Star Wars: The Old Republic early access invites gather pace
Bioware are still gradually rolling out early access to those who pre-ordered Star Wars: The Old Republic, and have been posting their progress on The Old Republic forums. Players who redeemed their pre-order codes earlier are getting in first. Yesterday Bioware say they admitted “people who had pre-ordered up to the very beginning of October (roughly).”
Today they’ll be inviting the same number of people in again. “That will take us up to the last week or so of November,” they say, adding that “on Friday, we’ll be inviting even more.” That suggests pretty much everyone who pre-ordered could be playing by the end of the week,
Humble Indie Bundle 4 makes $1 million in a day
Humble Bundle 4 has made as much money in a day as Humble Bundle 3 did in a week. The total payments sum is shown live on the Humble Indie Bundle 4 front page (currently $1,261,341 and counting). The folks behind the bundle tell us that it took the last sale seven days to reach similar figures, adding that Humble Bundle customers have donated more than $3 million to charity in total so far.
Risen 2 release date set for April
Risen 2: Dark Waters will arrive in the US on April 24 and in Europe on April 27, according to a post on the Risen 2 news page. This time The Nameless Hero will adventure through the archipelagos of the Southern Seas, discovering great treasures, fighting sea monsters and punching gnomes on the Isle of Thieves. Despite the gloomy tag, Dark Waters looks like it’s going to be a colourful, sunny place to explore, and full of pirates to boot. Find out more on the official Risen 2 site.
Bastion gets free Stranger’s Dream DLC
Bastion just got a little bigger with the addition of a new Stranger’s Dream sequence, a score attack mode, an easy mode for those who’d rather coast through and enjoy the story.
The Stranger’s Dream will unlock once you’ve completed the game once. It’s another ‘Who Knows Where’ level, in which the Kid must defeat waves of enemies as the narrator tells a short story. Supergiant say “you’ll gain a bit more insight into Rucks’ backstory as well as the history of Caelondia if you can survive this fight.”
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 getting new game modes
A quick tweet from Infinity Ward creative strategist Robert Bowling suggests that Modern Warfare 3 will be getting extra bits this weekend. “Ready for new game modes for Modern Warfare 3?” he tweeted, “I’ve got some surprises for you for the weekend. I’ll confirm full details tomorrow!” We should know more later today, then. We’ll update this post with the details as they’re announced.
Call of Duty does quite a good job of taking great ideas from modders and then implementing them with the level of polish you’d expect from a Modern Warfare game. Gun game was originally a Counter-Strike mod, of course, and the Spec Ops survival mode feels a lot like Tripwire’s excellent Killing Floor, so it’ll be interesting to see what Infinity Ward add next. We’re hoping for some extra co-op Spec Ops action.
EA denies Ultima Online discussions with Richard Garriott
Richard Garriott’s ambitious plans for Ultima Online 2 appear to have hit a bit of a snag. Like a bad horror movie plot twist, it turns out that his “very high level” discussions with EA don’t exist. And, I don’t know, his roommate’s actually been dead for 20 years or something. At any rate, EA’s giving the whole thing a big shoulder shrug.
“I’m not sure what Richard Garriott is referring to. But no one at EA is discussing partnership or licensing opportunities related to the Ultima Online franchise,” EA head of corporate communications Jeff Brown told IndustryGamers.
So yes, those stories are rather, er, at odds with one another. Somewhere along the line, wires clearly got crossed. As such, I’ve contacted both sides in hopes of straightening things out. More soon, hopefully – unless, of course, I’m actually a ghost.
First C&C: Tiberium Alliances trailer mixes old with new
After a somewhat surprising announcement earlier today, EA’s wasted no time giving Command and Conquer: Tiberium Alliances the trailer treatment. The good news: I saw a teensy bit of commanding, and some occasional conquering to boot. The bad news: This is probably not even close to what you were expecting. Put the trailer under the microscope, and you’ll discover a rather large helping of tower defense DNA. It may not exactly be the Command and Conquer you know and love, but is it worth your while? Check it out above and judge for yourself.
Halting the grind: Leveling in Aion just got easier
Aion is often the poster child for grind-heavy MMOs. At launch, this was very true, but NCsoft has made a lot of changes over the years in an attempt to alleviate some of that monotony, although some modifications have been more effective than others. Recent changes drew me back to see if I could climb out of the leveling ravine.
Day 2 – Star Wars: The Old Republic livestream
Watch live here and click through to watch our archived livestreams.
Half leveling machine, half Sith Agent, all gentleman, Josh Augustine hit level 12 in Star Wars: The Old Republic yesterday. Tag along and see the semi-ethical adventures of his Sith Agent as we continue to livestream Josh’s review progress in SWTOR today beginning at 11 AM PST. Josh will also answer your questions about the game live as he plays; join the chat!
And in other PC gaming news…
So, Battlefield 3 Back to Karkand is out, and has a nifty trailer to advertise that fact. It seems the new maps are going to bring in an interesting new feature. I speak of course of the abundance of quotations which litter the new maps. How will they work? Will they provide cover from gunfire? Are they destructible? Will we get xp for reading them? Only those playing Karkand can provide the answer.
Check inside for a selection of retro warmongering PC gaming news.
Sniper Elite V2 trailer shoots a man in the eye from quite far away
We were probably never meant to see what happens inside a man’s skull when he’s shot in the eye with a sniper bullet, but Rebellion are determined to show us. Producer Steve Hart told us that the skeletal mode is designed to give the player a greater sense of the consequence of pulling the trigger, “because sniping is such an intimate thing” he said, “it’s got an almost voyeuristic touch to it – you’re studying that person before you take that shot.” Before you ask. Yes, you can shoot a man in the balls. They’ve modelled that as well.
They’ve also released a series of decent screenshots, including and especially niceone in a ruined clock tower overlooking a flaming, bombed out city. Check it out.
Ultimate Christmas Giveaway: Skyrim Collector’s Edition
Update – This competition is now closed. Check out our Steelseries Bundle giveway instead.
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.
Sometimes it seems that everyone in the world is playing Skyrim, but, hard as it is to believe, there are some people who haven’t had the chance yet. Don’t worry, you poor unfortunately people, we’ve got your back. We’re giving away a collectors edition of Skyrim. Yes, that’s the £130 collector’s edition with the awesome model dragon you see above, plus some extra goodies sent to us from the folks at Bethesda.
Check inside for the full details of what’s on offer and how to win it.
Alan Wake PC confirmed, will arrive early next year
The sleuths who spotted Alan wake in Steam’s registry files recently have been proved correct. Remedy have confirmed that Alan Wake will finally be coming to PC by way of Steam. One screenshot of the PC version has been released with a watermark teasing an “early 2012″ release. Thanks to Dan Grill for the tip off. Here’s that screenshot.
Guild Wars 2 Mesmer revealed, can summon clones armed with magic shotguns
As expected, the latest Profession to be revealed for Guild Wars 2 is the Mesmer. As you might expect from the name, Mesmers specialise in using mind tricks and illusion to defeat their enemies. It’s a less subtle art than you might expect. Auras of invisibility and doppelganger companions are all standard fare for your average combat magician. It’s the portal/laser beam sword combination that really sells the profession. It looks perfect for some high level PvP trolling and, with skill names like “Chaos Storm” and “Mind Wrack,” feels like a powerful addition to the Guild Wars 2 roster.
You can find out more about the specific abilities the Mesmer will be able to wield on the new Mesmer section of the Guild Wars 2 site. Meanwhile, here are twelve new screenshots of the various Mesmer warriors from the trailer above.
LittleBIGbunch sale is go, pay what you want for Frozen Synapse, Munch’s Oddysee and more
‘Tis the season for increasingly excellent indie bundles. The LittleBIGbunch sale has gone live now on Get Games. It contains the excellent turn based strategy, Frozen Synapse, plaformer Explodemon, Serious Sam Double D, Munch’s Oddysee and New Star Soccer. You can use the payment slider to decide how much cash you want to lay down (or write the number into the payment box), and then decide how your payment gets divided up between the developers and GamesAid.
If you’re on the hunt for more great deals, the rumoured Humble Indie Bundle 4 went live earlier today. That includes Jamestown, Bit.Trip Runner, Super Meat Boy, Shank, and NightSky. If you pay more than the average donation, you’ll also get Cave Story+ and Gratuitous Space Battles. Buy both packs and you’ll have plenty to play over the Xmas holidays.
