Mojang releases Cobalt alpha, you can buy it
Honoring its unexpected promise, Mojang has made Cobalt—it’s first third-party published game—available for sale today. Head to www.playcobalt.com to take a look. Like Minecraft, the side-scrolling, 2D, multiplayer platformer has been released as an alpha that’ll be updated over time. If you have a Minecraft account, you can use it to buy and access Cobalt.
PC Gamer Rig: 2 more shopping days to The Old Republic
Planning to do nothing over the festive break but sit in your unmentionables playing games? Shame on you, there’s a whole world out there for you to explore and see you know. Even the most athletically aware of us must be planning to spend a little time with our PCs come Christmas, though, and there’s still time for an upgrade if you will.
And in other PC gaming news…
Today in the PC Gamer office, Chris Thursten came in wearing all black clothes, no, he hadn’t reverted to his goth phase, he was in mourning for Star Wars Galaxies. Speaking in sombre tones, he crafted a eulogy to his beloved friend, speaking of huge battles, giant ewoks and a one final jump to light speed. I ask you now PC gamers to join me in a minute’s silence for our fallen comrade.
Check inside for a bittersweet and grieving selection of PC Gaming news.
Seize power with TERA’s intriguing political system
Do you fancy yourself a born leader? What if you could prove it, without the fake photo smiles, baby-kissing, or mud-slinging of real world politics? With TERA’s upcoming political system, you can set out on a campaign for control from the comfort of your butt-contoured chair. In this exclusive video, hear from TERA producer Chris Hager as he explains the ins-and-outs of taking office in an MMO. Whether you attain leadership through brute force or popularity, you’ll have a heck of a time working to please the people and get the server population on your side. But hey—isn’t that what politics are all about?
APB Reloaded scores 3 million players in one week
The dust has finally settled on APB’s Reloaded reboot-up-the-arse, and it’s racked up a none-too-shabby 3 million registered players in the eight days after its release on Steam, according to Gamespot. The original, ridiculously troubled release apparently notched up a mere 130,000 players, but we heard rumours that this number was actually far lower.
It’s also currently sitting at number 15 in the Steam charts, making it the second most popular free-to-play game after the evergreen Team Fortress 2. 3 million isn’t such a bad number, too – it’s obviously dwarfed by the likes of Skyrim, but it’s almost up there with Battlefield 3′s 5 million copies. It’s also just over a quarter of the uber-popular League of Legends’ player base, too.
TrackMania 2: Canyon Powered by Players video gives us racing toilets
I played the original TrackMania not so much to death, but to the point where it was six feet under and the flowers had gone mouldy. In a way I’m not surprised by how little I’ve played its latest incarnation, TrackMania 2: Canyon. It’s the same jolly good physics-defying racing as the first, complete with the absurd track designs. But, for me at least, it just feels a bit too similar to the original.
This new video has piqued my interest, though. It reminds me of the thing that makes TrackMania great, other than the fact that you can drive upside-down: the community. I spent many a night up until 2am in that “just one more race” mentality, racing a hotchpotch of strangers on un-completable tracks. Once, I was racing three Swedish people on a track that simply consisted of a three-foot diameter tube and nothing else. We were all so determined to finish that we failed to see the futility of attempting to keep a racing car on a surface that it didn’t fit on in the first place.
PC Gamer UK January issue – Star Wars: The Old Republic
The Republic’s finest are striking heroic poses of readiness on the cover of the latest issue of PC Gamer UK, which should be wriggling through subscriber letterboxes about now. These fine defenders of peace and justice couldn’t be more prepared to take on the forces of darkness. They’ve read our huge guide to The Old Republic, containing 50 top tips to help you level. We also go behind the scenes to find out how this year’s biggest game was made.
As we ready ourselves for the Christmas feasts and New Year’s celebrations to come, we thought it would be the perfect time to look back and celebrate the very best of 2011 in our Game of the Year Awards. We also take a good look forwards at the most exciting games of 2012. The new issue contains a comprehensive run down of every game scheduled to come out on PC next year, so you can plan ahead, or simply reflect on how awesome PC gaming is going to be in the next 12 months.
There’s more inside, of course. Much, much more, including free access to Settlers Online, a free car in APB Reloaded, and our review of this little indie game you may have heard of called Minecraft. The issue will hit stores next Wednesday, andwill also be available to buy online, via Apple Newsstand and on Zinio. Read on, Padawan, and learn the secrets of Issue 235.
Ultimate Christmas Giveaway: Win a copy of Rage and a poster signed by John Carmack
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.
Ah Christmas, a time for family, a time for giving, and a time for blowing the heads of mutants, at least that’s what the guys at id think. So, to wish everyone a Merry Headshotmas, they’ve sent us a Rage poster signed by their staff, including John Carmack himself! They’ve also thrown in a copy of Rage and the Rage strategy guide too, that’s one hell of a prize.
Check inside for details, plus a closer look at the poster.
Forking hell: Toyota releases Forklift Challenge
I’ve never driven a forklift truck, so when Toyota releases a forklift truck simulator, I assume it’s exactly what being a forklift truck driver would be like. Apparently, forklift truck drivers don’t have faces or hair. Their job involves driving their forklift trucks around a racecourse-like track and delivering crates with demonic purple teddy bears sitting on them. They have to listen to awful music that immediately clashes with whatever they’re listening to. And every now and then they must stop and calibrate their forklift trucks using the most stupid mini-game in the world.
It reminds me of the bit in Shenmue where you have to get a job driving forklift trucks, which made me feel better about my life because I didn’t have a mundane job driving forklift trucks. Are there any forklift truck drivers out there? What’s your favourite forklift truck simulator? Does this Toyota game do a good job of modelling the physics of the three and four-wheeled variants of the Toyota Traigo 48?
Is water cooling making a comeback?
Have you considered water for cooling your PC? The received wisdom suggests you probably haven’t. Computer components have been getting gradually more efficient and cooler running, while at the same time traditional fan and metal heatsinks have improved in design to the point that they’re often more efficient than water coolers and cost a lot less.
According to some industry insiders, however, water cooling is undergoing something of a renaissance. Baroque designs and piping are back in fashion, so they say, and demand for water cooling has never been higher.
Actual figures are hard to come by, mind. Gartner and other analysts don’t really track the types of cooler PC owners are custom fitting to their machines, and any evidence one way or the other is entirely anecdotal. What’s almost certain, though, is that reports of the demise of the water cooler have been greatly exaggerated.
Skyrim Online adds multiplayer: not quite ready for primetime
Skyrim Online has achieved what many thought impossible. It’s giving Skyrim players the chance to play online. Previous attempts to do the same with Oblivion and Fallout 3 ended in failure, but modder awpsoleet has managed to get a rudimentary alpha version of a Skyrim MMO up and running even before mod tools have been released.
The mod is currently extremely basic. Players can chat with eachother and see a representation of other players. The mod’s description claims other players are represented by a ‘spectral horse’, which sounds hilarious, but the version I tested instead had unclothed player models in a standard animation pose, gliding around. You can attack and cast spells on other players, but they don’t currently display any effects.
Despite all this simplicity however, the mod represents an impressive first step on the road to a true Skyrim MMO mod. We’ll definitely be adding it to our Skyrim Mods list, and keeping a close eye on it.
Prototype 2 trailer goes hunting, punches a helicopter to death
In our Prototype 2 preview yesterday, we mentioned that the sequel’s new star, Heller, seemed nigh on invincible. In the new trailer we actually get to see bullets bouncing off him as he uses his “bulletproof” mutation. Darwinism is badass when it’s sped up several hundred million times by an experimental virus. Prototype 2 is due out in April next year, and looks like it’s going to be at least as mad as the first one. Find out more on the official Prototype site.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 gets Drop Zone game mode and community playlists
Call of Duty’s supply crates always remind me of Worms. In Team 17′s turn based worm battles, crates would drop from the sky at a regular rate. Those who got to them first would claim the most destructive weapons, including air strikes. Modern Warfare’s care packages are are similar. In the newly added game mode, Drop Zone, they will be even more important than ever.
Inside the final hours of Star Wars: Galaxies
24 hours before closure, Star Wars Galaxies does something few MMOs get a chance to: declare a winner. Like the world’s longest game of Battlefield, Imperial and Rebel control is assessed city by city, planet by planet. For years, players aligned to either faction have fought for this territory: now, at the end, it all boils down to a percentage.
On Starsider, the SWG server where I spent nearly three years, the breakdown is Imperials 28%, Rebels 72%.
Guild Wars 2 beta goes live today for a select few
In an Ask Me Anything Q&A on Reddit yesterday, Guild Wars 2 systems designer Jon Peters revealed that the MMO “will officially enter Closed Beta Testing this Friday.” It will only be open to a few carefully selected candidates, for now.
“Based on the feedback we get from our current Closed Beta Testing, we will determine the next phases of our beta program in which we will open beta access to more people,” he wrote
