Archived News:
Apologizing for their recent lack of updates, the Left 4 Dead Blog reveals plans for new DLC for Left 4 Dead 2, the zombie shooter sequel. This will include a community-created submission called Cold Stream from the author of 2 Evil Eyes as well as the three remaining missions from the first Left 4 Dead. They are involving the community in helping decide how else this will shape up, though they have a general principle of this being more of a map pack which will not attempt to progress the game's story. A name for the pack is not decided, and the only release date they offer is "sometime after Portal 2."
Publisher Paradox Interactive and developer Turbo Tape Games announce Naval War: Arctic Circle, a new naval real-time strategy game that's anything but a tropical cruise. The game is due for release in the first quarter of next year. In the meantime, this trailer offers an interview about the game with lead designer Jan Haugland, and here's a bit on what to expect: "Paradox Interactive and Turbo Tape Games today officially announced Naval War: Arctic Circle. The game is a new maritime RTS that places players at the controls of some of today’s most powerful naval forces, including NATO, the Nordic Alliance, Russia, and the United States. Taking place in the arctic regions of the world, Naval War: Arctic Circle will challenge players as they pass through the world’s deadliest waters vying for dominance and complete control of the arctic seas, allowing commanders to purge enemy forces either above, beneath, or on the ocean surface. Will you be able to reign over the waters?"
Gunshine.net is a free online action/RPG you can play in your browser with no plugins from Supercell, a developer whose ranks include veterans of Remedy, Digital Chocolate, and Sulake. The game is currently in closed beta, and the first round of invitations are being distributed. This trailer offers a look at gameplay, and here's word on the game: "Gunshine.net is a free-to-play online rpg that plunges you into the factional strife of Dawnbreak City. Featuring an advanced tactical system and deep character customization, Gunshine.net emphasizes cooperative play with full Facebook integration. With 3D avatars and striking visuals, Gunshine.net takes browser games into the next generation of game design." Thanks Gamer's Hell.
The Dead Island preview on IGN offers the first indication of life we've seen in a few years from Dead Island, Techland's upcoming survival/horror game. The preview discusses the game's zombie-tastic action, offers an unsettling cinematic trailer, and says the game is on track for release for Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 sometime this year.
The Entertainment Consumers Association announces they are offering ECA memberships at a reduced rate for students and military personnel. The non-profit North American consumer group is offering memberships for $1.00 per year for anyone with a valid .edu or .mil address. "The ECA is extremely excited to launch this new, ongoing promotion for the millions of military personnel and students who have a passion for video games," said Heather Ellertson, ECA Vice President of Marketing. "The ECA strongly supports all of the hard work that students and our military do, and this is our way of giving back."
The RIFT interview on Games On Net chats with Scott Hartsman, Executive Producer of RIFT, Trion's upcoming MMORPG (in open beta testing for the moment). Topics include lower level characters and zones, support for tunneling services, grouping without an LFG tool, PvP and levels, raiding, endgame content, and more.
Direct2Drive offers 20% off all titles with the code "hailtothechief" on checkout.
- Front Mission Evolved on Steam. Save 75%.
- Tropico Reloaded on GOG.com. Save 60%.
Still (permanently?) on sale (previously reported). Continue here to read the full story.
MyCrysis has the announcement of plans to release a multiplayer playable demo for Crysis 2 on March 1st, offering two maps and two gameplay modes in Crytek's upcoming shooter sequel (thanks Gamer's Hell). Here's word: The time has come for PC gamers to take their best shot in Crysis 2 multiplayer. Available for download at http://crysis.ea.com and other partner sites on March 1, the Crysis 2 multiplayer demo includes two stunning maps, two adrenaline-filled modes, and hours of multiplayer action. In the demo, PC gamers will master the game’s signature Nanosuit, which allows them to be strong, be invisible, be fast and become the ultimate weapon.
Players will compete in six vs. six matches set against a war-torn Manhattan in two maps: “Skyline”, set on top of the rooftops and interiors of skyscrapers, and “Pier 17”, an open environment with limited cover. The demo also features two modes: “Team Instant Action” pits two teams against each other as they kill as many opponents as possible to win the round and “Crash Site,” where players will battle for control of alien drop pods, earning points by guarding their pods and keeping enemies at bay.
The Epic Games Forums have word not to expect an editor for Bulletstorm when Epic's and People Can Fly's upcoming first-person shooter is released (thanks BeyondUnreal). Word is: Hey folks, sorry it took a while to get back to you here.
In Bulletstorm, we would have had to make modifications to the Unreal Editor to account for the skillshot system. We spent years developing the skillshot system and carefully balancing weapons, and it was a resource matter - make an editor we can ship with the game or keep polishing Bulletstorm for release.
Epic maintains the Unreal Development Kit (UDK) for people who would like to work with our game development toolset. We regularly release free, updated versions that include the latest additions to the engine. UDK *is* Unreal Engine 3 - plus it comes with sample content that can be used to make standalone games. Epic's engine team makes hundreds of improvements to the engine every month and UDK is the best way for developers to keep on top of the latest technology. UDK ships with the gorgeous visual features seen in Bulletstorm - Unreal Lightmass global illumination, light shafts (a.k.a. god beams), dynamic lighting and shadowing, and so much more.
The Infinity Ward Forums describe plans for a new security patch for Modern Warfare 2 for all platforms. Meanwhile, Robert Bowling tweets a confirmation that there will be no more DLC for the military shooter sequel: "No, we have no additional DLC planned for #MW2." Here's word on the security patch: The latest patch for Modern Warfare 2 has finished production and is now going through internal quality assurance. This new title update will address security issues that have affected online play.
We plan to release this update for all platforms (Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and PC). No release date is set at this time. Once an ETA is established, it will be posted here.
In addition to the security updates, this patch will also address a small geo exploit on the map Fuel, which players exploited in order to get inside a rock on the outskirts of the map.
Gordon Walton has departed Electronic Arts where he served as a vice president at BioWare Austin, reports Develop. They received a statement from EA saying "it is business as usual" at the Star Wars: The Old Republic developer. They also note a story on Inside Social Games saying Sebastien de Halleux and Sami Lababidi, two of the cofounders of Playfish, have also parted ways with EA, though both will remain as consultants. Only one of four Playfish founders, Kristian Segerstale, remains with the company since its November 2009 acquisition. In other EA-related news, VG247 reports on a talk given by John Riccitiello to a Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco. The EA CEO describes missteps they made a few years back, saying: "And we dropped the ball. Our IP deteriorated, our costs went up, and we didn’t really have an answer for the rise of digital." He goes on to the present day offering his assessment of their revival: "We have the strongest intellectual property portfolio by far in the games industry today."
Frederic Markus is the new Creative Director at LucasArts, reports IndustryGamers. Markus was most recently Director of Game Design at Disney, was Director of Pre-Production at Ubisoft before that, and "also consulted on game design and pre-production for Atari, Microsoft, Rockstar, and others, and served as Design Director at Angel Studios."
Focus Home Interactive announces the release of the first screenshots for A Game of Thrones - Genesis, also revealing a Summer 2011 release window for Cyanide Studios' real-time strategy game tie-in with George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. Here are the two new screenshots, and here's a bit on the game: "Thanks to a well-developed single player campaign written under supervision of the author George R.R. Martin, 'A Game of Thrones - Genesis' immerses you into the heart of the battles and intrigues between the Houses that shaped the Kingdom of Westeros. Live the origins of the A Song of Ice and Fire saga through more than 1000 years of History, and take part in Westeros' founding events and largest battles such as Aegon the Conqueror's invasion on the continent or the War of the Usurper."
Still more World of Warcraft balance changes are listed on Battle.net, where they outline yesterday's hotfixes to Blizzard's MMORPG. Perhaps most significant is this change: "The amount of guild reputation and guild experience gained from killing a raid boss has been dramatically increased, as the previous rate felt too low compared to the difficulty of progressing through raid content." Thanks Ant.
The BAFTA Website now offers the full list of nominations for the GAME British Academy Video Games Awards, which will be handed out on Wednesday, March 16, 2011. Here are the nominees for best game: Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
Development Team
Ubisoft Entertainment/Ubisoft Montreal
FIFA 11
Development Team
Electronic Arts/ Electronic Arts Canada
Heavy Rain
David Cage, Guillaume de Fondaumiere, Scott Johnson
Sony Computer Entertainment/Quantic Dream & XDev Studio Europe
LIMBO
Development Team
Xbox Live Arcade/Playdead Games
Mass Effect 2
Development Team
Electronic Arts/BioWare
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Koichi Hayashida, Yoshiaki Koizumi, Takashi Tezuka
Nintendo/Nintendo
Startup T5 Labs claims ownership of a patent that predates a patent owned by OnLive for streaming video games over the internet, reports VentureBeat. There's a follow-up to this on Joystiq where an OnLive spokesperson tells them this patent is not relevant to them, saying they "saw no relevance whatsoever to OnLive and told him so. We are approached by people with irrelevant patents all the time. We are highly confident in our own patent portfolio, and have no further comment."
Matrix Games announces the release of a new hotfix for Decisive Campaigns: The Blitzkrieg from Warsaw to Paris, updating VR Designs' World War II strategy game to version 1.04g. The hotfix addresses a new bug in the Operation Sealion scenario.
KlingonAcademy.com now offers a pair of community-created patches for Star Trek: Klingon Academy to allow the game to be played on modern systems. Word is: "The first fix corrects a fault that could cause the game to crash on modern multi-core systems and the second is a DirectX wrapper that corrects a number of rendering issues with the game." Thanks Jack.
A new Anomaly: Warzone Earth trailer features gameplay from 11 bit studios' upcoming reverse-tower-defense game. The clip shows off the game, special abilities, route planning, squad formation, and more.
Major Nelson offers a list of LIVE Activity for week of February 7, which includes the list of Games for Windows Top LIVE Titles (based on UUs). This list follows. Continue here to read the full story.
Dubious Quality - The New Day. Thanks nin.
These huge gaming companies are like giant, predatory dinosaurs in a world where all the prey that can sustain them has become endangered. They're not nearly fast or agile enough to catch what remains, because smaller predators will easily outhunt them in the new ecosystem. It's not that all their large prey are extinct--there are still a few big, tasty creatures wandering around--but there aren't nearly enough left to sustain the giants.
What's going to happen, then? They're going to die.
I mentioned over the weekend we were hitting a prominent barbeque. This was Dinosaur Barbeque, as they have opened a new branch in Troy, so we visited there after heading upstate to visit my brother WalterEgo. Years ago MrsBlue and I talked about heading up to their original location in Syracuse before they opened their Harlem spot, but we never made it. As it turns out the place was nice and the service was excellent, but while the food was very good, it did not live up to our elevated expectations based on the awards the place has earned. We decided it was worth the half-hour drive from Albany, but would not have been worth the several hours it would have taken us to get to Syracuse, though of course we can't be sure the food would be the same at the two locations.
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