Archived News:
Steam News announces that the Dead Money DLC for Fallout: New Vegas is now available, warning: "your life hangs in the balance as you face new terrain, foes, and choices" (though the link for the DLC seems to circle back to the page for the original game at the moment). Word is: "Welcome to the Sierra Madre Casino! The casino’s mythical contents are lusted after by desperate wasteland scavengers, who tell stories of intact treasure of the old world buried deep within its vault." No Mutants Allowed notes that the PC version of the role-playing sequel just received an update, which is probably to accommodate the DLC. There's also a post on the Fallout wiki reports the discovery of indications within Dead Money that previously unannounced DLC may be on the way, saying: "This indicates that the next add-on will most likely be Honest Hearts, which has been hinted at with graffiti that includes mentions of the Mormon town of New Canaan and Joshua Graham, also known as the Burned Man and formerly as the fearsome Malpais Legate."
The Boy Who Stole Half-Life 2 on Eurogamer.net offers the intriguing tale of the theft of the source code for Half-Life 2 back in 2003, a story replete with corporate intrigue, double-crosses, and a Tarantino-style flair for storytelling that begins at the end. The story explains who stole the source code, how and why he gained access to Valve's network, how the source ended up going public, and how the culprit was caught thanks to his own pride and naïveté long after his trail had gone cold. The story has a reasonably happy ending where the game was released to great success and the culprit, who seems genuinely remorseful over the problems he caused, has apologized for his actions after two years of probation.
A new patch for the PlayStation 3 edition of Mass Effect 2 seems to indicate more DLC is on the way for BioWare's action/RPG sequel. The new DLC is apparently called Arrival, and they relate speculation from the BioWare Social Network that this may refer to the arrival of the Reapers in a set-up for Mass Effect 3.
The Official Microsoft Blog has a confirmation of previous indications of plans for a Windows SDK for Kinect, the Xbox 360 motion control hardware. Word is: "The Kinect for Windows SDK is being developed and released by Microsoft Research (MSR) in collaboration with IEB. It will be available this spring as a free download, and will give academic researchers and enthusiasts access to key pieces of the Kinect system—such as the audio technology, system application programming interfaces and direct control of the Kinect sensor itself." Thanks [H]ard-OCP.
The Left 4 Dead Blog announces that as of Friday they will be returning to weekly original Mutations for Left 4 Dead 2 after featuring community-created mutations for some time now. This comes after complaints from the community that this was impeding achievement hunting: "After our recent poll about community Mutations we received many emails pointing out that you cannot earn Mutant Overlord playing custom mutations. Don’t stop with the Mutation ideas, we will come back to community Mutations. We are just taking a little break for now."
The StarCraft II interview on Eurogamer.net features Blizzard's Dustin Browder discussing their eSports aspirations for their real-time strategy sequel. Along the way he is asked about their plans to build a user-marketplace into Battle.net, and explains how they are struggling with this. Here's word on their progress: Struggling. We are moving forward. We are working on it actively now. As you can imagine there is an immense number of challenges for us to overcome. We're trying to deal with those issues. I don't know how we're going to solve some of the player rights issues. How do players protect their own maps so they don't get ripped off by other players? What are the rules of how much you're allowed to charge? There's just a ton of work for us to figure out.
We've never, ultimately, built anything like this before. Some of our competitors have and more power to them. But we haven't done it yet. So there's going to be a bunch of work for us to figure out how to get this done. But it's something we're working on. It's definitely a distance down the road. It's not in the next month. It's going to be some distance before we get this in the hands of the fans.
SouthPeak Interactive Corporation Reports Fiscal 2011 Second Quarter Financial Results are now online, with some numbers for your crunching pleasure. Here are the highlights: "Net revenues of $7.5 million, compared with $10.1 million in the comparable period in fiscal 2010. Total operating expenses decreased by 37% to $3.3 million, compared with $5.3 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2010. Net loss was ($2.1) million, or ($0.04) per share, compared with a net loss of ($2.6) million, or ($0.06) per diluted share in the comparable period in fiscal 2010. Adjusted EBITDA(1) was ($615,000), compared with an adjusted EBITDA of $1.3 million in the prior fiscal year period." Thanks Big Download.
A new cinematic trailer for Fray is posted on GameTrailers, offering a look at Brain Candy's upcoming sci-fi strategy game. Here's word: "The film is directed by and stars the game's technical director Robert Falce. Over 8 months in the making on a shoestring budget, the short film depicts the game's dystopian setting and gives viewers the very first look at one of the most promising independent game productions of 2011."
A new Weapons Explained By R. Lee Ermey trailer from Bulletstorm proves there's only one thing more over-the-top than Epic's and People Can Fly's upcoming shooter, and that's the man who played Gunnery Sergeant Hartman.
Relentless redundancies birth new studio (registration required) has word that 20 employees let go earlier this month by Relentless Software have started a new developer called Full Moon looking to make a mark in the worlds of "casual gaming and digital distribution." They note that "most of the staff involved in the cuts felt no animosity about the situation," which may be explained in part by the Wikipedia entry for Relentless, which indicates this is a developer where they make a point of stickling to a 9-5 work schedule, and never invoke the dreaded "crunch time" that causes so much stress and burnout. On a semi-related note, Develop quotes game industry executive Felix Roekin saying it is becoming harder for new graduates to enter the game development world because of all the competition from industry veterans looking for work after being laid off, also noting that the past couple of years have seen the number of such jobs in the U.K. shrink by about 9%.
Here's the Impulse Top 10 bestsellers for the week ending February 19:
- Sins of a Solar Empire - Trinity
- King's Bounty Platinum Edition
- Rulers of Nations
- Dungeons
- Sins of a Solar Empire Expansion Bundle
- Mass Effect
- Elemental: War of Magic
- Command and Conquer 4
- Sins of a Solar Empire: Diplomacy
- Supreme Ruler 2020 Gold
Direct2Drive offers 20% off all titles with the code "hailtothechief" on checkout.
- Commander: Conquest of the Americas on Steam. Save 70%.
- Commander: Conquest of the Americas - Colonial Navy on Steam. Save 70%.
- Darkness Within 2: The Dark Lineage on Impulse. Save 75%.
- Far Cry on Impulse. Save 50% (North America only).
- Cricket Revolution on Steam. Save 80%.
- Portal 2 on Steam. Save 10% on pre-purchase, and receive Portal free.
Still on sale (previously reported). Continue here to read the full story.
The NeoGAF forums have a Saints Row 3 poster that forum participants are speculating will be the cover of an upcoming Game Informer magazine. They also offer and image of an ad for the game listing a "Holiday 2011" release, which could be considered a slightly narrower release window than the previously revealed autumn release. Thanks Destructoid.
The Fighter Collection and Eagle Dynamics announce the release of DCS- A-10C Warthog, adding a new aircraft to the DCS series as a follow-up to DCS: Ka-50 Black Shark. Their DCS- A-10C Warthog Section offers screenshots and loads of information about the game, as well as online purchases. Here's a bit on the game: "DCS: A-10C Warthog" is a PC simulation of the U.S. premier Close Air Support attack aircraft. This is the second aircraft in the DCS series, following DCS: Black Shark, and raises the bar even higher in the DCS series. Warthog brings the most realistic PC simulation of a modern fixed wing combat aircraft in regards to flight dynamics, avionics, sensors, and weapon systems. You also have the option to play Warthog in "Game" mode for a casual game experience. Fly missions in the Caucuses region of the Black Sea against and with a wide array of air, land and sea forces with new and improved intelligence. Create your own missions and campaigns with the included Mission and Campaign Editors, and fly with and against friends online using the included online game browser.
Command & Conquer Forums are abuzz with word that information about the next Command & Conquer appeared on cncstage.com, which is apparently a new C&C website, but this has dropped offline since its existence was revealed, as a moderator reveals "it's still being setup." Before the site was bagged, it apparently revealed industry veteran Jon Van Caneghem's involvement as part of a startup called Victory Games, which Van Caneghem describes this way: "Victory Games was created to be the focal point for the creation of strategy games for the Games Label at EA." We have offices in Los Angeles, CA; Austin, TX; and Shanghai, China. It almost feels like one location though, as we have video conferencing systems setup 24/7 which offers us a stronger and more personal level of communication between offices." There's word on the possible revelation of a new unit and there are posts discussing news there's a new community manager, though this person is pulling the old Facebook blackmail before revealing their identity. Voodoo Extreme grabbed a quote about the game itself before the black helicopters took the site away: I can tell you it’s a Command & Conquer game for the PC, but we’re not yet at a stage where I can go into any details—we’ll be prepared to make a more formal announcement later in the year. We’re not just working on a game, though. Our general focus is on the future of Command & Conquer. That means updating a lot of the core technology to create a stable base for future development, and leveraging that work on this first game.
World of Risen has word in English, on an article in the new issue of German PC Games magazine about Risen 2, revealing the subtitle of Piranha Bytes' upcoming RPG as well, as the game's full title is Risen 2: Dark Waters. They offer some scans from the magazine, and describe the game's setting in a region of pirate islands, reveal the addition of firearms to the game's weaponry, and more. The Risen 2: Dark Waters Website also offers some artwork. Thanks PC Games Forever.
The APB-Reloaded Website announces beta keys to the APB: All Points Bulletin reboot are coming this week: "Beta Application Keys will be sent this coming week. Once you receive the application key, then use it to access your unique application, and presuming you fill everything out correctly, you will be in line to get back on the streets of San Paro presuming you fulfill the requirements outlined in the post below by Neume."
Scent Sciences Corporation announces a device called ScentScape, which will bring the sense of smell into PC gaming (besides the already not-uncommon smells of B.O. and Cheetos) when it is released in the fourth quarter of this year, according to MCV. They say the USB device contains 20 scent wells, which games will trigger to let off a required scent such as pine forest, ocean, and smoke. Word is PC development kits are shipping this month and future support for consoles is planned.
GFK Chart-Track offers an updated list of top 20 bestselling full price PC games for the week ending February 19. Football Manager 2011 retains the top spot, and MCV notes that Europe "is now Sega’s biggest boxed games market," thanks to that game, saying: "The management sim has now sold 690,000 units in Europe and the US across PSP and PC. Sega’s European chief Jurgen Post says the game’s success has helped Europe shift more games than its US and Japanese counterparts." There's one new entry on the list, Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition, and other significant movement shows Call of Duty: Black Ops jumping 10 spots to number three and Test Drive Unlimited 2 dropping 10 spots to number 12.
State legislators in Chihuahua, Mexico are looking to ban Call of Juarez: The Cartel over unhappiness that the Techland's upcoming western shooter sequel depicts the drug-related violence from which the border town suffers. The Washington Post quotes Chihuahua congressman Ricardo Boone Salmon saying: "It is true there is a serious crime situation, which we are not trying to hide," Boone Salmon said. "But we also should not expose children to this kind of scenarios so that they are going to grow up with this kind of image and lack of values." They also quote State congress leader Enrique Serrano: "Children wind up being easily involved in criminal acts over time, because among other things, during their childhood not enough care has been taken about what they see on television and playing video games," Serrano said. "They believe so much blood and death is normal."
An interview on Gamasutra talks with Matt Ployhar, new president of the PC Gaming Alliance, asking about the organization's new focus. He talks about taking a more high-profile approach to supporting the platform, PC business models, declining piracy, a fuzzy answer about DRM, and more. On a related note, Big Download confirms their recent report that Microsoft and NVIDIA have left the PCGA though no reason for their departures is provided.
Today is the third Monday in February, which makes it Presidents Day here in the U.S., though it seems the official Federal holiday is still known as Washington's Birthday (which is actually tomorrow). As always we will single out a few presidents for the occasion: With another heavy snowstorm today, and since William Henry Harrison was already commemorated for succumbing to pneumonia, today we are choosing to recognize Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, since they are the presidents who presided over the Cold War.
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