Deus Ex 3 First Details! Officially a Prequel!

As was rumoured, PC Zone got the first real scoop on Deus Ex 3 for their 200th issue, and goddamn, things have been revealed. Eidos Montreal, who’s working on the game have promised the game will learn from Invisible War’s mistakes and will cater to fans of the original. How much of it will they deliver?

To start with, the story is officially a prequel set in 2027. While I utterly abhorred the idea of a Deus Ex prequel at first, this actually sounds fine. It should be better than Invisible War, at any rate. You won’t be a Denton this time round, of course. You’ll play as Adam Jensen this time, so no female protagonist. Doubt if female Alex D will be missed anyways.

The story will be deep and layered, much like the original. To affirm this, the studio has drafted Sheldon Pacotti, writer of the Deus Ex for consultation. Sounds fine and dandy for me, especially since Harvey Smith and Warren Spector have given their blessings!

There are going to be a few changes to gameplay. Whether that is good or bad is going to highly debatable. Among the good stuff, there won’t be unified ammo like in Invisible War. The bad stuff? There’s going to be auto-healing, like in Call of Duty. That may have made sense for a biomodified human, but since its a prequel, I don’t see why JC Denton in Deus Ex shouldn’t have had auto-healing!

Stealth will rely on a cover-system, instead of shadows. How that works, I don’t know; but I sure as hell know I’m going to subtly miss hiding and crouching through shadows. There seem to be some creative new augmentations this time round. 20 have been confirmed, and sound totally awesome.

Among the ones given, one will let you “bungee jump” from walls of buildings. Woah, wait. We’re going to be jumping of buildings in this game. How cool is that? There will be the ability to punch through walls and grab enemies in the next room, which sounds totally awesome. Damn, I can’t wait for the other augmentations!

Full info comes on October 9th, when the issue goes on sale. I’ll be waiting!

Tomb Raider: Underworld Portal launched

Eidos Interactive has officially launched the new Tomb Raider portal – a destination for fans of the series to find the latest news, art, and announcements regarding Lara Croft’s newest adventure, Tomb Raider: Underworld. Developed by Crystal Dynamics, this entry marks the first Tomb Raider title built specifically for next generation consoles, bringing Lara Croft and her world into life-like detail.

Continuing the thrilling legacy of Tomb Raider: Legend and Tomb Raider: Anniversary, Tomb Raider: Underworld represents an advancement in exploration-based gameplay, delivering an epic adventure that offers a new level of challenge and choice. Using every weapon in her arsenal – from her signature dual guns and expanded kit of archeological tools to her own physical prowess and the environment itself – Lara embarks on a quest that circles the globe to uncover the secrets of the Norse underworld and a forgotten power that, if unleashed, could lay waste to all civilization.

Visit www.tombraider.com to uncover exclusive developer podcasts and blogs, screenshots and other media, and all of the latest news.

Tomb Raider: Underworld launches November 2008 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, Wii, PlayStation 2, and Nintendo DS platforms.

Deus Ex becomes a free download next week

Deus Ex

I would unabashedly list Deus Ex as one of the most underrated games ever, because I personally hold it as the greatest video game made yet. This comes as joyous news to hear that Deus Ex will be an officially free and legal download next week! That’s right: free body augmentations, global conspiracies and paranoia for all!

Hit the jump to find out where to catch it!

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1UP is on THEIR side!

1UP Reviewers supporting Gamespot

You must have been under the rock of ignorance, if you missed the Gerstmann conspiracy/controversy that’s doing the rounds the last half week. To summarize, the ever-popular Jeff Gerstmann got fired abruptly from GameSpot, and no official statement can be given as to why. But strong rumours are pointing that GameSpot was under advertising pressure, and fired good man Jeff for his low review of the actually abysmal Kane & Lynch.

While most of the internet world appears to be opposing GameSpot (several boycotts, subscription cancellations, spamming and stuff), it is nice to know that someone is fighting for GameSpot’s cause. Ziff Davis, the guys who own 1UP and FileFront, sent a bunch of their staffers to console the GameSpot staff. Constructing a friendly banner, they marched two blocks up, yelled their support for game reviewers (leaving most passers-by saying “WTF?”) and bummed around a bit.

Disconsider this not, reader. GameSpot is one of the biggest game reviewing and general information sites on the net, and if something serious is happening to GameSpot, something serious will happen to the gaming industry, especially game reviewers and their credibility. Considering our motley crew at StuffWeLike are part-time reviewers (except the charming Ted, who’s full-time), I have sympathy to what GameSpot must be going through. But I shall continue to neglect them just because they fired Jeff, good reason or not.

What do you think of this whole controversy? Are the rumours worth believing? Is GameSpot innocent? Was this all really Eidos’ plan? Is this a shadow of more sinister events to come? Involving aliens, dinosaurs, robots and cowboys (wow)? Discuss in the comments below!

Deus Ex 3 announced, teaser revealed, pants wetted

Screenshot from Deus Ex 3’s teaser

I’ve always maintained that Deus Ex is the greatest game ever made by man, and with good reason. It was thought-provoking, immersive, intelligent and its unique game mechanics were plain perfect. While its sequel never lived up to its predecessor’s timeless glory, I still liked it for just being. I’m in need of underwear right now, because Eidos has just announced Deus Ex 3. That’s right, folks – Deus Ex is back with a vengeance!

Of course, Ion Storm saddeningly dissolved a long time ago, so this is Eidos’ Montreal studio’s first game, and that’s a blazing inauguration. Gamasutra reports the company’s structure, their goals and other details not concerning Deus Ex. What I found to be interesting was that Eidos mentions that the new studio will have tightly-knit, multi-discipline groups (at the most 80 people) working on a single project. Also, their development cycles will reportedly last 24 months, as opposed to the much lesser numbers of their competitors.

Eidos also released the teaser for Deus Ex 3, which you can find below. It’s as ambiguous as you’d expect from a teaser, and depicts a bio-augmented foetus, along with some mysterious words from a narrator. There are also a series of pictures that run damn fast. There’s a list of what they are at Wikipedia, if you’re that interested. (UPDATE: We have just learned that the guys at Shacknews have spent a good portion of their lives taking screenshots from the series of images. They have 20 images here right now, and I have no idea if those are all the images or not.)

While this is all excellent news, I have a strange fear in the back of my mind that this may get “consolized” as well, just like (*shudder*) Invisible War. Also, the fact that Montreal is facing a development cycle, no matter how long, hints at the same. Deus Ex, the beautiful game, in its unadulterated form is one that can only be reasonably played on the PC in its entirety. I hope that Montreal tries to recreate that, rather than tossing this legendary franchise into the unwashed masses of multi-console video games.