Microsoft's New Boku Game Design Project

Although not exactly a PC game, I thought this was pretty interesting anyway. Boku is a new visual programming language, currently in development by Microsoft Research, that will allow users to easily create video games visually through the use of icons.

Key Features:

Boku provides an end-to-end creative environment for designing, building, and playing your own new games.

* High level language incorporates real-world primitives: collision, color, and vision.
* Runs on XBox 360 and PC
* Interactive terrain editor
* Bridge and path builder
* Terrain editor - create worlds of arbitrary shape and size
* 20 different characters with different abilities
* Built-in sharing and rating

Grand Theft Auto 4 PC System Requirements

Rockstar is bringing the newest iteration of its flagship series Grand Theft Auto to a personal computer near you. They have added many new graphical improvements over it's console counterparts. To take advantage of these upgrades you will need the recommended requirements at least but it should run fine with the minimum specs.

They are as follows:

Minimum System Requirements

* OS: Windows Vista - Service Pack 1 / XP - Service Pack 3
* Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8Ghz, AMD Athlon X2 64 2.4Ghz
* Memory: 1.5GB, 16GB Free Hard Drive Space
* Video Card: 256MB NVIDIA 7900 / 256MB ATI X1900

Recommended System Requirements

* OS: Windows Vista - Service Pack 1 / XP - Service Pack 3
* Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz, AMD Phenom X3 2.1Ghz
* Memory: 2 GB (Windows XP) 2.5 GB (Windows Vista)
* 18 GB Free Hard Drive Space
* Video Card: 512MB NVIDIA 8600 / 512MB ATI 3870

Best Selling Video Games Oct 12-18

1. Spore
2. World of Warcraft: Battle Chest
3. Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy
4. Warhammer Online: Age Of Reckoning
5. The Sims 2 Apartment Life Expansion Pack
6. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe
7. Civilization IV: Colonization
8. World Of Warcraft
9. World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack
10. Crysis: Warhead

Spore has come out on top once again with the ever popular World of Warcraft sneaking into number 2 with its battlechest collection which includes the full game in addition to the burning crusade expansion. November 13th is the release date for Wrath of the Lich King, the next expansion for wow. Blizzard are lining themselves up for first and second place in sales within the next month. As for that Nancy Drew game..... ugh, people bought that? wait wait wait, not only did they buy it but more people bought it than they did the bottom 6 games! Believe it.

World of Warcraft Patch 3.0.2 Released!

Version 3.0.2 of World of Warcraft is released and its a big one! There are quite a few new improvements over the last client including the all new achievement system which seems to be a big hit with azeroth's finest.

All players have had their talent points reimbursed to make way for an all new talent tree for all classes. New spells and abilities are available and many adjustments were made to pre-existing spells and abilities.

Another new feature in the patch are the barbershops scattered among the major cities of Azeroth. This will allow players to change their characters facial and hair features, for a fee somewhere around 5g.

Pictured above is the all new addition to the human capital of Azeroth, Stormwind Harbour.

Other new additions can be found in the official patch notes at the official site.

I play in the Kael' Thas server as a rogue named Overshadow for those wondering.

Call of Duty 5 PC Open Beta!

That's right people you read correctly. Activision and Treyarch have announced that the fifth installment of the Call of Duty series, World At War, will be tested in an open beta. You can register for the open beta at the official COD site here.

Oh and a little end note: The Profiles of all beta testers will be deleted at the end of the beta, so if your looking to get an early start on the competition, think again toots.

Callofduty.com

E3 2009 Will Be Open to The Public!

It has just been announced that next years E3 event will be open to the public on the last 2 days of the show. Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 will be the start of the show for developers and the likes while us upper lower middle class folks will be able to get in on the following Friday and Saturday. This seems to be the result of the show falling flat on its face the last few times around. It will be held in the Los Angeles Convention Centre and the capacity is set at 40,000.

Diablo 3 Barbarian Skill Tree!

Blizzard have released the skill tree for the barbarian class in Diablo 3, I know what your all thinking, that I am obsessed with either Blizzard or Diablo 3. Well the answer is both. I have always loved Blizzard's games, the way they made them and what they achieved in gaming.

Well here it is folks:

Juggernaut Skill Tree
-Juggernaut skills are mostly active attack skills that are controlled by the player from the hotbar.

Battlemaster Skill Tree
-Battlemaster skills are passive buffs for the Barbarian Class.

Berserker Skill Tree
-Berserker Skills are agressive attack skills and passive buffs that alter damage, attack speed and similar effects.

Far Cry 2 Security...

Far Cry 2 will be released using the same DRM Securom technology that was used for the first time in Spore. Far Cry, however, will utilize this technology differently and will have registration features similar to that of bioshock. You can install the game up to 5 times on 3 computers. When you uninstall the game, you get the credit back and may reinstall again.

While this is not quite as harsh of a system as Spore uses, it is still pretty strict. Spore only allows one player to ever play Spore properly.

Starcraft 2 Details

Blizzard have released some interesting new details about Starcraft 2 at Blizzcon. Starcraft 2 will be going back to its roots to find its gameplay style, but Blizzard says it's a completely new game in its own.

The biggest announcement they made about the game is that it will be not only 1 game, but split into a trilogy. Each part of the trilogy being about the size of the original game.

There will be new units and new buildings. It is still based on the same fast paced resource management and multitasking gameplay mechanics but much more in depth and improved. Blizzard has also stated that there won't be as much single unit micro-management and things of that nature as it slows down the gameplay.

Starcraft 2 is still in development and is not near completion but an early demo was prepared for the fans at Blizzcon.

Jim Raynor is returning as the central character of the Terran campaign. Still his drunken bitter self. Players have complete control over how they spend their money. Which units to buy or upgrade is up to you. Players will also have the choice of which missions to do or what planets to explore.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

Today is turkey day here in Canada, so its our long weekend. I should have at least 2 new updates tomorrow. One of which includes Starcraft 2 details and the other will be on a great free online game i stumbled upon called Project Torque, by Aeria Games.