Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Trailer

Valve Announces Major Update for Steam

Looks like Valve will be adding some new things to Steam. I sure wish they would fix the old problems first.

This summer Valve will ship a major update to its online gaming platform Steam, introducing an advanced set of community features to more than 13 million gamers around the world.

Beginning in July, Steam users can set up their own personal Steam pages and profiles, create and join groups, schedule games with friends, review who they’ve played with, see how well everyone played, chat with groups, chat via voice, and more. These new community services and features can be used with all Steam games, which include new releases and classic titles from leading publishers and independent developers.

Free of charge, the new community features will be accessible via the Steam desktop client and via the web.

“Our community has given us great direction on the ways they want to see Steam evolve,” said Gabe Newell, co-founder and president of Valve. “Adding these new community features to make it easier to connect with other gamers is something we’ve wanted to see on Steam for a long time and this latest update is just the start. We’ve got a long list of items that we’re working on to make it easier for gamers to connect and play games on Steam.”

This upgrade marks the largest extension to the Steam platform since its first commercial release in March 2004. In its three year history, Steam has defined the next generation online gaming platform delivering hundreds of games to millions of users with services such as Guest Passes, Automatic Updates, Free Weekends, and allowing gamers to access their games from any PC.

People 1 The RIAA 0

A federal judge in New Mexico has put the brakes on the RIAA’s lawsuit train, at least in the US District Court for New Mexico. The case in question is part of the RIAA’s campaign against file-sharing on college campuses and names “Does 1-16,” who allegedly engaged in copyright infringement using the University of New Mexico’s network. In a ruling issued last month but disclosed today by file-sharing attorney Ray Beckerman, Judge Lorenzo F. Garcia denied the RIAA’s motion to engage in discovery. This means that the RIAA will not be able to easily get subpoenas to obtain identifying information from the University. Read here for the Full story.

New MMO Phylon screenshots and game info

Rapid Reality’s stated, “We are excited to release Phylon as it represents a lot of work from our team and from gamers who provided tremendous feedback during the beta testing phase. We hope that players will enjoy the game, in particular, the battle arenas.” He also stated, “Through focused surveys and general feedback in our forums, we will continue to tap into the creativity of the gaming community to help shape the game and its future expansions.”

Phylon combines the fast-paced action of a traditional shooter with the persistence and depth of an MMO. Join players from around the world as part of the Bloblic Imperium, the Amphibian resistance, or the Terran colonists in their struggle for control of the planet Anura. Crush your enemies in instanced battle arenas, including Deathmatch and Domination. Advance in skill and unlock access to hundreds of unique items, including jet packs, energy shields, power-ups, and weapons.

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• Phylon is a Sci-Fi themed, MMORPG 3rd person shooter.
• Avatar customization with hundreds of options, to create a unique look.
• Comic style graphics and game-play in an MMO environment.
• Fast-paced, 3rd person shooter style combat, where the skill of the player determines success or failure in a fight.
• A unique, third person camera and targeting system allows players to fight in an FPS style but with the expanded field of view of a third person perspective.
• Persistent world allows players to improve their character’s skills, equipment, and standing over time.
• 8 damage channels, 57 types of armor, and 175 weapons.
• More than 2000 quests.
• The 3-D graphical lobby allows players to find team mates and launch battle instances from inside the game, rather than using the web-based game lists that other games employ.
• Players can create their own dynamic competitions in instanced battle zones.
• Ability to support up to 200 simultaneous users in a single instanced, team-based battle arena without noticeable performance hits.
• Web-based leader boards rank top players and factions.

What is Phylon about?
Isn’t Phylon just the same old sci-fi shoot’em up with frogs, gluttonous aliens, and clueless humans? No, my targeted friend, Phylon stands alone in a sea of games. It dares not thousands, not millions, but billions to come adventure its scenic zones. Phylon, sometimes called “The Last Game,” takes the 3rd person shooter to new heights.

Leveling
A character’s level is a rough measure of their power. The higher the level, the greater amount of damage a character can deal. Generally, the damage bonus a character deals is twice the character’s level. The damage is added on top of the character’s weapon damage. A character’s level also determines their PvP status. Characters below level 10 are protected from losing their gear. A character’s level may also keep them from wandering into areas too difficult for them – though we could let nature take its course.

Stinkin’ Badges
Badges, in addition to levels, determine a character’s overall power and ability. Those who bear them are the game’s elite, the guys nobody bothers. A badge can only be obtained by completing each of Phylon’s 27 master quests. Each badge increases the player’s health, reduces the damage they absorb, or increases their protection against all channels of damage.

Quests
To earn badges and equipment, players must complete quests. Quests challenge players to perform tasks for NPCs. Some quests reward players with powerful weapons or armor, some of which can only be equipped if the player has been victorious in the battle arena. All quests are multi-directional and branching, allowing players to formulate the best approach to completing each step. Surviving them is also a plus.

Arenas
Arenas are smaller, fast-paced zones where players can battle each other in single player or team based tournaments. Here a player’s skill, rather than their level and equipment, determines the victor. If you’re one with the mouse and have an ace pilot’s sixth sense, then welcome home.

Galactic Vermin
The creatures of Anura come in a variety of forms and deal different types of damage, such as plasma, thermal, or electric. Choose your weapons with care, for many of Anura’s creatures are resistant to one or more of these damage channels. Strategizing the best combination of attacks and defenses against a particular creature will improve your chances of survival. Once you determine a creature’s weakness, stomp on it like grandma’s spring flowers!!

 

More In Game Ads anybody?

Splash Damage’s upcoming multiplayer shooter Enemy Territory: Quake Wars will contain in-game advertising, producer Neil Postlethwaite confirmed today on the game’s development blog. According to the producer, the ad program will help finance Splash Damage’s plans for ongoing maintenance and content updates to the game. Paying 50.00 - 60.00 for a game is just not good enuff for them now days they choose to keep milking us for more and more. They talk about content updates?! hmm what a map pack or two, oh wait they will add a new class or gun?! Why not make a GREAT game and allow game Mods to keep the public buying the game to play the mods that make the game great. Half-life was a good game, but counter-strike was the MOD that made valve what it is today. Almost 10 years later they are still selling it for 20.00 - 50.00 depending on what box set you go and get. Here is the post made by Splash Damage about the in game ad system.

Hi, I’m Neil Postlethwaite, Splash Damage’s Managing Director and one of the Producers on Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars. I’d like to talk to you today about the in-game advertising we have in ETQW.

For the last four years, we’ve put all of our effort into making Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars. So, we’re not planning to ship this game and walk away. We want to keep supporting ETQW in as many ways as possible. We’ll be maintaining the persistent stats servers and the community site, and continuing to support ETQW with updates and improvements.

To help cover this level of on-going support without passing the costs on to the gamer, ETQW will feature appropriate advertisements in select locations of our levels. The ads aren’t intrusive and you won’t have to interact with them; they’ll just be part of the normal environment. In fact, there are some places it’s quite odd not to have an advertisement - the sides of container trucks, for example. Great care is being taken to ensure that all our ads are appropriate for the game world and we have absolute approval rights in this area. If it’s not appropriate or it’s distracting, it won’t go in.

The company providing the ad system does not and will not store any personal information or data that otherwise can be used to identify you. All they track is if and how long you look at the advertisements.

For those of you participating in the upcoming beta, you will get a chance to see them for yourself very soon. And of course we will be releasing a demo prior to the retail launch of the game so everyone can check them out first.

Choosing to place ads in Enemy Territory was not a decision we made lightly. However, in doing so we hope to be able to provide a higher level of on-going support to the Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars community than would have been possible otherwise.

Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars Beta Video and Info

Chair Entertainment to use Unreal Engine 3

Chair Entertainment Group, an independent video game production company, today announced that it has signed an exclusive deal with Epic Games to license the award-winning Unreal® Engine 3 for all its present and upcoming game development projects.

The deal covers all games developed for Xbox® 360, PlayStation® 3 and PC and the first game that will be released under the new agreement will be Undertow® for Xbox LIVE® Arcade, which is due to go live worldwide this summer. The game, which reveals some of the most stunning graphics seen on Xbox LIVE® Arcade, features a 15 level campaign for single-player or co-op, and two robust multiplayer modes for up to 16 players which has been delivered in just 50mb – something that has not been achieved in any other Xbox LIVE® Arcade to date.

Half Life 2 Episode 2 Due Out October 9th

Half-Life 2 Episode 2 is finally, finally, due out on the 9th of October. The game will release for the PC, 360, and PS3, and will be joined by Team Fortress 2. Electronic Arts is distributing the games at retail as a package entitled Half-Life 2: The Orange Box, which also includes the original Half-Life 2 and last year’s Half-Life 2: Episode One. It will sell for $49.99 on PC and $59.99 on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

I still say Valve / Steam is the Devil here to take over the world.

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Screenshots

Here are some good looking screenshots for WARHAMMER ONLINE. I think this is one I will try to play when it comes out. If you have not applied for the Beta program you can do so [HERE]

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR), the new MMORPG from the creators of Dark Age of Camelot®. Based on Games Workshop’s popular Warhammer® fantasy war game, WAR features next generation Realm vs. Realmâ„¢ (RvR) game play that will immerse players in a world of perpetual conflict.

Well one more Game Corp. Down the crapper

Well the End is near Valve will be taking over the gaming world soon. One day you will not be able to get away from the Bug ridden, almost always having problems, piece of crap called Steam. How long before Steam puts ads in your Favorite games?

Capcom®, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, and Valve® today announced an agreement that brings a collection of Capcom’s current and future PC games to Valve’s Steam digital distribution service. Under the arrangement, PC versions of Lost Planet™: Extreme Condition, Onimusha® 3, Devil May Cry® 3: Special Edition, Super Puzzle FighterTM II Turbo HD Remix, and future PC titles will be made available via the leading online distribution platform. Capcom is the first major Japanese software publisher to sign on with Steam.“Capcom is a worldwide leader in development and publishing of action adventure titles,” said Gabe Newell, co-founder and president of Valve. “This initial set of Capcom titles coming to Steam, as well as those coming at a later date, are a perfect fit for the millions of action gaming fans connecting to Steam each week.”

Steam is the only full-featured broadband platform for the delivery and management of games and digital content, and has pioneered its broadband services to over 13 million customers with core and casual games from today’s leading publishers and developers.

“With the PC market becoming a larger part of our business, we’re naturally focusing our attention on digital distribution,” said Mark Beaumont, executive vice president, officer, Capcom American and European consumer software publishing. “Steam is the right place for us to go with our titles. Valve has created a huge installed base of gamers who naturally fit with the profiles of the titles that Capcom develops.”

Available later this week, Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition is an action game that follows the stylish demon-slayer Dante as he uses swords and guns to wage a nonstop, one-man battle against the demon world in order to carry out a 2000 year-old revenge. Coming in the next few weeks, Onimusha 3 is an action game that travels in time between the 16th century Japan and modern-day Paris, pitting two heroes (one a samurai, the other a modern-day fighter played by actor Jean Reno) against a horde of other-dimensional evil. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition is a critically-acclaimed third person action game from an all-star team of Capcom’s game designers, will be available day and date with the retail version of the PC game, currently scheduled for June 26. Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix downloads Capcom’s incredibly popular puzzle game into the new generation, featuring enhanced 1080p HD graphics, several new game modes, improved game balance, and online play and will be available later this year.