How to erect temples in the upcoming PC Strategy title, Majesty 2 - The Fantasy Kingdom Sim - with video

The process of erecting temples in the upcoming PC Strategy title, Majesty 2 - The Fantasy Kingdom Sim, releasing later this year.

In the diary, Alexey Kozyrev, Lead Developer from 1C: Ino-Co., states:
“Over the centuries, Ardanian true-believers have grown in compassion, and the followers of different confessions now show greater tolerance towards one another.

Certainly there are still conflicts, as when a hotheaded paladin draws a righteous blade upon those evil spirits accompanying a Sister of Krypta. However, compared with the wars of the past, these are mere trifles. After all, in those times one could never imagine the temples belonging to any opposed gods even coexisting! Temples to Krypta and Agrela were never seen side-by-side, but now you are free to build any temple you want, worship any god you choose, and train any hero you wish for the greater glory of the King.”



Well, it may sound like everything is fair in Ardania, but alas, no such luck!
Read the complete entry and find out more about Majesty 2 here

Majesty 2 is scheduled for release during Q3 2009 and will be published worldwide by Paradox Interactive. It will be available for digital download at all larger digital download portals.

For more information about Majesty 2, please visit the official website

Civil War strategy game, Forge of Freedom patch 1.12.2 update released

Matrix Games and Western Civilization Software are pleased to announce the release of the comprehensive 1.12.2 update for their acclaimed Civil War strategy game, Forge of Freedom!

The update comes with a sizeable amount of fixes, rule changes, improvements, and new features and further polishes the gameplay of Forge of Freedom based on player feedback and ongoing game reports.

Specifically for fixes, VPs are now properly assigned only for decisive battles and the National Will bug for capturing empty cities is now fixed. There are also many other improvements and tweaks with detailed battles, especially with the AI and with reinforcements now adding to the Will to Fight. In addition, the US will now lose one additional National Will point if it loses a decisive battle in a US province and the CSA will gain one NW point in the same situation. New features include 10 new special abilities for units, improvements to generals’ statistics, new generals’ biographies (now 300 in total), and much more.

David Heath, Director of Operations at Matrix Games, said “Forge of Freedom has proven to be an enduring classic in the American Civil War strategy genre. Anyone looking for an authentic wargame that truly captures the rich strategic and tactical problems facing a commander of that time period should absolutely give Forge of Freedom a try. Western Civilization Software has polished this gem to a mirror finish with their excellent post-release updates.”

More than seven-score years have passed since the start of this conflict that pitted state against state, brother against brother and broke the chains of slavery. Forge of Freedom gives you a chance to relive history from either side in a work of grand strategy.

As the leader of the Union or the Confederacy, you will be faced with historical decisions on the military, economic and diplomatic strategies to pursue. The diplomatic and economic systems have been streamlined and improved since Crown of Glory to be more user-friendly and also suited to the period. Rather than multiple minor nations, each state has its own Governor and they will make demands on you and shift their attitudes according to events. In addition, you will have to manage diplomacy with the European powers to try to sway them towards or against intervention. Over 1,000 historical generals are included along with an option to know their abilities ahead of time or have to find out the hard way, as happened historically. Railroads, rivers and cities all play important roles, as do elections which occur at both state and national levels. Every effort has been made to bring you as thorough a simulation of the American Civil War as is possible, from 1861 to 1865, from the skirmishes and raids in the West to the pitched in the East and the Naval blockade.

This update is comprehensive and will bring any previous version of Forge of Freedom to version 1.12.2. Get more information on Forge of Freedom from its official product page.

EXCLUSIVE - My second Fight Night 4 screenshots HD video now live

Fight Night Round 4 is in development at EA Canada in Vancouver under the EA SPORTS brand. EA SPORTS Fight Night is back with the most realistic in the ring experience to date, featuring some of the greatest boxers in history fighting in their prime.

The EA SPORTS Fight Night franchise has always been synonymous with quality and innovation that raised the bar for the sports videogame genre, said Kevin Wilkinson, Executive Producer, EA SPORTS. EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 3 was a platform defining game as the industry transitioned to next generation consoles. EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 4 will change how boxing games are played and measured in the future.



Featuring a re-written gameplay engine, EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 4 will add a variety of fighting styles and boxer differentiation to authentically emulate the greatest fighters of all time. Pressure your opponent with the brawling inside style of young Mike Tyson, bobbing and weaving to set up powerful hooks and uppercuts. Capitalize on Muhammad Alis reach, hand speed and fleetness of foot to bewilder your opponent with lightning fast jabs and straights from the outside. For the first time in history, EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 4 gives you the opportunity to pit these legendary heavyweights against one another and name a true champ.

No fight will be the same with an all-new physics-based animation system that recreates the full spectrum of true-to-life punch impacts, giving boxers a devastating arsenal of punches, blocks and ring movement. The new physics system allows for missed punches, glancing punches, knockout blows and for the first time ever, rough and tumble inside fighting. Fatigue, adrenaline, footwork and timing all come into play as you hammer away at your opponents.

Nintendo Wii Grand Slam Tennis HD video game trailer now live...

Grand Slam Tennis video game trailer check out my blog for more on the game and my YouTube channel for my exclusive screenshots video trailer for the game... Grand Slam Tennis video game screenshot movie - Nadal, Roddick, Sampras.

Watch it now...





Exclusive gamezplay.org screenshots video...

Free SingStar update goes live April 16th - cool new trophies, select tracks with your SingStar microphone, and much more with the 3.01 Update

Calling all SingStars! Your SingStar experience is about to get even better when the SingStar 3.01 Update for PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) takes place across PAL territories on April 16th 2009. This automatic and free update from Sony Computer Entertainment Europe will bring you cool new features, trophies and a new look for My SingStar Online.

Show the world what a star you are by winning brand-new SingStar Trophies. Whether you’re a beginner or a pro – there’s over 30 trophies up for grabs, including “Super Singer Gold”, “Keep it Cool”, and “All Eyes On You”.

Next, put your controller down and get ready for the brand-new SingStar Voice Control function. Simply announce the track you want to perform next into your microphone, and watch it appear on your screen! This function will be available with SingStar Pop Edition at launch and for all SingStar PS3 users as a free download from SingStore Extras on 22nd April. Last but not least - your My SingStar Online profile page will be given a brand-new makeover.

Please note that SingStore and My SingStar Online will be unavailable for an estimated eight hours on 16th of April - so we’d like to apologise for any inconvenience. Once we’ve given SingStar its cool new makeover, you’ll be able to sing the night away in true style!

Grand Theft Auto IV patch download

Rockstar Games has today released a patch for the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV which fixes a few known issues.

Updated automatically via Steam the update includes:

Graphics

• Interior Lights for ATI 1900 series cards


• All light sources appear for users with 1900 series ATI cards. (ie. Pool Mini Game)


• ALT-TAB fixed

Graphics Settings

• Added menu option "OFF" for Reflection quality


• Added menu option "OFF" for Shadow quality


• Scrolling signboards


• Activate missing scrolling signboard text (ie. highway signs, Star Junction, Clock Tower Sign)

Performance

• Physics optimizations to improve situations with heavy physics calculations (ie. 32 player races)


• Graphical Performance Optimizations

Multiplayer

• NAT Type detection
• Detect if user has a "strict" NAT and displays message for user


• Voice chat is received even if your microphone is turned off

Controls

• Keyboard / Mouse>


• Remapping restrictions removed


• Allow Enter, Backspace, and Arrow keys to be remapped by user


• Allow multiple mouse buttons to be mapped


• Enable/Disable DirectInput in Menu


• Users can now activate/deactivate Direct Input devices from "Controls" menu
• If commandline "-usedirectinput" is active, it will override pause menu setting


• Use 2 direct input devices simultaneously (ie. Wheel and Gamepad)


• Users can now use 2 different controllers at once, including 1 XInput and 1 Direct Input device
• Added more Direct Input / XInput device support


• Saitek P380/P480/P580/P990
• Saitek PS1000/PS2700/P3200/P3600


• Gravis Eliminator Shock gamepad

Security

• Detect modified files and prevent users from entering multiplayer if found
• Game will prompt with a message after blocking user with modified data files from entering multiplayer
• Should prevent multiplayer access from cell phone and GFWL join in progress
• Detect modified / non-original game launcher
• Prevent game from Launching if modifed/non-original game launcher is found

Robot to fix Halo Wars with update

We're going to be releasing some information on the upcoming Halo Wars Title Update, or patch, here on HaloWars.com over the next few weeks. This Title Update fixes some matchmaking bugs, balances a few things inside and outside of gameplay, and adds a small feature that fans have been asking for. The Patch was developed around fan feedback, so hopefully players will be happy.

The first piece of news is that the Prophet of Regret's speed on land has been reduced to match the other leaders. This helps balance the Prophet Rush that was stymieing a lot of players. The second piece of news is that the Flaming Warthog and the Honor Guard Wraith will now be available in Multiplayer battles against other players.

We'll give you guys more bits of the update here on HaloWars.com so keep checking back.

Official Halo Wars website...

LifeSigns new Nintendo DS video game

“This eagerly anticpated title for the DS, currently a top seller in the UK, is one of the titles Quantic Labs has had in the works for quite some time,” said Stefan Seicarescu, CEO of Quantic Lab.

“Developed in Japan, the testing procedures for LifeSigns proved to be challenging, but nevertheless a rewarding challenge. Services provided by Quantic Labs for this title exceeded standard testing procedures, our team also worked on adapting the game content to different language versions”.

says Marius Popa, Project Manager at Quantic Lab. “This proved to be challenging as the title was first intended for release only in Japan. Fitting and adapting Japanese game design to other languages was very time-consuming. Furthermore the context of the game, a Soap Opera where you live the thrilling life of a surgeon with different paths to solve the game and a high re-playability grade, results in an unusually high amount of text lines, over 40.000, so it needed extended testing assistance” added Mr. Marius Popa.

Ghostbusters video game latest update

It's Crazy Enough that it Just Might Work...

When I first heard about doing the Multiplayer for the new Ghostbusters game, I was excited but very cautious as well. Movie licensed games are not something that Threewave, being a group of mostly hardcore shooter fans, usually get excited about. We were proven wrong.

If you don’t know, Threewave Software has made great shooter content for a long time. Threewave developed the original Threewave Capture the Flag (“CTF”) mod for Quake, and followed it up with work on top brands as Quake III, Doom 3, Jedi Academy, Soldier of Fortune, Turok, Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Army of Two.

When we were about the Ghostbusters franchise, our ears perked up. Ghostbusters certainly wasn’t our typical first-or-third person shooter fare; we were up for a change after finishing up a particularly difficult project.

We went to Dallas to check out Terminal Reality’s demo of Ghostbusters and were amazed; the physics system, ghost AI and proton stream tech totally captured the feeling of the movies. But how on earth would we make it work in Multiplayer where technical limitations (on number of physics objects, enemies and bandwidth restrictions) can be very strict? TRI had very simple Multiplayer technology at the time with a competitive “Ghosts vs. Ghostbusters” design that had problems. The timeframe in which to finish the project was very short as well. It was a long flight back to Vancouver.

Over the next month or so, however, we got more and more excited about the possibilities. Co-op gameplay was first and foremost in our minds; everyone wanted to play as the “actual” Ghostbusters team. We came up with a co-op design that maximized teamwork while allowing players to also compete among themselves, framed against the theme of “a day in the life of the Ghostbusters Team.” Players would travel around the City, doing Ghostbusting jobs to make the most cash. “Job Types” (modes) such as Containment and Survival were designed to appeal to all sorts of gamers, not just hardcore shooter fans. And of course the game needed to be replay-able; no game would play exactly the same way twice.

With a solid design, and a lot of hoping on the technical side (!), we started in earnest on maps and gameplay prototyping.

Serving All Your Supernatural Elimination Needs
For Ghostbusters Multiplayer we wanted to include featured locations from the Single Player game, but adapt them for Multiplayer use. All of the maps are designed to suit a majority of job types; it was critical that we allowed enough space for more enemies, more players, and more action! Threewave has some of the best level designers in the business and their expertise was critical in this regard.

Refining the different Job types took a long time. We had a good idea of how we wanted each to play but since we had no real network code for several months, our prototypes changed a lot over time. Once we were able to test the different Jobs, we quickly iterated on the rules and came to some solid decisions on what we felt was the most fun.





We also soon discovered we needed a few extra things to keep players challenged in Co-op Multiplayer as compared to the single player game. Four “live” Ghostbusters ended up completely destroying the AI ghosts! Teamwork was something we needed to focus on; in the Single Player game the other Ghostbusters help you, we wanted to make sure players did better by working together in Multiplayer.

Over the course of prototyping and development we decided to introduce limited ammunition and powerups; this choice really allowed us to reward teamwork and create some unique Multiplayer “Ghostbusters” technology items, such as the Proton Accelerator and the Ghost Shrinker.

We also added some unique Multiplayer AI “aggro” behaviours to challenge players even more. Some of these include ghosts that go berserk or even split in two when angered.

Persistent online ranking, automatic difficulty scaling and Most Wanted Ghosts to find and catch were added to keep players coming back to play again and again.

In Ghostbusters, ghost wrangling and trapping is one of the key elements players do over and over. The first time we tried Multiplayer wrangling, we knew we were on to something fun. In the Single Player game, if there are more AI players holding a ghost, the less the ghost struggles. We emphasized and added to this feature for Multiplayer Ghost Wrangling. If players work together, ghosts go down faster, and everyone gets a better score.

I Ain’t Afraid of No Code!

As our gameplay became more focused and successful, our tech team overcame what had earlier seemed technically impossible.

We developed interaction rules to limit (and hide!) the number of active physics objects to maintain network traffic and performance without sacrificing gameplay. An AI spawning and Job type system was developed to reduce the amount of hand scripting we needed to do while complying with Multiplayer requirements. Our programmers worked hard with our internal QA team to really make the Multiplayer game shine.
Call the Professionals

We knew about the pending merger; we never thought that Ghostbusters was in real danger of being dropped. We had completed some great focus tests and were well on our way to finishing up our portion of the game when we got the news that the game was actively being pitched to a new publisher. As an independent developer, the next few months were very challenging. We knew the title would be picked up eventually, but not knowing 100% when was not a good place to be in.

When Atari was confirmed to be the new publisher and the news surfaced that the release date was to be pushed out, we were very relieved. Not only would Threewave and TRI have more time to polish the game, but the game would have extensive marketing support to coincide with the Blu-Ray release of the Ghostbusters movie.

I’m proud of the team here at Threewave; we’re excited to be a part of the Ghostbusters game and look forward to playing online this summer!!

New Maps Details of Hellgate - London Patch 1.5 update

HanbitSoft announced that HELLGATE: LONDON, an online action RPG developed by Redbana US Studio, will present new maps in its up-coming 1.5Patch, and released screenshots of them.

The revealed maps are Training Grounds and Maritime Museum. Training Ground will become the new starting area of Hellgate, which gives bright, outdoor spirit to the game. There, players will see many NPCs holding weapons and training the players. After players accomplished the training part, they will be able to go on to the next new map called Maritime Museum.

Maritime Museum is a huge building with two stories. Maritime Museum is expected to become the new center base of the game with various quests and convenience systems. First of all, Marketplace will be placed in Maritime Museum, so players will constantly come in and go out for items exchange and communication with other players. Also, there will be new quests, and Arena Terminal to activated PvP mode that will give both entertainment and convenience to the gamers.

HanbitSoft also revealed screenshots of new maps, items and a boss monster which include Guardian’s Two-handed sword and axe and Arachtonas, one of new boss monsters. Revealed images are just part of many that will be updated through 1.5Patch, and details of the rest will also be revealed very soon.

This is the sixth announcement of Hellgates 1.5Patch details, and Korean gamers’ anticipation is reaching to its climax as outline of the Patch becomes clearer each week.