Neverwinter Nights 2 players will finally get their chance to explore one of the Forgotten Realms’ most infamous cities as Atari readies the Mysteries of Westgate for release at the end of this month.

The first “Adventure Pack” for Neverwinter Nights has been completed since late 2007, but due to some copy protection issues with Atari is only just now finally seeing the light of day. Delivering 15 more hours of adventuring to Neverwinter Nights 2, the Mysteries of Westgate sees players journeying to the titular city, encountering the shadowy underworld organisation the Night Masks. Fans of Forgotten Realm fiction will remember the Night Masks from R.A. Salvatore’s Cleric Quintet, or Masquerades from The Harpers series.

Mysteries of Westgate will be available on April 29th via digital download through various stores of directly through Atari for US$9.99. It’s about damn time.

Ossian Studios have been toiling away on a Neverwinter Nights 2 expansion for years now. Like, it was originally due in 2007. But now, in 2009, it’s actually coming out!

Called Mysteries of Westgate, it’s boasting a campaign that’ll run for around 15 hours, and include new monsters and presentation stuff like new voice-over work. An announcement on the game’s forums from earlier in the week confirm that the expansion – which will only be released as a digital download – has ironically “gone gold”, and should be released soon.

NWN2 Mysteries of Westgate Adventure Pack [BioWare, via Big Download]

Not that I’m concerned – I usually play as female characters. I’m not weird, honest, I just think they look better.

3:55 PM, the LA Convention Centre. Everyone is tired, and you can see the media room starting to slow down — people wander by with exhausted expressions on their faces, looking at their watches and lighting up when they realise there’s not much left in the day. Even Crecente has passed the point of being totally with it, pausing in the middle of sentences to stare off into space. I shuffle off to check out Atari’s E3 offerings, and am met with a surprisingly cheerful staff who point me in the direction of caffeine. I am not caffeinated enough to face a spiel on Deer Hunter Tournament, so I’m sat down to await a demonstration of The Witcher: Enhanced Edition. I hear something about transport options from the person enthusiastically imbibing what the Deer Hunter guy is saying — ‘Oh cool, so you’re planning on having like, ATVs and stuff?’ — and am glad I’m parked in front of The Witcher instead of one screen over. More impressions and details after the jump:

So, The Witcher isn’t new, but the whole presentation focused on the improvements made to the game. After apologising for already having given the presentation five times in a row, Tomasz Gop enthusiastically explained what the ‘expanded edition’ really expanded upon (and kept coming back to ‘fan suggestions’). The expanded edition features over 5,000 lines of totally rewritten and rerecorded 5,000 of script, as well as a whole new German script created from scratch (was it that bad?). In addition to the script itself, a slew of new dialogue animations were added to make characters look less like wooden blocks and more like dynamic people. Monsters and NPCs are still based on the same character models, but have gotten randomly generated clothes and colours to shake things up a bit. Further, the inventory system has been improved and makes for easier storage and sorting; there is also an easier system for collecting loot after battles. Importantly, load times have been significantly reduced. Another nice feature is the ability to play with any combination of the available subtitles and voice tracks; we watched a scene with a Polish voiceover and Chinese subtitles.

The boxed edition will feature two new adventures, the adventure editor, the official soundtrack CD, a CD of music inspired by The Witcher, a game guide, “The Witcher” short story by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski, a map of the Witcher world, and a ‘making of’ DVD. Already bought the game? Don’t want to shell out again? Never fear — everything will be available for download if you purchased the original version. The enhanced version is expected out in September of this year.

I was then shunted over to take a look at the PSP and DS versions of N+. The handheld versions will feature 350 levels and 150 coop and versus multiplayer levels. Players will be able to create their own ‘playlist’ of levels, as well as get lots of unlockables. The level editor will enable people to design and share their own levels — the download and upload process is fully integrated, and by utilising a ‘purgatory server,’ the DS friend’s code hell will be bypassed (this was a point that was mentioned very excitedly). N+ will be coming to PSPs and DSs next month

From one DS game on to another — I thankfully didn’t have far to go to look at What’s Cooking? with Jamie Oliver, and by this point was wondering exactly how these Atari people were remaining so chipper and upbeat. This is a reasonably detailed cooking simulator (unsurprisingly); I didn’t spend too much time with the actual gameplay, but the guy demonstrating did allow me to try my hand after he scorched some prawns. It’s … a cooking game. A detailed cooking game with really complicated recipes.

However, the ’special feature’ that was apparently most exciting was the inclusion of lots of real Jamie Oliver recipes, the ability to create shopping lists based on those recipes, and using the DS as an ultra-portable cookbook/list maker. Now, I like to cook, but I’m not sure I’d pop my DS on the counter — sounds like a recipe for electronic disaster when DS meets boiling liquid or something. Still, the fact that the game comes with a book’s worth of (actual) recipes is kind of cool. It will be out in December in time for a Christmas ‘08 release.

Finally, I headed over to look at the second expansion for Neverwinter Nights 2, Storm of Zehir. The first feature noted was the expanded party editor, now featuring full party customisation of up to four party members. There has also been several new classes added, though the only one mentioned in any depth was the “swashbuckler”. The party conversation system was demonstrated, with answers and questions being based on intelligence, sills, class and so on. A new, detailed overland map has been added that is a walking map — no more zooming from place to place. The maps are completely moddable, and also feature traps and other surprises that players can interact with via skills.

A mercantile aspect has been added, and trading and quests can help improve your merchant empire in the world — as well as make an impact elsewhere. New monsters will be popping up (the ones I saw looked very nice, even though the game hasn’t been entirely ‘cleaned up’ yet and looked a bit dank in places). The message I was left with was “Lots of new stuff! New races, classes, feats, spells, enemies … did I forget anything? Yeah, lots of new stuff!”. The expansion is due out in the fourth quarter of 2008.

NEVERWINTER NIGHTS™ 2 SHIPPING NEXT WEEK FOR MAC AUSTIN, TX – February 19, 2008 – Aspyr Media, Inc. announced today that Neverwinter Nights™ 2 has been declared Gold and will begin shipping to retail stores in North America next week. The computer role-playing game set in the fantasy world of the Forgotten Realms, one of the popular campaign settings of Dungeons and Dragons, was licensed from Atari and developed for Mac by Aspyr Studios.

Rise from a peasant to a full-fledged hero as you defend the Realms against one of the greatest threats of the age!

Build a character that suits your style of play – good or evil, chaotic or lawful, with any number of skills, feats and professions available at the click of a button. Whether lobbing fireballs and researching forgotten spells as a powerful Wizard, hacking a trail through legions of orcs as a Fighter armed only with a battle axe and your courage, or taking on the role of a Rogue that can slip into the shadows at a moment’s notice, the choice is yours. Choose your alignment, your allies, your companions, and how you want your character to develop… design the character you want, role-play the way you want, and carry the battle to the enemy.

Features:
Choose your Alignment, Allies, and Enemies – Design the character you want, role-play the way you want, and carry the battle to the enemy.
Neverwinter Nights™ 2 is now available for preorder through Aspyr’s website, http://www.aspyr.com/product/info/84, for only $US 49.99. For more information, fans can also visit the official Website, http://www.atari.com/nwn2/US/index.php.

I’m a firm believer in using mods only to make the game better, or fix bugs that the developer is unwilling or unable to do something about. If you’re looking for mods to help you cheat, or deliver unto your character a +10 Sword of Holy Butt Whopping, you won’t find it here.

I only have two recommendations, but they’re excellent ones. Details after the jump.To use these mods, just dump them in your Documents\Neverwinter Nights 2\override folder. A few have special exceptions, so check the readmes for more info.

Note that these are the Mask of the Betrayer versions of these mods. So make sure you have the expansion before you install them.

Charlie’s UI
I never quite understood why Obsidian had to go and mess with the user interface from Neverwinter Nights. The radial menus were intuitive and everything was positioned just about right. I think it may have become obsessed with World of Warcraft and tried to rip it off. Unsuccessfully.

Charlie’s UI makes more use of available screen real estate, enables resizing of many onscreen elements and compacts inventory, character and hot bars.

Combined PrCs, Feats, and Spells
This mod is actually a combination of three fantastic ones: TonyK’s Companion and Monster AI; Kaedrin’s PrC Pack and Reeron and Trekari’s Spell Fixes and Improvements.

The first mod makes your companions and the creatures you fight act more intelligently. They will make smart decisions on what weapons to use, when to cast spells (including offensive and healing magic) and when to pick locks and pickup items and loads more. This intelligence also scales with each character’s Intelligence stat.

Kaedrin’s PrC Pack makes NWN 2’s prestige classes more compelling. And by “more compelling” I mean “not crap”. From the mod’s readme:

This is my PRC Pack that includes these new PRCs: Avenger, Black Flame Zealot, Divine Seeker, Hospitaler, Nightsong Enforcer, Nightsong Infiltrator, Shining Blade, and Tempest.

It also includes 49 new spells, the Blackguard and Assassin spellbook upgrade, new and revised cleric domains (11 new, 16 revised), my fletching upgrade, and 4 new feats.

New classes, spells and feats – what’s not to like?

The final mod in the pack is Trekari’s Spell Fixes and Improvements. It tweaks many of NWN 2’s spells to function like their pen and paper counterparts and fixes scripting and animation bugs. Magic circles of protection not working on allies? What was Obsidian thinking?

One of the few spells it misses is Haste, which only provides an extra attack per round rather than an extra action, but I guess you can’t have everything.

Use them, don’t use them – it’s up to you. I like NWN 2 playing more like the pen and paper version rather than a compromised copy.

Community manager Rob McGinnis dumped a chunky list of bug fixes and updates on the official NWN2 message board.

I had to smirk at the following bug:

* The conversation with Shelvedar will no longer drop if the player is female.

First case of a game engine being unintentionally sexist? Probably not.

I’m currently enjoying Mask of the Betrayer, and despite the utter crappiness of the Pale Master prestige class (undead are cool, yeah), I don’t have any real complaints. Except that the game is not never-ending.

Full patch notes can be found after the jump.

1.11 Game Update Available [NWN2 forums, via Blue's News]

Neverwinter Nights 2 – Version 1.11 Patch Notes
October 30th, 2007

Bug Fixes in 1.11

General

• Stealth was previously not functioning properly. It is now functioning as designed.
• Opening the Game Options window will no longer reset the camera focus of Strategy Mode.
• The Dwarven Defender’s Defensive Stance should now function properly.
• An exploit was fixed that allowed players to increase their CON by unequipping and re-equipping items.
• A message will now be displayed if a character cannot equip an item due to being Frightened.
• The “Enable Buy/Sell Confirmation” option will now properly retain its state when you exit the game.
• Duergar are now properly ECL +1 rather than ECL +2.

Mask of the Betrayer Fixes (WARNING: Spoilers)

• The Spirit Eater abilities Supress, Gorge and Ravenous Incarnation will no longer alter the PC’s alignment.
• The Lobby Level-up conversation will no longer lock out other players from leveling up.
• Some animation issues with the Faceless Man have been addressed.
• Okku will now properly speak in several situations where he was not previously.
• Several of Okku’s animations have been fixed to prevent graphical glitches that were occurring.
• Okku’s Paw weapon will now always upgrade properly as he gains levels.
• Okku now gains Regeneration at the Devoted Influence level.
• Party members should now always be properly restored when returning from dream states.
• The Death Knight’s Abyssal Blast ability will now cause only one Reflex save.
• You can no longer use Provoke Spirit on the Priest in the Death God’s Vault – doing this would cause you to not be able to access the furnace.
• The dialogue between Magda and Gann in the Veil Theater will now only occur if Gann is in the party.
• The conversation with Shelvedar will no longer drop if the player is female.
• Animal Companions will no longer break events in the Ice Troll Lodge.
• Occasionally, Spirit Energy would not be properly deducted when travelling from Mulsantir to Ashenwood and vice-versa. This has been fixed.
• The Sealed Passage in the Middle Barrow is no longer referred to as sealed once it has been opened.
• The Silver Sword ability Infinite Resonance will now function properly.
• Casting 0-level spells onto the Silver Sword will now properly add charges.
• Safiya will now properly grant Improved Empower Spell at Loyal and Devoted levels of Influence.
• The player can no longer encounter a progression break when using Soul Housing No. 184 to free Ammon Jerro before completing the Conflicted quest.
• The Spirit Energy meter will no longer remain after defeating the Faceless Man.

Toolset

• Several crashes have been addressed in the Creature Appearance Wizard.

DM Client

• On the DM’s Context menu, if you are controlling the DM avatar the non-DM heal skill will not show up. If you possess another creature, the non-DM heal skill will show up.

Scripting

• EffectDeath() now has a new parameter that will make it so that any visual effects on the creature aren’t purged (With the exception of mobility imparing effects, like stun, paralysis, etc).

Spells

• Enervate will always display its visual effect properly and will now only roll one ranged touch attack.
• Lionheart can now be scribed to a scroll.
• Extract Water Elemental can now be scribed to a scroll.
• Many spells which previously were not able to be used to craft wands now work.

Atari Announces Neverwinter Nights 2 Adventure Pack

Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate Available Fall 2007

NEW YORK, Oct. 22: Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATAR), one of the world’s most recognised brands and a third-party video game publisher, today announced the development of the first Neverwinter NightsTM 2 Adventure Pack to be available exclusively by digital download. Created by Atari and some of the most prominent members of the Neverwinter Nights 2 communities, Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate provides hours of additional entertainment with all new engrossing storylines, professional voice acting, enchanting musical scores, new in-game content, and much more. Neverwinter Nights 2 is set in the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® Forgotten Realms® universe created by Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS). DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is under licence from HPG, the licensing division of Hasbro.

Developed by Ossian Studios, Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate is the first full featured Adventure Pack available from Atari. Set in the infamous Forgotten Realms city of Westgate, players find themselves in possession of a powerful but cursed treasure that threatens to destroy them. Linked to the underworld organization known as the Night Masks, the treasure will draw players into a city-spanning clash between warring factions. Players must choose their allegiance in order to break the curse and ultimately uncover a plot that threatens Westgate itself.

“Our premium module program for the original Neverwinter Nights was an enormous success due to the sheer amount of new, high-quality content we provided in each adventure,” said Hudson Piehl, Vice President of Product Development, Atari, Inc. “With our new Adventure Packs, such as the upcoming Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate, we are evolving the premium module: fans can expect higher production values, deep storylines, and lengthy new campaigns they’ve come to associate with Neverwinter Nights.”

From the creators of the critically-acclaimed Neverwinter Nights module, Darkness over Daggerford, Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate will feature a non-linear, open-ended single-player campaign with numerous side quests covering more than 15 hours of game play. Atari’s new Adventure Pack will also feature 3 new companions; an entirely new underground sewers tile set themed after the seedy underbelly of Westgate; a host of new monsters to do battle with, including some truly epic foes; an exciting new and original musical score; as well as thousands of new lines of professionally recorded dialogue.

The Neverwinter Nights franchise has sold more than three million copies worldwide, is translated into 10 languages, sold in more than 40 countries and features one of the largest and most active fan communities in all of gaming. To date, fans of the franchise, which includes Neverwinter Nights, Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of UndrentideTM, Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the UnderdarkTM and Neverwinter Nights 2, have created more than 5,000 modifications to the original game using the award-winning toolset included with the full game that allows players to create their own universes, quests and storylines.

Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate is scheduled for release in fall 2007. The new Mysteries of Westgate, as well as future adventure packs, require the original game and will be made available for purchase and download directly from Atari. More information about Neverwinter Nights 2 can be found at www.nwn2.com, which includes user forums, project news, development updates and more.

Sega Rally Revo (PC, X360, PS3, PSP)
Race your heart out.

FIFA Soccer 08 (X360, PS3, PS2, Wii, PC)
FIFA 08 comes to every platform you could wish for.

Folklore (PS3)
Help solve a series of murders with the help of the absorbed powers of the Folk.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (PSP)
Get all tactical with the latest Final Fantasy offering.

Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer (PC)
NWN2 gets it’s next expansion.

Bleach: Shattered Blade (WII)
The popular anime makes an appearance on the Wii.

Bleach: The Blade of Fate (DS)
A second Bleach game for the week, this one for the DS.

Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron (PSP)
Go on secret missions for your boss, the legendary Han Solo.