Call of Duty: Devils Brigade - MIA

                           Bang! You’re dead! No, I shot you! Mom!

A BlogSpot blog was spotted, which was started this year, belonging to one Leonid Korostyshevskiy and contains some leaked images of yet another Call of Duty title, that perhaps very few people know about, besides the people making it of course.

Call of Duty: Devil’s Brigade was a World War II themed FPS, but instead of taking place in Normandy like most of the run of the mill WWII shooters, this one was to be set in Italy.

It was being developed by Underground Development, most notable known for being involved with the PS3 version of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars as well as Guitar Hero: Van Halen, and was going to appear on PS3 and Xbox 360, but the project was shut down when the studio was closed by Activision, and it didn’t see the light of day. Not all that surprising or saddening, seeing as people are tired of WWII shooters nowadays, and Activision latched onto Modern Warfare instead.

Looking at the dates on the screens, it looks as though these were taken in 2007, the same year as CoD 4: Modern Warfare and before World at War. And if you look at the bottom it says there “CoD 4”. Apparently the game played a bit like Ghost Recon, and there’s even some clips of gameplay footage on YouTube.

Doing some research, there was a Devil’s Brigade, also known as 1st Special Service Force, which was active during WWII. It was comprised of both American and Canadian Commandos, and they fought in Italy and Southern France, before being disbanded in 1944, before the war’s end. The Devil’s Brigade has been the influence behind a few films and doccies, one of which is Inglourious Basterds.

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Sources:

superannuation
http://artbrigada.blogspot.com/

Call of Duty: Devils Brigade - MIA

Call of Duty: The War Collection for Sale at Amazon

Something was witnessed on Amazon as well as GameStop just the other day, and that thing was Call of Duty: The War Collection. It’s a pack which includes most of the WW II themed Call of Duty titles that have been released over the years. It has Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 3, and Call of Duty: World at War. It’s lacking the first Call of Duty though.

Call of Duty 2 was developed by Infinity Ward and released in 2005, but the other two were developed by Treyarch, while IW moved on to develop the Modern Warfare series of games. Treyarch is now working on Call of Duty: Black Ops.

This bundles seems to be for the Xbox 360 only at the moment, with a PS3 and PC version speculated to arrive later on, but it might just be an exclusive. The release date is scheduled to be somewhere in June 2010, and should sell for $59.99.

Sources: Amazon - CVG

Call of Duty: The War Collection for Sale at Amazon

Next Call of Duty Seems to be at Least Partially set in Vietnam After all

Yes, the rumours have been going around for a long time now, but no official confirmation, apart from the fact that this game, likely developed by Treyarch, will come out sometime this year, likely in Q4.

So what is new in this whole situation that we haven’t heard before? Well, it’s been picked up that there was a casting call in Los Angeles organised by Treyarch in order to fill some roles for the game, AKA getting some voice actors involved as well as motion capture.

One of the characters supposedly involved in the game is one Frank Barnes, “a fiercely patriotic veteran of WWII. A solid leader, possessed with an excellent ability to assess and respond to any situation quickly and decisively”. He is also part of the elite SOG (Studies and Observations Group), who were allegedly involved in some deep black ops operations during Vietnam, that not many people know of, as well as some of the more well-known ones too, like the Tet Offensive.

[Picture is actually of the Vietnam Mod for Call of Duty: World at War, a game also developed by Treyarch.]

There’s also mention of a Joseph Lewis, a athletic black man in his 20s, and Jason Hudson, a white man in his 30s with over 15 years of military experience.

But among some of the roles required to be filled, there’s one character named Kristina Ivanova, a Russian-born CIA operative and martial arts expert.

I’m glad to see that stereotypes in games are still alive and well.

But this also points to some other rumours which have suggested that the game will be set during the Cold War as a whole, and not just in Vietnam (although it would be cool if there was at least a few missions set there).

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Source: VG247 - TVGB

Next Call of Duty Seems to be at Least Partially set in Vietnam After all

Assassin’s Creed 3 Confirmed, Online Play Featured

I’ve only ever played Assassin’s Creed 1, and I’m still waiting on AC 2 which should see a release on PC in March 2010. But in that time, the third game in the main series has been confirmed.

There were rumours going around at one stage that suggested that the game’s setting would take place in WW II and feature a female assassin this time around.

All I know is, if that’s true, there’s going to be a lot of “fail, fail, fail”, and “epic fail” shouted and left in blog comments by the masses when it comes out. Don’t they know that we don’t want WW II games anymore?

Anyway, there’s official talk that says it will feature multiplayer, which could work, and that it will be a properly full game, and not end up with the whole DLC scandal of AC 2. Assassin’s Creed II’s main story consisted of an addition two chapters which were taken out and then offered as DLC packs later on. That’s low, considering some people still thought that the game was too short. Now they know the reason.

The game could see a release sometime possibly in 2010 or 2011, the latter sounding more realistic. They should take more time on it and not go the WW II route. Seriously. No word on what platforms it will appear on either, but I think since the PC and consoles were featured last time and the time before that, it’s a safe bet we’ll all get a chance with it.

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Gamasutra

1up.com

Assassin’s Creed 3 Confirmed, Online Play Featured

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!

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

Déjà vu: Wolfenstein Pulled out from Germany

World War II: The 70th Anniversary

It’s been seventy years since the beginning of World War II. Today, September 1st, back in 1939, Germany invaded Poland, which is generally taken as being the beginning of the Nazi attempt to take over Europe.

Many video games have featured World War II as a back-story, whether based on real-life events, or entirely fictional. We’ve had many successful series, like Wolfenstein, Medal of Honor, Call of Duty, Battlefield 1942& 3, and Brothers in Arms but to mention a few- and these are only a few of the most popular FPS games. There are also numerous strategy titles like Commandos, Sudden Strike and Company of Heroes too.

I read in two places that there are nearly 200 games based in WW II (183 when the article was published on 1up.com).

These are some of my favourites of all time:

Wolfenstein 3D
Spear of Destiny
ROTT
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
Call of Duty
Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault
Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30
Call of Duty 2
Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood
Call of Duty: World at War
Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway
Wolfenstein
Commandos
Commandos 2
Commandos 3

I hope sometime in the future to do more features on World War II video games.

Thank you to all the brave men and women who fought or contributed in some way during World War II.

World War II: The 70th Anniversary

Rendition: Guantanamo Cancelled

I just read about a game a few days ago based on the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp, infamously known for housing suspected terrorists. It was called Rendition: Guantanamo, and I instantly knew that it was a bad idea, and lo and behold, a few days later I read that it's been cancelled.

If the media went crazy about Six Days in Fallujah, whose publisher, Konami, jumped ship, then you can't expect anything less, I suppose.

America will continue to flip out about these titles for years. The war on terror hasn't officially ended, as far as I know. The troops still need to be taken out of the Middle East.

Maybe devs should wait another few decades first, like they did with WW II. They didn't have much choice then though, seeing as video gaming didn't really exist back in the 1940s...

Sources& Resources:

Bluesnews
Kotaku
Guantanamo Bay detention camp

Rendition: Guantanamo Cancelled

Apocalypse Then- SiN: Wages of Sin

According to Neoseeker and other sources, on February 26, 1999, the expansion to SiN, Wages of Sin was released. It was developed by the studio known as 2015 inc., which would go on to release one of the best games in the WW II FPS genre, Medal of Honour.

Apocalypse Then- SiN: Wages of Sin

Current Gaming Trends: Nacht Der Untoten

What the hell is this Nacht Der Untoten that people are going on about lately?

Well, Call of Duty: World at War, the latest title in the COD WW II shooter series, features a bonus level that has this name, which translates from German into ‘Night of the Living Dead’. The level is unlocked once you finish the main campaign as far as I know, since I’ve played the game.

It can be played in both single-player and multi-player mode, and it entails human players as soldiers taking on German zombies. It’s only one map though, and yet so much fuss is being made over it. It plays similarly to Counter-strike, with money being awarded for doing certain tasks and you are able to open up certain areas of the level and buy weapons and other equipment with your hard-fought-over cash. It could also be compared to Left 4 Dead, another game with zombies released lately.

You progress through rounds that get harder as you go, with stronger zombies that also grow in number and are faster.

NAG magazine has really taken to this map lately, even producing a strategy guide and a custom made wallpaper. It seems to obviously be an office favourite when they’re slacking off as usual, and nearly missing deadlines.

Oh well, we’ll see how long it lasts, unless there’s a map pack full of zombie missions released. Perhaps an original title like 'Tag Der Untoten' would be fitting.

Current Gaming Trends: Nacht Der Untoten