PC Game News

Got Game Entertainment today announced that "WorldShift" has been shipped to retail stores.

"Published in agreement with Playlogic Entertainment, Inc. and developed by Black Sea Studios — the team behind ”Knights of Honor” — WorldShift offers an exciting combination of a bold, immersive world, fierce and hectic action, and a unique gaming system that allows for faster ramp up. WorldShift is now available at retailers nationwide for a suggested retail price of $39.99 (USD) and is rated "T" for Teen (Blood, Fantasy Violence) by the ESRB.  For more information visit https://www.gotgameentertainment.com/worldshift/index.html. "

In the latest New York Times Magazine there’s an article on the indie gaming scene. The article itself isn’t terribly important- like most features written by someone with exactly zero confidence in his own knowledge of the subject matter it doesn’t say anything. It relies on vague non-committal disparagings of ‘the industry’ (about which the author seems to know very little) and cautiously praises the indie game developers for their ‘rebellious spirits’ and generally toes the party line. The author will go far at the Times. 

It is noteworthy, though, in that it provides us all as convenient an occasion as any to talk about how apocalyptically lame the entire games-as-art debate is getting. The specific reference in the article is to Jason Rohrer, who began his talk at the GDC this year by putting up a picture of Roger Ebert and calling him the enemy because of the fact that he’d pointedly refused to categorize games as art. 

Ebert isn’t the enemy. He’s a narrowminded aesthetic bigot, definitely, but he isn’t any kind of threat to anyone self-assured and talented working in games today. Actually, nothing is a threat to those people. They will go on making interesting stuff and we’ll go on playing it and if your weird and incorrect opinions prevent you from fully enjoying it, nobody will care. 

There are enemies here, though. And they are Jason Rohrer and everyone else who should know better. The issue of whether games are art or not falls to people like Rohrer who are presumably interested in more people taking games seriously. If you want to make art, make something and call it art and treat it like it matters and get others to treat it like it matters- not by giving speeches and conducting spurious word-salad debates about it, but by ignoring the blather and getting on with the work of your own personal interaction with the medium. Then it’s art, and Ebert will look even more ridiculous. This method works because the word ‘art’ is defined not in the dictionary but on the fly six-billion-plus times per day. Generally the only thing we can say we mean when we call something ‘a work of art’ is that it looks like it was put together on purpose and we like the way it turned out. So the sooner we decide that the games we like are art the sooner we can ship what remains of this terminally boring issue off to the glue factory. 

Paramount Digital Entertainment, Bad Robot, CBS, and Naked Sky entertainment today announced the release of "Star Trek: D-A-C" through Steam.

"Launching in conjunction with the Blu-ray Disc and DVD release of the blockbuster "Star Trek" movie from Paramount Pictures on November 17, Star Trek: D-A-C is a fast-paced, top-down space shooter where up to twelve players can compete in inter-galactic battles between Starfleet and the Romulan Empire. Since its maiden voyage on Xbox LIVE® Arcade in May, Star Trek: D-A-C has been expanded with two additional ship classes, a single player game mode, several new pick-ups, a new map for Assault Mode, enhanced gameplay features and more.

Star Trek: D-A-C features NVIDIA 3D Vision compatibility, allowing equipped PC players to engage in intense stereoscopic 3D battles. Planets, ships, space stations, meteors and asteroids jump off the screen in 3D for an immersive deep space flight experience. Players with an NVIDIA GeForce GPU in their PC can experience dynamic NVIDIA PhysX effects including blazing explosions and reactive debris.

Star Trek: D-A-C supports online multiplayer, online co-op and single player gameplay. There are four different game types – Survival, Team Deathmatch, Conquest and Assault. In the all-new single-player Survival Mode, Starfleet captains have only three lives to blast through waves of enemy ships. When destroyed, enemy ships and drones drop special ability and score pick-ups, and players are challenged to grab as many as they can before their lives run out.  Top scores will move players to the top of the leader boards and Starfleet ranks. In Team Deathmatch, teams go head-to-head, clashing in a winner-takes-all fight to the finish. In Conquest, teams must simultaneously protect and conquer control points in space. In Assault, teams take turns trying to dominate or defend a sector of space."

EA released new screenshots from "Mass Effect 2," giving viewers more of a look at the upcoming RPG sequel by BioWare.

"The Mass Effect trilogy is a masterful science-fiction adventure set in a vast universe filled with dangerous alien life forms and mysterious uncharted planets. In this dark second chapter, Saren’s evil army of Geth soldiers has just been defeated, and humans, still struggling to make their mark on the galactic stage, are now faced with an even greater peril…"

      
     

The "Star Trek Online" website has been updated with a post listing the minimum and recommended requirements for the upcoming MMORPG by Cryptic Studios.

System Requirements

• OS: Windows XP SP2 / Windows Vista / Windows 7 (32 or 64-bit)
• CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 Ghz or AMD Athlon X2 3800+
• Memory: 1GB RAM
• Video: NVIDIA GeForce 7950 / ATI Radeon X1800 / Intel HD Graphics
• Sound: DirectX 9.0c Compatible Soundcard
• DirectX: Version 9.0c or Higher
• HDD: 8GB Free Disk Space
• Network: Internet Broadband Connection Required
• Disc: 6X DVD-ROM

Recommended System Configuration

• OS: Windows XP SP2 / Windows Vista / Windows 7 (32 or 64-bit)
• CPU: Intel E8400 Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon X2 5600+
• Memory: 2GB RAM+
• Video: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 / ATI Radeon HD 3850+
• Sound: DirectX 9.0c Compatible Soundcard
• DirectX: Version 9.0c or Higher
• HDD: 8GB Free Disk Space
• Network: Internet Broadband Connection Required
• Disc: 6X DVD-ROM

The list of new PC game releases, DVD and Blu-Ray releases, and movies opening the week of November 9th, 2009.

PC Games:

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
• Shattered Horizon
• WorldShift

Movies Opening This Week:

• 2012
• Dare (limited)
• Fantastic Mr. Fox (limited)
• Pirate Radio
• The Messenger (limited LA/NY)
• Women in Trouble (limited)

DVD and Blu-Ray Releases:

• Agatha Christie’s Poirot: Sets 1-4
• All the Way, Boys!
• Ballast [Blu-Ray]
• Cars [Blu-Ray Gift Set]
• Enlighten Up!
• Flight of the Conchords – Complete First and Second Season
• G.I. Joe A Real American Hero – Complete Series Collectors Set
• Heartland: Season 1, Part 2
• Heat [Blu-Ray]
• Ink
• JAG: The Ninth Season
• Justice League: The Complete Series
• Keeping Up With the Cardashians: The Complete Second Season
• Logan’s Run [Blu-Ray]
• Mamma Mia! The Movie
• Midsomer Murders: Barnab’s Casebook
• Monsters, Inc. [Blu-Ray]
• Must Read After My Death
• Nash Bridges: The Third Season
• Near Dark [Blu-Ray]
• Pray the Devil Back to Hell
• Sesame Street: 40 Years of Sunny Days
• SpongeBob SquarePants: Truth or Square
• Spread [Blu-Ray]
• Sunrise [Blu-Ray]
• The Accidental Husband
• The Black Shield of Falworth [Blu-Ray]
• The General [Blu-Ray]
• The Line [Blu-Ray]
• The Negotiator [Blu-Ray]
• The Official World Series Film Collection
• The Sandbaggers
• The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Complete Second Season
• The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 7: 1952-1954
• The Ugly Truth [Blu-Ray]
• The Untouchables – Season Three, Vol. 2
• Up [Blu-Ray]
• Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut
• Woman in Berlin
• Xavier: Renegade Angel – Seasons 1&2

Activision today announced that "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" has been shipped to retail stores and is now available. The Steam version will be available on Thursday.

"Following a record-setting number of North American midnight openings, Modern Warfare 2 has begun to unleash a new threat upon the world, putting gamers on the front lines of an epic, global battle that has advanced onto American soil, proving that no one is safe from an impending invasion.

Picking up following the historic events of Call of Duty® 4: Modern Warfare®, Modern Warfare 2 completely immerses players in one of the most intense storylines, filled with unexpected plot twists and death-defying battles set in exotic locales across the globe. As gamers fight to save the world from annihilation, the soundtrack of Academy Award®, Golden Globe® Award and Grammy® Award winning composer Hans Zimmer sets the dark and ominous tone for a truly cinematic gaming experience. Modern Warfare 2 marks the first time that the legendary artist has scored a video game.

Delivering the complete package, in addition to the heart-racing intensity of the single player campaign, Modern Warfare 2 also offers an entirely new gameplay mode, "Special Ops," which supports 2-player co-operative play via online or split screen dropping gamers into a surplus of time-trial and objective-based missions. As players rank-up, ever challenging missions are unlocked, including highlights from the single player campaign, fan favorites from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and all new, exclusive missions. While, the all-new Multiplayer mode raises the bar even higher from the world-record setting online play from its predecessor delivering new capabilities, customization, gamestates and modes, including customizable killstreaks, accolades and new create-a-class features.

Modern Warfare 2 is rated "M" (Mature) by the ESRB for Blood, Drug Reference, Intense Violence and Language and is available now for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Windows® PC for a suggested retail price of $59.99."

cdv Software Entertainment announced a pre-order promotion with GameStop, where customers who pre-order the title from the game retailer will receive the exclusive in-game Blood Echelon Armor and Weapon Set .

"The Blood Echelon is a select lodge of elite Dragon Slayers who have earned the highest of distinctions on the battlefield. Their elite armor and weapon set includes:

• Blood Echelon Armor – Sturdy as granite and shaped to intimidate, Blood Echelon armors set new standards in the art of war.
• Blood Echelon Weapon – The Claymore, the Frontline Slayers’ mighty weapon of choice, cleaves armor like it was mere flesh.

The pre-order program is available now through January 5, 2010. Please visit your local GameStop for more information and incentive details, or check online. Incentive items will be available GameStop online or at time of pick-up starting January 5, 2010."

A new version of Fraps has been released adding compatibility with Windows 7 and DirectX 11 along with a few new features.

FRAPS 3.0.0 RELEASE NOTES

• New features and a new look! Fraps is now compatible with Windows 7 and the latest DirectX 11 games.
• Ventrilo & TeamSpeak users have long wanted a way to record their microphone and speakers at the same time.  For Windows 7 and Vista we’ve added realtime sound mixing to our video recording so you can now capture both sides of the conversation!
• NVIDIA have recently included stereoscopic 3D support directly into their drivers.  If you play your DirectX9 (D3D9) game with 3D Vision enabled you can use Fraps to record the game in full 3D too!  You’ll get a side-by-side stereo AVI recording that you can drop straight in to a stereoscopic 3D player!
• Finally, we are aware that more and more people are putting Fraps to professional use.  We’ve added a new option to force lossless RGB compression to ensure that you always have the highest quality video output to work with.

   Thanks again for your support.  We hope that you enjoy Fraps 3!

CHANGELOG

• DirectX 11 support
• Compatible with Windows 7 final (RTM) and RC1 versions
• Stereoscopic 3D Vision video capture up to 1920×1200 for D3D9 games
• Force lossless RGB option to always capture video in pure form
• Ability to mix both game sound and external input such as microphone (Vista/Win7 only)

It has been revealed that because of Steamworks Direct2Drive, Impulse, and GamersGate are refusing to sell the digital version of "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2." It’s easy to understand why these decisions have been made but I’d bet that most of the PC user base has Steam installed anyway and it’s hard to imagine that it will have much of an impact.

The following is posted on Direct2Drive’s Modern Warfare game page:

"At Direct2Drive, we believe strongly that when you buy a game from us, you shouldn’t be forced to install and run a 3rd party software client to be able to play the game you purchased. Because COD MW 2 requires you, the consumer, to do that, we aren’t able to offer the game via Direct2Drive at this time."

Voodoo Extreme received the following from Stardock:

"Impulse will not be selling Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 either. We share some of the same concerns as Direct2Drive over the bundling of the Steam client with the game. The most obvious issue is the forced inclusion of a competitor’s store that blocks us from carrying the game.

Our issues with the game are solely with the Steamworks bundling. We enjoy a great relationship with Activision and would love to sell the title, but not with Steam."

Infinity Ward released the launch trailer for "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2," which is set to launch next Tuesday.

"Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is set directly after the events of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. The radical Ultranationalists have returned to prominence under the leadership of Vladimir Makarov, a former associate of Imran Zakhaev but with his own ambitions. Makarov, no longer kept in check and with his ambitions growing is building a strong power base. Fearful of Makarov’s growing influence, the global community established Task Force 141 to counter the threat posed by the resurgent Ultranationalists."

The saga continues – Best Buy hosted a chat session with Infinity Ward developers on "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" and the log is now available on the Best Buy forum. PC related multiplayer questions were asked and it was revealed that multiplay will indeed by P2P and will be limited to 9×9 matches.

Here’s the important PC stuff. Infinity Ward employee answers are indented.

xxTex: Can explain how IW.net works for the PC platform?

Josh111: PC Question… What will the max amount of players per map be for PC multiplayer on IW.net

Futuremark has announced that "Shattered Horizon" has been released through Steam and the Futuremark Store.

"Shattered Horizon is the highly anticipated first game from Futuremark Games Studio that immerses you in the cold reality of combat in space.

• Multiplayer first-person shooter set in near-Earth space 40 years from now.
• Experience intense zero gravity combat and complete freedom of movement. Use your rocket pack to fly freely through space then land on any surface.
• Engage enemies in furious firefights, or ambush them from unexpected angles. Use tactical grenades to disable electronics, block line of sight or push enemies out from cover.
• Join your friends in action-packed 32 player battles fighting to control hollowed-out asteroids, huge fragments of Moon rock and the ruined remains of the International Space Station.
• Dedicated servers hosted by Futuremark Games Studio at launch with server code being made available for the community shortly afterwards.

Available now at the suggested retail price: €19.95 / $19.95 / £14.95

Free downloadable expansion packs featuring new levels after launch. Shattered Horizon requires DirectX 10 on Windows Vista or Windows 7. There is no support for Windows XP or DirectX 9."

Positech Games today announced the release of "Gratuitous Space Battles," the new space strategy game developed by ex-lionhead coder Cliff Harris.

"Gratuitous Space Battles is an innovative strategy game that plays like a ‘massively-singleplayer’ hybrid of RTS and tower defense. The player takes on the role of supreme admiral of embarrassingly large fleets of spaceships, which are all individually designed by the player, and is in charge of placing them in formations and issuing orders for them to fight against AI-controlled enemy fleets. Unlike a conventional RTS, the battle itself is non-interactive, as individual AI ship commanders carry out the general rules of engagement set by the player. This makes GSB a true strategic game, where the player is effectively winning or losing the battle before it starts by cunning ship design and clever orders, rather than twitch based reflexes mid battle. The battles themselves are suitably gratuitous, with a heavy emphasis on things exploding and going zap.
 
A cunning side-effect of the non interactive battles is the way GSB can be played asynchronously in multiplayer. Players of the game can upload a ‘challenge’ to the games server, which contains their fleet (complete with it’s ship designs) and other players can download and play against the challenge with their own fleets. You can issue open challenges, or private ones between players. There is also an infinite ‘last man standing’ play mode in the game.
 
GSB has been in beta for over two months, and already has a substantial and enthusiastic player base, with hundreds of active challenges, and thousands of designed ships and fleets. The game is on sale direct from the developer’s site, as well as through various online portals (with more to be announced soon). There is at last a demo of the game here:
 
https://www.positech.co.uk/gratuitousspacebattles/demo.html
 
And full details, including video clips and screenshots on the Gratuitous website here:
 
https://www.gratuitousspacebattles.com
 
The official release of GSB in no way marks the end of the game development. GSB had 23 revisions during beta, and the developer anticipates many more tweaks, improvements, additions and expansions. A gratuitous number of them, in fact. The game is also very mod friendly, and some of the core game 3D artwork is freely downloadable from the website."

Valve announced that the "Left 4 Dead 2" demo that was previously only released for pre-order customers, has now been released for everyone via Steam.

"The Left 4 Dead 2 demo features gameplay taken from "The Parish" campaign, set in the New Orleans French Quarter. Playable by 1 to 4 players over local or Internet connections on both the Xbox 360 and PC (with two-player split screen available on the Xbox 360), the demo features all the new boss infected zombies and many of the new melee weapons included in the full product.

Coming exclusively to Xbox 360 and PC, L4D2 promises to set a new benchmark for co-operative action games and become one of 2009’s marquee titles. Set for release on November 17, the title adds melee combat to enable deeper co-operative gameplay, with items such as a chainsaws, frying pans, axes, baseball bats, and more.

With the AI Director 2.0, L4D’s dynamic gameplay is taken to the next level by giving the Director the ability to procedurally change weather effects, world objects, and pathways in addition to tailoring the enemy population, effects, and sounds to match the players’ performance. The result is a unique game session custom fitted to provide a satisfying and uniquely challenging experience each time the game is played.

Adding new Survivors, boss zombies, weapons, and items, Left 4 Dead 2 offers a much larger game than the original, featuring more co-operative campaigns, more Versus campaigns, new Survival maps, and the new competitive game mode, Scavenge, all available at launch.

For more information, please visit www.l4d.com"