Crysis 2 is said to get a DirectX 11 update very soon from Crytek, thought I do think it’s rather late. Apparently a post at MyCrisis was taken down, but members of PC Gamer forum managed to grab the screenshots and the details of this new update pack. Read more…

Duke Nukem Forever may have launched to tepid reviews last week but that doesn’t mean all hope is lost for future Duke titles. Duke Nukem Forever publisher Take Two has said that the series will continue. During an interview with Forbes, Take Two CEO CEO Strauss Zelnick was asked if the publisher owns the IP surrounding Duke and whether it could produce other Duke content, such as movies and TVs. Zelnick replied that we will see “future Duke IP coming from [Take Two].”

“Part of it is the economic opportunities that interact with entertainment are so huge. Part of it is that we are very creative folks in control,” he explained to Forbes. “Part of it is we don’t want to ever be in the position of dumping something down just to make another buck.

“If we can take some of our intellectual property and bring it to another medium in an extraordinary high quality way, that delights consumers and represents an interesting commercial opportunity for us, we will. We have certainly considered doing that with BioShock and with other titles. So far we haven’t brought anything to market, but stay tuned.”

Duke Nukem Forever arrived last week, receiving lukewarm reviews from both critics and fans. However, having been in development since 1996, many argue that the game was bound to disappoint diehard fans who had been waiting 15 years for the title to hit stores.

SOURCE via Forbes

A new Call of Duty: Black Ops map pack is on the way, offering four new multiplayer maps and a new zombie survival map set in Shangri-La. The video above takes us through some of the increasingly mad settings Treyarch have chosen for the new levels, including one set in Area 51, and another on a golf course. If snipers have a heaven, it looks like that wide open fairway. The map pack is hitting the Xbox on June 28, and is set to come to PC shortly afterwards.

Cowen and Company analyst Doug Creutz recently ruffled the feathers of BioWare (and a few fans) after slamming the upcoming MMOG Star Wars: The Old Republic as a “highly derivative” clone of World of Warcraft. He even went so far as to suggesting that EA hasn’t announced a release date because the game will likely not ship this year.

“We got hands-on time with the game, and were largely unimpressed,” Creutz said in the firm’s E3 2011 report. “Despite promises from EA/BioWare that the title represents a major step forward in MMO design, what we saw was essentially a World of Warcraft clone with Star Wars character skins and the BioWare RPG nice/nasty dialogue tree mechanism bolted on for non-player character conversations.”

He also didn’t have anything positive to say about the game’s visual presentation, calling the scenery and character designs competent but hardly breathtaking. “Granted, we were playing in a desert area, so other areas may be more impressive-looking… on the other hand we question why EA chose a desert level to showcase the title,” he added.

BioWare CEO Ray Muzyka responded to the criticism by not even addressing Creutz’s comments directly, saying that the development schedule is currently on track. “We’re progressing well,” he said. “The fact we’re showing it hands-on on the show floor is an indication of our confidence in the quality. We’re getting a lot of positive feedback on that. We know how critical it is to launch as a solid game and then have really high quality service afterwards, too. We have plans to do follow-on content and things that’ll keep our players engaged and active for years to come.” Read more…

Nvidia said the PC version of Duke Nukem Forever will support 3D Vision. The company has also teamed up with EVGA to offer a special GeForce GTX 560 bundle.

The long-awaited, highly-anticipated Duke Nukem 3D sequel from 3D Realms, Gearbox Software and 2K Games arrives on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PC in North America tomorrow, June 14. But just one day prior to its release, Nvidia has announced that the PC version will feature support for the company’s 3D Vision technology. Read more…

Before you indulge that sudden, irresistible desire to purchase two recent PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 games, allow us to pass along some helpful information. Best Buy is offering a buy one, get one half-off deal on several PS3 and Xbox 360 games including Dirt 3, Portal 2, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Red Faction: Armageddon, and Crysis 2. Yes, that’s a number of new games indeed.

You could even double up on Duke Nukem Forever and Homefront, if that’s what you’re into for some reason. Regardless of the critical response to the Duke, it’s pretty impressive to get a 50% off deal on a brand new game like that.

SOURCE via Best Buy

EA boss John Riccitiello has directed a fresh barrage of taunts at Activision in the aftermath of the Battlefield 3 showing at E3, declaring the conference “the beginning of the war” between Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3.

In reality, the war started months ago. Riccitiello and Kotick have been at each other’s’ throats since late last year. The latest exchange was started by Bobby Kotick’s comments on the Battlefield 3 E3 showing, which also sum up his feelings on the PC as a platform. Read more…

Hitman: Absolution was shown behind closed doors at E3 this year. Joe public had to make do with the official E3 trailer and a couple of screenshots, until now. CVG have found some leaked in-game footage of the game in action. It’s spliced into the CG trailer, and there’s a subliminal glimpse of the terrible Hitman movie in there somewhere. Fight through all that and you’ll see the first moving images of Absolution’s new engine, along with the new cover system, hostage taking and a cruel KO manoeuvre starring a bust and the back of a policeman’s head. Read more…

Blues News have spotted an interview with DICE’s Patrick Soderlund in which the dev gives a rough estimate for the length of the Battlefield 3 single player campaign. Speaking to Grey Viper, Soderlund said “I don’t have a number for you… yet, ’cause the game is not done yet, and I don’t want to… To me the game can be anything from six, seven, eight, to ten hours, depending on what we net out once we’re done.

“I think the most important thing for me is that the game delivers upon a consumer experience that we’re happy with, and then, that will then… that’s how we look at it, and that will tell how long the game is.”

Of course, for many Battlefield fans, the meat of the game will be the multiplayer, which was shown for the first time at this year’s E3. You can read Tim’s hands-on impressions here, or watch the Operation Metro multiplayer trailer to get an idea of how that’s shaping up. DICE also showed eight minutes of tank-based single player action at the EA conference.

SOURCE via Blue News

Neither the single-player nor multiplayer modes of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 are playable at this year’s E3, but Activision is running a demo for a brand new version of co-op that Infinity Ward is calling Spec Ops Survival. I say Infinity Ward is calling it that (and they are, because that’s its name), but given that this is multiplayer, it was probably developed in conjunction with Sledgehammer Games and/or Raven Software. Activision wasn’t completely clear on just how the co-development work is being divvied up, so we’re not sure who to credit for it. Read more…