PC Game News

Introversion has announced a partnership with the event organizers of CIG 2009 to hold a DEFCON competition where programmers will compete to create the deadliest AI bot.

"The contest, scheduled for this September, is a part of an ongoing yearly event that attempts to create bots from videogames that are realistic enough into fooling an expert panel of judges that they are actually human players.

In what has been described as the “Turing Test for Bots”, the competition has chosen DEFCON this year as the game for which bots will be created.

This competition follows on from work that the best brains of Imperial College, London, have developed with a DEFCON API (Application Programmers Interface), which enables anyone to create their own DEFCON bot, in true Wargames fashion.

A group of talented programmers will pitch their DEFCON bot against enemy bots in a series of one-on-one thermonuclear chess games. The winner is the programmer whose bot successfully annihilates its opponents and racks up the highest death count. IEEE is offering a $500 prize to the deadliest DEFCON AI bot competition winner.

Let’s just hope the technology developed at this year’s CIG doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.

Contact Details:

For technical enquiries about the API, please contact Robin Baumgarten: robin.baumgarten06@doc.ic.ac.uk

For enquiries about using the API for student projects, please contact Simon Colton: sgc@doc.ic.ac.uk"

Atari has announced that "Ghostbusters: The Video Game" has been shipped to North American retailers and is now available.

"Working closely with Sony Pictures Consumer Products and acclaimed development studios Terminal Reality and RedFly, Atari brings this completely all-new chapter of the blockbuster Ghostbusters saga to advanced gaming platforms coinciding with the 25th Anniversary celebration of the film’s original theatrical release. Ghostbusters: The Video Game, based on the smash hit motion picture franchise, is penned by original Ghostbusters writers and stars Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd and reunites many of the original cast members. In addition, the game also launches today along with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s worldwide debut of the original motional picture on Blu-ray Disc(TM).

Featuring the unique blend of humor and fright that established Ghostbusters as a pop culture sensation, this new chapter of the blockbuster franchise is available at retailers across North America for the Xbox 360(R) video game and entertainment system from Microsoft ($59.99), Windows PC ($29.99), PLAYSTATION(R)3 computer entertainment system ($59.99), PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system ($19.99), Wii(TM) ($39.99) and Nintendo DS(TM) ($29.99).

In addition to Aykroyd and Ramis, original Ghostbusters Bill Murray, and Ernie Hudson, and new love interest, Alyssa Milano, lend their voices and in-game likenesses to the original story set two years after Ghostbusters 2, with Manhattan once again overrun by ghosts and supernatural forces. The player joins up as a new recruit with the original team, testing a variety of unique equipment and gadgets, to track, wrangle and trap a wide range of awe-inspiring phantasms in an all-new, funny and frightening battle to save New York City from its latest paranormal plague.

Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters 2 combined to gross over $500 million world-wide at the box office. The films spawned some of the most memorable comedic catch-phrases and scenes in motion picture history. To further celebrate the film’s 25th Anniversary milestone this year, Sony Pictures Consumer Products has licensed the property for several new commemorative products including: toys, t-shirts, comic books, prop replicas, and a theme park attraction. In addition, the original Ghostbusters car (Ecto-1) has been fully restored with plans for special promotional appearances throughout the US and additional replicas touring across Europe. The Blu-ray Disc release of Ghostbusters will see unsurpassed picture and audio quality and advanced new bonus features including Slimer Mode, a picture-in-picture graphical viewing experience, a featurette on the refurbishing of Ecto-1, and more.

For more information about Ghostbusters: The Video Game please visit www.ghostbustersgame.com."

New screenshots from "Cities XL" have been released, giving viewers more of a look at the upcoming city-building simulation game by Monte Cristo.

"CITIES XL allows gamers to develop cities on realistic 3D maps using an incredible collection of unique structures and monuments based on American, Asian and European-influenced architectural styles. The maps feature a variety of environments: mountains, hills, canyons, beaches and islands, all set in different climates from tropical to desert, Mediterranean to temperate. Players must create the right combinations of social services, leisure activities, special events and other job opportunities within their cities in order to feed, clothe, employ and entertain their citizens. Be it 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."

       
 

Aspyr Media has announced an agreement with 1C Company to bring "Death to Spies: Moment of Truth" and "XIII Century Gold Edition" to North America.

"Like previous 1C titles published by Aspyr, both games will be released DRM-free.

"1C continues to deliver great games and we’re happy to see that North American gamers are responding well to the company’s fun and unique content," said Ted Staloch, Executive Vice President for Aspyr. "1C has been a wonderful partner and we expect nothing but continued success on current and future projects."

Death to Spies: Moment of Truthis a sequel to the popular stealth action title Death to Spies. The game’s main character is Semion Strogov, a captain in the 4th department of the Soviet counterintelligence service called SMERSH. SMERSH, a Russian acronym that means "Death to Spies," was the name of a set of Soviet military counterintelligence departments that were formed during World War II. Strogov is back from his previous missions and must now participate in a series of even more complex and exciting military operations.

XIII Century Gold Edition will include the 2008 release XIII Century: Death or Glory and the upcoming sequel XIII Century: Blood of Europe in one package. Both RTS titles offer up large-scale battles set in the Middle Ages and feature stunning graphics and thousands of units on the field of combat. As one of the famous military leaders of the 13th Century, gamers are able to test their steel against neighboring nations and carve their names into history. Both XIII Century titles depict realistic actions of Middle Ages fighting units and their behavior during battle."

Warner Bros. has announced the release of the PC version of the "Armored Front" map pack, which includes the Conductor Map, Decoy Map, and four new unique heads.

"The "Armored Front" map pack consists of two maps, Conductor and Decoy, as well as four unique character heads to swap out.

• Conductor Map: Push out of a train yard into the vast and open-ended junction station built around a turntable. EPAs will battle their way through the ground floor, as infantry can choose to either support from below or scale the heights of the station and engage in long-range combat.
• Decoy Map: This full-scale training ground for Replica soldiers is a true test of skill! Once a controlled arena for combat exercises, now it is under a full-blown assault for control between Replica and ATC. Players must watch out for ambushes and avoid getting duped by the pop-up target dummies.
• Character Heads: Four unique heads for use in customizing characters.

“Armored Front” is the second of three robust DLC packs for F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin; the "Toy Soldiers” map pack launched in April and the third pack is slated for summer 2009. “Armored Front” launched on Xbox LIVE Marketplace for Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PlayStation®Network for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system on May 21, 2009.

In F.E.A.R.2: Project Origin a routine assignment to locate the president of Armacham Technology Corporation in connection with an unfolding hostage crisis turns into a desperate battle for survival after an explosion decimates the city and unleashes Alma Wade, the terrifying supernatural menace at the centre of Armacham’s highly classified Project Origin. As Alma’s power swells out of control, special forces Sgt. Michael Becket and his squad must battle through an apocalyptic landscape of shattered buildings and buckled streets in search of clues for how to destroy her. The more Becket learns about Armacham’s secret experiments and reckless agenda, the more he begins to suspect that he’s somehow linked to the crisis and may be the only one capable of averting total disaster."

The ~900MB map pack is available to download through digital distribution websites and the following mirrors for the retail version: FileFront, FileShack, or Worthplaying.

An "Overlord II" demo has been released, giving players a chance to try out the upcoming action adventure game by Triumph Studios.

"In the Overlord II demo, players step into the big spiky boots of a new Overlord whose sights are firmly set on becoming the king of chaos, the bringer of evil and the master of Minions. As the demo opens the Overlord, aided and abetted by a team of brown fighter Minions, emerges from his underground lair into the ice caves only to discover a Yeti frozen in a block of ice. The Minions can, in their inimitably violent way, ‘defrost’ him and then give chase as he knuckles out into the snowy wastes of the Hunting Grounds, near the town of Nordberg.

Then it’s time to put the Minions to work, harvesting valuable life-force from the indigenous fauna. Minions will happily lock onto anything in the vicinity – including fluffy seal pups (‘Well,’ argue the Minions, ‘the smelly furballs are eating all the lovely fishies’). There are also Nordburgian Hunters and hippy, peace-loving elves to contend with but, as ever, the Minions aren’t fussy who they attack for their master.

To speed their progress, Minions can befriend a pack of wolves and ride them through the snowy landscape like a Minion Cavalry. The wolf-mounted Minion is an altogether tougher force, more deadly and more agile – wolves have their own attack moves and will knock enemies off their feet through sheer force, biting and goring opponents into submission."

The 972MB demo can be downloaded from The Official Site, FileFront, FileShack, Gamer’s Hell, or Worthplaying.

G4tv received confirmation of the development of Battlefield 3 at the William Blair Growth Stock Conference.

"Criterion Games working on a Need For Speed game wasn’t the only surprising bit of news that Electronic Arts chief operating office John Pleasants tucked into his presentation at the William Blair Growth Stock Conference I listened to today. Pleasants confirmed he’s seen DICE’s work on Battlefield 3.

"I’ve had the luxury of looking at Battlefield 3 over at DICE in Sweden and was highly impressed by the way the team is working on that product," he said. "Of course, that’s not [coming out] in the fiscal year, but that is a product that is looking very good."

Gamers worried that Battlefield: Bad Company, Battlefield Heroes and Battlefield 1943 were a three-pronged answer to fans demanding a third Battlefield don’t have to worry. Battlefield 3 is coming!"

Mezmer Games released a new gameplay video and info for "Legio", their upcoming turn-based strategy game.

"The game is a unique mix between chess and a turn-based war game, and takes place in a mythical fantasy world where magicians, warriors and monsters battle for domination. Both players control an equal army of characters with the goal of eliminating the other player’s army.

The new gameplay movie showcases one of the main characters of Legio, the King, lurking around at night until he runs into an opponent slightly out of his own league, the Giant. The movie also displays the prominent gameplay elements of Legio. Each game starts with players setting up the game board and placing their battle units in position. In the actual battle, you can see how the different units move around, attack, and eventually die – all of it being performed differently by different characters. The movie clip also shows the timing element when attacking an enemy.

For more information, please visit https://www.mezmergames.com/group/legio"

Turbine has announced the launch of the beta for "Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited", a free update to "Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach", which will raise the level cap, add new content, and will be free to play.

"The new DDO Unlimited delivers heart-pounding game play featuring the industry’s best combat system, a massive world with state-of-the-art graphics and gameplay, and a rich set of features that until now could only be found only in premium subscription-based MMOs. Launching later this summer, DDO Unlimited will introduce an innovative new pricing model that allows players to download and play for free, purchasing adventure packs, items, and account services a la carte from the new DDO Store, or to subscribe to get unlimited access to all of the game’s content. Players interested in getting a sneak peak of the new DDO Unlimited can sign up for a chance to participate in the Beta program at https://www.ddo.com."

Tripwire Interactive has announced the release of "Darkest Hour: 1944-45", a free total conversion mod that brings the Americans into the game and focuses on the battles at beaches of Normandy.

"Darkest Hour is free to all those who own Red Orchestra and can be simply downloaded and installed through Steam. Darkest Hour finally brings the Americans to Red Orchestra, focusing on the beaches of Normandy, Operation Market-Garden, the Battle of the Bulge and on into the Reich. Featuring airborne parachute drops and late war German and Allied tanks Darkest Hour brings an all new style of gameplay to Red Orchestra. A trailer is available on Steam along with screenshots and other information on the Mod’s Steam page. Now you can play as American, British or Canadian troops, with a huge range of additional features:

• More than 20 new infantry weapons, such as the ever-distinctive Garand, M1 Carbine, .30-cal, Bren, FG42, Thomson and the Enfield rifles
• American Bazooka, British PIAT and German Panzerschreck to go tank-hunting with
• New infantry features, including Airborne drops onto the battlefield, bullet suppression and supersonic cracks, plus a new radioman class for calling in artillery strikes
• Over a dozen new crewable vehicles including the King Tiger and JagdPanther for the Germans, countered with multiple types of Sherman in 75mm, 76mm and 17-pounder versions, plus the Cromwell, M10 Wolverine and Achilles
• 11 new maps, including:
  • Juno Beach – Canadians storming the beaches in classic D-Day action
  • Carentan – the US 101st Airborne assaults the town shortly after D-Day
  • Brecourt – 101st Airborne attempt to put a key German artillery battery out of commission behind the beaches
  • Ginkel Heath – British paras drop into a hotly-contested LZ at the start of Operation Market-Garden
  • Wacht-am-Rhein – sweeping tank combat during the Battle of the Bulge, including the fearsome King Tiger
  • Stoumont – American infantry and armor try and hold back the SS PanzerGrenadiers in the streets of the Ardennes town

So whether it is the Normandy campaign, para-jumping onto the dropzones around Arnhem or the bitter fighting in the Battle of the Bulge, new and old players alike will get a chance to see why RO remains a classic. Now with the opportunity to re-play those battles RO-style, courtesy of Darkest Hour: Europe 1944-45! For more information on the mod (and to see the trailer) head for the Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1280/. 

And, just to ensure that everyone gets a chance to see Red Orchestra on the Western Front, we are dropping the price of RO on Steam to $4.99 right through until the end of the weekend (Sunday 14th June).

For the full details and history of the mod, head for their own web page: https://www.darkesthourgame.com"

The list of new PC game releases, DVD and Blu-Ray releases, and movies opening the week of June 8th, 2009.

PC Games:

• Prototype

Movies Opening This Week:

• Imagine THat
• Moon (limited)
• Tetro
• The Taking of Pelham 123

DVD and Blu-Ray Releases:

• American Pluck
• Crossing Over
• Danny Phantom Season 3
• Fatal Attraction [Blu-Ray]
• Father Knows Best: Season Three
• Fired Up [Blu-Ray]
• Get Smart: Season 3
• Gran Torino [Blu-Ray]
• Gypsy Blood
• Indecent Proposal [Blu-Ray]
• Iron Maiden: Flight 666
• Judge Judy
• Kalinovski Square
• Last of the Summer Wine: Vintage 1979
• Los Borgia
• Making Friends Season 1
• Mistresses, Vol. 1
• Nobel Son
• Norman Lear TV Collection
• Perry Mason: Season 4, Vol. 1
• Predator 2 [Blu-Ray]
• Puppet Master
• Reaper: Season 2
• Shaun the Sheep: Sheep on the Loose
• Survivorman: Season Three
• The Best of Whose Line is it Anyway?
• The Clenaer: First Season
• The Interanational [Blu-Ray]
• The Jack Lemmon Film Collection
• THe Law of Ueki
• THe Shield: Season Seven – The Final Act
• The Siege [Blu-Ray]
• The Tong-Man
• Time Warp: Season 1 [Blu-Ray]
• Ultimate WWII Collection
• Were the World Mine
• Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace and Music: Director’s Cut [Blu-Ray]
• WWE: Macho Madness
• Z Rock
• Zane Grey Theatre Complete Season One
• Zoey 101 – The Complete 4th season

Valve and the US Army have announced that "America’s Army 3" is coming to Steam and will take advantage of Steamworks. In addition, the game is now available to pre-load.

"America’s Army 3 (AA3), the only action game that delivers an authentic and entertaining Army experience by reflecting the training, technology, actions, and career advancement of a Soldier within an exciting free game experience,  is now available for pre-load via Steam, a leading platform for the delivery and management of PC games and digital content with over 20 million accounts worldwide.  AA3 is free and will be released on June 17, 2009.  Those playing AA3 through Steam will also get the benefit of Steamworks features such as auto-updating, Steam Achievements, and Steam Cloud.

For more information, please visit www.steamgames.com and www.steamgames.com/steamworks and aa3.americasarmy.com."

Activision has announced that "PROTOTYPE", the action game by Radical Entertainment, has been shipped to retail stores and should now be available in North America. The European version will be available on Friday.

"With early critical acclaim, including a 9/10 review from PSW Magazine, the genetically mutated Alex Mercer is set to deliver a powerful, action-packed gaming experience as players begin to unravel his dark, conspiracy-ridden past and become the ultimate shape-shifting weapon!

You are the PROTOTYPE: Alex Mercer – a genetically mutated man without memory, armed with amazing shape-shifting abilities, hunting to discover what created you and determined to make those responsible pay. As Alex, gamers tear through a densely populated contemporary New York City moving with free-roaming Parkour-style fluidity, consuming anybody that gets in his way…assuming their physical form, memories and abilities. Fueled by a three-way war between Alex, the Blackwatch Military Special Forces and a viral outbreak known as the Infected, players venture into a deep, dark conspiracy 40 years in the making!

PROTOTYPE is available for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PLAYSTATION3 computer entertainment system for a suggested retail price of $59.99, and for Games for Windows® for $49.99, and is rated "M" (Mature – Blood and Gore, Intense Violence and Strong Language – content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older) by the ESRB.

For access to the latest and greatest PROTOTYPE game information and assets, gamers can visit the official game Web site located at www.prototypegame.com."

Codemasters released a new trailer for "Overlord II" today, giving viewers some more info on the upcoming action adventure sequel by Triumph Studios.

"Behold! …invaluable advice on applying your evil ways in a more focused and professional fashion with A Career in Overlording. A range of subjects are covered: from brightening up your dark and foreboding fortress with a few feisty maidens to making the most of your downtime after a hard day covering a range of subjects. (In a shower of molten lava or large rocks, usually.)
Also available for download – for those of you that missed the Minion memo – is the first in the series, Controlling One’s Minions. This first Minionstry offering proffers handy tips on deploying your horde and instructing them to: fight for you, steal for you, crush for you, even don disguises for a little daring-do.

The forces of darkness need you, so don’t delay – be evil today!"

Deep silver released new screenshots for "Risen", the upcoming role-playing game by Piranha Bytes.

"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."