KOEI announced today that a free demo of Romance of The Three Kingdoms®XI (RTKXI) for Windows-based PC is available now. Gamers can visit www.koei.com/rtkxipc to view the official trailer and download the demo.  I’ve only had about 30 minutes to check out the demo, but it’s certainly getting me excited about the game.  It seems like I was playing the original game yesterday.  Of course yesterday was the 1980s and I was playing it on an Amiga.  XI has been around for a little while, but this is the first time we’ll see a PC version of the game in English. 

The complete version of the game will be available to consumers in North America and Brazil beginning September 9, 2008 exclusively through digital download.  I’m sure the game will eventually end up in stores, but online will be the only way to get it in the beginning.  The suggested retail price is only $19.99, so the game isn’t a bad buy for what you are getting.  

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: AVAILABLE, Brazil, com, Demo, download, game, Gamers, Kingdoms, KOEI, North America, Romance, RTKXI, rtkxipc, Today, version, Windows-based, www, yesterday

The game we’ve been waiting several years for is just about ready to be unleashed on the world. To check out the first official trailer and webcast for the game, check out www.StarTrekOnline.com.  The video and webcast were first shown at the annual Star Trek convention in Las Vegas over the weekend.  Set in the year 2409, you will be able to captain a Federation or Klingon ship throughout the known galaxy.  Many Star Trek games have failed in the past, but I have a really good feeling about this one.  

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: check, com, Convention, game, Las Vegas, Online, Set, Star, startrekonline, Trailer, Trek, video, webcast, weekend, world, www

If you were wondering about the new Star Trek MMO, it looks like gameplay will be revealed on August 10, 2008 at the Annual Star Trek Convention in Vegas. If you can’t show up for the event, the new gameplay will also be unveiled online (www.startrekonline.com). I’m certainly excited to find out more about this game. Being a huge Star Trek fan, I have felt let down in the past by the piles of mediocre ST games. I’ve already heard a few good things about the game from the Cryptic camp, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed that this gameplay video will knock our socks off. The game was initially announced back in 2004 under development by Perpetual Entertainment. Perpetual folded in early 2008 and the game was nearly complete from what I understand…

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: Annual, August, com, Convention, event, game, Gameplay, MMO, Online, Reveal, show, Star, startrekonline, Trek, Vegas, www

Spore, the highly-anticipated game from the creators of The Sims™, gives players their own personal universe in a box. Create and evolve life, establish tribes, build civilizations, sculpt entire worlds and explore a universe filled with creations made by other gamers.

Available today on www.spore.com you can get your chance to create your own thingamajig or whatever they call it a “Spore”. The trial version features 25% of the creature-making parts from Spore and lets players shape, paint and play with their custom-created creatures. Creatures made in the Spore Creature Creator can also be imported into the full Spore game, allowing players to populate their own galaxies when the game ships worldwide later this year. Spore will be on sale for the PC, Mac, Nintendo DS™ and mobile phones on September 5, 2008 in Europe and September 7, 2008 in North America and Asia.

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written by Juan Perez \\ tags: AVAILABLE, Box, com, Creator, game, life, Online, sculpt, Sims, Spore, Sporette, Sporfugly, Today, universe, www

POWERED BY WWW.R3MATCH.COM

MGS4, as I’m sure you’ve heard, has really been trying our patience this week with its lenghty cut scenes. So far, in my playthrough of the game, its been as if the gameplay breaks up the videos — instead of the other way around. Video games have, since their inception, been trying to cop off the vision of Hollywood and the way it presents its story.

The following is my prime examples for which games have presented their story best, worst, and which one gets halfway there…

Best Presentation

BioShock — Ken Levine’s baby really took video game story telling to a new level. Instead of forcing the player to watch the story unfold a certain way, it took more of a Half-Life 2-esque approach to it. The interactive storytelling made the game fall into its own, creating a story that was engaging and even presented some game philosophy questions towards the end of your aquatic adventure.

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written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: adventure, COMMGS, cut, Features, game, Hollywood, Ken Levine, lenghty, match, Metal Gear Solid 4, MGS4, patience, playthrough, POWERED, Scenes, story, video, way, Week, www

POWERED BY WWW.R3MATCH.COM

Faces are everything for game companies. Popular faces…even better. This past week has seen the continuing battle between Ninja Gaiden creator, Tomonobu Itagaki, and his former employer, Tecmo, as the face of the company has left. Itagaki has turned his resignation in and is due out July 1st.

The main scuffle was that Team Ninja’s main man did not receive bonuses for his work on Dead or Alive 4 and was suggested that if he didn’t like the goings-on, he’d quit or sue.

Well, he did both and the aftermath hasn’t been pretty.
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written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: battle, care, COMFaces, doesn, everything, Face, game, Itagaki, match, Mr. CliffyB, Ninja, Peter Moore, Popular, POWERED, Tecmo, Week, www

Atari has sent us word that a contest is currently underway on their official Alone in the Dark site, www.centraldark.com. Now, while the prizes seem to be cool enough — 4 tickets for Paris or New York and some games — it really is just a clever marketing ploy to promote the game.

Regardless, to participate all you need to do is start a group where you pass a “torch” to all your friends and, in turn, they “keep the fire burning” onto others. Seems like fun, but also might take some work as the “torch” needs to be passed every 24 hours.

If your up for it, hit up the official site and get that fire burning. Alone in the Dark is developed by Eden Games and is due June 24 for Xbox 360, PC, Wii and PS2 with a PS3 version dropping by the end of the year.

Via Press Release

written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: Alone, Atari, Burning, centraldark, com, contest, Eden, Fire, June, New York, Official, Paris, site, Today, torch, underway, word, www

Some online games are a real hassle for gamers who don’t have credit cards.  Fortunately, you can now pay cash to play Age of Conan.  The other benefit of paying by cash is that your credit card information isn’t floating around on the net in case you actually do have cards, but don’t want to use them.

PayByCash®, a division of Internet Payment Solutions, Inc., will provide non-credit card payment services for Funcom’s much anticipated, award winning Age of Conan massively multiplayer online game for PC. With the support of PayByCash, Funcom can offer Age of Conan subscribers throughout the world access to premium content through more than 70 payment methods not requiring a credit card.

For more information about PayByCash, visit www.paybycash.com/merchant/index.php.

For information about Funcom games visit www.anarchy-online.com, www.dreamfall.com, www.darkdaysarecoming.com or www.ageofconan.com.

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: Accepting, age, benefit, Card, Cash, com, Conan, credit, Funcom, hassle, information, isn, Online, PayByCash, Payment, PC. With, www

It looks like Destructoid, GoNintendo, Gamersyde and Modojo have signed a deal with Hammersuit, LLC.  Hammersuit will provide advertising sales, consulting, sponsorships opportunities and other services for all four game sites.  I’m a big fan of each site, so this is certainly great news.  Independent gaming blogs are where the really good news is at, so I’m definitely happy this deal went down.  Full press release follows the break…

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written by Will Snizek \\ tags: business, Canada, com, consulting, coverage, Destructoid, game, Gamersyde, gaming, GoNintendo, Gonzalez, Hammersuit, industry, JERSEY, Jill Keil, Modojo, UK, US, video, web, www