Archived News:
Blizzard tells Gamasutra they are "definitely listening to player feedback" about Real ID, and the recent revelation that this would require the use of "real names" to post to the StarCraft II forums (though they admit that any name can be registered, though it will be associated with your unique CD key). So far the outcry from fans would indicate the program is not receiving the reception they hoped for: "Real ID is a new and different concept for Blizzard gamers -- and for us as well -- and our goal is to create a social gaming service that players want to use." In any event, it doesn't sound like they are reconsidering the plan, as they explain its optional nature. "It's important to note that both enabling Real ID in game and posting on the official Blizzard forums are completely optional," the Blizzard rep said. "Players can continue to read the forums anonymously regardless of whether they choose to post in them, and their gameplay experiences will not change if they choose not to use the Real ID communication features in game."
OnLive Latency: The Reckoning on Eurogamer.net relates their early experiences with the OnLive cloud-based gaming service, also offering a video latency analysis. Their initial comments seem encouraging, saying: "In Digital Foundry's independent tests, we achieved an optimum response of 150ms - similar to playing Killzone 2 locally, and in line with Rare's claims for lag when using the new Kinect camera controller." They could not always achieve those optimal results, however: "In a best-case scenario, we counted 10 frames delay between button and response on-screen, giving a 150ms latency once the display's contribution to the measurement was removed. Unreal Tournament III worked pretty well in sustaining that response during gameplay. However, other tests were not so consistent, with DiRT 2 weighing in at a clear 150ms-200ms while Assassin's Creed II operated at a wide range of between 150ms-216ms. We'll be discussing the reasons behind this variance in our upcoming OnLive feature." They say this about their overall latency experience using the service on a fat FiOS pipe: "Even with this mammoth connection, in our tests OnLive never meets anything like the claims made for it by company front-man Steve Perlman, on the record as describing end-to-end lag as being under 80ms and 'usually... between 35-40ms'."
Gamasutra has word from Red 5 that their Offset-engine MMOG is still on track, in spite of the news that Intel has cancelled Project Offset. "Red 5 Studios is still at work on our first title," said a Red 5 representative. "The game has not been put on hold or delayed. While we are using a highly-modified version of the Project Offset engine, the closing of the Intel team does not impact our ability to complete our own project. We look forward to releasing more information about our project in the near future."
The Battle.net Forums have word that Patch 16 for the StarCraft II Beta is now available, bringing the test version of the real-time strategy sequel to version 0.19.0.15976 (thanks Ke). The new version include some changes, balance fixes, and enable cross-game social with World of Warcraft, and presumably indicates the beta test will resume soon. The patch notes follow. Continue here to read the full story.
The Third Wire Productions Downloads Page now features the July 2010 patch for First Eagles 2, the Windows 7/Vista compatible version of First Eagles, the World War I aerial combat game. The new version address a bug introduced in the previous version: "Verdun map not loading correctly with Jun 2010 patch is fixed." The patch is mirrored on AtomicGamer.
The Kerberos Productions Forums have word on a new patch that's now available for Fort Zombie, updating the action/RPG to version 1.07. There are no details on where to find it, presumably this will be handled through the digital distributor where the game was purchased. Here is an explanation: "We prepared it as a smaller patch update but so many DDL services did so many strange things to the original code base that in case of any problems, be prepared to just dload the whole package again."
Battlefield Blog Community Wednesday update #3 offers a few updates during a week that's quiet "due to many people being on vacation." The post does comment on the status of the crazy overdue version 1.51 patch for Battlefield 2142, which still does not have an ETA: "Patch 1.51 for BF 2142 is in development and closed BETA with Combat Testing. Things are progressing but we have no release date for the patch at this time."
The Singularity interview on Gamasutra talks with Raven's creative director Dan Vondrak about Singularity, their recently released first-person shooter. He discusses the challenges and opportunities presented by launching a new intellectual property, and describes their eagerness to continue this as an established IP: "We would love that here at Raven," says Vondrak. "To get a sequel, and see ultimately where it goes, because with the sales numbers, we'll see if that's a viable option from a business standpoint. But we would absolutely love it. There were so many ideas left out on the table because we wanted to make sure we polished the ones we had."
The LEGO Universe Media Page now offers three new gameplay videos from LEGO Universe, NetDevil's upcoming MMORPG. One clip shows some construction, another some actual combat, and the third showing some mini-games such as racing (with opponent warping and all). Thanks Massively.
The Indie Fund Website has word that this recently announced "angel" funding site for independent productions formed by indie developers is now accepting applications for funding. Word simply is: "Yay! Indie Fund is officially open for business! We’ve opened up our submission process and are looking forward to seeing all the weird, amazing, surprising, silly, scary, titillating games you’re willing to throw at us." Thanks Shacknews.
An online version of This Gaming Life: Travels in Three Cities offers the chance to read this book on gaming culture written by Jim Rossignol for free. Word is: "This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. To use this work in a way not covered by the license, please contact digital-culture@umich.edu. The print version of this book is available for sale from the University of Michigan Press." Thanks Ant via Boing Boing.
Gamasutra has word on a restructuring at All Points Bulletin developer Realtime Worlds, saying a "small number" of employees are being laid off as they shift focus from developing APB to supporting the open-world online action game. A statement from the company reads: "Overall staffing levels for APB will increase, with a small number of redundancies expected as the game’s development cycle changes and a second development project is downscaled to provide 100 percent support on APB." Also, the All Points Bulletin Website has news of a new version 1.2.1 APB patch, and the patch notes follow. Continue here to read the full story.
A post to the Electronic Arts UK Forums from Battlefield community manager Daniel, aka zh1nt0, answers some questions about Battlefield: Bad Company 2 posed by forum participants, covering a variety of topics. One point of interest is his comment about leaked dedicated servers, where he says: "We are aware of this and are urging everyone not to play on those servers. We are working on bringing down the leaked servers already. Server files will not be officially released." He also addresses the question about whether any new BC2 maps are planned: "DICE is releasing map packs with new game modes on already existing maps. Vietnam will bring new maps to Bad Company 2." Thanks joao.
The Rock of Ages Interview on Big Download chats with ACE Team cofounder Andres Bordeu about Rock of Ages, their recently announced gravity game. With this new project on the horizon, a pertinent topic is the status of Zeno Clash 2, as a sequel to their fighting game was revealed almost a year ago. His answer, highlighted separately, suggests the game is on hold. "The majority of our efforts are being focused on Rock of Ages, though we are working on another project which we are keeping under cover for now," he told them. "I can't elaborate much on this subject for the moment. All I can say is that we have developed some content for the sequel, but at this point the studio has decided to focus on developing new games/IPs, thus Rock of Ages is our main priority. And yes, we are working on another game concept which is not Zeno Clash 2. We're a small studio so there is only so much we can work on simultaneously."
Steam News announces that Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck’s Revenge is now available for online purchase. This updated sequel to the likewise updated The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition is $9.99 USD. Word is: "Monkey Island™ 2 Special Edition: LeChuck’s Revenge™ faithfully re-imagines the classic Monkey Island™ sequel in signature special edition detail. Expanding on the highly successful The Secret of Monkey Island™: Special Edition in just about every way, fans will now experience new unique special edition features and interact with the world of Monkey Island like never before."
The TaleWorlds Downloads Page now offers a new patch for Mount & Blade: Warband, updating the medieval mounted combat sequel to version 1.126. The patch is also automatically available through Steam for their version, offering patch notes that show new gameplay features, as well as changes and bug-fixes. The patch notes follow. Continue here to read the full story.
Ubisoft announces the availability of new downloadable content for both the PC or Mac editions of The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom, Blue Byte Software's just patched strategy/management sequel. The pack is available from The Official Ubisoft Online Store and other digital distributors for $3.99 USD, offering three new maps: Tempest Taiga, Battle of Tanholm, and Fiery Chasm. The announcement is accompanied by some screenshots and a new trailer showing off the new content. The trailer is also embedded below. Continue here to read the full story.
Dead Space's Facebook Page has a new image from Dead Space 2, teasing a new announcement about the horror shooter sequel planned for this week. Word is: "If you look closely you might find that there's a hint hidden in here about a big announcement we'll be making this week. Let the guessing begin!" Thanks Destructoid.
The Battlefield Blog announces the release of VIP map pack #4 for Battlefield: Bad Company 2. The pack adds Atacama Desert Rush mode and Port Valdez Conquest mode, and they have a VIP Map Pack 4 Trailer showing this off. Word is: "The map pack is available with a VIP code, which is included in every new copy of Battlefield: Bad Company 2. A VIP code can also be purchased via the in-game store. PC users will not need a VIP code and will receive the new map pack via an in-game patch."
A post to the NeoGAF Forums that's apparently from Irrational Games features an odd offer, supplying a phone number and asking folks to guess the next game they are creating. Obviously they are doing this because... well, it's not very clear why. Here's the message: "What do you think we (Irrational Games) are working on? Call and leave a message. Please keep it short. 617-302-7805. DO IT! Keep it clean people!" Thanks VG247.
Croteam announces a free weekend of multiplayer play for Serious Sam HD: Second Encounter beginning tomorrow. In addition to the chance to check out the first-person shooter remake firsthand gratis, the game is also being offered at a 50% discount for the duration of the free event, which concludes on Sunday. "This is total bulls**t," said Fork Parker, Chief Financial Officer at Devolver Digital. "How are we supposed to make any money by giving away our sweet multiplayer juice for free?"
The .plan file of Ryan Gordon of Icculus.org outlines a project he undertook to create his own tags for his game collection on Steam. The result is Steam Tags, which will allow you to do the same, described like this: "Basically, you go there, you tag your games, and then you can filter them by those tags. Click the game to launch Steam and install/play the game. Tags follow you from computer to computer. It's that simple." This will require a little trust, however, as you will see this message when you attempt to use this: "You need to log in to Steam Community to access this page. Your password will only be supplied to the Steam website. This website will never have access to your login information."
There's a new Interstellar Marines trailer on GameTrailers.com showing off the recently launched Running Man ("Mr. Richards, I'm your court-appointed theatrical agent") playable preview of Zero Point Software's upcoming first-person shooter. Thanks joao.
Steam News has the release of a new automatic patch for Counter-Strike: Source and Team Fortress 2 to address a couple of issues. For Counter-Strike: Source, this fixes incorrect stat collection by forcing all dedicated servers to update to the new version, and for Team Fortress 2 this fixes a Mac client crash.
EA announces they are now running the European servers for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, taking over from GOA, who were handling the game until now. This will result in some downtime as things are transitioned. Here's the explanation: "Building upon the successful transition of Dark Age of Camelot™ from GOA in February 2010, BioWare Mythic assumes responsibility for WAR in Europe immediately. Once the transition begins, access to European servers for WAR will be suspended for 48 to 72 hours as new servers are brought online. The full game will then be accessible and to celebrate all current and former European subscribers will receive 14 days of free* gameplay. Standard billing rates will resume after this free* game play period."
BitMob - Avoiding the 7-9 Scale: An Exercise in Different Review Scales.
But enough background. The point of this post is to try to decide what scale I should use from now on. The 1-to-10 scale seems fairly reliable, since it can tell you at a glance what the critic thinks of a game, at least in ballpark figures. The problem with this scale is that it is subject to too much interpretation: Is 7 a good or bad score? Since it's above 5 -- the average -- it's technically an above-average score, but in most school systems, a 70 (7/10) is a D or a C, which is either at or below average.
With that in mind, I decided to take a look at a number of alternatives to this scale. Many of them are already being used elsewhere, while others are mostly theoretical. Still, it's important to know your options before you commit to something, so here are some of the ways I've considered helping consumers decide which games they should or should not buy.
New James Bond film canned due to cash crisis (thanks Ant via FlickSided) has the bad news for the Bond franchise, which was just hitting its creative (Casino Royale) and commercial (Quantum of Solace) stride. The article points out that those successes mean there's little doubt James Bond will return, as the closing credits used to say, but it looks like this setback means they've lost the talents of Sam Mendes, and the talk of it taking years for the next film to get back on track also leads to fears of losing Daniel Craig, who is the best thing to happen to the series since Sean Connery.
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