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When Alone in the Dark was released a few months back, it unfortunately fell pretty short of expectations. While some of the fire dynamics and elaborate set pieces set the game apart from other survival horror titles, they were unfortunately hampered by nagging design flaws and control issues. Luckily though, Atari has not turned a blind eye to these issues when it comes to the upcoming PS3 release. The company has announced that the next version of the game will address a wide array of known problems; enough in fact to warrant a new title. “Alone in the Dark: Inferno” will feature adjustments to the camera, controls, inventory system, and even a new action sequence with a new enemy. According to their press release, the changes will include:

• Full 360 degree Camera control: enhanced Camera controls allows complete freedom of the camera and better handling of third-person movement for even more immersive gameplay enabling players to view the fire and mass destruction they are causing in all of its glory.
• Fine-tuned controls: quicker and smoother reactivity of the hero’s movements in third person view increases the pace of the game and makes for faster, reflexive gameplay during tense fighting scenarios.
• Inventory System more accessible: more logical jacket Inventory System with the ability to scroll rapidly through the inventory with the D-Pad or Analogue Stick to combine objects. In addition, gameplay is paused when accessing the inventory system to allow maximum creativity in combining items to create unique flammable weapons.
• More tips: additional on-screen tips will help players quickly adapt to controls and easily understand how to overcome tricky situations.
• Spectral Vision tuning: a Tutorial earlier in the storyline explains the need to burn roots in order to gain spectral vision (a power that grants you the ability to see the unseen) and difficulty tuning means less spectral vision is required to reach the end of the game.
• Improved car dynamics and handling: driving has been tuned with increased suspension and reduced drifting giving overall better handling to make driving a fun walk in the park every time.
• 59th Street Level tuning: one of the game’s most exciting sequences just got better. 59th Street has been tweaked for a more satisfying race against the fissure with difficulty tuning, an added Checkpoint at Columbus Circle and clear voice directions given by Sarah.
• Brand new thrilling action sequence: an exclusive new sequence has been added in Episode 6 for even more excitement and variety of gameplay in the episode.

A lot of these have been mentioned before, but it’s nice to hear that they really seem to have a feel for what’s wrong and how to correct it. Fortunately, Atari has also confirmed that these fixes — though probably not the extra action sequence — will be available in a patch for the 360 version. I doubt that would encourage many people to give the game a second go, but at least they’re taking steps to fix an obvious problem.

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Today is GameTap Thursday, like most Thursdays here at Gaming Today, and just look what the folks over there have in store for you:

• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory: Yes, Sam Fisher is once again out to save the world in this third installment in the stealth-action series. Against the background of rising tensions in the East, protagonist Sam Fisher (Michael Ironside) is once again called into action, utilizing brand new stealth mechanics and close-quarter combat techniques to diffuse the situation before it’s too late. And with major graphical and lighting improvements, Splinter Cell looks better than ever.

• Ocean Express: This puzzle game from Strategy First has you working on the docks so to speak. There’s ships to load and money to be made! But filling those big barges is more complicated than it sounds, and only the most efficient shippers can possibly hope to earn a profit. You’ll start with just one barge and grow your shipping empire, one crate at a time.

Added to the ever growing roster of free games this week is none other than the illustrious Lara Croft in Tomb Raider: Anniversary which will be free-to-play for an entire week. Should you not be interested in this game or if you already own it, take heart because they have 143 other free games to play which is enough to keep even the most hardcore gamer busy for more days than one would care to mention.

The full list of free games can be seen after the jump or you can head on over to GameTap yourself and see what hoops you have to jump through to become a gold member. Personally I recommend doing a few summersaults and maybe a back-flip with a full twist. Okay, I am kidding, all you have to do is register and you will be guided through the process from there. If you are strapped for cash and just want the freebies, you still have to register.

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Nintendo is throwing in a little of everything in the latest bigger and better Wii-klly update. This week there are two WiiWare titles available for your downloading pleasure. Pick up a sports title with Midnight Bowling. It’s all the fun of an after dark trip to your local psychedelic bowling alley, only less embarrassing. If puzzle games are your thing, stretch your brain with the MadStone.

On the virtual console, you can download the Nintendo 64 classic Mario Golf. This premium Mario game goes for 1000 Wii points instead of the usual 800 WP. If you’re into RPGs, save the princess and the kingdom of Granseal in the Sega Genesis classic Shining Force II. Full details from the press release for all these offerings follow the break.
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Lucas Arts and Sony Online Entertainment have launched their new trading card game, Star Wars Galaxies: Champions of the Force. The game is available only online for an MMO take on the traditional TCG. Players will test their mettle in ten battles while trying to reassemble the ancient Jedi holocron, the Codex of Tython. According to the press release, here’s what players can look forward to.

• Choose between the light and dark sides of the Force and build their own Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game decks to fight virtual matches for the Rebel, Imperial, Jedi or Sith; Enhance their digital card decks with 15-card Booster Packs;
• Find more than 20 “loot” cards in the first release, Champions of the Force, that can be redeemed for fantastic virtual items for use within the Star Wars Galaxies massively multiplayer game for players with a Star Wars Galaxies account*;
• Challenge their skills in story-based solo-play or against other Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game players in epic one-on-one matches, cooperative Heroic Encounters, and official tournaments.

Current and former Star Wars Galaxies players are invited to participate. However players with a current subscription will receive a bonus pack of boosters each month. A stand alone trial for SWG: Champions of the Force will also be available complete with tutorial and practice games. Of course you can also access the game within SWG using a 14-day trial for the MMO. There are many bonuses for both current and future SWG to be had listed after the break.
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ASUS’s delayed launch of their HD 4870 based cards felt like the manufacturer was stringing gamers along with promises of giving NVidia some serious competition at a reasonable price yet failing to deliver.

The HD 4870 is a more budget oriented model that normally would result in lower performance along with a lower price point but the GDDR5 memory and a change from the 4850’s RV770 Pro chips to the less costly RV770 XT architecture puts a card into the sub $300 price range that is built to match NVIDIA’s 9800 GTX+ Line of cards.

There’s a review of the ASUS EAH4870 Radeon HD 4870 graphics card up on TechARP that gives all the spec munching details.

Fortunately, ATI finally delivered what they promised their fans for years - NVIDIA-thumping performance at a competitive price point.

ASUS currently offers three different Radeon HD 4870 models - the basic EAH4870, the EAH4870/G game bundle kit and the top-of-the-line EAH4870 TOP overclocked card. The card we are reviewing is the ASUS EAH4870/G, which essentially consists of the basic EAH4870 card and the “Alone In The Dark” game.

If you compare the specifications of the Radeon HD 4870 with that of the NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+, you will see that the NVIDIA card has a 31.2% advantage in texture fillrate. However, the ASUS EAH4870 was still faster than it in every single benchmark we ran.

I know that as gamers we’re used to spending hundreds of dollars for the highest end hardware but it looks like ATI and ASUS might just deliver a piece of hardware worth the cash and reasonable enough that it won’t break my back trying to upgrade everything else to allow it to run.

The newest GameTap Original title, American McGee’s Grimm, consists of 24 individual standalone game episodes, each of which is based on a classic fairy tale such as Little Red Riding Hood or Beauty and the Beast.

The game’s main character, Grimm, is a crude dwarf who believes that the lessons offered in the original tellings of famous fairy tales have been lost over time as the stories have been watered down with talking woodland creatures and Happily Ever After endings for all of the characters – whether they deserve it or not. As Grimm, players transform these toothless interpretations of the tales into dark and twisted versions of the story.

The first Volume of American McGee’s Grimm will consist of eight standalone episodes, which will be released weekly as follows:

• July 31                        A Boy Learns What Fear Is  (currently free to play!)
• August 7                    Little Red Riding Hood  (free to play for the first 24 hours after launch)
• August 14                  The Fisherman and His Wife
• August 21                  Puss In Boots
• August 28                  The Girl Without Hands
• September 4               Godfather Death
• September 11             The Devil and His Three Golden Hairs
• September 18             Beauty and the Beast

For more information on subscription games and the full list of 143 free games available on GameTap, visit the official site.

Happy Mediocrity Day, all! I mean it must be a special day of sorts if we’re getting two demos on Xbox Live for games that were released already and apparently weren’t all that great anyway. Yes, today 360 owners will be able to experience a bit of the new Alone in the Dark game, which apparently features a few shining bits of innovation hampered by awkward control issues. Also you’ll get to check out Wall-E, which is based on a Disney movie (’nuff said). At least they’re starting to crank out some interesting new titles for the XBLA this month.

Via Major Nelson

With all of the excitement around E3, we somehow managed to completely overlook our favorite weekly snarkfest, Zero Punctuation. But never fear, for here is yesterday’s jam-packed edition, which takes on Alone in the Dark.

While Yahtzee did find a few redeeming qualities (like its lovely fire physics and the fact that it comes in a box), he didn’t manage to finish it, refusing to use the game’s feature to skip through chapters. It’s a good idea on paper, but taking into account what it was that caused him to stop playing, you’d probably be better off just moving onto another game rather than trying to see if it can one-up its already intolerably stupid fetch quests.

The File-N-Forget Podcast returns this week as we ramp up for our upcoming E3 coverage. With Metal Gear Solid 4 now established in the market and fans going gaga over it, Ron and Shawn give their quick impressions of it along with Battlefield: Bad Company and Alone in the Dark.

Bigger questions loom however as we discuss the state of E3 and what we think might happen in years to come.

There are also Rants & Raves to make the fanboys happy.

This weeks show is available by direct download here.

As always, you can get past episodes from our podcast page at http://podcast.filefront.com, and you can send your comments, questions, suggestions, or snarky comments to podcast@filefront.com.

File-N-Forget is also available on the iTunes Music Store.

Great lineup of games for this week’s 1UP Show, with three big name games fighting for your attention. You can expect Dan Hsu to get the answers to your questions about Gears 2 directly from the face of the franchise, Cliff Bleszinski.

If that’s not your thing, then perhaps a little Battlefield: Bad Company talk will interest you? I think the general consensus is that the game’s trailers have been hilarious — who doesn’t like poking fun at Metal Gear Solid, Rainbow Six and Gears of War, after all? — but that won’t count for much if the game doesn’t live up to the franchise’s name. David Ellis and Shawn Elliott will discuss.

And finally, the newest addition to the lineup of 1UP podcasts, 1UP FM, gets a major plug during the segment featuring Atari’s Alone in the Dark.

Now make with the downloading and check out this week’s 1UP Show in the format of your choice:

QT M4V (Podcast)
WMV 640×360
QT 640×360

Alone in the Dark hits stores today folks for the Xbox 360, PC, Wii and PS2.  The PS3 version is currently scheduled for release in autumn 2008.

Developed by Eden Games, Alone in the Dark for Xbox 360 and PC follows paranormal investigator Edward Carnby over the course of one apocalyptic night in which he must fight to survive and uncover the earth-shattering secret behind New York’s Central Park.  With environmental interaction, fire physics as a core gameplay element, and a DVD chapter select feature which lets everyone reach the game’s climax, survival horror and intense action make for great bedfellows.

The Wii and PS2 versions of Alone in the Dark were developed by Hydravision Entertainment in parallel with versions created by Eden Games for Xbox 360 and PC. The PS2 game pushes the hardware to maximize the gameplay experience, while the Wii game has been specially adapted to make use of the unique controllers for gameplay that ranges from driving to real-time manipulation of objects.

I was really looking forward to this game, but with the reviews it has been getting I may just end up renting it instead.

Via: Press Release

Loads of different titles are coming out starting tomorrow, and we have the full list for you right here. Looks like it is going to be an interesting week in gaming, so let us know what you plan on purchasing.

June 22

• Guitar Hero: On Tour (DS)
• Rock Band (Wii)
• Rock Band: Special Edition (Wii)

June 23

• American Girl Kit Mystery Challenge (DS)
• Battlefield: Bad Company (PS3, Xbox 360)
• Battlefield: Bad Company Gold Edition (PS3, Xbox 360)
• Command & Conquer 3: Kane’s Wrath (Xbox 360)
• Supreme Commander(Xbox 360)
• The SimCity Box (PC)
• The Sims 2: IKEA Home Stuff (PC)
• Top Spin 3 (DS, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii)

June 24

• 1 vs. 100 (DS)
• Alone in the Dark (PC, PS2, Xbox 360, Wii)
• Baseball Mogul 09 (PC)
• Big Beach Sports (Wii)
• Cake Mania 2 (DS)
• Elements (PC)
• Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift (DS)
• Gears of War: Refresh (Xbox 360)
• Gourmet Chef (DS)
• Hail to the Chimp (PS3, Xbox 360)
• Hellboy: The Science of Evil (PSP, PS3, Xbox 360)
• Mega Man Star Force 2: Zerker X Ninja (DS)
• Mega Man Star Force 2: Zerker X Saurian (DS)
• Midnight Play Pack (DS)
• My Weight Loss Coach (DS)
• Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2: The Phantom Fortress (PSP)
• Operation Darkness (Xbox 360)
• Overlord: Raising Hell (PS3)
• Purr Pals (Wii)
• Wall-E    (DS, PC,PSP, PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360)

June 26

• Deadliest Catch: Alaskan  Storm (PC)

June 27

• In the Shadow of the Raven 2 (PC)
• Samurai Warriors 2 (PC)

All release dates are subject to availability, so some may be in stores on the day listed, the day before, or the day after so check with wherever you purchase your games because shipping times vary.

It stands to reason that the Wii version of Alone in the Dark is going to have a different control scheme than the other versions, but I didn’t realize just how far they were going with incorporating the motion controls. From the looks of this trailer, just about every other in-game action will involve some clever use of the motion controls from using the Nunchuk to aim your flashlight to replicating the motions to hotwire a car. And of course you can wave the Wii-mote to slash a weapon at enemies, ensuring this will get labeled as a murder simulator by someone. That’s not going to make me get the Wii version necessarily, but it is nice to see a developer incorporating the Wii-mote’s controls a bit differently. Unless they include a leather jacket in the package, that is; then it’s a must-buy.

Atari made me and some other gamers pretty happed today when they announced that development is complete on the action survival game Alone in the Dark, and the game is on track to ship June 24th for North America and June 20th for Europe. Alone in the Dark will be made available for the PC, PS2, Xbox 360 and the Wii - therefore everyone will be able to get in on the scary fun. PS3 users will get their version sometime this Fall.

The Wii and PS2 versions of Alone in the Dark have been developed by Hydravision Entertainment in parallel with the Xbox 360 and Games for Windows games created by Eden Studios. The Wii game has been especially adapted to make use of the unique controllers in a variety of gameplay situations from driving to the real-time manipulation of objects.

So mark the date off on your calenders folks because Alone in the Dark looks like it will close the month of June out on a -hopefully- terrifying note. You can view more of the latest screens for the game by clicking here.

Via: Press Release

While we’re waiting for the release of the D&D 4E core rules this week I thought it’d be a good time to do some general news and updates.

I realize this column had been Wizards of the Coast heavy lately and I apologize for those of you out there reading who like your gaming discussions to be a bit more broad in nature. Before we go far afield though I wanted to highlight an announcement I received from Wizard’s last week regarding some interesting changes coming to the entire Magic the Gathering line.

Beginning with the release of the upcoming “Shards of Alara” expansion set, Wizards is instituting a few changes tot he way cards are bundled, sold and even to the content of the cards themselves. The new set launches on October 3rd, 2008.

One of the more shocking changes, and one I’m not sure I completely buy as sold to us, is that as of that card set the number of cards in a set will be decreasing. While Wizards is claiming this is as a result of feedback from Magic players who claimed “the volume of cards released each year is too high ”, I’m betting its much more likely the cost of printing and lower sell through rates may be mandating this change, though its always easier to wrap a change like that in a “customer request” to make it more palatable. That’s just my suspicion though.
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Good old Phil Harrison would have you believe there’s not much of a market for games that are only for a single player. Alone in the Dark will be the last “huge-budget, single-player” game from Atari, as they move towards Phil’s view of a more and more networked future. The producer of the new Prince of Persia game, Ben Mattes, was asked about Harrison’s comments in an interview with Eurogamer, to which he said, “I read that, and I don’t totally agree.”

“I know where he’s coming from - I certainly see a lot of the industry moving in the direction of more community, more multiplayer, that sort of stuff,” Mattes continued.

“But in my opinion, there are things you can do in a carefully crafted single-player game - experiences you can create, emotions you can elicit and magnitudes of engaging the player - that you’re not going to reproduce in the uncontrolled environment of multiplayer.”

Most of you seem to be on Mattes side of the argument, if the comments on a previous story are any indication. I don’t disagree, but I think more developers are feeling the pressure to include some sort of multiplayer mode. I know quite a few people who pick up a game, see it doesn’t have multiplayer, and completely dismiss it as a “full game.” I then proceed to ask them if they want a multiplayer mode like The Darkness had, and they usually shut up.

Mattes concluded, “For some time yet, there’s going to be a market of people who say, ‘You know what, pander to me. Suck me into your world and just make me believe. I don’t want to be distracted by griefers and high scores, and dealing with the stuff not everybody loves about multiplayer games.’ I do think there is still a significant market there.”

Infogrames president Phil Harrison has been in the news a lot recently, what with him saying that “beautifully crafted single-player” games are no longer wanted in the industry. Whether you agree with him or not, amidst all the hubbub he did drop an interesting bit of information regarding Alone in the Dark.

According to his most recent and infamous interview with Eurogamer, Harrison stated that Xbox 360 users can expect the playable demo of Alone in the Dark to arrive a week before the game’s launch.

We have known for a while that only 360 users would be getting the demo, we just did not know when - therefore, now you can expect it to hit the week of June 13th. The game will be released on the 20th for the PC, PS2 and Wii with the PS3 version coming sometime this Fall.

Thanks: Eurogamer

Alone in the Dark might be an epic single-player action-horror title, but you shouldn’t expect Atari to keep pumping out games of that nature, according to Phil Harrison. He recently talked about how Atari would be moving away from “huge-budget, single-player games in the future.” He clarified that comment on how Alone in the Dark could be the last of its kind from Atari. Speaking with Eurogamer, he explained that it’s reflective of an industry-wide movement towards games that take advantage of community features.

“[The quote] was not uniquely about Atari; it was more about the industry as a whole.,” Harrison said. “Alone in the Dark is a beautifully crafted single-player adventure game. I don’t think the industry is going to make many more of those. I just don’t think consumers want to be playing games that don’t have some kind of network connectivity to them, or some kind of community embedded in them, or some kind of extension available through downloadable content.

“Now, that’s not to criticize Alone in the Dark - it’s just to recognize the industry is changing, and the role we play as creators and publishers has to reflect those changes. I don’t think I’m alone in having those views, either.”

I don’t think there’s much denying that there’s a real movement towards multiplayer-oriented games, and many people expect that when they pay $60 for a game, that there be some sort of multiplayer component. But that doesn’t mean there’s no room left for games like The Witcher, Oblivion or Final Fantasy, although I agree that there is a need to integrate some sort of online connectivity with them — whether that’s a multiplayer mode or something entirely different.

Atari announced today details of the ‘Keep the Fire Burning’ competition in the run-up to the launch of the action survival game Alone in the Dark. Top prizes include a week-long trip to New York or Paris, Xbox 360 and Wii consoles, and a host of exclusive Alone in the Dark goodies including original soundtrack CDs, t-shirts and Art Books. The ‘Keep the Fire Burning’ competition is now live on the official website and will run until 31 July 2008.

As the release of Alone in the Dark quickly approaches, anticipation for the game is literally heating up. Entrants to the ‘Keep the Fire Burning’ competition will need to create the largest group of friends for the chance of winning an inferno of prizes. Since fire will be both your best ally and your worst enemy in Alone in the Dark, knowing how to use it to your advantage is crucial. What better way to survive in the dark than with a constant source of light and a little help from your friends?

Use Edward Carnby’s fire to light your torch and pass on the flame to up to ten of your friends. The pressure is on to keep the torch alight as your friends only have 24 hours to pass the flame to ten friends of their own, and so on. To increase your chances of winning, a number code will be hidden somewhere on CentralDark.com each week which will allow you to invite two extra friends to your group. A little investigative work pays off as the largest group of friends with a lit torch will be able to retrace Edward Carnby’s steps in Central Park with a week-long trip to New York.

The competition is easy to enter: simply visit the homepage and click the ‘Keep the Fire Burning’ competition icon. Full details of the competition prizes are as follows:

• Winning group : 2 trips to New York or Paris and 3 Xbox 360 consoles in a draw between group members
• 2nd largest group : 1 trip to New York or Paris, 1 Xbox 360 console and 1 Wii console in a draw between group members
• 3rd largest group: 1 trip to New York or Paris and 1 Wii console in a draw between group members
• 4th to 10th largest groups: 40 original Alone in the Dark soundtrack CDs, 30 Alone in the Dark Art Books and 20 Alone in the Dark T-shirts in a draw between the groups’ members
• Creators of 40 largest groups will also receive an Alone in the Dark T-shirt

The ‘Keep the Fire Burning’ competition will also be available on Facebook in early June 2008 for even more chances of winning Alone in the Dark goodies.

Via: Press Release

Phil Harrison, the new President of Infogrames, has announced that Atari will be moving away from publishing single-player, narrative driven games. He revealed this at the press junket for Eden Studios’ upcoming Alone in the Dark.

“Swan song” is probably not the right word, but I think Atari is part of an industry in some transition from pure packaged media to an online business model and social communication and community model. If we are part of that transition, perhaps we are going to take a slightly aggressive, leading-edge role in that transition.
I don’t see that we’re going to be making huge-budget, single-player games in the future. Now, that doesn’t mean that we won’t have ambition to do really incredible games that have high quality, high execution, and high innovation, but they won’t be one-player, narrative-driven, start-middle-end games.

I find this both disappointing and short sighted. As much as I enjoy MMOs and multi-player games, I feel there is still a viable market for single-player games out there. I suppose this means that CD Projekt will have to find another publisher for any sequels to The Witcher.

via Gamasutra