The alpha test for the anime themed online action game, Dreamland Online, officially launched recently you have a chance to join in the fun! With the Premium Alpha Test Key provided here, your character will be given $30 USD dollars worth of in-game currency after reaching level 10 to buy items from the Item Mall. The developers will be keeping an eye out and will award an ultra rare Pink Piggy mount to a select group of the most active players.

"Dreamland Online is a beautifully made 3D side-scrolling MMORPG brought to you by IGG Online features attractive anime-style graphics in a world that you can easily immerse yourself in. With attractive anime-style graphics and an incredible line-up of stylishly cute and cartoonish characters, this game focuses on being fun for every audience. Introduce yourself to an incredible storyline filled with magic and adventure..."

Getting a free alpha test key is easy. Here's how:
1. Download the game client
2. Login or Create an IGG Online account
3. Go to the key activation page and enter your alpha key
4. Install the game and login

That's all! Get in the game, get to playing and have fun.
Giveaway ends on November 16, 2010.

Download the Dreamland Online Alpha Test Client
Register for an Alpha Key

Last month it was revealed that Activision would be publishing Apache: Air Assault, a military helicopter sim-action game from developer Gaijin Entertainment. However that game was listed as only coming out for the Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles. Now it looks like the game will be coming to the PC after all as a downloadable only product.

The web site Yuplay.com is currently taking pre-orders for the $49.99 game which should be released sometime later this month. The game itself has the player controlling the Apache AH-64D Longbow helicopter throught 16 different missions in a variety of locations around the world.

It's time for another flythrough of Rift: Planes of Telara! In this case, it's for a dungeon connected to Iron Pines: the Abyssal precipice. This dungeon, if this trailer is any indication, is where the players must go if they wish to keep the water dragon imprisoned. Standing in their way, naturally, are cultists and beasts that wish to rouse the monster. Much like the other flythroughs, this one is tedious and merely a good showcase of the visuals. Nothing more, nothing less. It's a good video to watch after the Iron Pines one, just for consistency.

Download HD Rift: Planes of Telara 'Abyssal Precipice' Trailer
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While Bionic Commando (the reboot) may have been a minor disappointment, Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 is still on the way. It's shaping up to be a beauty of a game, especially if this trailer is any indication. Cheesy dialogue, excellent electronic music, and the hallmark Bionic Commando style are in full force here. The target is the Megacopter, a gigantic armor helicopter that looks quite nasty. The trailer shows most of the strategy for defeating it, although it leaves the actual destruction of the thing for the game proper. It may just be a gameplay video of a boss, but it sure does have us excited.

Download HD Bionic Commado Rearmed 2 'Megacopter' Trailer
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While other game developers are cutting its work force or even shutting down entirely, China-based Spicy Horse is announcing its plans to expand. In a new chat at the Bloomberg web site its revealed that the developer behind the upcoming Electronic Arts sequel Alice: Madness Returns currently has about 80 workers at its Shanghai-based offices but will add team members over the next 18 months that will increase the work force to between 160 and 200 members.

Formed by former id Software designed American McGee, Spicy Horse is currently nearing completion of Alice: Madness Returns, according to the article. It's also making an MMO for the Chinese market that's currently unannounced.

[Via VG247.com]

Call of Duty Black Ops' PC players just got the first patch update to the already mega-selling first person shooter from developer Treyarch and publisher Activision. The patch, delivered via Steam's auto-updater, has just a couple of mutiplayer oriented bug fixes but hopefully they will deal with some of the performance and lag issues that have plagued the PC port since it was released on Tuesday.

Specifically, the first PC patch has some "performance improvement for dual and quad core systems". Many of the game's issues have been linked to its CPU performance. The other note in the patch is for a "Friends fix for join in progress and Friends tab in server browser." This is almost certainly to be just the first of many bug patches for the game.

Thursday brings us some quick and dirty PC game sales that will last for the rest of the weekend. We will post even more sales on Friday but for now check out what's on our docket:

• Steam has put two games on sale this weekend. One is the 2009 fantasy RPG Risen which gets a 50 percent price cut to just $14.99. The other is for F1 2010, the more recent racing simulation. You can get the game for $26.79, a 33 percent savings. Both sales end Monday.
• On the last weekend before it switches from a client to a web-based store, Games For Windows has the indie game Osmos for just $2.49, a 75 percent price cut, until Monday.

Never mix up astronomer and astrologer. It's a mistake that may result in a heavy beating, especially from the astronomer crowd. And if this trailer is any indication, astronomers are complete badasses. The Astronomer class in arena RPG Bloodline Champions plays like a mixture of healer and support class. He can teleport around the arena, stun enemies, and heal allies. All of these abilities are shown, both in a training setting and an actual fight, in this trailer. Those looking for something a little different from the standard DOTA-like gameplay of arena RPGs should definitely take a look.

Download HD Bloodline Champions 'Astronomer' Trailer
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It's perhaps one of the most long awaited Facebook-based games ever announced and, well, it looks like it will still be waiting for a while longer. During today's BMO Capital Markets 18th Annual Digital Entertainment Conference Take Two Interactive's executive chairman Strauss Zelnick stated that developer Firaxis Games' Civilization Network will launch sometime in 2011, adding that the public will get to see the game "relatively soon."

The game, which has direct design input from Civilization's creator Sid Meier, was first announced over a year ago and at the time Meier said a closed beta would begin "soon". Since the announcement there's been little info on the game's status and the game's Facebook page has not had an official update since May.

[Via Joystiq]

When Activision announced earlier this year that it would be the exclusive publisher for the next original game from Halo creator Bungie, both parties would not confirm which game platforms the title would appear on. Today, during an investment conference, a slide may have revealed that Bungie's next game series will indeed show up for the PC.

The online slide was part of Activision's presentation today during the BMO Capital Markets 18th Annual Digital Entertainment Conference. As you can see above the listing is for Bungie's new title to be for "Con" (consoles) as well as PC and online. If this is indeed the case it would be the first internally developed PC title from Bungie since Oni was released way back in January 2001 (Both the PC ports of Halo 1 and 2 were handled by developers outside of Bungie).

Zen Bound 2, a very unusual puzzle title that was first released for Apple's iPhone-iPod Touch-iPad devices, is heading to our platforms as well. The developer Secret Exit has announced that both PC and Mac ports of the game will be released via Steam on November 16.

So what is Zen Bound 2 all about? There are clues in the game's title. It's supposed to be a very relaxing game (if "game" can be used to describe it) where you move a rope all around an object. Yep, that's the game. Look for over 100 objects for you to wrap your rope around along with higher resolution graphics for the PC port.

Music is, at this point, just as important to a game as the gameplay. Many composers and musicians, such as Frank Klepacki, Tommy Tallarico, and Jeremy Soule have become quite famous for their videogame compositions. Another composer whose fame is rising rapidly is Inon Zur, and this trailer shows that he is working on the main music for Rift: Planes of Telara. The more interesting part of the video, however, is that there are actually two composing teams: Inon Zur, and the team behind Heroes of Might and Magic 5. The second composer group are working on music for areas where the main world is being invaded, rather than the normal game, which adds a musical as well as gameplay element to the invasions.

Download HD Rift: Planes of Telara Developer Diary #3
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StarCraft II may have sold three million copies in the first month of its release earlier this year but in the country of South Korea, where the original StarCraft is a massive e-sports phenomenon, sales of the sci-fi RTS sequel have been slower than expected. According to an Edge magazine article reprinted on the Next-Gen.biz web site, "only two to three per cent of Korean gamers" have purchased StarCraft II a month since the game officially launched in that country, despite a $30 million promotional campaign.

What happened? The article speculates that developer Blizzard has tried to exercise more control over how StarCraft II is used in pro gaming tournaments and in the broadcast of those tournaments in South Korea compared to the original game. That control, plus the 12 year gap in between the two games, may have kept some original StarCraft players from switching to StarCraft II. However the article adds that a number of Korean pro-players have now begun to switch from StarCraft to StarCraft II in tournaments so perhaps the transition will simply take longer than first expected.

Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions' PC version now has a set release date and, at it happens, an exclusive retailer at least here in the US. The game's official Facebook page has revealed that Walmart will be the only place gamers can get the PC version of the recent super hero action game from developer Beenox and publisher Activision. The game will be made available for Thankgiving weekend here in the US.

The Facebook page also states that the PC version will be released on November 24 in Asia and Australia and on November 26 in Europe. There's no word if Activision plans to offer the game via digital download as well.

InstantAction.com, the heavily hyped browser based PC game service, is shutting its doors. In a post on the Torquepowered.com message board (owned by InstantAction) its director of operations Eric Preize stated, "Today, InstantAction informed employees that it will be winding down operations." It's currently unknown how many people are affected by the shut down of the company which had offices in Portland, Oregon and in Las Vegas.

InstantAction.com was formed in 2007 as a subsidiary of from the now former GarageGames as a web-based PC game site with a number of original 3D titles that ran in a browser. In 2009, Louis Castle, the founder of Westwood Games, came on board as the company's new CEO. Under his leadership InstantAction.com's business model switched to support games that are embedded to web sites like Flash-based videos. It released two games that used that technology (The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition and its own game Instant Jam) before today's announcement.

The company, whose parent is internet conglomerate IAC, has continued to support and develop GarageGames' Torque game development tool business throughout these changes to its business models. In his message today Preize stated, "Torquepowered.com will continue to operate while InstantAction explores opportunities with potential buyers for Torque." Last month Hi-Rez Studios purchased the Tribes game rights from InstantAction.com for an undisclosed amount.

[Via Gamasutra]