Activision has released a new PC launch trailer for the upcoming, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. The video sets up the story a bit, which involves the alien Strogg attempting to invade Earth. The game is also slated to be released on the PS3 and Xbox 360. A multiplayer demo for the PC was released yesterday and has already begun consuming people’s lifestyles. You can check out my impressions of the demo here (to summarize: it’s a lot like Battlefield 2, and that isn’t a bad thing).

Steve gave us all a heads up last week, and today was the day the demo for Enemy Territory: Quake Wars was unleashed upon the world to much rejoicing. FileFront has the official demo available for download now, which features the Valley map, one of the largest maps in the game. But you may be asking yourself whether you should bother with the demo, wait until the full release, or just skip the game altogether. So to help you out with that decision, I just spent the past two hours getting to know some of the finer points of the demo. And what do I think about the game now? It’s good…scary good. Read the full article »

This is certainly turning into the “golden week” as some major titles are being announced as ready to ship. The latest of these is the PC version of the upcoming shooter, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, whose developers have just announced is locked, loaded, and ready to go:

“After months of testing, tweaking and balancing Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars, I’m pleased to finally be able to say ‘It’s Done!’” said id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead. “We’ve had a ton of fun getting the game ready for the masses and I’m looking forward to seeing the massive battle for the top of the online leaderboards begin!”

The game functions as a prequel to the popular Quake II, pitting the Earth’s Global Defense Force against the invading alien Strogg. The title and has already received several awards and has become one of the most anticipated titles for the fall.

“The opportunity to develop Enemy Territory QUAKE Wars has been mind-blowingly cool!” said Splash Damage Owner and Creative Director Paul Wedgwood. “The passion and effort put in by our team at Splash Damage, combined with the amazing direction and mentoring we’ve received from id Software has lead to an award-winning game that we’re incredibly proud of. Our team can’t wait to join fans across the globe to fight in Earth’s battle for survival!”

Versions are already in development for the PS3 and Xbox 360 as well, but you can expect to see the PC version to hit Europe and Australia on September 28th before making it’s way stateside on October 2nd.

Orbus Gameworks, described on its website as “a spankin’ new startup company … that creates solutions for video game developers,” has developed a visualization plug-in that allows companies to see the most traveled area in any given game map. The “heat map” layers on top of the game’s map editor to show where players spend the most time.

“The opacity of each green square represents, for the area it covers on the map, how much time was spent in that square by the players. So you get a good sense of how much of your level content is actually used. It also revealed things about certain levels, such as areas where there is high traffic but very few kills tend to occur.” Their test on Quake III shows the areas where players like to hang out.

Similar metrics (and many more-advanced I’m sure) were used by Bungie in developing Halo 3, as detailed by a Wired magazine article. Testing a video game is nothing new. Heck, I’m sure they even tested Deadly Towers, but Halo 3 is being tested in “one of the most advanced game-testing facilities ever built.” Bungie has analyzed over 3,000 hours of play by 600 players, “tracking everything from favored weapons to how and where — down to the square foot — players most frequently get killed.”

With analyses like these, maybe camping will be gone for good. Yeah, right.

Coming out of the Leipzig Games Convention is yet another trailer for an A-List title. This new trailer for Enemy Territory: Quake Wars shows off some gameplay footage for the highly-anticipated title. So far, the graphics look gorgeous and the gameplay looks to contain all the high-octane action the Quake series is known for. Stephany discussed some of the details for this game a couple weeks ago, and this is definitely shaping up to be among the top multiplayer games of for this year. Look for this title to hit the PC early this October, with releases on the PS3 and Xbox 360 to arrive later on.

Today the world celebrates the birth of the man who changed the way we look at horror, H. P. Lovecraft. Although Lovecraft’s work went largely unacknowledged within his lifetime, he redefined the horror genre influencing the books, movies, role-playing and video games that terrify us to this day. Lovecraft’s characters are “men of science” and learning confronted with overwhelming an incomprehensible supernatural forces. Sacrificing their beliefs, their sanity and ultimately their lives, they descend into madness as they struggle against inevitable defeat at the slimy tentacles of insatiable ancient evil. Many of today’s survival horror blockbusters have fallen under Lovecraft’s visceral spell. In honor of the masters birthday I thought it would be cool to look back at Lovecraft’s legacy in gaming.

The characters and settings in Lovecraft’s supernatural horror novel, “The Call of Cthulhu” and the “Cthulhu Mythos” have been an inspiration for some truly terrifying video games. Lovecraft’s legacy tainted Infocom’s The Lurking Horror, the first text based adventure to bring Lovecraftian horror to multiple computer platforms. The original Quake featured the Shub-Niggurath. The Shadow Hearts series is also heavily influenced by Lovecraft, who appears as a character in Shadow Hearts: From the New World.

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Peace, Love and Rockets is what QuakeCon is all about, and it drew thousands of attendees to Dallas, Texas this weekend. And when I say attendees, this may or may not include hard-core nerds.

“I may have a limited circle of friends in the real world,” Dennis “SpinDoc” Gedeon told the Dallas Morning News. “But when I’m here, I have thousands of guys to talk to and hang out with. Everyone comes together with their own kind.”

To give you an idea, there was an official deodorant request, and it seems that it was obvious that most of the attendees weren’t used to, you know, interacting with the outside world. But being a hard-core gamer sometimes means devoting your life to something else besides society as we know it.

“These guys are entertaining for us to watch,” Todd Hollenshead, CEO of id Software, told the DMN. “They are so enthusiastic. Some of them put it into the color of their hair. Some show it with how they modify their computers.”

And building computers, indeed. John Mangus, a gamer from Stoystown, Pennsylvania, showed his devotion by building a 6′ 10″ life-size Optimus Prime computer, from the loveable Transformer series. It was playable, and he competed as other gamers stopped and stared. At least from the picture the DMN has provided, it was a sight to behold.

I don’t know what I’ll say for myself now that I have a disposable income when Starcraft II comes out, but until then my Dell is in its standard black box.

via The Dallas Morning News

id Software and Activision announced at QuakeCon that Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars for the PC will hit European shelves September 28 and US shelves October 2. The game, in development by Splash Damage, pits the armies of Earth’s Global Defense Force against the alien Strogg in a multi-player strategic shooter where players engage in a new war for Earth.

Offering objective-based multi-player action online or off with bots, Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars is set in the QUAKE universe in the year 2065. Gamers can choose sides as the human GDF or alien Strogg in one of five character classes, choose a from a myriad of weapons, vehicles and armaments, and engage in a test of skill and coordinated teamwork through a series of combat objectives. Persistent character growth and achievements reward players for teamwork, while mission and class objectives guide new players to contributions on the battlefield.

Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars is also currently in development for the Xbox 360 and the PS3.

Starting today, Steam users will be able to download full versions of the complete DOOM series and QUAKE I – III, including mission packs, as well as Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Spear of Destiny, Heretic, and HeXen. These releases are part of the id Software “Welcome Celebration” on Steam, and select id packages are being offered with a 10%, limited-time discount thanks to id Sofware and Valve who are apparently in a very good mood due to the success of this year’s QuakeCon.

“Valve pioneered digital delivery of video games with Steam,” said Todd Hollenshead, CEO of id Software. “As a game developer themselves, Valve understands what developers and game players want and need in an online distribution system, and Steam delivers.”

“We can’t overstate our admiration for id, its games, and the technical advancements the company has delivered to help move the industry forward during the past 15 years,” said Gabe Newell, co-founder and president of Valve. “Like many other studios, Valve was born when we licensed the QUAKE engine to build our first game. We’re proud to welcome id to Steam and give people around the world an easy way to play the games that have inspired everyone here at Valve.”

The new games added to Steam include:

Individual Games

• Commander Keen, Episodes 1 through 5
• Wolfenstein 3D
• Spear of Destiny
• Return to Castle Wolfenstein
• Ultimate DOOM
• DOOM II
• Master Levels for DOOM II
• Final DOOM
• DOOM3
• DOOM3: Resurrection of Evil
• QUAKE
• QUAKE Mission Pack 1: Scourge of Armagon
• QUAKE Mission Pack 2: Dissolution of Eternity
• QUAKE II
• QUAKE II Mission Pack: The Reckoning
• QUAKE II Mission Pack: Ground Zero
• QUAKE III Arena
• QUAKE III: Team Arena
• Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders
• HeXen
• HeXen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel
• HeXen II

MORE AFTER THE JUMP

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That’s right, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is opening up their beta again. Last time, the keys were gone very quickly, so prompt action is a good idea.

If you haven’t been following ET: Quake Wars, it’s the upcoming team-based first-person shooter that pits the GDF against the Strogg in a battle for survival. Unlike many team-based shooters in the past, ET: Quake Wars will send players on a series of objectives in order to triumph. No more bailing out of a plane behind enemy lines for an easy flag capture (Yes, I’m talking to many of my past Battlefield series opponents).

At any rate, I spent a good hour at E3 playing ET: Quake Wars, and I’m finally excited about this genre again. The infantry weapons are effective, the upgrade system is intuitive and fluid and the vehicles are a blast. This one should be on any shooter fan’s must-buy list.

If you’re interested in trying to snatch one of the 25,000 freshly released public beta keys, head over to the ET: Quake Wars Community Website for more information. If you want to find out what makes Beta 2 different from Beta 1, head over to the ET: Quake Wars Development Blog to get the scoop.