It's no secret that 2K Games acquired the X-COM license from Atari in June of 2005 and there's been speculation ever since that the publisher was looking for a studio to work on a sequel. After a few more rumors surfaced this week, we decided to do a little more digging of our own to find out if the rumors were true. Our inside source told us, "There's not much to tell, actually, other than that it's real." Now we still don't have official confirmation that the game is being developed by the former Irrational team or to what extent, if any, Ken Levine is connected. There was apparently, at some time, discussion of assigning the project to 2K Marin but since it is hard at work on BioShock 2, that doesn't seem likely.

So what would we like to see from this new sequel? Well, first and foremost, this is we're going to have to say we'd like to see another realistically modeled tactical strategy game. But even if the developers depart from that basic format, there are some key aspects of the design that we fell are necessary to maintain continuity with the franchise. First, the overall atmosphere of an alien invasion as an imminent global threat has to be maintained. While the original game definitely rode a wave of ET paranoia in the 1990s (thanks, Chris Carter), games where aliens invade the earth seem even more popular today than they were 15 years ago.

An inside source tells IGN that a new X-Com game is underway. Rumors of a new game have existed for quite some time due to the fact that 2K acquired the X-COM license from Infogrames back in 2007. (actually, it was acquired by Take 2 in 2005, as per USPTO; Gimli)

The latest Official Xbox Mag is running a rumour that's been quietly - oh so quietly - doing the rounds for a few months now. That rumour concerns just what, exactly, 2K Boston (and I presume 2K Australia as well) are up to these days. With 2K Marin confirmed as the team behind BioShock 2, what could Ken Levine and the rest of the guys behind BioShock 1 be working on? Maybe a new X-Com game. Yes, X-Com. 2K quietly bought the rights to the series in 2007, so the rumour's at least got a solid footing, though we're still going to recommend you increase your daily intake of salt. If only because the thought of a new, official X-Com game is too awesome to mess around with.

We would also like to start an open discussion session each sunday between 11.00 GMT and 15.00 GMT on our IRC channel.

It will start by the team discussing all sorts of things and non-members of Nightbird Games are of course allowed to join the IRC to see what we are talking about. But, you are not allowed to interrupt our discussion before I (FreeLanZer) determines that we have discussed the matters we want to discuss on the team. After that you can ask questions to the team about all sorts of things, and of course people from news sites and our forum members gets first priority.

Anyone who disobeys these really fair rules or spams will be immediately removed from the channel without question so behave nicely, however after the discussion and questions you can relax and chill out as the rules wont exist then.

* Removed civilian death limit. Instead you will lose if you make too many nations unhappy.
* Added UFO Theory to Tech Tree.
* Improved in-game IRC client (personal messages, custom motd)

X-COM is a dense game. I have become used to firing up games without ever looking at the manual. In fact, I consider it a measure of a good game if I can find my way around the interface simply through playing the game. If, like Wind Waker or Portal, the game trains me how to play gradually, without resorting to lengthy and dull tutorial levels, it receives high marks in my books. But the tutorial for X-COM is the manual. Launching the game and expecting to successfully navigate every aspect of the gameplay without reading the manual simply isn’t reasonable. Today, this might spell the game’s doom. But in 1993, it was more the norm than the exception.

ALTAR Games is busy working on their next project and plan no further updates for UFO: Afterlight. They wish for the game to expand however, and have therefore given the source-code to a few dedicated fans. Petteri “PetteriB” Bamberg will maintain the UFO: Afterlight source-code in the time to come with help from Jason "Kret" Rodrigo and Stuart “Stucuk” Carey.

As his first contribution to the community, Petteri has completed patch 1.6 for UFO: Afterlight. This patch includes lots of bug-fixes that fans of the game wished for, and removes the copy-protection! That’s right; developer ALTAR and publisher 1C Company has agreed to remove the DVD check from the retail version of the game! You can read more about the updates to the game in the official forum.

New York, USA (April 18, 2008) – Globally renowned publisher Paradox Interactive, is proud to announce that, having acquired the license for the much loved Majesty brand, will be releasing a long hoped for sequel in 2009.

Majesty 2 – The Fantasy Kingdom Sim will focus on reinventing many aspects of the original game, updating the franchise for the 21st Century. A key element that will permeate the game is the charm and humor of the original Majesty.

"This is by far the biggest release from Paradox to date and it is sure to become one of the most anticipated titles of 2009", said Fredrik Wester, Executive Vice President for Paradox Interactive. "Our aim is to release a fantastic game that not only encourages existing fans to renew their passion for the series, but also to reach out to the broader gaming community that has grown so much since the original was released", he continued.

"It's the height of any developers dream to work with such a cherished Triple A franchise with so many fans worldwide and such a unique position in the gaming industry", said Alexey Kozyrev, CEO 1C:Ino-Co. "As a team we have reached the level of skills and acknowledgement in the international arena to be worthy of such a task."

So, while far from a perfect expansion pack, Kane's Wrath offers breadth. It does what's expected. It does stuff that's not expected. And it offers a lot for the GBP 20 it harvests. While most will be more interested to see where EA LA takes the ideas they've played with here next, there's much more for a C&C fan to get excited about than imagining Natasha Henstridge is talking to them. Although that is pretty exciting. For me, anyway. In fact, if she's out there, feel free to call, Natasha. I'm in. Waiting. Just waiting.

April 11, 2008 - Bigger isn't always better, a lesson that we've painfully learned from pre-World War I ocean liners and hydrogen-filled zeppelins. You might as well throw turn-based strategy games on the list with Lost Empire: Immortals, a sprawling title similar to Master of Orion that blows away most games when it comes to scale. Unfortunately, that works to its detriment, as it comes off as more than a bit soulless, and it's such a huge game that it feels a bit like you're managing a spreadsheet than an interstellar empire at times.

Sins of a Solar Empire Patch
The manual edition of the new version 1.04 Sins of a Solar Empire patch mentioned last night (story) is now available for download. The patch is located on Sins of a Solar Empire Website, where they have also posted the final version 1.04 Change Log. Mirrors can be found on ComputerGames.ro, FileShack, and Gamer's Hell.

Toronto, Canada – April 9, 2008 – Today leading Publisher Lighthouse Interactive and accomplished developer Kerberos Productions announced that the Collector’s Edition of their critically acclaimed 4X space strategy game Sword of the Stars has gone gold. Sword of the Stars: Collector’s Edition, packed with exclusive bonus materials and a 150+ page paperback novel, will begin hitting store shelves across the U.S. and Canada in May 2008. Lighthouse Interactive also revealed the official box shots today.

Chris Stewart, Producer at Kerberos Productions said, "The entire team here at Kerberos is really excited about the Collector's Edition! It's the perfect jumping-in point for new fans and provides a ton of new features, content, background materials for long time fans of Sword of the Stars. The full blown novel alone is a wealth of SotS goodness!"

The Collector’s Edition brings the entire Sword of the Stars universe together in one package and further expands it with special bonus material.

Sword of the Stars: Collector’s Edition includes:

· The popular base game Sword of the Stars*
· The highly acclaimed add-on Born of Blood*
· The first ever Sword of the Stars paperback novel, The Deacon's Tale penned by renowned science fiction author Arinn Dembo (150+ pages)
· A Bonus CD with stunning concept art, video interviews, trailers, music tracks, and extensive backgrounds on each of the five races

* Updated to version 1.5.2, which includes new features such as: standalone server capabilities and creating custom maps.

To download the official box shot, visit: www.lighthouse-interactive.com

For more information about Sword of the Stars, please visit: www.swordofthestars.com or www.lighthouse-interactive.com.

PLYMOUTH, MI- April 7, 2008- Stardock and Gas Powered Games announced today that they have reached a publishing agreement for Gas Powered Games' upcoming PC game, Demigod.

Demigod is a team-based action game with RTS and RPG elements. Players take control of a massive Demigod with the goal of annihilating their opponent's position in a given arena while preventing the opponent's Demigod from doing the same to them. Although the game supports superb one-on-one duels, the title will truly shine in team play either with other human-controlled Demigods or with ones controlled by a sophisticated computer AI. As the game progresses, the player's Demigod will acquire items, attributes and experience.

Gas Powered Games, having become one of the leading PC game developers with hit titles such as Dungeon Siege and Supreme Commander chose Stardock as its exclusive worldwide PC publisher in part because of Stardock's tremendous success with the award-winning Sins of a Solar Empire and Galactic Civilizations.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II, the highly anticipated sequel from one of the industry’s premiere Real-Time Strategy developers, Relic Entertainment, is set to bring the 41st Millennium’s savage warfare to life like never before in spring 2009. Powered by an enhanced version of Relic’s proprietary Essence Engine 2.0, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II will take players to the brutal frontlines of war where they’ll experience intense action and visceral combat through a non-linear single player experience and a fully co-operative multiplayer campaign.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II is set in the grim, war-ravaged world of Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 universe – a dark, futuristic, science-fiction setting where armies of technologically advanced warriors, fighting machines and hordes of implacable aliens wage constant war. Dawn of War II ushers in a new chapter in the acclaimed RTS series, as ancient races – including the dauntless Space Marines and savage Orks - clash with ferocious melee and ranged combat across fully destructible environments in what will be the most visually-stunning Warhammer 40,000 setting ever created.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II is being developed exclusively for Windows PC, and THQ is pleased to announce that owners of the recently released Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Soulstorm will be able to participate in an invitation-only multiplayer beta program for Dawn of War II, set to take place at a future date.

Be sure to check back tomorrow when we’ll have some more exclusive Dawn of War II info…

While he couldn't nail down a date for the expansion pack's release, Mr. Wardell did mention that the expansion would include some much-requested features including a "full on campaign" mode as well as new playable factions.

Ubisoft released a number of games on Steam, Valve's popular online game service, today. Titles such as Far Cry, Dark Messiah of Might & Magic, and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell are available for purchase and download to the approximate 15 million registered users of Steam. Meanwhile, Assassin's Creed: Director's Cut Edition, the PC version of last year's hit console game, is available for pre-purchase in advance of its April 9 release.

Your bucks don't stop there, though, as Ubisoft intends to make its Steam presence known. "The Ubisoft line-up on Steam will be the largest library of titles available from any single publisher or developer," according to Steam Powered. Many Tom Clancy-branded games, the Heroes of Might & Magic series, the IL-2 Sturmovik collection and more are apparently on their way to Steam.

In addition to this hot and steamy news, there is a 10-percent price break on all Ubisoft games on Steam until Tuesday, April 8.

Longtime game developer Stormfront Studios is closing up shop, according to media reports. Gamasutra first reported the closure on Tuesday, and a Stormfront representative confirmed the news to Next-Gen.biz.

According to the Stormfront rep, a failure to land a new project was the reason for the company's demise. "Frankly, we didn't get pitched, and the project [we were working on] made no revenue… The economy is such that the projects that we weren't winning, ended," the rep said. The 33 employees at Stormfront Studios were told of the impending closure Monday.

Stormfront's history stretched back two decades. The company, which was based in San Rafael, Calif., was founded in 1988 by Dan Daglow, the former director of game development at Mattel Intellivision. Stormfront's credits were distinguished and varied, and included the original Neverwinter Nights for AOL, many classic Gold Box D&D games for SSI, and Tony La Russa Baseball. In recent years, Stormfront developed The Spiderwick Chronicles as well as Eragon.

The intel (gathered from the preview and an interview with Producer Mark Noseworthy in the same Belgian magazine, PC Gameplay):

- Uses the Essence 2.0 engine with Havok physics, all optimized for DX10 and multicore support.
- Units also use CoH-like unit AI for awareness and pathfinding to find cover and such.
- While DoW 2 shares the same (upgraded probably) engine as CoH it won't be "CoH in space", while soldiers in CoH will ask themselves if flanking the enemy is the right option, in DoW2 it will be more like Space Marines asking themselves if they should use their jetpacks to jump over an Ork squad to attack them in the back. Different settings, different kinds of warfare.
- Preview only showed a destroyed city landscape, akin to DoW (but more detailed), other tilesets will offer deserts, jungles, mountains and other cities.
- Only the Orkz and Space Marines were revealed, more races on the way obviously and to be to revealed later this year (though how many isn't known).
- Co-op campaign for both the Orkz and Space Marines, apparently not for the other to-be-revealed races.
- Relic wants to give players rewards at the end of a mission like wargear (armor, weapons, rare objects); "Let's pimp out squads with cool stuff!", you will see these items in-game as well of course.
- You'll fight your way through the campaign with the same squads.
- A squad leader (one or several?) will need to survive if you want to complete a mission; you really have to look out for your squads and don't treat them like cannon fodder.
- The campaign lets Space Marines operate from a spaceship, you'll get a view of an underlying planet and you'll be able to choose from different missions (which are tagged with difficulty colors, green, blue and red).
- Certain reward items won't be usable at once in the campaign, so they'll be taken back to the SM spaceship for research.
- Release in early 2009 or later.

Following publisher Take-Two Interactive Software's recommendation that its stockholders deny a hostile takeover attempt by rival publisher Electronic Arts, EA has submitted a slightly amended offer to the company's shareholders.

Take-Two Interactive is the owner of numerous popular properties, such as Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, and BioShock, and development studios, including the various branches of Rockstar, 2K Boston, 2K Marin, 2K Czech, and 2K Australia.

While the basic premise remains the same--a payout of $26.00 per share--Electronic Arts extended the deadline by a week to reflect Take-Two's week-long delay of its annual stockholder meeting, which is now scheduled for April 17. The offer now expires on April 18, 2008.

According to EA, the offer of $26.00 per share represents a 64% premium over Take-Two's closing stock price on February 15, which was the last trading day before EA sent its revised proposal to Take-Two. As of this writing, Take-Two's stock is valued at $25.55 per share.