Minecraft to offer a sound night’s sleep
Everyone’s favourite mining game is about to get a non-ore orientated update; beds. Next Tuesday Minecraft will be updated with a feature that grants players the ability to make a bed for their character to sleep in. Read on for the details.
FarmVille developer worth ‘$10billion’
Zynga – the developer behind Facebook phenomenon FarmVille – is worth close to $10billion according to recent investment discussions.
In an article over at The New York Times, the casual social game developer is said to attract 275 million users to it’s titles, which also includes CityVille. Such figures make it one of the major contributors to Facebook’s revenue stream.
What do you make of this? Do you think this a triumph worth celebrating, or do you believe – like Jonathan Blow – that social games are ‘evil’? Discuss in the comments!
[via CVG]
And in other PC gaming news…
This morning we watched the Shogun 2 multiplayer trailer, our heads full of dreams of clan warfare and co-op domination. It’s going to be epic. As we watched armies clashing on the battlefields of Japan, the last question on our minds was “I wonder what that smells like?” Fortunately, Scent Science were on hand to answer the questions that almost nobody was asking, with the announcement of their amazing machine that will let us smell our games. What will they think of next?
Virtual reality, perhaps? Once again, we’ve grabbed the most interesting tidbits of PC gaming news from around globe. Read on for virtual reality out of body experiences, a lecture from Gabe Newell, and a man with a head full of diamonds.
Fallout: New Vegas GECK Tutorial
One thing you’ll have noticed while wandering through the lonely New Vegas wastelands is that the post-apocalyptic world isn’t the most progressive place. Never mind rebuilding civilisation – most of these survivor-types are too lazy to even move the corpses out of the bathtub when they take a soak.
Luckily, you’re here to help. You might not be able to teach these tattered scavengers to rebuild their world for themselves, but you can lead by example by using the GECK – the Garden of Eden Creation Kit.
It’s precisely what you’d expect the app Bethesda used created the original game to be, which is to say fearsomely, terrifyingly complicated. To build a full quest, complete with dialogue, missions and more, would be one hell of an undertaking, whether you have modding experience or not. However, there are less ambitious projects that are just as rewarding. How about a swish pad of your own where you can stash your gear? That’s very easy to get the hang of, and over the next twelve steps, I’ll show you exactly how to build it.
Fallen Earth Dev Diary: When plants rule the earth
PC Gamer routinely features Developer Diaries: tales of what goes on behind-the-scenes in the development studios making your favorite games. This Dev Diary comes from Art Director Chris “Devo” Deavellar of the Fallen Earth development team, and provides insight into the development of the new zone being added to the game–Section 4.
Epic stink: ScentSciences want to bring smellovision to World of Warcraft
When we look to the future of PC gaming, we think of faster CPUs, the next wave of graphics cards and 3D, but there is one dimension we haven’t considered. Later this year a company called ScentSciences will release Scent Scape, a system that will use cartridges to deliver the scents of the game you’re playing direct to your nostrils. By the end of 2011 you could be “smelling your favourite character.”
Cities in Motion demo out now
A demo has just been released for transport sim, Cities in Motion. The game lets you plan and build transport networks for a selection of major cities. Using a fleet of trams, helicopters and even water buses, you must create the perfect metropolis, in which nothing is ever late.
The demo contains the game’s tutorial, which covers one year of development, giving you a taste of the management skills you’ll need to create your clockwork utopia when the game’s released on February 22. For more on the game, check out the Cities in Motion site, or watch the trailer below.
Civilization on sale this weekend
Steam are throwing a Civilization sale this weekend. Civilization 5 is available for £17.99/$29.99 and the Civilization 4 complete pack is available for £3.75/$7.50. The Complete Pack comes with Civ 4′s three expansions, including Beyond the Sword, Warlords, and Colinization, which is a massive slice of top strategy gaming at an excellent price. If you’ve always wanted give Civ a go, now’s as good a time as any. The games are on sale on Steam now.
Recently, Civilization 4 became the first game to win Grammy with an award for its theme music. For more on Civilization, have a look at our pick of the ten best Civ 5 mods, and our guide to making your own maps.
New StarCraft 2 maps on the way, Heart of the Swarm will have separate ladder
Blizzard have been talking about Heart of the Swarm and the future of StarCraft 2, confirming that Heart of the Swarm will have its own multiplayer ladders when released, and revealing that a series of new official multiplayer maps for StarCraft 2 will arrive “in the next few weeks.”
Operation Flashpoint: Red River release date set for April
Codemasters have announced that Operation Flashpoint: Red River will be coming out on Apri 21 in Europe and April 26 in the US. There will be a ten mission campaign with four player co-op support and a new co-op last stand mode called Fireteam Engagements, where up to four players must defend a downed helicopter from waves of incoming enemies. For more OpFlash action, check out the latest trailer, or head over to the official Operation Flashpoint: Red River site.
Jurassic Park out in April, new trailer released
You might’ve thought you’d never see another Jurassic Park game, but nature always finds a way. Telltale Games, the company behind Tales of Monkey Island and the recent Back to the Future series, are bringing the thunder lizards back in April. You’ll find the new trailer below.
Shogun 2 trailer shows clan warfare and co-op campaign
This trailer shows the feature we’ve all been waiting for: the ability to give your Warlord bright pink trousers. The trailer shows off the new clan warfare mode and the co-op campaign, too, but they almost pale in comparison to the magnificent selection of hats on offer. The editor will let you customise your general, and let you wage war under your own personalised war banner.
The Creative Assembly have been expimenting with multiplayer since Empire. Napoleon added drop-in multiplayer battles, but that’s nothing compared to the scale of the new clan warfare modes present in Shogun 2. The latest issue of PC Gamer UK is out now, and contains our six page review, in which we awarded the game a 92 and an Editor’s Choice award. There’s a demo out next week, and the game’s due out March 15.
PC Gamer US Podcast #260: Good old free games
When the entire PC Gamer crew finds themselves backed up against a metaphorical wall made entirely of deadlines, review trips and sicknesses, the ever-bold Dan Stapleton makes a desperate move to save the holy PCG trinity of magazine, website and podcast. By sacrificing all of his comrades to Chronos, the ancient god of time, he has temporarily gained the power to travel through time. First, he used his powers to spook past versions of himself by hiding in his own closet and whispering what would happen to him the next day in a totally creepy voice.
And in other PC Gaming news…
Did you see the Dead Island trailer? Did you see it? It’s the saddest and slow-motionest zombie flick you’ll ever watch. Until earlier today I mostly found zombies funny, but now I know otherwise, and in the process have become very excited about a game I previously barely knew existed. But that’s PC gaming, you never know what’s going to jump out at you next.
The Dead Island trailer may have been sad, but not as tragic as the end of Tom’s Minecraft diary. If you haven’t read it all yet, go back and take a look, and let us know what you think in the comments.
Anyhow, that’s enough chat. We all know what you came here for: your latest hit of sweet, hot PC gaming news. We’ve got the goods, get them below.
Play Ultima 4 in your browser
One man has ported RPG classic Ultima IV into flash in its entirety, which means anybody can play the game all the way through, straight from any web browser.
