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Mass Effect, Spore "Draconian" Online Check Removed (Partially)

Unsurprisingly, the revelation of Mass Effect and Spore’s DRM, which was described as being “draconian” by many, caused uproar among fans. The DRM would require online validation every 10 days in order for the games to continue functioning.

Fortunately, that won’t be the case anymore, as EA and BioWare both announced today that it has removed the strict validation, saying that it will only be required when the player downloads new game content or patches.

Spore’s copy protection will similarly be changed to allow for offline play. The publisher additionally notes that the protection will allow users to authenticate each game on up to three computers. Approval of further authorizations will be handled by EA customer support on a case-by-case basis.

Call of Duty 5 Announced

Though Tony Hawk may be getting a break, it seems Call of Duty isn’t. Activision’s biggest cash cow, a new entry in the series is being developed and will take place in a “new military theater,” according to company publishing CEO and President Mike Griffith.

Speaking at a conference call, Griffith revealed that the fifth entry in the series, unofficially called Call of Duty 5, will arrive on PC, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360 and DS later this year. He did not offer further details, though his comments suggest that the title may not go back to the World War II setting the series originally debuted with.

While no details were provided, job listings for Treyarch suggest that they might be taking on development duties, while speculation is going around that series creator Infinity Ward is already working on Call of Duty 6. None of this is confirmed though.

Burnout Paradise on PC, First Screenshots

In a departure of the franchise’s console roots, Criterion Games has announced that it will be porting Burnout Paradise, the latest entry in the crash-racing series, to the PC. The open-ended racing game was originally released for PS3 and Xbox 360.

The PC version of the game is said to include unspecified expanded multiplayer support, improved online features as well as “community driven” content. The studio is also aiming for high performance on older machines, revealing in a podcast that they had Paradise running on a two-year old laptop with 2GB RAM and a 1.8GHz processor. They also mentioned that the game supports gamepad and wheel controls in addition to keyboard.

First screenshots can be found on Criterion’s website. They are looking for feedback through their PC forum, so if you have something to say, do so there. No release date was mentioned.

Codemasters Gets F1 License, Developing Multiplatform Game

Following up on word that Sony might be ditching the F1 racing license comes word that Codemasters has gotten the license. This means that Codemasters will develop a new F1 game franchise that will be available on multiple platforms and PC, and not just on the PlayStations. The first title from the multi-year deal is expected sometime next year.

Codemasters has quite a few top-tier racing franchises, including the venerable McRae Rally series, TOCA Touring Car and the upcoming Race Driver: GRID. The company is also based in Europe where the sport is far more popular than in North America.

“Codemasters’ success and recent innovations in the racing game space makes the company more than appropriately tuned for the challenge,” said Codemasters chairman Chris Deering, adding, “The combination of Formula 1’s new momentum of expansion and Codemasters’ contemporary technology and past experience is the breaking of a new dawn for the sport, on the track and on the HD game screen.”

Everyday Shooter on Steam

Stylistic shooter Everyday Shooter is now up on Steam, making the game available to PC gamers. Originally designed by indie developer Jonathan Mak as a downloadable game for the PS3, Everyday Shooter is a top-down, non-scrolling shooter that offers different gameplay mechanics. Interestingly, the game’s music is procedurally generated by player actions such as shooting, dying and destroying enemies.

It is priced at $9.99 on Steam, with a 10% discount for those who purchase it during its first week of availability.

Lord of the Rings Wants You Back

The Lord of the Rings Online is hosting a “Welcome Back to LOTRO Weekend” hoping to entice former subscribers into playing the game once again. Celebrating the first anniversary of the launch of the game, the weekend program will run till Monday.

As part of the offer, all old characters can be played, new celebration events can be participated in, new areas and quests can be seen and explored. Additionally, during this celebration period, many monsters in Middle-earth will drop rare items when defeated; these items can be exchanged for a special gift box that will reward players with a variety of in-game items. There are also special subscription offers for those wanting to get back to the game.

NVIDIA to Make Lineup Easier for Consumers

The whole NVIDIA graphics card lineup confuses me. Is the 9600GT faster than the 8800GT? No, it’s not, but then why does it have a higher number? And why the hell are there three-four versions of the 8800GT?!

The company hopes to solve that problem soon in order to appeal to a wider audience. Speaking to Gamesindustry.biz, Roy Taylor, VP of Content Business Development, admitted that the company’s lineup is confusing and overcomplicated for its customers, noting that they need to make their products more friendly for consumers.

“It is a challenge that we’re looking at right now,” he said. “There is a need to simplify it for consumers, there’s no question.”

He didn’t reveal how the company would make its lineup easier for consumers, nor did he provide any date or time period for said changes.

Bethesda: "We Aren’t Dumbing Down Our Franchises"

Apparently there are small but vocal groups of gamers who have accused Bethesda of having dumbed down their franchises for console gamers. Emil Pagliarulo, lead on Fallout 3, disagrees, calling the whole thing “funny”. Talking to Next-gen editors during a podcast, Pagliarulo said: “I look at Fallout when I play it every day, and I sometimes think that there’s a lot of old-school hardcore PC stuff in there too, and part of me thinks, ‘God, is this too inaccessible for console players?’”

He does note that the game contains a lot of dialog, a sophisticated targeting system and other elements that could be a major turnoff for console gamers, but he also think that it’s just the opposite.”I don’t feel like we’re dumbing down the franchise,” said Pagliarulo.

“…I think we’re starting to find that there is a market for [hardcore ‘PC RPGs’ on consoles]. People like myself and some people that work here actually grew up as hardcore PC guys, and now we’re older, we have kids, we don’t have that much time, so we’ve transitioned. We’re console players now.”

While his name may not be popular with gamers, Pagliarulo played an integral role in the development of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, writing the Dark Brotherhood storyline. It should be noted that the game was a major blockbuster, selling millions of units worldwide.

Spacetime Gets Blackstar MMO Back

Developer Spacetime Studios sent out word that it has acquired the rights to the Blackstar IP from NCSoft, its previous publisher. Their publishing deal for the space combat MMORPG had died before, but now that they have successfully negotiated with NCSoft for the rights to the IP, the studio claims that they are going forward with development of the game, which is now titled Blackstar Chronicles.

Set in the far future, Blackstar has players controlling space fighters fighting “horrifying” demonic enemies and participating in an “epic” drama. “The IP lends itself to almost any kind of gameplay that one could ask for, and was specifically designed to be a long-term franchise,” said Cinco Barnes, creative director and co-founder of Spacetime Studios. “It’s a nice sweet spot when you own all the puzzle pieces and we now have extraordinary flexibility in where to take the game universe next.”

The gameplay is being modeled after the single-player traditions of Wing Commander and the multiplayer feel of Descent, both classics from their time. No release date was announced.

THQ Cutting 200

Following posting of huge losses, publisher THQ is reported to be cutting 200 employees across several of its studios. This comes from MCV, who reports that company CEO Brian Farrell was noted to have said that the administration plans to reduce the size of studios focused on last-generation development, noting that it is part of their restructuring, which the company expects will add 300 more to their workforce by the end of its next fiscal year.

As reported earlier, the company posted a net loss of $35 million at a conference call. This was attributed to their underwhelming fourth quarter performance.

Fallout 3 Music Composed by Inon Zur

High profile music composer Inon Zur was commissioned to create the original soundtrack for Fallout 3, the upcoming highly anticipated action-RPG from Bethesda.

“We’ve wanted to work with Inon for a long time,” said Todd Howard executive producer of Fallout 3. “He brings so much to the table, in terms of his talent, background, and the music that’s influenced him. He’s created a score that has epic sweep; from the lonely ambience of the wasteland to dramatic fights for survival.”

“Fallout 3 is one of the most engaging and demanding projects I’ve scored,” said Inon Zur. “It was very rewarding to put all my creative energy into supporting Bethesda’s vision for the game. I’m very proud of the outcome, and look forward to sharing the music with the players.”

Zur has quite a huge portfolio, having worked on a number of best-selling video games, as well as Hollywood film trailers, CGI movies and symphony concerts.

Fallout 3 lets players create any sort of character they want and explore the open-ended world of post-apocalyptic Washington DC, facing off against mutants, ghouls, raiders and other such dangers. The game is due out this Fall on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

FileFront Giving Away Saga

Lucky sods will be able to get the full version of SAGA, Silverlode Interactive’s first collectible MMORTS, courtesy of FileFront, a ZiffDavis property. Players have until May 11 to secure one of 50,000 retail keys available through the games download site. The game can still be purchased for $19.95 from its official website and at many hobby stores across the nation.

Saga has no subscription fees, but depends on micro transactions to drive its economy. Players can play as little or as much as they want by purchasing ‘booster packs’ of random troops and spells, which are traded and customized to create the strategic army of choice for each player.

Though Saga can be played for free, the retail key allows players to participate in trading, guilds, espionage and PvP combat, among other things.

EA Announces Lord of the Rings: Conquest

Be you a fan of J.R.R. Tolken’s The Lord of the Rings series or not, at least one of the countless games based on the books are sure to spur your interest.

Well, adding to the extensive library of Lord of the Rings games, EA’s Pandemic Studios has recently announced their latest creation; Lord of the Rings: Conquest. Based in The Lord of the Rings universe as seen in the movies, LotR:C will allow players, for the first time, to take control of Sauron’s army along with the good guys, in their conquest for Middle Earth domination.

Set for release worldwide in fall of 2008 for the 360, PS3, PC and DS, those interested could tune into Spike TV’s GameTrailers TV on June 20th to get a glimpse at the world premiere of both never before seen game footage and the game’s first official trailer.

id Software Hiring for Doom 4

Doom 4 is not in development, and id software has posted a host of available job positions to verify the fact now on id’s website. Certainly, now would be an excellent time to break into the company seeing on how much ramping up in employment they are doing.

Apart from a short statement from CEO To Hollenshead, very little is known of the project. He merely had this to say “Doom is part of the id Software DNA and demands the greatest talent and brightest minds in the industry to bring the next installment of our flagship franchise to Earth.”

With mass hiring under way, certainly do not expect Doom 4 to make it out for 2008, certainly the project is in its infancy stages.

Based on the three positions listed in the job postings however, it would appear, at least for the moment, Doom will be aimed at the PC, 360 and PS3. Although with changing install bases and money to throw around, it’s hard to predict where the final product will fall.

Mass Effect, Spore Don’t Trust Their Customers

Revealing that the studio doesn’t trust its audience, BioWare technical producer Derek French has said that the PC versions of both Mass Effect and Spore will make use of copy protection that will require users to validate their games online every ten days to keep playing.

“After the first activation, SecuROM requires that [Mass Effect PC] re-check with the server within ten days (in case the CD Key has become public/warez’d and gets banned),” he wrote in a post on the BioWare forums.

“After 10 days a re-check is required before the game can run,” added French. “An internet connection is not required to install, just to activate the first time, and every 10 days after.”

According to French, Spore, created by Maxis, will also make use of the same scheme. He also notes that this requirement will be clearly printed on the games’ packaging.

EA and AOL Sports Partner for GameShow

What happens when two supposedly evil companies team up? This announcement: EA has partnered with AOL Sports to market and promote EA Sports GameShow, an online sports trivia game that can be played for free online.

GameShow is the only live-hosted, interactive online sports trivia game that features programming that is updated daily, with each trivia session broadcast directly from the game’s studio in Orlando, Florida. Under the terms of the agreement, AOL Sports will feature the game as part of its content available to its 10.9 million unique visitors who visit AOL Sports monthly.

“After several months of Beta testing, we’re excited to move to the next phase of EA SPORTS GameShow,” said executive producer Roy Harvey. “This agreement with AOL provides an outstanding opportunity to introduce new sports fans from across the country to ‘live broadcast gaming’, a captivating, innovative form of entertainment.”

A new flash version of GameShow was launched recently; it makes playing as simple as logging onto the website.

STALKER Clear Sky Gets NA Publisher

Publisher Deep Silver sends word that it will be publishing STALKER: Clear Sky in North America. The former Europe-only publisher expanded its operations to include North American publishing just a week ago.

The prequel to the open-world shooter will hit retailers and Steam on August 29, as announced by its developer GSC Game World. The game will flesh out the story of one of the main characters of the first game. It will feature a mix of familiar and new territory, with more anomalies and vastly different landscapes. Clear Sky will also feature interface and PDA tweaks, along with enhanced AI.

Blizzard Online Store Offers Direct Downloads

Coming as good news to fans of the studio, Blizzard has begun offering direct downloads of select PC titles via its online store. The digital download section currently contains only three listings – StarCraft Anthology, Warcraft III and its Frozen Throne expansion.

Moreover, those who have their physical copies lying around somewhere will be able to redeem their CD keys on the site to add the titles to their store account and download them for free.

The site is also host to a new beta lottery program, allowing registered users to be automatically entered into a drawing for beta access. Unfortunately, no known public beta tests are underway at the moment, though the company is working on an “unannounced next-gen MMO”.

Stargate Worlds Beta Applications

Nothing’s sadder than a favorite television show going off the air. Sadly unless it’s a cartoon almost every show will expire sooner rather than later. Actors age, grow tired of the same story or even fear being in a certain role so long they’ll never escape it. Many science fiction fans were disheartened to see the end of Stargate SG-1 after ten seasons of interstellar (and occasionally intergalactic) adventure. Two straight-to-dvd films do very little to fill the gap left by the end of one of the longest-running science fiction shows on television.

As many cult sensations do, the Stargate universe lives on through both its spinoff series Atlantis and the upcoming MMO Stargate Worlds. Whether you dream of being one of the powerful jaffa or one of the resourceful humans of Stargate Command, you could get your chance sooner than you think.

FireSky, the game’s publisher has announced that they’re now accepting applications for the beta test. Should you include your thirty page ode to Teal’c’s eyebrow raise? It couldn’t hurt.

Flash Portal Maps Converted to Real Portal Maps

Fans of Portal must have spent hours on the quirky Flash version which was released prior to the Valve title by We Create Stuff, a self-described “group of nerds.”

Stepping up from the Flash version, the group has converted some of the levels into actual Portal maps, which can all be downloaded from the group’s website. The developers estimate that the 40 levels will add up to three and a half hours of fun.

I’m yet to try these maps. Anyone having fun with these?

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• No Tony Hawk Game This Year
• Burnout Paradise on PC, First Screenshots
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• Codemasters Gets F1 License, Developing Multiplatform Game
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