Official Website of the upcoming strategy title Men of War: Red Tide is now available. The game is stand-alone expansion to the critically acclaimed RTS Men of War.

The website contains the detailed overview, screenshots, artwork and first official trailer.
The website can be found here: http://redtide.games.1c.ru/en/

While speaking to IncGamers, Game Director of Age of Conan, Craig Morrison, has spoken about the poor performance of the game after the launch, what Funcom did wrong and how they are resolving the issues.

Craig Morrison, game director on Age of Conan, has spoken to IncGamers about the new game mechanics that were introduced in last week's update, and explained why the game wasn't shipped this way.

Yesterday morning, PlayStation 3 owners discovered access to Hulu was no longer functioning through the console's Internet browser. According to Engadget, PS3 users of the video content provider were treated with an apologetic error message, citing the desired content was not available on their "platform" of choice. Engadget is quick to point out that, while Hulu's recent Terms of Service changes make no mention of the console, changing an Internet browser's user-string to match the console reveals it is specifically being targeted. Conspiracy theories? Throw them in the comments below while we try to clear up this cloudy situation.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in. Image Credit: FormatWarCentral.com]

Hulu to PS3 users: 'Naw, son!' originally appeared on Joystiq Playstation on Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By now, you're probably familiar with the ambitious, multiplayer puzzle-platformer, Trine. Shacknews is reporting that the upcoming PC version of the game will have an "official" price of $40, with Steam pre-orders available for a discounted $30. (Check out a downloadable demo at BigDownload.) Those who want to experience Trine in the most affordable way possible will want to download the PSN version of the game, priced at $20.

Obviously, that's a rather high price point for a downloadable game. However, developer Frozenbyte says the high production values merit the sticker tag. "Trine is far from a game created by a solo hero developer (we have over 20 employees and Trine has contributions from a double amount of people) ... we are very confident that we can deliver a full retail experience with Trine."

Our early impressions of the game suggest Frozenbyte is right. We'd much rather buy this than, say, the equally priced Watchmen: The End is Nigh. While an official PSN date isn't set, the publisher is expecting a July release. An Xbox 360 version of the game, which will support online co-op (a feature not included in the initial PC or PSN releases), is also in the works.

Trine PSN costs half of PC version, scheduled for July release originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dustin Browder, lead designer on StarCraft II at Blizzard, says that the team is planning to have a publicly playable beta for the game that runs about "four to six months." When that would go live, Blizzard still isn't saying.

But considering that we're already six months into 2009, a four to six month beta period is kind of cutting it close, if the game has any intentions of shipping this calendar year. Granted, Blizzard hasn't officially committed to that, but StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is the company's best bet for a "front line release" this year. So... will it ship this year?

"It's getting there," Browder said, adding "We can still make four!"

While what we played at Blizzard's recent hands-on felt beta ready to us, we're obviously not calling the shots. Browder says that StarCraft II needs to be in the best possible shape before it gets its beta coming out party.

"Beta is extremely distracting for us," he said. "We're playing. We want to see what other people are doing. We need to fix bugs right now. The minute beta goes out, we lose a lot of efficiency."

"So, we don't want to be in beta for nine months."

Hey, neither do we!

This past week, Blizzard invited press to visit its Irvine, California campus to go hands-on with the latest and greatest build of StarCraft II's multiplayer game. That wasn't the original plan.

When we were first invited to Blizzard's headquarters, we were going to get our first hands-on experience with StarCraft II's single-player game. We were also supposed to get a look at new Battle.net features. Unfortunately for those of us looking forward to seeing how both of those projects were progressing, those presentations had to be pushed back. Such is the Blizzard way, as clearly no product will go public—or ship—until it's ready.

Disappointing? Maybe a little bit, as I'm looking forward to the campaign more than anything. But this is StarCraft II, people. And we just got another dose.

Last week's multiplayer event was the third time I've gone hands-on with StarCraft II, having played the game's multiplayer at Games Convention in 2008 and at BlizzCon in 2007. This time, however, there were almost no time constraints. I had time to play through to the construction of advance buildings. I played long enough to be crushed by a Zerg swarm of Brood Lords, the flying units that rained down broodlings upon my hapless, under-developed Terran forces. I played on every available map, Blistering Sands, Steppes of War, Kulas Ravine, a re-made Lost Temple, New Antioch and Toxic Wastes.

And while we didn't actually get a chance to go hands-on with some of the new Battle.net features—all still a work in progress, Blizzard cautioned—we got to see some fascinating changes.

Most of those changes to the Battle.net interface will appeal to StarCraft professionals and wanna-be professionals. During the three "shoutcasted" pro-level matches we watched—essentially live Battle Reports with color commentary—it was clear that Blizzard is adding features that will appeal to serious fans. There are a ton of stats to eat up during matches, showing each player's army details, technological progress, buildings constructed, economic growth, and average "actions per minute" or APM. All are good indicators of how a StarCraft II player is doing, but it's the post-game stats that will probably appeal to less hardcore fans looking to improve their game.

Not only can observers watch a full replay of a match, they can fast forward and reverse, letting them review snippets of a battle and rewatch game changing moments. Observers can also review match data in fun graph form or study a player's build order, complete with timestamps that will show the precise second when a winning player built his second Barracks or went all-in with Dark Templars.

The new Battle.net interface—again, not final—looked sharp and polished, something we're unfortunately not allowed to show you.

During our eyes-on and hands-on experiences, we got to see some of the more recent changes to the StarCraft II suite of strategies. New, to me anyway, were destructible rocks. Those rocks can open up new chokepoints. They can also block players from building expansions, so you may need to send in a demolition squad if you want to build a second or third base. Who knows what they might do in the hands of map makers?

And speaking of bases, we got a look at the high-yield mineral fields for the first time. A gold cluster of crystals instead of the standard blue, they'll help players earn more raw materials—but also provide a more obvious location at which to expand.

While much of the early StarCraft II game feels familiar, Blizzard has added another layer of strategy to something as simple as resource gathering. Each faction, Terran, Zerg and Protoss, have ways of boosting their resourcing means.

For the Terrans, it's the experimental Mule, a super-powered SCV that harvests more rapidly than the standard drone, but eventually shuts down. The Zerg have the ability now to spawn additional larvae, thanks to the Queen. Helpful for a quick build when the Hatchery is all tapped out. The Protoss have an ability called the Proton Charge, which simply lets Probes collect materials faster. Protoss players will need to build an Obelisk, a special Pylon, to initiate that boost.

Also new to our StarCraft II experience were units we hadn't had a chance to play with before, like the flame-throwing Hellion—a Vulture replacement, of sorts—and the heavily armored Marauder, two Terran units that complement the standard Marine during the early game. And while we did get a chance to delve slightly into StarCraft II's later game, getting far enough to grow Mutalisks during on Zerg playthrough and sprinting to a Protoss Mothership build, most of what we played was early game stuff.

But that will have to come with time and a little bit of single-player experience. Jumping into the deep end of StarCraft II isn't easy for this rusty StarCraft fan, so it will take some time to get used to the new tech trees and the fleet of new units.

Hopefully, the StarCraft II multiplayer beta is just around the corner, as what we played at Blizzard felt incredibly polished, with fantastic new music adding to the atmosphere and improved visuals that threatened to put a hurt on my old graphics card. Granted, there were still some placeholder buttons in the pre-beta version we played, but if Blizzard can get the public multiplayer test out there, we'll overlook that kind of thing. Gladly.

Over the weekend, Microsoft's Larry Hryb confirmed that the mysterious "Xbox 360 Beta" that a bunch of Microsoft employees were "testing" wasn't a game. Wasn't Natal. It was...licensed avatar clothing.

Here, we can see what he's talking about, as MS employee "Randy No Arms" here is fully decked out in garish Halo threads, from his cap to his kneecaps. It's an interesting look, and not one I was expecting.

When we first heard about this kind of thing, I figured that it would mean proper Halo clothing. Like, little Master Chief armour packs, or a Sgt. Johnson "Cap & Cigar" combo deal. Same goes for any other game; it just seemed logical that avatar gear licensed from a game/series would take the form of...well, digital cosplay.

Hopefully that's still coming, and this awful Hot Topic getup is exactly what it's supposed to be; a test.

[via Joystiq]