If you own an Xbox 360, then there’s a very good chance you’re looking forward to Gears of War 2, the sequel to one of 2006’s best shooters. The original game was ultra-violent, visually stunning, and immensely satisfying. A PC version of Gears was released a year later, so it’s probably fair to say that Gears of War 2 would also have one eventually, right?

Wrong—for now at least. Epic Games lead designer Cliff Bleszinski told TVG that there are no plans for a PC version because:

“Here’s the problem right now; the person who is savvy enough to want to have a good PC to upgrade their video card, is a person who is savvy enough to know bit torrent to know all the elements so they can pirate software.”

There’s a flaw (or three) in this reasoning.

• First: does this mean the solution to piracy is to stop making games? We all know how harebrained that sounds.
• Second, Bleszinski is pretty much saying that everyone who has (or had) a fairly-powerful PC is also a software pirate. Granted that these people, present company included, is savvy enough to know bit torrent, but that doesn’t mean that we do use it.
• Third—piracy isn’t exclusive to the PC. Among the current-gen consoles, Wii and Xbox 360 games are arguably the most pilfered. In fact, the number of pirated PC games is dwarfed due to the volume of pirated games for these consoles.

Bleszinski seems to have forgotten that a well-constructed and continuously-supported online multiplayer keeps players around for years. To name a few, there’s Counter-Strike, Half-Life, Battlefield 2, and Epic’s own Unreal Tournament games.

If the sales of Gears of War PC weren’t up to snuff by Bleszinski’s standards, then someone should tell him it wasn’t because of piracy. If you’d recall, Gears PC came out in late 2007, roughly the same period when the heavens conspired to release an insane amount of excellent shooters like Call of Duty 4, Bioshock, The Orange Box (which came with five terrific games), Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Crysis, and Unreal Tournament 3. Did I miss anything?

Interestingly, Epic Games wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for PC gamers. Now, he thinks they’re pirates. Funny how time and a Ferrari changes things.

Image for Gears of War 2 is courtesy of Microsoft Game Studios.

Post from: EveryJoe

CliffyB says Gears of War 2 not coming to PC, calls savvy PC gamers “pirates”

Gabe Newell, Valve Software’s big cheese, told VideoGamer that Left 4 Dead will have a demo for the Xbox 360 and PC. According to Newell, the demo would “probably” include the Hospital level and would include online cooperative play, in addition to the single player component.

Left 4 Dead is an upcoming multiplayer FPS-cum-survival horror game developed by Valve, and it’s coming out for the Xbox 360 and PC. Unfortunately, Valve’s co-founder could not provide a release date for the demo. If you’re wondering what the Hospital level that Newell is referring to, then watch its video after the jump.

Strangely, the level looks nothing like a hospital. Left 4 Dead is shipping on November 17 for the Xbox 360, and November 20 for the PC.

Image of Left 4 Dead is courtesy of EA.

Post from: EveryJoe

Left 4 Dead demo is coming to Xbox 360, PC

We have good news and bad news. First, the good: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky has finally gone gold. As for the bad—the PC exclusive is going to be released a week later than the originally announced date. From August 29, the Shadow of Chernobyl prequel is coming on September 5 instead.

Does a week’s delay really matter in the grand scheme of things? There are two answers to that question. From the business standpoint, yes it does count–somewhat. From the gamers’ perspective, not really. Good thing we belong to the latter.

Image for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky is courtesy of GSC Game World.

Post from: EveryJoe

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky goes gold, gets delayed

Crysis Warhead is not a direct sequel to the original Crysis, the visceral 2007 FPS that made PCs worldwide tremble. Crysis Warhead is more of a parallel story about Michael “Psycho” Sykes, one of the characters in the original.

While this next Crysis game won’t be the second chapter in the supposed Crysis trilogy, we can expect even better eye candy for the tune of $30. How is that possible? According to Crytek, the game’s developer, Crysis Warhead is coming with optimizations to the CryEngine 2. Interestingly, the upcoming shooter’s system requirements are said to be pretty much the same as the original, except maybe more hard disk space.

If you missed out on the original Crysis, expect to shell out more than $30 for the next one. Crysis Warhead is coming out in September.

Post from: EveryJoe

Crysis Warhead is even prettier than Crysis

This just in: Ubisoft has finally announced the minimum system requirements for Far Cry 2. While the upcoming FPS is indeed looking sweet, the required specs sure aren’t pretty. Thankfully, it’s also coming out for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 so if you have either console, there’s nothing to worry about. Unless you hate using dual analog sticks for shooting.

To run Far Cry 2, you’ll need the following:

• CPU: Pentium IV 3.2GHz, Pentium D 2.66GHz, AMD Athlon 64 3500+ or better;
• RAM: 1GB;
• Video card: Nvidia 6800 or ATI X1650 or better;
  • Shader Model 3 required;
• 256 Mb of graphic memory;
• Media reader: DVD-ROM;
• Hard drive space: ~12 Gig or HD space. (tbd).

As for the recommended specs:

• CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo Family, AMD 64 X2 5200+, AMD Phenom or better;
• RAM: 2GB;
• Video card: Nvidia 8600 GTS or better, ATI X1900 or better;
  • 512 Mb of graphic memory;
• Sound: 5.1 sound card recommended

Supported Video cards:
Nvidia 6800, Nvidia 7000 series, 8000 series, 9000 series, 200 series. 8800M and 8700M supported for laptops. ATI X1650 – 1950 series, HD2000 series, HD3000 series, and HD4000 series.

Good luck running it on your PC. You’ll need it.

Image for Far Cry 2 is courtesy of Ubisoft.

Post from: EveryJoe

Far Cry 2 PC system requirements announced

You may have heard this one before: Xbox 360 gamepad users get an unfair advantage in Halo 2 for the PC, thanks to auto-aim. Jeff Gerstmann told us all about it when he was still at GameSpot, but I’ve never seen it for myself since I don’t use Windows Vista—the only operating system that can supposedly run Halo 2.

I’ve stumbled on a YouTube video of auto-aim in action. People on the video’s page argue that Xbox users need auto-aim since their gamepad isn’t as good as a mouse. What I don’t understand is that why is there a bother to put the feature on a PC game in the first place.

I also agree with Jeff on another point: I think there’s a significant advantage if one uses a 360 controller and proceeds to use a shotgun in multiplayer. Gerstmann even tried increasing the controller’s sensitivity and discovered that he did more damage when using a gamepad compared to the keyboard/mouse combo. Sadly, if you’re using mouse, there’s no way to tell if an opponent is armed with a gamepad.

Talk about unbalanced.

I guess this means we’re stuck playing Halo games on the Xbox even if there are PC versions available. At least we get equal footing in the Xbox. However, if we choose console versions of multiplatform shooters, we’re stuck with a bad control scheme.

Post from: EveryJoe

Proof of auto-aim in Halo 2 for the PC

When one speaks of Bioware, the first thing that comes to mind are role-playing games. With critically-acclaimed titles such as Baldur’s Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Neverwinter Nights tucked under its belt, Bioware has truly established itself as one of the premiere RPG makers.

Mass Effect for the PC is the latest Bioware-developed RPG. While it shares some similar elements with the company’s previous releases, Mass Effect plays like a different beast because it’s also a shooter—a first for Bioware.

Shoot this
And how does Mass Effect perform as a shooter? It certainly isn’t a Half-Life or Halo. However, the game’s firefights are enough to impress this enthusiast. Whether the action is small-scale or of considerable size, Mass Effect is capable of causing the adrenaline to pump. At times, the use of cover mechanics and employing a deliberate pace is necessary to survive battles. There are also instances when running straight ahead with guns a-blazing actually seems smarter than hanging back and picking off a glut of enemies. To make combat even more interesting, players can use biotic and tech powers to mix it all up. The resulting brew is organized chaos.

Just don’t expect your PC to be agreeable to all the things happening onscreen.

The pyrotechnics and eye-popping effects could cause merciless choppiness on aging rigs. Despite this, Mass Effect is surprisingly scalable even on two-year-old PCs—even the ones that use single-core CPUs. As anticipated, lower detail settings in such PCs are a must, and sometimes, even that couldn’t stop dialogues from skipping. If you can afford to pay for high-end hardware, then look forward to a visual feast when playing Mass Effect.

All things shiny
With Unreal Engine 3 running under the hood, Mass Effect is as brain-meltingly pretty as any current game. There’s a fair share of shiny stuff, leathery textures, Hollywood explosions, and one of the best facial expressions/body gestures to date. The production values in Mass Effect would rival a sci-fi flick, but it’s not limited to the visual department. Every dialogue is voice-acted convincingly, while the aural effects add a fourth dimension to the space opera experience. Particularly impressive was the cold, metallic voice used for Sovereign, the Reaper.

Of course, it could all be better if the dialogue themselves were top notch. Some of the lines were actually cringe worthy. If Mass Effect isn’t the first Bioware RPG you’ve played, then you’ll probably notice that certain elements from the game in question were liberally borrowed from Knights of the Old Republic. The Jedi are renamed into Spectres, which are also guardians of the galaxy. The Sith are like Reapers, except that the latter are machine and seemingly godlike. There’s a Citadel Council that sounds a combination of the Jedi Council and the old Republic.

The RPG elements of Mass Effect has the fingerprints of Bioware all over it. Players are given various choices when it comes to dialogue, but they all boil down to the do-gooder statement, the safe and neutral remark, and the coldblooded bastard comment. As an added twist, guns do not run out of ammunition, but overheat when overused. Squad commands give combat depth and survivability, especially when the odds are stacked against you in a gunfight.

Control is king. Sorta.
To access all these nifty features, one must navigate a tweaked control scheme fit for the mouse and keyboard. While the controls are said to be improved since the Xbox 360 version, it still isn’t the most intuitive one you’ll encounter. Getting rid of unwanted items are a chore since you have to get rid of them individually. Upgrading weapons and armor isn’t that simple at first glance either. That said, the translation from controller to keyboard and mouse has done Mass Effect wonders: fighting in the Mako tank is as simple as pointing the crosshairs and pressing fire; conversing with other characters is done by pointing the arrow to the desired response spread across a radial interface; and activating talents is carried out by pressing a number key.

Mass Effect is long even if you don’t take into account all the side missions that can be accomplished throughout the galaxy. However, everything seems like a blur because the experience never feels long-drawn-out. Mass Effect is worth multiple playthroughs, thanks to the numerous choices that it offers. While the game was released originally for the Xbox 360, one can’t help but observe that this PC “port” seems to be even better than the previous version. Then again, who am I to say? I haven’t played the 360 edition. Still, after finishing the PC port several times, I can’t imagine playing Mass Effect using a controller.

Mass Effect is a necessary purchase for PC gamers. It provides long and absorbing gameplay, great yarn, and a cheaper price tag than its console counterpart.

Images of Mass Effect for the PC is courtesy of EA.

Post from: EveryJoe

Review: Mass Effect for the PC is one of the better ports

I love shooters, whether they’re in third- or first-person view. It’s my favorite game genre. I also love Western role-playing games. I think they’re the closest we gamers can get to pen-and-paper RPGs. I never thought that these two major genres could be combined into a single, compelling experience.

Ion Storm did something similar in 2000’s Deus Ex. It combined FPS and RPG, but while multiple paths are available to the player, the role-playing elements are as hollow as protagonist JC Denton’s voice. The plot was all action, so like any Hollywood action flick, there was hardly time for meaningful characterization.

In addition, all the non-player characters are so daft that they could be easily outsmarted by inanimate rocks. Shooting them in the face was in no way satisfying.

Enter Bioware, a premier RPG maker that brought us Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. The developer has created Mass Effect, which blends frantic third-person shooting and real “role-play.” Not shallow and linear JRPG role-play, but pen-and-paper-like role-play that lets gamers be anything they want to be characterization-wise.

Do you want to intimidate every person you meet? Or do you feel like playing as a goody two-shoe? You can choose to get involved in a relationship or you can ignore them altogether. You can be savior of the universe or scourge of everyone else. Talking is a huge part of the game–it determines the path you have to take and what kind of person your character is.

Because I’m a huge shooter fan, let me tell you this: the action in Mass Effect is satisfying. You’ll miss out on the gore, but you’ll hardly notice it because of all the fighting you have to go through. Mass Effect is not your typical bloody mess like Project Origin or Condemned 2, but I forgive Bioware because they’ve never done shooters before.

Since I haven’t finished Mass Effect, I can’t give a definite verdict yet. What I can tell you is that the game satisfies the staunch shooter and RPG fan in me. Would it continue until the very end? We’ll find out soon enough.

Image of Mass Effect for the PC is courtesy of EA.

Post from: EveryJoe

Now Playing: Mass Effect for the PC

Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay is just one of the many games in my backlog list. I recently resumed my adventure in the PC shooter recently and got snagged with a particularly tricky boss fight. I love every moment of it, but I’m still clueless as to how this foe can be taken down.

I’m supposed to make my way to the spaceport hangar and meet up with a certain character, but a huge armored guard is in my way. This isn’t your typical armored suit, however. If you’ve played Chronicles of Riddick, then you probably know how to take one of the “regular” armored suits down. All you have to do is use either a couple of grenades or a minigun to pierce through the shell.

This bigger enemy is resistant to both grenades and miniguns. There are several shotgun shells that can be picked up in the area, but they don’t seem to work. I’ve tried distracting the enemy and shoot the armor’s back, but to no avail.

As of this writing, I have no idea how to defeat this behemoth. If you do know how, you’re welcome to laugh at my inability to beat this stage boss all you want, but please keep off the spoilers.

Image: FPS Rantings

Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Baywas developed by Starbreeze Studios and Tigon Studios, and is published by Vivendi Universal Games.

Post from: EveryJoe

Stumped: Armored boss gives Riddick a tough time

Post from: EveryJoe

Gears Cheers #1: Bosses rule for a reason