Remember Harker (Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii)? Long after we've heard of the game being developed by The Collective, Foundation 9 has revealed that the next-gen Jonathan Harker adventure is on indefinite hold. Reportedly, its devs are now working on a different survival horror title. Hit that jump to learn more.

No creepy, faceless nurses in this batch of Silent Hill 5 screenshots, but you do get to look around the tranquil, and historic town of Silent Hill, where the residents are so friendly, they just want to eat you up. Check out the full article for the latest Silent Hill 5 screenshots for the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Patrick Doody is one of the writers hired to develop the story of Konami's Silent Hill 5 (PS3, Xbox 360). As far as the interview is concerned, Doody was able to divulge more about the "scary" factor of this survival horror game and even got to provide details on the lead character, Alex Shepherd. Check out what he said in the full article.

The big buzz just a few days ago loomed over the societal-political sector, when a video game violence bill beset by a preliminary injunction was held back permanently after courts found the law was unconstitutional. The bill, proposed by senator Leland Yee and former California Assemblyman, was signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger back in 2005.

But before the law could come into effect on January 1, 2006, the collective alliances of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA), and the Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) countered the law with a suit. The result rendered the law useless when courts decided to place a preliminary injunction on the law.

Like many other video game laws, the California video game violence law wanted to restrict the sale of violent video games (as classified by the law) to anyone under the age of 18. It only went as far as punishing violators with a US$ 1,000 fine, but back in Monday, the law was proven unconstitutional and was rendered ineffectual - permanently.

The game industry, instead, had provided invitations to the political sector to aid in the much-needed re-education of purchasing decisions and rating systems for media and to encourage parents to partake in the game selection process for their inappropriately aged children. But it appears the politicians will not sway so easily.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has suggested that he will appeal the ruling by U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte and stand by the bill "the Governator" signed into law two years ago. In defense, he commented:

I signed this important measure to ensure that parents are involved in determining which video games are appropriate for their children. The bill I signed would require that violent video games be clearly labeled and not be sold to children under 18 years old. Many of these games are made for adults and choosing games that are appropriate for kids should be a decision made by their parents. I will vigorously defend this law and appeal it to the next level.

As GamePolitics put it, "It’s not over until it’s over in California," and we couldn't help but nod in agreement.

Few games far into the horizon can capture the collective imagination of QJ's Games For Windows team, but StarCraft II definitely more than cuts it. It's been almost a decade since the original came into the scene and every PC gamer who's ever played it is more than ready for the sequel. This video has Blizzard developer Chris Sigaty talking about the game. Check it out:

If you've been listening to his short discussion, you'll realize that the whole game has changed to an extent that you'll still probably feel that you're in the StarCraft RTS universe but with everything smoother and richer than ever. If we know Blizzard as well as we do, they hardly ever miss their targets.

The sad news is the release date's details. This game will come out "when it's ready" and we know what that means. Still, that's the Blizzard School of Thought for you: it's always an ambitious project with years of polishing. Say, is anyone thinking of Diablo III? We'll probably get to play that with our kids.

 

Another Black Temple boss bites the dust under the collective hands of guilds Nihilum and Curse. Plus another World of Warcraft world first goes to EU Magtheridon's Nihilum, though Curse was only three hours behind.

The three faced Essence of Souls (Essence of Grief, Anger, and Desire all rolled into one) is the sixth boss to fall under the hands of Nihilum on their merry way to Illidan Stormrage. On the Nihilum run, the boss dropped two shiny epics: Naaru-Blessed Life Rod and Boneweave Girdle while Curse got Grips of Damnation and Gloves of Unfailing Faith.

Check out the screenshots. If you look real close at the Curse guild's screenie, you'll catch a glimpse of World of Raids' Teza. Anyway, stay tuned for more news and world firsts on Blizzard's World of Warcraft.

It's a weekend, it's Easter Sunday, and it's a pretty slow news day. Now, what follows isn't news of any kind, but it could serve as a guide for all of you programmers and coders out there working on your homebrew projects.

Taking a page from Robert Fulghum's "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten", the Codist has come up with a list of things that every programmer needs to keep in mind in order to be a good one. "Programming is complicated stuff," says the Codist, "but a lot of what makes a good programmer isn't all that different from the earliest learning we did in school."

It's more geared towards professional programmers, but it could just as well apply for all non-pros and amateurs out there. The full list is behind the "read" link, but here are a few snippets off of it:

1. Share everything. Use open source where possible, and contribute to it when you are able. The collective wisdom of the entire community is better than the limited vision of a few large companies.

2. Play fair. Give other technologies, frameworks, methodologies and opinions a chance. Don't think your choices are the only ones that work. The other choices may very well be better than yours; it doesn't hurt to check them out with an open mind.

3. Don't hit people. Like #2, don't attack people just because they happen to use .Net or Java or PHP (I learned my lesson there!). Sometimes they might be more usable and useful than you think. You can learn a lot more from someone when you are not pounding them to a pulp.

The game adaptation of 1970-movie "Dirty Harry" has been under development for some time now. Do you know why it's taking this long? It seems that The Collective is having some issues with parent company Foundation 9.

According to a source close to Foundation 9, the company is no longer working on Dirty Harry. It was also reported that a total number of 30 Collective staff members received pink slips the other day after the project was pulled off. One representative refused to comment directly on the matter, saying:

When this optimization leads to job loss at one studio, we make every effort to find a place for displaced employees at another of our studios. Foundation 9 is currently hiring for 40 positions in our studios across North America and is still in a state of growth with more than 30 projects in development.

What happens now to Dirty Harry? The game is still going to be published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE), and WBIE promised that a videogame adaptation will be released eventually. WBIE Senior Vice President Samantha Ryan said:

We are moving forward with the Dirty Harry next generation videogames and will be changing our development plans in keeping with the best interest of the franchise legacy. WBIE is dedicated to creating a game that will bring Clint Eastwood's legendary Detective Harry Callahan character to the interactive space with a new story and great gameplay.

On a little side note, Samantha Ryan is the CEO as well of Monolith Productions, the same company that brought us F.E.A.R. and Condemned. We agree with GameSpot author Tom Thorsen; we wouldn't be surprised if Dirty Harry eventually ends up in that studio.

Perhaps we won't be seeing it soon, but according to newly installed WBIE senior vice president Samantha Ryan, a next-gen Dirty Harry game will be released. Eventually.

The game has currently been put on indefinite hold following staff reorganizations at Foundation 9. The Collective, a division of Foundation 9 and the studio who was handling the videogame adaptation of the 1970 film, was pulled off the project. Approximately 30 Collective staffers were handed their pink slips.

A Foundation 9 spokesperson declined to comment on Dirty Harry's status, but even though things are looking grim for old Mr. Callahan, there's still some light at the end of the tunnel.

"We are moving forward with the Dirty Harry next generation videogames and will be changing our development plans in keeping with the best interest of the franchise legacy," said Ryan in a statement. "WBIE is dedicated to creating a game that will bring Clint Eastwood's legendary Detective Harry Callahan character to the interactive space with a new story and great gameplay."

The crowd control capability, especially in serious aggro grinds and particularly at PvP, is a welcome addition to any class in the World of Warcraft universe. Crowd control, or CC for short, is a coined term for any ability (may it be spell or talent) that could allow you to select which enemies to fight first.

This is achieved by disabling or inhibiting their other companions fighting capability. If you've played Warcraft III prior to WoW, you could compare it with the Dread Lord's Sleep spell. The CC is a contributing element to survivability, if you can pull off the right skill at the most crucial moment.

While some shammies are planning to spam the forums with requests for more crowd control skills, there's talk of getting anti-CC skills up to counter the other classes' CC capabilities. In fact, some players think that other classes are overflowing with CC tactics that the Shaman could be better off thwarting such tactics with polished anti-CC punts.

But let's not forget, Shamans do have CC capability, just not all that impressive. To use the Earthbind Totem with Frost Shock (or either one of each) must be done at the right place at the right time.

Frostband Weapon can also enchant your blade with freeze/slow capability for a shammy to make a quick getaway. The official word from Blizzard goes a little something like what Tseric said:

I think [this will] be a long standing contention because the devs don't want to copy/paste a CC ability and the players have built it up as a necessity. Sometimes repeating a thing over and over makes it true in the mind. Sometimes this strikes me the same as people saying 'My survivability in PVP is terrible'. I think I've practically heard every single class petition that as a primary class concern at one time or another. It sounds reasonable on the face, but doesn't make sense the more you look into it. Granted, this isn't really the same situation, but I think the collective might be so adamant as a collective decision, not necessarily based on the merit of the claim, itself.

Pretty slippery words, huh? If you're the pessimist like we think you are, you could translate that as "Devs say no, you say yes, [Tseric says] maybe. But the final answer is no."