Archived News:
GameInformer received a memo pointing the way to The Aperture Science Surprise Deployment Initiation System, which offers a countdown with a bit over an hour remaining. The memo indicates this has something to do with "Pneumatic Diversity Tubes," prompting GI to speculate this is a Portal 2 DLC release. At first glance, it doesn't seem that domain is registered to Valve, however. We shall see what comes of this.
Square Enix Europe may have provided a tip-off on the title of the next installment in the Hitman series, as they have filed a trademark for Hitman: Absolution. There have been multiple recent indications that a continuation of IO Interactive's assassination series is in the offing, but such a sequel has yet to be officially announced. Thanks Siliconera.
With Section 8: Prejudice for Windows due for release via digital distribution on May 4, preorders now underway for TimeGate Studios' upcoming first-person shooter follow-up. Here are the bonuses for this advance commitment: Pre-purchasing the game through Steam provides a 10% discount, making the game's price tag $13.49. Preorders on Direct2Drive will have the Lightning Pack unlocked right from the start, which includes the EMP Round Pulse Cannon and the Tagger Round Sniper. Preorders on Games For Windows will come with the Explosion Pack already unlocked, which includes the Riot Mod Pulse Cannon and the Concussion Detpack. There's also a new trailer offering an overview of the game's stats portal.
The Left 4 Dead Blog has word that the new automatic Left 4 Dead 2 update on Steam includes the encore of the Survival Versus mutation for the zombie shooter sequel. Here's word on that: "The first Survivor team sets the time. The second team tries to beat it. Then the first team tries to beat the second team's time. Then the second team tries to beat the first team's time. And then the... you get the idea. Rounds keep switching until someone fails to beat the previous time." They also offer the outcome of their poll on Tier 2 weapon placement: The winner was to place Tier 2 weapons unpredictably in Map 2 followed by unpredictably placed in Map 1. After those two the rest are all distant runners muddled together.
So this makes it clear you want unpredictable tier 2 weapons when they are first available. We will try them on map 2 first and go from there. Remember, polls aren’t the final word. You never really know how something is going to work until you test it. We use this as a place to start testing and then react from further testing.
Steam News announces the availability of a new automatic patch for Call of Duty: Black Ops, addressing bugs and other issues with the military shooter sequel. The change list follows. Continue here to read the full story.
A new Fable III trailer on Big Download features the developers at Lionhead outlining the changes they are making to the role-playing sequel for its upcoming launch for Windows to prevent it from seeming like a console port, including a "huge" overhaul of the graphic engine, a control scheme adapted to the mouse and keyboard, the addition of 3D support, extra content, and more.
Games newly available on various digital distributors:
- DCS A-10C Warthog on Steam.
- Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive on GOG.com.
- Drains on Impulse.
- Empires and Dungeons 2: The Sultanate on Impulse.
- Spectromancer - Truth and Beauty on Impulse.
- Star Control 1+2 on GOG.com.
- Yar's Revenge on Impulse.
Save 25% on orders over $19.95 at Direct2Drive when you enter the code "BUNNY" at checkout.
- All Games on the 1C Company Store. Save 70%.
- Black Mirror III - Final Fear on Impulse. Save 25%.
- Chessmaster 9000 on GOG.com. Save 30%.
- Civilization V on Direct2Drive and IGN PC Store. Save 40%.
- DiRT 3 on Steam. Save 10% on pre-purchases.
- Driver: Parallel Lines on GOG.com.
- Far Cry on GOG.com. Save 30%.
- Fate of the World on Steam. Save 33%. Includes a new Earth Day mission, and 10% of proceeds will be donated to the Save the Orangutan organization.
- Gratuitous Space Battles on Impulse. Save 75%.
- Hidden Object Games on GamersGate. Save 50%.
- IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946 on GOG.com. Save 30%.
- Metro 2033 on GamersGate. Save 75%.
- Metro 2033 on Steam. Save 50%.
- Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time on GOG.com. Save 30%.
- The Settlers 2: Gold Edition on GOG.com. Save 30%.
- The Tiny Bang Story on Steam. Save 10%.
- Ubisoft Mix on GOG.com. Save 50%.
Still on sale (previously reported). Continue here to read the full story.
Link of the Day: Toilet Paper Over or Under Debate Infographic. Thanks Ant via Digg. Offering this startling insight on the topic's coverage on Wikipedia: "The discussion page for the article on Toilet Paper Orientation is 2x longer than that for the Iraq War.
A new trailer from F.E.A.R. 3 offers a look at the story arc from the first-person shooter series, backtracking to the previous games and setting the stage for its upcoming installment. The clip is embedded below behind our infallible bouncer. Continue here to read the full story.
Crytek's Official Modding Portal has some backend maintenance underway, and is expected to come back online in limited form a week from today. As they tinker behind-the-scenes, the front page offers a letter from Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli, who announces plans to release an editor for Crysis 2 early this summer, and the previously revealed free CryENGINE SDK in August. Here's how he summarizes his post: Our next release will be the Crysis 2 Editor, this is for those of you who want to create content for Crysis 2. In August 2011, we will launch our Free CryENGINE SDK for all of you who want to create totally new content on CryENGINE 3. If you just want to make fun, free projects, you can do that free of charge. If you want to try and commercialise your game, we'll be here to help you with that.
Telltale Games tweets that the release of episode 4 of their Back to the Future game is expected next week: "Back to the Future: Episode 4 - Double Visions for PC/Mac is coming next week! It's time to go back and replay those previous episodes!" Thanks Big Download.
Frozenbyte announces that sales of The Humble Frozenbyte Bundle have surpassed the $700,000 mark, with over four days to go in this pick-your-own-price bundle with a charitable element. In celebration, they offer some additional bonuses, adding that these cap off the bundle, and no other bonuses will follow. Here's word: First, there's a playable teaser game of Splot, available at http://www.splotgame.com/ for all Humble Frozenbyte Bundle purchasers (using the link from the download page of the bundle). Splot is available for "preorder" in the bundle - all purchasers will get the full game when it's done in 2-3 months. You can find images of Splot for press purposes at http://www.frozenbyte.com/press/press_splot.php
Second, we have released the source code for our Shadowgrounds and Shadowgrounds Survivor games.
And finally, a long-awaited fan favorite: the Trine level editor is now available from the Humble Frozenbyte Bundle download page.
In addition, the Linux build of Trine has been updated (including better compatibility and improved graphics rendering, and many other fixes). We'll also have other new builds coming shortly or next week (incl. new Mac build of Trine to fix MacBook Pro 13" graphics rendering and Mac/Linux build of Jack Claw).
A new video diary #5 features the developers at CD Projekt discussing The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, their upcoming RPG sequel. They are all speaking Polish, but the clip is subtitled in English to help us follow. The topic is the three different types of characters they have identified, and their goal of rewarding whichever type the player falls into. Specifics include a discussion of skills, advancement trees, how players can chose to combine elements from the different trees, the effects of potions, crafting, and more. The embedded version follows. Continue here to read the full story.
BioWare's David Gaider speaks with BitMob in this interview about writing for Dragon Age II. Specific topics include the ups and downs of constructing a frame narrative like the one in the game, the changes presented by having a protagonist who speaks, writing for new characters, fitting content from the first game into the sequel, his feelings about the characters, and the best and worst parts of writing the game.
IGN - The Ethics of War Games. Thanks Ant via Planet Battlefield.
"It's always sensitive to make a game about war," Bach conceded. "You aim a gun at something that looks like people and you fire. We see it from two perspectives: one, it's a game; it's Chess. Chess is about war; the context is about war in a very crude way, and you use that context to create drama in that type of gameplay. It's that hunter/killer gameplay put into context." That need to provide an entertaining experience is ultimately what shapes the narrative, according to Bach. "On the other hand, it's entertainment. It's entertainment media like literature or movies or a TV series. We want to create entertainment and we want to entertain you – and we do that in the context of war."
Today is Good Friday, so if that's your thing, I hope it's good for you. A lot of people have today off, but I don't know if it's to the degree that the news will be slower, we'll just have to see. It's also Earth Day today, so salute to all earthlings. I guess I will celebrate by turning our compost pile.
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