Looking to give consumers the most flexibility with their purchases of the Windows PC version of Sacred 2: Fallen Angel, cdv Software Entertainment USA and Ascaron Entertainment are pleased to announce the inclusion of an innovative "Try Before You Buy" system for their upcoming RPG game.

Using this innovative new feature, downloaded or purchased copies of the full game can be shared with friends and family, with these shared copies acting as full-featured demos for the duration of one calendar day. During the demo period the game is completely unlocked for single-player and LAN multiplayer modes. After the demo install expires the consumer has the option of purchasing the full game online, or simply uninstalling it. This, for example, allows consumers who purchased the full game in stores or via digital distribution channels, to share their game with friends, with those subsequent installs acting as time-limited “try before you buy” versions that allow gamers to enjoy almost all the features found in the full game.

"We feel that consumers should have a right to choose, and this innovative system offers the perfect purchasing option for gamers," said Heiko tom Felde, Managing Director of ASCARON. "It's a great system for family and friends, allowing everyone the opportunity to try out the game and play together, then making a purchase decision."

“This innovative digital rights management solution raises the bar on how consumers can sample games before they buy them,” added Mario Kroll, Director of Marketing and PR for cdv Software Entertainment USA. “Rather than showcasing only a limited character or content selection, as most traditional demos do, gamers can share and enjoy the full game experience, trying out the features that most appeal to them, and getting a true sense of the full game.”

For more information about Sacred 2: Fallen Angel, please visit http://www.cdvus.com

Tim Holman, senior producer for Relic and the CoH franchise, describes Valor as a "series of short stories" as opposed to the "one big novel" format adopted by previous entries in the Company of Heroes franchise.

"We moved away from the mechanic of building a base, building a large army and going out and finding the enemy," he said. Instead, Valor, staying true to its title, will highlight more personal, "heroic moments."

Holman described the first tale, called "Tiger Ace," which he said is based on an actual event during WWII: British were advancing on a town, when a German tank commander sent his division back, along with his formidable but greatly outnumbered King Tiger tank. "He destroyed 10 tanks and 20 armored cars, just with that single tank. The tank was disabled, the guys escaped back to their division, grabbed another Tiger, and drove the British from the town."

Boards

• ASUS P6T Deluxe - PCStats
• ASUS P6T DeLuxe - Guru3D

  Cases
  

• Asus P2-M3A3200 HTPC - OCC
• Lian Li Tyr PC-X500 - TechPowerUp

  Cooling
  

• Gelid Solutions Silent Spirit CPU Cooler - TechPowerUp
• Noctua NH-U12P Intel/AMD Heatpipe CPU Cooler - Tweaknews

  CPU
  

• Intel Core i7 920 Overclocking and Heat - [H]

  Memory
  

• Kingston HyperX 4GB 667MHz SODIMM DDR2 CL4 - Hardware Bistro

  Video
  

• Palit Radeon HD 4870 Sonic 1GB Graphics Card - Tweaktown
• Sapphire 4870 x2 - XS Reviews

Today's question:

What games topped your most played list last week?

"I think one of the things that hurt PC gaming is PC developers," he said. "If you make a game with such high-end requirements that only people with a $6,000 PC can play it at a decent framerate, of course your sales are going to drop."

Holman continued, "And of course people are going to pirate your game more, because they don't want to invest in your game first. They want to try it first for free [to see if it's compatible with their hardware].

"I think PC developers shoot themselves in the foot to a large degree. A lot of companies are guilty of that."

As you'll have seen, there are lag issues, and the servers frequently crap out. However, the game is excellent, highly polished fun. Roll on November 28th. And a server browser update.

In a detailed presentation, Fannar revealed that Trinity concentrated on ships, stations and jump gates because these were the most commonly viewed items. Now there's a push on improving particle effects, lighting and shadowing, and the way the game presents planets, asteroid belts and mining.

Planet surfaces will be generated procedurally, rather than with pixellated textures, and tens of thousands of asteroids will be rendered at once. Fannar even discussed the possibility of simulating gas giants in 3D with dense particle fields, and players being able to fly realistically through planetary rings.

Asked if the new features would be added progressively, or if there would be another monumental update like Trinity, Fannar replied that there would be "a big step" in the expansion after next, in the first half of next year. After that, graphics improvements would move to a much more rapid, progressive cycle.

Among other improvements discussed was a move to decrease EVE's load on processors and increase it on graphics cards, so players with good GPUs would see bigger performance improvements; and a push to make it more efficient to run several instances of the game at once.

One could argue that it already outshines every other MMOG.

In other EVE news, Massive Gamer has some photos from day 1 of the EVE Online Fanfest in Iceland.

Today Ubisoft announces that Shaun White Snowboarding for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system, the Wii home video game system from Nintendo, the Nintendo DS system and PSP (PlayStation Portable) system, and the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system have gone gold. The game is scheduled for release on November 16, 2008.

Shaun White Snowboarding was developed in close collaboration with Shaun White, Olympic gold medalist and eight-time X Games gold medalist. The game is powered by the award-winning Assassin's Creed engine for Xbox 360 and the PLAYSTATION 3 system, and truly captures the action sports lifestyle. Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip was also developed from the ground up for the Wii, taking full advantage of the Wii Balance Board accessory and featuring its own unique storyline and adventure with Shaun White. Shaun White Snowboarding for the PSP system and Nintendo DS allow players to enjoy the thrilling sport of snowboarding anytime, anywhere. Players can earn points and build their characters in Shaun White Snowboarding for the PlayStation 2 system, which also features co-op and multiplayer modes.

Silent Hill Homecoming, the latest iteration in Konami's classic horror series, is now available via Steam, a leading platform for PC games with over 15 million accounts worldwide. PC gamers may now enjoy the next chapter of the series - no console required. In addition, PC fans will receive a 10 percent discount for the first 5 days when they purchase Silent Hill Homecoming on Steampowered.com.

Silent Hill: Homecoming takes players deeper into the tormented history of Silent Hill and reveals the evil that surrounds Toluca Lake. The story follows Alex Shepherd, who returns to his hometown of Shepherd's Glen to investigate the mysterious disappearance of his brother. On his quest, Alex discovers eerie occurrences taking place, and investigates the mystery behind his nightmares. As he struggles to maintain his grip on reality, Alex unravels a tale that takes him from his childhood home to the fog-shrouded streets of Silent Hill. In the end, Alex must face the darkest horrors of his soul to confront the evil that has taken his brother.

Bethesda Softworks®, a ZeniMax Media company, announced that its hit title, Fallout® 3 has enjoyed record sales at launch, reflecting the huge consumer demand for the game. Approximately 4.7 million units of Fallout 3 were shipped worldwide last week for the Xbox 360®video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, and Games for Windows® representing retail sales in excess of $300 million.

Released on October 28 in North America at midnight store openings in over 2,000 retail outlets nationwide jammed with fans eager to get the game, Fallout 3 quickly became one of the industry’s top sellers around the world. For example, in the United Kingdom where it was not released until Friday, October 31 the rapid sales of Fallout 3 have led the game to be ranked number one among all video games, as well as being the number one game on each of its three platforms.

Things I noticed:

Man, game documentation sure has changed since 1996!

People said the puzzles in Grim were super hard, and I’ve always maintained that this was due to a deep character flaw or mental illness on the part of the player. But now, reading this again, I’ve realized that holy smokes--Some of them puzzles were nuts. Obscure. Mean, even. I blame Peter Chan, because he will never read this post to know that I blamed him.

Look how much stuff we had to cut just to get that game done in three years. The Pizza Demon! Giraffe Lady! Bernard, and my beloved Dillopede. And the five-puzzle action climax with Hector LeMans! If only we had one or two more years! Well, reading about them ten years later is just as good, right?

We didn’t have the last puzzle designed when I wrote that document, so I wrote two nonsense paragraphs and then overlapped them in the file so it would look like the final puzzle description was in there, but obscured by a print formatting error. That way I could turn the document in by the deadline. As if anybody was going to read it all the way to the end anyway. Ha ha. Obfuscation triumphs again! I delight in Evil!

PC

• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (Premier Edition) - PC.IGN - 8.2/10
• Dead Space - GameSpy - 5/5
• Hinterland - Gameshark - B

  PS3
  

• LittleBigPlanet - Gameshark - A-
• NBA 2K9 - Gameshark - B-
• Resistance 2 - GameSpy - 4.5/5
• Resistance 2 - GameSpot - 9/10
• Tom Clancy's EndWar - GameSpy - 4.5/5
• Tom Clancy's EndWar - GameSpot - 7.5/10

  Wii
  

• Spider-Man: Web of Shadows - Crispy Gamer - Fry it

  DS
  

• Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia - Crispy Gamer - Buy it