PC Game News

Let’s game a scenario here. The situation is this: you’re the PR man for an overly ambitious city-builder which is due to be released in, say, under six months. Your game is pretty terrible. It’s not lived up to the promises you’ve made as PR man, it’s not even lived up to the basic expectations people might have for a game in your genre. It’s just going to be terrible. What do you do? You can’t make the game any better than it is- there isn’t enough time- so you have one of two choices: let the news out that your game is terrible, or clamp down ruthlessly on the flow of information and cross your fingers that not too many brave souls risk a lawsuit over divulging information that could possibly hamper your sales on release day. The practical form the second choice takes is a Non-Disclosure Agreement.

There is no explanation for the NDA in its current form other than this. A game that has been judged fit to be beta-tested by large numbers of people is basically ready for release day. Its current form isn’t going to change significantly. Same thing goes for ‘preview’ code 90% of the time as well. Forcing your beta testers to sign a NDA is a cynical and actually tremendously dishonest PR gambit that has nothing to do with safeguarding your product from copying by the competition and everything to do with your desire, as PR  man, to fleece as many people as possible out of their money when your terrible game is finally released. The fact that people have actually been sued for the totally harmless crime of spreading information about a game they’ve been playing is as stern an indictment of the stifling corporate climate of AAA-title development as anything else. And the fact that companies sheilding bad games from criticism still resort to the NDA even after it’s been proven not only porous as a sieve but also morally bankrupt only indicates their desperation at having made terrible crap nobody wants to play. 

NCSoft released new screenshots from "Aion: The Tower of Eternity" today, giving viewers more of a look at the upcoming MMORPG.

"In Aion, players are divided between those that are "The Chosen" and those that are "The Fallen." The Tower of Eternity exists as a gateway into the Abyss, and acts as a portal between dimensions. When a great evil opens the gateways, it awakens the Dragons imprisoned within the Abyss, who seek revenge on both worlds. It is here that an epic conflict begins, as you take your first steps on a journey to bring salvation to the world.

Aion™ is the most visually beautiful MMORPG ever made. In this ethereal world, you will have the power to direct dynamic relationships between angels, demons and dragons to control the fate of the world. You will evolve Aion’s™ storylines through social, economic and cultural experiences that are both interactive and cinematic."

Unknown Worlds Entertainment has announced details on the "Onos," an alien in the upcoming Half-Life 2 modification "Natural Selection 2".

"The Onos is the cornerstone of the Kharaa forces in Natural Selection 2, a hulking alien bruiser that specializes in plowing through Marine defenses. You’ll never forget the first time you see one of these 12-foot tall, heavily-armored creatures bust down a solid steel door and start charging in your direction!

Players controlling an Onos will have a number of marine-wrecking abilities at their disposal, starting with the basic Gore attack that can toss enemies around and tear down doors. When used effectively, one solid hit can take an entire squad out of the fight for a few valuable seconds until they get back on their feet. Bone Shield brings the Onos’ impressive armor to bear, extending the blades on its head and making frontal attacks completely useless, while Stomp sends out a shockwave that disables any Marine equipment within range.

It may not be the fastest or most agile opponent you’ll face in Natural Selection 2, but pray you’re prepared if you find yourself face-to-face with an Onos, because they never go down without a fight!

For more information about the Onos and its abilities, head to https://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/news/2009/7/detailed_onos_reveal"

Bohemia Interactive and Got Game Entertainment have announced that the retail version of "ArmA II" has been shipped to North American retail stores.

"Bohemia Interactive, a pioneer of the realistic military genre, brings ARMA II to the PC, with the ultimate military simulator powered by the 3rd generation of their original Real Virtuality engine.  The engine is so realistic that it’s also used to train soldiers in countries all over the world.

"It’s very exciting to add such a strong title to Bohemia’s line of successful ArmA games," said Marek Spanel, Bohemia’s CEO.  "The North American audience has been anticipating this game and we are confident they will find it worth the wait."

"Bohemia’s developement expertise and strength in realistic military games ensures that ARMA II translates into a captivating ultra relalistic military gameplay experience," said Got Game Entertainment President Howard Horowitz. "We’re excited to bring this game to the North American market and are proud to offer such a high-quality title to gamers all over the country."

ARMA II offers the ultimate realistic combat simulation experience in a modern day setting. With unprecedented freedom of movement, actions and tactics, unbeatable detailed weapons and military hardware, easy-to-use built in mission editor and one of the most dedicated online communities around. The game will allow players to immerse themselves into the battle as never before.

ARMA II is now available at retailers nationwide for a suggested retail price of $49.99 and carries an ESRB rating of M for mature. For more information please visit the official homepage at www.arma2.com."

Telltale Games has announced the launch of the first chapter in the new "Tales of Monkey Island" series titled "Launch of the Screaming Narwhal".

"The saga begins with a heated battle involving the brave but often bumbling Mighty Pirate™ Guybrush, his beloved wife Elaine, and their nemesis, the demon pirate LeChuck. When the showdown goes up in flames, Guybrush finds himself marooned on a strange island with winds that always blow inward. How will our hero manage to escape this meteorological anomaly? What has become of LeChuck and Elaine? And what’s the story with the infectious voodoo pox that’s spreading across the Caribbean, causing Guybrush and other pirates to act like unruly hooligans? These are just some of the many questions posed in this first chapter of what will become one of the most rollicking and rip-roaring entertainment experiences of the summer.

Dave Grossman, Telltale’s design director and a designer/writer for the original Monkey Island games says “I was laughing my eyepatch off on a daily basis while we were first cooking up Monkey Island at Skywalker Ranch, but if you’d told me then that it would become a classic, and that twenty years later I’d be working with a killer all-star piratey crew to spin an epic new tale and bring the series to a whole new generation of players, I would have said… well, probably, ‘Look behind you, a three-headed monkey,’ but then I’ve always been a bit weird that way.”

Tales of Monkey Island will unfold over the next five months, with each episodic chapter raising the stakes on Guybrush’s quest to eradicate the insidious Pox of LeChuck, reunite with his wife, and vanquish his rival. Much like the best television and films series, the story becomes deeper and more engrossing with interweaving threads building to twists and surprises in the grand finale this fall.

Customers who order from Telltale’s online store during the first week of availability can choose any other Telltale episode of their choice to include free with their purchase.  Visit www.telltalegames.com/monkeyisland to get into the adventure now."

The list of new PC game releases, DVD and Blu-Ray releases, and movies opening the week of July 6th, 2009.

PC Games:

• BioShock Oblivion Combo Pack
• EU Rome Gold
• Street Fighter IV
• Tales of Monkey Island: Screaming Narwhal

Movies Opening This Week:

• Blood: The Last Vampire (limited)
• Brüno
• Humpday (limited)
• I Love You, Beth Cooper
• Soul Power (limited LA/NY)

DVD and Blu-Ray Releases:

• A Day in the Life
• Agatha Christie’s Poirot Movie Collection
• Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
• Beau Geste
• Callan: Set 1
• Coco Channel
• Doctor Who: Attack of the Cybermen
• Doctor Who: The Rescue / The Romans
• Five Fingers
• Flight 666 [Blu-Ray]
• Freedom – Complete Collection
• Grumpy Old Men [Blu-Ray]
• In Memory of My Father [Blu-Ray]
• John Barrymore Collection
• Knowing [Blu-Ray]
• Lonely are the Brave
• Matlock Seasons 1-3 Collection
• Moon Machines
• Murder, She Wrote: The Complete 10th Season
• Mystery Science Theater 3000: XV
• Near Dark
• Night Train [Blu-Ray]
• Now and Then, Here and There = Complete Collection
• Peanuts: 1960’s Collection
• Power Rangers RPM, Vol 1: Start Your Engines
• Push
• Push [Blu-Ray]
• Quincy Jones’ 75th Birthday Celebration Live at Mo [Blu-Ray]
• Reno 911!: The Complete Sixth Season
• Sherlock Holmes
• Tempest
• The Beloved Rogue
• The Deep [Blu-Ray]
• The Unborn [Blu-Ray]
• The Universe [Blu-Ray]
• The Universe: The Complete Season Two
• Third Watch: The Complete Second Season
• Those Who Hunt Elves – Complete Collection
• Trail of the Lonesome Pine
• Twelve Kingdoms – Complete Collection

I think I’ve made myself clear on where I stand when it comes to Microsoft’s involvement with PC gaming. More evidence of Microsoft possibly shunning the PC as a gaming platform has surfaced on the Alan Wake forums where Markus, of Remedy, revealed that all all development efforts are currently being put into the 360 version of the game:

"Hey all,

I’m a PC gamer at heart (have a Core i7, Radeon 4890, 5.1 audio setup at home) so I do appreciate your concerns.

Unfortunately all I can say at this point is that we’re focusing all our efforts on the 360 version and will be making comments in regards to the PC at a later in time."

He doesn’t state why this is happening but it could be assumed that it’s Microsoft’s decision, since they have a large hand in the project – previously announced as a "Vista exclusive" title on the PC but now, after all this time, maybe it will be a Windows 7 exclusive when it finally makes it to the PC. Markus’s reply also probably means that the PC version will probably be released later on, after the 360 version comes out – GTA style.

Thanks VoodooExtreme.

Codemasters has announced that due to the upcoming release of DirextX 11 technology, expected to be released in the second half of 2009 along with Windows 7, "Colin McRae: DiRT 2" will now be released in December in order to take advantage of it.

"With DirectX 11 hardware expected to ship in the second half of 2009, and DirectX 11 coming to home computers with the release of Microsoft Windows 7 on October 22, 2009, Codemasters also announced that the Games For Windows® LIVE edition of Colin McRae: DiRT 2 will benefit from an extended development program to take advantage of DirectX 11 and is now scheduled to be published in December 2009.

“While the console editions of Colin McRae: DiRT 2 will retain their September ship date, we believe that the DirectX 11 feature set is too compelling to ignore, especially considering how much more it can add to the visual experience for PC gamers,” said Bryan Marshall, chief technical officer, Codemasters. “As a leader in digital racing entertainment, we are staying ahead of the pack by immediately taking advantage of key new technologies such as hardware tessellation, multi-threading and Shader Model 5.0 to deliver the most realistic, immersive and exhilarating racing experiences in the business. The fusion of DirectX 11 with Codemasters’ EGO™ Engine will raise the technical bar considerably in the racing genre.”

With the introduction of Microsoft Windows 7, DirectX 11 will be made available both as part of the operating system and as a downloadable update to Windows Vista. Codemasters intends to immediately take advantage of DirectX 11 features that add to the realism of the racing environment. Hardware tessellation will further improve the appearance of water and other surfaces as well as crowd animations.

The shader performance of Shader Model 5.0 (SM 5.0) will aid in creating an even richer 3D experience, enhancing key image quality parameters such as depth of field, ambient occlusion and shadows. These DirectX 11 features, and many others, will add the horsepower needed to improve performance.

For the latest videos and information, powerslide over to www.dirt2game.com."

Anno 1404 (as I mention in my review, which should be up soon) is a dramatic evolution for the Anno series in a lot of very important ways. The game is smoother, the graphics are better, etc. but the really interesting evolutions are in the gameplay and the assumptions which seem to underpin it. Old versions of Anno relied on a one-way, Eurocentric theory of colonization to inform its mechanics. This meant that the player, representing the inexorable forward progress of European rationality, traveled to the uncivilized and largely uninhabited New World, brought civilization to it and populated it. Of course, this has more to do with the quaint kindergarten-textbook myths than the actual history of colonialism worldwide, where the kind of virgin-land settlement the previous Anno games depicted was relatively rare. This new Anno has the player coming into contact with a civilization just as advanced as his own and building up his colonies along two lines- Occidental and Oriental- and oftentimes having to mix buildings of the two cultures in order to succeed. Most islands (for gameplay reasons, it seems) are still uninhabited but at least in 1404 we’re getting a somewhat more accurate approximation of how colonization actually occurred. What’s next for the Anno  series?

Zuxxez Entertainment has announced "Two Worlds II", a sequel in the role-playing series by reality pump.

"Following the fantastic worldwide sales success of the game’s famous predecessor, TopWare Interactive will once again open a radically new chapter in the fantasy world of Reality Pump.

"Two Worlds II" presents a totally new gamer experience, one in which 2 years of intensive development has enabled quantum leaps in all spheres: completely overhauled AI and balancing standards, experienced authors, the active combat system and the brand-new engine all combine to provide an unforgettable experience where excitement, sheer enjoyment and graphics rule. "Two Worlds II" simply sets new technical benchmarks in the RPG genre, thanks not least to its seemingly unlimited number of dynamic light sources, micro-detail Parallax Mapping, 24 Bit HDR Post Processing, Space Ambient Occlusion and Human Eye Accommodation.

The story of "Two Worlds II" is staged a couple of years after Part 1 – and it will lead you into hitherto unexplored parts of Eastern Antaloor where you’ll find many brand-new locations packed full of atmosphere – from dusty deserts to awe-inspiring temples.

Alexandra Constandache, the Executive Producer of TWII commented, "We intentionally opted for a completely independent game with radical new technology. This was the only way to ensure that we harness the enormous potential and experience gained from the making of the first "Two Worlds" project – and make full use of the further technical development of internal Reality Pump tools that has been on-going since the first "Two Worlds" was developed. This new release window gives us enough time to systematically implement both our own requirements and the feedback of the “Two World” fans, enabling us to create a breathtaking RPG experience."

AND – we’ll shortly be bringing out the next version of your hotly-awaited "Two Worlds" magazine, the "Antaloor Post" – and in it we’ll tell you all about the latest developments direct from the developers at Reality Pump! If you want to be on the inside track when it comes to having inside info about Antaloor, go to www.twoworlds2.com and register for the newsletter – you won’t regret it!"

Tripwire sends word that an update to "Killing Floor" has been released through Steam.

"The update includes improvements, bug fixes, exploit fixes, as well as addressing some of the balance issues we have discovered with the Perk system since the release. For a full list of changes please visit the Killing Floor website.

Additionally, there is less than a month left until the deadline for Wave 1 of the “Killing Floor Grindhouse” custom map making competition. With over $20,000 in prizes, included a $10,000 cash grand prize on the line, competition is heating up. Head over to the map contest website for more details."

New screenshots from "Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising" have been released, giving viewers more of a look at the upcoming war simulation sequel by Bohemia Interactive.

"Operation Flashpoint 2, will feature three different theatres of combat across Southeast Asia, Central Europe and Africa. The game’s mission-based campaigns will take PC gamers through fictional conflicts based on authentic events during the years around 1970."

       
   

Telltale Games released new screenshots and a trailer from "Tales of Monkey Island", also announcing that the first episode "Launch of the Screaming Narwhal", which launches next Tuesday.

"The series will launch on Tuesday for PC with “Launch of the Screaming Narwhal,” the first of five monthly episodes. This is Guybrush Threepwood’s first new game in a decade, and it’s going to be an adventure to remember!

Tales of Monkey Island brings the adventures of pirate Guybrush Threepwood into a new era with an explosive storyline that becomes deeper and more entangled during the course of the five-episode saga. While battling his nemesis, the evil pirate LeChuck, Guybrush accidentally unleashes an insidious voodoo pox that threatens to transform the buccaneers of the Caribbean into unruly pirate monsters. Players will experience the humor, romance, and swashbuckling action the Monkey Island games are famous for and unravel an insidious plot which is revealed across the course of the series."

   

Ubisoft has announced that "Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood", the western-themed prequel, has been shipped.

"Developed by Techland, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood takes place 20 years prior to the events of the original storyline.

Following the story of the McCall Brothers, players enter a quest for the legendary Gold of Juarez leading them from a ravaged Georgia during the Civil War to the Aztec ruins of Mexico. The brothers, Ray and Thomas, make their lawless trail into a truly Wild West, using their superior gun-slinging skills to take out all of those that stand in their way.

"Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is one of the best and most authentic Wild West experiences ever offered as interactive entertainment,” said Tony Key , senior vice president of sales & marketing. "We know that the Wild West offers a great setting that is underrepresented in the world of interactive entertainment and we are proud to bring this quality product to the marketplace.”

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood also brings the Wild West mayhem online. Gunslingers, bandits and marshals struggle online for bounty, and multiple character classes can be unlocked for use during team-based objective modes or the straightforward team death match. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood introduces an innovative Bounty System, which increases the bounty on a player’s head as they rack up more kills."

The list of new PC game releases, DVD and Blu-Ray releases, and movies opening the week of June 29th, 2009.

PC Games:

• Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Ice Age: Dawn of Dinosaurs
• Street Fighter IV

Movies Opening This Week:

• I Hate Valentine’s Day (limited)
• Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
• Public Enemies

DVD and Blu-Ray Releases:

• 12 Rounds [Blu-Ray]
• Apollo 11: A Night to Remember
• Barbra Streisand: Live in Concert 2006 [Blu-Ray]
• Barfly
• British Cinema: Renown Pictures Crime and Noir
• Do The Right Thing [Blu-Ray]
• Flawless [Blu-Ray]
• Heroic Age: The Complete Series, Part Two
• Hide
• How the Earth Was Made [Blu-Ray]
• Jockeys
• Jonas Brothers: The Concert Experience
• Lookin’ to Get Out
• One Piece: Season Two, First Voyage
• Pedro
• Samurai Champloo: The Complete Collection
• Serious Charge
• Seven [Blu-Ray]
• Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li [Blu-Ray]
• The Education of Charlie Banks
• The Lucille Ball Specials: Lucy Gets Lucky/ Three for Two
• Tokyo [Blu-Ray]
• Trailer Park Boys: The Complete Series
• Tunnel Rats
• Two Lovers [Blu-Ray]
• Women in Prison Triple Feature