PopCap have released 10 new levels for Peggle for free on their site. The 10 brand new levels all carry a World of Warcraft theme, and comprise a standalone fully playable version of Peggle. PopCap have done this before with Peggle Extreme, which was an Orange Box-themed pack originally included in the Orange Box and then later released for free on Steam. More recently, two 5-level season-themed packs have been made available for Peggle Nights on the site.
Source mod Neotokyo° has finally been launched after five years of development. As previously mentioned, the mod originally utilized the UT2k4 engine, and now developer Studio Radi-8 has brought the experience to the Half-Life 2 engine with a wealth of content including 10 environments, 26 new weapons among 3 different class types, and a custom soundtrack with 15 songs, and more on the way. Martyn and Rich have taken a few moments out of their busy holiday schedule to have a run through it, and the most immediate thing of note has been the “massive” maps.
Many download mirrors are up now, as well as an active torrent; you can browse the manual or the noob guide while you wait for the 850MB download.
LucasArts and Valve announced today a new initiative to bring classic adventure games in the LucasArts catalog to Steam. Much loved titles such as Loom, The Dig and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis will be available tomorrow on Steam.
The announcement was being teased throughout the day yesterday on LucasArts’ twitter, and now there are a few extra facts being shared there as well. Firstly, this first batch of 10 games is “just a start”, and there will be more to come. Apparently each title has been reworked to run in Windows XP and Vista, and those that previously required SCUMMVM or DosBox to work, now won’t. They are now self-running executables that will work in modern-day video resolutions with switchable full-screen and windowed modes. The physical DRM that came with the games back in the day in the form of cardboard inserts, like the Grail Diary, will now come digitally in the package.
In related news, the first episode of Telltale’s new five-part Tales of Monkey Island series is about to drop, with the website taking last-minute pre-orders. Later this month the special edition of Secret of Monkey Island will launch, a re-imagined makeover of the original game with high-resolution graphics and a remastered score.
The PC version of Street Fighter IV is now released. Various digital distribution channels such as Steam and Impulse are carrying it for instant download upon purchase. The PC edition is identical to the console version released earlier this year, with a few additions including the option to increase the video resolution and three visual filters that give a more artistic look to the character models. As previously reported, the modest system requirements should mean the game should run on any decent rig, and a benchmark tool is available for judging the performance.
We were cautious, we told ourselves we’d be open to new ideas, and would withhold judgment ’til the real evidence came along inevitably confirming our deepest dread. A beloved franchise no longer in the hands of its creator has an upwards climb to prove its worth to the core fanbase, and it looks like Max Payne 3 is struggling to make that ascent with the first batch of screenshots released by Rockstar.
Resembling nothing of the established series, the images feature an unrecognisable Payne facing off against thugs in the latest incarnation of Rockstar’s RAGE engine. The game is set twelve years later in Brazil, where Payne serves as a bodyguard for a wealthy Sao Paulo family. Rockstar promises a return of the bullet-time feature and the protagonist’s voice-over monologues, but it looks like they’re taking the series from its noir roots well into feared GTA territory.
