Company of Heroes Online week: the schedule
Company of Heroes is one of my favourite games of all time. A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to visit the game’s developers, Relic, and meet the team responsible for reviving that game in today’s new web-centric world. Now, we’re going to deliver a week of words, pictures and videos on what we think is the most exciting free strategy game in the world.
OnLive: “use us as a demo service”
OnLive is backing away from the glorious-future-of-all-games mantle – now the CEO, Steve Perlman, is encouraging “hardcore gamers” to use the service to demo games before purchasing them elsewhere.
Try R.U.S.E. for free: weekend trial extended
I’ve just now noticed that “Ruse” is an acronym. Craig is assuring me that this stands for “Rambuncious Ubisoft’s Sexy Encephalopods”. To think I thought it was just a nod to the clever misinformation mechanics saturating this sleek strategy. Anyway, I was just investigating some games (for research) when this news appeared via Steam, all up in my virtual grill: R.U.S.E. is free to play until Wednesday the 21st. Go!
How to play Half-Life 2 in 2D
Some clever clogs at Reddit has discovered how to get Steam to install Codename: Gordon, the 2D flash game originally bundled with Half-life 2.
Modern Warfare 2′s guns make sweet music
OneShotFilm have mashed the gunshot sounds from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 into a punchy little track, faintly reminiscent of Rob D’s Clubbed to Death. For anyone who was alive in the nineties. It also reminds me of Zach Scott’s Ballad of Black Mesa, the Apple-styled gunshot music video Valve could easily have used in their Steam-on-Macs campaign. Embedded that below too.
Ask the Expert: what 3D card should I buy?
Another week, another set of tech troubles to be solved by PC Gamer’s resident hardware guru, Adam Oxford. He drops by every seven days to offer advice on persistent problems and fix foibles, and he’ll even have a shot at answering the great questions in life. Like “what does anti-ghosting mean”? Got a problem? You can raise an issue or ask a question by commenting on this thread, posting in our tech forum or emailing the magazine.
PC Gamer US podcast 231 – Join The Choir
Intern Robert rallies the PC Gamer crew to chat about the Mass Effect-izing of Dragon Age 2, why League of Legends has our attention, our hopes for the next Batman: Arkham Asylum and the brand new talent trees of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. Podcast producer Andy Bauman shares a rare gripe with Monkey Island 2, too.
Quote of the week, courtesy of Evan: “One time, I was The Hamburglar for Halloween.”
APB sets community loose on a human body
APB didn’t review very well, and the developer, Realtime Worlds, has responded to that in two very distinct ways. The first way is to set about fixing the problems with the game. The other thing they’re doing is to spend lots of money running a silly promotional vote-a-thon to let you customise some poor Joe. Or, in this case, some poor Josh.
17 new items coming to Team Fortress 2
Anyone who thinks that community made items aren’t as exciting or potent as regular items can come and discuss it with me and my Homewrecker. The winners of the Polycount competition have been announced, and that means seventeen of the submissions will be getting packaged up with attributes added by Valve, and shipped in the coming weeks. Here are the winners:
How the world’s most-realistic military game gets made
We know very little about the people that make ArmA 2, gaming’s most sophisticated military simulator that also lets you play as a goat. It’s made by Bohemia Interactive. They’re Czech, they’ve been making games for a decade, and we assume they’re all hardened war heroes that brush their teeth with bayonets and sleep on a pile of claymore mines…right?
Blizzard talks Real ID, plans for world domination
In the wake of the near-fiasco with Real ID, which, if implemented, would have forced StarCraft II and World of Warcraft posters to use their real names on the official forums, Blizzard has compiled a Q&A on their plans for the future of the Real ID system. It’s a lengthy read, but if you have any questions about exactly how your real name will be used by Blizzard, you may find the answer after the jump.
My favorite quote from the whole thing? Right here:
“...We plan to include an option that will allow players to opt out of appearing on their Real ID friends’ “friends of friends” lists. We’re anticipating this feature to be available for StarCraft II shortly after release of the game, and World of Warcraft at around the same time — we’ll have more information for you in the coming weeks.”
Flip Mino HD winner
Congratulations to Roger Legg of Ohio for winning the Flip Mino HD videocamera that PC Gamer US used at E3 2010! Your Flip’s in the mail, Roger. Send us some (safe for work) video when you get it.
Thanks to everyone for entering, and thank you to Flip for providing the prize.
New Valve game announced: Alien Swarm
Wow, here’s a Friday surprise. Valve just announced that it’s releasing a full version of Alien Swarm, a co-operative shooter based on an old Unreal Tournament 2004 mod, next week. And it’s free.
Ten essential Oblivion mods
Over the last six years an army of modders have been hard at work, trying to make Oblivion into the game they always imagined it should be. There’s now a vast array of mods that can take the game in many different directions. Oscuro’s and Francesco’s overhauls reinvent the game’s challenges and leveling. Midas’ Magic Spells of Aurum give you godlike power and the ability to nuke your foes. There are thousands, so we’ve chosen best-made and most polished examples of one of the most prolific and dedicated modding communities out there.
Onslaught is not confirmed for PC
Last week, we announced that Battlefield: Bad Company 2′s Onslaught mode was coming to PC, just like it had to the consoles. This took DICE’s community manager by surprise – it was the first he’d heard of it.
