Xenonauts dumps PayPal for Desura, starts taking cheaper pre-orders
You can’t keep a good indie X-COM homage down. Several weeks ago, PayPal locked down Xenonauts developer Goldhawk Interactive’s account for 180 days (presumably because PayPal has been infiltrated by Sectiods). To dodge that bullet, Goldhawk took a cue from fellow indie dev and PayPal victim Project Zomboid and and set up shop on the friendlier shores of Desura.
Xenonauts’ Project Lead Chris England explained the move in an email sent to pre-order customers, and also announced a pre-order price drop from $30 to a more impulse-buyable $20. If you’ve already pre-ordered at $30, you’re now signed up for a “premium” version of Xenonauts (though what exactly that means isn’t specified) or you can accept a $10 refund. Both standard and premium customers will get access to the preview build of the game. Also, England says he plans to offer a choice of redeeming pre-orders on Steam when Xenonauts is released, if Steam accepts the game.
Win free admission to Nvidia’s GeForce LAN 6 – on a freakin’ aircraft carrier [US only]
Ever gone to a BYOC (bring your own computer) LAN event? Yeah? How about one held aboard a decommissioned aircraft carrier?
No? That’s what we thought—but we, and the good folk at Corsair, are here to make sure you never have to endure the shame of admitting that you’ve never been to a BYOC LAN event on an aircraft carrier ever again. Read on to find out how!
Update: Winners have been drawn!
PC Gamer US, September issue: BioShock Infinite
BioShock Infinite stole the show at E3, and now it steals our September issue cover with an in-depth look at the high-flying shooter sequel and interviews with Ken Levine and his team at Irrational. We also got hands-on with two real-time strategy heavyweights, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm and Age of Empires Online, took an exclusive look at Diablo III’s followers, and reviewed indie tactical strategy hit Frozen Synapse and gorgeous racer DiRT 3. Oh, and we show you how you can strap a heavy machine gun to a cow in Arma 2.
A week too late, Steam announces a new download system
One week after Steam was crushed by huge demand from ravenous, bargain-crazed PC game buyers, Valve has announced that Steam will roll out a “better, stronger, faster” download system. (Better late than never, we suppose.) The statement doesn’t go too in-depth on what’s happening behind the curtain, but it does say that data will be sent via a firewall-friendly HTTP system “and will automatically take advantage of web-caching proxies installed at ISPs.”
More importantly, this update will make the patches you download smaller. The way the current system works, if there’s a 1MB patch to a 10MB file, you have to download the full 10MB file. The new system will reduce your download burden to just the 1MB difference. So the next time you go to launch a game and find that it needs to download a patch before it’ll start, that time may be significantly reduced.
But wait, there’s more! Further down the line, Valve says this system will allow Steam to finally implement some requested features, “like download scheduling, bandwidth throttling, and prioritizing which games get downloaded first. You’ll also be able to download an update to a game while you’re playing that game; Steam will apply the update after you exit the game.” And on that day, one of our biggest gripes with Steam will finally evaporate forever.
Don’t know what to play? Add an “I’m feeling lucky” button to Steam
Choice paralysis strikes gamers all too often, especially in the wake of a Steam Summer Sale. Dozens of options are just a double-click away, but all you can do is stare at the daunting list of unplayed games, unable to make up your mind.
No longer: Reddit user benmatth took a page from Google’s playbook and created an EXE that, when run, picks a game from your list at random and starts it up. In our first test on Evan’s PC it ran Arma 2 – which, let’s face it, he was gonna do anyway – but this is a great way to make sure that none of your games feel neglected.
Download it here, give it a shot, and let us know what it runs in the comments!
Note: the program’s only been around for less than a day at the time of this writing, so it might still have a few bugs. On one of our PCs it just crashes every time, which is neither random nor lucky.
Update: Version 4 fixed our problem.
Seriously, Microsoft? GFW Marketplace moving to Xbox.com
Remember not too long ago when Microsoft claimed there’d be a new push into PC gaming by the software giant? Well, they’re kicking that bold initiative off by relocating the freshly relaunched (and actually respectable) Games for Windows Marketplace PC game store to…wait for it…Xbox.com. Because when you think of PC gaming, the first place you look is Xbox.com. That’s quite a slap in the face – how much more out-of-touch with PC gamers could they get? Was the crushing cost of maintaining the domain registration of www.gamesforwindows.com really dragging down Microsoft’s bottom line?
The details on the merge listed on the site read as follows:
“Games for Windows Marketplace will fully transition over to Xbox.com. Now you can get all of your gaming needs in one place. It’s convenient, it’s concentrated, and it’s a whole lot of great games.”
There are so many things wrong with that statement it’s hard to know where to begin. We’ve reached out to MS for comment.
Update: Microsoft responds with a predictably uninteresting statement. Hit Read More to be underwhelmed. We’re pushing further, but 4th of July festivities mean we probably won’t hear back until next week.
Update #2: Microsoft has declined our request for an interview on this topic. We are shocked. Shocked.
Portal 2: Songs to Test By Volume 2 now available
The free stuff just keeps on coming. Today: another 18 tracks worth of completely free Portal 2 original soundtrack tunes, now available from the official site (you can also grab the 22 tracks from Volume 1 from that page). This batch contains some fast-paced action, such as You Will Be Perfect, and more dramatic and haunting fare like I AM NOT A MORON and PotatOS Lament. Give it a listen to it as you download all the games you bought today on the Steam Summer Camp Sale.
Hold on to your wallets! The Steam Summer Camp Sale has begun
‘Tis the season! On the first day of a planned 10-day sale, Steam has cut deep into the prices of a ton of PC games. Today’s highlight is the recently released The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings for $33.50, but if you’ve already got that, how about Dawn of War II: Retribution for $15, or Operation Flashpoint: Red River for $30? EA’s Medal of Honor has hit that magic $10 price point where it might be worth grabbing just to see if it’s as “meh” as you’d heard, and if you somehow don’t already own Oblivion Game of the Year edition, it’s less than $7. Valve’s games are all 33% off for the entirety of the sale, so if you held off getting Portal 2 until now, or want to get a buddy in on the co-op for cheap, you can do so for $33.50.
What’re you picking up first? Let us know in the comments.
Edit: And yes, you can also win prizes by earning in-game achievements. Today’s roster is Beat.Trip.Beat, DoW2: Retribution, Lead and Gold, AaAaAA!!! – A Reckless Disregard for Gravity, Toki Tori, and Swords and Soldiers HD.
Blacklight Retribution shows off its free-to-play DX11 effects
Like those shiny DirectX 11 effects from Crysis 2′s ultra update, but don’t like spending money? Blacklight Retribution promises to make use of your fancy GPU’s features in a free-to-play shooter. The above trailer shows off some pretty slick looking environments and lighting for you to get blood all over when the game launches early next year.
If you’ve got the August issue of PCG US, open to pages 38 and 39 to see our preview of Blacklight’s arsenal of more than 200 guns.
US Supreme Court strikes down game law – you still shouldn’t let your kids play Bulletstorm
In a complete lack of surprise, the United States Supreme Court has upheld the lower court’s decision that California’s attempt to ban the sale of violent games to minors is unconstitutional. The vote was seven to two, with Justices Thomas and Breyer dissenting. You can read the full, massive PDF of the ruling here, but here’s the gist of it:
“Like the protected books, plays, and movies that preceded them, video games communicate ideas—and even social messages—through many familiar literary devices (such as characters, dialogue, plot, and music) and through features distinctive to the medium (such as the player’s interaction with the virtual world). That suffices to confer First Amendment protection.”
“…The State wishes to create a wholly new category of content-based regulation that is permissible only for speech directed at children. That is unprecedented and mistaken. This country has no tradition of specially restricting children’s access to depictions of violence.”
“California’s claim that ’interactive’ video games present special problems, in that the player participates in the violent action on screen and determines its outcome, is unpersuasive.”
So +1 to freedom of speech! It’s a good day for gamers – not because it’s a good idea to expose children to games in which human entrails are playthings, but because (among other things) if each state had been allowed to create its own criteria for what’s violent and what’s not, it’d make selling such games nearly impossible.
Crysis 2 DirectX 11 patch released
Three months after the release of Crysis 2, Crytek has finally released a trio of patches, totaling 2.32GB, to enable its promised DX11 features. According to our calculations, that’s at least two more DirectXes than it had at launch. It’ll definitely look prettier now (not that it was ever even close to ugly to begin with), but will that be enough to bring you back to play the game again, or has its moment in the spotlight already passed?
Edit: EA follows up by announcing that the map editor will be available for download from mycrysis.com this Wednesday.
Surprise! Alice: Madness Returns shows up on Steam after all
What the heck is up with EA and Steam? First they’re buddy-buddy, then EA launches Origin (at this point little more than a new coat of paint on the EA Download Store) and games start disappearing off of Steam. EA blames Steam and Valve, Valve says not a lot about anything.
Today, a couple of days after launch, Alice: Madness Returns has popped up on Steam without notice – so apparently whatever breech of agreement that resulted in the removal of Crysis 2 from Steam has not prevented EA from putting up new games. EA PR Director Amanda Taggart sent over this not-very-revealing statement:
“EA Partners and Spicy Horse Games appreciate Steam’s decision to sell Alice: Madness Returns. The game is also available on several other download services including Amazon, Gamestop and Origin.com.”
My personal pet theory is that EA simply wants to own all of the pre-orders on its games, without splitting that sweet, sweet cash with Valve. I expect to see most EA games – including Battlefield 3 – pop up on Steam after launch.
The internet does not like Battlefield 3′s pre-order bonus plans
The announcement that Battlefield 3 would employ the retailer-specific pre-order in-game bonus item scheme has some of the franchise’s vocal fans breaking out big guns of their own: canceled pre-orders.
EA announced today that The Physical Warfare Pack (which will be available world-wide) will arm eager soldiers with the Type 88 Light Machine Gun, described as having “superior firepower;” a flash suppressor for the SKS sniper rifle that “reduces enemy awareness of your position” and is “the essential weapon mod for teamplay Recons at the front;” and armor-penetrating flechette shotgun ammo. All of these items will be 100 percent exclusive to the PWP. It also lists the DAO-12 shotgun (described as a “powerful” and with a “high capacity 12-round magazine) as a “Day 1 unlock” – presumably that means it will be unlockable in the game, but pre-order customers won’t have to jump through any hoops to earn it.
No joke: World of Planes flight sim MMO is real
They all laughed back on April 4, when PC Gamer posted a story on World of Planes, an exciting massively multiplayer WWII flight sim from Wings of Prey developer Gaijin Entertainment…which Gaijin revealed on their forums to be a joke. Yeah yeah, we fell for it. Very funny.
Well, who’s laughing now?
That’s right: Gaijin checked in today to say that World of Planes [update: not to be confused with Wargaming.net's just-announced World of Warplanes] is not, in fact, an April Fools joke, but a real game about planes and the wonderful world they fly in.
We’ve learned a valuable lesson from this: all April Fools joke game announcements are real, no matter how much developers may claim otherwise.
Modern Warfare 3 screenshots non-leaked
Entirely on purpose, Activision PR has released a set of three new screens from this year’s inevitable record-shattering-yet-divisive blockbuster military first-person shooter. If yesterday’s trailer and the leak from last week left any doubt in your mind that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 would involve men with guns in a variety of locations, some of them damp, let these shots put your fears to rest.
