Conflict Denied Ops and Hard to be a God released

Inspired by world events, GamersGate announced today Super Friday on GamersGate! As of today, the download portal has signed more than 300 PC games to its download catalogue ranging from AAA blockbusters to independently developed masterpieces.

Today's additions include the release of First Person Shooter Conflict Denied Ops and the worldwide download premiere of medieval action RPG Hard to be a God (excl. UK).

Other recent additions include blockbuster titles like S.T.A.L.K.E.R, World in Conflict, Pirates of the Burning Sea and City Life Edition 2008.

To find out more about how to download these games or to read more about the wide range of games on GamersGate, please go to http://www.gamersgate.com

PC-based, Adventure A Vampyre Story and The Abbey secure publisher

hell-tech, the leading Greek Adventure-Publisher, has announced that it has secured the publishing rights to critically acclaimed PC-based, Adventure “A Vampyre Story” developed by Autumn Moon Entertainment and “The Abbey” developed by Alcachofa Soft.

“We are pleased to announce this partnership with Crimson Cow. The agreement is a logical step for us, as Crimson Cow shows the same enthusiasm for great adventures like we do.” said Christos Triantafyllou, Managing Director of hell-tech.

ABOUT A Vampyre Story:
This graphic adventure game, with traditional point-and-click gameplay, tells the tale of a beautiful gifted opera singer Mona De Lafitte, whose life is brought to an abrupt end by a vampire baron named Shrowdy Von Kiefer. Henceforth, she is doomed to a miserable existence as a creature of the night in Von Kiefer's gloomy castle in Draxsylvania. Confronted with her seemingly hopeless fate, she decides to run away and try to fulfil her dream of singing at the Paris Opera. Accompanied by her mischievous bat Froderick, Mona must face a number of challenges in her odyssey and learn not only to accept her vampire nature, but also to use the abilities she has acquired to her advantage.

A Vampyre Story was penned by Bill Tiller, the founder of Autumn Moon Entertainment. A former employee of Lucas Arts, Tiller won himself a place in the hearts of adventure fans through his work on titles such as Steven Spielberg's The Dig, the legendary The Curse of Monkey Island, and Indiana Jones. A Vampyre Story combines modern 3D animation with the qualities of classic 2D adventure design and a unique graphical style.

ABOUT The Abbey:
The ambitious project takes adventure fans to the gloomy world of the Middle Ages. An old abbey is the scene of a series of mysterious murders, and only one man can put a stop to the slaughter. In the role of the Grand Inquisitor Leonardo and his assistant Bruno, the player's task is to shed light on the mystery.

In addition to a gripping storyline with many an unexpected twist, "The Abbey" will feature a wealth of technological and graphic innovations. A special highlight will be the innovative presentation of cinematic proportions and over 70 minutes of soundtrack recorded by the Prague Symphony Orchestra.

hell-tech will release “A Vampyre Story” and “The Abbey” in 2008 in Greece, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, FYROM and Turkey.

NCsoft and MMOzine free trial Lineage II digital magazine trial

Free 14 day free trial available to readers and information on an exclusive in-game item in the next issue

NCsoft Europe and MMOzine are once again joining forces to provide MMO gamers with yet another unique opportunity to enhance their online gaming. Dedicated to all things MMO, MMOzine brings news, previews, reviews and tutorials on all of the popular online role-playing games. Issue No3 features a series of articles on one of the worlds long standing MMORPGs – Lineage II: The Chaotic Throne.

Widely considered as the ultimate Player vs. Player MMO, Lineage II is now into its fourth year, having captivated over 17 million gamers from around the world. Lineage II presents players with the opportunity to mould a virtual society like no other MMO. The ultimate goal within Lineage II is to achieve the coveted position of one of nine Castle Lords – riding a mighty Wyvern through the skies and influencing the experience of thousands of players beneath them.

Lineage II requires unswerving dedication where mighty beasts must be slain and powerful skills and incantations learned. Players must band together in dungeon quests for rare treasures and build their reputation within a clan via political manipulation to progress. This enables them to lay siege to and take control of a mighty castle with the cooperation of hundreds of fellow players and crown themselves Castle Lord.

Issue No3 of MMOzine includes a preview of the latest free to subscriber’s expansion of Lineage II, titled The Kamael. The issue also includes a guide to playing the game from start and a special 14 day trial available from www.gamershell.com, so that readers can experience the game for themselves. Issue No3 also includes a sneak glimpse of an exclusive in-game item for Lineage II that will be available to readers in issue No4. And if that is not enough, the issue also includes a fantastic Lineage II competition, with plenty of goodies up for grabs.

“Working with NCsoft Europe again is really exciting,” comments Publishing Director, Dave Taylor. “Their understanding of their gamers and how to engage with them via our unique media proposition will help make this issue of MMOZine our best yet.”

MMOZine is a GamerZine, from the publishers of established digital magazines PCGamezine, 360Zine, P3Zine and others. Gamers simply require Adobe Reader 6, 7 or 8 on Windows or Mac to read it. There is no charge and no registration is required. Best of all, the magazine is written entirely by professional journalists and the pages are enhanced with video and interactive screens that bring the pages to life.

MMOzine is available to download from http://www.gamerzines.com/ . Issue No3 will be available to download from the 12th February 2008.

Telcogames and Viva La Mobile Launches mobile cellphone multiplayer Tournaments

Telcogames and its subsidiary Viva La Mobile announce that for the next eight weeks customers of Telstra's NextG network will be able to participate in weekly mobile games tournaments powered by Viva La Mobile's RedStar multiplayer platform. This is the first of many tournaments planned by the Viva team as they start to implement the Red Star platforms tournament system

Players will fight it out in the multiplayer edition of the classic
Super Puzzle Bobble, a one vs. one split-screen version that shows both theirs and their opponent's actions in real-time. Games are the best of 3 rounds with the winner receiving points on the Tournament Leaderboard, which can be found at
http://www.gamearena.com.au/competitions/puzzle-bobble/index.php. Weekly winners will receive prizes in the form of Gift Vouchers.

"We are very excited to see the RedStar tournament system active on a major carrier partner such as Telstra," says David Kainer, Managing Director of Viva La Mobile. "The Viva La Mobile team has spent several years creating this global real-time multiplayer system for 3G networks and I see competitive tournaments as the lynch pin to growing our customer base and keeping players interested. It is really pleasing to see casual gamers embracing real-time multiplayer on mobiles and we plan further tournaments and new titles throughout 2008."

Telstra customers can download Super Puzzle Bobble Multiplayer for free. Each game session is charged at $0.50 AUD while all multiplayer data traffic is free. Players are able to play against opponents on any carrier that is connected to RedStar Platform. Telcogames and Viva La Mobile are implementing the system on other carriers around the world to allow this to take place.

"We are delighted to announce the first of our tournaments with Telstra and look forward to launching the initiative across the world adding more users to the Viva La Mobile community. Huge thanks go to the team for working so hard to get this implemented so quickly - we are really looking forward to seeing the results," says Jamie Conyngham, CEO Telcogames.

Gamer TV Booms Online

Europe’s longest running and most popular dedicated video game show, GAMER TV has built a considerable audience online

Clips from Gamer TV appearing on msn.co.uk received over 450,000 viewings during January with many individual game previews being watched by in excess of 30,000 UK gamers.

This follows 220,000 unique UK gamers watching the show in just one weekend on satellite and cable channel Bravo!

This follows a period of impressive audience growth which saw GAMER TV notching a record 1.25 million viewings in December on Satellite and Cable Channel Bravo and a record audience of over 220,000 in one weekend.

The series, described recently by Nuts magazine as one of its favourite weekend pleasures, is created entirely from exclusive video game reviews, previews and features covering every major gaming event around the world.

GAMER TV’S Rebecca Lindon commented “This is a further evidence that we’re now one of the most important sources for UK gamers.”

In the UK you can watch clips from GAMER TV at…

msn.co.uk http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-gb

yahoo.co.uk http://uk.videogames.games.yahoo.com/

Brand new Theatre of War demo released!

Brand new Theatre of War demo released!

It's with pleasure that we have just released the updated Theatre of War Demo. This demo is built with all of the relevant "Uber" (v1.10.0.81) patch features in play including the new advanced Line of Sight system, radically improved performance across the board as well as enhanced AI behavior.

This demo also differs from the previous demo in that it includes an all new playable battle taken from the new German Panzer Lehr Campaign. In addition to that battle are also 5 playable tutorial missions designed to quickly introduce you to both basic and advanced features of the gameplay.

Theatre of War Demo (v1.10.1.81)
Download Page: http://www.battlefront.com/products/tow/demo.html
FileSize: 588Mb

Install Location Note:
Your demo install director y must not contain any symbols (ex: ! or #) or non-standard characters in it. If it does, the demo may not launch properly. We recommend either using the default directory name "Theatre of War Demo" or something similar to "ToW Demo" or "TOW Demo".

Demo Notes:
This is a newly released updated demo, based on the recent v1.10.0.81 game version. This new game version offers much better performance over the original demo as well other improvements that have been introduced into the game over the past few months. These include a new advanced Line of Sight system, better AI behavior and improved combat and weapon modeling.

This single player only demo features 5 tutorial missions which cover the basics of gameplay, unit control and camera behavior as well as more advanced topics like Line of Fire and Line of Sight. In addition to the playable tutorials there is also one playab le mission from the new German Panzer Lehr Campaign. In this battle, tank units of the British 7 Armoured Division attempt to outflank your positions in order to capture the strategically key town of Villers-Bocage. Can your beleaguered troops stop this assault in the face of tough odds and overwhelming airpower? Play the demo and find out!
Playable units and weapons in this battle include; StuG III Ausf. G, PzKpfw IV 70 Jagdpanzer and PzKpfw IV Jagdpanzer Tank Destroyers, RPzB 54 Panzerschreck, Panzerfaust-30's, Panzerfaust-60's and PWM HE Grenade Anti-Tank Weapons, PaK 35/36 L45 37mm and PaK 40 L/48 75mm AT Gun's, SdKfz 7/1 20mm Flak 38 and FlakPz 38(t) Anti-Aircraft vehicles, Panzer IV Ausf. H tanks plus infantry units equipped with a wide variety of small arms and machineguns.

The British "Desert Rats" are going to try and quickly overrun your positions with their armor. As such, your best assets are your anti-tank forces, especially those troops armed with the powerful RPzB 54 Panzerschreck, although they can only carry a limited amount of ammo. In each squad, you have at least one soldier carrying extra ammo for the Panzerschreck so position them close to the AT troops so you can transfer ammo to them when they need it. Consult the game manual for details on how to drop and pickup weapons and ammo from your soldiers "backpack". Always try and keep as many anti-tank weapons in play as you can, either by re-crewing AT guns that have lost their crews or by scrounging Panzerschreck's, Panzerfausts or even AT Grenades from your fallen comrades.

This battle is fast and furious and if it seems like too much is going on at once, feel free to use the Space bar to "Pause" the action. You can even issue orders while the game is paused! You can also use the Backspace key to alter the playback time to 1/2 speed or x2 speed. Remember to reserve some troops and vehicles for you r final counter-attack.

Battlefront.com Internet Browser Community Toolbar:
This new game patch includes the optional install of a new, and we think, exciting tool. This tool seamlessly attaches to your internet browser (currently Microsoft Internet Explorer and Firefox supported) and gives you instant access to Battlefront.com game news, patches, demos, chat channel as well as other popular browser toolbar *gadgets* such as real-time weather reports (unique to your hometown!), a spell checker and pop-up blocker. Fully user configurable and expandable, your new Battlefront.com Community toolbar unlocks the full potential of your internet browser to keep you connected with the ever-growing world of Battlefront.com games and resources! You can find more details on this new free utility here:

http://www.battlefront-store.com:8080//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=388&Itemid=212

Troubleshooting Guide:
If you encounter any problems running the Theatre of War Demo, please consult the full Troubleshooting Guide located in the "Docs" folder.

FScene releases its second holiday free Mission for FSX - Microsoft flight simulator

Over 1500 Simmers took the opportunity to download
the Holiday free mission of FScene. This second one is the
spitting immage of it, with the difference that it has to
be flown in even worse weather. And - what makes it
much more difficult to accomplish - you fly in hard winter.
The missions were built using a new tool made by Jim Keir
scheduled to be released by FSAddon Publishing in the near future.

Visit the FScene site to get your free copy of this hard winter mission
www.fscene.com

Farm Vet (PC), charity platformer The Tuttles Madcap Misadventures: Starlight Charity Challenge (PC/Mac), popular casual game Fever Frenzy (PC) and si

Videogame developer and publisher Legacy Interactive announced their first quarter lineup of mainstream PC games for retail distribution in 2008. They are veterinarian simulation Farm Vet (PC), charity platformer The Tuttles Madcap Misadventures: Starlight Charity Challenge (PC/Mac), popular casual game Fever Frenzy (PC) and simulation Pet Pals: Animal Doctor (PC/Mac).

Legacy has signed a related agreement with Navarre Distribution Services, Inc. to distribute their lineup of mainstream PC games at retail in North America, beginning with The Tuttles. In addition, Strategic Marketing Partners, Inc (SMP) will represent the same Legacy titles to game resellers and distributors.

"As a female and a mom, I have a slightly different perspective than most heads of game companies," said Legacy's President Ariella Lehrer. "I think the extra effort we make to insure Legacy's games are thoughtful and engaging resonates with mainstream audiences."

Farm Vet is a simulation game that centers on real-life animal care situations scripted by real world veterinarians. Farm Vet is being distributed at retail by Vivendi Games and is expected to ship in February for a suggested retail price of U.S. $19.95. A downloadable version will soon be available at www.farmvetgame.com.

The Tuttles Madcap Misadventures: Starlight Charity Challenge, the first Legacy game to fall under the Navarre/SMP agreements, is a charity project with 75% of Legacy's proceeds being given back to benefit seriously ill children. The Tuttles (available now for PC download at www.tuttlesfamilygame.com) is a classic animated platformer for all ages. Actors William Shatner, Bob Saget, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ashley Tisdale, Dominic Scott Kay, Dave Thomas and Dave Coulier contributed their voices. The Tuttles retail version is expected to ship in March for a suggested retail price of U.S. $19.95.

The highly addictive service style arcade game Fever Frenzy puts players in hospital settings while they attempt to cure patients of crazy ailments like mother goosebumps and third degree sideburns. The retail version of this casual game is also expected to ship in March for a suggested retail price of U.S. $9.95.

Appealing to animal lovers, Pet Pals: Animal Doctor, is a simulation game that puts the player in the role of pet doctor, diagnosing and treating the neighborhood's sick animals. The PC/Mac retail game will be distributed by Navarre in March. Majesco Entertainment just shipped a Nintendo DS version of the game.

All of Legacy's first quarter releases are rated E for Everyone. The company plans to launch additional games online this quarter.

Smash Online - gamigo announces English version of new Tennis MMOG

Leading European MMOG publisher gamigo AG is proud to announce the English version of Smash Online, its “free to play” Tennis MMOG. Combining an easy to pick up, action-packed 3D sports game with the Multiplayer- environment and ongoing character development of MMORPGs, Smash Online offers the right challenge for both lunch breaks and long winter evenings. Players can now participate in the Open Beta by signing-up on http://tennis.gamigo.com.

Combining the best of console sports games and MMOGs Smash Online combines the accessibility and spontaneous fun of sports games on consoles with the deep gameplay, long-term character development and community focus of Massively Multiplayer Online Games. Players create their avatar with individualized looks and playing style to compete against thousands of players from around the world. Through winning matches and special tournaments, players sharpen their skills such as speed, strength and accuracy as well as earn points to spend in the integrated item shop on new clothing and equipment.

For quick challenges the game contains training and single player modes with mini games and AI controlled partners. Like pets in MMORPGs, these sidekicks can be levelled up and used to play alongside in a 2 by 2 game. To form the tennis community, Smash Online supports a ranking mode, in-game messaging and friends system as well as the foundation of clubs similar to guilds in other titles.

The new international Sport-MMOG-Hit gamigo publishes the Korean-developed MMOG exclusively in Europe, starting with German and English versions. In order to allow real international championships, French, Spanish and other language versions are set to launch later in the year. Continued improvements and enhancements with new features will keep players engaged while the free to play model and small download offer the title to a broad audience.

„Our first foray into the MMOG sports segment with the German version of Shot Online turned out to be a surprise hit“, explains Sven Ossenbrüggen, CEO gamigo AG. „With Smash Online we aim to continue this success story and will launch internationally right from the beginning. Competing to become the European champion is a real blast!”

After the successful German launch in December, the English Open Beta is launching today. Interested players can sign up for free on http://tennis.gamigo.com.

Penumbra: Black Plague download for PC

GamersGate announced today that it has seized the exclusive download rights to first person horror adventure Penumbra: Black Plague.

Available for direct download on February 12, 2008, the title will retail for $19.99 and has been rated M by ESRB and 16+ by PEGI.

Penumbra: Black Plague is a stand-alone title but continues where Penumbra: Overture left off. Both titles have garnered much attention in media worldwide for pushing the boundaries of the Adventure Genre and Penumbra: Overture can also be obtained via GamersGate.

A demo for Penumbra: Black Plague was recently released and can be found on the official website.

Spandex Force Video Game for Mac and PC

Independent game developer KarjaSoft proudly announces the release of Spandex Force, a tongue-in-cheek puzzle game with RPG elements.

Spandex Force is a superhero-themed puzzle game that lets the player create his or her own hero to clean up the crime-infested town of Vigilance Valley. The game features many different kinds of minigames, including, but not limited to match-3 battles in which common criminals and wacky supervillains must be defeated. The battles are similar to those of last year's hit game Puzzle Quest, but feature superpowers rather than magical spells.

Other minigames let the player swoop in to rescue old ladies about to get run over, stop falling pianos from crushing innocent bystanders, or bring back runaway pets. Focus has been put on delivering a varied set of puzzles, and presenting the game in a tongue-in-cheek manner that pokes fun at superhero cliches. The player can also customize his or her hero and equip different superpowers, accessories, and weapons.

Spandex Force is available for Windows and Mac. More information, screenshots and downloads can be found at the official webpage:

http://www.spandexforce.com

Features:

- Ten exciting minigames to play
- Eight episodes of heroic action
- 24 super powers to learn
- Eight wacky super villains to defeat
- Equip your hero with capes and other accessories

System Requirements:

1 GHz CPU, 256 MB RAM, 32 MB graphics card with OpenGL support. Windows 2000 or higher, or Mac OS X 10.3.9 or higher.

Code Lyoko - Quest for Infinity Fact Sheet for Sony PS2 and PSP

QUICK FACTS

Title : Code Lyoko - Quest for Infinity

Platform : PS2,PSP

Release Date : June 2008

Developer : Neko Entertainment

Publisher : The Game Factory

Genre : Action/Adventure

Game’s Description

The Final Quest has just begun…Discover and experience a new story linked to the events from the 4th season X.A.N.A has succeeded in fully annihilating Lyoko, but with the genius creativity of Jeremy and Aelita, our heroes manage to reprogram Sector 5. The only way to track down X.A.N.A is to explore the digital sea. For this, Jeremy creates new costumes, weapons and vehicles that help them navigate into the digital sea. By destroying the Replica worlds, the young heroes will deliver Lyoko and save William from X.A.N.A.

Key Features

• Arm Ulrich, Odd, Yumi and Aelita: The Wii Remote and Nunchuk controllers are used for a variety of game activities from flying to projectile-weapon aiming. The game features incredibly precise aiming control using the Wii Remote controller. Use the controllers for sword swings, defense shield and metallic fans throwing.
  
• Exciting Adventure: Players virtualize into battle against hordes of evil creatures and wield weapons and shields with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk controllers, then take on massive bosses that must be seen to be believed.
  
• Brain & Power : Many puzzles stand between our heroes, Lyoko and the fulfillment of their quest, so players must sharpen their wits as they hunt for the annihilation of X.A.N.A.
  
• Explore the digital sea and fight your enemies aboard the Skid, the Lyoko Warrior’s new vehicle created by Jeremy
  
• PSP- includes Wireless trading system
  

LEVELS

• There are 25 levels in the different sectors ( Ice sector, Mountain sector, Volcano Sector, Forest Sector, Desert Sector and Sector 5)
  
• There are 13 Space Shooter levels
  
• There are 5 Boss levels
  
• TOTAL LEVEL Number is 43 Levels
  

CINEMATICS

25 minutes of Cinematics ( 10 minutes taken from the show and 15 minutes created for the game)

CHARACTERS ABILITIES

Ulrrich uses a sword--

1) Triplicate power creates virtual images of himself

2)Super Reflexes – He can break through certain walls

Yumi (Female character)- Uses fans as a weapon..lock and release

1)Telekinesis- She can move objects and monsters

2)Equilibrium-She can walk on ledges

Odd-Laser weapon + wall climbing

1) He can stop time. He has a time control ability, slowing down the frame rate of the Game

2) Hyper Jump.. using the wii controls he can climb walls jumping from one side to another

Aelita ( Female Character)—She uses energy plasma as a weapon

1)She can fly

2)She can petrify enemies

3) She can build bridges

Dr. Reiner Knizia's Brainbenders on Nintendo DS

"The human brain is only just beginning to realise the possibilities of what it is truly capable of" Dr Reiner Knizia

Eidos Interactive, one of the world’s leading publishers and developers of entertainment software, is pleased to announce a brand new title developed exclusively for the Nintendo DS: Dr. Reiner Knizia’s Brainbenders.

Award winning game designer Dr Reiner Knizia is an expert in algorithmically generated logic problems and has over 300 board games and books to his name. Now he has created a collection of ingenious challenges for all the family. Get ready for a mental journey that will make you laugh and cry - and leave you begging for one more go!

Travel to iconic global cities and help solve the various conundrums that you will encounter; all designed by the fiendish genius Dr. Reiner Knizia himself.

Developed by specialist DS developer Razorback Developments, you will have the chance to organise dancers at the Rio Carnival, memorise melodies at the Sydney Opera House, speed count marine life off the coast of Cape Town and assemble stone tablets to uncover the amazing secret of the Aztec ruins. Even send games to your friends using the wi-fi link to see if they can beat your top score.

City of Heroes/City of Villains new "XP Curve Smoothing" system

New experience system helps super power players' progress through City of Heroes/City of Villains
Lead Designer Matt Miller discusses City of Heroes' new "XP Curve Smoothing" system
Friday 8th February/... Matt “Positron” Miller, Lead Designer of NCsoft's heroic massively multiplayer online role-playing game, City of Heroes/City of Villains, answers questions about the forthcoming tweaks to the game's experience system and explains why players can look forward to a faster, more exciting game experience.

Q: Please tell us what exactly this XP Curve “Smoothing” means.

A: Well, the leveling speed “curve” looked like a jagged mountain slope more than a smooth line. There were some levels in City of Heroes and City of Villains that just took players longer to get through. This was due to a variety of reasons, mostly in the realm of available mission content. We have tried to add new content in those areas over the past few updates, but a stronger hand was needed in some of the real problem areas. We went in and, through data mining, determined how long characters “lived” (existed) at any given level. This pointed out exactly where our problem areas were and exactly how we could address them. In addition we did a near global increase to the XP earned for defeating enemies. This will have everyone leveling faster than previous issues.

Q: What made you decide to implement this?

A: Our players had legitimate complaints that certain levels acted like brick walls in developing their characters. We wanted to eliminate those walls wherever possible, and in the process speed up leveling for everyone.

Q: Does it fundamentally change anything about the game?

A: Definitely, players will see more progress on their XP bars in the same amount of play time they are used to. In addition, levels where they felt “stuck” should go by MUCH more quickly now.

Q: Are you concerned that this will allow players to level up too quickly now?

A: That’s always a concern, but we are always looking to add things for max-level characters to do to improve themselves. In addition, the Ouroboros (flashback) system allows players to go back and play content they may have missed, so even if they have out leveled a story arc or a badge-given mission they can go back and get it.

Q: When will this go live?

A: We expect this to be live before Valentine’s Day.

Q: Is there anything else that you want to say about this?

A: I am really excited about being able to bring this improvement to the players. This is nothing but a hugely positive step for the ‘City Of’ games.

PC Video game The Chronicles of Spellborn

Little introduction
Before I get into the details of combat testing, let me first explain the setup we have here for our QA department. Each of the QA testers has developed certain knowledge of the game over time, but no one is assigned to anything specific. This keeps our job fun because you get to handle different test cases but it also means that everybody has a thing they are more informed about. We all attend team meetings so we know what design changes have been made, if any new features have been implemented and basically keep up to speed on what is happening to the game. Based on that information we make sure we know what to look for in the game, what to test and what to ignore for the time being. (“A purple building in the game is a work in progress, not a bug” – Lead Level Design)

Combat testing
Of course this important feature of our game has to be thoroughly tested in any way we can to make sure that it not only works but it is also fun from a player perspective. This is why testing the combat system is not only performed by QA itself, but also by the combat designers and AI programmers themselves. A lot of systems have passed the review since design pitched the first idea, and the current system is still open for improvement and added functionality. However, the fact that QA has reached combat testing phase 3 by now means that a lot of basics have been established and most of what is being done is fine tuning before we get to combat balancing (although balancing is done all the time by Combat system specialist El “Selachii” Drijver).

Phase 1: Basic skill functionality
The first testing Phase involved the basic testing of skill functionality. Just to give you an idea, we have about 200 skills which all have a design description stating what the effects are, which visuals should accompany the skill and much more info. So this meant that each skill had to be compared with their description and checked for inconsistencies or, in the worst case, stuff that just did not work. We put a part of the QA team on this assignment, divided the classes and went to work. This phase took about 5 days to complete and resulted in about 100 bugs (some of which were related, don’t worry). One thing I have to mention is that this test did not include any party skills yet because our Devs were still working on the way grouping works. So this means that at a later stage, we will have to pick up the party skills some classes have and go through the motions again.

Phase 2: Bodyslots
Before we could tackle the bodyslots both coders and Combat design had to check if everything was in place for QA to be able to test the bodyslot functionality. I am not going into the details of our bodyslot system here (you can check out the journal for that here - http://www.tcos.com/sbforum/viewtopic.php?t=11230) but it is a very complex system that differs for each class and subclass. First of all we had to assemble a list of bodyslot items that we could cheat into our inventory. Once we got that together, again some of us went to work with their respective subclasses and tested bodyslots. Some nice bugs we encountered were, for example, the following: using skinshifting bodyslot could result in teleporting yourself under the world, summoning a pet, as well as the use of thrown items for the Trickster, would result in a server crash, etc.

Don’t worry though; this is exactly the kind of information Devs like us to give to them. Well, not really "like", but if this kind of testing was not done, just imagine what the game would end up like. We all try to put together a cool and fun game with Spellborn, and QA is a necessity in the process of getting there. The combat tests have not been concluded yet after these phases of course. Now that the bugs have been filed, we have to follow them up and check if the fixes the Devs apply are working and don’t break anything else. For instance, of the 100 bugs that were filed during phase 1, 52 have been fixed already and QA has checked these fixes and approved them.

I’m going to wrap things up here to make sure this journal doesn’t become too boring and long, but I’ll leave you with the information that phase 3 has been concluded as well: Combos. And I can tell you right now, they are awesome!

Turning Point: Fall of Liberty to be honoured by UK publisher Codemasters; Follow the Quest

Inspiration for alternate reality videogame 'Turning Point: Fall of Liberty' to be honoured by UK publisher Codemasters; Follow the Quest Online at www.codemasters.co.uk/quest

Codemasters, the UK’s leading independent videogame publisher, is turning detective in order to recognise a descendent of the man who inspired the events depicted in alternate World War II action game Turning Point: Fall of Liberty.

The game supposes that the incident in which a car struck Winston Churchill in New York on December 13th 1931 actually proved fatal – and that without his inspirational speeches to galvanise the Allies, the course of the Second World War took a very different route, with the Axis Powers even invading America.

Unemployed mechanic Mario Contasino was driving the car which struck then-statesman Churchill. Despite the accident being no fault of his own, Mr. Contasino contacted Winston Churchill daily during his two-week convalescence, and the pair became good friends after the event.

Some 75 years later, Codemasters wants to honour Mario Contasino’s descendents, for providing the inspirational “Turning Point” for the forthcoming videogame.

The firm has enlisted the services of Oxford historian David McCarthy, who will set out to track down descendents of Mario Contasino. His investigation can be viewed online at www.codemasters.co.uk/quest. Anyone with information as to the whereabouts of Mario Contasino’s descendents can contact David through the site.

“You try Googling it – there’s really very little to go on,” says Richard Eddy, Director, Communication, Codemasters. “It clearly wasn’t that big a deal at the time, but that one moment could have changed everything. The game imagines a world without Churchill – a chilling vision of what might have been. We want to officially recognise the Contasino family for providing us with the inspiration for Turning Point: The Fall of Liberty. The game will hopefully remind those why Winston Churchill is rightly regarded as one of the most important people of the 20th Century.”

“It’s a modern-day treasure hunt, and one I’m relishing,” says David McCarthy, who has taken up the challenge of finding the Contasinos. “Mario’s descendents may be unaware of his historical significance, but we want to officially recognise his contribution to the forthcoming videogame. Without Mario Contasino, there’d be no Turning Point.”

Turning Point: Fall of Liberty will be available the end of February for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Games for Windows.

Go, Diego, Go!: Safari Rescue, First-Ever Wii Game Specifically Designed for Preschoolers

Nintendo World Event in New York to Offer "Sneak Peek" of Groundbreaking Go, Diego, Go! Themed Game

2K Play, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive, and Nickelodeon, the number-one entertainment brand for kids, today announced that Go, Diego, Go!: Safari Rescue™ for the Wii™ home video game system and PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system will be available at retailers in North America beginning on February 12, 2008. The title represents 2K Play’s first Wii game engineered specifically for preschoolers and is based on extensive Nickelodeon in-home research that focused on how to best match the abilities and needs of younger children with the capabilities of the platform.

To celebrate the game’s launch, 2K Play, Nickelodeon, and Nintendo World will host a special sneak preview for families in the New York area. The event will be held on Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008, at the Nintendo World Store in New York City’s Rockefeller Center from 12 to 4 pm.

“For Go, Diego, Go!: Safari Rescue, we’ve created an entirely new interactive experience for preschoolers that is only possible on the Wii,” said Steve Lux, Vice President of Business Development for 2K Play. “Nickelodeon’s intensive study of how two through six-year-olds experience the new technologies offered by the Wii helped us create an all-new play pattern that extends beyond current games. Physical activity is an integral part of the fun and the new title is perfectly suited for the younger gamer.”

“We are thrilled to combine the fun and adventure of our top-rated Diego property with true gaming innovation for the Wii,” said Steve Youngwood, Executive Vice President, Digital Media for Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family. “By combining Nickelodeon’s kid expertise with 2K Play’s creativity, we have engineered a game that allows preschoolers to develop their playing skills by turning up the fun, building confidence and bringing parents and older siblings into the gameplay experience.”

Based on Nickelodeon research with preschoolers and their families to determine how the platform’s motion-play capabilities are absorbed by younger children, Go, Diego, Go!: Safari Rescue was designed with 13 intuitive Wii-centric motions that maximize the engineering of the Wii Remote™ for a preschooler. Taking on the role of Diego in a race across Africa, gamers stomp to scare away lions, jump with Baby Jaguar, paint stripes on zebras, climb up ladders and swim across the jungle river by mimicking those actions with the Wii Remote.

Research findings show that parents often chose to stay in the room and participate in gameplay; accordingly, the game has a unique feature which allows parents to collaborate with younger gamers by using the special Safari Guide Helper Feature and a second Wii Remote. Preschoolers can, by themselves, help Diego blow up a hot air balloon by pumping up and down, but their actions are enhanced with speed and vibrant animations when assisted.

Also available on February 12 is 2K Play’s Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Mermaids for the PlayStation 2 system. In the new title, Dora and Boots need help bringing a Magic Crown to Marianna the Mermaid. By swinging, sliding and bouncing through the game, players travel over tropical land and sea to save Mermaid Kingdom. Along the way, Dora magically becomes a mermaid herself.

The Go, Diego, Go!: Safari Rescue and Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Mermaids games feature the same voice actors as the popular Nick Jr. TV shows. In addition to pre-development research, the games were also tested by children and moms for age-appropriateness, fun factor and overall quality. The packaging on both titles features a “Kid-Tested” seal.

Go, Diego, Go!: Safari Rescue was developed by High Voltage and will be available for the Wii for a suggested retail price of $39.99 and the PlayStation 2 system for $29.99. Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Mermaids was developed by Totally Games and will be available for the PlayStation 2 system for a suggested retail price of $29.99. All games are rated E for Everyone. For more information, please visit www.2kgames.com/2kplay.

A national marketing program will support the games’ launch, which will include TV commercials on Nick Jr., Toon Disney, and Treehouse; print advertising in Nick Jr. Magazine; and web support and cross-promotions with Nickelodeon licensees.

Devil May Cry 4 launched in UK

The Devil runs riot in the UK....

80 per cent of Brits believe that Hilary Clinton is sexier than Margaret Thatcher
71 per cent of Brits upon finding an iPhone in the street would either sell it on Ebay or keep it rather than handing it in
70 per cent of Brits would fake an injury following a car accident to get money from the other driver

Inspired by the launch of Devil May Cry 4, the ‘Set Free the Devil Inside’ survey results are in, and they show just how devilish the UK’s population actually is.

Traditionally a reserved culture, the results of the survey found that the British are more than willing to set free their inner devil. Almost one in four people, upon finding that their finger had ripped through the toilet paper whilst making their daily motions, would happily wipe their finger on the face towel rather than wash it in the sink. A similar number of respondents also admitted to having a sniff!

The clichéd reserve of the British public in the bedroom was also dismissed, with 94 per cent of respondents more than happy to tie their partners to the bed for hours. The survey also found that almost four out of five people would rather spank than be spanked.

Outside the bedroom, Brits were happy to cheat on their partners, with two out of three people believing it isn’t cheating if your partner doesn’t find out. The public should also be wary of Brits with superpowers such as X-ray vision, as almost four out of five people would use it to peek into changing rooms.

Brits were also not afraid to let loose their inner devil in the workplace, with over half willing to stab a friend in the back to gain a promotion. Six out of ten were also willing to sleep with their boss and then blackmail them afterwards to gain a promotion.

The survey found that the most devilish inhabitants of the UK were based in Scotland, followed closely by people in East Anglia and the South East of England. Wales and Northern Ireland held the fourth and fifth most devilish location in the UK respectively.

“The site relies completely on user generated content and we have been extremely amused and sometimes shocked with the content that has been created. Visitors to the site created polls covering everything from office life to sex and relationships, in addition to writing confessions about devilish activities they had undertaken,” said Leo Tan, Capcom. “What this survey makes clear is that there’s a little devil inside all of us just waiting to come out.”

Additional statistics taken from www.setfreethedevilinside.com include:

Sex & Relationships

• 78 per cent of Brits would rather spank than be spanked
  
• 61 per cent of Brits would sleep with someone to gain access to a sibling
  
• 60 per cent of Brits if asked whether their friend is single would either say they are already taken or gay if they were interested in the enquirer themself
  
• 54 per cent of Brits upon getting two numbers on a night out, would call one and then the other the next day
  
• 62 per cent of Brits would sleep with Angeline Jolie’s top half grafted on to Anne Widdecombe’s bottom half
  

Daily Life

• 63 per cent of Brits would choose to lose their taste rather than the ability to see, smell or feel
  
• 63 per cent of Brits have done a runner from a taxi cab without paying
  

Law

• When asked what laws are most acceptable to break: 
  
• 36% said speeding in your car 
  
• 30% said using drugs
  
• 20% said not declaring tax
  

Imperium Romanum: PC video game New Barbarian Screenshots

Kalypso Media Group is publishing 6 new barbarian screenshots from the upcoming city building game "Imperium Romanum". These new screens give a glimpse into the way of life of the barbarians in the empire building strategy game.

See several barbarian settlements, hidden amongst the hills - some complete with standing stones and meat roasting over the fire. Also see the barbarians meeting roman soldiers in battle. The barbarians are hostile neighbours and fierce opponents. As governor of a Roman province the player must show their tactical skills to defend their settlement from the barbarian attacks.

For more screenshots, the trailer, more information and a discussion forum please go to the game's official website: http://www.imperium-game.com.

"Imperium Romanum", the sequel to the million seller "Glory of the Roman Empire", will be published on the 22nd February 2008 at a price of £29,99. The title will be released by the Kalypso Group worldwide, except Spain and Italy. Pinnacle Software will be responsible for the distribution in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

"Imperium Romanum" is already considered to be one of the top PC-strategy games of the first quarter of this year.

Voyage Century Online: Phase 3 Skill Manual

The Voyage Century Online (http://vc.igg.com) is endeavoring to continue to solve the problems that have been affecting it and to enable players to obtain certain Item Mall items in game. The Phase 3 Skill Manual and some other crafting items are also available in game now.

To obtain the Phase 3 Skill Manual: you can either beat the boss on Hurricane Island, or dig for treasure to make an exchange for it. (The boss will drop the Phase 3 Skill Manual from 22nd Jan onwards)

To obtain the crafting items: Blood Stone, Fire Stone, Amethyst Stone, Holy Spirit Stone, Flame Stone, Windstorm Stone and Huge Power Stone can all be obtained from the monsters in the Hurricane Instance, or you can buy them from the Municipal Ministers in Oslo, Cape Town, etc…but your guild should occupy the city first.

Pure Steel, Refined Steel, Steel Plate, Pure Steel plate, Handle, Comfortable Handle, Steel Thread, and Refined Steel Thread can be bought from the Municipal Ministers in each city, but your guild should occupy the city first. (Open to players now)

Players can obtain more Item Mall items in game in the future.

From the Siege version to the Hurricane Island version, some improvements have been made to the game. Some Item Mall Items can now be obtained in game such as the Phase 3 Skill Manual.

Learn more from here:

http://vc.igg.com