It looks like the open world RPG Two Worlds has spawned a sequel that’s slated for release this year. SouthPeak Games announced that Two Worlds: The Temptation will be available this fall for the Xbox 360 and PC and will continue the story started in the first Two Worlds game. It sounds like they’ll be totally overhauling the graphics engine in addition to making a host of coming of age type updates which include improved character animations and an updated combat system all of which will be greatly appreciated I’m sure by fans.

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This is the continuation and full interview with Matt Atwood over at Eurogamer.net. As is to be expected from a console to PC port, the game’s visuals will be updated. Expect to see better frame rates, faster loading times, and higher resolution textures. The games controls and interface are being tweaked to feel more natural on a PC. This means l33t mouse aiming. Atwood also talks about the future of downloadable content as well as leaving the door open for possible user content on the PC version, though he says, “As a company, yes we will be doing it. With Mass Effect specifically? I just don’t know the answer yet.” Dragon Age is mentioned once again in reference to user content which leads to the exert posted previously. I personally would love to see user created Mass Effect content. Even if the dev team doesn’t directly support it, I’m sure someone will figure out a way to do it.

In an interview with EuroGamer, BioWare’s Matt Atwood talked a little bit about Dragon Age, Bioware’s spiritual successor to acclaimed RPG series Buldar’s Gate. Based on the awards that Dragon Age raked in, it’s obvious that it was the RPG darling of E3 2004, however we haven’t heard much more out of BioWare since.

Matt assures us that the game has been on BioWare’s development plate since 2004 and that we should see a release by April 2009. As of now, the game is PC only, but when asked about the possibility of releasing it for other platforms, Matt doesn’t rule it out. “It is for the PC, but as far as exclusivity we haven’t said anything on that.”

Check out the interview at EuroGamer.

Obsidian (famous for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II and Neverwinter Nights 2) and Sega announced they are teaming up to deliver a modern day espionage RPG titled Alpha Protocol. The story follows a character named Michael Thorton who for one reason or another is scuttled from the government agency he works for. Too bad for us, he’s the only person with knowledge of how to stop an impending global catastrophe! Players will apparently follow some sort of paragon/renegade model similar to Mass Effect where they make decisions that have some level of consequence on Michael Thorton’s character which ultimately affects the story.

Alpha Protocol is slated for release in 2009 for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Check out the official press release below.

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Fireglow sent out another batch of screens for it’s RPG/RTS PC game Stranger which is available as of today. I don’t see anything I haven’t seen in previous screens, but as I said before, I’m intrigued by the RTSness of the game. Check out a few game play videos from this previous post.

Fireglow Games’ Stranger has gone gold and will be shipped in North America on March 3rd. The game is a blend of RTS and action RPG which I must say is intriguing. I was always a fan of the necro in diablo 2, so I’m all about the pet classes, especially when I have the opportunity to have a screen full of minions. Stranger appears to give you more control over units though rather than just simple commands for pet characters. On a bit of a side note, more RPGs need to give you control over an actual party. Buldar’s Gate anyone? The best part about that game for me was starting a multiplayer game and just playing through it myself, creating a whole party of characters and playing through the game. Being that Stranger is part RTS, I’d guess the controls and skills available to you and your allies will be dumbed down somewhat, but Fireglow may be onto something here. Check out the article for some game play videos.
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Gameplayer.com.au dropped some questions to Pete Hines from Bethesda about their upcoming game Fallout 3. Pete mentions that the Fallout 3 world will likely end up being 50% - 80% of the size of the Oblivion’s. Although Bethesda did do a pretty good job populating the land of Oblivion, I felt like the size of the world was a little larger than it needed to be. If Fallout 3 offers up content inline with what Oblivion had in a more compact world, I think that would be a good thing. Also, Bethesda seems to be addressing another complaint of Oblivion players by peppering the game with more voice talent. Pete mentions Fallout 3 will have 2 to 3 times the amount of voice actors compared to Oblivion which is a welcome addition to the game. That’s great and all, but I feel like they could do better.

This is a good read for anybody that is interested in Fallout 3, so if you count yourself among those, check this out. Pete covers a lot of topics regarding its story and the differences between it game 1 and 2.

Gameplayer.com.au interview with Pete Hines from Bethesda