This is probably just my tinfoil hat talking, but GameStop doing this feels like an intentional slight against Stardock’s Impulse service. Anyone who buys Demigod at retail will shortly have their eyeballs on a competitor’s store, as the game requires Impulse activation. Customers bringing the game home and attempting to activate could have hit a brick wall and been left with half a game. This would have no doubt sullied their attitude toward the service. Fortunately, Stardock was on the ball and that didn’t happen; the game’s release was moved up a day.

After what was probably the cruelest April Fool’s joke to come from the games industry just a few weeks ago, Microids has officially announced – fo’ reals this time – plans to develop Syberia 3. It seems Sony could impede their ability to turn a profit, however.

Please forgive the GameSpotness, but they got the interview. Ugh. Anyway, lots of interesting info in here. Particularly a video that I hadn’t seen elsewhere, kind of a tech demo from inside Rage. Also, word of some as-of-yet-unannounced games that will debut at E3. So far we know about Wolfenstein, Doom 4, Rage, and Quake Live (still technically in BETA). Could it be Quake V?

This game looks like great fun. I’m surprised to see another PC/PSN game, we don’t see many of those. I think the last one was Everyday Shooter. Trine’s from the same developer that made Shadowgrounds, so here’s hoping its multiplayer isn’t local-only too.

The big surprise of the week for me wasn’t Will Wright “leaving” EA or the surfacing of Assassin’s Creed 2. No, it was the announcement of a new Painkiller game. Though it isn’t being made by the original game’s developer People Can Fly (who are now owned by Epic Games), it’s hard to imagine that a team (albeit one with no trackrecord to speak of ) using the same tech and the same gameplay framework could go wrong. Add co-op to the mix, and I’m on board.

Here in this video is an invaluable look at what id Software was like in 1993. Doom development was wrapping up with sound creation and performance optimization. It’s surreal to watch this video with the knowledge of what the shotgun will really sound like while watching John Romero play with placeholder sounds from Wolf 3D SNES. They had no idea yet.

I purchased Mount & Blade during its Steam sale some weeks ago, but I still haven’t tried it out. So although I still haven’t played any of their games, Paradox is a publisher / development house whose games I’ve kept an eye on. There’s just something about them that screams “PC”.

Tim Schafer spills the beans on his Legend most Brutal. Very disappointed that no PC version was mentioned; Brutal Legend will be Tim’s first game without one — for now, that is. This is a two part interview; the second half is here.

Meta.

Check the source link on the BigDownload post, there is a PDF of the PC Gaming Alliance’s 2008 report. It’s clear that the PC as a gaming platform is expanding (not shifting) to reach new people with the casual games market and MMOs. Knowing that the platform brings in more revenue anually than any other single gaming platform from Sony, Microsoft or even Nintendo ($11 billion world-wide – $6 billion in the USA and Western Europe) is some comforting information.

Though Joystiq neglected to mention it (despite the information being in the press release they link to), Max Payne 3 isn’t being made by Remedy (the developers of the original game and its sequel), but by Rockstar Vancouver instead. Max Payne 3 will be their first new game since shipping Bully for the Playstation 2 in 2006 (they’re credited with Scholarship Edition for 360 & PC, but I think those were outsourced to other Rockstar developers, for the most part).

I think this may be the first gameplay footage we’ve gotten. While most games press seems pretty excited for this game, I’ve remained skeptical. I’ve been burned so many times in the past by Batman games. Although I can’t figure out why there’s so many gargoyles hanging off the walls inside the Asylum, the gameplay does look fun and, dare I say, unique.

Classy.

All indie games are 33% off on Steam this weekend, many of which have been featured here at DoSu. Pro tip: buy AudioSurf!

Wonderful video here, an obvious homage to “Where The Hell Is Matt?“. It’s hard to believe that it has been ten years since I first played EverQuest. I spent about four years in that game before moving on, but it’s still the most memorable gaming time I’ve had, and I came out of it with many friends with whom I still play games to this day.

Lots of new info and some in-game footage of Alpha Protocol in this episode. It’s sounding like everything I hoped it would be: like Mass Effect, but with spies!

Speaking of Mass Effect, it looks like PC will be getting the sequel at the same time as the Xbox 360 this time around. In 2010.

Dude, yes!

I didn’t see this news bit get much circulation, but it seems Capcom has spilled the beans about when the PC versions of several upcoming games will be coming out relative to their console versions. Most notably, it seems that Dead Rising 2 may not be coming to PC at the same time as Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, as I had feared.

Depending who you ask, Rage is coming out this year… but it’s really not. There was some confusion over this interview that Geoff Keighley conducted with Todd Hollenshead during D.I.C.E. last week. Many people thought that Todd said “No, we’ll be out this year” when questioned about their targeted release window for Rage. In fact, he said “No, we won’t be out this year”. I happened to hear right the first time, but had to double check myself when several items in my RSS reader reported the contrary.

The finest trailer I’ve seen in a very long time came out this week. It’s up there with “that Gears of War trailer” and Grand Theft Auto IV Trailer 2.

GameTap is going through some major changes, mostly for the better from what I’ve gleaned from these blog posts. The GameTap client can serve as something of a hurdle for people. The ability to use shortcuts or launch from a website will make things much more accessible.

As for the changes, the main link above will give you a high-level description of what will be happening. These supplementary links are to blog posts that give more specific information on how games will download and play, what will happen to your current save states, and new subscription plans. Pay special attention to the subscription post if you’re a current or potential subscriber. I recommend signing up, as I have, for the $60 annual billing so that you lock your account in before the deadline.

I’ve always been more of a Quake man, but I can definitely appreciate what Unreal Tournament has brought to the table. Partly due to its sub-par server browser and interface but mostly due to its lack of a playerbase, I haven’t been able to get into UT3. That all seems to be fixed with Patch 4 and the Titan Pack. They both fix, change, and add a ton of stuff — maybe even an ass-ton. Check the link and decide for yourself. Also check out the new Betrayal mode. It takes one of my favorite things in the world – Instagib – and puts a fun twist on it.

I’ve found that reading these novel tie-ins greatly enhances my experience with the video games. For example, reading Mass Effect: Revelation before playing Mass Effect made me very familiar with the races and key locations in the galaxy, as well as some backstory on the antagonist’s agenda. I also have a greater appreciation for the Halo universe since reading The Fall of Reach. For these reasons, and the reasons mentioned earlier this week, I’m excited to get this Dragon Age fiction into my hands and then into my brain.

It’s about time. For a while there it seemed like EA didn’t want my money, what with the way they didn’t put Burnout on Steam.