Hot on the heels of the announcement of a brand new MechWarrior game comes another announcement that gives us something good to do right now.

Smith & Tinker has authorized the release of MechWarrior 4 as a free download on BattleTech.com. It’s not live yet, but it should be up very soon. According to the Smith and Tinker website,

In honor of BattleTech’s 25th anniversary, Smith & Tinker has authorized MekTek.net and MekTek Studios to distribute MechWarrior 4 (along with its expansion packs) completely free. For years, MekTek.net has been the central point for online distribution of MechWarrior 4 expansion packs. Now they can provide the core game free to the fans as well. Keep an eye on BattleTech.com – the free download will be available soon!

Today is just a great day for gaming. There’s this announcement, plus Daggerfall for free. Could this day get any better?

Elder Scrolls games, I can’t even count the hours of my life spent toiling through the lands of Tamriel fighting off imposter Mages and invading Daedra. Through the years I’ve escaped from more prisons and acted as the right hand of the chosen emperor through possibly hundreds of dungeons alone.

Though the game series began with the venerable Elder Scrolls Arena and gained a lot of attention with the latest iteration Oblivion, I have to admit I will never forget the time I spent playing Daggerfall and its wonderous and often humorously buggy random dungeon creation system. Each of the Elder Scrolls games are known for their expansive settings, if not for their 1st person action and RPG flavor but for some reason no other Elder Scroll game typifies the open exploration of a fantasy world quite like Daggerfall for me.

If you’re one of the players who came late to the scene, long after Daggerfall went out of print, then Bethesda has a special present for you. Today they released the game for free from their website, much as they did awhile back with the first Elder Scrolls title – Arena. I can’t recommend highly enough how foundational Daggerfall is to enjoying the modern Elder Scrolls games. Its great to watch the series evolve and see where the concept behind such a massive RPG has changed.

A word of warning for graphic purists – Daggerfall is almost 10 years old at this point and the graphics, while good then have no hope of standing next to a modern game. Additionally for XP and Vista users you will likely need Dosbox to play the game but Bethesda includes a link to a pretty thorough how-to that even neophyte gamers unused to the intricacies of classic PC game configuration can follow.

What are you waiting for? Head over to FileFront and get to downloading!

Not an RPG fan? Well check out the recently free release of MechWarrior 4…

Today EA LA officially announced the conclusion to the Tiberium series, Command and Conquer 4. Players will finally witness Kane’s master plan come together or fail utterly as the bitter rivals Global Defense Initiative (GDI) and the Brotherhood of Nod race to save mankind from destruction.

“Command & Conquer is a powerful franchise with an amazing 15-year legacy. We are thrilled to bring the dramatic Tiberium saga to a conclusion in Command & Conquer 4. This game is designed to give fans all the answers they’ve been looking for,” said Mike Glosecki, Lead Producer of Command & Conquer 4 at EA Los Angeles. “With its objective-based multiplayer mode, persistent player progression and all-in-one mobile base, players will experience Command & Conquer like never before.”

Much of the information on C&C4 is being kept under wraps and doled out as exclusive content. For more details on Command & Conquer 4 make sure to catch BattleCast PrimeTime on the July 24th episode. They’ll be revealing exclusive information C&C4. The first glimpse of the game will be the premier cinematic trailer aired exclusively on the July 23rd episode of Gametrailers TV on SPIKE TV. The ETA for Command & Conquer 4 is sometime in 2010. Read the full article »

This week’s Zero Punctuation takes on Ghostbusters The Videogame. Yahtzee’s not afraid to take on games and films with a deeply devoted and sometime rabid fan base to task. It’s an ugly brawl and he manages to pull Star Trek and Dr. Who into the fray.

Although I may not always agree with his opinion, I always enjoy it. Yahtzee isn’t afraid to cut anyone down to size including himself.

You can view the Zero punctuation videogame review archives on The Escapist.

There’s been a fair bit of speculation about MechWarrior the last couple of days, due to some short video clips that appeared on the net. The videos really didn’t show much, just a quick look at some unmarked mechs. Still, excited discussions ensued.

Fans debated the type of mechs, armament of mechs, and what the videos actually meant. Well, the speculation can all come to a screeching halt now.

According to IGN AU, Jordan Weisman is behind the revival of the franchise. If don’t remember Weisman, he was the co-founder of FASA, the company that created the BattleTech universe. He also founded Smith and Tinker, the company that acquired the rights to MechWarrior from Microsoft in 2007.

You’ll find more details on the next MechWarrior after the break.

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The Tower of the Twelve is opening it doors to heroes as the twelve face their greatest hour of need. Within its walls, the Planecallers will gate you to Shavarath, Plane of Battle. Here the devils, demons and archons issue forth from their fortresses to clash endlessly on the wasted battlefield.

I recently had the pleasure of going on an expedition to Shavarath lead by Kate Paiz, Senior Producer of Dungeons & Dragons Online. As we fought our way across the blasted battlegrounds, she revealed a wealth of information about the future of DDO: Ebberon Unleashed. Prepare for a divination on the Ebberon setting, the DDO store, the free-to-play model and why keeping your subscription and becoming a VIP member is an awesome deal.
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I don’t know about the rest of you, but the announcement that LucasArts was reviving some of their back catalog got me excited. After all, who didn’t love games like Star Wars Republic Commando and Battlefront II? In addition, there’s Tales of Monkey Island as a brand new title from Telltale Games.

If reading Eva’s impressions of Monkey Island got your interest up, I’ve got some good news for you.

FileFront now has the playable demo of Guybrush Threepwood’s triumphant return for you to download and try out. Simply click this link to head over and download the demo from FileFront’s fast, free servers.

I fully expect you all to come back here and tell us what you think of the demo. After all, that’s why we have the comments section.

Telltale is bringing a new generation of gamers fresh Tales of Monkey Island. The new episodic adventure games plays like Sam & Max or Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People. That is to say it plays like the original classic point-and-click adventure game, the Secret of Monkey Island. For the maiden voyage of Tales of Monkey Island, Telltale presents the first of five monthly episodes, Launch of the Screaming Narwhal available today for the PC or as WiiWare..

I’m a veteran of the Monkey Island series. Although I’m really looking forward to the re-imagined Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition coming out later this summer, I was very excited about new stories featuring Guybrush Threepwood, and those mysterious monkeys. I can honestly tell you that Telltale has done an excellent job retaining the bumbling, yet witty and sarcastic Guybrush Threepwood and the ensemble of characters that keep this setting fresh almost 20 years after the first game launched.

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Hyperbole.. that most efficient of techniques utilized by writers to get an announcement across. My how the gaming industry enjoys itself some hyperbole.

But enough on that, this news post is supposed to tell you, dear readers, about the expansion of classes for Frogster’s Runes of Magic MMO. Thanks to an upcoming expansion titled, oddly enough, ‘The Elven Prophesy’ two new Elf classes will become playable for the first time. We realize that you’ve likely never seen any creatures similar to the Elven Race but for those looking for a completely new and original character option in Runes of Magic, well here you go..

The two Elf classes are the warden and druid. Characters in each of these Elf exclusive classes are surprisingly linked to nature and the forest. (One day we’ll get a true Urban Druid option in a video game and we will know the end days are upon us)

From the press release:

Both classes are defined by their close connection with nature, which in turn has a direct influence on the Elves’ special abilities. Thus, the Wardens have the ability to call upon the power of nature spirits and can connect with woodland plants which strengthen them with the power of the forest. They therefore always fight side by side with a companion of plant origin which supports the Warden. Thanks to his companion, the Warden is highly adaptable in the most diverse of combat situations.

In contrast, the Druid’s abilities are at first glance, similar to those of the human Mage, but they are, however, not restricted to just destructive magical powers. They possess a multitude of attack methods and healing spells. A particularly unique strength they have is the ability to harness ‘Nature’s Power.’ The Druid collects power in his body during combat and this then brings about special effects which cause many abilities to be strengthened. Furthermore, Druids have versatile healing, support and combat a magic as well as the ability to manipulate various elements.

Both Elf classes have numerous skills which define them not only as dangerous adversaries, but also as useful group members. For example, the Warden can cast thorny vines around opponents, which deliver physical damage each second. The Druid in a group situation can raise the speed of attack for group members for a given period of time.

Humor aside, Runes of Magic is a free-to-play fantasy MMO RPG that launched on March 19, 2009. Runes of Magic claims 1.4 million registered users in North America and Europe.  You can find out more about the game at its website: Runes of Magic.com you can also directly download the client on FileFront.

Ascaron and Deep Silver had a rough year with the launch of their action RPG Sacred 2 on the PC and consoles and some pretty bad financial problems afterward. Despite initial bugs on all the platforms, this math heavy Diablo-like title really managed to charm me with its quirky characters, often hilarious quest and NPC comments and the wide open game world.

Well, scouring the world for interesting news led me to an obscure and not well covered announcement for an upcoming expansion for the PC. It seems that Sacred 2: Ice & Blood will continue the adventures in the world of Ancaria with some new settings and most importantly a new character class – the Dragonmage.

There are not a lot of details coming out of the publishers at this point, including if the release will be seen in America as well as Europe this fall, but frankly I’m still interested. Sacred 2 was one of the best Diablo 2 clones I’ve played in years next to Iron Lore’s Titan Quest games. More details as they become available, check out the preview screens after the jump.

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