelerators. The new Linux drivers feature Ubuntu version 9.10 support. The AMD at Play Blog has more details on the new drivers.
Apple has made their big announcement, as expected for a new tablet computer called the iPad. Details are coming in quickly, and the gadget hounds at Engadget are covering things as they come in as they live blog the event. Word is: "It's a half-inch thick and weighs just 1.5 pounds, with a 9.7-inch capacitive touchscreen IPS LCD display, and it's running a custom 1GHz Apple "A4" chip developed by the P.A. Semi team, with a 10-hour battery life and a month of standby. It'll come in 16, 32, and 64GB sizes, and it's got the expected connectivity: very little. There's a 30-pin Dock connector, a speaker, a microphone, Bluetooth, and 802.11n WiFi, as well as an accelerometer and a compass. As expected, it can run iPhone apps -- either pixel-for-pixel in a window, or pixel-doubled fullscreen -- but developers can also target the new screen size using the updated iPhone OS SDK, which is available today." There's a short clip of the iPad being unveiled on the YouTube. Eurogamer adds pricing details to the info mix: "It's going to cost $499 for the 16GB model, $599 for 32GB model and $699 for 64GB model. Those are Wi-Fi only. And the 3G models cost an extra $130 each...There's Wi-Fi and models with 3G, and Apple's struck a deal with US data providers to charge 250MB usage at $15 a month or unlimited data for $30. That's with AT&T."
Polish website Polygamia has some details about Fallout Extreme (the site is Polish, but there's an English sidebar), a cancelled Fallout game that was briefly in development at 14 Degrees East back in 2000 (in case the 20th century signature "Extreme" in the title wasn't a tip-off). This was an Unreal-engine console game aimed at the first Xbox, and it is described as a cross between Fallout Tactics and a shooter. Why the game was cancelled shortly into development is not clear. There are further details on the story from the cancelled project on the Fallout wiki. Thanks Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
A post on the Battlefield Blog has details on how SecuROM DRM will work in the closed beta of Battlefield Bad Company 2, as well as the release version of the military shooter sequel. The state: "The version which we use is a wrapper around the main game executable. It does everything it can by running as a 'normal' program; it does not install any sort of kernel software," so no software is permanently installed, SecuROM only runs when you are playing the game, and uninstalling the game also uninstalls the SecuROM software.
SecuROM is used on the beta to prevent modification of the game client, and will be completely uninstalled when the beta is removed. For the full game, SecuROM will be used for online authentication, but this is only required if you do not have the DVD in the drive. For DVD-free play, the game can be authenticated on 10 machines, and de-authorization is available, and uninstalling the game will automatically de-authorize a PC (which requires being online).
They add that though this entitles you to play on 11 machines (10 authentications plus the game DVD), you can only play the game on one machine at a time. They also note that SecuROM will be present on the Steam version of the game, saying: "The Steam edition will also have SecuROM. We are working closely with Steam to make the integration well-functioning."
Paradox Interactive and Kerberos Productions officially announce Sword of the Stars II, the 4x space strategy sequel revealed during the Paradox Interactive Convention in Stockholm. They point the way to a new Sword of the Stars II product section for the game, which narrows the projected release window for the project to Q1 of next year. The announcement also offers the first details on the game: In Sword of the Stars 2, gamers will be reaquianted with the original six races from Swords of the Stars I and its expansions as well as reveal the dark secret of the original series, the Suul’ka – an ancient race that is responsible for tampering with the Liir, Zuul, and other races in the SotS universe!
Not limited to another entire new race and their unique drive technology, SotS2 will be a major step forward in the SotS approach to 4X gameplay, taking the easy-to-learn-hard-to-master philosophy set out in SotS1 and following that path to a new standard in space strategy games.
A new update is live for Star Wars Galaxies adding the Forces Under Siege content to the Star Wars MMORPG. The announcement outlines the what's new in Forces Under Siege and also reveals they are looking to coerce former subscribers into trying the game again with free play for the month of February: "Beginning today, the Star Wars Galaxies™ Galactic Civil War: Forces Under Siege game update is available for Rebels and Imperials alike. Sony Online Entertainment is also offering eligible former players the opportunity to come back to Star Wars Galaxies for free between February 1 and March 1. With the balance of power in the galaxy at stake, anyone who can tote a blaster or lend support is needed on the front lines! Eligible player accounts will be automatically reactivated – players can simply log in to rejoin the action! For those who choose to re-subscribe before the free period ends, a special in-game painting will be given as a reward."
The Codemasters Forums have the release of the second patch for the Windows edition of Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, which includes the promised Overwatch DLC for the military shooter. They warn the manual patch is not for digitally distributed editions of the game: "This version of the patch is only for use with the retail boxed version of the game. Digitally downloaded versions of the game should be updated soon." The list of fixes in the patch is in this forum post, and downloads are available through 4players.de, ActionTrip, AtomicGamer, Big Download, Boomtown, Codemasters, FileFront, Fileplay, Gamer's Hell, Gamers' Life Line, The Patches Scrolls, Strategy Informer, and WorthPlaying. Details on the Overwatch pack follow. Continue here to read the full story.
The Battlefield Blog offer a "Big Battlefield Bad Company 2 PC Beta Blog of Epic Goodness," with details on beta testing of the Windows edition of the military shooter sequel. The test should get underway at about noon Eastern time tomorrow. Access to the beta is guaranteed for preorder customers, and it's not clear at this time if the beta will be opened to other participants, though they do confirm rumors that the beta will be available through Steam.
EA's APOC tweets again about plans to open the Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight beta to the public. Word is: "Regarding the C&C 4 Public Beta, it will be done in conjunction with Gamespot, details on our official website this week."
The Crysis 2 Interview on PC Games chats in German with Faruk Yerli of Crytek about Crysis 2, their upcoming shooter sequel, at one point touching on Crytek's acquisition of Free Radical Studios. When asked, Faruk explains that this studio, now known as Crytek UK, is contributing to the project, though he is coy over whether they are working on the Windows edition or the console edition, saying that will be explained after the game is released.
Five Cut Features on the Irrational Website looks at five features that were axed from System Shock 2 and BioShock before these games were released. Perhaps the most interesting of these was the plan to include atmospheric pressure in BioShock, which would impact enemy AI and other gameplay factors. Word is: "In fact, the feature was functioning when the game shipped," but they explain that the feature caused gameplay and production issues, but that: "the issue that put the nail in the system’s coffin – was that we never found a good way to clearly convey the effect of pressure through audiovisual changes."
Gamasutra - Is It Time To Start Pre-Selling Games?
The next element that makes pre-sales possible is the predictability of production. We aren’t speaking of whether or not a film achieves the mysterious qualitative “X” that means it will become great art. Rather, we’re speaking of whether or not there are standardized processes and suppliers that can be put together with a screenplay and, with a fair degree of predictability, lead to a reasonably high-quality film. If the film missed its aesthetic mark, at least you have a “well-made” piece of cinema that can be sold -– at least you have something.
Gamasutra - The Uneasy Merging of Narrative and Gameplay.
Strictly speaking, two forms of media that video games are best (and uniquely) suited to express are visual narratives (like film), and gameplay (which specifically is a subset of human-computer interaction). Now most people agree that film is better-suited to expressing straight narrative than a game is. But gameplay is a unique quality of video games, and video games are also quite well-suited to expressing narrative, technically speaking -- they have most all the capabilities that film does.
The Gunnar-man left me a steaming present in the kitchen this morning, one of the dubious joys of being a dog owner. It's bad enough dealing with that mess at 6-something in the morning, but hours later the stench is still bad enough to make me gag. I'm not sure whether to try and find a gas mask, or call the doo-doo hall-of-fame. Blech.
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