November 20, 2008 6:26 PMSpiderweb Software has released Geneforge 5: Overthrow for OS X. The fifth game in the fantasy RPG series brings the saga its conclusion, allowing players to determine whether the Shapers or the rebellion will achieve victory. The game features over 80 areas to explore, five different factions from which to choose, and dozens of possible endings depending on choices made during the game.More about Geneforge 5: Overthrow:Spiderweb Software brings you Geneforge 5: Overthrow, the final chapter in their fantasy epic. Return to the world of the Shapers one final time. Explore a vast, war-torn world, create and mold your own army of strange, powerful monsters, and choose a side to help lead to final victory. Features: Enormous world, with over 80 areas to explore. Choose among five different factions, each with its own beliefs, cities, and quests. Help the rebels or fight them. Your choices will shape the world. Dozens of different endings. Choose for yourself how the saga will finally end. Many paths to victory. Slay your enemies or use stealth and diplomacy to outwit them. Become engrossed in the storyline or just go out and wreak havoc. Lots of replay value. Prior experience with the Geneforge series is completely unnecessary. The Story:The Shapers have the ability to create life in any form they choose. They can make living tools that obey their commands, plants that can flourish in the harshest wasteland, and powerful monsters that can crush all who oppose them. The Shapers ruled the known lands, and any who tried to rebel or learn their magical secrets were destroyed. But then their creations rebelled. Working with humans jealous of their masters, they stole the secrets of the Shapers and created their own armies. They created and unleashed new, even more powerful creations and matched the Shapers in savagery. And now, years into the rebellion, the war has settled into a gruesome stalemate. The lands are scorched, and city after city falls. The two sides are so delicately balanced that one brave warrior can turn the tide. Will you help the rebels overthrow the Shapers? Will you help the Shapers regain their power, tempted by the incredible rewards they offer? You might be able to end this war. Which side will you choose?System Requirements: Macintosh running System 10.3.9 or later. 50 MB free RAM. 200 MB hard disk space. 1024x768 screen resolution with 32 bit color. Geneforge 5 will run natively on Intel Macintoshes.Geneforge 5: Overthrow is available for $28.00. Head over to the links below to learn more and download the demo.Spiderweb SoftwareGeneforge 5
November 20, 2008 10:58 AMInside Mac Games has posted a review of PlayDetective: Heartbreakers, a new casual title from developer Kayo Games. In the game, you play the role of a private detective assigned to a variety of cases. Here's an excerpt from the review:Conceptually, this is a great idea. Playing detective does indeed sound like a recipe for a great game. Sneaking, romance, surveillance, good stuff all. However, in actual practice, you dont really do any of these things. Following someone to work in the game involves watching as their little tiny isometric car drives to work. You can speed up their movement, but all you do is watch, which is instantly boring (look at the screenshots, thats all it is). The best part about this view is that it doesnt even bother to center itself on the action. Sometimes youll be watching as the tiny little figures walk behind buildings in the corner of the screen and youre left staring at nothing at all.Follow the link below to read the full review.IMG Review: PlayDetective: HeartbreakersPlayDetective: HeartbreakersKayo Games
November 20, 2008 6:00 AMNational Geographic has entered the gaming market with the formation of National Geographic Games, a division that will publish and develop games across a variety of platforms including Macs and iPhones. NGG will work with game publishers and developers to create game titles intended to continue the company's "mission of inspiring people to care about the planet and reach a new generation of consumers and families.""The launch of our games division furthers National Geographic Venture's cross-platform strategy of creating and distributing unique consumer experiences and content on multiple platforms and devices," said Prince. "Paul's strong background in cross-platform media, interactive entertainment and business building and development combined with Chris' expertise in the video game industry and product development will ensure that National Geographic Games extends our mission globally and makes the National Geographic brand more meaningful to a broader audience." "National Geographic Games has brought authenticity to the kind of family gaming we're developing with them," said Andrew Lelchuk, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Namco Bandai Games America Inc. "Our collaboration is enabling us to tailor the content, so we can offer games to our customers that are relevant, entertaining and that bring a unique experience only the National Geographic brand can deliver." To further celebrate the launch of NGG, National Geographic is introducing "Herod's Lost Tomb," its first game produced in-house, which highlights content from the December 2008 issue of National Geographic magazine as well as its National Geographic Channel feature broadcast on the biblical figure King Herod, architect of the ancient world. The game will be available online in both a flash version for free at nationalgeographic.com/channel and a downloadable game for PC, Mac and iPhone that includes full features and high production content. "By leveraging National Geographic's leading family brand, core themes and franchises, and its unique content that drives our mission-forward strategy, NGG will create fun games that allow gamers of all ages to experience and explore their world through play," said Levine. "Our global audiences love to play games, and we plan on creating games in-house as well as working with leading global publishers to develop entertaining games that engage those audiences in a relevant way."Upcoming NGG Releases:November 2008 "National Geographic: Panda" "National Geographic: Africa" December 2008 "Sudoku Traveler: China" 2009 "Rain Forests" "Greencity" "From the Bottom Up"Follow the link below for more information.National Geographic Channel Website
November 20, 2008 6:00 AMBlizzard Entertainment has released the sixth BlizzCast, a series of podcasts created by Blizzard's Community Team and focusing on the company's current and future game offerings. The sixth BlizzCast includes interviews with Senior Art Director Sam Didier and Lead Designer Dustin Browder about Starcraft II unit design, and Senior Character Artist Anthony Rivero about creating characters for the Diablo series.Karune: Can you guys guide us through one of the units you guys created and maybe the process on how that unit was created? Any challenges you guys faced while also creating that unit? Sam Didier: One example was for the Terran side was the Thor: big giant, earthshaking robot. Great, cool, cool, sounds awesome. We ended up doing the concept then we started the modeling and we always tweak when were in modeling nothing ever really follows a concept a hundred percent. And then after that we animate it, texture, animation and all that. The problem with it we had in the concept is we had these giant guns on his shoulders. Real cool! Yeah that looks awesome! Well anytime we have something cool in the art like that we have to justify it in gameplay. So it had these giant guns, whats it do? Well we already have a siege tank that rains death upon the battlefield so what do these big guns do? Rain bigger death? That makes the siege tank obsolete. So we couldnt do that. So one of the problems with this unit is we went with the art first and because it had the big cool guns now were trying to figure out what to do with it design wise. At the end of the day it will be perfect mind you. But you know were still working on that sort of thing. Dustin Browder: Im not too worried about the Thor these days. The Thor using his cannons in the back for long range anti air has been pretty successful and thats a great example there of a unit that started with art first, we all got behind, that everybody was really geeked up to see a giant battle robot on the Terrans, it really fit in the sci design really well and it looked awesome on the battlefield. And then weve been really working on the mechanics to make them as tight as we possibly can. And so far thats done really well. Its been a very successful example of how we sort of marry these two things together. Bashiok: When you were working on the Diablo II units, what was design and creation process start to finish more or less, and how has that changed for Diablo III? Anthony: Well the creation process was fairly different, like I said before, a lot of the artists did everything from the ground up. Then there was the sprite rendering part of it, you would have to pre-render your assets, and so basically youd wait forever for all the stuff to render out, and with the heroes youd have to render out all of their body parts separately. Things like the gloves and the boots, things that would change on the character. Then you would have to composite those together, for every direction he was rendered in for every frame of animation. So if hes rendered in sixteen different directions and he has a whatever, an eight frame animation, well you have to go through all that and composite all those separate elements in the right order for it to look correct on the screen. So you dont have an arm thats supposed to be behind the body in front of the body. And that was a real tedious process. So thankfully with real time 3D we dont have to worry about that, and thats kind of what I was getting at, with things being a lot easier. Also your animation frame count is not an issue any more. We can have nice fluid, smooth animations now whereas before they were really choppy because, you know, we were only given six or seven frames for a walk cycle. You need a lot more than that to make a convincing walk cycle, but you had to make it look its best within the limitations. So the technical part of it was very different, the creation part of it I think back then things were a bit more tight-knit and collaborative I guess. You know because the team was smaller, you know when you came up with ideas or designs, there was just a lot more back and forth with designers and artists and programmers. It really felt like everybody was more cohesive in that sense, whereas now the department is bigger, theres more people on the team, its more specialized. There still is that collaboration, I mean I can get up and go talk to anybody on the team that I want to, but when theyre way down the hall you start to get lazy and you dont want to go chit-chat with somebody. You want to get your tasks done. The design process is a little different, but we still, when we come up with an asset now, theres a particular monster needed for an act for instance, before we really start working on the asset well get together with a designer, a technical artist, character artist, and producer, anybody that needs to be involved and well talk about it and spin ideas around and make sure we can troubleshoot anything we can in the beginning stages. Come up with ideas for how it may die, what else can it do that would be really cool, and we didnt have that kind of organized meeting when we were working on Diablo II or the expansion pack.Click on the link below to check out the new BlizzCast.BlizzCast Episode 6Blizzard Entertainment
November 20, 2008 6:00 AMApple Games has released a new feature article examining the recently released Spore Creepy & Cute Parts Pack. The pack includes 72 new creature parts, 48 new paint options, 24 new animations - including the robot, hoe-down, moonwalk dances, and 2 new editor backgrounds.Tens of millions of creatures have been uploaded to the official SPOREpedia since the games launch, but theres always room for more. Perhaps youd like to create something with big batting eyelashes drawing unsuspecting creatures to their doom when they encounter its gaping mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. Or maybe youd prefer to take your creativity in one direction or the other, taking advantage of the Parts Packs adorable paws, vicious thorny plates, floppy ears, piercing claws, and more. When youre done with the design work, apply one of the new paint styles, such as patchwork skin or a pastel color scheme. Watch your creature in action with the new test-drive animations, such as flirting, doing the robot dance, stumbling around like a zombie, or laughing like an evil genius. The two new backgrounds are split, of course, between creepy and cute.Head over to the link below to read the full article.Apple Games: Spore Creepy & Cute Parts PackElectronic ArtsSpore
November 20, 2008 6:00 AMThe Blizzard iTunes page has been updated to include the official World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Soundtrack. The iTunes edition of the soundtrack contains a total of 21 tracks, including three exclusives: "Path of the Lifewarden," "Shadow Web Caverns," and "Obsidian Sanctum." The three tracks are different from the three exclusives found on the Collector's Edition soundtrack CD. Individual tracks are available on iTunes for 99 cents each, the entire album can be purchased for $9.99. Visit the links below to check out the soundtrack on iTunes, or head to the Blizzard iTunes page for more information.e.iTunes Store: Wrath Of The Lich King SoundtrackiTunes Store: Blizzard Entertainment PageBlizzard EntertainmentWorld of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
November 19, 2008 10:53 AMInside Mac Games has posted a review of the indie puzzler World of Goo from developer/publisher 2D Boy. The physics-based game has players building structures to solve a variety of puzzles. Here is an excerpt from the review:WoG is highly entertaining. The levels are unique and challenging, the physics make each level slightly different every time you play it, and the bonus challenges for each level add a huge amount to each level's replayability. On top of all that, there's also a bonus mode that's unlocked by doing better than the minimum requirement for each level. In this mode you build a tower as high as you can using the bonus goo balls you unlocked. What makes this mode so interesting is that you can see other players' progress while building the tower if you're online. There's also a global ranking system for building the tower, which gives the mode quite a bit of challenge. (I only got up to #737 in the world)Follow the link below to read the full review.IMG Review: World of GooWorld of Goo2D Boy
November 19, 2008 6:00 AMSoldak Entertainment has released a new beta patch for Kivi's Underworld, the company's casual action RPG title. The 1.001 patch introduces a variety of bug fixes and changes to the game. In Kivi's Underworld players adventure as one of 20 character classes against a variety of dangerous foes.Here's a list of changes in the beta patch: fixed a mod not being able to put quest text in directly fixed traps killing a monster and player not getting credit fixed not reloading some language specific stuff when changing language on the fly now if set loc_language incorrectly it will automatically go back to English fixed getSupportedLanguages having trailing / when files are in zip files fixed scrollbar on drop down box not working correctly made cheat_lock public fixed a couple plural spellings of some items added showHotKey to widgets now powerup slots show you the 1,2,3 hotkeys can no longer walk through door at end of Devil's KeyholeHead over to the link below to read more about the update.Kivi's Underworld Patch PageSoldak EntertainmentKivi's Underworld
November 19, 2008 6:00 AMCocoa Touch Games has announced that Dessert Dilemma, the company's fourth game title, has been released for iPhone and iPod Touch. In Dessert Dilemma players must solve each of the game's 50 puzzles which involve removing a plate of dessert from the table by moving obstacles out of the way in the shortest amount of time possible. The game keeps track of a player's best time for all 50 puzzles, allowing dedicated gamers to improve their time when replaying.More information about Dessert Dilemma:Players can select any puzzle to solve for the first time or select one they've already solved to try to improve their existing best times. Players do not have to finish the puzzles in any specific order (no puzzle is locked) to attempt any of the 50 total puzzles available. The puzzles range from very easy to devilishly difficult ... the hardest puzzle requires more than 90 moves to complete! If you get stuck, you can pause the game and reset the table at any time to try again or to make the best moves you can. After a player successfully solves a puzzle for the first time or improves their previous best time, that "solved time" is saved locally, and can be submitted to the Dessert Dilemma online server (WiFi or cellular connection required) to see if your time is the very best time from players from all over the world. You can review your own times, and the best times from around the world, for each puzzle by viewing the Best Times table. The game features a unique dessert-theme (yummy) with pasteries, cutlery, plates and coffee, jazzy cafe-styled music, great collider physics, and superb transition and graphic effects. How fast can you solve each of the 50 delicious Dessert Dilemma puzzles? The producer, art and creative director for Dessert Dilemma was Cocoa Touch Games founder David Janik-Jones. The game was programmed by Ricardo Quesada, author of the highly recommended cocos2d-iphone framework for building 2D iPhone games, demos, and other graphical/interactive applications. Dessert Dilemma is available now through the iPhone App Store for $1.99. Check out the sites below for more information.iPhone App Store: Dessert DilemmaDessert DilemmaCocoa Touch Games
November 19, 2008 6:00 AMKoonsolo has announced that Mystic Mine, its upcoming family friendly action title, will allow up to 6 players to play using a single keyboard. In the game players guide a gold car through a mine, switching rails with the mouse or keyboard. Each player can use a single button to switch the track in front of their goldcar. To steal diamonds and other valuables, or pass the dynamite before it explodes, players can collide with another player's car. More about Mystic Mine:The family friendly nature of this game makes it suitable for all ages. The difficulty of the game adapts to your skill, making sure everyone will enjoy. More than 200 levels can be played with different missions and powerups, creating unlimited hours of fun. The missions include picking up coins, bringing diamonds to tunnels, racing to flags, etc. Various pickups modify the car behaviour: a balloon makes it go up but not down, a ghost allows it to move through everything, ... . But whatever you do, avoid the dynamite!!!For more information about the game follow the links below.Mystic MineKoonsolo Games
November 19, 2008 6:00 AMThe 46th Q&A focusing on answers to fan questions about StarCraft II, Blizzard Entertainment's long awaited sequel to the original StarCraft, is now available. SC II will introduce new multiplayer action and a continuation of the storyline. Chat with Devs: StarCraft II is definitely evolving to be even more intense than the original StarCraft, with the increased mobility of units with cliff traversing abilities, as well as new transport abilities. In response, the development team has buffed up the Terran Planetary Fortress to have splash damage as well, which has proven to hold off decently against raids now, especially with your SCVs fixing the command center at a very high rate. 1. In StarCraft II, will there be friendly fire? Xigon(Battle.net) Yes, friendly fire is still available in StarCraft II. You can take out cloaked units attacking your base by using friendly fire on your own unit and giving splash damage to cloaked enemy units, which has been executed by many players in the original StarCraft. For example, if you play Zerg, you can kill Dark Templar attacking your Hatchery, by targeting your Banelings to attack your Hatchery near the invading Dark Templar. 4. What is the optimum procedure for the new gas mechanic? Should a player mine both gases at the same time and cycle the inactive workers (when the geyser goes down) to the minerals? Or should a player mine only one geyser and alternate the workers between the two? (StarCraft 2 Forums) It totally depends on what your strategy is in the game. For example, you can mine two at the same time and double up your gas supply to build up certain armies or tech up very quickly. Or if you need more continuous and stable gas supply for your strategy, you can switch off your workers between the two gases with your micro-controls. 6. What kind of damage do spells deal? Is there a type Spell or dont they have any specific attack type? (StarCraft 2 Source) There isnt a specific spell type of damage, but some do additional damage to current types already in the game. For example, Ghosts Psi Round deals an additional 40 damage to Psionic units. There are special; cases though as well, seen when Psi Storms instantly kill Hallucinations and when a Yamato Cannon will not activate an Immortals hardened shields. ADDON: "Spells" also ignore armor, as well as the Immortal shields.Click over to the links below to read more.Blizzplanet: StarCraft Q&A Batch 46StarCraft Forums: Ask Your SC 2 Questions HereStarCraft Forums: Q&A ArchiveBlizzard EntertainmentStarCraft II
November 18, 2008 6:00 AMAspyr Media has announced the release of Buggled, the first of several new games planned for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch. The company's first entry in the growing iPhone market challenges the dexterity of players as they attempt to capture ladybugs by touching and holding the screen. Future games and applications include Voodude, FriendZoo, and Penguin Slider"Our goal with these new games and apps is to bring the quality that Aspyr has long been known for in the Mac gaming community to iPhone and iPod touch users," said Michael Rogers, Aspyr's President and CEO. "Aside from having handheld gaming experience, Aspyr's advantages in this market are its expertise with Apple hardware and a dedicated staff of incredibly talented designers, artists and programmers who love creating fun content for this new platform." Additional games and apps coming from Aspyr this year include: Voodude, a toy where you can snap a friend's pic (or enemy if you prefer) and turn them into ragdoll physics voodoo doll to poke, prod, fling, slap and generally torment. FriendZoo, an app that turns each name in your contacts list into a rich illustration of an animal in a zoo exhibit, where the most popular attractions are your most talked to friends. Penguin Slider (working title), a variation of the classic marble/labyrinth game that features dazzling art and animations. Cute penguins slide around on the ice, and you must guide the right penguin to its fishing hole.Buggled is available from Apple's App store for $1.99. Click on the links below to learn more.iPhone App Store: BuggledAspyr Media
November 18, 2008 6:00 AMGrubby Games has announced the release of My Tribe. In the game players guide the efforts of a tribe of shipwrecked people as they struggle to build a new home in an unfamiliar environment. My Tribe features tribes that continue to advance even while the computer is turned off, billions of islands to explore, and 25 trophies to unlock.Shipwrecked on a beautiful tropical island, your brave little tribespeople must build a new home! With your guidance, the tribe will uncover mysterious secrets, research new technologies, and construct massive wonders! Come back often to feed your tribe, clothe them, and look after the babies and children! When you download the free demo of My Tribe , you have tons of fun in store: Real-time gameplay! Your tribe is alive, even when your computer is turned off! Design your own clothing colors, and choose from 18 style combinations! Literally billions of islands to explore. The fun will never end! Design your own paradise! Place flowers, trees, and buildings wherever you like! 25 trophies to unlock for accomplishing amazing feats! Solve 8 mysterious objects by using your wits and your tribe's skills. Over 40 powerful potion recipes to discover! My Tribe is compatible with both Intel and PPC based Macs, requires a 600MHz or faster processor, 256 MB RAM, and 65MB hard drive space. Visit the website below to learn more about the game and download the demo.My TribeGrubby Games
November 17, 2008 3:49 PMElectronic Arts and Maxis have announced that the Spore Creepy & Cute Parts Pack has shipped and will be available at retailers worldwide this week. Spore Creepy & Cute Parts Pack is the first add-on for Will Wright's latest godsim, Spore. The Spore Creepy & Cute Parts Pack expands the world of the game, offering players more than 100 new components for the creation creatures. The pack includes 60 new creature parts, 48 new paint options and 24 new animations - including the robot, hoe-down, moonwalk dances."As the Sporepedia continues to grow, Spore fans have been craving even more creative tools to play with," said Lucy Bradshaw, executive producer of Spore and general manager, Maxis. "Maxis is committed to cultivating the most enriched experience possible for Spore players and the Spore Creepy & Cute Parts Pack is the first step in achieving this. Spore Creepy & Cute Parts Pack allows players to give distinct personality to their creatures like never before. We"re very excited to see where gamers take this whimsical content."EA and Maxis have also announced the release of a third patch for Spore which, in addition to bug fixes and updates, includes 24 new exoskeleton limbs for creature designers to enjoy.Maxis wants to thank you by giving you some free parts in the Creature Creator. We've created 24 new exoskeleton limbs! You can combine them with parts from Creepy & Cute Parts Pack to create new, awesome creatures. Patch Fixes: Fix for esc key not bringing up Options in Galaxy Game Entry Fix for creator backgrounds appearing on small sporepedia cards Update to help keep achievements on the server in sync with achievements in the game The Spore Creepy & Cute Parts Pack requires Spore or the full version of Spore Creature Creator and is available for $19.99 for Mac and Windows. Head over to the links below for more information about the expansion and the latest patch.Spore Creepy & Cute Parts PackSpore Patch InfoElectronic ArtsSpore
November 17, 2008 3:49 PMFrictional Games has announced the release of Penumbra: Requiem for Mac and Linux. A puzzle expansion for Penumbra: Black Plague, Requiem offers a variety of physics based puzzles, spanning over 9 levels in unique settings. The expansion also includes new details about characters from previous Penumbra games, taking peeks into their final moments of insanity. Frictional Games is happy to announce the release of Penumbra: Requiem for Mac & Linux. The expansion pushes the graphics capabilities of the game as far as it can - while creating the most detailed and dreading environments yet in a Penumbra game. In related news, AIKA - an orchestral soundtrack, narrative and graphics project was released last Friday. This soundtrack was created by, among others, Penumbra musician Mikko Tarmia & writer Tom Jubert. Be sure to take a look at AIKA as much of the greatness in the Penumbra series comes from the music and story. To spice things up even further, Tom Jubert is nominated for "Best Videogame Script" at this years Writers Guild Awards 2008 to be held at BAFTA on Sunday 23rd November. We wish him all the best of luck! Penumbra: Requiem is now available for USD $9.99. Frictional Games is also offering all three Penumbra games as a collection for USD $35. This offer is available through Frictional's online store and is for Mac & Linux only.For more information follow the links below.Frictional GamesPenumbra: RequiemAIKA