15 February 2009
by Ferry

World of Warcraft patch 3.0.9 out now

The latest World of Warcraft Patch 3.0.9 has been released for download by Blizzard. This is the most recent patch for World of Warcraft updating the popular MMORPG from version 3.0.8 to version 3.0.9.

Please note that this update doesn’t add dual specializations and the new raid instance Ulduar, those will be added in WoW patch 3.1. Instead, this update focuses on class-specific tweaks and improving the user interface. More as described below…

Druids
* Ferocious Bite: This ability now only uses up to 30 energy in addition to its base cost.

Hunters
* Kindred Spirits (Beast Mastery): This talent now grants 20% pet damage at max rank.
* Serpent’s Swiftness (Beast Mastery): This talent now grants 20% pet attack speed at max rank.
* Pets
o Lava Breath now reduces the target’s casting speed by 25%, down from 50%.
o Poison Spit now reduces the target’s casting speed by 25%, down from 50%.

Mages
* Arcane Power now increases damage and mana cost by 20%, cooldown reduced to 2 minutes.
* Arcane Power and Presence of Mind now share a category cooldown. Arcane Power causes a 15 second cooldown. Presence of Mind, once consumed, causes a 1.5 second cooldown.
* Arcane Flows now reduces the cooldown of Presence of Mind, Arcane Power and Invisibility by 15/30%.
* Presence of Mind: The cooldown has been reduced to 2 minutes, (down from 3.)
* Slow (Arcane): now increases cast time by 30%, down from 60%.

Paladins
* The duration on all Seals has been increased to 30 minutes and can no longer be dispelled.
* Divine Plea: The amount healed by your spells is reduced by 50% (up from 20%), but the effect can no longer be dispelled.
* Sanctified Seals: This talent no longer affects dispel resistance, but continues to affect crit chance.

Priests
* Inner Fire duration has been increased to 30 minutes and can no longer dispelled.

Rogues
* Hunger for Blood (Assassination): Now increases damage 5% per stack, (up from 3%.)
* Mind Numbing Poison now reduces cast time by 30%, down from 60%.
* Mutilate damage will now do 20% increased damage against poisoned targets, down from 50%.
* Slice and Dice (Rank 2): This ability now increases melee attack speed by 40%, up from 30%.

Warlocks
* Curse of Tongues: Now increases the casting time of all spells by 25% (Rank 1) and 30% (Rank 2), down from 50% and 60%.
Article continues »

15 February 2009
by Ferry

Baldur’s Gate III to be revisited for 2010 development by Atari

It all started in the January 2008 issue of PC Gamer UK, where the editor claimed that Baldur’s Gate III was being worked on, a statement that was repeated a year later in the January 2009 issue of the magazine. With a note that any more information is unlikely to surface until later in 2009, possibly even 2010.

Luckily for fans, on December 2nd 2008, Atari stated in a press conference that the Baldur’s Gate series — amongst others — would be revisited after 2009, so in 2010 it’s possible Baldur’s Gate III will show up as in development for PC, as reported by Eurogamer.

In the meantime, you should know that developer BioWare’s Dragon Age Origins is seen as the spiritual sequel to the Baldur’s Gate series.

14 February 2009
by Ferry

Top 5 game sales per system worldwide in week 6, 2009

What are the best-selling games in America, Japan, and Europe (UK, France, Germany) this week? Thanks to Amazon online sales data here are the games that are the most popular right now.

Nintendo Wii
North America: 1. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 2. Rock Band 2 Special Edition (Electronic Arts), 3. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 4. Wii Play (Nintendo), 5. My Fitness Coach (Ubisoft).

Japan: 1. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 2. Taiko: Drum Master Wii (Namco), 3. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 4. Another Code: R - Gateway of Memory (Nintendo), 5. New Wii Play Control! Mario Power Tennis GC (Nintendo).

Europe: 1. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 2. The House of the Dead: Overkill (Sega), 3. My Fitness Coach (Ubisoft), 4. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega), 5. Wii Play (Nintendo).

Xbox 360
North America: 1. Call of Duty: World at War (Activision), 2. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 3. Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection (Sega), 4. Gears of War 2 (Microsoft), 5. Left 4 Dead (Electronic Arts).

Japan: 1. Street Fighter IV (Capcom), 2. Skate 2 (Electronic Arts), 3. Left 4 Dead (Electronic Arts), 4. Tales of Vesperia (Namco), 5. Gears of War - Platinum Collection (Microsoft).

Europe: 1. Left 4 Dead (Electronic Arts), 2. FIFA 09 (Electronic Arts), 3. Call of Duty: World at War (Activision), 4. F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (Warner Bros.), 5. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Game of the Year Edition (Activision).

PlayStation 3
North America: 1. Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection (Sega), 2. LittleBigPlanet (Sony), 3. Call of Duty: World at War (Activision), 4. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 5. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Konami).

Japan: 1. Demon’s Souls (Sony), 2. Street Fighter IV (Capcom), 3. Yakuza: Kenzan! - The Best Of PlayStation 3 Edition (Sega), 4. Fallout 3 (Bethesda), 5. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (Konami).

Europe: 1. LittleBigPlanet (Sony), 2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Game of the Year Edition (Activision), 3. FIFA 09 (Electronic Arts), 4. Resistance 2 (Sony), 5. Motorstorm: Pacific Rift (Sony).

PlayStation 2 Article continues »

14 February 2009
by Ferry

Street Fighter 4 on the Wii and iPhone is possible says Capcom producer

Street Fighter 4 producer Yoshinori Ono was interviewed back at the Leipzig Games Convention 2008, which brought up an interesting proposal. After the Arcade, PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Street Fighter 4, it could come to Wii and iPhone! Here are some choice quotes from that interview.

1UP asks: There’s been some talk from Capcom — I can’t remember if it was you or someone else who said this — that if there’s enough demand for it, a Wii version of Street Fighter 4 could be possible. So where are you with things now? How would you view a Street Fighter game on the Wii — would you keep it as “Street Fighter 4″ or do some sort of “Street Fighter Kids”?

Mr. Ono answers: Yeah, it’s definitely true that we’ve had a lot of requests for a port for the Wii. And it’s definitely doable. We just don’t have any plans for it yet, that’s all. If we feel strongly enough that it would sell, I’d imagine we’d do it. But it definitely would be Street Fighter 4 — not some dumbed down version.

1UP asks: So is there really any question within Capcom that a Wii version would sell?

Mr. Ono answers: Going back to my philosophy for Street Fighter, the game is essentially a tool, not just a unique piece of entertainment. I think of it like chess — that game can be played anywhere. As long as people want to play Street Fighter 4, it could be on anything — even this iPhone, for that matter [Points to the iPhone on the table]. It really could be on any platform that could support it. So let’s just see what happens.

14 February 2009
by Ferry

Half-Life 2 movie short shows Escape From City 17

The Escape From City 17 short film series is an adaptation based on the Half-Life 2 computer game saga by Valve Corporation. Directors The Purchase Brothers originally envisioned it as a project to test out numerous post production techniques, as well as a spec commercial, it ballooned into a multi-part series. Filmed guerilla style with no money, no time, no crew, no script, the first two episodes were made from beginning to end on a budget of $500.

Can’t wait for the second part, the special effects looks better than some Hollywood blockbusters. Valve needs to hire these guys to do a full Half-Life movie ASAP. Luckily Valve flew the team out to Seattle last year, and the brothers have been in communication with them since. So fingers crossed. — If you’re dying to watch a Half-Life-like movie, I suggest you rent/buy the 2006 Clive Owen movie Children of Men.

Watch part one of Escape From City 17:

Click on the bottom-right menu HQ button to view it in HD.

14 February 2009
by Ferry

Killzone 2 debuts on Dutch National News

The number one Dutch TV channel RTL4 visited Guerrilla Games in its Amsterdam base to report with fitting pride about the PlayStation 3 blockbuster Killzone 2. The reporter remarks the shooting game has a budget in the millions that rivals that of big Hollywood blockbuster movies. As well as showing how the games industry will grow — just like it did in the 80’s — in the coming years despite the economic downturn.

It’s stated Killzone 2’s goal is to make sure more PS3’s are sold. When talking to Guerrilla Games’ director Hermen Hulst, he says: “It’s an important title for the PlayStation 3. It’s up to us to show what’s possible on the PlayStation 3 that’s not possible on competing platforms. In the end the player will have to decide if we succeeded in doing that.”

Here’s the (mostly Dutch) full Killzone 2 report footage:

13 February 2009
by Josh

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 announced with debut teaser

Electronic Arts has released the first trailer, a teaser trailer, for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10.

The video teases with the phrase “Feel the Drama” but doesn’t exactly explain what it means. It’s expected however that a major new feature will debut with this, the 2010 entry in the legendary golfing sports sim.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 will be released on PC, PSP, PS2, PS3, Wii, DS, Xbox 360 this year.

Update: In an email about the mid-March EA Sports Season Opener event, the company said: “Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 featuring Wii MotionPlus.”

13 February 2009
by Josh

House of the Dead: Overkill launch trailer

The House of the Dead: Overkill is now available for the Nintendo Wii in North America and Europe (and in Australia on the 19th).

As we’ve been reporting, the game is a rebirth of the House of the Dead franchise that seeks to put the franchise to a place it hasn’t been in quite a long while.

If you like rail shooters then this is definitely one hardcore, Mature-rated Wii game that you will want to pick up. Here is the launch trailer for the game.

13 February 2009
by Josh

UK university developing PC games emulator for classics from 1970 till now

Researchers at Portsmouth University are developing a massive, universal games and data emulator that will preserve every video game ever made from 1970 until the current day in a database of epic, planet-crashing proportions. The program is part of the Europe-wide KEEP project (Keeping Emulation Environments Portable) with the objective to “develop methods of safeguarding digital objects including text, sound and image files, multimedia documents, websites, databases and video games,” reports techradar.

The emulator itself will be able to recognize and play every type of video game file ever made in order to preserve these digital videogames for future generations even as the hardware to play them has long since become absolute and/or disappeared from the face of the earth.

To quote from the Techradar article: “Early hardware, like games consoles and computers, are already found in museums. But if you can’t show visitors what they did, by playing the software on them, it would be much the same as putting musical instruments on display but throwing away all the music. For future generations it would be a cultural catastrophe,” according to Dr David Anderson from Portsmouth University.

“A vast bank of information needs to be cataloged and stored,” adds researcher and computer games expert Dan Pinchbeck. “Games particularly tend not to be archived because they are seen as disposable, pulp cultural artifacts, but they represent a really important part of our recent cultural history. Games are one of the biggest media formats on the planet and we must preserve them for future generations.”

They see the massive project as a “rescue plan to recover and safeguard the rapidly vanishing technology and cultural information about the generation born and brought up in the digital age.”

“People don’t think twice about saving files digitally — from snapshots taken on a camera phone to national or regional archives,” comments Dr Janet Delve. “But every digital file risks being either lost by degrading or by the technology used to ‘read’ it disappearing altogether. Former generations have left a rich supply of books, letters and documents which tell us who they were, how they lived and what they discovered. There’s a very real risk that we could bequeath a blank spot in history.”

It’s interesting to note that by 2010 the amount of digital information created worldwide “will be equivalent to 18 million times the information contained in all the books ever written.” The researchers note that “Britain’s National Archive holds the equivalent of 580,000 encyclopedias of information in file formats no longer commercially available” and add that “research by the British Library suggests Europe loses £2.7bn each year in business value because of difficulties in preserving and accessing old digital files.”

“We are facing a massive threat of the loss of digital information. It’s a very real and worrying problem. Things that were created in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s are vanishing fast and every year new technologies mean we face greater risk of losing material,” says Dr David Anderson.

13 February 2009
by Josh

Square Enix wants to buy Eidos for $120 million

Square Enix is preparing to buy Eidos for $120 million. The bid to buy the company is valued at GBP $84.3 million and Eidos’ board of directors has already agreed to recommend the offer to shareholders as it’s worth 32 pence per share.

The agreement calls for the acquisition of Eidos by Square Enix holding company SQEX Ltd in a deal that Square hopes will “reinforce the Square Enix Group’s position as one of the world’s leaders in interactive entertainment with a broad portfolio of market leading franchises.”

“Eidos maintains a strong reputation for high quality development and proven expertise in creating characters and storylines that appeal to consumers. Eidos’ products are highly complementary to our business and will accelerate our aggressive expansion into Western markets.

“We believe that wide range of both companies’ quality products encompassing major genres will enable us to meet diversified customers’ expectations upon a global basis.”

And Phil Rogers, CEO of Eidos, added: “Eidos has a strong portfolio of established franchises, with highly talented employees. Square Enix recognizes this and sees Eidos as both complementary to their business as well as a valuable brand within videogames.

“We are one year into our new strategy and believe that the prospects for the further development of our strategy and the business as a part of Square Enix would offer an exciting opportunity for the Eidos Group.”