PC Game News

BioWare announced that DLC packs for "Dragon Age: Origins" will be released upon the game’s launch on November 3rd. Two of the packs will be available to customers who purchase the full retail game while the other will come at a premium.

"The three DLC packs include:

• The Stone Prisoner will give players access to the mighty stone golem Shale who can become one of the most powerful party members in the game. Shale comes with its own personal back-story and unique quests for the player to discover. The Stone Prisoner DLC will also include new environments, items and hours of additional gameplay, further deepening the epic Dragon Age experience. The Stone Prisoner will be available to original purchasers of new copies of Dragon Age: Origins at no additional cost via a code* on an insert card in the retail version or as provided by the retailer for digital purchases. The Stone Prisoner can also be purchased separately for $15 on the PlayStation® Store, the PC via the in game menu or for 1200 points on Xbox LIVE® Marketplace.
• The Warden’s Keep premium DLC will provide players of Dragon Age: Origins with a new dungeon-exploring adventure, new loot including a set of ancient Grey Warden armor, a chance to gain two of six mysterious new abilities, a new base complete with merchants and a party chest to store their hard-earned items. The Warden’s Keep adventure is based on an ancient myth in the Dragon Age universe, where two centuries ago the legendary guardians known as the Grey Wardens were expelled from the land amidst a storm of blood and betrayal. Until very recently, the Wardens have been in exile, while their fortress remains overgrown and reportedly haunted. Over the long years, legends of great treasures and forgotten lore have been told of this hidden location, but no one has ever ventured there and returned alive. Warden’s Keep gives gamers the chance to unearth this lost chapter of Grey Warden history. With their trusty party and a new guide, Dragon Age: Origins players will have an opportunity to unravel the mystery behind the fall of Warden’s Keep, and finally reclaim it for the order. Warden’s Keep will be available for $7 on the PlayStation® Store, the PC via the in game menu or for 560 points on Xbox LIVE® Marketplace. It is also included with the purchase of the Digital Deluxe Edition via a code provided by retailers.
• In addition, BioWare will release the Blood Dragon Armor DLC, a set of themed armor that will give players additional protection in combat. This DLC is available to players who purchase a new copy of Dragon Age: Origins (original or Collector’s Edition) via a code* included with the game. This armor will be available for use in both Dragon Age: Origins on the PlayStation 3 computer and entertainment system, Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system and PC and in Mass Effect™ 2 on the Xbox 360 and PC.

Dragon Age: Origins will be released on November 3rd in North America and November 6th in Europe on the Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system and PC. The PlayStation®3 version will follow later in November. Dragon Age: Origins is rated M by the ESRB and 18+ by PEGI.

*One-time use code available with full retail purchase. Expires April 30, 2010."

Valve today announced the fourth game mode that will be included in the upcoming "Left 4 Dead 2" sequel, which is titled Savenge Mode. In this timed mode, up to 8 players compete in round-based games where the survivors try to collect gas cans to refuel the map’s generator.

"Scavenge mode challenges players to compete in round-based games of up to 8 players (Survivors vs. Infected). The Survivors must battle both the Infected and the clock as they collect gas cans to refuel a generator located in each map. Every can the Survivors pour into the generator scores their team a point and adds time to the clock.

On defense, the Infected team plays as the boss Infected (including the new Spitter, Jockey, and Charger). They must keep the Survivors from fueling the generator by attacking them, destroying the gas cans, or running out the clock. During a round, each team gets an opportunity to play both sides, with the round going to whichever team successfully delivers the most cans.

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.

L4D2 also introduces the AI Director 2.0, adding 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.

Finally, with 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 a brand new competitive mode all available at launch.

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

The list of new PC game releases, DVD and Blu-Ray releases, and movies opening the week of October 5th, 2009.

PC Games:

• Cabela’s Outdoor Adventure
• Cities XL
• Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising
• Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes

Movies Opening This Week:

• An Education (limited)
• Bronson (Limited LA/NY)
• Couples Retreat
• Free Style (limited)
• Good Hair (limited)
• St. Trinian’s (limited)
• Trucker (limited)

DVD and Blu-Ray Releases:

• A Charlie Brown Christmas [Blu-Ray]
• Ally McBeal: The Complete Series
• Anvil: The Story of Anvil
• Assassination of a High School President
• Audition [Blu-Ray]
• Blood Ties: Season Two
• Bones: The Complete Fourth Season
• Chinatown
• Contact [Blu-Ray]
• Dance Flick
• Hard Day’s Night [Blu-Ray]
• Hear and Now
• Horton Hears a Who! [Blu-Ray]
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas
• It’s Alive
• Kurt Cobain: About A Son [Blu-Ray]
• Lark Rises to Candleford: The Complete Season One
• Medium: The Complete Fifth Season
• Miracle on 34th Street [Blu-Ray]
• My Life in Ruins [Blu-Ray]
• Nip/Tuck – Season 5, Part 2
• Not Quite Hollywood
• Red Dwarf: Back to Earth
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs [Blu-Ray]
• The Gate
• The Hills: Season Five, Part One
• The Mary Tyler Moore Show: The Complete Fifth Season
• The National Parks: America’s Best Idea [Blu-Ray]
• TMC Spotlight: Esther Williams, Vol. 2
• Trick ‘r Treat [Blu-Ray]
• Wolf/Dracula/Frankenstein Trilogy [Blu-Ray]
• Year One [Blu-Ray]

Codemasters announced that "Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising" has shipped to North American retailers. In addition, the game will ship in PAL territories on Thursday and in the UK on Friday.

"A climactic launch week video, now showing at www.flashpointgame.com, reveals the full effect of warfare as US Marine Corps and PLA troops engage and the massive island of Skira Island erupts into an explosive and deadly battlefield. From the opening moment when APVs take the beach and infantry climbs the hill, the conflict escalates as tanks roll across the fields, attack helicopters rain down missiles and heavy artillery pounds enemy emplacements with devastating effect.

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is modern combat in stunning detail. The game authentically recreates conflict in a 360-degree theatre of war, which enables players to approach objectives from any direction. On this realistic battlefield, where one bullet can kill, players face the fear and mortality felt by soldiers as they are challenged to survive the rapidly evolving situations of battle throughout the game’s single and 4-player co-op campaign.

Whether assaulting, flanking or suppressing the enemy, or calling on fire support to rain down from the skies, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising demands players think on their feet, reacting quickly to any situation the game’s advanced AI throws at them. In this theatre, every decision counts, every action has a consequence and every bullet can kill.

For the duration of hostilities, players will wage war with the most technologically advanced arsenal the USMC has ever had. In the field, players have access to customised weapons that meet the needs of the constantly evolving combat scenario. Scopes, such as the Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight (ACOG) and Thermal Infrared Goggles (TIG), can be used to overcome adverse combat and environmental conditions. Other force multipliers, including grenade launchers, smoke and night vision devices, are also featured.

Complete with 4-player online co-op play throughout the campaign and individual multiplayer Fire Team Engagements, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising delivers the lethality, tension and adrenaline of real war like never before. See the game that puts the fear back in the FPS in action with the climatic gameplay video at www.flashpointgame.com."

This is apparently the last week of an ongoing Direct2Drive 5th year anniversary sale (we missed the previous announcements). From today through the eleventh you can get the following games, along with several others, for just $5 through IGN’s digital distribution site.

Games on sale this week:

• Company of Heroes Gold
• Supreme Commander Gold
• World in Conflict Gold Edition
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Dark Crusade
• Battlestations: Pacific
• Codename: Panzers – Cold War
• Hearts of Iron II Collection
• Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30
• Delta Force: Land Warrior
• Delta Force: Task Force Dagger

A full list of games on sale can be found at https://www.direct2drive.com/d2dturns5.

Ubisoft today announced that it has acquired Nadeo, the developer best known for its "TrackMania" series.

"Set up in 2000 in Paris and comprising a highly talented team of developers, the Nadeo studio has won acclaim for the quality of its multiplayer technology which offers one of the best available on-line game experiences and has already notched up 10 million registered players. Its flagship game – TrackMania – has 700,000 unique players a month and is a pioneer in the sharing of creations (almost 15 million custom tracks created since 2008). It is also the first eSport franchise for racing games."

"The acquisition of Nadeo is an important step in our expansion within the on-line gaming sector", said Yves Guillemot, Chief Executive Officer of Ubisoft.

“Through Nadeo, Ubisoft will gain an expert team, one of the best on-line technologies around as well as a flagship multiplayer game that enjoys an unrivalled reputation among a loyal and committed community. We are excited about the idea of introducing TrackMania to an ever-wider audience and sharing the expertise of Nadeo’s teams with our Group’s other developers”.

"Joining Ubisoft is a huge opportunity for us to develop and innovate and take Nadeo to new horizons", said Florent Castelnérac, Chief Executive Officer of Nadeo. “Nadeo’s team was keen for this acquisition to happen. Like players in a community, we see ourselves as being a complementary fit with Ubisoft and believe that we can share and quickly move ahead together".

A new "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" trailer ran last night during Sunday Night Football, giving viewers more of a look at the highly anticipated sequel by Infinity Ward.

"On November 10, 2009, Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare 2 will strike worldwide. The most-anticipated game of the year and the sequel to the best-selling first-person action game of all time, Modern Warfare 2 continues the gripping and heart-racing action as players face off against a new threat dedicated to bringing the world to the brink of collapse.

Game Features:

• Epic single-player campaign picks up immediately following the thrilling events from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
• The definitive multiplayer experience returns, with a host of new perks and enhancements.
• New cooperative SpecOps mode, the perfect combination of Modern Warfare’s single-player intensity and the addictive replayability of its multiplayer."

Codemasters released a new "Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising" developer trailer titled "Look and Feel," highlighting the realistic nature of the sequel that’s scheduled to ship next week.

"In the ‘Look & Feel’ video key development team members discuss just how far they’ve gone to ensure that Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising will take players as close to war as they’ll ever want to get.

“When we were doing the motion capture for Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, we went to incredible lengths to get the real guns” explains Executive Producer Sion Lenton. “This is because the weight of the guns can actually affect the way the animation looks.”

“Every vehicle in Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising has its own characteristics: look, handling, turnout, weaponry and so on,” Lenton continues. “Everything from the smallest jeep to the largest chopper has a completely different handling experience.”

“The damage in Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is pretty gruesome,” says Mike Smith, Art Lead “It’s pretty much realistic – if you get hit by a large round, you’re very likely to have serious trauma to your body. We represent damage with several different visual stages. For example, you’ve got blood that seeps through clothes and then you’ve got catastrophic damage, which is actually losing your limbs or having your head blown off.”

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising will set the new standard for sandbox shooters when it arrives October 6th (US) / 8th (EPAC) / 9th (UK) for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft®, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and PC. Feel the terror of war with the new developer video, now available online at www.flashpointgame.com."

A demo for "Risen" has been released, giving players a chance to try out the RPG by Piranha Bytes that’s scheduled to be released tomorrow.

"With Risen, Piranha Bytes introduces a fresh, new setting. The game’s protagonist is shipwrecked after a storm and finds himself on a mysterious island. An active volcano dominates the scene. Ancient temple ruins have recently risen from the ground, and bizarre creatures infest the island."

The ~1.1GB demo can be downloaded from AtomicGamer, FileShack, Gamer’s Hell, Strategy Informer, or Worthplaying.

True Games Interactive and Petroglyph have released a new character classes trailer for "Mytheon," the upcoming online action-RPG.

"In the trailer, players will the see the powerful Warcaster in action as he summons companions to fight alongside him in a battle against deadly foes. The Elementalist brandishes his abilities to channel the forces of nature to quickly bring down enemies, as the Eidolon demonstrates his prowess at conjuring companions, buffs, and debuffs to heal allies and weaken opponents.

Mytheon offers a unique game play experience that combines elements of action, role-playing and strategy, with an emphasis on collectability. Players will challenge legendary mythological gods by wielding potent and unique "Power Stones" that transform into spells, structures and companions.  Players can loot, forge, buy, sell and trade these stones among a thriving online community, then cast the stones during epic battles that play out in a visually stunning 3D mythological world.

For additional details on Mytheon and for continuous updates on the game, please visit: https://www.Mytheongame.com."

Paradox released more information on the recently announced "Fort Zombie," the upcoming action RPG by Kerberos Productions.

"In Fort Zombie, players will find themselves in Piety, Indiana, a small town facing a horrifying infestation of zombies with a relentless thirst for blood. Survival is only possible through finding refuge in a single, abandoned building.

Players must focus their efforts on building up this structure, finding and training survivors, and venturing out into town to look for supplies. Of course, all of this must be achieved while combating the gruesome undead, who will stop at nothing to make you part of their company.

Features:

• Take control of a single building in town as you prepare for total zombie infestation
• Gather supplies and find survivors by day, defend your building by night
• Players can engage in specific single missions within the campaign and spend hours building up the ultimate fortress
• Unique character building and reward system – each day brings new missions, each with different potential rewards. How you utilize and level up your survivors will greatly affect your chances of avoiding an ultimate zombie demise

Be prepared for the fight of your lives in Fort Zombie, available this autumn through all major digital distribution channels.

For more information on Fort Zombie, please visit: https://www.fortzombie.com"

       
       

Valve today announced that "Crash Course," the second DLC update for "Left 4 Dead" has been released for the PC and Xbox 360.

"Entitled "Crash Course," the latest DLC delivers new single-player, multiplayer and co-operative gameplay to both platforms. Targeted for release in September, "Crash Course" bridges the gap between the end of the "No Mercy" campaign and the beginning of "Death Toll" in the original game, expanding the game universe with new locations, new dialogue from the original cast, and an explosive finale

While containing both Survival maps and a Co-operative Campaign, the primary goal of "Crash" is to deliver a complete Versus mode experience in just 30 minutes, resulting in a streamlined version of the game’s existing Versus campaigns. A recharge timer for infected teammates has also been added, and item spawn behavior has changed for more balanced gameplay.

Left 4 Dead is an action horror game from Valve that blends the social entertainment experience of multiplayer games such as Counter-Strike and Team Fortress with the dramatic, narrative experience made popular in single player action game classics such as the Half-Life series of games. Released in November of 2008, L4D has earned over 50 industry awards from outlets around the world and sold over 3 million copies worldwide.

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

Shrapnel Games announces the free release of "Strange Adventures in Infinite Space," a strategy game developed by Digital Eel that was originally released in 2003.

"Up until now if one wanted to see the birth of the Infinite Space universe a monetary transaction was involved but those days are now over! Digital Eel, in their bid to attain Beatles-like popularity in the indie gaming world, has now made Strange Adventures in Infinite Space available for FREE.

Strange Adventures in Infinite Space is twenty minutes (at a time) of pure retro sci-fi gaming bliss. Explore a randomly created universe, meet aliens, acquire artifacts in the name of scientific progress and stellar manifest destiny. If you’re a fan of Weird Worlds take a trip to see where it all began. If you have yet to experience either game there’s no better way to get your feet wet. Enjoy the free, full game and when that desire for more sears your soul be sure to check out the sequel, Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space."

Monte Cristo today announced that "Cities XL," the upcoming city building sim game, can now be pre-ordered on Steam for $39.99.

"Cities XL enables gamers to develop cities on realistic 3D maps, which feature a variety of environments from mountain ranges to beaches and islands. The cities you will build are based on American, Asian and European-influenced architectural styles. You must create the right combinations of job opportunities, social services, leisure activities, and special events within your cities in order to keep your citizens occupied and happy. Whether you’re planning and building a new zoo, public park, residential neighborhood or transit system, there’s always a fresh and exciting challenge for would-be city managers and mayors in Cities XL.

For more information about pre-ordering Cities XL on Steam, please visit – https://store.steampowered.com/app/35500"

The list of new PC game releases, DVD and Blu-Ray releases, and movies opening the week of September 28th, 2009.

PC Games:

• Fallen Earth: Welcome to Apocalypse
• Risen

Movies Opening This Week:

• A Serious Man
• More Than a Game (limited)
• The Invention of Lying
• Whip It
• Zombieland

DVD and Blu-Ray Releases:

• 42nd Street Forever 5: Alamo Drafthouse Ed.
• Away We Go [Blu-Ray]
• Batman Collection: 4 Film Favorites
• Billy Jack [Blu-Ray]
• CSI NY: The Complete Fifth Season
• Daybreak: The Complete Series
• Filth and Wisdom
• Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
• How I Met Your Mother: Season Four [Blu-Ray]
• Kings: Season One
• Labyrinth [Blu-Ray]
• Life on Mars: The Complete Series
• Management [Blu-Ray]
• Midsomer Murders: Set 13
• Monsters vs. Aliens [Blu-Ray]
• Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa
• Secret Policeman’s Ball: The Secret Policeman Rocks!
• Shrink
• Snakes on a Plane [Blu-Ray]
• Superman/Batman: Public Enemies
• The Dark Crystal [Blu-Ray]
• The Girlfriend Experience [Blu-Ray]
• The Guild: Seasons 1 & 2
• The Hills Run Red
• The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club
• The Lost and Found Family
• The New York Ripper [Blu-Ray]
• The Patty Duke Show: Season One
• The Real Ghostbusters: Complete Collection
• The Unit: Season Four [Blu-Ray]