It was about time, I'd say. After the previous Xbox 360 and PS3 demos, not to mention the full versions of Mercenaries 2: World in Flames - all of which were released over the last month - we're now treated to the PC demo of Mercs 2. The package is a solid 1.5 GB, and you can get it from here, here, here or wherever else you (and your connection) feel confortable with.

"The Mercenaries 2: World in Flames free PC demo lets players have a playable sneak preview of the final product.

Players can play an objective from one of the missions, and while they are limited to a relatively small section of the world, there's enough there for players to get a feel for the sandbox nature of the game.

Additionally, we give players a customized load out of awesome vehicles and airstrikes, so that players can get a taste of the toys and destruction that combine to make Mercenaries 2 the premier explosive action game of the summer!"

Warner Bros. has finally slapped the F.E.A.R. brand - previously owned by Vivendi / Sierra, before being taken over by Activision - on its upcoming shooter Project Origin. Which, after all, was supposed to be a "spiritual sequel" of sorts to F.E.A.R. all along. As such, today they are announcing that the sequel is now properly named F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin. Pix, cause it happened.


The other news to come out of Warner's press release is the new release date: February 10, 2009 in North America, and February 13, 2009 in Europe. This should hold true for the all three platforms the game is being developed on - PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

"F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, the highly anticipated sequel to the 2005 smash hit game, F.E.A.R., is a blend of advanced visceral combat mixed with seamless game pacing set inside a sinister and paranormal universe that begins shortly before the ending of F.E.A.R. A Special Forces squad is on a routine mission when the city of Auburn is rocked by a supernatural explosion. Alma, a girl with immense power and a thirst for revenge, has unleashed her wrath upon the city and thrown it into chaos. The squad must combat enemy forces and the supernatural as they struggle to find a way to stop Alma and uncover the mysterious forces arrayed against them before it’s too late."

As we like to say, when we are actually sober and NOT disregarding other people’s opinions, “tastes may vary”. And they may vary a lot. Styles vary, also. Big time. So I tend to find it a bit strange when two big bad ass producers, like Bethesda Softworks, and the younger, much fresher, not yet infested with the “my idea is better than yours” syndrome, Splash Damage, decide to join forces, in an attempt to… well, to do some stuff. What stuff, we have yet to discover. They probably don’t have a clue about it, either.

It’s useless to mention what Bethesda is famous for, but I will restate what it will be Infamous for. Fallout 3. The game that, according to my awesome Nostradamic predictions, will suck so much ass that even the greatest ass sucker in the world will have to bow down and let others do his job. As for Splash Splashidy Splashie, their recent title, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, along side with their very deep friendship with id Studios, says it all.

They obviously intend to do some serious business regarding the gaming industry, but the actual details regarding their future project will not be revealed as soon as it may seem. Let’s just hope for something big, something nasty, and for the love of God, please, no more Oblivion crap. Fallout 3: Oblivion Copycat is enough to fail for ten years to come, already.

Arigatou, 1UP.

The first gameplay footage from the Gears of War 2 campaign was revealed this week, and for the past couple of days, Microsoft has been shoving more materials down our throat. It may sound like a lot, but in fact it's just a bunch of uber-high-res screenshots issued yesterday, and today they re-released the Gears of War 2 'assault' trailer, but without Cliff Bleszinski's commentary. In case you can't make out anything during the intense non-stop action, here's what the trailer is all about, in CliffyB's own words:

"The Locust are back, and they're meaner than ever. And they brought with them a force that can essentially sink entire cities; and it's not just a little emergence hole, it's an entire city going down at once. So humanity's back is against the wall, and we need to strike back against these guys. So the way that we do that is by taking these trucks called Derricks, and we tow these devices called Grind Lifts into Locust-occupied cities. The COG guys get in the Grind Lifts, they barrel down into the depths of the underground, and they fight back against these bad guys."

Both the trailer and the screenshots below are taken from the same level, called "Assault" (the third chapter), from the first act in the single-player campaign.

Five years ago, this title alone would have been enough to make me hop around like crazy in excitement. Now, I couldn't give a rat's ass anymore. Not because the announcement was innevitable, nor because I've become a grumpy gamer. But simply because my rusty computer may never run Doom 4 at a decent frame-rate. If it will be a PC title at all...

Ok, so this is the part where the "real" news begins, normally. Except that there's not much left to say, other than "production has begun on Doom 4", as id bluntly puts it. Sure, they have more filler text in their announcement, but they don't give any estimate release date, no target platforms, no nothing. Just a tiny, subtle hint:

"DOOM is part of the id Software DNA and demands the greatest talent and brightest minds in the industry to bring the next installment of our flagship franchise to Earth", said Todd Hollenshead, CEO, id Software" (ed. - our bolding)

Bring Doom back to Earth, eh? Well, why not. It's not like it matters if we're shooting demons on Earth, Mars, or some other planet, as long as we're locked inside dark buildings most of the time. Damn, I really hope they'll shed more light on Doom 4, literally, and bring back the bloody colorful massacres from the early days of Doom and Doom II.

Despite the usual trend when it comes to recent games, it seems that Prey 2, along with all those asshole-like doors and… wall grafitti, will not come to all the consoles and their mother, when it will eventually ship. More exactly, the guys at Radar Group stated that the sequel to the 2008’s would-be-shooter will find its way to the PC and Microsoft’s X360. So no PS3, at least for a while, though it is hard to believe that such a title would not take advantage of some sales boost with Sony’s console being so overrated.

Details on Prey 2, Earth No More, Incarnate and other two “unknown” projects can be very well spotted on Radar’s website, along with Casey Linch’s statement on The Game Reviews, according to which the game’s developer is still Human Head.

Well, if you are interested in a FPS that denies you DEATH in any possible way, Prey may be a thing for you. And I bet that Prey 2, too.

A rather pretentious title, for what really looks more like a Half-Life 2 MOD. Nevertheless, the recently announced third-person shooter Salvation (anti-rhymes with Damnation, but not to be confused with Dark Salvation) is being developed as a full-fledged PC and Xbox 360 game powered by Valve's Source engine, by some novice Ukranian studio Black Wing Foundation, "in cooperation with N-Game Studios" - cause it's so damn hard to make a generic shooter all by yourself these days.

The world of Salvation is described as a near-future cybernetic dystopia, inspired by the likes of "1984", "Brand New World" and "Us", with a dramatic story spanning seven episodes (17 missions), from Tokyo to London, which goes something like this. (...)

 Continue reading 'Salvation, Cybernetic Dystopian Shooter'...

I can almost hear Stephane Grappelli's jazzy violin already...

- The 360+ MB Crysis patch 1.2 is finally up for download. But it has issues. And also some dedicated (albeit beta) nVidia drivers.

- "We have no plans to have in-game advertising in StarCraft II", says Blizzard via Blizzplanet. Well, they have no plans for announcing the next Diablo game today, either. But that doesn't mean it's not there...

- Dark Sector has just gone Gold, and is now ready for releasing in North America this March 25 on the PS3 and Xbox 360.

- Capcom dismisses Resi 5 date rumours, the ones placing the release of Resident Evil 5 in October 2008 (just before Gears of War 2). So it might only come out in early 2009.

- Huxley, that MMOFPS nearly gone vaporware, was featured this week in an IGN preview saying that Webzen plans to release the PC version by the end of 2008, followed about six months later by the Xbox 360 version (which will take place 50 years later, but will still have "cross-platform interaction" with the PC version, oddly enough).

- Each game from the Orange Box package - Portal, Team Fortress 2, and Half-Life 2: Episode One + Two - will be available as separate PC titles at retail on April 9, as confirmed by Valve on Joystick. Too little too late.

- Europa Universalis III: In Nomine announced for this summer (or some time before it). It's like an expansion for another expansion, since it will require the Napoleon's Ambition add-on, and the idea for it was born on Paradox' forums. Sounds... promising...

- Various WiiWare games were announced lately, but the vast majority of them look like pure, double-distilled shit. One exception is LostWinds (which we covered last month), and another one will hopefully be Lit - a 3D horror action-puzzler coming from WayForward (Contra 4, Shantae), which I found out about on Gamasutra.

- The U.S. Air Force wants 300... Spartans? Moonkins? Nope, PlayStation 3 consoles. Awoo! Awoo! Awoo! They're supposedly "conducting a technology assessment of certain cell processors", and the PS3 is perfect for playing while on-duty their top-secret research.

A noteworthy announcement just came in from Codemasters. Together with developer Blue Omega Entertainment, they offer the first details and screenshots for a third-person action-shooter called Damnation (apparently based on a former UT 2004 total convertion mod of the same name). It will be the first in a planned franchise that will make its debut on the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in late 2008.

They are billing it as a "shooter gone vertical", seemingly due to its huge, open environments, each covering miles of distance and thousands of vertical feet. "These massive streaming landscapes will form the battlegrounds for a post-industrial conflict between humanity and an unstoppable arms dealer hell-bent on total world domination", the story goes. Visually inspired by iconic elements of American history (not America again!), Damnation also promises to feature frenetic combat, daredevil acrobatics and high-octane vehicle-based stunts ("from motorbikes capable of launching across seemingly infinite chasms, to huge, armour-piercing marvels that will induce mayhem with every huge shell"), with up to 3 hours of actual gameplay... per level! But no, I have no idea how many levels there will be.

More details after the screenshots.

 (...)

 Continue reading 'Damnation 'Shooter Gone Vertical' Announced'...