PC Gaming News: Diablo II Patch and More

Age of Booty Sets Sail
Yesterday Capcom announced that the PC version of Age of Booty is now available to purchase directly from the company here. Developed by Certain Affinity, Age of Booty is a casual real-time multiplayer strategy game that puts players at the helm of their own pirate ship "with the goal of sending your enemies to the briny deep, and looting and capturing towns for your pirate faction." Age of Booty retails for $9.99.

New Free Realms Screens
Sony Online Entertainment unleashed seven new screenshots from its upcoming game, Free Realms. Slated for a release date of Q2 2009, the free online virtual world developed especially for kids and families entered closed beta a few weeks ago. According to SOE, the game "brings to life a whimsical virtual world where gamers can explore, compete, raise pets and socialize." 

Runes of Magic Trailer, Screens
Frogster uploaded a new trailer from the upcoming MMORPG, Runes of Magic. The clip showcases the evil super villain in the game's first chapter, Rise of the Demon Lord. According to the company, the new in-game trailer tells the story of the Demon Lord’s dark powers as he unleashes a wave of chaos and destruction upon Taborea. Runes of Magic is scheduled for a full launch on March 19th. Head here to check out the video, or click to the left to see two images yanked from the video.

Codename Panzers: Cold War Multiplayer Demo
Yesterday Atari released a multiplayer demo of its upcoming real-time strategy game, Codename Panzers: Cold War. The demo offers support for both online and LAN play, and provides gamers a taste of the Domination mode. Players must seize control of a nuclear weapon located on the Islands of Hope (map). "Players will have access to the full range of units available in the multiplayer game, and will be able to capture several Points of Interest including a radar station, HQ and radio station, each of which affords special strategic and tactical advantages." Head to the official website and click on the little box at the lower left-hand corner to download the 500 MB file.

Steam Client Updated
Gamers using the Steam client will notice a new update that will take place once the software restarts. Today's update fixes the "endless update" bug when trying to download Empire: Total War as well as a "game is unavailable" bug related to the same game. Yesterday Valve issued a large number of fixes and updates for the Steam client, fixing the issue when the client stalled during "download starting," a shutdown problem with HL2.exe and more. Valve also issued an update to Team Fortress 2 yesterday as well as added the complete collection of Penumbra to the Steam library.

Resident Evil 5 PC Still Possible
Blues News points the way towards a report from VideoGamer.com about the possibility of Resident Evil 5 heading to the PC. Although hinted at earlier this year by CD Projekt, several members from the publisher thus have refused to comment on its existence. Nevertheless, VideoGamer questioned Capcom about the PC version, only to receive a "I can't give you an answer to today" comment. Many will tune into that sentence and say that the company did not deny a PC version, yet they haven't confirmed one either. Still, if Street Fighter IV can find it's way onto the PC, it's certainly likely that a Resident Evil V Special Edition could arrive as well.

Burnout Paradise Coming to Steam
The Criterion Games website announced that Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box is heading to Valve's Steam service. Although Criterion offered no additional details, Burnout Paradise already arrived on the PC last month, complete with all of the downloadable content packs previously released on the console versions. A 2.92GB demo also made circulation last month, offering gamers a chance to check out a few cars and the game's entire open-world setting for a limited time.

Diablo II Patch Soon, Blizzard Wants Community Input
You can't say that Blizzard doesn't support its legacy software. As a prime example of that, a forum post over on Battle.net back on March 3 reveals that Blizzard is working on a Diablo II content patch, v1.13. However, Blizzard wants community input, asking Diablo II fans what they want to see in the patch. "We’re making it a bit stricter than a full-blown wish list," the post reads. "Our goal is to get an overall sense of the single most important request from every member of the community. We want as many posts as we can get for the largest cross section, so if you have friends who used to play Diablo II or just don’t frequent the forums as much as you do, let them know this is here so we can get their “#1 patch note” too." The post goes on to warn gamers that not every request will make it into the patch, but Blizzard will do what they can to cover as much as possible.

More to come tomorrow.