GameStop and the Retail War of 2012
Gamestop’s decision to pull free OnLive codes from copies of Deus Ex: Human Revolution is more than simply an unfortunate business decision. It’s the first real shot in a war between publishers and retail that’s been a long time brewing. Whether or not it has the right, contractually or otherwise, isn’t really important in the grand scheme of things. What matters is that it did it, giving up one of the year’s biggest PC games to make its point – and that’s the kind of decision that ripples and echoes in the wider industry. By this time next year, stories like this won’t even be a surprise.
Bioware: With Mass Effect 3, Commander Shepard’s story is complete
Mass Effect 3 promises to be an explosive end to Bioware’s trilogy, but will it be the end of its universe?
“Not at all no,” says Bioware CEO Dr. Ray Mazuka when we put the question to him at Gamescom this year. “We have ambitious plans to continue this franchise going forward. Mass Effect 3 is simultaneously a couple of different things; a thrilling and epic conclusion to the trilogy as we promised our fans we’d provide for Commander Shepard, but it’s also a brand new beginning – it’s an entry point for new fans and it’s also a brand new beginning.”
Free Skyrim-inspired food, plush helmets and meet PC Gamer at PAX
Are you going to PAX? Do you like free food? Do you like plush horned helmets? Would you like to meet some of the folks behind PC Gamer? Well, join us on Saturday, August 27th from 1:00pm-2:00pm at the corner of 9th and Pine (across from the Paramount Theater) as our Skyrim-sponsored food truck fills your bellies with the finest in Nord inspired fare.
Outfit yourself with Skyrim plush helmet, and meet the power house staff: Logan Decker, Evan Lahti, Chris Comiskey, Josh Augustine, and Lucas Sullivan. Chomp down, talk games, make new friends. Sorry, no dragons included.
The choice nom noms (Click to see full meal)
To aid your in your quest
League of Legends on why non-paying players are “super valuable”
We had a chance to catch up with Riot Games this year at Gamescom for a chat about the future of League of Legends, and Riot Games’ attitude to players who pick up League of Legends, play it every day, but never buy any items.
“We actually don’t say ‘How can we monetize our users?’ or anything crazy like that,” says Lead Champion Designer Ryan Scott. “We just go ‘How can we make players super happy”’ and then players will buy what they want and then all of our free players are also super valuable because they’re in there, engaged with the game, and in the community. We’re totally fine with that, we love that.”
Saturday Crapshoot: Life and Death
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, he tries his hand at a little medical malpractice, where the diagnosis is usually murder. Manslaughter, anyway. Well, it’s a complicated game!
Medicine. How hard can it be, anyway? I may not be some kind of fancy-schmancy ‘doctor’, or even have taken Biology for a single femtosecond longer than I had to back at school, but I have seen every episode of House, and most of Scrubs. With so much experience obviously having worked its way into my brain via cultural osmosis, I’m confident I can diagnose anything. You! With the sniffles! Sniffles are boring! You obviously cut yourself on a toy soldier as a child, with a little spear piece lying dormant in your finger for years, before a ride on the teacups at Alton Towers sent it careening into your lung and now it’s cancer. Take two aspirin while I go over here and insult someone in a hilarious way.
There. See that, Dorothy? It’s easy. Who’s next for a fingering from these healing hands?
Paradox Interactive announces turn-based strategy game Warlock
Is that Sir Sean Connery’s voice? Paradox Interactive just announced the new title Warlock: Master of the Arcane during the PC Gamer Conference at PAX. This global turn-based strategy game puts players in the robes of a Grand Mage fighting for the control of Ardania. While territory and control is nice, the ultimate goal is to be the one and only mage with the title of Warlock. You will have to utilize strategy, armies and dozens of spells in a symphony of doom to attain victory. If being an all powerful being isn’t something you are interested in, battle on behalf of one of eight gods. Just remember, there can only be one Warlock.
The Ultima series and Populous are coming to GOG
The gregarious and gracious guys at Good Old Games are at it again: Richard Garriott’s Ultima I, II, III, and IV will become the latest additions to their collection of PC classics for sale on Tuesday, August 30. The first three Ultima games will come bundled for the same price. And Ultima IV? That’ll be free for the taking!
And then, like mana from heaven, Peter Molyneux’s original god game Populous will join them shortly after, on Thursday, September 1, for another $5.99.
This week’s best free PC games
It’s not often that I play a game and, midway through, realise my mouth is literally hanging agape. It’s certainly not often that a free game on the internet makes that happen. Which is why it’s been so delightful this week to discover Wonderputt, a game so magical that I’ve done my best not to spoil any of it in my write-up below. Elsewhere, there’s a game about punching people so they’ll take your free stuff, a room escape game that riffs on The Wizard of Oz in a troublingly dark way, and a point-and-click adventure drawn in crayon and marker pen. Read on for this week’s free PC gaming picks!
And in other PC gaming news…
So that XCOM footage earlier was interesting wasn’t it? Man I love the fifties/early sixties. The paranoia, the sweet hats, the constant smoking because they haven’t figured out it gives you cancer. Super cool. It’s so cool that next week I’m going to wear a fedora into the office and lounge around looking all chiselled and laconic and uttering pithy put downs every time someone asks me to write anything. I only hope I don’t have to battle any of that crazy alien goo, you can tell that stuff stains.
Inside is a dramatically lit selection of PC gaming news.
Trackmania 2: Canyon trailer hurtles out of PAX
A brand new Trackmania 2: Canyon trailer has come speeding out of the PAX turnstyles. It still looks beautiful, and we still can’t wait to play it. There’s a multiplayer beta underway right now for players who have pre-ordered. It’s due out next month.
Razer: PC gaming is not dead. It’s… portable?
Very very shiny. I’ll admit, I was a little skeptical about Razer’s viral marketing site, www.pcgamingisnotdead.com, but it turns out to have been worth hanging around for on this Friday afternoon before the bank holiday.
The big announcement is the Razer Blade, which is being billed as the “world’s first gaming laptop”. I imagine Alienware, ASUS, MSI, and Dell might have something to day about that, but there you go.
The Blade, though, does look very nice. It has a 17inch screen, but is just two and a quarter centimetres deep, which earns it the right to the name at least. That makes it thinner than an equivalent MacBook Pro, although it’s fractionally heavier at 3.2kg.
Inside, there’s a 2.8GHz Core i7 processor with 8GB RAM and a 320GB hard drive. The graphics card is a bit disappointing – the NVIDIA GeForce GT555M it sports is OK, but may struggle to doi justice at the 1920×1080 resolution of the screen.
Bioware’s co-founder on Star Wars: The Old Republic and Dragon Age 3
We spoke to Bioware co-founder Dr. Ray Muzyka at Gamescom this year about Bioware’s impressive lineup of upcoming games. He says that the studio are currently “testing the crap” out of Star Wars: The Old Republic, trying to squash every bug and glitch that they can find in TOR’s enormous world before it’s eventually released. He also talks about the polarising effect of Dragon Age 2, and how Dragon Age 3 plans to marry the best elements of the first two games into something that attempt to please both sets of fans.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim PC DLC will be delayed, courtesy of Microsoft
From the frustrating news department, CVG report that Microsoft has signed a timed exclusive with Bethesda for at least the first two pieces of Skyrim DLC. That means only Xbox 360 players will get it originally, with everyone else having to wait 30 days to hand over more money. Exactly what this DLC will consist of remains unknown, though Bethesda has previously mentioned larger expansion packs than most of the Oblivion extras, so it’s probably not going to be Horse Armor 2.0. On the plus side, it’s not as though the regular edition is going to be desperately short on content when it lands on November 11th.
Torchlight 2 gets fourth class and $20 price tag
The Embermage is the fourth role to be revealed for Torchlight 2. The magic user joins the Berserker, the Outlander and the Engineer as the final character class, and can wield the power of the elements against Torchlight 2′s enemies. The elements of fire, ice and lightning, that is, not Boron, Potassium and Hydrogen and the like, though a mage with mastery over the periodic table is an intriguing idea.
Wing Commander and Dungeon Keeper 2 head up new EA re-releases from Good Old Games
Good Old Games is launching a new series of games from EA’s archives, starting with one of the greatest space combat games of all time, and the sequel to one of the most loved strategy games. See if you can guess which is which! You get three goes, but the first two don’t count…
