Colonial Marines

Diablo 3 Team PVP shelved

Yep, it looks like another Blizzard hyped feature has gone the way of the Dance Studio.

" Simply fighting each other with no other objectives or choices to make gets old relatively quickly.  We've brought a lot of people in to try out Team Deathmatch and, while some found it entertaining, most of our testers didn't feel like it was something they'd want to do beyond a few hours. Without more varied objectives, or very lucrative rewards, few saw our current iteration as something they'd want spend a lot of time in. "

 Isn't that what Diablo 2 PVP was, just simply fighting each other with no other objectives.

I don't really know whats changed at blizzard they do way too much thinking. 

A Fairytale of Sipsco

Be enlightened

The Secret World is now B2P

Another MMO that offered life time subscription drops its subs. In this case only a few months after release.

The Secret World is now Buy to play meaning it no longer requires a sub. You can still subscribe and get leveling bonuses, store discounts and 'free' points to spend on the store each month.

The game will now instead release DLC which is new story missions and arcs.

They should have done this at the beginning and alarm bells always go off if a MMO offers life time subs & a cash store.

Hopefully the buy to play model is here to stay. Subscriptions are worthless these days and I rather have company's work for my money instead of sit around for 8 sucking money out of me then release a expansion at full price. 

Runescape: Player owned Ports

If your graphics engine is dated, you only have 3 options when it comes to promoting your MMO:

1) Make a expensive CGI video that shows no gameplay.
2) Hire famous people to talk about the game.
3) Dress your devs up as pirates and sing a song

Wintersday

December 14 to January 3 Guildwars 2

Blood & Chrome has finished

If you haven't watched it yet, the entire pilot is up to view offically on youtube. Here is the new trailer they released at the end:

Creative Assembly aquire Warhammer Licence

WARHAMMER: TOTAL WAR !

“We’ll be doing the Warhammer universe justice in a way that has never been attempted before. We’re bringing those 25 years of experience and expertise in extremely high-scoring games to bear, delivering a Warhammer experience that videogamers will absolutely love.”

Kerbal Space Program 0.18

Now with docking. This is a huge update to the game and adds many new features and systems.

This video helps by showing how to dock.

Coming soon to Planetside 2

Planetside 2: Launchs

I didn't like the beta, as I just had a really bad experience with dieing to idiots. This has changed since launch.

I have been playing since about 2 hours after launch and have been really getting into the game. For starters the size of the battles are epic. Guys all over the place, bullets wizing around, this is real warfare that you usually only find in Arma 2.

The graphics still look a bit off to me, blurry like its some forced FSAA or upscaleing but performance wise the game runs well and it does have its visual moments. I have everything on high except for the motion sickness blur and the pointless SSOA.

I am playing on a US WEST server and havn't had too much trouble with lag. Usually issue with the medic gun being stuck on someone is only when I find out I am lagging.

Its a bit sad that gameplay seems to only take place around bases and you don't encounter anything between unless its flying. Most people spawn in from the moblie spawn points but the battles around the base are a lot of fun.

The game is on steam but personally I have downloaded it directly off the Planetside 2 site.

I can't really comment on the free to play part of the game yet but the membership benefits do look worth while and it looks like you loose nothing but the cert boost if you stop subscribing. I'll see how I go after a few more days to really get a feel of the game.

You can download the client here:

http://www.planetside2.com/

It is around 6gb in size.

Star Citizen: Walking on spaceports

I am kind of stunned that the concept art for this is now a 3D model. These guys aren't lazing around:

Star Citizen - Early Spaceport concept art to 3D environment test from Roberts Space Industries on Vimeo.

Guild Wars 2: Fractals of the mists

Fractals of the mist is a brand new instance coming to Guild Wars which is made up of mini dungeons. As the name suggests it is parts of the mists.

Best to think of this as a massive caverns of time with random locations for each mini dungeon.

Each time you run you randomly get put into 3 diffrent shards of the mists. When you complete all 3 you retrun to face a random boss. The diffuculty slowly incresses the more you make progress and the dungeon is open to all character levels making it very accessable.

Here is the trailer for the dungeon:

Star Citizen: AI Test

The Lost Shores

Episode 1: Blood and Chrome

Put the direct link up instead of embeding:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT79x4qM4FE&feature=g-u-u

Warning, contains over use of lens flare which maybe harmful to children.

Mythic is just Mythic again

Mythic who runs Warhammer Online was renamed to BioWare Mythic in 2010 have just announced they are now called Mythic again dropping the Bioware tag.

Guess they didn't like Dragon Age 2 either ......

BSG: Blood & Chrome

Kilrathi in Star Citizen ?

Looks like a Kilrathi. I really hope that they are in the game, I wouldn't mind a name change. They are the greatest enemy in Wing Commander and really add flavor to the war. I couldn't stand the Nephilim from Wing Commander 5, they were boring and generic and so I never finished that game.

So hopefully the Kilrathi return.

Star Citizen: Xi’An

The first alien race of Chris Roberts: Star Citizen has been announced. A lizard looking race called the Xi'An.

Now they just need to add a race based on the Kzin, maybe Kilbathi or Purathi or something =P

Lost Shores

The rumored Guildwars 2 content has been confirmed is coming this month.

Teaser details can be found here:

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/november-2012/

The post game content support for Guildwars 2 is far more than I expected and no monthly fee. We just came out of the Mad King Thorn event and now we have this. Also next month will be the Christmas events.

 

 I am am also very keen on seening the DOTA prototype from the Halloween event turn into a full time sPVP game. It was tons of fun.

New Kerbal Space Program

Kerbal Space Program 1.17.1 has been released. Nothing major with this update ( like docking yet ) but there have been quite a few bug fixes and some new music. Which is funny because I don't remeber any music except for in the menu.

Full patch notes below:

Planetside 2: TB Critique

Most of the points he highlights in this video is why I am disaponted with the game. I really haven't given it a chance but thats mainly because it looked terriable graphic wise and I got team killed endlessly. In the end I rather play WvWvW in Guildwars 2 that has team work than run around with headless chickens all day.

Dust 514 Trailer

After trying Planetside 2 I am more intrested in how Dust 514 is going to play. This trailer already makes it look more interesting:

Shadow of the Mad King

The Lord Inquisitor Trailer

This is a fan made Warhammer 40k movie. The CGI is up to Blizzard standard as far as I am concerned, very well done:


The voice acting does need a bit more work.

Shadow of the Mad King

The first content update for Guildwars 2 is coming soon:

Shadow of the Mad King

Release Overview

Halloween has a long history in Tyria, and in times past was always marked by the spirit of Mad King Thorn cavorting among the people unleashing his own brand of insanity. However, it’s been over 250 years since he was last seen, and for most people he is merely a figure of folklore. Despite this, rumors persist among the populace that something wicked this way comes.
Shadow of the Mad King is the first major game release for Guild Wars 2 and will go live on October 22. This new game update will include a number of new features for all of our players to enjoy, new content to explore and see, and a week-long Halloween event.

More details at the offical site: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/events/halloween-2012

Chris Roberts is back

And he gets what is wrong with gaming theses days:

“In recent years, game designers have stopped innovating and pushing the boundaries of what you can do in this genre,” says Roberts. “I plan on bringing that kind of development mentality back into PC gaming and space sims in particular. "

Remebering ANV

I haven't said much about Guildwars 2 since its release but the near 500 hours I have put in speaks for itself. This is the most enjoyable game I have brought in a long time and partly due to the fantastic people of ANV.

Sadly ANV has moved realms and I went with them. So I decided to post some pictures of our adventures. In reality nothing has changed, we are still the same group of players but just under a new name on a new realm but I like to remeber where we have come from.

We are many.

Under the leadership of Nomnomnomnom & Silborn ( not shown )

Doing great things.

Destroyers of siege.

The bane of trebuchet.

The chaos of the storm.

Protectors of Dolyaks.

and the taimers of the zerg.

I just can't get enough of World v World PVP :)

Now its time to make a video of the antics of the new guild.

Mount & Blade 2

Is coming:


And the trailer, shows nothing but I am still excited.  It must be about time I load the game up and put another 30 hours into my kingdom.

Bioware founders retire

It happens to everyone ( who sign up with EA ) sooner or later.

"This has been an incredibly difficult decision to make; after thinking about it for many months, I made the decision to retire from videogames back in early April 2012 -- at that time I provided six months' notice to EA, to help enable a solid transition for my teams at BioWare,"

Better start the counter down for them doing a Kickstarter project. They can't do Baldors Gate, someone else already beat them to it.

Dragon Age III Inquisition Announced

NO

NO

NO

NO

Dragon age 2 is one of the worst games I have ever played and I stopped buying Bioware games that day. The very fact they are calling it Inquisition is just a excuse to put a court room scene into the game, like every other game they have done.   

FTL Released

Is it any good ?

Well I have been playing it all day, which is rare. Its keeped me from playing Guildwars 2, so it is good.

City of Hero's protests

In case you missed it, NCSoft is going to shut down City of Hero's, turns out this made a lot of people unhappy and they started protesting today:

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=297058

3,000 people spread over 32 instances.

This shutdown seems as crazy as the Starwars Galaxies closure ( wonder what was more profitable lucsarts, SWG or ToR ).

Anyway I hope they can make the NCSoft executives realise that the game is still popular.

Jeremy Soule: Fear not this night

Wow as if I couldn't get any more excited:

It is the Sylvari theme and it is the song of the pale tree.

This melody has been echoing around since the last Gamescom trailer and its fantastic to hear the final version of it.

8 More days.

Next few months

Its that time again to list off what I am looking forward too in the next few months for gaming.

1) FTL (indy)

http://www.ftlgame.com/

I am looking forward to this as it reminds me of the classic PSI 5 Trading company. I don't know too much about it besides the videos but its a RTS / Roguelike space combat game that concentrates in the internal systems and crew of your ship.

2) PlanetSide 2 (free2play)

http://www.planetside2.com/

The first planetside appeared at wrong time for me. I hated the idea of pay to play games also my internet connection was 128kb/s.

Most of this won't be a problem for PS2 which is free to play.

3) Firefall (free2play)

http://www.firefallthegame.com/

Where planetside is PVP firefall will have more PVE elements. This game is still a unknown, some of the videos from early beta's haven't looked fun but the game has gone under a redesign to try and bring skill and less gear / levels into play.

4) Evochron Merc expansion (indy)

http://www.starwraith.com/evochronmercenary/development.htm

Better planets, being able to walk around on them and other improvements to the game which has surpassed freelancer for online space sandbox.

5)TorchLight 2 (indy)

http://www.torchlight2game.com/

Multiplayer, Lan, Random Maps, Custom Characters, Mods, Pets, Fun, Matt Uelmen and no Real Money Auction House CRAP.

The game that diablo wanted to be.

I think that's it, I just have a feeling I am missing something, about cats.

10 Years of Weebl

Planetside 2 CGI Trailer

Guild Wars 2: Get Ready

Guild Wars 2 Launch

August 28th 

Skyrim: Mount & Blade

The mounted combat patch for Skyrim dropped while I was eating my toast this morning. No patch details yet.

WatchDogs

I thought I put my rant in before the video. Watching this video brought back memorys of the old Half-life 2 trailers which we discoevred were scripted and fake.

While the gameplay they showed isn't impossable, the situations setup are far too complex to be completely procedually generated. The way the NPCS act, sit and move. The father in the car crash reacting to his daughter, the way the whole intersection scene crashed.

The game still looks interesting and the concept is good but I will be holding out for forum reviews before I even come close to touching it. Also it is UBISOFT so expect stupid DRM.


The game was playable at E3 but rumor has it the PS3 controllers were connected to PC's.

Xcom:Enemy Unknown Trailer

Zeno Clash 2

Just when I was running out of games to look forward to:

Someone found the key

And turned it on again.

Dayz Update 1.6.1:

Developer's Note:
        * To collect firewood, you can either find it in loot piles, or go into a forest and use the hatchet

 (gear > Right Click). I will expand this mechanic but its enough for now.
        * You get a ONE TIME OFFER to change your player gender!
        * Only two types of new skins are available in this update, "Camo" and "Ghillie Suit" in addition to normal survivor
        * Skins a player is wearing are NOT lootable.
        * When you change skin (right click on clothing package in inventory) your old skin will appear in inventory
        * If you want a players skin, you will need to make them take it off first
       
    Changelog:
        * [FIXED]    Bodies being deleted immediately (now will stay around for 15 minutes)
        * [FIXED]    Player profiles sometimes corrupting and causing stuck in loading issues (error handling by engine)
        * [FIXED]    Temperature listed in percent and not degrees (now displayed in degrees)
        * [FIXED]    Loosing temperature inside vehicles (now will slowly gain or be static in vehicles)
        * [FIXED]    ItemPainkillers popup error (no longer happens: thanks Norbert!)
        * [FIXED]    Spawning in Ocean when switching models (player morphing optimized by TeeTime)
        * [FIXED]    Loosing gear when switching models (player morphing optimized by TeeTime)
        * [FIXED]    Wrong M107 is spawning on occasion (Correct one spawns)
        * [FIXED]    Crashed heli uber-loot not spawning (does now thanks to GhostBear!)
        * [FIXED]    Wire Fencing Kit caused graphical glitches (new model)
        * [FIXED]    Tank Trap Kit caused graphical glitches (new model)
        * [FIXED]    Invisible character models occuring (No longer invisible models)
        * [FIXED]    Panic not being activated (Your character will sometimes panic)
        * [FIXED]    Blood washout sometimes not being displayed (now will always wash out color depending on blood level)
        * [NEW]        Hatchet for chopping wood in forests
        * [NEW]        Wire Fencing kit model by Artyom Troshin
        * [NEW]        Tank Trap kit model by Artyom Troshin
        * [NEW]        Construction options moved to items in gear menu (right click wire fencing kit to use etc...)
        * [NEW]        Hospital Loot Spawn probabilities changed
        * [NEW]        Players can choose to be a female survivor (once only per CD-Key)
        * [NEW]        Heat packs for increasing temperature in an emergency
        * [NEW]        Bandit Skin transition for low humanity is removed
        * [NEW]        Players will receive an error message if the server they are on is running an incorrect HIVE version.

Fan trailer of Dayz mod

Sniper Elite V2 Patch

Fixes quite a few bugs but the biggest is this one:

 - All unlocked levels are now available in the co-op lobby screen, to resolve progression blocker after Flak Tower.

So we can finally progress.

Full patch details to follow.

JK2 is now out on the Mac

Which would have been good I guess for Macinsmash cause ironically she got a Mac but now I think has a PC for playing Diablo 3.

Knights of the Old Republic is also out on the Mac.The intresteing part is who did these ports and why such old games ?

Take On Noisecontrollers

http://takeonthegame.com/noisecontrollers/

Diablo 3: Wrath

Elder Scrolls Online - Screenshots

Mists of Pandaria - Login Music

This is was datamined from the latest Mists Beta Update and is rumored to be the new login soundtrack.

Elder Scrolls Online

Developed by the team at Zenimax Online Studios, The Elder Scrolls Online merges the unmatched exploration of rich worlds that the franchise is known for with the scale and social aspects of a massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Players will discover an entirely new chapter of Elder Scrolls history in this ambitious world, set a millennium before the events of Skyrim as the daedric prince Molag Bal tries to pull all of Tamriel into his demonic realm.

"It will be extremely rewarding finally to unveil what we have been developing the last several years," said game director and MMO veteran Matt Firor, whose previous work includes Mythic's well-received Dark Age of Camelot. "The entire team is committed to creating the best MMO ever made – and one that is worthy of The Elder Scrolls franchise."

An in-depth look at everything from solo questing to public dungeons awaits in our enormous June cover story – as well as a peek at the player-driven PvP conflict that pits the three player factions against each other in open-world warfare over the province of Cyrodiil and the Emperor's throne itself.

Mount & Blade: Warband patch

Mount & Blade: Warband patched today including new updates to the Napoleonic Wars DLC:

1.152 Changelog:

Common:
- Bugs related with sounds and music have been fixed. Disable music option now works correctly.
- Muskets sticking to left hand after reloading bug has been fixed.

Single player:
- Several dialog text fixes.
- Lords now defect even faster when their faction has no centers left.
- Minor fix on faction AI.

Multiplayer:
- Trees with bad physics that caused missiles to pass through them have been fixed.
- Switching module without closing the application now works.

UPDATE: More Napoleonic wars patch details in rest of the post:

Guildwars 2 server details

I am not too keen on how this works. Locked to a server, costs you gems ( money ) to transfer and its all or nothing:

http://www.arena.net/blog/choosing-and-transferring-worlds-in-guild-wars-2

I was hoping they would just avoid stand alone servers and opt for region realms. So then I don't have to bother with queues, dead realms / over populated realms and just being trapped.

Having been screwed over TWICE now with Rift making ' trial ' servers forcing me to loose my characters names TWICE. It makes me think I should wait a month or two until after the release hype and see what the servers are like before jumping in headlong.

TotalBiscuit explains Grimrock

I had to stop watching it because it looks far too good and I don't want to be spoiled but this video will hopefully show why I can't wait for this game.

Fallout 1: Free on GOG 48 hours only

http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/fallout

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The Masters of Story Telling

Welcome to story 2.0, where you can ship now and patch later. 

BioWare, a Label of Electronic Arts Inc. announced Mass Effect™ 3: Extended Cut, a downloadable content pack that will expand upon the events at the end of the critically acclaimed Action RPG. Through additional cinematic sequences and epilogue scenes, the Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut will give fans seeking further clarity to the ending of Mass Effect 3 deeper insights into how their personal journey concludes. Coming this summer, the Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut will be available for download on the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and PC for no extra charge*.

“We have reprioritized our post-launch development efforts to provide the fans who want more closure with even more context and clarity to the ending of the game, in a way that will feel more personalized for each player.” “We are all incredibly proud of Mass Effect 3 and the work done by Casey Hudson and team,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, Co-Founder of BioWare and General Manager of EA’s BioWare Label. “Since launch, we have had time to listen to the feedback from our most passionate fans and we are responding. With the Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut we think we have struck a good balance in delivering the answers players are looking for while maintaining the team’s artistic vision for the end of this story arc in the Mass Effect universe.”

Casey Hudson, Executive Producer of the Mass Effect series added, “We have reprioritized our post-launch development efforts to provide the fans who want more closure with even more context and clarity to the ending of the game, in a way that will feel more personalized for each player.”

Lol, extended ending, does it unfade from black and your crew 'dance crazy' for 2 mins.

Warhammer 40k MMO canned

But will instead be a singleplayer game with multiplayer compoants.

I am accually excited about this prospect. Will this be a full Warhammer 40k singleplayer RPG ?

I really hope so.

Sadly this does mean some people have lost there jobs over at THQ and Relic.

Legend of Grimrock - GoG !

11th of April - Legend of Grimrock is released on Good Old Games:

Not cool CCP

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-03-26-ccp-launches-investigation-after-eve-online-fanfest-panel-accused-of-mocking-suicidal-player

Not to be out done by Blizzard, CCP allows some low douchebaggery to go down at last weeks fan feast.

Red Pandaren

And they do come with tails.

Mass effect 3 getting a new ending

The masters of story telling strike again:

"Exec Producer Casey Hudson and the team are hard at work on a number of game content initiatives that will help answer the questions, providing more clarity for those seeking further closure to their journey. You'll hear more on this in April. We're working hard to maintain the right balance between the artistic integrity of the original story while addressing the fan feedback we've received. This is in addition to our existing plan to continue providing new Mass Effect content and new full games, so rest assured that your journey in the Mass Effect universe can, and will, continue."

Game content initiatives ........... Paid DLC for fixed ending - Perfect
Artistic integrity of story ....... um ...... er ........ Shepard it was just a dream - Brilliant.

Skyrim 1.5 update

UPDATE 1.5 (all platforms unless noted)

NEW FEATURES

    New cinematic kill cameras for projectile weapons and spells
    New kill moves and animations for melee weapons
    Shadows on grass available (PC)
    Smithing skill increases now factor in the created item’s value
    Improved visual transition when going underwater
    Improved distance LOD transition for snowy landscapes

Dragon Age 2: Exalted March cancelled

Dragon Age II "Exalted March" DLC money grab Expansion cancelled.

We did have plans for an expansion pack to DA2 but, other DA opportunities came up. There were even shirts! It was called Exalted March.

Ha !

Do they really still think they made the right choices with this game ?

Prometheus - Full trailer

More Mists of Pandaria Screenshots

Already there

So calls go out across the internet to boycott Bioware for the treatment of Mass Effect in the 3rd installment and its conclusion.

All I can say is I am already there but I started with Dragon Age 2.

Any goodwill the company had built up was destroyed when they released that game.

It is the worst game I have ever brought for my PC and its up against titles like Derek Smarts: Battlecruser 3000AD.

Notch getting his Bafta

And Hes going to do a space game next .....

Diablo III Launching May 15

Diablo III Launching May 15

More Mists Pandaria of screenshots

These have been appearing in blizzards screenshots of the day:

New Mists of Pandaria screenshot

Wastland 2

Before Fallout they made a game called Wasteland. I had it on the C64 and it was one of the best RPG's to be made in the 80's.

Now thanks to Kickstarter, they are trying to raise funds to make a sequel:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/wasteland-2?ref=live

Guildwars 2 Pre Order April 10th

This < insert adjective here > is getting real:

NCsoft, the world’s premier publisher and developer of massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), today revealed the Pre-Purchase program for Guild Wars 2, the most anticipated online role-playing game scheduled for release in 2012. Starting April 10, players who pre-purchase the Guild Wars 2 Collector’s, Digital Deluxe, or Standard Editions will receive guaranteed entry into all beta weekend events and a three-day headstart prior to launch, giving them the opportunity to be among the first to secure their character and guild names. As a bonus, players who pre-purchase any edition will also receive an exclusive Hero’s Band, which will provide their characters with a broad range of power boosts as they venture into the world of Tyria in Guild Wars 2.

The Guild Wars 2 Collector’s Edition offers fans an unparalleled collection of physical content that goes beyond the game. The centerpiece of the Collector’s Edition is a detailed, hand-painted 10-inch statue of the bestial warrior Rytlock Brimstone wielding his signature flaming sword. Along with the Rytlock statue, players will receive a custom frame along with five stunning Guild Wars 2 art prints from world-renowned artists, a 112-page Making of Guild Wars 2 hardback book, a Best of Guild Wars 2 Soundtrack CD by award-winning composer Jeremy Soule, and five in-game items, including a Mistfire Wolf that will fight alongside players and a miniature Rytlock who will accompany them on their travels through Tyria.

The Guild Wars 2 Collector’s Edition will retail at $149.99 MSRP, the Digital Deluxe at $79.99 MSRP and the Standard Edition at $59.99 MSRP. Players may also pre-order Guild Wars 2 at select retailers, allowing them to reserve their copy of the game at launch. Players who pre-order Guild Wars 2 will receive a one-day headstart prior to launch.

 Also kick ass collectors edition:

Scrolls is Scrolls

Sanity won the day between Bethesda's lawers and Mojang:

 We have settled the lawsuit over Scrolls and Mojang and Bethesda are friends again.

To answer the big question – yes Scrolls is still going to be called Scrolls.

To answer the second question – we aren’t going to keep the trade mark.

For us this was never about a trade mark but being able to use Scrolls as the name of our game which we can – Yey.

PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Videos

When the first screenshots came out I was a bit dis intesteded in the game as the maps looked small and enclosed. After these videos I am interested again:

Minecraft 1.2 Trailer

Mists of Pandera Stat Changes

Ghostcrawler has a long list of the stat changes.

The parts I am interested in is the PVP gear. They seem to be making it a lower ilevel than pve meaning people won't be able to use in lfr or lfg easily.

But it sounds like PVP gear will be better for pvp just not such a huge gap. Which is a shame, I feel if you only do PVP you should have better gear for pvp than those who only do PVE.

Anyway this list needs more analysing before I can really comment on it.

Minecraft 1.2 Released

Its now auto patches and is ready to go, YAY.

Full patch notes in rest of post.

Minecraft 1.2 Tomorrow

Tis the session to be patching ......

Minecraft 1.2 is out tomorrow, you can get the preview build now but the client will auto update offically tomorrow.

I can't wait.

Also more news on the server side API for mods:

The plan is to build a fresh server API, and then extend it to support client-side modding (in one way or another). We will try to make it easy for bukkit users to convert if they wish to do so, but backwards compatibility is not guaranteed. We will, however, help bukkit to be compatible with 1.2, to avoid having a long gap while you wait for the official Minecraft server to catch up. 

WoW 4.3.3 64bit client update

Instructions and download link can be found here:

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/3988300405

Warcraft 4.3.3 patch released

Not sure whats changed as at the time the patch notes were empty.

Something about nerfing raids I think.

Skyrim Patched

UPDATE 1.4.27 (PC Only)
LAUNCHER

• Fixed issue with downloading mods when you are subscribed to more than 50 mods
• Fixed crash when loading a subscribed mod that has been removed from Workshop by the author
• Mod load order functionality

BUG FIXES (PC only)

• Fixed occasional crashes when loading a save that relies on plugins/master files that no longer exist
• Fixed issue where controls would become unresponsive while charging an enchanted weapon
• Fixed issue where controls would occasionally become unresponsive while switching from third to first person while using the Arcane Enchanter
• Fixed issue where controls would become unresponsive if activating a crafting station with autorun active
• Fixed issue where keyboard would fail if Rename Item was selected before choosing the number of charges, while using Arcane Enchanter
• Fixed several issues with remapping buttons while using an Xbox 360 controller
• Fixed issue where pressing Escape button after fast traveling but before the loading would cause certain menus to stop working properly
• Followers now sneak properly when player is sneaking

Patch 4.3.3 will break the current 64-bit WoW client

This makes me sad as the 64bit client is just awesome. According to blizzard you will need to delete the following files:

In order to patch successfully, you must delete the following files from inside your World of Warcraft folder:

Wow-64.exe (PC)
MovieProxy.exe (PC)
Battle.net-64.dll (PC)
World of Warcraft-64.app (Mac)

We apologize for any inconvenience this issue may cause, but please be aware that since the 64-bit client is still in a testing state that complications such as this may happen from time to time.  Thank you.

http://us.battle.net/support/en/article/64bit-client-prevents-patching-to-433

A updated version of the client will be released soon.

Aion Free to play has started

And some reasion I have bunny ears ........

Darth Maul Returns

I don't even want to know how this is possable, this is like when Bobba Fett crawled out of the sarlacc pit ......

Yogscast preview the Theif from Guildwars 2

Worf gets denied

Seems like there was a lot of Klingon racism on the enterprise.

Yogscast - World vs Wolrd vs World PVP

What worries is is the lag Simon is getting from playing in the UK. It may mean that melee pvp could be tricky for us oceanic players.

Yogscast on Guildwars 2 Necromancers

Next MGS will be on PC

The next Metal Gear Solid is going to appear on the PC.

But eveyone keeps telling me PC gaming is dead ?

Terraria development has ended.

Terraria development has ended.

The future of Terraria has been highly debated as of late, not just with the community, but for us as well. The last year has been a crazy ride! When I started on this game, I just had a few ideas of what I thought would make a fun game. I had no idea that it would receive so much attention. I want to thank all of you for supporting us and making this game's success possible.

After a lot of internal debate, we have decided that it is time to move on. My wife and I are due to have another boy soon, and I want to spend some time getting to know him. I also want to spend the time recharging and bettering myself as both a programmer and game designer. I have learned a lot from working on Terraria and plan on using what I've learned, building upon it, and moving forward with another, even better project. However, we are still planning at least one more bug fix for Terraria.

For those that haven't already heard, Finn "Tiy" Brice has moved on to form Chucklefish and is heavily at work on an exciting new game called “Starbound”. It's looking to be a lot of fun, so make sure to check it out if you haven't already!

Thanks again for all your support, and I am very much looking forward to providing you with something much better than Terraria in the future!

Sad news but for me personally Terraria became very stale after playing Minecraft. It was very enjoyable at the start but once you had everything there wasn't anything to do. Minecraft on the flip side works hard to make sure you don't ever get to keep everything.

The new game Starbound doesn't intrest me much. 16bit Avatar rip off in a 2D world using what looks like the Terrari engine. I think I am just over 'retro' looking games and would like indy's who use it to pursue there own art style.

YogsCast do Charr

The Guildwars 2 awesomeness continues from Simon and Lewis.

AION North American Free to play

Accually, this sounds really good for once:

• No subscription fee. Play for free!
• No account restrictions. Visit any zone, chat in any channel, sell any amount of stuff on the trade broker—nothing is off limits!
• Robust countermeasures to combat game abuse. We're dedicating a ton of resources to preventing account theft, botting, and real money trading.
• No hassles. Create your account, download the game, and play!
• No harassment. Don't worry, we won't hound you with constant offers or promotions.
• A lot of great stuff we'll reveal more about leading up to launch!

I'll check it out at launch, that is if I can remeber my log in details.

Guildwars World PvP map

This video shows hardly anything at all and is another pointless display from the Press Beta. So far only the Yogscast have been doing anything good. I almost didn't link it in the end.

What it does show is how the World PVP aka Mists will work. Showing what looks like 3 idententical fortress maps and another map which looks like a middle ground.

Its good to see 3 sides in world PvP, this is really the only way to balance something. Because if one side becomes domanant, the other two can work together to take them down.

Here is the video:

Yogscast: Guildwars 2 Beta

I was going to link the massively montage but it was boring and I found this cause everything is better with Simon and Lewis:

Skyrim DLC will be Expansion packs

Bethesda have today said that they will be releasing expansion sized DLC instead of side quest sized DLC they did for Fallout 3.

This means there will be less of them but more value for money.

Also during the gaps between release expect free updates that add new content. This hopefully means the stuff they showed in the 'week' video.

Australian R18+ Bill

So hopefully this means no more worries about getting the censored version of games coming across the ditch.

Dear Esther now on steam

This is a Half-life 2 mod which I have been following for a very long time. It is now on steam for $9.95

http://store.steampowered.com/app/203810/

I usally don't like buying mods but as this provides a single player expereance I will be picking it up.

Why I won't be getting Mass Effect 3

1) Dragon Age 2
2) Bioware, " Masters of Story telling "
3) EA
4) Origin
5) Mass Effect 2

The plague of Free to play

The plague of free to play is spreading.

Lock boxes that require keys to unlock.

Where do you get the keys ?

At the cash shop of cause.

Star Trek Online features this and now so does Lord of the Rings Online. Team Fortress 2 has also been doing it for a while now.

To me, this is gambling and very dangerous so I will not support any system that implements it. My fear is that Guildwars 2 will do something similar.

Galaxy Rangers

One of the best Cartoons from the 80's, along side Thundercats.

This though its a little chessy, as 80's cartoons always had some reasion for the characters to play in a band, it covers most of what made the cartoon great:



Even if it has some of the worst lines from the show.

Latest Minecraft Snapshot

New Features:

• Many minor bug fixes and tweaks
• Doors have been changed to properly detect if they are open or closed. Double doors in existing maps will need to be updated
• Villagers will move indoors during night and rain, and socialize with each other
• Zombies will break down wooden doors on hard difficulty
• Added cat sounds
• Better movement for mobs in water
• Added rare mob item drops

Zombies breaking down wooden doors on Hard ....... barricade with dirt, problem solved =P

Warcraft Only Down 100k Subscribers

Down to 10.2 million in total.

I actually thought it would be a lot worse than this when you compare it to the others:

• Q1 2011 - 600,000 subscribers lost
• Q2 2011 - 300,000 subscribers lost
• Q3 2011 - 800,000 subscribers lost

The annual pass has helped but considering Blizzard are up against there biggest competition in ages this has been a surprise. Also I feel the direction that Cata has taken since 4.3 has really helped with new and interesting content opened for everyone.

This year is a big year for Blizzard, we should see the Launch of Diablo 3 in the Q2, also Heart of the Swarm is coming and finally we should see Mists of Pandaria by the end of the year.

This is a video from the D.I.C.E 2012 Keynote, by bethesda. It shows stuff that may make it into Skyrim as updates or DLC. There is no sound with the video.

Update: Video has been changed to one with sound and better frame rate as well as the intro:

High Res texture pack and Creation Kit Released

You can download both from steam.

The High res pack is found by right clicking on skyrim, selecting view DLC. Then clicking on the link saying view dlc for this product.

The texture pack is 3.2GB but its hosted on my ISP's steam content server.

The creation kit is found under library and then selecting tools from the drop down menu.

The Steam workshop page for Skyrim can be found here:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/browse/?appid=72850&browsesort=toprated

Today is a good day to be a PC gamer.

Elder Scrolls

A video showing how far the Elder Scrolls have come over the years:

And now for something completely random

The Skyrim supprise is rumored .....

To be a high res texture pack for the PC.

Skyrim Creation Kit & "Surprise" Tuesday

No word on what the supprise is but its to do with the Creation kit.

Skyrim 1.4

The new patch for skyrim is out with a long list of features which I'll post later.

The editor isn't out yet but they have a preview video of what it can do:


Patch notes below:

WoW 4.3.2 Is out

The 64bit client is still in beta but details on how to run this will be released soon. I am really looking forward to the 64bit client as it should enable faster load times once inital content is cached as well as more UI mods with less worry on hitting the 2gb memory cap of a 32bit program.

The other huge bonus is the new Battletag / RealID raid system where you can raid with anyone in the game no matter what realm they are on.

Full patch notes below:

Thief Gold On GoG

http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/thief_gold

This game is just amazing. It might be over 10 years old but the game play and level design haven't been surpassed. So many aspects of this game have been borrowed by more modern titles.

I have a feeling we may be seeing system shock 2 appearing on here soon. Hopefully they have fixed the dual core bug in the dark engine. If they have, I'll be buying this version even though I already own a boxed version of the original.

Everquest 1 Free to play

Following after Everquest 2 Sony have announced the orginal will also go free to play soon.

The question I have is, when will vanguard go free to play ?

New Xcom Screenshots

Its looking good, now can it keep the gameplay from the first game.

Witcher 2 Enhanced Edition

Something about a console version as well but whats more important is the new PC enhanced edition free to existing owners of the game:

New major adventures set in new locations. These consist of an underground system of chambers beneath Loc Muine and a temperate coniferous forest in the Loc Muine mountains, and a secret cave passage. These new adventures will add several hours of story-based gameplay to the game.

New major characters to the Witcher story. One of them is Brigida Papebrock Dame. This noble woman comes from the Temerian family Papebrock and is a 30 year old lady-in-waiting of the Temerian court. The other characters are secret--for now!

All new animations and cut scenes, including a new, three and a half minute pre-rendered cinematic depicting the assassination of King Demavend of Aedirn. BAFTA Award winner and Academy Award nominee Tomasz Baginski brings this key historical event to life, setting the stage for the story told in The Witcher 2.

No Blizzcon 2012

Blizzard Entertainment is proud to announce the 2012 Battle.net World Championship, a major global eSports event featuring some of the best pro-gaming competition in the world. Slated to take place in Asia toward the end of 2012, the Battle.net World Championship will host this year’s StarCraft II and World of Warcraft Arena World Championship tournaments. Blizzard gamers and eSports fans from around the world will be invited to attend and witness some of the most skilled pro players on the planet battle it out for cash and glory.

We’re excited to be showcasing Blizzard eSports on a truly global stage this year. We're also heavily focused on getting Diablo III, Mists of Pandaria, and Heart of the Swarm into players’ hands as soon as possible. In light of our jam-packed schedule, we’ve decided to hold the next BlizzCon in 2013.

More details about the 2012 Battle.net World Championship and BlizzCon 2013, including specific dates and locations, will be coming in the months ahead.

 Well thats a shame, I had a cunning plan this year to try and get in with out battleing the cues for tickets.

Guildwars 2 This Year !

Press Beta starts in Feb, with it ramping up in march to invites.

The Wait is almost over.

X Rebirth - Walking on ships

I am still trying to find out how this will work. I got the following quote from a Dev:

You can walk around on station platforms and inside your playership by moving from one point to another. So YES you can move in real 3D and interact with people, but NO you are not freely moving as in a FPS (also you dont have a gun for that

To move you will select a task and move then quickly to the appropriate place. The player will notice everything radically in the first person view (especially in the virtual reality this will be obvious).
Yes you can leave your ship to come in contact with NPCs on plattforms.

Which doesn't answer anything. 

You can walk around from one point to another in real 3d but you are not freely moving as in a fps ?!?

My guess is it will be like Starcraft 2 style adventure game which was between missioins.

Skyrim: Friendship is brutal

Skyrim Creation Kit by the end of the month

Also new Patch info:

Diablo 3 Delayed .... Again

 There’s a lot of work left to be done, though. We’re constantly tuning and making balance changes; it’s a massive task. Some of these changes can be seen in the beta, like changes to item rarity, the levels at which we introduce affixes, and how many affixes enemies can roll up. Some you can’t see in the beta, like balancing the difficulty of the entire game for four different difficulty levels, adding tons of new affixes, creating legendary items, filling out crafting recipes and itemization, working on achievements, and implementing Battle.net features. We’re also working on a number of other large systems changes -- specifically with the skill and rune systems. We're not quite ready to share what those are just yet, but we look forward to being able to do so in the near future.

We want Diablo III to be the best game it can be when it launches. To get there, we're going to be iterating on designs we've had in place for a long time, making changes to systems you've spent a lot of time theorycrafting, and removing features you may have come to associate with the core of the experience. Our hope is that by embracing our iterative design process in which we question ourselves and our decisions, Diablo III won't just live up to our expectations, but will continue to do so a decade after it's released.

Will they haven't annocuned a relase date, its sounding more unlikely its going to be ready for March. 

D3 10 character limit

Its offical:

We're sticking with a 10 character limit per region for the foreseeable future.

 Now if they only up the 10 character limit pre server in Warcraft.

Starshattered goes open source

I ran a post on my old forums about this fantastic space simulator game. Sadly a few years back they stopped working on it.

Today I discovered that it is now free to download and open source. You can download it from:

http://www.starshattermods.com/

You just have to register first before you can download it.

40k MMO canned ?

Rumor has it that the Warhammer 40k MMO has been canceled and THQ might be up for sale.

This will be sad as I like THQ as a publisher and the 40k MMO had my interest.

But in saying that the screenshots I have seen of the 40k MMO makes it look like a warcraft clone which just wouldn't work.

I also fear what will happen to Relic. Hopefully someone decent picks them up and the Warhammer IP licence as well. I'll post more news if its confirmed.

Mass Defect 3

Mass Effect 3 is only on EA Origin. I won't start my rant on Origin again but this is why I won't ever get Mass Effect 3.

EA Claim it to be this:

Will ME3 be available on Steam?
During initial release Mass Effect 3 will be available on Origin and a number of other 3rd party digital retailers, but not on Steam at this time. 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.

  Strange way of spinning that they can't have there own 3rd party store and must use steam for DLC.

The funny thing is, I am more likely to buy DLC via steam than any other system. This is due to the fact that I already buy items via steam.

After the utter disaster that was Dragon Age 2 and Mass effect 2. I won't be buying another Bioware game. This is another rant in itself =p

Minecraft 1.1

Minecraft 1.1 is out, this does mean waiting for Ponycraft to be updated and the texture mods:

New Features:

• Bow Enchantments
• Golden Apple recipe
• New language translations.
• Slightly smoothed color transitions between biomes
• Reduced brewing time to 20 seconds
• Added spawn eggs to creative (the colors of the eggs even look like the mobs)
• Added world type options (currently only super-flat and default)
• Removed collision box from ladders
• Sheep eat grass and regain their wool

Not a huge amount of new features but still intresting.

New Xcom Remake

Sure there is the lame fps com coming but today Fraxis ( civ5 )  announced a real remake of the classic with real time geomap and turn based combat.
I have a feeling it is going to be a budget title as it is coming to PC and consoles. I just hope it doesn't have some wacky art style.

X Bonus tune

This is from the X Superbox trailer:

http://www.egosoft.com/download/superbox/bonus_en.php?download=549

And the trailer itself:


The only game I don't own in this seriers is X-Tension. Due to not seeing it here in the shops.

The reasion I am linking this is I really like the X music. And you can get more from here:

http://zakharovmusic.com/

X - Rebirth Details

I recently got X3-Albion Prelude and have really been enjoying it. So I decided to check out some Rebirth details and see whats been released.

What I discovered has gotten me hyped. First the bad news:

You only fly one ship & no longer fly capital ships.

The good news is you still can own fleets and can also remote control your fleet. The reason for the new ship is it now has 'Rooms' and crew on board. I also has a flight deck. No details how these 'Rooms' Will work. If you can FPS walk around them or if they are hotpoint static screens.

Next up is this about cap ship changes:

You can in fact even land on these beasts and get out of your playership to meet NPCs while watching the large ship move around in space FROM the deck of the ship!

You won't be sitting in the cockpit and steer such a capital ship from the first person perspective anymore simply because that is boring. Steering huge and slowly-turning ships manually just doesnt make sense. It would force us to make them turn and move unrealistically quick and even then they would be impossible to maneuver near our huge and complex shaped stations.

Instead the steering is done by NPCs who work for you but closely follow your orders. You can control capital ships who work for you in many new ways.

I really hope it sounds as good as they describe it. If it is, X will launch to the top of my scifi best game list. Here are some new screenshots. First one featuring the players ship.