PC Gaming News - Weekend Edition

Here's a roundup of PC gaming news released over the last few days, including the release of the F.E.A.R. 2 demo and an announcement of a new World in Conflict expansion. More to come as the day progresses.

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin Demo and FEAR AWAY Program
Thursday Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment released a single-player demo of the upcoming FPS, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin. According to the company, players "maneuver through bloodstained corridors and hallways from several locations in the game, as they combat through various parts of the city of Auburn, which now lays in ruin after the catastrophic explosion that rocked the finale of F.E.A.R." The file weighs in at a whopping 1.8 GB, and is also available for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Additionally, an external promotional website launched yesterday, offering a (voluptuous) "FEAR AWAY" program to reduce panic and uncontrollable feelings of terror while playing F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin.

Florensia Updated
Yesterday publisher Burda:ic updated Florensia, its free-to-play fantasy-based MMORPG, opening up the two towers that appeared last month. According to the company, each tower houses 100-floor dungeons, created to "challenge even the toughest adventurers." Access to these new towers is granted by Tower Masters located in the center of each town. The company also stated that players will receive one of six new headmounts as a gift in celebration of the upcoming Gacha system.

More 1C Company Titles Coming to NA
Aspyr Media signed on to bring more 1C Company PC games to North America, including Cryostasis, Death Track: Resurrection, Men of War, NecroVisioN and 4X4 Hummer. Aspyr said that all five titles will hit retail shelves this Spring.

Ubisoft Announces World in Conflict: Soviet Assault
Ubisoft said on Wednesday that World in Conflict: Soviet Assault will hit the PC in March as a downloadable expansion pack. The new expansion throws gamers into the Cold War, offering a gritty, real world setting "driven by compelling characters and storyline." The company said that Soviet Assult will feature new characters, gameplay from the Soviet perspective, ten new films, new multiplayer maps and more. Soviet Assault will also be available in World of Conflict: Complete Edition.

Left 4 Dead Gets Patched
Steam News reports that Valve's zombie-ridden FPS Left 4 Dead received an update through the Steam client, fixing a melee exploit and an exploit related to the "joinclass" command. The patch also adds visual damage from burning to Tanks in the Versus mode.

Predator Crysis Mod Released
A new Crysis mod appeared over on Mod DB called Predator - The Heat of the Jungle, currently still in its alpha (v0.2) stage.  Although the author claimes that the development time took around 6 months to reach its current state, it will be interesting to see how long it will take 20th Century Fox to bring the Crysis mod down in flames.

Grand Theft Auto IV Patched
Yesterday Rockstar Games released a patch for Grand Theft Auto IV, updating the retail version to 1.0.2.0. Although the game can be updated after signed into LIVE, players also have the option of installing the patch manually by downloading this RAR file. The patch offers additional controller support, various bug exterminations and additional graphics options to tinker with (water quality, shadow quality etc.).

World of Warcraft Movie Still Lives
According to Blizzard community manager Nethaera, the live-action movie based on World of Warcraft is still in the works. "We are in fact working on a movie with Legendary Pictures," Nethaera said in a forum post, "but we don't have any new information to share with everyone just yet. At the 2007 BlizzCon, we even had a special panel with a little bit about the plans for the film. I'm sure you can find video on it or reports on it. Just as an additional informational bit, it will be Live Action." Unfortunately, that's the only morsel of Warcraft goodness provided at the moment, as Blizzard remains tight-lipped about its top secret live-action movie. Hopefully a World of Warcraft movie won't suffer the same fate as Alone in the Dark and House of the Dead.

Have some tasty PC gaming news? Send the goodness here.

  • ravenware
    I played the FEAR demo and the vusuals are quite good. (My machine could barely handle 10 - 20 FPS, yeah I need a new card :))

    The weapon play is good (particle effects are very good), sound is good. You get to drive a mech. (I love mech games too, good job on axing the mechwarrior team msoft!)
    Reply
  • astrotrain1000
    Check out this screenshot from the Florensia homepage. It makes me really want to download this game and play.
    (thats sarcastic, you'll understand after you see the pic)

    Reply
  • exfileme
    Oh I dunno... Florensia reminds me of console RPGs laced with that unique Japanese flair (like Grandia). I'm downloading the client now in order to see what the game actually offers. Maybe I could do a little "hands on" if anyone is interested.
    Reply
  • oldmangamer
    Nice work, Mr. Parrish. Your economical yet informative style is much appreciated. I hope that you will continue to write about PC gaming whose death knell I still cannot hear.

    Reply
  • astrotrain1000

    meh, I just noticed the link I refereing to wasn't there.

    Reply
  • astrotrain1000
    ugh sorry for posting so much, i used the insert url button but the url doesn't show up

    Here is the link:
    http://en.florensia-online.com/albums/community-screens-g003
    Reply
  • manitoublack
    No Mirrors edge update? dam thing still wont load, This port seems worse than most early PC -> mac ports. Come on EA and Nvidia this game was suppose to be the Physx poster child, but it's just doesn't work.

    Cheers for the news on Fear 2 and the predator mod ;)
    Reply
  • one-shot
    Just played the Fear Demo. It rocks. I'm definitely buying the game.
    Reply
  • Niva
    Nice article, never heard of Florensia, might look into it some more.

    Liked the sarcasm about the Crysis mod, politics rule!
    Reply
  • what can big business do with user created stuff. If I draw a picture of predator will fox hunt me down. Marvel tryed to go after ncsoft about user created superheros and lost!
    Reply