Telltale's Game of Thrones concludes next month with "The Ice Dragon"

Telltale has announced that "The Ice Dragon," the sixth and final part of its Game of Thrones adventure series, will be out on November 17.

adventure series, will be out on November 17. To mark the moment, the studio has released a "TV Cast Featurette" that has Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen), Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell), and Iwan Rheon (the always charming Ramsay Snow) talking about their roles in the game.

The video doesn't say much about what's in store in the climactic chapter, but it's always fun to see Rheon out of character, since he seems like a really nice guy despite playing such a loathsome bastard so effectively in the HBO show. Telltale's staff didn't divulge any details either, but CEO Kevin Bruner promised a big finish.

"The epic conclusion to the season is the most ambitious and diversely presented episode we've ever produced," he said. "The fate of House Forrester has been in the hands of players all season long, and the finale will be tailored to provide a uniquely harrowing conclusion for each and every player based on the decisions they've made in the game thus far."

Interestingly, the first episode of Game of Thrones, "Iron From Ice," is being made available free on consoles and mobile devices—everything but the PC, in fact. I've emailed Telltale to ask why them and not us, and I'll let you know what they have to say. (I imagine they'll say it's because they don't offer the episodes individually on the PC, but I'd think they could make an exception in this case.) In the meantime, don't miss our review of the previous episode, A Nest of Vipers, right here.

Ubisoft invests in free-to-play, acquiring Anno developer

Twitch has beaten Dark Souls

As far as I'm concerned, Twitch basically "won" Dark Souls when it beat Orstein and Smough a couple of weeks back.

a couple of weeks back. Since then I've tuned out of the playthrough, because nothing really compares to that encounter. That's the peak of the game's difficulty, and it's a relatively easy descent from there.

So it's as a token gesture that I offer to you footage (courtesy of YouTuber whydoyoubark) of Twitch slaying Gwyn Lord of Cinder, the final boss in Dark Souls. The final death count was 904, which is probably considerably less than mine on my first playthrough.

In case you've missed the details, Twitch Plays Dark Souls is a modded version of the game whichs adds regular pauses to allow the Twitch community to plan their moves. The video above has those pauses edited out.

Where to from here for the Twitch Plays Dark Souls community? Dark Souls 2, naturally.

PC Gamer UK Podcast 006: Mirror's Edge, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture

It’s hard being a video game protagonist.

It’s hard being a video game protagonist. Maybe you’ll run the rooftops of a pristine dystopia. Maybe you’ll unpick the mysteries of deepest, ruralist Shropshire. Maybe you’ll slog through a dungeon festooned with fiendish traps. Or maybe you’ll fight long into the abyss. And maybe the abyss also fights into you. Maybe there’s another option. Maybe there’s… the pub.

Grab Episode 006: Everybody's Gone To The Pub directly here. You can also subscribe on iTunesor keep up with new releases using our RSS feed.

Discussed: Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture, Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear, Dark Souls III, No Man’s Sky, Overwatch.

This week: Samuel Roberts, Phil Savage, Andy Kelly, Angus Morrison.

The PC Gamer UK Podcast is a weekly podcast about PC gaming. Thoughts? Feedback? Requests? Get in touch at pcgamer@futurenet.com and use the subject line “Podcast”, or tweet us via the links above.

Music this week is the Mass Effect starmap music.

Telltale says you'll want to replay the Game of Thrones finale

Telltale announced last month that its six-part Game of Thrones adventure would wrap up on November 17, but beyond that date and the title—The Ice Dragon—Telltale's said almost nothing about what we've actually got to look forward to.

adventure would wrap up on November 17, but beyond that date and the title—The Ice Dragon—Telltale's said almost nothing about what we've actually got to look forward to. And it still hasn't, really, but it did summarize the coming events a little bit today, and posted some new screens to look at too.

"With House Whitehill tightening its grip on Ironrath at the behest of Ramsay Bolton, the remaining Forresters must give their all to save the family, whether through diplomacy, subterfuge, or violent force," Telltale wrote on its blog. "In the frozen wilds beyond The Wall, Gared learns the secrets of the mysterious North Grove, and Mira discovers that political games in a King's Landing controlled by Cersei Lannister often involve the highest stakes of all."

The studio also advised that "this is definitely an episode you might want to play more than once," which brought to mind Wes' commentsabout the conclusion of Telltale's second season of The Walking Dead. I think the argument for living with the outcome of your choices in a narrative game is very valid, but Telltale seems to bake in a greater payoff for experimentation than many other developers. Sometimes outcomes are unavoidable—my wife spent a lot of time trying to avoid the inevitable conclusion of the first Game of Thrones episode (sorry, no spoilers)—but if Telltale is telling you to replay it, I'd say that you should probably replay it.

And now, some screens.

That last one isn't actually a screen shot, but I think it fits the spirit of the moment quite nicely.

Video: Rebuilding Crimewatch, EVE Online 's player policing system

"Trying to fix a complex system by adding more complexity is going to kick your ass.

"Trying to fix a complex system by adding more complexity is going to kick your ass. It's a bad approach." - Game designer Matthew Woodward explains what he learned from mistakes made while designing player policing systems in
EVE Online .

In this GDC 2014 talk, CCP Games' Matt Woodward explores how "Crimewatch," EVE Online 's policing and aggression management system, got into such a bad state that an unofficial moratorium was placed on further development -- and how his team went about redesigning it.

His talk covers the history of the system and walks you through its development process, covering initial research, core design, adjustments necessitated by legacy features and player feedback, and how the redesign fared post-release.

System designers, take note: Woodward digs deep into the design process of Crimewatch, using practical examples to illustrate the underlying design flaws of the original system, isolate the mistakes that led to them, and explain the reasoning that underpins the replacement system -- as well as how that reasoning can be practically applied to the design of other games.

It's a good talk, so we've gone ahead and embedded the free video of "Crimewatch 2.0: Redesigning EVE Online 's Policing System" above. You can also watch it hereon the GDC Vault.
About the GDC VaultIn addition to this presentation, the GDC Vaultoffers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC, GDC Europe, and GDC Next already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.

Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Tech

Twitch to add video uploads and ditch Flash

The battle between Twitch and YouTube has heated up following today's announcement that Twitch will soon allow users to upload videos to the service without having to stream them first.

has heated up following today's announcement that Twitch will soon allow users to upload videos to the service without having to stream them first. Broadcasters will also be able to create playlists of their content using either archived streams or highlights, and a full HTML5 player is on the way too.

The changes were revealed during founder and CEO Emmett Shear's keynote at TwitchCon 2015. "The Twitch community shapes everything we do through the creative new ways they use our platform, through their feedback, and through the great videos and hilarious chat messages we see every day,” Shear said in a post-address statement. "All of the features we announced today, from our HTML5 plans to our video upload system, are inspired by our awesome community of broadcasters, viewers, and chatters."

Video uploading is a huge move, because it directly targets YouTube's core functionality: For now, Twitch can only archive livestreams, which puts it at a significant disadvantage as a video-on-demand service. Of course, you will recall that it was just last monththat YouTube muscled in on Twitch territory with the launch of YouTube Gaming, which supports 60 fps livestreams. Twitch actually issued a statement in response to that development, promising to reveal part of its "very ambitious and long-term product roadmap" at TwitchCon. Mission accomplished, as they say.

Other changes announced at TwitchCon include the addition of customizable thumbnails for archived broadcasts and highlights, and Gameshow, "cross-platform livestreaming production software" that will "simplify the process of creating a consistent, branded game stream, which helps [streamers] build their community, build their brand and make their streams worth watching."

Playlist functionality is set to roll out in the fall—soon, in other words—while video uploads and the HTML5 player will debut in early 2016.

No Man's Sky reportedly delayed

No Man's Sky , aka The Game I Desperately Hope Is Not Delayed, has reportedly been delayed.

Kotakuis reporting that retailer Gamestop has been instructed to amend the release date on promotional posters with "coming soon". Another unnamed "reliable" source has also confirmed the delay. One of these sources claims that the space adventure is likely to release in July or August.

It's true that marketing for the game has been a bit quiet of late, but with E3 around the corner, that didn't seem too ominous until now. It's disappointing if true, but these delays are usually in service to the quality of the game, and besides: there is no lack of other games to play right now. (You could play this lo-fi take on the space exploration theme).

Still, the delay hasn't been officially confirmed by Hello Games or Sony, so don't go cancelling your June holidays just yet. In the meantime, here's what Chris Livingston thoughtafter spending a bit of time with the game.

Game of Thrones finale trailer recaps a season of misery

First, Telltale announced the launch date for "The Ice Dragon," the final episode in the first season of its Game of Thrones adventure series.

adventure series. Then, it tossed out some screens. And now, right on schedule (because the game is out tomorrow) we've got a launch trailer. This one is actually kind of interesting though, because of the way it recaps a number of the big decisions which the players have had to make over the course of the earlier episodes. Because of that, there are obviously some very big spoilers ahead, so don't watch if you don't want to blow the surprise.

Because I care, I won't actually tell you about any of them (although I honestly did not expect HBO to confirm that whole Jon Snow thingin a videogame). But collectively, they paint a grim picture for House Forrester, which really can't seem to catch a break. And I know, happy endings are pretty much the antithesis of Game of Thrones, but after a while it all starts to feel a bit sadistic, doesn't it?

If you want to avoid the spoilers but still catch the bit of the trailer that's actually relevant to the final episode, start watching at the 3:15 mark and you'll be fine. Telltale's Game of Thrones season finale comes out on November 17.

Activision Shuts Down King's Quest Fan Sequel

BioShock is a "permanent franchise," says Take-Two boss

It's telling that when we ranked the BioShock games earlier this year, we rated them not "best to worst" but "best to least-best." The simple fact is that even the least of them, BioShock 2 according to our readers (an assessment I wholeheartedly agree with), was still a damn good game.

according to our readers (an assessment I wholeheartedly agree with), was still a damn good game. That's why it came as such a surprise in early 2014 when top Shocker Ken Levine decided to pull the plugon Irrational Games. Why would he, or anyone, kill the goose that lays the golden games?

He didn't, of course. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick discussed the futureof the franchise a few months after Irrational was closed down, saying, "We haven't given any color on how you should think about [BioShock's future] yet except we do believe it's beloved. We think it's important [and] certainly something that we're focused on."

It's been well over a year since then, but Zelnick reiterated that stance over the weekend at the MKM Partners Investor Day Conference, where, as reported by Gamespot, he committed to the long-term future of the series. "The franchise is in the hands of 2K," he said. "They'll make announcements in due time about any upcoming releases. But BioShock is unquestionably a permanent franchise in our company and one that we do believe in."

When last we heard, the BioShock franchise had been handed to 2K Marin for shaping in the post-Ken Levine era. Its long-term plans for the series remain a mystery.

No Man's Sky reportedly delayed

No Man's Sky , aka The Game I Desperately Hope Is Not Delayed, has reportedly been delayed.

Kotakuis reporting that retailer Gamestop has been instructed to amend the release date on promotional posters with "coming soon". Another unnamed "reliable" source has also confirmed the delay. One of these sources claims that the space adventure is likely to release in July or August.

It's true that marketing for the game has been a bit quiet of late, but with E3 around the corner, that didn't seem too ominous until now. It's disappointing if true, but these delays are usually in service to the quality of the game, and besides: there is no lack of other games to play right now. (You could play this lo-fi take on the space exploration theme).

Still, the delay hasn't been officially confirmed by Hello Games or Sony, so don't go cancelling your June holidays just yet. In the meantime, here's what Chris Livingston thoughtafter spending a bit of time with the game.

Why The Starhawk Studio Looked To Film For Story Direction

In memory of LucasArts which, essentially, finally came to an end today, we dug into the GDC vaults

to bring back designer Ron Gilbert's postmortem of his groundbreaking 1987 graphical adventure game Maniac Mansion . Gilbert was employee number nine of what was then called LucasFilm Games.

Video: Remembering LucasArts' groundbreaking Maniac Mansion

Gilbert was employee number nine of what was then called LucasFilm Games. After a couple of supporting roles on other projects, Maniac Mansion was his first game as creative lead.

The game was an innovator in a lot of ways: while it wasn't the first graphical adventure to use mouse controls, many would say it was the first to do it right, thanks to Gilbert's simple sentence construction interface for what he called his SCUMM engine.

Most of us associate Gilbert with later work, such as The Secret of Monkey Island , but he says that Maniac Mansion is still his favorite work. And in what he calls his "odd collection of memories" about the making of the game, his nostalgia for that long-gone era is obvious.

The video of Gilbert's presentation is available above for free, courtesy of the GDC Vault.
About the GDC VaultIn addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent GDC events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers. Those who purchased All Access passes to events like GDC, GDC Europe, and GDC China already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscriptions via a GDC Vault inquiry form.

Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company. More information on this option is available via an online demonstration, and interested parties can find out more here. In addition, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault admins.

Be sure to keep an eye on GDC Vault for even more new content, as GDC organizers will also archive videos, audio, and slides from other events like GDC China and GDC 2013. To stay abreast of all the latest updates to GDC Vault, be sure to check out the news feed on the official GDC website, or subscribe to updates via Twitter, Facebook, or RSS.

Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Tech.

BioShock is a "permanent franchise," says Take-Two boss

It's telling that when we ranked the BioShock games earlier this year, we rated them not "best to worst" but "best to least-best." The simple fact is that even the least of them, BioShock 2 according to our readers (an assessment I wholeheartedly agree with), was still a damn good game.

according to our readers (an assessment I wholeheartedly agree with), was still a damn good game. That's why it came as such a surprise in early 2014 when top Shocker Ken Levine decided to pull the plugon Irrational Games. Why would he, or anyone, kill the goose that lays the golden games?

He didn't, of course. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick discussed the futureof the franchise a few months after Irrational was closed down, saying, "We haven't given any color on how you should think about [BioShock's future] yet except we do believe it's beloved. We think it's important [and] certainly something that we're focused on."

It's been well over a year since then, but Zelnick reiterated that stance over the weekend at the MKM Partners Investor Day Conference, where, as reported by Gamespot, he committed to the long-term future of the series. "The franchise is in the hands of 2K," he said. "They'll make announcements in due time about any upcoming releases. But BioShock is unquestionably a permanent franchise in our company and one that we do believe in."

When last we heard, the BioShock franchise had been handed to 2K Marin for shaping in the post-Ken Levine era. Its long-term plans for the series remain a mystery.

No Man's Sky price and release date confirmed

Well, the alien cat is out of the procedurally-generated bag, thanks to a slip-up on Tuesday that briefly saw No Man's Sky listed on the US Playstation Blog for $60.

that briefly saw No Man's Sky listed on the US Playstation Blog for $60. That price has now officially been confirmed by Hello Games. At a press event for No Man's Sky in Los Angeles earlier this week I was also told that the March 3 release date apparently leaked in the same post is, as expected, not actually a surprise early launch.

As many rationally speculated, it's actually the date from when the game can be pre-ordered. Hey, March 3! That's today! You can pre-order on Steam, from Gog.com, and iam8bit.com, the last of which also offers a limited number of "explorer's editions" priced at $149 that come with a Steam key, a hand-painted spaceship model, and a few other items. The game itself, meanwhile, will be released on June 21. I got some hands-on time with No Man's Sky at the event, which you can read about here, along with some pre-release footage. I also interviewed studio founder Sean Murray and you'll find that here.

Live Gamer To Power Civilization World 's Microtransactions

Cie, NASCAR Partner For Car Town Racing

BioShock paraphernalia coming to Team Fortress 2

Has the desire for hats, hats, delicious TF2 hats diminished over the last few years, or is the public's interest in digital head-adornment as strong as ever?

Has the desire for hats, hats, delicious TF2 hats diminished over the last few years, or is the public's interest in digital head-adornment as strong as ever? I ask because Valve and Irrational are adding BioShock clobber to Team Fortress 2, and- hey, don't all load up the game at once. You'll need to buy BioShock Infinite's season pass on Steam to gain access to it, which I believe comes with a few pieces of downloadable content in addition to a very small selection of hats. Full details here.

The items are only available until the 25th of March - the date that Burial at Sea part 2 is scheduled to release - and comprise a Mister Bubbles doll, a George Washington and a Benjamin Franklin mask. It's not a whole lot of content, but if you still play TF2 and you already own a season pass, then free stuff is always nice, I guess. Here's a pic of that digital clobber, as modelled by the cast of TF2:

Why I love waiting in Rainbow Six Siege

Why I Love
In Rainbow Six Siege you’re either the hunter or the hunted.

In Why I Love, PC Gamer writers pick an aspect of PC gaming that they love and write about why it's brilliant. Today, Shaun explains the appeal of silence in first-person shooters.

you’re either the hunter or the hunted. As the latter, you’ve only got 30 seconds to prepare for the onslaught, which means figuring out where you are and what you need to protect, deciding which walls to barricade, barricading them, installing any special gadgets your operator carries, laying barbed wire or shields, learning your teammates’ intentions and then, once that’s all finished, waiting to be attacked.

So much time in Siege is spent waiting. It’s one of my favourite things about the game. During the tense moments before the attacking team is detected—you might hear their footsteps on the level above, or a distant breach—you must find safety. Safety is not abundant in any of Siege’s maps, and more often than not there’s a barricaded window, wall or ceiling in your line of sight that the enemy could breach at any moment. It’s possible to create relatively safe corners (you could barricade a wall and then use Mute’s scrabblers to neutralise Thermal’s special breach charges, for example) but they’re never failsafe. It’s possible to be less of a sitting duck as a defender in Siege, but you’re still a sitting duck.

That quiet moment after the mad rush of preparation, when everyone has established their positions and the attackers are on their way, is what makes Siege’s simulation so powerful. You can spend this time lining up your crosshairs on the most likely point of entry, or monitoring the CCTVs, but the awkward serenity—the silence—is still nerve-wracking. After all, in this game you can die (permanently) before you’ve even seen your murderer. Let down your guard, fail to keep stock of all possible attack points, and you’ll be punished.

The quiet is especially effective because, in 2016, there are virtually no other shooters that value silence or stillness. Indeed, most shooters do everything in their power to keep you shooting, to keep the music blaring, to serve up an impenetrable barrage of noise and excitement. Playing Overwatch at the weekend made me long for Rainbow Six Siege. Although I definitely want to get better at Overwatch, and although it feels good to win and learn, the emotions I experience are limited: I’m either exhilarated when I win, or annoyed when I lose. I’m never scared. I’m never stressed. I’m never curious or surprised. I’m never calm. Rainbow Six Siege makes me feel all of these things and more.

Waiting in Siege is all about listening. The ambience of the game’s varied locales is usually commonplace, banal. There might be a radio blaring glam rock in the far distance, or the echoed beeping of an airliner’s cockpit, or some other indistinct electronic hum. These enrich the anxiety of waiting, suffuse the world with a reality and drama that, in most other games, you have to decide to engage with.

In Siege, you need to untangle the ambience as you listen for telltale signs of your enemy’s strategy. It’s not just aural decoration: it can be an obstruction or a shield, but most strangely, it can be sad. These ambient sounds are subtle narrative dabs that make the maps feel like real locations that have been quickly and recklessly evacuated. Sprawling, story-driven RPGs barely ever achieve a mood as barren as Siege’s Los Angeles mansion, and are there any other multiplayer FPS games where the mood and theme of the maps are any more than window-dressing? I don’t think so, or at least, there have been none other that resonated with me.

After all this stressful waiting, something eventually happens. A wall is breached, a grenade is lobbed, and the cacophony of gunfire fills the room. This is stressful, of course—you’re getting shot at and will probably die soon!—but somehow it’s not as stressful as waiting. You almost welcome your attacker’s arrival, because it’s a huge release of pressure. They’ve found you, they’re pouring in from several directions, but at least you can fire that gun now, or set off that C4, or better still, wait like a trapped rodent in the corner, beneath an office desk, to catch them unaware.

Despite 'Horrendous Mistakes,' Molyneux Says Godus Still On Track

Last month, Godus designer Konrad Naszynski studio posted a disheartening statement about the status of the project.

designer Konrad Naszynski studio posted a disheartening statement about the status of the project. This week, the developer 22 Cans has answered questions about its Kickstarter project, missed goals, and promises it still has yet to keep to its backer community.

“To be brutally candid and realistic I simply can't see us delivering all the features promised on the Kickstarter page,” Naszynski wrote. “A lot of the multiplayer stuff is looking seriously shaky right now especially the persistent stuff like hubworld.”

While the post sat on the Godus message board for a month, it was only recently noticed, prompting questions of 22 Cans. The studio released a community update, during which Naszysnki and Peter Molyneux spoke about the status of the game and mistakes made through its development.

“I want to bring up the quality of the PC experience. It’s just not there in my mind,” says Naszynski, who was a Godus backer before his hiring. “I want to turn this into a game I want to play. It’s why I came here in the first place.”

Molyneux admits that things have not gone according to plan. He spoke openly about the process and where some things have gone wrong.

“I do, however, take blame and put blame on myself,” he said on the video. “There is a catalog of things I did badly and incorrectly, because I had never done a Kickstarter campaign before. I had never released on Steam Early Access before. I had never done a mobile game before. All of these things meant I made some horrendous mistakes. I think the main thing that we’re paying with those mistakes is the amount of time it’s taking to find the game that Godus should be.”

We spoke with Molyneux today, who explained a bit more about the project’s stumbles. “We were due to start combat in December, but then our publisher dropped this massive bombshell on us,” he tells us. “The thing that drives Godus on mobile is the servers, and these all use a service.” Molyneux says that the publisher gave the studio little notice that it was changing services, requiring a complete overhaul to Godus.

The team continues to improve the experience, and despite Naszynski’s earlier assertions, the company thinks it will be able to deliver on most of the Kickstarter promises. Molyneux says that when Naszynski posted his warning, the employee wasn’t aware of the server issues the company had to address.

“It was just a case of him not realizing why this emergency was taking place,” Molyneux says. “We should have, as a company, some sort company policy where we say our employees never tweet or Facebook or comment about anything in work. We don’t, and maybe we will after this. He voiced his frustration through lack of knowledge, but it wasn’t a case of ‘never.’ It was a case of ‘not then.’”

The next major update for the game will implement the story. Combat will follow that and then multiplayer.

Molyneux did take responsibility for three outstanding promises made to backers that have yet to be fulfilled. “I have to put my hand on my heart and apologize,” Molyneux says. The company has yet to deliver the art book promised to anyone who backed the game at the £199 level and above.

“We’ve got all the materials, and after all, doing an art book these days is not a particularly hard thing to do,” he tells us. We should have done this weeks ago or months ago. The same is true of the making-of video. We have three terabytes of footage that we’ve captured during every stage of development. That just needs to be gone through and edited down into the making-of video.”

Molyneux says that the most difficult of the unfulfilled promises to accomplish will be the Linux version stretch goal. The tools that the company used were supposed to support Linux by this point, but they still do not.

There have also been concerns about staffing changes at the developer. Molyneux says that while some staff have left, employment numbers have stayed relatively constant at approximately 22 individuals.

“Over the last six months, there’s been three of the core team that has left,” Molyneux says. "On Monday we had a new artist start. On [next] Monday, we have a new coder start. There’s the same number of people here that there have always been. My key number of staff is 22 people. We are on the lookout for totally inexperienced, but super passionate and logical and smart people. That’s what I favor. We’ve got very experienced people, and I love mixing those experienced people with crazy, crazy people from all other walks of life and industries.”

Molyneux’s key message, both in the video and in our discussion, is that the studio isn’t giving up on Godus or its backers. There seems to be a lot of damage control and contriteness designed to stem the tide of backer complaints, especially following the attention put on Naszynski’s post this week.

“We are still passionate about Godus,” Molyneux assures on the community video. “I apologize to everyone for the mistakes I’ve made and you have been harsh, and please continue to be harsh. I wish I was someone that didn’t make mistakes, and I think I have to learn from those mistakes about what we do in the future.”

[Source: 22 Cansvia RPS, GameSpot]

The word "curate" is thrown around a lot lately, especially since Valve Software deemed its 100 million

users "curators." But before the democratization of "curation" in video games, there were the traditional curators; the ones who primarily curate for the sake of art, not commerce. Today, a "curator" of video games might be thought as a person who digs up interesting games with the purpose of putting them in front of people who would like to try or buy them.

As definition of 'curator' evolves, traditional curation still crucial for games

Today, a "curator" of video games might be thought as a person who digs up interesting games with the purpose of putting them in front of people who would like to try or buy them. That's a useful practice, especially with the amount of video games released every day, but it's not exactly the purpose of the curator in the traditional sense. The "true" video game curators have the crucial task of preserving video games, and making them relevant to society at large.

JP Dyson with the National Museum of Play at The Strongexplains, "A curator is someone involved in the selection, collection, preservation, and interpretation of things (originally those were only physical objects but today they include digital objects such as downloadable games).

"Curation's purpose is to identify and preserve what is important and then share that knowledge back with society."

Preservation is a serious issue when it comes to video games. Game developers and studios typically do not take special care of artifacts that are relevant to the history of the medium, and so often, documentation, code, or even entire games are lost.

"A curator should be continually trying to determine what is most important to preserve," says Dyson, "seeking to acquire some representation of that, figuring out how to preserve what is collected (including information about the object), and then using those objects to share stories with other people about what is important and why these things matter."

The idea of sharing stories is a common theme among curators we spoke with. By sharing stories through curation, a curator is making an exhibit or collection relevant to the public. An exhibit should not exist solely for the curator; it's not supposed to be a hoarding of "cool stuff I like." Effective curation gives an exhibit cultural relevance, because without cultural relevance, what's the point?


"A curator is supposed to recognize the cultural implications of their work; to understand their position is a privileged one and that their work is in service to something else--whether that's a broader cultural objective, an artist, a public, or so on."
Oakland-based Museum of Digital Art and Entertainment(MADE) has hosted exhibits such as "Games You Can Frame," curated by Chris Wolf, which celebrates games that emulated art movements like impressionism and cubism. "The Art of Video Games" exhibit at The Smithsonian, curated by Chris Melissinos, explains how video games themselves are artistic.

Sarah Brinis behind exhibits including the " Ahhhcade," a San Francisco Museum of Modern Art exhibit whose theme was relaxation, centered on video games. The reason for the relaxation theme? It was located across the street from the often-hectic Game Developers Conference, and was intended to give people breathing room, some down time, and still be around games and game developers.

"It's a curator's job to be an interlocutor---to facilitate a conversation between someone making a thing and the general public," says Brin. "Of course there's a lot of careful thought that goes into this process, some of which is the process of choosing what goes into an exhibition.

"For better or for worse, this selection process is pretty much the primary factor in folks' distilled understandings of what curators do. The selection part is very important, but there's also more at stake. A curator is supposed to recognize the cultural implications of their work; to understand their position is a privileged one and that their work is in service to something else--whether that's a broader cultural objective, an artist, a public, or so on."

Wolf with Oakland's MADE museum adds that curation is an important way of recognizing video games as an art form.

"Just as curation is vital for any management of a traditional library or metropolitan art museum, so it is necessary for a games museum, if games are to be considered an authentic art medium," he says. "Not only does curation serve a means of categorizing and managing an archive, but when selecting a collection of archive items for a particular exhibition, careful selection of showcased items could determine whether or not the exhibition can be taken seriously by the general public."

So in the eyes of professional video game curators, curation isn't just about digging up neat games, but it's also about preservation, interpretation, and using one's knowledge as a curator to make a collection relevant to people.

Curators we spoke with are still adjusting to the loose use of the term "curator." For them, curation is about art, history, and making significant games relevant to peoples' lives. A curator's job serves less of a commercial function, and more of a cultural function wherein lies much responsibility.

"[Finding what products to try or buy] is not what we go to curators for," says Dyson. "Instead, we look to them to help us preserve, understand, and experience the most important objects of all time and the stories these objects can tell to us and future generations."

Stunning Fallout 4 settlement recreates Bioshock Infinite's Columbia

In an admirable display of skill and patriotism, YouTuber GPG Shepard has used Fallout 4's settlement building mode to recreate Bioshock Infinite's flying city of Columbia.

has used Fallout 4's settlement building mode to recreate Bioshock Infinite's flying city of Columbia. The video above will take you on a tour through the surprisingly dense settlement, and thanks to all of the Revolution Era Americana already found in Fallout 4, the settlement brilliantly evokes the hyper patriotism of Infinite's Columbia with relative ease (the lovely tune helps, too).

Shepard has uploaded and linked to everything you needto get going on your own utopic vision of Columbia, though it won't take much. According to the builder, "99 percent of the objects are vanilla objects" which means you can get started on that sky city almost instantly. They've even uploaded their save file if you want to explore, but don't want to spend several evenings putting it all together. This is one of the more evocative, impressive settlements I've seen. Amazing work.

What does Rainbow 6: Siege need to make it as an esport?

Rainbow Six: Siege crowned its season one champions earlier in the month as dominant European team PENTA Sports swept through the finals.

Rainbow Six: Siege crowned its season one champions earlier in the month as dominant European team PENTA Sports swept through the finals. As PENTA captain Rainer “S4i” Kneidl lifted the cup in the ESL’s Cologne studios having defeated Finnish finalists GiFu, Ubisoft were already kicking off season two. Since the beginning of the project, Ubisoft have hoped that Siege would gain traction as an esport. This goal has had a widespread influence on its design.

“What we intended on doing is creating communication,” says Alexandre Rémy, brand director for Siege at Ubisoft Montreal. “The moment someone picks Thermite or IQ, they are immediately sending a message to the rest of the team as to the type of gameplay that's going to be there.”

Siege began life as a competitive multiplayer shooter under the code name Unbreakable, tasked with reviving Rainbow Six. The game was always intended to create a worldwide competitive community of players and spectators.

“I tend to be very much humble about the success of esports for [Siege],” Rémy says. “I think the success factor is the longevity and none of these games have become an esport even within a year. So I think that our longevity, and the fact that we build a playerbase and a meta and all these mechanics into the game, is going to be the testament to whether we succeed or not.”

When a game is very young, there are still a lot of teams dropping in and dropping out.

Alexandre Rémy

Developing a game specifically with esports in mind goes against many of the tenets set out in countless GDC talks and developer post-mortems. ‘Community is king’ is the accepted wisdom, and one which Rémy still agrees with, despite putting the cart before the horse with Siege. But he is realistic about the needs of the community and what the game has to do in order to meet them.

In the first match of the semi-finals, as PENTA Sports faced off against American second seed VwS Gaming, a bug brought everything to a halt. The attacking team’s Sledge, using his eponymous hammer, failed to break through a window to gain entrance to the upper floor on House. It was probably the first time an esports schedule has been held up due to Windows not breaking.

“Obviously, stability is one [problem],” Rémy said during the break. “But also in the meta, in the sense that you've got a professional scene that grows. When a game is very young, there are still a lot of teams dropping in and dropping out so it's not as stable as some established franchises and that's again because we are not yet mature.”

Rémy’s words on maturity are resonant in the aftermath of a series of cheating allegations against a former member of VwS. Philip “Clever” Lough stepped down from active duty with the American side citing a new job as the reason, but not before being embroiled in a scandal damaging his own and Siege’s reputation. Fellow professional players in the American league suggested Lough was using a second monitor with a type of wall hack installed to pinpoint enemy positions.

Despite Ubisoft’s proprietary FairFight anti-cheat and ESL’s own MOSS monitor-recording measures failing to show a second monitor, allegations persisted in the community. The cheats themselves remain readily available and the spectre of a professional using them at the highest level of play is lingering. In similar games with thriving pro scenes, like Valve’s CS:GO, in-client replays offer the volunteers of community anti-cheat service Overwatch (unrelated to the upcoming Blizzard game) the tools they need to make an informed decision.

“Replay is not an easy feature, especially on a game with such a large procedural element, such as the destruction,” Rémy says. “Because obviously each time we do something procedural, it's being calculated as it goes, it's not scripted, so replaying that element is a tough nut to crack.”

In Unbreakable’s prototyping period, developer matches played on a textureless early version of the game used scripted destructible environments. The decision to move to entirely player-controlled demolition is one of the design elements of Siege which provides such a high skill ceiling. For Rémy, the ability to watch a replay of a match isn’t just necessary for keeping cheats in check, it’s also a tool for learning and advancing the meta. In-game match spectating also opens up a key avenue of opportunity for esports.

“It clearly helps a lot when we are talking about the spectator or viewing experience having the ability to watch a replay in the game client,” Rémy said. “It gives you more freedom and most of the people viewing and spectating are usually players that tend to have a favourite when it comes to a team or a hero that's showcased.”

As the pool of operators becomes bigger, you're going to see more variety and finesse in the team composition which could potentially look more like what we see in a MOBA

Alexandre Rémy

Dropping into the parlance of Dota betrays Rémy’s influences and ideals of what makes for a good esport (as does the Dota logo on his jacket). MOBA design has informed Siege’s critical decisions, including unique per-player operator choices and some of the spectator camera angles.

“[In Dota] you have a tremendously good viewer experience, obviously from the top view the game is built upon, it really helps in understanding what's at stake and reading the game,” Rémy said. “While in an FPS, in the first-person, it's a little bit more difficult to read all the tactics. And Rainbow is very much a game of positioning and tactics.”

“As the pool of operators becomes bigger, you're going to see more variety and finesse in the team composition which could potentially look more like what we see in a MOBA,” Rémy continues. “So at that moment it would be a good time for us to question the ‘pick and ban’ potential for a game mode, which I think is very interesting.”

While not everyone will be as happy as PENTA about the end of Siege’s debut competitive season, Ubisoft have reason to be optimistic—even though they have some work to do to combat hacking and encourage player integrity. But if the deliberate approach Rémy takes is shared throughout Ubisoft Montreal, I wouldn’t put it past a game like Siege to break into esports—even if it takes a prolonged assault.

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Ranking the best and worst Bioshock games

SURVEY FRIDAYS
Occasionally we ask you to rank a series or just reminisce about PC games in a not-very-scientific survey, which we link in our Twitter and Facebook feeds.

feeds. Previously, we ranked the Mass Effectand Call of Dutyseries and asked about the hardest PC gamesyou've played.

With the announcement of the remastered Bioshock Collection, it felt like a good time to take another look at the Bioshock series as a whole. The original Bioshock introduced us to Andrew Ryan's hidden underwater city of Rapture and gave us one of the most compelling reveals in gaming history. In the sequel we returned to the same setting, but this time stalked the ruins of Rapture as a powerful Big Daddy. Bioshock Infinite, meanwhile, took us to a new city in the clouds, Columbia, and gave us an ambitious story that still tied into the first two games.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, but which is the best? Which is the worst? And which is... I don't know what you call it. The middle one. Which is the middle one?

A while ago we decided to find out, so we created a survey which was posted on our Twitterand Facebookfeeds. It got a fantastic response, with 2,032 people taking the time to give us their thoughts! Here's what you told us about the Bioshock series.

Which Bioshock game is the best?

The Results

Click the icon in the upper right to enlarge. Based on 2,032 responses.

No ambiguity here: 48% of survey-takers felt the original Bioshock was the best . Not far behind were the 40% who chose Bioshock Infinite as their favorite, while only 12% thought Bioshock 2 was the best in the series.

Many of the reasons cited by those who voted for the original Bioshock involve story, setting, gameplay, horror, and above all, the atmosphere. "One of the most atmospheric game environments ever made," said one survey-taker. "The claustrophobic atmosphere and mystery really appealed to me," said another.

I concur. It was my favorite of the series as well, terrifying at times, genuinely intriguing, with enjoyable and flexible combat. "The gorgeous world of Bioshock combined with a great gameplay and one of the best stories told in a video game," someone said. "Oozes atmosphere and style," wrote another.

Other players appreciated the deeper themes of the game. "It was political, it was philosophical, it showed the hubris of man in a way that I've rarely experienced in another game or film," said one. "First modern iteration to make gamers think about the philosophy of what they play and why they play it," said another.

"The claustrophobic and dark atmosphere, the lore surrounding Rapture and the story itself were all great, with complex themes related to power, freedom and human nature and the dangers of what can happen when actions are taken without regard for consequences."

On the other hand, a few voted for it for other reasons. "It is marginally less utter garbage than the other two." Fair enough.

Which Bioshock game is the worst?

RESULTS

Click the icon in the upper right to enlarge. Based on 2,032 responses.

Worst is probably the wrong word, because many survey-takers pointed out that they enjoyed all three games, just to different degrees. Maybe we should call it least-best? Either way, your least favorite game in the series is Bioshock 2 , with a full 60% of the votes. It seems the return to Rapture, this time as a Big Daddy, just didn't quite stand up to the experience of the original, nor did it provide enough of a new experience like Bioshock Infinite. "It just didn't capture me like the other two," said one poll-taker. "It was a bit too 'samey'," said another. "Once I got to the second one I was already acclimated to the universe, so there wasn't any awe and wonder."

Other comments: "While it was cool and all playing as a prototype big daddy, not much changed from the original. It ended up feeling like a big goose chase from level to level." "It had a better combat system (more fluid than the first Bioshock) but it was just a continuation."

Most responses can be summed up by this poll-taker's words: "It's not that I didn't like Bioshock 2, it's just that it is the least good."

Personally, Bioshock 2 was my second favorite and Bioshock Infinite my least favorite of the series, but I tend to like things in the order they were released. Like in the original Star Wars Trilogy, I prefer A New Hope to The Empire Strikes Back, and I like the first Tobey MacGuire Spider-Man movie better than the second. I have been told on countless occasions I am wrong about both and it would seem, because of numbers , I am wrong yet again.

For those who felt Bioshock Infinite was the best, we'll get to some of those comments on the next page.

Who was the best villain?

I suppose it's not surprising to see industrialist Andrew Ryan at the top of the pack with 42.2% of the vote. As the founder of Rapture, we quickly got to know him through his speeches (and looming statues), and our confrontation with him midway through Bioshock is one of the most memorable and disturbing scenes in gaming.

Frank Fontaine was also a popular choice, with 21.4% liking him best, followed by Comstock from Bioshock Infinite at 19.6%. I am a little saddened to see Sander Cohen so far down the list with only 10% of the vote. He's my personal favorite due to his showmanship, his disturbing art projects, his terrifying army of ballerina statues, and his love of murder. That guy was a born entertainer. I miss him.

Did you harvest Little Sisters?

RESULTS

Click the icon in the upper right to enlarge. Based on 2,032 responses.

I'm pleased to see so many survey takers are good, kind people who like opening presents. 68% of you didn't harvest (kill) even a single Little Sister , those adorable and yet horrifying children who scamper around extracting magic glop from corpses.

22% dabbled in harvesting, perhaps (as I did) simply trying it to see what happened and quickly deciding it wasn't for them.

Meanwhile, 10% just went hog wild and repeatedly sucked the life out of Rapture's vampiric tots. Hey, I'm not judging. When in Rome, right?

Where should the next Bioshock game take place?

We've seen a city at the bottom of the sea, and one floating in the clouds. In the event of a future Bioshock game, I gave some options for where people thought it should take place.

33.9% said the Moon would be the best setting for another Bioshock game . Other favorites were that it should be on an island (13.3%), inside a volcano (12.7%), in an underground silo (12.3%), while 11.9% think it should take place inside Saturn's rings. Just think of the view!

There was room for people to submit their own choices. Here are a few places people think another Bioshock game should take place:

In a parallel world
Inside a giant cave
In a treehouse
Inside a human body, where you're shrunk down
Miniaturized, and in a sewer
SPAAAAAAACE
Australia
Anywhere is fine
All these options suck
Inside Half-Life 3

Plenty of people also told me they don't think another Bioshock game should be made, full stop.

Other results

When it comes to taking down enemies, most (16.3%) prefer to use bullets . In second place is the Big Daddy drill (14.3%) followed by the Skyhook (12%), and the wrench (10.7%). Under 10% were electricity, hacked security bots, fire, crows, insect swarms, using the enemy's bullets, and traps. Ice was the least favorite with 3.3%. Some write-in favorites: flinging corpses with telekinesis, harpoons, the rivet gun, hypnotizing enemies to kill each other, knocking them off ledges (in Columbia), and a number of weapon and plasmid combos. As one person put it: "Can't decide. All good."

In the Bioshock series, what made the least sense to survey-takers (to the tune of 21.5%) was why superpowers are sold in vending machines but you're the only one who buys them , especially when, as 12.4% of you pointed out, the garbage cans of Columbia are stuffed with money. 13.3% agreed that the ending of Bioshock Infinite was confusing, 12.6% wondered why citizens of Rapture left their diary entries scattered around in dedicated individual tape recorders, and 5.7% didn't think it made sense for anyone to be fighting for control of Rapture since it was essentially a leaking garbage can entirely populated by screeching lunatics.

Most never played Bioshock 2's multiplayer (69.1%), some of you played it a little (24.5%), and only 6.4% played it a lot. Nine people said they were playing it currently, so I'll have to assume they're all in the same session together.

54% felt that Burial at Sea, Part 2 was the best DLC in the series . Minerva's Den was second favorite (23.8%) and Burial at Sea, Part 1 was third (21.9%).

Would you kindly continue to the next page to read some comments from survey takers?

Rainbow Six Siege's new Navy SEALs operators explained in new video

Ubisoft rolled out the second major Rainbow Six Siege update last week in the form of Operation Dust Line , which added a new middle eastern-themed map and two Navy SEAL operators.

, which added a new middle eastern-themed map and two Navy SEAL operators. These operators, Valkyrie and Blackbeard, wield sticky cameras and rifle-mounted shields respectively, and Ubisoft has made a video to explain how these tactical tools can work to the player's advantage.

Valkyrie and Blackbeard are available to season pass holders now, with general rollout scheduled for May 18. You're still likely to encounter them before that date though, so it's worth watching the vid to know what you're facing.

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Alone in Rapture: why vulnerability was Bioshock's greatest strength

Article by GB Burford
Every conversation I’ve ever heard about gameplay and story usually ends with gameplay winning out.

Every conversation I’ve ever heard about gameplay and story usually ends with gameplay winning out. When we play video games, we want good gameplay. It’s a requirement. You don’t need a story worthy of the Western Canonfor a game like Dark Souls or Serious Sam. They’re great because of their gameplay: that bundle of mechanics, feedback, and level design that sets video games apart from other media. But what happens when a game with bad or mediocre gameplay comes along and gets praised as one of the best video games ever made?

Bioshock is one such game. It’s a classic. It’s so well-liked that a sequel with different characters, gameplay, and setting was hugely anticipated and hyped to the moon and back. But… if you talk to most people about Bioshock today, they’ll probably tell you that the gameplay wasn’t that great. It wasn't what kept them playing. So why is Bioshock routinely cited as one of the greatest games of all time?

I think it’s all about vulnerability. Conventional wisdom dictates that shooters are about empowerment, about players being the toughest guy in the room, but Bioshock was never a particularly good shooter, and it certainly didn’t empower the player. Bioshock stuck with us because it made us vulnerable, not powerful.

Bad shootbangs

"Gameplay" can cover a lot of ground, but for Bioshock, it primarily means shooting. And when you have to use the omnipresent gun in your hand in Bioshock, the gameplay falters.

In a good shooter, enemies are diverse and fun to fight. They respond to being shot. They move around the map, encouraging you to do the same. Likewise, a good shooter has guns that sound and feel good to use. A huge number of factors influence gun feel, from how guns affect enemies (by making them stumble, for instance), to how they sound, to how they’re animated. Bioshock’s gunplay didn’t live up to these standards.

Likewise, Bioshock’s plasmids weren’t as diverse or interesting as they could have been—many of them were merely the same element reskinned with slight, mostly meaningless differences. Good gunplay is like a roller coaster—the more varied the experience, the better it is. In order to have fun, players need to experience both tension and triumph. Without a proper balance between the two, the game becomes flat. A flat roller coaster isn’t all that fun to ride, is it? At some point, it just becomes a really crappy train, and who wants to ride that?

It’s not like Bioshock was all bad ideas, of course. Setting up arenas before fighting a Big Daddy was cool, as was turning turrets and security bots to your side. Crafting ammunition types with unique strengths or weaknesses was always a delight. But the vita chamber system robbed the player of vulnerability set up in the game’s more successful mechanics. Shoot someone in the face, die, respawn, and now you’ve got fewer enemies to deal with. With them, there’s no risk or reward in Bioshock’s combat: just keep chipping away at your foes until they’re dead; your victory is as inevitable as nightfall. Vita chambers flatten the roller coaster; without vulnerability, the risk and reward that makes combat engaging is lost, but that’s not all.

Turn them off, though, and Bioshock’s combat falls in line with the game’s quieter, more powerful moments, that window of gameplay that didn't involve shooting splicers. Suddenly, we’re not completely safe.

The power of vulnerability

We loved Bioshock because it was tense—because we were vulnerable. It’s that initial climb on the roller coaster. We know what’s coming, we can see it up ahead, part of us dreading it and the other part impatiently waiting... and then it hits, time slows for an instant, and we rush downward in one thrilling moment. Vulnerability gives way to catharsis.

If we look back to classic shooters, the idea of vulnerability pops up a lot. From Half-Life to Aliens vs Predator, a lonely, vulnerable player overcoming the odds is a standard experience. By 2007, shooters had moved away from this, focusing more on a more heroic, unstoppable player.

But Bioshock was different. Bioshock was the spiritual sequel to System Shock 2.

Like Bioshock, System Shock 2’s combat was less than inspiring, but the game succeeded because of its emphasis on player vulnerability. It was a game about being a lone hacker facing off the mutant crew of a dying spaceship. System Shock 2 was tense and thrilling, a game well worth revisiting even now. Yes, it had shooting, but System Shock 2 wasn’t a shooter. It was more of a sci-fi horror simulator.

When you beat a Big Daddy, you feel a rush because you just overcame the odds. You just did the impossible.

Both of these games thrived on vulnerability. It wasn’t so much about shooting people as it was about being there , in the moment. Up until the “would you kindly” moment, Bioshock presented a world that still felt real, where you were just a guy with a wrench trying to survive against superpowered maniacs and walking tanks with father complexes.

Killing a Big Daddy is fun because Big Daddies are hard to kill. You’ve got to set up traps, distract them with splicers, hack turrets to gain additional support, and make sure you’ve got enough supplies to see an encounter through. It’s the cars slowly rising up the hill, readying for the apex. Attacking the Big Daddy is like cresting the hill and rushing down it, a moment of furious ecstasy. When you beat a Big Daddy, you feel a rush because you just overcame the odds. You just did the impossible.

So, how do you create vulnerability?

Rainbow Six Siege’s next DLC pack is ‘Operation Dust Line’

Perhaps inevitably, the next Rainbow Six Siege expansion will travel to the Middle East, according to a new teaser trailer issued by Ubisoft.

expansion will travel to the Middle East, according to a new teaser trailer issued by Ubisoft. Dubbed Operation Dust Line, the free DLC will include two new operators in the form of Navy SEALs Valkyrie and Blackbeard, as well as the new map.

The trailer, embedded below, is only 18 seconds but there’s a fair bit of information stuffed in there. It looks like Valkyrie will wield a shotgun and boast sticky cameras, which can be thrown onto surfaces anywhere in a map. Meanwhile, Blackbeard has a handgun mounted to his shield, and looks like he’ll be able to avoid being shot in the head – a useful asset, since everyone will want to shoot him in the head.

The DLC will arrive on May 11, but as the trailer reveals, there will be a Twitch livestreamof the material on May 7, before the PC Pro League Grand Final. Check out the trailer below:

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Why I Love: Bioshock Infinite's opening

Why I Love
Bioshock Infinite has its problems.

In Why I Love, PC Gamer writers pick an aspect of PC gaming that they love and write about why it's brilliant. Today, Phil explains why he finds Bioshock Infinite's opening moments so memorable.

Bioshock Infinite has its problems. Maybe minor quibbles; maybe giant, shark jumping blunders. I'm not going to defend the full thing, but I do think the opening is pretty close to perfect. It's a well told slice of mystery and wonder, and a sumptuous collaboration of design, tone and theme. It slyly teases revelations that won't emerge for tens of hours, and does so in a way that makes its world feel alien and beautiful.

We open on a boat. The Lutece twins are doing that thing they do—talking about you even as they're talking to you. Their dialogue is consistently some of my favourite in the game. It's perfectly off-kilter, giving the impression of something bigger and stranger than any of the big, strange ideas more naturally associated with a magical flying city of racists.

It's surprising how much the opening gives away. There's the opening text quote: "The mind of the subject will desperately struggle to create memories where none exist." There's the back-and-forth of the Lutece's "He doesn't ROW?"/"He DOESN'T row." You're as good as told this has happened before, but not what that means. You're given the notes, but not the instrument to play them.

You're dropped off at a lighthouse, because it had to be a lighthouse. In Bioshock, the lighthouse was your portal to the world below. In Infinite, the world above. It's a parallel that, once you see it, couldn't have been any other way. Infinite later codifies this—"there's always a lighthouse"—but it didn't really need to. Of course there's a lighthouse.

The lighthouse is a set. It's a prop, and to see that you need to see its function as a place outside of Booker's journey. It's the entrance to Columbia—the portal to a technological marvel run by a cult-like Prophet, unshakeable in his righteous fury. The lighthouse is sparse and Earthly; filled with cross-stitch pictures and grounded trinkets. It wouldn't normally have a dead guy in it—that's an outside corruption, purely for Booker's benefit.

Ascension… Ascension…

At the top of the lighthouse, things get weird. Er, weirder, I guess. You ring bells, and the sky bursts into life. Booming alien noise enters a call and response with the low-tech throng of the lighthouse's internal workings. I like to think that it's unnecessary—that the rocket would work without the sky being bathed in apocalypse. Pure showmanship, designed to provoke fear and humility.

The rocket itself continues the performance. You're literally being strapped into Comstock's propaganda machine. Suddenly everything is loud and industrial: a machine springing to life around you, dipping you towards its innards in a very different kind of baptism.

Five-thousand feet…

The ship's voice is perfectly designed. Mechanical and human, male and female. It's layered imperfectly over itself in a way that sounds like inhuman chanting.

Ten-thousand feet… Fifteen-thousand feet…

Booker's face, panicked in the mirror. The visitor is trapped, helpless, frightened and speeding into the unknown; building towards something unseen.

Hallelujah.

Light. A winged figure. Buildings nestled among the clouds. The first few notes of 'Will The Circle Be Unbroken?' play gently on a piano. You're no longer accelerating; you're soaring. When you close your earthly story, will you join them in their bliss? Ladies and gentlemen, we've got a theme up in this piece.

What I love about the opening is how it perfectly reflects Comstock's character. It's manipulative, both to the theoretical traveller and, more obviously, to the player. But the manipulation serves a purpose. It's there because it looks and feels amazing, but it looks and fits amazing for reasons that are consistent with the character that designed them. It's a memorable opening, and its every detail is carefully set to build the mythology—not of the game, but of the man at the city's centre.

Bioshock Infinite stuck with me because from its first moments it was doing something different. It was setting a tone and offering a mystery. It wasn't giving me a five-minute cutscene and a short corridor that required me to look, walk, crouch, sprint and jump. I wish more games put this kind of thought into their opening minutes.

Rainbow Six Siege patch buffs Buck and ushers in dozens of fixes

Rainbow Six Siege has another huge patch rolling out this week – March 30 to be precise – and among the major changes is an improvement to Buck.

has another huge patch rolling out this week – March 30 to be precise – and among the major changes is an improvement to Buck. He's the fellow who wields an automatic rifle and a shotgun, but according to Ubisoft, players haven't been using him properly. That handy shotgun is designed to breach through walls quickly (it's called the Skeleton Key, after all), but it's not been working effectively, until now.

The .gif above depicts the effectiveness of Buck's shotgun with patch 2.3, making him a more versatile character if quickly traversing the maps is a priority. On the topic of shotguns, Frost's Super 90 has been weakened a bit, with the falloff damage commencing at 3.5 metres rather than 5.

There are tonnes of other changes coming, too: more changes to offensive spawns have been made to thwart spawn kills, while hit detection has been adjusted to favour lower ping players, meaning they'll be less vulnerable when hiding behind cover. Hit detection fine-tuning remains a priority for the studio, and more fixes are expected down the line.

For the full patch notes, head over to the Rainbow Six forum here.

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Lumberyard 1.2 expands mobile support, makes multiplayer easier

Among those new additions is an update to the Lumberyard particle editor -- shown in the video above -- which will now be capable of supporting GPU-simulated particles that make better use of graphics hardware.

The latest update to Amazon's Lumberyard game enginehas brought with it 218 improvements, fixes, and features across 20 of Lumberyard’s components.

The addition of GridMate Gem will make building multiplayer games easier, allowing devs to use the Lumberyard Flow Graph to create multiplayer lobbies without the need for C++.

Amazon has also added even more mobile support for Android and iOS devices, such as the Samsung Note 5, Motorola Nexus 6, iPhone 6s, iPad Air 2, and iPad Pro.

For the full list of improvements, and to download Lumberyard Beta 1.2, head on over to Amazon's official blog.

Hear three BioShock Infinite: Burial At Sea original songs from Irrational Games

BioShock Infinite had some great original songs and arrangements.

had some great original songs and arrangements. You can buy the original game's soundtrack, but there's some new music in the recently released Burial at SeaDLC that you couldn't easily listen to, until recently. Irrational Games posted three full, original songs from Burial at Sea to its official website, along with some commentary from the game's Music Director, Jim Bonney.

Bonney describes the first song, “Little Sisters' Song,” as an idealistic musical conversation between “Mama Tenenbaum” and the little sisters. “I was thinking about ways to create depth in daily life in Rapture, and thought that the Little Sisters' Home could use a little propaganda music,” he said. “A song that would ease the minds of the citizens that little girls being taken from their families was really just another example of living the Objectivist's Dream!”

“The Pie Song,” which is in the style of a '50s folk protest song, was produced by Marc Lacuestaand performed by Korby Lenker.

And the final song is “Old Man Winter Jingle,” which promotes the Old Man Winter Plasmid. The announcer you hear in the end is actually Irrational Games Senior Sound Designer Jeff Seamster.

For more behind the scenes stories on original music in Bioshock Infinite, check out Irrational Games' official blog.

Rainbow 6 Siege is free this weekend

It may not be the best timing, given that it clashes with the soon-to-be-live Doom multplayer open beta, but Ubisoft is making its team-based FPS Rainbow Six Siege free to play for the weekend.

Beginning now and running until 1 pm PT on April 17, Rainbow Siege Six will be fully available on Steamand Uplayat no cost. If you dig it, you can pick up the standard edition of the game for 33 percent off ($40/£27), or the Gold Edition, which includes the season pass, for 40 percent off ($54/£33). Player progression will carry over from the freebie if you opt to purchase it, so you can go as bonkers as you want without fear of wasting your time.

Ubisoft also announced that the second season of the Rainbow Six Pro League will begin on the PC on June 2, with a $150,000 up for grabs. Ahead of that, the top teams from Europe and North America will square off for the Season One Championship title, and $50,000 in prize money for the winning team. The PC finals will go down on May 7 in Cologne, Germany, and will be broadcast live on Twitch. More information about Pro League competition and qualifiers is up at rainbow6.com.

Smedley: DC Universe Online SOE's 'Fastest-Selling Game Ever'

10 Badass Things We Did In Mad Max's Open World

Earlier this week, we announced that the original
post-apocalyptic anti-hero, Mad Max, graces the newest cover of Game Informer .

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We traveled to Avalanche Studio's office in Stockholm, Sweden, to test our
mettle in an exclusive hands-on session in the open-world Wasteland. I survived
several hours roaming a vast, dried-out sea bed looking for trouble, and compiled
the moments that made me feel most like the Road Warrior himself. My exploits
include impaling raiders with harpoon guns and punching my way through
oil-pumping shanty fortresses.

Become Death On Four Wheels

Mad Max is only operating at maximum efficiency when he's
joined by his better half - a badass car. Max's deformed, Igor-like mechanical
assistant, Chumbucket, refers to the game's featured vehicular murder machine
as the Magnum Opus.

Pursuing and taking down enemy vehicles feels awesome. Max
has tools like a turbo boost, spiked grill, tire-shredding rims, mounted guns,
and flamethrowers at his disposal to take out the Wasteland's trash. I love the
options available when it comes to dismantling enemy cars. Sidling up next to
another car and watching sparks fly as your rims shred theirs. Seeing would-be
hijackers accidentally impale themselves on your defensive spikes. Even good,
old-fashioned head-on collisions are a blast when you engage the boost to
obliterate your enemies with a beefy grill.

Modifying the Magnum Opus is almost as fun as driving it,
but that's a topic we'll dive deeper into later in our month of exclusive
online content.

Harpoon Mayhem

Early on in Mad Max, Chumbucket helps our hero by attaching
a harpoon weapon to the Magnum Opus. This gun's primary function is to launch a
cable-tethered spear into objects, which can then be dragged or pulled with the
car. Discovering new ways to dissect and demolish structures and enemies with
the harpoon is one of Mad Max's most fun features.

Players can take aim on objects like fortress walls and
sniper towers while driving, then use their car's momentum to yank them to
bits. Even more fun is tearing pieces of a pesky foe's car apart, then
eventually blasting the harpoon into the driver themselves. Winning a heated
vehicular battle by dragging your enemy off the back of your car is rewarding.

Chase Down Convoys

The Road Warrior 's
unforgettable climax involves an intense assault on a moving caravan that's
barreling through the Wasteland. Moments like this one have been integrated
into Mad Max's open world. Players are likely to see huge clouds of dust
billowing up in the distance. Should they follow these cues, they're likely to
drive up on a convoy of up to 12 vehicles defending a lead truck carrying
precious cargo.

Charging grill-first into these wheeled warriors isn't the
smartest idea. Max could easily succumb to a rear-mounted flamethrower, get
caught in a pincer attack between two cars' grinding rims, or be boarded by an
enemy. Players are better off picking off cars one-by-one. Destroying the lead
vehicle of a convoy scores Max a hood ornament, which can be attached to the
Magnum Opus for an automotive stat boost.

White-Knuckle First-Person Driving

Mad Max is primarily a third-person action game, but players
have the option to look through the Road Warrior's eyes when driving. I'm
usually averse to driving in a restrictive first-person view when I have the
option to see more of my surroundings in driving games, but this is different.
Seeing Max's jagged metal-studded gloves and the beefy engine jutting out of
the hood elicited a cathartic, joyful thrill I haven't felt while behind the
wheel in a game for some time. The sense of speed when cruising down a worn
road and the visceral impact of boosting into a wrecked enemy vehicle feels
amazing.

Crack Skulls

Max is fast behind the wheel, but his more lumbering
fighting style still packs a wallop. This bruiser's approach to combat feels
inspired by the popular mechanics first seen in Batman: Arkham Asylum. Max doesn't
have Bruce Wayne's martial-arts training, but he can manhandle enemies with a
more straightforward and murderous approach, complete with visceral suplexes
and leg locks.

Enemies surround Max, sizing him up before closing the gap
for a punch. Max has the opportunity to counter these attacks and follow up
with a flurry of brass-knuckle punches. His Fury Mode helps differentiate
itself from similar combat systems, too. Following up light attacks with a
heavy attack deals more damage to goons and fills his Fury level faster.
Fighting enemies builds up a meter that, when activated, sends Max into an
adrenaline-fueled state where he deals more damage faster than usual. Similar
to another post-apocalyptic tale, The Last of Us, Max can pick up rare shivs to
take enemies out of the equation even faster.

Up next: Pushing the boundaries of the Wasteland and making an impact on the big, wild world.

The best Steam Summer Sale deals: Day 7

We've now been living and breathing the Steam Summer Sale for a week, losing sleep for every flash sale, antsy with anticipation every time the new deals tick over.

We've now been living and breathing the Steam Summer Sale for a week, losing sleep for every flash sale, antsy with anticipation every time the new deals tick over. We're feverish from the savings, but it would be madness to stop saving now. Today's deals fuel our appetite for strategy, shooting, and launching valiant little green men into space on absurdly oversized rockets.

Don't forget to check out GOG'ssummer deals, too.

Reminder: if a game isn't a daily deal or a flash sale, it could pop up later in the sale for an even lower price. If you want to be safe, wait until June 30 to pick up a sale-long deal.

5 - The Banner Saga

50% off: $12.49 / £9.49 - Steam store page

One of the biggest artistic achievements in gaming this year. We love The Banner Saga's hand-drawn characters and how they animate on the battlefield, but we especially enjoy the way its detailed, Nordic landscapes parallax as your caravan of warriors and survivors march on. The Austin Wintoryscore is a cherry on the top.

4 - Kerbal Space Program

40% off: $16.19 / £11.99 - Steam store page

We've murdered a lot of aliens in games, but only in KSP have we stranded little green guys in planetary orbit due to our grossly incompetent management of a budding space program. The Early Access rocket physics simulator is one of the best games still under development, and already has a large community of engineers sharing stories of harrowing space missions, ship designs, and mods. KSP has even made its way into classrooms.

Read Ian's five-part Kerbal Space Program chronicleto see how he learned rocket-building basics and launched a mission to the Mün.

3 - Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

50% off: $7.49 / £5.99 - Steam store page

The best competitive FPS on PC owes a lot to its skill-based matchmaking format. At any skill level, five-on-five Counter-Strike narrows the range of tactical choices available to you and the time you have to make them, creating a wonderfully concentrated competitive mode. Otherwise, CS:GO is mainly a vehicle for microtransactions: beware the allure of $400 virtual knives.

2 - Tomb Raider

75% off: $4.99 / £3.74 - Steam store page Flash sale: Buy it before 8 p.m. EST

Lara Croft returns in a gorgeous action game heavily inspired by Naughty Dog's Uncharted series. This younger, rebooted Lara doesn't have her predecessor's confidence or predilection for interesting puzzles—the only tombs in this game are disappointingly short and simple—but the shooting is by far the best in the series. Exploring Tomb Raider's island and crafting survival gear is also fun, as Lara is a nimble climber and each area is packed with interesting treasures to hunt down. For a challenge, forgo the assault rifle and grenade launcher for Lara's incredibly satisfying (and silent!) bow.

1 - BioShock Triple Pack

83% off: $10.19 / £6.79 - Steam store page

If you haven't explored the ruins of Rapture, you're in for a treat. BioShock's world is a revelation, an under-the-sea society that's crumbled under its own weight, and exploring what remains of it—and shooting its crazy inhabitants in the face with fireballs—is a delight. BioShock 2 goes even further, changing your perspective and adding a surprising amount of depth with its own story. Irrational's swansong, BioShock Infinite, may still be polarizing, but Columbia is just as beautiful and terrifying as Rapture, and well worth exploring. All three are included here in a bundle that's too cheap to pass up.

Other great deals today

Remember that games not categorized as Daily Deals or Flash Sales may be reduced further later in the sale.