PC Gaming News - March 5, 2009

Well gang, it looks like you're not going to get rid of me, so here's to kicking off a permanent PC Gaming roundup. Just hang on as I get into the groove of shuffling around gaming and hardware news! Here are a few nuggets to get things just right...

46 Games Added to GamersGate This Week
As the heading states, online digital distribution site GamersGate is adding a whopping 46 titles to its library this week, with six new titles appearing today. Many notable PC gamers are now available to purchase and download including Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3, Painkiller Universe, Neighbors from Hell, Railroad Pioneer and many more. Today's offerings include Crime Stories, Crystal Key 2, Neighbors from Hell Compilation, Thandor, ThinkX and Traitors Gate 2.

Ten Free Days of Warhammer Online
Mythic and EA want your business, and to reel in your pockets full of dollar bills, the dynamic duo is now offering a ten-day free trial of the uber popular MMORPG, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. Players that sign up for the 10-day free trial are eligible to participate in the current Bitter Rivals live event to unlock the soon-to-be-released Orc Choppa and Dwarf Slayer careers for head start play. To download the 10-day free trial, head here.

Silent Hill Homecoming Patched
Yesterday Konami announced that a new patch for Silent Hill Homecoming is available, resolving an issue related to changing the graphic resolutions. The patch automatically applies when users install the game for the first time. However, for registered users, the patch will automatically download and update the game the next time Silent Hill Homecoming loads and connects to the Internet.

Take The Path for $10
Tale of Tales reluctantly prices its upcoming game The Path for $9.99 after the creators said that they would rather just give the game away. Available on March 18, The Path is an "indie" horror PC game that calls itself a "contemporary interpretation" of Little Red riding Hood. " It features six sisters -Robin, Rose, Ginger, Ruby, Carmen and Scarlet- who are sent, one by one, to their grandmother's house on an errand. Grandmother lives on the other side of a path that is flanked by a dense forest, equally foreboding as it is inviting. Will the girls obey their mother's explicit command of staying on the path? Or will they stray and meet their doom? Do they really have a choice?"

Survival Mode Coming to Zeno Clash
ACE Team said that a new survival game mode will include a friends ranking system in the upcoming punk fantasy action/fighting game for the PC, Zeno Clash. Set to hit Steam and Direct2Drive this spring, the survival mode will feature the Unlockable tower Challenge, a new ranking system and ascending tower levels (Soul Calibur IV anyone?). Currently in beta, Zeno Clash will cost gamers $20, however the developers have not secured a "physical" publisher just yet.

Call of Duty: World at War Weekend Madness!
Activision fired over a little brief saying that gamers who play Call of Duty: World at World online will accrue twice their normal XP in all playlists. The Double-XP weekend starts tomorrow morning, and ends Monday morning PST. I seriously need to play this game, but I'm stuck on The Quest.

UT3 Titan Pack Now Available
Midway just announced that the long-awaited Titan Pack for Epic's FPS Unreal Tournament 3 is now available for free on the official website and Steam. The new Titan Pack includes 11 multiplayer maps. 2 gameplay modes, new units, the Titan mutator, and two characters: Nova and Kana. There are also two mirrors for your downloading pleasure: here and here. EMEA customers can access the Titan Pack here. Sorry PS3 owners, the Titan Pack won't be available for you until March 19 (but will feature Trophy support and an integrated mod browser!).

New Fallout 3 DLC Screens / Update
Although I uploaded the entire gallery, Bethesda released three new screenshots from the Fallout 3 DLC: Courtyard, Steelmill, and Trog. Bethesda also said an update was released yesterday for the Xbox 360 and PC versions: "This update is specific to DLC and is required to play The Pitt. It doesn’t address anything with the base game outside of that. 360 gamers will be prompted to install the update when the go to play Fallout 3, and PC users can get the update through Games for Windows LIVE or by downloading it off of the official site." The Pitt will be released on March 24th for Xbox 360 and Games for Windows at a cost of 800 points.

Close Combat – Wacht am Rhein Patched
Matrix Games has released a new update for the top-down tactical PC game Close Combat – Wacht am Rhein, updating the retail version to v4.50.07b. The patch includes a "sizeable amount" of graphical improvements and tweaks to units and maps, a few AI improvements in both the tactical and strategic portions of the game, and a variety of bug fixes.

Warhammer 40K: DoW II Dominates
THQ said that, according to the NPD group, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II is celebrating its first week at the top of the charts in the US, UK, France, Germany, Spain and Australia. However, no parties have been planed... yet. Brian Farrell, THQ president and CEO added. “We are pleased with consumers’ strong response to Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II across many of our key markets and believe the game’s success clearly demonstrates our primary objective of delivering high quality games with strong global appeal. Warhammer 40,000 is a rich and growing universe and we look forward to expanding our offerings based on this brand in the future.”

WCG Ultimate Gamer on Tuesday
The Sci-Fi Channel sent word that its hot new reality show (as if there aren't enough already) WCG Ultimate Gamer begins Tuesday, March 10 at 10EST/9CST, and every Tuesday for seven weeks thereafter. Next week's episode will showcase challenges inspired by Rock Band 2, and feature guest judges The Donnas. Viewers who miss an episode can catch same-day reruns here. The show comprises of a "diverse group of top gamers" hoping to win a prize package that includes $100,000 and "the ultimate Samsung package."

Look! It's... erm... A Project!
This is probably one of the strangest PRs received yet, an online FPS that doesn't necessarily have a name, only dubbed as "A Project." Currently in development by Nextepmedia, the unnamed FPS won't take a lot of horsepower as defined by the recommended requirements: Pentium 4 3.0Ghz , 1GB RAM, GeForce FX / RadeonX HD and so on. The PR information revealed absolutely nothing about the game, however the website actually shed some light on the shooter. Entitled A.D.2015, the PC game features a mercenary system, personalized characterization, new multiplayer game modes, a level system and more.