It all started as a (well founded) rumor. It ended with an official announcement. So, yeah, basically we’ll get more Bioshockin’ services in the fall of 2009, according to the girls at Take Two. Just as promised, actually, because they stated before their hungry desire to release one Bioshock title once every two years…

What we know so far is that the game will, indeed, be manufactured with great care and no trembling hands by the newly formed 2K Marin Studio, where a bunch of Bioshock developers gathered not to be pissed off by the lesser beings inside Take Two that like to share useless opinions with the rest of the world. Even though it was first rumored that brainmaster Ken Levine will not work on this project, Take Two confirmed that, well, he will, either it is his choice or not.

While Bioshock was a great game, maybe more popular than great, it still reeked of casual putrefaction. Hopefully, more little sisters, Japanese ones, this time, will fix the obvious flaw of respawning like a retard, that made the game look much too easy. And silly.

Scoopz0r.

- 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'...

And yet again, Mr. Kotick blows me up. Almost literally. Not only does Blizzard already have an extremely successful milking cow (actually, they have more of those, but one in particular here has 10 million subscribers), but the company will try, with the soon to be released Starcraft 2, to increase their earnings even further. Much further.

You’ve probably heard about in-game advertising, and if you didn’t you should be shot in a leg. Well, Kotick (which, for those of you who didn’t read the last Activision/Blizzard related news regarding a future CoD MMO, is Activision’s CEO), stated loud and clear that, although advertising in games hasn’t been a successful business yet (but sure as hell will be), his company is eyeing, while also salivating like a true Pavlovian dog, the big bucks that could come out if they implement it in Starcraft 2.

So prepare yourself for some nice Coca-Cola banners, while you try to take over Aiur, or whatever other planet hasn’t been yet obliterated by the Zerg. I’m feeling a bit sad right now.

"[Blizzard] has been thinking about how StarCraft, because it is a short-session experience, can actually be the model for in-game advertising and sponsorship and tournament play and ladder play for the future,"

IGN scoop.

- The Sims 3 website is now up, hinting at - you guessed - The Sims 3. More information is coming on March 19. I just love how everyone is making a full-blown "news" out of this.

- The Chronicles of Spellborn is being delayed again, according to a project update on the MMO's website. This time they expect to release it in Q2 2008. I beg to differ.

- Audiosurf was the top selling game on Steam in February, pwning the likes of Orange Box and Peggle Deluxe. I only found out about this cool little indie game last month, but too bad I was busy with a WoW raid at the time, to give it a try.

- Ziff Davis Media announced tonight it has filed a dreaded Chapter 11 (a.k.a. bankrupcy protection) petition, hoping to somehow pull out of the financial asshole they're stuck in, with hundreds of millions of dollars in debt... that's some heavy shit! If the name doesn't ring a bell, they publish the EGM and Games For Windows magazines, and the 1UP network of websites which also includes FileFront, GameVideos and GameTap. Mwhaha... here's our chance to take over the gaming world!

- Dragonball movie delayed... Wait, what the fuck is this doing on a gaming website!? Time to switch to Animekon for the full story.

When it comes to Fallout 3, there are certain things of notice: first, Bethesda got its hands on a license that virtually kicks ass: second, Bethesda has absolutely no idea how to create a RPG – and don’t make me prove to you that every fucking Elder Scrolls title was actually a FPS; third, there is a BIG Fallout community out there, demanding a game that will be at least as good as the Fallout 3 Beta (ed. - Van Buren), released by the former Black Isle guys so long ago.

Things are really sad when even the lead game designer for the current Bethesda FPS, casually named, I have no idea why, Fallout 3, says that the company itself doesn’t give a shit about the community’s suggestions. Sure, we will get 50% of Morrowind’s big sized world (unlike some other things that the developers have to offer), sure, we will have “open endings”, and other stuff that may actually attract casual players, but, Sir, we will certainly have no Fallout. Here’s what Emil Pagliarulo had to say:

That’s always the toughest question. You listen to the fans and respect their ideas, but once you start designing a game that they want to make specifically, then you can get yourself into trouble.

In other words, “we may get into trouble if we listen to you guys, create a hardcore game for the Fallout community to enjoy, and not listen to what our publishers tell us to do. And what cocks to suck”.

And certainly, the fact that Fallout 3 comes on various platforms, (probably) with optimizations as good as, let’s say, Resident Evil 4, also means that they don’t care at all. Go go, Bethesda, one more reason to hate you. And by that, I mean really hate you, I have a fellow priest that knows some incantations that will make your dicks smaller.

Read the rest of his bullshit here.

And here are the new Assassin's Creed PC screenshots we mentioned in last night's checkpoint, without any distracting logo. Below them you'll also find a new Q&A about the game's PC version, this time issued directly by Ubisoft.


The game is being released four months after the console versions. How did you use this extra development time?

Based on the feedback we got after the release of the console versions, we decided to add even more variety by developing a total of 4 new investigation types (Archer assassination, rooftop race challenge, merchant stand destruction challenge and escort challenge). The archer assassination requires the player to assassinate the archers in a dedicated zone without being seen. In the rooftop race challenge, the player will meet an informer and will have a set amount of time to reach a second informer. In the merchant stand destruction, some merchants have ties to the assassination target and their activities must be stopped by Altaïr. Finally, in the escort challenge, the player needs to securely escort a fellow Assassin from point A to point B.

Will the game exploit DX9 and DX10? (...)

 Continue reading 'Assassin's Creed PC Screenshots, Details'...

There I was, getting my hopes (and other things) up that Blizzard will be allowed to carry on with its own franchises, after the merger with Activision will be complete. Well, me and the others who thought about that were tremendously stupid, to say the least.

Having a nice chat with some hungry for gossip analysts, Bobby Kotick, Activision’s almighty CEO, pointed out the “possibility” that Call of Duty, Infinity Wards’ awesome FPS, could receive the MMO treatment in a near future.

He started by taking a look at the MMO market as we see it today, and what he saw was a bit grim: after the dreaded World of Warcraft launch, most other companies that tried to fit in the market only managed low-selling titles, canceled titles, or failing titles. Of course, with some little exceptions. Now Kotick looks down into Blizzard’s yard, hoping that his team(s) will learn a good deal from their veterans, plus the fact that Activision has a chance to “borrow” some of Blizzard’s subscriber base.

In short, Kotick kinda said: “Fuck Blizzard’s projects, ours are more important.”

- New Red Alert 3 details have been discussed in the latest BattleCast web-show, including the revelation of the new faction: The Empire of the Rising Sun, "which was produced after a desperate Soviet leadership went back in time to erase Einstein, presumably to stop him creating the atomic bomb". One does not simply erase Einstein.

- Okami finally gets a firm release date on the Wii (or delay, from GameSpot's point of view): April 15. Cool, right on my birthday. But something tells me I'll still be busy air-punching my comrade in Super Smash Bros. Brawl at that time.

- IGN talked to Ubi about the new stuff in Assassin's Creed for the PC, such as four new investigation missions (archer assassination, rooftop race challenge, merchant stand destruction challenge and escort challenge). And they also got some new screens. The PC version is coming in early April, having slipped again.

- Dark Sector is also coming a bit later than expected, in April, with a demo "likely" to precede the final launch.

- A fresh new release schedule we received from cdv USA lists Sacred 2: Fallen Angel as coming in September 2008 on the PC and Xbox 360. Precicely, yet another delay. Also, Stranger releasing this March 17, Sudden Strike 3 on March 24, and Theatre of War on May 12 (it's been out in Europe since last autumn).

- Demigod, at least, is not getting delayed... yet. Gas Powered Games' new strategy game is "completely playable" and "fairly certain" for a 2008 release. Should be worth the wait, "heck [they] have a giant walking castle as a demigod"!

- A Grimm preview is up on GameTap (the very website that will be launching this dark episodic game in July), with quotes from American McGee, who seems rather frustrated by Disney's versions of the classic murderous fairy tales. "Look at Pinocchio, for instance. In the original story he kills Jiminy Cricket, his conscience. Pinocchio was a real jerk in the original story. But nobody knows that because they've only seen the Disney version."

- A game based on the TV show Dexter is in the works, through a partnership between Showtime Networks and Marc Ecko Entertainment. Right, as in Marc Ecko's Getting Up pile-o-crap from a couple of years ago.

- Sony Japan confirms Skype for PSP from March 18, plus new hardware and limited edition Bronze handheld. Any colour you like.

I'm pissing in the wind, just pissing in the wind, what a wonderful feeling, my e-peen is happy again... Just when we thought we had finally gotten away from all those silly "make / don't make that [X game sequel]", "close / don't close that [Y studio]" petitions... something new comes along. A boycott, no less! A boycott against the holy mother of monopolistic corporations - Microsoft - and all the developers and publishers jumping the Games for Windows Live bandwagon. Sort of a PC Gaming Axis, to combat the evil (?!) PC Gaming Alliance, and gas all the new-age untermenschen who don't agree that online PC gaming should be free. Sieg Heil!

As much as we cherish our fragging memories from the good old LAN parties with Doom 2 and Quake, we no longer live in the '90s, nor does the rest of the gaming world. Well, except for a select few, like the ones mentioned above - with their inspiring futile Boycott Games for Windows - Live initiative. Do they have a point? Sure. Should the Windows Live [gold] service be free? Sure. Should Halo 2 be natively playable on Windows XP? Sure. Should lolis be legal? Sure. But hey - there's not much we can do about any of these, no matter how many clicks we give. And God knows we keep clicking for lolis like madmen!