brink posts

Brink's developer Splash Damage have always said that its upcoming sci-fi first person shooter would include dedicated server support for the PC version. Today on the Bethblog.com site more info on the dedicated server features were revealed for the game.

The stand alone server files themselves will be available to download via Steam on their "Tools" menu before Brink is released on May 10. You will be able to run several instances of the server files on one PC and there will be a variety of options available for the server administrator to run multiplayer games including "team sizes, time limits and overtime, warm-up rules, friendly fire, voice chat, availability of Command Post buffs, rank restrictions, number of bots, and password."

With just a couple of weeks left before Brink is finally released, developer Splash Damage and publisher Bethesda Softworks have started releasing what can be described as instructional videos designed to get players up to speed on the many unique aspecits of this first person shooter.

The first video, Basics, does exactly what it states. It goes over all aspects of the game quickly including gameplay modes, character classes, UI features and more. The second video goes into much more detail on the objectivs and challenges that the player will have to go through to gain experience points in the game. Brink finally takes us to school on May 10.

Download the Brink Basics Trailer at Big Download
Download the Brink Objectives Trailer at Big Download

It's one thing to tell people about pre-order bonuses for games but it's another to actually see them in action. Bethesda Softworks has done just that for the exclusive GameStop pre-order bonus for the upcoming first person shooter Brink. You can see the in-game bonuses in action via the new YouTube video you can see above this post.

Yes, you too can dress up your Brink character in clothing, gun skins and more based on Doom, a game from another Bethesda Softworks developer id Software. You can also check out some new gameplay from Brink in the new trailer. The game itself will be released in the US on May 10.

With Brink now due for release in the US on May 10, the long awaited sci-fi first person shooter from developer Splash Damage is now less than a month away from its release. Today publisher Bethesda Softworks announced the PC version's minimal and recommended system requirements to let PC gamers know if their rig can handle the title. You can check out the system requirements after the jump.

It was also announced today that the PC version of Brink will use Steamworks which means that the game will have features like achievements, leaderboards, Steam Cloud game save features and dedicated servers.

Game publishers continue to make slight adjustments in their game release schedules as the busy month of May approaches. Today Bethesda Softworks announced that the upcoming sci-fi first person shooter Brink will actually be coming out one week earlier than previously announced.

The game from developer Splash Damage, which was due out on May 17 in the US, will now be released on May 10 in the US. European gamers will also get Brink one week earlier; it's now due out on May 13. According to a statement from Bethesda Softworks' PR head Pete Hines, "Production wrapped on Brink earlier than we planned and we didn't see any reason to keep gamers from getting their hands on this highly anticipated game as soon as it was ready."

While the last Brink trailer we saw showed us the core abilities of the various classes, this one goes into a little more depth regarding all abilities. Specifically, it presents some of the abilities you unlock by progressing through the multiplayer. With goodies like mainframe hacking tools, self-revive needles, and portable turrets, it certainly looks like it will be a blast. The more gameplay footage we see, the more we hope that it will be a worthy successor to the Enemy Territory name.

Download Brink 'Ready and Able' Trailer
Check out all Brink downloads

We pity any game developer or publisher who tried to release a real press release with a real announcement today. Here are just a few more of our favorite April Fool's themed news bits from all over the net:

• World of Warcraft is getting a helper, Crabby.
• That game is also getting a new ultra-dark dungeon.
• Brink developer Splash Damage gets into social gaming.
• Star Wars The Old Republic is being translated into the Wookie's language.
• Total War: Dinosaurs announced (actually we want this game to be real).
• Smash MNC (Monday Night Combat) gets a trailer (another game we want to play).
• Telltale Games reveals its Envelotech project.

Brink is one of the few games that we are genuinely excited about this year, and this trailer sums up why in very simple terms: appearance customization, gun load-outs, and most importantly, the different abilities of each class. Much like Quake Wars, Brink has four classes that can each perform specific special abilities. Soldier can plant bombs, medic and heal and revive, engineer can repair and construct, and operative can disguise. It's fairly standard class stuff (it's been around since the days of Team Fortress, after all), but when mixed with all the other goodies, it comes out feeling like characters have a genuine stake in their multiplayer characters. A fantastic trailer, both for information and to get the hype meter up and going.

Download Brink 'A Matter of Class' Trailer
Check out all Brink downloads

PAX East 2011 is turning out to be as big, if not bigger, than PAX Prime.

• Bethesda Softworks reveales its PAX Prime 2011 plans including a Brink party on Saturday.
• id Software is moving its offices and 250 team members from Mesquite, Texas to Richardson, Texas this spring.
• A release date for Deus Ex: Human Revolution could be revealed later this week.
• Cities in Motion has a new automatic patch available for download on Steam.
• GoG.com has lowered the price for the UK edition of The Witcher 2.
• Rumors about Grand Theft Auto 5 are hitting the interwebs.

For the past few years, PC gamers have usually thought of the month of May as being on the slow side when it comes to new game releases. Indeed in 2010 there were only a few major retail PC game releases during that month; the racing games Split/Second and Blur (both of which turned out to be sales disappointments) and the MMO expansion Age of Conan Rise of the Godslayer.

That isn't the case for May 2011. Indeed there's a boat load of major AAA PC game title that are currently scheduled for release that month. They include the long awaited first person shooter Duke Nukem Forever (May 3) the fantasy RPG The Witcher 2 (May 17) the action-RPG Dungeon Siege 3 (May 31), the sci-fi shooter Brink (May 17) the racing sim Dirt 3 (May 24) and other titles like Red Faction Armageddon, F.E.A.R. 3, and Lego Pirates of the Caribbean, all of which are currently scheduled for release sometime in May but don't yet have a specific release day that month (by the way the release dates in this article are ones that are confirmed by the publishers, not necessarily the dates shown on retail web sites which can be inaccurate). Even more PC games could be announced as being released in May in the coming weeks.

What's even more interesting is that for April there are only one or two major PC games that are currently scheduled to be released (Portal 2 on April 18 for example) and June is also looking pretty empty with Hunted The Demon's Forge the only PC game officially scheduled for release that month (and that game is due out on June 1).

So it begs the question: What is it about the month of May that is causing publishers to pile on with lots of new PC game releases while other months like April or June are at the moment looking relatively empty of new game titles?