Midway's latest financial report was pretty bad last week and now ex-employees of the troubled publisher are putting at least part of the blame on the decision to use Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 for the vast majority of its titles. To be fair, it wasn't the engine itself that was the problem.

A Variety story quotes an unnamed ex-Midway employee as saying, "The mistake we made was, instead of just taking the base Unreal 3 engine that 'Gears of War' was made on and building games off of that, we let our tech and product development guys try to really modify the engine to add all these diff things." That apparently led to delays in some of Midway's games. As a result some titles didn't perform well and others, like BlackSite: Area 51, were rushed to have them completed and bombed. Variety's article speculates that Midway might resort to selling off a number of its game properties in order to stay alive, much like Atari did in the last few years.

It's perhaps the biggest first person shooter of 2008 and Big Download wants five of our readers to get free copies of the full PC version of Left 4 Dead. Publisher Electronic Arts has sent us five codes that can used to download a free full version of Valve's zombie co-op shooter via their Steam service. You will have to download the Steam client (it's free) and then put in the Left 4 Dead code. (The game is rated "M" for Mature by the ESRB).

How do you win? As with most of our giveaway contests it's pretty simple:
* To enter, post a comment on this contest page.
* The comment must be left before 11:59 pm Eastern Time on Nov. 25.
* You may enter only once.
* Five winners will be selected in a random drawing.
* Each winner will be emailed a code that is to be used with Valve's Steam client to download and activate a full PC version of Left 4 Dead (valued at $50 each)
* Click Here for complete Official Rules. You must be a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec) who is 18 years or older to enter this contest.
Thanks to EA for the donation of the prizes. Good luck.

One week after the game shipped to stores, Valve has now made the PC version of Activision's Call of Duty: World at War available for purchase and download via their Steam service. There's no 10 percent deal on this new game, however. You will have to pay the full $49.95 purchase price as you would with the retail boxed version of the game.

All of the previous Call of Duty games, including last year's best selling Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, have been available via Steam for some time now. While there's no word yet on the new game's US sales, Gamesindustry.biz has posted word that in the UK, Call of Duty: World at War has outsold last year's Call of Duty 4 by a 2 to 1 margin in its first week.

Hey we all love zombies here but is this going too far? Maybe. PopCap, the developer and publisher of tons of successful casual games, is apparently following up their launch of the much hyped (and $1 million reported budget) Bejeweled Twist with...a zombie game?

TheBBPS.com site states they spoke with a PopCap PR rep who told them, "It'll be a few months, but our next new game will be worth the wait... "zombie apocalypse," the PopCap way: no blood, no gore, but blood-curdlingly fun and addictive just the same." Um..if there's no gore and blood involved then it's not really a zombie game, is it? All you get is just...people...coming to eat you. Where's the fun in that?

[Via Joystiq]

Yet another major pro gaming tournament organization has shut its doors. This time it's the Championship Gaming Series which was co-funded by the DirecTV satellite TV service (it also televised CGS tournaments). First announced in 2006, the organization was world-wide in scope, holding tournaments around the globe in 2007 and again in 2008, with the World Finals held in July of this year.

As usual the reason for the shutdown is a old one; lack of money. According to the official statement, "...profitability was too far in the future for us to sustain operations in the interim." Last year we saw the World Series of Video Games shut down dispite sponsors like Intel and a CBS TV deal. Last March the Cyberathlete Professional League also shut its doors. However the CPL could be staging a comeback via new owners.

Today's quite a day for MMO expansions. EverQuest 2's real estate just grew with The Shadow Odyssey, which introduces fantastic new realms for players to explore.

Download HD The Shadow Odyssey Launch Trailer (17 MB)
Check out all EQ2: The Shadow Odyssey downloads

If you thought today you would be finally updating the space strategy game Sins of a Solar Empire, well, you won't. Not yet anyway. The promised (and huge) 1.1 patch for Ironclad Games' title was supposed to be released via Stardock's Impulse client today but those plans have been moved back until tomorrow.

In a note on the game's official web site it states, "We're using this extra time to setup some additional download servers so that everyone's update is fast." We are guessing that's what happens when you sell over 500,000 copies of a game inside of a year. As we have previously reported, the plan to release the first of three micro-expansion for the game has been delayed as well but a beta test of the first, Entrenchment, is expected to start in the near future.

This launch trailer for The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria officially marks the release of the MMO's latest expansion. Tolkien fans will be able to adventure through this underground world. The expansion also features two all-new player classes among a long list of other features.

Download HD Mines of Moria Launch Trailer (77 MB)
Check out all LOTRO: Mines of Moria downloads

Last week Funcom issues out a major new content update for their fantasy MMO Age of Conan. However the update did not include the long promised DirectX10 graphical features. However Funcom is promising that the next major update to the game will include the DirectX10 version of the game.

In his November newsletter, new Funcom game director Craig Morrison stated, "Since the outset we have been determined that the new DirectX 10 functionality would not just be a 'gimmick' addition to the game and would add visual quality to the game, we feel that the version we are preparing now for testing does achieve this and in a way that will find the right balance between visuals and performance." He added that all the new graphical effects are customizable so "... so that you can find the right balance between features for the performance level of your hardware."

This patch updates Spore to v1.03 and can be used if the automatic update does not work. The patch includes a short list of bug fixes and enhancements, but most notably puts 24 new creature limbs into the game. Keep reading for full patch notes.

Download Spore v1.03 Patch (106 MB)

Like many of you we stayed up last night to see if Valve would pull the switch and make the full version of their zombie co-op shooter Left 4 Dead available to those of use who pre-ordered and pre-loaded the game via Steam. Thankfully Valve did not disappoint and the game was indeed live on Steam with little to no fuss (compare the rather smooth Left 4 Dead launch to four years ago when Steam debuted Half-Life 2 and had all sorts of problems).

So we have been playing the game, both offline and online, in between getting some work done on the site. Our final verdict on the game is similar to our first impressions which we had when playing the demo. Left 4 Dead in single player is very fast (most people should complete all the game's levels in single player in just a few hours) and multiplayer is a lot of fun.

The latest patch for Crysis Wars, the stand-alone multiplayer aspect of Crysis Warhead, updates the game to version 1.2 and includes a number of bug fixes and enhancements. Steam customers should try the autoupdater before using this patch. Keep reading for full patch notes.

Download Crysis Wars v1.2 Patch (104 MB)

The latest study that shows the growth, and not the death, of PC gaming is from Jon Peddie Research. Today the research and consulting firm revealed the summary of a new study (which you can buy for the low price of just $12,000) that they say shows that gaming PC hardware is bigger than many people believe and that a recession could even help the PC game industry.

According to their press release, "The total market value for PC gaming hardware in 2008 was just over $20 billion, and that will grow to over $34 billion by 2012 - and those systems pull in an additional $6 billion in software and services sales." They also feel that an economic slowdown could slow down the growth of console gaming. "Why? Because the cost of an HDTV for the console is a serious investment, particularly when a console is limited in what it can do, unlike a personal computer."

Even the sales of retail PC games don't give the entire picture, according to one of the writers of the study Ted Pollack. He believes, "Enthusiast PC gamers often latch onto one or two games that offer multiplayer options and stick to these titles for years. Hardware is where they spend the big bucks. The retail numbers don't capture the casual and digitally distributed games either. Retail software figures are not an accurate barometer for the health of the PC gaming industry." On the official Jon Peddie web site they are even more blunt, saying, "Fact is the PC Gaming Market is bigger, worth more money, growing faster, and has better technology than the console market. How come no one but us seems to know that?"

Independent Minds aims to take various aspects of indie gaming and present them to you each week. From game round-ups to design elements to interviews with prominent members of the scene, it's an exploration of what makes indie gaming great as well as what makes someone an indie.

If you ask any respectable indie developer about making your own game, the very first thing they are likely to tell you is to be original. However, for the budding developer, being truly original is quite hard. Abstracts of design haven't yet fallen into place in that designer's brain, and the influence of the games one plays will likely be seen heavily duplicated in the end result of the game they are working on. It's easy to copy those that have done it before, and it's relatively safe. However, to forge new ground and be original, risks must be taken. People don't really like risks all the much.

CDV has just released the fantasy action-RPG sequel Sacred 2 from developer Ascaron and now two of our Big Download readers will be able to win the Collector's Edition PC version of the game. This version, priced at $60, contains not only the game but some extra bonus stuff including an extra DVD that will add high res textures to the game (if you have the PC rig to run it, that is). CDV is also giving us five Sacred 2 t-shirts, five mouse pads and five lanyards to give out as well. We will give one of each to the two folks that win the Collector's Edtion with the remaining three items each to be given to some more of our readers. (The game is rated "M" for Mature by the ESRB).

How do you win? As with most of our giveaway contests it's pretty simple:
* To enter, post a comment on this contest page.
* The comment must be left before 11:59 pm Eastern Time on Nov. 24.
* You may enter only once.
* Five winners will be selected in a random drawing.
* Two winners will receive a boxed retail copy of the Collector's Edition PC version of Sacred 2 from publisher CDV (valued at $60 each) along with a Sacred 2 t-shirt (valued at $7 each), a Sacred 2 mouse pad (valued at $2 each) and a Sacred 2 lanyard (valued at $1 each). Three other winners will each receive a Sacred 2 t-shirt, a Sacred 2 mouse pad and a Sacred 2 lanyard
* Click Here for complete Official Rules. You must be a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec) who is 18 years or older to enter this contest.
Thanks to CDV for the donation of the prizes. Good luck.