Archived News:
The Valve ARG Network has a couple of indications from Valve that the speculation that they are running a Half-Life 3 alternate reality game is incorrect. This included a very straightforward email from Valve's Gabe Newell saying: "We are not running an arg." Thanks Justin via LambdaGeneration.
GSC Game World tweets the promised statement about their uncertain future, which seems no less uncertain following their comment, which reads: "We will do our best to continue. However, at this moment, nothing is certain." A subsequent tweet is that much more grim: "Our website will continue, with the forum & tech support. The shop will continue until the nearest planned items sell out. (uploaded now)."
Codemasters announces DiRT Showdown, an upcoming "extension" of the DiRT series of rally racing games that's expected in May 2012 for Windows PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. There's a preview of the game on GameSpot, an interview with Codemasters associate producer Iain Smith and senior games designer Mike Chapman on Computer and Video Games where they discuss the new direction of this "arcade-style spin-off," and what it means to fans of the franchise. There are three broad categories to DiRT Showdown’s action-sport racing. Players will use nitrous to blast past rivals and negotiate courses filled with ramps, multiple routes and obstacles in full-contact Racing events. Gaming’s most advanced damage engine is unleashed in Demolition Derby themed events where players smash and crash their way to victory in bone-jarring style. Finally, in Hoonigan events, gamers will send fans wild in huge stunt parks where accessible new controls offer every player the chance to become a freestyle driving hero.
From San Francisco to Miami and London to Tokyo, players will dominate their rivals and wow the crowds. Pyrotechnics, lasers and thousands of fans give each venue a sports entertainment atmosphere, becoming the perfect stage for players to perform. Over 50 different events across four championships will challenge gamers in a variety of conditions – sun, snow and rain – through the day and under the floodlights at night.
American McGee’s Blog has a new gameplay trailer from BigHead BASH, a side-scrolling shooter in development at Spicy Horse Games. This will be a free-to-play Facebook game, as word is: "If you’re a fan of online multiplayer action games, BHB is worth checking out. It’s pushing the concept of F2P Facebook games into exciting new territory – combining stunning 3D artwork, intense action, real-time multiplayer gameplay, social elements and more… It’s the Facebook game of the future!" You can sign up for the beta on the BigHead Bash Facebook Page.
Indie Royale now offers The Xmas Bundle of indie games. The bundle comprises The Blackwell Trilogy: Remastered, Eets, Dino D-Day, and The Oil Blue. As before, there's a minimum price for the collection, and this price goes up as customers chose to pay the minimum, and goes down when they pay more. This time around there's an additional wrinkle, a "star" level payment: "Pay up to 'Star' level and drop the price, get Rush Coil's '8-Bit Christmas' chiptune album bonus."
This trailer reveals the Mesmer as the final profession in Guild Wars 2, ArenaNet's upcoming MMORPG sequel. This was apparently leaked prematurely, as the description includes this quote from ArenaNet's Martin Kerstein: "Yes, Mesmer is the final profession. Seems like someone jumped the gun. Official reveal will be on Wednesday, stay tuned." Thanks Calwen.
"Sure," Richard Garriott told Eurogamer when asked if his upcoming RPG could possibly become Ultima Online 2: "Yeah - theoretically that would be possible." The designer also known as Lord British says he has had high level discussions with EA about how he would "love to have access to the Ultima property" He speaks of his abiding affection for EA, though while there are some parts of the company that would embrace such a collaboration, there are also elements within EA that show more "resistance" to the idea. Either way, he says his upcoming game will "clearly" be a spiritual successor to Ultima Online.
An interview on Space Game Junkie talks with Bernd Lehahn of EGOSOFT about X3: Albion Prelude, the recently continuation of this sci-fi series. Topics include how long the game has been in development, how it connects with X: Rebirth, ship controls, the stock exchange, new ships and stations, and more.
A new trailer from Sniper Elite V2 shows off more of Rebellion Studios' upcoming stealth shooter. Word is the game strikes "a satisfying balance between tactical stealth and faced-paced action where players will have to think one step ahead of the enemy at all times if they want to get that kill shot from a half mile away," and the trailer "demonstrates this perfectly and shows the kill cam in all its glory; it’s extremely exciting, extremely fresh." Here is the clip, protected from sensitive eyes: Continue here to read the full story.
This trailer shows off combat and other gameplay from Dustforce, Hitbox Team's upcoming Windows and OS X side-scroller that's rebuilt version of the grand prize winner of indiePub’s Independent Developer Competition. "In this video, we've showcased some of the fast, stylish combat that players can weave into their platforming, says Hitbox Team's Woodley Nye. "We wanted to show that the game isn't just a difficult platformer - we've also worked hard to make a deep, fun and impactful attack system that goes hand in hand with running and jumping."
A new patch is now available for Command Ops: Battles from the Bulge to update the World War II strategy game to version 4.2.248. The Matrix Games Website has details: "The update is quite huge and boasts a huge list of changes, fixes, and improvements, including an improvement to route finding with way-points, overhauls to both Formation Movement and Fatigue, HQ task assignment and movement fixes, many bug fixes, and other improvements as well." The download is available on this page.
It seems Valve has kicked off a new alternate reality game, initiating speculation that a Half-Life 3 reveal may be in the offing. What are thought to be clues about this are found in a trailer Valve submitted to support the nomination of Wheatley from Portal 2 for a VGA for character of the year. The video is posted on Rock, Paper, Shotgun along with a half-speed version of the clip to make the numbers and Russian text clues more apparent, which RPS notes includes a lambda and three ones. PC Gamer also notes a reddit comment with an email allegedly from Valve's Gabe Newell saying: "I can see how the wording caused some confusion there. Yes, we are announcing something with a three in it."
GOG.com announces the kick off of their big holiday sale. This includes one game with the ultimate discount, as they are offering Empire Earth: Gold Edition for free through Wednesday as part of the promotion. Here's word on the sale: While you’re here, check out our incredible holiday sales; you can find some of the best classic games ever made on PC for under $5.00 from now until the 2nd of January, 2012. Whether you’re shopping for yourself or looking for a gift, the GOG.com holiday sales have something for everyone. Get a classic city building simulation like SimCity 2000 SE for your aunt who loves Farmville, or a transport simulation like Chris Sawyer’s Locomotion for that cousin of yours with a model train track that’s taken up his whole basement. A copy of an action game like Serious or Earthworm Jim 1 & 2 can give your younger siblings an appreciation for the twitch classics of yesteryear, and detailed sims like IL-2 Sturmovik appeal to gearheads and aviation buffs of all types.
Games from every genre are on sale on GOG.com right now, so take a look and see what suits you.
Activision Publishing announces an impressive sales milestone for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, saying the military shooter sequel has surpassed USD $1 billion in sales in a mere 16 days, eclipsing a record for fastest run to a billion set by James Cameron's Avatar. "Call of Duty has become that rare entertainment franchise that transcends its own genre. Core gamers love it, as our stellar reviews show. But every year, new people are drawn into Call of Duty," said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing. "And while the franchise continues to set records, our fans still seem to want more, demonstrated by our record setting start on Call of Duty Elite. We are committed to helping everyone connect, compete and improve their game, Call of Duty style."
A roadmap on the Gaslamp Games Website reveals plans for The Realm of the Diggle Gods, an expansion for Dungeons of Dredmor, Gaslamp's dungeon crawler. A subsequent post offers a teaser trailer and screenshots with captions providing more details on the project. Thanks VG247.
THQ and Machinima announce Nexuiz, an upcoming downloadable first-person shooter from IllFonic, not to be confused with Nexuiz, the free QUAKE-engine first-person shooter from Alientrap Software distributed under the GNU General Public License. Actually it should be confused with that, since the new Nexuiz is called a "reimagining" of the original game using the CryENGINE 3. The game is expected early next year for Windows PC (via Steam), Xbox LIVE (via XBLA), and PlayStation 3 (via PSN). Word is: "In Nexuiz, developed by Denver-based IllFonic and powered by CryEngine® 3, players will dominate opponents with their weapons of choice in futuristic arenas in which up to eight players continually alter the laws of physics by triggering 100 different Dynamic Mutators that change the match on the fly. With millions of Mutator combinations, no game is ever the same." The Nexuiz Website offers screenshots from the remake.
The latest GfK Chart-Track report on the top 20 bestselling full-price PC entertainment titles in the U.K. for the week ending December 10. This week's chart is pretty stable, with the top 17 titles all holdovers from last week and Football Manager 2012, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and The Sims 3: Pets retaining the top three spots. The all-platforms chart is similarly static, with the top 26 all returning titles, and the same top five, albeit reshuffled from last week, with Skyrim assuming the top spot.
A new patch for Distant Worlds - Legends is now available from Matrix Games, updating this space strategy game to version 1.7.0.6. Word is the patch offers: "improved modding options, further improvements to the AI in many areas especially fleet control, fixes to all reported serious issues since release, and many other bug fixes and adjustments." The download can be found here.
Matrix Games now offers a new patch for Decisive Campaigns: The Blitzkrieg from Warsaw to Paris that addresses bugs and other reported issues while updating the World War II strategy game to version 1.04i. The patch is available on this page.
As I mentioned last week, some users reported problems from the ads here, so we had a free weekend here (apologies to Steam for stealing their concept). The ads will return when this has been straightened out. Thank you very much for your patience and tolerance for this situation.
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