And in other PC gaming news…
The music, voices and video editing in the video above were all done by ONE MAN. It’s a Portal 2 themed version of Danny Elfman’s This is Halloween from The Nightmare Before Christmas. It proved so infectious that it’s taken over today’s top spot. Have no fear, you’ll find our pick of the day from Dead End Thrills just below, with today’s collection of PC gaming news.
Prison Architect “paid alpha” planned for later this year
We met up with Introversion at A Bit of Alright last week to talk about how development is going on their new project, Prison Architect. Creative director, Chris Delay and managing director Mark Morris told us about their plans for a “paid alpha” later this year.
The alpha could be released “maybe half way through/two thirds through of this year, so maybe September time,” says Chris. The paid alpha will give players the opportunity to pay for a pre-order to get immediate access to the build that Introversion are currently working on.
Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai lead designer on the rise of guns and “the last hurrah of archery”
Which are better, guns, or bows and arrows? Guns, of course, you might think, but then you have to consider the long reload times, their tendency to explode, their unreliability in wet conditions. These are some of the issues that Total War lead designer James Russell and the team at The Creative Assembly think about every day as they balance the clash of old and new weaponry in Fall of the Samurai.
Tim Schafer says he’d “love to do” Psychonauts 2, Notch offers to fund it
Did you love Psychonauts? Have you often wished for a sequel that would continue Raz’ adventures? You’re not alone. Psychonauts creator, Tim Schafer mentions to Digital Spy that he’s pitched Psychonauts 2 several times to different publishers, but “no-one has taken the bait so far.”
“I’d love to do that game,” he says. “But I’d have to convince someone to just give me a few million dollars, that’s all.”
A few million dollars? If only there were some sort of successful indie developer. One who loved the original, someone with the kind of dosh to prop up development on a sequel. Perhaps someone with a nice hat and a name that rhymes with “scotch.”
PC Gamer UK Podcast 64 – The Steam charts, Batman: Arkham City, The Old Republic
Tim, Tom Francis and Chris Thursten talk through the latest Steam charts, discuss Batman: Arkham City and its DLC (really, this time), worry that PC gaming has become too connected, answer some good questions from Twitter, and – with a lot of warning and only at the very end – discuss an exciting level-35 Imperial spoiler for The Old Republic. There are also spoilers for KOTOR and eventually Arkham City in this section.
Download the MP3, subscribe, or find our older podcasts here.
Blizzard’s Battle.Net balance is live
The Battle.net balance will let players convert cash into Blizzard bucks, which can be used to buy Blizzardy bits like World of Warcraft game time, realm transfers and name changes, or even digital downloads of StarCraft 2 and Diablo 2. A post on the Battle.Net site says that the Battle.Net Balance is now up and running for everyone with a Battle.Net account.
It’s also a very important piece of infrastructure that’ll prop up Diablo 3′s in-game auction house. The system will let you put the profits you’ve made selling off useless loot towards other Blizzard game services. We can expect to see Battle.Net balance syncing up with the Blizzard Arcade in future. That could let players charge for mods they’ve made using StarCraft 2′s editing tools. That’s set to arrive alongside StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm.
Minecraft video shows lovely 3D-printed Minecraft village
A little while ago we threw a spotlight on this gorgeous model of a Minecraft village, ported from Minecraft into a CAD program, and then built with a 3D printer. Now, there’s a video. A well-placed coin shows just how tiny the model is. It’s total dimensions are just 360 x 250 x 60 mm. D’aww.
If only 3D printing wasn’t so expensive, we’d find a way to carve a model of the glorious constructions on the PC Gamer server. We could stick some cogs in it, add some tilt-shift and shoot a pretty good reconstruction of the Game of Thrones intro, only with more Nyan cats. The model above was created with the Zprinter 650.
You can find plenty more images of tiny Minecraft worlds on the post apocalyptic research institute flickr account. Here are a few more choice picks from the recently uploaded sets.
Hawken will be free to play, out in December, sign up for the closed beta now
“I’m throwing my wallet at the screen but nothing is happening!” is a common reaction to the trailers for stunning indie multiplayer mech-war project, Hawken. According to a blog post on the Hawken site, you won’t need your wallet at all. It’ll be released as a free to play game on December 12 this year.
Dirt: Showdown footage shows demolition derby and night races
Codemasters stopped by earlier with a preview build of Dirt: Showdown. It’s living up to its billing as a more accessible, rough and tumble take on the carefully simulated physics of Dirt 3. You won’t find any serious Rallying here, it’s all about going wheel to wheel with your competitors, ploughing them into barriers and boosting past them to steal the win with brute force.
We’ll have some more detailed impressions for you in a bit. Meanwhile, here’s three new videos of three of the different modes available in Dirt 3, including your racing, demolition derby and more of the 8 ball circuit shown in the last Dirt: Showdown trailer. Click ‘Read and Comment’ for more VRRRRRM-SMASH.
Total War: Shogun 2 average user plays “for about a hundred hours”
Lead designer of Shogun 2, James Russell, knows just how much fans love Total War. The series typically produces enormous games capable of generating epic storylines across decades of war. Even then, it’s surprising just how much time players spend building their empires. Russell says that “the average” Total War campaigner “plays for about a hundred hours.” That is a lot of war.
The process of managing your empire from the strategic view and then fighting hour-long battles can eat up a lot of time, but “the real crux of it,” according to Russell, is that “Total War has great replayability.”
Age of Empires Online getting Celts, snowstorms and stealth missions
The Celts are coming to Age of Empires Online, and they’re bringing some mean weather with them. Snowy tundra that slowly saps your units strength will be a key part of the new missions that the pack will add, and there will be a wealth of new units, of course. Celtic priests will be able to sacrifice deer to help out your forces, and their new hero is capable of infiltrating enemy villages.
The Celts will be available as an army pack that can be bought separately as an add on for the core game, which is free to play. You can sign up for an account and download the client from the Age of Empires Online site if you fancy checking it out. You can read our verdict on launch in our Age of Empires Online review.
Indie Gala 2 is live, includes Greed Corp, InMomentum, Roboblitz and more
The second Indie Gala bundle is go! It includes three escalating indie game packages. The Carebear Bundle contains Critical Mass, Fortix 2 and Bunch of Heroes as well as three music albums, Casey Lalonde’s Skitter EP, Comfort by Giraffage and the Beautiful EP by The Numbers. You can choose to pay between $1 and $5.55 for that lot, and can choose how your payment is distributed between the developers, charities (Save the Children and Child’s Play), and the Indie Gala organisers.
Skyrim Creation Kit to be released tomorrow with “special surprise”
A tweet from Bethesda’s VP of PR, Pete Hines, on Friday announced that the long-awaited Skyrim Creation Kit will be out tomorrow. TOMORROW. The tools will let modders create their own campaigns using the same tools that Bethesda use to create their environments. Take a look at last week’s Creation Kit trailer for an idea of what’s included.
Star Wars: The Old Republic data-mined updates hint at future features
The tireless chaps at TORhead have been pulling clues out of the Star Wars: The Old Republic files, and have found evidence of many of the features Bioware are planning to add over the course of the coming year. Their round-up contains features that we could see in patches 1.2 through to 1.5.
As a wise talking cabbage once said. “If spoilers you wish to avoid, click “Read and Comment” you must not.”
GAME strikes deal with lenders to secure future
The GAME retail chain has been having a serious wobble this week. Yesterday we mentioned concerns over their ability to stock future releases amid reports that the company had lost credit insurance with major publishers. Today, MCV reports that the chain has successfully struck a new deal with lenders that ensures they’ll be able to keep trading.
