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Archived News:
Develop reports on accusations that Rebellion has not been making severance payments to laid off former employees, attributing these reports to "numerous sources," though adding, "the accusations remain unproven," and that: "Rebellion’s executive staff – founding duo Jason and Chris Kingsley – are currently travelling, though a statement on the situation may still be provided." Word is some of the employees involved have worked at Rebellion for two decades, making these alleged missed payments fairly substantial. They add a troubling note to all this, saying: "Rebellion Derby also faces two accusations from confirmed, separate sources that the company is positioning for bankruptcy – a situation that could possibly mean the remaining staff would not be paid their redundancy package at all." Thanks Joao.
The Cult of Rapture has a quick status report on the next patch for BioShock 2 on each of the three platforms for 2K Games' shooter sequel: The latest BioShock 2 patch is now available for download on the PlayStation Network, and is headed to 360s everywhere tomorrow. The PC patch is still in testing - I'll update the Cult with a date as soon as I know it's download date!
Telepath RPG: Servants of God Website offers a playable demo for this independently developed role-playing game that carries the following description: "Part Japanese strategy RPG, part free-roaming Western RPG, there is no RPG out there quite like Telepath RPG: Servants of God." This trailer offers a look at gameplay, and a partial feature list for the full game follows. Continue here to read the full story.
A new Multiplayer Character Customization Trailer features the developers at High Moon Studios explaining the four character classes in Transformers War for Cybertron, explaining how they will cater to different player styles in the upcoming Transformers prequel. They also explain how these characters can be further customized for appearance, as well as weapons and other abilities. The embedded version follows. Continue here to read the full story.
A new Hot Cars and Hot Nights in Ibiza Trailer from Test Drive Unlimited 2 shows off some lifestyle elements from the upcoming driving sequel, as well as some footage of cars in action. Word is: "79 km off the coast of Valencia, Spain lies an archipelago populated with hot cars, hot girls and even hotter nights. Put the pedal to the metal and experience the island of Ibiza. Muy caliente!" The clip concludes with the disturbing indication the game's title will be written as Test D2rive Unlimited, as you can see below. Continue here to read the full story.
Two new tutorial trailers are now available for Blur, the upcoming racing game from Bizarre Creations. There is a Proving Grounds trailer with a look at this career mode, and a Power Up Basics trailer that explains how to acquire and trigger the game's power-ups, along with an outline of the kind of power-ups the game will include. Both clips are embedded below. Continue here to read the full story.
The Aural Network now offers Mark Morgan's "Vault Archives," a 24-track collection of re-mastered full-bandwidth songs from his old-school Fallout game soundtracks. There are four tracks that can be streamed, and the whole soundtrack is free to download for non-commercial use. Thanks No Mutants Allowed.
Warhammer Online interview on The MMO Gamer chats with producer Carrie Gouskos in an interview available as either an audio recording or a text transcript. They discuss the pre-launch optimism Mythic had for the Warhammer MMOG, and how things changed after the game went live, improvements they've made to the game since, the ups and downs of other game launches, what sets Warhammer Online apart from other MMORPGs, and more.
2K Games announces that the previously announced Rapture Metro Pack DLC for BioShock 2 will be released tomorrow for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 for 800 MS Points/$9.99, along with two other DLC: A new multiplayer character pack for 160 MS Points/$1.99 and a new free gameplay mode called Kill'Em'Kindly where players can get in touch with their inner Elin by fighting to the death with golf clubs. Fore! All three DLC packs will hit consoles tomorrow, and the PC at some unannounced point a little down the road. The news is accompanied by a new Kill’Em’Kindly trailer, which is embedded below. Continue here to read the full story.
The Alganon Forums have a follow-up from Derek Smart over accusations of plagiarism in a press release. Here's part: So that single referenced line that the PR Sirens used to precede my commentary was chosen as inspiration in order to convey the premise of my quotes that followed. In truth, the reference should either have been reworded or credited and sourced. As I understand it now, that was the original intent; but they failed to make the change in their draft and which was to become the final version that went out on PRWeb. And since Quest Online - like most companies that hire outside PR firms - don't have to fact check press releases, we clearly had no idea what had happened until my inbox started lighting up on Sunday morning.
This was clearly an unintentional oversight and shouldn't even be news; but here we are. Just another glorious day in the gaming industry. It's all about hits and giggles.
S2 Games announces this Wednesday will be the worldwide launch of Heroes of Newerth, offering a standalone game based on the Defense of the Ancients modification for Warcraft III. Over two million players have participated in the game's beta testing, and on the 12th it will be commercially released for Windows, Mac, and Linux. "It’s been an amazing three years so far," states Marc DeForest, CEO and Founder, S2 Games. "We’ve had such a good ride through the Beta period, now we’re looking forwards [sic] to getting the retail version out to as many people as possible. The team has put a lot into making this game the best multiplayer experience it can be, and we’re looking forwards [sic] to new and old fans alike playing and enjoying Heroes of Newerth."
JoWooD announces details of The Guild 2 – Renaissance, a standalone add-on for The Guild 2 planned for release in Q2 of this year. The news includes a batch of screenshots, and here's a bit on what the life sim/strategy expansion will offer: This brand-new add-on hugely increases both the size and diversity of the game world – there are innumerable, often unexpected challenges for the player. Nine completely new careers (character classes) allow the player unprecedented freedom in creating the ultimate Guild 2 dynasty: Mercenary, undertaker, mason, entertainer, innkeeper, banker, miller, fruit farm proprietor and more, and the game also includes a wholly re-worked Title system offering a brand-new gameplay element to the player – e.g. in order to reach the next title, you’ll need to either supply your King with lansquenet mercenaries – or serve as an officer in a war yourself.
The ARMA 2 Website has a new "Death From Above" trailer from Operation Arrowhead, showing off one of the single-player missions in the campaign mode in the upcoming military shooter expansion. Word is: "Piloting an AH-64D Apache, the demonstrator safely hides his helicopter within firing range of the targets before switching controls to remotely pilot a Little Bird helicopter UAV equipped with FLIR vision. Using the drone’s immensely powerful camera to zoom in on the objective from a safe distance, designate targets and even initiate Hellfire missile launches from the player’s own Apache, all without being detected or even seen by the enemy."
Ufioria announces another round of closed beta testing for Camon Hero will begin today, saying a round of "guerilla" testing for this trading card-based MMORPG will commence at 8:00 pm EDT (5:00 pm PDT) and will run through Wednesday at 8:00 pm EDT. While some "open" betas are more closed than others, this is an unusually open "closed" beta, as word is: "No beta key is required, any player who wants to join in just needs to have a Uforia account."
505 Games and 1C Company announce tomorrow will kick off a couple of weeks of free multiplayer access to Men of War, the World War II real-time strategy sequel from Best Way. The 1.9 GB game client can be downloaded here (direct link), and you can get a temporary game key from this page. Word is the temporary keys will be valid from tomorrow through May 23.
Codemasters is suing rival developer Playground Games for "poaching staff to accelerate the development of a racing car game," reports Mail Online (thanks Develop). Word is: Codemasters says poaching the team enabled Playground to present itself to publishers such as Microsoft and Sega as a business with substantial experience.
It also alleges that Playground, co-founded by another former Codemasters executive, Trevor Williams, disrupted Codemasters' development of its own racing games.
The writ also names 15 former employees of Codemasters, which is half-owned by private equity firm Balderton Capital.
Codemasters seeks unspecified damages and/or an account of profits in relation to Playground's actions.
Meridian59.com now offers free downloads of the client for Meridian 59, the MMOG created by now dead developer Near Death Studios. The game continues to operate for free, and Gilroy's Meridian 59 Reference is the place to keep up with the latest information about the project. Thanks Mosh.
An update to the Wolfire Games Blog reflects on piracy of the Humble Indie Bundle, the pay-what-you-choose bundle of independent games (thanks Joao). By their simple estimate, about 25% of the downloads of the bundle from their site are pirated, not even counting BitTorrent and other external sources. They reflect on the thinking that might cause users to pirate the games rather than contribute a penny to be a legitimate customer, and while they are not happy about the situation, they also admit they are not really planning on doing much to curtail this: There is probably a way to get the best of both worlds, but it's not my area of expertise. Making the download experience worse for generous contributors in the name of punishing pirates doesn't really fit with the spirit of the bundle. When considering any kind of DRM, we have to ask ourselves, "How many legitimate users is it ok to inconvenience in order to reduce piracy?" The answer should be none.
The Green Man Gaming Website is live, offering their promised buying and selling of used digitally distributed games. The site lists prices in British currency, but this should change if you create an account as they say: "Prices are quoted in UK pounds, Euros or US Dollars depending on your geographical location." Full details on the service can be found in their Terms & Conditions.
Kill Ten Rats has a post pointing out some striking similarities (that they are calling "blatant plagiarism") between the recent Alganon launch announcement and a Star Wars: The Old Republic press release from October 2008 (thanks Ryan via Massively). Here are the examples: “Traditionally, massively multiplier online games have been about three basic gameplay pillars – combat, exploration and character progression,” Derek Smart continued. “In Alganon, in addition to these we’ve added the fourth pillar to the equation; a story. We delivered a fun, immersive adventure that gamers expect in a top quality massively multiplayer online game. To top it all off, we’re not done yet. A whole new adventure with new updates will follow soon, starting with a consignment house, new classes, PvP and much more.”
“Traditionally, massively multiplayer online games have been about three basic gameplay pillars – combat, exploration and character progression,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, Co-Founder and General Manager/CEO of BioWare and General Manager/Vice President of Electronic Arts Inc., “In Star Wars: The Old Republic, we’re fusing BioWare’s heritage of critically-acclaimed storytelling with the amazing pedigree of Lucasfilm and LucasArts, and adding a brand-new fourth pillar to the equation – story. At the same time, we will still deliver all the fun features and activities that fans have come to expect in a AAA massively multiplayer online game. To top it all off, Star Wars: The Old Republic is set in a very exciting, dynamic period in the Star Wars universe.”
The ELSPA offers the top 10 bestselling games in the UK for the week ending May 8.
- 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa (last week 1, weeks on chart: 2)
- Just Dance (last week 3, weeks on chart: 23)
- Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare (last week 9, weeks on chart: 26)
- Wii Fit Plus (last week 6, weeks on chart: 28)
- Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (last week 8, weeks on chart: 10)
- Super Street Fighter IV (last week 2, weeks on chart: 2)
- Wii Sports Resort (last week 7, weeks on chart: 42)
- Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction (last week 4, weeks on chart: 4)
- Grand Theft Auto Episodes - Liberty City (last week 5, weeks on chart: 20)
- Just Cause 2 (last week 11, weeks on chart: 7)
MCV relates the latest financial reporting for Namco Bandai, saying the Japanese developer/publisher lost almost a third of a billion dollars in the fiscal year, down from over $100 million in profits last year: "Publisher Namco Bandai has reported a $312m loss for the fiscal year ending March 31st 2010, a sharp dip from the $126m profit reported in the year before. Revenues hit $4.1bn, down 11 per cent year-on-year."
- Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter on PC Games Hardware. Maxed out graphics.
- Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction on NGOHQ. Hi-rez shots.
- ASRock 890GX Extreme3 AMD 890GX SB850 Motherboard on OCWorkbench.
- Danger Den GeForce GTX 480 Liquid Cooling Graphics Card on Guru3D.
- G.Skill ECO 4GB DDR3 Memory Kit F310666CL7D RAM on Benchmark Reviews.
- GIGABYTE HD5870 Super Overclock Graphics Card on Bjorn3D.com.
- Intel Core i7 980X CPU on InsideHW.
- NZXT Crafted Series Vulcan Micro-ATX Case on Legit Reviews.
- PowerColor HD 5830 PCS+ Graphics Card on Technic3D.
- QNAP TS-459 Pro 4-Bay TurboNAS on TweakTown.
- Sapphire Radeon HD 5550 Ultimate Graphics Card on Techgage.
- Sony Bloggie MHS-CM5 Camcorder on TechReviewSource.com.
- Sparkle Gold Class 1250W PSU on OCIA.net.
- Thermalright Spitfire, VRM-R5 & X-Silent 140 Cooler on Overclockers Club.
- Thermaltake ToughPower XT 775W PSU on Overclock3D.
- TRENDnet TEW-648UB and TEW-649UB USB Wireless LAN Adapters on MADSHRIMPS.
We came to the conclusion that MrsBlue is not going to see Iron Man II with me more rapidly than on previous occasions when such a question was up in the air (often she will remain uncertain on such a topic until after the film closes). Free to schedule myself, I'll sneak off at some point this week to see it, perhaps today. Meanwhile, I already know the souvenir (thanks Joker961) I want to commemorate the film.
R.I.P.: Lena Horne, Sultry Singer and Actress, Dies at 92. Thanks Mike Martinez.
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