PC Game News

Valve today announced the release of the Steam client for Linux and a new sale, with discounts from 50-75% on 50 Linux games, to celebrate the release. The client is available to download from the Ubuntu Software Center and it appears that a 32-bit and 64-bit version are available.

“The Steam client is now available to download for free from the Ubuntu Software Center. Ubuntu is the most popular distribution of Linux used by millions of people globally and known for its well-designed, easy-to-use customer experience.

“The introduction of Steam to Ubuntu demonstrates growing demand for open systems from gamers and game developers,” said David Pitkin, Director of Consumer Applications at Canonical. “We expect a growing number of game developers to include Ubuntu among their target platforms. We’re looking forward to seeing AAA games developed with Ubuntu in mind as part of a multi-platform day and date release on Steam.”

“We’re huge fans of Linux. It’s like the indie OS-a perfect home for our indie game,” said Alen Ladavac, CTO of Croteam, creator of the Serious Sam franchise of games. “And who better to lead the charge into Linux gaming than Valve? With Steam distribution on Windows, Mac OS, and now Linux, plus the buy-once, play-anywhere promise of Steam Play, our games are available to everyone, regardless what type of computer they’re running. That’s huge.”

Team Fortress 2, the Free to Play game, is also now available on Steam for Linux. For a limited time, Steam users who play the game on Linux will automatically receive a free, exclusive in-game item: Tux, the Linux mascot, can be carried by any of the game’s classes and traded between players. Additional Valve titles available on Steam for Linux include Half-Life, Counter-Strike 1.6, and Counter-Strike: Source.

In addition to games, the Steam for Linux client includes Big Picture, the new mode of Steam designed for use with a TV and game controller. With Steam for Linux and Big Picture mode, Valve anticipates a growing number of gamers will use Steam in the living room.”

The list of new PC game releases, Blu-ray releases, and movies opening the week of February 11th, 2013.

PC games:

• Aliens: Colonial Marines
• Impire
• Omerta: City of Gangsters
• SpellForce 2 Faith in Destiny Scenario 3: Last Stand

Movies opening this week:

• A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III (limited)
• A Good Day to Die Hard
• Beautiful Creatures
• Escape from Planet Earth
• Like Someone in Love (limited)
• No (limited)
• Safe Haven

Blu-ray releases:

• Bully
• Dangerous Liaisons
• Diamonds Are Forever
• Dolphin Tale
• Dracula vs. Frankenstein
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
• GoldenEye
• Great Barrier Reef
• House of Whipcord: Remastered Ed.
• Life Stories
• Mimesis
• Nurse Jackie: Season Four
• Octopussy
• Rise of the Zombies
• Schizo: Remastered Ed.
• Silent Hill: Revelation
• Skyfall
• Spy Who Loved Me
• The Comeback: Remastered Ed.
• The Kid with a Bike (Criterion Collection)
• The Living Daylights
• The Man with the Iron Fists
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower
• The Sessions
• Thieves
• Tomorrow Never Dies
• Weeds: Season Eight
• You Only Live Twice

At the DICE Summit this morning Gabe Newewll and director J.J. Abrams revealed plans to collaborate on upcoming projects, which could potentially include Portal and Half-Life movies.

Via Ars Technica:

“Following a wide-ranging onstage talk reprising the kind of private discussions Newell says movie and TV people have all the time, he announced that it was “time to do more than talking.”

Abrams jumped in to mention an “idea for a game that we’d like to work with Valve on.”

Newell took the mic again, saying, “We’re also interested in working with you guys on movies. We’re going to see if we can make a Portal movie or a Half-Life movie.”

The above announcement came after a good-natured talk about the different ways movies and games tell stories.”

Full article

Electronic Arts today announced that Dead Space 3 has been shipped to North American stores and is also available via its Origin service.

“Dead Space 3 takes players to the edge of the psyche on a suspense-filled expedition to uncover the secret of the Necromorph infestation and unravel the mystery behind the mysterious Markers. For the first time in the franchise, players can choose to experience this alone or with a friend using the fully integrated drop-in/drop-out co-op feature. In co-op, players take on the role of Sergeant John Carver – a merciless soldier who lost his family to the Necromorph infestation – as they unlock story details, side missions and gameplay mechanics that only he can uncover. Dead Space 3 also introduces a hostile new planet called Tau Volantis that pits players against deadly, subzero conditions and highly-evolved enemies including new Necromorphs and gigantic boss creatures. Using the all-new weapon crafting system, players can scavenge for parts and build devastating new weapons to defeat any enemies that stand in their way.”

The list of new PC game releases, Blu-ray releases, and movies opening the week of February 4th, 2013.

PC games:

• Anodyne
• Cities in Motion: Design Quirks
• Dead Space 3
• Special Forces: Team X

Movies opening this week:

• Identity Thief
• Lore (limited)
• Side Effects
• Top Gun (3D)

Blu-ray releases:

• A Late Quartet
• Alex Cross
• Bigfoot: The Lost Coast Tapes
• Cabaret
• Celeste and Jesse Forever
• Deadfall
• Flight
• Here Comes the Boom
• House of Cards Trilogy (UK)
• Laura
• Life of Riley
• Little White Lies
• Peter Pan
• Side by Side
• So Undercover
• Star Is Born
• The Ballad of Narayama (Criterion Collection)
• The Coalition
• The Road To Red Rocks
• Tour de France 2012: British Invasion
• Toys in the Attic
• Tyler Perry’s Madea Gets A Job: The Play
• Yelling to the Sky

Paradox Interactive today announced Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods, a new expansion in the strategy series that’s scheduled to be released in Q2 of this year.

“The forthcoming expansion, titled Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods, will add a number of widely requested features to the game, including the ability to play as a Pagan or Zoroastrian ruler, expanding empires through war, pillaging, and ruthless brutality. Players will also be able to begin their in-game reign as far back as the year 867 AD, making The Old Gods officially the Paradox title that spans the longest period in history.

In the year 867 the Old Gods were still mighty. In England, the Raven Banner flew as the Great Heathen Army pillaged its way across the land, deposing kings and establishing the Danelaw. In the East, Rurik founded the state of Russia, and in the forests and steppes of central Europe, pagan tribes were on the move…

Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods lets players step into the boots of a pagan chieftain, approaching the brutal backstabbing world of Crusader Kings through invasion, adventure, and holy war.

The expansion features: 

• Religious Turmoil:Restore the Old Gods to prominence through sacrifice and divination, or force the pagans to convert through new missionary missions.
• Earlier start: 200 years of more gameplay with the special 867 AD bookmark.
• Rebels With a Cause: Rebels are no longer faceless rabble, but led by defined characters with specific agendas.
• Adventurers: Watch as landless younger sons and charismatic warriors raise armies.
• Pillage and Prosper: Loot provinces and burn cities to the ground – lest your warlike people grow angry during extended peacetime!
• Heathens: Convert them or play as them and survive, reforming your faith to stand the test of time.
• Prepared Invasions: Declare your intent to invade a rich target, and watch adventurers and opportunists flock to your banner.
• Unholy UI: A new pagan interface is available alongside all-new events, decisions, and units.

Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods is scheduled to release in Q2 2013.”

Focus Home Interactive and Frogwares have announced Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments, the next installment in the adventure series.

“The new Sherlock Holmes game Crimes and Punishments will build upon that success with important changes on the graphical side as well as the game experience side.

For the first time ever, Frogwares Studio will abandon their homemade graphics engine. The latest adventures of Sherlock Holmes will be developed on Epic’s Unreal Engine 3, allowing the series to jump far ahead of previous installments in graphical quality. Environments will be more realistic and finely detailed with dynamic lighting and shadows. Choosing this engine also lets the game benefit from many technologies like a powerful animation engine for smooth movement and animation transitions, real-time shaders and a particle system, and advanced post-processing effects.

Unlike the previous adventures of Sherlock Holmes, in Crimes and Punishments you will not be a mere spectator during the detective’s investigation. It is now your turn to truly become Sherlock Holmes and lead your own investigation–actually, your investigations, as 8 captivating cases await you! Murders, disappearances, spectacular thefts, and other investigations will bring you to the cutting edge of the detective genre and these cases will be the bread and butter of this game, written in the pure tradition of Conan Doyle’s novels. Each case offers real freedom to players, who will have to make important moral choices instead of simply enforcing justice by the book. All decisions have an influence in the game and affect your character’s reputation in addition to having realistic, sometimes unexpected, consequences. You will have to bear the weight of your choices, as Crimes and Punishments offers an exciting system of actions/consequences that forces players to think before acting by giving true depth to every decision they make.

In Crimes and Punishments, players will embody a Sherlock Holmes with a brand new look. Developers at Frogwares have abandoned the classic Sherlock Holmes inspired by the 60s Sherlock movies, replacing him with a more modern character perfectly matching the new artistic ambitions of the title. ”

A new BioShock Infinite trailer was released today, giving viewers more of a look at the upcoming next installment in the series.

“The year is 1912 and Booker DeWitt is headed to the city of Columbia. A technological marvel amongst the clouds, Columbia holds a dark secret, and with it, a mysterious girl. Upon arrival, Booker discovers that rescuing the imprisoned girl will be more difficult than he could have imagined.”

The list of new PC game releases, Blu-ray releases and movies opening the week of January 28th, 2013.

PC games:

• Antichamber
• Dungeonland
• Heavy Fire: Shattered Spear
• Omerta: City of Gansters
• Proteus
• Retrovirus
• Skulls of the Shogun
• Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
• Wizardry Online

Movies opening this week:

• Bullet to the Head
• Koch (limited NYC)
• Sound City (limited)
• Stand Up Guys (limited)
• The Gatekeepers (limited)
• The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia (limited)
• Warm Bodies

Blu-ray releases:

• All Superheroes Must Die
• Amazing Ocean
• Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2
• Berlin Phil in Singapore
• Best of Warner Bros 50 Film Collection
• Citadel
• Cold Light of Day
• Die Hard: 25th Anniversary Ed.
• Fascination Coral Reef: Mysterious Worlds Underwater
• Flight of the Navigator
• Hotel Transylvania
• Masterpiece Classic: Downton Abbey Season 3 (UK Version)
• Paranormal Activity 4
• Seven Psychopaths
• Shorts International Presents: Oscar Winning Short Films
• That Obscure Object of Desire
• The Awakening
• The Duellists
• Top Gear Worst Car in the World Ever
• White Zombie: Kino Classic’s Remastered Ed.

A new patch for Awesomenauts was released today, which includes various tweaks, fixes, and a new Creeper Clunk skin with the cooperation of Mojang.

“The bane of Minecraft players everywhere, the Creeper, made his way into Awesomenauts! The Creeper is famous for terrorizing everyones’ beautiful blocky castles, villas, starships and pixel art of Minecraft, especially whenever you least expect it. And now you’ll have to watch your back in Awesomenauts as well!

Fittingly, he’s a skin for Awesomenauts’ own exploding horror: Clunk. But Creeper Clunk won’t be a skin you can just buy. The only way to grab the skin is to defeat another Creeper Clunk. The development team will be online with creeper clunks in the coming days, so bring it on!

For more details, check out the site here: http://www.awesomenauts.com/Creeperclunk/“

Paradox Interactive today announced that Crusader Kings II for Linux is now available on Steam and additional titles are in development.

“Heralded as one of the best strategy games of 2012, Crusader Kings II explores one of the defining eras in world history, in an experience crafted by the masters of Grand Strategy. Medieval Europe is brought to life in this epic title, rife with rich strategy and tactical depth, where ambitious kings will be charged with bringing their dynasties to greatness. Intrigue, backstabbing, and maintaining relationships—both intimate and political—are just as important as the ability to lead troops into battle as you quest for glory and power. Stand ready, increase your prestige, and listen to the world whisper your name in awe; do you have what it takes to become a Crusader King?”

Rockstar Games today announced the release of the Deathmatch Made in Heaven DLC pack for Max Payne 3, which adds new close-combat weapons, items, achievements and four co-op game modes to the multiplayer.

Features:

• “Dead Man Walking 2 Player Co-Op Mode
  Fight endless waves of enemies as Max and Passos – using teamwork and skill to earn Grit and open up new areas of the map as well as weapons, weapon attachments, painkillers and ammo. See how long you can fend off the bloodthirsty onslaught and rack up big points.
• Run & Stun Mode
  This all-new competitive multiplayer mode casts one random player in the role of the diabolical Saci, Captain Baseball Bat Boy’s nemesis – using superior strength, unlimited stamina, and a deadly combination of the new Stun Gun and a weighty melee attack to try and turn all the other players to his side.
• Marked Man Mode
  This vendetta-fueled take on Max Payne 3′s Deathmatch mode awards extra points for successfully exacting revenge on adversaries as well as surviving Vendettas placed on you by other players.
• Time Attack Mode
  Rack up the kills before time runs out in the new Time Attack Deathmatch mode, where taking out multiple targets within a short period of time will earn you considerable bonus points.
• The Deathmatch Made in Heaven Pack also includes the new single-player Challenge Arcade Mode – keeping you on your toes and putting your skills to the test across each level of the game’s story with impromptu challenges like registering headshots, dispatching enemies with explosive kills or any number of direct objectives.”

The Elder Scrolls Online site has been updated with the announcement that interested players can now register for the upcoming beta. Additionally, a new cinematic trailer was released.

“You can now officially sign up for The Elder Scrolls Online beta program starting today. If selected, you will be one of the first people to embark upon the newest Elder Scrolls adventure, and help us beta test The Elder Scrolls Online. Please be aware that this is just beta sign-ups. Once our first beta test begins, we’ll make sure everyone knows—watch our official website, Facebook, Google+, and Twitter for an announcement about the first round of invites.”

Atari’s US division filed for bankruptcy protection today and intends to sell assets or reorganize to accomplish the same result.

“The move to separate the U.S. business comes after the parent company Atari said in December it was strained for cash. The French parent, which hasn’t made a profit since 1999 despite asset sales and restructuring, forecast a “significant loss” in 2012-2013, and said it would weigh all means of raising cash and had been talking to potential investors.

According to its Chapter 11 petition, Atari owes $10 million to $50 million to at least 200 creditors and possibly as many as 999. It reported assets of $1 million to $10 million.”

Full story on Bloomberg.

Valve today announced the release of Steam Guides, which allows players to share guides, walkthroughts and tips.

“Steam Guides lets players create and share guides, walkthroughs, and tips for their favorite games or software to help others who might be stuck or who simply want to learn more about the game. Players may easily create guides through Steam, where they may upload images, add screenshots, and embed YouTube videos. Guides are then quickly accessible through Steam, via the Steam Community and in-game via the Steam Overlay.”