PC Gamer US Podcast #292: Prattlefield 3
The man. The myth. The legend. Chris Antista enters the wild world of the PC Gamer podcast, far from home and without a clue where he is (or, he’s recording a podcast in the very same room where he did Talk Radar). Alongside Dan, Lucas, Gavin, and Greg, they’ll traverse the misty plains of Battlefield 3 impressions, encountering singleplayer goofiness and multiplayer war stories. Then they’ll trudge through the deserts of BlizzCon impressions, the sea of Truthiness and Falsity, and the Swamps of Torment, where Xbox games appear in the Playlist. It is, without a doubt, an epic venture.
And in other PC gaming news…
Happy Halloween PC gamers! Well technically not till Monday, but Team Fortress 2 has launched it’s Halloween update today (I guess the holidays happen quicker on Valve time). The update has brought with it the usual combination of bizarre TF2 items, with an inexplicable emphasis on seal masks. You know, some people complain that TF2 has gotten so many silly extra items, to these people I say “I’m sorry, I can’t hear you, I’m too busy having fun!”
Check inside for a spooky selection of PC Gaming news.
What we want from GTA 5
In five days, we’ll get our first look at GTA V in the announcement trailer. But for now, all we know is this: it has a V in it. So what are we hoping for this time around? What did GTA IV get right, where did it fail, and where does the series need to go next? We’ve gathered our thoughts into deliciously digestible list form. Add yours in the comments.
Blizzard dev on Blizzard DOTA: “We felt like we really needed to simplify things”
Defence of the Ancients games are fast becoming the equivalent of hatchback cars. They’re mostly the same, but each manufacturer is going to put a different spin on it – a bigger bumper, maybe, or a sunroof designed to catch people with giant perms. Blizzard DOTA, though, is looking to shake things up a bit. At Blizzcon the devs outlined a number of intriguing changes to the classic DOTA formula designed to streamline the experience for new players and “get the depth back where it belongs.”
We caught up with senior designer, Johnny Ebbert at Blizzcon for a to find out why why the developers felt as though they “really needed to simplify things,” and why DOTA should become more like chess.
Public Service Announcement: cauldrons and seal masks appearing in TF2 backpacks
Quick, open your Team Fortress 2 backpack! We just checked ours and found great big shiny cauldrons inside. Upon opening our cauldrons, we all found a seal mask, for some reason, and a few of us gained some extra accessories, including some gleaming arm-pipes for my Soldier. YES. It’s all part of the Halloween Update, which kicked off today. Did you get a cauldron? What’s inside?
Todd Howard on Skyrim’s toughest monsters: “the more of the main quest you do, the more dragons you’ll run into”
We’ve been speaking to Bethesda game director, Todd Howard about The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. So far we’ve covered small matters concerning crime reporting chickens, a disastrous marriage night and the lessons Bethesda have learned from Fallout 3, but it was only a matter of time before the conversation turned to the creatures that Bethesda have shown the most in this year’s Skyrim demos, dragons! When will they appear, and how often will we fight them?
“You have to do a little bit of the main quest – just the initial stuff – for the Dragons to really start appearing, because it sits in with the story,” says Howard. “After that point, the more of the main quest you do, the more Dragons you’ll run into. But it’s hard to quantify it, they appear every once in a while. Not at a rate that is annoying… it still feels special.”
Magicka: The Stars are Left expansion incoming, “we make fun of Minecraft this time” say devs
Ah Magicka, with your completely bonkers expansions. Joining this year’s Vietnam is The Stars are Left, a ‘spandey based on H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos, spotted over on RPS. Scheduled to launch this winter, it includes a new adventure campaign, which is one of the most requested features for the co-op spell ‘em up.
Like Vietnam, only the host player needs the expansion for others to join in – an act described by developer Arrowhead Studios’ colleagues as, “More insane than a black goat with a thousand young.” We don’t believe for one minute that anyone actually said that.
Bioshock Infinite trailer talks storytelling and character in the floating city of Columbia
Ken Levine is joined by the voice actors who play Bioshock Infinite’s protagonist, Booker, and his NPC companion, Elizabeth for the new trailer. The most telling moment comes when the actor who plays Elizabeth, Coutnee Draper, says that she doesn’t know exactly how long her character has been kept captive because Levine hasn’t decided yet. Later, Levine talks about the process of working with the actors, saying that “sometimes they’ll bring something to the role and I’ll change the role,” confessing that “a lot of times I don’t even know what I want.” It’s an interesting insight into Levine’s flexible approach to creating the game’s story, almost as though he’s making it up as he’s going along. It’s a strategy that seems to be going well, the fourteen minutes of footage from E3 were incredible.
Saints Row 3 trailer shows novel way of destroying roadblocks
Like Just Cause 2, Saints Row: The Third is giving us a plethora of things we wish we could do in real life. In this trailer, one player uses an unmanned aerial vehicle to destroy roadblocks while another player furiously rides their motorbike down the explodey streets.
We wish we had mates who could do something similar on our trek to work, taking out slow-moving old people, unpredictable children and stupid dogs. Actually, we just wish we had mates with access to air-to-ground artillery. Think of the possibilities. Saints Row: The Third is out on November 15 in the US and November 18 in Europe.
Team Fortress 2 Halloween Update pits players against Demoman’s giant evil eyeball
The Team Fortress 2 halloween update is here! Do you like eyeballs? Of course not. Kill a giant, evil one now as part of the Team Fortress 2 Halloween Update. The map, Viaduct, is now haunted by the Demoman’s lost peeker, and is now called Eyeaduct! If that’s too much terror for one sentence, here are a few reassuring comments from the Team Fortress 2 blog to calm your nerves.
“There will be no ENORMOUS HAUNTED EYEBALL to terrorize you around an island filled with tons of SECRET LOOT, and a GIANT SKULL!”
“There will be approximately zero percent chance of you getting your trembling hands on a spooky costume FOR EVERY CLASS!”
Phew! Read on for a list of terrifying features that definitely haven’t been added as part of the Team Fortress 2 Halloween update. There’s a comic, too, explaining the origins of the entirely non-existent giant evil eyeball.
EA’s Origin to sell third-party titles like Batman: Arkham City and Saints Row: The Third
EA’s Steam-challenging Origin digital distribution service will begin selling third-party titles from the likes of Warner Bros Interactive and THQ in November, according to Gamasutra. The service, which EA claims has over six million subscribers, is required to play obscure indie game Battlefield 3 on the PC.
Joining Battlefield 3 are Warner Bros’ Batman: Arkham City and THQ’s Saints Row: The Third, both of which are the very definition of “eagerly awaited.” These will join some “top new releases” from the publishers, but there’s no word on what these are. EA hasn’t disclosed if Warner Bros or THQ’s back catalogues will show up on the service.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 trailer talks guns, weapons have own experience bars and unlocks
Even your weapons will have experience bars in Modern Warfare 3. The unlock system has been revamped, and will work differently depending on which of the three classes you play as, but the perks and point-streak rewards will be separate from the weapon unlocks. You’ll be able to earn new attachments by fighting and killing with a weapon. See the devs explain the system in the new trailer above, spotted on Evil Avatar. Infinity Ward say that the unlocks will be geared towards giving players more options in combat, though some, like the weapon stabilising upgrade, will probably just make you better.
If guns can level up, it feels as though they’re starting to become RPG characters in their own right. We’re hoping for loyalty side quests and proper story arcs come Modern Warfare 4.
TERA gets into the spirit of Halloween with new trailer
EnMasse has released a new spooky themed trailer for their upcoming MMO, TERA. In the style of a Grimm Fairy Tale, the video tells a story of a young woman who find trouble after venturing into the woods. While the video doesn’t show off a lot of new content, it does feature a few of the games more TERA-fying creatures. I wonder if that shape-shifting hag will be a boss? She better hand out candy.
Indie strategy designer Vic Davis talks about new game, Occult Chronicles
Indie strategy designer Vic Davis just announced his next game, The Occult Chronicles. Openly inspired by board game adventures like Mansions of Madness and Betrayal at House on the Hill, Occult Chronicles is about a paranormal investigator trying to unearth the secrets of an ancient estate.
Mansions of Madness, if you haven’t played it, is a dungeon crawl board where the map is revealed by drawing tiles randomly, and assembling them into a floor plan. Along the way you encounter monsters, puzzles, useful items, and other adventure paraphernalia.
And in other PC gaming news…
When he isn’t been dressing as Spock for our Star Trek themed Artemis feature, Graham has been playing Battlefield 3, and he picked up on a bit of slightly odd behaviour from one of his squadmates. Witness as the the man casually ambles through a wall before turning around and coming back as if nothing has happened. It’s almost like he’s saying “What? I was just breaking the laws of time and space, it’s no big deal.” It’s the best kind of gaming bug, not particularly damaging to the experience, but really funny.
Check inside for a wall phasing selection of PC gaming news.
