Simulation

GoG.com has some Creatures to deal with; Settlers games on sale

Posted Nov 21st 2009 9:00AM by John Callaham
Filed under: Downloads, Simulation

When is a PC game not really a PC game? In the newest franchise to the GoG.com classic PC game download site, it's the Creatures series. This week the DRM-free site has added not one, not two but three games pack in the series that give you control of the weird gremlin-like entities and their evolutionary cycle. Each game pack is priced at $9.99 on GoG.com.

In related news, the site has put the first two games in the Settlers series in a bundle for the weekend and are selling the bundle package for just $9.98. That's a 50 percent savings if you bought each game separately. The sale lasts until the day of the day on Monday.

NinjaBee announces A Kingdom for Keflings for PC

Posted Nov 17th 2009 10:00AM by John Callaham
Filed under: Downloads, Simulation

Nearly a year ago game developer NinjaBee released A Kingdom for Keflings for the Xbox 360's downloadable Xbox Live Arcade service. The game featured your player character as a giant among small creatures called Keflings who help you with the task of building a fantasy kingdom.

Now comes word from the developer that A Kingdom for Keflings is headed for the PC and NinjaBee is looking for beta testers to help polish the game before it is released. The NinjaBee forums have the details on how to sign up. Folks who get picked as official beta testers will receive a free copy of the final game when it is complete. There's no word on when the PC version will be released.

Mac Monday: Drawn/New Star Soccer

Posted Nov 16th 2009 11:00AM by Akela Talamasca
Filed under: Culture, Downloads, Demos, Features, Hands-on, Mac, Puzzle, Simulation, Sports, Screenshots

Welcome to Mac Monday, where we highlight some games for your Macintosh that you might want to try ... or try to avoid. This time around, we're looking at Big Fish Games' Drawn: The Painted Tower, and New Star Games' New Star Soccer 2010. Two completely different games, and both intriguing for different reasons. Find out more after the jump!

Continue reading Mac Monday: Drawn/New Star Soccer

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Play with Jenny McCarthy on your PC this holiday

Posted Nov 10th 2009 9:00AM by John Callaham
Filed under: Simulation

Now before a lot of you go crazy thinking about that headline above, it's not exactly what you may be thinking. Yes, soon you will be able to play with a virtual version of the former Playboy Playmate and Singled Out hostess. Ubisoft has announced that their upcoming working "game" Your Shape Featuring Jenny McCarthy, will be released for the PC platform. Previously the game was supposed to be an exclusive for the Wii game console.

Due for release sometime during the holiday time period of 2009, the game will allow you to work out with McCarthy as your coach with Ubisoft claiming it has more exercises than any other fitness game. In a feature that's similar to Microsoft's upcoming Project Natal, the game comes with a camera that serves as the game's controller. It can also serve as a webcam when you are not "exercising"

Wings of Prey revealed

Posted Nov 6th 2009 10:00AM by John Callaham
Filed under: Simulation

Gaijin Entertainment, the Russian-based game developer with a Japanese-sounding name, has announced a new PC-only game titled Wings of Prey. This game is a WWII military flight simulator with a pre-order page stating the game will be released in December for $39.99. Pre-orders also apparently get into a closed beta test for the game.

Wings of Prey's press release is boasting of its "Authentic World War atmosphere" with over 40 aircraft and over 50 historically accurate missions covering the air war in Europe. Players can also switch between realistic simulation and a pure fun arcade mode. Four multiplayer modes are promised along with leaderboards, VOIP support, friends lists and other features. You can also look for new plans and missions for the game to be released via download in 2010.

[Via Blue's News]

Gallery: Wings Of Prey

First Cities XL downloadable content released; includes Ford dealership

Posted Nov 4th 2009 7:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Downloads, Expansions, Simulation

Monte Cristo Games' city simulation title Cities XL has fulfilled its promise on delivering new downloadable content and today owners of the game can now automatically grab the first such content pack via the game's launcher. Every owner of the game will gain access to three new buildings; a high school, a small family farm and an official Ford car dealership (shown above) where your city's citizens can buy and drive several Ford vehicles.

If you are a subscriber to Cities XL's Planet Offer service you can get even more extra content including a set of Old England style buildings, three new maps and three new mega structures (including the Alcatraz prison). You can get more info on that content at the game's official web site.

Gallery: Cities XL

The Sims 3 World Adventures goes gold

Posted Nov 2nd 2009 3:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Expansions, Simulation, The Sims 3

Just in case you don't want to shoot endless amounts of virtual zombies, Electronic Arts offers you another choice of game that will also come out on November 17. Today they announced that The Sims 3 World Adventures has gone gold and will ship the same day that Valve's Left 4 Dead 2 is released. Besides the US it will also ship to 60 other contries in 22 language that same week.

This is the first of what will likely mean many expansion packs for the latest version of the people sim game. As the title implies, World Adventures takes your Sims to fictional cities in France, Egypt and China. People who register their copy get some extra content including 1,000 "SimPoints" that can be used to download new in-game items from The Sims 3 store. In addition to the expansion a new version of The Sims 3 will ship to stores the same day with added "holiday" themed content.

[Via email press release]

Gallery: The Sims 3 World Adventures

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Sims 3 just $30 at EA's download store today

Posted Oct 31st 2009 4:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Downloads, Simulation, The Sims 3

Valve isn't the only company offering surprise sales of its games. For the past few days Valve has been offering Team Fortress 2 for just $2.50 or $2.49 for a couple of hours each day. Now Electronic Arts is offering a special Halloween themed sale (via it's own download store) for The Sims 3.

Yep, the best selling people sim game is available to purchase and download for today only for $29.99. That's a saving of $20 compared to its normal $49.99 price. Not quite as good as picking up Team Fortress 2 for almost nothing but it will save you some money when the first expansion pack, The Sims 3 World Adventures, is released later in November.

[Via Joystiq]

Gallery: The Sims 3

GameTap adds Evil Genius; American McGee's Grimm episode is free

Posted Oct 29th 2009 6:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Downloads, Simulation, Strategy

GameTap's latest addition to its premium subscription service is Evil Genius, the terrifically campy super-spy villain sim-strategy game that was released in 2004 from the now defunct Elixir Studios. As we reported earlier this year, the rights to the game have been bought by Rebellion and the UK developer is thinking about reviving the game and others it has bought from the former Vivendi Games.

GameTap has also freed up one of the chapters of the episodic action game American McGee's Grimm. The episode, Master Thief, was a Halloween-themed chapter in the series when it was first released and in honor of the holiday GameTap is making it available for everyone to play for free for the next two weeks.

Review: Cities XL

Posted Oct 29th 2009 5:00PM by James Murff
Filed under: Features, MMO, Simulation, Strategy

It's been a long time since SimCity has seen a new numbered release. The latest in the franchise, SimCity Societies, almost completely forgoes the city aspect to forge into new territory for the series. Monte Cristo has taken up the mantle of the city simulation, and began work on the Cities series, which as seen two releases. The first is City Life, which was hammered for lack of content and general poor quality. The second is the recently released Cities XL, which attempts to revolutionize the city simulation genre by including an MMO-styled component. While ambitious and interesting, Cities XL still falls short of the depth and ease of Maxis' defining series, which is a shame, because it has a lot of potential that was simply overlooked or neglected.

Continue reading Review: Cities XL

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Kalypso buys Airline Tycoon rights; sequel coming in 2011

Posted Oct 26th 2009 9:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Simulation

Much like they did when they bought the rights to the Tropico franchise and got a third game in the series published, Kalypso Media is expanding yet again. Today they announced that they have acquired the Airline Tycoon rights from the game's original developers Spellbound.

The original game was released way back in 1998 by Spellbound. A number of follow-ups were released adding new material but a true sequel was never released. Now Kalypso Media plans to publish a true Airline Tycoon II game via their own developer Realmforge. It's currently set for release in the first quarter of 2011.

In related news, The Washington Post has a new article on the recently launched US branch of Kalypso Media. The article goes into how the company got the Tropico rights and states that Kalypso has plans to release 10 games in 2010.

Trainz Simulator 2010 announced

Posted Oct 26th 2009 8:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Simulation

Recently the UK-based Railsimulator.com launched its first train sim product Railworks. The product has already spawned a ton of downloadable add-ons via Steam. Now Auran, the team that has been releasing train sims for years, has announced their latest incarnation Trainz Simulator 2010.

The game is slated for a digital download release on November 16 for $39.99 with a retail version shipping to stores on December 1. In addition to adding new routes and being compatible with all content created for the last version of the game (Trainz Simulator 2009), the dev team is hyping the game's use of SpeedTree, the third party development tool that allows for more realistic looking trees and plants in games. Because that what we want in a train sim; better foliage.

Gallery: Trainz Simulator 2010

This Week In PC Games: October 26-November 1

Posted Oct 26th 2009 8:00AM by John Callaham
Filed under: Adventure, FPS, Multiplayer, RPG, RTS, Simulation, Sports, Borderlands

It's downright scary (sorry, had to be done) how many new PC game titles are scheduled for release this week. In addition to a number of original games, PC gamers can look forward to trying out the Left 4 Dead 2 demo (if they pre-ordered) and a new retail collection of all of Firefly Studios' Stronghold games:

Borderlands: Gearbox Software's sci-fi first person shooter blends elementes of an action-RPG in the mix as your characters go on quests on an alien world and deal with lots of monsters and enemies. Much has been made of the near infinite number of weapon variations that can be found in the game and the four-player co-op doesn't hurt either.

Gallery: Borderlands

Continue reading This Week In PC Games: October 26-November 1

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This Week In PC Games: October 19 - 25

Posted Oct 19th 2009 8:00AM by John Callaham
Filed under: Action, RPG, RTS, Simulation, Meta BD

This week gamers can be a evil Sith apprentice, a ruthless dictator and other roles in two retail releases and three downloadable titles.

Tropico 3: Publisher Kalypso Media revives this sim game franchise that was first started by 2K Games. Developer Haemimont Games created this third title in the series which puts the player in charge of an island nation. Will you be the typical island tyrant or a more benevolent leader? As usual there are pros and cons to both choices.

Gallery: Tropico 3

Continue reading This Week In PC Games: October 19 - 25

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Reminder: Last day to enter Cities XL giveaway

Posted Oct 18th 2009 11:00AM by John Callaham
Filed under: Simulation

We've already had a huge response to our giveaway contest where five of our readers will get a Steam download code for Cities XL, the recently released multiplayer city simulation game from developer Monte Cristo Games. However all good things must come to an end and for our giveaway the end is very near.

You still have until 11:59 pm Eastern Time tonight to head over to our contest page, make a comment and then wait patiently to see if we email you back saying, "Hey, you are a winner." Because let's face it; everyone really wants to be a winner.

Gallery: Cities XL