PC Gaming Alliance adds five new members

The PC Gaming Alliance (PCGA) is not dead folks, it’s just very, very quiet. The non-profit consortium created to promote the PC Gaming Industry and be the authoritative voice of PC Gaming worldwide broke its silence today to announce that it has added new member companies to its fold - eight of them to be precise. The new members joining today are BFG Technologies, Bigfoot Networks, Flextronics, GameStop, GameTap, Gas Powered Games, Howie’s Game Shack and InstantAction.

“We welcome these new members to the PCGA, a rapidly growing organization where companies of all types can come together to expand and improve the PC gaming ecosystem,” said Randy Stude, PCGA president and Intel director, Gaming Program Office.

To find more about the PCGA visit www.pcgamingalliance.org.

Demigod demo released

Stardock announced that a playable demo for Gas Powered Games’ fantasy themed real-time strategy game, Demigod, is now available for download. The demo features online Internet multiplayer games, the Cataract map and four playable Demigods (Regulus, Rook, Sedna and Lord Erebus.) All of the gameplay modes (Conquest, Dominate, Fortress and Slaughter) in Demigod are available to play in the demo. The demo is available for download at www.fileplanet.com.

Demigod is available worldwide digitally via Impulse for $39.95.

East meets West: Square Enix reveals E3 line-up

Square Enix revealed its lineup of titles that will be on display at the E3 Expo, taking place between June 2 – 4. Highlighting the steps it has taken to become a more global entertainment company, Square Enix will feature games developed in partnership with U.S. and European developers such as Front Mission Evolved, Order of War and Supreme Commander 2 and its own properties including Dissidia Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XIII, Kingdom Hearts: 358/2, Nier, and new downloadable only content like Final Fantasy IV: The After Years and Final Fantasy Chronicles: My Life as Darklord.

While many of these games are already familiar to us, Front Mission Evolved and Nier, are fairly new. Front Mission Evolved is being developed by European developer Double Helix Games for the Xbox 360, PS3 and Windows - and doesn’t have a release date as of this writing. Front Mission Evolved eschews its turn-based strategy roots, instead putting players into a single Wanzer for some third-person shooter action in both single player and multiplayer campaigns.

Nier from Cavia (Drakengard, Drakengard 2) is an action role-playing game being developed for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, with a tentative release date of “2010.” Nier is named after the game’s protagonist, who along with some friends he meets along the way, is in search of a cure for his daughter, who is infected with the Black Scrawl virus.

Square Enix will be situated at booth 1546 in the South Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center all next week.

Demigod Released

Stardock Systems announced that Demigod, an action strategy game developed by Chris Taylor and Gas Powered Games, is headed for retail and available via Impulse right now for $39.95.

Demigod lets players take control of a Demigod whose goal is to defeat his brethren in a series of arena fights in order to ascend into the pantheon of the gods. During the course of each battle, players gain experience, purchase equipment, learn magical spells, capture key resources and upgrade their Citadel while working to destroy the opposing faction.

In single player, Demigod provides a skirmish mode for individual battles as well as a tournament in which players choose a Demigod and compete against other Demigods controlled by the computer to gain the most favor points with the gods in order to ascend.

In multiplayer players can compete in online skirmishes based on skill and experience, or participate in the Pantheon, a persistent online tournament in which players choose a faction and earn favor points through victory in the arena.

Demigod is also the first PC title to make use of Stardock’s new development platform, Impulse Reactor, which provides in-game community features like friends lists, chat, tournaments, matchmaking, and more.

You can learn more about demigod by visiting www.demigodthegame.com. Look for our review of the game very soon.

Square Enix to Publish Supreme Commander 2

Square Enix, for the first time in its history, is teaming up with a Western developer. That developer is Gas Powered Games and the first fruits of this newfound relationship will be Supreme Commander 2, the sequel to GPG and THQ’s 2007 RTS game. Prior to today’s announcement, Square Enix had worked exclusively with Japanese development companies, so the decision to form strategic partnerships with developers located outside of Japan is a first step in a long-term plan to target consumers in North America and Europe with Western style games.

Supreme Commander 2 also represent the first time the company has had anything to do with a pure real-time strategy game. Sorry folks, no details on the game as of yet, but Square Enix promises some more details “at a later date.”

Source: Square Enix

Space Siege in Stores

SEGA of America and developer Gas Powered Games have released Space Siege in North America. Space Siege takes Chris Taylor’s popular action RPG magic to space with a brand new adventure set on a gigantic space ship being overrun by alien life forms.

Playing as robotics engineer Seth Walker, players must decide to either preserve or leverage their humanity to save the few survivors on the ship using a mix of skills, cybernetic upgrades, weapons and even a robotic sidekick they create themselves. Like the Dungeon siege series, this game is all about action, but the game makes decent use of puzzles and even physics to thwart the alien interlopers hellbent on spilling human blood.

Look for our review soon, but in the meantime check out the Five Things You Need To Know About Space Siege to learn the essentials.