Developer CD Projekt today announced that its translation-improved, bug-lacking version of The Witcher--dubbed The Witcher: Enhanced Edition--has been delayed beyond the original release window of May.

Explained the company in a release: "CD Projekt RED is dedicated to a simultaneous worldwide launch, and is taking the extra time to polish each language version to meet the high standards of the global games market."

CD Projekt also mentioned that the final release date of the PC title will be announced within the next few days.

Now available on FileShack is the 1.3 patch for The Witcher. Coming in at 323mb, the patch fixes a few bugs but more importantly, includes the Price of Neutrality module developed by CD Projekt. The new adventure, said to include about two hours of gameplay, takes place on the outskirts of Kaer Morhen. Here Geralt will find out more about other witchers, which were featured only briefly in the main game.

Players wanting to create their own modules using existing or new game assets can download the newly released D'jinni beta adventure editor. Click through for a list of bug fixes found in the 1.3 patch ... Read more

Valve Software today announced that Atari is the latest publisher to put many of its games up for download on Steam, Valve's popular digital distribution service.

Beginning today, Atari-published titles such as Bohemia Interactive's ArmA: Combat Operations and Frontier's RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Platinum will be available for purchase via the Steam store.

Valve also announced that CD Projekt's highly-rated RPG The Witcher will be added to the Atari catalog in the coming weeks, along with other Atari-published RPGs such as Obsidian Entertainment's Neverwinter Nights 2 and its expansion Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer.

Following up on the promise of a surprise announcement, CD Projekt today announced that a reworked version of The Witcher will be released this May in the form of The Witcher Enhanced Edition.

Most of the changes found in the Enhanced Edition are a result of player feedback, resulting in a more polished experience. Beyond bug fixes and stability improvements, the game will receive fifty new character models for an increased variety in NPC models, over a hundred new animation gestures for dialogue scenes, and improved facial animation and lip-syncing. The game's inventory screen will be redone as well.

One criticism leveled against the game upon its North American release last year was the game's translation from Polish, resulting in a loss of detail and atmosphere. For the Enhanced Edition, CD Projekt is completely re-doing the English language version while also improving foreign languages releases where needed. ... Read more

Cult holiday hit The Witcher posted respectable retail numbers to back up its high critical marks, pulling in sales of 600,000 copies over a three month period according to developer CD Projekt.

"The task was not easy, as The Witcher brand was completely unknown in many markets, and it was released in a busy season alongside franchises that have been on the market for many years," said CD Projekt RED joint CEO Adam Kicinski.

The Witcher is a PC roleplaying game adapted from a series of novels by Andrzej Sapkowski. The first original title by Polish studio CD Projekt, it was hailed by critics for its solid presentation and a refreshing focus on traditional genre elements.

"Only now--as we've conquered many of the initial barriers--can we spread our wings, which, of course, we intend to do," added Kicinkski.

CD Projekt is planning a Witcher-related announcement for next Monday, promised to bring a surprise to fans by "late spring." The studio has previously... Read more

A new The Witcher patch is now available, updating CD Projekt's fantasy role playing game to v1.2. The 113mb update fixes several game and quest bugs. ... Read more

Head over to FileShack to grab a demo of The Witcher (PC), the recently released fantasy role playing game from Polish developer CD Projekt. The 1.97gb download includes the game's prologue as as well as all of Act 1.

Players of CD Projekt's hardcore Polish RPG The Witcher may not be hearing the whole story when it comes to the game's characters and quests. According to one of the game's writers, and a chorus of disappointed fans, The Witcher was heavily edited in its transition to the English language.

"Yes, it's true," said writer Sande Chen in response to the issue on the official Witcher forums. "My writing partner and I worked on the English adaptation of the script (based on the translation from the Polish script). It was edited down considerably, not because of censorship, though."

According to translations worked up by fans, the cuts range from minor alterations to drastic changes. One line in the English version reads, "Humans have always hated dwarves and elves," while the same line in the Polish release translates as, "Why do pricks go in cunts? It's the natural order of things. Humans have always disliked dwarves and elves. Not for me to know why."

Though that line may seem to be an obvious candidate for censorship, The Witcher is rated "M" for Mature by the ESRB, and features plenty of equally-vulgar language throughout its existing English translation.

Chen elaborates on the situation via her blog, stressing that CD Projekt did the best they could--while not going so far as to blame publisher Atari for the... Read more

We played some more of CD Projekt's The Witcher, and our opinion hasn't changed--it's still one of the best PC RPGs to hit stores in some time. Find out how a few nagging technical problems might keep you from fully enjoying the experience, and why you should still buy it, by clicking through to our full review.

Speaking of experiences, maybe the most buzz surrounding The Witcher is due to the "censoring" of nudity in the North American release. However, before we talk sex, let's clear something up: these changes are not the result of some ominous board of old men out to ruin your hedonistic pursuits--at least not directly. CD Projekt's decision to remove bare breasts from the game is no more an act of censorship than when I "censor" McDonalds from my diet to avoid a burning gut. Read more...

The game isn't out in North America yet, but the first patch for The Witcher is now available. The 113mb download offers a number of gameplay and code bug fixes, along with this important tweak: "a child in epilogue cutscene doesn't look like badly sewn young Frankenstein." ... Read more

New movies from The Witcher have been released, showing developer narrated combat and questing gameplay footage. Use the Flash player below to stream the combat video; unfortunately, bandwidth considerations prevent us from streaming the other one. For more on The Witcher, check out our recent preview.

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Mercury subscribers can use the HD stream for the combat video as well as the quest video.

The Witcher has the outward appearance of a top-rated modern classic, but the soul of a 1993 epic. If you're a fan of traditional PC RPGs, and if you're bored of bland MMO quests and dull online play, and if you don't mind a little sex and violence in your roleplaying, you'll want to look into The Witcher.

A warning: like the game, these impressions are rated M for Mature.

The Witcher isn't exactly a breath of fresh air. It's more like the musty, stimulating smell of an old library; somewhat stale, but comforting, nostalgic. It's a throwback to an age when the ESRB didn't exist, and when game designers were free to fling as much sex and violence around as they saw fit; when they were willing to fill their RPGs with outlandish one-liners and depressingly realistic scenarios, and to pose nude on box covers.

CD Projekt's impressive-looking PC RPG The Witcher has gone gold and ships to stores in North America on October 30. Based on Andrzej Sapkowski's series of novels, the game follows Geralt, who in his role as a mutant witcher, drinks, seduces women, and slays monsters as he explores the seedy underbelly of the world.

"Not only does The Witcher shine with its stellar action gameplay, its thought provoking storyline riddled with mature social issues is sure to get gamers talking," claimed Atari senior producer Larry Liberty. "We're confident that The Witcher will prove to be one of the most acclaimed RPG titles this fall."

"Creating The Witcher was a huge challenge, but also an adventure. Our task was to create a game with an incredibly involving story and a credible world--a role-playing game that we ourselves would like to play," said CD Projekt joint CEO Michal Kicinski. "We approached this task with no compromises."

For more on The Witcher's lengthy adventure and its moral quandaries, dig into my hands-on preview of the game and check back tomorrow for Nick Breckon's impressions.

There's a preview of The Witcher on IGN, playing through a near final build of the fantasy role playing game.

There's a new preview of The Witcher on GameSpot, playing a preview build of the fantasy RPG.

RPG Watch has posted part one and part two of their preview of The Witcher, going hands-on with this fantasy role playing game.

There's a new The Witcher Q&A on GameSpot, talking to designer Michal Madej about this fantasy RPG.

Now available on FileShack is a Games Convention video of The Witcher, CD Projekt's upcoming role playing game. The movie runs for nearly three minutes, showing plenty of in-game footage. For more on the game check out our recent preview.

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Gamers With Jobs has a preview of The Witcher posted, checking out the game at GenCon. So did we, read our impressions here.