Notch offers to fund Psychonauts 2
And in other PC gaming news…
The music, voices and video editing in the video above were all done by ONE MAN. It’s a Portal 2 themed version of Danny Elfman’s This is Halloween from The Nightmare Before Christmas. It proved so infectious that it’s taken over today’s top spot. Have no fear, you’ll find our pick of the day from Dead End Thrills just below, with today’s collection of PC gaming news.
Prison Architect “paid alpha” planned for later this year
We met up with Introversion at A Bit of Alright last week to talk about how development is going on their new project, Prison Architect. Creative director, Chris Delay and managing director Mark Morris told us about their plans for a “paid alpha” later this year.
The alpha could be released “maybe half way through/two thirds through of this year, so maybe September time,” says Chris. The paid alpha will give players the opportunity to pay for a pre-order to get immediate access to the build that Introversion are currently working on.
The Darkness 2 review
Four arms: it was so obvious. It must be galling for other shooter developers. They’ve spent decades since Doom trying to work out ways to innovate on the FPS model, to make shooting people feel fresh and interesting again. They’ve tried vast open worlds and they’ve tried hurling Hollywood-size production values at projects, but the Darkness II manages it by just giving anti-hero Jackie Estacado four arms.
Well. Technically he only has two arms. These are his normal limbs, functioning as arms do in games where arms are only necessary to hold guns and occasionally fire them at swarms of enemies. He also has two demonic snake-tentacles.
Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai lead designer on the rise of guns and “the last hurrah of archery”
Which are better, guns, or bows and arrows? Guns, of course, you might think, but then you have to consider the long reload times, their tendency to explode, their unreliability in wet conditions. These are some of the issues that Total War lead designer James Russell and the team at The Creative Assembly think about every day as they balance the clash of old and new weaponry in Fall of the Samurai.
Tim Schafer says he’d “love to do” Psychonauts 2, Notch offers to fund it
Did you love Psychonauts? Have you often wished for a sequel that would continue Raz’ adventures? You’re not alone. Psychonauts creator, Tim Schafer mentions to Digital Spy that he’s pitched Psychonauts 2 several times to different publishers, but “no-one has taken the bait so far.”
“I’d love to do that game,” he says. “But I’d have to convince someone to just give me a few million dollars, that’s all.”
A few million dollars? If only there were some sort of successful indie developer. One who loved the original, someone with the kind of dosh to prop up development on a sequel. Perhaps someone with a nice hat and a name that rhymes with “scotch.”
Hands on with the Alienware X51
Gaming system specialist Alienware launched its console sized X51 desktop for the second time in London last night. The machine was originally announced a couple of weeks ago in San Francisco, since when we’ve only seen it in pictures. Now we’ve played with it for a bit, had a go at building a cheaper alternative and spoken to the team behind it, it’s time to gather our thoughts.
The X51 is intriguing. It looks like a media centre, acts like a desktop PC and costs the same as a top end Mac Mini for the most basic of the three specs available. It’s on sale now, so who’s going to buy it?
PC Gamer UK Podcast 64 – The Steam charts, Batman: Arkham City, The Old Republic
Tim, Tom Francis and Chris Thursten talk through the latest Steam charts, discuss Batman: Arkham City and its DLC (really, this time), worry that PC gaming has become too connected, answer some good questions from Twitter, and – with a lot of warning and only at the very end – discuss an exciting level-35 Imperial spoiler for The Old Republic. There are also spoilers for KOTOR and eventually Arkham City in this section.
Download the MP3, subscribe, or find our older podcasts here.
Blizzard’s Battle.Net balance is live
The Battle.net balance will let players convert cash into Blizzard bucks, which can be used to buy Blizzardy bits like World of Warcraft game time, realm transfers and name changes, or even digital downloads of StarCraft 2 and Diablo 2. A post on the Battle.Net site says that the Battle.Net Balance is now up and running for everyone with a Battle.Net account.
It’s also a very important piece of infrastructure that’ll prop up Diablo 3′s in-game auction house. The system will let you put the profits you’ve made selling off useless loot towards other Blizzard game services. We can expect to see Battle.Net balance syncing up with the Blizzard Arcade in future. That could let players charge for mods they’ve made using StarCraft 2′s editing tools. That’s set to arrive alongside StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm.
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.
Hawken will be free to play, out in December, sign up for the closed beta now
“I’m throwing my wallet at the screen but nothing is happening!” is a common reaction to the trailers for stunning indie multiplayer mech-war project, Hawken. According to a blog post on the Hawken site, you won’t need your wallet at all. It’ll be released as a free to play game on December 12 this year.
PC Gamer US Podcast #303: 52 Hours
This week, Lucas carries out the cult rituals of the PCG tribe with Evan, Josh, Tyler, and Gavin as they seek the answers within to the most pressing of questions. What game determined their path through life? What is their deepest, darkest PC gaming passion? How do they nourish themselves whilst gaming like champions? And who, pray tell, participated in a LAN for a whopping 52 straight hours?! Don your cabalistic cloaks and join us in this inward-looking ceremony.
And in other PC gaming news…
We’ll be showing off more of Duncan Harris’ excellent screenshot work – like the image above – as time goes on. You can see the full version at Dead End Thrills.
From videogame photography to videogame history. Graham took a look at the first hours of Minecraft, as unwitting TIGSource forumites witnessed the birth of one of the most important games of recent years – as well as the beginning of a job for life for Notch’s accountant. Bethesda finally announced a release date for the Skyrim Creation Kit, which while a little more complicated than stacking blocks will allow you to start making your own mods from tomorrow. Finally, the third part of our Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai interview series revealed that the average player spends more than a hundred hours in the game.
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.
Total War: Shogun 2 average user plays “for about a hundred hours”
Lead designer of Shogun 2, James Russell, knows just how much fans love Total War. The series typically produces enormous games capable of generating epic storylines across decades of war. Even then, it’s surprising just how much time players spend building their empires. Russell says that “the average” Total War campaigner “plays for about a hundred hours.” That is a lot of war.
The process of managing your empire from the strategic view and then fighting hour-long battles can eat up a lot of time, but “the real crux of it,” according to Russell, is that “Total War has great replayability.”
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.
