Into The Pixel 2011 collects incredible works of gaming art
Concept art is often beautiful, but even with a growing number of art books being bundled with collector’s editions, it’s just as often work that will never be seen by anyone outside of a game’s development team. The Into The Pixel collection tries to change that. Organised by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences and the Entertainment Software Association, each year it selects some of the best pieces of gaming art, whatever the reason for its creation.
The 17 new pieces to be displayed at this year’s E3 have just been released, and I’ve posted the PC-relevant images below, including work from Bioshock Infinite, Mass Effect, Dragon Age 2, Alien Swarm and the unreleased Drawn 3. So pretty.
20 free PC games you must play
Every month, we present you with a roundup of the best free PC games that have been recently released. What we haven’t done before is sit down and think about all the best free PC games knocking around the internet at the moment, eventually formatting them into a big old list feature. We think it’s about time we sorted that out.
Interview: Valve on why Alien Swarm is free
I was at Valve last month to interview pretty much everyone I could find, and play one of the most exciting PC games on the horizon: Portal 2. The preview I wrote, and the profile on Valve themselves, is in the new issue of PC Gamer in the UK. But we’re also putting up the interviews here on the site, one a day for a week. Today’s is my conversation with the creator of Alien Swarm, about how the game turned from mod to polished Valve product, and why it’s free.
Aliens Swarm adds AI Director, gets even harder
Not long ago some eagle eyed modders spotted that you could turn Left 4 Dead’s AI director on in Alien Swarm with a console command. It turns out they were onto something. Valve have announced that there will be a new game mode, Onslaught, and that the all-knowing, all-seeing AI Director will be controlling the alien hordes.
Alien Swarm update nerfs Tesla Cannon
Look, there’s something you should know. It’s about Tesla Cannon. Valve did something to her. It’s not nice.
Touching heroics in Alien Swarm
I’m still dazed and slightly buzzing from the game of Alien Swarm I just finished. It was Hard mode, with strangers, and strangers of rank. That means they’ve hit the maximum level, unlocked every weapon, then chosen to start again for the sake of a star next to their name. The party leader even had the Gallium Cross: you have to start again three times to get that. These guys meant business.
Possible Episode 3 references in Alien Swarm
Let’s just take a deep breath here. Lots of things are episodic – and if you don’t have as many as three episodes, you’re just a two-part TV special. So don’t freak out when I say that some placeable AI hints in Alien Swarm refer to entities tagged with the “ep3″ prefix, right after familiar hints for “hl1″. Here’s a pic:
Play Alien Swarm in first person: guide and video
In case it’s not disgusting enough from a god’s eye view, you can actually play Alien Swarm in first person fairly easily. I’ve just tried it, and it’s a bit of a shock. Here’s a video of what it’s like to play, and instructions on how to do it yourself. It only takes a sec.
Get an alien parasite hat in Team Fortress 2
Complete an achievement in Alien Swarm and you’ll unlock a head-mounted alien parasite in Team Fortress 2.
Alien Swarm is out now on Steam. And it’s free.
Alien Swarm, Valve’s free top-down xeno-blaster is now available to download from Steam. There is absolutely no reason for you to not download it and try it out immediately. It’s like aliens, crossed with some guy yelling “OH GOD OH GOD I’M GOING TO DIE” down Teamspeak. We’ll have an official PC Gamer server up and running ASAP, and will update the details in the comments below.
New Valve game announced: Alien Swarm
Wow, here’s a Friday surprise. Valve just announced that it’s releasing a full version of Alien Swarm, a co-operative shooter based on an old Unreal Tournament 2004 mod, next week. And it’s free.
