Gaming News Round-Up: December 20th, 2004

Author: by Nich Maragos, Simon Carless

Today's round-up includes a much-awaited Half-Life 2 demo, information on downtime for EverQuest II, and some extra online distribution for indie studio Digital Eel. - A post-release PC demo for Half-Life 2 is now out and available at ATI’s website. For those who want a chance to try out the game before they buy, the demo features a few of the early levels, as well as a later section in the Ravenholm area, to give a taste of the game’s advanced physics engine and NPC animations. It also gives players a mandatory chance to try out Valve’s digital delivery service, since, despite being on ATI’s servers, the demo requires a Steam account to download. - John Smedley of Sony Online Entertainment has apologized to players of the recently-launched PC MMO EverQuest II for some significant global downtime over last weekend, reportedly related to issues with a software update. Explaining that the thorough validation process for each downed server required both time and outside help from their hardware partners, Smedley offered more than words by way of apology: current subscribers of EverQuest II will receive three days of free access and a brief window of accelerated experience gain this week as compensation for their troubles, ensuring that players can get back into the grind as smoothly as possible. - Online distributor Jollygood Games and developer Digital Eel have announced a strategic partnership where Jollygood Games will publish and distribute the entire catalog of Digital Eel 'indie' games for both Windows and Macintosh platforms, including Weird Worlds: Return To Infinite Space. This title is the eagerly-awaited sequel to Strange Adventures In Infinite Space. Weird Worlds, which has already been chosen as one of the finalists in the upcoming 2005 Independent Games Festival (run by the CMP Game Group, as is Gamasutra), and is slated for release in early 2005. Other titles to be distributed by Jollygood Games include Dr. Blob's Organism, Big Box of Blox, and Plasmaworm.