After a questionable marketing stunt (in which they pretended the site was shutting down), digital distributor Good Old Games has ended its two year beta period. For those who don't know, Good Old Games (or GOG) provides old PC games DRM-free and configured to work on modern systems, as well as releasing free bonus content (such as soundtracks) with each game.

The site's 'relaunch' brought the release of Baldur's Gate, signaling the much anticipated acquisition of Atari-Hasbro licensed titles. Today this release was followed up with Planescape: Torment, considered by many to be one of the best cRPGs in existence.

The EA Store is currently hosting a promotional deal that can get you $20 off of any game over $40 (OK, fine, technically $39.95). By using the super-secret coupon code (PAXEAST842) you can get a nice discount. If you feel like buying more than one game, get them in separate orders and continue using the same code. The deal is likely to end around the time PAX East does. Need some help picking a game to use this for? I've done it for you:

BF:BC2 is already $10 off, so it works out to $20
ME2 on sale for slightly less than $40, so to get it you'll have to add something else. Cheapest is probably the $5 ME1 Pinnacle Station DLC, otherwise there are quite a few $10 games, you might be able to find one that's semi-decent to add.
Dragon Age: Origins
DAO: Awakening
Crysis Maximum pack, if you feel like benchmarking.

WARNING

There is a note in the EA store terms that says the ability to download only lasts a year. People who have bought games previously have confirmed that they can still download over a year later, however this may no longer be the case. It is recommended that if you buy something, you back-up the install files someplace safe.

http://eastore.ea.com/

Bethesda released a trailer Thursday giving the first look at the Obsidian-developed Fallout sequel, Fallout: New Vegas. The trailer opens to Frank Sinatra's Blue Moon before pulling back and revealing New Vegas, ending with the iconic Fallout phrase "War never changes." Fallout 2 veterans will also notice the flag of the New California Republic, indicating that they may play a major roll in the game.



Obsidian Entertainment was formed in 2003 by former Black Isle employees, some of whom worked on the original Fallout games.  Obsidian is known for their RPG sequels, including KotOR 2 and Neverwinter Nights 2.  Let's hope that this one doesn't get rushed and Obsidian lives up to their full potential.

Bethesda also announced that Fallout: New Vegas is set for release on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 in fall 2010.

~Tim "Space_man" Martin

Direct2Drive has a big 5th anniversary sale going right now over a 5 week period, with 10+ games available each week each for $5. This week is action games, but coming up are RPG/MMO, Indie, and War games. They're not announcing which games will be available in the coming weeks, but there are some good games there right now (such as Bioshock) so check it out, a lot of these games are definitely worth the $5. There are also some additional $5 games available at the bottom of the page.  One question: When D2D turns 10, will the games be $10?

http://www.direct2drive.com/d2dturns5

The Dawn of Fantasy website has finally been updated with a bunch of new screenshots and a new trailer. They'll be adding more information about the game and another short trailer soon, so keep watching the site.

For those who don't know, Dawn of Fantasy is an MMORTS where you build up a persistent base and siege enemy fortresses as the Humans, Elves, or Orcs (It also has a regular multiplayer skirmish mode). It's being made by a new company, Reverie World Studios, and even though it's not very well known yet it's looking to be quite good. Plus the fact that it's being made by a smaller studio means that it should have a great community and developers who actually care about the game, which seems to be lost with some of the bigger game companies these days. Sign up on their forums if you want to get into the beta, which should be starting fairly soon; they also have some contests running to get into earlier stages of the beta.

Check out the trailer at http://www.dawnoffantasy.com/
(Click the button below the video to make it larger)