Gaming site Voodoo Extreme yesterday reported that digital game distributor Direct2Drive will not be selling Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 in protest to the bundling of Valve's Steam client with the game. Today it has been reported that two other digital video game distributors are taking the same stance. Both Stardock's Impulse and Gamersgate will not be selling the highly anticipated game. This move is somewhat understandable since the bundling of Steam with the game means that Direct2Drive and other distributors are delivering their competitor's platform/store to their own customers. Probably not the best business plan/model...

[Source: VoodDoo Extreme]

Bioware has released the first patch for their computer role playing game Dragon Age: Origins. The Dragon Age: Origins Patch v1.01 includes some minor fixes to the game's difficulty levels, character stats and more. More details on the fixes/enhancements in the patch are listed on the patch page along with download links. Dragon Age: Origins has been receiving very positive reviews since it's release earlier this week. You can look for my review of the computer role playing game in the next week or so.

 • Dragon Age: Origins Patch Details
 • Dragon Age: Origins Game Page

Shattered Horizon was released this week as a digital download via Steam. In this unique multiplayer first person shooter players are equipped with a rocket pack and move and fight in zero gravity. Players have the freedom to move in any direction and virtually anywhere on the game map attacking enemies from above, below and other crazy angles. Shattered Horizon includes support for online multiplayer matches of up to 32 players.

 • Shattered Horizon Game Page
 • Shattered Horizon Screenshots

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 has already broken pre-release sales records and is expected to fly off store shelves when it releases worldwide next Tuesday, November 10th. In anticipation of the biggest release of the year Best Buy has announced that stores Nationwide will open at Midnight. Fans can begin lining up at 10:30 pm Monday night in hopes of getting a copy, full details and participating store locations can be found on the Best Buy Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 launch page.

[source: Reuters]

As if the elimination of dedicated multiplayer servers for the upcoming Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 wasn't enough to anger many PC gamers, another setback for the PC version of the game has been announced. In a Best Buy live chat session on Tuesday, Mackey McCandlish from Infinity Ward announced that multiplayer matches in Modern Warfare 2 will be capped at a maximum of 18 players, meaning matches no greater than 9v9. This cap reduces the maximum player size of multiplayer match by nearly 50% below what's playable in Call of Duty 4. Reasoning behind the move was to maintain the game's balance in multiplayer matches; "The max number of players on all platforms are 1v1 through 9v9. This is the number of players we focused on when we were balancing map size, perks, classes, challenges, etc.,"

While that could be valid reasoning, coming on the heels of the surprise announcement of no dedicated multiplayer servers a couple weeks ago, it really sounds like they're just trying to make the game homogeneous across all platforms. While that is concerning for many PC Gamers, it's somewhat warranted by the fact that pre-sales of the PC version of Modern Warfare 2 have amounted to just 8% of all platforms combined.

With the poor economy and limited consumer spending, I just wonder if these moves will impact the dedicated PC gamers and steer them to other games with traditional multiplayer PC support. Since IW's dedicated server announcement, Battlefield's producer Gordon VanDyke posted a blog titled "Dedicated to our PC Players!" in which he stated that DICE and the Battlefield series has no plans to abandon dedicated servers. Both Battlefield Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 1943 are due out early next year.

[Sources: Best Buy, BigDownload, Battlefied EA]

Borderlands is a sci-fi first person shooter/role playing game hybrid set at the edge of the galaxy. Human colonists have traveled to the planet Pandora in the hopes of prosperity. However, things go wrong from the start their only hope is to take advantage of recently discovered alien technology. I've posted my review of Borderlands for the PC or you can browse through some screenshots and additional information on Borderlands PC game.

 • Borderlands Review (PC)
 • Borderlands Game Page

Dead Before Dawn is a fan created Left 4 Dead mod that recreates the Crossroads Mall from George A. Romero's classic zombie film Dawn of the Dead. The custom campaign includes 6 maps that take players on a zombie rampage through the mall. The sixth and final map was still in development at the time of release but it should be available soon after the release. The Dead Before Dawn mod includes all of the characters from the original Left 4 Dead plus a non-playable mall cop who interacts with the players. There are even some new soundbites that were provided by Valve. More information, free download links and installation instructions can be found on the Dead Before Dawn mod page.

 • Dead Before Dawn
 • Left 4 Dead Game Page

Valve will release the Left 4 Dead 2 demo later today making the PC version of the demo available for anyone to download and play for free. For the past week the demo has been an exclusive release to those who pre-ordered the game. The Left 4 Dead demo page includes additional information and links to the Steam page for the demo, the Steam client is required to download and install the demo. You can also read my Left 4 Dead 2 Hands-On preview/impression based on the demo.

Dragon Age: Origins releases in North America today making it the first fantasy role playing game developed by BioWare since the original Neverwinter Nights computer RPGs. Labeled as the spiritual successor to the Baldur's Gate series, Dragon Age: Origins is set in a unique fantasy game world that takes players through a dark and heroic fantasy adventure. Developed with the all new Eclipse game engine, Dragon Age: Origins can be played in a third person over the shoulder mode or from a top down view that is more traditional for computer RPGs. While the story and game play occurs in real-time, combat can be broken up by the use of a pause/play system that allows players to pause combat in order to plan out their next move.

Dragon Age: Origins has three different character classes and as with previous Bioware RPG titles, there are plenty of NPC characters to encounter. The game also includes all the hallmarks of a great computer role playing game with experience points, leveling, skills, attributes and more. More information on Dragon Age: Origins can be found on the game page and you can browse through some official screenshots from the game. The game is set for release in Europe and Australia later this week.

 • Dragon Age: Origins Game Page
 • Dragon Age: Origins Screenshots

Gaming website Connected Consoles has confirmed from a Ubisoft representative that there will not be no demo released for their upcoming stealth action/adventure game Assassin's Creed II. This should not come as any surprise since a demo was never released for the original Assassin's Creed. Assassin's Creed II is due out later this month for Xbox 360 and PS3, it will be released for the PC early next year.

[source: Connected Consoles]