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Dungeons & Dragons Online Video Commentary
Lead Designer Ken Troop gives us the lowdown on Turbine's upcoming MMO over lots of direct-feed footage.

Hellgate: London Designer Diary
Dave Steinwedel takes us on a ride through the noisy life of a sound designer.


- Battlefield 2 360 Modern Combat screenshots
- System Shock 3 in Development at EA?
- Brothers in Arms Multiplayer patch v1.11
- Quake IV retail patch v1.0.5 beta2
- Top 10 Best Selling US PC Games
- Burnout Revenge 360 Screenshots
- HellGate: London Interview
- Battlefield 2 Patch News and Interview
- PS3 to cost 500 bucks?
- The Rock in Far Cry Movie?
 
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- Most wanted sequel not in development? (54)
- ATI Calls PS3 tragically unrefined (53)
- Xbox 360 Taking $316 Loss Per Unit? (52)
- Top 10 Games of 2006 (42)
- Fight Night Round 360 Screenshots (32)
- PS3 to sell 200 million units in... (31)
- DDO NDA dropped (31)
- Microsoft Gets an F (31)
- Dead or Alive Out Tomorrow (31)
- The State of PC Gaming 06 (29)

Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Battlefield 2 360 Modern Combat screenshots 07:07 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Consoles: Xbox 360 (5 comments)
The latest Battlefield newsletter contains five new screenshots of the Xbox 360 port of Battlefield 2 Modern Combat (thanks Mithan):

(Click to Enlarge!)

System Shock 3 in Development at EA? 05:16 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Action (27 comments)
We already knew about the patent stuff, but Shacknews has learned from an inside source that they (EA) are actually working on System Shock 3 right now. I wonder which in-house studio is making it?

Spill the beans!

Brothers in Arms Multiplayer patch v1.11 04:44 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Action (0 comments)
Gearbox issued a new patch for Brothers in Arms which cleans up the multiplayer code a bit making the game more playable online. It weights in at 14-16 megs depending on which territory you need.

Quake IV retail patch v1.0.5 beta2 04:24 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Action (2 comments)
Raven released an updated beta patch for Quake IV which looks to have the same changes as the last beta version (they don't mention what's new in this one). The highlight of the update is dual core and HT support. It comes in at a smidge over 12 megs.

Top 10 Best Selling US PC Games 04:21 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: General News (0 comments)
Here's the last top 10 best selling PC games list in the US for 2005:

1. The Sims 2 - Electronic Arts
2. Age of Empires III - Microsoft
3. Civilization IV - 2K Games
4. World Of Warcraft - VU Games
5. The Sims 2 Nightlife - Electronic Arts
6. Call Of Duty 2 - Activision
7. Battlefield 2 - Electronic Arts
8. Battlefield 2 Special Forces - Electronic Arts
9. Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 - Atari
10. F.E.A.R. - VU Games

Burnout Revenge 360 Screenshots 02:49 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Racing (6 comments)
EA released seven lovely new screenshots of the 360 version of Burnout Revenge:

(Click to Enlarge!)

HellGate: London Interview 02:31 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Action / Roleplaying (3 comments)
eToychest interviewed former Blizzard bad boy Bill Roper about Flagship's debut title, HellGate: London:

In a move practically unique to FPS titles, it's been noted that most weapons shown thus far have infinite ammo. Are there any weapons that will have limited ammo, perhaps of the "Big Daddy" variety for those otherwise inescapable emergencies?

We are making an RPG, so although we do have a lot of the game take place from the first person perspective, we didn't want to be forced to use the traditional FPS conventions such as ammunition. We do have gameplay mechanics that are commonly used by both spells and weapons, such as cool down, loading time, rate of fire and so forth to provide different balances and experiences for weapons, but we don't want you to ever be running around with a gun that doesn't work because you ran out of ammunition.

Battlefield 2 Patch News and Interview 02:25 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Action (1 comment)
TotalBF2 wrangled up an interview with DICE's Armando Marini about the next patch for Battlefield 2. Meanwhile, EA updated the official website with some news on the booster packs and patch.

PS3 to cost 500 bucks? 02:22 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Consoles: PS3 (7 comments)
This week's CNN Game Over speculates on how much the Playstation 3 will run: "Though Sony didn't reveal any PS3 information of note during CES, the prototype of the system was still one of the most popular attractions at its booth. CNN looks at possible pricing models for the system in this week's Game Over column, talking with both analysts and game developers. The general consensus, from those who work in - and keep watch on - the industry is the machine will likely run $499 when it hits the U.S., though some developers offer other opinions, including a price tag as high as $700."

The Rock in Far Cry Movie? 02:12 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: General News (7 comments)
Gamehelper helped itself with an interview chatting with our new favorite doctor (move over, Smart) Dr. Uwe Boll. The topic of course is BloodRayne and other upcoming projects. Uwe seems to want The Rock to play the Far Cry dude:

GVK: How are Dungeon Siege and Far Cry coming along and is there any truth to the rumor that you are interested in The Rock for "Far Cry" He was often the best part of "Doom" even though the film had some issues. [hehe - just a few - ED]

UB: Dungeon Siege or its correct name "In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale" will be release at the end of 2006 in two parts. Yes, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson or Jason Statham are my favorites for 'Far Cry'. I plan on doing 'Far Cry' in the early part of 2007.

Farcry for Xbox 360 09:43 am - Elias 'Mithan' Doulias - Consoles: Xbox 360 (19 comments)
Ubisoft released a press release today announcing two new Farcry games. The games are Far Cry Instincts: Next Chapter (working title) for the Xbox and Far Cry Instincts: Predator for the Xbox 360. The games should be released in the spring.

Far Cry Instincts Predator and Far Cry Instincts Next Chapter (Working Title) Will Be Unleashed on Gamers in Spring 2006

January 11, 2006 - Today Ubisoft, one of the world's largest video game publishers, announced that its award-winning Montreal Studio is developing two new titles inspired by the recently released Far Cry Instincts video game.

Far Cry Instincts Next Chapter (working title) for the Xbox® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft will introduce players to an entirely new story, characters and game features that reflect and improve upon the critically acclaimed elements of the first title.

Far Cry Instincts Predator for Xbox 360TM video game and entertainment system from Microsoft will feature both Far Cry Instincts Next Chapter and an enhanced version of the original Far Cry Instincts game. Offering the kind of lush and deep natural environment true to the Far Cry® brand, Far Cry Instincts on Xbox 360 will captivate gamers with its enhanced graphical reality and gameplay. Giving gamers the opportunity to discover the Far Cry universe in an optimized, high-definition environment, the game takes advantage of Xbox 360's multi-core next-generation engine for improved performance. Gamers will experience advanced pathfinding and new enemy and vehicle artificial intelligence for improved chase scenes and more enemies on-screen at one time, allowing for more adrenaline-rushing fast-action sequences. Far Cry Instincts Predator and Far Cry Instincts Next Chapter are slated for release in spring 2006.

"Far Cry Instincts quickly became one of the most talked-about games of 2005 because of its blend of high graphical quality, wide open environments and immersive gameplay elements," said John Parkes, EMEA Marketing Director for Ubisoft. "Ubisoft is confident that Far Cry Instincts Predator for Xbox 360 and Far Cry Instincts Next Chapter for Xbox will be among the best games this year."

(Click to Enlarge!)

I enjoyed the original Farcry for the PC, though the enemy "hearing" radius was way wacked which made snipping and sneaking up on people almost impossible.

Neverwinter Nights 2 Interview at RPGDot 08:54 am - Elias 'Mithan' Doulias - Games: Role-Playing (0 comments)
RPGDot has a new Neverwinter Nights 2 interview with Obsidians Producer Darren Monahan, Creative Director Chris Avellone and Lead Designer Ferret Baudoin.

RPGDot: BioWare's NWN and expansions were hugely successful. How do you approach a sequel in a way that stays true to the original, while still making it an Obsidian game? What high-level goals did your team want to achieve?

Darren Monahan: Originally we scoured the BioWare forums and many fan sites to see what the community wanted from NWN. On one side of the spectrum, fans wanted to see the single player campaign grow. They wanted their henchmen to come alive ( and not be "moving pieces of meat" as I just read in a comment recently on a forum :) ) and have real personalities, much like BioWare did with the expansions. They also wanted a lot more flexibility, control and customization options in the toolset.

We decided at that point that we'd split the focus of our efforts on the sequel down the middle. We wanted to create the next best RPG for 2006, but also maintain Neverwinter's reputation for being the RPG toolset of choice.

Decisions we made about the game were based on how we could extend what BioWare gave the community in the first game. We didn't aim to change what NWN was but rather to grow it further.

Hearts of Iron II Doomsday Screenshots 04:27 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Turned-Based Strategy (6 comments)
Seven new screenshots of Hearts of Iron II Doomsday:

Following the international acclaim of HEARTS OF IRON II, strategy games publisher PARADOX INTERACTIVE invite players to go one step further in HEARTS OF IRON II DOOMSDAY. The Hearts of Iron games were the first PC games to give players true 'grand strategic scope' during the events of World War II. Spanning the entire globe, the game map allows players to take the war to a new front, with any nation of their choosing. The level of detail in the games is unparallel by other titles, as players make decisions on every level.

Hearts of Iron II Doomsday is a standalone, complete version of the game that expands upon Hearts of Iron II, by increasing the time line to include the development of super weapons. Taking advantage of the huge gaming community, many balancing points and game play improvements have been included, enhanced by a significantly improved game A.I. The game also includes a complete scenario editor, so players can fully customize games of their own design, taking them to a whole new level of play. Available on PC CDROM, Heart of Iron II Doomsday will be available from 7th APRIL 2006

(Click to Enlarge!)

Space Rangers 2 Screenshots 02:04 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Real-Time Strategy (8 comments)
Cinemaware Marquee sent over some screenshots of Space Rangers 2 which they are launching in North America. "It is an honor for us to launch our new Cinemaware Marquee label with a game as ambitious and fun as Space Rangers 2: Rise of the Dominators," said Lars Batista, Vice President, Product Development of eGames. "Our goal is to bring gamers consistently incredible content, so that when they see our logo, they are 100% confident about the quality of the game they are getting. Space Rangers 2: Rise of the Dominators lays the foundation for that vision."

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Assorted Downloads 01:16 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: General News (0 comments)

Hardware & Tech Nuggets 01:00 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - hardware: General News (0 comments)

Game Reviews 12:30 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: General News (4 comments)

In Other News... 12:15 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - In-House: In Other News... (41 comments)
Wassssssobi!

Quake Wars is sounding pretty tasty. What made the series great to begin with was the multiplayer stuff. Up until Counter-Strike and Battlefield came along it was the big dog of the online shooter world. If they can do make Quake Wars right, I think they can really bring back a lot of gamers into the fold. At one point, everyone played Quake.

Today's question:

What originally got you hooked on online gaming?

 
 

Tuesday , January 10, 2006
Final Fantasy XI Beta for Xbox 360 07:58 pm - Elias 'Mithan' Doulias - Consoles: Xbox 360 (17 comments)
This isn't news per say, but more of a reminder for Xbox 360 owners that you can get into the Final Fantasy XI Online Beta by getting the February issue of the Official Xbox Magazine. It is supposed to be on news stands on Jan 17, but I have heard many people have already found copies, so if you are interested, check out your nearest 7-11, Chapters or wherever you buy Magazines from.

Age of Conan Screenshots 07:56 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Action / Adventure (6 comments)
FunCom released some new screenshots of Age of Conan which look um...leafy or something. I dunno, I'd rather see a little bloodshed myself. Enjoy:

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Oblivion Quickie from CES 07:51 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Role-Playing (2 comments)
1Up posted some quickie impressions of The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion from CES:

This game aims to let the player feel not only immersed in the game world, but also tied to it in an integral way. Your actions will determine future events, and have lasting impacts. For example, during the demo, we learned that the character had accidentally set a villager on fire earlier; after that, when he tried to go join a guild that he had joined in every previous demo, the guildmaster told him he was not welcome. There's a way to fix this, of course -- you can pay a fine, or do something to rehabilitate your reputation so that other villagers will think more kindly of you. This little sequence underlines the importance of your behavior and choices throughout the game, but in a more subtle and less obvious way than having a morality bar, like Fable, or the dark side/light side dichotomy of KOTOR.

25 to Life Gone Gold 07:46 pm - Elias 'Mithan' Doulias - Games: General News (2 comments)
25 to Life has gone gold and will be in stores on January 18 for the PC, Xbox and PS2. The game allows players to play as Cops or Street Thugs and has been extremely controversial since its announcement. For more information, check out the official 25 to Life site.

The PS3 is Far from Done? 07:20 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Consoles: PS3 (24 comments)
The Inquirer managed to weasel out some details on how the Playstation 3 was shaping up at CES and according to their Sony sources, the console is far from done. Long story short, even if it was finished tomorrow, there would be no working silicon until March. Tack on another four or five months of debugging and it could start production. IF it was close to done now (which it appears it isn't):

THE PS3 WAS at CES after all, but it was only a mockup. It looked good, very good, but if you dug under the surface, it came up hollow. The good part is that they were shiny, and that is about it.

The problem is that people working on PS3s tell me that it is far from done. Several companies are hip deep in hardware debugging as you read this. Not that it is hugely surprising, after all, it isn't out yet, but one would expect that the hardware is nearly finalized and the bulk of the work is on the games right now.

Half-Life 1 DM Included with Aftermath 07:13 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Action (5 comments)
Word from Planet Half-Life is that Valve intends to re-release Half-Life 1 deathmatch in the Source engine with the upcoming Aftermath expansion. I'm not sure if they'll be using Half-Life 1 or 2 weapons, but it could be a lot of fun. I could be wrong, but I don't believe TFC will be included.

HellGate London Diary 06:33 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Action / Roleplaying (0 comments)
PC.IGN conjured up a new developer diary for Flagship's HellGate: London. The topic this evening is the day in the life of some undisclosed dude. On the bright side, there are three new screenshots.

Rise of Legends Screenshot 03:16 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Real-Time Strategy (5 comments)
Big Huge Games released a new screenshot of the week for Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends:

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Prey > Gears of War? 02:45 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Consoles: Xbox 360 (15 comments)
The Xbox 360 IGN guys are getting rowdy making a bunch of predictions for 360 games in 2006. In it, they talk about Grand Theft Auto 4, Knights of the Old Republic 3, the HD-DVD Drive and more. Here's a snip about them thinking Prey will be a better game than CliffyB's Gears of War:

While you're thinking about that, consider Human Head Studios and 3D Realm's Prey, a first person shooter with a few very interesting features. Prey lets you control Tommy, a Cherokee who's had his girlfriend stolen by a mysterious alien force. From what we've seen so far, the game takes place aboard the alien craft with a distinct biomechanical flavor. Much like in Gears of War, you'll face off against freakish alien creatures. Unlike Gears of War, you'll have a variety of unique ways to dispatch them. In many of the game's environments you'll have to grapple with changes in gravity, as well as an entire Spirit dimension you can enter to perform stealth kills and access otherwise blocked areas. Though it's a first-person shooter, Prey is far from mindless, and may in fact prove to be more entertaining and more innovative than Gears of War hopes to be.
Thanks 3D Realms.

Stubbs the Zombie Demo 01:40 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Action (2 comments)
To further tease that this game is nearly impossible to find in a store, Wideload Games has released a demo (with developer commentary) for the Halo engined Stubbs the Zombie in "Rebel without a Pulse" which comes in at 230 megs. Download a copy from: 3D Gamers, FilePlanet, Boomtown, WorthPlaying, Gamershell, GG Mania, 3D Downloads or FileNuts.

Here are a few screenshots captured from the demo. As you may have noticed, they use a grainy 50's style filter, which makes it look like a campy B movie. Overall, it's pretty entertaining. There's a MDK style atmosphere and personality is aplenty. In case you didn't know, it's a third person action melee game:

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Video Game Laws and You 12:20 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: General News (4 comments)
The Rocky Mountain News looks at the state of anti-video game legislation around the land as last year some 80 bills were introduced to try to restrict sales to minors. Some of which were thrown out by courts as they were deemed unconstitutional. Long story short: California: fighting injunction; Michigan: gave up; Illinois: Mostly gave up.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's film career has been one of legendary body counts. So when the actor-turned-governor signed a bill into law that restricted the sale of violent video games, the irony was not lost on gamers.

Those players thought they had the last laugh when a federal judge placed the California law on hold last month, but the fight to drag video games through the same trial by fire that movies, music and even comic books have had to endure is far from over.

Dangerous Waters and Space Empires IV Deluxe on Steam 11:56 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: General News (0 comments)
Valve announced that Dangerous Waters ($39.99) and Space Empires IV Deluxe ($19.99) will be heading to Steam on February 7th. You can pre-order the games starting beginning January.

Guild Wars Factions Announced 11:50 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Action / Roleplaying (10 comments)
ArenaNet today officially announced Guild Wars: Factions which they aim to release in the second quarter of 2006. "We're excited to be offering this free preview of Guild Wars: Factions to players throughout the world," said Patrick Wyatt, co-founder of ArenaNet. "Factions is a huge step in the continued evolution of the game, and I think gamers are really going to be excited about the new features they're going to see!"

Thanks Guild Wars Slovenija.

In related news, GamingSteve interviewed Jeff Strain about it.

SiN Episodes Preview 11:48 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Action (0 comments)
Gamespy wrangled up a preview of Ritual's SiN Episodes: Emergence from CES:

Visually, Emergence is phenomenal. The main section of Emergence, demonstrated on the CES showroom floor, took place in a capsized oil tanker as Blade searches for a weapons dealer. Lighting and graphics textures have the future-gone-awry feel that the first SiN captured so well. The game uses the Source engine, so the physics are similar to Half-Life 2, although Ritual has made some modifications and tweaks to the engine to give it a personalized touch. The studio has been adamant about making the experience as interactive as possible. As in Doom 3 (and very much like the original game), players can interact with consoles within the environment. Throughout Ritual's testing, the team has been analyzing where most gamers seem to play around in the game world and they're adjusting elements of these areas to make them even more interactive.

ET: Quake Wars @ CGW 02:22 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Action (12 comments)
This month's issue of Computer Gaming World sports a hands-on look at Splash Damage's Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. Obviously, we can't post scans, but here are some game highlights:

  • Human Classes: Field ops (fire support/machine pistol), Engineer (defense and support/shotgun, mines & traps), Soldier (duh/machine gun, LAW rocket launcher), Medic (support/ assault rifle &grenade; launcher) and Ranger (sniper).
  • Strogg Classes: Tank (your basic stormtrooper/Bosonic Orb gun), Oppressor (heavy weapons and lightning gun), Constructor (engineer/nail gun, EMP charges), Meditek (medic/unknown weapons) and Infiltrator (sniper/rail gun).
  • Just from looking at the screens, Marines have tanks, helicopters, mobile radar, anti-air guns, mechs, fast attack hover fighters and amphibious assault vehicles. They don't talk much about the Strogg, but I assume they will have similar units. Except they ARE the vehicles. I think...
  • Strogg have an anti-gravity jetpack type unit.
  • id is looking to bring ET to other properties, possibly Doom.
  • No plans to support bots, although there are some single player training missions.
  • There's some sort of XP/ranking system similar to Battlefield 2.
  • As far as tech stuff goes, they are using the Doom 3 engine. But a lot of the changes to make Quake Wars more of a multiplayer friendly experience has been done in-house over at Splash Damage. Expect 32 player games.
There's also around ten new screenshots to drool over as well. Sexy stuff.

In semi-related news, Splash Damage (located in London, England) is looking to hire a new gameplay programmer, level designer, media artist and artist to work on the game.

Top 10 Best Selling Games in Japan 01:59 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Consoles: General News (18 comments)
Here are the top 10 best selling games in Japan for the week starting 12/26:

    1) Brain Training 2 (DS) Nintendo
    2) Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS) Nintendo
    3) Mario Kart DS (DS) Nintendo
    4) Kingdom Hearts II (PS2) Square Enix
    5) DS Training For Adults: Work Your Brain (DS) Nintendo
    6) Front Mission 5: Scars of the War (PS2) Square Enix
    7) Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (DS) Nintendo
    8) Gentle Brain Exercises (DS) Nintendo
    9) Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop! (DS) Bandai
    10) Pokemon Mysterious Dungeon: Blue Rescue Force (DS) Pokemon
[Insert Xbox 360 or lack thereof comment here]

AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 Reviews 12:45 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - hardware: General News (9 comments)
No huge in-depth reviews yet (many are light on the gaming benchmarks) but early results aren't too shabby. High points include: pretty much everything. Low point: It's f'n expensive! Right now, it's almost the same as the FX-57 for games, but down the road performace will improve once software catches up.

Game Reviews 12:30 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: General News (4 comments)
Is it me, or do CGW's action and shooter 2005 nominees really stink? No F.E.A.R. or even Call of Duty 2... Talk about a top-10 WTF moment. Wake up and smell the shaders! Update: All is well in the universe as they have been added. Chalk one up to the side of good.

In Other News... 12:15 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - In-House: In Other News... (30 comments)
Some dudes were here to clean the carpets yesterday, so I took off and caught Tarentino's new movie Hostel. If you listen to the hype, it's supposed to be the bloodiest, most disturbing flick ever, but just one scene made me do a double take. I won't say which, but white bodily fluid was involved (grin). Great movie though -- if you like the nasty stuff -- it's worth checking out. It started off like a typical teen Eurotrip adventure (they're in Amsterdam smoking teh weed and meeting girls) but daaaamn. As soon as you forget it's supposed to be a scary movie, the shit hits the fan. I can't wait for the unrated DVD version.

Today's question:

Most disturbing moment in a game?

 
 

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