HP wins ironically named new PC award
Someone in HP’s marketing department has very dark sense of humour, or events have conspired to produce one of the most serendipitous pieces of product name irony I can remember. Barely three weeks after announcing to analysts that they were looking to either spin off its PC business as a separate company or sell it off altogether, HP have launched a brand new gaming PC.
It’s called the Phoenix.
Rage trailer shows pre-order bonuses, explodes mutants with spiked gauntlets
If you pre-order Rage your copy will be upgraded to the Anarchy edition. This adds an extra barrel to your shotgun, adds some spiked gauntlets for messier punching and adds some new armour, which doesn’t seem especially valuable in an FPS, but hey, it’s red and shiny. You can see all of the pre-order items in action in the trailer above. Rage is out on October 4 in the US, October 7 in Europe, and is shaping up to be a meaty, no nonsense mutant shoot with some spectacular toys.
Bioware: “There will always be a place for premium content at a premium price”
We’ve already reported on John Smedley’s take on subscription-based MMOs. The Sony Online Entertainment president told gamesindustry.biz that they’re on the way out: “In my opinion [Star Wars: The Old Republic] is going to be the last large scale MMO to use the traditional subscription business model. Why do I think that? Simply put, the world is moving on from this model and over time people aren’t going to accept this method.”
Now the Bioware doctors have had a chance to respond. Their upcoming MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic, will require subscription costs identical to the already-established World of Warcraft. That’s $14.99/£8.99/€12.99 per month.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 promotion offers free XP with snacks
The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 ‘Rank Up XP‘ promotion spotted by Forbes will put codes on bottles of Mountain Dew and packets of Doritos crisps that give players double XP time in-game.
So when you take a headshot from a high level sniper rifle, you won’t be able to tell if they’ve played more of the game guzzled a truckload of potato chips. Perhaps the guy heading a server with every unlock is quite good at Call of Duty, or he’s just consumed more litres of luminous energy drink than you.
There’s apparently no limit to the lengths marketers are prepared to go to shift a big new game, but cheapening your entire unlock and experience system for the sake of a drinks promotion crosses a line we didn’t even know existed.
Where will this end? They should rename the series Call of Dewty and replace all of the grenades with exploding cans of soft drink. Claymores can be packets of Doritos that explode when enemies approach, shredding them with a cloud of tasty nacho shrapnel. Then they’ll see a kill cam replay of their maizy death, sponsored by Pepsi, of course.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution DLC packs patch in pre-order missions and weapons
The Explosive Mission Pack and Tactical Enhancement Pack DLC bundles for Deus Ex: Human Revolution have arrived on Steam, giving us the opportunity to pay for the pre-order bonuses that pre-orderers got for free.
The Explosive Mission pack adds a grenade launcher and a remote detonated explosive device for maximum explosions. The pack also contains the bonus Tong’s Rescue mission. That costs £1.99 / $2.99.
The Tactical Enhancement pack tactically enhances Jensen with a great big double barrelled shotgun for maximum tactics. It also includes a silenced sniper rifle and, annoyingly for purists keen to earn their in-game cash, 10,000 extra credits. That’s on Steam now for £1.19 / $1.99.
Both sets of DLC are available as a single pack which costs £2.49 / $3.99.
This feels a bit odd. There was a network of confusing pre-order DLC deals in the run up to Human Revolution’s release, and weapons like the remote detonated explosive that provides creative new options in combat should really have been in the game in the first place. And that’s before we consider the extra mission. It’s as though those who paid full price on launch day are being punished for not gambling on a pre-order. Will you be picking up these DLC packs?
CSGO on PC to be “different beast” than console versions
News of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s existence was met by an incredibly confusing mix of emotions from PC gamers. A new Counter-Strike? Yay! But wait, it’s gracing the unwashed, teabag-happy console masses with its presence? Boo. Also, Global Offensive? Isn’t that the one MMO with the jetpacks? No, wait. That’s a different thing. Like I said: confusing.
Fortunately, Valve assures that it’s not going to let console players rain grenades on your parade. The PC version, explained Valve’s Chet Faliszek, isn’t trying to be something it’s not.
Signal Ops trailer shows multi-viewpoint FPS espionage, looks incredible
I… that is… I don’t even… wow. Wow. Signal Ops looks really damn cool. It also looks like it’s going to fry my brain and then marinade it with a delicious mixture of its own juices, but I’ll cross that ego-crushing bridge when I get to it. For now, just marvel at the above trailer, which presents a tactical FPS where you simultaneously view and – to varying degrees – control your entire squad at once. Yes, from first-person. Better still, this isn’t some Rainbow Six wannabe breach-clear-and-murderkillsplode-fest, either. So says (wonderfully named) developer Space Bullet:
“Signal Ops draws inspiration from classic games such as Commandos, Syndicate, and Deus Ex. You work for a secretive government agency and lead your field agents from the relative safety of the control room on various espionage missions. Stealing secrets, sabotage, assassination, and all that sort of thing… This is no corridor shooter. The levels are open and you are free to tackle the objectives in the manner you see fit.”
GIVE THEM MONEY. The game will apparently be finished regardless, but every little bit helps. Now then, if you’ll excuse me, I have more drool-encrusted gawking to do.
Supreme Commander and SC: Forged Alliance released on Steam
After teasing us with a momentary appearance on the Steam new releases list earlier this week, THQ confirms that Supreme Commander and its Forged Alliance expansion are coming to Steam after all. They should be in the Steam store by the end of the week.
Supreme Commander 2 has been available on Steam since it launched, but the original has only been available online via other digital distribution services.
Pricing details are coming soon.
Update: And they’re up! $15 a piece, or $20 for both.
New Humble Bundle offers Frozen Synapse, other Frozenbyte games
The latest Humble Bundle offers the tactical, turn-based Frozen Synapse (and its soundtrack) for a very reasonable “whatever you want to pay.” As always, the bundle is DRM-free and you can register your copy of Frozen Synapse with another digital distributor, if you wish.
Gamers who pay pay more than the average ($4.37 at present) will also receive Trine, Shadowgrounds, Shadowgrounds: Survivor, Jack Claw (a prototype for a cancelled project) and the in-development Splot. This sale supports the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Child’s Play charity.
Rift: Ashes of History 1.5 update live today
Rift just received a major update and expansion today. The new 1.5 update, Ashes of History, lets players develop their characters beyond level 50 using the new Planar Attunement system, and provides a number of bonuses for veteran subscribers, a new PvP Warfront, and new world events. The trailer above sketches out some of the new additions, and appears to be aimed squarely at high-level players.
You can find the full patch notes here.
And in other PC gaming news…
The LA Noire release date was confirmed earlier today, which is fantastic, because it means us PC gamers will soon get to experience the patented Cole Phelps interrogation method up close.
For those not familiar with the method, it goes a bit like this.
Cole: So where were you last night mam?
Suspect: I was alone at church feeding starving orphans (makes shifty eyes)
Player: Hmmn, clearly she’s lying, but I don’t have any evidence, so I’m going to hit the doubt button.
Cole: YOU KILLED HIM DIDN’T YOU? TELL THE TRUTH YOU FILTHY WHORE!
Player: Erk!
Check inside for a selection of shouty, schizophrenic PC Gaming news.
Team Fortress 2 Mann-iversary: one year on from the launch of the Mann Co store
It’s been a year since Valve announced the launch of the Team Fortress 2 Mann-conomy update, which let players pay money for in-game items like weapons, and of course, hats. Community modellers could submit new weapons, and pick up a share of the profits if their item made it into the game. It was a huge, game-changing update, and its success is likely one of the biggest reasons behind Valve’s decision to make Team Fortress 2 free.
So one year on, how has the Mann-conomy changed Team Fortress 2? One thing’s obvious. There are quite a lot of hats in TF2 these days. Team Fortress 2′s transition into a hat wearing simulator with some added shooting is almost complete, and it’s easy to forget now that hats were the most controversial and surprising part of the update. Controversial because of their hefty price tags. Surprising because of the enormous number of players happy to pay up for a smart piece of virtual headwear.
LA Noire PC release date announced, system specifications revealed
Rockstar have sent over details of the LA Noire Complete Edition, which will be out on November 8. The Complete Edition of the detect-’em-up will cost $49.99/ €49.99/£39.99 and include all of the follow up DLC cases added after launch on the consoles, “including the “Nicholson Electroplating” Arson case, “Reefer Madness” Vice case, “The Consul’s Car” Traffic case, “The Naked City” Vice case and “A Slip of the Tongue” Traffic case.”
We can expect the PC version of LA Noire to make good use of the PC’s extra clout with “increased resolution and graphical detail” and support for Nvidia 3D vision. Get a sense of how well it’ll run on your rig with the system specifications below. Apparently LA noire will need a “DVD Drive” to run. Don’t tell LA Noire hero Cole Phelps, he’ll shoot you on sight. He’ll never have seen such technology, being from the ’40s and all. Also, he’s a bit of a dick.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 pre-orders come with free copy of CoD 4
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has been available to pre-order on Steam for a few weeks now, but if you pre-order now, you’ll also get a free copy of the superb Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
CoD 4 was Infinity Ward’s first attempt to bring the intensity of Call of Duty’s linear campaigns to a near-future setting, and it worked beautifully. The campaign retained the grim realism of the earlier entries in the series without succumbing to the bombastic action movie set pieces of Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops. Missions like All Ghillied Up show Call of Duty at its most restrained and atmospheric. There’s a sturdy multiplayer component, too. Corsair’s $10,000 CoD 4 tournament is set to kick off next month.
If you do opt for the Modern Warfare 3 pre-order, you’ll get a copy of Call of Duty 4 straight away. If you already own it, you can gift it to a friend.
Jonathan Blow talks Portal 2 and player freedom
Jonathan Blow, developer of Braid and upcoming indie game, The Witness, has been talking to Edge about the negative effects that focus testing can have on games development. He uses Portal 2 to illustrate his point.
