CCP sends in ground troops with DUST 514

CCP today finally revealed the super secret project that has been rumored for quite some time: DUST 514. The game is described as a console-based hybrid MMO/FPS set within the EVE universe. The announcement, which included a video featuring gameplay footage, was made during a keynote address by CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Petursson at the Game Developers Conference in Cologne, Germany.

DUST 514 will offer first-person shooter and real-time strategy-style gameplay, and will interact directly with EVE Online, CCP’s flagship MMO. This interplay between the two games opens the EVE universe to console gamers and gives them a chance to become part of EVE Online universe.

The main focus of DUST 514 is brutal ground combat that takes place on the surface of the planets from EVE Online, where battlefield reflexes and strategic planning are equally important. Commanders and ground infantry will have all the tools they need to get thew job done including real-time configurable weapons and modular vehicles to deal with dynamic battlefield conditions.

CCP says that the game has been in development for three years at its Shanghai studio, which includes veteran designers of EVE Online and experienced talent from various sectors of the video game industry. Further details will be revealed at CCP’s annual Fanfest event October 1-3, 2009 in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood in stores

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, the prequel to the Wild West action shooter Call of Juarez, is now available in stores across North America for the Xbox 360, the PS3 and Windows. Developed by Techland, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood takes place 20 years before the events of the first game.
Bound in Blood tells the story of the McCall Brothers and a quest for the legendary Gold of Juarez - from Civil War era Georgia to Aztec ruins of Mexico. The brothers, Ray and Thomas, make their way into the Wild West, using what skilled gunmen uses to survive: bullets.

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood also features online play, letting users play as a variety of different character classes including gunslingers, bandits and marshals and multiple character classes can be unlocked for team-based objective modes or the straightforward team death match. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood introduces a Bounty System as well, which increases the bounty on a player’s head as they rack up more kills.

Find out more about the game by visiting www.callofjuarez.com. At the very least, it will do until Red Dead Redemption is released, right?

BioShock PS3 DLC Report

Creeping through the corridors of Rapture, the term “time trials” usually doesn’t come to mind. That’s because wood-grained radios, flapper dresses and grandma’s record collection echoing in the darkness define BioShock’s underwater city, not speed boosts or a Crystal Method soundtrack. Yet very soon, the time-trial gameplay concept will hit BioShock, along with a host of other ideas that will push this dystopian world into uncharted waters.

On Nov. 20, a BioShock downloadable content pack will be available on the PlayStation Network for $9.99 (no plans yet for the Xbox 360). These new challenges work within the existing gameplay and environment (same weapons, plasmid powers and grandma’s records). But they’re completely independent of the primary game’s now-famous storyline, and deviate from its established gameplay.

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Tiberium Delayed to 2009

EA’s second first-person shooter set in the Command & Conquer universe has been delayed until after fiscal Year 2010 (April 2009). The delay was announced yesterday during EA’s conference call. Tiberium is the second stab at creating a first-person shooter game set in the ultra popular real-time strategy game universe - the first being Renegade.

Tiberium is being developed by EA Los Angeles studio. Those itching for some hardcore action in the C&C universe will have to wait until next year unfortunately. The game is currently in development for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

The Club: Renwick Demo This Week

Sega’’s The Club will make its debut this week as an exclusive demo showing off what this game has to offer Xbox 360 owners when it is released in February. From 9 a.m. GMT on Tuesday Jan. 8, the demo for Sega’’s new shooter will be available via download across Europe and Australia on Xbox Live Marketplace. The demo will be released a little later in North America. The Renwick demo puts players in a rundown federal penitentiary as an NYPD Detective whose investigations has brought him too close to The Club’’s illegal deathmatch tournaments. Renwick, now an unwilling participant in this underground blood-sport run by a secret group of millionaires, goes with the flow. The demo features Renwick in two single-player modes (Sprint and Time Attack) and one multiplayer mode (split-screen). Developed by Bizarre Creations, The Club is a shooter that focuses on racking up points by taking out targets with style and as quickly as possible. Points are earned based on combos, which are based on type, range and hit location. As the player kills a kill bar is filled, though more stylized kills garner the most amount of points. After each target is eliminated, players must sprint off to the next target, while maintaining the ever-diminishing kill bar by further kills and special power-ups.

Whether this game based on a blood sport concept and developed by people best known for arcade shooters and next-gen racing games will be well-received is anyone’’s guess, but at least you can take the game for a spin this week.

The Club is set for release next month on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC and is obviously rated M for Mature by the ESRB.

Far Cry 2 Not So Far From 360 and PS3 Owners

This is one of those stories that comes as no surprise to anyone, except for maybe those wondering what took so long. Earlier today, Ubisoft officially announced that it is currently in development for both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. According to the press release sent out this morning, Players will discover a true open-world gameplay set in one of the most beautiful environments in the world, Africa, brought to life by high-definition next-gen technology.

There is no word yet on details for the plot of the upcoming game or what features to expect. Right now, all we know for sure is that Ubisoft is expecting to release Far Cry 2 sometime towards the latter part of this year or in early 2009.