Natural Selection 2 Interview

Everyone remembers the amazing Natural Selection mod, the minds behind it are now turning the classic Half-Life engine based mod into a stand-alone game. Using their in-house game engine, Charlie Cleveland and company are now working on Natural Selection 2. Check out the nice interview for all the slimey details.

We have four “pillars” that we’re designing the gameplay around (link). The first pillar is “Two Unique sides”. Both sides (Marine and Alien), are totally unique. For instance, when playing as an alien, we will increase the field of view and blur the edges of the screen a little to make it feel like you have a different kind of animal perception than the humans.

F.E.A.R. Steam!

The upcoming sequel to 2005’s brilliant title F.E.A.R. is landing on the digital distribution battlefields. In particular, Steam and Direct2Drive. But since the latter is a shitty distribution service, we’ll just cheer Steam as usual.

• Press Release

Free Open-Source Gaming Fun

For those who love playing FPS genre of games, here are two games, good fun to play on your PC, you can visit this website for Open Arena & another game Nexuiz, these games are based on maps created by users, with Mods and levels available for addition apart from levels made available with the game. Read more

Call of Duty: World at War - PC BETA Info

Info about Call of Duty: World at War BETA, directly from the horse’s mouth;

Hi everyone,

We’re rapidly approaching the PC BETA, and as such I wanted to lay out a few key features to the PC version of CoD:WW, and what ramifications it will have on the PC BETA.

First, the entire key authentication / master server paradigm is changing for the first time in a Call of Duty PC title. In CoD:WW, you will be authenticating in-game against a more global master server. This server will keep track of and maintain unique Profile names (like a screenname) which will be tied to your CD Key. So while username / passwords will not be required to play our game, you will have globally unique profile names.

Why are we doing this? Because also for the first time ever in a Call of Duty PC title, we’re bringing Friends and Invites (which are typically console staples) to the PC. So we have built-in Friends functionality. You can add friends, filter your servers by Friends (see which servers your friends are playing in), join their servers, etc. You can also invite any online friends to come join you in your current game. We didn’t want the new Squad mechanics we’ve developed to get watered down on the PC, which is ultimately why we decided to bring you Friends & Invites, and thus globally unique profile names.

Now we understand that clan tags can change frequently, and it would be obnoxious and not very user friendly to keep changing your profile name. So we’ve added in clan tag prefixes, which will show up in-game. This should allow you to take full advantage of our Friends & Invites features, and still be able to make yourself more uniquely identifiable in-game.

So what does this have to do with the BETA?

You will be required to enter a CD Key for the BETA, much like you will when you get the full game this November. These PC keys will be available to all registered users of CallOfDuty.com, including any new users who sign up after the PC BETA releases. These keys aren’t intended to limit the BETA to a certain number of players; they are here to allow you to create these unique profile names for our Friends and Invites features.

How will BETA servers work?

The PC BETA will pretty much be a limited MP distribution of our game. So you will be able to host your own servers, and GSP’s will be able to sell BETA servers and put up as many dedicated servers as they’d like. All of this will function as if it were a regular Multiplayer game. It’s important to note, that for the BETA, the dedicated server will be Windows only.

Will our XP / accounts / friends transfer over from the BETA?

No, all accounts will be deleted after the BETA, just like on the Xbox 360.

More specifics on when the BETA will be released, how it will be released, and where you’ll be receiving your keys will be made available in my next update. Rest assured, we want to get you this BETA just as badly as you want to play it, so your patience is appreciated.

Regards,
-JD

Call of Duty 7 Maybe WWII Based

In an interview with CVG, Treyarch hinted that CoD7 may go back to WWII. Here’s an excerpt;

I can’t say that there won’t ever be a WWII Call of Duty game again, but we’re glad we were able to end the war and we’re glad we’re going to support the title with lots of downloadable content

Pre-Order Left 4 Dead on Steam

Grrr! Valve’s expensive Zombie Apocalypse is almost upon us. Left 4 Dead can now be pre-ordered via Steam. If you pre-order now, you get $5 off. The game is set to release in US/EU on November 18th/November 21st respectively.

Left 4 Dead is a new franchise from Valve, and has earned numerous awards as it marches to launch this holiday, including “Best of E3″ Awards from Game Infomer and Maximum PC magazines. Like the pre-purchase promotions happening at retail for the PC and Xbox 360 versions, those who pre-purchase via Steam will save 10% off the regular price. The pre-order promotions are part of a $10 million marketing campaign that includes television, outdoor, online and print advertising.

FarCry 2 Better, Call of Duty 4 Not

FarCry 2 will be really super awesome says Ubisoft. According to the publisher, FarCry 2 will be much more fun than Call of Duty 4, mostly so because of the open-world and non-linearity. Amusingly, this makes me say “No shit”. A non-linear game is obviously more fun to play than a linear/scripted one. Ubisoft is stating the obvious with these remarks - but whatever works for them, I guess.

I think our game will be compared to Call of Duty 4, even if it’s really quite different,” he told VideoGamer.com in an interview to be published early next week. “I think what we bring is, I would say, the crudeness or the wildness of Africa. This is what we feel, with the dynamic world, the dynamic environment… it’s really different. Call of Duty is more military, clean cut: you learn your maps and it’s always the same, the sniper is always in the same place on the map. In our game it won’t be like that because your sniping spot could be set on fire and then you have to move and find somewhere else. So it’s a lot more dynamic than Call of Duty 4.

Valve Spends a Fortune on Left 4 Dead Advertising

Valve has reportedly spent $10million dollars on the advertising campaign for Left 4 Dead. The campaign incorporates TV, Internet, Print and Outdoor advertising, with roughly half of the money going to TV ad-spots.

“We looked at the media mixes that various games have used for the last three years and used that to help us make decisions about how to allocate the dollars,” Newell said.

This, after Valve got 60% more pre-orders than Orange Box for Left 4 Dead. Remember that Orange Box had 5 Games and Left 4 Dead is just 1 IP.

About half of the campaign’s dollars will go towards television advertising. Valve has secured 30-second “high impact, premium placement” spots during USC, Notre Dame, Monday Night and Thanksgiving football broadcasts.

Very impressive. Good luck Valve!

Fallout 3: Expect the Unexpected

If you love open-world games like Mercenaries – The world in flames, and GTA series also you are a fan of post-apocalyptic games alike, Fallout 3 would give you the right material to pamper your gaming desires, here are few factors which definitely would give you the bang for your buck. Read more

Access Area-51 For Free!

Following the free releases of Far Cry, The Suffering and Full Spectrum Warrior, Midway’s 2005 FPS Area-51 is now available as a free ad-supported download. The game puts you in the shoes of Ethan Cole (Voiced by the ever excellent David Duchovny ) as he investigates a hazardous break-out in the secret government facility, know as Area-51. If you haven’t played this game, we strong recommend you do. While not earth shattering, Area-51 is a satisfying fps with great weapon implementation. The download weighs 1.9GB, so what are you waiting for?

Midway has released for free Area 51, allowing you to enjoy the PC version of this sci-fi FPS developed by Inevitable Entertainment. Area 51 features the voice talent of David Duchovny as Specialist Ethan Cole of the Hazardous Materials Division, Powers Boothe as Major Bridges, and recording artist Marilyn Manson as Edgar, the gray alien. As Cole, players,will delve into massive levels within the confines of Area 51, discovering a deadly mutagenic side effect of the virus that controls the minds of those infected, as well as an ancient alien colony buried beneath the facility. With a multitude of human and alien weapons, players must explore chilling conspiracies such as the extraterrestrial crash at Roswell and the faked lunar landing, in order to solve the enigma of Area 51 before the viral mutagen is released and irrevocably mutates all life on Earth.

• Download

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