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SEGA announces an October 6 North American release date for Alpha Protocol
for Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. They celebrate the news with the
release of a new developer diary movie for the espionage-themed RPG, which can
be found on AtomicGamer.
Dawn Of War II Website
announces the planned beta testing of the "There is Only War" patch for Dawn
of War II is now underway on Steam. They outline the process for
installing the beta, and word is: "The Beta period will run until Tuesday, July
14th, 2009 to account for the delay."
Steam News announces the
availability of a new 2K HUGE
GAME PACK, offering a 10% discount off the 59.99 bundle price through
Monday, which makes the pack $53.99, compared with the $229.80 cost of
purchasing the bundled games individually. Here is the huge rundown on what the
huge pack includes, with no extra charge for the odd characters: The 2K
HUGE GAME PACK includes: Sid Meier's Civilization® IV, Sid Meier's
Civilization® III Complete, Sid Meier's Pirates!, Shattered Union, Prey,
CivCity: Rome, Civilization IV®: Warlords, Sid Meier's Railroads!, Railroad
Tycoon 3, Railroad Tycoon II Platinum, X-COM: Terror From the Deep, X-COM:
Apocalypse, BioShockâ„¢, X-COM: Interceptor, X-COM: UFO Defense, X-COM:
Enforcer, Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword, Freedom Force, Freedom Force vs.
the Third Reich, Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization.
GameTap announces the addition of
Runaway: The Dream of the Turtle to their subscription gaming service.
They also announce this week's addition to their
free game area
is
Rogue
Trooper, the third-person shooter based on the 2000AD comic of the same
name.
Steam News announces the
release of a new automatic patch for
Killing Floor, the
co-op zombie game from Tripwire Interactive. The new version includes bug fixes.
gameplay tweaks, perk tweaks, and more.
Splinter Cell: Conviction
can be completed in 12 hours on the Official Xbox 360 Magazine predicts the
amount of gameplay to expect in the coming stealth/shooter sequel (thanks
1UP). Ubisoft's Maxime
Beland explains this is in the context of "normal" difficulty: "And then we're
going to have the normal mode for normal gamers, that are going to spend 12
hours playing our game and not 30 because they're dying all the time."
A few recent updates to the Phantom
Entertainment Blog describe drama at this company that at one time
was promising a game-changing console system (thanks Mike Martinez). Apparently trading
of their stock has been temporarily suspended by the SEC due to delinquent
filings, and for a while they were actually accepting donations, but this has
changed, and they are now refunding donations to make sure they don't run afoul
of the SEC again. These updates come from the man who took over as CEO in July
of 2008, who gives a perspective on the company's previous way of "doing
business" (make air quotes when you say that), and what to expect going
forward: Since the Infinium days nothing was produced…only the HOPE and
PROMISE of a product. Millions of dollars spent on theory and well….who knows
what that management did. They were getting paid convalouted amounts of money,
and well it was what it was.
Let’s push pin that in at 2002 just for a time frame.
I became the new CEO in July of 2008. With barely any money and a four person
staff working on faith alone, the Lapboard will be available in July 2009 (
currently crossing the atlantic )
Computer
and Video Games has word from Valve to expect the announcement of another
DLC pack for Left 4 Dead for both Windows and Xbox 360 before the summer
is over. "We plan to keep supporting Left 4 Dead 1. There will be some
announcements coming before summer's out about what's coming there, and then we
haven't shown everything that's in Left 4 Dead 2 yet," is what they hear from
Valve's Doug Lombardi. "I think 8, 9 months from now once everything's been out
for a while and everyone's had time to see the complete product of Left 4 Dead 2
and see continued support for Left 4 Dead 1, they may sort of see what we were
up to and what the method of our madness was there." He also says that the
release of Left 4 Dead 2 will be preceded by a playable demo.
The good old gamers at GOG.com
announce the addition of some new old games to their DRM-free marketplace. They
have added Crystals of Arborea and Ishar 3 to their
Ishar Compilation, which
remains at $5.99, and yes, those who bought this when it was a two-game
collection can get the other two games for free now that this has become a
four-game anthology. They also now offer
The
Pandora Directive, the fourth Tex Murphy game, for $9.99, and
have added
Personal Nightmare to their $5.99 selections, with the 1989
horror/adventure game earning the distinction of being the oldest of their
vintage offerings. Finally, since no weekend is complete without a sale these
days, they announce that starting tomorrow, all their pinball games will be 20% off through Monday.
Steam is now offering
digital distribution of Trine, Frozenbyte's action/platformer with a
fantasy theme. Update: This story initially described the price listed as
$19.99, but it is now $29.99, as apparently the lower price
was an error
which was quickly corrected. Anyway, a playable Trine demo was
released last week for your tryin' Trine pleasure, and here is a general
overview of the game: Trine is a fantasy action game where the player can
create and use physics-based objects to beat hazardous puzzles and threatening
enemies. Set in a world of great castles and strange machinery, three heroes are
bound to a mysterious device called the Trine in a quest to save the kingdom
from evil…
The gameplay is based on fully interactive physics - each character's different
abilities help the player battle an army of undead and defeat hazardous
contraptions. The player can at any time freely choose whoever is best suited
for the upcoming challenge or puzzle: The Wizard is able to summon objects to
help solve puzzles and create new ways to overcome obstacles, the Thief uses her
agility and dead-on accuracy to swiftly surprise the monsters, and the Knight
unleashes mayhem and physical destruction wherever he goes.
Ubisoft announces they've picked up the publishing rights to Heroes Over
Europe, the World War II aerial combat game in development at Transmission
Games. Earlier this year publisher Red Mile indicated this project
was in trouble after losing the support of Atari. With Ubisoft now keeping
the game aloft, word is a worldwide release for Windows, Xbox 360, and
PlayStation 3 is now planned for this September. Here are a
batch of new
screenshots from the game, and here's the announcement: SAN FRANCISCO – July 2,
2009 – Today Ubisoft announced it will be publishing Heroes Over Europe, a
flight combat game designed for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment
system from Microsoft, the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, and
Windows-based PC. The sequel to Heroes of the Pacific, the World War II flight
combat game, Heroes Over Europe builds on the game's impressive legacy with
intense dogfights, a highly detailed realistic visual presentation and even more
online options.
"We are pleased to be bringing Heroes Over Europe to retailers worldwide,” said
Tony Key, senior vice president of sales and marketing, Ubisoft. "The
action-packed gameplay and realistic imagery in Heroes Over Europe will help
bring some of history's most exciting air battles to life for an experience that
gamers will enjoy.”
Developed by Transmission Games in Melbourne, Australia, and powered by an
all-new engine, Heroes Over Europe is set to raise the bar for flight combat
games with the all new "Ace Kill” close combat action, four online modes
supporting up to 16 players and fully customizable aircrafts with localized
damage. Visually, the game takes no prisoners with meticulously rendered
environments including faithful recreations of London, Berlin and the French
Alps, and ultra-realistic iconic warplanes of the era, all presented in stunning
high definition graphics.
Heroes Over Europe is scheduled for worldwide release in September 2009. For
more information about Heroes Over Europe, please visit:
http://www.heroesovereurope.com
Steam News announces a
weekend sale on Fallout 3,
the action/RPG sequel from Bethesda Softworks. The game is now offered for
$24.99, a 50% discount off its usual $49.99 price tag.
A new
ARMA II Developer's Diary Movie on the ARMA II website features an
introduction to basic game controls and principles in Bohemia Interactive's
military shooter sequel. The clip is narrated by Bohemia PR manager Jan Prazak,
whose English is impressive while his Czech accent is not too hard to
understand. The clip shows the player's physical presence in the game world, and
various elements intended on giving this a greater sense of realism.
A new trailer from East India Company is now available, showcasing
multiplayer action from the upcoming naval combat RTS game. Word is: "East India
Company features five distinct multiplayer modes including 'Domination' and
'Last Ship Floating' and can support up to 12 players. Players can choose
between 11 different ships for battle." The clip is available on the
YouTube.
Deep Silver announces an October 2 worldwide release date for Risen, the
Windows and Xbox 360 role-playing game from Piranha Bytes that at one time was
being developed under the working title Project PPB. Word is that all
voice-overs have been recorded and the game is now feature complete. "We're
excited to be able to announce the release date for Risen this far in advance,"
says Deep Silver. "We've been in beta for a few weeks now and are focusing on
stamping out the remaining bugs and optimizing gameplay."
Eidos Interactive announces the release a new pack for Battlestations: Pacific
via Windows LIVE and Xbox LIVE today, with another pack planned for release on
23. Today's new pack is called the Mustang Pack, which adds six new units,
including the P-51 Mustang (the Cadillac of the skies!) and the theoretical
Super Yamato Class battleship, as well as 18 pieces of nose art.
Here
are some screenshots from the new pack which will set you back 160 points on
the Windows LIVE or Xbox LIVE marketplaces. The other pack is called The Carrier
Battles Map Pack, which is planned for release on July 23 for 800 points. Here
is how that's described: "The Carrier Battles Map Pack gives gamers four new
maps, playable across all five multiplayer modes. Take part in a clash of
carriers at Midway, do battle at dawn in the mist of the Philippine Islands,
experience the fury of Kamikaze attacks in the rocky islands of the Leyte Gulf
and take control of your forces amongst the mountain peaks and glacial waters of
the icy Aleutian Islands." Finally, we must admit to missing the release of the
promised "Volcano" map pack, which
looks like it is now available.
The sale of most of the assets of bankrupt Midway Games to Warner Bros. has been
approved by a Delaware judge, according to a report on
chicagotribune.com. Other legal actions stood in the way of
this deal, including a recent lawsuit over the Mortal
Kombat rights, but the story indicates these have been cleared up, and the
sale of most of Midway's assets to Warner Bros. for approximately $33 million
has been approved.
The Hollywood Reporter has word on plans for an Asteroids movie, odd enough news to stand out in the world of movie adaptations for video games,
which are known for inspiring head-scratching. They say Universal won a
four-studio bidding war to pick up the film rights to the classic story-free
Atari arcade game and that the feature
adaptation will be produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura, who is also
producer on G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, so he obviously enjoys a
challenge.
StarCraft II
Interview on Shacknews talks with Dustin Browder about Blizzard's upcoming
RTS sequel. The lengthy conversation delves into detail about gameplay and the
current state of the long-in-development project. They also discuss the new
Battle.net, which Dustin says is "up in the air" right now: I can't tell
you a whole lot because in reality, anything I say might be a lie. We're still
working on it, and it's kind of up in the air. I kind of wish it wasn't, but it
kind of is. What you saw today is not where we're going. It's a version that we
have that has a lot of problems that we don't like. It was never meant to be the
final version, but we're getting further and further away from that being close
to the final version. We're trying to do more and more stuff.
We're hoping to have support for casual leagues, support for professional
leagues, hardcore leagues. Hoping to do a lot more with friends, more with
replay sharing. A lot of it you can probably guess, but what makes ship, what
doesn't, what comes in later patches--what we decide to do with it exactly does
depend. And I've got a design meeting today, and it's about what's going on with
Battle.net.
There's a
Creative Assembly Interview on Strategy Informer where Kieran Brigdan
answers questions about Empire: Total War, their newly
patched RTS sequel. Topics include changes introduced in the new
version 1.3, other changes they have planned, further DLC plans, modification
support, supporting the game through Steam, and more.
Gamasutra - Can Games Become 'Virtual Murder?'.
If, in this hypothetical future, we're capable of stripping away our
empathy and compassion to murder a 99% realistic virtual human (and maybe
even enjoy it), will we be psychologically any different from people who
actually murder those of flesh and blood? Having perhaps unintentionally
trained ourselves to become cold-blooded killers through systematic
desensitization, will we be emotionally capable of doing the same thing in
waking life?
IncGamers - WoW is Killing itself. Thanks Ant.
Yeah, that's right, you heard me. WoW is in the act of committing
suicide, and Blizzard don't even know it. Now, before you get all huffy and
angry with me (save that for later, you Blizzlovers, you), allow me to give
you a bit of background. And when I say background, I mean way, waaaaay
back, to the games that inspired WoW in the first place, and to where these
games went wrong.
Saturday is Fourth of July, which is Independence Day here in the US. This means
the holiday may start as soon as this evening for some folks, so if you are
hitting the roads, please be careful out there, and of course please also take
care if you engage in any shenanigans involving explosives.
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