Shadowgrounds Survivor Spin-off / Sequel Announced

For a budget-priced title, last year's Shadowgrounds was a pretty good action game, and one that went straight to the hearts of old-school fans of Alien Syndrome, Crusader: No Remorse and other futuristic shooting-spree games from ages past. Encouraged by the response they got, the devs from Frozenbyte are planning to return this year with another game placed in the same universe: a spin-off-slash-sequel they called Shadowgrounds Survivor. Here's what to expect from it:

"Shadowgrounds Survivor tells the story of three survivors who join forces with the last remaining human resistance in the heated battle against the ongoing alien onslaught. The acclaimed atmosphere and gameplay mechanics of the original Shadowgrounds make a triumphant return armed with a new feature set!"

If you'd like to find out more about that "new feature set", head over to our Shadowgrounds Survivor gamespace, and don't shy away from the first two screenshots added in our gallery either.

One tiny bit of detail slipped at the very end of their announcement is that, aside from Shadowgrounds Survivor, which is set for release later this year, the Finns from Frozenbyte are also working on "a brand new unannounced project", which they hope will break new ground in 2008. They got our attention.

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)

The Russians from Primal Software and Akella are at it again. After announcing the futuristic action game 2025: Battle for Fatherland just a few days ago (story), they are making the news again with another game - this time set in a more ancient fantasy setting, and with a pronounced role-playing flavour. They call it Requital (at least for the time being), and they have just announced an agreement with publisher Excalibur to bring it to a more worldwide fanbase. Well, potential fanbase.

Requital, as they describe it, is a single-player, third-person view, combat RPG adventure set in an ancient brutal world ruled by superstition, sword and sorcery. And for those linguistically-challenged, they also note that the word itself, "requital", means "repay by good or evil!" (ed. - mandatory exclamation mark!).

Apparently you can only "choose" to play a single character in the game - some barbarian named Wolfhound, the last of his clan. As a child, he was taken screaming from his mother's more-or-less-proverbial breast and enslaved, while his parents were murdered by an evil guy you're obviously going to hunt down, in a raging quest for revenge. The only catch is that, instead of doing noble quests for the good guys, in Requital you will pretend to be helping the bad guys, by doing whatever they need (think the usual RPG grinding), just so you can make your way to the ultimate prey. Ah, how poetic!

There will be the usual skills leveling, and weapons / armour gathering, of course, and by the looks of the system requirements attached to the communique (1 GHz CPU, 512 MB RAM), it should run mighty smooth on moslty all PCs. No screenshots, release date etc., though we're not holding our breath either.

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)

We only got to mention it in passing recently, but now we finally have the chance to dedicate a well deserved news to Prince of Persia Classic - the remake of the old Prince game from 1989. And that's because Ubisoft will release it today via Xbox Live Arcade, giving Xbox 360 players a chance to (re)live the legendary jump'n'run adventure that PC veterans were enjoying nearly two decades ago. Moreover, come to think of it, this will also mark the first Prince of Persia game to appear on the Xbox 360 console.

Of course, the new Prince of Persia Classic is way more than a simple remake of the original game, as it adopts a vivid 3D graphics in tune with today's standards (see the screenshots), while fortunately keeping the same apparently-2D perspective. Also, there are several new gameplay elements, from new "wall-jumps", to new monsters and levels that don't resemble the old ones one bit (see the trailer).

The story is, largely, the same: the Persian prince is thrown in a race against the clock to save his princess in a maximum of 60 minutes (of actual playtime). During this short time, he will run, climb, jump through traps, drink the occasional potion, and swordfight with enemies and, ultimately, with Vizier Jaffar himself - the one who took his little princess with devious marital intentions.

So, the adventure begins once more in just a few hours, at 09:00 GMT.

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)

Of all the places, and of all the gaming events we might have expected id Software to reveal their next big thing, they chose the most unexpected one: the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) that opened its doors this week, in San Francisco. So Mac owners now have an extra reason to love Apple: whatever id Software are working on (they haven't gone into details about their next game), it should run perfectly fine on a Mac, since the new engine revealed by John Carmack - called id Tech 5 - was running in real time on a Mac with OS X at the event.

Nevertheless, the announcement from id's website assures us that this new engine also supports the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms, and that interested developers and publishers will be able to find out more about it at next month's cut-down E3 (the rest of us will have to wait a bit longer, it seems).

The first game based on id Tech 5 is currently in development internally at id Software, and assuming this is the same technology that GI.biz wrote about a couple of weeks ago, we're dealing with a completely new franchise - i.e. no Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein or Commander Keen sequel. The announcement only has a few more words about id's new rendering technology, though it's mostly boring stuff; except perhaps for this last part:

"id Tech 5 will power games that contain vast outdoor landscapes that are completely unique to the horizon, yet have indoor environments with unprecedented artistic detail."

Engadget has a few shots from the WWDC demo, and they also quote Carmack as saying that id will make "another Mac announcement at E3". And that was about it... In other gaming news from WWDC, EA announced several new Mac games: Command & Conquer 3, Battlefield 2142, NFS Carbon; then in July - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; and in August - Madden NFL 08 and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08.

Oh, and Apple is bringing its Safari browser to Windows! You can download the beta version from apple.com/safari to give it a try. I already have, and it's not bad at all. In fact, this is the first Playfuls news I'm posting from Safari right now!!... Umm, no, not really. I could never break up with my preciousss Opera. Ever.

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)

Since both the game and the movie that spawned it were released last month, it was about time Disney offered us the demo version for Pirates of the Caribbean 3 - more officially known as Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (even though it also borrows from the second movie, Dead Man's Chest... but let's not get stuck on technical details). So, without further ado, or any kind of details with regard to its contents, the official website holds the PotC: At World's End demo for all you PC gamers and/or fans of captain Jack Sparrow & co.

A much better-timed demo release, however, goes to Codemasters and Triumph Studios, for their upcoming vile action-adventure game Overlord. You'll find the over-sized demo (of over 1 GB!) on the Overlord website, if you can pass the simple evilness test on the splash-page, or at this direct FTP link if you don't have time for silly minigames. As for its contents, here is Codies' description:

"In this Overlord demo, players don the Overlord's illustrious armor and assemble a team of Brown Minions (the brawlers) to head off on a session of serious destruction in the once tranquil area of The Mellow Hills. Descending upon the unsuspecting populace and wildlife, the Overlord must use his loyal minions to gather life-force from the somewhat unwilling sheep, grow the size of his minion horde, and let the Halflings-gone-wild know there's a new boss in town. Top that off with Minion upgrades, including better weapons and pumpkin helmets, throw in some peasant intimidation and a show-down with the Guard Troll at the Slave Camp, and players will have a taste of the havoc that a Minion horde can wreak."

Codies will send Overlord and his army of gremlins to stores on June 26 in North America, and three days later in Europe.

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)

Following the renaissance of spy movies (and mostly TV series), we are witnessing a very strong comeback of spy-themed games as well. And we're talking about big-budget productions, like Pandemic's Saboteur, or the Unreal Engine 3-powered Global Agenda, both revealed earlier this year. And today we can add another title to this growing list: The Agency, a new online action game coming from Sony Online Entertainment, developed by SOE Seattle for the PC and PlayStation 3. Right, no Xbox 360... for now.

Simply put, The Agency will be a fast-paced online action shooter, set within a persistent and evolving modern-day world filled with espionage, intrigue and betrayal. The game promises to be a "pick-up-and-play experience", enforcing the gameplay idea that "you are what you wear" (as opposed to "you are what you become over years of maniacal grinding"), offering a wide variety of cooperative and competitive story-driven missions set in exotic locales across the globe, for both solo players and groups.

There will be two factions in the game: the slick UNITE spies, and the gritty ParaGON mercenariers. As they gain ranks within their chosen faction, players will also be able to build their own agencies, team with others to create joint agencies, and recruit a roster of useful "Operatives" - which are basically the "living loot" in The Agency. And the better your Operatives, the better their assistance during your missions. Plus, you can also trade Operatives with other players, but that's a whole 'nother story.

With no estimative release date in sight, for now all we can do is surveil the first screenshots and the "behind the scenes" trailer issued along with today's announcement.

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)

Akella, one of Eastern Europe's esteemed veteran game development and publishing companies, celebrated 14 years of existence yesterday, since their establishing in 1993. But instead of dwelling on memories past for too long, the Russians got straight back in business today, by announcing a new action game from Primal Software - the makers of Heavy Duty (as well as Besieger and I of the Dragon before that).

Their new project is most likely titled 2025: Battle for Fatherland, although the press release also calls it 2025: Battle for Motherland at one point... In any case, it's about some futuristic battle, for some familial familiar piece of land. 2025 will play out as a third-person action game with extensive unit customization and a vast arsenal of weapons, with a particular focus on mech robots. And here are some more details about it:

"The game plot takes us to a very near future - 2025 - that will embrace countries with fire, explosions, deaths and threatening enemies. Nations face hazard of terrorism that rules the world! You can just watch your nation getting suppressed and crushed or... you can fight, fight as fiercely as your muscles endure.

The main character is a brave soldier of Peacemaking Forces who can't stand this passive non-involvement any longer. To destroy aggressively acting and lurking within terrorist hordes (hostile troops, separate units and mechs) he has a diverse arsenal at his disposal including tanks, jeeps, and mechs. The latter can use antitank and sniper's weapons. Missions vary so it's up to a gamer to decide which tactics to apply - crash every living malicious creature with the fire storm or kill invaders one by one in sharp guerilla attacks. The game intrigues will enable a player to go through organized resistance, betrayal, clandestine rebellion actions, and more."

While there are no screenshots available so far, Akella did mention that the developers will apply Heavy Duty's game engine, so at least we have some visual hints of things to come.

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)

Assassin's Creed Coming In November, No DS Version In Sight

Except for a few more "no comments" kindly issued here and there, Ubisoft continued to keep a tight lip with regard to the possible Nintendo DS version of Assassin's Creed, speculated earlier this week. And the company's latest press release also bears no mention about this portable version, simply announcing a more well-defined release date for the previously known platforms: PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Those looking forward to the game can thus stick a big red mark on their calendars next to November 2007, when Assassin's Creed should make its worldwide debut. Currently in development at Ubisoft's Montreal studio, Assassin's Creed is enjoying an increasingly higher popularity, as reflected by the latest Assassin's Creed trailer (launched at last month's UbiDays event), which supposedly registered over 1.3 million downloads on GameTrailers.com in the first week alone.

Absolutely thrilled and confident in the mad success the game will have, Tony Key (vice-president of marketing, Ubisoft) said:

"Assassin's Creed is going to be a huge launch for Ubisoft this year along with the added prestige of being the start of this exciting new franchise that is bringing something completely new to the market. We're confident that Assassin's Creed will exceed expectations as a 'must-have' title this holiday season and will achieve both critical and commercial success."

From all that we've seen so far, we can only agree.

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)

Now that things are settled with StarCraft II, the award for the most rumoured Blizzard game is passed on to Diablo 3 (or Diablo III, if you like). Whether it will be a new hack'n'slash RPG, or a MMORPG as was speculated before the first BlizzCon in 2005, it definitely will be. Something. But where did this rumour come from and, most importantly, where is it headed, you can find out from a well-documented article published yesterday on the StarcraftTwo website (thanks Dan).

The story comes shortly after this week's new announcement, that Blizzard will offer (among other goodies) beta keys to a "future game" of theirs at BlizzCon 2007 in August. It remains to be seen if said beta keys are for StarCraft II or, less likely, for another title... such as Diablo 3.

But getting back to the article mentioned above, and drawing a parallel with the old rumours about the Diablo MMO (which would focus on the war between Heaven and Hell), the following quote in particular gains a lot of weight:

"I am not writing for a dead world... but a world with dead. 'nuff said!"

This was the answer given by fantasy author Richard A. Knaak, when asked if the story of his trilogy "Diablo: The Sin War" would be at the heart of the Diablo 3 game. And "a world with dead" could be a clever description for the Heaven (and Hell) in which the future Diablo MMO is said to take place. Hopefully it will revealed at BlizzCon this year. It would be about time.

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)

Speaking of hope-giving product listings from GameStop, there's an even more interesting one that came to light this week. You know Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft's next-generation action project for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, right? But I wonder if you know Assassin's Creed for the Nintendo DS!... Oh, don't worry, neither do we. Or anyone else from the public sector, apparently, besides GameStop - who have a very firm listing of this title on their website.

The entry was reported by Yahoo! Games yesterday, who also tried to get in touch with Ubi for a clarification, though no company representatives answered their inquisition at that time. However, considering that GameStop went through the trouble of adding a price ($29.99), release date (September 25, 2007), and even a mash-up cover image, they must know something we don't...

If we were to indulge this rumour and imagine how a DS version might play like, we would only have to think about the 2D versions of another game that plays a lot like Assassin's Creed. That, of course, would be Prince of Persia, which has long since proven that a flat version is fine, too. And it will do so again this summer, when Ubisoft will release Prince of Persia Classic as an Xbox Live Arcade remake of Jordan Mechner's original game from 1989. If that's what a 2D jump'n'run looks like these days, I for one wouldn't mind seeing Assassin's Creed adapted for the DS. Not one bit!

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)