Crysis 2 trailer features 17 minutes of in-game footage
This follow up to last weeks’s in-game trailer features 17 whole minutes of in-game action. We get to see a few new nanosuit tricks, including a tactical view that lets you tag enemy soldiers, listen in on their conversations and get an overview of their weaknesses. Humans are weak vs. getting shot in the head, apparently. Many of the other nano suit abilities are also explained by the inexplicably creepy nanosuit AI voice, including super-invisibility and super strength. It must be pretty uncomfortable being stuck in one of those things in the first place, it’s much worse when it sounds as though it’s being haunted by something from The Exorcist. Crysis 2 is out on March 22 in the US and March 25 in Europe.
Team Fortress 2 Aperture Science map adds GLaDOS and portals
A modder has recreated Portal’s Aperture Science labs as a Team Fortress 2 map. Players must fight over one central control point deep inside the facility, and can make use of energy barriers and portals to fight off the other team. If you’ve ever wanted to see an ubered Heavy carving it up in GLaDOS’ chambers, then you’ll definitely want to give this map a go. You’ll find more information, and screens below.
Hitman 5 ARG concludes with screenshot
Last week we mentioned the start of a Hitman alternative reality game, in which members of the Hitman forums have been following real world clues to try and uncover more information on Hitman 5. Last week the community was busy deciphering a mysterious image of Agent 47′s signature black leather gloves next to what looks to be a script for a new Hitman game. Since then the plot has thickened, with encoded number-strings, references to the Berliner beer festival, a picture of CN tower in Toronto, Canada, and the first image of Hitman 5.
Shift 2 Unleashed trailer shows pro racer’s lap
Pro racer Tommy Milner is in the hot seat for another lap in Shift 2 Unleashed. The latest in-game footage also shows off that slightly nauseating glued-to-the-bumper camera that’s almost impossible to actually drive with, but is brilliant for making you feel as though you’re going really, really fast. Stick the video on full screen and press your face against the monitor for an instant speed-rush. It’s out on March 31 in the US and on April fools’ day in the UK.
Leaked: Microsoft’s vision for the future of Games for Windows Live
Spotted via Reddit, the video above delivers a vision of a terrifying future of chirpy avatars and 160MS point dresses. Some initial thoughts.
1) They don’t know how to spell pwn.
2) WHA!?? I don’t even…
3) I hope this video is about two years old. The companies they’re looking to court with this microtransaction enabled future are so far ahead in their thinking on this that they don’t need Microsoft’s help. Nor would they ever let MS cross-sell to their customers, nor would they offer up a cut in their earnings for access into Microsoft’s network take a cut of their earnings. They dismissed the Xbox and they’ll dismiss Games For Windows because Facebook does everything they need, better and to more customers.
4) Seriously – if you’re going to try and talk to PC gamers, spelling pwn right is really important.
The Sunday Video Pwn
You’ve probably read Tom’s preview of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and wondered at the possibilities the latest game in the series will offer you. Now you can behold such choice in the above video, in which protagonist Jenson tackles the same objective three times in three very different manners. Take a look at the game’s combat (with those incredible blade-arms and a very cool rifle reload animation) and its exploration avenues, and start getting excited. You’ve only got until August to wait, so get planning on how you’ll tackle this segment.
Saturday Crapshoot: Mortimer
Or, to give it its full no-way-will-that-fit-in-the-title name, Mortimer and the Riddles of the Medallion. Never heard of it? I’m not surprised. In the UK at least, it’s a strong contender for Lucasarts’ most obscure PC game. In the US, I think it’s a little better known, but still far from being a classic. Partly, that’s because it’s an edutainment game. It’s also because it wasn’t very good – though it is very pretty, and has lots of charm and character. Mostly though, I think it’s a question of karmic payback. Look at this game. Doesn’t it look sweet? Doesn’t it look innocent? Wrong! Mortimer is the work of the Devil himself.
Brace yourself. If you keep reading, you will be exposed to ear-worms you will never bleach out of your brain. PC Gamer cannot be held responsible for anything you might still find yourself humming in fifty years time. Uh-huh. Oh yeah. Uh-huh…
And in other PC gaming news…
We love Fridays, and we love you. That’s why we decided to throw up our preview of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. We also forced ourselves to watch the watch the latest amazing trailers for upcoming games like Portal 2 and Crysis 2. It’s also the reason why we scour the web every day, looking for the most fascinating snippets of PC gaming news around, so that we can weave them into a list of pure PC gaming knowledge and present them at the end of the day
MMO fight: WoW blogger demands an end to Rift posts
In what is either a genuine call for World of Warcraft purity or a subtly brilliant Rift marketing scheme, a WoW-centric blogger has created a campaign, complete with a badge that you can post to your site, to designate his and other WoW blogs as “Rift-free zones,” in response to what he considers to be an excessive amount of Rift-related posting cropping up in the wake of the fledgling MMORPG’s well-received release. He’s got a fair point: after all, you don’t come to PC Gamer to read about Mario’s latest adventure.
First Tribes: Ascend art released, more images still held hostage
A concerning trend: more developers are holding images of their games hostage in exchange for social network attention. In the elaborate fiction that takes place in my mind, this just happened:
Josh: “…We now go live from the PC Gamer studio to Evan, who’s on the scene outside the Museum of Jetpack Science to cover this harrowing incident. Evan?”
Evan: [pause for satellite delay] “Josh, the wave of image file terrorism continues with Hi-Rez Studios, who I’ve been told by authorities is holding innocent JPEGs for Tribes: Ascend at gunpoint just inside these doors. The images are said to be bound together in .rar file and unable to export themselves from the museum. We do have a list of demands from the developer…’We will drag one piece of concept art into the Recycle Bin each hour until our demands are met: 2,500 Facebook ‘Likes.’”
Yeah, you should probably just come look at the pictures.
PC Gamer US Podcast #264: Stick Around
While the majority of the staff is finishing up the newest issue, Evan leads Chris and both interns, Anthony and Lucas, as they discuss Valve’s newest employee, the state of Team Fortress 2, another round of Truthiness & Falsity, tell you how to run away from a fire, and decide who dispenses justice more effectively: Robocop or Judge Dredd.
The weekend playlist
The weekend is looming like an angry but awesome bear. We’ve been planning ahead, drawing up master strategies for the best way to spend our spare time over the next few days. Should we trim our bonsai trees? Alphabetize our DVD collections? See our loved ones? No, of course not. We’ll be busy diving into the latest and greatest PC games. Here’s a list of what we’re going to play this weekend, and why.
The biggest name in e-sports heads stateside: SlayerS_BoxeR applies to join NASL
Nicknames can say a lot: Lim Yo-Hwan, a man who plays Starcraft and Starcraft II as SlayerS_BoxeR, is nicknamed The Emperor. The story of Starcraft’s phenomenal rise in South Korea, and in particular its emergence as an e-sport, is inextricably bound to Boxer’s star-crossed career. Today, that career has taken a new turn and created the biggest transfer story in E-sports history.
SlayerS_BoxeR has applied to join the startup North American Star League. The NASL’s inaugural season kicks off on Tuesday 5th April, a North American alternative to Korea’s superb Global Starcraft League (GSL), with 50 players and a prize pool of $400,000 dedicated exclusively to Starcraft II. So why’s Boxer applying? Click more for the details and his application video.
Mass Effect 2 DLC The Arrival confirmed, out in 11 days
We’ve suspected for a while now that there would be a final slice of DLC for Mass Effect 2, Bioware have confirmed that it’s real, and it’s just around the corner. It will be called The Arrival, and it will send Shepard to the very edge of the galaxy to rescue an undercover spy. The operative has intelligence that the Reaper invasion is about to finally begin, suggesting that the DLC will bridge the gap between the end of Mass Effect 2, and the beginning of Mass Effect 3, in which the Reaper forces are already attacking Earth.
It’s coming out on March 29, and will be available to buy for 560 Microsoft points from the Bioware store. Bioware have released five screens of the DLC on their Facebook page. You’ll find the images below.
Mythos to get European release in April
The hack and slash MMO Mythos now has a European release date: April 28. The game will be available as a free download, and as a boxed copy for £9.99. The boxed copy comes with £10 worth of in-game items and will grant you access to the head start period kicking off on April 26. There’s no news yet on plans for a US release.
The game was initially created by the creators of Diablo and Torchlight, and has been rebuilt as an MMO. You’ll find plenty more information on the game on the Mythos site. If you’d like to try the game before it’s released, an EU open beta starts on April 12. You can get involved by entering your details into the Mythos beta sign in page. There’s a trailer below showing some in-game footage of the creatures you’ll be fighting.
