Archived News:
Atari announces the launch of the promised referral and veteran rewards and programs for Star Trek Online, along with the release of the playable demo for Cryptic's Trekkie MMORPG. First off, this is a "welcome back" weekend for former players of the game. Details are here, and the welcome back event will run until 1:00 pm EDT Monday. The Veteran Rewards page outlines gifts for the game's most dedicated fans, and for vets seeking more rewards, this page has details on what you can earn for enticing your friends to join the game. Finally, this page is where to learn more about the playable demo. Word is:
- You need a Cryptic account to play. Don't have one yet? Create one here.
- You can play through the entire Star Trek Online Tutorial, as well as the Episode "Stranded in Space." Master your skills in space and on the ground, then rescue the S.S. Azura!
- The Demo is restricted to the Federation faction.
- You have unlimited play time. Play as much as you like. To access the full version of Star Trek Online, purchase the full game from any of these fine retailers.
A post on superannuation informs us that Electronic Arts has registered one, two, three trademarks for Darkspore. They offer their take: "Presumably this is the Q4 FY11 “Spore Title TBA” mentioned in EA’s recent financial report."
Steam News outlines the changes in a new automatic patch for Team Fortress 2, Valve's teamplay shooter sequel. The change list follows. Continue here to read the full story.
A new patch for AI War is now available updating the real-time/4X strategy hybrid to version 3.120. The patch is available on AtomicGamer, FileFront, Gamer's Hell, and The Patches Scrolls. There is also an updated version 3.120 demo, which can be found on FileFront and Gamer's Hell.
The Futuremark Forums have word that a new patch is automatically available for Shattered Horizon, the multiplayer DirectX 10 shooter (thanks The Patches Scrolls). Word is: "This patch fixes several bugs and makes a few optimizations to code. Further optimizations to improve performance are in development and will be released soon." The change list follows. Continue here to read the full story.
There's a video interview on Games On Net talks with Tom Stratton, associate producer on Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, IO Interactive's upcoming life of crime sequel. They discuss the game's story, its various types of artificial intelligence, the power of the game's updated engine, its stylized camerawork, and more.
Steam News has word on a new version of the Steam client that's now automatically available. Not so many people run Windows 2000 anymore, but those who do can use Steam again, as that is the problem the new update addresses.
Direct2Drive Spring Sale Week Four is underway. And remember: "Direct2Drive will be giving gamers $15 in store credit when they spend $75 or more on any titles site-wide during the Spring Sale."
- Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures on Direct2Drive. Save 50%.
- Rocket Knight on Steam. Save 20% on pre-purchases.
Still on sale (previously reported)
Continue here to read the full story.
- Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse - The Tomb of Sammun-Mak on Blue's News.
The Cult of Rapture now offers patch notes for upcoming patches for BioShock 2, with separate listings for the Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 editions of the first-person shooter sequel (thanks Bill). They say that it "shouldn't be long" before all three patches clear testing. They note they "will be fixing vending machine sounds for all three platforms" in a future patch, and the remainder of the PC patch notes follow. Continue here to read the full story.
The Left 4 Dead Blog reveals the new weekly mutation for Left 4 Dead 2 as "Follow the Liter," where only one group of cans spawns at a time, so survivors know exactly where to go, except the Infected know exactly where they are going. Valve also announces that last week's vote resulted in an overwhelming victory in favor of making Realism Versus a permanent mode, and next week they will announce when this will happen. They also reveal their new poll question is about rage quitting in Versus mode. The update concludes with word that the developers of the zombie shooter will be playing all weekend on PC and Xbox 360, offering a list of developer player names.
The Opening Cinematic trailer from Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands sets the story for the next installment in the long-running, jumping, etc., adventures of the acrobatic regent. The clip is embedded below. Continue here to read the full story.
Darrell Rodriguez has resigned his position as president of LucasArts, reports Kotaku, who say "several members of his executive team" have parted ways with the Lucasfilm gaming subsidiary. A subsequent update adds that Lucasfilm's Jerry Bowerman will be in charge at LucasArts while they seek a full-time replacement. Thanks nin.
Slitherine and Matrix Games have merged operations, bolstering their positions in the PC strategy and war game market, reports GamesIndustry.biz (registration required). Word is: Matrix Games and Slitherine will now merge all of their global operations, including offices in the UK, Australia, Germany, North America and Italy, but there will be no job losses as a result of the changes.
The companies, which both serve the niche PC strategy and war game markets, expect an annual turnover of around $12 million in the first full-year, with 25 games set for release over the next 12 months. It will boast a combined portfolio of around 150 titles.
Electronic Arts UK Forums have details on the upcoming version R8 client for Battlefield: Bad Company 2, which is currently in QA along with a corresponding R12 dedicated server. They say the client will be roughly 500 MB, and a release is expected next week. Thanks Steve O via Badcompany2.com, where they call this "The Patch We’ve Been Waiting For," as it adds new control options including "Toggle Crouch," "Advanced Helicopter Controls," and "Text Chat while dead." The patch notes follow. Continue here to read the full story.
The first look at digital game trade-ins on Video Games Daily discusses plans announced earlier this year by Green Man Gaming to allow trade-ins of games purchased through digital distribution. The article is an interview with themselves about the system, as they have signed on as some sort of affiliate. They outline what publishers have signed on, how the system will work, their use of SecuROM DRM. There are some aspects of this that are not yet 100% clear, but answers are near, as the service is supposed to launch on Sunday.
Blizzard announces pricing details for the Latin American Spanish edition of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty to be sold in Mexico, Argentina, and Chile. Word is: "Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that its highly anticipated real-time strategy game, StarCraft® II: Wings of Liberty™, will be fully localized into Latin American Spanish and will be available in Mexico, Argentina, and Chile for a suggested retail price of $299 MXN / $119 ARS / $13,900 CLP. With this purchase, players will have six months of access to the StarCraft II single-player campaign and multiplayer play through the new version of Battle.net®, the premier online gaming destination for Blizzard Entertainment gamers. Continued StarCraft II play beyond the time included with the initial purchase will be available via 30-day and 60-day subscription options. Pricing for these options will be announced at a later date."
Telltale Games announces Puzzle Agent, an upcoming puzzle game that kicks off Telltale's new game pilot program. Word is: "In the game, you'll play the role of Agent Tethers, solving puzzles in order to reveal important clues to figure out what's going on. The great Professor Layton games are another source inspiring the game. Coming this June, the game will appear on PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, and WiiWare!" Between now and the game's release, they are offering an unusual preorder incentive: "From now through June 8, 2010, if you buy Puzzle Agent for PC/Mac, all the other items in your cart will be 50% off! This discount does not apply toward Puzzle Agent game itself or the Monkey Island Games bundle."
Battlefront.com now offers a new patch for Strategic Command WWII Global Conflict, updating the World War II strategy game to version 1.01. Word is: "More than a hundred improvements, fixes and tweaks to both the game engine as well as the editor - many based on feedback from the fan community forums and email - make this one of the biggest patches for one of the biggest grand strategy games out there. Perhaps among the most noticeable improvements to players will be the optimized map scrolling speeds for both the game and editor making very large maps much more playable."
The Alien Arena Website now offers a new version 7.40 of Alien Arena, the freeware, Open Source first-person shooter. The new version is updated with new levels, new weapon models, bug fixes, gameplay tweaks, and client improvements. The full change list is here, and here are some highlights: Continue here to read the full story.
The A Tale in the Desert Website has details on a "welcome back" weekend beginning at noon eastern time today in this combat-free MMOG. The weekend will involve events on both the main shard and Bastet, offering a look at upcoming fifth "telling" of the game, which includes a newly revamped mining system. Word is: "In addition to the sneak preview of telling 5s mining system, there will be a medley of conflict tournaments and some exciting role-playing events held over the weekend." A free trial version of the game, which supports Windows, Linux, and Mac, is available, offering 24 hours of free play.
Matrix Games announces the availability of a new "game concepts video" from Command Ops: Battles from the Bulge, saying: "The new video, entitled Game Concepts, is a perfect introduction for newcomers to the award-winning game engine which brought gamers Conquest of the Aegean and Highway to the Reich." The clip is available on this downloads page.
The Crysis 2 interview on AtomicGamer chats with author Richard Morgan about his contribution to the story in Crysis 2, Crytek's upcoming first-person shooter sequel. Topics include "the challenges of writing a game versus a novel, and why The Suffering is the greatest game of all time."
Today is the Iron Man II debut. MrsBlue has me up in the air over whether she'll see it with me, as I am planning on making a rare theater trip for this one. This means I'm not exactly sure when I'll get out to see it, so I'll have to be vigilant in the meantime to avoid spoilers.
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