Hitman: Absolution is one dollar if you donate to this charity

If you want to acquire Hitman: Absolution, feel noble about it, and pay next-to-nothing in the process, then you're in luck: California based charity GameChanger is taking minimum donations of $1 for pediatric cancer research, and all donations get a Hitman steam code.

It's possible to donate more than $1 of course, so if you've got some extra cash, consider it. The top donor will win either an Xbox One or PS4 – obscure 'game systems' that are a bit like computers except you can't open Microsoft Word or overclock anything.

GameChanger will also be at PAX this weekend, shaving heads. If you get your head shaved, Square Enix will donate $47 to the charity.

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Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel's new DLC arrives March 24

At Gearbox’s panel at PAX East, the Borderlands developers showed off a new trailer for Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel’s final piece of DLC, entitled The Claptastic Voyage.

developers showed off a new trailer for Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel’s final piece of DLC, entitled The Claptastic Voyage. Launching March 24, Claptastic Voyage will feature ten new levels set in that most horrifying location imaginable: inside Claptrap’s mind. Even more horrifying: the only video we could find online was hand-recorded by a member of the audience. Enjoy.

“We really wanted to make the most annoying thing we can think of,” 2K Australia’s Jonathan Pelling told the crowd at PAX East. “We wanted to drill into his character more and see what makes him tick. We’ll be experiencing first-hand his neuroses, hopes, dreams, fears, and stupidity.”

The new story campaign picks up after the pre-sequel, forming a bridge to the beginning of Borderlands 2. Handsome jack discovers that a powerful new data archive has been hidden “in the last place anyone would ever look,” inside Claptrap’s code. Jack calls his vault hunters, digitizes them, and sends them inside Claptrap’s software.

The panel also discussed a new weapon rarity type, glitch guns, digitized versions of existing guns that malfunction in very powerful ways. Submachine guns randomly start shooting like shotguns, machine guns suddenly shoot giant bullets very slowly, and so on. “We basically went with the idea of the whole bug problem and ran with it,” Pelling explained.

Looking for more PAX East news? Follow our PAX East 2015tag for all of our reports from the show floor.

Next Hitman game detailed in open letter to fans

The next Hitman game was cancelled .

. Then it was uncancelled. Now it's being talked about in an open letter on the Hitman website. "Dear Miley," it reads. No, wait, that was the other one. "Dear Hitman fans," it begins, before outlining, in some detail, what Io's next sharply dressed bald assassin simulator will entail.

If Hitman: Absolution converted you from a Hitman fan into a lapsed Hitman fan, there's good news: you can read the letter anyway. Also: I have a feeling the missive is meant for you most of all. I'll quote the highlights, but the highlights are talk of "open, non-linear level design" and "huge, checkpoint-free, sandbox levels". Those were some of things we moaned about it in our review. I don't see any mention of "non-excruciating nun-based trailers", however, so Io may still have a way to go yet.

Io say that "the game concentrates on the core Hitman fantasy of using a wide range of tools to take out a diverse group of targets across expansive, exotic locations around the world. We are building this game on the backbone of the Glacier 2 engine, using the best parts and what we have learnt through Hitman: Absolution and drawing inspiration from past titles like Contracts and Blood Money to fulfil the core Hitman fantasy. That means we're packing in an extreme level of detail on the largest levels we have ever built for a Hitman game. We've adopted an open, non-linear level design approach to the game, ensuring the game will play out across huge, checkpoint-free, sandbox levels. Our aim is to create living, breathing and believable levels which will allow gamers to play around with the AI to create those unique moments every fan of the Hitman franchise loves."

Promising words. Io have also "removed 47's magic pockets" and brought Contracts mode back - which is nice. As letters go, it's certainly a lot better than the Council Tax bills and pizza coupons I generally get in the post. Now, Hitman fans - what are you going to write in reply?

Thanks to Blue's News.

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Borderlands patch adds Steamworks support, reinstates multiplayer after Gamespy's shutdown

The Great Steamworks Migration continues.

The Great Steamworks Migration continues. This time, it's Borderlands. The shoot-'n-loot FPS's co-op multiplayer has been unavailable since Gamespy's demise. Now it's back, thanks to the introduction of the Steamworks multiplayer infrastructure.

For owners of the physical-disc edition, you can activate a Steam copy using the "Granting Tool", found in Steam's Tools menu. You can see full instructions here.

Previously, a Borderlands patchremoved SecuROM DRM from the game and its DLC.

There's been a recent trend of games switching to Steamworks, thanks both to Gamespy's death and Games for Windows Live's presumed shut-down. Recently Dawn of War 2escaped from GfWL's clutches, securing its future for hopefully years to come. Of course, if Steam ever closes, we're all screwed.

Gearbox are currently working on Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. For more on that game, check out Tom's recent hands-on report.

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Gearbox is recruiting for 'the next Borderlands'

While many were anticipating a full blown Borderlands 3 announcement at Gearbox's PAX South panel at the weekend, there was instead a fairy muted confirmation that the studio is indeed "ready" to develop the next instalment.

While many were anticipating a full blown Borderlands 3 announcement at Gearbox's PAX South panel at the weekend, there was instead a fairy muted confirmation that the studio is indeed "ready" to develop the next instalment. Following the hour-long presentation, Randy Pitchford Tweetedthe above image, along with the message: "We are recruiting for next Borderlands. This is the big one."

It followed the Gearbox panel itself, where Pitchford had the following to say, according to IGN. "We want to think about the future and we want to think about what the next Borderlands is and we're going to need some help," Pitchford said.

"The fact is, we're not working on a new Borderlands game, but we want to."

Pitchford made a call out for recruitment, and added that "there's literally nothing to tell" about the game. Which makes sense, given they haven't started making it.

It follows reports last February that the studio hadn't started workon proper sequel to Borderlands 2, though 2K Australia was at the time developing Borderlands: The Pre Sequel, a " well executed but unambitious" spinoff which used the same engine as Borderlands 2. Elsewhere, Gearbox is currently working on Battleborn, a squad shooter with MOBA elements. It's safe to say that if there is a Borderlands 3, it'll be a couple of years before it releases.

Why Hitman Absolution isn't as bad as you remember

REINSTALL
Our review was brutal.

Reinstallinvites you to join us in revisiting PC gaming days gone by. Today, Andy argues the case for Hitman Absolution.

was brutal. Tom Francis rightly criticised the long-awaited sequel for being a step backwards from the magnificent Blood Money. Expectations were high, and Io Interactive delivered a game too obsessed with story and scripted set-pieces to provide the assassination sandbox we wanted.

Despite this, I’ve always had a soft spot for it. It’s a rubbish Hitman game, sure, but it’s an enjoyable 15-hour chunk of mostly good action-stealth, with a few missions I think are among the best in the series. When a new Hitman graced the cover of our August issue, I decided to reinstall Absolution to see if time has been kinder to it.

The biggest mistake Io made was thinking its story was any good, and making that the focus of the game. It’s horribly written, and tries hopelessly to humanise Agent 47. A lot of developers fall into this trap, thinking we care about their characters as much as they do. Imagining they require depth and complexity, when, really, they’re just a means to an end. It’s not Lara Croft the character who defines the Tomb Raider games: it’s what she does. Similarly, no one really cares about Agent 47 as a person. He’s an excuse to pull off amazingly cool assassinations. That’s it.

The cutscenes in Absolution are tiresome and endless, made all the worse by longtime series voice actor David Bateson’s stilted, lifeless performance. That last detail isn’t Io’s fault, though. Realising his hammy voice acting would jar with its gritty new David Fincher-inspired visual style, Io hired TV veteran William Mapother (Lost, Justified) to play 47. But when people found out, there was an uproar, and Io was forced to bring Bateson back. Bad idea. Io should have stuck to its guns and defended its artistic vision instead of kowtowing to Bateson’s groupies, because the guy can’t act.

This increased focus on story means that between the proper Hitman-style contracts, of which there are a few, you’re forced to play through clunky, badly designed scripted events, including a woeful rooftop chase involving a helicopter. I’m not sure why Io thought the game needed these. They are everything a Hitman game shouldn’t be: linear, scripted, action-packed, and railroading you into a single playing style. There was a six-year gap between Blood Money and Absolution, and in that time, Io appeared to forget why people fell in love with its games in the first place.

Another glaring flaw is the structure. Unlike the huge, open-ended missions of Blood Money, Absolution’s levels are, criminally, split into chunks. There are loading breaks as you transition between areas, and it auto-saves. The lack of any manual save system whatsoever means if you want to experiment, you have to repeat entire chunks of the mission—and in a game where guards like to have massive conversations before they start their patrol, this is an exercise in frustration. And again, it displays a baffling lack of understanding about why we loved the other games.

And, yet, I still think it’s a decent game. I’m someone who has always appreciated strong world-building, and Io’s artists are some of the best in the business. Absolution is an astonishingly pretty game, set in a cluttered, believably lived-in world. They went overboard with the bloom lighting, to the point where it sometimes looks like the aftermath of a nuclear explosion, but the amount of detail squeezed into the levels is mad. The Terminus hotel is straight out of David Fincher’s Seven: a grimy, dilapidated building, populated by lowlifes and pounded by rain. Hope is an archetypal dusty American desert town, its streets lined with stars-and-stripes bunting.

These amazing spaces make for some genuinely brilliant missions, with a similar freeform feel to those of Blood Money—albeit hampered by the stupid auto-save system and the levels being split into chunks. There are loads of ways to infiltrate the Terminus. Hope is similarly stuffed with options. A mission in a strip club involves you using a massive crowd of hooting horny men to wander around unseen, planning your hit. There are moments where it feels like classic Hitman, and these, I think, are just about worth all those rooftop chases, sniping sections, and other lame set-pieces.

If you keep comparing Absolution to Blood Money you’ll have a terrible time, but take it as it is and there’s a lot of fun to be had. If Blood Money is 2001: A Space Odyssey, then Absolution is 2010: The Year We Make Contact. Inferior in almost every respect, but an enjoyable continuation of the series regardless. The problem is, for every standout moment there’s a massive sinkhole of awful waiting to swallow you up. It’s probably the most inconsistent game I’ve ever played in terms of quality.

One of the main plot threads involves Agent 47 protecting a 14-year-old girl called Victoria, but because the writing is so messy, it’s hard to care about her at all. You don’t feel the same drive and urgency he apparently does, which weakens the narrative massively. The story becomes little more than a distraction, getting in the way of the reason for playing a Hitman game: hitting men. The new incarnation shown off at E3 seems to be sidelining story in favour of good old-fashioned murder sandboxes, thank God.

UNINSTALL

Phil thinks Absolution should never be absolved.
“Nice try, Andy, but a Hitman game with a helicopter chase sequence is indefensible. As is a Hitman game that, at the end of your mission, triggers a cutscene in which Agent 47 fails to kill his target. Absolution does both, and deserves to be filed away in your Steam Library under a special category called ‘the bin’.”

Absolution is a peculiar quality dip in an otherwise brilliant series. I’m not sure why it happened, but I have a theory. Io used Absolution to show off its new Glacier 2 engine, and I get the feeling it was still finding its feet with the tech. It had the visuals nailed. I mean, just look at those environments. But perhaps it had problems making levels as big and seamless as Blood Money’s. And perhaps this impacted the game design too, forcing the studio to cut corners. That’s total conjecture, but I’ve seen similar things happen in other games. Assassin’s Creed III was the debut of Ubi’s AnvilNext engine, and was similarly hamstrung as a result. Both games, in fact, take the power away from you at the last moment and play some of their assassinations out in cutscenes, rather than giving you control over them. That should never happen.

But even with its flaws, and a lukewarm critical reception, Hitman: Absolution still sold almost 4 million copies. Its Metacritic score currently sits at a respectable 79. Even though many hardcore Hitman fans (including our own Tom Francis) lamented its inferiority to its predecessors, it seems the brand was strong enough to ensure people still bought it. Which is for the best, because if it was a total failure, we might never have seen another Hitman game. It’s been around for years, but there’s still a lot of potential in the series—for more complex simulation, more freedom, and more ways to creatively kill people. Hopefully we’ll see some of that in the new game, titled simply Hitman: with luck, that’s an indication of its back-to-basics approach.

Hitman studio lays off almost half its staff, taking another swing at franchise

In a statement to Develop , Square Enix confirmed that almost half of IO Interactive's staff has been laid off.

Dark clouds may have formed over Square Enix's financial future months ago, but that doesn't make the storm of layoffs at IO Interactive any less surprising or disheartening.

, Square Enix confirmed that almost half of IO Interactive's staff has been laid off. What makes this news particularly depressing is Hitman Absolution actually saw decent sales, but 3.6 million units sold(and that's only physical copies) still wasn't enough to hit Square Enix's lofty expectations.

So what does this mean for IO? The studio has cut production on all non-Hitman projects while attempting to refocus on the next Hitman game.

"The studio will focus resolutely on the future vision for the Hitman franchise and is in pre-production on a new AAA Hitman project,” Studio Head Hannes Seifert said. “However, we have taken the difficult decision to cancel other studio projects and initiatives at IO and reduce the workforce in this studio, which will impact almost half of the employees currently at IO, as we make internal adjustments to face the challenges of today's market."

Hitman Absolutionmay not have scratched our homicidal itch, but we still wish everyone affected the best of luck.

...

Jump to Section: Best Price Comments Pros Classic gameplay and style Tons of fan service for SP lovers Amazing soundtrack by chiptune artists Anamanaguchi Cons Some really punishing difficulty spikes Can get repetitive Shallow in a retro kind of way Every free thinking, truly good person in the world loves comic books, even comics without colorful masked men as the stars. And one of the best recent

Borderlands Steam update removes SecuROM DRM, multiplayer set to return

Of all the things affected by the GameSpy shutdown, Borderlands' now-hobbled multiplayer is perhaps the most egregious.

Of all the things affected by the GameSpy shutdown, Borderlands' now-hobbled multiplayer is perhaps the most egregious. Co-op is kind of the whole point there, so it's good to hear it will soon be making a return. Astripped all the nasty SecuROM DRM from the game and its expansions, as well as adding a "granting tool" capable of turning retail discs of Borderlands into Steam versions. Multiplayer isn't back yet, but you will find a "news ticker" on the main menu now, which will keep players' abreast of the effort to add Steamworks to the game.

Removed SecuRom from the title and all DLC Added a “Granting Tool” In the steam “Tools” section that turns a retail disc into a Steam version of Borderlands “News Ticker” added to the main menu to give you updates on the Multiplayer restoration updates. Imported SecuRom DLC keys into Steam, so if you bought DLC outside of Steam, activate it within Steam and get your matching content.

The patch notes confirm that "Steamworks multiplayer is coming in a future update", so until then I guess we're stuck playing the original Borderlands solo. Or playing Borderlands 2 with friends, which is a bit more likely.

The five greatest gaming controversies of 2012

Mass Effect 3's ending
On March 6 this year, a videogame trilogy ended, enraging thousands.

On March 6 this year, a videogame trilogy ended, enraging thousands. The final ten minutes of Mass Effect 3 veered suddenly into unexpected territory and delivered a closing segment that left many baffled and disappointed.

Some of those people felt extremely angry and decided that Bioware needed to be held to account for underdelivering on the final 1% of their stomping 100 hour space adventure. Cue the Take Back Mass Effect Facebook campaign(tagline: DEMAND A BETTER ENDING), which has received over 61,000 likes.

They had valid complaints. Mass Effect 3's ending was really weird , but demanding a new ending from Bioware and then writing one for them perhaps went a little too far. "Fans of the Mass Effect trilogy have put far too much time, effort, and money into the game to be abandoned with such a fate," the group insisted.

"Bioware desperately needs to resolve this issue. New DLC (something long) to add a new, more satisfactory ending to the game, or even a full expansion based as an epilogue to the trilogy.

"Some possible ideas include Shepard retiring or settling down with his/her love interest, returning to work as a Council SPECTRE, or traveling the galaxy as an inter-species diplomat."

In addition to that, a poll on the Bioware forumsrequesting a "brighter" ending gained 68000 positive votes. Some folks even made a happy ending modto bring the ending more in line with their expectations.

In April, Bioware responded by announcing a free extended cut patch that would add extra cut scenes and clarity to the ending without changing what actually happened. It was released in June, but by then it was all a bit too late.

Still, some good came out of it. A Child's Play protest drive raised £50,000, though as the BBC reported, Child's Play closed down the drive "after it emerged many people thought they were giving money to produce a new ending for Mass Effect 3."

Bioware mentioned that they are working on Mass Effect 4 in October. It will be built in Frostbite 2, it won't feature Shepard, and Bioware haven't quite decided whether it should be a prequel or a sequel.

THQ selling more IPs in new auction

THQ is to sell a number of its remaining intellectual properties in a new auction. While many of the bankrupt publisher's biggest assets were acquired last month following an initial auction, the company now hopes to shift six designated lots of IP titles through a new court-supervised sale process. These include the Darksiders , Red Faction , MX and Homeworld franchises. It will also auction off other

Battlefield 3 patch to nerf tactical lights, rebalance anti-air vehicles

DICE have been talking about the balance changes they're considering for the next Battlefield 3 patch.

Battlefieldohave spotted a couple of tweetsfrom DICE's Alan Kertz showing before and after shots of the planned nerf to every Battlefield 3 player's worst enemy, the tactical flashlight.

The lamp attachment can be added to machine guns and pistols, and currently has the capability to blind a man at ten metres in broad daylight. Kertz told the Don't Revive Me Bro community podcastthat DICE will be making some changes. The intensity of the flashlight's blinding effect will stay the same, but it will be effective at shorter range. See the before and after shots below.

Kertz also says that DICE are also considering changes to the effectiveness of mobile AA guns. Their damage output is less of a problem than the projectiles' effects on jet and chopper trajectories. It's thought that the storm of anti-air ordenance can too easily throw airborne vehicles off course.

In addition, DICE are aware that the inability to repair jets puts them at a distinct disadvantage over other vehicles. Choppers can land and be repaired by engies from within, but landing a jet is a far harder task. Short of strapping engineers to the wings of each jet, it's hard to see how DICE will get around this without giving planes a limited self-repair ability.

If you're playing Battlefield 3, don't forget that you can join us on our lovely servers. Search for PC Gamer in Battlelog to find us. What balance changes would you make to Battlefield 3?

Hitman Absolution's Deus Ex DLC augments Agent 47 (and makes him look ridiculous)

Hitman Absolution seems set to become the next game to feel the full force of Square Enix's bizarre obsession with cross-game promotion.

Hitman Absolution seems set to become the next game to feel the full force of Square Enix's bizarre obsession with cross-game promotion. After shoehorning practically every one of their franchises into Sleeping Dogs, the company has now released Deus Ex DLC for Agent 47's sort-of-assassination adventure.

The Adam Jensen disguiseand handgunmicrotransactions (purchases sold separately, batteries not included) add a silenced pistol and cyborg costume into Contracts mode. None of which is going to fix the many problems that Tom had when he reviewed the game.

It does make you wonder what's next in SE's tireless campaign to tie all of their games together in increasingly silly ways. I'm hoping that future costumes for 47 include the traditional Lara Croft tanktop, or that they look to one of their Japanese titles and dress him up as a miserable teenager with a giant sword and shit hair. Any better ideas?

Thanks, PCGamesN.

THQ back catalogue to be sold in coming weeks

These include franchises such as Darksiders , Red Faction and MX vs. ATV , which have yet to find a buyer. Asked about the future of these series, former THQ president Rubin Rubin told Game Informer : "There will be a separate process to sell off the back catalogue and IP. That process will take place in the coming weeks." On his own immediate future, Rubin added: “My focus right now is helping the

EU Giveaway: Win Battlefield 3 and a set of Cyborg gaming lights

Look sharp soldier!

Look sharp soldier! We've got a bundle of Battlefield goodies to give away! Yes the folks at EA have provided us with a copy of Battlefield 3, a set of Cyborg gaming lights and a copy of the Battlefield 3 novel, all for one lucky winner.

Check inside for details of how to enter.

Attention! Listen up privates, one lucky soldier could be walking away with:

A boxed copy of Battlefield 3 A set of Ambx Cyborg gaming lights(details in link) A copy of the Battlefield 3 novel, by Andy McNab

I want you to make me a Battlefield! Come up with a name (eg: Operation Call of Nature) and setting (eg: A mens bathroom) for a Battlefield map and describe it to me! The funniest, .most interesting or coolest entry... basically whatever I like the most, will win.

European readers only. The winner will appear in this week's winnersthis Friday. If you win, make sure to contact us with your address so that we can mail you your prizes.A

Finally, here's a closer look at the Ambx gaming lights. Good luck out there soldier!

Hitman Absolution launches, then pulls, offensive Facebook promotion

Yesterday I was convinced that Hitman Absolution's Deus Ex DLC items would be among the stupidest promotional stuff we'd see for the game.

would be among the stupidest promotional stuff we'd see for the game. Unfortunately, they weren't. A Facebook campaign that launched today - before being quickly removed after RPS spotted it- encouraged people to send a hit on their friends.

According the campaign's press release, “'Hire Hitman' was created to celebrate the best selling game Hitman: Absolution. The experience is another opportunity for fans of the series to immerse themselves in the Hitman universe.”

Here's the form that celebration took. After selecting the friend they wanted to target, users were asked to pick from a list of insulting “identifying” characteristics.

Female friends got to be called out on “awful make-up,” “annoying laugh,” “strange odour,” “muffin top,” or “small tits,” among others. Male targets, meanwhile, could be chided on their “bad hair,” “big ears,” “hairy back,” “big gut,” or “small penis.”

So that's intimidation, bullying and sexism. Another proud day in games promoting, folks!

Users would then choose a reason for elimination, at which point a message would be sent to their friend's wall, with a video that incorporated photos from their profile.

While Square-Enix are in “shut down everything” mode, removing both the site and the video that was promoting it, one YouTuber was quick enough to capture it before it disappeared.

The press release states that the campaign was created by the ad agency Ralph, who were nominated for an EMMY. It doesn't mention if that nomination was for Stupidest Bloody Idea This Week.

Saints Row developer lost money on recent Red Factions

Before Saints Row took off with The Third , Red Faction was one of Volition's staple franchises. But when the studio was purchased by publisher Deep Silver in THQ's bankruptcy auction , the rights to Red Faction weren't part of the deal--just Saints Row. Senior Producer Jim Boone told Polygon that his studio loves making games, but he realizes it's a business; open-world diamond-in-the-rough Red Faction

The Gadget Show’s Battlefield 3 Holodeck: behind the scenes

http://youtu.be/eg8Bh5iI2WY
Combine multiple projectors, an igloo-shaped screen within a special tent, a motion-tracking paintball gun, treadmills and a PC that can actually run Battlefield 3 and you've got The Gadget Show's “Ultimate Battlefield 3 Simulator.” Placing the player in the midst of the military shooter's action, it allows proper movement through the game and even simulates bullet hits with electronically-controlled paintball guns.

Combine multiple projectors, an igloo-shaped screen within a special tent, a motion-tracking paintball gun, treadmills and a PC that can actually run Battlefield 3 and you've got The Gadget Show's “Ultimate Battlefield 3 Simulator.” Placing the player in the midst of the military shooter's action, it allows proper movement through the game and even simulates bullet hits with electronically-controlled paintball guns. It's one of those completely bonkers (and rather expensive) ideas that somehow just about works, apart from the bit where the machine malfunctions and starts shooting Jason indiscriminately. We quite like that bit.

We've already seen the simulator in action, but now Channel 5 has posted a video explaining just how this ludicrous set-up was achieved. It features presenters Suzi Perry and Jason Bradbury edited to make it look like it's a case of simply phoning up the relevant companies - including DICE - and cajoling them into supplying their latest kit, then just chucking it all together. It's definitely not the result of hundreds of man hours of research, endless problems and months of development. Oh no. It's just Suzi and Jason. Between them, they can do anything.

Hitman: Absolution shows off "living, breathing" soon to be dead world

OK, so we're a bit late with this one - but then I was crouched behind a bin waiting for the perfect moment to knock out a PCG writer so I could use his uniform to gain access to the building.

OK, so we're a bit late with this one - but then I was crouched behind a bin waiting for the perfect moment to knock out a PCG writer so I could use his uniform to gain access to the building. Now, dressed in an old pair of jeans and an XL Bus Simulator T-shirt, I'm finally ready to post about Hitman: Absolution and its latest trailer, which shows off the game's "living, breathing world".

Look at it there, all living and breathing. Really, there are three things to take away from this trailer: that the background chatter of security guards and civilians might be a wee bit more interesting than "Shall we gather for whiskey and cigars tonight?", that (if this is all in-game footage at least) we can probably expect some veeery impressive crowd scenes, and that... disco-dancing cops . I'm pretty sure Reg never did that on The Bill.

With the game due in only two-and-a-bit weeks (November 20th), we thankfully won't have to wait long for answers. In the meantime, click to two minutes in to see 47 drop some beats for the cast of Holby Blue.

If you're interested in picking up Hitman: Absolution, you can secure a 35% discount through Green Man Gamingbetween now and 1200 GMT on November 23. Enter the following, top secret code to get your money off: GMG35-FGR37-COY0B .

Homeworld franchise bought by Borderlands dev Gearbox

Gearbox Software is the proud new owner of the Homeworld franchise, the developer announced today. Its first move will be to make the "purest form" of spacefaring RTS classics Homeworld and Homeworld 2 available on digital distribution platforms "Gearbox Software has prevailed as the highest bidder in the acquisition of the Homeworld franchise from THQ," the studio wrote on its news blog . "Brian Martel

Battlefield 3 fixes: "connection to server has timed out," crashes, disconnections and more

In the short bursts in which we've managed to play Battlefield 3 so far, it's been rather good.

In the short bursts in which we've managed to play Battlefield 3 so far, it's been rather good. The trouble is that nobody in the office has managed to get it working consistently, and we all seem to be getting different errors. We've scoured the web looking for fixes to some of the most common problems, including "connection to the server has been lost" messages, regular disconnections and crashes. These aren't guaranteed fixes, but here are a few that have worked for us so far.

If you're getting constantly disconnected from multiplayer games, there are a couple of things you can try. Players on the EA forumshave said that turning Universal Plug in and Play off in router settings have fixes problems with getting into games and staying there. This was a fix that worked for Tim over the weekend, and it might help you too. Additionally, DICE's Battlefield twitter feed points towards a list of ports to forwardif you're still struggling to connect. Aalso suggests that we make sure that Punkbuster is correctly installed and updated, and activated in the Battlefield 3 options menu.

If you're struggling to connect to games with squads, then you're not alone, and it doesn't seem to be a problem on our end. DICE say on Twitter that "we're aware of issues that may prevent squads from joining games together. We are working to correct these issues."

Next up, crashes. Many players have been reporting driver failure messages and regular crashes to desktop. Double checking you have the latest graphics drivers might help, of course, but DICE suggest that"some video cards come over clocked by default via factory settings. Dropping some of those settings might clear up problems also." Messing around with your GPU clock settings is a fairly extreme fix. Hopefully a patch or driver update will resolve the problems without forcing us to dive into our GPU BIOS settings.

DICE also recommend contacting customer supportand selecting Talk to a Game Advisor. When I did this I was told to repair the Battlefield 3 install (right click on Battlefield in your Origin game menu, select repair.) This didn't solve my regular five minute crashes to desktop, but it might help you.

Those are a few of the fixes we've found so far. Have you discovered others any that have worked for you? What problems have you been experiencing with Battlefield 3 over the weekend?

GamrRank offering $1000 prize for the best Hitman video

Got Hitman: Absolution, video capturing capability , and the desire to be $1000 richer?

, and the desire to be $1000 richer? You can make use of those strangely-related criteria by heading over to GamrRank, a meta-achievement/playtime tracking social media platform. The service is offering one grand to the best Hitman video involving a dead body and your name spelled on a surface with bullet holes—just like so many of my home movies. The video above explains the finer points.

You have two weeks to get your entry in. Second place nets you $500, and third will take home $250. Some Hitman swag is also available for honorable mentions. If you have a GamrRank account, you can check out this page to accept the challenge.

'THQ had every chance to survive' Jason Rubin says

The THQ fallout is over: everything that could be auctioned off was , and everything else has either been downsized or left to mire in bankruptcy proceedings. Former president Jason Rubin told MCV that THQ was largely responsible for its own undoing. “I think it is incorrect to attribute THQ's predicament with overall changes in the industry,” Rubin said. “To be sure, all triple-A publishers have been

Company of Heroes and Alpha Protocol among the deals in Sega's Humble Weekly Sale

Sega used to spend their time faffing about with console boxes and a blue hedgehog.

Sega used to spend their time faffing about with console boxes and a blue hedgehog. Now they spend their time more productively: publishing cool PC games (and occasionally trying to resurrect the blue hedgehog). Sometimes these many projects collide into a single, gloriously incomprehensible mess of different games and styles. It happened with the bizarrely compelling Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed - a game in which an anthropomorphic fox could lose a kart race to the football manager from Football Manager. It's also now happened with this week's Humble Weekly Sale.

The pack collects some of the publisher's more celebrated series, along side smaller projects and a collection of classic console games.

At the lowest pay-what-you-want tier, you'll get Alpha Protocol, Company of Heroes, Rome: Total War and Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit. Pay more than $5.99 and you'll also receive The Typing of the Dead: Overkill, Binary Domain, Renegade Ops, Medieval 2: Total War, and a collection of 10 old "Genesis" games. The Genesis, in case you're unaware, is what incorrect people call the Mega Drive.

The deal also includes Total War: Shogun 2, available for purchases over $14.99. In addition to supporting Sega, the money will also go towards the following charities: Make-A-Wish, Whale & Dolphin Conservation, Willow, Special Effect and GamesAid. As always, the bundle's sliders will let you choose exactly where your money will go.

It's probably one of the best Weekly Sales that Humble have run in some time. Company of Heroes, Rome: Total War, and Medieval 2: Total War are often considered among the best entries of their respective series. In addition, Alpha Protocol and Renegade Ops are definitely worth checking out for the sort of price you can grab them for here. Also, there are a few Mega Drive games - including the Golden Axes. Weirdly, there's no Sonic anywhere in sight, although at this point, maybe it's for the best.

The Sega Humble Weekly Salewill run until March 20th.

The kills come alive with the sound of Hitman: Absolution

Selecting a soundtrack for life isn't easy.

Selecting a soundtrack for life isn't easy. You need music for riding the bus, shopping for groceries, or sitting around listening to other music. Hitman: Absolution's Agent 47 lives a life of luxury in that regard, as his handlers over at IO Interactive already selected numerous moody pieces and Inception horn-blasts to accompany him as he jay-walks away from explosions or descends a single step. The trailer shown here shows off Absolution's range of dynamic triggers for aural interactivity, including the buttery-smooth cut of David Bateson's voice. I hope he'll moonlight as an airline pilot sometime soon.

Hell freezes, pig cops fly and Duke Nukem Forever goes gold

Duke Nukem Forever: The first two hours Hands-on impressions of the game we%26rsquo;ve wanted since 1997 Duke Nukem Forever Flash game is as classy as you%26rsquo;d expect Boob-heavy game pairs up with BoobTube, result features boobs Topics Shooter Duke Nukem Forever We recommend By Zergnet Load Comments

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Our Verdict
The robots blow up good, but otherwise this ho-hum shooter fumbles its few ideas and is a shonky port to boot.

You are Dan, walking jawline, international supersoldier. One of several tasked with infiltrating a futuristic Tokyo. 'Infiltration' in this case means ten hours of noisy third-person gun battles with shiny bipedal gun-bots, to stop a powerful tech company from producing androids that look human.

It's boilerplate stop-and-pop fare in the Gears of War mould, appended with light squad management from Mass Effect, buried in an adolescent parable about artificial life.

You'd hope that this sort of paragraph would constitute the most pertinent information about Binary Domain, but, as a PC gamer, you'll have other things on your mind: namely, why the developers hate you.

The UI designer may never have seen a keyboard: I wasn't even able to identify the icon used to represent 'Tab' during the tutorial. How do I reach the main menu? Oh, that's right, it's 'Enter'. Of course. There's no mouse movement on the menus – WASD to navigate and 'F' to go back. Obviously, in-game, 'F' is the interact key – except when interact is 'Space'. Not that the game tells you this, because the default in-game prompts are those for a 360 control pad, whether or not your input scheme is set to keyboard. Want to change the in-game prompts? Just quit the game, load the separate settings application then restart.

Beneath these annoyances is a largely unremarkable game. Binary Domain does possess a singular forte in the way enemy robots shed their metal skin as bullets rip them up. It satisfies a basic urge to destroy and introduces a frisson of tactics: blow off a robot's head and it'll attack its metallic allies; blow off its legs and it'll crawl on, Terminator-style. Some enemies charge in, others hang back; the combination creates lively, if repetitive, gunplay.

The rest of Binary Domain is less inspiring: worthless teammates, glum locations, wearisome vehicle sections, ghastly boss fights. Its one distinguishing feature is particularly dubious: voice command, used to order your buddies in combat, and to improve your standing with them during down-time. It routinely misunderstands or ignores commands, and even registers them when none have been uttered – despite playing through a headset in the dead silence of my rural home. Even with manual input, the choices it offers frequently make no sense: what does “Damn!” imply when answering a question containing a double negative?

Getting this wrong affects your relationships with characters, and with the plot, should you care about it. There are flashes of intellect in the writing, motifs largely purloined from Blade Runner, but the predictable twists are delivered with so many holes you could use the script to strain broccoli.

Nonetheless, Binary Domain wants you to care about its cast, and it makes some headway with Dan and co's goofish wit and well-voiced patter, albeit entirely composed of action movie cliché. But just as frequently it drops the ball: Dan's attempted seduction of designated love-interest Faye is like a clip from a David Lynch nightmare sequence.

Multiplayer brings class-based competitive modes and four-player wave-survival. Should you find an active server, it proves serviceable but seldom-scintillating stuff. And that's Binary Domain to its core: a sometimes competent clone whose unique attempts to ignite enthusiasm sputter out. And if you don't have a control pad, the galling disdain shown to the PC reduces this replicant to so much scrap.

The Verdict

Binary Domain

The robots blow up good, but otherwise this ho-hum shooter fumbles its few ideas and is a shonky port to boot.

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Miss Steam Dev Days? Watch the video presentations here

Last month, Valve invited select developers to Washington for its first-ever conference.

Last month, Valve invited select developers to Washington for its first-ever conference. Now, anyone can watch the presentations on the web: Valve has posted 28 videos on YouTube, on its new Steamworks Development YouTube channel.

The full list of talks -- with descriptions, and links to the accompanying slides -- is available at the Steam Dev Days website.

According to devs who tweetedabout the conference, the talks "In-Game Economies in Team Fortress 2 and Dota 2 " and "Embracing User Generated Content" were particularly compelling viewing, as were the pair of virtual reality talks from Oculus VR and Valve's Michael Abrash (embedded above).

There are many other talks from many Valve and non-Valve developers at the link, too.

Games we once loved, but now hate

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Humble Sega Bundle is live, and also a bit weird

A new Humble Bundle is live .

. This time it's Sega's catalogue that's being plumbed for a pay-what-you-want bag of games. That should be a good selection for PC gamers—Sega have become a safe haven for some of our best strategy game developers. But while there are some undeniable classics, the whole thing is a bit... odd.

Pay-what-you-want

Dreamcast Collection (Sonic Adventure DX, Space Channel 5 Part 2, Crazy Taxi and Sega Bass Fishing) NiGHTS Into Dreams Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed Total War: Rome 2 - Caesar In Gaul DLC Miles' Tactic DLC for Football Manager 2015

Beat the average

Empire: Total War Company of Heroes 2 - The Western Front Armies: Oberkommando West

Pay $12 or more

Total War: Shogun 2 - Fall of the Samurai

There's some good stuff in there. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is a lot of fun, and thus the best Sonic game in decades. Empire: Total War is good, and Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai is great. But it's strange that the bundle dials down so much on DLC for games that it doesn't also include. It's not like Sega don't have an extensive PC catalogueto draw from.

Company of Heroes 2's DLC is the exception in that it's a standalone thing that gives you access to that game's multiplayer—albeit with limited options. Fall of the Samurai is also standalone, although I'm not sure why, for the increased price, it doesn't also include the bigger main game.

The bundle runs for the next two weeks, and more games are promised down the line. And, as always, the bundle also benefits a selection of charities—including AbleGamers, Special Effect, The Willow Foundation and GamesAid.

Hadean Lands dev offers 'no-hint pledge' certificate as $35 DLC

We Predict The Stories Of 10 Unannounced Video Game Franchises

We’re tired of waiting until a game is announced to learn more about it.

We’re tired of waiting until a game is announced to learn more about it. We want to know what’s in store for many of our favorite video game franchises right now. Using a mix of secret journalistic sources, ancient star charts, and a predictive A.I., we’re confident that we’ve accurately predicted the plots for several of the biggest franchises in the industry. Warning: Spoilers.

Dead Space 4
Isaac Clarke thought he escaped a life of constant fear and danger when he moved to one of Earth’s remotest colonies. Unfortunately, danger continues to find him. The asteroid Isaac settled on turns out to be an ancient Necromorph burial ground. After being confronted by a strange mystical shaman in a dream, Isaac discovers that his newfound physic powers might be the only thing that will help him survive the night.

Assassin’s Creed VI: What Happened To Five?
Meet Gunnar Øybiornsson, one the few Viking Assassins. You may not be familiar with him, but he’s definitely had an impact on history. In his early years, Gunnar sailed with Erik the Red to the new world and helped discover Greenland. Later he participated in the Battle of Svolder to unify Norway under a single banner. Gunnar then traveled to China and studied under the philosopher Zhu Xi. While in China, Gunnar discovered an ancient magical pear and used it to travel through time. Gunnar eventually becomes the primary inspiration for many of Shakespeare’s plays, convinces Johannes Gutenberg to continue building his printing press, and eventually introduces John Lennon to Paul McCartney.

Pikmin 4
After being exiled from his home planet for crimes he didn’t commit, intrepid explorer Captain Olimar crash-lands on another planet full of strange artifacts. Many of these objects belong to an ancient alien mummy whom Olimar inadvertently resurrects. Fortunately, if Olimar is able to gather the seven sun shards of Shababa, he’ll be able to empower his plant army and banish the ancient alien for good.

Bully 2: The College Years
Jimmy Hopkins might be growing older, but he’s not growing up. In this sequel to Rockstar’s rambunctious open world game, Jimmy hacks into his school’s computers and fakes his grades so that he can go to the prestigious Hardforks University. Jimmy ends up being roommates with Lawrence “Cowboy” Shufflebottom, a 46-year-old liberal arts student who loves to party, but whose parents are threatening stop paying for his tuition. Things go from bad to worse when the FBI enlists Jimmy to investigate the source of a hot new designer drug, called Ambivalent, that’s sweeping the campus.

XCOM 3: Planet Alien
Humanity keeps losing to the aliens and finally gives up on trying to save Earth. They decide to send an ark full of humanity’s brightest minds to find a new home planet out among the stars. Unfortunately, guess who’s there when they arrive? Yeah, aliens! This time humanity is the invader, and they must use their wits and a limited collection of resources to fight for survival. In the end, it turns out the whole alien invasion was just a dream…or was it?

The Last of Us 2
Joel and Ellie are back, and this time Joel is infected with the mutated strain of the Cordyceps fungus that has made him insatiably hungry. After he eats the last of the flour he was saving to bake Ellie a birthday cake, he realizes that he has a problem and decides to separate himself from the rest of humanity. Joel eventually encounters a group of infected that have learned to live with their disease by maintaining a diet of pure insect protein. Meanwhile, Ellie learns that her real father is still alive and he’s created a cure that might be worse that the disease.

Grand Theft Auto III: 2
Welcome back to Liberty City…again. Rockstar’s new open world period piece is ready to tear apart the early 2000s with biting culture satire. Your nameless character starts out selling overprice printed tees at the mall before making friends with an old mob boss who dreams of becoming an Elizabethan romance novelist. This aging mobster makes you an offer you can’t refuse. But you refuse it. Oddly, he’s cool with it and you remain friends. Eventually you come to manage one of his Moroccan restaurants. His first novel gets published, but he dies before he gets to see it on store shelves.

Half Life 3
Just kidding, this game isn’t actually being made.

Bloodborne 2
Players take on the role of a young nurse who has traveled to Yharnam hoping to help heal the sick. She ends up falling in love with one of her victims, a young man whose nightmares drive him to feast living souls at night. At her lover’s behest, she decides to be the one who puts him out of his misery. On one cold, rainy evening she uses an arcane spell to poison his blood. His last words are “You’re more beautiful than the stars.” She holds his still body until the sun rises on Yharnam once again.

Tomb Raider: Southern Comfort
Lara continues her hunt for proof of the supernatural which leads her to the rain forests of South America where she befriends a young man who claims to be her long lost brother. Lara’s brother believes that a magical amulet can bring their father back from the dead. Unfortunately, this amulet is lost in a battle with a colony of sentient ants that are secretly working on Trinity. All seems lost until Lara befriends a hyper-intelligent dolphin who leads her to an underwater Mayan palace.

Why Total War: Rome 2's army traditions system is so exciting

In 61 BC, Julius Caesar levied Legio X Equestris , a legion of several thousand fighting men who fought with distinction in his campaign against Gaul.

, a legion of several thousand fighting men who fought with distinction in his campaign against Gaul. They were disbanded in 45 BC, shortly before Caesar's assassination. In the ensuing civil war, the 10th Legion was raised again and fought for Lepidus, Marc Antony, and finally Emperor Augustus.

Over that 20-year period, thousands of men died or retired as veterans with lands they had helped conquer in Gaul. Equestris' individual legionaries are not remembered by history. But as a unit, Legio X Equestris were instrumental in Caesar's conquest of Gaul. Creative Assembly wants to give every army in Rome II: Total War a similar legacy, to make them more than masses of faceless troops.

And here history and gameplay merge in a really exciting way: as an army accrues victories, it will also accrue traditions, transforming a generally skilled army into a highly specialized one.

Every upgrade system in Rome II—from the revamped military and civic tech trees down to the abilities of generals, agents and armies—encourages specialization. On the macro level, military and civic developments are now divided into three subcategories (management, tactics and siege for military, economy, philosophy, and construction for civic) you can hop between at will. Teching for naval superiority or a strong farming economy, for example, is much more direct than it was in Shogun II: Total War.

But army traditions are what have me most excited for Rome II, and not just because the historical basis behind them is really cool. Traditions have the potential to completely change how battles play out by the end of a 20 (or 30, or 40, or...) hour-long Rome II campaign, because traditions outlive the poor legionaries who die earning them.

As you might expect from Creative Assembly, Studio Communications Manager Al Bickham explained the army tradition system with a historical comparison. "Think about the 101st Airborne," Bickham said at a recent preview event for Rome II. Remember Band of Brothers? He's talking about those guys: "They're all about their small unit tactics and being in enemy territory and working, effectively, guerrilla warfare. That's what they do. They do that really well. They've done that for the last 100 years, right? That's what [the system] is all about."

In Rome II, traditions extend the upgrade system used for commanding officers to whole armies. But that system has been reworked, too. Instead of progressing a general through a tech tree as he levels up, you now assign one skill at every level (with a cap at level 10). Previously acquired skills can also be leveled up in place of acquiring new ones. If you mainly use your generals to rally and inspire troops, focusing on those abilities will make them horse-mounted masters of morale.

In Shogun II, you could specialize generals by choosing a path through the tech tree, but you'd probably be wasting a few points along the way. Rome II simplifies choosing the abilities and buffs commanders bring to the battlefield. The same system also applies to Rome II's agents.

And where armies previously just grew stronger and gained morale with experience, they'll now gain their own set of specializations in the form of traditions for siegecraft, cavalry, and infantry types. Bickham detailed an example:

"I've spent six of my possible 10 points as an army's been leveling up in siegecraft and heavy infantry. Those guys are going to be city smashers, you know? They're going to be really good shots and very damaging with their onagers and ballistas and scorpions and stuff. I'll have those on my front line doing my city bashing for me."

Rome II tracks the history of each army, listing wins and losses and years in service. Armies can be renamed, and whatever symbol you set as their standard will appear on the legionary character models. And if that army is slaughtered to the last man, the traditions they bled for aren't lost.

"Say you have the 13th Legion," Bickham said, referencing a legion he took into battle at the Rezzed game conference last month. "The 13th Legion cops it. They all die. You can go back to one of your cities, you can recruit a new general, you can give him the banner of the 13th Legion, and you can recruit a new army along with that new general under the banner of the 13th Legion. Get all those traditions back. The whole idea is it's a symbol of the traditions of a fighting unit...The standard, what that army represents, is always there."

By endgame, using the right army in the right battle will be key, as even green troops can strut onto the field with 10 traditions backing them up. Bickham's city smashers, for example, could be torn apart by a heavily trained legion of cavalry. But losing an army of seasoned troops shouldn't spell disaster, either.

"It's no longer about--putting it in the context of previous games, armies were stacks of troops, and you just kind of mashed troops together, and you'd add more, and you'd build the stack," Bickham said. "I think by the end of the game you'll have some incredibly experienced guys you'll be really attached to because you've crafted them over time. They're like macro RPG characters made of thousands of men."

Indie showcase to feature Homesick , Dex and more at GDC Next

The Hunt Is On For Ditto In Pokémon Go!

Ditto is an illusive, gelatinous Pokémon that can rearrange its cells to transform into different things.

Ditto is an illusive, gelatinous Pokémon that can rearrange its cells to transform into different things. As of this writing, this strange creature is the only non-legendary Pokémon that hasn't been caught (or even seen) in Pokémon Go. The hunt is on, however, and a Reddit threadis chronicling every theory and technique people have. It's a lengthy read that shows just how clever players are, but so far, no one has come any closer to unearthing this Pokémon.

If the data minedby one player is to be believed, we know Ditto is in the game. The data shows a Pokédex listing for Ditto that reads: " Ditto rearranges its cell structure to transform itself into other shapes. However, if it tries to transform itself into something by relying on its memory, this Pokémon manages to get details wrong." it also appears to have a base stamina of 96, attack of 110, and defense of 110. Max CP is listed as 919.62.

Regarding Ditto's history in other Pok émon games and lore, a Pester Ball was needed to transform a Bulbasaur into a Ditto in Pokémon Snap. The Pokémon cartoon episode "Ditto's Mysterious Mansion" showed Ditto posing as Pikachu. Pokémon Go's developer Niantic has hidden secrets based on the show, such as the Eevee's evolution options, in the game, so there is a chance that Ditto is linked to some form of existing content. Since Ditto could realistically be any Pokémon, Niantic could have its own secret planned for a potential transformation.

Digging through the data, Reddit users have found that the starter Pokémon (Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Charmander, and Pikachu) are the only ones with a base capture rate of 0.16 and a base flee rate of 0.1. Ditto has these same numbers, which could mean it is a starter Pokémon and people just haven't figured out how to make him spawn yet.

Some people believe Ditto could be linked to MewTwo, as Ditto's lore suggests it might be a failed version of this legendary Pokémon. Some players also think that since Ditto supposedly transforms into a rock while it sleeps, it could be posing as a Geodude or another rock-based type, potentially only at night.

Reddit's list of theories and failed theories are extensive, and even include people trying to spin a PokéStop 132 times (the same Pokédex number listing as Ditto), naming every Pokémon in their inventory "Ditto," and even talking specific phrases into the phone to try to make him appear.

It would appear thousands of people are on the hunt for Ditto. If this particular Pokémon isn't in the game yet, like all of the legendary Pokémon, Niantic should come forward and tell people to stop hunting. The collective time commitment people are putting forth is enormous and we'd hate for all of this effort to be wasted on something that they have no chance of unlocking at this point. If Ditto is in the game, cross your fingers and hope that the unlocking method is something everyone can do.

Total War: Shogun 2 releases Gold Edition in March

Total War: Shogun 2's add-on release schedule has shown a remarkable dedication to historical accuracy.

Total War: Shogun 2's add-on release schedule has shown a remarkable dedication to historical accuracy. First there was the Rise of the Samurai, then, inevitably, the Fall of the Samurai. Now comes the Bundle of the Samurai, giving you the chance to get a 2-for-1 deal on Samurai with Total War: Shogun 2 Gold Edition.

Gold Edition contains Shogun 2, both Samurai-centric add-ons, along with almost all of the game's DLC packs. The exception is the Blood Pack, presumably for rating reasons. No pricing details as of yet, but the Gold Edition is due for release March 8th in Europe and Australia, and March 5th in the US.

Going 'real indie': Valiant Hearts director launches new studio

When long-time Ubisoft Montpellier employee Yoan Fanise ( Valiant Hearts, Beyond Good & Evil ) became a free agent last month, I asked him what the future looks like for someone who's been ensconced in AAA development for 14 years.

" Why not go real indie after have been called 'fake indie' during my 2 years on Valiant Hearts ?" Fanise responded, after noting that co-directing Valiant Hearts felt like running a "gastronomic food truck" in the parking lot of the giant restaurant that is Ubisoft proper. " We’ll see in the near future."

That future was nearer than I expected, as Fanise has now gone ahead and started his own studio, Digixart, in Montpellier with co-founder Anne-Laure Fanise.

So far, the pair (pictured) have rounded up a handful of developers and some space in a Montpellier office building bristling with solar panels; "It is like I built my own food truck, instead of renting one," Fanise tells me.

Though he won't tell me how he came up with the money to launch Digixart ("that's confidential info, sorry"), Fanise did share some of his goals for the new studio and his reasons for going indie in a recent email exchange; what follows is an edited version of that conversation.

Tell me more about your new venture. Why leave Ubisoft after all this time?

Fanise: Things evolved very quickly after the BAFTA awardwin. The choice was tricky, between joining some of the best studios in the world far away, or staying here [in Montpellier] and creating a whole new studio from scratch.

And I think the challenge of the second one was so high and adventurous that it was worth the try. I don't see myself starting a company when I get old, so let’s give it a chance now!

The studio is named Digixart, because I received a prize on Valiant Hearts called the "tenth art," and I liked the idea of videogames becoming an art in itself. So I combined digit X for Roman ten and "art"...that makes Digixart.

Oh? I’m not sure I understand what you mean by “tenth art.”

It was an award from a group of developers called the "tenth art" that we received for Valiant Hearts last year. It gave me the idea for a part of the name of the company, but I still think it sounds pretentious so it has to come with the funny logo and video:

We are located in Montpellier, south of France, in a very nice solar panel-powered building. This region is the ideal position as there’s lots around here: many indie devs, the Mediterranean Sea and 300 days of sunshine weather that all North Europe and Canada should be jealous of. Lets transform Mont-real into Mont-pellier!

We are starting Digixart with 6 developers and some contractors and we will grow as the production of the first game progresses. We are a mix of senior people from the industry and young talented programmers; their knowledge of a great engine like Unity is gold. Many ex-colleagues from Ubisoft want to join me in this adventure but I don't have the budget to get them all...yet.

So why launch your own studio? What do you hope to accomplish that you couldn’t at Ubisoft?

First of all the total creative freedom it allows; there are so many ideas I want to try, ideas that the market might not see as "in fashion" or trendy. Some with deeper meaning, moving experiences, a lot of themes that have not been treated in videogames yet.

And secondly, to lighten the "mass." Like in physics, mass is an important parameter in game development -- the more your company has a heavy mass, the more energy you need to move it, and the slower it reacts.

So starting from scratch resets mass back to something close to zero: no more jiras, long meetings, just pure prototyping and talks with gamepad in hand. That sense of rapidity is unbelievably powerful; it makes you even more productive and creative.

I know that growing the company to gain a bigger production capacity will come with the challenge of not getting too “heavy”, but that's not yet a problem.

Fair enough. Now that you've left Ubisoft and tools like UbiArt behind, what tools will you use? Which platforms draw your interest?

I took time to compare them a lot and I was seduced by Unity 5. Some features like Everyplay and cloud building make a significant difference.

I'm open to all platforms as long as it allows people to access the game easily. I like the tactile sensation as much as the precision of the gamepads, but I don't care much about this; the feelings I hope to generate go beyond this aspect.

Iron Galaxy’s New Leadership Team Talks Life Beyond Killer Instinct

Earlier this week, Iron Galaxy announced that Adam Boyes, the longtime head of developer relations and third-party publishing at Sony's U.S. games division, was coming on as the new CEO.

Earlier this week, Iron Galaxy announced that Adam Boyes, the longtime head of developer relations and third-party publishing at Sony's U.S. games division, was coming on as the new CEO. Boyes had previously worked with Iron Galaxy founder Dave Lang at Midway in the early 2000s. Along with Boyes' addition, director of product development Chelsea Blasko was promoted to chief product officer. With a new-look leadership team, Iron Galaxy is hoping to expand on what the team has already done, as well as explore new areas of expansion and growth.

Iron Galaxy is perhaps best known for its work on fighting titles like Killer Instinct, Divekick, and Wreckateer, but the studio's catalog extends beyond those games. In addition to original development like those titles, Iron Galaxy has become one of the go-to studios for ports, working on releases including PS3/Xbox 360 ports of Street Fighter III: Third Strike, Marvel vs. Capcom Origins, and Darkstalkers Resurrection. The studio also worked on the Vita port of Borderlands 2 and the PC ports of the two most recent Batman: Arkham titles, Origins and Knight – the latter being widely criticized and eventually pulled from storefronts until it could be fixed.

Most recently, Iron Galaxy published Videoball, a sports game from indie developer Action Button Entertainment that has received strong pre-release reception.

We had a chance to chat with Boyes, Blasko, and Lang about how this move came about, what Boyes' addition means for Iron Galaxy, and their visions for the future.

Game Informer: What were the discussions like leading up to both Adam and Chelsea’s new roles?

Dave Lang: So, Chelsea’s been here the last six years – the company is almost eight years old now – and we’ve been growing steadily over that time doing just work-for-hire stuff. And it’s been really good, but it got to the point where we were so big that all of our focus was just keeping the existing business running and getting games out and we couldn’t focus on future planning and stuff like that. And so, we just kind of needed more firepower at the top of the company and when I started thinking about who that should be and who makes sense to bring into what me and Chelsea kind of established here, Adam was really the only person on the list. Obviously we’re really good friends, but above and beyond that, and more relevant to this discussion, and we worked together at Midway, we kind of came up through the ranks there. I know exactly what kind of person he is and seeing what he’s done at Sony and the kind of things we suck at and the things he’s awesome at just seem to go hand-in-hand. So, it also just fits. Adam as CEO is going to plot out the future stuff, and Chelsea and I can focus on the present and executing on what’s here. So, it all just kind of fits in my perspective.

Adam Boyes: O bviously I have my own reasons for coming on board. Dave and I have known each other; we came up at Midway together in 2003, we joined the same year within a couple weeks of each other. So, we’ve always kept in touch and worked across all of the different companies that I’ve been working with. But, for me it was just getting back to game development and, not necessarily getting my hands on the keyboard and programming, but working with creative teams and being able to build stuff was a huge, huge draw for me, and this is an incredible team of super-talented people that it just started making sense the more Dave and I were jamming on it.

GI: Adam, you said you were excited to get back into the game development side. What was so attractive about that?

AB: Well, you know, it’s funny, Brian. Because, I mean, when I was at Midway, when Dave and I were there together, we worked on SlugFest: Loaded and on Blitz: The League. There was this sort of... and it actually dawned on me from [working at Sony] – I loved my job there and I loved working with publishers and developers from around the world, and nothing made me happier than seeing a game like Firewatch come out and be super successful or The Witness and all these different studios that put their blood, sweat, and tears. And what I started to realize was giving birth to a product and putting it out into the marketplace [comes with a] roller coaster of emotions.

So as I traveled around the different studios and over the past year, I started just missing that feeling of being part of a family that focuses on one thing, which is putting out a game and pouring their heart and soul into it. I started sort of looking at my background of all the different, you know, from working in very complicated scenarios of like, doing this Star Wars deal with LucasArts, Disney, EA and PlayStation sort of collaborating on all that stuff together. And I started thinking about how could I apply that to the gaming industry, and what’s happened in the gaming industry. Because, right now, I think it’s absolutely the most exciting time to be an independent developer in the history of the industry. And when I look at Iron Galaxy, it’s so well positioned for what’s happening, you know they’ve been so involved in all emerging platforms.

Every time a new platform is coming out, they’re doing work on it, from Kinect with Wreckateer to mobile stuff with Scribblenauts. We’re on the cusp of VR and AR stuff which is super, super exciting. Then obviously all the new console platforms as well and when we look at the fighting game world and eSports and what’s happening in that place. So, you start to stack all these things up and the work that they were doing in publishing, and then really leaned in a lot of things that I fully believe in for the future. And also stuff that I can get super passionate about and bring my strengths to the table with all my relationships with publishers. And also collaborations, right? These collaborations I’ve had on a larger scale with big IP holders and stuff like that.

You know, right now Iron Galaxy is sort of spread out between Chicago and Orlando and that’s a huge strength. They’re able to collaborate with partners and work very closely together, even if they are apart. How can we take that to the next level? How can we sort of make more collaborative partnerships and stuff like that. So, when you tie all these things up together, and I look at the landscape of where the future’s going next, you know, five, ten years, to me in was kind of a no-brainer. And then knowing Dave for the last 13 years and it was, you know, meeting the teams and going to the studios, it was just like, ‘This is what I want to do with this crew.’

Iron Galaxy CEO Adam Boyes

GI: Your experience at PlayStation got you a lot of relationships with other publishers and developers, so how does that carry into this role beyond what you just said? Obviously you bring a ridiculously strong rolodex with you, but beyond that, what does all that experience you had at PlayStation, both being the guy who works on these deals and being a face of that company, mean for this role?

AB: I think it means that obviously all that publisher experience can now be applied. Dave and his team have worked closely with publishing Capsule Force and Divekick and Videoball and stuff like that. So how do we take that aspect of the business to the next level? How do we really understand how publishing works? Because publishing is super complex, and a lot of time that we spent at PlayStation was working with studios to help them understand the relationships of platforms and low-line media and support and stuff like that. I've got a little bit of an inside track on how that stuff works and how to bring basically best-in-class publishing methodology to the company. And then when we look at those relationships with publishers, obviously they have a face that they know and trust and they can basically talk to. obviously Dave, the Iron Galaxy team, and Chelsea have done a phenomenal job with many, many publishers out there. This adds that extra sort of layer of certainty to publishers.

You asked a question about being the face of it. That definitely helps too. And that’s not just with publishers and developers, but also with the IP holders. So that really expands our abilities, so now in my opinion, there’s nothing stopping us from doing anything that we want because we can have these [...] different relationships, walk into the room and some of them have seen me pulling off some bad dad jokes from the E3 stage. But that experience and knowledge of having been involved in many of the biggest deals at PlayStation is going to bring a lot of information and guidance to the company that we can apply.

GI: Do you think we’ll see more publishing deals like what Iron Galaxy recently did with Videoball with you on board?

AB: I think it’s definitely a place where a lot of my strengths lie, but right now we are looking at all the different opportunities out there. There has been a lot of work for hire work done in the past, there’s some IP ideas that the teams have, and then there’s also the [publishing deals]. So Dave, Chelsea and I are basically meeting very regularly to sort of hash out what does the next 2-to-5 year strategy look like as we build that up together. So, we’re not going to talk about it yet, but we’re definitely working on it right now.

DL: I think going forward we have to have the ability to be consistently successful publishing things, just to kind of have more freedom to do what we want to do. Now does that mean we’re publishing other people’s stuff? Does that mean we’re publishing little indie things? Does that mean we’re doing fundraising and publishing of bigger opportunities at Iron Galaxy maybe? We don’t know those answers yet, but I think one thing we all agree on is that we need to be able to publish stuff consistently and successfully, to go forward.

On the next page, we talk with Chelsea Blasko to find out what her new role means for her.

Total War: Arena devs explain free-to-play format

We still don't know much about Total War: Arena , the PvP strategy spin-off that will pit teams of up to 10 players against one another, each controlling small units led by historical generals.

, the PvP strategy spin-off that will pit teams of up to 10 players against one another, each controlling small units led by historical generals. We don't even have concept art to speculate over yet. But in a recent interview with Edge, Lead Designer James Russel has shared some tidbits about the game's free to play business model, and the reasoning behind it.

It may sound incredibly obvious, but Creative Assembly says it's going with free to play because they feel they need as many players as possible in their multiplayer pool. “The first is the reason why we're doing this is to make this great multiplayer experience…to have a player population on a different level,” says Russell. Previous games in the series have suffered with long matchmaking times and deserted lobbies—something I docked Shogun 2's otherwise great Avatar mode for. Thus, it stands to reason that something would need to change for a Total War title intended to stand on the strength of its multiplayer.

Creative Assembly also reassures that "pay to win" won't be a concern in Arena. Rather, the plan is to sell accelerators that "let you level-up your character faster so you get to high-level content more quickly." Again, nothing we haven't seen before in the free-to-play space, and nothing all that unexpected. If you haven't already, you can head over to the Total War: Arena siteto sign up to be informed of when the closed beta goes live.

An Introduction to Gaming in Australia

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The Public Tells Us Why Pokémon Go Is A Hit

In cities across the globe, you can't walk down the street without seeing a stranger trying to track down a Pokémon.

In cities across the globe, you can't walk down the street without seeing a stranger trying to track down a Pokémon. But do people actually enjoy it? And what happens when we put their Pokémon knowledge to the test? Senior Editor Ben Reeves dares to find out.

For more intense guerrilla journalism, check out our other man-on-the-street videos about the Xbox One versus the PlayStation 4or

Total War: Arena devs explain free-to-play format

We still don't know much about Total War: Arena , the PvP strategy spin-off that will pit teams of up to 10 players against one another, each controlling small units led by historical generals.

, the PvP strategy spin-off that will pit teams of up to 10 players against one another, each controlling small units led by historical generals. We don't even have concept art to speculate over yet. But in a recent interview with Edge, Lead Designer James Russel has shared some tidbits about the game's free to play business model, and the reasoning behind it.

It may sound incredibly obvious, but Creative Assembly says it's going with free to play because they feel they need as many players as possible in their multiplayer pool. “The first is the reason why we're doing this is to make this great multiplayer experience…to have a player population on a different level,” says Russell. Previous games in the series have suffered with long matchmaking times and deserted lobbies—something I docked Shogun 2's otherwise great Avatar mode for. Thus, it stands to reason that something would need to change for a Total War title intended to stand on the strength of its multiplayer.

Creative Assembly also reassures that "pay to win" won't be a concern in Arena. Rather, the plan is to sell accelerators that "let you level-up your character faster so you get to high-level content more quickly." Again, nothing we haven't seen before in the free-to-play space, and nothing all that unexpected. If you haven't already, you can head over to the Total War: Arena siteto sign up to be informed of when the closed beta goes live.

Fire Emblem DS Remake Leads Japanese Charts

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Jump to Section: Best Price Comments Pros Fantastic Star Wars story Superb voice acting Dark or Light - your moral choices decide Cons Or just pick an allegiance at the end Minigames can be frustrating Item collecting can be redundant Where The Phantom Menace failed, Knights Of The Old Republic succeeds brilliantly. This is a Star Wars prequel done right - with nary a Gungan in sight. KOTOR takes place

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Rome 2: Total War preview

This article originally appeared in issue 247 of PC Gamer UK.

Creative Assembly's Total War team is now almost four times larger than it was when developing the original Rome: Total War. Player expectations have advanced in tandem with technology, and the bar keeps rising: from Shogun's jagged sprites to Rome II's grime-streaked, battle-hardened soldiers, there's always more that can be done to render historical warfare with the depth of detail that has come to define the series.

For Rome II, Creative Assembly have divided their developers into cross-disciplinary 'functional teams'. Lead designer James Russell explains that individual aspects of the game – battles, the campaign, multiplayer – are being handled by small groups of programmers, designers and artists working closely together.

“You have multiple small teams, and you keep that small-team culture,” he explains. As the level of detail has increased, so the boundary between each of these disciplines has shrunk.

“We simulate things,” Russell says. “For example, the projectile system – it's fully simulated, and that's a really big deal. From a professional perspective, people might think that we're crazy to do that. In a typical RTS, you might say that in a given situation there'll be a specific kill rate.

“If a target enters cover you'll apply a modifier rule to the kill rate – minus 20 percent or whatever it is,” he adds. “Because we're a simulation, the kill rate is determined by whether the arrow hits or not. Whether or not cover affects the kill rate is a property of that cover – it's not in our control, directly, and that's really scary for a designer.

“But it does mean that you get all of these interesting properties of reality falling out for free. You don't need to create a gamey rule.”

In order to balance a system like this, Rome II's designers need to go back to the properties of real life – not the abstractions of wargaming. If men taking cover behind a line of rocks are dying to arrow fire faster than is desirable, then the solution has to come from the whole team – whether that's a designer tweaking the accuracy of bowmen, an artist redesigning the scenery, or a programmer tweaking the behaviour of the AI.

As much as Creative Assembly have stressed drama and spectacle in the early marketing push for the game, Russell is keen to point out that building a detailed presentation of war is a crucial part of improving the game's tactical depth.

“Our battles feel realistic, in an intuitive sense,” he says. When troops clash on the battlefield, in other words, the player shouldn't see a mathematical formula resolving itself: they should see thousands of individual people acting and responding according to the orders they've been given and the events around them. “You don't want to see the hand of the designer, in that respect, because you want it to feel like it couldn't be any other way. Real-world tactics should win in the game.”

Creative Assembly's state-of-the-art motion capture facility is hidden on the edge of a railway yard in west Sussex. It is, they believe, the largest developer-owned mocap suite in Europe – and the culmination of years of work on the part of their animation team.

For any other developer a facility like this would be a tremendous extravagance, but Creative Assembly can be confident in the fact that they will always be working on Total War games, and that they will always have a need for detailed and realistic depictions of men murdering one another on the battlefield.

The early build of Rome II that we've seen in action uses a fraction of the capture work that will go into the final game, Creative Assembly tells me.

Everything from simple marching animations to choreographed 'matched combat' sequences between two or more fighters will be pulled from a vast pool of data, breaking up the monotony of the battle line and investing each combatant with their own personality.

Then, as the dramatic actions of those individual troops propagate up through the simulation, Creative Assembly hope that the new level of detail they can achieve will pay dividends for the game as a whole.

“We want to have our cake and eat it,” Russell admits. “On the campaign map, we understand that it's a game of statecraft – but we want to make you feel that you're running an empire that's populated by real individuals, and that you're negotiating with AIs that feel like real people. It's about making the game feel massively enhanced at both ends of the scale.

“I think those two things actually reinforce each other,” he concludes. “That's the point. We want to take what we've learned and use that to push every aspect of the game forward without compromise. It's really scary. It's a really ambitious project. We've got a motto: 'If you're not shit scared, you're not trying hard enough.'”

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Jump to Section: Best Price Comments Pros Real artists on most songs Graphics that belong on Xbox 360 More multiplayer options Cons Sub-par covers annoy even more In-song strumming not as clever Going through lots o' batteries Go to page: Page 1 Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Oct 29, 2007 Guitar Hero is at a crossroads in its musical career. Its breakout indy release stunned the masses; its major-label debut

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Total War: Shogun 2 Otomo Clan DLC brings guns to swordfights

When the Portuguese first landed upon Japan's shores in 1543, they stroked their handlebar mustaches and said, "You know, that whole honorable swordsman thing is working well for you, but what you really need is our brand of GUNshido." They then shot the word "PORTUGAL" into the side of the Emperor's palace.

When the Portuguese first landed upon Japan's shores in 1543, they stroked their handlebar mustaches and said, "You know, that whole honorable swordsman thing is working well for you, but what you really need is our brand of GUNshido." They then shot the word "PORTUGAL" into the side of the Emperor's palace. My history recollection is probably incredibly inaccurate by now, but still, guns remain the central theme for the November 30 release of the Otomo Clan DLCfor Total War: Shogun 2. You'll get a new playable faction with five armed unit types, extra buildings, and special traits.

The Otomo Clan high-fived Portugal's trade deals early on during Japan's feudal fracas, and it nabs a number of assets following the basic military doctrine of "take anything and add a gun to it." The Otomo Donderbuss Cavalry, for example, masters the art of firing the shotgun-like Donderbuss rifle on horseback. The Otomo Matchlock Samurai combines fearsome swordsmanship with rifle-fire volleys range, because handing samurai another method of dealing swift death is both overkill and freaking awesome .

The Portuguese Tercos (which I read as "Portuguese Tacos" at first glance) and Otomo Matchlock Ashigaru supplement the samurai as long-range riflemen. On sea, the Otomo Matchlock Kobaya harnesses "Christian fervor" for more accurate shots during marine operations. I guess I missed the Bible passage granting dead-eye divinity.

Cash-strapped warlords can also lease off a single building slot per city to the Portuguese for a lump payment burst of funds towards rapid troop buildup. As for traits, the Otomo Clan provides appropriate bonuses to pumping out the firepower:

Can recruit cheaper gunpowder units (-10 percent) Missionary actions are cheaper (-15 percent) Improved conversion to clan religion (+2) Faster import of Matchlock Ashigaru units (-3)

Steam is offering a 10 percent discount on pre-purchases, so head over to the DLC's store pagefor more info.

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Jump to Section: Best Price Comments Pros HD movie clips Lots of questions and game types Well paced Party mode Cons Lengthy and annoying single player Pricey for a trivia game Requires 8 AA batteries Scene It? You probably have. It's a popular media-based trivia board game that's been available for years in numerous different editions. Even some On Demand cable plans have a free version. So what makes

Friday Night Fights - Master Chief vs. Commander Shepard

Truth be told, last week's bout between Agent 47 and Ezio was closer than we were expecting. That's no knock against IO Interactive's bio-engineered stone cold killer; he just doesn't have the same name recognition (and, who are we kidding, sex appeal) as gaming's deadly Don Juan. Maybe this month's release of Hitman: Absolution will change that. But to the week that is... When a villain is loose,

Total War: Shogun 2 Steam Workshop is live, mod tools and modders' wiki released

Recent rumblings from the Creative Assembly mod summit suggested that a Shogun 2 Steam Workshop and mod tools were on the way, and now they're here!

Recent rumblings from the Creative Assembly mod summit suggested that a Shogun 2 Steam Workshop and mod tools were on the way, and now they're here! You can peruse the Shogun 2 section of the Steam Workshopto download new maps and mods right now.

On the TWCenter forumsCA announce the arrival of the Total War Assembly Kit. This contains a collection of extremely useful programs for modders, including a unit editor and a campaign map reprocessor that allows for the creation of custom campaigns.

The Shogun 2 map editor has also been updated to allow users to create historical battles. The package is capped off with the launch of the Total War wiki, which will serve as a hub for information on the Assembly Kit, as well as more general Total War info.

That should tide us over nicely until Rome 2 arrives next year. You can watch the first in-game footageof the Creative Assembly's next big game while your Shogun 2 maps download. There's a massive Total War sale on Steamthis weekend to celebrate. Rome is available for just one pound. ONE POUND.

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Jump to Section: Best Price Comments Pros Games play like the real thing Cheaper than Chuck E. Cheese's No threat of dying on a faulty ride Cons Games play like the real thing Character customization is useless Where's the churro vendor? Go to page: Page 1 Page 1 Page 2 Mii-mingling, brain-training, virtual puppy-petting gamers concerned over the comparatively hardcore Metroid Prime 3 crashing their

Replay – Rogue Galaxy

Classics from yesteryear are suddenly new again on PlayStation 4.

Classics from yesteryear are suddenly new again on PlayStation 4. Our Replay mailbag is overflowing with requests to revisit the PlayStation 2 games Sony is re-releasing on PlayStation 4. We already took a look at the excellent stealth game Mark of Kri, today we're revisiting Rogue Galaxy, an ambitious science-fiction role-playing from developer Level-5.

The game choice comes courtesy of Game Informer friend Zachary Pligge, who donated $1,000 dollars to Game Informer's Extra Lifelive stream to appear in an episode of Replay. Pligge quickly shows off his knowledge of Rogue Galaxy, and Tim Turi does his best to make as much progress in the opening minutes of the game as he can. Kim Wallace, Game Informer's JRPG expert, is on hand to insight and criticize Turi's should he do something wrong. Rogue Galaxy sadly didn't sell well in Japan or North America, and stands as one of PlayStation 2's most under appreciated games. Here's hoping it finds the audience it deserves on PlayStation 4.

Our final segment in this week's show explores another little known PlayStation 2 game that is often compared to Pokemon. As always, leave us a comment, and let us know what you think of the show and the games featured within it. Also, check out the always amazing Replay fan group on Facebook.

-No that's not an easter egg at the end, just 3 uneventful minutes of black. Our video editing robot is on the fritz again...

Check out more episodes at our Replay hub.