Home of Fuster's Quake II Servers

Oh hey there, Alpha Protocol! It's been a while but we (and Sega of course) haven't forgotten the love for the idea of an Obsidian-developed, modern-day, action RPG. A welcome change of pace to a genre dominated by sci-fi/fantasy settings. Keep an eye out for more as we approach the recently announced June 1 launch date.

In the meantime, enjoy the latest trailer below depicting the lonely world a spy must live in to accomplish his goals.

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It’s hard to nail down exact numbers when it comes to video game budgets, which is why whenever you come across a list like the following one it’s always good to remember that they are merely educated estimates. Having said that, it’s well understood that game budgets have been neck and neck with Hollywood productions for some time now, and it’s fair to say they’ll remain in that vicinity for the foreseeable future.

To that point, Digital Battle has compiled a list of the top 10 game highest game budgets ever, and while none of the figures are that surprising, they are certainly discussion worthy. Take a look:

1. Grand Theft Auto IV - $100 million
2. Gran Turismo 5 - $80 million
3. Shenmue - $70 million
4. Too Human - $60+ million
5. Metal Gear Solid 4 - $60 million
6. Halo 3 - $55 million
7. APB - $50 million
8. L.A. Noire - $50 million
9. Final Fantasy XII - $48 million
10. Killzone 2 - $45 million

The proper result from attending an institution of higher education is a degree that should start you on your career path. EA Black Box is here with another Skate 3 district trailer that would like to say otherwise.

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It's clear that the impending Chaos threat is set to arrive in Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Chaos Rising. Relic developers are hear to explain how they won't leave your existing favorite factions unprepared for the new enemy as they detail the new units for multiplayer RTS

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Described as "racing through an adventure game" by one of the developers, Split/Second is set in a fictional TV racing show where safety concerns get a well-deserved DNF. By skillfully employing driving techniques like drifting and drafting, players will fill up a power meter. Once full, the meter allows players to trigger all manner of explosive catastrophe on and around the track, from bursting water pipes in opponents' paths to dropping cargo liners across the track and forcing players to take a detour or shortcut.

Black Rock Studio is best known as the developer behind all-terrain vehicle racer Pure. While Split/Second will be just the second game to bear the studio's name, it developed its racing game acumen as Climax Racing, developer of 2002's MotoGP for the Xbox and Sony's ATV Offroad Fury series. The studio was acquired by Buena Vista Games (now Disney Interactive Studios) in 2006.

Split/Second will be released for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

"Saints, Sinners and Survivors" are the label given to the Women of Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption. Find out why in the latest gun-slinging trailer below.

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Now, the man behind the technology that powered those early shooters will have one more honor to add to his mantel, as Game Developers Conference show runners UBM TechWeb Game Network (formerly Think Services Game Group) announced today that it would honor id chief technical officer John Carmack with a Lifetime Achievement Award as part of the 2010 Game Developers Choice Awards.

According to show organisers, the Lifetime Achievement Award "recognises the career and achievements of developers who have made an indelible impact on the craft of game development." Award winners are chosen by the Choice Awards Advisory Committee, which comprises industry luminaries such as Ben Cousins (EA DICE), Harvey Smith (Arkane), Raph Koster (Metaplace), John Vechey (PopCap), Ray Muzyka (BioWare), and Clint Hocking (Ubisoft).

"It's no exaggeration to say that John Carmack and id Software have had a monumental influence on all modern 3D games, but especially the first-person shooter genre," said GDC event director Meggan Scavio of Carmack's selection. "John is one of the key figures in the history of video games, and we're delighted to be giving him the Lifetime Achievement award this year."

Carmack will receive the accolade at the GDCAs, which will take place on March 11 in San Francisco as part of GDC 2010. The studio, which was purchased by Bethesda Softworks parent company Zenimax Media in June 2009, is currently work on the all-new intellectual property Rage, as well as Doom 4 and a free-to-play Web browser-based version of Quake, which is currently in a beta-testing phase.

Jumbo Jet vs. Fire Truck? Visions of epic Transformer childhood memories aside, who would win in a classic duel of guts? Square Enix and Avalanche Studios would like to illustrate with the following Just Cause 2 trailer.

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Like an overdose of The History Channel, the developers over at Creative Assembly have issued an intense nine minute Napoleon: Total War trailer featuring a virtual rematch at the infamous Battle of Waterloo.

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EA’s bloody buddy shooter Army of Two: The 40th Day will receive a little co-op support of its own soon thanks to a new map pack entitled "Chapters of Deceit."

The pack includes two new co-op campaign mission maps/chapters in which buff mercs Salem and Rios must use newly acquired, and potentially war-ending info, to attempt to bring down the game’s big baddie, Jonah.

"Chapters of Deceit" will be available on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live on April 1.

More heavy hitter units are on display in a new pair of Supreme Commander 2 unit videos. First, check out the might of the "Pulinsmash" spinning gyro-vortex of doom. Then, check out the AC-1000, a fictional take on the well-known AC-130 gunship.

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So you’re sitting there playing Gearbox Software’s stylish shooter Borderlands, and you’re thinking to yourself, “Gee, this game could really use some more content, because this massive-game-plus-two-DLC-packs business just doesn’t cut it.” Luckily for you, gamer who doesn’t exist because no one could ever complain about the lack of content in Borderlands, Gearbox always aims to please, and they’ll be doing so this week with the release of “The Secret Armory of General Knoxx.”

Here’s a short list of some of what awaits you in the latest add-on:

• Almost twice the size of "The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned"
• A brand new class of ultra-rare/kick-ass weapons
• New vehicles including one that allows for four players to drive and inflict damage and deal out death
• An exciting story line that picks-up where the original game left off
• Almost 30 new villain types
• A level cap increase to 61
• More difficult villains and smarter AI

If you really dig the plasmid-fueled chaos of BioShock 2's multiplayer, then you’ll be pleased to hear that the first round of "aggressive” downloadable content for the nightmarish shooter will be entirely multiplayer-centric.

The Sinclair Solutions Test Pack will hit Xbox Live Marketplace (400 Microsoft Points) and PlayStation Network ($4.99) sometime in March, and will include the following goodies:

• Rank Increase to level 50 with Rank Rewards
• New playable characters Louie McGraff and Oscar Calraca
• 20 new trials*
• A third weapon upgrade for each weapon
• Five additional masks -- Some items are only available after a player achieves a rank of 41 or higher.

2K plans to release more DLC over the next few months to fill out both the single-player and multiplayer experiences even further.

Eidos’s massive open-world action-stravaganza Just Cause 2 is designed to foster player creativity by letting you mix and match all manner of combat/stunt abilities to create gloriously over-the-top moments. Case in point: these two new stunt vignettes. First up, the glories of gravity:

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Witnessing the epic and dramatic story conclusion of Command & Conquer gloomy-gus Kane in Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight will elicit differing emotions depending on where your loyalties lie. Regardless of how you feel about Kane and his powerful Brotherhood of Nod, one thing is for certain in the world of C&C4, earth is in a bad way, and the fate of humanity depends on a reluctant partnership between the Nod and the Global Defense Initiative.

If that sounds like a story you’d like to experience, then you definitely want to check out the new cinematic trailer:

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PC gamers have been all atwitter lately over Ubisoft’s rather baffling DRM restrictions included in Assassin’s Creed II. In an attempt to dowse the ever-rising flames of discontent among dedicated PC players, Ubisoft offered a statement to Ars Technica addressing some of the charges being made with regards to the “must be online to play the game, and if your connection drops you lose your current progress” DRM requirements.

"As long as you do not quit the game," Ubisoft explained, "the game will continue to try to reconnect for an unlimited time. Once the game is able to reconnect, you will immediately be returned to your game." Ok, but where you return is a rather important point, since there had been reports of players having to start over at the last auto-save point following a dropped internet connection.

To this, Ubisoft said that ACII, "reconnects you at the last checkpoint (and not the last auto save). There are many checkpoints so you're back to the point where you got disconnected in no time."

That’s a little better, I guess, but it’s still far from acceptable, even if it only happens if the disconnection occurs for an extended period of time. The fact that anything other than a full on game crash, or your character dying, could revert you back to your previous checkpoint just sounds absurd. And that doesn’t even take into account the larger issue here of having to be constantly online in order to play the game.

If I didn’t know any better I’d say that Ubisoft is going out of its way to make the prospect of playing the PC version of the game as unpleasant as possible so as to encourage PC gamers to play the game on a console. Could this be Ubisoft’s way of not-so-subtly trying to distance themselves from the PC gaming community? Or did they just make a really bad call including this type of DRM?

2K Games has made lovers of Sid Meier’s adored Civilization franchise extremely happy by announcing that Civilization V will be ruining lives and/or drastically altering sleep schedules this Autumn.

Firaxis Games creative director Sid Meier said the following in a statement to the press:

“Each new version of Civilization presents exciting challenges for our team. Thankfully, ideas on how to bring new and fun experiences to Civ players never seem to stop flowing. From fully animated leaders and realistic landscapes, new combat tactics, expanded diplomacy and shared mods, we’re excited for players to see the new vision our team at Firaxis has brought to the series.”

Civ addicts will also be able to get their fix via Firaxis’ other project, the Facebook-based title, Sid Meier’s Civilization Network, which will also be launching this year.

We've seen the daddy-daughter revenge angle numerous times before. Ex-operative Sam Fisher would have your run-of-the-mill vendetta, right? Of course not. For the doubters, here's the newest Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction trailer to further deliver unto us story details.

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We knew that Assassin's Creed II's DRM for the PC would require online authentication, but apparently, it's more than that... much more. Computer and Video Games checked out Assassin's Creed II, and bring back the disturbing word that the game will require a constant internet connection, and if that connection drops, your game will boot you.

Think about that: A hiccup in your DSL, and the game kicks you and automatically reverts back to your last save point.

Do. Not. Want.

This means playing the game will be impossible if Ubisoft's servers are down. It will not function on a laptop on an airplane, for example. If you have a spotty internet connection for some reason, you're going to be very unhappy.

All of this is to protect the game from piracy, of course, which is a noble goal, but on the other hand, I predict this game will be cracked. And the cracked version won't require online authentication (obviously), so this DRM will essentially make the retail version appreciably worse than the pirate version...So is this necessary self-defense from warez thieves, or is this a recipe for self-defeat?

There are quite a few major real-time strategy games coming out this year, and one of them that keeps catching my eye is Gas Powered Games’ Supreme Commander 2. The latest bit of video teasing comes via two new units trailers. The first is for the massively shielded Bomb Bouncer, and the devastating, multi-tentacle, submarine killer, the Kraken. Massive destruction ahoy!

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Blizzard may steal the free time from millions of people, but yesterday the company proved it gives back as well. Blizzard donated over a million dollars to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. (Check out that awesome oversized novelty check!) The company handed over half the funds generated by the in-game sale in November and December of a special World of Warcraft pet, the Pandaren Monk.

Along with the cold, hard lucre, Blizzard gave 15 World of Warcraft playing wish kids and their families an "exclusive learning experience" with the World of Warcraft development team, including an inside look at how the game is created.

“Thanks to Blizzard Entertainment and World of Warcraft players around the world, we will be able to grant the heartfelt wishes of even more courageous children with life-threatening medical conditions,” said David Williams, Make-A-Wish Foundation of America president and chief executive officer. “This generosity is helping us bring hope, strength and joy to children when they – and their families – are facing an unimaginably difficult time in their young lives.”

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will feature a DLC coupon, much like the one that came with Mass Effect 2. The "VIP Code" will allow access to an in-game store, where downloadable content will be displayed. Free DLC will be available on launch day, including a set of new multiplayer maps.

According to Patrick Bach, the senior producer on the game:

"We want people to insert the code they get when they buy the game to get access to [DLC content]. It's connected to your personal account, more or less, and what we want to do is give you something extra, added value, for that. In the future you will get more content, for free, if you have this VIP code."

Sure, added value. That's it. You might have thought that the DLC coupons were included to make buying and selling used games less attractive to gamers (the VIP Code can only be used once, so if you buy a game used, you also have to buy the code), and to make it less fun to give your games away when you're finished with 'em, but no. It's "something extra." Think of it like a present!

The VIP code will be attached to your EA.com account, not Live or PSN, which is more added value! After all, figuring out how to access the EA network, entering the code from the BF 2 card, and remembering whatever login or password I gave it when I played Mass Effect 2 is an engaging, old school adventure style puzzle -- that's added value before the game even starts!

Anyway, no matter how bitter I am about this new trend of DLC coupons, I'd better get used to it: I think it's here to stay. I just hope the integration of the DLC into Battlefield 2 is hassle free.

For PC gamers looking to get the most out of THQ’s upcoming post-apocalyptic-horror-shooter Metro 2033, you’ll want to make sure your machine sports a mean graphics card, specifically one that supports DirectX 11. See, THQ announced today that the Russian metro-based FPS will not only support an array of DX11 tech, but it will also be playable in Nvidia 3D.

"With DX11 enabled, Metro 2033 is undoubtedly one of the best looking PC games of 2010. Combine this with Nvidia 3D Vision and PhysX and you will experience mind-blowing visuals," Nvidia’s senior vice president of content and technology Tony Tomasi said in a statement.

Even though more and more titles are being released with 3D support these days, it still just feels so gimmicky for some reason; and 3D is as good as it has ever been. It might hit its stride in a few years, and we'll wonder how we ever played games without it, but for now, it just seems too much like a novelty.

You know what isn’t a novelty though? High-resolution, DX11-powered screenshots:

MMO World of Warcraft touched off a violent brawl that ended in bloodshed, arrest and ignominy for a family in Manatee County, Florida, US.

It began last week. Twenty-seven year-old gamer James Swan was immersed in World of Warcraft in a bedroom he shares with several children. Apparently, Swan was drinking and was growing increasingly loud. (I imagine he was screaming "50 DKP MINUS!" at the top of his lungs.) Anyway, his mum told him to quiet down, and Swan grabbed her hair and threw her onto a bed. Then, he grabbed his own son and threw him onto the bed.

His mum ran into the kitchen to call the cops, but Swan chased after her, grabbed the telephone and ripped it from the wall. He then slammed his own head into the kitchen wall, jumped on his mum and started strangling her, while threatening to kill her.

Enter Grandpa: Swan's grandfather tried to stop the strangulation, but was unable, so he grabbed a handgun and he and Swan tussled. The gun went off: BLAM. A bullet was found lodged in the porch, and another, apparently, lodged itself somewhere in Swan's head: Medical professionals noted a bullet entry wound, but no exit wound.

Then the cops showed up and took Swan off to jail, but were kind enough to release the charming mugshot you see above. He'll face charges for strangling his mum and throwing his child.

Obviously, this is not a story about World of Warcraft. It's a story about a bunch of unhappy people in Manatee County.

Ezio and Machiavelli delivering some bladed-justice in a Florence enslaved by a maniacal monk during the attempted Renaissance purging that took place during the famed "Bonfire of the Vanities?” Sounds like a winning formula to me. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow when the latest downloadable content for Assassin’s Creed II is released. For now, here’s the official trailer for the DLC to get you in the assassinatin’ mood.

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• Palazzo Medici – Located in Florence, the player gets to explore the house of the Medici family. It is located in the San Marco district of Florence.
• Santa Maria dei Frari – Located in Venice, in the San Polo district, the player gets to explore this renowned church built in the XIIIth century.
• Arsenal Shipyard – Venice was known for its Arsenal, a shipyard that was settled in the eastern part of the city. The last Templars’ Lair is located there, and lets the player explore the Drydocks.