World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Expansion

The third expansion for the extremely popular World of Warcraft game has just been announced. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, as it has been named, offers tons of new content to the game including new races and class combinations as well as an extended level cap, new characters and new events. Dark and forgotten threats which have been out of sight for a long time have resurfaced on the shores of Azeroth unleashing a cataclysmic event upon the lands and are now preparing more nefarious plans to take it back.

One of the first changes that people will notice to the game is that the level cap has been increased from 80 to 85. Some players were expecting a little higher raise but everything has a reason. Putting the level cap at 85 suggests that Blizzard wants to add more expansions before reaching the 100 level cap. Having such a small level cap raise should be a somewhat big deal. It makes that when you gain a level it actually means something other than being one step closer to level 85.

While there aren’t any new classes Blizzard has added new class combinations to the mix. Some of these class combinations have been datamined from the 3.2.2 Test Realms and the “An Injured Colleague” quest along with it’s Night Elf counter-part help introduce these new combinations. The new class combinations are as follows:

Human Hunter
Orc Mage
Night Elf Mage
Dwarf Mage
Blood Elf Warrior
Dwarf Shaman
Undead Hunter
Tauren Paladin
Tauren Priest
Gnome Priest
Troll Druid

Due to the cataclysm, two new races have been forced to seek out new allies. The two new races in the expansion are the Goblins, which belong to the Horde side, and the Worgen, which belong to the Alliance side. Deathwing sought the services of the Goblins to use them as slaves as he had done in the past. The Goblins could not refuse the offer and became his slaves once again. However, a large group of Goblins resisted and fled to an island off the coast of The Barnes. Once on the island, the Goblins come across an Orc being held prisoner on an Alliance ship. The Goblins free him only to realize that the Orc is, in fact, Thrall himself. To show his appreciation, Thrall offers the Goblins a place in the Horde. The events take place in a quest line allowing players to experience why the Goblins shifted from neutrality to the Horde.

The cataclysm has cracked open the Greymane Wall and in doing so has revealed the fate of the kingdom of Gilneas. The worgen curse has taken hold of the citizens, transforming them into werewolf-like creatures. The citizens of Gilneas have found a partial cure to the curse which allows them to keep their human mind and free will while transformed. The citizens venture to Azeroth for help from the Alliance and decide to join them. Much like the starting area Death Knight, Gilneas will extensively use the phasing system to show you what happened from the time when the kingdom was cu off to the time you start. While playing as a Worgen you will have two forms, Worgen form and Human form, both of which will be fully customizable.

Blizzard has also added s few new characters to the game. These characters are as follows:

Dethwing the Destroyer/ Neltharion the Earth-Warder – Deathwing will play a major part in Cataclysm. Driven mad by the Old Gods whisperings, Deathwing turned on his own kind only to end up failing. Deathwing has sunk into the shadows and while the Horde and Alliance have been occupied fighting back the Burning Legion only to be best upon by the Scourge. All the while Deathwing has been planning and putting his pieces in place. Deathwing succeeded in creating a Twilight Dragonflight where Lady Sinestra failed. As seen in the Obsidian Sanctum, Detahwing has created the supreme Dragonflight and plans on unleashing it upon the world.

Azshara – Azshara will play a major role in Cataclysm as well. Unknown by many, forgotten by others and thought dead by her own people, Azshara has been dormant in Maelstrom. She has had the Old Gods transform the creatures around her into Naga after she failed in the War of the Ancients. She has become more powerful than ever before and seeks to reclaim power and region once again.

The Cataclysm – It is still unknown who the end boss is in Cataclysm. The cataclysm itself seems to have been caused by Deathwing and Azshara using powerful incantations in an attempt to summon extremely powerful beings. Both Deathwing and Azshara are extremely powerful but the cataclysm suggests a much more powerful being which could possibly be influenced by Deathwing and Azshara’s shared past of Old God influence.

The Guardian of Tirisfal – Returning to Azeroth is Malfurion Stormage. Malfurion will be aiding in the creation of the new Guardian of Tirisfal Thrall.

The New (New) Horde – Thrall hands over leadership of the Horde to Garrosh so Thrall can coordinate the Horde and Alliance forces in their fight against the Naga and Black Dragonflight. Garrosh, being unchecked by Thrall, declares open war on the Alliance.

The new content looks really good as well. Cataclysm is the first expansion to not feature a new continent. Instead, it gives you access to previously unreleased zones within the game as well as revamping some of the old ones as follows:

Classic Azeroth Revamp – Cataclysm will take the form of a revamped Azeroth, taking advantage of some of the newer things in the game like daily quests and phasing. Also getting a redesign are most of the mobs and quests in the classic zones which, hopefully, will make leveling up a little less painful. Some zones and dungeons will change dramatically in this expansion. The Barrens will be split into two separate zones of two different level bands. Azshara will become a low-level, 10-20 level zone. Some zones will be flooded, like the Thousand Needles. Orgimmar could face destruction and Durotar is completely wrecked. Over the course of the expansion you will see a new Orc city built. Gnomeregan has been added to the expansion with the proposition that gnomes may be able reclaim their capital however this is unconfirmed. as a result of the Druid’s magic, Wailing Caverns will become a lush, tropical area. Ragnaros, allegedly, will return and the Blackrock Spire will erupt creating a new version Blackrock Mountains.

You will now be able to fly in Azeroth. As part of the redesign in the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor Blizzard is introducing the ability to fly to the two continents which gives you access to new areas and quicker traveling. Onyxia’s Lair from patch 3.2.2 is being revamped. Most of the leveling up will take place in the revamped areas of Azeroth and also in the dungeons, which will allow players to use them to level up as well.

There is also a few new unreleased zones and dungeons as well. With the help of the flying mounts and the redesign of many areas in Azeroth, a lot of the previously unreachable or incomplete zones are available to players. Thses areas is where most of the leveling up from 80 to 85 will take place. Some of these areas include Hyjal (present), Gilneas (The Worgen starting zone) and Uldum. It is unclear, however, if old Goblin locations, like Kezan and Undermine, will be in Cataclysm. However, several new islands have been risen from the depths of the sea as a result of Cataclysm. Some of these islands are on the backs of giant sea turtles and whales and there are also several underwater zones.

Needless to say, this expansion is massive and offers a ton of new content to the already massive game. To get all the details and to watch a trailer of the new Expansion, go to the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm website.

By: Zack Duncan

Shadow Complex

We all remember the days of the classic side scrolling games. Taking our character across the screen, avoiding traps and enemies and fighting our way to the next stage. It was games like these that shaped the way we now play games. Most game developers today were heavily influenced by these types of games and it shows in the works they produce, especially in the newest title from Chair Entertainment and Epic Games.

Shadow Complex is a new game coming from developers Chair Entertainment and Producer Epic Games. Shadow Complex is a side scrolling game that takes the genre one step further. The first and foremost difference in this game is that you can’t buy it in stores. Shadow Complex is a downloadable game for the Xbox Live Arcade and the PC. The next biggest difference is the look of the game. Side scrolling games are typically made with 2-D graphics, however Shadow Complex is completely 3-D.

Shadow Complex combines the best of both worlds. You get the great classic side scrolling old-school style mixed with the gameplay mechanics of today’s top games. The gameplay is centered around exploration with fast-paced combat. Throughout the game you can acquire game-altering power-ups as well as a huge arsenal of futuristic weapons that provide you different means of getting around obstacles. This game is bigger than your typical downloadable or XLA game. To start, there are 17 unique power-ups for you to find in the game. In addition there is more than 100 different items and modifiers for you to discover and use to your advantage.

The combat in Shadow Complex is also intense. There is a huge number of different types of enemies for you to fight. In addition to the large variety of enemies there are also many enemies that you will fight at one time. But probably the coolest thing about the enemies is the boss battles. Most of the boss battles require you ta face off against some giant mech or assult weapon that adds a “David and Goliath” aspect to each battle.

Shadow Complex is also very easy to pick up and play. The controls are super tight which are both simple and highly intuitive. They are simple enough for a novice gamer to pick up and learn easily yet complex enough to allow more experienced gamers to enjoy additional depth and precision. There are many big names behind Shadow Complex. Chair Entertainment are the creators of Official Xbox Magazine’s Downloadable Game of the Year with their title Undertow and Producer Epic Games has made a big name for itself with the incredibly popular Gears of War franchise. The other big name in the game belongs to the script writer. Peter David, one of the most popular comic book writers of all time, is writing the script and the game itself is based upon the best-selling novel Empire by Orson Scott Card.

This game isn’t even out yet and it is already generating some crazy buzz about it. This title is building up to not only be the best and most popular downloadable game this year but could very well outshine some games that require a disk. We can only wait and see how it does when it is released. You can get this game on your PC or on your Xbox Live Arcade. It will cost you 1200 Microsoft points on Live which is roughly around $15. The game will be released on August 19th, 2009.

By: Zack Duncan

Faction Switching Coming to World of Warcraft

The immensely popular online MMO RPG game World of Warcraft has a bigger fan base and player count than any game around. Since the games release in 2004, the developers at Blizzard have created a plethora of different services for WoW players that lets them modify their gaming experience, for a fee that is. Some of theses services included paid, and even free, server transfers, name changes, the option of editing your character’s physical appearance and gender. But there is one change that many fans have been begging for and it seems that Blizzard is finally going to give it to them.

One of the biggest things some players didn’t like about WoW was that when you started a game, chose your class and character and starting gaining rank, you were stuck with that character. Well, you weren’t stuck with that particular character forever. If you desired to switch up what you were playing with you could, with one little defect. Switching your character in a game required you to restart at a level one player. So, if you got tired of being a level 65 Blood Elf and wanted to switch to something like Dwarf, you would have to start with a level one Dwarf, loosing all the time and effort you put into your previous character. But now, it seems, that Blizzard wants to change that for you and allow you to switch from one class to another(Horde to Alliance, Alliance to Horde) without losing all of your rank and other things.

A poster for Blizzard named Nethaera claims this about Blizzard adding faction switching to WoW: We wanted to give everyone a very early heads-up that, in response to player requests, we’re developing a new service for World of Warcraft that will allow players to change their faction from Alliance to Horde or Horde to Alliance. There’s still much work to do and many details to iron out, but the basic idea is that players will be able ti use the service to transform an existing character into a roughly equivalent character of the opposing faction on the same realm. Players who ended up creating and leveling up characters on the opposite factions from their friends have been asking for this type of functionality for some time, and we’re pleased to be getting closer to being able to deliver it.

As with all the features and services we offer, we intend to incorporate the faction-change service in a way that won;t disrupt the gameplay experience on the realms, and there will be some rules involved with when and how the service can be used. The number of variables involved increases the complexity of implementing this service, but we plan to take the time needed to ensure that it lives up to expectations before officially rolling it out. We’ll go into much more detail on all of this here at www.WorldofWarcraft.com as development progresses. In the meantime, we wanted to let you know that because of this type of functionality requires extensive internal testing well in advance of release, you may be seeing bits and pieces of the service in the test builds we use for the public test realms moving forward.

The development of this service is going to take time due to things like faction specific quests, achievements, and items that will take longer to implement. The idea of a faction switching service is getting mixed responses from the gaming community. Some people love the idea, stating that they can easily change to the faction most of their friends are playing on without losing progress. Others are against asking what the point of choosing sides is if you can just change it willy nilly? But it has been stated that this service will cost gamers a fee to use, though no specific charge has been announced. But what do you think? Is faction switching for WoW a good idea or not?

By: Zack Duncan

EA Combines Bioware and Mythic

Thanks to Electronic Arts, the RPG development teams from Bioware (Mass Effect) and Mythic (Warhammer) have been combined into one big happy RPG team. EA has completely restructured the design team and has placed co-founder and general manager of Bioware, Ray Muzyka, in charge. Current Mythic General Manager Marc Jacobs has officially left the company as of yesterday.

In a statement from the company regarding Jacobs, they had this to say, “We thank Marc for his contributions at Mythic and we wish him the very best going forward. Marc played a major part in the success of Mythic with his contribution as General Manager and Lead Designer of WAR.”

Ray Muzyka is now the group’s creative officer. Co-founder of Mythic Rob Denton has taken the position of general manager previously held by Jacobs. It has not been exactly said why the two teams are being pushed together but it is clear that EA has named Bioware as their internal RPG and MMO-related projects leader. This combo could be a result of resources or could be the advantage of shared knowledge, due to the fact that Warhammer continues to grow in the MMO category.

By: Zack Duncan

BioShock 2 Multiplayer News

BioShock was one of the most innovative and original games back when it debuted in 2007. It brought something different to the first-person shooter genre and quickly became one of the best games of the year winning numerous Best of Show and Game of the Year awards.

One thing that was so different about it was how the developers created it. Most games these days have a good story mode and then a really good online multiplayer mode(i.e. Gears of War, Halo). However, BioShock had absolutely no multiplayer at all. The reason for this was that the developers wanted to focus all their attention and effort on making a game with an incredible single player experience. They figured that if the campaign was good enough, people wouldn’t need a multiplayer mode, and they were right.

Like all great games typically do, BioShock is spawning a sequel and, despite some people’s interjections, will contain multiplayer. There has been some debates over whether or not BioShock 2 needed multiplayer or not. Most people loved the exclusive single player of the first game and don’t want the developers to take away anything from the campaign in their efforts to create multiplayer. But some new details have arisen about the new multiplayer mode, and they might just turn some of you skeptics around.

One of the most incredible things about the multiplayer mode is that is takes place in the time when rapture was collapsing. This means it takes place before the first BioShock game. The interesting part is that the actual game takes place 10 years after the first game! “Would you kindly” pick me up off of the floor, I just fainted. Your multiplayer character is one of the plasmid test subjects so you get to assist in the mayhem that besought Rapture. But if playing a crazy, plasmid-injected psycho isn’t your cup of tea, then you will be happy to know that you can also play as a normal citizen of Rapture trying your hardest to protect rapture from complete destruction. Considering the fact that the multiplayer is a prequel, it gives you the awesome chance to explore Rapture before it became destroyed and decayed like you saw it in the first BioShock. allowing for a greater appreciation of the architecture of Rapture. One reason the multiplayer is going to be like a completely different experience is because it is being developed by a different company than the single player campaign. Digital Extremes is handling the development of the multiplayer, aside from 2K Marine who is doing the single player campaign.

No word has been released as of yet on how many players the multiplayer will support. There is also no word on the number of maps or what modes there will be. I can only assume that whatever maps they do have will be just as vast as the levels in the single player mode. What has been revealed is that players will be able to unlock new weapons, plasmids and tonics by using experience points they receive from combat. It is still unclear whether or not these items will be strictly multiplayer or not but developers do promise hundreds of different combinations which means very different forms of combat depending on the player. One rumor about the multiplayer is that you will be able to put on a Big Daddy suit, but that is just speculation.

From just these few details it seems that developers are going to great lengths to make a truly incredible multiplayer experience. If these details don’t get some of you skeptics watering at the mouth, then you are a lost cause. I know for a fact that I have just become that much more excited and eager for this game to come out. BioShock 2 is set to release on September 30 for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

written By: Zack Duncan

Star Wars: The Old Republic

The newest project from LucasArts and BioWare, much to my chagrin, is not the Knights of the Old Republic 3 RPG that I, along with thousands of others, was hoping for. Star Wars: The Old Republic is an MMO RPG set in a time period thousands of years before the birth of the infamous Darth Vader. And this game is an MMO in every way possible. According to developers, you will be able to join different guilds, craft different items, go on raids, harvest resources, have multiple classes, the whole nine yards. And if you can do half of the things in the game that they show in the trailer, then this game is going to be worth playing.

The game follows the playing style of most RPGs. There is a circular conversation system much like the one used in Bioware’s other hugely popular title Mass Effect. To control your character, you use either the “A” “S” “W” and “D” keys or the arrow keys like you do in most games. To initiate an attack or command you use the number keys. Each number key corresponds to number icons on the bottom of the screen. Each character class has different benefits from attacking or handling things in different ways. For example, if you play as a Sith, you build up action points for each melee attack. Once you gain enough action points you can unleash a special attack. One example is after landing enough hits on enemies, you can unleash a stun attack, which stuns all surrounding enemies. Another special attack is the infamous choke attack as seen by Darth Vader in Episode IV: A New Hope. But this is a special attack so you can’t go around force choking everybody you see. Another feat of note is a leaping attack that resembles the one seen in the newest Wolverine game. If you are far enough away from an enemy then you can hit the corresponding key and leap across the room and attack him. One of the key points the developers made at their E3 press release for the game was that Star Wars: The Old Republic is going to be the first ever fully voiced MMO RPG. This means that ever individual class and character will have their own unique voice.

Just like in KOTOR, you do not automatically start off as either a good guy or a bad guy. You choose a faction in the beginning, either Sith or Republic, and you go on from there. Your character is essentially in the gray spectrum, moving either towards the good side or the evil side of the of the line. The story takes place 300 years after the events of the first KOTOR game. So here’s the story: 2 Jedi got exiled from the order. They then went into deep space and ran into the Sith. Bad stuff happened and the two Jedi were sent back to the Republic as Sith Emissaries. The Sith then beat the crap out of the republic and then pulled back almost immediately. The Sith demanded a bunch of random planets for their control in exchange for calling it even with the Republic. The Republic said “deal” and now there are these two powerhouses sitting uneasily in the galaxy, waiting to take the other one over. Your job is to choose a side, and help lead them on to victory.

The last Star Wars MMO RPG , Star Wars: Galaxies wasn’t that big of a hit with gamers. If this new one does really well, then we could see Galaxies phased out with LucasArts focusing all of their attention and resources on The Old Republic. Being made by BioWare, who knows how to make an RPG, I think we can hold The Old Republic with high hopes. Being a major fan of the KOTOR games, and being extremely pissed and disappointed to see this game instead of a KOTOR 3, I was totally against this game. But I am slowly being turned to the other side, especially after the games great E3 production.

By: Zack Duncan

Guitar Hero: Smash Hits

Activison and Harmonix strikes again with the latest installment in the Guitar Hero franchise with Guitar Hero: Smash Hits. Since its conception in 2005, Guitar Hero has birthed 7 games: Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero 2, Guitar Hero 3, Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks The 80’s, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, Guitar Hero: World Tourr, and Guitar Hero: Metallica.

The two most recent games, Guitar Hero: World Tour and Guitar Hero: Metallica, are the first in the series to incorporate the entire band experience, i.e. being able to play the guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. All previous games were guitar exclusive. However, Guitar Hero is the best selling rhythm game on the market today, and their newest installment looks to be the best yet.

It comes as no surprise to anybody that Guitar Hero would eventually make a “greatest hits” type game. With each game in the series having anywhere between 60 and 80 songs, there is plenty of amazing songs to compile into a game of the best. Guitar Hero: Smash Hits compiles what the developers call “the funnest songs” from the Guitar Hero franchise.

The game does not feature songs from all seven games however. The games that are featured are Guitar Hero 1, GGuitar Hero 2, Guitar Hero 3, and Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks The 80’s. The reason, though not confirmed, for not including tracks from Guitar Hero: World Tour and Guitar Hero: Metallica can be speculated as those games already incorporates all the features; guitar, bass, drums, and vocals; that are being added for the songs of previous versions. As for not incorporating songs from Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, I thus far have no information on a reason for that.

The developers are taking all the upgrades added to Guitar Hero: World Tour, and even some from the Guitar Hero: Metallica and incorporating them into the songs of previous games. They are adding the slider bar effect seen in GH:WT as well as the improved hammer on’s and pull off’s, tapping feature, etc… and from GH:Metallica they added the expert + difficulty level. Guitar Hero: Smash Hits also brings a brand new story line to the game revolving around your character traveling to all the wonders of the world with the god of rock. There are also 8 new venues for you to play in, giving the game a truly unique feel. The create-a-rocker feature is back, allowing you the ability to create and customize your very own rock god as well as the ability to create different things like band logo, guitars, drum sets, tattoos, and more. Plus, all your favorite characters are back to rock out along side you.

Well this wouldn’t be a very good post if I didn’t let you know what songs will be in the game so here you go. For the first time ever, the game features 48 master recordings. The songs are as follows:

Guitar Hero 1:
1.) Godzilla – By Blue Oyster Cult
2.) More Than A Feeling – By Boston
3.) Smoke On The Water – By Deep Purple
4.) Take Me Out – By Franz Ferdinand
5.) Unsung(Live) – By Helmet
6.) Stellar – By Incubus
7.) I Love Rock N’ Roll – By Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
8.) Bark At The Moon – By Ozzy Osbourne
9.) Cowboys From Hell(Live) – Pantera
10.) Killer Queen – By Queen
11.) No One Knows – By Queens Of The Stone Age
12.) Take It Off – By The Donnas
13.) Hey You – The Exies
14.) Thunder Kiss ‘65 – By White Zombie

Guitar Hero 2:
1.) Them Bones – By Alice In Chains
2.) Beast And The Harlot – By Avenged Sevenfold
3.) Mother – By Danzig
4.) Monkey Wrench – By The Foo Fighters
5.) The Trooper – By Iron Maiden
6.) Stop! – By Jane’s Addiction
7.) Carry On Wayward Son – By Kansas
8). Laid To Rest – By Lamb Of God
9.) Free Bird – By Lynyrd Skynyrd
10.) Shout At The Devil – By Motley Crue
11.) Heart-Shaped Box – By Nirvana
12.) Killing In The Name Of – By Rage Against The Machines
13.) Psychobilly Freakout – By Reverend Horton Heat
14.) YYZ – By Rush
15.) Trippin’ On a Hole In A Paper Heart – By Stone Temple Pilots
16.) Message In A Bottle – By The Police
17.) Freya – By The Sword -
18.) Cherry Pie – By Warrant
19.) Woman – By Wolfmother

Guitar Hero 3:
1.) Miss Murder – By AFI
2.) Through The Fire And The Flames – By Dragonforce
3.) Barracuda – By Heart
4.) Rock And Roll All Night – By Kiss
5.) Cult Of Personality – By Living Colour
6.) Hit Me With Your Best Shot – By Pat Benatar
7.) Lay Down – By Priestess
8.) Raining Blood – By Slayer

Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks The 80’s:
1.) Caught In A Mosh – Anthrax
2.) Play With Me – Extreme
3.) Electric Eye – Judas Priest
4.) Nothin’ But A Good Time – By Poison
5.) Round And Round – By Ratt
6.) I Wanna Rock – By Twisted Sister

With a set list like this there is no way you can be disappointed. The songs are amazing, the game is amazing, and everything you have come to know and love about Guitar Hero is all there. Look for this game when it arrives on June 16th, 2009 for the X-Box 360, Wii, PS3, and PS2.

written by: Zack Duncan

Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Video

Yesterday Activison released a quick 15 second teaser trailer of the much anticipated sequel Modern Warfare 2.

If you are looking to grab all the latest info on the latest game in the series then you might want to hit up game informers next June issue. The newest issue will feature ten pages of Modern warfare 2 coverage.

Also Acitvision has made it official that they will no longer be part of the Call of Duty franchise and are instead just going by the name Modern Warfare 2 for their latest game to be released.

As far as the trailer goes here is what we have learned according to Gamespot:

“A 15-second spot–now viewable on YouTube–confirmed the sequel would have a US/UK-vs.-Russian scenario similar to that of the 13-million-unit best-seller Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The clip begins with several Hughes MH-6 Little Bird helicopters dropping off a US Special Forces unit onto an airbase in a frozen landscape. That landscape is apparently Russian, since subsequent clips show a MIG-29 fighter-bomber exploding amidst what appear to be soldiers in former Soviet bloc uniforms.

The trailer then goes on to show some new scenarios not playable in Call of Duty 4. Shots reveal an underwater mission with several commandoes decked out in Scuba gear and a snowmobile chase ending in a spectacular crash. The clip ends with a night-vision shot from what appears to be a guided bomb closing in on a solitary figure, closing with the announcement, “world premiere May 24 [during the] Eastern Conference Finals [on TNT].”

Modern Warfare 2 is set to be released on November 10th 2009 on the Xbox 360, PC, and PS3.

Duke Nukem Developer Closes Down

3D Realms, a popular and seasoned games developer has shut down due to a lack of funds. The company, founded in 1987, took the concept of shareware gaming and made it popular and then went on to create and publish the popular games Wolfenstein 3D and Duke Nukem. 3D Realms was working on a follow up title to Duke Nukem, entitled Duke Nukem Forever which has been in development for over 12 years and has since become the cause of ridicule in the gaming industry.

Take-Two, publisher of the game, has decided to no longer fund the game’s development but still holds rights to the game’s title. Take-Two’s Alan Lewis reported in a statement “We can confirm that our relationship with 3D Realms for Duke Nukem Forever was a publishing arrangement, which did not include ongoing funds for the development of the title.”

3D Realms has yet to release an official comment about the situation aside from a post by webmaster of 3D Realms Joe Siegler which was found on a forum. Siegler stated “It’s not a marketing thing. It’s true. I have nothing further to say at this time.” Other companies who had close links to 3D Realms took the same path as Take-Two and put some distance between themselves and 3D Realms very quickly.

Apogee Software said in one of their Twitter posts that they were “officially not affected by the situation at 3D Realms.” They also said that “development of the game is continuing as planned and further announcements about upcoming games will be made in the near future.”

Steve Boxer, a writer for Guardian Newspaper Games said “It is astonishing 3D Realms has not finished the game after more than a decade of development. It would have been nice to see another Duke Nukem game, but given they had more than 12 years it’s just incompetence of the highest order. 3D Realms made some great games in the past, but they got overtaken by the 21st century. Sadly, Duke Nukem Forever was most aptly named title in the history of games. Now, it’s just Duke Nukem Never.”

Many people have been talking and anticipating the release of Duke Nukem Forever and it is sad to see that their wish may never come true. But really, taking so long to make a game is a little absurd, especially in the fast paced society we live in today. Yet some people still hold out hope for the game, and it is those dedicated people that just might see this gme through to the end.

written by: Zack Duncan

Demigod

If you are going to play the game Demigod thinking you are playing one specific type of game, then you’d be wrong. So what type of game is it? Is it an RTS? Yes. Is it an RPG? Yes. Is it action based? Yes. But does it have enough from any one gameplay mechanic to classify it as one game? No. There isn’t enough freedom at all to classify it as a straight action based game. There isn’t enough character leveling up to make it entirely RPG, and there isn’t enough point-and-click commanding to classify it entirely as an RTS. However, when the fragments of each game type combine, they make for a concoction that can only be classified as awesome.

The story is simple enough. Eight demigods have been summoned to do battle with each other until only one remains, uplifting that Demigod to full god status. There are no dramatic cut scenes, thematic through lines, or even a larger plot to help progress the story. This game is all about picking a Demigod and leading him/her to the complete annihilation of the other ones. There are two main classes of combatants, Generals, who can summon all four types of minions in the game to use as you see fit, or assassins who let you take control and wreak havoc in any twisted or demented way you see fit.

There is a lot of leveling up in this game developed by Gas Powered Games and published by Stardock Corporation. You will gain rank and awesome new abilities so much that you won’t know what to do. There are four different game types in Demigod including Slaughter, which tallies up your Demigod kills and Conquest, which puts your Citadel crushing skills to the test. Each game mode can support up to 10 players at a time each with the ability of having different upgrades, powers, and special bonuses. One of the biggest drawbacks from Demigod is the complete and total lack of a single player campaign or a tutorial. The closest thing you have to a tutorial is going into a single player match vs AI opponents but even this isn’t a sufficient enough tutorial considering you just have to start playing and figure everything out as you go along.

This game is completely an online based game to be played against other human players. However, there have been numerous problems arising with the online multiplayer. However, developers are working super hard to fix all the bugs and problems with the multiplayer. But, overall, this game, when you can get online with it, is really good. It takes pieces of three different game types and incorporates them into a lovechild of awesomeness. This game is definitely worth picking up if you are a fan of the RTS, RPG, or action based game.

Written By: Zack Duncan