S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl News

Apparently STALKER 2 is happening and will be released in 2021.

How about a STALKER battle royale game? There's one in development. It's called Fear the Wolves and it's made by Vostok Games, the studio formed from the ashes of STALKER developer GSC.

Fear the Wolves takes place, like STALKER, in the creepy radiation-blasted wasteland of Chernobyl. It's a 100-player deathmatch where you can play lone wolf or in squads - but players won't be the only enemy. Deadly anomalies constantly threaten your health, mitigated somewhat by protective gear found while exploring. Of more pressing danger, however, will be the mutated forms lurking in the shadows...

Fear the Wolves will be released at some point this year on PC and consoles - presumably much later this year. There'll be an early access phase on PC beforehand.

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What a nice idea: get the GOG version of a boxed PC game you own by simply entering your old key code there.

Controversy surrounded a Kickstarter project called Areal earlier this year. It was billed as the spiritual successor to the creepy, cult S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games, made by some of the same people, and it had serious ambition - but also serious flaws.

UPDATE 23/07/2014 3.06am: West Games has started a new crowdfunding campaign on its official site.

There are six days of the Kickstarter to go and - finally - we're shown gameplay footage of Areal.

There's been a noteworthy update to the controversial Areal Kickstarter (beyond what I dug into last week): the full-time hiring of Alexey Sytyanov, the lead game designer of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and the lead game designer of Survarium.

UPDATE 30/06 11.30AM BST: West-Games made a bizarre claim in one of the updates that Vostok Games has now shot down.

A standalone mod for the original Stalker game is now available to download - a little earlier than planned.

Bethesda and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.? The rumour has surfaced again.

An ambitious Crysis mod titled CryZone: Sector 23 has made the jump to full game status, Russian developer Owl Game Studio has announced.

In keeping with the times, reincarnated S.T.A.L.K.E.R. dev Vostok Games will openly develop new game Survarium hand-in-hand with the community.

UPDATE 1: GSC has deleted its Twitter denial of Stalker 2's cancellation.

ORIGINAL STORY: GSC Game World has denied a Ukrainian news report that claims Stalker 2 has been cancelled and the developer shut down.

Following the publication of a UkraNews.com report that claimed the promising open world shooter had been canned after GSC founder and CEO Sergei Grigorovich decided to close the company, the official Stalker Twitter page posted: "No we have not closed GSC or cancelled."

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There's going to be a greater emphasis on survival within S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, developer GSC Game World has revealed - hinting at a shift towards being an RPG rather than a shooter.

GSC has announced a multi-platform sequel to S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl.

The price of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is being slashed by 75 per cent this week on Steam.

Games-on-demand service GameTap is offering S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Descent: Freespace, Deus Ex, Hitman: Blood Money and Psychonauts for free.

GSC Game World has announced a second standalone expansion for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. called Call of Prypiat, which will be released on PC this autumn.

The developer also revealed to Russian magazine Igromania that a console port of the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game is under way. Plus, GSC president Sergei Grigorovich said during an online-conference that "we will certainly develop S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2". Both translations are courtesy of nV News, although there's no further detail offered for either project.

Call of Prypiat takes place in the faithfully-recreated eastern part of the eponymous city, which was abandoned after the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl.

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In an unprecedented move, Ukrainian developer GSC Game World has released a build of its infamously troubled PC game S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shaodw of Chernobyl that predates the final release by two and a half years, Shacknews reports.

Steam has clumped THQ and Relic games together into great money-saving packs.

GSC Game World has tried to explain why S.T.A.L.K.E.R. took so long to make, admitting that inexperience and over-ambition were to blame.

GSC Game World has said S.T.A.L.K.E.R. struggled across North America because no one cared about a silly old nuclear disaster in Russia.

Deep Silver and GSC World Publishing will be releasing S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Clear Sky around the world on 29th August.

Deep Silver has picked up the publishing rights to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. prequel Clear Sky.

GamersGate has announced a digital distribution partnership with publisher THQ, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R studio GSC Game World has become a certified Xbox 360 developer, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

GSC Game World has whipped the radioactive cover off its expansion to the sprawling first-person shooter S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

Radioactive rumours have been floating around that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has slipped again, but THQ says that isn't so, insisting the game is still on track.

Radiation - it's not all ice cream and sandcastles in February. It's also one of those rare occasions where we don't want the graphs to go up. Still, there's nothing wrong with fictional radiation, which - to some extent - is what S.T.A.L.K.E.R. will be peddling when it comes out on 23rd March.

In the meantime, why not get the jump on the other proles by hopping into the game's multiplayer beta test? It's due to get going at the weekend, and we've teamed up with THQ to give away 100 keys. All you have to do to claim one is hit the competition page, where - along with a simple question-and-answer bit - you'll also find a mutated version of this pointer text, possibly with some different jokes. Are you that lucky?

Look out for more on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. as we close in on release, and don't forget to hit up the gamepage for previews, interviews, news and even a Eurogamer TV Show throughout which it features prominently.

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THQ UK has confirmed that S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl will be released on 23rd March in Europe.

The PC-exclusive first-person shooter - first announced toward the end of 2001 - has been the subject of much speculation after repeated delays, although much of its ambitious design remains intact.

Players will explore the deadly Zone around Chernobyl, scene of one of the world's most devastating nuclear accidents nearly 21 years ago, with a full life simulation that introduces depth to areas whether you've visited them or not.

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GSC Game World and THQ have released another trailer and a selection of shots as part of its series of releases cataloguing the game's features pre-launch.

In parts one and two of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. diary, Ukranian developer GSC Game World talked about the history of Chernobyl and the origins of the game's story. In today's instalment, the team describes how it decided to utilise the region as a backdrop, and the steps it took to ensure believability without becoming tedious. You can also check out some comparison images - demonstrating real-life locations next to their in-game equivalents - as well as another EGTV trailer this morning.

In the second part of GSC Game World's S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl developer diary, the team walks you through the origins of the game's story, and how it relates to the real-life events detailed in last week's first instalment. Look also to Eurogamer TV for an accompanying trailer, with a handful of new screenshots to be found elsewhere on the site.

With much delayed PC first-person shooter S.T.A.L.K.E.R. set for release next year, publisher THQ is moving into promotional overdrive with a series of developer diaries from GSC Game World accompanied by trailers and new screenshots.

GSC Game World's Oleg Yavorsky has refuted suggestions that much-delayed PC title S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl - currently on track for Q1 2007 - has been cut down to a scripted, corridor-based first-person shooter.

THQ has confirmed to Eurogamer that much delayed PC first-person shooter S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is now on track for release early next year.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. developer GSC Game World's responded to a Russian games mag's report that the repeatedly delayed FPS is in yet more trouble.

Publisher THQ has confirmed reports that GSC Gameworld's toxic PC first-person shooter S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl will not be released until April 2006 at the earliest.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, the long-awaited PC first-person shooter from GSC Game World, has been delayed until 2006 according to fan site Oblivion-Lost.com.