BioWare co-founders inducted into the AIAS Hall of Fame, PC PC News

BioWare's co-founders, Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk, have been named the 14th and 15th inductees into the Academy of Arts and Sciences (AIAS) Hall of Fame, marking the first time the academy has welcomed two inductees into its hallowed halls in the same year.

Awarded in conjunction with AIAS' yearly Interactive Achievement Awards, the 'Hall of Fame' designation is reserved for individuals who have made a significant contribution to the video game industry. In an accompanying press release, AIAS president Mark Rae praised the duo for producing,“some of the most wildly successful and accomplished games, and these will resonate among gamers for a very long time."

Dubbed the 'BioWare Doctors', Muzyka and Zeschuk originally met in medical school where their joint passion for gastroenterology and acid based physiology naturally led to an interest in making games. Shortly after graduating, the pair rallied a small team of developers and programmers to form BioWare– a studio that would go on to create little known titles such as Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Dragon Age (which also won AIAS's 2010 award for Best RPG).

"We're truly honored to represent our teams of passionate, hard-working, creative staff across the BioWare Group within Electronic Arts, and they all share this award with us,"said Dr. Ray Muzyka upon receiving news of the award."Driving BioWare's success past, present and future are the amazing family of people we have been privileged to work with over the years and our shared core values of quality in our workplace, quality in our products, and entrepreneurship in a context of humility and integrity."

Echoing his sentiments, Dr. Zeschuk added:"It's very meaningful to us as BioWare co-founders, business partners and friends for many years that the AIAS has chosen this year to be the first year that they induct two people in to the Hall of Fame simultaneously,"said Dr. Greg Zeschuk."We'd also like to thank our wives and the families of our employees for their continuous support over the years, which together with the hard work of our great teams continually enables BioWare's success."

Above:Future AIAS winner?

The last recipient to be awarded AIAS Hall of Fame entry was Mark Cerny, President of Cerny games. Past inductees also include Trip Hawkins (2005), Peter Molyneux (2004), John Carmack (2001) and, of course, its inaugural hall of famer, Shigeru Miyamoto (1998).

Dr. Muzyka and Dr. Zeschuk will receive the award at the 14th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards at AIAS' 2011 D.I.C.E summit in Las Vegas.

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Witcher 2's 'insanity' difficulty setting will live up to its name, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings PC News

Forget about dying of thirst in Fallout: New Vegas or suffering a thousand deaths in Mass Effect 2; The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings' 'insanity' mode could be the most unforgiving, yet utterly compelling, difficulty gameplay setting yet. 

In an interview with Eurogamer, CD Projekt's lead gameplay designer Mateusz Kanik revealed that players who die in Witcher 2's 'insanity mode' will stay dead for good, noting,"You can save the game, but when you die the saves are disabled.”

Damn. I smashed my keyboard just thinking about that. 

Above:If Geralt catches pneumonia, consider yourself screwed

Kanik also mentioned that the mode will imbue opponents with special abilities that will make escaping combat virtually impossible. In one example, Kanik explained:"Undead can dig into the ground and get up near the player. So when you run he will dig up in front of you and grab you. It will be harder to just run and avoid the fight."

Not without a sense of mercy, Kanik added that there will be an option to come back to the game sometime in the future. The only catch? It'll cost you."Of course we plan to have a resurrection scroll, maybe DLC or something. You'll see."

The Witcher 2 is out next May. We suggest you use this time to stock up on herbal teas and anxiety pills.

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Minimal Mario takes 'demakes' to the extreme, PC PC News

Oh, so you think you're so clever with your backward-ass“demakes.” What would Left 4 Dead look like on an NES? (Alien Syndrome). What would Halo look like on a SNES? (Mega Man X). Big deal. How hard is it really to take something with a zillion pixels and strip it down a bit? You want to see a real demake? How about a critically pared-back version of Super Mario Bros?

Inspired by all those“game characters in a couple of pixels” art projects, indie programmer Jaeden Amero's Minimal Mario is a full-length, playable hack of Super Mario Brothers that patches the whole game into something you'd be embarrassed to boot up on an Atari ST. (Oh, sure, so the scrolling that made the original such a big deal is still there, but what do you want?)

In order to stay kosher, Amero doesn't provide the game itself (that would be copyright infringement), just his patch. He also includes comprehensive steps on how to patch the original game and play his version.

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CoD: Black Ops reaches $1 billion in sales, Call of Duty: Black Ops PC News

Anyone who says the Call of Duty franchise is one big cash cow is right on the money (hah!). The latest entry in the series has become the quickest to reach a milestone most game publishers only ever dream about - $1 billion in sales revenue.

It's less than a month and a half since Call of Duty: Black Ops was released on November 9th. That day it raked in more money than any video game - or any entertainment product at all, for that matter - has ever accumulated in the US on a launch day. And sales have only continued to climb.

In addition to that, it set the sales record for the most sales revenue in its first five days and also became the most widely played launch game in Xbox Live history. Activision is having a very merry Christmas this year.

Meanwhile, on the technical side of things, Activision and developer Treyarch continue to work on patching bugs that have arisen, mainly in the PS3 version of the game. Activision was under a lot of pressure to put out the game specifically on November 9 - the exact same date as the 2009 launch of the previous Call of Duty title, Modern Warfare 2.

As such, some have complained that the game was rushed, sent out with known glitches in it with the idea that it could just be patched after the fact. We've seen this mindset start to creep up with other games, like Fallout New Vegas and the new downloadable Tomb Raider game - which was released even though it wasn't even finished. Hopefully this doesn't set a new precedent.

{Source: Forbes}

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Games can make people eat healthier. Really?, PC PC News

Game junkies are often portrayed as fat, anti-social nerds who keep cans of Cheez-Wiz and boxes of pizza within arm's reach at all times, but videogames may actually be of help in the fight against obesity, if a new study is to be believed.

If you spend every waking hour playing Burger Time, perhaps this study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, doesn't apply to you. But it does show that players are receptive to a game's message, even if it involves eating healthier foods.

The study looked at children from the ages of 5 to 19 as they played two games: Escape from Diab and Nanoswarm. Both games promote better lifestyles, but not in an in-your-face kind of way. The messages were subtly inserted into wide-ranging storylines.

The study found that when players played the games multiple times, they"had a meaningful effect on dietary fruit and vegetable intake."However, they had no effect on actually encouraging the children to exercise.

Researchers hope that the government will look to videogames as a new way of spreading public awareness about current issues. Perhaps we'll have a TSA groping game soon.

{Source: AFP}

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Hitler to unleash dinosaur army on Steam with Dino D-Day, Dino D-Day PC News

World War II's been done to death, but not World War II with dinosaurs. What if Hitler had an army of raptors at his command? It's one of those historical quandaries that keep us up at night. Well, those curious won't have to wonder much longer, as developer 800 North Productions has just revealed plans to release Dino D-Day via Steam on March 1.

Originally announced in 2009, Dino D-Day is a Half-Life 2 mod being released as a standalone product. The story begins in 1942, when the Axis powers first succeed in creating their dinosaur army and release it upon the Allies.

Above: An old-timey trailer for Dino D-Day, which will be coming out on March 1, 2011

Above: You can see more ridiculous Dino D-Day screenshots here

The multiplayer game allows Axis players to choose between three different classes of soldiers and three classes of dinosaurs: the stealth-focused Raptor, the 20mm machine gun-equipped Desmatosuchus, and the melee-focused Dilophosaur. Meanwhile, the allies have six human classes to pick from.

800 North Productions, the developers of the game, haven't revealed any price info to go along with the announced release date.

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New Homefront developer diary focuses on multiplayer, promises 'epic vehicular warfare', Homefront PC News

Homefront is one of themost interesting-looking FPS war gamesin the 2011 release docket, both in the singleplayer and multiplayer departments. Recently, THQ released the game'sfirst developer diary, which focused on the story, and today it has released another behind-the-scenes video to show off the game's multiplayer experience:

To avoid becoming 'yet another' online shooter, with the same mechanics of every other, Homefront will introduce features such as the ability to move between maps during one skirmish.

And then there's the most important feature of the game: vehicles. The development team likes to say it's"epic vehicular warfare,"which sounds totally cool to us. Get some friends together and start shooting helicopters at tanks, and tanks at Humvees, and no one can say that ain't a good time. Well, not literally"shooting helicopters at tanks,"like out of a big helicopter gun. But that would be cool too.

In related news, THQ CEO Brian Farrell told investors last night that the publisher will reduce its focus on licensed kid's games, and direct more attention toward its original IPs, which includes Homefront.

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69 million 'team actions' will unlock the classic Operation Hastings map in Bad Company 2 Vietnam, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 PC News

DICE has put a little something extra into the new Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam add-on, but you'll only be able to get it if everyone else wants it as much as you. The"Operations Hastings"map, which has been revived from the classic Battlefield: Vietnam from 2004, is hidden in the new DLC pack, but won't be available until 69 million online"team actions"are recorded. That's a lot of actions.

Check out the map's trailer below:

Team actions include the following:

• Resupply
• Revive
• Heal
• Spot
• Repair

Even if you don't buy the expansion pack, you're still helping out by playing, as actions in the main game will be counted in addition to those recorded on the Vietnam DLC maps.

So... 69 million is a really big number, though we can't say we know how many team actions are recorded on an average day - we imagine it's not trivial. But why not put in some extra effort? Go kill yourself repeatedly and have a friend revive you until the map is unlocked. That seems like a good use of your time!

The Vietnam expansion is out December 18 for $15 on PC, and December 21 for the same price on PSN and 1200 Microsoft Points on the Xbox 360.

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Everquest II to get its own Cataclysm after WoW test case?, EverQuest II PC News

Unless you've been living under a particularly heavy rock for a while, you should know that players of World of Warcraft are anticipating a

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Mysterious Deus Ex website surfaces with augmentations and a hidden hacking game, Deus Ex: Human Revolution PC News

If you’re not familiar with the Deus Ex series, it was all about augmentations, high-tech body modifications that allowed you to tweak your character to perfection. In the new Deus Ex game developed by Eidos, Sarif Industries is the leading manufacturer of these body augmentations.

Interestingly enough an official website for the fictional futuristic tech company has surfaced. Head towww.sarifindustries.com, and you’ll be able to browse through a bunch of the upgrades you’ll be able to modify your character with in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Keep clicking around, and you’ll also get to sample a hidden hacking game.

Above: Head towww.sarifindustries.comto see the official website for the fictional mega corporation from Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Above: You can check out choice augmentations offered by Sarif Industries

Above: Keep clicking around and a mysterious hacking mini-game will appear. Collect all the folders by bypassing securities and you'll unlock data pods with schematics for gear from the game

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BBC prepares to investigate the addictive properties of videogames, PC PC News

Panorama, a BBC investigative television show, is preparing to turn its lens towards videogames and the gamers who are hopelessly addicted to them. Titled‘Addicted to Games?,’ the episode will feature“youngsters who’ve dropped out of school and university to play games for anything up to 21 hours a day.” Reporter Raphael Rowe will also be meeting with“leading experts calling for more independent research into this controversial subject,” and just might score himself the scoop of the century when he“reveals the hidden psychological devices in games that are designed to keep us coming back for more.” We wonder if it has anything to do with them being fun?

Above: Investigating the"addictive psychological devices in games"(aka graphics and sound)

We’d hate to judge‘Addicted to Games?’ before we’ve seen it, but the episode’s official description reeks of the selective viewing and fear mongering we’re now accustomed to anytime the games industry finds itself in the spotlight of the mainstream media. It’ll be interesting to see if Panorama reporters will investigate the addictive properties of games based on popular BBC shows, like Top Gear and Doctor Who for the iPhone. Oh wait, we guess they’ll only be looking at good games.

‘Addicted to Games?’ is scheduled to air on Monday, December 6 on BBC One. It’s an especially fitting date for the show to air, just one day before the worldwide release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

{Source:BBC}

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Christopher Nolan confirms Inception game... DUNNNNN, PC PC News

Christopher Nolan has confirmed that a game set in the world of Inception is being developed. The film, which premiered in July, has earned over $800,000,000 worldwide, making it the third highest-grossing film of 2010 thus far.

"I always imagined Inception to be a world where a lot of other stories could take place," said Nolan to Inside Movies, adding,"At the moment, the only direction we're channeling that is by developing a videogame set in the world."

Nolan didn't reveal any further details, except that the game is"a longer-term proposition"and that videogames are a medium he"wants to explore."DUNNNNNNNN.

We're always nervous about movie games, but it's a bit different when a director like Nolan is the one doing the talking. It seems unlikely that he'd toss Inception into the gears of a B-grade licened game cash machine. But even so, creating a game based on Inception's free-form meta-meta-meta-meta-(meta?) dream worlds will be challenging.

How would you like to see the game handled? An open-dreamworld action RPG? An MMO in limbo? 

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