big-round-up posts

The Big Round-up: Tuesday, July 22

by Dan O'Halloran Jul 22nd 2008 @ 12:00PM

Your daily wrap-up of the hottest stories in PC gaming in the last 24 hours.

	E308: Dark Void Impressions The first part of Dark Void plays out they way anyone would expect an action shooter would. There isn't much to help the game stand out without the benefit of an upgraded jet pack. Until then, the player moves through like most other shooters, picking up new and inventive weapons along with ammo while picking off waves of incoming soldiers along the way.
	E308: Damnation Impressions Going vertical is one of the more prominent themes of this year's E3, but before players fly around the Dark Void using a jet pack, they might be scaling the buildings of Damnation. Damnation takes place in an alternate history United States, where the industrial revolution took a radically different turn. The result is a 1900's America that looks both new and familiar at the same time.
	Left 4 Dead box art revealed Valve Software VP of marketing Doug Lombardi has released the official box art for developer Turtle Rock Studios' upcoming Left 4 Dead, a squad-based shooter that will pit humans in a fight for survival against legions of zombies. Though we find the box art to be stylish yet simple, snazzy yet unassuming, we find ourselves hesitant to award the art a thumbs-up.
	Portal: Still Alive already available on PC Keyboard-and-mousers up in arms over the recent announcement that Xbox Live Arcade would be receiving exclusive Portal content in the form of Portal: Still Alive need not fret: apparently the forthcoming bonus content has already been alive on the PC for quite some time.
	Frogster unveils strong MMO line-up Players looking for a variety of themes in the prolific MMO genre need not look further than Frogster, a PC game publisher with an emphasis on virtual worlds. Due out during the second half of 2008 are StoneAge 2, Runes of Magic, and The Chronicles of Spellborn, which should complement Frogster's existing portfolio of casual MMO titles.

Filed under: Biz, Expansions, Hands-on, Meta BD, Left 4 Dead Series

The Big Round-up: Monday, July 20

by Dan O'Halloran Jul 21st 2008 @ 12:00PM

Your daily wrap-up of the hottest stories in PC gaming over the weekend including the lastest of our E3 hands-on impressions.

	BigCast 004 -- English Is Hard! Listen as Xav stumbles about trying to pronounce simple words! This week we cover some of the biggest PC news from the world of E3, talk classic gaming habits and throw around the idea that maybe games are meant to be played instead of examined. Crazy thoughts and more in the epic episode with guest hosts Kyle Horner, Samuel Axon and first-timer James Murff. It's time to go big, right here at the BigCast!
	E3 08: Hands-on with Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 If the original Command and Conquer timeline is a fairly standard sci-fi affair and C&C Generals is a more realistic near future storyline, then Electronic Arts' Red Alert franchise is all about comic book goofiness and fun. The alternate history where the Communist Soviet Union is still large and in charge and wild weapons are plentiful will get a revamp this fall with the release of C&C: Red Alert 3
	E3 08: Dragon Age Origins impressions Our very last E3 2008 appointment was, ironically, not at the Los Angeles Convention Center but at a nearby hotel. Deep underneath the hotel's meeting room was host to BioWare's long awaited next fantasy RPG Dragon Age Origins. The game was first announced and shown in a very early form over four years ago at E3 2004 (when it was called simply Dragon Age) so we were expecting to be wowed by this new version.
	E3 08: Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II impressions So you think you know what Relic Entertainment is going to do with the full sequel to their acclaimed sci-fi RTS title Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War (based as always on the Games Workshop war game). Better graphics; more units, more visble units in massive battles, right? Isn't that the way sequels usually do things?

Continue reading The Big Round-up: Monday, July 20

Filed under: Biz, Meta BD, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, Empire: Total War, Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II Series, Dragon Age: Origins

The Big Round-up: Wednesday, July 16

by Dan O'Halloran Jul 16th 2008 @ 12:00PM

Your daily wrap-up of the hottest stories in PC gaming in the last 24 hours. And, of course, that means lots of E3 goodness.

	E3 08: Hands-on with Left 4 Dead Developer Turtle Rock Studios had been working for some time on Left 4 Dead before the company was bought out by Valve Software (Turtle Rock helped out on various Valve projects in the past and was using Valve's Source engine for Left 4 Dead). So that means that opportunities to play builds of the game have been fairly frequent in the past year or so. However, shooting zombies never really gets old and at E3 2008 today we got yet another chance to make a lot of blood go on the walls (virtually speaking of course).
	E3 08: Hands-on with Crysis Warhead When Crytek and Electronic Arts announced that the next game in the Crysis series would not be a sequel but a parallel story to the events in the first game, some folks scratched their heads. What? Why? Well, after playing a single level of the game at E3 2008 today we are certainly not complaining. Crysis Warhead is looking to be a more aggressive and faster paced game than the original, and not just because you are playing as "Psycho", one of the members of the original squad in the first game that was a tad more prone to shoot first and ask questions later.
	E3 08: Left 4 Dead videos reveal new player characters Valve Software's Gabe Newell took the stage at EA's E3 press conference to present the cooperative horror game Left 4 Dead. We have the video of that presentation on the other side of the jump, but here are the Cliff's Notes.
	E3 03: First Singularity gameplay info revealed Earlier today we reported that Activison had announced plans to release a new first person action game called Singularity. At Activision's press event tonight the company revealed more info about the title from developer Raven Software. According to the company the game will feature time as a major factor in gameplay and that that Singularity will see "controlling time in a new dimension not seen in a game before" (of course the 2007 game Timeshift also featured temporal effects as a gameplay feature)
	E3 08: Wolfenstein gameplay trailer at Activision press conference During Activision's press conference tonight, the company had a new gameplay trailer for Wolfenstein, the next game in id Software's first person shooter series. This time the game is being co-developed by Raven Software and will feature B. J. Blazkowicz yet again shooting up Nazis. id CEO Todd Hollenshead demoed the game during the press conference.

Filed under: Biz, Hands-on, Meta BD, Left 4 Dead Series

The Big Round-up: Monday, July 14

by Dan O'Halloran Jul 14th 2008 @ 12:00PM

Your daily wrap-up of the hottest stories in PC gaming over the weekend.

	Big Download's most anticipated PC games of E3 2008: 5-1 There have been tons of great cliffhanger endings in history. Will Han Solo get out of that carbonite casing? Will Captain Picard get free of the Borg? Who shot J.R. Ewing? Who is the final undiscovered Cylon? We can now add one more cliffhanger to this list. "What games will Big Download pick as the five most anticipated PC games for E3 2008?"
	Big Download's most anticipated PC games of E3 2008: Wild Cards In the past five days we have revealed our picks for the 25 most anticipated games that might be shown at E3 2008. However there are a number of other titles that we are looking forward to seeing at the show as well that didn't quite make the list. There are also some games that might be officially revealed at the show for the first time.
	Big Download's E3 Week Prediction Bingo Come join Big Download in our first annual game of PC E3 Announcement bingo, where we fill a bingo card with some of the likely (and unlikely) things that could happen in the world of computer gaming.
	Big Versus: Civilization IV and Revolution Since the early 1990s, Sid Meier's Civilization franchise has challenged strategy enthusiasts to shape an empire and make their mark in virtual history. While PC gamers enjoy the latest expansion for Civilization IV, Beyond the Sword, they may not realize Firaxis Games has been hard at work redefining the conventions that made the original series so popular in the console exclusive, Civilization Revolution.
	Freeware Friday: I Wanna Be The Guy There's always a lot of nostalgia going on in the freeware scene. From developers taking inspiration from classic games, to outright stealing their concepts, it's not too uncommon to find a game of the kind that you loved so many years ago. This game, however, is not to be loved. No, this week I'm going to tell you about a game that reduces most gamers to tears because of its difficulty. This game, the one that will drive you insane, is I Wanna Be The Guy.

Continue reading The Big Round-up: Monday, July 14

Filed under: Biz, Downloads, Demos, Features, Meta BD, Far Cry 2

The Big Round-up: Friday, July 11, 2008

by Dan O'Halloran Jul 11th 2008 @ 12:00PM

Your daily wrap-up of the hottest stories in PC gaming in the last 24 hours.

	Games to play while waiting for Diablo III A crowd of ecstatic fans cheered when Blizzard announced Diablo III at the 2008 Worldwide Invitational and gave an early look at its gameplay. Then reality set in, and people were reminded that they wouldn't be fighting off the forces of hell again for a very long time. To help people suffer through the long "when it's done" schedule Blizzard sticks to, we've put together recommendations to help gamers get their action RPG fix until it comes time to confront the Lord of Terror again.
	Big Download's most anticipated PC games of E3 2008: 10-6 Here at Big Download we have been counting down our picks for our most anticipated games that we are most looking forward to seeing (maybe) at the event. After revealing our picked for 25-21 on Monday, 20-16 on Tuesday and 15-11 on Wednesday, we are now finally entering the top 10. Today we are revealing our picks for the 10-6 positions on our list.
	BigCast 003 -- The Pre-E3 Show ... Ladies This week we talk about everything from PC piracy solutions to puzzling (beta) demo releases. Also, listeners can enjoy multiple inside jokes that are later explained in the outtakes of the show. Akela, Kyle and Steven return to the BigCast this week ... well, until Steven has mysterious tech issues and is forced to opt out (which is later hilariously solved).
	Neverwinter Nights 1.69 patches arrive A trio of patches for BioWare's Neverwinter Nights have arrived, patching Neverwinter Nights, Hordes of the Underdark, and Shadows of Undrentide to version 1.69. Each patch adds new music tracks, tilesets, and more to its respective title.
	New GRID 1.2 PC patch released The folks at Codemasters have released a new PC patch for their recent racing sim game GRID and we have it ready to grab right here at Big Download. The 1.2 patch has a number of fixes and changes for the game which we have right here.

Filed under: Biz, Downloads, Patches, Meta BD

The Big Round-up: Thursday, July 10

by Dan O'Halloran Jul 10th 2008 @ 12:00PM

Your daily wrap-up of the hottest stories in PC gaming in the last 24 hours.

	Big Download's most anticipated PC games of E3 2008: 15-11 On Tuesday, in our last thrilling episode of Big Download's most anticipated PC games for E3 2008, we listed our picks for 20-16 on our list after revealing our picks for 25-21 on Monday. Which naturally means that today we will have our picks for the 15-11 games we have on our list that we are most interested to see at E3 next week in Los Angeles. Which games will they be? Will they actually be at the show? Will we stop making silly references to Saturday afternoon movie series of the 1930's? Stay tuned to find out the answers to these exciting questions and more.
	Big Ideas: Are video games art? The idea that video games could be classified as art is a fairly recent one, emerging right around the time that we began to include narrative as a game element. All too often, the subject is brought up by detractors of the form as a way to look down upon a medium to which they feel no attraction. The underlying conceit is ridiculous of course -- if video games aren't art, then they have no lasting cultural value, and may therefore be dismissed as mere juvenilia. Yet video games are, nevertheless, quite a large part of our culture, and the lingering perception that they are made only to be entertainment for adolescents does the entire industry a disservice.
	New Team Fortress 2 update released PC owners get another new update for Valve's popular multiplayer shooter Team Fortress 2 this week. This update, which as always is available when signing on via Valve's Steam client, is mostly to deal with a number of minor bug fixed in the game.
	Blizzard community manager discusses Diablo III respecs Diablo II could be a harsh mistress: bludgeoning your free time without a second thought, severely lowering your resistance levels in Hell difficulty, and adopting a "that's life, kid" attitude toward misspent skill points. Though equally harsh in many ways, modern action-RPGs and MMOs such as Titan Quest and Blizzard's own World of WarCraft allow players the option to respecify (or "respec") skill points they've decided are no longer applicable toward their desired character build -- for a fee, of course.

Filed under: Biz, Patches, Trailers, Meta BD, Team Fortress 2

The Big Round-up: Wednesday, July 9

by Dan O'Halloran Jul 9th 2008 @ 12:00PM

Your daily wrap-up of the hottest stories in PC gaming in the last 24 hours.

	Big Download's most anticipated PC games for E3 2008: 20-16 On Monday we went through our 25-21 picks so if its Tuesday it must be time for the 20-16 picks on our list. As we mentioned previously, these are just our predictions on what games will be shown at the event; many of these titles have not been officially confirmed to be at E3 as of this writing.
	Spore Creature Creator Contest Top 10 Winners! Now we turn the contest over to you, the Big Download readers. Check out the Top 10 Spore creatures and vote for your favorite by replying to this post (one vote per person, please). Grand prize winner gets a Wacom Intuos3 6x11 drawing tablet. Second Prize is a EVGA NVIDIA e-GeForce 8800GT Superclocked video card. Third prize winner will receive a EVGA NVIDIA e-GeForce 9600GT video card.
	New Fallout 3 fan Q&A includes new screenshots Bethesda Softworks' work on the upcoming post-apocalyse RPG Fallout 3 has generated tons of comments (good and, well, fanatic) from fans of the first two Fallout titles from Interplay. Now the official Fallout 3 message board forums have posted up an extensive Q&A with highly specialized questions from those very fans.
	Frontlines: Fuel of War Beta Demo now available A Beta Demo for developer Kaos Studios' Frontlines: Fuel of War is now available, weighing in at a hefty 1.8GB. The beta, which is also a demo (but also a beta), allows players the chance to wage war on maps Oilfield and GNAW.
	New Prince of Persia screenshots come forward Ubisoft has already launched one revamp of the classic Prince of Persia game series and this fall they are going back to square one again with yet another reimagining of the franchise. The publisher sent out some new screenshots from the upcoming game that's due in stores this fall.

Filed under: Biz, Demos, Screenshots, Meta BD, Fallout 3, Spore

The Big Round-up: Monday, July 7

by Dan O'Halloran Jul 7th 2008 @ 12:00PM

Your daily wrap-up of the hottest stories in PC gaming over the holiday weekend

	BigCast iTunes and RSS feeds updated and online! After ironing out a few kinks we're happy to report that the iTunes and RSS feeds for the BigCast are officially up and running! Going into our third episode, the BigCast is the official podcast for Big Download that covers everyting in the world of PC gaming.
	Diablo III: Co-op focus means no on-the-fly PK toggle, PvP to be included When Diablo III was finally announced earlier this month, hardcore fans of the series were displeased by the level of color found in the gameplay footage for the sequel. Now, new comments made on the World of Warcraft forums by Blizzard poster Bashiok are expected to have naysayers up in arms once again.
	Freeware Friday: rRootage rRootage is, as stated in the introductory paragraph, one of Kenta Cho's freeware shooters. Unlike his other shooters, though, rRootage is not about a unique concept or wild innovation and refinement of a current formula. No, rRootage is all about practice. Practicing what, you say? The styles of 4 different kinds of shooters. Strap yourselves in, because it's a long ride to completion once you start this beautiful and challenging game.
	New Starcraft II screenshots reveal new hero unit It's been a week since the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational but Blizzard doesn't take any time off when it comes to its info on its upcoming games. The web site for the long awaited RTS sci-fi sequel Starcraft 2 just posted up some new in-game screenshots along with a look at one of the game's hero units, Zeratul.
	Will Fallout 3 be banned in Australia? The game isn't scheduled for release this fall but there's a rumor going around that Bethesda Softworks' post apocalypse themed RPG Fallout 3 may be banned in Australia. That country's version of Gamespot has posted up word from an unnamed poster on their message boards which claims the game will be refused to be rated by Australia's Office of Film and Literature Classification due to the use of drugs in the game. That move will effectively ban the game from being sold.
	We'll trade you a Heavy for two Demomen . . . The recently launched official Team Fortress 2 web site looks like it's going to be something a bit different than the normal marketing for a game title. The web site is giving folks a back door into the development process and one of the ways is showing off some unused artwork made for Valve's first person shooter.

Filed under: Screenshots, Meta BD, Fallout 3, Team Fortress 2

The Big Round-up: Thursday, July 3

by Dan O'Halloran Jul 3rd 2008 @ 12:00PM

Your daily wrap-up of the hottest stories in PC gaming in the last 24 hours.

	DC Universe Online MySpace page reveals first (tiny) screenshots Sony Online and DC Comics are apparently getting ready to reveal a lot more info about their long awaited super hero MMO DC Universe Online. Thanks to ads in new DC Comic books this week, we got wind of a new MySpace page for the game that reveals the first publicly released screenshots for the game. The problem is that these shots (five in all) are really tiny so we will have to wait until later (we are guessing E3) for more high-res screenshots from the game.
	Big Download Interview: Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People When you have completed two "seasons" worth of an acclaimed episodic adventure game series, what do you do for an encore? Thankfully we have a perfect example in Telltale Games. Their well received Sam and Max series got them a lot of attention and later this month they will follow it up with Strong Bad's Coll Game For Attractive People. The multi-part game with the long title is based on characters in the cult hit Homerunner.com animated web series and will be released via download for both the PC and for Nintendo's Wii console via their WiiWare service.
	Hands-on: Bionic Commando Capcom fans rarely need worry about their favorite title becoming another forgotten digital relic: Mega Man sequels, ports, and revisions are almost virus-like in their ability to multiply, Resident Evil 5 (actually the sixth core game) is due for release early next year, Dante recently made waves with Devil May Cry 4, and Street Fighter fans will receive a double dose of Hadoken later this year with Street Fighter 4 and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.
	Blizzard to face "immense pressure" from Activision for console version of Diablo III An anonymous source close to Vivendi Games has told videogames247 that "Blizzard will face immense pressure to produce a console version of Diablo III" due to the impending Activision-Blizzard merger.

Continue reading The Big Round-up: Thursday, July 3

Filed under: Hands-on, Interviews, Meta BD, Team Fortress 2, World in Conflict: Soviet Assault

The Big Round-up: Wednesday, July 2

by Dan O'Halloran Jul 2nd 2008 @ 12:00PM

Your daily wrap-up of the hottest stories in PC gaming in the last 24 hours.

	Preview: Call of Duty: World at War Not so with Call of Duty: World of War. Developer Treyarch is not at all nervous to follow in Infinity Ward's large footsteps -- after all, they've done it before, and the decision to take the series back to its WWII roots doesn't require nervousness so much as it requires guts, determination, and the hope that players who are apprehensive about leaving Call of Duty 4's phenomenal playground will give Call of Duty: World at War's jungle gym a chance.
	Big Versus: Alone in the Dark Released on the PC, Xbox 360 and Wii, Alone in the Dark is likely the final full featured title from Atari (also known as Infogrames) who have announced to focus on smaller titles. After playing through the Xbox 360 and PC versions of the title we compare our experience in our newly formatted feature, Big Versus. Shying away from our original concept of which is better than the other, Big Versus has transformed to a comparison piece regarding our overall experiences.
	Pyro Achievements Round-Up You've now hopefully finished reading our wonderful guide to pyro achievements. Will this make you a better pyro? Indubitably. You will have better weapons, better skills, and generally be a sexier pyro for all to see. Well, maybe not the last one. However, if you took our advice, you should now have three new weapons: the flare gun, axetinguisher, and backburner. If you haven't been reading our guide that we spent so much time on (tsk tsk) then we will save you the effort of digging them up. First, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth parts are all viewable here on Big Download.
	Rise of the Argonauts gods trailers released Impudent mortal! Do you think yourself wise enough to know the will of the gods? Hey, maybe you do, and maybe you don't. Developer Liquid Entertainment and publisher Codemasters have released two new trailer for Rise of the Argonauts, each exploring the nuances of the various gods.