Archived News:
Steam now offers ArcaniA: Gothic 4 worldwide, meaning the role-playing sequel is available in North America a few days earlier than expected. Word is: "A mysterious evil power lies in waiting and fortunately you’re not alone to unravel the ancient secrets: your fate is linked to a beautiful lady wearing a powerful artifact from the long-forgotten past..." There is no explanation for the game's early release.
GameStop offers a list of locations opening at 10:00 pm on Monday, October 18 so they can start selling Fallout New Vegas at 12:01 am Tuesday. If this is of interest, there is also still time to preorder the game and earn the following in-game bonus items: Armored Vault 13 Suit, Vault 13 Canteen, Weathered 10mm Pistol, and 5 Stimpaks.
NPD Group announces some sales figures for the game industry, saying "in addition to the $3.7 billion spent in the U.S. by consumers on new physical video and PC game software in the first half of 2010, the total consumer spend on content via other monetization methods, including used games, game rentals, subscriptions, digital full game downloads, social network games, downloadable content, and mobile game apps, is estimated in the range of $2.6 to $2.9 billion."
The Left 4 Dead Blog announces Hunting Party as this week's new Left 4 Dead 2 mutation, offering this description: "In this Coop Mutation we pit you against non-stop hunters. No booms, no spit, no tongues, no charges, no being ridden… Great practice on dead stopping a hunter pounce." A new Left 4 Dead patch is now available, as well as the new Left 4 Dead 2 patch with the new mutation, and some other changes, which follow. Continue here to read the full story.
Steam News has word that Valve is now beta testing Steam Personalized Recommendations. Here's the deal: "Found a game you think your friends should really be playing? Now you can write a recommendation for your friends to share your excitement and start a conversation. Plus, see what games your friends are playing most and what they recommend. Visit the new 'Recommended For You' page in the Steam Store to find games similar to those you play and love. Steam will suggest games, help you find more content for games you already play, and remind you of items on your wishlist that are on sale."
A new Star Wars: The Old Republic Holonet Entry narrated by actor Lance Henriksen tells the tale of the fall of Exar Kun as more back story for the upcoming Star Wars MMORPG. Word is: "The stories of Exar Kun’s fall to the dark side and his campaign of destruction against the Republic have been told as warnings to Jedi Padawans for generations. After witnessing the return of the Sith Empire, Master Gnost-Dural has realized a new relevance to Exar Kun’s role in history."
The Natural Selection 2 Website has a new update on The Whip, a new structure in Unknown Worlds' action/strategy sequel described like so: "It provides Commander-researched, player-purchased upgrades which increase the amount of damage aliens can inflict upon marine players." Thanks joao.
A new patch is now automatically available via Steam for the Counter-Strike: Source Beta. The change list for the new version of the online first-person shooter follows. Continue here to read the full story.
The Dragon Age Website announces the Dragon Age II Signature Edition, an upgraded version of EA's upcoming RPG sequel being offered as a free incentive for preorders. Word is: "Dragon Age II announces the Dragon Age II Signature Edition. Pre-order Dragon Age II before January 11, 2011 and receive an automatic upgrade to the BioWare Signature Edition — a special, collector’s edition version of the game that contains loads of additional content, exclusives, and other perks. Pre-order now!"
Recently launched developer 11 bit studios announces Anomaly: Warzone Earth, their debut project, an action/strategy game due for release early next year for Windows, iPad, and iPhone. The Anomaly: Warzone Earth Website is online with some screenshots, and here's word on the game: Blending fast-paced, explosive action with tactical battlefield command, Anomaly puts players in charge of a military convoy tasked with fighting back against the mysterious alien war machines that have begun to spring up in many of the world's largest cities. Players take part in battles personally to support and assist a hand-picked armor squad, utilizing their top-down tactical view to plot each and every turn of the convoy. As they progress through the story campaign and challenge modes, players will unlock upgrades and new units to build their ultimate destruction squad.
“Anomaly presents an engaging mix of strategy and action that we’re confident will appeal to both hardcore gamers and more casual players,” said Grzegorz Miechowski, Managing Director of 11 bit studios. “Players don’t just command the convoy; they’re right there on the ground, walking alongside the units and assisting them in battle. By balancing the overall mission strategy with more personal involvement, Anomaly will keep players engaged, and more importantly, entertained.”
The Fallout: New Vegas Developer Diary #5 focuses on the depiction of "the strip" in their depiction of a post apocalyptic Las Vegas, with the Obsidian developers explaining what to expect, though of course, what goes on in New Vegas stays in New Vegas. Also, Your Fallout: New Vegas PS3 Questions Answered is an article by Bethesda senior producer Jason Bergman answering questions about the PS3 edition of the imminent RPG sequel.
The Deus Ex: Human Revolution interview on Games On Net is a Bich session with Sebastien Bich about the upcoming continuation of the Deus Ex series of action/RPGs. They discuss the console ports of the prequel, support for advanced PC technologies, difficulty levels, the story, and more.
The interview with Chris Metzen on original-gamer talks with Blizzard's vice president of creative development at Austin GDC about the changes that will come to World of Warcraft upon the release of the upcoming Cataclysm expansion. They go into such detail that the almost eight minute clip only addresses three questions, which cover writing and the villain, redesigning lower-level content, and the reasons for the MMORPG's enduring popularity.
The Fearless Studios interview on IndustryGamers chats with Haden Blackman about his newly formed development studio. They discuss their aspirations for what kind of projects they will take on, including the possibility of working with his old compatriots at LucasArts and maybe even another installment in The Force Unleashed series: "We can’t give out details on any of our discussions at this point, but things already look very promising. We would absolutely consider a relationship with LucasArts in the future, and would even consider developing The Force Unleashed 3 as part of our portfolio, provided we had a proper schedule to do it justice. We definitely have ideas about how to improve the gameplay, where the story might go next, and how to extend the experience further. But there’s a whole big world of other IP out there that we’re just as excited about."
Thanks Ant and Acleacius.
I'm on my backup DSL connection, as something is amiss this morning on the BlueTower's super-fat cable modem, which does not seem happy with the prospect of uploading anything. This backup connection is only needed a few times a year, but it certainly is nice to have when problems occur.
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