Wizards of the Coast are not even close to ending their flow of MTG games. And to make sure of that, they're currently planning to publish not one, but two new Magic: The Gathering video games. Neither one of them has been given a formal title (or any other details) yet, so I'll just call them Magic: The Gardening and Magic: The Gargling. Right, then - Gardening is developed by Stainless Games for the PC and Xbox Live Arcade; and Gargling is developed by Mind Control Software for the PC and Mac.

The only clue given by Worth Wollpert (brand manager at WotC) leads us to believe that these may not even be trading card games. Not necessarily...

"Beyond the card game, the Magic IP is a largely untapped wealth of fantasy with stories begging to be told. These products are a part of our strategy to start doing just that."

- The PSP version of Need for Speed ProStreet is finally shifting into retail gear this week, on February 22. Time for another NFS soon, eh?... *sigh*... What a drag racing.

- Also on February 22, the PS3 version of Unreal Tournament 3 will be released in Europe. Other releases this week include Dragon Quest Swords (Wii), The Club, Dynasty Warriors 6, and Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (DS).

- The Witcher Enhanced Edition was announced for May 2008, bringing changes in the game's mechanics, better graphics, a MOD editor, and two new adventures (comprising 8 new quests). In other words, they're trying to sell us a fucking patch.

- Second Life goes mobile, by "[reformatting] the online world to fit on mobile phone screens while mapping the keys on handsets to commands in-world". World of Warcraft should take a cue, instead of experimenting with shitty mobile chat features.

- JoWooD and World Forge (Sparta: Ancient Wars) announced a new strategy game called The Golden Horde, which "takes you back to a place in time where the heirs of Dschingis Khan were ready to fight for their honor and glory". Dschingis Khan?! What the fuck! Somebody fire that PR idiot who can't even spell Genghis Khan right. FAIL.

- THQ and Blue Fang Games (Zoo Tycoon) are banding for a new game, in development for the Wii, DS and PC. More zoophilia?

Ah, the distinguished Game Developers Conference... now there's an event we won't be attending (although we might hold a prolongued "editorial" meeting at the local pub tonight). But no worries, that's why we have the internets, to bring us various stuff from this week's GDC 2008 in San Francisco. Such is this new pack of screenshots from Age of Conan issued by Funcom. I'd rather not comment on them, though - we might lose our last two Conan-fans readers who drive our earnings through the roof.

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 Continue reading 'GDC 2008 - Age of Conan Screenshots'...

Today we have the first screenshots from BioWare's most dubious project to date, that Sonic RPG for the Nintendo DS now officially known as Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, coming from SEGA during 2008. It doesn't look bad or anything, but I sure wish they had picked another franchise. No, not Mario!

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 Continue reading 'Sonic RPG Screenshots'...

"Enough is enough", says Nintendo, while drenching its sorrows into a delightful bottle of first-class alcohol. After summing up some numbers, the guys from the American subsidiary managed to come up with financial losses that nets the piracy phenomenon no less than 975 million USD. This also involves the publishers and developers working alongside Nintendo for the good of mankind.

Piracy is no stranger to the PC gaming community, with torrents of every game and its mother flooding the Internet - but it seems our console comrades are also enjoying the... not so legal art of fucking up the system. Of course, China is still number one when it comes to manufacturing illegal DS and Wii games, while Korea is the big bad ass regarding online console game files distribution. The same lists gathers even more names, with South-American countries like Brazil or Mexico spitting pirated Nintendo software out of every asshole available.

And of course, all Nintendo wants is a set of new laws. More aggressive measures, more retards in jail, and so on and so forth. Personally, I am all in favor of the "get your butt to the store and buy the damn game", but developers and publishers alike must also "fit" their prices for the different types of markets out there. In Romania, for example, a DS game may sometimes cost a quarter of your average paycheck, which is a lot.

Any aspiring young talent out there will have a shot at this year's GDC to join the ranks of BioWare, since the company recently announced they are searching for fresh cannon fodder. If you are a skilled 3D graphics programmer, technical artist, or maybe a talented writer, pay their stand a visit during the Conference in San Francisco, and you may just find a cozy spot along one of the best RPG developers out there. Derek Sidebottom, Bioware's Human Resources dude, had this to say regarding the generous offer:

"We're looking for people with a passion for excellence in video game development. Our core values are Quality in our Products and Quality in our Workplace, and these have been recognized by countless product-specific awards, as well as BioWare being named amongst Canada's Top 100 Employers for 4 years and Financial Post's 10 Best Companies to Work For."

About time Square Enix did something other than good old Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts or Dragon Quest titles. Don't get me wrong, I am a HUGE fan of everything mentioned above, I, like any normal human being, have my periodical Tifa / Aeris / Yuna wet dreams, but playing the same games over and over again tends to get a bit boring after a while. Especially when you end up, like me, to get disgusted by almost every modern title and resort to the forever awesome SNES emulator and the bunch of cool JRPGs out there.

And so... Square is making yet another move on the RPG front, this time on Nintendo DS, with a new action RPG entitled The World Ends With You. We get to play the role of an underaged, unsociable and probably completely retarded when it comes to women kid which, caught in a modern-day Tokyo, receives a strange SMS - telling him “bye bye cruel world if you don't do my bidding”. Sounds interesting, sounds Japanese enough, but it also sounds rather costly, being priced at 39,99 USD. Here are some of the game's features:

- Distinctive modern art style created by a team of artists led by Tetsuya Nomura, world-renowned character designer of the upcoming FABULA NOVA CRYSTALLIS project which includes FINAL FANTASY XIII and FINAL FANTASY Versus XIII
- Innovative Stride-Cross Battle System allows players to control two characters simultaneously, unleashing special attacks with the stylus
- Collect a vast array of custom-designed pins, each with a powerful psychic ability that can be activated with the right touch or sound command
- Customize characters with Shibuya's coolest fashions and exchange items with other players via Mingle Mode
- Experience an amazing soundtrack combining a fusion of musical influences from hip-hop to rock to electronica
- Battle with up to three friends in Tin Pin Slammer, an exciting and fast-paced mini-game, via local wireless connection

And here is the press release, for your reading pleasure.

In a bit of a contradiction to this week's press release announcing the PC version of Mass Effect - which credits no other studio except BioWare - it appears that indie developer Demiurge Studios is actually the one doing the dirty work of porting this Xbox 360 RPG to PCs. As spotted on FiringSquad, the Massachusetts-based developer has revealed on its blog that it "began working with BioWare during the final stretch of development for the Xbox 360 version", adding gameplay and performance enhancements for the PC version. And they also let slip a few specific details.

"Mass Effect for the PC features a third command wheel so players can access squad members separately, a new inventory system, customized key mapping and a brand new minigame. Extra attention was focused on visuals, offering higher resolution graphics for an enhanced gaming experience for the PC."

Don't forget to check out the first screenshots from Mass Effect PC, if you haven't yet.

One thing that keeps me from hyperventilating at the sight of this new adventure game called Goin' Downtown (other than my WoW addiction), is the discouraging fact that it's being developed by the makers of Simon the Failure Sorcerer 4, Everlight (likewise a sub-par adventure), and that buggy (but otherwise ok) post-apocalyptic RPG, The Fall. Yep, it's ze Germans from Silver Style Entertainment, backed up by their compatriots from TGC - The Games Company.

One thing that would otherwise fill me with hype hope is this first batch of screenshots from Goin' Downtown, that you'll find by goin' a bit down. The mildly cel-shaded graphics look pretty cool, and the game also promises to have a "thrilling story with black humour and fascinating characters" - over 30 of them, throughout more than 40 locations. A "revolutionary puzzle system for newbies and pros" is also listed among its generic features, and if you want to know more about the story, you'll find that, too, by goin' even furhter down. The game should be released this spring in Germany, but I have no idea about the rest of the English-speaking world.

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 Continue reading 'Goin' Downtown Adventure Comin''...

- The world of Fallout 3 will be much smaller than Oblivion, Bethesda's Pete Hines told some aussies, "but packed with stuff to do". Stuff to do is good, mkay.

- "For Sims 3 there will be new information soon", Sims Studio head Rod Humble let slip in a forum posting. And guess what: they are "actually launching less [Sims games] this year than last". Oh, and "the Sims Label was created to innovate, make original games and take creative risks". I loled.

- Aion: The Tower of Eternity is coming in 2008. How exactly is that a novelty, beats me!

- Naruto: Ninja Destiny went gold, and is now destined to launch on February 26 for the Nintendo DS. Naruto sucks dragon balls.

- April 22 was announced as the day Square Enix will release its new DS action-RPG set in modern-day Tokyo, The World Ends With You. No U.

- Unreal Engine 3 got licensed by yet another Korean developer - Dragonfly (Karma Online, Special Force), who will be using it to make a new... something, whatever.