NCSoft, all things golden in massive-multiplayers that don’t end in ‘craft’, today announced the official launch of Dungeon Runners, their new MMORPG based on team-raiding fantasy-themed dungeons. Sporting a more playful, cartoony art style than Guild Wars, Dungeon Runners also features a similar price tag to GW, free! That’s right, Dungeon Runners is NCSoft’s first free to download and free to play MMO. There is a premium subscription model at $4.99 however, which gives players access to a bank to store their dungeon treasure, high-level equipment (such as armor) and the ability to stack potions in your inventory. All around, it’s looking good and I’m hoping NCSoft’s approach starts to work. Now, if they’d just quit screwing around and introduce that one-price, play-all subscription model similar to SOE’s which NCSoft’s CEO teased us all with a year or so ago!

Official press release after the jump..

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With everyone going mental over Ubisoft these days, I thought it would only be right to post up the Raving Rabbids 2 teaser trailer which Jeux France recently broke all over town. All CG, there is no gameplay footage anywhere to be found in this video, but naturally we’ll be seeing much much more over the coming weeks from these wacky bunnies.

Video and press release after the jump..

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JoWooD, Austria’s once mighty publishing label, has announced their ongoing negotiations with new developers for the creation of Gothic 4, JoWooD’s lifeline product. It appears that an unknown split has developed between previous developers Piranha Bytes / Pluto 13 and JoWooD, not a surprising occurrence with developers in a relationship with JoWooD. Gothic 4 will be developed by an unknown developer for both console (I’d assume Xbox 360) and PC release, though I find it difficult that a suitable developer could be found to carry the brightly burning torch that Piranha Bytes will be handing off.

Official statement from JoWooD by their outstanding marketing department:

JoWooD confirms having been in promising negotiatons for the development of Gothic 4 on PC and console with various prospective development studios. Releasing Gothic 4 on current-gen console is the next logical step for the Publisher’s strategy. JoWooD puts most of its focus on high quality standards as well as reacting to the communities comments and requests for the sequel to its flag-ship title.

Since Pluto 13 and JoWooD have not come to terms regarding the development of Gothic 4, the collaboration has come to an end. However, JoWooD will continue supporting the released and coming Gothic titles.

Read more: Austria, Gothic 4, JoWooD | Email this | 1 comment

System3 CEO Mark Cale recently sat down with PALGN to talk a little about their upcoming DS, Wii and PSP titles Leaderboard, California Games and Ferrari Challenge. Essentially remakes of retro Commodore 64 titles, System3 is enhancing the visuals and game play of these classic titles and bringing them to everyones favorite handheld, the Nintendo DS (and not everyones favorite, the Sony PSP). Some of the enhancements to California Games, one of my most favorite games EVAR, is the addition of online multiplayer! A long-desired feature of the arcade elite of yesterday. The DS version will have four player multiplayer, with up to 8 players being able to shred head to head on the PSP

PALGN: You touched on California Games, which was such a massive hit back in the day, can you tell us a little bit about how the modern day remake is going to be handled?

Mark Cale: We’re re-skinning the game, bringing it up to date having the original available to play, which is the total 64 version, not emulated but totally redone from scratch, but using the exact 64 animations and positions as well as generally re-skinning, bringing it totally up to date with the look, the feel and the sound and then to merge we’ve got the original character in the new re-skinned background, that withstands the test of time. California Games however withstands the test of time in terms of being a sports title and a great, fun title to play against your friends. Unfortunately, the one disadvantage it has is that it that it only ever had six events. So, how do we get over that? Well, the simple answer for us is that, what you do is you have your six events, which if you recall were the surfing, the BMX, the Frisbee, the Keepy Uppy, half pipe and rollerblading. Once you compete in these events, if you get a gold medal in one of the events, it unlocks Summer Games 1 and 2, and you are then chosen the represent your country, and then you represent your country playing Summer Games 1 and 2, so what it does is that it actually unlocks a whole sort of a game series, instead of giving you just six events, you’ve now got twenty two events.

Read more: Mark Cale talks California Games

Rumors are swirling that 10tacle, one of Europe’s fastest growing developers, is still looking to expand through Europe, building more development studios to work on their internal and licensed projects. With studios already existing in Hannover (Germany), Bratislava (Slovakia), Charleroi (Belgium), Singapore and London and 10tacle being a German-based company, the search began for clues to where in Europe 10tacle would expand. Well, a handful of Google searches later brought about the answer. Vienna, Austria, once home to Rockstar Vienna, at one point one of the largest development studios in Europe and shutdown last year by parent company Take 2.

During this handy dandy Google search, we came upon http://www.10t-vienna.com/, what appears to be the landing page for the forthcoming 10tacle Vienna. Some questions remain. Like what exactly would 10tacle Vienna be doing? If development, what projects and what platforms are they looking to target? Vienna has an abundance of console and handheld development talent thanks to the Rockstar fallout, however, what talent would back 10tacle Vienna? Vienna’s (best and) most experienced developers have already been snatched up, with the creation of Team Vienna and Games That Matter, two new studios both formed by former high-level management from Rockstar Vienna, and the small successes of smaller local independent developers such as Xendex, Sproing, Greentube and last but not least, JoWooD, who all have been recruiting lately. There is little to no studio management-level experience left in Vienna, which means 10tacle would (hopefully) bring in external studio management and begin recruiting locally in Vienna by targeting the staff of other studios, which could be a risk for 10tacle’s local image if developers begin shifting companies.

Whatever the case, if it’s true, great for Vienna, Austria, a wonderful city with a tight little game development community who could really use new blood in the scene.

Update 1: Have now heard that the studio will focus primarily on production of 10tacle projects developed elsewhere. Snore. Also, it’s teamvienna.at not teamvienna.org.

Hmm?: 10tacle Vienna | 10tacle

Rockstar Games, the sequel spewing machine behind Grand Theft Auto, Manhunt, Max Payne and other top franchises, has announced the long-awaited sequel to their urban racing series, Midnight Club: Los Angeles, for the Microsoft Xbox and Sony PS3.

Rockstar Games Announces Midnight Club: Los Angeles for PLAYSTATION�3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360™
Fourth Installment of the Blockbuster Racing Franchise Unveiled

New York, NY – May 16, 2007 – Rockstar Games is proud to announce the fourth installment of its critically-acclaimed and genre-defining Midnight Club franchise, Midnight Club: Los Angeles. Developed by series creator Rockstar San Diego, Midnight Club: Los Angeles will be available for the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PLAYSTATION 3 system in early 2008.

“Midnight Club’s addictive blend of freedom, style and sheer sense of speed sets it apart from its competition,” said Sam Houser, Founder and Executive Producer of Rockstar Games. “With Midnight Club: Los Angeles, Rockstar San Diego looks to once again push the boundaries and expectations of what a racing game can be. Rockstar San Diego has always been the technology leader in delivering the ultimate racing experience, and with this game, they are looking to re-define the idea of a completely immersive racing game experience, both offline and online.”

“On prior consoles, the Midnight Club franchise continually raised the bar for racing games, evolving from being the first ever street racing game to setting the defining standard for credibly integrating street racing culture with an intense racing experience,” said Jay Panek, Producer of the Midnight Club series. “With Midnight Club: Los Angeles, our goal is to evolve on all possible levels and stay true to the hardcore gaming experience the series is known for, while making it accessible to casual gamers and car enthusiasts.”

Consistently the most innovative, highest-rated street racing franchise, Midnight Club set the standard of what an open-world racing game can be. Midnight Club: Los Angeles will deliver a truly immersive next-generation racing experience that is second to none.

For more information about Midnight Club, please visit our website at http://www.rockstargames.com/

A bit late, but still worth it. Call of Duty still goes on, with the trailer for Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare burning up the internets a few weeks ago. In it, we saw lots of explosions, some tanks tearing things apart and heard a little Russian language speech talking about one less nation. World War 3 FTW!

As a kid, there was nothing more exciting than having a new issue of Nintendo Power dropped into my mailbox. NP was the end all, be all of NES gaming, featuring articles, ads and photos of the hottest new games coming out for one of the hottest video game systems of all time. If rumors along the mill are to be believed, the once king of gaming magazines is set to shut it’s doors, at least on a print version, soon. No official word is available yet on the demise, but I certainly hope they go the portal route with Nintendo Power, creating a Nintendo-centered social networking news and blogging site that extended with Wii browsing support, including the long rumored e-versions of NP back issues.