Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 5:22 PM

Category: Art

To make an environment work for a game, you have to redesign your work - and I do sometimes feel bad about the missed opportunities. These may not be ideas that would necessarily make great architecture in real life, but these ideas often take a more uncompromising form - a more pure form – before you have to change them. When these environments need to be adapted to the game, they lose some of that impact.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 12:06 PM

Category: First Person

"Far Cry marked the beginning of a new era for shooters. An era of gorgeous graphics and of advanced artificial intelligence," declared Tony Key, vice president of marketing at Ubisoft. "We are confident that Far Cry 2 will have the same impact again on the FPS genre landscape."

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:02 AM

Category: Role Playing

One of the big changes is the tactical HUD. It allows individual squad command controls, so you can actually tell your party - individually as opposed to a group - where to go. And then you can give them specific individual orders - again as opposed to a group - for what they're going to do when they get there.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 8:25 AM

Category: First Person

We both confidently agree that after seeing this demonstration, Duke Nukem Forever is looking great, and will easily stand apart from the crowd in both visual and gameplay styles.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 7:28 AM

Category: Role Playing

Miroslaw Dymek: The world of "The Temptation" is roughly as big as the one in 2W. The game begins in the familiar region surrounding Oswaroh and Drak'ar. But we've completely rehashed these areas and have a multitude of new locations as well. The "old" world amounts to about 10% of the old one. The new story is cleverly structured and layer-linked in comparison to the old one. But the hero will still have to fight his way through the old world first, before he can reach the new regions. In the "The Temptation" however, both the old and the new worlds offer much more graphic creativity than the predecessor.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:04 AM

Category: Role Playing

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 7:46 PM

Category: Role Playing

When Molyneux talks of drama, however, he isn’t referring to Fable 2’s cinematic flair. Nor does he mean the adherence to a particular narrative. Although there is a plot – one which Molyneux claims will challenge your morality like never before – the real drama is in how reactive the world of Albion feels. The people you encounter appreciate you for what you do, commenting on your recent behavior and changing their disposition towards you appropriately.

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

Category: Action

The most prominent part of the gameplay which does manage to offer slightly longer appeal is the combat system, even though you only tend to use it sparingly in the game; it is often wiser in times of trouble to just bolt and try to lose your pursuers, which is done via hiding in places haystacks, or amongst similarly dressed worshipers etc.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 6:05 AM

Category: Action

Good things come to those who wait as PC owners will benefit from having more modes and more visual customisation options to help enhance their demon-slaying action. Turbo mode will turn up the action to insane speeds, while Legendary Dark Knight Mode will harness advanced PC processing power and fill the screen with an unbelievable number of enemies for extra difficulty.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 7:56 PM

Category: Role Playing

Yet what Obsidian want to stress more than anything is that Alpha Protocol is a role-playing game. You’ll have multiple missions open in different hubs around the world (locations currently being bandied about include Taipei, Rome, Moscow and Saudi Arabia) and you’ll be able to flit between them at will - each one containing one overarching operation and a cavalcade of minor missions leading up to it - be they stealing sensitive data on a hard drive, tailing suspects or extracting information from grumpy NPCs through bribery, diplomacy or murder most foul.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 8:45 AM

Category: Role Playing

As the first human Specter - sworn defenders of galactic peace - your mission is to halt the advancing armies of a legendary agent gone rogue. But as you lead your elite team across hostile alien worlds, you will discover the true threat is far greater than anyone imagined.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 8:07 PM

Category: Role Playing

Hines said that a playable demo crafted around a portion of the game would prohibitively limit the experience, which is built around an open, explorable world.

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

Category: Role Playing

CD Projekt RED announces that the release of The Witcher: Enhanced Edition has been delayed. The delay can be attributed to the company’s goal of making The Witcher: Enhanced Edition as close to a flawless product as possible. CD Projekt RED is dedicated to a simultaneous worldwide launch, and is taking the extra time to polish each language version to meet the high standards of the global games market. The exact date of the premiere of the Enhanced Edition will be announced in the upcoming days.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 7:32 PM

Category: Action

The maneuvers are gratifyingly easy to carry out with a mouse and keyboard, and the challenge lies instead in finding the most efficient route while at running speed. You'll find yourself actively scanning the area ahead of you for the next available grip or handhold to help you reach higher ground.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 3:29 PM

Category: Role Playing

Released for Xbox 360 through the Xbox Live Marketplace last month, the DLC introduces the Batarian race and adds about 90 minutes of additional gameplay.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 8:59 PM

Category: Role Playing

As in Oblivion, the world of Fallout 3 is an open book: you can theoretically travel almost anywhere, at any time, without waiting for new areas to be "unlocked." In a similar touch, many of the battles and events are unscripted and random. For instance, you'll meet a friendly companion called "Dogmeat" sometime early in the game, but the time and place of that meeting depends on chance.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 6:35 PM

Category: Action

Assassin's Creed was a game burdened with potential, but one that could ultimately only earn the tag of "pretty vacant". For all its expansive medieval vistas and acrobatic action, there wasn't a whole lot going on in the long term. Once you'd guided Altair through his first assassination, you'd pretty much seen everything on offer in terms of gameplay.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 12:24 PM

Category: Developer

No matter how hard Microsoft works to persuade people to embrace Vista, some just can't be wowed. They complain about Vista's hefty hardware requirements, its less-than-peppy performance, occasional incompatibility with other programs and devices and frequent, irritating security pop-up windows.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 8:58 AM

Category: Strategy

A Clear Crown representative visited our offices recently to show off an early build of the game to give us an idea of what to expect. The skirmish stages take place in solar systems, and you have to actually take into account the planets' orbits when plotting fleet move orders.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 8:55 PM

Category: Role Playing

The Collector's Edition comes in a Vault-Tech lunch box guaranteed to survive a long nuclear winter. Inside, along with the highly anticipated RPG, is an Art of Fallout 3 hardcover book, Making of Fallout 3 DVD and Vault Boy Bobblehead.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 12:39 PM

Category: Action

You get to run around massive openworld versions of Damascus, Acre and Jerusalem mining the crooks, couriers and careless talk for information, which allows you to hunt down and kill local arms dealers, minor despots and other naughty individuals who are all somehow connected. The best bit was and is that you don't just trawl the streets; you can climb virtually anything and race across rooftops, hopping precisely from beam to ledge to gangplank without sacrificing any momentum. All of which led some to christen it the next-generation Prince of Persia.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 2:01 PM

Category: First Person

Combat has changed slightly from Red Faction and Red Faction II, as you're now fighting from a third-person perspective rather than first-person. Targeting feels natural, and the third-person view makes it easier to mount and unmount vehicles. It's also a necessity when you're surrounded by collapsing buildings and doing your best to avoid falling debris, and it's an asset while you're ducking for cover in a firefight.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 7:01 PM

Category: Role Playing

In adulthood, your father's unexplained disappearance is what will finally lead you outside the relative safety of your fortified vault. But where the story goes from there, Bethesda isn't saying yet. It may not be a lonely world out there--what with super mutants, the mercenaries of the Talon Company, and the cult-like Brotherhood of Steel all marauding across the landscape--and it sure isn't a friendly one, either.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 8:38 AM

Category: Role Playing

It's at once both an RPG and an RTS -- and it can be significantly more of whichever you prefer. The developers call it a "strategic fighting game." Playing the game with one Demigod is a different experience from playing the game with another. The asymmetric balancing act means that each major character has its own strengths, weaknesses, features, and -- of course -- strategies to employ.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 12:17 PM

Category: Role Playing

As you can see on Eidos Montreal's website, they've announced they're recruiting for their second "triple-A" project, and they've provided a hint as to what it might be: "The title begins with the letter 'T'".

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

Category: First Person

For Far Cry 2, Ubisoft Montreal developed a new engine. Named Dunia, this might be the most advanced game engine yet. We’re talking dynamic AI, dynamic weather, dynamic wildlife, dynamic equipment, dynamic foliage, dynamic everything. Plants grow, the AI changes tactics depending on your behaviour, vehicles and guns receive damage according to use. Some say it’s merely a tuned version of Crysis’ CryEngine 2, though I'm inclined to think this is far more than an improved model of another engine.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 8:50 PM

Category: Massively Multiplayer

In addition to incredible graphics and sound, the game will be filled with unique features like the "Real Combat" engine; a revolutionary new multi-point melee system which allows the players to swing their weapons where they direct it, in real-time! This easy to learn and fun melee system lets the players truly feel they are on the battlefield, and goes head-on against the formulaic nature of online RPG combat.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 10:11 AM

Category: Developer

Almost everyone on the team has found positions with other developers. They are top-notch developers so there was little thought that this would be a problem. In addition, the Boston area game development community is doing quite well right now, and there are a lot of open positions. Brian and I will still be working here at Iron Lore for awhile. There's actually a lot of work involved in shutting down a company and we'll be at it for a couple more months at least. After that - who knows?

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 7:29 AM

Category: First Person

A direct sequel to F.E.A.R (PC, PS3, X360), the game was retitled in the wake of Monolith's departure from publisher Vivendi. In the aftermath of the dispute, Monolith retained rights to the characters, setting and story, while Vivendi obtained the rights to the F.E.A.R. name.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 1:32 PM

Category: General

The 2008 “$1 Million Intel Make Something Unreal Contest” will be judged in four preliminary phases and a grand final. Judging will begin in June 2008 and will conclude, with the grand final prizes being awarded, in fall 2009.

To participate, aspiring game developers create modifications (“mods”) for the PC version of Unreal Tournament 3 in a wide range of categories including environments, characters, weapons, gameplay, tools, vehicles and more.

Through the contest, players can unleash their creative skills, make new content and game experiences using cutting-edge game technology, and reap rewards on many different levels. The content created for this contest will be freely available to players of the PC version of Unreal Tournament 3 worldwide.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 12:55 PM

Category: General

• Splash Damage Announce New Title!
• PlanetElectronicArts Launches
• Legend of Zelda Movie Trailer Debut
• World Of Warcraft: Molten Core
• Duke Nukem Forever Screenshot
• Players Turn Into Stick Figures In Guild Wars

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 8:25 AM

Category: Action

The story of the game is a really strong one with a lot of really tense emotions.. both happyness and sadness. You also get to know Sephiroth before he turns evil.. you even get to work and fight with him side by side.. You will get to know his story as a 1st Class SOLDIER and what great friends and moments he had in SOLDIER..