Archived News:
Dreamspike Studios And Shrapnel Games announce Bronze, an ancient historical turn-based strategy game for Windows set in Mesopotamia during the Bronze Age, saying the game is currently in final testing, with a release date still to be announced. The Bronze Website is live, with more information, and we have a set of Bronze screenshots showing what to expect, and the announcement makes a point about how easy the game will be to mod, saying: "From a mod standpoint Bronze is open enough that someone could alter many aspects of the game with a simple text editor, right down to creating new maps." Here's a bit on the game itself: "Bronze offers players an impressive amount of gameplay challenge. First, there are the ten campaigns set in the Early, Middle, and Late Bronze Ages. Each campaign features multiple civilizations of increasing difficulty to play, as you lead your chosen people to conquer the known lands using a strategic map that is slowly uncovered as you win tactical battles. Next, there is Survival mode, in which you take one civilization and see how long it can last against a multitude of foes. Finally, you can create your own custom matches and tournaments, and even play Hotseat against three other players."
The Camelot Herald heralds the release of a new patch that's now live in Dark Age of Camelot, updating Mythic's MMORPG to version 1.106. They offer a complete set of patch notes, and also condense them down into this list of highlights:
- All Aurulite items have had their quality increased to 99%.
- An all new Quest hub has been added to several low level Battlegrounds offering a series of repeatable Monster and Player killing quests. These quests will reward players richly in both Experience and Aurulite!
- Improvements have been made across the board for all Celtic dual classes in Hibernia. A boost has been given in growth rate and attack bonuses on several styles in this line.
GOG.com has three of the four promised new videos dealing with the "revival" of the DRM-free online marketplace after its self-inflicted wounds. Also, PC Gamer has a statement from the service responding to the widespread unhappiness users have expressed at their implication that the service was coming to an end, offering another apology with a creative 'we're sorry... look, a pony!' approach, saying: "First of all we’d like to apologize to everyone who felt deceived or harmed in any way by the closedown of GOG.com. As a small company we don’t have a huge marketing budget and this why [sic] we could not miss a chance to generate some buzz around an event as big as launching a brand new version of our website and even more important [sic], bringing back Baldur’s Gate to life!"
The Real History of Quest Online on David Allen's Blog has once again been removed, with the former Quest Online front man explaining: "Pending the superior court action, this posting has been temporarily removed." Not unexpectedly, Allen's successor Derek Smart has something to say about this in his own blog, describing the legal back-and-forth that's been going on as Quest Online and Allen continue in their lawsuits against each other, and commenting on the "false, defamatory or otherwise confidential material" Allen's post contained, saying: "Which means that the blog goes down and anyone posting any excerpts from it, is required to take it down or be sued for republication of defamatory material, be held in contempt of court etc."
A new patch for Supreme Commander 2 is now automatically available through Steam, offering balance changes and bug fixes for Gas Powered Games' real-time strategy sequel. The change notes follow. Continue here to read the full story.
Between now and the end of September, receive a $5.00 discount from Direct2Drive on all purchases over $15.00 by using the code "PAX" at checkout.
A new Dead Rising 2 'Launch' trailer offers a look at Capcom's upcoming zombie game with cinematics, gameplay footage, and "one big-ass roll of duct tape." The clip shows more zombies than you can shake a stick at (which is, of course, the object of the game), reveals a bit of the story, and concludes with the tag line "Dead Rising 2: creativity kills!" Here's the embedded version. Continue here to read the full story.
- Rift: Planes of Telara on Blue's News. First ten pages of the comic tie-in, which is now available in comic shops.
Kalypso Media announces the formation of Noumena Studios, a new studio that will take over development of the action/RPG Demonicon for release in 2012. Kalypso acquired this intellectual property from The Games Company (TGC), which they say "recently went into insolvency," adding that Noumena is staffed by 17 employees from Silver Style Entertainment, which had been TGC's internal development studio. As part of the deal, Kalypso has also acquired the remaining distribution and publishing rights for PC titles Simon the Sorcerer 5, Goin' Downtown, and Everlight. "After a turbulent insolvency, we are very pleased to have Kalypso as a key investor and partner," said André Schmitz of Noumena Studios. "We are happy that Kalypso will retain the core team -- as they did with the creation of Gaming Minds Studios after purchasing Ascaron's assets. Kalypso has also shown that long-term positive cooperation and stable growth are high priorities for them."
GOG.com now offers an explanation for the recent closure of their site, which turns out to have been a publicity stunt, as many had speculated. This is part of a run-up to a re-launch of the service at 8:00 am EDT tomorrow morning, and they currently have a timer counting down to that point. They also offer a trailer where the site's cofounders dress as monks to admit to the "sin" of their hoax, and express regrets to their users, though they don't seem to take too much responsibility for the fallout of implying the service might be ending, harkening back to a time when the industry didn't take itself so seriously. Update: Gamasutra has word from their online press conference confirming speculation that Baldur's Gate will be added to the service, saying the beloved D&D RPG will be available when they re-launch, bundled with the Tales of the Sword Coast add-on for $9.99 USD. Here's GOG.com's statement: First of all we would like to apologize everyone who felt deceived or harmed in any way by us closing down GOG.com without any warning and without giving access to your games. We apologize for that from the bottom of our hearts!
Now it's time we put an end to all the speculations once and for all. It’s true that we decided that we couldn't keep GOG.com the way it was… so we won’t. As you probably know by now, GOG.com is entering its new era with an end of the two-years beta stage and we're launching a brand new GOG.com with new, huge releases.
The new GOG.com will launch at 8.00 a.m. EDT (2 p.m. CET). Later today we'll provide you here with 4 videos where you'll find all needed information about the current events, as well as news on the new GOG.com, the upcoming big releases and the summary of the last two years.
Posts to the Ubisoft Forums indicate the PC edition of Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2 is suffering another delay, as several customers report receiving word from the Ubi shop that the aerial combat sequel will be ready for download on November 16. Last month it was reported that the PC edition was pushed back until October 1, but the reports on the forums say they were told the game would be pushed back to November 1 at some point prior to this latest delay. No reason for the setback is mentioned. Thanks Big Download.
A post on the Elemental Website has a status report on Elemental: War of Magic, as Stardock attempts to recover from the rocky launch of the fantasy-themed strategy game. The update explains why they are not issuing a tutorial just yet, in spite of the dire need for one, saying: "it’s obvious that a tutorial made now has a 100% chance of being obsolete once the major patches roll out. So opposed to putting in yet another feature that will need reworked, we’re putting that effort into feature implementation and bug fixes...so no tutorial yet. But it’s coming." There's also talk of improving the camera view to make for a more visually appealing game, and a bit on multiplayer play. The update concludes with word on future improvements: "We’ve been served a healthy slice of humble pie with Elemental’s release, but now we’re lucky enough to have a chance to redeem our ‘baby’ (I’m glad actually babies don’t get a metacritic score). If you’re reading this, then you’re keeping tabs on Elemental as we continue to improve it post-release, and for your support and continued feedback we’re immensely grateful. Hopefully all the great ideas we’ve received will be digested, organized, implemented, and accumulate into several groundbreaking updates that reach the potential mentioned throughout the reviews."
Steam News has word on a new patch for Garry's Mod that will be applied to the Source sandbox mod automatically the next time you login to Steam. The list of changes follows. Continue here to read the full story.
Today is the first day of fall in these parts, just barely, as the equinox hits at 11:09 local time tonight. It's been quite a summer around here, with repeated heat waves, a drought, and more electrical storms than you can shake a lighting rod at. Because of this, the area has exhibited an autumnal appearance for quite some time now, with brown leaves on the ground after baking off the trees in the heat.
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Thanks Ant and Mike Martinez and Acleacius. |
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Survive-n-Risk.
The Wizard of Blox Reloaded.
Madness Hydraulic. |
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Austin- Bananarchy, a Banana Stand Inspired by 'Arrested Development'.
Chainless Bicycle. |
| Stories: |
IHOP Lawsuit- Pancakes vs. Prayer.
French Wine Vending Machines May Make Their Way to the US.
Why autumn fruit lovers are enjoying a bumper season. |
| Science: |
The Science of Craft Beer, in Ten Easy Steps.
Moon's 'Turbulent Youth' Exposed In NASA LRO Imagery..
FDA Says Science Around New Salmon Is Inconclusive. |
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0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21...
No More Video Games Until Your Homework is Finished.
Pac Man Ad FAIL. |
| Follow-up: |
Exclusive: Gulf seafood poses long-term health risks, experts say.
LHC finds 'interesting effects'. |
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