Archive for December, 2011

Command & Conquer: Tiberium Alliances will bring C&C to your browser

Hot off the recent announcement of Command & Conquer: Generals 2, EA announce that they’ll be releasing a browser-based C&C called Command & Conquer: Tiberium Alliances. They describe it as a “hardcore strategy” that will be playable on any “HTML5 compatible browser or mobile device.”

Apparently you’ll be able to build alliances and take territory by “leveraging your social network strategically,” which sounds a little sinister. You’ll also be able to gather resources and battle your friends for control of a “dynamically updating map.” It’s being developed by Phenomic, the studio behind Battleforge and Lord of Ultima, both of which are free to play. EA will be taking closed beta applications on www.TiberiumAlliances.com when it eventually goes live.

Aion to go free to play in Europe in February

Ultra-pretty flighty MMO Aion is set to drop the monthly subscription fees and go free to play in February next year. The free to play version will be rolled out in the UK, France and Germany first before spreading across the whole of Europe. “In the last few months the lands in Atreia have become more and more deserted,” NCSoft write on the new Aion free to play site, “we want to reinvigorate the world of Aion and attract new adventurers to the towns.” There’s no mention of a free to play version for the US yet.

Aion’s been updated many, many times since its release. New dungeons, new endgame quests, new missions and pets that will collect your loot for you are a few additions. The seriousness of the stoic angel warriors that made up Aion’s character base on launch have thawed considerably over the years with the addition of new outfits, afros and a ton of new gear.

Humble Indie Bundle 4 officially available

After peeking out from behind Steam’s registry files earlier today, Humble Indie Bundle 4 has made its official debut. And yes, it’s everything you hoped for. I mean, if this is what happens when the Bundle Wars heat up, I’m all for it.

To start off, there’s Jamestown, Bit.Trip Runner, Super Meat Boy, Shank, and NightSky. I know, I know. Your piggy bank just let out a frightened squeal and then exploded. But there’s more. If you beat the average price, the masters of the not-so-ancient art of indie bundling will throw in Cave Story+ and Gratuitous Space Battles. As of now, said average is just a spec over $5.00. So yes, take your piggy bank’s charred ashes and make with the spending.

Standalone Hard Reset: Extended Edition set to launch in March

Hard Reset was a futuristic love letter to first-person shooting’s past, but it quickly succumbed to “if you’ve shot one million robots, you’ve shot ‘em all” syndrome. Flying Wild Hog, though, isn’t throwing in the towel after one go at robot-blasting nirvana. Coming in March 2012, Hard Reset: Extended Edition will be a standalone expansion with five new levels, four new enemies, upgraded graphics, and “additional gameplay elements” (via Blue’s News).

As of now, Flying Wild Hog is “discussing” how it’ll deliver the new content to owners of the original game. Personally, I’m hoping they’ll bundle it with a free pony. But – if I were a betting man – I’d put my money on some sort of DLC.

Play that funky music LOTRO

Wannabe rockers have been playing with the music system in The Lord of the Rings Online since the launch of the game in 2007. There’s a lot to have fun with: LotRO allows you to play songs on a variety of instruments, and inspired players can create complex musical creations. Community events that include musical performances brighten the darkest day of Middle-earth.

Hard Stuff: Case Roundup

Tempest 210 NZXT
SCORE: 77

The Tempest 210 isn’t all that large, measuring in at 19.3 inches deep, 17.9 inches tall, and 7.7 inches wide. It does manage to squeeze in a decent amount of stuff for its size, though, including two fans (a 14cm top exhaust fan and 12cm rear exhaust fan) with support for five more. There are seven PCI expansion slots, and although it comes with just three optical drive bays, it does include eight toolless hard drive bays and an SSD mount at the bottom of the case.

And in other PC gaming news…

Well, The Old Republic early access has begun, and we’re all dead excited. You’ll find the UK’s Mint Imperials are on the Nightmare Lands sever and the US based Coconut Monkeys on The Crucible Pits. You can also get in touch with your guild members via the forums. Those of you who were lucky enough to grab the earliest of early accesses can leap on board and say hi to your fellow readers. Then we will begin the process of crushing the Republic dogs (including our own Revel Alliance) beneath our iron clad heels. Remember, if you fail us Tim will force choke you across the internet, you have been warned.

Check inside for ULTIMATE POWER PC GAMING NEWS.

Star Wars: The Old Republic to get Guild Capital Ships, more PvP, expanded space combat

Star Wars: The Old Republic has opened up to the first wave of pre-orderers, but Bioware are already talking about the future of The Old Republic. In a new post on The Old Republic community news page, the devs outline some of the features they’re planning to add, including new Operations, Flashpoints and extra solo missions. Guilds can expect to have their own banks before any other new features, but in the long run Bioware are hoping “to deliver on the promise of the long hinted at ‘Guild Capital Ships.’”

There’s also an entire team dedicated exclusively to building new PvP challenges. New Warzones will be high on the agenda, but there’s also talk about the high level open world PvP on Ilum, which few people got to see on the beta. The on-rails space shooter sections will also be expanded, with cryptic hints at “a special project” that will change space battles “in a significant way.” UI customisation and new Legacy features are also promised. You can read the full list of planned features below.

Alan Wake PC and new Humble Bundle teased in Steam registry files

Some inquisitive fellows on NeoGaf have been raiding the Steam content registry for clues, and seem to have come across some entries suggesting that that Alan Wake may be heading to PC.

In further support of the Alan Wake PC release rumours, Just Push Start spotted an interview on Finnish site YLEX in which Aki Järvilehto from Remedy said “we have received feedback from a lot of PC gamers, and I have to admit that yes, we somehow ignored that. Let’s see if in the near future we could have some positive news to tell you about dating!” We love positive news about dating!

Ultimate Christmas Giveaway: Win one of thirty 120GB Intel SSDs

UPDATE – This competition is now closed. We’re on to Day Two, where you can win a Skyrim Collector’s Edition.

Welcome to the PC Gamer Ultimate Christmas Giveaway! This is the biggest competition we’ve ever done: packed with peripherals, games, and exclusive items signed by some very important people. Why are we doing this? Because it’s Christmas! And we love you.

The Ultimate Christmas giveaway begins today and will until Christmas Eve. Every day we’ll be posting about a new prize that’s up for grabs, and you’ll have 24 hours after the time of publishing to enter. Sadly, we’re only able to open this competition to UK residents.

We’re kicking things off with one of the most desirable pieces of PC gaming kit around – an SSD. Solid State Drives are built of flash memory – that means you get faster loading times and a smoother overall experience for PC gamers. Thankfully we’re giving away thirty, yes thirty 120 GB 320 series Intel SSDs, capable of speeds of 270 MB/s. Phew.

Check inside for details of how to win:

Is it the end for ethernet?

Our favourite networking alphanumeric is 802.11n, but only when it comes to web surfing and watching videos online. Dual band routers and multiple antennas are fine as far as they go, but you can still spot the house of a gamer by the ethernet cables that trail loosely up the stairs.

Are the days of wirefree gaming finally upon us? Chip manufacturer Broadcom reckons it is.

Mojang to release Cobalt on Friday, if all goes to plan

Mojang have told Edge that they’re hoping to publish their first third party game, Cobalt this Friday, if all goes to plan.

“We haven’t told anyone [about the release date] yet because we’re aiming for Friday, but we don’t know if we can make it,” Mojang managing director Carl Manneh said to Edge. “But I think we can.”

Cobalt is a quirky robot platformer from Oxeye Game Studio. Mojang and Oxeye are working together to give it some extra polish before Friday. Like Minecraft, it will be released as an alpha and then regularly updated until it’s done.