Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 11:59 AM

Category: First Person

A group of stalkers has for the first time reached the very heart of the Zone – Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, and brings about a cataclysm on the brink of a catastrophe. An immense blowout of anomalous energy changes the Zone. There are no more reliable and relatively safe roads. The entire levels vanish in the outbursts of anomalies. Stalkers and even expeditions die or end up sealed on the lost territories. New areas, which remained unknown since the time of the Zone emergence, appear on the Zone map. The Zone continues to shake with blowouts. The Zone is unstable. The anomalous activity is at its maximum.

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

Category: First Person

The action starts with you and a F.E.A.R. team dropping out of a plane near Armacham and landing in some dry viaducts on your way to an ATC Data Center, where you're supposed to retrieve some kind of vital information. On the way you learn a Delta Squad had previously been dispatched to the same location but dropped out of communication, a development that's added to your list of objectives.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:09 AM

Category: Role Playing

Scheduled to ship next week, The Chosen: Well of Souls, known as Frater in Europe, is an action RPG from developer Rebelmind and regional publisher Meridien4. The alchemist Marcus Dominus Ingens controls armies of devils and demons. He has unleashed them to harvest human souls, which increase his strength. Frater Simon, Elena and Tong Wong are three playable characters, each with distinct abilities, and all especially trained to fight the powers of darkness.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 11:38 AM

Category: Gone Gold

The Orange Box comes packed with the latest version of the company's smash-hit Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Team Fortress 2 and Portal. Players who want a discount on the super compilation pack can pre-order the game directly through Steam or at retailers nationwide.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 3:47 PM

Category: First Person

Here's a demo for the horror action game Clive Barker's Jericho. This demo lets you play three of the game's characters in a small section near the beginning of the game.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 4:51 PM

Category: Massively Multiplayer

Ben: In Nightfall we introduced skills that we're tied to title tracks. We felt it was a really important thing to do that helped extend character profession past level 20. These skills are also more tied in with the PvE story. Moving into Eye Of The North we were able to really have some fun with these skills because they were bound to PvP balance.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 2:56 PM

Category: First Person

Taking place in the 1960's Bioshock attempts to deliver a retro-futuristic setting in an underworld city called Rapture. This is certainly no easy feat but one that 2KGames handles quite nicely. Everything in the world fits and nothing seems to be out of place. At times it is very nerve racking while at other times the games makes you think.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 3:13 PM

Category: Role Playing

Tactics in The Witcher require perception, common sense, and a calm mind, so you can properly analyze situations and make the right decisions in real-time action combat. It doesn't require any hardcore game-mechanic knowledge, as everything in the game is based on real and obvious rules. You see a huge opponent coming your way, you know you will have to hit hard, as the enemy is tough--it has armor or lots of health.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:24 AM

Category: First Person

The first map we jumped into was Deimos, a hulking alien space station that features a massive turret that could be manned if you were brave enough to venture into the vacuum of space to find it. There's also an anti-gravity tunnel that can be ventured into for some slow-motion-like battles. During our exploration of Deimos we were lucky enough to stumble upon the Redeemer, which by now everyone knows as the SIXAXIS guided nuclear missile. Fire the sucker, guide it with the PS3 controller and watch people die. It's fantastic.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 7:43 PM

Category: First Person

Crysis offers players a highly immersive FPS experience in which they will have to adapt their tactics, weaponry, armor and gameplay style to survive and defeat the alien invasion.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:24 AM

Category: Books

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (AP) -- Author Robert Jordan, whose "Wheel of Time" series of fantasy novels sold millions of copies, has died of a rare blood disease, his aide said Monday. He was 58.

Jordan, whose real name was James Oliver Rigney Jr., died Sunday at the Medical University of South Carolina of complications from primary amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy, his personal assistant, Maria Simons, said. The disease attacks the body's major organs; in Jordan's case, it caused the walls of his heart to thicken.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 2:19 PM

Category: Action

The Conan video game joins a robust lineup of licensed products for the Conan brand, which is currently celebrating the 75th anniversary of its first published story. In addition to the video game, Conan is also recognized for its brand extensions with popular action figures, motion pictures, collectible trading cards and more than 800 comic books.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:17 AM

Category: First Person

Earlier today, while attending a Microsoft press event in London's Covent Garden, we had an opportunity to spend some time with a demo version of Gears of War on the PC. As has been well documented previously, the upcoming PC version will feature content not found in the Xbox 360 version (at least not yet), including five new campaign chapters, three new multiplayer maps, and a new game type.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 2:35 PM

Category: Role Playing

As for RPG-Experience: People from the team at Spellbound or me have been involved in the creation of many RPGs (around 15 as far as I know). You may have heard of the Realms of Arkania series - myself being involved. It sold several million units and was able to collect a variety of awards. So if you look both at the numbers of games we were involved in as well as into critical acclaims collected - the team does bring some credit to the table.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 8:56 AM

Category: Role Playing

1. Is unarmed combat in? If so, is it lethal or does it knockout your opponent? [Waterchip]

Yes, it’s in, and yes, it’s lethal. It’s a big part of the game, and as far as game balance, it’s our goal to make melee as viable as using guns in killing off enemies. It’s something we’re obviously still balancing, but I expect melee to be more “lethal”, as getting near an opponent can be more difficult, especially if they have a gun, but at the same time, you don’t have to worry about your ammo counts, so that’s an immediate benefit to melee.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 10:19 AM

Category: Role Playing

As a gamer who fancies Collector’s Editions, Two Worlds packages an extra disk that includes the game’s soundtrack (which is good), some concept art (equally good) and some video (just so-so). The real treat comes in the form of the map and a hardcover tabletop RPG book that requires playing dice, pen and paper. The book itself lists some helpful information that makes perfect sense to the single-player game.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:56 AM

Category: First Person

Originally born as a grassroots development project by Mindware Studios, DreamCatcher and JoWooD are fully endorsing the project. By providing full financial and publisher support, Mindware will now receive additional technology and assets in order to move Overdose from a simple community mod to a full-fledged retail-ready gaming experience.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:45 AM

Category: Role Playing

The combat is a change of pace. It plays best in third-person, though the option is there for first-person as well. You'll be able to dole out some nifty-looking combos, and a dodge button lets you quickly avoid your enemy's strikes. The fighting is simple, has a nice stick-and-move rhythm to it, and the different weapons lend enough variety to keep things interesting.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 7:16 PM

Category: First Person

Once you’re on the ground the non-linear aspect of Medal of Honor: Airborne really kicks in as there’s several different routes to take to complete objectives which can also be completed in any order you fancy. Sadly there doesn’t appear to be any tactical advantage to be had in the order in which you take on your objectives.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 8:20 AM

Category: Role Playing

September 10, 2007 (Rockville, MD) – Bethesda Softworks®, a ZeniMax Media company, announced today that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion® Game of the Year Edition (GotY) for Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows has begun shipping to retail stores throughout North America and will be in stores as early as Tuesday, September 11. Oblivion GotY includes the original version of the award-winning RPG, Oblivion, along with the official expansion, The Elder Scrolls® IV: Shivering Isles™, and the downloadable content, Knights of the Nine™.

This new product allows players who have never played the 2006 Game of the Year to experience Oblivion along with additional content. Gamers can also continue their existing games of Oblivion and experience the new quests and areas offered by the expansion and downloadable content.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 8:52 AM

Category: Action

Conan is about as violent a mass-market property as we can think of, and indeed the real viscera of the game's combat doesn't become apparent till you start using the more complex combos and exploring some of the more advanced mechanics.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 11:26 AM

Category: First Person

Today, in addition to releasing more images on its own site, McFarlane Toys has exclusively provided IGN with a look at the fully painted Jackal as well the debut of the Ghost vehicle.

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

Category: Massively Multiplayer

"I think the question is whether this is the last piece of content that we'll package into an expansion and sell," he comments. "I don't know the answer to that. What I do know is that our plan is that as long as there are people playing and enjoying Guild Wars 1, we'll continue to support Guild Wars 1."

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 8:24 AM

Category: First Person

Instead of doing the usual expansion trick of carrying on the story, Perseus Mandate actually aims to run parallel to the events of the first game, viewed from a different perspective. You play another FEAR operative faced with different tasks, enemies, environments and armed with different weapons.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 12:20 PM

Category: Music

Italian papers have put out late editions this morning to mark the death of a favourite son, the larger than life schoolboy rascal who sang like an angel, Luciano Pavarotti. "The world weeps for Luciano Pavarotti," runs the headline in Corriere della Sera of Milan, which would have saluted the passing of other local heroes Giuseppe Verdi and Arturo Toscanini in similar vein.

"Italy in turmoil and grief for Pavarotti," says La Repubblica, and "The world in mourning for the Maestro" says the official news agency Ansa.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:16 AM

Category: Movies

Bartkowiak (Romeo Must Die, Cradle 2 the Grave) claims previous game-to-film experience from his nuanced handling of the Doom adaptation and will direct a script by Justin Marks, who is currently also writing the upcoming Voltron and Masters of the Universe films. Filming on the Hyde Park-produced, Fox-distributed action film will begin next year.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 4:37 PM

Category: First Person

Bioshock will retire most graphics cards, as we have found that even when using low quality visual settings at quite low resolutions, even newer graphics cards such as the GeForce 8600 GTS and Radeon HD 2600XT really struggle to keep up in this game.

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

Category: Role Playing

The big attraction is on the one hand the many skills you can improve Geralt with during the game, but at the same time the ethic choices that drives the story in an unpredictable direction.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:42 AM

Category: First Person

THEY is a Mystery-first-person-shooter, which means the storyline and the gameplay utilizes the fascination and fear every player get from unknown things he could not understand or imagine in the beginning. So THEY tries to get away from standard boring storylines of shooters, which normally could be rather more ignored, but will bring to the genre a storyline driven shooter!

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 10:35 AM

Category: First Person

The storyline is the best to come along in a FPS game since Half-Life 2. The year is 1960. As you flip wistfully through some old photographs in your wallet, your plane crashes and leaves you neck-deep in the Atlantic. You swim to a nearby lighthouse-like structure, where you discover an eerie transportation vessel that takes you to a man-made city at the bottom of the ocean. The city is called Rapture, and it was created as a refuge and underwater paradise for forward-thinking scientists.

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 12:01 PM

Category: Role Playing

GC: Visually speaking, character customization is very similar to Oblivion, with the ability to push and pull and prod your character's face into any shape you desire. You pick your character's race, and then have a host of options for skin tint, hair color and face shape. We also want to provide a number of pre-made faces that have been lovingly massaged by our artists here, so people have more palatable options to use as starting points.