Spicing things up today, the guys over at Cyanide Studios have released a hot new batch of screenshots from their upcoming action-sports title, Blood Bowl. These latest shots feature a match between the stout Dwarfs and "savagely agile" Lizardmen. Enjoy the carnage:
Creating a little buzz today, the guys over at Capcom have released a brand new singleplayer demo for the upcoming PC edition of Devil May Cry 4. Weighing in at 804MB, the demo includes 10 minutes of play and a single boss fight. Hit any of the following mirrors to start downloading:
YouGamers (courtesy of GamersHell)FileFrontFileShackFilePlanetStrategyInformerWorthPlayingIn addition to the demo, Capcom has released a DMC4 benchmark tool that tests your system's performance while running the game. You can grab this bad boy from GamersHell or the FileShack.
More in the realm of stuff you already knew: all gamers are not antisocial freaks. This according to a study coming out of Victoria University which included 621 subjects.
Dan Loton, a Psychology grad of the institution, decided to prove the dissidence against the notion of gamers generally being an antisocial populace with low self-esteem. Hell dude, you didn't have to do a whole study, here's your proof right here:
Low self-esteem? Don't think so. There's a whole subculture based around trash talking while gaming for gosh sakes. Not to mention the whole Wii as a party console thing. And in case you don't remember elementary, middle, highschool or college, students are crazy about games; it's how I made a lot of my friends then, anyway.
"From a clinical point of view, an addiction is a mental illness with very serious consequences," Loton said. "In this context, we need to ask whether gaming is responsible for causing people’s lives to fall apart in the same way we see with gambling, alcohol or drug addiction."
The study found, quite simply, it's not. Specfically, only one percent of game addicts "suffered from shyness" and no direct connection could be found between "problem gaming" (defined as 50+ hours per week) and social skills or self-esteem. Most of the reported negative effects stemmed from MMORPGs, like World of Warcraft.
It will be interesting to see if this study has any impact on the American Medical Association's plans to formally recognize video game addiction as a mental disorder in 2012, which, according to Loton, needs to do more research.
A new Crysis game is coming. But don't call it a sequel. Its a "parallel story" to what happened during the first-wave alien attack in Crysis. And this time, instead of the playing the role of a nameless, forgettable, straight-forward soldier, you step into the shoes of the zany and British madman, Pyscho.
The game is coming in Autumn from Crytek's Budapest studio. It will be the first title coming out of this new studio, so it'll be interesting to see if those talented Hungarians know what gaming is all about. Perhaps this new Crysis game won't even have a huge, lame level on an alien ship were you float around in space and get lost in a maze. Who knows. The possibilites are damn near limitless.
Apparently Warhead (exclusive to the PC) is going to be made with an "enhanced and optimized" version of the wonder-cool CryENGINE 2 engine. Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli said that the bar will be raised in both the "storytelling and game performance" departments for the new game. Which is good; because as every PC gamer knows, Crysis requires a heck of a machine to run smoothly at high detail settings.
Next-gen FPS fans the other day were disturbed to hear that there would be no further patches for the first Crysis game, so this looks like the reason why.
This is what some PR person wrote in a press release today: "In Crysis Warhead, players will don the Nanosuit of Sergeant Sykes, also known as ‘Psycho’, one of the most memorable characters from Crysis. More brash and aggressive than his Delta Force squad mate Nomad, players will experience Psycho’s parallel story during the events of the original game, finding that life on the other side of the island is even more intense and explosive than they ever could have imagined. Luckily, Psycho’s Nanosuit is just as capable and he’s equipped with an even bigger arsenal of fully customizable weapons and new vehicles, giving players access to the tools they need to dominate any situation. Aside from this new, exciting single player campaign, Crysis Warhead will also feature new multiplayer content. Stay tuned for more details this summer."
My gamer's gut is telling me that Crysis Warhead will be better than the original Crysis. With the original Crysis, they did have to climb many hurdles with the technology. And now those hurdles have been jumped for a benefit of Crytek Budapest. Furthermore, being a first title out of this new studio -- and benefiting from presumably knowing all the flaws of the first game -- I expect the level design for this new game will be a bit more inspired.
Of course, this game might be competing against Far Cry 2 for sales. That could be rough.
Update: Personally I'm looking more forward to MechWarrior: Living Legends, a huge mod coming for Crysis. A new fan-made teaser for this mod came out yesterday, check it out:
Also available for download today is a new patch (v1.1) for Sega's movie-inspired action title, Iron Man. Weighing in at 127MB, this update addresses a compatibility issue with certain SCSI DVD Drives, increases the number of supported PC gamepads, and includes general performance improvements. You can check out the full changelog right here or just hit any of the following mirrors to start downloading:
YouGamers (courtesy of GamersHell) - US / EUFileFrontFileShackWorthPlayingSadly, this update won't make the game fun. :x
As promised, the guys over at Infinity Ward has released a brand new patch (v1.6) for their hit first person shooter, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Weighing in at 282MB, this update adds hardcore and oldschool server browsing filters, fixes a denial of service vulnerability and includes four new maps (Creek, Chinatown, Broadcast, and Killhouse). Hit any of the following mirrors to start downloading:
YouGamers (courtesy of GamersHell)FileFrontFilePlanetFileShackStrategyInformerWorthPlayingGrab it while it's hot! :D
Without any fanfare, Funcom has removed the lockout that prevented non-subscribers from reading the official forums of Age of Conan. Those of you who enjoy good forum drama, or just want some information about the game before dipping in, the it's all now open for you to see.
http://forums.ageofconan.com for the US forums.
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com for the EU forums.
I could spend rest of the afternoon linking to threads on the official forums detailing hilarious, silly or outright sad bits and pieces that describe in great detail the shape that Age of Conan is in, but that would take away the fun of browsing. So go ahead... YouGamers analysis will follow in the next few days, but I can already say it won't be too pretty. The game is simply unfinished, and I'm not talking about small cosmetic bugs or lack of polish - I'm talking about basic fundamental aspects of gameplay. But more on that in our full review.
