First Screenshots
XCOM Enemy Unknown
Triple Impact
Enter Raccoon City
XCOM Enemy Unknown Announced
Strategy Game From Firaxis
2011 Readers' Choice Winners
Picking The Faves
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The PC version of Super Street Fighter IV AE will be receiving multiple updates imminently, so say Capcom: "For all of you who have been waiting patiently for your PC version of Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition to receive the 2012 update, we have some news for you. Our development team has been cracking the whip on this project, and are aiming to have the 2012 update ready for you all by the end of February."
The updates will be arriving somewhat late compared to the version's console and arcade counterparts, which were released in early December. The changes are centered around balancing the various characters on the roster; the full changelog for all characters can be viewed over at Shoryuken. My main (Akuma) has been nerfed slightly - overhead demon flip palm, I will miss you.
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The reasons given (below) remain as vague as ever, but I have an inkling that this oft-mentioned "restriction" is monetary in nature and has very little to do with the players themselves.
"Steam has adopted a set of restrictive terms of service which limit how developers interact with customers to deliver patches and other downloadable content. We are intent on providing Mass Effect to players with the best possible experience no matter where they purchase or play their game, and are happy to partner with any download service that does not restrict our ability to connect directly with our consumers. "
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Puzzle games are stupid and I love them, but I'd never even once played Bejewelled before. This third iteration is such unabashed barrage of positive reinforcement it makes me feel as though I'm being subtly mocked. It's taken it a step too far, beyond even Peggle. I hold a button on my mouse down and drag it a milimetre in one direction and that small movement is met by such a cacophony of ridiculousness - candy-bright blocks turning into hypercubes, glass smashing at every available opportunity, gigantic explosions from nothing and the string of congratulatory phrases following a series of random consecutive block-matching - it makes me feel stupid.
I managed to reach a point in 4 Elements (a low-res puzzle-block game that brought me many hours of joy with its slightly less patronising use of sound) at which my computer crashes every time, without fail. It's not just the program crashing either, it's my entire computer being reduced to one, grating sound (usually "HRRRRRRR") from which the only escape is holding down the power button for an extended period of time. The game is built on a linear series of puzzles too, so I can never go back. There were "spot the difference" sections! I was saving a kingdom! My only source of comfort is the following video.
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After all of the delays and drama surrounding Diablo III and the South Korean Ratings Board Blizzard has decided to drop the controversial real-money auction house from the game in order to secure an official rating in South Korea. The board has approved Diablo III for an '18' rating, but has warned that they will re-open examination if Blizzard attempts to add the auction house in a later patch.
Thanks PCG.
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The success of Minecraft has provided Mojang an unique opportunity that many smaller developers never get. They are in a position of freedom to do whatever they want to next. They just finished published Cobalt and still have the infamous Scrolls in development, but Mojang CEO Carl Manneh revealed that they've got three more unannounced titles in the works. One of the titles we already knew was in the works when Notch announced he was stepping down from the lead developer position on Minecraft to work on the new project. Notch's new big idea is undoubtedly a long way off, Manneh saying "What it is today, I don’t think he knows himself. We certainly don’t. It’s probably going to be a lot of testing and playing around to see what works.”
We should be able to play the other titles relatively soon, as in, sometime in the first half of this year even. Further details are for now sketchy at best because of NDAs that are in place, but we should get to see more info soon. It is hard to imagine what Mojang will do next after the behemoth that is Minecraft, but Manneh maintains "They will have a big impact on Mojang over the next year." Time will tell, but when Mojang talks about a new game, I'm all ears.
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A quick update on that Dark Souls PC Petition, apparently the admin at Namco was very impressed by the explosion of a response in the form of this petition (now over 71000) that some higher ups in Namco are sitting up and taking notice. Shoupinou (the Namco Bandai Admin) writes:
“Damn you are amazing! I honestly wasn’t expecting such a massive support. My boss(es) even came to talk to me about this, after it exploded all around the world. If you wanted to have the attention of Namco Bandai Games, now you have it. The future is in your hands, and I hope you will keep supporting this. I make a personal objective to make sure every relevant people in Namco Bandai Games is in touch with this formidable effort.”
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Old buildings and structures are becoming obsolete and need to be upgraded or even replaced by their modern counterparts. Cars and transportation need modernisation to meet the needs of a changing economy; and now El Presidente can even send people to the International Space Station! El Presidente and his ministers must now join the war against terror and control Internet regulation and freedom of speech on Tropico.
Key Features:
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More information has come to the surface about the Amir Mizra Hekmati case since Ohmwrecker’s story about Iran sentencing the Kuma/War designer to death. The iQU Intelligencer published an article concerning the case which goes into detail about Kuma Games’ ties with the US military, US efforts to secure Hekmati’s release, and the lack of any evidence presented by Iranian officials besides a confession (which might have been coerced through torture).
Additionally, Amir’s family has set up a website devoted to freeing their son. The following statement, featured on the front page of the Free Amir website, is by his mother, Behnaz Hekmati.
My husband Ali and I are shocked and terrified by the news that our son, Amir, has been sentenced to death.
We believe that this verdict is the result of a process that was neither transparent nor fair.
The Iranian authorities are denying that Amir is a United States citizen, despite the fact he was born in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Amir did not engage in any acts of spying, or "fighting against God," as the convicting Judge has claimed in his sentence. Amir is not a criminal. His very life is being exploited for political gain.
A grave error has been committed, and we have authorized our legal representatives to make direct contact with the Iranian authorities to find a solution to this misunderstanding.
We pray that Iran will show compassion and not murder our son, Amir, a natural born American citizen, who was visiting Iran and his relatives for the first time.
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A Month back we reported that CD Projekt RED was attempting to sue individuals who allegedly pirated The Witcher 2. Their policy has since changed, and Marcin Iwinski, the company's co-founder, released an open letter explaining why. The text of his letter is posted in its entirety below.
An Open Letter to the Gaming Community from CD Projekt RED
In early December, an article was published about a law firm acting on behalf of CD Projekt RED, contacting individuals who had downloaded The Witcher 2 illegally and seeking financial compensation for copyright infringement. The news about our decision to combat piracy directly, instead of with DRM, spread quickly and with it came a number of concerns from the community. Repeatedly, gamers just like you have said that our methods might wrongly accuse people who have never violated our copyright and expressed serious concern about our actions.
Being part of a community is a give-and-take process. We only succeed because you have faith in us, and we have worked hard over the years to build up that trust. We were sorry to see that many gamers felt that our actions didn't respect the faith that they have put into CD Projekt RED. Our fans always have been and remain our greatest concern, and we pride ourselves on the fact that you all know that we listen to you and take your opinions to heart. While we are confident that no one who legally owns one of our games has been required to compensate us for copyright infringement, we value our fans, our supporters, and our community too highly to take the chance that we might ever falsely accuse even one individual.
So we've decided that we will immediately cease identifying and contacting pirates.
Let's make this clear: we don't support piracy. It hurts us, the developers. It hurts the industry as a whole. Though we are staunch opponents of DRM because we don't believe it has any effect on reducing piracy, we still do not condone copying games illegally. We're doing our part to keep our relationship with you, our gaming audience, a positive one. We've heard your concerns, listened to your voices, and we're responding to them. But you need to help us and do your part: don't be indifferent to piracy. If you see a friend playing an illegal copy of a game--any game--tell your friend that they're undermining the possible success of the developer who created the very game that they are enjoying. Unless you support the developers who make the games you play, unless you pay for those games, we won't be able to produce new excellent titles for you.
Keep on playing,
Marcin Iwinski
co-founder
CD Projekt RED
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In case you have a fetish for games about L'Empereur, I've posted screenshots and the first part of a 4 part AAR trailer below.
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Moving along, we're finally seeing some winter weather in my parts. I don't know about the rest of you, especially anyone not in the US, but it has been a really really abnormal winter so far here. Like, last month was probably the nicest December I've ever lived through in my life. It's a shame such amazing weather had to end, but Spring isn't all that far off. I've got plenty of games to keep me occupied no matter how bad the weather gets from now until then.
For your end of week entertainment, I've got even more picks for you guys. Buckwheat Groats teaches you the Dinner Table Game with a semi-NSFW rap, EPIC drum solo kid pukes but keeps on going like a boss, and (to keep the frontpage family friendly) here's a random clip of what else other than space cats.
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