Manhunt 2 is now Available on Direct2Drive for PC

I feel happy every time I see a previously console-orientated and exclusive title come to the good old PC. Now it looks like the game, Manhunt 2, another controversial Rockstar title, has been released on the PC. The game is available on Direct2Drive, in addition to the original Manhunt, and was made available yesterday.

Manhunt 2 at D2D

Manhunt at D2D

Manhunt 2 is now Available on Direct2Drive for PC

Gearbox’s Randy Pitchford has a Problem Shutting his Mouth, it Seems

Randy Pitchford has brought up some arguments recently about Valve owning Steam being a bad idea, especially for small indie developers, not once, but twice. And Pitchford has also said that Gabe Newells’s refusal to develop on the PS3 is foolish.

Not to mention, earlier on in the year, he called out both Infinity Ward and Bungie, and told them to do something different, instead of Call of Duty and Halo, respectively, all the time.

All could be considered valid arguments, although I personally think that sticking up for the PC like Gabe does is admirable, but I still think to myself, damn, talk about biting the hand that feeds. Gearbox only got into the game industry, and is only where it is, because of Valve and Half-Life. If it hadn’t been for Opposing Force, and all the subsequent expansions it was involved in because Valve threw them a bone, Borderlands might not have even been released the other day.

I mean, I think that this is nothing new. Randy has had a big mouth, and an inflated ego since day one. Proof of this? In Opposing Force at the end of the game, when you fight that ugly beast, there’s a message played backwards, which says: “To win the game, you must kill me, Randy Pitchford”. Of course, this line was taken from Doom II, copying another attention seeker looking for the limelight, John Romero.

Speaking of Borderlands , I should go and get it sometime soon, to see if it's worth all of Randy's cockiness lately. It looks good, and I hear it plays well too. It definitely draws some inspiration f-Life. You can tell by the red damage indicators when the player is shot. I've seen that in trailers.

And by the way, Aliens: Colonial Marines had better be good.

And Duke Begins?...

Gearbox’s Randy Pitchford has a Problem Shutting his Mouth, it Seems

John Romero Comments on Passing of Don Punchatz

For those of you who need to catch up, Don Punchatz, AKA, the guy who made the Doom box art, passed away last month. ‘The Romero’ recently tweeted on twitter about Punchatz:

“Don Punchatz (R.I.P.) did DOOM's box art and it was awesome. He wasn't offered a royalty as was mis-reported recently.”

The original article over at spectrumfantasticart.com that some sites, including AAA, sourced and quoted from, claimed that Don was offered either a flat fee (which was lower than his normal going rate) or a percentage of the game's profits. Don took the flat fee, although according to Romero, there wasn’t a choice.

Well, you can’t ask Don about it now, but I guess we’ll be hearing something from his son, Gregor, sooner or later.

John Romero Comments on Passing of Don Punchatz

Yes! I’ve Finally got Blood Running Nicely!

No, I haven’t slit my wrists, and I’m not bleeding all over the carpet. I’m talking about the game, Blood.

I started playing it last year about this time, but the framerate was horrible, and the sound was rubbish. But a return visit to the famous Build XP page and forums at Deathmask, and a bit of the old RTFS method has allowed me to get the thing running almost perfectly. I had all ready downloaded all the programs and files like NOLFB, CLI2NOP, and VDMSound etc, long ago, but just a bit of messing around with the soundcard settings and a bit of black magic, and things work all of a sudden.

The framerate is a lot faster, and the sound and MIDI music nearly flawless, although there’s that squeaking that happens while running it in DOSbox every now and again. I haven't tried running it through Windows or the command prompt yet.

Before that, I was running the game through the command prompt, and getting some horrible slow-paced gameplay, and practically no sound.

I guess soon I’ll have to update my Classis Games Resurrected: Blood article, seeing as I couldn’t get the sound working back then.

Yes! I’ve Finally got Blood Running Nicely!

Dragon Age: 30 Seconds to Mars

I saw the Dragon Age: Origins trailer recently - the one with 30 Seconds to Mars and Jared Leto wailing in the background. It’s their new single, "This Is War" off of the album of the same name (which only comes out in December) and like some other people have commented, I don’t know why their famous.

I’m not much of a fan of Leto’s voice. He doesn’t sing as much as scream. I think it’s because he’s also a film star, and the girls love him, and some say he looks like a young Ozzy Osbourne, and Tera Patrick, the pornstar, also once commented that he has a big... you know what.

I like watching that part in Fight Club (which actually celebrated its tenth anniversary last month- great film!) where Edward Norton beats the living hell out of that blonde guy, Angelface, permanently rearranging his features. Afterwards when he's talking to Tyler, he says, “I wanted to destroy something beautiful.” One of the most memorable scenes in that film.

Dragon Age: 30 Seconds to Mars

Ubisoft has Good and Bad News, and Assassin’s Creed II

So, it seems as though Assassin’s Creed II’s pre-orders are up 80% over the original, and from what I’ve seen, it seems justified.

Hell, on Amazon, you can pre-order Assassin’s Creed II for the PC and get $2.00 off. That’s right.

Assassin’s Creed: Lineage was recently the most viewed video on YouTube when it was released, and drove a lot of traffic and likely more interest in the series.

On the bad side of things though, because most of the year passed, and no Assassin’s Creed II, Ubisoft says that their sales fell by 52%.

Ubisoft has Good and Bad News, and Assassin’s Creed II

Dark Mod Fan Mission Competition, New FM out, Update

The Dark Mod beta was released last month, and since then a contest has now started this month, called the The Dark Mod Grand Christmas FM Contest. See here or here for all the rules and regulations if you're interested in following it or participating.

More on the Dark Mod, there's a new FM out all ready, called "Patently Dangerous".

Also on the main site, is a post regarding mainly positive feedback on the mod, and mention of an update for the mod which will arrive by the end of the year, which should coincide with the end of the contest if all goes well.

Dark Mod Fan Mission Competition, New FM out, Update