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.
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.
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.
Champion Roundtable: Ziggs, the Hexplosives Expert
Every two weeks, we give you our verdict on whether or not the latest League of Legends champion is worth buying. Take a seat at the table with Josh, Lucas, and Hollander Cooper as they wax poetic on the joys of blowing people up with magical bombs as a maniacal Yordle. Could Ziggs be the diminutive demolitions expert you’ve been looking for?
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City has no raccoons. No raccoons at all
The latest trailer introduces us to the co-op team we’ll get to play as in Operation Raccoon City. This is a different game entirely to Resident Evil 6, which is due out later this year, and both are separate from Resident Evil: Revelations game Capcom released for the 3DS. Operation Raccoon City will have you playing as a squad of promiscuous raccoons seeking to populate a city decimated by zombie outbreak.
No, my mistake, misread the press release there. It’s actually another story about stopping the Umbrella Corporation from unleashing a new virus on the world. It’s the G-virus this time. One day, the Umbrella Corporation will run out of alphabet and transition to selling garden storage solutions, setting up the next entry in the series, Shedisent Evil.
A Game of Thrones trailer and screenshots explore Riverspring
Riverspring is the setting for the latest Game of Thrones trailer. It’s the home town of Red Priest, Alester Sarwyck, one of the RPG’s two playable characters. The other is Mors, a member of the hardened, reclusive order of the Black Watch. The threads of their separate stories are sure to tangle in a campaign that promises “a twisting plot filled with betrayal and violence.” A typical day in Westeros, then
Cyanide have taken the dark fantasy label a little too literally in the eight new screenshots they’ve released, but if you squint, you can make out some scowling warriors and the worn stone of Riverspring’s great halls. The release date is set for “early 2012.” Wait, that’s pretty much now! The RPG could bridge the gap until April 1, when the second series starts on HBO. You’ll find the screenshots below, but you’ll probably want to click on this first to set the mood.
Channel 4 launch Sims 3 web TV series
The SuperMes is a Channel 4 reality TV show about virtual housemates. The series has been created using the Sims 3, with plotlines based on the unchoreographed actions of the house’s four inhabitants. Gamasutra mention that the first episode is online now, and you’ll find it embedded above.
It’s interesting to see a major broadcasting house using taking advantage of procedural storytelling. Anyone who loves the Sims games already knows how good they are at generating ridiculous tales, and the SuperMes feels like a professionally produced after-action report. Chief creative Paul Brennun describes it as “a true collaboration between humans and robots” over on Televisual, adding “this is one of the most exciting projects we have made yet and points to the future of interactive storytelling.” What do you reckon?
Skyrim Creation Kit trailer shows mod tools in action
Here’s a video Bethesda just sent over showing off the Creation Kit for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The video mentions extensive wiki documentation written by Bethesda staff and shows how Skyrim mods will integrate with the Steam Workshop. It’s exciting to contemplate the astonishing things that modders will make with the kit in the coming months. They’ve already been hard at work making massive changes to the game, as you can see in our round-up of the top 25 Skyrim mods.
But what’s this at 1:12, on the left of the centre row? Mudcrab armour? A familiar sight for readers who reached the back page of PC Gamer UK issue 232, drawn by the lovely Marsh Davies. The mod tools are due to arrive soon, which isn’t soon enough.
Mass Effect 3 trailer introduces all-star voice cast
Freddy Prinze Jr will be playing new squadmate, Vega, in Mass Effect 3, triggering panic attacks among those who remember his role in the Wing Commander movie. It’s okay, he’s been in Frazier, Friends, Boston Legal and 24 since then. He joins second newcomer, Jessica Chobot, who plays reporter Diana Allers.
The voice cast video above is worth watching to see how closely the cast resemble their in-game counterparts. Vega is essentially Freddy Prinze’s face transpanted onto a hulking frame, Joker looks as close to Seth Green as ever and The Illusive Man is like a young, bionic Martin Sheen, or “Mr. President” to West Wing fans.
The cast will feature a few more familiar voices. Tricia Helfer returns as the Normandy’s AI, Yvonne Strahovski reprises her role as Miranda. Carrie-Anne Moss is Aria T’Loak and Lance Henriksen is Admiral Steve Hackett. See Mass Effect 3 characters old and new in the fresh batch of screenshots below.
Team Fortress 2 video shows ten spectacular kills
Here are ten TF2 kill clips to make you go “whaaaat,” courtesy of CommFT. They’ve taken the best of all the kill replays submitted to the Extelevision site during December and ordered them according to their awesomeness. The list features some blinding kill streaks, a jammy but spectacular reflected grenade triple-kill, a remarkable string of headshots and a stunning three-rocket juggle kill. The list demonstrates how TF2′s calamitous physics can result in some baffling mid-air encounters. Only the very best players can exploit these to earn game-winning ubers and vital kills. It’s fantastic to watch.
Aliens: Colonial Marines trailer shows four storeys of war
I confess to almost writing Colon Marines here by accident. In a way, it makes sense when you consider that the tunnels that make up the Alien lair look a bit like a poorly lit long intestine. Time to file that in “best not thought about too much” parts of my brain and leave the CGI intro video above as a distraction while I make my escape.
If the rest of the game manages to capture the look of the film as well as this intro, then Gearbox’ latest shooter could provide a reassuringly authentic take on the classic franchise. Aliens: Colon Marines is, like the most uncomfortable bowel movements, very late. It was due to arrive in Spring, it’ll now hatch in Autumn. Our chests are bursting with anticipation. It could be awesome.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning trailer talks sidequests and world-building
Main quests are overrated. You’ll probably get to save the world, perhaps fight a dragon or two along the way and all that jazz. We’ve done that all before. The real treasure lies off the beaten path, in all the extra quests and characters you discover for yourself.
Rubbish sidequests can feel like padding, which makes the whole game world feel insubstantial. Conversely, good sidequests can make a game world feel vast and interesting. We’ll have to wait and see which camp Kingdom’s of Amalur falls into. Will we be killing giant rats in cellars for meagre coin, or vanquishing sky-demons for magical plate-mail? US players will find out on February 7. It’s out on February 10 in Europe.
The Witcher 2 Enhanced Edition trailer shows assassination on ice-bombed boat
On Friday CD Projekt announced that everyone’s copy of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings will be upgraded to the Enhanced Edition on April 17. This will add extra areas, like “an underground system of chambers beneath Loc Muine” and “a temperate coniferous forest in the Loc Muine mountains.” There will be new characters to meet, quests to complete and foes to freeze-bomb, and CD Projekt will release a bonus digital map, soundtrack, game guide and manual for good measure.
The trailer above is the new cinematic created for the Enhanced Edition. You only see King Demavend’s severed head in The Witcher 2, but you don’t know that he lost it during an awesome slow-mo action sequence on board a shattering, ice-bombed boat. Good stuff. The Witcher 2 is on sale on GOG for the next week or so.
Dirt Showdown trailer shows 8 Ball arena
Dirt Showdown bears the Dirt name associated with Colin McRae and, once upon a time, serious rally racing, but is really more of an arcade spin-off. This new trailer shows off an “8 Ball” course. It’s like those Hot Wheels toys where you’d launch cars down convoluted tracks towards a central crash site, where they’d collide and fly off to hit your dog in the eye. This time, you’re inside those cars, and some of them are spouting fire.
Showdown’s focus is on Destruction Derbies and “full contact” racing, with lots of ramps and choke points, and will apparently make use of “gaming’s most advanced damage engine.” Move aside, Frostbite 2! It’s due out in May and was announced with an announcement trailer a few weeks ago which looked a little bit like this.
Mass Effect 3 trailer has grenade-throwing sentinals
I was just explaining this to our Production Ed, Tony. Basically, we’re just going to have to accept that in the far future things will be spelled and pronounced slightly differently. Sometimes, grenades will be “gernades.” Sentinels will not always be sentinels. Sometimes they will be “sentinals.” That’s just what happens and we should just accept it now. “NEVER!” Tony screamed, “NEVAAAARGH!” Then he beat his Mac to death with a dictionary.
These are without a doubt the best gaming typos made since … earlier today, when Capcom faced uncomfortable revelations regarding the release of their latest game, “Resident Evil: Revalaitons.” In other news, Mass Effect 3′s multiplayer mode actually looks quite punchy and exciting. Now I’m off to make some tee and write more wards for our wobsite.
