Video Games

Bethesda announced today that its ”Winner of E3 2008’s ‘Best of Show‘” will be released to eager fans in North America on October 28, and to European fans a mere 3 days later.  10 years ago Fallout 2 riveted RPG enthusiasts with its balanced yet open-ended adventure set in a post-nuclear wasteland.

Bethesda assures us in no uncertain terms that Fallout 3 will maintain the vision of the previous Fallout games while delivering even more freedom of choice, but plot-wise is “[a] different story unto itself and isn’t directly connected to any of the other storylines.”  This has allowed Bethesda enough creative license to reinvent the details for Fallout 3, in what will undoubtedly be the biggest single-player RPG hit of 2008.

The full press release is as follows:

August 20, 2008 (Rockville, MD) – Bethesda Softworks®, a ZeniMax Media company, announced today that its highly anticipated title, Fallout® 3, will be available on store shelves and online in North America on October 28, 2008 and in Europe on October 31, 2008. Developed at Bethesda Game Studios – creators of the 2006 Game of the Year, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion® – Fallout 3 is slated for release on the Xbox 360®video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, and Games for Windows.

“We are very excited to let gamers get their hands on Fallout 3, the latest chapter in this beloved and highly acclaimed franchise,” said Vlatko Andonov, president of Bethesda Softworks. “To meet the huge demand for this title by our fans worldwide, we are planning one of the biggest launches of any game released this year.”

Fallout 3 features one of the most realized game worlds ever created. Set more than 200 years following a nuclear war, you can create any kind of character you want and explore the open wastes of Washington, D.C. however you choose. Every minute is a fight for survival as you encounter Super Mutants, Ghouls, Raiders, and other dangers of the Wasteland.

Hailed as one of the most anticipated games for 2008, Fallout 3 has already won numerous awards including Best of Show from the official Game Critics Awards at E3 2008, a selection voted on by an independent group of journalists from 36 leading North American media outlets that cover the videogame industry.
Fallout® 3 has not yet been rated by the ESRB.

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR) may be the most highly anticipated MMORPG slated for release this fall.  Despite the chagrin that has surrounded WAR during its shaky 3-year development, WAR has won the acclaim of critics at every stage of production.  Mythic Entertainment recently announced that the North American open beta for WAR will start September 7, 11 days before servers are launched worldwide.

“Players can get into the North American open beta by pre-ordering Warhammer Online from select retail partners. Participants of the North American closed beta will automatically be granted open beta access.”

Update: EA Games just published their latest Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning cinematic trailer, that features stunning RvR:

Finally, after a long, patient wait, EA has officially released a PC demo for their new epic-FPS Crysis.  The demo is single-player only, weighs in at a bloated 1.77GB, and requires NVIDIA driver updates to play, but it’s a small price to pay to kick some virtual alien ass!

There is a hilarious zero-punctuation review of Bioshock floating around which actually hits hard and true:

Splicer: Go ahead and hack, I’ll politely wait until you are done to attack you voraciously

The review touches on the drastic dumbing down of the game for those consolers (hacking anyone?), the actually limited use of weapons / splicing / other skills, the unlimited regeneration points EVERYWHERE that make dying fun, and the storyline mirrors the original system shock to a T. But still, it’s a gorgeous game with a terrible ending, so enjoy the experience of it all.

Following the release of DotA 6.43, the good folks over at dotaportal have released a newer version of DotA: version 6.43b (not AI). Of course, I guarantee that within 2 weeks there will be at least a DotA 6.35. You can download the latest version (6.34b) of DotA Allstars HERE. The changelogs of DotA 6.43 and 6.43b are as follows:

6.43b Changelog:
=================

* Fixed some big performance problems lower end machines were having
* Fixed some rare bugs that caused heroes to not revive
* Fixed -swaphero, neutral creep spawn time and initial gold in -xl

6.43 Changelog:
================

* Added new mode -xl(Extended League Mode)
* Reworked the Roshan Terrain area for improved Sentinel accessibility (lots of miscellaneous tweaks and mechanics to that area have been done beyond simply terrain change)
* Fixed the multiple hero exploit
* Recoded the death timer. It is more accurate now (the display was off before, you don’t revive any faster than you used to)
* Items with armor bonuses no longer stack (Vladmir/Basilius/Assault)
* Fixed a bug with Satanic that was giving it extra life steal
* Fixed some bugs with Mekansm, Morphling Stat Change and Hand of God that caused the death timer to not properly show
* Added Bottle to the new secret shop
* Undid some of the Toughness Aura buff from last version
* Tinker no longer Rearms Arcane Ring
* Slightly reduced creep collision size due to the increased number in the last patch towards the end of the game
* Fixed Sentinel ranged creeps having slightly less regen than Scourge ranged creeps
* Mekansm and Bloodstone now tell the user when they fail to heal him properly due to stacking rules
* Watchers give slightly less gold (due to their new radiance vulnerability last patch)
* Fixed various typos
* Fixed Ring of Basilius ability from working on CotS and Essence Aura
* Song of the Siren properly sleeps units out of its vision
* Items that can be disassembled now tell you when you buy them
* Fixed a bug with chicken that lets you sell unsellable items
* Fixed Throne not providing the lifesteal capability that World Tree does
* Reduced Radiance damage bonus from 70 to 60
* Fixed Phantom Assassin’s Blink Strike range
* Death Board is on by default now (-don)
* Observer Wards last a little longer now
* Reduced Avernus’ movement speed by 5
* Temporarily disabled Meepo in -dm to fix some bugs
* Fixed the Doppelwalk and Lothar’s Edge “0!” text
* The icon for turning Rot off is now more obvious
* Changed Meepo Attribute Bonus from 40% to 25%
* Improved Unstable Concoction (When you cast it, you lock vision on the target while you channel)
* Various nerfs to Alchemist: Acid Spray AOE (700-550), Acid Spray Mana (120->160), Str/lvl (2.4->1.8), Int/lvl (1.5->1.0), Lowered health regen on level 1 ultimate, Greed Stack Duration (20->18), Greed Gold Cap (20->18), Movement Speed (300->290) but level 2 and 3 of his ultimate give him a minor boost back to his normal speed, Slight base armor reduction
* Fixed Cheese to heal the proper amount
* Fixed the creep spawn sound from happening too early in -mm

As usual, I’ll keep you guys posted on the latest DotA details: where, when, and what’s going on with your favorite WC3:FT custom map.