And in other PC gaming news…
Tim Schafer has pitched to a lot of executives in his time, but this one looks like a really tough cookie. He’s dealt with Activision and EA, but now he’s in the big leagues, meeting with the Cookie Monster. “Zombies kinda 2007?” Hasn’t Mr Monster seen Dead Island? Still, Tim comes out on top in the end with a characteristically unusual idea. He works hard too, he’s already got a tech demo running.
Check inside for a round up of PC gaming news that doesn’t involve muppets.
Cities XL 2012 announced with first screenshots
Cities XL 2011 was a pleasant enough city building sim with alarmingly deep traffic management mechanics. By rearranging roads and adding additional routes, it was possible to disperse traffic hotspots. It was strangely satisfying, like smoothing out wrinkled silk. Cities XL 2012 will let you manage traffic in whole new locations where, according to the first screenshots, there will be sand, snow, and sometimes helicopters.
PC AI sucks at Civilization, reads manual, starts kicking ass
The Massachusetts institute of technology have been experimenting with their computers’ AI. Specifically the way they deal with the meaning of words. You might think that the best way to analyse this kind of thing would be with a human to PC conversation, like in Short Circuit. That’s not the case.
Instead, the boffins handed over PC classic, Civilization, and let the AI get on with it. They sucked – winning a mere 46 per cent of the time. The difficulty setting the machines were playing on has not been specified.
Then the researchers handed over the instructions and taught the PCs a “machine-learning system so it could use a player’s manual to guide the development of a game-playing strategy.” They didn’t teach the PC how to play Civ, but they taught them how to read about it. The system had no pre-programmed notion of turn-based strategy or even what the objects in the world represented. The system was a noob.
EA to shut down Need For Speed: Most Wanted servers, GameRanger claim it is “Still quite popular”
EA have announced plans to shut down servers for some of its online games in August, reports thesixthaxis. Though 17 servers in total will be switched off the only PC servers facing closure are those for Need for Speed: Most Wanted and the Battlefield 2142 demo.
The publisher cited low player numbers as the reason for shutting the servers down, saying the games were played by “Fewer than 1% of all peak online players across all EA titles.” GameRanger, whose service frequently provides a home for games without server support, disagreed.
Aliens: Colonial Marines will have new breeds of alien, gauntlet sections and heroic last stands
Aliens: Colonial Marines aims to deliver the definitive Aliens co-op survival experience, but Gearbox are keen to try and ensure that it doesn’t turn into a mindless xeno-blaster. As revealed in our six page preview in the latest issue of PC Gamer UK, Gearbox have taken cues from Half Life 2 and Left 4 Dead to ensure that Aliens: Colonial Marines is “at times a tactical shooter, at times survival horror, at times adventure and exploration.” New gadgets and weapons give marine teams plenty of choice when setting up defences, but players will have to deal with new, never-before-seen breeds of alien.
Gratuitous Tank Battles announced. Aims to be “Blackadder Goes Forth with lasers”
Positech Games, the one man studio behind Kudos, Democracy and Gratuitous Space Battles, has announced its newest title, Gratuitous Tank Battles. Set in an alternate future where a war has been raging for 200 years, the game promises “It’ll all be over by Christmas 2114.”
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer tested by crack team of glitchers
Infinity Ward have flown in a crack team of testers to crush exploits in Modern Warfare 3′s mutiplayer maps, reports CVG. The mapMonkeys are a team of gamers who pride themselves on discovering hacks, glitches and bits of broken code that could lend players an unfair advantage when the game goes live. They’re essentially The A-Team of QA. They’ve joined the sizeable team of testers already working for Infinity Ward to put the new maps through their paces with the aim of making sure Modern Warfare 3′s multiplayer scene is as fair and competitive as possible on release.
10 incredible Terraria creations
Terraria has been building quite a fanbase over the past few weeks and the community is really starting to come into their own with some really awesome building projects that rival even Minecraft’s greatest creations.
Click through for epic accommodation, pixel art and more.
PopCap bought by EA for $750 million. Zombies “happy to serve”
The rumour pipes have been full of talk of a $1 billion deal between EA and PopCap for a few weeks. Now The Guardian report that EA are indeed buying PopCap, for a mere $750 million.
PopCap CEO David Roberts told the Guardian that a change in EA’s culture was one of the reasons they decided to sell to the publisher. “We picked EA because they have recast their culture around making great digital games,” he said. “By working with EA, we’ll scale our games and services to deliver more social, mobile, casual fun to an even bigger, global audience.”
Dawn of War 3 will let you “build your own custom mega army”
Dawn of War 2 made a bold shift away from the scale of the first game. It dropped base building and huge armies and replaced them with a cluster of upgradeable units with skill trees and armour slots. If you felt that the Dawn of War 2 format failed to capture the enormous armies and planet-sized scraps of the Warhammer 40K universe, then you might want to keep a close eye on Dawn of War 3. Relic marketing manager James McDermott told Eurogamer that the sequel will let you “build your own custom mega army,” and aims to capture the sense of a “war that rages eternal.” Oh my.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution trailer thickens plot with conspiracies and cyber-zombies
If someday you find yourself talking to a holographic screen full of faceless icons asking “is everything in place?” then well done, you have become a conspirator! That means you get to wear dark colours, smoke a lot and spend your days pacing back and forth in your futuristic penthouse, hissing things like “this must be surpressed” and “leave no-one alive” down secure phone lines until the whole city is yours.
Conspirators always forget the first rule of conspiracy: never bet against the angry man with the robotic arms. Jensen’s on a mission to punch through every wall in the city to unravel the plot. He’d do well to start with the seedy penthouse apartments and work his way down from there. Deux Ex: Human Revolution will finally be out on August 23 in the US and August 26 in Europe. Read our three diaries for an in-depth overview of the first ten hours.
Nerd chills—watch this StarCraft 2 esports sizzle reel
This commemoration of StarCraft 2′s first year of release, entitled “One Year Down,” has got it all; the highs of tournament success and worldwide recognition, the lows of crushing defeat and near misses. Praise be to Laxx for putting it all together, and kudos to the SC community for embracing their passion.
Hm? No, I’m not crying. I just got something in my eye, that’s all.
Planetside 2 will have urban maps and balanced ratio of indoor and outdoor environments
Forge Light, Planetside 2′s built-from-scratch graphics engine looks like it’ll be able to fill our online shooting frenzy with some serious visual candy. But the change in rendering power will also mean a change in gameplay. SOE wants to use the new graphics engine to build PS2′s battlefields with a much better balance of indoor and outdoor environments, according to president John Smedley. He’d like to see the maps have a 50/50 ratio, or maybe even 60/40, in favor of indoor environments.
Check out Revenant, Heroes of Newerth’s EZ-mode caster
Sometimes, playing as a powerful hero just does the work for you. If you’ve farmed enough, or gotten fed enough, you can reach a point where the game just plays itself, letting you dominate enemies while you space out. What if a hero could be cruisin’ on easy street right from the get-go? You may want to check out HoN’s newest intelligence hero: Revenant, set for release this Friday. Four skills feels like too many to juggle? Not to worry—his ultimate is passive, so with the right team, you’ll be racking up assists like nobody’s business using this support superstar.
Team Fortess 2 Scout guide
Team Fortress 2 is now free, so everyone with a Steam account owns it. If you haven’t played before, it can be an intimidating, hat-riddled game. Previously we gave you a handle on the basics, items and classes, now we’re going in depth on each class.
We’ve covered the Heavy, Medic and Sniper. Now it’s time for the game’s ultimate asshole: The Scout.
