The PC Centric Extravaganza 1.23.08
Posted by Chris Evans on 01.23.2008
Welcome to the second of my weekly columns focusing on PC and Industry news. There have been a few changes since my first column and I will now be broadcasting on Tuesdays. I don’t care as long as I get to spread the PC love. Read on for the news!
The PC Centric Extravaganza
Welcome to the second of my weekly columns focusing on PC and Industry news. There have been a few changes since my first column and I will now be broadcasting on Tuesdays. I don't care as long as I get to spread the PC love.
This past week has seen my return to University for the new term, luckily I have a very light schedule due to doing a year long module last term so I still have a good amount of time to cover my news and other stuff. I haven't had much chance for gaming this week however, but as we all know these things happen. I have however had the chance to give a brilliant little indie game, Chivalry Is Not Dead a whirl, thoughts on that later. I have also downloaded the demo of Armageddon Empires, a Hex-based strategy game, and I am also downloading the latest expansion pack to Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War. Information on them when I get the chance I hope. One last thing before I proceed with the news, if anyone fancies making me a banner for my column then send me a PM on the forums.
This week of news has seen a whole bunch of games politics news, some more take-overs, new media and more…I think!
Command and Conquer
It has been a busy week for Command and Conquer news with two new trailers being released. The first trailer is for the upcoming expansion to C&C3: Kane's Wrath. Link
The other trailer is the debut trailer for ‘Tiberium' the FPS squad-based game set in the Command and Conquer universe.
I have quite blunt thoughts on this trailer and ‘Tiberium' on my blog but that is coming from a fan that is a bit unhappy with C&C at the moment. 411 coverage here.
Hellgate London
The hit MMO/RPG Hellgate London is set to expand Monday the 21st of January and will take players to Stonehenge. You can expect to see the following new areas and more in this update.
* The Caste Caves – Unlock four unique dungeons, one for each caste of enemy – Beast, Necro, Spectral and Demon – to seek and destroy a powerful overlord that resides in each cave. Defeating them and collecting their heads will allow you to continue the adventure…
* Moloch's Lair – Only after collecting the heads from the Caste Caves will heroes be allowed entry into the lair, with a chance to defeat the legendary Moloch, one of hell's most imposing minions who carries very unique items that can only be obtained by defeating him in combat. And because Moloch's soul is eternal, this quest and it's rewards can be a never-ending challenge
* The Wild – These three mini-raid areas present players with difficult obstacles but also huge rewards with three levels that get increasingly more difficult even with the recommended full party size – you will need a small army to get through these challenges
Anyone who plays or who is interested in playing this game should really check it out to see these new areas, I am sure it will be well worth it! Also included are UI changes, a large number of skill balance changes, a PvP dueling arena and more. Source.
Portal and other Valve goodies
A week can't go by without some Portal related mayhem or excellence appearing on the internet. This week is a video chronicling the day of two Turrets from the game, it is very humorous and well worth a look here.
In other Valve news updates have been released for Team Fortress 2 and Garry's Mod as well as previews of the next batch of TF2 maps and a tentative release date for Left 4 Dead. Oh and some mod news. Too much for me to go into detail here, so check out haflife2.net for all the latest.
Release Dates
In other release date related news the new Alone in the Dark game has been slated for a May release date and the upcoming MMO Age of Conan is set to go live in May too CVG
Prototype
It seems that Prototype is going to allow you to take control of an Apache helicopter…and then proceed to SQUISH people. My god I want this game now! It may only be 20% complete, but Prototype (if released this year) is surely a contender for Game of the Year if it is polished and perfected.
The developer representative for Infinity Ward (the team behind Call of Duty 4) has recently blogged about video game piracy. This is what he said.
On another PC related note, we pulled some disturbing numbers this past week about the amount of PC players currently playing Multiplayer (which was fantastic). What wasn't fantastic was the percentage of those numbers who were playing on stolen copies of the game on stolen / cracked CD keys of pirated copies (and that was only people playing online).
Not sure if I can share the exact numbers or percentage of PC players with you, but I'll check and see; if I can I'll update with them. As the amount of people who pirate PC games is astounding. It blows me away at the amount of people willing to steal games (or anything) simply because it's not physical or it's on the safety of the internet to do.
I hate to see pirated games represent such a large proportion of those who are playing Call of Duty 4, and this obviously effect a large number of PC games. I know that many games may be over priced, but that doesn't make piracy right. It deprives many developers of much needed revenue and it forces them away from the PC. Please don't pirate games guys. Don't make me kick your arses! Source.
Games and Politics
This past week has seen a couple of stories that have caught my eye, stories which I am labelling as ‘Games and Politics.' Simple enough title eh?
The first piece concerns an article posted on a conservative web site, the Conservative News Network whereby they claim the Mass Effect sex scene to be damaging to society. This was followed a columnist for Townhall.com who went on a similar rant over here. My thoughts on this stuff could take up a whole column, which is what I pretty much did on my blog! To save on space check my thoughts concerning the original column here.
The second bit of Games Politics related news concerned British Prime Minister calling for a ban on knives in video games. While he has some merit in what he says elsewhere in that report, banning knives in video games is a bit iffy. Again read my extended thoughts here.
Finally in a positive piece of news the Entertainment Software Association is planning to lobby US politicians via a PAC to help gain support for the gaming industry in the upper echelons of US politics. This is a great move by the ESA as anything to get the gaming industry shown off in a better light is well worth it. This story originated in the New York Times.
(Apologies for the external links to my blog, but I don't want this column to turn into a rant session. I'll save that for my blog.)
Awards
Following on from last weeks Awards section I have unearthed two new awards related news stories.
Firstly the Writers Guild of America has chosen to acknowledge video games in its annual awards ceremony. Games up for the Videogame Writing award include The Simpsons Game and World in Conflict. More info.
The second piece of awards related news concerns the brilliant Bioshock. It has been nominated in 12 categories for the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. It is great to see such a good game get so many nominations, we will have to wait for the D.I.C.E summit in February before we find out if it actually wins anything. More info.
THQ
THQ have been involved in two big moves this past week, firstly they have acquired Big Huge Games, the developer of Rise of Nations. The two companies have been working together since May 2007 on an as of yet unnamed RPG scheduled for a 2009 release on PS3 and the 360. What is most interesting is what Jack Sorensen, THQs VP of worldwide studios said regarding the acquisition.
"I would say that the RPG was enough, but what definitely sealed the deal for us on both sides is the next one. It's more innovative, more unique, and we just felt like it requires both long-term thinking from both sides. But also from THQ's perspective, it showed us that this is a studio that can gen some new concepts. Anything else coming out of Big Huge is icing on the cake."
Intriguing I must say for a concept to be a deal maker. I'm sure that over the coming months we will hear some news about this, but for now be safe in the knowledge that these two great companies will continue to work together and make quality games. More info here.
The second piece of THQ related news is that they are further expanding their digital distribution methods. The company already has a selection of their games available via Steam and is now working with GamersGate (link ) to further expand their reach. Games such as Company of Heroes and S.T.A.L.K.E.R are available now via GamersGate. More info here.
Taker Overs
Quick small piece of news of interest to our UK readers, gaming retailer GAME has been cleared by the Competition Commission to finalise the acquisition of GameStation. Link.
Indie Game
As I said in the introduction I have been playing the indie game Chivalry Is Not Dead this past week (grab it here. ) and I have had some great fun with it. My thoughts that follow originated on my blog here.
Thanks to Rock, Paper, Shotgun I have just enjoyed the joys of Chivalry Is Not Dead a lovely little point and click mini-rpg adventure game. Involving multiple possible plots, multiple possible endings, and multiple possible meanings, this game is well worth having a go at.
It tells a story that you control, you can chose where you want to go with the game. Do you want to do battle for good or for evil? Is good really good and is evil really evil? Questions questions so many questions!
There are some really funny jokes, some not so funny, and while the dialogue may dwindle away to nothing-ness with some characters after a bit, you actions can change everything.
Reminded me of Masq in some ways, and that most certainly is a good thing.
I think I will call it a wrap there, I hope everyone enjoyed the column this week as much as I have enjoyed discussing everything. Watch out for a 411 Games Roundtable which has appeared today! Have a great week everyone!
