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Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition now out on OS X
In case you missed the announcement last week, the Enhanced Edition of the classic RPG Baldur's Gate (that previously came to the iPad) is now available on Mac OS X. You can pick it up directly from Beamdog's website for US$19.99 right now, and we're told it's incoming to the Mac App Store very soon (probably as soon as Apple approves it). This version of Bioware's classic title includes a new adventure to play, three new characters to play with and a number of other technical enhancements, including new character paintings, and support for high-resolution displays. In other words, if you're a Baldur's Gate fan and have been thinking about playing through the title again, this is the way to go for sure. On the iPad, I had a few reservations about this one, mostly that the control scheme tended to lean a little too far to the old-school for it to really work well. But of course on the Mac, that's not an issue, as this game was originally made for a mouse and keyboard. The graphics, though updated, won't stand a chance against modern RPGs like Skyrim and The Witcher, but the story is such a classic one, and Baldur's Gate pioneered Bioware's storytelling and gameplay techniques later seen in games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age. Baldur's Gate is a valuable piece of RPG history, and it's great to have this excellent edition of it available now on the Mac.
Baldur's Gate coming to iPad
An enhanced edition of Baldur's Gate was announced this month by developers Overhaul Games (which includes a few devs from Bioware that worked on the title originally), and now there's even better news: That enhanced version is also making its way to the iPad. The game will be out on Apple's tablet at the same time as the PC release, and it will include all of the updates and new content as the other platform. Additionally, there will be iPad-specific controls, such as pinching to zoom in and out and dragging to choose units to control. While they're not done yet, Overhaul says there will be more touch-friendly menus and buttons in the interface as well. Which is just awesome, if you ask me or any other old-school gamer with fond memories of the Baldur's Gate series. We'll obviously keep both eyes out for this one. The game is due out sometime later on this summer.
New Witcher 2 trailer details new and improved newness, Dark Edition
There are plenty of non-PC gamers out there anxiously awaiting the April 17 release of The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings Enhanced Edition for the 360, but you PC gaming types who've played Witcher 2 already may be on the fence about whether the new version is worth your dollars. Perhaps this latest trailer, which runs through the Enhanced Edition's new features and content, can help aid in your decision making process.The trailer also briefly teases the game's Dark Edition bundle, which includes the game, its soundtrack, a making of DVD, stickers, a world map, a "Witcher Medallion," a quest handbook, game manual and art book.
CD Projekt going seriously overboard on The Witcher: Enhanced Edition
Judging from this screenshot, you can see where some of the *ahem* enhancements are going. CD Projekt is pouring a lot of time and effort into The Witcher, which came out almost a year ago. They're adding new animations, new NPC models, fixing all of the dialogue translation problems, squashing bugs, and "increasing load times by 80%." The question is, will people pay attention to a game that came out last year? GameCyte has a full interview with project lead Maciej Szczesnik who talks about the changes they've made. They caught a lot of flak over the poor translation of the game from the original Polish into English, and now they've re-recorded over 5,000 lines of dialogue along with all of the other upgrades and fixes. You can hear the difference between the old audio and the new audio pretty clearly by clicking on those links, but frankly... they just sound like different readings/voices to us. How does the plot change by hearing someone shout "Quick! To the laboratory!" any differently? The new edition, which comes out September 16th, includes two audio CDs, a making-of DVD, an official game guide, a short story from the author of the book that the game is based on, and a map, and it retails for $49.99. However, if you're previously purchased the game, it's a free download. Hey, we're all for free stuff.
