1. Half Life - 34449 servers, 68508 players
2. Half Life 2 - 6075 servers, 23661 players
3. Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory - 2770 servers, 7214 players
4. Americas Army: Special Forces - 1473 servers, 6950 players
5. Call of Duty: United Offensive - 2050 servers, 6811 players
6. Battlefield 1942 - 2546 servers, 6759 players
7. Neverwinter Nights - 1507 servers, 6145 players
8. Call of Duty - 2956 servers, 6113 players
9. Unreal Tournament 2004 - 3249 servers, 5994 players
10. Medal of Honor Allied Assault - 2427 servers, 4460 players
11. Quake 3: Arena - 2403 servers, 4265 players
12. Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Spearhead - 1291 servers, 3763 players
13. Soldier of Fortune 2 - 1536 servers, 3205 players
14. Battlefield: Vietnam - 1425 servers, 3174 players
15. Halo: Combat Evolved - 675 servers, 2811 players
16. Unreal Tournament - 2500 servers, 2544 players
17. Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy - 592 servers, 1077 players
18. Halo Demo - 217 servers, 915 players
19. Vietcong - 357 servers, 839 players
20. Quake II - 621 servers, 701 players
21. Starsiege TRIBES - 209 servers, 639 players
22. Tribes 2 - 141 servers, 633 players
23. Lord of the Rings: The Battle For Middle-Earth - 194 servers, 611 players
24. Unreal Tournament 2003 - 187 servers, 565 players
25. Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast - 259 servers, 511 players

Increasing Unit Count in Battle for Middle Earth 02:00 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - games: real-time strategy (0 comments)
Want to re-create some of the epic LoTR battles from the movies into the game? Middle Earth MW posted a work-around on how to increase the unit counts in Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth, and surprisingly it doesn't impact the frame rates too badly either. Thanks greengriffon!

Brothers in Arms / Gearbox Live Chat 01:53 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - games: action (5 comments)
PC Gamer sends word that they have some hot live man-chat planned with the guys from Gearbox tonight:

Just letting you know that we're hosting a developer chat with Gearbox to talk about their current project, Brothers in Arms. The chat will be held at 6:00pm PST (9:00pm EST) on #pcgamer in the Gamesurge IRC network, and will last for an hour. Users will be able to submit questions to moderators starting from 4:00pm PST. Attending will be:

Randy Pitchford = President of Gearbox
Marc Tardif = Producer
Col. John Antal (US Army ret.) = Military Advisor
Mike Neumann = Script Writer

Also, at the end of the chat, we'll be making an awesome surprise announcement, so users should definitely come!

The Week Ahead... 12:36 am - Andrew Burnes - games: general news (15 comments)
Your one-stop guide to all that is being released this week.

PC:

• Lemonade Tycoon 2
• Midway Arcade
• Terrorist Takedown
• The Guy Game
• Wings Over Europe
• World Championship Poker

Playstation 2:

• Kuon

Xbox:

• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
• GunGriffon: Allied Strike

GameCube:

• Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2

GameBoy Advance:

• No releases

Nintendo DS:

• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 DS

DVDs:

• 3 (Collector's Edition)
• All Night Long
• Anything But Love
• Blessed
• Collateral
• Curse of the Komodo
• Dragon Storm
• Everybody Loves Raymond: The Complete Second Season
• Family Guy: The Freakin' Sweet Collection
• Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
• Godzilla - Tokyo S.O.S.
• Godzilla 3-Pack
• I, Robot (Full Screen)
• I, Robot (Widescreen)
• Jack the Bear
• Kitchen Stories
• Man Trouble
• Mary Poppins: 40th Anniversary Edition
• Meet the Parents (Full Screen - Special Edition)
• Meet the Parents (Widescreen - Special Edition)
• Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica: The Complete First Season
• Pact with the Devil
• Paris, Texas
• Partners in Action
• Quantum Leap: The Complete Second Season
• Reba: Season One
• Relative Evil
• Silver Streak
• Son of Godzilla
• Star Trek: The Original Series: Season Three
• Star Trek: The Original Series: The Complete Series
• The Ben Stiller Collection
• The Beverly Hillbillies
• The Door in the Floor
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Extended Edition DVD Gift Set
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Special Extended DVD Edition
• The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (Full Screen)
• The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (Widescreen)
• The Rocky Anthology
• This So-Called Disaster
• Top Gun: Special Collector's Edition (Full Screen)
• Top Gun: Special Collector's Edition (Widescreen)
• We Don't Live Here Anymore

Movies - Now Showing:

• Blade: Trinity
• Ocean's Twelve

Movies - Opening Friday December 17th:

• A Very Long Engagement
• Flight of the Phoenix
• Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
• Million Dollar Baby
• Spanglish
• The Aviator
• The Sea Inside

Thank goodness for DVDs - Lord of the Rings stands out, Collateral too; I, Robot was a fun action flick, bit heavy on the advertising however. Other than that, it's dead.

What will you be spending your money on in the week ahead?

Jade Empire At GameSpy 12:27 am - Andrew Burnes - consoles: xbox (3 comments)
Over on GameSpy you can at present find 5 pages of fact-filled words that cover Jade Empire, BioWare's next evolution of the CRPG genre:

Before we got our hands on the game, however, we needed to learn how to fight, lest we get our butts kicked within the first two minutes. Jim Bishop, the game's Producer, sat down at one of the TVs to explain the combat system. Jade Empire uses the "Rock, Paper, Scissor" method to determine whether or not an attack is effective. It all boils down to this: blocks beat basic attacks, heavy attacks overcome blocks, and basic attacks interrupt heavy attacks. In order for the player to figure out what his opponent is going to do, the developers have included some visual cues. When blocking, an ethereal golden shield will appear in the front of the player, while a heavy attack is indicated by a spark effect covering the player. It's quite easy to figure out, yet it still requires quick reaction times.

Since much of the combat is against groups of enemies, you need to be able to focus on one at a time, so you can lock on using the left or right triggers. If you want to attack another enemy, simply hit the left or right trigger again to shift the lock in that direction. Sometimes, though, you'll want to create a little space or go after the strongest opponents, so the designers have also included a free roaming mode for combat, which can be enterered by pulling the two triggers simultaneously. You'll be able to run around freely, but you are still able to block and attack enemies. One of the guys said that he preferred playing in this manner, but he really didn't recommened it for newcomers.

There is an optional 2-page preview here for those with short attention spans.

PSP Launch Coverage 12:14 am - Andrew Burnes - consoles: psp (0 comments)
With the launch of Sony's first handheld underway, reports of rugby scrums for the few units available in Japan are coming in. With just 500,000 units available in the country before year end, gamers reportedly queued in typical orderly Japanese style for up to 24 whoppingly cold hours.

Words can be found on Yahoo News and GameSpot, with pictorial coverage on IGN and Juergen Specht, where there is a ridiculous 105 images.

Additionally, IGN has first-impressions, a clip of which is presented below:

Despite all our praise, we have had a few issues with the system so far. The PSP has awesome visual clarity, but we have noticed some image bleeding problems with the color red and vertical chopping of fast-moving images. This was notable in the Rally X mini game for Ridge Racers, and becomes even more clear in the faster sequences from the UMD movie clips. Hopefully this is something that can be fixed in software.

Finally, although the system isn't necessarily at fault, we're a bit annoyed by some of the load times we've encountered so far in the games. Ridge Racers doesn't give us any problem; even though the load times are in line with the numbers we posted earlier in the week, those numbers actually aren't that bad in practice. We haven't found ourselves caring one bit about the game loading up the next track. Vampire Chronicle, on the other hand, brings back load times to the PlayStation days, with a wait of nineteen seconds prior to your first fight and no fast character select option. We'll save further comment for in-depth impressions stories later on in the day.

The fight is on folks.

In Other News... 12:12 am - Andrew Burnes - in-house: in other news... (23 comments)
Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic 2 is a bugged piece of shi greatness. Having played it for over 24hrs already, there's still a hell of a lot more to see and do. Unfortunately it's somewhat marred by those killer bugs that have stopped my progress on many an occasion, causing me to reload old saves and attempt alternate paths to continue past the troublesome point. This has hit me 5 times so far. On top of that there are several quests that I've broken and some horrid frame rate issues (most perplexing), but don't let that worry you away from a great game. Here's hoping they can patch it up via Xbox Live.

I also picked up the Lord of the Rings Extended DVD Edition Box Set to give as a present to someone at Christmas. I am of course watching it first… Having just finished The Two Towers I'm looking forward to completing the trilogy later today, then probably checking out the mountain of extra features on the 12 DVDs. After all that I'll move onto EA's Battle of Middle-Earth. Rob reckons it's pretty good, but after hearing how there are no giant skirmishes as alluded to in images like this and this, I'm somewhat less excited.

Also on my to-play list is Riddick, a game that I've rated highly (but how highly?) in our forthcoming GOTY awards. The enhancements in the PC version certainly warrant a second expedition into Butcher Bay, although I fear too few will even visit once.

A quick follow-up to the hardware troubles of yesterday - it's most definitely the motherboard. Having tried every possible combination of components from current system and past, the only common denominator was the motherboard upon every failed boot-up.

What are you buying others for Christmas? Are you playing/watching them first too?

Those familiar with the Xbox version of The Chronicles of Riddick should know that the new PC "Developer's Cut" version is fundamentally the same game, but with a few key differences: Its visuals have been enhanced to be proportionally outstanding even when measured against the PC's extremely high standards; its controls have been optimized to make it easy to pick up by anyone who has played a PC first-person shooter lately; it features a new and exciting gameplay sequence that has been seamlessly integrated into the middle of the story; and it boasts an unlockable "commentary" mode, which annotates the entire game with extensive, often fascinating DVD-style audio commentary from the frightfully talented development team at Stockholm-based Starbreeze Studios.

Blizzard on Selling WoW Stuff for Real Cash 02:26 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - games: mmog (9 comments)
Blizzard updated the World of WarCraft site with its stance on people who sell World of WarCraft content on ebay or other websites:

It has come to our attention that certain individuals are selling Blizzard's in-game property for cash on auction sites such as eBay and on personal websites. The World of Warcraft Terms of Use clearly state that all of the content in World of Warcraft is the property of Blizzard, and Blizzard does not allow "in game" items to be sold for real money. Accordingly, Blizzard Entertainment will take any and all actions necessary to stop this behavior. Not only do we believe that it is illegal, but it also has the potential to damage the game economy and overall experience for the many thousands of others who play World of Warcraft for fun. In order to promote a fun and fair environment for all our customers, we are actively investigating those individuals who engage in this inappropriate activity and reserve the right to take legal action against these individuals to protect World of Warcraft for all those who "play by the rules." If you are found to be selling in-game property (such as coins, items, or characters), for real money, you will lose your characters and accounts, and Blizzard Entertainment reserves its right to pursue legal action against you as well.

We also want to remind potential buyers in the game to please refrain from buying in-game property with real money. We understand the temptation to purchase better items, but Blizzard, and not the seller, does own all in-game property. In addition, we feel that characters can find ample equipment and money within the game through their own adventuring and questing. Please understand that if you do purchase in-game property from sellers on eBay and personal sites, we may temporarily suspend your account, and at the very least, delete the offending items.

STALKER MP Impressions 02:22 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - games: action (3 comments)
GSC Gameworld was showing off S.T.A.L.K.E.R. at a Russian show called HomePC and Oblivion Lost was there to cover what they saw:

"I was shocked. Fascinating videos, screens, previews and stories are good, but nothing can be compared to a 15-minute direct experience of the Zone (after having waited for seven hours!). From the very beginning, when observing the developers playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R., looking at "You Are Empty" and "Boiling point" running in the background, the graphics of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. seemed rather poor. But when I sat down at a computer to participate in a multi-player competition, I was very pleasantly surprised. There were 10 players. Everyone had planted himself at a separate computer and started the game. The server was created via GameSpy Arcade and the session took place at a familiar level - the deserted factory (however of course with new objects and, in general, in a more up-to-date state). This multi-player demo had probably been prepared just shortly before the exhibition, therefore there were some rather unpleasant moments every now and then, namely when the game crashed. But it did not matter. Deathmatch was being played. Before spawning on the map, the player could buy a weapon of his choice. With each kill you gained more money. 300 Rubbles per kill (reminds you of something? ).

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth Q&A; 02:02 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - games: action (0 comments)
Game Chronicles interviewed Bethesda's Dennis Cheng about Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth:

As for presentation, what has the development team accomplished in terms of creating an appropriately daunting auditory and visual experience?

Dennis Cheng: In terms of auditory experience, Call of Cthulhu has a unique music and sound effects system where there are small layers of sounds and music that can be continuously added or taken away depending on the gameplay situation. This provides truly modular audio feedback to the player depending on how Jack's health is, or whether or not there is danger about. In terms of visuals, the overall look and feel of the game is one of a dark and oppressive environment. I think our artists have really brought the Lovecraft universe to life with some of the creatures and environments we have. All this coupled with our audio and visual sanity systems makes for a really compelling game.

The Getaway: Black Monday Preview 02:30 am - Andrew Burnes - consoles: ps2 (0 comments)
GameInformer checked out Black Monday, the sequel to the rather ropey The Getaway:

The Getaway: Black Monday takes place two years after the first game. This time, however, you'll be introduced to three new faces. The first is Ben Mitchell, a police sergeant with a shady past. Two years earlier he shot a teenager in the back and was suspended from the force. He's just rejoined the force after the leave of absence, but must deal with a daily barrage of criticism from the other officers in his division. But as a trained officer, Ben is quite skilled with firearms, a fact that you quickly learn whenever he's involved in a firefight. He has deadly accuracy using a wide variety of weapons and can also withstand quite a bit of punishment.

The second new character is Eddie O'Connor, a man who prefers to let his fists do the talking and has a tendency to take jobs as hired muscle. As such, he's adept at hand-to-hand combat and even the toughest thugs are usually reduced to unconscious masses at his feet. The last new character is Sam, a troubled 19 year old woman with a penchant for getting in trouble and computer hacking. Lacking the physical fortitude of the other two characters, Sam is more skilled at sneaking around via some neat stealth missions as well as putting her computer skills to the test.

The European review press liked this even less than the first...

GunGriffon: Allied Strike Preview 02:26 am - Andrew Burnes - consoles: xbox (0 comments)
IGN checked out GunGriffon: Allied Strike, an update to the Sega Saturn's GunGriffon:

GunGriffon: Allied Strike isn't all that different from the original game. It's got better graphics than before, though even using the powerful Xbox, GameArts has somehow managed to create a very plain, often wincingly unpretty game, and it's got more variation in crafts and mission types. There are a healthy assortment of AWGS, and a slew of basic missions ranging from defending moving escorts and protecting downed vehicles to raiding and power plant attacks.

In each mission, you'll choose the kind of AWGS you like best, a main weapon, sub weapon, rocket pod, and missile set. You'll also be able to choose what kind of AWGS you want to escort you. The setup menu gives very basic descriptions of each unit's strengths and hints at its weaknesses. You'll select the vehicle based on its armor, speed, radar range, rollerdash time, and flight time. The descriptions clarify which units are older, and which are new, so old-time fans can pick their sentimental favorites.

25 To Life Preview 02:24 am - Andrew Burnes - consoles: xbox (0 comments)
TeamXbox got the chance to check out a pre-alpha build of 25 To Life, Avalanche's multiplayer-enabled action game that allows you to experience life on both sides of the law:

A live demo of 25 to Life was then presented which went over some interesting gameplay possibilities for the final version of the game. One absolute certainty is a "create-a-hood rat" and "create a pig" mode which allows you to choose from a host of physical profiles in order to build a goodie or baddie that is unique to you. You can, for instance choose corn rows to go along with the full jogging suit, or choose to go fresh-baldy to compliment some truck jewelry. The create-a-playa' opens up possibilities of clan gaming that force every member to look exactly alike, which not only builds team unity but also keeps friendly fire to a minimum. There was also mention of the ability to create custom tags that would be unique to each clan. These tags could then be used in multiplayer matches - possibly in a Territories-type match?

New Harvest Moon Coming 02:15 am - Andrew Burnes - consoles: gamecube (1 comment)
A new title in the horribly addictive Harvest Moon series is on the way for GameCube:

The company has announced Harvest Moon: Song of Happiness (Bokujou Monogatari: Shiawase no Uta in Japanese) for the Japanese GameCube.

The big news with this sequel is that it lets you choose your main character from the start. You can now choose to be either a girl or boy (it's actually somewhat hard to tell which is which in the images we've seen so far). At least we can be sure there won't be a Harvest Moon: Song of Happiness for Girls somewhere down the road.

Worthplaying Goodies 02:12 am - Andrew Burnes - games: general news (0 comments)
Yay for sweet-looking PSP WipeOut!

• Sony Europe's PSP Lineup - Screens
Ape Academy - Everybody's Golf - Fired Up - Football - Formula One - MediEvil - Ridge Racer - WipEout Pure - WRC
• 'Banjo Pilot' (GBA) - Screens
• 'Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars' (PC) - Screens
• 'NBA Street Vol 3' (PS2/Xbox) - Screens
• 'Runaway 2' (PC) - Screens
• 'Space Rangers 2: Dominators' (PC) - Screens
• 'StarShift' (PC) - Screens
• 'Sudden Strike III: Arms For Victory' (PC) - Screens
• 'Zoo Keeper' (NDS) - Screens

• 'Flat-Out' - v1.1 Update Patch
• This update patch brings your retail game to v.1 and addresses graphical issues, enables multiplayer destruction derby, fixes 5.1 sound not working on some setups, force feedback problems, and a few other fixes and tweaks.
• 'Football Manager 2005' - v5.0.2 Update Patch
• This update brings your retail game to v5.0.2 and it fixes lots of bugs and tunes the game more realistic like the player position bug.
• 'Ground Control II: Operation Exodus' - Bonus Multiplayer Map
• This ReaperMoor bonus map, created by Massive's Andreas Palmgren, needs to be installed in the standalone copy in the game's Custom_Maps folder.
• Various Game Trailers
• 'Dragonshard' (PC) - Trailer (2)
• 'City of Heroes Issue #3' (PC) - Trailer
• 'StarShift' (PC) - Trailer
• 'NBA Street Vol 3' (PS2/Xbox) - Trailer

In Other News... 02:03 am - Andrew Burnes - in-house: in other news... (25 comments)
[Many swear words] My NForce 2 died on me yesterday; the Andy hardware curse continues! Anyone have a clue how long the warranty period on ABIT motherboards is? I'd love to get it replaced, but I can't find the info anywhere. If it's out of warranty I'll probably get this ASUS board, unless anyone has horror stories about the thing.

I'll be playing UTXMP today, so look out for me online.

How many pieces of hardware have died on you? Are you cursed too?