Star Wars: The Old Republic - PC

As pre-order early access codes for the highly anticipated Star Wars: The Old Republic continue to be sent out, BioWare has issued a statement updating fans on the future of the MMORPG.
"Since we’re an online game we are going to continue building on the game for years to come. You can count on us to diligently expand the game and service to surprise and delight you."
In the statement, Star Wars The Old Republic game director James Ohlen outlined a list of features, revealing information on what the dev team is working on for patches coming in the near future.

New Content – We will be adding new content to the galaxy on an ongoing basis. These worlds will include Operations, Flashpoints and solo content.

Guild Functionality – Guilds are important to the long term health of any MMORPG. We have a huge list of guild centric features. This will be an ongoing effort that will probably never end. Guild banks are the first thing we’ll be delivering in our plans for increased guild functionality. Eventually we even want to deliver on the promise of the long hinted at “Guild Capital Ships”.

UI customization – You like choice. We hear you! SWTOR is all about choice. Being able to choose how you interact with an online game is something we feel is very important. We are going to be giving more control over the UI as an ongoing effort. This is a very big priority for us.

PvP – We have an entire team dedicated to adding content and features to player vs. player. We have some of the most experienced PvP developers in the world on this team. So far very few people have seen, or know much about the stunning Open World PVP on Ilum; when you get to the high levels prepare to be blown away! In addition to that high level PVP content, expect new Warzones and new PvP features on a regular basis.

Space Combat – We will continue to add missions to the space game. We also have a special project going on right now that will expand space gameplay in a significant way... for now the details will have to remain under wraps.

Legacy System – The ability to select a surname for your character is just the start of something much bigger. Soon, the Legacy experience and levels you earn will grant your characters access to powers, objects and other cool benefits.

And more – We have an entire team of developers working on future content. Right now we are focused on nothing else but Star Wars: The Old Republic, so expect new and cool things.

"It is fair to say that we’re just as excited as you are about the launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic. Not only are we launching one of the largest and most impressive games ever created, but we’re also excited about the prospect of continuing to work on the game so that you, the fans, will always have something heroic and amazing to enjoy. Thanks for playing."
Star Wars The Old Republic doesn't officially launch until December 20th, but BioWare has promised early access up to five days early for those who have pre-ordered the game. This week, they surprised fans by granting an additional 2 days of early access by sending out codes yesterday.

Alan Wake Confirmed for PC Early 2012

After rumors of an Alan Wake game being available for PC emerged yesterday amidst the findings of game files in Steam, Remedy Entertainment has officially announced the release.
"Coming in early 2012, the game will give PC gamers the Alan Wake experience they have been patiently waiting for," they announced in a press release today. "Remedy is a developer with deep roots in the PC space (Death Rally and Max Payne 1 and 2), so the game will have the high resolution polish that longtime fans will expect."
The PC version of Alan Wake will also include The Signal and The Writer DLC.
Alan Wake tells the story of a best-selling writer suffering from writer’s block. He goes on vacation to the small town of Bright Falls with his wife, Alice, to gain back his creative flow. Shortly upon arrival, Wake finds himself trapped in a nightmare when his wife mysteriously goes missing. He keeps finding pages of a manuscript he apparently wrote, but can’t remember writing. The manuscript is coming true. An involving psychological action thriller, Alan Wake raises the bar in storytelling and creating a suspenseful cinematic experience.
News From pc.gamezone.com

Minecraft 1.0.1 Pre-Release Available, Weekly Pre-Releases Scheduled

While many of us were at home stuffing our faces with turkey and watching my beloved Dallas Cowboys beat the Dolphins, Notch and the rest of the Minecraft development team were hard at work releasing a new update.

On Thursday, November 24th, the minecraft_server.jar was updated to 1.0.1, which according to developer Jens Bergensten fixed "the login key problem and null pointer exception" when logging into servers.

This was a server-only update, with Minecraft 1.0.0 remaining as the current client version.

According to Jens, Mojang is "working towards automated snapshots, and will try to get one 'prerelease' out every week, regardless if it's stable or not."

These "snapshots", or pre-releases, "will be named 11w47 (year and week) + a, b, c et (in case we do more than one), in one word such as '11w47a'."

Until automated updates are functional, these pre-release builds are patched similar to before. You must manually copy the test .jar over your existing one, and aim to playtest various fixes, additions, etc. to future official releases.

Similar to how Minecraft 1.9 had several pre-releases, "these will build up to official releases once they feel stable and add useful features."

The new Minecraft update 11w47a can be found here, and Jens noted that it is practically identical to version 1.0.1.

"Barely anything has changed since 1.0... I'm getting into the mindset that snapshots are releases regularly regardless of progress."

As everyone knows, Mojang is currently expanding Minecraft for the Xbox 360, and is also working on a brand new title, "Scrolls". Many fans have been wondering if Minecraft will receive the same attention from developers as it had in the past. Jens assured fans that he will still be working full-time on Minecraft, while creator Markus 'Notch' Persson will oversee and work on newer projects.

Bringing Battlefield 3 to consoles was a "big challenge" - DICE

News From oxm.co.uk
In a new interview, Battlefield 3 rendering architect Johan Andersson has explained how DICE adapted the game's vaunted Frostbite 2 technology to fit Xbox 360.

"We've been working with both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 since the very first hardware was available so we have built up a deep knowledge how to develop & optimize for the consoles; what works well and what doesn't work well," Andersson told AMD Game Blog.

"When we started with Frostbite 2 we had this knowledge in the back of our minds when developing all the new rendering & lighting systems, but we didn't let the constraints of the consoles limit us, we instead experimented quite freely with multiple types of rendering techniques and methods of building objects & effects on PC and DX11 to come up with what we wanted to do.

"I think this was a refreshing and healthy approach that lead to a great step forward with some really good new tech; tech that we might not have thought of, or dared to develop, if we would have taken a more incremental development approach and focusing primarily on the consoles.

Having put together their vision for the game in a spec-free vacuum, the Battlefield 3 team then worked to scale the engine down for console play.

"It was a big challenge to bring up the game and engine on the consoles after that," Andersson admitted. "A lot of low-level optimization and adapting systems to the specific strengths of the platforms to try and keep as much as possible of the gameplay and visuals while both fitting into 30 fps as well as a fixed low memory budget."

Though noticeably less handsome than the marketing shots, Battlefield 3 on Xbox 360 blew us away with its draw distances, lighting and gazillions of simultaneous animations and particle effects.

Too Many Items Mod for Minecraft 1.0.0

      

Too Many Items Mod for Minecraft 1.0.0 Features

• Add items to your inventory (If on SMP, you don’t need to know the item ID #. This is very helpful)
• Unlimited Stacks
• Save and Load up to 7 Inventories (SP Only)
• Put items you don’t need in the trash (SP Only)
• Get previously unobtainable items such as leaves and bedrock in your inventory

How to Install Too Many Items Mod 1.0.0 for Windows

1. Go to Start Menu
2. Click on run
3. Type in “%appdata%” (without quotes)
4. Find a folder named “/.minecraft/” go inside and find a /bin/ folder.
5. Delete the /bin/ folder.
6. Open up minecraft and log in. This will re-instate your /bin/ and is called “cleaning your folder.”
7. Inside the new bin folder you should find minecraft.jar
8. Right-click on it and choose open with WinRAR/7Zip
9. Drag the files into minecraft.jar.
10. Delete a folder called “META-INF”
11. Congratulations, you’ve installed Too Many Items 1.7.2!

How to Install Too Many Items Mod 1.0.0 for Mac

1. Type in the following command line by line
   • cd ~
   • mkdir mctmp
   • cd mctmp
   • jar xf ~/Library/Application\ Support/minecraft/bin/minecraft.jar
2. Don’t close the terminal yet, you should find a mctmp folder located inside your users folder
3. Go inside, copy all the files from Too Many Items into mctmp folder
4. Back to Terminal.app, again type in the following commands
   • rm META-INF/MOJANG_C.*
   • jar uf ~/Library/Application\ Support/minecraft/bin/minecraft.jar ./
   • cd ..
   • rm -rf mctmp
5. Finished !

Too Many Items Mod for Minecraft 1.0.0 Hotkeys

• Type “O” to turn on/off
• Shift+Click for unlimited

Assassin’s Creed Revelations

Developer Ubisoft Montreal

Publisher Ubisoft

Platform Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Release date November 15, 2011

Genre Third-person action-adventure, Sandbox

KEY FEATURES(source:assassinscreed.ubi.com/revelations)

BECOME DEADLIER THAN EVER –Take on the lethal skills of a wiser, more efficient and deadlier Ezio. Swiftly eliminate your adversaries by deploying a new arsenal of weapons and abilities, such as enhanced free-running and hook blade combat. Experience new levels of gameplay customisation with bomb crafting, and use heightened Eagle Vision to overcome your enemies and the environment.

TEST YOUR SKILLS AGAINST THE BEST – A critically acclaimed multiplayer experience gets even better, with all-new team modes and unlimited replay value.

EXPERIENCE REVOLUTIONARY GAMEPLAY – Explore the farthest reaches of the Animus as you uncover the mysteries of Desmond’s past while gaining insight into what the future might hold.

Minimum System Requirements –

* OS: Windows® XP SP3 / Windows Vista® SP2 /Windows 7® SP1
* CPU: Intel Core®2 Duo E4300 @ 1.8 Ghz or AMD Athlon64 X2 4600+ @ 2.4GHZ
* RAM: 1.5 GB Windows XP / 2 GB Windows Vista – Windows 7
* HDD space: 12 GB
* Graphics: 256 MB with Shader Model 3.0 or highe
* DirectX: 9

Recommended System Requirements

* OS: Windows® XP SP3 / Windows Vista® SP2 /Windows 7® SP1
* CPU: Intel Core®2 Duo E6700 @ 2.6 GHz or AMD Athlon64 X2 6000+ @ 3.0Ghz or better
* RAM: 2 GB
* HDD space: 12 GB
* Graphics: 512 MB with Shader Model 5.0 or higher
* DirectX: 9.0

Supported Graphics Cards:
Supported Video Cards at Time of Release: AMD® Radeon HD2000/3000/4000/5000/6000 desktop series

nVidia GeForce 8/9/GT200/GT400/GT500 desktop series

Recommended: Check for the Latest Driver Updates for Your Graphics and Sound Cards.

Markus Persson hands over reins of indie hit to Jens Bergensten, plans to stay on dev team but also work on "new project."

Markus "Notch" Persson is a name that has become intrinsically tied to the Mojang-developed sensation Minecraft. However, with Minecraft seeing full release for the PC on November 18, Notch is now stepping aside as lead developer on the game.

Persson will move on from Minecraft to put another notch in his belt.

In a post to his blog this morning, Persson confirmed that Jens Bergensten took over lead developer duties yesterday. Persson also sought to reassure Minecraft devotees, saying that he and Bergensten have a similar vision as to where the game should go.

"We've been working together on Minecraft for a year now, and I'm amazed at how much in sync we two are when it comes to how to design the game," he said. "And when we don't agree, we discuss it, and something much better comes out at a result. He's truly a great person to work with, and I feel very confident handing over the leadership of Minecraft to him."

Persson won't be vacating Minecraft development altogether, but he will be taking a vacation. Once back, he also plans to start working on "some new project."

Beyond Minecraft, Mojang's only other known projects are Scrolls and Cobalt, which is being codeveloped with Oxeye Game Studio. Currently the subject of a legal spat with Bethesda Softworks, Scrolls draws elements of its gameplay from collectible card games and board games.

Minecraft is expected to be available for the Xbox 360 in early 2012. For more on the game, check out GameSpot's review of the PC version.