When the WWII strategy/action game, Pacific Storm, came out two months ago, it faced a lot of criticisms from gaming circles about the AI system and the bugs and glitches that a lot of people encountered while playing.

Now, because you guys made your voices heard and asked for reinforcements, Lesta Studio has released patch v1.3 to fix all (okay not ALL, but a LOT of) the reported bugs in the game. An important note though, although the patch is multi-lingual, it's only available for the North American version of Pacific Storm.

Patch v1.3 is expected to addresses several issues in the game, including a number of crashes, enhancements to the AI, and general gameplay balance improvements. Here are some of the specific fixes included in this patch:

• Fixed bug with AI heavy bombers that appeared to be launched from catapults and aircraft carriers
• Fixed bug with the inability to construct factories in Batavia
• Fixed a bug with aircraft sometimes remaining in the air after being destroyed
• AI can successfully fire rockets now
• Fixed B-29 heavy bomber #24 rack that caused crashes to desktop (CTD), while dropping bombs
• Fixed crash as a result of USB joysticks when aircraft under control of the player is destroyed
• Fixed crash as a result of USB joysticks when an aircraft under control of the player hits water
• Fixed gliding bombs and Okha attack
• Reduced heavy bombers bomb accuracy in tactical mode
• Limited torpedo fire range to 7-8 km for Japan and 4-5 km for the US
• Fixed Japanese biological bomb to be able to kill targets
• Fixed memory leak causing a game crash when joining formations on a base
• Fixed disappearing landing zone for hydroplanes
• Fixed a crash that could occur when adding AI units to multiplayer game
  

Download: [Pacific Storm Patch v1.3]

Buka Entertainment (the same publishing company who brought us Collapse and Aggression: Europe 1914) has just released a whole batch of spanking new screens from their upcoming WWII strategy game Pacific Storm: Allies.

Now for those who are new to Pacific Storm, allow us to put you up to speed. Allies is the first standalone expansion pack for the game, which dons even more weapons, aircraft, as well as all new factions and units. And as we mentioned, the game is set in WWII (1940 - 1948), where you'll get to choose which side to take in the warfare: Imperial Japan or good old Uncle Sam. Either way, you'll have to take on naval and air military missions in a 3D-rendered environment with a plethora of aircraft carriers, battleships, and weapons to choose from.

This game has 86 types of units (all designed after WWII-era aircraft and ships), 100 upgrades for aircraft and warships, 127 different Pacific zones, 40 naval bases, and 20 historical battles. Boy, we wouldn't even need to talk up this game even further, its features speak for itself! (And the fact that it spans three game genres; strategy, tactics, and simulator, well, that definitely says a lot, don't it?) So anyway, we won't be getting our hands on the Allies expansion til Q2 2007, so while we wait for that, here are a buncha screens for you to feast your eyes on.

More screens await in the full article, captain!