The First Moments of Minecraft
On May 17, 2009, 04:24:07 AM, Markus Persson posted an alpha version of Minecraft to the Feedback forum on TIGSource.com. The image above was the screenshot, and there was a link to launch the in-browser Java applet. “The main inspiration for this game is Infiniminer, but it’s going to move in a more Dwarf Fortress way, gameplay wise. =)”.
You’ll often find articles that tell the “oral history” of something, with direct quotes from those involved telling the story of a band’s success, or a TV show’s creation. With Minecraft, to begin with, there was just Notch and the internet. Instead of an oral history, you have a messageboard history, as the game was rapidly updated and players commented.
When Notch posted that first Minecraft link, the game was only at version 0.0.11a. It took 7 minutes and 57 seconds for someone to post the first response: “Their animations pretty crazy,” said forum user Schtee. Over the next 24 hours, 4 pages of comments were posted. Looking through the full thread, it’s remarkable how quickly the game seemed to capture player’s imaginations.
We’ve quoted some of these comments below to try to tell the story of those first few moments with the game, including the first screenshot shared by a player, where the Minecraft name came from, and two game modes that were planned but never made the cut.
Portal 2 – PC Gamer UK’s co-op game of the year
In most co-operative games, players don’t work together so much as work beside one another. The closest you’ll get to real teamwork is pulling the trigger at the same time. Portal 2 doesn’t work that way. Its co-op problems are impossible without a friend, and each reality-twisting solution forces you to share a brain.
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.”
How to play Saints Row 3 as a toilet
Saints Row 3 is the unrestricted id of gaming smeared across an open world city. It’s brash, juvenile, violent and obsessed with toilet humour. So much so that you can play the game as a toilet.
Watch the video above, and then read on for how you can easily do it yourself in an instant and without mods.
Modern Warfare 3 PC impressions
I’ve been playing Modern Warfare 3′s multiplayer a little bit this morning. First impression? If you sat me down in front of it and told me it was Modern Warfare 2, I wouldn’t know you were lying.
There are differences. The maps are new, and tighter. From my experiences so far, there are fewer courtyards lined with sniper-filled windows. I also know that there are Perk changes, because I’ve read about them.
But the first time I connected to a server, I was instantly killed by a helicopter I had no hope of destroying or avoiding. The game looks visually dated. The sounds and menus are all taken directly from previous games. The similarity isn’t necessarily a criticism. Modern Warfare’s multiplayer has always been a hair short of brilliant. I’ve been having a ton of fun with it so far.
Battlelog is a bit mad, isn’t it?
Battlelog, EA’s service for tracking player statistics in Battlefield 3, is a really cool service. It’s great to be able to see your progress, compare your score and accuracy against your friends, and look at the player leaderboards for the entire world.
The problem is that Battlelog isn’t used solely to track stats; it’s also Battlefield 3′s server browser and menu. I have an unlocked copy of the game, but when I tried to log in to the service this morning, I was told that Battlelog was currently closed and that I should come back later. That meant that I couldn’t play online.
Battlefield 3 first impressions
I’ve been playing Battlefield 3 for the last few days. You might have noticed reviews appearing on other sites, but not here on PCGamer.com. That’s because, due to issues with the game, I haven’t been able to play enough of either the co-operative or multiplayer modes. I don’t know if these problems will be part of the final release, or whether they’re specific to the review set up, but for now we’ve decided to wait until we can play it more. Read on for more details on the problems we encountered, and my thoughts on the singleplayer, which I’ve completed.
Card Hunter, from developers of BioShock, Captain Forever and Magic: The Gathering
What do game developers do when they get tired of making immersive, big budget first-person shooters? They make digital card games. Card Hunter is being developed by Blue Manchu Games, led by Jon Chey, Ken Levine’s former producing partner at Looking Glass and Irrational Games. Jon previously worked on Thief, System Shock 2, and BioShock, and he’s joined by Farbs (indie developer of the Captain Forever series), fellow Looking Glass vets Dorian Hart and Ben Lee, and the creator of Magic: The Gathering.
Right now, information about how the game plays is fairly thin on the ground, and the above trailer is described as “awesomely inaccurate.” We do know that it’ll be free to play, primarily singleplayer, and that they’re striving to avoid anything that could be described as “pay to win”. There’s an ongoing Card Hunter blog, if you’re thirsty for more.
Thanks to Jay Kyburz – another Irrational vet who now makes similar games like Neptune’s Pride and Jupiter’s Folly – for pointing this game out to us.
Star Wars: The Old Republic Eternity Vault raid showcased at Gamescom
EA’s press conference at Gamescom just ended, where after announcing Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes, Dr. Ray Muzyka showed The Old Republic’s first “operation” – or raid, clarity fans – the Eternity Vault. It was first announced at E3 with a snazzy trailer, but this was the world’s first chance to see it being played.
The Eternity Vault is an eight or sixteen player mission on an ice planet “where an enemy older than both the Republic and the Empire has been contained.” It’s a prison, and it must hold some real bad people inside. How bad is up to the players, who can change the difficulty of the raid before they start.
Minecon first details; Mojang’s Minecraft Convention takes place Nov 18th-19th in Las Vegas
The first details of Minecon, the Minecraft convention, have been released to PC Gamer. The event will take place on November 18th-19th and will coincide with the launch of Minecraft’s full release.
“For me, MineCon is about celebrating the full release of Minecraft,” said Notch via email. “I’m really looking forward to getting up on stage and pushing the button to upload the final build.” Read on for more details.
Total War: Shogun 2 DLC adds 10 new elite units
New £1.99 DLC for Total War: Shogun 2 has just been released, introducing 10 elite units for the game’s various singleplayer and multiplayer game modes. These include a Bulletproof Samurai and a Marathon Monk, who sound amazing in themselves but who presumably later get together and give birth to a Seann William Scott “comedy”.
One of the nice things about being a games journalist is that very few of your co-workers have degrees relevant to their field. Instead, they have much more interesting degrees, like Rich’s in Japanese History.
Fly through Liberty City using this incredible GTA 4 Superman mod
Without a single official modding tool, Grand Theft Auto IV’s community have quietly been tweaking and expanding the game in every possible way. There’s the beautiful iCenhancer graphics mod that makes it look like a game from five years in the future, or the trainer that adds a gravity gun, and the ability to turn every car into a frictionless missile.
And now there’s a mod that makes you look and fly like Superman. I’ve explained where you can get it and how you can install it before, along with more videos.
Smart Casual – How PopCap conquered casual gaming
Following the news that PopCap has been purchased by EA. We’ve decided to bring you a feature on the mammoth casual games developer that originally ran in PC Gamer UK issue 220.
Sitting on the floor of Benaroya Hall in Seattle, I’m depressed as hell. I’ve come to the Casual Connect Conference 2010 to hear the makers of casual and social games share their ideas, but in three days of lectures I haven’t heard a single idea about games.
Instead they’re talking about how designers don’t matter. They’re talking about how psychological tricks can turn their audience into zombies. They’re talking about how to use metrics to better monetise your mum. This isn’t just the industry’s business men and women talking, either; these are the people who actually make the games. At a point in history when a new and huge mainstream audience is trying computer games for the first time, our ambassadors aren’t interested in talking about how to make something fun.
Magicka’s buggy launch: “We didn’t know the game was being released”
Wizarding adventure Magicka might have gone on to sell 600,000 copies, but the game had a rocky start. When the game first launched, players experienced bugs that made it basically unplayable in both singleplayer and multiplayer, and it was weeks before it was stable.
At E3 last month, I spoke to Emil Englund, one of the founders of developers Arrowhead Game Studios, and asked him how the buggy launch happened.
Fract trailer: a first-person puzzle game that looks like a neon Darwinia
Fract is a first-person puzzle game with that looks like a cross between Darwinia and a Daft Punk video. The puzzles are pretty simple – twisting knobs or pushing buttons to match patterns – but it looks stunning and the world responds in ways that makes solving those puzzles extremely rewarding.
The game isn’t finished yet, but you can download a beta for Windows or Mac from the Fract site. Or skip below for more screenshots.
