Anyone who has enjoyed the Street Fighter series will be happy to hear of this news (I know I am). Next-Gen had a chat with a rep from Capcom today and asked about how Street Fighter IV is coming along; the response was what you'd always get from a developer about their game: "great."

They then asked what it looked like, and the Capcom rep told them they'll be able to find out this Thursday, December 6th. So mark your calendars for Thursday if you're interested in getting a glimpse of what Street Fighter IV is going to look like, and how it compares to the trailer released in October.

So like any good gamer, I've been plugging away at the latest World of Warcraft patch in my free time -- which isn't exactly a whole lot of time lately -- but it's sufficient enough for what I'm currently doing in the game.

I've decided that, since 2.3 reduced experience required from 20-60, that it's time to dust off my alts -- especially my Warlock and Priest -- and level them up. My first character to level up will be my Undead Warlock -- mostly because I haven't leveled Horde since beta.

I went into the patch at level 46, and I'm now up to level 51. Granted, I have rested xp, but the leveling pace is simply amazing now. It honestly feels the way it should have been all along -- it's a system that now encourages players to have multiple high-level characters, rather than feeling like a chore once you've done it a time or two.

Now that I've said some happy things about 2.3, it's rant time. More specifically -- battleground daily quests (not to be confused with the fantastic blog here on Curse!) -- the new repeatable once-a-day quest that is randomized.

Here's where my rant comes in; it's something that has been needed since the dawn of time (ok, just since the release of the Honor system), yet the quests themselves are grotesquely flawed. Yeah, sure -- daily quests were primarily for max-level characters to grind out reputations or to grab a little cash in a non-farming way (or at least something that doesn't feel like farming), but these quests are obviously different.

They can be done by low-level characters, so why on earth is it per-realm randomized instead of per-character? I can imagine anyone leveling their characters up would absolutely love the opportunity to do a quest every day to get a little bit of extra cash, some experience, and a nice little boost to their honor total -- except that if it's Alterac Valley day, or Eye of the Storm day, you're out of luck.

To end this before I get too far into a tangent and carry this on for more paragraphs than you'd find in a novel, battleground daily quests need to be randomized on a per-character basis. There's no reason a level 44 should have to miss out on a day's worth of the daily quest because it's Alterac Valley time -- or god forbid -- Eye of the Bore (whoops -- I meant Storm).

At any rate, so far I'm enjoying the pre-60 leveling that 2.3 has offered -- both the to-level experience required, and the experience rewards from quests are phenomenal. I'll probably blog about this a bit more as I get into the 50s -- I'd like to see if it's any better as you close in on 60 yet.

Epic Games is quite possibly the most innovative game engine developer in the industry. It's no secret that the Unreal Engine series has been an incredible success, with Fury and Vanguard both using iterations of it, as well as a whole slew of recent announcements of licensing for all sorts of game mediums, and beyond.

It's one of the latest announcements that could possibly be the first use of a video game engine outside of games themselves in a major project. HDFilms will be using the Unreal Engine 3 to power their upcoming 3D Animated Series, "Chadam".

This is building on the fact that Destineer - a company founded by an ex-Bungie executive - has signed on to use Unreal Engine 3 in a genre you wouldn't normally expect such an engine to be used.

Peter Tamte, president of Destineer says, "The Unreal Engine 3 is an impressively versatile piece of technology, and we are very excited to utilize it for our unannounced project. We are using the Unreal Engine to make a game for a genre in which you would not expect to see it. The engine is performing marvelously and Epic’s support has been top-notch.”

This of course isn't the first time Unreal Engine 3 will be used outside of Epic's... epic titles, Gears of War and Unreal Tournament III. It was also licensed by Faramix Enterprises to create a next-gen first person shooter, and Epic added Umbra's amazing technology to their integrated partners list in September.

Oh, there's also this little title called BioShock that employed the Unreal Engine 3, so that's yet another plaque on the proverbial wall of fame for Epic Games.

What else is going to be using Unreal Engine 3? A better question is "what isn't?" at this point. You can check out a list of all of the games past, present, and future that have used one of the Unreal Engine iterations on the Unreal Engine Wikipedia page. Suffice to say, Unreal Engine is kind of a big deal.

So I've been playing Hellgate: London since it launched (actually started a day before launch with the pre-order) and must say, it's much more enjoyable than I initially expected it to be.

It's also, to my surprise, able to run on my laptop that I use when out of the Curse office. This same laptop struggles to run games like World of Warcraft, so to be able to play Hellgate: London was a complete shock to me. That said, it's made me pretty happy on the weekends!

Speaking of which, I spent most of my off-time yesterday playing my Engineer. I've gotten to level 20 now, and am done with Act 3 of the game's storyline, moving on to Act 4 this evening. I hear there's unfortunately a bug with one of the missions in Act 4, so I may wait until tomorrow's patch to progress through that particular mission.

That said, there were some very neat levels so far in the game, including one that's designed like an RTS. This particular level begs the question: who did the voice acting for the units in it? They sound awfully familiar to the StarCraft Ghost unit, so I'm guessing Bill Roper lent his capabilities in voice acting to Hellgate: London as well. ;)

The skill trees for Engineers are very cool; I love the drone/bot pet system they have going, where the bots aren't targeted by attacks and the drone can actually tank, unlike most "pets" in other games. I've also speced a bit into "Smackdown," which has been incredibly useful against those "Regenerating" bosses since it has a stun component in it. I'll probably be creating a Guardian, Blademaster, or Evoker some time this week as well, so I'll make sure to report my progress in those classes.

I'll save screenshots for when I get to the office tomorrow and can take them on a computer that does the game's graphics engine justice, but for now here's the specs of my laptop to see just how flexible the game is in terms of systems it can be played on.

CPU: AMD Turion 64 x2 Mobile Technology @ 1.6 GHz (2 x 512KB L2 cache)
Video: "Up to" 512MB ATI Radeon Xpress 1100
RAM: 2GB DDR2 (shared with video card)
OS: Windows Vista

That's it for now; time to get back in and try to save London and the world from its demise!

Hold on to your hats, DigitalBattle is reporting that there's been an info leak on Battlefield 3.

The website has received a PDF file containing what appears to be a 3-page document which was prepared to present to investors later this year. Included in the document is a fairly robust feature list.

First off the list is the mention of a 2008 release date, with a possible public beta in summer of next year. The game is powered by "Frostbite DX" and will be returning to the more popular era that Battlefield 2 took place in - modern day - with two playable factions: NATO and the Middle Eastern Coalition.

There are said to be 8 maps, according to the feature set - one titled "Baghdad Burning" - with most of them being Middle Eastern-based urban settings.

New to the series is what will be called "Battalions" - a group consisting of three to four squads. This of course means Squads and Commanders return, as does online stat tracking, which should be more robust with "real world ranks."

Another new addition is listed as the "Solider" feature, which sounds to be something similar to MMO character advancement and avatars. There are of course five playable classes: Sniper, Assault, Engineer, Medic and Support, with 48 vehicles, 34 different weapons and another 22 that are unlockable for a total of 56.

Additional unlocks include ammunition, new types of body armor, helmets, camouflage and accessories.

The document mentions Windows Vista and OS X as operating systems, but that doesn't mean Windows XP is counted out; it also says to expect an announcement and teaser trailer in January 2008, so we'll have to wait and see if this is true or not. Only time will tell.

Hold on to your seats, UT fans. Unreal Tournament 3's PC beta demo is about to be unleashed to the gaming public.

Mark Rein dropped by the UT3 forums to announce that the demo is closing in on release.

So the burning question at this point is: what's this demo going to contain? It's going to allow instant action play against bots as well as online multiplayer, with the purpose being to test the game on a large variety of hardware setups.

Keep an eye out for the demo; Mark says it could come out this week, but it's safer to say it'll be out within two weeks.

For anyone that enjoys such classics as Railroad Tycoon or Theme Park, you may want to check out this new game from HipSoft called "Build-a-lot."

It's designed as a casual strategy game, where you jump into the real estate market and become a house-selling mogul. There are several options to generating cash in the game; either sell off your renovated house quickly or rent it out to AI-controlled citizens looking for a new home.

The game also promises to have special upgrades and buildings you can place in the world such as the mundane bowling alley, all the way up to museums and castles.

Features

• Beautiful house and neighborhood graphics
• Fun house upgrades such as bowling alleys and swimming pools
• Special buildings such as Museums, Mansions and Castles
• Two play modes: Career and Casual

Head over to the Build-a-lot website if the game piques your interest; it's designed as a 2D game similar to Sim City, so the system requirements are rather low.

Since Curse only covers MMO news currently, I wanted to post this here. Gears of War will be coming to PC soon, under the "Games for Windows" moniker.

The cool thing is it's not just a port of the incredible hit XBox 360 version - it includes all-new content, including three new multiplayer maps, a new multiplayer game type, Game Editor, five new campaign chapters and DirectX® 10 support.

Extended feature list:

• Frag-filled new content. "Gears of War" will feature locations that are unique to the franchise and the genre. Players will encounter all their favorite foes from the Xbox 360 version; however, these intense encounters will take place in some new environments and allow players to manipulate the new game modes and technology found only in the Games for Windows title. Boasting three new multiplayer maps, a new multiplayer game type, Game Editor, five new campaign chapters and DirectX 10 support, "Gears of War," will challenge and push the limits of the PC gaming experience and provide an unparalleled visual presentation.
• Engaging and disturbing cinematic story. Movie-like cut scenes, cinematic camera moves and in-game storytelling bring the brutal, emotionally charged narrative to life. Gamers control Marcus Fenix and his fire team as they pit advanced technology against the overwhelming and horrific Locust Horde.
• Unmatched online gaming. "Gears of War" will tap into the power of Games for Windows — LIVE to deliver online matchmaking for its Gold account members. The service will enable gamers around the world to connect via their PCs, allowing players to experience individualized matchmaking, view player statistics, earn player Achievements, customize games and create personalized profiles.
• New Game Editor. The game will also feature the all-new Game Editor, guaranteeing new user-generated content in the future. The "Gears of War" community will be able to tap its endless creative potential to develop an unlimited number of user-created levels through complete access to the Unreal Editor. Using the new engine, players can now import custom artwork into the engine, create particle systems, scripted encounters, cinematics and more.
• Astounding visuals in next-generation gaming. "Gears of War" ushers in the next generation with incredible visuals, pushing DirectX 10 visual designs and bringing out the smallest details in the largest battle. Gamers experience a rich, dynamic world with a supreme level of detail. Characters come to life with unbelievable model quality and a physics-integrated animation system that has them truly reacting intelligently to events unfolding around them.
• Hyper-realistic and intense combat. In "Gears of War" the battlefield is a lethal place — to foolishly stand out in the open is to invite an untimely demise. To survive, gamers must employ strategy, take cover using the interactive and dynamic environments, and suppress the enemy with blind fire, using their weapons and teammates to outwit and outfight their terrifying enemies.

Check out the Epic Games website to read more about Gears on PC here.

Another lovely day in downtown San Francisco, California. Except this day is unlike the past six months leading up to it. This is our third day in our new office building, in the heart of the Financial District.

Since I was brought on at Curse in March, we've grown quite a bit with incredibly talented people devoted to moving Curse forward - focused on ensuring our expertise in the World of Warcraft AddOn space is used in other gaming-related areas such as databases, video hosting, image hosting and social networking.

Our old office was rapidly shrinking in available space; some of the team was back in Europe and even then, we were running out of room. The decision was made to move to a new, larger office that would fit our needs now and in the future.

With that, I present to you Curse, Inc. Offices 2.0. I took the liberty of snapping pictures of various areas of the office (though I respected most executive offices - don't want to make them mad!). We've set up some cool Blizzard swag on our walls, but we definitely need more!

With the larger office, we were able to split the teams into sections, that way the execs in charge of managing the teams can better focus their efforts while not bothering people not involved in the team with conversation or questions. The Community and Marketing teams share a room in the office, as seen below.

And of course, my desk is the coolest of them all!

We also have a much larger conference room than before, along with finally getting a whiteboard to draw ideas and brainstorm plans for the future!

Please forgive the lack of chairs in the conference room; we've been slacking over the past few days - but I assure you - we have them, as you can see here.

Last but not least, those developers everyone has grown to love (and some new faces you haven't met yet). All of them share a fairly large room together; Zinor, Asp, Kaelten and Osso are here as well as a few new folks that have been added to the team recently. As you can see from the images below, they were already hard at work when I took the pictures, not only on fixing issues Curse members have reported, but also future features coming soon!

Hopefully you've enjoyed this look into our somewhat empty offices (for now!).

One of my tasks I have to complete prior to this site version launching is making sure our Games database contains all currently available and in development MMOG's. To that end, I've had to add some rather... odd, for lack of a better word, games to the list.

Take for example Darkwind: War on Wheels - a turn-based racing/vehicular combat game. If that description doesn't clash, I don't know what does. You might ask, "Well what's wrong with that game?" I'd obviously say nothing is wrong with it, but it's certainly an unusual combination of mechanics for an MMOG; especially a racing game.

Then there are Flyff and Furcadia. The former isn't really all that strange of a game, but the name is where its oddity is - and it's there in full force. The name is short for "Fly For Fun." Sure, you can fly in the game. And yes, it might be fun. That said, naming your game "Fly For Fun" and then trying to cover it up by creating an acronym called Flyff is rather tacky, to put it bluntly.

Furcadia on the other hand is a game that, from what I can gather reading up on it, is based entirely around visiting the dreams of other players. You create your own dream, and then you can either have players visit it, or visit other player-created dreams. You do all of this as a "furry" character; things like humanoid dogs, cats, etc.

The odd games aside, there are some interesting ones I've added. GoonZu Online, for example, has some great Fan Art.

It's definitely been a unique experience discovering some of these games, scouring their screenshots and videos, and eventually adding all of it to our database. I'm sure I'll find even more of them as this project progresses; I'm only about halfway done from what I can tell.

Today we had a cool treat provided by one of our developers, Osso. He let us know that v4 will support embedding videos into pretty much every single thing on the website; articles, forums, blogs, etc.

And so I wanted to take this opportunity to show it off using the new Guild Wars: Eye of the North dungeon preview video.

var FO_11 = { movie:"http://dev.curse-gaming.com/static/flash/flvplayer.swf", width:"500", height:"350", majorversion:"7", build:"0", bgcolor:"#FFFFFF", allowfullscreen:"true", flashvars:"file=http://videos.cursebeta.com/stream2/premium/344.flv&autostart=true" }; $("#flvplayer_11").click(function(event) { UFO.create(FO_11, "flvplayer_11"); $(this).unbind('click'); });

Pretty cool, huh? adsafasdfsa