Archived News:
Paradox Interactive announces the release of Pirate Treasure Chest through all major digital distribution sites, DLC with new content for Commander: Conquest of the Americas, the historical action/strategy game from Nitro Games. Here's a bit on what this offers: "Discover the infamous pirate island of Tortuga where players can purchase items and ships. Choose to hire pirate captains and use their fleets against your enemies without taking blame for their unprovoked attacks or battle against them when you capture them to use their maps and ships as your own. No matter how you choose to play, the rewards are many: wealth, unique ships and treasure maps that lead to powerful artifacts."
Paradox announces a title change for the game formerly known as Lionheart: Kings' Crusade, saying Neocore Games' real-time strategy game is henceforth to be known more simply as The Kings' Crusade. This is presumably to make for more manageable expansion titles, as they announce plans to release two The Kings' Crusade add-ons this year: One is called Arabian Nights, which will arrive on February 8th offering a focus on the Saracen forces. The second expansion is titled Teutonic Knights, a Crusaders add-on which does not yet have a set release date.
No Mutants Allowed notes (by way of NeoGAF) three new trademarks filed by Zenimax, speculating these are the titles of DLC planned for Fallout: New Vegas. The three trademarks are for Honest Hearts, Lonesome Road, and Old World Blues.
The Frictional Games Blog has word on sales of Amnesia: The Dark Descent, revealing the survival/horror game has sold almost 200,000 units in four months, though they note that more than half the copies they've sold were on sale. They discuss the solid financial footing this places them on, and note that had the game been sold through a traditional publisher this would not be the case, as they would probably just now be paying back their advance. They also say they are reconsidering their console ambitions in light of their newfound confidence in the PC platform, and may hire someone to port their next game for consoles and remain PC focused internally. Here's a bit on their feelings about PC development: "With these figures at hand, we must confess that it gives us new confidence for the PC. The sales that we have had (and are having) are more than enough to motivate developing a game with the PC as the main (and even only) platform. Based on what we have seen, the online PC market is just getting bigger and bigger, and we are convinced we are far from the end of this growth. We think that other developers that consider making their game exclusive to a console might want to think again." Thanks Joao.
Open beta testing is now underway for Picaroon, a free-to-play real-time strategy game set on a futuristic Costner-free water-world. The beta is now serving Classic Picaroon, a game lasting two weeks, and one of three game modes to eventually be followed by Skirmish Picaroon and Persistent Picaroon. Word is: "Picaroon's engaging strategy can be played over an hour, some weeks or indefinitely -- you choose! With two-week games in open beta now and Skirmish games of an hour or two that you can configure yourself coming in January, that's two ways to battle your way from island to island. A persistent Picaroon arriving in the following months will be the ultimate way to play Picaroon: how long can you hold on to a presence in the world? One game, three great ways to play!" This trailer shows off the game.
Pandora Saga is now in open beta testing, offering widespread access to this online PvP strategic MMORPG. Word is: "In addition to raising the player level cap and unlocking all classes, the open beta also offers rewards for the more competitive adventurer. For example, an honor point boost awaits players when they declare an alliance to a nation, and those who log in between 1/7 and 1/13 get free potions.
The Star Wars: The Old Republic Biographies Page now offers three new profiles of characters in BioWare's upcoming MMORPG. There are bios for Supreme Chancellor Janarus, Darth Jadus, and Jewl’a Nightbringer.
A new Bulletstorm 'Bulletpoints' With Cliffy B Trailer continues the edgy promotion for People Can Fly's upcoming shooter. Today we have Epic's Cliff Bleszinski taking a time out, presumably due to the potty mouth he uses in this NSFW clip.
"At the end of [2011], the digital business is bigger than the packaged goods business, full stop. No questions in my mind. Then, you know, I think that we’ll find ways to even sell our packaged goods content in chunks and in pieces and subscriptions and micro-transactions." -- EA CEO John Riccitiello.
Link of the Day: Puck splits in half. Never heard of that before. Thanks Ant.
Austrian videogame publisher JoWooD Entertainment AG announces their insolvency, saying they've applied for a procedure of capital reorganization at the Commercial Court Vienna (thanks The Patches Scrolls). Here's word:
Vienna, Austria, 7 January 2011; The management board of JoWooD Entertainment AG announces that all efforts towards restructuring of capitalization concerning outside capital as well as equity capital had to be considered as failed on 06/01/2011. On the basis of this fact, material insolvency occurred with this date.
Therefore today, JoWooD Entertainment AG applied for a procedure of capita lreorganization at the Commercial Court Vienna in accordance with Art. 167 IO/ Insolvency Statute.
Bond creditors of the 10% bond 2007-2011 (ISIN: AT0000A05TV0) are asked to report directly to the company (see queries reference) to be able to coordinate their rights.
The management board assumes that negotiations with creditors and possible investors can be positively conducted and finalized within 90 days and thus continuation of the company can be assured.
Kalypso announces that DUNGEONS is gold, and the now complete strategy game will be released in the UK on February 4. In celebration of the news, they are offering downloads of the game's theme song. Here's a bit from the announcement on the game: "DUNGEONS, which is set for release on 4th February in the UK on Windows PC, lets players show off their dark sides, as, in the role of a Dungeon Lord, they do their best to entice foolish heroes into custom-crafted dungeons. Once an adventurer enters the player’s creation, the fun really begins as players will attempt to capture those heroes and steal their precious soul energy and use it to build even more elaborate and sinister dungeons while fighting against intruding bosses."
EA tweets that gamers have four more days to preorder the Signature edition of Dragon Age II, BioWare's upcoming RPG sequel, which is the same price as the regular game. This has some bonuses along with what they are describing as $20 of additional content. If that makes it sound like this content will eventually be released as DLC, that's because it is, as PC RPG Site has word from EA Germany that this new content will follow the game in a pack called The Exiled Prince, offering a trailer from the DLC (thanks VG247). There's also a Dragon Age II FAQ that offers the minimum and recommended system specifications for the game, which follow. Continue here to read the full story.
Cataclysm Hotfixes thread on Battle.net has still more balance tweaks implemented in World of Warcraft as they continue to balance the aftermath of the Cataclysm expansion. There's also word on Battle.net that a new version 4.06 patch for the game is now available on the WoW Public Test Realms. They offer the preliminary patch notes, and the following explanation: "This minor patch includes several updates that we were unable to apply via hotfixes, including the recently discussed class balance changes, assorted bug fixes, and more. If you'd like to help us test out this patch and provide feedback, you can start by copying your character over to a test realm. Once you've had a chance to try things out, be sure to visit our Public Test Realm forum to discuss the patch." Thanks Ant.
There's a ShakyCam Diablo III PvP Arena Battles BlizzCon 2010 (wizard Gameplay) trailer on the YouTube with a look at PvP combat in Blizzard's upcoming action./RPG sequel. The clip was shot off a monitor at BlizzCon 2010 and shows off some fast and furious combat. Thanks Voodoo Extreme.
An MLB 2K11 first look trailer shows off the next installment in 2K Sports' baseball series. Also, 2K Sports announces they are once again offering a $1 million prize to the first player to pitch a perfect game in either of the console editions, though this is not open to those playing the Windows version. Word is: "The race to perfection will commence on Major League Baseball’s Opening Day, April 1, 2011, giving gamers nearly a month to practice with the game before embarking on a quest that only 20 pitchers in baseball history have accomplished. Refined pitching mechanics and an expanded entry pool make this year’s competition even more challenging, as the contest will be open for participants aged 13 and older."
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Translating The Cover puzzle on GameInformer was cracked pretty shortly after it was posted yesterday. Computer and Video Games has the outcome, which is not as elucidating as one may have thought, or as they put it: "It's something to do with Dragons." The full cryptic translation follows. Continue here to read the full story.
VG247 has word that some games are now available through Steam in Australia that have been refused classification by the strict Australian Classification Board. They say Steam AU now offers Manhunt, Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Bully (Canis Canem Edit), Max Payne, Max Payne 2, and Midnight Club 2. They have not received comment on this yet from the Australian Communication and Media Authority or Valve for comment, and Rockstar Australia declined to comment on this. They do have word from the Australian Classification Board, who confirm that the games are still RC and say "it is the responsibility of the various States and Territories to police these matters." They add: "The regulation of internet content is the responsibility of the Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA). Questions related to internet regulation should be referred to this body."
The Torchlight and Torchlight II interview on VG247 talks with Max Schaefer about Tunic's action/RPG and its upcoming sequel. They discuss the success of the original game, whether the sequel will be as friendly to low-end systems, similarities to the Diablo series, making Torchlight II a little more challenging, co-op details, and more. They also note that while an XBLA version of the original Torchlight has been confirmed, a post to the Runic Forums by Travis Balder indicates there will be no PS3 version: "No PS3 plans to speak of. Microsoft is acting as the publisher on this one. And given how much work it was to get one console game done, I'm a little relieved we didn't attempt both platforms at once anyway."
The Andrew Plotkin interview on Adventure Classic Gaming talks with this interactive fiction author about his upcoming project Hadean Lands (working title) and his recent Kickstarter fundraiser that netted $31,000 for its development.
The Ten Ton Hammer Live Episode 30 podcast chats with Adam Mersky and Kate Paiz of Turbine about The Lord of the Rings Online. It turns out that the MMORPG's switch to a free-to-play format continues to pay dividends. It was previously reported that revenues doubled after the change, and now VG247 notes the podcast reveals that revenue is now three times what it was before the change, saying that since going F2P over one million new accounts were created, 20% of former players have returned, and they've seen a 300% increase in concurrent users and a 400% increase in active players.
"Let's make an online game where everyone is naked. For a fee, you can make your penis or breasts larger and for more cash they grow faster." -- Epic's Cliff Bleszinski. Thanks Morris.
The snow that accumulated from the after-Christmas blizzard in these parts is still all over the place, and we have another snowstorm predicted for today. This is causing more concern than usual since the reaction to the last blizzard in New York City was inadequate at best, an unusual situation that seems to have its roots in some sort of scandal. This may end up derailing my plans for one of my rare forays out into the world, as I was going to go carousing with my buddies tonight. I'll have to see how this all plays out, but I may end up with another chance to brew up some more chili to fight the chilliness.
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