Frozenbyte's Shadowgrounds tickled the gaming underground's fancies when it released almost two years ago, and now that Shadowgrounds: Survivor's retail pack is now up and about, there's much hope for another coochy-coo or two. Publisher Meridian4 happily provided the game over Steam in advance, and once again we fished for extra gamepads for another co-op romp in alien-infested Ganymede. What we unearthed comes at you at the full article!

Frozenbyte has released an update for Shadowgrounds: Survivor. The patch contains two major fixes that players will appreciate. For those who are unfamiliar with the game, it is a top down action game with an RPG-ish upgrade system for both characters and weapons.

Want to know what the update contains? Scoot on over to the full article via the "read more" link below.

Looking for the perfect gift for your videogame-playing loved one? Then look no further as we give you the titles hitting store shelves this week, and this time it's mostly about the portables. So sit back and relax as we show you some options on just what sort of videogame happy you'll be having gift-wrapped in this season of giving (even though Christmas itself is still a few weeks away).

Shadowground veterans, the wait is almost over. Shadowgrounds: Survivor has just gone gold, says publisher Meridian4, and it's just a matter of time before it hits retail outlets near you. And it's about time too, because Frozenbyte promised it would be out in the remaining months of 2007.

So prep up your gaming rigs, and perhaps that AGEIA PhysX card you've been waiting to flex, because it's going to be another alien-thriller ride back in Jupiter's colonized moon. Pricing details and street date await at the full article.

Let's face it: Shadowgrounds was one of few titles to draw in hardcore gamers back into top-down shooting action. It was arguably considered a smash hit in the PC gaming underground (the heart of it being Germany), and so when Frozenbyte announced the series' new sequel, Shadowgrounds: Survivor, it was expected to be nothing less than amazing. 

Shadowgrounds was the only game to combine classic, alternative shooter action from the iconic Take No Prisoners from Raven Software, while sinking in the plot void that Sierra's Alien vs. Predator series was supposed to fill. The game's first story took gamers through an action-packed, alien-thriller ride across the human colonies of Ganymede in the shoes of Wesley Tyler, a former member of the IGTO security force.

Developed by Frozenbyte and initially published by Reef Entertainment, Shadowgrounds touted insanely breath-taking graphics for an independently-developed game. It was accompanied by an adrenaline pumping soundtrack from the Finnish tracker demoscene, which soon also characterized what the Shadowgrounds experience truly was.

And when Meridian4 finally picked up the game to distribute to other territories in Europe and to North America, it was received with mixed results. Shadowgrounds: Survivor would probably be Frozenbyte's attempt to correct that confusion and establish the game as a successful independently-developed franchise.

Late last year, Finnish developer Frozenbyte clued fans in on a new installment to the original game and promised that it would make landfall by 2007. It looks like the developers are making good on their word, because recent developments to the game were unveiled in the later half of 2007 and were reinforced with talk of gameplay improvements and additions.

And as if to underline the game's steady progress, Meridian4 gave QJ.NET the opportunity to preview Shadowgrounds: Survivors. We're not sure how nice we've been to deserve an early Christmas gift from Santa, but we were more than excited to unwrap our tasty present!

We've spent hours on end blasting the Ganymede menace back to the primordial pool they crawled out of, but we couldn't get enough of that even in four-player coop mode, and we wanted more. So much more.

And we definitely got more. Check out the full preview at the full article!

It looks like Frozenbyte has been up to a lot of little things lately. A visit to their Shadowgrounds website indicates that they've done some tweaking to their holiday calendar, and it's brought the promise of a new game, and possibly a new Shadowgrounds title next year.

If you check the December calendar on their website, you'll actually be treated to a lot of goodies. One of these is a quirky new minigame they've made to tide people over until next year. In it, you'll have to lead your squad of humans in a fight against your alien adversaries on Ganymede. It's basically pointing your units towards isolated enemies and rushing them until you beat them all, but it does remind you of the computer-controlled Game of Life simulation, at least.

More importantly, they've got a teaser trailer up. It seems Frozenbyte will be getting a new game next year, and if it's a new Shadowgrounds game, then you've got a pretty good reason to get well-acquainted with the first one, especially since it's going for US$ 15 on Steam. Enjoy the video.

The album Shadowgrounds has been released by Frozenbyte and it holds the hard-driving music from the PC game of the same title. The album features heavy guitar riffs performed by Finnish rock band Lordi guitarist Amen. The Shadowgrounds soundtrack retails for € 12.99 (about US$ 17.00).

Shadowgrounds the game is an action piece (currently available for US$ 14.95) set in the year 2096, a time when over 8000 people are living on Jupiter's moon Ganymede. And whenever mankind steps out of his global crib you know there are vicious alien creatures waiting to chomp on our species the way our species devour burgers and fried chicken. Karma? Who cares, the game isn't about philosophy. It's all about firepower, explosions, and all things that keep the testosterone flowing. Oh, and the music.

As everyone knows, the winter months aren't the best time to hunt for new games. If you've picked up an RPG or an involving racing game, you've probably found yourself a good diversion. Otherwise, you'll either have to sit down and replay some old games you've probably finished (I play Parasite Eve 2 every Christmas weekend, myself) or hunt down some good game you never managed to buy when it first came out (like Okami).

If you don't feel like trudging off to your nearest game store in the middle of freezing weather, then you might as well go online and get something downloadable. Why not set your sights on a moderately good shooter through the Steam network?

Steam's informed its users that they'll be offering discounts for Shadowgrounds, a Frozenbyte-developed top-down shooter, all the way till the end of the year. You can now purchase the game and its level editor for around US$ 15, which is discounted from its original US$ 20 price tag. The game might not be as robust as Counter-Strike: Source, but there are a lot of mods floating around which you can try out after you've finished the main storyline. Enjoy!