Duke Nukem is about fun, not being competitive says Pitchford
Talking to Gameshark, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford has said that the multiplayer component of Duke Nukem Forever is primarily about being fun, rather than the highly competitive nature that is frequently seen in titles such as Call of Duty.
“I think there are some people who play Call of Duty and Halo very competitively, but I think most players play to have a good time,” the Gearbox CEO told GameShark. “They’re more casual about it.” Read on for further insights from Pitchford.
New Need for Speed to use Frostbite 2
The newly announced instalment in EA’s racing franchise – Need for Speed: The Run – will use Frostbite 2 as its base.
Frostbite 2 has rocketed to fame after its graphical horsepower and capabilities were shown off in footage from Battlefield 3, which it also powers.
The Run is being developed by Black Box, and continues the cops vs racers war in a similar fashion to Criterion’s Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit from last year. However, this time around the central focus is that of ‘The Run’; an illegal cross-country race from San Francisco all the way to New York City. Players will have to “weave through dense urban centers, rocket down icy mountain passes and navigate narrow canyons at breakneck speeds”, whilst keeping an eye out for law enforcement.
Need for Speed: The Run is expected November 15 in the US and November 18 in the UK.
[via Big Download]
Saturday Crapshoot: Xena: Warrior Princess
Every week, Richard Cobbett rolls the dice to bring you an obscure slice of gaming history, from lost gems to weapons grade atrocities. This week though, it’s ancient history, in syndication.
“She was Xena, a mighty princess forged in the heat of 90s girl power. The pouting. The fashion. The lesbian subtext. Her cleavage will change the world…”
Yeah, I never really watched this show, nor its predecessor, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Saw a few episodes. Even… or perhaps especially as a big mythology buff, they just didn’t click. The same goes for all the similar shows from the same period – things like Sinbad, Robin Hood, Jack of All Trades, and god help us all, Cleopatra 2525. (Not heard of that one? It’s the one where a stripper gets cryogenically frozen after a botched boob-job and wakes up in a future full of killer robots.) Xena was by far the most popular of these shows though, especially when it came to spin-offs, and the inevitable games. You’d expect lots of simple hack and slash cash-grabs. You’d be right. Obviously.
But this isn’t one of those. Nope. This is Xena, adventure style!
PC Gamer US Podcast #270: Skyrim – Heart of the Darkspore
An ever-fearless leader, Dan does not hesitate when faced with the infinite amount of news we could potentially discuss on this week’s podcast. Evan, Josh, Chris and Anthony help him wade through it all: Skyrim, Prey 2, Darkspore, the latest WoW patch, your listener questions and more!
The Old Republic shows off Sith Warrior’s gear progression
While we wait in anticipation for official news regarding The Old Republic’s release date, BioWare has released a new video showing off the progressions your Sith Warrior’s gear. As is the habit of MMO armor sets, the outfit gets more and more crazy as he reaches higher levels: from cloth rags and fake lightsaber to half-cyborg Sith Master. Which specialization do you think looks more intimidating, the Marauder or the Juggernaut?
Jetpacks ahoy! The first footage of Firefall PvP
Ever seen a sci-fi guy execute another sci-fi guy with a jetboot thruster? Brutal. Firefall continues to be a curiosity, and this first footage of its PvP adds to our hope that it’ll be a wise iteration and hybridization of our favorite elements of Team Fortress 2, Global Agenda, and Tribes.
First Portal 2 DLC will bring new test chambers, leaderboards, and challenge modes this summer
In case you forgot, Valve wants to remind you that it loves you. Not only do they craft extraordinary games to sell you, such as Portal 2, they tend to give away enough DLC afterwards to nearly match the launch content. And they’re not changing their ways now: read on for full details on the first free DLC pack coming to Portal 2!
First Marvel Universe details revealed: You play as Marvel characters, it’s free to play, and more!
Gazillion held an event in San Francisco this evening to reveal the writer for it’s upcoming MMO Marvel Universe, and ended up revealing a whole lot more. Details about the game have been very scarce before today, and even though they didn’t show the game and replied to a lot of questions with “we’re not ready to talk about that yet,” we can piece together a pretty good guess at the direction the game is heading in based on the confirmations and the hints they did give.
City of Heroes hits 7th anniversary, releases data on player behavior in fun infographic form
42 million characters have been created in City of Heroes since it launched in 2004. Scrapper are the richest characters in-game, on average. It would take over 3,900 days to play all of the content in the game, including player-created missions.
Knowledge is power, and we just made you three parts stronger. You can thank us later. Of course, if you crave more data about City of Heroes (subsequently increasing your overall power in a general, abstract sense), you’ll want to check out the infographic below. City of Heroes is turning 7 next month, and NCSoft put together this collection of data bytes about CoH’s statistics and player behavior to celebrate it.
Download the Mount and Blade: With Fire and Sword soundtrack free
Free tunes! Another game soundtrack has been released for download, this time for the standalone Mount & Blade expansion With Fire and Sword, which features music by Jesse Hopkins and Pyotr Salnikov. (The download also includes Hopkins’ Mount & Blade: Warband soundtrack.) You can snag it here. With track names such as “Peaceful Travels” and “Eastern Soul,” it’s a little more low-key than, say, Bulletstorm‘s all-action-all-the-time tone, and it might make some decent background music for that MMO whose looping soundtrack you’re bored silly of.
Mount & Blade: With Fire and Sword comes out May 3.
And in other PC gaming news…
The office is ripe with Deus Ex: Human Revolution excitement. Rich keeps squeaking on about it and Tom has left the office to record a special dedicated podcast. But the world of PC gaming is a diverse one. The fact that Diablo 3 is entering the final stage of development has got my index finger twitching like a lone lead tapping against a PSU fan.
Click more for today’s bonus links.
Portal 2 DLC due this Summer
Valve have confirmed that Portal 2 DLC will hit this summer. Expect more details next week.
Speaking to Fast Company, Valve’s VP of marketing, Doug Lombardi confirmed that Valve will “Be announcing some DLC so folks can keep a look out for more content coming this summer. We’ll be putting more details out about that in a week or so.”
Valve will continue its excellent marketing into the new year too. Doug also told the website that “We’ll support it with more videos or more comics.”
Are you desperate for more Portals? Or have you already spent enough cash on hats and emotes?
April’s best free PC games
You know what? It’s been a hell of a month for free games. Normally, when planning this column, I’ve to scour the internet high and low to locate some hidden gems. This month, they’ve been coming out of the walls, man! Special mentions should go to Picaroon, Space Engine and Pragmatica, all of which are worth a look, but read below the jump to find out which titles I’ve ended up loving the most.
Mythos has been released today! Win one of 50 boxed copies
Mythos has been officially released today. That trailer was created to celebrate the occasion. Apparently, you probably shouldn’t watch it if you’re a noob.
You can download the MMO from the official website or, if you have any issues, via these mirrors. If you’re more into your physical media you can purchase a boxed version that comes with £10 of in-game credit for a bargainous £9.97.
Even better, the kind people at Frogster have given us 50 boxed copies to give away. To be in with a chance of winning, post your own PC Gamer myth in the comments. The most legendary myths win the game.
Blizzard talk Diablo 3: “We’re definitely in the home stretch. We’re crunching”
Diablo 3′s game director has been speaking to The New York Times about the game’s upcoming release.
Blizzard’s Jay Wilson was optimistic about the progress, saying “We’re definitely in the home stretch. We’re crunching. This is when the magic happens.”
It has been confirmed that a Diablo 3 beta will launch in the near future, though no exact date has been set. We’ll keep you updated. Tim predicts that Diablo 3 will be outstanding. Read his preview for more.
