Gamernode: Latest PC News

Australia breaks Spore street date

After years of playing third fiddle to the rest of the world, finally Australia was going to be given first shot at a major title courtesy of EA and Maxis' Spore. Set to release on September 4 down under (and September 7 in most of the rest of the world), Australians were ecstatic... And, blew it.

Reports have been circulating all day from gamers in Australian naming several stores which have broken the street date, releasing Spore early. One obvious side effect? The Aussies have leaked Spore to the Internet. While it's impossible to get the full Spore experience (since you need to be online and no one can be online without being perma-banned before the game's release), I'm sure the issue has caused EA to question their decision to release Spore first in Australia.

I'm still waiting for a...

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Gold farming worth at least $500 million a year (a...

Everyone who has played an MMO knows who gold farmers are. They're those guys who work on MMOs all day, slaving away to make gold to sell on eBay or other sites; most of them come from China. What many people don't realize, though, is how widespread the issue is and how lucrative it is for the operators of the gold farming rings.

According to a recent Manchester University study by Richard Heeks, the gold farming industry is (on the records) worth roughly $500 million; when you count illegal operations and the such, the number more than doubles in possibility. In other words, gold farming is responsible for anywhere between $500 million to $1.5 billion in revenue each year.

The study not only showcases this fact, but also compares the low wages (roughly $150 a month for the average fulltim...

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Spore available for pre-load

Waiting anxiously for Spore? Are you, like several people in the world, dressing up as your favorite imaginary Spore creature? (Someone has to be doing that...)

If you, like many others, can't wait until arguably the biggest PC game of the year comes out, then go ahead and buy it online via EA's store because if you do, you can begin pre-loading it starting today.

Like Steam, pre-loading Spore with EA's service will allow you to download 99% of the final game, with the last 1% coming the day of launch. (September 7 in North America, September 5 in Europe and Asia.)

If you're a Mac owner, you guys will have to head over to Game Tree Online in order to pre-order Spore. Both EA and GameTree aren't very clear on whether or not Mac owners can pre-load the game, so until I hear otherwise from our...

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Blizzard clarifies World of Warcraft's future grap...

Last week, J. Allen Brack revealed that Blizzard had plans to update World of Warcraft's graphics more extensively in the future, in order to keep the game looking comparable to new releases. (Don't worry, WoW addicts, they won't change the art style and pull an Ultima Online on you.)

Now, Brack has clarified his announcement a little and shared with the press that the plan is to put out small graphical tweaks in future expansions and big patches. (Burning Crusade had a few tweaks, and Wrath of the Lich King will have some including the oft-requested shader, so it's no huge surprise.)

This obviously won't put WoW on equal footing with future MMO releases, but Blizzard's hoping it will keep the game looking competitive, something which both past MMO juggernauts Ultima Online and EverQuest f...

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New MMO on the "block." Lego Universe coming

World of Warcraft is the undisputed leader in MMOs, right?

Well perhaps so, but there is another MMO coming out that may capture a brand new audience and appeal to those who are intimidated by the vast landscape of witches, goblins and trolls in WoW.

What are we talking about? Why, an MMO called Lego Universe of course!

Lego Universe will allow players to build anything from within the game using Lego bricks. You buy the bricks by using a monetary system based on plastic. Cute, eh?

But if you're low on the coin of the realm, you can always find bricks in the world or earn them by defeating enemies or completing quests and challenges. If you are lucky enough, you may find a stash of them in hidden treasure.

Lego Universe is slated to arrive on the scene in 2009 for the PC. For a look at how ...

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The Sims 3 and Fallout 3 official release dates re...

Today, two of the most anticipated "games with a 3 in their name" of all time had their release dates revealed: Fallout 3 and The Sims 3.

Developed and published by Bethesda, Fallout 3 is the third official game in the Fallout series (not counting spin-offs). Set more than 200 years following a nuclear war, gamers can create whatever type of character they want and explore the ruined nuclear wasteland that was once Washington D.C. Facing familiar and new enemies, both experienced Fallout veterans and new players should have a lot to look forward to. Launching on the PC as well as on Xbox 360 and PS3, Fallout 3 will be available October 28 in North America, and on October 31 in Europe. (No word yet on the release in Australia, but we'll keep you posted when Bethesda responds.)

Also announced ...

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Warhammer Online Open Beta To Start Sept. 7

Mythic Entertainment, an Electronic Arts Inc. studio, today announced that the open beta for their highly anticipated MMORPG, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR), will begin on September 7th, 2008. This means that hundreds of thousands of fans will be able to enter the gritty fantasy world of WAR to experience the thrill of Realm vs. Realm (RvR) combat before the game goes live on September 18th, 2008.

"For three years we have been saying that ‘WAR is coming' and the team has been working hard to deliver on this promise," said Mark Jacobs, co-founder and general manager of Mythic Entertainment. "In just a few weeks, we are going to throw open our doors and invite more players into the game than ever before. They will have a chance to delve into the open beta and see for themselve...

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Blizzard apologizes for BlizzCon ticket fiasco

BlizzCon for the Blizzard faithful has been held yearly since 2005. The event sponsored by Blizzard offers hands-on opportunities to play old and new games, costume contests, songwriting, beta tests, and the all important goodie bag; all this and more for about 100 simoleans, or if you reside in the US, that's $100.

But this year's online ticket sales went quickly south as the server started to malfunction for unknown reasons. The website froze, people were stuck at the checkout page, and lots of choice words were uttered.

Only a few were actually able to buy the tickets when they were available on August 11. So the next day, when the server was working again, the remaining tickets were sold out in a matter of minutes, leaving many frustrated and upset that they couldn't buy a ticket.

But Bli...

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Diablo III won't be the end, says Blizzard

Some Diablo fans were wondering if Diablo III would be the end of the series and exit as the final chapter in the trilogy.

But anyone worrying about this can put their fears to rest as Jay Wilson, lead designer at Blizzard, assured loyalists that Diablo would continue on.

"We're not saying this is the end of the Diablo universe, but we are trying to bring this storyline to a close. It's not just Diablo III -- we've got plans beyond."

So what can the Diablo faithful look forward to? Wilson explained that retro characters from DI and DII might appear in the new games.

"We also tried to focus a little more on bringing characters back, and not just from Diablo II but from Diablo I. We feel like a lot of the focus is on Diablo II but Diablo I started it all and has a lot of really good stuff on th...

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Crysis Warhead ships Sept. 16th

Electronic Arts announced today that Crysis Warhead will be shipping to North American retailers on September 16th. European shops will be getting the game four days earlier, on the 12th. The game will carry a $29.95 price tag, but eager gamers can get a $5 discount by pre-ordering the sci-fi shooter at the EA Store.

Said Crytek President and CEO Cevat Yerli:

"We think Crysis Warhead is going to offer a tremendous experience to a wide range of gamers. Fans of Crysis are going to enjoy more of the open-ended gameplay, cutting-edge visuals and huge, epic battles from the first game, while also finally finding out what kind of havoc Psycho was wreaking on the other side of the island.

At the same time, we designed Warhead to be more accessible for gamers new to the Crysis franchise. It is a game...

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Atheists raising hell over religion in Spore

Über game creator, Will Wright, thought there would be a backlash against his game, Spore, from those who believed in God.

Why? Spore is basically about the evolution of life in the cosmos--an adventure about a single celled life form that eventually evolves into a sentient, space-hopping civilization.

But in an odd twist of irony, it isn't the religious minded that are complaining about the game's content; it turns out it is the hardcore atheists who are raising hell, so to speak. The reason being that Spore depicts religion in the game.

Wright said:

"I think our bigger fear was that we didn't want to offend any religious people; but looking at the discussion that unfolded from this thing, what we had was a good, sizeable group of players that we might call militant atheists, and the rest o...

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Diablo III art director, Brian Morrisroe, quits

If you are a Diablo fan, you know that the art for Diablo III will be decidedly different from previous games. This time around, instead of the murky, moody, and monochromatic motif (gee, that sounded cool) the artwork will be more colorful and brighter.

Some fans took notice of this and started to complain and protest. Others went as far as to send in their own renditions of artwork to show Blizzard how it should be done. But when the dust cleared from all the complaining from the fans, Brian Morrisroe, art director for Diablo III, also cleared out--he resigned from his position.

Blizzard said:

"Regarding Brian, he recently resigned to form a startup technology company (outside the game industry), which is why we've posted about the open position. This change won't impact the game...we're re...

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700K illegal copies of Asssasin's Creed. Ubi sues

The PC version of Assassin's Creed was released in more ways then one, it would seem. There was the official version published by Ubisoft in April, and then there was the stolen version, in February.

Ubisoft claims that Optical Experts Manufacturing, the company that was responsible for producing copies of Assassin's Creed, violated security measures that led to a copy of the game being stolen. An employee took a copy home with him and then promptly posted it on the Internet for all to download for free.

The publisher says that Optical Experts Manufacturing was guilty for "an extraordinary breach of trust and gross negligence." The employee who pilfered the game, released it on the Internet six weeks before the official version hit store shelves.

How did it happen? Optical Experts admitted t...

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WAR is coming this Sept. 18

If you are as excited about Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning as I am, then you will be pleasantly surprised to hear that the release date for the MMO six years in the making is right around the corner. EA finally announced that the game will laucnh worldwide on September 18th. Says Mythic Entertainment founder Mark Jackobs:

"The countdown has officially begun. Mark your calendars! September 18th is the Day of Reckoning. For the last three years, the entire team at Mythic has poured their hearts into making Warhammer Online the next great MMORPG. We are so excited to open up this world and share it with the fans that will live in it, quest in it, go to war in it and make it come alive."

The game will launch its North American, European, and Oceanic servers simultaneously, a MMORPG first. Su...

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GTAIV hitting the PC on Nov. 18

Xbox 360 and PS3 owners have been having a really fun time with Grand Theft Auto IV (myself included). PC gamers, however, were left in the dust like they usually are, and are waiting as patiently as they can for GTAIV to make its way to the PC. Well it's nice to hear that Rockstar is very excited about releasing the game on PC for everyone who was left behind to enjoy.

"We are very excited to be releasing the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV," said Rockstar Games founder Sam Houser. "The whole team is dedicated to bringing an amazing gaming experience to the PC. The game looks and plays beautifully on PC and we can't wait for people to play it." 

People can expect to start playing Grand Theft Auto IV, along with its "newly expanded multiplayer" modes, on November 18th if they live in North...

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Stunning video of NCsoft's Blade and Soul

Check out this stunning video of NCsoft's in-development MMO, Blade and Soul.

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Blizzard shoots down crying Diablo fans

Blizzard will not be altering Diablo III's art style, no matter how many people sign the petition to get it changed.

Some 50,000 fans have signed an online petition to revert the game to something less vibrant and more reminiscent of past Diablo games, but Blizzard refuses to budge on the matter. They've finally responded publicly to the campaign, saying:

"There's no going back now. We're very happy with how the art style is. The art team's happy. The company's happy. We really like this art style, and we're not changing it."

The team at Blizzard chose to implement the current art style to avoid precisely what fans are asking for--a saturated, gray-looking game. According to lead designer Jay Wilson, that particular color palette would make combat more difficult as the on-screen monster count...

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The next Doom game is in the works

John Carmack of id Software announced at Quake Com today that the next Doom game is being developed. There wasn't a truckload of details about "Doom 4" but Carmack did give a few hints of what to expect in the game.

"There will be guns, blood, demons, and gibs. The next DOOM game will look like it's built on another engine, as it uses three times the horsepower.

"We're hiring new talent, but are not so interested in 'systems people' who want to create new code. We don't want to be the kind of project that throws hundreds of people at something to get it done. Finding level designers is difficult. It used to be that everyone made DOOM levels. Nowadays it's really hard for people to produce commercial quality levels."

As usual, Carmack won't say when the project will be completed, but it's pret...

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Wrath of the Lich King gets a release window

Many, like myself, were shamed in defeat last month when Blizzard's website featured a splash page with an ice motif and an image I was sure looked like the Lich King himself. Many of us were pretty sure that Blizzard was going to be letting loose the news 10 million subscribers have been waiting for: When will Wrath of the Lich King release?

Well, to be honest, we still don't know. WAIT! Don't leave just yet! We don't have the specific release date yet, but what we do have is a narrowed-down release window for when the game will ship.

Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime chose to grace us with the following information: "We have said that it will be coming out this year. I can tell you it's not coming in the July to September quarter."

It's far from definitive, and it's a little bit useless considerin...

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Play Grimm for free today

Those of you who have been looking forward to the next gaming morsels from American McGee, today is your lucky day.

GameTap is handing out the first episode of American McGee's Grimm, entitled "A Boy Learns What Fear Is," for free today. If you see this post within the next 12 hours or so, head over to GameTap and save yourself the $3.99 that the game is going to cost once the promotional 24-hour period has ended.

If you like what you get, make sure to come back every Thursday for a new episode, each of which will come with the same 24-hour deal. Three volumes of eight episodes are planned, so be ready for half a year of Grimm.

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