Steam Client

• New delivery system for Steam IM/Marketing messages
• Added support for DLC CD keys and custom install steps
• Added new features to installscript

Geoffrey A. Hart, a Boston-based anaesthesiologist, invented PediSedate, which it’s claimed has already been “very well received by parents, kids and health-care workers”.

First of all, the 18,000 figure is the # of concurrent users at the peak – not sales.

On the Steam stats page, for instance, you can see the peak concurrent users on titles that talk to Steam:

Current Players - Peak Today - Game

• 81,543 - 90,824 - Counter-Strike: Source
• 57,343 - 68,662 - Counter-Strike
• 18,788 - 23,755 - Football Manager 2009
• 14,577 - 15,606 - Empire: Total War
• 14,394 - 16,430 - Left 4 Dead
• 11,860 - 14,030 - Team Fortress 2

So just above Empire Total War in terms of peak connections (game just launched so it's not a surprise).

The infrastructure was designed to handle up to 50,000 of these connections.

But on day 0, there were around 140,000 concurrent users of which 18,000 are validated.

Pirated users can't get updates or play multiplayer but they still touch the servers.

So over the first 24 hours, we had to essentially scrap together a doppleganger of the infrastructure dedicated to Demigod's multiplayer network needs, release an update to legitimate users to point them to it.

The result was that in the first day, day and a half, users couldn't connect to each other (the connection servers would time out) and even the in game experience was horrible getting through menus and such because even a simple HTTP keep alive call (something as simple as a http call to check for the latest version to inform users if there's a new version) would cause the in game UI to hang.

The consequence is two-fold: First, early customers got a TERRRIBLE experience. Second, the reviews (notably Gamespot) based their review on this terrible experience.

Now today, day 3, it's pretty much taken care of. Users are connecting in multiplayer, the servers are pretty responsive and we're adding more in preparation for the weekend.

If there's any IT people here, they can probably better explain than I can what we've had to do essentially. It's not like we keep a room full of unused servers so the challenge of putting together a duplicate series of servers in 24 hours PLUS Stardock and GPG having to produce an update to the game to point to those servers was quite an undertaking.

The next update contains a load of changes, improvements and new content. There is way too many of them to list here, so I will just mention two of the most important things. The RPG system has received a major overhaul, and as a result of this items will become more valuable to the players. In addition the next update will contain the Tarantia Common District. Both these things have been in development for quite some time, and for those that are eager to test it out, feel free to check it out on our public Test Server. Keep in mind though, that what you can see on the Test Server is work in progress and subject to change.

BOH is a game of exploration and action. You move in claustrophobic and dangerous battlefields searching for the Evil Masters. This no easy task not only because of the traps-packed corridors and mind-blowing puzzles, but also because of the countless enemies that the Evil Masters throw at you more and more until you discover them - at that point, you will be attacked directly by the Evil Masters themselves, the toughest of all. Although your quests are made slightly less hard by the bonuses and power-ups scattered all around the battlefield, carrying out the missions demands lots of concentration and quick reflexes.

GDC Austin focuses on connected games including online games, mobile gaming, virtual worlds, and social networking. Submissions should address the most pressing development challenges for connected games with submissions related to:

-Business and Marketing
-Design
-Social Networking and Community
-Services
-Production
-Programming

GDC Austin has also opened the call for submissions for the Game Audio Summit and for the Game Writers Summit. The Game Audio Summit is designed to elevate game audio development education, strengthen the community, and foster professional growth of the individual. The Game Writers Summit is dedicated to the art and craft of game writing, game narrative and interactive storytelling.

To learn more about the submissions guidelines and conference topics for GDC Austin, please visit GDCAustin.com.

“Now in its 7th year, GDC Austin will continue to serve the global online development communities through education and networking,” says Izora de Lillard, Event Director of GDC Austin. “Having developed an international reputation over these seven years for being the focal point of key learnings in the online games space, we are thrilled to return to Austin in September with expanded content focused on innovative designs and business models within connected games.”

GDC Austin returns in 2009 at the Austin Convention Center September 15-18. For more information on GDC Austin and the advisory board visit www.GDCAustin.com.

According to the filing, Interplay ended 2008 with a cash balance of USD 0 and a deficit of approximately USD 2.4 million. The publisher is actively seeking financing or income, without which it will be forced to liquidate assets, sell the company or face bankruptcy.

"We continue to seek external sources of funding," Interplay said, "including but not limited to, incurring debt, the selling of assets or securities, licensing of certain product rights in selected territories, selected distribution agreements, and/or other strategic transactions sufficient to provide short-term funding, and achieve our long-term strategic objectives."

The report indicated that Interplay currently has only one project undergoing internal development, an MMO with the codename "Project: V13," believed to be the Fallout MMO first announced one year ago. Interplay has four other projects in early design stages, but without any cash in its coffers, it is unable to fund development.

The filing also revealed Interplay's head count at the end of 2008, which included only seven employees - four in game development, and three in "finance, general and administrative" positions.

After a marathon coding session with lots of server moving we were able to release a Day 2 update which, from what we can tell from both the logs and from talking to people in chat has made a drastic improvement in the multiplayer experience. In a nutshell, today’s update let us connect to a different multiplayer NAT facilitator than the original. This one isn’t touched by users who get the game at retail (or those who have a warez version of the retail).

Now, I do want to address something about the update that I’ve seen users talk about. We aren’t blaming piracy for the fact that the day 0 multiplayer experience absolutely sucked. The issue boiled down to us having put together a multiplayer infrastructure that was designed to handle around 50,000 or so connected users. If the game took off, we would simply add more servers as the load increased.

But what happened was that we ended up with 140,000 connected users, of which about 12% were actually legitimate customers. Now, the roughly 120,000 users that weren’t running legitimate copies of the game weren’t online playing multiplayer or anything. The issue with those users was as benign as a handful of HTTP calls that did things like check for updates and general server keep alive. Pretty trivial on its own until you have 120,000 of them. Then you have what amounts to a DDOS attack on yourself.

So the day 2 update we released basically made sure legitimate customers were no longer being affected by those users. As a side note, no we can’t just eliminate the infrastructure being used up by warez users because they’re running the unprotected retail version and we can’t make a distinction between retail and pirated since there’s no copy protection. It’s not a huge deal in the long run (except to our metacritic score), it was just an unexpected challenge that made day 1 a very bad multiplayer experience.

What’s next…

So we still have lots of areas to improve the multiplayer experience such as dealing with European DSL stuff (one example) and we need to make the pantheon and skirmish stuff more robust and provide more feedback. The team is probably exhausted so the next update may not happen until next week since the day 2 update seems to have made a pretty big difference for the majority that I think we can probably take the weekend off.

But next week I expect we’ll have an update that addresses a lot of the above plus starts to look at balance and regular in-game bug reports and such that we’ve been collecting.

Anyway, that’s all for now. I’m going home to sleep. No really, I mean it this time!

Boards

• ASRock X58 - Virtual-Hideout
• Gigabyte EX58-UD4P - OCC
• Gigabyte’s GA-EX58-EXTREME - iT Reviewed

  Cooling
  

• Cooler Master V8 CPU cooler - Neoseeker

  Memory
  

• OCZ Reaper TC DDR3 1866 6GB - Bjorn3D

  Video
  

• Asus 4850 Matrix - RB Mods
• ASUS RADEON HD 4850/4870 - iXbit Labs
• Galaxy GeForce GTX 285 2GB Tri-Fan - Tweaktown
• GeForce GTX 275 shootout - Guru3D
• Sapphire Vapor-X HD4850 512MB - Tweaknews
• XFX ATI Radeon HD 4890 XXX - I4U

What games topped your most played list last week?

“It is clear from the public response over the last two weeks that there is a great deal of misunderstanding about our plans to roll out additional tests on consumption based billing,” Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt said in a statement. “As a result, we will not proceed with implementation of additional tests until further consultation with our customers and other interested parties, ensuring that community needs are being met. While we continue to believe that consumption based billing may be the best pricing plan for consumers, we want to do everything we can to inform our customers of our plans and have the benefit of their views as part of our testing process.”

Both companies announced a partnership on Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft® III,StarCraft® II, and Battle.net® gaming platform last summer. Today's announcement further enhances the partnership between Blizzard Entertainment and NetEase and promotes a consistent level of quality and service in mainland China for all Blizzard Entertainment games involved in the partnership.

"We appreciate the enthusiasm that Chinese gamers have shown us over the years, and we've always worked hard, in collaboration with our partners, to ensure that these players receive the same high-quality service and gameplay experiences that we deliver in other regions," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "This new agreement with NetEase will support that goal for years to come, and we look forward to collaborating with them on a smooth transition for World of Warcraft moving forward."

"We are excited to be working with Blizzard Entertainment now on World of Warcraft in addition to Warcraft III, StarCraft II, and Battle.net," stated William Ding, CEO of NetEase. "By combining Blizzard Entertainment's expertise in developing world-class games with NetEase's strength in online-game operation in China, I am confident that we will be able to deliver the best gaming experiences in the world to our players."

G4BOX Inc. and Wicked Interactive Ltd., North American publishers and distributors of interactive entertainment media, together announced today that SubaGames.com's free military FPS Cross Fire has now officially gone live and is available to download for free at: http://crossfire.subagames.com.

The Cross Fire Official Launch is marked by a substantial update to the game which includes, three new game modes (including the long-awaited "Free For All" deathmatch and the knives-only battle-arena), playable female characters, and ranked clan matches on a dedicated server. In addition, the official launch will introduce loads of new in-game weapons, items, and accessories. Cross Fire officially went live at 1:00 AM on Thursday April 16th, 2009. The launch is also supported by an in-game event that allows players to earn extra experience for a limited time in order to level-up faster.

"Since Cross Fire went into open beta earlier this year we have built a dedicated community of players," said Garvin Yeung, Chief Executive Office of Wicked Interactive. "We have worked hard on all the new content included in the official launch version of Cross Fire," added Howard He, Chief Executive Officer of G4BOX, "We know Cross Fire veterans and new players alike will be able to find something new they can enjoy."

Cross Fire is an online military first-person shooter for the PC, developed by SmileGate and Neowiz, and co-published by G4BOX and Wicked Interactive. Players assume the role of either a Black List or Global Risk mercenary, and then join an online team that must work together to complete objective-based scenarios. Cross Fire's flagship feature is its "Ghost Mode", which puts one team in possession of top-secret cloaking technology, rendering them invisible to the opposing team. This team of "ghosts" is armed only with knives, and must stealthily track and hunt the enemy team. This mode is exclusive to Cross Fire and no other mode exists quite like it in any other first-person shooter.

ORDER OF WAR will feature massive scale battles brought to life with a cinematic intensity never seen before in a WWII strategy game. Players will take command of an entire army including ground troops, artillery, tank divisions and aircraft in all out strategic assaults. The single-player mode can be played out in two campaigns – American versus German forces on the western front and German versus Russian on the eastern front – missions will be based on key historic events and operations from 1944.

ORDER OF WAR will be Square Enix’s first release of a western developed game outside of Japan, and one which will see the company release the title simultaneously across multiple territories.

John Yamamoto, president and chief executive officer of Square Enix Ltd. comments, “ORDER OF WAR offers Square Enix an exciting opportunity to enter this hugely popular genre, and is a strong proposition for our first western developed release. With its cinematic intensity, hugely realistic battles and historical accuracy, the game looks set to whet the appetite of any war gaming fan.”

Victor Kislyi, chief executive officer of Wargaming.net says, "ORDER OF WAR will take strategy games in a new, exciting direction, narrowing the gameplay focus on the best part and challenges gamers to defeat the most powerful armies of WWII. And we are really glad that this immense title will be released by Square Enix – one of the largest and most successful publishers in the world."

About Order of War:

In the summer of 1944, the Second World War entered its end-game when the Allies launched two major operations that would drive back German forces on both the Western and Eastern Fronts at once. In the ultimate test of military strategy, ORDER OF WAR will challenge you not only to lead America’s finest to victory in the West, but also place you in command of German forces charged with repelling the Red Army’s seemingly unstoppable offensive in the East. Even the keenest military minds will find that it’s one thing to make history, but quite another to change it. Do you have what it takes to command?

Features:

Experience WWII warfare on an epic, cinematic stage; that truly captures the intensity and scale of the battlefield.

Take Command of an entire armoured force consisting of up to 1,000 soldiers, tank divisions, armoured vehicles, artillery and air force.

Players can choose between two different campaign modes offering completely different storylines, missions, objectives and environments.

Experience the unique dynamic camera that allows players to command troops over huge geographical scale whilst maintaining movie-like vistas and detail.

In-depth gameplay modes - two different campaign modes, multi-player, Deathmatch and Skirmish’.

Former Etherlite Secret Agent Ryan Lennox, now obsolete and betrayed by those close to him is a man who knows no fear! In a desperate bid to uncover his former employers secret agenda Lennox makes a pact with the devil. Embarking on an action-packed voyage into a world of deception and betrayal, armed with special abilities and military grade weaponry, Ryan Lennox is a man who must succeed.

Lennox will need to master his devilish powers to uncover the truth and restore the delicate balance of good and evil. The captivating plot sees Lennox journey from ancient monastery catacombs and secret mountain hideouts to sprawling harbor docks and industrial oil refineries, before finally facing his ultimate showdown...

Infernal uses a state-of-the-art Physics engine enabling highly interactive worlds with destroyable walls and objects, while giving the player the ability to use a vast array of weapons. This is supported by using high level graphics and a stunning overall design based on locations throughout Europe and the USA.

Features:

Stunning 3rd Person Shooter with deep & engaging storyline

Explore a range of stunning environments & locations across 3 levels of difficulty

Over 10 hours of gameplay

Control a variety of guns and weapons as well as supernatural forces to increase their power

Engange in Hand to Hand combat, or utilize a range of weaponry

Duck and cover system to avoid enemy attacks

Fight intelligent opponents who use the environment to their advantage

Utilize a vast array of supernatural powers such as telekinesis & teleportation to overcome obstacles and enemies

Harvest the energy of your enemies to heal and to replenish your Infernal mana

“Infernal was always designed with a console release in mind and it’s great that we’re finally able to release exclusively on XBOX360. The vast array of weaponry and supernatural powers makes Lennox an enviable foe.” Said Adam McGowan, Marketing Director at Playlogic.

HISTORY Great Battles Medieval is set against the background of the historic Hundred Years' War, spanning various conflicts between England and France in the 14th and 15th centuries. HISTORY Great Battles Medieval allows players to assume complete control of huge armies with more than 40 different units. From knights on horseback to infantry, French crossbowmen and English longbow archers, all units of the two warring factions are represented in the game, historically correct. Whether in campaign mode, a brief skirmish, or multiplayer mode, HISTORY Great Battles Medieval offers precise, realistic recreations of medieval battles.

To round out this authentic, true-to-detail gaming experience, the game features video clips from the award-winning HISTORY programming library.

HISTORY Great Battles Medieval is the second title in the highly successful Great Battles series, which saw its first appearance with the release of HISTORY Great Battles of Rome in 2007.

Features:

Advanced graphics engine optimized for the capabilities of each platform

Free form quest map that allows players to decide when and where to fight within a historical framework

70 Medieval battles, including 26 historical encounters from the Hundred Years war (like the well-known siege of Orléans or the Battle of Crécy)

More than 40 different units all accurately researched and carefully modeled Weapons and shields are added to each unit by the player, giving an almost infinite number of equipment combinations

Over 100 unique skills to customize your squads.

In other news, an announced Bionic Commando multiplayer demo will be available exclusively on Xbox 360, for, you know, 'reasons.'

This epic role playing game is set in a medieval world on a volcanic Mediterranean island, The “Risen” story unfolds over four chapters and will offer multiple ways to develop the story by his own actions and decisions. An innovative and intuitive user control interface will support both casual and hardcore gamers. With full world streaming support, the player experiences no tedious loading of areas while playing in a fully simulated game world with authentic characters.

The Piranha Bytes development team, residing in the Ruhr Area, was established in 1997. Approximately 20 people have been a part of this team in its current form since 2002. Piranha Bytes has so far acquired fame even beyond German borders with its RPG successes „Gothic“ (2001), „Gothic II“ (2002), „Gothic – Night of the Raven“ (2003) and „Gothic 3“ (2006).

Bane

Real Name: Unknown
Occupation: Professional criminal
Base of Operations: Gotham City
Eyes: Brown (when on Venom: Green)
Hair: Brown
Height: 5 ft 6 in (when on Venom: 6 ft 8 in)
Weight: 140 lb (when on Venom: 350 lb)
First Appearance: Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1 (January, 1993)

Imprisoned from birth to serve his dead father’s sentence, Bane was raised inside the horrific environs of a Santa Prisca prison. Finding solace in smuggled book and meditation, he developed incredible powers of concentration. When he was subjected to military experiments with the experimental steroid Venom, his iron-forged will helped him survive when other test subjects had died, and he manage to escape. Determined to prove his worth, he sought out Batman and broke the Dark Knight’s spine. But Batman recovered and managed to best Bane, cutting off the precious Venom supply that transforms Bane into a superhuman.

Attributes:

Master strategist.

Intense focus.

Abnormally strong reaction to Venom, giving him incredibly enhanced physical abilities.

Determined to best Batman, and all others who challenge him.

Boards

• Gigabyte MA790GP-UD4H Motherboard - iXbit Labs

  Cases
  

• Cooler Master Storm Sniper case - Neoseeker

  Cooling
  

• Cooler Master Aquagate Max Liquid Cooling System - ThinkComputers.org
• Evercool Rifling fan - XS Reviews

  Keyboards
  

• Logitech G13 Advanced Gameboard - Hardware Logic

  Memory
  

• Kingston HyperX 6GB 2000 MHz DDR3 Triple Channel Memory Kit - Future Looks

  Power Supply
  

• Ultra X3 800w - OCModShop

  Rat Lube
  

• ZOWIE Gear P-RF Mouse Pad - Overclockers Online

  Video
  

• HIS Radeon HD 4890 Turbo - Tweaktown
• XFX ATI Radeon HD 4890 XXX Edition - Motherboards.org

Today's question:

What's the last game you played that left you feeling all butt-hurt?