Breaking: GameStop to buy Stardock’s Impulse, Spawn Labs’ streaming
Game retailer GameStop has apparently decided to buy its way into two PC game-selling technologies at once. In a single press release, the retail giant announced that it will acquire both Stardock’s Impulse download service (a competitor to Steam) and Spawn Labs‘ streaming service (a competitor to OnLive). The release indicates that Impulse will continue to function as normal, but will be fully integrated with GameStop.com within the next few months.
With GameStop’s backing, Impulse could suddenly become a real threat to Steam, which currently dominates digital PC gaming sales. Founded in 2008 by Stardock, it’s currently a respectable but distant competitor that’s gotten some attention through Stardock’s own games like Sins of a Solar Empire, Demigod, and Elemental.
(Note that GameStop isn’t buying all of game publisher/developer Stardock, only the Impulse, Inc. subsidiary.)
Exclusive interview – Bohemia Interactive talks Take On Helicopters
We’ve got the first interview on Bohemia Interactive’s next project, Take On Helicopters. Spin up your mouse wheel; come read heaps of info that wasn’t revealed in the initial press release.
SOE closes three studios, lays off 205 employees, cancels the Agency – live games unaffected
Rumors have been swirling about possible layoffs at all of SOE’s studios. We contacted SOE directly to get the official word on what’s happening, and it’s a mix of good and bad news for gamers. Read on for the full report.
And in other PC gaming news…
We love free stuff here at PC Gamer, and today we wanted to share some if that lovely free-ness with you. Just for being a PC Gamer reader, you get exclusive access to the Mythos beta for the next 20-odd hours. If you don’t fancy that, why not check out some of the great games in our roundup of this month’s best free games?
What’s that, you wan’t more free stuff? Well, how about a free list of everything that’s been going on in PC gaming today?
Magicka: Vietnam gets release date, price and new screens
We haven’t heard much about the Magicka expansion, Magicka: Vietnam, since that brilliant announcement trailer a few weeks ago. Now we have a release date, and 12 new screens. Magicka: Vietnam will be out on April 12 and will cost $4.99. You’ll find the new screens below, featuring wizards in body armour, machineguns and plenty of napalm.
Rumour: major layoffs at Sony Online Entertainment studios
Numerous Sony Online Entertainment studios are closing according to George Broussard’s twitter feed. The developer has been tweeting about the state of the company today.
As reported on NeoGaf Broussard originally tweeted: “Word that Sony Online Entertainment Seattle is having layoffs and that studio closure is possible. http://bit.ly/eSxtvq.”
He later confirmed the rumour, saying “SOE Seattle and other studios (Denver is rumored) will be closed tomorrow. Good luck to all impacted.”
SOE Seattle were developing the ambitious upcoming shooter, The Agency for PC and PS3. They were also the team behind Magic The Gathering: Tactics. We’ve also heard rumours that half of the staff at SOE Austin have also been sacked. They’re responsible for DC Universe Online.
George Broussard was one of the original creators of the Duke Nukem series.
Is city-building the next big craze in MMOs?
It’s easy to feel like your choices don’t affect the world around you in an MMO. When you log out, you disappear without a trace. But if you could build a city in an MMO, it wouldn’t disappear—it’d hang around 24/7 to remind your fellow gamers that whoever built it (you) are totally cooler than they are, and that they should fear you.
Get exclusive 24 hour access to the Mythos closed beta
Mythos is a new free-to-play MMO originally designed by some of the minds behind Diablo and Torchlight. It’s about to enter closed beta. All PC Gamer readers will get exclusive access to the beta for 24 hours, starting at 17:00 GMT today. All you have to do to sign up and play is click the link below.
Allods Online to launch with new expansion
Free-to-play MMO Allods Online will officially launch in the next few months, though the game has playable for quite a while now. Three major expansions have been released during its long open beta period, but with the addition of volume 4, the game will officially go live. Volume 4 is set to raise the level cap to 47, add new questing areas, rebalanced raids and more. There’s no exact date for the launch yet, but it’s coming “very soon.” You’ll find nine new screens of the game below.
March’s best free PC games
Ah, Spring appears to be upon us. But far from scurrying around outside, lapping up the sun’s rays and trying to delude myself that it’s warm enough to just wear a t-shirt, I’ve spent a portion of the month playing all the latest free games on the PC scene. And this month, a trend seems to have developed for unusually complex browser games. The Unity engine: we do love you. Read on for this month’s picks!
ArmA 2 creators reveal trailer, info for secret project: Take On Helicopters
PC Gamer’s favorite military sim maker is making a helicopter game. It’s being made in the ArmA 2 engine. It’ll have co-op and a mission editor. Within: more screenshots, a trailer, and why we think Take On could woo non-simulation players the same way that ArmA 2 continues to. Chop, chop.
Batman: Arkham City a “huge technical challenge,” 80% will be set on streets of Gotham
Rocksteady say that 80% of Arkham City will be set in the streets of Gotham. The other 20% will take place in interiors tied to certain missions, but for the most part, players will have a large amount of freedom to explore from the very start of the game.
Rocksteady told PSM3 that creating Gotham has been a “huge technical challenge,” but the increased team size has helped them to pull it off. There are 97 people working on Arkham City, compared to 65 on the first game.
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City trailer commits zombiecide
This is the first teaser trailer for Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City. The title helpfully pops up every few seconds in case you forget what you’re watching, which is good, because at several points I thought I was watching Left 4 Dead. Would it be a bad thing if Resident Evil took inspiration from Valve’s co-op zombie shooter? The game will have four player co-op, and is set in Raccoon city between Resident Evil 2 and 3, and has you battling zombies and government forces as they try to cover up the zombie virus outbreak.
Dragon age 2 tweaks guide
One thing Dragon Age 2 lacks is a full set of modding tools. Dragon Age: Origins let you use developer tools to create missions, new weapons and new characters. But the lack of tools in the sequel hasn’t stopped the modding community. There are already a ton of tweaks and fixes for Dragon Age 2, adding texture packs, save game generators, developer console access and much requested features like the ability to edit default Hawke’s face. Read on to help tailor the experience to your own play style.
Super Meat World is “days away”
The PC update for Super Meat Boy is only days away according to Team Meat, who tweeted to say that the level sharing portal will be ready to go live shortly. BigDownload note that Super Meat World will contain seven chapters and 140 levels on launch, and will include Enter the Unknown mode. This will let you jump into a random selection of highly rated custom maps. The update will be freely available, and will download automatically on Steam.
