GamesRadar - PC News

Dead Space Hits Steam (Dead Space)

Jan 9, 2009

A mere day after Red Alert 3 became available on Steam, here comes another big EA title from this holiday season. Dead Space is now available to buy through the digital gaming service.

GOG Offers Sacrifice, Giants: Citizens Kabuto Bundle (Sacrifice)

Jan 9, 2009

Retro gamers interested in owning a digital copy of Giants: Citizens Kabuto or Sacrifice might want to swing by digital games store GOG.com this weekend. The two games are being offered as part of a special bundle available only this weekend.

The MMO Report: January 9 (Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures)

Jan 9, 2009

Welcome to the very first MMO Report. This week on the report TGR talks about Age of Conan and EverQuest server mergers, soloing in Lord of the Rings Online to level 20, server lag fixes for World of Warcraft zones, and the announcement of a new Eve Online expansion.

Half-Life 2 gets graphical overhaul (Half-Life 2)

Jan 9, 2009

Bit-Tech reports: "This is why PC gaming is better than console gaming in our opinion; because of excellent mods like this which keep on improving on the games we all know and love.

When it comes to mods in fact it's tough to get more well known FakeFactory, the modder who's been working to improve the visual impact of the Half-Life games ever since their first release. The FakeFactory mods have been upping the polygon count (and amount of cleavage) on Half-Life 2's characters for a number of years now. "

New Combat Mission Shock Force Demo, Now with Marines (Combat Mission: Shock Force)

Jan 9, 2009

Game-On writes: "Can't get enough Generation Kill? Want to take "The Few, The Proud" for a spin? Wondering if wargame developer Battlefront fixed Combat Mission Shock Force's recent performance issues with their latest v1.11 patch?

I can't promise all three, because I'm still having trouble with that last one myself (my source thinks it's an NVIDIA driver issue). But if you're comfortable with a little frame chop and generally care more about squad-level tactics and modern asymmetric warfare (say, in a hypothetical US-Syrian matchup) then the new demo's packing dozens of major refinements (including the return of the storied "blue bar") and more for the sampling."

An American (McGee) In Shanghai (American McGee's Grimm)

Jan 9, 2009

(Kotaku writes:)Like most stories, this starts with a girl. Rather, this starts with a boy chasing a girl - to Hong Kong. The boy wasn't a boy, but developer American McGee. And the girl?

We'll get to her later. For the time being, she's the impetus that spurred McGee to start frequently visiting Hong Kong and eventually fall in love with the city.

Meet Jumpgate Evolution's new(ish) community manager (Jumpgate: Evolution)

Jan 9, 2009

This one managed to pass under our radar last month, but Katie "Khatie" Postma -- previously the community manager for Stargate Worlds -- is the newest community manager for NetDevil's upcoming Jumpgate Evolution. If the name seems familiar to any Massively readers, that's probably because Katie was one of the many community managers who spoke at the ION 2008 event. And for everyone else who's unfamiliar with her, we highly recommend reading through her viewpoints on taking an MMO community from pre-launch to live.

Red Alert 3 Marches onto Steam (Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3)

Jan 9, 2009

Valve sends word that EA LA's Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 was just added to the Steam catalog.

New Shock Force Demo Released (Combat Mission: Shock Force)

Jan 9, 2009

This brand new v1.11 demo showcases both the basic Shock Force game as well as the Marines Module, sold separately from the basic game. The Combat Mission: Shock Force Demo will require approximately 1 Gigabyte of free space on your hard drive in order to install.

Why you should be playing Tabula Rasa: It's free (Tabula Rasa)

Jan 9, 2009

Massivley: If you're still postponing the dive into NCsoft's Tabula Rasa, because of that whole shut-down thing, I wanted to just let you know that you may be missing out on a historical opportunity here. How often is it that you get to play a game through its last remaining weeks, and actually witness the end first-hand?

Right now the game itself is even free to download. I'll explain more on this later, but if you're feeling extra generous, or you're big into souvenirs from dead MMOs, you can pick it up on Amazon or most brick-and-mortar shops for $5 US. If you want to spend the extra cash for a Collector's Edition, to get some dogtags, an AFS Challenge coin, a "Making of Tabula Rasa" DVD and more, you can do that for $15-$30 usually. Or perhaps, you'll be lucky enough to find a dumpster full of boxes behind an EB Games somewhere.

X-Blades: Release on 28 January, system requirements available (X-Blades)

Jan 9, 2009

X-Blade will be released on 28th January and has the following system requirements.

Minimal requirements:
- CPU: Pentium 4 1.5 GHz or comparable
- RAM: 256 MiByte
- Graphics card: Ati Radeon 9600 128 MiByte or Nvidia Geforce 6600 128 MiByte
- HDD: 5 GByte free hard drive space

Recommended requirements:
- CPU: Pentium 4 3.0 GHz or comparable
- RAM: 1,024 MiByt RAM
- Ati Radeon X1800 256 MiByte or Nvidia Geforce 7600 256 MiByte
- HDD: 5 GByte free hard drive space

Blizzard Wants You To Vote: Decide Which Dark Templar You Want In StarCraft II (StarCraft II)

Jan 9, 2009

Today Blizzard announced a chance for the Starcraft community to vote which tribe of the protoss dark templar will represent in the upcoming game's multiplayer matches. A favorite unit from the Starcraft community, the dark templar are psionic warriors known for their deadly attacks and invisibility technique. Voters can choose either the Lenassa tribe, the new tribe called the Zer'atai, or have both spawn randomly in the game. Voting will close on Febuary 5.

WoW: More Death Knights To Flood Servers (World of Warcraft)

Jan 9, 2009

Worldofwar.net is reporting that Blizzard have lifted one of the restrictions on WoW players who wish to make a Death Knight - a class that was introduced in the recent expansion Wrath of the Lich King.

However, the servers are already teaming with Death Knights; Was this a good move by Blizzard?

Eidos warns as new Tomb Raider disappoints (Tomb Raider: Underworld)

Jan 9, 2009

Sharecast: "Computer games maker Eidos has revised down its revenue forecasts and cautioned it may need to renegotiate bank finances after disappointing sales of its new Lara Croft game, Tomb Raider: Underworld.

Eidos, which changed its name from SCi Entertainment, now estimates full year revenue will now be in the range of £160m-£180m compared to previous guidance of £180m-£200m.

"We have passed our peak net debt position and we retain sufficient headroom within our committed banking facility but given revised profit expectations we may need to enter into discussions with our lending bank regarding our June 2009 covenants," it added."

Street Fighter IV Producer Pays Tribute to EGM (Street Fighter IV)

Jan 9, 2009

Street Fighter IV producer Yoshinori Ono writes a special letter paying tribute to the staff from Electronic Gaming Monthly:

"Creating games while keeping track of the needs and opinions of the average user is terribly important, and I feel that organizations such as EGM and 1UP.com are instrumental in making that happen. To hear that one of these bastions of game journalism will soon close its doors is disheartening. Still, I look forward to seeing what the editors will go on to do. I have high hopes for them."

CES '09: Prototype Coming This Summer (Prototype)

Jan 9, 2009

At the end of the CES trailer it revealed something that we have been waiting for, for sometime now, but what was it? It's the release date target for the upcoming game Prototype.

Does Prototype have that fairy dust? (Prototype)

Jan 9, 2009

Joystiq loves Radical Entertainment President Kelly Zmak, his excitement is infectious. One might even go so far as to say that he, himself is radical ... or at least tubular. To give you a sample of Zmak, here's a bon mot he dropped on them as he showed Prototype earlier today on the showfloor of CES.

"When we get to to the preview stage and you get your hands on it and you get to play it, does it have that magic element, that fairy dust where you have those moments where you go 'F*** yeah!'?"

Here's hoping it has it.

Steam reveals Empire: Total War "elite" units (Empire: Total War)

Jan 9, 2009

If you have been wondering what the so-called "elite" units are going to be in the Special Forces version of Empire: Total War, wonder no more. Valve's Steam service has now revealed the six special units that are included in the $69.99 version of the upcoming historical RTS game from The Creative Assembly and Sega.

Oddly enough, Steam is also offering the elite units as a separate $20 download (although you can just get the Special Forces package which adds the units automatically). What does an extra Andrew Jackson get you in the game? No phasers or jet planes, unfortunately, but you will get four different types of infantry forces along with the Ottoman Organ Gun (does it shoot out ottomans or organs?) and the big one; the HMS Victory.

X-play MMO Report Thursday Jan. 8th (Star Trek: Online)

Jan 9, 2009

Just like The Sess before him, the beginning of a new year means that Casey gets to look forward to the games that are planning to release in 2009. This next year holds some serious milestones for MMOs, specifically the existence of many home console versions. What will happen when A-list MMO titles invade the living rooms of millions of people? Will they have mass appeal? Before you answer those questions make sure you strap-in, gun it to 88, and watch for the three bright flashes. This is...

The MMO Report.

More Battlefield Play-For-Free Titles In The Works (Battlefield Heroes)

Jan 9, 2009

EA developers from the South Korean firm Neowiz have hinted at the possibility that another play-for-free Battlefield title could be in the works for release later this year.