The last truly frightening movie I ever saw was The Blair Witch Project. Regardless of your particular feelings about that film, it scared the living hell out of me far out of proportion to what I'd been expecting when I went in to see it. Bear in mind that I hadn't seen any trailers promoting it, hadn't been exposed to any of the viral Internet marketing associated with its release, and none of my friends had seen it yet. I was going into it completely cold, the week it opened, expecting nothing more than a Friday the 13th Part 4-level jump-at-you scarefest.

I walked out of the theater numb, and was unable to go near a dark wooded area for weeks afterward. Certain sounds from the movie kept replaying themselves in my head, and even watching television shows or commercials that featured shaky hand-held video evoked that perfect dread. Needless to say, it was one of the most effective horror experiences I've ever had.

I have yet to see a video game affect me the same way.

At long last the massive 1.1 patch for Ironclad Games' space strategy title Sins of a Solar Empire is finally available to download via Stardock's Impulse client. The patch adds a lot of new features to the best selling and acclaimed game including lots of graphical improvements, the new Alloy multiplayer networking tech, game balance and UI changes and lots more.'

In addition, pre-orders are now being on the Impulse web site for Entrenchment, the first of three planned micro-expansions for the game. The $9.99 pre-order will also enable you to try out the expansion in beta form before its planned release which is now apparently planned for early 2009.

With all of the bad news happening to Midway lately, the publisher wanted to make sure that the world knew of a new and solid release date for their upcoming action-driving game Wheelman. Today Midway announced that the game, which "stars" actor Vin Diesel, will ship to stores for the PC and other platforms on Feb. 20, 2009.

The game, made by Midway's UK based studio, uses the Unreal Engine 3 technology. The title was originally set for release this fall but Midway delayed the game to the first quarter of 2009. As a recent Variety report claims, part of the reason for the delay of Wheelman and other Midway games was because the dev teams tried to put in their own technology on top of Unreal Engine 3. Another Midway game, This is Vegas, is also due out in the first quarter of 2009 but no specific date has been announced.

As the typical five-year lifespan of a console winds toward its conclusion, gamers inevitably pose questions of backwards-compatibility. They wonder, as is only logical, whether the dozens, hundreds, or thousands of dollars they invested in their gaming library will be relevant when the new generation of hardware emerges. Sometimes, as with the Xbox 360's update-oriented system, most last-gen titles will still function properly. Other times, as with the PlayStation 3's confusing array of SKUs, the answer alternates between "maybe," "hopefully," and "who knows"?

Despite occasional hardware hiccups and OS woes, the PC platform has managed to retain its awe-inspiring catalogue of titles, thanks in large part to an active community of uber-geeks intent on doing whatever must be done to ensure that disk-based classics don't fade into obscurity.

Welcome to Boot Disk, a weekly column dedicated to covering PC gaming's impressive and length history. Every Tuesday, we'll examine one of the platform's many titles that still lend themselves to eminence five, 10, 15, or decades' worth of years later. This week's Boot Disk spotlight shines on King's Quest.

It looks like Rockstar Games is going to make it easier to grab their upcoming PC port of Grand Theft Auto IV than previously thought. The open world action game port will also be available to download via Valve's Steam service on Dec. 2, the same day the retail version is scheduled to ship to stores. The game is not yet available for pre-order via Steam so there's no word yet if there will be any pre-order discount.

In related news, the game's official web site has posted up some info on the PC version's exclusive movie editor. Hitting on the F2 key during the game will save the last 30 to 45 seconds of gameplay in the video editor. You can then open up the editor via your in-game mobile phone to change things like the camera angle, speed, depth of field and others. You can also edit in other clips you made in the game, add things like titles and transitions and then upload the video to the Rockstar Social Club site to show off your video to the world. Other members can then rate and comment on your video creations.

Last September Acclaim announced that it would launch the long-in-development fantasy MMO The Chronicles of Spellborn on Nov. 27. Now word comes in that yet another delay has crept into the game's schedule and that instead of launching on that day, an open beta of the game will in fact begin in both the US and Europe.

Acclaim states that the final launch of the MMO will now happen in January 2009, saying, "Extensive testing of the game will ensure players receive the highest quality gaming experience at launch." The game, developed by Spellborn International, is supposed to be a traditional MMO in that players will pay a monthly fee but it will have an intro level that will be free to play.

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 different 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