I came. Then I heard the soundtrack from Dragon Age: Origins' otherwise kick-ass E3 2009 trailer, and went numb again.

 (...)

 Continue reading 'There Be Dragon Age E3 Screenshots'...

Backtracking through four websites, all the way to a most obscure original source, I can only wonder what the hell am I missing here... Epic's CliffyB made it pretty clear some months ago that they're not doing a PC version "this time around" (unless he meant to say "at this time"), and yet some are desperately holding on to the hope of seeing Gears of War 2 ported to the PC. Conceivable as that may sound.

The rumor resurfaced last night over on IGN, whose syntactically-challenged report claims that "there were plenty of details [about Gears of War 2] that appeared to be pulled from an upcoming press release and even a preliminary box shot with the Games for Windows logo stamped on the front and limited edition details". Said source even offered pre-orders for Gears of War 2, with a release date allegedly set for December 4, 2009.

Bullshit? Oh, you bet! Right now, there doesn't seem to be any reference to the sequel's PC version on said website; not anymore, at least. Kotaku did catch a glimpse of it, though, and what they found out is rather amusing:

"(...) And then there's the fact that the retail codes are all for The Golden Compass. Yes, the UPC code, MPN number, and ASIN identifier all point to Sega's PC version of The Golden Compass, based on the theatrical version of the book, which did indeed feature a war, but instead of gears, we have bears. Bears of war.

Naturally, Microsoft's reps are still denying any plans for a PC version. Seriously, are people that desperate for gaming "news" after the E3 dried out the scene?

And in even more goodies-for-download news, yet another map pack was let loose over the world wide webs. Called "Armored Front", this is the second map pack released by Monolith and Warner Bros. for their shooting sequel F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin. It only brings 2 new maps - "Conductor" and "Decoy" - and 4 unique character heads to swap out, but at least the pack's PC version is free to download.

You'll find it on the likes of FileFront, Fileplanet and wherever else you usually get your downloads from, either associated with the "Armored Front" title, or with patch v1.04. Oh and don't bother looking for it if you're running the Steam version: the pack was already released as an automated update via Steam last week.

The "Armored Front" pack follows the earlier "Toy Soldiers" that launched a few months ago, and it will be followed by a third F.E.A.R. 2 map pack later this summer. (...)

 Continue reading 'F.E.A.R. 2 Map Pack, Armored Front Released'...

I just had a flashback of Interplay's messy end-of-days saga a few years back... What a mess that was. Seemingly stepping in the footsteps of that once legendary game company, the Japanese group Gonzo keeps on cracking and shattering, in the midst of escalating corporate "restructuring". Just yesterday I was pitying them for their rumored loss of the Strike Witches 2 anime project. And today ANN brings word of another major, self-inflicted blow: the "divestment" of Gonzo's online game development studio Gonzo Rosso.



By the way, since it's April 1 in Japan already, we can stop using the parent company's obsolete GDH name. So as I was saying, Gonzo will cut off its game subsidiary in an attempt to further consolidate whatever resources is still has, entirely abandoning the gaming scene in order to focus on its anime business.

Some of Gonzo Rosso's best known MMORPGs include (...)

 Continue reading 'Gonzo Cuts Off Game Division, Gonzo Rosso'...

Ever wanted an all-in-one game engine for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, DX9/DX10 PC games and MMOs alike? And had a crapload of money to spend on it? Well I guess the second part may be a bit tricky, so just for the sake of curiosity, the devs from Crytek will be introducing their new CryENGINE 3 game development solution at this year's GDC Expo (March 25-27) in San Francisco.



The package advertised in Crytek's announcement includes the CryENGINE 3Sandbox level editor - a 3rd generation "What you see is what you play" (WYSIWYP) tool designed by and for professional developers - and significant new features specifically designed for (...)

 Continue reading 'CryENGINE 3 To Be Revealed At GDC Expo'...

Some people like to betatest games, while others don't. Prior to the European Wrath of the Lich King Beta, I was proudly a member of the first half, but after that rentless mass murder of common sense, patience and last bits of humanity, I decided to take a break, keep my sweat inside and let it loose only when the actual game comes out.



But things are about to change. And not because it's yet another Blizzard game, but because Starcraft is one of those little jewels that made college life (ignoring retarded individuals, skipping exams and such) much more easy to bare. It seems that, according to Blizz's Paul Sams (chief operating officer), we'll be getting our Starcraft 2 Beta “in the coming months”, so stay tuned for that extremely lucky invite. Because I bet it won't gonna be easy to get it.

Ze Source.

What do we know about 2K Boston? Ah, well, nothing “much”. They are just the bunch of insane (and let me add, extremely talented) people who brought us Bioshock. You know, the game that rocked your socks (be it clean, smelling like Mr. Hanky, the Christmas Poo, or still stuck on your sealing) in 2007. Hell, that was a great game. I actually finished it, too.

So, what does one expect from such a company? Nothing bad, I guess. Maybe even something good (and that's the sad part). New job listings were recently posted for their oh-so-demanding team, listings that may speak – or may not speak – for themselves. Do you think you meet the qualifications? Let's take a look, see:

This position requires a high degree of creativity. You will be required to work with the single-player team to form a "vision" of the multiplayer experience and use that vision to inform your design decisions. From there, you will help build a multiplayer design team and be responsible to guide your team through the entire production cycle.
Prior experience designing first-person shooter games is an absolute must. Understanding of online persistence is preferred but not required. MMO design or production experience also preferred.
Extending and enhancing Unreal Engine 3 with proprietary networking tech to address gameplay, performance, platform, production, tools, and QA needs.
Interfacing with Microsoft, Sony, and other providers for matching-making and other services.

Multiplayer – seems that we have a new “word of the century” win here. Every game tends to involve a decent bit of one on one, three to three or one on over nine thousand lolis action – just for self preservation. OK, I will bite this. And I will swallow it too, if it turns out to be as good as any normal human being would expect.

Three new Need for Speed games were announced today by Electronic Arts, leaving the gaming world - or at least the part of it that still has some common sense - in a blissful indifference, at best. While some might find the idea of a NFS threesome quite exciting, we dare question how EA will be able to churn out three quality titles in less than a year, after years of pushing the franchise down a steady slope.



Well, no use trolling over spilt booze, so let's get on with the news. As they say in the announcement, "we listened to the gamers when they told us they wanted a wider range of experiences" (big mistake!), so they're now ready to pop the cork off their new NFS games: Need for Speed Shift, Need for Speed Nitro and Need for Speed World Online.

NFS Shift sounds like your run-of-the-mill racing game (think Race Driver: GRID for instance), and this first screenshot shows nothing spectacular, either. "A racing game built by racers for racers", "a level of realism never before seen in a Need for Speed title", "an incredible authentic and immersive driving experience", "a stunningly realistic first-person cockpit viewpoint", "an unrivaled sensation of racing at high speed" - the usual PR talk. The one true flicker of hope shines from the fact that it's being developed by Slighty Mad Studios, formerly known as Blimey (the guys behind GT Legends and GTR 2). NFS Shift is planned for release on the PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PSP in autumn 2009. (...)

 Continue reading 'Need for Speed Does A Threesome'...

Because you can't have an MMO in this day and age without expanding it during the first few months after release (and bug-fixing it throughout its entire lifetime), Warhammer Online, too, is set to receive its first live expansion soon enough. Titled "Call to Arms", it will be rolled out - for free - in early March, and will be running through the beginning of June. At which point, presumingly, another one of these "live expansions" might follow.



Copy-pasting from GOA's announcement, Call to Arms will introduce an array of new content for WAR players, including two highly anticipated new careers - the Orc Choppa and the Dwarf Slayer - and a new dungeon zone called "Land of the Dead", set in the desert realm of the Tomb Kings. It will also include 3 in-game live events, a new Realm vs. Realm (RvR) Scenario, added functionality to the Realm Wars section of the WAR website, the opening of the official WAR Forums, and a new free trial version of the game.

In the announcement, Mark Jacobs from Mythic refers to this huge new Tomb Kings dungeon as a "spiritual successor to the Dark Age of Camelot dungeon, Darkness Fall", and restates their commitment to keep on delivering a massive amount of free content "now and in the future".

Below you'll find the full schedule of the Call to Arms live expansion, (...)

 Continue reading 'Warhammer Online Expands With Call to Arms'...

Gayspot, the website that fires senior editors for not sucking the small dicks of sponsors (feel the Kane and Linch review, if it is still on), reports on a Q&A regarding Elemental: War of Magic, which we have announced some time ago.

As they say, the game will draw its purpose from several franchises, such as The Lord of the Rings, Master of Magic and Civilization, BUT FAILING hard at getting elements from the only TBS that really matters. I'll let you guess which one that is. It starts with “Heroes”. And it ends with " Might and Magic 3".