Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 2:39 PM

Category: Action

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:49 AM

Category: First Person

But even alongside A.I. teammates, your choices allegedly number in the multiples. Those with twitchy trigger fingers can go in with guns blazing, while more furtive tacticians might order teammates into strategically superior flanking positions to get the drop on unsuspecting targets. Plant a mine, sound the alarm, and watch the incoming transport truck go boom-or booby-trap a corpse and let his buddies trigger the explosive treat you tucked away especially for them.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 12:09 PM

Category: Role Playing

In terms of action, Dark Messiah offers plenty along with a role-playing statistic boosting system in the game. By completing objectives you receive skill points that can be spend on upgrading melee attacks, learning new magical spells, or upgrading your stealth abilities. Shields, armor, swords, staves, daggers, and bows can be picked up as you move through the mostly linear 12-15 hour campaign.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 12:18 PM

Category: Role Playing

I said earlier that Gothic 3 feels like a beta. Unfortunately, I wasn’t exaggerating just for the sake of it. True, there are no game-breaking bugs to significantly affect the quality of the game, but those that are in game can quickly take you from extreme happiness to painful agony. First of, Gothic 3 is a game that brings even high-end PCs to their knees. And not because it has out of this world graphics but because it’s poorly optimized. If you own a GeForce 6600 card, don’t even think about running the game smoothly with medium details. Also, a fast hard-drive won’t compensate the fact that you have “only” 1GB of system memory. Although the game manual states that 1.5GB RAM are recommended, Gothic 3 slows down even on machines with 2GB RAM. Personally, after a few optimizations (hard-drive defragmentation, fixed the swap file size) and changing a couple of settings in the ini file o the game, I managed to get a 50% performance improvement.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 5:25 PM

Category: First Person

October 27 , 2006 (Rockville, MD) - Bethesda Softworks®, a ZeniMax Media company, today announced its plans to publish Rogue Warrior™, an authentic, tactical first-person shooter based on the best-selling book series by Richard (Dick) Marcinko, former U.S. Navy SEAL and founder of both SEAL Team Six and Red Cell. Rogue Warrior is being developed for the Xbox 360™ videogame and entertainment system from Microsoft, the computer entertainment system, and Windows by Zombie Studios in conjunction with Bethesda Softworks. Rogue Warrior is scheduled for a fall 2007 release.

“We are very excited to be working on Rogue Warrior, which allows us the chance to bring Bethesda’s creative vision and development expertise to this brand,” said Vlatko Andonov, president of Bethesda Softworks. “This game marks our return to shooters since our highly successful Terminator series, and we hope to offer fans a true next-generation gameplay experience.”

Rogue Warrior is a story-driven shooter that provides team-based tactical combat set in massive, contiguous levels using Unreal 3 streaming technology. Central to the game’s single and multiplayer experience is the idea of a freeform battlefield, where players are given the freedom to choose how to complete a given objective, allowing for creativity and surprises, rather than heavily scripted events and tightly contained spaces traditionally used in this genre.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 4:36 PM

Category: Massively Multiplayer

October 26, 2006 (BELLEVUE, WA) – Guild Wars NightfallTM, one of the most anticipated PC game releases of the holiday season is on its way to retailers and will be available on store shelves in North America and Europe on October 27, 2006. NightfallTM is the latest campaign release in the award-winning Guild Wars® franchise played by millions worldwide, created by ArenaNet® and published by NCsoft®, the world's leading developer and publisher of online computer games.

Set in the land of Elona where an evil ruler is attempting to summon her outcast god, Nightfall will ask the stout of heart to answer the rallying cry of the Sunspears — the protectors of the realm — to fight back the looming darkness descending upon the land. As you explore opulent cities, brave savage coasts, delve deep into ancient monuments, and discover the secrets of poisonous deserts, you will determine the fate of the entire realm of Elona.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 1:52 PM

Category: Role Playing

New York, NY - October 26, 2006 - 2K, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), today announced Dungeon Siege II: Deluxe Edition for PC is available now. This special collector's set includes full versions of the original Dungeon Siege II, Dungeon Siege II: Broken World expansion pack, and a number of collectible items including a fold-out map, concept art, character portraits, wallpapers, and "The Making of Dungeon Siege II" video.

Dungeon Siege II was developed by Gas Powered Games and named "RPG of the Year" by GameSpy and PC Gamer. The recently released Dungeon Siege II: Broken World expansion pack brought closure to the epic storyline. The popular and critically acclaimed Dungeon Siege action-RPG series offers role-playing fans all the excitement of exploring a lavish, next generation 3D world while keeping the gameplay focus on intense and challenging non-stop action.

Dungeon Siege II: Deluxe Edition, rated M for Mature, is available now in North America for PC for $39.99. Dungeon Siege II: Deluxe Edition will be available at European retail stores in early November.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 3:55 PM

Category: Developer

I personally believe that digital distribution is going to soon wash over our industry like a tsunami, and we are seeing early signs of this shift even today, with 2K's announcement with regard to Steam. I still believe that traditional pubs will remain the powerhouses they are today, if for no other reason that they are the banks of our industry, providing the most accessible funding needed to make games.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 10:26 AM

Category: General

• Halo Movie Dumped
• Meatloaf Is Shy
• Exclusive: Bobcat Goldthwait, Filmmaker!
• Madonna: I'll take baby back at 18

• Guild Wars Nightfall - Impressions
• The Chronicles of Spellborn Gets Delayed

• Far More Than A Meteor Killed Dinos, Evidence Suggests
• Mineral Discovery Explains Mars' Landscape

• Samsung Develops World’s Thinnest DDR2 Memory Chip
• Powercolor X1650 Pro Review

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:33 AM

Category: First Person

But it’s good to have this much needed rest though after juggling the task of finishing the game as well as going on trips to help support the product in the PR sense. In the closing weeks of the project I was sent off to show F.E.A.R. Extraction Point to the European press over in Leipzig as well as go off to Dallas for another event, all while leaving Tim to do all the heavy lifting of actually finishing the game. Both were really great events where I had an opportunity to talk with the fans of the original product and see how excited they were to see the expansion pack as well as the 360 version of F.E.A.R.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:55 AM

Category: Strategy

At the first glance, ParaWorld looks like any other strategy game - you do need some resource gathering to establish your town - in this case gathering food, wood and stone. Resources are limited so you need to get out and capture new resource nodes. Along the way, you will have to upgrade your resource capacity and can also upgrade how quickly their workers harvest the resources. On top of the traditional resources, you also have to collect skulls in order to level up your units and buy upgrades - there are five levels, and each unit can advance as far as you want, gaining more hit points and better combat abilities. In the case of the Dustrider faction, skulls are also used to advance Epochs in order to open up new technologies.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:43 AM

Category: Role Playing

The balor's two ton body looms 12 feet tall and emanates intense heat, scorching anyone unfortunate enough to touch it. They are more intelligent than the most powerful wizards and stronger than most giants. Among their wide array of powers, however, perhaps the most feared is their ability to summon forth other demons to serve them: dozens of foul dretches or even another of their kind!

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:35 AM

Category: Role Playing

Developed in-house at Monte Cristo, Silverfall challenges the conventions of action RPGs by thrusting players and their chosen companions into a stunning fantasy world of magic, machines and mayhem. Choose from a slew of spectacular magic spells or harness the raw power of science: the choices you make during the game take you along the path of nature or technology.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 1:38 PM

Category: Role Playing

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 1:43 PM

Category: Role Playing

An additional advantage of the game is its location in the world created by fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski. However, the construction of the storyline does not require any knowledge of Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels. The game takes place in a “ready-made” fantasy reality, therefore both the world and the characters are a part of a greater entirety. They are composite and authentic, which allows the player to easily identify with the events of the game.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 2:14 PM

Category: Strategy

Conceptwise, ParaWorld is very solid; I mean, who wouldn’t want to pit dinosaurs against each other in combat? And it helps that the game’s design is extremely cool, too. Whole world is very well conceived and deep, with a great sense of “Cadillacs & Dinosaurs” pulpiness to keep you enthralled.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 2:28 PM

Category: Role Playing

Developed by Obsidian Entertainment, Neverwinter Nights 2 features a new, extensive single-player game with deep character development and a powerful new toolset that provides players with unprecedented ability to create their own universes, quests and storylines

"Neverwinter Nights 2 has been an incredible game to produce, as we have aimed from the beginning to develop an immersive gaming experience that will satisfy both the RPG and modding communities," said Feargus Urquhart, Obsidian Entertainment's CEO. "Now that Neverwinter Nights 2 has gone gold, we are proud to say we are delivering a game that should exceed fans' expectations."

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 11:40 AM

Category: General

The new show will be rechristened as the E3 Media and Business Summit when it takes place from July 11-13 in Santa Monica, California, next year. Without a doubt, it's all about the media and business getting tigether. Replacing the massive LA Convention Center thronging with gamers will be scores of hotel suites that are accessible only by invitation. According to Douglas Lowenstein, President of the ESA, this change will enhance the purpose of E3.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 1:41 PM

Category: General

Three Activision games offered on steam will be from the wildly popular Call of Duty series, which is developed by the now-internal studio Infinity Ward. Call of Duty 2 ($39.95), Call of Duty ($19.95), and the Call of Duty: United Offensive expansion pack ($19.95) will all be made available, as will the Western shooter Gun ($19.95), which was developed by NeverSoft.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:47 AM

Category: Role Playing

The game takes you through six chapters. In each chapter you'll work your way from the beginning of a dungeon to the end, killing hundreds of monsters along the way. The dungeons are all very linear, and it's easy to find your way through. The same can't be said for your computer-controlled allies, though. In each chapter you'll get a new hero to join your party, and you can issue basic commands like follow and attack. However, the artificial intelligence is so terrible that you'll hardly ever see your fellow heroes. More often than not they'll get stuck behind a wall or won't be able to figure out how to turn a corner to follow you, so they'll just stand there leaving you to deal with half a dozen or more monsters at a time.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 11:42 AM

Category: Role Playing

Which brings us to combat - never one of the Gothic series' strong points. Taking place in real-time and involving only the mouse and the movement keys, it's something that requires a period of adjustment - during which you'll find yourself laid low by any enemy that doesn't resemble an oversized chicken.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 10:12 AM

Category: Massively Multiplayer

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 2:00 PM

Category: First Person

Released in 2000, many factors contributed to the title's success. The game was developed by an experienced team at Raven Software, using the new Quake III engine that had become both familiar and popular to FPS gamers. Elite Force also succeeded in creating an immersive Star Trek atmosphere, putting the player in locations and situations that mirrored those from the show and putting them in charge of a squad of security officers, known as the Hazard Team - essentially a creative way of explaining why Starfleet officers would 'shoot first, ask questions later' and keep the game fun and interesting. The game also featured the entire main cast from the show, voiced by the original actors from Star Trek Voyager.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 8:31 AM

Category: Role Playing

SAN FRANCISCO – October 9, 2006 – Today Ubisoft, one of the world’s largest video game publishers, announces that Dark Messiah of Might and Magic™ has gone gold and is scheduled for North American release on October 24, 2006.

Developed in conjunction with Ubisoft, Arkane Studios (for single-player) and Kuju Entertainment (for multiplayer), Dark Messiah of Might and Magic puts players in a first-person perspective, allowing them to encounter ferocious combat within a dark and expansive fantasy environment.

Powered by an enhanced version of the award-winning Source™ Engine created by Valve for its Half-Life®2 video game, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic allows players to immerse themselves in an environment that responds and envelops them like never before, thanks to the Source Engine’s exceptional technological enhancements in areas such as character animation, advanced AI, real-world physics and shader-based rendering.

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic will be available for PC at the manufacturer's suggested retail price of $49.99.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:53 AM

Category: First Person

Dean Sharpe: There are number of reasons why it's so late. Probably the biggest thing is that it was just over ambitious. The guys at (developer) GSC really wanted it to be the end-all, do-all game, and I think they got a little caught up in adding features - especially based on community requests. S.T.A.L.K.E.R has a huge community throughout the world and I think GSC just listened too much to what they wanted sometimes.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 12:44 PM

Category: Action

Although sightseeing is encouraged, the main dagger thrust of any assassin's lot is killing people, and Ubisoft has spent a considerable wedge of development time on the creation of bustling city environments teeming with over 60 NPCs on-screen at once. To complete assassinations, Altair has to work his way stealthily through the crowds, deftly moving past people or even putting a hand out and pushing them out of the way, carefully ensuring that he doesn't alert the potential victim to his presence.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 10:08 PM

Category: Developer

At any rate, we're getting info on a game that'll be announced on November 1. So please look forward to that date, upon which you will be informed of everything. You'll find out, for example, how I got a thick layer of desert sand all over my white Old Navy shirt. Suspense!

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:44 AM

Category: Role Playing

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 7:54 AM

Category: Role Playing

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 1:54 PM

Category: First Person

Alpha Prime is the name of a mining asteroid where this sci-fi-themed first-person shooter from Black Element Software is set. The single-level preview build is set in a mining facility where a rudimentary storyline in the opening sequence introduces you to the fact that a corporation is sending in the laundry squad to cleanse the place of all witnesses. Time to grab your guns and give them a warm welcome.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 5:31 PM

Category: Role Playing

You'll also encounter fast-paced action sequences such as the Dead Man's Trail, a level that we got to play in a recent work-in-progress version of the game. The Dead Man's Trail takes place relatively early in the game, and it puts you in a desperate chase over the rooftops of Stonehelm, the main human town in Dark Messiah.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 5:29 PM

Category: First Person

TimeGate has a great reputation of satisfying both critics and gamers alike, and we firmly see that holding true for Extraction Point. The responses to our single-player demo have been astounding, and we can’t wait to see reactions once our more closely-guarded secrets are revealed!

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 3:03 PM

Category: First Person

We have some much larger AI units for you to go against and some far better armed ones – you don’t think we would just give you the mini-gun do you? We also have a creepy little thing that you can only make out by seeing his shadow.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 5:38 PM

Category: Role Playing

Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom is an Action RPG game based on the universe of Kingdom Under Fire series. Where as the previous Kingdom Under Fire series were Action RTS titles that recreated realistic fantasy battlefields of massive scale, Circle of Doom focuses on the development of one character with easy-to-learn game system and control mechanics.