Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period.
No, that's not Indiana Jones. Sure, it looks like him and the plot of Cameron Files: Pharaoh's Curse sounds like it was taken from two parts Dr. Jones and one part The Mummy, but it's clearly not copyright infringement. See, Cameron might dress like Indiana Jones, but he's a private investigator, not an archaeologist -- but his friend Moira (pictured) is an archaeologist. Anyway, Cameron Files is still a good modern old-school adventure game. The rest of the GameTap offerings this week are an FPS and two WWII games. Once again, we're more excited about one of the free games going into rotation: Bubble Bobble. The new subscriber games this week are:
IGI 2: Covert Strike (PC) - One man versus many Chinese terrorists. A stealth FPS that requires you to keep only the items you need to survive. It's like Splinter Cell, but first-person and no Micheal Ironside.
The Cameron Files: Pharaoh's Curse (PC) - A modern adventure game set in Egypt during the WWII. Solve puzzles while pointing and clicking your way to adventure. Just don't call him Indiana.
Strategic Command 2: Blitzkrieg (PC) - A WWII strategy game that's kind of like Advanced Wars, but oh so much more complicated.
After the break we have GameTap's updated list of free games, now at 41 titles. Bubble Bobble is still our stand-out on that list. But you can always try Tomb Raider III. The last game before Lara became a total mess and needed the Legend makeover.
They're so cute! The first time you hold one of Mimoco's Master Chief mimobot USB flash drives you want to play with it like a doll action figure, but then you realize you're a big boy now and keep that imagination in check. The Halo mimobots are an officially licensed limited edition series of USB flash drives. There's 5,000 of the Master Chief one and 3,000 each of the Red and Blue Spartans. They officially don't go on sale until Oct. 18 (to coincide with E for All), but you can always pre-order if you know you "must has Mastah Chief storin ur dataz."
The Halo mimobots don't come empty, they'll contain Halo-related content like wallpapers, screensavers, soundBytes, unpublished pages of the upcoming Marvel Halo comic, sections of the Halo 3 strategy guide, excerpts from the upcoming Halo novel and an exclusive episode of This Spartan Life. The USB 2.0 drives are PC, Mac (Xbox 360, PS3) compatible and come in three different capacities: 1GB ($50), 2GB ($70) and 4GB ($110). Mimoco also has a Star Wars and Happy Tree Friends series too. Definitely a nice alternative to boring flash drives, and if you really want one it's probably not a good idea to wait until Oct. 18. Wonder if there'll be Brute and Arbiter versions next?
OK, so we fully admit that we're far more excited about a few games coming to GameTap in the near future than the offerings this week. It almost feels like we're getting some gaming scraps to hold us over until the awesomeness of Typing of the Dead. Speaking of scraps, Scrapland is now part of the free games lineup at the service. The game isn't fantastic, but for free it's definitely worth trying to see if it's your cup of oil. The new subscriber games this week are:
Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord (PC) - Yes, it absolutely would have been better if it was Beyond Thunderdome ... but it's not. This WWII RTS with turn-based elements is actually the gem of this week's new offerings.
Project Eden (PC) - A squad in the future uncovers one of those major conspiracies just littering the place. This game never really got traction, but there are some nice mechanics like being able to change squad members at will. Something we hope Jericho really perfects when it comes to GameTap at release in a couple months.
Aces over Europe (PC) - A very old flight-sim from way back in '94. As you can probably guess, it's all about flying a plane in the WWII.
Gods: Lands of Infinity (PC) - There is absolutely nothing in this fantasy RPG game that you haven't seen better someplace else. GameTap probably got this game for a pack of smokes and a roll of toilet paper.
After the break we have GameTap's updated list of free games, now at 41 titles. Like we said before, try out Scrapland, you never know. There's also the original Myst for free too.
WoW Insider has an extensive feature on an erotic roleplaying guild disbanded by Blizzard in World of Warcraft. The guild, originally named Abhorrent Taboo, which now goes under the name Vile Anathema, apparently engaged in extreme kink typing and roleplaying about subjects like "Ageplay, Bestiality, Child Birth, Watersports" and "any other kink those playing may wish to explore." After complaints by other players, Blizzard disbanded the guild saying, "This matter is not one Blizzard takes lightly in any way, shape or form, and we do not wish to have this topic continue circulation ... Let it finally be said that we appreciate those of you who brought this particular issue to our attention and that we will continue to follow up with this matter in the future to ensure the safety of all parties concerned."
The issue gets murky in terms of public perception because of some comments made by the guild leader which became public. The guild leader allegedly said, "I want to defend us, but I also want to defend the pedosexual community." The key point here is that the guild leader is talking about pedophiles who don't actually molest children -- the thought isn't illegal, the real-life action is. So are people who engage in that fantasy while roleplaying in WoW (while in private chat with a consenting individual) doing something wrong? Of course, this is an extreme example.
There are also issues about age verification for the erotic guild. Many general-purpose guilds have age guidelines set up for the comfort of their members. It's also easy to argue parents should be doing their jobs and monitoring their child's online activity and who they associate with. This whole issue is full of deep social and sexual questions, but in the end it is Blizzard's game. We're not expecting the World of Warcraft sexual revolution anytime soon.
And because we couldn't resist, (it's an oldie but a goodie as) WoW meets porn and Broadway after the break.
A Rogue character in World of Warcraft with arguably the best gear in the game right now has been sold for 7,000 Euro (approximately US $9,700). The avatar had both Legendary swords dropped by raid boss Illidan Stormrage, as well as 4/5 of a Tier 6 armor set.
The original owner, Zeuzo from clan Method on Sylvanas server, has been sighted building up a new Rogue. When asked what one could do with $9,700, the Joystiq staffer offered these suggestions:
"Save it toward a house ... or Jet Ski!"
"Buy as many WoW account as I could, build that many new computers and multibox it!"
"A pool of pennies so that you can swim around in like Scrooge McDuck."
"Cybernetic Mongoose"
"I hear Russian mail-order brides are increasingly more reasonable ..."
The buyer, Shaks, currently resides on the Kazzak server but has not had any activity since September 3. Our sister site WoW Insider speculates that his account may have been banned, given the publicity of the auction and Blizzard's policy against selling accounts -- which would be truly sad for Shaks and truly hilarious for the rest of us (especially Zeuzo).
Whether or not you're in to the music that Rage Against the Machine makes, we imagine you're cool enough to admit that Tom Morello is an astounding, exciting guitarist. Now, you'll be able face off against him as one of the bosses of Guitar Hero III. Like patients at STD clinics across the country, he'll be in the company of Poison's Bret Michaels and Guns 'n' Roses' Slash.
While Morello's busy rocking your face off, you'll be able to play Rage classic "Bulls On Parade." You'll be able to recognize it in family-friendly GH III from its frequent sections of lyrical silence. Rather than expose you to profanity, we've posted a video here of Morello's folksy alter-ego The Nightwatchman. Enjoy.
No longer content to be hooked up to your big screen HDTV and 7-channel surround sound system, Aspyr and Activision have announced that Guitar Hero III is rockin' on over to the more moderately sized screens of your Mac and/or PC this fall. We imagine legions of cubicle dwellers violating their company's IT policies, bringing their axe into work, and shredding the pain of office life away. More likely, we can imagine a portable rig on your laptop, just in case that whole Guitar Hero DS thing doesn't work out.
GameDaily spoke with Aspyr's Jay Gordon about the port, and got some burning questions answered: the game will ship simultaneously with its console counterparts; the guitar will be a USB model of the Gibson (sorry 486 gamers); and no word on how downloadable songs will be distributed but they'll share soon. And with this, the PSP remains alone, the only major gaming platform without Guitar Hero.
After we played the excellent pre-alpha DS version of N+, we were asked by the game's producer, David Geudelekian, if we wanted to meet Metanet, the creators of the original N. It's sort of a strange feeling, to play a game and then be escorted directly to the people responsible for it, by another person responsible for it. Or, at least, it would have been, had Metanet's Mare Sheppard and Raigan Burns, as well as David, not been so genial. Metanet was at PAX promoting the Xbox Live Arcade N+, which they are developing along with Slick Entertainment.
Metanet's N+ booth, hidden behind Atari's in the corner of the exhibition hall, was as indie as the game, featuring a custom-built 360 display unitaccessible only after a series of wall jumps and guarded by automated machine gun turrets; Mare and Raigan took a break from challenging convention-goers to multiplayer N+ (victors got t-shirts) to take part in an impromptu chat about the new multiplatform adaptation of their Independent Games Festival Audience Award-winning Flash game, its platforming influences, and even about their mysterious new game, Robotology. The interview continued via email afterward, when we weren't in one of the world's loudest places.
Austin's Game Developers Conference -- Austin being the MMO capital of the US -- kicked off one of its early events with a speech by Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime. He tells the story of just how unprepared they were for World of Warcraft's success saying, "We had to shift our mindset that we were not just a game publisher or developer. We were now a service company." The company has swelled from a a few hundred to 2,500 employees in the span of a few years. Much of that is to support the massive infrastructure necessary to keep the World of Warcraft running.
He says the early months of WoW they couldn't have been prepared for. They set Warcraft III as their sales expectation ceiling on WoW and prepared for that -- it sounded reasonable at the time. Of course WoW ended up being almost too popular and the game was close to unplayable half the time in its first six months. Morhaime says that's when they had to shift everything. He goes on to say that Blizzard's name standing for quality has helped them out immensely and he stressed for developers to always finish their games before release. The money a company makes in the short term won't fix a poisoned name in the long run.
As if there wasn't enough worthless gibberish on the internet already, EA has seen fit to stick the gobbledygook speaking Sims down one of the internet's most popular tubes, YouTube. The Sims On Stage is essentially a Sims-branded (you might say Sim-ian) YouTube, with the added dangers of karaoke, video poetry and of course, The Sims content. You can thank / blame EA's acquisition of SingShot Media back in February if you want.
Of the many make-your-own-video features the beta site offers, encouraging users to squeal their way through "thousands" of available karaoke songs and upload the recorded results is by far the most terrifying. EA's press release assures us that it's all for the sake of expressing "creativity," a term we feel may have been confused with one meaning "penchant for torturing complete strangers." It's a penchant we share, since we've embedded one of the first obnoxiously loud creations to be spawned by the site after the break.
Popcap Games have just announced a free, web-based version of their pachinko-inspired, unicorn imbued casual hit Peggle. Despite being played in a browser, the web version of Peggle still requires players to download an executable file and install a plugin before use, making the online game just as PC-exclusive as the (other) downloadable version.
Still, that doesn't rule out all hope for the perpetually-deprived Mac gamers of the world. Some insider news reveals that Popcap is currently working on Mac versions of several of their PC-only titles, including Peggle. No word on whether these will be Universal Binary releases, or just Intel-only, but several are expected for release in the upcoming months. Until then, PC users can still enjoy both the full version of Peggle, and the new free online version, which features scoretracking and randomly-generated levels. Hooray for them.
Vivendi is a big ol' company, what we're going to focus on is their Vivendi Games division which earned €119 million for the first half of their 2007 fiscal year, which is a 91.9% increase from last year. All you need to know about this growth, despite growth being the industry standard lately -- unless you're Atari, is that it has so much to do with World of Warcraft it's not even funny. Although Vivendi Games used the very conservative term of "continued momentum" to describe the phenomenon of WoW -- 9 million people hittin' the pipe and handing over around $15 a month to play the game creates fiscal magic and sweet snuggle love to the company's bottom line.
Beyond the games division, Vivendi saw a 10.6% increase in earning over last year, around €2.6 billion. Don't expect WoW to stop making money for Vivendi. Wrath of the Lich King is the expansion many WoW players have been waiting for and the game continues to grow its user base years after release.
GameTap shines a light in the shadows and finds the thief Garrett hiding there with the list of new games for the service this week. The highlight, of course, is Garrett's final adventure in Thief: Deadly Shadows. Considering Garrett is currently unemployed since Ion Storm has ceased to be and Eidos hasn't mentioned any new games, maybe we can hire him to find documentation on what GameTap's endgame is with all their recent writer hires? Anyway, new games for the week are:
Thief: Deadly Shadows (PC) - Garrett finds himself pulled into a sandbox-style adventure revolving around the Last Glyph. This stealth game depends on your standard fare of getting through missions without killing anyone ... because you're a thief, not a Hitman. Delta Force Xtreme (PC) - It's all the fun of Delta Force, but, you know, to the extreme ... sorry, X-treme! Delta Force Task Force Dagger (PC) - Less "xtreme," but a perfectly fine tactical shooter. Infiltrate enemy compounds as a member of one of many elite agency or military groups. Hospital Tycoon (PC) - Run a hospital responsibly and just try not to get sued. Like any other tycoon game, be as fiscally responsible as possible and just grow your hospital. Praetorians (PC) - It's like Rome: Total War ... but not. Championship Wrestling (C64) - Two pixelated blobs in spandex enter a ring -- one pixelated blob leaves.
After the break we have GameTap's updated list of free games. For those looking to get their old-school groove on they've added Elevator Action to the list, along with six other games.
It's Interactive Day for Joystiq's PAX coverage! First we got to assist in the creation of a Sam & Max scene, and now we made a dude in the Penny Arcade game trailer bald!
The Hothead booth at PAX had a demo of the character creation system in On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness. After we finished our character editing, the demo presented a video from the game with our character in the lead role. It then offered to email us the video, which means we get to share it with all of you! Enjoy the video, starring a guy who looks not that much like any of us!
At the Penny Arcade game panel today at PAX, they've just confirmed that Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness – the first installment of their episodic series – will "debut" on Xbox Live Arcade in 2008. That's in addition to the already announced PC, Mac OS X, and Linux platforms. It's unclear if the game is console exclusive to the XBLA platform or if other console ports are in the works.
This is the first digitally distributed episodic title to be announced for a home console download service. Telltale is working on Xbox 360 and Wii ports of Sam & Max, but it's unclear if the title will be distributed as a full season retail product or as individual releases through Xbox Live Arcade and Wii Ware respectively. You can check out the game's recently launched site here.
