Archived News:
Steam News announces the availability of a new beta version of the Steam client, which is available to anyone willing to opt in to the beta. This page outlines all the new features in the new version, including new friends features, a news aggregator, improved game library management, and more.
There's an interview on Ten Ton Hammer talking with Heatwave Interactive's Tim Schubert about their just-announced plans to resume development of Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising, the MMORPG that ceased development in late 2007. Tim reveals they are still considering what sort of revenue model they will use, how the game's graphics hold up after a few years, and their plans to continue exploring a minion system even though a couple of recent games have implemented this once unique concept. Here's his outlook on what needs to be done before the game's launch: "There are some things we will need to do in order to meet the expectations of the modern day MMO player, but Gods & Heroes has aged remarkably well. The core concepts of the game are sound and the features are still very compelling, but we want to take it all up a notch and really blow people’s socks off."
A new multiplayer diary trailer from Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight is now available, highlighting the multiplayer support in EA's upcoming RTS sequel, including co-op. The clip includes gameplay footage, and features narration by Lead Designer Sam Bass, Producer Jim Vessela, and Game Designer Jeremy Feasel. The embedded HD version of the clip follows. Continue here to read the full story.
The good old games at GOG.com now offer Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within devoid of DRM and updated to work on modern PCs, reviving this adventure game sequel from writer Jane Jensen and designer Roberta Williams. Word is: "The game employs full motion video technology to its fullest. The actors move through photo-realistic sceneries and every action leads to an FMV sequence. The game is a classic point-and-click adventure where you lead two characters through masterfully designed riddles, tons of life-like detective work and perfectly scripted dialogue. The friendly user interface is a finishing touch making this title a masterpiece you don't want to miss."
Steam News announces the release of a new patch to automatically update Greed: Black Border, the hack-n-slash action/RPG from Headup Games. The lengthy change list follows. Continue here to read the full story.
- Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter on Steam. Save 50%.
- Hammerfight on Steam. Save 50%.
- Wings of Prey on Steam. Save 50%.
Still on sale (previously reported)
Continue here to read the full story.
Develop has a story about Rebellion's feelings about the release of Aliens vs Predator, quoting Rebellion CEO Jason Kingsley saying, "We’re delighted to see the game shoot to the top of the UK charts," and, "We’re also in discussions with Sega about ongoing support for AvP, and also about a sequel to the game." He also seems pleased with the game's critical reception, saying: ""We wanted Aliens Versus Predator to be a critical success as well as a commercial success, which we think we have achieved." The game actually has some pretty mediocre scores on Metacritic, though they are quite strong compared to the AvP movies or Rebellion's previous effort, Rogue Warrior. Kingsley adds his perspective to this, saying: "The reviews have been mostly good. We’ve had three totally sh*t reviews by some Americans, which is a bit odd. Some of them were inexcusably bad." He adds: "If you discount those poor reviews AvP is averaging high for us."
A few new patches are now available through Steam automatically the next time you run Valve's online services. There's an update for the Steam client fixing offline mode, a new Railworks update that fixes some bugs, and the Gratuitous Space Battles update that was recently described in Cliffski’s Blog. Finally, there's also a new automatic patch for Team Fortress 2, for which the patch notes follow. Continue here to read the full story.
Zeno Clash is now available in U.S. stores, offering a boxed version of the award-winning "punk-fantasy brawler" from Chilean developer ACE Team, announces publisher Tripwire Interactive. The boxed edition has the full game previously only available through Steam, including Steam achievements, along with the extra post-release content in "The Pit."
The Borderlands version 1.30 patch notes are posted to the Gearbox Software Forums, outlining changes in the patch that will be released for the PC on Thursday to accompany the promised release of The Secret Armory of General Knoxx DLC for Gearbox's role-playing shooter. Here's a Secret Armory of General Knoxx Launch Trailer, and the PC patch notes follow. Continue here to read the full story.
Though not yet noted on the Warhammer Online Website, a patch just went live to update Mythic Entertainment's MMORPG to version 1.3.4. The new version streamlines Scenarios and City Sieges based on community feedback and implements the promised RvR earned weapons. The version 1.3.4 patch notes outline all the changes.
Monsters of Maine has been uncovered as part of the ARG campaign for The Secret World, the conspiracy-themed MMORPG in development at Funcom. The website is a blog written from the perspective of one of the characters in the game, and word is: "The conspiracy themed blog features heavily edited screenshots, or ‘photos’, from the game showing some of the monsters that will appear in the game. Gamers will also be able to find bits of information on the blog about what role these monsters will play in the game itself."
A post on GamingBolt.com has system requirements for Just Cause 2, revealing this is a DirectX 10 game with no DirectX 9 support, meaning the action shooter sequel will not be playable on Windows XP (thanks nin). On a related note, a new video trailer is now available, showing a Just Cause 2 game of chicken between a fire truck and a passenger jet, and on a semi-related note, Avalanche announces they've acquired the rights to The Hunter, the online hunting game for which they developed the game engine. The Just Cause 2 system specs follow. Continue here to read the full story.
Video Blog #2 on the Kings and Castles Website offers a travelogue from Chris Taylor, who tours us around the offices of Gas Powered Games. Chris risks life and limb to operate as his own cameraman while driving to work (spoiler alert: everyone survives), and shows off the GPG studio and his office. Nothing is actually revealed about their upcoming Kings and Castles, though a shot of a bullpen area has a quick glimpse of a bunch of monitors for anyone who wants to go clue-hunting with a magnifying glass.
An English-language playable demo for M.U.D. TV is now available to go along with the German demo of the television tycoon game released last week. The demo includes a tutorial and the first two campaign missions, while the full version also includes competitive and co-op online modes. The 318 MB download is available on AtomicGamer, FileFront, and WorthPlaying. Update: This demo has been pulled from most download locations at the request of the publisher because the demo did not contain an ESRB rating, and it will soon be replaced by a properly rated demo.
A tweet by Team17's Martyn Brown reveals plans for Worms Reloaded, a new 2D installment in the Worms series coming to Windows "soon" via Steam (thanks Big Download). Here's word on the continuation of the squirmy action/strategy series: "We are pleased to announce a new edition of 2D Worms for PC! "Worms Reloaded" is coming soon via Steam. Details & features to follow..."
A litigation-oriented website called Patent Arcade outlines a legal action by "Patent Compliance Group, Inc.," alleging that Activision has falsely marked many of its video games including Guitar Hero 5, Band Hero, and DJ Hero as patented in violation of US federal law. They note that the fine for this can be as much as $500.00 per offense, which in the case of the Guitar Hero games could add up to be astronomical, and even for the poor-selling DJ Hero would be a lot of scratch. The article lists a number of patents and explains they do not actually cover the products that carry their markings. Who is behind this Patent Compliance Group is not clear. Thanks Kotaku.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group announces the acquisition of a majority stake in Batman: Arkham Asylum developer Rocksteady Studios. "With the successful release of Batman: Arkham Asylum, a franchise that is a key focus for Warner Bros., Rocksteady has proven that they have the expertise to create hit games with mass appeal," said Martin Tremblay, president, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. "We are currently working with Rocksteady on the sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum and look forward to bringing the continuation of the franchise to fans worldwide."
Interview With Antic Entertainment On Junk Battles on Gaming Union talks with some developers from Antic Entertainment, creators of the browser-based RTS game Junk- Battles, including Fredrik Liliegren, co-founder and former CEO of DICE. Liliegren also discusses the Battlefield series, though his NDA still prevents him from making any real revelations. He does say he thinks Battlefield 3 will impress: "What the PC version is going to be, Battlefield 3, I think it's going to absolutely blow everyone away, but I can't tell you what it is, but it will blow people away." Thanks Joker961.
Duck and Cover has a quote from Brian Fargo indicating InXile Entertainment may be working on a project with Bethesda Softworks, which would reunite the Interplay cofounder with the owners of the Fallout IP. Fargo is on a European press tour, and gave this answer when asked what he is promoting: "My Chippendales calendar ;) actually our game that we are doing for Bethesda that has been under wraps for a couple years." However, Duck and Cover does offer the possibility he was joking, and have reached out to Bethesda and InXile for confirmation. A couple of years ago Fargo expressed interest in making a sequel to Wasteland, the post-apocalyptic computer role-playing game for which InXile owns the rights.
There's an interview with Tim Cain on Duck and Cover talking with the Design Director at Carbine Studios looking back at his days at Interplay and Troika Studios. One of his answers is a description of a post-apocalyptic game they were planning at Troika: "We had begun the development of a really interesting take on the post apocalyptic genre. The background was about as different from Fallout that you could get while looking a great deal like that game. We had made our own modern 3D engine to drive it, complete with real-time shadows and incredibly smooth character animation. Jason, Leonard and I wrote a background and system specification that would have made for a very rich game world to set adventures in, but we never found a publisher that was interested."
Here are the final 10 entries on the Steam weekly top sellers list:
- Aliens vs Predator
- Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Limited Edition
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
- THQ Complete Pack
- BioShock 2
- Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2 Chaos Rising
- Mass Effect 2
- Left 4 Dead 2
- Global Agenda
- Counter-Strike: Source
The Impulse Weekly Top 10 is now online, listing their top sellers for the week of February 14-20:
- Sins of a Solar Empire: Diplomacy
- Sins of a Solar Empire - Trinity
- Sins of a Solar Empire Expansion Bundle
- Demigod
- THQ Ultimate Bundle
- Sins of a Solar Empire: Entrenchment
- GalCiv II - Ultimate Edition
- Star Trek Online Digital Deluxe Edition
- Sacred 2: Fallen Angel
- Tropico 3
Today is the 65th anniversary of the famed raising of the flag over Iwo Jima during World War II. It is also the anniversary of the beginning of the siege of the Alamo, and the birthday of Dolly the sheep, the world's most famous clone (apologies to Spider-Man).
|
Twitter 
