Archived News:
Yegor Bondar's LinkedIn Profile has an interesting revelation in the résumé of this Ubisoft level designer, which seems to reveal an MMOFPS in the works at Crytek. The entry reads: "Game \ Level designer Crytek Kiev (Privately Held; Computer Games industry) November 2008 — July 2009 (9 months) Not announced Online MMO FPS." Thanks superannuation.
The head start program for Star Trek Online is now underway for those who have preordered Cryptic's Trekkie MMORPG. There are some issues with players trying to unlock their Liberated Borg character, problems locating "other exclusive goodies," and problems with the account server earlier in the day. This page has an update on each of those three issues.
This post to the Ubisoft Forums with R.U.S.E. details has word that Eugen's upcoming RTS game will feature replay support. Word is: "If you promise us that you will use it to share epic game replays with the community, we may think about it… No seriously, we believe that the ability to replay or share an epic battle is the sacred, inherent right of every strategy game enthusiast on this planet." Also, there's a new "making of" trailer for the game on GameTrailers where Producer Mathieu Girard discusses the game's interface and controls.
Ubisoft has issued a new document on The Settlers 7 Economy, and a new "Economy" Trailer discusses the economic elements in The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom, the upcoming strategy/management sequel. The clip features gameplay and narration from Bruce Shelley and his enormous microphone, as the former MicroProse and Ensemble designer is now consulting on this project. Here are a batch of new screenshots taken from the clip, which is embedded below. Continue here to read the full story.
A new trailer from Blur shows off some gameplay in the upcoming racing game, accompanied by narration from the developers at Bizarre Creations discussing their bizarre creation. An embedded version of the clip follows. Continue here to read the full story.
The Star Wars: The Old Republic now offers the 25th issue of Threat of Peace, the online comic book providing the back story for the Star Wars MMORPG. Word is: "The twenty-fifth issue of Threat of Peace™ begins in the heat of the fight between the Jedi and the Sith in Dantooine’s crystal caves. Lord Baras confronts Satele Shan with the fact that her Master was responsible for the attacks that threatened the peace process. When Satele hesitates, Lord Baras tries to urge her towards the dark side, even as Master Dar’Nala screams at Satele to strike the Sith Lord down…"
Telltale Games is offering a free episode for filling out this survey (thanks Big Download) or a 15% off coupon for filling out this version of the survey.
- Freedom Force: Freedom Pack on Steam. Save 80% ($2/€2/£2).
- Red Faction: Guerrilla on Direct2Drive. Save 75%.
- Sam & Max Season 1 on the Telltale Games Website. Just $4.95.
- Tropico 3 - Steam Special Edition on Steam. Save 66%.
- X-COM- Complete Pack on Steam. Save 90% ($2/€2/£2).
Still on sale (previously reported)
Continue here to read the full story.
Link of the Day: Puppy rescued from train track, frigid air; gets new home, name. Thanks Mike Martinez. Wanted to end on a happy doggie tale/tail.
Battlefield Heroes announces the introduction of Vampires and Werewolves to their subscription-free online third-person shooter. As with many of the activities in the game, this offers the chance to do a little spending: "The world is obsessed with blood-sucking demons and vicious werewolves, and so are we! Battlefield Heroes™, the hit Play 4 Free third-person shooter has been invaded by vampires and werewolves. In a special month long event, the many millions of Heroes who have perished on the battlefield can be brought back to life. Anyone can fight alongside these preternatural beings but to become one players must purchase the all-new outfits as a special bundle on the website or as separate items in the in-game store. Once-dead Nationals can be transformed into blood-sucking vampires and Royals into teeth bearing werewolves. Three existing maps have been converted to an eerie night setting to set the stage for an epic battle between these immortal enemies." There's a video showing off this odd convergence on the YouTube.
The Stargate Resistance Website now has a countdown timer that stands at 11 days plus, as they have the announcement that this Stargate third-person shooter will be released on February 10 (thanks Kotaku). They also announce that preordering through Direct2Drive will earn you some exclusive Armor, Weapons and Emotes for both the Soldier and Goa'uld classes. Stargate Resistance was announced relatively recently as a game to ease the financial woes at Firesky, so they can continue development of their Stargate MMORPG. Word is: On FEBRUARY 10TH, 2010 FireSky will be releasing the first Stargate PC shooter ever to come to market! “I want to personally thank everyone for their enthusiasm and support. It’s incredibly exciting to be releasing our first game as a studio, especially with such a great license,” said Shane Hensley, President of the Studio. In this fast-paced 3rd person shooter, gamers will have the chance to be either Stargate Command or the System Lords as they use the Stargate to travel and battle for galactic dominance.
Please be sure to register now for all the latest news and updates on Stargate: Resistance. In conjunction with Direct2Drive we are offering some awesome exclusive FREE content to those that purchase before launch.
We look forward to seeing you on the battlefield VERY soon!
BioWare is pretty pleased with the launch of Mass Effect 2, and have issued this announcement highlighting a few points of pride, saying the game is the first blockbuster of 2010. Word is Mass Effect 2 has sold over two million copies worldwide in its first week of availability, and that reviews have been outstanding: "Mass Effect 2 has earned 40 perfect scores, amassed over 30 editor’s choice awards and has donned the covers of 45 magazines worldwide. On launch day, the term “Mass Effect” was in the top 10 trending topics on Twitter and most searched on Google News. MSNBC.com said, 'Mass Effect will go down as one of the most influential video game series of all-time'."
The Battle.net Forums have word that the StarCraft II Beta system requirements posted earlier were not accurate, as this was just a placeholder: I just wanted to drop in to clarify the situation a bit. As has been mentioned above, some websites have posted system requirements for the StarCraft II beta that were not accurate. The page where this information was found was a placeholder that should not have gone up. We will have more information about the system requirements once the beta starts.
Sorry about any confusion this may have caused. We did not intend to troll you. =)
Electronic Arts UK Community Forums inform us that an update is on the way for the beta client for Battlefield: Bad Company 2, DICE's upcoming military shooter sequel. They say: "Don't worry it is a new painless process and will not be a massive 1.4Gb download again." They later point out the update will be just 8.4 MB, and that the client can be updated automatically, and Steam users will get their update through the service. The new version will fix server browser crashes and include other server browser improvements, fix Windows XP crashes, and some mouse improvements. Thanks Steve.
A new "Play it Your Way" trailer for Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight shows off the various classes in EA's upcoming RTS sequel, showing the styles of play these accommodate. The clip is available on the YouTube and embedded below. Continue here to read the full story.
There's a Video Presentation for Sword of the Stars 2 on Gamereactor International where Kerberos CEO and design lead Martin Cirulis introduces the recently announced upcoming 4X space strategy sequel. He reveals the full title of the game as Sword of the Stars II: Lords of Winter, and says, "while its [sic] a sequel, its [sic] not going to be the standard 4x sequel, which basically takes you through the same game with better graphics, a few new gameplay features, but still has you researching much the same things as you did in the first one." There isn't much of the game to show off at this point (since development is scheduled to continue into next year), he does offer some concept art to illustrate what he discusses. This includes a lot of detail on what's being changed and why, describing a new Leviathan class ships, new limitations on how destroyers operate, and a good deal more. He likens gameplay from the first game to World War I naval combat, saying Sword of the Stars II will be more reminiscent of carrier-based naval combat.
The Dead Space Twitter Feed teases a new piece of Dead Space 2 art from the upcoming sequel to the science-fiction first-person shooter sequel. They say the revelation of what it is will come soon: "What is that? Over the next 2 weeks we will reveal what this NEW piece of art is from Dead Space 2."
VVVV is a new retro "de-make" for VVVVVV, which already had its own old-school 8-bit sort of design to start with. The new de-make goes that much further, as it is an entry in the Java4K 2010 competition, so its code is smaller than the logo on this website. Thanks GameSetWatch, who point the way to the VVVVVV soundtrack (called PPPPPP) on Souleye in case you want to add some musical authenticity to the experience. Speaking of VVVVVV, there's a VVVVVV Interview on Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
A hotfix is now available for playing Mass Effect 2 using ATI accelerators, which allows the option to use anti-aliasing under CrossfireX when playing BioWare's role-playing sequel. This is actually a full set of ATI drivers, so the download is about 112 MB, and it can be found on ActionTrip, AtomicGamer, FileFront, and WorthPlaying.
Ubisoft announces Dawn of Discovery: Venice, an upcoming expansion for Dawn of Discovery, the North American version of the real-time strategy/simulation prequel known as Anno 1404 in Europe. The Venice add-on was already announced for Anno 1404 late last year, and the contents are therefore familiar. The add-on will be released in North America on February 25 via digital distribution, and at that time they will also release a Dawn of Discovery Gold Edition with both the add-on and the original game. Word is: "Dawn of Discovery: Venice will combine the signature gameplay mechanics of the series and the richness of the Venetian culture with an all-new online multiplayer mode."
Blizzard Support now offers system requirements for the StarCraft II beta, Blizzard's upcoming RTS sequel (thanks nin and Kotaku). The requirements are pretty modest, with the recommended specs calling for an Intel Pentium D or AMD 64 X2 CPU, one to two GB of RAM, and a "3D graphics processor with Vertex and Pixel Shader capability with 128 MB VRAM such as an ATI Radeon X1600 or NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT class card or better." Update: It turns out these specifications were not accurate, see this story for details.
Valve announces what they are calling "extraordinary" growth for the Steam service during 2009. Here's a bit: During the last calendar year the platform surpassed 25 million active accounts, up 25% from the prior year. Of the 25 million accounts, over 10 million of those have profiles in the Steam Community.
In addition to the millions of new accounts created during the year, the peak number of concurrent users eclipsed the 2.5 million mark during the month of December, pushing Steam's average monthly player minutes to more than 13 billion.
Meanwhile, Steam now offers over 1,000 games from over 100 developers and publishers around the world. Unit sales for 2009 increased by more than 205%, marking the fifth straight year the platform has realized over 100% year-over-year growth in unit sales.
A tweet from Positech's Cliffski mentions the availability of the version 1.31 patch for Gratuitous Space Battles that's outlined in Cliffski's Blog. He also mentions work on the next expansion for the space strategy game, which is also mentioned in that blog update: "I did the first 3 new ships for the next expansion today, in terms of getting them working in the game. They look pretty cool. I also have the backdrops done, and the two new weapons. Its [sic] stil [sic] a few weeks of getting all the new ships done, and the balancing of the new ship designs and weapons. Then I need two really good balanced new missions. I’m pretty sure one will be small, one big, and one has a nice nebula, the other is simpler but with asteroids." Finally, there's a new The Making Of Gratuitous Space Battles article on the Positech Website, where we can: "Marvel at the unbelievably bad graphics before a serious artist was employed on the project. Laugh at the incredibly embarrassing bug that was in the initial version of the game. Gasp at the scary number of different textures that get loaded in for a single frame of the game."
LucasArts President Darrell Rodriguez is interviewed on Gamasutra, where they inquire about plans for 2010 and beyond. Topics include their expansion into Singapore, how they will try to avoid a repeat of the failure to launch a current generation Indiana Jones game, the possibilities of future lightsaber combat using Natal or the PS3 wand, internal versus external development, and more. He also indicates that they are trying to find a middle ground between new and existing intellectual properties, after focusing entirely on one or the other in the past: "We're definitely going to continue to do Star Wars and potentially Indiana Jones. We're also looking at new IP. We recently had some new IP, and we will continue on in that vein in the future."
Rockstar Games announces plans to release Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City for PC and PS3 on March 30, calling the release "much anticipated," which is apparently newspeak for "way overdue." On that date they will also release the two DLC packs from the bundle, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, via digital distribution. Word is: In The Ballad of Gay Tony, players explore Liberty City’s high-end nightlife as Luis Lopez, struggling to balance the temptations of money and vice against loyalties to family and friends. The Lost and Damned is a dark trip through Liberty City’s seedy underbelly as outlaw biker, Johnny Klebitz, fights to keep his gang together as a rift in the gang’s leadership threatens to tear the brotherhood apart. Both episodes feature a slew of new vehicles and weapons, and each episode adds new activities including cage fighting, gang wars and BASE jumping.
EA Sports announces FIFA Online is coming to the west, offering this online association football/soccer game which is also being developed for China. The game will not carry subscription fees and they say it is being developed to be playable by anyone with a broadband internet connection and "an average spec laptop computer or desk-top personal computer." They are gearing up for beta testing, saying Europeans will be able to register as testers starting February 3 on the FIFA Online Website, though they actually seem to be accepting signups now. The English language version is scheduled to launch in June, 2010, and other language versions will also roll out over the next 12 to 24 months. Here are some FIFA Online screenshots and here's a bit: EA SPORTS FIFA Online will offer an authentic football experience with 30 licensed leagues, 500 clubs and more than 15,000 players. During the first closed beta stage beginning February 3, the game will feature a 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa tournament mode and a control system that uses the mouse only. At the second stage of closed beta, the game will feature a League Mode that enables fans to manage and compete as their favorite football club, and the ability to play online matches. FIFA Online will enable football fans and gamers to build their favorite club into their dream team by developing or acquiring players, upgrading skills, and getting unique apparel by earning in-game currency to acquire items or through micro-transactions. Additional content will be designed for the game based on feedback by fans.
- HWiNFO32 version 3.35 and beta 3.37-525 are available. Thanks Ant.
I had a nightmarish experience with the doggies yesterday out on the doggie trail, though things didn't turn out nearly as badly as they could have. We saw some people walking in our direction, so I leashed Hudson the wonder dog, since she has developed a bad habit of getting into scrapes with other alpha dogs since she was attacked herself some years ago. The people turned out to be a mother and daughter with this teeny little poodle mix that was maybe all of four pounds. The dogs started playfully chasing each other around, so we de-leashed them and stood around a bit talking about how cute the scene was, when it stopped being so cute: Out of nowhere, Hudson picked up this small dog by the back of her neck and started shaking it back and forth. Thankfully, she was just playing, and I was close enough to get to her pretty quickly, but this went on for a couple of seconds, which seemed like a year at the time. The reason I know she was playing is that the other dog survived, it actually didn't have a scratch (in fact this was a gentle form of play, because she shakes stuffed toys far more vigorously than this). Anyway, the woman was amazingly chill about this, she refused to even take my phone number in case it turned out the dog needed veterinary care, and very graciously accepted my profuse apologies. Meanwhile, her little daughter was all traumatized, and it breaks my heart to picture her all teary-eyed. Hudson and I are pretty traumatized as well, as my scolding has her acting sheepish ever since (she's very sensitive for a cold-blooded killer). I guess I'll look into some remedial training for her, but she's pushing 10, so that probably won't be easy. Meanwhile I'm afraid I can't trust her off the leash even when I think we are the only ones on the trail, and I cannot figure out how I can run enough for her to get the exercise she needs (she's easily twice as fast as me). I may need to get a bike and ride with her on the leash or something, which sounds like a recipe for a different form of disaster. Man this sucks.
|
Twitter 
