It occurs to me that a lot of good games are born out of direct adaptations of books as well as spun off of inspirations that come from books. But don't let me waste your time try to list them — let GamesRadar's list of "Top 7 Games based on books" do that instead.

By far the "best" game on that list for me is American McGee's Alice — with The Witcher in a close second (and only because the original adaptation of the anthology was so lousy). Rainbow Six makes the cut, naturally. But I have to admit I didn't know about that Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy game. Tragic!

Enjoy the read:

The Top 7… Games based on books [GamesRadar]

Direct2Drive is having a 24 Days of Christmas sale which today slashes The Witcher's price tag in half — only $20! The sale lasts until 9 AM PT tomorrow, so get buying.

Mind you, the Enhanced Edition Director's Cut includes...

"Making of" videos with never-before-seen bonus material (180 mins)
Game Soundtrack MP3s (73 mins)
"Inspired by" Music MP3s (59 mins)
Official Game Guide PDF (112 pages)
Map of The Witcher's world

Totally a steal.

Shack PSA: The Witcher on Sale for $20 [ShackNews]

As we reported earlier, a nearly defunct public PC assembly company Optimus S.A. was planning to strike a deal with CD Projekt.

CD Projekt spokesperson told us at the time that the company has signed a letter of intent - not an agreement. "In short," the spokesperson explains, "this is a kind of share swap between Polish stock company Optimus S.A. and CD Projekt Investment (which is the holding company owner of CDP Publishing, CDP RED, GOG.com, Metro and Porting House)."

The end result result is that the shareholders of CD Projekt Investment will become the owners of Optimus S.A. "Since Optimus is a stock market company," the spokesperson states, "CD Projekt will in fact go public and have access to all stock instruments. Ultimately, this means money for future development of the whole company."

The deal has gone through. The deal itself is complicated financial operation but the final result is very simple: CD Projekt Investments owns 50% of Optimus shares which in fact means that Optimus is now controlled by CD Projekt . According to game site Gamikaze, the deal is worth 63 million zlotych (US$22.5 million) and CDP will enter the Polish stock market through this agreement. CD Projekt Investments owns 50% of the Optimus shares and have control over Optimus. That means CD Projekt has not been "acquired" by Optimus, a company spokesperson has told Kotaku. CD Projekt has the control over both companies now.

"The transaction fully accomplishes the strategic objectives of CD Projekt," said Adam Kiciński of CDP Investment." First of all, as a company we enter the stock market and that means gaining access to capital. That enables us to continue to grow. We also got instant financing and so we can calmly continue our current operations in the times of the [economic] crisis. And all of that while keeping control of the company, what has been crucial to us. What is worth noting is the fact, that we join forces with the company that (just like us) influenced the shape of the Polish computer market throughout the years."

CD Projekt i Optimus podpisują umowę - Gamikaze - aktualności ze świata gier [Gamikaze]

Polish site Polygamia reports that a nearly defunct public PC assembly company Optimus S.A. is going to buy out CD Projekt. From the sound of Polygamia's story, it sounds like this buyout is to enable CD Projekt, a private company, to enter the stock market as a publicly traded company without the necessary formalities.

The owners of CD Projekt, it seems, will then be the owners of the new company, which will then be traded on the stock market. An official announcement is expected, and Kotaku is following up with CD Projekt.

Update: According to a CD Projekt spokesperson, the company has signed a letter of intent — not an agreement. "In short," the spokesperson explains, "this is a kind of share swap between Polish stock company Optimus S.A. and CD Projekt Investment (which is the holding company owner of CDP Publishing, CDP RED, GOG.com, Metro and Porting House)." The end result result is that the shareholders of CD Projekt Investment will become the owners of Optimus S.A. "Since Optimus is a stock market company," the spokesperson states, "CD Projekt will in fact go public and have access to all stock instruments. Ultimately, this means money for future development of the whole company."

Optimus kupi CD Projekt? [Ploygamia via GI via VG247]

The watermarks will tell you this is for "internal use", suggesting it was "leaked", but yeah...no. This is meant for you.

[via jtyettis @ NeoGAF]

Polish developer CDProjekt has announced The Witcher: Enhanced Edition Director's Cut for North American gamers as a free patch. This is basically the nudity-enhanced European version of the title.

Back in March 2008, CD Projekt boss Michal Kicinski explained: "We just want to let mature gamers — the audience we created the game for — play the game they want to play. At 18 years of age, you can walk into a store in the US and buy movies, magazines, etc. that have much more objectionable content than what you can see in The Witcher."

The Director's Cut patch will include the recent 1.5 patch and will also be a standalone available on TheWitcher.com, Steam, Impulse and Direct2Drive. Launch date TBA.

The Witcher Nudity Restored with Director's Cut [Shacknews]

Those of you pondering removing The Witcher install from your PC in order to free up space might want to hold off a little bit longer. Patch 1.5 has been released, bringing with it five new adventures created by the game's player community using the D'jinni creation tools. Deceits, Blight of the Bogs, Wraiths of Quiet Hamlet, The Wedding, and the unseasonal Merry Witchmas are each included in the patch, giving players a small taste of what has been wrought since CD Projekt unleashed free creation tools upon the community.

Perhaps even better news, patch 1.5 also removed the DRM from The Witcher, meaning you can simply install the game and play it, rather than having to worry about making sure the disc is in the drive and such. Of course no-disc hacks generally pop up within minutes of a PC game release if not sooner, but it's nice to get a little official love now and then.

Patch 1.5 now available! [The Witcher]

Ideally, Origins is supposed to be a "new" kind of fantasy that does away with Zeschuk's dreaded "elves sashaying through the countryside" and brings to the fore real human drama (but with non-humans). To create that kind of fantasy, BioWare had to find a spectrum of existing fantasy to measure their game by.

"At one end we have Tolkien's [Lord of the Rings trilogy]," Muzyka explained,"and for dark, low fantasy, we're using [George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series]."

This confused me, because Martin's epic fantasy series is labeled as high fantasy, whereas low fantasy would be more like Conan the Barbarian. Either BioWare is cutting the scale short so they can stay focused, or they've confused Martin with Robert E. Howard.

"When you read [Martin's] stuff, it's not at all like Tolkien's stuff," said Zeschuk. "It doesn't have the traditional elements [of high fantasy]. The brutality of the world he created is extreme."

I object about the elements of traditional fantasy (c'mon — those books have knights and princesses and dragons and stuff), but I'll give the brutality argument to him:

*Ice and Fire spoilers* In the first book alone, a seven-year-old gets chucked out of a window in, like, chapter five and the main character has his head chopped off at the very end.*End spoilers*

That's the kind of brutality that struck a chord with Muzyka: "I was like, 'Wow, he just took away a character I really started to care about. Wow, that was emotionally impactful [sic]'." And that reaction is ultimately what makes him identify the Song of Ice and Fire as low fantasy.

Gaider, on the other hand, thinks that his bosses' definitions of high and low fantasy are "funny" at best. To him, high fantasy has to have "obvious magic" and technically Martin does. But "it's very, very subtle," so he could see where his bosses got the idea to label it low even if he doesn't agree with them.

There's a flaw in Gaider's argument, too, though. If magic has to be obvious in order for the fantasy to be "high," the The Witcher is high fantasy, surely?

Rather than talk his way out of that one, Gaider side-stepped. The skew between Martin and Tolkien still works for Origins, he said, even if it's not a clear example of the divide between high and low fantasy: "Martin's stories are character driven. The characters and their flaws drives the plot, where Tolkien is plot-driven. In that respect, [Origins is] leaning more towards the Martin side, where it's a human tale told within the context of these epic events."

"Dragon Age has elements of [Martin's brutality]," said Muzyka, "and has elements of the Tolkien-esque kind of fantasy as well. Which is why we're presenting it is something that's quite different."

Will Origins be a brilliant alchemy of fantasy sub-genres, or genre crisis in the making? The fact that the lead writer and the creators of the game can't exactly agree on what low fantasy is has me worried. The fact that Muzyka and Zeschuk think George RR Martin's series is low fantasy just because it's dark also has me worried. But what really bugs me is the thought that games can never not be low fantasy because it seems to sell way better than elves sashaying through the countryside.

P.S. That picture is from a scene in Song of Ice and Fire, drawn by Mike S. Miller — if you want Dragon Age: Origins pics, check out this post.

Game designer Jakob Stilinsky says that the console version (for PS3 and 360) will be a little slicker. It'll feature extensive use of motion-capture for the character animations, have better lighting and environmental effects, improved enemy AI and full achievement and trophy support.

Seeing as this game is yet to be officially announced (this obviously being a leaked promo), we've tagged this as rumour until Atari make things a little more official. Just in case there's one person in the world who thought it'd be funny to fake a leaked developer diary for the console port of a Polish PC role-playing game.

[via Eurogamer]

The Witcher Sells One Million Copies In A Year [Gamasutra]

3:55 PM, the LA Convention Center. Everyone is tired, and you can see the media room starting to slow down — people wander by with exhausted expressions on their faces, looking at their watches and lighting up when they realize there's not much left in the day. Even Crecente has passed the point of being totally with it, pausing in the middle of sentences to stare off into space. I shuffle off to check out Atari's E3 offerings, and am met with a surprisingly cheerful staff who point me in the direction of caffeine. I am not caffeinated enough to face a spiel on Deer Hunter Tournament, so I'm sat down to await a demonstration of The Witcher: Enhanced Edition. I hear something about transport options from the person enthusiastically imbibing what the Deer Hunter guy is saying — 'Oh cool, so you're planning on having like, ATVs and stuff?' — and am glad I'm parked in front of The Witcher instead of one screen over. More impressions and details after the jump:

So, The Witcher isn't new, but the whole presentation focused on the improvements made to the game. After apologizing for already having given the presentation five times in a row, Tomasz Gop enthusiastically explained what the 'expanded edition' really expanded upon (and kept coming back to 'fan suggestions'). The expanded edition features over 5,000 lines of totally rewritten and rerecorded script, as well as a whole new German script created from scratch (was it that bad?). In addition to the script itself, a slew of new dialogue animations were added to make characters look less like wooden blocks and more like dynamic people. Monsters and NPCs are still based on the same character models, but have gotten randomly generated clothes and colors to shake things up a bit. Further, the inventory system has been improved and makes for easier storage and sorting; there is also an easier system for collecting loot after battles. Importantly, load times have been significantly reduced. Another nice feature is the ability to play with any combination of the available subtitles and voice tracks; we watched a scene with a Polish voiceover and Chinese subtitles.

The boxed edition will feature two new adventures, the adventure editor, the official soundtrack CD, a CD of music inspired by The Witcher, a game guide, "The Witcher" short story by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski, a map of the Witcher world, and a 'making of' DVD. Already bought the game? Don't want to shell out again? Never fear — everything will be available for download if you purchased the original version. The enhanced version is expected out in September of this year.

I was then shunted over to take a look at the PSP and DS versions of N+. The handheld versions will feature 350 levels and 150 coop and versus multiplayer levels. Players will be able to create their own 'playlist' of levels, as well as get lots of unlockables. The level editor will enable people to design and share their own levels — the download and upload process is fully integrated, and by utilizing a 'purgatory server,' the DS friend's code hell will be bypassed (this was a point that was mentioned very excitedly). N+ will be coming to PSPs and DSs next month

From one DS game on to another — I thankfully didn't have far to go to look at What's Cooking? with Jamie Oliver, and by this point was wondering exactly how these Atari people were remaining so chipper and upbeat. This is a reasonably detailed cooking simulator (unsurprisingly); I didn't spend too much time with the actual gameplay, but the guy demonstrating did allow me to try my hand after he scorched some prawns. It's ... a cooking game. A detailed cooking game with really complicated recipes.

However, the 'special feature' that was apparently most exciting was the inclusion of lots of real Jamie Oliver recipes, the ability to create shopping lists based on those recipes, and using the DS as an ultra-portable cookbook/list maker. Now, I like to cook, but I'm not sure I'd pop my DS on the counter — sounds like a recipe for electronic disaster when DS meets boiling liquid or something. Still, the fact that the game comes with a book's worth of (actual) recipes is kind of cool. It will be out in December in time for a Christmas '08 release.

Finally, I headed over to look at the second expansion for Neverwinter Nights 2, Storm of Zehir. The first feature noted was the expanded party editor, now featuring full party customization of up to four party members. There has also been several new classes added, though the only one mentioned in any depth was the "swashbuckler." The party conversation system was demonstrated, with answers and questions being based on intelligence, sills, class and so on. A new, detailed overland map has been added that is a walking map — no more zooming from place to place. The maps are completely moddable, and also feature traps and other surprises that players can interact with via skills.

A mercantile aspect has been added, and trading and quests can help improve your merchant empire in the world — as well as make an impact elsewhere. New monsters will be popping up (the ones I saw looked very nice, even though the game hasn't been entirely 'cleaned up' yet and looked a bit dank in places). The message I was left with was "Lots of new stuff! New races, classes, feats, spells, enemies ... did I forget anything? Yeah, lots of new stuff!". The expansion is due out in the fourth quarter of 2008.

I'm assuming they also fixed whatever it was that was letting me kick so much ass in the beta version, as evidenced by the frustrated comments in the original post. Only one way to be sure though...head over to The Witcher: Versus and challenge the powerful sorceress Kotaku to a duel. Muhahahaha.

The Witcher: Versus [CD Projekt Red]

The Witcher Enhanced Edition Release Date [Official Website]

"CD Projekt has always been oriented to gamers' needs, so releasing an adventure editor for the modding community is an obvious move. It's quite a demanding tool, however, and it will bring loads of satisfaction to many of the fans. After all, we made The Witcher with this tool," said Adam Kiciński, CEO, CD Projekt RED.

Create New Legends With 'The Witcher' Adventure Editor, Plus First New Official Adventure For Fans

Atari Announces the Launch of the 'D'jinni' Adventure Editor, 'Price of Neutrality' Adventure and Patch 1.3 for CD Projekt's Acclaimed PC Role-Playing Title

LYON, FRANCE - 14 April 2008 - Atari today announced the release of the D'jinni beta adventure editor and Price of Neutrality adventure together with patch 1.3 for The Witcher, the PC role-playing opus from Polish development studio CD Projekt RED which continues to garner high praise and new fans the world over thanks to its unique blend of mature fantasy universe, tough decision making and intense tactical combat. The first official adventure and patch 1.3 are available for free download via www.thewitcher.com, with a separate free download available containing the D'jinni beta adventure editor.

"CD Projekt has always been oriented to gamers' needs, so releasing an adventure editor for the modding community is an obvious move. It's quite a demanding tool, however, and it will bring loads of satisfaction to many of the fans. After all, we made The Witcher with this tool," said Adam Kiciński, CEO, CD Projekt RED. "We've also prepared the first official mod with a completely new adventure which will be available to download for free."

The Price of Neutrality is the first official adventure from the team at CD Projekt and features around two hours of gameplay during which the player is introduced to the other witchers in more detail following their brief appearance in the original game. Populated with new NPC's and other new graphical assets, the adventure takes the player into the little explored outskirts of Kaer Morhen in a compelling story with tough decisions and more than one possible ending. The adventure text is localised in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish and Polish. In the same download, patch 1.3 readies the game for playing the new adventure.

The English language D'jinni beta adventure editor will let fans craft complete new adventures for Geralt using the existing graphical assets, maps and environments in the game. By creating new stories, cut-scenes, graphical effects, dialogue and gameplay actions, users of the adventure editor can let their imaginations run wild predicting the turmoil and tests waiting in Geralt's future, or even filling in the missing years between the close of Andrzej Sapkowski's last Witcher novel and the start of the game.

Based on the universe created by best-selling Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, The Witcher puts players in the role of Geralt, a professional monster slayer who exists on the fringes of a complex society troubled by the kind of problems more commonly found on the front pages of newspapers than in a fantasy universe. Taken as a child, mutated, and trained in the arcane ways of the witchers, Geralt is a reluctant hero, who nonetheless finds himself all too frequently in the heat of battles that are not his own. In this world there is no right or wrong, only decisions and consequences.

The Witcher is available now at retailers across Europe as a standard game pack and as a Limited Edition containing a wealth of exclusive content. For more information about The Witcher visit www.thewitcher.com and for more details about Atari's entire product line up visit www.atari.com.

-ends-

In Europe we are quite used to see many forms of sexual expression in fine art, books, films and even on television. The games are not seen much differently then. In order to see sexual references or various forms of sexual acts (although softer ones) we never had to cross over into pay-per-view TV or head off to the seedy part of town.

If we stay within the limits of good taste, without being explicit, we had always known that whatever we showed in The Witcher would be acceptable for our target, mature audience without banning us to some kind of 'porn' games ghetto... We just want to let mature gamers — the audience we created the game for - play the game they want to play. At 18 years of age, you can walk into a store in the US and buy movies, magazines, etc. that have much more objectionable content than what you can see in The Witcher.

The Witcher Enhanced Edition Announced

New, Improved and Enhanced Version of 2007 PC RPG of the Year Coming in Late Spring

Warsaw - February 18, 2008. CD Projekt RED is pleased to announce that in May of this year, a new and improved version of The Witcher will appear in stores, a game already considered by many players and media to be the best PC RPG of 2007!

Michał Kiciński, CEO of CD Projekt described the idea behind The Witcher Enhanced Edition: "The leading idea during the development of The Witcher Enhanced Edition is to create a game that is devoid of all of the major criticisms levied at the original release. The Witcher was received very warmly by both players and the media, but we are well aware that it is not a product without its faults. There was just not enough time to perfect certain elements, while we learned that some things needed to be changed from the players themselves. Now we have the opportunity to introduce changes that will allow The Witcher to provide even more enjoyment. I hope that, as a result, the game will come even closer to the ideal RPG."

Maciej Szcześnik, Project Manager at CD Projekt RED, spoke about the content provided in the new edition: "The Witcher Enhanced Edition will be a completely polished product, something rarely found on the PC market. Of course, it would have been best if the original edition could look that way. There were a few ways the original game didn't quite live up to our high expectations, but now we're trying to make up for it. Work is being done on two levels: one concerns the removal of technical obstacles that hinder the player from properly using the game and thus gaining enjoyment from it. Some of those elements include the loading times, which will be reduced by 80%, the stability of the game on different PC configurations, as well as an array of smaller fixes that will increase interactivity and precision in combat. The other level consists of very important changes that are not usually found in patches. First and foremost, the English-language version will, for the most part, be completely re-done. The amount of text in that version was reduced compared to other language versions and that was said to cause a significant decrease in immersion and atmosphere. Now the English version will be as polished and atmospheric as the other language versions. Speaking of other language versions, most of them will be improved in some way. Significant changes will also be made in the German version, where we are planning to re-record the voices for many of the characters. The most important improvements concern those elements of the game that players criticized the most. For example, over 50 new supporting character models will be added, so that the player won't run into the same person too often. The inventory panel will be re-designed and improved, and some elements of the main game screen will be polished. However, one of the biggest changes that will greatly increase the player's immersion in the game world will be improvements concerning dialogue scenes. Both Geralt and non-player characters will get over 100 new animated gestures which will make their body language during conversations much more natural. Additionally, the facial animation and lip-sync system will be re-created, making the faces of the speakers now even more natural, as well. Of course, I've mentioned only the most important changes, and that's still a lot. There will be many smaller changes that will make the game more fun. I'm convinced that, thanks to those changes, The Witcher will almost be the ideal game for fans of PC role-playing."

Adam Kiciński, head of CD Projekt RED spoke about publishing and the availability of The Witcher Enhanced Edition in different parts of the world: "Our goal is to make the Enhanced Edition available to all players all over the world. We are currently negotiating with our publishing partners to confirm availability dates. Our release date in Eastern Europe is May 16, and thanks to the great support from fans, we're confident that we will be able to bring the game to stores around the world on that date, as well. The retail release will be quite important for us, as we're not just improving the game itself, but want to improve how the title is packaged. For example, aside from the game DVD, we are planning to include a DVD with the D'jinii Mod Editor, as well as two additional adventures, a video DVD with extended material detailing the making of the game, a music CD with 29 tracks from the game, a music CD with 15 tracks of music inspired by the game, an 80-page instruction booklet, a 112-page official guide written by the game's developers, and a 50-page short story written by Andrzej Sapkowski. There will also be a map of the game world. As you can see it is quite an elaborate release and it is important to us that fans all over the world be able to buy this version of the game. Especially considering it will not be more expensive than the standard edition of the game! Fans that have already bought the game need not worry, however, because the new content and improvements will be available to them in the form of a downloadable update."

The Witcher Enhanced Edition not only means changes in the game's mechanics or better graphics, however. There's also an included mod editor called D'jinni that allows players to create or modify their own adventures in the world of The Witcher, as well as two completely new adventures created by CD Projekt RED. The first adventure, entitled "The Price of Neutrality," tells the story of Geralt coming back to Kaer Morhen and finding a mysterious camp near the stronghold (3 new quests), while the second one focuses on Geralt's close friend, Dandelion, and his troubles in Vizima City (5 quests).

The Witcher is an RPG about the adventures of Geralt, a professional monster slayer, and was developed by Warsaw, Poland-based CD Projekt RED. The game is based on a new version of the BioWare Aurora Engine, titled Aurora 2007. The story is set in a world created in the books of Andrzej Sapkowski and sold all over the world. The game has already managed to garner worldwide success, having sold over 600,000 copies. It has received more than 45 awards and distinctions, including the prestigious "Best PC RPG of 2007" from IGN.com, Gamespy.com and PC Gamer (see the entire list of awards: http://www.thewitcher.com/community/pl/awards/). The game has also received very high ratings from players from all over the world, which is reflected in the average player-review scores at such sites as Metacritic (9.4/10), GameTrailers (9.1/10) and Gamespot (8.8/10).

Portal Brain Age 2 Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass BioShock Puzzle Quest Rock Band Super Mario Galaxy Wii Sports The Witcher WoW: Burning Crusade

And now that the industry has become so successful at creating high quality, more polished sequels, will any of these titles really be in play a decade from now?

The Future Of Videogames [Forbes via WiiWii]

While I love Croshaw's latest review, this one of The Witcher, I wasn't so delighted with the bit of comedy machinima slapped on to the end. It was, I hope, just an experiment and one we won't see more of anytime soon. Fortunately The Review of The Witcher has a wonderful punchline and mentions washing gimps, so I'll forgive him his indulgence.

Zero Punctuation: The Witcher [The Escapist Magazine]