I never thought I'd live to see the day, but a new Jagged Alliance game is in the making and will be available in Q4 of 2011. More precisely, Jagged Alliance: Reloaded has been renamed to Jagged Alliance: Back in Action and found a publisher in Kalypso.
Leave it up to game publishers to rub their customers the wrong way.
I have always been a fan of Ubisoft and many of their games. Unlike some of their competition (read: Activision and Electronic Arts), Ubisoft isn’t running around with its head stuck up its arse and has always treated gamers well. They are still willing to create games for smaller audiences, do not have the reputation of abandoning their games shortly after release and have yet to buy and destroy a single, well-loved game development studio.
New York, October 30, 2009 – Assemble your party from the survivors you can find. Equip them and send them out to find weapons, ammo and food, to help with the survival effort. Seek out military and emergency vehicles, the best sources for hardware and vital ammunition. Select from an assortment of handguns, shotguns, rifles and assault-weapons or pick-up an ever reliable fire-axe. Then shoot, swing and bash your way through an endless sea of undead.
Sega today announced
Napoleon: Total War, the first in an all-new story driven branch of The Creative Assembly’s multi award winning Total War RTS franchise.
Napoleon: Total War will keep the franchise’s genre-leading 3D battles on land and sea. The turn-based campaign is split into three different story-driven campaigns, telling the story of the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte through his most famous battles.
Be sure to check out our
Napoleon: Total War Game Hub for the screenshots.
Stardock announced today that Demigod is now available for purchase in North America and via
Impulse.
Demigod lets players take control of an immensely powerful being whose goal is to defeat his brethren in a series of epic arenas in order to ascend into the pantheon of the gods. During the course of each battle, players gain experience, purchase equipment, learn magical spells, capture key resources and upgrade their Citadel while working to lay waste the opposing faction.
In single player, Demigod provides both a skirmish mode for individual battles as well as a tournament in which players choose a Demigod and compete against other Demigods controlled by the computer to gain the most favor points with the gods in order to ascend.
In multiplayer, players can compete in online skirmishes in which matches players together based on their skill and experience or participate in the Pantheon, a persistent online tournament in which players choose a faction and earn favor points to through victory in the arena. Wins, losses, experience and much more is available.
Like all Stardock games, the retail version of the game contains no DRM or copy protection.
Just last week we received word from Akella that they had updated their release list for the games that are currently in development. On it, the long awaited Jagged Alliance 3 was listed as a Q1 2010 release which is a far cry from the Q4 2008 release date it carried six months ago.
But checking today, the game has been removed from the list completely. Publisher Strategy First still lists the game as 'TBD' however. Has the game been canceled? We will keep you posted on any news we may find.
After Activision and Blizzard merged, the future of many of Vivendi's titles became highly uncertain. Leisure Suit Larry's was one of those games. In December we
previewed the game, voicing the hope that someone would pick up the game and continue the series. Yesterday the first rumors surfaced that UK publisher Codemasters has taken an interest in Larry's fate. Dutch tech e-zine Tweakers.net got
confirmation from the local Codemasters branch.
Update 13:42: Codemasters Netherlands confirmed to Tweakers.net that it will market Leisure Suit Larry Box Office Bust. The game will be published under the Funsta-label. Funsta is Codemaster's budget-label which suggests that Leisure Suit Larry Box Office Bust will be available at a lower pricerange.
EA has announced a new standalone single player campaign for Red Alert 3 named Uprising. The campaign will be available as a Digital Download in March.
An epic single-player campaign expansion, the standalone title catapults players deeper into the Red Alert universe, giving them more of the action-packed gameplay they have been clamoring for, while offering a gauntlet of new and compelling challenges with the new Commander's Challenge mode. Command & Conquer Red Alert 3: Uprising will be available for digital download this March.
"Uprising is a game that in many ways reflects the feedback we have gotten from the Command & Conquer community," said Amer Ajami, Senior Producer at EA Los Angeles. "We're giving gamers more of what they want - more of the fast, fluid and fun gameplay, more of the story we began to tell in Red Alert 3 and more cutscenes featuring top-notch Hollywood talent. At the same time, we're excited we're going to be able to bring new things to the mix, including new units and the Commander's Challenge, which is a great way for players to hone their skills and get deeper into the combat."
Command & Conquer Red Alert 3: Uprising takes players into the aftermath of the epic battles in Red Alert 3, with the Soviets still reeling from a crushing defeat, the Empire of the Rising Sun desperately trying to regain both honor and identity and the seemingly victorious Allies finding themselves in the midst of corruption and deceit within their own ranks. In addition to four mini-campaigns, one for each faction and one bonus campaign centered on the origins of the Empire of the Rising Sun's commando Yuriko, Command & Conquer Red Alert 3: Uprising will also introduce the new Commander's Challenge, enabling the players to test their skills against a set of nine commanders from different territories and difficulty levels in 50 unique challenges with their own special rules and unique conditions.
In true Command & Conquer fashion, top Hollywood talent will be delivering the gripping story in full HD live-action cinematics. Fan favorites Gemma Atkinson and Ivana Milicevic will make their stunning return to the high ranks of the Allied and Soviet leaderships and will be joined by an all new set of stars, who will be announced soon.
For those who have missed the game the first time, Gametap is
free download of Total Overdose until the 8th of January.
Ramiro "Ram" Cruz is your usual tough guy -- drugs, guns, the gangster life. But Ram's twin brother Tommy chose a different path: the DEA. And when Tommy's injured during an undercover operation in Mexico, the only choice is to bring Ram in to fill his brother's shoes. You'll soon be up to your eyeballs in dirty cops, dangerous drug lords and more gunfights than most vaqueros ever saw.
Worth trying out I would say. :)
Sega spread word that Empire: Total War has been moved to March 2009, using the extra time to put some more polish on the game.
"The extra development time will allow us to finalise and polish Empire, making it the most accomplished and epic of the Total War series." said Kieran Brigden, Studio Communications Manager at The Creative Assembly. "There is a great deal of anticipation around Empire Total War and we want to ensure that it is the benchmark for strategy games upon its release."
Significantly the additional time will also allow Creative Assembly to implement the underlying technology for a much desired feature; a multiplayer campaign mode. An opportunity to participate in the 1 versus 1 multiplayer campaign mode beta will be made available to all Empire Total War buyers post release.
Jagged Alliance 3 has been on my radar ever since it was first announced. Since then, it changed developer, engine and scope several times. Currently its development is in the hands of Russian publishing mogul Akella who showed us a working version of the game last year. I was hoping to get a view of the game last week at the Leipzig Games Convention. When we walked into the Akella press booth to see if we could catch a glimpse, we were told we couldn't see the game and that it was too early.
Now, this could have been because we were indeed early, or because something was up with the game and that it wasn't being demonstrated. It was obvious that the PR lady wasn't particularly interested in explaining herself. Considering that we're one of the few publications keeping regular track of the game, one would think that she'd be a little more welcoming. But alas, we went on to greener pastures.
Still, it is somewhat disconcerting that the game quietly slipped from the 'Q3 2008' release date it had earlier this year to a 'Q1 2009' release date without so much of an announcement. We'll try and get in touch with our regular contacts at Akella and see what's going on...
Hooked on Colonization has two gameplay videos of the upcoming Civ IV: Colonization. The first video shows gameplay footage from the period just after the declaration of independence. The second video reveals the America map that is likely to be the only standard map to ship with the game (a random map generator is included of course).
In addition to the videos, no less than 34 new screenshots have popped up. Among other things, the screenshots show never before seen images of diplomacy with the natives and king, the founding fathers, the Internet Lobby interface and much, much more.
We've just added twelve new screenshots of Demigod to our
screenshots section. If you don't know what the game is about, here's what the developer has to say:
Demigod is a team-based action game with RTS and RPG elements. Players take control of a massive Demigod with the goal of annihilating their opponent's position in a given arena while preventing the opponent's Demigod from doing the same to them. Although the game supports superb one-on-one duels, the title will truly shine in team play either with other human-controlled Demigods or with ones controlled by a sophisticated computer AI. As the game progresses, the player's Demigod will acquire items, attributes and experience.
Twelve new screenshots of Civ IV: Colonization can be viewed at
Hooked on Colonization. The shots show a variety of areas and nations and even hint at other playable factions than the four original nations. That's pure speculation however... :)
As most people suspected, Blizzard's mysterious countdown
was indeed counting down to Diablo III. From the official forums:
Twenty years have passed since the cataclysmic events of Diablo II. Mephisto, Diablo, and Baal have been defeated, but the Worldstone, which once shielded the world of Sanctuary from the forces of both the High Heavens and the Burning Hells, has been destroyed, and evil once again stirs in Tristram....
Following the unveiling of Diablo III today at the Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational, we've launched the game's official website, with information about the places, characters, monsters, and adventures awaiting you upon your return to the world of Sanctuary. Some of the site's highlights include:
The cinematic teaser trailer shown at the 2008 Worldwide Invitational
A 20-minute gameplay demo video
More than 60 screenshots and pieces of concept art
Deckard Cain's journal, narrated by Deckard Cain himself -- stay a while and listen!
And much, much more
Visit the new
Diablo III website now to learn more about the game, and make sure to check out the official FAQ and the announcement press release.
Lots of new screenshots have been released. You can find them in our
Diablo III gallery. The first two official classes, the Barbarian and the Witch Doctor, can be viewed
here. Be sure to also watch the
cinematic trailer and the
gameplay trailer, be prepared to be wowed. :)
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