Developer Replay Studios, along with publisher Gamecock Media Group, have announced the official name change for ’Velvet Assassin’, their upcoming stealth-action title formerly known as ‘Sabotage’. The new title creates a perfect marriage between the story of real life hero Violette Szabo and the clandestine art of sabotage she championed. From the incredibly innovative art style, storyline, and combat gameplay, Velvet Assassin is poised to revolutionize the stealth-action genre later this year.

“Rather than a trite, overused, and generic working title like ‘Sabotage,’ ‘Velvet Assassin’ captures the heart of what we’re trying to accomplish,” said Sascha Jungnickel, Creative Director at Replay Studios. “From the start we’ve wanted a game with a strong female lead that stays true to the history of Violette Szabo while pulling players into a world of dark intrigue.”

Inspired by the true story of British Agent Violette Szabo, players will take on the role of Violette Summer. Behind enemy lines in Nazi occupied Europe, Violette risks her life fighting to fell the Third Reich with anything she can get her hands on, including enemy soldiers. With no support or official backing from the British Government, Violette puts everything on the line to defeat the German war machine – one mission at a time. Velvet Assassin combines lush, surreal visuals, a ground-breaking stealth combat system and one of the most unique perspectives ever brought to gaming. Velvet Assassin is planned to release in Fall 2008 on PC and next-generation consoles.

“Most of the time a name change happens because it’s not ‘catchy’ enough or because the marketing team didn’t like it,” said Tim Hesse, Executive Producer at Gamecock Media Group. “I have to say, the Replay crew have outdone themselves by making Violette into one of the best looking stealth-killers ever. This game has come so far since last year that Sabotage just didn’t do the game justice – ‘Velvet Assassin’ sums up every aspect that makes this game great.”

Dungeon Hero takes you into a real dungeon, one where a shadowy evil has come to feed on despair. This a dungeon at war - not a place with bags of gold just lying around! This action RPG uses Firefly's dazzling HD engine, allowing the player to storm heroically through underground halls while taking in the detail and complexity of a world previously unseen. Master melee, ranged and magic skills and 'Close combat' a totally new, brutal mode of fighting as you battle your way through vast crowds of monsters. Fight alone or have a friend drop in to survive - and maybe even save - the darkest society imaginable!

EVE Online: Trinity is a Sci-Fi MMORPG like no other you’ve ever encountered. As human settlers began to explore the cold, unknown reaches of space, they discovered an uncharted wormhole that led to an exotic and unclaimed sector of space. The celestial portal led these explorers to a galaxy they dubbed “New Eden.” Rich in resources, New Eden was assaulted by throngs of greedy pilots, fanatical sects of hell-bent fugitives, and mega-corporations; each hoping to stake their claims against the other. The golden age was short-lived. Millions flourished in wealth, and millions more died after the heavenly anomaly collapsed, severing one side from the other. A dark age fell upon New Eden for thousands of years, until four nations rose from the ashes of Earth’s forgotten legacy.

EVE Online: Steam Edition includes a 21-day trial and costs $14.95 per month, which happens to be the same price as a Game Time Code from Shattered Crystal, though Europeans will find it cheaper as Steam includes a $3 tax per transaction.

The phenomenon went global faster than anyone through possible, certainly faster than anyone was prepared for. Tomb Raider the game almost became an afterthought.

Eidos found itself fielding animal rights activists who didn't care for Lara ruthlessly gunning down big game. Scientists calculated her body-mass index - something nobody ever did for Pac Man - and loudly claimed nobody with those dimensions could walk upright, much less jump around. Some feminists vilified her over-objectified figure, others lauded her attitude and independence. As far as Eidos was concerned, Lara single-handedly took them from a $2.6 million deficit to a $14.5 million profit in just one year. They were damn well going to take advantage of the most unique opportunity in marketing history: a virtual sex symbol.

Toby Gard had a problem with that. The Lara Croft he invented wouldn't pose nude for anybody, and wasn't some airhead fashion model. She was cool and refined, confident, sharp witted and exceedingly deadly. She was also the property of Eidos. Decisions on the selling of Lara were made in Wimbledon, not Derby. Disillusioned by the complete lack of creative control over his own character, Gard left Core.

Good news: There's light at the end of the license tunnel! We've at last received the proper license files for both the Competition Mod and the 1.5 game update. With that in mind, we're now prepping them for release and hope to get them out as soon as possible (for real!).

Since we want to make sure that both releases are as solid as can be, we've decided to run public beta phases for them - this will allow us to iron out any remaining stability issues and also make sure that the backend infrastructure is working properly. Both of these are the most difficult things to test for and since we've had a few issues crop up in 1.4 that didn't surface during our testing, we feel that a public beta phase is in the best interest of the game and the players.

Read on for more information on the two upcoming Beta releases and for the preliminary 1.5 changelog.

In the build we played, we couldn't select the specific kind of boss zombie we wanted. Instead, the game's "director," an AI that determines the flow of action on a map, makes that decision. Unlike playing as the human survivors, you're on a regular respawn cycle with the bosses. The timing is still being tweaked, but right now it's at about a minute or so, which felt a little long. The time waiting could have been filled with text or voice chat with zombie teammates to develop attack strategies, but we lacked a headset.

While we had a great time testing out all the boss' special abilities, to really be successful in stopping the survivors it would seem strategic planning and teamwork is required. This is mostly because three of the playable boss zombies, which happen to be the types cycled through most frequently, die extremely quickly, whereas the band of survivors can take quite a bit of punishment.

Video game publisher Mastiff announced today that their upcoming title, Major League Eating: The Game, will makes its debut as an exclusive on WiiWare, Nintendo's new downloadable game service for the Wii console, which launches May 12 in North America. The game will make extensive use of the Wii Remote to simulate the fast and furious action of a professional eating competition.

"Watching Major League Eating is like watching poetry in motion" says Bill Swartz, Head Woof at Mastiff. "Professional gurgitators have the grace of ballerinas yet the brute strength, mental focus, and intestinal fortitude to push their bodies and minds as hard as athletes in any other extreme endurance sport. Victory is sweet and defeat can be well, really, really messy. It's an experience we're proud to help bring into the home."

The game features the world's greatest gurgitory athletes competing across a variety of foods and venues. Built much like a classic fighting game and deeper than a Chicago style deep-dish pizza, MLE: The Game requires players to master a smorgasbord of offensive and defensive weapons including bites, burps, belches, mustard gas and jalapeno flames while cramming and chewing food at a world-class pace. It's not for the faint of heart, the slow of reflex, or those with an overly strong aversion to a Technicolor reversal of fortune.

Major League Eating: The Game uses the Wii Remote to simulate a variety of eating techniques including the cram, toss, and 'typewriter.' Burp-offs and Hot Potato challenges during the contests keep the competition intense and eaters on their toes.

Major League Eating: The Game is for one or two players, offers online play and a leader board.

Major League Eating, the professional league which oversees all top eating events in the nation, including the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest, counts among its members Takeru Kobayashi, the Japanese eating phenomenon, and American Joey Chestnut, current champion of the world.

You will need the 1.01 patch installed before applying the hot-fix.

The demo for the first game, Penumbra: Overture can be found here:

Atomic Gamer

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Get Penumbra: Black Plague here:

Atomic Gamer

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GamersHell

SouthPeak Games has announced X-Blades, a dynamic third-person hack-and-slash action title for next-gen consoles and PC, due for release in late 2008. X-Blades sees players controlling an enchanting anime-style heroine who must battle through a host of locations using guns, blades, magic and a healthy dose of cinematic flair.

“The unique anime-style backdrop combined with high-octane, multi-discipline combat gameplay really pushes X-Blades into brand new territory,” said Melanie Mroz, CEO of SouthPeak Games. “The 3rd-person ‘hack-em-up’ genre needs a fresh perspective and X-Blades is poised to deliver it.”

X-Blades features a special combination of cinematic style, beautiful animation and relentless high-speed gameplay. Players assume the role of Ayumi, a stunningly seductive yet tenacious heroine who battles enemies with her pistol blades, acrobatic ability and magic spells. With full anime-style cut scenes, the story unfolds revealing demonic hordes and spectacular landscapes, all ripe for exploration and frenetic supernatural battling.

“We are big fans of anime and that was really our inspiration for X-Blades,” said James Seaman, Managing Director at Topware Interactive. “Our goal was to create stylistic characters and artwork and to mix that bombastic visual style with lightning fast action. The result is a killer title that gamers and animation fans won’t be able to put down.”

Eidos Interactive Ltd., one of the world’s leading publishers and developers of entertainment software, can today confirm that Battlestations: Pacific, the official sequel to 2007’s acclaimed Battlestations: Midway, will be released on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Games for Windows.

Set in WWII, Battlestations: Pacific delivers intense, action-packed combat and strategic warfare on an extraordinary scale and features two distinctly different single player campaigns. As the Americans, the game picks up the story where Battlestations: Midway left off and allows players to fight their way from The Battle of Midway to Okinawa as they try to secure peace in the Pacific. As the Japanese however, players take control of the Imperial Japanese fleet and have the unique chance to fight at Pearl Harbor before attempting to change the course of history and take full control of the Pacific Ocean.

Battlestations: Pacific offers a unique blend of action and strategy, as players must plan their moves carefully on huge open-world arenas and then fight in the air, above sea and underwater as they take direct control of their units and storm into combat. Join forces with friends online or play solo against the computer controlled opponents in the all-new Skirmish mode or battle each other in one of the five new, innovative multiplayer modes.

“Battlestations: Pacific is even bigger, more authentic and innovative than ever before, taking the Battlestations franchise to the next level and allowing players to relive some of the most memorable battles in modern history, as well as gain an insight into what could have been, should Japan have gained the upper hand against the United States,” said Trevor Burrows, Brand Manager at Eidos. “We have been paying great attention to our loyal online community and fan base to ensure that Battlestations: Pacific delivers the most exciting, authentic and fun Battlestations experience yet!”

Battlestations: Pacific features a massive US and Japanese single player campaign with over 28 story missions, double the size of the previous Battlestations: Midway. The game also features 21 new units, including kamikaze and other WWII jets and units. Players can now experience for the first time a whole new level of depth of gameplay while taking direct control of the infamous Ohka and other Japanese air units that terrorised the Pacific Ocean during WW2.

For the first time, the game also includes the tactical landing of troops in battle. Launch your parachute squadrons with pin-point accuracy or ensure the safe passage of your landing craft and watch your battalions of troops capture key locations, man the defensive artillery and gain a strategic foothold to support your offensive efforts.

Battlestations: Pacific is set for release on Xbox 360 and Games For Windows.

Update: HD version now online!

A good example of a secure game without any monthly fees is Guild Wars. A poor one would be Hellgate London. All MMORPGs are secure, but they don't suffer as much from piracy, as most of its revenue is raked in by subscription fees (most MMOs you can download for free legally).

For more background on secure gaming check out this story.

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Age of Conan - Hyborian Adventures Peek #6
Funcom tells us about the workings of stealth, an ability that will be available to all classes in the upcoming game - Includes three exclusive screenshots