GamerNode: Latest PC News

Weighted Companion Cube in WoW?

Valentine's Day is fast-approaching, and Blizzard has brought the lovey-dovey festivities to the land of Azeroth via the "Love is in the air" celebration. Until February 15th, World of Warcraft players can snag perfume, cologne, love tokens, love rockets, picnic baskets, and a variety of other gifts to show their virtual affection.

More important than all that (at least to the obsessive videogame community, anyway), Portal's famous Weighted Companion Cube has been spotted in the wild, sporting a brand new outfit that is more fitting to the Azeroth fashion trends. I guess that would make it the Weighted Companion Crate, huh?

When in Rome...

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Mod DB '07 Editor's Choice Mod of the Year results...

A few weeks back the Mod DB Player's Choice Mod of the Year Award results were finally revealed. Now it's time for the Mod DB Editor's to have their say.

This years results are a little different from the norm. According to Mod DB Editor stenchy, "The list focuses on projects that have been pushed to the sidelines in a flood of constant media and news updates, yet merit some of their own time under the spotlight."

Editor's Choice Best of 2007:

1. Infinity: The Quest for Earth (Prototype Unreleased I-Novae Engine)2. The Hunted Chronicles (Dark Places Engine)3. Europe in Ruins (Essence Engine)4. Flipside (Source Engine)5. Age of Chivalry (Source Engine)6. Paranoia (GoldSrc Engine)7. C&C Generals: Shockwave (SAGE)8. Eternal Silence (Source Engine)9. E.Y.E. (Source Engine)10. M...

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Rainbow Six Vegas 2 gameplay footage

The sequel to Ubisoft's critically acclaimed Rainbow Six Vegas is scheduled to hit store shelves in just over five weeks, and fans of the first game are already chomping at the bit in anticipation. Now I'm not a huge fan of the Rainbow Six franchise, but those of you who are, have a look at this new gameplay footage.  Then curse me for making your wait even longer.

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The Orange Box to be cut into slices

The Orange Box is undoubtedly one of the best values that has ever been released upon the gaming world with the bundling of the original Half-Life 2, HL2 Episodes One and Two, Portal, and Team Fortress 2--all for the ridiculous price of what it would cost for one video game.

But the Orange Box is about to be peeled and cut into separate slices according to an Electronic Arts third-quarter earnings call. Warren Jenson, CFO and executive vice president at EA said, "We are unbundling Orange Box and releasing separate PC SKUs, Half Life 2: Episode Two, Portal and Team and Fortress [2] [for the PC].

Jensen did not mention a separate release of Half-Life 2: Episode One for the PC, although this may have just been an oversight on his part. However there is speculation whether or not The Orange Box ...

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Microsoft won't kill XP yet. Gives it an extension...

Microsoft's XP operating system was going the way of the dodo bird coming this June as Microsoft announced that it was planning to discontinue XP for OEM and packaged editions in favor of Vista taking over the reigns as the main OS for PCs. But it seems that XP may have been given a stay of execution.

The decision by Microsoft to stop making XP initiated a petition over at InfoWorld's website in order to save XP. At the moment over 75,000 signatures have been gathered. In addition, the website is posting a series of articles regarding why individuals, organizations, and businesses are protesting the fact that Microsoft is "forcing" them to switch over to the unpopular Vista.

A survey done by King Research of 961 IT professionals showed that 90% had concerns about Vista due to issues regar...

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Crysis 1.2 patch details

Details of the upcoming Crysis 1.2 patch have been revealed in a weekly news update from the Crysis Dev Team.

Posted on the CryMod Forums, the news update covers some of the cheat protection to be implemented, along with bug fixes, a mod loader and multiplayer balancing issues. Also included was a WIP changelog of the 1.2 patch:

1. Optimizations and Stability

- Fixed crash with AI triangulation in the editor.

2. General Fixes/tweaks

- If climbing a ladder while cloaked, energy no longer depletes at the same rate as if player were standing still. - Mouse cursor will no longer be permanently removed on attaching gamepad.

3. Weapons

- Decreased air speed of grenade launcher projectile for better readability. - Added smoke trail to grenade launcher shell for better visibility.

4. Ve...

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Gabe Newell says PC gaming is thriving

In this Steam news update, Valve announced their broadband delivery gaming service, Steam, has surpassed 15 million accounts. In addition, Steam's sales growth has been tremendously successful with year-over-year sales growth of 158% through the holiday season.

Gabe Newell, president of Valve, gave an interesting quote regarding PC gaming sales. He notes that digital distribution, in this case Steam, has been hugely successful and he believes that not only will digital distribution be a future contributor to PC gaming sales, but that Steam has improved customer relations. GamerNode writer Sean gave some insights on the PC gaming sales argument, which you can read here.

Newell said, "PC gaming is thriving, and has evolved into an era of constant connectivity. That connectivity gives us the ab...

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Assassin's Creed gets new missions on the PC

Ubisoft has announced that the PC version of Assassin's Creed will be arriving late next month, and that it will be entitled Assassin's Creed Director's Cut Edition.

The "director's cut" part comes from the addition of four new types of investigation missions to the existing game content, which seems a direct response to the main criticism of the game.

That's the least you can do for us after revealing those system requirements, Ubisoft.

Ubisoft's EMEA Marketing Director John Parkes had this to say about the announcement:

"We are thrilled to bring Assassin's Creed to an eager PC audience and we anticipate the game will resonate with them just has it has across the other platformss. Assassin's Creed is a game that must be experienced firsthand to fully understand how dynamic and meaningfu...

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Red Faction III and Warhammer 40K MMOG details

It's been a few months since THQ revealed they were planning another Red Faction game so what's the deal? Over on GameSpot, they confirmed that Red Faction III (which appears to be the official title) will be heading to PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 and it'll be released during THQ's next fiscal year -- anywhere from April 2008 to March 2009.

In the conference call, Brian Farrell, CEO of THQ, gave pretty vague hints about the game: series developer Volition, Inc. will return to develop Red Faction III and the game will focus on the series' hook of destructible technology and interactive environments. Farrell ended the call saying more information will be released in the coming weeks.

During the same call, Farrell gave an update about the in-development Warhammer 40,000 MMOG. THQ's newly formed develo...

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Age of Conan censored in Germany, retains boobies

Censorship in the videogame industry is becoming a very big issue nowadays, especially in certain regions of the world - like Germany. Unfortunately, the trend will continue with Funcom's upcoming PC and Xbox 360 MMO, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures.

Funcom community manager Shannon Drake has delivered the message that the German version of the game will not include decapitation, dismemberment, or otherwise excessive violence.

Both the North American and European versions of the game will remain wholly uncensored, and Drake made it clear that bare-chested females would indeed be present in all versions, making young boys everywhere jump for joy.

Regarding the cuts in the German version, Drake commented, "Please note this isn't a design decision or something we can reverse. It's a lega...

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Vista SP1 slated for mid-March release

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) has been finalised and along with Windows Server 2008, has been released to manufacturing today.

According to Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, Windows Vista Service Pack 1 will help turn a corner in deployment of the software giants newest Operating System. "SP1 will be a huge boon," he said.

Similarly, in his Windows Vista Blog, Corporate Vice President of Windows Product Management Mike Nash said "SP1 is a very important milestone because it addresses many of the key issues that our customers have identified with Windows Vista over the last year." Mike has purportedly been running Vista SP1 for months and indicates that it runs a lot faster and more reliably than the Gold release of Vista.

With Vista's launch soured by a large lack of driver support and softw...

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American McGee announces more twisted tales

Last May, GamerNode told you that the work of Spicy Horse co-founder American McGee was not finished, and his team over at the China-based studio would be delivering a 24-episode retelling of the classic Grimm's fairy tales in 2008.

The lastest news from the developer is that an additional game is in the works, to be released after Grimm has captured the hearts (and demented minds) of the gaming community. The second project is still untitled, and the only information available at this point is that it will be an “[Unreal Engine 3] based, big publisher, multi-platform, twisted tale project. ...an official announcement will come when the time is right."

Sounds good to me.  I mean, who isn't up for some twisted tales running on the Unreal Engine? 

As for Grimm, McGee has reported that it...

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PC gaming sales continue to slide

Every few months, like clock work, console fanboys declare PC gaming dead and the console the future of electronic gaming. The traditional reaction from PC gamers has been something similar to "poppycock," but this time those fanboys might be on to something.

Now I'm not saying that PC gaming is dead, Crysis has already sold 1 million copies, but it is in a spot of bother at the moment and it could get a lot worse, very fast. With recent NPD numbers showing that retail PC games sales only made up around 14% of total 2007 sales in North America, even the staunchest, one-eyed PC gamer would have to step back and think for a moment.

It's simply getting much cheaper and quite a lot easier to play games on console. With set ups like Xbox Live it is incredibly easy to follow a friend straight int...

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Details on Battlefield Heroes revealed

All of you dug Battlefield Heroes, an upcoming free to play, cartoon-styled shooter from EA, right? If the announcement made you drool, here are some more gameplay details, courtesy of the first developer's blog entry on the game's official site.

The first blog was penned by Ben Cousins, senior producer on Battlefield Heroes. Apparently discussion began in early 2007 when Sean Decker, executive producer on the Battlefield franchise, examined the games industry in South Korea and its emphasis on small, easy to play games that are supported by micro-transactions. So EA's response is Battlefield Heroes!

So far, here are some details:

1. Based on the BF2142 engine2. Low system requirements, "graphics and machine specs are cut down"3. Simplified gameplay4. Matchmaking service5. Auto Patching6. Ea...

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NVIDIA to acquire AGEIA

NVIDIA announced plans to acquire AGEIA Technologies today. In an eerie example of the Twilight Zone, it was only two months ago when we reported that rival AMD considered picking up AGEIA.

AGEIA Technologies, who produces its own PhysX software/hardware physics technology, seemed to be hitting hard strides, especially when other rivals like Havok have hit the mainstream gaming scene.

The deal won't be final till a little while and more details about the acquisition will be revealed next Wednesday during a NVIDIA conference call.

Manju Hegde, co-founder and CEO of AGEIA, said, "NVIDIA is the perfect fit for us. They have the world's best parallel computing technology and are the thought leaders in GPUs and gaming. We are united by a common culture based on a passion for innovating and drivin...

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XP remains king according to Valve hardware survey...

Valve's ongoing hardware survey on Steam received an update today and they netted some interesting results. With over 1 million unique samples, the survey gives a neat insight on the number of different hardware setups used around the world.

On Steam, Windows XP remains king with 82.32% of Steam users (969,021) using the operating system; only 13.70% of Steam users (161,286) are experiencing Windows Vista. I'm staying loyal with XP till a pending hardware upgrade.

For video cards, NVIDIA remains the top dog with close to half of all Steam users (49.50% or 582,742) using their cards. Since I'm using an ATI Radeon x1600, I join the 28.31% of Steam users (333,268) who have stayed with ATI. Speaking about the Raedon x1600, 1.88% of Steam users (22,118) use that card. The most popular identifed c...

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10 games to cause your breakup from GameDaily

GameDaily has published a list of the ten games that are most likely to lead to the end of a relationship.

It's a pretty solid list. The mainstays are there along with the obvious ones you'd expect; World of Warcraft and Everquest 2 to name a couple. There are some bizarre choices though, for instance the inclusion of Rumble Roses XX.

If you ask me, anyone who is still playing Rumble Roses XX obviously has a digital boob fetish that the person they're dating should probably already knows about.

Furthermore, I want to send a message to all the kiddies out there. There's no reason any of these games should cause your breakup. Because if your significant other can't understand your passion then in the words of Thin Lizzy, "Man, if that chick don't wanna know forget her." And likewise for all t...

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Mark Rein: consoles stealing hardcore PC gamers

I'm a devoted PC gamer and I maintain a rather strong commitment to my desktop, which is something I'm sure a few other GN staffers can attest. So, of course, I tend to roll my eyes when people say PC gaming is on its way out, but wasn't that said 10 years ago? While console gaming, especially in the U.S., is insanely popular, PC gaming still has its niche.

The same can't be said for Mark Rein, co-founder and vice president of Epic Games; when speaking with the Guardian Unlimited, he mentions that consoles are stealing hardcore gamers from the PC. While Rein remains devoted to PC gaming and development, he can't help but give the nod to console gaming.

"I'm a real fan of the PC, but yes, consoles are definitely stealing a lot of hardcore gamers from the PC. When Call of Duty 4 came out, I he...

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Wait, Duke Nukem Forever might actually be release...

What's it been now, a decade since this game was started? I don't know about anybody else, but I stopped caring about Duke Nukem around the turn of the century.

3D Realms on the other hand apparently still thinks that there is still interest enough in the character/series to justify the release of this game. A tiny little tidbit has been uttered by one of the folks working on the game that suggests that the game might be getting close to completion. "We're doing a lot of polishing of set pieces, environments, and characters," said art director Tramell Isaac.

The word "polishing" suggests that all the content and game features have already been implemented and are up and running, and that the game is in it's final stages of completion.

Personally, I have long held the belief that sooner or l...

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Mod DB 2007 Player's Choice Mod of the Year result...

Every year, thousands upon thousands of mods are released for PC games and for the last 6 years ModDB have been showcasing the best of the best in an event known as the ModDB Mod of the Year Awards.

The Player's Choice winners of the 2007 awards have just been announced, with the Editor's Choice winners to be announced in the coming weeks. This year, same as last year, there are three categories -- Best Released Mod, Best Unreleased Mod and Best Indie Game.

Best Unreleased Mod:

1. Zombie Panic: Source (Source Engine)2. Jurassic Park (CryEngine 2)3. Barney's Tales (Source Engine)4. Mechwarrior: Living Legends (CryEngine 2)5. Operation Black Mesa (Source Engine)

Best Released Mod:

1. Insurgency (Source Engine)2. Project Reality (BattleField 2)3. Empires (Source Engine)4. Forgotten Hope 2 (Battle...

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