Posts filed under 'PC Gaming'
EA is milking its Lord of the Rings license as much as it can (and why shouldn’t it?). The latest announcement is an RPG based on the film trology, or at least, inspired by the world of the film trilogy.
The Lord of the Rings, The White Council is scheduled to ship in late 2007 for the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.
“Our extremely talented and dedicated team is committed to creating an incredible new experience for fans of The Lord of the Rings and role playing gamers,” said Steve Gray, executive producer, The Lord of the Rings, The White Council. “With its next generation gameplay and epic new storyline, we think The Lord of the Rings, The White Council will be a huge success.”
Players have the freedom to explore the open world of Tolkien’s Middle-earth in The Lord of the Rings, The White Council. Players can choose their role as a man, an elf, a dwarf, or a hobbit. Each role’s destiny is to become a hero allied with the White Council, whose members include the famed characters Gandalf, Saruman, Galadriel, and Elrond.
A combination of stunning graphics and expansive environments, along with the freedom of movement demonstrates the innovation and quality of the next-generation RPG, where players can create their own adventures.
July 15th, 2006
Those of you who were around at the dawn of the PC gaming age will remember the Myst games fondly. The series of graphical adventures may not have stood the test of time with their fixed perspective viewpoint and linear gameplay, but at the time they were hailed as triumphs and sales were appropriately high. Myst is the second biggest selling game of all time - yes, more than Doom or Quake - beaten only by The Sims.
However, Cyan, the developers behind the Myst series have closed their doors and laid off all staff, with the exception of Rand Miller, the co-founder and president Tony Fryman. Presumably they are staying on to oversee the release of the final Myst game, End of Ages, which is due out this month.
Cyan was hit hard by the failure of its MUD project, Uru, and falling sales for later installments in the Myst series which did not capture the imagination in the same way they did in the early 1990s.
September 6th, 2005
Sony Online Entertainment has announced plans for Station Exchange, the official auction site for SOE games which is scheduled for launch in late June. Initially the website will only cover EverQuest II, allowing subscribers to buy and sell the rights to use characters, items and coin in a player-to-player auction setting.
“The unsanctioned secondary market for online games is rapidly growing and more and more of our players are taking part in it,” said John Smedley. “Not only are we answering the demands of a sizable portion of our subscriber base, but we are also set on establishing the standard for online game sales. SOE is in a unique position to help guide the industry, just as we have since we first opened the world of EverQuest to the public six years ago.”
Leading industry analyst group DFC Intelligence estimates that the online game industry in 2003 was $1.9 billion. By 2006, they predict revenue growing to $5.2 billion with continued steady growth, with worldwide online game revenue reaching $9.8 billion by 2009. As this business has grown, so too has the “secondary” market, which is based around the unsupported buying and selling of in-game characters, items and coins. Unofficial estimates of underground “secondary” market trade volume range from $100 - $800 million a year, with titles such as SOE’s EverQuest and EverQuest II making up 20% of those sales.
The difference between Station Exchange and other third party, non-sanctioned sites can be summed up in one word: security. When a player decides to auction the use of an item or character, that item is removed from the game world and is moved to a secure Station Exchange server. Interested buyers will be able to browse through all auctions, and will have the comfort of seeing exactly what they are bidding on and knowing that once an auction is complete, the item or character will be placed in their account. Since all transactions happen through Station Exchange servers run by SOE, fraud will be virtually eliminated and the transfer becomes an automatic process. All activities on Station Exchange will be player-to-player on servers designated “Exchange Enabled”; Sony Online Entertainment itself will not sell items, characters or coin.
It is expected the SOE will roll out the service to other MMORPGs, such as Star Wars: Galaxies later in the year.
April 22nd, 2005
Electronic Arts today announced that The Sims 2 is in development for the PlayStation2, the Xbox, the Nintendo GameCube, and for all handhelds including PSP, the Nintendo DS, the Nintendo Game Boy Advance and mobile phones, presumably including the Ngage.
The Sims 2 on the PC swept the world in 2004 by becoming the fastest selling game of all time and the No. 1 PC game of 2004 with sales already over 4.5 Million copies worldwide.
Maxis-EA is redefining this highly-acclaimed franchise and will deliver classic open-ended gameplay along with exclusive new features. Aspirational gameplay and fully customizable content will give players the most authentic Sims experience to date on console. This innovative gameplay will allow players to make their dreams come true while avoiding their innermost fears. And, for the first time, players will be able to take direct control of their Sim without having to use their cursor. All handheld versions will feature unique storylines and will ship simultaneously with the console games.
“Fans have been asking for The Sims 2 on console since it launched on the PC in September last year. We are thrilled to finally be able to bring it to them,” said Sinjin Bain, Executive Producer EA/Maxis. “The Sims 2 will be everywhere this fall, giving players on consoles and handhelds all new ways to take control of their Sims and tell all new stories.”
The Sims 2 console and handheld versions are scheduled to ship in the Fall of 2005. For more information, please visit www.thesims2.com.
April 19th, 2005