Activision announces new shooter title
Tuesday 14th October 2008 - 17:00
Secret Service set to arrive before Xmas, FIFA 09 retains top spot and White Knight Chronicles PS3 screens
Never let it be said that Activision likes to let the grass grow beneath its feet. The US publisher, probably most famed for the Call of Duty and Tony Hawks games, has quietly announced that a brand new first person shooter is all set to launch on the Xbox 360,PS2 and PC in time for Xmas; with what is hoped, a budget price tag!
Secret Service takes place on Inauguration Day in Washington D.C. An extremist assault has been launched against the capitol - security has been compromised and it is unclear who is friend or foe. The action takes place among famous landmarks and everywhere in between, including both Marine One and Air Force One.
With Call of Duty just on the horizon we can't help but wonder why Activision hasn't made a bigger deal about it having another new shooter franchise under its ammo belt. In addition, we've also learnt that the new game is scheduled to receive a budget price rating in the US - with the Xbox 360 version selling for a paltry $39.99! Could this be the start of a new budget range featuring first-time games, not re-runs of classics? Let's hope so!
Paradox Interactive has released more details on the advanced combat system in "Dark Horizon," which is set to ship tomorrow in North America and on Friday in Europe.
"Set in the dark and beautiful galaxy of Enosta, Dark Horizon casts players as Guardians, the mysterious yet skilled fighters charged with saving the galaxy by overcoming the all-consuming spectral force known as the Mirk.
In addition to the game’s multitude of ship customization options, Dark Horizon also features two specialized combat modes for the game’s 22 missions: shadow mode and corter mode. Several of the game’s missions will call upon players to use one or both of these modes in addition to the game’s standard flight mode.
“As we were thinking about gameplay mechanics during development, we decided a realistic element of combat that would be significant for Guardian fleet fighters would be the temperature of the ship,” said Timur Lazarenko, Lead Programmer on Dark Horizon.
“By controlling the temperature of his ship, the player can send his ship into one of two specialized combat modes. Making the ship’s engine temperatures drop will send the player into shadow mode, in which he can become invisible and stealth past enemy lines. When the player heats the ship’s engine, he can then enter corter mode, which allows him to significantly upgrade his weapon system in exchange for a shield penalty.”
Dark Horizon will be available for purchase in stores and for digital download at GamersGate. The game is set to ship on September 23rd in North America and September 26th in Europe.
mmolecule, the developers of "Stargate Worlds" is holding a beta key giveaway, where mmolecule members and Stargate Worlds Commands will have a chance at winning a spot for "Stargate Worlds" beta.
"mmolecule, Inc., a web-based game services company, today launched its Stargate Worlds Beta Key Giveaway for mmolecule members and Stargate Worlds Commands. mmolecule will conduct a random drawing to award 200 closed beta keys for Stargate Worlds, one of the most anticipated MMOs to be released in 2009.
Anyone who becomes a member of the mmolecule Community and registers for the drawing by September 20th will be eligible to win. Additionally, members of Stargate Worlds Commands that host an active website on the mmolecule Guild Services Open Beta as of September 20th will have a second chance to win. Only one key will be awarded per person. Winners will be privately notified on September 25th.
“Like millions of fans around the world, we’re very anxious to dive into Stargate Worlds,” said Andrew Muchmore, COO and co-founder of mmolecule. “This is a great opportunity for mmolecule members to get into the game. We look forward to offering more tools, services, and contests involving Stargate Worlds in the very near future.”
Duke Nukem Forever brings back the king of action in a highly anticipated game set to pummel players with unprecedented interactivity, variety, realism, and Duke's special whoop-ass brand of humor. The first in-house Duke Nukem game by 3D Realms since Duke Nukem 3D, Duke Nukem Forever promises to deliver an intense and hysterical FPS experience, with stunningly detailed characters in expansive interactive maps. Motion captured animation and realistic area-sensitive damage take realism to scary new heights, and make picking off those alien bastards all the more fun.
This game is and has been (if you haven't been following gaming news throughout the many eras and epochs that this game has been in the works) the perpetually-anticipated fourth in the series. The game's development saga is legendary, including a switch from the Quake engine to the Unreal engine and a string of unofficial release dates that stretch from 1998 to 20006 and beyond. Technically, developer 3D Realms has always promised the release of Duke Nukem Forever, "When it's done." As of this writing, the game is not yet done, but it is still in the works, and the promise is that, one of these days, you or your offspring will enjoy the fruits of almost a decade of hard labor for 3D Realms.
Posted by Admin on Sun Feb 10, 2008 3:33 am (comments? | Score: 0)
Kane’s Wrath is, or rather will be, the first official expansion pack for the latest installment in the Command & Conquer real-time strategy series; Command & Conquer 3.
The pack promises to include a brand new single player campaign that spans 20 years of Tiberian history, 30 new multiplayer maps and a new control interface for the Xbox 360 version.
You’re going to have to wait until spring of this year in order to get your hands on the game itself, but for now feel free to browse our newly updated image gallery, which contains numerous high-resolution screenshots!
Fortune doesn't favor this one.
by Hilary Goldstein
November 27, 2007 - The first two Soldier of Fortune titles on PC were excellent (and gory) shooters. Those who fondly remember Raven Software's first-person shooter may be excited to give Soldier of Fortune: Payback a try. Be warned: Raven Software had nothing to do with this title and it shows in almost every area. What remains is the gore -- and for that, developer Cauldron went wonderfully over the top. But it is, unfortunately, only the excessive brutality that stands out for Payback. In every other way it is an average shooter.
In Payback, you play as a mercenary who has been double-crossed. That's really about as deep as the story gets. All that matters is you have a moral justification for dissecting terrorists and guerillas with the insanely powerful bullets from your guns. The story, like the on-screen button prompts and pre-game menus, is second-rate. But, this is a shooter, so a story is often seen as a nice bonus. What really counts is that it's fun.
To its credit, Soldier of Fortune: Payback is fun in certain moments. Though you are often surrounded by enemies (many of whom are often difficult to see), it never translates to intensity. There are few moments where my heart rate jumped and my hands squeeze the controller a little tighter. The fun comes in performing vivisections on every enemy on screen. Arms and legs blow off, heads explode like watermelons at a Gallagher concert -- it's like a slasher flick with bullets. This is the equivalent of the recent footage from the new Rambo movie. There is something sadistic, but oddly pleasing, about blowing off limbs. There are some guns so powerful that you can actually send bodies flinging sideways until they bounce of trees or buildings. I can't deny that there are many times I was laughing out loud.
That giddy fun doesn't hold up in the long run. Despite being a fairly short single-player game (5-7 hours on normal difficulty), the high level of violence isn't enough to keep Payback interesting from start to finish. After a while the poor AI and cheap shots you take from enemies become too much. If terrorists were really like their counterparts in Soldier of Fortune: Payback, then we would have nothing to fear. These guys are just plain dumb. Enemies run straight at you (and sometimes past you) without firing; an enemy coming up from behind will attempt a melee attack rather than just cap you; and these idiots turn and run back towards a grenade. Even the terrorists want to put the Havok engine to work by having their limbs go flying.
Posted by Admin on Wed Nov 28, 2007 12:45 am (Read More... | 6685 bytes more | comments? | Score: 0)
We dive into battle and come back with our war story.
by Chris Roper
October 18, 2007 - The longevity of some games is extended, sometimes greatly, by user-created content. Counter-Strike is a perfect example of this, as is Desert Combat, the current-day military mod for Battlefield 1942. The developers of Desert Combat, Trauma Studios, disbanded in 2005 and the folks behind the studio regrouped in early 2006 as Kaos Studios. The studio is now gearing up for the release of its first title, Frontlines: Fuel of War, a first-person shooter set in the not-too-distant future that is largely inspired by today's oil issues.
While the game has a rather robust single-player portion, most of our recent hands-on time was delegated to the multiplayer aspect, which it turns out is a whole lot of fun. Not too surprisingly, the game feels a fair bit like some of the Battlefield games in many ways, though it's certainly no rip-off. For starters, the basis of progression and territory ownership in a map is completely different.
Rather than simply taking spawn spots and earning points, you're constantly moving the line of war. As you take spots, the line on your map will literally bend to show you where the "border" is. Battles are fought along this line, and only spots here can be claimed by the other forces.
It's a nice setup in that it encourages players to congregate at hot spots, thereby keeping the action high at all times. The maps can be absolutely huge, but since you'll only be fighting at a couple spots at a time, you won't have trouble finding someone to shoot.
Before you spawn, you'll need to pick the weapon that you'll be doing the shooting with. Rather than having a handful of classes that are individual in both their abilities and weapons loadout, Kaos decided to give players the freedom to customize their play experience by separating loadouts from roles. This means that you don't need to pick a soldier-type class in order to get the good weapons.
Role types include Ground Support, who can set up various turrets for use by themselves and other players, Air Support, who are capable of calling in air strikes, EMP Techs, who can disable drones and other vehicles, and Drone Techs, who are capable of employing and controlling ground and air-based drones. The cool thing with these roles is that their abilities are upgradeable over the course of a game or series of games on the same server (though they aren't persistent in the long-term sense). So, for example, the Drone Tech can start by creating a ground-based, machinegun-wielding drone, but work up to creating an air-based helicopter-esque unit that can spot enemies from the sky or a second ground-based drone that can fire a series of mortars. So the more you play a role in a match, the more abilities you'll unlock.
Posted by Admin on Fri Nov 23, 2007 7:46 am (Read More... | 4962 bytes more | comments? | Score: 0)
Gears of War Review
Marcus Fenix lands on XP and Vista. F***.
by Charles Onyett
November 7, 2007 - Few games deliver the frenetic, blood-soaked thrills of brutal close-quarters combat like Epic's Gears of War. Since its release on Microsoft's Xbox 360 last November, gamers have been gibbing gleefully in the game's online arena and co-operative modes, and now PC gamers can get in on the action. Taking place from a third-person perspective, Gears moves away from straightforward shooter gameplay by implementing a cover system, forcing players to take a slightly more thoughtful approach than they may be used to in action games. What it offers in terms of engrossing, satisfying combat sequences thankfully outweighs some of its faults, including an absurdly inadequate narrative and occasionally frustrating controls.
Marcus Fenix is the star here, an impossibly muscled gent who speaks almost entirely with his weaponry. Through the game's five single-player acts, he travels with a group of other soldiers of similar physique to whom can be issued limited tactical orders. They are well-armed representatives of the Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG), a force striving against the ravenous advance of the Locust Horde, a subterranean race of equally militant monstrous humanoids.
This is the third update for World in Conflict containing several new features, balance changes and bug fixes. Update #3 adds enhancements to replays, the ability to re-join a clan match if the connection drops, many tweaks and balance changes to things like Napalm, the Daisy Cutter and much more.
It also addresses several bugs and stability issues and adds additional features to Massgate, like the option to ignore messages from disruptive players.
Please Click the Read More to see the rest of this article.
Posted by Admin on Mon Nov 19, 2007 3:07 am (Read More... | 5306 bytes more | comments? | Score: 0)
![[News Feed]](images/powered/feed_20_news.png "News Feed"){kind=small}
![[Forums Feed]](images/powered/feed_20_forums.png "Forums Feed"){kind=small}
![[Downloads Feed]](images/powered/feed_20_down.png "Downloads Feed"){kind=small}
![[Web Links Feed]](images/powered/feed_20_links.png "Web Links Feed"){kind=small}
![[Validate robots.txt]](images/powered/valid-robots.png "Validate robots.txt"){kind=small}
Guest(s): 23