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We hear about video game studios closing down - and people losing their jobs as a result - all the time. But have you ever wondered what it's like to be one of those affected? To work through the job uncertainty, survive a round of layoffs, get the sack and try and find new work? This great feature from Kotaku Australia's Tracey Lien examines just what happens when there's a disturbance in the workforce. More »
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About a year and a half ago, Pandemic Studios - you may remember them for Full Spectrum Warrior, Mercenaries and Star Wars: Battlefront - was shuttered by Electronic Arts, which bought the studio in 2007. Four developers who were pink-slipped formed Downsized Games, and BulleTrain, released late last year for iOS devices and updated recently, is their first project, and an ode to their predicament. More »
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Mercenaries developers Pandemic went bust last year, while members of the studio were hard at work on a third game in the sandbox warfare series. This is what it would have looked like, had it ever been released. More »
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This is Skullgirls, a game we've only previously whispered about. It's a gorgeous 2D fighting game, and the only fighters are girls. More »
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With a rating of 12+ on Apple's App Store, Hands-On Mobile's iPhone take on EA's The Saboteur promises more Nazi foiling and less randomly topless women. More »
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The Saboteur's PC version had big problems out of the box - something like 9 out of 10 ATI-equipped systems couldn't make it work properly. The remnants of Pandemic have rolled a patch, but be sure to read it carefully. More »
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Pandemic Studios and EA have released a couple live action clips for The Saboteur. They're short, sexy and have nice music. That's all you need, no? More »
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Totilo thought The Saboteur was a little rough on PlayStation 3. Lucky. He could have been playing it on PC with an ATI graphics card, in which case it wouldn't have worked at all. More »
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The Saboteur might be in France, but its maximum-strength difficulty is all Irish, reflecting the nationality of its protagonist. Although - help me out here, United Kingdomians, I thought "fookin'" would be the onomatopoeic for the Emerald Isle's f-word adjectival. More »
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Less than a day after the game's existence was leaked, EA confirmed that a new Mercenaries is in development. The publisher announced the title as the next release from Pandemic, the studio that was all but shut down last week. More »
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Pandemic Studios, scene of deep job losses and the effective closure of the studio earlier this week, pumped out one final piece of happy news - The Saboteur has gone to gold master - with an apropos and semi-ironic signoff. More »
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Is it too soon for referential Hindenburg humor? I can never tell. More »
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See if you can tell the difference between the screenshots and video depicting The Saboteur's Belle De Nuit night club, and try not to get fired, as a couple of the screens are slightly NSFW. More »
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Sean Devlin is one sneaky man, making it deep into the heart of enemy territory for Gamescom in Germany and then sneaking out again with only these screenshots as evidence that he was ever there. More »
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Pandemic's art director Chris Hunt found the inspiration for The Saboteur's main character at a concept artist convention, but not how you'd think. More »
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Pandemic Studio's espionage thriller The Saboteur has managed to make its way into EA's 2009 holiday lineup, but only just barely. More »
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There is a game that will let you shoot Nazis, fire rockets at zeppelins, hang out in a brothel, climb the Eiffel Tower, oh, and try to maintain your career as a race car driver during all this. Sound good? More »
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The Saboteur is set in France. During the Second World War. You're fighting Nazis. During the Second World War. But developers Pandemic would like you to know, this isn't a game about the Second World War! More »
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For a game as unashamed about showing female nudity as Pandemic's The Saboteur, you'd think they wouldn't feel the need to censor naked artwork in the E3 trailer. Let's peek behind the blur. More »
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The latest batch of art and screens for Pandemic's The Saboteur display some of the more tangible benefits of being an Irish racing mechanic liberating France from Nazi oppression. More »
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Lord of the Rings: Conquest should have been a hit. It's an official LotR product, it's easy to play, it's modelled after the hugely-successful Battlefront series...but in the end, it all just kinda...fell apart. More »
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Then take a look at these. Don't expect much - the two clips are using raw character models and little else - but hey, it's not like you're ever going to see anything better. More »
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Pandemic Studios took the winning formula from the Star Wars: Battlefront series and applied it to the Lord of the Rings fantasy universe to create Lord of the Rings: Conquest. More »
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When we first heard that Pandemic Studios was working on an action game based on The Lord of the Rings, we weren't just excited, we were a bit giddy. More »
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We know Pandemic Brisbane is, for all intents and purposes, no more. We also know they were working on a Batman game that was canned late last year. Now, though, we know a lot more. More »
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With Pandemic's Middle-Earth take on the Star Wars: Battlefront series heading to stores as we speak, EA has an unleashed the official launch trailer for The Lord of the Rings: Conquest. More »
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Pandemic have released the PC system requirements for upcoming Middle Earth kill-em-all LotR: Conquest. Going by the install size and specs, looks like a straight console port. Which is OK. Means it'll run! More »
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Xbox 360 owners now get to taste the delicious flavor of large scale battles over the fate of Middle Earth as the demo for EA and Pandemic's Lord of the Rings Conquest hits Live. More »
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The weekend. 'Skins v Eagles. Washington are up 10-3, and in the final seconds of the game, Eagles receiver Reggie Brown takes what should be the game-winning catch...but is stuffed at the 1. More »
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Poor Mercenaries 2. All those explosions, all those moustaches, and nobody cared! Well, maybe you'll care now, with the release of the game's first major downloadable content. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5110835&view=rss&microfeed=true Pandemic's attempt at Battlefrontin' the LOTR franchise, The Lord of The Rings: Conquest, is looking rather pleasing. I suppose it shouldn't be too surprising that bits of this trailer look so cinematic - much of the third film was essentially a really well done cut scene, after all. More »
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And if John Riccitiello has say in the matter Mercenaries 10 will be coming to the next-next-next gen platform of your choosing. Responding on today's earnings conference call to a question if some EA's recent releases would be "sequelable," Riccitiello unsurprisingly said "Yes." Mercenaries 2: World in Flames has sold 1.9 million copies for the company, making the third entry — and probably even the tenth — a bottom line no-brainer. At least EA's mercs have job security... More »
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The battle for Middle Earth will soon be joined by forces from the human realms as EA's Pandemic Studios announce the release date for the Tolkien take on Star Wars Battlefront, Lord of the Rings: Conquest. The war kicks off on January 9th internationally, with the U.S. showing up after the action starts (as per usual) on January 13th. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5070888&view=rss&microfeed=true Yes, yes I know - the game is already out, but that doesn't mean we can't sit back, relax, and enjoy all of the adrenaline packed mayhem this video provides. You want gravity defying vehicles with tons of explosions? you got it! I haven't gotten a chance to pick up the game myself, but there's something tearing deep in my soul demanding that I give it a try. How's everyone enjoying Mercenaries 2 so far? More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5050375&view=rss&microfeed=true The video gaming content of this clip gives me an excuse to throw this up. It's an EA game, it's a current game, it's a reasonably high-profile game. But really, I'm just enjoying the fact it gives me a chance to post a clip of Peter Stormare busting out a rousing rendition of "Oh No You Didn't". More »
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Pandemic Studio's 2005 Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, took the sandbox genre and placed it in a military setting with rather impressive results. Three years, various delays, and a purchase by Electronic Arts later, Pandemic gives us Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. Swapping the previous game's Korean setting for Venezuela, Mercenaries 2 ups the ante with improved graphics, an enhanced arsenal, new fire physics, and am all-new multiplayer co-op mode, Has the leap to new and improved consoles produced a new and improved game? See what happens when game critics team up to take on Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. More »
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Live in LA? Drive an automobile? Call it gas, and not petroleum? Oh boy is this your lucky day. Starting at 6am today (so SOON), the Mobil at 8489 Beverly Blvd will be taken over by EA. They'll be there to shill Mercenaries 2. There'll be attendants dressed up as mercenaries, there'll probably be all kinds of various promotion materiel lying around, but most important of all: there'll be free gas. Yup. Free. Gas. There's a statement to be had about gas, American consumer culture and the resource-driven conflict that drives Mercenaries 2's storyline somewhere in all this, but really, it'll be lost amidst the fact EA are practically giving away money. More »
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Another rumour burger! Let's pile this one atop the other Pandemic Batman ones and just chow down. According to Australian Gamer, the staff working on Pandemic's Batman game - which was being developed at the studio's Brisbane outpost - have been told to wind things up. Game's cancelled. Why? Seems it missed too many deadlines, and "the higher ups" - either EA or Pandemic HQ - decided it was time to cut their losses. Do try and keep the already-tiring "why so serious" jokes to a minimum, please. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5042790&view=rss&microfeed=true We have been posting quite a few videos on Mercenaries 2, but this one is without a doubt my favorite. Can anyone say airstrikes? Well, this video has tons of em' and the best part is the song they blow up to! Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture! The game comes out next week. More »
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It's not like Mercenaries 2 wasn't looking good enough on its own. But hey, co-op never hurts, it only helps, especially when it's instituted in the way Pandemic have it running for Mercenaries 2. After you start, there's no game-interrupting menu screens, no lobbies, nothing. It's drop-in, drop-out combat, and while the guest's progress through the campaign won't be saved when they quit, they will get to keep any cash and weapons they pick up. As for the host, there's no adjustments made to the game when playing co-op, which means no extra enemies. So if you're stuck on a spot, no problems, just get a friend playing and you can hide your singleplayer shame amidst the high-fives and hollering. More »
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