Is Activision planning to release elaborate "Hardened" and "Prestige" editions of Call of Duty: Black Ops, just as they did for Modern Warfare 2 last year? Quite possibly, as IGN reports online retailer Buy.com briefly listed both versions before quickly pulling the listings from the site.
While the listings no longer exist, IGN says Buy.com had the Hardened version priced at $79.99, and the ultimate Prestige version priced at $149.99, although there were no details on what these versions would supposedly include. When asked for comment, Activision wouldn't confirm or deny the existence of the deluxe versions, with a representative only saying that "we haven't made any announcements to date."
You will of course recall that the Prestige version of Modern Warfare 2 last year included no less than a real, working pair of night vision goggles, which certainly sets a high bar for whatever items a Prestige version of Black Ops may include. If Activision does indeed release such a deluxe version for the game, we can only hope the bonus item is a Vietnam-era flamethrower. Or at the very least a KA-BAR knife?
Remember way back over a year ago when Bethesda was considering developing an iPhone game? No? Well it doesn't really matter anyway, because speaking to Industry Gamers, Bethesda's Todd Howard now says the internal team behind Oblivion and Fallout 3 currently has no plans -- or much interest -- in developing iPhone games, nor Wii and Facebook games for that matter.
"From my group, which is the internal Bethesda development team, probably not," Howard said in response to whether there's any consideration for Wii development. "The stuff we're doing is a better fit on the other platforms. You can never say never, but I think for the kind of games that we like to play and make, it fits the other platforms."
And as for the once-considered iPhone development, Howard says those plans changed some time after Bethesda parent company ZeniMax acquired id Software last year. "Initially, we were like, 'OK, we're going to do something; we have a really cool design for a game,'" Howard explained. "Once the id thing came about, they were doing enough mobile stuff that I kind of felt, 'OK, they're doing some really good stuff right now; let's see how that market goes before I start putting my own time or other people's time into something that, at the end of the day, might be a distraction from the bigger game that we need to be making.'"
Sure, developers have appropriated entire days to mark the release of a new game before ("Mortal Monday" from back in the day comes to mind), but we believe this may be the first time it's actually gubernatorially sanctioned. Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley has signed a proclamation declaring September 21 -- the day after the release of Civilization V -- officially "Civilization V Day" in the state.
As the declaration reads (via Gamasutra): "Now, therefore, I, Martin O'Malley, Governor of the State of Maryland, do hereby pay tribute to the outstanding achievements of Sid Meier on this day, July 28, 2010, and hereby recognize September 21, 2010, as Sid Meier's Civilization V Day, and call upon the people of our State to join in celebrating this salute."
So how do you get a state to declare an entire day in the honor of your new game? Spend decades developing successful games in one, evidently. "Sid Meier is known throughout Maryland and the world as a pioneer of electronic gaming," the declaration further reads, "having co-founded his first studio in Baltimore County, Maryland in 1982, and today continuing a tradition of developing the talent and creativity of future generations." Governor O'Malley also lauded Meier as "a longtime and celebrated Marylander who has spent his full professional life in this State."
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed executive producer and and writer Haden Blackman has resigned from LucasArts. Blackman announced that he is moving on after a 13 year career with the studio (via IGN).
In a statement, Blackman thanked LucasArts and said that he's "really grateful for their ongoing support."
"While the decision to leave LucasArts did not happen overnight or come easily, I really feel that now is the best time for me to move on and explore new creative challenges and I look forward to the next phase of my career," he said.
Featuring over four hours of footage (including bonus features) the documentary comes in a two disc special edition. The film covers the history of the text adventure form, and is composed from over eighty interviews with text adventure luminaries such as Steven Meretzky, Dave Lebling and Brian Moriarty.
A car accident claimed the life of professional Counter-Strike player Antonio "cyx" Daniloski yesterday.
According to a statement released by his team, mousesports, 19-year-old Daniloski was on his way home from the Frankfurt airport when a flat tire caused a fatal car accident.
With APB having just been launched to the masses last month, developer Realtime Worlds has already revealed their next project, and it's an ambitious one: Project: MyWorld.
As the project's website describes it, it's not exactly a traditional videogame. "Project: MyWorld turns the real world into a fun 3D social gaming experience," the site explains. "Project: MyWorld is a virtual recreation of the real world combined with 3D gaming and social media." Perhaps the idea behind the project is better summed up by a rhetorical question Realtime Worlds raises: "What would it look like if Nintendo built Google Earth?"
Well, apparently the answer is a virtual space that is purportedly a recreation of the world (although only locations in the United Kingdom are shown so far in the available screenshots) where players can purchase and own property, build new structures on that property, and interact with other players in the "game." Project: MyWorld also boasts integration with a number of social networking websites, including Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Google, and Loopt.
While much of the focus may already have shifted toward BioWare's announcement of Dragon Age 2 (and all the seemingly Mass Effect-influenced changes being made to it), it turns out BioWare hasn't given up on Dragon Age: Origins yet, as they have a new piece of downloadable content in the pipeline.
Called "Golems of Amgarrak," the DLC appears to take you back into the Deep Roads of Orzammar, as it adds a quest that follows a group of Dwarves who went missing in an ancient ruin where an army of golems (we're guessing golems of Amgarrak) was being created. The DLC will allow you to either import a character from Origins or create a new high-level character to play through, and apparently an advanced character will be needed as BioWare describes it as "an advanced challenge for even the most experienced adventurers."
The DLC will also add new characters to meet and new creatures to battle, and will offer new rewards that can be transferred into the main quests of Origins or Awakening.
