TORCHLIGHT 2 Released!

Torchlight II is an action role-playing game developed by Runic Games, released on September 20, 2012. It is the sequel to Runic's 2009 ARPG, Torchlight, and features peer-to-peer multiplayer support and extended modding capabilities. A release for Mac OS is planned for some time after the PC release. Runic Games originally estimated the PC version's release date to be sometime in 2011, but in November 2011 company president Travis Baldree announced the game release date would be pushed back to 2012 to allow time for further polishing and beta testing.


Gameplay

Like the original Torchlight, Torchlight II will feature randomly-generated dungeons for the player to explore, and numerous types of monsters to fight for experience and loot. Torchlight II maintains the same basic gameplay as its predecessor, but features overland areas with multiple hub towns, and a longer campaign. Other new features include time of day cycles, weather effects, and a redesigned user interface. Players will be able to customize character appearance with choice of sex, face, and hair style. Additionally, several elements from the first game will be returning, such as pets, fishing, and a retirement system.

Character classes

The game will feature four playable character classes. The Engineer (formerly known as the Railman) is a heavy melee fighter who uses ember-powered steampunk technology; the Outlander is a wandering nomad who uses ranged weapons and "low magic". The Berserker uses quick attacks and animal-themed special powers, and the Embermage is a highly trained spell-casting class with elemental attacks. The three classes from the original Torchlight do not return as playable characters, and are instead presented in the game world as NPCs.

Multiplayer

As stated in the trailer for Torchlight 2, Runic games have announced that they "heard their [the fans'] pleas" and criticism concerning the fact that Torchlight was a lonely experience without co-op. In addition to single-player mode, an all-new cooperative multiplayer mode has been promised, supporting both internet and LAN play. Runic has not yet decided on the maximum number of players per game, but Runic co-founder Max Schaefer mentioned that in their testing, groups of 2-6 players gave the best experience. Optional PVP (player versus player) has been confirmed by Runic.

Plot

Years after the end of the original Torchlight, The Alchemist gets corrupted by the Ember Blight coming from the Heart of Ordrak, the evil being who had been the source of the corruption under the town of Torchlight, and then destroys the town. The player character takes on a quest to stop this villain, who is using Ordrak's power to disturb the balance between the world's six elements.

As the game progresses, the player treks across large geographical areas, corresponding to three "acts" of the story and an epilogue. Act I is set in the mountainous Estherian Steppes, and Act II takes the player to a desert known as the Mana Wastes.

Development

Though the original Torchlight received positive reviews, the game's lack of any multiplayer modes was a near-universal criticism of the title by critics and fans alike. Prior to the release of the first game, Runic Games had announced plans to develop a MMORPG set in the Torchlight game world to follow the release of the single player game. However, in August 2010, Runic announced they were developing Torchlight II, a sequel which was conceived not only as a way to give the series multiplayer support, but also to give Runic "more experience with making a multiplayer Torchlight." Some of the work on Torchlight II is intended to carry over to Runic Games' upcoming Torchlight MMORPG, which the company plans to focus on following the release of the sequel.

In late 2010, Runic Games' increased involvement in the Xbox Live Arcade port of the first Torchlight game caused a delay in the development of the sequel, but memory and loading time optimizations developed for the port led to improvements in the PC version of Torchlight II.

Unlike its predecessor, Torchlight II features cinematic sequences, which are being produced by Klei Entertainment, the developer of Eets and Shank.


System requirements (minimum)

CPU: 2 GHz single core core Intel or AMD processor
RAM: 512 MB of system memory
Graphics: DirectX 9 compatible card with 128 MB RAM. Nvidia 6-series or AMD Radeon 800 series graphics cards.
Operating system: Windows XP
DirectX compatible sound card
3 GB of hard drive space

Torchlight 2 system requirements (recommended)

CPU: 2 GHz dual core Intel or AMD CPU
RAM: 1GB
Graphics: DirectX 10 compatible card with 512 MB RAM, Nvidia 200 series or AMD 3000-series.
Operating system: Windows 7
DirectX compatible sound card
3 GB of hard drive space

Enjoy the game!

HALF - LIFE BLACK MESA SOURCE IS OUT!

TRAILER

Black Mesa (previously known as Black Mesa: Source) is a third-party total conversion modification for Valve Corporation's Source engine. The stated goal of the project is to recreate Valve's critically acclaimed 1998 video game Half-Life using the more advanced capabilities of the Source engine. The 40-person volunteer development team says they hope to create a more engrossing in-game world with more varied, complex environments and more challenging, realistic gameplay.

During its eight years in development, Black Mesa has been featured in several video game publications and received direct attention from Valve. Due to its long development time the modification has recently become notable for its delays, and dwindling updates on the status of its completion. The delays led to Wired Magazine awarding Black Mesa high spots on their Vaporware Of The Year list in 2009, and again in 2010. The developers released the game as a free download when completed. On June 10, 2012 the Black Mesa development team announced that new "media" would be released once their Facebook page reached 20,000 likes. This goal was reached on June 11, 2012 when 8 new screenshots were released, along with an announcement of the start of a "social-media campaign" towards their first release. On September 2, 2012, project leader Carlos "cman2k" Montero announced that the first Black Mesa release would take place on September 14, 2012.

Public voting saw the game approved for distribution on Steam's Greenlight program and will be released through Valve's own software, as well as a standalone download. The standalone download was released on September 14, 2012.

Development

With the release of Half-Life 2 in 2004, Valve Corporation re-released several of their previous titles, ported to their new Source game engine, including the critically acclaimed 1998 game Half-Life named Half-Life: Source. The Source engine is graphically more advanced than the GoldSrc engine used for the original versions. Half-Life: Source features the Havok physics engine and improved effects for water and lighting. The level architecture, textures, and models of the game however, remained unchanged.

Half-Life: Source was met with mixed reviews. IGN liked the new user interface and other technical features but noted that it did not receive as many improvements as Valve's other Source engine ports. GameSpy said that while it was a "fun little bonus", it was "certainly not the major graphical upgrade some people thought it might be." Valve CEO Gabe Newell is quoted as saying that a complete remake of Half-Life by fans of the game using Source was "not only possible…but inevitable."

The "Surface Tension" chapter as it appears in Half-Life

The same scene, as seen in a development version of Black Mesa

Black Mesa began as the combination of two independent volunteer projects, each aiming to do just that: completely recreate Half-Life using Source. The Leakfree modification was announced in September 2004. Half-Life: Source Overhaul Project was announced one month later. After realizing their similar goals, project leaders for both teams decided to combine efforts; they formed a new 13-person team titled Black Mesa: Source. The "Source" in the project's title was later dropped when Valve asked the team to remove it in order to "stem confusion over whether or not [it was] an endorsed or official product," which it is not.

The team now consists of 40 volunteer level designers, programmers, modelers, texture artists, animators, sound engineers, voice actors, and support staff. They have stated they want Black Mesa to be similar to Half-Life in gameplay and story, but changes will be made to take advantage of Source's more advanced features. Changes to the story will not divert from, or alter, the overall storyline of the Half-Life series. Level designers have shortened or modified some areas of the game that "didn't make any sense," or were "tedious" in the original. Maps will also be of a larger scale, for instance the hydro-electric dam, which is now "twenty or thirty times" larger.

Originally based on the version of Source released with Counter-Strike: Source in 2004, the project now uses a more recent version released with Valve's The Orange Box in 2007. This new version includes more advanced particle effects, hardware-accelerated facial animation, and support for multi-core processor rendering among other improvements. The team has stated they do not plan on upgrading again to newer versions such as those used in Valve's Left 4 Dead (2008) or Portal 2 (2011) games. In addition to the modification itself, the game's thematic score, produced by sound designer Joel Nielsen, has been independently released as a soundtrack.

Black Mesa is distributed as a free download. The developers released a teaser trailer in 2005, and a full-length preview trailer in 2008. They also released images, videos, and concept art during the project's development. Black Mesa was given an official release date of "late 2009" in the spring of 2009, but this date was changed to "when it's done", after the development team was unable to fulfill this date. The first part of the game was released on September 14, 2012. The team plans to release the Xen levels sometime later; with the current content, they estimate that players will have eight to ten hours of content to complete.

Reception

During its development, Black Mesa has received attention from several video game publications. It has been featured in articles from Computer Gaming World, PC PowerPlay, and PC Gamer UK magazines. Valve published a news update about the modification on their Steam digital distribution platform in 2007 saying that "We're as eager to play [Black Mesa] here as everyone else."

The project was awarded Top Unreleased Mod by video game modification website Mod DB in 2005 and 2006. Mod DB gave the project an honorable mention in their choice of Top Unreleased Mod in 2007.

After receiving a development version of Black Mesa in December 2009, PC PowerPlay magazine said that the game's setting "looks, sounds, [and] plays better than ever before." The "subtle" changes from the original Half-Life were said to have a "substantial" overall impact. They also noted the project's "frustrating" then-five-year development time, and current lack of release date, but added that the developers were making progress..

After the mod was released, early impressions of the game were very good.


These are the current requirements in order to play Black Mesa.


Minimum System Requirements


Software : Windows XP, Vista, or 7
Processor : Pentium 4 3.0 GHz, or AMD processor.
RAM : 1GB (1024 MB)
Graphics Card : Shader Model 2.0 capable, ATI 9600, NVidia 6600 or better.
Sound : DirectX 8.1 compatible.
HDD : 8 GB (Not including the Free Source SDK, installed separately)

Ideal System Requirements

Software : Windows XP, Vista, or 7
Processor : Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz or AMD equivalent.
RAM : 1 GB (1024 MB)
Graphics Card : Shader Model 3.0 capable, ATI X1600, NVidia 7600 or better.
Sound : DirectX 9.0c compatible.
HDD : 8 GB (Not including the Free Source SDK, installed separately)


Black Mesa will require the Source SDK Base 2007 to run. Many Source games purchasable through Steam come with the Shared Resources, including the SDK, that you will need in order to run Black Mesa. To see if you can run Black Mesa, open Steam and look in the tools tab. If you see an entry titled Source SDK Base 2007, you can run Black Mesa.

As of July, 2011, Valve made the Source SDK free for anyone to download. This means that users who create new Steam accounts will be able to play Black Mesa without having to purchase any games.

Please note that neither the Nvidia or ATI free game packages come with the SDK base.

If "Source SDK Base 2007" Does not appear on the tools tab in steam you must download it in order to play the mod.

At the moment, Black Mesa only supports the Microsoft Windows NT-based Operating Systems that Steam supports (2000, XP, Vista, 7).
Installations

If you meet the Software requirements, you technically do not need anything installed. If you do not have the Source SDK Base installed however, upon running Black Mesa you will be prompted by Steam and asked to download it.

GAMERS NIMFO BACK ONLINE!

Gamers Nimfo was down for a while.  Starting from 16.09.2012. Gamers Nimfo Is Back Online with new info'z and new titles and reviews. 

STAY TUNED and Register!