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Archived News:
The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Facebook Page has some positive news about the state of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 following indications that developer GSC Game World may be shutting down (thanks Gamer's Hell via Factornews). Here's what they say about the first-person shooter sequel: The Stalker team is extremely happy! Why? Because we are continuing work on Stalker 2 after the holidays.
The Battlefield Blog has word that DICE is turning up the heat on Battlefield 3 cheaters. They say they have handed out a bunch of bans, and are implementing new methods for reporting cheating: : We have always taken cheating seriously. Starting today, we will further intensify our efforts to hunt down and rid Battlefield 3 of cheaters. Stats wiping and banning this disruptive minority is the only way they will understand that they are ruining the game for others. We do this for the millions of dedicated players out there who deserve a fair game, every game.
If you believe you have been the victim of outright cheating, the best way to report your concerns is to go to Battlelog, enter the profile page of the person you suspect and click the triangle in the top right corner of his name.
This will open up a window where you can describe to us at DICE what happened. Please enter as much detail as possible, describing what specifically makes you believe this player has used unfair methods, and preferably include a link to the Battle Report for the match in question.
These reports are then received by our analysts here at DICE who will do a deeper analysis of the situation and take appropriate action, including stats wiping and/or banning players who are confirmed as cheating.
Reducing the number of cheaters is an ongoing endeavor, and one that we will never stop. Thanks for your co-operation, and see you on the battlefield!
The Google TV Blog announces the addition of the OnLive cloud gaming service, though for now this is operating in social/voyeur mode, with gameplay to follow: Download the OnLive Viewer app, fire it up and check out my favorite place, the Arena. What you’ll see are gamers around the world playing top-tier videogames live, some of them approaching the visual realism of live action, and before long, you might even think you are watching a movie. Cheer (click thumbs-up) if you like what you see, and that cheer might appear on the screen of a gamer on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Try friending and striking up some chat. And, definitely watch some Brag Clip® videos, showing the best (and worst!) of OnLive gaming, with the most jaw-dropping and most hilarious moments captured from live gameplay.
As we do with most new platforms, OnLive is starting out with a Viewer on Google TV, so for now, you can just watch and use OnLive social features. But hang in there, OnLive is working closely with Google to enable full gameplay with OnLive gamers from around the world on Google TV. And more Google TV devices are coming, with OnLive built right in.
The Hollywood Reporter has the nominees for the New Media and Video Game categories of the upcoming Writers Guild Awards. The nominees for best game writing go to the teams behind Assassin's Creed: Revelations, Batman: Arkham City, BRINK, Mortal Kombat, and Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception.
DC Universe Online announces the celebration of the first anniversary of the launch of this superhero MMORPG. SOE says to celebrate, players will receive a special One Year Anniversary Cape featuring a number "1"on the back. They also offer some statistics from the game's first year, saying it has seen:
- More than 3.5 million Heroes, more than 2 million Villains
- More than 1.8 million registered players on PC, and more than 2.3 million registered players on PS3
- 3.6 million days of playtime total by all players in-game
- More than 1,200 new NPC characters added since launch
- More than 200 new quests added since launch
- More than 2,500 new items added since launch
- More than 15 new zones added since launch
- More than 1,800 new encounters since launch
This text-heavy page on the MechWarrior Online Website offers an interview with David Bradley, Bryan Ekman, and Paul Inouye of Piranha Games about their upcoming online MechWarrior game. The conversation covers the trio's backgrounds, their role in the game's development, what it's like working on such a beloved franchise, their experiences with the table-top game, free-to-play, their shock at landing the rights to the property, favorite mechs, influences, and more.
2K Sports warns us to expect a scoop tonight on the hotbed of gaming news that is the Conan O'Brien Show. Word is MLB 2K12 cover athlete Justin Verlander "will be making a major announcement" on tonight's show on TBS at 11:00 pm/10:00 pm central. The only clue we have is the new relates to Major League Baseball 2K12.
A Call for Communication (Half-Life) on the Steam Community (thanks Brett) now has over 6,000 members, seeking to coerce Valve into spilling some beans about their plans for the Half-Life series: Your oldest and longest running fanbase would like some form of communication.
Waiting patiently for over four years is a daunting task, especially when E3 comes and goes without any beat of a Half-Life pulse, time and time again. Valve had stated that information was scheduled to be released towards the end of 2008, and we believe that if they have chosen, for whatever reason, to withhold this information, fans should at least be acknowledged in some way, regardless of developmental plans for the next Half-Life project. The entire trilogy of episodes was supposed to be completed and released by 2007, and if Valve have decided to do other things for the time being, that is fine; all that we ask for is a basic response on the matter, and to let fans know whether or not the Half-Life 2 story arc is scheduled to conclude at another point in time.
In addition: This message is in no way, shape or form attempting to rush the development of the Half-Life series; in fact, most members agree that Valve should take the time needed to deliver a complete and polished product.
Ooops! Happy birthday Ant!
38 Studios announces plans to release a demo on January 17th to support Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, their new RPG that's due for release next month. The sample of upcoming RPG will unlock items in the full game, and those who play both this and the upcoming demo for Mass Effect 3 will unlock items for the full versions of each game. The announcement also has word on what the demo will offer: The Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning demo features the introduction to the game, allowing players to experience the game’s Tutorial Mode and a portion of its large, open world. Players will create and customize their hero and drop right into the action. Once players master the basics, they will have 45 minutes to explore the vast world of Amalur and begin to embark upon a quest that could redefine their character’s destiny forever.
Tripwire Interactive announces the release of the SDK for Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad, allowing for the modification of their World War II shooter sequel. The SDK is offered through Steam for all owners of the game (it can be installed via the "tools" tab). Here's word on the release, and some of the projects it is already helping to create: Tripwire Interactive are pleased to announce the release of the modding and map making tools for Red Orchestra 2, available free to everyone that owns Red Orchestra 2. While the limited functionality preview versions of the SDK have been available to select modders for a while, this release now makes the full capabilities of the Mod SDK available to everyone. Users can now make and publish everything from simple mods and mutators, through custom maps and on to full total conversion mods.
Modders and map makers have been hard at work with the pre-release SDK and several great maps and mods are already coming together. For a preview of what is to come, check out these three total conversion mods already in production for Red Orchestra 2:
Rising Storm - http://www.risingstormgame.com/
In Country Vietnam - http://www.incountrymod.com/
Iron Europe - http://www.ironeuropegame.com/
And to check out all of the latest custom maps, mods, and content head on over to the modding section of the Tripwire Interactive forums:
http://forums.tripwireinteractive.com/forumdisplay.php?f=83
The World of Warcraft Website has news that the Scroll of Resurrection is temporarily unavailable while Blizzard tweaks the program. The Scroll of Resurrection allows players to invite friends with lapsed WoW accounts to rejoin the game for a return visit to Azeroth. The Scroll of Resurrection FAQ now leads off with: "The Scroll of Resurrection promotion is undergoing maintenance and is currently unavailable."
Paradox Interactive continues to explore the concept of the seven deadly sins as expressed in Crusader Kings II, their upcoming medieval strategy/RPG sequel. This trailer covers the topic of greed, as outlined it this description: The fourth, and perhaps the last. True to the game, our King has overstretched himself, conquered the lands of far too many rulers and finds himself with a list of enemies as long as his codpiece. Only his spymaster can save the day, and the man is a conniving, filthy, traitorous, two-faced scoundrel. Could anyone ask for a better political ally*?
* SPOILER: Probably they could, yes.
Continue here to read the full story.
GameFront - SOPA Isn’t the Solution, But Can We At Least Agree There’s A Problem?
Game publishers are caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to battling piracy. If they do nothing, they are essentially ceding a good portion of their sales to pirates who have no intention of ever paying them a dime. If they institute a simple DRM scheme to try and protect their games, some gamers will get annoyed and others will get to work breaking the protection within days or even hours, making it worthless. If they institute a strong DRM scheme, such as Ubisoft’s recent efforts to require a persistent Internet connection to constantly confirm the validity of a played game, it ends up negatively impacting a good many legitimate customers and also cause the esteemed, self-appointed “Internet Representatives of Gaming” to go into a collective hissy fit so large that it ends up costing more sales than it saves.
Raph Koster - Improving F2P. Thanks Ant via Boing Boing.
The thing to understand about the free-to-play market, and its best developers, is that F2P developers treat everything as science. Everything is subject to analysis, and everything is subject to proof, and the business process is about seeking what works. If what works happens to also be an original, innovative, interesting design that meets a checklist set of criteria for being art, well, all the better. But really, it’s about what works.
We have to be honest with ourselves. There is an awful lot of stuff that we have cherished for a long time in the games business which turns out not to work. Sometimes it takes us years to shed the scales from our eyes about the fact that hoary conventions of yore are just that — conventions, mutable and open to change.
It's adventure part two today, as I have the appointment to pull that tooth that was rescheduled from the end of last year. The doctor is removing a molar and its fractured root, and is also apparently moving a bit of my sinus cavity to prepare for a subsequent implant. As dramatic as that all sounds, I'm reassured that I should be okay later, but I can't completely guarantee I won't end up spending this afternoon in a drug-induced haze.
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