Archived News:
German site GBase.ch has word from Revolution Software that Broken Sword II Remastered for Windows and OS X is almost complete, and will soon be submitted to various digital distributors. A version for iOS was released late last year.
Flash-based Ultima IV remakes Master System 8 and Phi Psi Software have received DMCA takedown notices from Electronic Arts, who picked up the rights to the game when they purchased Origin Systems in 1992. This is noted on Ultima Aiera, where they also state that most sites hosting the PC edition of game have been asked to stop doing so (though it's still available here), as while it was released freely in 1997, this was not GPLed or any such thing. When delving into why this is happening, they offer speculation that a "secret project" at Mythic they have been keeping up with via Paul Barnet's Twitter Feed is an Ultima game, and possibly an Ultima IV remake/reboot. Thanks Ant via Slashdot.
Scot Amos has joined Crystal Dynamics, reports Gamasutra, saying the one-time executive producer at Visceral Games will help the Tomb Raider developer launch a new IP, for which no details are currently available. "We are thrilled to add Scot’s 20 years of experience and over 25 shipped games worth of expertise as the cornerstone for our new venture," says Crystal Dynamics GM Darrell Gallagher. "His knowledge of building new IP, forging world-class teams, and shipping blockbuster games is a great infusion to our studio’s on-going growth and talent base."
The Homefront Website has word on a patch that's in the works for Homefront to update the first-person shooter to version 1.0.3. The post details new settings and control options, optimizations and fixes, balance tweaks, squad improvements, and a new DemoURL feature. Thanks Big Download.
A new trailer from Jurassic Park: The Game shows off the dinosaurs in Telltale Games' upcoming episodic game series based on the Jurassic Park movies. The development team discusses the science and research behind their thunder lizards, and their goal of being true to the movies by not creating a dinosaur-shooting game where the dinosaurs are "monsters." They also talk a little about a secret venomous nocturnal dinosaur that did not appear in any of the movies, but will appear in the game (presumably thanks to chaos theory). The embedded version of the trailer follows. Continue here to read the full story.
This interview on Examiner.com carries the inflammatory, though tongue-in-cheek, title "The man who killed Starsiege: Tribes (part 1)." This speaks with Chris Mahnken, who didn't actually kill the franchise, though he served as producer on Tribes: Vengeance, the near-fatal installment in the sci-fi shooter series released in 2004 by Irrational Games. The conversation covers the troubled development of Vengeance, and the obstacles they overcame along the way. Here's a portion: All through the development of the game Sierra was slowly being shut down by our Vivendi corporate overlords down in lovely Culver City. It was unfortunate, because we were actually making a profit, while they were losing money hand over fist. They closed Dynamix, Papyrus, Impressions, and about 10 other smaller studios over three or four years in an attempt to stem the bleeding. It was kind of like somebody with a gunshot wound to the chest trying to heal themselves by cutting off hands, feet, arms and legs.
For our team it started with marketing and PR being moved to LA, and my Marketing manager being laid off. That left me with a marketing guy who didn’t have any idea about first person shooters in general, much less tribes. His suggestions were that we should make it much more like Counter-Strike, and we should definitely add “bullet time”.
The end result was a game that had no support from the corporate offices, and ended up with one magazine cover about 8 months before it released, and one single magazine advert and not even any web ads.
Crysis 2′s Shocking Tech Compromise- Proof on Rock, Paper, Shotgun (thanks nin via Dubious Quality) is a funny article trolling fans unhappy with Crysis 2, offering charts and statistics to support the following premise: Having played Crysis 2, the latest from the former technical innovators at Crytek, I have to express that I’m not only horrified, but also shocked, at the paucity of graphical accomplishments in what should have been a groundbreaking game. It’s quite clear that massive compromises have been made in order to keep the console market happy, meaning the PC version of the game is crippled to the point where it’s literally impossible to look at without feeling physically sick. I have put together some detailed analysis of the differences between CryEngine 2 and CryEngine 3, to prove that the developers have let everyone down.
Version 1.023 of Din's Curse is now out of beta, and the Windows and OS X patches are now available for download on the Soldak Entertainment Website. The new version of the action/RPG mainly implements balance changes, as detailed in the patch notes.
Direct2Drive offers a 15% discount on the "hottest games in March" when you use the code "MARCHMAYHEM" on checkout. Strategy First is donating 20% of online sales between now and April 11th to Japanese earthquake/tsunami relief.
The 5th Anniversary Sale on GamersGate offers a huge selection of games up to 75% off.
Link of the Day: Attack dog has the wrong idea. Haha. Thanks Ant.
AMD now offers new version 11.3 Catalyst reference drivers for AMD/ATI graphics cards. These release notes have word on what's new or different in the new drivers, which are available for Windows 7/Vista 64-bit, Windows 7/Vista 32-bit, Windows XP 32-bit, and Windows XP 64-bit. Thanks The VidMan.
Electronic Arts announces that Shift 2 UNLEASHED is now available in North America, and that the new installment in the Need for Speed racing series is due in Europe on April 1st. Here's a bit: Exclusively featuring the newly-unveiled Pagani Huayra supercar, players will experience all the violence, energy and excitement of race day in this groundbreaking authentic racing experience. SHIFT 2 UNLEASHED also takes the innovative rivalry-generating Autolog technology pioneered by Need for Speed Hot Pursuit and connects friends and foes together in head-to-head races and player statistic match-ups to add new layers of depth and detail to the intricate customization and tuning of the simulation series.
Bethesda Softworks and Del Ray Books announce plans for a novel based on RAGE, id Software's upcoming first-person shooter. The book is being written by author and game writer Matt Costello and is planned for release on August 30, 2011, two weeks before the game's planned release date. Here's word: The novel delves even deeper into this world and its characters through the pen of Matt Costello--the same person who helped write the story for the game. The world was doomed and only some of the population could be saved. That was what the scientists were saying, at least. So the best and brightest were gathered and put into stasis deep beneath the surface of the Earth--buried so that man could live.
When Lt. Nick Raine emerges from his Ark, he finds the human race has not been wiped out. And people, as resilient as they are, are scraping together a new world from the rubble of the old. This was not what anyone in the Arks expected--a new society where might is right, mutants plague the Earth, and “friend” is a term for the person who hasn't stabbed you in the back.
The Treyarch Website lists some job openings, including a listing for Gameplay Combat Designers. They outline this position's duties, and part of this confirms that this is for a new Call of Duty game: "This position reports into the Design Director for the Call of Duty multiplayer team at Treyarch." Thanks VG247 via Gamerzines.
This Casting Notice offers even stronger indications of plans for Grand Theft Auto V than the casting call discovered earlier this month. This notice from Take-Two shows one of the characters they are casting is James Pedeaston, described as: "A man-boy love activist who just got released from an Indonesian prison." As noted on RipTen: "James Pedeaston was often featured on the radio channel “WCTR” in Grand Theft Auto IV, talking about his desires to make love with young tribal boys. One quote featured on the Call also reassures us that this James is the very same.…" Thanks VG247.
The EGOSOFT Website has one of those ever-popular announcements of an announcement, saying they will unveil TNBT (presumably "the next Big Thing") on Thursday, April 28, 2011 at FedCon XX in Düsseldorf, Germany. They say there will be a brief preview of the game, with all relevant information to be simultaneously released on Egosoft.com. They do note they won't really be there, though: "TNBT will be just one of the titles featured at Koch Media's booth at FedCon. Please be advised that there will be no significant EGOSOFT presence at the event, so please don't attend expecting to see much of the game or the dev team." Thanks Gamer's Hell.
Citizen Brown, the third episode of Telltale's Back to the Future: The Game is now available. Here's word from Telltale Games on the new installment: "In addition to new twists and turns in the 5-game monthly adventure, this episode also introduces Jennifer Parker to the series -- voiced by Claudia Wells, who played Jennifer in the first film!" This trailer offers a behind-the-scenes look at how they got Jennifer for the game, which involved asking her.
Paradox Interactive offers a new trailer from Pirates of Black Cove, Nitro Games' upcoming seafaring RTS/RPG, saying this offers "a better view of the game than using a spyglass from the crow’s nest." Word is: "Featuring an in-depth look at the upcoming title (about 20,000 leagues worth), the new gameplay trailer shows the battles ahead!"
A new trailer from Grim Dawn shows pre-alpha combat footage of this upcoming action/RPG in the works at Crate Entertainment, the developer formed by Iron Lore veterans. Here's word from the Grim Dawn website: "This video shows a mostly soldier class character rampaging through the Burrwitch Slums area outside Devil's Crossing. Behold as zombies are gibbed, furniture is trashed, and... well, more things are gibbed! Rounding out the end of the video is a peak at one of the demolition class skills: canister bomb." Thanks Joao.
Matrix Games offers a second video diary for Time of Fury, Wastelands Interactive's World War II grand strategy game. They offer the clip for download, and it's also on the YouTube for your streaming pleasure. David Heath, Director of Operations at Matrix Games, said, "This is just another piece of promotion we have planned for the exciting features in Time of Fury. Be sure to stay tuned for more, Time of Fury will be arriving on hard drives very soon!"
MCV - Can we benefit from piracy?
While major publishers shout loudest over their hypothetical losses, common sense suggests that smaller independent studios suffer most from the explosion of piracy. These companies have no cash cushions to fall back on, no assets to sell off, no enormous legal teams to deploy in their defence.
What’s more, they’re often dependent on the internet to publicise and distribute their products, neck-deep in the very medium that gives copyright infringers their power. But those vexing truths cut two ways: the indies are able to adapt swiftly to changing market conditions, and adopt strategies Activision or Ubisoft would deem unthinkable.
Happy birthday to Walt Frazier, my favorite all-time Knicks player and announcer. The hall-of-famer also known as "Clyde" turns 66 today, and I suspect he can still play better defense than several players on the team's current roster.
R.I.P.: Super Glue Inventor Harry W. Coover Dies at 94.
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