spellbound posts

Fans of Arcania Gothic 4 will be happy to know that the recent fantasy RPG is getting some new . Publisher JoWood and its US subsidiary Dreamcatcher have announced plans to release Arcania - Fall of Setarrif. The add-on promises to tie up some of the original game's loose ends while also taking the game's storyline in a new direction.

The unnamed hero of Gothic 4 must venture into the land of Setariff where a certain possessive demon is causing some trouble. Players can create a new character or import their previous Gothic 4 character into the new add-on. JoWood promises that Fall of Setariff will not only have new locations, quests and enemies but will let the player check out the storyline from another character's point of view. Pricing and a specific release date for the add-on were not announced.

[Via email press release]

A few days before the game shows up in retail stores here in the US, the downloadable version of Arcania: Gothic 4 is now available to purchase and download for those living in this part of the world. You can get the open world fantasy RPG sequel from Steam. Presumably other download sites will make the game available to purchase soon.

Just a reminder; the retail version of the game from developer Spellbound and publisher Jowood/Dreamcatcher Games shipped in other parts of the world earlier this week and will ship to stores in the US on October 19.

The long-in-development PC fantasy RPG Arcania: Gothic 4 has suffered another delay in its release but this time it's just for one more week and just for the North American territory. Publisher JoWood and its US subsidiary Dreamcatcher Games have revealed that instead of an October 12 release date, the game will be coming out in the US on October 19.

The title from developer Spellbound Entertainment is still plan for an October 12 release in the rest of the world. The publisher did not say why the game was delayed just for the US market. That means Arcania: Gothic 4 will be going up against another open world RPG, Fallout: New Vegas, which also is due for release on October 19 in the US.

[Via email press release]

Download ArcaniA: Gothic 4 Demo (1.7 GB)

The long-in-development fantasy RPG Arcania: Gothic 4 is due for release on October 12 but players will soon be able to check out a free slice of the game. Publisher JoWood and its US subsidiary Dreamcatcher Games announced that a demo for the game will be released for the PC on September 24.

The demo will let people play through the tutorial level and the first two hours of the full game as players go on some quests on the fictional Feshyr Island and deal with some rather nasty demons. The game from developer Spellbound was first announced back in 2007 and has had a number of release date delays.

It seems like today has been a day to change your game or company name. The latest switch involves the long-in-development fantasy RPG that was first known as Gothic 4. The title from developer Spellbound and publisher JoWood was renamed early in its life to Arcania: A Gothic Tale. At the time the name change was to make the game more presentable to a US audience which had not embraced the first three games in the series.

Today JoWood revealed, without any real explanation, that the title of the game had changed once again to Arcania: Gothic 4. Perhaps this new name represents a compromise for the long time fans of the franchise while keeping the Arcania title to bring in new players. In any case the game is scheduled for release in the third quarter of 2010.

The "steampunk" genre has been the basis for a number of games and today Germany-based Spellbound Entertainment announced that they were working on such a game with the working title Project Ravensdale. There's not much info yet on what the game will be like, with the press announcement stating, "The player will seek out high pressure steam outlets, to supercharge his equipment, allowing him to pulverize his adversaries and overcome the obstacles on his path." Um ... Ok.

Spellbound is currently working to finish Arcania - A Gothic Tale, the upcoming and latest game in the Gothic RPG series. That game is scheduled for release in late 2010. Project Ravensdale, however, isn't due for release until 2012.

[via email press release]

Much like they did when they bought the rights to the Tropico franchise and got a third game in the series published, Kalypso Media is expanding yet again. Today they announced that they have acquired the Airline Tycoon rights from the game's original developers Spellbound.

The original game was released way back in 1998 by Spellbound. A number of follow-ups were released adding new material but a true sequel was never released. Now Kalypso Media plans to publish a true Airline Tycoon II game via their own developer Realmforge. It's currently set for release in the first quarter of 2011.

In related news, The Washington Post has a new article on the recently launched US branch of Kalypso Media. The article goes into how the company got the Tropico rights and states that Kalypso has plans to release 10 games in 2010.

Last year's release of the fantasy RPG title Gothic 3 was pretty much a disaster. The final version shipped with a ton of bugs that made the game unplayable for many. Publisher JoWood dumped the game's developer Piranha Bytes as a result.

Now it appears that the just released expansion pack to the game, Gothic 3: Forgotten Gods, was also shipped with a number of issues that even a couple of patches have yet to solve. The game's official message board has posted up a statement from JoWood executive producer Michael Kairat who basically apologies about the game's release. The expansion was developed by India based Trine Game Studios. Yet another patch is expected to be released soon that hopefully will fix some of the problems.

The statement also says that JoWood plans not to have the same thing happen again for the next full game in the series, Arcania: A Gothic Tale, that's being developed by Spellbound. JoWood plans to have a beta release of the game before it's scheduled ship date of late 2009.


[Via Voodoo Extreme]

Your daily wrap-up of the hottest stories in PC gaming in the last 24 hours.

	Big Download Interview: PC Gaming Alliance President Randy Stude Is 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 released 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.
	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 download Blizzard'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.