Square Enix and GPG Partner for Supreme Commander 2

With the cancellation of GPG's second expansion for Supreme Commander, it might come as a surprise to hear that Supreme Commander 2 has been placed on the table. Square Enix are now trying to expand into the western world, President and Representative Director of Square Enix, Yoichi Wada, explains:

We see great opportunities in European and North American markets, both of which are expected to be maintaining sustainable growth over these coming years. Therefore, it is crucial we create alliances with proven developers such as Gas Powered Games in order to serve these significant markets better by providing products and services in tune with customer tastes.

Unfortunately only the unusual partnership has been announced, very little about the coming sequel at this stage.

AMD Splits Into Two Companies

Since Intel started with the "Core 2" line of chips, AMD have been desperately trying to hold on. Starting with buying ATI, AMD have now sought out around USD $6 billion from 2 Abu Dhabi investment firms.

With this new investment, AMD will split it's design and production into two separate companies and upgrade one of it's existing fabrication plants in Germany, as well as build a new plant in the U.S.

Red Alert 3 Dated

Well we've finally got an exact release date for Red Alert 3 at the 30th this month (formally we've received an "October" release date).

Red Alert 3 will ship with a standard and a premier version, the premier going for a nasty $119. Here's whats in show for you hard earned bucks -

Personally they had me sold at the soundtrack, the DVD and "tips", I mean, come on "tips for each faction" - it just wasn't necessary. OK - it's a job well done, I'll buy your sucker edition. Additionally you get a Kossar's Helm for Warhammer Online when you purchase Red Alert 3. Who came up with that idea?

FarCry 2, Crysis Warhead - Release Dates

For all the FPS fans out there hanging for the next generation of PC FPS gaming, and perhaps the last we'll see of cutting-edge FPS games on the PC for a while, here are the release dates for the next two major titles.

SEPTEMBER 25	OCTOBER 24

If you've seen an AU release date for Warhead pegged at the 18th, you'll notice this has been pushed back by 1 week. So while we'll still be enjoying Warhead first, Crysis Warhead will be just an expansion - don't expect to see too much you haven't already seen in Crysis.

FarCry 2, although not developed by our beloved CryTek, looks to raise the bar yet again from what CryTek did when they gave us the original Crysis. After such we can't be sure. Many publishers and developers, CryTek included, have sworn never to produce massive PC-exclusive games again due to the high costs of maintaining a high-performance gaming PC and piracy problems.

Google Chrome Available Now

So it's here, Google have released their own web browser - Google Chrome (download). I've been playing with it for the last hour and I can say without a doubt that this is the best web browser in the world, but for reasons that won't be immediately apparent.

I've had to restrain myself from writing too much here a couple times now, so I'm going to leave you with it and update this blog when I have a full review ready for you.

Update: Google Chrome Review

Google Chrome Tomorrow

Today Google accidentally released a brief detailing the new browser Google is about to release in beta. So, in response to accidentally releasing this information Google have officially released a 40 page document introducing Google Chrome, a new major-player in the web browser world.

Google Chrome (Wiki, GoogleBlog), aims to focus on both the user and the developer by offering a cleaner, smarter multi-process GUI which locks each tab into it's own process. A new JavaScript Virtual Machine, designed to run fast and hard with precise garbage collection and machine-code translation of JavaScript.

Google Chrome will be featuring WebKit for it's rendering engine, currently used in Safari. The development side is handled by the "Gears" team who aim to keep the browser completely open-source in an effect to help proliferate new browser technologies, which will in-turn help Google better it's presence on the internet.

Expect to see the first public beta of Google Chrome tomorrow.

No Gears of War 2 for PC

Just as I finish venting my frustration after The Force Unleashed skips the PC platform, Epic Games lead designer Cliff Bleszinski goes and releases this statement:

"Gears of War is a great franchise first and foremost for Xbox 360 and therefore we're focusing on that platform for Gears of War 2. We've decided we're not going to do a PC version this time around".

Not that we didn't expect that, in order for the whole 'release on console then later release on PC' trick to work you've got to pretend you're not ever planning on releasing on PC so that [pirating] PC enthusiasts don't just wait it out.

Although this case is more about promoting the 360 than piracy, piracy is a huge problem and PC gamers are shooting themselves in the foot every time they do it, potentially killing the concept of gaming on the PC. The alternative to this is dumbed-down games designed for more casual play on consoles as AI reaction times and accuracy are drastically reduced and auto-aim mechanisms are installed.

Some of the smaller studios, Atari and Codemasters, just to name a couple, have started taking it out on pirates themselves by issuing an ultimatum of a £300 settlement or face a full-blown law suit. Our good friends at EA, one of the largest game publishers and developers, are refusing to go down this path as they have declined in participating with the recent law suits and continue to publish on the PC platform. Read on for reasons why.

'The Overclocker' Magazine Launched

In a world first, an Australian duo, in the form of Nick Ross from PC Authority and Josh Colling from at0mic mag and Team AU Overclocking (yes, there are teams), have formed an online magazine dedicated to overclocking and everything about it.  As Nick Ross states, "It's not going to compete with anyone. It's going to bind all the world's overclocking communities together, promote overclocking and overclockers, raise the profile within the industry, and offer the odd review."  Oh yeah, I forgot to mention:  IT'S FREE.

There's a whole lot of prizes to win, also, but don't enter or I'd have less of a chance of winning, which wouldn't be good.  You can subscribe though, just head on over to www.theoverclocker.com and see what's happening.  About time I say.

Google Keeping the World Safe

That might seem a bit of an odd statement, Google is our favourite search tool - so how are they keeping us safe?

An article on the Google Blog lead me to a story in which Google is talking about a large increase in virus based e-mail attacks over the July period. I run my e-mail through Google and for the last few weeks it has been warning me about viruses in UPS and CNN spoof e-mails, so it caught my eye when I read about Google talking about just how it has dealt with those very attacks.

If you're interested to know how Google can deal with these threats, and how it can protect you from it, keep reading.

Red Alert 3 Beta Review

Some people (the awesome ones mostly) have had a chance to play the Red Alert 3 beta, which is currently going for FilePlanet subscribers and people who bought Kane's Wrath.

For a review of beta, and a good preview of the next part of the C&C/Red Alert saga, check out our thoughts in the Red Alert 3 Review page.