Apocalypso's Atomic Arcade: 4/5/09

2009/04/11

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. expansion and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 in development

Months ago there was talk about a new S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game on the way. They got the title wrong, referring to it as S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 3, but nevertheless, there are in fact two new S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games on the way. One of them is a stand-alone expansion, similar to Clear Sky, called S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, and the other is a true sequel to Shadow of Chernobyl named S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2.

Call of Pripyat is due out later this year, and the sequel will probably be out in 2010 or 11 at least.

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/58116

Assassin’s Creed 2: The New Assassin

Altair Ezio

Lately, a picture of the proposed protagonist from Assassin’s Creed 2 has been doing the rounds. It was originally posted on the Ubisoft forums, and that post was later deleted and the picture sent all around the internet- tough luck Ubi.

Apparently our man is a nobleman from Florence named Ezio Auditore de Firenze. Ezio- sounds almost like Enzo (Ferrari).

You can see he has a typical Latino or European style going on with the open shirt, the cloak, and the billowing white shirt, oh and not to forget- the grey hood with the peak like an eagle’s beak. He also has the typical chains around the neck that hang onto his bare chest.
You’ll also notice that this character has two hidden blades, and he hasn’t had to sacrifice one or two of his fingers this time. The boots are also higher- up to the knees.

There’s a good chance this could change though through development. Altair likely went through some changes before it was time to release the game.

Other details of the game include the date- that the game takes place in 1476, and that NPCs include Da Vinci, Machiavelli, and the Medici family. So there might be some Middle Ages Mafia action here.

PC Games now Available for Preorder

Modern Warfare 2 - (CoD: MW 2)

Champions Online

New All-Time Low Prices for PC Games

Empire Total War: Special Forces Edition - $40.79
Da Vinci's Secret - $6.50

2009/04/10

GOG.com Launching a Spring Promotion

GOG.com is launching a Spring Promotion in time for Easter. They have 7 classic game bundles with a 25% discount. This promotion lasts until April 16 at 11:59 pm.

http://www.gog.com/en/news/date/all#g_1207317328

PC Games Now Available for Preorder

xFart
Star Trek Online

Good Friday

New All-Time Low Prices for PC Games

Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader - $10.99

Secrets Of Atlantis - $6.99
Nancy Drew: Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon - $11.78
Left 4 Dead - $26.99 - Save $1.00
Pirates of the Burning Sea - $8.49 - Save $0.50
Sid Meiers Civilization IV Beyond the Sword - $19.49 - Save $0.50
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures Collector's Edition - $67.99

2009/04/09

Duke Nukem 3D XBLA now on Amazon.com

Duke Nukem 3D is now available at Amazon's Xbox Live Store. There is a html link to follow on the right side bar to the Duke Nukem XBLA page as well as the Amazon Xbox Live Store.

Co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons passes away

Dave Arneson passed away on Tuesday night this week. Gary Gygax, the other co-creator, died last year.

My brother was a big fan of Dungeons& Dragons years ago.

New All-Time Low Prices on PC Games

Mirror's Edge - $19.98 - Save $10.01
Mind Quiz Your Brain Coach - $14.97
Left 4 Dead - $27.99 - Save $2.00
Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir Expansion - $13.99 - Save $1.00
Operation Mania - $11.99
Elven Legacy - $29.49 - Save $0.50

Crysis Wars For Free For Crying Out Loud!

There's a free trial of Crysis Wars until the 17th of April that allows anybody to play all maps and modes of the game Crysis Wars online.

EA and Crytek are releasing all three games, Crysis, Crysis Warhead, and Crysis Wars on May 5, in a pack called Crysis Maximum Edition.

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/58089

Apocalypse Then: Hammered

On this day in 2002, Motörhead’s album, Hammered, was released. The most famous songs on this album are Serial Killer, which basically acts as an intro for the next song, The Game. The Game is the entrance theme for WWE’s Triple H, otherwise known as The Game.

2009/04/08

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon now on GOG.com

Good Old Games now has Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon for sale on their site. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon is one heck of a game- I’ve played it through many times.

http://www.gog.com/en/news/date/all#g_1207317325

2009/04/07

PC Games to Preorder

Dark Void

Empire Deluxe

Champion Dreams Jc

CSI 3 Dimensions Of Murder Jc

Heroes Of Might And Magic V Jc

Demigod

Demigod Collector's Edition

Book of Legends

Book of Legends [Game Download]

You can also find these titles among others at my Amazon aStore. These titles will appear under the "new games" section.

Apocalypse Then: Tomb Raider Legend

On this day in gaming, Tomb Raider Legend was released in 2006.

It was hailed as the return of Lara Croft and the Tomb Raider series, after the rather dismal Angel of Darkness and the average ones between Tomb Raider 3 and Chronicles.

It was also the first game by the new developer Crystal Dynamics, with Anniversary and Underworld following it.

Google Street View Stopped in its Tracks

I read a funny article in the Techno Times recently which originally appeared in the Daily Mail.

Google’s Street View car, a black Opel Astra, was on a mission in Broughton, Buckinghamshire- its intention, to photograph the majority of Great Britain’s roads with its 360-degree rotating camera fixed on a pole on top of the roof. A resident of the village named Paul Jacobs dashed outside and told the driver that he was not allowed to carry on driving down the road. After calling the fuzz, he then gathered his neighbours and they all formed a human barrier, forcing the car to get out of dodge. Mr. Jacobs reasoning for his hasty actions was that “Street View is a burglar’s dream”, with the ability to see all around a neighbourhood and plan their activities without necessarily having to scope the place out in real life. They could just do it online. He makes sense.

So the next time a car comes cruising down your street with a pole and a camera sticking on top of it, be assured that it’s Google, and not some amateur pornographers trying to get a view inside your bedroom window.

2009/04/06

New look on HubPages

I'm sure if you've read any of my articles or seen some the banners around the site, you'll have pieced together the fact that I write for HubPages.com. I have two profiles on there currently with about 60 articles, including reviews for new games and classic game retrospectives.

Just lately as of the weekend when I logged in, the whole look has changed- and I knew it was coming, but I was genuinely impressed. It's got a Wordpress feel going on there now.

If you're curious as to what HubPages is, it's been voted one of the top 200 sites in the US. Go here to have a look and see what's happening. You can join and write to your heart's content, publishing professionally written articles and get a decent amount of traffic without having to promote it much.

There are sites like it, as I'm sure you've heard of Squidoo, Helium, and others, but as I've read and heard over and over from defectors from those sites, HubPages is where it's at. Many claim that the tools, the community, and the fact that you can earn from your articles makes it superior to other sites.

Blizzard developing a new Redneck Rampage?

According to Kotaku, there are rumours going around that since Blizzard has the rights to the Redneck Rampage brand now. Apparently these rumours started at IncGamers, who checked up on some things and found that Blizzard is listed as the one under control. The plot gets thicker when you think that Activision and Blizzard merged last year. Apparently some Blizzard employees worked on the original games too.

The Atomic Oracle says that this isn’t very likely and is just a rumour. Blizzard is into the whole Warcraft, Starcaft, Diablo and the like. Blizzard is obviously more MMO than FPS. When was the last time Blizzard ever made an FPS anyway?

http://www.incgamers.com/News/15845/BlizzardWorkingonNewRedneckRampageShooter

Worthwhile PC Games coming out in April- Week 2

The major releases for this week are of course Godfather II and The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena. The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena includes Dark Athena, the latest in the series, as well as a remake of The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay- an excellent game that was released in 2004 or so.

Other titles include Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor, DCS: Black Shark, Elven Legacy, Flock, Helldorado, and Braid. Most of them seem to be lined up for April 7, which is tomorrow.

This is the list with release dates:

April 7, 2009 The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
April 7, 2009 Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor
April 7, 2009 DCS: Black Shark
April 7, 2009 Elven Legacy
April 7, 2009 Flock
April 7, 2009 The Godfather II
April 8, 2009 Helldorado
April 10, 2009 Braid

You can preorder or buy these titles by visiting my Amazon aStore and going to the “New Games” section.

Sources: IGN, Kotaku, Gamespot

2009/04/05

Apocalypse Then: SWAT 4

On this day in gaming, SWAT 4 was released in 2005. It continued the same squad based tactical FPS tradition that was started with SWAT 3, its predecessor, and of course carried on with its rivalry with the Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six series. Whereas Rainbow Six was more action orientated with a shoot first ask questions later MO, SWAT 4 dealt with a slower pace, with an objective of killing as few people as possible and rescuing the hostages. SWAT 4’s AI was stupid at times which forced the player to have to replay a mission countless times because all of his teammates were dead.

An expansion to SWAT 4, SWAT 4: The Stetchkov Syndicate, was released on February 28, 2006.