Ultimate Christmas Giveaway: Win a new PNY graphics card and RAM
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 will run 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 at PC Gamer understand that not everyone who reads our website has a supercooled doomrig of awesome, we know some of you are gaming on older PCs, which is why we’re giving you the chance to win a new graphics card and some RAM. We’ve got a PNY GeForce 550 and a PNY 4GB DDR3 RAM kit up for grabs, enough to suddenly propel your struggling old PC into the latest generation of gaming.
Check inside for details of how to win.
Will Hideo Kojima’s Project Ogre come to the PC?
Hideo Kojima’s much loved Metal Gear Solid series rarely appears on the PC, but there’s a chance that his new project might get an airing on our beloved black boxes. Dubbed “Project Ogre”, very little is known about the game, other than it’s going to be an open-world adventure. As reported on 1UP, Kojima told CNN that the new game will have, “A very wide entrance, a very open entrance,”
It will also be a step away from the blockbuster approach of the Metal Gear Solid, in favour of Skyrim-style exploration – albeit with a modern day setting, according to the screenshots. “Rather than making something very cinematic, [I plan to] make something very free,” Kojima said.
The game is thought to run in Kojima’s Fox engine, which 1UP reported on back in June. It’s said to be multiplatform, and compatible with a PS3 controller, an Xbox controller, and – crucially – a mouse. Of course, the mouse could just be standing in for the Wii U’s weird new controller, but it’s more than likely that the game will arrive on the PC.
1UP also posted an image from Kojima’s Twitter that showed a Fox engine render of one of the game’s programmers, allegedly put together in about an hour. Apparently it’s also capable of translucent clothing and realistic dust particles. It seems like an impressive engine, with the screenshots recalling Far Cry 2’s lush tropics. But we’re not sure if Kojima will be able to let go of his more constrained, linear roots in console gaming.
Risen 2 trailer talks pirates, inquisitors and faithful gnome servants
Did Piranha Bytes decide to set Risen 2 on a series of pirate island so they could turn their studios into a pretend jungle? Possibly. The latest developer diary reveals more about Risen 2′s factions and creatures and gives the devs the opportunity to squat in the middle of their cardboard forests like real adventurers. The inquisition return from the first Risen game, and it looks like we’ll be choosing to side with them or the island natives over the course of the sequel. The RPG will come out in April. It looks interesting, but will we have tired by Skyrim by then?
Unity 3.5 to be released shortly, Flash support added
Revolutionary 3D web engine Unity will launch its 3.5 public beta at 4pm today, according to our superfriends over at Edge. The free engine will include Flash support for the first time, which means developers can export their projects quickly and easily to the ubiquitous Flash interface.
As reported in Edge earlier this year, the Flash export requires absolutely no additional coding on the developer’s part, and will bring the engine to a larger userbase, albeit with fewer features. “In the beginning the Unity Player will have better performance, and some features that Flash doesn’t have,” Unity engineer Lucas Meijer said. “But we hope that they will catch up with us – we’re not happy that that feature gap exists, we’re sad that it exists.”
The Flash engine has already been demonstrated with Unity’s open source shooter Angry Bots, and you’ll be able to download it from Unity’s official site later today. Unity will also launch a competition to create a flash game, with $20,000 up for grabs.
PC Gamer’s Mint Imperials hit Korriban with an impressive show of force. Also: streaking
Star Wars: The Old Republic’s world can sometimes feel a little lonely. Companions are good for crafting and questing but they don’t do much dancing or streaking of their own accord. And some of them get annoyed if you farm bodies for dark side points. Eh… MAKO?
That all changed for me at 10pm on launch day. The above footage was taken at the steps of the Sith Academy in Korriban; it’s the busiest I’ve ever seen an area in TOR, the greatest moment of my Old Republic experience so far, and a testament to the awesomeness of PC Gamer’s EU guild: The Mint Imperials. Thanks to all that attended, danced and streaked. And apologies to anyone who couldn’t join the instance because Bioware’s server was imploding.
AMD launches HD7970 and Graphics Core Next
AMD’s dropped an almost unexpected Christmas present into our laps this morning: the launch of the company’s latest flagship graphics card, the Radeon HD7970. As well as stealing the ‘fastest single chip graphics card’ title back from NVIDIA for the time being, the HD7970 is the first card manufactured on its microscopic 28nm process and is the first to use the all-new ‘Graphics Core Next’ (GCN) architecture.
But what does that mean, and is it any good for gaming?
Planetside 2 beta sign-ups now live
Sony are taking beta sign-ups for Planetside 2 beta right now. Massively mention that you can drop your name in the hat on the Planetsdie 2 beta page. Simply sign in with your Sony Online Entertainment Station login details for a chance of grabbing a spot. If you don’t have a login, you can set up an account pretty quickly here. Of all the games you could get into early next year, Sony’s massive MMOFPS sequel is a very hot ticket.
Monaco multiplayer movie musters merriment
Top-down indie heist ‘em up Monaco: What’s yours is mine has a new trailer, according to those lovely chaps over at RPS. Soundtracked with an authentic-sounding plinky-plonk piano, it highlights the multiplayer portion of the game. It’s definitely best viewed in full-screen at 1080p, otherwise it just looks like something a nine-year-old made in the 1995 Micro Machines engine. It still looks like damn good fun, though, and it’s hugely impressive due to the fact that it was born of the depression of one man.
Spec Ops: The Line trailer has dune traps, sandstorms, marines and madmen
Spec Ops: The Line had been lost in the sands until the appearance of last month’s trailers. Here’s another one, featuring more punching, occasional shooting and narration from a suspicious sort in a dark room with a microphone. Where do these madmen keep coming from?
The Gears of War influence is obvious. Beyond the unusual setting, it’ll be interesting to see if Spec Ops does anything new with the familiar cover-to-cover scrambling of the modern third person shooter. The treacherous dunes of an unstable desert city make Spec Ops stand out from the throng, but the early trailers are heavy with the tang of testosterone. We’ll have to wait and see if Spec Ops’ characters do anything to stretch the angry-bro-in-big-armour template. It’s due out next Spring.
Humble Indie Bundle sets minimum $1 donation thanks to Steam scam
The well-meaning earnestness and awesome gaminess of the Humble Indie Bundle IV are being exploited by evil internet users who would probably sell their own grans to be in with a chance of winning the latest Steam competition.
According to the Humble Indie Bundle blog, distinctly un-humble buyers are using the Steam codes from the Humble Indie Bundle to legitimise throwaway Steam accounts created specifically to enter Valve’s current raffle. “It’s a lose-lose situation for the indie developers, charities, Valve, and Humble Bundle,” says the blog.
Game of Thrones RPG gets first trailer, shows lots of running
Update: I found another trailer! It has stabbing. It’s after the break.
Original story: The Old Republic could have been a Game of Thrones MMO, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be. However, for those hoping to role-play their way through Westeros, there’s still hope. Cyanide’s putting the finishing touches on a single-player side-story that’s set for release in “early 2012,” and now it has a trailer (via Eurogamer) that could safely be described as existent.
And in other PC gaming news…
Last night, the PC Gamer Mint Imperials united to celebrate the launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic. Sadly I missed it, but Rich and Owen were in attendance as the guild massed on the steps to the Sith Academy on Korriban and posing dramatically. Afterwards they retired to a lightsaber lit rave in the nearby cantina, before streaking through the academy halls like some sort of terrifying Sith fraternity. Apologies to all those new players scared by our mad naked dash across the planet, here’s a Old Republic beginner’s guide to make up for it.
Check inside for a selection of crazy naked PC gaming news.
Star Wars: The Old Republic could have been A Game of Thrones MMO
Bioware’s multi-million dollar Star Wars MMO is alive and kicking. Throngs of players are battling through its vast zones, looting and levelling and making “I used to play Skyrim but then I took a TOR in the knee” jokes. It’s hard to imagine that it all began with three men sitting in a room in Edmonton, Canada, drawing up design documents. We caught up with game director James Ohlen to discover to discover what The Old Republic could have been, and how Bioware decided on Star Wars.
“We had backup plans,” said Ohlen. “In all the design team was like three of us at that point, in total. So we were looking at doing a Lord of the Rings MMO, a Silmarillion MMO, a kind of a Gunslinger-esque Dark Tower MMO, a Game of Thrones MMO.”
The Old Republic beginner’s guide
The launch of an MMO is a confusing time. The world is fresh and new, and everyone is still learning how to play it. Which is why, now that The Old Republic has launched, we’ve put together a list of our top 50 tips, learned from hours of beta play to help you get to grips with the new game. For MMO newcomers and veterans alike, we’ve created a definitive guide to classes, companions, conversations, crafting and every other aspect of the game.
Check inside for the full list of our fifty things you need to know about The Old Republic.
X-Plane 10 helps actual planes to land
Hyper-realistic flight simulator X-Plane 10 is sharing parts of its brain with an in-flight navigation system that will help aircraft find a safe landing spot during an emergency. The technology is the brainchild of X-Plane creator and aeronautical engineer Austin Meyer, who has incorporated it into his own plane.
The same physics engine that supports X-Plane 10 forms the basis for the tech, which also uses the simulator for extensive testing. As you fly, a stripped-down version of the code is constantly assessing nearby airfields based on landing strip length, quality, and local weather. It then uses the simulator’s flight model to plot a safe course down to the ground, painting ‘croquet hoops’ on the heads-up display to guide the plane down – turning a potentially terrifying situation into a game of Pilot Wings.
