Hellgate: London Special Edition Includes Graphic Novel

Even more game / manga publisher collaboration news for the day! This time, it concerns Flagship's Hellgate: London special edition (because we all know any game without one sucks).

Flagship has chosen Dark Horse to publish a Hellgate: London graphic novel that will be included in the special edition box. According to the press release, "In addition to the Hellgate: London game and the exclusive, special-edition, 104 page Hellgate: London graphic novel, the collectors set will also include a bonus DVD of The Making of Hellgate: London, as well as the game soundtrack, and a special Hellgate: London world map. "

And here's the obligatory quote:

“Dark Horse has been a perfect partner for graphic novels,” said Bill Roper, CEO of Flagship Studios. “Their attention to detail, creative talent, and dedication to representing the Hellgate: London world has been second to none.”

Press release after the jump as always.

EA AND NAMCO BANDAI GAMES ANNOUNCE OCTOBER 31ST RELEASE DATE

Redwood City, CA (August 6, 2007) –- Get ready to hack, slash, and shoot your way through a demon-infested London this Halloween! Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) and NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. today announced that Hellgate: London, the premier title from Flagship Studios, will start hitting retail stores in North America on October 31, 2007 and in Europe on November 2, 2007 for the PC. Hellgate: London represents the next leap in the evolution of the action RPG genre, combining the depth and addictive gameplay of traditional RPGs with the visceral action of first-person shooters.

“We wanted to hit the sweet-spot for release in terms of the development schedule and delivering the highest-quality game to our players,” said Bill Roper, CEO of Flagship Studios. “Halloween was the perfect fit as it ensures that Hellgate: London will have an appropriate amount of beta testing, while also being an incredibly fun time to unleash the game.”

One of the most anticipated PC games and RPGs of the year, Hellgate: London offers infinite re-playability with dynamically generated levels, items, enemies and events. The player creates a heroic character, completes quests, and battles through an innumerable amount of demons to advance through a deep, rich story-driven campaign. A robust, flexible skill and spell system, highly customizable appearances, and a massive variety of randomly generated equipment allow each player to create his or her own unique hero.

While some may prefer to slay demons solo, players will also be able to take the fight online*, teaming up with friends to save London in a secure, client-server environment and playing through the entire story-driven campaign for free. For those players who want to extend their Hellgate: London experience, Flagship is offering an optional subscription service which will give players access to huge amounts of content on an ongoing basis in the form of quests, character classes, demons, items, etc. More details about Hellgate: London’s online options are coming soon.

The game has not yet been rated by the ESRB, PEGI or BBFC. Visit www.esrb.org, www.pegionline.eu or www.bbfc.co.uk for updated rating information. For more information about Hellgate: London, log onto http://info.ea.com or the game’s official website at www.hellgatelondon.com.

* Internet connection required.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS™, EA™, EA SPORTS BIG™ and POGO™. In fiscal 2007, EA posted revenue of $3.09 billion and had 24 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

About Flagship Studios

Flagship Studios is a creator of innovative entertainment software, designing games that focus on ease of play, replayability, and fun. The studio was formed in 2003 by former executives and developers from Blizzard North® and represents the creators of the worldwide, best-selling Diablo® franchise. With members that are renowned within the gaming industry, Flagship Studios embodies a team that has worked together for over a decade and have numerous #1-selling games and multiple Game of the Year awards to their credit. For more information about Flagship Studios log onto www.flagshipstudios.com.

About Namco Bandai Games America Inc.

NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc., is a leading interactive entertainment software publisher and developer based in Santa Clara, CA. The company is a part of the NAMCO BANDAI group of companies known for creating and publishing many of the industry's top video game franchises including the PAC-MAN®, SOULCALIBUR®, NARUTO™ and Tekken® brands. For more information about NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc., and our products log onto www.namcobandaigames.com.
EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS BIG, and POGO are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S and/or other countries. Hellgate™: London is a trademark and/or registered trademark of Flagship Studios, Inc. throughout the world. Licensed by NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

[ADVANCE]

More Than Meets the Eye to Assassin's Creed

Upon reading Gamespot's impressions of the game, I really am amazed by Ubisoft's ability to keep something as huge as Assassin's Creed's underlying gameplay under wraps, especially considering the "Ubi-leak" that took place last year, revealing a bunch of concept art from their upcoming titles.

The game, for all intents and purposes, sounds like a unique blend of gameplay
elements from Metroid, Grand Theft Auto and Ubisoft's own Prince of Persia ... some of the best elements from each of those games at that.

What excites me most is the ability to actually live the life of a lone assassin on the run. Sure, GTA is kind of cool in that it allows you to run around, be a dick and not give a rat's rear about consequences ... but putting GTA's free-roaming gameplay into context ... that is truly something. Ubisoft, I applaud you.

It seems like there's a touch of detective work amidst all the extremely gory violence. As important as it is to gut your target in the most gratifying way possible, equally important is the task of actually finding him. To me, that is probably going to be more exciting than crossing swords with many a town guard, to be honest. As I said, in this game, I hope to live the life of an assassin.

But then again, there's that touch of sci-fi to the game's overall presentation (and presumably plot) which keeps you wondering whether or not your assassin life will be quite what you expected it to.

It's a good thing a PC version and a DS version (which I'd feel compelled to check out just to put my curiousity at rest) are in development. They should more than suffice until I manage to pick up a PS3 (Goddamn you, White Knight Story) sometime next year.

It's a bit early to be talking about sequels (or maybe not. maybe it's never too early), but I would love to see Ubisoft use a different setting for each Assassin's Creed game. One in the medieval European era (this first one), one in a Japanese "Edo-era" setting, one perhaps, set in the distant future.

Looking forward to this game hitting retail!

[ADVANCE]

Multi-player Components in Games Attract More People

Multi-player; one of the greatest components ever implemented in video games. At least in my own opinion. Aside from a few single-player oriented franchises I like to play every few years a new game is released, a video game, specifically a first person shooter has probably a ninety-five percent chance of not being bought by me due to a lack of solid multiplayer. That's just me. I view large amounts of solitary gaming where I am playing pre-fabricated opponents with algorithms for brains, as a waste of my time. I love nothing more than hoping on Teamspeak with a bunch of people, splitting into teams, coming up with a strategy and then going at it with the other team. I am sure you well know that not all gamers are like that. But according to Ars Technica, games that do offer the opportunity to play with and against other human players does to a large degree, affect the maximum potential revenue that can be generated.

"Developing and publishing video games is a competitive business, but based on research from Electronic Entertainment Design and Research, there are a few things that can seemingly lead to guaranteed higher sales. That's not to say that there aren't interesting trends to spot, however, such as the critical role online support plays in a game's success.

The study found that by adding online functionality into a game—more specifically the ability to play against or with others—developers can generally double the amount of money your game makes. The finding in the study is more intuitive: high quality games (defined as having a Metacritic score of 90+) can sell up to 531 percent more than the average. So now, the job is clear: make high-quality games, and don't forget the online component. "

I hope reports such as these send a strong message to the industry about the subject. Which is actually ridiculous because this should, and probably is to some extent, a well known fact. Gamers don't want just multiplayer. They want good multiplayer -- fun multiplayer! Not something just added on for the sake of it.

Easier said than done, right? Of course! In many cases, adding multiplayer functionality can decrease the overall quality of a game. This is all constituted by how hard the studio, company, publisher works at it and markets it. People want to make money and the financial aspect that makes these companies run smoothly do tend to get in the way many times. Receiving twice as much revenue is worth the extra time and resources required, but sometimes dilemmas appear and decisions have to be made. That's understandable. In many cases, great multiplayer requires a lot of work. Sometimes developers have to take many steps backwards from their original design to make something that runs smoothly from a technical perspective which may interfere with the gameplay.

As the article said, the online component shouldn't be neglected. Games with a great single-player experience and multi-player aspect are essentially a double threat. It appeals to both types of gamers. I'm sure game developers realize this already, I just hope they take seriously.

[Source: Ars Technica]

[ADVANCE]

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Impressions

Oh yes, I've got more impressions than a nudist beach after a summer shower. Today, I'm coming at you with my take on Enemy Territory: Quake Wars.

Now, you should be aware that this is based on the current Beta 2 trial, which is actually a beta, not a cheap - ploy - for - some - media - attention - by - passing - off - a - demo - as - a - beta. [cough] Call of Duty 4 [cough]. With that in mind, you should realise certain aspects of the game may change between now and Sept 28th (Eur/Aus)/Oct 2nd (U.S./N.A.) release. A demo of the now gold retail will be available before that date so you can try it out for yourself.

That in consideration, can Enemy Territory: Quake Wars supplant the likes of other team-based games such as the Battlefield series? What does it bring to the table that we've not seen before? What exactly is all the fuss about? Do British developers make great games as well as great lovers?*

Read on to find out.


The Developer

Firstly, if I am going to invest a considerable time in playing a game, I have to feel confident that the developer is going to support it. This isn't a 15 hour single player experience. If I'm going to invest hundreds of hours in this game, I demand a similar level of support from the developer to make that investment fulfilling. My digs at Call of Duty are not because the game ultimately failed at its goal, mostly because the path to reach that goal was often made harder by the developer themselves. (Although, I had several fun years playing it)

So I look towards Quake Wars with confidence in that aspect, as I see Splash Damage as a developer who enjoys interacting with its community. Whether it's on their own or the official game forums, it isn't unheard of to see the game designers, programmers, artists and even the head designer and owner of Splash Damage participate in discussions, verify changes that are being made, offer help and guidance to mod teams and even eat the occasional humble pie. Sure, this isn't a guarantee of a quality game but it is a good sign that the developer is listening to its audience. It's very refreshing and reassuring to see beyond the usual PR barrier we're exposed to.

With listening in mind, I have to say that I've never before picked up a game and thought, "Wouldn't it be neat if...", only to find out that it actually already does what I had in mind. These might be trifling interfacing issues on their own but they soon add up when you play the game over an extended period. Things like seeing the number of bots a server is running and so, saving on wasteful connections. Context-sensitive binds allowing you to map keys to specific classes or vehicles ensuring you utilise the keyboard fully. Independent screenshot and demo-rendering allow maximum quality output regardless of the power of the system running the game. These small implements, were no doubt added based on feedback on Splash Damage's previous game, Enemy Territory, and also during the development of Quake Wars with its extensive year-long testing with various clans and the public alike. It just bodes well for the future of the title. This is clearly not going to be an EA "release and run" effort as is now commonly seen with the Battlefield series and many other games.


The Plot

If you are unfamiliar with the Quake Universe story line (oh for the shame of it!), this game covers the period where it all began. The Strogg, a race torn apart by decades of war on their home planet of Stroggos finally emerge as a single cybernetically-enhanced race unified by their mighty leader, the Makron. Think Borg but less emo goth and more scorched flesh, blood and rusty metal. While rampaging through the galaxy and generally being up to no good, they stumble upon a juicy planet of potential spare parts and fuel. That would be humans and yup, it's Earth in 2052 (Ha ha, we'll all be too old to care by then). Long story short, invasion ensues, Earth is taken unawares and their Global Defense Force is tasked with fighting back the Strogg beachheads, learning about this new enemy and ultimately sending them right back to where they came from. Enemy Territory: Quake Wars covers 12 of those pivotal battles in four geographical three-map campaigns.

The Mechanics of Objectives

Technically, you're talking about an objective-based online team and class-oriented FPS. In English that means you'll typically have 24 players on each server (this is design choice, there is actuallly no hard limit and 32 player servers exist happily on the Beta), 12 on each GDF and Strogg team. Of those players, there are several classes to pick from. In the Beta 2 map "Valley", some classes such as the Medic/Technician and Field Ops/Oppressor have a more supportive roll while others such as the Soldier/Aggressor, Engineer/Constructor and Covert Ops/Infiltrator are more critical to directly completing specific objectives. You should also note that while each team mimics each other, there are also important underlying differences between them. For example; a GDF medic can revive his teammates with a quick paddle shock. The Strogg technician ,however, has a much slower revive injection but in turn can convert the dead or dying GDF into one off-spawn points (spawn hosts allow the Strogg team to immediately just back into the action instead of at the usual base position). This is true, to a greater or lesser extent, for all the classes, weapons and vehicles in which each team needs to find the correct balance and counter-balance in order to defeat the opposing team and win the map.


Gameplay centers around a set of objectives which one team must achieve and the other stop until the round ends. In the case of the Beta 2 map, "Valley", your ultimate goal is to have a soldier plant explosives and destroy a contaminator which is poisoning the local population. To do so you must first use an Engineer to reconstruct a bridge, then escort an MCP (Mobile Command Post) to the enemy base. You'll also need the engineers here to repair the MCP whenever the Strogg disable it. Once in the base, a Strogg shield blocks your attempts to gain access to the contaminator with a missile strike, so you'll need some covert ops to go hack and disable the shield. Finally, with a successful missile hit and an accessible contaminator, your Soldier can go in and do his stuff, planting explosives and destroying the structure. In the Beta 1 "Sewer" map, you again played as GDF on offense, this time trying to destroy a Strogg base by flooding the sewer system they are entrenched in.

First, you'll need an engineer to construct an EMP Generator to disintegrate the Strogg shielding around the facility. Once you have access, you need Soldiers to plant explosives at one or more access points. Finally, with access to the sewer controls, you get a Covert Op to hack the controls and flood the enemy base.

These are just the two maps that have been publicly playable in the Beta. Other maps have been confirmed as Strogg offense-oriented, so no one side is left defending. Additionally, the multiple objectives maps are to be swapped out with "Document Run" missions, which will see you infiltrate an enemy stronghold -- no doubt after completing some objectives -- steal their secret documents, and run to a safe point on the map. There is also no saying whether Splash Damage has some other tricks up its sleeve or how they've worked out the objective play in the other maps.


But but but it's Battlefield

No it's not. While surface similarities can be made, the game is quite different when you look closer. Speed, accuracy and twitch reactions are as crucial to this game as they are in many other games in the Quake series. This shouldn't lessen your expectations as far as tactical strategies are concerned. Slow does not in itself define strategy. In fact, the hectic path ensures you need to think on a wider scale altogether. Vehicles in Quake Wars are primarily a means of transport and have many vulnerabilities. That isn't to say a well-commanded Tank or Cyclops should be dismissed as useless, only that there are multiple avenues for removing them. I've covered this already, but the game is objective-based. Once an objective is completed, it can't be reversed, so while spawn points can and do get handed back and forth, the meat of the game never descends into a flag chase. It also means there is a defined front line, so teams are generally more concentrated in one place.

id Tech 5's Daddy

As this is possibly one of the last titles (RTCW2 to come) based on the id Tech 4 engine, we're seeing a lot of technology cross over and mature. The buzzword here, of course, is "Megatexture".

Simply put, the technology allows for a single huge texture tile to be applied to world geometry. This Megatexture can be up to 64,000 x 64,000 pixels in size, which is about a square Kilometer in real world measurements and around the 5 gigabytes region during its uncompressed development use. (At retail we're looking at 300-500meg of a more compressed and optimized megatexture per map) What does this mean for you?

Well, the impact of the Megatexture on the world is consistent, so looking into a distant mountain range or at the ground has the same impact and overhead. Detail is streamed from the Megatexture stored on your hard drive to your GPU, meaning you get a Google Maps-like increase in resolution as more data is streamed in.


The reality is, as you rush past a landscape, it is of a lower resolution. When you stop the resolution increases, revealing more details. This makes for a fast, fluid game on a variety of system specifications without those frequent framerate bumps as you look to the horizon. Of course, with the technology as it is here, you are still prone to see framerate drops when your already maxed-out system encounters traditional clusters of models and textures. Guess we'll need to wait for id Tech 5 and 6 to see that smoothed out or just stop being greedy and over-exerting our systems!

Overall, the system works surprisingly well, and I'm dying to see the 10 other maps and then all the community-related content that is created with that freedom. Two interesting details of the engine thus far are that, although the global light is not real-time calculated, (no on-the-fly time of day changes) there is nothing stopping it from being modified in a new map version. Likewise, the Megatexture file can be reused with new models. It would, therefore, be entirely possible to create a series of maps that plot a battle from dawn to dusk over the same terrain, but with architecture in different states of destruction. These could also be quite small in size as you'd already have the large Megatexture as part of the game installation. That means a lot more bang for your buck, with map makers being able, reuse their older work to stunning new effect.

Enough already, how does it play?

I'm in love with the game. Both teams offer a uniqueness that makes playing either side a refreshingly different experience rather than just a cosmetic change of player models. With the fact that both teams, depending on the map, also need to alternate between offensive and defensive roles, you are practically playing with a base set of 4 different team tactics. It's this deep, multilevel gameplay that I think raises Quake Wars up and above its competitors. Sure, when you first step into the game, the array of classes and multitude of options presented to you can be overwhelming, but again, Splash Damage have given you an adequate tool set to make this critically hard period in an online shooter into a real-time tutorial.

For example; the Mission Manager which is available at the press of the M key enables you to cycle through specific missions that will offer a direct benefit to your team and which are better suited to the class you are playing. Some of those missions will be directly added by your teammates, simply by them pointing out targets and using another neat feature called the Context Sensitive Chat System. So, although you may be playing a poorly-armed medic, you can spot an anti-personnel turret, press V and click the mouse button. Immediately even your most clueless team mates will have the mission available and can attack or disable the turret.


That is, however, just the surface of the game. As you delve further, you open up a surprisingly large amount of tactics and strategies you can use to help your team. I've already mentioned in passing the anti-personnel turrets. They are, however, just one of the deployable types available to select classes in each team. Each player can request one such deployment to any friendly area of the map the team currently posesses.

But there are choices here again. As a covert ops you have only one deployable type, which is a radar. This enables a circular area of the map around the radar to display enemy locations and automatically add missions to the Mission Manager. The radar is also useful to your team on an individual level, allowing them to see if groups of enemies are incoming, pinpoint a sniper, or even watch out for someone sneaking up behind them. But the question you have to ask yourself is, do I deploy at the front of the battlefield where I get maximum range but risk the radar being disabled or destroyed, or put it somewhere safer but have less exposure? Add to that question other deployables such as the Field Ops long range artillery, rocket artillery and hammer missiles (which will want to be in a secluded or well defended position far from the action). Likewise, Engineers with their short-range tactical personnel, vehicle and artillery interceptor turrets will want to be close to the action and in a frequently traveled path.

So, where would you put the radar?

This is just one of the questions that race through your head as the game opens up its box of tricks. It's funny, but you actually feel a slowdown in the initial hectic pace as the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. At times, you'll bypass the Mission Manager as you adopt certain strategies, changing them on the fly as your enemy counters with their own. Other times you'll use it as a tactical resource, feeding you targets to attack and so clear a path for your team. At all times, however, you feel that you're not just in another meat grinder game. You can play and contribute to your team from a distance and without even firing a shot. Such is the variety open to you when you play Quake Wars.


Weapons and accuracy

Weapon aim is pretty much dead center if you peck off single shots. This degrades with the usual firing rate and movement penalties. Shooting at targets over a greater distance has a larger spread, and over certain distances the damage rates will fall off. However, I've come away feeling that this is a more accurate model than say Call of Duty, which at times felt most random even at close quarters.

Of course, the sniper weapons (Currently, yes, sniper nerfing requests are piling up) are deadly accurate and just a slight sway at higher magnifications, from upper torso and heads result in one-shot kills as long as they are within the minimum range limits. Soldiers, of course, get a selection of heavier, more powerful weapons, which are good for creating a lot of damage. It's also nice to see that, where a weapon is not suitable for close quarters combat, an upgraded sidearm replaces the standard pistol.

Of all the aspects of the game, I'd have to say it's the weapons that appear to mirror each other with the most similarities, at least in function if not operation. The key exceptions being that the Stroggs reliance on Stroyant for health and ammo means they can exchange between both freely (this also means their technicians' Stroyant packs increase both health and ammo). There is also no reloading of involved with majority of the Strogg weaponry. Instead there is a cool-off period when the weapon is continuously used. (Burst firing is recommended) To further balance this clear advantage, most of the Strogg weapons have a slower rate of fire with the standard Lacerator firing 30% slower than the GDF Assault Rifle.


XP Upgrades, Campaigns and Stats (ranked or unranked)

As standard, games will be played over 3 maps, which is known as a campaign. During campaigns you will accumulate experience points (XP) for completing objectives on your team. The XP then enables upgrades, which may help you or your teammates better succeed at completing the objective. After the campaign is finished everyone's XP is reset back to zero. XP is balanced so that an average player should be able to attain the highest levels by the start of the third map, which should be a nice even spread of upgrades.

I quite like this. You get a sense of achievement and a reward for playing well, but with campaigns only consisting of 3 maps you're never at a disadvantage if you join, say, during the middle of a campaign. The upgrades are subtle, too. Small health bonuses, extra ammo, faster abilities ... nothing that dramatically overpowers one person against another but still gives a slight edge to them or their team.

Another "Wouldn't it be neat if..." moment around the XP points is that while Spawn Camping is possible to a certain extent, people will not be awarded XP points for doing so. This should limit the camping to an advanced strategy, and sacrificial decision rather than an easy way to score points.

Now, if you're playing on a "ranked" server, the XP you accumulate will, along with a whole stack of other details, be passed onto a central stats server maintained by Splash Damage and then likewise onto their stats website. There are however some key differences between a ranked and unranked server.

Obviously, a ranked server will pass on your details but it will also function on the same default setup as all other ranked servers. People who own and run those servers will not be able to tweak settings or change any aspects of the game. They will also not be able to add any custom maps or mods to their ranked server. While this ensures that on some level the stats can't be manipulated or skewed, it also means that when you join a ranked server you are assured of the same experience each and every game. Stats are also purely cosmetic. You do attain a higher rank as you complete objectives and gain XP, but at no point is there a difference between a brand new player and one who has played for several years due to stats. So no Battlefield style stat unlockables ... thank God for that!

However, with that restriction also come the "unranked" servers which you are free to run, tweak and modify to your heart's content. For example, SD specifically stated during the release of the server files in the Beta that, those who felt the game ran too fast for them could easily configure their own servers to enforce a slower pace. I feel that both server types will be popular, but unless SD run some competitions to integrate community maps into the fixed ranked server configuration, we'll ultimately see greater public support on unranked servers as custom mods and maps arrive from the community and offer fresh experiences.


The Lagness Monster

The beta has seen some lag issues client-wise. Most were crushed as the introduction of anti-lag code and prediction polished up the net code. Servers have still been found to lag out and spike, and I hope they fix up the server binaries to solve those problems before release. When the game is running and the server is fresh though, I regularly get a solid 20+ ping to local Dallas servers and the net code in those situations is stable and very playable. If the niggling issues are not solved prior to release I see that constant tweaks in the patches will perfect what is already a capable system. I just hope a majority of the server lag spikes are cleared up before more people misrepresent them as a dramatic flaw in the game.

The Spectre of Advertising

I'll be blunt here. The game will include ingame advertising on billboards and posters placed around the levels. Personally, I'm of the mindset that, if it helps the developer better support the game, release an improved or continually improving product, and that it can do that without interfering with my enjoyment of the game, it's a fair deal. I know others, however, feel very strongly about the issue and that is the only reason I mention it here, so you aren't surprised when you see it ingame and feel cheated. I'll end the discussion there as I think that might spill over into another feature at some point, so if you feel strongly in either direction please do send me an e-mail.

The release and beyond. Patches and support

If the Beta is any indication of the level of support Quake Wars is to receive, I have zero concerns for the health and future of this game. It is, however, shipping amiss of a few features, among those being VOIP, which was dropped from the PC version of the game due to time constraints and the fact that alternative VOIP software is available.

The community, however, responded to this announcement with varying degrees of disapproval and Splash Damage recently confirmed it is back on the wish list for future patches. I happen to agree that its removal was warranted if it was going to delay the game further, but think third party VOIP software is far from a practical solution on public and well-traveled servers. However, the point is moot now, and I wish Splash Damage luck on its future integration.

The SDK is also being completed to give the map makers and modders all the tools they need to tear apart the game and build an even better and more entertaining experience as the months turn into years. I'm glad to see that QWTV -- the spectator camera system enabling large audiences to watch matches live -- is being worked on directly at Splash Damage. Too often, these aspects are passed up in the expectation of users picking up the baton. A scripting system is also on the list to enable server owners to quickly change aspects of how a map is played. This will be key to help balance maps for different play styles or team sizes.

As of August 30th, the game was officially announced as going gold. Splash Damage are now focusing on completing the PC demo for release in several weeks so that you can try out the game before it hits retail shelves. If you can't wait that long, you can still download the Beta 2 files from Fileplanet and run a local server against bots. Either way, it's not too long to wait and hell, I'm damn excited to see what polish they've put on in the last few weeks and run through all twelve maps, some of which they've kept totally secret from everyone. Those guys think of everything. Power to the Tapirs!

• All pictures are courtesy of this thread at the ETQW Community Forums. They are all ingame generated, beta-tester shots with no post-processing short of some framing. Note that the distance blur shot was achieved with altering game settings, the game does not feature such a blur during play.
  
  
• Beta2 available from Fileplanet at this page or watch for the full demo release at the Community Site
  
• ETQW Stats page, including XML feed can be found here (this is mine. Don't laugh, I've been playing Metroid Prime 3 since they wiped the stats, honest!)

* May not actually be included as part of the impressions article.

[ADVANCE]

Gabe Newell Tells Game Informer All About the Wii

I have two video game developers that I really love. One is Retro studios. The other, is Valve. All the games that come out from either of these two studios seem to be instant gold, and are considered the some of the best, if not the best, games on their respective platforms. Another common characteristic is that both of these companies take complete advantage of the hardware they use and we are then presented with a game with excellent art style and graphics that continue to look good well into future video game generations.

Gabe Newell, one of the co-founders of the Valve corporation, and one of the original creators of the PC first person shooter franchise, Half Life, recently told Game Informer what he thought about the current generation of consoles that are out today, specifically the Nintendo Wii.

"I think the Wii represents more of a challenge because of its input. You can think of the Xbox 360 as pretty much a PC and a PlayStation as kind of a PC. The Wii gives you a bunch of problems that don't fit into that model," Newell told Game Informer.

"I think it's more valuable. I think it's more interesting than just graphics chip - CPU combination. It's the machine I have at home. The fact that we don't have anything in development on it even though it represents big opportunities as a whole is an obvious hole in our strategy."

This could be a hint of something big for the Wii in the near future. If any company can push the Wii to it's maximum potential in terms of graphics and innovative gameplay, it would be Valve. What I wouldn't give for a Half Life game on the Wii. I don't care if it's a mini-game compilation where you beat citizens with a shock stick as a Combine police officer, or harass innocent civilians as a head crab.

More after the jump.

Now that I think about it, out of all the games in Valve's upcoming lineup, Portal would most definitely be most suited for the Wii.


Portal is probably one of the most innovative PC games I've seen in a very long time. I'd even say it is more innovative than some of the Wii games out today. I'm not sure if the Wii can pull off some of the graphics that have been portrayed in recent trailers and demos of Portal, but I'd absolutely love to see Valve give it a try. Valve also has a long history when it comes to first person shooters. Many journalists have said that Retro Studios Metroid Prime 3 has pretty much nailed down the first person shooter formula for the Wii. I'm not saying whether they have or have not, but I will soon find out seeing how I have the game still in it's shrink wrap laying on my entertainment center.

If Valve puts it's chips on the table, all the more better for the Wii. If good studios such as Valve and Retro continue to set the bar so high, other companies will have to try to do as good or better, or they will know their game has already failed before it is even released. Up until the release of Metroid Prime 3, no arch-type existed in terms of the first person shooter for the Wii. Red Steel should have been it, and I refuse to beat that dead horse. Call of Duty 3 was passable, but not solid. Medal of Honor: Vanguard had, in my opinion, the best first person shooter control scheme. When it came down to taking cover and firing, I would honestly say it is as good, if not better than a mouse and keyboard.

The only problem was, you could not move while aiming; you had to stand still. Of course you could move and fire from the hip, but that made your weapon accuracy plummet so you were lucky if you hit anything at a long distance. On top of all that, the actual game itself was extremely mediocre and a shame to the franchise.

Back on the subject of Metroid, Prime 3 may have after all, tamed the FPS beast on the Wii. But as many people including myself have said hundreds of times in the past, Metroid Prime is not a true first person shooter. Rather, it is an adventure game from the first person perspective. I know I am being nitpicky here, but what else can I say? The first person shooter is my favorite genre when it comes to video games, so I do feel obligated to be extremely politically correct about the subject.

What do you think? First off, is Newell's slight disappointment with his company enough to say that software for the Wii is indeed coming? What would Valve create, and more importantly, what would be better? Existing software or something brand new? Valve has already gotten their feet wet in the console market. They have not exactly made a big splash in that pool, but they are poised to with their upcoming release of Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and all the other games that come with it. Why not the Nintendo Wii as well?

Marketing and distribution would be no problems since they will team up with EA. Valve is a company that loves to make games. They love to make great games that are unforgettable. I am sure you will agree that the Nintendo Wii is an excellent platform to use to continue to create great games just like they have in the past.

[Via: GamePro]

[ADVANCE]

Live Arcade for Windows: Five Games We Need

The "Live Arcade for Windows" rumour has been making the rounds for the last week or so, and has certainly spurred an interest in the concept of bringing Xbox Live Arcade titles over to Windows Vista.

However, as anyone in their right mind would probably realize, there is no way in hell Windows users are going to pay to download these games off of Microsoft's Live service when they could simply download ROMs and emulators for the same purpose (and probably already have).

The solution? Simple. Set Live Arcade for Windows apart from Xbox Live Arcade in a manner that will actually be of interest to PC owners. Bringing back hard to find, retro PC titles would be a step in the right direction. Keeping in line with bringing more original content and less "headlines" to FWA, I've put up a link to my Games.net article discussing this concept below. Let me know what you guys think!

[Live Arcade for Windows: Five Games We Need]

[ADVANCE]

Quakecon Rage!!

Well thanks to a great effort by Shacknews, I lusted over a white text on black live blog of the press conference to end all press conferences (well for me anyway). Yup id hath spoken and it was good. Here are the highlights, go to Shacknews for the feed, I'll update here once I find some more coverage.

Firstly Enemy Territory Quake Wars. Due for October 2nd release in the US, Europe gets much respects and sees Splash Damage pulling their Euro Developer might and representing 4 days earlier on the 28th September. This is great news, "When it's done!" is great for the initial 3-4-5 years of development but as you're tasting the beta and tripping over previews it's good to get that date out there. Remember pre-orders score name reservation codes and some addition blag in the box.

RTCW2 or Wolfenstein 2 was mentioned but was lacking in video, screens and actually much detail . A big highlight, and really the only announcement as far as the game was the news the Threewave are involved in the online portion of the game, along with the original developers of RTCW online, Nerve Software. This is great news as both developers have a proven track record of providing a consistent and fun online experience. Single player details however were non existent with Raven still helming he single player portion of the game, instead news that there is to be a Wolfenstein movie in the pipeline helmed by Roger Avary was handed out, they didn't announce The Rock was going to be in the film, guess we can't say it'll be another sucky game movie just yet. :)

The DS saw a lot of love from the Carmack family with John's wife, Katherine, showing off Orcs and Elves. John also covered his ground up philosophy demonstrating how they build IP from a low platform and add on features rather than build to the top end and strip down on features. It's an interesting design philosophy for sure, I hope he pulls it off because it'll mean we see a lot more id stuff on phones, DS and Wii, with the PC, 360 and PS3 talking the ideas a lot further over time. Talking of the DS John has said he has a definite interest in making a Quake Arena style multiplayer game for it. The idea of cart sharing and the easy wifi of the DS appeals to him and he is prepared to design the game for long play times, even to the point of simplifying the game back to Doom 2 style deathmatch so you're not experiencing wrist cramp after 10 minutes. Nice!

Speaking of Quake Arena, it was also announce that id are forming a second tier team for the first time. This team will be developing a version of Quake 3 Arena under the title of Quake Zero and using the id Tech 5 engine. Perhaps most stunning is that this game will be 100% subsidized by advertising and as such is totally free to gamers. With the subject of advertising in games being a sore point amongst many, it's refreshing to see id lead the way in showing that it can bring definite positives to a gaming community.

Finally id Tech 5 and the new IP. Well actually id Tech 5 gets showcased tomorrow so we only got a glimpse of it in action before John revealed their new IP. Darkness, was going to be it's name and actually was worked on by id for a period of time. The game seems to have been a kind of Lost meets Far Cry and gets f**ked by insane id lunatics. However, the id guys just didn't feel right about he idea and dropped it off the edge of Q3DM17. No! Rage is the new IP and they only said that it they enjoy a "Road Warrior" style of game with lots of running people over as well as shooting them, looks like Mel is outta luck with the anti-semitic portion of the game. Perhaps we'll see more clues about Rage tomorrow.

I won't cover the usual Carmack commentary, instead let me teasingly summarize it in short word form so you click over to Shacknews for more. :) DX10, PS3 Architecture, physics, rocket building, Fusion reactors, Wii Ware and Live Arcade, Microsoft and Sony, retinal scanning and many many more. :)

Update 1:

Damn I'm stupid. I forgot the mention the entire back catalogue of id software is hitting Valve's Steam Digital Distribution service. Now I've got a lot of id software sitting on scratched up CDs in my loft so if $62.95 (10% off the regular price of $69.95) is going to score me all of id's games from Commander Keen right up to Doom 3 Resurrection, and I can have them on hand at the click of a mouse then hot damn it I'm prepared to pay for that and avoid the dust and spider bites. Steam is also offering packs of different flavours if you only like a slice of the id software cake. Check out the Steam website for more details on the packs. Hell, in the time it's taken me to write this I've actually bought them all. :)

Doh, the link I had posted and then promptly greased myself up to watch was actually QuakeCon 2006's keynote. I should not drink and write. I'll update again when I find this years feed. :)

Update 2:

No sooner do I take down the link than up pops the files I was looking for in the first place.
Courtesy of QuakeUnity.Com

Rage footage [1m26s]
Absolutely stunning stuff and if you needed more proof id is back on form, the Rage logo rocks too. :)

Update 3:
Here is Todd Hollenshead's Keynote [15m10s] and of course John Carmack's keynote [1h05m]
Again props to RogerR at QuakeUnity.com for recording and uploading this excellent footage.

1Up has a piece on Quakecon and get Tim Willits to reveal a little more on Rage. It is Mad Max! Read it here

Shacknews has tidied up their live blog and produced a nice summary. If you think my post is too wordy you should check this out.

Don't forget id Tech 5 is getting its own 30 minute presentation right now, I hope we have some more news and video later today.

Update 4:
Okay this should wrap up the updates and Quakecon coverage. IGN currently have two videos up detailing the id Tech 5 demo and tools. It's all pretty stunning stuff and I sure there are some developers out there feeling exactly the same way.

[ADVANCE]

Blizzard confirms third dev team; Working on a new game

E3 2007 coverage over at Gamespot and IGN has been handled really well this year. Thanks to E3's new (and underwhelming) format, the number of sneak-peeks and hands-on previews at Gamespot alone were enough to satisfy my cravings for the rest of the month. However, it seems that, while both Gamespot and IGN might have had the best hands-on experiences this year, neither really managed to get their hands on any extraordinary news ... something the smaller sites have managed to do.

Case in point: The Carmack story over at Gamepro, and now this story over at Gamasutra:

Talking to Gamasutra, Frank Pearce, founding member and senior vice president of product development for Blizzard revealed that the company has a third team hard at work on a new title, separate from World of Warcraft and StarCraft II.

According to Pearce, the company's current employee headcount worldwide is 2,700. Not surprisingly, the majority of those workers are part of World of WarCraft customer service. Dividing up the rest among development teams for WoW and StarCraft II, Blizz has 135 people on the WoW team, 40 on the SC II team and 85 people on the cinematics team. (Not surprising)

However, there is a third game development team which currently consists of 40 people, and although Blizzard wouldn't say what exactly it is they are working on, they did say it was "totally awesome".

Much to their credit, Gamasutra did manage to confirm this new game wasn't StarCraft Ghost. Is it Diablo III? Probably. Will we find out at BlizzCon? Almost definitely.

[ADVANCE]

FWA Feature: A talk with the lead designer of Capucine

As revealed last week, there is a new Wii adventure game by an unknown French team of game design students in the works. Titled Capucine, the game is an eerie adventure title that focuses on exploration. While the game isn't exactly for the Wii, it does use the Wii remote and Nunchuck.

Capucine takes place in a world where everything is dead. The main character is an eight-year old girl who in possession of two items: a flower, the Capucine; and a beam of light that she can cast from her own hands. The purpose of the game is to prevent the world from dying.

I recently managed to get in touch with Yohan Cazauk, the lead designer for Capucine in order to gain a better understanding of the game. Hit the big, bold "ADVANCE" to read on.

Ishaan: OK, first off; Would you like to introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your team?

Yohan: My name is Yohan Cazaux and I'm 24. I'm a French student at Supinfogame ( a Game Design school). This is my last year of studies, and with 5 other classmates I've worked all the year on Capucine, our final study project.

Ishaan: Does your team have a name or do you plan to give it one?

Yohan: Yes, we've called it "NoCulture Team" because of someone who told us last year that we had a lack of culture when we presented the concept of Capucine for the first time.

Ishaan: Hahaha. Well, Capucine certainly does look like it doesn't cater to any one culture in particular. That, in my opinion, is a good thing.

Yohan: Yes, we would like to make the game as widely appealing as possible.

Ishaan: From a gamer's perspective, Capucine looks very intriguing. It seems to be an adventure game, and the official site says that it emphasizes exploration and a tale "based on shadow and light". Could you elaborate a little on this?

Yohan: Yes, Capucine is an adventure game, but a quiet adventure We had favoured exploration side rather than pure action. "Shadow and light" sum up the gameplay mechanics. Your only way to interact with the game is the lightbeam, and with it you've got to push back the shadow, but you also can create it : both notions are opposite but interdependent.

Yohan: For the tale aspect, as I said, we would like to make a universal game, and for us tales are universal. Everyone, adult or child can find sense in their stories.

Ishaan: The site says "Young adults and Adults interested in tales". So, does this mean that the game will be understandable by people 13-14 years of age?

Yohan: Absolutely. 13-14 is a good age for players to understand the gameplay and the subtlety of Capucine. Of course, younger people can play the game as well, but they might miss some things.

Ishaan: But at the same time, the game will also appeal to older gamers? I'm guessing that's where the "Quiet and disturbing" aspect of the game comes into play?

Yohan: Well, I hope older games will enjoy the game. It was mainly designed for them. Our target is those people who like video games but are looking for a different gameplay experience. The disturbing aspect of the game comes from the dynamic enemy creation, which propels the player to be careful in his actions.

Ishaan: So, the prototype platform is the PC and the final platform will be the Wii?

Yohan: As students, we don't have access to the Wii devkits. Moreover, we're not programmers or graphic artists, so we've decided to make a mod for an existing game. It allows us to use powerful tools and simplify our work. But in order to carry out Wii gameplay, you can play on the PC with a Wiimote and Nunchuk.

Ishaan: So, what existing game does this one modify?

Yohan: We've chosen Farcry. The Cryengine can display lots of vegetation and large areas. And the editor "Sandbox" is pretty well designed, especially for team work.

Ishaan: Will the final game eventually be playable on the Wii or do you plan to make it a PC game with Wiimote/Nunchuck controls?

Yohan: Well, we don't know if a "final game" will exist one day. Capucine is just a prototype, and so it will stay on the PC with Wiimote/Nunchuk controls available.

Ishaan: Will it be playable with the keyboard and mouse as well?

Yohan: Yes, both controls are possible because synchronising the Wiimote on PCs isn't so easy for novices. You need a Wiimote, Bluetooth etc...

Ishaan: Coming back to the actual look and feel of the game itself, what did you look to for inspiration while coming up with the concept for Capucine?

Yohan: I was very inspired by the lyrics of a french song, "La fleur" for the original concept. It’s from this song that we came up with the flower concept; the "Capucine". The team was also inspired by various movies, especially Pan’s Labyrinth by Guillermo Del Toro and all traditional tales. And as far as video games are concerned, we were inspired by Ico - by its poetry and its amazing graphics.

Ishaan: Judging by what you said, it sounds like you plan to focus on the music in Capucine to a great extent.

Yohan: Yes, music is very important. It gives a real identity to the game. Our composer, Soheil Forouhi has put together some very impressive work, and voluntarily.

Ishaan: Could you tell us a little about the gameplay mechanics? How does the flower come into play?

Yohan: First, the flower is a part of the character - it's her life. Without the flower, the child's life starts to decrease. That's why the shadows are trying to steal the flower. They can't hurt directly the character.

Secondly, in order to preserve life in the game, the player has to make water circulate in the world. Without water, nature will die. The flower can serve as a substitute for water. If the player puts it down near to a tree for example, the tree won't die. But by putting down the flower, the child's life starts to decrease... it's a dilemma for the player, and it's very interesting.

Ishaan: So, basically, your purpose is to use the flower to keep the world alive? What about the "beam of light"?

Yohan: Well, the flower helps you to keep the world alive, until you "unblock" water to it. The light beam is the way for the girl to transmit her life to the environment. I say "transmit" because when she's using it, her life decreases. But she can retrieve life soaking by the flower in water. The beam is the only way to interact with the world. Everything in the universe of Capucine revolves around light. There are 3 ways to use the beam : continuous lighting, rhythm lighting and movement lighting.

But if the player uses too much time of the light beam on an element, the shadow of this element will come alive and attack them.

Ishaan: So, it's about timing and using your lightbeam and flower in careful amounts?

Yohan: Exactly.

Ishaan: That sounds rather interesting. Also, this is an adventure title ... does story play a big role in the game?

Yohan: Not really. The player doesn't know who the child is and how she got there. Giving away too many details about her background would ruin the mystery and the atmosphere. We prefer that players dream up their own story, as in a tale.

Ishaan: Sounds good. How far into development is the game?

Yohan: The prototype is practically finished. We're going to present it in front of professionals on Friday at school, in order to confirm our degree. So we're just polishing it right now.

Ishaan: And how do you plan to release the game to consumers? Digital distribution or DVDs?

Yohan: A few days after the presentation, the game will be downloadable for free as a Farcry mod on our website. For the moment, we don't plan to make money with Capucine.

Ishaan: Excellent! So, any plans after you graduate?

Yohan: Yes, all the students have to undergo a training period and I'll start mine in July. After that, we're going to find a job.

Ishaan: In gaming?

Yohan: Yes, in video game design.

Ishaan: That sounds great. Do you have anything you'd like to add before we wrap up?

Yohan: We want to thank you and all the people on the web for their interest and support! Young and unknown game designers never get to express themselves often enough.

Yohan is set to intern at Ubisoft Paris after he graduates, where he hopes to land a permanent job. The very best of luck to him and the rest of NoCulture!

[ADVANCE]

ET:QW Public Limited Beta Announced

Splash Damage announced yesterday that they will soon be opening 60,000 public beta slots for Enemy Territory:Quake Wars. Some slots will be reserved for paid Fileplanet subscribers but there will also be an undetermined number for users who choose to just register with Fileplanet for their limited free service.

The Beta will consist of just one level, "Sewer", which is the same one shown to bit-tech.net when they recently interviewed id's Todd Hollenshead and Splash Damage's Paul Wedgwood. It's well worth checking out as it briefly covers the level and a nice deal of the mechanics of how ET:QW plays and helps players.

With an ideal launch (ideal not being definite) around the August Quakecon, this could be the last phase of polish before we all get to see it at retail. If you try for a beta slot, good luck and slip us some feedback. Me I'm wondering about whether to get a strogg logo tattoo before the invasion, it would at least save my arm when I get stroggified in 2065!

[ADVANCE]

Hunt for missing British girl hits Second Life

According to a CNN report, the hunt for missing four-year old Madeleine McCann is going to be hitting Second Life in an attempt to gather more leads as to her whereabouts.

Madeline went missing at a hotel resort in Portugal on May 3rd. Since then, several posters appealing for any information from the Portuguese resort where she went missing have been translated into several languages according to Jim Gamble of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre.

Tourists who stayed at the Portuguese resort from where she was abducted have been urged in the past three weeks to hand over any holiday photographs which might contain clues to her kidnapper.

British detectives have been using advanced facial recognition software to scan the pictures and pass on any useful information to Portuguese police.

Virtual posters of Madeline will also be put up in prominent locations in Second Life. Gamble said the move demonstrated the commitment of the police to pursue the hunt for the girl.

It certainly does seem like an ingenious move. While I'm not sure many Second Lifers were at the hotel resort where the girl went missing, putting up virtual posters in such a popular online world would definitely increase the chances of her being found. At this point, it is believed by her parents (Kate and Gerry) that she is in Morocco. The very best of luck to both of them. And I dearly hope the bastard who made off with her gets what he deserves.

[ADVANCE]

Gaming on the Go

Mobile gaming beyond the DS and PSP has really been the folly of phone owners (yay snake!). Laptops capable of running full blown windows games are either too bulky to carry for opportunistic gaming or insanely expensive. There is however a change in the the wind, hope for gamers on the go and that is the UMPC (Ultra Mobile Personal Computer).

If you've heard of these before, back when Microsoft was countdowning to the mysterious Origami , you may have joined me in the disappointment on both design, price and power of the whole thing. However, if you stopped being interested right there and gave the whole thing up as a bad idea you may want to read on because UMPC is becoming a very viable platform and perhaps a fantastic new mobile gaming solution.


OQO Model 2

It isn't the cheapest solution starting at $1500-$1850 , sans accessories it soon adds up to a fair amount of money in the end but I'll be a farmer' sex slave if it's not a lust worthy piece of kit. The necessity to have copious amounts of disposable income aside, it does have some excellent examples of what the future holds though. This device is capable of running XP or Vista. Has wireless and lots of connectivity including cellular data if you get the add-on. A 5" screen supports native resolutions up to 800x480. The GPU shares the 1Gig of system ram and you can pop in a 60 gig hard drive. This device is tiny in size, large in price and amazing in capabilities. Don't believe me? Well as well as being able to handle your usual office and windows applications how about.

Some Quake 3


Too old? Play some World of Warcraft then, it's pushing the edge of the hardware but it shows what the current limits are.


Back to something like StarCraft. This vid is worth a watch as John Gatt comments on the usefulness of the OQO2 for gaming while showing it off playing StarCraft.


This is all in a device about the same size as a paperback. WOW!

There is the question of price though, that $2000 could fleet you out with every console and portable system and probably still buy you a decent laptop or desktop PC. No we need something cheaper.

HTC Shift

Okay, I'm doubting this is going to be substantially cheaper but you may score some subsidies if you buy in locked into a cellular contract. You may not know it but HTC make quite a few phones. Until recently they'd been happy to sell on their designs to operators and other companies such as Dell who would rebrand and sell them to us willing techno junkies. As a result HTC has seen a large amount of success and now they are not only launching their own branded products but also showing a bold innovative step in the mobile computing market. The HTC Shift is the pentacle of that step.

Yet to be fully announced and spec'd, the HTC Shift will offer a larger 7 inch screen at 800x480 with full cellular connectivity and the usual wireless networking. Hard drives up to 30gig will run Windows Vista (or any other OS you choose to install) on up to a gig of ram. Whats been most interesting about this device is not only the confirmation that its using Intels ULV (Ultra Low Voltage) chipset with the A110 Stealy CPU and GMA 950 GPU, but also that it runs the 3D intensive Aero version of Vista! Obviously hands on testing is required but it looks hopeful that this could match the OQO2 in functionality but with a bigger screen and full cellular connectivity.

"Asus Eee PC 701" (included in quotes so you don't think I've headbutted the keyboard)

This is actually looking too good to be true. A more traditional laptop style, it appears its currently sharing the same intel CPU/GPU combo as the Shift, offering the wireless networking but no cellular connectivity. Its base configuration is 512mb ram and a 4 gig solid state hard drive complimenting a 7 inch screen (likely 800x480 in resolution). Doesn't sound that great until you hear its coming in August and at $200, yes TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS!

Now it seems we'll be able to up the specs on the storage and likely the ram too, but if we can get 1gig ram and 16gig solid state hard drive. Run XP and many popular games and emulators, and put the whole thing away in a glove compartment or pocket in your rucksack then I'm sold! Flash presentation with some pictures of the device to scale here.

Other candidates are coming up every day in this field. I can't cover them all but here are a couple more.

Fujitsu Siemens have the FMV-U8240 (Akihabara review) which is a retro, some say Star Wars Storm Trooper style laptop/tablet. It uses the same Intel A110 CPU/945 GPU combo and miniative size, so might be worth keeping an eye on for performance sake if nothing else.


Via are pushing their NanoBook reference design that has already been picked up in Europe by Packard Bell and has several other manufacturers pushing tweaked alternatives. Base line is you're looking at between $500-1000 for another 7inch (800x480) device of similar specs to the OQO2. Most designs seem to be in laptop only format so far but I guess a laptop/tablet design isn't far off.


UMPCs, With Intel and Via seriously pushing the thresholds on low voltage chipsets that are capable of handling your average media and gaming needs I think we're definitely heading into a big transitional period where perhaps even the like of dedicated gaming devices like the DS and PSP will feel a slight pinch as people realise that compromise and functionality doesn't need to mean inconvenience or expense.

[ADVANCE]

Rumour: Diablo 3 announcement at BlizzCon?

I can't believe this managed to slip under everyone's radar, especially when people have actively been keeping an eye open for any information related to Diablo III in the vaguest way possible. There are two parts to this rumour. The first is German games site PC Games Online stating they have received a tip that Diablo III will be unveiled at the new E3 (which I highly doubt) and that a new World of WarCraft expansion will be announced at BlizzCon (far more likely).

The second - and more juicy - rumour comes from DiabloII.net, easily the best Diablo information resource on the net apart from Battle.net. Here's what they have to say:

Network visitor nobbie spotted a couple of things that could point to Diablo III being announced at BlizzCon in August. First of all check the BlizzCon banner on the BlizzCon site , it shows the one and only Lord of Terror on the right hand side of the image. As he mentions. all other game characters on that banner are perfectly visible and are references to Blizzards already announced top titles (WoW, SC2). The plot also thickens with news that eu.diablo.com domain is now pointing to the BlizzCon website. Fingers crossed!

This rumour seems far more likely. While it's practically a given that there will be new WoW info at BlizzCon (or even as early as E3), I'd expect Blizzard would want to keep the really huge announcements for their own event. Also, I'm not sold on that banner theory -- it seems like a shot in the dark. However, the website re-direct info does make one wonder...

[ADVANCE]

World of WarCraft - The Internet is for porn

Yes, it's completely safe for work.

[Via Art of Love]

[ADVANCE]

New PC gaming event "Game On" to debut in September

Great news for PC gamers. A new PC gaming-focused event, aptly named "Game On" has been founded by the Game Developers Conference parent company CMP Technology, and is set to take place at the Austin Convention Centre on September 8-9 following the Austin Game Conference and Game Career Seminar.

"PC Game On celebrates PC gaming as the crucible of innovation in the industry, the place where most game developers get their start, and the driver of digital distribution, MMOs, and virtual worlds," said Katherine Schoback, group director of CMP Game Group. "Considering media attention of late has focused solely on console wars, PC deserves its place in the sun."

According to Next Generation, Dell -- ever vigilant as always -- will be sponsoring the event. I know a fair number of FWA readers will be very pleased by this news. What with PC gaming all set to make its big comeback (Microsoft's efforts to hinder it every step of the way not withstanding), one might wonder why exactly it took so long for a PC-focused event to be set up in the first place.

[ADVANCE]

Yoko Kanno performance to kick off Ragnarok Online 2 launch

Yoko Kanno is an extremely well-known name among anime lovers and for good reason. Having contributed to soundtracks from Ghost in the Shell, Macross Plus, Cowboy Bebop and Escaflowne, she's among the most highly-praised composers in the Japanese music industry.

Now, if you're into MMOs at all, you've probably heard of Ragnarok Online. The sequel to the game, RO2 is set to launch in Korea on June 20th and it just so happens that Yoko Kanno has composed the entire soundtrack for the game. What's more, she -- along with Origa and Maaya Sakamoto -- will be giving her first live performance in five years in Seoul (definitely the place to be in, if you ever decide to visit Korea!) to co-incide with the launch of the game, which will be "released in 63 nations around the world". Kanno will be performing some of her pieces from RO2, along with tracks from other anime series at the concert.

She will also contribute 5 - 10 new songs every year to the game's already outstanding soundtrack. These tracks will be released along with version upgrades for the game.

Ragnarok Online 2 is one of the only two online role-playing games I'd actually consider paying for at this point in time. (The other being Marvel Universe Online, which is still in development) RO, despite not being mind-blowing, was an extremely well-designed game in its own right. It was low on system requirements, high on style, had great music and a ton of customization options to keep you entertained. My only gripe with the game was the insane amount of grinding involved and the lack of quests.

If that's something that gets fixed in RO2, I'm definitely going to give the game a look.

[Via Anime News Network]

[ADVANCE]