CD PROJEKT RED

CD Projekt RED will be hosting an Investor’s Day on November 17th, during which the company will present development strategy and expansion plans for the next four years. It’s going to be a unique occasion for all shareholders and potential investors to see how the company looks like on the inside. It’s going to be even more interesting, since it will be the first time for our company to unveil such long-term strategies since entering Warsaw Stock Market. Stay tuned for more info, there’s a lot of exciting news coming up.

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings won 3 awards during the Spanish Fun & Serious Game Festival. Our game received trophies for the best European PC game, best European RPG and for the best game script. We’re very pleased with another distinction for The Witcher 2 and would like to thank all our fans. It wouldn’t have been possible without you guys!

Our Moderating Team has just launched another special Halloween & Thanksgiving Contest. There’s some swag to claim, so it’s worth to give it a shot, if you want to make additions to your collection of Witcher goodies. All you have to do is take a screenshot, and add a caption that will impress them (believe us, it won’t be easy to do it, they’ve seen a lot). All entries are valid through 24.11.2011 11:59 PM. Here’s a direct link to the thread with all the necessary information.

Halloween is just one week away, so we’ve decided to give everyone a chance to demonstrate their love for The Witcher. And what better way to do it, than by dressing up as your favorite character from The Witcher universe on October 31st? All you need to do is send us a picture of your costume to halloween2011@thewitcher.com. We will be accepting entries until November 6th (Sunday). We’ve prepared some special, Witcher gadgets for the winners, so if you are thinking about participating, you should probably start preparing your outfit. We’re counting on your creativity.

CD Projekt RED has just announced partnership with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment in order to bring The Witcher 2 for Xbox 360 to North America. Here’s an excerpt from the press release:

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, and CD Projekt RED, developers of the blockbuster Witcher franchise of video games, announced a distribution agreement for the upcoming Xbox 360 release of “The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings” in North America.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment will distribute “The Witcher 2” on Xbox 360, contributing sales and marketing resources.

The console version of “The Witcher 2” is an adaptation of the hit RPG fantasy game on PC.

“We have added significant enhancements to the Xbox 360 version of ‘The Witcher 2,’ going far beyond simply editing the code to run on a new platform. Thanks to one of the world’s newest game engines, the RED Engine, it will be one of the best-looking games ever released on Xbox 360,” said Adam Kici?ski, President, CD Projekt RED.

The story is dedicated to mature players and offers over 40 hours of non-linear gameplay. Starting from four possible beginnings, “The Witcher 2” leads players through different gameplay paths to 16 different endings making it one of the most non-linear and complex storylines ever brought to the console market.

Additionally, the game features a dynamic combat system, which fuses battles with RPG mechanics, giving access to a vast array of different fighting tactics.

“We are very pleased to partner with CD Projekt RED to bring ‘The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings’ to consoles in the United States, Canada and Mexico,” said Kevin Kebodeaux, Senior Vice President, Sales Americas, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “Witcher is a AAA franchise that fits well with our strategic distribution of high quality games, making it a great addition to our 2012 line-up in North America.”

“We are sure that this partnership with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, with its strong position in the entertainment sector and particularly in the video and games distribution market in North America, will help us to achieve even bigger success in the most important market for Xbox 360 games. This is also a big distinction for us, that Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment recognizes ‘The Witcher 2’ as a rare example of a game with world-class production values, which merges a very ambitious and complex approach with big commercial potential,” said Adam Kici?ski.

Release of “The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings” on Xbox 360 is expected in Q1 2012.

When we announced that there was a prize waiting for the first person to finish Dark Mode, we never thought it would take less than a day… scratch that, we never thought it would take somebody 3-4 hours to complete the game on the new, hardest difficulty setting. Let’s give a round of applause to Aphox – a player from Germany, who was head and shoulders above the competition. He even streamed his run the next day just to prove that it can be done so quickly if you possess the finest skills. Hats off to you good sir! As promised, this Collector’s Edition of The Witcher 2, signed by the whole team is for you.

The long-awaited version 2.0 has just become available! This new expansion for The Witcher 2 is available for free as an automatic update through the in-game launcher. Here’s a short summary of the most important, new features coming with version 2.0, taken from today’s press release:

THE WITCHER 2: ASSASSINS OF KINGS VERSION 2.0 MAIN FEATURES:

1. Completely new, extensive Tutorial System
The new tutorial helps players fully enjoy the game from the very beginning and systematically explains the depth of The Witcher 2’s combat and gameplay mechanics. It allows gamers to gradually and smoothly immerse themselves in the game world and Geralt’s adventures.

2. Special Dark difficulty setting
The new Dark Mode presents players with a new challenge, the highest level of difficulty where every foe is now a significant challenge requiring careful planning and consideration. Dark Mode also features several new sets of equipment and items all linked together through a dark legend in the game journal. These cursed items harm Geralt so long as the sets remain incomplete, but once the player collects all the components, the Blasphemer’s, Oathbreaker’s and Kinslayer’s outfits provide great advantages in combat. Dark Mode offers dark-themed gear with very high stats such as:
• 3 new sets of dark armor (light, medium, and heavy)
• 3 new sets of dark swords (3 silver, 3 steel)
• Other Dark themes/elements in the game

3. Completely new arcade-style Arena Mode
Infinitely replayable and progressively more challenging, Arena lets you hone your combat skills and techniques against all the different monster types from the game. Dispatch wave upon wave of progressively more difficult enemies, earning awards that you can use to upgrade abilities, experiment with new weapons and armor, and to test your alchemy skills. Hirelings can also assist you in battle—for a price. Combat waves will continue infinitely until your character is defeated, after which you’ll see a statistical summary of results. Players can share their results with their friends by uploading this summary to the official Witcher forums or to Facebook. Arena Mode includes:
• New location, with a dynamic, responsive audience reacting to the events
• A new monster type, Werewolf
• Waves of different opponents, looped with increasing levels of difficulty
• 3 different prizes to choose from in each wave
• 3 new characters (mage, knight, and dwarven fighter) that can serve as allies during clashes
• A shopkeeper offering gear and enhancements
• 3 new GUI panels designed specifically for the mode
• New dialogue
• New background music
• New Witcher Forum and Facebook integration

4. Technical Bliss
Version 2.0 includes all previous and new technical and gameplay enhancements such as:
• 40+ new technical and gameplay enhancements
• 100+ previous technical and gameplay fixes
• All 9 previous DLC packs
– Troll Trouble
– Roche Commando Jacket
– Ultimate Alchemy Suit
– Ultimate Magical Suit
– Ultimate Swordsman Suit
– Finisher Pack
– Mysterious Merchant
– Barbers and Coiffeuses
– A Sackfull of Fluff

For a complete list of changes, click here.

And now, it’s time for the fun part.:) Remember when we announced that there’s a prize for the first person to finish Dark Mode? Well, here it is: upon completing it, you will be shown be a special screen with congratulations from The RED Team. Take a screen capture of this and send it to us as a proof to marcin.momot@cdprojektred.com. The winner will receive a Collector’s Edition of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, signed by Dev Team. Ready? Set, go!

The Witcher 2, new and improved version 2.0 comes out tomorrow but in the meantime we encourage everyone to read this extensive interview that Jim from Rock, Paper, Shotgun conducted with Adam Badowski, CDP RED Studio Director. Head over to the RPS site and enjoy this very good read.

New and improved version 2.0 will be out in just two days! We’ve prepared a complete list of changes for everyone who would like to get familiar with all the tweaks and fixes, we’re about to introduce to the game with the next update. You can read all about various combat enhancements, tweaks to certain game mechanisms and other bug fixes here. Enjoy!

Today in Warsaw, media representatives, sales and business partners will gather at The CD Projekt 2011 Fall Conference. Fans of The Witcher are in for a real treat as CD Projekt RED is going to show off, for the first time ever, new gameplay footage from the upcoming The Witcher 2 version 2.0.

The developers will present new features to be introduced in this major update for one of the most acclaimed role playing games of this year. New gameplay shown during conference will consist of the totally new Tutorial system, new “Dark Mode” difficulty level, and the arcade style Arena Mode (Be sure to watch this segment to see the new opponent that’s being introduced to the game with version 2.0!).

In addition to PC version 2.0, developers will show gameplay from the Xbox 360 version and reveal one of the new features introduced to the game especially for the Xbox 360 platform.

It all happens today at 4:15pm GMT (6:15 PM CEST, 12:15 PM EDT, 9:15 AM PDT)! We would like to invite everyone to watch the presentation LIVE here or simply go to The Witcher Facebook page. Don’t miss out on the big announcements coming in just few hours.

Another episode in our trailer music series has arrived. This time we’ve prepared last piece from the FB poll we ran few weeks ago – a theme from Arena Trailer. Track was composed by Adam Skorupa and Krzysztof Wierzynkiewicz and can be downloaded in either .mp3 or .wav format. Also, we would like to remind everyone about CD Projekt’s Fall Conference that takes place this Thursday and invite each one of you to participate in this special day by watching The Witcher Team’s LIVE presentation here at 4PM GMT.

CD Projekt has set the date for its fall conference. The event takes place on the 22nd of September in Warsaw, Poland. We’ve prepared plethora of exciting news for all of The Witcher fans out there, including the LIVE stream of the international part of the presentation starting at 4:15 GMT on our official Facebook page. Everyone watching the stream will be able to take a closer look at some of the most important additions and enhancements to be included in this content update such as:

• Tutorial – New, more comprehensive tutorial that will allow players to slowly get familiar with the world of the game
• Dark Mode – a brand new difficulty level designed for everyone who’s looking for a fresh challenge. This mode also comes with a special set of dark-themed items to go along with it.
• Arena Mode – the arcade style mode where players fight countless waves of enemies in order to achieve the highest score, and later boast about it on specifically designed leaderboards. Be sure to watch this segment to see the new opponent that’s being introduced to the game with version 2.0!

Fans from all over the world will also be able to watch live gameplay from The Witcher 2 on Xbox 360 and see how the development of the most complex and unique RPG to ever arrive on consoles is coming along. The creators of The Witcher 2 will wrap up the CDP Fall 2011 conference by talking in detail about the development philosophy behind the title. Last but not least, there is also an official unveil of the box art scheduled to take place on that day.