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GDC Impressions from Around the Web 07:10 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: General News
(1 comment)
Random GDC impressions from around the web:
Crysis - PC.IGN, GameSpot, AOL Games
Forza 2 - GameSpy, TeamXbox, Firing Squad, Game Informer
Half-Life 2: OJ Box - PS3.IGN, GameSpy
Halo 2 Vista - PC.IGN, Firing Squad, Game Informer
Hellgate London - PC.IGN, GameSpot, Hellgate Central, Unofficial HGL site
Killzone 2 - Kotaku, 1Up
Mercenaries 2 - PS3.IGN, GameSpy, TeamXbox, 1Up, GameSpot, AOL Games
Portal - PC.IGN, GameSpy, TeamXbox, 1Up, GameSpot, AOL Games, Kotaku
Tabula Rasa - GameSpot, Kotaku
Unreal Tournament 3 - PS3.IGN
There are more to come, I'm sure.
Blizzard Announces Worldwide Invitational 06:52 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: MMOG
(2 comments)
Koreans, get your mouse fingers ready!
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced plans to hold its third Worldwide Invitational in Seoul, South Korea on May 19 and 20. The Blizzard Worldwide Invitationals are public events that allow the company to connect with gamers in a celebration of the Warcraft�, Diablo�, and StarCraft� game universes and competitive Blizzard Entertainment� gaming. This year's Blizzard Worldwide Invitational will be held at the Olympic Gymnastics and Fencing Stadiums in Seoul.
The event will be open to gamers of all ages and feature a number of exciting e-sports tournaments, including the regional finals for both Warcraft III Battle.net� Season 5 and the first season of World of Warcraft�'s Arena Tournament. Invitational StarCraft and Warcraft III tournaments will also pit some of Korea's finest players against tough international challengers.
"With a wide variety of themed activities and competitions to participate in, the Blizzard Worldwide Invitationals are a great way for us to show our appreciation to our players," said Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "We're looking forward to creating another memorable show for them this year as well."
Outside of the e-sports realm, unique panel discussions will be held by Blizzard developers on various topics, and several hands-on attractions will add to the fun. Further details on the 2007 Blizzard Worldwide Invitational will be released in the weeks ahead. Can't wait to see the videos.
Supreme Commander Outsells WoW 06:38 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: Real-Time Strategy
(5 comments)
Supreme Commander managed to outsell Blizzard's World of WarCraft in its first week. Here are the NPD's top-10 best selling US PC games for February 18 - February 24th.
1) World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack - Vivendi $36
2) Supreme Commander - THQ - $48
3) World Of Warcraft - Vivendi - $20
4) The Sims 2 - Electronic Arts - $37
5) The Sims: Life Stories - Electronic Arts - $35
6) The Sims 2 Pets Expansion Pack - Electronic Arts - $30
7) Battlefield 2142 - Electronic Arts - $39
8) Deal or No Deal - Global Star Software (Take 2) - $20
9) MS Age Of Empires III - Microsoft $48
10) MS Flight Simulator X Deluxe - Microsoft $67
But the Burning Crusade still managed to take the top spot...
GamePro Magazine Supremely Busted? 06:18 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: Real-Time Strategy
(17 comments)
There's a story on Digg saying that someone allegedly bribed GamePro Magazine to give rival RTS, Supreme Commander a 50% score. Here's the word going around the sewing circle (thanks Liu4L1fe):
Gas Powered Games, developers of Supreme Commander, were understandably upset about the review, as it was one of the first Supreme Commander reviews to appear, and may have swayed some fans from purchasing the game.
Apparently, although this has not been confirmed as of yet, the controversy only became worse when rumors of a bribe began to surface. Electronic Arts, in competition with Gas Powered Games (EA's own RTS, Command & Conquer 3, ships near the end of March), supposedly offered a large sum of money to Game Pro Australia in exchange for the low review score of Supreme Commander.
There are now more rumors that GamePro Australia is being shut down, although this also is not yet confirmed. Update - The story has been removed and deemed false. Big shock, I know!
Star Wars Force Unleashed Hands-on 03:11 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Consoles: Xbox 360
(7 comments)
IGN Down Under has a three page preview of Star Wars: Force Unleashed which includes some actual in-game screenshots. They also have an interview with LucasArts' Hayden Blackman. We were led through an open test area where an AI character could be made to run at the camera. While pursuing us to no avail, boxes were hurled at him, which he deflected, ducked, dodged and occasionally got clocked by. What was impressive about this demonstration was the fact that all of the character's reactions, outside of his constant running, were entirely unscripted, natural reactions to his situation. If a box was hurled at head-height, he might choose to knock it up and over himself. If it was at waist height, he might weave around it, or slap it to the side. Placed in an actual game level, it makes for characters that don't have to be animated to react to return-fire, know when to jump over obstacles, can cling to ledges, and impressively, can keep their footing and balance naturally if the ground becomes unsettled.
Playstation 3 Goes Home 02:48 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Consoles: PS3
(24 comments)
You've read the rumors on the rags; here's Sony's new Xbox Live! rival service, Playstation Home.
Home is a real-time online 3D, networked community available on the PLAYSTATION�Network. It allows PS3 users to interact, communicate, join online games, shop, share private content and even build and show off their own personal spaces to others in real time. Home will be available as a free download from the PLAYSTATION�Store and will launch directly from XMB™ (XrossMediaBar) on PS3.
With an avatar uniquely customized according to each user's preference, users can explore the 3D community that is Home - a sleek, modern environment featuring spacious common areas; custom spaces dedicated to specific games; and personal apartments. Each user is assigned an apartment in Home where they can invite others to join them as they show off their own style in an area they can personalize themselves with furniture, art and other items - even a different view from their windows. They can also show their personal video, pictures and other digital media content found on their PS3 hard drives in their apartments. Very rich interactive communication with others is achieved through built in text, audio and video chat, along with sophisticated emotional animations for each character.
Sharing continues in the "Hall of Fame," where users can display new 3D trophies that will be unlocked through in-game milestones for the games they own as well viewing the trophies of other users across the PLAYSTATION Network and for other games they've yet to purchase.
"This is a significant step forward in the area of user community services and emergent entertainment experiences," said Izumi Kawanishi, Corporate Executive and CTO Software, SCEI. "While the 3D graphics demonstrate the power of PS3 and the PLAYSTATION Network, the most impressive feature in Home is the variety of ways in which multiple consumers, as well as our third-party partners, can experience the next generation of communication by interacting and sharing among each other. I feel strongly that this unique blend of community, user-generated content, collaboration and commerce will expand the future of computer entertainment."
Home will go into a closed beta test this spring with a full launch targeted for later this year. By having a broad range of business partners participate in Home - from 3rd party publishers and developers to brands outside traditional gaming categories - along with a powerful selection of upcoming game software titles for PS3, SCEI will continue to expand the horizons of networked entertainment and vigorously promote PS3 as the next generation computer entertainment platform.
Age of Conan Screenshots 02:38 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: MMOG
(2 comments)
Some cherry picked new screenshots of FunCom's DX10 enhanced MMORPG, Age of Conan:
(Click to Enlarge!)
     
Tabula Rasa Screenshots 02:15 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: MMOG
(6 comments)
New screenshots from NCsoft & Lord British's upcoming sci-fi MMORPG, Tabula Rasa:
(Click to Enlarge!)
        
Forza 2 Screenshots 01:50 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Consoles: Xbox 360
(14 comments)
Some lovely new screenshots of Forza Motorsports 2:
(Click to Enlarge!)
    
Most of the screens are 2650 x 1440 if you're bandwidth impaired or suffer from SDS (small display syndrome).
Halo 2 Vista Screenshots 01:38 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: Action
(35 comments)
Behold: The power of VISTA!
(Click to Enlarge!)
    
The First CryEngine 2 Licensee Is... 01:25 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: MMOG
(0 comments)
Avatar Reality Inc, for a Second Life type game whose title has yet to be determined. Thanks Mocib.
Avatar Reality, Inc., a new development entity dedicated to the advancement of online community building, today announced that they will become the first company to license Crytek's new game middleware, CryENGINE™2, for use in creating their recently announced massively multiplayer virtual world (MMVW). Set in Terraformed Mars, Avatar Reality's MMVW will allow players to live their fantasy lives by creating personalized characters, or avatars, in a beautiful environment.
"CryENGINE2 is able to render the most beautiful images, in real-time, that I've ever seen in my 20 years in the computer graphics industry," said Kazuyuki Hashimoto, president of Avatar Reality, Inc. "We are certain that the quality of these stunning, realistic images stemmed from the technology and not just talented artists. After viewing the images, there is no question that CryENGINE2 is the perfect engine for us to use to build our massively multiplayer virtual world."
First demonstrated to the public today at The Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, CryENGINE2 provides multiple state-of-the-art features including a next- generation real-time renderer, multi-threaded physics engine, character animation system, integrated WYSIWYP sandbox editor, sound editor with interactive dynamic sound system, advanced AI system, resource compiler and a network client and server system.
"We are very proud to have been chosen as a technology partner for Avatar Reality," said Cevat Yerli, president and CEO of Crytek. "They possess creativity and talent that is extremely rare for our industry and combining that with our technology, we are sure that the new MMVW will be a huge success!"
The CryEngine 2 is of course the same basic technology powering Crysis.
EA Ready to Play With Wii 01:21 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Consoles: Nintendo Wii
(0 comments)
Oh, those Wii jokes will never get old. EA announced today that it will lead the next wave on the Wii: Electronic Arts Inc., (NASDAQ: ERTS) plans to lead the next wave on the Wii™ from Nintendo with the release of SSX™ Blur, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR� 07, The Godfather� Blackhand Edition and Medal of Honor Vanguard™ this spring and share exciting news about MySims™, set to launch in fall of 2007. Each title remains true to the hallmarks of its franchise but is designed to take full advantage of the Wii from Nintendo's one-of-a-kind controller and the other unique features of this revolutionary gaming platform. The games will be showcased tonight at EA's press event in San Francisco, CA.
"The Nintendo Wii has allowed us to explore new and exciting game play possibilities and attract a whole new audience to EA games," said Paul Lee, President, Worldwide Studios, EA. "In the upcoming year, we will continue to custom-design our most popular franchises and develop new EA properties that take full advantage of this unique gaming platform."
Blizzard Burns up the Charts 01:17 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: MMOG
(4 comments)
Blizzard informed us that World of WarCraft: The Burning Crusade has sold over 3.5 million copies within the first month of its release. Total WoW addicts now number 8.5 million.
"We're thrilled about the overwhelming response that we've received for The Burning Crusade," said Mike Morhaime, president of Blizzard Entertainment. "We have worked hard to build upon nearly every aspect of World of Warcraft with this expansion, and it's gratifying to see that players and reviewers are enjoying the new content."
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved Released 01:14 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: General News
(3 comments)
Bizarre Creations let us know that Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved for Windows Vista is now available for download.
Remaining faithful to the gameplay that made this "Retro Evolved" shooter an Xbox 360 favorite, the Windows Vista-optimized version has players navigating their geometric ship through a retro grid world, facing off against waves of deadly spinners, snakes and repulsars. Combining mind-blowing 21st-century graphics and retro-arcade "Asteroids"-like gameplay, "Geometry Wars" is easy to play yet nearly impossible to master.
Battle for Middle Earth 2 Anthology 01:11 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: Real-Time Strategy
(0 comments)
EA today announced The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth Anthology:
For the first time The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth Anthology offers fans the chance to bring together all the epic The Lord of the Rings™ battles with The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth™, The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II™ Collector's Edition and The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II, The Rise of the Witch-King™ within a single compilation, and all for an MSRP of $39.99.
That ships on March 20th.
Hardware & Tech Nuggets 03:56 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- hardware: General News
(0 comments)
Thought controlled controllers for the win. Thanks Melfo.
RPG Vault Goodness 03:53 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: Role-Playing
(0 comments)
Game Reviews 01:15 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: General News
(9 comments)
In Other News... 12:52 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- In-House: In Other News...
(46 comments)
GDC stuff should start to become at least semi-exciting today. Cool little show and all, but E3 it is not. The Game Developer's Conference is more of a biz convention than an expo. It's fun that developers are signing deals and making stuff happen, boring in that it isn't a full blown media circus.
Anyhoo, my outgoing email isn't working at the moment. So if you sent any love notes in the past couple days, I'm not being coy by not replying. I just can't. Doh. Hopefully soon!
Today's question:
If you could pick one dead game related company to make a comeback (could be a developer, a hardware maker, publisher, etc), who would you pick and why?
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