Microsoft Announces Games On Demand For Windows

For now, I’m in favor of this. Although Microsoft’s efforts with the Games For Windows Live software have done little but bring the Xbox experience to PC gamers, so have Valve’s efforts with Steamworks and Modern Warfare 2. And if anyone’s capable of muscling some marketshare away from Steam, it’s Microsoft.

Direct2Drive: Recent Digital Distribution Market Estimates ‘Misinformation At Best’

I was skeptical of Stardock’s claims as well. It makes sense to me that, based on seniority alone, Direct 2 Drive’s marketshare would be larger than Impulse’s. But is Impulse’s share really so small that it doesn’t even chart?

Quake III Is All Growed Up

Happy 10th Birthday to my second favorite game of all time.

Report: CTF Pioneer Threewave Software Lays Off, Reorganizes

This story originally reported that Threewave was to shut down, and I’m glad to see that’s not the case. I have no affinity for their recent games, but I was an avid Threewave CTF player in Quake 3. I would hate to see them simply run out of work.

Star Wars: The Old Republic getting two novel tie-ins

I’ve read four novels based on BioWare games and haven’t been disappointed yet, but I may skip these. Maybe. Okay, probably not.

Medal of Honor Reboots In Modern Day Afghanistan

I’ve never played a Medal of Honor game, but bully to EA for the timing of this announcement.

Full Circle: Bitmob Joins New EGM

And Area 5, too. I hope this relaunch works out; I’ve gotten nothing but bad vibes from the idea of it until now.

2,500 Modern Warfare 2 cheaters banned on PC

To clarify, these same bans (in addition to server-specific bans) could have still happened with dedicated servers.

Brink has blinked; game delayed from spring to fall 2010

There’s nothing remarkable about this post except that the headline is ridiculous. But do check out all this Brink gameplay footage.

Palette-Swap Ninja is a music duo composed of Dan Amrich and Jude Kelley that creates video game-themed parodies of popular songs. The song featured below, Learn To Spell, is a parody of the song Gives You Hell by The All-American Rejects. The rest of Dan and Jude’s songs are available for free at PaletteSwapNinja.com.

How PC gamers can be heard (hint: not by threats of piracy)

Ben offers some advice that I can agree with: vote with your dollar, and don’t be a hypocrite. I also agree that piracy is not a valid way to protest. But it’s not enough for gamers alone to take a more effective stance against game makers, and joining an advocacy group won’t solve anything. To really spur change, the press needs to come around as well, as Ben has attempted to here.

Blizzard removes skill trees from Diablo III

I rather liked that Torchlight didn’t have skill trees. It made me a lot less stressed out about picking skills during the early levels.

Resident Evil 5 DLC Not Planned for PC

Were it not for this news, I would have bought Resident Evil 5 during Impulse’s Thanksgiving sale. I’m thankful for Shacknews for saving me money.

New Game Day: Tropico 3

Adding Tropico 3 only a month after its release is a quick turnaround for GameTap. More publishers should follow Kalypso’s lead.

Cancelled Pandemic Title…[Not Cancelled, Now Announced]

It’s good that not everyone at Pandemic lost their job last week, and that their projects will continue at EALA. It’s also good to see that some of those who did lose their jobs have been able to find closure.

Datel sues Microsoft, wants its Xbox 360 market back

Good luck, guys. I mean it; I grew up using third-party memory cards in my consoles. They’re cheaper, they work just as well, and they come in wacky colors and capacities.

Here Is A Pun: Time Crysis

So cool:

Pandemic staff confirm studio’s closure

I don’t understand how EA can shut down a studio mere weeks before they ship a game. The Saboteur looks interesting, but its release is irreparably tainted by this news.

PC Gaming Alive and Thriving, No Slowdowns in Sight

Hooray for that.

Stardock Reveals Impulse, Steam Market Share Estimates

Stardock estimates that Impulse has 10% marketshare against Steam’s 70%, while Direct 2 Drive, GamersGate, and other services split the remaining 20%. 10% for Impulse feels generous, but assuming it’s accurate, I wonder how their marketshare will be fairing now that the Steam-exclusive Modern Warfare 2 has shipped. With MW2, Counter-Strike, Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress, and Day of Defeat, Valve controls most of the PC’s multiplayer FPS market. Consider supporting the competition, people.

Infinity Ward: Modern Warfare 2 PC already outselling Call of Duty 4

Speak of the devil…

Kotick Sells More Activision Shares, Gains $17 Million

…and his pal Judas.

Call of Duty to get paid-for online services

Such as first-party dedicated servers?

Dragon Age ‘Return to Ostagar’ DLC Announced

I’ve spent over 50 hours playing Dragon Age, and frankly, I can’t wait to throw more money at more content.

Phoenix Wright set to rise on WiiWare in 2010

This sounded really cool until I read that one of the cases from the DS version will be excluded. What gives?

Mass Effect 2 gets new box art design

I feel silly for discussing box art, but people have been pretty down on this new Mass Effect 2 cover. Although they still have a planet/moon in the background that seems inappropriately close, I prefer this new cover to the old one. It reminds me of the covers of cheesy Sci-Fi paperbacks — in a good way.

Kane & Lynch 2 “Bowling for Shanghai” Teaser

I’m not ashamed to say that I enjoyed Kane & Lynch. They’re on the right track with the movie by casting Bruce Willis as Kane, and I’m digging the style they’re establishing for Kane & Lynch 2 with these teasers.

Writer: Jason Aaron
Illustrator: Tony Moore
Genre: Superhero
Publisher: Marvel Comics

The Caretaker is dead, his granddaughter has taken up his mantle, and Johnny Blaze has had a revelation: he is not a weapon of Hell, but of Heaven. He is an agent of the rogue angel Zadkiel, as are his brother Danny Ketch and the other Spirits of Vengeance. Despite their intervention, Zadkiel and his host have sieged Heaven, sending reverberations felt throughout the world. Following their battle with the Divine, Blaze, Ketch, and the new Caretaker have parted ways, and the stories in Ghost Rider: Trials and Tribulations follows each of them as they try to find their way alone.

It’s rare that I buy the collected edition of any story arc, much less one from a main-universe on-going book from Marvel or DC, but Trials and Tribulations includes Ghost Rider #35, my favorite single issue of 2009. I have all of the issues, but the collected edition makes it easier to revisit Tony Moore’s twisted art and the brash swagger of Jason Aaron’s writing.

EA Announces Increased Net Loss, Confirms 1,500 Layoffs

Such news as this is never easy to hear. Rumors have emerged which suggest that the layoffs affect about a dozen projects at Pandemic, Black Box, Redwood Shores, Tiburon, Mythic, and Maxis.

EA confirms $300m Playfish acquisition

Wait, didn’t you just–

EA: ‘No Coincidence’ That Layoffs, PlayFish Buy Emerged Simultaneously

Oh. Carry on, then. Jerks.

Torchlight Editor Released

Now, go forth and recreate Diablo. Hellfire edition — the one with the monk. This shouldn’t take as long as Baldur’s Gate to recreate, so I’ll check back in 2013.

Big surprise: Modern Warfare 2 already hacked

It’s cool, just call a votekick or have the server admin ban him.

Modern Warfare 2 on Fox & Friends

People losing their jobs is the worst, but this Fox video about the scene in Modern Warfare 2 is a close second for “worst thing that happened this week.” It handily beats the thing about Bobby Kotick getting richer that I (almost) omitted from this post. It’s too bad that the /Gamer guy choked, but I’m not sure it would have made a difference had he not.