Week of April 23, 2006


Revolution becomes the Nintendo Wii
April 27, 11:44 AM

Nintendo has finally revealed the true name of their next console, which had been dubbed "Revolution" for some time now. Introducing the Nintendo Wii.

As in "we."

While the code-name "Revolution" expressed our direction, Wii represents the answer.

Wii will break down that wall that separates video game players from everybody else.

Wii will put people more in touch with their games ... and each other. But you're probably asking: What does the name mean?

Wii sounds like "we," which emphasizes this console is for everyone.

Wii can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion. No need to abbreviate. Just Wii.

Wii has a distinctive "ii" spelling that symbolizes both the unique controllers and the image of people gathering to play.

And Wii, as a name and a console, brings something revolutionary to the world of video games that sets it apart from the crowd.

So that's Wii. But now Nintendo needs you.

Because, it's really not about you or me.

It's about Wii.

And together, Wii will change everything.

Massive GalCiv2 update released
April 25, 4:18 PM

Stardock, one of the premier developers of strategy games, and just great guys all around, has released the v1.1 patch for galactic Civilizations 2: Dread Lords.

Stardock Entertainment today released the monumental v1.1 update for Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords, adding a tremendous number of improvements and features to its award-winning space-based strategy game. Since the game’s release in February, Stardock has gathered an enormous amount of feedback from the game’s devoted fan community, and is using their requests and suggestions to implement new gameplay options, enhance usability, improve computer AI and more. This free update is available to all registered users of Galactic Civilizations II, and can be downloaded directly at GalCiv2.com or via Stardock Central.

Stardock has added a number of gameplay options to increase replayability and to further flesh out the open-ended gameplay. Among the new gameplay options:

  • No tech trading

  • Blind exploration (players cannot see spheres of influence on the mini map)

  • Random intelligence (players select a general difficulty level and the game will randomize the intelligence of each computer player)

  • Random number of players (players can elect to have the game decide how many computer players they will face)

  • Random opponents (players can elect to have the game choose which computer players they will face)

  • Random galaxy size (players can elect to have the game randomly pick a galaxy size)

    Additional improvements:

  • Computer AI significantly enhanced

  • Computer AI updated to work together with other players (including human player) to thwart a common foe

  • New alien dialog added

  • Fleet Manager Screen added to more easily manage stacks of ships and fleets on the same tile

  • Rally points can be moved

  • User interface improved

  • Ship Designer revamped to be easier to use and more powerful, now allowing players to rotate ships pieces on the fly

  • Selected ship displays an animated line showing its destination

  • Ship-destination markers display how many weeks remain until ship arrives there

  • Ship upgrading improved

  • Unused social production now transferred automatically to military production

  • Economic system overhauled to be more transparent and intuitive

  • Population growth revamped to put more emphasis on population growth ability and morale

  • Large number of hotkeys added

  • Metaverse scoring revamped

  • Constructors display starbase’s area of effect before it is built

  • Technologies, planetary improvements, starbase modules, etc. further balanced

  • Many new options added to options screen

  • Better support for modding (full-blown mod UI planned for v1.2 update)

  • New music

  • Many player exploits removed

  • Performance and memory optimizations

  • Bug and glitch fixes

    A full, more detailed listing of improvements included in v1.1 can be found here: http://forums.galciv2.com/?ForumID=164&AID=114701.



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    New El Matador screenshots
    April 24, 8:50 AM

    We've got seventeen new screenshots of El Matador, Cenega's upcoming 3D-person action shooter.

    Square Enix reveals E3 line-up
    April 24, 8:47 AM

    Square Enix released their line-up for E3 today. No real sursprises here, unless you count Dirge of Cerberus still being released. ;)

  • Dawn of Mana (PS2)
  • Dirge of Cerberus- FFVII (PS2)
  • Final Fantasy XII (PS2)
  • Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria (PS2)
  • Final Fantasy XI: Treasures of Aht Urhgan (PC, PS2, Xbox 360)
  • Final Fantasy V Advance (GBA)
  • Final Fantasy VI Advance (GBA)
  • Children of Mana (DS)
  • Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime (DS)
  • Final Fantasy III (DS)
  • Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth (PSP)
  • Before Crisis- FFVII (Mobile)
  • Final Fantasy I (Mobile)



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    Revolution article
    April 23, 9:51 AM

    Nintendo's Revolution is almost upon us. With that in mind, we decided to whip up an article based on everything we know thus far. Be sure to give it a read so you can stay in the know.

    Revolution article

    E3 2006 (Pre) Impressions
    April 23, 9:49 AM

    Can't wait until the end of May to find out how E3 was? You don't have to! We've already done all the hard work and predicted what will happen. Actually, we just took what we know so far and put it into a ten-page article. Take a look, you may find a few surspries.

    E3 2006 (Pre) Impressions