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Electronic Arts Showcase Show - Everything In One Place

Today EA Hosted its Showcase show for its latest games and announcements, so lets get into it shall we..

1 - EA announced Alice : Madness Returns which is the sequel to American Mcgee's Alice.

2 - Then EA Showcased one of its Partner developed Titles Kingdoms Of Amalur : Reckoning, EA showed a trailer for it but the Cameras were not allowed to capture it(because its going to be showcased to the public At Comic-Con 2010).

3 - EA then announced the sequel to the 2008 critically acclaimed game Spore Called DarkSpore which is scheduled for an Early 2011 release for the PC.

4 - And Finally EA announced that Its Award Winning Simulation game The Sims 3 would be getting an Expansion known as Sims 3 : Late Night which is scheduled for a Fall 2010 release for the PC.

Thats about for EA's showcase show but EA said that they would be revealing more info about their recently announced games and the Multiplayer component of Crysis 2 at the San Diego Comic-Con 2010.So we would surely keep updated with the whole event.

EA Showcase Show :Sims 3 : Late Night Announced

EA on its Showcase event has apparently announced the latest expansion pack to Sims 3 Known as Sims 3 : Late Night.

The new expansion introduces a downtown to the town map where Sims can go and "rub elbows with celebrities" at parties, "hit the local bar after work," or tour "with their Sims' band," and do other stuff rich or drunk people might do in downtown after dark. The addition of celebrities and bands seems like the most significant gameplay update along with a real playable vampire trait (whereas before, it was an appearance effect only), but expect tons of new items as well.

Sims 3 : Late Night is scheduled for a Fall 2010 release for the PC.

Update : Teaser for it just below :

EA Showcase Show : Darkspore Announced

EA has used its post-E3 Showcase to announced Darkspore, an action RPG based in the Spore universe.

The game is about “loot,” said the game’s producer and will feature character upgrades, online play, character creation, weapons and heroes. It’s a “co-op game at its heart,” said Maxis.

The game was shown playable. The demo said replay would play a major part of the game

Here's the Press release :

Guildford, UK– July 20, 2010– Maxis ^{[span ]TM[/span]} , an Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) studio, today announced the next project in its award-winning portfolio of PC games: Darkspore ^{[span ]TM[/span]} , an online, science-fiction action role-playing game, is currently in development for an early 2011 launch. Darkspore is rich in action and fiction, and is being written and developed by some of the most talented minds in the video game industry.

“Darkspore is inspired in part by the award-winning creature editor tech of Spore, but also in large part from the team’s own passion for gaming and prior experience,” said Lucy Bradshaw, General Manager of Maxis Studio. "The team has combined these inspirations to produce a unique take on the action RPG genre.”

Darkspore will feature dynamic, fast-paced action as players battle across alien worlds to save the galaxy from the mutated forces of Darkspore in a four-player co-operative and full single-player campaign, as well as intense multiplayer battles. In order to defeat the malicious Darkspore, players will need to collect an arsenal of living weapons - genetic heroes with different combat abilities - and upgrade them with tens of thousands of collectible body parts and armor.

Darkspore will feature three unique classes of five different genetic hero types, with a limitless number of upgrades and customizations available through the parts players collect on each planet level. As players progress, Darkspore builds in intensity, with new planets and enemy forces requiring players to strategically select the right squad and ability combinations to succeed in their missions.

EA is scheduled to launch Darkspore in early 2011.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is a leading global interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, wireless devices and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS ^{[span ]TM[/span]} , EA ^{[span ]TM[/span]} , EA Mobile ^{[span ]TM[/span]} and POGO ^{[span ]TM[/span]} . In fiscal 2010, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.7 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million units. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.co.uk. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet www.eagames.co.uk/press.

EA, EA SPORTS, EA Mobile, Pogo and Darkspore are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Update : Here's the Teaser for it :

EA Showcase Show : Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Shown

38 Studios boss and sports legend Curt Schilling showed Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning for the first time, although no one was allowed to film the trailer.

Todd McFarlane’s done the art for the fantasy title, so keep your eyes well open for this. Some in-game shots were seen, and it all looked pretty much like a fantasy game.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is scheduled for a 2011 release for the PC.

EA Showcase Show : Alice : Madness Announced

EA on its showcase show announced the sequel to the 2000 1.5 Million Units seller American Mcgee's Alice called Alice : Madness Returns.

Here’s the press release:

EA and Spicy Horse Games Send Gamers Down the Rabbit Hole in Alice: Madness Returns

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Jul 20, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Gaming visionary American McGee returns to Wonderland as Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) and Spicy Horse Games announce Alice: Madness Returns(TM), the dark and deranged sequel to the year 2000 PC hit, American McGee’s Alice(TM). Designed with the same dark style of the original, but now featuring entirely new visuals, story and game design, Alice: Madness Returns is a fun and addictive action adventure set to release on PC, the PlayStation(R)3 computer entertainment system and the Xbox 360(R) video game and entertainment system. The game follows Alice on a journey through a wildly corrupted and shattered Wonderland to uncover the truth behind her haunted past and tortured psyche. In this journey, players will romp through highly-detailed elaborate worlds, encounter a cast of off-beat characters and engage in epic battles with deadly weapons and sinister villains.

“Alice is a classic fiction, infinitely rich with memorable characters, places and experiences. Our approach to Alice: Madness Returns takes this colorful world and reinvents it with psychotic personalities and pervasive insanity,” said American McGee, Spicy Horse Games Co-Founder and Senior Creative Director. “We can’t wait to share our vision with Alice in Wonderland fans and gamers around the world.”

Alice: Madness Returns takes place 10 years after the conclusion of the original game, with Alice struggling to recover from the emotional trauma of losing her entire family in a fatal fire. After spending a decade institutionalized in an insane asylum, she is finally released to the care of a psychiatrist who just may be able to help her conquer the nightmarish hallucinations that still haunt her. Alice embarks on a mission to root out the true cause of her family’s mysterious death, jumping from a gloomy and stark London to a rich and provocative Wonderland.

“In 2000, we launched a cult hit on the PC with American McGee’s Alice. Ten years later, I’m pleased to announce American is back on board leading the top-rate talent at Spicy Horse Games to create this sequel,” said David DeMartini, Senior Vice President and General Manager of EA Partners. “The Alice in Wonderland fiction continues to be a fan favorite all over the world. We can’t wait for them to experience the next chapter with Alice: Madness Returns.”

Alice: Madness Returns will be available in 2011 for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

For more information on Alice: Madness Returns, please visit http://AliceMadnessReturns.com.

Update : Here's the Teaser :

Blizzard's 'unannounced next-gen MMO' still in the works

News of an unannounced MMO being in the works at Blizzard hit the news stands way back in 2007, but with barely anything heard about the game since, some were starting to lose hope that it would ever see the light of day.

However, according to job listings the game is still in the works, with the team looking for a new producer and two senior software engineers to work on the game.

The listings don't give away any new details about the game, but Blizzard has previously confirmed that it will be an entirely new game rather than an expansion to its current MMO behemoth World of Warcraft.

Last year the team said that the game had already been in development 'for years'.

So what do you think it could be? We're secretly hoping for a World of StarCraft...

Blizzard's latest game, StarCraft II, launches on PC next Tuesday exclusively for the PC.

Top Gun Fact sheet revealed

Paramount and DoubleSix have been working on their own downloadable dogfighter based on the well-known Top Gun name. The free-flying air combat game Top Gun is due out digitally this summer on PC with no solid release date yet and loosely follows the classic plot, with hopefully zero missions involving landing on an aircraft carrier.

(For the music fans: Not only are we looking forward to foolishly rocking out to Kenny Loggin's "Danger Zone" but the game also contains the original Top Gun anthem!)

---

KEY FEATURES:

• Talk to Me Goose: With all-new dialogue and storyline written by the film’s screenwriter, Jack Epps, Jr., players talk trash with Iceman, Merlin, Slider, and the rest of the flyers from the film.
• You're a Hell of a Pilot. Maybe Too Good: Feel the need for speed! With arcade controls, players defy the laws of gravity as they dodge enemy planes using inverts, dives and spins.
• Too Close for Missiles, I'm Switching to Guns: Players go up against the best as they outmaneuver and shoot down bogeys using short and long range missiles and Vulcan cannons.
• This is the Real Thing. This is What You've Been Trained for: Top Gun features three single player and five multiplayer modes.

---

o Flight School: Players enroll as Maverick at Top Gun Academy and train to handle the breakneck speeds of hitting the “after burner” and the “tunnel vision” that poses a threat during high G-force maneuvers.

o Campaign Mode: After training to be the best of the best, players join the fight above the Indian Ocean for 11 total missions at various times of day.

o Horde Mode: Bogeys like fireflies all over the sky! Solo players get to test their flight combat abilities as they take down endless waves of enemies of increasing difficulty. Top scores will appear on leader boards. Remember, no points for second place.

o Online Multiplayer: Players can enlist in the US Navy or join the Soviet air forces and go head-to-head with opponents in five different modes: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Top Gun (choose your wingman and compete against enemy pairs), Bombing Run (defend and attack mobile bases) and Capture the Flag. Players can choose to battle at three times of day across multiple environments.

oTower, This is Ghost Rider Requesting a Flyby: Players take their RIO along and buzz the tower!

o It Takes a Lot More Than Just Fancy Flying: Players can unlock six sonic jets with varying speed, maneuverability and weapon load.

---

o For the US Navy:

• F14 Tomcat: The classic Top Gun plane, this heavy piece of machinery isn’t the most maneuverable of the birds but still boasts an undercarriage capable of carrying an abundance of missiles to blast down enemies.
• F16 Falcon: Perfect for high-speed dogfights, this is the fastest and most nimble jet, but payloads are smaller, so players must make every missile count!
• F/A-18 Hornet: An aircraft balanced in all aspects of speed, agility and firepower.

---

o For the Soviets:

• MiG-31 Foxhound: Forgoing maneuverability and weapon load for speed, this is the fastest jet.
• MiG-29 Fulcrum: This agile plane can handle a small payload of weapons, making accuracy even more important.
• Su-27 Flanker: An evenly balanced aircraft across speed, agility and weapon load.
• The Plaque for the Alternates is Down in the Ladies Room: Unlock up to 12 Trophies.

"Fable 3 'a bigger game world than Halo'" Claims Molyneux

Peter Molyneux has claimed that Fable III contains a bigger game world than that found in any other Microsoft Games Studios title.

Molyneux would know, of course - as well as being boss of Fable creator Lionhead, he also heads up MGS worldwide as creative director.
His claim would leave Fable III with a bigger world than the latest instalments in the Halo, Crackdown or Gears Of War series.

"Fable, because it is part-simulation, part-role-playing game, part-action-adventure... it's got more voice acting, a bigger cast, more musical scores, a bigger, freer world - more so than any other game in the whole of Microsoft Game Studios' portfolio, full stop," he said

"It's got more bugs, more active bugs, than any game that MGS has ever had in its history - and the team of over 100 people are working insanely long hours, and they're coming down. That's the way it is."

Well we don't know about Fable II but we'll surely know the Verdict on Fable III when it hits the PC sometime in October.

"Mafia 2 both 'limited and defined' by realism" Says 2K Czech

Realism is a subtle but key gameplay mechanic in the Mafia series and one the developers of Mafia 2 believe to be important when it comes to the game's narrative experience.

Producer at 2K Czech Janek Kolar and international producer at 2K games Alex Cox said that by limiting the player in Mafia 2, they actually want to enhance the in-game experience:
"You don't need to have an open world to make that feeling of being lost in the woods with guys coming at you from behind and around you," said Cox,comparing Mafia 2 to Alan Wake rather than GTA.

"You don't need an open world to make that happen. That experience is more important than the ability to go to five or six different forests and do it at your own pace."

"The pacing of the experience, the delivery of the story, the fact that you're actually being guided down a choreographed cinematic route is more important than the freedom element," he continued.

Kolar added, "I would say that realism limits our game but also it defines our game," emphasising the story-telling angle of Mafia 2 over massively open gameplay.

"We want to encourage the player to behave realistically," Cox summarised.

Mafia 2 Releases On August 27th for the PC.

"Call Of Duty is the new Star Wars", Says Activision's Hirshberg

Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg has claimed that the Call Of Duty franchise is "the closest thing this generation has to a Star Wars". Except Star Wars, presumably.

Activision announced that Hirshberg had joined its ranks earlier this month.

The executive immediately said one of his key missions was to change the firm's reputation for arrogance and for making bombastic statements that annoy gamers.

Hirshberg said"The Call of Duty franchise is a force of nature. I think it is the closest thing this generation has to a Star Wars. I think it's unique and bigger than any musical act or any movie franchise in that capacity."

"The challenge with any franchise like that is staying a step ahead of people and keep surprising them and keeping it fresh."

Activision's latest CoD outing Call Of Duty : Black Ops is scheduled to ship on November 9th for the PC.

Need For Speed : World Release Date Confirmed

EA has announced that its long-awaited Need For Speed MMO will be available for PC Via download on July 27.

Those that pre-order the Need for Speed World Starter Pack will gain early access to the game on July 20.
They will also unlock exclusive cars, earn double XP, reserve their driver names and have VIP status permanently displayed in their driver profile before the game officially launches.

The Need for Speed World Starter Pack will go on sale on July 20 for £14.99. The Starter Pack includes an-game credit of the same value of SpeedBoost (the in-game currency), as well as full access up to level 50 and a bundled assortment of power-ups including Nitrous and Traffic Magnet.

Players can also purchase additional items like power-ups, double XP periods and rental cars.

Need for Speed World - which has been developed by Canada studio Black Box - offers a combination of street racing with RPG-style progression.

It houses both online battles and police pursuits across 150 miles of sprawling open world terrain.

A free client download of Need for Speed World will also be available at the website below. This gives access to all races, pursuits and career progression up to level 10.

Crysis 2 has 'best AI in gaming history' Says Cervat Yerli

Crytek has claimed that the enemy AI in Crysis 2 is the most sophisticated in video game history.

Crytek boss Cervat Yerli said the title boasted "thinking, fair" foes - which is good news for those who want their enemies smart, but not Skynet smart.

Crytek has revealed that the game will be playable in full 3D on 360, PS3 and PC when it is released at the tail-end of this year.

"Crysis 2 have the most advanced AI system in a game," Yerli said "We think that Crysis 2 has the most advanced AI for both humans and aliens you've ever seen."

"They will be showing tactical co-ordination, they will be more challenging but not unfair - they will be truly intelligent, thinking, fair enemies.

Crysis 2 is all set for a Holiday Season release for the PC.

"We did not ‘sacrifice depth’ to put R.U.S.E. on console" Says Ubisoft

Bringing a real-time strategy franchise to console is, veterans of the genre would tirelessly argue, much like taking a Challenger 2 tank, swapping the L30A1 120mm rifled gun for a champagne cooler, repainting the whole thing cream and using it as a golf kart. Unless, that is, you’re poor old now-defunct Ensemble Studios, creator of the mighty Halo Wars. Or, apparently, Eugen Systems, the outfit behind the deceptively swish and fuss-free R.U.S.E.Producer Mathieu Girard has said that R.U.S.E. is none the worse for its multiplatform credentials. In fact, he reckons the R.U.S.E. team have ‘basically solved the remaining issue in console strategy gaming’.

‘I think that console games have tried to find solutions to the issue of having the right controls,’ Girard commented, ‘but it’s more like binding controls to a specific situation, or changing the plan of what strategies you can do in-game, so that it fits on a console game pad, while we really wanted with R.U.S.E. to preserve the strategic vision aspect and the kind of decisions you will have with that.‘So we worked on streamlining the types of decisions and how it could be adapted to a game pad, with a streaming engine, these kinds of decisions – and actually we did not sacrifice the depth of the game.’In fairness, some of the success with which the game ‘maps’ to a control pad can be attributed to the decision to focus on the strategic overview, rather than fiddly tactical details like exact squad distribution – said Girard, ‘we avoided micro controls and micro-management because for us that’s more tactics than strategy’ – but the claim is an impressive one nonetheless.He’s particularly proud of the game’s dynamic zoom, elsewhere glimpsed in the likes of Sins of a Solar Empire. ‘We basically solved the remaining issue in console strategy gaming, which is the translation of getting from the battlefield back to the base to build some units, because in most games you have to scroll, and sometimes you have some shortcuts to open some buildings, but in R.U.S.E. you can actually move there very quickly from point A to point B, by zooming in and zooming out.’Ultimately, though, the game’s performance on console is a question of several factors working together. ‘The combination of all these systems make it more immersive and useful, so there’s no secret recipe,’ Girard concluded. ‘We actually put in all the props to make it very simple to use.’

"Brits make the best games.” Says Bizzare

Studio Art Director Neil Thompson has said that the British are the best when it comes the developing of Video games. He Said

"To have a British developer make a Bond game," stated Thompson", that’s hugely satisfying, so we’d love to do another. I still believe that the Brits make the best games and even though the UK industry is smaller than it once was, we still have creative people and it’s important we keep developing great games."

“I still believe that the Brits make the best games.”

The Activision-owned studio is the latest developer to attempt the Bond license, delivering a brutal, third-person take on Daniel Craig's gritty Bond.

When asked if the Bond license was firmly in Bizarre's hands, Thompson explained, "I don’t know what the current decision is behind that at the moment, but we would love to do another one. It’s been a great experience for us to work on it as it’s one of those licenses that comes along and it’s just impossible to say no to."

Well how much Blood Stone is good we'll have to see when it releases this Holiday Season for the PC

Call Of Duty's Membership Plan outed ?

Looks like there’s no smoke without fire. The video apparently shows a “membership” plan for Call of Duty, via Modern Warfare 2.

If a video is to be believed, the sub-plan would be payable via MS points.

The video shows the player trying to join a multiplayer session in the game via a friend’s gamercard, as detailed below.

Call Of Duty : Modern Warfare 2 was released in November 2009 for the PC.

Update : Infinity Ward have denied that there thinking of any subscription in the future

community manager Robert Bowling tweeted:

“For the record, nobody has to pay to play COD or MW2 multiplayer, nor will they.”

This has since been followed up by Josh Olin, community boss of Treyarch, who’s developing this year’s iteration in the series Black Ops.

The tweet says:

“No, you will not have to ‘Pay to Play’ #CODBlackOps Multiplayer either. Rumor -> Squashed.”

'Multiplayer here to stay in AC' Says Ubisoft's Boivin

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood associate producer Jean-Francois Boivin has said that Assassins versus Templars could be the next eternal struggle to join that list of clashing titans/effeminate supernatural cliches.

“It is speculation, but I think we’ve done a really good job doing the multiplayer, and there’s a lot of room for expansion in that universe, so I see a multiplayer component being there for a long time,” he said when asked if multiplayer will appear in future Assassin’s Creed titles.

Worry not, however, lone wolves. Boivin also made sure to slip a knife between the ribs of the notion that multiplayer’s hogging Brotherhood’s spotlight.

“I think there’s this dichotomy in the gaming world, that the people who are sold to multiplayer don’t care about single-player, and the people who are sold to single-player don’t necessarily care about multiplayer. The wink we give to that in our universe is that the single-player [game] is Assassins, and the multiplayer is The Templars,” he explained.

“I think in the end we’re giving a lot to the single-player, because we’re giving a full single-player campaign – so they won’t feel cheated with Brotherhood, because they had what they wanted.”

And so, Boivin and co. have created what’s almost certainly the only instance in which we can say the following: “Throw on your frilly, eye-catching hooded ponchos, folks! It’s time for war.”

Assassin's Creed : Brotherhood is scheduled for a November 16th release for the PC.

SOE Taking Sign Ups for DC Universe

Sony Online has opened sign-ups to the online beta of DC Universe Online.

When you do sign-up on the game’s official website, you’re given the choice of having the beta on PC or PlayStation 3.

There’s more through here.

The MMO, announced during Sony’s press conference back at E3 in 2008 looks set to release in November, for the PC with a $15 per month sub fee.

A 'February Release' revealed by Steam for Deus Ex : human Revolutiom ?

Steam has apparently outed a February release for Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

The page for the game mentions “Feb 2011″ as its release date on PC.

Square Enix has only confirmed an early 2011 date so far for the PC, the date coming at the end of the game’s mental E3 trailer.

This is what’s called “good news” in our book, if true

Deus Ex : Human Revolution is expected sometime in Early 2011 for the PC.

Kingdoms of Amalur Revealed By EA

Electronic Arts have announced 38 Studios’s debut title as Kingdoms of Amalur for the PC

This was the title once known as Project Mercury.

The game, a single-player RPG, “sets players on a heroic journey to unlock the mysteries of Amalur. Amalur is a magical world, filled with strange landscapes, exotic cities, colorful characters and terrifying creatures.”

The game’s being done under the leadership of Ken Rolston, who was Bethesda’s lead designer on Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and IV: Oblivion.

“Reckoning is a great representation of how a team of incredibly talented and creative people with expertise in different areas can come together and complement each other so well,” said 38 Studios’ CEO Jen MacLean.

The game will get its formal bow at Comic-Con in San Diego this weekend.

Press release is below.

EA and 38 Studios Introduce Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

Epic Open World RPG to be Unveiled at Comic-Con 2010 All-Star Panel Featuring Todd McFarlane, R. A. Salvatore, Ken Rolston and Curt Schilling

SAN DIEGO, Jul 20, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) and 38 Studios, LLC announced Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, the company’s first title previously referred to under the codename “Project Mercury”. Reckoning is an epic, open-world role-playing game set in Amalur, a mysterious and magical new fantasy world created by New York Times best-selling author R. A. Salvatore. Brought to life visually through the trademark visceral style of renowned artist and Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, Reckoning brings a new level of intense action combat to the RPG genre. The game is being developed under the leadership of Ken Rolston, lead designer of the critically acclaimed RPGs Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and is scheduled for release in fall 2011.

“Reckoning is a great representation of how a team of incredibly talented and creative people with expertise in different areas can come together and complement each other so well,” said Jen MacLean, CEO of 38 Studios. “We are thrilled to be developing an open-world RPG under the leadership of one of the greatest RPG designers in the industry, with creative direction by one of the most iconic artists of our time, set in a rich universe imagined by one of the top fantasy genre authors in the world. We can’t wait to share the first details of this universe we have been so dedicated to building over the past few years.”

“In Reckoning, we started with Bob and Todd’s exceptional Kingdoms of Amalur game setting and imagery,” said Ken Rolston, Lead Designer at Big Huge Games, a subsidiary of 38 Studios. “On that foundation we built the open-world exploration, vast narrative and character customization fans expect from the best RPGs. And we’ve added something new that we’ve always wanted from the genre — a fast-paced, graphically stimulating action combat experience with fluid control and immersive, discoverable gameplay fans haven’t seen before in other fantasy RPGs.”

Reckoning is a single-player RPG that sets players on a heroic journey to unlock the mysteries of Amalur. Amalur is a magical world, filled with strange landscapes, exotic cities, colorful characters and terrifying creatures. This Thursday at International Comic-Con in San Diego, 38 Studios visionaries McFarlane, Rolston, and Salvatore, along with 38 Studios Founder and Chairman Curt Schilling, will be hosting a panel in the first-ever public discussion of Reckoning.

Attendees will be among the first to see the world debut of Reckoning’s first trailer, directed by McFarlane and will also receive a limited edition collectible poster designed by McFarlane.

The panel takes place in room 6A from 1:15 PM – 2:15 PM and will be moderated by Spike TV’s Geoff Keighley.

So Project Mercury now known as Kingdoms of Amalur is scheduled for a Fall 2011 release for the PC.

"Black & White weather idea was 'stupid'" Claims Molyneux

It's become something of a Fable all of its own. Ten years ago, Peter Molyneux could do little wrong. The man who created Populous, Magic Carpet, Syndicate, Theme Park et al was readying his latest God game epic - Black & White.
In the lead up to launch, he promised that the weather effects in the EA-published title would reflect the real life climate outside your window. It sent a ripple through the industry. The future was now!

"How on Earth can that be done?" asked calmer, more cynical types, Molyneux's confident grin beaming back at them. The truth was, it couldn't - and the feature was very conspicuous by its absence in the final product.

It earned Molyneux a reputation for telling the odd porky pie - through nothing but exuberance, you understand

However, Molyneux has now spoken over his regret at making the claim, admitting he "jumped the shark" when the promise left his lips.

"I've got a Fonz 'shark moment' - you know, where he's jumped over a shark on his motorbike... and after that Happy Days was s***," he told GI.biz. "My inverse one of those was when I thought of the idea in Black & White of introducing weather patterns in the game that were the same outside your window, that was my 'shark moment'.

"Fortunately I woke up and thought: "Why the f*** did I do that?" If you lived anywhere in the world, you don't want the weather in the game to be outside your window... you want the opposite. It was a dumb, stupid idea."

Yes, Peter, yes it was. Fable III, on the other hand, is very much a clever idea - and one we can't wait to test out.

Fable III is scheduled for a release sometime in October for the PC.

Kojima's New Project is a new adventure game ?

Hideo Kojima has been linked to yet another title - this time an adventure game.

Mr. Metal Gear is apparently working on the as-yet-untitled release with Chiyomaru Shikura, CEO of publisher 5pb.
Shikura revealed he was collaborating with the legendary dev directly:

"Kojima said that he wanted to make an adventure game," Shikura revealed. "We're still at the level of 'let's lock ourselves away in the mountains somewhere and work on the plot,' so the specifics haven't been finalized."

Shikura was asked if Kojima's participation meant that the project will be science fiction but the 5pb man remained tight lipped and said that the we would have to ask Kojima directly.

"Blood stone Chases more Split/Second than Blur" Says BIzarre

James Bond: Blood Stone will heavily feature high-speed land and sea vehicles - something you might expect, considering Bond's fetish for dangerous velocity and Bizarre's critical success with Blur (despite the lack of sales to match).
But Bizarre Blood Stone producer Nick Davies has said that Bond only has a hint of Blur about him when he gets behind the wheel, with other racing titles being taken as the real driving force:

"Actually, starting off on Bond we were using the Project Gotham Racing dynamics but the guys on Blur have made huge headway," said Davies

"Particularly in terms of the cameras, they've got a very cinematic camera on Blur so we've taken a lot of the cameras across."

That's where the Blur link ends though. Although the Blood Stone team talk to team Blur every day for advice and input, very few of the racer's developers have worked on Bond directly.

"There's been a lot of collaboration but the two things are very different," Davies continued.

"Blur's a racing game and Bond's very much an action game so our racing section are very much the set pieces of the game, the huge, big explosive events with lots of car crashes and Bond driving down all sorts of crazy tracks."

"That side's a little bit different to Blur, they've got a bit more in the realism, we're probably a bit closer to Split/Second in terms of carnage you see on the track."

We're not sure whether we buy the link between Blur and realism but Split/Second seems like a sensible reference when it comes to recreating Bond on the road.

"OnLive isn't suitable for hardcore gamers ",Says Perlman

OnLive CEO Steve Perlman has admitted that the Cloud gaming service isn't ideal for hardcore gamers that want to play high-end titles.

The service launched in the US last month, and according to Perlman, subscriptions are far exceeding what the firm expected.
However, Perlman told Industry Gamers he'd be "super happy" if hardcore gamers used OnLive as a demo service - where they could test new games before downloading them in full from Steam and other digital games portals.

"If you're a hardcore gamer and you've got a big rig and you want the highest quality graphics then OnLive is not the place where you're going to play your high-end game," he admitted.

"Then again, to not have a huge download in order to trial something before you make the purchase decision, why not? Just click OnLive and give it a go. If you like it, terrific. Download the thing from Steam or order a copy on DVD."

Online launched This june at E3 2010

Detective Vision was a 'mistake' Says Rocksteady Dev.

The detective vision capability featured in the award-winning Batman: Arkham Asylum was certainly the most useful tool in Batman’s arsenal, thanks to it giving players the edge needed to get the jump on your enemies. However, the game’s art director, David Hego recently spoke at Develop 2010 and mentioned that he regrets the decision to integrate the X-ray styled mode into the critically acclaimed game, and that it made the game too easy.

Hego joked during his keynote that players who would use the detective vision throughout the course of the whole game made him “want to cry a little bit.” Hego explained:

“It was a gameplay decision to make detective vision so strong…we’re going to try not to do that mistake again.”

Hego continued to talk about how the detective vision could potentially be toned down for the sequel by stating Rocksteady would “make it more like augmented reality next time”.

Batman : Arkham Asylum was released in September 2009 for the PC.

Brotherhood is not 'Assassin's Creed 2.5' Says Ubisoft

Jean-Francois Boivin has said that Assassin's Creed : Brotherhood is not 'Assassin's Creed 2.5'

As a result some fans of the successful open world action series are sceptical about the game, which includes multiplayer for the first time.

Despite having only a year to create Brotherhood, developer Ubisoft Montreal has been able to make a game even bigger than its predecessor, outspoken associate producer Jean-Francois Boivin said.

"It's not a mission pack," he said. "It's not a 2.5. It's set in Rome, which is three times the size of Florence, which technologically is a challenge to do, just memory wise. You have this enormous playground to play with. And you have these new features, these new elements that bring a new twist and a new angle to Ezio's story.

"It's about Ezio teaching others how to become assassins. There are a lot of core features we worked on. We brought a lot of new, deep and vast features – the old Rome upgrade system, the economic system - the Brotherhood is a game in of itself.

"Plus we're bringing everything people loved about Assassin's Creed II. We took each feature and said, 'How can we make that feature better, or give it a bit of spice, a bit of Tabasco, or a bit of baby oil so it flows a bit better?' We will be extremely successful in convincing fans once they have the controller in their hands. Then the question is going to be, 'How did they do it in a year?' That's going to be the question that's fun to answer later on."

Boivin said Ubisoft Montreal was able to develop Brotherhood quicker than previous Assassin's titles because it had already established many of the base tools required to build the game.

"First of all we have extremely stable tools. We've been building Anvil [game engine] for six, seven years now. It's extremely stable. We have loads of tools that work super, super well.

"As you've probably read everywhere, Assassin's Creed 2 had hundreds and hundreds of resources all over the world. But then when you start submitting you ramp down a lot. We didn't do that. We just stayed right up there and kept our production velocity, starting right away.

"We already knew we wanted to do Rome. So the graphics team stayed the graphics team - bang, start building Rome really quickly. We know all our technical and design guidelines. How to build a city so Ezio can do some free running? The AI guys – how you can improve on NPC AI? How can we improve on the horse? How can we improve on the fights? We started working on that right away.

"Then the storyline. We already knew it was Ezio's story, and Patrice Désilets [now departed] already knew what the story was. So it was quick for us to do a story blueprint. Maybe two weeks after the release of Assassin's Creed 2 we already had the story down, and we probably started writing a few pages of script. Casting was already underway.

"The operative word here is velocity. And we still have people helping us. Our Singapore office is still working with us. The studio in Quebec City is helping us. It's a question of keeping going and making a full game in a year."

Assassin's Creed : Brotherhood is expected for a November 16th release for the PC.

Red Faction 'Origins ' announced by THQ

THQ’s announced the first full details of the TV movie Red Faction: Origins, which acts as a prequel to Red Faction: Armageddon.

It also takes place ten years after Red Faction Guerrilla.

Story stuff below:

Twenty-five years have passed since Alec Mason led the Martian Colonies to freedom…and ten years since vengeful enemies killed his wife, kidnapped his daughter Lyra, and left a broken hero in their wake.

Jake Mason, Alec’s last surviving son and a ranger in the Red Faction Militia, had never abandoned hope that somewhere in the raw outlands of Mars, his sister was still alive. Now, just as a powerful new enemy swarms across the planet, he’s found her, only to learn…

And here’s the kicker:

…that his long lost sister is one of them…a cold-blooded soldier sworn to destroy the Red Faction and conquer the planet in the name of a madman.
Jake must now battle the relentless regime and somehow reunite a family torn apart by war.

The plot for the pilot was written by 13 and Fringe writer Andrew Kreisberg, with producer of fiction development at THQ, Paul DeMeo, helping with the story.

It’ll air next March on SyFy, and is part of a “transmedia deal” involving several THQ series’, including Red Faction.

THQ's last Red Faction game Red Faction : Guerrilla was released in September 2009 for the PC.

Below is the full PR :

THQ AND SYFY ANNOUNCE TRANSMEDIA STRATEGIC ALLIANCE WITH SYFY TO DEBUT RED FACTION®: ORIGINSTM THE MOVIE PILOT

Two Hour Live-Action Film Based on THQ’s Red Faction Video Game Franchise Scheduled to Air on Syfy in March 2011

NEW YORK, NY and AGOURA HILLS, Calif. – July 19, 2010 – THQ Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI) and SyfyTM, the premier destination for imagination-based entertainment, today announced a first-of-a-kind transmedia deal to debut Red Faction®: OriginsTM (working title), a two hour live-action movie pilot scheduled to air in March 2011 on Syfy. The story of Red Faction: Origins follows the lineage of rebel hero Alec Mason and the Mason family, set during a period between the critically acclaimed Red Faction: GuerrillaTM video game and the recently announced and highly anticipated Red Faction: ArmageddonTM video game, also scheduled for release in March 2011.

The Red Faction: Origins screenplay was written by notable writer and producer Andrew Kreisberg (Warehouse 13, Fringe, Vampire Diaries and Boston Legal), based on a story developed by Paul DeMeo (The Rocketeer, Flash, Viper, The Sentinel), THQ Director, Fiction Development. Production of the film will be managed by Universal Cable Productions.

Mark Stern, Executive Vice President Programming, Syfy & Co-head of Universal Cable Production said, “This groundbreaking deal with THQ reflects our desire to deliver a completely immersive and enhanced viewing experience for the audience. We are excited to be working with the creative team at THQ in extending the vibrant world of Red Faction to our air.”

“THQ is blazing a new trail in the gaming industry with our partnership with Syfy by introducing the Red Faction franchise to a new and broader audience” said Danny Bilson, Executive Vice President, Core Games, THQ. “This unique transmedia collaboration is one of many strategic initiatives in place to dramatically increase awareness for Red Faction Armageddon and extend the Red Faction brand across a wide variety of entertainment channels.”

Big Dragon Age : Origins Patch Coming

BioWare’s released details of a massive update for Dragon Age: Origins, which will go live later today for PC.

Included in the list are general fixes for both Origins and its Awakening expansion.

It’s big. How big? Try this big. Yeah. It’s properly big.

Get the skinny on it here.

It should keep you cosy with Origins for now until Dragon Age 2 releases next March.

Dragon Age : Origins was released in November 2009 for the PC.

R.U.S.E Free Weekend extended till Wednesday

Ubisoft’s confirmed that the preview for upcoming RTS R.U.S.E. has been extended into Wednesday.

The taster, which was only meant to be for the weekend, is still playable until 5.00pm EST (11pm BST) on Wednesday.

The RTS, set in World War II, sees you try to deceive your opponent via various tricky tactics.

R.U.S.E will be released on September 7th for the PC.

Blur 'the start of a big franchise', says Bizarre

Nick Davies has said that Blur is still a massive deal for the studio.

The racer launched back in May for 360, PS3 and PC,debuted in the UK charts at number 14 but didn’t fare very well: it, while it also showed low NPD sales for the month of May in the US.

When asked about the figures, Davies said: “To be honest with you, I think it was a very busy time for racing games,” referring to the releases of Split/Second and ModNation Racers during the same period.

“It rates incredibly highly and it’s a very popular game, and I think it’s going to be a slow-burner.

“I think the multiplayer will stay for a long time and I think people will come back to that time and time again, long after some of the other games have gone back to the second-hand shelf.”

Davies told the site it has signified “the start of a big franchise for Bizarre,” with a plan in place for a Blur 2.

“That’s the plan, yeah,” Davies said when asked on a sequel. “I don’t work on the Blur team specifically so I can’t speak for them, but it’s always been the plan to make the number one racing franchise. That’s as much as I can say!”

Bioware's New Dragon Age Pen & Paper Game Available now

Dragon Age Set 1 pen and paper game is available for purchase from the BioWare Store. The game is $29.95 and includes two rulebooks, 1 poster map, and three six-sided dice. Real life friends not included. Doh!

Fantasy roleplaying goes back to its dark and gritty roots with the Dragon Age RPG. Make your own heroes and control your own destiny as a Blight comes to Thedas once again. Designed by award-winning author Chris Pramas (Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Freeport), Dragon Age features an all-new game system that's both easy to learn and exciting to play.

The Dragon Age RPG is the perfect portal to tabletop roleplaying. The core system is easy to use and most actions can be resolved with a roll of the dice. Dragon Age also features an innovative stunt system that keeps combat and spellcasting tense and exciting.

OnLive's free Founding Members program extended till Labour Day

The Online streaming PC game service has been live to the public for just over a month. Just before its launch the company announced that it would allow people to sign up to use the service free for one year with an option to continue for a second year for $4.95 a month. That deal was supposed to expire on July 15. Now the official OnLive Twitter page has announced that the Founding Members deal has been extended to Labor Day (September 6).

There is still a Waiting List to be accepted into the Founding members deal but its clear that OnLive wants to get as many people as possible to try out the service. One other bit of news is that the full version of Frozenbyte's puzzle-platformer game Trine is available to purchase and play on OnLive. Previously only the free demo version of the game was available to play on OnLive.

James Bond : Bloodstone gets the first glimpse

We didn’t get a really good sense of how Bizarre Creations’ new James Bond title actually plays during its announcement trailer, or in the debut screens from yesterday. At face value, it’s another action-packed third-person shooter, but with 007 in the spotlight. Fast-forward to this morning when an off-screen video taken from yesterday’s London Activision press event hit the web, showing a near 7-minute live demo. Here's the vid,

Were you looking closely during that footage? It would appear Bizarre took some hints from Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell: Conviction, as I very clearly spy a mark & execute-esque gunplay feature. Not to mention the fast-paced cover movement and hand-to-hand combat. Not too shabby. And the visuals — I have to confess myself impressed. Didn’t expect that. Towards the end you can also get a feel for the excellent driving sections, which Bizarre are masters of, as well.

James Bond 007 : Bloodstone is scheduled for a fall release for the PC.

"Canada 'a major threat' to UK video games industry" Says TIGA

TIGA's Chief Executive Richard Wilson has revealed fears over Canada being "a major threat" to the UK video games industry, saying that "we're competing on a very uneven playing field" thanks to the recent scrap of the proposed government tax breaks.

Speaking on BBC One's Politics Show this morning, Wilson said that "economically (the video games industry) is very important.

"It contributes a billion pounds to UK GDP, it generates £415m in tax receipts for the treasury, it employs 30,000 people, many of them in very highly skilled jobs, and it's very export-focussed; just the kind of sector the UK economy needs in the future."

But Wilson later said that the UK was "competing on a very uneven playing field," and that "the Canadians are a major threat to our industry."

"The Canadians are really serious about this," added Prem Gyani of Quickstart Global. "They have identified the fact that the games industry is part of their country's strategy. They're doing everything right."

So what does the UK need to do to retain its talent? Well, the Executive Director of the Entertainment Software Association of Canada, Danielle Parr, thinks that Canada has been successful due to making the industry "a priority", adding that it has no qualms in taking our "investment".

"I think a lot of people are looking at Canada and saying 'how are they doing this, they're taking all our jobs, how are they attracting our investment and we're not able to keep them here?'," said Parr.

"But as they say, all's fair in love and war.

"We're just simply trying to promote the video game industry in general, promote what Canada has to offer, and we'll take the best and the brightest; we'll take your investment. As a nation we've made it a priority and invested a lot in this industry, and we're hoping that will pay off with our continued growth and continued dominance in the video games space."

The Conservative's Culture Minister Ed Vaizey, however, thinks that the UK is still on "a relatively level playing field" with the Canadians, thanks to the "ecology" we have over here.

"The Canadian government has made a decision to get behind the video games industry and to create a video games industry virtually out of nothing. But I think that it's still a relatively level playing field because while the Canadians are putting in a lot of direct financial support, it's very hard to create the kind of ecology that we have in this country.

"Video games have been around for fifty years and we've been at the forefront of video games development in this country, and that's very hard to replicate."

The Canadians handed out fake Canadian passports at last week's Develop in Brighton in an attempt to aggressively promote awareness of the advantages of working in the country.

Canada currently houses some of the industry's biggest development houses, including Ubisoft Montreal and EA Sports, while the UK hosts top talent from Lionhead Studios, Rare, Media Molecule, Evolution Studios, Black Rock Studios, Criterion and many, many more.

Plants VS Zombies getting new modes

Co-op and versus modes have been revealed for Plants vs Zombies by XBOX360achievements.org

Xbox360achievements.org seemingly give away details of two of the game’s new features, namely co-op and versus modes.

Plants vs. Zombies sees you try to save your home from waves of undead by using a variety of plants to shoot them down.

The game includes around 50 levels, although chances are there will be even more available in the XBLA version.

We'll see if these changes also apply for the PC version.

Plants Vs Zombies was released in May 2009 for the PC.

"3D gaming is a fad 'for the next five years at least'" Says Pachter

Speaking in the latest episode of Gametrailers show Pach Attack, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter has said he feels 3D gaming is more of a fad than the future.

Pachter thinks 3D TV adoption is going to take a long time is due to the cost of the glasses.

While some consumers will go out and buy a new set for gaming, “the masses won’t” until things are a bit less costly.

“Before adoption becomes widespread, 3D television and movie content will have to become available and glasses will have to come down in price,” says Pachter.

“While the audience for 3D television is small, then for the next five years at least, 3D gaming is, and will remain, a fad.

“Maybe in ten years it will start to take off.”

Maybe he's right or maybe he's wrong. your guess

Sony Online Entertainment Lays Off 35 Emplyees

35 LayOffs have been confirmed by Sony Online Entertainment.

SOE said“In a move to better align the company’s resources against areas of growth that meet consumer demand in today’s online market as well as improve operational efficiency, Sony Online Entertainment has eliminated just over 4 percent of its full-time workforce, equaling 35 people,” SOE’s Scott Gulbransen said in a statement

SOE’s currently hard at work on The Agency and DC Universe Online. It also recently announced a free-to-play Star Wars: Clone Wars MMO.

“The changes will better position SOE to deliver against its emphasis on developing games for a wider, more diverse audience and remaining a worldwide leader in online gaming,” Gulbransen added.

EverQuest II has lost Brett “Timetravelling” Scheinert, raid designer on Sentinel’s Fate.

It’s also rumored Vanguard has lost William Bidermann and Joel “Raijinn” Sasaki, who is the game’s community manager.

Steve Kramer, former EQII designer who was moved over toThe Agency, was also let go, along with two unnamed marketing employees.

Best of luck, all. But who needs those well-established companies anyway? Start your own development studio! Call it Rock at Dawn Online Entertainment or something. You know, be creative.

Crysis and Warhead 50% off In EA's Summer Weekend Sale

EA’s having a Summer Weekend Sale every week on select PC games, and this weekend it’s Crysis and Crysis Warhead.

Until July 18, both are 50 percent off the regular price, and next weekend, according to Gamerdeals, Mass Effect will be 75 percent off, and Mass Effect 2 and its Digital Deluxe version will both be 40 percent off.

We’re not sure how it got a hold of the savings ahead of time, but here is what it says are planned in the future:

Weekend 3 (7/29/10 – 8/1/10):

• 50 percent off Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
• 50 percent off Command & Conquer 3: Kane’s Wrath
• 50 percent off Command & Conquer 3: Red Alert 3
• 75 percent off Command & Conquer 3: Red Alert 3 Uprising
• 33 percent off Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight

Weekend 4 (8/5/10 – 8/8/10):

• 50 percent off Dead Space
• 75 percent off Mirror’s Edge
• 33 percent off SPORE
• 33 percent off Creepy & Cute
• 33 percent off Galactic Adventures

Weekend 5 (8/12/10 – 8/15/10):

• 75 percent off Burnout Paradise
• 25 percent off Need For Speed Shift
• 50 percent off Need For Speed Undercover

Weekend 6 (8/19/10 – 8/22/10):

• 33 percent off Battlefield Bad Company
• 50 percent off Battlefield 2 Complete
• Battlefield Bad Company 2 + Battlefield 2 Complete Collection + Medal of Honor Beta Key Bundle ($79.94)

Weekend 7 (8/26/10 – 8/29/10):

• 33 percent off Dragon Age: Origins
• 25 percent off Dragon Age: Origins Awakening
• 33 percent off Dragon Age: Origins Digital Deluxe
• 40 percent off Dragon Age: Origins + Awakening Bundle
• 40 percent off Dragon Age: Origins Deluxe + Awakening Bundle

Weekend 8 (9/2/10 – 9/5/10):

• 40 percent off all PC Digital Distribution titles

APB Patch 1.3 Pre-Notes

While there is no release date yet for the APB 1.30 patch, Realtime Worlds gives us a sneak peek at the notes. "These fixes and changes are issues that we highlighted early on, or didn’t quite make it into earlier builds." This list is pretty long, so you can check it out here, with a look at the "General" updates below.

• An issue with characters not displaying the Character Select screen has been resolved.
• An exploit has been fixed where players could exceed the character customisation limits.
• Players can no longer capture movies while in the character select screen.
• The overlay strength of clothing items are no longer saved when the player presses cancel.
• Choosing to replay the intro videos no longer causes some players to crash.
• A rare server crash that was caused by a player switching their weapons via the inventory has been addressed.
• A client crash that can occur when accepting a clan invite has been addressed.
• The achievement ‘Indoctrinate the masses’ can no longer be progressed towards without finishing spray paint actions.
• The achievement ‘Who Are You?’ is now awarded correctly.
• There has been an increase in performance for the in-game browser.
• A client hang that causes the loading wheel to spin perpetually when entering a district has been addressed.
• The APB Launcher no longer consistently requests the player to restart the computer when first installing the game.

All Points Bulletin(APB) was released in June, exclusively for the PC.

BlizzCon 2010 having a ticket/charity dinner lottery

People can enter themselves into the lottery to get a chance to pay for tickets at Blizzard's web site (a Battle.net account is required) to the now sold out BlizzCon 2010 event on October 22-23 in Anaheim California. Now

The lottery will pick a select group of people who will then be given a chance to purchase tickets to BlizzCon 2010 along with access to a charity dinner the night before BlizzCon begins with Blizzard execs and team members in attendance. The ticket holders will also get a special signed print of Blizzard game artwork. 200 BlizzCon 2010 tickets will be sold for $500 each with a limit of two tickets per person. The deadline to register for the lottery is Saturday at 11:59 pm Pacific time (2:59 am Sunday Eastern time).

'Alien Swarm' to be released for free by Steam

A while back a group of mod makers called Black Cat Games created a top-down sci-fi shooter total conversion for Unreal Tournament 2004 called Alien Swarm. After the mod was released the mod makers announced plans to release a stand alone Alien Swarm game using Valve's Source Engine. However there's been little info about the status of that game's progress.

What we didn't know at the time was that Valve decided to hire the members of the Alien Swarm team two years ago. Since then the team members have worked on Valve's games like the Left 4 Dead series and the upcoming Portal 2. However the team never forgot about Alien Swarm and continued to work on the game in between their official Valve duties. Today Valve announced that the game will finally be released on Monday as a free download. In addition the game's source code will also be released for free.

Alien Swarm will feature co-op gameplay with up to four players, four player classes and eight unique characters. There will also be 40 weapons and items to use and a title based map generation tool. It will also support Steamworks features like achievements, matchmaking, Steam Cloud save game storage and more.

Direct2Drive Starts selling Modern Warefare 2

You may remember that last fall IGN's Direct2Drive PC game download site said that it would not sell Infinity Ward's shooter Call Of Duty : Modern Warefare 2 At the time the site provided its reasons, saying, "we believe strongly that when you buy a game from us, you shouldn't be forced to install and run a 3rd party software client to be able to play the game you purchased." That was in reference to the fact that the PC version of Modern Warfare 2 required the use of Valve's Steam client and Steamworks tools to play and update the game.

Now Direct2Drive has had a change of heart. Starting earlier this month the download site has begun selling both Modern Warfare 2 as well as its two map packs.with the purchase of Modern Warfare 2 and the two maps packs. Indeed the site is offering a bundle sale at the moment that allows people to get Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for free The site does mention that the game does require Steam to play and that a third party download is also required.

Big Download has both called and emailed IGN's PR rep to ask about the reasons for this about face in policy but so far the company has not responded to our inquires. Other PC game download sites like Impluse and GamersGate sites who said they would also not sell Modern Warfare 2 because of its use of Steam have still not made the game available to purchase on their sites.

Update : Direct2Drive has reponded : "We asked our customer base and they told us they weren't concerned whether a game came with a third-party client or not. And we listen to our customers." That would seem to leave things open for other Steam exclusive games showing up on Direct2Drive as well. When asked if that was going to happen Uhrman responded with, "Future titles will be decided on a publisher by publisher basis."

Call Of Duty : Modern Warefare 2 was released In November 2009 for the PC.

New 'Left 4 Dead 2' Mutation mode revealed

When we saw that the next Mutation gameplay mode for Valv's zombie co-op shooter Left 4 Dead 2 was going to be called Hard Eight we figured it had something to do with gambling. You know, maybe a little dice rolling or some roulette wheel action.

No such luck. Valve just updated Left 4 Dead 2 and as it turns our Hard Eight means that in campaign mode you will have to face eight Special infected enemies at one time, which is double the normal amount. The special mode also increases the spawning for the enemies so that it will be raining Specials on your three man and one woman team. Have fun. Oh and next week's Mutation mode sounds pretty scary

Left Dead 2 was released in November 2009 for the PC.

Aion: Assault on Balaurea Coming September 7th

NCsoft will release the first substantial content update to its massively multiplayer online role-playing game, Aion, during the first week of September. The publisher sent word today that update 2.0, now known as Assault on Balaurea, will arrive September 7.

Assault on Balaurea ups the game's level cap from 50 to 55, adds new weapons and items to collect, as well as two new zones and instances to explore. Additionally, the content adds pets, both for vanity and functions like carrying items, and allows players to sky-travel more easily through a new wind-stream mechanic.

The content will be released as a free download on PCs in North America and Europe on September 7. Additionally, NCsoft will be releasing a new retail version of Aion with exclusive in-game pets the same day in North America and September 10 in Europe.

Star Craft II beta Coming to an end on July 19th

Blizzard will wrap up StarCraft II Beta this upcoming Monday, July 19th and shutting down the beta forum login in preparation for the midnight launch on July 27th.

Make sure to spend all this weekend having fun in Battle.net, because the crave you will acquire from withdrawal will last you eight days.

Here's what Blizzard had to say :

"We would like to thank everyone who has participated in the StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty beta test. You've done an admirable job of testing, and we greatly appreciate all of the feedback you provided during this critical phase of development. It's been a lot of fun; however, all good things must come to an end.

In preparation for the launch of the game on Tuesday, July 27, the beta servers will be brought offline by Monday, July 19. At that time, all beta accounts and character information will be reset and the ability to create forum posts and comments on the StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty website (http://beta-us.battle.net/sc2/en/) will be unavailable until launch. In the meantime, we still encourage everyone to stay tuned to the website for exciting news and updates regarding the upcoming release.

Thank you again for your participation, and we'll see you soon on Battle.net!"

Star Craft II : Wings Of Liberty is scheduled for a July 27th release exclusively for the PC.

Medal Of Honor Beta Extended By EA

For the folks who are still playing the Medal Of Honor Beta, There's good news, EA has announced that beta would be extened for PC players .

Here take a look :

"The Medal of Honor beta for the PlayStation 3 and PC is being extended! If you have a beta key rave card that says the code will expire on July 18th, don’t worry – it will not. The beta key redemption portal will remain open at www.medalofhonor.com/beta and keys will remain active for the duration of the beta. We are continuing to work with Microsoft on the Xbox 360 beta and are dedicated to delivering it as soon as possible."

Medal Of Honor releases on October 12th for the PC.

No F1 2010 Demo For You

Codemasters have confirmed that there will be no demo version of their upcoming F1 2010 title, meaning sim racers will have to trust reviews and in-game footage to make a decision on whether or not the title is worth buying.

With no demo version for any of the title’s platforms being available before the title’s release in about eight weeks time, the buzzing discussions in the sim racing community about F1 2010’s degree of realism can be expected to continue until the title will hit the shelves.

Formula One 2010 is scheduled for a September release for the PC.

Real ID Q & A by Blizzard

Blizzard has sent over a Q&A regarding the whole Real ID meltdown that took place over the last couple of weeks.

In it, Blizzard tries to reassure folks and calm fears over the Facebook integration to WoW, the discarding of its plans to use real names on its forums, and just exactly what its plans are for Real ID.

The good news, is you can now “opt out of appearing on their Real ID friends’ “friends of friends” lists”, and Blizzard insists it will not allow third-parties to steal your information, while still trying to wrangle the trolls on the forums.

So here's the whole Q & A :

Answers to Common Community Questions About Real ID

Since the launch of the Real ID system in World of Warcraft, we’ve received a number of questions from the community about our plans for the service, features like StarCraft II’s Facebook integration, and how we see Real ID evolving in the future. We’ve been keeping tabs on the conversations on our forums, social media sites, and fansites, and have compiled some of the most common questions to answer for you here. We hope you find this information helpful, and we look forward to hearing your feedback and continuing the conversation in the thread below.

Q: Do you have any plans to allow players to not show their real name to friends of friends while using the Real ID system?

A: As with any new feature we add to our games, we’ve been evaluating how Real ID has been used since its release to identify new functionality that would help improve our players’ experience. The in-game Real ID “friends of friends” list is designed to give players a convenient way to populate their Real ID friends list with other players they know and trust in real life, allowing them to quickly and easily send Real ID friend requests to these people without having to enter their Battle.net account names. However, we recognize that some players would prefer not to be displayed on friends lists in this fashion, so we plan to include an option that will allow players to opt out of appearing on their Real ID friends’ “friends of friends” lists. We’re anticipating this feature to be available for StarCraft II shortly after release of the game, and World of Warcraft at around the same time — we’ll have more information for you in the coming weeks.

Q: What are your plans for Facebook integration?

A: With regard to Facebook, our goal is to help Blizzard gamers on Battle.net more easily connect to their real-life friends and family. For the launch of StarCraft II, we are introducing an optional Facebook friend finder feature to help achieve this goal. The friend finder enables players who decide to use it to easily populate their Battle.net friends list by sending Real ID friend requests to the people on their Facebook friends list who have Battle.net accounts. We hope players will find this feature convenient, but it’s completely optional. In the long term, we hope to give players who use Facebook some fun, and also optional, ways to share what they’re doing in Blizzard games with their friends, similar to the optional World of Warcraft Armory integration now available, but we don’t have any specific plans to share at present.

Q: How does the friend finder in StarCraft II work? What’s sent to Facebook?

A: When you use the Add a Friend feature in StarCraft II, one of the options you’ll see is to search your Facebook friends list for people who also have Battle.net accounts in order to quickly send them Real ID friend requests. When you click this button, you’ll be asked to enter your Facebook login information, and you’ll then see a list of your Facebook friends who also have Battle.net accounts. You’ll then have the option to send any of these Facebook friends a Real ID friend request in-game. (Keep in mind that for someone to appear on the list, their Battle.net account email address must match their Facebook email address. In addition, you’ll see the names of any Facebook friends who have registered Battle.net accounts, regardless of whether they have Blizzard games attached to their account or just, for example, created the Battle.net account to make a purchase on the online Blizzard Store.)

It’s important to note that Blizzard Entertainment does not share any personal information with Facebook as part of this process. Keep in mind that as with other Real ID features such as the “friends of friends” list, our goal with the friend finder feature is to create convenient options to help players easily find people they know in real life on Battle.net without having to remember email addresses or account names. We hope players will find the feature easy to use and convenient.

Q: How can I prevent World of Warcraft add-ons from accessing Real ID first and last names without my knowledge?
A: As always, we recommend that you get your UI add-ons through reliable sources. It’s important to note that without installing a UI add-on specifically designed to retrieve that information, there’s no risk of it being accessed. On our end, we’re looking into the issue and are at work on some changes that we can make to help protect against these types of add-ons. We’ll provide further details as soon as we have more information to share.

Q: Are you secretly trying to build a social gaming platform with the new Battle.net?

A: It’s no secret — as we’ve discussed openly since we first started sharing our plans about the new Battle.net, one of our goals is for it to serve as a social gaming service for Blizzard gamers. This was a deliberate and open design decision, driven 100% by the desire to create an even better online experience for our players by giving them powerful tools to compete with and stay connected to their real-life friends and family.

Q: If my account was compromised, what information about my Real ID friends would a hacker have access to?

A: We take account security very seriously, and we offer a number of ways to help players keep their account secure, including the Battle.net Authenticator and the free Battle.net Mobile Authenticator app, available for a wide range of mobile devices. Aside from your friends’ first and last names, no other personal information is shared through the in-game Real ID system.

Q: What’s a StarCraft II “character code”?

A: When you first log in to StarCraft II, you’re prompted to choose a single character name. This is the only name you’ll use on Battle.net, and it’s tied to your StarCraft II license. In order to allow players to select any name they wish regardless of whether another player is already using the same name, we then generate and assign a three-digit character code that uniquely identifies the player. When posting on the forums of the new StarCraft II community site, players will be posting using their StarCraft II character name and character code.

Q: Will the new StarCraft II forum posting name format (character name + character code) carry over into the forum communities of other Blizzard games?

A: Following our recent decision to no longer use real first and last names on Blizzard forums, we’re still evaluating how we’ll move forward with our other forums. Our ultimate goal is still to promote constructive conversations and improve the overall forum experience for our players, and we think increasing accountability is an important part of achieving that. StarCraft II already uses a character name and character code combo in-game, which serves as a unique player identifier and fits well with our goal for the forums. World of Warcraft handles player identification differently, so we still need to determine whether adding a character code system like in StarCraft II is the best solution. Ultimately, we want to come up with a system that makes sense for each community and fits our long-term vision for the forums.

Q: Are there any plans to change the in-game Real ID system so that players will have the option to display an assigned user name instead of their real names?

A: The Real ID system is designed to help real-life friends and family who decide to use it keep in touch with each other across Blizzard games, and our goal in using real names is to ensure that players will be able to maintain long-term, meaningful relationships on the service for years to come. One way it helps make that happen is by eliminating the need to remember who, for example, “Thrall123″ really is when you see him or her pop up on your friends list again after months — or years — of being offline. Ultimately, we think this is the best way to ensure players who use Real ID are able stay connected with the people they enjoy playing with most in the long-term, and we don’t currently have any plans to change the system so it can be used with character names or alternate handles instead. That said, Battle.net is a living, breathing service that we will continue to evolve over time as we evaluate how players are using it and identify new ways to improve the experience.

Q: What plans are there to improve moderation since the use of real names on the forums has been changed?

A: Our new community sites’ forums, beginning with the StarCraft II site, will have an improved moderation system as well as a post-rating system which will help our players promote the conversations they find the most constructive, as well as help forum moderators identify quality discussions. This, coupled with the unique StarCraft II character name and code, will help us to create a more positive atmosphere based on community interaction and accountability.