sacred-2 posts

Earlier this week we reported that a group of now former Ascaron Entertainment team members teamed up with publisher Kalypso Media to form Gaming Minds Studios. In addition to forming a new dev studio, Kalypso Media bought out a number of game properties previously owned by Ascaron.

Not listed among those games was the Sacred series of action-RPGs. Now comes word that Ascaron still holds the rights to the game franchise. In a post on the Sacred message boards, the company's community manager Anca Adelina Finta stated, "Studio 2 (subsidiary company of Ascaron) has the licence for Sacred 2 and the devs will continue working at the Addon as they did before." In its recent bankruptcy announcement Ascaron announced that both an addon as well as Sacred 3 was in development. Finta states, "In a nutshell, the Addon is not affected by anything and will come as planned."

Last April developer Ascaron Entertainment, best known for their Sacred action-RPG series, declared bankruptcy but said that operations would continue while they found a buyer. Now it appears at least part of the company has been bought out by Kalypso Media which will result in the formation of a new game developer.

In a new (German language) press release today Kalypso Media revealed that 15 former Asceron Entertainment team members have formed a new team called Gaming Minds Studios. The team is owned by Kalypso who has also purchased a number of game properties from Ascaron, including the Port Royale, Darkstar One and The Patrician series of games. Specific financial terms were not disclosed. Gaming Minds Studios is currently working on the third game in The Patrician series which will be released sometime this summer.

Not mentioned in the press release is the fate of Ascaron's Sacred series. In its bankruptcy statement, Ascaron stated that 500,000 copies of the PC version of Sacred 2 had been sold by the end of 2008. The PS3 and Xbox 360 versions shipped to stores in May and Ascaron stated at the time that a Sacred 2 expansion pack as well as Sacred 2 were already in the works.

It looks like one of the more successful game developers in Germany is in a bit of trouble. This weekend Ascaron Entertainment, best known in the US for the Sacred series of action-RPG games, has filed for bankruptcy protection, according to a note on the company's German language web site (the English version has yet to be updated).

Ascaron released Sacred 2 in the fall of 2008 and so far it has sold more than 500,000 copies worldwide by the end of 2008 according to the statement. Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game are complete and will ship out sometime in the end of May. However the delays in making of Sacred 2 have caused the company to go into bankruptcy protection. The statement said they already started discussions with a number of companies that could result in one of them buying out Ascaron. In the meantime development has continued on a Sacred 2 expansion pack and also on Sacred 3.

[Via Voodoo Extreme]

This big patch for Sacred 2: Fallen Angel includes a list of bug fixes and game enhancements, the most prominent being Nvidia PhysX support. The incremental patch updates the game from v2.34 while the full patch includes improvements from all previous updates to be used on fresh installs. Steam customers are encouraged to wait for the auto-update before considering use of the manual patch. Continue reading after the jump for full patch notes.

Download Sacred 2 v2.4 Incremental Patch [US] (201 MB)
Download Sacred 2 v2.4 Incremental Patch [UK] (200 MB)
Download Sacred 2 v2.4 Incremental Patch [DE] (201 MB)
Download Sacred 2 v2.4 Incremental Patch [FR] (187 MB)
Download Sacred 2 v2.4 Incremental Patch [ES] (187 MB)
Download Sacred 2 v2.4 Incremental Patch [IT] (187 MB)
Download Sacred 2 v2.4 Incremental Patch [CZ] (187 MB)
Download Sacred 2 v2.4 Incremental Patch [HU] (188 MB)

Download Sacred 2 v2.4 Full Patch [US] (817 MB)
Download Sacred 2 v2.4 Full Patch [UK] (816 MB)
Download Sacred 2 v2.4 Full Patch [DE] (1.02 GB)
Download Sacred 2 v2.4 Full Patch [FR] (1 GB)
Download Sacred 2 v2.4 Full Patch [ES] (1.01 GB)
Download Sacred 2 v2.4 Full Patch [IT] (1.01 GB)
Download Sacred 2 v2.4 Full Patch [CZ] (803 MB)
Download Sacred 2 v2.4 Full Patch [HU] (1.01 GB)

Ascaron's recent fantasy action-RPG Sacred 2 has been out for about five months now but apparently the development team isn't quite ready to give up working on the game. German-based PCGameshardware.com got a chance to see a new version of the game at the CeBit expo this week. The new version adds PhysX support from Nvidia to the game.

Apparently the dev team were not able to add the PhysX support before the game went gold last fall but an upcoming patch will enable some new PhysX driven effects in the game. The above video shows off an example of what the new effects will look like. They don't really affect Sacred 2's gameplay; they simple augment paricle effects for things like character spell visuals. The patch is slated for release later this March.

This "Making of..." video for Sacred 2: Fallen Angel is the third in a series a behind-the-scenes looks at working with the German heavy metal band Blind Guardian in making the machinima music video. The music video can be viewed after the jump along with the two other videos from the series. The demo for Sacred 2: Fallen Angel can be downloaded here.

Download HD Making of Sacred 2 Blind Guardian Video Part 3 (28 MB)
Download HD Sacred 2 Blind Guardian Music Video (76 MB)
Download the Sacred 2: Fallen Angel Demo (1.7 GB)
Check out all Sacred 2: Fallen Angel downloads

CDV's recent action-RPG sequel Sacred 2 was released last November but this week fans of the game got a special and unexpected downloadable treat. CDV decided to offer a free PDF version of the title's official art book. It has now been released on the CDV web site (an printed art book was included in the Collector's Edition of the retail game).

The "Art and Vision" PDF download offers fans a glimpse into the making of the game developed by Ascaron Entertainment. It includes original character designs, renders and other details. Even if you haven't played the game it's still a solid look at the artistic side of making a fantasy action-RPG.

Download the Sacred 2 Art Book (42 MB)

This patch updates Sacred 2: Fallen Angel from version 2.31 to 2.34. Game just first be updated to 2.31 before installing this patch. Steam users are recommended to use the auto-updater. Continue reading for full patch notes.

Download Sacred 2: Fallen Angel v2.34 Patch (253 MB)
Download Sacred 2: Fallen Angel v2.31 Patch (620 MB)
Check out all Sacred 2: Fallen Angel downloads

Thanks to everyone who entered our Sacred 2 PC giveaway contest. We have now picked the five winners, two of which have been sent a Collector's Edition of the action-RPG game from CDV with some extra Sacred 2 swag. Congrats to Peter Stewart of Easton, PA and Stephen Barch of Memphis, TN for winning these prizes. Three other winners will receive some Sacred 2 swag. Congrats to Richard Benes of Gambier, OH, Joan Carrington of Brooklyn, NY, and Ben Colbourn of Winter Park, FL. Thanks again to CDV for the donation of the prizes.

This patch updates the action role-playing game Sacred 2: Fallen Angel to version 2.31 and includes a list of bug fixes, enhancements and balance adjustments. Continue reading for full list of changes.

Download Sacred 2: Fallen Angel v2.31 Patch (620 MB)
Check out all Sacred 2 downloads