And Lo, A New Dominions Patch Is Given Unto Thee!

Illwinter Game Design could be sitting on top of a mountain of kronors in their gold

plated castle while being waited on hand and foot by a harem of dancing girls, basking in

the glow of their success with Dominions 3: The Awakening, but they're not! Instead

they are constantly prodding and poking at the code, tweaking it here and there, all in an

effort to make one of the greatest strategy games even better. Yes, lesser developers may

throw a game out to the public and move on, but not Illwinter Game Design. These guys

have given gamers more gameplay in their patches than most games provide in their

expansion packs. And they've done it again!

Shrapnel Games and Illwinter Game Design would like to announce that version 3.17 of

Dominions 3: The Awakening is now available for immediate download! What treasures

might one find in it? Let us look...

New and cool stuff including...

* Three new nations! Hinnom, giants of primordial times. Ashdod, descendents of the

Nephililim. Gath, humans led by the last of the giants.

* New spell: Manifest vitriol. Summon the green lion of alchemy! Warning, if the

green lion remains erect for more than four hours please contact--oh wait, that's

Manifest Viagra, which isn't in this patch.

* Shattered Souls: Tartarians are insane and might act randomly (and probably won't be

doing any random acts of kindness).

* Some new longdead graphics.

* New modcommands: #specialllok, #hero6

* New events!

Bug and gameplay balance changes...

* Twiceborn no longer makes demons immortal.

* Hidden in Sand and Hidden in Snow spell descriptions fixex.

* Shamblers cost reduction.

* Some unit stat fixes.

* Voice of Apsu/Tiamat restricted to own provinces.

* Astral/fire shield was overvalued by AI and sometimes overruled scripted spells.

* Recruitment queues were not cleared when castle was conquered.

* Seduction order could be copied to ordinary commanders.

* A non-flying seducer could flee with their victim to an underwater province where

they both drowned. Don't ya hate when that happens?

The 3.17 patch is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux and can be downloaded here:

www.shrapnelgames.com/Illwinter/Dom3/6.htm

Dominions 3: The Awakening is the multi-award winning fantasy strategy game that

shows that independent gaming, not corporate swill, truly can deliver what discerning

strategy gamers want. Computer Games Magazine (RIP) named it as one of the Best of

2006 in their 16th Annual Game Awards, while French CYBERSTRATEGE Magazine

named it the best strategy game of that year. Gamespot gave it a 8.2 and we didn't even

have to bribe the editors! And the list of critical praise could go on and on.

Then there are the fans. Rabid at times, passionate always, few communities that spring

up around a game can hope to show even a sliver of the greatness that is the Dominions

3: The Awakening fanbase. Their love is one of the driving forces behind why almost

two years later the game-- as amazing as it already is-- keeps getting even better.

If you haven't yet experienced Dominions 3: The Awakening, and you consider yourself

a strategy fan, download the demo from the same place as the patch. We won't bore you

with a list of marketing bullet points as to why you should download it; we're confident

the game speaks for itself. Very soon you'll embrace the lifestyle (and yes, it's more than

a game, it's the true meaning of life wrapped up in code) and will wonder how did you

ever manage to make it through your bleak existence without the glory that is Dominions

3: The Awakening. Or maybe you'll just really, really like it but won't go all John

Hinckley with it.

For more information on this game, or any of our other engagingly entertaining titles,

visit us at www.shrapnelgames.com where you can find news, communities, demos, and

even free games. Our latest release, Scallywag: In the Lair of the Medusa, a

dungeonhack toolkit for your PC, was just given a "Buy" rating by the esteemed indie

game site, GameTunnel. And coming soon to a kitchen table near you, Eat Electric

Death!, tabletop starship blasting fun in the Infinite Space universe.

©2008-05-29, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved