Archived News:
Steam News announces the release of ArcaniA – Gothic 4 for European territories, which should also now be available through other digital distributors, as it is now the 12th across the pond. The role-playing sequel from Spellbound Entertainment was previously expected on the 12th (tomorrow) in North America, as well, but last week DreamCatcher Interactive and JoWooD Entertainment announced the NA version of the game is now expected next week on October 19.
The World of Warcraft Test Realm Patch Notes have details on a large patch in the works to update Blizzard's MMORPG to version 4.0.1. This is part of the run-up to the release of the upcoming WoW Cataclysm expansion, as the notes include references to the Cataclysm Launcher Update, which: "allows you to stream game data while you play. This will reduce the time you spend downloading, installing, and patching World of Warcraft. We'd like to get your feedback on the toolset and gameplay experience. Please head to the forums here for additional information."
New beta version 260.89 GeForce/Ion reference drivers for NVIDIA accelerators are now available, adding support for the newly released GeForce GT 430 GPU and offering performance improvements for a number of games under certain configurations. There are new beta drivers for Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows XP, Windows 7 64-bit, Windows Vista 64-bit, and Windows XP 64-bit.
Focus Home Interactive has an offer for owners of Cities XL, the 2009 urban planning simulation that they acquired from its now defunct developer Monte Cristo. Cities XL owners who preorder the digitally distributed edition of Cities XL 2011 will receive a 50% discount on the upcoming sequel. A valid game key must be submitted to partake of this offer, and word is they will receive their download links and activation key on Thursday. Thanks Big Download.
There's a Guild Wars 2 interview on MMORPG.COM talking with ArenaNet's Colin Johanson about the upcoming MMORPG sequel. Topics include the reactions of people who have gotten hands-on time with the game, when to expect more details on PvP play, sticking with their subscription-free business model, whether microtransaction items such as Transmutation Stones can be earned within the game, the Guild Wars 2 meta-game, instancing, and more.
Game matchmaking service GameRanger announces the one-millionth user has created an account and multiplayer profiles to play online games using GameRanger. They say their growth continues to accelerate, and that over 3.2 million games were played online with GameRanger last month, adding: "The GameRanger service now supports over 600 multiplayer games with its fast, easy to use interface. Unlike other services, GameRanger solves router and firewall network problems automatically, making it simple to play online with friends."
Link of the Day: The Ultimate Eating Competition: Man Vs Dog. Funny, though it goes about how you'd expect. Thanks Ant.
Neocore Games and Paradox Interactive announce the availability of an Allies DLC pack for Lionheart: Kings' Crusade, the just released real-time strategy game. The DLC is being offered free to those who have purchased the game and anyone else who gets their copy between now and October 17, and they say it is "available now on all leading digital distribution platforms." Presumably this pack will be sold at a premium after that point, though this has not been announced. This page has details on the new units and heroes this DLC will offer along with some "fanciful content."
Layoffs have come down at Raven Software, the Activision-owned developer of Singularity and Wolfenstein, reports Kotaku, attributing the report to "sources familiar with the Raven Software." They say about 40 jobs were lost, and follow this up with a confirmation from Activision, who tell them "With the recent completion of Singularity, Raven Software is realigning its workforce to better reflect the studio's upcoming slate," though the publisher declined to say how many positions were cut. Kotaku reports their sources tell them the studio has been cut to a single development team to create downloadable content, saying they had two teams until now, down from three as recently as last year. Thanks joao.
Blizzard announces Tenacious D will play the closing concert at BlizzCon 2010, Blizzard's imminent game convention, calling Jack Black's and Kyle Gass' outfit "the greatest band in the world, attributing that acclaim to "internal reports from Tenacious D and key band devotees." Word is: "While tickets to the convention are currently sold out, viewers can watch at home by ordering a BlizzCon Virtual Ticket, offering over 50 hours of event coverage (including Tenacious D’s performance) globally over the Internet and also on DIRECTV® in the United States."
Lace Mamba Global announces another setback for Gray Matter, the frequently delayed adventure game from famed designer Jane Jensen, which is now expected in February 2011 for both PC and Xbox 360. The game was most recently planned for release this month, and was previously delayed from Q4 2007 to Q1 2008 and then until 2009. There's no word at this time when the next delay will be announced, so here's what they say about this one: Jason Codd of Lace Mamba Global explains in more detail the decision “I understand that this is very frustrating for consumers who have pre-ordered the game and we are very disappointed also as we have been building up to the release, started our marketing and PR but due to the tight time frames, and the need for more polishing of the game we had no alternative but to make a quick decision and delay the product until February. This will give the development team more time in ensuring that the game measures up to the standards that have been set, and we now know for certain that the date we have is the date Gray Matter will be available”.
The RAGE interview on Games On Net chats with Tim Willits and Jason Kim of id Software during the Eurogamer Expo about RAGE, id's upcoming first-person shooter. Topics include how their showing of the game was received, what they do other than attend trade shows, a bit on id's Tech5 engine, how their cross-platform development is going, possible backlash from the PC gaming community, the concept behind RAGE, characters, avoiding having exposition interfere with all the shooting, and more.
The Duke Nukem Forever Interview on Strategy Informer talks with Steve Gibson of Gearbox Software about their work on Duke Nukem Forever. They discuss how some of the upcoming first-person shooter's over-the-top content may play differently in certain territories, competing in the crowded FPS genre, DLC, multiplatform support, and questions about how the game's lengthy development cycle and hype levels compare to that of Too Human and that game's lack of success. They have also posted a Duke Nukem Forever Preview.
Reuters reports on a study from Pediatrics speaking of the possibility that playing video games or watching television more than two hours a day may contribute to psychological problems. The research, which relies on self-reporting from children, including their own assessment of "emotional, behavioral, and peer-related problems," says: "The odds of significant psychological difficulties were about 60 percent higher for children spending longer than two hours a day in front of either screen compared with kids exposed to less screen time," and that: "For children with more than two hours of both types of screen time during the day, the odds more than doubled. The effect was seen regardless of sex, age, stage of puberty, or level of educational or economic deprivation." They also say this negative effect is not found in kids who spent the same amount of time performing other sedentary activities like doing homework, though they also note possible problems with their methodology, as word is: "Page and her team acknowledge several limitations in their study, including the potential for a kid to inaccurately recall his or her activities when filling out the questionnaire."
Gamestop.ca has a listing for a digitally distributed edition of Rogue Trooper with an eye-opening price. As of this writing, the game carries a $2,350.00 price tag, though of course keep in mind this is in Canadian dollars, and in US currency this would be a much more reasonable $2,322.82. Thanks joao.
- Batman: Arkham City on Blue's News. Screenshots and concept art.
Today is the Columbus Day holiday, celebrating the explorer's "discovery" of the new world, something he steadfastly denied having done, as he was convinced he had found a new route to Asia. MrsBlue and I were just last night discussing how it seems that nobody observes this as a holiday except schools and government agencies, but the activity at the train station was pretty light this morning, and there were a lot of empty spaces in the parking lot, so I think we were a little off-base on that. So if you have the day off, enjoy, as opposed to those who don't, who should enjoy too (it just won't be as easy).
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