Archived News:
Stardock announces that development of Elemental: War of Magic is complete, and the now-gold strategy game is expected in stores on August 24. They also announce that Brad Wardell's Elemental novel will come out at that time as well, offering a story based on the game, and additional content: "In addition to the PC title hitting stores on August 24, the novel ELEMENTAL: DESTINY’S EMBERS, written by Elemental: War of Magic Executive Producer Brad Wardell, will also be available at bookstores nationwide from Random House’s Del Rey publishing division. Customers who purchase a copy of the book ELEMENTAL: DESTINY’S EMBERS will be able to download the additional, exclusive video game campaign, Elemental: Destiny’s Embers. The campaign will release in four stages, with the first component being released in September." Here's a batch of Elemental: War of Magic screenshots, and here's a bit from the gold announcement: Elemental: War of Magic opens a world of magic and ancient lore as players begin the game as one of the few beings in the world still able to channel power from shards of magic – a series of mystical artifacts left over from a great cataclysm. You must decide how much of your power to imbue into your heroes as you build cities, explore dungeons, learn spells of ever-increasing power and negotiate with friends and foes.
The game also includes integrated modding tools that allow players to create their own fantasy maps, monsters, tiles, effects and much more. The game’s story-driven campaign, written by Random House’s writing team, was made exclusively with the built-in modding tools.
THQ has confirmed for Shacknews that Relic's upcoming Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine will use Steamworks for copy protection, rather than Games For Windows LIVE. They also now offer a Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine interview with producer Andy Lang.
Steam News announces the release of a new automatic patch for Left 4 Dead 2, fixing Russian localization strings in the zombie shooter sequel, while also adding the new Iron Man mutation. The Left 4 Dead Blog has details on the new mutation, saying: "No respawns, no restarts, no ammo, all tension! Did you vote the Mutations are too easy? Try this one on Expert. Realism rules are in effect. There are no respawns in the map. There is no ammo. If your team wipes, you need to restart the whole campaign."
The Making History Website announces a new patch is automatically available to update Making History II, Muzzy Lane's World War II strategy sequel, to version 1.0.16. There is also an updated playable demo for the game, which is mirrored on Gamer's Hell, and on a semi-related note, there's an article on Armchair General describing a visit to Muzzy Lane's offices. The new patch comes with a reminder for game owners to get their loyalty awards this weekend, as they say: "August 15th (Sunday) is the last day to register MHII to get your loyalty rewards. Those second product keys for MHII should be emailed out sometime next week." Here are the release notes for the patch: Continue here to read the full story.
The Natural Selection 2 Website announces the availability of a new patch for the alpha version of Unknown Worlds' action/strategy sequel (thanks joao). Word is: "We are making good progress with physics, animation and networking bugs in the alpha and have many improvements and fixes in our new patch." The complete patch notes follow. Continue here to read the full story.
Crytek tweets specific release dates for Crysis 2, Crytek's first-person shooter sequel: "Crysis 2's new release date: March 22nd, 2011 in North America and March 25th, 2011 in Europe." This fits with EA's recent announcement to expect the game before the end of March 2011. They also tweet about the release of the first Crysis 2 multiplayer screenshot.
The Bethesda Blog has a release date for RAGE, saying id's first-person shooting and racing game is due thirteen months from today on September 13 in the US and three days later in Europe: The id guys were just on stage demonstrating RAGE on three platforms at once. Near the end, they announced a somewhat important detail: RAGE is now headed for store shelves on September 13, 2011 in the US and September 16 in Europe.
We’re still in the thick of QuakeCon, but we’ll be back later to put up brand new screenshots.
Update: We were a good year off in this story at first, apologies for the ridiculous error.
GSC Game World announces development S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, saying the sequel to the irradiated first-person shooter is due next year as a multi-platform release (thanks joao). Here's word: GSC Game World announces S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 - the official sequel to best-selling game series - in development now. A completely new multi-platform technology developed by GSC will make the core of the game.
"After the official sales of the series exceeded 4 million copies worldwide, we had no doubts left to start creating a new big game in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. universe. This will be the next chapter of the mega-popular game players expect from us" - said Sergiy Grygorovych, CEO of GSC Game World.
The game is scheduled for release in 2012.
Kotaku follows up on the report of layoffs at Realtime Worlds with an official statement from the developer saying the cuts were "expected redundancies" as part of a restructuring revealed last month. "The supporting infrastructure for a game inevitably changes once released, and those staff that couldn't be redeployed to new projects in the Art, Audio, Coding, Design, Production, and QA departments have regrettably been made redundant," reads the statement, in part. "APB continues to be our primary development focus, and we remain fully committed to the game and its players." They then proceed to share more speculation from anonymous tipsters saying it is possible the company will close its offices in Scotland and shift development of Project: MyWorld to their Colorado digs. They also say that three- and six-month subscription options for the game are no longer listed. Thanks joao.
Kalypso Media announces Tropico 4, saying El Presidente will return to the island of Tropico in the second quarter of next year in a new dictator simulation sequel being developed by Haemimont Games. Here are a handful of Tropico 4 screenshots, and here's a portion of the announcement: Tropico 4 sees you return as El Presidente, the tyrannical (or benevolent) dictator of the island paradise of Tropico. The world is changing and Tropico is moving with the times – geographical powers rise and fall and the world market is dominated by new players with new demands and offers - and you, as El Presidente, face a whole new set of challenges. If you are to triumph over your naysayers you will need to gain as much support from your people as possible. Your decisions will shape the future of your nation, and more importantly, the size of your Swiss bank account.
Tropico 4 features all new missions across new maps and includes exciting and fun new features to keep the action fresh and challenging. You can even elect ministers into power to help get your more controversial decisions passed through the government. But remember to keep your friends close and your enemies closer as everyone has an agenda!
Paradox Interactive announces the release of Victoria II, saying the grand strategy sequel is now available in European stores and through most digital distribution outfits. This page offers details on where to find it, and while a retail version for North America is not mentioned, Amazon.com shows an August 22 release date. Here's a bit on the game: "Created by the developers of Europa Universalis and Hearts of Iron, Victoria 2 is set during the colonial era of the 19th century featuring historical gameplay on a map of the entire world. Guide your nation from the era of absolute monarchies in the early 19th century, through expansion and colonization in hopes of becoming a truly great power by the dawn of the 20th century." If you are interested in sampling Victoria II, a playable demo was released earlier this week.
A couple of unconfirmed reports of plans for further layoffs at APB developer Realtime Worlds have surfaced, with VG247 reporting that the entire development team of the recently announced Project: MyWorld may have been let go, with Gamesindustry.biz (registration required) saying it "understands that at least two high-profile publishers have turned down the opportunity to partner with Realtime Worlds for the release of Project: MyWorld, and the lay-offs have affected development of the ambitious game." VG247's sources also indicate the Scotland-based developer may be seeking to sell the APB property in its entirety.
A playable demo for The Scourge Project is now available, offering a sample of this squad-based, third-person shooter, highlighting the Unreal Engine 3 game's co-op support for up to four players. Here's a bit on the game: "Stranded on Nogari Island shortly after being mysteriously attacked during your covert insertion, and surrounded on all sides by hostile forces, you'll need all of your skill to stay alive as you fight your way through the chaos that has consumed the alien-infested facilities that lie before you..." The demo is available through AtomicGamer, FilePlanet, GamersGate, Steam, and WorthPlaying.
Matrix Games announces Decisive Campaigns: The Blitzkrieg from Warsaw to Paris, a new World War II strategy game from the developers of Advanced Tactics: WWII. They say this is "the first in an innovative series of operational World War II wargames that also include a strategic element." A product section for the game offers details and screenshots, but no release date. Here's a bit more on what to expect from this: "The Blitzkrieg from Warsaw to Paris simulates Germany’s military successes in Poland and France in 1939 and 1940 (including also a hypothetical 'Sea Lion' invasion of Great Britain if you do well enough)."
A new patch for Storm over the Pacific is now available from Matrix Games to update the World War II strategy game to version 1.03. The patch is available on this page, and here's word on what it does: "The update includes several UI and AI improvements, many bug fixes, an overhaul of Communist China’s importance in the Pacific Campaign, more editor features, and more."
The Battle for Wesnoth Website now offers version 1.8.4 of Battle for Wesnoth, calling this a "maintenance release" for the freeware, multiplatform, turn-based tactical strategy game. The Windows and MacOSX packages are ready right now, while the packaged Linux releases are still being prepared for release. There's a player changelog with a concise outline of what's new, a complete changelog that is more comprehensive, and a forum thread discussing the new version. Thanks Ant via LinuxGames.
Steam offers another new update to the Counter-Strike: Source Beta with a couple of bug fixes and updated versions of the maps De_dust and De_dust2. Here are the details. Continue here to read the full story.
Gamasutra - What First-Person Shooter Creators Think About Subscriptions.
Mark Long, CEO at Seattle, WA-based Blacklight: Tango Down developer Zombie Studios said, "I know I’ll get flamed for this, but I’m going defend Bobby Kotick here. ... Merging [business models of Call of Duty and World of Warcraft] makes a ton of sense when the vast majority of Call of Duty players are playing online. How is the fanbase going to respond? If there was an MMOFPS version of Call of Duty with World of Warcraft-quality RPG elements under the hood, I’d bet it would be the biggest game in history. I’d play it. I’d play the f**k out it."
BitMob - Medal of Honor: A Missed Opportunity.
You may be thinking to yourself, what's wrong with that statement? It's true; it's a game. Let's not kid ourselves. The problem is that the "just a game" argument has become the biggest cop-out in the industry. Hell, I'd go so far as to say it's one of the biggest cancers plaguing the industry and community.
BitMob - Do Game Stories Actually Matter?
A game without story only needs to be a good game. Both are difficult to create for vastly different reasons. In my opinion, to play a game is not to experience the swooping thrills of an unpredictable storyline. For this we have novels, films, and our own convoluted lives. When a game captures me it does so through some ephemeral magic and a formula comprised of challenge, gameplay, surprise -- namely, fun. Story only serves to limit a creator's imagination. It hems in what should be infinite: the boundaries of the game's imaginary world.
ChinaGeeks - StarCraft 2 in China- “We Gamers Really Suffer”. Thanks Mike Martinez.
China may be [insert phrase about economic development here], but in terms of video gaming, it is very much still a third world country, from an official standpoint. A mix of protectionist import regulations and overzealous self-censorship on the part of some gaming companies has given the outside world the impression that Chinese gamers exist in some kind of bizarre gaming hell.
Happy Friday the 13th! Please remember to knock wood or throw pinches of salt, or whatever will insulate you from whatever bad mojo the occasion may bring. I actually find myself falling prey to superstition at times, in spite of considering myself a pretty rational person, though it's intermittent; I certainly don't have friggatriskaidekaphobia, and willingly owned a black cat for years, which brought lots of joy, but no noticeable bad luck.
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