A new WoW is coming but it has nothing to do with Blizzard. Wargaming.net today announced the Soviet Warbirds faction in the upcoming World of Warplanes. The MMO flight combat game is currently in alpha testing and is scheduled to be released in 2013.
“The initial Soviet tech tree will include the legendary La-5 light fighter and Il-2 ground-attack plane, along with more than 20 other warbirds. Additional planes will be added to the Soviet line as the game nears launch.
“We are glad to finally introduce the latter of the big trio,” said World of Warplanes producer Anton Sitnikau. “We are always striving to reach a combination of accuracy and fun in our games and hope our test pilots currently in global alpha will find the Soviet warbirds as fun to fly as the American and German planes.”
A demo for J.U.L.I.A. has been released, giving players a chance to try out the upcoming space adventure game by CBE Software.
“J.U.L.I.A. is an innovative narrative driven PC game. The story centers on Rachel Manners, a 35 year old astrobiologist. She is a member of an elite group of scientists, chosen to embark on one of the most critical missions ever conceived on Earth. Now Rachel is alone, orbiting an unknown planet. Her only companions are J.U.L.I.A., the space probe’s artificial intelligence and Mobot, a huge reconnaissance robot. Together, this unlikely trio will explore the mysteries of this solar system. But are they prepared for what they will find?”
Whether you call it Shogun 2: Total War or Total War: Shogun 2, a new developer diary video was released today for an upcoming stand-alone expansion called Fall of the Samuari. The annoying thing is that the official title of the main game is supposedly Total War: Shogun 2 but the naming structure is flipped compared to all of the previous games in the series. Add to this the fact that game titles are sometimes slightly different depending on the region and you have a major headache. So, sorry Sega we’re sticking with Shogun 2: Total War (yes, that’s partially Dreamcast hate).
“The standalone expansion to the award winning Total War: SHOGUN 2 explores the conflict between the Imperial throne and the last Shogunate in 19th century Japan, 400 years after the events of the original game – a dramatic clash of traditional Samurai culture with the explosive power of modern weaponry.
Guide ancient Japan into the modern age, as the arrival of America, Britain and France incites a ferocious civil war which will decide the future of the nation.”
“As a quick introduction, I’ve been at ArenaNet for almost 6 years and have worked on many of the Guild Wars expansions. I’ve been concentrating on world versus world for the last year and a half, and now I’m here to answer all your questions on it!
I’m sure most of you know this already, but for those who aren’t aware, we are currently taking signups for our upcoming beta test of Guild Wars 2. We are going to need tens of thousands of people to help us really test WvW, so go signup now and you could have a chance to try out WvW for yourself! https://beta.guildwars2.com/“
Bohemia Interactive today announced some 2012 plans for ArmA 3, which include exhibits at E3 and Gamescom in addition to a community alpha. Six new screenshots were also released today.
“Arma 3 will be exhibited at E3 (June 5-7) and Gamescom Cologne (August 16-19). For many this will be the first opportunity to experience what has been accomplished so far and to get a sense of what is to come. However, that is not all. For the first time ever in the Arma series, Bohemia Interactive is planning a ‘Community Alpha’. This will let people try out an early playable build of Arma 3 and help the team with development.
Dan Musil on the Community Alpha: “Following E3, we plan to open up the game to our players. This process starts with the release of a playable build of Arma 3. We call it the ‘Community Alpha’. It’s intended to enable people who’d like to try the game early on in development help us to shape it up – and make Arma 3 the greatest release of the series. Ours is a large and complex game – being developed by a relatively small team – so we really appreciate your opinions, thoughts and feedback.
The Community Alpha will be quite limited in terms of the assets it includes, with the goal of providing enough content to experiment with the brand new bits of gameplay and technology. It also enables our passionate community to prepare their mods for the very latest version of the Real Virtuality engine. Then, later on in the year, we’d like to open up our game up even further with a more extensive beta program. The exact details, however, we intend to set out closer to their launch.”
Musil also mentioned the development team’s strong focus on backward compatibility, meaning that people should be able to get older assets into Arma 3. As a final note he unveiled the team’s plans for a series of blog posts to keep Arma enthusiasts informed on development: “We’re in the process of putting together a couple of developer’s blog posts starting with sound recordings and our field trip to Limnos.”
The entire blog post on this year’s plans for Arma 3 can be found here.”
NCsoft opened beta registrations for Guild Wars 2 today, and you better move fast because you only have until 1:00PM EST on Friday.
“Sign up now for a chance to participate in one of the upcoming Guild Wars 2 beta events. Beta Signup is only open for 48 hours so players need to act quickly to obtain a place. Beta sign up closes at 18.00 GMT Friday 24 February.
Paradox Interactive today announced the release of a demo for Victoria II: A House Divided, the recently released expansion in the strategy series. In addition, an “After Action Report” contest has been launched giving players a chance to win one of two Paradox Complete bundles on Steam.
“The demo for the game that focuses on the American Civil War era allows players to:
Play from 1836 to 1860
Play as Prussia with the chance to form Germany through warfare or diplomacy
Play as Japan to westernize your country while fighting back reactionary forces.
The devs have cooked up something for those already playing the game as well. Join the After Action Report contest on the forums. Winners stand to pick up a big chunk of the Paradox catalogue. “
Ironclad Games today announced Sins of a Dark Age, an upcoming new real-time strategy game in which one commander and a group of heroes work together to complete a goal. The release notes that other than the same dev team, this IP is not related to Sins of a Solar Empire.
“Ironclad Games presents a real-time fantasy strategy experience like no other: Sins of a Dark Age. From the studio that brought forth the genre-blending gem and 2008 PC Game of the Year, Sins of a Solar Empire, comes a new strategy hybrid focused on team-based “Hero and Commander Strategy†gameplay.  In Sins of a Dark Age, players join an online team consisting of one Commander and a small group of Heroes who work together to accomplish a specific scenario goal. Go head-to-head against an enemy team in a short, fast-paced multiplayer match or work cooperatively against the AI in custom scenarios. Earn rewards for yourself and your clan, climb in ranks, and watch and share your most glorious replays. Players can choose from an ever-growing pool of heroes, commanders and factions each of which supports unique capabilities.  Choose the Hero role and you will face the enemy on the front lines as the most inspiring and powerful member of a mighty army. Your success in battle will be well rewarded with experience, unique abilities, and game changing items that will make you an ever greater symbol of power on the battlefield and a critical rallying point for your commander’s army.  Choose the Commander role to devise the master plan for your empire: you’ll oversee your grand army in an epic battle against your most voracious enemies. As Commander, you’re responsible for building your base, directing your peons and positioning your defenses. It’s up to you to properly train your units and use them to support your team’s Heroes in calculated assaults on enemy positions and to capture key resources. The Commander role allows players to call upon larger-than-life ‘Realm Powers’ to turn the tide of battle.  “Sins of a Dark Age is something totally unique in the strategy genre,†said Blair Fraser, co-founder and producer at Ironclad. “Like Sins of a Solar Empire, which blended 4x with real-time strategy, we’ve taken our favorite elements of traditional RTS and action RTS and added our own twists and turns that result in a completely new and unrivalled strategy experience.† Sins of a Dark Age is easy to learn and accommodating to both new and veteran players of any strategy genre and is designed to minimize griefing and other common causes of hostility in the community. The innovative match design means never missing out on a match or a session being ruined by players dropping out: instantly rejoin games or jump into shorthanded battles to save the day and earn bonus rewards for yourself and your clan.  With leaderboards, stats tracking, online replays, spectating, kill-cam moments and plenty of post-release content in the form of Heroes, Commanders, Factions, Units, Maps and Skins, Sins of a Dark Age is free-to-play strategy gaming elevated to the next level.  Find out more at https://www.sinsofadarkage.com/“
Funcom today announced the release date for The Secret World has been moved to June 19th from the previous April date.
“Feedback from hands-on press events and beta testing has proven very positive, and Funcom intends to spend the additional development time focusing on polish and tweaking to maximize the potential of the game. The beta feedback so far is showing very positive reactions to core game features such as the role-playing systems, combat, missions, dungeons, story and immersion. Among the beta testers surveyed, almost 9 out of 10 say they will play the game at launch.
More than 750,000 gamers are now registered as beta testers, which is significantly higher than Funcom’s previous MMO ‘Age of Conan’ had at the same point in development. Funcom expects the number of beta registrations to grow significantly in the coming months, as the company ramps up its major PR and marketing initiatives towards launch.”
BioWare released a new Mass Effect 3 trailer that aired during The Walking Dead last night, which is a fantastic looking CGI teaser . An extended version will apparently be released tomorrow.
“Mass Effect 3 thrusts players into an all-out war to save the galaxy from an ancient alien race known as the Reapers. Players will assume the role of Commander Shepard, a war-torn veteran who’s willing to do whatever it takes to eliminate this nearly unstoppable foe. With a team of elite, battle-hardened soldiers at your side, each player decides how they will take Earth back, from the weapons and abilities they utilize to the relationships they forge or break.”
Mike Ferguson, system designer at ArenaNet added a new post to the ArenaNet blog detailing the anticipated world vs. world game type in Guild Wars 2.
“From the earliest days of development, we knew that we wanted to include some form of large-scale PvP combat in Guild Wars 2, but how would it work? We knew right away that we wanted three teams fighting against one another on a series of huge maps in the Mists (our world vs. world battleground) and that each team would be composed of an entire server full of players. Including three forces in world vs. world acts as an excellent balancing factor, preventing one team from growing too powerful and ruining the competitive balance of the game. Two teams can gang up to counter a more dominant third team, a dynamic that simply isn’t possible with only two opposing factions.”
OGPlanet today announced a publishing agreement with FIX Korea to publish the upcoming new Minh “Gooseman” Le game Tactical Intervention. Tactical Intervention builds off of what Le tried to accomplish with Counter-Strike and will be available on a free-to-play model. Interested gamers can sign up for the closed beta test on the official site, which begins in early March.
“I’m excited to share my latest project with my fellow gamers,” said Le, lead developer on Tactical Intervention. “As my latest tactical team-based shooter, Tactical Intervention builds off of what I tried to accomplish with Counter-Strike. I think players will be excited about the innovations we’ve implemented in the game, especially the vehicle missions and new team focus.”
“Partnering with OGPlanet has allowed us to release Tactical Intervention as a Free-to-Play title, ensuring that the game is accessible to all players. We’ve got a lot of great content ready for launch, and there will be regular updates with new guns, maps, and more.”
“With more focus placed on team-based tactics and hardcore, fast-paced gameplay, Tactical Intervention goes far deeper than the everyday FPS. Packed with new environments, game modes, weapons, equipment customization options, and more, Tactical Intervention sets a new benchmark in the evolution of the tactical team-based FPS genre. Players will get behind the driver’s seat, shoot hanging out of vehicle passenger windows, call in attack dogs, and even make use of tactical rappel ropes to gain the upper hand on the opposing force. They will also have to be conscious of civilians who can be taken as hostages and used as human shields. It is up to you and your team to strategize, execute, and eliminate your target!
Players can apply to join Tactical Intervention’s Closed-Beta Test, which will be held in early March, at  www.tactical-intervention.com“
Remedy Entertainment today announced that the long awaited Alan Wake has been released for the PC via Steam. Remedy also has a publishing agreement with Nordic Games to bring the game to retail stores.
“Remedy has always wanted a PC version of Alan Wake, and now, it’s here. This critically acclaimed game has been revamped for the PC with stunning high-resolution graphics and enhanced PC features. Head over to the Steam store right now and grab the normal edition for $29.99 and the limited collector’s edition for $34.99.
The PC version includes the original game along with the two pieces of downloadable content (The Signal and The Writer) and everything you’d expect from a PC version and more. Players will experience Alan Wake’s Pacific Northwest with higher resolutions and even higher fidelity. Players will experience the interplay between light and darkness like never before. With plenty of graphical customization options, every player can get the most out of their rig. Other refinements include a fully configurable mouse and keyboard setup as well as Microsoft gamepad support. Fan sought-after options such as field of view adjustments and “hide HUD†have also been include. Finally, the game supports multiple screens and stereoscopic 3D.
“Since our roots are firmly placed in PC development, we’re delighted to finally be able to bring Alan Wake to the PC†says Matias Myllyrinne, CEO at Remedy. “We’ve worked hard to reward those faithful PC players and did everything we could to make it worth the wait. I hope the fans agree with us, the PC version looks absolutely stunning.â€
In Alan Wake, players assume the role of Alan Wake, a best-selling suspense author suffering from writer’s block. Wake escapes to the small town of Bright Falls, only to experience the mysterious disappearance of his wife. Players will unravel the riveting plot through multilayered character interactions, unique problem-solving and intense combat against the darkest of enemies. In this nightmarish world, where the boundaries between reality and fiction become increasingly blurred and ambiguous, Wake must use a variety of weapons to survive, including his most powerful ally against the darkness – light itself.”
Activision will be hosting a free weekend for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 on Steam, which begins tomorrow at 10AM Pacific Time. Interested players can begin pre-loading now. The game was released on November 8th of last year.
“The best-selling first person action series of all-time returns with the epic sequel to multiple “Game of the Year†award winner, Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 2. In the world’s darkest hour, are you willing to do what is necessary? Prepare yourself for a cinematic thrill-ride only Call of Duty can deliver.”
