Posted 10/06/08 at 10:27:19 PM by Nathan Grayson

Series originator Warren Spector may be out and about not making Deus Ex 3, but if we had a copy of UK mag PC Zone, and if we didn't know that Warren Spector wasn't slaving away on Deus Ex 3, we'd be hard-pressed to think that he wasn't. tl;dr: The game sounds pretty cool.

According to CVG's copy of PC Zone, Eidos Montreal is developing Deus Ex 3 as a prequel to the rest of the series. Set in 2027, the game follows "average joe" Adam Jensen, a security officer doling out his particular brand of uniformed justice at a lab specializing in biomechanical augmentations -- aka, nanotech's predecessor. Fortuitously, however, Jensen's life takes a turn for the interesting when a team of "black ops commandos" storms his company's base of operations, snatches a security plan penned by Jensen himself, and uses the plan to guard a fortress kill people.

 
From then on, the security officer with a penchant for doomsday plans embarks on an action-packed mission full of Deus Ex's trademark fusion of RPG and FPS gameplay conventions -- with a twist. In Deus Ex 3, your stats won't directly affect your gunplay. Instead, stats will manifest themselves through "a vast array of fully upgradeable and customisable weapons," as well as weapon upgrades and character augmentations. So yes, the game is still very much an RPG.

Fortunately, the game, even in its early state, has been given a big thumbs up from Warren Spector, with members of the original Deus Ex team in consultative roles on the project.   

And for lapsed fans, distraught by Deus Ex: The Invisible War's, well, everything, you'll be happy to hear that Eidos Montreal has scooped up multiple earfuls of fan complaints, sifted through them, and modified its game accordingly. For example, ammo types will return to Deus Ex's M&M style menagerie of flavors and colors, as opposed to The Invisible War's newcomer-friendly universal ammo.

Oh, the game also brings with it the controversial addition of an auto-regen health system -- ala Call of Duty -- and a cover system that takes a few pointers from Gears of War, but we'd probably post a separate news article if that wasn't the case.

Now let's just hope the game makes it out soon. Otherwise, it might end up looking a tad Jetsons by the time it hits shelves.

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gaming, Software, news, gears of war, call of duty, Eidos, Deus Ex 3

Posted 09/17/08 at 09:37:40 PM by Nathan Grayson

As we've become painfully aware over the past couple of weeks, game publishers will do just about anything if it means pointing an over-sized foam middle-finger in piracy's direction. But, with EA's recent decision to plunge a grimy claw into an old wound that was finally beginning to scar over, another lesson has been hammered into our collective conscious: DRM doesn't work. It alienates legitimate customers and pushes budding pirates right over the edge.

However, there are other, much more viable methods of thwarting thieves, most of which are only now heaving themselves upward and making awkward, Bambi-esque strides into the limelight. Thus far, however, only one such anti-piracy tool has proven itself stupidly lucrative: the subscription fee.

During this week's Activision Analyst Day event, Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith mused about a possible Guitar Hero subscription service -- part of the publisher's plan to "monetize" the series. In addition, he noted that Call of Duty could fall under a similar, dollar-shaped banner.

Taken on its own, I see no problem with this pseudo-announcement. In both cases, a subscription service would have us lazing in a warm tub of new content with minimal hassle, and, as WoW has kindly pointed out, PC piracy of those games would slope off drastically.

But try ka-ching-ing a few more subscriptions onto your bank account's emaciated form and suddenly, this idea doesn't seem quite so dandy.

Continue reading to find out why subscription fees -- in their current form -- just can't muster the strength to heft the gaming industry above piracy's grasping mitts, as well as how they might be altered to succeed. 

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gaming, Software, news, world of warcraft, guitar hero, activision, call of duty

Posted 09/15/08 at 07:48:09 PM by Nathan Grayson

There are more Call of Duty: Modern Warfare players than there are readers for most major websites, so obviously -- through use of top-level mathematics -- this announcement has 23 out of every 11 of you in a glee-induced coma. No, wait.

Anyway, at today's Activision Blizzard Analyst Day event, Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith officially handed off the COD baton to its original owner. The move is in line with Activision's "leapfrog" strategy for the franchise, which sees Treyarch and Infinity Ward alternate COD releases each year.

Beyond that, however, few details were announced. In all likelihood, the game will probably hurdle itself forward in time from COD: World at War's WWII setting, back to the present, but that's merely speculation.

But what do you want out of COD 6? Another trip into modern-day Unspecifiedistan? An MMO? Something entirely new?

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gaming, Software, news, call of duty, Activision Blizzard

Posted 06/26/08 at 07:45:02 PM by Norman Chan

On our leanest podcast ever, Tom, Will, Norm, and Andy put on their best suits to go over the fancy features of the new Maximum PC website. Norm recaps his visit to a recent Games for Windows press event, and shares details about the upcoming Ghostbusters and Call of Duty: World at War PC games. No listener Q&A this week, but listeners are challenged to come up with nicknames for our two new interns. A photo of these young nerdlings can be found after the jump. All this and more on this week's No BS Podcast!

Subscribe: http://feeds.feedburner.com/maximumpc/1337

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games for windows, No BS Podcast, website, call of duty, ghostbusters

Posted 11/12/07 at 07:55:24 PM by Norman Chan

Just call it the anti-Crysis. If Crytek’s immersive next-gen messiah is suppose to usher in a revolutionary era of open-ended shooters, Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty 4 shows us why linear missions and wholly scripted gameplay aren’t ready to be replaced yet. The shift in this series’ setting to modern day brings more high-tension gunplay and explosive ambiance than any game in recent memory. From furious firefights in Arab towns to nail-biting infiltration missions under the dark of Russian night, we were absorbed in more grandiose military heroics than any Michael Bay blockbuster. And since the game’s goal is to take you along for an unabashed joy ride, that’s actually a good thing.

Click Read More for more. 

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games, gaming, Software, Review, online, multiplayer, call of duty 4, call of duty, war, headshot, pwnage, cod4, noob, too many automatics, nerfed snipers