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Archived News:
A new story trailer from The Cursed Crusade offers a cinematic look at Kylotonn Games' upcoming action/adventure set during the fourth crusade. This is accompanied by news that the game's release is being delayed by two weeks, and it is now expected on Steam and for consoles on October 25th. Publisher ATLUS also announces a demo will proceed the launch by "a couple of weeks," and here's word on what to expect from the demo and what we are seeing in the trailer: The demo, which is scheduled to arrive before the game hits shelves in late October, takes players through the "Assault on Castle Biron" mission, a fortress siege set on a fiery summer's eve. Under a barrage of flaming arrows and faced with a full armament of defending soldiers, the player, as Templar Denz de Bayle, must fight alongside partner Esteban Noviembre to break through the castle defenses, defeat the enemy forces, and ultimately confront a de Bayle family friend, Martin d'Algais.
The new "Story" trailer clearly establishes the moral and spiritual turmoil faced by the game's two main characters, Denz and Esteban, as they quest across much of thirteenth century Europe in pursuit of salvation from a curse that threatens to consume them. On full display is the game's weighty medieval combat engine, a mix of bone-crushing attacks, dozens of lethal weapons true to the period, a long list of abilities and combos that can be expanded using Victory Points earned by completing objectives, and the fiery, titular Templar's Curse abilities that cast the world in a hellish orange glow. A tale of retribution and survival, The Cursed Crusade's dark narrative is sure to satisfy action gamers everywhere with its violence, gore, and drama.
Matrix Games announces plans for two new extra content packs for Panzer Corps, adding two new campaigns to Lordz Games Studio's World War II strategy game. Word is: "Selling as a download version only for $4.99 each, the extra content Grand Campaign ’39 and Grand Campaign ’40 brings loads of new scenarios and the ability to carry your armies from campaign to campaign. Ultimately, several other extra content packs will combine together to create a full Grand Campaign from 1939 to 1945 which will have around 70 scenarios! "
A new patch is now available for the physical disc-based editions of Pro Evolution Soccer 2012, updating the newly released installment in the association football/soccer simulation series to version 1.01. The new version improves the AI and adds Facebook tie-in features. The patch is available on AtomicGamer, Gamer's Hell, The Patches Scrolls, and Worthplaying.
The Humble Bundle Website now offers the "The Humble Frozen Synapse Bundle," the latest pay what you want bundle with a charitable angle. The bundle includes Trine, Shadowgrounds: Survivor, Shadowgrounds, Splot, and Jack Claw, and word is those who pay more than the average price will also receive the entire Humble Frozenbyte Bundle as well. As always, all the included games work on Windows, OS X, and Linux, and don't include any DRM. Customers can also designate how their payment is distributed between Frozen Synapse, Frozenbyte, the EFF, Child's Play, and the humble Humble folks.
Steam now offers A Game of Thrones: Genesis, the A Song of Ice and Fire RTS game that will be released elsewhere tomorrow. Here's word on the game: "A Game of Thrones - Genesis" immerses you into the heart of the battles and intrigues between the Houses that shaped the Kingdom of Westeros. From Nymeria's arrival in the Kingdom of Dorne to the awakening of the "Others" beyond the Wall, you'll live the origins of A Game of Thrones saga through more than 1000 years of history, by taking part in Westeros' founding events and largest battles. In this great strategy game, victory does not necessarily result from brute force. You can choose to use a military approach and besiege your opponents, strangle them in an economical war, or even use dirty tricks and diplomacy to politically crush them. Treachery and deception are everywhere and can be more efficient than the most powerful army. So watch your back and show no mercy if you want to keep sat on the Iron Throne.
Games
- Worms: Ultimate Mayhem on Steam.
Patches
- EDGE on Steam. Includes free DLC.
- Gundemonium Collection on Steam.
- Men of War: Assault Squad on Steam.
- Sid Meier's Civilization V (Mac) on Steam.
The DICE Official Store is now "in beta," offering 10% off any item until Friday when you use the code "BATTLEFIELD3" on checkout.
Happy Rosh Hashanah, as the Jewish New Year began at sundown today. For the record, it is now the year 5772 on the Jewish calendar, but, of course, I'll probably still be writing 5771 on my checks for another few weeks. Shana Tova!
Steam News announces the release of two pieces of DLC for Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the Explosive Mission Pack for $2.99 USD and the Tactical Enhancement Pack for $1.99 USD, which are both also available in a Tactical Enhancement + Explosive Mission Bundle for $3.99 USD (thanks nin). Here's word on what these add to the action/RPG prequel from Eidos Montreal: Check out the Explosive Mission Pack to unlock a bonus mission, Grenade Launcher, Remote-Detonated Explosive Device and the Automatic Unlocking Device.
Or pickup the Tactical Enhancement Pack to unlock a Double-Barrel Shotgun, Silenced Sniper Rifle, and 10,000 extra in-game credits.
Ubisoft now offers a new trailer from Might & Magic Heroes VI, highlighting the blood aspect of the sweat-free "Blood & Tears" reputation system in Black Hole Entertainment's upcoming continuation of the Might & Magic series of turn-based strategy games (formerly known as Heroes of Might and Magic). The clip also clarifies that October 11th is the North American street date for the game, corresponding to the announcement of its October 13th release, which applies to Europe. Here's the explanation of the new reputation system: "Might & Magic Heroes 6 introduces a new system called Reputation. Time and again, the player will be faced with a very important Reputation choice between two different 'moral paths' - the path of Dragon Tears and the path of Dragon Blood. 'Blood' Heroes will be active and offensive, while 'Tears' Heroes will be more reactive and defensive." Here's more: The outcome of the game depends on the path in which your hero takes and can result in a completely different player experience based on the choices made throughout your campaign. Each path is linked to a unique epilogue map with the ability to unlock special quests and different companion heroes. Hero abilities are also defined by their affinity with each reputation path - for instance, the higher your ranking in the 'Blood' path, the more powerful the associated abilities become.
Lastly, some of the rarest and most powerful artifacts in the game are Reputation-specific. Many of the in-game quests will offer a Reputation choice and reward the gamer with the appropriate Reputation points. Once you've reached a certain level of points, you have the ability to evolve into an advanced Reputation class.
Continue here to read the full story.
Rockstar Games announces November 8th as the North American release date for L.A. Noire: The Complete Edition, saying this edition of the detective adventure will be released in Europe on November 11th for Windows PC, Steam, and OnLive. This earns the "complete" moniker by including all the DLC from the console versions, including the “Nicholson Electroplating” Arson case, the “Reefer Madness” Vice case, “The Consul’s Car” Traffic case, “The Naked City” Vice case, and the “A Slip of the Tongue” Traffic case. Word is: "Developed by Rockstar Leeds, the PC version of L.A. Noire will run on a wide range of PCs and feature increased resolution and graphical detail along with keyboard remapping and gamepad functionality, as well as support for NVIDIA 3D Vision for an even greater sense of interaction and immersion." Here are the system specifications: Continue here to read the full story.
The AMD Website now offers new version 11.9 Catalyst reference drivers for ATI/AMD graphics cards, which address a number of issues under various operating systems, including numerous game fixes for Windows 7 users playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, Call of Duty: Black Ops, F1 2010, Dungeon Siege 3, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Borderlands, Dead Rising 2, Serious Sam 2, Resident Evil 5, H.A.W.X 2, and more. There are more details in the release notes, and the new drivers are available for 32 bit Windows Vista/Windows 7, 32 bit Windows XP, and 64 bit Windows Vista/Windows 7. Thanks Bill.
Trion Worlds announces that the new version 1.5 "Ashes of History" update is now live in RIFT, their fantasy-themed MMORPG. This introduces a new Planar Attunement system, duo dungeons, a brand new PvP Warfront, raises the game's level cap, and more. All that's new and different is outlined on this page.
The Renegade X Website announces plans for Renegade X: Beyond Black Dawn, a standalone multiplayer game that follows on Renegade X, the Unreal Tournament 3 modification based on the C&C first-person shooter Command & Conquer Renegade (thanks GamePro). The game will is being built using the Unreal Development Kit, which will permit them to create what they call "less of a remake, and more of a spiritual successor" to C&C Renegade. This trailer offers a look at the project. saying it's "in its final stages of development," and that they "see this game as a tactical first-person shooter exceeding even today's FPS standards." They go on to say they "want to revolutionize the FPS/RTS hybrid formula that Westwood originally envisioned back in 2002," and that they "want Renegade X to be what Command & Conquer mode would have been if it was unleashed in the current gaming generation." The clip describes in detail changes to the role of infantry in the game, their goal of using more original levels, new gameplay based on strategic buildings, and more. Continue here to read the full story.
The Football Manager Forums have complaints from users unhappy over the fact that Windows and OS X editions of Football Manager 2012 will require a one-time online activation through Steam as an anti-piracy measure (thanks Develop). There are pages of objections to this from fans of the sports simulation who don't seem to find this reasoning from SEGA acceptable: Make no mistake, if a quarter of the people that usually pirate the game switch to purchasing Football Manager 2012, the sales of the game worldwide would more than double. This would lead to increased development budgets and more benefits for all of you who do buy the game.
We've taken this decision because we believe that the steps the consumer has to take are not excessive, and that as a one-time only measure with no tracking or reporting it is not too intrusive. Having worked with Steam for a few years now we also believe that their system is ever improving and gives Football Manager players a good service of free auto-updating, achievements and other great benefits without cost or hassle.
We hope you understand and support the decision. It's by no means taken lightly, although I hope for the vast majority of you it's nowhere near as big an issue as we treat it as being.
Continue here to read the full story.
Yo, Kanye. I'm really happy for you. I'mma let you finish, but Blizzard just announced one of the best game convention musical appearances of all time, saying Foo Fighters will perform to close out BlizzCon 2011 in Anaheim next month: Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that Foo Fighters will headline the closing concert of this year’s sold-out BlizzCon®, taking place October 21-22 at the Anaheim Convention Center. While tickets to the convention are currently sold out, viewers can watch at home by ordering a BlizzCon Virtual Ticket, offering comprehensive live coverage of the event (including Foo Fighters' performance) globally over the Internet and also on DIRECTV® in the United States.
Over the course of their 16-year career, the Foo Fighters have sold tens of millions of records, won half a dozen Grammy awards, and raised countless voices in singalongs of iconic anthems like "Everlong," "My Hero," "Learn to Fly", "All My Life," “Best of You,” and “The Pretender.” Foo Fighters' BlizzCon debut marks founder Dave Grohl's triumphant return to the convention after playing drums for Tenacious D in last year's show, and comes during an international arena, stadium, and festival tour promoting their seventh album, the international #1 record Wasting Light.
Opening up the concert will be The Artist Formerly Known as Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain, who are returning to BlizzCon following a two-year interstellar tour through the Koprulu sector. Blizzard's in-house metal band will amp up the crowd with an earth-shaking set of both familiar and brand-new songs drawn from the Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo universes before turning the stage over to Foo Fighters for the main event.
The Robot Entertainment Website now offers downloads of a Adobe Acrobat format prequel comic for Orcs Must Die!, setting the story for their upcoming fantasy-themed action/strategy game. Who are these Orcs? And why do they need to be killed so badly the title requires an exclamation point? And what about Naomi? Some or all of these questions may or may not be answered along the way. Word is: The single-issue comic tells the story of a world endangered by savage monsters and of the heroes that rose up to drive them back. The events in Orcs Must Die! Issue #0 lead directly to the opening cinematic of the game, and can be downloaded for free at the official Orcs Must Die! website. As a bonus, the comic features an Orcs-inspired art gallery of original pieces by Robot Entertainment artists and friends of the studio.
EA has revealed a February 21, 2012 North American release date for their recently announced first-person shooter set in the Syndicate universe, reports Gamasutra. They say the game's European release will follow on February 24, but they indicate this may apply to the console versions, and they have reached out to EA for clarification of whether these dates apply to the Windows edition as well.
Rampant Games now offers digital distribution of Frayed Knights: The Skull of S'makh-Daon, an independently developed fantasy-themed role-playing game for Windows PC and is due next year on OS X (thanks Acleacius). The game features 30+ hours of gameplay, turn-based combat, more than 100 spells (including one named "Defenestrate"), 200 items (including the dread "Quarterstaff of Nad-Whacking"), and a system that rewards players for playing through tough situations instead of reloading and replaying. Here's a trailer showing off gameplay, there are review/previews on GameBanshee and RPGWatch, and a playable demo is also available. Here's a quote about the game from its website: In a world of jaded heroes and veteran adventurers, you play a team of misfits: Arianna, a dainty warrior with an attitude problem; Dirk, an adrenaline-junky rogue who doesn’t seem to understand the word ‘subtle;’ Benjamin, a nature-priest and an ill-suited newcomer to the adventuring lifestyle, and Chloe, a ditsy sorceress with a love of cute, fuzzy animals and setting her enemies on fire.
Adventuring is always a dangerous profession, but recently things have gotten bad. Very bad. Teams of expert fortune-hunters are getting "morted," suffering great losses against enemies that are better prepared than ever. In the taverns and Adventurer's Guildhalls, whispered rumors speak of the return of an evil that once all but destroyed civilization. But as many great and famous adventurers fall to this growing threat, perhaps this bunch of losers - called "The Frayed Knights" (but never to their faces) - might just be the heroes the world really needs.
Space Bullet Dynamics Corporation announces Signal Ops, an upcoming indie game of squad-based espionage. They offer screenshots and an announcement trailer using gameplay footage from a pre-alpha version of the game, and the following description: "In Signal Ops, it is your duty to guide government field agents through daring missions. Plant evidence, steal secrets, assassinate targets, and sabotage competing government agencies for the greater good. Use multiple agent views to your tactical advantage in dispatching objectives or enemies. Agents are replaceable, but equipment is not. Leave no radio behind!" They also have an IndieGoGo page where they are attempting to raise funds for development, and here's what that says: Signal Ops draws inspiration from classic games such as Commandos, Syndicate, and Deus Ex. We like to call it a multi-perspective shooter. While playing you are able to simultaneously see what your entire squad of agents see. You work for a secretive government agency and lead your field agents from the relative safety of the control room on various espionage missions. Stealing secrets, sabotage, assassination, and all that sort of thing!
The World of Warcraft Website offers part one of an outline of balance changes in the upcoming version 4.3 patch that will be a major content update for Blizzard's MMORPG. This will include an increase in melee DPS; a quicker ramp-up for vengeance; and changes for Death Knights; Druids; Paladins; Priests; and Shamans (thanks Ant). They also offer Public Test Realm 4.3 patch notes with details on all this.
GameSpy interviews Alan Wilson, of Tripwire Interactive about post-release support for Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad, the World War II first-person shooter sequel. Alan describes how they are "madly" working at addressing key issues with the release version of the game, listing the top three priorities as fixing crashes, the server browser, and the stats system. He also discusses performance improvements, changes to the lockdown system, how problems with lag and rubber-banding are mainly due to overloaded servers. He also admits that they mistakenly thought players were no longer interested in game manuals, and that they are working on one to add to the game on Steam, offering a draft version of it for download in Adobe Acrobat format through FilePlanet.
Project 2027 is now available in English (it was first released in Russian), offering a modification for the original Deus Ex that's a prequel to the action/RPG. This is set in 2027, the same year as the official prequel Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which the authors of the mod tell Rock, Paper, Shotgun is a coincidence, saying: "Project 2027 was in the development long before Human Revolution was ever announced." The mod requires Deus Ex version 1.112fm and .NET Framework 3.5, and they offer the source code as well as a trailer showing it in action. Here's a feature list: Continue here to read the full story.
I asked last night for opinions about ditching the bulleted tech lists here in favor of a more timely approach to game news as it arrives. The limited response to this questions was mostly in favor of keeping things as they are, which I probably should have anticipated, since those of you who frequent this site are most likely doing so because you like the way things are. This brings up the question of whether making the change would be beneficial towards growing the audience here, which is desirable, versus the prospect of disappointing the regulars, which is not. This has me contemplating the idea of doing things differently as a trial for a day or two to allow everyone to compare the pros and cons of doing things each way.
R.I.P.: Implantable pacemaker inventor Wilson Greatbatch dies. Thanks Acleacius.
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