Archived News:

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Command and Conquer Tiberium Alliances Launches

Electronic Arts announces that Command and Conquer Tiberium Alliances has emerged from beta, and this browser-based online strategy game is now live. Here's the deal:
In the game, players are pit against each other and against AI-controlled factions in an intense and strategic battle for territory domination. Gamers spend resources to build bases and strengthen armies before deploying their forces against the enemy, constantly adapting to a dynamic theater of war, where alliances shift and power over territories change constantly. With integrated in-game status and news feeds, players are updated on their allies and enemies, forcing them to strategize, adapt, and react on the spot.

As the first free-to-play, cross-platform MMO strategy game, Command & Conquer Tiberium Alliances is the only game to offer true, anytime, anywhere gameplay. In the coming months, the game will feature cloud-saved game data to make it accessible across web browsers and mobile devices. Players can play from their desktop at home, or on the go from their smartphone or tablet.

Day One : Garry’s Incident Announced

Wild Games Studio announces Day One : Garry’s Incident, an upcoming episodic survival/first-person shooter created with Unreal Engine 3. Here's the outline of the game:
Garry was a typical guy, a good husband and caring father, with a steady job and a clear future ahead, and beyond it being Friday the 13th 2013 everything was going along smoothly…

Play as Garry, a freelance bush pilot who recently suffered the loss of his family, surviving through the amazons and its occupants, with hope for a way out as the only thing keeping you alive on this tragic day.

Red Orchestra 2 GotY & Free Weekend Launch

Steam News announces the release of the Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad - GOTY, offering new content for both new and existing owners of Tripwire Interactive's military-themed shooter. This is marked by a 75% off sale on the game, and a free multiplayer weekend that runs through Sunday afternoon. Here's the blurb on the new content: "This new edition adds a whole set of extra features, available for free to all owners of the game, including two new game modes 'Action' and 'Classic', the new map 'Mamayev Kurgan' and refined and improved gameplay across the board.

Diablo III Patch Next Week; Real Money Auctions Postponed Again

Diablo III Website has a post-launch update for Blizzard's MMORPG. This includes news that they "have made the decision to move the launch of the real-money auction house beyond the previously estimated May time frame." They also offer more on security issues. They also discuss hotfixes and plans for a fuller patch next week:
Since the game's launch, we’ve applied a number of hotfixes to address gameplay issues, made tweaks to improve our service stability, and performed occasional server maintenance when necessary to ensure that in the long term, players have the best gameplay experience possible. Moving forward, additional server maintenances will be required -- and sometime next week, we plan to release a game update in the form of a patch that will further address client issues and apply additional bug fixes.

We also wanted to let you know that we're still looking into the best way to address the achievements that some players lost in the hours following the game’s release. While we don't have any concrete details to share with you just yet, we will have more information to share in the weeks ahead. We appreciate everyone's patience as we work to improve stability and usability for all players.

On Sale

etc., etc.

Into the Black

Link of the Day: Ghost Recon: Future Intern. Thanks Franco.

38 Studios Closed?

38 Studios laid off its entire workforce according to an unconfirmed report on WPRI.com where they have an email purportedly sent to the company's staff, which they say consisted of 379 employees a of March 15. The Verge adds they've been informed by "a source familiar with the company" that 38 Studios also closed both its Rhode Island headquarters and its subsidiary studio Big Huge Games (thanks nin). They also note there is a semi-confirmation of this in a tweet from Colin Campbell, lead world designer at Big Huge Games: "Big Huge Games was home for my wife and me for our adult lives so far. I'll miss it terribly, but so proud. Good night and good luck." The Verge also quotes Governor of Rhode Island Lincoln Chafee attributing the closure to Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, saying the RPG "failed." They note that the game sold approximately 1.2 million copies in 90 days and Chafee says experts told him it needed to sell three million copies to break even. In 2010 Rhode Island loaned 38 Studios $75 million.

Financial troubles at the developer founded by former major league baseball pitcher Curt Schilling surfaced less than two weeks ago, but after some drama involving a bounced loan payment check and allegations of a missed payroll, things seemed to be on the rise, with word that the loan payment cleared and that the company's MMORPG codenamed Project Copernicus was expected in a year. In an interesting side note, Rock, Paper, Shotgun points out the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation has posted 38 Studios Public Documents with all the details on its financial dealing with the company.

Mass Effect 3 Rebellion Pack DLC Next Week

The BioWare Blog announces the Rebellion Pack, a DLC pack for Mass Effect 3 coming to BioWare's action/RPG sequel next Tuesday for platforms and territories except for the PSN in Europe, where it is due the following day. This was recently accidentally revealed in advance of this official unveiling, and true to those indications, its focus is on multiplayer play. Speaking of multiplayer, this post has details on Operation SHIELDWALL, this weekend's multiplayer event in the game. Here's more on the Rebellion Pack:
Reinforcements are being deployed to all N7 forces, bringing out some heavy hitters thanks to the new Mass Effect 3 Rebellion DLC Pack! Arriving on Xbox Live, the PlayStation Network and PC on Tuesday, May 29 (Wednesday, May 30 on the PSN in Europe), the Mass Effect 3 Rebellion Pack will be bringing you more gear, more weapons, more maps, and more kits, available at no additional cost for anyone who redeemed an Online Pass for Mass Effect 3 on PC, PS3 or Xbox 360.

The Rebellion Multiplayer Expansion opens two new fronts against the Reapers: Firebase Jade’s jungle reservoir and Firebase Goddess on Thessia. In-game reinforcement packs now include three new weapons (Reegar Carbine, Krysae Sniper Rifle, Cerberus Harrier) as well as equipment, consumables, and six new characters from species that have lost lives or whole planets to the Reapers: Quarian Engineer and Infiltrator, Vorcha Soldier and Sentinel, Ex-Cerberus Adept and Vanguard. The battle continues!

Civilization V Free Weekend & Sale Underway

Steam news announces a free weekend is now underway for Sid Meier's Civilization V, along with a 75% off sale on the turn-based strategy sequel:
Kick off the weekend by playing Civilization V for FREE starting now until Sunday at 1PM Pacific Time.

You can also pickup the entire Civilization V franchise this weekend only at 75% off the regular price! Sale ends Monday, May 28th at 10AM Pacific Time.

If you already have Steam installed, click here to install or play Civilization V. If you don't have Steam, you can download it here.

Diablo III Hotfixes

The Diablo III Website has a list of hotfixes implemented over the past couple of days in Blizzard's MMORPG sequel. There is just one fix listed from yesterday, but there is a longer list of changes from the day before, but these carry a warning saying: "If you have not yet completed Diablo III on Normal, some hotfixes described in this list may include spoilers."

DARK Trailer

This trailer offers a teaser for DARK, a stealthy action/RPG coming to Windows and Xbox 360 next year. Word is: "DARK is a supernatural third-person stealth action game where players will explore the shadowy world of a vampire anti-hero as he fights against the forces of the GeoForge corporation in an attempt to shed light to their dark secrets." Continue here to read the full story.

Tribes: Ascend Patched

This forum post has details on a new patch that's now live in Tribes: Ascend, Hi-Rez Studios' first-person shooter remake. This fourth update is titled "Staying Alive," and this trailer shows off the content in the update, including three new weapons for the Brute class. The new version also includes a "watch now" button to stream live matches through TwitchTV. Continue here to read the full story.

Game Reviews

Hardware Reviews

etc.

Out of the Blue

Planning for this weekend has turned incredibly complicated here in the BlueTower. We had planned on inviting friends over to visit Manstovia, but one of the couples we were planning on asking invited us to their place instead, so that became the plan. Then they had friends having a cookout around here the same weekend, so they planned on hitting both us and them, which evolved into a plan to host them and their friends here, which evolved back into going to their place (their erratic behavior planning is definitely a big part of the complication). During the period this gathering was to be here, we invited other friends, so are now sort of committed to both hosting a gathering and also attending one about 100 miles away. Oh yeah, and my brother proposed this weekend to our cousins a while back for a reunion of sorts, but I told him at the time that this weekend was no good. This week he got a text from one of them asking if we are still on, so they apparently missed the message that we had to reschedule that, so we really are dealing with a case of Murphy's Law, albeit a mild one. Oh yeah, MrsBlue just called, and her flight was postponed until tomorrow, and she's not sure she can find another one to get home today. Like I say, incredibly complicated.

Complex Links: Thanks Ant and Mike Martinez and Acleacius.
Play: Wake Up the Box 4.
Images: Wire Management Level- Circuitry Art.
Yo Dawg, We Herd U Liek Doing Your Homework.
Media: CIA's 'Facebook' Program Dramatically Cut Agency's Costs.
Moog Chief Engineer talks about Googles Goog-Mini-Moog.
Reporter Tries To Fake A Sandstorm He Had Apparently Missed.
The Funnies: A lengthy set-up, but well worth it.
Dilbert.
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