Gamernode: Latest PC News

The Weekly Grind 2: April Showers

Welcome to The Weekly Grind, a weekly roundup of all of the important news that graced the ever-growing genre of the MMORPG. Make sure to check the end of the post to see how a reader like yourself can get involved! Sit back and relax while we take a stroll through our favorite virtual worlds.

PvP Beta Weekend for Age of Conan - This is a pretty sweet in deal with GameSpot selecting 15,000 eager players to play PvP nonstop during the April 18th - 20th weekend. Too bad you need to be a GameSpot member to sign up, though.

One Crazy Party - The Farewell to Gaile party went smoothly, and many people came by to join in the festivities. Even the infamous Frog visited the major areas of Guild Wars giving players in those zones party buffs. So if you were there, I hope you enjoyed your spirits and ...

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EA Sports stops PC games. Apocalypse to follow

How can one tell when a platform is dead? When EA Sports abandons it, it's a damn good way of measuring the life cycle of a platform. There's usually one EA Sports game at launch and one as its final ballad (i.e. Madden 08 for Xbox and GameCube).

Using my impenetrable logic as a guideline, it can only spell disaster for the PC as a viable gaming platform (don't hate me).

EA has announced that it will no longer be making NBA Live for the PC. This announcement comes eight days after we learned that Madden NFL 09 won't be coming to the PC. Interesting moves indeed.

EA is not a stupid company. Evil, yes. Stupid, no. The only way EA would stop producing a game on a particular platform would be if it were no longer profitable. NBA Live and Madden NFL are the two biggest EA Sports titles. If...

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World of Warcraft has "peaked" says THQ exec

World of Warcraft is going to reach its peak, if it hasn't already. This is the view of THQ executive Jack Sorenson. I'd have to agree with him. Even though WoW is ten million strong, with a highly anticipated expansion pack on the horizon, WoW is going to stop growing at some point.

Despite how big the game is, people are eventually going to be bored and move on to something else.

Also worth noting is that Blizzard has not recently released a press statement indicating how their numbers have grown. Sign of the times to come? Mr. Sorenson's opinion, though, has to be taken with a grain of salt. THQ is working on a Warhammer MMO, which would be in direct competition with Blizzard's currently unbeatable hold on the MMO market. Of course he wants the game to die down in popularity so that p...

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Mass Effect (PC) delayed, new UI and mini-game sho...

Not being able to play Mass Effect for PC has been aching me for quite a few months, so first hearing that the port would be released on May 6th in North America certainly made me smile. But this post on the official Mass Effect forums from Community Coordinator Chris Priestly notes that there's been a delay.

The new release date for North America is May 28th and for Europe is June 6th. Priestly briefly mentioned that BioWare and Demiurge Studios needed the extra weeks for additional polish and fine-tuning. Hey, some extra polishing for an already excellent game sounds fine to me.

Here's the word on the delay from the man himself, "The team here at BioWare, working closely with the good folks at Demiurge Studios, has decided that a few more weeks in the studio will ensure we deliver the qua...

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The Weekly Grind 1: Fools Abound

Welcome to The Weekly Grind, a weekly roundup of all of the important news that graced the ever-growing genre of the MMORPG. Make sure to check the end of the post to see how a reader like yourself can get involved! Sit back and relax while we take a stroll through our favorite virtual worlds.

As all of you know, April Fools Day made a quick peek this week, and surprisingly the video game industry took this opportunity to show their funny side a bit more than usual. I myself thought I was part of an April Fool's joke when out of nowhere a company called me on my cellphone and wanted to meet me for an interview. I was extremely excited and set up a date quickly after. As I started to tell the news to some of my friends, half of them were skeptical, telling me it was most likely an April Foo...

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Eidos Montreal working on secret game: Thief 4?

Remember when we reported on that Deus Ex 3 is being worked on by Eidos Montreal? Having thoroughly enjoyed Deus Ex and liked Deus Ex 2, hearing of the third game certainly peaked my interest.

According to a cryptic message on Eidos Montreal's website, the developer could be working on another game to a classic franchise.

The message simply states, "Eidos-Montreal is proud to announce the recruitment for our 2nd "AAA" project... A hint! The title begins with the letter "T".' Some speculation can rule out that this AAA project would be based on a current and existing franchise (or else this isn't much of a hint) right off the bat.

So just thinking about other possible series that begins with T from Eidos Interactive, Tomb Raider or TimeSplitters (now owned by EA), the last choice is Thief!

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First screenshots and trailer for Dawn of War 2

With Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II confirmed, folks are wondering how the game will look with the spiffy Essence 2.0 engine giving some beefy backing. Thankfully, THQ released three new screenshots that showcase the game in all of its awesome glory and they give some small insight on how the game will play.

As previously mentioned, the screenshots only show the two currently confirmed races, the Space Marines and the Orks. But examine the vertical jetpack jump the Space Marines undergo in the second screenshot, or the number of Space Marines squads that are on the screen in each screenshot -- Relic mentioned they're going to pay attention on the number of squads the player will control.

Also if you've missed it, all players who pick up the recently released third and last Dawn of War expa...

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Madden NFL 09 not coming to PC

Peter Moore, head of EA Sports, has a lot of plans to improve the future of the EA Sports brand, but unfortunately releasing Madden NFL 09 for the PC is not on the agenda. This will mark the first iteration in the 19-game series to not hit the PC platform.

The main reason for skipping the platform, according to Moore himself, was simply for business; in the end, the Madden series sells like hotcakes for consoles and EA would rather market the Madden series to the appropriate (and profitable) demographic. Considering that Madden NFL 08 sold over 1.8 million copies during its first week and ultimately over 4.5 million copies worldwide, EA can't turn its head away from those earnings.

Despite no Madden NFL 09 PC plans, Moore mentioned that EA Sports has "ideas for how to revitalize the PC for s...

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Full Steam ahead for Ubisoft

Hot off the sweet deal that was Prey for $4.95 this weekend, Valve announced that video game publisher Ubisoft is the latest publisher to join the Steam ranks.

With a pledge to bring over 40 games to the game delivery service, only two games are available for immediate purchase: Far Cry for $8.95 and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell for $17.95, remember you save 10% till next Tuesday.

In addition, folks can pre-purchase Assassin's Creed before its release on April 9th. Make sure to check out the beefy system requirements too.

Future game releases include titles from the Tom Clancy series, the Heroes of Might & Magic series, the IL-2 Strumovik series and more.

Past publishers/developers who've signed with Steam include Rockstar Games, SEGA, Codemasters, id Software, THQ, Capcom, Eidos Interactive, 2K...

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Creative gets panties bunched over unofficial driv...

According to a post on Creative Labs' forums, there was a user by the handle of Daniel_K who provided users of Creative's sound cards unofficial driver packs that were optimized for Windows Vista.

Creative's official Vista drivers provided lackluster performance and several lost features that were present in the Windows XP drivers. Daniel_K had actually been producing and distributing these driver packs for quite a while, but it was only a few days ago that Creative Labs finally said enough was enough and asked Daniel_K to cease and desist from further distribution of his custom drivers.

But finally, Creative sees the error of their ways and has atoned for their sins. Daniel_K is allowed to go on creating his drivers as long as no intellectual property of Creative is provided. Quite a mess...

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Blizzard sues WoW bot programmer

Blizzard, creators of World of Warcraft, are suing Michael Donnelly, the creator of the program known as "MMO Glider." This application performs tasks in the game that could be considered motonous such as leveling character--all without player interaction.

Blizzard complains that the bot infringes upon the company's copyrights and has the potential to damage the game. In its legal papers, the company writes, "Blizzard's designs expectations are frustrated, and resources are allocated unevenly, when bots are introduced into the WoW universe, because bots spend far more time in-game than an ordinary player would and consume resources the entire time."

So far, more than 100,000 copies of MMO Glider have been sold to consumers, but more than 10 million people across the world play World of War...

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Get Prey for $4.95 this weekend

Remember Prey? That game that was delayed so often it ended up not quite meeting the expectations we made for it? (If that doesn't help you remember that's fine, because I'd guess at least a quarter of all big releases fall into that category.) If you never got a chance to try it (or didn't want to waste the money on it) you're in luck, because this weekend only, the game is available for the low price of $4.95 on Steam. In other words, you can buy the game for the price of a rental (which is what most people did to play Prey the first time around).

"Here's a deal you can sink your teeth into: this weekend only, pick up the acclaimed first person shooter Prey for just $4.95. In Prey, players enter a living spaceship which enslaves alien races and devours humans for lunch. Prey turns the fir...

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New (and free) Unreal Tournament III maps

Halo 3 isn't the only FPS game releasing three maps for free this week. If you're one of those gamers who owns Unreal Tournament III on PC or PS3 you're in luck, because Midway has released three new maps of their own to download, free of charge. PC owners can grab the new content at the Unreal Tournament III site, while those who have the game on the PS3 can grab the new maps directly from the PlayStation Network. Unreal Tournament III originally shipped with 40 Epic maps, and gamers have been downloading hundreds of user-created ones since its launch last fall.

To compete with some of the awesome user-generated offerings, Epic is banking on hitting the UT players' nostalgia bone; two of the maps, Morbias and Facing Worlds will be familiar to any UT regular. "Morbias is the deathmatch are...

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Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2 confirmed

I'm pretty happy today with this news. Originally hinted earlier this month with a tease in the April 10th PC Game UK magazine, today, we can confirm that Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2 is officially in-development.

Lucky Belgium magazine PCGameplay spilled the beans. Despite being confirmed today, Dawn of War 2 has been in-development since September 2006. Preliminary details include the game will support DirectX 10 and multiple CPU cores, will debut cooperative campaigns and the first two confirmed races are the Space Marines and Orkz.

Over in this lengthy forum post on NeoGAF, readers who scooped up the magazine jotted a whole lot of details. Some of the juicy ones are as followed:

1. Dawn of War 2 will use the Essence 2.0 engine; it's implemented with Havok physics and has an emphasis on...

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Big TF2 update coming the week of April 20th

A major Team Fortress 2 update for PC is coming down the pipeline during the week of April 20th. If you check out this article, a few of the new additions have been detailed, such as new achievements for the Medic, new unlockable weapons for the Medic and the release of Goldrush, a new gameplay mode.

In addition to all of that new, swank content, the Meet the Scout video will make its debut during the week too. Following on the heels of such hilarious videos based on the Heavy, Engineer and Soldier, I'm sure the Scout video won't cease to impress.

A few more details regarding the Goldrush gameplay mode were revealed too, including that the first map for the mode (called Payload) will feature the cinematic physics technology first featured in Half-Life 2: Episode Two.

In various Medic news, or...

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S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, Far Cry 2 dated

With over 1.65 million copies sold under their belt, GSC Game World is already set to crank out the first stand-alone expansion pack to S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. Titled S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky, the developer confirmed a release date today for August 29th worldwide. In addition to a retail release for PC, Clear Sky will be released over Steam.

Among other things, the expansion will include DirectX 10 support, enhanced AI, about 50% of new areas to explore, the ability to command one of eight different factions, some new mutants and repairable weapons and armor.

In somewhat related news, Ubisoft quietly revealed a delay for Far Cry 2. Previously hosting a tentative release of somewhere during Ubisoft's 2009 fiscal year, the game now is expected this fall. While the new release date...

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Warhammer Online delayed till fall; CE revealed

EA revealed today that the upcoming PC MMORPG Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning has hit another delay; this time it's expected to hit retail this fall. The game has already hit two separate delays; first confirmed for release last year, the game was delayed till Q1 2008 and then again till Q2 2008.

Reasons for the delay include required additional polish and more tinkering with a few of the game's "key innovations" - namely public quests, tome of knowledge and realm vs. realm combat.

In related news, Videogamer reports that EA will release a European exclusive Collector's Edition of the game. Limited to only 55,000 copies, eager fans who are planning to plop down 80 Euros will receive a copy of the game, a 224-page book called "Art of Warhammer Online", two miniature and paintable figures, ...

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TF2 Medic class update, Goldrush mode coming

Still waiting for the Medic class update, such as new achievements and unlockable weapons/customizable loadouts, like me? Robin Walker of Valve dropped some more hints regarding unlockable weapons, balance issues and the impending release of Goldrush, a new TF2 gameplay mode.

To start off, the Medic will be given the first update by the adding of 36 new achievements; by earning these achievements (in multiples of 12, 24 or 36), you can unlock three separate and new weapons, which can in-turn reflect new weapon loadouts. Note that while the Medic changes may be up first at the plate, Valve is working on changes for all TF2 classes.

While Walker didn't fully divulge all the new weaponry (the rumored Overhealer was canned), he hinted that one of new unlockable Medic weapons that's being tested...

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Fallout 3 to feature over 200 endings, wowza!

According to the latest Official Xbox Magazine podcast, Bethesda Softworks executive producer Todd Howard dropped some more details regarding Fallout 3. First and foremost, the game will feature over 200 endings, that's right folks, 200 endings.

Remember when we reported that Fallout 3 would have 12 endings? Looks like the Bethesda crew got plenty of ideas over the past few months.

Last month, we mentioned that Fallout 3's world would roughly be about 50 to 80% the size of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion but Howard mentioned that the game is now twice as big as they originally planned. What does that mean in comparison to Oblivion, we'll have to wait and see.

Other lingering details are in regards to NPCs; at all times, you will have at least one "humanoid-type companion" along with another N...

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Solid-state fan to change how CPUs are cooled

Depending on what type of fans you have installed on your PC, you either hear the whisper quiet whirr of your components spinning happily away or experience a sound coming from your PC case similar to a miniature jet turbine engine.

However, if you want complete silence for your laptop or PC, the egg heads at Thornm Micro Technologies have developed a solid state fan that has no moving parts and is only a bit bigger than a dime.

The new technology is based upon the same principle as home air purifiers, which utilize something called a corona wind effect. Fast moving ions move from conducting wires to non-conducting wires and this results in pushing air molecules along--hence a "fan" which can cool a CPU or the innards of a laptop.

Dan Schlitz and Vishal Singhal worked on the project of the ...

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