PC Game News

THQ and Relic have announced that "Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II" has been shipped to North American retail stores and is now available.

"Based on the popular Warhammer 40,000 Games Workshop table-top war game, Dawn of War II is now available at retail and online outlets in the US for the suggested retail price of $49.99.

"Relic Entertainment is a premiere RTS developer and a driving force for innovation in the genre," said Kevin Kraff, vice president of global brand management, THQ.  "With Dawn of War II, the studio has once again redefined the core foundations of the genre, replacing base building and massive armies with intimate, tactical gameplay and a customization-driven single-player experience." "Dawn of War II offers a unique single-player experience with branching storylines, unit customization and deep tactical gameplay," said Tarrnie Williams, general manager, Relic Entertainment.  "It also offers all new multiplayer and co-op modes that take the tactical gameplay to an all new level.  Once gamers play Dawn of War II, it might be hard to go back to the old model."

About Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II

Warhammer(r) 40,000(tm): Dawn of War(r) II transports players into Games Workshop’s vast Warhammer 40,000 universe, where an intergalactic war between ancient races has raged on for countless millennia.  Featuring vicious front-line combat, destructible environments, a fully cooperative multiplayer mode, four unique playable races and a non-linear single-player campaign with branching storylines, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II delivers the ultimate sci-fi fantasy RTS experience.  Disposable units will become a thing of the past as gamers feel the intimate brutality of war and develop a personal connection with fully customizable squads.  For more information on Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II, please visit www.dawnofwar2.com."

Midway and Epic Games have announced the Titan Pack for "Unreal Tournament 3", a upcoming free add-on that will include new maps, units, vehicles, and characters.

"Midway and Epic Games have officially confirmed the Titan Pack is coming to Unreal Tournament 3 for the PC and PlayStation 3 March 5, 2009. This bonus content takes the award-winning shooter to a whole new level.

The Titan Pack introduces 11 new multiplayer maps for maps for Deathmatch, CTF, Vehicle CTF and Warfare modes, plus eight popular maps from the first UT3 bonus pack and Xbox 360 version. In addition, players will experience two new game modes: Greed mode, a "tug of war" style kill points battle, and Betrayal mode, a cutthroat style of play where alliances and teams can shift fluidly through a match.

The Titan Pack also rewards you for your successes in game, with 57 awards that can be attained as Steam Achievements for PC and Trophies for PlayStation 3.

New units are one part of this mammoth download. The new X-Ray deployable field can be used to lay waste to foes since enemies inside it are extremely vulnerable, while the Link Station, a temporary repair unit, can be deployed to keep vehicles in top fighting condition. The Stealthbender comes equipped with a Link Station, an X-Ray Field, spidermine traps, and an EMP mine, but what makes this new vehicle especially lethal is its underlying Necris stealth technology, which renders it invisible for surprise attacks.

The Unreal Tournament 3 Titan Pack also features the new Titan mutator where fragging enough enemies turns you into the almighty Titan, a 15-foot tall maestro of wholesale carnage that has the effects of every Power Up in the game… ALL AT ONCE!!!

Two new turret units guaranteed to "bring the rain" on enemy forces and protect your bases are introduced in the Titan Pack. The Eradicator is a stationary long range artillery piece that will spray fire on opposing units almost anywhere in the map, while the Stinger turret combines the fastest firing rate of any weapon in any Unreal Tournament game with huge knockback.

Nova and Kana are two new playable characters added to the roster of death-dealing guns for hire in Unreal Tournament 3. "

MIdway and Ubisoft have announced a publishing agreement in which Ubisoft will publish the upcoming racing action game "Wheelman" in North America, South America, New Zealand, and the major European countries. Midway wil publish the game in other European territories.

"Wheelman is scheduled for a March 24, 2009, ship date in North America and a March 27, 2009, street date in Europe for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Windows PC. A pre-launch demo is also planned for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

"We are pleased to be partnering with Midway to bring Wheelman to stores worldwide," said Yves Guillemot, chief executive officer, Ubisoft. "Midway is known for launching intense, fast-paced action games, and the cutting edge open-world driving technology in Wheelman should make for a game that gamers will love."

"Ubisoft’s decision to join Midway in a co-publishing agreement is a gratifying validation of Wheelman’s potential," commented Matt Booty, president and CEO, Midway. "Ubisoft has a proven expertise at bringing new IP to market, which will allow us to reach a broader consumer segment with Wheelman, while helping Midway to balance the risk profile of our product portfolio."

"The development team in Newcastle, UK, has fine-tuned and polished Wheelman, especially in these last few months, to deliver a true Hollywood blockbuster experience," said Craig Duncan, studio head, Midway Studios – Newcastle Ltd. "The demo due out for Xbox 360 and PS3 will show that Wheelman’s new game design mechanics like cinematic super moves and vehicular combat will revolutionize driving games."

About Wheelman

Action film megastar Vin Diesel and his Tigon Studios are again blurring the lines between entertainment mediums, this time collaborating with Midway in the design and production of Wheelman to ensure an edge-of-your-seat gaming experience. Diesel’s voice and likeness will appear as the game’s main character, expert Wheelman Milo Burik.

Combining spectacular Hollywood-style stunts with a gripping storyline, Wheelman provides an adrenaline-fueled, cinematic thrill ride guaranteed to leave you breathless. Weave in and out of traffic, engaging in intense vehicular warfare through the winding streets of Barcelona. Your vehicle is your weapon, leaving wreckage in your wake as you take out anything or anyone that gets in your way. Wheelman is slated for a March 24, 2009, ship date in North America and a March 27, 2009, street date in Europe for Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, and for Windows PC."

Monte Cristo today released new screenshots from "Cities XL", the upcoming city building simulation game.

"These new screens focus on key in-game elements such as sports stadiums, farms and downtown areas, all of which are important aspects of the gameplay within CITIES XL™ as they help bolster the economies of player-managed cities.

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™. "

Valve announced that a new update for "Team Fortress 2" will be released next week, focusing on the Scout class. Details will be unveiled on the Team Fortress website day by day until next Tuesday, when the patch is released. And no, we will not be posting the details each day so you’ll have to keep track yourself if you want to see the full list of updates.

"The releases are headline by the Scout Update and will be made available Tuesday, February 24. Between now and then, folks can learn more about what’s coming by checking www.tf2.com/scoutupdate each day."

The list of new PC game releases, DVD releases, and movies opening the week of February 16th, 2009.

PC Games:

• Drakensang: The Dark Eye
• Penumbra Collection
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II

Movies Opening This Week:

• Eleven Minutes (limited LA/NY)
• Fired Up
• Madea Goes to Jail

DVD Releases:

• 2009 BCS National Championship Game DVD- Florida vs. Oklahoma
• America’s Journey: Inauguration Day 2009
• Body of Lies
• Changeling
• Choke
• Dead Like Me: Life After Death
• Dead Like Me: The Complete Collection
• Feast III: The Happy Finish
• Flash of Genius
• High School Musical 3: Senior Year
• Hounddog
• How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
• Kramer Vs Kramer
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit – The Eighth Year
• Murder, She Wrote: The Complete Ninth Season
• Quarantine
• Religulous
• Sabrina the Teenage Witch: The Fifth Season
• Screamers: The Hunting
• The Beverly Hillbillies: The Official Third Season
• The Midnight Meat Train
• The Passion of the Christ [Blu-ray]

505 Games and 1C Company have released a single-player demo for "Men of War", giving players a chance to try out the upcoming real-time strategy game.

"The demo features the entire opening stage of the Russian campaign, which sees a small unit from the Red Army taking on the might of the Germans. This initial mission helps players to get to grips with the controls before culminating in a tightly fought battle between a Russian tank and a convoy of German vehicles."

The 248MB demo can be downloaded from AtomicGamer, FileFront, FileShack, Gamer’s Hell, GameUpdates (torrent), Strategy Informer, or Worthplaying.

Paradox and Ino-Co have released new screenshots and several new in-game videos from "Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim", the upcoming real-time strategy sequel.

"What is spied upon yonder horizon?! Could that be a bravura new gameplay trailer full of mirth and joy? And could that also be a fine selection of the most delightfully whimsical screenshots for Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim, the long anticipated PC Fantasy Strategy game developed by the monumental talents at 1C:Ino-Co and released by the legendary creatives of Paradox Interactive?! They very well are and they are here now for your enjoyment!

With nothing else out there quite like it, the world of Majesty 2 is full of charm and a unique sense of humour, and one where the player only has indirect control of the characters and units. Your independent thinking Heroes are just as likely to go shopping as they are to fight monsters and undertake heroic quests! Majesty 2 will make you think in totally new way."

       
       

In-game video clips:

• Majesty2 – Fighting is good for you
• Majesty2 – Build the fantasy city of your dreams
• Majesty2 – Buy the stuff heroes are made off
• Majesty2 – Who said you can’t buy happiness?
• Majesty2 – Make your heroes earn their living

Slitherine has announced "Conquest: Medieval Realms", an upcoming turn-based strategy game by Illustrious Software.

"Conquest! Medieval Realms, developed by Illustrious Software, is a turn-based game where the objective is to conquer up to 7 opposing players (either AI players or other human players) by defeating their armies and capturing their lands – to do this you will need to unite all of your lands, build up a powerful economy, and raise armies to defend the homeland and to take lands from your enemies.

George Quinn of Illustrious Software said “We’ve spent quite a while now working on Conquest, and it’s been hard work – but now that the end is in sight and we’re preparing for the last round of beta testing, it’s getting exciting. Working with Slitherine through the Kameleon Project has enabled us to bring our dreams to life and kick start our game development careers. We’re now looking forward to starting on our next project and working on some of the bigger plans we’ve got in the pipeline”

The game is expected to release for digital download worldwide in March 2009."

If you haven’t browsed the internet for a few days and haven’t logged into Steam, you might have missed a great new Half-Life based movie by the Purchase Brothers titled "Escape from City 17". The video made the front page of digg and was also featured in Steam’s news alert service. At this point, only the first episode of several have been released, and it features some impressive CG work. Someone uploaded an HD version to FileDropper, which is worth the 85MB download. Otherwise, check the YouTube embedded video below.

"The Escape From City 17 short film series is an adaptation based on the Half Life computer game saga by Valve Corporation. Originally envisioned as a project to test out numerous post production techniques, as well as a spec commercial, it ballooned into a multi part series. Filmed guerilla style with no money, no time, no crew, no script, the first two episodes were made from beginning to end on a budget of $500.

Additional Notes:

Valve flew the team out to Seattle last year, and the brothers have been in communication with them since.

David and Ian Purchase are commercial directors represented by Sons and Daughters in Toronto. They are working on an unannounced feature film. Not HL related.

They have been huge fans of HL since the days of "ivan the space biker’"

If you haven’t logged into Steam lately you may have missed the news that "Left 4 Dead" is 50% off this weekend at a total price of $24.99.

"From Valve (the creators of Counter-Strike, Half-Life and more) comes Left 4 Dead, a co-op action horror game for the PC and Xbox 360 that casts up to four players in an epic struggle for survival against swarming zombie hordes and terrifying mutant monsters.

Set in the immediate aftermath of the zombie apocalypse, L4D’s survival co-op mode lets you blast a path through the infected in four unique “movies,” guiding your survivors across the rooftops of an abandoned metropolis, through rural ghost towns and pitch-black forests in your quest to escape a devastated Ground Zero crawling with infected enemies. Each "movie" is comprised of five large maps, and can be played by one to four human players, with an emphasis on team-based strategy and objectives."

Focus Home Interactive released new "Dungeon Party" screenshots, giving viewers more of a look at the upcoming third-person action multiplayer game that will be released for free and is based on team play.

"Plunge into a wild heroic-fantasy universe and play against each other in teams of heroes across dungeons filled with deadly traps and monsters to try and collect the treasures they hold.

In Dungeon Party you can create and customize your character with different costumes and objects. A holiday-making sorcerer, a thief straight out of a night club, or a gothic hangman…all styles are possible! Each player can equip his character with different objects and weapons before the battle against opponent teams starts.

You’ll have to develop your character through the matches and carefully choose which spells and skills could help the best your team. In order to spice up the game, deadly traps and hunted creatures are scattered throughout the dungeons. These creatures won’t make any difference between the teams and protect their treasures with a lot of zeal. Kill monsters will give you more experience points which allow you to buy faster new spells. Bosses and mini-bosses will be harder to beat but will also give you a greater amount of points and, most of all, will help you to seduce the Chest."

Frogwares today released new screenshots for "World of Battles", the upcoming MMORTS that’s currently in open beta.

"In these images, you will see the Dwarves and the Undead, two of the nine races from the game, preparing for an upcoming battle.

In the medieval universe of World of Battles®, nine races fight a terrible war for world domination. Choose your side, recruit, train and equip units in order to create a powerful army able to face opposing armies created by other players.

Take part in huge battles in order to establish yourself as a warlord and progress in the online World of Battles’®, ranks. Players will be free to connect for quick play and to participate in one of the many official tournaments of World of Battles®.

In the game, you will discover a unique system for customizing your units and soldiers. You’ll be able to personalize the appearance of each one of your soldiers with a very high level of detail. Before launching into your first battles, you’ll need to prepare your troops, because if you don’t, your army will surely take a beating.

Once you’re ready to fight, gameplay switches to real time strategy mode. Take command of your armies and show everyone who’s the greatest warlord in the war-torn battlefields of World of Battles ®. You can also join friends to confront other clans in titanic guild wars in which tactics and teamwork will be essential to become the most powerful army of all.

World of Battles® is free and accessible to all in order to allow everyone to share an intense online gaming experience. World of Battles® has higher technical ambitions than other current free internet games and a significant development budget. The game will be supported through additional services and micro-transactions which will allow players to buy customizations for troops and units.

World of Battles® is currently being developed by Frogwares studio. It will be available online for free in June 2009."

       
 

IDEA Games and Bohemia Interactive have released another new "ARMA II" video on the game’s official website.

"International Conflicts: Whether read about in newspaper articles or viewed in "real-time HD Pro Dolby Stereo direct from the battlefield"; the huge and mostly brutal impact on a civilian population is clear to see. The 3rd video from the series of planned updates on the ARMA II homepage introduces the Pro-Russian separatist “Chernarussian Movement of the Red Star” (aka “ChDKZ”) party and its compulsive need to control people, specifically their aim to destabilize the situation in Chernarus and to gain direct and absolute control of its “own” province.

Their will for power is being continuously thwarted by Chernarussian Defensive Forces. Each battle, each piece of land gained or lost, is paid for by the lives of soldiers and especially by an unfortunate civilian population with nowhere else to go. Analyze the situation and explore the background of this forthcoming conflict which will decide the future of Chernarus, a country chained to the threat of an upcoming civil war."

Frogwares and Focus Home Interactive have released new screenshots from "Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper", giving viewers more of a look at the upcoming adventure sequel.

"In these new screens, the famous English detective is accompanied by the Dr. Watson as they look for clues in the Whithechapel district, which is infamous for being the hunting ground for one of the most atrocious serial killers in history: Jack the Ripper. These new images confirm the oppressive atmosphere of this new adventure, which will be the most frightening episode of the Sherlock Holmes series.

Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper allows you to play as the greatest detective of all in the London of 1888. A series of particularly horrible murders creates a real psychosis throughout the country. Atrociously mutilated prostitutes’ bodies are found by the police without them being able to find a serious lead. Sherlock Holmes starts looking for clues in the dark and sinister alleys of Whitechapel in order to follow the macabre trail of the one the press now calls Jack the Ripper. During an adventure full of twists, Sherlock Holmes will try to bring out the true identity and the motives of the one who hides behind this scary alias.

The Sherlock Holmes series is known as one of the best franchises in adventure games and is very popular with around 1.5 million copies sold worldwide. Now, Sherlock Holmes is back with a game that will give a new dimension to the series. Indeed, Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper will offer players two different views that are accessible at any time: a third person view in the purest style used in point & click adventure games, as well as a first person view. The player will be free to play in one or the other modes or even combine them for greater immersion into this terrifying adventure. Another novelty: the player will also find an original crime scene reconstitution system that will allow him to test his theories during his progress in the investigation to follow the bloody trail of the terrifying serial killer.

Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper will be released for DVD ROM PC in May of 2009."