STALKER: Clear Sky

The Ukrainian developer of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series of FPS adventures has shut down amid a mess of rumors and accusations. The situation for players, though, is sadly straightforward: the promising-looking sequel S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 seems to be no more. Click through for a quick postmortem and a look at what might have been...

Deep Silver & Partners are presenting a broad range of different games for every taste at the Leipzig Games Convention 2008. From long-awaited action Role-Playing Games to thrilling adventures, from the fantastic Japanese RPGs to dark RPG First-Person Shooters, from educational handheld games for a young audience to challenging strategy games – Deep Silver and its Partners will offer all of this to the visitors of the Games Convention 2008. On each day of the convention, there will be live presentations with the game developers, trailers and video shows as well as numerous other surprises that will take place at Deep Silver's exhibition booth...

Deep Silver has launched an official website for GSC's upcoming FPS - S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky.

GamingShogun writes, Deep Silver, Inc, a publisher of interactive entertainment for PC and consoles today announced the company's lineup for the 2008 E3 Media & Business Summit to be held July 13 - 16 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. In addition to S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky for PC, Deep Silver will showcase three titles...

WorthPlaying writes: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky is a survival FPS game based on a 'what-if' scenario of the second Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident. The game is created as a warning to mankind against mindless play with technologies. Clear Sky will run on a Intel Pentium 4 mit 2 GHz / AMD XP 2200 +, but is recommended on a Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 / AMD 64 X2 4200 +

Deep Silver has released new details on the upcoming S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl for Windows PC. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl was one of the best-selling first-person shooters of 2007. In late August 2008, the Ukrainian developers from GSC Game World and the publisher Deep Silver will invite gamers to join them on a new foray into the nuclear zone: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky is set one year before the events of part 1 - at a time when the Zone is changed forever by a huge anomalous eruption of energy.

Eurogamer writes: 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. Developer mouth Oleg Yavorsky was speaking exclusively to Eurogamer, and said finding a topic to interest distant cultures was tricky. We've never had problems with getting Europeans to understand our games, and we have had problems with North America and Asia, said Yavorsky. We've always tried to find local topics that will be relevant and interesting to people all over the world.

Eurogamer writes: 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. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. took six years, and GSC's Oleg Yavorsky sees the funny side of this. Children are born and start going to school within that period, he told Eurogamer in today's interview. Our big problem was we were developing our technology and the game simultaneously, which for us was a lot of headaches. When we wanted to try out a gameplay element, it wouldn't work because there would be some problem with the engine, which was still not finished. Then there was just this ambitious concept: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was to be the ultimate game, with a mix of pretty much everything - shooter, RPG, survival horror, driving.

A 360 and PS3 game based on the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series depends on how successful upcoming PC-only prequel S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky proves as well as how fast developer GSC Game World can master console development. Speaking to VideoGamer.com at a press event for Clear Sky, GSC Game World's Oleg Yavorsky, who described the consoles as basically a platform to let you earn some cash for the company, said that the team has plans for new IP it might release on consoles but it's too early to talk about it. We received all the necessary permissions and licenses and dev kits and we're just starting to get familiar with the technology. It's a different type of development you need to do, lots of things to comply with, restrictions of the consoles. We are experimenting at the moment. But the plan is to bring something to the console later. Clear Sky is going to be PC only. Later on it depends on how successful and how fast we can master it.

Deep Silver, Inc., has taken over publishing duties for THQ on the upcoming prequel to GSC Game World's S.T.A.L.K.E.R.