Splinter Cell Conviction Unlike Any Splinter Cell Before! March 23, 2010
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Currently on Xbox Live, the Splinter Cell Conviction Demo is avalible for download. The last time we jumped into Sam Fisher’s shoes was in 2006 with the release of Splinter Cell: Double Agent, a game which broke all of the rules in the well established Splinter Cell formula. Now he returns in the upcoming Splinter Cell Conviction, and it looks like the rule book has been completely reworked.
The demo contains one part of one level. The level demoed has not been seen before in any of the previews that I’m familiar with, however it started with something I had seen before, and that was the bathroom interrogation, previously seen at E3 2009.
Splinter Cell Conviction will release for Xbox 360 and PC in April. Warning: The PC version will contain the incredibly stupid UBIsoft DRM which made Assasin’s Creed 2 unplayable for all users.
For those of you who can’t wait for the release here’s a promotional video that we have done for it.
God of War III Ultimate Edition Soundtrack Redemption Online March 18, 2010
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Godofwar.com has been offline almost all day today, all logins impossible either for playstation network or code redemption. That appears to be over now as the site is accepting logins again for the forums and for people like me who waited all day to redeem the digital soundtrack codes.
I was getting speeds of about 1Mb/s, pretty good for a site that’s been offline all day. If you have a UE, now’s a good time to get your mp3s.
Remedy Announces “War” For Alan Wake March 15, 2010
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According to Remedy’s Twitter feed, Poets of the Fall, the band responsible for such hits as “The Late Goodbye” and “Carnival of Rust” will provide the main track for Remedy’s upcoming game Alan Wake and it will be, “War” off their upcoming album, Twilight Theater. While “War” has been confirmed to be in Alan Wake, both Poets of the Fall and Remedy have teased that other tracks from Poets of the Fall may be featured in the game as well, but this has not been confirmed.
The album Twilight Theater will have a worldwide release through iTunes, as well a CD for European release on March 17th, 2010. A snippet of “War” as well as other Poets of the Fall songs can be avalible here.
Alan Wake will be released on May 18th, 2010 exclusively for Xbox 360.
Poets of the Fall have also released their first single from Twilight Theatre, the song “Dreaming Wide Awake” I wonder if the title is a possible hint of its place in a future game. You decide, here’s the music video.
God of War III Release Midnight! March 15, 2010
Posted by Maniac in Game News, Site News.1 comment so far
Tonight many GameStops across the country will be releasing The new God of War game at 12:01am, the soonest they are legally allowed. I will be at one of them getting my Ultimate Edition.
I’ll try to shoot some interviews with the people there but as per usual no one I know is willing to help me with the work so I’ll be shooting all of it myself quick and dirty if I can shoot it at all.
I’ll also try to do a UE unboxing before the night ends, but seriously I have no idea why the UE has such a large box, there’s barely anything in it. The majority of the content is download only including the feature length documentary starring Peter “Robocop” Weller.
Jonathan Coulton Involed in Portal 2! March 13, 2010
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At GDC yesterday Valve had a suprise announcment to the press. Gabe Newell refused almost all questions about their recently announced next game, Portal 2, but would offer one tidbit. He mentioned working with Jonathan Coulton again was great. Of course Jonathan Coulton is the rock star credited with hit songs like “Code Monkey”, “RE: Your Brains”, and of course the theme to Portal, “Still Alive”, considered by many to be the best song of 2007.
It is quite likely that Coulton is providing a new track for Portal 2.
God of War 3 Improved Over Demo March 11, 2010
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The inital reviewers have started getting their hands on God of War 3 an they’ve noticed something pleasant. The famous E3 build demoed last May and currently avalible to PSN customers in the US has been improved greatly in the final version.
I’ve played several builds of this demo including the version included with the God of War Collection and the District 9 version. I noticed immediatly that framerate was inconsistant and that made for a slightly dissapointing experience. The reviewers say that is not an issue anymore, and effects have been enabled which raises the visual bar. One thing I didn’t have was a problem with the demo’s visuals, but it looks like those have gotten higher too.
God of War 3 is coming March 16, 2010 for the PS3. That unfortunatly is the soonest I’ll have it too.
GDC Has Begun (Rock Band 3 Announced) March 9, 2010
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GDC has officially started ladies and gentelmen. What was usually a chance for the devs to show their wares to other devs and students has (since the fall of E3 in 2007) become a major player in the gaming industry, a chance for many announcements to come out quickly.
While we were all expecting the Portal 2 announcment for it, now it seems that Rock Band 3 has been officially announced! I’ve got a closet packed to the top with their perphials, it would be nice if this was a game only type release.
Mac Steam Coming in April March 8, 2010
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Valve has OFFICIALLY announced that there will be a Mac version of Steam in April. To go along with it, the HL series, Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead 2, and Portal 2 will be ported to the Mac with native versions, and will be fully compatable with Windows versions for online play, recieving updates at the same as their Windows versions and your licences for games you already bought and own should be able to work on both Windows and Mac.
I have a few Mac enthusiast friends who were already expecting this news since Valve got more blatant with it, and others who are willing to give Half-Life a try after spiting it for years simply because of this news. Hope you enjoy your games Mac users.
Exactly what Reviewers Said Would Happen to UBI’s DRM Happened March 8, 2010
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I’ve held off talking about Ubisoft’s new Digital Rights Management that they intend to put in all of their PC games from now on because it seems that the issue has already been gone over with a fine tooth comb well before I even got this website up and running.
To say nothing of the fact that nobody liked it. To say nothing of the fact the only people who did was Ubisoft (reviews went through the floor on their games and they lost probably millions in sales from people like me who are just not buying it) the people on the internet have another “told you so” they can give to the big man.
When reviewers started getting the prerelease versions of these games they tested the limits of it and were not happy. You would not be able to restore your game if your connection failed for any time, and if the connection on either end failed (and it would) you were not able to play your purchased game.
UBI said this would never happen….on their end. They said that their DRM servers were perfect and would never fail. They did, all weekend. I’m sorry, you were told better, you should’ve listened.
On the other side there are much better services already in existance you could’ve used and ignored for some reason. Valve’s Steam, another online based program does not require online use after inital authorization. You’re more than welcome to run the Steam program in offline mode, and it will not stop your game immediatly after login. You’re also welcome to install Valve’s games either through disc or internet download on as many PC’s as you’d like (but please only play one game on one computer at one time). Like with anything, Steam’s had its problems, but it doesn’t punish it’s user for them. If you had such a demand for online authorization, you should’ve used them.
Better start working on those 1.02 patches and fast. Retailers are probably going to be demanding their money back from all the users that have probably already returned their games defective to the store.
Mac Version of Portal 2 Confirmed March 8, 2010
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In an unlikely turn of events, Game Informer has has announced Valve is developing a Mac version of Portal 2. Valve has been a Windows only development house for the majority of their history. In fact their PC roots are so deep, they were not even for doing console ports of their games, a lot of their early console versions of the original Half-Life were done by outside companies.
However now that Mac versions of Steam have practically been confirmed, a Mac version of Portal 2 seems to be a logical choice. It seems likely that since Valve is supporting Mac through Steam, more of their future games will be cross platform.
Gabe Newell, the owner of Valve, was a former Microsoft employee before starting Valve Software.
