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Rumor: The Darkness sequel looking likely after NY Comic Con panel
Like rummaging through celebrity trash for the latest gossip, it often makes us chuckle as to where new video game news emerges, something only reinforced by last weekend's New York Comic Con. Buried beneath action figures, cosplayers, and that Super Girl Barbie we absolutely must have, came word of an upcoming sequel to last year's comic-inspired FPS The Darkness.The news was unleashed during a discussion panel with American comic company and The Darkness publisher TOP COW, during which (according to comic blog The Quarter Bin) it was said: "We can't say Darkness and video game sequel in the same sentence. So, Darkness. Wink. Sequel." While hardly an absolute confirmation, the news is enough to make our stomach rumble with a hunger that only hearts will quell.[Via WorthPlaying]
The Darkness gets new, free multiplayer map
We like to imagine that someone at 2K or Starbreeze Studios recently ran out of batteries for their flashlight. They went rifling through their utility drawer, pushing aside empty light bulb boxes and corn cob holders before they found the AAs they were looking for. But there, underneath them, just to the right of the broken remote for the VHS player ... is that ... a multiplayer map for The Darkness?If that's not how the situation shook out, we have no other explanation. It's months after the game's release and nobody that we know ever really got in to the multiplayer. At least the price for this new map ("DM_Haunt") is right: Free. So, if your Darkness multiplayer menu option hasn't complied shriveled up and fallen off from disuse, feel free to give it a spin.
Riddick devs to revisit EA classic in mystery project
Electronic Arts announced that it is working on a new project with The Darkness and Chronicles Of Riddick devs Starbreeze Studios to revisit one of EA's "most acclaimed classic franchises" for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. As for which one, EA's keeping mum, simply dubbing the effort Project RedLime and leaving our imaginations to run wild. Work has apparently been ongoing on Project RedLime for some time, as Starbreeze CEO Johan Kristiansson comments that the team is " already deep in development" on the project. Nothing else, and mean nothing, is known about the mysterious project, though EA notes that more details will be revealed "in the coming months," leading us to hope that this game, whatever form it takes, will be among EA's salvo fired during this year's E3. We're crossing our fingers for James Pond.
Best of the Rest: Ludwig's picks of 2007
Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure (Wii) Though its puzzles may occasionally infuriate, the real source of frustration regarding Zack & Wiki stems from the fact that nobody bought it. Every year has its share of titles that deserve an audience yet never find one, and in this regard, Zack & Wiki is easily one of the most tragic games to put an uncontrollable smile on your face. Relentlessly charming and beautifully presented, the debut of Capcom's choc-chomping pirate and his simian sidekick challenges the mind and warms that cynical, meh-spouting lump in your chest. How refreshing it was to overcome obstacles and bosses by choosing the power of the mind over an impossibly large bazooka.
Best of the Rest: Alexander's Picks of 2007
Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword (PC) Please, make the addiction stop! Civilization IV: Warlords, the first expansion for Civ IV, made my "Best of the Rest" last year and Beyond the Sword tops this year's list. The funny thing is I'm not a Civ fanboy, nor am I even that great of a player (Full Disclosure: I still play on Noble level), but Civ IV is a game I can come back to over and over again. Beyond the Sword added much-needed mechanics for culture-prone and passive-aggressive players, with enhancements in espionage and other concepts "beyond the sword." Oh, and just to keep last year's tradition going: Firaxis (2K, Take-Two), please get the rights to Alpha Centauri back from EA and give us a sequel!
X3F Achievements 101: Of Ninjas and Darklings
Welcome to another edition of X3F Achievements 101, and this week we touch on some of the builds used in Shadowrun while getting the Achievements for playing 100 matches as each race, and the fun found in being a Katan00b, though scoring bleed outs takes far more skill that just mashing the right trigger on your enemy and hoping for a kill. I also dabbed into the multiplayer portion of The Darkness, and scored some Achievements in that, as well as finally getting some overdue ones in the game's single player story. All of this and more can be found after the break.
The Darkness demo has gone missing from XBLM
The Darkness has apparently gone dark on XBLM. The demo has recently disappeared from the network and we're attempting to verify the reason for its disappearance. Major Nelson states, "The operations team pulled this ... it will be back up later today." 2K Games is investigating the retraction from its end as well.The Darkness demo went live on XBLM and Europe's PSN a couple days ago, with the European PSN demo still being available for download. We'll update as we get more details.[Thanks, Joe]
The Darkness' laggy multiplayer to be patched
We have good news for everyone who already purchased The Darkness (or will be after trying the demo) and have tried to enjoy the game's laggy online multiplayer. Over on The Darkness' official MySpace page, Lord Sonatine has confirmed that they'll be releasing a multiplayer patch sometime in August to fix the lag issues that so many players are experiencing. Lord Sonatine explains that the problem stems from poor host upstream speeds which weren't caught while developing the game due to the studio's uber fast internet hookup. For now, they recommend hosting a match with less players which will help alleviate the bandwidth strain on the host.On behalf of the hundreds of people we've heard complain about laggy The Darkness multiplayer we send a well deserved thank you to Starbreeze Studios for the patch. That is, if the patch will actually fix the lag problem. Stay tuned ...[Via Xbox 360 Rally]
The Darkness demo slithers onto the XBLM (finally)
We were promised it in June, it was then delayed a few times, but it is finally here. Up on the XBLM this morning is a 1.27GB single player The Darkness demo featuring three campaign levels of death, darkness and more death. And if you don't already know, The Darkness has received generally favorable reviews for its campaign although most everyone agrees that its multiplayer is rather lackluster. But the demo is all about the campaign, so if you have yet to get your hands on The Darkness we advise giving the demo a download and experiencing first hand what black eels with teeth protruding from your body actually feels like.
The Darkness demo slithers on to Xbox Live, Euro PSN
Do you believe in a thing called love?! If so, strap in as bad boy Brit Justin Hawkins and the rest of the band take you for the ride of your life as they tour around England trying to get The Darkness from pubs into Wembley Stadium. ... What's that? What's it about? ... Oh. Well, that sounds a lot less exciting.OK, so apparently there's a new demo on Xbox Live and the European PSN that let's you play as a gangster or something who has two evil snakes watching over his shoulder all the time. There are, as far as we know, no wailing guitar solos. And you can probably count jumpsuits right out. But there's first-person shooting action with an excellent, moody atmosphere and great writing and voice-over work. Isn't that, in a way, better than rock? ... No, of course not. We're sorry.
European PSN updates for July 19th
Another Thursday update for us Europeans. Is this going to be a recurring thing? It makes sense for all the stores to be updated on the same day, after all. Well, let's get down to it. Here are your updates to the store for this week: Ratatouille film trailer (free) The Darkness trailer (free) The Darkness demo (free) Rainbow Six: Vegas trailer (free) Grand Theft Auto IV trailer (free) Just in time for the European release tomorrow, The Darkness gets a demo and a trailer. So if you're not sure whether to get the game or not, check these out. We're not at all surprised to see a lack of Heavenly Sword demo this week, despite it being ready to go. We'll no doubt see it next Friday. Or Thurday. Which is it, Sony? You're messing with our heads.
Fanboys fight for The Darkness winners revealed
We're proud to announce the winners of our Xbox 360/PS3 Fanboy The Darkness giveaway. Although Xbox 360 Fanboy dominated with a mountain of entries, we're still glad that the PS3 community stood by this excellent FPS. Here are the winners for Xbox 360 and PS3:Xbox 360Chris BrownDion HarrisJames ParnhamPS3Mike WhitfieldMatt TrujilloCongratulations to all the winners!
The Darkness giveaway winners revealed
We're proud to announce the winners of our Xbox 360/PS3 Fanboy The Darkness giveaway. Although Xbox 360 Fanboy dominated with a mountain of entries, we're still glad that the PS3 community stood by this excellent FPS. Here are the winners for Xbox 360 and PS3:Xbox 360Chris BrownDion HarrisJames ParnhamPS3Mike WhitfieldMatt TrujilloCongratulations to all the winners!
2K Games' (Bio)shocking E3 2007 lineup
Watch out for the 2K Games lineup for this week's E3 2007; it's mighty massive. Despite the appearance of an already-released title (The Darkness), Irrational's BioShock will more than make way with Big Brother demanding your full attention ... or else. The lineup, and attached release dates: BioShock (Xbox 360; August 21) Civilization Revolution (Xbox 360, PS3, and DS in Spring 2008; Wii in Fall 2008) The Darkness (Xbox 360, PS3) All-Pro Footbal 2K8 (Xbox 360, PS3; July 2007) NHL 2K8 (Xbox 360, PS3, PS2; Fall 2007) Those holding out to see (or have us see, rather) Manhunt 2 need not worry, as this does not include 2K parent publisher Take Two's E3 lineup. %Gallery-3725%%Gallery-4355%
PS3 Fanboy review: The Darkness
Starbreeze's Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay was one of those titles that you really, really should have played. The critically acclaimed game was known for its incredible graphics, atmospheric story and brutal, violent gameplay but was largely ignored by gamers who wrote it off as another cheap movie tie-in or were distracted by Half-Life 2 and Doom 3, both of which had just been released. It's a shame though, because Riddick easily held its own against both of those titles and is considered by many people to be the best FPS of 2004. And now, three years later, Starbreeze has done it again with their latest effort, The Darkness. Though only a little more than half-way through the year, The Darkness is an early runner for best FPS of 2007. A fantastic amalgamation of tight gameplay, mature storytelling and excellent graphics, the title is an absolute must-buy and is an instant classic.Based on Top Cow's long running comic series of the same name, the story revolves around an anti-hero by the name of Jackie Estacado. Adopted by a mafia Don when a child, Jackie was raised to be the perfect hitman and enforcer for the mob. Things were going swimmingly until his 21st birthday when a strange and evil power within him called the Darkness is awoken. Older than time, this menavolent entity gives its host incredible powers and protection -- but nothing in this world is free and Jackie is about to find out what the cost of ultimate power is ...
X3F Achievements 101: Dark Pirates
Welcome back to another edition of X3F Achievements 101, complete with Gamerscore whoring goodness. This week we take a look at finishing up Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, a very quick look at the ever distracting and delicious Darkness, as well as some personal Achievements, while not exactly adding any value to my Gamerscore, are still pretty cool little accomplishments that occurred over the past week. All in all, it was a solid week, with a few minor hiccups that'll you'll have to check it out for yourself.
Rumor: The Darkness is the banned in Singapore
A Singapore based game website says The Darkness is banned in that country. They report that the "distributor responsible for bringing in games from 2K" says the title has been officially banned for "excessive violence." The same website reports that another 2K game, BioShock, is also on the chopping block.We can semi-understand the whole Manhunt 2 saga, we're even on board with some of Germany's issues causing The Darkness to be delayed there for a month, but why did Singapore pick The Darkness when there are plenty of violent games out there to ban? We'll admit that we aren't on top of our Singapore game banning rules, so we don't know what major issues they found offense to. Maybe it was the ever-present heart eating mechanic? Although, The Darkness' heart eating mechanic isn't offensive because of the gore, it's more offensive that it's such a tedious task that needs to be performed on every ... single ... body. There wasn't a more efficient way to make that concept work? The whole process seems tacked on for shock value ... ohhhhh, now we get it.[Via GamePolitics]
The Darkness delayed for the Germans
We love getting to use this word ... the Unterhaltungssoftware Selbskontrolle (USK) has decided that a few changes need to be made to The Darkness before it releases in Germany. Key elements that need to be changed are Nazi symbols and a finishing move showing a human heart being ripped out. Before the Americans in the room get all First Amendment happy, the Germans have never allowed Nazi symbols in games (all the way back to Wolfenstein 3D) -- they're a little sensitive about that stuff. These requests for changes are also a very tempered move by the USK instead of just outright passive aggressively "banning" the game by not rating it, like they did with Dead Rising and Gears of War.The Xbox 360 and PS3 version of the game will now release on July 27 to satisfy the USK's demands. The PS3 version was delayed a week ago for unspecified reasons across Europe until July 20 - so Germany will need to wait an extra week. This did not affect the UK launch or content of The Darkness which occured today.
The Darkness Achievements menu shows progress!
When browsing through the Achievements menu in the pause screen in The Darkness, we came across a nifty feature that we saw in GRAW 2: Achievement Progress reports. Any Achievement that requires you to do an action multiple times, it will display a percentage for completion on the bottom. Also, the "collectibles" Achievements show which ones you're missing in numerical order, so that is very handy indeed. Starbreeze knows where it's at.
Final reminder: win The Darkness from X3F
Alright folks, this is it. Today is your last day to enter our Fanboys Fight for The Darkness giveaway. Not to be cocky, but we currently have just over twice as many entries as PS3 Fanboy. If you don't already know, whichever site gets more entries gets an extra copy of The Darkness to give away. So far, it's looking pretty good for us to have that third copy. If you'd like your shot at The Darkness, head over to the official contest page and enter. If you don't, then the Darkness will possess you and give you cool superpowers. Wait ... no ... if you don't, then the Darkness won't possess you and give you cool superpowers*, so hurry up and enter already.*Regardless of whether or not you enter this contest, you more than likely will not be possessed by anything other than jealousy of the winners, or elation, should you turn out to be one those winners.
