Brink

Bulletstorm

Badass

The Lord of the Rings Online

Rock of Ages

Ship Simulator Extremes

Two Worlds II

Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online

I’m a nerd, albeit a bit of a frugal one. I love the Warhammer 40,000 universe. It’s science-fiction enough for me to love the setting, but has enough fantasy elements to keep the fantasy nerd inside of me happy. However, collecting those little figures to fight other little figures is an expensive endeavour. The Warhammer 40k universe found its greatest video game success with Relic’s strategy games (I consider the original Dawn of War, and its expansions, to be the best RTS games ever, sadly I haven’t tried Dawn of War II yet). The developers of Warhammer 40k: Dark Millennium Online, Vigil Games, are a bit tight-lipped on this game. The trailer is obviously from the perspective of the Imperial forces in the game. Vehicles make an appearance, presumably they will be player controlled. And the scale of the game seems to be quite huge, with walkers towering over ground forces.

Although Tanner has the ability to roam freely around the streets of San Francisco, this latest installment of Driver will focus on the movie style car chases. Reportedly, there will be upwards of 100 vehicles to chose from, and plenty of road to keep the chases flowing. There will also be a large amount of classic vehicles thrown into the action, and this should make for some never before seen chases.

This latest version of Driver will also include the option to play online. This mode will offer fans some pretty exiting chases as well. The screenshots from Driver: San Francisco detail some excellent graphics, and these new added features will offer some unbelievable game play. Driver: San Francisco will be available for Playstation 3, X-box 360, Wii, PC, and Mac.

When I talked of the new Fallout game, I mentioned I was a fan of Diablo II. Truth be told, I like my hack ‘n slash sub-genre. The games may not be smart or well-written, but they are mighty fun. With Obsidian, the people behind the upcoming Fallout: New Vegas, behind the helm, you can expect that there will be some well-written dialogue – this is still an action RPG, though. There is a thrill to being one guy versus the forces of evil, armed only with wits, some stats to determine dice rolls, and an arsenal of magical weapons. Obsidian Entertainment are pretty busy as they develop the third entry into the Dungeon Siege series.

Obsidian promises that each individual class will be truly unique – items, skills, and even animations will be exclusive. However, Obsidian has only shown off two classes and failed to mention how many more the final copy will have. Given the multiplayer co-op focus of the game, it seems like an advisable choice. As a Diablo II fan, this is what made the multiplayer so fun in that title – each class filled a niche and it felt wrong to try to make a paladin fit the niche of an amazon.
Dungeon Siege III does not have an announced release date as of yet.

Fallout Online

Not much to say about this game at this stage in the game – it’s the Interplay addition to the Fallout franchise, it’s an MMO, and beta sign-ups are up.
Don’t expect to see Fallout Online until 2012.

Monkey Island 2: Special Edition

Apparently Monkey Island: Special Edition managed to sell enough to get an enhanced remake. If you know of  Monkey Island, there’s not too much to say about this. It’s LeChuck’s Revenge, you can play either with the old-fashioned graphics or with updated graphics, and now there’s a commentary mode that Valve popularized with their Half-Life games.
The expected release is July of this year.

John Carpenter

Not really PC news, but I am a bit of fan of the horror genre and I think John Carpenter is damn fine at what he does. As I wrote this update, I was watching his contribution to Masters of Horror, Cigarette Burns. However, Carpenter has been involved with the development of F.E.A.R 3. I was a fan of F.E.A.R, but never enough of a fan to get the expansions or the sequels. I’m rather uninterested in it, in fact. But nevertheless, I feel that getting a chance to hear Carpenter discuss F.E.A.R 3 and horror in general is not something to pass up, so here’s a link to the IGN article.
It’s also interesting to see that the horror director likes his fast-paced action games. I wonder how he feels about the survival horror genre.

Jumpgate Evolution

Jumpgate Evolution is an MMO that hopes to dethrone EVE Online from its niche. Jumpgate is a space-based MMO. And it’s a bit more of a traditional online game than EVE is, which makes it more appealing than to me. Like EVE, the in-game market seems to play a big role – with good missiles costing money. If the EVE experience is too much like a simulation for you, you may want to lookout for Jumpgate which is sounding a bit more arcadey.
Jumpgate Evolution does not have an expected release at this point.

Red Faction: Armageddon

The successor to Red Faction: Guerrilla is returning to the roots of the series with some more caves. The destruction that has been a gimmick at the core of the series since the start is still important. However, what Volition seems to be most happy about the their magnet gun – you shoot object (or person) A and object (or person) B to make one fly towards the other. It’s another way to destroy the environment and to use the destroyed environment as a weapon. Additionally, the nano-forge rifle is used to repair broken objects in the environment to use them as cover.
Rejoin the Mars rebellion next March.

The Witcher II

I enjoy The Witcher, I’ve read some of the books, played a bit of the game, and like the setting. The Witcher II is seeing some simplification with how the game handles – the E3 demo was done on the PC with a 360 controller. The game is, naturally, seeing some added features to the basics behind the game: dialogue options are now timed and have lasting effects on the story, the combat system is more fluid looking, and the gameplay still has a lot of focus on timing. Geralt’s skills in sword play, magic, and alchemy can be improved as you level. Alchemy, for those unfamiliar with the universe, is essential for any witcher. Witchers, who specialize in hunting really big and scary monsters always keep potions that they’ve brewed themselves to enhance their abilities.
Geralt’s return to the gaming world is not yet dated.

Civilization is getting another sequel. A few years ago we saw a pretty big leap from Civ III to Civ IV, and now I believe we’re seeing another huge leap in the series.
Civilization V now uses hexagon tiles instead of the classic square tiles – this isn’t the biggest change but it does change how movement is handled. The game is prettier, as expected. It’s not just the graphics engine that makes it look nice, but the interface. The game features an in-game hub for accessing mods, talking with the community, and even visiting fan sites. The combat system has been revamped. Ranged units will now fire from multiple hexes away – it’s a bit of a wonder that it took almost two decades for this to happen. The diplomatic system is also seeing some new additions and now we have both city-state and nation-state powers in the series.

A big addition to the series is the new culture system, in which you add-on to social policies you made in the past instead of choosing one as you go through the tech tree. The idea is that the player can craft their own society by building on top of the foundations of their previous decisions. It adds life to a section of the tech tree that’s usually a bit of a joke with players.
Civilization V is set to hit shelves September 21 of this year.

Medal of Honor

Portal 2

Rage

Shogun 2: Total War

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier

Bodycount is from the designer of Black, a PS2 and Xbox game I (sadly) missed out on. The game has a humourous side to it, the gameplay footage has a light-hearted nature thanks to the disembodied voice you hear as you play through (“your life expectancy has suddenly dropped”). The enemies are “class-based,” meaning different enemies are basically designed with different functions in mind – such as the canon-fodder enemies (typical dumb FPS enemies), soldiers (use cover well, good aim), and scavengers (they run around the battlefield picking up intel, the in-game currency, which is used to order airstrikes and such). Additionally, one of the top priorities for this game was getting a good multiplayer mode implemented! The game has very destructible environments – which affects how you play overtime. Environments start off very close-quarters, but as the firefight ruins the environments weapons with larger range are more advantageous. The goal is to give the player the ability to improvise how they’ll go through a situation.

Stuart Black’s approach for story telling appears to be more episodic in this game – a move itself which is not too terribly noteworthy. After all, Alone in the Dark and Alan Wake used this gimmick, Telltales Games’ design philosophy is based around this, and Valve is attempting to finish the Half-Life story in this way. However,what is noteworthy is the reason for this in Bodycount is because Stuart Black feels that too many action games pad out a two hour story into ten hours. This is a sentiment I agree with. Well, except for the ten hour game bit; where is this guy finding new shooters that long?
So far, the expected release is sometime before next summer.

Crysis 2

Crytek’s new game, Crysis 2, showcases the new CryEngine. Now, PC fans will cry a river now that even Crytek, developers of FarCry for the PC (but not the console) and Crysis, have decided to develop a game on consoles and PC. However, once diehards wipe the tears away, they will be pleasantly surprised with what Crytek offers. Crytek is known not just for being somewhat lazy with naming, but also for being capable of creating some really good looking games. FarCry was a benchmark for years and I know someone who, when he bought his new PC, bought and installed Crysis to test its limits. Crytek makes pretty games for the hardcore shooter fan. Crysis 2 appears to be no different. Crytek’s CryEngine 3 is efficient enough to run on consoles without sacrificing too much and offers 3D graphics. Now, normally this would seem somewhat gimmicky. However, CryEngine 2 was a showcase for DirectX 10, but was never gimmicky about it and I’m confident enough that Crytek would not throw something into their engine if it was merely a gimmick. These developers seem to pride themselves on being on the cutting edge of graphics, so 3D may not be the future, but it will almost certainly be well-thought out.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Fallout: New Vegas

Homefront

X-COM

Piracy allows me to enjoy out of print games. Perhaps I want to play System Shock 2, I can pirate it or I can buy it. A quick look on eBay tells me that I can buy it from $30 USD; this is not a bad price at all! However, the problem is that when I pay that price, no one involved with the production of the game gets a cut of the money. A re-release of System Shock 2 which has been updated to work with the new Windows operating systems would get my money. Effort has been put into that product, people have worked, and they will receive a share of the profits that their work produces. Buying a game used, regardless of the situation, does not bring the publishers or developers money. I’ll shamelessly plug GoG.com, because they make sure the old games work with Vista or Windows 7. When they use DOSBox for their games, they pre-configure it to make sure the game runs as smoothly as it can. I gladly pay $5 or $10; I’m paying for convenience (and because I get a copy of the manual and some nifty extras!).

You're looking at one of the most annoying games to get running on a modern computer... and a ghost's ass.

Emulation, too, is piracy. I view it in much the same way. Sometimes when a porton a newer system comes out, I’ll buy it. One of my favourite games of all-time is The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. I played it as a child on the SNES and I bought it for the Gameboy Advance when it came out. When I get access to my 360 and an online connection, I seriously want to get me some Prince of Persia. It’s a pretty remake of a classic platformer that is older than me. I’ll pay for ports – the Gameboy Advance version of A Link to the Past got my money because it offered the classic game to me in the palm of my hands with a new multiplayer game included. The XBL version of Prince of Persia would get my money because it’s a prettied up remake of a classic game, one that has been immensely influential to the development of video games. Graphically and stylistically, it is an important milestone. However, I can’t imagine myself paying for LttP on the Wii, the straight-up port doesn’t seem worth the money when I’ve already purchased the game before.

Publishers treat our PC game purchases not as a purchase, but a rental fee. If I bought Bioshock for the PC, I would not have the rights over that game that a console owner has. A console owner can play that game on as many consoles as he likes with no issues. As a PC gamer, if I install the game too many times, I have to call up the publisher and politely ask for the privilege to reinstall my game. I can’t lend my game to a friend if he wants to see if he likes it as easily I can with an Xbox 360 or PS3 copy of the game. Some digital rights management, or DRM, is worse – one needs a constant connection to play the PC version of Assassin’s Creed II; I don’t even need a constant internet connection to access Steam, a program which is an online distribution platform! When workarounds are found for DRM, pirates are able to enjoy the game on their own terms and this only makes piracy more appealing.

PC gamers are also losing demos. More and more, there are either no demos for PC gamers or the demo is just a level made for the purposes of the demo. Sometimes this can work well – Starcraft’s demo acts as a prologue to the game – but most of the time, I feel it’s disappointing. Jedi Knight II was a game I purchased based on the demo and I found myself disappointed because the demo was much more entertaining than the actual game. If publishers won’t allow me to try my potential purchases out legally, I will pirate a game to see if’s worth it. Games are expensive and before I buy a game I like to try them out. With consoles I can rent a game, with PC games I used to be able to download a demo. More and more, I can’t download a demo and, when I can, it does not represent the final product.

Demigod is a go-to for how piracy negatively effects the gaming industry. Neowin seems to credit the rampant piracy to Stardocks DRM philosophy (which is best summed up in the news posting “How copy protection creates pirates“). I remember the forum responses to that entire fiasco – and many pirates admitted they did pirate the game on a trial basis. I think it is valid for a potential consumer to want to try out a product they’re considering – especially when the game in question is highly derivative of a free custom map from an eight year old game! It took four months for the demo of Demigod to finally see a release. Would there have been so many copies downloaded if a demo had preceded the game release, or if the demo hit the same day as the game hit the shelves? I’d like to think it would have been different.

I will say, it is the prettiest Defense of the Ancients clone out there.

Piracy has been an issue for a long time. I have vinyl records which state that “taping kills music” on the back. I’ve seen the PSA that urge me “not to copy that floppy” because the consequence will be dire, and I’ve been informed that YouTube will kill television. However, a Harvard professor believes that music piracy strengthens music sales. Essentially, you can divide the pirates into two groups: the ones that wouldn’t buy the music anyways and those that want to sample music on their terms. The Canadian Record Industry Association concedes that pirates are more likely to buy music. In fact, finding studies that confirm this is quite easy, as evidenced by the fact that this author wonders whether music pirates should be likened to Robin Hood instead of pirates. I don’t think this should come as a surprise – those that pirate a lot of music are the ones that listen to a lot of music, they’re the ones that care about music, and they may even be the next generation of musicians.

So, pirates of music are the strongest consumers, but does this apply to games? I’ll be honest, I don’t have numbers on that. I know in my own experience, I’ve decided I’d rather skip out on a game than put up with DRM I don’t like, I know people who have canceled pre-orders over DRM and wrote the developers telling them that they have done so and will torrent the game. However, I do not see how the gaming industry would be so different from the record industry in this way. We are in an age where it is acceptable to package a 2 hour game for $60 on release – I remember when Gears of War came out; a friend bought it on release and it was finished by the next day. We are also in an age where we are seeing more indie developers get attention on the PC platform. I also wonder if those that pirate more games are more likely to buy games – some of the most prolific pirates I know buy the most games and are more willing to buy a new console. I also wonder if those more inclined to be involved in video game development are more likely to torrent a game before buying it.

This game has top-of-the-line generator rendering technology.

Piracy is not the end of the PC market; just like piracy wasn’t the end of the market back when my older brother and his friends were trading floppies with various shareware titles on it. I look at the increased piracy on the market and see a rejection of DRM and of the current pricing model. I see consumer-based civil disobedience. I also see a new market emerging – one that can and will make games priced competitively. Penumbra is an acclaimed series of PC games that sells for $20 and still manages to look amazing. The PC market is going to the little guys and I don’t think it would have happened if PC gamers weren’t unhappy with their roles as consumers. This is also a move I see as beneficial to the industry; as PC gamers are less willing to pay for AAA titles, but more willing to pay for independent titles, the industry discovers new talent. World of Goo got its start on the PC before moving to Wiiware, Cave Story was originally a freeware game released for the PC by one guy before Nintendo noticed it, and And Yet It Moves is another PC title that is getting a move to Wiiware. Much like how Valve used the modding community to seek out new talent (Left4Dead is made by people who used to make Counter-Strike maps in their spare time, for example), the changes we’re seeing on the PC market are bringing new people to the attention of consumers and the industry.  Piracy is the end of the current model of consumption, but I believe we’ll see something better take its place.

Buxom, upper-class brunette lady looking for a smart, attractive and eligible male.

My hobbies include: scuba diving, archaeology, gymnastics, globetrotting and slaughtering endangered wildlife.  I have been through some tough times over the last 10 years, but I’m back on form again recently and I feel ready to explore again.

Devoted single father with a large build looking for a woman to share my life with.

Interests include swimming, aquatic life, power tools and self-defense.  I share a wonderful property with a few oddball characters that are always arguing but it has a great ocean view.  Love of children is important, because as part of my job I am always looking after them. E-mail steve@rapture.com

I’m a 30-year-old, sunglasses wearing, 6ft tall,  ripped guy.

I’m a big fan of kicking ass and chewing bubblegum (but sometimes I run out of gum). I have a hatred for pigs who dress like police officers and extra terrestrials as a whole. Looking for a woman who doesn’t mind if I start something and never finish.

Chubby Italian plumber, 29 years of age.

I run my own plumbing business with my brother.  Looking for a blonde lady I can treat like a princess.  My old GF was constantly leaving me for the slimy, cold-blooded sort.  Hobbies include go-karting, golf, and basketball. I’m very open minded am willing to try any activity at least once. Please send all correspondence to the Mushroom Kingdom.

Spiky, blue hedgehog looking for a new group of friends to hang out with.

My current group is a bit of a handful.  I’m looking for friends with attitude that won’t run from a fight – I have a bit of a beef with a  morbidly obese egg-shaped man.  I enjoy sports and I’ve recently started racing cars with my workmates.

Abused and exotic yellow-coloured creature looking to be rescued.

My current master is a right bastard and pits me against other animals (well at least until I faint). He fights against anyone who looks at him funny and I’m at my wits end.  I am kept in cramped conditions against my will and only let out when he needs me.  I have an electric personality and just looking for a new owner so I can grow and evolve.

Overworked and underpaid South American currently working for the US government.

I’m looking for a new job because my current workload is too chaotic.  I get to travel all over the world and get to meet some very interesting characters.  Seeking a new career as my co-workers are obnoxious and I don’t think my insurance covers all that my job requires of me. I’m desperate for a new job. I could even do window cleaning too because I’m quite good with heights.

It appears that Black Ops will allow players to visit many different time periods and settings; one of which is more than likely to be Vietnam. Vietnam has been rumoured to be in the next Call of Duty game for quite some time now. Judging by the trailer, it seems that at least part of the game will take place there. Gameplay-wise, it is extremely hard to make out any real additions or changes. The trailer hints at an intriguing twist on the Call of Duty styled story too. Some of the sequences suggest that a ex-soldier has been drugged and is being questioned about past events. I suspect players will play though his memory to advance the story. Call of Duty: Black Ops is currently slated in for a November 9th 2010 release date.

Check out the trailer below:

One of the most noticeable changes that will come with Cataclysm is the Classic zone changes. For the past 5+ years the original continents of Azeroth (Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor) haven’t seen much in terms of changes. With the new expansion, Blizzard is going to completely redesign Azeroth as we know it. Many areas will change dramatically from desert to lush forests and vice versa. The Barrens will be completely split in two and all the old towns will be destroyed. Players will have to re-familiarize themselves with the new towns and quest zones. In addition Blizzard is going to unlock areas that have been inaccessible to us thus far, such as Mount Hyjal in Kalimdor.

Worgen

Along with the new design will come two new playable races, both of which have been featured in the game many times already. Horde players will be able to play as a Goblin, while Alliance players will be able to play as a Worgen. Both races will have their own starting areas for levels 1-15. Worgens will start in Gilneas located in Silverpine Forest, and Goblins will start in a completely new area, on the Isle of Kezan. Almost all classes are available to both races; however neither can be played as paladins. The only other restrictions to classes are that Goblins will not be able to be druids and Worgens will not be able to be shamans.

Goblin

There are many other features in the Cataclysm expansion that are just as important to us WoW players. For instance Blizzard will be allowing flying mounts in Azeroth, but it is still uncertain as to what restrictions they intend to impose, if any. They are also going to create a leveling system for guilds based on new guild achievements. The new level cap will be 85 instead of the normal 10 additional levels. This is because they wanted to focus more on the end game material in addition to the reworking of the level 1-60 content. This includes new higher-level zones, eight new 5-player dungeons (both normal and heroic) and 4 new 10- and 25-player raids.

One feature I am excited about as are many other players is that Blizzard will also be making more classes available for each race, such as the Dwarf Shaman. To find out more about the class combinations that will be available I have provided a chart below.

Click the chart for a larger view.

In addition to this, there will be some major changes to each class. Blizzard intends to change some classes talent trees dramatically whilst others not so much. If you would like to know more about a particular class or any of these changes click here.

And finally, for those of you who enjoy learning new professions, Blizzard will be creating a new secondary profession, Archeology. Not much is known about the profession other than it will include collecting and using artifacts from ancient races within Azeroth. It will also be important to the new character progression feature called the path system. This system will be a new way to gain talent points through questing, raiding and completing other objectives within the game.

In my experience, most expansion packs are created to add some new content to games without changing the game dramatically. With all these new features calling Cataclysm an expansion pack seems like an under exaggeration. It should really be called WoW II. Although I have not been a WoW player long enough to experience the release of any of their expansion packs, I believe that this one will be Blizzard’s greatest yet. If you would like to know more details about these changes you can find them on WoW’s Cataclysm website.

The official Diablo 3 introduction: “Two decades have passed since the demonic lords, Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal, set out across the world of Sanctuary on a vicious rampage, twisting humanity to their unholy will. Yet for those who battled the Prime Evils, the memory fades slowly.

When Deckard Cain returns to the ruins of Tristram Cathedral seeking clues to defeat new stirrings of evil, a fiery harbinger of doom falls from the heavens, striking the very ground where Diablo once entered the world. This fire from the sky reawakens ancient evils and calls the heroes of Sanctuary to defend the mortal world against the rising powers of the Burning Hells once again.”