Archived News:
Basilisk Games now offers the Windows edition of Eschalon: Book II, saying the Linux and Mac editions of the RPG sequel are due on May 26. They also offer a playable demo for the Windows edition, which is mirrored on AtomicGamer, Filefront, and Gamer's Hell. The demo includes the full version, which can be unlocked by purchasing a registration key.
Joystiq has news that China-based MMOG developer and publisher Perfect World has acquired "a majority stake" in Torchlight developer Runic Games, one of the outfits to rise from the ashes of defunct developer Flagship Studios. Perfect World published Torchlight, and considering a Torchlight MMOG was already planned, it seems safe to presume that this will help that project go forward.
The Battle.net forums update the StarCraft II: Wings Of Liberty beta schedule, saying testing of Blizzard's real-time strategy sequel will wrap up on May 31, indicating the game is on track for its planned July 27 release (thanks VG247). They do say they plan to bring the beta back online for "a couple of weeks" prior to the game's launch to complete testing, saying they will share more details about this final beta-testing phase "at a later date."
[Phoronix] has a follow-up on plans for a Linux client for Unreal Tournament 3, which has not been mentioned much lately. The last references we can find around here was a screenshot of the client in September 2008 following word that "the Linux client won't be here tonight" from October 2007. [Phoronix] reports they heard from Epic the UT3 client was still being worked on as recently as August 2009, but they have now corresponded with Epic programmer Steve Polge, who gives little reason for hope in this regard, as he tells them: "There are no other reasons for its delay. Unfortunately, given the lack of progress it seems unlikely the UT3 Linux client will ever be completed."
GameStop is no offering preorders of Call of Duty: Black Ops, the next installment in this military shooter series. As an incentive, they will give the first 300,000 customers who preorder the game an exclusive two-sided poster.
Computer and Video Games has an informative post about Dwarf Fortress, saying the game is actually making money, in spite of being completely free to play (thanks Joao). Word is the game survives thanks to user donations, and after averaging over $3200.00 USD in donations over the previous four months, the game actually took in over $16,000.00 USD in donations in the month of April. On a related note, the Dwarf Fortress Website now offers a new version 0.31.04, which can be found in this forum post.
The Zeno Clash Website now offers downloads of the full soundtrack from ACE Team's first-person brawling game completely free, saying this offer is for a limited time only. This is actually the soundtrack from Zeno Clash Ultimate Edition, and here's word: "Remastered, and in some cases recomposed, every track is presented as a complete composition and a perfect reflection of the gorgeous and grotesque nature of the adventure in the world of Zenozoik. This critically acclaimed, first-person melee action adventure brawler, Zeno Clash Ultimate Edition™, is now available for your punching, kicking, and headbutting pleasure on Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft."
Able Gamers reports on their new white paper on gaming and accessibility that claims "The gaming industry is set to lose $3 billion in potential revenue along with more than 30 million customers as Americans who play video games continue to age and become disabled." This will be discussed at their Game Accessibility Day, to be held at the Hyatt Harborside hotel in Boston, MA on May 25. "Many gamers started playing Atari in the ‘70s and ‘80s and are now 50 years and older. They may still want to be gamers, but, as they age, they may not be able to because of disability or health conditions. They’re essentially being shut out," says Stephanie Walker, a founder of The AbleGamers Foundation and the paper's co-author. "The time for making games accessible is now." Thanks Joker961 via The Escapist.
Outspark announces Fists of Fu, a free action/adventure MMORPG featuring a fun take on martial arts combat. The game will enter closed beta testing soon, and is planned for an official launch this summer.
Gamesauce has an interview with John Romero, who sat down for a talk with fellow game designer Brenda Brathwaite (thanks IndustryGamers). It's an interesting conversation, and John offers pretty frank answers to uncomfortable questions about the "make you my bitch" ads and Daikatana in general, saying how the game was raked over the coals was somewhat "deserved." John also has an interesting response to Brenda's question about what would happen if he worked with John Carmack again: "I have no doubt that if John and I decided to make another game it would be fresh and new and awesome. We've both grown a lot in the past 14 years and have a lot more experience, not only in game development, but also in dealing with people and game teams. Many times you hear of musical groups getting back together after decades apart, and when they try and work together gain, everything explodes and falls apart because of personality issue and hubris. I really don't think that would happen with John and me."
Steam News announces the release of Guns of Icarus for PC and Mac. Here's word on the game: "In an apocalyptic steampunk future, you are a privateer ferrying goods across treacherous airspace. Protect your airship and yourself from an onslaught of pirates, and safely reach your destination to reap the rewards."
The launch trailer for Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is now available, in time for tomorrow's North American launch of the platformer sequel. In the clip the Prince and the game's antagonist both proclaim their superiority over each other, and attempt to outdo each other's melodramatic deliver of their lines. The embedded version follows. Continue here to read the full story.
Two new trailers are now available for Blur, the next auto racing game from Bizarre Creations. There's an Advanced Tactics trailer describing alternate uses of some of the game's power-ups, and stressing the need for drivers to "think in three dimensions," suggesting a failure to appreciate what that actually means. There's also a trailer highlighting racing in the game, and both trailers are embedded below. Continue here to read the full story.
- Aliens vs. Predator on Steam. Save 50%.
- Sega Complete Pack on Steam. Save 78%.
Still on sale (previously reported)
Continue here to read the full story.
Link of the Day: Gabe Newell - Rise to Power. Thanks Ant. Truly epic, err valve, err, whatever.
There's a video interview with Jean-Charles Gaudechon on HEXUS.gaming discussing Need for Speed World, the upcoming MMO installment in the long-running racing series. Coincidentally, we have a batch of new Need for Speed World screenshots. On a further related note, superannuation has scoped out no fewer than 14 new Need for Speed-related domains registered just last week. These are: needforspeedboost.com, needforspeeddriftkings.com, needforspeedeliminator.com, needforspeedlightning.com, needforspeednolimits.com, needforspeedoverdrive.com, needforspeedproven.com, needforspeedredline.com, needforspeedshowdown.com, needforspeedstreetkings.com, needforspeedtakedown.com, needforspeedtherun.com, needforspeedtimeattack.com, and needforspeedundergroundeast.com.
TheSixthAxis has some quotes from Epic president Mike Capps published in Edge Magazine E215, now on newsstands. Capps admits "the money's on console," in discussing their platform choices, saying "piracy's already had its impact" on PC sales. “If you walked into [Epic's Offices] six years ago, Epic was a PC company. We did one PS2 launch title, and everything else was PC. And now, people are saying 'Why do you hate the PC? You’re a console-only company'," he tells them. "We still do PC, we still love the PC, but we already saw the impact of piracy: it killed a lot of great independent developers and completely changed our business model." That love aside, Capps seems to be ceding the PC market to social games: "So, maybe Facebook will save PC gaming," adding, "but it’s not going to look like Gears of War." Thanks Joao.
The Korea Times has more on the ongoing scandal in South Korea over allegations of cheating in professional StarCraft matches. Word is indictments have come down for 11 former and current professional StarCraft players, as well as three gambling website operators accused of brokering deals between the players and gamblers. Word is: "According to the Seoul Central Prosecutors' Office, the gamblers, who also run a training institute for professional gamer hopefuls, lured the 11 players, including nine incumbents, into deliberately losing their matches in exchange for receiving compensation ranging from 2 million to up to 6.5 million won ($1,760-5,730)." StarCraft match fixing in the country where it is so popular seems as unthinkable as soccer fixing in Brazil or baseball and basketball fixing in the U.S. Thanks Mike Martinez via Kotaku.
The Ino-Co Website announces Majesty 2: Battles of Ardania, a second add-on for Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim, the real-time strategy sequel (thanks The Patches Scrolls). They offer a trailer and some screenshots, and say the expansion will be released May 21, which is this Friday. Here's word: When there is peace in the kingdom, and nothing has happened in a month, any good King would itch for war. And even if not a full scale war, then at least for a skirmish; and if there is no skirmish, then at least it's time to go hunting.
And if the game is a werewolf, then well – that's a sure cure for boredom!
But what started as a hunt may grow into a skirmish; and a skirmish may yet develop into a full-scale war. Or maybe the Adviser is exaggerating as always and all you'll have to face is a few minor problems....
But no, deep in the darkness there prowls a mysterious mage-werewolf, who unites hordes of monsters to pose a hairy, scary threat to Ardania. Could it be that some ancient enemy has returned or it is his heirs, who came to reclaim his lost domain?
To overcome the menace, the Great King must draw upon all his skills, all the wisdom of his advisor, as well as the powers of an unexpected ally....
The BattleGoat Forums announce the release of a seventh patch for Supreme Ruler 2020: Global Crisis or Supreme Ruler 2020: Gold to update either edition of the strategy sequel to version 6.7.63. The patch is not automatic, as while they are not calling it a beta, they admit it hasn't been properly tested: "This is not your 'typical' type of update. We've made some changes that unbalance some other features, and we've tossed in a few things in the 'experimental' department. Because of this, Update 7 will not be an 'automatic' update that happens during installation or the 'Check for Updates' process. Instead, you will have to manually download it from a download link. There's also some areas that have not been as fully tested. For instance, Multiplayer has received only limited testing for this update and may be subject to "regression" bugs. If any serious bugs are identified then we will attempt to fix them and post a new version of the update." The download is mirrored on The Patches Scrolls, and the patch notes follow. Continue here to read the full story.
MCV reports the latest financials for Sega Sammy Holdings, who have posted their results for the fiscal year ending March 31. Sales are down 10% year-on-year, but word is they made £151.8m in profits, up from a loss of £171.3m the previous year (which sounds like an increase of infinity, rather than the 200% cited in the headline). Word is: "These figures take all of Sega Sammy’s business avenues into account including arcade machines, amusement facilities, video games and gambling slot machines." They have a separate accounting of video games: "In the video game software market alone, net sales were down 7.5 per cent year-on-year while profits hit £47.3m, up from a loss of £6.8m the year before. The group cited its success to a number of key titles including Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympics, Bayonetta and Aliens vs. Predator."
Gamestop is offering preorders of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, the next installment in the stealth/action series. As an incentive, they are offering an exclusive character: "Reserve Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and receive the GameStop exclusive multiplayer character, Harlequin. Behind the gaudy costume and twisted smile lies the soul of a merciless Assassin. You call yourself the Harlequin. Your victims will call you a walking nightmare. Available online and in-store while supplies lasts [sic]." Thanks Big Download.
The Forgotten Hope Website now offers a new version 2.26 patch for the Forgotten Hope 2 modification for Battlefield 2. They offer this change log to outline what's new, though it seems to use a different version numbering scheme. There is also a video with a fun and touching tribute to a fallen comrade. Thanks Ant.
Gamasutra - Losing For Good.
If we talk about the idea of losing "permanently" in video games, the typical response is that players would never accept that kind of treatment. Oh sure, some people play roguelikes, but that's just a niche within a niche. But what if we're thinking about "losing" in too narrow a sense? What if a player could fail at a game's objectives and still be allowed to continue without a game over screen? What if failing was built right into a game's design?
IGN - Out of Characters. Thanks Ant.
A good 90% of playable characters fall into the Heavily Armed Badass category. You can faction that down to four types: Space Marine, G.I. John Doe, Semi-God of Whoopass, and Foreigner with Overcompensation Sword. Kind of a small pool to draw from, isn't it? Hell, most JRPGs are still riffing off the character archetypes set down by Final Fantasy VII thirteen years ago. Tetsuya Nomura (who designed those archetypes) went on record calling Lightning, his lead character for Final Fantasy XIII, a female version of VII's Cloud Strife. In other words, an uber-morose and largely self-absorbed man-magnet with a hidden past. Been there.
- Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City on HEXUS.
R.I.P.: Metal rocker Ronnie James Dio dies. The rumor from yesterday was confirmed shortly after the denial was posted here yesterday, which turns out to have been a black Sabbath for metal fans.
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