[US giveaway] Win a free copy of RISK: Factions!
Your favorite classic board game, RISK, is old and busted. Commanding vast armies and conquering the world with nothing but your trusty pair of dice may fulfill your Napoleonic fantasies, but the board game can be a drag to set up, what with all the cards and multicolored plastic Roman numerals that need distributing. And who really has three hours to devote to a board game anyway?
That’s where RISK: Factions comes in. In this computerized variant, you can play as human, Cat, Undead, Robot, or Yeti, and wield some serious firepower, up to and including nukes. Want to win a free copy? Read on.
Total War: Shogun 2 is out now, has 15GB install
It’s March 15 2011, which can only mean a couple of things. Firstly, it’s Tuesday. Secondly, Total War: Shogun 2 is finally out! You can get hold of it now on Steam. For a few reasons why you should give to give the game a go, check out our Total War: Shogun 2 review. Before you install the game, you might want to spring clean your hard drive a bit, as Shogun 2 will take up a staggering 15GB of space.
Brink trailer gets classy, pre-order kits detailed
The new Brink trailer gives us a good look at the shooter’s four playable classes. The engineer can build turrets, the operative can steal the identity of dead people, and the medic can stab people to life. We also get another look at Brink’s impressive character customisation suite. By pre-ordering the game, you’ll be able to expand your choice of gear by selecting one of a series of themed packs. These will add tattoos, clothes, weapons and weapon add-ons in the style of Doom, Fallout, Psycho, and Spec Ops. You’ll find an overview of each of the packs on the Splash Damage site, along with details on which retailer you’ll have to pre-order from to get each pack.
[via VG247]
Batman: Arkham City is eight hours long, new trailer shows in-game footage
Rocksteady say that Batman: Arkham City’s single player story can be played through in eight hours, providing you don’t spend any time sight-seeing, explore or doing any of the side missions. There’s also a new trailer, showing some in-game footage, which you’ll find embedded below.
Dragon Age 2 access returned to banned forumite
We recently mentioned the case of a forumite who found himself unable to log in and activate his copy of Dragon Age 2, after he was banned from Bioware’s forums for asking them “have you sold your soul to the EA devil?”
EA have since made an official response to the story, and it’s good news. The forum user gets his game back. “EA strictly enforces the code of conduct at Social.BioWare.com. If a player violates the rules by using profanity, they will be temporarily banned. Unfortunately, there was an error in the system that accidentally suspended a user’s entire account. Immediately upon learning of the glitch, EA took steps to restore the user’s macro account and apologized for the inconvenience.”
Crysis 2 trailer has super speed and super spodes
The Crysis 2 “Be Fast” trailer doesn’t do much to show of the nanosuit’s super-speed abilities, but it does show some ridiculously pretty explosions and some ninja grenade throwing. If you fancy having a play with the nanosuit’s super powers, check out the recently fixed Crysis 2 mutliplayer demo. The game’s due out March 22 in the US, and March 25 in Europe.
Minecraft Left 4 Dead 2 survival map is out
A while back we highlighted Mines of the Dead, a map dedicated to bringing Minecraft’s cuboid world to Left 4 Dead 2. The map’s creator is still working hard on finishing the project. The first stage of the campaign is complete and ready to download, and a survival map is also available. You’ll find a video of the new survival map below.
Prototype 2 trailer out, man-bowling is back
In the first Prototype you could upgrade your strength to such an extent that you could pick up a pedestrian, climb to the top of a skyscraper and throw them so hard they flew out of the city and landed in the ocean. You could make an unofficial mini game out of throwing men at billboards several miles away. The new Prototype 2 trailer shows man-bowling making a welcome return, but is it as exciting as watching a man kick a helicopter to death? For more on the game, head over to the Prototype 2 site. Prototype 2 is due out next year.
[Thanks, Blue]
Tuesday’s Facebook feature: “Sucks in the City”
It’s a question every girl has asked herself at some time or another – why is a good vampire minion so hard to find? Fine, it’s probably only girls who hang out at horror conventions or those of us hooked on Facebook game Bite Me that have. And yes, I’m addicted to it like it’s some cheap Twilight branded heroin. As if a mormon housewife hadn’t ruined the bloodsuckers enough with her tube of glitter glue and chastity rings, Bite Me has managed to turn even running a house of vampire slaves
into a sort of nightmarish babysitting service. With added microtransactions.
And in other PC gaming news…
Portal 2 is just ONE MONTH AWAY!
Remember how you felt when you first played Portal? I’m talking about the special time before the internet was stuffed with cakes and cubes. Staring at your own reflection, manipulating your momentum to fly across a chasm, listening to GLaDOS in the lift…
Sometimes the most popular games are the easiest ones to forget. But it’s time to get excited all over again. Portal 2 is innovative, gorgeous, and damn classy. Read our preview if you don’t believe us.
And click more for today’s condensed gaming links…
Dragonica ‘log in to win’ event giving away €10,000 worth of prizes
A few weeks ago the Awakening of the Ice Dragon expansion was released for the sidescrolling free-to-play MMO, Dragonica. gpotato.eu are planning to celebrate tomorrow by throwing a ‘log in to win’ event. By logging in and playing the game on certain dates, you’ll be entered into a prize draw. There are €10,000 worth of prizes on offer, including three XPS Dell PCs, wireless keyboards, headsets, mice, and an Alienware laptop. There will be some in-game items like XP boosts up for grabs as well. Read on for details on how to enter.
Dragon Age 2 patch fixes save game issues
Bioware have released a beta version of the 1.01 PC patch for Dragon Age 2. The update addresses a number of issues with save game corruption on single core machines, and some voice over problems with the Steam version of the game. You’ll find the patch notes below.
Transformers MMO arriving in 2012
Jagex have just announced that they’re working on a Transformers MMO. The UK-based company are best known for their browser based, free-to-play MMO Runescape, and specialise in free-to-play online games funded by microtransactions. Beyond the 2012 release date, no details have been announced, but a massively multiplayer Autobot vs. Decepticon war is a pretty exciting idea. What would you like to see from a Transformers MMO, aside from robots?
Prey 2 announced, coming 2012
Bethesda have announced that a sequel to Prey is on the way. The game will set to come out in 2012 and is being made by the developers of the first game, Human Head. There’s a new Facebook page, which will be updated with more details soon.
The original Prey was full of great ideas. There were gravity strips that would let you walk up walls and have fire-fights on the ceiling, gooey bio-weapons that moulded to your character’s body, and the ability to spirit walk and fight your way out of hell when near. It’ll be interesting to see if Human Head builds on any of those ideas in the sequel. More details on Prey 2 as soon as they’re announced.
Portal 2 PAX updates: new character, new song from The National
Valve have been showing off Portal 2 at PAX, dropping some tasty info-nuggets about the sequel. A new character, Cave Johnson, has been revealed, there’s going to be a Portal 2 song from The National, and there are plans to release an unnamed surprise to fill the gap between Portal and Portal 2. Read on for details, and footage of the PAX presentation.
