the-guild posts

Wow. We thought that the PR folks were taking the week off along with game developers but we actually got a few press releases in our email inbox today. It's like people are actually working this week.

• Steam has new automatic updates for the beta versions of Apox and Counter-Strike Source along with a new update for Beat Hazard.
• Some folks from the University of Southern California have created the latest Kinect PC mod that works with World of Warcraft.
• Here's the latest Quake Done Quick video. It's cool
• The fourth season of the hit MMO-themed internet sitcom the Guild is now available on DVD and iTunes.

It's been a busy week for Felicia Day and her MMO web series The Guild. The first episode of the fourth season just started and this week it was announced via Comic Book Resources that a second comic book mini-series based on The Guild will begin in January 2011.

Day will write or co-write the issues of the second mini-series which will be published by Dark Horse Comics. While the first mini-series (which will be collected in trade paperback in December) was an origin story on the formation of the Guild, the second mini-series will focus on the other members of the MMO group besides' Day's character of Cyd/Codex. The first issue will deal with Vork and will be co-written by his alter ego, actor Jeff Lewis.

It's become a major internet sensation that has even reached out into mainsteam media. It's The Guild, the online sitcom about the members of a fictional MMO guild. The series has just released the first episode of its fourth season of the series (created by internet fan fave Felicia Day) which you can check out now at The Guild's official web site.

As they did with Season 3 of the show, Microsoft has the timed exclusive to offer up the fourth seaon of The Guild. In addition to offering it for free to download via the Xbox 360's Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft is also offering the episodes via its MSN Video site and also via download from its Zune Marketplace for PC owners. It's likely the season will be made available from other outlets and on DVD in the coming months.

Publisher JoWood and its North American subsidiary Dreamcatcher Games have just announced plans to release The Guild 2: Renaissance, a stand alone expansion pack to the historical strategy-sim game that was first released way back in 2006. This is the third expansion for the game and is due out sometime before the end of June.

Set in the 14th century just as the Middle Ages are coming to an end and the Renaissance is beginning, the game adds nine new careers, has maps that are four times the size of the original game's maps, improved AI support, and even more new features.

The MMO-themed web series The Guild has become a huge internet sensation and now the online sitcom about a group of massively multiplayer game players and their real world interactions with each other is getting translated to comics. Comic Book Resources has posted word that the three-issue mini-series from Dark Horse Comics will release its first issue in March 2010.

The mini-series is written by The Guild's creator and star Felicia Day and will take place before the start of the web series as we see her character Cyd meet the fellow members of her guild for the first time and learn how she came up with her MMO character Codex. Art for the series will be by Jim Rugg. The first issue will be released with the choice of two covers; one by Georges Jeanty and the other (shown to the right) by Cary Nord.

While the folks behind the web video series The Guild have self-published DVDs based on their first and second seasons, they have apparently decided to see if they can reach a mainstream audience. This week it was announced that distributor New Video NYC will begin selling a two-disk DVD set containing the first two seasons of The Guild, plus extras, in stores on September 29.

In addition to the first two seasons of the comedy series about an MMO guild, the new DVD will have extras like audio commentaries, bloopers, interviews, PDFs of scripts, gag reels, a gaming glossary, a table read video and more for $19.99.

[Via email press release]

Once again some outlets are pushing their weekend price cuts on PC games a tad early this week. The download site Gamersgate has put a few of their titles on the price chopping block for a few days. One of them is BioShock which is being sold for just $11.98 from now until Sunday.

Yet another game on sale this weekend is THQ's recent urban racing game Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights. It's normal Gamersgate price has been cut to just $9.99 from now until Sunday. All of the games in The Guild series (no, not the MMO-themed web video series) are on sale this weekend for 40 percent off. Finally today's "Daily Deal" is the Hearts of Iron 2 bundle for just $9.98.

The official web site for the San Diego Comic-Con has just updated with a list of their panels for Friday, July 24 and yes, gaming is represented well in Friday's schedule as well. Since Friday is traditionally Star Wars Day at the show you might expect some Star Wars related game panels . . .and your expectations are correct.

There will be a Star Wars: The Old Republic panel that Friday with members of BioWare talking about their much anticipated MMO game. Capcom will have two panels on Friday, talking about Lost Planet 2 and their fighting games. There's even a panel centered on the MMO-themed online video series The Guild scheduled for Friday. We will post up news on what gaming panels will be in place for Comic-Con for its final two days this weekend.

The Internet MMO sitcom The Guild has become a massive cult hit and got even more attention last November when Microsoft began to distribute the videos of Season 1 and Season 2 on both the MSN Video site and via the Xbox 360 console's Xbox Live Marketplace. Today Amazon.com announced a deal that will give the series even more exposure in both physical and downloadable media.

Amazon.com now has both Season 1 and 2 of the series available for pre-order in both DVD and digital download format. Both seasons will be released via Amazon.com on May 19. Both DVDs will have tons of extra content (commentaries, deleted scenes, bloopers and the like) and if you order the DVDs from Amazon.com you can get the corresponding season as a free digital download.

In this era of an economic crisis, wouldn't it be fun to play a game that was all about capitalism? Game download site GoG.com thinks so as it begins adding games from publisher Enlight. One of the games is the business sim Capitalism Plus, the 1997 title that can now be purchased and downloaded for $5.99.

Another new addition to GoG.com today is The Guild Gold Edition. No, not the MMO web series; its a Middle Ages sim game from publisher JoWood. The package, which includes the original game and an expansion pack, can be purchased and downloaded, DRM free, for just $9.99.