I just knew some litigation was going to come of this.

It looks as though Duke Nukem Forever publisher Take-Two isn’t going to let the recent closure of the game’s former developer Apogee Software, Ltd.’s 3D Realms go without some form of retribution for its near 12 years of slacking. Bloomberg initially broke news of the publishers’ grievance stating Apogee/3D Realms “breached an agreement to design the latest installment of Duke Nukem” claiming Apogee/3D Realms “never produced the game and instead closed its studio on May 6, terminated development of the game and fired employees who had been involved in the Duke Nukem project”. Take-Two insists that “Apogee continually delayed the completion date for Duke Nukem Forever”, and ” Apogee repeatedly assured Take-Two and the video-gaming community that it was diligently working toward competing development of the PC Version of the Duke Nukem Forever”.

Read the full article »

While we mourn the loss of 3D Realms as well as the joke formerly known as Duke Nukem Forever, it seems there are a handful of former employees of 3D Realms who refuse to go quietly into the night. Game assets from what we can only speculate as the final push for DNF are now being leaked onto the internet.

While I’m not sure if their (former employees) motives are sincere, I am getting the feeling there are some former bosses and/or publishing associates who are rather irritated right now.

To give fair warning, some of these are NSFW (not safe for work):

Read the full article »

Just a minute, I’ve got to adjust my soapbox before I talk about comparing playing violent videogames with accepting torture.

As the battle over torture rages through the media, Huffington Post columnist Kari Henley has taken the opportunity to  blame the acceptance of torture by some US citizens on violent videogames and other media. She insinuates that you can’t have both videogames and morals in her post “America Doesn’t Torture… We just play Grand Theft Auto “.

“I believe if we are going to truly come to terms with abiding by moral codes against extreme acts of violence, we first have to start in our own living rooms to explore the increased levels of violence we witness on a daily basis that serves as news or entertainment. We say we “don’t f**#$ torture,” yet Grand Theft Auto is our favorite video game.”

After raging on about the depravity of popular adult television series and movies, Henley once again lashes out at mature rated videogames labeling them trainers designed to turn children into killers.

Read the full article »

Rockstar has released three new screens for the upcoming downloadable content The Lost and the Damned for Grand Theft Auto 4. In case you have been living under a rock or have just not been paying much attention, the DLC is set in Liberty City and features a new main character, Johnny Klebitz. While the plot intersects with the storyline of the game, new missions that offer a new way to explore the city along with new multiplayer modes, weapons and vehicles. They have even added addition music to the soundtrack to help freshen things up a bit.

The Lost and the Damned is expected to be released on February 17, 2009. Check back with us as more information is expected to be released between now and then.

After a renewed start we had an interruption these last few weeks but rest assured Filefront is still hosting and promoting all the great user created and hosted content contributed to us. We return with a double length post highlighting some great mods and files for quite a few outstanding games including usual suspects like Half-Life 2, the Battlefield games and of course one of my favorite series “that I am really no good at yet still enjoy” – Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War

Highlights from this week’s column include mods for:

• Doom III – Wrathchild Act I (not ROE compatible), Revised Alphalabs
• Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion – A Provost of the Nine Divines, More Nord Beards
• Battlefield 2 – Operation Peacekeeper, Allies Intent Extended
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R – Ballistics Mod
• Far Cry 2 – new maps: MP_Surf & Gold Rush

There are also links to other maps, mods and patches for many of your favorite PC modifiable games. Be sure to check it all out after the jump.

Read the full article »

Electronic Arts is being targeted by another class-action law suit over the DRM included with Spore, SecuROM. This time, California resident Alex McQuown is hoping to use Spore to take down SecuROM once and for all.

The grievances listed in Alex McQuown’s class-action suit against EA are much the same as the other suits with three big differences. His lawyers at Finkelstein Thompson claim that SecuROM damages computers costing consumer time and money to repair the havoc caused by its installation. The suit also asserts that EA has needlessly caused its customers grief. The figures prove that piracy of games that carry SecuROM has risen dramatically. The biggest difference in McQuown’s suit is that he invites every U.S. citizen that has purchased an EA product with SecuROM to join the class.
Read the full article »

Nancy Drew makes her debut on consoles with the HER Interactive title Nancy Drew: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek. This is the first Nancy Drew game to step out of the PC genre.

Nancy Drew: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek takes advantage of the innovative Wii controller to add depth to gameplay which is pure point and click on the PC. Players will engage in gesture based minigames as they dig into the mysterious accidents surrounding the Chantal family’s Icicle Creek lodge.

My daughters have really enjoyed the Nancy Drew series. Translating Nancy Drew adventures for the Wii will make them more accessible than ever to a growing casual gaming audience that are often more comfortable with consoles. Gamers can uncover Nancy Drew: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek for the Wii in local retails stores or order it online from www.HerInteractive.com.

The new trailer for BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams may have many questioning just what 2K Boston has in store for us with such archaic imagery, but there are those who are wonder just what else there could possibly be left to do in Rapture. What or whom survived the last round remains to be seen, but what we do know, thanks to a recent quote from 2K representative Charlie Sinhaseni on Gamespot, is that the game is “destined” for the PS3, Windows based PCs and the Xbox 360.

While a psychic barnyard animal could have predicted that, what we are still unsure of is if each port of the game will be released simultaneously or not. Hopefully, this time around that will be the case–that way those who wish to play the PS3 version will not have to once again wait an whole painful year to get the game on their system.

When BioShock 2 was officially announced back in March, Take-Two stated that not only would Ken Levine be involved in some capacity, but that the game would be released sometime during the company’s Q4 fiscal year, which means we can hopefully expect it to hit sometime between August and October 2009.

Granted, that is over a year away and a lot can happen between now and then, but let’s keep our fingers crossed that this time around everyone will be able venture back into Rapture on the same day. In the meantime, just keep your eyes glued to 1UP for a more official announcement.

While Take-Two Chairman, Strauss Zelnick, may be the king of Men’s Fitness right now, there’s one place where he’s not so revered at the moment: Jim Cramer’s Mad Money. If you’ve ever flipped over to CNBC, odds are you’ve seen Cramer bring a wild amount of drama to the unlikely topic of stock trading. Part of the spectacle of the show extends to a “Wall of Shame” for businessmen who somehow cause their stocks to dwindle in the market, which found a new member recently in Zelnick (via GamePolitics). Cramer cited Take-Two’s rejection of EA’s $25.74 buyout offer as the reason for this, stating:

[EA's offer was] an offer no sane man can refuse. But Strauss Zelnick, Take-two’s chairman did just that…Welcome to the Wall of Shame, Strauss Zelnick. You managed to take a sure thing, a $25 stock and turn it into a $13 one [note: now around $12, as of this morning]. That takes talent.

Zelnick was added along with two CEOs from other companies whose stock suffered a similar fate, whom Cramer described as “The New Marx Brothers AKA The Destroyers of Capitalism As You Know It” (via CNBC). Aw, don’t feel too bad, Strauss. As long as your company keeps making great games, we’re still with you. But you have to do us one favor: no more Manhunt games. Ever.