Game of the Month: February Which game will reign supreme in the shortest month of the year. Shadowrun Developer Speaks Pioneering the cross-platform game "was wildly expensive", says studio manager.

Speculation began to arise internally about a Command and Conquer Renegade sequel seeing that the EALA studio is primarily known for RTS titles and Crysis is a next generation FPS engine. After discussing this with an EALA employee who wishes to not be named, it was stated that there is an extremely high chance that Electronic Arts' LA studio will be developing a new FPS Command and Conquer title for the PC.

New Faces at 3D Realms 01:16 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Action (6 comments)
Duke4.net notes some recent additions to the Duke Nukem Forever team:

Raphael Van Lierop, who worked on the hugely acclaimed Company of Heroes, is now the creative director of 3D Realms, and spends his time working on "very cool shit." Ralph "3.0" claims responsiblity for helping out 3DR CEO Scott Miller with expanding the number of third party games planned by the company.

Apparently, 3D Realms' newest tradmark application is for "Earth No More."

Poll: Your Gaming Platform of Choice? 03:00 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: General News (27 comments)
This week's VE poll asks, Your Gaming Platform of Choice? Vote on your right! Choices range from a new fangled PC, to various next and last-gen console systems, plus even a Mac. If you play more than one system, just pick your favorite, most used platform.

Here are the results of last week's poll:

Age of Conan vs Warhammer Online
Age of Conan [1559 votes]
Warhammer Online [953 votes]

Microsoft Triples Xbox Live! Limits 01:48 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Consoles: Xbox 360 (10 comments)
Microsoft is raising the download size limit on Xbox Live! to 150 megs, which just happens coincide with its new 512 meg memory sticks.

At the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2007, Microsoft Corp. today announced plans to launch a 512MB Memory Unit for the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system and an increase in the official size limit of Xbox LIVEŽ Arcade games from 50 MB to 150 MB.

The 512MB Memory Unit, available worldwide beginning April 3, 2007, will retail for an estimated retail price of $49.99 (U.S.) in North America.* The 512MB Memory Unit will be pre-loaded with the hit Xbox LIVE Arcade game "Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved" from developer Bizarre Creations Ltd. for a limited time. The original 64MB Memory Unit will simultaneously drop in price from $39.99 to $29.99 (ERP).*

Eight times larger than the 64MB Memory Unit, the 512MB Memory Unit will provide Xbox 360 owners with vastly expanded storage capabilities for gaming on the go, allowing gamers to easily store and transport their gamer profile and save game data, Xbox LIVE Arcade games and Xbox LIVE Marketplace content. The 512MB Memory Unit also gives Xbox 360 owners the ability to download exclusive content from any of the 45,000 Xbox 360 kiosks accessible at retail outlets worldwide.

Beginning today, the Xbox LIVE Arcade game size limit has increased from 50 MB to 150 MB, giving developers greater flexibility in game design and expanding the opportunity to add advanced game features while still keeping games compact.

"The new size limit offers developers increased flexibility and continued opportunities for innovative game development, while also ensuring that the millions of gamers on Xbox LIVE can continue to easily access, download and play all Xbox LIVE Arcade games on Xbox 360," said Chris Early, product unit manager for Xbox LIVE Arcade and Microsoft Casual Games at Microsoft. "If you take a look at current games like 'Roboblitz' and 'Small Arms,' it's clear that our developers deliver amazing game experiences within a compact size limit. Our focus is on continuing to provide developers with an environment that allows for the creation of cost-efficient games and that nurtures an artistic and creative approach to game development."

"As we prepare to launch our first Xbox LIVE Arcade game, 'Boom Boom Rocket,' we're able to see how dynamic and creative this platform is," said Chip Lange, vice president of Online Commerce for Electronic Arts Inc. (EA). "Having 'Wing Commander Arena' on Xbox LIVE Arcade allows us to take full advantage of the online play and bring to life a 16-player online arcade experience that delivers unparalleled arcade action."

Hardware & Tech Nuggets 01:38 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - hardware: General News (0 comments)

Audio

• Razer Barracuda HP-1 headsets - T-Break

  Boards
  

• Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 965P Express - PC Stats

  Cases
  

• In Win Alpha 360 Computer Case - Tweaknews
• SliverStone Lascala 17 HTPC Case - Modders-Inc

  Cooling
  

• GIGABYTE 3D Galaxy II Liquid Cooling System - Virtual-Hideout
• Thermalright Ultra 120 - Anandtech

  CPU
  

• Five desktop quad-core solutions compared - Tech Report

  Memory
  

• OCZ PC2 7200 Gold XTC - AMDZone

  Mice
  

• Razer DeathAdder Gaming Mouse - XYZ Computing

  Power Supply
  

• Mushkin 650 Watt - Overclockers Club

  Systems
  

• Gateway FX530XG Gaming PC - [H]

  Video
  

• Foxconn 8800 GTX Graphics Card - Bjorn3D
• MSI 8800GTS-320MB OC Edition - T-Break
• Sapphire Radeon X1950 GT - HotHardware
• Sapphire X1050 and X1550 - TechAge

Game Reviews 01:28 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: General News (0 comments)

PC

• Sam & Max: Episode 4, Abe Lincoln Must Die! - PC.IGN - 8/10
• Sam & Max Episode 4: Abe Lincoln Must Die - Tweaktown - 8/10
• Supreme Commander - Play.tm - 88%
• Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - Play.tm - 81%

  PS3
  

• Gundam Musou - Gamebrink - 74%

  PS2
  

• Burnout Dominator - PS2.IGN - 8/10

  DS
  

• Wario: Master of Disguise - DS.IGN - 6/10

  Mobile
  

• Project Gotham Racing Mobile 3D - Wireless.IGN - 8.5/10

In Other News... 01:17 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - In-House: In Other News... (46 comments)
R.I.P. Starbuck? I guess we'll find out her fate on the next episode of General Hospital Battlestar Galactica.

Today's question is from Zoomba4, who asks:

Which would you rather have, a game with a strong singleplayer element (story, campaign etc.) but limited/no multiplayer, or one with a bare-bones singleplayer (sandbox mode, multiplayer game with bots instead of humans etc) and a more robust multiplayer experience?

Geforce 8800 Ultra? Plus new Vista Drivers 03:06 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - hardware: General News (5 comments)
The guys at VR-Zone noticed that NVIDIA included notes in its latest Vista beta driver release (32-bit, 64-bit) that mention a Geforce 8800 Ultra. What makes it so ultra isn't known yet, but speculation is that it will be released around the same time as ATI's R600. Thanks B3D.

Supreme Commander Patch 03:00 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Real-Time Strategy (7 comments)
Logging into GPG.net will treat you to a new update for Supreme Commander. Some patch highlights include: blue screen 'o death fixes, SecuROM check disabled, a MP Exploit Enhancement System, mini-UI tweaks, and more.

Modders Get Ready for Crysis 02:45 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Action (0 comments)
Obsidian Edge has an interview with Crytek about modding for Crysis. Some swanky CryEngine 2 screenshots are included.

With Far Cry, you made it clear that you wanted to support modding on your engine and it set new standards in easy modding with the intuitive yet incredibly powerful Sandbox editor. What have you learned from the Far Cry experience with mods, and what if any changes can we expect?

People were really grateful for the tools we provided for Far Cry modding. Since the community was not that big it was not easy for teams to find enough potential modders. Also the acceptance of mods in the community was not as high as expected. Many good mods have been released, but only few of them have been played constantly. It was not a matter of qualify of the mods, but something we had to improve in Crysis. The whole modding structure for Far Cry was good in general, but lacked quick provision of SDK, steady update, had compatibility issues and was not too easy to use for our customers. This is definitely going to be changed for Crysis, so everyone can access mods much easier.

BioShock Big Daddy Movie 02:42 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Action / Roleplaying (12 comments)
TTLG has a new "Hunting the Big Daddy" trailer for BioShock. Big Daddies are those big dudes in the giant deep water divings suits. Thanks Christopher.

Valve Weekly Update 02:38 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - Games: Action (0 comments)
This week's Steam update talks about voicecom support, Left 4 Dead and Eternal Silence:

We'll be releasing an update soon to both text chat and voice communication in the Source Engine that will improve communication for people in multiplayer games. We've completely rebuilt the text chat system, adding the ability to browse your chat history right in the chat window and a filter to remove messages that clutter your game screen. Voice communication will be getting a huge boost in quality, so if you have a microphone sitting on the corner of your desk collecting dust, now would be a good time to plug it back in.

In Other News... 02:22 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - In-House: In Other News... (10 comments)
So, how's that weekend coming along? It looks like we have some interesting new releases coming up this week. GRAW 2 is hitting stores after an extremely short development cycle. It's pretty crazy how fast Ubisoft can crank that Tom Clancey stuff out. We also have Titan Quest: Immortal Throne, so that should be fun too. It looks like a pretty beefy xpack.

Today's Sunday question:

Have any suggestions for some questions of the day this week?