For those of you who are unfamiliar with the German RPG Maker PC game Vampires Dawn, you may just be in for a bit of a bloody treat because according to a recent press release, the game is heading to the Nintendo DS.

Fans of the game have been privy to its wicked black humor and elaborate magic and fighting system for quite some time, and thanks to the Austrian development studio ClockStone (Avencast) the game is now heading to the Nintendo DS. ClockStone will be working with Vampires Dawn creator Dawnatic and while there are currently no screens for the game nor a concrete release date set in stone, those working on the game feel that the character controls and puzzle mechanics from the original game will transfer very well and easily over onto the DS.

While there are some in the U.S. that may be unfamiliar with the title, it has a great reception over in Germany and Austria, and if you compound that with the world’s lust for RPGs on the DS, it sounds like a good combination. Hopefully, we will get some screens in sometime soon so we can actually see what it is looking like.

I did not do my normal Saturday post last week because covering E3 assets and the like basically beat me down to a bruised and battered version of my former self. Therefore, I was completely a.w.o.l. last Saturday ans was dog tired with good reason. So, today, I have decided to combine the past two weeks into one post, and instead of covering all the demos and patches for each week, I will instead just post the ones with the highest amount of downloads – which basically means the most popular ones. Honestly, during E3 week we did not get many in anyway, so the list should be relatively short as usual.

Demos:

• Lights of Dreams V2.25: This is the demo version V2.25 of Lights of Dreams : The Angelical Blade.It is free to play. Play as Xylvan to find a way to save the future Earth of 3800. Walk, Run, Jump Fly in 50(3 available in the demo) flowers and grass vasts inspirationnal worlds to find 10 Spheres, 11 Parchements and 10 uniques Elements and more than 20 unique items to accomplish your mission. This version provides more lifelike effects… including potion, magic, regeneration and mass attack.

• Full Metal Soccer v1.0 (Windows): The game is set inside a futuristic arena in the distant future. Each player controls his own tank from first-person-perspective and tries to achieve the primary target of every soccer game: shoot more goals than the opposing team.

• Pro Cycling Manager – Tour de France 2008 : Cyanide Studio and Focus Home Interactive are pleased to offer you the playable demo for Pro Cycling Manager 2008. This 760 MB demo, integrating the latest 1.0.1.4 patch, puts players at the head of the Euskaltel team as they race to win today’s stage of the real Tour de France 2008, the 16th stage: Cuneo – Jausiers. In the demo, your team is beginning its last week of competition before the grand final on the Champs-Élysées, but you still haven’t won any stages yet, and your sponsors are beginning to put some pressure on you to see their colours on the podium. Through this 157.4 km mountain stage, you’ll need to display all your talents as a Director of Sports to finally get the victory you need. Surrounded by the col de la Lombarde and the col la Bonette, the highest saddle point in Europe, this 16th stage will be the perfect field for the best climbers of the Tour, while the breathtaking downhills at the end of the cols ensure a spectacular end-of-stage. So it’s up to you to find the best strategy that perfectly combines the skills of your mountain specialists and prevents breakaways that could ruin your chances of victory. This Pro Cycling Manager 2008 demo will also offer players, for the first time ever, the opportunity to participate in track cycling events with a Keirin race. Face six awesome riders racing at nearly 50 kph for three laps of the most nerve-wracking and intense races during which the victory might be measured by only a wheel’s difference! Lastly, this demo also offers a tutorial mode that will help you get the best of your team during the race!

• I-Fluid: I-Fluid is an original platform game in which you control a drop of water facing various and surprising situations. Just imagine having to cross a messy schoolboy working desk while avoiding falling pens and adhesives, to get out of a generous breakfast or Mexican lunch, to cross vegetables cooking in a burning pan or to face thirsty cockroaches while being a fragile drop of water!

• X Motor Racing v1.08: An updated demo version of X Motor Racing has been released. It includes one track (highway) and one car with some physics profiles.

Here are the patches that hit FileFront within the past two weeks, other than the WoW and LotRO patches that were already covered:

• Supreme Ruler 2020 v5.2.1
• AVENCAST: Rise of the Mage v1.04
• Shadow of Legend v0.8.7.0 to v0.8.10.0
• PCM: Tour De France 2008 v1.0.1.4
• SC 2 Patton Drives East Expansion (v1.01)
• C&C 3: Kane`s Wrath SecuROM Fix
• Lost Empire: Immortals v1.03 to v1.05
• Frontlines: Fuel of War v1.1.1 (US/Euro)
• Sword of the Stars: Born of Blood v1.5.3

As always, for the full list of demos and patches, click here and here. See you next week.

Thank God March is almost over and as my least favorite month of the year comes to a close, hopefully, so will the drought we have had in the way of decent demos.

This week was especially scarce in the demo department (more so than usual) and with the exception of Sherlock Holmes: Nemesis, and Runes of Avalon 2 there is not much to write about – unless you like soccer. However, to appease our readers, Weclock in particular (wink wink nudge nudge say no more) I have listed details about them anyway.

• Doggie Dash – Clean, groom, and pamper Dinertown pets while you grow your business! Help reluctant pet spa partners Walter and Scarlett get a Dinertown business up and running!
• ZOMBZ: Night of a Million Billion Zombies: NOMBZ: Night of a Million Billion Zombies is a 3D action shooter that challenges the player to lead a posse of survivors through a zombie-infested city! Fight! Survive! Escape!
• UEFA Euro 2008 – EA has released a fixed demo for UEFA EURO 2008 which features a match between England and Germany.

The same could not be said for patches. Yes, UT3 and WoW were the most popular but here are some other ones just in case you missed them:

America’s Army: Special Forces, The Settlers: Rise of an Empire, Pacific Storm: Allies, and AVENCAST: Rise of the Mage.

For the full list of demos click here. For patches click here.

Lighthouse Interactive have announced that it has acquired full publishing rights for the PS2 and PSP platforms in North America. Formally only publishing PC games, they have now officially crossed over to the console and handheld darkside.

Steve Wall, Co-founder and Vice President of Lighthouse Interactive had this to say about the new publishing deal with Sony.

“We are very excited to announce these licenses as this is the latest step in Lighthouse’s growth strategy”. He went on to add: “Sony continues to strongly support their platforms and their efforts have paid major dividends for both these and their PlayStation 3 console as they continue to strengthen and increase their install base. We believe in these platforms and look forward to working with Sony to bring a number of exciting and innovative titles to North America.”

Lighthouse specializes in RPG, simulation and strategy titles, with game such as Avencast, Darkness Within, Ship Simulator, and SunAge. The seem to be a great company, and Gaming Today wishes them nothing but success with their latest endeavor.

Via: Press Release

Unless you have been living under a rock or in a run-down shack in Montana living like a mountain man, you missed out on the popular World of Warcraft and Hellgate: London patches this week. Other than those two, there is not much to report in the way of demos, patches, and gaming clients this week folks. Although this makes my job much easier considering the fact that I will have fewer things to list, I am disappointed in the lack of demos that we received. Oh well, I guess there is always next week.

Demos

• Conflict: Denied Ops puts you in command of two hardened CIA paramilitary operatives in intense missions set across South America, Africa and Siberia. Experience ruthless real-world action. Go loud, go stealthy. Switch between your two-man squad under intense crossfire or join a buddy in the 2 player co-op campaign. Take cover as your surroundings are blown to pieces in massively destructible environments featuring Puncture Tech.
• AVENCAST: Rise of the Mage demo will allow players to experience AVENCAST’s unique combat and spell casting system as they battle numerous demonic enemies. A tutorial will also be available to allow players to hone their skills before heading into battle.
• Journeys of the Dragon Rider has an updated demo which has easier to use controls, which are available when using Easy and Normal difficulty levels, the ability to choose between four difficulty levels, instructions in the game including clear mission objectives, easy to use application launcher, an alternative sound configuration that may improve sound quality on some systems, and many more small improvements.

Patches

• Napoleon in Italy: Matrix Games and Hussar Games have released a patch updating Napoleon in Italy to v1.05. The new v1.05 update includes a number of balance changes to the Piedmont armies and campaign, fixes an AI general issue and tweaks the balance for readiness and cohesion regeneration. In addition, this update includes a new expanded campaign historical background guide.
• Depths of Peril: Patch fixes a few textures that show up as stripes on some graphics cards, gladius weapon, Blackguard Pauldron spelling, enemies spelling on found item npc text, sized 14 bag description, changed Shamshire to Shamshir, etc.
• Age of Mythology: The Golden Gift, a new official Age of Mythology campaign produced by Ensemble Studios, follows the adventures of Brokk and Eitri, two dwarven brothers featured in the original Age of Mythology Fall of the Trident campaign. This four-scenario campaign follows the brothers’ first encounter with the god Loki and features all-new voice acting by the original actors.

Gaming Clients

• Voyage Century Online is the first 3D nautical online game in MMORPG history. In the game, every featured player is the captain of his or her own battleship, they can sail it around the world as a courageous explorer, a canny merchant or a mysterious pirate, spread their reputation by exploring the huge continents for treasures, fortunes and glory.
• Conquer Online client has been updated to v5009. Conquer Online is a free MMORPG featuring four playable classes (Warrior, Archer, Trojan and Taoist) which are customized with unique weapons and skill.
• Elf Online update 3 has new in-game events which will be available and some major bus are fixed: Fixed the bug of can not upgrade Level 9 Cooking, the bug of visiting Wulong Village Career Agency, some bugs of unmatched quest item name, bugs of can not reply quest when quest is finished, bugs of in the text such as broken sentence and wrong words, and the price of some mall items has been altered.

For the complete list of demos, patches and gaming clients, please click on the respective links. Happy Gaming!

We are all well aware of the more media savvy patches that were introduced to FileFront this week. Gamers who play BioShock, CoD4, FIFA 2008, AVENCAST, and EVE Online are happily playing the latest additions and fixes to their games. But what about PC games that do not make the front page – are they less worthy? Of course they aren’t! So, for those of you who have games other than the ones mentioned above and they need a patch, check out this week’s list of patches to see if your game was included.Here are just some of the many patches available on FileFront. For the full list, click here.

Granado Espada: Sword of the New World - v2.4 Bahia Island Client Patch – The new Version 2.4 Bahia Island Expansion of Granado Espada has been made available for download. Immense yourselves in the tropical beaches of Bahia Island as this new expansion comes to you this Christmas. Take part in light hearted mini games and stand to win special in-game items! Dress up in beach wear and explore the new maps. Team up with valiant heroes of Vespanola to defeat the new powerful raid bosses in Island of Fire. Unfold the story behind the “Nameless person” & “The one who searches for his memory”, choose your alliance with them and make your family stronger.

Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance – Fixed issue where Seraphim sACU could use overcharge before upgrading. (Done by selecting both unupgraded sACU and an ACU and giving overcharge command)
Fixed issue where FA only player could inappropriately be another faction during online play. Plus many balancing issues have been addressed and new Cybran Land Units have been added.

Tarr Chronicles – This v1.0.3.0 patch improves Vista compatibility, fixed freezing videos issue, added toggled AA, and a squashes a few other bugs. Quazar and Aklla have also given you the ability to change resolution in all OS and CPU. Added toggled anti-aliasing, fixed problem with freezing videos, fixed error in guardian mines part 3, fixed problems with implanted video memory, fixed problem “D3D invalid call (data/shaders/pspost.txt)” . Please note, that if you have any saved games, the items you have in the hangar after loading (as well as your custom devices) WILL NOT CHANGE, so any balance-changes or bugfixes in them will not be applied. If you want to have ALL the changes in the equipment you’ll need to create a new profile and delete the old one.

Depths of Peril – A patch has been issued updating Depths of Peril to v1.004. Please note that if you’ve already downloaded the v1.004 beta patch, this patch is not required. Added an extra check to make sure covenant never thinks it is at war with itself, added very hard covenant aggression difficulty level, and fixed a bug that allows most projectiles to get an extra critical hit bonus, etc.

Overlord- Codemasters has added a patch for features in addition to those present in OVERLORD I. Here is a basic summary of those features: Split Screen, maps include a new free survival map called Rocky Race, amBX PC gaming peripheral is enabled, etc.

For more information on the contents of all listed patches please click on the game title.

Lighthouse Interactive and ClockStone Software have released the first update for their fantasy-based action RPG for the PC, AVENCAST: Rise of the Mage. The update adds several new enhancements upgrading the game to version 1.02 which is a multi-language version.

Key Upgrades in Version 1.02:

• Three new auto save options (now the game saves in three separate auto save slots so players may reload a previous auto save if an old one is overwritten)
• Unnecessary quest items removed
• Overall performance improvements including various technical fixes
• Video related fixes including DirectShow® (DirectX®)

For the complete list of updates click here, and to get the patch just hit the badge below.

Lighthouse Interactive and developer ClockStone Software have announced that their fantasy-based action RPG, AVENCAST: Rise of the Mage is now available in major retail stores across North America and Europe. Erik Schreuder, CEO of Lighthouse Interactive said, “We are extremely proud that AVENCAST: Rise of the Mage has hit store shelves. AVENCAST is a game that can be thoroughly enjoyed by action and RPG fans alike. Its combat system is unique to the RPG genre. Players will have fun casting spells and defeating hordes of demonic enemies as they take on each new quest.”

AVENCAST: Rise of the Mage combines role-playing with the same type of combat system found in beat-em-up games. It is accessible to novice RPG game players, but promises to challenge core RPG and action fans alike. By requiring players to bring their own combat and strategic skills to the forefront, they can craft a character and unleash its potential by mastering spells, uncovering items, exploring environments, and battling malicious foes.

Game summary and features are listed after the break. To find out more information on the game or to try out the demo, check out our previous posts.

Read the full article

The weekend is here, and if by some chance you find yourself without any plans why not check out some of the recent demos that have landed at FileFront in the past month? Girlfriend/boyfriend/significant other got plans for a night out with pals? Single and lonely with only a cat for company? Rigor mortis in the prime of life? Tired of watching the same crap the cable networks feed you with a dirty spork? Whatever your reasons for staying in this weekend, I am sure we have something that will help you pass the time before Monday hits and you have to go back to work/school – miserable and just counting the seconds to the weekend.Here is just a sampling of what we have to offer. Some may sound familiar, and some may not.

• Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties
• AGON: The Last Sword of Toledo
• Avencast: Rise of the Mage
• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
• Clive Barker’s Jericho
• Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder
• Ememy Territory: Quake Wars
• Escape from Paradise City
• F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate
• Hellgate: London
• Journeys of the Dragon Riders
• Lost Planet: Extreme Condition
• Painkiller: Overdose – Single and Multiplayer
• Path of Magic
• Plant Tycoon
• SEGA Rally Revo
• Steel Fury
• Stranglehold
• Tarr Chronicles
• The Aplocalyptic Game About Penguins
• The Chosen: Well of Souls
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08
• Time Shift
• Unreal Tournament 3
• Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animals

These are just some of demos we have received since the middle of September, and we have many many more. Check out the list here.

In anticipation of the upcoming release of their action RPG game AVENCAST: Rise of the Mage, Lighthouse Interactive and ClockStone Software have released an official demo. The game has also officially gone gold and will be in stores October 31st. The question is this – is the game going to be a “trick” or a “treat”? Yeah, I know that was beyond corny but I still had to say it.

Michael Schiestl, CEO of ClockStone Software said, “Players will now have the chance to play the demo and experience first hand some of the exciting features in AVENCAST – intense, action-packed combat sequences, and mighty spells that are graphically stunning. Three indoor and outdoor locations are showcased, with over 20 powerful spells to unlock, and loads of items to uncover. This is just a taste of what AVENCAST has to offer. We hope players will enjoy challenging the malicious foes from the world of AVENCAST!”

“ClockStone created a unique and fluid combat system for AVENCAST that stands out and differs from other action RPGs,” said Erik Schreuder, CEO of Lighthouse Interactive. “The demo focuses on the combat system and spell casting. If you like action and role-playing, this is the demo you need to play!”

The demo will allow players to experience AVENCAST’s combat and spell casting system as they battle numerous demonic enemies. A tutorial will also be available to allow players to hone their skills before heading into battle. With more than 1.5 hours of gameplay, over 20 different spells to master, countless items to uncover, vicious enemies to battle, and numerous environments to explore, the AVENCAST : Rise of the Mage demo is definitely worth the download – just so you can find out for yourself.

You get the demo by clicking on the badge below or via FileFront. Let us know what you think.