Duke Nukem Forever Curse Lives On

Here we go again. The Duke Nukem Forever team has fallen victim to the curse of Duke Nukem Forever. Take-Two would like to let you know that Duke has been delayed until June 14th. While they do poke fun at the issue with this video, it still doesn't make any of us Duke fans any happier. We've seen this all before guys...



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Hi-Rez Studios excites older gamers with Tribes: Ascend announcement

Most older PC gamers worth their salt will have some fond memories of Tribes multiplayer sessions back in the day. Hi-Rez Studios has now released their first teaser for their upcoming entry in the series:


Here's what Hi-Rez's Todd Harris had to say about it: “Before Halo, before Modern Warfare, and before Battlefield, there was Tribes. Tribes fans appreciate the game’s essence–athletic FPS combat combined with teamwork and strategy. As we began development of Tribes Universe, we focused first on capturing that essence–refining and modernizing iconic elements like jetpacks, skiing, and vehicles. We’ve had tremendous fun play-testing and realized the potential of a multiplayer focused title ahead of Tribes Universe. The community has been waiting for a multi-player shooter that is the modern successor to T2. Tribes: Ascend is that game.”

It's actually kind of funny when you compare the console giant Halo series to Tribes.
One of Halo 1's big features was vehicle multiplayer combat, oh wait, Tribes had that years previous. Halo: Reach "brought to the table" jet-pack mayhem, what, Tribes had already mastered that too? Aw Shazbot!

No release date has been announced yet, other than simply "2011".

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Steam Guard now available to all users

A few weeks ago during GDC 2011, Steam heart-throb Gabe Newell announced an upcoming Steam security feature called Steam Guard, an additional level of account security to protect your virtual game safe. To use the service, you just need to update to the newest Steam client and be sure that your primary email address is verified. Then, any time you log in from a new computer, Steam will email you a code that you'll need to enter to register that computer on your account. If you get an email from a computer that you didn't lot in from, then you'll know someone else is trying to access your account. Easy peasy.

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Crytek Showcases CryEngine 3's Next-Gen Capabilities

Not to be outdone by Epic's Unreal Engine 3 demo this year at GDC 2011, Crytek showed off some gorgeous footage of what CryEngine3 can do. Their video is geared a little more towards developers than the UE3 one was, but that doesn't make the effects they show off any less impressive. Enjoy more amazing graphics that current-gen consoles could only dream of being able to give you.


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Epic shows off new Unreal Engine 3 upgrades in GDC tech demo

Last week at GDC 2011, Epic brought some heat with their new tech demo of the improvements that they've made to the very popular Unreal Engine 3. Oddly they didn't introduce it as UE4, as the visual effects in this trailer are leaps and bounds better than what we're used to seeing from the engine. Although maybe that's because most of the UE3 games are targeted for consoles, and the PC versions are held back from looking this good because of porting. Either way check it out, previously there was just a leaked camcorder quality video of the footage, but now IGN has posted the direct HD video for our enjoyment:


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Games for Windows Live stumbles to tackle Steam

Microsoft has just launched it's new PC gaming digital distribution site. Apparently a (late) step to reclaim some lost distribution share to Steam.

Time for PC users to dust off those gamer tags? Or just stick with the tried and true Steam service? Microsoft is trying to incentivize users to try the service with 50% off Viva Pinata and Shadowrun... SHADOWRUN? You mean the game that failed to push gamers into upgrading to Windows Vista because it required DirectX 10, but was later hacked and released for download and ran just fine on DX9? We gamers remember this stuff Microsoft. I personally have no interest in 50% off a 3 year old FPS that no one else is playing.

Several other deals are available, if you're curious go check it out:

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Deus Ex: Human Revolution trailer amazes

Eidos paired up with the CGI wizards at Square-Enix to do the CGI work for their upcoming entry in the Deus Ex series. They've finally released their first trailer for the game, and proven that they are worth every penny.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is coming to the PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 in 2011.
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Medal of Honor "Leave a Message" trailer

EA looks to be bringing back the Medal of Honor series in a big way. And with all the recent drama with the Modern Warfare series it looks like a great time to re-introduce a solid war-series. Instead of most FPS war game trailers, this one chooses to focus more on the human side of war instead of throwing as many explosions and fast-cuts as possible at your. Consider us impressed EA, keep it up.

Medal of Honor will ship October 12, 2010.
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Call of Duty : Black Ops Premier Trailer

So the drama at Infinity Ward may still be in high gear, but that will only have an effect on the next, next, Call of Duty. This years installment is Treyarch's turn, and now we've finally got the debut trailer for their upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops. From the looks of it, we're still in modern times, and Black Ops is a cool name that would work for future installments similar to how Modern Warfare worked for the series too. At least a name is one less thing Treyarch would have to worry about in 2012, CoD: BO2 writes itself.

From the trailer it looks like the release date is set for either September 11th or November 9th, 2010.
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Activision vs Respawn

Activision is currently being slapped in the face with a $125 Million lawsuit filed by 38 current and former Infinity Ward employees. Also, the recently-ousted Infinity Ward co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella have filed similar allegations to the tune of $36 million. The basis of the lawsuit is that Activision owes Infinity Ward employees unpaid royalties for sales of Modern Warfare 2.

Monday, March 1st, G4 reported that Infinity Ward CTO Jason West and Vince Zampella were escorted out of the Infinity Ward offices by "bouncer-types" on allegations of insubordination and breech of contract. It seems that the same adventurous attitude of West and Zampella that inspired the formation of Infinity Ward, has remained, as the two have formed a new development shop, Respawn Entertainment. Adding insult to injury, Respawn has developed a partnership with Electronic Arts, who happens to be Activisions lead competitor. Over the past few weeks, Respawn Entertainment has acquired many Infinity Ward employees. I'm not even sure who remains at IW after all these leaves. Reports show at least 16 former IW employees now work for Respawn Entertainment.

Perhaps this will mark the pending demise of the Call of Duty/ Modern Warfare series.

List of employees confirmed:
Todd Alderman (lead designer)
Mark Grigsby (lead animator)
Chris Cherubini (lead environmental artist)
John Paul Messerly (lead animator)
Rayme C. Vinson (software engineer)
Jon Shiring (programmer)
Mackey McCandlish (lead designer)
Preston Glenn (designer)
Zied Rieke (lead designer)
Chad Genier (senior designer)
Sean Slayback (designer)

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Left 4 Dead 2 : The Passing released

As previously posted, the first content update for Left 4 Dead 2 is now available for both the PC and Xbox 360.

Here's a little teaser video from Valve starring Francis and Rochelle:



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Left 4 Dead 2 DLC "The Passing" dated

The first add-on to Left 4 Dead 2 is finally coming this Thursday, April 22nd. Entitled "The Passing", the new DLC brings a nice chunk of content to Left 4 Dead 2, including; a new campaign (with single player, multiplayer & co-op gameplay), a new co-op game mode, support for infected bot play in Versus, the new "Fallen Survivor" uncommon common zombie, golf club melee weapon, M60 firearm and heck, even the crew from the original Left 4 Dead down south to slaughter some infected with you.

There will also be a series of week-long events called "Mutations". Game modes such as "Realism Versus" and "Chainsaw Massacre" are just a couple of the 20+ modes planned. "The Passing" will be 560 Microsoft Points on the Xbox 360, and free of course for the PC players.

Valve will even be celebrating the launch of the DLC this Thursday with all the fans. They will be playing from 11am-5pm PST on the PC, and from 7pm-11pm PST on the 360. Can you say best job ever? Hit up the source link for a list of all the account names for each platform that you'll need to add to your friends list to participate.

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Crysis 2 Reveal

The first Crysis game is still able to cause havoc on even the latest PC hardware, over 2 years after it's release. Crysis 2 was built from the ground up with console support in mind, so it's finally going to give PS3 / Xbox 360 gamers a taste of what all the hype was about. Crytek says the new engine will keep the game running at a constant 30fps on the consoles, but capable PC's will still be able to turn the sliders all the way up and punish their PC's if they desire.

Either way the new trailer for the game is outstanding. Just like the old "Mad World" Gears of War trailer, the mixture of carnage with soft tempo music is a great combination.

Crysis 2 is set to release holiday 2010.





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New Battlefield: Bad Company 2 trailer

So Modern Warfare 2 isn't your thing? No problems, you're probably more of a Battlefield person. Unfortunately the next true sequel in the form of Battlefield 3 isn't coming anytime soon, but lucky for you it looks like Bad Company 2 is coming along quite nicely. Can't wait for the PC beta.




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Modern Warfare 2 kills sales record

So it seems all the negative press and boycotts that Infinity Ward got in the weeks leading to the release of Modern Warfare 2 didn't really matter. They still sold a bajillion copies. Well ok, it was only 4.7 million copies...in one day...which far exceeds the previous record of 3.6 million, held by Grand Theft Auto 4.

Speaking of boycotts, check out this screenshot of the Steam PC Modern Warfare 2 boycott group. Way to go guys...

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Various pieces of Left 4 Dead 2 love

The launch of Left 4 Dead 2 is right around the corner. To add a little bit to the hype, the official Left 4 Dead blog has been updated. The update brings some sweet concept art wallpapers (all in glorious 1920x1200), and a contest.

Gamestop is also getting in on the L4D2 action, with their "Leave Yourself 4 Dead" activity on their pre-order site. It allows you to upload a picture of your face, zombifies you up, and then puts you in a video along with Nick from L4D2.

Last but not least, if you're looking for just the right thing to wear next week for the release of Left 4 Dead 2, then glitchgear.com has just the thing for you:






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NEWS FLASH! Left 4 Dead 2 not as good when censored.

As you've probably heard, the Australian government had previously banned Left 4 Dead 2 from being sold in the country. This forced Valve to either censor it, or lose out on a nice chunk of change. They chose to censor their content. Here's a playthrough of the first map of the demo on the Australian version, in all of it's non-gore glory.

As you can see, the blood has basically been completely taken out. Dead bodies almost immediately disappear, the fancy new limb dismemberment of the sequel is completely disabled, and the infected are unable to catch fire. Bad news for L4D fans from down under, as this version looks pretty dull compared to ours.

Luckily there's a way to bypass this censorship! At least if you're a PC gamer that is. Thanks to the PC's nature of being open and moddable, you can edit some files to bring all the blood and gore back to where it should be. No guarantees that this will continue to work on the full version, but for now have fun and check out the process HERE.




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Left 4 Dead 2 demo day

Valve has officially announced the open release of the demo for Left 4 Dead 2. Fans that had pre-ordered have had it for about a week now, but it's now available on Steam for PC Gamers or on the Xbox Live Marketplace for the consolers.

The full game will be released on November 17th.

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Valve: Oh right, the Left 4 Dead 2 demo was supposed to be done today...

So anybody waiting to play the Left 4 Dead 2 Demo through Steam probably already knows that there was a bit of miscommunication that happened somewhere down the line. You see, the official Steam L4D2 Demo event earlier today said the game would be released at 3pm CST on October 27th. That time came and went, then about 30 min after that (and hundreds of posts/threads on the official forum later), that page updated to say 1am CST on October 28th. Valve has yet to comment on the event, and at this point I doubt they will. But if you spent anytime in the official forum today/tonight then you'd see a huge opportunity for Valve to save some face and communicate what the problem was, and why it happened. Because now the Oct 27th demo date that the pre-orders were given as incentive isn't going to happen save for a few timezones.

To rub it in even more, Xbox 360 pre-order customers were able to download their demo early this morning. So the system that, in the past Valve has criticized because of it's closed nature, and the content delaying approval process that Microsoft enforces, now got the demo first. Almost an entire day earlier to be precise. Not cool Valve...not cool.

On a related note, here's the first Gamestop-sponsored TV spot for L4D2:


Update: The time has now changed AGAIN to 3:00pm CST on October 28th.



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Dirt 2 DirectX 11 Tech Demo

Many PC racing fans have been upset that Codemasters' excellent rally racing game Dirt 2 has been delayed for so long. We may not know the complete reason that it's taking them so long to get it out, but at least the delay allowed the devs to code in support for DirectX 11. DX11 is the latest iteration of the API, it's coming to Windows 7 and Vista, and it is already supported by the newest ATI 5000 series video cards. We've gotta admit, the DX11 effects look pretty damn impressive, though it remains to be seen if all that new eye candy will be completely noticeable while you're actually playing the game and not just watch replays. Either way, kudos to Codemasters for being on the cutting edge and pushing PC graphics even farther ahead of the consoles.




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