Breaking out the eyecandy tonight, NCsoft has released 14 (!) new screenshots from their upcoming massively multiplayer online RPG, Aion: The Tower of Eternity. These latest screenies give us a sneak peek at the Sorcerer class in action. Pretty hot stuff! Enjoy:
Aion is scheduled for release in North America on September 22nd and Europe on September 25th.
Getting us geared up for the weekend, Valve has announced that all Dawn of War 1/2 and Company of Heroes titles are 50% off on Steam from now until Sunday, August 2nd. The list of titles on sale include:
Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II ($24.99)Company of Heroes ($9.99)Company of Heroes: Gold ($14.99)Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor 213b($14.99)Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts ($9.99)Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War - Dark Crusade ($9.99)Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War - Soulstorm ($14.99)Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War - Gold Edition ($9.99)Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War - Platinum Edition ($14.99)Relic Super Pack ($24.99)Don't miss out on the savings! :D
Publishing and developing giant Ubisoft has today revealed its Q1 2009 financial results, the long and short of it being a 51% decline in overall sales revenue from the same period last year, leading to four delays.
The company comes in at €83 million ($118m USD) this quarter; last year's figures brought the company to an impressive $240m. The numbers were below Q4 projected estimates by 12.6%, or about $135m.
Ubisoft attributes the new figures to a slowdown in DS software sales old and new in the US and Europe ("more pronounced than expected"), much lower back-catalogue sales on the PS3 and Xbox 360 than the same period last year, and worse than expected industry conditions.
On the bright side, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood and Anno performed as anticipated, with the latter receiving great ratings across all platforms; a growth in share on the Wii is also noted.
As a result of the drops, a 54% decrease on the previously projected $185m outlook set for Q2 is set; 2009-10 total targets are revised to $1.48 billion, compared to previous guidance of about $1.57 billion; based on the "very warm response" of Asassin's Creed II at E3 this year, sales for Q2 are expected to be stronger.
Q3 and Q4 will be affected as well, with Splinter Cell Conviction, Red Steel 2, Ghost Recon and I Am Alive all receiving delays. The former two were both set for Q3, and will now be pushed back to the following quarter; the latter two were set for Q4 and will be moved to sometime in fiscal 2010-2011.
Yves Guillemot, Chief Executive Officer, stated: "We are currently experiencing a very sharp slowdown in our sales for Nintendo DS as well as sales of back-catalog titles, in the context of a market that is tougher than anticipated. This will have a significant impact on our first-half showing. Against this backdrop, the solid performance of our Wii titles combined with the successful launches of Anno and Call of Juarez are points of satisfaction and demonstrate that good products are continuing to sell well. We are disappointed that we have to postpone the release of several major games but we consider that this choice is the best one in the long-term interests of Ubisoft. Lastly, we are having to adjust our full-year targets to take into account the fall in business over the first half. The excellent response to our games at E3, as well as the high buzz generated for titles such as Assassin's Creed 2, Splinter Cell Conviction and Avatar, reinforce our belief that the company can achieve strong growth in the second half of the fiscal year."
Guillemot has elaborated in interviews, as well, stating piracy on the DS -- in America, as opposed to Europe -- is a lot of the reason for their misfortune this time around. Rather than "cracking down" though, Ubisoft will be taking a cue from Atlus:
"Piracy is strong so we are working to put new figurines and new elements in the boxes that will change that in the future," said Guillemot, later continuing, "We see when we put other things with the product (people) go and buy the game. We need to make sure that the value is better when they buy the box then when they download (the game) from the Internet."
In our opinion, this is definitely the smart way to go, so Ubisoft, you have our respect.
PC piracy is also noted to be "quite a lot", something the CEO implies they are working on internally, saying, "We are working on a tool that would allow us to decrease that on the PC starting next year and probably one game this year." Whatever could it be? With any luck, it will be good news for legitimate customers, as an internally developed form of DRM is likely to be less inconvenient than an externally developed one, it being less familiar and therefore harder to implement properly.
That's all for this quarter -- see you next time.
Electronic Arts (EA) has just announced its soundtrack plans for their upcoming fall sports lineup (be sure to check our previews for NHL 10 and FIFA 10 if you haven't yet), and all in all, it's an astonishly good list.
"Each EA SPORTS game is unique to every gamer that picks up the controller, we wanted to make sure the music matched each of those unique experiences," said Steve Schnur, Electronic Arts' Worldwide Executive for Music and Marketing. "With the big songs and huge bands in Madden NFL, bringing back the Soul of the Game to NBA LIVE, tapping into the hard hitting metal tracks of NHL and the international flavor of FIFA, this year's EA SPORTS soundtrack line up aligns with each of the game's unique styles."
So first up is Madden NFL 10, which features the likes of 2Pac, Alice in Chains, Rage Against the Machine, Public Enemy, and System of a Down. Indeed, a good blend which should match well with the action, even if seeing "Rage Against the Machine" and "Electronic Arts" in the same article is more than a bit weird for us. The Cypress Hill track is an exclusive, it should be noted.
2Pac Can't C Me
Airbourne Heads Are Gonna Roll
Alice In Chains Them Bones
B.o.B Created A Monster
Bang Camaro Revolution
Beastie Boys Sabotage
Black Sabbath Paranoid
Cypress Hill Get 'Em Up
Helmet Unsung
Iron Maiden Aces High
Judas Priest Painkiller
Kid Rock I Am The Bullgod
Killswitch Engage Reckoning
Korn Blind
Mastodon Divinations
Nas feat. Puff Daddy Hate Me Now
Nirvana Breed
Pantera Walk
Public Enemy Shut Em Down
Rage Against The Machine Guerrilla Radio
Set Your Goals Gaia Bleeds (Make Way for Man)
Slipknot Duality
System Of A Down Sugar
The Vanity Plan Before I Die
Young Dre The Truth Cheah Beah
Next is up is the fabulous looking NBA Live 10 (just in with its first batch of screenshots), which features the most special soundtrack of all, weighing in with over 80% exclusive tunes, some "reinvented" classics from the likes of Afrika Bambaataa, Dead Prez and Snoop Dogg, collaborations between Matt & Kim / De La Soul, never before heard picks from Beastie Boys and Wyclef Jean, and material from new acts Mickey Factz & B.o.B.
NHL 10, sadly, we can't speak too well for -- Green Day, Nickelback, Papa Roach and MxPx are kind of like sour milk with an otherwise delicious meal, but hey, whatever ya like.
Alexisonfire Young Cardinals
Cancer Bats Deathsmarch
CKY Hellions On Parade
Disco Ensemble Golden Years
Drangonforce Heroes Of Our Time
Eagles Of Death Metal Anything 'Cept The Truth
Earl Greyhound Oye Vaya
Green Day Know Your Enemy
Megadeth Peace Sells
Metalkpretty Wake Up! Wake Up!
Ministry & Co-Conspirators Keys To The City (Chicago Blackhawks Theme Song)
MxPx Kids In America
Nickelback Burn It To The Ground
Papa Roach Into The Light
Priestess Raccoon Eyes
Rancid The Bravest Kids
Scorpions Rock You Like A Hurricane
Thousand Foot Krutch Fire It Up
FIFA 10 is suitably worldly in its selection. Admittedly, we've heard of a grand total of three of these artists, so it appears the game will give many of us a bit more culture amidst the action.
Adiam Dymott Miss You Sweden
Afrobots Favela Rock Brazil
Alex Metric Head Straight England
Auletta Meine Stadt Germany
Balkan Beat Box feat. Tomer Yosef and Saz Ramallah-Tel Aviv Israel
BLK JKS Lakeside South Africa
Bomba Estreo Fuego Mexico
The BPA feat. Ashley Beedle Should I Stay Or Should I Blow England
Buraka Som Sistema feat. Pongolove Kalemba (Wegue - Wegue) Portugal
CasioKids Fot I Hose Norway
Children Collide Skeleton Dance Australia
Crookers feat. The Very Best, Two Fingers & Marina Gasolina Birthday Bash Italy
Cut Off Your Hands Happy As Can Be New Zealand
Dananananaykroyd Black Wax Scotland
Datarock Give It Up Norway
Fabri Fibra Donna Famosa Italy
Fidel Nadal International Love Argentina
Los Fabulosos Cadillacs La Luz Del Ritmo Argentina
Macaco Hacen Falta Dos Spain
Major Lazer Hold The Line USA
Marcio Local Soul Do Samba Brazil
Matt & Kim Daylight (Troublemaker Remix feat. De La Soul) USA
Metric Gold Guns Girls Canada
Mexican Institute Of Sound Alocatel Mexico
Nneka Kangpe Nigeria
Passion Pit Moth's Wings USA
Peter Bjorn And John Nothing To Worry About Sweden
Pint Shot Riot Not Thinking Straight England
Playing For Change War / No More Trouble WORLD
Rocky Dawuni Download The Revolution Ghana
Ryksopp It's What I Want Norway
Soshy Dorothy France
The Answering Machine It's Over! It's Over! It's Over! England
The Enemy UK Be Somebody England
The Temper Trap Science of Fear Australia
Tommy Sparks She's Got Me Dancing England
The Whitest Boy Alive 1517 Germany
Wyclef Jean MVP Kompa Haiti
Zap Mama Vibrations Belgium
All told, as with EA's music selections for the Dragon Age and The Saboteur trailers, someone up there knows their stuff. Good job, fellas.
Creating a little buzz tonight, Disney Interactive Studios and Etranges Libellules have officially announced the development of a new Adventure game based on Tim Burton's upcoming Alice in Wonderland feature film. Set several years after the original stories, the game has you guiding Alice and a cast of supporting characters through traps and puzzles in an effort to defeat the Jabberwocky and restore Underland back into Wonderland. Here's a little snippet from the press release:
"These games fully capture the magnificent and whimsical world of Underland while experiencing key moments from the film,” said Craig Relyea, senior vice president of global marketing, Disney Interactive S2057tudios. “More than just a retelling of the movie, Alice in Wonderland introduces fans to an entirely new style of innovative gameplay designed to challenge the puzzle solving skills of older players while making the adventures accessible and enjoyable for the younger crowd. Innovative gameplay and distinct artistic styles on each platform give players a range of unique and engaging experiences."
To celebrate the announcement, the developers have released a new screenshot and artwork from the game. Enjoy:
The Alice in Wonderland game will be released alongside the feature film in "early 2010".
Saving us some cash this weekend, Valve's Steam digital distribution service is offering a 75% discount on Men of War, along with a 50% discount on Velvet Assassin and X3: Terran Conflict from now until Sunday, July 26th. So if you're looking for something new to play during this Summer drought, you may want to consider checking these out! :)
Casey Hudson, lead producer on Mass Effect 2, recently had a little chat with PC World magazine. During this chit-chat, some interesting new details on what... effect saved games carried over to Mass Effect 2 will have on players' gaming experience came up.
Any gamers who were expecting that continuing their saved game from the first Mass Effect into the second Mass Effect was only going to change a couple of things here and there, should not have underestimated Bioware, it seems. Importing your saved game will change "literally hundreds of things" said Casey Hudson.
According to Mr. Hudson, Bioware fans can expect the data saved in their old saved games to have far-reaching consequences. Choices made in even minor sub-quests from the first game in the series will have reverberations in the gaming experience during the second Mass Effect, it seems.
Casey Hudson gave the example of Conrad Verner, from the first game. Remember him? He was that somewhat annoying big fan of yours that accosts you for an autograph on the Citadel. (I think in my game I told him to brush off.) It turns out that Conrad is set to make another appearance in the Mass Effect sequel, playing a bigger role than a random fan. How you treated him when you first met "will meaningfully affect what's happening."
"All of your decisions and choices really start to snowball over the course of the trilogy because it's picking up the entire record of how you've played, from the first moments of the first game all the way through to the ending of the third game," Casey was quoted as saying.
Mass Effect 2 is set to touch down in early 2010.
Keeping us droolin' this afternoon, the guys over at Capcom have released five new screenshots from their upcoming 3rd Person Shooter, Lost Planet 2. These latest shots highlight the game's detailed environments, drivable mechs and massive boss monsters. Pretty hot stuff! Check 'em out:
Lost Planet 2's release date is still TBD.
It looks like Lucasart's success with their own adventure games on Steam woke up Activision Blizzard (the current owners of Sierra properties). You can now purchase both Space Quest Collection and King's Quest Collection on Steam. Oh, and they are 25% off until July 30th. On the downside, they seem to be unavailable to customers in Australia.
However, before you jump to Steam and buy them, do note that unlike Lucasarts with their proper Windows-native ports of old DOS games, Activision couldn't be bothered to do anything to polish up these releases. They are bit-for-bit same as old boxed versions of the same SQ and KQ collections that were released over three years ago. That means you may have issues with modern 64-bit operating systems and you have to run the DOS games using DOSBox.
People have reported that while all Space Quest games (Space Quest 1-6) do wo219erk on Vista 64bit, King's Quest 7 won't run on 64bit systems. You will also have to dig up the included PDF manual as the old "look up from the manual" copy protections are intact. One must wonder how much better these packages would've sold if Activision had bothered to recompile them all as proper Windows applications. Oh, and get us Quest for Glory series and all the other great Sierra adventures that are not included in these collections.
In a new interview with ABC TV's Good Game, Valve's co-founder Gabe Newell has some interesting thoughts on piracy and copy protection (not a good direction in which to move, he says) as well as a new means by which to fund games -- radical stuff:
"One of the areas that I am super interested in right now is how we can do financing from the community. So right now, what typically happens is you have this budget - it needs to be huge, it has to be $10m - $30m, and it has to be all available at the beginning of the project. There’s a huge amount of risk associated with those dollars and decisions have to be incredibly conservative.
What I think would be much better would be if the community could finance the games. In other words, ‘Hey, I really like this idea that you have and I'll be an early investor in that and, as a result, at a later point I may make a return on that product, but I’ll also get a copy of that game.’
In venture capital there's a concept that your best investors are your customers, because they have 'secondary gain.' If you are successful they not only want a return on their money, but they're incredibly happy if you actually make a great game that they get to play. It would be really great if we could evolve Steam in a way that made it possible so that a developer could say, you know, 'if you want this game to start moving forward, here's the sort of 'seed round',' were people can sort of opt-in and say 'I'll pay thirty dollars and I own a piece of this game going forward.'
So move financing from something that occurs between a publisher and a developer… Instead have it be something where funding is coming out of community for games and game concepts they really like.”
Sounds like anarchy, so naturally we approve.
Given the game industry seems to get more expensive all the time, and more job cuts and studio shutdowns than ever seem to be occuring, could this be viably be a prominent means of funding going forward? Steam has over 20 million accounts, after all, and $30 is cheaper than what we pay now. If so, an industry funded largely by gamers could only be good for innovation.
A new trailer was released for the upcoming Korea-made, PC action-orientated MMO Dragonica, today. The video explains some of the back story behind all the troubles that plague the game-world.
Dragonica is looking somewhat similar to Dungeon Fighters Online -- but perhaps with a younger audience in mind. Think of Maple Story, but with the ability to move up and down as well, and you'll have a decent idea of what this game will be all about.
The game will be free-to-play. The beta periods has been quite successful in Asia (Dragonica has been in development since 2006), and it'll be interesting to see how much it can catch on in the English speaking parts of the world -- actually, if you speak English and live in South East Asia, including Australia and New Zealand, you can download the game right now if you like.
An added bonus to the game is that you will not need a gaming super-computer to run it. The minimum requirements are for a 10 year old system: a P3 running at 800MHz, and GeForce 2 series video card.
Here is a look at some gameplay -- this video features the magician class:
Today is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon and to mark the occasion Futuremark Games Studio has published two new screenshots from their zero gravity multiplayer shooter Shattered Horizon. The new pictures showcase one of the play areas and nicely demonstrate the aim for realistic look and feel - plenty of detail and all shades of gray in use, as you'd expect from bits and pieces of the Moon.
The accompanying press release dates the events portrayed in the game to 2049 - forty years into the future. No word yet on the exact start date of the planned beta test. The sign-up button is still up so you can still register, but the start of the beta shouldn't be too far off.
Pinning down an exact release date for us this afternoon, Codemasters has announced that their upcoming tactical shooter, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, will begin shipping to stores across North America on October 6th, EPAC territories on October 8th and the UK on October 9th. To celebrate the big news, the devs have released six new screenshots. Enjoy:
Let the countdown begin! :D
Keeping things interesting this weekend, Slightly Mad Studios have released two new screenshots from their upcoming racing title, Need for Speed: SHIFT. These latest shots give us a sneak peek at the BMW 135i Coupé in action. Pretty hot stuff! Enjoy:
Need of Speed: 2051SHIFT is scheduled for release in Europe on September 17th and North America on September 22nd.
Moving right along, Rocksteady Studios have released a new behind-the-scenes trailer for their upcoming Action-Stealth title, Batman: Arkham Asylum. Running just over a minute and a half long, the video discusses the game's combat system, the predator mechanic and some of the gadgets at your disposal. Check it out:
Thanks to GameTrailers for the above stream. Mirrors are also available at the following websites:
GamersHellFileShackFileFrontWorthPlayingBatman: Arkham Asylum is scheduled for release in North America on August 25th and Europe on August 28th.
Moving right along, Deadline Games have released a short teaser trailer for Part 2 of their episodic Action-Brawler, Watchmen: The End is Nigh. The minute-long clip gives us a quick look at some of the new enemies and environments included in the upcoming episode. Check it out:
Thanks to GameTrailers for the above stream. Mirrors are also available at the FileShack and WorthPlaying.com.
Watchmen: The End Is Night Part 2 is scheduled for release on July 29th.
Fresh out of the oven, Cryptic Studios have released a three new screenshots from their upcoming massively multiplayer online RPG, Star Trek Online. These latest shots feature a pair of space battles, some huge explosions and a someone getting lit up like a Christmas tree. Enjoy:
Star Trek Online's release date is still TBD.
Microsoft's planned hands-free controller Project Natal, planned for Xbox 360, is going to go beyond the realm of consoles as well as video games, according to a new interview with corporation founder Bill Gates.
By the sounds of it, we can expect the new technology to be Windows-capable, and to come with all sorts of functions. It's not too far off, either -- Gates notes it will happen in just over a year.
"[It's] not just for games, but for media consumption as a whole," he reveals. "If they connect it up to Windows PCs for interacting in terms of meetings, and collaboration, and communication, you put the camera in now it's a cool thing, and it's just an example where Microsoft research did the original stuff to show, with the depth information, something great could be done. Then both the Xbox guys and the Windows guys latched onto that and now even since they latched onto it the idea of how it can be used in the office is getting much more concrete, and is pretty exciting."
Gates later comments they're already using it in the Microsoft office on a Windows PC -- the way they see it, the question is "why not?"
It's not clear whether or not Natal will be used for PC gaming, but we're assuming so. Anyone else dreaming of a top of the line projector screen, 7.1 sound, Natal-based setup, and playing Mirror's Edge 3?
Breaking out the eyecandy this afternoon, Bethesda Softworks have released some of the first screenshots from their upcoming Fallout 3: Mothership Zeta DLC. These latest shots give us a quick look at the ship's crash site, the inner core, the Deathray and a drone battle. Enjoy:
The Mothership Zeta DLC is scheduled for release on August 3rd.
Keeping us droolin' today, Electronic Arts has released four new screenshots from their upcoming racing title, Need for Speed: SHIFT. These latest shots give us a sneak peek at the new Drift mode in action. Pretty hot stuff! Check 'em out:
Need of Speed: SHIFT is scheduled for release in Europe on September 17th and North America on September 22nd.
There was a fairly sizable kerfuffle when Left 4 Dead 2 was unexpectedly announced. There was even a small boycott effort launched.
Gamers were mostly upset with Valve for announcing Left 4 Dead 2 before they felt Left 4 Dead 1 had reached the end of its lifespan. Many gamers saw it as a cash-in on the popularity of the game,even though Valve tried to assure people that they would continue to make content for the original game.
Another thing that miffed many was that if Valve brought out Left 4 Dead2, perceptive fans saw that this may further fractionalize and segment the game's already limited playerbase.
Valve has heard these angry Internet voices and has been trying to keep their fans happy. On the issue of splitting the playerbase, Valve now has said that they are looking at ways of allowing both Left 4 Dead 1 & 2 players to play together. The Valve team is also hoping to make it easy for mods to run on both the first and second game without much work on the part of the mod-makers.
Following some anonymous teaser trailers posted on YouTube and some blatant hints on VG247, a new game in the MechWarrior (MW) series has been confirmed. Out of comission since 2002's MechWarrior 4 expansion pack, the series will be 'rebooted' with a new game simply called MechWarrior, releasing on the Xbox 360 and PC. (Sidenote: MW4 and its expansions will soon be available free.)
Smith and Tinker (S&T) will be producing the game, with Pirahna Games developing, working with Unreal Engine 3; S&T's co-founder Jordan Weisman helped form FASA, the company which created the BattleTech universe the series is based on. So it appears, the new game is in good hands.
Set on the planet Deshler in 3015, you take on the role of Adrian Khol, a "wayward nobleman" and more of a partier/slacker type than anything else -- however, House Kurita invades the planet, killing Khol's family, naturally prompting him to enter mechanical war machines and blow the hell out of people.
As you'd expect, the new title takes advantage of modern technology; by the sounds of it, this one is potentially the truest representation of what the creators were after all these years -- they say they're aiming to fully capture that sense of actually being in a giant mech in the middle of a very dynamic battlefield.
A publisher isn't firmed up yet, so neither is the production budget, but we'd imagine it won't be too difficult to get the proper support. Nevertheless, the plan is to have a full single-player campaign, four-player co-op campaign (!), a full-on multiplayer suite, and cross-platform play.
A main aim of MechWarrior will be placing equal importance on each mech; sticking with the one you choose will pay off in the long run via experience and increased piloting skills, resulting in better accuracy and damage, meaning you could viably stick with a light class and vault your way throughout the whole game. Also worth noting is the game will change (though it's not specified how) based on which machine you choose. The amount of class types is yet to be known, but there are four at present: the Jenner (light class), Warhammer and Rifleman (heavy class), and Atlas Prime, an assault class mech as fearful as it sounds (that's the skullfaced fella in the trailer above).
It's far too early for a release date of course, but feel free to speculate!
According to Take-Two Interactive's latest fiscal report, the publisher has decided to delay the release of 2K Marin's highly anticipated first person shooter, BioShock 2, to "provide additional development time for the title." Previously scheduled for release in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009, the game is now expected to launch sometime in fiscal 2010. Take-Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick offered the following comments on the delay:
"We recognize that our revised outlook for the balance of fiscal year 2009, due to both internal and external factors, is a disappointment. That said, we concluded that moving the release of BioShock 2 into fiscal year 2010 was the right decision for the product. We believe the result will be a more compelling consumer experience and a better performing product in the marketplace. At the same time, near term retail conditions have proven to be more challenging for our business than the assumptions built into our prior outlook. We remain confident in the long term potential for Take-Two's20cc business, and our ability to capitalize on that potential through our exceptional creative talent and solid balance sheet."
Hopefully the development doesn't drag too deep into 2010. :/
Keeping things interesting on this slow news day, Valve Software has released a single new screenshot from their upcoming zombie-shooter, Left 4 Dead 2. This latest shot gives us a sneak peek at the "Swamp Fever" campaign, which they'll be showing off at this year's Comic Con in San Diego. Enjoy:
Left 4 Dead 2 is scheduled for release on November 17th.
NVIDIA released a quick SLI profile patch, to add support for multiple video cards playing the games ArmA II, and Anno 1404 (Dawn of Discovery).
You can download the patch here. In order for it to work, you need to be using Forceware drivers v186.18.
While a second video card probably isn't that necessary to keep things moving in the highly-rated trade and colony sim Anno 1404, ArmA II is a different story. According to user reports, the battlefield simulator FPS is extremely demanding on your hardware, perhaps even worthy of being known as the 'new Crysis.'
Some signs indicate that an announcement of a new member of the Command & Conquer RTS family is coming soon. But as announcements go, this one must have been sabotaged by the Nod or something.
The ball started rolling when fansite CNC Generals World found an interesting survey, made by EA. A section of the survey seemed to be designed to get feedback on some new things, in a new Command & Conquer 4 PC RTS game. Here are the fascinating bits from that survey that has since been taken offline:
• Play in the first RTS game with MMORPG like player progression in which you are rewarded every time you play. Every unit you kill in single player, multiplayer, or skirmish gives you experience points that allows you to level up your abilities and unlock new units, powers, and upgrades to your arsenal.
• Introducing the first mobile base in RTS games: The Crawler. Focus on the action as the Crawler becomes your all-in-one base, which can be deployed and redeployed anywhere on the battlefield for even more strategic options
• Play with all new, bigger and badder, units from GDI and Nod, including the Crawler, the first ever mobile base in RTS games
• Dive into an all-new story written by a new scriptwriting team and told through trademark C&C cinematics taken to the next level with grittier, stylized FMVs in the vein of Minority Report.
• Play in the first ever class-based C&C game – a new challenge for C&C and RTS players to master
• Play the campaign on your own or tackle it with a friend, as co-operative campaigns return
• Play in epic 5 vs 5 online multiplayer with all new objective-based game modes
From there, the story goes on. EA found out that C&C fans were all excited by the new hints of a new game. So then it seems some EA-inite thought that they might as well let the cat out of the GDI-sanctioned bag, and Tweeted that a press announcement was up on their press site, with the official word about the new game. But the press release never showed up. The Tweet read "EA LOS ANGELES ANNOUNCES THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMAND & CONQUER 4!"
Come on, EA! It's not like anyone would be surprised to hear that there is a new C&C in the works. Spill the beans.
Keeping things rollin' tonight, BioWare has fired-up a new developer diary regarding the voice-over work in their upcoming massively multiplayer online RPG, Star Wars: The Old Republic. The article touches on their decision to include full voice acting for all characters in the game, the creation process, and how they plan to keep the quality top-notch. Here's a little snippet:
As I said, The Old Republic is the size of at least 10 KOTORs recorded back to back. Basically, it takes a very large team all focused on the same outcome - producing the most VO assets ever produced at the highest quality possible. There are dedicated internal teams at both LucasArts and BioWare, and externally, there are also multiple219c studio audio engineers and post production teams. On any given day, there can be over a dozen people working specifically on The Old Republic voice-over and that doesn’t include any actors!
Head over to the game's official website for the full thing!
Kicking things off today, Rocksteady Studios have released a brand new teaser trailer for their upcoming Action-Stealth title, Batman: Arkham Asylum. Running just over two minutes long, the video introduces us to some of the villains you'll encounter in the cold, dark halls of Arkham Asylum. Check it out:
Thanks to GameTrailers for the above stream. Mirrors are also available at the following websites:
FileShackWorthPlayingActionTripBatman: Arkham Asylum is scheduled for release in North America on August 25th and Europe on August 28th.
Keeping us entertained today, the guys over at Centauri Productions have released a short teaser trailer for their latest Point & Click Adventure title, Memento Mori. The minute-long clip helps "set the mood" with a mix of cinematic cutscenes and in-game action. Check it out:
Thanks to Game 20eb Trailers for the above stream. Mirrors are also available at GamersHell and the FileFront.
Keeping the good news coming today, EALA has officially announced the development of Command & Conquer 4, which they're calling the "epic conclusion of the Tiberium Saga". Due out in 2010, the game will offer two campaigns playable solo or cooperatively, a new 5v5 objective-based multiplayer mode, mobile bases, persistent player progression and much, much more! Here's a little snippet from the press release:
"Command & Conquer is a powerful franchise with an amazing 15-year legacy. We are thrilled to bring the dramatic Tiberium saga to a conclusion in Command & Conquer 4. This game is designed to give fans all the answers they've been looking for," said Mike Glosecki, Lead Producer of Command & Conquer 4 at EA Los Angeles. "With its objective-based multiplayer mode, persistent player progression and all-in-one mobile base, players will experience Command & Conquer like never before."
They also note that the July 24th episode of BattleCast PrimeTime will be offering some new details on C&C4 and GameTra 221f ilers TV will be airing a cinematic trailer on July 23rd. So keep an eye out for those!
Following some anonymous teaser trailers posted on YouTube and some blatant hints on VG247, a new game in the MechWarrior (MW) series has been confirmed. Out of comission since 2002's MechWarrior 4 expansion pack, the series will be 'rebooted' with a new game simply called MechWarrior, releasing on the Xbox 360 and PC. (Sidenote: MW4 and its expansions will soon be available free.)
Smith and Tinker (S&T) will be one of the developers behind the game (Piranha Games the other), working with Unreal Engine 3; S&T's co-founder Jordan Weisman helped form FASA, the company which created the BattleTech universe the series is based on. So it appears, the new game is in good hands.
Set on the planet Deshler in 3015, you take on the role of Adrian Khol, a "wayward nobleman" and more of a partier/slacker type than anything else -- however, House Kurita invades the planet, killing Khol's family, naturally prompting him to enter mechanical war machines and blow the hell out of people.
As you'd expect, the new title takes advantage of modern technology; by the sounds of it, this one is potentially the truest representation of what the creators were after all these years -- they say they're aiming to fully capture that sense of actually being in a giant mech in the middle of a very dynamic battlefield.
A publisher isn't firmed up yet, so neither is the production budget, but we'd imagine it won't be too difficult to get the proper support. Nevertheless, the plan is to have a full single-player campaign, four-player co-op campaign (!), a full-on multiplayer suite, and cross-platform play.
A main aim of MechWarrior will be placing equal importance on each mech; sticking with the one you choose will pay off in the long run via experience and increased piloting skills, resulting in better accuracy and damage, meaning you could viably stick with a light class and vault your way throughout the whole game. Also worth noting is the game will change (though it's not specified how) based on which machine you choose. The amount of class types is yet to be known, but there are four at present: the Jenner (light class), Warhammer and Rifleman (heavy class), and Atlas Prime, an assault class mech as fearful as it sounds (that's the skullfaced fella in the trailer above).
It's far too early for a release date of course, but feel free to speculate!
Summer getting you down? All that sun bad for your late night gaming sessions? Well here is something to mark on your game-genda: Global Agenda, the PC sci-fi MMOTPS, is set to enter beta July 24th.
The persistent world, commando-themed sci-fi third-person shooter by Hi-Rez Studios is still recruiting recruits to be beta testers, too, if you are interested in signing up. All you have to do is go here, and fill in all the little white boxes with your pertinent information.
Global Agenda is part of a new breed of Unreal Engine 3 powered persistent world shooters. This oft-delayed game will be facing primary competition from the likes of Huxely and CrimeCraft. You can see some of bang-bang-stabbie-stabbie gameplay in this extra-dramatic trailer here:
According to a report at ShackNews tonight, Raven Software's upcoming first person shooter, Singularity, has been pushed back to March 2010 to to avoid going up against Modern Warfare 2 this Holiday season and give the game a better chance establish itself as a "must-have" title. Click here for Activision's full statement on the delay.
Hitting the web today is a new singleplayer demo for Codemasters' latest open-world racing title, FUEL. Weighing in at 1.04GB, the demo includes the Ocean Rush career event and the Blitz checkpoint challenge. You can grab this bad boy from any of the following websites:
GamersHellFilePlanetFileShackStrategyInformerWorthPlayingFUEL is in stores now!
Some signs indicate that an announcement of a new member of the Command & Conquer RTS family is coming soon. But as announcements go, this one must have been sabotaged by the Nod or something.
The ball started rolling when fansite CNC Generals World found an interesting survey, made by EA. A section of the survey seemed to be designed to get feedback on some new things, in a new Command & Conquer 4 PC RTS game. Here are the fascinating bits from that survey that has since been taken offline:
• Play in the first RTS game with MMORPG like player progression in which you are rewarded every time you play. Every unit you kill in single player, multiplayer, or skirmish gives you experience points that allows you to level up your abilities and unlock new units, powers, and upgrades to your arsenal.
• Introducing the first mobile base in RTS games: The Crawler. Focus on the action as the Crawler becomes your all-in-one base, which can be deployed and redeployed anywhere on the battlefield for even more strategic options
• Play with all new, bigger and badder, units from GDI and Nod, including the Crawler, the first ever mobile base in RTS games
• Dive into an all-new story written by a new scriptwriting team and told through trademark C&C cinematics taken to the next level with grittier, stylized FMVs in the vein of Minority Report.
• Play in the first ever class-based C&C game – a new challenge for C&C and RTS players to master
• Play the campaign on your own or tackle it with a friend, as co-operative campaigns return
• Play in epic 5 vs 5 online multiplayer with all new objective-based game modes
From there, the story goes on. EA found out that C&C fans were all excited by the new hints of a new game. So then it seems some EA-inite thought that they might as well let the cat out of the GDI-sanctioned bag, and Tweeted that a press announcement was up on their press site, with the official word about the new game. But the press release never showed up. The Tweet read "EA LOS ANGELES ANNOUNCES THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMAND & CONQUER 4!"
Come on, EA! It's not like anyone would be surprised to hear that there is a new C&C in the works. Spill the beans.
NVIDIA released a quick SLI profile patch, to add support for multiple video cards playing the games ArmA II, and Anno 1404 (Dawn of Discovery).
You can download the patch here. In order for it to work, you need to be using Forceware drivers v186.18.
While a second video card probably isn't that necessary to keep things moving in the highly-rated trade and colony sim Anno 1404, ArmA II is a different story. According to user reports, the battlefield simulator FPS is extremely demanding on your hardware, perhaps even worthy of being known as the 'new Crysis.'
Square Enix has announced plans to form a new entity called "Square Enix Europe" for publishing Square Enix and Eidos products, with the aim of creating "one efficient and powerful structure for game publishing."
Eidos' various development studios will be reporting to the newly formed Square Enix Europe -- name is subject to change.
This new publishing branch is to be led by Eidos CEO Phil Rogers and will combine the two companies' sales and marketing offices, resulting in numerous layoffs. Additionally, U.S. sales, marketing and distribution operations will be transferred from Eidos to John Yamamoto at Square Enix's regional office.
"Unfortunately we are expecting some jobs to be impacted directly by this in both Europe and North America," read a company statement. "We are hoping to minimise this wherever possible and offer support and advice to any employees directly affected."
There was a fairly sizable kerfuffle when Left 4 Dead 2 was unexpectedly announced. There was even a small boycott effort launched.
Gamers were mostly upset with Valve for announcing Left 4 Dead 2 before they felt Left 4 Dead 1 had reached the end of its lifespan. Many gamers saw it as a cash-in on the popularity of the game,even though Valve tried to assure people that they would continue to make content for the original game.
Another thing that miffed many was that if Valve brought out Left 4 Dead2, perceptive fans saw that this may further fractionalize and segment the game's already limited playerbase.
Valve has heard these angry Internet voices and has been trying to keep their fans happy. On the issue of splitting the playerbase, Valve now has said that they are looking at ways of allowing both Left 4 Dead 1 & 2 players to play together. The Valve team is also hoping to make it easy for mods to run on both the first and second game without much work on the part of the mod-makers.
Creating a little buzz this afternoon, Lucas Arts has announced that they'll be rereleasing some their classic PC titles through Valve Software's Steam digital distribution service starting later this week. According to the official press release, the first batch of games will be available on July 8th and will include the following fan-favorites:
Armed and DangerousIndiana Jones and the Fate of AtlantisIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic AdventureLEGO Indiana Jones: The Original AdventureLOOMStar Wars Battlefront IIStar Wars Republic CommandoStar Wars Starfig 2096 hterThe DigThrillville: Off the RailsI wonder what else they have in store for us. :D
Getting our adrenaline pumping tonight, Codemasters has released a brand new gameplay trailer for their upcoming military shooter, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising. Running just under two minutes long, the video features a squad of US Special Forces assaulting a Chinese People's Liberation Army checkpoint, but find themselves on the run when guards are alerted to their presence. Check it out:
Thanks to GameTrailers for the above stream. Mirrors are also available at the following websites:
GamersHellFileFrontStrategyInformerWorthPlayingOperation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is scheduled for release in Fall 2009.
Ubisoft is surely the biggest developer with a studio in Canada -- its Montral division has been heading up the revived Prince of Persia franchise for years now, for one example -- and it looks like it just got a little bigger with the addition of a fourth facility based Toronto, Ontario, the country's largest city. Operations for Ubisoft Toronto will begin late this year.
Premier Dalton McGuinty stated in a press conference today, “Our world is one where you can borrow capital, you can copy technology and you can buy natural resources. But to build a high wage and a high standard of living you need talent. By investing in Ubisoft, we’re building Ontario’s economy now and for the future.”
800 jobs are expected to be created over the next 10 years as a result of the new venture, thanks in part to the government of Ontario, which is investing $263 million in it over the same period; Ubisoft's own investment will be over half a billion dollars (CAD).
“Today’s announcement marks a strategic move for Ubisoft as we continue to expand our internal development force,” said Yves Guillemot, president and chief executive officer at Ubisoft. “We are in an excellent position to grow and after extensive analysis we are thrilled to have reached an agreement with the government of Ontario to found our new studio in Toronto. The city is one of North America’s economic and cultural epicenters and our expectations are high. We’re excited to be able to count on the exceptional local talent, who will contribute to our accelerated growth and will have a profound impact the video game industry with the excellence of their creativity.
The new outfit will be overseen by Yannis Mallat, CEO at Ubisoft Montral; it's said the new team will be working on Triple-A games and collaborating with Toronto's finest film veterans to "enhance video game production and extend Ubisoft’s convergence strategy", the latter pertaining to planned efforts in the realms of books, comics, short films and other such things.
Catching our eye tonight, EA DICE has released a brand new teaser trailer for their upcoming World War 2-based multiplayer shooter, Battlefield 1943. Running just over a minute long, the video introduces us to the tropical island of Guadalcanal, one of the three maps you'll find in the game. Check it out:
Thanks to GameTrailers for the above stream. Prefer a manuel download? We have you covered:
GamersHellFileShackStrategyInformerBattlefield 1943 is scheduled for release this September.
Giving u a peek behind the scenes today, 2K Marin has released some new concept art from their upcoming first person shooter, BioShock 2. These latest images give us a look at the "reinvisioned" Little Sisters, both before and after being saved. Check 'em out:
BioShock 2 is scheduled for release in Europe on October 30th and North America on November 3rd.
LucasArts has been sending the video game community into a frenzy of speculations and rumors by teasing at their Monday announcement. Something about the "old" and the new.
Their Twitter account was buzzing with activity all weekend, and now we finally learn what that big announcement is. LucasArts has partnered with Steam, Valve's digital distribution service, to bring back classic franchises. Ten games from several of these franchises will be made available for download via Steam on July 8, this Wednesday:
• Armed and Dangerous
• Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure
• LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure
• LOOM
• Star Wars Battlefront II
• Star Wars Republic Commando
• Star Wars Starfighter
• The Dig
• Thrillville: Off the Rails
This latest partnership reflects the company's plans to "revitalize" its existing portfolio of games from numerous notable franchises. They're alread bringing back Monkey Island, as previously announced.
“This effort is going to make it possible to introduce a whole new generation of gamers to LucasArts’ classic games,” said Darrell Rodriguez, president of LucasArts.
“It also gives more people a chance to play our games by making them available long after they’ve disappeared from store shelves. We hope our fans are as excited as we are about our plans and we can’t wait to share what’s coming next. This is just the beginning.”
Keeping things interesting on this slow news day, the guys over at Rocksteady Studios have released a new behind-the-scenes trailer for their upcoming Action-Stealth title, Batman: Arkham Asylum. Running just over two minutes long, the video focuses the game's setting and some of the characters you'll encounter. Check it out:
Thanks to GameTrailers for the above stream. Mirrors are also available at the following websites:
GamersHellFileShackActionTripBatman: Arkham Asylum is scheduled for release in North America on August 25th and Europe on August 28th.
Grabbing our attention this afternoon, BioWare has released a new timeline trailer for their upcoming massively multiplayer online RPG, Star Wars: The Old Republic. Clocking in at three and a half minute long, the video focuses on the Mandalorians, their nomadic ways and their recent resurgence. Pretty interesting stuff! Enjoy:
Thanks to GameTrailers for the above stream. Hit-up any of the following websites for a mirror:
YouGamers (courtesy of GamersHell)WorthPlayingActionTripStar Wars: The Old Republic's release date is still TBA.
We're generally not the flash gaming type, you may have guessed, but a new title on Newgrounds (NG) really floored us: Mega Man X RPG.
Developed by NG member ChamberACR, Chapter 1 was released recently, a follow-up to the "0" chapter released earlier in the year -- ACR recommends you just skip that one, though, and just head straight to Chapter 1 which is much improved. The game essentially plays like the Paper Mario series (complete with timed hits) crossed with the Mega Man X series, and it does it so well you wonder why the actual creators haven't thought of this before, instead of, you know, plodding out god knows how many new iterations without too much spirit or innovation (Mega Man 9 is excepted, of course).
There are cutscenes, an RPG-style story that actually seems quite good, random battles, dropped items, great music, and save support -- all the standards we love so much. The game runs at a max 720x540 resolution, and unfortunately you can't fullscreen it, which does kind of bring you out of the experience, but hey, it's great enough you're not terribly bothered.
A "semi-sequel" to Chapter 1 is in development, subtitled "Mission Pack" -- the developer, sadly, will be heading off with the Army in August, so no release date is firmed up, though he hopes it will be before then. Below are the planned features and their status -- quite ambitious for a little flash game.
- Save Transfer feature enables all equipment/stats/etc to carry over. (90% complete)
- New enemies/bosses. (10% complete)
- New animations for main characters. (0% complete)
- Items are now broken into four parts: Consumables, Treasures, Scrap and Key Items. This should help alleviate any confusion as to what items do. (100% complete)
- Mix and match scrap to create new items and equipment! (0% complete)
- More efficient code. (100% complete).
The bottom line with the title is this: if Capcom have any sense (and we like to think they'd appreciate something like this), they'll make something commercial out of this in collaboration with the developer, quite unlike what Square Enix did with the Chrono Trigger title Crimison Echoes. BioWare's Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood did pretty well after all -- where's our traditional Mega Man RPG after all these years?
(Image not by me -- it was found in photobucket here.)
The space-ship themed MMORPG EVE Online has been at the forefront of virtual economies, with a thriving gaming world containing billions of virtual credits, overseen by a real-life actual economist. Like any good MMORPG, all those virtual credits add up to a couple of real-world dollars -- a fact that proved tempting for one player of the game.
RicDic -- a name that will live on in infamy -- decided that while he was rich in EVE, he wasn't all that well off IRL So, he decided to pull a good ole fashioned robbery. Being a CEO of an in-game corporation (the equivalent of a guild in a fantasy game), he had access to all the funds collected by his gaming-group. With one massive withdraw, he purged the company accounts, ending up taking somewhere around 200 billion space-credits. Sold to other players in the real world, this worked out to about $5,000 USD.
"I'm not proud of it at all, that's why I didn't brag about it," the terrible person was quoted as saying. "But you know, if I had to do it again, I probably would've chosen the same path based on the same situation," said the thief, as quoted by the Reuters news agency.
This big huge robbery caused a run on the in-game banks, and caused all sorts of anger explosions to break out in the game's forums.
"Anyone who 'understands' RicDic's actions and sees them as justifiable should be treated as a future scammer and should not be trusted with anything worth more than a Mexican peso. RicDic mismanaged his finances and found himself in a situation not uncommon to many people in these current times," said Lecherito, one of many upset EVE players.
"He should have stepped down and sold his computer, sold his car, moved to a house/apartment actually affordable on what must be an absolutely dismal salary, get a second job, etc etc etc etc. When **** hit the fan he made the decision of a weaker man. Stabbing friends in the back for his own benefit."
