Strategy series to return to PC this fall

As the old saying goes "If you want war, prepare to war with the war," and warfaring games should certainly start preparing, as publisher Sega and developer Relic Entertainment have announced that the new sequel Company of Heroes 3 will be sounding the ??order to battle on P??C on November 17, 2022.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeiqt_E0KjU

This third mainline entry in the Company of Heroes series will offer up four playable factions and two single-player experiences, set against the backdrop of World War battles waged in Italy and North Afr??ica. The Italian Dynamic Campaign will feature dynamic, choice??-based, open-ended gameplay, while the North African Operation �spotlit in the new trailer above �will feature a more traditional, narratively driven experience, featuring new mechanics and a wide variety of additional units.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQLmf4HSoKQ

If you fancy diving into the action before the fall, then head on over to the official Company of Heroes website and register for the "CoH-Development" community feedback program. Once signed up, then you will be afforded access to an Alpha build of Company of Heroes 3, complete with a mission from the new Nort??h African campaign. Be ?sure to move fast, as the new North African trial will only be made available until July 19. Further community projects are planned between now and launch day.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeiqt_E0KjU

Company of Heroes 3 will launch November 17 on PC (via Steam).

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Planes, trains, and automobiles

[UPDATE 3: We've got more codes! We added 350 to Dtoid and 150 to PC Invasion, so keep claiming!]

[UPDATE 2: We're all out of codes here at Dtoid and over at PCI! Check out Gamnesia -- they've got 70 left as of this update!]

[UPDATE 1: Looks like we're running low on keys on Dtoid! Check out PC Invasion and Gamnesia to see if they have any left!]

Alright folks, listen up -- we've got 500 PC keys to give away for the Naval Battles Closed Beta in War Thunder. Are you one of the millions of players around the world who's already had a taste of War Thunder? Well whether you're just a cadet or a five-star general, you can get in on the closed beta going on now through Octob??er.

Stand at attention, everyone, and get your key?? before they're gone!

War Thunder is the free-to-play MMO that has attracted over 20 million players worldwide. In War Thunder, aircraft, ground forces and naval ships collaborate in realistic competitive battles. You can choose from over 1,000 vehicles and an extensive variety of combat situations many of which are exclusive. You can find yourself blasting your pursuers from a bomber turret, defending your teammates on the ground from an air raid with anti-aircraft guns, shooting down enemy planes with a firestorm from multiple rocket launchers, or trying to sink an enemy warship with a torpedo from a fas??t attack boat.

In conjunction with the upcoming 1.81 update, The Valkyries, that will add combat helicopters and two new locations, Gaijin Entertainment is doing an exclusive beta for their Naval Battles campaign. Codes will give access to War Thunder's Naval Battles Closed Beta along ??with the "Full Ahead" decal. Players will be able to start unlocking the ships' research tree, upgrade the ships, and participate in Naval Battles (combined with aviation). Fleet is now available for three nations - USA, Germany and USSR - with about 60 ships in total from torpedo boats to light cruisers. A special horizontal research system will allow players to quickly explore exactly the class of ships that they are most interested in. The CBT of Naval forces is available in special events "Naval battle??s" (Events and Tournaments tab in the game).

To claim your PC beta key, use the widget below. Note that you must have a Gaijin Account, and it must be redeemed through the Gaijin website. You must redeem your k?ey by September 30, 2018 in order to participate. The beta period will end sometime in ??October.

War Thunder is available now on PlayStati??on 4, Xbox One,? Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, and Nvidia Shield.

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It's disappointing that games Medal of Honor and Six Days in Fallujah get punished for authenticity, yet things like Heavy Fire: Afghanistan are allowed to exist. We may never see that tasteful, yet horrifying depiction of Operation Iraqi Freedom we were hoping for, but an insensitive rail-shooter set in m??odern-day Afghanistan is just as good -- right?

So, if you've just been itching to violently mow down countless Middle Easterners without prejudice, then look no further. Heavy Fire: Afghanistan is due out in November for PlayStation 3, Wii, and PC for the low, low price of $20. Given the sensitive subject matter, it'll be a wonder if this isn't all over Fox News in a couple weeks as another example of how videogames are degrading th??e mo?ral fabric of our society.

The post Heavy Fire: Afghanistan releasing in November appeared first on Destructoid.

Did you want more "hardcore" Kinect games? Prepare to regret that request, my friends. Just check out that trailer (actually using the Wii version,? oddly) and be stunned.

This is Heavy Fire Afghanistan, a game that may very well be glorious in its tastelessness. The point of this on-rails shooter appears to be to shoot brown people ... streams and streams of brown people. It's basically House of the Dead with contemporary terrorists, set in a war-torn part of the world??.&??nbsp;

"Enemy Contact. Open fire! Defend the base. Lock ??down the streets of the local town," says developer Mastiff. "Hunt down the enemy in the forests. Rescue the hostages from the caves. Sweep the enemies out of the mountains. Fly in helicopters. Ride in tanks and trucks. Take it to the ground and get up close and personal with the enemy. Your objective i?s simple: Grab the biggest gun you can find, then knock out the enemy with your Heavy Fire!"

Yes ... it's as jawdropping as it sounds. The best part is it's only $18.99 on Amazon. Pre-order yours today!

As well as Kinect, it's hitting PS3 and Wii. It has co-op, so you can shoot Johnny Foreigner with a friend, destructible environments, because f*ck Afghani homes, and vehicular sections. It's due out this year, and let me just say hello to the FOX News/Daily Mail researcher who is most likely reading this now an??d stroking their crotch in anticipation.

The post Heavy Fire Afghanistan coming to Kinect, PS3, Wii appeared first on Destructoid.

It's not every day that one gets to promote a positive study about videogames, so i??t's with pleasure that I bring you this slice of happiness -- videogames may help some people to cope w?ith nightmares. 

Jayne Gackenbach has turned the "games desensitize people" argument on its head, theorizing that if games do indeed desensitize people to horrific images, they may be beneficial to those who suffer from harrowing dreams. The study was conducted with soldiers ??to see if they would sleep better after their stressful experiences. 

"I would see many soldiers, in combat, with PSPs or anything we could hook up to 220v electricity," said the resear??cher. "When soldiers weren’t on patrol, we often had violent war games on our systems. It was weird. Like we didn’t get enough violence. They’re taking (Playstation 3′s, XBox 360′s and other consoles) into the field and playing them all the time, And it turns out, there may be a good reason to let them do? that."

Of course, no study is gospel, but it's interesting to think about. Soldiers definitely game as much as anyone else, and it seems that playing simulated violence might prove cathartic after dealing with the real-world stuff. In any case, it's better than suggesting that games make people go out and do raping.

Can video games quell nightmares? [New Scientist, via HBG]

The post Study: Violent video??games can help stop nightmares appeared first on Destructoid.

Despite Electronic Arts bowing to the minority and "removing" the Taliban from Medal of Honor, military base stores still plan to?? boycott th??e war-themed shooter on the grounds that it would still be disrespectful to sell the thing. 

The US military officially stated that it wouldn't stock the game in its stores out of "respect to those touched by the ongoing, real-life events presented as a game." One wonders if it the military had previously allowed the past two Modern Warfare game?s which, let's f?ace it, were exactly the same but just carefully chose its names and locations. 

Game stores at military bases had yanked the game after the ludicrous Taliban controversy arose. Apparently, renaming the Taliban to the pussified "Opposing Force" isn't good enough. We'll see if EA now responds by renaming Afghanistan to Eternia an??d the US Military to the Power Rangers. 

Military stores continue to oppose MOH, force it out?? of stores even aft?er Taliban removal [VG247]

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Recently Sega invited me over to its San Francisco offices to take a peek at the latest game in the Total War series: Shogun 2.

As a return to the original Total War game Shogun: Total War, Shogun 2 is the latest in the real time/turn-based fusion strategy game. Sega and developer The Creative Assembly were kind enough to show me the real time battle elements of the game, with the turn-based overworld stuff saved for something I have planned next week. Fans of the ??franchise will certainly want to pay attention.

You've seen the trailer, now follo??w the jump for my hands-off impressions.

Shogun 2: Total War (PC)
Developer: The Creative Assembly
Publisher: Sega
To be released: March 2011

Since this is a shogun game, taking place in 16th century Japan, the idea of Samurai is really important. Players will be asked to lead one of twelve fiefdoms in the quest for Japanese Samurai glory and control of ??th??e nation. Starting off in 1545 AD, players will be tasked to guide Japanese culture through wars, the influx of Western nations, Christianity, gunpowder, cultural strife, and more. All of these features, as well as the turn-based elements of the game, build around the core of the game: the real-time battles.

These battles are huge in scope and very tactical. Troops are organized by social and military types, and, interestingly, the enemy AI typically responds like traditional Japanese soldiers would. That is, they fight with a certain code o??f honor in which unit types fight like unit types, and there is no variation from that. Of course, you're allowed to ignore those honor codes, which is always fun, screwing with different cultural norms. Controlling the units is as simple as clicking a group and dragging them to the selected spot. Since these units can only walk, run, or ride horses, they don't move terribly fast, which creates a feeling of impending force. This a slow, powerful feeling RTS.

And boy, there ?are a lot of units. From noble samurai to lowly peasants, to archers and ninjas, there are over 30 different types of Japanese military units to use. These will change over time, as the change in culture and influx of Western influences will influence the state of the battlefield. There's a lot to keep track of, and the way units are used and upgraded make a big impact on the field.

One of the biggest impacts is the morale of the units. As units charge across the field, they have a morale meter that indicates how they are feeling on the field. If they face a particularly powerful unit, and their morale may drop enough for them to run away in shame. There is actually a couple ways to win these real t??ime matches, and one of them is to weaken enemy morale by out manning them, taking over their fortresses, or to defeat their general.

The generals play a big role in the battles, as a general-less army is severely weakened. When the general is around, he'll often make a speech to his troops, and these can range from epic poetry to odd words about squirrels and the moon. Depending on what they say, the troops can respond differently, both good and bad. Either way, it's good to have a ge??neral, as they have extra strength in the?? battle field, will often charge ahead, and can boost morale. However, is they die, troops morale will drop heavily, so it's best to keep him around as long as possible.

Most of the matches are just battles on a battle field. However, other battles use the new naval battleships to blur the line between units. Shogun-era naval units were like giant floa?ting fortresses, perfect fo?r moving units along the shallow bays and rivers of Japan. Many of the battles will entail sending units from a ship to attack and overtake a Japanese fortress. These buildings have a staggered affect, in which units move from court yard to courtyard fighting. All of these elements will be in play for the epic battles.

The battles that I was shown featured some impressive bits of tech. Shogun 2 is capable of supporting around 56,000 troops on one screen. Up close, sure, they look a little jaggy, but considering each and every one of them are taking part in individualized fights, this is more than impressive. Considering Kendo martial artists did all?? the mocap for the game, coupled with artists and musicians who spent a year and a to get everything right for the game, there is a very high standard for accuracy here. The team at The Creative Assembly used primary and secondary sources as inspiration for all the elements of the game, as well as the assistance of Japanese and Western scholars to make to make this as accurate as possible. All the voice acting and terminology uses the proper romaji and ?Japanese language, and real steps have been made to making this the best representation of Shogun Japan as possible.

Over all, I'm pretty impressed with what The Creative Assembly has done. Even in pre-alpha, there are some pretty fantastic bits of tech here (hell, water runs off the roofs in a realistic manner during a rain storm, for example). Moving troops is a simple and thoughtful affair, and it looks like a very realistic take on ordering your troops about and lining them up. Coupled with the turn-based, Civilization-esque elements that I am not yet allowed to talk about, I think Shogun 2: Total War could very well be a major title for RTS ??PC gamers.

The post Impressions: Shogun 2: Total War appeared first on Destructoid.

We've heard the opinions of gamers, we've heard the opinions of pundits, and now we have some opinions from people who have more of a personal connection to Medal of Honor than anybody else -- real soldiers.

A number of soldiers have been giving mixed reactions to EA's upcoming shooter, with one criticizing the company for making a profit off war, alt?hough he did add that people freaking out about the Taliban's inclusion were being ridiculous.

"The creation of games like these is war profiteering," states Justin Polaski, "The same profiteering that Blackwater, civilian contractors, and companies that produce ACU backpacks for school children participate in. War profiteering of any form is unjust and constitutes a true insult to?? those who have served overseas."

A Navy member named Jason had less damning things to say: "I can hone??stly state? as a gamer and a military man that games have less of an impact that people might think. I just push the buttons and kinda giggle at the rag-doll physics engine."

It seems that soldiers certainly have mixed views, with some being "disturbed" by the titl??e and some believing it shouldn't be taken so seriously. I guess the only thing it proves is that everybody is different ... which anti-game pundits seem to forget when they say that videogames create killers and warmongers from normal people. 

Military Personnel Comment on Being the Tali?ban in MO?H [Gamrfeed via CVG]

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It looks like realistic warfare (read: dying over and over) is coming back once again to gaming as The Official Xbox Magazine has confirmed that another game in the Operation Flashpoint series is coming out. The game is titled Operation Flashpoint: Red River, a??nd it is has the wide open release date of 2011.

The sequel is looking to take care of many of the issues that Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising had, and OXM explains that the game is looking to be "tighter" and "more focused." Still, the main goal of the seri??es is to deliver a realistic war experience where you can literally die at any time without warning if you aren't playing it like it was real life.

The Operation Flashpoint series ain't really my bag, baby, because I'm the kind of guy who likes to run hea??dfirst into a gun fight with a knife (take that Sean Connery!), but there are plenty of people out there who are down with "strategy" and "thinking" and other lame things like that. For them this has to be good news.

Are you looking forward to this or did you have too many issues with the good, but flawed Dragon Rising?

Operation FlashPoint: Red River is 't??ighter, mor??e focused' than Dragon Rising [CVG, via TVGB]

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_{[Editor's Note: We're not just a (rad) news site -- we also publishopinions/editorials from our community & employees like this one, though be aware that it may not jive with the opinions of Destructoid as a whole, or how our moms raised us. Want to post your own article in response? Publish it now on our community blogs.]}

I am a first-person shooter nut. I’ve played them all -- from GoldenEye 007 to whatever the latest and greatest is. There’s just something really pleasing about hearing my weapon make the pops and pews as I take?? my enemies out.

Needless to say, I got pretty excited when I heard a new Medal of Honor was in the works. The fact that the game takes place in my home country of Afghanistan got me even more hyped. Blow terrorists up? Awesome! America! Football! Hamburgers! Dancing with the Stars!

Then I got my hands on it, and it became a different story. I soon realized?? that this iteration of the franchise allows you to control and role-play as the people responsible for terrorizing my friends’ and family’s homeland, both here and overseas. In the shuffle of an EA press event, a shoulder’s length away from my peers, I just froze looking at the different playable Al-Qaeda characters. It’s funny how we keep feelings in the backs of our minds, and how they can just suddenly app??ear when the situation arises.

In less than a minute of bristling, my mind was made up. I put the c??ontroller down, got up and walked away.

Yeah, it’s just a videogame? -- but for me, it’s more than that. It just hits too close to home. This is an organization that’s terrorized Afghanistan, America and numerous other parts of the world for decades now. To me, playing as Al-Qaeda means I&rsqu??o;m helping the bad guys win.

I’ve never been to Afghanistan, but I have family living there. I know how they’ve been affected during the Taliban’s rule. Anyone who’s read a newspaper in the last ten years knows of ??their injustices and crimes against humanity -- crimes committed under the guise of a view of Islam warped to fit their own twisted needs. It wasn’t until the US invasion in 2001 that things seemed to get better. It’s not puppies and rainbows for the country -- far from it -- but it’s better than it was under the extremist rule, at least. 

Beyond my? Afghan heritage, I cannot bring myself to play a representation of a group of people responsible for the events of September 11. I still remember, clear as day, seeing the second plane crash into the tower live on the news. The footage was so shocking that what I had actually witnessed didn’t even register to me until the following day.

I will defend Electronic Arts’ right to make this game, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. The one saving grace is perhaps the single-player mode, where you play as American forces. Like I said in my preview, playing Medal of Honor will let me get a nerd’s revenge against their bullshit organization. Game aside, these people are very real, and the fact that they are explicitly named is the key distinction as to why I’m so upset by this game. Other terrorist-driven war games, like Modern Warfare 2, don’t cross that line -- they dance a??round as fantasy extremist groups at best.

I’m sure many of my friends will support this game, and I won’t preach against it. I’m just expressing my personal feelings for the game and what it may mean to someone of my similar heritage. Though I’m technically Asian, I won’t be giving the Vietnamese or American soldiers a second thought in Call of Duty: Black Ops, but I’m sure there will be some Vietnamese and American people who will have issues with it, as it will be more than just a game to them. Does that make me a bad guy? Insensitive? I don’t think it does. People of all nationalities have their chords, and this game happens to hit mine. At the end of the day, this is a personal issue that most won’t consider because? the average consumer won’t be in my shoes. I hope you can respect where I’m coming from.

 Still, the question begs: Is ?this fun? Is it ar??t?  Better question -- Is this necessary?

I don’t think it is. For example, the America’s Army games chose to take a different approach. The US Army developed the PC shooter to help train their soldiers. Seeing as this was a training simulator, they didn’t want fellow soldiers to shoot other soldiers. Nor did they want them to play as the enemy. So the solution was that everyone played as the US military but they would see enemies with a made-up foreign military skin. It’s one good solution, one that I wouldn’t mind see put into Medal of Honor. It may not be right for the brand, b??ut it’s an example of one creative idea.

The worst part about all this is that I'm in the middle of an FPS drought until Halo: Reach now. I’ve been off the Modern Warfare 2 horse too long to get back into that and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 just wasn’t able to hold my attention for very long. Perhaps I could still play Medal of Honor, but I’ll just end up griefing the Al-Qaeda team when I&rs??quo;m for??ced to play as them...

Well at the very least, it’s good to know that I haven’t been completely desensitized by violent videogames. With all the time I spend shooting at your moms in Teh Halos??, I was starting to get a ?bit worried I’d lost a little humanity.

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It's the year 2027 and the nuclear powered Korean People's Army have taken over the United States of America. Yes, America is Korea's bitch in THQ's Homefront, but the occupiers are at least thoughtful. ??They've released a pamphlet to help Americans deal with their new overloads.

The viral isn't obviously tied to Homefront but after asking about it on Twitter, a few people clue?d me into what was this was all about. This viral is really well done and it's filled with a ton of propagan?da. One page that really stood out to me states that "We are here to help you. You have suffered. Now we are here. You will become better."

The pamphlet also has a number you can call (888.788.4134) that plays an automated message. There's also a website full of ??the New Korean Federation's propaganda that you can?? check out.

Virals are designed to get people interested in a product and THQ has done a good job of getting me interested. I didn't care about Homefront at all but now I'm interested.

The post THQ sends us creepy Homefront viral appeared first on Destructoid.

You?? know, it's true, for every ten titles of World War II, there is maybe a couple modern fictional military shooters, four "pseudo-realistic" future titles, maybe a Desert Storm game, and if a publisher is feeling particularly adventurous, the Vietnam War. However, not many videogames seem partic??ularly interested in representing the Korean War.

So what do we do? We bring the Russian developer/publisher 1C Company to make a game about Americans in Korea with the tactical title, Theatre of War 2: Korea. It's certainly an interesting company of choice to cover such subject matter, but I'm not one to complain, as long as the game is good. Anyway, we g?ot screenshots for the title, coming out sometime this year.

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Photojournalist Iason Athanasiadis has documented something amazing. It's an arcade in Kabul, Afganhistan, and for the kids and you?ng adults who go there to play it's one of their only es?capes. Most of the children who show up at the arcades are street urchins who may support their entire family by begging. If gaming has ever been an escape from the real world for you, imagine what it means to these kids.

The arcades are scattered around the city, but the one Athansiadis shot in had no sign outside and nothing special inside. All that was there were two rows of arcade machines, some of which were simply computers hooked up to large monitors. And yet one of the children describes the decidedly outdated games like Mortal Kombat as "beatuiful," and ??another says "“I don’t want this game to?? finish, I want to keep on playing forever.”

You can check out the photos over at Tiny Cartridge. And take a second to appreciate how good you've got it,? if you will.

Escaping war zone at the video arcade [Christian Science Monitor, via Tiny Cartridge]

The post This is how they game in Afghanistan appeared first on Destructoid.

Ubisoft has announced that Ghost Recon: Future Soldier will now be coming out in early 2011. The game was slated for a Christmas release but pushed back due to a "very competitive environment" according to Ubisoft CEO, Yves Guillemot. The move will help keep Future Soldier on everyone's radar and gives t??he team more time to work on the game too.

I'm all for this delay. The clusterf*ck that was the major holiday releases of 2008 made the industry realize that spacing out major releases was in the best interest of everyone. Hell, the new Super Mario Galaxy 2 is coming out next week in May of all months!

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier delayed into 'March qua?rter' 2011 [Joystiq]

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You’d think that EA would be doing its best to separate Medal of Honor from the pack in a very crowded first-person shooter market. The team at EA Los Angeles is, indeed, working to make the game stand out, but the experience is ??not likely?? to be the most innovative shooter you’ve ever played. Executive producer Greg Goodrich explained that the intent is to build a highly polished game:

What we’re focusing on is making a g?reat first-person shooter. [If we don’t] put out [a game] that revolutionize[s] the genre, so be it, but we’re?? showing up to do a great game -- a great experience that fans will love.

He went on to express his belief that Medal of Honor will innovate in the way it tells its story, and by including the experiences of a Tier 1 operator, the game is already doing something no other shooter has done. In addition, as seen in the debut teaser trailer, your enemies will? employ “unexpected” and unconventional tactics. “But at the end of the day,” Goodrich told me, “it’s all about making a great shooter, and not necessarily pushing the genre forward.”

That said, the developers are certainly aware of the competition and that the stakes are high, and they’re aiming for the top. &ldqu?o;Nowadays, especially in the shooter genre, if you show up to the table, you have to show up with quality -- you have to show up with a product that’s meant to be at the forefront of this genre,” said Goodrich. “Because if you show up with a product that’s not of quality, you might as well just not show up -- there’s no point.”

For the lowdown on Medal of Honor’??s single-player campaign, check out my full preview, which is going up at 9:20 AM EST.

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When I saw a demo of the single-player campaign from EA’s upcoming Medal of Honor reboot last week, it instantly brought back memories of some of the early entries in the franchise, such as Allied Assault and Frontline. Those games were typically character??ized by a player character who was a one-man army; he turned the tide of World War II seemingly by himself, and it didn’t usually feel realistic.

So I asked Greg Goodrich, the executive producer of Medal of Honor, if the development team at EA Los Angeles is de-??emphasizing the player’s contributions in the new game, and instead putting the gamer’s experi?ence in the context of the greater war effort. Here’s what he told me:

Yeah, a little bit of both, I think. People playing the game [...] wa??nt to feel like the??y make a difference, right? And it comes down to our squadmates -- it comes down to [the player] feeling like they’re just part of the ride, or [that] they’re really affecting this story. [...] And in our narrative, absolutely, the player characters make a difference, and they’re a part of that.

That being said, there’s a whole lot of stuff going on and things happening around you that, at times, you feel, “Wow, I have no control over what’s happening,” in a story sense (not physically in a game sense). But in a story sense, that’s how warfare is, right? It’s like, all this stuff is going on, but besides all that: I’m going home, my buddy’s going home,? and we’re going to get through this. And so that’s the narrative that we’re telling, and hopefully, that&??rsquo;ll come across.

Certainly, there’s a balance between feeling like you’re part of something bigger than yourself, versus going solo on a Rambo-style rampage. And it sounds like there’s more of a team aspect to Medal of Honor than we might have guessed. For further details on how this will play out, stay tuned for my full preview of Medal of Honor, coming up in a few hours.

The post Experience ?the wa??r effort from all sides in Medal of Honor appeared first on Destructoid.

Almost let this one slip past me, to be frank. I know a portion of you guys are way into the Total War games, and with the demo for Napoleon recently going up on Steam (grab it here)??, there's a reason for the rest of us to be a wee bit pumped. Maybe.

I mean, if you were really that into the series, you would already own this latest insta?llment. Right? For me personally, these games always go way over my head and feel overwhelming -?- of course, that was several years back, so I'm speaking in generalities now.

Anyw??ay, enough rambling; the demo's got the Siege of Toulon in addition to ??the Battle of Ligny. My history is more than a little fuzzy, so I ought to seek the aid of one Brad Nicholson and his infinite knowledge of past events.

Napoleon Total War demo released on Steam [Big Download]

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According to a mysterious source, Atomic Games' controversial Six Days in Fallujah has been finished and is ready for release this year. This source has promised that the game will be released as well. Now, if only they could fi?nd a publisher with more balls than Konami ...

"I ?can promise you that ga??me is still coming out and it is finished," claims the source. 

Six Days was torn apart by mainstream media within 48 hours of being ??announced, and Konami chickened out of publishing it because it somehow wasn't prepared for backlash from a game set in Iraq. Hopefully whichever pu?blisher dares to take the game on won't agree to take it on, only to get cold feet later and leave the game hanging. With Activision currently raping Call of Duty up its arse, we could do with another war FPS to take the mantle.

Six Days in Fallujah Finished, Still Coming Out [IGN]

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Electronic Arts has released some previously-print-only Medal of Honor screens to us ?Internet folk, and something's ?missing.

Where's the facial hair? The box art for this re-booted, modern Medal of Honor brought promise of great facial hair, featuring a soldier sporting a killer beard anyone would be proud of. These screens do feature a man with facial hair, but not the man and not the facial hair.

I apologize on behalf of EA, and as a token of good?? faith, am posting the video of "Epic Beard Guy" after the jump. Step up your game, EA. Step it up.

The post Lack of facial hair in new Medal of Honor screens troub?ling appeared first on Destructoid.

During the last console generation, Sniper Elite came out of nowhere and wowed everyone that got their hands on it. It was the most realistic sniping experience on the market at the time but it was extremely hard to find a copy of the game. Seriously, Sniper Elite was called the "Gran Turismo of war games" last-gen.

Sniper Elite is getting revived and will be giving Wii owners the chance to be a sniper in World War II. The game will make full use of motion? controls and will take advantage of the Wii Zapper as well. The game will be out in the next few months over in Europe.

Sniper Elite was a great game for its time, but I'm not so sure that it can live up to today's standards. Maybe being on the Wii will give the game some more realism. Realism as in controls, not graphics. Almost every game on the Wii looks like there's Vaseline smeared on the screen. OH NO HE DIDN'T!!!

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Here's an interesting little fact that doesn't have that much to do with videogames, but just enough to be posted. Saudi Arabia uses videogames as part of its program to reintegrate terrorists in to society. It seems the exact specifics of the program isn't known, but a part of it is indeed gaming related. I'm guessing they don't play that much Call of Duty, but it does raise the question? of what?? it is that they do play.

The U.S. doesn't seem to be too keen on this rehabilitation program, or with Afghanistan ?attempting to adopt it. They cite the fact that some of the participants involved in the program have actually returned to Al-Qaeda, one of which is reportedly a deputy Al-Qaeda in a cell in Yemen. However, one Saudi general defends the program, stating, "We are confident in our system. Part of that is the rehabilitation programme, and when we say that we are considering one thing -- the results we are getting. We are not giving up because a few people decided to go back and share Al-Qaeda activities."

I figure what happens is that they think they've learned to be plumber??s from Mario. Then they try to climb down a pipe and become disenfranchised once again, causing them to return to a life of terrorist activitie?s.

Afghanistan: Hami?d Karzai appeals to Saudi King to mediate with Taliban [The Telegraph, via GamePolitics]

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The kill tally updated again last night -- you'll be glad to hear the soldiers are still ahead. We've managed to expand our lead to a 126,167 kill advantage, but I have a feeling it's going to be neck-and-neck all the way to the finish. Since it's the week?end, I expect we'll see a lot more pla??y, and it's possible the numbers will look totally different by Monday.

To spice things up a bit, Valve's announced a contest. Even if you can't support the troops from the front lines, you can do still it from home by creating a propaganda poster for your favorite class. The winner wi??ll get a special one-of-a-kind item named after them for in game use, runners up will get items and tee-shirts, and, even if you don't place, if Gabe Newell l?ikes your poster enough he'll award kill points to your side on a whim. Hmm...sounds kind of fishy...

You have until Wednesday to get your submissions in. If you aren't artistic (like me), you can instead enjoy the Soldier and Demoman sprays Va??lve created so you can show which side you support.

If you enter the poster contest, make sure you show us your submis?sion in the comments!

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The first day's kill totals are out, and as you can see above, the so?ldier is currently ahead by 99,209 kills. GOOD JOB MEN. Overall, ??there have been 2,681,005 kills between these two classes ALONE in the last 16 hours.

Every server I played on last night was filled with soldiers and demomen going at it. Lots of fun, although I understand the pain of people who just want to get in and play a regular game without eating 8 rockets to the face at once. Oh well, only a week left. There??'s always servers with class limits, right?

No other announcements yet -- I imagine the normal weapon and map reveals will? start on Monday.

??To my soldier brethren: keep fighting the good fig?ht.

The post Team Fortress 2 War Report: Day 1 appeared first on Destructoid.

Videogames: The create murderers. They breed rapists. They warp our children. Now they violate international law and allow gamers to commit heinous war crimes. That's the assertion of two human rights ??organizations, in any case. They conducted what one could kindly call a ludicrously unimportant study to come to their conclus?ions and have managed to prove ... well, nothing.

Trial and Pro Juventute are the two groups who played these games under the guidance of humanitarian lawyers, looking at such games as Army of Two, Call of Duty: World at War, Far Cry 2 and many more. It seems that their only real goal in this study was to piss and moan? about the ??results. Piss and moan they did.

"The practically complete absence of rules or sanctions is ... astonishing," states the study. " ... "[We] call upon game producers to consequently and creatively incorporate rules of international humanitarian law and human rights into their ??games."

Games were chosen over movies thanks to their i??nteractivity, which the study claims blurs the lines between reality and fiction to create a "simulation of real life si??tuations on the battlefield." The report was critical of the fact that characters can be tortured, summary executions can be found and "protected objects" like churches and mosques can be destroyed. Videogames don't wage war according to the Geneva convention, basically.

??This is one?? of the stupidest game-related studies ever.

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If you talk to me regularly, you probably know that I'm a big fan of NPR and listen almost every day. You should too, particularly because they've been seriously discussing video games more and more in the past few months. Yesterday's episode Morning Edition had a great series of interviews with people on both sides of the Six Days in Fallujah drama, and, regardless of your position on the whole controversy, it makes for a very interesting list??en.

In typical NPR fashion, they actually find people who know what they're talking about (developers, other gamemakers, parents of dead soldiers, etc.) and there are some compelling arguments made by both groups. Additionally, it appears they actually got some hands-on time with the game, or at least got a walkthrough, so at the very least it's worth listening to just to find out a little more information about Six Days. I also found the comments on NPR's site to be interesting as well, both because they're not full o?f trolls and idiots, and because there are people who aren't terribly familia?r with video games actually bringing up very interesting points.

While I personally don't believe that the game should be pulled, these interviews definitely gave me a ??bit more insight into how difficult and traumatizing the development, and particularly the mar??keting, of this game can be to people who actually lost loved ones in Fallujah. If anything, no matter whether you believe the game should be published or cancelled, this piece will make you think a bit.

Does this piece make you rethink your positions at all? Where do you stand on the whole thing? Are there some things that shouldn't be made into games simply out of respect for other people, or is this just a well-i??ntentioned but misguided attempt at unnecessary censorship? 

The post NPR talks about the Six Days In Fallujah ??controversy appeared first on Destructoid.

Poor Darksiders: Wrath of War just can't catch a break -- the game's no where near being released (it's slated for August 25), and the general around the internet seems to be that it's just too generic to stand out. After all it's going to have some steep competition from other action titles like God of War 3, Bayonetta (my personal favorite), and Dante's Inferno (a thorn in my side). To make matters worse, Vigil Games' general manager David Adams has been bandying around the fact that it freely takes "elements from other games we love," and art director Han Randhawa has said that "War [the game's protagonist] is just a classic character - ?the embodiment of pretty much every other character out there."

Woops. Maybe Vigil Games should hire a publicist or a?? marketing d?epartment.

But a little enthusiasm and optimism never hurt anyone, and I think Darksiders could very well turn out to be an engaging action game in its own right, even if it does??n't win any awards for innovation. At the very least, the concept is fantastic -- you play as War, one of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse, as he tries to restore some order to Earth after a premature Doom's Day. It's War's job to find the other three Horsemen and figure out whose idea it wa?s to have the Apocalypse without sending a memo around first.

As much as I'm fascinated by anything eschatological, and as badass as Darksiders sounds, I can't help but feel a twinge of regret at not being able to play as Famine or Pestilence. Darksiders features some spell-slinging, and I'm sure I could make good use of??  "Distended Tummy" or "Bl??eed out of your Eyes and Anus" magic.

Anyway, hit the jump for a new story trailer, and you can head over to Gametrailers for some new gameplay footage. 

The post New Darksiders trailer may be generic,?? but it gets my vote appeared first on Destructoid.

The whole cancellation of Six Days in Fallujah has got me immensely pissed off and made me want to rant my head off about how games should be more then just random shooting and should really try to approach real life issues and stories. However, when I rant it sort of goes on a little long and the current opus is still under development. Thankfully, CEO of Atomic Games, developer of Six Days, Peter Tamte is far more succinct and has summed up my feelings on the subject very well in a recent article where he discussed the game's cancellation.

"Are we really just high-tech toymakers, or are we media companies capable of producing content that is as relevant as movies, music and television," he asked after noting that almost every medium except gaming has grown through confronting current events and?? being topical. Of course that statement raises plenty of questions about interactivity and what it means to take on the roll of real people, but I am forcing myself to digress.

Tamte also claims that it is the Marines that Atomic Games grew to know by designing serious games for the US Marine Corp that inspired the gam??e. "This is what brought us close to many of the Marines who fought in Fallujah," Tamte said. "After they got back from Fallujah, these Marines asked us to tell their story. They asked us to tell their story through the most relevant medium of the day -- a medium they use the most -- and th??at is the video game."

You've got to wonder if this is what the Marines? wanted why Konami chicke?ned out. I guess they just like making me really annoyed by the current state of games. Damn you Konami!

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