metropolis-software posts

Last week we reported on the launch of 11bit Studios, a new game development group formed by former members of CD Projekt and the now defunct Metropolis Software. Now Rock Paper Shotgun has posted up the first screenshots and the first info for the developer's first game, Anomaly: Warzone Earth.

The game is being described as a scif-fi themed arcade-RTS title with players controlling "heavy armor military vehicles" in a top-down viewpoint. The goal is to battle and defeat an invading alien army in a futuristic urban setting. That's pretty much all we know about the game (no release date yet) but the article does have a few screenshots you can check out now.

There are quite a few PC game download services to choose from but none of them are quite like GoG.com. For over a year now the service, started by The Witcher creators CD Projekt, have offered gamers a way to buy some of the best PC games ever made in a DRM-free environment and with pricing that makes them extremely easy to afford. Over the past year the service has added more and more games and publishers to the mix and even added games that no other download site can (legally) offer to consumers.

As we first reported earlier this morning CD Projekt has has officially announced that GoG.com will begin to offer older PC games from Activision's library of titles. Those titles now include games from Activision's merger with Vivendi Games to form Activision Blizzard. Before today's announcement, Big Download got a chance to ask some questions to CD Projekt's co-founder Marcin Iwinski about this development and GoG.com's future. We even managed to sneak in a question about CD Projekt's next big game project, The Witcher 2.

Last week we reported that Poland-based game developer CD Projekt had completed his business moves, making it a publically traded company. However the GameBanshee web site is now reporting that one of their subsidary developers, Metropolis Software, closed its doors shortly before the transition.

CD Projekt bought Metropolis Software in February 2008. Before the purchase the developer had released several games including their 2007 third person action game Infernal. Metropolis Software had been working on a sci-fi FPS called They for some time (pictured above) but the last footage of that game was from a CD Projekt trailer that was released nearly a year ago. GameBanshee claims that Metropolis Software had its work force cut to about 12 people earlier this year and now the remaining staff have either been let go or absorbed into CD Projekt. They's current status is "on hold". We've emailed CD Projekt's PR head but he has given us a "no comment" about this news for now.

In an interesting business move, the Polish web site Polygamia is reporting that Poland-based game developer CD Projekt is about to become a publically traded company on the Warsaw Stock Market. The site claims that CD Projekt's owners will take over the shares of a nearly defunct PC maker and publically traded company Optimus S.A. Technically Optimus S.A. will purchase CD Projekt via a share deal but those shares would be owned by CD Projekt's owners. We've emailed CD Projekt to get more info but their spokesperson would not comment on the story. However, GamesIndustry.biz says that they have confirmed the news with the company's marketing head.

CD Projekt is of course the developers of The Witcher. A sequel to that game was officially revealed recently. It also owns the GoG.com classic PC game download site and another game developer Metropolis Software. That team has been working on a first person shooter game for some time that was previously titled They but may have had a title change.

Update: According to our sister site Joystiq the deal between Optimus S.A. and CD Projekt Red will actually result in CD Projekt's owners holding half the shares and Optimus's owners claiming the other half, making the deal more of a merger than a change in ownership.

The team at GoG.com is getting an early start on their special sales this week (perhaps because of the Easter holiday). In fact the DRM-free game download site is offering up not one but several special game bundles that you can download and purchase for 25 percent off their normal prices for this week only.

The promo for the sale shows all seven special game bundles that are on sale. As always if you own one of the games in a bundle already you can still get the 25 percent discount on the other game involved. Here are the games and their bundle prices:

• Giants + Sacrifice $ 8.98
• ToCA Race Driver 3 + Screamer $ 11.98
• Arx Fatalis + Stonekeep $ 8.98
• Painkiller Black + Redneck Rampage Pack $ 11.98
• Second Sight + Messiah $ 11.98
• Perimeter + Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising $ 11.98
• Freespace & Expansion + Freespace 2 $ 8.98

In addition, GoG.com has added a new game to its library, the 1999 turn based horror RPG Gorky 17 from developer Metropolis Software. You can download the game now for $5.99.

GoG.com has been in operation for less than six months but the DRM-free PC game download site has already added a ton of classic games to its library of titles. Today GoG.com announced that the 100th game has been added to the site and it happens to be free to download.

The game is a 1994 point-and-click adventure game called Teenagent that comes from Metropolis Software, a developer that's now a part of CD Projekt (GOG.com's parent company). In addition to Teenagent, GoG.com has made available Septerra Core, a 1999 RPG title from Valkyrie Software. That game will set you back $5.99 and comes with free wallpaper, artwork and maps.

CD Projekt has already given some hints about their next project in a recent trailer celebrating 1 million copies sold of their action-RPG The Witcher. Now the developer-publisher is teasing its fans again via an online "hunt" for clues on their various sites.

The Witcher community site is the starting point where they say, "Are you eager to learn our deepest, darkest secrets? Would you really like to see what we're working on before anyone else?" They suggest going to their PC retro gaming download site GoG.com to start finding clues. The payoff? "Be the first to find all the clues and you'll be rewarded with... something." One known project is the upcoming sci-fi shooter They which is being developed by CD Projekt's team at Metropolis Software.

[Via Blue's News]

Developer CD Projekt had reason to celebrate this week. The company behind the acclaimed PC RPG The Witcher has announced that the game has now sold through 1 million copies since the first version of the game shipped to stores a year ago (last month the Enhanced Edtion of the game shipped to stores).

For a game that's a non-sequel title from a developer that isn't considered one of most well known in the business, selling 1 million copies of a game is a pretty big deal. In its press release, CD Projekt hinted at more Witcher games in the future and also hinted about their upcoming first person shooter They which they acquired when they bought game developer Metropolis Software.

Metropolis Software gave us the graphically rich and physics heavy third person action game Infernal in 2007. Now the developer, recently purchased by CD Projekt, is working on their next title, a sci-fi first person shooter that's simply titles They. The developer just released a new batch of screenshots for the press and public to take a look-see.

The screenshots show off some really, really big and powerful hand weapons that seem to be used in shooting some kind of aliens. Some of the creatures look like metallic robot spider thingies while others look like they are a cross between the aliens shown in Independence Day and The Abyss. The developers want players to custom create their own weapons in They and they promise that players will never have had the type of freedom to make their own weapons like they will have in this game. Metropolis is keeping some aspects of the game secret for now. For instance we know that the game takes place in London but we don't know exactly why we are going to be fighting some alien bad guys. We still have a long wait before They is completed; it's due for release for the PC and other platforms in late 2008.