PC Gamer

Have some nice but incredibly stagey Far Cry 3 screenshots

Remember Far Cry? It was all crystal seas, rusty wrecks and winding jungle paths. So is Far Cry 3!

A few shots in this batch could be from a prettier version of the original, which is actually rather exciting. A few others look like they were painstakingly posed with dev tools to tick seven different marketing boxes, then carefully post-processed to blend the explosions and muzzle flashes just so. We’ll never know, of course, but it’d be cool to see more that look like someone actually playing the game (above) and less like box art.

Battlefield 3: Back to Karkand review

The Back to Karkand expansion for Battlefield 3 started a war inside my head. On one side, the cynic. On the other, the boy who likes shooting things. “£12 for four old maps, ten old weapons and a few scrappy vehicles?” The cynic scoffed. “Shut up!” the boy cried. “I just killed a tank by shooting a rocket through a hole in an apartment block!” It’s an argument the cynic was never going to win.

The maps are fantastic. But then they should be: Wake Island, Gulf of Oman, Sharqi Peninsula and Strike at Karkand are all Battlefield 2 maps, rebuilt to work with the graphical power and explodiness of the Frostbite 2 engine. The four-year old architecture has been tweaked and iterated upon countless times. They’re finely honed, fair, and consistently deliver great games.

Introversion: “If Valve aren’t launching your game you really have to ask yourself why”

The Introversion Humble Indie Bundle was a massive success, selling more games in two weeks than the developer had in 10 years: “It was our biggest single sale of any sale we’d ever done before, financially and in terms of player numbers, says creative director, Chris Delay. “Twice as many people play our games thanks to Humble Bundle.”

But even though alternate distribution platforms can be profitable, Chris admits that landing Prison Architect on Valve’s platform was the ultimate aim: “I think Steam is obviously the market leader. I definitely think that. And I would feel very frustrated if I had a game and Valve turned it down. Getting on Steam is like a number one objective for us, so we have to make sure the game is good enough.

Introversion’s managing director, Mark Morris, is just as modest about their future titles: “It’s a really good litmus test, If Valve aren’t launching your game, you really have to ask yourself why.”

Decoding Blizzard and Valve’s trademark dispute: who really owns DOTA?

This week, it was finally revealed that Blizzard and Riot are both disputing Valve’s attempts to trademark DOTA in the US ahead of the eventual launch of DOTA 2. The case is fascinating/horrifying for a bunch of reasons:

1) It demonstrates how grey the area of ownership of copyright and materials can be when it comes to mods and total conversions.
2) the documentation we’ve got access to gives a good detail on how Blizzard view themselves and their ownership of community content
3) It may have an interesting knock-on effect on the validity of EULAs.
4) The result of the dispute may have a knock on effect on the DOTA mod itself
5) it’s like watching your mom and dad go through the early stages of a trial separation.

In order to make sense of what’s going on I’ve been digging through Blizzard’s filed trademark objection, and what it might mean for DOTA and community content in the long run. To make it clear: the case is just about the trademark for the name DOTA.

The first point to make: at no point do Blizzard explicitly state that they wish to own the DOTA trademark. In objecting they’re not at present, trying to trademark DOTA for themselves. However, they believe that the terms DotA, Dota: DOTA and Defense of the Ancients are all part of their Warcraft 3 business. Much of their objection hinges on one word: Ancients.

Civ V: Gods and Kings expansion announced. Now with extra religion and spies

2K have just announced that a new expansion is incoming for Civ V. We got to chat with the game’s producer, Dennis Shirk about the expansion a few days ago: “We wanted to take the experience to a deeper level,” he said. “We’re giving you new challenges to face.”

There’ll be a new focus on religious mechanics, along with nine new civilisations and a heap of fresh units. You’ll also get to sample one of nine new leaders, including Prince of Orange and Boudicca.

Gods and Kings will also bring spies to the world of Civ. They’ll break in to your opponents cities and have a rummage around for exclusive info. Get a super sneaky one involved and they might even steal you some advanced technology and help to rig elections in your favour. Dirty buggers. We’ll also get to interact with two new city-state types: Mercantile and Religious. As Dennis mentioned: “Earning a diplomatic victory is now more about being a good Global Partner to all the states, and less about amassing a lot of gold and spending it on them.”

The expansion is due in Spring this year. We’re not sure of the price, yet. Click through for an image of the updated interface.

TF2′s $100 wedding rings are one dirty joke

Gamers eh? It doesn’t take long. The Something Special for Someone Special item landed in TF2 yesterday, and it’s already shrouded in filth. The $100 wedding ring is a one use only item but every time someone accepts a proposal, every TF2 player logged in to the server gets a notification. And PC gamers like expressing themselves publically.

Click through for some of the more amusing notifications, courtesy of reddit. Warning, one of them is a bit rude.

Let us know any proposals I’ve missed in the comments and I’ll update the post accordingly.

Notch calms down the internet with facts. Asks it to “stop hyping”

“Let’s make Psychonauts 2 happen” said Notch a few weeks ago. Yesterday, he offered Tim Schafer 13 million to fund the anticipated sequel, before clarifying his intent. Later in the day, he posted confirmed details on his personal blog.

Even though Notch mentions he and Tim “haven’t spoken much,” he confirms the high profile pair are planning on meeting at GDC, which happens in a few weeks. He also mentions that the 13 million quoted by Tim was “three times higher” than his original estimate, but that he’s still up for fronting the cash. The Minecraft dev says he would be operating purely as an investor, saying “I wouldn’t want to have any creative input.”

Alan Wake screenshot comparison: 360 vs. PC

We know that PC games can look sharper and more detailed than anything the 360 will ever release, but it’s surprising just how much better when you do a side by side comparison. Alan Wake was released two years ago for the 360, but it’s finally coming to PC (graphically enhanced) tomorrow. The PC’s updated graphics show clear screens of a school bus illegally parking or a gas station with the most terrifying truck decoration I’ve ever seen. The 360 versions makes me feel like I have been drinking all day after stepping on my only pair of glasses.

PC Gamer US April issue: PlanetSide 2 hands-on, with beta key!

We heard you might want access to one of gaming’s most exciting PC exclusives, so we went ahead and sorted that out for you. Issue #225 of PC Gamer US features PlanetSide 2—a veritable Manhattan Project of ambitious massively-multiplayer FPS design being tackled by the same studio that created EverQuest. Each physical issue of the magazine (subscriber copies and newsstand copies) includes a unique beta key for PlanetSide 2 that can be redeemed on the game’s website. Woo!

We also get a crack at XCOM: Enemy Unknown, 2K’s second (and more faithful, we think) reboot of the turn-based classic. In our reviews section, we verdictize high-fidelity flight sim X-Plane 10, X3: Albion Prelude, Dustforce, Flatout 3, Dear Esther, Earth Defense Force, Q.U.B.E., and more. This month’s Reinstall revisits Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger, one of the highest-budget games of its time in 1994 and a beloved FMV classic to boot. In Massive Attack, MMO reporter Josh Augustine preps you for the endgame of Star Wars: The Old Republic, with full-page maps and a detailed walkthrough of the first level 50 Flashpoint. Hard Stuff reviews the successor to Intel’s Sandy Bridge CPU, the Core i7-3960X.

Click within for a full look at our cover’s jetpacking gentleman.

PC Gamer UK March issue: Far Cry 3

They say that if you stare into the mad eyes of Far Cry 3 villain, Vaas, for too long then you lose all sense of time and language. I’m not sure that’s true. I’ve been staring into his eyes for the last few minutes trying to think of an intro and oogle bloogle barble blom.

We put Vaas on our cover this month to spread the madness and let the world know about our six page Far Cry 3 preview. The third game in the series will revisit the beautiful tropical setting of the first game and this time not everyone on the island will be a respawning homicidal maniac. Subscribers have had the issue for about a week already, but it should be hitting shop shelves as you’re reading this. This month all of our readers get a key that will grant access to the excellent Tribes: Ascend beta, and six pounds worth of World of Tanks cash.

There’s plenty more inside, of course. Our huge tips feature is packed full of moderately worthwhile advice that will threaten to catapult your gaming skills into the realm of slightly above average. Graham’s been seeing aliens, too. Partly because he’s been out to see XCOM: Enemy Unknown, but mostly because he spent too long staring at Vaas when designing the cover. Read on to discover what else lies in wait in issue 237.