GamesBloggo - Your source on game news! January 2009

changes in the release date for Far Cry 2: the first-person shooted set in the sandbox world is now scheduled for the next autumn. Far Cry 2 will be released simultaneously for the several different platforms in which it will be available: PC, Playstation 3 and XBox 360. Ubisoft Montreal guarantees that there were no compromising in the game quality for any of the plaftorms, therefore, the game should appear the same regardless of the system used.

It was previously scheduled for the April-September season, but it has now been officially postponed to next Autumn. This highly-anticipated MMORPG is being developed by EA Mythic, the same software house responsible for the development of Dark Age of Camelot.

“During the recent beta test, two things were clear. One, the innovative elements of the game such as Public QUests, Tome of Knowledge and the Realm vs Realm battles are giving us satisfying results. On the other hand, the game still needs tweaking. Fortunately, since we’re part of Electronic Arts, we have the possibility and time to make these changes”. That’s what declared Mark Jacobs, General Manager of EA Mythic.

Electronic Arts also announced the details for the Collector’s Edition of Warhammer Online. It will contain a miniature model of the Grumlok boss and the Gazbag Shaman, a graphic novel and an art book. There will also be exclusive in-game contents, such as extra bonus points, quests and unique objects, and also more customization options.

Whoever aquires the Collector’s Edition can automatically access the beta test and the released game a few days earlier than the official launch date. There will only be 60.000 copies of the Collector’s Edition available, with the retail price of $79.99. More information can be found at EA Mythic’s official site.

The details about the patch 2.4 for the World of Warcraft expansion, The Burning Crusade, have been released. The new contents have been named “Fury of the Sunwell”. Blizzard didn’t announce a release date, but like every update in this famous MMORPG, the new patch should be available next Wednesday.

With the patch 2.4 the game introduces the Sunwell island, which contains new quests and new instances for 5 to 25 players. Blizzard also included daily quests, which include the Magisters’ Terrace dungeon for 5 players. Moreover, with the patch 2.4 it’s possible to complete up to 25 daily quests. There will also be new armor sets with the new patch.

The players will also be able to create level 70 characters with epic gear to compete in a new tournament. There were also enhancements in the graphic interface. The patch doesn’t introduce the fourth season, however. The latter will be launched in a later date. At the moment, there are no release dates for Season 4 or the new awaited expansion, Wrath of the Lich King.

Turbine, the company behind Lord of the Rings Online, has announced a new expansion for the game which will be available in retail stores. The expansion will be called Mines of Moria and it should be released next autumn.

In the new expansion, the new level cap will be 60 and hundreds of new quests will be available. Moria will be introduced as a new location, as it could be guessed by the expansion’s title. New zones also will be present, such as new caves, tunnels and mines.

The crafting system has also been tweaked, and players will be able to craft more powerful items. Some of these items will become more useful as the player gains experience levels. There will also be two new classes: Rune Keeper and Warden.

The multiplayer component of StarCraft II will have in-game ads. That’s what Robert Kotick, CEO of Activision revealed. Blizzard’s partner company is scheduled to launch StarCraft II this year for PC only.

“On the Blizzard side, [we need to] really be figuring out things like the StarCraft business model for the future, with in-game advertising and sponsorship, [which have] really not been something that has moved the dial for anybody in the videogame industry, but that we think presents tremendous opportunity for the future”, says Kotick

The multiplayer component of StarCraft II will be based on the well-known Battle.net service, which already displays a space for advertising banners. The single-player component of StarCraft Ii will NOT contain in-game ads.