Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by Araes

EA wants to take out Take Two

Araes — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:27:53 +0800

QUOTE

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Electronic Arts Inc. ("EA") (NASDAQ: ERTS - News) today announced that it has proposed to acquire Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. ("Take-Two") (NASDAQ: TTWO - News) in an all-cash merger valued at approximately $2.0 billion.

EA's proposal of $26 per share in cash represents a premium of 64 percent over Take-Two's closing stock price on Feb. 15th, the last trading day before EA sent its revised proposal to Take-Two, and a 63 percent premium over Take-Two's 30-day trailing average price over the thirty trading days ending on that date.

EA's proposal was contained in a letter sent on Feb. 19th by EA Chief Executive Officer John Riccitiello to Strauss Zelnick, Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Take-Two. The Take-Two Board's subsequent rejection of the EA proposal led to EA's decision to release the letter and bring its proposal to the attention of all Take-Two shareholders.

Mr. Riccitiello said today: "Our all-cash proposal is a unique opportunity for Take-Two shareholders to realize immediate value at a substantial premium, while creating long-term value for EA shareholders. Take-Two's game designers would also benefit from EA's financial resources, stable, game-focused management team, and strong global publishing capabilities."

The EA letter warned that further Take-Two delay in accepting EA's proposal could prevent Take-Two's shareholders and other constituents from realizing its benefits. "There can be no certainty that in the future EA or any other buyer would pay the same high premium we are offering today," Mr. Riccitiello wrote. The letter added that timely completion of the proposed transaction would allow EA's strong publishing and distribution network to positively impact the ongoing post-launch sales of GTA IV and support the new Take-Two titles scheduled for launch later in the year and during the holiday selling season.

As noted in EA's Feb. 19th letter, EA's proposal is not conditioned on any financing requirement. It is, however, subject to certain customary conditions as set forth in the letter. EA's $26 per share proposal is based on the current equity capitalization of Take-Two. Although EA indicated in the letter that its proposal was subject to negotiations commencing by Feb. 22nd, EA intends to keep its proposal open for the present to give Take-Two's shareholders and Board of Directors further time to consider it.

My guess this is a response to the Activision-Vivendi merger. I wonder how will the future GTA and Bioshock games turn out under EA.

Link: http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080224/20080224005062.html?.v=1

Space Siege

Araes — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 21:33:58 +0800

ATI Catalyst 7.11

Araes — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 09:44:12 +0800

Link: http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html

QUOTE

Highlights of resolved issues:

Bioshock: Pulling the lever in the chamber no longer results in the game failing. Further details can be found in topic number 737-30493

Bioshock, Lost Planet, and World In Conflict: Connecting certain dual link display devices to certain ATI Radeon(tm) 2x00 series of cards no longer results in limited display resolutions being available. Further details can be found in topic number 737-30090

Call of Juarez: Enabling CrossFire(tm) no longer results in flickering being noticed when playing the DX10 version of the game. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29540

Doom 3: Playing the game on a system containing an ATI Radeon(tm) HD 2600 series of product and running the Windows Vista operating system no longer results in display corruption being noticed when using the console commands. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29978

Fable: A black ring is no longer seen around the player character. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29939

Hellgate, Lord of the Rings, PT Boat, and World in Conflict: Corruption is no longer noticed when AA is enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-30487

Rainbow Six Vegas: Setting the display resolution to 1600x1200 and applying the in-game settings to high no longer results in corruption being noticed when using an HDMI display device. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28826

Roxio Creator Premier v9: MyDVD: Attempting to burn a DVD no longer results in the burn process failing at the encoding preview. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29937

Serious Sam: the Second Encounter Demo: Game play is no longer delayed when playing the game on a system running Windows XP and containing an ATI Radeon(tm) HD 2400 series of product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29933

If you're playing Crysis atm, you can skip this one and use this hotfix: Crysis Hotfix Driver

Rage

Araes — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 20:18:53 +0800

QUOTE

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The creator of classic computer game "Doom," id Software, unveiled on Friday its eagerly anticipated next game, "Rage," in which players fight an oppressive government in a post-apocalyptic world.

The new game will be released for computers running either Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) Windows or Apple Inc's (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) Macintosh operating system, as well as Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony Corp's (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research) PlayStation 3 video game consoles.

"It's a bit of a classic story and you are the outsider who comes in and tries to turn the tide in favor of good," id Chief Executive Todd Hollenshead said in an interview.

"Rage" is being built with all-new graphics technology designed by id co-founder John Carmack, who showed off the game at id's annual "QuakeCon" event in Dallas, Texas.

Privately held id did not give a release date for "Rage" or the name of the publisher. Activision Inc (ATVI.O: Quote, Profile, Research), the second-biggest U.S. video game publisher, handles other id games such as "Doom 3" and the upcoming "Enemy Territories: Quake Wars."

Since the breakaway success of "Doom" in 1993 established the "first-person shooter" as a major gaming genre, id's games have been characterized by fast-and-furious gunplay and claustrophobic environments.

"Rage" will represent somewhat of a stylistic break by letting players roam expansive outdoor areas.

"In addition to the shooting elements and killing bad guys with cool guns -- everyone knows we can do that well -- we wanted to show off some stuff that would surprise people," Hollenshead said.

The graphics technology, or engine, underpinning "Rage" is also important since id makes one of a handful of such software packages that are licensed by other game makers.

Hollenshead said the new "tech5" engine would make it easier for developers to design games that are better looking and can be easily modified to run on different gaming systems, a process that normally takes months and pushes up costs.

"It allows a single studio team to make four versions of our game without outside help," Hollenshead said. "You can have massive outdoor environments and make them look glorious down to pixel level without any performance issues."

Source: "Doom" creator unveils its new video game, "Rage"

Previews:
QuakeCon 2007: Rage First Look

QuakeCon 2007: id Software Announces Rage

Teaser Trailer:
Rage QuakeCon 2007 Trailer HD
Rage QuakeCon 2007 Trailer

Screenshots:

id Software's latest 3D engine

Araes — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 18:44:05 +0800

QUOTE

"So the last couple of years at iD we've been working in secrecy on next-gen tech and a game for it... this is the first time we're showing anything we've done on it publicly." iD Tech 5... "What we've got here is the entire world with unique textures, 20GB of textures covering this track. They can go in and look at the world and, say, change the color of the mountaintop, or carve their name into the rock. They can change as much as they want on surfaces with no impact on the game."

Source: Steve Jobs live from WWDC 2007 on Engadget

QUOTE

In a surprise demonstration during Steve Job's keynote at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference today, John Carmack unveiled id's latest revolution in game engine technology with the very first showing of id Tech 5(tm) running live on the Mac with OS X.

The ground breaking technology unveiled today will power id's new internally developed game and will be available for licensing to third parties. The new id rendering technology practically eliminates the texture memory constraints typically placed on artists and designers and allows for the unique customization of the entire game world at the pixel level, delivering virtually unlimited visual fidelity. Combined with a powerful new suite of tools designed to specifically facilitate and accelerate this content creation process, id Tech 5(tm) will power games that contain vast outdoor landscapes that are completely unique to the horizon, yet have indoor environments with unprecedented artistic detail.

Photo by Albert Watson While shown for the very first time running in real time on a Mac, id Tech 5 additionally supports the Xbox 360 and Playstation3 console platforms as well as the PC, and will be available for licensing to developers and publishers interested in working with a truly next generation rendering and game development solution. id Software will be showing id Tech 5(tm) to interested developers and publishers by appointment only at the E3 Media & Business Summit from July 11 - 13, 2007 in Santa Monica, Calif. Companies interested in id Tech licensing information can visit www.idsoftware.com or email licensing@idsoftware.com with an E3 appointment request.

Source: id Software

Video:

id Software - id Tech 5 John Carmack Demonstration - QT
id Software - id Tech 5 John Carmack Demonstration - WMV

New Blizzard Game!

Araes — Mon, 14 May 2007 01:55:39 +0800

Well it's official....BLIZZARD ANNOUNCED STARCRAFT 2!

Check out the teaser page...

http://www.blizzard.com/

RTCWolfenstein 2

Araes — Sun, 13 May 2007 17:59:11 +0800

It has been know for some time that Raven has been secretly been working on the next game in the Wolfenstein franchise. It will be using the Megatexture technology used in Quake Wars for the engine in this game.

Now there has been new details revealed about the game.

QUOTE

The company is currently working on a new game based on the "Wolfenstein" series, and with newer motion-capture technology, it is working with a local actress to be the character in its movie.

Actress Carrie Coon is put in a spandex suit that has 63 reflective markers at strategic places on her body. Twenty-four infrared cameras in Raven's studios track Coon's every move as she replicates movements that her character will perform in the game. Information will then go into a computer to create a virtual character based on her body, WISC-TV reported.

"They had me kind of bust through doors with big guns and pretend I was an assassin being that didn't have a spine and club a body of something on the ground and sniff it," she said. "You know, it was one of the most bizarre audition experiences I've ever had in my life."

Raven is even giving her character -- an elite force assassin -- Coon's face. A state-of-the-art face scanner takes a 3-D image that will be attached to her computer-captured body and will make her a living character in the game, WISC-TV reported.

The game won't come out until sometime in 2008, but the name and many other details about it are being kept secret, which is just one clue at how competitive this industry has become.

Source: Local Company Takes Video Games To Next Level

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Araes — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 13:01:55 +0800

QUOTE

Listen up soldiers, on Monday, November 5, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare will begin deployment to retailers worldwide. Armed with more than 40 awards and honors from this year's annual E3 Business and Media Summit including "Best Action Game" from the Game Critics Awards, Infinity Ward's epic title is set to enlist gamers into the most intense, thrilling action experience ever. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare will be available on the Xbox 360(tm) video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION(R)3 computer entertainment system and Windows(R) PC. A Nintendo DS(tm) version will also deliver the signature Call of Duty chaos of battle to handheld gamers.

Source: Release Date Press Release

Official Site: CharlieOscarDelta

Trailer is out!

Call of Duty 4 - Trailer HD - QT HD

Call of Duty 4 - Trailer HD - WMV HD

Call of Duty 4 - Trailer - QT Non-HD

Call of Duty 4 - Trailer - WMV Non-HD

C&C 3: Tiberium Wars / Kane's Wrath V2

Araes — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 12:00:11 +0800

World in Conflict / Soviet Assault

Araes — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 21:40:22 +0800

[center][/center]

QUOTE

WAR IS COMING HOME

West Germany, 1988. To avoid certain collapse, the Soviet army boldly advances into Europe. NATO responds only to be met on a second front -- a diversionary attack on the American homeland. You are a field commander, leading the era's most powerful military machines in the campaign to retake America's cities and suburbs.

World in Conflict(tm) is under development by the leading creative and technical minds at Massive Entertainment, creators of the innovative and award-winning Ground Control series.

. Superpowered Warfare - Unleash the arsenals of the great military superpowers in the gripping single-player story created by best-selling author and Cold War authority, Larry Bond.

. MassTech Engine - The latest version of Massive's proprietary engine allows for a full 360 range of camera control, allowing you to get right down into the midst of battle.

. Demolish Everything - Destroy every object in the game - crush cars, destroy buildings, burn forests!

. Drop-in Multiplayer - Join on-going games and immediately help your team take control of the map.

. Fast-paced Teamplay - Master four different battlefield roles; Air, Armor, Infantry and Support, in the ultimate online teamplay experience.

. Super Weapons - Unleash ground-shaking artillery barrages, napalm strikes, and awesome tactical nukes that turn the tide of battle.

Screens:

Movies:
Exclusive GC 2007 Trailer HD - QT
Exclusive GC 2007 Trailer HD - WMV
Ruling the World Trailer HD - QT
Ruling the World Trailer HD - WMV
Magnum P.I. Trailer HD - QT
Magnum P.I. Trailer HD - WMV
Destruction Blues Trailer HD - QT
Destruction Blues Trailer HD - WMV

Demo:
Ausgamers
FileFront
Gamearena
Internode

Minimum System Requirements:

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

DirectX 10 is supported in World in Conflict!

DirectX 10 Features HD - QT
DirectX 10 Features HD - WMV

Official Site: http://www.worldinconflict.com/main

Community Site: http://www.massgate.net

Latest Patch:

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

Download Patch Here:
Official FTP

WIC Broadcast Tool:(Official Support for DX10 only)
Download Here: MassGate

A movie edited with the broadcast tool: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rishFWXAnK0

Unofficial Broadcast Tool Support for DX9(Single Display):(follow instructions)
1. Create a shortcut to "wic-BroadcastTool.exe"
2. Right-click on the shortcut and select "Properties"
3. In the "Target" field, add "-dx9"(no quotes). The result should look like this: "c:\Program Files\Seirra Entertainment\World in Conflict\wic-BroadcastTool.exe" -dx9
4. Start the DX9 tool by clicking the shortcut.

[addedon]October 02, 2007, 1:15 pm[/addedon]
World In Conflict Malaysian Community(Lowyat.net only):

1. GBodyguard
2. Rei
3. GunAngel[WOLVS]
4. fipoch
5. Darczz
6. NwK
7. redcable
8. bongbong
9. Fujkenasai
10. Godek
11. RaIsT86
12. kokoro
13. Syusuke

WiC Malaysian Community Online Gathering:

Days : Every Friday
Time : 10pm - 12pm
Chat Room(Massgate) : WiC Malaysian Community
Room Password : malaysiaboleh12

*Any inquiries PM frags(lowyat.net) or GBodyguard(massgate)

Frontlines: Fuel of War

Araes — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 23:46:24 +0800

This is the first full retail game from KAOS Studios (the makers of Desert Combat mod for BF1942 and former employees of EA) running on the ever impressive Unreal 3.0 engine.

This single/multiplayer FPS is set in the future when all the petroleum reserves in the world are drying up. Two faction, Western Coalition(US & UK) and Red Star Alliance(Russia & China) are both engaged in a war to fight for the last remaining drops of fuel.

The gameplay of this game is to capture or complete objectives in a given map in order of advance the frontlines of either factions. The maps comes in 3 different sizes small, medium, large. The size of small maps is aroud 6 city blocks in size where the large maps are about 4 square miles. The maps can support up to 64 players on the PC. Small maps will be infantry based, medium maps are infantry with a couple of vehicles like tanks and light vehicles. The largest maps have access to everything from tanks to helicopters to jets. There are about 60 different weapons and vehicles. The weapons and vehicles are based on real world weapons as how they would look in the future. For instance, the Western Coalition's M1A3 Tank is a futuristic version of today's M1A2 Abrams.

There are 6 different classes available like the Assault, Heavy Assault, Sniper, Anti-Vehicle, Special Operations and Close Combat. On top of that, each of the classes can also choose one of four different roles like ground support, counter measures, air support and drone technician. You can level up(up to lvl 3) your roles base on how much you use it. For instance, the Western Coalition's ground support role beguns with a portable welding torch which can be used to repair vehicles in the field. At level two, the ground support allows the ability to build mortars guns on the tripods and at level 3 this role get other abilities

For more info, read these previews...
Frontlines: Fuel of War Hands-on
Frontlines: Fuel of War Hands-On First Look

Screens:

Videos:
Frontlines: Fuel of War - Trailer - QT
Frontlines: Fuel of War - Trailer - WMV
Frontlines: Fuel of War - THQ Gamers Day Developer Walkthrough HD - QT HD
Frontlines: Fuel of War - THQ Gamers Day Developer Walkthrough HD - WMV HD
Frontlines: Fuel of War - THQ Gamers Day Developer Walkthrough - QT Non-HD
Frontlines: Fuel of War - THQ Gamers Day Developer Walkthrough - WMV Non-HD
Frontlines: Fuel of War - THQ Gamers Day Game Mechanics Interview HD - QT HD
Frontlines: Fuel of War - THQ Gamers Day Game Mechanics Interview HD - WMV HD
Frontlines: Fuel of War - THQ Gamers Day Game Mechanics Interview - QT Non-HD
Frontlines: Fuel of War - THQ Gamers Day Game Mechanics Interview -WMV Non-HD
Frontlines: Fuel of War - Gameplay Montage HD - QT HD
Frontlines: Fuel of War - Gameplay Montage HD - WMV HD
Frontlines: Fuel of War - Gameplay Montage - QT Non-HD
Frontlines: Fuel of War - Gameplay Montage - WMV Non-HD

Welcome to the future of online multiplayer FPS.

Best of 2006/GOTY

Araes — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 13:39:17 +0800

Yep, its time to find out which games made the cut and which didn't. IGN is the only major site that has not started it's annual Best of 2006 awards yet.

Gamespot's Best & Worst of 2006

Gamespy GOTY

So, go and have a look & the best part is, if you don't like their choice of nominees and winners, we the gamers, get to vote for the Reader Choice Awards.

*EDIT*

A new addition to the list of sites honoring the best of the best of 2006...

Gamasutra's Quantum Leap Awards: Most Important Games, 2006

If anyone has more links to others sites that have GOTY awards feel free to post it here.

2006 Spike TV - VGA

Araes — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 17:47:20 +0800

The Results(winners in bold)...

GAME OF THE YEAR
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda)
Okami (Capcom/Clover Studio)
Gears of War (Microsoft/Epic Games)
Guitar Hero 2 (Red Octane/Harmonix)
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (Ubisoft)

CRITIC'S CHOICE
(game to be released after 11/15/2006 but before 12/31/2006)
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo/Nintendo EAD)
Resistance: Fall of Man (Sony Computer Entertainment America/Insomniac Games)
Medieval II: Total War (Sega/Creative Assembly)
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas (Ubisoft Montreal)
Wii Sports (Nintendo)

BEST DRIVING GAME
Burnout Revenge, Xbox 360 (Electronic Arts/Criterion Games)
Need For Speed Carbon (Electronic Arts/EA Black Box)
TOCA Race Driver 3 (Codemasters)
GTR 2 (10tacle Studios/SimBin Development Team)

BEST INDIVIDUAL SPORTS GAME
Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis (Rockstar Games/Rockstar San Diego)
EA Sports Fight Night Round 3 (Electronic Arts/ EA Chicago)
Tony Hawk's Project 8 (Activision/Neversoft )
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (Electronic Arts/EA Redwood Shores)
Top Spin 2 (2K Sports/Power and Magic)

BEST ACTION GAME
Dead Rising (Capcom)
New Super Mario Bros (Nintendo/Nintendo EAD)
Okami (Capcom/Clover Studio)
Saints Row (THQ/Volition)
Bully (Rockstar Games/Rockstar Vancouver)

BEST TEAM SPORTS GAME
NBA2K7 (2K Sports/Visual Concepts)
Madden NFL 07 (Electronic Arts/Tiburon)
NCAA Football 07 (Electronic Arts/Tiburon)
FIFA 07 (Electronic Arts/EA Canada)
NHL 07 (Electronic Arts/EA Canada)

CYBER VIXEN OF THE YEAR
Lara Croft - Tomb Raider: Legend (Eidos Interactive/Crystal Dynamics)
Alyx Vance - Half-Life 2: Episode 1 (Valve)
Princess Peach - New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo/Nintendo EAD)
Enrica - Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent (Ubisoft Montreal)
Jen - Prey (2K Games/ Human Head Studios/3D Realms)

BEST SONG
"LocoRoco No Uta" by Nobuyuki Shimizu and Kemmei Adachi, LocoRoco (Sony Computer Entertainment America/SCE Studios Japan)
"Heavenly Star" by Genki Rockets, Lumines II (Buena Vista Games/Q Entertainment)
"Helicopter" by Bloc Party, Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure (Atari/The Collective)
"Summer Shudder" by AFI in Madden NFL 07 (Electronic Arts/Tiburon)
"Lights and Sounds" by YellowCard, Burnout Revenge-XBOX 360 (Electronic Arts/Criterion Games)

BEST SOUNDTRACK
Guitar Hero 2 (Red Octane/Harmonix)
Madden NFL 07 (Electronic Arts/Tiburon)
Scarface: The World is Yours (Vivendi/Radical Entertainment)
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar Games/Rockstar Leeds / Rockstar North)

STUDIO OF THE YEAR
Clover Studio (Okami)
Relic (Company of Heroes)
Cliff Bleszinski /Epic Games (Gears of War)
Todd Howard / Bethesda Softworks (The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion)
Harmonix (Guitar Hero 2)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Softworks)
Bully (Rockstar Games/Rockstar Vancouver)
Electroplankton (Nintendo)
Okami (Capcom/Clover Studio)
Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix)

BEST FIGHTING GAME
Tekken: Dark Resurrection (Namco Bandai)
Dead or Alive 4 (Tecmo/Team Ninja)
Mortal Kombat Armageddon (Midway Games)
Street Fighter Alpha Anthology (Capcom)
God Hand (Capcom/Clover Studio)

BEST SHOOTER
Black (Electronic Arts/Criterion)
Prey (2K Games/ Human Head Studios/3D Realms)
Half-Life 2: Episode 1 (Valve)
Gears of War (Microsoft/Epic Games)
Call of Duty 3 (Activision/Treyarch)

BEST MILITARY GAME
Company of Heroes (THQ/Relic)
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (Ubisoft)
Call of Duty 3 (Activision/Treyarch)
The Outfit (THQ/Relic)
Battlefield 2142 (Electronic Arts/EA UK/DICE UK)

BEST GRAPHICS
Gears of War (Microsoft/Epic Games)
Okami (Capcom/Clover Studio)
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (Ubisoft)
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Softworks)
Company of Heroes (THQ/Relic)

BEST HANDHELD GAME
New Super Mario (Nintendo/Nintendo EAD)
Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day (Nintendo)
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar Games/Rockstar Leeds/Rockstar North)
Tetris DS (Nintendo)
LocoRoco (Sony Computer Entertainment America/SCE Studios Japan)

BEST WIRELESS GAME
Diner Dash (Glu Mobile)
SWAT Force (Vivendi/KAOLink)
Tower Bloxx (Digital Chocolate)
Super K.O. Boxing (Glu Mobile)

BEST MULTI-PLAYER GAME
Gears of War (Microsoft/Epic Games)
Company of Heroes (THQ/Relic)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (Konami/Kojima Productions)
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (Ubisoft)
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent (Ubisoft Montreal)

BREAKTHROUGH TECHNOLOGY
Wii (Nintendo)
PS3 (Sony Computer Entertainment America)
DS Lite (Nintendo)
Electroplankton (Nintendo)

BEST PC GAME
Company of Heroes (THQ/Relic)
Half-Life 2: Episode 1 (Valve)
Battlefield 2142 (Electronic Arts/Digital Illusions CE)
Star Wars: Empire at War (LucasArts/Petroglyph)
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda)

BEST RPG
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda)
Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix)
Kingdom Hearts II (Square Enix)
Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria (Square Enix/tri-Ace)

BEST GAME BASED ON A MOVIE OR TV SHOW
Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts/Traveller's Tales)
The Godfather (Electronic Arts/EA Redwood Shores)
Scarface: The World is Yours (Vivendi/Radical Entertainment)
The Sopranos: Road to Respect (THQ/7 Studios)
Family Guy (2K Games/High Voltage Software)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A HUMAN (MALE)
Seth MacFarlane in Family Guy (2K Games/High Voltage Software)
Gerry Rosenthal in Bully (Rockstar Games/Rockstar Vancouver)
Patrick Stewart in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Softworks)
Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow (Bethesda Softworks/7 Studios/Buena Vista Games)
Kiefer Sutherland in 24: The Game (2K Games/SCEE Studios Cambridge)

BEST SUPPORTING MALE PERFORMANCE
Seth Green in Family Guy (2K Games/High Voltage Software)
James Woods in Scarface: The World is Yours (Vivendi/Radical Entertainment)
James Caan in The Godfather (Electronic Arts/EA Redwood Shores)
Philip Michael Thomas in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar Games/Rockstar Leeds/Rockstar North)
James Gandolfini in The Sopranos: Road to Respect (THQ/7 Studios)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A HUMAN (FEMALE)
Vida Guerra in Scarface: The World is Yours (Vivendi/Radical Entertainment)
Tia Carrere in Saints Row (THQ/Volition)
Emmanuelle Vaugier in Need For Speed Carbon (Electronic Arts/EA Black Box)
Keely Haws in Tomb Raider: Legend (Eidos Interactive/Crystal Dynamics)
Rosario Dawson in Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure (Atari/The Collective)

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE PERFORMANCE
Rachel Leigh Cook in Kingdom Hearts II (Square Enix)
Elisha Cuthbert in 24: The Game (2K Games/SCE Studios Cambridge)
Brittany Murphy in Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure (Atari/The Collective)
Mila Kunis in Family Guy (2K Games/High Voltage Software)
Lynda Carter in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda)

BEST CAST IN A GAME
The Godfather (Electronic Arts/EA Redwood Shores)
Family Guy (2K Games/High Voltage Software)
Scarface: The World is Yours (Vivendi/Radical Entertainment)
Saints Row (THQ/Volition)
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda)

MOST ADDICTIVE GAME
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda)
Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day (Nintendo)
Gears of War (Microsoft/Epic Games)
Guitar Hero 2 (Red Octane/Harmonix)
Company of Heroes (THQ/Relic)

Source: Gamespot

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

Araes — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 13:54:55 +0800

It's says March 2007 at the end of the trailer. Finally, after a long wait (Well, not as long as DNF).

'Legacy of Chernobyl' Trailer - QT

'Legacy of Chernobyl' Trailer - WMV

'Legacy of Chernobyl' Trailer - High Res QT

Hellgate: London

Araes — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 13:53:10 +0800

[center][/center]

London, 2038. According to legend, when the ravens depart the Tower of London, it will crumble to rubble and disaster will befall England. As man became more dependent on science, believing only in what he could define or create, ancient knowledge and rituals were lost to the antiquity of time. Prophecies that had stood as warning for untold generations were seen as archaic folly or ignorant superstition. So, when the harbingers of evil began to manifest, few saw and fewer believed. When the demons finally came, there was little that stood in their way. Their brute force and overwhelming numbers swept the globe with little trouble. Mankind was forced underground, scavenging to survive. Now, 18 years after the demonic invasion of 2020, in the winding tunnels of the London underground, a new Alliance is forming to battle the hordes of hell that have destroyed London. Templar Knights, Arcane Cabalists and Demon Hunters are uniting in mankind's Alliance. Join them, push the demons back to hell, and reclaim the surface.

Screens:

Trailers:
Intro Cinematics - QT
Intro Cinematics - WMV
Boss Battles Trailer HD - QT
Boss Battles Trailer HD - WMV
Gameplay Montage HD - QT
Gameplay Montage HD - WMV

Single Player Demo:(DirectX 9 ONLY)
AusGamers
FileFront
Gamer's Hell
Internode Games Network

Official System Requirements:

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

Latest Multiplayer Patch:
Patch 0.7:(Available in SEA!)

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V.07
Memory Usage

Memory manager rewritten for better performance and stability.
Fixed a UI-related memory leak.
Fixed a clothing and armor texture-related memory issue.

User Interface

New Looking For Group interface that allows players to more easily find each other for creating specific groups.
Reorganized the De-modificator, Augmentrex, and Nanoforge interfaces to appear in the left-hand panel area.
Added an auto-transparency feature.
Scrollbar added to the Guild interface.
Fixed a bug that prevented remapping the Shift key.
Players can skip all logo splash-screens with a single click.

Nightmare Difficulty

The difficulty of Nightmare has been rebalanced. More overall experience is earned in Nightmare levels, scaling of group experience and difficulty has been improved, and the overall level progression has been adjusted.

Skills

Fixed skills being added to and/or removed from Shift activation when swapping weapons.
Investing a skill point into an Aura skill will no longer automatically cause it to activate.

Templar
Taunt skills are no longer reduced in effectiveness when in a group.

Blademaster
- Path of Righteousness now applies damage from offhand melee weapons.
Guardian
- Prayer of Retribution can now be used while poisoned.
- Prayer of Healing can no longer be used while poisoned.

Cabalists
The Summon Ember and Summon Fire Elemental skills no longer conflict when granted through items.

Evokers
- Fixed a bug that caused Drain Power to charge an upfront power cost.
- Tempest's targeting range has been increased and properly loses targets that move out of range.
- Fixed a bug which prevented Boneshards from having any effect on every other cast.
- Fixed a bug which prevented Evokers from using any other skills for two seconds after casting Boneshards.
Summoners
- Hand of Nostrom correctly adds more beams as the skill level increases.
- Fixed a bug which sometimes caused the Warper minion icon to not display.
- Master of the Flame skill effects now display properly in the skill description tooltip.

Hunters

Engineers
- Engineer Drone behavior improved.
- Fixed a bug that allowed Repair Drone to be used at no cost.
- Drones will now level properly along with their owner. Existing Drones that are below your character's level will automatically be raised to the correct level.
- Drones now receive correct health bonuses with skill level after they are re-summoned.
Marksmen
- Overshield now gives the correct amount of shields.
- Fixed a bug that prevented Homing Shot from activating properly.

Quests

Fixed a bug with the Cannon Street Rails quest.
Fixed a bug in the Helping Hands and Triage quests where Maxim and Arphaun occupy the same place.
Fixed a bug with the Regular Customer quest where Slaughterbeast occasionally wouldn't spawn as expected.
Characters stuck in the Holborn station after completing the game in normal mode should be able to progress.

Items

Improved the drop rate of analyzers and various recipes.
New blueprints have been added for Focus Items and Boots.
Focus Items and Boots can now be made by crafters.
Fixed a bug where already activated Auras would turn on and off when swapping weapons that grant Aura skills.

Guilds and Groups

Fixed a bug where players were not seeing Guild invites.
Introduced new Auto-Party logic to provide better matches.

World Movement

Fixed additional instances where players were sometimes randomly teleported when other people used portals.
Players can now use the /stuck command when in Ghost form.
Fixed rare instances where certain areas were impassible.

Miscellaneous

Fixed a bug where Founders saw all character names in blue text.
Fixed rare issues with being unable to properly apply the Multiplayer patch.
Fixed a bug with mods on weapons not being properly equipped when loading a character.
Fixed rare cases where the PRD became unusable.
Fixed a bug where numerous pets would show up in Stations.

Special Subscriber Features
The survivors of London are keeping their spirits up by celebrating the season and sharing some Holiday goodies with our subscription members:

The Transmogrifier
This mystic box transforms the junk you put in it into something new and wonderful. When you discover a new Transmogrifier formula, it is automatically stored in a special recipe list.

12 Unique Items
New Unique weapons spread across all three factions.

Patch 1:(Not Available in SEA!)

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Patch 1.1:(Not Available in SEA!)

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[center]Patch 1.1 Notes
January 31, 2008[/center]

Stonehenge has launched and we've been busy cleaning up a handful of issues, as well as listening to the feedback from our players on the Stonehenge Chronicles.

Thanks to everyone who has posted issues and suggestions. And in fact, you'll notice that a lot of the fixes and features in this patch are linked to posts in our forums. When we've addressed something you've brought up, we want to acknowledge your contribution to the betterment of the game!

See you online!

The Hellgate: London Team

---

General

All Guardians, Evokers, and characters on Subscription accounts will have one Skill Retrainer when logging in after this patch goes live.
The timer and quest requirement have been removed from the mini-game.
Fixed a bug where chat entry became visible in the Character Select screen after logging in and then logging out of the game.
Fixed a crash bug associated with exiting out of the Character Creation menu.
Players that had beaten Normal mode with a character but then were unable to access Elite mode (and Hardcore mode for subscribers) with a new character should now have access to that game mode by logging in once with the character that completed Normal Mode.
Fixed a bug which caused audio and sound effects to sometimes stop playing.
Party and PRD Portals created by a character in a group will now properly close when that character leaves the group.

Monsters

The Beast of Abbadon, Oculis, and Sydonai will now re-spawn normally, even if the player has previously completed their associated quests.
Fixed a bug which would sometimes prevent Oculis or the Furuncle from spawning properly.
The loot algorithm for Ash (Beast Caste General) has been adjusted to drop better items.
Errgoth (Demon Caste General) now does less damage.
Stalkers and Burning Fiends are now part of the Beast caste and Tortured Souls are now part of the Spectral caste (to balance a disparity of Essence drop rates between castes). This applies to all types of Stalkers, Burning Fiends, and Tortured Souls.

User Interface

Offline friends are now properly displayed in the Friends List.
The "Player Requests" confirmation buttons have been reordered to [accept] [decline] [ignore].
Skill Retrainers now have a confirmation dialogue to help players from accidentally using them.

Items

Armors with the "minion damage bonus" affix now work for the Engineer.
Restorative injectors are usable when either health or power is below the player's maximum since they can help recover both health and power for the user.
Increased the amount of Shields found on items and affixes, ramping up after level 10. Note that this change is not retroactive and will not apply to existing items; however, newly dropped items and existing items upgraded through the Nanoforge will receive the adjusted amount of shields.
Guild Heralds can now be sold back to merchants for full price.

Skills

Increasing ranks of Drain Power now work properly at all power ranges.
Increased the amount of Shields granted by skills that provide Shields.
Engineer Drones now come with a base armor rating.

Stonehenge Bug Fixes

Players may now Recall or Party Portal out of the Hell's Heart level.
Party Portal limitations have been removed from the Stonehenge levels.
Stonehenge now appears as a destination on the Station Transit Terminal.
Stonehenge weapons can now have Mod slots.
The stash in Stonehenge now properly detects collision.
Fixed a blocking bug in the Essence Caves which prevented a portal into that specific Caste General's Lair from opening.
Essence drop chance increased from 15% to 20%.
Fixed rare cases where Essence Caves were not connected to the next level.
Fixed bad pathing around the Stonehenge wilderness huts.
Fixed a bug causing additional Skill Retrainers to spawn when they shouldn't have. Duplicate Skill Retrainers should now be removed.

Patch Notes Disclaimer: While we make every effort to include all upcoming changes in our patch notes, please be aware that occasionally some changes are unintentionally omitted.

Latest Singleplayer Patch:
Patch 0.6:

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SP Patch 0.6 Download Sites:(SEA)
Official SEA Hellgate Download Link
RapidShare
FileFront
AusGamers

Official Site:
http://www.hellgatelondon.com - US
http://hellgate.iahgames.com - SEA

Support FAQ:
IAH Support FAQ

Hellgate: London Online Multiplayer
Hellgate: London's online multiplayer is free of charge right out of the box, you can play the entire single player game online with others for free. However there is also a monthly subscription available to those that want more stuff to do in the game. I have compiled a list of features (from here) available to free accounts and subscriber accounts. Some of these features are already available now and there are others that will be available in the near future.

Free Accounts:

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Subscriber Accounts:

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End of BF2's Ranking System?

Araes — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 11:35:26 +0800

QUOTE

The death of Battlefield 2

And no I don't mean PoE.

2:35pm <king0rism> EA's agreement with Gamespy ends on October 1, and as EA will use their own EA membership service to log player records for BF2142, the BF2 gamespy service will terminate on this date, meaning all current BF2 ranked players will lose all playing records.
2:35pm <king0rism> The final BF2 patch release will be a new 1.4b patch, which will remove the log in screen function but as a small bonus will allow all bf2 players to have all unlock weapons ingame, hardly much reward for the hard work put in by the legions of let down bf2 fans.

This is hot news and hundreds of people in IRC are enraged.
I will have more news as I get it.

http://www.totalbf2.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93091

Whole BF2 community is angry at this..it's probably why the new patch has been delayed also. No official anouncement yet so who knows. If its true, its typical of EA with 2142 coming they don't just don't bother about their previous games.

I wouldn't call it the end of BF2 cause there are great mods like POE2 and FH2.

Battlefield: Bad Company

Araes — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 11:18:16 +0800

Very rough translation:

QUOTE

Today, digital illusion's was presented (DICE) new title Battlefield: Bad Company for Xbox360 and PlayStation 3. Battlefield: Bad Company is planned to be released during 2007 and is an of the previous utannonserade titles as not been named.

Battlefield: Bad Company is an entirely new and independent playing in Battlefield-serien that uses itself of" Frostbite", DICE: s entirely new own developed playing engine. The playing contains a cinematic single player-del loaded with adventure feeling and dark humour as never earlier been experienced in Battlefield-serien.

"in a playing world that is first ear bar to 90% so is the possibilities infinite - the kind field to be changed all the time and forces the players to always to change tactic." says man Magnus Troedsson, Senior Producer for Battlefield: Bad Company

More information about PC - and PSP-versionerna will be presented at a latter occasion.

The Internet address to Battlefield-seriens information side is http://battlefield.ea.com.

For further information contact:
John Hargelid, information responsible, 08-658 78 00
E-mail: press@dice.se

http://www.dice.se/press/pressreleases/?ar...76-acaa0a4c6e43

Joint Task Force

Araes — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 14:52:34 +0800

Joint Task Force demo will be released tommorrow at around midnight here. See the screenshots and watch the videos on the link below.

QUOTE

Experience the Evolution of Warfare!

Joint Task Force is a real-time strategy game in which you command frontline forces in tomorrow's most hazardous conflicts. Experience the evolution of warfare firsthand as you bring superior tactics and military technology to bear against dangerous and unconventional forces. Will you be ready for it?

In this single-player demo, you'll be faced with two challenging missions: to neutralize a Somalian port with a small force of infantry specialists and to head deep into the Columbian jungle to smash a heavily armed cartel. As part of your arsenal, you'll have officially licensed military tech, including the Boeing AH-64D Apache helicopter and the General Dynamics M1A2 Abrams tank.

Joint Task Force will be available in stores on September 12, 2006.

JTF Demo page

More D/L links:

3D Gamers

Computer Games

FileFront

Gameguru Mania

Gamer's Hell

Strategy Informer

VGPRO

Worthplaying

Company of Heroes / Opposing Fronts

Araes — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 16:55:14 +0800

Dark Messiah of Might & Magic

Araes — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 11:40:47 +0800