inXile crowdsourcing art needs: Get paid to provide 3D models for Wasteland 2

Crowdfunded RPG Wasteland 2 is looking to the community to help fill in some gaps in their art needs, usually one of the most resource-intensive parts of developing a new game.

is looking to the community to help fill in some gaps in their art needs, usually one of the most resource-intensive parts of developing a new game. If you fancy yourself a maestro of the almighty polygon, you could see your art wind up in the final product. And they'll pay you for it.

You can read the full guidelines here, but essentially, inXile'll be posting some early concept art to the site every week. It's up to you, the community, to cobble together a 3D version that works well with Wasteland 2's visual style, and the context in the game it will be appearing in. If your art goes into the game, you get compensated in cash. It's as simple as that.

It's a Steam Workshopapproach to game-making, essentially. The first batchis already up for your perusal. Try your hand at a hobo shack, a satellite dish, or just some "bad ass rocks." New asset requests will be posted each week, so keep an eye out.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 pre-E3 trailer takes the series to the modern day

A word of warning: My words, along with the trailer embedded above, contain massive spoilers for the first Castlevania: Lords of Shadow .

. I don't normally worry about spoiling a three-year-old game, but considering the PC version of the original gamewon't be released until August 27, it makes sense some of you would like to be kept in the dark.

With that out of the way, the pre-E3 trailer picks up right after the original Lords of Shadow, with Gabriel Belmont—now going by the name “Dracula”—awakening from his slumber and looking for a cure to his newfound immortality. Luckily for him, Zobek (who's voiced by none other than Sir Patrick Stewart), is willing to aid the vampire king in exchange for a few favors.

Konami touts the sequel as having an open world for players to explore rather than using linear mission design, and have opted for a player-controlled camera rather than a fixed one. Though you'll be spending a lot of time in Dracula's infamous castle, Lords of Shadow 2 will bring the vampire into the modern day, where I assume he will make a major withdrawal at the nearest blood bank.

The latest Castlevania should cast its shadow on PC this winter.

The Crew closed beta now deploying a little earlier, here's what to expect

The Crew's closed beta will be arriving a little earlier than its original July 23rd deploy date , perhaps due to opportune driving conditions, or clement weather - we just don't know.

, perhaps due to opportune driving conditions, or clement weather - we just don't know. We do know, however, that the beta will now be waiting outside your house, keys in hand on July 21st, giving you a whole working week of slightly buggy open world driving fun before you have to take it back to the rental place. If you haven't signed up yet, you can still do that here, but be warned: you will need a uPlay account. You'll find details of the closed beta after the break.

The Crew's open world comprises the whole United States, only (understandably) shrunk down quite a bit. The closed beta will let you free-drive everywhere, take on skill challenges on the East Coast, and do all the game's missions and skill challenges in the Midwest. It's quite a big betain other words, and it will be interesting to see how its open world copes under the strain of players skidding all over its once-pristine tarmac.

Alex Dale had a few concerns when he played it last year, so hopefully they've been bashed into shape since then.

Unity 5 unveiled at GDC 2014

Unity 5 , the latest version of the popular game development engine, was unveiled at the Game Development Conference in San Francisco today.

, the latest version of the popular game development engine, was unveiled at the Game Development Conference in San Francisco today. The new update will include big updates to Unity's audio and lighting tools and 64-bit engine support, according to Unity Technologies. Unity 5 will be available for pre-order starting today, and is accompanied by a trailer featuring lots of flashy light rendering and a wub-wub distortion soundtrack.

“Every time we ship a new version of Unity, we're looking to empower developers with technology that's more powerful and easier to apply than ever before,” David Helgason, CEO of Unity Technologies, wrote in a press release. “With the huge additions of physically-based shading, lighting workflows, a new platform, and a new built-in method for user acquisition, we're improving Unity dramatically from both a creative and business perspective.”

Unity has also partnered with Mozilla to bring the game engine to WebGL, meaning that Unity games could run inside Firefox without any additional plug-ins. Mozilla has written up a full post about the collaboration here, and the Unity booth will be showing off this ability with in-browser builds of Dead Trigger 2.

Users who pre-order will also get access to the current build of Unity 4 and all planned updates. Unity 4 launched two years ago, and has provided the base for games like Rust, Kerbal Space Program, Gone Home, and Surgeon Simulator.

Thanks to Aaron San Filippo, developer of Unity game Race the Sun, for the tip.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow may be heading to Steam, ahead of its whipcracking sequel

Steamdatabasemancy is a word referring to fine art of gazing into the Steam database, to try and foretell the future of PC gaming.

Steamdatabasemancy is a word referring to fine art of gazing into the Steam database, to try and foretell the future of PC gaming. As with looking into a cup of tea or playing the stock market, it's an art that disappoints as often as it... appoints, with right-on leaks like Brutal Legend and Dyad just about making up for misleading Halo 3 entries. So you should probably take the addition of the original Castlevania: Lords of Shadow with a pinch of salt (and maybe a couple of cloves of garlic), despite how legit its entryseems.

NeoGAF member Nabs spotted the gameyesterday, which is curiously listed as "Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Early Access Comp". The 'billingtype' is also down as "Proof of Prepurchase Only", leading us to believe that the original game may be offered as a pre-order bonus for the sequel, which has yet to appear on Steam.

If and when it does arrive, we're likely in for a treat (well, if the port's up to scratch), as MercurySteam's reboot of the ancient Castlevania series rather impressed me when it first arrived back in 2010. Lords of Shadow 2 - which does have a confirmed PC version - is currently on track for later this year.

Battlefield Hardline beta now open to all PC gamers

It seems like only a week ago that the Battlefield Hardline beta was a closed affair , accessible to only the most fortunate and well-connected of the world's virtual warriors.

, accessible to only the most fortunate and well-connected of the world's virtual warriors. And you know what? It was only a week ago, roughly, but that doesn't matter anymore, because those doors have now swung wide open. Want in? All you have to do is sign up.

Electronic Arts announcedearlier this afternoon that PC gamers now have "instant access" to the Hardline beta, which also includes a number of "beta rewards": a Hardline weapon camo/skin and sight (when the full game launches), a unique Battlefield 4 dog tag and additional Hardline content. Furthermore, if you reach Rank 10 in the beta you'll be given a special backpack at launch, and enabling Facebook sharing will earn $1000 in-game cash that can be used to purchase weapons and equipment.

If you go to the signup page, you'll notice that it still refers to a "closed beta," but as long as you select the PC as your platform of choice, you're in. EA hasn't said how long the beta will last, but Battlefield Hardline is slated to come out on October 21.

Spry Fox, 6waves settle suit over alleged Triple Town clone

The Last Crown Blackenrock: ghost-hunting adventure sequel teased

I've been waiting for the sequel to fun ghost-hunting adventure game The Lost Crown for years, and suddenly, it finally appears to be on the way.

The Last Crown: Blackenrockis actually the first of three sequels, which are being developed simultaneously by developer Darkling Room, and while there's no release date yet that I can find, there is a mildly spooky new teaser trailer below.

If you've finished The Lost Crown and need more Nigel Danvers in your life while you wait for the sequels, you can play a short Halloween episode by clicking on the word 'halloween' at this link. I tried to play that twice, but found myself unable to click or do anything during an endlessly revolving oujia board session. You might fare better.

Darkling Room made the moderately well-known Dark Fall series, which is a bit like Myst, but ghost-themed. Their games are often slightly scrappy, and feature some not-fantastic voice acting, but demonstrate a deep love of the English countryside, and the sea, particularly Cornwall. You can check out their back-catalogue here.

The Crew to enter closed beta next month, applications now open

Ubisoft's nation spanning 'CarPG' The Crew will enter its beta period on July 23, and applications are now open .

. You'll need a uPlay account to be elligible, and the publisher is warning that all manner of bugs and glitches are liable to occur, which is par for the course in the world of closed betas.

The Crew is representative of a trend among major game publishers to turn everything into a quasi-MMO. I played it a couple of months ago and the preview build was chock full of content, with the world itself large enough to contain Skyrim, Far Cry 3 and both Grand Theft Auto games with room to spare. Developed by Ivory Tower and Ubisoft Reflections, there's some reputable talent involved, including hands that worked on Test Drive Unlimited and the severely underrated Driver: San Francisco.

PC Gamer's Alex Dale gave it a spin in August. He said that "for all its ambition and for all its variety, The Crew's open-world driving is destined to be an acquired taste." The game releases November 11.

Sidescrolling sci-fi survival horror Dark Matter hits Steam and GOG.com

InterWave Studios' Dark Matter has been fairly quiet for the past year or so , but out of the blue the 2D sci-fi survival horror/Metroidvania has turned up on Steam and GOG.com .

. It's a game about crafting, about light and darkness, and of course about shooting creepy-crawly aliens in dimly lit hallways. Trailer after the break.

Essentially, Dark Matter looks like a 2D version of Dead Space, with customisable weapons, craftable items and upgrades, and some pretty nifty lighting effects. You can see those below in this old, old video of the game's alpha version (There doesn't appear to be a more recent gameplay video.)

Wasteland 2 dev says "average" playthrough might take 50 hours, Linux build coming

There's no perfect amount of time to spend in a world that's almost destroyed itself, but Wasteland 2 wants to give you at least a couple of days to savour the terrifying sights.

wants to give you at least a couple of days to savour the terrifying sights. Developer inXile Entertainment thinks an "average new player" should take about 50 hours to complete the upcoming RPG, according to adetailing the game's march toward release.

That's a sizeable chunk of time to spend wandering the broken landscapes of Arizona and California, and one the developer acknowledges is an estimate based on the activity of players working through content which has been included so far in the beta. The Steam Early Access version, for instance, only features around 30 percent of the levels set to appear in the finished game, according to inXile. But it still provides a good sense of the ambition and depth that the designers are crafting for the long-awaitedsequel.

In terms of Wasteland 2's progresstowards release, info posted by inXile suggests a new beta version will go live next week, and will include a Linux build of the RPG for the first time. Further updates set to be made "in the near future" will make almost all of the Arizona levels playable, while beyond that the developer will be focusing its efforts on creating post-apocalyptic California. You can see a little glimpse of that content in the above screenshot, which shows a seemingly lush and verdant Los Angeles. Turns out the apocalypse has arguably improved the City of Angels' looks.

Amazon adds Metacritic to video game purchase pages

Newsbrief : The popular review-of-reviews site Metacritic has becomes an even more ubiquitous yardstick for the industry as online retailer Amazon incorporates its scoring into the purchase pages for video games.

In the game's summary, next to its customer review score, its aggregate critical Metacritic score is also now listed. If you click on the icon to the right of the listing, a popup shows the critical and user review scores from Metacritic, with links to the appropriate pages on that site -- as shown above.

It's one more feather in Metacritic's cap, on its journey to becoming the yardstick the industry measures by; however, developers aren't always happywith the site.

The indies' guide to game making

This article originally appeared in issue 246 of PC Gamer UK.

You might have heard that “It's never been easier to make a game.” And it's true. But how do you actually make one? What do you make it 'in'? How much does it cost? How long does it take? Can you sell what you make, and do you owe anyone any royalties? Do you need to learn a programming language?

I don't know, but I do know a lot of indie games. And lots of them are made with tools and suites that claim to be beginner friendly. So for each of the most popular tools, I found an indie developer who had made something cool with it, and asked them what it's like to work with.

I'll also cover how much these tools cost, what your rights are when it comes to selling your work, and what platforms they can make games for. If you've ever been interested in making a game, hopefully this will give you an idea of how long it takes to pick up, which tool will suit you, and where to start.

Contents

GameMaker

What is it? An all-inclusive development suite for 2D games. You can either create rules with a drag-and-drop interface, or write code in its scripting language, GML.

Price and licence: The limited version is free, basic version is £30, a version for teams is £60. You can sell the games you make with any of them, no royalties.

Makes games for: PC and Mac. iOS and Android versions are £120 extra each, HTML5 is £60.

Link: http://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker/studio

Tutorial: TIG forums tutorials

Case Study: Spelunky

Developer: Derek Yu

Get it: for free

How long does Game Maker take to learn?

It shouldn't take more than a couple of weeks to get the hang of Game Maker. It's very intuitive and there is a wealth of tutorials and scripts for it online. On TIGSource Forums we've compiled a list of tutorialsthat should get an intelligent person up to speed quickly.

What prior knowledge or skills are helpful?

Some programming knowledge and familiarity with C-based languages would be helpful, so that you can take advantage of Game Maker's scripting language GML right off the bat. No serious GM game is made without using it. On top of that, some skill with making pixel art couldn't hurt! In my opinion, Game Maker really benefits generalists who want to do a bit of everything.

What can't you do with it?

Game Maker 8.1 (the version I'm using) is too slow to handle modern graphics and audio. It is strictly for games that look like they came from the '90s or earlier. But I don't know if that's still true of Game Maker Studio, the latest incarnation of GM.

How long did Spelunky take to make?

Spelunky took me about a year of on-and-off work to finish, which is maybe double what I guessed when I started working. But I also didn't anticipate that the game would get as popular as it did.

How much of the development time was enjoyable?

I'd say it was 90% enjoyable and Game Maker played a big part in that. Given how easy it is to use, you can spend most of your time doing art and design! That's the most fun aspect of game creation for me. If you enjoy programming more, you might find Game Maker's limitations more frustrating.

How much did it cost you to develop?

I don't think I spent any money on the original Spelunky, aside from the £12 registration fee for Game Maker (£30 these days).

If you could give your past self one piece of advice before starting to make the game, what would it be?

I'd be afraid of messing with my past self too much, since things turned out well and I attribute part of that to my naiveté. Maybe I'd just send myself a cookie!

Conclusion

Game Maker is one of the easiest tools to use for an absolute beginner, and it's flexible enough to make almost any 2D game you can think of. The only reason not to use it is if you want to make something in 3D, or you're planning an adventure game or J-RPG. There are better options specifically for those.

Contents

Endless Legend: turn-based empire building with some strange twists

Picture two generals meeting face to face on the hexy grid of a turnbased 4X game.

Picture two generals meeting face to face on the hexy grid of a turnbased 4X game. Imagine their armies deploying in carefully designed formations into the surrounding hexes, turning a big chunk of the map into a hexy battlefield. Now imagine the units running out of their hexes and clashing in a real-time scrap that other passing players can see and dive into.

Endless Legend's developers, Amplitude, have some interesting ideas about how turn-based strategy games could work. They stopped just short of showing me the unfinished real-time element of their combat system – rearranging the laws of space-time takes some effort – but they did show me plenty more of their new fantasy empire-building sim. It's set on a planet called Auriga, the site of an ancient civil war among the people of a technically advanced but longtoppled civilisation known as the Endless. Fantastic factions war for control of Auriga, struggling to dominate through culture, trade and conquest.

Some, like the Roving Clans, are a little unconventional. This nomadic culture's only purpose is to facilitate trade between other factions. If they get wiped out, there is no trade. Amplitude anticipate they'll become a pawn for warrior and diplomacy factions to fight over, but they'll also form an intelligence network. They oversee and take a cut from every transaction, which gives them a unique overview of the marketplace.

Even Endless Legend's elves have some edge. Yes, they're tree-huggers who get bonuses for building near forested tiles on the game's randomly generated maps, but they're also addicted to drugs. They load up and go berserk during battles, but can lose their minds if they partake too often.

Those who have dabbled with Amplitude's last game, Endless Space, will be familiar with their penchant for creating diverse and interesting factions, and their skill with user interfaces. Endless Legend's elegant model-village look is borrowed from the opening credits of the Game of Thrones TV series. It's designed to clearly show differences in terrain elevation, which affects line of sight and grants bonuses to units on the high ground. Endless Legend's huge cities will grow even huger over time, and can expand far enough to block choke-points.

Amplitude's game also presents its own solution to the classic turn-based strategy problem: those long periods of slow, stable growth when you have to click 'Next Turn' until tedium dissolves your will to go on. Endless Legend will periodically dish out randomised quests to keep players awake, which can flip the status quo in an instant. The world could be struck by a zombie blight, or factions might be challenged to race to be the first to meet a randomly selected leader. Some quests will even tie into the Endless, and there's a victory condition that allows your race to discover an ancient spaceship, leave the planet and become an embryonic version of one of Endless Space's galactic factions.

Which is where the Dungeon of the Endless roguelike comes in. Is the spaceship that you can discover in Endless Legend the one that crash-lands in Dungeon of the Endless? We'll get to unravel Amplitude's master plan next year.

EverQuest Next Landmark enters closed beta on March 26, SOE talks player collaboration

EverQuest Next Landmark will leave alpha and enter a closed beta on 26 March, SOE told us at GDC this week.

will leave alpha and enter a closed beta on 26 March, SOE told us at GDC this week. Anyone who has purchased one of the founder's packs, now including the $20 Settler option, will be able to play the game as it reaches this stage—SOE promised it would be happening before the end of March, and here that day is.

We had a chance to catch up with SOE's head of franchise development David Georgeson, who discussed how the players' reaction to Landmark has moved forward as the potential of the game's tools is starting to be realised.

“It's working really, really well right now," Georgeson explains. "Alpha's been working fantastic. The whole idea of, we'll be open, you can be part of the dev team, that was courageous, let's put it that way. But it's exactly what we hoped. We tell them everything...they're being extremely helpful, they're trying to make things better and they're literally using our tools in ways we did not know could be done."

The alpha is already in a state where you can see the value and potential of player expression. By letting users in on the process of creating templates for the environment, Georgeson and the team seem to be learning faster and allowing the direction of development to be dictated by the way the rules are being broken. In case you're unfamiliar with Landmark's claims system, these are basically plots of land where players make their mark on the world.

Georgeson explains to us how they invited players to come over and customise his primary claim during an event dubbed a swap meet. The result is impressive and vaguely dream-like, an array of random imagery such as two ducks floating in mid-air, a cut out of the Canadian flag and loads of other stuff contained in one reasonably large space. We're shown how players have learned to create ultra-thin detailed surfaces by smoothing voxels down to a minute size, something discovered by the players.

Even at this stage, Landmark seems to be engaging with its community in the way SOE hoped for, and that's without combat or AI. What might've sounded like overreaching at announcement now seems utterly plausible just through the visual evidence. "They're starting to believe more," Georgeson says when discussing the community's consensus of Landmark. "When we started talking last year at the debut, it sounded like we were smoking crack, right? It didn't sound believable. It didn't sound like we were realistic at all, but we had this plan on how we wanted to roll out and we know the pieces that we're doing, and now players are starting to believe it. They see that we're starting to deliver it, and they're starting to get where we're going. So their imaginations are starting to fire up."

Just over a week ago, the team added shared claims, too, meaning players can now build together and collaborate - one small addition at a time, the remit of Everquest will grow. Georgeson mentions how the Lethality guild combined 21 claims together to build a town, which they were worried might break the game but ultimately yielded positive results of where the future of Landmark could evolve.

"They were kind of worried that what they were doing might break the game. They were abusing a bug, but we allowed it because what they were doing [created] great data for us. They found a way to jam 21 claims together and they're building this massive town, and it has attracted the attention of the community, so all of these really good builders are coming out of the woodwork." Georgeson mentions the gate design they debuted this week with moving gears and chains - while they can't animate it yet, the detail alone has taken SOE aback. "Our artists are going to have to work hard to keep up!"

"We're giving them every single tool we're using to build Next. They can do everything we can do, and their stuff will be out before our stuff. We might be facing competitors from our own games - and that would be really cool." Look out for more coverage on Landmark as the beta begins.

Unity 3.5 to be released shortly, Flash support added

Revolutionary 3D web engine Unity will launch its 3.5 public beta at 4pm today, according to our superfriends over at Edge .

. The free engine will include Flash support for the first time, which means developers can export their projects quickly and easily to the ubiquitous Flash interface.

As reported in Edge earlier this year, the Flash export requires absolutely no additional coding on the developer's part, and will bring the engine to a larger userbase, albeit with fewer features. “In the beginning the Unity Player will have better performance, and some features that Flash doesn't have,” Unity engineer Lucas Meijer said. “But we hope that they will catch up with us - we're not happy that that feature gap exists, we're sad that it exists.”

The Flash engine has already been demonstrated with Unity's open source shooter Angry Bots, and you'll be able to download it from Unity's official sitelater today. Unity will also launch a competition to create a flash game, with $20,000 up for grabs.

Double Fine's Massive Chalice funded in less than a week

Double Fine pitches its new game as being in the same vein as XCOM or Fire Emblem.

Well, that didn't take long now did it? Double Fine's tactical strategy game, Massive Chalice, has completed its lofty, $725,000 Kickstarter goalin only five short days.

or Fire Emblem. Your duty as an immortal king is to protect your beloved realm from demons over multiple lifetimes. Your sturdier warriors will eventually succumb to the unrelenting passage of time, but will leave behind relics that you can equip to members of their bloodline for additional benefits.

Unlike with its previous Kickstarter success, Broken Age, project lead Brad Muir and Double Fine have decided to forgo a lengthy laundry list of stretch goals. Instead, the team plans to toss around ideas with the game's community.

Double Fine plans to release Massive Chalice around September 2014 with a current asking price of $20. Throwing in $50 will net you early access to the game, HD downloads of the behind-the-scenes documentary, hi-res digital art and the game's soundtrack.

We aren't sure if Double Fine plans on using Kickstarter to self-publish future games, but we wouldn't put it past them given their success with the service. And if you consider Double Fine's history with large publishers, can you really blame them?

Tropico 5 beta registration now open

El Presidente, in his infinite wisdom and kindness, has opened registration for the Tropico 5 beta.

El Presidente, in his infinite wisdom and kindness, has opened registration for the Tropico 5 beta. If you think you'd be a good leader of a banana republic, you can register for an opportunity to test the game early on publisher Kalypso's website.

You'll need to enter your PC's specifications and a Kalypso forum user account in order to register. Kalypso is specifically looking for players with experience in city-building sims and the Tropico series. Of course, you'll also need to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

Our review of Tropico 4found that it was remarkably entertaining, but that it failed to add much to the formula set in previous games in the series. Tropico 5 aims to address that criticism by adding multiple eras (a first for the series), with players taking El Presidente from the colonial 19th century, through to the future.

Our first look at Tropico 5found that it maintained its sunny look and tongue-in-cheek tone, while also stepping outside its comfort zone with the aforementioned eras, a new, deeper combat system, and a fresh multiplayer mode.

Tropico 5 is set to release in the second quarter of 2014.

Forking hell: Toyota releases Forklift Challenge

I've never driven a forklift truck, so when Toyota releases a forklift truck simulator , I assume it's exactly what being a forklift truck driver would be like.

, I assume it's exactly what being a forklift truck driver would be like. Apparently, forklift truck drivers don't have faces or hair. Their job involves driving their forklift trucks around a racecourse-like track and delivering crates with demonic purple teddy bears sitting on them. They have to listen to awful music that immediately clashes with whatever they're listening to. And every now and then they must stop and calibrate their forklift trucks using the most stupid mini-game in the world.

It reminds me of the bit in Shenmue where you have to get a job driving forklift trucks, which made me feel better about my life because I didn't have a mundane job driving forklift trucks. Are there any forklift truck drivers out there? What's your favourite forklift truck simulator? Does this Toyota game do a good job of modelling the physics of the three and four-wheeled variants of the Toyota Traigo 48?

Anita Sarkeesian cancels talk after school shooting threat

Pop culture critic Anita Sarkeesian has cancelled a planned presentation at the Utah State University after an anonymous email, sent to university staff, threatened "the deadliest school shooting in University history".

Sarkeesian, the creator of Feminist Frequency's Tropes vs Women in Video Gamesvideo series, tweeted to sayshe had cancelled the talk because—in accordance with Utah's open carry law—police "wouldn't take steps to prevent concealed firearms at the event".

The University's news page confirmed the threat, saying, "a number of personnel at Utah State University received an email regarding the scheduled presentation by Anita Sarkeesian tomorrow, October 15, 2014, at USU's Taggart Student Center. The email contained threats to Sarkeesian and those who attend her presentation."

Specifically, the email claimed that, if the event wasn't cancelled, there would be a " Montreal Massacrestyle attack" made against the university. "I have at my disposal a semi-automatic rifle, multiple pistols, and a collection of pipe bombs,” the email said. “This will be the deadliest school shooting in American history and I'm giving you a chance to stop it. You have 24 hours to cancel Sarkeesian’s talk."

Sarkeesian later tweeted about "multiple specific threats" made towards her and feminists at the university, and wrote thatone claimed affiliation with GamerGate. For those unaware, GamerGate is ostensibly a hashtag protesting unethical practices in games journalism. In reality, it is a noxious and confused movement that has been directly responsible for the harassment of multiple industry and media figures, the majority of which have been women.

Two months ago, Sarkeesian was driven from her homeafter sexually violent death threats followed the release of her most recent video. Sarkeesian has said that, despite this latest incident, she will continue her work.

Titanfall is a 21GB download, 48 GB installed

If you plan on playing Titanfall on a laptop or want to install it on a solid state hard drive, you might need to prepare in advance for the game's March 11 release date.

on a laptop or want to install it on a solid state hard drive, you might need to prepare in advance for the game's March 11 release date. Responding to a question from a fan, Respawn Entertainment's Vince Zampella said on Twitterthat the PC version of Titanfall's will be a 21 gigabyte download, and will take up a whopping 48 gigabytes when installed.

Hard drives are cheap these days, so it's not like this poses a huge problem to most players, but that's still an impressive size, especially for a multiplayer-only game. In 2012, the cutscene-heavy Max Payne 3, which had both singleplayer and multiplayer modes, weighed in at 35 gigabytes. Last year's Call of Duty: Ghostsrequired 40GB of hard drive space.

As we previously reported, Titanfall's minimum system requirements are otherwise not that demanding:

OS: 64-bit Windows 7, 8, 8.1 CPU: AMD Athlon X2 2.8GHz or Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz Memory: 4GB RAM GPU: 512MB VRAM, Radeon HD 4770 or GeForce 8800GT

For more Titanfall coverage, make sure to check out our Titanfall beta gameplay videoon the Large Pixel Collider, with maxed settings at a 2560x1440 resolution.

Flash 11 will support 3D

The war for control of 3D gaming on the web is about to get veery interesting.

The war for control of 3D gaming on the web is about to get veery interesting. That's because Adobe are working on 3D support for Flash - the ubiquitous web plugin. Objects will fly out of your screen and blow up your FACE and EVERYTHING! That means there are now at least three competing 3D web APIs - HTML 5, Flash, and the excellent Unity. So excellent, in fact, that it's been a bit of a one horse race. Read on for three excellent browser games in all three of the dees.

Gorgeous tentacled whip-em-up, the bright and bloomy Blush casts you as an honest jellyfish. Whip eggs with your tentacles to win... tentacle points. Yes.

Sophie Houlden's gravity-muddling, box-trotting platform puzzler. Get to the exit in a host of levels! Find all the secret dudes! Never leave the comfort of your own browser!

This is a proper FPS in a browser. Still here? Well, let me try to explain in some more depth why this is cool: this is a proper FPS in a browser!

[via Techradar]

Tropes vs Women in Video Games creator driven from her home by online threats and abuse

The latest Tropes vs Women in Video Games video continues the analysis of the objectification of non-playable female characters—this time with an eye to exposing common traits of violence against sexualised NPCs.

The latest Tropes vs Women in Video Games video continues the analysis of the objectification of non-playable female characters—this time with an eye to exposing common traits of violence against sexualised NPCs. Depressingly, its release prompted a torrent of misogynistic abuse made against creator Anita Sarkeesian, her family and her supporters. In their attempts to prove that sexism in video gaming isn't a problem, Sarkeesian's harassers posted threats that compelled her to alert authorities and leave her home to stay with friends.

"Some very scary threats have just been made against me and my family," Sarkeesian tweeteda couple of nights ago. This was followed by the following:

I'm safe. Authorities have been notified. Staying with friends tonight. I'm not giving up. But this harassment of women in tech must stop! August 27, 2014

Last night, Sarkeesian even shared extremely upsetting examplesof that abuse. The misogynistic rants are filled with the type of sexualised violence that only serves to reinforce the video's point.

There have been positives responses, too. The video has spread far and wide, picking up support from many industry figures. Tim Schaferand Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmannboth implored people to watch it, as did Joss Whedon.

As for the harassment, it's both bizarre and appalling. It speaks to a critical immaturity; an inability to accept that problematic elements don't invalidate great games. These are not binary judgements, and Sarkeesian's examples don't exist in a vacuum. I'd argue that Red Dead Redemption's Bonnie MacFarlane is one of the few examples of well-written woman in a Rockstar game. That stands true in spite of this video's entirely justified inclusion of its faults.

The Tropes vs Women in Video Games series isn't a full-stop designed to close critical discussion. It's a blunt-force tool that highlights a lazy and troubling cliche—one that developers too often fall back on. It's the beginning of the conversation, and something that should be thought about, discussed and internalised. It's the start of a process that could lead to better, more surprising, more well-rounded games. But that becomes so much harder when the people involved are afraid to speak out. That's exactly what Sarkeesian's harassers want. It's to her credit that she's not letting it happen.

You can see the first part of the Women as Background Decoration below, and the full Feminist Frequency back catalogue through this link.

Titanfall beta gameplay video: maxed settings at 2560x1440 on LPC

Never mind that I'm such a bad shot I couldn't hit the side of a giant mech—here's the Titanfall beta in glorious 1440p with the settings cranked as high as they go, recorded on the Large Pixel Collider , our four- Titan Voltron which we built with help from Digital Storm and disrespect for the natural order.

Also check out our irresponsibly large 7680x1440 Titanfall screenshots—that's spanning three 1440p displays—and our previous max settings videos: Max Payne 3, Metro: Last Light, and Arma 3.

Video: Frog Fractions creator finds value in keeping secrets

"Stumbling on an unexpected secret makes the world feel more like a real space, and less like a crafted amusement park ride." Jim Crawford, the man behind Twinbeard Studios and the creator of Frog Fractions (as well as the Kickstarted sorta-kinda-maybe-a-sequel Frog Fractions 2 ), shared his thoughts on how and why developers should cultivate a sense of mystery as they go about developing, hyping and selling their games in a recent presentation at GDC 2014.

That talk, "Preserving a Sense of Discovery in the Age of Spoilers," was given as part of the GDC 2014 Career Seminar but was not recorded for archiving in the GDC Vault.

Thankfully, Crawford took time after the show to record himself delivering the talk and has published it online in the form of a Vimeo videowith accompanying slides. We've taken the liberty of embedding it above, because it's worth your time to watch.

Beyond Street Fighter: the PC's other tournament fighting games

You might have noticed that we’ve been a bit heavy on Street Fighter for these past few columns, what with a new game coming out and the beginning of the Capcom Pro Tour.

columns, what with a new game coming out and the beginning of the Capcom Pro Tour. This column, however, is dedicated to some of the other major fighting games that make up the pro/tournament scene: what they are, what they’re about and where to start watching. Give them a look!

Mortal Kombat X

Okay, this one is a bit sad. When MKX was originally released, it made some pretty big waves and attracted some really good numbers to its various tournaments. The ESL League Finals were a whole load of fun and looked great, actually attracting a bit of mainstream publicity in the US. NetherRealm are looking to build off this success in the coming year with Kombat Pack 2, which adds a bunch of exciting new characters but, most importantly, is completely reworking the netcode to something resembling the GGPO model, which is the current fighting game standard for quality online play. For the most part, things are looking good for the next twelve months of Mortal Kombat.

Unfortunately, the PC version isn’t receiving any of this, rendering it an almost completely pointless purchase on this platform. A terrible, foolish decision by Warner Bros and yet another black mark against their name when it comes to PC ports. A real shame, because Mortal Kombat XL is a damn fine game.

Where to start watching

Pro players and commentary team, the brothers PND Ketchup and Mustard, run an excellent YouTube channeldedicated to all aspects of Mortal Kombat X. As well as showcasing some really high-end gameplay and analysis, they have a series of videos dedicated to new players, which are useful even if you’re only planning on watching MKX. They offer the right level of enthusiasm and analysis to help newcomers get an idea of what they’re seeing. Also, The Kombat Kast is a sporadic video show that features news direct from NetherRealm. It is usually the first place you’ll get to see hands-on with new builds of the game, characters and modes.

Guilty Gear Xrd

Released on Steam at the tail end of 2015, ARC Systemworks’ exciting anime fighter is a unique game and one with a hardcore, loyal following. Emphasis on the word ‘hardcore’, because Xrd is one of the most challenging fighting games currently out there. I mean, just take a look at the Dustloop Wiki—there’s five bloody ways to block attacks!

It’s good then that Xrd has one of the best tutorial modes in the genre, breaking down the game from the absolute basics to the more advanced systems and even frame information associated with the high-end of fighting game knowledge. Some of this stuff can even be applied to other games, meaning that although the skill ceiling on Guilty Gear Xrd is very high, there is a lot of stuff here for people looking to get properly into these games.

It also looks and sounds absolutely incredible. No, really. Just l ook at it. Just listen to it. BACK TO BACK! Death comes arrivin’ on a Midnight Train! YAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSS!

Where to start watching

There’s not a lot of entry level content for GGXrd (which is why having that exceptional tutorial is so important) but there’s some really good stuff out there if you want to see a lot of high-end gameplay. The best place is twitch.tv/joniosan, which re-streams the GGXrd stream from the legendary Mikado arcade in Tokyo. Streaming most days a week, and for hours at a time. If you miss the livestream, YouTube user Goldenrodyuploads a load of it every week for you to catch at your leisure. You might need to understand Guilty Gear to get the most out of this content, but for those who take the plunge this is some really elite stuff.

Killer Instinct

Much like Mortal Kombat X, the ‘World Cup’ took place in January, so we’re in a kind of ‘Off Season’ for KI right now. ‘Season 3’ of the game kicks off on the 29th March, which is going to feature some balance and gameplay tweaks, some additions to the UI that make it more ‘spectator friendly’ and a host of new characters—KI2 classic characters Kim Wu and Tusk will join the roster alongside the first two ‘guest’ characters Rash from Battletoads and The Arbiter from Halo. The PC version of the game is also set for release alongside the Season 3 launch, which allows for cross-platform online play and even cross-platform purchases.

Aye, that’s right. Purchases. Killer Instinct actually follows the model popularised by League of Legends. The base game itself is free-to-play, with characters being cycled in to playable rotation, meaning that anyone (or at least, anyone with Windows 10, anyway) can at least give Killer Instinct a go. A robust training mode, clearly defined and easy to understand systems and some of the most interesting characters around mean that Killer Instinct is well worth a look when Season 3 gets here.

Where to start watching

Fighting game YouTube man extraordinaire Maximilian Doodis your go-to guy for Killer Instinct content. Some character analysis, plenty of online streams and, well, he’s actually working in some capacity on the game now, so expect KI-centric content to ramp up exponentially after the 29th March. He tends to keep things fun and passionate about all things Killer Instinct rather than overly technical gameplay breakdowns, but regardless he’s a pretty decent KI player anyway so is a good starting point for those looking to watch Microsoft’s one and only exclusive fighting game.

is dedicated to esports and competitive gaming. Check back every day for exciting, fun and informative articles about League of Legends, Dota 2, Hearthstone, CS:GO and more. GL HF!

Watch our Titanfall livestream at 4 p.m. PST

The Titanfall beta ends tonight, so we're saying goodbye for now to our space diving stomp machines with a two hour livestream starting at 4 p.m. PST (That's 7 p.m. EST and 12 a.m. GMT).

starting at 4 p.m. PST (That's 7 p.m. EST and 12 a.m. GMT). Watch as Tylerwall-runs, shotguns, rodeos, and dies over and over until the beta ends or he gets hungry and wanders off to find pizza.

Also check out the 2560x1440 Titanfall gameplay videowe captured on the Large Pixel Collider, as well as the absurdly large 7680x1440 screenshotscaptured by the same absurdly large machine.

Job Simulator studio drops the price to help "share the joy of VR"

It's been all of two weeks since Job Simulator , a game which despite its wholly unappealing title is actually pretty good , debuted on Steam.

, debuted on Steam. That short span of time makes the recent announcement of a permanent, 25 percent price dropseem more than a little odd. The reason for the cut is a bit unusual too, but it's a good one: “This will allow even more people to experience the mind blowing moment when you realize your hands can truly work in VR—and then be used to throw a stapler at your boss.”

The game was expensive to make, developer Owlchemy Labs explained, because of the size of the team and the length of the development period—15 people working for a year and a half—and the fact that it was built from the ground-up for VR, which the studio said is a “much more intensive process” than conventional game development. Based on that, and "the culmination of our thoughts on the VR market at launch,” the price was initially set at $40. “With the launch of a brand new platform, no one quite knew what to expect, so we had to use whatever metrics we had available to us."

“We knew that the initial market for VR would be something that would grow over time, but as it takes a long time to get this brand spanking new hardware into consumers hands, we knew it would be a slow start," the studio said. "In order to recoup our costs for the smaller audience, we placed what we believed to be a competitive, but fair, price on the game."

But while the Steam user reviews are “very positive,” a number of comments in the “ Pricing Discussion” forum are less than enthusiastic about the expense—enough to prompt the reduction. “The point of Job Simulator was always to share the joy of VR with as many people as we could convince to put their hands (both gloved or un-gloved) on it! So we’re lowering the price,” Owlchemy said. “The community has been sincere and honest with their feedback, and so we’re responding.”

Job Simulator is one of two games that come bundled with the HTC Viveheadset, which may have helped facilitate the change, but for those looking to buy it separately, it now carries a permanent $30/£23 price tag on Steam. Anyone who purchased the game at the original price has until April 26 to claim a refund, regardless of how many hours are into it, and then (presumably) re-purchase it at the lower cost.

Thanks, Gamasutra.

Jason avoids Friday the 13th for Mortal Kombat X

Oddly, Jason Voorhees' appearance in Mortal Kombat X doesn't coincide with one of the regular Friday the 13ths we see throughout the year.

Oddly, Jason Voorhees' appearance in Mortal Kombat X doesn't coincide with one of the regular Friday the 13ths we see throughout the year. You've missed an opportunity there, Warner Bros.

Instead, the masked slasher appears in MKX from tomorrow (May 5) for those who own the Kombat Pack add-on, while those who don't have to wait until May 12 to purchase the big hunk of horror separately. Do you want a trailer? It's not for the squeamish:

Those owning the Kombat Pack also get three horror-themed skins: Vampiress Mileena, Kraken Reptile and Pharaoh Ermac. If you don't own the Pack it's $8 (£6.49) to purchase Jason and the horror skins together, or $5 (£3.99) for Jason on his own/$4 (£3.29) for just the horror skins.

Titanfall beta signups are now live

EA and Respawn have opened up registration for Titanfall's beta.

beta. The robotic multiplayer shooter, out on March 11, is the first game from Respawn Entertainment, and its beta will be your first chance to try one of our most anticipated games of the year.

To apply, head to www.titanfall.com/beta, select your platform (PC, naturally), and sign in with your Origin account. EA says that participants will be selected "no later than 11:59 PM PST on Feb 17th" and be given an email with further instructions on how to participate. An Origin account is required to try out the beta.

Once you're signed up, be sure to check out the rest of our coverage for Titanfall.

Job Simulator is the first SteamVR game to be announced

Deep space?

Deep space? The far future? The serene beauty of an abstract world? No, the first SteamVR game to be announced will be none of these things. It's a job simulator. It's called Job Simulator.

Okay, to be fair, it is set in the future. The premise of Owlchemy Labs' sim is that robots have taken over all the world's menial jobs. In order to learn about their ancestry, the humans of 2050 simulate the jobs of the past.

Essentially, then, Job Simulator is a job simulator simulator. Here it is in action:

Over at the r/Oculus subreddit, Owlchemy's Alex Schwartz has been offering his impressions of Valve (and HTC's) new hardware. "Comparing my Oculus Connect [Crescent Bay] experience to the Valve/HTC headset," Schwartz writes, "the Valve/HTC one is more advanced and more visually stunning."

As for compatibility, Job Simulator will also supportOculus Rift. "I'm not sure about the difficulty as we approach consumer launch but right now supporting SteamVR and Oculus should be totally doable," Schwartz writes. "I'd guess any company entering the consumer VR space would benefit from content creators who are able to play nicely with multiple VR platforms."

Warner pulls Mortal Kombat X patch after data deletion reports

"We’ve been monitoring the forums and are aware of the issues players are encountering.

Warner Bros. has pulled the Mortal Kombat Xpatch released earlier today, after players began reporting that it was actually deleting data, including unlocked characters and progress through the Krypt.

"We’ve been monitoring the forums and are aware of the issues players are encountering. We appreciate the constructive feedback from you, the community," Warner wrote in an update to the original patch announcement. "We want you to know that there is ongoing support behind the scenes and it’s important to us that Mortal Kombat X is a fun experience for all of our players."

Unfortunately, while the update addressed an impressively large list of issues, it also wiped out an awful lot of player data. Complaints about lost characters and progress began coming in shortly after the patch went live, and they were both widespread and vociferous enough to force its removal in short order.

"We are temporarily removing the patch until we can pinpoint the cause of save data loss," Warner said in a follow-up. "We are actively working on this and will keep everyone posted as we work towards a fix. We sincerely apologize for this disruption."

Making things even worse was the sheer size of the patch, which weighed in at roughly 15GB and required another 15GB update to revert to the previous version—essentially 30GB of downloading to do absolutely nothing. At best, that's frustrating; for gamers laboring under data caps, it could actually hike the bottom-line price of Mortal Kombat even higher, a thoroughly unwelcome development for an otherwise fun game that we've already criticized for being a subpar port.

Wasteland 2 combat improvements on the horizon

Now well into its early beta-testing phase, post-apocalyptic RPG Wasteland 2 is all about roadmaps.

is all about roadmaps. While developer inXile Entertainment is—quite logically—intently focused on the nastiest game-breaking bugs, the Kickstarterproject will also be seeing some "significant" tweaks to combat, according to the latest reportfrom CEO Brian Fargo.

Refinement to the recently added destructive cover mechanic, the "likely" addition of a crouching stance, and a "special attack system" for specific weapons are some of the changes reported by Fargo. A lot of these tweaks—and the current experience for players testing the game—probably hinge on the fact that the complete game story hasn't been seen yet. As we heard when the playable beta saw launchthrough the Steam Early Access program last month, only about 30 percent of the game levels were opened to player testing.

"Keep in mind the combat you see in the beta is only the earliest levels in the game, where enemies are more straightforward and do not have the wide variety of special moves, AoE attacks and more advanced AI of later-game enemies," Fargo writes. "The enemy AI is quite varied as you get into the later stages, once you've sufficiently learned the base controls and rules of the experience."

Also arriving "in the not too distant future" is an update to the beta build that, according to Fargo, will not be compatible with current saved games.

"However, there will be plenty of reasons to play the game from the start, as there will be significant changes to existing areas, and tie-ins between all the beta areas that are worth exploring," Fargo writes. "New content is not just a matter of pasting a new area to the end of the beta, when we unlock that area we also unlock the tie-ins and NPCs and locations it is tied to."

He promised a warning before the new build sees release so we'll be sure to keep an eye out for it. The latest set of patch notes can be read here, but they include story spoilers so peruse at your own risk.

Hat tip, Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

CBS has Draw Something TV show in the works

Mortal Kombat X welcomes Jason, Predator on May 5

With their propensity for ultraviolence, and their ability to return from the dead, the cast of Mortal Kombat X are basically one step away from being slasher movie monsters.

With their propensity for ultraviolence, and their ability to return from the dead, the cast of Mortal Kombat X are basically one step away from being slasher movie monsters. The only thing they don't do is chop up promiscuous teenagers attending ill-fated summer camps—but then again, who knows what they get up to between tournaments. Jason Voorhees, the same Jason Voorhees what done all them Friday the 13th films, is here to show the cast of MKX how it's done. For some reason he's being added to the game as DLC, along with Predator, and Tanya and Tremor from previous games.

Look, here's a very brief trailer confirming it.

And, if you need confirmation of the other characters, here's another brief trailer featuring all four.

Predator needs to find himself some better mates.

All four characters are part of the Kombat Packseason pass, which also comprises a few alternative character skins, and will set you back a staggering £24.99/$29.99. If you own the pack, you'll get Jason and co. on May 5th; everyone else will have to wait an extra week.

Thanks, Eurogamer.

Oh, you were wondering what we thought of Mortal Kombat X? We thoughtit was a "fine fighter with an enjoyably daft story, marred by wobbly port to PC".

Battlefield 4 beta feedback: what's changing before launch

Battlefield 4 beta players have done their jobs, according to a list of fixes and tweaks DICE plans to make before launch.

Battlefield 4 beta players have done their jobs, according to a list of fixes and tweaks DICE plans to make before launch. Good job, Battlefield 4 beta players! In, DICE's Vincent Vukovic thanks the testers and describes how the beta's "key findings" will be addressed before October 29—several of the bug reports relate specifically to PC optimization.

Chief among the issues are low framerates and stuttering. "Rest assured that we're using the information we received to optimize the performance for the launch of the game," writes Vukovic. "We also released three game client updates and a number of game server updates during the Beta to address some of these issues and to gather more information to ensure a smoother launch."

Also at the top of the list are bugs that cause stalls on the loading screen and unusually high CPU usage for dual, quad, and six-core processors. "This was a true Beta," writes Vukovic, "And as such all the crash reports that were generated during this period will actually help us make a better game."

A "true beta," of course, being a real testing phase and not a demo in a beta's skin—sounds like DICE senses that some learned cynicism needs to be massaged out. Along with technical fixes, the developer promises gameplay tweaks—largely adjustments to weapon stats such as damage and rate-of-fire—and says it'll keep scrutinizing and tweaking after release.

The BF4 beta is now over, but only a little under two weeks remains before the release. Can DICE get it running smoothly in just two weeks? Will the word "levolution"stick? Tune in next time for the shocking launch conclusion!

The higher the potential spend, the more players will spend

Mortal Kombat X: non-playable characters are now playable on PC

You're not meant to be able to play as Rain in Mortal Kombat X , but thanks to the determination of the PC community you now can.

, but thanks to the determination of the PC community you now can. As the video above demonstrates, it's possible to play as non-playable characters in Mortal Kombat X, so long as you're prepared to tweak a couple of filenames. As always, you should back up everything before you do so.

According to Reddit user XVermillion, who is responsible for both the mod and the video above, it's pretty easy. "I backed up the files for Shinnok (the character I'm replacing) and renamed Rain's files to match those associated with Shinnok's first costume slot (CHAR_Shinnok_A.xxx and one other, the one that matches Rain's other one) and moved 'em to the folder and overwrote Shinnok's old files with the newly renamed Rain files."

XVermillion has more instructions over hereif you want to try it out. If Warner Bros. Interactive intended to sell Rain as DLC down the track, then... sorry about that, Warner Bros. Interactive.

Elite: Dangerous beta 2 goes live at the end of the month, original Elite is free right now

Frontier Games has announced that the second beta version of Elite: Dangerous will be out on September 30, bringing with it a host of new additions and enhancements.

will be out on September 30, bringing with it a host of new additions and enhancements. And if you're unclear as to why that's good news, you might want to have a look at the new "Interstellar Bounty Hunter" combat video that's been making the rounds on YouTube.

The second Elite: Dangerous beta is a "major gameplay upgrade," adding new combat ratings from "Harmless" to "Elite," a system-by-system and galaxy-wide reputation system that will influence attitudes and prices, 500 new star systems to explore, a greater variety of upgradeable ship modules, new weapons, outposts, and a whole bunch more. A number of smaller improvements and optimizations have also been made, including "additional rock, ice and metal planetary ring types, a lot more music and some optional 'simulator' tutorials."

"We are excited for people to start playing Beta 2 on 30 September," Frontier Developments CEO David Braben said in a statement. "It's another major step forward in development, and the team continues to work hard towards the full release later this year."

While you wait, you can try your hand at the original Elite, which is currently being offered freeas part of the game's 30th anniversary celebration. A 30-year-old game may not offer the most compelling entertainment experience ever, but free is free, as they say. If you're in the mood for something a bit more eyeball-spinning, this video should fit the bill: It's 12 minutes of a bounty hunter plying his trade in a lawless region of space, and it is spectacular.

Elite: Dangerous is scheduled to come out in early 2015, but access to the beta is available now for $75 at the Elite Dangerous store.

Critical Reception: Codemasters' DiRT 3

Mortal Kombat X story trailer shows the cast of Mortal Kombat X

Mortal Kombat X is the Xth game in the popular series about punching.

Mortal Kombat X is the Xth game in the popular series about punching. But! Not all is punching. Sometimes it's watching, because a story-bit is happening. Here is a trailer for these non-punching sections.

Fans of the series will recognise returning characters like Chilly Scar, Mask Hair and That Guy.

"Taking place 25 years after the events of Mortal Kombat™ (2011)," writes a press release, non-ironically using a ™ in case we had forgotten that Mortal Kombat is a popular, established and legally protected series of punch-'em-ups, "the new generation of characters will discover that Outworld is not the only threat they face. Fans will get a first look at the newest fighters to join Cassie Cage, including Jacqueline Briggs, daughter of Jax, Takashi Takeda, son of Kenshi and Kung Jin, descendant of Kung Lao."

Mortal Kombat X is due out on April 14.

Elite: Dangerous beta 2 goes live at the end of the month, original Elite is free right now

Frontier Games has announced that the second beta version of Elite: Dangerous will be out on September 30, bringing with it a host of new additions and enhancements.

will be out on September 30, bringing with it a host of new additions and enhancements. And if you're unclear as to why that's good news, you might want to have a look at the new "Interstellar Bounty Hunter" combat video that's been making the rounds on YouTube.

The second Elite: Dangerous beta is a "major gameplay upgrade," adding new combat ratings from "Harmless" to "Elite," a system-by-system and galaxy-wide reputation system that will influence attitudes and prices, 500 new star systems to explore, a greater variety of upgradeable ship modules, new weapons, outposts, and a whole bunch more. A number of smaller improvements and optimizations have also been made, including "additional rock, ice and metal planetary ring types, a lot more music and some optional 'simulator' tutorials."

"We are excited for people to start playing Beta 2 on 30 September," Frontier Developments CEO David Braben said in a statement. "It's another major step forward in development, and the team continues to work hard towards the full release later this year."

While you wait, you can try your hand at the original Elite, which is currently being offered freeas part of the game's 30th anniversary celebration. A 30-year-old game may not offer the most compelling entertainment experience ever, but free is free, as they say. If you're in the mood for something a bit more eyeball-spinning, this video should fit the bill: It's 12 minutes of a bounty hunter plying his trade in a lawless region of space, and it is spectacular.

Elite: Dangerous is scheduled to come out in early 2015, but access to the beta is available now for $75 at the Elite Dangerous store.

Report: Zynga Recruits JamLegend Team As Developer Closes

Mortal Kombat X crashes traced back to streaming installer glitch

Mortal Kombat X is out, and if you direct your attention to its Steam page you'll notice that the user reviews are not particularly positive.

you'll notice that the user reviews are not particularly positive. There are plenty of recommendations, but much of the text is scathing sarcasm aimed at the fact that the game won't actually run. Polygonhas posted an explanation for the problem, which arises from Steam's "streaming install system" that's intended to make the game playable while the installation process is still underway.

Players firing up Mortal Kombat X for the first time are greeted with a message telling them that the game uses the streaming install system that allow them to play while additional content continues to download. A message to the same effectis up on Steam. "As soon as the game is played for the first time, a batch of DLC content will appear in your download queue," it says. "Check the Steam client to see the download progress on DLC items labeled Mortal Kombat X Install Pack 01 through 23. You’ll be able to play the game while these downloads complete."

The problem is that these install packs don't appear in the download queue, and apparently they're not downloading automatically at all. Without them installed, players can select a faction and horse around with options, but trying to start a fight results in a crash to desktop. The solution is to go to the MKX entry in Steam, where the packs are listed as DLC; click the checkbox next to each of them, and they'll start downloading.

You'll be able to play once the required downloads are done. One of Polygon's screens indicates that the extra files clock in at just under 18GB in total.

Update: A messageacknowledging problems with the installer is now up on Steam. "We are aware of download issues with the game and working closely with Steam to resolve the problem," it says. "We will provide an update as soon as possible."

Elite: Dangerous' David Braben on crowdfunding challenges: "People took a lack of material for a lack of faith"

The Kickstarter campaign for designer David Braben's spacefaring trade sim Elite: Dangerous handily met its $2,011,625/£1,250,000 goal with two days to spare, promising a universe of " over 100 billion " star systems and a relieving lack of William Shatner.

" star systems and a relieving lack of William Shatner. In an interview with Gamasutra, Braben admitted he felt "a little nervous" halfway through the campaign and talked about the pitfalls of pitching an idea without enough solid material to show off.

"I started off confident, but in the middle I was a little nervous," he said. "All Kickstarter campaigns that are eventually successful seem to have a similar shape, so I was hopeful there would be an upturn at the end. I think there can be a danger with Kickstarter that people set their minimum goals lower than they really need, because of the understandable 'all-or-nothing' nature of the funding, without considering the commitment it brings, but half-way through I too had the odd doubt if this was the right thing to have done!"

Braben referred to a single criticism he constantly received during the campaign: a dearth of in-progress screenshots or videos. "We were going to have a video, but ended up doing an exclusive video with Rory Cellan Jones of the BBC so our video was delayed a little," he added. "People took the relative lack of material for a lack of faith. It's strange, but with Kickstarter there is a difficult balance between it being a way to start a project (and so you would have nothing) to requiring finished quality material in order to do the pitch (and so be almost finished)."

Other Kickstarter veterans have shared their thoughts on releasing early media to help promote awareness and acceptance of their ideas. Double Fine's Tim Schafer wholeheartedly endorsedleaving nothing hidden, saying, "The fear is that if it's not perfect, you can't show it to people because they'll freak out. The fact is, they just feel more bought in. They feel like they're part of the development team.”

Goldeneye 007: Reloaded Coming November, PS3 Move Edition Detailed

Mortal Kombat X system requirements revealed

So you're gripped with an urge to rip somebody's jaw off , thumb out their eyes, smash their skull into pieces, and then melt their face with your burning acid breath.

, thumb out their eyes, smash their skull into pieces, and then melt their face with your burning acid breath. Fair enough—we all need to blow off some steam now and then. But do you have what it takes to actually do it? No, I don't mean the hardened heart of a stone-cold killer. I mean your PC, which needs to be this tall if you want to ride Mortal Kombat X:

Minimum system requirements:

OS: 64-bit: Vista, Win 7, Win 8 Processor: Intel Core i5-750, 2.67 GHz | AMD Phenom II X4 965, 3.4 GHz Memory: 3 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 | AMD Radeon HD 5850 DirectX: Version 11 Network: Broadband Internet connection Hard Drive: 25 GB available space

Recommended system requirements:

OS: 64-bit: Win 7, Win 8 Processor: Intel Core i7-3770, 3.4 GHz | AMD FX-8350, 4.0 GHz Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 | AMD Radeon HD 7950 DirectX: Version 11 Network: Broadband Internet connection Hard Drive: 40 GB available space

I'd say that's not terrible. The recommended spec is getting up there a bit, but the minimum is fairly baseline for a gaming PC these days.

And since we're all here anyway, here's the official Ermac trailer, released earlier this week, in which he beats on Sub-Zero until candy comes out. Enjoy!

Mortal Kombat X comes out on April 14.

New Elite: Dangerous dev diary shows off galaxy evolution

Following last month's Elite: Dangerous dev diary , which demonstrated the title's multiplayer offering, comes a new video detailing the game's ever-evolving galaxies and the myriad ways players will shape them, both individually or en masse.

, which demonstrated the title's multiplayer offering, comes a new video detailing the game's ever-evolving galaxies and the myriad ways players will shape them, both individually or en masse. Frontier Developments founder David Braben speaks at length about the complex systems in place to make the space trading sim more immersive than ever, describing how the player will factor into major political events, and the various ways he or she can conduct themselves.

The space sim reboot is currently sitting on £644,191 - about halfway to its £1,250,000 goal. There are still 32 days to go until pledging closes, so get a move on.

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Mortal Kombat X's Reptile crushes skulls in new trailer

What's the best way to ensure your opponent stops pestering you once you've given them a good drubbing?

What's the best way to ensure your opponent stops pestering you once you've given them a good drubbing? A good old fashioned skull crush, of course! That's Reptile's strategy, and judging by the above Mortal Kombat Xvideo dedicated to the "two-legged humanoid raptor", it works wonders. He also spits acid, which is handy.

The video is the latest in a steady stream of character showcases. We saw Kitana and Kung Laohaving a tiff last week, as well as Quan Chiand Kano, among others. The game releases April 14.

Elite: Dangerous dev video shows multiplayer roles, churning convoy ambush

Frontier's November reveal of Elite: Dangerous' multiplayer gameplay wasn't terribly inspiring with a rather circular chase in an asteroid field.

of Elite: Dangerous' multiplayer gameplay wasn't terribly inspiring with a rather circular chase in an asteroid field. But in a new developer diary video released yesterday, Lead Designer David Braben explained how players can assume various roles during multiplayer lightfights and demonstrated via a sample convoy ambush shown from the spinning first-person viewpoint of a fighter pilot. This is more like space combat—now I need a space barf bag.

Braben envisions a galaxy where players skill up in their role of choice to serve them well in fights such as roving pirate swarms, keen-eyed escorts, bounty hunters, and wealthy traders. His ultimate goal, however, is to "ensure that not one role is a massive generator of cash. What I don't want in a game like this is being forced to forever mine asteroids or whatever it is. You encourage enjoyment by making sure no one role stands out and to try and balance it that way." Wait, doesn't everyone need a space cook?

Elite: Dangerous' Kickstarterprogress is inching close to the £725,000/$1.2 million mark out of a £1.25 million/$2 million goal with 22 days left in its campaign. New ship model concept art was added to entice further funds from potential backers.

VR's next frontier: Chuck E. Cheese's?

Today, Chuck E.

Today, Chuck E. Cheese's announced that it has plans to test-market an Oculus Rift-based experience at several of its kid-friendly, attraction-based restaurants, called the Virtual Ticket Blaster -- a game that lets the birthday boy or girl collect prize tickets virtually, rather than physically.

The game was created by Chuck E. Cheese's partner Reel FX, and you can see it in action in the video above.

What lured the company into trying the new tech? "Kids today have unprecedented access to game consoles and tablets. Our challenge is to deliver an experience not available at home, and there is no doubt virtual reality does just that," Chuck E. Cheese's president Roger Cardinale said in a statement announcing the news.

Chuck E. Cheese's was started by Atari founder Nolan Bushnell in the late 1970s as arcade games were about to boom. The chain offers "games, rides, prizes, food, and entertainment," according to its website, and is most popularly visited as a venue for kids' birthday parties.

While this might not be exactly what Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had in mind when he said"Oculus has the chance to create the most social platform ever, and change the way we work, play and communicate," it certainly points to more mainstream possibilities for Oculus' VR tech outside of hardcore games.

By the end of this month, 30 Chuck E. Cheese's restaurants in Texas, California, and Florida will be equipped with Virtual Ticket Blaster units. The chain has a total of 567 locations according to its web site.

Mortal Kombat X releasing in April

NetherRealm's incredi-gory Mortal Kombat X is all about (slight) environmental interaction, picking different character 'variants' , and, yes, ripping your opponent's spine out or punching a hole through their chest or, I don't know, plucking out their eyeballs or something.

, and, yes, ripping your opponent's spine out or punching a hole through their chest or, I don't know, plucking out their eyeballs or something. It's all a bit brutal for me, but I appreciate the fast-paced combat, the lovely backgrounds, and their integration with the side-on scraps, as shown off in a recent PAX stream. If MK10 seems like your kind of fighting game, you'll be pleased to hear that it's not too far out from release, as a date of April 14th has just been announced.

Miserably, to play as Goro the four-armed dude—one of Mortal Kombat's more memorable characters and bosses— you'll need to pre-order the game. It's likely he'll turn up as regular DLC later, but it's still a rubbish situation for long-time fans of the character, who has featured in several games in the series before now, often in playable form, and always without buyers having to fork out additional cash.

Other returning characters include Raiden, Scorpion, Sub-Zero and Kano, all of which seem to be included in the main release.

First Elite Dangerous footage takes cover behind lead designer

The new Elite game that's currently looking for funding on Kickstarter has made a shy first appearance behind the back of creator David Braben's head.

has made a shy first appearance behind the back of creator David Braben's head. Hello there, Elite! Come on out, we won't hurt you. Look I have half a cup of cold Friday afternoon coffee if you want to - oh nevermind.

Nope, it's a no go. Still, we get to hear David Braben chatting about how procedural generation will let the team quickly create varied planetoids and gas giants. The most impressive moment arrives 4:44 in when the background transforms to show some nice procedural cloud generation tech that will be used to make gas giants ultra-pretty, though watching it feels as though I've died and gone to a special game development heaven where famous devs lecture souls on number strings until the end of time.

Thanks to Paul Nicholas for the heads up.

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Mortal Kombat X adds Quan Chi to the lineup

Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. Interactive has revealed that the evil sorcerer Quan Chi will be back on the roster for Mortal Kombat X. The announcement was accompanied by a new gameplay trailer showing off his three styles of combat and reminding us that some days, it just doesn't pay to be Kano.

As a Sorcerer, Quan Chi casts debilitating spells on his opponents. As a Warlock, he opens portals enabling all kinds of unpredictable attacks and combos. As a Summoner, he calls forth beasts from the Netherrealm to aid him in battle.

The action is fast, furious, and ridiculously, hilariously violent, which is, of course, why we play Mortal Kombat. It's wickedly graphic, but also so wildly cartoonish; maybe it doesn't speak particularly well of me as a human being, but when Kano ate the Mega-Noogie, and then got interdimensionally curb-stomped, and then gorfed the Luminescent Cutlass of Doom, I laughed. I laughed a lot.

Mortal Kombat X comes out on April 14, 2015.

RollerCoaster Tycoon World limps into Early Access

Your £30/$50 (wince) buys "the core features and content of the game", including the campaign, sandbox and scenario modes, 10 coasters, 30 flat rides, 4 themes, "a full (albeit not fully balanced) simulation", park ops, various stalls and amenities, and terrain editor.

"Not fully tested" isn't something I like to hear in association with roller coasters, but here RollerCoaster Tycoon Worldis having a crack at Early Access.

Publisher Atari describes it as "a full-featured gaming experience", but user reviews suggest otherwise, citing little improvement over the beta build, broken basics like road building, and sub-par looks compared with 2004's RollerCoaster Tycoon 3. I fear that 'Mostly Negative' rating will be hard to shift, particularly in light of delays, a change of developerand the sudden switch to Early Accessitself.

Planet Coasterlooks the more inviting theme park sim currently, but at Frontier's steep early bird prices, you might be best off queuing a little longer.

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Comments
Our Verdict
Charming, clever and funny, this is one of the best new platformers on the PC at the moment.

Charming, clever and funny, this is one of the best new platformers on the PC at the moment. Recommended.

need to know

Expect to pay: £11 / $15
Release: Out now
Developer: The Behemoth
Publisher: The Behemoth
Multiplayer: Online and local
Link: Official site

Flash games aren't the crucible of indie talent that they once were, but Battleblock Theater carries the legacy of those halcyon days. The technology might have changed, but this is a game from the culture that produced Meat Boy and N+. It's by The Behemoth, the guys that made Alien Hominid and Castle Crashers, and it marks a sea change in how much indie developers are capable of achieving with a single game. It's a platform adventure, a co-op and versus multiplayer game, a creative suite and a comedy revue.

You're an anonymous doughy prisoner, stranded in a dilapidated theatre run by cats in the sway of a haunted hat; cats who build deadly platform challenges out of blocks and make prisoners like you run them for laughs.

In the regular game, the aim is to collect gems to unlock the exit while seeking bonus gems and balls of golden yarn to unlock new weapons and unlockable bonus heads for your character. Progression is a mix of rapid, accurate movement—your abilities include double jumping, wall jumping, sliding and dashing—and puzzle solving based on the blocks you're faced with.

What sets Battleblock Theater apart, in the first case, is that its levels are contraptions. Blocks interact with one another according to a consistent internal logic, and this logic is used to create challenges that the player can tinker with. You might encounter a platform that fades in and out of existence on a regular timer—but this timer isn't set by some behind-the-scenes clock.

It's determined by a laser block, situated elsewhere in the level, that regularly fires at a switch block that triggers the platform. Block the laser at the correct time and you can prevent the beam from hitting the switch, stopping the vanishing platform from disappearing—and so on. You'll crack dozens of puzzles like this over the course of the adventure, and a full block-based level editor expands the potential challenge exponentially.

It's all presented wonderfully. Battleblock Theater is a very funny, sharply written game, narrated with incredible energy. Puppet theatre cutscenes put a smile on your face and intermittent lines of voiceover keep it there. Then there are the excellent songs, particularly the hilarious, nonsensical scatting that accompanies secret levels. There's a lot of The Muppets in Battleblock Theater, in the best possible way.

The adventure is also playable in co-op—either local or online—which adjusts the levels to require you to throw each other, help each other up ledges, and so on. It's a great way to play the game.

Competitive play is a bit of a letdown by comparison. Even though there are a huge number of modes, including cow-capturing and deathmatch, it's not on par with Nidhogg or TowerFall. That, however, is a small downside in an otherwise worthy package.

The Verdict

BattleBlock Theater

Charming, clever and funny, this is one of the best new platformers on the PC at the moment. Recommended.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Chris is the editor of PC Gamer Pro. After many years spent turning beautiful trees into magazines, he now oversees our online coverage of competitive gaming and esports.

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RollerCoaster Tycoon World shunted to Early Access model

After a few months of silence, new details on RollerCoaster Tycoon World have popped up — and they involve some pretty big changes to the game’s release model.

The long list of details has been posted over on the game’s Steam community, with the main nugget being that RollerCoaster Tycoon World will be released via Steam Early Access on March 30, costing.

The Early Access release will feature these elements, with more to come in future updates:

An innovative coaster builder, combining freeform and piece-by-piece options for ultimate control Freeform object placement, allowing you to put every in-game object exactly where you want it Curved paths in a variety of widths and styles, bringing your park previously unheard of flexibility in layout A fully integrated Steam UGC system, giving you the freedom to create any object you want and import it DIRECTLY into the game Fully deformable terrain and water effects to change your park’s landscape quickly and easily Steam workshop support, to share content and utilize the creative power of the community Steam social integration and park sharing to stay connected with your fellow Tycoons from around the world Campaign mode An initial set of Scenarios The Sandbox mode 10 different types of coasters (all complete with ride cams) Over 30 different flat rides Tons of scenery Items to populate your parks 4 different themes (sci-fi, adventure, generic, and western) And much, much more

To try and head off some of the negativity bound to be unleashed at the Early Access decision, RollerCoaster Tycoon World pre-orders will be refundable if purchased from Atari or the game’s official site, at least until March 31:

“We are reaffirming our refund policy - we allow refunds up to March 31st 2016 to anyone that pre-ordered the game through Atari.com or RollerCoasterTycoon.com. This gives you a day to try Early Access, no strings attached. If you pre-ordered via Steam or another retailer, they will be able to facilitate refunds as needed.”

The game will remain in Early Access as long as it needs to be there, apparently — but at the very least people will be able to play RollerCoaster Tycoon World, instead of just watching as it gets delayedfrom the sidelines.

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The 90s Arcade Racer: vibrant racing action makes a Kickstarter pit-stop

While the title is clearly sticking to nostalgia's slipstream, there's a lot to appreciate about The 90s Arcade Racer's Kickstarter bid.

While the title is clearly sticking to nostalgia's slipstream, there's a lot to appreciate about The 90s Arcade Racer's Kickstarter bid. Especially after the numerous attempts of old-school developers to cajole money out of fans by looking at a camera with nothing but their empty pockets and saying, "remember how good games used to be? Remember your credit card details? Exactly. "

Pelikan13's Daytona USA inspired arcade racer is already well into production, with the Kickstarter trailer showing plenty of fast, furious and vibrant action. The development roadblock for this one-man production is simply the cost of developing new cars and tracks.

Here's the video. Keep an eye out for the random dinosaur head.

As you can see, it's already looking incredibly slick. The Kickstarter had a great first weekend, raising over a quarter of the modest £10,000 goal with 27 days to go. Pelikan13 also plans to hire a second developer if the Kickstarter hits £20,000, letting him focus on new assets and design features. You can help fund The 90s Arcade Racer here.

And yes, I'm aware that the game is actually called The 90's Arcade Racer, but that's just wrong.

Thanks, RPS.

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GDC Highlights: Design Lessons, VR Tips, and an Iwata Tribute

Emerging from the hazy gloom of the Game Developers Choice Awards, denizens and visitors to San Francisco descended upon Moscone Center for another day of talks, expo displays, and conversation as the Game Developers Conference rolled into its fourth day.

Emerging from the hazy gloom of the Game Developers Choice Awards, denizens and visitors to San Francisco descended upon Moscone Center for another day of talks, expo displays, and conversation as the Game Developers Conference rolled into its fourth day. To keep you up to date on the most important subjects, we’ve got a social roundup from attendees at the show and our own coverage on Gamasutra.

Be sure to follow us @Gamasutra on Twitterfor live updates during GDC, and check out our Vine channelfor developer tips from attendees at the show!

Mark Rosewater's 20 Design Lessons from 20 Years of Magic the Gathering. #GDC16 #UbiGDC pic.twitter.com/ReNVX14BjA

— Casey Kuczik (@KCZK) March 18, 2016

Magic the Gathering’s Mark Rosewater took the time to break down 20 important lessons about game design—all of which you can see up above!

Fantastic Contraption's @sarah_northwayshares 1 #VRDesigntipat #GDC16 https://t.co/AocqYhbWkR

— Gamasutra (@gamasutra) March 17, 2016

. @Playstation's Richard Marks shares 1 #VRDesigntipat #GDC16 https://t.co/2FS5kOSWKl

— Gamasutra (@gamasutra) March 17, 2016

Our Developer flash interviews roll on during the show, this time bringing you a bit of advice from Fantastic Contraption’s Sarah Northway and Sony’s Richard Marks.

A few slides explaining how @platinumgames' Atsushi Inaba thinks about the design of action games from #GDC16: pic.twitter.com/vICblUoevM

— Gamasutra (@gamasutra) March 18, 2016

Replay value in action games comes from fun and the player's ability to improve their skills. Game must work on all levels #gdc16Platinum

— Chris Algoo @️ GDC (@ChrisAlgoo) March 18, 2016

Platinum Games’s Atushi Inaba took the stage to describe Platinum’s process for developing successful action games—we’ll be giving a full rundown in a later writeup, but for now, here’s a couple slides that contain the basics of Inaba’s personal tenants of good action design.

For those watching at home, here is the full tribute to Satoru Iwata from the #GDCA #GDC16 https://t.co/fnbqlWrrhS

— Official_GDC (@Official_GDC) March 17, 2016

And lastly, we have to note the outpouring of love and support from game developers and players across the world for the official GDCA tribute to Satoru Iwata at last night’s Game Developer Awards—an outpouring that, we can confirm, left not a single dry eye in the house during the award ceremony itself.

That's it for day 4, stay tuned to Gamasutra.com for further coverage and announcements straight from GDC 2016!