Dark Void new game play system explained - with video

Interested to know what Airtight originally had planned for Dark Void?
The second developer diary sees team members from Airtight & Capcom discuss the games early concept; why vertical combat was introduced plus the genesis of the jet pack.



Older videos...



Eight Dark Void trailers on my YouTube channel (please subscribe) here...

Weezer, Nine Inch Nails, Dead Kennedys come to Nintendo Wii Rock band

Harmonix and MTV Games today announced 16 tracks from Weezer, Nine Inch Nails, Dead Kennedys and more coming this week to the Rock Band Music Store catalog of downloadable content for the Nintendo Wii system.

Three songs each from West Coast favorites Weezer, alternative rockers Nine Inch Nails and punk staples Dead Kennedys will be added this week. Additionally, songs from Testament, Staind, Dashboard Confessional and more will be released June 23 to the Wii Rock Band Music Store.

These tracks come from the back catalog of Rock Band music already released to owners of Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 system. Wii fans can expect a rollout of previously released downloadable Rock Band content until the entire back catalog of more than 700 songs is available. With the addition of these tracks, there are now more than 330 tracks in the Wii Rock Band Music Store.

** Dates for Rock Band game tracks are tentative and subject to change **

Tracks:
The Cab "One of THOSE Nights"
Dashboard Confessional "Hands Down"
Dead Kennedys "California Uber Alles"
Dead Kennedys "Holiday in Cambodia"
Dead Kennedys "Police Truck"
Free "All Right Now"
Nine Inch Nails "Burn"
Nine Inch Nails "Capital G"
Nine Inch Nails "Last"
Scars on Broadway "They Say"
Staind "This Is It"
Testament "Electric Crown"
thenewno2 "Yomp"+
Weezer "Dreamin"
Weezer "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived"
Weezer "Troublemaker"

(All tracks are original master recordings.)

Release Date: Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Price: $2.00 (200 Wii Points) per track
+ $1.00 (100 Wii Points) per track

Location: In-game Rock Band 2 Music Store (Wii Points must be purchased through the Wii™ Shop Channel)

Rock Band 2 is available for Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3 and PlayStation®2 systems and the Wii system. The Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3 system and Wii versions support downloadable content.

Downloadable content for Wii is purchased via the in-game Rock Band Music Store using Wii Points purchased through the Wii Shop Channel and can be downloaded to the system memory or to an SD card for additional storage. The tracks stream directly from the SD card for seamless play.

Flick Fishing game sells a million on iPhone and iPod Touch

Flick Fishing the first paid application to reach the one million download milestone.

Flick Fishing, which costs 99 cents, allows iPhone and iPod touch users to take a virtual fishing trip with the flick of a wrist. The game uses the iPhone’s accelerometer to recreate a casting motion, then a combination of bait choice and fishing skill helps players land the big fish.

The iPhone OS 3.0 update issued last week for Flick Fishing allows peer-to-peer networking for players to compare their catches while competing in a blackjack style fishing contest. In addition, in-app purchases of a new fishing location and new fish have been made by nearly 10 percent of users since the OS 3.0 update was issued.

“We couldn’t be happier that so many people decided to put on their virtual fishing cap and give Flick Fishing a try,” said Ian Lynch Smith, president and co-founder of Freeverse. “We’re very proud that over one million players have discovered that Flick Fishing is a great way to enjoy summer fun on your iPhone without the pesky flies and mosquitoes.”

Flick Fishing is one of Freeverse’s innovative Flick Sports titles, which make use of the accelerometer and touch screen interface featured in the iPhone and iPod touch to provide players with an immersive gaming experience. Freeverse’s extensive catalog of games also include Flick NBA Basketball, Flick Bowling, Top Gun, and its Postman virtual postcard application, which is currently the top selling social media app on the App Store.

Flick Fishing is available on the Apple iTunes Store

Family Party Outdoor Fun Nintendo Wii video game

D3 Publisher today announced an addition to the Family Party franchise, bringing Family Party: Outdoor Fun exclusively to Nintendo Wii. Entertaining for all, Family Party: Outdoor Fun has a wide variety of fun and exciting party games featuring martial arts, athletics, team sports, challenging brain games and more.

Players can choose from a dozen cute characters as they party with up to 4 friends and unlock games and challenges to achieve the highest score and win medals! Family Party: Outdoor Fun is a perfect follow-up to the 2008 hit, offering over 30 great games and hours of entertainment for all the family.

Family Party: Outdoor Fun is under development by Tamsoft Corporation, and due for release this Autumn.

Reel Deal Live PC video game free demo download

Cardsharks and Gamblers Can Experience the Online Casino MMO and Try Reel Deal LIVE for Free

Phantom EFX, the world’s leading developer and publisher of PC-based casual game titles, today released a free downloadable demo of the ever popular Reel Deal ‘LIVE’, the first-ever massively multiplayer online (MMO) casino.

“We wanted to give everyone the chance to experience a little bit of what Reel Deal ‘LIVE’ is all about,” said Phantom EFX CEO Aaron Schurman. “This demo is perfect for those who want to test drive the game before making the purchase. You’ll get a chance to see LIVE’s detailed casino environments and get a taste for some of the multiple slots, tables, and games that are available to play.”

The free Reel Deal 'LIVE' demo offers players a peak at the largest virtual casino ever constructed, giving would-be gamblers the thrill of the game without the upset of losing a fortune.

Constructed inside a seemingly boundless full 3D casino, Reel Deal ‘LIVE’ is a gambler’s paradise. Wager thousands on Black 21, go all in with Hold Em’, win big with on your favorite slot, or just cruise around and socialize. With Reel Deal ‘LIVE’, everyone wins!

Players who chose to become full members of the Reel Deal Community have access to a bevy of features:

• Completely customizable characters, or “avatars”
• Phantom EFX’s award winning card and slot titles, with free updates
• Video poker
• A race book and sports book
• Tournament play
• Social networking and alliance building through guild creation
• NPC (non-player character) quests
• A shopping mall for character and environment customization
• A university, for skill improvement
• Special “Golden Ticket” prizes, and much, much more.
To download the free Reel Deal ‘LIVE’ demo, visit www.gamershell.com.

Team Fortress 2 SDK Update Includes Source Files For 10 Maps

Valve recently announced on the Team Fortress 2 blog that they are releasing the source files to 10 of the game's maps, making it much easier for fans to customize them. They also said they'd be releasing more source files for maps and models in the future. "Here's the list of maps that are included in the update: Lumberyard, Ravine, Badlands, Dustbowl, Granary, Gravelpit, 2Fort, Badwater, Goldrush, and Hydro. For the beginner map makers out there, we hope this gives you an easier entry point by allowing you to alter or edit an existing map, as opposed to being forced to start from scratch.


... We also hope that it'll reduce the amount of confusion around the game logic and entity setup required for the various TF game modes."

An update to the Source SDK that includes the .vmf source files for many of the official TF2 maps. This is something we've wanted to do for a while, especially as we've been growing the range of game modes in TF. Here's the list of maps that are included in the update: Lumberyard, Ravine, Badlands, Dustbowl, Granary, Gravelpit, 2Fort, Badwater, Goldrush, and Hydro.

For the beginner map makers out there, we hope this gives you an easier entry point by allowing you to alter or edit an existing map, as opposed to being forced to start from scratch. For example, you could start by fine-tuning cover in Goldrush, alter the layout of Granary, or tweak the amount of health and ammo in Gravelpit. Or maybe you just have a ton of ideas on how you think you could improve Hydro or 2Fort. We'd love to see what you come up with.

For the experienced map makers, we hope this gives you a variety of examples of how we design and construct levels, the tools we use to finish the aesthetic/thematic elements, and some specific implementation solutions to performance and networking problems. We also hope that it'll reduce the amount of confusion around the game logic and entity setup required for the various TF game modes.

Our plan is to get more of our TF content source out in the SDK, so look for more maps & model sources in the future.


Read the Team Fortress blog

Open Source FPS Game Alien Arena 2009 Released

The open sourced, freeware FPS game Alien Arena 2009 has been released (Windows and Linux). The improvements to the game engine are very significant, and have surely raised the bar for free games of this genre. All surfaces in the game are now rendered using GLSL, not only improving the visual quality, but the performance as well. Interesting new effects like post-process distortions using GLSL have been implemented, as well as light volumes, better per-pixel lighting (reminiscent of UT3), and shaded water.

Equally notable is that the sound system has been completely rewritten using OpenAL, allowing for effects such as Doppler, and adding Ogg Vorbis support. The game is free to play and available for download on its official website. It has a stats system and a built-in IRC client in its front-end game browser.

This time around, the game's been almost totally overhauled, with a "staggering" amount of improvements to the game engine. Full implementation of GLSL per-pixel lighting on all services sees the game come alive, especially when coupled with the OpenAL audio system and some spiffy new gameplay features. Optimisation has been a major focus, with the developers claiming that "No longer does one have to be leary of cranking the settings up, the game plays remarkably faster with the switch to GLSL for per-pixel operations."

Described as a "lean, clean fragging machine", the devs have made the statement that "This isn't your daddy's Alien Arena" - and it's a good few notches above last years model, boasting new and improved maps, music and sound effects.

So - what else is new?


Some of the new features in this release:

* GLSL per-pixel lighting on all surfaces.

* OpenAL 1.1

* Ogg-Vorbis support.

* GLSL post process framebuffer effects.

* New scoreboards.

* New HUD.

* Stereo music files.

* Seven new maps and two new player characters.

* Light volumes.

* Voice taunt system.

* Doppler sound effects.

Alien Arena 2009 is completely open source, free to play, and promises to set a new standard in freeware FPS gaming. Check it out now for Windows or Linux/Unix, and let us know what you think!


7.21 - 7.30 changelog

1. Rscript shader optimizations, fixed bug with flushing.
2. Fixed maxclients so that timedemo and other items can be run.
3. Added new textures and meshes for maps.
4. Added dm-deimos2k9.
5. Added realistic sun object.
6. Quake4 style explosion shockwave effect.
7. Added type option for vegetation shaders(grass and leaves).
8. Fixed and modified cvar r_speeds operation.
9. Added dm-warmachine2k9.
10. New scoreboards.
11. Rewrote mesh rendering routines, removed ordered iteration for non-legacy code.
12. Replaced all fixed function mesh per-pixel lighting routines with GLSL.
13. Removed Cybergirl until UV maps and animations can be fixed.
14. Changed lighting in player setup menu.

15. Added support for scrolling and glow effects for GLSL mesh shaders.
16. Improved accuracy of real-time lighting of meshes in GLSL.
17. New player model, Slashbot.
18. Much faster shadow rendering.
19. Fixed map voting string.
20. Low skill bots no longer user disruptors or vaporizers.
21. Added Mouse Smoothing(adaptive sensitivity).
22. Constrain overbrights to valid values.
23. Eliminate duplicate putenv() calls.
24. Updated blaster skin, fixed uv maps.
25. New HUD for AA2k9.
26. Ejecting brass now makes noise.
27. Add gl_showpolys.
28. Fixed some bad water normalmaps.
29. New player character, the Commander.
30. Added voice taunt system.
31. Fixed bug in func_rotating flags.

32. Rescaled Violator view weapon.
33. Added ctf-frost2k9.
34. Added dm-invasion.
35. Better culling of grass.
36. Fixed bullets endless bouncing in some cases.
37. Added water splash entity(misc_watersplash).
38. Added OpenAL 1.1 sound system.
39. Replaced all music with stero files.
40. Rocket, rocket launcher sound effects changed.
41. Vaporizor sound effect changed.
42. Disruptor no longer sends sound to entire level.
43. Added GLSL post process framebuffer effects.
44. Added explosion distortion(using GLSL FB effect).
45. Added pain distortion(using GLSL FB effect).
46. Added widescreen resolutions to non-custom list.
47. Updated menus with new options.
48. Added aoa-frost2k9.
49. Allow alt-fire to respawn players.
50. Added dm-chasmatic2k9.

51. Added normalmaps for vehicles, consoles, and powerup items.
52. Fixed bug with normalmaps getting gamma correction.
53. Added smoke to explosions, updated smoke effects.
54. Flag return for campers who die from anti-camp.
55. Resampled sounds that need to be upsampled.
56. Status explanations of video settings.
57. Added doppler effect setting.
58. Fixed bug with normals array being undersized.
59. Updated vehicle icons.
60. Added dm-command2k9.
61. Added Ogg-vorbis support.
62. Slight repositioning of beamgun.
63. Fixed menu bug with dynamic lights, bulletproof the menu from doing bad things with settings.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on PS3 Wii and Xbox 360

Muggles and Magicians

Although you’ll be playing as Harry for nearly all of the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince videogame - no spoilers about who else you’ll get to play, but if you remember the moment when Harry is out of action in the film you might manage to guess - everyone else in the game is just as detailed and full of character. Many of the actors from the film have provided their voices for the game, and the team have had access to photos and bodyscans of all the characters, so every raised eyebrow and fluttering cloak is accurately portrayed.

For the first time in a Harry Potter game, it’s really possible to read the emotion in characters’ faces as they talk, thanks to the advanced facial animation system that’s been used. And it’s not just that the characters in the game look right and sound right - they moved right, too. EA has made every effort to perfect the animation for all the action in the film. To capture the moves that Harry can make on his broomstick it wasn’t enough to film a stuntman in a studio to get a decent approximation.

Instead, one of the game team built a complete broomstick rig in his kitchen at home, bringing it in so the animators could experiment with every possible move by ‘flying’ one themselves.

Chicago Blackhawks Star Patrick Kane the New Face of EA Sports NHL10

Electronic Arts revealed that 20-year-old scoring phenom Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks will be the new face of the NHL 10 videogame from EA SPORTS. Kane is the youngest player ever chosen for the cover of the NHL franchise and his image will be on the front of all packaging when NHL 10 is available in North American retail stores this September.

Having emerged as one of the most skilled players in the NHL in just two seasons, Kane won the Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year in 2008 and this year led the Blackhawks to the Western Conference Finals. He has scored more than 20 goals and registered more than 70 points in each of his first two seasons.

“It’s exciting to be on the cover of my favorite videogame after playing just my second year as a professional,” said Kane. “When you look back at some of the great players who have had this opportunity, it’s an honor to be a part of the EA SPORTS family and contribute to a game I’ve been playing for more than 10 years.”

EA SPORTS also announced that it has signed Canadian junior hockey scoring sensation John Tavares, expected to be the top pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, to promote the release of NHL 10. Tavares will join Kane, the first overall draft pick in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, as spokespersons for NHL 10.

“It’s exciting for me to team up with Patrick to promote EA SPORTS and get the chance to play NHL 10 before it’s in stores,” said Tavares. “Now I’m looking forward to the draft and finding out which team will select me.”

“At EA SPORTS we believe in identifying the most talented up-and-coming athletes in the world to help us develop the most authentic sports games,” said Jordan Edelstein, Vice-President of Marketing for EA SPORTS. “We believe Kane is one of the next great American hockey stars and Tavares will have an immediate impact in the league.”

Washington Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom was earlier named a cover athlete on NHL 10 packaging in Sweden. Additional regional cover athletes for Finland, Denmark and Switzerland will be named at a later date. NHL 10 will be in retail stores across Europe on September 18.

A native of Buffalo, NY, Kane is just the second American-born player to be featured on the cover of the top-selling* EA SPORTS hockey videogame franchise. New York Rangers goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck was the first when he was featured on the cover of NHL 97.

The EA SPORTS NHL® franchise has won 19 Sports Game of the Year awards over the past two years and this month named by Gamespot.com as the Best Sports Game of E3. This year the NHL 10 franchise begins a new era with gameplay innovations that deliver all-new board play, first-person fighting and over 200 gameplay refinements that replicate the skill and finesse of NHL hockey.

NHL 10 will be available for the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system with an MSRP of $59.99. It is developed by EA Canada in Burnaby, B.C. The game is rated E10+.

CAA Sports, a division of Creative Artists Agency, brokered the deals on behalf of clients Kane and Tavares.

EA SPORTS is the leading interactive sports software brand in the world, with top-selling titles and franchises including Madden NFL football, FIFA Soccer, NHL hockey, NBA LIVE basketball, NCAA Football, and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR.

*Based on total sales in 2008 according to the NPD.

New Star GP video game updated to version 1.1!

New Star Grand Prix has been updated to version 1.1. New features include improved driver intelligence and updated car stats to make it the most exciting and realistic top-down racer available.

New Star Grand Prix is a top-down racing game inspired by classics such as Super Sprint and Micro Machines, but brought bang up to date to feature all the teams, drivers and tracks of the 2009 GP. It features a full career mode that spans up to 10 seasons where you must compete against the world’s best drivers on 17 real-world tracks. During your career you will need to manage your finances and relationships with the team boss, pit crew, friends and fans. You can gamble at the casino and even purchase sports cars, but it is on the track where you must really prove yourself. Races feature changeable weather conditions, tyre wear, car damage and fuel loads, all of which affect your car’s handling and will require careful monitoring if you want to make tactical pitstops. The camera can be zoomed in or out to suit your driving style and after the race you can upload your best laptime to the online leaderboard. The game also features a comprehensive track editor that will allow you to design and race on your own tracks and is playable in 12 languages (English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Danish, Polish, Finnish, Turkish, Slovenian.)

Trial versions for PC and Mac are available from www.newstargames.com/nsgp.html and the full version for can be purchased for $9.99. Please contact Simon Read for a review copy.

Based in Oxford, UK, New Star Games is a small independent company with a passion for sports games. They pride themselves on giving gamers what they want and can often be found interacting with fans on the forum: www.newstargames.com/newstarforum.