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Quake 4 Gets Dated 03:52 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Action (0 comments)
Amongst the mumbo jumbo in the latest Activision earnigs is word that Quake 4 will ship this year:

Kotick added, "We entered fiscal 2006 with the largest installed base of video gaming platforms in the industry's history and, we believe, our strongest product release slate ever. Our lineup includes new versions of our top-selling franchises -- Tony Hawk, Spider-Man, Shrek, Call of Duty, DOOM, X-Men, True Crime and Quake -- as well as, Fantastic Four, Madagascar, The Movies and an original property from the development team behind the Tony Hawk series. We have more depth in our portfolio of franchises, and with over 1,000 talented team members in our internal studios, we have one of the strongest product development operations in the industry. We remain enthusiastic about our long-term prospects and our operating margin expansion programs should enable us to continue delivering long-term value to our shareholders."

RPG Vault Morsels 01:04 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Role-Playing (0 comments)
Today from Ye Ole Vault:

Guild Wars Impressions A report on our initial adventures in developer ArenaNet's mission-oriented game in the fantasy world of Ascalon

Restricted Area Media #3 Giants and Outlanders are among the very first opponents you'll have to defeat in master creating's action RPG. - Four exclusive screenshots

TrackMania Sunrise Ships 09:57 am - Andrew Burnes - Games: Racing (2 comments)
Announcing the shipment of Trackmania Sunrise to North American stores:

Enlight, a leading software developer and publisher, announced today that "TrackMania Sunrise," the racing heir to the original "Trackmania," has shipped and is now available in stores across North America. Developed for the PC by Nadeo, "TrackMania Sunrise" offers gorgeous environments, competitive multiplayer race modes, and insane customizable tracks with off-the-hook jumps, loops, and tight corners.

"We are delighted to announce that driving fans across North America can now get their hands on this free wheeling arcade classic," said Trevor Chan, chief executive officer of Enlight. "With two new racing modes and P2P network community, 'Trackmania Sunrise' is destined to become one of the sleeper hits of 2005."

Fable: The Lost Chapters Designer Diary 09:33 am - Andrew Burnes - Games: Action / Roleplaying (2 comments)
Designer diaries are often dull boring affairs, so it's refreshing to read the Fable: The Lost Chapters designer diary over on IGN, which is completely off the wall:

Entry 24:
This is where things start getting contentious. This is why developers shouldn't be allowed to drink. We decided to create a brothel some months ago. Jules had left a 'mysterious overgrown path' in Darkwood in Fable (it led nowhere), and we decided it needed a brothel at the end. Of course. Being British, we had to do our own take on this and allow the hero to dress as a woman. Aha! Transvestitism really is the basis of all humour. Aha. Ahahaha.

There's a pimp-hat too, resplendent in its '70s campness, but… aha… I dressed… like a lady. Ahahahaha.

Entry 26:
This really is getting silly. A couple of weeks ago we let the player dress up as the 'worlds least convincing transvestite' (haha ha hahahaha). Someone's suggested that the player should be able to get a job as a Lady of the Night… with men… Nooo! It seemed so obvious at the time (blame someone's mental indigestion). Now… it's morning. It's light. It seems so wrong. Dear God no. Are we really doing this? I mean, you can become a pimp, create a house for 'fallen women'… but this? Hell, I suppose as a career path it pays better than working in a call centre.

Don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to playing this even though I've completed the unexpanded Xbox version.

Anarchy Online - Lost Eden Announced 09:24 am - Andrew Burnes - MMOG: Role-Playing (1 comment)
Funcom today announced Lost Eden, an expansion pack for their massively multiplayer online role-playing game, which is due for release this winter:

Set for release in early winter, 'Lost Eden' is packed with exciting new features and abilities, including massive orbital battle stations, player controlled battle Mechs, vast PvP upgrades, encounters inside alien motherships, extensive alternative character advancement options and more.

'Lost Eden' sees mankind pulling out all the stops against the alien invaders as gigantic battle stations are deployed in orbit around Rubi-Ka. As fire rains from the heavens humanity finally seems to gain the upper hand. But with great power comes great temptation, and Omni-Tek and the Clans both see the ultimate means to gain total supremacy for their side; the orbital battle stations.

A letter from the game director regarding the new expansion can be read here, while screenshots can be viewed here.

Darwinia Update 09:20 am - Andrew Burnes - Games: Real-Time Strategy (1 comment)
The Introversion folks updated their Darwinia website with word on how things are going for them post-launch, and what the future holds for their enjoyable and unique real-time strategy game:

Sales of Darwinia have been good but not great. That's been the answer that i've given everyone who has asked, and its close enough to the truth. We'd guess sales in the order of a few thousand units. Enough for us to stay working for Introversion and push on with our other projects, but not enough for us to start hiring and expanding and moving into offices. Or buying Ferarris. On the other hand, sales of Uplink have really shot up since Darwinia's release, which we imagine is because there are loads of people who've still never heard of it until now.

Future patches will concentrate on modding facilities, and maybe, just maybe, multiplayer. Or as we've codenamed it within Introversion, Multiwinia. We are keen to point out this isn't quite the holy grail you might think it is....Darwinia does not really lend itself to multiplayer gameplay, due to its indirect unit control and massively overpowerful squaddies. If we went ahead with this project there would indeed be a player versus player battle mode, but this would be just one of many game types, and probably the least interesting.

Close Combat Developer Acquires Close Combat Developer 09:11 am - Andrew Burnes - Games: General News (0 comments)
A GameSpot news piece reveals that Destineer Studios, development house behind the recent and rubbish Close Combat: First To Fight, has acquired Atomic Games, development house behind the classic real-time strategy Close Combat series:

Destineer was founded in 2001 by former Bungie executive vice president Peter Tamte. Tamte has had a long history with the Macintosh platform, and was once senior director of worldwide consumer marketing at Apple. Destineer's CEO, Paul Rinde, was a senior vice president of Atari, and a co-founder of the WizardWorks Group, Inc. In 2003, Destineer purchased MacSoft from Infogrames.

Atomic Games is best known for its Close Combat series, first released in 1996. While the current release of the game, Close Combat: First to Fight, is a first-person tactical shooter, previous installations were World War II-based real-time strategy games. The company's previous hit series, V for Victory, was also a World War II-based war game, though it used titles (sic) instead of animated squads of soldiers.

The article also includes a brief interview with Tamte.

Valve Products To Remain In Stores 09:02 am - Andrew Burnes - Games: Action (6 comments)
Valve titles will remain in stores to buy post August 31st when their publishing agreement with Vivendi Universial Games is finally terminated, Doug Lombardi revealed to GamesIndustryBiz. This will no doubt come as a great relief to retailers who feared that Valve would move all its business to Steam, thereby costing them mucho moolah. It also means that the Steamophobes among you can continue to avoid the digital distribution application.

Doug Lombardi also mentioned that Half-Life 2 for the Xbox will be on display at Microsoft's E3 stand.

Paraworld Nudies 08:16 am - Andrew Burnes - Games: Real-Time Strategy (4 comments)
Today we offer you four new screenshots from Paraworld, a prehistoric real-time strategy game from Sunflowers, the German development team behind Anno 1602 & 1503, titles which have sold over four million copies:

For those that haven't heard of this great looking title before, here's a little blurb:

The 3D real-time strategy title ParaWorld explodes the boundaries of the imaginable, putting players under the spell of a completely new and exciting world. Enthroned high above the ground, upon the heads of powerful fighting dinosaurs, command warriors through a prehistoric world as breathtakingly beautiful as it is dangerous. Armed with devastating weapons and covered in fearsome war paint, let battle commence.

Paraworld will be available to buy in the shops Q4 2005.

Burnout Legends Announced; Nudie 07:46 am - Andrew Burnes - Consoles: PSP (0 comments)
EA today announced a version of Burnout that'll be heading to the PSP this September, complete with an innovative feature that will allow owners of the game to wirelessly share a sample of the game with friends:

Gamers can look forward to eight gameplay modes, including crash, road rage and pursuit, with white-knuckle multiplayer via WiFi, and a GameShare option allowing players to wirelessly share a demo level of the game with friends.

In development by Criterion Games, Burnout Legends delivers updated versions of the most explosive moments from Burnout, Burnout 2: Point of Impact and Burnout 3: Takedown, with new gameplay, new cars and new surprises.

"Burnout Legends is the perfect quick gaming fix for the PSP," said Alex Ward, creative director, Criterion Games. "As anyone who's played Burnout can tell you, a quick 30 second crash junction can be just as satisfying as a two-hour multiplayer session - and that's the hallmark of a perfect PSP game."

Pics & Audio From The Xbox 360 Green Carpet 07:34 am - Andrew Burnes - Consoles: Xbox Next (0 comments)
Major Nelson, a.k.a. Larry Hryb, Microsoft's Director of Xbox Live, updated his always-interesting blog with pictures from a star studded event last night that revealed the Xbox 360 to celebs, with footage from that forming part of the May 12th MTV broadcast that will reveal the console to us plebs.

Major also upped a new podblogcast that includes vague info on what happened at the event and an interview with Elijah Wood who was presenting.

Update: Snide comments and more photos can be found here.

Update #2: Pro pictures can be found here, which also show the swirly Xbox 360 logo in the background.

Top Spin Heads To Playstation 2 07:26 am - Andrew Burnes - Consoles: PS2 (0 comments)
Top Spin, the Microsoft developed Xbox tennis game that was published on the PC by Atari, and then sold wholesale to 2K Games, will now be ported to the Playstation 2:

Developed by PAM Development and produced by Indie Built, a 2K Sports development studio, Top Spin for PlayStation 2 will be available this summer.

"The release of Top Spin on the PlayStation 2 gives a broader audience access to a great game, with some fantastic additions," said Steve ZoBell, president of Indie Built, Inc. "We're very excited to bring this critically acclaimed and extremely popular tennis game to PlayStation 2 owners."

Top Spin takes 16 of the top professional tennis players in the world including Maria Sharapova, Roger Federer, Venus Williams and Carlos Moya and puts them in gamers' hands to create the most realistic tennis game ever. Players must work their way up from an unranked amateur with no skills, to a top ranked player in the world with huge endorsement deals. Top Spin further pushes the edge of competition as the only PlayStation 2 tennis game playable online.

EA Canada Most Successful Studio At British Retail 07:11 am - Andrew Burnes - Games: General News (3 comments)
Develop Magazine today released its inaugural analysis of UK game sales figures, which ranks development studios according to their success at the tills in 2004:

1. EA Canada (�93,513,089 generated at UK retail)
2. Rockstar North (�71,067,230)
3. Maxis (�31,907,533)
4. EA Redwood Shores (�30,600,306)
5. Ubisoft Montreal (�22,930,009)
6. London Studios (SCEE) (�22,914,433)
7. KCE Tokyo (�22,127,973)
8. Sonic Team (�20,762,935)
9. Codemasters (�19,153,610)
10. EA LA (�18,934,945)

Titles developed by EA Canda in 2004 include Need for Speed Underground, NHL 2005, Def Jam: Fight for NY, FIFA Soccer 2005, and Tiger Woods: PGA Tour 2005. On a side note, Codemasters was the highest ranked independent studio.

SCEE Boss Bashes Low UK Game Prices 07:05 am - Andrew Burnes - Games: General News (5 comments)
David Reeves, SCEE President, has been bitching to MCV that game retailers in the UK are charging too little for titles, despite this trend helping the Playstation 2 become the most dominant console:

"In continental Europe you don't see that competition where a supermarket might go a week early or put the price down at �29," Reeves added.

"You come to the UK and frontline titles are going out at �29 not �39. It's crazy to sell GT4 at �29 - eventually people will buy it."

I'm all for these crazy prices - I picked up Silent Hunter III for �17.99 shortly after release.

ATI Goes Dual Card 07:00 am - Andrew Burnes - hardware: ATI (12 comments)
Just like Nvidia, ATI is entering the dual card graphics card market, except their version of SLI can work with any ATI card, presuming you have an as-of-yet unavailable 'master' card:

Sadly, it seems that just like NVIDIA with SLi, ATI's MVP solution will come with a few rigid pre-set conditions before you can enjoy the benefits… so not all that different from a bit of twin action after all… In order to run the ATI AMR solution you'll first off need to have a compatible mainboard and then you'll need two cards, but not just any card, oh no… read on.

Now, here's the clever bit, the system will run with a master card and slave card. The slave card can be ANY ATI card on the market, which is just about as cool as absolute zero, but (and it's a big BUT).. the master card, which will control the frame buffer, has to support MVP. The ATI solution runs on a tiled based approach - which has a minimum checkerboard size of 32 pixels square.

In a superb retro throw back to the Voodoo 2 days of yore, the 2 cards will have to be connected via an external dongle which will enable the cards to work together in accelerated harmony. This external link, essentially another bit of wire hanging out the back of your machine, has raised more than one or two eyebrows here at HEXUS towers as ATI have been heard to regard NVIDIA's connector between their 2 cards as being a 'poor solution'. One has to ponder on the external dongle issue, though it obvious that this will allow backwards compatibility with older cards, you have to wonder if ATI were having a pop at NVIDIA's neater internal connector just to give us hacks something to write about? Those guys, eh?

More on this cool subject can be found on Tech Colosseum.

SWG Combat Upgrade Q&A; 12:54 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: MMOG (3 comments)
PC.IGN wrangled up an interview with SOE and LucasArts about the backlash of fan support after releasing the "Combat Upgrade" for Star Wars Galaxies:

IGNPC: To be honest, we haven't had this much reader feedback on a single issue for as long as I can remember. For the Combat Upgrade, what do you feel are the main issues that need to be addressed?

Julio Torres: The first obvious issue that's impacting our players is that it's a fundamental change. Players, specifically our hardcore players who've been playing for 20 months, have to relearn how to play. What they're used to doing, what's familiar and what they've been having fun, is now not there. It's quite a shock to have such a huge dynamic change in what you used to be doing every singe day. Now we're asking them to change. I think that that's by far one of our biggest challenges, to get them past the painful thought of "Oh my god, why do I have to do this differently?" so they can actually see what the changes will give them in terms of benefits. That's definitely a huge hurdle. That's the top one.

Then of course, there are the other particular issues which are, once we release it to the public and actually have enough people to actually do testing on it -- as opposed to our local testers where we just have many 30-40 people -- new issues arise that can only happen in that test bed which we obviously identify as bugs. What we need to do is tackle those bugs, communicate that we're handling those bugs and let the players understand that, with their help, we will be polishing the changes that are in there that are not intended because of the bugs. I think that that communication needs to be constant and flowing so that they understand that, in the longest run or the shortest run (meaning as fast as we can) the game will settle and all these people who are participating can enjoy it.

Hardware & Tech Nuggets 12:45 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - hardware: General News (0 comments)

Reviews

• Albatron GeForce TC6200Q - Legit Reviews
• FrozenCPU DIY PSU Modulation Kit - PimpRig
• Jetart ThermoEye - Phoronix
• Gigabyte 8I955X Royal Motherboard - T-Break
• Pentium Extreme Edition 840 processor - The Tech Report
• Sunbeam Samurai Case - Bjorn3D
• Sunbeam 20-in-1 Superior Panel - LAN Addict

  Other Stuff
  

• ATI MultiVPU graphics info - techcolosseum

Game Reviews 12:30 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: General News (0 comments)
Such a variety of review scores for Pariah; I guess I'll have to break down and buy a copy to try for myself...

PC

• Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil - Game Revolution - B Minus
• Empire Earth 2 - Game Revolution - Not loading atm
• Guild Wars - Gamesdomain - 9/10
• Obscure - X-Play - 3/5
• Laser Squad Nemesis - Gamespot - 7.1/10
• Psychonauts - Gamespy - 4.5/5
• Psychonauts - X-Play - 4/5
• Silent Hunter III - X-Play - 4/5
• SWAT 4 - 2404 - 8.9/10
• SWAT 4 - Gamershell - 9.1/10

  Xbox
  

• Ford Racing 3 - Gamespot - 6.6/10
• Forza Motorsport - GamePro - 5/5
• Motocross Mania 3 - TeamXbox - 5/10
• Pariah - GamesXtreme - 9/10
• Project Snowblind - Gamershell - 7.7/10
• The Bard's Tale - Eurogamer - 6/10
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory - GamesXtreme - 9.7/10
• Unreal Championship 2 - X-Play - 4/5

  PS2
  

• Full Spectrum Warrior - 3DAvenue - 90%
• Juiced - X-Play - 3/5
• Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith - Gamesdomain - 8/10

In Other News... 12:15 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - In-House: In Other News... (22 comments)
TGIF! Less than a week to go for the Xbox 360/2/Next/whatever unvieling on MTV (we can finally end the name speculation then, although the 360 thing seems to be pretty much a sure thing). Today's question:

What about the next generation of Xbox are you most looking forward to? Or, if you could care less about it, What games are you currently playing?

Interested parties can sign-up here.

WPG 05:31 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: General News (4 comments)
Time for the donkey show!

• '6GUN' (PS2/Xbox/PC) - Screens
• 'Age of Empires III: Age of Discovery' (PC) - Screens
• 'Aurora Watching: Gorky Zero' (PC) - Screens
• 'Batman Begins' (ALL) - Screens
• 'Bet On Soldier' (PC) - Screens
• 'Blitzkrieg II' (PC) - Screens
• 'Dungeon Siege II' (PC) - Screens
• 'Fable: The Lost Chapters' (PC) - Screens
• 'Mage Knight Apocalypse' (PC) - Screens
• 'Mourning' (PC) - Screens
• 'NHL 06' (NGC/PS2/Xbox/PC) - Screens
• 'Rush for Berlin' (PC) - Screen
• 'Shattered Union' (PC) - Screens
• 'Tenchu: Shinobi Taizen' (PSP) - Screens
• 'Vanguard: Saga of Heroes' (PC) - Screens
• 'Vulcanus Online' (PSP) - Screens

• 'Stolen' - v887 Update Patch
• This update improves framerate, fixes a security camera LED lag issue and addresses a character shadow glitch on GeForce.
• Various Game Trailers
• 'Battlefield 2' (PC) - Trailers (2)
• 'Medal of Honor: European Assault' (NGC/PS2/Xbox) - Trailer
• 'NBA 06' (PS2) - Trailers (6)
• 'The Witcher' (PC) - E3 Trailer

Battlefield 2: Hands-On 04:11 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Action (2 comments)
TotalBF2 posted a rather enthusiastic hands-on preview of Battlefield 2 after taking a trip down to EA:

Let me start by saying that BF2 was probably the best FPS I've ever played, and it will definitely be the FPS of the year, if not the game of the year. Battlefield 2 has a different feel than the previous franchise titles. Everything just flows much better; tanks drive smoother, transitioning from vehicle to ground is seamless, even jumping in the water and swimming is less cumbersome. The game feels more intense. From what I've read a lot of people have been skeptical of the commander mode with its directed artillery, but let me be the first to say it's unbelievable! Wait until you experience your first infantry on infantry battle in the midst of a deafening arty barrage. Shells scream in and produce resounding explosions, spraying rocks and debris high into the air. Artillery is also fortunately much more effective, and if you target your attack well you can really reduce the enemy force quite substantially.

Steam Update 03:36 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Action (1 comment)
Valve updated Steam with the following:

An update for the Steam Client (and the HLDS Update Tool) has been released, along with some improvements to SourceTV. (SourceTV is for broadcasting Source games to large numbers of spectators.) The update will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:

Steam Client

• Fixed backup wizard creating invalid backup files for Source games
• Improved content server selection on WinXP SP2

HLDS Update Tool (Windows Version)

• Improved content server selection on WinXP SP2

SourceTV (part of the Source Dedicated Server)

• Added hostname to tv_status output
• Changed the behavior of "tv_relay" command to automatically stop any running map
• Added command "tv_clients" to list connected spectators/proxy
• Added -tvmasteronly command line parameter to restrict tvmaxclients to 1 - for use when feeding a single proxy server (not broadcasting)
• Fixed high CPU usage when running a non standard tick rate
• Fixed Linux build not correctly initializing, and then not running properly
• Fixed "tv_maxclients 0" working if SourceTV is used for recording demos only
• Fixed a couple other crashes

Age of Empires III Nudies 01:26 pm - Andrew Burnes - Games: Real-Time Strategy (8 comments)
Here are five new screenshots from Age of Empires 3, the most graphically advanced real-time strategy game currently in development:

Fable: The Lost Chapters PC Nudies 11:41 am - Andrew Burnes - Games: Role-Playing (17 comments)
Below you'll find 8 damn fine lookin' screenshots from the PC version (hint) of Fable: The Lost Chapters, an expanded version of the hit Xbox game that's due for release some time this year.

John Romero On Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows 11:27 am - Andrew Burnes - Consoles: General News (9 comments)
My bitch, John Romero, spoke to Computer & Video Games about the updated version of Gauntlet he's working on for Midway, but here's the long haired lover on next-gen consoles:

Are you attracted to one next-gen console in particular? Which one and why?

John Romero: Not yet. With the current gen, I'm an Xbox guy and thanks to Resident Evil 4, I'm really liking my GameCube. But really, it doesn't matter to me which next-gen console is better because I'm going to have them all and buy games on them all. Whichever one turns out to be the best is the one I'll buy most of the games for. Right now, if a game is on the PS2 and Xbox, I'll get the Xbox version. If it's an FPS like Ghost Recon 2, I'll wait for the PC version and ignore the console versions.

Shattered Union Announced; Nudies 11:26 am - Andrew Burnes - Games: Turned-Based Strategy (7 comments)
Tropic and Railroad Tycoon developer PopTop Software today announced Shattered Union, "an action-packed turn-based strategy game for console and PC."

Set atop the smoldering ruins of a fictional United States torn apart by civil war, Shattered Union is an action-packed turn-based strategy game for console and PC. Gamers will play through an exciting single player campaign to reunite the country by force or online in one-on-one matches.

"With their work on the Railroad Tycoon and Tropico series, the developers at PopTop showed they could create fun and exciting strategy games," said Christoph Hartmann, Senior Vice President of Publishing for 2K Games. "With Shattered Union, they're taking on a darker theme, but will bring the same level of quality to war gaming as they did to running railroad empires and tropical islands."

Strategically appearing on shop shelves this Winter, the first three screenshots are available below for your perusal, and no, I don't know why tanks are bigger than cities.

Blitzkrieg II Nudies 11:02 am - Andrew Burnes - Games: Real-Time Strategy (1 comment)
Below you'll find ten new screenshots from CDV's Blitzkrieg II, a title that will be shown behind closed doors at E3. Here's a blurb, straight from the PR's mouth:

Return to the battlefields of World War II in the much anticipated sequel to the award-winning Blitzkrieg. Play as the Soviet Union, Germany or the United States as you command troops through historically inspired battles in an expansive chapter-driven campaign system of over 90 missions. More than 200 unit types are available for action that rages across all new 3D renderings of Northern Africa, Europe, the Eastern Front and the Pacific theater. Key features include direct control of air forces, naval units and coastal operations, a fully destructible environment, a full-featured editor and the series' trademark attention to detail and historical authenticity.

Mage Knight Apocalypse Announced; Nudies 10:51 am - Andrew Burnes - Games: Action / Roleplaying (3 comments)
Namco Hometek today announced Mage Knight Apocalypse, an action RPG that appears to be Diablo-esque:

Leading video games developer and publisher Namco Hometek Inc. announced today "Mage Knight Apocalypse," an action role-playing game for the PC based on the best-selling collectible miniature game from WizKids Games. Designed with a unique character leveling system and an unprecedented focus on team play, "Mage Knight Apocalypse" allows up to five players to embark on a cooperative or competitive journey through a war-torn fantasy setting, and is planned for release in Spring 2006.

"Mage Knight Apocalypse" follows the events of an upcoming "Mage Knight" storyline. A mysterious power has issued an ominous portent and the call has gone out for stalwart heroes from all reaches of the Land to battle against an army of pure evil. Leading this army is The Apocalypse Dragon, a seemingly unstoppable five headed juggernaut of destruction that has been reborn and set loose on an unprepared populace. Taking the role of one of 5 characters, the player must band together with other legendary heroes to face this Dragon and defeat the forces of Chaos in the "Mage Knight" universe.

The full press release can be found in the comments, more info via the official website, and three of the first screenshots below:

UMD Cracked 10:43 am - Andrew Burnes - Consoles: PSP (7 comments)
Engadget reports that a crafty cracker has hacked apart several of Sony's PSP UMDs, and released ISOs of the games onto the net. While the games can be burnt onto CD or DVD, there's no way to play them, yet.

Thanks Joe M.

Update: The news has spread to Reuters, who were unsurprisingly unable to obtain a comment from Sony reps.

TimeGate Reveals Section 8; Seeks External Help 10:42 am - Andrew Burnes - Games: Action (0 comments)
TimeGate Studios, developer of the Atari RTS Axis & Allies, today announced Section 8, an Unreal Engine 3 powered first-person shooter:

"We are developing a large-scale, futuristic first person shooter that brings strategy and tactics to the first-person shooter genre in a game where players can modify the battlefield on the fly," said Adel Chaveleh, president of TimeGate. "We are going to leverage our knowledge of strategy games and apply it to Section 8's development. We are confident that players will be excited by the results."

The game's title refers to an elite squad of powered armor infantry that serve as the focus of the single-player content. The squad gets its nickname because of its penchant for taking on suicide missions that no one else will tackle.

Not included in the GameSpy article that the info above was yanked from is that TimeGate is seeking help for this project from external contractors, production studios, and even mod teams:

TimeGate is interested in working with both established studios, independent contractors, and the Unreal community to facilitate the development of the project. We are seeking experienced level designers, art production studios, and even mod teams to collaborate with on the project. Experience with previous versions of the Unreal engines is a big plus, but not always a necessity.

If you think you can help, give the guys at TimeGate a buzz via their official website.

Halo UT2004 Mod Not Being Fox'd? 10:32 am - Andrew Burnes - Games: Action (6 comments)
A post on the Project Torlan-Nexus reveals that the Halo modification for Unreal Tournament 2004 is unlikely to receive a cease and desist order from Microsoft, presuming they stay within certain boundaries, and don't utilise assets ripped from versions of the game.

Full story here.

HellGate: London Diary 01:11 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Action / Roleplaying (0 comments)
PC.IGN kicked up a developer diary written by Flagship's Chris Lambert who touches base on the game's graphics:

We want it all -- a great-looking game that runs well all the way down to our min-spec hardware, with a solution that doesn't take 4 years to develop and perfect. Currently, we use a hybrid lightmap approach. For outdoors, we pre-generate a lightmap containing local lighting information (streetlamps, etc.). Then, at load time, we calculate (hopefully, in an efficient manner) global lighting like moonlight and shadows and add it to the original lightmap for that chunk of the environment. This has given good results and makes our hellish rendition of London seem to have the unifying coloring and shading that we're all accustomed to seeing in conventional fixed-layout game levels.

Hardware & Tech Nuggets 12:45 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - hardware: General News (0 comments)

Reviews

• Ahanix MCE601 - Anandtech
• Asus Vento 3600 Case - HotHardware
• ATI's Radeon X800 XL 512MB - Anandtech
• ATI RADEON X800 XL 512MB - Neoseeker
• ATI RADEON X850 XT AGP 256MB - Digit-Life
• Corsair XMS 3200XL Xpert Memory - NinjaLane
• Gigabyte GV-RX70P256V X700 PRO - Hi-tech Reviews
• Ninja Budget Case - ATR
• Radeon X800 XL - 512 MB - Guru3D
• Raidmax Virgo 811 Black Computer Case - Tweaknews
• Sapphire Hybrid Radeon X800 XL 512MB - Beyond3D

  Other Stuff
  

• A history of the GUI - Ars
• CNET vs. Engadget: Missing the Point - Designtechnica
• NanoCoolers confidential presentation - TechPowerUp
• The Dual-Core War: Is Intel in Trouble? - CoolTechZone

Game Reviews 12:30 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: General News (15 comments)
Thanks to Tadej for all the links to the Guild Wars reviews from around the world:

PC

• Act of War - Loaded,Inc. - 7.9/10
• Cossacks II : Napoleonic Wars - Loaded,Inc. - 7/10
• Guild Wars - Gamespot - 9.2/10
• Guild Wars - JR - 18/20
• Guild Wars - Sci-Fi RPG - 9.2/10
• Guild Wars - Meristation - 9.4/10
• Psychotoxic - Gamespy - 1.5/5
• Stronghold 2 - Eurogamer - 7/10
• Stronghold 2 - ActionTrip - 51%

  Xbox
  

• Cold Fear - Eurogamer - 5/10
• Pariah - Xbox.IGN - 8/10
• Pariah - Gamespot - 5.9/10
• Pariah - TeamXbox - 8.2/10
• Pariah - TVG - 91%
• Unreal Championship 2 - Telefragged - 89%
• Unreal Championship 2 - GamingHorizon - 8.5/10

  PS2
  

• Altered Beast - Eurogamer - 4/10
• Death by Degrees - 3DAvenue - 70%
• Enthusia Professional Racing - Gamespy - 3.5/5
• Resident Evil Outbreak File #2 - Gamesdomain - 5/10

In Other News... 12:15 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - In-House: In Other News... (53 comments)
Happy Cinco de Mayo! It's a pretty fun holiday down here in Arizona; hopefully I don't sample too many fruit flavored frosty Mexican adult beverages. They are just so damned tasty. :( Today's question:

What screen resolution do you surf the web at?

Yeah, kind of boring, but semi-important. Feel free to discuss anything else in the ION if you feel so inclined.