The Secret World’s Scorched Desert location mapped out
We’ve just hacked into Funcom’s servers and got a top-secret trailer and screenshots for their upcoming MMO, The Secret World. OK, we totally made that bit about hacking into their servers up for the purposes of trying to do a joke about fact that The Secret World has the word “Secret” in the title. It’s not like you believed it for one minute, anyway.
The new trailer showcases the Scorched Desert location, and unlike many game trailers, it’s actually pretty good. There’s a certain Exorcist-like vibe to the location, with giant locusts and possessed people running around willy-nilly. Only The Exorcist didn’t feature people with shotguns executing all manner of hideous beasts.
The Secret World is set for release next April, and you can read our preview here. Read it now!
Get Crimecraft gold, a deluxe membership, and some Gamer Gear armour for free!
We’ve got 1,000 codes full of digital goodies for free to play MMO/third person shooter hybrid Crimecraft to give away. Crimecraft is split into a persistent city based lobby, in which players can socialise and form gangs before heading into combat instances to shoot the hell out of each other.
If that sounds like your sort of thing, you’ll want one of our codes to try it out. Check inside to see what you get and how to get it.
Team Fortress 2 Australian Christmas event adds new map, new items, doubles drop rate
The Team Fortress 2 Australian Christmas celebratory extravaganza is go! The free update adds a new control point map called Foundry which, according to the achievements list, will feature a big, deadly cauldron fire. Pyros and Engineers get new class packs and 50 items are 75% off in the Mann-Co store. The update is detailed on the Australian Christmas page on the Team Fortress 2 site. “But what about the new hats?” you’re perhaps asking, clawing at your unhatted head with eager fingers. Read on and all shall be revealed.
Syndicate trailer probes brains, hacks into mainframes
Who could have possibly predicted that putting electronic chips in everyone’s brains would one day backfire? The Syndicate trailers are looking pretty flashy, but it’s still hard to tell how much choice you’ll really have when confronting your corporate enemies. Will it be possible to stride through the whole game wielding nothing but a biro, hacking into the brains of everyone who stands in your way and doing away with them using a range of inventive cybernetic Jedi mind tricks? Hopefully yes. You can check out the Agent’s less subtle armoury of heavy weapons in the previous Syndicate trailer.
Skyrim officially becomes “fastest selling title in Steam’s history”
Ever since launch, Skyrim’s pretty much monopolized Steam’s most-played list (and, regrettably, the Internet’s entire supply of memes), so positively massive numbers were pretty much a foregone conclusion. That said, damn. First up, there’s this rather extraordinary bit:
“Skyrim is the fastest selling title in Steam’s history” said Jason Holtman, Valve’s director of business development (via IndustryGamers). “Bethesda’s commitment to and understanding of the PC as a gaming platform shows in the great review scores, spectacular launch, and continued high player numbers that Skyrim has received.”
Impressive? Certainly. But, uh, Holtman and I apparently didn’t fumble through the same wonky PC UI, whose convoluted layers made about as much sense as purchasing a plane ticket to visit your next door neighbors. Still though, a grand total of 10 million units shipped (not sold) and $650 million at retail on all platforms only serve to hammer home an obvious point: Skyrim’s kind of a big deal. Something tells me Tiny Tim the crippled Mudcrab is gonna have a magical Christmas after all. Well, until someone shouts him off a cliff, anyway.
Portalarium: Garriott’s Ultima conversations with EA were “casual”
The confusing tale of EA and Richard Garriott exchanging words or suggestive winks or smoke signals or something continues. First, Garriott claimed that Ultima-licensing-related talk had occurred at a “very high level.” Then EA more or less said, “Wait, what? Since when?” So I got in touch with Garriott’s current company, Portalarium, in an attempt to figure out why the two stories sounded like they’d occurred in alternate dimensions. Here’s what I found out.
Dungeons of Dredmor adds Emomancy, danger, Veganism in “Realm of the Diggle Gods” expansion
Gaslamp Games has released a $2.99 expansion to Dungeons of Dredmor, a roguelike we’ve come to cherish through 2011. For the price of a small hamburger, you can inject new skill trees, items, monster types, and more ways of being killed by one of our favorite indie games of the year. Buy it on Steam here.
I’ve pasted a breakdown of the expansion’s major content within. I think I’ll roll a vegan, vampire Emomancer tonight when I get home. Finally, an RPG that lets me build a Twilight character.
Tonight @7 PM PST: watch us livestream the insane final moments of Star Wars Galaxies
Out with the New Hope, in with the Old Republic. Tonight at 9 PM PST, Sony Online Entertainment will close Star Wars Galaxies forever. Before that happens, expect no-holds-barred battles of wackiness, fireworks, a PvP battle on Endor, space battles, and 50-foot-tall giant ewoks. We’ll be there to capture every speck of insanity beginning at 7 PM PST. Join our funeral tour of Galaxies’ final moments as we stare on Tatooine’s setting suns for the last time. Watch our livestream here.
Jagged Alliance: Back in Action hands-on preview
Jagged Alliance: Back in Action simultaneously attempts to recreate and reinvent the king of the tactical RPGs, Jagged Alliance 2. After a few hours with a preview build, I’m surprised at how well developer Coreplay has manged to square those contradictory objectives. Back in Action looks a great deal more fun and elegant than I ever expected, and I quickly got over my skepticism about its attempts to fix what was not broken. However, I also saw signs that it is hamstrung by its faithfulness to its predecessor, and has also cast aside some features that seem crucial to a good a tactical game.
And in other PC gaming news…
Did you hear? The Humble Indie Bundle made a million in a day! It’s really heartwarming to see indie developers being so hugely successful. It makes us wonder what the next bundle would contain. How about it readers? If you were putting together a bundle, what would you want to see included?
Check inside for a bundle of reasonably priced PC gaming news.
Prototype 2 preview
Before today I have never been able to imagine what it would be like for a man to uppercut a helicopter. Prototype 2 has shown me the light. The correct technique, according to new protagonist James Heller, is to jump onto the copter’s face, pull the nose down until the rotor blades are inches from the floor, wind up, and sock it on the chin. That will cause it to backflip twice and then explode in mid-air. Prototype 2 is going to be even more crazy and violent than the original.
Like Prototype, the sequel will let you climb, dash and glide around New York city. You’ll consume operatives of the evil Blackwatch corporation to steal their memories and identities. Your mission is to track down Alex Mercer, the shapeshifting anithero of the first game using the powers that turned him into a mutant killing machine.
Ultimate Christmas Giveaway: Win a bundle of Steelseries peripherals
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.
Mice and keyboards, they’re basically brilliant aren’t they? A tool of awesome power that lets you control games in ways console players can only dream about. Until the day when we’re able to plug our PCs directly into our brains, they’ll always be the best way to play. So, to help you better interface with the machine spirit, we’re giving away a bundle of Steelseries peripherals for you gaming pleasure. We’ve got a a high end keyboard, mouse and headset for one of our lucky readers, all you need to do is supply the PC.
Check inside for details of what you can win and how to win it.
The Witcher 2 devs claim 100% accuracy in identifying pirates, demand money from thousands
CD Projekt RED have sent legal notices demanding money from thousands of alleged pirates in Germany, with a threat of court action for anyone refusing to pay.
When The Witcher 2 was released earlier this year, its developers CD Projekt RED offered the game DRM-free via sister-company GOG.com. It was a smart move, and including retail copies with DRM included, The Witcher 2 sold over a million copies worldwide. When the DRM free version was announced, the other part of the story was that CDP RED would monitor torrent sites and pursue the pirates. TorrentFreak reported that they’re now doing exactly that, using the same deeply unpopular tactic used in the past by music companies and games publishers.
We spoke to CD Projekt RED to find out why they’ve decided to pursue pirates in this way, and why they think they’ve found a way to successfully identify pirates with 100% accuracy and “are not worried about tracking the wrong people.”
Max Payne 3′s Gang Wars multiplayer mixes things up
In an age of tacked-on multiplayer modes, Max Payne 3 aims to be different. Developers/publishers Rockstar have added a “Gang Wars” multiplayer mode which adapts to the play style of its players.
According to IGN, Gang Wars will feature the standard capture-the-flag style scenarios, with the twist that new scenarios are created on the fly. For instance, complete a drug-deal-gone-wrong (they always go wrong, don’t they?) mission as the dominant player and you’ll find a bounty on your head in the next mission. Win some territory in one round, and you’ll find yourself defusing bombs on it in the next.
Battlefield 3 tops list of games searches for 2011
What were you most interested in this year? According to Google, it was Battlefield 3 that topped the list of games-related search terms on the internet for 2011, making it into the company’s annual top ten of fastest rising queries for the year.
