GamesBloggo - Your source on game news! January 2009

Microsoft has announced that the Collector’s Edition of Fable II to be released on October 24th in Europe will have a cheaper price than the one originally planned. Good news, but bad news: the contents expected for the Collector’s Edition will also be cut. The Collector’s Edition won’t feature the premium box, the printed cards or the action figure due to problems in the production chain. The limited edition will thus feature, other than the game’s DVD, a DVD bonus with the making-off, in-game bonus content (”The Hall of the Dead” dungeon, “The Wreckager” Legendary Cutlass Weapon, Spartan Armor and Energy Sword).

To try and compensate for the fans’ disappointment, Microsoft will allow players to download the game’s soundtrack for the first and second chapter of the series for free, from this website, from October 6th, by inserting the promotional code “Fable Collection”.

Konami has announced a new expansion for Metal Gear Online, the multiplayer version of the well-known stealth action game from Kojima Productions. The new package will feature three new areas, called “Silo Sunset”, “Forest Fireflight” and “Winter Warehouse”, and two new characters: Liquid Ocelot and Mei Ling.

There are no dates or prices available for now, but the expansion will most likely be featured on Tokyo Game Show. If it follows the last update, “Gene Expansion”, it should be released at around €9,99. We’ll be waiting for more details on the matter.

Two new screenshots show more about the visual aspect of the upcoming Duke Nukem title. The images were published together with the release of Duke Nukem 3D on XBox Live as an XBox Live Arcade title. For now, 3D Realms has only published those images, and hasn’t released any further information on the stage of developing or launch dates for Duke Nukem Forever.

In the meantime, here are the screenshots. Click on the thumbnail to see the full image.

The newest Computer and Videogames magazine talks about the multiplayer mode on the upcoming episode of the Call of Duty series, World of War. Here are some details about it.

The perk system will be enhanced compared to the previous title, Modern Warfare. New perks will be added such as Flat Jacket, that allows the absorption of the damage taken from a single grenade, a Gas mask perk that allows the players to be resistant to gas grenades, and the Shades perk, that negates the effect of flares. With the insertion of vehicles in the game, there will be other perks related to them as well.

Like the previous title, 18 players will be able to play simultaneously, and there will be new grenades such as gas bombs, signal flares, bouncing betties and sticky grenades.

The co-op gameplay mode will have two possibilities: a point-scoring system for each kill, and “Death Cards”, in which the co-op will unlock more modes and additional game features.

Call of Duty: world at War is scheduled for release on November 11th, for PC, PlayStation 2 and 3, XBox 360, Nintendo Wii and DS.

The fifth expansion of the famous MMORPG Everquest II will be available for purchase on November 18th. The Shadow Odyssey will feature 20 new zones, objects, a new level cap (lvl 85) and a new dungeon mission system. It’ll also show a completely restyling of old locations, such as Najena and Mistmoore.

After the release date announcement, scheduled for November 27th in North America, there has been a lot of confusion regarding the payment fees to play the game. To clear any doubts, Acclaim has stated in an official press release that there will be a monthly fee, but the company explained exactly how the system will work. Soon enough, there will be a “starting zone” in which players can experience the game contents by simply registering to it. Those who enjoy the game and want to continue further, will be required to pay a monthly fee.

There has been a full event in London recently, dedicated only to Gears of War 2, the new title being developed by Epic Games. Cliff Bleszinski, the game designer famous for his work on the first episode of the game, talked a bit about the second chapter that is about to come. He didn’t spare enthusiastic words about it, either. “It’s no longer a game: it’s a platform. Each mode is huge” he said, explaining that the game has become so “thick” and with so many different options, that it can become a basis for different game possibilities. There was special attention put in to the campaign and into the game’s longevity beyond the multiplayer matches, which was the only dubious point of the first chapter. About that fact, Bleszinski affirms that the objective was to “build a package that people can play for months, if not years”. The story was put into serious consideration, and presents itself in a much more complex and developed way compared to the first Gears of War. He didn’t reveal any details, but said: ““I can’t talk about any of it without spoiling it to be honest. Let’s just say that narrative-wise we take some risks in the game that I haven’t seen a videogame ever do”. The main story was, thus, enhanced, and the narrative component has reached a new stage.

On the technical side, improvements in the graphics, due to the new possibilities offered by the new Unreal Engine 3. Bezsinski says that Rod Fergusson’s claim that the XBox 360 had reached its limit isn’t necessarily true: even if it the console is indeed limited and not freely expandable, the development team is making progress on it and there’s still room for more. He also mentions about the “host advantage” issue: Bleszinski says that it’s reduced, but not completely eradicated. “It’s reduced,” he said. “The person who’s the host in a client server game will always have an advantage. It’s an unfortunate side effect of doing a client server architecture. We’re not a peer-to-peer architecture. But we’ve optimized the back-code to reduce it as much as possible, as well as balancing the game better with things like stopping power”.

Further information can be read on VideoGaming247, who has made a very in-depth coverage of the interview. The game is scheduled to be released on November 7th.

Konami has officially confirmed that the demo launch for Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 is scheduled for October 2nd, for PS3, XBox 360 and PC. The full game will be released on October 17th. The Demo version will include a 5-minute multiplayer match, and players will be able to choose one of these teams: Manchester United, Liverpoo, Real Madrir and Barcelona, in the English version.

The Software Development Kit (SDK) for Crysis Warhead and its multiplayer component, Crysis Wars, will be launched soon. That’s what Crytek announced with a press-release, after being unable to insert the software in the original game box.

The developers, in fact, have been concentrated into optimizing the game mechanics for the single and multiplayer modes in Crysis Warhead, which led to the decision of postponing the SDK by a few days. Now the programmers are working on the Software Development kit, and its launch should happen in a few days.

The editor allows players to create additional maps for Crysis Warhead, the single-player component of the famous shooter and Crysis Wars, the multiplayer component.

A few days after its official release, Warhammer Online has reached the 500.000 player mark. The Mythic’s new MMORPG is now, according to EA, the newest best-seller MMORPG. The half a million user mark has been achieved, as expected, by players that used that bought the game and used the 30-day free card that can be found in the box, and it’s not guaranteed that all of these players will remain in the game and pay the subscription fee.

However, it’s a great accomplishment for EA Mythic in North America, Europe and Oceania, considering that the game was launched only a few days ago.