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.
Like twins who look alike but follow entirely different circles, Japan-based Climax Entertainment and UK-headquartered Climax must get sick and tired of people getting them confused and mistaking one for the other, with the former best known for creating the Shining Force series of RPGs, while the highlight of the latter's portfolio is what, Sudeki?
While we assume that Climax continues to work towards this November's release of Silent Hill Origins, 1UP has revealed that Climax Entertainment is revisiting familiar territory by creating an original role-playing game called Steal Princess for the Nintendo DS. Set for release in Japan sometime next year, information on the new game is scarce save for that it will be an isometric RPG starring a girl named Anis (aka the "Steal Princess") and her magic-wielding fairy Kukuri, and true to the game's namesake this dynamic duo will steal back treasures that were themselves previously stolen by the ominously named Devil King.
No plans have yet been announced to release the game outside Japan, of course, though as it stands we're on the fence as to how we feel about Steal Princess already. We know Climax Entertainment can create good stuff, as evidenced by both Shining Force and Landstalker. Then again, they also gave us such forgettable escapades as Time Stalkers and Dark Savior, prompting us to follow the old adage of 'one bitten, twice shy.'
Get ready to saddle up your blessedly armor-free horse and don the Crusader's relics one final time. Bethesda announced today that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion would be receiving new downoadable content on Xbox 360 and PC next week, beginning on Oct. 15. The good news? It's free for a week! The bad news? It's the last bit of DLC for the game. Fighter's Stronghold will add a new castle for you to run, complete with your own vintner to create wines for you, a combat trainer, even a taxidermist to create trophies for your pad ... and creep out the local girls.
In other Oblivion DLC news, Bethesda says that they're "close, very close to working something out to bring Shivering Isles to PS3 owners." Which is close, very close to being very good news for those of you who didn't wait out for the Game of the Year edition.
Gametrailers user, BlackSad03, has posted an old ad from NES game, Iron Sword, and we wish today's ads were as exciting. We enjoy the clip on so many levels, like watching the gameplay and being sucked into the sale itself. Must... buy... Iron Sword. Our favorite take is to imagine the production of the commercial and which PA had to swing the tentacle into the room.
The video is watermarked with "Gaming-Age.com," but we could only find an article there that references an equally great print ad for the game. So we send Gaming Age a nod, too.
So, we might have sort of wanted to work at Lionhead Studios before we saw this latest video diary from the company, but now, after seeing the way they rung in their 10th anniversary, we're putting it on our lifelong to-do list, along with "skydiving," "Rocky Mountain climbing" and "going 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fu Manchu."
After all, this diary focuses on the nerdiest guys at the company, the guys coding the development tools for Fable 2, and even they manage to seem cool. ... Well, as cool as someone who takes two days off to make a Pyramid Head costume can seem. It's all relative, we guess. If you're behind, catch up with part 1 and part 2.
Clearly an homage to Leeroy Jenkins, this Toyota commercial shows that World of Warcraft players can charge into battle as long as they have the right mount. The ad is apparently legitimate, although the only version we could find clips the tagline.
Toyota may be a follower to showing how it can save the World ... of Warcraft, but this spot hits several in-jokes in a short amount of time. See the ad after the break.
Just when you thought eight years of development and pending legal fights would keep this Norse-influenced technopunk game down, Too Human is set to resurface on Xbox Live as a six minute, 42 second video diary on the creative process of the game.
Despite their qualms with Unreal Engine3 licensor Epic Games, the title looks good (though, in the era of BioShock and Mass Effect, nothing breath-taking). However, the footage we saw does seem a bit slow, hinting that the game might not yet be optimized for higher framerates. The concept art is interesting, as is their approach to Norse mythology.
Although we like hearing about their approach, we'd love more to see what specific aspects of the mythology were incorporated and why. Unfortunately, that'd likely spoil the entire first game, so don't expect that video to surface until much, much later, when Too Human finally manages to come out.
According to a press release sent to us by Microsoft PR, the video is now available on Xbox Live Marketplace, although we couldn't find it. In the interim, we've embedded the video above.
MMO factory NCSoft today took the wrapping paper off of Carbine Studios, its latest developer. According to the press release, Carbine has some very apt cogs in its machinery deriving from 17 former Blizzard employees, "including lead and senior developers from the World of Warcraft team," including lead designer Kevin Beardslee, who is now the vice president of design.
Additionally, former Fallout designer Tim Cain has been tapped to be the programmer director. Carbine is currently working on an unannounced MMO, according to their website. No other details have been revealed, but the team definitely has a powerhouse of employees.
Here's a bracing thought for your Thursday morning: Have we become spoiled by Limited/Collector's Editions? Take, for instance, the recently revealed contents of the of the forthcoming Mass EffectLimited Edition package.
Fiction Book: Galactic Codex: Essentials
Mass Effect Art Book: A Future Imagined
2nd DVD with exclusive videos about Mass Effect (Art of Mass Effect, Interactive Storytelling of Mass Effect)
Sure, books. Everybody loves books. But where are the cat helmets? Where are the gorgeous (though fragile) Big Daddy figurines? We can't decide if we're disappointed because there are no toys, or because the obvious choice (two girls made of pewter and totally doing it) is nowhere to be found.
We're suckers for Bavaria, so if we can't go to Oktoberfest, we're going to enjoy "Brewfest" in World of Warcraft. So grab yourself some Löwenbräu, or Paulaner if you prefer, plop in front of your computer and get ready to eat some virtual pretzels and win some lederhosen.
You can check out WoW Insider for suggestions on how to get the most out of your Brewfest holiday. The general information is that the event runs from Oct. 2-16. There will be complimentary mugs to get your avatar nice and sloshed, then you can purchase "Eyesight Enhancing Romance Goggles" to find the perfect mate at the festival. There will also be ram racing, mystery hunts and you can even be hired to advertise the event in major cities. All of the events will net you tickets that you can trade in for the fabulous prizes above. Happy Brewfest to those in Azeroth!
In celebration of Fallout's 10th anniversary, new IP owner Bethesda Softworks have opened a contest for the aspiring Vault Dweller to design their own perk to be included in the upcoming Fallout 3. The winner will also receive a bunch of gear for either PC or Console gamers (there are separate packages for each, listed on the contest page).
You don't have to possess artistic talent to enter, opting instead to use one of Bethesda's 15 pre-made sketches. However, if you want to submit your own art work, photo or whatever, you're more than welcome to. Contest ends 11:59 p.m. ET on October 31.
The Xbox 360 exclusive Lost Odyssey may be a beacon of hope for the console's anemic Japanese user base, but that success will come at a price -- your eyes. According to Lost Odyssey architect Hironobu Sakaguchi, the upcoming plot-heavy RPG will feature several "1000 Year Dream" sequences, 34 to be precise, each designed to flesh out the narrative penned by Japanese author Kiyoshi Shigematsu; and each told not through cut scenes, but rather with pop-up text, taking upwards of 5 to 10 minutes to read.
Sakaguchi admits that he once entertained the idea of using voice overs for the sequences, but opted instead to make the player experience Shigematsu's work in its 'purest form', namely written word. You mean, we have to read?! The idea of spending 4 or more hours scrolling through text on the screen is not our idea of fun, and we immediately feel sympathy for those players without bionic vision, or just those playing on smaller than average sets.
We'd like to think that there's a method to Sakaguchi's madness, though his admission that Lost Odyssey will clock in at 40 hours, with 20 of these devoted to non-interactive story sequences, seems to stretch the boundaries of what can be considered a game, rather than just an interactive storybook. Nevertheless, Japanese Xbox 360 owners can pick up Lost Odyssey on December 6, while those in North America and Europe will have to wait until February to go blind.
PC gamers eager to clean London's streets and sewers of demonic infestation this Halloween can expect to do so against a backdrop of "orchestral, rock, and ambient" music as Splinter Cell: Double Agent composers Cris Velasco and Sascha Dikiciyan have once again partnered for Hellgate:London's apparently eclectic soundtrack. Additionally, those who pick up the game's obligatory 'collector's edition' will also find the soundtrack CD neatly tucked away inside.
Both gentlemen seem to be making a habit of working together, as in addition to the aforementioned Double Agent, the pair has also tag-teamed on other titles, including the TMNT movie tie-in and Spyhunter: Nowhere to Run. Individually, Velasco has lent his musical touch to such games as God of War as well as a Castlevania arrangement for the Video Games Live concert series, while Dikiciyan's credits include titles like Strangleholdand Marvel Ultimate Alliance.
By today's lofty standards Ultima Online seems terribly archaic, yet when first released back in 1997, the game, which celebrated its tenth anniversary earlier this week, was the bee's knees. Along with other early MMOs such as 3D0's Meridian 59, Ultima Online helped shape what we now know as the MMO genre, and laid the foundation for more modern efforts like EverQuest and World of Warcraft.
To commemorate this milestone, Electronic Arts is trying to win back former residents of Britannia who since have moved on to bigger and better things to retry Ultima Online using the game's recently launched "Kingdom Reborn" update, which will be free to download for past subscribers through October 9 by way of their old, most likely misplaced username and password.
Calling the event its "Return to Brittania" campaign, EA will welcome players with a monster hunt and prizes including an ankh pendant necklace, map of Brittania, Ultima Online commemorative sculpture and virtue armor set. Characters will also be given a wand of fireworks and 10 décor tokens, though we haven't a clue what those might be. Happy Birthday, UO. Try not to break your hip fighting ogres.
For those out there who thought Mistwalker's Blue Dragon was too easy for your tastes, Microsoft has just released new content aimed at upping the ante for the RPG's difficulty. Best of all? It's free.
Dubbed the Ultra Hard Mod, the new content has three aspects. The first is Game Plus, which allows you to start a new game using a saved file from near the end. The other two are specifically for the masochistic: Hard Mode, reportedly twice as challenging as normal, and Impossible, which is meant to play with characters starting at level 50 or higher. (If you want to do the Impossible at level 10, however, by all means go for it. Let us know how that works out.)
Playing a character of a different gender is a guilty pleasure for millions of MMO players worldwide. So when we startedseeingstories about Chinese MMO maker Shanda banning male players from choosing female characters in their online RPG King of the World, we were intrigued. Was this another example of state-imposed restrictions on Chinese gamers? After a little digging, we're not convinced it's an actual imposition of any kind.
The source of story in the English-speaking world seems to be a painfully short, two sentence "editorial summary" on Asian business site Pacific Epoch. Besides containing scant details or supporting information on Shanda's policy, the summary contains the eyebrow-raising assertion that players with female avatars would have to "prove their biological sex with a webcam." While this isn't impossible, we find it hard to believe that a publicly traded company would start encouraging its customers to send in pictures of their naughty bits for any reason. Besides being ineffective (what's to stop a player from sending in a picture of someone else?) the system seems overly complicated when a National ID card number could easily provide proof of gender (much as it already does for age confirmation in other MMOs).
Pacific Epoch cites popular Chinese MMO web site 17173 as the source of its information, and while we couldn't find the original article on their site, we did find a story about some obviously fake Halo 3 branded condoms, which 17173 presented as fact. Combine the questionable editorial judgment with the translation problems inherent in citing information from a Chinese site and you have a perfect recipe for an erroneous story to spread across the internet.
We've put in a call to Shanda's U.S. PR arm to try and get a final confirmation on this, but until we do, you can probably rest assured that male Chinese gamers can still play as women if they so choose.
