And in other PC gaming news…
The release of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, has come with a rash of funny Adam Jensen videos much like its predecessor’s famous Electronic Old Men, and we’ll be bringing you one every day this week. Did you upgrade your groove aug to maximum? I know I did, and so did the maker of this video, which shows Adam Jensen busting moves that put even Commander Shepard to shame.
Check inside for a collection of carefully choreographed news.
Mass Effect 3 screenshots have robo-suits and lightning fist
Here are six new Mass Effect 3 screenshots, warping in from last weekend’s PAX showing. They star Shepard in various heroic poses, staring to middle distance across a meeting table, taking aim at giant robots, glaring balefully at the back of Mordin’s head, all the while exuding a powerful aura of generic machismo and blank-faced confusion. All is forgiven for the shot of our hero preparing to punch an enemy trooper with a lightning fist. See the new screens below. Click to see them full size.
Dead Island trailer celebrates launch next week
Dead Island is out next Tuesday in the US, and Friday across the rest of the world. In case you’ve forgotten what’s in it, Techland have released a new video showing zombies, blood, more zombies, machinegun fire, explosions and MORE BLOOD. Dead Island promises an open island, explorable in four player co-op. Check out our Dead Island preview for a better idea of what to expect. One thing’s for sure. There will be blood.
Gabe Newell: Portal 2 “did better on PC,” Left 4 Dead “did better on consoles”
In a fascinating interview with Gabe Newell and Erik Johnson over on Gamasutra, Newell reveals that Portal 2 “did better” on PC than it did on consoles. A surprising fact given the massive multimedia marketing campaign, the addition of cross platform support and the inclusion of Steam for Playstation 3. “We can never predict” says Newell. “We just try to build good games and then we tend to be surprised.”
“Left 4 Dead did better on the consoles than it did on the PC” he went on to add. Perhaps an even bigger surprise given the fact that the regular updates and additional maps we PC gamers got for free took an age to reach the Xbox 360, and came with a price tag.
DICE on why you can’t shoot civilians in Battlefield 3: “people will do bad”
You won’t be able to kill civilians in Battlefield 3. Executive producer Patrick Bach explains why in an interview with RPS, in which he voices his worries that players given the choice to commit violent crimes against virtual innocents will more often take the darker path.
“If you put the player in front of a choice where they can do good things or bad things, they will do bad things, go dark side,” says Bach, “because people think it’s cool to be naughty, they won’t be caught…”
“In a game where it’s more authentic, when you have a gun in your hand and a child in front of you what would happen? Well the player would probably shoot that child,” he adds.
Gatling Gears out now, drive bots, blow @#%! up
This is a call to arms! Gatling Gears has started its own personal war against punctuation. The innocent at symbol, hash, percent and the ever-cocky exclam are in the firing line, alongside an army of robots and a giant angry castle that fires lasers.
The exuberant shooter is set in the same world as Vanguard Games’ charming RTS, Greed Corp. It’s been out on Xbox 360 and PS3 for a couple of months, but has finally made it over to PC. Don’t expect much resource management in Gatling Gears beyond the eternal search for weapon upgrades. Just hold down the fire button and don’t stop until everything is dead.
Gatling Gears is out now on Steam at the slightly skewed price of £9.99 / $9.99. Find out more on the official Gatling Gears site.
Hawken in-game video shows new desert map, colossal battleship
The new Hawken footage above was received its first showing at the PC Gamer press conference at PAX last weekend, but here it is in full. On the Hawken blog, the devs say this is the last we’ll see of Hawken for a while, so take a good long look at the footage above, particularly the bit when a huge ship flies overhead and appears to target a fleeing mech. You can also check out yesterday’s Hawken trailer, which outlines the story of the world the mechs are fighting over. There’s still no release date window.
Jupiter’s Folly: free to play multiplayer strategy from the makers of Neptune’s Pride
The creators of the terrific, slow burn backstabbing simulators Neptune’s Pride and Blight of the Immortals have launched a new game. It’s called Jupiter’s Folly, a self styled “online strategy boardgame” that has a cluster of players fighting for the right to mine precious Crystal from bountiful planetoids. You can play for free in your browser, and pay later to unlock premium features, like more maps, new armies and the ability to create your own custom games.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution code cracked, mysterious image revealed
It’s not been long since fans noticed a code hidden away in Deus Ex: Human Revolution’s title screen, but the string of ambiguous numbers and symbols has already been translated. Blues News report that it led web-detectives to this image of a cluttered conspiracy theorist’s desktop. Clicking on the post-it note bearing the Illuminati all-seeing eye reveals a small login and password box.
It didn’t take long for detectives to break in. The notebook scribbles hide GPS co-ordinates to Ayers Rock, also known as Uluru, when used in combination with the password “11m13clinic,” the login box yields a mysterious final image, which you can see below. WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
Video—the PC Gaming Press Conference @ PAX 2011
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who attended our PC Gaming Press Conference last Friday at PAX. It feels damn nice to pack a room with PC gamers, and talk directly about some of the innovations, ideas, and good things happening on our platform. If you weren’t in Seattle last weekend, we’re delighted to bring you video of the full presentation. Inside this post, we’ve also broken out the video into timestamps for your convenience.
We’re really looking forward to doing this again next year in a bigger way. Obviously we don’t think of ourselves as the keepers of PC gaming as a platform, but if someone isn’t going to get on stage, gather some exciting upcoming games and say nice things about the PC, by jove, we’ll do it. To that end, if you have any suggestions for format, content, or who you’d like to see at such an event, let us know in the comments.
And in other PC gaming news…
I love Adam Jensen’s apartment. If you look around it carefully, you can see his entire character subtly explained; his attempts to read up on his implants, his growing obsession with building clocks and, saddest of all, the smashed mirror with a little post it note attached to let us know that this isn’t the first time Jensen has lashed out at his own reflection. It’s one of the most characterful locations I’ve ever visited in a game.
The maker of this video (sent to us by Andreas Varotsis) took a slightly more… frivolous approach than I did. While I was moved emotionally, he knocked out his landlady and stuffed her in a hidden compartment while playing loud music. Both are valid choices. That’s Deus Ex.
Look inside for a collection of bio-mechanically augmented PC gaming news.
Bioware on Dragon Age 3: Bigger, bolder, better… still not officially announced
Sometimes an actual announcement is just a formality. Everyone knows there’s a Dragon Age 3 coming, and while Bioware is still largely speaking in hypotheticals and suggestions of what we might see in a sequel, should it emerge, at the very least we can see where its attention is being pointed.
The biggest change in the works definitely looks to be increasing the scale again, back up to the scale of the first game and beyond. NeoGAF has the full write-up of Bioware’s panel at PAX.
Key thoughts-not-promises about the maybe-maybe third game in the series include making decisions you make carry actual weight again, instead of you being rushed down a largely linear path, more customisation of your party members, though with them likely sticking with unique armours in the name of visual identity, and a continuation of the second game’s Mages vs. Templars theme – though not necessarily as the main threat.
Guild Wars 2 will let players host their own PvP arenas
That’s according to MMORPG.com, which caught up with the developers over PAX. No real details are available on exactly what form these will take, thought MMORPG.com reports the plan is “for players to be able to create and host their own servers or games with specific rule-sets”. The obvious is for would be arena and PvP matches, but there’s no reason it couldn’t extend to other modes too.
These servers are unlikely to be player-hosted dedicated servers though, with simply allowing groups to claim and configure an instance much more likely – and while a full on supported modding community would be incredible, it’s far more likely that your management will be about selecting presets and locking strangers out with a password. With ArenaNet in charge though, nothing is certain…
Star Wars Galaxies to end with epic player-driven final battle between good and evil
It’s always sad when an MMO closes down, but there’s often a good side to it: amazing end-of-game events. Star Wars Galaxies is going out with a bigger bang then most, with September 15th kicking off an all-out civil war between Empire and Rebels. For the next three months, both sides will be gathering points, which will be tallied up at some point on December 15th. Winners will be given a glorious celebration in honour of their victory. The entire losing faction will be fed to the Sarlacc.
