ArmA 2: Operation Arrowhead demo available
ArmA 2: Operation Arrowhead is the sort of game you might be a little bit afraid of. I’m afraid of it. It’s a standalone expansion to one of the most realistic shooters since… well, since ArmA, really. The most realistic shooter I’ve played is Team Fortress 2. Luckily for me, then, that there’s a demo just come out, so I can get my head blown off while I’m fumbling with my safety catch out in the open. I mean, try it out. Here’s how:
Play Alien Swarm in first person: guide and video
In case it’s not disgusting enough from a god’s eye view, you can actually play Alien Swarm in first person fairly easily. I’ve just tried it, and it’s a bit of a shock. Here’s a video of what it’s like to play, and instructions on how to do it yourself. It only takes a sec.
Alice: Madness Returns announced
Remember American McGee’s Alice? If not, flick to page 120 in our latest issue to refresh your memory. EA have just announced a sequel, called Alice: Madness Returns, and it looks a lot less blocky and just as thoroughly disturbing.
Need for Speed World released July 27
Need for Speed World, the racing MMO from EA, will be making annoying revving noises at a stop light in time for a July 27 launch. You can pre-order it now to get early access to the game. So spend money now, and once you’ve already spent that money and you’re poor, find out whether you like it or not. Sigh. On the other hand, it’s got a not bad pricing model.
Command “genetic heroes” in Darkspore
EA have announced Darkspore. What the hell is Darkspore? It’s an action game where you play with five of the creature creator monsters, do a little bit of the genetic min-maxing from the first game, and you don’t have to spend countless yawnsome hours bobbling around in space. This blog post is now a trailer.
CC: Things I Didn’t Know About PopCap
This week, PC Gamer UK’s deputy editor, Graham Smith, is at the Casual Connect conference in Seattle. While he’s there, he’s been speaking to PopCap Games, creators of Bejeweled, Peggle and Plants vs. Zombies. Here’s what he’s learned.
The company was originally named Sexy Action Cool. Their first game was called Foxy Poker, and was a strip poker game. When you got to the final stage of undress, the ladybits were obscured by objects in the foreground.
Driver: San Francisco features upgradeable coma
Not many racing games can say this. Over 100 licensed cars, 208 miles of road, and the psychic ability to take over other drivers’ brains. Allow the video to attempt to barely explain the madness.
RA Salvatore’s Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning teased
You know what must be cool? Being a best selling novelist called RA Salvatore, writing a bunch of fantasy novels and getting famous, and then having them made into a big RPG. You know what must be cooler? Having that happen, but with the help of Todd McFarlane’s art direction, and with a design studio headed up by Ken Rolston, lead designer on Morrowind and Oblivion. Interested? Yeah, our ears pricked up, too.
Freejack: free to play parkour racer
There’s a trailer of this colourful feet-based racing game below, but please, mute your speakers before you play it. That sort of thing has got to be bad for the environment.
Get an alien parasite hat in Team Fortress 2
Complete an achievement in Alien Swarm and you’ll unlock a head-mounted alien parasite in Team Fortress 2.
Activision pinky-swears: no CoD multiplayer subscriptions
Fueled by analyst speculation, rumors have run rampant the last few weeks that Activision was gearing up to start milking millions of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer fans for a monthly fee on top of the already-steep $60 game and $15 map packs.
Well, Activision may be greedy, but they’re not that greedy. Activision spokesman and class-act Dan Amrich (known on Twitter as @oneofswords) clarifies on his blog, stating once and for all that there will be no CoD subscription fee, and that there are no plans to implement one in the future. Amrich’s sweet song of freedom is backed up by a chorus, including Infinity Ward’s Robert Bowling and Treyarch’s (the team working on CoD: Black Ops) Josh Olin flat-out denying subscription or “Pay to Play” models for Modern Warfare 2 or Black Ops. They humbly request that fans not freak out.
StarCraft II breaks the bank
Update: The Wall Street Journal has retracted the story which claimed StarCraft II cost $100 million to make. It turns out that number was in reference to World of Warcraft, not StarCraft. Blizzard has declined to say how much they’ve spent on StarCraft II, but even though it might not be a nine-digit number, it’s a hell of a lot.
If you Google “things that cost $100 million” right now, StarCraft II tops the list.
It’s all due to a Wall Street Journal story which claims that Blizzard has spent around $100 million on development, which would make it one of the most expensive development projects in gaming history, on any platform. From what I’m told (developers are shy about sharing hard numbers), that’s five to 10 times the typical budget of a major game, with only a few extremely ambitious and groundbreaking games coming close to the $100 million mark. (GTA IV is the only other one I’ve ever heard of to do so.)
It sounds like an absurd amount of money—like something Dr. Evil would demand. How could anyone possibly spend that much money on a game, much less one that doesn’t push any technological boundaries and does its best to replicate the gameplay experience of a 12-year-old game?
Alien Swarm is out now on Steam. And it’s free.
Alien Swarm, Valve’s free top-down xeno-blaster is now available to download from Steam. There is absolutely no reason for you to not download it and try it out immediately. It’s like aliens, crossed with some guy yelling “OH GOD OH GOD I’M GOING TO DIE” down Teamspeak. We’ll have an official PC Gamer server up and running ASAP, and will update the details in the comments below.
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light trailer
I’ve always said that Lara Croft needed a giant armoured guy who threw spears. I mean, so many of the challenges she faces in life are eventually solved by sticking a pole into a wall and climbing it, you know? But it turns out new companion Totec can do more than throw pointy things. In the new isometric platform Lara Croft game he can also lock and load. Here’s the trailer.
Valve want to know what you’ve got installed
Just like they started asking a selection of gamers for permission to scan their hardware, Valve are gearing up to pop round and politely ask you for the go-ahead to have a gander at your installed programs.
