A short video showing off the new engine used by the game Crysis

Crysis 2 Nanosuit Voice Gamescom 2009 Trailer
Check out the nanosuit 2 in this trailer for Crysis 2 direct from Gamescom 2009.

Crysis 2 Nanosuit 2 Gamescom 2009 Trailer
This trailer for Crysis 2 is straight from Gamescom 2009 and shows off the newest version of the Nanosuit.

Following the revelations of earlier today with the Microsoft E3 2009 kickoff events Electronic Arts hits the stage in California at 2PM California time (yes that’s an official time zone… California is more important than the rest of the Pacific time zone… just ask them). We’ve included the embed link to G4TVs JustinTV feed for the event.

I’ll attempt to do a liveblog of the event in the same post as well if you’re interested in my insight into the whole thing.

You can see the embed and the liveblog after the jump. Read the full article

Finnish developer Recoil Games have released the first screenshots of its upcoming ‘when nature goes wrong’ inspired 3d shooter Earth No More. Powered by a heavily modified Unreal Engine 3, the screens (above) show off the game’s Crysis-like graphics. However, very little of the game itself is known at this time.

What little we do know is that the game takes place in a small New England town that has been quarantined due to a mysterious outbreak. The player will assume the role of Will Foster/Forsythe, a DHS chemical weapons specialist, initially responding to a gas attack on Washington, D.C. As the story unfolds, it becomes apparent that the gas-attack is nothing but a government cover-up devised to hide the truth: plants are taking over the world. Poisonous red vines have spread throughout the region simultaneously strangling and terra-forming the environment. It is up to the main character, who will be joined by four other characters, to survive the apocalyptic threat of environmental extinction. Conversation paths similar to Mass Effect will presented to substantiate the game’s character driven story. Multiplayer and co-op options have also been put on the table.

Recoil Games is founded by Remedy Entertainment (Max Payne) co-founder Samuli Syvahuoko.

Also worth note is that Scott Miller’s Radar Group will be producing the game. Many of you may recognize his name in association with the now defunct 3D Realms (Duke Nukem Forever).

When recently asked if the recent closure of 3D Realms will have any effect on the game’s development, Recoil Games responded “No, the situation at 3D Realms has no effect on us or Earth No More.”

Recoil Games and Radar Group plan to release the game for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 at a future date yet to be announced.

Next to zombies, there is nothing as cool as giant robots. This is an opinion no one should deny and in the case of old time Mechwarrior players like myself the thought of another game set in FASA’s galaxy of conflict, ploitical intrigue and 100 Ton walking death machines is a dream come true. While FASA and its video game legacy is little more than a tale of legend and myth for most gamers these days it appears some of our prayers for a resurrection of the setting are being answered thanks to a group of dedicated modders.

Mechwarrior: Living Legends is a total conversion modification of the original Crysis that is poised to take the goregous but shallow first person shooter and inject it with some death from above, PPC wielding, Battletech action. While the mod is still in the development stage at this point, the April/May update shows just how much progress the team has made recently. Among the newsbits are revelations and art for the upcoming game including a look at the Clan Mad Cat Mk II, and the Inner Sphere Bushwacker. The update also features some updated screens from the dev team’s weekly playtest and shows off not just the mecha love but also some of the armored vehicles included in the game.

While its not the first game to feature both mech and vehicles in playable form (Infocom’s Cresent Hawk’s Revenge had both), it is definitely the first time one of the Mechwarrior -type games has allowed infanty, vehicle and mecha combat all on the same battlefield. You can read the full update here, and stick around to check out all the Battletech goodness on the mod’s home website.

If there’s one thing I’ve come to depend on Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli for, it’s asinine quotes about piracy. You may remember when he declared that for every legitimate buyer of a PC game, there were 15-20 pirates.

As if that ludicrous statement weren’t enough, he decided to weigh in on the recent Pirate Bay ruling. In an interview with MCV sister site Develop, Yerli said,

“I was really happy [at the ruling], to be honest. I feel it is the beginning of something and a step forward. I think we’re going to see either more tracking sites shut down, or more severe punishments for those involved. Frankly, piracy is the reason why retail games are falling in popularity.”

Now, I’m not discounting that piracy presents a problem for the industry. But is it really as insurmountable an obstacle as Yerli suggests?

Read the full article

A new article on ExtremeTech pits antivirus software against some of the most demanding PC games around. AVG Free, BitDefender (GameDefender edition), Kaspersky and Norton (Gaming Edition) each face off against Crysis, Company of Heroes, Far Cry 2, Supreme Commander and World in Conflict.

ExtremeTech compared the performance of each game on a control system with and without each of the antivirus programs running. Between performance and price points you can get a fairly good idea of which of these software options are best for your gaming PC. Check out the final results from Gaming Performance Versus Antivirus Software on ExtremeTech.

When you think of piracy lately, Spore comes to mind more so than anything else, and according to a post over on Actiontrip– Electronic Arts and Will Wright’s huge hit Spore is the biggest pirated game of 2008. I wonder if it has anything to do with the hoopla caused by the DRM restrictions EA imposed upon the title?

Whatever gamers reasoning for pirating these titles is, they are all listed in the order of most to least with the release date of the game next to the title. While looking this over, some of you may recall all of the money that Ubisoft claims they lost when Assassin’s Creed for the PC was pirated. The main reason that Assassin’s Creed was so highly pirated according to a lawsuit brought against OEM by Ubisoft, was because an employee took home a copy of Assassin’s Creed and uploaded it onto the internet six weeks before the game shipped in April 2008. Ubisoft claims that this led to over 700,000 pirated downloads of the title. Well, now that number is up to 1,070,000. Wow, just wow.

Read the full article

FileFront has received a bunch of demos and patches this past week, and for once, it seems like the demos are worth writing about. So, to kick things off, lets start with the patches that hit this week, just in case you were unaware that one was available for your game.

As always, for the full list of patches and games, hit the links.

Patches

• Legacy Interactive has released a patch updating The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes to v1.1.
• Codemasters has released a patch for ArchLord to adjust registry entry to point to correct location.
• Crytek has released a patch updating Crysis Wars to v1.2. This patch fixes various problems, but mainly addresses balancing issues.
• Electronic Arts has released a patch updating Spore to v1.03 with 24 new and exclusive exoskeleton limbs for the Creature Creator.

Demos

Strong Bad Episode 4: Dangeresque 3: Move over, James Bond! Strong Bad’s here to show you how it’s done in his hand-crafted cinematic masterpiece. You play Dangeresque, a dirty cop in pursuit of action and big sacks of cash. Can our hero defeat his arch-nemesis and save the world? Looks like he’s gonna have to jump.

7 Wonders: Treasures of Seven: In 7 Wonders, you have to build nine of the most intriguing structures throughout history. You have to match runes to break blocks and uncover the lock and keystone for each round.

Call of Atlantis: Takes players on a fascinating journey around the ancient lands of the Mediterranean to acquire seven mysterious crystals of power able to restore the Altar of Poseidon and save the fabled sunken city of Atlantis.

Ellen Whitaker’s Horse Life: PC demo which allows you to take care of your horse and complete certain tasks.

Murlikin Rescues His Estate: Aliens are threatening to occupy the Earth and the only one who can interfere with this evil plan is… a cat.

Five more demos listed after the jump.

Read the full article

ExtremeTech has overhauled its Bang for the Buck PC Build guide to present gamers with a formula for building a rig that will perform without breaking their budget. What makes this collaborative effort different from past articles is that the article will show you how to a system comprised of bang for the buck components. The results are guidelines for a highly customizable system that includes the latest tech advances like blu-ray and 64 bit computing.

PC titles are not all as demanding on your system as Crysis. However games are still pushing PCs to their limits and beyond at an incredible pace. Brand new gaming rigs go from shiny to holding their own to obsolete so quickly you don’t have the time or money to keep up. With some know how and a modest amount of cash you can have a PC that will give you the performance you crave.