NEW YORK, Dec 02, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Rockstar Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., announced today that Grand Theft Auto IV for the PC is now available for purchase at retail outlets nationwide and for digital download on Steam.
“We are very proud to be releasing Grand Theft Auto IV for the PC,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “We have taken our time to ensure this version of the game is not just a quick port, but a perfectly tailored experience for the PC. We hope the PC gaming community appreciates all of the innovative features in the game. Grand Theft Auto began on the PC and we have tried very hard to ensure this version was worthy of that heritage.”
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VALVe has slashed the cost for Half-Life down to less than a dollar. For the low low price of $0.98, users can now buy the original Half-Life for Steam. Half-Life, built on the GoldSrc engine and released in 1998, is VALVe’s award winning title featuring protagonist Gordon Freeman. From it came many mods including the time tested Counter-Strike. And trust me when I say it’s well worth the 98 cents.
[ Joystiq ]
IRVINE, Calif. - November 20, 2008 - Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that World of Warcraft®’s second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King™, has sold more than 2.8 million copies in its first 24 hours of availability*, making it the fastest-selling PC game of all time. This eclipses the previous record of nearly 2.4 million copies sold in 24 hours, set in January 2007 by Blizzard’s first World of Warcraft expansion, The Burning Crusade®. Wrath of the Lich King was simultaneously released in North America, Europe, Chile, Argentina, and Russia on November 13; Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand on November 14; and South Korea and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau on November 18.
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November 19, 2008 - Alienware and Bigfoot Networks have teamed up to deliver the next generation online gaming desktop PC for the holidays. Gamers can now order an Aurora™ Online Gaming Edition QuickShip Desktop configured with the Killer NIC™ K1 , a network card that reduces lag and delivers smoother, more responsive online game play. The online gaming PC will ship within 48 hours after payment confirmation and validation, and is priced at $1899.
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It’s rare when such a game comes along like Left 4 Dead (PC Version Reviewed). However, when it comes to Valve, we usually expect nothing less than Pure Gold. With releases such as Team Fortress 2, Half-Life 2, Portal, and even going back to the original Half-Life (which spawned mods of it’s own including Counter-Strike), Valve has shown and continues to show it knows how to make a great game. So when I was offered the demo for Left 4 Dead, I could not help but pounce. What happened next was a wallet opening and a card being charged for a copy of Left 4 Dead. Once the download was complete, I could only sit and wait for 12:00. Time to cure the infection, “One Bullet At A Time”.
At first, I looked for something to compare Left 4 Dead too. Resident Evil? Dawn of the Dead? Perhaps 28 Days Later? None of these seemed to fit. The reason is Left 4 Dead stands on its own. Ironically, the game is presented somewhat as a film. The cinematics are great though and help to further the story which is made up mostly of you and your allies trying to stay alive. The story revolves around 4 main characters, Francis, Bill, Zoey, and Louis. Francis seems to be more of a hard-nosed Mercenary type while Bill seems to be an older seasoned person, likely with experience in war. He’s also a bit of a strategist and seems to serve as a leader figure to the group. Zoey, the lone female, is more of a fearful person, but does not hesitate to help others before herself, and Louis is a more jumpy person ready to shoot anything formerly human that moves. Together, the four attempt to escape the infection and the mass hordes of zombies ready to assail them around any corner.
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London, UK - November 17, 2008 - Fonix Speech, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Fonix Corporation (OTC BB: FNIX), and Ubisoft announced today that the highly anticipated Tom Clancy’s EndWar, now available at leading video game retailers, features Fonix VoiceIn technology for its voice command interface. EndWar, initially available in US and UK English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Russian and Polish is available for both the Microsoft Xbox® and the Sony PlayStation®3 computer entertainment systems. A PC version in the same languages will launch in Q1 2009.
“Ubisoft chose Fonix speech software for its convenient user interface, low memory and processing power requirements. We needed to ensure that everything done in the game could be done by voice commands and Fonix VoiceIn offered us the technology to accomplish that,” commented Vincent Greco, worldwide technical coordinator at Ubisoft. “Fonix provided us with a unique set of tools for game development across multiple platforms.”
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– Today Ubisoft announced that Far Cry® 2, its open world first person shooter on Xbox 360™, PLAYSTATION®3 and PC, has already reached one million units sell-through worldwide in less than 3 weeks of availability at retail.
“The holiday quarter is off to a solid start with the successful launch of Far Cry 2,” said Yves Guillemot, chief executive officer at Ubisoft. “The game is well on track to achieve our expectations for the year.”
The Amazon listing for Crysis Warhead is apparently undergoing the same consumer attack seen with Spore. Angry consumers, unhappy with the SecuROM DRM being included with Crysis Warhead, are assailing it with 1-star ratings.
For reference, Crysis Warhead was released to retail on September 16, 2008. 4 Days Later, it was widely available, sans the DRM, on P2P networks. Like the now patched Spore, Crysis Warhead grants users up to 5 installs on different machines. It requires online authentication upon installation as well as when users choose to go online with the game.
Like Spore, Crysis Warhead has generally received excellent ratings among many media outlets, however, reviewers on Amazon seem to bear a general mindset, citing the DRM as their gripe with the game. Even one of the featured 4-star reviews states that the purchaser will not remove it from its box and install it until EA addresses this issue. One of the other 1-star ratings describes the SecuROM DRM as malware that they refuse to install upon their computer. Only time will tell how far this goes before Electronic Arts. It has become remarkably clear that gamers do not wish for DRM to be included with their games as it apparently does nothing to stop piracy. We’d like to note that one game, Sins of a Solar Empire, does not contain any DRM or copy protection what so ever and is currently the best selling PC strategy game of 2008.
DIII.net (via IGN PC) has managed to come up with a list of features which will be reportedly seen in the new iteration of Battle.net which Blizzard has planned to coincide with the release of StarCraft II and Diablo III.
Automatic/Anonymous Matchmaking Support
Excellent Ping Support
Avatar/Icons to represent yourself
Achievements
In-Game Voice Chat
Hack-Free Security
Clan Support
Automated Tournaments
Friends/Ignore Lists
eSport Support
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Although we obtained both the Xbox 360 and PC versions of this game, we have decided to review primarily based on the PC version.
Playing Mass Effect was like nothing I have ever experienced before. I can honestly find nothing to equate it too. Mass Effect is a gem of beauty to be marveled and experienced by every gamer at least once. It’s presentation is spectacular. After playing on both the PC and the Xbox 360, I can say that Bioware truly deserves an ovation for what is truthfully one of the greatest projects ever conceived. Mass Effect leads players on one of the greatest and most in depth explorations of the galaxy ever invisioned leading one to new places where every decision made affects your character and your relations with others. The perfect Space opera.
After already playing Mas Effect on the Xbox 360, I was left with a feeling of accomplishment. The Xbox 360 version was nothing short of beautiful and deserves a merit in it’s own right. The PC version, however, solves some issues which were present in the Xbox 360 version and adds new features. The experience, however, is still, for the most part, identical. The PC version offers faster load times, higher resolutions, and of course, nothing wins in a virtual firefight (short of a light gun) like a keyboard and mouse. The Bring Down The Sky DLC add-on is free for PC users so this is a nice bonus as well.
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