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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Akella’s RPG-strategy title Disciples III: Renaissance is the third installment in the popular Disciples series and builds on the successes of the first two games by introducing a host of new features as well as the same style of gameplay that made the previous titles popular. This will be the first time in the series that the gloomy world of Disciples will be rendered in full 3D by using the Virtual Dream engine which will in turn allow players to experience this realm as it should be.

We have been covering Disciples III: Renaissance for quite some time now, so if you are interested in more information, check out our previous posts.

The game is to be made available for the PC sometime between Q4 2008 and Q1 2009. In the meantime, you can check out our library of screens by clicking here.

Enjoy the trailer.

Once again, GameTap Thursday is here, and that means that another episode of Grimm has been released.  Per the usual, it is free to play for the first 24 hours of release just like past episodes.

• American McGeee’s Grimm: Godfather Death: When a couple gives birth to their 13th child, the father ventures out to find a godfather for the boy and chooses … dum dum dum.. Death. Raising the boy to become a famous doctor who has a “knack” for knowing who can be saved and who cannot; all seems well until the boy falls in love with a girl whom Death has laid claim to, so he tricks his father into sparring her life. Should be interesting.. we all know what happens when you try to trick Death, just look at the mess Peter Griffin got himself into.

• Sub Command utting you at the helm of one of three legendary submarines you much choose whether it will it be the Akula, Russia’s nuclear-powered silver shark? Will it be the Seawolf, America’s fast and stealthy secret weapon? Or will you pick the extremely versatile 688i, capable of top performance under the most adverse conditions? The choice is yours! Woo Hoo! We all love choices, don’t we?

• Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader?: Ok, I have no clue if Jeff Foxworthy is in this game or not, but regardless, you can still figure out if you learned anything in school when playing this quiz game. Based on the popular FOX Television game show, Valusoft’s Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? pits your mind against those of average grade-schoolers. How much knowledge have you retained from your youth? Find out with over 3,000 unique questions.

I am assuming that no free games were debuted this week because of the Grimm episodes, which – btw – only has two more episodes left.

September 11             The Devil and His Three Golden Hairs
September 18             Beauty and the Beast

However, there are 142 games free over on GameTap for you to choose from, and if you are so willing, I have posted the entire list after the jump. As always, check out the official site for yourself to see what goodies are hiding within the hallowed servers of GameTap.

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Akella’s RPG-strategy title Disciples III: Renaissance is the third installment in the popular Disciples series and builds on the successes of the first two games by introducing a host of new features as well as the same style of gameplay that made the previous titles popular. This will be the first time in the series that the gloomy world of Disciples will be rendered in full 3D by using the Virtual Dream engine which will in turn allow players to experience this realm as it should be.

We have been covering Disciples III: Renaissance for quite some time now, so if you are interested in more information, check out our previous posts.

The game is to be made available for the PC sometime between Q4 2008 and Q1 2009. In the meantime, you can check out our library of screens by clicking here.

I have not heard anything about Disciples III: Renaissance since I interviewed Marina Vashurina back in March. Finally, today, some new assets were released for the game from the sole Russian developer at E3 and they were most definitely worth waiting for in my opinion. This is another game that has been on my radar for quite some time and it will be coming out for the PC sometime between Q4 2008 and Q1 2009. Akella is at E3 as we speak so I am sure a concrete release date will be forthcoming.

Akella’s  RPG/strategy title Disciples III: Renaissance is the third installment in the popular Disciples series and builds on the successes of the first two games by introducing a host of new features as well as the same style of gameplay that made the previous titles popular. This will be the first time in the series that the gloomy world of Disciples will be rendered in full 3D by using the Virtual Dream engine which will in turn allow players to experience this realm as it should be.

As a Lord of one of the fantastical races of Nevendaar, players must fight to restore their deity’s rule over the world by choosing one of three playable races: the Empire, the Elven Alliance and the notorious Legion of the Damned – each with its own unique units and city design. Advances have also been made in the gameplay which will allow increased fluidity in multiplayer games and less downtime when playing alone, while a new upgrade system allows the player to assign attributes to their leaders. The RPG inventory system in Disciples III has been tweaked and now includes player stats and abilities along with visual representation of character’s equipped armor, weapons and artifacts.

Check out the rest of the E3 screens here.

Coming this Fall to a PC near you is Akella’s newest RPG/strategy title Disciples III: Renaissance. This is the third installment in the popular Disciples series and builds on the successes of the first two games by introducing a host of new features as well as the same style of gameplay that made the previous titles popular. This will be the first time in the series that the gloomy world of Disciples will be rendered in full 3D by using the Virtual Dream engine which will in turn allow players to experience this realm as it should be.

As a Lord of one of the fantastical races of Nevendaar, players must fight to restore their deity’s rule over the world by choosing one of three playable races: the Empire, the Elven Alliance and the notorious Legion of the Damned – each with its own unique units and city design. Advances have also been made in the gameplay which will allow increased fluidity in multiplayer games and less downtime when playing alone, while a new upgrade system allows the player to assign attributes to their leaders. The RPG inventory system in Disciples III has been tweaked and now includes player stats and abilities along with visual representation of character’s equipped armor, weapons and artifacts.

Recently, we were given the opportunity to ask Marina Vashurina from .dat, the developers behind Disciples III, to tell our readers a bit more about the third installment in this popular RPG franchise, and explain to us what makes Disciples III different from the other RPGs that seem to have oversaturatting the market lately.

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Akella’s latest addition to the Disciples RPG franchise, Renaissance, will introduce a host of new features as well as the same style of gameplay that made the previous titles popular. This will be the first time in the series that the gloomy world of Disciples will be rendered in full 3D by using the Virtual Dream engine which will in turn allow players to experience this realm as it should be. The game combat in Disciples III is now based on a hex system where as a former square grid was replaced with a hex one which, in their minds was a more natural way for the game to be played. Along with these changes to the gamplay, Akella also sent us some information on the Elven Alliance and the Legion of the Damned that will be prevalent throughout the game. You can read up on them after the jump.

As a Lord of one of the fantastical races of Nevendaar, players must fight to restore their deity’s rule over the world by choosing one of three playable races: the Empire, the Elven Alliance and the notorious Legion of the Damned – each with its own unique units and city design. Advances have also been made in the gameplay which will allow increased fluidity in multiplayer games and less downtime when playing alone, while a new upgrade system allows the player to assign attributes to their leaders. The RPG inventory system in Disciples III has been tweaked and now includes player stats and abilities along with visual representation of character’s equipped armor, weapons and artifacts.

Hopefully soon we will have more on Disciples III: Renaissance, so until then check back with us often.

Read the full article

Coming this Fall to a PC near you is Akella’s newest RPG/strategy title Disciples III: Renaissance. This is the third installment in the popular Disciples series and builds on the successes of the first two games by introducing a host of new features as well as the same style of gameplay that made the previous titles popular. This will be the first time in the series that the gloomy world of Disciples will be rendered in full 3D by using the Virtual Dream engine which will in turn allow players to experience this realm as it should be.

As a Lord of one of the fantastical races of Nevendaar, players must fight to restore their deity’s rule over the world by choosing one of three playable races: the Empire, the Elven Alliance and the notorious Legion of the Damned – each with its own unique units and city design. Advances have also been made in the gameplay which will allow increased fluidity in multiplayer games and less downtime when playing alone, while a new upgrade system allows the player to assign attributes to their leaders. The RPG inventory system in Disciples III has been tweaked and now includes player stats and abilities along with visual representation of character’s equipped armor, weapons and artifacts.

The sent us a bevy of screenshots for the game today, and they look pretty cool to me -of course being an RPG nut I am always on the lookout for something new to pique my interest. Stick around for more updates on Disciples III: Renaissance. I have posted more screenshots after the break.

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Akella, the developer of the well loved Sea Dogs and Age of Sail games has a number of new games coming out in the near future and they plan to reveal the details at the upcoming E3 Media and Business Summit. The titles to be shown include Jagged Alliance 3, Disciples III: Rennaisance, Showdown:Scorpion, Heavy Duty, 2025:Battle for Fatherland, and the action RPG Numen. Follow the jump to read summaries of Akella’s upcoming titles.

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Disciples III: Renaissance Teaser Video
A new trailer for Disciples III: Renaissance has been released in all its spiffyness. It basically gives you a glimpse at some of the different characters/enemies and what they can do. My personal favorite is the giant guy with faces for knuckles. I wouldn’t mess with that guy; he can hit you and bite you all at the same time.