paradox posts

Paradox Interactive is starting the new year right with the PC strategy publisher's annual press event, which it calls the Paradox Convention. The event will be held later in January in New York City and will give the invited media reps a chance to check out upcoming games such as Crusader Kings II, Sword of the Stars II and many more.

In addition, Paradox plans to announce a number of all new games at the Paradox Convention. At the moment the games are under code names like Project "Spring Break," Project "Ice Man," Project "Orange," Project "Penny," Project "Tatanka," Project "Mayflower" and Project "Doom". While the event is closed to the public Paradox is also running a contest where one person will be flown out to NYC to attend Paradox Convention and cover the event for the company's official message boards.

The satirical fantasy action-RPG Magicka has kept us interested in its development ever since it was first announced. Sweden based developer Arrowhead Games Studios clearly has its tongue firmly inside its cheek while both making and promoting the game.

Today the game's latest (and very funny) trailer was released by publisher Paradox Interactive and it revealed that the game is now set for release in January 2011. Oh, and don't panic too much when you see that $89.99 price at the very end of the video. The trailer quickly makes it right and shows a more reasonable $9.99 price point for Magicka.

Are you ready for yet another expansion pack for Europa Universalis III? Well whether you are or not, developer and publisher Paradox Interactive is going to give it to you. The company announced that Europa Universalis III: Divine Wind, the fourth (yep, fourth) expansion of the historical strategy game, is in the works and will be released in December.

This expansion is primarily set in Japan as you play one of four "daimyos" in that country that are trying to influence the Emperor. Look for a look graphical look for the expansion, support for up to 32 players in multiplayer and more. The game will require both the original game as well as the Heir to the Throne expansion pack.

Earlier this week we reported on a new study that claims that the free-to-play PC game business will boom up to $2 billion in revenues by 2015. A publisher with deep PC games ties that wants in on that business is Paradox Interactive. In a new interview with Rock Paper Shotgun, Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester states, "We're releasing three new free-to-play games next year."

And what kinds of games will they be? We know that one of them will be Dreamlords Resurrection, the long-in-development online RTS game. But Wester is also hinting at something else in the works, saying, "It's gonna be very cryptic. It's a type of gameplay that we've never touched before. And it's a type of gameplay that's completely different from what a computer game typically offers." A full announcement will be made later this month.

A little while ago, Paradox Interactive hinted about its plans for something called "Paradox Connect". This week at Gamescom the publisher revealed more details about that project which is designed to give fans of Paradox's games more social networking features.

In short, players of Paradox's games will be able to set up their own username and password that will be linked to the games they play. Achievements will be Incorporated into Paradox's games. Gaining more achievements adds points to a Paradox Connect's players score. Those achievements and scores can also be shown on a player's Facebook or Twitter account. This system is designed to be completely voluntary for the player to join with Paradox stating, "We won't force users to register or to have a persistent online connection." There is no word on when Paradox Connect will launch.

Update: In a new press release Paradox states that Paradox Connect will start beta testing in the fourth quarter of this year.

Earlier this year we reported that a new PC gaming download site was in development in the UK. Green Man Gaming claimed that they would allow people to purchase and download PC games from their site and then sell off the license to the game once they are done with it back to the web site for credit (not cash) to purchase other games from the site. Now comes word that the site will officially launch on Sunday. The site is primarily for UK users but anyone can purchase and download games from the site; you just have to purchase the games in UK pounds.

Videogamesdaily.com (which admits it has entered into an agreement with Green Man Gaming to provide a blog on their site) has more info on how the used PC game site will actually work. It also reveals some of the publishers contributing games on the site including Paradox Interactive, 1C Company and others. We are still highly skeptical about this service (we think hackers could disrupt this site's business plan) but if it works perhaps it will offer PC gamers an alternative from other sites like Steam.

[Via Blue's News]

SouthPeak Games is facing another lawsuit, this time with Paradox Interactive. Gamasutra reports that Paradox claims SouthPeak owes it $585,382 as part of a distribution agreement with SouthPeak. Paradox states in its lawsuit, "SouthPeak's executives have informed Paradox's executives that SouthPeak is currently financially unable to satisfy its payment obligations to Paradox."

Paradox claimed it then terminated its distribution deal with SouthPeak. However it furthur claims SouthPeak threatened to return any unsold Paradox games from stores. Paradox states it would be "irreparably harmed" if such an action takes place and is asking the court to deal with any returns of their games themselves.

This is just the latest lawsuit filed against SouthPeak. In 2009, developer Timegate Studios claims the publisher owes it money from royalties based on sales of its sci-fi shooter Section 8. Also a UK court recently ruled that SouthPeak was guilty of copyright infringement against publisher CDV.

Although MMO trailers might be grabbing all the attention today, it's worth taking some time out to check out the trailer for Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim. Even though the trailer doesn't go into much detail about what makes it more of a fantasy kingdom sim than any other real-time strategy game, it's provides a nice and relaxing break from war and destruction.

Download the Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim HD Trailer (24 MB)

If you are in the PAL regions and haven't gotten a chance to try out the sublime RTS magic that is Sins of a Solar Empire, your wait is over. The game ships tomorrow to stores all across the UK and will come with a tech-tree poster, comprehensive manual, and 6 additional maps not included with the original NTSC release. The game will be £29.99 for all who wish to purchase it. It's definitely worth it, as the mix of traditional 4X gameplay with RTS elements makes for an extremely compelling game.

Sins is also notorious for being extremely susceptible to piracy and still performing well, which has led the CEO of Ironclad to denounce Crytek's assurances that piracy is destroying PC gaming. It's also been getting a series of great patches. All in all, an excellent game worthy of a place on any RTS fan's shelf.

We've reported on it before, but it bears repeating: Mount & Blade is an excellent little cavalry/siege simulation on its way to indie stardom. The last time we'd mentioned it, it had just hit version 0.950, well on its way towards release. Now the game has been updated again, resting the version number at the nice round 0.952.

Included in this update are a slew of new features, completely reworked dialog, and various balance and bug fixes for your gaming pleasure. If you picked up 0.950, you'll only need to download the patch to experience all the new goodies. If this is your first time seeing Mount & Blade, though, you'll need the full install. It acts as basically a demo for the retail version of the game, which will be released for $40 upon completion through Paradox Interactive's GamersGate (Paradox is better know for their excellent Hearts of Iron and Europa Universalis series).

[Via Blue's News]