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'...

While on the topic of downloadable stuff, a quick mention is in order for the freshly released Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 2, courtesy of publisher Activision and developer Treyarch. The pack brings 4 new maps, and is now available for download for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, costing 800 Microsoft points and £7.99 respectively. That would be $9.99, give or take...

For more info on the new maps, see the shameless copy-paste from the press release below.

Update: Or simply watch the 2 trailers we've just added for this map pack - here and here.

 (...)

 Continue reading 'Call of Duty's Latest Map Pack Is Out [Update]'...

Feels kind of redundant to write about Sam & Max, after Telltale's recent announcement for the new Monkey Island games. But for those of you who still didn't get to sample the wild detective duo's adventures, and happen to have a Xbox 360 wired to the webs, now's your chance. And by "now", I mean on June 17 - when Telltale Games will release Sam & Max Save the World on the Xbox Live Arcade.



This will basically be the episodic Sam & Max: Season 1, but with a few enhancements for the XBLA, such as achievements, widescreen and HD graphic support, and updates to the gameplay controls. The press release also mentions the game will include German, French, Italian and Spanish subtitles, to go with the usual English audio and subs.

Featuring all 6 episodes from Season One, the Sam & Max Save the World pack will sell for 1600 Microsoft points when it launches this June 17. The second season's pack (...)

 Continue reading 'Sam & Max Save The Xbox Live Arcade'...

"Play. Die. Respawn", eh? Well we've certainly been doing plenty of playing, while the site's been doing plenty of dying. And as much as respawning hurts (especially after getting gank-banged by a horde of mooing taurens), every once in a while a fresh restart is in order. Or is it?.... Apparently not if you ask EA Games about their Godfather franchise. The first two games in the series did some mediocre playing and dying of their own, but it looks like there'll be no respawning for The Godfather anytime soon.

In an E3'ish article over on LA Times, Frank Gibeau (EA Games label president) was bluntly quoted as stating that "We're not going to do another one". A wise decision, if there ever was one to come out of Electronic Arts. As to how their "great partners" from Paramount feel about this unplanned-for decision... well, who gives a damn, really? The fewer crappy EA games, the better!


"The bloom is really off the rose for licensed games" - Frank Gibeau
So now that we know there'll be no third The Godfather game bugging (on) us for the foreseeable future, we can go back to waiting for the one true mobster sequel, Mafia II.

Reviews were never “that friendly” regarding LucasArts' latest multiplatform lightsaber mayhem, the game being, many times, valued as “mediocre”. Well, it seems that fans are doing the right thing for once (that being stop believing every little piece of golden bullshit that some “objective” game reviewers and game sites tend to throw at them), since this title sold no more than 5.7 million copies, since its September release.



Obviously, the fact that it IS a multiplatform game helped a bit - well, multiplatform minus the odd PC component – but heck, according to the numbers, it is the fastest selling Star Wars game in the history of... Star Wars gaming.

Ze Source.

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'...