The PC Centric Extravaganza 1.29.08
Posted by Chris Evans on 01.29.2008
Fox News takes a beating, Steam acquires more games and much more!
Hello and welcome to the 411 PC Gaming Extravaganza! As ever I am your host Chris Evans aiming to bring you all the latest PC and Industry news along with my thoughts on the events!
First off, apologies for the late appearance of last weeks column, I had it all done….but forgot to publish it! But during that time we did the 411 Games Roundtable put up which was well worth it. In a tough move I have made in the past week, I have decided that come April, my Command and Conquer fansite, cncnation.net will be closed down for good. The site never really took off to the extent that I had hoped, and with new ventures coming upon me I have decided to call it time. Last week I mentioned some games I was going to provide my thoughts on. Well I have had the honor to preview the upcoming Dawn of War expansion pack; Soulstorm over on Game.co.uk. I would have done it for 411 but I was targeted by a friend of mine to write it for Game. Also I have not had the time to play Armageddon Empires, but I have been playing Masq, more on that at the end!
It has been quite a week of PC and other Industry news. We have seen Fox shoot themselves in the foot over Mass Effect, new games being announced for release on Steam, and a new free game from EA along with loads of other bits n bobs that have appeared this past week.
Fox News on Mass Effect
The story that had grabbed my attention most strongly this week has been the furor that has erupted after the following Fox News report regarding Mass Effect.
This was frankly a pitiful attempt at ‘journalism' with many incorrect facts and thoughts being formulated without people even having played the game at hand, Mass Effect. This has had a fair few repercussions, the most obvious one has been the spamming of the self-help author featured in the Fox report; Cooper Lawrence's books on Amazon.
EA contacted Fox asking for an apology (Info) and to retract the false statements. At time of press this has not occurred, however several other things have occurred. Firstly Cooper Lawrence who made several claims about Mass Effect has publicly apologized for her actions(on the NY Times)
"I recognize that I misspoke," she said. "I really regret saying that, and now that I've seen the game and seen the sex scenes it's kind of a joke.
"Before the show I had asked somebody about what they had heard, and they had said it's like pornography," she added. "But it's not like pornography. I've seen episodes of ‘Lost' that are more sexually explicit."
Adam Sessler from G4TV had this to say on the issue.
In the final twist to the saga famed anti-gaming lawyer Jack Thompson has declared he has no issue with Mass Effect. Kotaku.
Overall this has just been bad, bad, and more bad for Fox, EA have defended their property as they are right to do, and time will tell whether Fox back down and admit defeat in this fiasco.
Full Steam Ahead!
There has been some delightful news emanating from Valve and their brilliant online distribution service Steam.
First off, the ever expanding, ever beautiful MMO EVE Online has been announced to arrive on Steam soon! This will be the first MMO to be released on Steam and it shows the faith that CCP (the developers of EVE) have in the platform. When the game lands there is going to be a 21-day free trial and for the first month of release it will be $5 cheaper than normal. When it becomes available expect to see some coverage of the game by Ty Huston or myself. – 411News
Second is the news that the upcoming expansion pack to the superbly excellent S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is going to be released on Steam as a digital download exclusive at the same time as it is made available at retail. Clear Sky the expansion pack will bring the player to events a year before those of the original game with a game zone the promises to be massively different to what you have already experienced. This is another example of how Steam is rapidly developing and maturing as a digital distribution platform. To get such a big title to be distributed digitally exclusively on Steam is a big bonus for everyone at Valve. I personally can't wait to see Clear Sky in action especially on the new engine. – 411News
The last bit of Steam and Valve news is Team Fortress 2 related and there is again a whole bunch of news on it. Tom Francis from PC Gamer UK has recently visited Valve over in the US and has revealed some big changes planned for TF2. The first big change is the planned inclusion of ‘unlocks' for the different classes. These will be unlocked by completing a certain amount of class specific achievements. The current plans have the Medic leading the changes to the game, if the fans of TF2 like the changes then Valve will slowly implement the changes to all the classes. The second big change planned is a new game mode the will be implemented with the upcoming map ‘Goldrush' (coming at the same time as the Badlands remake) which revolves around one team escorting a cart across the length of the map to the enemy base. It promises to be very exciting. Finally the Well map now has a new Capture the Intelligence version. – 411 Mania and halflife2.net
Manhunt 2 in the UK
After a protracted legal case Manhunt 2 has yet again been blocked from being sold in the UK following the decision of a High Court Judge. This is what I said on my blog.
It has emerged (according to GameSpot) that the release of Manhunt 2 in the UK has been put on hold again following a High Court Ruling. Judge Mitting overruled the Video Appeals Committee decision to allow Manhunt 2 to be released.
Following the VAC's decision to allow the game to be released the BBFC took the case to the High Court and this led to the ruling from Judge Mitting. He said that the VAC had to judge whether Manhunt 2 could cause 'potential harm and risk of harm' to children rather than basing their judgment on actual harm.
Mitting then went on to say that the VAC must reclassify the game based on the new factors that he has brought to their attention.
It seems that this protracted case is drawing to an end and will most likely result in Manhunt 2 not being released in the UK. While the game may not have received great critical response it will be a shame for the game not to appear on UK shelves.
Finally the thought must be raised that this ruling is going to have an effect on many future releases. If the VAC and BBFC have to classify games based on potential harm to children I expect to see many future games be banned from release in the UK. Time will tell whether a dangerous precedent has been set.
That sums up what I want to say on this issue. *shakes fist at BBFC* - My blog.
Assassin's Creed PC Specs
The specs for Assassin's Creed on the PC have also been found this past week, and have left my wondering what is happening…they are frankly a bit…extreme.
Question
What are the minimum system requirements for Assassin's Creed?
Answer
In order to play this game properly, your PC MUST meet or exceed these minimum requirements:
Supported OS: Windows XP / Vista (only)
Processor: Dual core processor 2.6 GHz Intel Pentium D or AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ or better recommended)
RAM: 2 GB (3 GB recommended)
Video Card: 256 MB DirectX 10.0–compliant video card or DirectX 9.0–compliant card with Shader Model 3.0 or higher (512 MB video card recommended) (see supported list)*
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0 or 10.0 compliant sound card (5.1 sound card recommended)
DirectX Version: DirectX 10.0 libraries (included on disc)
DVD-ROM: DVD-ROM dual-layer drive
Hard Drive Space: 12 GB
.
By my reckoning the recommended specs for the PC version of Assassin's Creed are higher than those of Crysis…some achievement no? We shall see soon enough how it does look on the PC, if anyone can run it that is! - 411Mania.
US PC Game Sales
A fair amount of information regarding PC Game sales in the US in 2007 has been released in the past week. I have covered this in two articles on my blog (link) but this is the low down.
PC Game sales at retail have fallen again and only totaled $911 million for 2007, the PC sales peak was in 2004 with $1.1 billion worth of sales (according to NPD data) while many PC enthusiasts may be quaking in their boots claiming the death of the PC, this isn't the case. These figures do not include such revenue streams as – Digital Distribution (Steam), MMOs monthly payments (WoW) and micro-transactions that are also starting to feature in PC gaming (look to Battlefield Heroes this summer.) If these were taken into account I am sure that the PC figures would be looking much healthier.
In the Top 10 PC Game chart of 2007 in the US World of Warcraft dominated the top spots with the Burning Crusade expansion topping the charts with 2.25 million sales and the original World of Warcraft sitting pretty at number 2. The Sims 2 and its assorted expansion packs grabbed four spots in the Top 10 with Call of Duty 4, Command and Conquer 3, Age of Empires 3 and Sim City 4 Deluxe also featuring.
It has also emerged (CVG) that Call of Duty 4 has been the best selling game across all formats in the three major gaming territories world wide. The NPD Group, Chart Track and The GFK Group have combined their data and found that Call of Duty 4 has sold over 7 million units since release in November.
Free Heroes
EA have announced that the next game in the hit Battlefield series will be known as Heroes. It is slated for a summer release and the major point about the game is that it is Free-To-Play and shows a change in direction by EA to attempt to get a wider audience interested in gaming. They promise it will have low system requirements and will be easy to pick up and play.
The art styling currently has a feeling of Team Fortress 2 in it, but EA is taking another drastic step for the Battlefield series making Heroes a third-person shooter. I myself am highly intrigued by this and can't wait to see more on it! - 411 Mania and my blog
Masq
Last week I talked a bit about Chivalry Is Not Dead and mentioned that it reminded me of Masq. Earlier this week I downloaded Masq again and played through it a bit. My thoughts on (originally take from my blog) Masq...
Masq, a game by Alteraction is an Interactive Story where you the character decide what happens. There are multiple paths you can take and it is one of the finest indie games I have had the joy to play. Right now I will recommend anyone and everyone to go to the Alteraction site and download this game.
I first found out about Masq thanks to an article in PC Gamer UK by Tom Francis that appeared last year and is still a leading feature on the PC Gamer website. After first reading about it I played it straight away and I loved it.
The game contains, according to the developers over 3000 different scenes with hundreds of branching story paths and many endings. When I first played the game I played through it numerous times and every time gave me a different ending. It provided me with different challenges every time I played it and evoked different emotional responses from me.
The game plays out in 2D with color used to highlight special aspects of the game. You get a variety of options throughout the scene relevant to each scene, and doing nothing at all is an option. Every option you take has a bearing on how the game plays later on, some have a great impact while others only have a minimal impact.
The story is rich and deep and shows that the story of a game can be much more important that flashy graphics and special effects. Masq really is a shining example to developers that to get the player involved and to invest emotionally in a game it needs a good story, and the sheer number of options available to the players, ensure you will play time and time again.
You play the game as the owner of Masq, a clothing brand; you are married and from there on the choice is yours on what you do. You can try and get Masq to appear on TV, attempt to find out if your wife is cheating on you, make a new family and much more. The options are really quite fantastic.
It may be relatively short lived, but you will go back and play time and time again.
Masq, a truly great game.
That does it for me this week, I don't know if I will have time to talk about another game next week, though I have one in mind ;)
Have a good week everyone.
P.S. The Champ Is BACK!
Links for fun and…fun?
Vincent has the Select and Start News Report - Here.
