Crispy Gamer News

Good Old Games, the DRM-free online source for classic PC games, announced that it has added several of Revolution Software’s adventure games from the popular Broken Sword series. The first games to be available on the site include Broken Sword 2: The Smoking Mirror and Broken Sword 3: The Sleeping Dragon. Also available from GOG and Revolution Software are the classic point-and-click adventure games Beneath a Steel Sky and Lure of the Temptress.

All of these games retail for $5.99 each and are fully compatible with Windows XP and Windows Vista. Find out more at gog.com. It’s as good a way to ring in the new year as any, my friends. Now if only they would bring Gothic 2 into the fold..

All the news that fit to print, but not quite strong enough to stand on its own. Sorry kids, the truth hurts. Updated all day long..

Remains of the Day

GOG.com (Good Old Games) is offering several decent promos for those looking for some classic gaming fixes at an affordable price. Going on now until Dec. 8, when you buy two $9.99 games, you can get a $5.99 game free. The classic gaming site has also added Arx Fatalis, Jagged Alliance 2, and Disciples 2 this week. While their library is pretty sparse now, I’m hoping these cats succeed in bringing classic, DRM-free gaming to the masses for years to come..

Sega launches PlaySEGA, a completely free gaming and social networking site. The site offers games like Brain Assist, Ice Shuffle, Hollywood Adventure Quiz and Aquatic Word Burst. A VIP version of the site is coming “soon” and will give players willing to pay a small fee original games and classics like Columns, Puyo Pop, Chu Chu Rocket, Sonic The Hedgehog and Super Monkey Ball Tip n’ Tilt. check it.

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To all the industry analysts that say the interactive entertainment industry is recession proof, here’s a story you may want to pay attention to: THQ has significantly cut staff and has closed multiple studios around the country. This, along with 600 layoffs at EA on Friday is a good indication that the industry is about to experience some serious troubles. Recession proof my ass.

According to this Gamasutra report THQ has closed LA-based Mass Media, cut staff from Dallas-based Paradigm, cut staff at UK-based Juice Games, closed Santa Clara, CA-based Locomotive Games and Seattle-based Sandblast Games, and an unknown number of layoffs at Arizona-based Rainbow Studios. To call this a blood bath would be an understatement. This comes on the eve of THQ’s quarterly financial report - set to release this Wednesday.

Perhaps it is just anecdotal evidence but the latest political ad from Barack Obama telling citizens to take the day off to vote and knock on doors isn’t sitting very well with some gamers. From sites like Kotaku, Game Politics, and more, readers are sounding off about the political process invading their gaming culture – and it’s not all sunshine and roses.

The latest ad (which you can watch in the Crispy Gamer Community) shows a still of a couch, an office workspace and a Wii Remote, each followed with a comment that “you can’t make history from here.” The ad goes on to encourage everyone to take Election Day off to vote and make phone calls for the campaign. The general tone has been one of mild anger; some gamers find this particular ad insulting because it lightly insinuates a notion that gamers are lazy creatures.

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We all knew it was coming. You just can’t talk guitar without invoking the name of Hendrix. True to form, Activision announced today that the legendary artist will take the stage once again, along with the Jack White/Brendan Benson band The Raconteurs, as downloadable content in Guitar Hero World Tour.

Hendrix, already confirmed as a playable character in the game, will have three additional downloadable master tracks: “If 6 was 9,” “Little Wing,” and a live version of the iconic track “Fire”. The Jimi Hendrix Track pack will be available as downloadable content for Guitar Hero World Tour on November 13th.
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Free-to-play online game destination GamersFirst has launched version 2.0 of its game services today. The newly launched services include simplified registration (compatible with OpenID), improved navigation, an expanded marketplace for purchasing game premiums and special items, up-to-the minute gamer news feeds, new gamer profile pages, and expanded payment options including retail gamer cards. The new site is currently available in English and Turkish with additional languages coming soon.

K2 Network, which owns GamersFirst, publishes and services online games including War Rock, Knight Online, Global MU Online, Red Stone, and Sword of the New World.

Source: www.gamersfirst.com

At just about every website you go to these days (including here at Crispy Gamer), you can’t help but see those short little ads from Google’s AdSense program, directing users to check out products related to what they’re looking at online. Now Google is taking things a step further, bringing the AdSense service to the world of gaming.

Early this morning, Google officially unveiled ‘AdSense for Games’, a program that integrates video advertisements into web-based games, complemented by text and image ads. The company announced it’s working with select game developers and publishers, including Konami, Playfish, Zynga, Demand Media, games network Mochi Media, as well as advertisers such as Esurance, Sprint, and Sony Pictures.
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