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beta watch

Requiem: Bloodymare Enters Open Beta

Didn't get into the Age of Conan early start event? Well here's something for you to mess about with over the weekend instead. Gravity Interactive's horror-MMO Requiem: Bloodymare couldn't have picked a better time to go into open beta. Right now you can head over to the website, register an account, download the client, and there you are, fighting evil in a rather unique little setting.

I've played the game a bit myself, and while there are points where it feels a bit like your standard Korean MMO given a fresh coat of paint, the game mechanics are actually rather entertaining. The only real problem I have with it is that it is hard to maintain an atmosphere of horror after you've killed the same monster 20 times, but it definitely has a few moments. Hit up the link below to get things started!

Requiem: Bloodymare Official Site [Gravity Interactive = Thanks Andthenjaredsaid!]

1:00 PM on Fri May 16 2008
By Mike Fahey
1,262 views, 18 comments

dlc

TimeShift 360 Gets Untimely Free Map Pack

Sierra Entertainment is looking to give TimeShift players a boost today as they announce the availability of the Futures-Past Multiplayer Map Pack on Xbox Live today. The pack contains five new maps playable in any of the games myriad multiplayer modes, from the mundane deathmatch to the relatively entertaining King of Time mode. The pack will cost you absolutely nothing to download, as Sierra is most likely desperately trying to drum up interest for the game, a solid title that had the misfortune of being delayed to the point where they had to release it between Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4, effectively ensuring that the multiplayer audience for the title would be far too busy doing other, more important things. It's ironic how horribly time has treated TimeShift. I'm just glad they didn't release this map pack within weeks of another blockbuster game with amazing multiplayer was released. Oh wait. More »

11:20 AM on Fri May 9 2008
By Mike Fahey
1,597 views, 28 comments

Latest by Samos42: The Timeshift multiplayer was awesome but you're right, even on the first week it was out, barely anybody was playing the multiplayer. It sucks too since it's really fun. more »

lord of the rings online

Return To LotRO Free This Weekend

Turbine is celebrating the first anniversary of the Lord of the Rings Online as previously mentioned, and they're giving lapsed players a chance to come back and see what's changed since they bucked up and kicked the hobbit (so ashamed of myself). Between now and May 12th, players who have cancelled their account may log back in for free, spend several hours patching, and then experience the new features they've missed out on, such as...

* New Region - Explore the icy reaches of Forochel
* New Quests - Over 100 new quests
* Hobby System - Feel like going fishing?
* Enhanced Monsterplay - New monster class: the Orc Defiler
* Looking For Fellowship Enhancements - Mustering Horns and UI improvements
* More customization options - cosmetic clothing, traveling clothes, and barbershops!
* New PvMP dungeon - The Delving of Frór
* Return to Angmar - completely overhauled to enhance playability and fun

All of this, plus they added more cowbell. What more do you people want?

8:40 AM on Thu May 8 2008
By Mike Fahey
1,146 views, 25 comments

Latest by poke50uk: ug.. well im giving the free trail a go.. its taken 5 hours to dl/install... but the updating is the worst.. 3000/7000+ updates im on now.. "109%" complete ¬_¬ more »

eye of judgment

Free EoJ Card Friday Take 2

For those of you who missed out on the Official PlayStation Blog's free Eye of Judgment card giveaway last Friday, do not fret! The response for the free cards was so overwhelming that they've decided to go another round. This Friday at 5PM Pacific you can hit up the OPB and submit your email for another chance at the increasingly less rare set two promo cards. I myself completely forgot about the promotion last week, so I welcome the chance to completely forget it again this week. What was I writing about again?

THE EYE OF JUDGMENT- FREE CARD FRIDAY RESULTS [Official PlayStation Blog - Thanks Velglarn!]

6:00 PM on Wed May 7 2008
By Mike Fahey
1,440 views, 11 comments

Latest by LANfill: @resetbutton: Same here @Mike Fahey: You should rearrange those cards. It should be Parmetic Deathspeaker, General Lug, then Noram Zealot. This way the pictures would line up and make a uniform picture. like here more »

mass effect

Bring Down The Sky Free With PC Mass Effect

The bad news is that Mass Effect for the PC will not be shipping with the downloadable expansion Bring Down The Sky included. The good news, as was hinted at last Friday, is that PC gamers will be able to download the expansion pack for free upon the PC game's release. It'll be exactly the same content from the Xbox 360 release, optimized for PC and without any cost to you, the consumer. This means that my decision to wait for the PC version of the game has once again been completely justified. Hooray! Mass Effect for the PC is currently due for release on May 28th in the states and June 6th in Europe. More »

8:20 AM on Fri Apr 18 2008
By Mike Fahey
3,561 views, 85 comments

Latest by mcderek3000: @skullivan: If Supreme Commander can be ported to consoles, I'm sure that Dragon Age can. My only interest is that Dragon Age is designed first for "PC players" - ie as much like Baldur's Gate 2 as possible. That means 6+ characters more »

socom

Free SOCOM 3, Combined Assault Map Packs Announced

All eyes may be on the upcoming online only SOCOM Confrontation for the Playstation 3, but that doesn't mean that the SOCOM developers have completely forgotten about their PS2 fan base.

The team just announced the release of a new downloadable map pack for SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy SEALs and SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Combined Assault. This third downloadable map pack includes SOCOM and SOCOM II maps Crossroads, Fishhook, Frostfire and Guidance.

More »

3:00 PM on Mon Mar 31 2008
By Brian Crecente
4,343 views, 32 comments

demo

Download the God of War: Chains of Olympus Demo

I've been playing (replaying parts) of God of War: Chains of Olympus on the Playstation Portable for a week or so now and so far it strikes me as one of the best games to hit the system to date. I'm about five hours in, nearing the end of the game, I believe, and there's really not much to complain about. Sure, it's God of War on a PSP, but what more would you expect? Yes, a review is coming Monday.

If you didn't get the free Demo on UMD when it came out, you can still grab it directly over on the Playstation Store. I point this out because the downloadable demo isn't exactly easy to find and some of you may not have realized it's out there.

God of War: Chains of Olympus Demo [PS Story, thanks Brad]

2:00 PM on Sun Mar 9 2008
By Brian Crecente
17,763 views, 56 comments

Latest by JohnnyLA: Jebus people. People bitch that a game is too long and repetitive, people bitch about it being a great game and too short. Nothing pleases you guys. Portal was pretty short. Don't see people bitching about that as much more »

guitar hero iii

GHIII Sets Dropkick Murphys Free For St. Patty's

St. Patrick's Day in the states is all about dressing in green, getting drunk, and - Activision hopes - playing Guitar Hero III with your friends. To this end they've put together a special song pack in honor of the holiday, featuring three songs from the Celtic band Dropkick Murphys. Available sometime in mid March, the pack will consist of "Famous for Nothing," "(F)lannigan's Ball" and "Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ya.". The pack will be available via Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network for the low, low price of completely free! You'd be hard-pressed to find a better way to celebrate national drinking day, plus the Guitar Hero controller doubles as a bludgeon just in case any actual Irishmen show up and start causing a fuss. Also, don't forget today's not free Modern Metal Pack, featuring the Deftones' "Hole in the Earth," Avenged Sevenfold's "Almost Easy" and Thrice's "The Arsonist." More »

6:00 PM on Thu Mar 6 2008
By Mike Fahey
5,998 views, 79 comments

Latest by COD4Halo3: Free songs are always good. Im so sick of the regular songs since I've played them for so long. It is nice to have a few new songs to play.... more »

dev tools

Havok Goes Free In May

Trying to create your own PC game of you and your friends shooting up your high school but lacking the physics and animation technology to bring the whole project together? Well if you can wait a few months, you can use the same tools you've seen flashed countless times on your TV and computer monitor over the past several years - Havok. Havok is releasing their industry-leading Havok Complete toolset completely free in May. Havok Complete combines the Havok physics engine with Havok Animation, and is already used in over 200 triple-A titles on the market today.

"This is fantastic news for commercial PC game developers as well as the independent game development community, who will really benefit from this move," said Mark DeLoura, creator of the Game Programming Gems series.

Indeed fantastic news, as having powerful tools freely available can really help foster creativity across the industry, while also expanding the market for Havok's add-on products, like the recently announced Cloth and Destruction apps. An extremely long press release follows. More »

12:40 PM on Thu Feb 21 2008
By Mike Fahey
6,841 views, 61 comments

Latest by navstar: So does this mean Havok for Mac?? more »

freebies

Nintendo, Won't You Be My Valentine?

Fact: Mario is the master of love. Sure, his relationship with the Princess sometimes feels more innocuous than passionate—and the whole Bowser infatuation certainly kinks up the confusing sexual undertones—but no matter what the circumstance, he always wins back the Princess against overwhelming odds. So why not celebrate Valentine's with some free Nintendo valentines? From 4 Color Rebellion, these charming notes will only cost you some color ink or a few seconds of copy/pasting into an email. Beecause really, what potential lover can resist a good "bee" pun?

It's Valentine's Day! Show Your Geek That You Care! [4ColorRebellion via GoNintendo]

1:40 PM on Tue Feb 12 2008
By Mark Wilson
5,165 views, 42 comments

Latest by WillW: aw more »

undertow

Last Chance to Download Undertow for Free

Don't forget that today is the last day to download your personal apology game from XBLA for free. For the uninformed, I will encapsulate the situation as best I can. Xbox Live had dicey service over the holidays and in an attempt to make up for it, offered Xbox Live Gold members a free game called Undertow. For those who have already downloaded the game, Microsoft will be pleased to offer you 800 MS points if you can traverse the mine field that is their customer service line.

Now that you are all caught up you can use the remaining hours of today to download your free game or attempt to get your free points. You have until midnight, so get crackin'.

2:00 PM on Sun Jan 27 2008
By fdemarco
3,941 views, 104 comments

Latest by Spoony Bard: @Phazonmasher: CONKER FTW!!! (Original n64 owner here!) more »

everquest ii

Exclusive EQII Item In Massive Online Gamer

The latest issue of Beckett Massive Online Gamer magazine should be out wherever fine bookstores see fit to carry it, and inside you could very well find a key code that unlocks a special in-game item in EQ2 - an animated portrait of Venril Sathir. I'm sure it will make an excellent conversation piece during your many in-game social events. Um, yes. I know it's a silly little portrait, but fans of the game go nuts over this sort of thing. I played the game for a year and never once had anyone else in my house, but trust me, it was full of magical wonders the likes of which you had never seen, which made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. The promotion itself is interesting. Free in-game stuff is an awesome marketing tool. Can you imagine if Blizzard put random free junk codes in boxes of Rice Krispies? The world's children would be forced to eat store brand rice cereal out of a resealable plastic bag. Hit the jump for details on the special issue, which many or many not require subscribing to the magazine itself. More »

10:20 AM on Thu Nov 29 2007
By Mike Fahey
867 views, 10 comments

Latest by tempis: Now, are the codes different for each magazine, or is it one master code? more »

animation

"What's Opera Doc" Free On XBL

As we reported earlier this week, the Xbox Live Video Marketplace just added a ton of old Warner Bros. cartoons to it's lineup. I logged on to XBL earlier to investigate that IPTV rumor and discovered that one of my favorite Bugs Bunny cartoons is currently available for free. What's Opera Doc, Bugs' take on Wagner's epic Der Ring des Nibelungen, is offered in both HD and regular versions. So if you're like me and love the site of Bugs Bunny in Valkyrie drag riding an obese horse with tiny legs, log on to XBL now and get it while it's still free. "Kill the wabbit!"

3:00 PM on Sat Oct 27 2007
By fdemarco
6,868 views, 88 comments

Latest by Vexorg: I've already got all 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD sets, so I don't need to buy these, but they're definitely worth checking out. more »

xbox live

NFS ProStreet And GHIII Demos Live

In a rare moment of synergy between the two competitors, EA and Activision have managed to bring the delicious combination of fast cars and rock and roll together on Xbox Live today, as demos for both Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Need for Speed ProStreet are both now available for your tiny dose of gaming pleasure. The GHII demo is a modest 545 MB while the racer clocks in at 655 MB. I'm currently downloading both, so if I any of my posts show up later on with missing images or spelling errors, you can blame one or both of them. Also live today is the European demo for Eternal Sonata, easily the prettiest RPG on the Xbox 360, and the best video game Chopin learning tool in the history of the gaming.

8:20 AM on Tue Oct 23 2007
By Mike Fahey
2,073 views, 25 comments

Latest by TheBrianIsAstonishing: GH3 is definitely a step down in terms of difficulty, but I don't know... it feels more fun than 2. Maybe it's just the songlist... but I felt myself rocking out a lot more. more »

games for windows

GFW Live 1.2 On The Way

This November, Games for Windows Live takes yet another step in becoming a viable online gaming service still not worth $50 a year to PC gamers. Following a patch in August that added future Windows XP support and improved error messaging, update 1.2 will add offline achievements that allow you to increase your Gamerscore when not connected to the internets as well as the ability to see if your friends can be joined in the games they are playing or not.

Microsoft is rolling out two Games for Windows - LIVE updates in a matter of only four months, but we're just getting started! Our goal is to deliver new and exciting experiences for Windows gamers, while maintaining the unique PC gaming environment we love.

Last I checked, the unique PC gaming environment I loved was free, but maybe that's just me. Edit: For those arguing in the comments section, click here for details on the difference between Gold and Silver (non-paying) accounts. More »

8:40 AM on Tue Oct 9 2007
By Mike Fahey
6,874 views, 37 comments

Latest by vecha: @Iron_Dragon_2.0: $10 a month? more »

Kotaku

ESA, Game Critics' Awards Debate "Best Of E3" Eligibility

Gawker Media Network