For nearly a decade id ruled the first person shooter genre with an iron fist, earning the love and support of millions of fans around the world. After all, Quake was the game that started it all for 3D accelerated graphics and online play. Quake 2 built upon that success, and Quake 3: Arena was the pinnacle of id's engine dominance. Each game was known for ushering in a new generation of graphics, but for the first time in the history of the franchise, Quake got sloppy seconds.

(Click to Enlarge!)

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. D.E.L.A.Y.E.D. 09:56 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Action (2 comments)
Eurogamer sends word that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has been delayed until at least Oct. of next year according to THQ's latest earnings report:

Action adventure Saint's Row, originally expected in time for Christmas, is now slated for a release some time between April and June. Motorbike racer Moto GP 2006: Ultimate Racing Technology and WWII shooter The Outfit will be released in the first half of next year.

In addition, previously delayed PC title S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl has slipped further, and is down for an October 2006 release at the earliest.

More on BlizzCon and World of Warcraft 11:30 am - Elias 'Mithan' Doulia - MMOG: Role-Playing (0 comments)
I went around the ol'net today and made a bit of a compiliation of BlizzCon/WoW coverage so far.

The Burning Crusade Expansion Previews/Articles
• 1Up Preview
• Atomic Preview
• Gamepro Preview
• Gamespot Preview
• Gamespy Article on "The Lore of World of Warcraft" (A panel of Blizzard storytellers and quest designers talk about the future of the Warcraft franchise at BlizzCon.)

General BlizzCon Coverage
• GameSpy
• Goblin Workshop
• WorldofWar.net Full Coverage
• WoWGuru Full Coverage

StarCraft Ghost Previews
• 1Up

For anybody who missed the Diablo 3 and StarCraft 2 "rumor" yesterday, here is the source of it. Yet other people close to the company say that these two games were probably what Blizzard cancelled earlier in the year after that Blizzard exodus a while back.

The Matrix: Path of Neo Screenshots 05:08 am - Andrew Burnes - Consoles: General News (11 comments)
Forty-two console screenshots displaying Neo and chums' ability to incapacitate evil doers:

The Matrix: Path of Neo will be released early next month.

Condemned: Criminal Origins Screenshots 05:05 am - Andrew Burnes - Consoles: Xbox 360 (4 comments)
For my next trick, sixteen Condemned: Criminal Origins Xbox 360 screenshots:

Also online are the first three parts of a live-action prequel to Monolith's CSI-meets-Bondage-Sluts-4 title.

In Other News... 01:30 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - In-House: In Other News... (26 comments)
I just finished/beat/won/whatever Quake IV moments ago... The ending was um, not the game's strogg point (cough). Review will be coming up shortly. Today's question:

How important is having a good ending in a game? What are some of your favorite endings?

Besides a happy ending of course. :)

Last week they had a thing called "Show N Tell" which they have every 6 months to all the full time employees - Anyways Diablo 3 takes place in heaven. Hell is trying to take it over and it is AWESOME looking ... I magine the brightness of heaven being taken over by the darkness of hell ... Imagine WoW but in a Diablo world in amount of size and playability ... Also, guild housing is available in this game for those of you who know about it. They should have a gameplay demo to show at BlizzCon.

Half-Life 2: Lost Coast Visual Tour 05:00 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Action (10 comments)
Here is a visual tour of Half-Life 2: The Lost Coast which showcases some of the scenes and developer commentary for those of you who perhaps don't own Half-Life 2, are unable to run the demo, or are just plain too lazy to download it:

(Click to Enlarge!)

There is of course more to it, but you'll need to grab it yourself and see the rest.

Valve Weekly Update 03:09 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Action (7 comments)
Here's the latest poop from Steam:

We hope everyone is enjoying Lost Coast. We've received a number of e-mails with positive feedback about the commentary system included in Lost Coast, so it's a safe bet that we'll look for ways to include commentary in future products.

We're now going to be looking toward releasing some new Counter-Strike: Source content we've been working on. The next two maps coming will be updated versions of de_nuke and de_militia, along with a number of new player models for both sides. We'll give everyone a sneak peek at Nuke and some of the new models next week.

Two weeks ago we mentioned our affinity for all things zombie, along with the note that someone here at Valve had made a short movie on the subject. Zombie Movie has won Best Comedy Horror Short down at Screamfest L.A. and we're looking forward to delivering the movie over Steam soon. We think everyone will get a kick out of it.

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Screenshots 12:05 pm - Andrew Burnes - MMOG: Role-Playing (26 comments)
A selection of Burning Bush screenshots leaked earlier in the week:

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Press Release 12:02 pm - Andrew Burnes - MMOG: Role-Playing (0 comments)
You've seen the screenshots, watched the trailer, and read the news - now it's time to peruse the press release:

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced plans for the upcoming expansion set to World of Warcraft, its award-winning subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade will take players to a new realm of adventure and intrigue as they continue to explore Azeroth and the regions beyond. New races to play, new lands to explore, and new levels of power for existing World of Warcraft characters all await players in The Burning Crusade.

"We're extremely proud of what we created with World of Warcraft, and we look forward to expanding the boundaries of the game with The Burning Crusade," said Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "With all of the new content we have planned, the expansion set will offer something for every World of Warcraft player to explore and enjoy."

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade takes up where World of Warcraft left off, with the races of the Horde and the Alliance continuing to rebuild their lives among the shattered lands of Azeroth. Amid the fragile peace that exists between the factions come rumors that the Burning Legion's age-old war against Azeroth - the so-called Burning Crusade - has been rekindled and threatens to consume the world in another firestorm of war and strife. Old allegiances fall and new ones rise as both the Horde and Alliance look to new friends in this time of need.

Building on the award-winning formula set forth in World of Warcraft, the expansion set adds even more rich content to an already massive game. Players can look forward to:

• New Player Races: New allies will join the game, expanding the story line and allowing players to develop powerful new characters within the world.

• Higher Level Limit: The game's level cap is being raised to 70, and every new level will offer meaningful spell, ability, and talent upgrades for each character class.

• New Lands and Battlegrounds: Explore the magical realms of the Blood Elves, journey through the Dark Portal into untamed Outland, and visit dungeons and battlefields previously inaccessible to players.

• Flying Mounts: In Outland, players will gain access to unique airborne mounts that will allow for smoother travel over some of that region's more hazardous terrain.

• Jewelcrafting, Socketable Items, and More: Crafters will be pleased to know that the expansion adds an all-new profession to the game: Jewelcrafting. With Jewelcrafting comes the advent of socketable items in World of Warcraft, which will give players additional variety in how they can customize their gear. In addition, existing professions will be enhanced to take advantage of the increased character-level limit.

• New Quests, New Monsters, and New Challenges: As the boundaries of World of Warcraft are stretched farther than ever before, there will be exciting new quests for players to undertake and new monsters to confront. And with greater challenges come greater rewards….

Since launching in November 2004 in North America, Australia, and New Zealand, World of Warcraft has quickly grown to become the world's most popular MMORPG, with a worldwide subscriber base of over 4.5 million players. For more information on World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, visit the official World of Warcraft website at www.worldofwarcraft.com. Additional news, including new features and release dates, will be announced there in the coming months.

WoW Expansion Trailer Released 11:00 am - Elias 'Mithan' Doulia - Games: MMOG (0 comments)
The WoW: The Burning Crusade Expansion Trailer has been released. It weighs in at 48.3 MB and is 5 minutes long.

Downloads:
• 3D Gamers
• Filecloud
• Fileplanet
• WoWGuru

IGN takes a "First Look" at the WoW Expansion 10:28 am - Elias 'Mithan' Doulia - Games: MMOG (4 comments)
IGN just put up a "First Look" of the new WoW Expansion: The Burning Crusade. They also talk about the upcoming 1.9 Patch as well.

But that's not all, kids. We also got a peek at the 1.9 patch, which will introduce no fewer than two raid dungeons in Silithus, one for about 20 people and another for 40. This patch will trigger a dynamic world event, where everyone can contribute resources to the war effort that will unlock Ahn'Qiraj, which has been closed for thousands of years. And from what I saw, it's definitely worth the effort, if only to gape at the scenery. I was already impressed with WoW's existing art direction, but this is truly some sweet stuff. The team has done some great things with scaling. You'll fight against some gigantic monsters in gigantic areas full of gigantic objects. Apparently, the mandate was "Make it bigger," and make it bigger they did. You'll get to see some all-new character models as well, including the towering Anubisath Guardian and the Qiraji Gladiator, both 60+ elites. Both of the new dungeons look like they'll take quite a while to go through -- I saw quite a few clusters and patrols of mixed mobs that won't be taken down easily.

Update: GameSpy now has info on the Blood Elves.

WoW Burning Crusade Screenshots at Gamespy 10:25 am - Elias 'Mithan' Doulia - Games: MMOG (0 comments)
Gamespy has snagged about 44 new screenshots and concept art pics of the new WoW: The Burning Crusade expansion. The new areas look to be up to Blizzard's usual high design standards.

BlizzCon News - No Starcraft 2 or Diablo 3 10:15 am - Andrew Burnes - Games: General News (8 comments)
One of my industry friends is presently attending BlizzCon and notified me via a BlueBerry-equipped acquaintance that neither Starcraft 2 or Diablo 3 are at the exclusive expo, and also that the Blood Elves are the only new race in The Burning Crusade, at least for the time being.

More as and when it comes.

Update: A new Warcraft III map is now available for download.

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Website Launched 10:04 am - Elias 'Mithan' Doulia - Games: MMOG (2 comments)
Blizzard has officially launched the The Burning Crusade expansion website for World of Warcraft. The site features a preview trailer, screenshots and more information on the expansion pack. Further information will be upcoming today from BlizzCon.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Screenshots 09:14 am - Andrew Burnes - Games: Role-Playing (17 comments)
I'm almost certain a few of the following are old, but what the hell, it's Friday:

King Kong 3 Hours Long; $32m Over Budget 08:34 am - Andrew Burnes - Games: General News (14 comments)
Semi-game related is the news from BBC Online that the King Kong movie is three hours long and went $32m over budget:

"I anticipated it would be long, but not this long," Universal chairwoman Stacey Snider said. "This is a masterpiece. I can't wait to unveil it."

The New York Times reports that the film - due for release at the end of the year - is more than three hours long and has cost $207m (�116m).

But studio executives are delighted with the final film, the paper says.

In an e-mail to the paper Mr Jackson said he would pay for the costs. Referring to his partner Ms Walsh, he said: "Since Fran and I believed in the three-hour cut and wanted to take responsibility for the extra length, we offered to pay for these extra shots ourselves. That's what we're doing."

$99 PS2s? 08:33 am - Elias 'Mithan' Doulia - Games: General News (8 comments)
With the Console Wars about to heat up this Christmas with the introduction of the Xbox 360, Chris Morris has updated his Game Over column on CNN Money with a look at possible Sony price cuts this year for the PS2.

Analysts are mixed. Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities, in an Oct. 10 note, predicted a large cut in the days leading up to the Xbox 360's launch. "We expect a price cut for the PS2 later this year," he wrote. "We believe that Sony will respond to Microsoft's (Research) introduction of its next generation console with a cut from $149 to $99 some time before the November 22 Xbox 360 launch. We think that Sony has positioned itself to lower price by reducing the production costs of its console when it redesigned the box to a smaller format."

Forty-Four Ridge Racer 6 Screenshots 08:30 am - Andrew Burnes - Consoles: Xbox 360 (3 comments)
Namco may keep on sending out mountains of screenshots, but if they do not enable the "free" 4x anti-aliasing, the plebs ain't gonna be impressed:

Garry's Mod 9.0 Released 08:00 am - Andrew Burnes - Games: Action (0 comments)
The latest iteration of the highly enjoyable Garry's Mod is now available for download via the official website and FileRush.

Changelog here.

Havok to support GPU Accelerated Physics 07:52 am - Elias 'Mithan' Doulia - Games: General News (12 comments)
Havok made a few news announcements yesterday but the one I found most interesting is that they will be supporting GPU accelerated physics soon. The Havok physics engine is used in many games these days, including such titles as Age of Empires 3, FEAR and Half Life 2.

Havok announces plans to support GPU-accelerated physics through Havok FX&153;. This new product from Havok will utilize the native power of Shader Model 3 class graphics cards, like the NVIDIA GeForce 7800, to deliver physics effects that integrate seamlessly with Havok's industry-leading game-play physics technology found in Havok Complete&153;. Havok FX will be cross-platform and will take advantage of current and next-generation GPU technology to deliver eye-popping effects that visually enhance the gaming experience. Havok FX will allow developers to leverage the growing installed base of cutting edge graphics cards and their powerful, standardized APIs - to offload floating-point operations that are necessary for simulating a broad-range of dynamic visual effects.

Daily Interviews 07:26 am - Elias 'Mithan' Doulia - Games: General News (0 comments)
Few interviews today (and some I missed yesterday):

• Call of Duty 2
  Gamezone has has a Q&A; with Producer Eric Riley discussing the making of Call of Duty 2.

• Frater
  Managing Director Krzysztof Krawczyk talks about his new 19th century horror-themed action RPG with RPGVault.

• GUN
  CV&G; has interviewed Randal Jahnsen, script writer for the new Xbox 360 game GUN.

• Kameo: Elements Of Power
  Gamecloud interviewed Rare's George Andreas on the upcoming Xbox 360 game, Kameo. He talks about how "Kameo really is just a taster of what Rare can achieve on the Xbox 360."

• Obsidion Entertainment
  Chris Avellone, co-founder and head of designers at Obsidian Entertainment sat down with The Star for a Q&A.;

• Star Wars Galaxies
  MMORPG.com interviews Julio Torres, the producer of Star Wars Galaxies.

Assorted Downloads 01:40 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: General News (2 comments)

• City of Villains Trailer
• Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones Movie
• Starship Troopers patch
• Stronghold 2 v1.3.1 patches
• SWG's First FEATURE LENGTH Movie

Hardware & Tech Nuggets 01:11 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - hardware: General News (0 comments)
So after a month my shiny new LCD/TV totally burns out. The sales dude said if I had any problems (even if a pixel went dead) I could go in and get it replaced no questions asked if I got the extended warrantly; so I'm like bitchin -- do it. Getting that replacement was like trying to wrestle a jelly donut from Oprah...

Audio

• Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS - PlayReaction

  Boards
  

• ECS KN1 SLI Extreme - AMDZone

  Cases
  

• SilverStone LC16M HTPC Case - 3DGameMan

  Cooling
  

• Fatal1ty FS-V7 VGA Cooler & Fatal1ty FS-C77 CPU Cooler - PimpRig

  Displays
  

• Samsung HDTV & Gaming Interview - Gaming Illustrated

  Mice
  

• Ergonomic Mouse round-up - Techspot
• Logitech G7 Laser Mouse - CoolTechZone

  Power Supply
  

• Sansun Arctic 550w power supply - A1

  Storage for Storage
  

• BYTECC LanDisk - Tweaktown

  Systems
  

• AOpen XC Cube MZ915-M - Trusted Reviews
• Shuttle XPC SD11G5 Celeron/Pentium-M SFF - Hexus

  Video
  

• Contemporary Graphics Card Naming Guide - Xbit
• Integrated Graphics from NVIDIA: GeForce 6150 and GeForce 6100 - Xbit
• NVIDIA SLI - Ready for Mainstream? - [H]
• X800 GTO - Sapphire and HIS - GotApex

Game Reviews 12:30 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Real-Time Strategy (3 comments)
I accidently nuked this post the first time, so I'm posting the scores by memory :

PC

• Blitzkrieg 2 - Armchair Empire - 8/10
• Civ IV - Gamespy - 5/5
• Call of Duty 2 - Firing Squad - 87%
• F.E.A.R. - Gamerdad - 4.5/5
• F.E.A.R. - Gamespy - 4.5/5
• Quake IV - Dead Alfs - 9/10
• Quake IV - Trusted Reviews - Next-gen, sorta
• Serious Sam II - Cosmos Gaming - 8.0/10

  Xbox
  

• Fable the Lost Chapters - TechAge - 8/10
• Far Cry Instincts - Ferrago - 89%
• Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes - Eurogamer - 8/10
• Stubbs the Zombie - Chicago Xbox - 7.4/10
• SSX on Tour - Gaminghorizon - 8.8/10

  PS2
  

• Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood - PS2.IGN - 10/10!
• Shadow of the Colossus - Eurogamer - 10/10
• Shadow of the Colossus - Game Over - 97%
• Soul Calibur III - Gamespy - 5/5
• The Sims 2 - PS2.IGN - 8.5/10

In Other News... 12:04 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - In-House: In Other News... (24 comments)
Are we in gaming bliss or what? I can't remember the last time so many good games were released in so short a time. Crazy, crazy stuff. I still haven't gotten to half of them either. Quake IV review should be up tomorrow... maybe we can make Saturday review day or something. All I can say is that I dig collector's editions.

Today's question:

What are you playing these days?

I hope you aren't waiting on the 360, because if you are, you're really missing out.