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Battlecry trailer teases bloody melee action
The free-to-play multiplayer melee game Battlecry was announced back in May, and it struck me at the time as being very much a third-person Team Fortress 2 in a heavily Dishonored -influenced setting.
-influenced setting. Evan Lahti's hands-on timewith it seemed to come to a similar conclusion. Today, Bethesda released a new gameplay teaser, which as far as I know is the first time the gameplay has actually been shown publicly, and that same vibe is still there.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing: Team Fortress 2 is a fantastic game, and the world of Dishonored is one of the most visually striking settings to come along in years. But the stark similarities, regardless of the third-person perspective, are impossible to overlook.
It's a brief trailer, and Bethesda didn't have much to say about it beyond, "Hey, look at this," but more is forthcoming: Bethesda is holding a 'Welcome to the Warzone' panel at PAX Australia which will be broadcast 8 pm PDT on October 31 at Twitch.tv/PAX. Battlecry is slated to enter beta in 2015.
GDC: Games ahoy on the Cryptic Sea
When I approached Alex Austin at the IGN Media Indie Exchange, he asked me, “What type of game do you want to play?” I stumped him with RPG, but he had everything else from a Match-3 puzzle game to a Spaceship constructor/simulator, hockey game, First Person car chase game and more.
When I approached Alex Austin at the IGN Media Indie Exchange, he asked me, “What type of game do you want to play?” I stumped him with RPG, but he had everything else from a Match-3 puzzle game to a Spaceship constructor/simulator, hockey game, First Person car chase game and more. Unfortunately for us, Alex hasn’t really been able to finalize and complete some of his game ideas. If you were unaware, Alex has been around the indie scene for quite some time. He created the IGF award winning Gish back in 2005 with Edmund McMillen and also worked at Chronic Logic on some of the build bridging games that define that company’s library. Alex’s problem is that he has too many game ideas.
I spent most of my time playing his gummy-block physics based Match 3 game, but dabbled in some of his other titles as well. The amount of fun in some of these prototypes is quite shocking. Alex hopes to package some of these diverse games into some sort of album, but I wouldn’t hold your breath (remember No Quarter). I look forward to the next thing that Alex releases, because if it can keep his attention for years of development, you know it’s going to be amazing.
Check out Cryptic Sea’s websitefor some free downloadable prototypes. There’s even more on the blog.
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Jump to Section: Best Price Comments Pros Huge bustling city environments Crazy-deep customization Vehicle-specific super powers are great Cons Cycles aren't as DUB-able as cars The A.I. sometimes spazzes out Tokyo feels a little too similar What if somebody said they'd sell you a brand-new Ferrari at the price of a used Hyundai? Well, you'd probably think there was something pretty shady going on
Summer Games Done Quick raised nearly $1.3 million for charity
Summer Games Done Quick has sure gone quick, huh?
Summer Games Done Quick has sure gone quick, huh? It seems like only 8 days ago that we offered our guideto the charity speedrunning shindig, and now the weeklong deconstruction and celebration of games is over for another six months or so (until the regular Winter event starts sometime in January).
You probably didn't watch the whole livestream, so let's be thankful for the event's YouTube channelthat's backed up all the speedruns for posterity. Also, hey, let's take a look at the final donations tally.
Well, final-ish. I've refreshed the tracking pagea bit and the number is still somehow going up slightly, but at the time of writing Summer Games Done Quick has raised nearly $1.3 million for Doctors Without Borders. $1,297,669.44 to be exact.
If you've not delved into the event yet, here's Deus Ex, Fallout 4, and the original System Shockdone quick to get you started.
Robot Invader Releases Teaser for Dead Secret
Robot Invader released a teaser for a new horror game they’re working on, Dead Secret .
. That might be surprising for some, given that Robot Invader is known for mobile games likeand the Wind-Up Knight games. Not exactly terrifying stuff, but console horror fans might know the name of Robot Invader’s head honcho, Chris Pruett. The man is responsible for running a site called Chris’ Survival Horror Quest, which attempts to catalogue every single console horror game ever released (including Japanese games), and has been doing so for over ten years. The man is an encyclopedia of horror games and ways to frighten people, so when he throws his hat into the ring for a scary game, genre fans should take notice.
There is little information available about the game in the teaser as of yet, though. It shows an unknown character exploring the house in first person, walking through it in broad daylight. The player grabs a key, showing a neat interface where the dialogue clings to the surface near the object interacted with. The player then walks through a few more locations, including a room that contains four Japanese noh masks on the wall. Fatal Frame fans will feel a little jolt of recognition for these masks, as they are used in one of the final acts of that game to navigate a puzzle. As to whether they are a nod to the game or a hint of something else, is unclear. Is it a clue about some horrible things to come? After that, the player goes out a window and tumbles off the roof.
It’s not very much to go on, but having been reading Pruett’s various studieson different horror games and on the minute detailsthat go into them, I have a feeling this will be the beginning of something great. On top of that, the game is heading to the Samsung Gear VR and other VR units, looking to really immerse players in terror. Given his recent studies in VR and horror, it seems safe to say that Pruett and Robot Invader are poised to drop something truly horrifying on genre fans.
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Jump to Section: Best Price Comments Pros Huge bustling city environments Crazy-deep customization Vehicle-specific super powers are great Cons Cycles aren't as DUB-able as cars The A.I. sometimes spazzes out Tokyo feels a little too similar What if somebody said they'd sell you a brand-new Ferrari at the price of a used Hyundai? Well, you'd probably think there was something pretty shady going on
Jump to Section:Best Price
Comments
Our Verdict
Engrossing tension between empowerment and disempowerment, greed and fear, across an eminently replayable system.
need to know
What is it? A turn-based stealth strategy game with a cyberpunk spin.
Influenced by: Blade Runner, Netrunner, Shadowrun, other things that run
Reviewed on: Windows 8, Intel i5 CPU, GeForce 660 Ti, 8 Gb RAM
Play it on: Dual core CPU, 4GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT / ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT
Alternatively: XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Copy protection : Steam
Price : $20/£15
Release date : Out now
Publisher/Developer : Klei
Multiplayer : None
Link : invisibleincgame.com
The spy movie, as the critic Brian Phillips pointed out a few years back, is at its heart a fantasy about tourism. The spy skips all the fussy details of travel—the discomfit, the bewilderment, the checked baggage restrictions—and cuts right to the landmarks. They know all the roads intuitively; they’re always fluent in the language. And if the spy of popular media is a fantasy tourist, then the hacker is a virtual one: ducking through the back alleys of cyberspace and turning the enemy’s tools against them with engineering jiu-jitsu. They never miss a semicolon, or spend an hour refreshing Stack Overflow.
For the elite hacker-spies of Invisible, Inc., the act is so ironed out that it’s almost frictionless. They beam straight into the inner sanctums of evil zaibatsus like they came directly from the USS Enterprise. Another button press, and they’re in the network wreaking havoc—assuming control of computer terminals, surveillance cameras, and security drones. It all feels too effortless, at first, as your agents trade off turns with the enemy guards, spending action points to sneak around and override their systems. And then a momentary lapse forces your hand and you kill a guard, which raises the alarm level, which activates a new camera, which catches one of your characters dead to rights, resulting in a miniature fox hunt that sends the alarm level even higher, calling in heavier armored guards right next to your first character, who just used their last bullet to kill that first guard, and you know what? Let’s just hit the rewind button before this gets really out of hand.
Tour de force
It all starts when the Invisible crew is raided by a global trust of militarized megacorps. The team is scattered and shaken, but sets about clambering back into the fight with the help of an omniscient artificial intelligence named Incognita. Incognita can only function on backup power for 72 hours (or whatever time is pre-specified in the exhaustively customizable options menu), so the agents go on a global pillaging campaign, swiping as many corporate assets as they can, culminating in a grand coup d’mainframe to reinstate their AI.
Enter, the spy-as-tourist. Prospective missions crop up on a world map a-la XCOM: Enemy Unknown, offering varied rewards in exchange for time against Incognita’s countdown. Do you shlep all the way to eastern Russia for a difficult rescue mission, knowing it will cost you twelve (scaled down) hours? Or do you plow through a string of Mediterranean headquarters nearby that promise lightly guarded cash, weapon caches, and powerful cybernetic implants? It sounds quaintly romantic—abstracted as it is—the cyber spies globetrotting in their personal jet, collecting gadgets.
But the spies are also hackers, and hackers are fettered to the tools of their trade. Nobody hides their server farms at the Eiffel Tower or the Taj Mahal. Consequently, a given level in Invisible, Inc. looks about the same as any other: a warren of grid-based conference rooms floating in a void, whether in Dublin or Dubai. The utilitarian surroundings spoil some of the fantasy—imagine Neo never escaping The Matrix, doomed to crouch-run between cubicles in perpetuity.
The modular design does serve an end, however. Invisible, Inc.’s levels are procedurally generated, shuffling up hallways, security, objectives, and extraction points so that no two playthroughs are alike. The resulting unpredictability buoys the game’s stealth, dissuading players from the rote memorization that’s always been anathema to the genre. Take the previous hypothetical, with its exponentially increasing comedy of disasters. It might have been avoided, had I saved a single action point on my turn so my character could “peek” through a door prior to throwing it open. Even spotted, there’s a saving chance to hop to an immediately adjacent tile if it breaks line of sight. Or I might dive another character towards a nearby terminal and siphon some power, which can be used to turn a turret that will kill the guard. The gambit might pay off, but it also might cause delays or unforeseen complications that cause me to miss out on a chance at the enemy’s vault, or even lose two agents instead of one. Or maybe I burn a precious “rewind” chance to reset the turn and try a new permutation?
Risk and reward are gauged, then a door opens, a new variable walks in, and they have to be gauged anew. Many of these variables are ushered in by the alarm system, which begins ticking up from the first turn—even if the player remains undetected. After a few turns, or an unstealthy blunder, the alarm ratchets up, introducing new layers of security on enemy electronics and additional patrols, or even broadcasting the location of the player’s agents. The effect’s a bit like having a downward slope underfoot—you might be able to ignore it, but if you trip, you’re going to roll for a while.
Rogues' gallery
On anything but Beginner, Invisible, Inc. poses a steep challenge, and any given run through the campaign can come crashing to a halt if things suddenly get out of hand like that. When it happens, almost everything’s lost for good, in the spirit of a roguelike (save files even wipe upon completion of the campaign). But a few abilities remain, like the ones which govern Incognita’s hacking abilities, and accumulated cash is banked towards new agents, many of whom completely upend the manner of play. “Internationale,” for example, can remotely activate the terminals that power up Incognita’s hacking interface, even from behind walls. That’s the power problem solved, almost singlehandedly. I find it hard to go without her.
They’re a captivating rogues’ gallery, with the elegantly tapered musculature and Easter Island heads that Klei favors, and wonderfully haughty, disinterested British accents. Of Decker, a noir Blade Runner in a trenchcoat, Central, the M of the group says, “The 20th century thing is an unfortunate affectation,” affecting dame Judy Dench’s Bond matriarch in the process. It’s a pity that they rarely speak, and outside of Central, Incognita, and a rogue merchant named—ugh—”Monst3r,” they have little bearing on the terse plot that strings the procedurally generated levels together. I’d have liked a chance to know them better, beyond the rap sheets we’re given.
“Isn’t that why we travel in the first place … how we’re able to know each other at all?” Phillips poses, and, “to be a tourist is to be a spy with his cover blown.” The great success of Invisible, Inc. is that it uses that prospect like a lingering tension. A wall hides an inconvenient guard, a firewall hides a malicious script, and suddenly the plans have changed, and it’s no longer possible to be a dispassionate spy, memorizing patrol routes and waiting out alarms. The team is strung out, the guards are closing in, the plane is leaving. Who makes it?
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Newly unlocked characters completely upend the gameplay you’d just acclimated yourself to on a previous playthrough.
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Open a door from just to its side, and any guard that sees it will wander through for any easy ambush.
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KO’d guards need to be carried, or pinned by an agent on the same tile, or they’re quick to recover.
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As the security level rises, hanging around to clear a level gets increasingly risky.
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Split up and risk a single agent getting isolated, or stick together and risk being spotted easier?
The Verdict
Invisible Inc.
Engrossing tension between empowerment and disempowerment, greed and fear, across an eminently replayable system.
We recommend By Zergnet
Neonize Challenges You with Rhythmic Shooting
When I think of rhythmic music games, I think of Dance Dance Revolution , but I’ve never thought about playing something like that mobile.
Neonize from Defenestrate Studios takes a rhythmic-tapping formula, puts it onto your smartphone, and presents it with flashy, colorful neon graphics.
The neon, geometric style presents a cross layout, each representing a side from which enemies appear. At the center, the stationary player ship needs to defend itself, requiring you to tap whichever area the foes come from. What’s more, playing along with the beat of the track, tapping the screen at a precise moment will start building up the multiplier bar, which allows combos for higher score. Even the weapon changes, so a perfect tap results in a flashy green beam. The foes explode in colorful sparks that are actually fairly gentle on the eye. There are also many “medals” (achievements) to get, and leaderboards for the competitive folk.
Having spent a little bit of time playing Neonize , I found it as difficult as advertised. One mistake pretty much costs you the playthrough. The levels are divided into phases, each having a specific configuration of enemy ships. With changing tempos rising up to be pretty fast, which decreases allowed reaction time, Neonize mixes it up further with enemies that require taps on two opposite sides. The only real problem I had is getting perfect taps. Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t “find” the beat, and the on-screen visual indicators don’t seem to help. I thought it would be when the foes are right at the center of the rings, but sometimes it’s the very moment when they leave them. In spite of my efforts, I couldn’t get a lot of perfect taps at all.
The developers meant to make a difficult game, so I’m hoping future updates will bring more music tracks, some visual clarifications, and maybe a “casual mode” that lets you simply tap rhythmically into combos and not worry about memorizing or losing. Either way, it’s a good concept for a mobile game with pleasant, sharp graphics.
Neonize is synching up to smart phones on August 22nd, where it will be available for free with ads, or for $1.99 without. Look for it on iOS, Android, and Windows Phone.
Invisible, Inc trailer reveals that Klei's turn-based tactical espionage game is no longer Incognita
It would be entirely appropriate if you hadn't heard of Invisible, Inc., because it's a turn-based tactical strategy about stealth, espionage and leaving no trace.
It would be entirely appropriate if you hadn't heard of Invisible, Inc., because it's a turn-based tactical strategy about stealth, espionage and leaving no trace. What you may have heard of is its previous alias: Incognita. The Klei-made early access game has now received its new legend, and, in a moment of carelessness that could rival 007, headed straight to YouTube to publicise its existence.
"We have changed the name of the game to Invisible, Inc.", writes Klei's Jason Dreger on the community's forum.
"After some focus testing, Invisible, Inc. was better received than the old "Incognita". Our focus of the design does not change in that it will still be a game of turn based tactical espionage."
No secretive cloak 'n dagger reason for the name switch then, which is a bit of a shame. Still, the new name contains a pun, so that's an undeniable plus.
Regardless of name, the game recently received its seventh alpha update, to adjust its difficulty, randomise the order in which you infiltrate corporations, and apply a bonus for stealthy play. Here's the latest changelist:
Meta game loop added. Players earn metapoints by ending games, either by a win or a lose. Metapoints are used to unlock new choices. New game flow. Random corporation order selection. Adjustments to difficulty. Many stat adjustments to level generation and point values of items and abilities. "Clean up fee" stealth play incentive. Drones have a mainframe hacking option.If you're interested, Invisible, Inc. can be found in its early access alpha state over at the game's website.
Enter the Gungeon brings a surplus of guns in April
Enter the Gungeon is a cool looking rogue-like with lots of guns.
is a cool looking rogue-like with lots of guns. Last time we checked inwith studio Dodge Roll there were 175 guns in total, with more coming after launch. It's hard to argue that there isn't already enough guns in Enter the Gungeon, but hey: we'll know for sure soon, because the official release date has been confirmed for April 5.
What else does the game have? 190 items, "impregnable dungeons", two-player cooperative play, a weapon that can kill the past and, most excitingly, sharks. There's also a brand new trailer embedded below, for your convenience, and why not check out Tom Marks chatting with the dev team.
Cheaters Prosper in Screencheat
It’s hard not to snoop on your friend’s screen when you’re playing a little local deathmatch, isn’t it?
It’s hard not to snoop on your friend’s screen when you’re playing a little local deathmatch, isn’t it? Maybe just a little peek to see if he grabbed the rocket launcher? Maybe see if she’s in that little hidey hole you know about? It’s just another smart tactic when you’re playing a shooter, right? Still, doing so is punishable in most gaming circles, and shame on you for doing it. Screen peeking has been a scourge in my house since Goldeneye on the N64, one that has never really gone away since. Still, what if you could help those filthy, filthy cheaters by turning their snooping into a gameplay mechanic? Samurai Punk and Surprise Attack Games have done just that in Screencheat .
Screencheat seems like a typical four-player shooter, but the catch is that each of the players is invisible in the game. You can’t see the other players on the map, so the only way to know where they are is to peek at their screen and look for known rooms and landmarks. The developers have gone out of their way to make the rooms with different bright colors and little touches to help tell each place apart, letting players know where the others are through sinful, delicious screen peeking. The only way to find your enemy is by giving in to this instinct, and it feels pretty good to finally be rewarded with something other than blows to the head for a successful screen peek.
The game is currently in Beta on Steam, and the best part is, getting in on the Beta is free if you sign up on the game’s site! The developers only have a limited amount of codes at any given time, so you’re going to want to hit up their page and apply for one as soon as possible if you want to feel the blissful sensation of knowing that you’re supposed to be looking at your friends’ screens. For those of us who’ve been cheating like this for years, Screencheat just feels like coming home.
Midnight Club revved up
Page 1 of 2: Page 1 Page 1 Page 2 Rockstar is set to launch Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition Remix for PS2 and Xbox on 17 March, pumping new content into the blinged racing game in the welcome shape of 24 new vehicles, new races, music and battle maps and a brand new city: Tokyo. 1 2 Current page: Page 1 Next Page Page 2 Topics Racing Midnight Club III: DUB Edition Remix We recommend By Zergnet Load Comments
What Is There To Say About ‘Inappropriate Llama Disaster’?
Usually, the most least complicated concepts to hit the App Store are the most well done and fun to play.
Usually, the most least complicated concepts to hit the App Store are the most well done and fun to play. By those standards, Mediatronic’s Inappropriate Llama Disaster should be a masterpiece, seeing as how it was originally created in three hours during a game jam held by the studio to brainstorm ideas for a new project. Now free and on the App Store, the developer is leaving it to the fans to decide if their silly and incredibly simple game is worthy of our time.
Inappropriate Llama Disaster profits from the type of laugh we all issue when someone looses some audible flatulence in the midsts of a grave political conference, or something like that. There are no real controls for the game, only a single button, and there’s no need to worry about the level of polish put to platforming or anything like that, as there is none, that’d be far too complicated for such a simple idea. Instead, a series of short videos are run during the course of the game, during which players must use the games single button in order to trigger a — you guessed it — inappropriate llama disaster in the middle of the scene, preferably at the most inappropriate moment possible.
Scoring is based on a star system, similar to Angry Birds and games like it, where players are given a certain amount of stars based on how close they came to interrupting the scene at what the developers have perceived as the most inappropriate moment. Disarming a bomb? Not if this llama stampede charges past right when you’re moving towards the red wire!
Inappropriate Llama Disaster is, as previously stated, free on the App Storeat the moment, so it’s definately worth the money. Kill a few minutes, have a few laughs, and let the good times roll.
For more information on this and other Mediatronic products, head over to their official website.
Amazon publishes a release date for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Amazon frequently lists unofficial release dates that are eventually proven false.
Amazon frequently lists unofficial release dates that are eventually proven false. But those release dates are typically the last day of a given calendar year to show up as a placeholder. No publisher would actually release its biggest game of the year on Dec 31, 2014. But when the retailer giant lists an upcoming game in a tender spot at the beginning of the fall rush, then it's time to get a little inquisitive. As is the case with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
Amazon has listed the release datefor the upcoming open-world RPG from CD Projekt RED as Sept 30, 2014. That's at the early end of they usual end-of-year glut of high-profile, tentpole games. Presumably like The Witcher 2, this will be published (in North America, at least) by Warner Bros. CD Projekt RED has yet to officially announce a release date since they unveiled it early this year.
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings was released on May 17, 2011 to high praise. If Sept 30 turns out to be the actual release date, it would be the first CD Projekt RED game to release in the fall after two summer releases. So far, the developer has only stated that the game would be out in 2014. Expect a statement from either the team or Amazon soon.
Face off: Do we want a new Halo on PC?
In Face Off, PC Gamer writers go head to head over an issue affecting PC gaming.
In Face Off, PC Gamer writers go head to head over an issue affecting PC gaming. Today, we talk about Halo Online , the recently announced F2P Halo shooter currently exclusive to Russia, Wes and Tim ponder the question: do we even really want a new Halo game on PC?
Face off
Wes Fenlon, Hardware editor
Wes thinks a new competitive Halo could thrive on PC.
Tim Clark, Global editor-in-chief
Tim thinks Halo is old news and thinks it's time for Destiny to hit PC, instead.
Wes: YES. Halo was a revelation on consoles because it established an FPS control model that really worked on a pad. But Bungie’s multiplayer design was brilliant, too, regardless of platform. Strategically placed power weapons on the map (rockets, snipers) added a tactical layer to the arena shooter model. Regenerating shields made teamwork in firefights essential. I lost an entire summer to playing Halo: CE on the PC. Back when esports were still small-time, Halo 2 was one of the giants. That popularity has fallen off in recent years thanks to some bad sequel decisions, but I think Halo has the potential to be the biggest competitive shooter in the world behind CS:GO. Microsoft has really been holding the series back by using it as an Xbox-selling exclusive.
Tim: NO. Problematically for me, none of the things you’ve said are actually incorrect. Halo was wonderful, and the sequels continued absence on PC feels like another missed opportunity to place on top of the teetering pile of missed opportunities which Microsoft’s game division has seen fit to assemble. But I can’t help but feel that it’s too late now, and Master Chief’s ship has sailed. What Halo would you even actually want at this point? The Master Chief Collection, I guess. It’d be a fun curio, and I suppose worth seeing running maxed out on a killer rig, but not much more than that. And do you have any confidence that it wouldn’t be a shuttle crashlike the Xbox One version was? Or maybe you like being matchmade into 6-vs-4 teams, like some sort of degenerate. Is that what you like, Wes?
Wes: I was stupid enough to buy the Master Chief Collection on Xbox One, and I’m still mad about it. No matter what Microsoft says, I can’t believe they were unaware of just how broken that collection of games was at launch. And it still has big problems. But I don’t really care that much about having all of the Halo games playable on PC. What I really want is one Halo game that represents the mechanical maturation sweet spot for the series—Halo 3, in my mind—with all the advantages of the PC platform behind it. That means much higher resolutions and wider FOV than on consoles, dedicated servers and modernized netcode, and the inherently higher skill ceiling of a mouse-based shooter. I think that’s all it would take to foster a competitive Halo community that would thrive for years.
Tim: Again, I agree, in theory. None of those things you’ve written are wrong and you shouldn’t feel bad about having sashayed into my carefully laid trap. Because riddle me this young Fenlon: Who will be making this mooted Halo game with the oh-so-pleasing FOV slider? Because it sure as hell won’t be Bungie. Did you play 343 Industries’ Halo 4? Because I did, and it was fine. Absolutely fine. In the same way that a respectful reboot of a classic movie is sometimes okay. Halo 4 was the equivalent of the 2008 Day of the Dead. Passable, but not a patch on the original. And the thing is, I don’t think we need any more fine FPSs on PC. What I want is exactly that bottled lightning combat feel that Bungie nailed first time around. And… well… you’re not going to like this I suspect, but what we really need is Destiny. Don’t tell the others, but I’ve played it for 800 hours. Yes it’s flawed, and the story is barely there, but the shooting and looting is insanely moreish. And hoo boy would a proper MMO-flavoured shooter, with those innovative raid mechanics, be an interesting fit on PC.
Wes: Aha, I’ve got you here! See, the thing is, 343 Industries actually isn’t making this new PC-exclusive Halo Online game. It’s being developed by Saber Interactive, best known for doing outsource work on Halo: CE Anniversary and...The Master Chief Collection. Also, Saber made some thoroughly mediocre last-gen shooters like TimeShift. So maybe that’s not actually so great. But here’s what gives me hope: the game is based on a modified version of the Halo 3 engine, which could mean it mostly plays like classic Bungie-made Halo (it was Bungie’s engine, after all!), with some modern stuff bolted on. I’ll admit I’m wary about this being F2P, but I hope all the microtransactions are purely aesthetic.
And sure, Destiny’s fine if you want to convince yourself that hundreds of hours of grinding the same encounters is actually fun and not soul-sucking monotonous drudgery. The reward of Halo, to me, is competition and teamwork on a level playing field, where everyone has the exact same abilities and weapons. Throw RPG levels and loot into the equation a la Destiny and you’re never going to have balanced multiplayer, no matter how much you tweak the numbers.
Tim: If only you had held the majesty that is Destiny’s Hawkmoonhand cannon but for even a moment, Wes, because you would know that those 800 hours are but a blink to me. And I can’t say I’m sold on your Saber Interactive pitch either. I mean, I guess Microsoft have made some crackers decisions in the past, but don’t you think there’s a pretty obvious reason that Halo Online is only getting released in Russia? And that reason is likely not that the game is so mind-blowingly ahead of the curve that we in the West, with our blue jeans, Coca-Cola and Madonna albums, are not yet ready for its brilliance. Halo Online seems like nothing more than an attempt to eke some bonus F2P cash out of glorious Mother Russia. Whatever kind of Halo game you’re still holding out for, this ain’t it. Now, shall we discuss Destiny 2 on PC?
Wes: On mobile, it’s common practice for developers to release their games in smaller regions first to test the launch for bugs, gameplay balance, and monetization. I really hope that’s the case here. If you’re right, and this is just a way for Microsoft to grab a few bucks from the Russian market (which is notorious for pirating games unless they’re very cheap), it’s worse than there being no new Halo game on PC. It’s dangling what could potentially be a fun, competitive esport in front of long-time fans, then pulling it away and yelling “Psyche!” Really, it’s ridiculous in 2015 for a competitive multiplayer shooter to not be on PC, whether it’s Destiny or Halo. Look at CS:GO getting bigger every year. This is where the hardcore playerbase is.
Tim: So we’re agreed then. It’s Destiny’s absence that is the real disgrace, and everyone at Activision should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. As for Halo, we have to let it go now. Kiss the Chief’s shiny orange face, and let his limp body drift out into the void. Wait, hang on. Did you say ‘small regions’? Russia? *Thumbs Atlas* I think this is how the last war started.
The Witcher is being made into a movie
The Witcher is the sort of video game franchise that just about begs to be made into a movie.
is the sort of video game franchise that just about begs to be made into a movie. In fact, it's already happened, sort of: While the vast majority of people in North America first encountered Geralt and company through the game trilogy, he originally came to life in a series of short stories and novelsby Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski.
He's also appeared in a television series and, yes, even a movie, although according to Wikipediait was just a pre-release edit of the TV series and not very good. A proper Witcher film may be coming to theaters in the not-too-distant future, however, as Polish production company Platige Imagehas announced a partnership with US-based Sean Daniel Companyto create a full-length feature film based on Sapkowski's novels.
"The film will be an introduction to the Witcher’s world and is planned to be the beginning of a series," Platige said in a press release. "Thania St. John, an experienced Hollywood scriptwriter, author of such television productions as ‘Grimm’, ‘Chicago Fire’ and ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’, is working on the script as well as on its film and television continuation."
So it's not a movie version of the games—perhaps disappointing for fans of CD Projekt's version of the world—but that does leave open the door for a video game tie-in, which might be really cool. You have to admit, this Witcher stuff sounds like it'd make a pretty good game.
Platige said the Witcher film is meant for international distribution, so you won't have to fly to Poland to watch it, and hopes to have it ready for release sometime in 2017.
Thanks, Polygon.
Halo Online modders defy Microsoft's takedown notice
There might be DMCA takedown notices flying around, but the modders behind the efforts to bring Halo Online to a wider audience are refusing to stop in what one refers to as "a noble cause".
The free-to-play, Russia-only Halo Onlineimmediately piqued the interest of PC owners hankering for a bit of Halo 3-like action on their rigs. We never did get that over here in the land of personal computers, after all. Modders got hold of Halo Online's files and released a hack allowing access to the game without georestrictions and so on.
Microsoft's DMCA means the 'El Dorito' hack isn't available - at least not where it was originally posted on GitHub - but the hackers tinkering with the Halo Online files haven't been scared off their fiddling, according to an interview with TorrentFreak.
The folks behind the El Dorito hack explain they have copies of the Halo Online files scattered around the interwebs, and that they see the continued experimentation with the game's files not as illegal activity, but as something that's good for all gamers.
One person involved with the hack, known as Neoshadow42, told TorrentFreak: "I don’t particularly see this as damaging, as some people have said. I don’t believe it for a moment, honestly. We’re working to improve people’s experience, bring it to those who wouldn’t have been able to play it anyway. I’d see that as a noble cause."
Part of the drive behind the continued tinkering is the worry that the F2P Halo game could become a pay-to-win experience, with the loose-knit team stating it has found 'potential' for Halo Online's mechanics to go down such a path. As such, that's being offered as part of the justification for the ongoing hack.
"This whole project would be completely different in an ethical way if we had taken a paid game and reversed it for everyone to access for free," Neoshadow42 said, "At the end of the day, El Dorito aims to deliver exactly what everyone wants. The closest thing to a Halo 3 experience as possible, but on PC. If we can manage that, I’ll be more than happy."
We have received a statement from Microsoft regarding this story. “While we’re thrilled there’s so much interest outside of Russia, the beta of Halo Online is a PC experience tailored specifically for the tastes, tech and infrastructure of the Russian market and furthermore, is still in an early state," it reads. "As such, we want to ensure a quality experience for our beta participants within Russia which could be impacted through unauthorized use.”
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt trailer shows carefully choreographed combat
Set aside your disappointment that the new Witcher 3 trailer doesn't show any game footage.
trailer doesn't show any game footage. While I'm usually pretty ambivalent towards CGI trailers, this one is... well, to be honest, it's unintentionally hilarious. What can I say? I'm a sucker for a comedy quick zoom into the near-demented face of an attacking guard.
Top stuff, despite the overly clichéd damsel set-up.
Unfortunately, we learn almost nothing about the game, beyond the fact that it will apparently include "Who are the real monsters?" ambiguity. It's the monsters. Obviously.
That said, previous Witcher games could always back up the moral hand-wringing with nuance (and a sprinkling of batshit lore), so there's little reason to fear that this will be any different. Certainly, past looks suggestthe game is on course to be one of the most exciting RPGs of next year.
Microsoft issues DMCA takedown notice against Halo Online modders
Remember the Halo Online gameplay trailer we told you about last week?
we told you about last week? If you go to watch it now, you'll notice that it's no longer there: Publisher Innova Systems had it taken down over a copyright claim. And we're unlikely to see another one anytime soon, as Microsoft has issued a DMCA takedown notice to Github, forcing it to remove access to the game files and a new launcher.
Modders have been poking at Halo Online ever since two of them, Gamercheat13 and Lord Zedd, got their hands on it and helped YouTube user Noble create the aforementioned video. One group was even working on a launcher called ElDorito, which provided "a framework for the game to be playable, as well as a custom console with a plethora of features we believe are necessary to the game," according to a team member.
But yesterday, Microsoft dropped the hammer. "We have received information that the domain listed above, which appears to be on servers under your control, is offering unlicensed copies of, or is engaged in other unauthorized activities relating to, copyrighted works published by Microsoft,” it wrote in a DMCA noticesent to Github. Github, understandably, has compliedwith the demand to remove the files, while the ElDorito team is "a bit spooked" and has put the project on hold.
Interestingly, while the launcher has been deep-sixed, the actual game files were, at last check, still available. The Halo Online Wikinotes that it can't post the link to the download, and so interested parties will have to look for it elsewhere. But "elsewhere" is a hyperlink that leads to Pastebin, which contains another link leading to Mega; and on Mega is a 2.1GB file called Halo Online.zip. I can't verify its contents (and, for the record, you dick around with it at your own risk), but it's reasonable to conclude that it's the unauthorized build of the game that started all this business.
Halo Online is hardly the hottest thing to happen to online shooters since 2Fort. In fact, it's built on the old Halo 3 engine so that it can run on lower-spec machines. But it's also, for now at least, only planned for release in Russia—and as we all know, nothing makes people want something quite so much as not being able to have it.
Witcher 3 set to update combat, seeks voice actor continuity, dev says
Even as CD Projekt RED continues to flesh out the gameplay systems for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt , some details always tend to stand out more than others.
, some details always tend to stand out more than others. In a recent OnlySP interviewwith producer Marek Ziemak, we learn that monster taming is—unfortunately—off the table.
While the connection between a game or a film and the books that inspired them can sometimes be problematic, it's clear from The Witcher developers that the Andrzej Sapkowski source material does draw some lines for them in terms of their game design. So no harpy riding, apparently. "No, no. It's not that kind of game," Ziemak said. "I think we have a very defined setting, and Geralt always used a horse in the books. So, that's all he can use in The Witcher 3. You can't ride different animals."
And for those of us who enjoyed multiple playthroughs of the first two Witcher games, each time in a different language, it appears the developers are working to bring back the same voice talent that made a playthrough in Polish or German so refreshing and different. "The actors are very important for us, since we want to have a feeling of continuity for the story between games, and that includes voices," Ziemak said. "So yes, in many cases we're working with the same actors."
Ziemak also went into some depth regarding how the eccentric—and often challenging—combat system from The Witcher 2 might be updated in the new title. This was a system that eventually required a tutorial to fully sell itself to many players. "You have new ways to dodge enemies and parry their blows," he said. "But also, for each magical sign, you can use two versions of it. One is extended. For example, the Igni sign has a constant flamethrower thing whereas there's also single, more destructive blow of fire. This is one of the new elements. We're also introducing new alchemical potions, and other minor elements that will change the experience."
We again hear that there are numerous different endings in store for players who reach The Witcher 3's endgame, possibly as many as 36, according to Ziemak. The open-world environment should also allow game saves at any point and will accommodate fast travel to locations that have already been discovered, Ziemak said.
Read the whole interview at OnlySP. We already know about CD Projekt's DRM and DLCplans, but is there a must-have feature you would like to see carried forward into the new game?
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Halo Online gameplay video leaks
Revealed to the world last week, Halo Online is a PC-exclusive, which is good, but also a Russia-exclusive, which is somewhat less so, at least for those of us who aren't Russian.
is a PC-exclusive, which is good, but also a Russia-exclusive, which is somewhat less so, at least for those of us who aren't Russian. But even if you can't play it, you can at least see what's in store thanks to a YouTuber by the name of Noble, who's posted 17 minutes of gameplay on YouTube.
There's no actual combat in the video because it was created with a loader rather than from an online session, but Noble manages to show off various weapons and vehicles across several maps. One thing he can't access is the main menu, so there's no way to see how the microtransactions will work, but he expressed concerns that the game will be "pay-to-win," as some high-priced weapons are apparently extremely powerful. He also said that weapons are "rented" rather than purchased outright, and are thus taken away after a certain period of time.
There's not a whole lot to see here, since it's essentially the equivalent of running around on an empty server shooting at trees and walls, but if you're interested in how Microsoft plans to finally bring some "new" Halo to the PC, it's definitely worth a few minutes of your time. Halo Online is expected to enter closed beta (in Russia) this spring.
Gamasutra UK editor Mike Rose continues Gamasutra's annual year-end roundups series by looking back at the five biggest video game surprises of 2012.
Surprise surprise - it's time for another list of 2012 goings-on in the video game industry, this time focused on the events, games and buy-outs that made us sit back in shock.
The 5 biggest video game surprises of 2012
There were nice surprises that inevitably caused a stir; head-scratching surprises that brought with them questionable connotations; completely out-of-the-blue surprises that caught us off-guard. A very surprising year all round, in fact.
The one thing all these surprises have in common? As each announcement dropped, Twitter and other social media were set ablaze with conversation, arguments and opinion. It's the way of the video game industry!
Double Fine starts the Kickstarter revolutionBefore Tim Schafer's Double Fine launched its Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter earlier this year, Kickstarter was a place where smaller indie studios could seek an audience (and hopefully their wallets). I personally didn't know a single person who was even signed up to Kickstarter, let alone was pledging money to video game projects on the platform.
Of course, there's now huge discussion on what feels like a weekly basis regarding whether all the Kickstarters that keep popping up are being poorly implemented, and Kickstarting for the sake of Kickstarting. However, there's no question that Double Fine's Kickstarter was a huge surprise, and a notable turning point in 2012.
Steam's Greenlight process opens the submission floodgatesSince the launch of Steam in 2003, Valve has always kept rather quiet about how its game selection process works, and what exactly developers can do to breach the hull of PC game mega sales.
As we're more than aware of now, 2012 was the year that this all changed, with the debut of Steam Greenlight-- a service that suddenly turned the Steam submission process on its head. No longer could developers simply email Valve and then sit back and pray that they were picked up. Now it was suddenly all down to PC gamers, and whether or not they were willing to click the little thumbs-up button on your game's Greenlight page.
The initial surprise announcement was soon engulfed in discussion of how Greenlight would work, who would be successful, whether it would work in the favor of all developers, and what kind of games would be picked up the quickest. It's still early days for the initiative, but the submission process definitely feels a lot more open than it has done for the last nine years.
Zynga fills its mobile hole... for $180 millionIt all happened so quickly and so suddenly, that it was impossible not to feel taken aback by what happened to Draw Something studio Omgpop.
One moment, it was launching a mobile version of a Pictionary -like Facebook game that had a moderate number of players. The next, it had the number one top grossing game on iOS, and multiple companies looking to swoop in for the buy-out. But it was likely this rushto own Omgpop that saw Zynga paying a whopping $180 million, all simply to own the Draw Something brand and boost its mobile offerings.
Sony buys cloud gaming platform Gaikai It had been rumoredfor a while that Gaikai was looking for a buyer, and elsewhere there was talk of Microsoft planning to enter the cloud gaming space. Then rather suddenly, Sony announced that it had snapped Gaikai up for a cool $380 million.
Sony said that it was planning to use Gaikai's resources to build its own cloud gaming service, and it's looking likely that this sort of service will be built into the next PlayStation home console. This, of course, set of numerous theories all over the internet regarding how the PS4, or even the PS3, could utilize the cloud gaming space.
The deal has been very quiet since July, and with Sony's falling revenues from its video game business, you have to wonder how this is affecting its cloud gaming future. Only the future will tell whether this surprise purchase will yield results.
The Walking Dead redefines adventure gamesIf you'd said a year ago that Telltale's The Walking Dead episodic adventure game would sweep the VGAs this yearand be a huge talking point in video game discussions throughout 2012, some would think you were mad. After all, Telltale is a great studio with plenty of good adventure games under its belt, but it has never really produced anything especially Game of the Year worthy. Plus, aren't we all a bit sick of zombies by now?
Now we're hoping that by raising the storytelling bar, The Walking Dead 's presence will breed a new gaggle of video games that don't feature stories that we'd rather hammer the A button through. We're not holding our breath, but at least we've got season two to look forward to.
More Gamasutra 2012 roundups:
Halo returns to PC! (...as F2P game available exclusively in Russia)
Well, this isn't quite the glorious return of Master Chief that some have been hoping for.
Well, this isn't quite the glorious return of Master Chief that some have been hoping for. Halo Online is a new, PC-exclusive, free-to-play online shooter that will launch this spring in Russia. According to Halo Waypointit's multiplayer-only, and uses a heavily modified version of the Halo 3 engine that's specifically optimized to run smoothly on lower-end PCs.
Halo Online takes place on a secret UNSC space station called Anvil, where Spartan IV soldiers train and test experimental technology. It's being developed by Saber Interactive, a Russian studio that previously contributed to Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary and Halo: The Master Chief Collection, and it will only be available in Russia: The FAQ says it's "tailored for Russian gamers," whatever that means, and while the possibility of a wider release isn't dismissed outright, "any expansion outside of Russia would have to go through region-specific changes to address player expectations."
I would guess that those "expectations" relate first and foremost to the use of the aged Halo 3 engine. It might be a smart way to attract new fans who aren't necessarily dedicated to being on the cutting edge of PC hardware, but it may not fly as well in markets where sub-par visuals can be the kiss of death. The FAQ also states that Halo Online was "built from the ground up specifically for the PC," and that there are no plans to bring it to the Xbox One. The closed beta is scheduled to take place this spring, but a launch date has yet to be announced.
CD Projekt RED tells gamers "Vote with your wallet"
Even as CD Projekt RED works to bring The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt to multiple gaming platforms, it's clear that the PC still gives some developers a freedom they can't find anywhere else, according to a new Eurogamer interview with CD Projekt's joint-CEO Marcin Iwiński.
with CD Projekt's joint-CEO Marcin Iwiński. He said Monday that no matter what DRM policies end up attached—or not—to Sony's and Microsoft's new consoles, gamers are going to be able to make a choice.
"I am sure that a lot of gamers will choose one of the consoles for its convenience and easiness of use—that's fine, and by doing so they will agree to whatever rules the platform holder will impose," Iwiński said. "What I can, however, guarantee here and now, is that if you want the 100 per cent DRM-free experience you will have it on the PC, the platform where we set the rules for our games. The Witcher 3 will be available 100 per cent DRM-free on our digital distribution platform GOG.com, and that's one thing I can confirm."
It's not the first time that Iwiński, a co-founder of CD Projekt, has gone on recordabout the ways in which his studio's games are delivered to fans. He reportedly made the comments above following Microsoft's E3 press conference yesterday, and he also pointed out that he and his development team don't know how exactly the new Microsoft Xbox One console will differ from the PC in terms of its DRM policies. If anything, Iwiński's statement gives the public some insight into how much console manufacturers and game developers actually communicate about DRM issues.
"Again, we do not know anything definite, nor have we received any firm guidelines from Microsoft," Iwiński said. "Having said that, we strongly believe in the freedom of choice and voting with your wallet. I would disagree that it would do any good if we decided to abandon one of the platforms, especially when we have the capacity to create games for it.We have no influence on the decisions of platform holders, neither Microsoft's or Sony's, but there is a platform where we can decide what we think works best for the gamers, and that's the PC. "
For the latest from E3, check out our complete coverage.
Bethesda says Prey 2 still isn't worth talking about
Sometimes when a publisher and developer go quiet about a game awhile, it means they're waiting to emerge, phoenix-like, with new information, a release date, and a snazzy trailer. That isn't the case for Prey 2 , Bethesda VP of PR and marketing Pete Hines told IGN . “We appreciate that folks are displeased that we haven’t had any update or any info on Prey 2, but whatever your displeasure is, you
How to run Halo: Combat Evolved on Windows 7/8
Twice a month, Pixel Boost guides you through the hacks, tricks, and mods you'll need to run a classic PC game on Windows 7/8.
guides you through the hacks, tricks, and mods you'll need to run a classic PC game on Windows 7/8. Each guide comes with a free side of 4K screenshots from the LPC celebrating the graphics of PC gaming's past. This week: Halo PC survives the death of Gamespy.
I lost the entire summer of 2004 to Halo on the PC. While my family PC was still an aging Pentium 4, my best friend (who lived a convenient five minutes away) scored a beastly gaming rig powered by a 2.8GHz AMD CPU and a 128MB ATI 9600. It could play anything, and in the summer of 2004, our game of choice was Halo on the PC. We'd take turns playing multiplayer for days straight, honing our pistol skills to get those crucial three-shot kills. Servers hosted CTF matches that lasted for hours. Today, Halo: Custom Editionstill has a small but active playerbase thanks to a Bungie patch(11 years after release!) that replaced Gamespy with new master servers. The patch also added support for resolutions up to 4800x3600. You know what that means—it's time to Pixel Boost.
Install it
Halo PC isn't available on Steam, or Good Old Games, or any other digital distribution platform. But it is available in classic disc-in-a-box form on Amazon for $20. New! It's Amazon Prime, even!
Halo installs happily from a disc, but before you play, you'll want to download the 1.10 patch from this thread. If you plan to play multiplayer, download the 1.10 patch for Halo: Custom Edition from the same thread, then grab the Halo: CEinstaller here. Custom Edition supports Custom Maps and is where you'll find the online action.
Install the 1.10 patch for Halo, then install Halo: Custom Edition and its patch. After that, you're ready to play.
Run it in high resolution
Halo PC should run properly on either Windows 7 or Windows 8. Booting the game will probably go off without a hitch for you, but it's possible you'll have trouble launching it. Running a multi-GPU setup on the Large Pixel Collider with Nvidia Surround, I ran into an error: the game wouldn't boot because it had trouble initializing DirectDraw. It suggested hardware acceleration might be disabled. Best I can tell, this is an issue with Surround that I couldn't fix. Even if you're not using Surround, though, you might see the same error.
It's possible (but unlikely) that hardware acceleration is actually disabled on your computer. You can check by running DXDiag and looking under the first Display tab. If acceleration is disabled, grab DXCpl from this threadand use it to re-enable hardware acceleration.
One other fix that may help you if DirectDraw fails: changing your registry settings.
If you don't run into those problems, you should be able to boot Halo and play it at your native resolution (up to 4800x3600!) no problem. I wasn't satisfied with running the game at 2560x1440, so I decided to downsample it. And good news: Halo CE works flawlessly with Durante's downsampling tool GeDoSaTo, which you can download here. With GeDoSaTo installed, add Halo to the application's whitelist (or run it in blacklist mode, which means it will be active for all applications except a few it has listed as off-limits).
In GeDoSaTo's settings menu, you need to set the resolution you want to downsample from and the resolution you want to downsample to (this is your monitor's native resolution). Make sure neither line is commented out. Finally, you need to create a shortcut for Halo.exe and add a line of code to the Target field to make it run at the proper resolution while downsampling is active. Simply append -vidmode 3840,2160,60 or [horizontal res],[verticalres],[hz]. Here are the settings I used for GeDoSaTo and Halo's shortcut:
Mod it
If you plan to play Halo multiplayer, Halo: Custom Editionis essential. If you want to create your own maps, download the Halo Editing Kit. There are plenty of CE maps to download, but to know which ones are in popular use, you'll have to boot up the game and survey the server browser. There are also Halo mods on ModDBthat change the singleplayer campaign.
Halo: Combat Evolved at 5120x2880 on the LPC
These screenshots were captured by running Halo: Combat Evolved on a single 1440p monitor on the Large Pixel Collider. Using Durante's GeDoSaTo tool, I downsampled the game from a resolution of 5120x2880. While the HUD scales poorly to such a high resolution, some of the game's textures and geometry look fantastic for a game released in 2003. For more guides to running classic games on modern Windows and more classic game screenshots, check out Pixel Boostevery other week.
The Witcher 3 to be Geralt's final outing; GOG hold Witcher sale
Yesterday's Witcher 3: Wild Hunt reveal gave us some important details: it will be open world, it's said to be bigger than Skyrim, Geralt has a new beard.
gave us some important details: it will be open world, it's said to be bigger than Skyrim, Geralt has a new beard. Today, CD Projekt RED's official announcement provides us with more news, including the fact that this will be their last game in the Witcher series. There's also a completely pointless "title reveal" trailer.
Yeah. Wolf head logo confirmed, I guess.
Anyway, the announcement's meaty details sound promising. "Imagine playing a dark fantasy game with the same great non-linear story as in the previous Witcher titles, but now told in a world you can explore freely with no artificial boundaries," says CD Projekt RED head Adam Badowski. "The war-ravaged world is so huge that to reach farther places you will need to ride a horse or sail a boat to get there. A world where your choices have truly epic consequences."
As to this being Geralt's swan song, Badowski adds, "People may ask if this is really going to be the last Witcher game. Yes, it is. Why? Because we believe that we should end the series on a high note. Technology has progressed to where we can finally tell the story the way we want, with the visuals we want, in the world we imagined."
"This will be the ultimate fantasy RPG experience, and while we're hardly out of stories to tell, we believe it's time for us to look to new worlds and new horizons to keep pushing the boundaries of what we can create."
CD Projekt's distribution arm GOG.com are celebrating the announcement with a sale on the previous Witchers. If you've yet to experience Geralt's last two outings into the world of political intrigue and monster biffing, they're both 50% off until Friday.
How to run Halo: Combat Evolved on Windows 7/8
Twice a month, Pixel Boost guides you through the hacks, tricks, and mods you'll need to run a classic PC game on Windows 7/8.
guides you through the hacks, tricks, and mods you'll need to run a classic PC game on Windows 7/8. Each guide comes with a free side of 4K screenshots from the LPC celebrating the graphics of PC gaming's past. This week: Halo PC survives the death of Gamespy.
I lost the entire summer of 2004 to Halo on the PC. While my family PC was still an aging Pentium 4, my best friend (who lived a convenient five minutes away) scored a beastly gaming rig powered by a 2.8GHz AMD CPU and a 128MB ATI 9600. It could play anything, and in the summer of 2004, our game of choice was Halo on the PC. We'd take turns playing multiplayer for days straight, honing our pistol skills to get those crucial three-shot kills. Servers hosted CTF matches that lasted for hours. Today, Halo: Custom Editionstill has a small but active playerbase thanks to a Bungie patch(11 years after release!) that replaced Gamespy with new master servers. The patch also added support for resolutions up to 4800x3600. You know what that means—it's time to Pixel Boost.
Install it
Halo PC isn't available on Steam, or Good Old Games, or any other digital distribution platform. But it is available in classic disc-in-a-box form on Amazon for $20. New! It's Amazon Prime, even!
Halo installs happily from a disc, but before you play, you'll want to download the 1.10 patch from this thread. If you plan to play multiplayer, download the 1.10 patch for Halo: Custom Edition from the same thread, then grab the Halo: CEinstaller here. Custom Edition supports Custom Maps and is where you'll find the online action.
Install the 1.10 patch for Halo, then install Halo: Custom Edition and its patch. After that, you're ready to play.
Run it in high resolution
Halo PC should run properly on either Windows 7 or Windows 8. Booting the game will probably go off without a hitch for you, but it's possible you'll have trouble launching it. Running a multi-GPU setup on the Large Pixel Collider with Nvidia Surround, I ran into an error: the game wouldn't boot because it had trouble initializing DirectDraw. It suggested hardware acceleration might be disabled. Best I can tell, this is an issue with Surround that I couldn't fix. Even if you're not using Surround, though, you might see the same error.
It's possible (but unlikely) that hardware acceleration is actually disabled on your computer. You can check by running DXDiag and looking under the first Display tab. If acceleration is disabled, grab DXCpl from this threadand use it to re-enable hardware acceleration.
One other fix that may help you if DirectDraw fails: changing your registry settings.
If you don't run into those problems, you should be able to boot Halo and play it at your native resolution (up to 4800x3600!) no problem. I wasn't satisfied with running the game at 2560x1440, so I decided to downsample it. And good news: Halo CE works flawlessly with Durante's downsampling tool GeDoSaTo, which you can download here. With GeDoSaTo installed, add Halo to the application's whitelist (or run it in blacklist mode, which means it will be active for all applications except a few it has listed as off-limits).
In GeDoSaTo's settings menu, you need to set the resolution you want to downsample from and the resolution you want to downsample to (this is your monitor's native resolution). Make sure neither line is commented out. Finally, you need to create a shortcut for Halo.exe and add a line of code to the Target field to make it run at the proper resolution while downsampling is active. Simply append -vidmode 3840,2160,60 or [horizontal res],[verticalres],[hz]. Here are the settings I used for GeDoSaTo and Halo's shortcut:
Mod it
If you plan to play Halo multiplayer, Halo: Custom Editionis essential. If you want to create your own maps, download the Halo Editing Kit. There are plenty of CE maps to download, but to know which ones are in popular use, you'll have to boot up the game and survey the server browser. There are also Halo mods on ModDBthat change the singleplayer campaign.
Halo: Combat Evolved at 5120x2880 on the LPC
These screenshots were captured by running Halo: Combat Evolved on a single 1440p monitor on the Large Pixel Collider. Using Durante's GeDoSaTo tool, I downsampled the game from a resolution of 5120x2880. While the HUD scales poorly to such a high resolution, some of the game's textures and geometry look fantastic for a game released in 2003. For more guides to running classic games on modern Windows and more classic game screenshots, check out Pixel Boostevery other week.
Data-mined Hearthstone patch hints at possible Blackrock Mountain expansion
We are approaching some sort of spoiler event horizon where it’s impossible to keep anything a surprise.
We are approaching some sort of spoiler event horizon where it’s impossible to keep anything a surprise. Blizzard may have already teasedan announcement at its PAX East panel next week but, thanks to data-miners at Hearthheadand HearthPwn, the community seems to be a step ahead. A new Hearthstone patch hit the servers this morning—but isn’t live yet—which was quickly data-mined for info.
It contained details of three new card backs, the names of which, and the requirements for unlocking them, hint at more. The card backs are called Molten Core, Ragnaros, and Golden Celebration, and while the Ragnaros card back is listed as being rewarded through ranked play as per usual, the other two have more unique requirements.
The Golden Celebration card back’s meaning is cryptic, but World of Warcraft fans will know that Molten Core is a raid in the Blackrock Mountain zone and home to two bosses that are already Hearthstone cards, Baron Geddon and Ragnaros the Firelord. The requirement for receiving the Molten Core card back has a note saying “purchase brm presale.” Although nothing’s confirmed, Molten Core’s WoW roots would likely mean “brm” is shorthand from Blackrock Mountain, and could suggest a Blackrock Mountain themed update.
With some sort of PAX East announcement due next Friday, it’s worth noting that Hearthstone’s previous adventure mode, the Curse of Naxxramas, was also based on a World of Warcraft raid, and revealed at the same event last year. Could we be about to get a second adventure mode, this time centred on Blackrock Mountain? Our Magic 8-Ball says ‘maybe’. We’ve reached out to Blizzard for comment.
When Ryan Payton's Camouflaj LLC, along with Logan Games, began its $500,000 crowdfunding campaign for
an episodic, high-end stealth game for iOS, the application of Kickstarter for the games business was still new, mostly reverberating from the successful Double Fine Adventure campaign. The market for AAA-like games on iOS, let alone episodic ones, hadn't yet been proven. It was definitely an ambitious move. "I don't feel my story is very unique," he says.
Ryan Payton and the infinite Republique
"I don't feel my story is very unique," he says. The former 343 Industries creative director and Metal Gear Solid 4 producer mostly sees himself as similar to a lot of other developers who've taken advantage of alternative funding and development trends to migrate from AAA into independent work. "In working at a big company, there are a lot of compromises you have to make on a creative and personal level," he says. "It's really easy to get that game development bug."
Yet in scope and concept, survival-stealth game and surveillance-state critique Republique doesn't have many peers yet. It has the sort of lace-wrought tone, style and fidelity console games traditionally want, and games like it haven't really thrived in the mobile space yet.
Players interact with the game by hacking devices and taking control of cameras to affect events in the story, and communicate with other characters by phone, a clever way of bridging the gap between core gaming fans on mobile and the fact traditional controls for first and third-person play don't generally translate well to touch.
But now that Kickstarter fever's ebbed, the $500,000 iOS game that's released its first of several planned episodes after almost years in development is still an anomoly in the space. But Payton seems realistic about it, even and thoughtful, when I try to find polite ways to hint at how strange it all sounds.
"I just had faith it would turn out, somehow," Payton tells me. "And that's been kind of the whole project, in a nutshell. It's been more expensive than we wanted it to be, and it's taking more time to develop, but because of new infrastructures and new support, development becomes a lot easier. The most important thing was to seek the creative freedom to make the game we wanted to make. It wasn't about money, or 'I can put my name on a game'."
"I just had faith it would turn out, somehow. And that's been kind of the whole project, in a nutshell." Payton says he hadn't even considered making an iOS game until he saw Epic Games' initial Infinity Blade showpiece: "The lightbulb came on," he says. "Not only did I like what they were doing from a graphical perspective, and a CPU perspective, but I was really inspired by what they did from a design perspective. They had a mechanic that was designed from the ground up for touch."
Payton had been tired of making games his family couldn't play because of the delicate and often complicated vocabulary of next-gen controllers. "I really still feel like that's a huge barrier for the proper global proliferation of games," he says. In AAA, he'd be told that the stories he was writing would be enjoyed by 10 million people -- "10 million 18 to 35 year-old white males in America and the UK," he reflects, frowning slightly. "I was really jealous of what was going on in mobile. I want to make games that touch millions of people."
The traditional developer assumption has long been that making a mainstream game means compromise, gross oversimplification, laughable frictionlessness. But that's less and less true, Payton believes. In fact, part of what he hopes for with Republique is to prove otherwise ("I don't want to just make games that are 'suitable for mobile' from a monetization perspective"), to demonstrate risk-taking for other developers by experimenting with new kinds of content and formats for audiences that have never seen them before.
There've been some big lessons along the way. For example, Payton admires Fireproof Games' The Room , which he views as a success in terms of the kind of experimentation with traditional production values in iOS he hopes to see more of. Yet the absence of visible characters in The Room and its sequel was a wise design constraint, showing smart scoping and good foresight.
"Barry [Meade, of Fireproof] made a much smarter game than we have," says Payton. "I'm embarrassed, because I was really deep in Republique when Steve [Gaynor, of Gone Home developer Fullbright Company] left Irrational, and he still beat us to the punch for our first episode, because meanwhile I'm doing motion capture and voice-over."
Structurally he likens his vision to the original Resident Evil -- imagine if each of the game's very distinct arcs (a mansion, a garden,a laboratory) could be their own distinct episodes. Studios like Telltale Games have experimented with episodic content before, and they aren't the only ones, but Payton doesn't believe the formula is all out of room for growth.
Attending GDC in 2012, Payton heard the trendwatchers declare that nobody wanted story-driven content on mobile devices. In 2013, people lauded light, relatively simple and abstract narrative games like Sword and Sworcery , but chalked the success of The Walking Dead strictly up to its bigger cable TV and comics brand. These days, people tell him Republique is "cool", but that people still aren't interested in narrative content -- plus it's expensive, and monetization models are hard to marry to immersive storytelling experience.
Payton says he visited this year's GDC mainly seeking business partners for China, a market understood by few stateside. The knowledge base isn't big enough, he suggests, for anyone to be certain that just because mobile games have a certain structure and business model in China right now, there could never be an opportunity for episodic content there ever.
Republique 's Russian localization yielded the game's third-best market, which came as a surprise. What other surprises might be left in Asia, if his team approaches the market in the right way?
"Both companies hired me to be influential, but that doesn't mean there aren't hundreds of others in the company who also want to put their mark on something. That's a difficult thing to navigate." Payton's story is also distinctive in that unlike many with a similar trajectory he never nurtured a preference for working with small teams. "I'm lucky to've had that experience of working with big teams and high expectations," he suggests. "I longed for that sense of responsibility... what I experienced was that both companies hired me to be influential, but that doesn't mean there aren't hundreds of others in the company who also want to put their mark on something. That's a difficult thing to navigate."
Kickstarter, then, presented Payton's around 25-person team the best of both worlds: creative freedom but also inherent accountability, with thousands of backers watching. What else to do with this opportunity than to go full tilt at the kind of games he's always wanted to make, in the markets he dreams of approaching?
While at Microsoft, Payton took advantage of the continuing education offered in order to get a screenwriting certificate through night school. The major lesson of his program: "Write about what you're passionate about," he says. He's so fascinated with the idea of a tech dystopia, a futuristic Orwellian surveillance state, that he felt compelled to explore it.
He lights up when he shares his enthusiasm for massively over-ambitious, overwrought, sprawling vanity projects with obsessive attention to detail and impossible scope. Republique's website looks, purposefully, more like a monolithic, timeless film poster than a game advertisement -- Payton's favorite movie is 2001: A Space Odyssey, and his favorite album is Smashing Pumpkins' intricate Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. He is both unabashed and pragmatic about Republique being something like those -- an ambitious work that has the rare opportunity to break new ground blaze trails, ideally to blaze trails for other developers.
"Maybe we'll talk next year and I'll come back and tell you Republique sold 500 copies in China," he laughs. "I'm always overly honest about everything that happens to our company. People will know whether we failed or succeeded. I'm always happy to share that experience."
Halo: Spartan Assault is now available
It's here!
It's here! The first Halo game to make its way to the hallowed PC platform since Halo 2! Well, to the PCs-running-Windows-8 platform, that is. Halo: Spartan Assaultis now available, exclusively to Windows 8 gamers, to purchase via the Windows store. Since Vista exclusivity worked so well with Halo 2, we can only imagine that sales of Windows 8 are now gonna go through the freakin' roof .
The top-down shooter bridges the story gap between the events of Halo 3 and Halo 4, and it runs on Windows 8 tablets as well, if you're into that kind of thing (though sorry, you'll still have to buy two separate versions if you want to play on both platforms). While we imagine it'd play a little awkwardly on touchscreens, our previewof the PC version revealed that the series' super-compelling gameplay is still there, even with the camera slung up high into sky.
Spartan Assault will set you back $7, and the Halo Waypoint blogpoints out that there's a soundtrack out, too.
Overwatch first look: Blizzard takes on Team Fortress 2
Blizzard gave a detailed outline of their upcoming team shooter Overwatch at Blizzcon today, delving into specifics about classes, maps, modes, and the philosophy they're bringing to their first FPS.
Minimum gameplay video: our impressions of the minimalist team shooter
Minimum has, as its name suggests, a minimalist look, but it's not totally simple.
Minimum has, as its name suggests, a minimalist look, but it's not totally simple. In the main mode, two teams build base defenses, upgrade their weapons, and pop creeps to power up their Titans: giant robots that clamber toward each side's base for the win. It just left Early Access, so I jumped in to see what it was all about—watch me be a general nuisance to my team as I figure it out.
Paid mods are dead: PC Gamer reacts
Valve has dropped the payment feature from the Skyrim Steam Workshop , not even a week after it was first implemented.
, not even a week after it was first implemented. Here, our writers share their thoughts on what went wrong, what could have gone right, and what may happen next.
Tom Senior: Imagine the furor that could've been averted* if Valve had announced the idea in a preparatory blog post which explained the arguments for a mod store and invited feedback. Instead they ambushed a community that's been consuming free mods for four years. Mods that were free one day suddenly weren't—would all mods soon be behind a paywall? Valve employees put the arguments for a mod store forward eventually, but most players don't care whether a modder ought to be able to buy a house for making something good, they just want the thing, and they expect it for free. It's not even selfishness, it's just an assumption based on the way mods have always been.
It sounds like Valve will try to relaunch the idea, but it'll have to be with a brand new game (Bethesda's next big open world, perhaps?) I think it will be very interesting to see if the system works the way Valve and their partners hope. I like the idea of a rich, competitive mod community that offers lots of stuff for free, with a bunch of premium killer mods heaped on top. I worry, though. If I had to pay a dollar for every mod I fancied trying, I would never have started modding my games in the first place.
*Actually people would have lost their shit anyway because The Internet.
Phil Savage: The reaction this time has been overwhelmingly negative—encompassing legitimate problems, philosophical opposition and naïve fear mongering—but its worth noting that this isn't the first time Valve has tried to make paid mods work. Their other attempts didn't result in as vehement a backlash. There wasn't a petition when Aperture Tag was releasedto the Steam storefront. Somewhere in the difference between these two approaches is a line that, according to the community, Valve shouldn't have crossed.
The problem, I think, is that this time Valve tried to hand the tools directly to modders. Aperture Tag was hand picked by Valve and given a space apart from Portal 2's Workshop. It was also new. For Skyrim, Valve and Bethesda gave everybody the opportunity to monetise their work, and that, of course, led to problems. Valve has a habit of doing this: dropping a new feature into the middle of their community and watching as it detonates. The problem is The Elder Scrolls' modding community is its own thing, and exists separately from the Steam ecosystem. More than that, PC gamers are incredibly protective of TES modders—and rightly so. When we put Skyrim into our Top 100, it wasn't the vanilla version. The game is great because its mod community is great, and has hammered the base game into something far and above the static console versions. You don't set fire to something that celebrated and expect to walk away unsinged.
I don't have a problem with modders making money from their work, but I also don't think there's an easy solution that will magically make it happen. Some say the existence of a donation option will instantly make everything better, but I think the reaction we've seen proves that many aren't willing to pay. I suspect the type of mod is important. Those included in the scheme's roll-out encompassed added systems, custom assets and improved visuals—all things the community is too used to getting for free. It's not right, but I do think Valve and Bethesda would have had an easier time if they'd restricted the scheme to new quests. If a total conversion like Enderalone day appears on the Steam store as a premium product, à la Aperture Tag, I don't think there'd be too much controversy. My assumption is that the community places more value on new content than on wide-ranging and necessary overhauls to existing systems. If I'm right, that sucks.
PC gamers love modding. The problem is there's less incentive than ever to part of a modding community. It used to be a route into the industry—a way for would-be developers to build a portfolio to show potential employers. Now we have Unity and an indie scene. Instead of making a mod, you could make a game. Instead of working for a big developer, you could work for yourself. I worry that this most recent backlash will cause modders to wonder how much they're actually worth to the gaming community at large. Luckily, there is hope. Former SimCity artist Bryan Shannon is currently making $820 per buildingto create new assets for Cities: Skylines. There are solutions that can work for all involved, and—If Valve is ever going to attempt paid-for mods again—it's in everyone's interest that they find one.
Tim Clark: I can’t say that I’m surprised that the reaction was largely negative, but the virulence of it caught me off guard. And it also seems to have come as a shock to Valve too, who let’s agree could’ve done a much better job setting out the case for a paid system, rather than sliding some Skyrim mods into view and saying: “have at ‘em”. What’s most frustrating is how binary the argument became as a result. Plenty of the concerns were legitimate, like those outlined by a modder this Steam discussion thread, but equally I felt persuaded by Garry Newman’s position. He wrote:“I sold a mod once and everyone was angry that it was happening, until it happened and they got a much better product than they’d have gotten when it was released for free, then they seemed to calm down a bit. It has given me a career for ten years. It’s bought me two houses, a bunch of cars. It’s created a company that has hired 30+ people.” Do we really write that experience off so lightly?
As Tyler noted last week, the ability to make a living from one’s work logically leads to being able to devote more time to the creation of that work. So, in theory, I still think a paid system that people felt was fair could have led to more and better mods, not less and worse. But given the explosiveness of the backlash, paid mods are effectively dead on the vine for now. Certainly I don’t see any big publishers being willing to risk being part of another PR shuttle crash. So, we won’t know how paid mods would’ve played out, but my two cents is that it would have neither been a dreamy new modtopia nor the coming of the modpocalypse. There’s a version of this in which the the best paid mods get iterated on and ultimately hit an unprecedented level of quality. But even in that scenario, there would still be a ton of stuff just done for the love of it or available for tiny fees. And, of course, plenty of garbage. Because if we can be sure of anything, it's that.
Tyler Wilde: Valve messed up. It launched this the wrong way. I understand the anger, and I had all kinds of concernswhen the Skyrim Workshop suddenly changed last week. I chose optimistic speculation over fear of the absolute worst, though. I speculated that paid mods could lead to better mods, happier modders, and more games with mod support. Maybe I was being too optimistic, but who can say now?
I don’t expect Valve to try something quite like this again soon, but at least its own gamesand systems like Player Studiocontinue to test these waters. I like the idea that creative and skilled gamers might, if they choose, be able to earn a living making games better. I agree with many of the arguments against Steam’s implementation, but a lot of the philosophical arguments seem weak to me. ‘Modding is a hobby.’ Lots of people earn money from their hobbies. ‘Modders should do it for fun, not profit.’ Who are we to tell them what to do with their time and skills? ‘Modders should get jobs at studios if they want to make money.’ Easier said than done, and not for everyone. Ultimately, if a publisher makes it legal to sell derivative works, there is nothing immoral or unethical about selling them. I worry too about how it might change the historically collaborative modding community, but I also see lots of potential good.
Maybe Valve can’t be the one to make that happen on a large scale, and it has to remain a partnership directly between game makers and players—something built into the experience, as with TF2, and not added on. For now, I think that’s the direction we’ll see pursued. If Valve does try again, I’d recommend it starts with a fresh game designed specifically with asset and expansion mods in mind.