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Gray Matter confirmed for February launch on PC in North America
Gray Matter, the first adventure game by Jane Jensen since Gabriel Knight 3, is set for a PC launch in North America for $29.99 in February, which should finally end years of the game pulling a delay out of its hat. We can't currently point and click you toward a stateside launch for the Xbox 360 version. The full game (with a heftier Euro price) and demo for the PC version have been available across the Atlantic for a few months now. Thankfully, despite the game's German launch, that version comes with English voiceovers.
Gray Matter demo now available in European Xbox Live regions
And now, for its next trick, Gray Matter will release an Xbox Live demo to several European regions. The long-awaited adventure game -- which you may have classified as "that new thing from Gabriel Knight author and designer, Jane Jensen" -- follows a young magician as she uncovers a puzzling paranormal situation near an English university. According to Major Nelson, the demo is available in the following regions: United Kingdom, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, Germany, Spain and France. If you're quite tolerant of mice and keyboards, you can also grab a demo of the PC version from Big Download. The German release of Gray Matter (including English voiceovers) is already available, if a bit on the pricey side, and the English version is currently set to arrive in shops in February 2011. By then, there should be quite a few walkthroughs available to help those who struggle with point-and-click conundrums -- after all, how does a magician cope without an assistant?
Jane Jensen's Gray Matter PC demo available now
Look, we weren't going to say anything, but it's obvious that your brain isn't operating at maximum capacity today. You've probably got some residual tryptophan slurry sloshing around in there -- what you need is to really flex your cerebral muscles. There's really no better way for you to do so than to check out a recently released PC demo for Gabriel Knight creator Jane Jensen's long-in-development mystery/adventure title, Gray Matter. See, it's got the name of your brain goop right there in the title, so you know it's a thinking person's game. The game was actually released in Germany earlier this month, and will arrive in the rest of Europe next February -- however, no US release plans for the full title have been announced. To unravel the full mystery therein, you're going to have to pony up for the German version of the game (which includes a full English voice track) or import the game, which is, in and of itself, kind of a mystery. Oh, Jane Jensen. You got us again.
German version of Gray Matter available now, playable in English
Jane Jensen's adventure game Gray Matter was last given a February release date, following multiple delays. That release date is still accurate ... however, the game is also available now. Allow us to explain. While the launch date for the US and UK release is still months away, Gray Matter is now available in Germany, in both retail and downloadable formats. It features English voice acting, so you should be able to understand the story. In fact, the official site notes that the German version is "fully playable" in both English and German. The convenience of playing early doesn't come cheap, however: the Gamer Unlimited download costs €39.95 ($54).%Gallery-95686%
Gray Matter slips to February 2011
UK-based adventure game publisher Lace Mamba Global has announced another unfortunate "slippage" of Gray Matter. As developer WizarBox and co-publisher dtp entertainment work to get the hard-to-handle contents of Jane Jensen's game in order, Lace Mamba has "no alternative but to delay the release until the chosen date," according to an announcement. (Prior to today's delay, the game was scheduled for release this month.) The latest chosen date for both the PC and Xbox 360 versions? February 25, 2011 in the UK (which, by the standard retail calendar, would put Gray Matter in North America on February 22.) "[W]e now know for certain that the date we have is the date Gray Matter will be available," declared Lace Mamba's Jason Codd, perhaps jinxing the project again. "[D]ue to the tight time frames, and the need for more polishing of the game we had no alternative but to make a quick decision and delay the product until February," Codd explained. "This will give the development team more time in ensuring that the game measures up to the standards that have been set" -- now, are those the original 2004 standards, or ...?
Gray Matter has its mind set on October release
We got an extensive demo with Jane Jensen's oft-delayed adventure game Gray Matter at E3 (more on that soon) but she did give us one item we couldn't wait to share: Publisher DTP Entertainment is currently targeting an October release for the PC/360 title. Considering we've previously heard March of 2010, 2009 and 2008, well ... let's just say we're writing the date on our calendar in pencil. Maybe not even that. Maybe sidewalk chalk. %Gallery-95686%
Jane Jensen's Gray Matter confirmed for Xbox 360
Gray Matter, Jane Jensen's long overdue adventure game, is also making its way to the Xbox 360 when the game finally launches later this year (... allegedly). Originally announced for PC years ago, there had been talk of a console version -- but for the Wii. Publisher dtp entertainment states the controls have been adjusted for Microsoft's console, but "other than that, Gray Matter's PC and Xbox 360 versions are absolutely identical." Jensen was the mind behind the acclaimed Gabriel Knight adventure series during the 90s. Hopefully, this'll be the year we finally get to wrap our brains around Gray Matter.
WoW.com Guest Post: Why Eclipse is broken
Chris Dinwiddie is better known as Graylo from the popular moonkin blog Gray Matter. "I started my blog to talk about all the things in WoW that interest me. It turns out that my interests are fairly narrow, and my blog primarily focuses on moonkin raiding with the occasional aside to celebrate a boss kill or mourn a near miss." Ahh, Eclipse. The talent the moonkin love to hate, or do we hate to love it? I don't know. It's a complicated relationship, but I would be surprised if there is another talent out there that stirs up as much emotion as Eclipse. On one hand, it is the savior of raiding moonkin everywhere. Without it moonkin would not be raid viable, and would be stuck with what some consider to be a very boring rotation. On the other hand, it can be a source of despair when you look at the WoL parse and face tough questions from a raid leader. It is widely accepted with in the moonkin community that Eclipse is broken, but many moonkin don't seem to understand what the real issues are. In this post I will take a look at the common misconceptions about Eclipse, and highlight some of the issues that make Eclipse a broken talent.
The Daily Quest: Icecrown, tunnelvision, and something more
We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Tales of a Priest discusses tunnevlsion for healers, and how to prevent it with better mod placement. World of Matticus's Lodur brings is more PUG tales, this time detailing the Val'anyr curse. Gray Matter asks, was Chill of the Throne enough to keep WoW raiding under control until Cataclysm? Should it have impacted DPS, too? Forever a Noob keeps the great rogue advice coming. Deathbringer Saurfang is your next target. This is our last link of the day, but it's the most important. Vigilance, a new warrior blog, honors the memory of a fallen guildmate. Rest well, Revanx. A word to the author, from me personally, is that you guys are not alone. Hang in there. Click here to submit a link to TDQ
The Daily Quest: Pets, podcasts and more
We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Episode 11 of the Hunting Party Podcast is available for download! The team lineup for the MLG tournament in Anaheim upcoming in just a couple short weeks has been officially announced. Mania's Arcania speculates on how many new hunter pet families we'll get in Cataclysm, or if we'll get any at all. Episode 64 of the Twisted Nether Blogcast is in a round table format, featuring bloggers Graylo (Gray Matter), Honorshammer (Honor's Code), Matticus (World of Matticus), Saresa (Destructive Reach) and Stoneybaby (Big Hit Box). Speaking of Honor's Code, the blog has started a series on setting up a UI for Protection Paladin. Click here to submit a link to TDQ
The Daily Quest: Automatic Points
We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. If you choose that category to talk about the race change or patch 3.3, you are automatically awarded the points. Restokin on the the latest druid change and the new LFG/LFR system. Gray Matter takes a look at a new simulation tool gaining some attention, SimCraft. Diabolical Minds takes a look at the hybrid tax. Eviscerated has a nice list to level your enchanting from 1 to 450. Finally, Azeroth United is interviewing Kristin Lindsay of Child's Play on November 2rd during a UStream broadcast. They're also raising money for Child's Play, and you can support them over on their site. A good cause for a good charity. Click here to submit a link to TDQ
The Daily Quest: Rawr, chalk, and more podcasts
We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Episode 62 of the Twisted Nether Blogcast is available for download, with special guest Spooner of Spooncraft. Gray Matter discusses the ups and downs of Rawr for Moonkin. Not only has OutDPS released episode 10 of The Hunting Party Podcast, but they have a new author on board to tackle hardcore raiding. Today, Heroic Anub'Arak! World of Matticus asks, why play a healer? This World of Warcraft chalk art is pretty incredible! Really old, but also really cool. It's worth a second look. Click here to submit a link to TDQ
March is the latest release date for Gray Matter
The last release date given for Jane Jensen's comeback adventure game, Gray Matter, was "2009," following delays in 2007 and 2008. However, the hot new trend for games coming out in 2009 is not coming out in 2009, and publisher dtp entertainment has adjusted its schedule accordingly.According to a new press release, the publisher now plans to release Gray Matter in March. Eventually, we suppose, one of these release dates is going to be the real one, but we have no way of knowing which until the game comes out. At least progress is being made: dtp announced that voice work for the English version is complete.[Via Eurogamer]
Why Hit is a "sexy stat"
This post on Gray Matter has some pretty insightful thoughts about the much-maligned Hit stat. We've posted quite a few times about Hit with the various classes, and yet it's still fairly hard to get a handle on -- most people know their class has a "hit cap" that they have to reach to keep any of their swings or shots from missing, but other than that, they haven't really tangled with the stat much the way they might have some of the more core stats for their class. But Grey Matter argues that "Hit is sexy" -- despite the fact that, unlike other stats, Hit is required just to make your class do the right thing (rather than doing it better), Graylo still likes the idea, and actually likes the balance that Hit requires. No matter what ilvl your gear, you still need a certain amount of Hit on it, and the balancing job of keeping your hit cap met versus providing other stats on your gear is what Gray seems to like about Hit. While other stats just go up and up, Hit is the great limiter -- having more of it frees up space on other gear for more pressing stats, but you still have to balance out the pieces you wear to try and meet the cap.To that extent, I agree. I do think that Hit is a relatively arbitrary stat (we know what it means in real life to be Stronger or have more Intelligence, but Hit is really just designed to keep game levels in line), but on the other hand, Gray's right -- because you need a certain amount of hit in your gear, it does become an interesting balancing game of "do I need this more powerful piece of gear, or this weaker piece of gear with some extra Hit on it?" It does a nice job of mixing things up as an endgame-balancing mechanic.
The Daily Quest: You had me at Sudowoodo
We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Big Hit Box gives a rundown of enchants for Enhancement Shaman. Gray Matter responds to the official Druid Q&A from the eyes of a Moonkin. 4 haelz responds to the Q&A from the eyes of a Resto Druid. Forever a Noob walks Rogues through Ulduar's Assembly of Iron. And OutDPS walks Hunters through General Vezax! Click here to submit a link to TDQ
The Daily Quest: Go go gadget rocket boots
We here at WoW Insider are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Graylo of Gray Matter talks stat weights and spell priorities for the second in a pair of Moonkin builds. Rogue-Rogue reacts to the Nitro Boots stealth nerf from patch 3.1.2. Shields Up! pulls together a few essential macros for Shaman of all flavors. Hunter DPS has changed significantly since The Burning Crusade, shifting from a shot rotation to more of a shot priority system. If you're not sure what that means, you should probably read this. Do you have something you'd like to blog about, but you weren't sure where to say it? Make use of WoW.com's new blogging system! It's free, and we'd love to see what all of you can do with it. Silly or serious, we want to hear about it! Click here to submit a link to TDQ
Azeroth Idol
In the absence of a ranged weapon or wand, Druids, Shamans, Death Knights, and Paladins all have an interest in filling the little slot directly to the right of their weapons with something good. You won't get the stats from idols, totems, sigils, or librams that pure classes will get from that slot, but with luck you'll significantly improve a core ability or two. However, because these items usually affect only one or two spells or attacks, they tend to be somewhat hit-or-miss in terms of usefulness, and many specs go for a while without having anything particularly good to put there.Graylo at Gray Matter takes a look at the new idol available to Balance Druids from Ulduar-25, the Kologarn drop Idol of the Crying Wind. After running the math on its stats versus the Balance idols available for badges (Idol of Steadfast Renewal and Idol of the Shooting Star), he reaches the conclusion that this new i-level 226 item is a significant DPS loss compared to its i-level 213 cousins, even if the Druid in question is using Glyph of Insect Swarm and has the 2-piece Tier 7 bonus granting 10% additional damage to Insect Swarm. While I think it's probably a damage increase on very high-mobility fights, Graylo's math is pretty damning. It's hard to argue that a Tier 8 idol providing less than a third of the damage granted by a Naxx piece represents ideal gear scaling.Bears in Ulduar-25 are looking forward to their first upgrade since the i-level 128 (!) Idol of Terror, but I'm not too sure about other classes. Do you have some hard choices ahead of you, or do you plan on using an older piece?
Jane Jensen's Gray Matter may puzzle Wii owners
Jane Jensen's Gabriel Knight games were rare commodities: mid-'90s FMV-based games that weren't amazingly terrible (okay, so just the second one was FMV-based). While Vivendi has the rights to that series, Jensen has been working on a new adventure game, Gray Matter, for a few years. Gray Matter is the story of a neurobiologist and his assistant, who must investigate both his reappearing dead wife and his history of creepy experiments. And also solve puzzles, obviously.In a retrospective Gabriel Knight interview with Edge, Jensen said that Wii fans may have reason to watch the constant delays of the point-and-click adventure game: "There are plans for a Wii port of Gray Matter, and I hope it happens." The website currently says it's "coming soon 2009", so, barring further delays, we can expect to hear more about this purported Wii version ... sometime this year.[Via Cubed3]
Jane Jensen teases Gray Matter with Christmas tale
Jane Jensen has gift wrapped a bone and tossed it to fans waiting patiently for her next adventure game, Gray Matter. The Gabriel Knight author has released a short Christmas story that serves as a prequel to her oft-delayed project, offering an early look at what the characters have been up to while waiting for their upcoming adventures in pointing and clicking.As of now, Gray Matter, which was handed over to French developer Wizarbox last September, is still on track for release in 2009. While you continue to wait, check out the story on Jensen's blog, which is available for download in PDF format.
Jane Jensen's Gray Matter delayed once more
Adventure game fans looking for signs of life in their dwindling genre of choice have a bitter pill to swallow today as Gray Matter, the next adventure game from iconic Gabriel Knight scribe Jane Jensen, has once again been pushed back. She explains on her newly launched Gray Matter blog that the game is bring retooled after changing developers last year, a shift that, according to Jensen, set the project back some 9 months.Jensen writes that the new developer, Wizarbox, is "raising the quality bar" on the project, the devs having worked in various capacities on a number of titles already, from Nightmare Creatures and Arx Fatalis, to handling programming duties on Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2. Numbing the sting left by the delay somewhat, Jensen also put up some nifty Gray Matter concept art up on the blog as well, adding that going forward she plans to use the site to keep those of us with an itch for pointing and clicking up to speed on the game's progress.
