Archived News:

Tuesday, Aug 24, 2010 Independence Day of Ukraine

Ships Ahoy - Elemental: War of Magic

Stardock announces the release of Elemental: War of Magic, their fantasy-themed 4X turn-based strategy PC game, as well as Elemental: Destiny's Embers, a companion novel written by Stardock's Brad Wardell. Word is the novel "weaves a captivating tale that takes place in the land of Elemental, giving readers and players alike a unique perspective on the land in which they seek to rule in the game." It's available in bookstores, and word is that those who buy it will be able to download an additional, exclusive video game campaign which will be released in four stages, the first of which is expected next month. There's also an Elemental: Day 0 Preview from Stardock (thanks Big Download) announcing an interim patch is now available for the game, and offering details on what they are calling a day 0 patch, which may be misnamed if it comes out tomorrow, which sounds likely. Here's more on the game:
This latest title from Stardock is heavily inspired by classic games from the golden age of PC gaming. The game’s Lead Designer and CEO of Stardock Brad Wardell said, “The main idea behind Elemental was that we wanted to create gameplay that was both an advancement of the genre and a throwback to old-school gaming on the PC. Elemental: War of Magic accomplishes that and more.”

Included with the game are a series of integrated modding tools allowing fans 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.

How Steam Saved Introversion

The Introversion Forum has an account of how this independent developer was rescued through sales on Valve's Steam service. The British developer describes how they hit hard times, and sold off furniture and fired staff to become a bedroom developer. At the point they were ready to rewrite their C.V.s and look for jobs when they came up with a last-ditch rescue plan involving creating Steam achievements for DEFCON and convincing Valve to run a promotion with it. Here's the happy ending to the story: "Right on cue, Valve delivered. The promo exceeded all of our expectations and when combined with our low burn rate (no office or staff now) we had gone from being fearful about paying our mortgages to having a year’s operating capital in the bank. This was good, but paled in comparison to the fact that we were working together as a team again. Just like the old days. Just me Chris, TJ and Johnny – laptops, bedrooms and plans for global domination. The difference this time was we have a lot more knowledge and experience about what works and what doesn’t. On the face of it we are less capable than we were six months ago, but personally I believe that we are ready to rebuild the company bigger and stronger in a different mould." Thanks Mike Martinez via Kotaku via Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

Runic: Torchlight 3 Before Diablo III

Joystiq quotes Runic Games CEO Max Schaefer saying he thinks they will be able to release Torchlight 3 before Blizzard releases Diablo III, even though Torchlight 2 is not yet complete. When they asked if he was serious, he indicated he was, saying: "I really think we will, I'm not joking about it. I'll be the first to buy Diablo 3, I'm a huge fan. I just know what it's like over there." They also have his reasoning, based on the problems a company as large as Blizzard has making a game as large as the third Diablo: "Blizzard can not get away with doing a Torchlight 1. If they put out a single player game, an RPG that's kinda stripped down for $20, people would say, 'What the hell happened to Blizzard?' They don't have that luxury. Everything has to be super epic. More epic than anything that's come before, more epic than World of Warcraft. They have to do that. It puts them in a really tough spot, I don't envy them. It has to be perfect." Thanks Mike Martinez.

King's Quest 1, 2, & 3 on GOG.com, New Sliver Lining Next Month

The Silver Lining News has details on Chapter 2 of this fan-created Kings Quest homage, and though they don't have an exact release date, they say it will be released at some point in September (thanks Big Download). On a related note, GOG.com now offers online sales of King's Quest 1, 2, and 3, as usual all devoid of DRM, and all updated work on Windows XP and Vista.

D2D School Sucks Sale

Direct2Drive announces a "School Sucks, Here’s 10 Bucks" special, offering a $10.00 discount on new games which are $49.95 or more. You can get the discount, which can be applied to Mafia II and the Mafia II Digital Deluxe Edition, by using the code "SchoolSucks" on checkout.

Ship Simulator Extremes Greenpeace Mission Details

VSTEP announces details of some missions in their upcoming Ship Simulator Extremes which live up to the "extreme" part, as they will recreate some of the seafaring adventures of environmental activists Greenpeace. Word is: "Developer VSTEP today announced details of its Greenpeace campaign for the soon to be released, Ship Simulator Extremes. The Greenpeace campaign is one of three realistic campaigns featured in the game. In this campaign, players can sail actual Greenpeace vessels like the Esperanza as they confront oil dumping ships, track down illegal toxic waste dumping and save the whales from whale hunter vessels. Take the rudder of the Rainbow Warrior III a full year before its actual completion. After successfully completing any of the nine historical Greenpeace missions, enjoy full motion documentary footage and interviews with Greenpeace Captain Pete Wilcox as part of your reward." This trailer shows some of this in action.

EA: Game Budgets "Have Actually Peaked"

GamesIndustry.biz (registration required) quotes EA Partners head David DeMartini saying game development budgets have peaked, and may even be declining: "I think budgets for games have actually peaked and are starting to move in the reverse direction again," he said. "I don’t think there’s any one right budget for any game. It kind of depends on how big the idea is and what the team needs to be able to make a 90 percent-rated game with the idea that they’re working on."

Mafia II Interview

An interview on BitMob talks with 2K Games' Jack Scalici about Mafia II, their just-released open-world crime sequel. Jack's answers are quite lengthy, addressing questions such as his role on the project, the game's feel, side-missions, playing as the "bad guy," their inspirations, and his take on the Godfather 2 game.

Garry's Mod Patched

A new patch is now automatically available for Garry's Mod, announces Steam News. Details on the new version of this sandbox modification for the Source engine follows. Continue here to read the full story.

Counter-Strike: Source Patched

Steam News announces another new automatic patch is now available for Counter-Strike: Source, Valve's teamplay shooter. The change list follows. Continue here to read the full story.

Shattered Horizon Patched

An update on Steam News announces the release of a new automatic version 1.2.2.34 for Shattered Horizon to enable German-language support in the zero-G shooter from Futuremark Games Studio. Word is: "An update patch for Shattered Horizon is now available. The game will update automatically. This patch enables the game to be played with German language menus and text. To change language between English and German select the Language option under Settings from the main menu."

More Indie Sales Stats

Cliffski’s Blog has an article about "the long tail," offering one of those rare glimpses into the economics of independent game development, with a look at sales of Kudos: Rock Legend. In addition to the obvious figures breaking down the slightly over $50,000 the game has taken in, he also looks at the long tail of the sales figures: "But the good news is that long tail. Looky at the far right. The game continues to sell a few copies each month. If you have 10 games like that, then you are making a living (not an awesome one, but not a bread-and-water one either). KRL is not a whizz bang 3D game, so it doesn’t age quite as badly as most games will. I suspect in another years time it will still be earning 60-70% of what it does now."

BRINK Video Diary

Bethesda Blog now offers BRINK Video Developer Diary #3. Word is: "In this week’s video, The End of Genre As We Know It, you’ll learn more about how Splash Damage is blurring the lines between single player and multiplayer, as well as online and offline play in Brink. "

Evening Previews

Portal 2 Wheatley Trailer

Valve has issued a new trailer from Portal 2 highlighting the role of Stephen Merchant as "kindly British robot Wheatley" in the platformer sequel. The clip features some behind-the-scenes exploration at Aperture Labs and friendly reunion with GLaDOS, accompanied by Wheatley, his dulcet tones, and his not-fatal flashlight. Here are some new Portal 2 screenshots, and here's the embedded version of the clip. Continue here to read the full story.

This is Vegas Cancelled, Surreal Closed?

Open-world debauchery sim This is Vegas is cancelled, reports Computer and Video Games, saying this news comes from "a cast iron source close to the project," though they have not gotten a confirmation of this from WBIE. They also say that the game's developer, Surreal Software, which suffered layoffs in January, was "stealthily closed" earlier this year, with its staff split up between Monolith and Snowblind. They say the game, which Warner acquired in the Midway fire sale, lives up well to the old "Lost Wages Nevada" joke, as the production burned through $50 million before being axed. This news comes just a year after WBIE denied previous rumors that the game was shelved. Thanks joao.

Lost Horizon Demo

A playable demo for Lost Horizon is now available, offering a sample of this point-and-click adventure which is due for release next month. Here's a bit on the game: "With its classic 1930s setting, fascinating locations such as Hong Kong, Tibet, Berlin, and Morocco, and the eventful search for one of humankind's greatest secrets, Lost Horizon is bound to have adventure fans glued to their PCs." Downloads of the 1.05 GB demo are being hosted by AtomicGamer, ComputerGames.ro, FanGaming, and Gamer's Hell.

Ships Ahoy - Mafia II

Mafia II is now available in North America, announces 2K Games, saying the open-world crime sequel is due on August 26 in Australia and August 27 internationally. Word is: "This pistol-packed period piece transports players to Empire Bay, a fully realized and immersive urban cityscape set in America during the 1940s and 1950s. The action unfolds with white-knuckled car chases, explosive gunplay, compelling characters and an engaging narrative set against a backdrop of meticulously detailed period environments that showcase the difference a decade can make in the evolution of music, fashion, advertising and automobiles." Those interested in sampling the game should check out the recently released playable demo.

J.U.L.I.A. Announced

Cardboard Box Entertainment announces J.U.L.I.A., a science-fiction, mystery/adventure game planned for release in the first quarter of next year. The J.U.L.I.A. Website is online, as is a YouTube Channel for the game, which offers a debut trailer indicating the full title of the game might be J.U.L.I.A. Temple of Eternal Flow, and offering a cinematic look at the game's MOBOT. "Imagine how you would feel if you were jolted out of a cryogenic sleep by an emergency alarm. As your surroundings come into focus, you recognize the huge space probe on which you find yourself but only vaguely recollect the reason why are you there," said Jan Kavan, director at CBE. "Disoriented, you rush into the control room and realize that you have been asleep for several decades already. As the probe's A.I. fills you in, you discover that you are the last surviving member of the entire crew with no ordinary mission: to encounter extraterrestrial sentient life-forms. Yet something went terribly wrong..."

Substream Announced

Independent developer Ben Bradley announces development of Substream, a "musical shooter," described as "a highly animated, abstract 3D shooter which show cases multiple innovations and has already been in development for several months." The game is due next year "for PC, and maybe some other platforms." The Substream Website is online, showing the way to this trippy gameplay video.

130,000 APB Players

Insolvent developer Realtime Worlds announces subscriber numbers for APB: All Points Bulletin, saying the open-world crime game has 130,000 registered users, saying the game's "unique business model sees paying players averaging $28 per month, a combination of game time and user to user marketplace trading." Joint administrator Paul Dounis reflects on these data: "These are healthy numbers and reflect positively on APB as a ongoing concern. They prove this is a very enjoyable game, which is shown by the average player daily playtime and an ARPPU (Average Revenue per Paying User) that is highest of any game out there."

Cryptic on Neverwinter and MMORPGs

There's a Jack Emmert interview on Massively where the Cryptic CEO speaks on a variety of topics, focusing on their just-announced online multiplayer RPG, Neverwinter. He confirms that there will be no offline play in the game, and plays it coy when asked abut their business model: "We haven't announced that yet -- we've got some kooky plans that I think people will like," though he indicates this must somehow support ongoing content creation after the game's launch. He also discusses the reasons for shifting away from their concentration on MMORPGs, offering a very frank assessment of the shortcomings of some of their recent efforts: "From our point of view, we just had to take a look at ourselves and kind of change the way we were doing things, and with the tools and the resources with our previous MMOs, we knew that Neverwinter had to be the highest possible quality, and we had to improve, dramatically, everything that we did. The best way to do that was to sort of change the style of gameplay so that the focus wasn't on hundreds of hours of mediocre (some would say even worse than mediocre) content, but instead create a rich story-driven multiplayer game. We want to make a great game -- the original Neverwinter is a true classic, and it's really important to hold to that standard."

Strategic Command WW2 Global Conflict Patch

Battlefront.com announces the release of a new patch for Strategic Command WW2 Global Conflict, which updates the World War II strategy game to version 1.03. This can be found on the this patches page, where word is: "More than a hundred improvements, fixes and tweaks to both the game engine as well as the editor - many based on feedback from the fan community forums and email - make this one of the biggest patches for one of the biggest grand strategy games out there." The brief patch notes highlights follow. Continue here to read the full story.

Two Worlds II Interview

The Two Worlds II Interview on UGDB chats with TopWare Interactive PR & Community Director Jake DiGennaro about Reality Pump's fantasy role-playing sequel that's due for release next month. They discuss improving on the localization of the original, the mixed reception of the first Two Worlds, the new combat system, crafting, engine improvements, and more.

Battlefield Academy Trailer

Battlefield Academy Field Exercise #2 is a new trailer from Battlefield Academy, the upcoming World War II strategy game. Word is: "In this second Field Exercise we focus our attention on the importance of infantry and how important your men are when used in the best way. Like in real life, in Battlefield Academy each unit has its own importance and learning how to use them is vital for a successful outcome of the battle."

Op Ed

Strategy Informer - The Medal of Honor Debacle.
Let's play devil's advocate for one brief moment, and ponder whether Dr Fox actually has a valid point (or at least a partially valid one). He makes the comment that "At the hands of the Taliban, children have lost fathers and wives have lost husbands." and, through all the jeering he has received, you really have to stop and wonder whether those who have lost loved ones to the war are for or against the game.

Morning Previews

Safety Dance

Game Reviews

Hardware Reviews

Out of the Blue

Two episodes in to the new season of the two Showtime series I mentioned last week are a mixed bag for me so far. Weeds went off the rails a short time after it began, but I've hung in there pretty well, but it's really hard to see where they are going at this point, though the idea that given the chance to start over they would just want to be a normal family is slightly interesting. But basically it seems to be determined to be a sitcom about the world's worst mom. On the other hand, The Big C is pretty fascinating so far, and I have high hopes for it, though I have to work on remembering the title, as I keep thinking it's called The C Word.

Showtime Links: Thanks Ant and Mike Martinez and Acleacius.
Play: Village TD.
Grow Valley.
Medieval Puzzler.
Link: The 30 Greatest On-Stage Falls of All Time.
Stories: A chance to pick a piece of Lady Liberty’s nose. Thanks brother19.
Medical Marijuana Helping Budget Deficit, Colorado Gov. Says.
Science: Wide Variety of Dog Breeds Arise From Few Genes. Thanks j.c.f.
Brain may take an acid trip into migraines.
Images: Pixelated Motorbike.
PlayStation Controller Coffee Table.
The Sky Before Katrina.
Media: A Light in the Darkness - Part One. Star Wars fan film.
Pee-Wee Goes to Sturgis.
Don Draper's College Orientation.
Follow-up: FDA Calls For More Authority Over Recalls, Says Avoid Runny Egg Yolks In Meantime.
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