PC Game News

Digitalmindsoft today announced the launch of an open beta for "Men of War: Assault Squad", which being distributed via Steam.

"The Men of War: Assault Squad Open Beta gives players a chance to play the newest title in the Men of War series and experience many of the improvements that have been made. It features two factions from the full game (USA, Germany) and a selection of classic maps to play on, as well as new and redesigned game modes for players to enjoy.

Players will be able to try out the new skirmish game mode on two maps with up to four players, and will be able to play some of the popular online game modes, such as Assault Zones, Combat and Frontlines, which have been rebalanced and redesigned from the ground up. For the first time players will be able to call in on Special Units which can turn the tide of battle!

The Men of War: Assault Squad Open Beta is being distributed exclusively through Steam. Players will need to visit the link (https://www.digitalmindsoft.eu/games/men-of-war-assault-squad/open-beta) and enter their e-mail address for a CD-key. They will immediately be given a CD-key, which will also be sent to the e-mail address they've provided. With this key, they will need to launch Steam and open the “Games” menu, and then select “Activate a product on Steam”. When prompted to, they simply need to enter the key they've been given and they will be able to begin their download. Since this key is also used for multiplayer and will be required to play online, it should be kept handy."

The official "Dota 2" blog is now live, offering interested gamers a site for new updates as development continues. The blog currently features a Q&A that offers more details on the upcoming "sequel."

"From now until the release of the game next year, this will be a place where you can get information on our progress as we build the game."

"Dota began as a user-made modification for Warcraft 3 and has grown into one of the most played online games in the world. Following in the tradition of Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat, Team Fortress, Portal, and Alien Swarm, Dota 2 is the result of Valve hiring the community developers who built the mod and giving them the chance to finally build a full product out of their idea with the help of a professional team of developers and artists at Valve."

EA released a new patch along with two new DLC packs for "Medal of Honor" today, adding the "Clean Sweep" and "Hot Zone" content. The patch prepares the game for the DLC.

"The DLC can be downloaded via the in-game store by everyone who has registered the Medal of Honor Online Pass."

Patch release notes:

Single Player

• Fixed the CAS issue that prevented some players from firing at certain vehicles.
• Fixed a rare issue in Bagram that would cause areas of the map not to load in a timely fashion.

Server

• Lowered scores on all defensive support actions
• Changed spawn points on Shah-i-Khot Mountains, Combat Mission
• Changed spawn points on Kandahar Marketplace, Sector Control
• Changed spawn points on Kandahar Marketplace, Team Assault
• Changed spawn points on Diwagal Camp, Sector Control
• Changed spawn points on Kunar Base, Sector Control
• Changed spawn points on Kabul City Ruins, Sector Control
• Changed spawn points on Kabul City Ruins, Team Assault
• Changed spawn points on Garmzir Town, Sector Control
• Changed spawn points on Garmzir Town, Team Assault
• Tweaked damage on M16 and M24
• Tweaked damage on M4

Client

• Added Hot Zone and Clean Sweep (added the levels/UI changes in server browser etc)
• Server browser makes snapshot instead of subscribing to servers
• Fixed hang when joining on a friend that’s playing on a password protected server
• Ribbons and medals no longer appear on unranked servers
• Added aiming spot in binoculars in hardcore mode
• Added text chatting while dead and in end of round
• Increased the points needed to win a domination/tdm game
• Decreased accuracy while shooting from the hip
• Increased the amount of recoil and spread
• Added server details in loading screens and spawn screen
• Fixed an issue where holding your breath and moving forward would take you out of scope

The list of new PC games, DVD and Blu-Ray releases, and movies opening the week of November 1, 2010.

PC Games:

• James Bond: Blood Stone

Movies Opening This Week:

• 127 Hours
• Due Date
• Fair Game
• For Colored Girls
• Four Lions (limited)
• Megamind

DVD and Blu-Ray Releases:

• Beverly Hills 90210: The 10th and Final Season
• Cars Toon: Mater's Tall Tales
• Centurion [Blu-Ray]
• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang [Blu-Ray]
• Clint Eastwood: 35 Films 35 Years – set
• Deadliest Catch: Season Six
• ExTerminators
• Frank Sinatra: Concert Collection – set
• Highlander [Blu-Ray]
• IMAX: Dinosaurs Alive! [Blu-Ray]
• Love and Distrust
• Mad About You: The Complete Fifth Season
• Michael Douglas Film Collection -set
• Once Fallen
• Regeneration
• TCM Greatest Classic Film Collection: Astaire & Rogers
• TCM Greatest Classic Film Collection: Busby Berkeley
• The Bing Crosby Collection – set
• The Bridge on the River Kwai – set [Blu-Ray]
• The Fugitive: The Fourth and Final Season, Vol. One
• The Goonies
• The Larry Sanders Show: The Complete Series
• The Nightmare Before Christmas – collector's ed.
• The Pacific [Blu-Ray]
• The Sound of Music – limited ed. [Blu-Ray]
• The Sound of Music [Blu-Ray]
• The Trial
• Toy Story 3 [Blu-Ray]
• Toy Story Trilogy [Blu-Ray]
• V: The Complete First Season [Blu-Ray]
• White Christmas [Blu-Ray]

Activision released the launch trailer for "Call of Duty: Black Ops", teasing viewers once more before the launch on November 9.

"The follow up to the Best Selling Game of All Time, Call of Duty: Black Ops is an entertainment experience that will take you to conflicts across the globe, as elite Black Ops forces fight in the deniable operations and secret wars that occurred under the veil of the Cold War."

Focus Home Interactive today announced the console release date (Nov. 10) for "Faery: Legends of Avalon" and released some new screenshots along with the announcement. The PC version wasn't mentioned.

"Faery: Legends of Avalon is a great role playing game packed with unique atmosphere and graphic style. Play as an Elf or a Fairy and discover the fantastic world of Avalon as well as the incredible creatures that live there. The game offers a solid gaming experience for the players, between 10 to 15 hours to complete the main quest, and much more thanks to many additional, side-quests."

Valve today announced a Halloween sale offering gamers 33-75% off of titles such as "Plats vs. Zombies", "BioShock", "Team Fortress 2", both "Left 4 Dead" games, "Devil May Cry 4", and several others. In addition, the Mac version of "Left 4 Dead" has been released.

"Just in time for the trick or treating, Valve has made Left 4 Dead, the zombie co-op thriller that launched the best selling franchise, is now available for the Mac. The title is made available in conjunction with a special Halloween Sale on Steam, featuring savings up to 75% off select titles. For more information, please visit www.steamgames.com"

Valve released a free update for "Team Fortress 2", adding the Headless Horsemann character and Halloween themed map.

"A randomly generated boss monster, the Horsemann appears exclusively in Mann Manor, a new and completely spooky attack/defend map littered with exploding pumpkins. The update also includes new achievements, the opening of the Halloween department of the Mann Co store, new community items from 10 new contributors, and more. For more information, please visit https://www.teamfortress.com"

Paradox Interactive today announced that "Majesty 2: Battles of Ardania", a new expansion to the RTS game by Ino-co, will be released as a digital download on November 9.

"Developed by Ino-co, Majesty 2: Battles of Ardania introduces a brand new single-player campaign “Heirs of the Night´´ where players must protect their borders from a mysterious mage-werewolf and his creatures of the night across eight missions. The expansion also introduces several new monsters, four new multiplayer maps (including two co-operative missions) and new weapon sets.

The Majesty 2 expansion Battles of Ardania is a digital download only release and will be available  on all leading digital distribution platforms."

Tripwire Interactive and Teotl Studios today announced the release of "The Ball", the third-person action adventure game, on Steam.

"The Ball is a first person action-adventure game featuring a full single-player experience built on Epic's Unreal™ Engine 3 technology. As a swashbuckling archaeologist working on the slopes of a dormant volcano somewhere in Mexico, you get stuck in a cavern. It doesn't take long before you realize this is more than just a cave. You reveal ancient ruins that have been hidden from outsiders for centuries and discover a mysterious artifact, a gold and metal shelled Ball. As you progress towards solving the mystery of this amazing place you must unlock the secrets of The Ball and learn to control this ancient artifact. You will also start to encounter not just puzzles and traps, but also various strange creatures – the guardians of this mystery. These creatures also have to be overcome, using only The Ball to defend you. Venturing deeper into the volcano, you reveal some of mankind's greatest secrets.

The Ball is now available at a price of $19.99 on Steam (17.99 €/£14.99 for Europe). Head for the Steam store page now to see the launch trailer and buy the game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/35460/."

The list of new PC game releases, DVD and Blu-Ray releases, and movies opening the week of October 25, 2010.

PC Games:

• The Ball
• Lego Universe
  
• Star Wars The Force Unleashed II
  

Movies Opening This Week:

• Aftershock (limited)
• Monsters (limited)
• Saw 3D
• The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (limited)
• Waste Land (limited)
• Welcome to the Rileys (limited)
• Wild Target (limited)

DVD and Blu-Ray Releases:

• Alien Anthology [Blu-Ray]
• Altitude [Blu-Ray]
• Back to the Future: 25th Anniversary Trilogy [Blu-Ray]
• Chaplin At Keystone: An International Collaboration of 34 Original Films
• Clapham Junction
• CSI: NY – The Sixth Season
• Dog the Bounty Hunter – Wild Ride Megaset
• Elf – Collectors ed. [Blu-Ray]
• Evening Primrose
• House [Criterion Collection Blu-Ray]
• Lake Placid 3
• Law and Order UK: Season One
• Legend of the Black Scorpion [Blu-Ray]
• Maniac – 30th Anniversary ed. [Blu-Ray]
• On the Road With Charles Kuralt Set 3 – set
• Paths of Glory [Criterion Collection Blu-Ray]
• Rock & Rule – 25th Anniversary ed. [Blu-Ray]
• Sex and the City 2 [Blu-Ray]
• Sex and the City: Complete Collection
• Slings and Arrows: The Complete Collection
• South of the Border [Blu-Ray]
• Star Wars The Clone Wars: The Complete Season Two [Blu-Ray]
• Summer and Smoke
• The Girl Who Played with Fire [Blu-Ray]
• The Venture Bros: Season 4, Vol. 1
• Tonight – 4 Decades of the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
• Twilight Zone – Fan Favorites – collector's ed.
• War of the World: The Complete Series
• Winter's Bone [Blu-Ray]
• You Don't Know Jack

In the latest state of the game update, Executive Producer Shannon Posniewski revealed that "Champions Online" will be adopting a free-to-play model. In addition, "Heroic Archtypes" were announced, which are intended to help streamline character creation and the selection of powers.

"First of all, you can (and should!) still subscribe to Champions Online. If you continue to subscribe (and become a "Gold Member"), then what you get doesn't change from what you get today. You still get all the zones, all the levels, all existing and future adventure packs, and all the costume parts available today (plus a bunch of new ones). You still have complete control over what powers your hero has (as well as their color), just like today. The only difference you'll see is that there will be more things in the C-Store to buy, if you are so inclined.

Current lifetime subscribers automatically become Gold Members for life and get all the same benefits.

Non-subscribers ("Silver Players") don't get all of that. Most importantly, they don't get complete control over what powers their heroes get. Instead, they can only create heroes by choosing an Archetype. Though the power progression is predefined, the player can tailor the powers with their choice of Advantages. Silver Players are also limited in other ways such as inventory, bank and marketplace space. Of course, Silver Players retain full control over how their character looks using the costume editor. They also get access to all the zones and levels.

If you decide to switch from Gold to Silver, your characters will still be there. However, you won't be able to play them until either you re-subscribe or you convert them into Silver characters. Exactly how this will work is still being determined.

There are several other ways that Gold Members and Silver Players differ. We have a Features Matrix published right here with the exact differences."

Heroic Archetypes:

"The really big thing we're doing is adding a whole new way to choose your hero's powers! When you create a hero, you may choose an Archetype, which will specify which powers you earn as you level up. Archetypes aren't general like classes or roles, nor do they simply map to our frameworks. Archetypes are character builds that mimic a specific kind of superhero from the comic pages. For example, one of the Archetypes is "The Blade."  As you might guess, The Blade is a melee based character focused on using single-blade powers. He specializes in doing tons of damage to single targets. For comparison, "The Brute" is also a melee character that dishes out tons of damage, but instead focuses more on group combat and survivability. The Free-to-Play update will have at least eight of these Archetypes available to play right off the bat, and we'll be adding more every month."

A recent thread on the EA forums highlights a few new updates that are on there way for "Battlefield: Bad Company 2."

"Now.. we want to announce these first fixes we have made and let you know that these are just one part of a bigger list of updates that we are going to release very soon. This update will also require server downtime

This is what we can confirm for now:

• One of the Insignia's requiring an unobtainable Bronze star for the tracer dart – requirement removed.
• Hit registration changes brought over from MOH to BC2; several bugfixes, the client<->server send rates have been increased, some of the hitboxes themselves have been changed. This will increase the accuracy of guns, but will not make much of a difference to the knife.
• Removed the blue box behind the chat window.
• The 2-second immunity when spawning/being revived can will now be immediately remove either by firing, zooming, or any movement (move, crouch, jump). Merely looking around will not remove the invulnerability. In essence: If a person moves, he is never invulnerable.
• 3D vision fixed. "

Valve and Activision today announced that "Call of Duty: Black Ops" will have Steamworks support and can now be pre-ordered on Steam.

"In addition to leveraging Steamworks' Auto-Updating, Achievements, and more, Call of Duty: Black Ops will support Steamworks Cloud technology. The PC version of the product will be powered with Steamworks for both the digital and tangible versions of the game and, as with all Steamworks titles, offline play will also be supported. 

Call of Duty: Black Ops is slated for worldwide release the week of November 9 at retailers and via Steam. For additional Call of Duty updates, visit www.callofduty.com/blackops"

Sony Online Entertainment released details on Halloween themed events and activities for the following games: Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures, Free Realms, EverQuest, EverQuest II and Star Wars Galaxies.

"Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures

Sith O’Lanterns and Battle Droid^TM Scarecrows have taken over the Jedi^TM Temple! The inaugural Halloween celebration in Clone Wars Adventures adds plenty of creepy-crawlies around the virtual world. Players can participate in the daily Mask Handout to collect a new iconic mask each day, including Yoda^TM, Jar Jar Binks, Padmé and Grievous! Players can also dress up their characters and droids and decorate their houses with festive items available for purchase in the Marketplace. R2-D2’s^TM Rocket Rescue minigame celebrates with a special spooky Halloween-themed level, complete with a ghost costume for R2-D2. Clone Wars Adventures Halloween celebration is scheduled to begin October 22 and run through November 5. Live in-game Halloween “Emissary Events” are scheduled for October 27 and 29 and November 5 at 3 PM PST/6 PM EST. For more information please visit www.CloneWarsAdventures.com.

Free Realms Super Spooktacular

Players beware… werewolves and vampires are taking over in Free Realms^TM this Halloween with the return of Super Spooktacular! With new werewolf and vampire costumes, and a new questline in Blackspore Cemetery to determine which freak is more frightening, the harrowing-fun Halloween update features daily trick-or-treating, creepy quests, in-game parties and lots of costumes for players and their pets. Join the Super Spooktacular in-game fun now through November 17! Free Realms is never going to know what bit it! The Free Realms Community Team is also scheduling live in-game costume parties to celebrate the Super Spooktacular. For detailed information on Super Spooktacular, please visit www.FreeRealms.com.

EverQuest

EverQuest players will soon learn that the Scroll of the Skinwalker is wreaking havoc on Illis Taberish and all of the innocent people across the lands. In this spooky quest, players are challenged to track down and take down the Skinwalker before he traps the souls of the innocent and feasts on their flesh. Visit Rhaeda to learn the location of the Skinwalker’s den before this terrifying new quest disappears November 7. For more information please visit www.eqplayers.com.

EverQuest II

This year’s Nights of the Dead celebration returns with the all-new Nights of the Dead Devotee questline to EverQuest II. New Halas is decked out with spooky decorations and Gigglegibber Goblins. Players can also purchase new costume illusions from holiday merchants and revisit their favorite quests and events from past Nights of the Dead celebrations, including trick-or-treating in Qeynos and visiting haunted houses in Freeport, for new rewards! Nights of the Dead is scheduled to run through November 8. For more information please visit www.eq2players.com.

Star Wars Galaxies

Jabba the Hutt welcomes you back to the most fright-filled celebration in the galaxy – The Galactic Moon Festival is returning to Star Wars Galaxies! Spooky fun and ghoulish rewards await players who dare set foot in the eerily shrouded cities of Moenia on Naboo and Mos Eisley on Tatooine. A host of haunting characters in these cities leads the way to all the tricks, treats and terror-filled events of the Galactic Moon Festival. Dress up in outrageous costumes, trick-or-treat through the streets of Moenia and Mos Eisley and use coins to purchase special rewards. The Galactic Moon Festival is scheduled to run October 21 through November 16. For detailed information, please visit https://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com.

Halloween-themed events are scheduled to take place in the virtual worlds of your favorite SOE games. Exact dates vary by title. Please log on to respective game sites for more information."