Games

No Gears of War 2 for PC

Just as I finish venting my frustration after The Force Unleashed skips the PC platform, Epic Games lead designer Cliff Bleszinski goes and releases this statement:

"Gears of War is a great franchise first and foremost for Xbox 360 and therefore we're focusing on that platform for Gears of War 2. We've decided we're not going to do a PC version this time around".

Not that we didn't expect that, in order for the whole 'release on console then later release on PC' trick to work you've got to pretend you're not ever planning on releasing on PC so that [pirating] PC enthusiasts don't just wait it out.

Although this case is more about promoting the 360 than piracy, piracy is a huge problem and PC gamers are shooting themselves in the foot every time they do it, potentially killing the concept of gaming on the PC. The alternative to this is dumbed-down games designed for more casual play on consoles as AI reaction times and accuracy are drastically reduced and auto-aim mechanisms are installed.

Some of the smaller studios, Atari and Codemasters, just to name a couple, have started taking it out on pirates themselves by issuing an ultimatum of a £300 settlement or face a full-blown law suit. Our good friends at EA, one of the largest game publishers and developers, are refusing to go down this path as they have declined in participating with the recent law suits and continue to publish on the PC platform. Read on for reasons why.

Red Alert 3 Beta Review

Some people (the awesome ones mostly) have had a chance to play the Red Alert 3 beta, which is currently going for FilePlanet subscribers and people who bought Kane's Wrath.

For a review of beta, and a good preview of the next part of the C&C/Red Alert saga, check out our thoughts in the Red Alert 3 Review page.

Diablo 3 Colour Outcry

Did the title sound very petty? I mean, did I just say an outcry about the use of colours in the upcoming Diablo sequel? Well, yes and yes. If you haven't already heard the controversy over the use of more than 2 base colours in Diablo 3, then take a look at this MTV article.

A petition of some 50,000+ people have asked the art director of Diablo 3 to make a change in use of colours, specifically to de-saturate the design back to a traditional Diablo "grey and red" style.

It wasn't until Penny Arcade went and took a stab at the artists that drew the "what it should look like" Photoshop mocks that I really bothered to think twice about this. I think generally speaking most people are taking the "back in your box" mentality to the list of kiddies that feel the need to only use grey like an emo feels the need to only dress in black.

Aaannyyway, to the point. Although I personally feel that everyone on that list is a bunch of emo kids that really need to get out and discover the other 9/10ths of the visible colour spectrum, I'd like to offer them a few pointers:

1. When offering a comparison, make it an even comparison. What I'm trying to say is, you can't justify your point by applying a soft three-dimensional shadow system that hasn't been seen in any game to date. Also improving on texture detail and adding extra special effects is what we call "bias". Your images don't reflect the colour differences at all, just your impressive use of photoshop.
2. "wow gayness" is not an argument. So next time you contemplate seriously addressing a business matter, perhaps you could consider trying your very hardest to at least masquerade as mature.

Alright. I'm done ranting about something that has acquired way too much contraversy over something so, well, dumb. At least you have some cool links.

Dawn of War 2 Gameplay Trailer

With Dawn of War 2 approaching us umm, sometime, we're getting more video of Relic's "Essence Engine 2.0", the upgraded Company of Heroes engine that will be powering the Dawn of War sequel. So if you want to know what you get when you mix Dawn of War with Company of Heroes, then check out this Dawn of War 2 gameplay trailer.

Crysis: Warhead Announced

After the cliff-hanger ending in the Crysis story we were promised Crysis was going to be a trilogy. Unsuspecting EA and CryTek publish news of the second Crysis instalment, 'Crysis: Warhead'.

Crysis: Warhead will play a parallel story in the eyes of Psycho and is due late this year. Check out the Crysis: Warhead review for further details.

Call of Duty 4 Server

NovaTek is now hosting a Call of Duty 4 server. Default settings are a TDM map cycle on hardcore, ask an admin if you'd like to play something else. Server hosted in Brisbane for good east-coast coverage.

To connect via console punch in "connect novatek.com.au" or find it in the games list under "NovaTek CoD4 [HC]".

Happy fragging!

Starcraft 2 Demo

In an unexpected surprise, Blizzard have bestowed us with a demo to the much anticipated sequel to one of the most popular RTS games of all time, Starcraft. The 1.2 gig demo has 1 campaign mission and 2 skirmish/multiplayer levels. Grab it here.

Phantom-N SupCom Mod

A popular Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance mod these days is the Phantom mod, which turns the match into a tricky game of lies and subterfuge, greatly increasing the importance of strong deplomacy in multiplayer games.

A Phantom match dedicates one of the players as a Phantom 8 minutes into the game. All players are free to make or break alliances as they please and the aim of the game is to kill the Phantom. Of course, nobody knows who it is. The Phantom gets a resource bonus (30-50% of other players incomes) to help them in their cause of tricking other players into thinking someone else is the Phantom on their way to complete domination.

Recently a new mod, Phantom-N, was released offering new tricks with the introduction of a second Phantom (one third of players are now Phantoms). Even the Phantoms don't know who the other Phantom is, so even more trickery is at play.

Want to know more, check out the Phantom-N detail here.

Crysis 1.2 Patch

EA and Crytek have finally gotten around to fixing many of the bugs and glitches in their ground-breaking FPS, Crysis. This patch fixes a massive amount of things and even adds some new features.

A few quickies:

• Fixed a lot of animations and glitches with weapons
• Fixed the single-player "escort Prophet" bug
• Fixed a lot of cheats and exploits, such as firing while reloading, climbing a ladder while cloaked not using energy, ability to purchase wrong items using kits, etc
• In single player, the player is now more powerful (in melee and weapons) and the AI is less powerful (in melee and weapons). Didn't seem right that the super-solider was weaker, really.
• Added support for the G15 LCD in SP and MP
• DX10 performance optimisations

Read on for the full list, or head over to the Crysis Downloads section to grab the patch.

Mario Kart Wii Dated for Australia

I don't normally talk about console games, but I've always loved the Nintendo, and I do love the Mario Kart games. I couldn't help it.

Mario Kart Wii will be on Australian shelves April 24.

Red Alert 3 Confirmed

EA has just confirmed Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 is on the way and well into development. Check out the RA3 gallery for some screenies.

Frontlines: Fuel of War - Open Beta

Some readers have asked for a bit of info on the coming THQ title, "Frontlines: Fuel of War". An Unreal Engine 3 powered FPS set for release in February.

We don't have a preview for you, but instead we'd like to point you to the open beta currently running on Fileplanet. Head over to Fileplanet to grab the beta before it closes.

Assassin's Creed PC Requirements

It seems that Assassin's Creed will be joining FarCry 2 for a March 25 release on the PC. In preparation for the release Ubisoft has released the minimum requirements for the game to run on the PC platform.

FarCry 2 Teaser Trailer

FarCry 2 is Ubisoft's chance to regain some of the respect lost from recent poorly developed titles. Ubi is now just starting to release more media and information on the upcoming sequel, told only using 2-3% of the original CryEngine code.

FarCry 2 is set to put Crysis to shame if it pulls off what we are hearing. The new game is set for release on March 25 for PC fans, and much later on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. FarCry 2, powered by the new Dunia Engine, will support DirectX 10, as well as DirectX 9.

Head over to the FarCry 2 Videos page for the trailer. We'll update you when the full trailer is released.

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 Trailer

We've put up the official Rainbow Six Vegas 2 "teaser trailer" from Ubisoft, grab it in the R6V2 Videos section. For more details on Rainbow Six Vegas 2, head over to the R6V2 Review.