Win a copy of Portal 2! (US only)
UPDATE: The evaluation is complete! Say congrats to our ten lucky test subjects: Foster Powell, Caleb Thompson, Harmony Michelle Hewitt, Nichole Andrianos, Sean Byron Campbell, Matthew Parrish, Trey Kreis, Jimmy Puente, Cory Monroe, and Vega Vaikyuko! Thanks to everyone who entered—may there be portals in all of your near futures.
The return of GLaDOS is upon us! The Portal 2 launch is tantalizingly close, and it’s definitely worth getting excited about. While you watch the seconds tick away, you can pass the time by entering to win a free copy for yourself—if you haven’t already preordered and preloaded—or a prospective co-op buddy. We’ve got 10 to hand out, straight from Valve’s magical Steam code factory (which we assume is powered by pure liquefied unicorn). Hit Read More to find out how to enter, and tell your friends!
City of Heroes’ Incarnate Trials: two weeks later
City of Heroes launched the game’s first series of large-scale raids, called Incarnate Trials, just two weeks ago. We sat down with Nate Birkholz, City of Heroes’ Lead Producer at Paragon Studios to talk about what the dev team has learned so far, what’s worked well and what hasn’t, and how the players have responded to the new addition.
The 110 Game Giveaway, Secret Day 6 UNLOCKED! (US only)
UPDATE: The Day 6 winners have been chosen! Give a cheer for Eric Lyon, Brandon Banks, Hunter Hill, Tom Lau, Genel Jumalon, Trevor O’Connor, Brad Botts, Kagami Sherleng, Richard Hall, and Victor Zhang. Thanks again to to those who entered during our week of contests and helped us reach 100,000 likes! Who knows…maybe we’ll give away 200 games for 200k?
Our 100 Games Giveaway just got upgraded— say hello to the 110 Games Giveaway! That’s right–we’re a mere 500 likes away from hitting the big 100k, and we want to celebrate the only way we know how: by giving away more free loot! Want to win a Steam copy of Monday Night Combat or Homefront? What are you waiting for?! GOGOGOGOGOGO ONE-HUNDRED THOUSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND! Click Read More to find out how to enter!
And in other PC gaming news…
It’s been a good day for great screenshots. We finally got a proper look at Prey 2‘s Blade Runner style environments, and saw even more of great shots of Skyrim. The Rage trailer also gave us a five minute dose of impressive mutant blasting from one of the game’s ruined cities. It’s to early to know just how good these games will be, but one thing’s for sure, the future of PC gaming is looking very good indeed.
Of course, there’s much more going on than the choice videos and shots listed above. As always, read on for your daily bucket of sloppy, newsy goodness.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim screens have giant spiders and orc warriors
Skyrim was shown off at a secret location in Utah last week, which has given rise to some fantastic new screens for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Venture below for cat men, dragons, undead warriors and some lovely scenery.
Rage trailer takes a trip to Dead City
Dead City isn’t as dead as you’d think. in fact, it’s swarming with mutants, but it looks oh-so-pretty, if a little grey. The five minutes of footage above is longest look at the game we’ve had yet. See more of the desert wasteland in the previous Rage trailer, or visit the Rage site for more on the game. Rage is coming out on September 13 in the UK, and September 16 in Europe.
Prey 2 screens show weird aliens and neon cityscapes
Here are five new Prey 2 screens, arriving hot on the heels of the two first images, which showed a futuristic bar fight and some fantastic concept art. The screens below show how that concept art will translate into the game, and give us a look at some of the weird looking aliens that will populate Prey 2′s futuristic city. Is the alien at gunpoint happy or frightened? You decide.
Diablo 3 will have “way more quest content overall than Diablo 2, period”
Blizzard have been talking about how the huge amounts of randomisation will help Diablo 3 to stand out from the crowd of action RPGs. Diablo 3′s randomly generated dungeons will host randomly assigned quests, and monsters you fight in these dungeons will have changing power sets, meaning you can run the same dungeon over and over again, and still encounter plenty of variety. On top of that, Diablo 3′s runes system is set to bring an enormous amount of customisation to the game’s skill trees, meaning character development will be even more complex and addictive than it was in Diablo 2.
Red Faction: Armageddon trailer and screens show co-op survival mode
A new movie and a batch of screens have a arrived showing off Red Faction: Armageddon’s co-op survival mode. Infestation has you and three friends holding off waves of luminescent enemies in the dark catacombs beneath Mars. The aliens can see through the gloom, but they don’t have the giant guns and gravity warping energy weapons that you do. Check out the new footage and images below
Duke Nukem screens have patriotic posing and gorge jumping
A couple of new Duke Nukem screens have arrived, showing Duke at his patriotic best, posing in front of the American flag while standing on a heap of alien corpses. There’s also a new shot of a radioactive trailer truck leaping an enormous gorge. If you’re a fan of the Duke and are looking for a new desktop background, feast your eyes on the shots below.
Bioware holds charity auction to help Japan earthquake victims
Bioware have launched a charity auction to raise money to help the victims of the recent earthquake in Japan. Posting on the Bioware forums, community co-ordinator Chris Priestly announced that a number of items signed by Bioware’s founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk would be hitting ebay, with all proceeds to be donated to the Japanese Red Cross. The auction is live now. Items for sale include some custom painted consoles, signed Bioware hoodies, and signed copies of Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect. The items have raised more than $5000 already.
Valve ARG not over, Half Life clues emerge
As if a race against time to unlock Portal 2 early wasn’t enough, Valve have been dropping cryptic hints that there’s more to come from the ARG. A decrypted morse code message hidden in the latest Steamcast read “it’s not over the others have been compromised.” Later, a message from the mysterious “Doug” alludes to an Aperture Science Icebreaker Ship. The only one of those we know about is the Borealis. The Borealis was last seen seen at the end of Half Life 2: Episode 2. This is getting very exciting indeed.
Catch up with the latest clues below. We’ll be updating this post with the latest info as it arrives.
The Sunday Video Pwn
DICE issued us a challenge this week: 1 million ‘likes’ of their Facebook page is required to unlock the producer’s commentary of this epic twelve-minute trailer for Battlefield 3. As of writing, we’ve achieved 800,000 so the final reward is within our grasp. The video itself shows the ‘Fault Line’ scenario in its entirety. Whilst you’ve probably experienced much of it over the three ‘episodes’ DICE have released over the last couple of months, it’s certainly worth watching as a complete spectacle. And a spectacle it is; a slice of the experience yet to come. This video certainly sets the bar high, and we very much hope that Battlefield 3 will fulfil all its promises.
Saturday Crapshoot: Wing Commander Academy
Every week, Richard Cobbett rolls the dice to bring you an obscure slice of gaming history, from lost gems to weapons grade atrocities. This morning though, he’s settling down in front of the TV in his pyjamas for an animated series that really set the fur flying throughout deep space.
Watching the Wing Commander movie was a difficult experience for me, mostly because I couldn’t decide whether it was more like a dentist accidentally drilling through a nerve, or like being stabbed in the back with a serrated dagger. Even by the low, low standards of game to movie conversions, it was a stinker. The characters I’d been flying alongside since around 1990 were ruined. The addition of mystical elements to its serious sci-fi universe were just as stupid as George Lucas trying to mix a bit of science into his magic. Most of the storyline was cut due to a lack of budget, and the need to keep the hideous alien puppets off camera as much as possible, and… oh, god. Just no. Terrible film.
It wasn’t however the Wing Commander series’ first foray into the mainstream. Back in 1996, shortly after the third game took the world by storm with its full motion video, incredible space combat and then-unheard of $4 million budget, the decision was made to bring Wing Commander to TV audiences.
…as a Saturday morning kids cartoon. This is really going to hurt, isn’t it?
The weekend playlist
The weekend is here. Which means it’s time to throw off the shackles of tedium and devote our time and energy to our pixelated passions. Here’s what we’re going to be playing over the weekend. Do let us know what you’ll be up-to in the comments.
