Arma 2 patched with 158 tweaks
Realistic military sim ARMA 2 has been updated to version 1.60 by developers Bohemia. The patch covers Operation Arrowhead, the British Armed Forces and Private Military Contractors DLC, the original Arma 2 and Arma 2: Free. Among the whopping 158 changes are a new anti-aliasing mode, new scripting commands, smoother multiplayer, netcode fixes and improved AI. More important fixes include, “AI no longer considering a car horn as a threat,” and “Dead body temperature was not saved.”
The Bohemians have also created a Christmas message for all their fans, which is so incredibly festive we’re about to explode in a shower of tinsel and fake snow.
Changelog highlights after the break.
Battlefield 3 trailer created by Freddie Wong
Battlefield 3 publishers EA have commissioned internet video guy Freddie Wong to create a trailer for their uber-popular manshoot. Wong and his crew were given just 10 days to make the video, according to Kotaku.
And it’s OK. It’s the kind of gameophilic effects-filled extravaganza Wong is very good at making, but bear in mind that Wong is one of those people who probably thinks Michael Bay is good at directing films. According to this making-of video, it also had a proper budget, with real explosions and tanks and $300,000 lenses and everything.
Question is, is it better than CoD’s tongue-in-cheek but similarly Hollywood take on virtual warfare?
Sniper Elite V2 CEO on self-publishing and moon sniping
We’ve already covered Rebellion’s decision to self-publish upcoming FPS Sniper Elite on the PC, but we recently had a chance to ask the company’s CEO and creative director Jason Kingsley about how it’s all going to work.
“I’m a great supporter of the PC as a platform, I always have been,” says Kingsley. “I’m always very disappointed when people talk about the PC dying as a platform, and then eight months later PC’s flavour of the month again.”
But, as a PC gamer and developer, Kingsley finds the current situation frustrating. Having worked with the likes of Sega on Aliens versus Predator and Bethesda on Rogue Warrior, Kingsley knows what it’s like to have a big publisher breathing down the back of your neck all the way through the development process.
Sniper Elite V2′s testicular animation detailed by dev: “sniping is such an intimate thing”
Flicking through my notebook on the way back from the Sniper Elite V2 preview event, I find a completely blank page save for the word “TESTICLES” at the top. Underlined several times. It was at this point that I stopped writing and started wincing. A wince that still occurs whenever I think about what I saw and heard at developer and publisher Rebellion’s HQ in Oxford.
You see, Sniper Elite Version 2’s first-person World War II sniping is gilded with a fully dynamic skeletal slow-motion animation system. Aim for an enemy soldier’s neck and their vertebrae will shatter. Shoot at the crown of the head and it’ll smash like an egg. Go for the heart and blood will fill their thoracic cavity. And, inevitably, you can shoot their balls off.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3′s Vet and n00b return in new trailer
How long do you reckon it’s going to be before Modern Warfare 3’s Vet and n00b trailers become their own cinematic franchise? They certainly seem to pack more ideas than your average creatively-bankrupt Hollywood mega-flick. The latest – highlighted by VG247 – sees the n00b (funny portly bloke Jonah Hill) blow up a building in Berlin, with the Vet (hunk du jour Sam Worthington) stoically looking on.
This one’s directed by Peter Berg, who’s best known for The Kingdom and the upcoming Battleship film (which has the single dumbest trailer we’ve ever seen). It’s a reasonably amusing episode on the Vet and n00b series, but it does seem to be lacking a punchline. Also, the textures look a bit good for something based on the CoD franchise.
Battlefield 3 banned in Iran
EA’s popular face shooter Battlefield 3 has been banned in Iran. The game includes a fictionalised US assault on Iran’s capital Tehran, where many men must be shot in the face. Unfortunately, this has angered the Iranian government, and the game has been declared illegal, according to AFP.
Battlefield 3 has never been officially released in Iran as EA has no resellers there, but shops do sell pirated copies of the game. The ban marks the first time a game has been declared illegal, with police raiding shops and arresting owners, according to a local shop owner.
Ken Levine on vocal protagonists and the use of silence in Bioshock Infinite
Without giving too much away, a key twist in the original BioShock story is to do with your character being completely mute throughout the game. It was an interesting twist on Gordon Freeman-like character design, and a comment on the game’s key themes of determinism versus free will.
In BioShock Infinite, the protagonist – Booker DeWitt – will be able to speak. In an interview with IGN, its creator Ken Levine explained the decision. “How do you go back and say okay, well you’re that kind of character again after you already had that discussion with the gamer?” asked Levine. “Our response to it was, let’s really place you firmly in the world this time. Let’s give you a story, let’s give you a character to develop a personal story…You’re very active, your story is very active, Elizabeth’s story is very active.”
Team Fortress 2 gives Notch his own hat
When he’s not tweeting, Minecraft developer Markus “Notch” Persson loves to indulge in a little Team Fortress 2, according to his tumblr blog. He was recently invited to take part in the third TF2 Mixup, with famous Team Fortress 2 personalities such as Valve’s Robin Walker and YouTuber Freddie Wong blasting each other to bits.
Notch was enjoying the game, earning the Primeval Warrior medal, when suddenly he was awarded with his very own hat. It resembles Notch’s own visage, if it were made in Minecraft and then copied onto a cardboard box, and – so far – he’s the only owner. “I am never quitting TF2 again, and you should all go buy it right away,” said Notch. “How much is it, you ask? It’s FREE! YES!”
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 player scores world’s jammiest knife kill
Given the sheer number of people who have died in warfare in the course of human history, it’s fairly probable that soldiers have passed on in wildly random ways. Take this clip from Modern Warfare 3, pointed out to us by CVG. A knife is lobbed across a level, lands on a helicopter and then drops onto some unfortunate grunt below, like a particularly violent game of MouseTrap. Thing is, that’s probably happened at least once during an actual war (minus the part where the knife phases through the steel wing of the chopper), which turns this clip from hilariously jammy to faintly disturbing.
Saturday Crapshoot: Jurassic Park: Trespasser
Every week, Richard Cobbett rolls the dice to bring you an obscure slice of gaming history, from lost gems to weapons grade atrocities. This week, he’s sorely in need of a palate cleansing after five hours of tedium. And you know it’s bad when you resort to this to wash away unwanted memories.
On a day with Skyrim, Saints Row 3 and the Tribes Ascend beta on my PC, do you know what I wasted about five hours of my precious existence playing? That’s right – the new Jurassic Park game. Well, it claims to be a “game”, though I argue that “Jurassic Park: The Vaguely Interactive Machinima That’s Suspiciously Like Aliens For Some Strange Reason” would have been almost as snappy.
Did I like it? I did not. Do I recommend it? Only if you’re planning a time capsule full of warnings to the future. Honestly, we sent this kind of interactive movie the way of smallpox for a reason. Instead, how about taking a look back at something a bit closer to what the Jurassic Park movie deserved. Something innovative. Something ambitious. Something not shit. Trespasser is definitely two of the three.
See if you can guess which two…
Battlefield 3 cheaters face bans and stat-wipes
As reported on CVG, Battlefield 3 cheaters are feeling the full force of EA’s banhammer, with “hundreds” of people kicked out for exploiting glitches in the game. A post on the Battlefield’s official Twitter read: “This week we’ve banned hundreds of offending accounts and have stats-wiped accounts for exploiting (such as boosting).”
One glitch apparently allows a player to hide inside an upturned truck and then repair it for a massive amount of points. Players exploiting such glitches will have their stats completely wiped and even face a ban – but it does make you wonder why DICE allowed such a glitch to enter the game in the first place.
A new patch to solve such issues is in the works – but according to the Battlefield Twitter: “There is no ETA. Stay tuned to Batlelog [sic] news and http://blogs.battlefield.ea.com”. It’s also said to fix the issue of the flashlights being as bright as the opening of Akira.
Borderlands 2 devs talk how Handsome Jack has changed Pandora
We were overwhelmed by Borderlands – once we got past the initial levels and finally clicked into the bizarre, nine-toed genius that merged FPS and RPG with such gleeful disregard. It’s a hard act to follow, but developers Gearbox are aiming to go above and beyond the original with Borderlands 2. Writer Anthony Burch and concept designer Scott Kester chatted with Gamasutra about the upcoming sequel, specifically changes to the setting and characters.
Borderlands 2 has a new antagonist in the handsome form of Handsome Jack, and in the five game years since Borderlands he’s fundamentally changed the game world. He’s taken over the Hyperion weapons company, and claimed responsibility for finding the original game’s vault. In true James Bond-baddy style, he’s built an orbital base near Pandora’s moon – in the shape of a giant “H”, no less. “You can never forget that Handsome Jack is screwing over the moon,” said Burch.
Battlefield 3 – Mortars to be countered by flying EMP robots
If you ask any Battlefield 3 player what the most annoying thing in the game is, they’d say tactical lights, but after that they’d probably say ‘bloody mortar spam’. Thankfully MP1st have noted that DICE are looking into a fix. The problem is that mortars can be safely spammed from extremely long distances, with users safe from any reprisal. How could that be dealt with? Designer, Alan Kertz, has been tweeting that they might be using the Recon’s flying drone as a counter:
“Seriously considering MAVs as a counter to Mortars. ECM jammers could destroy the Mortar with a few hits. Looking for feedback.”
Other issues that DICE are looking into involve players spawning without weapons and the ability to use the IRNV scope while driving vehicles. There’s also good news for colour blind gamers, as DICE say they’ll be looking into a colour blind mode in future updates.
Payday: The Heist review
Payday is that bit in every heist movie since time began where the poo hits the fan. At some point, our gang of four criminals in clown masks were hunched over a table in a smoky room, working out their every move with mathematical precision. Now they’re trapped in a crumbling building with the loot, every policeman in the world is kicking in the front door, and their only hope is to survive long enough to make a miracle. And then do it again on a harder difficulty setting, because Normal mode is for wimps.
Syndicate trailer shows off homicidal partner and brain hack
I’ve been a bit apprehensive about the new Syndicate. However, so long as you’re ok with Starbreeze’s FPS interpretation, you’ll probably be pleasantly surprised by the 11 minutes of gameplay footage as seen on OXM. It appears that Syndicate could be quite a competent shooter packing a few smart moves.
Chief among the features shown off is the hacking. The Syndicate team have clearly taken a leaf from the Deus Ex manual, with many things from modular room systems to even human brains being hackable. That’s about as far as the influence goes though; hacking is not a play style, but rather a technique to accompany the exceptionally brash nature of this shooter. What appears to be a single button-press activated contextual hack will scramble electronic devices while you simultaneously blow the brains out of your enemies.
So does Syndicate look like it’s heading in a direction you can approve of, or do you still wish Starbreeze had stayed true to the series’ tactical origins?
