Archived News:
A BioWare tweet from Thursday missed here at the time (is heat-stroke a valid excuse?) reveals plans for new Mass Effect 2 DLC, saying: "Lair of the Shadow Broker has been revealed! Team up with Liara T'Soni and take down the evil Shadow Broker once and for all." The Mass Effect 2 website has a bit of detail, saying: "Team up with Liara and confront the mysterious and sinister Shadow Broker in the latest expansion to Mass Effect 2, coming soon! In the mean time check out three new screenshots and stay tuned for more info on Lair of the Shadow Broker." Now a post on Big Download notes that these screenshots show some new weapons, and point to the BioWare Social Network where Jarrett Lee explains the DLC will be preceded by a new weapons pack: "As Christina tweeted, some of the new guns you are seeing in those screens are not in the Lair of the Shadow Broker pack. They are in fact part of a different pack that will be released prior to Lair of the Shadowbroker - more details coming very soon. While this was simply intended to tease them I can see how it could be misleading, so I must apologize for that."
IndustryGamers provides a summary of Atari's financial reports for Fiscal Q1 2010, which concluded on June 30, saying their net revenue dropped about 65% to $24.9 million USD over the same period last year. This is in part due to the release of a single major title (Sandlot Sluggers) during that period, which caused retail revenue to drop to $14 million, compared with $54.2 million in fiscal Q1 2009. Online revenue from Star Trek Online was up about 25%, and word is: "Overall, the company's decision to publish Cryptic's online games bore fruit, with online revenue accounting for 44 percent of total net revenue, versus 4 percent last year." Thanks joao.
The Bethesda Blog links to the streaming version of Gametrailers TV where Fallout: New Vegas was previewed by Project Director Josh Sawyer. They also link to a story on the game on KLAS Channel 8 News NOW as well as recaps on Gamespot and Kotaku for a Comic-Con panel entitled: "Fallout: Writing for Evolving Game Franchises."
The Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II "A Hero Unleashed" Trailer features LucasArts senior executive producer Hayden Blackman and executive producer Julio Torres offering their thoughts on the upcoming Star Wars action game sequel, discussing how the game will be a superhero experience, and its focus on the hero's journey.
Chris Taylor's Kings and Castles Video Blog Episode #24 features an incomprehensible burger-stand visit, before talking about Kings and Castles, the upcoming real-time strategy game. We get more mailbag responses from Gas Powered Games' Chris Taylor, who gets to answer his email without typing, as he explains the game will support many modern video gimmicks like Eyefinity and 3D glasses, how the game's economy will work, and the value of multiple mages. He also bugs another member of his staff, this time getting a look at their pre-production archers.
The Civilization V Interview on IncGamers chats with 2K Games producer Garrett Bittner about the next installment in the Civilization series of turn-based strategy games in a conversation is presented as a video, accompanied by a transcript. Topics include video changes, artificial intelligence, victory conditions, the participation of Sid "Meiers" Meier in his namesake game (since he is not lead designer this time out), and more.
The Andrew Goulding Interview on Adventure Classic Gaming talks with founder of indie developer Brawsome about Jolly Roger, his addition to the burgeoning field of comedy pirate games. Word is: "In the interview, Andrew speaks about his experience in the industry, the joys and pains of essentially being an one-man developer, and why dogs and pirates go together so well!" The article also includes some previously unreleased concept art from the game.
Amiga: 25 Years Later has a retrospective on the Amiga, which made its debut 25 years ago Friday (thanks Slashdot). Some related notes are this multi-part video History of the Amiga, an article on the XOR patent that apparently cost the much-loved gaming computer its life, and a video of the last day of a Commodore Amiga Factory. Thanks Ant.
Here is Valve's list of the top ten bestselling titles on Steam for the week:
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare® 2 Resurgence Pack
- Battlefield: Bad Company 2
- Mafia II: Digital Deluxe Edition
- APB All Points Bulletin
- Mafia II
- Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare 2
- Left 4 Dead 2
- Counter-Strike: Source
- Team Fortress 2
- Mount & Blade: Warband
Cliffski’s Blog - Digital Distribution Wars.
Why doesn’t stardock run impulse at a loss? Maybe only a small loss, but a loss nonetheless. Give developers 95% share of the royalties (totally crushing any other offer), or maybe 80% but 95% if its impulse-exclusive for 6 months. Do not take a penny in profit for the next 2-3 years. Maybe instead of cutting the royalty split, just discount the games big-time like steam are doing. Or maybe buy out the rights to some games entirely to make them 100% impulse-exclusive forever.
GamePro - Too Much Multiplayer? By Destructoid's Jim Sterling. Thanks Ant via Digg.
Thanks to publisher and consumer demand, multiplayer modes have become obligatory to the point that gamers consider any title without an online component as inferior. It was one of the greatest complaints people had with BioShock. Its absence from Red Steel 2 upset a number of players. Do we, however, really want multiplayer in these games, or are we merely whining for these token inclusions without thinking about what we’re asking for?
Koku Gamer- Video Games are the Future of Horror. Thanks Joker961.
Recently we were met with the welcome news that legendary horror film-maker John Carpenter – the man behind Hallowe’en, In The Mouth of Madness and The Thing – has been working on the story for F.3.A.R, and more top writers, directors and composers of horror films would do well to consider making the transition into video games too. There will always be a place for good horror films, and for good horror novels, but there’s no doubt that the possibilities offered by gaming are incredibly exciting for the greatest story-tellers and craftsman of the genre.
- Doctor Who: Blood of the Cybermen on GameZone.
We visited the Smurfs at their summer camp yesterday. We had a fine old time, but the trip to Massachusetts and back was around two hours each way, and riding in a convertible that far in the intense summer sun was a lesson in why a hat is essential for such a trip for those of us who have lost a hair or three over the years, as I picked up a pretty good sunburn on head, which is pretty uncomfortable.
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