ion-storm posts

This week marks the 10th anniversary of the release of Deus Ex. The cyberpunk first person action-RPG, under the supervision of "game god" Warren Spector at the now defunct Ion Storm, remains one of the best PC games ever made thanks to its deep gameplay and immersive (at the time) visuals.

If you have yet to purchase the game, Steam is giving folks a great opportunity to catch up. It's celebrating the 10th anniversary release by putting Deus Ex and its somewhat less acclaimed sequel Deus Ex: Invisible War, on sale for $2.49 each until 6 pm Eastern time today. It should also prep you for the release of Deus Ex: Human Revolution which is due for release in 2011.

It was one of the most infamous ads for a game ever created. A print ad for Ion Storm's first person shooter Daikatana, released long before the game actually came out, insisted, "John Romero's about to make you his bitch." At the time, the former id Software designer was at the height of his fame and it seems like he could do anything.

In the end, Daikatana was released to poor reviews and sales and Ion Storm shut down shortly afterwards. Now Romero, in a new interview for the PDF magazine Gamesauce, is apologizing for that early ad. He states, "You know, I never wanted to make you my bitch, not you, not them, not any of the other players and, most importantly, not any of my fans..." It seems a little late to make such an apology but then again Romero is no longer a bigger-than-life game developer either.

One of the games we want to check out at E3 in two months is Deus Ex: Human Evolution, the third game in the cyberpunk-themed RPG series. If you haven't checked out the first two Deus Ex games, Steam is giving you a chance to download and purchase both for a teeny, tiny amount.

Both the original Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition and its sequel Deus Ex Invisible War are on sale until Thursday on Steam for just $2.50 each. Naturally you can get both for a bundle price of just $5. Made by the now shut down developer Ion Storm Austin under the direction of Warren Spector, they should serve as a nice primer for the release of Deus Ex: Human Evolution from developer Eidos Montreal and publisher Square Enix.

Tom Hall, one of the co-founders of id Software who later went on to a solid game design career, suffered a stroke on Wednesday. The 45 year old Hall actually announced that he had a stroke on his Twitter page. Later on Wednesday he announced, "Thx for all the good thoughts. Start rehab tomorrow to fix strength/coordination in right hand/foot.." This morning his fellow id Software co-founder John Romero posted a note on Hall's Facebook page, "Tom is back home from the hospital and is doing WAY BETTER now! Amazingly fast, not quite full, recovery. GREAT JOB, TOM!"

Hall has had a long and varied history. After leading id Software just before the release of the first Doom game, he went to Apogee/3D Realms where he helped to make Rise of the Triad. He also helped to found the now defunct Ion Storm where he was in charge of making the underrated RPG Anachronox. Hall is currently the co-founder and creative director at KingsIsle Entertainment (Wizard101) where he has been working on an unannounced MMO project. We certainly are thinking of him during this time and hope he has a speedy recovery.

[Via Blue's News]

Computer and Video Games have posted up the first details on Deus Ex 3, the latest game in the sci-fi action-RPG series from publisher Eidos. While the first two game in the series were developed by the now defunct Ion Storm, this third game is being made by Eidos's new Montreal based studios. It also has Deus Ex's original writer Sheldon Pacotti as a consultant. While the game's original designers Warren Spector and Harvey Smith are not involved the article claims Deus Ex 3 has their blessing.

In fact the article claims this third game is a prequel to the first two titles in the series; its set in the year 2027. The article claims that stats won't be used for combat this time round but will influence the upgrades and custom items for weapons. There will still be argumented abilties such as a way to punch through walls to get through to enemies. There's no word on the game's release date.

Mega Man 9 may be a console exclusive, but gamers' eagerness to re-embrace the glory days that favored substance over style is being felt across all platforms. After spending time with the blue bomber, we got to thinking: what PC series would we like to see resurrected in their previous forms? Not a sequel with a new engine, but a new entry in a series, new or old, that might benefit from the application of the technology that made it so successful in its day?

Collected here are 10 PC games we'd love to be born again in the same attire they wore when they were new to the party. After perusing our picks, consider what yours might be, and leave a Comment telling us about them. Next week, we'll tally up the 10 games with the most votes and feature them in a gallery of their own.

The Resurgence of Yesteryear

When we got an email press release today announcing that a new MMO dev team called KingsIsle Entertainment was finally being unveiled, we had a little chuckle. Why? Because way back in August 2005 one of the company's co-founders, Tom Hall, first revealed the studio in a chat with 1Up.com. Still there hasn't been much more info on what KingsIsle has been doing for over two years.

Unfortunately the press release "unveiling" today did little to enlighten us about the company's plans. We did learn that they have two Texas based offices (Plano and Austin) and over 100 employees. The company is apparently working on two MMO projects. One will actually enter beta testing this spring with development headed up by Todd Coleman, formerly the president of Wolfpack (the creators of Shadowbane that later morphed into Stray Bullet Games). The other team is headed up by Hall, formerly of id Software and later of the late Ion Storm (where he lead development of the Quake engine based sci-fi RPG Anachronox). But can this new company enter the already crowded MMO field. Hopefully the beta test of their first MMO will give us more insight on what they have planned.