These bad guys look remarkably like Geth

Capcom released a new Dark Void video today, and through it we see some of the baddies our hero Will has to contend with.  These creatures are called "The Watchers," and as the video shows, there were a crap-ton of them running around.

One scene in particular suggests that perhaps these robot bodies are not their native forms, and another shows something transforming into a human.  Yeah, that's not creepy at all or anything.  There's no commentary with this video, but plenty of crazy lookin' enemies.  Perhaps it's better this way, after the developers insulted the entire realm of Western gaming in their last developer diary.  Ironically, the robotic bad guys look a lot like the sentient Geth from Mass Effect.

Has your interest been piqued?  Dark Void will be out in North America on January 19 for both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 -- January 22 for Europe.  As for that upcoming film adaption starring Brad Pitt?  We have no idea, and some of us are still hoping the movie news was an elaborate prank cooked up by someone's publicist spending too many hours with the company bong; video game movies make us cry inside.

Abuse meter rates your 'Gangsta' level

On the PETA website, you'll find flash games that uses mostly cartoon violence to promote the group's messages.  Well, a Danish group has taken that a step further with a more realistic-looking experience.

The 2002 non-government organization (NGO) Children Exposed to Violence at Home has seen a sudden traffic boost to their website since launching their "Hit the Bitch" flash game.  In the game, you control a surly appendage with your mouse or webcam and slap around a young lady with it.  It starts out with a woman (presumably your girlfriend) walking up to you saying that she had a wonderful evening and danced with numerous people.  Obviously you, the man with threatening hand, will have to show her who's in charge.

As you rough her up, hip music plays in the background, and a meter at the top of the page rates your "Gangsta" level.  Upon reaching 100 percent, the game ends and calls the player an idiot, before showing your girlfriend lying on the floor in tears. 

The group's website has gotten so much traffic over this game that most links will just take you to a page with this notice:

Dear non-danish visitor,

Due to an extremely high amount of traffic "Hit the Bitch" has been limited to only allow users from Denmark.

However, domestic violence is a global problem, so please support the fight against it in your local country.

Thanks for your interest.

Kind regards
Children exposed to Violence at Home

If you're interested in checking out the game or sharing it on Facebook, this particular URL still works.  Anyone fluent in Danish can feel free to fill us in on the dialogue.

When they're not making disturbing flash games, Children Exposed to Violence at Home finds other ways of promoting domestic abuse awareness, mainly targeting children or teens, whom they hope will come forward more often about the abuse these young'uns witness.

Grenades, guest passes... in space!

Futuremark has released a minor update for Shattered Horizon that brings a couple change in-game and introduces Steam Guest Passes.

As of this week, Futuremark has been handing out Guest Passes to existing players, who can then invite friends to try the game for themselves.  Alternatively, the game's community and Steam forums are filled with players giving out unused passes.

Other changes are as follows:

• "ROLL LEFT" AND "ROLL RIGHT" CAN NOW BE ASSIGNED TO INDIVIDUAL KEYS.
  Fans of Descent, space-sims, and other six-degrees-of-freedom games now have more options to set up and play Shattered Horizon the way they want.
  

• EACH GRENADE TYPE CAN BE ASSIGNED TO A QUICK SELECT KEY
  A quick-key for each grenade type makes it easier to select and fire the right one when under pressure
  

• CHANGES TO THE COLOR OF THE EMP GRENADE EFFECT.
  The color of the EMP lightning effect on players has been changed from blue to white to better balance the effect on MMC players.
  

Always nice to know when developers are listening to their fanbase.  A few bugs have also been eliminated, as you can see below in the complete patch notes:

• NEW CONTROL OPTIONS
  - Each grenade type can now be assigned to a separate quick-select key.
  - "Roll left" and "Roll right" can now be assigned to individual keys.  You can adjust the roll speed when rolling with keys. While you are rolling with keys the mouse is completely free to aim.
  - Both the mouse and the individual keys can be used to roll in-game, you don't have to choose between them so are free to use different roll methods depending on which you prefer for each situation.
  - Help screens and FPS-counter controls can now be bound to different keys in the controls menu.
  - Added mouse wheel support to controls.
  

• GAME CHANGES
  - The color of the EMP lightning effect on players has been changed from blue to white. This change is to reduce confusion when MCC (yellow) players are EMPed. The EMP particle effect however is still blue and will be changed in a future update.
  - When typing a message using in-game chat, a history of all in-game chat messages will appear. The text will disappear automatically after a short time.
  

• BUG FIXES
  - Firing the weapon in silent running mode now plays the correct muffled audio.
  - Fixed a rare bug that caused rendering to freeze while the game continued running.
  - Fixed an occasional issue that resulted in a player spawning into a level with too much speed.
  - Fixed an issue with shadows initializing incorrectly, which could cause aliased sharp edges.
  - Fixed a bug with in-game chat where lines of text could appear on top of each other.
  - Fixed a bug that allowed in-game chat to be used while in silent running mode.
  

Protestors very much a minority

Despite having everything going against it (the PC userbase's higher standards, dropping almost all the features of Modern Warfare, and carrying a higher price tag), Modern Warfare 2 has already outsold its predecessor on the platform, says Infinity Ward developer Robert Bowling.

Sales numbers have been disturbingly high overall, as you know, but many likely didn't expect the PC release to do so hot in light of the changes. Not so, says Bowling in the developer's forums -- while the platform accounted for a very low 3 % of total sales, it has outsold the previous game with "tremendous" first week numbers.

PC games are almost always outdone by their console counterparts, of course, but we didn't realize it was more than 30 times as much, which makes the notion of dedicated servers almost seem absurd, given what's happened here. However, games like the upcoming Battlefield: 1943, Bad Company 2, and Aliens vs. Predator will have them in place, so all hope is not yet lost.

Tis the season...

Need for Speed SHIFT is getting even better next month with the free 'Team Racing pack', which includes a new mode and five new cars.

The mode, of course, is Team Racing. This new way to play pits two teams of six against each other in the online arena -- team tactics will be needed to get the advantage on your opponents.

As for the new cars, these are pretty legendary machines (all but the Supra are pictured):

• 1967 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 427
• 1967 Shelby GT-500
• 1969 Dodge Charger R/T
• 1971 Dodge Challenger R/T
• 1998 Toyota Supra Mark IV

Launch date for the DLC is December 1 on Xbox 360 and December 10 on PlayStation 3 (December 3 for Europe). EA tells us it's set for PC December 3, "the same day as the Xbox 360 release", so, either the third or first, then.

If you've not tried the game yet, a demo is out for consoles and PC. It's not a traditional NFS title by any means, but just as great.

NCSoft, Sony, Turbine, Blizzard, Jagex named in lawsuit over multiplayer technology

New York-based holdings company Paltalk Holdings just can't stand seeing these damn MMO publishers making money off their technology.  So they did the only sensible thing they could think of: sue the crap out of everyone.

If Paltalk sounds familiar, you may remember them from a 2006 case, in which the company faced off against Microsoft over multiplayer technology found in Halo games.  That particular incident was settled out of court mid-trial.  While Paltalk didn't exactly win, they didn't actually lose either.  Now they're going after the MMO developers and publishers, having named Sony, NCSoft, Activision Blizzard, Turbine Studios, and Jagex Ltd. in this latest patent lawsuit.

So what's the issue this time?  Paltalk is asserting that the multiplayer technology that allows players to interact in the same digital environments simultaneously is currently theirs, following their 2002 purchase of various related patents.  Now these big shots are using that very same technology in their respective games, which Paltalk sees as an obvious violation.

The suit was filed in Marshall, Texas, where Paltalk's case against Microsoft was also being tried.  As it turns out, most patent legal lawsuits start there because its courts are considered plaintiff-friendly.

Check out all these screenshots and dev video

A sequel to one of the arguably better RTS games of the last 5 years, Supreme Commander 2, has been officially announced to be arriving next Spring. Some new screenshots were released with today's release date announcement, showing off the new engine in action.

Supreme Commander 2 features future-humans and two alien races, for factions in the game. The three races don't like each other all that much. In fact, they are locked in an Infinite War. Which means that there probably be many more sequels for to this game.

Supreme Comander 2 is being made by Gas Powered Games, and published by Square Enix. The lead designer for the game is Vancouver-born industry veteran Chris Taylor. "The partnership with Square Enix has been a highlight of my career," Chris was quoted as saying. "I couldn’t be more proud of what the team has accomplished, as the game has continually exceeded all of my expectations throughout its development."

Like the first game, you can expect to battle on ground, in the air, and in the sea. The sequel will feature enhanced customizable armies and deadlier, bigger, skull-crushing robots with giant laser cannons for arms. In the game, you actually play as the Supreme Commander -- a robot battlesuit from which you command your armies. Lose your commander and it's all over.

In this video, Mr. Taylor does a walk through of the game. With PC games it seems it is pretty rare that a company actually makes its release date -- but for Supreme Commander 2, it is looking like they'll actually be releasing in the Spring, just like they've been saying. Check it out:

Supreme Commander 2 will be available for the PC and the Xbox 360, this time around. Perhaps like the first game, the sequel will be one of the very few games with well implemented, specialized dual monitor support.

Comes with soundtrack CD, art book, vinyl LP and more

BioShock fans will be happy to hear that details concerning a new Special Edition of the second game have been unveiled today. 

The kit will set you back a hundred clams if you live in the US (or $90 for the PC version), but it appears it will be worth it. Besides the game, you get a soundtrack CD, a 164 page art book showing concept drawings and such, three Rapture propaganda posters, and a vinyl LP featuring BioShock's orchestra music.

Sounds pretty good, though the vinyl LP might not impress everyone, as working record players have grown more rare than white buffaloes. Instead of the vinyl LP, maybe they should have thrown in some EVE hypos instead.

Once these Special Edition versions are sold out, they aren't coming back. So if you want to get one, pre-order it pronto. It will be released on the same day as the regular version of the game, on February 9th.

Bad decisions make for shame, says former employee

Makers of the forthcoming vigilante romp The Saboteur, Pandemic Studios, are shutting down, if you haven't heard. Following the news, an anonymous developer has posted on the NeoGAF forums, an occasional hangout for industry types, giving his thoughts on the decision.

Emotions have run high for many people since the announcement, for gamers, publishers and developers alike. Those familiar with Pandemic's work, for example, have said it's deserved on some level, as mismanagement has been abound at the company for years. The developer in question here, posting under the name Zeenbor, reveals this is indeed the case:

"The reason why the studio closed down has everything to do with the existing Pandemic management. From what we were told, Pandemic management was given free reign to do as they please. Time and time again, they dropped the ball with bad decisions (promoting/keeping people based on loyalty, no production accountability, misallocation of resources, poor milestone objectives, no mentoring, etc.). It's a true shame, as there was a lot of talent and passion at the studio."

One member responds later in the thread with, "Sad news dude. Although if I were you I don't know if I'd go around bad mouthing management no matter how true it is. The industry is pretty small and something like this could get back to you." Zeenbor's thoughts? "F*ck it":

"See, that's the problem with humanity. Everyone is looking out for themselves. I say f*ck it. The truth needs to be told.

Philosophy aside, I'd say the circumstances warrant the truth. A lot of misconceptions are going around and EA management is being ragged for something that isn't necessarily their fault."

He notes Pandemic was an expensive studio to maintain, and the last two games, Mercenaries 2 and The Lord of the Rings: Conquest weren't "up to snuff", as the community has attested to.

We wouldn't feel terribly bad either if it wasn't for The Saboteur, a game featuring a "street-tough Irish racing mechanic" out for revenge in Nazi-occupied Europe that looks to be full of flavour and awfully promising. "Zeenbor" says, continuing, it's definitely a shame:

"EA is totally sending Saboteur out to die. And it's a f*cking shame. It's easily Pandemic's best game yet. Of course, I am a bit biased having worked on the game for so long. If you were disappointed with Mercs 2 and LOTR (who wasn't?) and enjoyed previous Pandemic games, give Saboteur a shot."

Major update improves matchmaking, online performance, achievements, more

Hit multiplayer shooter Section 8 saw its first major patch release last week if you missed it, bringing the game up to version 1.1 and including a ton of bug fixes, on top of matchmaking and online performance improvements.

The release notes are rather long, so below we've included just the "major" changes; see the rest at the source. Grab the patch through Games for Windows LIVE.

MAJOR

• Automatch: several improvements to improve responsiveness and likelihood of finding a good match
  
• Ranked Stats: fixed some issues with stats getting lost, new records now show at match end
  
• Tank: Improved controls
  
• Achievements: Fixed issues with not being awarded in certain situations
  
• Projectiles: Improved behavior in high latency situations to be more reliable
  
• AI: bots will now help defend human squadmates
  
• Multiplayer: several improvements related to high latency situations
  

Reclaim the honour of Ferelden's fallen king this winter

Keeping to their word on the two-year plan for Dragon Age: Origins, BioWare will be releasing the first batch of post-launch DLC this holiday season for North Americans and Europeans. Titled "Return to Ostagar", it sees you heading to the site of the Grey Wardens' near-extinction by the darkspawn, a place thought lost to bloodshed and time, now covered in snow and infested by the enemy.

With rumours a survivor of the battle has escaped captivity and is seeking the help of the Grey Wardens, it is there you will exact your revenge, reclaim the honor of Ferelden's fallen King Cailan, discover his political secrets, and search for his powerful arms and armor.

"Return to Ostagar" will also provide a second opportunity to add the Mabari hound 'Dog' to your party.

No specific launch date is set for the new content, but we do know it will be selling for $5.00 USD on PSN and 400 points on PC and Xbox 360.

Has the reformed pirate walked the plank?

Tales of Monkey Island is coming to an end with the final episode, Rise of the Pirate God, coming December 8.  But a big problem has come to light: the hero, Guybrush Threepwood, has disappeared.

It seems that the mightiest pirate to ever grace the Caribbean has vanished without a trace along with his wife Elaine Marley-Threepwood as a result of the events in The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood.  The inhabitants suspect Guybrush’s nemesis LeChuck (who has been thrice defeated in ghost, zombie, and demon forms) may have something to do with the missing couple, but even he is nowhere to be found.  The answer to these mysteries, including other lingering questions, shall be revealed in this last episode.  Or maybe they haven’t checked the water yet since Guybrush does have an uncanny talent for holding his breath underwater -- as long as 10 minutes.

Telltale Games is honoring the seemingly doomed pirate by offering the current four episodes of Tales of Monkey Island for $8.95 each.  Already bought an episode?  You also have the option of upgrading to get the remaining chapters at a discount price.  Either way, don’t miss out on the long-awaited continuation of the Monkey Island series.

New project surrounding Left 4 Dead 2 rock group

Ever hear of the Midnight Riders?  Think about the "Dark Carnival" campaign in Left 4 Dead 2 -- ring any bells? 

For those who still haven't got a clue, the Midnight Riders are a fictitious rock group in Left 4 Dead 2, and players see posters for their concert all over the fairgrounds.  In fact, if you hang around one of the safe houses long enough, Ellis (or "Ellie," as I call him) and Coach begin chatting about the group, with more references throughout the corresponding mission.  Apparently the band was known for their kickass stage effects, including lasers and fireworks.

Seems Valve is planning to do something with the group too.  A Midnight Riders website was discovered in these past couple days, though there's nothing on the page except artwork of the band members and a "Coming Soon" notice.  Glancing at the page info, we see the site was last edited on November 17; seeing as how it was picked up by most media outlets today, it may have launched just yesterday.

There's nothing solid on the Midnight Riders project, so we've only got the teaser website to go on for now.

Artificial Mind & Movement CEO discusses how the industry cheats the system

A panel at the Montreal International Game Summit revealed some interesting but unsurprising issues within the gaming industry.  Seems publishers "cheat" the ESRB to get lower ratings. 

In theory, a lower ESRB rating means the game will reach a wider audience.  As such, publishers will make an effort to earn a lower rating, even when the game in question is clearly "Mature."  To clarify, the ESRB states that games rated "Teen" are suitable for kids 13-years and up, while "Mature" games are for young adults above 17.

During the panel, Artifical Mind & Matter (A2M) CEO Remi Racine noted that in his experience, many publishers will actually intentionally deceive the North American ratings board:

“As a developer who has worked with a lot of different publishers, we’re aware of many that have tried to cheat the rating. They say to the ERSB that it’s a Teen rating rather than an Mature to try and sell more; you can do this just by sending them a video that doesn’t show the most violent stuff and then you’ll get the rating that you want rather than the rating you should get.

“We have to make sure that everyone behaves and that the ERSB is duly diligent. Maybe getting your game out at a certain rating will help that game, but it’s really not going to help the industry as a whole.

Racine believes that the industry isn't handling the ratings issue properly and more effort needs to be made.  Still, it's not all on the publishers to educate concerned parents; rather, the responsibility falls on everyone involved in the process:

“Right now I don’t think the industry is doing enough to educate the audience. The ERSB is supposed to do it, but it feels like we just kind of expect these kind of industry or government bodies to do the job for us. As much as I don’t think it’s the place of EA or Activision to go off and try and inform parents on their own, a more active role needs to be taken by all participants to ensure our artists are free to express themselves and that content can be enjoyed responsibly.”

Eidos Montreal's Stephanie D'Astous agrees that parents do have a responsibilty to educate their children, but publishers also have a responsibility to those parents.  Far Cry 2 creative director Clint Hocking noted that ratings aren't just about protecting kids, as developers want their games to reach the appropriate audience -- one capable of appreciating their work:

“We must empower and enable artists to say something meaningful with what they create ... on a corporate level the vast majority of our efforts should be allowing artists to say the things that are important for them to say, without fear.”

After the panel session, ESRB spokesperson Eliot Mizrachi clarified the board's position, stating that publishers have little to gain by hiding content; even if they do, the ESRB finds out sooner or later, and there will be hell to pay:

“ESRB takes full disclosure of content during the rating process extremely seriously, and companies that submit their games to ESRB know this very well. We regularly check games post-release to verify that submissions were complete, and it’s very likely that if a game contains undisclosed content that would have affected the rating assigned, we’ll find out about it. In such cases ESRB can actually impose fines up to $1 million as well as require corrective actions like re-labeling or even recalling product, both of which can obviously be very costly. There’s no incentive whatsoever for publishers to withhold content from ESRB in an effort to receive a lower rating, and those that would do so risk significant penalties.”

Fate has a funny way of showing itself

"I don't know who started this conspiracy; but I know who will end it."

Assassin's Creed II hit shelves just yesterday, and today we've got the launch trailer for you all.  With all the competition out there this month, you may be debating which game to spend your hard-earned cash on. 

Well, like any other publisher out to make some money of their own, Ubisoft released a tantalizing launch trailer, hoping that Ezio's rich accented voice and the game's general shininess will catch your attention.  In this video, we again see Ezio's father at the gallows, while the poor (not literally) young man is left brimming with hatred.  While he initially sets out on the assassin's path for revenge, he soon discovers that he is a part of something much bigger.

You'll need to play the game to learn more.

Are you that guy who isn't playing Modern Warfare 2?

Although it might not have been the best week to launch any new game, what with Modern Warfare 2 out and everything, Codemasters put out a PC demo for their tactical FPS Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising today.

This long-name game puts you in the shoes of a grunt in an artic island named Skira, which is based on the actual island called Kiska. Guess what? Those pesky Russians are up to their old video game tricks and starting another war.  It'd be nice to see the US start a video game war sometime but I guess that would be too "unrealistic."

The game features many weapons (modelled after realistic modern arms) and vehicles. On the downside, some folks have said the game's A.I. falls short of expectations.  If you'd like to give the demo a whirl, you can get it here.

You'll need to be at least this tall to play this game:

• Operating system: Windows XP SP2 or later
• Graphics: DirectX 9.0c
• Graphics card: Nvidia 7600GT 256mb or ATI X1800XL 256mb
• Sound support: DirectX-compatible sound output
• RAM: 1GB RAM
• HD size: 8GB Hard disk space
• Processor: 2.4GHz Dual Core Processor

Breaking video game and movie sales records, Activision rolling in (even more) dough

Well, Activision and Infinity Ward certainly have even more reason to celebrate now.  Five days after its release, Modern Warfare 2 has now made $550 million in sales, breaking all previous first-to-five day entertainment industry box office records.

You can bet Bobby Kotick is pleased.  The CEO of Activision Blizzard happily issued this statement:

“In just five days of sell through Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has become the largest entertainment launch in history and a pop culture phenomenon.  The title’s success redefines entertainment as millions of consumers have chosen to play Modern Warfare 2 at unprecedented levels rather engage in other forms of media.”

Activision also released some revenue figures from other entertainment record-breakers (books, movies, video games) for comparison.  The numbers are certainly impressive, but it looks like Modern Warfare 2 does indeed come out on top, showing Batman, Harry Potter, and Niko Bellic who's boss.

• The largest reported five-day opening worldwide box office gross figures, held by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ($394 million)
  
• The largest reported five-day opening domestic box office gross figures, held by The Dark Knight ($203.8 million)
  
• The largest reported five-day worldwide video game sales record, previously held by Grand Theft Auto IV (6 million units, $500 million)
  
• The largest reported opening first-day domestic box office gross figures, held by The Dark Knight ($66.4 million)
  
• The largest reported first-day book sales in dollars, held by Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows ($220 million)
  
• The largest reported first-day worldwide video game sales record, previously held by Grand Theft Auto IV (3.6 million units, $310 million)
  

Microsoft contributed a few fun facts of their own, adding to all this Modern Warfare 2 posturing.  It's not totally unwarranted; the game broke Xbox LIVE user activity records as well.

• More than 5.2 million multiplayer hours were logged playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on the first day alone.
• More than 2.2 million unique gamers played Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in one day on November 10.  A new one-day record for Xbox LIVE.
• More than 11 million Achievements were unlocked on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on the first day.

Despite all this, Activision noted that they are not yet ready to breathe easy given these shifty economic times.  We're not sure why given those mind-numbing figures, but we're business people.

Major update adds new functionality, tons of tweaks, bug fixes, and more

EA Play's massively successful The Sims 3 hasn't seen an update since the summer, so if anything's been bothering you since then, today's patch is likely to fix it.

It's a major one: version 1.5/1.6 adds some new tools to the Build/Buy mode, brings a huge amount of tweaks and fixes, some minor new functionality, and more.

It's important to note some users are experiencing problems as a result of the patch, including corruption of their file, inability to save and more. For the save issue, EA recommends for now to use the 'Save As...' function to create a new save game with the current data. Erring on the side of caution, you could wait until a newer version of the patch is out. Update: a newer patch has since been released, numbered 1.7/2.2 and fixing the save game incompatibility issue.

Anyhow, the release notes are far too big to post here, but check the source. The patch should be available via the EA Download Manager, but if you're paranoid like us and didn't install it, grab it via the alternate source below.

DLC and online play issues mended

Konami releases today its second patch for the soccer fan favourite Pro Evolution Soccer 2010, following its launch earlier this month.

The list of changes is awfully small, but should make a big difference for many players. See the list with notes below, and grab the patch at the source.

• Fixed the problem of edit data reverting to default once the download content is implemented in-game.
  
• In view of the current issues, we have temporarily stopped users playing the game on PC's with different CPU manufacturers from being matched in Quick Match.
  
• Please be made aware that sometimes, during installation, the process may appear to have stalled with the window status shown as "not responding" for a few minutes. However, we would like to ask you to wait for the installation to resume rather than to retry or abort as the installation is in progress even when the above symptoms occur. We would like to thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.
  

Age of Conan publisher loses big time

A few months ago, Funcom axed a good 20 percent of its staff and delayed their upcoming modern fantasy MMO Secret World.  Some cried, some laughed; in the end we assumed all would turn out well.  Unfortunately, that may not be the case.  

The Age of Conan publisher is reporting a nasty Q3, with revenues dropping by 68.5 percent since last year and now sitting at $5.7 million -- barely more than their Q3 2008 profits of $3.3 mil.  Total losses for the year-on-year period have hit $9.6 million.

Funcom blames all this on the decline of Anarchy Online and Age of Conan being released around the same time last year.  Year-to-date figures actually show that revenue may have declined from $31.3 to $20 million. 

The publisher's reports had also hinted at five upcoming free-to-play online games, supported by microtransactions; they've got some pretty vague labels too: ‘Tactics Game’, ‘Sci-Fi Game’, ‘Extreme Sports Game’, ‘Licensed Brand Game’ and 'Database Game’.  We're still hoping Secret World.

More epic "pew pew pew" than most can fathom

Up until now, we've seen plenty of Command & Conquer 4 screenshots, but never any gameplay footage.  So today, EA finally released the debut gameplay trailer, featuring plenty of crazy units you've likely been hearing about these past few months.

Set for release on March 15, Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight centers are a climactic moment in the ongoing conflict between GDI and the Brotherhood of Nod, as hinted in the announcement trailer.  The two warring factions may need to cease their violent squabbling, as humanity teeters on the edge of extinction, with only six years left to prevent their own demise.  Yeah, I'd say that's a pretty good reason to stop a war...

Anyway, enjoy the gameplay.

Survivors and Infected remade in 8-bit

Left 4 Dead 2 may have ruined the first game for you with all its improvements, but how about "downgrading" to an NES version?

Gamer and programmer Eric Ruth is making a name for himself and his company Pixel Force with his own take on Left 4 Dead.  He recently posted the first gameplay video, featuring the first mission from the "No Mercy" campaign.  Ruth has promised to include all four campaigns in their entirety for the final game, though the video shows his progress as of November 15.  The full game will be released on January 4, 2010, for free download.

Here are some details from the creator:

This game play footage gives you an idea of what the project looks like in action and how it plays. As you can see, it's a standard top-down 4 directional action/shooter. Remade in the NES retro style, the resolution is at 256 x 240 and features 16 colors and a 4 sound channel soundtrack.

Has Valve heard about this?  Not yet, but Ruth is pretty sure they'll find his reimagining of their hit zombie shooter as entertaining as his followers.  Anyway, check out the video below; it actually looks pretty fun!

Bug fixes, improved server browsing, voice chat, and 3D Vision support noted

Been plugging away at Gearbox's co-op shooter RPG? Well, little buddy, things got a little better as of late last evening, when the developer released the first patch for the game, fixing up numerous bugs and improving several features and functions, including server support, voice chat, and 3D Vision.

Note of course digital versions of the PC title must be patched through the outlet you purchased from -- those updates should be available shortly.

Check the release notes below, and grab the patch at the source.

Update 1.0.1 Notes:

• Characters that have lost skill points will have the lost points refunded
• Clients will no longer lose proficiency progress upon leaving a co-op game
• Item cards now display the intended five lines of detail text
• Lilith's Phase strike and melee attacks from Phase Walk now function as intended
• Voicechat: users can now control volume and individually mute players
• Fixed a bug that sometimes caused CL4P-TP to stop progressing during the introduction
• Server browser population times have been improved
• Server information should now always display the correct plot mission
• Benchmarking feature now works as intended
• Nvidia 3D Vision visuals now render shadows correctly (requires minimum 195.28 drivers, available from nVidia)

EA cost cuts result in closure of The Saboteur developer

Ever since the current generation of consoles, it is fair to say Pandemic Studios have been dragging their feet in terms of bringing successive games to the table: both Mercenaries 2: World in Flames and The Lord of the Rings: Conquest were pegged as mediocre titles.

Today, 200 Pandemic employees based in Los Angeles were laid off, sparking fearful rumours of the developer closing. Unfortunately, these rumours have been confirmed via an internal memo from Electronic Arts.

Instead of obliterating the developer entirely, EA have literally gutted what they call the "core IP team" and moved them into EA's Los Angeles studio, letting go a number of employees including the CEO, studio president and vice president of the development team. Though this seems like a tragic end, EA have spoken out, saying the franchises Pandemic created will still live on, and the decision to wipe out the developer was to restructure the company's costs following its Q2 financial report.

Pandemic was established back in 1998, and though not a very well known developer, Electronic Arts took interest in the company with the release of Mercenaries and the Star Wars Battlefront series'; critics assumed with the aid of such a massive publisher, the developer would continue to pump out outstanding titles for gaming platforms. Though Pandemic itself does not exist anymore, as mentioned earlier, EA will be continuing the team's work, with The Saboteur still scheduled for release December 8.

Round two of protests begin

When the PC version of Modern Warfare 2 was revealed to omit some typical features seen in FPS PC games, the backlash from the community was nothing short of tremendous; some went as far as boycotting the game in their protest.  The shooter may have garnered very impressive sales amidst the controversy but the success shouldn't get to Activision and Infinity Ward's heads just yet: with no more than a week gone by since the game's release, more direct signs of defiance have appeared in the form of hacks and modifications.

A hacker on the Guru3D forums has posted a modification to enable access to the developer console for MW2. This enables players to change and activate internal features such as kicking players, change field of view, use a third-person camera, lean over walls, and alter some of the more delicate settings within the game.  It's worth noting among the console commands are some Xbox Live-related strings present as well.  Shouldn't take much effort to figure out why those are there.

Another hacker at TeknoGods has posted their own mod to allow internet and LAN play. Those who wish to make use of this item as well -- as enable the dev console -- break terms and rules set by Infinity Ward and run the risk of getting banned outright from Steam thanks to the Valve Anti-Cheat system.  It's rather interesting to see players who want access to such staple features are treading on unstable ground in this case.

As nefarious as these modifications may seem, the hacker who enabled the developer console expressed his intent "to convince IW to release an official patch to enable console support" once they see how many use it. Unfortunately, every attempt on Infinity Ward's forums have resulted in the threads getting deleted but efforts continue to persevere.  We'll wait and see how Activision and Infinity Ward officially respond to the whole situation and the olive branch extended to them.