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Archived News:
Kalypso Media announces that Elements of War is gold, and the now-complete real-time strategy game is due in North America on April 12. Here's word on how the sci-fi game will allow player to make it rain: In Elements of War, players will take charge of a wide variety of military units, from modern helicopters and battle tanks, to futuristic weaponry such as powered exoskeletons, EMP generating vehicles and lightning-throwing planes as they battle across a torn and tattered near-future United States. As gamers fight their way across the decimated landscape, they will unlock next-generation weather-controlling weaponry that will allow them to unleash tornadoes, earthquakes and much more on their enemies. For more information about Elements of War, please visit www.kalypsomedia.com or http://www.facebook.com/elementswar.
A new trailer on the Star Wars: The Old Republic Website shows Jedi Knight progression in the upcoming Star Wars MMORPG. Word is: "In this video, you’ll get a sneak peek at how the Jedi Knight can evolve in The Old Republic. This is just a small sampling of the armors and skills available, but we hope this gives you a taste of how the Jedi Knight will look as he develops through the course of the game."
Dungeon Blitz is now in open beta testing, giving players the chance to experience this web-based, side-scrolling action MMOG from Blue Mammoth Games. Blue Mammoth is a new studio formed by Lincoln Hamilton and Matt Woomer, veterans of Cryptic Studios, where they worked on City of Heroes/City of Villains, Arena Junkies, Global Agenda, and CCP’s World of Darkness. Here's word: We started Blue Mammoth because we wanted to bring all our AAA-title experience to bear on a quicker, more casual game. Dungeon Blitz, the first casual action MMO, delivers a big, immersive experience in the browser. It’s free to play, and anyone can be in the game in about a minute. We think it’s a fun and different take on the browser MMO, and we’re excited to open it up to a wider audience.
The Weinstein Company announces the formation of TWC Games, "a new initiative in the video game space," from the multimedia company owned by Miramax Films founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein. Word is they will work with developers and publishers to exploit the video game potential of their Hollywood properties: NEW YORK, NY March 25, 2011 - The Weinstein Company (TWC) announced today a new initiative in the video game space by launching TWC Games. The TWC Games label will utilize The Weinstein Company and Dimension Films' strong and recognizable properties, and work with external partners to develop and publish video games for mobile, social, and console platforms. Properties in The Weinstein Company and Dimension Films catalogue include SCREAM, HELLRAISER, HALLOWEEN, SCARY MOVIE, and CHILDREN OF THE CORN, among many others.
Iceberg Interactive announces Starpoint Gemini is now available in stores in UK, Scandinavian and Benelux. A playable demo for LGM Games' space-based tactical RPG is available, and here's a description: Starpoint Gemini is a tactical space RPG set in a science-fiction universe, which focuses on the control and strengths of individual vessels and their captains. Players can travel the rich vastness of the Gemini star system freely, fight skirmishes with rogue ships, trade commodities, research anomalies, buy new vessels, upgrade their ships with state-of-the-art technology, increase their experience and rank to become more powerful and ultimately use all that in large scale engagements against other fleets of hostile ships.
Week three of the 5th Anniversary Sale on GamersGate offers another huge selection of games up to 75% off. The IGN PC Store offers 20% off on over 3000 games when you use the code "ignpcstore" on checkout and Direct2Drive offers the same discount with a different code: "marchmadness".
- Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam on IGN PC Store. Save 50%.
- Call of Duty: Black Ops on Direct2Drive. Save 25%.
- Capitalism Plus on GOG.com. Save 40%.
- Capitalism 2 on GOG.com. Save 40%.
- Dreamcast Collection on Steam. Save 50%.
- Enlight Bundle on GOG.com. Save 60%.
- Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West on Steam. Save 75%.
- Luxor Games on Direct2Drive. Save 50%.
- Restaurant Empire on GOG.com. Save 40%.
- SEGA Genesis Classics Collection on Steam. Save 67%.
- Seven Kingdoms: Ancient Adversaries on GOG.com. Save 40%.
- Seven Kingdoms 2 on GOG.com. Save 40%.
- Warlords Battlecry 3 on GOG.com. Save 40%.
Still on sale (previously reported). Continue here to read the full story.
A new trailer from Dungeon Siege III shows another of the characters in Obsidian Entertainment's upcoming action/RPG sequel. The clip introduces Katarina, described as "a gun-toting, projectile-blasting, spell-weaving, hound-taming bundle of RPG goodness." Here's the embedded version. Continue here to read the full story.
To go along with the patch news below, Activision and Treyarch announce that the First Strike DLC for Call of Duty Black Ops is now available via digital distribution. They also announce this kicks off a double XP weekend for the military shooter sequel. Here's the deal: Call of Duty®: Black Ops First Strike, published by Activision Publishing, Inc. and developed by Treyarch, is now available worldwide for Windows® PC. The first DLC offering for Call of Duty: Black Ops adds five new maps and is available for purchase through Steam, GameStop, Direct2Drive, and other digital download partners.
The DLC expands on the Black Ops experience with new multiplayer maps "Berlin Wall," "Stadium," "Discovery," and "Kowloon." For Zombie fans, Call of Duty: Black Ops First Strike also features an all new Zombie level, "Ascension," where players fight against perk-stealing zombie monkeys, flesh-eating Soviet zombies and more in a trap-filled, Cold War era Cosmodrome.
Starting today, enjoy a Double XP weekend on the PC as Treyarch offers double the normal amount of experience points for multiplayer in Call of Duty: Black Ops.
For additional information and updates, please visit www.callofduty.com/blackops or check us out on Twitter @Treyarch.
Steam News announces the availability of a new automatic patch to update Call of Duty: Black Ops, Treyarch's military first-person shooter sequel (thanks Preston). Among other things, the new version improves stability for Zombies, Multiplayer, and Dedicated Servers; adds a server browser filter for the new First-Strike DLC, and adds Rcon support for First-Strike. The complete change list follows. Continue here to read the full story.
Here's another new trailer for Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the upcoming action /role-playing prequel in the works at Eidos Montreal and Nixxes Software. Like the clip released earlier this week, this trailer shows three different ways to tackle mission objectives, as you can run-and-gun with an action approach, skulk around using a stealth, or choose a pragmatic "adaptive" style. Here's the embedded clip. Continue here to read the full story.
Shift 2 Unleashed is due in North America next week, and the new installment in the Need for Speed series of racing games should now be available in Europe, so we now have a launch trailer for the game. The clip offers various views of cars being put to the test on the track, along with review quotes. The embedded version follows. Continue here to read the full story.
Battle.net has an outline of server-side hotfixes applied over the past week in World of Warcraft. It seems the pace of balance tweaking in Blizzard's MMORPG is slowing a bit, as the list of what's changed is relatively short compared to past hotfix posts. Thanks Ant.
DreamCatcher and JoWooD announce the indefinite delay of SpellForce 2 - Faith in Destiny, an odd turn of events for a game that was said to be under three weeks from release in November 2010 before being delayed until January 2011, a release window the standalone RPG expansion also missed. Delays are nothing new to this project, though, as it was originally planned for release in Winter 2009 before being delayed to April 2010. Investor issues were cited when the indefinite delay for ArcaniA: Fall of Setarrif was revealed this week, but JoWooD, who announced they were insolvent in January, are saying this is to polish the game: SpellForce 2 – Faith in Destiny has not been cancelled, but further improvements & polishing are necessary. JoWooD Entertainment argues the rumours: "The official AddOn of SpellForce 2 – Faith in Destiny will be completed in due time", explains Reinhard Pollice, Producer JoWooD Entertainment. "Our highest priority is the quality of the game. The development is already in an advanced stage, but the game experience will be further enhanced in some sectors - like multiplayer stability. Due to this improvements the release of the game cannot yet be determined, we’ll go with 'when it’s done'."
A post on the inCrysis Crysis Forums shows the way to a Crysis 2 Advanced Graphics Options Application, a utility to allow control over some of the graphics options not readily available in the Windows edition of Crytek's just-released shooter sequel. The tool allows you to change levels for shaders, effect, particles, post-processing, shadows, motions blur, anti-aliasing, anisotropic filtering, and more. Thanks PCGames.de and Andrew.
Randy Pitchford's Twitter Feed has several tweets relating to Duke Nukem Forever and the just-announced delay to the first-person shooter. Among other things, the Gearbox president says: "Delay was NOT planned. Very difficult and expensive for us, but the right thing for fans," calls the delay "unavoidable," and that it is: "because of time to finish some things that our predictions were wrong about. Lots of unrevealed details, still," adding: "It's finishing and polish - some of our predictions about task completion and difficulty were inaccurate." He also mentions demo plans, saying:: "We have to finish the game. Demo news will come soon - hopefully before May," also touching on hopes to release mod tools, saying Demo news as soon as we can. No tools in box - would be nice to do but we haven't planned that," and, "Currently, there are no mod tools included with the game. But we love the idea of that and have done that in the past. We'll see." He also explains why the European version is coming first: "We release ASAP, which is June 10. In North America, games have to release on Tuesday. First Tues after 10th is 14th." Finally, looking forward, he mentions DLC plans: "After DNF is finished, we'll probably want to do some DLC and then think about the future." Thanks Big Download.
The RIFT Website has word that a massive in-game event is coming to Trion's MMORPG beginning on March 30th involving an invasion from the Plane of Death (obviously not piloted by Sully). This will also mark the launch of a new version 1.1 patch for the MMORPG. This page has details, saying "Soon the Endless Court will launch an unprecedented mass invasion. The most terrifying servants of Regulos will lead these hordes into battle: liches, ettins, gravemakers. Alsbeth herself will march through every region of the world, raising dread champions to sow the discord for which she is named. Old enemies will rise and fight for oblivion alongside flesh-crafted colossi from the Plane of Death, until the offensive presses on toward Stillmoor."
Free-to-play online shooter Cross Fire announces the launch of a spring patch with new maps and items. They also announce a modest charity drive to aid Japan: "10% of all Sales of the Panda items and the Japan Name Card from March 24th to April 24th will be donated to the Red Cross Japan Disaster Relief Fund."
Lost Saga Europe is now live, offering a localized version of this free-to-play online action game. Word is: "The Lost Saga European servers are now available, and the client can be downloaded here. The game will go through one final week of Open Beta Testing before the opening of the Item Shop, and trailblazing players who join Lost Saga this week will be rewarded with XP, in-game currency and medals highlighting their special status in the player community. European players currently playing on the US servers are invited to transfer to the EU servers, where they will receive a welcome gift for bringing their experience and skills to the European community."
Pockie Ninja is entering open beta testing today, offering the chance to check out this free-to-play online brawler. A number of open beta events are planned, as word is: "Publisher NGames have revealed a number of exciting in-game events for the open beta phase, including plenty of opportunities to win in-game prizes. Players can win special items and gifts for everything from reaching certain levels of character progression, to simply logging in and enjoying the Naruto & Bleach inspired adventures."
- Apple iPad 2 Laptop on TechSpot.
- Apple MacBook Pro 17-inch on Digital Trends.
- ASUS GeForce GTX 590 Graphics Card on [H]ard-OCP, Overclockers Australia, and PureOC.
- ASUS RT-N12 SuperSpeed-N Router on Tweaknews.
- Chameleon X-1 Gaming Mouse on Examiner.com.
- Crucial Ballistix Smart Tracer PC3-12800 RAM on OCIA.net.
- Crucial's m4 SSD on The Tech Report.
- Enermax Hoplite Case on PureOC.
- Exceleram EP3001A 6GB RAM Kit on XtremeComputing.
- Fan Roundup on Technic3D. In German.
- GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 590 Graphics Card on Guru3D.
- HIS HD6850 IceQ X Turbo 1GB Graphics Card on Overclockers Online.
- LSI MegaRAID SAS-SATA 9265-8i 6Gb-s PCIe RAID Card on The SSD Review.
- MSI GTX580 Lightning Graphics Card on Overclock3D.
- MUKii TransImp Hard Drive Dock Plus on ProClockers.
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 Graphics Card on AnandTech, Benchmark Reviews, Hardware Secrets, HotHardware, Neoseeker, Ninja Lane, Overclockers Club, TechSpot, and iXBT Labs.
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 vs ATI Radeon HD 6990 Graphics Cards on InsideHW.
- NZXT H2 Silent Mid Tower Case on Hardware Canucks
- Patriot G2 PC3-12800 1600MHz RAM on XSReviews.
- Point of View NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 OC vs Radeon 6990 OC Graphics Cards on Hardware Heaven.
- SanDisk Cruzer Micro 8GB U3 on Tech-Reviews.
- Seagate GoFlex Pro 500GB Ultra-Portable External Hard Drive for Mac on OverclockersHQ.com.
- Synology DS411j NAS on Vortez.
- Thermaltake eSports Shock Headset on Neoseeker.
- Thermaltake V9 BlacX Edition Mid Tower Case on TweakTown.
- Zalman CNPS11X Extreme CPU Cooler on Tweaknews.
- Zotac NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 Graphics Card on Hardware Heaven and TechRadar UK.
Today is National Medal of Honor Day. Word is: "Conceived in the State of Washington, this holiday should be one of our most revered. Unfortunately all too many Americans are not even aware of its existence." Thanks Joker961 for helping raise our awareness.
On a lighter note, today is also Tolkien Reading Day, celebrated on what is the (spoiler alert) downfall of Sauron. You're going to have to hurry to fit in the entire trilogy before tomorrow. Not sure if you're allowed to skip The Hobbit.
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