It's been nearly two years since the release of Human Head Studio's nausea-inducing FPS, Prey -- and subsequently, since 3D Realms' Scott Miller dropped hints of a sequel for the game. From July 2006 to yesterday morning, no news of Prey 2 had surfaced, leading some to believe the franchise had gone the way of the Duke. Luckily, Shacknews caught wind of a Radar Group website (which, for some reason, was taken down shortly after its inception) with some concept art and juicy, but brief, details about the game.

Tommy, the astral-projecting hero of Prey the first, will reprise his role as the brash protagonist. Blamed for the disappearance of his family, Tommy "escapes an Earth that no longer wants him for a future that cannot survive without him", according to the short-lived website. This short tidbit along with a single piece of concept art were all that Radar Group had to tease us with for now -- rumor has it that we'll be hearing more about the sequel some time this week. We'll let you know when that update narbuncularly drops into our hot little hands.

3D Realms has some big announcements coming in the next six months, but nothing about Duke Nukem Forever, according to new creative director Raphael Van Lierop.

"I can say that we have a big announcement coming in the next four weeks, and I'm not sure, but I believe we have another major announcement coming in the next four to six months," he said in an interview with Gamasutra. "While I can't say exactly what these are, are they about Duke Nukem Forever? No."

Since beginning the DNF project just over a decade ago, the company has managed to release 12 titles, which can be summed up as Prey, two Max Paynes and nine Duke Nukem iterations. Van Lierop said that their business model benefits from a "very collaborative relationship" with other developers.

If DNF isn't one of the company's next two big announcements, then we'll likely see another partnership, perhaps the Prey sequel that 3DR's CEO Scott Miller told Firing Squad in February was already mapped out from a "high-level story standpoint." The first big announcement will coincide with this year's E3 Media and Business Summit.

Fun fact: In the span of two questions, or 521 words, in the interview, there are 9 mentions to Duke Nukem Forever, totaling 27 words (with only one of those references by the interviewer). That's over 5% of the words used in that section!

Former Human Head CEO and chairman Timothy Gerritsen left the house that built Prey in November of last year to graze in greener, more independent pastures. Today his new game development studio Big Rooster has been formally announced, plunking Gerritsen in the growing list of game development folk striking out on their own.

Big Rooster will focus on developing original titles with an emphasis on "combining depth of design with top quality visual and audio game content". Digital distribution will be a major part of the plan and the studio has already begun work on its first game, Talisman, due at the end of the year.

FiringSquad reports that Human Head CEO Timothy Gerritsen has left the studio; in fact, he did so shortly before Thanksgiving last year. When questioned, Gerritsen said he departed on friendly terms, but was driven to leave because of creative differences. Gerritsen did not like the direction the other owners were steering Human Head in.

Gerritsen confirmed that he would remain in game development, though he declined to give specifics. Human Head co-founder and president Paul MacArthur has been acting as interim CEO.

Bully (PS2)
Bully is my current favorite and has renewed my faith in Rockstar as a forward-moving publisher. The familiar game mechanics don't feel stale in this decidedly more innocent universe. Bully relies more on mischief than shock value, a relief, as are the smaller scale and lower difficulty level (really, the missions are simply less frustrating than some of the tedious tasks that abound in the GTA series). Bully isn't deserving of 'Game of the Year' honors, but Rockstar Vancouver's effort is one of the most refreshing and outright fun titles of 2006. [See also: "Dissecting Rockstar's formula"]

With digital distributor Triton now six feet under, those who purchased Prey are now unable to use their copies. Fortunately, 3D Realms has already set into motion a solution: by sending the disenfranchised boxed copies of Prey to their credit card addresses. Furthermore, Triton staff member OBWANDO promised that they're trying to get a patch through that removes the downloaded copy's dependency on Triton.

Tipster James raises an interesting question: what would happen if Steam shut down? Presumably, Valve would give enough of a warning to distribute patches that allow the games to work without Steam, but the Triton incident reveals some unintended ramifications of digital distribution.

[Thanks, James]

Thanks to the generosity of the fine folks at 3D Realms, Xbox 360 gamers can save their precious Microsoft Points for some more Gamertag pics, or maybe buy some video manuals and missing soccer teams from EA while PC gamers can ... well, they're in a constant state of saving for new video cards, so they can just keep saving.

The downloadable content for Prey has arrived and, as promised, it's free (as in beer). The Xbox 360 version has five new multiplayer characters and four new multiplayer maps, while the PC download has the same as well as some tasty bug fixes.

[Thanks to all the cheapskates that sent this in!]

Read - Prey 360 Additional Content Now Available
Read - Prey v1.2 PC Patch Release

Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace is like the wild west; a new frontier where bold pioneers make the rules as they go. First, a swarthy, mustachioed gent named Beth Esda (hey, it's a dude's name!) starting charging folks for what he called "horse armor." This armor was little more than a fancy horse blanket, but Esda ran a tough gang, and folks were curious, so he did all right by himself.

Plenty of other shopkeepers came into town, hawking their wares with little regard for the "horse armor" precedent and finding some success ... and then a stranger came to town. D.D.D. Realms thought folks should get new multiplayer maps and skins for nuttin' so, before even opening up shop, he announced that all Native American-themed Prey content, both in his XBLA store and the PC store down the street, would be free of charge.

Of course, folks know all about D.D.D. Realms, who's been promising 'em some Duke Nukem flimflam since as far back as the '90s and, just like that product, this new Prey content will be available "when it's done." It remains to be seen if other shopkeepers follow his low-priced lead or if it's still every publisher for himself.

3D Realms released news that patches are on the way for both the PC and 360 versions of their cool, but short first-person shooter Prey. If you're like us and finished Prey long ago and were left with nothing else to do but watch a horrid multiplayer slug along, this is great news.

While the single player side is a truly solid game, the multiplayer version of Prey -- at least on the 360 -- is a complete mess of epic proportions. Here are some fixes coming to the PC version:

• Fixed a crash at startup on some machines
• Fixed a crash on some machines when reading saved games
• Fixed multiplayer weapon exploit

The studio announced its fixes for the console version as such: "[The] 360 patch for Prey which will address the network lag issues on the 360 as well as fix several bugs there as well." No date has been announced for the patch releases, but they promise to have them out "very, very soon."

[Update: Apparently "very soon" means today. If you start up Prey, an update will be waiting for you. We tested multiplayer to see if it was fixed and it wasn't. The game was still very laggy and close to unplayable. In fact, in one game we tried to get into, the game completely froze. Thanks for the tip, Grim]

Philly is racking up the video game concerts this summer. First, the Video Games Live concert at the Merriam Theater in June*, and now rival production PLAY! at the Mann Center tonight, 8:30.

Just to make the evening super special, the promoters added some music from the (better than you'd think) Prey soundtrack to the already impressive program. Other titles on the RPG-heavy lineup include Final Fantasy, Chrono Cross and Trigger, Morrowind, Kingdom Hearts, Shenmue, and more. Tickets are still available so if this is the first you've heard about it, get buying.

I'll be at the show tonight with (just a) couple oddly sized Joystiq shirts to give away so, if you can answer me who composed the music for Sonic Rush (don't answer it here!), you may get yourself a fancy tee.

*I promise I'll recount my very tardy VGL experience in addition to PLAY! so y'all can compare and contrast.

Let's all hope that Uwe Boll doesn't catch wind of this, but an astute Joystiq reader brought something very interesting to our attention. In true Wheels of Fortune style, our little tipster figured out that according to a Prey promotional card included in the 360 game, a movie based on the newly released title could be in the works.

Filling in the blanks of the secret code "prymvyscrnplycmng2007" reveals the possible: Prey movie screenplay coming 2007. Now granted, the people behind this may not know how to spell the word "movie" correctly (notice it says "mvy"), but it can't be sheer coincidence that this just happens to spell out this particular message, can it?

For those of us who've spent some time with the game, we know how good the story is. So, put in the right hands, it could make for a very entertaining movie. So long as you know who doesn't take charge.

[Thanks, Chris Soulodre]

One of the announced games to be featured alongside the upcoming PC and console versions of Half-Life 2: Episode Two is one that promises to obliterate your concepts of traditional level design and generally assault your brain with a large rolling pin. It's called Portal and, should the name not be explanatory enough, it deals primarily with gaping holes in time and space which magically transport you to different locations. Where Human Head's Prey took you for a wacky ride through these portals, Valve's title equips you with a sterile looking gun and urges you to make your own entry and exit points with wild abandon.

The trailer (embedded in the second part of the post) aptly demonstrates the powers of the portal gun, the dangers of getting caught in an infinite loop and, of course, how using rampant teleportation can enable you to solve puzzles involving crates of some kind. As they say, hilarity ensues.

[Thanks Easy_G!]

Looking for a next-gen fix, but disgusted by next-gen pricing? We hear you; thankfully, Cheap Ass Gamer has come to the rescue by confirming that Prey is region free, so it can be played on any Xbox 360. Play-Asia lets you order the game, with full English support, from Japan for only $40 plus shipping (which is just over $3 to the US, CAG estimates) -- perfect for patient penny pinchers!

We just got a copy of Prey and are tinkering around with it; with any luck we will have a review up by the end of the week.

[via 1UP]

Is this the answer to our summer woes? Well, let's put it this way: it's either Prey or Chromehounds -- if you're an Xbox 360 owner. We're goin' with the Cherokee alien abductee, even if Prey is a short-lived romp. This one's got 'summer blockbuster' written all over it...

• Detroit Free Press (100/100) is not noted for its gaming insight, but chimes in with praise: "This is one game any Half-Life or Doom fan can buy without reservations."
• 1up (80/100) wants more of the gimmicks: "If only the Native American mysticism had figured in more. If only the spirit "death walk" had developed into something more than a shooting gallery. If only the voice acting and storytelling were a little better."
• GameSpot (75/100) deals a low score -- by its standards -- summing it up: "[Much] of the game's potential for unique thrills feels wasted by its straightforward level design, and the multiplayer doesn't add much to the package."

Major Nelson kindly informed us that the Xbox Live servers are hosting a brand new chunk of code. At last, Xbox 360 owners get the opportunity to explore Human Head's topsy-turvy alien abductee sim, Prey. Contained within the 1.17GB demo (well over the 449MB PC version), you'll find a first-person shooter tinged with insanity and laced with opportunities to shoot yourself in the back. It's not often we get to play a corridor-crawler where the walls vomit body parts, your grenades attempt to bite you and the gravity behaves like it's trapped within some sort of interstellar tumble dryer. It's also not often that we get a Live demo on a Friday -- must be more alien meddling.

Grab the demo and be sure to let us know what you think. Please note that the demo is not available in the regions of Germany or Japan, so folks living there won't get to prey it right away (sorry).