The Web’s Worthy Downloads [Guide to Goodness]

This is a new feature that I’ve decided to put on the blog. Here every now and again, I will put down all the stuff on the web that’s been released lately (and sometimes not) which is worth downloading. It could be games; music; programs – you name it.

I might do this weekly, biweekly, or even monthly. I’ll see how it goes. But one things for sure – everything you read about here is free, and therefore, very likely legal to download and play or use.

This week, I have a few good things for you:

The latest version of WGRealms 2: Siege Breaker was released this week. What is WGRealms 2? It’s a total conversion for Duke Nukem 3D, and the sequel to the original WGRealms – which was but a mere collection of maps for DN3D. Siege Breaker has new weapons to play with, as well as several maps, of which you’ll notice inspiration from several other 90’s era FPS titles, such as Hexen, Doom, and Quake, among others. Look out for a review of this on the blog at a later date, perhaps.

Next up is a high resolution pack, or HRP, for the upcoming Dragon Age 2 - for the PC version, of course. This has been released for free on the game’s website. It weighs in at over 1 GB, and by the looks of it you will need a hefty rig to handle it.

And then I just read about the Crysis 2 multiplayer demo the other day, which is available. That and the new patch for the demo. All in all, also over 1 GB this time for the two combined. For what it’s worth, I read somewhere that this demo was responsible for losing about half of Crysis 2’s PC market. And people wonder why some companies opt to have a post-release demo.

And there’s also a King’s Quest III remake out now by AGDI! It’s been years since the last two were released. There is another remake of the third game, but it was handled by another “studio”. This new one is more inline with what you’d expect from AGD Interactive, previously known as Tierra. This redux was made in AGS, or Adventure Game Studio – an excellent program to use when looking to make a classic Sierra or LucasArts point and click, or text-based, adventure.

Some of these downloads are quite hefty, but in the likely case that you won’t have the time or data to handle getting them yourselves, I have suggested all of these for the latest NAG cover DVD. Whether they’ll appear on there is another story. But more often than not, they often do. Note that NAG to my knowledge is only available for the most part in South Africa as well as some limited bordering countries. Of course you might be able to smuggle one in to the USA or wherever you live.
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WGRealms 2: Siege Breaker [56 MB]
Crysis 2 v1.2 Multiplayer Demo Patch [38 MB]
Crysis 2 Multiplayer Demo [1.55 GB]
Download King's Quest III Redux: To Heir is Human [231 MB]
Dragon Age II High Resolution Texture Pack [1.1 GB]
[DVD] April DVD Suggestion Thread

The Web’s Worthy Downloads [Guide to Goodness]

Fan-Made King’s Quest Sequel Killed by Activision

                                           “But why?! It’s just not fair!”

Activision has made a lot of people very angry over the past year or two, especially just in the past few days. Lately they fired two head guys from Infinity Ward, and another evil deed that the company has committed is shutting down a fan-made sequel in the legendary King’s Quest series, called King's Quest IX: Every Cloak Has A Silver Lining or just The Silver Lining later on.

King's Quest IX: Every Cloak Has A Silver Lining or King’s Quest 9 for those of you who can’t comprehend roman numerals was a fan-made, unofficial sequel to the series, whose last title was King’s Quest VIII: Mask Of Eternity, no doubt, back in about 1998; more than ten years ago.

The game was all ready in hot water a while back in 2005 when Vivendi sent the developers, Phoenix Online Studios, a COD or cease and desist order. Then later the game became known as just The Silver Lining, as Vivendi granted them a non-commercial licence after fans lashed out, which means that they were allowed to continue development, but not allowed to make any money by selling it for instance.

But now Activision are the new holders of the IP by Sierra, and they pretty much shut them down, refusing to give them a non-commercial licence or renewing the old one, and ended eight years of hard work. The project started back in 2002, possibly earlier. Some say it was as far back as 2000. The game was apparently set to see a release this year, with the first episode in a planned five episode release format (see Half-Life 2 Episodes).

A few years back, I remember playing remakes of King’s Quest I and II by Tierra, later AGD Interactive, also just a couple of fans messing around in AGS (adventure game studio) that wanted to modernise the series.  After those two, Infamous Adventures remade King's Quest III: To Heir Is Human. The remake of King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella is still under development at Magic Mirror Games. King's Quest V has a remake in King's Quest V - The Text Adventure.

I even have the original King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride lying around somewhere.

It’s sad, and it might even make you angry, but it’s the law, unfortunately. Activision hold the rights to the franchise, but they’re too busy milking Call of Duty and Modern Warfare for all they’re worth to consider having someone make another game in the KQ series.

Just goes to show that you should ask beforehand, I guess. I bet all other mod-makers and devs making fan-made games belonging to another series are quaking in their boots now.

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Source: TSL-Game.com

Fan-Made King’s Quest Sequel Killed by Activision