The PC Centric Extravaganza 10.07.08
Posted by Chris Evans on 10.07.2008
This week we have updates on World of Goo, Dead Space and the modding community. Plus, what's up with SAS Secure Tomorrow? Check it all out in this week's PC Centric Extravaganza.
Hello and welcome to another action packed edition of The PC Centric Extravaganza! First things first, I am back in University now for my final year of my degree course. As such there may be weeks when the column is on the light side. Do not fear as this week is still a-ok! I hope you enjoy what I have for you, so read on and let me know what you think in the comments.
Left 4 Dead – Valve Blog
The first entry in the Left 4 Dead Blog has gone live, and it provides an interesting insight into the testing phase of games at Valve.
After three days of testing Half Life 2, Gabe Newell's cousin gouged out his own eyes, turned his bloody face to the sky and began screaming, "I can still see Alyx!" So what with the constant game playing and the eye trauma, it's all pretty horrific.
Fortunately Valve staff are having a better experience with Left 4 Dead and are actually enjoying the task of playing the game in shifts to find any last remaining bugs. Great stuff.
Tension to be published by Atari?
Word has reached me from a very reliable source that the latest game from Ice-Pick Lodge is going to be published by Atari in Western markets. The publishing agreement is planned to be sorted by the end of the week.
(Edit – nothing has been confirmed as of yet, this was originally written last week.)
Tension (known as Turgor in Russian) has been available in CIS countries for quite some while, but only now is a Western release seeming near. More details hopefully will be forthcoming over the next week or so.
It must also be noted that Atari have a presence on Steam which would go hand in hand with this comment by The LxR (from Ice-Pick Lodge) back in May that they were looking into digital distribution for the game.
For those of you who haven't seen anything of Tension yet find some not work safe videos below:
Ice-Pick Lodge were also behind Pathologic which Quinn's talked about greatly on Rock, Paper, Shotgun earlier this year.
World of Goo Release Date and More
2D Boy have confirmed that their debut game World of Goo will be released on Monday the 13th October via WiiWare and on the PC for $20.
For those of you who pre-ordered World of Goo then you should soon be receiving an e-mail with a nifty little download link for the game.
If you still need to be convinced to buy the game then check out the new video below:
The demo of Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 has now been released ahead of the October 16th release of the full game. Unlike those uneducated nutters over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun I am slightly clued up on the game they call foot-to-ball, the game I prefer to refer to as football. Regardless the demo can be downloaded here and features Manchester United, Liverpool, Real Madrid and Barcelona. Oh and Italy and France, but nobody really cares about international football nowadays do they?
I am sure I will enjoy the demo as I am a fan of both United and Barcelona, and I absolutely hate Liverpool and Real. The demo is currently downloading onto my PC and I hold firm in my hope that it will work perfectly with my Xbox 360 controller. If it doesn't I think I will break down and cry at the time I will have wasted downloading it. I may have some thoughts for you next week, they may not be coherent mind you.
The Mod Squad
The Mod Squad has arrived on Steam which sees five of the leading mods for Source games arrive onto Valve's digital distribution platform.
The first five members of the Mod Squad are: Age of Chivalry, D.I.P.R.I.P., Insurgency, Synergy, and Zombie Panic. These mods are available to download freely via Steam for any owners of a Source based game and will receive automatic updates as other Steam games do and they all make use of Steamworks.
Valve's marketing guru Doug Lombardi hastily made the following statement after opening his Steam account and saw the mods ready to download:
"Valve has been supporting the MOD community since the company's inception, offering updates to the SDK, holding MOD Expos and being the first to bring a MOD to retail with Counter-Strike in November 2000. The debut of these MODs on Steam marks the beginning of a new level of support for the MOD community by putting the leading MODs at the finger tips of over 15 million targeted gamers."
It is great to see Valve giving these mods the chance to further spread their name and fan base by giving them the full Steam treatment. It is also great to know that Valve hasn't bought up all the mod teams already and is letting them continue as they are.
I look forward to seeing further Mod Squads make the jump onto Steam, the modding community if often made up of very talented people, especially those for Source games. To get themselves recognised by Valve and brought onto Steam is a great achievement for those that have done it, and is something that many others can strive to achieve themselves.
SAS Secure Tomorrow
So I did a totally straight news post
here on 411 about SAS: Secure Tomorrow However I feel a need to look at this in my own style.
So SAS: Secure Tomorow is a tactical first-person shooter where the player takes the role of leading a team of SAS commandos. In the war against terrorism. It all sounds very...bland? Well take a look at at some of the features the game has:
- Switch your M4 rifle from assault to sniper mode anytime during the game.
- Use the standard SAS equipment, including nightvision googles, M84 flashbangs or S10 gas mask.
- Using the element of surprise and stun grenades, eliminate enemies and save the lives of hostages.
- Compete with your friends in multiplayer mode – up to 16 players in three playing modes.
Seriously, a game is higlighting the ability to switch firing modes of the M4? The use of nightvision goggles and flashbangs? The element of surprise? 16 player multiplayer?
Are they seriously trying to pass those off as being features? Haven't these kind of things been standard features in games for quite a while now? Heh I bet it would be a laugh anyway.
