New Screenshots

Electronic Arts today announced the first expansion pack for "The Sims 3" titled "World Adventures," which will be arriving on November 16th.

"Players can take their Sims on new journeys to famous real-world inspired destinations around the globe for the first time ever and seek out new adventures. While exploring the landmarks of an exotic city, there is no telling what the Sims will find. From mastering martial arts in Shang Simla, China, discovering rich culture and famous landmarks on a romantic getaway to Champs Les Sims, France or exploring the depths of ancient tombs in Al Simhara, Egypt, players can take their Sims on a journey that will change their Sims’ lives. Players can accept challenges to search for secret treasures, learn new skills and chase down new personal opportunities, meet new Sims with unique personalities, share their culture and bring them home, discover new styles on their travels, and share everything they encounter on their adventures with the world through personal photographs, movies, and stories. Additionally, players will receive 1,000 SimPoints to be used online in The Sims 3 Store*** for the PC/MAC versions of the game. Exclusive online content, available only for the expansion pack at launch, will be revealed soon."

dtp Entertainment today released new screenshots from "15 Days," the upcoming adventure game by House of Tales.

"15 Days is a fast-paced and sophisticated adventure game about Cathryn, Mike and Bernard – a troupe of political activists – stealing art for good causes. In meticulously planned coups, the three Londoners steal precious paintings from the best guarded museums in the world. The group then donates their millions, Robin Hood style, to development projects in Africa. Their goal is to share out the money of eccentric art collectors to the poor.

Only two weeks ago, Cathryn and her comrades broke into a special exhibition in Cape Town, South Africa. From there, they purloined the portrait of Cecil Rhodes, former British Governor of Rhodesia, nowadays Zimbabwe. The next painting to steal is a portrait of Winston Churchill located in the London Modern Museum.

In the meantime US special agent Jack Stern has a murder case to solve. British Foreign Secretary Henston collapsed at his desk, bleeding from his ears and nose. He died the next day in hospital. As he is a member of the British government, an assassination has to be considered. Agent Stern’s attention is caught by a note about the transport of Rhodes’ portrait from the Secretary’s office to the special exhibition in South Africa and back.

The next weeks will be a hard trial for the young thieves as well as agent Stern, entangling all four into affairs of international politics.

Together with the conspiring gang, the player will steal precious paintings in spectacular coups using ingenious devices and gadgets. Their paths are destined to cross with Jack Stern regarding the obscure Henston murder. Do the anarchistic young thieves have something to do with the Secretary’s death?"

Square Enix today announced that "Order of War," the upcoming real-time strategy game by Wargaming.net, will be released in PAL territories on September 18th. A North American date wasn’t mentioned in the release but we assume that it will probably be released around the same time here. Along with this announcement, several new screenshots were released.

"ORDER OF WAR is set to be the most accessible and explosive strategy title on the market. Components such as base building and resource gathering have been stripped away to create a WWII game that focuses on non-stop action featuring massive scale battles. With missions based on key historic events and operations from 1944, players take command of an entire army including ground troops, artillery, tank divisions and aircraft in all out strategic assaults. While a unique cinematic camera mode allows players to experience the action up-close in a detail previously unseen in the strategy genre."

More new screenshots can be found in the game’s gallery.

Keen Software House announced "Miner Wars" today, an upcoming space combat themed game.

"Miner Wars is a 6DOF underground and space shooter played in a fully destructible environment and is a combination of single player story game and MMO.

As a player, you operate an advanced mining ship in an open world asteroid belt area. You dig kilometers of tunnels, harvest the ore, travel the solar system, fight your enemies and discover mysterious alien secrets.

Game play is led by an epic story and is a combination of a single/multi-player game, cooperative, or you against everyone.

The story will introduce you to many types of missions: rescue, exploration, revenge, base defense, theft, transportation, stealth, search and destroy, pure harvesting, racing or just flying around and destroying everything you see.

Features:

• 6DOF
• Fully Destructible Environment
• Single Player Story & MMO
• Persistent open world – millions of km
• 15 mission types: Revenge, Mining, Harvesting, Defending, Exploration, Rescue and more
• High quality rendering

Please visit https://www.MinerWars.com for more information."

New screenshots from "Fallout 3: Mothership Zeta" DLC were released today, giving viewers a look at the fifth and last upcoming add-on to "Fallout 3", scheduled for a release on August.

"DESCRIPTION:
Defy hostile alien abductors and fight your way off of the massive Mothership Zeta, orbiting Earth miles above the Capital Wasteland. Mothership Zeta takes Fallout 3 in an entirely new direction – outer space. Meet new characters and join with them in a desperate bid to escape the Aliens’ clutches. To do so, you’ll wield powerful new weapons, like the Alien Atomizer, Alien Disintegrator, and Drone Cannon, and deck yourself out in brand new outfits, like the Gemini-Era Spacesuit and even Samurai Armor.

STORY:
A strange Alien signal is being broadcast throughout the Capital Wasteland, originating from a crashed UFO. Is it a distress call, or something far more sinister? That question is answered when you find yourself beamed aboard an enormous Alien spacecraft, with only one alternative – to fight your way to the bridge of the ship and secure your escape. "

NCSoft released new screenshots from "Aion: The Tower of Eternity" today, giving viewers more of a look at the upcoming MMORPG.

"In Aion, players are divided between those that are "The Chosen" and those that are "The Fallen." The Tower of Eternity exists as a gateway into the Abyss, and acts as a portal between dimensions. When a great evil opens the gateways, it awakens the Dragons imprisoned within the Abyss, who seek revenge on both worlds. It is here that an epic conflict begins, as you take your first steps on a journey to bring salvation to the world.

Aion™ is the most visually beautiful MMORPG ever made. In this ethereal world, you will have the power to direct dynamic relationships between angels, demons and dragons to control the fate of the world. You will evolve Aion’s™ storylines through social, economic and cultural experiences that are both interactive and cinematic."

Codemasters has announced that due to the upcoming release of DirextX 11 technology, expected to be released in the second half of 2009 along with Windows 7, "Colin McRae: DiRT 2" will now be released in December in order to take advantage of it.

"With DirectX 11 hardware expected to ship in the second half of 2009, and DirectX 11 coming to home computers with the release of Microsoft Windows 7 on October 22, 2009, Codemasters also announced that the Games For Windows® LIVE edition of Colin McRae: DiRT 2 will benefit from an extended development program to take advantage of DirectX 11 and is now scheduled to be published in December 2009.

“While the console editions of Colin McRae: DiRT 2 will retain their September ship date, we believe that the DirectX 11 feature set is too compelling to ignore, especially considering how much more it can add to the visual experience for PC gamers,” said Bryan Marshall, chief technical officer, Codemasters. “As a leader in digital racing entertainment, we are staying ahead of the pack by immediately taking advantage of key new technologies such as hardware tessellation, multi-threading and Shader Model 5.0 to deliver the most realistic, immersive and exhilarating racing experiences in the business. The fusion of DirectX 11 with Codemasters’ EGO™ Engine will raise the technical bar considerably in the racing genre.”

With the introduction of Microsoft Windows 7, DirectX 11 will be made available both as part of the operating system and as a downloadable update to Windows Vista. Codemasters intends to immediately take advantage of DirectX 11 features that add to the realism of the racing environment. Hardware tessellation will further improve the appearance of water and other surfaces as well as crowd animations.

The shader performance of Shader Model 5.0 (SM 5.0) will aid in creating an even richer 3D experience, enhancing key image quality parameters such as depth of field, ambient occlusion and shadows. These DirectX 11 features, and many others, will add the horsepower needed to improve performance.

For the latest videos and information, powerslide over to www.dirt2game.com."

New screenshots from "Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising" have been released, giving viewers more of a look at the upcoming war simulation sequel by Bohemia Interactive.

"Operation Flashpoint 2, will feature three different theatres of combat across Southeast Asia, Central Europe and Africa. The game’s mission-based campaigns will take PC gamers through fictional conflicts based on authentic events during the years around 1970."

       
   

Telltale Games released new screenshots and a trailer from "Tales of Monkey Island", also announcing that the first episode "Launch of the Screaming Narwhal", which launches next Tuesday.

"The series will launch on Tuesday for PC with “Launch of the Screaming Narwhal,” the first of five monthly episodes. This is Guybrush Threepwood’s first new game in a decade, and it’s going to be an adventure to remember!

Tales of Monkey Island brings the adventures of pirate Guybrush Threepwood into a new era with an explosive storyline that becomes deeper and more entangled during the course of the five-episode saga. While battling his nemesis, the evil pirate LeChuck, Guybrush accidentally unleashes an insidious voodoo pox that threatens to transform the buccaneers of the Caribbean into unruly pirate monsters. Players will experience the humor, romance, and swashbuckling action the Monkey Island games are famous for and unravel an insidious plot which is revealed across the course of the series."

   

Russian developer BIART has officially announced "U-Wars", an upcoming third-person tactical shooter set underseas, which is scheduled to be released mid 2010.

"U-Wars is a tactical sci-fi third person shooter set up an ultra realistic subaqueous scenario. Combining the thrill of an undersea setting with a cinematic approach and a superior story line U-Wars is the first lifelike underwater action experience.

In "U-Wars" the player will take control of an elite force and is constrained to accomplish covert operations both on land and undersea.

As the PC version is supporting the NVIDIA PhysX technology the XBOX users will enjoy a variety of multiplayer modes via XBOX Live.

During this year’s E3 the game was presented behind close doors and got great feedback from international publishers and journalists.

Please find more information on the official product website: www.uwar-game.com"

     

Aspyr Media and Mindware Studios, the developer behind "Painkiller: Overdose", have announced "Dreamkiller", an upcoming first-person shooter that promises to be a dark and twisted mega-bloodbath.

"A fast, frantic and mega-bloodbath first-person shooter, Dreamkiller takes gamers inside the dark and twisted nightmares of tortured souls possessed by unknown forces.

Gamers will take on the role of Alice Drake, a psychologist with the extraordinary ability to enter the minds of her patients and combat the ravenous foes haunting their dreams. Utilizing a host of fantastic weapons and her own special abilities, Alice confronts our common demons only to discover an even deeper menace reigns within. The ultimate showdown becomes inevitable between that which would torment and she who will protect, and only one force will prevail amidst a variety of dreamscapes as varied and bizarre as the human mind itself.

Dreamkiller features 12 rich levels of single-player gameplay each laced with swarms of hideous and disturbing enemies reflecting the mind’s infinite palette of fear. The onslaught continues with numerous multiplayer modes and a host of over-the-top weapons and supernatural abilities. Stay awake, Dreamkiller will be available this fall."

       

Matrix Games and 2by3 Games have announced "Gary Grigsby’s War in the East: The German-Soviet War 1941-1945", a new sequel in the WWII strategy series.

"David Heath, Director of Operations at Matrix Games, said "War in the East is still in the early stages of development but already the gameplay is proving to be fantastic. We know anticipation for this title is very high and we look forward to giving you more and more details about yet another 2by3 Games blockbuster as they become available!"

Gary Grigsby’s War in the East: The German-Soviet War 1941-1945 is a turn-based World War II strategy game stretching across the entire Eastern Front. Gamers can engage in an epic campaign, including division-sized battles with realistic and historical terrain, weather, orders of battle, logistics and combat results.  As with all the award-winning titles made by the 2by3 Games team, factors such as supply, fatigue, experience, morale and the skill of your divisional, corps and army leaders all play an important part in determining the results at the front line. Gary Grigsby’s War in the East will come with a massive Eastern Front scenario as well as smaller scenarios all with different strategic and operational challenges.

Features include:

• 10 miles per hex and Weekly turns
• 25,760 hexes or over 2.5 million square miles of battlespace
• Division sized maneuver units (with some brigades/regiments and Soviet Corps)
• German Corps/Army HQs and Soviet Army/Front HQs
• Map covers from 100 miles west of Berlin in the west to the Urals in the east, and from 150 miles north of Leningrad in the north to Baku and Sofia in the south.
• Independent Corps/Army battalions to attach to maneuver units
• Air units by group in their own airbase units
• Detailed production
• Losses in individual vehicles and squads
• Detailed yet automatic accounting for support personnel and supplies/fuel/ammunition
• Historical commander ratings
• Accounts for troops/vehicles that are disrupted, disabled and fatigued
• Accurately depicts the need for training units before entering combat
• Detailed weather zones and ice levels
• Full war as well as smaller scenarios
• Intricate Fog of War rules and unit detection levels

Gary Grigsby’s War in the East: The German-Soviet War 1941-1945 is scheduled to be available by the end of 2009."

       

New screenshots from "Max Payne 3" have been released, giving viewers more of a look at the upcoming sequel by Rockstar Vancouver.

"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."

       

New screenshots from "Point Lookout", the latest upcoming DLC for "Fallout 3" have been released, along with a dev. team diary.

"It all started with a piece of scratch paper. We had just been told that Fallout 3 would receive a fourth installment of additional content. That is pretty much all we were told, in fact. The two of us were asked to think it over and come back with ideas. The brainstorm sessions that followed were summarized on a messy piece of scratch paper containing a series of seemingly unrelated words: “Swamp, Boardwalk.  Mansion Siege.  Organ Thieves.  Steamboat.  Cultists.”  The next few months would see those scattered concepts come together as what we feel is a fun and fresh new chapter in Fallout 3."

You can read the full entry on the official Fallout 3 site.

       

Atari has released new screenshots from "Champions Online", giving viewers more of a look at the upcoming MMORPG based on the pen-and-paper Champions role-playing game.

"Champions Online is all about total customization – it will offer a near infinite amount of character customization so that all players will have a unique game experience. Gamers will be able to create their hero’s name, back story, costume, powers and abilities as well as design their own personal arch-enemy and his or her back story, which will guarantee a truly unique experience."