New Screenshots

Cyanide Studios today released work-in-progress screenshots from Dogs of War Online, revealing the new title.

“Dogs of War Online is a turn-based, tactical arena game with gameplay heavily influenced by the eponymous board game published by Rackham. Players are tasked with creating a squad of mercenaries made up of units of their choosing, and must send them to fight in fierce battles against other players. Movement and contact are based on a system of hexagonal boxes.

The player must also demonstrate leadership qualities and cope with frequent unexpected events related to the life of a mercenary company: desertion, tension between soldiers, and theft, among other problems.

To ensure that soldiers do not spend their free time ransacking the neighborhood, players will be able to send them on missions between battles and thus increase winnings.

Finally, each player will be able to customize existing mercenaries or grow armies by acquiring items and new units.

Set in a world where honor is an unknown concept, Dogs of War Online offers three armies at its launch: Ram, composed of undead minions, each one more sinister than the other; Lion, with its seemingly noble knights who are better known for their greed and deceit; and Wolfen, dangerous predators who consider every stranger their prey.

Today’s screenshots give a glimpse of a Confrontation between the Lion and Wolfen!”

Focus Home Interactive today announced that The Testament of Sherlock Holmes, the next game in the adventure series by Frogwares, arrives on September 25th in North America and September 20th in Europe. Additionally, four new screenshots were released.

“These 4 new screenshots are a beautiful way to give you a larger preview of this incredible investigation game. With its dark ambiance and its strong story centered around a controversial hero with obscure motives, The Testament of Sherlock Holmes will make you lead a thrilling investigation through the eyes of Sherlock and Watson. The famous detective will live a real descent into hell, in what is doubtlessly the darkest case of his career. Examine crime scenes, find the clues, follow the trails, interrogate suspects and solve an incredible case full of twists! “

Apogee Software and Interceptor Entertainment today announced the rebirth of the classic FPS game Rise of the Triad at QuakeCon.

“Powered by the industry-leading Unreal Engine 3 from Epic Games, “Rise of the Triad” includes a full single-player campaign, a fully featured multiplayer experience and so much more.

Set for release on PC via Steam late this year, “Rise of the Triad” is packed with features that are sure to melt your face off:

• Step into the shoes of the H.U.N.T. (High-Risk United Nations Taskforce) with five unique characters, each with different play styles.
• Blast through over 20 of levels of explosive single-player action.
• Unique multiplayer maps bring back all the fun and excitement of classic ROTT.
• The full arsenal of over-the top weapons is back, including the Flamewall, Firebomb, Split Missile, Drunk Missile and, of course, the Excalibat!
• The maniacal modes return, too, with God mode, Elasto mode, Mercury mode, Shrooms mode and everyone’s favorite, Dog mode!
• Build your own levels, mods and share them with Valve’s Steamworks.
• Offline single-player and multiplayer allows for instant action.
• Find tons of secrets, collectables, special events and hidden areas to explore.
• Get more than 100 achievements to add to your score, which is tracked on our worldwide leaderboard and stat-tracking system.
• ROTT is bloodier and more ludicrous than ever, with full character and enemy dismemberment.
• The iconic original soundtrack has been completely re-forged in the fires of heavy metal!
• Nostalgia abounds with the option to play with all the original sounds and music.
• Built on fully-licensed Unreal Engine 3 technology, ROTT will run on low-end PCs and push high-end PCs to their limits!”

The Company of Heroes YouTube channel has been updated with the first official trailer for Company of Heroes 2, which is titled Forgotten Sacrifice. In addition, two screenshots were released.

“Relic Entertainment takes you to the forgotten theatre of World War II in the debut trailer for the award winning Company of Heroes 2.”

 

The Black Mesa team is starting a social media campaign with promises of more consistent updates and details in the future. Today, they released some great looking new screenshots.

“Thank you all so much, it’s really great to have your support! With your help we have now kicked off our social-media campaign towards our first release! You can expect more updates from us in the near future. Today we are sharing this fantastic batch of screenshots that really gives you the first glimpse into the gameplay of Black Mesa. This is just the beginning. We have more in store for you in the near future! Hold on to your lab coats!”

Nordic Games announced Painkiller Hell & Damnation yesterday, an update to the original Painkiller that will run on the Unreal Engine 3.

“Powered by Epic’s world-renowned and highly-respected Unreal Engine 3, Painkiller Hell & Damnation recreates the sensations and hardcore gameplay of the original Painkiller. Released in 2004, Painkiller won high praise and many accolades and fans for its fast and unique gameplay. Keeping true to the old-school FPS ideology, lightning-fast movement enables skillful players to get into the heart of the fast-paced gameplay, topped off with stunning enormo-boss fights requiring sneaky tactics.”

Electronic Arts and Visceral Games today announced Dead Space 3, a new installment in the space shooter with horror elements.

“After crash-landing on a hostile new planet known as Tau Volantis, hero Isaac Clarke discovers that this planet could be the key to ending the Necromorph infestation. In his violent hunt for answers, Isaac must battle subzero, icy conditions and deadly, highly-evolved enemies including all-new Necromorphs, gigantic boss creatures and even misguided zealot humans. Fortunately, Isaac is not alone. Players can choose to team-up with a friend anytime in the game with the fully integrated drop-in/drop-out co-op feature. Players that choose to take down the terror together will experience additional story details and gameplay mechanics only found when playing as the co-op character, Earthgov Sergeant John Carver.

Dead Space 3 will be available February 2013 for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system and the PC.”

Bohemia Interactive today announced some 2012 plans for ArmA 3, which include exhibits at E3 and Gamescom in addition to a community alpha. Six new screenshots were also released today.

“Arma 3 will be exhibited at E3 (June 5-7) and Gamescom Cologne (August 16-19). For many this will be the first opportunity to experience what has been accomplished so far and to get a sense of what is to come. However, that is not all. For the first time ever in the Arma series, Bohemia Interactive is planning a ‘Community Alpha’. This will let people try out an early playable build of Arma 3 and help the team with development.

Dan Musil on the Community Alpha:
“Following E3, we plan to open up the game to our players. This process starts with the release of a playable build of Arma 3. We call it the ‘Community Alpha’. It’s intended to enable people who’d like to try the game early on in development help us to shape it up – and make Arma 3 the greatest release of the series. Ours is a large and complex game – being developed by a relatively small team – so we really appreciate your opinions, thoughts and feedback.

The Community Alpha will be quite limited in terms of the assets it includes, with the goal of providing enough content to experiment with the brand new bits of gameplay and technology. It also enables our passionate community to prepare their mods for the very latest version of the Real Virtuality engine. Then, later on in the year, we’d like to open up our game up even further with a more extensive beta program. The exact details, however, we intend to set out closer to their launch.”

Musil also mentioned the development team’s strong focus on backward compatibility, meaning that people should be able to get older assets into Arma 3. As a final note he unveiled the team’s plans for a series of blog posts to keep Arma enthusiasts informed on development: “We’re in the process of putting together a couple of developer’s blog posts starting with sound recordings and our field trip to Limnos.”

The entire blog post on this year’s plans for Arma 3 can be found here.”

       

New screenshots from Max Payne 3 were released today, giving viewers more of a look at the upcoming shooter sequel.

"The award-winning Max Payne franchise put players in the role of Max Payne, a hard-boiled New York City detective with a penchant for violence, out to avenge the death of his family. The latest installment delivers more of the classic elements and hyper-intense action that fans have come to love, while moving the story of Max in a new direction."

Four new screenshots for Max Payne 3 were released today, giving viewers a look at a few of the weapons in the upcoming sequel.

"The award-winning Max Payne franchise put players in the role of Max Payne, a hard-boiled New York City detective with a penchant for violence, out to avenge the death of his family. The latest installment delivers more of the classic elements and hyper-intense action that fans have come to love, while moving the story of Max in a new direction."

Ten new screenshots for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim were released today, giving viewers more of a look at the anticipated sequel.

"The next chapter in the highly anticipated  Elder Scrolls saga arrives from the makers of the 2006 and 2008 Games of the Year, Bethesda Game Studios. Skyrim reimagines and revolutionizes the open-world fantasy epic, bringing to life a complete virtual world open for you to explore any way you choose."

Electronic Arts and Starbreeze Studios today announced a new Syndicate franchise, which will be a "reinvention" of the 1990s series by Bullfrog Productions. The new series will be an action adventure/shooter game, has been in development for two years, and is scheduled to be released in 2012.

"Set in 2069, Syndicate takes players into a dark, Machiavellian world run without government oversight with many syndicates vying for total dominance of their local market place. With no one to question their intentions or actions, three mega corporations – Eurocorp, Cayman Global, and Aspari – are at the forefront of this brutal war for control of the pivotal American market. In the world of Syndicate, everything is digitally connected, including the people. Players aren’t limited to the weapons in their hands. Through DART 6 bio-chip technology implanted in their head, players can slow down time and breach the digital world around them to take down their foes using a variety of upgradable hacking mechanics. Syndicate’s blend of fast-paced, futuristic, action shooter settings and story combined with innovative chip breach gameplay instantly immerses players in a unique digital world.

“Our goal with Syndicate is to provide a challenging action shooter for today’s gamers as well as fans of the original. I’m sure they will enjoy and recognize the legacy that made it such a classic,” says Jeff Gamon, EA Partners Executive Producer. “Fans of the franchise will recognize many weapons and environments in the game, but in a whole new way. The game also provides a separate and deep 4-player co-op mode featuring missions from the original cult classic, which adds another layer of depth to the overall experience.”

Syndicate will be available in early 2012 for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system and the PC. For more information on Syndicate, please visit www.syndicate.ea.com."

Kim Swift, one of the Narbacular Drop creators from Digipen hired by Valve to work on Portal, left Valve for Airtight Games in 2009 to work on a new project. That project, Quantum Conundrum, was officially announced today by Square Enix. The game is scheduled to be released in early 2012 for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.

"In Quantum Conundrum, players take on the role of a young kid dropped off on his uncle’s doorstep for the weekend; his uncle just so happens to be the brilliant, eccentric inventor, Professor Fitz Quadwrangle. Upon entering the Professor’s vast manor home retrofitted with crazy technology to test his latest hypotheses, players quickly realize their uncle has gone missing. Fortunately, players soon gain access to Professor Quadwrangle’s latest invention, the Inter-Dimensional Shift Device, which, at the press of a button, will shift the world around them to an entirely new dimension. In order to find him, players must use the newly found IDS Device to dynamically change the world to and from a variety of different dimensions to progress through the complicated Quadwrangle Manor. While on the journey, becoming adept at utilizing the various dimensions will help them trek from one bizarre and challenging room to the next. It might sound easy enough, but it is a tall order for a kid in a giant puzzle of a manor!

“We wanted to create a fun, quirky puzzle game that anyone would want to play, regardless of age or gaming experience,” said Kim Swift, Creative Director at Airtight Games. "I've been working with an amazing and collaborative team on this project and look forward to coming into the office every day to hear new ideas, see what everyone has created, and dive in on my own pieces of the game. We've created something that we're all extremely proud of and hope that people will enjoy playing it as much as we are making it."

Penny Arcade Expo (PAX Prime) attendees will be the first to see Square Enix and Airtight Games globally reveal Quantum Conundrum through their exclusive panel. Meet the developers, including Creative Director Kim Swift (PORTAL, Left 4 Dead®, Left 4 Dead 2) and discipline representatives from the Quantum Conundrum team, and hear their explanation of how they are bringing an incredibly fascinating and unconventional game to life. The panel will be held on Saturday, August 27 at 7:00 p.m. in the Pegasus Room.

For more information about Quantum Conundrum, please visit the official website: www.quantumconundrum.com."

Valve today released new screenshots and a trailer for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the recently revealed follow-up in the hugely popular multiplayer series.

"CS: GO features new maps, characters, and weapons and delivers updated versions of the classic CS content (de_dust, etc.). In addition, CS: GO will introduce new gameplay modes, matchmaking, leader boards, and more."

Paradox Interactive and Fatshark today announced War of the Roses, an upcoming team-based multiplayer melee combat game set in 15th century England. The game was previously codenamed Project Postman.

"War of the Roses will pull players into a team-based multiplayer melee combat experience, putting their band of knights right in the thick of chaotic battles against opposing hordes armed with swords, battleaxes, longbows and other iconic medieval classics.

Featuring top-notch graphics portraying the fighting from an up-close-and-personal third-person perspective, War of the Roses features both online multiplayer and a deep single-player campaign. Players will get the chance to lead their knight through a progression system, gaining upgrades and unlocking new content on their path from filthy peasant to unstoppable armored killing machine.

Gamers should be ready to pick up their lances in 2012."