Blackhats Clan

Every week, Richard Cobbett rolls the dice to bring you an obscure slice of gaming history, from lost gems to weapons grade atrocities. In the third part of Star Trek Month, it’s time for a trip to the Federation’s darkest corner – the hub of politics and intrigue that is Deep Space Nine.

Deep Space Nine is almost the anti-Star Trek. Where the others were fervently optimistic, it was realistic. Its Captain lied and cheated and did back-room deals to get the job done. Its crew included a former terrorist, a genetic outlaw, a thief, and a lost member of the baddies with a tendency to forget his loyalties. It showed that the Federation had dirty-tricks divisions, that even Paradise isn’t perfect, and that there is no more horrible sight in the universe than a greedy Ferengi in drag.

Most importantly, it remains the only Star Trek series so far to really dig into the implications of the seemingly utopian Federation. What happens to those of us who aren’t perfect? What happens in the face of a threat that can’t be conveniently dealt with in an hour – or 42 minutes, including adverts? Sure, Babylon 5 covered much of the same ground, but much of the fascination of Deep Space Nine was seeing how Star Trek specifically fared in the ‘real world’ when the chips finally went down.

(It’s also the only series in history whose creators specifically released counterfeit merchandise, just to give collectors everywhere the pleasure of holding it up with a hiss of “It’s a FAAAAAAKE!” Or so I encourage you to believe, tell your friends, and add to respectable wikis everywhere.)

But what of the games? Surely they’re just as brilliant as the show? Yeah. About that…

'Station Log: Today I met the most boring person ever.' 'Hey, I'm RIGHT HERE!' 'I am aware of this.'

The problem with a series like Deep Space Nine is that, much like Babylon 5, it was one of the first mainstream shows to really do plot arcs and story development instead of being largely individual episodes written for syndication purposes. That makes it tough to slip a story that actually means anything into the mix – but worse, means that developers have no idea what the state of play is actually going to be like when the game comes out and thus what the players will be expecting.

Though it wasn’t ever likely to be this…

As a counter, in The Next Generation, you could be fairly sure what the status quo would be. There may be a few changes here and there, like Troi becoming a command officer or Worf’s backstory being revealed, but those are minor details. Picard would be giving speeches, Riker would smile smugly and Troi would still crash the bloody ship. The Next Generation was conveniently reliable like that.

Deep Space Nine on the other hand was anybody’s guess. The premise, of a small mining station that becomes a hub of importance with the discovery of a wormhole to the other side of the galaxy on its doorstep, soon went from ‘alien of the week’ stories to all out war. Every season was different, from the weak opener with episodes like Move Along Home and If Wishes Were Horses to the political upheavals of the second. As a specific example, it wasn’t until the third series that it was revealed that there was a hostile empire called the Dominion on the other side of the wormhole, and that idea itself wasn’t invented until almost a couple of years into the show. Even so, any attempt to use the wormhole to tell stories that didn’t factor this in was going to seem silly. And Deep Space Nine was anything but silly.

(Probably the worst ever case of this was for Farscape: The Game, which was atrocious anyway, but really suffered particularly from being set at the end of the first series and so focusing on stuff that hadn’t meant a damn thing to the show for literally years. Its plot can be summed up as ‘a mysterious forest appears on a planet and for some reason you care’. Only it was even duller than this sounds…)

Couple this with the fact that Deep Space Nine was an acquired taste that split Trek fandom with its attitude, and it’s not too surprising that there weren’t many games. In fact, there were exactly three on PC, all with a certain “What the hell do we do?” feel of desperation dripping from them. There was another in development, simply called “The Hunt”, but it got cancelled and only exists now in this preview. It doesn’t look very good, though, especially the bit where Science Officer Dax has an arse on her chin.

Ah, Ops. A little bigger than on the show. And with far more people called suCKmyCOLLECTIVE_89

There is one way to take a trip round Deep Space Nine though, in a form you may have missed – Star Trek Online. It’s free to play, and while I don’t particularly like the game itself, it is worth finishing the tutorial, closing the quest screen entirely, and heading into the Bajor system to check this bit out. You don’t need to level up or do any pre-requisites to board. Just fly there and dock.

Arriving, you’re first warned that some work has been done to the place – this is developer Cryptic’s way of saying “don’t expect perfection, fanboys!” – and the cast of the show aren’t around, but visually it’s pretty good. You can go shopping on the Promenade, and visit the upper level to check out the wormhole. You can head up to Ops, where you’ll probably see a random bunch of people jumping on the consoles like gibbering monkeys, and visit Sisko’s office to check out his baseball. Like the rest of the game, it’s all a little oversized, but the sentiment is there. You can also beam down to Bajor proper if you want, where a cute custom ground region awaits your crew, and one of the missions involves walking around on DS9′s hull. There’s even a whole episode of the in-game story devoted to a dropped thread from the show – a fleet of invading Jem’hadar ships eaten by the wormhole.

Not to be crass, but I'm not sure that's enough... ah... polygons for Leeta.

Probably the best handled individual bit though is Quark’s Bar. It looks decent by STO standards, and has a (almost) unique mini-game to play – Dabo, which is Bajoran for “Roulette With Boobs”. This specific game is run by a hologram of Deep Space Nine’s occasionally appearing Ms. Fanservice, Leeta, who mostly existed to demonstrate that deeply spiritual peoples can indeed invent breast implants, to provide any PG rated nudity that the rest of the cast wasn’t up for, and remind the world that hotties will occasionally turn down handsome, charming doctors in favour of dribbling orange trolls called Rom.

(To give her credit though, it worked out – not least because Rom eventually developed into a heroic figure who became the leader of his people. So, yeah. Way to go, Leeta, I guess…)

Ah, the Promenade. Two levels of shopping, but mostly geeking out.

What you won’t find in Star Trek: Online’s version of Quark’s Bar though are the Holosuites – which are much the same as The Next Generation’s holodecks, only with the understanding that no matter how enlightened they are, no people with a machine capable of creating any fantasy in the universe are going to just fight the Battle of the Alamo and pretend to be Victorian governesses and the like. The main cast never really indulged, but it was understood that not all of Quark’s customers were so restrained – one episode’s B story was entirely about an alien trying to get him to make a virtual love-doll of Kira, the station’s first officer, and a woman doomed to always be described using the dreadful word ‘feisty’.

Sadly, building a room capable of creating anything in the universe proved beyond Star Trek Online’s designers – the wusses – so forget about having a hot stardate, milking the franchise, cleaning out Jeffrey’s tubes, whacking off with Weyoun, penetrating the galactic barrier, implanting a Trill, turning O’Brien smiley, touching Q’s finger, worshipping the Celestial Temple, spooning like Cardassian voles, making first, second and third contact, using the Vulcan kegel pinch, riding a runabout, venturing into the pink wormhole, fondling your Tribbles, bumping Pakleds, making Odo splash on the floor, adopting the Emissary position, distributing some ketrasex-white, waltzing with Bashir, relocating some Space Seed, warping to fourth base, giving Bones double-duty, doing the Efram Cochran, promoting the bald Captain, digging into fresh gagh, being fingered by the hands of the Prophets, giving it the old Badda-Bing Badda-Bang, communing with a couple of Bajoran orbs, getting some glop-on-your-stick, engorging holosuite safeties, going to subspace with the Dominion, lapping the habitation ring, jerking the Kirk, docking at Deep Space Sixty-Nine, buggering a Borg, or setting phasers to spunk.

At least for now. Maybe in a future expansion pack…

Welcome to Derp Space Nine.

There are three official Deep Space Nine games. The third of them is the easiest described – it’s a really buggy, not very good strategy game called Dominion Wars with little of note to really say about it save that it exists and is deservedly forgotten. To fill some time, I shall hum a little. Dum de dee de dum.

The first proper attempt, Harbinger, was an adventure game designed to test the limits of human boredom. You play Envoy Nobody of the Planet Nobody Cares About, on the way back from Operation: Whatever. The trip is rudely interrupted by an attack by drones that even the Daleks would make pepper pot jokes about, and you end up crashing on an almost deserted Deep Space Nine.

Hello? Anyone there? Should I come back later? Like... in 2012?

What follows is one of the most sterile, tedious adventures ever, with a cast that look like they were digitised based on action figures rather than the actual actors, and the kind of voice-work that doesn’t quite feature Captain Sisko going “Station Log: This morning I woke up and decided to spend the day not giving a shit”, but really gets close at times. It does at least feature Avery Brooks as Sisko, along with the actors for Dax, Kira, Odo and Quark, but even their presence only helps so much in a plot with so much padding and so much excruciatingly tiresome technobabble delivered by a main character who sounds like he’d be more comfortable filing tax returns than saving Deep Space Nine.

To make matters even worse, the dialogue is endless, the drama non-existent, the animation hyper-limited, and instead of music, Harbinger opts for a constant ‘woomph woomph’ ambient thing that acts like white noise. They should use this game as a sleeping aid. For the dead.

I have a Borg teddy bear bought from the Star Trek Experience, and even I'm calling bullshit on that.

The closest Harbinger gets to being fun is in a B-Movie kind of way. One of the hardest puzzles in the entire game is walking round Operations, which uses a Myst style first-person control scheme with controls designed by Satan. Without a word of a lie, you can be trapped next to an open door because you can’t find the bit of the screen that turns you towards it, and actually navigating is toe-curlingly insane. The only reason to endure it is to realise that yes, you really do end up fighting a race called the “Tarragan” – the most dangerous herbs in the galaxy! (Sadly, they don’t have thyme travel.) It’s like every Christmas came at once and all you got was a mountain of coal!

Here’s your friendly neighbourhood Let’s Play. How long can you stick it out?

Yeah. I can’t outright say that nobody involved with this game cared even a little about it, but that’s very much the vibe you get from it. It completely wastes the show’s canon wherever possible, and the only reason to play it at the time was that it was at least a way of wandering around the station. Now, it’s so boring that if you used it as a frisbee, your dog would fall asleep instead of catching it.

Ah. Captain, it appears our universe is incompatible with modern graphics cards.

By contrast, the second game – The Fallen – hasn’t aged well, but was an extremely solid release. It was weighed down by having one of the worst names and box designs in spin-off history – just check out this awful thing – but was an acceptable Unreal powered shooter for 2000.

Story-wise, it takes place in the sixth season of the show (of seven) and features most of the cast. Avery Brooks didn’t show up, and was replaced by a Sisko apparently ordered to actively not do an Avery Brooks impression, while Colm Meaney (who played the station engineer O’Brien) was punished for his non-appearance by forever knowing he inflicted one of the worst Oirish accents ever on an unsuspecting world. Every line his replacement speaks ends on a silent ‘Faith and begorrah!’

Ah, so that's what happened to Leeta's polygons...

The main plot is fairly complex if you don’t know Deep Space Nine’s backstory up to this point, but I’ll try to sum it up quickly. Before Deep Space Nine was Deep Space Nine, it was a Cardassian mining station called Terok Nor, where the oppressed Bajoran people were forced to process ore to buy both food, and the essential little brushes required to get gunk out of their pesky nose-wrinkles. When the Cardassians finally withdrew, the Federation took over the station with a mind to helping the Bajorans recover from the brutal Occupation and sign-up – only to have a giant wormhole open up right next to the planet that instantly turned it into one of the galaxy’s most important tactical locations.

The wormhole turned out to be home to a race of mostly nice god-aliens called the Prophets – a bunch of swirly confusion balls who pretended not to know about linear time, but were pretty clearly just dicking with everyone. However, over time it turned out that there was another set of not-so-nice god aliens who had been banished from the wormhole for constantly dismissing everything. For this, they became known as the “Pah!” Wraiths, and condemned to labour forever on Bajoran high-streets as baristas in a chain of coffee shops called “Costa Mojan”. Or something like that. It’s been a while since I saw the show.

Tell Ensign Jones that next time he screws up, reporting it by singing 'Ops, I did it again' will result in his death.

Anyway, The Fallen is about them and their worshippers’ attempts to set them loose, and it’s your job to stop them. Mostly, this is done through standard third-person shooter methods – but not without a few quirks. For starters, you can choose to play as three different characters, Captain Sisko, first officer Kira, and token Klingon Worf – and each gets their own path through the game and style of playing. Sisko spends most of his time indulging in a mix of puzzle solving and shooting, Worf shoots everything and smashes them over the head for good measure, and Kira bounces comfortably between exploration and using the power of the Death Note to execute criminals. Something for everyone then!

As with STO, arguably the best bit is ambling around Deep Space Nine itself between missions – with a few of the actual characters like Quark and Garak and Morn in residence rather than a bunch of new people you don’t care about. There’s not a lot to do, but you can check out Quark’s, visit the Bajoran Shrine, and get around a hell of a lot more easily than in Harbinger. There’s even a few people there. Not many, but some! And some is always better than none, except in MMOs where people suck.

Here’s Not-Sisko in action for the actual game part though. Enjoy the awful acting, the inevitable third-person crab-walking, and those ‘beautiful’ early 3D environments from the era before people learned to program lightswitches and complicated geometry in the Unreal engine.

It’s tough to say that Deep Space Nine ‘deserved’ better. Even during its run, it was the show that nobody really expected to get an awesome game out of, and the attempts faded from memory incredibly quickly. Still, at least it got a couple. More than you can say for Babylon 5.

Next week, Star Trek Month concludes with… ugh… Voyager. Can the most insipid of shows without the word ‘Enterprise’ in the title lead to some of its most memorable games? Maybe. And while the high points are pretty well known already, it may not even need an elite force to make it so.

Oh yes. There is… another.

Publisher to provide free distribution services for 90 days for any successfully crowd-funded PC title; Wasteland 2 first confirmed game.

 

Electronic Arts' Origin digital distribution platform boasts a vast game catalog of AAA titles like Mass Effect 3 and Battlefield 3, but now the publisher is courting smaller developers. EA announced today that it will provide free distribution services for any successfully crowd-funded PC title for 90 days after launch.

EA is hoping to attract indie developers to Origin with the promise of 90 days of free distribution services.

The first crowd-funded project confirmed for Origin is Inxile Entertainment's Wasteland 2. That game quickly surpassed its Kickstarter funding target earlier this year, climbing to over $2.93 million. Company CEO Brian Fargo said the 90 days of free distribution services represents a "major economic bonus" for the studio.

Gabriel Knight designer Jane Jensen also pledged her support for EA's new crowd-funded promotion. She said, "It's great to see a big publisher like EA opening up distribution opportunities for these games." Jensen's crowd-funded Pinkerton Road studio recently exceeded its $300,000 target.

EA confirmed to GameSpot this afternoon that Jensen's inclusion in the announcement was only to demonstrate her support for the program and is not confirmation that her first title--Moebius--will be released as part of it.

EA specifically called out the Kickstarter crowd-funding platform as one that developers can utilize, though others are available. Those interested in hosting their title through Origin can complete a submission form at the Origin publishing portal.

On top of announcing it would waive distribution fees for crowd-funded titles for 90 days, EA revealed today that Origin now boasts 12 million members, up from an 11 million user count announced earlier this month.

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

"EA Origin wants crowd-funded games" was posted by Eddie Makuch on Fri, 18 May 2012 13:47:05 -0700

Publisher to provide free distribution services for 90 days for any successfully crowd-funded PC title; Wasteland 2 first confirmed game.

 

Electronic Arts' Origin digital distribution platform boasts a vast game catalog of AAA titles like Mass Effect 3 and Battlefield 3, but now the publisher is courting smaller developers. EA announced today that it will provide free distribution services for any successfully crowd-funded PC title for 90 days after launch.

EA is hoping to attract indie developers to Origin with the promise of 90 days of free distribution services.

The first crowd-funded project confirmed for Origin is Inxile Entertainment's Wasteland 2. That game quickly surpassed its Kickstarter funding target earlier this year, climbing to over $2.93 million. Company CEO Brian Fargo said the 90 days of free distribution services represents a "major economic bonus" for the studio.

Gabriel Knight designer Jane Jensen also pledged her support for EA's new crowd-funded promotion. She said, "It's great to see a big publisher like EA opening up distribution opportunities for these games." Jensen's crowd-funded Pinkerton Road studio recently exceeded its $300,000 target.

EA confirmed to GameSpot this afternoon that Jensen's inclusion in the announcement was only to demonstrate her support for the program and is not confirmation that her first title--Moebius--will be released as part of it.

EA specifically called out the Kickstarter crowd-funding platform as one that developers can utilize, though others are available. Those interested in hosting their title through Origin can complete a submission form at the Origin publishing portal.

On top of announcing it would waive distribution fees for crowd-funded titles for 90 days, EA revealed today that Origin now boasts 12 million members, up from an 11 million user count announced earlier this month.

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

"EA Origin wants crowd-funded games" was posted by Eddie Makuch on Fri, 18 May 2012 13:47:05 -0700

Publisher to provide free distribution services for 90 days for any successfully crowd-funded PC title; Wasteland 2 first confirmed game.

 

Electronic Arts' Origin digital distribution platform boasts a vast game catalog of AAA titles like Mass Effect 3 and Battlefield 3, but now the publisher is courting smaller developers. EA announced today that it will provide free distribution services for any successfully crowd-funded PC title for 90 days after launch.

EA is hoping to attract indie developers to Origin with the promise of 90 days of free distribution services.

The first crowd-funded project confirmed for Origin is Inxile Entertainment's Wasteland 2. That game quickly surpassed its Kickstarter funding target earlier this year, climbing to over $2.93 million. Company CEO Brian Fargo said the 90 days of free distribution services represents a "major economic bonus" for the studio.

Gabriel Knight designer Jane Jensen also pledged her support for EA's new crowd-funded promotion. She said, "It's great to see a big publisher like EA opening up distribution opportunities for these games." Jensen's crowd-funded Pinkerton Road studio recently exceeded its $300,000 target.

EA confirmed to GameSpot this afternoon that Jensen's inclusion in the announcement was only to demonstrate her support for the program and is not confirmation that her first title--Moebius--will be released as part of it.

EA specifically called out the Kickstarter crowd-funding platform as one that developers can utilize, though others are available. Those interested in hosting their title through Origin can complete a submission form at the Origin publishing portal.

On top of announcing it would waive distribution fees for crowd-funded titles for 90 days, EA revealed today that Origin now boasts 12 million members, up from an 11 million user count announced earlier this month.

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

"EA Origin wants crowd-funded games" was posted by Eddie Makuch on Fri, 18 May 2012 13:47:05 -0700

Publisher to provide free distribution services for 90 days for any successfully crowd-funded PC title; Wasteland 2 first confirmed game.

 

Electronic Arts' Origin digital distribution platform boasts a vast game catalog of AAA titles like Mass Effect 3 and Battlefield 3, but now the publisher is courting smaller developers. EA announced today that it will provide free distribution services for any successfully crowd-funded PC title for 90 days after launch.

EA is hoping to attract indie developers to Origin with the promise of 90 days of free distribution services.

The first crowd-funded project confirmed for Origin is Inxile Entertainment's Wasteland 2. That game quickly surpassed its Kickstarter funding target earlier this year, climbing to over $2.93 million. Company CEO Brian Fargo said the 90 days of free distribution services represents a "major economic bonus" for the studio.

Gabriel Knight designer Jane Jensen also pledged her support for EA's new crowd-funded promotion. She said, "It's great to see a big publisher like EA opening up distribution opportunities for these games." Jensen's crowd-funded Pinkerton Road studio recently exceeded its $300,000 target.

EA confirmed to GameSpot this afternoon that Jensen's inclusion in the announcement was only to demonstrate her support for the program and is not confirmation that her first title--Moebius--will be released as part of it.

EA specifically called out the Kickstarter crowd-funding platform as one that developers can utilize, though others are available. Those interested in hosting their title through Origin can complete a submission form at the Origin publishing portal.

On top of announcing it would waive distribution fees for crowd-funded titles for 90 days, EA revealed today that Origin now boasts 12 million members, up from an 11 million user count announced earlier this month.

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

"EA Origin wants crowd-funded games" was posted by Eddie Makuch on Fri, 18 May 2012 13:47:05 -0700

Publisher to provide free distribution services for 90 days for any successfully crowd-funded PC title; Wasteland 2 first confirmed game.

 

Electronic Arts' Origin digital distribution platform boasts a vast game catalog of AAA titles like Mass Effect 3 and Battlefield 3, but now the publisher is courting smaller developers. EA announced today that it will provide free distribution services for any successfully crowd-funded PC title for 90 days after launch.

EA is hoping to attract indie developers to Origin with the promise of 90 days of free distribution services.

The first crowd-funded project confirmed for Origin is inXile Entertainment's Wasteland 2. That game quickly surpassed its Kickstarter funding target earlier this year, climbing to over $2.93 million. Company CEO Brian Fargo said the 90 days of free distribution services represents a "major economic bonus" for the studio.

Gabriel Knight designer Jane Jensen also pledged her support for EA's new crowd-funded promotion. She said, "It's great to see a big publisher like EA opening up distribution opportunities for these games." Jensen's crowd-funded Pinkerton Road studio recently exceeded its $300,000 target.

EA confirmed to GameSpot this afternoon that Jensen's inclusion in the announcement was only to demonstrate her support for the program, and is not confirmation that her first title--Moebius--will release as part of it.

EA specifically called out the Kickstarter crowd-funding platform as one that developers can utilize, though others are available. Those interested in hosting their title through Origin can complete a submission form at the Origin publishing portal.

On top of announcing it would waive distribution fees for crowd-funded titles for 90 days, EA also revealed today that Origin now boasts 12 million members, up from an 11 million user count announced earlier this month.

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

"EA Origin wants crowd-funded games" was posted by Eddie Makuch on Fri, 18 May 2012 13:47:05 -0700

Our favorite deal this week is ARMA2: Combined Operations for $14.99 at Amazon. A sale on a two year old release wouldn’t normally be exciting, but the amazing Day Z zombie mod has us so fascinated that it’s biting into our Diablo III time. Also on Amazon, get Borderlands for $7.49 and Metro 2033 for $4.99.

Meanwhile, GameFly has Torchlight for $3.75, Steam has 33% off Ubisoft games, and GOG is selling EA classics such as Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri for $2.99. See all of this week’s game deals inside!

STEAM

Ubisoft dominates Steam’s big weekend sale with 33% off all the Clancy and Creed you could want.

• 33% off Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 – $6.69
• 33% off Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter – $6.69
• 33% off Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon- $6.69
• 33% off Splinter Cell Conviction – $13.39
• 33% off Assassin’s Creed Revelations – $26.79
• 33% off Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood – $20.09
• 33% off Assassin’s Creed 2 – $13.39
• 33% off Prince of Persia – $13.39
• 33% off Driver San Francisco – $20.09
• 33% off Might & Magic Heroes VI – $33.49
• 33% off Might & Magic Heroes VI – $33.49
• 75% off Serious Sam Complete Pack – $21.75
• More Steam deals

 

AMAZON

Amazon’s picked up on the popularity of Day Z and has stripped 50% off ARMA 2: Combined Operations, which is all you need to play it. It’s also got good deals on Metro 2033 and Borderlands, and, as always, Tropico 4 is on sale. Maybe they should just change the list price?

• 50% off ArmA 2: Combined Operations – $14.99
• 75% off Metro 2033 – $4.99
• 75% off Medal of Honor – $4.99
• 75% off Borderlands – $7.49
• 50% off Mount & Blade: Warband – $10.03
• 30% off Sid Meier’s Civilization V – $21.06
• 25% off Dungeon Siege 3 – $14.95
• 50% off Tropico 4 – $19.99
• 26% off Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 – $14.75
• 33% off Assassin’s Creed Revelations – $26.79
• 15% off Mass Effect 3 – $50.99
• More Amazon PC game downloads

 

GAMEFLY

If Diablo III isn’t your cup of tea, Torchlight is only $3.75 on Gamefly. If you don’t like tea at all, head elsewhere. You can probably find some coffee on Amazon or Steam. METAPHORS!

• 75% off Torchlight – $3.75

 

GAMESTOP

We’re calling this section “GameStop” instead of “Impulse” now, because “Impulse” isn’t used on the site. Though it’s only 20% off, it’s the only place we’re still seeing a Skyrim sale at the moment.

• 20% off The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – $39.99
• 50% off InMomentum – $4.99
• 78% off 2K Ultimate Bundle – $69.99
• 65% off Tropico 4: Modern Times – $6.99
• 50% off Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition – $19.99
• More GameStop deals

 

GREEN MAN GAMING

GMG has now dropped 50% off Super Meat Boy, and this week it introduces a whopping 80% off Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

• 50% off Super Meat Boy – $7.47
• 80% off Deus Ex: Human Revolution – $5.99
• More deals from Green Man Gaming

 

GOOD OLD GAMES

This week’s themed GOG sale is a good one: 50% off classic EA worlds including Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, Dungeon Keeper, and Populous!

• 50% off Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri – $2.99
• 50% off Dungeon Keeper – $2.99
• 50% off Dungeon Keeper 2 – $2.99
• 50% off Populous – $2.99
• 50% off Populous 2: Trials of the Olympian Gods- $2.99
• 50% off SimCity 2000 Special Edition – $2.99

 

GAMERSGATE

• 70% off Medal of Honor (2010) – $5.99
• 75% off Medal of Honor: Airborne – $2.49
• More offers from GamersGate

 

Know of any more game deals this weekend? Drop them in the comments!

EA wants to be your pal, indie developers — it’s even buying the first round of drinks. The publisher announced today that it will distribute games funded by Kickstarter and Indiegogo on Origin for 90 days without fees. When they’re done, crowdfunded projects such as Wasteland 2 will have the opportunity to reach Origin’s 12 million customers (a.k.a. people who own Battlefield 3, Mass Effect 3, or The Old Republic) and keep EA’s share during the launch.

The offer is open to any “fully-funded, complete and ready-to-publish games designed for digital download to PC platforms.” Brian Fargo, CEO of inXile, and Jane Jensen of Pinkerton Road Studio voiced support for EA’s offer in the press release.

“Crowd-funded projects are like the ‘people’s choice awards’ — a way for gaming fans to express what they want to buy and play,” said Jensen. “It’s great to see a big publisher like EA acknowledging that and opening up distribution opportunities for these games.”

We sat down with some of the guys at Gas Powered Games to discuss some big changes coming to in Age of Empires Online’s summer update. In the first part of the interview, they discussed moving from a “Free to Play with paid DLC” model, to a more “true Free to Play” model where anything you could unlock faster with real money will be earnable by playing the game.

PC Gamer: In the summer update, you’re allowing players to earn previously paid-only content, like civs, with Empire points. What motivated this change?

Steve Bauman, Design Lead: To be clear, Gas Powered Games isn’t in charge of the business side of the game, though as a partner of Microsoft, we are involved in the decision making process. They visit our offices a lot to talk about these kinds of things, and to drink our Mexi-Cokes. They will deny this, but they know it’s true.

As designers, we prefer to spend as little time thinking about business and monetization and all of those other exciting buzzwords to focus on new features and civs.

Eric Williamson, Systems Design Lead: But once the decision was made, we wanted to make sure we rewarded our most active players, because keeping them around is best for the game. A large player base is positive for the game in a number of ways: it results in more people to trade with, play PvP against, and strategize with. We’d rather have someone play and not spend any money than not play at all, and the old system didn’t really support that.

Brian Fricks, Design Lead: For me, the new model is just easier to understand. Earn or buy Empire Points. Spend Empire Points on what you want. Simple is good.

Soon you'll be able to earn cool stuff like the Premium Celt civilization without blowing all that cash you were going to spend on your real-life authentic druid garb.

PCG: Was the old system too restrictive?

EW: Yea, in the sense that the game really wasn’t free to play; it was more of a free to try. We probably turned off a lot of players who would’ve kept playing had they been given the option to earn a Premium Civilization. At some point you realize, “I’m going to have to pay if I want to get the maximum benefit of my civilization.” Now, the choice is up to you: play and earn it over time or pay and upgrade immediately. Our hope is that some of those people who left will come back and give the game a second try.

SB: I’m not sure it was overly restrictive. It was just… different, and as Eric said, it didn’t meet the expectation established by most other free-to-play games. Players expect to be able to earn for-pay items through play over time, with real-money being an option for those who want to speed up the process. Age Online was previously a DLC model with a free base game. The fact we had to explain it to players and the press was an immediate red flag.

PCG: What’s the development target for how many hours/missions a player should have to spend earning EP in game in order to buy a civilization?

EW: Right now it’s possible to earn a premium civilization in as short as two to three weeks of daily play, although this can vary depending on how many quests you do.

PCG: Will every mission in the game (including PvP, Skirmishes, Defense of Crete, repeatables) give EP, or only a few?

EW: Only a few. You’ll earn EP from playing specific campaign quests on your way from level 1-40. If you’re level 40, you can play PvP, Skirmish and Defense of Crete as a part of the Alliance Wars end-game. You won’t directly get EP from completing those quests, but you’ll receive EP rewards for participating in the Alliance Contests.

BF: And because you earn EP for leveling up, every quest does help you earn when you are starting a new civ or playing for the first time. Over time, this adds up.

New massively multiplayer online game from embattled 38 Studios landing in 12 months; first trailer revealed.

38 Studios' massively multiplayer online game currently codenamed Project Copernicus is scheduled to arrive in June 2013. The news comes from Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee, who revealed the date today during a press conference attended by Joystiq discussing the future of embattled Providence-based 38 Studios.

How often does a state official announce a release date?!

Further details on the game were not revealed, as Chafee simply stated, "What I understand is Copernicus is June '13." Requests to 38 Studios for confirmation of the date were not returned as of press time.

Also during the briefing today, Chafee announced that 38 Studios' $1.125 million check to the state of Rhode Island has cleared. This fulfills the company's first obligated payment on the game studio's controversial 2010 $75 million loan from the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (RIEDC).

38 Studios founder Curt Schilling offered his first public comments on the issues surrounding the company last night through Facebook.

"To all the prayers and well wishes to the team and families at 38, God Bless and thank you! We will find a way, and the strength, to endure," he wrote.

The RIEDC board Wednesday held an emergency meeting to discuss whether to provide additional assistance to 38 Studios to keep the company in business. While the board made no ruling on the matter, it is expected to consider the topic again on Monday.

[UPDATE]: Shortly after the publication of this article, 38 Studios uploaded a teaser trailer for Copernicus to YouTube. The trailer is a brief tour of the gameworld's environments and can be seen below.

[ Watch Video ]

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

"Amalur developer's MMO Copernicus due June 2013" was posted by Eddie Makuch on Fri, 18 May 2012 11:22:19 -0700

New massively multiplayer online game from embattled 38 Studios landing in 12 months; first trailer revealed.

38 Studios' massively multiplayer online game currently codenamed Project Copernicus is scheduled to arrive in June 2013. The news comes from Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee, who revealed the date today during a press conference attended by Joystiq discussing the future of embattled Providence-based 38 Studios.

How often does a state official announce a release date?!

Further details on the game were not revealed, as Chafee simply stated, "What I understand is Copernicus is June '13." Requests to 38 Studios for confirmation of the date were not returned as of press time.

Also during the briefing today, Chafee announced that 38 Studios' $1.125 million check to the state of Rhode Island has cleared. This fulfills the company's first obligated payment on the game studio's controversial 2010 $75 million loan from the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (RIEDC).

38 Studios founder Curt Schilling offered his first public comments on the issues surrounding the company last night through Facebook.

"To all the prayers and well wishes to the team and families at 38, God Bless and thank you! We will find a way, and the strength, to endure," he wrote.

The RIEDC board Wednesday held an emergency meeting to discuss whether to provide additional assistance to 38 Studios to keep the company in business. While the board made no ruling on the matter, it is expected to consider the topic again on Monday.

[UPDATE]: Shortly after the publication of this article, 38 Studios uploaded a teaser trailer for Copernicus to YouTube. The trailer is a brief tour of the gameworld's environments and can be seen below.

[ Watch Video ]

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

"Amalur developer's MMO Copernicus due June 2013" was posted by Eddie Makuch on Fri, 18 May 2012 11:22:19 -0700

New massively multiplayer online game from embattled 38 Studios landing in 12 months; first trailer revealed.

38 Studios' massively multiplayer online game currently codenamed Project Copernicus is scheduled to arrive in June 2013. The news comes from Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee, who revealed the date today during a press conference attended by Joystiq discussing the future of embattled Providence-based 38 Studios.

How often does a state official announce a release date?!

Further details on the game were not revealed, as Chafee simply stated, "What I understand is Copernicus is June '13." Requests to 38 Studios for confirmation of the date were not returned as of press time.

Also during the briefing today, Chafee announced that 38 Studios' $1.125 million check to the state of Rhode Island has cleared. This fulfills the company's first obligated payment on the game studio's controversial 2010 $75 million loan from the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (RIEDC).

38 Studios founder Curt Schilling offered his first public comments on the issues surrounding the company last night through Facebook.

"To all the prayers and well wishes to the team and families at 38, God Bless and thank you! We will find a way, and the strength, to endure," he wrote.

The RIEDC board Wednesday held an emergency meeting to discuss whether to provide additional assistance to 38 Studios to keep the company in business. While the board made no ruling on the matter, it is expected to consider the topic again on Monday.

[UPDATE]: Shortly after the publication of this article, 38 Studios uploaded a teaser trailer for Copernicus to YouTube. The trailer is a brief tour of the gameworld's environments and can be seen below.

[ Watch Video ]

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

"Amalur developer's MMO Copernicus due June 2013" was posted by Eddie Makuch on Fri, 18 May 2012 11:22:19 -0700

New massively multiplayer online game from embattled 38 Studios landing in 12 months; first trailer revealed.

38 Studios' massively multiplayer online game currently codenamed Project Copernicus is scheduled to arrive in June 2013. The news comes from Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee, who revealed the date today during a press conference attended by Joystiq discussing the future of embattled Providence-based 38 Studios.

How often does a state official announce a release date?!

Further details on the game were not revealed, as Chafee simply stated, "What I understand is Copernicus is June '13." Requests to 38 Studios for confirmation of the date were not returned as of press time.

Also during the briefing today, Chafee announced that 38 Studios' $1.125 million check to the state of Rhode Island has cleared. This fulfills the company's first obligated payment on the game studio's controversial 2010 $75 million loan from the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (RIEDC).

38 Studios founder Curt Schilling offered his first public comments on the issues surrounding the company last night through Facebook.

"To all the prayers and well wishes to the team and families at 38, God Bless and thank you! We will find a way, and the strength, to endure," he wrote.

The RIEDC board Wednesday held an emergency meeting to discuss whether to provide additional assistance to 38 Studios to keep the company in business. While the board made no ruling on the matter, it is expected to consider the topic again on Monday.

[UPDATE]: Shortly after the publication of this article, 38 Studios uploaded a teaser trailer for Copernicus to YouTube. The trailer is a brief tour of the gameworld's environments and can be seen below.

[ Watch Video ]

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

"Amalur developer's MMO Copernicus due June 2013" was posted by Eddie Makuch on Fri, 18 May 2012 11:22:19 -0700

After rambling on about the mod in our podcast this week and in our Day Z interview, we’ve gotten a lot of requests for a live demo of the game.

Hop onto twitch.tv/pcgamer to watch me try and survive in the brutal-but-beautiful landscape of Chernarus. I plan to stream for about three hours, beginning at 3 PM Pacific, 5 PM Central, 6 PM Eastern, and 11 PM GMT.

If this were a fight, the introduction might sound something like this:

“In the left corner, armed with the weakest pistol in the game and a small pile of beans, weighing in at 400 hours-played of Arma 2: Evan!” [boo]

“And opposite him, in the tattered trunks: 500 zombies, and dozens of dangerous bandits!” [cheer]

Deep Silver denies working with Spec Ops: The Line developer studio Yager on sequel to 2011 island-set zombie first-person shooter.

 

Earlier this week, a source told IGN Germany that Yager Development, which is presently finishing up Spec Ops: The Line for its June release, had been tapped to develop Dead Island 2. This is not the case, says Guido Eickmeyer, development director with the original game's publisher, Deep Silver.

Dead Island 2 is not in development, at least not yet.

"We are neither working with Yager on Dead Island 2 nor do we have any contractual agreement with Yager about any project at this point," he said.

The developer did not rule out working with Yager in the future, saying there is a "legitimate chance" the companies will one day team up. He even went as far as to say a future relationship could be on a project related to the Dead Island franchise.

Eickmeyer went on to explain that Deep Silver does not have Dead Island 2 "in concept or production with external partners" and that it is currently considering options for a sequel.

Dead Island was developed by Polish shop Techland and shipped in September 2011 to generally positive review scores. The game shipped 3 million copies and welcomed various add-on packs. Speculation about a follow-up sparked in November, when Techland filed a trademark application for Dead World.

Though a sequel to Dead Island is currently out of sight, a movie based on the property may see the light of day. Film studio Lionsgate optioned the rights from Deep Silver after the game shipped last year. Development of the Dead Island film will be led by The Mummy producer Sean Daniel and Stefan Sonnenfeld, who did postproduction work on various Pirates of the Caribbean films and X-Men: The Last Stand.

For more on Dead Island, check out GameSpot's review.

[ Watch Video ]

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

"Dead Island 2 not in development - Report" was posted by Eddie Makuch on Fri, 18 May 2012 10:35:48 -0700

Deep Silver denies working with Spec Ops: The Line developer studio Yager on sequel to 2011 island-set zombie first-person shooter.

 

Earlier this week, a source told IGN Germany that Yager Development, which is presently finishing up Spec Ops: The Line for its June release, had been tapped to develop Dead Island 2. This is not the case, says Guido Eickmeyer, development director with the original game's publisher, Deep Silver.

Dead Island 2 is not in development, at least not yet.

"We are neither working with Yager on Dead Island 2 nor do we have any contractual agreement with Yager about any project at this point," he said.

The developer did not rule out working with Yager in the future, saying there is a "legitimate chance" the companies will one day team up. He even went as far as to say a future relationship could be on a project related to the Dead Island franchise.

Eickmeyer went on to explain that Deep Silver does not have Dead Island 2 "in concept or production with external partners" and that it is currently considering options for a sequel.

Dead Island was developed by Polish shop Techland and shipped in September 2011 to generally positive review scores. The game shipped 3 million copies and welcomed various add-on packs. Speculation about a follow-up sparked in November, when Techland filed a trademark application for Dead World.

Though a sequel to Dead Island is currently out of sight, a movie based on the property may see the light of day. Film studio Lionsgate optioned the rights from Deep Silver after the game shipped last year. Development of the Dead Island film will be led by The Mummy producer Sean Daniel and Stefan Sonnenfeld, who did postproduction work on various Pirates of the Caribbean films and X-Men: The Last Stand.

For more on Dead Island, check out GameSpot's review.

[ Watch Video ]

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

"Dead Island 2 not in development - Report" was posted by Eddie Makuch on Fri, 18 May 2012 10:35:48 -0700

Deep Silver denies working with Spec Ops: The Line developer studio Yager on sequel to 2011 island-set zombie first-person shooter.

 

Earlier this week, a source told IGN Germany that Yager Development, which is presently finishing up Spec Ops: The Line for its June release, had been tapped to develop Dead Island 2. This is not the case, says Guido Eickmeyer, development director with the original game's publisher, Deep Silver.

Dead Island 2 is not in development, at least not yet.

"We are neither working with Yager on Dead Island 2 nor do we have any contractual agreement with Yager about any project at this point," he said.

The developer did not rule out working with Yager in the future, saying there is a "legitimate chance" the companies will one day team up. He even went as far as to say a future relationship could be on a project related to the Dead Island franchise.

Eickmeyer went on to explain that Deep Silver does not have Dead Island 2 "in concept or production with external partners" and that it is currently considering options for a sequel.

Dead Island was developed by Polish shop Techland and shipped in September 2011 to generally positive review scores. The game shipped 3 million copies and welcomed various add-on packs. Speculation about a follow-up sparked in November, when Techland filed a trademark application for Dead World.

Though a sequel to Dead Island is currently out of sight, a movie based on the property may see the light of day. Film studio Lionsgate optioned the rights from Deep Silver after the game shipped last year. Development of the Dead Island film will be led by The Mummy producer Sean Daniel and Stefan Sonnenfeld, who did postproduction work on various Pirates of the Caribbean films and X-Men: The Last Stand.

For more on Dead Island, check out GameSpot's review.

[ Watch Video ]

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

"Dead Island 2 not in development - Report" was posted by Eddie Makuch on Fri, 18 May 2012 10:35:48 -0700

Deep Silver denies working with Spec Ops: The Line developer studio Yager on sequel to 2011 island-set zombie first-person shooter.

 

Earlier this week, a source told IGN Germany that Yager Development, which is presently finishing up Spec Ops: The Line for its June release, had been tapped to develop Dead Island 2. This is not the case, says Guido Eickmeyer, development director with the original game's publisher, Deep Silver.

Dead Island 2 is not in development, at least not yet.

"We are neither working with Yager on Dead Island 2 nor do we have any contractual agreement with Yager about any project at this point," he said.

The developer did not rule out working with Yager in the future, saying there is a "legitimate chance" the companies will one day team up. He even went as far as to say a future relationship could be on a project related to the Dead Island franchise.

Eickmeyer went on to explain that Deep Silver does not have Dead Island 2 "in concept or production with external partners" and that it is currently considering options for a sequel.

Dead Island was developed by Polish shop Techland and shipped in September 2011 to generally positive review scores. The game shipped 3 million copies and welcomed various add-on packs. Speculation about a follow-up sparked in November, when Techland filed a trademark application for Dead World.

Though a sequel to Dead Island is currently out of sight, a movie based on the property may see the light of day. Film studio Lionsgate optioned the rights from Deep Silver after the game shipped last year. Development of the Dead Island film will be led by The Mummy producer Sean Daniel and Stefan Sonnenfeld, who did postproduction work on various Pirates of the Caribbean films and X-Men: The Last Stand.

For more on Dead Island, check out GameSpot's review.

[ Watch Video ]

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

"Dead Island 2 not in development - Report" was posted by Eddie Makuch on Fri, 18 May 2012 10:35:48 -0700

Earlier this week, as reported by Bloomberg, EA settled with Activision over accusations that EA attempted to poach Call of Duty creators, West and Zampella before Activision fired the pair for breach of contract and insubordination in 2010. The West/Zampella vs. Activision case is still alive and kicking, however. Now Develop note that their damages claim for unfair dismissal has grown to ONE BILLION dollars.

West and Zampella initially sued their former employers for $36 million in 2010 for unfair dismissal and unpaid royalties. It was revealed earlier this week that Activision have paid royalties of $42 million to the Infinity Ward employee group, but on Wednesday Giant Bomb dropped a payload in the form of a leaked court document which seemed to suggest that Activision were looking to get rid of the Call of Duty creators way back in 2009.

The document even implied that senior figures in Activision asked members of staff to monitor Infinity Ward’s email exchanges as part of an ominously named “project Icebreaker” plan, a scheme outwardly set up to improve the fractious relationship between the publisher and Infinity Ward.

The West/Zampella vs. Activision trial is set to start on May 29. It’s going to be a massive case. Their dismissal in 2010 prompted a big exodus of developers and programmers from Infinity Ward. Since then, West and Zampella have set up another studio called Respawn Entertainment. In between lawyer meetings and court appearances they’re busy building a team and making a new game.

Update: We’ve moved the screenshot of the level below the fold. Click through to see it!

Players have discovered the rumoured Diablo 3 secret level only a few days after the game’s release. It’s called Whimsyshire, and it’s a playful poke in the ribs for anyone who accused the game of being too colourful back when its art style was originally unveiled. Whimsyshire is a neon-green children’s cartoon complete with rainbows and playful little happy clouds. Hooray!

The portal to Whimsyshire is a glowing rainbow crevasse that can be unlocked during Act 1 of the game, provided that you’ve collected the right ingredients from elsewhere. Enemies range from ponies to Cuddle Bears, but don’t be fooled: it’s equivalent to an Act 4 dungeon and it’ll turn your fresh character into a brightly-coloured smear without a second thought.

You can find a guide to opening Whimsyshire over at Diablowiki.net. Be warned, though: the steps cover all four acts, and contain spoilers. Whimsyshire isn’t going anywhere: come back when you’ve finished your first run through the campaign.