Dungeon Siege posts (Subscribe to this feed)

CEO and founder of Gas Powered Games Chris Taylor (Supreme Commander, Dungeon Siege) wants to retire the old-school game design philosophies of punishing gamers. In an essay on GameDaily BIZ, Taylor notes an observed trend towards games that now reward players.

It started with casual games, says Taylor, when The Sims and Railroad Tycoon were selling millions and bringing women gamers on board. He compares the old punishment system to Carnival games -- you get three lives, a few options for more, but if you die then you start all the way over. Taylor uses Grand Theft Auto as an example where, if you screw up, you simply walk out of jail or the hospital. "The punishment is quite small, and perfectly integrated into the gameplay. Hats off to Rockstar," he said.

Much of his essay is muddled, however, in defining the line between making a game universally accessible and dumbing it down in difficulty. "Games shouldn't punish the player, but rather reward them. Oh, and it should be a whole lot easier to win," he said, followed by "Duh! Can I say duh?" You can, but a game like Ninja Gaiden serves as an opposing example to that argument, where toning down the difficulty would likely result in a less satisfying and indeed, less rewarding experience.

Confrontational and often criticized film director Uwe Boll, known for such stellar standouts like Alone in the Dark and Bloodrayne adaptations, has signed with Freestyle Releasing for the distribution of three films: In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, Postal and Seed, the latter notable for not being adapted from a video game.

The Dungeon Siege adaptation is due out January 18 in 2,500 theaters across North America, which means you'll likely have a chance to witness it, should you honestly choose to pay for it. (Given Boll's history and the film's long-delayed release, we're not expecting much.) Postal will actually beat Dungeon Siege to theaters, slated for September 28. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Boll said that "the film likely will open on 500 screens and grow from there based on box office."

When the games come out, you'll finally be able to judge for yourself. Be careful what you say, however: you might end up on the other end of a directorial uppercut.

PSP gamers have been waiting eons for a great system-exclusive RPG. The Untold Legends series did a fair job of satisfying my hack and slash needs, but didn't bring anything new, inventive, or exciting to the table. Enter Dungeon Siege. This beloved RPG series has been considered one of the PC's best. While the original games were developed by Gas Powered Games, this PSP-exclusive sequel is taken care of by newbie team SuperVillian Studios. And unfortunately, it appears this team simply wasn't ready to handle such a large game: although many elements of the game are excellent, numerous bugs, general sluggishness, and a repetitive formula, make it just another game to pass the time.

THE HORROR!!! THE HORROR!!! Jeff Morrice sent in the best, and most terrifying picture for the first part of our Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony contest. While there's a ton of hideous monsters in this PSP-exclusive hack and slash RPG, none are quite as horrific as this beast known as "Michael Jackson." Watch out--he's a tricky one. He'll try to give you some "Jesus juice."

Congrats to all the people that entered the contest. The winners will be contacted via e-mail. Now, continue reading to see how you can get another chance to win a copy of this game!

Circuit City, GameStop, Target, and Toys "R" Us will be receiving the PlayStation Spot service later this month. Japanese and European PSP owners have been enjoying this wireless download service for the past few months. According to IGN, the American versions of these kiosks will stream "game demos, movie trailers, music clips, mini-strategy guides, wallpapers and more" to your PSP.

The first set of available downloads will be quite extensive. Outrun, Worms, Dungeon Siege, MLB 2006, Ultimate Ghosts and Goblins, Lumines 2, Every Extend Extra, Race Driver 2006, and Daxter will all be available at the program's launch. By January 2007, the service is expected to expand to 6000 retail locations.

We have a lot of copies of Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony to give away. Starting today, we're going to have THREE separate chances for you to win a copy of this PSP-exclusive hack 'n slash RPG. Today, we're going to give away five copies of the game to those of you that are willing to spend a little time and effort:

Take a picture or draw a piece of art that best describes a "Throne of Agony." Be creative! Be original! Send your entries via e-mail to throneofagony@anyo.org. All entries must be submitted before November 19th. The PSP Fanboy blogging team will judge your entry based on three criteria: originality & creativity (40%), effort (30%), and visual presentation (30%). The top five entries will win the prize. There is no limit to the number of entries you can submit, so get to work!

Stay tuned to PSP Fanboy to see even more Throne of Agony giveaways, leading up to our review of the game next week.

Don't forget to enter our other contest:
Hijack PSP Fanboy's 1500th post, win GTA

Infamous video game director Uwe Boll is going to have to find a new "star" to drag through the mud. Kristanna Loken, star of two Boll films -- BloodRayne and the as-of-yet unreleased In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale -- has thrown the "engaged to be engaged" ring back in Uwe's face and has decided to move on to bigger and better things. BloodRayne 2 is just not in the Hollywood stars for Loken. Good move, Ms. Loken, Uwe just isn't good enough for you.

Loken's official statement is that she's too busy working on Painkiller Jane, a Sci-Fi series. Replacing Loken as Rayne (and Uwe's next "fling") in BloodRayne 2 (the first one warranted a sequel?) is Natassia Malthe. After checking IMDB, we discovered that Malthe doesn't exactly have a stellar career of her own. We have to respectfully inform Ms. Malthe that those "Oscars" in Uwe's office are made of Papier-Mâchè.

Loken's excuse for not working on a third Boll movie and reprising her role as Rayne is questionable. Maybe Loken decided it was about time to get out of the acting gutter and start working on some better projects? In any case, that hasn't stopped Boll from wasting other people's money; working on future flops such as Postal, Far Cry, Alone in the Dark 2 (again with the sequels) and non-gaming IP Seed. Who knows, maybe BloodRayne 2 will turn out like Superman Returns as Uwe claims; a dull movie that somehow managed to make a profit.

(We are proactively denying any future boxing challenges Uwe Boll may deliver ... you fight too dirty, bro.)

Viral ads are the hottest thing in advertising right now (see examples here and here). They try to spark your interest, so that you spread the site/idea/product around to a friend, like you would a disease (like how I caught this cold!). One reader, Mike Sutter, discovered a blog called "Honey for Tango" which focuses on a girl's encounter with the paranormal. This could haven been a convincing, and interesting viral blog, but unfortunately, it seems like the reveal happened too soon: her latest entry over-enthusiastically hypes the upcoming Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony.

The game itself looks interesting, but her obviously fictional blog does a poor job of getting me excited about the game. Also, I understand the game is releasing on Halloween, but in my opinion, the blog's focus on the supernatural doesn't seem to mesh well with the fantasy environment of the game.

Widely known for his anti-masterpieces, House of the Dead, Bloodrayne and Alone in the Dark, German film director Uwe Boll drew plenty of internet ire in June by sending out a public challenge to his (many, many) detractors. Like any civilized and intelligent human being, Boll decided that the best way to deal with those that disagreed with his artistic vision for videogame adaptations was to punch them in the face, grr! The invitation urged haters to fly to Vancouver and meet the German in the boxing ring for a one-on-one session of metaphorically rich pummeling. Internet casino Goldenpalace.com has issued a press release stating that they will be the ones to sponsor the event, now dubbed "Raging Boll."

Naturally, the prestige gained from having your event backed by an internet casino cannot be overstated. The joint's CEO, Richard Rowe, notes that Boll's attention grab is refreshingly ridiculous. "We receive so many outlandish offers for advertising exposure that it is refreshing to see something that surprises even us. That is why we decided to get involved. This has gotten so much attention so far, and we can't wait to see how it will turn out." Before starting proper on 23 September, Uwe will stop off in Spain to battle Carlos Palencia Jimenez-Arguello, a critic who has already vowed to Kill Boll (challenge video embedded in the latter section of the post). After that bout, Boll will face Something Awful's Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka, Jeff Sneider from Ain't It Cool News, Chris Alexander of Rue Morgue and Nelson Chance Minter from Website Critic.

All the fights will be filmed for inclusion in Boll's Postal film, no doubt rendered vaguely entertaining by showing his face deteriorating over the course of the event. It may even prove to be beneficial to his career -- a few brutal blows to the head might be just the thing to bring him to his senses. Perhaps then he'll realize how difficult it is to hold on to credibility when you've got boxing gloves on your hands.

[Via GameSetWatch]

It would appear the lines are starting to blur between episodic content and bona fide expansion packs, as evidenced by the relatively short and uninspired campaign in Dungeon Siege II: Broken World. 2K Games probably should have hacked and slashed ten bucks off the $30 price tag and labeled this one "DS2: Episode 1". It's all in the marketing.

• GameSpot (63/100) was disappointed that Gas Powered Games failed to break new ground: "After the lengthy and far-reaching campaign of Dungeon Siege II, this short and narrowly focused 10-hour expansion feels like more of a throwaway side quest than a compelling new chapter in the history of the troubled world of Aranna. Beyond the dungeons, the story brings nothing to the Dungeon Siege universe and could just as well go untold."
  
  
• IGN (63/100) enjoyed putting the beat down on the grunts, but the build up had no payoff: "As inventive as the rank and file enemies are, the bosses aren't as dramatic as they could be given that you face each of them multiple times. Every time you kill a boss, you're going to have to face another one just like him somewhere down the road. In a few cases, you're even going to fight him in a location that looks the same too."
  
  
• 1UP (60/100) thinks it's time for a shiny new engine: "Broken World is using, essentially, a 3-year-old graphics engine. So, like most 3-year olds, it can be unpleasant to deal with (and look at) -- especially when it comes to framerate issues and those pesky camera angles."

See also: Metareview - Titan Quest

WorthPlaying has posted 25 new screens from Mage Knight Apocalypse, which is now just five weeks from release. Namco Bandai's take on the WizKids IP joins a solid lineup of 2006 single player RPGs that began earlier this year with Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Titan Quest, and continues with this week's Dungeon Siege 2: Broken World. The next few months will also see the releases of Gothic 3 and Neverwinter Nights 2, while a sequel to the underappreciated Sacred arrives in 2007.

Although many of these games offer multiplayer components, their development teams have focused on producing deep campaigns that offer significant replay value. In Apocalypse, for instance, each of the five playable races will have unique quests to complement the main missions. How many of these titles do you plan to purchase, and do you think they are better values than MMOs?

2K Games (which is under Take-Two Interactive, those guys who made…what was that game again?) today said that they’ve acquired the rights to publish specific titles in the Dungeon Siege series. Among the two titles revealed, one game, Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony, is slated to see play on the PSP. Under development with SuperVillain Studios, the game will feature a non-linear single player experience as well as competitive and cooperative ad-hoc gaming.

What I’m wondering is, are they planning to release this game around the same time Uwe Boll’s anticipated abomination of a film hits theaters? If the game’s already titled, “Throne of Agony”, I’d say do it.

[Via Boomtown]

What has orcs, elves, John Rhys-Davies, and ends in "of the King?" No, it's not Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, silly! It's Uwe Boll's latest, In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale. What else does his LOTR-killer bring to the table: that ass-kicking bald-guy from The Transporter, ninjas, Burt Reynolds, ninjas, Ray Liotta, and, in an Oscar-worthy role, Matthew Lillard!

No, I'm not kidding, the annoying guy from Scream.

Read on for the YouTube video, or use this link for a high-res, though unreliable, version.

[Thanks, hellmasterx]