Diablo 3 New UI Screenshots

 

Blizzard posted new screenshots of Diablo 3 showcasing the user interface. Looks very traditional. Screenshots below:

 

 

 

 

GDC 2009: Bioware Dragon Age Origins Video Interview

 

IGN has a video interview with the two Bioware doctors, Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka. They briefly go into the reasons of pushing the release date of the PC version and the possibilities of user made contents. Dragon Age is set for a Fall 2009 release for the PC. Video below:

 

Operation Flashpoint 2 Alpha Build Footage

 

vg247 has found an exclusive gameplay footage of Codemasters Operation Flashpoint 2 on the interwebs. The footage is in German with English subtitles and is from Gamestar’s video show. Video below:

 

Due out this summer, Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising is a realistic military simulation that takes places in a fictional island of the coast of Russia. It would be interesting to see how Codemasters evolve this one without the original developers onboard. Bohemia Interactive(many of whom are from the Operation Flashpoint team) are developing ArmA 2.

Empire: Total War Review

 

This is TOTAL WAR! Proclaimed the narrator in the intro movie in all previous Total War games. Empire: Total War, the new entry in the series, doesn’t start out with a dramatic tagline such as that. Set in the age of enlightenment, revolution and men in funny hats, Empire brings the series closer to the modern period. Due to the sheer scope of the game, Empire: Total War is an extremely difficult game to write a review on.

 

The 18th century was a period of turbulent political upheaval in Europe and the colonisation of new land in other continents. In Empire, Creative Assembly has put together all these into one single package. This isn’t an easy feat considering the amount of complexity involved in the development of such a game.

 

 Victory belongs to the most persevering

Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France

 

Empire: Total War, like previous total war games, incorporates a turn based strategy aspect of empire building and city management with real time battles. Creative Assembly has included a story based Road To Independence campaign that introduces players to the basics of the game and slowly opens up options in each successive episode. The RTI campaigns are very well done and do a good job as a tutorial campaign.

 

 

Each episode(there is a total of four where the final one opens up The United States to the grand campaign) is introduced by well directed cutscenes that combine the use of CGI and in game graphics. The first episode sees the player protecting colonists from raiding native tribes. The second episode opens up to the French Indian wars as American colonists fight the French colony in America as well as native allies of the French.

 

The third episode finally sees the American colonists revolting against the high taxes placed upon them, declaring independence and fighting off the British. The fourth chapters unlocks The United States in the grand campaign. Each episode includes a bigger portion of the campaign map and introduces new gameplay mechanics to the player. This is helpful for newcomers as they are thought the fundamentals of region development to the management of an entire nation.

 

Governments need to have both shepherds and butchers

Voltaire, French Philosopher

 

Total War vets however may grow tired of this campaign as it may seem a little slow near the last few episodes. It does have some unique challenges, but unless you have an interest in American history, you will probably grow tired of this campaign.

 

 

Venturing away from the Road To Independence campaign and booting up a grand campaign for the first time, you will be shocked at the scale of the new grand campaign map and changes to the game. You can choose to play any one of 11 factions in the grand campaign, from the dominant Great Britain, to even the quickly fading Marathas Indian empire, each with a different position in the world and different priorities. Covering the Americas, Europe and India, the campaign map has been given an overhaul this time round. Regions no longer only have a single city.

 

Instead, in Empire: Total War, regions consists of a single capital city and many smaller towns. These small towns are the hub for important industries, like shipyards, ironworks to resource production like gold mines and farms.  No longer are industrial improvements such as these part of a single city.

 

These changes allow for a game that puts more emphasis on denying your enemies resources. Burn and pillage outlying farms and industries. Your enemy will be forced to meet you out on the open battlefield rather than hunker down in the city. Enemies that may not have a large army can still damage your economy by raiding these towns. Improving your farms will accelerate the growth of your region and speed up the founding of new towns in the region.

 

Trade is a lot more important in Empire than it ever was in any other total war game. You can now clearly see where your goods are being traded and shipped to. Land routes gain less profit while sea trade often will net you a bigger profit as you ship goods off to a foreign port. Quickly hover your mouse cursor over any trade route and you get a tool tip that show you just how profitable that route is.

 

 

In addition to trading with other factions, you can set up trade routes in trade theatres. Regions such as North Africa, East Indies, Brazil, Ivory Coast have slots that you can send your trade ship to. This will generate a new trade route to your capital that adds more revenue to your coffers. These trade theatres are not colonisable. You need to rush to find trade slots as many western nations will quickly grab any available slot.

 

All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him

Sun Tzu, Author of The Art of War

 

All trade routes can be blockaded or raided(even land routes). This makes it important to protect them with your naval fleets. If you find yourself being blockaded or raided and with no defending navy to fight them off, your abilities will be severely stunted. The cost of supporting a land army will require you to utilise trade to its fullest.

 

It may be prudent to ally yourself with another nation that may be able to lend you a helping hand in troubled times. Diplomacy in Empire works very much like in a Civ game. No longer do you have to shuffle diplomats around the map. You just open up the diplomacy tab to make any offers to other nations. The tab has a long list of other nations opinions of you and their allies and enemies.

 

 

Speaking of shuffling diplomats around, Creative Assembly has streamlined the agents in the game and you only have to worry about priest, rakes and gentlemen now.Priest convert the populace of a region to your state religion. This might be necessary to do this to pacify a region before you conquer them(they are a lot more volatile now). Apparently a population that is off a different religion will revolt more.

 

Good order is the foundation of all things.

Edmund Burke, English Political Philosopher

Rakes are your assassins and spies rolled into one and gentlemen are scholars that help your research new technology and can also steal technology from enemy schools. You might be surprised to find out that you no longer train these agents instead they spawn depending on a number of factors such as the number of buildings that generate them and the level they are at. I find the reduced amount of shuffling agent back and forth around the map greatly enhances the game and perhaps is vital considering Empires massive grand campaign map.

 

The user interface has been cleaned up and it is easy to view a list of all your regions and set the tax rate for your entire nation. You no longer set taxes separately for each region. There are two different tax rate sliders, one for the nobility and the other for the peasant class. You will find they are motivated by different things and pacifying these classes may be in your best interest. In case of growing unhappiness, you can exempt any region off all taxes.

 

Empire: Total War features the first technology tree in a total war game. Using gentlemen and schools of you nation, you can research technology that improves your industries, farming, land armies, naval fleets, trade and even research new philosophical ideas. However, arming the populace with knowledge, leads to new ideas that may spark the fervour of revolution among your citizens.

 

You need to manage researching new technology depending on your overall strategy and tread carefully with an increasingly enlightened populace. In the event of a revolution, a rebel faction will emerge to overthrow the current government. You need to pick a side, whether to support the revolution or to silence them.

 

For in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery.

Jonathan Swift, Irish Writer

Your government (depending on its type) is represented by ministers that you do not control at all. No longer are generals part of your royal court. Your ministers give various bonuses that may be handy to your strategy and you may choose to replace a minister if you find him to be wanting(this will probably be through an election, again depending on your government type).

 

 

Apart from the changes in the campaign map, the real time battles have a new addition in the shape of naval battles. When you engage ships in the campaign map, you are brought down to a real time battle map with gorgeous rolling waves. You take control of your ships and need to use wind direction, formations and abilities of your ships to your best ability to outwit and defeat the enemy.

 

Use chain shots to cripple your enemies ability to manoeuvre(rip their sails), grapeshot's to clear decks before your board them, or round shots to break the hull of enemy ships till they sink or surrender. Many of the dynamics of land battles are still present in the naval battles such as morale. Losing your admiral might cause the morale of your fleet to waver. Firing into the stern of a ship will do more damage to their morale as well as the hull.

 

Naval battles have been the main focus in most Empire previews by the press in the run up to release. It is a valiant first effort that does a good job representing the often chaotic naval battles of the period. However, it is indeed chaotic and for a human player, controlling more than five ships often gets a little unwieldy and difficult to manage. Personally, I found the naval battles to be fun as long as I had to only manage a few ships. If it involved many ships, I often resorted to auto calculating the battle.

 

A great empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges.

Benjamin Franklin, American Scientist & Political Philosopher

The land battles have not been  forgotten and Creative Assembly has done a great job building a new land battle engine that simulates the intricacies of battle in the 18th century. Fans will be pleased to know that it is not Rome Total War or Medieval 2 Total War in Napoleonic skin. Land battles feel a lot different with powerful artillery and units with guns, it is more about your fields of fire.

 

 

Using elevation for extra range and the forests for cover(or jungle depending on where the battle is at),  you can out gun your opponents and get the upper hand in the battles. The trajectory of musket and cannon balls are calculated in real time. Cannons balls bounce off hard, dry grounds and get stuck in moist, muddy terrain.

 

The battlefields are a lot bigger now and may feature buildings that can be occupied. Units that occupy buildings get the protective cover that enable them to withstand a barrage of musket fire. However, under artillery fire, they come tumbling down. The power of artilleries are apparent in this time period and buildings and walls are not that safe as it used to be.

 

Cavalry are no longer the tanks they were in Medieval 2. They can no longer charge head onto any units since musket fire will cut them down. Instead, cavalry should be used for their mobility. Using them to harass artillery positions and charge flanks of engaged enemies. Dragoons are mounted troops with guns that can dismount off their rides making them ideal for quick skirmishes.

 

As our enemies have found we can reason like men, so now let us show them we can fight like men also.

Thomas Jefferson, Third President of The United States of America

 

Sieges still exist but are a lot more rare in this game. You no longer build siege equipments prior to siege battles. You either pound their walls with artillery or use your units to scale the walls using ropes. It has to be said that pathfinding is a major issues in sieges. I have found units getting stuck to walls and not respond to orders. It’s not that often that it happens, but when it does, it is a frustrating experience.

 

 

Empire: Total War manages to improve the Total War formula in every way. From the streamlined user interface, reduced micro management on the campaign map level to the slower tactical battles, Empire captures the imagination of every wannabe general. The graphics on showcase is phenomenal. The sea in the naval battles roll around realistically with very highly detailed ships. Land battles look great with units looking a lot more detailed than the previous total wars.

 

I could go on describing about other aspects like the multiplayer, and the promised campaign multiplayer(should be out as a beta middle of this year) but that would bring my review to a shocking 3000 word epic. While that is a perfect representation of the game itself(it is indeed epic), I shall spare everyone from rambling on about the game.

 

The final verdict on Empire: Total War is that, it manages to do what it set out to do. To improve on the Total War formula on every facet of the game. While it may be a little rough around the edges(bugs), it’s epic scope and engaging strategic gameplay will keep you hooked on it for a very long time. Now if you will excuse me, I have a continent to conquer!

 

The good

• Amazing graphics for a strategy game
• Naval battles look awesome
• Major changes to the campaign map makes it superior than previous in the series
• Battles are paced a bit slower but the strategic depth remains
• Huge scope of the game with excellent replayability
• Less micro management in late game
• New tech tree adds a larger dynamic in the game that will shape how you will branch out your research in tandem to your overall strategy

 

The bad

• Pathfinding issues in sieges
• Some bugs in sound and animations

 

Rating : 4.5/5

 

Retail Price : RM179

 

Retail availability : pcgame.com.my

                                        The Software Boutique

GDC 2009: God of War III Leaked Video Presentation

 

Looks like someone’s been a bad boy. Somebody recorded a presentation of God of War 3 at GDC. Leaked footage below:

 

GDC 2009: R.U.S.E First Gameplay Footages

 

While the press release for Ubisoft’s R.U.S.E may have created more questions to exactly how all the features work, this video demonstration(low quality captured from a cam) gives a better idea of how all of it works. WOW, simple wow! Videos below:

 

 

Modern Warfare 2 Has A Release Date

 

Infinity Ward unveiled a teaser for their upcoming sequel to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. There has been many of hints from Infinity Ward employees through twitter in the run-up to this. The teaser doesn’t offer any gameplay footage but reveals a date at the end of it, November 10th 2009. Bigdownloads has also noted that Infinity Ward are dropping Call of Duty off the title. Teaser trailer below:

 

 

GDC 2009: R.U.S.E Developer Interview

 

Ubisoft announced a new strategy title called R.US.E at GDC. R.U.S.E features a huge battle map where the player can zoom in really close or view the whole warzone(ala Supreme Commander). More interestingly, R.U.S.E features a sort or play card mechanic in which players can use deception(by playing certain card that has special abilities) to fool the opponent. It is a World War II based strategy game. Gamespot developer interview below:

 

 

Rockpapershotgun describes the game as:

 

There is talk of there being other theatres of war, but what I’ve seen so far was mile upon miles of European fields and towns, free from loading pauses or zone transitions - Google Maps with a z-axis and explosions. There’s no cheating via fog of war, either - the lie of the land is yours to see whenever you like. There’s a neat twist on fog of war for the enemy units too - you can always see where your foes’ guys are, but unless you’ve got someone in sight range of them, you won’t know what they are. So scouting, stealth and poker-like guesstimation of what he could/should have in his hand all become vital elements in gauging whether it’s safe to head over to a given area. It’s very much a game about strategy and counter-strategy, not unit rushes or 400 clicks per minutes, so taking risks is not on the cards.

 

Interesting concepts. The game is a multi platform release and the PC is said to be the lead platform. Release is vaguely set to end of this year.

Press Release

Developed by Eugen Systems, creators of the critically acclaimed strategy title Act of War: Direct Action™, R.U.S.E™ is a one-of-a-kind RTS game that allows players to bluff their enemies to lead their nation to victory, controlling the action from the heart of the battlefield to the full theatre of war.

Key Features

Become the master of deception

o Fight a war of perception using recon units & your spying network to gather intelligence on your enemy and then strike at his Achilles heel!
o Use overturning deception skills to mislead your enemy: decoys, camouflage, radio silence, deciphering, intoxication…
o Combine military manoeuvres & cunning stratagems for victory: your brains are the ultimate weapon!
o From captain to the chief in command, live an epic campaign full of manipulation, jealousy & betrayal!

Experience War as a Strategist

o Command a huge spectrum of units : dozens of infantry, vehicles & aircraft units with specific abilities
o Wield executive power : secure revenues, plan units production & launch advanced research programs
o Undermine the enemy strategy by cutting its supply lines & weakening its logistics
o Use the exclusive IRISZOOM® engine as the most intuitive interface to easily identify the balance of power and run into action
o Fight on immense & incredibly detailed maps, the biggest in a RTS: a perfect playground for strategy!

Fool real people is the ultimate thrill

o Test your strategic skills with fast-paced, addictive cooperative & adversarial skirmishes, up to 8 players
o Face unpredictable battle situations & reverse the balance of power by using bluff and deception against your opponents
o Choose your nation between 6 Axis or Allied powers with specific units & abilities

 

 

GDC 2009: Elemental: War of Magic Video Walkthrough

 

In what is a first exclusive look, Gamespot has a video walkthrough of Stardock next turn based strategy game, Elemental: War of Magic. Elemental will feature plenty of customisable assets, player created content, a life like 3D map with the ability to zoom in right down and good old Might of Magic like old school mechanics. Video walkthrough below:

 

 

I’m extremely excited about this one. Stardock has a great reputation for making awesome, deep, engaging strategy games. A beta is planned for Elemental middle of this year(for those that pre order). Elemental: War of Magic should be released sometime next year(2010).

Spore Galactic Adventures Release Date And New Trailer

 

EA has published a new trailer for the upcoming Spore expansion and a final release date. Spore Galactic Adventures is featured to bring a new a editing mode that will allow players to create their own little missions on planets. Galactic Adventures will be released on 23rd June 2009. New trailer below:

 

 

Source : Joystiq

GDC 2009: Cry Engine 3 Tech Demo Video

 

Crytek, developers of Farcry and Crysis, have been in the works of a console capable engine for sometime now. They’ve released a tech demo of Cry Engine 3 that runs on the XBOX360 and PS3. Video below:

 

 

This is just a tech demo. It is not indication of any game being worked on by Crytek.

GDC 2009: OnLive Promises To Change The Face of Digital Distribution

 

With the Games Developers Conference under way in San Francisco, the press will be able to see future technologies that will be used for games(as well as interesting games design talks). One of the interesting new developments is a new digital distribution platform called ‘OnLive’.

 

I know there has been a whole host of digital distribution platform popping up to grab a piece of the PC gaming pie, but this one is markedly different. Its creator claims it will change the face of console gaming as well as PC gaming. IGN has a detailed write up about it and I quote:

 

When you load up the service and choose a game to play (I'll come back to the service's out-of-games features in a bit), it starts immediately. The game is housed and played on one of OnLive's servers, so there's never anything to download. Using an appropriate input device, be it a controller or mouse and keyboard, you'll then play the game as you would if it were installed on your local machine. Your inputs are read by the plugin (or the standalone device if you choose to go that route) and uploaded to the server. The server then plays the game just like it would if you were sitting at the machine, except that instead of outputting the video to a display, it gets compressed and streamed to your computer where you can see the action. Rinse and repeat 60 times per second.

 

No downloading the entire game and processing takes place on a server(instead of your local CPU). That's insane! And if you think this will be small games, you are wrong, we a talking about huge triple A games here.

 

A 1.5 mbps connection (which is usually what base-level DSL is rated at) is required for standard-definition video (480p), while a 5.0 mbps connection is required for HD (720p). The actual necessary speed is a tad less than advertised, so as long as your provider says you have these speeds, you should be OK.

 

Sigh okay. So we still have a ways to go. Don’t expect this service to work well with our ‘reliable’ internet service provider. But how cool is it that now you can run Crysis regardless of your machine. No requirements(apart from internet connection), it is all processed on a central server.

 

As for the MicroConsole itself (which, again, is optional), the device is give or take about the size of a PSP game box and maybe twice the height. In other words, it's pretty tiny for a gaming "console". It features two USB inputs (you can use a hub if you need more), a mini-USB port for power, optical audio output and HDMI video output. There's also Bluetooth support for voice or wireless joysticks, keyboards and mice. Obviously, if you want to use this thing with an older TV, you'll need to pony up for some conversion hardware, but OnLive stresses that the MicroConsole itself will be fairly cheap. We'd expect it to be no more than $100, and a $50 price tag is certainly not out of the question.

 

Apart from the cost of the hardware, the service will be more of a subscription based service, so expect it to take off slower than its free competitors. It of course has the whole social networking functionalities of having friends list bla bla.

 

A number of publishers have already signed on to have their games launch on the service, including EA, Take-Two, Ubisoft, Epic, Atari, Codemasters, Warner Bros. and Eidos. While we were able to play Crysis and Burnout Paradise and noted games like Grand Theft Auto IV on the intro screen, these titles may only be demo software for the time being as OnLive plans to launch with newly-released software when it goes live. We're hoping Crysis sticks around as some of us will finally be able to play it.

 

This service actually sounds so revolutionary its mind bending to figure out how they got the technology for this to work. I hope we can get more news about this service in GDC. While I’m a little disappointed about the broadband requirement(clearly falls out of most Malaysians connections), it is highly possible that this system will probably be in the US first. The tentative release for this platform is Winter 2009(beta is this summer). To close things off, here’s the  video demo(and a video interview) for it:

 

Need For Speed Shift Release Date UPDATED Debut Teaser

 

Electronic Arts has announced that the realistic sim like Need For Speed Shift will be released in Europe on 17th September and North America on  21st September. Developed by Slightly Mad Studios, the game will be out for the XBOX360, PS3, PC and even the PSP. Shacknews quotes an EA game Europe Senior Vice President Patrick Soderlund as saying:

 

“By focusing on the driver's experience through the first-person view, we are able to capture the high-speed intensity and gripping emotions of racing.”

 

Need For Speed Shift is a big shift(no pun intended) for the series to a more realistic racing sim. Seeing the success of Forza Motorsport 2 and the Grand Turismo series, it will be interesting to see how Shift will compare to those.

Rockstar Confirms Max Payne 3! UPDATE PC Confirmed

 

Rockstar founder Sam Houser confirmed that Max Payne 3 is indeed in the works at Rockstar Vancouver. There has been much speculation about a new Max Payne game and now the rumours can be laid to rest. It’s coming guys! No specific release date yet other than the prominently displayed 'Winter 2009' on the official page. 

Based on the logos on the official page, it looks like Max Payne 3 will be released for XBOX360 and PS3. There doesn't seem to be any Games For Windows logo and it is unclear at the moment whether Max Payne 3 will have a PC version. Shacknews quotes Sam Houser saying:

 

"We're starting a new chapter of Max's life with this game," said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. "This is Max as we've never seen him before, a few years older, more world-weary and cynical than ever. We experience the downward spiral of his life after the events of Max Payne 2 and witness his last chance for salvation."

 

Will Max Payne finally get the the answer he was looking for? Will he finally manage to escape his troubled past? Will Max die in the end of it all? We will have to wait and see what Rockstar has in store for us.

Update : While there isn't a Games For Windows logo on the official page, bigdownloads has noted that it has been stated in the official press release that Max Payne 3 will be released for the PC.

Star Wars: The Old Republic Bounty Hunter Class Reveal

 

Bioware has revealed the first playable class in their the upcoming MMORPG, the Bounty Hunter. Using the bounty hunter, players will be able to take on assassination quests and other nefarious quests.

 

Read the entire reveal here

Blizzard Unveils New Battle.net

 

Blizzard has rolled out the new Battle.net that was said to be an important strategy for future Blizzard games. Battle.net serves as the multiplayer hub for all of Blizzards past and future games. Registration is free and there is the chance to sign up for beta tests of Blizzard upcoming games(including Starcraft 2).

 

According to Starcraftinfowire, beta invites for Starcraft 2 has already begun and is being given out randomly to battle.net account holders.. Make sure to sign up, it’s free!

Crysis Wars Patch & Warhead SDK Coming This Friday

 

Crytek are releasing patch 1.4 and the Software Development Kit for Crysis Warhead this Friday. Patch 1.4 change list and Warhead SDK features below:

 

The time has finally come for us to release the Mod SDK and Sandbox2 Editor for Crysis Wars later this week. It will be made available at the same time as Crysis Wars Patch 1.4. In order to get the Mod SDK working properly you must have patch 1.4 for Crysis Wars installed, since it comes with the ingame mod support and other important changes to the game.

In order to keep the community focused on just one modding area based upon the same engine version, we decided to make the AI in Crysis Wars available again and concentrate on supporting this game with editor and SDK. Together with most of the assets from Warhead which are included in Patch 1.4 we are confident that the community will benefit the most out of it by keeping singleplayer and multiplayer modding and level creation to one game.

Patch 1.4 Changes

General Fixes

Fixed a crash relating to dropped weapons

Fixed an issue where spectating players could impede other players' movement

Fixed several memory leaks

Several optimisations

Scope position broken when picking up the same weapon type

Updates and improvements

All graphic settings are now available on DX9 machines

Improved visibility of mouse cursor on bright backgrounds

Improved hit feedback when shooting vehicles

Modding interface is now available

Balance

Cloaked players are no longer detected by the Radar Kit

Reduced radius of Radar Kit scan sound

Crysis Wars Mod SDK Content

The entire Mod SDK consists of 2 separate installers, one will include all the tools and the other will have the game source code. Here you will find a rough content list for the entire Mod SDK package for Crysis Wars. A detailed list will be provided on release this week!

Exporters for Max and XSI

Game Source Code

CryENGINE2 Sandbox Editor

Various useful tools and applications for modding

Sandbox2 Editor Changelog

Since the release of the Crysis Sandbox2 Editor the dev team has updated the powerful tool quite a bit for the modding community. Find here the changelog of what's new:

Improved Height-Field Editor:

• Complete overhaul of User Interface
• New options added to show and hide water and map objects
• New tools added to quickly switch to terrain texture layers.
• Modification of Height-Field now translates to editor terrain in real-time
• Added ability to erase current height map
• Added new tool for large preview of height field.

Improved Terrain Layer Texture Editor:

• Complete overhaul of User Interface
• New section added “Layer Tasks” for adding layers and assigning surface types to these layers.
• Large preview of current layer texture
• Scale and projection axis now able to be changed more quickly due to new user interface.

Improved Time Of Day Editor:

• Added automatic scaling of the graphs to suit currently set values for each property.
• Added collapsible sections to each logical property group.
• Record now defaults to ON

New Visual Flowgraph debugging and features:

• Added debugging to track the logic occurring through the flow graph in realtime.
• Flowgraph viewport can be scrolled with right mouse button while dragging a link.
• "Add selected group" functionality when adding entity in a flowgraph
• Fixed: Incorrect scaling when opening a flowgraph
• Fixed: Flowgraph view moves around when having the save/load dialog box opened

Track View Editor improvements:

• Added: Copy/Paste nodes in the TrackView editor.
• Fixed: Sequence not reset at a cutscene start with TrackView editor.
• Fixed: Snap key on Trackview to start/end

Quick search entry inside the CVar dialog window:

• allows quick searching of all cvars

General Fixes:

• Fixed: Editor windows not always updating after switching windows with alt+tab.
• Fixed: Zoom scaling issues
• Removed several buttons or menu items which were obsolete.

Great to see support continuing for Crysis. The release of the SDK would entail a lot of community made mods that might be interesting to keep note of. I’m hoping that Jurassic Park mod will get restarted.

 

Source

Merchants of Brooklyn Alpha Build Released As Final Version!

 

Paleo Entertainment released Merchants of Brooklyn on Steam only to realise later that the build released was an Alpha build. As soon as the game hit Steam, many users were reporting to have major issues with the game. Shacknews reported that:

 

Immediately after the title hit Steam yesterday, many users were reporting serious issues with the CryENGINE 2-powered PC shooter. Unacceptable sound quality, terrible framerates, deleted saves and a bug that entirely eliminated the HUD were among the various complaints.

 

Paleo Entertainment later released a statement on the official forum:

 

"We are fully aware of the problems that occurred with the initial release of M.O.B.," wrote Paleo Entertainment on their official forums. "Unfortunately, the incorrect version went up on Steam. The Alpha version was released initially, this has been corrected."

Paleo adds: "Please log in/log out of Steam to receive the correct version of M.O.B. We will be patching this game periodically to correct any issues that arise, as well as new and exciting features and multiplayer modes!"

 

What a way to release your debut title. This is a major mistake by a rookie developer. Considering they are an Indie developer, I sincerely hope that they learn from their mistake and listen to their community to update their game to make it great.

 

Merchants of Brooklyn is an FPS based off the Cry Engine 2 tech that has a unique art style. The game features hand to hand combat as well as your regular run and gun type combat.

Team Fortress 2 Update Brings Multicore Rendering Option

 

Valve released an update for Team Fortress 2 today that bring multicore support to the game. While multicore support has been added to Team Fortress 2 for a while now(it could be enabled using a console command), it is now available in the advanced video option. Multicore rendering option will improve the performance of the game on multicore CPU’s. The option is turned off by default. Change list:

 

Added Multicore Rendering

• This initial release is aimed at testing compatibility, so the option is OFF by default
• To turn it on, go to the Options->Video->Advanced dialog, and check the "Multicore Rendering" option

Other Changes

• Several performance improvements to decals and client bone/flex setup
• A variety of alt-tab and mode switch fixes
• Improvements to the way the engine initializes surround sound, fixing some specific hardware cases
• Fixed a crash on exit in Vista 64

Steam Now Offers In Game Downloadable Content

 

Valve released a new feature of their Steam digital distribution platform that will allow game developers to publish new DLC for their games using their own games as a platform. Using this feature, it will be much easier for users to find available DLC for the games they own. Seeing that DLC is a big strategy these days for many companies, this is a natural progression for Steam. Press release:

 

Valve, creators of best-selling entertainment products and advanced technologies, today announced the arrival of in-game downloadable content to Steam, their massively popular PC gaming platform. In-game DLC allows developers and publishers to use their own games as a platform for selling additional content to gamers.

The first game to take advantage of this new in-game DLC capability is The Maw, by Twisted Pixel Games. Their first DLC releases are levels entitled The Maw: Brute Force and The Maw: River Redirect. Each DLC level expands The Maw storyline by fitting in-between the original levels as "deleted scenes."

Twisted Pixel CEO, Michael Wilford, says "We're happy that we can now offer Steam customers significant expansions to the Maw story, delivering more Maw directly to gamers while they're still playing the game."

DLC can now be added to any game on Steam, regardless of whether it was originally purchased via Steam, at retail, or via other digital outlets. It is also a feature of Steamworks, the suite of free tools and services available to game developers and publishers.

Sins of a Solar Empire: Entrenchment Review

 

Finally after much delays and a lengthy beta, Ironclad has at last unleashed Entrenchment to the gaming masses. Entrenchment is the expansion(micro expansion they say) to the very popular Sins of a Solar Empire. Entrenchment adds new defensive measures to shore up defences in Sins.

 

In terms of features, they have not added anything that I have not covered in a previous early beta impression that I did. Entrenchment 1.0 is the culmination of all the previous three beta tests(count three!) Ironclad had for Entrenchment and it shows in the final release. Before I get a head of myself, let me give you a quick run down of new features in Entrenchment.

 

The biggest most prominent  new feature in Entrenchment are, Starbases. Each faction gets it’s own unique starbase, The Orkulus(Vasari), Argonev(TEC) and Transcencia(Advent) class starbases. These starbases have different upgrade paths that you can choose to branch out and has a maximum of eight upgrade points for you to spend. You need to weigh the pros and cons and the role you want your starbase to play and make you decision on what upgrade to employ.

 

These starbases are not just a defensive structures but can be upgraded to acts as an extended hangar bays, colony, or even a trade post. The starbases are not as expensive as I first thought it would be, they are certainly no Star Destroyer, but will require a significant investment to upgrade them to be more effective. The standard starbase(when initially built) is a little low on hull points and can be destroyed rather quickly with concentrated fire from an enemy fleet.

 

Starbases are a great option to hold the frontline or use them as a defensive measure to hold other fronts so that you can focus you campaign on another fronts. Once built, you can’t move star bases to other grav well and they stay stagnant in the spot they are built(except for the Vasari star base that can move around in the grav well).

 

An interesting strategy is actually using star bases as an offensive tool since you can actually build them in enemy grav wells!(using their constructors) Star bases build doubly slow in an enemy controlled grav well(this can be reduced by researching certain tech for Vasari) but if used in coordination with an attacking fleet, can be deadly. In addition to that, the Vasari starbase also acts as their anti structure weapon and they get no other anti structure ship which in combination with the research to reduce the build time of the orkolus class starbase in enemy well make the Vasari more unconventional.

 

The star bases looks gorgeous with the new higher resolution textures, they look highly detailed and fitting for the factions they are for. But they aren’t the only additions to Entrenchment. Mines are now available in the game and a cunning player can place mines in strategic locations in a sector that can do a world of hurt to incoming invaders.

 

Mines were a feature that was much debated during the beta since it was easy to see how they could have been exploited. Ironclad has however insisted in including them and has made major balance changes to them. Mines are deployed slightly differently depending on the faction you are playing. The TEC deploy mines as part of the tactical slot(buildable from the menu). The Vasari build mines using a mining ship that must be researched first. The advent build their homing mines from hangar bays(yes they home in one the enemy).

 

Defensive turrets have been given extra fire power this time around. Many of the turrets have an added gun to improve their effectiveness. If in vanilla Sins, one of the main complains was these turrets were too insignificant(easily destroyed and not enough fire power), Entrenchment finally makes them more viable while still not making them an easy option to turtle in a sector.

 

With the introduction to all these new defensive options, Ironclad has reorganised the tech tree in the game and included a new defence tech tree that has all the defensive tech. This makes it easy to access the research to all the new content. The new technologies seem appropriate and unique to the different factions as you will find the Vasari use its phase space ability in its defensive measures and the advent can uses their star bases as extended communion towers(that can peacefully convert enemy population).

 

Entrenchments new additions add more depth and strategic options to what is already a great game. Using these stronger defensive options, you can actually have a better stop gap measure to protect one front to focus your attention on another rather than making the game more of a grind. You can’t truly lock down one sector with a starbase and turret as any concentrated attack(with the use of starbase busting ships) will take out the defences. Pirates raids also become less of a problem as your defences get better.

 

Instead of just shipping the micro expansion with all these new units, Ironclad has actually overhauled the AI in the game to take advantage and use the defensive options in the game. I actually saw enemy Vasari factions build an offensive starbase in my gravity well and AI ships skirting around the grav well to avoid the defences.

 

Initially, I thought Entrenchment would make what is already a long game and stretch matches out even longer, I found that once you have learned to use the new anti structure units in the factions rosters, the length of matches tended to be about the same as Sins vanilla. Vasari’s new addition is the least conventional of all the other races and may take a while to get used to.

 

Sins of a Solar Empire Entrenchment is a finely balanced game. The months of beta testing has definitely paid off and there isn’t any single game winning strategy or unit than it overpowered. Ironclad really has to be commended on doing a fine job tuning the game. Entrenchment is a masterful addition to Sins of a Solar Empire and enhances the game and improves upon it.

 

Priced at only USD9.95 on Impulse, Entrenchment is great value for money and will grip you in endless hours of galactic warfare. The next micro expansion has no release window yet and is supposed to be aimed at buffing up the diplomatic side of the game.

 

Pros

• Better defensive options
• Added strategic depth and new tactics
• Well balance sides
• AI reworked to be better and utilise new gameplay options
• Great value

 

Cons

• Say goodbye to your time and loved ones

 

Rating: 4/5

 

Price : USD$9.95

Mass Effect 2 Will Be Out For The PC and XBOX360

 

Bioware’s Ray Muzyka today announced that Mass Effect 2 will be released early 2010 for the PC and XBOX360. IGN quoted the press release:

 

Saren's evil army of Geth soldiers has just been defeated, and humans, who are still struggling to make their mark on the galactic stage, are now faced with an even greater peril...

 

According to the Bioware CEO:

 

We're going to surpass the extraordinary gaming experience we brought our fans in Mass Effect by delivering intensified combat and expanded weapon options as well as increased depth of planet exploration, all while delivering a powerful, emotionally engaging story. Mass Effect 2 is shaping up to be an unforgettable RPG-shooter experience, taking players on a non-stop roller-coaster ride filled with stunning plot twists and no-holds-barred action.

Wanted: Weapons of Fate Releasing Soon

 

Wanted: Weapons of Fate is being released here(South East Asian region) on March the 23rd. Developed by GRIN, the third person shooter is based off the movie of the same name(starring Angelina Jolie) and features bullet bending action. The game is to be released on all platforms, PS3, XBOX360 and PC. Wanted is being brought over here by New Era Interactive. Screenshots below:

 

Theatre of War 2: Afrika 1943 Demo

 

1C Company released Theatre of War 2: Afrika 1943 demo today. The demo features an all-new full mission from the US campaign, "The Battle of Sidi Bou Zid" which takes place in early February 1943, as well as one Tutorial mission to get players acquainted with the command and control of their units. The game is slated for release on April 24th.

 

Download the demo here

The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena Developer Diary

 

Assault on Dark Athena developers, Starbreeze gives some insight on the work that goes behind the game and their motivations behind the game. The game is slated for release for the XBOX360, PS3 and PC in April. Video below:

 

Steam May Not Be The Leader Forever

 

Stardock CEO, Brad Wardell recently commented about Steam on an article at Edge Online. He found it necessary to give his opinion on the article, ‘The Age Of Steam’. He wrote that while Steam does digital distribution really well, it is not perfect and certainly could do with improvement. He believes that competition is vital to encourage these improvements. He said:

 

By Valve's own admission, it only has 20 million accounts of which around a million and a half logon each day due to Steam defaulting to auto-starting when someone launches. To put that in perspective, that's about 1/10th the number of users Gamespot or IGN gets in a day.

 

When one of these services has 20 million active users per day, then I think we can say that they have reached a critical threshold. Right now, however, by Valve's own statistics, about half of Steam users use it for just Counterstrike -- not including all of Valve's other games.

 

The real test for Steam, however, will be how it does as it faces competition as it becomes more common for titles to be released on multiple platforms at the same time. At that point, responding to customer requests, competitive pricing and quality of service will determine its continued success.

It's far too soon to assume that Steam will continue to dominate five years out. Thus far, it has largely operated without serious competition. With other services such as Impulse, Games for Windows Live, Amazon.com, GamersGate and others upping their own services with unique and compelling features, expanding their catalogs, and focusing on providing good customer experiences, I would be very surprised if Steam continues to have such a large market share (as a percentage) even 18 months from now.

 

Read the whole article here

BattleForge Goes Open Beta

 

Shacknews reports that EA Phenomis card based real time strategy game, BattleForge, has gone open beta. It is now available to everyone.

 

Mixing the real-time strategy genre with the customization and social aspects of trading card games, the game is described by EA as a "genre-changing world" and "the first RTS to combine the social and community aspects of an MMO with an exciting RTS."

 

Along with online multiplayer and cooperative play for up to 12 players, the full game will also sport single-player scenarios, guild support and an auction hall.

 

You can grab the Beta here. Impression coming soon.

Left 4 Dead DLC Details And New Survival Mode

 

IGN posted a write up on new features in the upcoming DLC for Left 4 Dead(due summer for PC and XBOX360 for free). The new DLC will include new versus modes for Blood Harvest and Dead Air campaigns as well as a new survival mode. According to IGN, the survival mode will be about:

 

The second big addition in the DLC is the introduction of an entirely new Survival mode that's designed if you just want to get in and have fun for about 10 or 15 minutes at a time, though the fast pace and challenge of it means you and your group can do round after round while the hours waste away. In essence, it's the equivalent of Counter-Strike's five-minute matches.

In Survival mode, the goal is simple: you and up to three other players are on a single level and must stay alive as long as possible against an unending assault of zombies. Each Versus match starts with a setup time, as you can scour the map for weapons and equipment, like health kits and gasoline tanks. You can take as much time as you want, as the timer at the top of the screen doesn't begin until someone hits the button that starts the zombie horde. Once the button is pressed, the action gets off to a furious start and escalates from there.

 

 

The survival mode sounds like something for the extreme hardcore L4D gamers and might be a much bigger challenge. Great that these are free, loved to see more free stuff.

 

Read the entire preview here