Archived News:
Need for Speed World is offering open beta testing of this MMO racing game that will run all weekend. Word is: "If you're new to World, here's a little taste of what we've got this time: 25 cars with performance customization packages available for each, a 50-level progression ladder, Private Matches so you can take on your friends, a Meeting Place for car shows and a whole new region, Camden for you to play around in."
Star Alliances announces this science-fiction MMORTS no longer requires a subscription, as they have implemented a microtransaction model. They are also running a contest this weekend, which offers the chance to win $100.00 USD without spending anything. Rules on the contest are here, and here is a bit more on the game's new business model: "Star Alliances has gone to a microtransaction system meaning that whatever you acquire you keep. This means you get to purchase exactly what you want out of your gameplay experience in Star Alliances. Microtransactions do not reward the wealthiest player as you are still required to be a good player to achieve high enough levels to use the higher end items you have purchased. The game will remain fair and those that have the skills will still be the best players in the game! See the website for more details!"
The Star Trek Online Official Site has word on the departure of Craig Zinkievich as executive producer of the Trekkie MMORPG, who says, "I’ve decided to take a break from Cryptic Studios for a bit and focus on other things, like hanging out with my kids over the summer, walking my goat more and taking care of my bees. (Jack never told you about them, did he?)." He also talks about the future: "I’m proud to announce that our production superstar Daniel Stahl will be taking over as STO’s EP, tasked with taking the MMO through the next phases of its life. He’s got the love of Star Trek (the Kirk photo existed before he came to Cryptic), he’s got passion for games, he’s got his finger on the pulse of the community and if you guys ever thought I was excited about the potential of what Star Trek Online can become when you saw my interviews, just wait until you get a load of Dan. It’s scary sometimes. Really. To Dan I say: 'Congratulations, Commander!'" Thanks Shacknews.
Steam News announces the Final Days For Steam's Perils of Summer Sale, offering another batch of 24-hour specials as part of the extravaganza. Today's one-day sale items are: Day of Defeat: Source (save 75%), Borderlands (save 66%), Star Wars Empire at War: Gold Pack (save 75%), Prototype (save 50%), Half-Life 2 (save 66%), Max and the Magic Marker (save 75%), The Bionic Commando Pack (save 75%), Saints Row 2 (save 75%), Crysis Maximum Edition (save 50%), and Beat Hazard (save 75%).
A sale on Direct2Drive offers up to 65% off war games through Tuesday in honor of Independence Day. They offer Hearts Of Iron III for 65% off, Battlestations: Pacific for 50% off, Battlestations: Midway for 50% off, and Silent Hunter: Battle Of The Atlantic for 33% off. They also offer five new games in their incredibly challenging The Quest For The Chosen One Scavenger Hunt.
Star Wars: The Old Republic Website now offers a video of an E3 multiplayer video demonstration, showing off some live combat in the upcoming Star Wars MMORPG. Here's how they set the story: "Commander Narlock readies his troops for an Imperial assault. As he does, all four Republic classes; a Jedi Consular, Jedi Knight, Smuggler, and Trooper join together to assist in fighting off the attack. Watch as each player does his or her part to take on the enemies, and beat the Imperial Troopers and Imperial Breach Droids."
The Left 4 Dead Blog announces this week's mutation for Left 4 Dead 2 is called Versus Survival. Word is: "The first Survivor team sets the time. The second team tries to beat it. Then the first team tries to beat the second team's time. Then the second team tries to beat the first team's time. And then the... you get the idea. Rounds keep switching until someone fails to beat the previous time." Steam News announces the addition of the mutation for the game, along with an updated default configuration for Intel HD Graphics cards.
The Team Fortress 2 Blog offers a humorous, if intentionally confusing, update on the Apple version of Team Fortress 2. This is accompanied by Team Fortress 2 - Loose Canon, a comic strip offering an "epic Engineer story spanning three generations."
Steam News announces the release of a new automatic patch for Napoleon: Total War, the large-scale real-time strategy game. Here's the change list. Continue here to read the full story.
Steam News announces a new patch Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter is now available to update the first-person shooter remake. The patch notes follow. Continue here to read the full story.
A new patch is now available for Pro Cycling Manager/Tour de France 2010 to update the bicycle racing sim to version 1.0.1.8. The patch is available for download from the Pro Cycling Manager Website and mirrored on AtomicGamer, FileFront, Gamer's Hell, and The Patches Scrolls. Here are the patch notes. Continue here to read the full story.
FilePlanet is offering access to the Medal of Honor beta test. To participate you must be premium subscriber with one of their paid memberships.
Link of the Day: World of 'Futurama' rebuilt in LEGOs. Thanks Mike Martinez.
The Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent Page now offers downloads of playable demos for the new puzzle game for either PC or Mac. The recently released title is described as a mix of "Nordic folklore, and an X-Files style mystery along with major influences of Professor-Layton inspired puzzling, David Lynch, the Coen brothers and a dash of Stanley Kubrick. And gnomes." Downloads of the PC demo are mirrored on AtomicGamer.
Slitherine announces the release of the Mac edition of Field of Glory, saying the ancient and medieval-era wargame is now on sale for Macs in their online store, alongside Rise of Rome and Storm of Arrows, the game's two previously released maps packs. The Mac edition of Field of Glory is fully compatible with PC edition, allowing Mac and PC users to play multiplayer games against each other. They also announce that Immortal Fire, the third army pack, will get a simultaneous release on PC and Mac on July 15. Immortal Fire is available for pre-order now.
The Team Fortress 2 Blog announces the availability of some new Steam web APIs, saying that up to now access to the "ton of data" generated by the item system in Team Fortress 2 was "through some hacked-together scripts that, frankly, were old and creaky before they went live." They say the old creaky scripts are still running, but warn they will be shut down at some point, urging those making use of these data to check out the new APIs. The Steam Web API Documentation offers info on how to get started.
PC Gamer hashes through some posts to the Steam Forums discussing hints at Valve's upcoming plans for an update to the Team Fortress 2 Engineer class. The posts offer the clues that lead to the conclusion that a golden "Midas wrench" will be one of the Engineer upgrades, and this trailer seems to show the wrench in action.
The Homefront Interview on IGN goes sailing away with Chris Cross to learn more about plans for Homefront, the upcoming military shooter where the US defends against a North Korean invasion, discussing both the reality and the fiction behind the scenario. One such topic is the potentially inflammatory racial aspects of using real countries in the story, which Cross is attuned to, saying: "Yeah, and we'll handle some of those topics in the game. Also—I'm half Korean! I understand the politics and mentality of what this future is. It's a lot closer than we think and it's unnerving, actually. We're four events away from it actually being a reality." Thanks Joker961.
The Bulletstorm Director's Commentary Walkthrough trailer (NSFW) shows off gameplay in Bulletstorm, the upcoming first-person shooter from Epic's People Can Fly studio. The clip features tons of in-game footage, accompanied by narration by Epic's Cliff Bleszinski discussing details about various gameplay and visual elements the trailer demonstrates. The embedded version follows. Continue here to read the full story.
There's a new exclusive multiplayer game modes diary trailer from Blacklight: Tango Down on GameTrailers.com, where the developers at Zombie discuss the various multiplayer modes in their upcoming futuristic military shooter. They describe their goal of creating modes players will actually use, including various objective-style game types, as well as co-op support (thanks Joker961). Here's the embedded clip. Continue here to read the full story.
A new "After-Action Report" Trailer from Close Combat - Last Stand Arnhem demonstrates battle results from the upcoming World War II turn-based/real-time strategy game. The clip does include depictions of combat, but true to its title, concentrates on how the outcomes are reported to the player. The trailer is embedded below. Continue here to read the full story.
Battlefront.com now offers 15 screenshots from the beta version of the upcoming Combat Mission Shock Force NATO module, showing off some Dutch mechanized forces. This is posted along with a new trailer showing some of these Dutch tanks in action. The trailer is embedded here. Continue here to read the full story.
Today is the start of a long holiday weekend here in the states, as Independence Day falls on Sunday, making today a day off for many people, and Monday a holiday for that many more. In addition to this birthday of the Declaration of Independence, we have a couple of other birthdays to celebrate, so things should be extra busy around the Blue Tower over the next couple of days.
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