Dungeon Lords was, well, just plain broken when it was first released in 2005 by developer Heuristic Park and publisher Dreamcatcher Games. It was full of showstopping bugs and missing features that basically made the fantasy RPG unplayable. Even the release of a so called Collector's Edition a number of months later with a ton of fixes and improvements did little to improve the game's reputation.Well it looks like Dreamcatcher and its parent company Jowood are going to the Dungeon Lords well again this winter with the release of The Orb and the Oracle. Described in the press release as the "next installment" of Dungeon Lords, the game is supposed to have a huge world to explore, support for both single and co-op multiplayer modes, a new combat system and other features. The feature we really want at this stage is for the game to just work out of the box....

Publishers JoWood Productions and The Adventure Company have announced a partnership with Simon & Shuster Children's Publishing that will beget The Hardy Boys: The Hidden Theft, a PC adventure game to be released this October. Developed by DreamCatcher Interactive, The Hidden Theft will star the titular Hardy Boys as they sleuth their way along the path of, presumably, a hidden theft. "Fans have been waiting and we are set to deliver an adventure series that is certain to become a family classic," said Albert Seidl, President and CEO for the JoWooD Group. "The Hardy Boys have been with us for decades and generations of fans will not only be thrilled that they can finally play the part of their favorite teenage detective brothers, but can share the adventure with their children and grandchildren."...

Your daily wrap-up of the hottest stories in PC gaming in the last 24 hours. Big Download Interview: PC Gaming Alliance President Randy StudeIs the PC gaming industry dying? According to a recently revealed new non-profit organization, the answer is a resounding "No!". The PC Gaming Alliance was first announced last February at a press conference at GDC with companies that normally compete with each other. Hardware companies like Intel, Nvidia, AMD, Acer, Dell and Antec are full members and game software developer/publishers like Microsoft, Epic Games and Activision are also members of the group (contributors include Capcom, Razer, Logitech, the Guildhall at SMU, Wildtangent, and the Entertainment Merchants Association). First screenshots from Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods releasedJowood is busy working with developer Spellbound on the next full game in the Gothic fantasy RPG series (which recently got renamed from Gothic 4 to Arcania: A Gothic Tale) but we won't see that title for quite a while (it's currently due out in late 2009. But fans of the previous game in the series (the one who could get the bug ridden title to work that is) will soon get an expansion pack and Jowood has just released the first screenshots for the title. Download The Princess Bride demo here, now!As we mentioned earlier today The Princess Bride Game from Worldwide Biggies is finally available. It really does look like an interesting casual game, and based on the fact that there has never been a Princess Bride game almost assures it some degree of success. Diablo II 1.12 patch available for downloadBlizzard's recently released 1.12 patch for Diablo II, which eliminates the need for CDs, is now available at Big Download. CDs can only be kept safely in their jewel cases if the game's Full Install was used. Players who selected either Single Player or Multiplayer install will need to re-install the game using the Full Install option. ...

Jowood is busy working with developer Spellbound on the next full game in the Gothic fantasy RPG series (which recently got renamed from Gothic 4 to Arcania: A Gothic Tale) but we won't see that title for quite a while (it's currently due out in late 2009. But fans of the previous game in the series (the one who could get the bug ridden title to work that is) will soon get an expansion pack and Jowood has just released the first screenshots for the title.The expansion, titled Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods, is being designed as a story bridge between Gothic 3 and Arcania and will supposedly have between 15 and 20 hours of gameplay with new quests, monsters, an improved combat system and more. The expansion is due for release this fall....

The Gothic series of fantasy RPGs has a big following in Europe but has never quite gotten as munch attention here in the US. The game's publisher Jowood has apparently decided to do something about that. Gamespot reports that working with their US subsidiary Dreamcatcher, Jowood has decided to rename the next game in the series. Previously known as Gothic 4, the game is now known as Arcania: A Gothic Tale.The name change isn't the only thing the publisher is doing to attract US gamers. The article reports that the game will have a colorful and bright art style for the US version versus a dark and gritty look for the European release. The game is still a ways away from release (its due out in late 2009) but the article has some brief impressions based on checking an early build. The game will take place 10 years after the events of Gothic 3 and there will be improvements made to the combat in Arcania as well as more of an emphasis on magic....

JoWood Productions (known for the Gothic series) and The Adventure Company (publishers of Syberia and the recent Sam & Max reboot) acquired from Simon & Schuster the rights to produce a series of games based on the classic Hardy Boys book franchise.Today, they announced that teen celebrity idols Cody Linley (best known for his recurring roll on the TV series Hannah Montana) and Jesse McCartney (musical artist and Emmy nominee) will voice the famous, crime-solving brothers in a forthcoming Hardy Boys game called The Hidden Theft.Nothing has been said about the gameplay, but we're betting it will be fairly traditional adventure genre stuff. What's that you say? That genre is dead? It's a thing of the past? Well, so were the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew franchises. A comeback is always possible![EDIT: We had said The Adventure Company developed Syberia and the Sam & Max episodes. This was an error; The Adventure Company published those games, but did not develop them. Thanks to reader smitty for pointing it out! We apologize for the mistake.]...

It's a rather unusual move when a major game publisher openly asks for developers to turn in a proposal for a game. But that's exactly what European based Jowood is doing today with the announcement that it is seeking a game development team to create a new action-RPG for the PC and other platforms.There's not much info on what the game will be like except that it will be based on a previous Jowood game franchise. Could it be another Gothic title or maybe Spellforce or perhaps even a Painkiller based game? If you want your shot at developing this game you can contact Jowood as well as sign and then fax over an NDA agreement. The deadline for proposals is May 15 so there's not a lot of time to get your ideas in order....

Publisher Jowood's recent history with the Gothic series of fantasy RPG titles has been...interesting, to say the least. The last game in the series, Gothic 3, was developed by Piranha Bytes (now known as Pluto 13) but apparently Jowood was not happy with the final product when it was released in the fall of 2006. In May 2007 Jowood announced it was severing their ties with Pluto 13 and later announced that the next game in the series, Gothic 4, would be created by another developer, Spellbound Entertainment.While there has been no release date mentioned yet for Gothic 4, Jowood has now announced that there will be an expansion pack for Gothic 3 this fall. The expansion is subtitled Forsaken Gods and according to the press release "will answer many open questions and guarantee a seamless step to Gothic 4." The developer of the expansion is not named but the announcement did say that Forsaken Gods's dev team will be scanning the game's offical message boards and "will incorporate as many of the fan-wishes as possible."...