http://www.thetechlounge.com Recent News: Software en-us Sat, 7 Nov 2009 21:22:54 -0600 Sat, 7 Nov 2009 21:22:54 -0600 Software news Copyright 2009, TheTechLounge, Inc. 60 http://www.thetechlounge.com/templates/thetechlounge/images/88x31_ttl.png http://www.thetechlounge.com 88 31 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13947/Free-Planescape-Torment/ "Just picked up from Richard Cobbett’s twitter, it appears that Interplay are re-releasing Planescape Torment. Its release date is listed as the 30th October and the price is a – not-much-change-from-the-nature-of-twenty-quid – 17.99 of your Earth pounds. In fact, it appears to be a whole load of Interplay other material too. It’s a surprise to see a decade-old game released at a mid-range price… but it’s also one that I find hard to argue against. A game that’s still placing high in all-time lists, that’s been unavailable for years, that goes for full-price when it turns up on eBay a...]]> Recent News: Software Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:04:16 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13947/Free-Planescape-Torment/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13942/Windows-Windows-Everywhere/ "It's not often that the two most popular operating systems get major updates so close to each other, so we couldn't resist throwing them into a cage match together. Already we can hear some of you screaming that Snow Leopard isn't a major update--we know this one's personal! But is Windows 7 nothing more than "Vista done right"? " Windows 7 - Part 1: Introduc...]]> Recent News: Software Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:34:19 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13942/Windows-Windows-Everywhere/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13941/Modern-Warfare-Sucks-All-of-the-Suddenly/ "More than 60,000 supporters thus far have shown up to petition for dedicated "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" servers following Infinity Ward's confirmation over the weekend that it would use a player-to-player matchmaking system, much like what's used for Xbox Live and PSN play. The program, called IWnet, provoked responses from PC server supporters, eventually resulting in the petition directed toward Infinity Ward. "Get Infinity Ward to review their decision not to allow fully dedicated servers for their forthcoming game release 'CoD:MW2," the petition, titled "D...]]> Recent News: Software Mon, 19 Oct 2009 23:58:49 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13941/Modern-Warfare-Sucks-All-of-the-Suddenly/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13938/Germans-Destroying-Video-Games/ "A German advocacy group has organized an event designed to get participants to bring their “killer games” to in order to dispose of them in a trash can. Aktionsbündnis Amoklauf Winnenden, or Action Alliance (loosely translated), has setup the event for this Saturday, October 17 in front of the Stuttgart State Opera. One game tosser will win a signed jersey from the German national soccer team. No word on what will be done with the “donated” games, but presumably they will be smashed or discarded in some way." Doesn't anyone see the issue here? A group of Germans gettin...]]> Recent News: Software Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:54:38 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13938/Germans-Destroying-Video-Games/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13925/Left-4-Dead-2-Headed-Down-Under/ "Australia's long nation nightmare of maybe not being able to play Left 4 Dead 2 may soon be over, as the government's media ratings board has apparently issued the zombie shooter a rating of MA-15+. That would essentially mean an end to the "ban" on Valve's PC and Xbox 360 sequel and translate into "good news" for our Survivor friends down under. No word yet on whether Valve's appeal was successful and/or if the company had to submit the edited version of the game for the Australian release." What you thought was a distant sucking noise was the sound of a...]]> Recent News: Software Wed, 7 Oct 2009 19:54:04 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13925/Left-4-Dead-2-Headed-Down-Under/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13924/Mickey-Frightens-Me-Enough-as-it-Is/ "Now that the cat is out of the bag and Disney Epic Mickey has been revealed to the world, we thought it would be a great time to explore the world of Warren Spector. No, not the dark, shadowy world gamers are used to. The world that Spector has been living in his whole life. From birth, he was destined to work in the Magic Kingdom. From wearing mouse ears at just a year old to owning a second house filled with rare memorabilia, it’s safe to say that Disney is in his blood. With the formation of Junction Point, Spector has been handed the task of reimaging the most recognized carto...]]> Recent News: Software Tue, 6 Oct 2009 23:58:36 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13924/Mickey-Frightens-Me-Enough-as-it-Is/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13923/KOTOR-2-Completed-Well-Complete-in-Beta/ "The Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords Restored Content project has entered open beta after years of development. Instructions and download locations can be found on the Deadly Stream forum (spotted by EG reader Garthy). The Restored Content project - as the name suggests - aims to reinstate much of the lost content found on the KOTOR2 disc but not in the game itself. The one year that developer Obsidian had to make a bigger and better sequel simply wasn't enough - that much was apparent at review." Well, I was sorta hoping that Team Gizka wou...]]> Recent News: Software Tue, 6 Oct 2009 23:46:15 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13923/KOTOR-2-Completed-Well-Complete-in-Beta/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13912/Japans-Gaming-Future-Nuked-Like-a-Fridge/ "Keiji InafuneThis is probably not the message you would want coming out at the end of the giant industry trade show that's supposed to be glorifying your native talents, but at the Tokyo Game Show earlier this week, Capcom's Keiji Inafune (creator of Mega Man and Dead Rising) shared his starkly damning assessment of the Japanese games industry: "it's finished." The comments were made during an event showing off Dead Rising 2 (via Destructoid), where Inafune asked the attendees for their honest opinions of what they had seen at the show so far. Then, he shared his ow...]]> Recent News: Software Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:53:01 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13912/Japans-Gaming-Future-Nuked-Like-a-Fridge/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13900/Hot-ODST-on-ODST-Action/ "Only Bungie can get away with throwing a random string of letters after their game's name. Halo 3: ODST? Overdose street? Outdoor, sexually transmitted? Oddest? Of course, the Halo faithful know ODST stands for "orbital drop shock trooper" and everyone else eats up all things Halo, no matter how overpriced they are, much less the letters and numerals on the box. ODST is a sure-fire success. It's also a disappointment." Firefight mode single-handedly saves Halo 3: ODST "There are no long hallways and there is no t...]]> Recent News: Software Mon, 21 Sep 2009 23:28:14 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13900/Hot-ODST-on-ODST-Action/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13892/Speaking-of-Steam/ "The LucasArts comeback wagon just keeps on rolling. It is a wagon laden with wondrous games both old and new, designed to trick us into falling in love with the computeryvideotasticgames arm of the George Lucas Empire all over again, even though it used to keep us locked in the cellar and whipped us with the metal end of its belt on a daily basis. It’s a deception few will grumble about, however. The revisiting of its back catalogue on download services (specifically, Steam and Direct2Drive) continues with the announcement that the Jedi Knight shooter/lightsaber series will fetch up ...]]> Recent News: Software Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:44:18 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13892/Speaking-of-Steam/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13886/BattleZone-II-Patch-13-Beta-Available-Ten-Years-Later/ "This took me by gentle surprise: ongoing fan patching of Pandemic’s seminal but rarely namedropped 1999 RTS/FPS/tank ‘em up Battlezone II. While it’s admittedly an acquired taste, it’s one of those games I regularly bust out whenever I feel a spot of joystick nostalgia, alongside Crimson Skies and Mechwarrior 4. The unofficial 1.3 patch for what was once an infamously buggy affair was originally created by two Pandemic chaps, and they’ve continued to update it even as they spend their day working on other games. Ten years on from the game’s release, patch 1.3 beta 5.1 (crivens) has j...]]> Recent News: Software Tue, 8 Sep 2009 23:49:09 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13886/BattleZone-II-Patch-13-Beta-Available-Ten-Years-Later/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13884/Section-8-Interviewed/ ""You have these people who like play different roles. Like the sniper. He's going to climb to the top of the water tower, put down his claymore mines, and pull out his sniper rifle. He's going to protect that control point over there. That's his mission. But what sometimes ends up happening is that nobody goes to the control point. He didn't get to play the game he wanted to play. And now his team is pissed off at him for it. Or what about the engineer? You see these bridges you can blow up, so you're like, "Oh, man, I'm the engineer, so I'm going t...]]> Recent News: Software Mon, 7 Sep 2009 23:36:00 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13884/Section-8-Interviewed/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13862/Delayed-Schmayed-Heres-More-SC-Goodness/ "The single-player game is no longer a linear, mission-to-mission affair. You'll be given different hubs that allow you to click on people and items in order to gain understanding about the game world, and pick and choose which missions you would like to tackle. "These hubs operate in a similar fashion to briefing rooms from games like Wing Commander or X-Wing, but with an even greater degree of interaction," Shacknews explains. "You can talk to characters, interact with and examine various items in the environments, upgrade your units, and start up missions." Successfully comple...]]> Recent News: Software Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:27:22 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13862/Delayed-Schmayed-Heres-More-SC-Goodness/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13861/Action-EvE-to-Use-One-Unverse-PC-Console/ "In a surprise GDC Europe announcement, CCP CEO Hilmar Petursson has debuted Dust 514, a strategic first-person console MMO that connects in to the existing EVE Online universe, allowing ground battles for planets to be fought by console teams. The announcement, with the trailer tagline of "one universe, one war," came at the end of a talk about the history of CCP. It left many GDC Europe keynote attendees -- perhaps expecting an announcement for World Of Darkness, CCP's other rumored project -- significantly surprised. The trailer, with slick in-game graphics, showcased a ...]]> Recent News: Software Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:18:06 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13861/Action-EvE-to-Use-One-Unverse-PC-Console/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13857/Yay-Hats-No-One-Plays-Soldier-Anyway/ "As brought to our attention by Destructoid community blogger thefil, Team Fortress 2's next big class update ... isn't an actual class update. Instead, we are getting hats, glorious hats! They are coming in all shapes and sizes, and there will be eighteen of them for you to cherish. There is even a new arena map on the way, "Offblast," which revolves around a missile silo lovingly packed into a mountain. But not just any mountain, oh no, we have reason to believe it's an evil mountain. Scream. " It just goes to show how desperate people are for the rest of thi...]]> Recent News: Software Fri, 14 Aug 2009 19:30:45 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13857/Yay-Hats-No-One-Plays-Soldier-Anyway/