World destruction comes in small shrink-wrapped packages...

2009/09/26

Releases and Deals on Direct2Drive This Past Week: 20/09- 26/09

Releases:

Buy Time Gentlemen, Please!
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Aion
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Aion: Collector's Edition
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Fallen Earth
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Assassin's Creed 2 PC Version Delayed Until 2010

The other day we had news about Stalker: Call of Pripyat being delayed until Q1 1010, which I covered on Anomalous Artefact, my Stalker blog, which I've been posting on more frequently just lately.

Now, my fears have been confirmed about the title that I was most looking forward to this year: Assassin's Creed 2.

I was watching a trailer or interview about the game that featured Patrice Desilets, the creative director for the game, and wannabe playboy, and at the end he signed off by saying that "the game will be available on PS3 and Xbox 360 this year in time for the 'oliday season, on November 17th."

He didn't mention PC anywhere in there, and so I got suspicious, until I read a news piece confirming it. The console versions are still set for this year, but the PC version will be next year, with the excuse: "a bit more time for the dev team to deliver the best quality game to you."

I was looking forward to this game more than Modern Warfare 2. Yeah, I said it.
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2009/09/25

Déjà vu: Wolfenstein Pulled out from Germany

Wolfenstein, the latest in the legendary series, has been recalled from German stores. Stores have been ordered to take down any and all copies of the game in stock. And this was all allegedly because of one swastika that was spotted in the game, and this was missed by Activision. That little thing is what caused all this? Well, any Nazi symbols are illegal in Germany nowadays, apparently.

Of course, as I’ve heard before, it was the Nazis who started the war, not the Germans. Some German readers who have commented on the story at various websites have more or less said, "It's more complicated than that. You're not German, so you don't understand."

Yeah, we do. You lost the war! lol

This situation has occurred before. Remember Wolfenstein 3D? The game was banned in Germany due to the swastikas and "Horst Wessel Lied" being the theme song. People still played it there though, although not legally, but referred to it under the name "Hundefelsen 4C".

When the game was ported to different platforms, the dogs were replaced with giant rats (which was alluded to in Spear of Destiny), the swastikas and such were replaced, and Hitler was replaced with the “Schtadtmeister”.


Anyway, about Wolfenstein: Planet Wolfenstein notes that it's not known whether a new version will be made and sent there to replace it. The game hasn't sold extremely well (it certainly didn't outsell Madden 10, so you won't get your money back), and teams at Raven and Endrant that worked on the game have been laid off. This happened right after the game's release.

Might as well not bother then. In fact some people question why Raven bothered in the first place. I liked the game, though. Thank goodness I don't live in Germany. No offence...

Sources:

Wolfenstein Recalled in Germany - UPDATED
German Wolfenstein PC Recall
http://www.planetwolfenstein.com/
Wolfenstein Sells Just Over 100K Combined
Latest Wolfenstein pulled from German store shelves
http://www.schnittberichte.com/schnittbericht.php?ID=5982811

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2009/09/24

New Hub Published: On The Verge

I published a new hub recently, called On The Verge:a Local TV Show about Video Gaming.

After publishing, before I could go back and edit the article, a page came up from HubPages telling me that HP was down for scheduled upgrades. So, the article does look a bit (a lot) messed up in terms of layout. I'll have this fixed as soon as HP is back up again, don't worry. But, the article itself is there, so you can still read it, I think. If you get the same message about HP being down, then try again later.

As you can probably tell by the title, the article is about The Verge, the gaming show on Vuzu, channel 123 on DSTV.
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CGR Hubs Updated: Blood and Duke Nukem 3D

I got some warnings in my account on HubPages that a couple of my hubs had broken links. I checked it out, and the Blood article's ZBlood video was no longer available on YouTube, so I replaced it with another. I also saw that the Blood Pool, Monolith's web ring of Blood fansites and such is gone.

Then it was on to the Duke Nukem 3D article where I saw that another link, this time leading to Matt Saettler's website was broken. Matt Saettler, to the best of my knowledge is one of the pioneers that helped form Duke Nukem 3D ports like EDuke32 with his original EDuke.

Just a few interesting tidbits I thought. I'm not going to rush about it and claim that the websites are completely gone, but they are down, if anyone cares.
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2009/09/23

New Game by Monolith on the way, it Seems

Monolith has posted a couple of new job listings lately, possibly meaning one or two new games are on going to be developed soon.

One is speculated to be a more PC-orientated title, and the other a more console friendly one.

Fans are of course wondering what the game could be. They want it to be Shogo 2 most of all. Others say that another Condemned title might be what's up. Some even remember a game called No One Lives Forever.

It's probably too soon to be F.E.A.R. 3.

Sources:

http://www.lith.com/jobs.asp?j=design3
http://www.lith.com/jobs.asp?j=eng5
http://supererogatory.tumblr.com/post/190667783/monolith-productions-a-division-of-wb-games-inc
http://supererogatory.tumblr.com/post/190664340/monolith-productions-a-division-of-wb-games-inc
http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewstory&threadid=102387
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Video Game Character Lookalike Wannabes

On the cover of a recent brochure I got in the newspaper, I saw this:



The first two, Lara Croft wannabe and Marcus Fenix wannabe, are okay, but the third one- don't you just wanna smack him?
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Week Three of Direct2Drive's Birthday Sale: RPGs and MMOs

These are the games available on D2D this week for $5 each. The deal ends on the 28th. There are still some games from the past couple of weeks that are available at the lowered price.

Eve Online
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Elven Legacy UK
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Titan Quest Bundle
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Grand Theft Auto III
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Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures UK
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Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
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Penumbra Collection UK
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Direct2Drive Turns 5: Week 3
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2009/09/22

It’s Spring Time!

Today is the official beginning of spring, according to the vernal equinox. I did a bit of spring cleaning the other day. I was coughing a lot, and after I did a bit of vacuuming and such, my cough has disappeared, so that’s good.

The days are getting warmer, and lighter for longer. It’s likely one of the better seasons of the year, autumn being another. Winter is too cold and summer is too hot.

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Left 4 Dead Banned in Oz

So, continuing the Left 4 Dead 2 drama, first the game was boycotted by a group on Steam, now the controversial game has been banned in Australia. The melee weapons and the amount of gore were allegedly a big part in the decision.

Valve is disappointed at this, and responded thusly:

"We were surprised to hear of this news yesterday."
"Obviously, everyone at Valve is pretty bummed."
"It would be a shame if folks in Australia, or anywhere else, are unable to purchase Left 4 Dead 2 because of a ratings issue."

Sources:

Left 4 Dead 2 refused classification in Australia
Left 4 Dead 2 Banned in Australia
Valve Responds to Left 4 Dead 2 Ban
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More Hints About new Medal of Honor Game

There have been rumours going around for the past year and a half or two about a new Medal of Honor game on the way. First piece is here, which was posted last year at BigDownload, and claimed of rumours that the new MoH game would follow suit after Call of Duty and venture in to the modern warfare genre.

The second piece is here, where EA actually talked about having plans for the game, but didn't reveal much besides that.

The latest piece I've read, is concerning a tip-off from superannuation, which pointed to a slideshow from Production Road. I thought upon clicking through, "What the hell is this?", but on page 7 of the slide show, I saw what all the fuss was about: an officially unannounced Medal of Honor game for multiple platforms, including PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii. No PC! cry

I hope that little mistake is rectified.

The last MoH game I played in-depth was Allied Assault, even though there have been other titles after that in the series.

So I suppose the new title might come out in 2010 or 11.

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2009/09/21

Geocities Shutting Down at the end of October

I'm surprised that I haven't seen that much about this news piece- at least not on the news sites I frequent, which are mainly about gaming anyway. I read about it on a forum thread at ttlg.com.

As the title says, Geocities, Yahoo's webhosting service, which has provided many free solutions for people over the years, is shutting down at the end of October, and new accounts are not being accepted.

I was at one time looking at Geocities as a possible place to host a website, but it looks as though this won't materialize now.

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The Sims 3: World Adventures lets you Build Tombs and Torture Chambers

More details have been revealed about this expansion for one of the year’s biggest titles.

The Sims series may not appeal to most hardcore, manly gamers who say “That’s for sissies, I want to kill things!” but it’s still has a major following. Most Sims expansions have been “cute”, but didn’t really ever add anything that mind-blowing, apart from a few new objects and stuff. World Adventures may just change that perception though.


World Adventures has a new basement tool. Now, you can build a basement level in The Sims 3, just like you could in The Sims 2, but it required planning. If you built a house and only later decided to build a basement, it could mean problems. I’ve never tried multiple levels before, so I’m not sure if you can, but this pack seems to suggest you can’t, seeing as this new basement tool provides you with the means to create multiple underground levels. And not only that, but the underground theme continues, as there will be new objects and even traps to decorate the place with. So, if you’re a big fan Indiana Jones, or of games like Thief: The Dark Project, Tomb Raider, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, and other such games which involve tomb-raiding, then this should be quite exciting news. There’s even a Tomb Fogger which creates, well, fog for your tomb. And in addition to this, you can have hidden stair ways, secret passages, and treasure chests, as well as more!


The expansion will be out on November 17th.


Sources:


http://www.simoperations.com/?page=thesims3/worldadventures
http://kotaku.com/5362601/the-sims-3-world-adventures-goes-underground

The Sims 3 expansion pack has tools for underground construction
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2009/09/20

Video Games Coming Out in September 2009: 20/09- 26/09

Well, this week there is no Pick of the Week. Last week had a few interesting titles. This week we have Halo 3:ODST, Aion, and Fallen Earth- these are the major titles, among some others. Will I play these titles let alone any of the others coming out this week? Probably not. I still want to get a hold of Red Faction: Guerilla and Resident Evil 5, which came out on PC last week.

PC


Aion
Aion Limited Collector's Edition
Fallen Earth
Heroes Over Europe
James Patterson's Women's Murder Club- Twice In A Blue Moon
Order of War
The Price Is Right: 2010 Edition
Where's Waldo? The Fantastic Journey


PlayStation 2

Scooby-Doo! First Frights
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash Up


PlayStation 3

Katamari Forever
Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection


Xbox 360

Halo 3: ODST Hype: *****
Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection


Wii

Animal Kingdom: Wildlife Expedition
Family Party: 30 Great Games Outdoor Fun
Scooby-Doo! First Frights
Spyborgs
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash Up

The Hardy Boys: The Hidden Theft
The Price Is Right: 2010 Edition
Wacky World of Sports
Where's Waldo? The Fantastic Journey


Nintendo DS

Fabulous Finds
James Patterson: Women's Murder Club - Games of Passion
Just in Time Translations
Scooby-Doo! First Frights
The Price Is Right: 2010 Edition
Where's Waldo? The Fantastic Journey


PSP

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona
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What does AAA stand for?

It's not an abbreviation of anything. It just means the best of the best... 

"Well, now you know the truth: Apocalypso's Atomic Arcade!"

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by : BTF

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