This Week In PC Games: Supreme Commander Sequel
Also Earth Assault and $1million World of Warcraft news
By Greg McNevin
Supreme Commander Follow up Announced
THQ has let it be known that a sequel to Gas Powered Games’ Supreme Commander will hit shelves in November for Windows PCs.
Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance is somewhere in between an expansion pack and an entirely new standalone game. It’s compatible with the original title and features an entirely new single player campaign, over 100 new units, maps and a whole new faction.
"Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance is not only the continuation of the epic story that is unfolding inside the game's universe, it is the continuation of our goal to move the bar for RTS gaming even higher than ever", says Chris Taylor, CEO of Gas Powered Games. "Forged Alliance offers over 100 new units, more maps and an entirely new faction, we are stuffing this game with all kinds of new features!"
The original SC was epic and hugely popular, so the addition of a whole new campaign and faction will no doubt please fans, as will the ability to revisit completed missions and play them through in entirely new ways.
Earth Assault
PC and Xbox360 players will soon be able to deploy troops against each other over Games for Windows – Live, with SEGA announcing that its upcoming Universe at War: Earth Assault real-time strategy title will feature cross-platform carnage.
The title is not the first game to let players on both platforms compete against each other (with the earlier mentioned Shadowrun being the first), but it is the first third-party title.
While two thumbs versus the highly effective keyboard and mouse combination could see console players regularly trounced, Petroglyph - the game’s developer - claims that it is re-working console controls to give console gamers more flexibility and make them more competitive with PC players.
Can console players really hope to hold their own? We’ll find out when the title ships for PC in December and the 360 early in 2008.
WoW Fansite Sells for US$1 Million
It looks like running a rabid gaming fansite can be more worth more than just street cred and a few adsense clicks, with the popular Wowhead.com World of Warcraft database being snapped up for an impressive US$1 million (£500,000) by Affinity Media’s ZAM.
Running sites like Allakhazam and the Thottbot WoW database, ZAM pegs itself as the “Internet’s definitive resource for MMO gamers”. It’s a collection of databases that contain detailed information on in-game items, enemies, quests and more, but aside from this it has somewhat of a murky connection with the online virtual gold seller IGE.
Affinity Media owns ZAM and until recently IGE, which the company claims has been sold off in a private deal. Some online commentators claim that the deal amounted to internal shuffling only and that IGE remains a part of Affinity, opening up the possibility that ZAM’s sites could one day spruik† virtual wares.
Wowhead CEO Tim Sullivan claims everything is above board though. “We met the ZAM guys and despite the rumours on the Internet, we actually liked them and thought they were cool,” writes Sullivan on Wowhead.com. “I was frankly expecting them to have horns, but what we found was a bunch of guys who respected what we had done and were truly focused on creating sites that MMO gamers really want.”
Sullivan claims the fansite will never run gold ads, which if true makes the sale price amazingly hefty.
† Spruik: To pimp. There, you've learnt something.
Supreme Commander Follow up Announced
THQ has let it be known that a sequel to Gas Powered Games’ Supreme Commander will hit shelves in November for Windows PCs.
Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance is somewhere in between an expansion pack and an entirely new standalone game. It’s compatible with the original title and features an entirely new single player campaign, over 100 new units, maps and a whole new faction.
"Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance is not only the continuation of the epic story that is unfolding inside the game's universe, it is the continuation of our goal to move the bar for RTS gaming even higher than ever", says Chris Taylor, CEO of Gas Powered Games. "Forged Alliance offers over 100 new units, more maps and an entirely new faction, we are stuffing this game with all kinds of new features!"
The original SC was epic and hugely popular, so the addition of a whole new campaign and faction will no doubt please fans, as will the ability to revisit completed missions and play them through in entirely new ways.
Earth Assault
PC and Xbox360 players will soon be able to deploy troops against each other over Games for Windows – Live, with SEGA announcing that its upcoming Universe at War: Earth Assault real-time strategy title will feature cross-platform carnage.
The title is not the first game to let players on both platforms compete against each other (with the earlier mentioned Shadowrun being the first), but it is the first third-party title.
While two thumbs versus the highly effective keyboard and mouse combination could see console players regularly trounced, Petroglyph - the game’s developer - claims that it is re-working console controls to give console gamers more flexibility and make them more competitive with PC players.
Can console players really hope to hold their own? We’ll find out when the title ships for PC in December and the 360 early in 2008.
WoW Fansite Sells for US$1 Million
It looks like running a rabid gaming fansite can be more worth more than just street cred and a few adsense clicks, with the popular Wowhead.com World of Warcraft database being snapped up for an impressive US$1 million (£500,000) by Affinity Media’s ZAM.
Running sites like Allakhazam and the Thottbot WoW database, ZAM pegs itself as the “Internet’s definitive resource for MMO gamers”. It’s a collection of databases that contain detailed information on in-game items, enemies, quests and more, but aside from this it has somewhat of a murky connection with the online virtual gold seller IGE.
Affinity Media owns ZAM and until recently IGE, which the company claims has been sold off in a private deal. Some online commentators claim that the deal amounted to internal shuffling only and that IGE remains a part of Affinity, opening up the possibility that ZAM’s sites could one day spruik† virtual wares.
Wowhead CEO Tim Sullivan claims everything is above board though. “We met the ZAM guys and despite the rumours on the Internet, we actually liked them and thought they were cool,” writes Sullivan on Wowhead.com. “I was frankly expecting them to have horns, but what we found was a bunch of guys who respected what we had done and were truly focused on creating sites that MMO gamers really want.”
Sullivan claims the fansite will never run gold ads, which if true makes the sale price amazingly hefty.
† Spruik: To pimp. There, you've learnt something.
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