A Game of Thrones: Genesis trailer strokes a map, plots world domination
What’s the point in commanding a grand army if you can’t stand alone in your tent stroking a map? That’s perhaps the moral of the new trailer for A Game of Thrones: Genesis, which is out next week. Speaking of maps, Cyanide’s vision of Westeros involves one of those skewed world maps in which otherwise tiny towns are blown up to make them easier to see. This seems to have had weird consequences for The Wall, which looks a bit too narrow for a landmark that’s supposed to be 300 miles long. Also, you’ll notice something wrong with the music, but that’s easily fixed.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Arsenal modes make Gun Game official, new screenshots out
Valve are incorporating the immensely popular Gun Game mod as official modes in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Arsenal: Arms Race and Arsenal: Demolition are the two new modes. They’ll be playable across eight new maps created with help from the creators of the original mod.
Gun Game replaces Counter-Strike’s cash-for-guns system with a kills-for-guns system. Everyone starts with a pistol and gets a new weapon for every kill. Those unfamiliar with Counter-Strike might recognise a very similar mode appearing in Call of Duty: Black Ops, but the original CS mod was the real deal, and it will get official backing when CS:GO is released early next year.
Valve have sent over nine new screenshots, showing some lovely jungle areas. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive doesn’t seem to be pushing the Source engine especially hard, but it’s a significant step up from Counter-Strike: Source.
An unusual insight into World of Warcraft’s armour art
In the process of PRing and promoting the 4.3 patch for World of Warcraft, the Blizzard development and art team are showing off some new features. We’ve seen the new raids and dungeons, new mechanics (yay transmogrification!) and new areas. Now, finally, we’re starting to see new art; in the form of the Tier 13 armour sets. With the pictures come a few smart bits of insight.
OnLive launches in the UK, pricing and games line-up revealed
The cloud gaming service OnLive launches in the UK today. OnLive deploys advanced techno-magic that lets you play games hosted on powerful remote servers. Footage of your actions can be streamed to your PC, TV or iPad.
You can sign up for free at OnLive.co.uk and play 30 minute demos of many of the 150 launch games to test the service out. The starting lineup includes recent releases like Space Marine, Dirt 3 and Deus Ex: Human Revolution, with a big back catalogue that includes a range of titles, from Assassin’s Creed 2 to World of Goo. Check out full list of available games on the OnLive site. See the co-founder and CEO of OnLive, Steve Perlman demoing the service in the video above.
League of Legends: Dominion beta windows opening soon
Eagerly awaiting League of Legends’ new Dominion mode? Of course you are. Patience, though, is for losers. Also, saints. Fortunately, Riot’s mega-hit MOBA is now sporting a “limited beta” of the much-anticipated addition, so you don’t have to wait.
“Over the coming days, we’ll be opening testing windows on our platforms during off-peak hours, each of which will be prefaced by a forum announcement to let you know you can and participate,” wrote Riot on LoL’s website. “And if you miss one of the testing windows, remember that there will be plenty more opportunities to help test Dominion as we speed toward launch!”
So there you have it. And since this is a beta, Dominion’s full release is just around the corner. Excited? You should be.
Lifeless Planet aims to put “adventure” back in “action-adventure”
I hate getting my hopes up only to have them brutally dashed against overwhelming odds, but sometimes I can’t help it. Case in point: Lifeless Planet. Based on the creator’s description and trailer, it’s a game I’d kill to play. Luckily, that won’t be necessary, as Kickstarter isn’t powered by any sort of human sacrifices (that I know of). Instead, you need only drop a few coins into the project’s hat, and you’ll even be generously rewarded for your troubles.
So, what’s the game about? In a nutshell, it takes place in a universe where humanity’s taken to the stars, and one astronaut stumbles across what he assumes to be an uninhabited planet – which sort of goes with the whole “lifeless” territory. Before long, though, he stumbles across the abandoned remains of a Russian civilization. That’s right: space Russians. Here, though, is the part that really sold me on the project:
LAST CALL for the open beta of PC Gamer Digital! [US only - see below]
The future of games coverage has arrived, and you can be among the first to get a crack at it. Made by the same team that brings you the best-selling PC gaming magazine in the whole world, PC Gamer Digital gives you a totally new way to explore, discover, and experience PC games, and lets you share those experiences with your friends, Steam groups, and the entire PC gaming community. It’s a digital companion that’s been designed from the ground up to help you be a better gamer.
I could go on and on about it, but that’s not the point of a beta. I want you to download it, try it out, push every button, pull every slider, wander around our GameViews, rummage through our Protips, and even enjoy a nice Three-Way. Then let us know what you think at pcgdfeedback@pcgamer.com. Your comments will help us tweak the debut episode, which will hit Steam in less than a week!
I apologize that due to legal mumbo jumbo and licensing hoo-hah, beta access is restricted to the US. But yes, we absolutely intend to take PC Gamer Digital worldwide to all our fans and hardcore PC gamers everywhere!
The most advanced, innovative gaming platform in the world demands advanced, innovative coverage. The most sophisticated gamers in the world deserve sophisticated coverage and hands-on experiences. So go forth, pilgrims – discover the future of games coverage. And tell us what we can do to make it even better!
Ooooo, pretty!
Games and reality collide (harmlessly)
If you’ve ever found yourself “slicing the pie” as you round a blind corner, the same way you do in a tactical shooter, you’ve probably been experiencing Game Transfer Phenomena (GTP), an umbrella term for the ways that our gaming lives begin to cross over into real life. Dr. Mark Griffiths of Nottingham Trent University recently published a paper enumerating the types of GTP gamers report experiencing. Naturally, some sensationalist reporters immediately lifted some quotes in order to perpetuate the narrative of gamers confusing the virtual with the real.
Griffiths is having none of that. He got in touch with Eurogamer and provided some context and explanation for the study.
Take cover! Beefy Battlefield 3 beta requirements posted
Just when I thought my latest upgrade meant I was safe for another year, the Battlefield 3 beta requirements come along and disturb my bliss. I could run it on my Core 2 Duo, but somehow I suspect Battlefield 3 doesn’t want me to. Call it a hunch, or call it the recommended system requirements that DICE posted online.
These are the beta requirements, but it seems like a safe bet that the final requirements won’t depart too much from what DICE is saying right now. Hit the jump to see what you need, and what you really should have. Celebrate or weep appropriately.
Warco: a game of war zone journalism
In a fascinating twist on the all-too-familiar, Defiant Development’s Warco sends players into combat with a camera and press credentials to document the action and tell the story. They have a proof-of-concept trailer that goes a long way toward explaining exactly what Warco is about.
Designer Morgan Jaffit talked to Gamasutra about the project, and went into some detail about the motives behind the project, as well as the kind of action players can expect from this war correspondent sim.
Right now Defiant (a studio founded by former Pandemic Australia developers) is working on funding and developing a prototype, but Jaffit thinks there could be a sizable market for a game like this. From the Gamasutra interview:
“We’re just offering a new perspective,” he said. “There’s a lot of games that cover the action side of war. Some of those start to look at the relationships of the soldiers, and the context of the battlefield, but there’s not really anything that stands to one side and can pan off the soldier shooting to the children in the background. That’s a very different perspective that we offer to everything else that’s out there.”
And in other PC gaming news…
The Diablo 3 beta is live! Half the office has been playing it, and recording their Diablo 3 impressions for you. The other half didn’t get invites, and have been sulkily watching and giving the first lot dirty looks. The seeds of division have been sown, this blatant divide between the have and have nots can only lead to a socialist revolution. Then each of us will have half a code. It’s the only fair way.
Check inside for a collection of pinko commie PC gaming news.
EU Giveaway: Win Red Orchestra 2! Become a hero of Stalingrad!
Listen up soldiers! We’ve got ten copies of Tripwire’s Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad to give away, da? Ten of our European readers will be chosen by our glorious leaders to defend mother Russia against the Nazi threat.
Are you up to it comrade? Then find out how to enter inside.
Diablo 3 first impressions
The Diablo 3 beta has been released. And the team have been obsessively playing since last night. Here’s what four members of the PC Gamer team think so far. Hint: they like it.
Tim Edwards: So, we’ve played through the campaign as a group of four. Tom, you and I have completed a game as a two-some. The beta is about an hour-to-two hours long and runs up until the first boss: a skeleton king. Tom, you first. You’ve played it a few times now. What class did you pick, and what did you think?
Tom Francis: I went Barbarian. I didn’t get much time with him when Blizzard let me play an early build of this beta at their offices a while back, and as soon as I hit something with him I wished I’d tried him first.
There’s never any reason to ‘attack’ – the default skill that just swings your weapon normally. You start with a skill called Bash that does the same thing, but with tremendous force, extra damage, a manly grunt and spectacular knockback. And it doesn’t cost any of your resource, Fury – it builds it. So you’re this angry ball of muscle batting flimsy zombies away with one brutal crunch each. You hit some of them so hard their skin falls off.
Now that I’ve had more time to level up and mix in some of his later skills, what I’m loving about him is this very simple layer of strategy. Do you want to hit everyone quite hard, or one guy very hard? Cleave does the former, sweeping through everyone in front of you, and Bash does the latter. I burst rotting Grotesques with Bash, then slice the slithering corpseworms that spill out with Cleave.
Get an exclusive Team Fortress 2 hat free with PC Gamer UK Issue 232
PC Gamer UK is getting fatter, and it’s not just because of the Krispy Kreme doughnut store that just opened in Bath. For our next issue, we’re dropping the disk and adding an extra 60 pages or so to the mag, and we’ll be giving away a load of free stuff to celebrate. The exclusive Team Fortress 2 hat you can see modelled by the Soldier above is just one of those items. Break the news AND your enemies faces with this fetching cap, free to all who purchase the next issue of PC Gamer UK.
Subscriber copies will be mailed out very soon, and the issue will hit store shelves on September 28. Within, you’ll find a code that can be entered into Steam to instantly add the hat to your Team Fortress 2 backpack. It’ll fit the head of every class, and we find it looks especially fetching on the Spy. His cloaking powers make him the ideal candidate for any press trip that’s likely to end in a gun battle for a control point (which frankly is most of them). Once you’ve redeemed your code, be sure to put it on and come kill us on the PC Gamer Team Fortress 2 server.
Need for Speed: The Run trailer races 3000 miles for $25 million
Need for Speed: The Run is an odd proposition. A story driven racer, powered by DICE’s Frostbite 2 engine, with dubious quick time intervals in which your driver leaps out of his ride, punches up policemen and sprints across the rooftops. The new trailer uncovers the reason behind all that recklessness, a 3000 mile dash from San Fran to New York with $25 million cash prize at the end.
Would you thump a cop for 25 million bucks? Would you endure a cop thumping quicktime event for 25 million bucks? Luckily, EA say the out of car sections will make up less than 10% of the game, hopefully the rest will be pure racing, with plenty of dramatic set-piece events like the avalanche shown halfway through the new trailer. Check out our Need for Speed: The Run hands-on from E3 this year for more. The Run is out November 15 this year.
