Gaming

Jason West and Vince Zampella, previous heads of Activision developer Infinity Ward, has founded a new studio and signed an exclusive deal with Electronic Arts.

The said founded studio, very fittingly called Respawn Entertainment considering the drama and unfair firing of West and Zampella from Infinity Ward and Activision, seems to be heading in the direction we all hoped Infinity Ward would go for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2; "we can ensure that the fans are treated as well as they deserve", West says.

The deal Respawn Entertainment has with Electronic Arts is a special one aswell. While Electronic Arts is the exclusive publisher, Respawn Entertainment will retain full ownership of the IP they create. A deal they will benefit greatly from, and unlike the deals with Modern Warfare/Call of Duty franchises Activision sadly retain full control over.

"Respawn Entertainment marks a fresh start for Jason and me," Zampella says. "For the past decade we led a great development team and poured our hearts into creating an epic game franchise. We're very proud of what we built; and proud that so many millions of fans enjoyed those games. Today we hope to do it all over again; open a new studio, hire a great team, and create brand new games with a new partner, EA."

Official website: www.respawn.com (In development)

Infinity Ward's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 PC community reports more and more cheats and hacks every single day.

Their latest patch for the blockbuster title, which supposedly was to ammend and fix most common problems have only opened up for further exploits. Furthermore, the very same day of the patch release, the issues adressed and allegedly fixed were again exploited. All it took was just a little change in the process, and the glitches, cheats and hacks were back. The infamous texture hacks and many more.

The most common of MW2's glitches being exploited is the so called "Care Package Glitch" or "Speed Hack". This glitch makes the player using the exploit move incredibly fast and is very hard to hit when firing at them. They use only the knife and causes much aggrovation in games. Reports of wall-hacks and aim-bots are also coming in. I personally have never come across these kind of cheaters.

Now, some "bright" minds have found a way to use and play their pirated copies online via Steam. They play amongst all the gamers who purchased the game legally, suffering no side effects. This is done by exploiting the Steam demo of the fun kart-racing game Zero Gear. The demo is soon over, and hopefully this exploit will cease to function at that time. Then again, the very same people playing MW2 via ZG have said they have found a way to work around the demo closing. Unless something is done, this is unfair to the legal customers, and proves that Infinity Ward Community Strategist, Robert Bowling's promise of IWNET being just what the doctor ordered, is a false statement.

So, what does this all mean? Well, in my opinion, it means that dedicated servers are needed, community controlled MW2 environments are needed, Valve's anti cheat VAC does not suffice as it's security and bans are highly untimely and delayed. Worst case scenario is that when DICE's Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Splash Damage's BRINK are released, MW2 will suffer an early death. That is unless Infinity Ward starts to actually listen to the PC community still supporting this extremely faulty game.

Patch the game, Infinity Ward. Give the PC community it's dedicated servers. Save your own game and community.

Rumours have it that newly formed Activision developer Sledgehammer Games, are to develop the next installment in Activision's top-selling franchise.

The Silicon Valley based company have hired developers previously involved in successful titles such as Dead Space, Tomb Raider, Soul Reaver, Ratchet and Clank and other well known titles. They are still hiring, and are aiming for developers who has "five years experience working on current AAA multiplayer shooters for current consoles and PC." So it seems very likely that this developer will be taking over the franchise, as Infinity Ward, the developer of blockbuster title Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, are said to already be working on a new IP.

This is all still just rumours and speculation. Nothing is reported confirmed.

"Let me go ahead and tell you right now that I'm not allowed to talk about Duke Nukem Forever"
"No, no, don't be disappointed, read between the lines… why am I not allowed to talk about it?"

Those quotes are taken from John St.John, the voice of Duke Nukem, during a panel at the Music and Games Festival in Virgina last weekend...

The above image popped up on Duke Nukem's Facebook page on the 27th of November in an album titled "D-Day Pics"...

Now, what does this all mean? If we're to speculate, it seems like the development of Duke Nukem Forver has been picked up, or an entirely new Duke Nukem title is coming.

Who's the soldier in black? A character model in place just to hide Duke's appearance?
Is that the famous footbal stadium we all know from Duke Nukem 3D? And doesn't that monster look like the final boss of the very same game?

Something's up, and we're loving it!

"It all began with a 3D-model, and soon the idea to extend this theme as a non-commercial fan project was born."

BlackMonkeys, the team behind this epic mod for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, announced on Christmas Eve that their project Star Wars Mod: Galactic Warfare has just entered Public Beta. The mod is a total conversion and will change every aspect of CoD4 into everything Star Wars purists love and cherish. Battlegrounds, famous locations, the vehicles and weapons are all included. Combined with the excellent multiplayer of CoD4, this mod promises epic warfare of galactic proportions to fans of either franchise the mod is based on.

11 months in the making, Star Wars Mod: Galactic Warfare, is now available for the public to wreak havoc in as either as a trooper of the Imperial Forces or as a soldier from the Rebel Alliance.

At current there is only one map included in the beta release, but BlackMonkeys assure the community that more maps, character models and weapons are in development, and will be included at a later stage.

Download Star Wars Mod: Galactic Warfare here!

Related links:
www.blackmonkeys.de
www.moddb.com/mods/star-wars-mod-galactic-warfare

"...there may be some mod tools news coming in the future, I'll pass it along once I have it"

Robert Bowling aka. fourzerotwo, Creative Strategist at Infinity Ward sent this little message out in a tweet on the  13th of December, thus teasing CoD:Modern Warefare 2's PC community and upping hopes for custom content to the best selling shooter in the near future.

He says he nor knows or have heard nothing on the matter of dedicated servers, but Connect Gaming, like so many other PC gamers playing CoD:MW2, are still hoping for a major update that includes dedicated server support.

For now, this update announced in testing, will have to suffice.

More and more of Connect Gaming's members and friends of Connect Gaming are falling in love with Raptr and it's sheer awesomeness. If you have no idea what Raptr is, read on. We'll make sure you know what it's all about.

Raptr is best explained as a gamer's social network, with great features that us gamers crave, need and can boost our online egos with. We are of course talking about tracking your your online gaming, and the possibilty to rub it in other gamers faces.

Be it PC, Xbox, PS3, handhelds or any other electronic thing you can fulfill your gaming needs with, Raptr has it covered, all in your profile for you to gloat and brag about. Achievements from every channel are also included, Steam, Xbox /GFWL Achievements and PS3 Trohpies. Raptr even gives you your total ammount of combined achievements, and your total ranking amongst the users who have earned achievements throghout their gaming time.

One thing Connect Gaming seems to enjoy and favour, is the comparing of achievements amongst your Raptr friends. Nothing beats some good ol' inter-clan bickering and taunting over who's got the most achievements for common games. Raptr will make sure you stay on top of your game by letting you know you just earned more achievements, or you friends just flew past you in earning achievements for the games you have in common. A very cool and fun feature in all this, is that you can let Raptr send a Taunt to your friends letting them know you just made them your "bitches" in earning more achievements than they have.

Now, you may wonder how Raptr collects your stats and gameplay.
Well, there are a two ways it does this. As we mentioned above regarding the achievements, Ratpr allows for registering your online accounts on your profile, thus automatically tracking gameplay, stats and earned achievements from services providing this. The other is the Raptr Client. You download and install this on your gaming PC, and it automatically detects the installed games and starts tracking once you fire up a game.

The Raptr Client is also a multi IM client, with built in support for MSN / Xbox, Yahoo, Xfire and other popular IM services. It can also be set to automatically download the latest patches for your installed games.

We could go on and on, but we'll give it a rest here and rather let you take a look for yourselves. You won't be disappointed with Raptr. We promise. It's that awesome!

Find Raptr at www.raptr.com
Official Raptr Twitter: www.twitter.com/raptr

July 6th 2009 Zero Point Software A/S filed for bankruptcy.

Zero Point Software are the people behind the term AAA Indie and the game-in-development Interstellar Marines. A developer that truly fits the term "For Gamers, By Gamers".

Interstellar Marines has awesome potential to become a great game for fans of the FPS genre. Developed for singleplayer and up to 4 player co-op, with "heavy focus on realism". It's even planned as a trilogy.

The story is pretty basic, as the player is introduced as a newly enlisted Special Forces soldier, equipped with the latest in weaponry, armour and gadgets to wreak havoc with. But the key feature isn't the story, it's the feeling of realism, or as much realism as you can get in a "believable futuristic setting", the co-op aspect and the fact that the the game is developed by real gamers who knows what real gamers want. Of course it's not only because they are gamers themselves, but because they let the community take part and share ideas. And Zero Point Software does listen to the community.

The AAA Indie stamp they claim, is now, or at least the way I see and understand it, the problem they're now facing. They do have investors, though many are friends and family of the developers, but the development does cost money and friends and family most likely can't fund the entire development process. So now, due to lack of funding and investors, the money is spent.

Now, there is a demo for Interstellar Marines, which they claim, and I have no doubt is "kick-ass", but can't show to anyone, because it's  built on an evaluation license where the terms of the license prevents them to show it. This means they may very well have a product that future investors will love and gladly invest in, but as it stands, is so close, but yet so far away, because the investors won't be able to see it due to the license terms, and thus won't hand over money blindly. A truly vicious circle.

So, how can we offer help?
That's easy! You register at www.interstellarmarines.com, upgrade your account to either a Frontliners or Spearheads account by paying a fee of max $39.00 depending on the account. What you're doing by upgrading is actually supporting and purchasing the game, where the Spearheads account grants you the entire trilogy!

So if you can see past that there is the danger of development stopping, and the game may never be released, show your support and pre-purchase the game by registering on the site and upgrading your account.

"For The Love of The Game!"

Bethesda's parent company ZeniMax Media, has aquired id Software.

This is great news as far as we're concerned as the two legendary companies id Software and Bethesda Game Studios now reside under the same umbrella corporation, ZeniMax Media. This will no doubt lead to great and exiting titles in the future, as we have come to expect from id Software.

The FPS kings and the RPG emperors combined will create a library of powerhouse franchises  including DOOM, Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, QUAKE, Wolfenstein and RAGE!

John Carmack, co-founder of id Software, simply explains the marriage; the company has grown tired of competing with their own publishers catalogue of software titles in order to be published. He further (forgetfully?) implies that id Software will be the sole developer of FPS under ZeniMax Media. Well, he forgot Splash Damage and BRINK!

Be it Carmack forgot Splash Damage or not, this is still great news for hardcore fans of the mentioned powerhouse franchises, Splash Damage is there as well, published by Bethesda Softworks, adding another powerhouse, namely BRINK!

ZeniMax Media. You are now a gamers wet dream.

3D Realms, the creator of Duke Nukem 3D which we all have played at least once in our lives, and publisher of the grandfather of FPS, Wolfenstein 3D, has closed up shop and said goodbye.

Known as Apogee way back when, these guys have been around for what seems like forever. The sad truth is now, that they are no more. 3D Realms has signed off, and left us a little message over at their website www.3drealms.com

Luckily, the development of Duke Nukem Forever will continue. Some of the developers and publishers interested in continuing the development is id Software, Epic and even Microsoft. There is no confirmed status of who, what, where or when.