Eidos releases Tomb Raider: Underworld PC demo.

It's here and ready to roll, the Tomb Raider demo goes live today and finally we'll get to see how the game stacks up now that the retail release is coming up soon, Eidos has already posted the demo links on http://www.tombraider.com and it should be making rounds to popular demo sites as well. The game drops players into Thailand with a variety of challenges, taking on cliffs, wild animals, dense jungle and more.

No doubt everyone will want to jump into the game though and find out if it's living up to all the hype the footage is making so I'll leave you with an oldie but goodie.

Download links:

http://www.tombraider.com/

http://demo.tombraiderunderworld.com/pcdemo_us.html

Grand Theft Auto IV Delayed, System Specs Revealed

Dishing the dirt tonight, Rockstar Games has confirmed to PC.IGN that the upcoming PC edition of Grand Theft Auto IV has been officially delayed. Previously scheduled for release this November, the critically acclaimed open-world shooter is now expected to hit stores on December 2nd. A reason for the delay wasn't given, but I think it's safe to assume they just wanted some extra polish time.

In addition to this delay news, PC.IGN has also scored some official system requirements. What kind of setup will you need to run the game? Read on:

Minimum System Requirements

OS: Windows 21b7 Vista - Service Pack 1 / XP - Service Pack 3Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8Ghz, AMD Athlon X2 64 2.4GhzMemory: 1.5GB, 16GB Free Hard Drive SpaceVideo Card: 256MB NVIDIA 7900 / 256MB ATI X1900

Recommended System Requirements

OS: Windows Vista - Service Pack 1 / XP - Service Pack 3Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz, AMD Phenom X3 2.1GhzMemory: 2 GB (Windows XP) 2.5 GB (Windows Vista)18 GB Free Hard Drive SpaceVideo Card: 512MB NVIDIA 8600 / 512MB ATI 3870

Hope you're packing a multi-core processor! If not, you may want to start writing a letter to Santa. :x

Atari To Publish Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena

Taking a look at the business side of things today, Atari has announced that they've acquired the publishing rights to Starbreeze Studios' upcoming Action-Stealth title, Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena. With this announcement comes word that the game will feature an all-new singleplayer campaign, along with online multiplayer support. Here's the official word:

LYON, FRANCE – 30 October 2008 – Atari, one of the world’s most recognized video game publishers, today announced that first person shooter The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena is joining its 2009 publishing and distribution line up. In conjunction with Universal Pictures Digital Platforms Group, Tigon Studi 2210 os and acclaimed developer Starbreeze Studios, Atari is bringing the franchise to the new generation of consoles for the first time packed with thrilling new adventures. The highly anticipated title is scheduled for launch on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Windows® PC in spring 2009.

Previously announced as a remake of hit title The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay with added content, Atari can today reveal that The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena contains a brand new full-length campaign. This exciting announcement promises a title which will include the original game re-imagined for a whole new audience, an entirely new chapter in the Riddick saga and, for the first time, intense online multiplayer combat, making The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena a must-have experience for any fan of intense action gaming.

“It’s very exciting to have Assault on Dark Athena as part of Atari’s 2009 publishing line-up,” said Phil Harrison, President of Infogrames Entertainment, the parent company of Atari. “The first game in the series was a landmark in action gaming and the outstanding team at Starbreeze are creating a feature-packed follow-up which will delight fans and new players alike.”

“The Riddick IP offers a rich universe from which to develop no-holds barred games, and we’ve believed that since the days of the Pitch Black film,” said Bill Kispert, Vice President and General Manager, Interactive, Universal Pictures Digital Platforms Group. “Assault on Dark Athena extends the franchise fiction; adds to the mythology with new storylines, characters and locations while remaining true to the original material; and gives fans an experience they haven’t seen before. As we introduce this new Riddick chapter, we are also excited to welcome Atari to the Riddick family.”

“We’re thrilled about this remake and expansion of Escape from Butcher Bay." said Ian Stevens, Head of Game Production, Tigon Studios. "Assault on Dark Athena tells a new story in The Chronicles of Riddick, while at the same time sharing our original vision with a larger audience. We’re excited about the coming months and talking more in-depth about new features like the addition of Multiplayer!”

“Working with the Riddick franchise for us is an extraordinary experience,” said Johan Kristiansson, CEO, Starbreeze Studios. “We are deeply enthusiastic about the partnership with Atari that will bring this rich game experience to a new generation of consoles. With this release we've pushed the limits of the Starbreeze engine, delivering an extensive game package designed to thrill gamers worldwide. We can't wait for it to hit the shelves.”

In The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena the player takes the role of Riddick, as played by Vin Diesel, using stealth and action to overcome the merciless crew of the predatory Merc-ship Dark Athena which awaits its prey in the dark reaches of space. Cheating death through a series of spectacular battles and events, Riddick will fight for his life amid a storm of malevolence and horror. The Chronicles of Riddick series of games takes the player deeper into the universe of Universal Pictures' films The Chronicles of Riddick and cult classic Pitch Black, which first introduced Vin Diesel as enigmatic anti-hero Riddick.

Featuring a brand new exhilarating adventure, a high-definition re-imagining of the classic Escape from Butcher Bay campaign and new multiplayer options, The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena will thrill fans when it launches in spring 2009.

Mirror's Edge: demo and trailer arrive today

As reported on GameGrep, a demo for Mirror's Edge is out today on the PlayStation Network, and tomorrow on Xbox Live. How many Xbox owners are going to scrap Halloween this year, I wonder? Lucky you guys, anyway; as a primarily PC gamer for the moment, folks like me will have to wait until January 6th for our copy (according to GameStop anyway).

Also, about the DRM for the game (if there is any, but it's EA so I'm assuming), rumour has it there will be something different in tow, if Blue's News reader DangerDog is to be believed: "New and improved form of DRM, if you fall off a building in the game it'll format your hard drive." Mostly_Harmless has their own theories: "The PC delay is due to manufacturing problems with the microscopic tactical thermonuclear device that will be fitted in every DVD case for the game, EA can't work out how to detonate it if someone tries to install the game more than three times." Maybe they are gettingtoo strict...

Anyhow, with the demo comes a demo trailer, which features a new character. This one is full of itself, but who can blame it?

EA: banned from forums means banned from games

While I've spoke with high hopes before of Electronic Arts turning themselves around, a second instance of one of their forum moderator's acting 'overzealously' has me considerably less optimistic.

The first came last month when a mod threatened users with risk of banning for talking about Digital Rights Management and Spore, a hot topic at the time. A team member of Maxis later countered the statement, saying there was no issue with such discussion, and closed the thread. One would hope that would be the end of that, but alas..

Now, this instance was by no means a threat, which is nice, but just on its own, what's stated is likely worse than before. Speaking about the new Command & Conquer website and forums and the respective changes to come with them, a moderator or team member for the game, going by the name eaapoc/APOC, stated the following:

Well, its actually going to be a bit nastier for those who get banned.

Your forum account will be directly tied to your Master EA Account, so if we ban you on the forums, you would be banned from the game as well since the login process is the same. And you'd actually be banned from your other EA games as well since its all tied to your account. So if you have SPORE and Red Alert 3 and you get yourself banned on our forums or in-game, well, your SPORE account would be banned to. It's all one in the same, so I strongly reccommend people play nice and act mature.

All in all, we expect people to come on here and abide by our ToS. We hate banning people, it makes our lives a lot tougher, but its what we have to do.

Those banned will stay banned, but like most other internet services, its not that hard to create a new fake e-mail account. However, its a lot harder to get a new serial key =)

Avatars should be back within 2 weeks of the launch.

-APOC

Note that it's all well and good between him and the users up to this point, but immediately following this we see a post from 'nodsolidergirl' who states quite bluntly: "APOC = FAIL". 'Marzillius' takes it even farther, saying: "Well, that makes it. I'm never buying an EA game again. I don't tolerate being banned here and in the same time being banned from all EA games that exists. That is just wrong."

Shacknews was tipped off to the happening by reader Pugnate. He asked, "What if some moderator goes off on a power trip? Does he seriously have the right to block access to software you legally purchased?" Writer Chris Faylor responded:

To reiterate my previous stance, I certainly sympathize with the plight of those that have been tasked with watching over a game's official forums. But I really can't believe that EA has allowed this to pop up once again.

Apart from scaring posters into submission and causing even more controversy, I can't think of one reason to even bring up the idea of removing a consumer's ability to play their $50 game because of a questionable forum violation.

I can understand removing a user's posting privileges--I'm sure this has already happened multiple times--but the idea that there aren't varying levels of privileges--ie, separate posting and game access--to these accounts is an obscene oversight.

The implications of preventing owners from playing the $50 game they legitimately bought because of something they posted on the forums are mind boggling, and I really, really can't see this policy flying once the press runs with it and the higher-ups are made aware.

What do you think? Is this going too far, or is it a reasonable rule? Will this affect your purchases from EA?

New LotRO: Mines of Moria Screenshots

Finally tonight, the folks over at Turbine have released a fresh batch of screenshots from their upcoming Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria expansion. These latest screenies give us a sneak peek at two new areas: The Waterworks and The Flaming Deeps. Check 'em out:

Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria is scheduled for release on November 18th.

Need for Speed: Undercover Video Dev Diary

Giving us a peek behind the scenes tonight, the guys over at Electronic Arts have released video developer diary for their upcoming racing title, Need for Speed: Undercover. Running just over six minutes long, the video takes an in-depth look at the "Heroic Driving Engine" and how the controls work. Pretty cool stuff! Check it out:

Thanks to GameTrailers for the above stream. Hit-up any of the following websites for a mirror:

GamersHellFileFrontFileShackStrategyInformerWorthPlaying

Need for Speed: Undercover is due out in North America on November 18th and in Europe on November 21st.

Left 4 Dead selling twice as many pre-orders as did Orange Box

Left 4 Dead, the upcoming zombie killing team FPS from Valve, is selling like an all-you-can eat brain buffet at a zombie conference (sorry, that joke was pretty lame.)

Apparently pre-orders for the game which comes Novemeber 18th, are currently at just a few copies shy of doubling the final pre-order numbers recieved for Valve's hit Orange Box, which included Team Fortress 2 and Half Life Episode 2 along with Portal.

As an incentive to pre-orders, it was recently announced that pre-orderers will have access to the Left 4 Dead demo a week early. The rest of us chumps can download the demo on Novemeber 11.

Valve has also launched a Left 4 Dead contest, where 25 people will win the game, and the grand winner will pick up a zippy gaming rig built by AMD. You can read up on the contest here. To enter, you have to take a picture of yourself all zombied-out in front of some Left 4 Dead advertising some place, like the zombie dudes pictured above.

Train gamers, earn $60/hr

The Pure Pwnage guys have been doing it with Gamer Army for awhile, so I suppose there is a viable living in training gamers after all. GamerCoach seems to have proven this anyway, as they're offering up to $60/hr (the website says $30, though?) for you to train other gamers in Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 titles (PC soon to come); just about every one is available.

Who will you be coaching? Mainly 35+ men and families, apparently. I'm imagining the young ones will be next in line.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Many Coaches simply use this service to make a little extra income from time to time. However, for those in their teens and 20's facing the depressing idea of working in retail or fast food for $8 - $10 an hour while going to school or figuring out their next life moves, GamerCoach may represent an opportunity to own a home based business doing what they love to do.

GamerCoach, I really like your style.

You're probably wondering where the scam comes in, but as far as I can tell, there isn't one. In fact, they seem to take care of everything:

100% of Marketing and Promotions for you (search engines, trade mags, retail promotions, etc.)Billing and Payment (We take responsibility for collecting from the players who hire you. We transfer the money securely to you via your own PayPal account.)Web Tools (We provide you with a complete Coach Profile page (similar to MySpace) where you can communicate information about you as a coach to help persuade users to hire you.)Scheduling (We provide a complete, web based scheduling tool that makes accepting a training gig as easy as responding to an email alert)E Business Cards and E-Flyers (Promoting yourself as a professional gamer is cool and effective. We have developed an entire suite of promotional tools for you to use with the clients you work with as well as new clients you’d like to.Email marketing (Soon we will offer the ability for you to send email marketing newsletters to the players you train. Keeping them updated on new levels new game versions etc. Reminding them that you are there and available is key to generating more business.)

They do charge a 15% comission for all sessions, but all things considered, that's quite fair, isn't it?

C&C: Red Alert 3 Launch Trailer

Celebrating this week's big launch, the guys over at Electronic Arts have released a brand new teaser trailer for their highly anticipated strategy title, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3. The two and a half minute long video sets up the game's storyline with a mix of cinematic and in-game footage. Check it out:

Thanks to GameTrailers for the above stream. Mirrors are also available at the following websites:

GamersHellFileFrontFileShackWorthPlaying

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 is scheduled for release on October 28th.

Prince of Persia - Dark & Light Trailer

Keeping things rollin' today, the guys over at Ubisoft have whipped up a new teaser trailer for their highly anticipated Action-Adventure title, Prince of Persia. Clocking in at a minute and a half long, the video offers some backstory on the battle between light and dark. Check it out:

Thanks to GameTrailers for the above stream. Prefer a manual download? Then look no further:

FileFrontStrategyInformerWorthPlaying

Prince of Persia is scheduled for release in North America on December 2nd and in Europe on December 4th.

Strong Bad Episode 3 Demo Released

Kicking things off today, the fine folks over at Telltale Games have released a new singleplayer demo for Episode 3 of their popular Point & Click Adventure series, Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People. Weighing in at 85MB, the demo allows us to play through an early portion of the episode. You can grab this bad boy from any of the following mirrors:

GamersHellFileFrontFileShackWorthPlaying

Dig the demo? Then head over to the Telltale Store to purchase the full episode for just $8.95. If you order today, you'll also receive Sam & Max: Night of The Raving Dead for free!

Empire: Total War Screenshots

Treating us to a little eyecandy tonight, the guys over at Creative Assembly have released 23 (!) new screenshots from their highly anticipated Strategy title, Empire: Total War. These latest screenies show off the game's campaign map and some HUGE land/sea battles. Enjoy:

Empire: Total War is scheduled for release on February 6th, 2009.

Zombie plague irks WoW faithful

Late last week Blizzard spiced up the World of Warcraft just ahead of its Wrath of the Lich King expansion launch, to better prepare players for the coming scourge incursion: a zombie plague. The plague may be blighting the experience for some players in a way Blizzard might not be hoping for, however.

Players can become infected with this new ailment either through random encounters or contact with a zombified player. Fortunately, special healers are on hand to help cure players of the disease.  The disease itself does grant players with some exclusive zombie abilities like infecting other characters (even NPCs) and they can attack players of any faction, so we can imagine the intention is all in good fun... assuming your idea of fun includes killing and infecting other players as a zombie, or getting killed in turn.  Players killed as a zombie are restored to their "normal" status when they return to the game.

Unfortunately, some players feel the fun has overstayed its welcome. If they're not the ones being killed thanks to the zombie madness, then it's the NPCs for once. As a result, players in need of NPC services are out of luck. The zombification has become more than a little inconvenient for these players, whether they are grinding or questing.

Blizzard itself is at least listening to the complaints, and have publicly responded in their message boards. A moderator's addressing of player issues may be cold comfort, however:

As I have stated, if this was planned to last any longer than it is, we would have been a great deal more leery of the wide-reaching effects of the plague. This has been anticipated; I respect the concept that some people dislike it and we'll certainly take that into account, but this was an event meant to impact players in all walks of life and routines. I am in no way stating it was perfect, and should we do something like this again the feedback both for and against will be taken into account when changes are made, particularly pertaining to lower level players. This event absolutely was meant to shake up the status quo of the average WoW day, and in that it's been successful.

It will still continue as planned, but for those of you less than fond of the plague, you don't have much longer to wait.

While some WoW players are always going to take their grinding more seriously than others, it doesn't help that some zombified players online feel they have an official excuse to grief others now, even on non-PvP servers.  Then again, 'tis the season for zombies.  Even Call of Duty 4 and Grand Theft Auto IV are getting zombie mods of their own!

Capcom organizes Street Fighter Club event in Brooklyn

Joystiq beat me to it, but it has to be stated -- the first rule of Street Fighter Club is: you do not talk about Street Fighter Club.

Capcom (yes, I'm breaking the rule here) held a Street Fighter fan event to promote the launch of the upcoming fourth installment this past Friday, smack in the middle of a sketchy Brooklyn area, reportedly one of the few not yet hit by gentrification. Serving as a "Street Fighter Club" of sorts, it was gritty, wonderful, and had plenty of Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remixon hand for gamers to play.

Apparently Capcom was "uncomfortable" with the location, which I think is great. What better place to spread gaming joy (virtual fighting gaming joy, no less) than the shady streets of Brooklyn? Maybe it'll convert a few gangster types.

Over 300 fans showed up to the place, which is in fact a converted bodega ("a small grocery store, sometimes combined with a wineshop, in certain Hispanic communities"). The folks at Capcom are not below the simple happiness of puns -- many items were labelled as such (i.e. "Sonic Broom" -- wonder if we'll see that up on eBay anytime soon).

We're nowhere near New York City, but Joystiq say it was a true fan event. Now if they'd just release the game for the Wii, I'd be fully onboard.

Multiwinia: Survival of the Flattest Demo

Giving us something to play this weekend, the guys over at Introversion Software have released a new multiplayer demo for their hit Action-RTS, Multiwinia: Survival of the Flattest. Weighing in at 49MB, the demo includes three maps and the Rocket Riot mode. Hit any of the following mirrors to start downloading:

YouGamers (courtesy of GamersHell)FileFrontFilePlanetStrategyInformerWorthPlaying

Dig the demo? Then head over to Steam and buy the full game for just $9.99! ;)

More X-Blades Screenshots

Hitting us with some new media today, the guys over at Gaijin Entertainment have released ten new screenshots from their upcoming Action-Adventure title, X-Blades. These latest shots highlight the game's environment's, various monsters and Ayumi's special abilities. Check 'em out:

X-Blades is scheduled for release on January 14th, 2009.