Week of January 15, 2006

The ParaWorld website has been updated with answers to your most burning questions:

What exactly can a Torpedo Turtle do? What purpose does the Transport Turtle serve? What does the Norsemen Trade Cart look like? And what about the Dragon Clan's Smokebomber?

Visit the site to learn more.

Atari sent us a Character Profile sheet and a few screenshots of the upcoming FPS Timeshift.

We've got new screenshots of several PC games in the works:

Scratches

Battle of Europe


Medieval 2: Total War

Game publisher Meridian4 is excited to
announce the signing of a North American publishing agreement with developers Frozenbyte for their Action/Shooter, Shadowgrounds.

"Shadowgrounds is coming to North America! The game has already received great feedback from gamers and we look forward to the North American response", said Lauri Hyvärinen, CEO at Frozenbyte, "Many publishers were interested in Shadowgrounds but we believe Meridian4 is the right partner for us, because they share our passion for great games."

"Meridian4 is thrilled to be able to offer this terrific title to the North American audience. We were instantly hooked by the game's fast-paced action and great graphics the first time we played it." said Andrew Sher, CEO at Meridian4, "Shadowgrounds will become an instant classic in its genre."

Shadowgrounds is an epic sci-fi game that blends addictive old school gameplay and modern technology into one big, nasty alien-battling carnage festival. The game is played from a top-down perspective that gives gamers a better view of the battlefield and allows tactical use of weapons - new tactics become useful as their arsenal is upgraded to even more destructive weapons.

- Upgrade weaponry with powerful modifications
- Face enormous monsters in boss battles
- Destructible environment allows players to wreak havoc with their arsenal
- Visit many exciting locations, including a secret military base and the alien-infested colony New Atlantis
- Fight side-by-side with NPC allies against the massive alien hordes
- Check security cameras and computer logs to investigate alien origins
- Realistic lighting with gameplay effects bring the aliens out of the shadows
- Enjoy horrifying sound effects and a thrilling music soundtrack made exclusively for Shadowgrounds
- Powered by Frozenbyte's incredible 3D engine!

* SPECIAL FEATURE: 2-4 PLAYER CO-OP MULTIPLAYER! - 2-4 players can play the
co-operative mode on the same computer to maximize the destruction.

We have four new game reviews for you this evening. Though they cover a wide variety of genres, each of these games scored well. Give them a read to find which one best suite's your taste:

Two new images right from EA of Maxis' Open For Business, the latest expansion for The Sims 2.

We have four new images of EA's boxing game Fight Night Round 3 for the Xbox 360.

Atari has sent us an updated Fact Sheet and six new images of Driver: Parallel Lines, the next game in the Driver series.

We have some new images of The Regiment, Konami's upcoming anti-terrorist FPS, due out on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox next month.

We have 18 new images of Pacific Storm, Buka Entertainment's upcoming WWII flight sim.

One last update from Dreamcatcher is a 23MB teaser video of their upcoming game FUEL. The multi-vehicular trick/crash/racing game is due out on the PC next month.

Here's another one from Dreamcatcher. We have six new images of Keepsake, their new adventure game making it's way to the PC in the near future.

Dreamcatcher send along some screenshots of Painkiller: Hell Wars for the Xbox. The game is due out in a couple of weeks.

Eidos is putting the power of the streets in your hands as the blazing new game 25 To Life ships today! It’s time to shine up your badge, or get your bling on, as the battle for the streets is about to begin. Not only do you get to bump your favorite hip-hop beats in the fight of your life, you can play as one of our unlockable celebrity artists too!

Check out Tech N9ne, Daz, DJ Envy, and Kurupt and put them to use to protect your hood. The time is here. Represent... Online!

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced Medal of Honor AirborneTM, the newest installment from EA's critically-acclaimed Medal of HonorTM franchise which was credited with pioneering the First-Person Shooter (FPS) WWII genre when it debuted in 1999. While building on the key tenets of the franchise including historical accuracy and authenticity, Medal of Honor Airborne is set to redefine the series by introducing players to an entirely new way of experiencing a WWII FPS – namely the fully interactive Airborne experience. As the first game in the Medal of Honor series to be released on next generation platforms, Medal of Honor Airborne will ship to stores in Winter 2006 under the EATM brand for the PlayStation®3 and PlayStation®2 computer entertainment systems, Xbox 360TM video game and entertainment system, Xbox® videogame system from Microsoft, and Windows PC.

Step into the boots of Boyd Travers, Private First Class of the 82nd Airborne Division and engage in battles throughout Europe. From rocky beginnings in Sicily to war-winning triumphs in Germany, each mission begins behind enemy lines, with an intense and fully interactive airdrop. Your ability to determine your own starting point dramatically changes the way each mission plays out. View the entire operation from the air, and then control your parachute to choose your landing spot. On the ground, gather your senses and assess the terrain. A wide variety of authentic, customizable weapons are at your disposal, each with distinct characteristics. Choose your path in this free roaming FPS environment. Medal of Honor Airborne will also feature exceptionally photo-realistic characters, adding to the intensity of the cinematic, story-driven game.

We've received word that this Thursday, January 19th, at 6:00 p.m. EST GamersHell.com and Atari will be hosting a chat with Reflections Interactive, the developers of the upcoming Driver: Parallel Lines.

Everyone is invited to join us! Thanks to the generous folks at ChatSpike, the chat can be found via IRC by connecting to irc.chatspike.net and entering the main auditorium, the #gamershell channel. The channel #ghchat is also available for open discussion between fans. Moderators will be on hand to take questions, but time is limited, so get there early!

Users without an IRC client can easily login via the web at:

http://www.chatspike.net/index.php?p=javairc

Bethesda reportedly publishing new Star Trek strategy title; Paramount, developer confirm game's existence, demur on details.

Christmas was last month, but many gamers got a nice present over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. Word broke on the forums of the fan site Star Trek: Gaming Universe that a new, as-yet-unannounced Star Trek game is in the works. Currently, the only game based on the popular television and file franchise known to be in development is the massively multiplayer online role-playing game Star Trek Online.

It all began on Friday, when STGU's founder reported that next issue of Game Informer magazine has an article about Star Trek: Legacy, a new game for the Xbox 360 and PC. Posters said Legacy is being developed by Mad Doc Software, is set for a September 2006 release, and will span the eras of all Star Trek television shows--Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Enterprise.

To paraphrase Mr. Spock, Mad Doc is a logical choice for a new Star Trek game, as it developed the 2001 real-time strategy title Star Trek: Armada II. Since then, the company has gone on to publish the more acclaimed Empire Earth II and its forthcoming expansion, Empire Earth II: The Art of Supremacy.

The Star Trek: Legacy posts are also apparent confirmation of a rumor from January 2005 which hinted that a Star Trek strategy game was in development. The source of was a post on the STGU forums from Harry Lang, the director of the licensing division of Paramount Pictures, the Viacom subsidiary which owns the Star Trek license.

Late this past Friday, Lang returned to the STGU board to confirm a new Star Trek game was indeed the works--although he avoided details. He dodged the subject of the game's title but appeared to confirm the release date mentioned in the forums. "Like I said before, traditional ST single player/multi player games have returned--and before STO ships," Lang said, referring to Star Trek Online's tentative early 2007 launch window.

In his January 2005 STGU post, Lang mentioned a Star Trek game would be coming to a "non-traditional platform" by the end of 2005--presumably the Xbox 360. In his more recent post, he made brief mention of the "stringent requirements for Xbox 360" development, apparently confirming the Star Trek game was coming to the console.

Though Lang also did not mention a developer, he did say the new Trek game has been in the works for a while. "Just because it was announced in this issue [of Game Informer], [it] doesn't mean development just started," he said. He also promised the game would be visually spectacular. "As for graphics, once you see the screenshots and this thing in motion, you will be blown away," he said.

However, some of Lang's comments were more confusing than enlightening. Responding to posters' claims that Star Trek: Legacy would be published by Bethesda Softworks, Lang made an aside about a "different publisher," making it unclear which firm would distribute the game.

However, the confusion was cleared up on Monday, when GameSpot contacted Mad Doc regarding Star Trek: Legacy. A friendly rep told us that "for assistance, interviews and general information regarding the Star Trek: Legacy title, all inquiries should be directed to Bethesda Softworks." For its part, Bethesda declined to comment, saying only to expect an announcement "shortly."