No, you’re not the only one having issues with Black Ops
Nope, it’s not just you. As Steam stats tell us that more than 76,000 people have already piled into Call of Duty: Black Ops on launch day, some portion of that playerbase is reporting intermittent lag issues following them through multiplayer that don’t seem to be caused by elderly hardware. Within the Steam forums, the current theory is that it’s a resource issue: CPU load for players experiencing the lag is running at or near 100%. Anecdotally, I’d agree that the three-to-four-second full-stops I’m experiencing online definitely don’t resemble a network problem.
Black Ops’ multiplayer design director, David Vonderhaar, soft-confirmed that Treyarch is aware of the issue. While we await hard confirmation on a fix, peek within for a video demonstration of what many players are coping with.
Battlestar Galactica Online taking closed beta sign ups
There’s a closed beta currently running for the new browser-based MMO Battlestar Galactica Online, and the developers are looking for more people to sign up and test the game. If you fancy blasting some Cylons, read on for details of how to sign up.
Valve defend the future of single player games
Valve employee and Portal 2 developer Erik Johnson has spoken out in defence of single player games, saying that instead of worrying about piracy, publishers should concentrate on responding to what players want.
Stronghold 3 opens trebuchet ammo poll, Kingdoms beta launches
You’re in a castle. You have enough food and clean water to last for months. “Ha!”, you think “that foolish besieging army will never breach these fine walls. Truly we are safe.” Then comes the distant sound of a trebuchet firing, and something sails over the wall, blocking out the sun. Is it a cow? Is it a pack of diseased badgers? Firefly Studios, developers of castle building and besieging sim, Stronghold 3, want you to decide.
Star Wars: The Old Republic PvP detailed, video
Bioware have released a video detailing ‘Warzones’, a series of player vs. player scenarios that will have Imperial and Republic forces fighting for changing objectives across set battlefields. They’ve released a video detailing one such scenario. Set on Alderaan, it shows Republic and Imperial forces fighting for control of a devastating super weapon. You’ll find the video below.
New Battlefield Play4Free trailer and details released
A new Battlefield Play4Free video has appeared in which DICE Senior Producer Ben Cousins delivers the latest juicy details on EA’s upcoming free-to-play version of Battlefield, which will let us fight on Battlefield 2 maps with Battlefield: Bad Company 2 weapons and classes. A lengthy FAQ also reveals some more nuggests about the game, including details of how to sign up for the closed beta. The trailer is embedded below, along with a summary of the new features.
E-sports TV show draws over a million viewers
The first episode of Eurosport’s coverage of the Intel Extreme Masters aired recently, and drew over a million different viewers. The show went behind the scenes at the Global Challenge Shanghai Counter-Strike 1.6 tournament, following the highs and lows of Team Fnatic’s campaign to become Shanghai’s new Counter-Strike champions.
If Call of Duty: Black Ops still hasn’t unlocked on Steam for you, here’s what’s going on
Call of Duty: Black Ops was released last night, with midnight launches across both the US and UK. But anyone who bought on Steam or Direct2Drive might be feeling a little left out – the game still hasn’t unlocked. Those who bought the game in a shop are able to play, and you can see them merrily doing so on Steam’s stats. But those who bought digitally are locked out until 7am. The tricky part is, 7am where?
Video: our readers’ best Peggle shots
Last weekend we ran a competition to send in a replay of your best shot in a Peggle game, with a large bounty of Peggle swag for our favourite. We’ve watched all the shots, recorded our favourites and made them into a quick highlights video. Overall winner after the clip.
Quick battling in Bloodline Champions
The gong is struck and the fight begins on this ancient battle arena sequestered away on top of a plateau. On my right is the tank, a towering, half-armored Glutton that would put sumo wrestlers to shame; on my left is a lithe Alchemist, staff and potions at the ready; and I’m the Igniter, short, stout, and full of fire. Together, we make up the “Cold Team” and our enemies are the “Warm Team” who have their own unique mix of characters, each of which with their own special abilities and spells. Who will win as we charge towards each other?
Free Battlefield Bad Company 2 map pack will revive fan favourites
VIP Map Pack 7 will be adding four brand new maps to Battlefield: Bad Company 2, two of which are revised and updated versions of Battlefield Bad Company stalwarts, Harvest Day and Oasis. What’s more, DICE will be releasing the map pack for free on PC. Read on for the included maps.
The best gardens from our Plants vs Zombies swag giveaway
Over the weekend we ran a competition to take a screenshot of the coolest Plants vs Zombies garden you’d made, Zen or otherwise, with a massive haul of PvZ swag for the winner. Here are the best gardens we got, starting with the overall winner.
ZOMG: Secret Call of Duty: Black Ops mode has rocket firing bats
Call of Duty: Black Ops already has its fair share of bonus modes and extras, but the latest one to come to light is crazier than all of the others put together. It’s crazier than the co-op zombie mode that unlocks when you complete the game. It’s even crazier even than the other zombie mode where you can control President Nixon and defend the Pentagon from Zombies with a shotgun. To reach this one, you have to actually break out of the menu screen and hack into an abandoned terminal. There you’ll find the cute 8 bit intro to a game called Dead Ops Arcade, an old school, top down zombie blaster with rapid fire shotguns, helicopters, and rocket firing bats. What the hell did I just type? Can it even be real? It must be, there’s a video of the whole crazy thing embedded below.
Poker Night at the Inventory trailer
It sounds like the start of a joke. “The Heavy from TF2 and Tycho from Penny Arcade walk into a bar…”, but that’s pretty much the premise for Telltale’s upcoming poker game, which pits an odd variety of gaming characters against one another and gives the player a chance to win some exclusive items for TF2. Telltale have released a trailer of the game, showing some of the banter we can expect from the motley crew they’ve assembled. They’ve given Tycho a voice! Hear his sultry tones in the video below.
The Ball demo is out
Roly poly squashing sim The Ball was released last week, along with a trailer showing off the games mixture of puzzles and spectacular crushing. If the sight of hundreds of mummies being bowled into oblivion wasn’t enough to when your appetite, a demo has just been released. Read on for details, and a video of nine ways to kill a Mummy, eight of which don’t involve crushing them with a giant magic ball.
