The PC Centric Extravaganza 10.28.08

Posted by Chris Evans on 10.28.2008

A bunch of Pro Evo Soccer news, some Steam games and a DRM rant along with a whole load more. Check out the PC Centric Extravaganza now.

The PC Centric Extravaganza 28th October 2008

Why hello there, this is another edition of The PC Centric Extravaganza and it is sure to blow your socks off with a whole heap of PC news. First things first, Far Cry 2 is awesome. I won't be reviewing it here on 411, I don't know if I will review it properly at all. But don't be surprised to see a lengthy bit of writing about the game sometime soon.

Anyway, let us hit the news and thoughts for this week.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 News

Porn Evolution Soccer

Pro Evolution Soccer is well known for not having the licenses for all the teams, nations and players that are present in the game. It is a sad state of affairs, but we can blame the different governing bodies for being tight-arses for that!

Regardless I thought it was necessary to check out the Welsh squad, look at the SWF on the right hand column in the picture below. Porn Darry the unfortunate fake name for Paul Parry the Cardiff City winger cum striker.



What other humerous fake names can you find in your Pro Evo?

PES tops UK charts


The latest edition of Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 has topped the UK game charts according to CVG. Now while it may not be suprising to see a big new game go top of the charts, it is the breakdown of where the sales were that interests me.

The CVG report says that the PS3 version of PES 2009 accounted for 58% of sales, the Xbox 360 version for 40% and the PC edition for 2%. Seriously, did the PC version only account for 2% of sales? To be honest this doesn't mean much without some figures on total units sold, but that is a low number for such a great game. Guess it just goes to show that football fans are mainly console gamers.

Alan Wakes Up

Please find below a new trailer for Alan Wake by Remedy, the guys who brought us Max Payne. You can also find a bunch of screenshots here. Enjoy.

NCSoft Loves Halloween

NCSoft like Halloween, I mean, they really like Halloween. A whole host of their games, ranging from Guild Wars to Lineage II via Tabula Rasa are receiving some special Halloween based treats for their players.

It has not been revealed if Richard Garriott will introduce any space based Halloween changes. I'm sure that his time on the International Space Station has given him plenty of time to think of some spooky things that he can throw into Tabula Rasa. Maybe a Garriott-esque figure can come flying around the world on a broomstick in a space suit. That would be a great way to get people playing the game.

Read my breakdown on all the changes from earlier this week here.

Overgrowth

Now I am not talking about my back garden which is being overrun by triffids and other mad plants, rather I am talking about Overgrowth which is currently in development at small indie studio Wolfire Games.



Overgrowth is the successor to Lugaru so playing that should give you an idea of what to expect from Overgrowth.

Expect more on this soon.

Empire Total War – Campaign Map Vid

I love the Total War series', though interestingly enough I don't love the actual battles in the games. Maybe I lack the tactical forsight to engage in battle and win, regardless for me the Total War games area all about the campaign map. Building up your various towns and cities and moving about the little model armies and diplomats. Great fun, accordingly I am pretty pleased with what the new video for Empire: Total War has to show off regarding the campaign map. Check it out.

Far Cry 2 and Fallout 3 Steam News

It has just been revealed that Far Cry 2 is now available via Steam in most European countries along with Australia and New Zealand. This is the first time a Ubisoft product has been made available in these regions, will it be the start of a new initiative from Ubisoft to expand it's presence on Steam? I guess we will have to wait a week or so to see if any other games from them appear on Valve's digital distribution service.

The game is available for $49.99 for UK customers which is pretty competitive with shops if it wasn't for the inclusion of Vat on top of that price.

In further great news for Steam it has been revealed that Fallout 3 is available for pre-order on Steam ahead of its release at the end of the month. This is another massive game to appear on Steam and most importantly for some it is available in the UK other non-US countries.

All praise Steam!

GOG.com

At long last GOG.com has opened its doors to anyone and everyone as it is now an open beta.

GOG.com has a rapidly expanding catalogue of publishers releasing their games for prices at $9.99 or less, most of these games are old classics that are fully Vista compatible and come with absolutely no DRM.

Check it out now.

Call of Duty: Zombie at War

Call of Duty: World at War is officially going to have zombie Nazi's in a four-way co-op mode which I assume will be appearing on the PC and the console versions of the game. Taking a hint from Left 4 Dead maybe? Regardless this zombie mode will allow you to use money earned from killing the zombie on a range of different weapons while you and your buddies help barricade the house you are in. Looks damn fun.

Stop This Madness!

I haven't been keeping track of Dead Space really, but I read Jim's review of the game in the next issue of PC Gamer and, I must say I was intrigued. I thought it would be worthwhile seeing how much it was on various websites. My first port of call was amazon.co.uk and I was shocked to see a rating of only 1 1/2 stars. I was obviously puzzled as this is meant to be a pretty good game.

Some investigation revealed that there were ten reviews giving the game one star and they all put forward the same complaints that I have numerous times.

My problem is that these people are giving games ratings that will influence people's choices on whether or not to buy the game. People who have a console and a PC will likely look at the ratings for the various games and decide to get the console version. I fully well understand that people don't like DRM and SecuROM and the feeling that it is infringing on their supposed freedoms and such like.

It isn't just Dead Space that is suffering at the hands of these people, Far Cry 2 has 39 one star ratings, as does Red Alert 3 and Crysis Warhead has even more. Lets not forget Spore which has a massive 379 one star reviews.

Almost all of the reviews I am talking about are simply complaining about DRM, this is going to do more harm than good as developers are likely to take the easy option of not releasing their game on the PC and just do away with the potential piracy issues and damaged reputation.

So stop this madness, it isn't going aid in the efforts to combat DRM and, if comments I read on forums and chat rooms are anything to go buy people will actually go out and pirate the game because of the DRM. This will only serve to the prove the ideas of people like Cliffy B and Michael de Plater right.

If you want to help stop the spread of DRM then send well thought out e-mails, not insults, don't pirate the game and hell don't buy the game if you are that put out buy it. Simply put, use your brain to think about what is the best way to stop the spread of DRM. One star reviews on amazon isn't the answer.

Tally Ho!

Alas I must now do some university work, I can't spend all day playing Far Cry 2. I hope you enjoyed this weeks column, see you all soon.