Archived News:
The PC edition of H.A.W.X. 2 is now available, offering Ubisoft's Tom Clancy-inspired aerial combat sequel. The game has ducked the radar and quietly shown up at digital distributors Direct2Drive, Impulse, and Ubisoft's online store. There's no indication that boxed copies are available at this time. Thanks Big Download.
Team17 announces Alien Breed 3: Descent will be released next week on Steam and Xbox LIVE to conclude this arcade shooter trilogy, offering a new trailer to show off the new game. On a related note, Steam now offers new automatic patches for Alien Breed: Impact and Alien Breed 2: Assault with changes and fixes for the first two Alien Breed games. Here's a bit on Alien Breed 3: Descent: With the Leopold and its unwanted attachment breaching the surface of an imposing ice planet, you have only a few hours to wade your way through flooded corridors and locate the origin of the threat that has so far laid waste to your once proud space ship. For the first time Conrad can venture outside of the ship in the breathtaking hull walk set pieces, and for those trigger-happy shooter fans there are vicious new enemies to fight, including the Electro-Shocker alien and the awe-inspiring final bosses. New armaments are also available in Descent, with the Electro-Link gun allowing for shockingly good crowd control whilst the formidable Project X weapon will tear through anything in its path.
Eurogamer has a release window from Funcom for Bloodline Champions, saying the online arena combat game will launch in December or January. Word is: "Those dates are clarified as Bloodlines Champions reaches another beta milestone in player numbers. Latest count: 150,000."
TV series tie-in LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars is expected on February 15 in North America and February 18 in the U.K., reports Joystiq. A new fact sheet from the sci-fi LEGO game has this description: "Players will enjoy brand new game mechanics allowing them to create, control and explore in a galaxy far, far away like never before. Promising breathtaking visuals as well as new characters and levels, the game also features the signature tongue-in-cheek humour from the LEGO universe. With over 20 story-based missions and 40 bonus levels spanning the entire Clone Wars era, LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars will allow fans to explore endlessly and laugh their way through the Star Wars galaxy in the most humorous, accessible and action-packed LEGO game to date."
Steam News has word on a new update for Left 4 Dead 2 now automatically available with a couple of tweaks along with this week's encore mutation, "Taaannnkk!!!" The Left 4 Dead Blog has details: "Scared to play Versus? Think there is too much strategy? Don’t want to embarrass yourself? Give Taannkk!! a try. We simplify everything. What does everyone spawn as? Tanks. What is trying to kill you? Tanks. Why should you keep running? Tanks. You’re welcome."
GSC Game World's Oleg Yavorsky explains the recent news of plans for a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. television series in an interview on Rock, Paper, Shotgun about this adaptation of their first person shooter series. He discusses how the project came to be, that they are funding it themselves, and to expect scenes from S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 in the show. He also says the launch of the program should coincide with that game: "We are targeting the series to air in parallel with the release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, therefore don’t try to find it in your TV programme until 2012. Primarily we want to broadcast it via TV network, and maybe later on the Internet. We’re still considering it. "
Thanks Acleacius and Ant.
Steam now offers a patch for Call of Duty: Black Ops with multiplayer improvements for the Windows edition of the just-released military shooter. The new version has fixes for the "join in progress" function and the "Friends" tab in the server browser along with performance improvements for dual- and quad-core systems. A post to the game's official forums outlines the roadmap for future changes: Continue here to read the full story.
Viacom's plan to get out of the video game business that prompted them to put Harmonix on sale also places the future of Bruckheimer Games in doubt, reports the Los Angeles Times. A partnership between explosive Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Viacom's MTV Networks was announced in 2007, and though this hasn't yet been directly addressed, during a conference call with Wall Street analysts Thursday, Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman commented that: "The console game business requires an expertise and scale that we don't have." This is all still up in the air, and according to the Times: "People familiar with the matter said the company is currently assessing its options."
Middleware studio Gamebryo's Gamebyro Lightspeed engine is now for sale, reports GamesIndustry.biz (registration required) where they say the move is being forced by investor Venture Lending and Leasing V, inc, who have liquidation group Gerbsman Partners orchestrating a sale of assets. Word is the sale is for "the acquisition of all or substantially all of Emergent Game Technology's assets, including its Intellectual Property in whole or in part."
Fast-paced shoot-em-up Chrono Rage is now available via digital distribution from the Chrono Rage Website. Here's word on the game's Geometry Wars-style gameplay: "Chrono Rage confronts the player with a pixel swarm coming from the past and ready for battle. Great dexterity, nerves of steel and blazing reflexes are the weapons needed to tame this game." This page offers a playable demo to check out the game and see how it runs on your system.
Open beta testing is now underway for Dynasty Warriors Online, an upcoming online multiplayer edition of Dynasty Warriors that's been running in Japan for several years now. There's a Dynasty Warriors Online Interview on Gaming Nexus chatting up Brian DeSanti, associate producer on the game, who discusses the project, including an explanation of how they are dealing with latency in a hack-and-slash game: "That’s the trick isn’t it? The developers at Tecmo Koei made a great game and we’re using our know-how in terms of the North American market to maximize server stability. By working closely with Tecmo Koei we are able to react quickly should any issues arise so that they are remedied quickly to keep the game environment as enjoyable as possible."
This trailer is a new clip showing off Bloodline Champions, the competitive online multiplayer game from Funcom and Stunlock Studios that's now in beta testing. Word is: "The video gives a unique glimpse into the ferocious, action-oriented gameplay as key developers explain the nuts and bolts of the game. 'Bloodline Champions' continues to build momentum: last week Funcom announced that 100,000 players had joined the beta, and Funcom can now announce that this number has soared to over 150,000 in just a matter of days." This page has details on how you can try to snag your own beta key to participate in testing.
A new trailer from Lionheart: Kings' Crusade shows gameplay in the strategy game depicting an attempt to "Reconquer the Holy Land," which always seems like a good idea at the time.
A program called cnc-ddraw is now available to assist gamers playing old school RTS games C&C95 and RA95 on modern computers. According to Planet Command & Conquer, "This not only allows you to play C&C95 and RA95 in a window, but contains options to stretch it to any size you want! It also fixes freezing and fast scrolling issues, and makes the game run better in WINE. In addition it has mouse adjustment and FPS limitation options." Thanks Ant.
NYTimes.com - Video Games and the First Amendment (registration required).
If the Supreme Court renders justice in a case it heard this month, Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants Association, it will strike down a California law barring the sale or rental of violent video games to anyone under 18. That would end a violation of free expression — but not prevent the states from finding other ways to support parents who do not want their children to play violent games.
Goozer Nation - When DLC Goes Wrong.
For gamers, downloadable content usually means more content for their favorite games. For the publishers, DLC means more money in their pockets. But what about when the publisher gets greedy and starts taking advantage of the gamer just for a few extra costumes or weapons? Welcome to a gamers’ worst nightmare: DLC gone wrong!
Well, in spite of my fears, my jury duty experience this week turned out to be fairly painless. First off the court was only about 10 minutes from the BlueTower, so transportation was pretty simple. When we assembled on Monday we were told that plea bargaining was still underway for all their cases, and everyone should return in 90 minutes (where I made my one error of the situation by deciding to wait that out in court). Upon everyone's return we filled out surveys and waited for an hour until noon, when we were told to come back at 2:30. Upon our return we were told all the cases were now settled, and we could head out for the day and return Wednesday at 9:30 am, as one other case was on the docket. On Wednesday we sat around for a little under an hour, were told that case was also now settled, and our service was complete. So all in all, I spent an hour travelling and three and a half hours sitting in court, 90 minutes of which could have been avoided in exchange for 20 more minutes of travel, so it's hard to imagine this being less of an imposition than it was (and it certainly makes me glad I didn't work too hard to get out of it). The judge told us he understood if we felt our time was wasted, but that our presence and the threat of trial is what prompted all those case settlements.
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