hearts-of-iron-iii posts

Paradox Interactive's Hearts of Iron WWII themed strategy game franchise remains a favorite among hardcore PC war gamer. At today's Paradox Convention press event the publisher revealed not one but two more entries in the series. One is Hearts of Iron III: For The Motherland, the latest expansion pack for the third game in the series. This expansion is supposed to have a deeper political system and being overthrown by a coup will be a bigger danger. There's no release date yet for the expansion.

The second game announced today is Hearts of Iron The Card Game. This upcoming free-to-play browser based title from developer Comcrow Games will let players build, collect and battle with over 120 different cards and multiple game modes. The game, which will also support the company's Paradox Connect achievement system, will launch sometime in the second quarter of 2011.

[Via PR fact sheet]

The Steam PC game download site continues to willingly give out some huge one-day price cuts on top of the sales that are already in place as part of its annual holiday sales event. Here's the latest list of games with price cuts that will last until 1 pm Eastern time on Thursday:

Dead Space - $6.80
Plants Vs Zombies Game of the Year Edition - $4
Swords and Soldiers - $2.50
Kane and Lynch 2 - $4.99
Brothers In Arms series - Save 50 percent off all games in series
Hearts of Iron III Complete Pack (game plus all DLC) - $14.10
City of Heroes Going Rogue Complete Collection - $10
Greed Corp - $2.50
The Quake Collection (all games in series except Quake IV and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars) - $10.20
Sniper Ghost Warrior - $7.50
The Ball - $4.99
Amnesia The Dark Descent - $6.80 or $4.80 if you own any game in the Penumbra series.

Paradox Interactive has been very supportive of mod and mod teams for its various games in the past. Today the publisher announced that two projects created by mod developers of their WWII strategy game Hearts of Iron II will be released by Paradox as full commercial games.

One project is called Darkest Hour, a stand alone game that has a number of short missions set during the first half of the 20th century. It also has a new AI system. The other game is titled Iron Cross and is actually an expansion pack to Hearts of Iron II which adds over 6,000 new events and over 4,000 new provinces in a title that spans between 1933 and 1964. Both titles will be released via digital download in the fourth quarter of 2010 or the first quarter of 2011.

The Independence Day weekend is usually a good excuse for cable TV networks to run some old fashioned World War II movies. Direct2Drive must feel the same way as the PC game download service has put four WWII themed games on sale from now through July 6.

The games with the price cuts include the Paradox Interactive strategy game Hearts of Iron III for $10.50 and the Eidos action-RTS titles Battlestations Midway for $9.95 and Battlestations Pacific for $17.50. Direct2Drive also has the more recent release Silent Hunter 5 on sale. The naval war sim game from publisher Ubisoft can be yours for $33.50.

The site has also put in some "secret" sales for the weekend as well. We love breaking secrets so here's the line-up:

Penubra Collection - (Penumbra Overture, Penumbra Black Plague, Requiem Expansion Pack)- $4.95
Ghostbusters - $9.95
Bioshock 2 - $14.96
The Witcher - $9.95
Civilization 4 - $9.95
Call of Duty Bundle (Call of Duty, Call of Duty United Offensive, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty World at War) - $29.95

This week PC gamers get a long awaited super-spy RPG, a couple of expansion packs, a top down sci-fi shooter revival and a free downloadable game based on a BBC TV series. In addition to the games listed below PC gamers can expect to see a number of classic Sega Genesis titles to be ported and released for the PC platform via Steam on June 1. Alpha Protocol - Obsidian Entertainment's long-in-development RPG is finally released via publisher Sega. The game, which attempts to combine a James Bond-like action game with deep RPG elements, is already getting some mixed notices from reviewers.

First announced back in April, developer-publisher Paradox Interactive has now revealed the release date for Hearts of Iron III Semper Fi, the first downloadable expansion to their World War II strategy game. Not so conincidentally the expansion will be made available for purchase and download via several outlets on June 6, better known as D-Day (the Allied invasion of Normandy on that date in 1944 during WWII).

Among the new additions in the expansion is a new 1940-based campaign, hundred of new events, improved AI and much more. You can check out a YouTube trailer showing off gameplay from the expansion after the jump. You can also check out a newly updated release date schedule for all of Paradox's upcoming games at their official web site:

Developer-publisher Paradox Interactive loves its downloadable expansion packs. Today they announced their latest such release for the recent WWIII strategy game Hearts of Iron 3. The expansion, Hearts of Iron 3: Semper Fi, will be released via digital download sometime in the second quarter of 2010.

Some of the new features included in the expansion are "vastly improved AI" along with better cooperation with your player's allied forces. Hundreds of new events will be added to the expansion pack that will allow the player to create his or her version of how World War II took place. Finally, the game will let players determine their own hidden victory conditions that should keep their enemies off balance.

We are smack dab in the middle of the holiday sale on Steam and as usual the PC game download site has some great deals that can be had for just one day only at some rock bottom prices. One of the best deals today is for the PopCap collection where you can get all 30 PopCap casual games on Steam for just $49.99. Compare that to the collection's usual $99.99 price and the $224.70 price if you purchases each game in the collection separately.

Other games on sale until noon Eastern time Monday include Dead Space for $10.19, Hearts of Iron III for just $7.49 and Zombie Driver and Day of Defeat: Source for $2.49 each.

Wednesday is '"Hump Day" but if you have been waiting to see if certain games from Direct2Drive and Steam will go on sale, Wednesday could also be "Oh My Gosh I Saved Lots OF Money Day." Or not:

• Direct2Drive's latest one day sale in its 24 Days of Christmas promotion is for Capcom's excellent PC port of Street Fighter IV. You can download and purchase the game for just $19.95 from now until 1 pm Eastern Time on Thursday.
• Steam has added four sprite add-ons for Paradox Interactive's WWII strategy game Hearts of Iron III. If you purchase one of the four (they are $1.99 each) you can buy the main game for 60 percent off until December 12.

Steam breaks out some more big PC game sales in the middle of the week. This time the two WWII action-strategy games Battlestations Midway and Battlestations Pacific have both been put on the price chopping block from now until Thursday. The games from developer/publisher Eidos are on sale for 50 percent off their normal price.

Another game in Steam''s library will be having it's price cut until Friday, Paradox Interactive's recent WWII strategy game Hearts of Iron III is getting the treatment. Steam owners can download and purchase the title for just $14.99, a savings of (you guessed it) 50 percent from its normal price.