Week of June 3, 2007

It's been a while since our last round of game reviews. Today we have nine new ones for you:

XSEED Games sends word that Dungeon Maker: Hunting Ground has been given an official release date: June 19th, 2007.

For more info on the game, be sure to visit the website.

The official website for Riviera: The Promised Land for the PSP system has launched!

http://www.atlus.com/rivierapsp/

Riviera: The Promised Land for the PSP system upgrades the RPG classic with remastered visuals and sounds, in addition to added game content! Riviera will be released July 10th, 2007.

There are computer manufacturers and then there are gaming rig specialists. We sit down with one of these specialists, Velocity Micro, to find more about the company, their philosophy, and why buying from them is the right choice.

Read the interview

We've posted NCsoft's internal preview of Guild Wars: Eye of the North. With it comes new artwork and screenshots.

Read the preview

London, United Kingdom – June 8, 2007 – Today Ubisoft, one of the world’s largest video game publishers, announced the worldwide launch for the highly anticipated and critically acclaimed Assassin’s Creed™ will be November 2007.

Year 2025 - The War Begins To End: “Having overrun much of the world with his hordes, a great enemy leader is poisoned” – Nostradamus made his prediction. His wisdom of having a victory over foes has been flying to us through centuries. Do you believe him so far and think it’s going to happen anyway? When threats and dangers are all around you can never be so sure of the battle outcome…

The game plot takes us to a very near future – 2025 – that will embrace countries with fire, explosions, deaths and threatening enemies. Nations face hazard of terrorism that rules the world! You can just watch your nation getting suppressed and crushed or…you can fight, fight as fiercely as your muscles endure.

The main character is a brave soldier of Peacemaking Forces who can’t stand this passive non-involvement any longer. To destroy aggressively acting and lurking within terrorist hordes (hostile troops, separate units and mechs) he has a diverse arsenal at his disposal including tanks, jeeps, and mechs. The latter can use antitank and sniper’s weapons. Missions vary so it’s up to a gamer to decide which tactics to apply – crash every living malicious creature with the fire storm or kill invaders one by one in sharp guerilla attacks. The game intrigues will enable a player to go through organized resistance, betrayal, clandestine rebellion actions, and…more secrets will be unveiled by the developers as the game creation progresses!

Key features:

• 2025: Battle for Motherland is a third-person action game with extensive unit customization;
• Unforgettable character – real figure of the 21st century brave trooper who can’t stand terrorist attacks any longer;
• Compelling plot – prove that you can defend your fatherland against enemies!
• Vast arsenal – all kind of lethal weapons, gigantic walking mechs at your disposal
• The developers apply Heavy Duty’s game engine that will undoubtedly lead to making mech’s motion unbelievably realistic;
• More than 20 physically bordering missions: being at one location a player can view a different location’s part.

BILLUND, DENMARK - June 7, 2007 - The LEGO(R) Group today announced LEGO Universe as the official title for the upcoming MMOG being developed by NetDevil(R) to further engage the company’s dedicated and active community. LEGO Universe, currently planned for launch in the fourth quarter of 2008, is designed as the first MMOG professionally developed for LEGO fans and supported by community members from around the world.

"LEGO Universe ties together all aspects of our community and line of products in an online environment that can be enjoyed by LEGO fans of all ages," said Mark William Hansen, Director of Business Development, LEGO Universe. "By merging the online world of social interaction with the LEGO concept of play, LEGO Universe will provide our community with an entirely new way to experience LEGO and connect with other players in a fun and imaginative setting."

The full-featured MMOG will be complete with character advancement, expansive social and community features, and will provide a child-safe alternative to other MMOGs on the market. As a player, you'll be able to customize your mini-figs and interact in the universe as any character you choose, providing unique opportunities for players to expand and explore with their creations.

New videos and trailers will be available on the PLAYSTATION®Store today for the PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) system including Heavenly Sword™, MLB 07 The Show™, Stranglehold™ and more.


* Heavenly Sword “Gamer’s Day 2007” Trailer (free): Emotionally charged, stunningly beautiful, and delivering unprecedented dramatic character performance, Heavenly Sword showcases the PS3 system’s power. Check out the new trailer for this much anticipated title, straight from Sony Computer Entertainment America’s recent Gamer’s Day media event.

* MLB 07 The Show (PS3) Video (free): The best-selling baseball franchise is now available for PS3! This season we’re proud to introduce a slew of new features including: Road To The Show, Adaptive Pitching Intelligence, Online League Play, Pitch Command System and unique Umpire Personalities. This week, take a look at a tutorial video of the game's online feature set.

* Stranglehold Trailer (free): Continue the story of John Woo’s influential action film, Hard Boiled, starring Chow Yun-Fat. Engage your enemies in intense cinematic gun battles and cause extensive environmental damage using a full arsenal of deadly weapons. Hard Boiled will also be included in its entirety on the Blu-ray disc.

* Movie Trailers (free): Download new trailers for the upcoming blockbuster film, Transformers, and the upcoming Blu-ray release, Bruce Springsteen with the Sessions Band: Live in Dublin.

Plymouth, MI- (June 07, 2007) – Stardock has released its first major update to Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar. The award winning strategy game has garnered universally positive reviews since its release but Stardock’s update not only addresses minor bugs and play balancing but includes a brand new graphics engine!

“Many of our game developers have been working on our next game, a fantasy strategy game and in the process have made real advances in 3D engine development,” said Brad Wardell, Designer of Galactic Civilizations. “We wanted to bring some of those performance advancements into Galactic Civilizations.”

As a result, players have reported seeing a 10X graphics performance improvement.

“Now players can play on gigantic maps and be zoomed out quite a ways to display hundreds or thousands of ships and still get fantastic performance,” said Wardell.

While significant features are common in Stardock’s free updates for its games, a full-blown engine upgrade sets a new bar. The new version also includes dozens of new features as well based on player feedback.

Registered users can download the update via Stardock Central, the company’s unique download manager that not only allows users to update their games but to install the entire game from scratch — without requiring the CD — onto multiple home computers.

A full listing of what's changed can be found here: http://forums.galciv2.com/?aid=154562

The home page for Galactic Civilizations II is http://www.galciv2.com.

HWUpgrade.com has a NVIDIA G8x midrange video card roundup for you, examining ten different card from their 8500 and 8600 series.

Read the article

Microsoft today announced that “Vampire Rain,” the frighteningly entertaining Xbox 360 title developed by Artoon, has gone gold and will be shipping to stores on July 3 with an estimated retail price of $59.99.

“Vampire Rain” combines stealth, survival horror and shooter aspects of your favorite games as you lead a black ops unit to secretly eliminate one of the deadliest supernatural enemies you will ever face. Known as Nightwalkers, this highly evolved new breed of Vampire is intensely fast with super agility and they are converting humans to their kind at an alarming rate. Gamers prepared to enlist in an elite hit squad to rid the world of Nightwalkers can find additional information at the game’s official website, which launched today at www.vampirerain.com.

Bethsoft has updated their Fallout 3 website with a teaser video. They also answer three questions they believe we will all be asking:

1) Yes, that's done in-engine

2) Yes, that's The Ink Spots (singing "I Don't Want to Set the World On Fire")

3) Yes, that's Ron Perlman.

SANTA CLARA, CA - June 4, 2007 - To coincide with the theatrical release of NARUTO THE MOVIE: NINJA CLASH IN THE LAND OF SNOW, from VIZ Media LLC, NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. announced today that a sneak-peek of NARUTO(TM): Ultimate Ninja(TM) 2 and NARUTO(TM): Uzumaki Chronicles(TM) 2, both for the PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system, will be unveiled at select theaters across the country on June 6.

Gamers and fans of the videogame franchise in the top 10 media markets will have the exclusive opportunity to experience first hand NARUTO: Ultimate Ninja 2 and NARUTO: Uzumaki Chronicles 2 before their much anticipated North American release. Theaters participating in the exclusive engagement on June 6, 2007 are:

- Downtown Disney 12, Anaheim, CA
- Bay Street 16, Emeryville, CA
- Horton Plaza, San Diego, CA
- Pavillions 15, Denver, CO
- Atlantic station, Atlanta, GA
- River East 21, Chicago, IL
- Brooklyn Center 20, Minneapolis, MN
- Empire 25, Times Square, NY
- Willowbrook 24, Houston, TX
- Fredericksburg 15, Fredericksburg, VA

ATLANTA – June 4, 2007 – Gamers who visit GameTap.com can now stay to play—for free. The first-of-its-kind broadband entertainment network from Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (TBS, Inc.) has launched a free-to-play, ad-supported service that is accessible to more players—expanding beyond North America to reach a global audience. GameTap also announced the debut of its digital store, featuring a large library of titles from vintage to brand new.

"We've opened the door even wider so that practically anyone with a broadband connection can give GameTap a spin,” said Stuart Snyder, Turner’s executive vice president and chief operating officer of Animation, Young Adults & Kids Media. “We want people to sample not just the massive library of GameTap titles, but the adrenalin rush that attracted over 20 million game plays last year.”

The free service provides access to a rotating sample of GameTap’s library of more than 900 video games, including Metal Slug, Joust, Robotron: 2084, Rampage, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend, Scrapland, King of Fighters, Bust-A-Move, and Space Invaders. Games can be played on a drop-in basis, with even broader access to PC, Dreamcast and Saturn titles for players who register. No credit card or financial commitment is required. Visitors also have free access to hundreds of GameTap TV streaming videos, including interview segments with My Chemical Romance, Akon, Evanescence, Fall Out Boy, and many others.

The full-strength, all-you-can-play version of GameTap remains available to subscribers in the United States and Canada with unlimited access to more than 900 games, including GameTap Originals like Sam & Max: Season 1 and Myst Online: Uru Live, as well as GameTap Indies titles and a host of other hits like Panzer Dragoon, Deus Ex, Galaga, Civilization III, and Street Fighter Alpha 3. Paid members can also view GameTap TV’s web-based content and select programs from Cartoon Network/Adult Swim. The service is completely ad-free during game sessions and is available for as low as $6.95 a month. A Mac version will be released later this summer.

Today also marks the grand opening of GameTap’s digital online retail store, selling the best video game titles for digital download. With more than 450 titles, the store offers both classic games and new releases – including Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary, which is available for purchase June 5th, the same day it hits retail shelves. Examples of other titles available for purchase now include Space Empires IV Deluxe, Civilization IV, Psychonauts, and Resident Evil 3.

VANCOUVER, CA (June 4, 2007) – The creators of the critically acclaimed game Company of Heroes today announced the formation of their new interactive entertainment software development studio, Smoking Gun Interactive Inc. The development studio will focus on creating innovative award winning cross platform games based on original or company owned intellectual property.

For updated news and additional company information, please visit the official Smoking Gun Interactive site www.smokingguninc.com

Upton, MA, June 2nd, 2007 – Tri Synergy (www.trisynergy.com) and Chaos Concept (www.ufo-extraterrestrials.com) are pleased to announce the release of the first update for the acclaimed turn-based/real time strategy blend, UFO: Extraterrestrials. The update file is eliminates a number of gameplay issues and adds some convenient new features.

* There is an increase of the selling price for most equipment the player can manufacture or capture.
* Autosaving is now possible before each mission and the start of every month.
* UFO: Extraterrestrials can now be played in more resolutions (1024x768 and higher)
* Windowed mode is now supported.
* Tactical mode is animated smoother and is greatly enhanced by a variety of useful new hotkeys and available settings (like movement speed for units or scrolling speed).
* Extensive hotkey support for both real time and tactical modes.