PC Game News

Valve officially announced "Portal 2" today, which is scheduled to be released this holiday season. If you missed it earlier this week, a new curious patch was released for the original game, which altered the ending. This led to some announcement anticipation buzz but Kimberly Swift did confirm a sequel in February of 2008.

"Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Left 4 Dead, Counter-Strike, and Half-Life) and leading technologies (such as Steam, Source), today announced Portal 2 for shipment this coming holiday season.

Portal was originally released in 2007 and earned over 70 industry achievement awards.

For more information, please visit www.steamgames.com "

THQ today announced that "Metro 2033" has gone gold and will be in retail stores on March 16th in the US and Germany, March 18th in Australia, and March 19th for the rest of the world.

"Metro 2033 has already been acclaimed for its graphical prowess on both Xbox 360 and PC, with the latter benefiting from advanced DX11 features and NVIDIA PhysX implementation.  In addition, gamers can enjoy Metro 2033 in 3D, powered by NVIDIA 3D Vision. Gamers who pre-purchase the digital version of Metro 2033 PC will get Red Faction Guerrilla PC for free.  For more information, please visit the THQ store at https://store.thq.com/.

A brand new trailer for Metro 2033 – 'Ghosts of the Metro' – can be found on the official Metro 2033 website, Metro2033Game.com.

For more Metro 2033 news, visit Metro2033Game.com, follow Twitter.com/Metro2033 or become a fan at Facebook.com/Metro2033."

A demo for "Just Cause 2" was released through Steam, giving players a chance to try out the upcoming shooter that's scheduled to be released later this month.

"The Just Cause 2 demo features a massive 35 square miles of the Lautan Lama Desert, a vast expanse of stunning, sun-scorched scenery taking up just one of the many islands in the 400 square miles of the Panau archipelago. Packed with towns, villages, military installations, mountain ranges, missions and more, the demo will feature an astonishing amount of activities for the player… and opportunities for adrenaline-fuelled chaos are limitless."

gamigo and Reakktor have announced an agreement in which gamigo will be the global publisher of "Black Prophecy," the upcoming MMO Space Combat game.

"The Hamburg-based publisher thus lays the foundation for a new focus on becoming a global publisher and producer of free-to-play Massively Multiplayer Online Games.

Patrick Streppel, member of the gamigo executive board, is enthusiastic about the new game: "Reakktor's Black Prophecy will breathe life back into a genre previously forgotten. The game features graphics of the highest quality, a rich and meaningful story, and strong community features. Since we've begun collaborating with Reakktor, we have expanded greatly upon the concept of the game and thus are able to offer one of the first top-of-the-line free-to-play MMOGs."

A lot has happened in the development of Black Prophecy in the past few weeks. The biggest change has been the new direction as a free-to-play online game, previously unheard of for a game of this quality. Among other things, a crafting system was added and the layout of the game world was opened up. In-game dialogue will be recorded by professional voice actors. The one-and-a-half hour long orchestral soundtrack provides a rich and varied score of background music.

Kirk Lenke, CEO of Reakktor Media GmbH, said "We are excited to have found such a strong partner in gamigo for the publishing and distribution of our space action MMOG Black Prophecy. gamigo has the necessary skills and abilities to turn our product into a global MMOG blockbuster."

Black Prophecy is expected go into closed beta testing in April 2010.

https://www.blackprophecy.com"

Paradox released a "Rise of Prussia" demo today, giving players a chance to try out the upcoming turn-based strategy game by AGEOD.

"The Rise of Prussia Demo gives you two scenarios, the short invasion of Saxony scenario and the option to play the opening turns of the grand campaign.

Rise of Prussia is scheduled for release on March 9th, 2010 and is currently enjoying a pre-order campaign which offers AGEODs previous classic, Birth of America 2 for a 75% discount and is available via most major digital retailers.

For more information about Rise of Prussia, please visit www.paradoxplaza.com and follow @pdxinteractive on twitter for more information."

A list of download mirrors can be found in the Paradox forums – note there is also a hotfix that corrects a glitch.

EA Partners today announced a publishing agreement with Klei Entertainment to bring "Shank," an upcoming side-scrolling action Western game, to the PC and next-gen consoles this summer.

"Featuring a unique art style inspired by graphic novels and golden age comics, Shank blends the intensity of classic 2D side-scrolling action games with a gripping and mature storyline. The cinematic brawler is a finalist for “Excellence in Visual Art” at this year’s Independent Games Festival and will be featured at the IGF Pavilion during the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco next week.

“Our mission at EA Partners is to work with the best talent across the game industry, and we are thrilled to extend our expertise to the leading creative developers in downloadable indie games,” said Jamil Moledina, Outreach Director, Business Development at EA Partners. “The team at Klei Entertainment is among the best in the world at developing fun and engaging titles for digital distribution platforms, and Shank is an amazing experience.”

“As an independent development studio, we always focus on creating great, authentic experiences for players. Working with EA Partners expands our distribution and allows us to bring Shank to a much wider audience,” said Jamie Cheng, CEO of Klei Entertainment. “They have been a fantastic partner and their understanding of the space is incredibly exciting.”

Taking place in a stylized, modern-Western setting, Shank tells a classic betrayal story directed through a sophisticated cinematic lens, with addictive action gameplay found in classic 2D side-scrolling games. Klei Entertainment was represented in the deal by CAA. For more information on Shank, please visit www.shankgame.com and follow the development team on Twitter at www.twitter.com/klei."

Electronic Arts today announced "The Sims 3 Ambitions," a new expansion that gives players a chance to explore paths and careers.

"The Sims 3 Ambitions allows players to pursue a variety of exciting paths and careers in their Sims’ lives that in turn affect their overall gameplay experience and neighborhood. While on the job, the player has direct control over their Sims’ work and can choose how to spend their days. Players can opt to make house calls and save lives as a doctor or choose the devious route and test experimental medicine on patients, be the hero firefighter tackling raging infernos or smashing everything in sight at the victim’s home with an axe, or take a shot at solving cases as an investigator, nicely convincing sources to divulge secrets or roughing up perpetrators in a dark alley to get information.

“The variety of careers to choose from is unmatched and we’ve never given players the opportunity to follow their Sims to work and affect their actions on the job,” said Scott Evans, General Manager of The Sims Studio at EA. “The Sims 3 Ambitions changes that. Players’ actions at work now directly affect their lives, community and neighbors and become an extremely important part of how the game is played.”

Players can now experience some of the most exciting and varied jobs. In The Sims 3 Ambitions, players can choose to hunt down vengeful spirits as the ghost hunter, invent brilliant and potentially destructive gadgets as an inventor, craft glorious masterpieces as a sculptor, and solve riveting cases by any means necessary as an investigator with dozens of cases to solve and numerous clues to find. Additionally, players will be able to change the look and feel of their town by becoming an architect and directly affecting the neighborhood around them leveraging Build and Buy mode. The stylist career and new tattoo system allow players to make over their Sim neighbors in fashionable or catastrophic ways. For the first time, players will be in charge of how their Sims’ career progresses and decide if they will work for good or evil, pursue creative endeavors or technical affairs, climb to the top quickly, or be a slacker. The future of a Sims’ success or failure is entirely in the hands of the player.

The Sims 3 Ambitions will also be available for feature phones, iPhone and iPod touch in late 2010 from EA Mobile™. These versions will have customized mobile gameplay features which will be revealed in the coming months and will not require a base game to play. For information on carrier availability and pricing for all EA Mobile games, please visit www.eamobile.com."

New images have surfaced today, which seem to confirm Valve's intentions to bring Steam and possibly several of Valve's games to the Mac platform.

If you missed the previous rumors, a user in the Steam forums discovered Mac style skin files in the new Steam beta. If true, this development could turn out to be a major new step in computer gaming for a variety of reasons. While many Windows gamers love to poke fun at Mac users, several developments over the past few years have left PC gamers questioning Microsoft's real intentions when it comes to PC gaming – see Alan Wake, etc. In addition, because OS X is based on Unix, we would expect that Steam would also be making its way to Linux as well.

Ultimately, this should be interpreted as good news for computer gaming in general simply because it expands the user base and also future-proofs gaming on the computer platform. Operating system market share certainly isn't set it stone and if Microsoft were to make a highly undesirable move, for example, it gives gamers alternative options. Of course, just because Steam looks like it's headed to Mac doesn't mean all the games in the Steam store are too. However, it might influence more developers to program for multiple operating systems.

DICE released a launch trailer for the newly released "Battlefield: Bad Company 2."

"In Battlefield: Bad Company 2, the 'B' company fight their way through snowy mountaintops, dense jungles and dusty villages. With a heavy arsenal of deadly weapons and a slew of vehicles to aid them, the crew set off on their mission and they are ready to blow up, shoot down, blast through, wipe out and utterly destroy anything that gets in their way. Total destruction is the name of the game, delivered as only the DICE next generation Frostbite™ engine can. Either online or offline, enemies will soon learn there is nowhere to hide."

Nexon released a new gameplay tailer for "Combat Arms," which shows off some of the new additions from recent updates.

"More than three million soldiers have registered for duty in Combat Arms and have grown accustomed to a growing arsenal of weapons, new maps and new game modes being offered for free. Players can elect to spend money for items of convenience, customization and cosmetics."

The list of new PC game releases, DVD and Blu-ray releases, and movies opening the week of March 1st. 2010.

PC Games:

• Battlefield: Bad Company 2
  
• MLB 2K10
• Silent Hunter 5
  
• Supreme Commander 2

Movies Opening This Week:

• Alice in Wonderland
• Brooklyn's Finest
• The Secret of Kells (limited NYC)

DVD and Blu-Ray Releases:

• 2010 [Blu-Ray]
• 30 Years to Life
• Alice [Blu-Ray]
• Alice in Wonderland
• Alice: The Miniseries
• Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story
• Bollywood Hero
• Butch Cassidy, French Connection, Hustler (Set)
• Castle in the Sky – Special Ed.
• Clash of the Titans [Blu-Ray]
• Cold Souls
• Designing Women: Season Three
• Doctor Who Dalek War: Frontier in Space & Planet of the Daleks
• Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan: Season 4, Vol. 1
• Elvis
• Clash of the Titans
• Gentlemen Bronco [Blu-Ray]
• Have Gun Will Travel: Season Four, Vol. 1
• Jeremiah Season Two
• Kiki's Delivery – Service Special Ed.
• Matlock: The Complete Fourth Season
• Movie Marathon Collection: Steve Martin
• My Neighbor Totoro – Special Ed.
• Ninja [Blu-Ray]
• Plenty
• Poldark, Series 1
• Ponyo [Blu-Ray]
• Rifftrax double Feature: Night of the Living Dead
• Sherlock Holmes 4 Pack
• The 36th Chamber Shaolin [Blu-Ray]
• The 39 Steps
• The Beaches of Agnes
• The Neverending Story [Blu-Ray]
• The Penthouse
• The Private Lives of Pippa Lee [Blu-Ray]
• The Wrath – Special Ed.
• Where the Wild Things Are [Blu-Ray]
• Women in Prison LiteBox

DICE today announced that "Battlefield: Bad Company 2" has been shipped to North American retailers.

"Defined by its increasingly intense vehicular warfare, destruction, variety of weapons and huge sandbox environments, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 promises to be one of the finest online FPS games of 2010. Its dedicated servers that allow for smooth, seamless online play help it stand out among the competition. Developed using state of the art graphics technology, the PC version of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is the first title in the Battlefield franchise to be 3-D-ready, playable in DirectX® 11, and support multiple monitors for properly equipped PCs.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is available now in North America and will be available in Europe on March 4, 2010 for the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and PC. Two all-new multiplayer maps for the game will also be unlocked today in North America at no extra charge* with two more coming later in March. Available in the box, these map packs are unlocked by simply inputting a VIP code**.

For more information on DICE, please visit www.dice.se. For more information on Battlefield: Bad Company 2 please visit: www.battlefield.com. Or follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/OfficialBFBC2.

* Included with purchase of new game. Internet connection required.

** VIP codes included in the shrink-wrapped box. Those players that do not have a code can purchase one via the in-game store for $15. PC players will get the content as a game update. Internet connection required."

Paradox Interactive today announced a pre-order special for "Rise of Prussia," where pre-order customers will receive a 75% discount on "Birth of America 2." This discount is available at most digital distribution portals. In addition, a new trailer has been released.

"Rise of Prussia takes players to an 18th-Century military conflict seldom covered in games or popular culture, placing them in charge of one of two sides involved in the Seven Years' War. The development team's focus on historical accuracy is evident throughout the game, as players lead the Prussian-British coalition or the alliance of Austria, Russia, France and others into battle. Can they repeat history and lead the Prussians to victory, or will one of the bloodiest conflicts of its time end differently in the player's hands?"

Kalypso Media today announced "Tropico: 3 Absolute Power," the first expansion in the series by Haemimont Games, which is currently scheduled to be released in May.

"Players will return to the island paradise of Tropico to experience unprecedented power as the benevolent (or malevolent) ruler ‘El Presidente’ while enjoying a whole new series of adventures.

Absolute Power gives players all-new options to rule as an unscrupulous tyrant or benevolent elder statesmen as they decide how to run their very own tropical island paradise. A successful and lucrative term in office is the goal! Absolute Power is packed with new missions, new islands and a whole host of new gameplay features.

Features

• New campaign featuring 10 missions on a separate map with 10 islands also available in sandbox mode
• 6 new buildings (including Garbage Dump, Marina, Small Garage, Children's Playground etc) and a new buildings category for current and new decorations with individual icons mode
• 10 new Megalomania edicts – demonstrate your absolute power by ordering the construction of a huge golden statue of Tropico's top export, declaring an annual festival dedicated to yourself or even print your own money!
• 6 Landmarks – Build huge decorations and buildings which dominate the island landscape and make each island unique.
• New faction – The new Loyalist faction are your die hard supporters and want no elections (since you’re obviously the best candidate) and want a statue of you on every corner!
• Faction Disasters – Low standing with any island faction will trigger new disasters if not addressed
• New Intro and Win/Lose Cutscenes
• 4 Additional Avatar Costumes – 2 for male and 2 for female avatars
• Beautification upgrades for the presidential palace including rooftop pool, extra towers, flags, banners and a larger balcony (which will increase the effects of balcony speeches)
• More icons displaying the status of buildings and displaying input/output storage numbers for selected buildings
• Prevalent faction – In every sandbox game one faction is chosen as "prevalent" on the island. Members of this faction will be especially numerous throughout the entire game and their satisfaction will be more important than usual
• More Radio Announcements to guide you through Tropico’s daily life
• Gravel roads – Second type of road for rural areas with decreased travel speed"

Ubisoft today announced that "Dawn of Discovery Venice" (aka Anno 1404 Venice), an new add-on for Dawn of Discovery, has been shipped and is available in retail stores and through digital distribution portals. In addition, the "Dawn of Discovery Gold Edition" is also now available, which includes both the full game and Venice.

"Key Features of Dawn of Discovery Venice:

New Venetian Setting:

The rich Dawn of Discovery environment is complemented with a new Venetian setting offering new possibilities of interaction:

• Build two new Venetian ship types: the small and big tradesman cog
• Develop secret cabinets, infiltrate your enemies and sabotage their expansion

Multiplayer:

Play Dawn of Discovery online in multiplayer mode:

• Choose to play versus or co-op to defeat the AI by combining your techniques
• Up to 8 players

New Challenges and Quests:

• Up to 60 new items and 300 new quests with two new types: trading race and ship boarding
• Discover and exploit a new type of island, the Volcano island
• New scenarios offer new challenges with new achievements, medals and crests

About Dawn of Discovery:

Experience the award-winning combination of city building, commerce, discovery, diplomacy and combat. Create your own nation with a unique blend of simulation and real-time strategy. Journey across the globe to explore, trade and learn technologies to expand your empire and to make your own history. With its extensive and immersive campaign, Dawn of Discovery guarantees never-ending gaming fun for novices and experts alike.

For more information, please visit https://dawnofdiscoverygame.com."