The PC Spotlight 12.04.08

Posted by Chris Vicari on 12.04.2008

More PC deals, DC Universe Online coming next year, parents finally blamed for something, and more.

Another week is coming to a close, and yet another Thursday arrives meaning more PC news and opinions for your viewing pleasure. I hope you're enjoying GTA IV, survived the Black Friday and Cyber Monday buying sprees, and just taking a break after this year's Thanksgiving binge. With Christmas now on our doorstep, the inevitability of gift shopping becomes even more apparent for those of us still lagging behind. Buying for fellow gamers or coming up with lists of games we want for Christmas is an easy task to perform, but finding the right game at the right price, especially in today's economic climate, is a difficult task surely to thwart the most stalwart of gaming enthusiasts. Luckily, there are still plenty of games out there ripe for the picking with some good deals to boot. Even though they won't be some of the new games we've been experiencing over the past few months, they're still quite good.

Before we get to the deals, let's get some news out of the way first.

Special note for Drew Robbins, my fellow PC writer and author of The PC-Centric Extravaganza: I really liked your layout and wanted to steal use some of it. Please don't hate me!

---

DC Universe Online coming next year?
Story courtesy of Gamespot



Just saw this posted yesterday on Gamespot and here it is verbatim:

Source: DC Comics scribe Geoff Johns, in an interview with MTV.

What we heard: It's a sordid affair when superheroes begin dishing on their secrets. Tell one person in confidence, and the next day, Bruce Wayne's got photographers swarming his cave, asking about the legal implications of having a vigilante CEO heading up Wayne Enterprises, inquiring about the gas mileage on the Batmobile.

Sony Online Entertainment may be experiencing a similar situation this week. In a recent interview with MTV, DC Universe Online writer and notable comic scribe Geoff Johns casually disclosed that Sony's upcoming superhero massively multiplayer online role-playing game is expected to arrive for the PlayStation 3 and PC by 2010.

"It launches I think in early 2010, it could be late 2009," said Johns, continuing, "I've written the overall story and the path that gets you into the game and the areas of the universe and how to explore them, but not every line of dialogue. That's a fulltime job, it's too frigging big, too intense to write every line of an MMO[RPG]. I'd probably jump off a building."

The official story: "We saw Geoff's comments as well and are not sure where he got his info or why he would make those comments," a SOE representative told GameSpot. "SOE has never announced a release date for this title because in all honesty it has not been determined yet. The development of the game is coming along very well and we are thrilled with what we are seeing so far."

Bogus or not bogus?: Too early to say. Johns may be referencing an internal target date, but SOE still seems to regard that timeframe as a loose approximation.

Assuming Johns' statement holds true, DC Universe Online would launch in the crosshairs of a number of other highly anticipated MMORPGs. The game would launch after City of Heroes veterans Cryptic Studios roll out Champions Online in early 2009. Also on the horizon would be BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic, better known as the long-speculated Knights of the Old Republic MMORPG officially unveiled in October.

A potential City of Heroes/Villains clone? Or something of substance? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

---

Half-Life receives a well-deserved makeover in Black Mesa: Source

If you fancy yourself a nostalgic, you'll be pleased to know of a new upcoming mod titled Black Mesa: Source, which updates the original Half-Life to take full advantage of the Source engine. This'll be nothing like Valve's Half-Life: Source and everything is made from scratch. The only thing you'll need to play is a Steam account and a game running the Source engine. Black Mesa: Source is slotted for release sometime next year. Released this past Monday is a very well-made trailer showing off the new look.

Here it is:

Black Mesa Source 'Mod' trailer

I hope the devs behind this game won't run into any legal troubles, unlike other mod re-creations such as the Halo Wars mod for Warcraft 3. Judging by the trailer, I'd be willing to fork over some cash for it. It looks that good.

---

Long-awaited Dungeon Keeper sequel goes MMO and for Asian Markets only



Remember back in the late 90's experiencing the award-winning and ground-breaking Dungeon Keeper RTS franchise? Do you wish to relive the enjoyment of controlling an underworld filled with demons, monsters and undead? Well now you can, kinda. This past Monday, NetDragonWebsoft Inc., an online game dev based in China, announced an agreement with EA to develop an MMO based on the Dungeon Keeper license, simply titled Dungeon Keeper Online. The catch is the game is slated to appear only in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.

What crap! For nearly a decade, players have been pleading for a sequel to this excellent series. Some have gone so far as to create petitions and online protests in hopes of an eventual continuation, but to no avail. This feels like a major slap to the face for longtime fans of the game. Not only is the Dungeon Keeper world we know and love distorted into yet another MMO amongst a myriad of others, but we won't even get to play it either. I must tip my hat to EA for this one. Buying up Bullfrog to have them develop Harry Potter games, then selling IPs with massive amounts of potential to create a game for an already flooded market, and then making it exclusive to one region is pure genius.

---

TF2 look-alike Battlefield Heroes makes changes to ensure differences between the two
Story courtesy of Gamasutra



In a recent interview with online publication Gamasutra, DICE's Aleksander Grondal touched upon some upcoming changes to the TF2 cousin to ensure both share stark differences. You may recall Grondal was once an employee at Funcom and worked on Anarchy Online along with Dreamfall. According to him, the DICE team working on Battlefield Heroes is a mixture of Battlefield developers and newcomers, ensuring a different mentality, one leaning towards MMOs. The game's catchy third-person camera is a prime example of this. Grondal touched on the switch in his interview:

The main thing about the third person: It's about seeing your character. I don't think many people are interested in investing in their physical, visual appearance of the characters when they never can see them.

Seeing your character, and seeing that the new item that you have is actually on your character, adds a feeling of attachment to him, from a visual standpoint.

The other thing is, we tried to make this more accessible, and I think that seeing your character in the world next to a barrel makes him more connected to the world.

For new players, it might be more accessible, seeing your character -- if I run up to something, and suddenly it stops in first-person, it's, "Oh! I need to look down; there's something there!" But when you're in third-person, you actually see a bit more of the world, and your character's relation to the world.

Initially there, were some concerns, with Heroes, that third-person was wrong for a Battlefield game, but I think that once you actually try to play around with it, it feels pretty much the same. Once you actually get the hang of it, it won't be such an issue anymore.

Also, unlike half the team's prior experience with Battlefield, which focused on team-based gameplay, Heroes will focus more on individual player goals via a mission system. The game will allow players to set goals before the match even starts such as accruing a certain number of kills, capping so many objectives, or running over a set amount of enemies. It certainly puts a different spin on the whole thing.

Battlefield Heroes is an upcoming free-to-play action/shooter placing less emphasis on skill and strategy and more on fun. The game exited its closed beta early last month, but no word as to when open beta begins. The game is slotted for a summer release next year.

---

National Institute on Media and the Family blames parents for kids' access to violent games
Story courtesy of Yahoo.com

The National Institute on Media and the Family (NIMF), a conservative media watchdog group, known for consistently berating the ESRB and the gaming industry as a whole every year for failing to adequately warn families about inappropriate content, issued its 13th annual video game report card this past Tuesday. For the first time ever, the industry received high marks from the NIMF due to a new ratings system and retail policies.

In an open letter from NIMF president Dr. David Walsh, he writes, "This year the industry has improved its ratings enforcement and given parents new tools when choosing the right videogame for their child." Parents of gamers though were not spared the rod as they received an "Incomplete" grade due to poor performance. The NIMF points out how many parents simply don't pay enough attention to game ratings, do not make informed decisions as to which game is right for their child, and don't use the parental control features of game consoles either.

I've been saying for years that most of the fault lies with the parents. It's about time someone else out there agrees with me. Parents that now have to remove their collective heads from their collective asses and do some actual parenting have my condolences. Regardless, I applaud parents who are trying to or always have been involved with their children's lives when it comes to videogames. There needs to be more quality parents like you out there.

---

More PC deals for the cash-deprived



Image courtesy of Flickr

It's always nice flaunting the fact you've spent less money on something than someone else, and it feels even better when it happens on a re-occurring basis. If you thought last week's deals were good, you'll find even more here and in greater numbers. They aren't new releases, but they are certainly recent.

Great deals from Amazon

Fallout 3 - $34.99
Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 - $39.99
Star Wars: The Best of PC (Empire at War, Knights of the Old Republic, Star Wars Battlefront, Republic Commando) - $36.99
Spore - $43.99
Battlefield 2 - $7.99
Fable: The Lost Chapters - $19.99
Sins of a Solar Empire - $29.99
Condemned: Criminal Origins - $16.49
Crysis - $36.99
The Witcher - $24.97
Frontlines: Fuel of War - $32.99

Great deals on Steam

Multiwinia - $9.99
BioShock - $19.99
Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 - $9.99
Dark Messiah Might and Magic- $9.99
The Orange Box - $39.99
Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars - $29.95
Civilization IV - $29.95
Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword - $19.95
Medieval II Complete Pack - $49.95
Titan Quest Gold - $19.95
Medieval II: Total War - $29.95
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl - $19.95
Earth 2160 - $4.95
Painkiller Gold Edition - $9.95
Prey - $24.95
Dawn of War: Soulstorm - $29.99
Dawn of War: Dark Crusade - $19.95, was $29.95
Dawn of War: Platinum Edition - $29.95, was $39.95
Day of Defeat: Source - $9.95
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey - $19.95
The Longest Journey Pack - $24.95
Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines - $9.95
Commandos: Beyond the Call of Duty - $9.95
Commandos 2: Men of Courage - $9.95
Commandos 3: Destination Berlin - $14.95
Prey - $19.95
X2: The Threat - $9.95

And that be it!

---

Spotlight Briefs

87% of Midway stock sold for $100,000
Article courtesy of the Wall Street Journal

National Amusements Inc. owner Sumner Redstone recently sold his 87% controlling stake in Midway Games to investor Mark Thomas, for the sum of $100,000, or $0.0012 per share. According to the WSJ, the assets transfer was made to ease Redstone's financial losses of $1.6 billion of debt that he and his company have accumulated. Now that Thomas is in control of Midway though, he now assumes the company's $70 million debt.

GTA IV comes with a nice little extra

And by extra, I mean DRM. Yep, Rockstar's mega-hit comes packed with a fine sampling of the intrusive program. According to IGN, traces of SecuROM remain on your computer even after uninstalling the game. Although users are allowed unlimited installs, the fact that publishers are still pushing the program is an insult. DRM only makes pirates out of honest consumers and does nothing good for the PC industry – except cause controversy – which is always fun to watch unfold.

Eidos owner SCi Entertainment potential target for EA or Ubisoft buy-up
Story couresty of UK Daily Mail

In a UK Daily Mail online report this past Friday, Eidos owner SCi Entertainment, the owner of such games like Tomb Raider, Hitman, and Deus Ex, is in bid talks with EA and Ubisoft. I'm sure this has nothing to do with the company's horrid year in which SCi experienced quadruple losses and a share drop of 92 cents per. During the dotcom boom, SCi was worth nearly $1.5 billion at the height of the dotcom boom and is now worth just over $70 million today. Not surprised at all.

That's it for this week, thanks for reading everybody!