painkiller posts

After filing for bankruptcy last January, time may have run out for European game publisher JoWood. According to a report on the German language web site Boerse-Express.com, (translated by Babel Fish) JoWood has apparently not been able to bring in new investors to save the company and it looks like the publisher is going to close down.

JoWood owns a lot of major game franchises including the Gothic RPG series and the Painkiller first person shooter series. It's likely that some other publisher could buy the rights to these and other Jowood game titles. JoWood also owns Canada-based Dreamcatcher Games which it acquired in 2007. It's currently unknown if the Dreamcatcher business will also shut down alongside JoWood.

[Via Game Informer]

Painkiller Redemption, first announced earlier this month, now has a release date. The fourth game in the first person shooter series will be made available for download on February 25 according to publisher JoWood. The game is due to come out the same week Bulletstorm, developed by Painkiller's original developer People Can Fly, is scheduled for release.

While People Can Fly had nothing to do with the making of Painkiller Redemption, Jowood certainly hopes something of the 2004 original game will rub off on this new single player only entry in the series. This game, which has just six maps but has over 6000 enemies, according to the press release, is priced at just $4.99 according to a pre-order listing at GamersGate.

While publisher JoWood is dealing with some financial problems it's still planning to release some games. Today JoWood announced the latest game in the Painkiller first person shooter franchise. It's called Painkiller Redemption and it's apparently a way for the company to release a stand alone game that started out as a third party mod before JoWood decided to come in and turn the mod into a commercial game.

The game is due out via download in February and features the hero of the first game Daniel Garner teaming up with the half angel-half demo Belial (the lead of the second stand alone game Painkiller Overdose) as they join forces to stop the endless battles between heaven and hell. The game will allow players to control both characters over six large maps, each with over 1000 enemies to blow up with a variety of weapons. There's no word yet on the game's price point.

After Painkiller but before Bulletstorm, first person shooter game developer People Can Fly signed a publishing deal with THQ for an unannounced game that was later canceled. Now it looks like that game has finally come to light via newly discovered video footage from 3D artist Andrzej Rudz.

His personal web page lists a game called Come Midnight and a video posted by Rudz shows off early footage from the game. It's definiately different from the over-the-top first person shooters that People Can Fly is known for. It's a survival horror game with a 1930s crime noir theme. The video basically just shows enviroments so we can only imagine what the gameplay might be like

[Via G4TV]

We got a chance to play a bit of Bulletstorm at E3 2010 last month and the upcoming first person shooter was one of the most visually striking games at the show (second perhaps only to Crysis 2 in our opinion). But Adrian Chmielarz, the head of the game's developer People Can Fly, insists that the team's goal is not to beat everyone else in the visual race. Indeed, he says, "The thing is, we really do not care that much."

Computer and Video Games quotes him as saying, "I think right now so long as the game has a minimum level of quality, which is for us and everyone who wants to matter in this business is really high, do players really care? Seriously, if it really looks good, do we need to join race?" It does help that Bulletstorm no only has Unreal Engine 3 behind it but the direct input of Epic Games which is co-developing Bulletstorm with People Can Fly.

Gallery: Bulletstorm Screenshots

Even the title of the game says, "This game is all about kicking a** and taking names." It's Bulletstorm, the first major new game from the makers of the original Painkiller, developer People Can Fly, Working with Epic Games (who now own a majority stake in People Can Fly) the team has crafted an arcade-style shooter where points actually matter. At E3 2010 we got to play a very brief section of the game behind closed doors at publisher Electronic Arts' booth. The demo was running on a PC but we played the game with an Xbox 360 gamepad.

The goal of the demo is pretty simple: Shoot everything that moves. But in the case of Bulletstorm simply shooting a bad guy just doesn't cut it. Oh you can still shoot people but in this game it's all about getting points and the cooler way you shoot people the more points you get. Headshots get more points of course as well as shots in the nether regions. But combo shots for shooting, then kicking, an enemy generate a lot more points. Using your special electro-whip thingie to bring enemies to you to shoot them also generates points.

We are nearly at the end of Valve's holiday sales event on Steam. Come Monday all those bundle sales will be put in storage until next year's event. But there's still some time to take atvantage of the big deals if you have some spare change.

As usual Steam has another one day sale on a few select games. For the next 22 hours you can get five PC titles at rock bottom prices. Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 is priced at $10.19 during the sale and the Painkiller Collectors pack (with all of the Painkiller shooter titles) is on sale for $8.74. Three games are on sale for $4.99 each: Trine, Counter-Strike: Source and Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.

This is the playable demo for Painkiller: Resurrection. System requirements are shown after the jump.

"Developed by Homegrown Games with former developers and modders from the previous Painkiller games in collaboration with Studio Med-Art and with a Catholic priest advising, Painkiller Resurrection combines rock-hard, no-frills action and an exciting story with painstakingly researched details. In a bizarre world influenced by medieval ideas about hell and purgatory and Dante's Inferno, the mixture of fast, straightforward levels and enormous, explorable regions containing the worst scum of any hell provides a unique gaming experience."
Download Painkiller: Resurrection Demo (1.3 GB)

JoWood's upcoming first person shooter Painkiller Resurrection is now available for pre-order via Steam. Pre-orders get 10 percent off the game's already low $29.99 price tag. But that may not be the only reason to consider paying some money up front for the game from developer Homegrown Games.

In addition to the discount pre-orders get not one but two games for free and for immediate download. The Painkiller Black Edition (the original 2004 game from developer People Can Fly and the 2005 expansion pack) and Painkiller Overdose (the 2007 stand alone game from Mindware Studios) are actually quite fun to play, especially the first game in the series, and will give you a leg up on Painkiller Resurrection when it comes out in late October.

Remember when PC game sales were just for the weekend? Lately sales have popped up that have spanned an entire week. We've got two more examples for you today:

One is Garry's Mod, the terrific sandbox game/app/toy that requires at least one Source-based game be installed on your PC in order for it to work. From now until September 21 you can buy Garry's Mod via Steam for just $4.99, a 50 percent decrease from it's already low price of $9.99. Garry's Mod got an update a few days ago that added 10 new Steam achievements to the game.

At GoG.com they have put the spotlight on the terrific 2004 FPS Painkiller. You can download the game now from them for $2 off their already low price. That sale ends at the end of the day Sunday.