Those of us in the United States have a three-day weekend coming up, and this isn’t one of those “family” holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving. This is boring ol’ Labor Day, which, for gamers, means that we’re looking at a solid 72 hours of prime gaming time. But what about the gamer whose gaming collection has run low? How will they possibly fill the long weekend without new games to play? Don’t worry, as always, PC Gamer’s got your back. Here’s our roundup of games with free-to-play weekends, open betas, or recently launched free-to-play games to keep you interested. And if that’s not enough, we’re giving away five retail games to keep you gaming all weekend long and beyond!
I don’t want to battle giant dragons or animated skeletons in the upcoming Final Fantasy MMO. I don’t want to slash throats. I don’t want to cast spells. All I want is to find a quiet corner of the countryside to relax and pass my days in Hydaelyn catching fish.
Fishing in video games has always enraptured me. I spent countless hours on the dock in Stormwind’s moat watching waves of players blur by on their way to trainers or vendors, before sprinting back out to chase down adventure while I watched a little cork bob up and down in the water. I watched my sim’s family fall apart and the bill collectors bang down the door while I fished in the park’s pond for weeks on end in Sims 3. And that’s why I’m so excited about FFXIV’s flexible class design–the design that let me choose “fisherman” as my starting class when I recently got a chance to play it at a demo.
City of Heroes’ latest expansion finally launches today! We’ve been talking with the developers over the past couple months to get the inside scoop on how they put the expansion together and and giving you a look into their processes. They’ve been working like crazy to get to this day, when players can finally play all their new content. So how are they feeling now? What are they going to do first in the game? And which of them are dastardly villains in disguise? We check in with them to find out all this and more!
Giveaway: We’re giving away 10 mutant booster pack codes to CoH fans that tell us an anecdote from their time spent playing GR so far or what they’re doing first when they get to play the GR expansion. The codes require that you have an existing account and winners will be picked tomorrow.
No developer has a bigger stake in what “DotA” (the highly popular Warcraft III mod, Defense of the Ancients) means today than Riot Games, the budding developer of the free-to-play DotA-esque arena game League of Legends. League of Legends has quietly developed into an enormous community, and it’s a game all PC gamers should at least try. So when the suprising news came out last week that Valve had submitted an application to trademark “DotA”, we sat down with two of the top dogs at Riot Games who were major forces in the DotA community before they signed up at Riot–Steve “Guinsoo” Feak and Steve “Pendragon” Mescon. If anyone has a right to claim the name “DotA”, it seems like it would be these guys, so we asked them what they thought of the recent announcement and what they plan to do about it.
Aion’s next big patch, dubbed “Aion 2.0″ is a big deal. It’s bringing a ton of changes to improve the game, but by far, the most cuddly change it’s bringing is the new pet system. The system is aimed at making pets useful beyond just complementing your armor’s primary colors, by letting them carry items, convert a bunch of lesser items into a single high-quality item, among other things. We’ve got the full list of pet types below, and an interview that answers all your questions about the new system, but first check out this brand new video.
When I took a look at Vindictus during E3, I came away impressed by a lot of things–not the least of which being the game’s creative use of physics in gameplay beyond the mundane “Oh, look! These papers fell over realistically”. So I sat down with the devs and picked their brain on exactly what they wanted physics to do in their game and one of the most enticing things I learned was their upcoming female mage character who manipulates the world around her with magic, so I got them to make an exclusive video for us showing off Evie’s more “physical” side. Check it out below!
Giveaway: Tell us in the comments what buidlings/materials/toys you’d make your golem out of to win one of the much lusted-after Vindictus wolf-hoodies (pictures below)! Winners will be chosen tomorrow!
I’m convinced that the team developing new heroes for Heroes of Newerth over at S2 Games doesn’t sleep–they’re adding another new hero to the game this Friday and we’ve got the exclusive first look at the bad-tempered badass who’s dual-wielding shotguns.
PCGamer.com routinely features Developer Diaries: tales of what goes on behind-the-scenes in the development studios making your favorite games. This Dev Diary is titled “Electric Slide” and was written by our friends at Paragon Studios, the developers of City of Heroes and its upcoming Going Rogue expansion.
Going Rogue doesn’t launch for almost two more weeks, but we’ll take any excuse to give stuff away! So, because even super heroes and villains look cooler with a jetpack, we’re giving away 30 codes for jetpacks in City of Heroes! Plus, we’re picking winners for 10 Going Rogue codes–which grants you access to the entire game, no previous account/boxes required!
To celebrate Heroes of Newerth being free to play this entire week, S2 Games put together an awesome trailer showcasing the terrifying aggression of the Hellbourne heroes, including the most recent recruit: Doctor Repulsor (yeah he’s the one with the giant tesla coils on his back). Whether you’re into mad scientists, crazy witch doctors, evil demons, or big fat dudes with their guts spilling out, I can guarantee you’re going to enjoy this trailer. It also shows off some of the coolest spells in the game so be sure to check it out!
In a bold, unexpected move, SOE announced today that EverQuest II will be free-to-play…on some servers. It’s a bit confusing, so allow us to break it down for you. EQII’s existing subscription model will remain completely unchanged on existing servers, but in addition to them , SOE is launching new servers that will house an “EverQuest II Extended” version of the game that allows anyone to download the client and play through all of the content up through, and including, The Shadow Oddyssey expansion for free.
