Via Bigdownloads:
Some of you may remember that our sister site Engadget did a hands-on preview of the upcoming Gaikai streaming PC game service a few weeks ago. It's CEO Dave Perry told them he was aiming to finally launch the service to the public on December 15 with the caveat that he wasn't making any promises on keeping to that date. It's a good thing he added that bit in because December 15 came and went without Gaikai's official launch.
Big Download emailed Perry himself to get an update on when Gaikai will be available to the masses. While he dodged our question on whether or not Gaikai would launch before the end of 2010 he did give us this general update:
Open Beta is going well. We took the difficult route by supporting every browser / operating system configuration (including Linux) in all countries. That said, progress has been good, no show-stoppers. We will continue this process for the time being as it's giving us time to set up the rest of the global network. (12 Countries live so far.)
I'll believe it when I see it. Dave Perry has a habit of not delivering, though I would welcome any competition to onlive.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Dungeons release date
Via bigdownloads:
Publisher Kalypso Media has a number of upcoming games due out in the first quarter of 2011 and today the company revealed specific release dates for two of them. One is Dungeons, the Dungeon Keeper-like strategy-RPG game from developer Realmforge. That game is due out on February 10. The other is The First Templar, the co-op themed action-adventure game from developer Haemimont Games. That game is scheduled for release on March 30.
In addition both games will be getting exclusive content if you purchase them via the Steam PC game service. There's no word yet on what specific content will be available on Steam.
Publisher Kalypso Media has a number of upcoming games due out in the first quarter of 2011 and today the company revealed specific release dates for two of them. One is Dungeons, the Dungeon Keeper-like strategy-RPG game from developer Realmforge. That game is due out on February 10. The other is The First Templar, the co-op themed action-adventure game from developer Haemimont Games. That game is scheduled for release on March 30.
In addition both games will be getting exclusive content if you purchase them via the Steam PC game service. There's no word yet on what specific content will be available on Steam.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
War in the North
Via War in the North
Burbank, Calif. – March 18, 2010 – Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announces today that The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, an epic multiplayer action/RPG video game based on the renowned novels by J.R.R. Tolkien, is set to launch on the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Games for Windows® in 2011.
“With The Lord of the Rings: War in the North we are taking a mature approach to the widely celebrated property with authentic portrayals of battles and all new storylines,” said Martin Tremblay, President, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “Utilizing the award-winning and passionate development team at Snowblind Studios, we are looking to evolve the RPG experience and deliver The Lord of the Rings game fans have been waiting for.”
If this game is anywhere near as good as Return of the King for the ps2, that would rule.
Burbank, Calif. – March 18, 2010 – Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announces today that The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, an epic multiplayer action/RPG video game based on the renowned novels by J.R.R. Tolkien, is set to launch on the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Games for Windows® in 2011.
“With The Lord of the Rings: War in the North we are taking a mature approach to the widely celebrated property with authentic portrayals of battles and all new storylines,” said Martin Tremblay, President, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “Utilizing the award-winning and passionate development team at Snowblind Studios, we are looking to evolve the RPG experience and deliver The Lord of the Rings game fans have been waiting for.”
If this game is anywhere near as good as Return of the King for the ps2, that would rule.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Spike Video Game awards
In 25 days (as of this post) Spike TV will be hosting the Spike Video Game Awards 2010 Featuring several "best of" categories that you can check out on their horribly designed and painful to look at website.
Also, Bioware will announce their next big game during a commercial, for which they have released a teaser for:
Also, Bioware will announce their next big game during a commercial, for which they have released a teaser for:
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Minecraft passes 600,000 units
The indie sandbox game Minecraft registered that it had reached 600,000 sales. The game was released back in May 2009, but most of its sales have been in the past few months. It reached 500,000 less than a month ago.
And its still in alpha. Nice to see an indie game succeed.
And its still in alpha. Nice to see an indie game succeed.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
California Game Law
Via Rock, Paper , Shotgun, here are some snippets of Supreme court justices commenting on the attempt of California's A.G Zackery Morazzini to enforce a bill that would make it a criminal to sell "violent" videogames to minors. This he is doing on behalf of California's own governator it what is commonly known as Schwarzenegger-v-EMA. Rarely is the supreme court this funny, here are some highlights:
Justice Scalia: What’s a deviant violent video games? As opposed to what? A normal violent video game?
Morazzini: Yes, your honor. Deviant would be departing from established norms.
Justice Scalia: There are established norms of violence? … Some of the Grimm’s fairy tales are quite grim, to tell you the truth.
Morazzini: Agreed, your honor. But the level of violence ….
Justice Scalia: Are they okay? Are you going to ban them too?
Morazzini: Not at all, your honor.
Justice Ginsburg: What’s the difference? I mean, if you are supposing a category of violent materials dangerous to children, then how do you cut it off at video games? What about films? What about comic books? Grimm’s fairy tales? Why are video games special? Or does your principle extend to all deviant, violent material in whatever form?
Morazzini: No, your honor. That’s why I believe California incorporated the three prongs of the Miller standard (for identifying porn in legal cases). So it’s not just deviant violence. It’s not just patently offensive violence. It’s violence that meets all three of the terms set forth in … The California legislature was presented with substantial evidence that demonstrates that the interactive nature of violent — of violent video games where the minor or the young adult is the aggressor, is the — is the individual acting out this — this obscene level of violence.
Justice Kagan: Well, do you actually have studies that show that video games are more harmful to minors than movies are?
Morazzini: Well, in the record, your honor, I believe it’s the Gentile and Gentile study regarding violent video games as exemplary teachers.
Justice Kagan: Suppose a new study suggested that movies were just as violent. Then, presumably, California could regulate movies just as it could regulate video games?
Justice Sotomayor: One of the studies, the Anderson study, says that the effect of violence is the same for a Bugs Bunny episode as it is for a violent video. So can the legislature now, because it has that study, outlaw Bugs Bunny?
Morazzini: No.
Justice Scalia: That same argument could have been made when movies first came out. They could have said, oh, we’ve had violence in Grimm’s fairy tales, but we’ve never had it live on the screen. I mean, every time there’s a new technology, you can make that argument.
Justice Sotomayor: Could you get rid of rap music? Have you heard some of the lyrics of some of the rap music, some of the original violent songs that have been sung about killing people and other violence directed to them?
Justice Scalia: I’m concerned about the producer of the games who has to know what he has to do in order to comply with the law. And you’re telling me a jury can — of course, a jury can make up its mind, I’m sure. But a law that has criminal penalties has to be clear. And how is the manufacturer to know whether a particular violent game is covered or not? Does he convene his own jury and try it before — you know I really wouldn’t know what to do as a manufacturer.
Morazzini: I am convinced that the video game industry will know what to do. They rate their video games every day on the basis of violence. They rate them for the intensity of the violence.
Justice Kennedy: It seems to me all or at least the great majority of the questions today are designed to probe whether or not the statute is vague. And you say the beauty of the statute is that it utilizes the categories that have been used in the obscenity area, and that there’s an obvious parallel there. The problem is that for generations there has been a societal consensus about sexual material.
Justice Scalia: I am concerned with the First Amendment, which says Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech. And it was always understood that the freedom of speech did not include obscenity. It has never been understood that the freedom of speech did not include portrayals of violence. You are asking us to create a whole new prohibition which the American people never ratified when they ratified the First Amendment. …What’s next after violence? Drinking? Smoking?
Justice Breyer: This court has held in one instance that courts can regulate fighting words. We regulate fighting words? Don’t we?
Morazzini: Absolutely.
Justice Breyer: Because they provoke violence.
Justice Scalia: You should consider creating such a one (advisory office). You might call it the California Office of Censorship. It would judge each of these video games one by one. That would be very nice.
Morazzini: Your honor, we ask juries to judge sexual material and its appropriateness for minors as well. … California is not acting as a censor. It is telling manufacturers and distributors to look at your material and to judge for yourself.
Justice Kagan: Do you think Mortal Kombat is prohibited by this statute?
Morazzini: I believe it is a candidate. But I haven’t played the game and been exposed to it sufficiently to judge for myself.
Justice Kagan: I am sure half of the clerks who work for us spent considerable amounts of time in their adolescence playing [it].
Justice Scalia: I don’t know what she’s talking about.
Justice Kagan: Would a video game that portrayed a Vulcan as opposed to a human being, being maimed and tortured, would that be covered by the act?
Morazzini: No, it wouldn’t, because the act is only directed towards the range of options that are able to be inflicted on a human being.
Justice Sotomayer: So if the video producer says this is not a human being, it’s an android computer simulated person, then all they have to do is put a little artificial feature on the creature and they could sell the video game?
Morazzini: Under the act, yes, because California’s concern, I think this is one of the reasons that sex and violence are so similar, these are base physical acts we are talking about, Justice Sotomayor. So limiting, narrowing our law here in California, there in California to violence = violent depictions against human beings.
Justice Sotomayer: So what happens when the character gets maimed, head chopped off and immediately after it happens they spring back to life and they continue their battle. Is that covered by your act? Because they haven’t been maimed and killed forever. Just temporarily.
Not exactly I high point of the A.G's career
Justice Scalia: What’s a deviant violent video games? As opposed to what? A normal violent video game?
Morazzini: Yes, your honor. Deviant would be departing from established norms.
Justice Scalia: There are established norms of violence? … Some of the Grimm’s fairy tales are quite grim, to tell you the truth.
Morazzini: Agreed, your honor. But the level of violence ….
Justice Scalia: Are they okay? Are you going to ban them too?
Morazzini: Not at all, your honor.
Justice Ginsburg: What’s the difference? I mean, if you are supposing a category of violent materials dangerous to children, then how do you cut it off at video games? What about films? What about comic books? Grimm’s fairy tales? Why are video games special? Or does your principle extend to all deviant, violent material in whatever form?
Morazzini: No, your honor. That’s why I believe California incorporated the three prongs of the Miller standard (for identifying porn in legal cases). So it’s not just deviant violence. It’s not just patently offensive violence. It’s violence that meets all three of the terms set forth in … The California legislature was presented with substantial evidence that demonstrates that the interactive nature of violent — of violent video games where the minor or the young adult is the aggressor, is the — is the individual acting out this — this obscene level of violence.
Justice Kagan: Well, do you actually have studies that show that video games are more harmful to minors than movies are?
Morazzini: Well, in the record, your honor, I believe it’s the Gentile and Gentile study regarding violent video games as exemplary teachers.
Justice Kagan: Suppose a new study suggested that movies were just as violent. Then, presumably, California could regulate movies just as it could regulate video games?
Justice Sotomayor: One of the studies, the Anderson study, says that the effect of violence is the same for a Bugs Bunny episode as it is for a violent video. So can the legislature now, because it has that study, outlaw Bugs Bunny?
Morazzini: No.
Justice Scalia: That same argument could have been made when movies first came out. They could have said, oh, we’ve had violence in Grimm’s fairy tales, but we’ve never had it live on the screen. I mean, every time there’s a new technology, you can make that argument.
Justice Sotomayor: Could you get rid of rap music? Have you heard some of the lyrics of some of the rap music, some of the original violent songs that have been sung about killing people and other violence directed to them?
Justice Scalia: I’m concerned about the producer of the games who has to know what he has to do in order to comply with the law. And you’re telling me a jury can — of course, a jury can make up its mind, I’m sure. But a law that has criminal penalties has to be clear. And how is the manufacturer to know whether a particular violent game is covered or not? Does he convene his own jury and try it before — you know I really wouldn’t know what to do as a manufacturer.
Morazzini: I am convinced that the video game industry will know what to do. They rate their video games every day on the basis of violence. They rate them for the intensity of the violence.
Justice Kennedy: It seems to me all or at least the great majority of the questions today are designed to probe whether or not the statute is vague. And you say the beauty of the statute is that it utilizes the categories that have been used in the obscenity area, and that there’s an obvious parallel there. The problem is that for generations there has been a societal consensus about sexual material.
Justice Scalia: I am concerned with the First Amendment, which says Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech. And it was always understood that the freedom of speech did not include obscenity. It has never been understood that the freedom of speech did not include portrayals of violence. You are asking us to create a whole new prohibition which the American people never ratified when they ratified the First Amendment. …What’s next after violence? Drinking? Smoking?
Justice Breyer: This court has held in one instance that courts can regulate fighting words. We regulate fighting words? Don’t we?
Morazzini: Absolutely.
Justice Breyer: Because they provoke violence.
Justice Scalia: You should consider creating such a one (advisory office). You might call it the California Office of Censorship. It would judge each of these video games one by one. That would be very nice.
Morazzini: Your honor, we ask juries to judge sexual material and its appropriateness for minors as well. … California is not acting as a censor. It is telling manufacturers and distributors to look at your material and to judge for yourself.
Justice Kagan: Do you think Mortal Kombat is prohibited by this statute?
Morazzini: I believe it is a candidate. But I haven’t played the game and been exposed to it sufficiently to judge for myself.
Justice Kagan: I am sure half of the clerks who work for us spent considerable amounts of time in their adolescence playing [it].
Justice Scalia: I don’t know what she’s talking about.
Justice Kagan: Would a video game that portrayed a Vulcan as opposed to a human being, being maimed and tortured, would that be covered by the act?
Morazzini: No, it wouldn’t, because the act is only directed towards the range of options that are able to be inflicted on a human being.
Justice Sotomayer: So if the video producer says this is not a human being, it’s an android computer simulated person, then all they have to do is put a little artificial feature on the creature and they could sell the video game?
Morazzini: Under the act, yes, because California’s concern, I think this is one of the reasons that sex and violence are so similar, these are base physical acts we are talking about, Justice Sotomayor. So limiting, narrowing our law here in California, there in California to violence = violent depictions against human beings.
Justice Sotomayer: So what happens when the character gets maimed, head chopped off and immediately after it happens they spring back to life and they continue their battle. Is that covered by your act? Because they haven’t been maimed and killed forever. Just temporarily.
Not exactly I high point of the A.G's career
Monday, November 1, 2010
Dungeons
For years now I have awaited a sequel to Dungeon Keeper 2, a game spawned from Peter Moleyneux's Bullfrog Studios, back when Peter was known for producing quality games. Anyway, Kalypso Media has just announced they are accepting applications for their closed beta of Dungeons, a game which is clearly meant to appeal to the same audience.
This makes me happy, because niche RTS games are what these people specialize in, and they do them well.Here is a description then features along with some screenies:
Summary:
Dungeons follows the mis-adventures of the foremost of all Dungeon Lords, who spends his time luring heroes into his labyrinthine creations with the promise of treasure and a good fight -- only to be trapped by his ingenious devices. Once they are in his grasp, our Dungeon Lord must look after and cherish his new found prisoners until they are more comfortable with their surroundings because come the "harvest", happy heroes have more precious soul energy for you to gleefully extract via foul prisons or twisted torture chambers!
In Dungeons, our protagonist falls victim to a devious plot hatched by his vile, nasty and thoroughly vicious ex-girlfriend and finds himself at the bottom of the underworld hierarchy and the top of the dungeon pile which in this world is about as bad as it can get. Our Lord must have his revenge, and make his way back down the dungeon levels to his rightful place - - but first he must deal with his new bosses, the three despicable Dungeon Lords who stand in his way.
At his disposal are his dim-witted goblin minions who dig tunnels and build rooms to lay out his lair and trap ever stronger and braver heroes who dare to enter, not forgetting to plot his revenge against his ex-girlfriend and his new bosses who think it’s great fun to bombard him with useless tasks. It goes without saying that a malicious and sneaky creature such as our Dungeon Lord has more than a few tricks up his sleeve. Revenge will be sweet indeed.
Features
Get ready for a fight! Lure 10 different hero classes into your dungeon where 15 different monsters lurk in the darkness.
20 challenging campaign missions demand all your cunning to succeed. Survive them – and there's still the custom game waiting for you
In a dungeon there’s only one way you can go and that's down. Conquer three different underworld levels and the bosses who guard them to become the one and only Dungeon Lord
Prison cells and torture chambers are at your command and ready to capture your next hero and steal their precious soul energy
Create the dungeon of your dreams (and heroes’ nightmares) with 50 different objects at your disposal
Wimpy goblin workers are awaiting your orders to create your next diabolical dungeon masterpiece
This makes me happy, because niche RTS games are what these people specialize in, and they do them well.Here is a description then features along with some screenies:
Summary:
Dungeons follows the mis-adventures of the foremost of all Dungeon Lords, who spends his time luring heroes into his labyrinthine creations with the promise of treasure and a good fight -- only to be trapped by his ingenious devices. Once they are in his grasp, our Dungeon Lord must look after and cherish his new found prisoners until they are more comfortable with their surroundings because come the "harvest", happy heroes have more precious soul energy for you to gleefully extract via foul prisons or twisted torture chambers!
In Dungeons, our protagonist falls victim to a devious plot hatched by his vile, nasty and thoroughly vicious ex-girlfriend and finds himself at the bottom of the underworld hierarchy and the top of the dungeon pile which in this world is about as bad as it can get. Our Lord must have his revenge, and make his way back down the dungeon levels to his rightful place - - but first he must deal with his new bosses, the three despicable Dungeon Lords who stand in his way.
At his disposal are his dim-witted goblin minions who dig tunnels and build rooms to lay out his lair and trap ever stronger and braver heroes who dare to enter, not forgetting to plot his revenge against his ex-girlfriend and his new bosses who think it’s great fun to bombard him with useless tasks. It goes without saying that a malicious and sneaky creature such as our Dungeon Lord has more than a few tricks up his sleeve. Revenge will be sweet indeed.
Features
Get ready for a fight! Lure 10 different hero classes into your dungeon where 15 different monsters lurk in the darkness.
20 challenging campaign missions demand all your cunning to succeed. Survive them – and there's still the custom game waiting for you
In a dungeon there’s only one way you can go and that's down. Conquer three different underworld levels and the bosses who guard them to become the one and only Dungeon Lord
Prison cells and torture chambers are at your command and ready to capture your next hero and steal their precious soul energy
Create the dungeon of your dreams (and heroes’ nightmares) with 50 different objects at your disposal
Wimpy goblin workers are awaiting your orders to create your next diabolical dungeon masterpiece
Friday, October 29, 2010
Starcraft 2 Counters
To assist the many players of Starcraft 2, I have cross checked a few sites and copied/made a list that details what units should be used to counter other races units. For every race the unit types will be listed on the left, with the types of units the are strong against on the right. You should even be able to print them off
Protoss Unit Counters
Terran Unit Counters
Zerg Unit Counters
Protoss Unit Counters
Terran Unit Counters
Zerg Unit Counters
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Duke Nukem....soon?
via Bigdownloads:
This week Borderlands Game Of The Year Edition shipped to stores and gamers will be able to get a code included in the retail package that will let them gain early access to, among other things, the upcoming demo for Duke Nukem Forever, As it turns out, you will also be able to get access to that demo if you already own Borderlands.
Huh, Duke Nukem gets taken away from 3dRealms and a few months later there is a game demo.
Shocking. George Broussard has no excuse.
This week Borderlands Game Of The Year Edition shipped to stores and gamers will be able to get a code included in the retail package that will let them gain early access to, among other things, the upcoming demo for Duke Nukem Forever, As it turns out, you will also be able to get access to that demo if you already own Borderlands.
Huh, Duke Nukem gets taken away from 3dRealms and a few months later there is a game demo.
Shocking. George Broussard has no excuse.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Minecraft Takes off
Via bigdownloads:
Minecraft. The sandbox indie game has been the talk of the game industry for the past few months and it continues to sell well over 10,000 copies per day. Not bad for a title that's officially just in an "alpha" stage of development and was originally made by one person.
Today the game's official stats page has revealed that Minecraft has now sold over 300,000 units since it was first released over a year ago. If sales continue at the game's current pace, Minecraft will reach the 500,000 unit mark before the end of October and sell 1 million copies before the end of the year.
Good for them. Nice to see an indie developer take off
Minecraft. The sandbox indie game has been the talk of the game industry for the past few months and it continues to sell well over 10,000 copies per day. Not bad for a title that's officially just in an "alpha" stage of development and was originally made by one person.
Today the game's official stats page has revealed that Minecraft has now sold over 300,000 units since it was first released over a year ago. If sales continue at the game's current pace, Minecraft will reach the 500,000 unit mark before the end of October and sell 1 million copies before the end of the year.
Good for them. Nice to see an indie developer take off
Friday, October 1, 2010
Blizzard ban hammer
Via Bigdownloads:
Blizzard gave players some advanced warning this would happen and late on Thursday it went ahead and put the ban hammer down on StarCraft II players that Blizzard claims cheated in online multiplayer battles on the Battle.net service. Blizzard said over 5,000 such players have either been banned or suspended from its Battle.net multplayer service.
This will likely be just the first time that Blizzard will execute its rights to ban players of the recent sci-fi RTS game that it finds to be cheating or using hacks to play online. In announcing the bans, Blizzard stated, "Maintaining a stable, safe, and secure online-gaming experience for legitimate players is a top priority for us, and we'll be continuing to keep watch on Battle.net and take action as needed."
They were warned
Blizzard gave players some advanced warning this would happen and late on Thursday it went ahead and put the ban hammer down on StarCraft II players that Blizzard claims cheated in online multiplayer battles on the Battle.net service. Blizzard said over 5,000 such players have either been banned or suspended from its Battle.net multplayer service.
This will likely be just the first time that Blizzard will execute its rights to ban players of the recent sci-fi RTS game that it finds to be cheating or using hacks to play online. In announcing the bans, Blizzard stated, "Maintaining a stable, safe, and secure online-gaming experience for legitimate players is a top priority for us, and we'll be continuing to keep watch on Battle.net and take action as needed."
They were warned
Thursday, September 16, 2010
AMD video card driver updates through Steam, Blizzard talks about cheating in Starcraft 2, WoW Armory upate
For the record, Impulse did this with Nvidia over a year ago. Go Stardock
Via Bigdownloads:
Up until now Valve's Steam download service has been mostly for downloading games, demos, movies and strategy guides. Today it was announced that the service will be used by processor maker AMD for another purpose. If you have an ATI Radeon-based graphics card in your PC, Steam will automatically detect that and make available the latest driver updates for your graphics card.
This will certainly be a huge benefit for Steam owners which those graphics cards since many issues with PC games can be solved with a graphics driver update. The updates will begin later this month with the release of the 10.9 version of the Catalyst drivers. Ironically this announcement comes on the heals of the word that AMD intends to dump the ATI brand name for its graphics cards by the end of the year.
Update: Those 10.9 drivers are now available to download via Steam and from AMD's Game web site.
Cheating in Starcraft 2
If you listen carefully, you can here the soft whistle of the Blizzard Entertainment ban hammer falling as they release this statement:
Blizzard Entertainment has always taken cheating in any form in Blizzard games very seriously, and that's no different for StarCraft II. If a StarCraft II player is found to be cheating or using hacks or modifications in any form, then as outlined in our end user license agreement, that player can be permanently banned from the game. This means that the player will be permanently unable to log in to Battle.net to play StarCraft II with his or her account.
Playing StarCraft II legitimately means playing with an unaltered game client. Doing otherwise violates our policies for Battle.net, and it goes against the spirit of fair play that all of our games are based on. We strongly recommend that you avoid using any hacks, cheats, or exploits. Suspensions and bans of players that have used or start using cheats and hacks will begin in the near future.
World of Warcraft Armory update.
So I was looking through the Wow character links that I have along the right side of this blog under recommended games, and I noticed they updated my pages (along with everyone else's) to include pictures. I thought that to be pretty cool. Behold Solice and Darkforge. Turalyon sever rules.
Solice
Darkforge
Via Bigdownloads:
Up until now Valve's Steam download service has been mostly for downloading games, demos, movies and strategy guides. Today it was announced that the service will be used by processor maker AMD for another purpose. If you have an ATI Radeon-based graphics card in your PC, Steam will automatically detect that and make available the latest driver updates for your graphics card.
This will certainly be a huge benefit for Steam owners which those graphics cards since many issues with PC games can be solved with a graphics driver update. The updates will begin later this month with the release of the 10.9 version of the Catalyst drivers. Ironically this announcement comes on the heals of the word that AMD intends to dump the ATI brand name for its graphics cards by the end of the year.
Update: Those 10.9 drivers are now available to download via Steam and from AMD's Game web site.
Cheating in Starcraft 2
If you listen carefully, you can here the soft whistle of the Blizzard Entertainment ban hammer falling as they release this statement:
Blizzard Entertainment has always taken cheating in any form in Blizzard games very seriously, and that's no different for StarCraft II. If a StarCraft II player is found to be cheating or using hacks or modifications in any form, then as outlined in our end user license agreement, that player can be permanently banned from the game. This means that the player will be permanently unable to log in to Battle.net to play StarCraft II with his or her account.
Playing StarCraft II legitimately means playing with an unaltered game client. Doing otherwise violates our policies for Battle.net, and it goes against the spirit of fair play that all of our games are based on. We strongly recommend that you avoid using any hacks, cheats, or exploits. Suspensions and bans of players that have used or start using cheats and hacks will begin in the near future.
World of Warcraft Armory update.
So I was looking through the Wow character links that I have along the right side of this blog under recommended games, and I noticed they updated my pages (along with everyone else's) to include pictures. I thought that to be pretty cool. Behold Solice and Darkforge. Turalyon sever rules.
Solice
Darkforge
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Dungeon Defender, Diablo III health system overhauled, Caprica season 2 starting early
Dungeon Defenders
Trendy Entertainment just announced their Co-op Tower defense/Dungeon Crawler/RPG hybrid game Dungeon crawler will be simultaneously released for the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade, and PC via Steam, Impulse, Direct2Drive, and GamersGate. I played the demo for this, and it really was clever.
And its price tag is 9.99
Release from Blizzard:
Diablo III Health System Overhauled, Less Emphasis On Potions
Sep 10, 2010 at 2:34 PM - OhmWrecker - 22 Comments
According to an update at the official Diablo 3 homepage, Blizzard has made some pretty significant changes to the health system of the game. While adventurers can still buy health potions, the meat and potatoes of regenerating health will be based around a new health globe system.
Potions and skills offer excellent boosts to your health, but to survive multiple battles, you'll need to use them alongside a more reliable, renewable means of recovery.
That's where health globes -- floating, crimson spheres that rise from the corpses of your defeated foes -- come in. These globes are the core means of regenerating your health in Diablo III, and all other methods of healing support them. When you pick up a health globe, your health (and the health of any allies in your party) is restored by a fixed percentage depending on the type of globe you've grabbed.
Potions will now have a cooldown timer attached to them according to the update, thus eliminating the potion click fest minigame seen in previous Diablo games.
Caprica
Syfy just announced that it's moving the premiere of season 1.5 of Caprica to Oct. 5 at 10 p.m. instead of the originally planned return in January 2011. This is good news for fans who were left hanging with the midseason finale cliffhanger back in March and were disappointed that the show would take so long to return.
The move will put Caprica on Tuesday nights following Stargate Universe and push back the premiere of the new season of Sanctuary to Friday, Oct. 15, at 10 p.m. Sanctuary will air on Fridays instead of Tuesdays as part of the shift.
Trendy Entertainment just announced their Co-op Tower defense/Dungeon Crawler/RPG hybrid game Dungeon crawler will be simultaneously released for the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade, and PC via Steam, Impulse, Direct2Drive, and GamersGate. I played the demo for this, and it really was clever.
And its price tag is 9.99
Release from Blizzard:
Diablo III Health System Overhauled, Less Emphasis On Potions
Sep 10, 2010 at 2:34 PM - OhmWrecker - 22 Comments
According to an update at the official Diablo 3 homepage, Blizzard has made some pretty significant changes to the health system of the game. While adventurers can still buy health potions, the meat and potatoes of regenerating health will be based around a new health globe system.
Potions and skills offer excellent boosts to your health, but to survive multiple battles, you'll need to use them alongside a more reliable, renewable means of recovery.
That's where health globes -- floating, crimson spheres that rise from the corpses of your defeated foes -- come in. These globes are the core means of regenerating your health in Diablo III, and all other methods of healing support them. When you pick up a health globe, your health (and the health of any allies in your party) is restored by a fixed percentage depending on the type of globe you've grabbed.
Potions will now have a cooldown timer attached to them according to the update, thus eliminating the potion click fest minigame seen in previous Diablo games.
Caprica
Syfy just announced that it's moving the premiere of season 1.5 of Caprica to Oct. 5 at 10 p.m. instead of the originally planned return in January 2011. This is good news for fans who were left hanging with the midseason finale cliffhanger back in March and were disappointed that the show would take so long to return.
The move will put Caprica on Tuesday nights following Stargate Universe and push back the premiere of the new season of Sanctuary to Friday, Oct. 15, at 10 p.m. Sanctuary will air on Fridays instead of Tuesdays as part of the shift.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Duke Nukem Wherever, Stardock Layoffs
via Bigdownloads:
While the official Duke Nukem Forever web site pretty much gave away this fact on Friday with its trademark fine print at the bottom, today Gearbox Software made it official. The developer formed by a number of ex-3D Realms employees announced in a press release and at its PAX Prime 2010 panel on Sunday night that it has now acquired the Duke Nukem franchise and IP from 3D Realms. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Naturally these rights include the revived Duke Nukem Forever first person shooter game which Gearbox is now in charge of completing after over 13 years in development. 3D Realms' co-founders Scott Miller and George Broussard have given their blessings for this deal with Broussard stating, "Gearbox was the only home appropriate for the Duke Nukem brand." The big question: with its most lucrative brand now sold off to Gearbox, what is the future going to be like for 3D Realms as a company?
A: They have no future
Stardock Layoffs
Via Elemental forums, commenting on a story by Shacknews:
It is true.
Elemental's revenue was anticipated to provide the revenue both for our main games team's next project as well as a second team. Unfortunately, that is unlikely to happen so we've had to start laying people off.
No one is being fired. None of these people did anything wrong. Stardock is a small company and each person here is truly amongst the best and brightest. So you can imagine how much it sucks for all of us to lay off anyone. We haven't had to lay anyone off since our migration from the OS/2 market in 1998. It would be great if we can bring as many of these people back over time if the studio can afford it.
No one involved on the core components of Elemental is affected.
Elemental's rocky launch can be summed up (IMO) as follows: Our QA process was insufficient to handle a brand new platform (Elemental = Kumquat 1.0 versus say Galactic Civilizations II was using Pear which was the same engine, modified, from 1997's Entrepreneur) + my own catastrophic poor judgment in not objectively evaluating the core game play components.
Although I love Stardock as a company, and admire the regard they hold their fans in, The development team Messed up bad with Elemental. The multi player features still are not enabled, screens overlap each other, and the game is just buggy overall. I feel bad for them, but that's what happens when a substandard product gets released.
On a positive note however, check back on this game in a few months. Stardock does not abandon their games.
While the official Duke Nukem Forever web site pretty much gave away this fact on Friday with its trademark fine print at the bottom, today Gearbox Software made it official. The developer formed by a number of ex-3D Realms employees announced in a press release and at its PAX Prime 2010 panel on Sunday night that it has now acquired the Duke Nukem franchise and IP from 3D Realms. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Naturally these rights include the revived Duke Nukem Forever first person shooter game which Gearbox is now in charge of completing after over 13 years in development. 3D Realms' co-founders Scott Miller and George Broussard have given their blessings for this deal with Broussard stating, "Gearbox was the only home appropriate for the Duke Nukem brand." The big question: with its most lucrative brand now sold off to Gearbox, what is the future going to be like for 3D Realms as a company?
A: They have no future
Stardock Layoffs
Via Elemental forums, commenting on a story by Shacknews:
It is true.
Elemental's revenue was anticipated to provide the revenue both for our main games team's next project as well as a second team. Unfortunately, that is unlikely to happen so we've had to start laying people off.
No one is being fired. None of these people did anything wrong. Stardock is a small company and each person here is truly amongst the best and brightest. So you can imagine how much it sucks for all of us to lay off anyone. We haven't had to lay anyone off since our migration from the OS/2 market in 1998. It would be great if we can bring as many of these people back over time if the studio can afford it.
No one involved on the core components of Elemental is affected.
Elemental's rocky launch can be summed up (IMO) as follows: Our QA process was insufficient to handle a brand new platform (Elemental = Kumquat 1.0 versus say Galactic Civilizations II was using Pear which was the same engine, modified, from 1997's Entrepreneur) + my own catastrophic poor judgment in not objectively evaluating the core game play components.
Although I love Stardock as a company, and admire the regard they hold their fans in, The development team Messed up bad with Elemental. The multi player features still are not enabled, screens overlap each other, and the game is just buggy overall. I feel bad for them, but that's what happens when a substandard product gets released.
On a positive note however, check back on this game in a few months. Stardock does not abandon their games.
Monday, August 30, 2010
No more ATI
Via Bigdownloads:
In 2006, PC processor maker AMD made huge headlines with its acquisition of the ATI PC graphics chip and card business for $5.4 billion. Now, four years later, AMD has decided the ATI brand name has served its purpose and will phase out the use of the ATI brand name later this year.
While the ATI brand is going away, AMD will still retain the Radeon brand for its consumer graphics chips and boards. All of AMD's current graphics products will still have the ATI brand, presumably until they are phased out. According to AnandTech, AMD is also simplifying its brands across the board in 2011 with the Vision name as the only one that will be used for all of its CPU products.
In 2006, PC processor maker AMD made huge headlines with its acquisition of the ATI PC graphics chip and card business for $5.4 billion. Now, four years later, AMD has decided the ATI brand name has served its purpose and will phase out the use of the ATI brand name later this year.
While the ATI brand is going away, AMD will still retain the Radeon brand for its consumer graphics chips and boards. All of AMD's current graphics products will still have the ATI brand, presumably until they are phased out. According to AnandTech, AMD is also simplifying its brands across the board in 2011 with the Vision name as the only one that will be used for all of its CPU products.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Stardocks Elemental day 0 Patch
Apparently there is a day 0 patch coming for those of you who had pre-ordered Elemental: War of Magic that will bring the game from beta 4 to the retail version. Also important to note is that the multiplayer part of the game will not be enabled until next week. When asked why the delay, Stardock CEO Brad Wardell stated that is development team was exhausted, apparently some retail stores released the game early, forcing his staff to work all weekend to get the patch ready.
This is the 2nd time retail stores have released one of his games early, the first being Gas Powered games Demigod. I think he needs to start planning his launches on Friday, as I'm pretty sure they are doing it on purpose to get the game out for the weekend.
Get the full post with all the updates here
This is the 2nd time retail stores have released one of his games early, the first being Gas Powered games Demigod. I think he needs to start planning his launches on Friday, as I'm pretty sure they are doing it on purpose to get the game out for the weekend.
Get the full post with all the updates here
Sunday, August 22, 2010
New Dungeon Keeper?
Ridgewood, NJ, August 12, 2010 — Kalypso Media, a global publisher of award-winning PC and console games is pleased to unveil Dungeons, an all new strategy/simulation title for Windows PC which will take players on a devious adventure through the depths of the underworld. Prepare to have the roles reversed as you play a despicable Dungeon Lord whose job is to create fiendish dungeons to lure and trap heroes who dare to try and steal your treasure. Dungeons is currently in development by Realmforge, a Kalypso Media studio and is scheduled for release in Q1 2011.
To be clear, EA is lending out the DK license to some chinese compant to make a crappy MMO, however this looks really close, and Realmforge/Kalypso are exactly the right people to do it.
Im excited.
To be clear, EA is lending out the DK license to some chinese compant to make a crappy MMO, however this looks really close, and Realmforge/Kalypso are exactly the right people to do it.
Im excited.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Torchlight 2 and Starcraft 2
Torchlight 2
Last year developer Runic Games released Torchlight, a hack and slash RPG that plays like a stripped down (but extremely fun) version of Diablo, which makes sense, as the company is made up of ex Blizzard employees.
It's main criticism, however, was the lack of multiplayer co-op. As shown in the trailer, the is about to be corrected. This is starting to remind me of Gauntlet on steroids, which is actually what I have wanted for a while.
This company could also be a good lesson for other start ups that are staffed by former employees of successful studios. With the bar set so high from Blizzards success, rather than try and make "The next Diablo", Runic just stuck with what they knew and made a fun, accessible, and affordable game. It appears Travis Baldree and Max Schaefer aren't making that mistake again.
If only Flagship studios had started the same way, they might not have tarnished themselves with Hellgate London. Oh well, it happens.
Starcraft 2
StarCraft II outsold all non-entertainment PC software, including anti-virus programs, Microsoft Office and more. The Collectors Edition of the game was the sixth best selling PC software product for July. Imagine my shock.
Now that I'm finished moving, hopefully I can play it soon. Alas, a new distributor for my car must take precedence.
Last year developer Runic Games released Torchlight, a hack and slash RPG that plays like a stripped down (but extremely fun) version of Diablo, which makes sense, as the company is made up of ex Blizzard employees.
It's main criticism, however, was the lack of multiplayer co-op. As shown in the trailer, the is about to be corrected. This is starting to remind me of Gauntlet on steroids, which is actually what I have wanted for a while.
This company could also be a good lesson for other start ups that are staffed by former employees of successful studios. With the bar set so high from Blizzards success, rather than try and make "The next Diablo", Runic just stuck with what they knew and made a fun, accessible, and affordable game. It appears Travis Baldree and Max Schaefer aren't making that mistake again.
If only Flagship studios had started the same way, they might not have tarnished themselves with Hellgate London. Oh well, it happens.
Starcraft 2
StarCraft II outsold all non-entertainment PC software, including anti-virus programs, Microsoft Office and more. The Collectors Edition of the game was the sixth best selling PC software product for July. Imagine my shock.
Now that I'm finished moving, hopefully I can play it soon. Alas, a new distributor for my car must take precedence.
Friday, August 13, 2010
L4D2 iron man mod
Left For Dead 2 Iron Man
Possibly the most brutal mod for left for dead 2 is coming out, called Iron Man, Valve adds this description:
No respawns, no restarts, no ammo, all tension!
Did you vote the Mutations are too easy? Try this one on Expert. Realism rules are in effect. There are no respawns in the map. There is no ammo. If your team wipes, you need to restart the whole campaign.
No new IP's from ID
Carmack in response to a question regarding New IP's from id being in the works
Computer and Video Games quotes Carmack as saying, "We do already have more IPs than we can exploit. " id launched the Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake shooter brands, all of which are among the most well known PC gaming franchises in history." Carmack says don't look for id to add to that line up beyond Rage, saying " It's scary to say it, but maybe not in the next decade even, because we want to support Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake - and hopefully we can add Rage onto that."
Nothing new from id, imagine my shock
Possibly the most brutal mod for left for dead 2 is coming out, called Iron Man, Valve adds this description:
No respawns, no restarts, no ammo, all tension!
Did you vote the Mutations are too easy? Try this one on Expert. Realism rules are in effect. There are no respawns in the map. There is no ammo. If your team wipes, you need to restart the whole campaign.
No new IP's from ID
Carmack in response to a question regarding New IP's from id being in the works
Computer and Video Games quotes Carmack as saying, "We do already have more IPs than we can exploit. " id launched the Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake shooter brands, all of which are among the most well known PC gaming franchises in history." Carmack says don't look for id to add to that line up beyond Rage, saying " It's scary to say it, but maybe not in the next decade even, because we want to support Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake - and hopefully we can add Rage onto that."
Nothing new from id, imagine my shock
Friday, July 9, 2010
Fireaxis Layoffs, Mafia 2 Requirements
I seems Sid Meier's own Fireaxis Studios has laid off about 15% of its workforces, stating in a public release:
I can confirm that Firaxis has realigned its development resources in order to streamline its development process, reduce costs and maximize the overall performance of the studio. This will result in the elimination of approximately 20 positions. These reductions will not impact Firaxis' ability to create and deliver AAA titles, including its forthcoming Sid Meier's Civilization V and Sid Meier's Civilization Network for Facebook.
In other words yes, we fired people.
Mafia 2 Requirements
This is a sequel to the underrated 3rd person game Mafia. Unfortunatly its main platform is consoles, lets hope they dont screw up the port. Anyway, here are the specs:
MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP (SP2 or later) / Windows Vista / Windows 7
Processor: Pentium D 3Ghz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ (Dual core) or higher
RAM: 1.5 GB
Video Card: nVidia GeForce 8600 / ATI HD2600 Pro or better
Hard Disc Space: 8 GB
Sound Card: 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
Peripherals: Keyboard and mouse or Windows compatible gamepad
RECOMMENDED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP (SP2 or later) / Windows Vista / Windows 7
Processor: 2.4 GHz Quad Core processor
RAM: 2 GB
Video Card: nVidia GeForce 9800 GTX / ATI Radeon HD 3870 or better
Hard Disc: 10 GB
Sound Card: 100% DirectX 9.0c compliant card
Peripherals: Keyboard and mouse or Windows compatible gamepad
PHSYX/APEX ENHANCEMENTS SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP (SP2 or later) / Windows Vista / Windows 7 Minimum Processor: 2.4 GHz Quad Core processor
Recommended Processor: 2.66 GHz Core i7-920 RAM: 2 GB
Video Cards and resolution: APEX medium settings
Minimum: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 (or better) for Graphics and a dedicated NVIDIA 9800GTX (or better) for PhysX
Recommended: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 (or better)
Video Cards and resolution: APEX High settings
Minimum: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 (or better) and a dedicated NVIDIA 9800GTX (or better) for PhysX
Recommended: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 for Graphics and a dedicated NVIDIA GTX 285 (or better) for PhysX NVIDIA GPU driver: 197.13 or later.
NVIDIA PhysX driver: 10.04.02_9.10.0522. Included and automatically installed with the game.
I can confirm that Firaxis has realigned its development resources in order to streamline its development process, reduce costs and maximize the overall performance of the studio. This will result in the elimination of approximately 20 positions. These reductions will not impact Firaxis' ability to create and deliver AAA titles, including its forthcoming Sid Meier's Civilization V and Sid Meier's Civilization Network for Facebook.
In other words yes, we fired people.
Mafia 2 Requirements
This is a sequel to the underrated 3rd person game Mafia. Unfortunatly its main platform is consoles, lets hope they dont screw up the port. Anyway, here are the specs:
MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP (SP2 or later) / Windows Vista / Windows 7
Processor: Pentium D 3Ghz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ (Dual core) or higher
RAM: 1.5 GB
Video Card: nVidia GeForce 8600 / ATI HD2600 Pro or better
Hard Disc Space: 8 GB
Sound Card: 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
Peripherals: Keyboard and mouse or Windows compatible gamepad
RECOMMENDED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP (SP2 or later) / Windows Vista / Windows 7
Processor: 2.4 GHz Quad Core processor
RAM: 2 GB
Video Card: nVidia GeForce 9800 GTX / ATI Radeon HD 3870 or better
Hard Disc: 10 GB
Sound Card: 100% DirectX 9.0c compliant card
Peripherals: Keyboard and mouse or Windows compatible gamepad
PHSYX/APEX ENHANCEMENTS SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP (SP2 or later) / Windows Vista / Windows 7 Minimum Processor: 2.4 GHz Quad Core processor
Recommended Processor: 2.66 GHz Core i7-920 RAM: 2 GB
Video Cards and resolution: APEX medium settings
Minimum: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 (or better) for Graphics and a dedicated NVIDIA 9800GTX (or better) for PhysX
Recommended: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 (or better)
Video Cards and resolution: APEX High settings
Minimum: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 (or better) and a dedicated NVIDIA 9800GTX (or better) for PhysX
Recommended: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 for Graphics and a dedicated NVIDIA GTX 285 (or better) for PhysX NVIDIA GPU driver: 197.13 or later.
NVIDIA PhysX driver: 10.04.02_9.10.0522. Included and automatically installed with the game.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Steam Sales
Steam just threw out some pretty good sales:
Killing Floor - $5
Trine - $4
Counter-Strike Source- $6.80
Dirt 2 - $10
Overlord Complete Pack (3 Game Bundle) - $4.50
Aion Standard Edition - $19.99
Unreal Deak Pack (5 Game Bundle) - $13.50
BioShock 2 - $14.99
Many of these games are good but lesser known. Those of you who love but are getting burnt out with Left4Dead may want to take a break and try killing floor.
Anyone out there remember when Castlevania was a side scroller? that would be the best description for Trine, except it has awesome physics and you can switch between 3 characters on the fly rather than pick one at the beginning of the level, a la Castlevania 3.
Also check out the trailer for Overlord, which is a fun game and a steal at $5
Killing Floor - $5
Trine - $4
Counter-Strike Source- $6.80
Dirt 2 - $10
Overlord Complete Pack (3 Game Bundle) - $4.50
Aion Standard Edition - $19.99
Unreal Deak Pack (5 Game Bundle) - $13.50
BioShock 2 - $14.99
Many of these games are good but lesser known. Those of you who love but are getting burnt out with Left4Dead may want to take a break and try killing floor.
Anyone out there remember when Castlevania was a side scroller? that would be the best description for Trine, except it has awesome physics and you can switch between 3 characters on the fly rather than pick one at the beginning of the level, a la Castlevania 3.
Also check out the trailer for Overlord, which is a fun game and a steal at $5
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Fallout: New Vegas, Mafia II Demo
Via bigdownloads:
When Bethesda Softworks released Fallout 3 for the PC back in 2008 the developer decided to support Microsoft's Games For Windows Live system to update the game and also to offer the five downloadable mini-expansion packs to their open world RPG. However it looks like the next game in the series, Fallout New Vegas, is switching over to a rival system for the PC version.
As confirmed by a Bethesda Softworks rep in a fan Q&A posted on the Fallout message boards, Fallout New Vegas in its PC incarnation will use Valve's Steamworks tools when its released. That will likely include using Steam to auto-update the game as well as providing for any future downloadable content packs. It also likely means that the game won't be appearing on rival downloadable PC game sites like Direct2Drive, Impulse and GamersGate.
This is really good news for fans. Windows Live for the PC is a buggy steaming pile of poo, and using it caused nothing but problems for many gamers.
Mafia II Demo announcement:
Mafia II will be getting a demo to PS3, Xbox 360, and PC this August ahead of its release on August 24th! Stay tuned for an exact download date, and get ready to step into Empire Bay. Meanwhile, if you're at E3, stop by the booth to get a sneak peek!
When Bethesda Softworks released Fallout 3 for the PC back in 2008 the developer decided to support Microsoft's Games For Windows Live system to update the game and also to offer the five downloadable mini-expansion packs to their open world RPG. However it looks like the next game in the series, Fallout New Vegas, is switching over to a rival system for the PC version.
As confirmed by a Bethesda Softworks rep in a fan Q&A posted on the Fallout message boards, Fallout New Vegas in its PC incarnation will use Valve's Steamworks tools when its released. That will likely include using Steam to auto-update the game as well as providing for any future downloadable content packs. It also likely means that the game won't be appearing on rival downloadable PC game sites like Direct2Drive, Impulse and GamersGate.
This is really good news for fans. Windows Live for the PC is a buggy steaming pile of poo, and using it caused nothing but problems for many gamers.
Mafia II Demo announcement:
Mafia II will be getting a demo to PS3, Xbox 360, and PC this August ahead of its release on August 24th! Stay tuned for an exact download date, and get ready to step into Empire Bay. Meanwhile, if you're at E3, stop by the booth to get a sneak peek!
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Defense Grid
Via HiddenPath Entertainment:
The first premium expansion pack for the award-winning Defense Grid: The Awakening comes to the Xbox 360 and PC this June in the form of Defense Grid: Resurgence: eight new highly polished and balanced maps from the original creators of the definitive tower defense game.
For four consecutive weeks starting on June 2nd, a new pair of maps will be released providing new environments and strategic experiences, requiring new ways of thinking to beat back the aliens and protect the cores.
Each map pack will cost $ 0.99 or 80 Microsoft Points and will include two maps each having a campaign mode and 4 challenge modes. Defense Grid: Resurgence will be available for the Xbox 360 on Xbox LIVE Arcade and for PC on Steam and Direct2Drive. All map packs support new achievements and new high-score leaderboards.
The first premium expansion pack for the award-winning Defense Grid: The Awakening comes to the Xbox 360 and PC this June in the form of Defense Grid: Resurgence: eight new highly polished and balanced maps from the original creators of the definitive tower defense game.
For four consecutive weeks starting on June 2nd, a new pair of maps will be released providing new environments and strategic experiences, requiring new ways of thinking to beat back the aliens and protect the cores.
Each map pack will cost $ 0.99 or 80 Microsoft Points and will include two maps each having a campaign mode and 4 challenge modes. Defense Grid: Resurgence will be available for the Xbox 360 on Xbox LIVE Arcade and for PC on Steam and Direct2Drive. All map packs support new achievements and new high-score leaderboards.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Sorry about the sabbatical, Starcraft Release date, Valve and DOTA, Rage release 2011, Dead Space 2
Sorry about my lack of updates for awhile, I just switched jobs recently and my time has been devoted toward spending the first days off Ive had in 5 months outside and taking care of the cleaning/tasks that have been piling up, followed by my chinchilla having a baby.
Anyway what better way to kick off my return then by relaying Blizzard Entertainments announcement for the release date of Starcraft:
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that its highly anticipated real-time strategy game, StarCraftâ II: Wings of Libertyä, will arrive in stores throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Mexico, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau starting on July 27, 2010.
Good news. I was overall disappointed with Warcraft 3, though it did lead to several clever minigames and mods.
DOTA News
Speaking of Mods, probably the most popular mini game out the developed by fans is DOTA, or Defense of the Ancients, developed by a man known as Icefrog.
For those of you that dont know, Dota is a custom scenario for the real-time strategy video game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, based on the "Aeon of Strife" map for StarCraft. The objective of the scenario is for each team to destroy the opponents' Ancients, heavily guarded structures at opposing corners of the map. Players use powerful units known as heroes, and are assisted by allied heroes and AI-controlled fighters called "creeps". As in role-playing games, players level up their hero and use gold to buy equipment during the mission. Taken via wikipedia.
This has become an important bit of news, as Icefrog has been hired on by Valve, issuing the following statement:
I have some really awesome news I’d like to share with you guys. I am now leading a team at Valve! I finally have all the resources needed to do some very exciting stuff that you guys will love. I look forward to revealing more specific details when the time is right.
My goal and top priority in the future is to solve the surrounding issues that affect the DotA experience in order to allow it to reach new heights. Addressing these issues will enable us to further enjoy aspects of DotA such as the gameplay, mechanics, and in-game feel that currently work well and ought to be maintained. As I’ve said many times in the past and especially after today’s developments, I am very excited about DotA’s future!
There is some competition in the DOTA world. Last year Stardock/Gas Powered Games introduced the game Demigod, available for $20 via Impulse, which was marred by server issues at release. This is unfortunate as the game rules in everyway and should be checked out by all RTS and DOTA fans.
Also worth mentioning is League of Legends developed by somewhat famous modder of DOTA Steve Frek while working with/for Riot Games. This should also be checked out, though Demigod still rules.
Rage release date:
Via Bigdownloads:
Id Software's long-in-development title Rage won't be released this year. VG247.com reports that the semi-open world shooter title is now targeting a 2011 release date. The game itself, which is id's first original game since the first Quake was released way back in 1996, was first announced in 2007 at QuakeCon. It's also the first game that will use id Tech 5, the new graphics engine created by id's master programmer John Carmack.
I personally could care less, as I have not been impressed with Id software's latest release(s), such as Doom 3, which seem to center more around showing off an engine than making a good game. Id rather keep an eye out for Dead Space 2
Speaking of Dead Space 2:
Anyway what better way to kick off my return then by relaying Blizzard Entertainments announcement for the release date of Starcraft:
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that its highly anticipated real-time strategy game, StarCraftâ II: Wings of Libertyä, will arrive in stores throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Mexico, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau starting on July 27, 2010.
Good news. I was overall disappointed with Warcraft 3, though it did lead to several clever minigames and mods.
DOTA News
Speaking of Mods, probably the most popular mini game out the developed by fans is DOTA, or Defense of the Ancients, developed by a man known as Icefrog.
For those of you that dont know, Dota is a custom scenario for the real-time strategy video game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, based on the "Aeon of Strife" map for StarCraft. The objective of the scenario is for each team to destroy the opponents' Ancients, heavily guarded structures at opposing corners of the map. Players use powerful units known as heroes, and are assisted by allied heroes and AI-controlled fighters called "creeps". As in role-playing games, players level up their hero and use gold to buy equipment during the mission. Taken via wikipedia.
This has become an important bit of news, as Icefrog has been hired on by Valve, issuing the following statement:
I have some really awesome news I’d like to share with you guys. I am now leading a team at Valve! I finally have all the resources needed to do some very exciting stuff that you guys will love. I look forward to revealing more specific details when the time is right.
My goal and top priority in the future is to solve the surrounding issues that affect the DotA experience in order to allow it to reach new heights. Addressing these issues will enable us to further enjoy aspects of DotA such as the gameplay, mechanics, and in-game feel that currently work well and ought to be maintained. As I’ve said many times in the past and especially after today’s developments, I am very excited about DotA’s future!
There is some competition in the DOTA world. Last year Stardock/Gas Powered Games introduced the game Demigod, available for $20 via Impulse, which was marred by server issues at release. This is unfortunate as the game rules in everyway and should be checked out by all RTS and DOTA fans.
Also worth mentioning is League of Legends developed by somewhat famous modder of DOTA Steve Frek while working with/for Riot Games. This should also be checked out, though Demigod still rules.
Rage release date:
Via Bigdownloads:
Id Software's long-in-development title Rage won't be released this year. VG247.com reports that the semi-open world shooter title is now targeting a 2011 release date. The game itself, which is id's first original game since the first Quake was released way back in 1996, was first announced in 2007 at QuakeCon. It's also the first game that will use id Tech 5, the new graphics engine created by id's master programmer John Carmack.
I personally could care less, as I have not been impressed with Id software's latest release(s), such as Doom 3, which seem to center more around showing off an engine than making a good game. Id rather keep an eye out for Dead Space 2
Speaking of Dead Space 2:
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Weekend Game Sales
Via Bigdownloads:
* Valve's weekend sales deal this week is for Torchlight. You can download the action-RPG for just $5 from now until Monday for $5. They have also put the regular and Digital Deluxe versions of Star Trek Online on sale for 33 percent off.
This is an awesome deal. Torchlight is like a Diablo-lite, though unfortunately only singleplayer.
* Direct2Drive has the adventure game The Path on sale until March 29 for $4.95. Also you can pre-order Splinter Cell Conviction for $5 off when you put in the code 5OFFCONVICTION at checkout.
* Impulse has several games on sale this weekend including the original Witcher game for $9.99.
* GamersGate also has several games on sale and that includes Command and Conquer 4 for 10 percent off.
* Turbine is offering a weekend deal on the digital download version of Lord of the Rings Online for just $9.99.
* Valve's weekend sales deal this week is for Torchlight. You can download the action-RPG for just $5 from now until Monday for $5. They have also put the regular and Digital Deluxe versions of Star Trek Online on sale for 33 percent off.
This is an awesome deal. Torchlight is like a Diablo-lite, though unfortunately only singleplayer.
* Direct2Drive has the adventure game The Path on sale until March 29 for $4.95. Also you can pre-order Splinter Cell Conviction for $5 off when you put in the code 5OFFCONVICTION at checkout.
* Impulse has several games on sale this weekend including the original Witcher game for $9.99.
* GamersGate also has several games on sale and that includes Command and Conquer 4 for 10 percent off.
* Turbine is offering a weekend deal on the digital download version of Lord of the Rings Online for just $9.99.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Weekend Game Sales
via Bigdownloads, this weekends game sales"
* Steam has put the new Aliens Vs Predator game on sale this weekend only for 33 percent off its normal price
* Impulse has several games on sale this weekend including Mass Effect 2 (both regular and Digital Deluxe versions) for $20 off and World of Goo for 50 percent off.
* Direct2Drive has put Star Trek Online on sale for $20 off until March 31. It also offers a new exclusive in-game item, the Radiometric Converter.
* GamersGate also has a lot of games on sale this weekend including all of their Atari games which have been reduced between 40 and 50 percent.
* GoG.com has put Sanitarium and The Longest Journey on sale for 50 percent off each.
* Games For Windows has put the original Kane and Lynch on sale for 800 Microsoft points (about $10) until Monday.
* Steam has put the new Aliens Vs Predator game on sale this weekend only for 33 percent off its normal price
* Impulse has several games on sale this weekend including Mass Effect 2 (both regular and Digital Deluxe versions) for $20 off and World of Goo for 50 percent off.
* Direct2Drive has put Star Trek Online on sale for $20 off until March 31. It also offers a new exclusive in-game item, the Radiometric Converter.
* GamersGate also has a lot of games on sale this weekend including all of their Atari games which have been reduced between 40 and 50 percent.
* GoG.com has put Sanitarium and The Longest Journey on sale for 50 percent off each.
* Games For Windows has put the original Kane and Lynch on sale for 800 Microsoft points (about $10) until Monday.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Highest sales
The latest sales chart for Retail games sales was just released:
1) The Sims 3: High-End Loft Stuff - Electronic Arts
2) Star Trek Online - Cryptic/Atari
3) The Sims 3 - Electronic Arts
4) Star Trek Online Collector's Edition - Cryptic/Atari
5) BioShock 2 - 2K Marin/2K Games
6) EverQuest II: Sentinel's Fate - Sony Online
7) Mass Effect 2 - BioWare/Electronic Arts
8) World of Warcraft: Wratch of the Lich King - Blizzard
9) The Sims 2 Double Deluxe - Electronic Arts
10) The Sims 3: World Adventures - Electronic Arts
11) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Infinity Ward/Activision
12) World of Warcraft: Battle Chest - Blizzard
13) EverQuest II: Sentinel's Fate Expansion Pack Collector's Edition -Sony Online
14) IGT Slots: Texas Tea - IGT
15) The Sims 3: Collector's Edition - Electronic Arts
16) Dragon Age: Origins - Bioware/Electronic Arts
17) Mumbo Jumbo Assortment - Mumbo Jumbo
18) World of Warcraft - Blizzard
19) Aliens vs. Predator - Rebellion/Sega
20) The Sims 2: Fun with Pets - Electronic Arts
Although I'm please to see that Star Trek Online is up there, the human race continues to disappoint me by repeatedly purchasing The Sims. However then I see Steams top 10 game sales list:
#1 - Battlefield: Bad Company™ 2 Limited Edition
#2 - Warhammer® 40,000: Dawn of War® 2 Chaos Rising
#3 - Supreme Commander 2
#4 - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
#5 - Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising
#6 - Assassin's Creed 2
#7 - Left 4 Dead 2
#8 - Counter-Strike: Source
#9 - Silent Hunter®: Battle of the Atlantic
#10 - Napoleon: Total War™ Imperial Edition
I now know that there is intelligent life out there, they just don't shop at Gamestop, and I'm ok with this.
1) The Sims 3: High-End Loft Stuff - Electronic Arts
2) Star Trek Online - Cryptic/Atari
3) The Sims 3 - Electronic Arts
4) Star Trek Online Collector's Edition - Cryptic/Atari
5) BioShock 2 - 2K Marin/2K Games
6) EverQuest II: Sentinel's Fate - Sony Online
7) Mass Effect 2 - BioWare/Electronic Arts
8) World of Warcraft: Wratch of the Lich King - Blizzard
9) The Sims 2 Double Deluxe - Electronic Arts
10) The Sims 3: World Adventures - Electronic Arts
11) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Infinity Ward/Activision
12) World of Warcraft: Battle Chest - Blizzard
13) EverQuest II: Sentinel's Fate Expansion Pack Collector's Edition -Sony Online
14) IGT Slots: Texas Tea - IGT
15) The Sims 3: Collector's Edition - Electronic Arts
16) Dragon Age: Origins - Bioware/Electronic Arts
17) Mumbo Jumbo Assortment - Mumbo Jumbo
18) World of Warcraft - Blizzard
19) Aliens vs. Predator - Rebellion/Sega
20) The Sims 2: Fun with Pets - Electronic Arts
Although I'm please to see that Star Trek Online is up there, the human race continues to disappoint me by repeatedly purchasing The Sims. However then I see Steams top 10 game sales list:
#1 - Battlefield: Bad Company™ 2 Limited Edition
#2 - Warhammer® 40,000: Dawn of War® 2 Chaos Rising
#3 - Supreme Commander 2
#4 - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
#5 - Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising
#6 - Assassin's Creed 2
#7 - Left 4 Dead 2
#8 - Counter-Strike: Source
#9 - Silent Hunter®: Battle of the Atlantic
#10 - Napoleon: Total War™ Imperial Edition
I now know that there is intelligent life out there, they just don't shop at Gamestop, and I'm ok with this.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Modern Warfare 2, Ubisoft's DRM woes
via Bigdownloads:
In one of his latest Twitter messages, Infinity Ward's community manager Robert Bowling stated that Modern Warfare 2 has now reached 25 million unique players since its launch. That's spread out among all three platforms but Bowling states there are still "millions" of unique PC players. Bowling also said that more concrete info on their DLC releases for the game will be announced later this week.
Even though I really do not like their decision to not support dedicated servers, and the fact that the chose to announce it just before release, This once again proves how ineffective boycotts are. Most players don't want to subscribe to any kind philosophy of game development, they just want to play a fun game, and who can blame them.
Ubisofts DRM woes
UBI's new DRM system that requires players to log into UBI.com is having a little trouble. Due to what seems like a backlash from a few people who consider this draconian, their servers have been hit repeatedly with denial of service attacks, shutting down some players ability to play Assassin's Creed 2 and/or Silent Hunter 5
For the record, I hate this new DRM system. I think requiring players to have an always on and logged in internet connection only punishes legitamite customers. What dissappoints me however, is that gaming sites reporting about it do not in any way denounce this, even though by preventing players access to their games these people are doing something worse than any copy protection system, and trying to say that they are doing it for those same customers benefit is rediculous. People have a right to or to not purchase something, and blocking access to it is crap.
Shame on them
In one of his latest Twitter messages, Infinity Ward's community manager Robert Bowling stated that Modern Warfare 2 has now reached 25 million unique players since its launch. That's spread out among all three platforms but Bowling states there are still "millions" of unique PC players. Bowling also said that more concrete info on their DLC releases for the game will be announced later this week.
Even though I really do not like their decision to not support dedicated servers, and the fact that the chose to announce it just before release, This once again proves how ineffective boycotts are. Most players don't want to subscribe to any kind philosophy of game development, they just want to play a fun game, and who can blame them.
Ubisofts DRM woes
UBI's new DRM system that requires players to log into UBI.com is having a little trouble. Due to what seems like a backlash from a few people who consider this draconian, their servers have been hit repeatedly with denial of service attacks, shutting down some players ability to play Assassin's Creed 2 and/or Silent Hunter 5
For the record, I hate this new DRM system. I think requiring players to have an always on and logged in internet connection only punishes legitamite customers. What dissappoints me however, is that gaming sites reporting about it do not in any way denounce this, even though by preventing players access to their games these people are doing something worse than any copy protection system, and trying to say that they are doing it for those same customers benefit is rediculous. People have a right to or to not purchase something, and blocking access to it is crap.
Shame on them
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Interesting update in UBI's DRM
As stated in a previous post, Ubisoft's new DRM system, which will be used on all Ubi game releases, requires an internet connection at all times in order to be played. In an interesting twist today, there is a rumor floating around that a hacker group already cracked this system on the recently released Silent Hunter 5.
In response, Ubisoft released a statement:
You have probably seen rumors on the web that Assassin's Creed II and Silent Hunter 5 have been cracked.
"Please know that this rumor is false and while a pirated version may seem to be complete at start up, any gamer who downloads and plays a cracked version will find that their version is not complete"
At this time they are not elaborating as to how the cracked version is incomplete.
Again at this point I am completely against this system, I think it creates a hassle for legitimate owners while not in any way preventing piracy.
In their defense however, if they could actually prevent people from playing pirated copies of their games across the board, I really couldn't blame them for using this system. They are after all, a business.
But at this point it appears they have incorporated a draconian DRM system that does little to accomplish this goal. Time will tell.
In response, Ubisoft released a statement:
You have probably seen rumors on the web that Assassin's Creed II and Silent Hunter 5 have been cracked.
"Please know that this rumor is false and while a pirated version may seem to be complete at start up, any gamer who downloads and plays a cracked version will find that their version is not complete"
At this time they are not elaborating as to how the cracked version is incomplete.
Again at this point I am completely against this system, I think it creates a hassle for legitimate owners while not in any way preventing piracy.
In their defense however, if they could actually prevent people from playing pirated copies of their games across the board, I really couldn't blame them for using this system. They are after all, a business.
But at this point it appears they have incorporated a draconian DRM system that does little to accomplish this goal. Time will tell.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
New Splinter Cell
Splinter Cell Conviction should be coming out in April. As the following trailer demonstrates, attacking Sam Fischer's daughter is not recommended.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Ubi Soft, always online DRM
Some game reviewers in the UK were playing assassins creed when they noticed that anytime the Internet connection went out their game stopped. Unfortunately, this is not an accident. The new DRM is simple, you must be online the entire time you are playing. Ubisoft's plan is to work everything through ubi.com. You'll have to login and authenticate online to play your game, and also to access saves, which are stored remotely on their servers. If you are disconnected at any time, you will lose everything back until your last saved game and/or checkpoint. And if you don't have a connection available, your out of luck.
We'll see how this goes. Personally it seems to me like their method of fighting piracy is to irritate the people who buy legitimate copies of their games, well see if this actually prevents pirating of the game at all.
I wouldn't be surprised if it failed, and I just don't get why they don't remove it for the Steam and Impulse versions. Lets just say when it comes to the top people at UBI, don't exactly expect a bunch of great thinkers.
Oh, and you also cant resell your game.
We'll see how this goes. Personally it seems to me like their method of fighting piracy is to irritate the people who buy legitimate copies of their games, well see if this actually prevents pirating of the game at all.
I wouldn't be surprised if it failed, and I just don't get why they don't remove it for the Steam and Impulse versions. Lets just say when it comes to the top people at UBI, don't exactly expect a bunch of great thinkers.
Oh, and you also cant resell your game.
The StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Beta Test Has Begun
Via Blizzard press release:
Blizzard Entertainment is pleased to welcome all of our beta testers to the first phase of the StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty beta test. You will have an early opportunity to play, test, and experience the online multiplayer aspect of StarCraft II, as well as get a first look at the newly revamped Battle.net.
The new StarCraft II beta forums will be your main source for official news and announcements over the course of the beta test. We encourage you to check the forums regularly and to use them to provide us with feedback and to engage in general discussions about the game with your fellow players. If you ever need help or technical assistance, the Blizzard support website now includes a StarCraft II beta-test section.
We are looking forward to receiving your comments, feedback, and suggestions on StarCraft II and the new Battle.net; let us know what you think via the "Feedback" forums.
Thank you for helping us test StarCraft II. Your participation and feedback is important to us, and will help us make StarCraft II one of the most epic entertainment experiences...ever.
At long last the final phases of development begin....
Blizzard Entertainment is pleased to welcome all of our beta testers to the first phase of the StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty beta test. You will have an early opportunity to play, test, and experience the online multiplayer aspect of StarCraft II, as well as get a first look at the newly revamped Battle.net.
The new StarCraft II beta forums will be your main source for official news and announcements over the course of the beta test. We encourage you to check the forums regularly and to use them to provide us with feedback and to engage in general discussions about the game with your fellow players. If you ever need help or technical assistance, the Blizzard support website now includes a StarCraft II beta-test section.
We are looking forward to receiving your comments, feedback, and suggestions on StarCraft II and the new Battle.net; let us know what you think via the "Feedback" forums.
Thank you for helping us test StarCraft II. Your participation and feedback is important to us, and will help us make StarCraft II one of the most epic entertainment experiences...ever.
At long last the final phases of development begin....
Monday, February 15, 2010
Gas Powered games announces Kings and Castles
Via press release:
Gas Powered Games announced today that work has started on Kings and Castles, an epic real-time strategy game for the PC and next-generation consoles. This one-of-a-kind experience will let players take on the role of one of three powerful kings who are vying for control of an all-new, original fantasy world.
One thing I find interesting is that via twitter and facebook Chris Taylor wants to give his fans a chance to follow the whole developement process via facebook, twitter, and its Website. It kind of reminds me of Stardock's process, it will be interesting to see if they can sort out the valuable feedback from fans as opposed to the flaming a lot of forums see when people dont get there way. I think its a great approach to try.
Oh, and Chris Taylor gets bitten by a horse. No idea
Gas Powered Games announced today that work has started on Kings and Castles, an epic real-time strategy game for the PC and next-generation consoles. This one-of-a-kind experience will let players take on the role of one of three powerful kings who are vying for control of an all-new, original fantasy world.
One thing I find interesting is that via twitter and facebook Chris Taylor wants to give his fans a chance to follow the whole developement process via facebook, twitter, and its Website. It kind of reminds me of Stardock's process, it will be interesting to see if they can sort out the valuable feedback from fans as opposed to the flaming a lot of forums see when people dont get there way. I think its a great approach to try.
Oh, and Chris Taylor gets bitten by a horse. No idea
Friday, February 12, 2010
Left 4 Dead 2...and 1
Apparently Valve has announced that there will be a new left 4 dead campaign in late march. This will feature a meeting up of the original cast and the new one. Also there will be a new "Common uncommon" zombie, whatever that means.
There will also be a new campaign for Left4Dead1
Here are some interesting stats though. As of February 11th:
28,981,249,043 zombies have been shot, bludgeoned, chainsawed and killed — or, for our younger readers, taken to a farm where they can frolic and shuffle around forever.
You read that correctly: 28 BILLION. To put that number in perspective:
* The entire population of the planet has been zombified and killed 4.26 times.
* With the average height of a zombie being 6 feet, if you stacked them end to end they would circle the globe 1,322 times.
* If you placed 28,981,249,043 rulers end to end, they would reach 28,981,249,043 feet in the sky.
In short: That is a bucketload of dead zombies. Nice job, everyone.
Keep on Killin on.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Left4Dead2 Sales and Worms Armageddon
It seems Left for Dead 2 has sold over 2.9 Million copies in retail stores. Unfortunately Valve does not release the number of games sold on Steam, which would be interesting to see.
Now Imagine if the hadn't lost all of those sales due to that petition. That number would probably be 2.90001 million by now.
Also Worms 2 Armageddon will be available for purchasing via Steam. For those of you that dont know, Worms is a turn based strategy game where you play a team of small worms that tries to use excessive firepower to kill other teams of worms. I'd describe it as easy to learn but impossible to master.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Sins of a Solar Empire Diplomacy
Release from Stardock:
The beta for Sins of a Solar Empire: Diplomacy pre-order customers is now over. All pre-order customers will gain access to the final version of Diplomacy this coming Tuesday, February 9th. Ironclad and Stardock would like to extend our thanks to all of the testers who participated in the Diplomacy beta and provided feedback. It's no exaggeration that Diplomacy was greatly changed based on your feedback!
Sweet!!! Ironclad and Stardock really nailed it with this game, possibly one of the best RTS games on the market right now
Monday, February 1, 2010
Star Trek Online
Star Trek Online, the upcoming MMO by Cryptic Studios, may actually deliver Trekkies the ship commanding/planet exploring chance they have always wanted. Actually I have to admit it does look interesting, after it launches tomorrow, if reviews are good, I might even check it out, if reviews are decent.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Starcraft 2 Beta Screen, Windows Live points suck
via Starcraftwire.net
Bashiok recently encouraged fans to watch the Jace Hall Webshow on January 29th for a feature with the Diablo III team. Fans watched the Season 3 Teaser featured at IGN and surprise-surprise. At minute 2:16 (720i) you will see a short frame with Jace Hall, Dustin Browder and the Starcraft II team toasting with beer bottles -- and while that's cool on its own, the background shows a large projection of Battle.net interface with the words:
WELCOME TO STARCRAFT II BETA !!!!!!
I don't know about you, but I am gonna camp that Fourth Quarter 2009 Earnings Conference Call to find out if Mike Morhaime says the sweet words: the official Starcraft II Beta date.
Blizzard fans are Zealots
Windows Live sucks:
However the system has also been highly controversial for several reasons including the fact that most people are left with excess points they can't use to purchase items. In a recent G4TV chat, Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg said offering real world prices on all of their downloadable content is "something we're looking at doing." Now comes word via InformationWeek that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Microsoft surrounding Microsoft Points.
The lawsuit, filed by Samuel Lassoff of of Horsham, PA, said Microsoft is "collecting revenues for digital goods and services which were not provided" via the Microsoft Points system. He claims that a recent invoice from Microsoft showed "charges for purchases he couldn't complete". Microsoft has yet to respond to the lawsuit.
"Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg said offering real world prices on all of their downloadable content is "something we're looking at doing."
Wow leave it to Microsoft to be slow to realize that almost their entire customer base hates the somewhat deceptive point system used to purchase games. Kind of reminds me of Vista, just keep telling everyone it's really great, really.
And if you think that's bad, try using it with a PC. I think I'll Stick with Steam and Impulse, thank you.
Bashiok recently encouraged fans to watch the Jace Hall Webshow on January 29th for a feature with the Diablo III team. Fans watched the Season 3 Teaser featured at IGN and surprise-surprise. At minute 2:16 (720i) you will see a short frame with Jace Hall, Dustin Browder and the Starcraft II team toasting with beer bottles -- and while that's cool on its own, the background shows a large projection of Battle.net interface with the words:
WELCOME TO STARCRAFT II BETA !!!!!!
I don't know about you, but I am gonna camp that Fourth Quarter 2009 Earnings Conference Call to find out if Mike Morhaime says the sweet words: the official Starcraft II Beta date.
Blizzard fans are Zealots
Windows Live sucks:
However the system has also been highly controversial for several reasons including the fact that most people are left with excess points they can't use to purchase items. In a recent G4TV chat, Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg said offering real world prices on all of their downloadable content is "something we're looking at doing." Now comes word via InformationWeek that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Microsoft surrounding Microsoft Points.
The lawsuit, filed by Samuel Lassoff of of Horsham, PA, said Microsoft is "collecting revenues for digital goods and services which were not provided" via the Microsoft Points system. He claims that a recent invoice from Microsoft showed "charges for purchases he couldn't complete". Microsoft has yet to respond to the lawsuit.
"Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg said offering real world prices on all of their downloadable content is "something we're looking at doing."
Wow leave it to Microsoft to be slow to realize that almost their entire customer base hates the somewhat deceptive point system used to purchase games. Kind of reminds me of Vista, just keep telling everyone it's really great, really.
And if you think that's bad, try using it with a PC. I think I'll Stick with Steam and Impulse, thank you.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Nvidia's up and coming
Via Bigdownloads
AMD is currently leading the next-gen PC graphics card race with its recent ATI Radeon products that support DirectX 11. However Nvidia has been hinting that their own entry in the race, known both as Fermi and the GF100, will also be a powerful chip. Today an embargo was lifted and a number of hardware based web sites got to reveal info they learned about the upcoming chip from Nvidia.
Unfortunately, Nvidia is still keeping some major details of their upcoming graphics chips secret including a launch date, clock speed, and the big one: cost. However they have revealed some technical details on the chip itself which suggests it will be twice as powerful as Nvidia's current champion the GT200. Firing Squad reports that Nvidia claims the chip will run Far Cry 2 at 84.3 frames per second with 1920x1200 resolution with 4xAA/16xAF. Dark Void ran at 76.82 frames per second at the same settings. You can see a demo of in-engine graphics running on the chip above.
Update: Nvidia does have some information about the specs on this. Unfortunatly still no price:
Packing in 3 billion transistors, double the CUDA cores of previous generation GPUs¹, a high speed GDDR5 memory interface, and full DirectX 11 support, GF100 is designed for groundbreaking graphics performance. With a revolutionary new scalable geometry pipeline and enhanced anti-aliasing capabilities, GF100 delivers both unrivalled performance and breathtaking image quality.
They really dropped the ball by giving Radeon this big of a lead with DirectX 11.
AMD is currently leading the next-gen PC graphics card race with its recent ATI Radeon products that support DirectX 11. However Nvidia has been hinting that their own entry in the race, known both as Fermi and the GF100, will also be a powerful chip. Today an embargo was lifted and a number of hardware based web sites got to reveal info they learned about the upcoming chip from Nvidia.
Unfortunately, Nvidia is still keeping some major details of their upcoming graphics chips secret including a launch date, clock speed, and the big one: cost. However they have revealed some technical details on the chip itself which suggests it will be twice as powerful as Nvidia's current champion the GT200. Firing Squad reports that Nvidia claims the chip will run Far Cry 2 at 84.3 frames per second with 1920x1200 resolution with 4xAA/16xAF. Dark Void ran at 76.82 frames per second at the same settings. You can see a demo of in-engine graphics running on the chip above.
Update: Nvidia does have some information about the specs on this. Unfortunatly still no price:
Packing in 3 billion transistors, double the CUDA cores of previous generation GPUs¹, a high speed GDDR5 memory interface, and full DirectX 11 support, GF100 is designed for groundbreaking graphics performance. With a revolutionary new scalable geometry pipeline and enhanced anti-aliasing capabilities, GF100 delivers both unrivalled performance and breathtaking image quality.
They really dropped the ball by giving Radeon this big of a lead with DirectX 11.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Motion Sensing Razor
Press release from Razer, makers of very fine gaming gear.
Consumer Electronics Show, Las Vegas, NV – Jan. 7, 2009 - Razer™, the world’s leading brand in gaming hardware, announced today a co-development partnership with Sixense Entertainment to develop a revolutionary true-to-life, next-generation motion sensing and gesture recognition controller for PC gaming.
“Razer is extending its vision for PC gaming by partnering with Sixense on this exciting new endeavor,” said Robert “Razerguy” Krakoff, president, Razer USA. “The magnetic motion sensor technology combines precision and speed with the freedom of other motion sensing technologies to fill the gap between consoles and PC in terms of human interface devices.”
Marking the next step in user interface technologies for gaming on the PC, Razer and Sixense scientists and engineers along with select PC OEM partners have been working on ultra-precise one-to-one motion sensing controllers that use electromagnetic fields to track precise movements along all six axes for use in current and future generation PC games. The absolute controller position is tracked to within a mere millimeter for positioning and to a degree for orientation.
They go on to say:
Working together with Valve, Razer and Sixense will be presenting a first glance into the future of PC Gaming with Left 4 Dead 2, a co-op team based tactical FPS game that is available on the Steam network, with a technology demonstration of what is slated as the first true one-to-one motion sensing and gesture recognition platform for the PC, which adds a totally new dimension to the Left 4 Dead 2 experience. Technology demonstrations with prototype motion sensing controllers will be held at the Las Vegas Convention Center, South Hall 4, Meeting Room #S215. Products utilizing the motion sensing technology showcased at CES will be launched later in 2010.
“With this controller, Razer and Sixense have created the most immersive way to play our games,” said Chet Faliszek, team lead on Valve’s recent best-seller Left 4 Dead 2. “For us and for our customers, this release represents motion-enabled gaming that’s more integrated and visceral than any platform has so far achieved.”
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