Syndicate release date set for February 2012
So, Syndicate is going to be a first person shooter. Perhaps one day everything will get a first person shooter reboot, even Diablo 3. It’s not entirely bad news. In fact, if you look at it as a new cyberpunk shooter from the creators of the excellent Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, it’s quite an exciting prospect.
EA have told Gamasutra that Syndicate should be out in February next year, providing the PC version gets a release alongside the console versions. If not, we’ll set phasers to grumpy and put a crack squad of cyborgs onto the streets to find out why. For more, check out the official Syndicate website. There’s not much in the way of solid info on there, but we do learn that the main character’s name is Miles Kilo, possibly the worst protagonist name since Prey 2 unveiled Killian Samuels.
Lord of the Rings Online: Rise of Isengard out now
The Hobbits are going to Isengard. The latest expansion for free-to-play Tolkien MMO Lord of the Rings Online is out now. Rise of Isengard adds three new lands, boosts the level cap to 75 and adds a new top tier, 24-player raid in which heroes must face down one of the last great dragons of Middle Earth.
The expansion can be bought from the Lord of the Rings Online site. The Legendary edition costs $49.99, and comes with a selection of Rohirrim mounts and armour sets, a selection of quest packs, including Trollshaws, Eregion, Lothlórien and Moria. You’ll also get a thousand points to spend in the store. The $39.99 Heroic edition will just come with the mounts and a grand of points, and the base edition, at $29.99, comes with a single mount, and of course, Rise of Isengard. Raw and uncensored.
You can jump in and play Lord of the Rings Online for free right now. To get started, create an account on the Lord of the Rings Online site and download the client. It’s rather good. Check out our Lord of the Rings Online review to find out why.
Witcher 2 version 2.0 overhauls combat, adds dark mode and battle arena, out tomorrow
The huge, free 2.0 update to the Witcher 2 will hit tomorrow, adding new modes, a proper tutorial, and dozens of major fixes designed to improve combat. The fiddly enemy targeting system has been improved, controls feel smoother and Geralt’s attacks can no longer be constantly interrupted by a prod from one of a dozen enemies.
The patch will add a new Arena mode. Separate from the single player campaign, this will throw Geralt into a gladiatorial ring in which he much fight off waves of increasingly powerful foes for GLORY. And points. Mid-fight, you’ll encounter allies that can be recruited to help with tougher waves. Once you’ve racked up a good sum, you’ll be able to post your score online.
Then there’s dark mode, designed to add a new level of difficulty for hardened Witcher fans. Every enemy will have the strength to quickly take you out, but a string of new quests will let you unlock new armour sets and gain cursed weapons, because wielding cursed weapons always ends well. The patch makes loads of other changes, and incorporates all other patches and previous DLC additions. If you upgrade from a fresh install, you’ll get all of the many, many free improvements CD Projekt have made to the Witcher 2 in one package. Get the full patch notes below.
Football Manager 2012 Steam DRM enrages fans
Football Manager fans have voiced their anger at the integration of Steamworks into Football Manager 2012. The move to Steam means copies of the game will need to be activated online before being able to play. Eurogamer indicates 40 pages of comments reacting to the news on the Sports Interactive forums, with thousands of posts from fans angry with the changes.
Some fans are threatening to boycott the series until the online activation requirement is removed. Sega tell Eurogamer that Football Manager has moved to Steam to combat piracy.
“Make no mistake, if a quarter of the people that usually pirate the game switch to purchasing Football Manager 2012, the sales of the game worldwide would more than double,” they say.
Duke Nukem 3D Unreal Engine 3 remake “on hold” due to Gearbox conflict
Many, many moons ago – back when Duke Nukem Forever’s eventual release was still a valid punchline to any lighthearted joke involving the assuredly painful end to all humanity – a developer called Interceptor Entertainment wowed the gaming world with a perfect Unreal Engine 3 reproduction of Duke 3D’s first area. That, Interceptor claimed, was just the beginning. Now, though, I’m really hoping that this isn’t the end.
Dead Island’s trailer getting its own movie. The game? Not so much
And so life (or un-life, I suppose) comes full circle. Game trailers tend to take heavy inspiration from film, and Dead Island’s – while pretty damn incredible – was no different. Now, though, big-time film studio Lionsgate has nabbed the rights to give Techland’s undead opus a movie makeover, and it’s using the trailer as “primary creative inspiration.” Can a videogame about the movie based on the trailer for a videogame be far off?
Future Witcher 2 DLC to remain free in spite of Xbox version, says CD Projekt
Yesterday, CD Projekt guaranteed that more Witcher 2 upgrades will soon be awkwardly opening doors one-at-a-time into your life. Awesome, right? No downsides here. None at all ever. Please?
The Witcher, though, is hardly all sunshine and butterflies, so – fittingly – neither is its news. There’s a catch. Or at least, I was afraid there’d be. So I got in touch with CD Projekt Red to find out if Geralt’s next equippable stat-boosting trophy will be your wallet.
MSNBC talks to the Bioshock: Infinite actors
Joystiq spotted this MSNBC interview with Courtnee Draper and Troy Baker, the actors voicing Elizabeth and Booker DeWitt in Irrational’s upcoming Bioshock: Infinite. The actors talk a bit about the demands of playing these roles, and Ken Levine discusses the changing role of acting in games. Plus, there’s a lot of good (albeit familiar) Infinite footage here.
PC Gamer Digital is live on Steam!
IT’S HERE. The future of games coverage. The world of tomorrow. PC Gamer Digital has arrived!
In other words, the PC Gamer Digital app and Episode 1 are now live on Steam.
So in addition to the world’s best-selling PC games magazine and the world’s most popular PC gaming website, PC Gamer now offers a revolutionary new way to explore and experience PC games alongside the PC Gamer team as well as the entire community of PC gamers on Steam!
City of Heroes goes free to play with new update
Superhero-themed MMO City of Heroes goes free to play today with the launch of City of Heroes Freedom, which lets players play up to level 50 free of charge, buying content a la carte rather than paying a monthly subscription fee. A new content expansion, Issue 21: Convergence, unveils an entirely new zone and a bevy of new content. NCSoft and Paragon studios also promise monthly “Signature Story Arcs” that let players take part in world events and the ongoing superhero strife that shapes them.
“We aren’t just flipping a switch and going ‘free-to-play,’” explains executive producer Brian Clayton. “We’re embarking on the biggest content and feature update to City of Heroes in its seven-year history.”
Third try is the charm for Kane and Lynch?
Job postings on IO Interactive’s website (spotted by Gamerzines) suggest that cold-blooded screw-ups Kane and Lynch might come back for another job together.
In addition to programmers for “an unannounced AAA action title,” IO is also looking for a senior multiplayer programmer to lay “the foundation for a yet unannounced 3rd person game with strong cooperative multiplayer elements.” Taken together, these clues strongly point toward another Kane & Lynch game.
And in other PC gaming news…
An interesting comparison here, showing Battlefield 3 on the PC and PS3 side by side so you can see exactly how well each version plays. DICE have certainly managed to squeeze a lot out of the PS3 hardware, probably enough to fool ITV into thinking it’s real footage, but if you look carefully, you can just about make out the difference. Thanks to Duncan ‘Dead End Thrills‘ Harris for the tip off.
Check inside for a collection of low resolution, boxy PC gaming news.
PC Gamer UK Podcast 60 – Skyrim, Space Marine and Diablo 3
We’ve gathered together for an extra long PC Gamer podcast to celebrate our return after a bit of a hiatus. We discuss Tom’s trip to play Skyrim, get excited about Firefall and Planetside 2, have a think about Space Marine co-op and chat about Diablo 3′s spectacular runestones.
Download the MP3, subscribe, or find our older podcasts here.
Simpsons intro gets recreated in Minecraft. Satisfyingly accurate
Not bad eh? The chaps on the Crafted Media YouTube channel have recreated The Simpsons intro in the blocky world of Minecraft. There’s something particularly satisfying about the way they’ve handled the supermarket checkout, the automobiles and the.. Hell – it’s all good.
They seem like a nice bunch of chaps too. Play your cards right and you might end up featuring in a future parody. Watch the entire video to find out how.
Dragonica goodie bag giveaway. Win magic beans!
Today at PC Gamer, we’re giving away magic beans! And you won’t even have to trade away your cow to get them either.
We’re giving away 1,000 goodie bags for side scrolling hack and slash MMO Dragonica, to celebrate the release of their expansion, New Origin. Each one is full of useful items, including the aforementioned magic beans, although these ones double your experience rather than growing a giant beanstalk full of angry giants, which is much more useful.
Check inside for details.
