The Gaming News Thread

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Oblivion with guns? Oh wait a minute...

[TinCow]

Lucasarts is releasing some of their older catalog of games on Steam. (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/07/06/steam-lucasarts-global-fangasm/) All games are updated to work on XP and Vista; the current list is:


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
Secret Of Monkey Island Special Edition

Of further note are comments that indicate that the rest of the old Lucasarts games will eventually appear as well. This is huge news if, like me, you wish you could play TIE Fighter again with modern graphics.

[Zim]

That would actually be pretty fun for about ten minutes or so. :beam:


Have you ever wanted to club baby seals and hippie environmentalists? No?


CR

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Lucasarts is releasing some of their older catalog of games on Steam. (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/07/06/steam-lucasarts-global-fangasm/) All games are updated to work on XP and Vista; the current list is:

~snip~

Of further note are comments that indicate that the rest of the old Lucasarts games will eventually appear as well. This is huge news if, like me, you wish you could play TIE Fighter again with modern graphics.

Amen! I will probably end up spending up to two hundred dollars on the eventual "everything and the kitchen sink" version of this.

[frogbeastegg]

Lucasarts is releasing some of their older catalog of games on Steam. All games are updated to work on XP and Vista
That's my hopes raised sky-high and dashed into a thousand tiny shards words later. If they turn up on good old games, gamersgate, impulse, or anywhere which isn't steam then I'm there on the first day, credit card in hand. If steam were the only way to get games left on the planet I'd become a non-gamer.

Devastated; these were the games I grew up loving, and have been wanting to play again for years without the hassle of something like SCUMMVM.

I do wonder how Lego Indy counts as old ...

[Vuk]

I tell you what would really make my day: if reaaaally old games were updated. Remember those old DOS ones? P-tomb, Digger, Mars, etc? I have only the fondest memories of games like that.
I don't think I even have to mention that I would love to see a Vista compatible Thief released. :beam:

[Xiahou]

Gamestop seems to be having something of a clearance sale (http://www.gamestop.com/browse/ProductMerch.aspx?groupid=531) on for the rest of July, with a bunch of games for $19.99 or less.

Some games for the Wii that jump out at me are: De Blob, Deadly Creatures, and Tenchu. DeBlob, was pretty amazing, I'm playing Deadly Creatures now (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showpost.php?p=2285148&postcount=1374), and while Tenchu had some flaws and clunky gameplay, it's a lot easier to get over at that price point if you're looking for a ninja fix. :yes:

Also, Chrono Trigger for the DS is on the list at $19.99! :shocked:

ps: For $2 difference between the used and new prices on the list, please buy new and support the developers, rather than screwing them out of any money to save a couple bucks. :wink:

[TinCow]

There are rumors (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/08/05/its-a-trap-lucasarts-tease-x-wing-special-edition/) that Lucasarts will soon announce the re-release of X-Wing and TIE Fighter.

[drone]

There are rumors (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/08/05/its-a-trap-lucasarts-tease-x-wing-special-edition/) that Lucasarts will soon announce the re-release of X-Wing and TIE Fighter.

I would buy that in a heartbeat. :yes: I would even purchase a joystick to play it.

In other news, StarCraft II has been delayed.
http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=19110062236&sid=3000
The official line is that battle.net needs to be upgraded properly. Well, duh, that would be important if you take the LAN option out of a RTS game... :thumbsdown:

[TinCow]

For some reason this story (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/08/07/obsidian-veterans-to-make-zombie-rpg-zrpg/) fascinated me. Long story short, two former Obsidian writers have formed an indie dev called DoubleBear (http://www.doublebearproductions.com/) and are planning on making a "Zombie RPG." Here are comments by one of the two on the project:


Was hoping to save this for a rainy day, but it is cloudy here in Seattle today, so here we go. As the speculators have correctly guessed, yes, DoubleBear’s first game is indeed a Zombie RPG, which we have fondly referred to as a ZRPG internally. Before people start running in all kinds of directions with that, here’s what I will confirm:

-Set during the breakdown of society as emergence of zombies causes widespread panic and disorder.

-Slow, shambling zombies. Spreads like a virus/bite transmission. No, you are not a zombie, that would be stupid.

-Serious examination of a national crisis or natural disaster. Humans and a lack of order are a bigger threat than the undead. Think Hurricane Katrina, Children of Men, Dawn of the Dead NOT Resident Evil, Return of the Living Dead, zombie shooter-type games.

-Game is about survival. Scavenging resources, exploring the area, dealing with other survivors, and managing a “shelter” of sorts are the main focus of the game. More on this later.

-Game is open-ended. There are characters and events that could happen, but the story depends on where you go, what you do, and who you meet. Of course, there’s a lot more to this and we’ll go into more details as time goes on.

Maybe it's just me, but this sounds like it could be great.

[johnhughthom]

Maybe it's just me, but this sounds like it could be the greatest game ever.

Fixed.:clown:

[woad&fangs]

Just 5 minutes ago I was thinking how awsome it would be to have a game JUST LIKE THAT! Thanks for the heads up TC:2thumbsup:

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

For some reason this story (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/08/07/obsidian-veterans-to-make-zombie-rpg-zrpg/) fascinated me. Long story short, two former Obsidian writers have formed an indie dev called DoubleBear (http://www.doublebearproductions.com/) and are planning on making a "Zombie RPG." Here are comments by one of the two on the project:

Maybe it's just me, but this sounds like it could be great.

If it wasn't the billionth recent zombie game. :|

[Crazed Rabbit]

For some reason this story (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/08/07/obsidian-veterans-to-make-zombie-rpg-zrpg/) fascinated me. Long story short, two former Obsidian writers have formed an indie dev called DoubleBear (http://www.doublebearproductions.com/) and are planning on making a "Zombie RPG." Here are comments by one of the two on the project:



Maybe it's just me, but this sounds like it could be great.

:jawdrop: That sounds a LOT like my ideal conceptualization of a zombie game. :beam::2thumbsup:

CR

[frogbeastegg]

There are rumors (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/08/05/its-a-trap-lucasarts-tease-x-wing-special-edition/) that Lucasarts will soon announce the re-release of X-Wing and TIE Fighter.
Announcement's out. They're releasing the Super [enter star wars film name] trilogy of platformers onto the wii's virtual console. :blankg:

I liked those games back in ye day but I can't see myself bothering with them now.

Why on earth use X-Wing releated teasers for this announcement!? That's asking for mass disappointment.

[TinCow]

Announcement's out. They're releasing the Super [enter star wars film name] trilogy of platformers onto the wii's virtual console. :blankg:

:furious3:

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Death to Lucasarts!

(Unless they repent)

[Monk]

As the sounds of battle died away, the aged Super Empire Strikes back emerges from the corridor, eyes twisting from side to side. The familiar presence had been growing stronger ever since...

Monk stood at the end of the hall, lightsaber in hand. His eyes glued to his long time nemesis. With a heavy step forward he let a laughably smug grin form upon his face. "I've been waiting for you, we meet again at last."

The exhausted game stood still in his spot, knowing that to proceed would be folly. But still, the bitter gamer continued "The circle is now complete. When i last played you, I was but a learner. But now? I am the master."

The weary game gripped his lightsaber firmly in hand, and with a vibrant hiss the ancient weapon came to life. "Only a master of snark Monk."

Not even nostalgia can make me anxious to play those games again. I hated them in my youth and I'm sure i'd hate them now. :yes: It's times like this i'm happy i never bought a Wii, I'm quite sure if I had i'd cave, get those games again and learn every reason why i hated them all over again.

[johnhughthom]

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic is available now on Steam. Time to see what the light side path is like...

[Mailman653]

Direct2Drive: Fifty Games, Five Dollars Each (http://pc.gamespy.com/articles/102/1023620p1.html)
Personally I dont see anything I want to buy this week, but I am looking forward they will have for sale in the action and RPG categories, maybe military too if they throw in some simulations in there like Silent Hunter III (IV too although highly unlikely).

[Husar]

Since the regions are only US and UK, can I buy from the US?
(since 3,425 = 5 = 5,721 !)

Oh wait, they're countryists anyway: "This title is available for purchase in the US, Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom only." :thumbsdown:

[frogbeastegg]

There's a great deal in the UK version of the sale. X-COM complete bundle, was 95p, now £5! :laugh4:


Oops, forgot what I came here to post. LucasArts have revealed the new game they have been teasing us with. Lucidity (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/lucasarts-new-game-lucidity-revealed), a side scrolling 2D platform puzzle game.

[Monk]

So a serious post from me here. Never thought you'd see that did you? :book:

Did you know it's been close to twenty years since Wolfenstein 3D (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfenstein_3D) hit the scene back in '92? Yep. That masterpiece that (many claim) completely redefined the FPS genre and paved the way for modern classics. Sure doesn't look like much today, but back then it was the game.

You may have heard about its contemporary incarnation (http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/wolfenstein?q=wolfenstein), and how the developers ain't doing so hot (http://kotaku.com/5346302/raven-hit-by-layoffs-some-point-to-lackluster-wolfenstein-sales). Apparently the sales for Wolfenstein are absolutely abysmal and missed the Top Ten software for the month of August by a mile. (http://kotaku.com/5356888/madden-tops-charts-again-but-sales-plummet-on-ps2-wii)*

So what to make of all this news of layoffs, poor sales and mediocre reviews? That maybe sometimes we should let sleeping franchises lie. A shame too, I really loved RTCW.



*I mean really. beaten by Fossil Fighters? Ouch.

[Greyblades]

Bethesda is peeved. (http://uk.gamespot.com/news/6217290.html?part=rss&tag=gs_news&subj=6217290)

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

It may make sense from a cutthroat business persepective in the short term, but that's pretty damning evidence that they don't care at all about the original Fallout games. Hopefully it comes back to bite them.

[Monk]

A really strange and disturbing turn of events. To be told "You're in breach of contract" for profiting from the IP you originally created. You can read a little bit more background from the Fallout Wikia's article on Interplay (http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Interplay).


It may make sense from a cutthroat business persepective in the short term, but that's pretty damning evidence that they don't care at all about the original Fallout games. Hopefully it comes back to bite them.

It makes sense, they(Bethesda) bought full rights to the Fallout franchise (and paid a lot of money for it) and expect to be in control of that IP. It looks like Interplay has been cutting them out of the loop which is not at all cool, and from a little research it looks like things have been brewing since April.

We'll see how things turn out, but it doesn't look good for Interplay. :no:

[Greyblades]

Blogger called to court for bad Evony preview. (http://www.gamepolitics.com/2009/09/15/evony-files-libel-suit-against-blogger)

[Meneldil]

Wow, people working around Evony should be put to death right now. It's even more ridiculous than I thought.

Some comments on a Gardian article explain how some guy complained to the company about receiving 100+ evony spams a day. The guy working for evony basically told him to stfu and not even start threatening them.

[Veho Nex]

Im loling hard at evony, they are more likely than not going to lose customers in the long run and maybe get a few bucks from that guy. I feel bad for him though, tough to fight a court case based in another country.

[Meneldil]

That is retard. Unfortunately I don't remember my law courses, but I'm pretty sure they have to have some real reason to sue him in Australia.
From what I understood, Evony servers are based in the US, the company that runs it is a branch of a chinese company, and is located in the US as well. The whole Australian thingy has no ground I'd say.

You can't just fill a paper, send it to a lawer office in a far away country and have them sue someone on another continent. There are some very strict laws as to what country is competent in what case. An australian court has absolutely no legitimacy to have a say in the matter.

[Greyblades]

Huh it seems that headlines blaming violence on video games sells more papers. (http://www.gamepolitics.com/2009/09/17/newspaper-crying-wolf-video-game-related-shooting-headline)

[Martok]

Huh it seems that headlines blaming violence on video games sells more papers. (http://www.gamepolitics.com/2009/09/17/newspaper-crying-wolf-video-game-related-shooting-headline)
And in other news, it was discovered that water is wet. ~D

[Monk]

After endless baiting and switching, Capcom finally let the cat out of the bag. A brand new, stand-alone SF4 game is confirmed (http://www.joystiq.com/2009/09/28/super-street-fighter-iv-confirmed-eight-fighters-added/), named humorously "Super Street fighter 4".

The game promises 8 new characters as well as a rebalancing patch to the original roster based on community suggestions. Capcom promises they won't be pushing this at full price, but that remains to be seen. It's on Schedule for a Spring 2010 release.


Bad news for any of us who were hoping to catch some frags in demo-land before the Modern Warfare 2 release in a month and a half. Infinity Ward has revealed they have no plans (http://kotaku.com/5369792/no-modern-warfare-2-demo-for-you) for a demo, despite CoD4 having one (one that was quite good i might add). IF claims this is so they can devote more time to polish, and their track record is good in that regard. We'll see.


Finally: the PSPgo (http://kotaku.com/5369359/pspgo-review-a-peek-into-the-future-of-gaming) has been getting a lot of headlines as I'm sure you've seen. What has me most intrigued is the complete lack of physical media, it seems to be all digital. Of course, that has the potential for huge drawbacks. It is entirely dependent on the an internet connection (WiFi specifically) for purchases and playing. But it also seems to boast a plug + play ability with your PC, so you can hook up and download directly from the PSN that way. If it works it could be a very interesting step in portables.

The main downside of the PSPgo currently... it looks to retail at $250 USD, which is a full hundred more than its rival the DS( according to prices at Amazon, for a brand new DSi) Heck, for that price i could almost get a PS3 slim! As kotaku points out, Sony is looking to completely cut out the retailer with an all digital games library, you'd think they could cut us a break with that in mind! :thumbsdown:

[Husar]

If it works it could be a very interesting step in portables.

iPhone AppStore?!

The difference being that iPhone users didn't already have hundreds of now-useless physical discs lying around that they paid for.

[Monk]

The difference being that iPhone users didn't already have hundreds of now-useless physical discs lying around that they paid for.

That's what made the news significant, at least to me. Sony is going to completely change gears and go for full digital media - personally I think it's a bad move for the very reason you point out. It could work, and it'll be really interesting to see in action, but backwards compatibility is about to take another for the team. :no:

[frogbeastegg]

The physical design of the PSP Go sums the entire concept up for me nicely. It looks pretty and shiny - until you notice that the shiny, vulnerable screen slides down to protect the buttons, and that the analogue nub is placed in the centre so you will kill your hands if you try to use it. My PSP 1000 already hurts my hands and the screen has picked up some minor scuff marks despite my taking the utmost loving care of it at all times.

PSP Go is not there to be played. It's there to be seen and act as a brand name "look what I got" toy. Problem: the Playstation brand has taken a sharp nosedive in recent years and the PSP never achieved superstar or must have status.

As for the price, it's nearly as much as a PS3 slim. £229.99 here in the UK. Insanity!

[Meneldil]

There's a growing uproar about CitiesXL.

First, to fully play the game, people has to pay a monthly fee (about 8$/month). This will allow them to receive additional content, to play online, but also to buy expensive DLC (or GEM, as they call them).

For example, the game won't be shipped with any mass/public transport system: no subway, no buses, no train. That by itself is quite retard for a city builder.
Then, buses will supposedly be made available around christmas, through a 'free' update. The free update will require you to pay the monthly fee. So, the 'free update' is actually not free at all. Thus, people who don't pay monthly won't be able to get buses, trains or any new content for that matter.
Then, a bit later (release date is set to mid-january as of now), people will be able to get one of the DLC/GEM, namely the ski GEM (which allows you to build ski stations).

If you thought MMO's were bad, I introduce you to the new generation of ripoff.

Furthermore, the beta has been quite a failure apparently. Beta testers said the game was bland, uninteresting, and that the 'MMO' part of it (people were supposed to build towns on a planet, trade and interact with eachothers) is inexistant.
To me, it looks like Monte Christo tried to make a cash-cow city builder aimed at casual gamers. Unfortunately, CityBuilder games mostly cater to a specific kind of gamers who have little interest in shiny graphics and DLC.

More infos here (http://blog.simtropolis.com/post.cfm/interview-with-monte-cristo)

[TinCow]

World of Goo is on sale this week for... whatever you want to pay for it (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/10/13/name-your-price-for-world-of-goo/). I think that qualifies it as a 'budget' release. Haven't played it before, but given the reviews and the fact you can get it for $1, or even less if that's your inclination, it's probably worth looking into.

[Monk]

World of Goo is on sale this week for... whatever you want to pay for it (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/10/13/name-your-price-for-world-of-goo/). I think that qualifies it as a 'budget' release. Haven't played it before, but given the reviews and the fact you can get it for $1, or even less if that's your inclination, it's probably worth looking into.

One of the best indie games I ever played. Definitely worth more than $1 of your money, but that's not for me to judge. :2thumbsup:

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

I sent them ten bucks, but apparently demand has melted their server and I can't get their homepage to load anymore. :sweatdrop:

[Meneldil]

I've been told the game has been downloaded and hacked pretty much all over the internet, which led them to adopt this "pay as much as you want" stance rather than charge 20bucks for the game. Is it true?

I've never heard of it before, but all the reviews make it clear it's pretty awesome. I might give then ten buck for their hard work.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

They have a demo, I'd give it a whirl first but the game is fantastic. It was (at least according to them) 82% pirated (there are criticisms of the methodology used to get that number I think, but either way it was widely pirated). They didn't have any DRM so there wasn't any hacking involved.

The current "pay what you want" is both to get some money out of pirates who feel bad but also because it's their 1st year anniversary and it's a good marketing/sales promo thing. I don't think that it's permanent, and the price will go back to $20 USD.

[Martok]

Paradox has released a partial upcoming release schedule. I've highlighted those titles that I suspect will be of particular interest to those here:


Download only
• Elven Legacy: Ranger, Oct 20, 2009
• East India Company: Privateer, Oct 27, 2009
• For the Glory (A Europa Universalis game), Nov 10, 2009
• Elven Legacy: Siege, Nov 17, 2009
• Elven Legacy: Magic, Dec 1, 2009
• Arsenal of Democracy (A Hearts of Iron game), Dec 8, 2009
• EU III: Heir to the Throne, Dec 15, 2009
• Fort Zombie, Q4 2009
Retail and download
• Mount & Blade Warband, March 19, 2010
• Ship Simulator Extremes, Q2, 2010
• Victoria 2, Q2, 2010


I'm a little confused by the "download only" reference. While I could perhaps understand that for EU3's Heir to the Throne expansion, surely Paradox is going to be selling Victoria 2 -- an entirely new game -- at retail as well? :inquisitive:

[Tratorix]

I'm a little confused by the "download only" reference. While I could perhaps understand that for EU3's Heir to the Throne expansion, surely Paradox is going to be selling Victoria 2 -- an entirely new game -- at retail as well?

Well, Victoria sold quite poorly, so the sequel is basically a present to their fans who liked the first game. It kind of makes sense to try to limit their costs by making it download only. Of course this is just speculation on my part.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Vicky 2 is under "Download and retail" so I suspect it is both.

Mildly interested in Fort Zombie because it's being made by the people who made Sword of the Stars.

[Monk]

My god. This year has been such a great one for gaming, last year seems to pale in comparison. I was afraid Heir to the Throne might slip to Jan but it's good to see it's coming in Dec.

[TinCow]

I am both intrigued and repulsed by this news:

Sid Meier Announces 'Civilization Network' For Facebook
Civilization creator Sid Meier said this week that he and his 2K-owned studio, Firaxis, are working on a project dubbed "Civilization Network," a rendition of the strategy game for Facebook, due in 2010.

The announcement comes after the most recent franchise entry, Civilization Revolution, a turn-based strategy game that appeared on consoles and handhelds that streamlined the traditional PC-derived hardcore Civilization experience.

"I wanted to let you know we’ll soon be looking for beta testers to help us develop a unique new way to play Civilization," wrote Meier on the CivFanatics.com forum on Wednesday. "Ever since we finished Civilization Revolution last year, I’ve been looking at ways of expanding the Civ gameplay experience to include solo, competitive and cooperative play to take advantage of the uniqueness of social networks."

By creating a game for the social network Facebook, Meier and Firaxis are tapping into an audience that boasts 300 million accounts. It would be the first time that Firaxis enters the social gaming space, which is dominated by companies such as Zynga (Farmville), PlayFish (Pet Society), and Playdom (Sorority Life).

Like typical Facebook games, Civilization Network will be free-to-play, although Meier did not reveal any monetization methods, which may or may not include virtual item buys and advertising.

The full game is due to launch next year, preceded by a closed beta coming "soon." Firaxis has already set up a Facebook page for the game at www.Facebook.com/civnetwork.

Meier, director of creative development at Firaxis, gave more details about the upcoming game: "Civilization Network will allow you to join together with your friends to create the world’s most powerful, richest, smartest, or just plain coolest civilization."

"You can coordinate your strategy to win great battles, share your technology to jump ahead of your rivals, lobby your family and friends to form your own government and win vital elections, manage and grow your cities to maximize production and happiness, spy on your enemies, and work with your friends to create the great Wonders of the World."
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=25747

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

I'm trying to think of a clever way to combine two metaphors for this situation. With this game Sid Meier can basically print money. The game is also likely to be as addictive as cocaine.

A little help here?

[Greyblades]

Crack's cheaper?
Its enviromentaly friendly as it uses hemp in the bills instead of paper?

[al Roumi]

I am both intrigued and repulsed by this news:

Sid Meier Announces 'Civilization Network' For Facebook
Civilization creator Sid Meier said this week that he and his 2K-owned studio, Firaxis, are working on a project dubbed "Civilization Network," a rendition of the strategy game for Facebook, due in 2010.

The announcement comes after the most recent franchise entry, Civilization Revolution, a turn-based strategy game that appeared on consoles and handhelds that streamlined the traditional PC-derived hardcore Civilization experience.

"I wanted to let you know we’ll soon be looking for beta testers to help us develop a unique new way to play Civilization," wrote Meier on the CivFanatics.com forum on Wednesday. "Ever since we finished Civilization Revolution last year, I’ve been looking at ways of expanding the Civ gameplay experience to include solo, competitive and cooperative play to take advantage of the uniqueness of social networks."

By creating a game for the social network Facebook, Meier and Firaxis are tapping into an audience that boasts 300 million accounts. It would be the first time that Firaxis enters the social gaming space, which is dominated by companies such as Zynga (Farmville), PlayFish (Pet Society), and Playdom (Sorority Life).

Like typical Facebook games, Civilization Network will be free-to-play, although Meier did not reveal any monetization methods, which may or may not include virtual item buys and advertising.

The full game is due to launch next year, preceded by a closed beta coming "soon." Firaxis has already set up a Facebook page for the game at www.Facebook.com/civnetwork.

Meier, director of creative development at Firaxis, gave more details about the upcoming game: "Civilization Network will allow you to join together with your friends to create the world’s most powerful, richest, smartest, or just plain coolest civilization."

"You can coordinate your strategy to win great battles, share your technology to jump ahead of your rivals, lobby your family and friends to form your own government and win vital elections, manage and grow your cities to maximize production and happiness, spy on your enemies, and work with your friends to create the great Wonders of the World."
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=25747

My main concern is that if it's anything like Spore, which literaly anyone can play, it's not going to be much good for serious play.

[Martok]

The game is also likely to be as addictive as cocaine.

And for that reason alone, I shall be avoiding it like the plague that it's likely to be. Although alh_p also had a valid point in that the quality of the game could be greatly lowered, simply because anyone & everyone will be able to play it.

[Crandaeolon]

Dominions 3 Wiki released, game available at a $10 discount until October 25:

http://www.shrapnelgames.com/

One of the best turn-based strategies ever, IMO.

[TinCow]

!

Planescape: Torment is being re-released. Can we possibly be lucky enough to have all the bugs fixed and have the resolution increased?

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/10/27/planescape-torment-re-release/

[econ21]

Planescape: Torment is being re-released.

That news gives me an excuse to link to the trailer to the game, which was quite possibly the most memorable trailer to any game I've seen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s2Qkx3lN5s&feature=related

I read somewhere the weirdness of the trailer helped account for the disappointing sales of the game, but I found it mesmerising.

[Lemur]

Planescape: Torment is being re-released.
Yeah, I read that it's being converted into a FPS by Bethesda, complete with level-scaling creatures from the planes. Cool, huh?

Just kidding. You're laughing now, correct?

[Ferret]

Happy 10,000th post Lemur :balloon2:

[frogbeastegg]

Planescape: Torment is being re-released. Can we possibly be lucky enough to have all the bugs fixed and have the resolution increased?

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/10/27/planescape-torment-re-release/
I wouldn't get your hopes up. Interplay lost the rights years ago; no one seems to know who owns them. Amazon are famous for making up release dates for things which don't exist or which got cancelled. The only thing which makes this even slightly believable is the PEGI rating.

A lot of the other games offered as supporting evidence on that link are old budget re-issues - I've got the Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale compilation DVD's sat on a shlef next to me right now. I picked them up last year when I was pondering a replay and didn't fancy installing from 200,000 (only a slight exaggeration) CDs and playing disc jockey each time I changed areas. Others appear to be the original releases!

If it's true then I'm buying a copy! I still own my mint condition 4 CD UK release version of the game but I've always had a weird bug that no one else has reported in the Undersigil area. It makes the game totally unplayable as it permanently drops the FPS to less than 1 per second for all areas in the game, so in many attempted playthroughs I have never once completed the game.

:continues to pray for Good Old Games versions of all the old Bioware/Black Isle RPGs:

[TinCow]

I wouldn't get your hopes up. Interplay lost the rights years ago; no one seems to know who owns them. Amazon are famous for making up release dates for things which don't exist or which got cancelled. The only thing which makes this even slightly believable is the PEGI rating.

The rumors I read were that it was actually Atari who was doing the re-release, and that they had acquired the license a while ago in some sale or another. The rumors also said it was updated to work with XP/Vista, though no word on bug fixes beyond that.

[Ser Clegane]

That news gives me an excuse to link to the trailer to the game, which was quite possibly the most memorable trailer to any game I've seen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s2Qkx3lN5s&feature=related

I read somewhere the weirdness of the trailer helped account for the disappointing sales of the game, but I found it mesmerising.


That was really a great trailer (probably the "most-watched" game trailer for me) - it made me actually buy the game :beam:

[frogbeastegg]

The rumors I read were that it was actually Atari who was doing the re-release, and that they had acquired the license a while ago in some sale or another. The rumors also said it was updated to work with XP/Vista, though no word on bug fixes beyond that.
:considers holding breath: Hmm, no, I shall believe it when people are holding freshly pressed copies. Planescape re-releases have been rumoured for years, and surely there'd be some kind of press release to announce this?

[Meneldil]

Various Bioshock 2 multiplayer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQYMb-br3SU) videos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZOf49lpucs) have been released. Though it doesn't look as bad as expected (the "capture the sister" mod even looks interesting), it still looks way to shooty.
People are blowing up all over the place, shooting everywhere. Doesn't look really bioshock-ish to me. That wouldn't be too worrying in itself if it was limited to multiplayer (after all, it's taking place during a civil war), but singler player also look pretty similar as well (which isn't really surprising given that we'll play as a Big Daddy).

Oh well, even if the single player is only half as good as it was for Bioshock 1, I'll buy it.

[Monk]

Interesting news for all fans of Indie games. EPIC just released the Unreal Developer Kit (http://kotaku.com/5397808/epic-sets-the-unreal-engine-free), essentially making the Unreal Engine public to anyone who wants a go at it.

Considering how many games these days are powered by it, this can only be good news.

[Krusader]

http://kotaku.com/5398259/online-retailers-refusing-to-sell-modern-warfare-2

Only Steam will sell Modern Warfare 2 through digital distribution.

[Monk]

http://kotaku.com/5398259/online-retailers-refusing-to-sell-modern-warfare-2

Only Steam will sell Modern Warfare 2 through digital distribution.

If you're going to cite examples of why not to have Steam in a game, then Empire: Total War is a perfect example. The two objects just don't feel like a good combo, like a round peg in a square hole. Sure it fits, but is it supposed to?

Despite being someone who likes Steam, I say good for D2D, Impulse and Gamersgate! Digital distribution is just one thing IW has fouled in the recent weeks with MW2. Maybe they will wake up a bit in light of this news.. and maybe tomorrow my breakfast will sprout wings and fly off the plate. :shame:

[drone]

Good for D2D and Impulse. I didn't really have any interest in E:TW, but I refused to get DoW2 because of the Steam requirement.

[Monk]

First with Modern Warfare 2, now with Assassin's Creed II and Left 4 Dead 2, Gamestop once again (http://kotaku.com/5404761/jersey-gamestops-break-street-for-assassins-creed-ii-l4d2) breaks the street date and sells early. And, once again, they blame local independent retailers as the cause, in true "They started it!" fashion.

This is getting out of hand, but it's the kind of out of hand I can deal with. If you live in New Jersey, take a trip to your Gamestop and see if they've been bad! :laugh4:

[pevergreen]

This is news:

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/11/17/pandemic-closes-physical-doors-brand-lives-on/


Though the studio will physically close, and the majority of its staff (some 200 people) will be sacked, the brand and IPs (like Mercenaries, Star Wars: Battlefront and The Saboteur) will continue,

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Stay classy, EA.

[Decker]

This came out yesterday on the BBC:

Games 'permit' virtual war crimes (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8373794.stm)
Video games depicting war have come under fire for flouting laws governing armed conflicts.
Human rights groups played various games to see if any broke humanitarian laws that govern what is a war crime.

The study condemned the games for violating laws by letting players kill civilians, torture captives and wantonly destroy homes and buildings.

It said game makers should work harder to remind players about the real world limits on their actions.

War without limits
The study was carried out by two Swiss human rights organisations - Trial and Pro Juventute. Staff played the games in the presence of lawyers skilled in the interpretation of humanitarian laws.

Twenty games were scrutinised to see if the conflicts they portrayed and what players can do in the virtual theatres of war were subject to the same limits as in the real world.

"The practically complete absence of rules or sanctions is... astonishing," said the study.

Army of Two, Call of Duty 5, Far Cry 2 and Conflict Desert Storm were among the games examined.

The games were analysed to see "whether certain scenes and acts committed by players would constitute violations of international law if they were real, rather than virtual".

The group chose games, rather than films, because of their interactivity.

"Thus," said the report, "the line between the virtual and real experience becomes blurred and the game becomes a simulation of real-life situations on the battlefield."

The testers looked for violations of the Geneva Conventions and its Additional Protocols which cover how war should be waged.

In particular, the testers looked for how combatants who surrendered were treated, what happened to citizens caught up in war zones and whether damage to buildings was proportionate.

Some games did punish the killing of civilians and reward strategies that tried to limit the damage done by the conflict, said the study.

However, it said, many others allowed "protected objects" such as churches and mosques to be attacked; some depicted interrogations that involved torture or degradation and a few permitted summary executions.

The authors acknowledged that the project was hard because it was not clear from many of the games the scale of the conflict being depicted. This made it hard to definitively determine which humanitarian laws should be enforced.

It also said that the games were so complex that it was difficult to be confident that its testers had seen all possible violations or, in games in which they found none, that no violations were possible.

It noted that, even though most players would never become real world combatants, the games could influence what people believe war is like and how soldiers conduct themselves in the real world.

It said games were sending an "erroneous" message that conflicts were waged without limits or that anything was acceptable in counter-terrorism operations.

"This is especially problematic in view of today's reality," said the study.

In particular, it said, few games it studied reflected the fact that those who "violate international humanitarian law end up as war criminals, not as winners".

The authors said they did not wish to make games less violent, instead, they wrote: "[We] call upon game producers to consequently and creatively incorporate rules of international humanitarian law and human rights into their games."

John Walker, one of the writers on the Rock, Paper, Shotgun games blog, said: "Games really are treated in a peculiar way."

He doubted that anyone would campaign for books to follow humanitarian laws or for James Bond to be denounced for machine-gunning his way through a supervillain's underground complex.

He said the authors did not understand that gamers could distinguish between fantasy and reality.

Said Mr Walker: "For all those who mowed down citizens in Modern Warfare 2's controversial airport level, I have the sneaking suspicion that not a great deal of them think this is lawful, nor appropriate, behaviour."

Jim Rossignol, who also writes on Rock, Paper, Shotgun, said there was scope to mix real-world rules of war into games.

"Whether or not the rules of war are included in the game should be based entirely on whether that improves the experience for the player," he said.

Mr Rossignol said there was plenty of evidence that gaming violence is "fully processed" as fantasy by gamers. Studies of soldiers on the front line in Iraq showed that being a gamer did not desensitise them to what they witnessed.

He added: "Perhaps what this research demonstrates is that the researchers misunderstand what games are, and how they are treated, intellectually, by the people who play them."

The Report in PDF format: Playing by the Rules:
Applying International Humanitarian Law to Video and Computer Games (http://trial-ch.org/fileadmin/user_upload/documents/Evenements_et_manifestations/Playing_by_the_Rule.pdf)

[Azathoth]

Woah, Pandemic is finished? That sucks.


This came out yesterday on the BBC

Basically they want us to play this game: http://www.cracked.com/article_15660_ultimate-war-simulation-game.html

[Decker]

Lol I remember that article. I read the report and it's pretty narrow in its view and just gives more "ammunition" to the people that blame violent video games for the failings. Their resources and energy could have been put into better use of studying the failings of parenting and the effects of bias media.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

To the BBC's credit, they had some of the RPS crew defending the industry. It's even better when you know the context that most of RPS thought that the new COD level was offensive for being dumb and out of context and not for killing civilians.

[TinCow]

FarCry 3 is in the works. Let's hope they remember to include some actual entertainment in this version...

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/96367-Far-Cry-3-Confirmed

[Decker]

To the BBC's credit, they had some of the RPS crew defending the industry. It's even better when you know the context that most of RPS thought that the new COD level was offensive for being dumb and out of context and not for killing civilians.
My thoughts exactly. I skimmed through the report myself and some of the games they nit-picked were rather silly imo.

John Walker made this comment at RPS: Our Rentaquote Future: Games As Warcrimes (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/11/23/our-rentaquote-future-games-as-warcrimes/)

Addressing some of the points that have been made, especially Teejay’s:

The problem with the report – a report that is thorough and detailed, and clearly written with fine intentions and respectable hopes – is not that those conducting it are foolish, or that they have conducted themselves improperly, lazily, with bias, etc etc. It’s that the core ideas behind the report are, in my opinion, very flawed.

I think it’s absurd to suggest that games – and games alone – should adhere to IHRL when depicting war. Games are under no obligation to reflect real life, and indeed should have the opportunity to violate any real-world laws they choose.

I think it’s even further absurd to begin such a report with the statement that games are uniquely in need of such intervention because they are interactive. It is *because* they are interactive that I believe the purpose behind the report is flawed. If anything it is the passivity of books, films, television (especially documentaries) and so on that underlines their authority in their depiction of reality. Your relationship with such media is one-way, fed to you, and if presented as authoratitive and “realistic”, then carries implications of accuracy. In a game you are often given choice. I can choose to shoot the injured, I can choose to turn my gun on civilians should the game let me (and so very few do).

My comments are born of this report’s peculiar (and I would contend inaccurate) assumptions that gaming is in any way more at risk of mis-educating people about IHR. If such ideas are valid at all, they might want to also begin with the novels of Tom Clancy, or as many have observed, the output of various TV shows, alongside gaming. Hence my statement that games are treated so very strangely.

I don’t think it is gaming’s place to educate. I believe it is education’s place to educate. Then when someone encounters a situation in a game that does not follow IHRL, the player can identify that themselves. Reports like this, while extremely well intentioned, very dangerously divert the responsibility for who should be educating, and where people should be receiving it.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

FarCry 3 is in the works. Let's hope they remember to include some actual entertainment in this version...

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/96367-Far-Cry-3-Confirmed

I'd be happy if they just killed the respawning checkpoint guards. I had a lot of fun despite that, up until the second half when I realized I'd have to do it all over again and stopped.

It would probably benefit from a STALKER-style system of wandering parties of one faction or another, possibly allowing you to try and pretend to be a civilian or join one of the factions temporarily to get past them.

[Krusader]

Steam comes pre-installed on newer Alienware computers now! (http://kotaku.com/5412517/steam-to-come-pre+installed-on-alienware-pcs)

Now be serious...who is really surprised that this happened?

[Husar]

Steam comes pre-installed on newer Alienware computers now! (http://kotaku.com/5412517/steam-to-come-pre+installed-on-alienware-pcs)

Now be serious...who is really surprised that this happened?

Well, my notebook came with Windows and Norton preinstalled, at least with Steam the client is free so it doesn't contribute anything to the price(the same would go for Norton I think as it was a 30 day test version).

[TinCow]

Dragon Age expansion is coming in March (http://kotaku.com/5440337/dragon-age-awakening-expansion-out-in-march). Looks like additional content to be played after the main storyline is completed.

[pevergreen]

New Wii game announced....

Zelda

to be released 2010.

also announced...

Nintendo DS 2

http://au.wii.ign.com/articles/105/1058479p1.html

[Fragony]

yay to this http://ps3.ign.com/articles/106/1061376p1.html

[frogbeastegg]

Sword of the Stars II has been announced. No real info yet, just paragraph in a Paradox announcement post and a change to the SOTS forum title on their boards.


Much to the delight of fans of the Sword of the Stars franchise, Paradox announced Sword of the Stars II, the full stand-alone follow-up to the popular space strategy titles. Sword of the Stars II will feature the six races from the original game, as well as its expansions, marking a major step forward in the series’ approach to 4X gameplay. Setting a new standard for the genre, as well as revealing dark secrets of the original series, Sword of the Stars II is sure to please fans of the genre when it is released next year

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

That blurb makes it sounds like it's just SotS Complete or something with all the expansions bundled together. I assume it's not but...

Anyway, excellent news and thanks for the heads up, Froggy.

[johnhughthom]

I'm slowly beginning to hate Paradox, so many announcements yet no CK2.

[Martok]

Sword of the Stars II has been announced. No real info yet, just paragraph in a Paradox announcement post and a change to the SOTS forum title on their boards.
Fascinating; I'll have to keep my eyes on this one.

I've enjoyed SOTS overall, but I find it tends to focus overly much on combat and on little else. I applaud that Kerberos's design was to reduce planetary micromanagement, but the game still feels like too much of a one-trick pony at times. Hopefully the sequel will be a bit more fleshed out.

[drone]

Apparently, UbiSoft wants to go out of business. RPS is reporting that all future UbiSoft PC games will require an constant online connection to play, no offline mode possible. Saved games will be stored on their servers.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/01/27/new-ubisoft-games-must-always-be-online/

UbiSoft FAQ (http://support.uk.ubi.com/online-services-platform/) on the service.

So they will spend lots of money to maintain servers (which are guaranteed to crash on big releases), alienate and frustrate purchasers of their games, and not stop piracy at all. Sounds like a winning business plan. :2thumbsup:

[Greyblades]

This sounds like they are going to trigger another pirate spike like spore.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Apparently, UbiSoft wants to go out of business. RPS is reporting that all future UbiSoft PC games will require an constant online connection to play, no offline mode possible. Saved games will be stored on their servers.


:jawdrop:

I liked this comment:

What the *fudge* is wrong with gamespy and that retarded Gerald Villoria comment: “I think the DRM benefits of this approach and the ancillary bonuses (remote game saves, unlimited installations, no CD authentication) will end up outweighing the annoyance of having to log-in before playing” ?

You know, we ALREADY had all these “ancillary bonuses” even before this whole DRM bull*poo* was invented. It’s like amputating the legs of a perfectly healthy person only to put him into a wheelchair and then selling this as “ancillary bonus”. Whatever that guy means by that term.

CR

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Turns out Ubisoft is dumb.

[Meneldil]

Poor guys. I liked their game.

[Crandaeolon]

Penny Arcade might have something to say about this... (link to older comic) (http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/5/9/)

[Xiahou]

UbiSoft FAQ (http://support.uk.ubi.com/online-services-platform/) on the service.Hmmm...
What will happen if I lose my Internet connection when I play the game?

If you lose your Internet connection the game will pause while it tries to reconnect. If the Internet connection is unable to resume, the server will have stored your last saved game and you will be able to continue from where you left off once your internet connection is restored.There's no part of that I don't love. :wall:

[Husar]

Hmmm...There's no part of that I don't love. :wall:

Yeah, looking forward to that as well...

[TinCow]

Fallout: New Vegas will be released in fall 2010. (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/27104/Obsidians_Fallout_New_Vegas_To_Get_Fall_2010_Release.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GamasutraNews+%28Gamasutra+News%29) Here's the trailer:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCmh5cDvHjU

[drone]

XBox Live support for XBox v1 games is being discontinued on April 15, 2010 (tax day in the US!). That is all.
http://gamerscoreblog.com/press/archive/2010/02/05/gh789.aspx

[drone]

oops, DP

[drone]

Apparently, UbiSoft wants to go out of business. RPS is reporting that all future UbiSoft PC games will require an constant online connection to play, no offline mode possible. Saved games will be stored on their servers.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/01/27/new-ubisoft-games-must-always-be-online/

An update: PC Gamer got preview copies of Assassin's Creed 2 and Settlers VII with this DRM fail included. They ran some tests, unplugging cables and such.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=235290&site=pcg

We've just received Assassin's Creed 2 and Settlers VII for review, and verified with Ubisoft that the DRM is the same as the boxed product. If you get disconnected while playing, you're booted out of the game. All your progress since the last checkpoint or savegame is lost, and your only options are to quit to Windows or wait until you're reconnected.

The game first starts the Ubisoft Game Launcher, which checks for updates. If you try to launch the game when you're not online, you hit an error message right away. So I tried a different test: start the game while online, play a little, then unplug my net cable. This is the same as what happens if your net connection drops momentarily, your router is rebooted, or the game loses its connection to Ubisoft's 'Master servers'. The game stopped, and I was dumped back to a menu screen - all my progress since it last autosaved was lost.
:no:

[Greyblades]

:wall: They're turning assassins creed 2's pc launch into another spore fiasco.

Edit: oh wait I've allready said that, never mind then.

[Krusader]

Civilization V announced!

Civilization V (http://www.civilization5.com/)

RPS blurb on Civilization V (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/02/18/hex-sells-civilization-v/)

[TinCow]

Civilization V announced!

Civilization V (http://www.civilization5.com/)

RPS blurb on Civilization V (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/02/18/hex-sells-civilization-v/)

It's on a hex grid! A HEX GRID! WOO! :2thumbsup:

[Krusader]

Supreme Commander 2 demo on Steam.
From what players are saying it seems to be a stripped down/consolified version of SupCom1.

[Meneldil]

Terribad.
I just can't understand how they tried to make an updated version of Total Annihilation and failed in the first place. And then they make it even worse with the second game. That's beyond my mind.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

If you crave some updated TA, Spring (http://springrts.com/) just had a bugfix release, I think.

[pevergreen]

The second one is worse?

:cry:

I thought the addition of the tech tree would make it nice...

[Meneldil]

It's a dumbed down SupCom, which was already a dumbed down TA. And it still lacks any flavor or ambient. Feels even more blank and boring than SupCom1.

[pevergreen]

Thats it, Im getting my TA CD's.

*installs*

[Husar]

It's a dumbed down SupCom, which was already a dumbed down TA. And it still lacks any flavor or ambient. Feels even more blank and boring than SupCom1.

Heh, tried the demo and the commander you play looks like some muppet in a plastic box, actually all the other commanders do, too.
But yeah, it felt like they wanted to make it more like C&C.

[Meneldil]

Heh, that is kind of sad actually. I can't even point out what they made wrong with SupCom1, but it just didn't work out for me. It felt nothing like TA, and the zoom thingy forced me to play with the whole map on my screen, meaning that I'd send squares to attack triangles and so on. It was too slow, too long, lacked a good soundtrack.

[Krusader]

Seems like there's something fishy going on at Infinity Ward, or its just a big hoax:

http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/702911/Security-Appears-Unannounced-At-Infinity-Ward-Studio-Heads-Missing-Staff-Freaked-Out-.html

http://kotaku.com/5483348/report-strange-things-are-afoot-at-infinity-ward-president-ousted

[Kekvit Irae]

Seems like there's something fishy going on at Infinity Ward, or its just a big hoax:

http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/702911/Security-Appears-Unannounced-At-Infinity-Ward-Studio-Heads-Missing-Staff-Freaked-Out-.html

http://kotaku.com/5483348/report-strange-things-are-afoot-at-infinity-ward-president-ousted

Smells like a publicity stunt. Either that or Activision decided to play their own game of Real Life MW2 Spec Ops.

[drone]

Anybody following the Portal update stuff (http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2010/03/portal-viral/)?

Either Valve has some really bored programmers, or we may be getting a sequel.

[Xiahou]

Stardock announces the release of........ Total Annihilation (http://www.impulsedriven.com/totalannihilation)? :inquisitive:

$9.99 for the game + the Core Contingency Expansion. Tempting....

[Arthur, king of the Britons]

Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption will be released in May instead of April. :furious3:


Will avoid packed April release schedule with May launch

Red Dead Redemption has slipped again, but this time Take-Two claims that the decision to push back the release date has more to do with avoiding the packed April releases than the need for additional time to polish and tweak the title.

According our sources, while the spin might suggest that the decision to push the release back from April 27th to new date of May 18th was to avoid the releases of other April titles, the whispers we hear claim that the time will be put to good use polishing the title prior to release. May is also a very crowded month, with at least three major titles set for launch that month.

Depending on whom you ask Red Dead Redemption has had a rocky development cycle, with some sources claiming that the development was in trouble and that is why the decision was made to push the release back the first time.

With the announcement of the move to May 18th, this is the third time that the release date has been moved. Originally, the title was scheduled to launch late last year, only to have Take-Two claim that they were pushing it to next year so that they would not have to compete with the slew of titles trying to make an end- of-the-year launch date.

Only time will tell if this strategy works for Take-Two, but as the title is being billed as the next generation of sandbox games, it will have a lot of hype to live up to. From the pictures and trailers that we have seen from the game, it does look like it could be an excellent western-themed game, but we will now have to wait till May to find out for sure.


Source: http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/17927/1/

[Jolt]

Anybody following the Portal update stuff (http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2010/03/portal-viral/)?

Either Valve has some really bored programmers, or we may be getting a sequel.

I have been following it roughly since the beginning and after figuring out several clues, Valve has already announced Portal 2. One major new feature (According to the BBS images) of Portal 2 will be a cooperation mode. It shall be certain to add a lot of complexity to maps.

But the clue game isn't over yet, and now with Portal 2 out of the way, it's only very obvious that these final clues will the revelation of Half Life 2: Episode 3.

[Beskar]

Not much for news, but old school technology in your living room is the future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF_dnGVbXkM

[Kekvit Irae]

Not exactly news, but still noteworthy...

Reviewer gives Assassin's Creed 2 near-perfect score, says don't buy it. (http://www.gamesradar.com/pc/assassins-creed-ii/review/assassins-creed-ii/a-20100304165650968088/g-200908201068558056)


It’s brilliant. Don’t buy it. The copy protection of Assassin’s Creed II requires you to be connected to publisher Ubisoft’s servers every moment you play. Any interruption to that connection kicks you out and erases all the progress you’ve made since the last checkpoint. We cannot wholly recommend a game that imposes such stringent and potentially problematic restrictions on paying customers without good reason.

Seriously... a 9/10, and yet he still tells people to not buy the game. Methinks the review scores are a tad screwed up.

[drone]

Reviewer gives Assassin's Creed 2 near-perfect score, says don't buy it. (http://www.gamesradar.com/pc/assassins-creed-ii/review/assassins-creed-ii/a-20100304165650968088/g-200908201068558056)

Seriously... a 9/10, and yet he still tells people to not buy the game. Methinks the review scores are a tad screwed up.
I heard they had serious problems this weekend with the DRM servers. If you bought the PC version expecting any differently, I can't say I'm feeling sorry for you. :shrug:

And Silent Hunter 5, with the same DRM as ACII, was cracked in 24 hours. Money and karma well spent, Ubisoft! :applause:

[Meneldil]

I simply can't understand why people would buy any game with such kind of DRM. The instalation limit puts onto Bioshock and Bioshock 2 was already bad enough for me, but this? Wow. I hope this will bring Ubisoft to a long and painful death. And I don't feel sorry for the people who bought the game either.

[frogbeastegg]

Monkey Island 2: Special Edition has been confirmed. Headed to PC, xbox live arcade and playstation network. Official website (http://www.lucasarts.com/games/monkeyisland2/#/home).

Love these games. :balloon:

[Secura]

Monkey Island 2: Special Edition has been confirmed. Headed to PC, xbox live arcade and playstation network. Official website (http://www.lucasarts.com/games/monkeyisland2/#/home).

I still advocate the Lucasarts adventure titles as some of the best games ever made, and it's great that they're remaking them for new generations tp enjoy as much as I did. They're truly a forgotten gem among the more modern offerings of the PS3 or 360.

I remember playing MI2 when I was about nine or ten and constantly getting stuck; only completed the darn thing a few years ago. I don't see MI3 getting a remake, but I'd love to see other Lucasarts titles getting the special treatment; I would seriously give my right arm for an update to Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. <3

[Meneldil]

More DLC fun, this time coming from 2K:
http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63853

I feel bad for having bought Bioshock2 and for having enjoyed their games. Last time it happened.

[TinCow]

A trailer is out (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/03/23/the-magic-number-witcher-mega-hint/) for The Witcher 2.

[pevergreen]

Nintendo 3DS announced: http://au.ds.ign.com/articles/107/1079233p1.html


US, March 23, 2010 - Nintendo has announced the 3DS, a new hand-held system set for release before March 2011 in Japan. This new system will be fully unveiled at this year's E3 show in June.

While details are a bit slim as of now, the announcement stated the console would incorporate 3D technology without the need for players to wear special glasses. The 3DS will also be backwards compatible with all DS and DSi software.

[Fragony]

And here it is, want https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5QSclrIdlE&feature=player_embedded

[frogbeastegg]

Good Old Games has signed Atari!


We're revealing another big publisher joining our DRM-free outlet. First games to be released throughout April.

GOG.com continues to build its unmatched catalogue of classic PC games with the announcement of the deal with the famous worldwide publisher - Atari. The hit games will be added to the GOG.com catalogue throughout April and will include such glorious gems of yesteryear as Outcast, Master of Orion and Master of Magic. Today, during CD Projekt Spring Conference where the agreement with Atari was announced, Marcin Iwinski, Co-Founder of CD Projekt and GOG.com, said "This deal is really just the first step in what we expect will be a long and fruitful relationship. Atari has a tremendous number of cult classics within their grasp, and we hope to sign these in a near future!".

I believe the operative word in this scenario is "Hurrah!"

[TinCow]

Good Old Games has signed Atari!

Ironic, since GOG is owned by CD Projekt, who made The Witcher... which was published by Atari.

Atari has some of the older D&D games in its catalog, including NWN, NWN2, and ToEE, A non-buggy version of ToEE would be nice...

[Martok]

Good Old Games has signed Atari!



I believe the operative word in this scenario is "Hurrah!"
Yep, I saw that as well. Sounds like we're going to see the first two MOO games plus MOM released in the not-too-distant future. ~:cheers:

[frogbeastegg]

Good Old Games have added the legendary Betrayal at Krondor (http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/betrayal_at_krondor) to their catalogue.

Going to be interesting to play this sometime. The not-really-a-sequel, Betrayal in Antara, was the first RPG I played; most people say it was terrible in comparison to Krondor but I remember having a great time with it back in ye day.

[pevergreen]

Good Old Games have added the legendary Betrayal at Krondor (http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/betrayal_at_krondor) to their catalogue.

Going to be interesting to play this sometime. The not-really-a-sequel, Betrayal in Antara, was the first RPG I played; most people say it was terrible in comparison to Krondor but I remember having a great time with it back in ye day.

Wow, the old game...I watched a speedrun of it, but I havent really played anything that old to compare it to.

[Fragony]

Just click the video, new Metroid footage and it's looking *clears throat* AWESOME

http://www.gamert.nl/video/metroid_other_m.html

[pevergreen]

Paradox Announces Hearts of Iron 3: Semper Fi

NEW YORK – April 6th, 2010 – Paradox Interactive unveiled Hearts of Iron 3: Semper Fi, a downloadable expansion to its World War II grand strategy game. Semper Fi gives players more control over their country’s warfare and politics, while pleasing history buffs with a variety of new features and events. Hearts of Iron 3: Semper Fi is scheduled for release during Q2 2010.

“Our vision for Semper Fi is to transport the player into World War II in a way that previous installments have not been able to do,” said Henrik Fåhraeus, Associate Producer at Paradox Interactive. “For instance, negotiating and working with the allies was a huge part of WW2 and players are now able to experience that first hand. Also, our historical buffs have long been screaming for more historical accuracy in our games, and while the game still won’t follow history to the letter, these historical events will create a stronger experience by giving you historical references and feedback alongside gameplay.”

Semper Fi Features include:

* Player-determined hidden victory conditions that will keep opponents guessing
* Greater cooperation with allies, allowing players to request troops, convince their allies to attack a specific target and more
* Hundreds of new events added to immerse players in their own version of World War II, comparing the unfolding, alternate timeline to real history
* Vastly improved AI that will defend its territories valiantly, marshal large naval taskforces and launch multi-stage invasions

http://www.europa-universalis.com/forum/showthread.php?p=10979170#post10979170

[Secura]

Isn't it amazing what you can find on the X-Box Live Marketplace (http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802585504ae/?did=00000001-0000-4000-8000-0000585504ae&bt=0&sb=1&mt=32&gu=66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802585504ae&partner=RSS&p=1&of=6)?

I wonder if we'll be seeing this on CNN anytime soon? xD

[pevergreen]

From Diamond & Pearl to... Black & White! The names for the upcoming generation five Pokemon titles were revealed in Japan earlier today. The next major Pokemon titles will be named Pokemon Black and Pokemon White.
http://au.ds.ign.com/articles/108/1082670p1.html

Modern Warfare 3 in development http://au.pc.ign.com/articles/108/1082949p1.html

[drone]

Seems like there's something fishy going on at Infinity Ward, or its just a big hoax:

http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/702911/Security-Appears-Unannounced-At-Infinity-Ward-Studio-Heads-Missing-Staff-Freaked-Out-.html

http://kotaku.com/5483348/report-strange-things-are-afoot-at-infinity-ward-president-ousted

So Activision files a countersuit (http://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/09/activision-blasts-west-and-zampella-in-countersuit/), claiming the IW guys tried to cut a deal with EA behind their backs. Nothing too surprising or earth shattering but when asked for verification, EA spokesman Jeff Brown had this little gem:


We don't have the time to comment on the many lawsuits Activision files against its employees and creative partners.

:laugh4:

[Martok]

Looks like the legal battle heating up will cause Modern Warfare 3 to be delayed:

Link (
Some games have kept me awake thinking about strategy. Ditto that. The vast majority of my games are strategy titles; when lying in bed, I often times I find myself contemplating what I'm going to do when I fire the back up again....)




It will take a long time for the full picture of Activision and Infinity Ward’s dispute to be painted, but a more immediate effect is one that gamers most certainly will notice – potential delays to Modern Warfare 3.

As part of Activision’s counter-lawsuit aimed at former Infinity Ward bosses Jason West and Vincent Zampella, the publisher has alleged that the problems have delayed development of the anticipated war shooter.

Aside from the vast legal costs Activision is already facing, any disruption to the biannual release of Modern Warfare titles will inevitably dent the firm’s revenue projections and, as a result, share price.

It could also cost the wider industry, as the release of Modern Warfare 2 late last year gave Q4 a record-breaking boost. Without it, year-on-year sales comparisons would have been even gloomier for the world’s games retailers.



A number of other allegations from the lawsuit have also been published by MCV’s sister site Develop, including:

"openly discussing their intention to leave IW with IW employees;

"arranging meetings with IW employees to discuss the willingness of such employees to leave IW and join West and Zampella at a spin off studio;

"threatening to harm the IP developed by IW and owned by Activision if their demands to be allowed to leave Activision were not met;

"engaging in a campaign to portray Activision and its management in a negative light to IW employees in an effort to solicit those employees;

"refusing to abide by Activision procedures and protocols;

"attempting to block IW employees from receiving equity grands, bonuses and financial compensation and incentives;

"asking Activision to allow them to keep for themselves millions of dollars of discretionary compensation that Activision intended to offer to the broader IW team;

"secretly meeting Activision's main competitor; and delaying pre-production of MW3 and attempting to use that delay as leverage in their negotiations with Activision".

[Krusader]

Penny Arcade (http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/4/12/) has one view on the lawsuit.

Personally, I can't help but think what message it sends out that the developers of the world's best-selling game shortly afterwards crumbles.

[TinCow]

If you bought a game from Gamestation on April 1st, odds are the company now owns your soul:


It's common knowledge that nobody ever actually reads the various end user license agreements, terms and conditions and other legalistic walls of text that gamers are commonly assaulted with. It takes too long, they're way too complicated and they all say the same thing: Do this, don't do that, no warranties explicit or implied, etc. Nobody cares about them anyway, so what's the point?

But on April 1, U.K. retailer GameStation decided to make a point: It inserted an "Immortal Soul Clause" into the T&C of its online game sales, then sat back to watch what would happen.

"By placing an order via this web site on the first day of the fourth month of the year 2010 Anno Domini, you agree to grant Us a non transferable option to claim, for now and for ever more, your immortal soul," the terms and conditions read. "Should We wish to exercise this option, you agree to surrender your immortal soul, and any claim you may have on it, within 5 (five) working days of receiving written notification from gamesation.co.uk or one of its duly authorized minions. We reserve the right to serve such notice in 6 (six) foot high letters of fire, however we can accept no liability for any loss or damage caused by such an act."

True to form, according to the company, 88 percent of customers didn't read the T&C and thus legally forfeited their souls. How could it tell? Because the 12 percent who did notice the clause also saw the opt-out option, which included a voucher for £5 - roughly $7.75 - off the price of their purchase. More than 7500 customers missed out on the offer and are now beholden to GameStation for all eternity.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/100015-7500-Gamers-Sell-Their-Souls-to-GameStation

[Kekvit Irae]

Ladies and gentlemen of the gaming public, I hereby announce that Survival Horror is dead.

Silent Hill will be a FPS. (http://www.fpstime.com/2010/04/silent-hill-will-be-a-fps/)


According to Gamasutra, Vatra Games is developing a mysterious FPS in their new Czech studio founded by the ex members of Illusion Softworks. This new FPS is a new Silent Hill for Konami.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

There's a lot of this "lets turn icons of other genres into FPSes" going around these days.

[TinCow]

MoO2 on GoG (http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/master_of_orion_1_2)!

[Scienter]

MoO2 on GoG (http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/master_of_orion_1_2)!

Oh :daisy:, I'm never going to see you again. :tongue2:

[drone]

MoO2 on GoG (http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/master_of_orion_1_2)!

Excellent!

[Martok]

Master of Magic is now available (http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/master_of_magic) on GOG for $5.99. I may end up having to get this one!

[A Nerd]

That game looks old as the hills. You wouldn't know perhaps of other old games that are available and playable on today's operating systems? I've done searches but come up empty. When I was young a was a big fan of the Sierra text based games. It would be great if I could play again some of those old games I enjoyed as a youth.

edit: like 'Samurai Game' which at one time I found in the org download sections. Back around 1989 it was a sid meyer game called Sword of the Samurai. Loved that game and spent hours on it. I downloaded it and tried to run it, but it would always lock-up during the intro. :(

[drone]

That game looks old as the hills.
It is. :2thumbsup:

Still have the CD and manual/spell book. I think I managed to get the original running on XP, it looked terrible though (640x480 limited). I don't think I ever played the 1.31 version, I'd be curious to see what tweaks and balance changes they added.

[A Nerd]

Older games have so much character. I still have the box and contents of Sword of the Samurai. I kept it for sentimental reasons. Complete with 2 5.25 and 2 3.5 floppy diskettes. I used to run in on an IBM or NEC 486. Ah, those were the days. I tried to install in in DOS mode of Windows 98 once, but to no avail.

[Kekvit Irae]

Master of Magic is now available (http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/master_of_magic) on GOG for $5.99. I may end up having to get this one!

And it's Vista compatible without needing DOSBox? This makes me happy. This makes me VERY happy.

[Husar]

And it's Vista compatible without needing DOSBox? This makes me happy. This makes me VERY happy.

They wrap the games up in some kind of program that makes them compatible if necessary, like a built-in emulator or so, it's part of their core services AFAIK.

[Kekvit Irae]

They wrap the games up in some kind of program that makes them compatible if necessary, like a built-in emulator or so, it's part of their core services AFAIK.

I know. I've been with GoG from the beginning. I'm just happy that I don't have to use DOSBox anymore to play it.

[Kekvit Irae]

Meh, the game plays in DOSBox. At least it's in my account ready to download again anytime in the future.

[seireikhaan]

MoO2 on GoG (http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/master_of_orion_1_2)!
That figures I wouldn't check this thread for over a week... :shifty:

MoO2 was my favorite game for.... well, a while, let's put it that way. Glad I'll finally be able to play it again.

[Gregoshi]

Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty is being released on July 27, 2010 (http://pc.ign.com/articles/108/1087418p1.html) almost everywhere. :2thumbsup:

[Meneldil]

EA Sports finds a new way (http://www.easports.com/onlinepass) to milk players. How far will they go before someone cuts their greedy throat?

[Xiahou]

EA Sports finds a new way (http://www.easports.com/onlinepass) to milk players.
From their website:
Is this intended to combat second sale?
We actually view the second sale market as an opportunity to develop a direct relationship with our consumers, and with Online Pass everyone has access to the same premium online services and content regardless of how and where you buy the game. In order to continue to enhance the online experiences that are attracting nearly five million connected game sessions a day, again, we think it’s fair to get paid for the services we provide and to reserve these online services for people who pay EA to access them. In return, we’ll continue to invest in creating great games and offer industry-leading online services to extend the game experience to everyone. I don’t think even the harshest cynic can argue with that and instead I think fans will see the value we’re committing to deliver when they see all the services, features and bonus content that is extending the life of their products.
YES.Fixed their answer for them. :beam:

Basically, they're trying to add $10 to the cost of buying the game used. I can appreciate their conundrum- Gamestop's used game sales completely screw over game developers/publishers, but I don't like that they're basically changing "premium" content and online functionality into DLC. What's next? The final boss of games will require a one-time use activation code?

[Veho Nex]

SHHHH!!! You're not supposed to say that... Who knows they might read this and make it true.

[Meneldil]

That made me laugh :D

http://www.hiwiller.com/2010/04/29/if-mario-was-designed-in-2010/

[Kekvit Irae]

That made me laugh :D

http://www.hiwiller.com/2010/04/29/if-mario-was-designed-in-2010/

The Facebook integration made me laugh.

[TinCow]

Stronghold 3 is coming out in Spring 2011 (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/05/15/gobbets-stronghold-3-announced/). Maybe they'll get it right this time.

[TinCow]

CA's next game is... a sports game?

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/05/19/beckham-total-war/

I don't know how well that forum will fit in around here...

[pevergreen]

CA's next game is... a sports game?

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/05/19/beckham-total-war/

I don't know how well that forum will fit in around here...

Thankfully, a CA employee has told me that basically the Australian studio is not affiliated with Total War, they're basically just a sega studio under the CA name.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Thankfully, a CA employee has told me that basically the Australian studio is not affiliated with Total War, they're basically just a sega studio under the CA name.

Oh good, so this game might have decent AI and mod support?

[Veho Nex]

Oh good, so this game might have decent AI and mod support?

/thread

[pevergreen]

:laugh4: I've got no idea, I just know that the Aussie studio aint working on Total War games anymore.

[al Roumi]

Shogun 2: Total War?

Plagiarised from RPS:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/05/28/son-of-a-shogun-shogun-2-total-war/

There’s a couple of leaks which seem to point towards it. Firstly, as reported by Kotaku, a Sega PR booked a trade show appointment with Turkish site Oyungezer for Shogun 2. Secondly, a press-release for it appeared on TWCenter, apparently leaked. The thread’s been removed though still shows up on google, but has been mirrored all over the place. We’ll only know at E3 – or with PC Gamer’s next cover, whichever comes first. The leaked alleged press-release is below, plus some initial thoughts…

[al Roumi]

Shogun 2 is confirmed!

At RPS: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/06/03/killigraphy-shogun-2-total-war-confirmed/#more-31352

And by a snazy new video on the Total War website, here: http://www.totalwar.com/ (http://www.totalwar.com/)

Edit:

And here, at Sega: http://www.sega.co.uk/news/?n=4289

[Krusader]

Shogun 2 is confirmed!

At RPS: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/06/03/killigraphy-shogun-2-total-war-confirmed/#more-31352

And by a snazy new video on the Total War website, here: http://www.totalwar.com/ (http://www.totalwar.com/)

Edit:

And here, at Sega: http://www.sega.co.uk/news/?n=4289

Love some of the comments on RPS!
Unlike NTW I will at least keep my eyes on Shogun 2 to see if it gets any good. Although I'd rather see Shogun 1 (and Medieval 1) on gog.com.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Love some of the comments on RPS!
Unlike NTW I will at least keep my eyes on Shogun 2 to see if it gets any good. Although I'd rather see Shogun 1 (and Medieval 1) on gog.com.
YES PLEASE

Or at least patches that let you play them on non-ancient graphics cards!

As to Shogun 2, I have full faith in CA's ability to market the hell out of it. But that's about it. The heroes bit sounds dumb, too.

[johnhughthom]

Although I'd rather see Shogun 1 (and Medieval 1) on gog.com.

GamersGate has Shogun, not MTW though.

[Krusader]

GamersGate has Shogun, not MTW though.

But does it work with new graphics cards? If not, then no point in buying, as I already have original Shogun and Mongol Invasion CDs.

[johnhughthom]

After purchasing I have found the answer to that is no.

[TinCow]

Rumors that Valve is going to announce Half-life 3 at E3. (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/101197-Rumor-Valves-E3-Surprise-is-Source-2-Maybe-Half-Life-3)

[Monk]

Rumors that Valve is going to announce Half-life 3 at E3. (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/101197-Rumor-Valves-E3-Surprise-is-Source-2-Maybe-Half-Life-3)

Valve are the biggest trolls in the video game industry, i will believe it when i'm downloading it from steam.

[Azathoth]

Wait, what about Episode 3?

[TinCow]

Wait, what about Episode 3?

At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if the plot that was intended for Ep 3 just became part of HL3. HL2 is pretty old now and it makes sense that Valve have a new engine up their sleeves.

[TinCow]

Portal 2 has been delayed until 2011 (http://kotaku.com/5559281/portal-2-delayed-to-2011-but-valve-has-a-good-reason). Article is worth reading, because the press release is rather unusual.

[edit] Press release in full:


VALVE ANNOUNCES MAKING GAMES IS HARD

June 9, 2010 -- Aperture Science, doing business as Aperture Laboratories LLC, in partnership with Valve today announced the successful completion of an ethics-review-panel-supervised release date restructuring process. Portal 2, the sequel to the ground-breaking title that earned over 30 Game of the Year awards despite missing its original ship date, is now targeted for a 2011 release.

Representatives from both companies acknowledged that public safety concerns factored into the decision. They went on to say that even though Portal 2 will arrive slightly later than planned, all life on earth won't instantaneously stop as every molecule in your body explodes at the speed of light, which is what would happen should a rip ever appear in the fabric of Valve Time.

"Also, the game will be even better," they added, missing an historic opportunity to create the first product delay press release to mention that a product is being delayed to make it worse.

To ask questions about how close we all came to dying, or to ask futile questions about the previously announced E3 ***PORTAL-2-THEMED-FOR-GOD'S SAKE*** surprise or, less futilely, to schedule an appointment to attend a Portal 2 screening at the Valve booth during E3, please contact Valve's delegate to the EU's Valve Time Studies Group, Doug Lombardi.

[al Roumi]

That's a very original press release. The wit is so dry i wouldn't be surprised to see the paper it was written on sublime.

[FactionHeir]

Been playing quite a bit of Age of Chivalry the last year and been beta testing newer versions (now alpha testing the new game).
Figured it would be wortwhile for an announce since the Source modification is going Indie game:
Team Chivalry announces Chivalry: Battle for Agatha (http://www.age-of-chivalry.com/smf/index.php?topic=8525.0)

The new game will be based on the Unreal engine and built in UDK. While it won't be free anylonger like the current Source version, it will be priced very cheaply (Indie game and all). Definitely worth a look.

[TinCow]

Duke Nukem may not be dead after all (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/08/11/gearbox-to-finish-duke/). Why can't they just put it out of its misery? Does anyone still care about that IP?

[Monk]

Duke Nukem may not be dead after all (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/08/11/gearbox-to-finish-duke/). Why can't they just put it out of its misery? Does anyone still care about that IP?

People still care, no one believes it'll ever happen though.

[Jolt]

Breaking news: Paradox Interactive just (Some 3 hours ago) the development of Crusader Kings 2, the sequel to the Medieval Dynasty-builder Strategy game!

[drone]

Portal 2 release date (Feb 9, 2011) and cool gameplay video:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/08/18/portal-2-on-screen-footage-other-stuff/
Interesting game mechanics with the slime and hamster tunnels.

Either the cake or the release date is a lie.

[Monk]

Breaking news: Paradox Interactive just (Some 3 hours ago) the development of Crusader Kings 2, the sequel to the Medieval Dynasty-builder Strategy game!

Official announcement (http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?t=493932).

Seems like Victoria 2 broke all their expectations if they are going with a sequel to Crusader Kings. More diversity in the strategy genre is always a plus!

[drone]

The joke lives on! Duke Nukem Forever to be released end of this year/start of next. Demos at PAX. (http://kotaku.com/5628894/its-official-duke-nukem-forever-coming-from-gearbox-software)

Gearbox is putting it together from the shattered remains of 3DRealms' work. Hopefully the humor from Borderlands migrates to DNF.

In other news, the sixth plane of Hell is experiencing a cold snap, and swine are flooding the FAA with pilot license applications.

[Monk]

The joke lives on! Duke Nukem Forever to be released end of this year/start of next. Demos at PAX. (http://kotaku.com/5628894/its-official-duke-nukem-forever-coming-from-gearbox-software)

Gearbox is putting it together from the shattered remains of 3DRealms' work. Hopefully the humor from Borderlands migrates to DNF.

In other news, the sixth plane of Hell is experiencing a cold snap, and swine are flooding the FAA with pilot license applications.

I never thought i'd be saying this but: Good. It's been long enough, let's see the final product and be done with it already. 13 years of expectations however will be very hard to overcome, Team Fortress 2 did it (10 years), can DNF? We'll see, the game ain't out yet so I'm not gonna go catching bacon with a butterfly net quite yet. I admit, i'll laugh my :daisy: off if it gets delayed though, even if its only a week total. It would be fitting. :laugh4:

[johnhughthom]

http://vimeo.com/14790849

Worst preview video I have ever seen.

[Mailman653]

APB:Shutting down soon (http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/apb/1121252p1.html)

[Meneldil]

Wow, that's pretty lame. So much hype around this game, to see it sinks not even 4 monthes after its release...

[Monk]

Wow, that's pretty lame. So much hype around this game, to see it sinks not even 4 monthes after its release...

Not totally unexpected if you've been following it, and especially not so if you've ever played it. ~:( It's a bad situation for all involved, track down some of the news postings on Rock Paper Shotgun and scan the comments for "ExRTW", who is allegedly an ex RTW-employee. Their posts have proven to be very disheartening (and often proved true by later news stories).

APB is what happens when your marketing division takes over the development process, and it isn't pretty.

[Beskar]

I know some one who tried to get me into it, and I looked at it and I was pretty much thinking that this would happen. I am glad I didn't end up wasting my money but I feel sorry for him.

[Martok]

Good Old Games appears to have closed. This is the message that's up on their website (http://www.gog.com/) today:




Dear GOG users,

We have recently had to give serious thought to whether we could really keep GOG.com the way it is. We've debated on it for quite some time and, unfortunately, we've decided that GOG.com simply cannot remain in its current form.

We're very grateful for all support we've received from all of you in the past two years. Working on GOG.com was a great adventure for all of us and an unforgettable journey to the past, through the long and wonderful history of PC gaming.

This doesn't mean the idea behind GOG.com is gone forever. We're closing down the service and putting this era behind us as new challenges await.

On a technical note, this week we'll put in place a solution to allow everyone to re-download their games. Stay tuned to this page and follow us on Twitter and Facebook for updates.

All the best,
GOG.com Team



This is distressing news, to say the least. It was such a promising concept, and I'm sad that they apparently weren't able to make it work. ~:mecry:

[Crazed Rabbit]

Free DLC is coming out for both left 4 dead games on Tuesday - watch the awesome trailer here: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/debut-trailer-left-4-dead/705509

CR

[pevergreen]

Looks like I'm going to have to shake the L4D rust off. Hit me up anyone who wants to play it.

This time, its Francis time.

[johnhughthom]

Icewind Dale is the latest classic RPG released on GOG.

http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/icewind_dale_complete

[Fragony]

And the new battlefield is called.... Battlefield: play4free. Trailer http://www.gamert.nl/video/de_nieuwe_battlefield_heet_pla.html looks good. EA gave us a nice gift with Heroes but it was too cartoony for some (idiots) this should be a hit.

[Furunculus]

enormous steam sale on now.

entire paradox collection for 92% off.

[naut]

enormous steam sale on now.

entire paradox collection for 92% off.
Vicky + Ricky $3!!

[drone]

I hope Hitler and Stalin packed cold weather gear, because it's going to get a little chilly on the 9th plane.

Duke Nukem Forever release date: May 3rd (US), May 6th (worldwide). (http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/01/21/exclusive-duke-nukem-forever-has-a-release-date.aspx) New trailer in the link.

[drone]

And it should come as no surprise, DNF release delayed (http://www.thinq.co.uk/2011/03/24/duke-nukem-forever-gets-one-last-delay/)!


In an announcement today, Gearbox Software president Randy Pitchford surprised nobody with the news that the project has suffered a one more last-minute slip, moving from a 6th of May release date in the UK to the 10th of June - for reasons that have yet to be shared.
:laugh4:

[Monk]

I admit, i'll laugh my :daisy: off if it gets delayed though, even if its only a week total. It would be fitting. :laugh4:

https://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x301/swcsalha/1298546769606.jpg

That's all.

[Veho Nex]

And it should come as no surprise, DNF release delayed (http://www.thinq.co.uk/2011/03/24/duke-nukem-forever-gets-one-last-delay/)!


:laugh4:

You are like the devil himself with, the harbinger of my doom with bad news.

[Crazed Rabbit]

The creator of Minecraft is schmoozed by Sean Parker, Napster founder, a la The Social Network (http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/04/02/minecraft-creator-notch-schmoozed-by-napster-founder-sean-parker/):


This week Markus Persson, the guy behind indie hit Minecraft, mentioned he had two meetings coming up: one with a prospective employee, another with someone who “has a great business idea”. Later, he wrote on his blog that a “rather spontaneous rich guy” met with the team, then invited them to fly to a party in London on his private jet. Which they did.

When fans pestered him for the identity of the mysterious rich guy on Twitter, Notch confirmed that Majestic XII’s guess was correct: Napster founder and influential Facebook investor Sean Parker. Which makes the whole thing amusingly close to the flashy behaviour of the Sean Parker character in The Social Network, the movie about the founding of Facebook that Parker himself called “a complete work of fiction”.

CR

[Mailman653]

BioWare Confirms Dragon Age 3 in Development (http://ps3.gamespy.com/playstation-3/dragon-age-2/1169665p1.html)

[drone]

Pigs fly, Hell freezes over, DNF goes gold (http://www.neowin.net/news/duke-nukem-forever-finally-goes-gold).

[gaelic cowboy]

E3 video by IGN (http://ie.ign.com/videos/2011/05/27/e3-2011-preview-nintendo-sony-microsoft)

E3 2011: Mass Effect 3 -- The Galaxy's Fate is in Your Hands (http://ie.xbox360.ign.com/articles/117/1172194p1.html)

E3 2011: Mass Effect 3 - From Cover to Combat (http://ie.ps3.ign.com/articles/117/1172200p1.html)

[Veho Nex]

MW3 to have no dedicated servers. (http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/06/02/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-3-wont-have-dedicated-servers-perks-and-kill-streaks-detailed/?ns_campaign=article-feed&ns_mchannel=ref&ns_source=steam&ns_linkname=0&ns_fee=0)

Reskin of MW2 incoming!

[Mailman653]

Mass Effect 3, Ghost Recon and all future Tom Clancy titles getting Kinect support. (http://xbox360.gamespy.com/articles/117/1172919p1.html)

[Krusader]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noKUH-PUHCI

Latest from Crytek. Seems like X360-exclusive where you are a Roman in civil war.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

I was interested until I saw the Kinect garbage.

Also, they're really determined to keep up the "y" thing, huh.

[Mailman653]

I was interested until I saw the Kinect garbage.

Also, they're really determined to keep up the "y" thing, huh.

Heh heh, same here! Although what a great way to get into shape, ha ha ha! kill a few dozen rioters in ancient Rome.

[Veho Nex]

Take that you anti-game activist! (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-na-0628-court-violent-video-20110628,0,5099090.story)

[Mailman653]

EA: No Modding Tools With Battlefield 3 (http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/battlefield-3/1180627p1.html)

[Veho Nex]

Age of Conan F2P (http://www.holyfragger.com/pc/massively_multiplayer/age_of_conan/news/?a=2197)

[Mailman653]

Legendary Pictures Ready to Discuss Mass Effect Live-Action Movie at ComicCon (http://xbox360.gamespy.com/xbox-360/mass-effect-3/1181087p1.html)

[drone]

EA pays $750 million to run PopCap into the ground. (http://www.industrygamers.com/news/ea-has-purchased-popcap-for-650-million/)

[naut]

Blizzard Ruins Diablo III. (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/08/01/diablo-iii-no-mods-online-only-cash-trades/)

[Greyblades]

Blizzard Ruins Diablo III. (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/08/01/diablo-iii-no-mods-online-only-cash-trades/)
The phrase "pointless dick move" comes to mind.

[Crandaeolon]

Heh, that "pointless dick move" would actually have made my DII experience more hassle-free and enjoyable. Kinda funny, really.

[naut]

STALKER 2 to be jam packed with DRM. (http://www.dsogaming.com/news/s-t-a-l-k-e-r-2-will-require-a-permanent-internet-connection/)

[LeftEyeNine]

Heroes of Might & Magic VI out ! (http://store.steampowered.com/app/48220?snr=1_41_4__42)

[Crandaeolon]

Sword of the Stars II is out and the launch was a complete screw-up. Martin Cirulis (Kerberos CEO) went from arrogant and dismissive to arrogant and moderately apologetic with a few old excuses. I guess this is not really "news" per se, but rather a word of warning.

Past experience indicates that the game should be somewhat playable in 6 to 12 months or after the first expansion.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Sword of the Stars II is out and the launch was a complete screw-up. Martin Cirulis (Kerberos CEO) went from arrogant and dismissive to arrogant and moderately apologetic with a few old excuses. I guess this is not really "news" per se, but rather a word of warning.

Past experience indicates that the game should be somewhat playable in 6 to 12 months or after the first expansion.
I made the mistake of pre-ordering. A mistake I shall never make again (except for Hegemony: Rome and Crusader Kings 2).

Pretty disappointing, but I think the game will be playable in three weeks. Feature complete in 2-3 months, and they'll start adding really good stuff with expansions in 6-12 months.

[Martok]

Sword of the Stars II is out and the launch was a complete screw-up. Martin Cirulis (Kerberos CEO) went from arrogant and dismissive to arrogant and moderately apologetic with a few old excuses. I guess this is not really "news" per se, but rather a word of warning.

Past experience indicates that the game should be somewhat playable in 6 to 12 months or after the first expansion.
I'm suddenly having flashbacks to when the first SotS was released. People were complaining then about how arrogant Kerberos was, but I'd kind of forgotten about that until now.

A pity to hear the sequel has been released in such a sorry state (that's about all I've been hearing on the various gaming forums I've visited the last several days), though. I've never been particularly enthralled with Sword of the Stars, but I can see its appeal, and I feel bad for all those who were waiting for SotS II with such obvious anticipation. As someone who suffered similarly through the debacle that was Master of Orion III, I certainly sympathize. :sad:

[Major Robert Dump]

HAHA MOO3 may have had the most disappointing ending ever. I slaved away on the hardest difficulty on the most enormous map, and when it was all said and done it was terrible, just terrible

[Crandaeolon]

Pretty disappointing, but I think the game will be playable in three weeks. Feature complete in 2-3 months, and they'll start adding really good stuff with expansions in 6-12 months.

Yeah, sorry for adding a bit of hyperbole there. Of course, it all depends on what one considers playable... perhaps "worth playing" would've been a better expression. :tongue2:


I'm suddenly having flashbacks to when the first SotS was released. People were complaining then about how arrogant Kerberos was, but I'd kind of forgotten about that until now.

Not sure if I've told the story already, but Kerberos's forum is the only one where I've ever received a perma-ban - or any ban, for that matter. IIRC, my first post there was some pretty tame criticism about the interface and some suggestions to make it better. Some of it was reiterated from other complaints, but I did my best to find something new to say, to make it constructive and to offer new suggestions. After a brief exchange, I was banned without warning or explanation. What's even funnier, they ended up implementing some of those suggestions by me and others later on.


As someone who suffered similarly through the debacle that was Master of Orion III, I certainly sympathize.

I still have the MoO3 box. I'm gonna burn it when a worthy successor to MoO2 comes along.

[drone]

HAHA MOO3 may have had the most disappointing ending ever. I slaved away on the hardest difficulty on the most enormous map, and when it was all said and done it was terrible, just terrible
You actually finished it? I gave up when I realized that I was not actually playing a video game, but was suddenly working a second job. ~:doh:

[naut]

Steam Hacked. (http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-57322788-245/steam-web-sites-hacked-gamer-data-exposed/)

[Martok]

Have you tried Armada 2526 and its' expansion, Supernova? Pretty cheap on Steam and Impulse, I believe. On top of feeling like MoO2, the game was also designed by a former memeber of the Total War team.. similarities abound!
While I very much second GC's endorsement of Armada, I would add a word of caution: The game lacks ship design, and the combat is IMHO pretty "meh".

I don't miss the former myself, but for those who absolutely have to have ship design as a feature in their 4x games, then this is one to skip. My main complaint with combat is that it moves a little too quickly and is over far too soon for my tastes. (Battles last no longer 5 minutes, after which it's declared a victory, defeat, or draw, depending on the circumstances.)


Otherwise, though, it is indeed a most excellent space strategy game -- it's finally tied with my beloved Birth of the Federation for my favorite 4x title...and for me, that's no mean feat! ~:)

[Crandaeolon]

Have you tried Armada 2526 and its' expansion, Supernova?

Uhm, I think I played the demo some time ago and wasn't impressed. Ship design and, particularly, combat are important to me, so perhaps that's why Armada didn't grab me, whereas SotS is right up my alley.

[Veho Nex]

I thought this would get a laugh from some of you. (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/11/29/gaming-brain-studies-whos-behind-them/)


And finally, when you see a story like this, it’s always worth looking at where the funding came from. And this time it was from a group called The Center For Successful Parenting, whose stated goal is “to help parents understand the consequences of our children viewing video violence”. Which might suggest they’ve already rather made their minds up. But of course they could be a science-focused, results-based organisation. But, well, that slightly falls down at the first hurdle, when you look at their “NEWS UPDATES” section, which impressively seems to begin in 1945.

“Television was introduced in 1945

From 1945 to 1974 homicides in the United States increased 93%”

Oh come on.

From 1900 to 1945 homicide rates in the US increased 400%! Based on those figures I’m claiming the arrival of television massively prevented homicide! And why do these figures mysteriously stop in 1974, despite the world having aged a little since then? Because since 1974 homicide rates in the US have rather awkwardly been falling. This isn’t the sort of organisation I really want to be behind the scientific data I’m studying. (Also, as an aside, in their mission statement they explain that “Our culture used to protect the innocence of our children.” Um, when was that exactly? I’m struggling to put my finger on that period in history when children were more protected than they are right now.)

[Hamata]

Magna mundi opens a closed beta http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?572441-Apply-for-the-Magna-Mundi-Beta%21

[Veho Nex]

Gamers need to boycott EA, IMO (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/12/05/ea-origin-bans-update-edition/)

[Husar]

Looks like GSC have left us. (http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/stalker-project-2/1214404p1.html)

Still seems a bit uncertain so far, but they made some really interesting games IMO, so I hope there's a future for such games.

[naut]

Looks like GSC have left us. (http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/stalker-project-2/1214404p1.html)

Still seems a bit uncertain so far, but they made some really interesting games IMO, so I hope there's a future for such games.
This is the saddest news of 2011.

[Hamata]

i was planing to post a thread about this ):

[johnhughthom]

PC Mass Effect 3 to require Origin. (http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/323/index/8975536/1)

[naut]

Yey for spyware!

[johnhughthom]

It has this particularly noteworthy blatant lie:


4) Will ME3 be available on Steam?
During initial release Mass Effect 3 will be available on Origin and a number of other 3rd party digital retailers, but not on Steam at this time. Steam has adopted a set of restrictive terms of service which limit how developers interact with customers to deliver patches and other downloadable content. We are intent on providing Mass Effect to players with the best possible experience no matter where they purchase or play their game, and are happy to partner with any download service that does not restrict our ability to connect directly with our consumers.

Yes indeed, how restrictive of Steam to expect that people who purchase the game on that platform are also able to purchase DLC on Steam, rather than being forced into another method.

[Monk]

PC Mass Effect 3 to require Origin. (http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/323/index/8975536/1)

This is a dark day.. I could tolerate an optional origin (the way they handled swtor) but.. required? Good god.. ~:(

[Husar]

I wouldn't say it's Steam's fault just because they were the first to offer a digital distribution platform with some DRM.

Annoying DRM aka copy protection already existed before Steam.

If you really want to blame the root cause for DRM then blame the first people who thought copying other peoples' commercial work for free was a good idea. ~;)

[Xiahou]

Touche. Pirates always make things harder than they need to be.And it's legitimate consumers who are the losers. Pirates still pirate and enjoy their free games unburdened by any DRM while the people who purchase the games are forced to endure more onerous DRM. :shrug:

This is why people were against Steam back in the day. Just saying. They set the precedent for this to happen.

I still don't know if its a bad thing though. Wide-spread digital distribution has been pretty kind to me, and despite all the evil warnings of DRM i've never had a problem with Steam or any of the others. Requiring it for the game is just a good and reliable way to fight small-time Piracy, get out content quickly and universally to the customers, and to help Bioware and all them make more money to make more games with by promoting their distribution medium of choice.

I just don't see the problem. But its still totally Steam's fault this is possible and will likely become the standard, so people who do see this as a problem should point their ire in that direction. That's the digital distribution conundrum in a nutshell. Having my game library spread over numerous digital distributors and having to install each of their accompanying apps is an inconvenience and cruds up your PC. But if there's only one or two distributors having everything then you're dealing with a monopoly and you're completely at their mercy. Get you account banned/hacked/whatever and you lose access to all your games.

Personally, I liked it much better when I went out and bought a box with a disc in it to install and play from.......

[Fragony]

And suddenly I was interested in Bioshock: Infinite. The reason: 1999 mode. The catch with this mode is that you can screw up to the point where you won't be able to beat the game as all your build choices are permanent. That's harsh, System Shock 2 harsh. Now what game was released in 1999

[Husar]

Steam is now available for iPhone (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/steam-mobile/id495369748) and Android (https://market.android.com/details?id=com.valvesoftware.android.steam.community).

Only the community features and the store, you can't play any games on your Smartphone with it (yet).

You can however use the chat and other community features and buy games for your Computer. Which means you won't have to miss out on sales if you're not at your computer for example.
Use depends on your use of Steam I guess.

[naut]

Steam is now available for iPhone (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/steam-mobile/id495369748) and Android (https://market.android.com/details?id=com.valvesoftware.android.steam.community).

Only the community features and the store, you can't play any games on your Smartphone with it (yet).

You can however use the chat and other community features and buy games for your Computer. Which means you won't have to miss out on sales if you're not at your computer for example.
Use depends on your use of Steam I guess.
Need a beta key to use.

[Husar]

Need a beta key to use.

It says so but works without it. You just enter your account details and then get an error*.

Then you wait for the e-mail with the security code and enter that, too.

And then you get to use Steam on your Smartphone.

How dare you assume I posted that without trying it myself first!? :stare:




*only if you have this Steam Guard feature or what it's called I suppose

[Veho Nex]

Who wants to make $1,000,000 in a day? (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02/09/double-fine-kickstarter/)

All I can say is HOOOOOOLLLLLLLEEEEE :daisy:

[Mailman653]

Former Mafia Developers License The Crytek Engine For New Open-world RPG (http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/02/09/former-mafia-developers-license-the-crytek-engine-for-new-open-world-rpg.aspx)

[johnhughthom]

Former Mafia Developers License The Crytek Engine For New Open-world RPG (http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/02/09/former-mafia-developers-license-the-crytek-engine-for-new-open-world-rpg.aspx)

Operation Flashpoint and Mafia developers together, imagine a game with the best elements of each. :yes:

[rajpoot]

Assassin's Creed III confirmed. (http://ps3.ign.com/articles/121/1218767p1.html)


According to CEO Yves Guillemot, the game will hit stores on October 30th. The game is said to complete the story of Desmond.

[rajpoot]

Saw this (http://games.ign.com/articles/121/1218964p1.html) the day before yesterday but didn't get the chance to look it up until just now.

Makes for an interesting little read.

[TinCow]

Bioware appears to be doing something related to Baldur's Gate. (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/116066-Website-Teases-New-Baldurs-Gate-Something-UPDATED) It looks like it's related to the Infinity Engine, so my guess is a re-release of the game with updated graphics and interface and such.

[Crazed Rabbit]

"The gods are dead."

This game looks cool:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YupzBYxsgow&feature=player_embedded

CR