“We’re currently planning to end the third Arena season and begin Arena Season 4 on June 24, 2008. This exciting Arena season will introduce the Brutal Gladiator set, and will also allow players to purchase Arena Season 2 items using the honor system. Please note that we will be resetting all Arena team and personal ratings. Players will still retain their Arena points and teams with this reset. The team and personal rating will simply be reset to the default 1500, allowing all teams to once again compete for top honors with a fresh start.

Also, with the end of the third season, players on the top teams from each battlegroup will receive their end-of-season rewards. These include Arena-specific titles that they can display proudly until the end of the new season, and, for the best of the best, an Armored Nether Drake. Please also be aware that with the end of the current season, all previous end-of-season titles will be removed.”

Below you will find the prices for the new arena armor sets weapons and honor items, which this new season will bring:

• Warlock: Felweave set, Dreadweave set
• Druid: Feral set, Balance set, Restoration set
• Mage: Brutal Gladiator’s Regalia
• Paladin: Holy set, Spell Damage set, Retribution set
• Rogue: Brutal Gladiator’s Vestments
• Priest: Shadow set, Holy set
• Hunter: Brutal Gladiator’s Pursuit
• Warrior: Brutal Gladiator’s Battlegear
• Shaman: Restoration set, Elemental set, Enhancement set

And finally, heres a small reminded about season 4 and the item requirements straight from the official World of Warcraft forums as posted by Slorkuz (Blizzard Poster):

“While Season 3 is still going strong, we wanted to announce ahead of time the rating requirements that will be present for arena items once Season 4 begins. We also wanted to give everyone a heads up to some changes that will be in an upcoming patch, altering how points are gained and players are matched in the arena system. The patch with these changes is scheduled to release before the start of Season 4.

First though, the rating requirement changes:

When Season 4 begins, Season 3 items will be reduced in personal and team arena rating requirement to:

• Shoulders: 1950
• Weapon: 1800

The new Season 4 items will have the below personal and team arena rating requirements:

• Shoulders: 2200
• Weapon: 2050
• Head: 1700
• Chest: 1600
• Legs: 1550
• Gloves: none
• Off-hand: none

In addition, some of the Season 4 quality items that will be purchasable with honor will also carry a personal and team arena rating requirement:

• Boots: 1700
• Ring: 1650
• Bracers: 1575
• Belt: none
• Necklace: none
• Trinket: none

The Season 2 items, which will move to the honor system when Season 4 begins, will continue to have no rating requirement.

The changes to the rating requirements for these items reflect the nature of the items, their power, and the relative difficulty that should be had when attempting to obtain them. These items are comparable to those found in the newest 25 person raid zone, Sunwell Plateau, and should therefore also feel very challenging to obtain.

To help ensure that the challenge in obtaining these items stays true to those achieving these ratings, we’ll also be implementing new rules with an upcoming patch to curb practices that undermine the core concepts of the arena system. These rules are as follows:

If a character’s personal rating is more than 150 points below the team rating, they will earn points based on their personal rating instead of the team rating.

This means that a player cannot join a highly rated team and begin earning points based purely on the pre-established rating of the team before they joined it. They’ll need to compete, improve, and gain a personal rating worthy of the points they would receive.

If the average personal rating of the players queuing for a game is more than 150 points below the team’s rating, the team will be queued against an opponent matching or similar to the average personal rating.

This means that players cannot join a highly rated team and immediately face highly rated opponents, easily and quickly bringing their personal rating up. Instead they’ll need to again compete, improve, and earn their rating.

We’re excited to see these changes implemented, which will continue to emphasize the strong competitive nature of the arenas, and the challenge in obtaining the highest end rewards available for PvP.”

We came upon some new bits of info about this exciting new expansion pack, in a recent interview with some of the lead designers of Wrath of the Lich King. Heres some snippets of the interview:

“I think the biggest thing we took away was that Illidan (Burning Crusade’s lead baddie) was meant to be an all-pervasive evil that you’d fight against and eventually defeat, but I don’t think that came across to the average player.

Most players just did their quests and never really thought about him. That’s one of the big changes we want to make to Lich King. We’re going to push Arthas right in front of players - so they understand why he’s a big threat. In Lich King, Arthas will appear to players at level 71, level 75 and level 80.”

-J. Allen Brack, Lead producer on wrath of the lich king.

“We’re also going to be doing away with spell-damage only type gear. We’ll be moving to a system that, as part of your talents, will let players convert healing into spell-damage and vice-versa as part of their talents. That way they can use the exact same gear, but their talents just adapt what it does.”

-Tom ‘Kalgan’ Chilton, Lead game designer for blizzard entertainment.

Via: Allvatar

And speaking of gear, here is a view of some of the new tier gear found in the new expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, as found in the alpha testing client

The Adventure Europe Team is proud to announce it’s third edition of the Adventure Online Developers Conference. This conference is set to begin Wednesday November 28th and to run until Saturday December 1st. This event that will takes place in the Adventure Europe’s Forums, and will require from the visitors a simple one time registration that will allow them to directly ask their question to the developers, as each of them will have it’s own board.

You can expect a lot of information on both recently released games, as well as upcoming games, discussing with fifteen developers/publishers which has already confirmed their participation and more to come, on the three days event, and using the fourth day as a completely free day, where the developer who can continue to answer question during the Saturday. On the three first day, the event will be mainly between 5p.m. GMT and 11p.m. GMT, as every developer will have chose a timeblock on which the board will be made available, and of course the discussion can continue after the timeblock has end if the developer is willing to.

Please find below the current list of timeblocks and attendants to this event:

Timeblock schedule for ADOC2007

DAY 1

WED 28.11.2007 17:00-19:00 GMT (Timeblock A)

• Daedalic Entertainment
• Momentum AS
• House of Tales & Anaconda
• Pendulo Studios

WED 28.11.2007 19:00-21:00 GMT (Timeblock B)

• Nucleosys Digital Studio
• Alcachofa Soft & Crimson Cow
• Autumn Moon Entertainment & Crimson Cow

WED 28.11.2007 21:00-23:00 GMT (Timeblock C)

• Wadjet Eye Games
• Zoetrope Interactive
• Corbomite Games

DAY 2

THU 29.11.2007 17:00-19:00 GMT (Timeblock D)

• Future Games
• Deck 13
• Steve Ince with “So Blonde”
• Lexis Numerique

THU 29.11.2007 19:00-21:00 GMT (Timeblock E)

• Fusionsphere Systems & Animation Arts
• Frictional Games
• The Games Company / Silver Style Entertainment

THU 29.11.2007 21:00-23:00 GMT (Timeblock F)

• Pan Metron Ariston
• Viperante
• Her Interactive

DAY 3

FRI 30.11.2007 17:00-19:00 GMT (Timeblock G)

• Noah Falstein with “Mata Hari”
• Digital Media Workshop

FRI 30.11.2007 19:00-21:00 GMT (Timeblock H)

• Faraway Studios
• Juniper Games/Steve Ince
• Crystal Shard Studio

FRI 30.11.2007 21:00-23:00 GMT (Timeblock J)

• KSC Games
• Toodaim Games
• Parallax Studio
• Anima PPD-Interactive

DAY 4

SAT 01.12.2007 all boards opened for further discussions

For further information please check out last years event at http://www.adventure-eu.com/forum/index.php?board=151.0 and don’t hesitate to already register on the website for this event. If you’re a developer and would like to take part to this event, feel free to contact us through the contact link on our website.

Following up on a successful premiere at the Games Convention 2007 A Stroke of Fate is now equipped with a new website just to hook you on the game’s exciting news coming soon.

Moscow, 3rd October 2007 – Akella is pleased to announce the launch of A Stroke of Fate teaser website. Check it out now at http://astrokeoffate.akella.com/. The teaser asset pack includes fresh screenshots and a trailer. New screenshots depict the office of Mueller (chief of the Gestapo) and a search in the room of a suspect.

The new site has been created in anticipation of the full-ledged resource that will feature a plethora of new details on the game, its description, key features, awesome screenshots and other exciting assets. Make sure you keep checking back to whet your appetite in the weeks leading up to the release of A Stroke of Fate official website. Final countdown has already started!

About A Stroke of Fate
A Stroke of Fate is an interactive detective story framed in authentic surroundings of the fascist Germany in the 1940s. A gamer has a unique opportunity – to conduct a compelling investigation of the most mysterious secret veiled by the 20th century – Adolf Hitler’s preterm death.
The main character, a special sabotage and espionage agent is making every effort to squeeze into Adolf’s closest minions. You’ll need to act as a true patriot Germany has ever seen – attentive Gestapo eyes are watching you all the time! A most challenging task to fulfill - to prepare an assassination of “Lieber Fuhrer” himself – will show whether you have learned what it is to be a good spy! The Stroke of Fate will take you to the authentic landscapes and surroundings relevant to 1941-45 and controversial but still powerful personalities like Hitler, Himmler, Muller, and Goebbels. But what is even more important – you’ll even be able to breathe that time…

Key features:

• * Compelling pseudo-historical plot;
• * Ingenious brainteasers and quests to reflect German peculiarities of the 1940s;
• * Realistic graphics;
• * Authentic places and historically derived personalities: Muller, Goebbels, and Hitler;
• * You can walk along the Secret Police building and Hitler’s private study

About Akella: Akella, founded in 1993 and headquartered in Moscow, Russia is a leading Eastern European developer, publisher and distributor of PC, video games and multimedia products. Akella’s own distribution network is rapidly growing and, to date, it covers all the CIS countries. A true world leader in naval games development, Akella is committed to constant capacity building. Currently more than 200 qualified employees and top managers are engaged into increasing Akella’s position as a powerful, reliable and interesting partner for Russian and international companies. Akella’s shareholders include Quadriga Capital (EBRD fund) and Intel Capital.

“Penumbra: Overture has been referred to as the scariest adventure game to appear in years, and with Penumbra: Black Plague, the developers have managed to push the boundaries of psychological horror even further, said Fredrik Wester, Executive Vice President of Paradox Interactive. “Their unique and innovative approach to gaming adventures made Penumbra a fan and media favorite and we are convinced that Penumbra: Black Plague will have an even bigger impact on the gaming community”.

“Penumbra: Black Plague is horrific, life-like, interactive and unique and we are thrilled to be working with Paradox Interactive to introduce this game to a worldwide audience, said Jens Nilsson, Co-Founder Frictional Games”. “We’ve worked with Paradox in the past and their support for our vision and ideas has made it possible for us to keep on developing games that we believe in.”

Penumbra: Black Plague is scheduled for release during Q1, 2008.

Source: Game Press

UNDERCOVER: Operation Wintersun Now Shipping to Retail Stores

Haarlem, The Netherlands – September 4, 2007 – Leading publisher Lighthouse Interactive and dtp entertainment AG are proud to announce that their spy-thriller Adventure game UNDERCOVER: Operation Wintersun has begun shipping to retail stores across North America and Europe. The highly anticipated Windows® game on PC CD-ROM will be available at major retailers including: Wal-mart®, Fry’s Electronics®, CompUSA® and Amazon®.

Lighthouse CEO Erik Schreuder said, “We are extremely proud to announce that UNDERCOVER: Operation Wintersun will soon be hitting store shelves. This is the first time players will have the opportunity to experience an Adventure game entirely set in World War 2 – a theme popular in other video game genres, but yet to be explored so deeply in an Adventure game.” Schreuder went on to say, “This is a great game that allows players to go undercover to prevent the Nazi regime from building the World’s first nuclear bomb. We are sure gamers around the World will enjoy the experience.”

This third person perspective game with beautifully created 2D environments is no commonplace Adventure. It is best described as an enthralling point & click Adventure requiring stealth, cunning and puzzle solving skills, all set in Hitler’s Germany. UNDERCOVER features a powerful spy-thriller theme with suspenseful situations. Although the story is purely fictitious, historical World War 2 facts remain highly authentic, establishing a compelling gameplay experience.

GAME SUMMARY:

In 1943, Hitler’s Germany is performing scientific research on nuclear fission intending to produce nuclear energy, as well as devastating nuclear weaponry… Slip into the role of Dr. John Russell, a renowned British nuclear physicist who is hired by Britain’s Secret Service MI6 to become an undercover agent. Your mission: prevent the Third Reich from building the World’s first nuclear bomb. Embark on a dangerous and enthralling adventure that will have you looking over your shoulder and questioning who you can trust. Explore the heart of historic war-torn locations including: London, Berlin and Stalingrad, as you work with other Allied operatives to serve your country, the Crown, and defend the World from destruction.

FEATURES:

• Explore incredible vistas populated with ambient animations, dynamic weather effects, plus advanced lighting and shadows
• A variety of mini-games requiring quick wit and stealth adds depth to your gameplay experience
• Interact with plenty of characters integral to the elaborate character-driven plot
• Use your sharp observation skills to solve a multitude of challenging puzzles
• Highly realistic graphics combine with astonishing cinematics to create an immersive experience
• Mouse driven 3D real-time characters makes it simple to navigate

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

OS: Windows® 98SE / ME / 2000 / XP
CPU: 1 GHz Intel® Pentium® processor or AMD® Athlon™ processor
RAM: 256 MB (512 MB recommended for Windows® XP)
Video: 64 MB DirectX® 9 support or better
PC CD-ROM: 4x (or PC DVD-ROM drive)
Sound: DirectSound® compatible
Available Hard Disk Space: 2 GB
DirectX®: 9.0c
Other: Mouse, Keyboard and Speakers

To find out more about UNDERCOVER: Operation Wintersun and to keep up with the latest news on the game visit www.lighthouse-interactive.com and www.undercover-game.com.

About dtp entertainment AG

dtp entertainment AG is one of Germany’s biggest independent games publishers. With more than 60 employees at its Hamburg headquarters, the company is market leader for Adventure games and children’s software, publishing premium quality games under its ANACONDA label worldwide and for all interactive entertainment platforms. Please visit: www.dtp-ag.com

About Lighthouse Interactive

Lighthouse Interactive is a fast growing publisher of interactive entertainment with offices in Haarlem, The Netherlands, Montreal, Canada and London, England. Lighthouse’s titles include the critically acclaimed Adventure title “Keepsake”, the surprise sim hit “Ship Simulator 2006” and the award winning 4x space strategy hybrid “Sword of the Stars.” Staffed with industry veterans and with offices in key locations around the world, Lighthouse is the right choice for developers looking to bring their products to a worldwide audience. Please visit: www.lighthouse-interactive.com

Source: Game Press

A New Beginning is a cinematic, interactive eco-thriller. In the classic adventure game an impending global climate cataclysm threatens the world, in a story ripped from today’s headlines, dealing with the defining issue of our time. At locations all around the globe, players will have to try and stem the tide – with the whole world hanging in the balance.

In A New Beginning, players take control of two protagonists and explore the detailed, hand-painted backgrounds. The more than 30 characters are rendered in a realistic 2D style and are painstakingly animated by hand in feature film quality. Many challenging puzzles and adventurous situations have to be overcome to prevent the impending climate chaos. The ambitious adventure game project is in development for PC, Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii.

Scientist Bent Svensson has had to give up on his life’s work of trying to engineer an eco-friendly alternative energy source. But his existence as a reluctant retiree is interrupted by a most peculiar visitor: The young Fay claims to have been sent from the future to prevent an impending environmental catastrophe. The only remaining hope is Bent’s research which is about to fall into the hands of an unscrupulous energy magnate. Bent decides to trust the young woman – but is she really telling the truth?

Daedalic Entertainment will present A New Beginning exclusively at this year’s Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany (August, 22-25) to international press and trade visitors.

Wednesday 08/22/2007

• Akella Software (A Stroke of Fate, Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel, Inhabited Island: Earthling et The Bad the Ugly and the Sober)
• Focus Home Interactive (Sherlock Holmes vs Arsène Lupin)
• KOCH Media (Secret Files : Tunguska)
• Jowood (Sam & Max Season 1, Agatha Christie : Evil Under the Sun, and And Then There Were None on Wii)
• dtp/Anaconda (Overclocked, Reprobates, Gray Matter, …)
• Interview of Steve Ince (Juniper Crescent)
• Interview of Jane Jensen (Gray Matter)
• Interview of Hal Barwood & Noah Falstein (Mata Hari)
• Micro Application (Experience 112, Sinking Island)
• 10Tacle (Jack Keane)

Thursday 08/23/2007

• dtp/Anaconda Press Conference
• Daedelic Entertainment (unanounced game(s)
• bhv/Xider (line-up unknown)
• House of Tales (Overclocked)
• Crimson Cow (A Vampyre Story, The Abbaye)
• Momentum (Culpa Innata)
• Daedelic Entertainment Press Conference

While we probably won’t be able to directly give you all the latest available media, including a full report, we will try to provide a minum daily report through the forum. Afterwards, we will provide you with a complete article on the event with all the material from publishers & developers. So keep an eye on Adventure Europe and our forums.

Graphics: The graphics are drawn and designed to run at the old classic 320×240 resolution of the 90’s (remember Sierra’s King’s Quest series), but the game also runs at 640×480 [Note: If you play the game under the default 320x240 and after a while switch to 640x480 then your old saves won’t work]. Colourful forests, large characters, wildlife, a clear inventory screen and two different worlds (the real world and the world of fairies) are beautifully made. If ATOTK had been released over ten years ago it would certainly have been among the top adventures of the time. Judging the game from the point of view of a freeware adventure, the graphics are excellent and very ‘adventur-ish’, which is a plus for all the hardcore fans of adventure games. Yet, the average player of the 21st century would expect smoother character graphics in higher resolution and a larger variety of locations. Other than two main cities, a small town and a couple of mercenary camps, the majority of the other locations consist of fields and forests.

Nevertheless, it has to be said that there is a good number of NPCs to interact with as well as many animals that give life to the environment. In addition, the occasional hidden items behind objects drawn in the background, such as bushes or interior decorations, require some of your patience, but overall most of the objects can be clearly seen on the screen and won’t cause you any troubles or result in pixel hunting. Finally, the 20 cutscenes that come up right before important events make the story more real and immediate to the player.

Gameplay: ATOTK offers over 20 hours of non-linear adventuring. The freedom you have to walk around almost each side of the screen is impressive, as you can even move towards pathless areas or shallow water. Certain NPCs and objects change position in the world of Theylinn at the beginning of each of the game’s 8 chapters. You also have unlimited inventory, even though you don’t have to use all the objects you find. Plus, you can give almost any of your items to your partner, Branwyn, for safekeeping (safekeeping is necessary at least once in the game). Most of the riddles can be solved in more than one ways and freedom of choice affects the gameplay. For example, you can escape a city either by fleeing or by…force.

Anything you do gives or takes wisdom (puzzle success) and honour (good deeds) points, which can reach up to 100%, although a perfect score is not necessary for the game’s completion. A very interesting aspect of the game is its alternate good/bad endings: you can either help every NPC you meet in the game, and therefore gain more wisdom and honour, or ignore them and simply finish the main quest. You can kill NPCs, negotiate with them or let them free - it is all up to you to decide. Moreover, if you haven’t saved people that could have been saved or helped, then you will be reminded of it in the ending, as a motivation to restart the game and make things right (or even worse).

As in most, if not all, of Sierra’s adventure games your main character can get killed in a number of different ways. At times, if you are not fast enough, if you don’t pay attention to a certain dialogue, if you are at the wrong place without the right object, then you die and have to revert to your last saved game. If you save often (which is highly recommended despite the existence of an autosave) then you will not find it annoying, even if there is a limited saving space of 20 slots. Nevertheless, what you may find annoying is the sudden, and random, appearance of creatures that want to kill you. They are not hard to deal with but they can distract you and make you run a long way away from the place of their initial appearance. During your quest you will have to solve unique puzzles that range from the classic object-on-object solution to playing music and finding your way through a maze. Finally, players can also change the game’s speed and make the character, as well as the rest of the world, go faster or slower; a setting not to be underestimated.

Sound: ATOTK was initially planned to include speech, but due to lack of appropriate volunteers and professional actors this plan was abandoned. The music is pleasant and one can tell that the 75 minutes of MP3 quality tracks were not produced overnight. The sound effects also complete the game, even if they do not particularly make an impression.

Overall: Written in AGS (Adventure Game Studio), A Tale of Two Kingdoms is a third person, point and click adventure that is definitely worth a try. Its five different endings that reflect on your progress give the game a good level of replayability. A bug was found during the review, where the cursor disappeared as soon as the main character entered the friendly mercenary camp about mid-way through the game, which was solved only after a few game restarts, but the updated 1.1 version must have this problem fixed. If you are fond of the old Sierra-like adventures made back in the early 90’s, then you will love ATOTK. On the other hand, if you are only looking for up to date graphics, fast moving action and easy puzzle solving then this adventure game is not for you.