IGF announces 2012 main competition entrants, explodes with indie goodness
Battlefield and Modern Warfare may be about to go off to modern battlewar (on a field), but the gaming world is (thankfully) much, much larger than that. Case in point: the Independent Games Festival’s main competition, which has a whopping 570 games vying for top honors.
RUSE developer Eugen explains upcoming Wargame: European Escalation
RUSE might be my favorite RTS of the past several years, and one reason for that is because developer Eugen Systems seemed to design it with wargamers in mind. It could be frantic, but it also felt a bit like what would happen if you turned Panzer General into an RTS.
So it’s fitting that their next game is explicitly called Wargame: European Escalation, and I got in touch with Eugen CEO Alexis Le Dressay to learn just how this would differ from RUSE. It turns out that Wargame will be very different, throwing out Ruse’s deception mechanics as well as a lot of RTS conventions. The result could be an even more interesting real-time wargame set in the late Cold War.
Buy new Samsung SSD, get Batman: Arkham City for free
Spotted via Kotaku is the announcement that Samsung’s new 830 series of solid-state drives will include a free copy of Batman: Arkham City.
The 830 series for desktops comes in four sizes: 64GB ($130), 128GB ($230), 256GB ($430), and 512GB ($850). Not bad for an SSD, and the buzz on the 830 series has been good. If you deduct the $40 or $50 you were planning to spend on Arkham City anyway, it starts to look even better.
And in other PC gaming news…
Grand Theft Auto V has been announced! Here’s what we know:
….
Okay, so no-one actually knows anything about GTAV, but that doesn’t stop us from speculating wildly, so let’s make up some crazy ideas:
- GTAV: Concrete Misery continues the gritty realism of GTA4, and will be set in a pastiche of Baltimore in an obvious parody of The Wire.
- GTAV: Foiled Again will return to the cartoonish roots of Vice City, and will see you play as a costumed supervillain. Reaching the highest wanted level will get you hunted down by Batman.
- GTAV: Modern Warfare will be set in a middle eastern conflict. You play a corrupt soldier trying to ransack the town he is supposed to be liberating.
- GTAV: Grand Theft Stagecoach will be set in the past, you play Jack the Ripper in Victorian London.
- GTAV: Milton Keynes will be set in Milton Keynes. It will be as boring as that sounds.
- GTAV: IN SPACE will be set IN SPACE.
- GTAV: Retro City will be an isometric turn based strategy game. Fans will be outraged.
Check inside for a free roaming felonious selection of PC gaming news.
Gabe Newell on piracy and Steam’s success in Russia
We’ve already covered Valve co-founder Gabe Newell’s thoughts on Team Fortress 2’s lucrative decision to go free-to-play, but during the same talk Newell also spoke a little bit about the highly lucrative Russian games market. It seems that the country – which is notorious for high levels of piracy – is actually something of a nest (headcrab) egg for Valve.
“Russia now outside of Germany is our largest continental European market,” Newell was quoted as saying on Geekwire. Presumably this also means the UK is Valve’s largest continental European market, unless Pantelleria has a huge amount of PC gamers. But Newell’s statement also indicates that Russia eclipses France, Spain and Scandinavian countries in terms of profits.
Happy birthday, Windows XP
Many happy returns, Windows XP, and congratulations on reaching the double digits of old age. Microsoft’s venerable operating system turns ten today, which in computer years is the equivalent of you being born in the time of Augustus Caesar.
According to the latest Steam hardware survey, almost one in five of you are still using XP, and it’s a remarkably well loved OS for one which had such a mixed reception at its birth. Greeted cautiously by those who feared the friendly nature of its large green Start button and colourful icons (compared to the austerity of Windows 98, at least), by the time it’s replacement rolled round many refused to give it up. Indeed, they clung to XP so adamantly that Microsoft was forced to extend support for XP (ie continue updating security patches) until April 2014.
Stronghold 3 trailer celebrates launch by building a fortress and burning peasants
The perfect castle takes “a lifetime to build” according to the Stronghold 3 launch trailer, an imperfect castle will cut those lifetimes very short. Whether it’s death by trebuchet, diseased badger or flaming suicide cart, your cheerfully loyal peasants are likely to suffer. At least it will be funny. Stronghold 3 is out now on Steam, Direct2Drive and Gamersgate. Find out more about how Firefly have tried to bounce back from Stronghold 2 in our Stronghold 3 preview.
Kingdoms of Amalur video talks story, impales Elvis with lamp
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning – if you don’t know – is a totally new RPG franchise developed by 38 Studios and Big Huge Games. It’s the brainchild of former Boston Red Sox pitcher (we think that has something to do with rounders) Curt Schilling, it also employs the talents of designer Ken Rolston (Oblivion), fantasy author R. A. Salvatore (The DemonWars Saga) and comic book artist and writer Todd McFarlane (Spawn) onboard.
Batman: Arkham City sells 4.6 million in one week on consoles, are you holding out for Arkham City PC?
Warner Brothers send word that Akham City has sold 4.6 million copies worldwide, and it’s not even out on PC yet. This is interesting, firstly because that is an obscene number for week one sales, and based on the critical rumblings surrounding its release, seemingly well justified. We’ll know soon enough when the PC version hits on November 18. But will these huge week-one console sales hurt the popularity of the PC version? When Arkham City was delayed, those of us with PCs and consoles were forced to make a decision, wait four weeks to play on our preferred platform, or cave in and start breaking criminal faces right away.
With big titles like Arkham City and Assassin’s Creed Revelations receiving significant delays on PC this release season, it’s concerning to think of all those potential PC buyers plugging for a console version because the PC edition has been delayed without explanation. The PC is at the cutting edge of current technology, it should be at the cutting edge of the release schedule as well. Are you planning to hold out for Arkham City PC, or have you opted for the console version?
New Nvidia drivers boost Battlefield 3 performance by “up to 11%”
US players will get their war-fingers on Battlefield 3 today. If you’re picking up a copy, you’ll want to make sure that your PC is up to date and ready to go. Helpfully, Nvidia have just released some new drivers promising an 11% performance boost when running Battlefield 3, especially if you’re running a GeForce 500 series card.
Battlefield 3 screenshots celebrate US launch
Battlefield 3 is out today in the US, but not in Europe for another three whole days. To stop players from keeling over with anticipation EA have provided a bunch of new screenshots. If you wobble them around a bit you can sort of pretend you’re in the game. Have someone shout “WAR,” “THERE’S NO TIME!” and “SHOOT HIM, SHOOT THAT MAN” into your left ear while someone else does the ‘baba ba bababa’ riff into your right ear and you’re basically there. Well, not quite. You can read our Battlefield 3 first impressions for an idea of what it’s really like.
The shots are taken from both the multiplayer and single palyer portions of the game, consisting of action shots as well as a few vistas that show the amazing draw distances and effects the FrostBite 2 engine is capable of. See bigger versions of the thumbnails DICE previously released of each of Battlefield 3′s nine multiplayer maps. Which one will you jump into first when Battlefield 3 finally unlocks?
Grand Theft Auto V trailer incoming, also GTA V is a thing now
Grand Theft Auto V has just been splattered all over the front page of the Rockstar website with a simple declaration. TRAILER: 11.02.11. That was a surprise. Everything we know about the new Grand Theft Auto is contained in that logo. It could be anything. What are you hoping for from GTA V?
Scrolls free-to-play “aspects” detailed, Mojang assuage pay-to-win fears
Yesterday, Notch took to his well-worn soap box to pipe up about free-to-play games and how many of them are perhaps a wee bit dishonest. He also mentioned that Scrolls – while not free-to-play in the traditional sense – does allow players to buy new content with real money. Many gamers, however, read that as “Give us money and we’ll hand you a silver platter covered in cards that will guarantee that you defeat your friends, get the girl, and overcome some crippling personality deficiency in a whirlwind montage of victory.”
With that in mind, I asked the fine folks at Mojang if they could clear things up for me. Here’s what they said:
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria video shows pandas pandering in Pandaria
A bamboo curry’s worth of information on World of Warcraft’s panda-based race has hit the internet. In addition to Blizzard confirming details of the new animation system, an official website has launched and a video of the bears in action has leaked.
The video, sneakily shot by MMO-Champion, shows Pandaria’s starting area, as well as the impressive animations that bring the cuddly warriors to life. According to Blizzard art director, Chris Robinson, the Pandaren have ten times the facial bones as other races, making them more mobile and expressive. That’s good news even if you’re not planning to play as a panda. Blizzard say they’ll be retro-fitting the tech to the old races, eventually.
Robinson said that “I want to stress as well that it’s a massive undertaking to go back and do this. And to a lot of people it’s something that won’t be considered shiny new content.” Blizzard are also concerned about maintaining the “look and feel of the original models,” and want to find a way of revamping the old races that won’t put off players who have spent years with their characters.
Hyrule: Total War mod brings Zelda to the battlefield, looks incredible
Hyrule: Total War is exactly what it sounds like. Its 20 factions herald from the furthest corners of the Zelda universe. Whether you want to command a small mountain of Gorons, a bunch of dudes dressed like Sheik, or Zelda herself, Hyrule: Total War aims to make it all possible with meticulous attention to detail.
Also, Zora are for some reason playable, even though they have about as much business in a land skirmish as, er, Zelda does on PC. But hey, I’m certainly not complaining. Really, the only thing that’s missing is a Navi army that defeats its foes by screaming “Hey! Listen!” until the madness sets in. At any rate, I’m finished holding you back. So then, salivate at this trailer, and then physically whip your PC to make it download the demo faster. Thanks, GameSpy.
