Torchlight 2 class guide: The Engineer
Torchlight 2: it’s a bit like Diablo 3 only it’s $20, has an offline mode, and it’s out a few months later. It’s also incredibly good. I’ve been playing the beta, and I wanna show you what each of the classes feel like to play and explain a bit about why they’re cool. This is the Engineer. Here’s the Berserker.
Torchlight 2 class guide: The Berserker
Just as the office’s Diablo 3 excitement was reaching fever pitch, a beta appears: Torchlight 2! And oh look, it’s really, really good. Forget the rivalry, anyone who likes clicking on monsters has two games to buy this year. Let me show you what each of the classes are like to play, and talk a bit about how they work. Above, The Berserker!
Diablo 3 Collector’s Edition unboxing video: PC Gamer defeat the Lord of Packaging
This morning Owen and I cracked open the Diablo 3 Collector’s Edition that’ll soon be winging its way to fans in advance of the game’s release on Tuesday. This super special version of Diablo includes the soundtrack, making-of DVD and an art book as well as exclusive in-game bonus items and Battle.net goodies.
There’s also a USB Soulstone – not the most secure Soulstone that Owen has ever felt, apparently – that contains a full version of Diablo 2 plus the Lord of Destruction expansion. In the video I mistakenly say that it includes the first Diablo game as well, but this isn’t the case. Check out the full unboxing below.
Portal 2 Perpetual Testing Initiative hands-on
As Valve themselves once said, making games is hard. Over the course of a weekend with the Portal 2 Perpetual Testing Initiative DLC, I’ve established my own version of that rule: making games is harder when you’re an idiot.
I recorded my first baby steps with the new test chamber editor, and in doing so have created a permanent record of my failures as a human being. Marvel as I crush myself with a lift! Yell at your monitor as I fail to consider an array of incredibly trivial solutions to my own puzzle!
By way of compensation, I spent another couple of hours working on my test chamber and eventually hammered it into something resembling an actual level. You’ll be able to download the final result – the PCG Reflection Challenge – from the Portal 2 Workshop when the DLC launches later today. ‘Reflection’ means two things, in this context. One: what you do with a laser. Two: that I need to have a bit of a think about my life.
Assassin’s Creed 3 teaser trailer teases world premiere gameplay trailer
If you want to be marketed to these days, you’ve got to work for it. The latest Assassin’s Creed III teaser bloodies up a Red Coat to motivate us to get on-board with game’s big social media push. By “liking” the Facebook page and tweeting the hashtag #AC3, you too can help unlock the first gameplay trailer. Yay.
As it is, the teaser portrays the series’ new protagonist as a rather viscous hunter of men, and has throttled up my excitement for tree running even further. We’ll let you know when our participation in social media marketing earns us a new advertisement.
Arma 3 video shows minutes of in-game footage
New Arma 3 video footage? On my Sunday? Thanks, world. Czech channel Gamepage.cz has exercised its home court advantage to secure minutes of totally new in-game footage of Arma 3, which could be the PC’s prettiest game when it releases. Lead Designer Ivan Buchta narrates as a few features are shown in detail, including stealthy underwater SDVs and the recently-announced island of Stratis. I’ve taken the opportunity to jot up some observations.
6 things that will surprise MMO veterans jumping into Tera
While many of Tera’s mechanics and systems will be familiar for those used to the “WoW template,” MMOers expecting everything to be the same run the risk of getting tripped up by some of its more convention-bending mechanics.
These few helpful tips will help ease your transition from the virtual world of your choice to Tera’s sweeping landscape of elves, giants and oversized-sword-wielding badgers.
Dragons, werewolves and giant turtles battle in new Warlock: Master of the Arcane trailer
I don’t know about you, but I’d like to believe wizards can do battle without giant shelled animals bred for war and just choose to do so because they are well aware of how awesome they are. This exclusive new trailer for Warlock: Master of the Arcane—an upcoming turn-based strategy game with hexes, city management and wonderful warlock spells—shows some of the large-scale battles that’ll be happening in the world of Ardania when the game releases next Tuesday.
The question remains, however: what other giant animals should warlocks throw at each other?
The Elder Scrolls Online trailer released, website live
Boomy, Michael Gambon-esque voice? An ancient symbol coming together in the mists, possibly the mists of time? Epic, rousing music? No actual sight of gameplay? Why, yes! It’s the Elder Scrolls online trailer, which we’ve been eagerly awaiting since the game’s announcement yesterday. www.elderscrollsonline.com has just gone live, too, but at the moment it’s just some atmospheric HTML holding the above trailer, nothing more. We did have fun switching the copyright notice at the bottom between French, German and English though.
CCP on the death of subscription MMOs: “It’s simply not the case”
“People say the subscription MMO is dead. I fundamentally disagree with that. It’s simply not the case.”
We’ve been talking to EVE Online senior producer, John Lander, about the decline in subscription-funded gaming. In the past year the free-to-play model has dominated the PC MMO market but, as John mentions in the video, CCP have never considered it a viable option for their massively multiplayer space opera.
We recently asked every CCP man we could find whether DUST 514 is coming to PC. They didn’t quite manage to deny it.
Do you still pay for a subscription MMO?
Realism Theater: watch this Arma 2 battle video
Maybe I’m getting mushy about a game I tend to not shut up about, but this clip captures so much of the uncertainty, fun panic, on-the-fly decision-making and teamwork that I love about Arma.
It doesn’t feature sick headshots set to this song. There’re a few lulls. There’s no flashy camera work. But it does showcase real communication, spatial awareness, patience, improvisation, and a little bravery. Stuff unique to the multiplayer we’re privy to on PC. Listen closely, and you can distinguish between the proximity-based and simulated radio voice chatter.
Okay, a guy does get trapped inside level geometry at one point. We cannot pretend to understand war.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 trailer pits men and horses against future machines
Stick around — later tonight we’ll have quotes from our interview with Treyarch Studio Head Mark Lamia and our first impressions of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. In the meantime, the reveal trailer offers the gist: men fight machines in a manly battle of man and metal. Also, horses!
Guild Wars 2 World vs. World PvP: 20 minutes of footage, plus commentary!
While I was at ArenaNet I had the chance to play a decent amount of Guild Wars 2′s World vs. World PvP mode. In this video, Graham and I talk you through two fortress assaults. In one, my team is on the offensive. In the other, we’re mounting a heroic attempt to break an enemy siege. We discuss how the mode differs from regular PvP, the minute-to-minute strategy of defending your territory, and the inner lives of Guild Wars 2′s implacable transport goat things.
For more on World vs World PvP, check out our preview. Are you taking part in the Guild Wars 2 beta weekend, readers? If so, will you be giving World vs. World a try?
