PC Game News

Perfect World Entertainment today announced the launch of War of the Immortals in North America and Europe.

"War of the Immortals is now available for free download and play at: https://woi.perfectworld.com/

After several months of testing, War of the Immortals continues to draw players worldwide into an adventure guaranteed to transform would-be heroes into legendary warriors and demigods.

War of the Immortals features stunning landscapes, interactive environments, awe-inspiring monsters, and a unique pet system based on the concept of 'capture and customize'. Its advanced guild system allows players to establish housing for guild members, recruit new warriors, plan dungeon runs and create new recipes and items.

It's also not too late to enter the War of Immortals Hardware Giveaway for a chance to win more than $2,500 worth of prizes, including a computer, gaming hardware, War of the Immortals limited edition collectible items, and in-game currency. Various prizes will be available as players reach each of the three tiers beginning at Tier 1. All players who register for a free War of the Immortals account and login to play between now and December 31 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific will automatically be entered for a chance to win prizes at Tier 1.

To download and play War of the Immortals at no cost, or to join the War of the Immortals community for more information, please visit the official website: https://register.perfectworld.com/woi

And, for more information about the hardware giveaway, please visit:
https://woi.perfectworld.com/news/?p=405001 "

Auto Club Revolution announced that new upgrade parts manufacturers have been added to the game including Brembo, HKS, Borla and AC Schnitzer. The game is currently in closed beta testing but interested gamers can still apply.

"The parts available from Auto Club Revolution’s Upgrades Shop include everything needed to turn even stock showroom models into highly-tuned track heavy-weights. From engine upgrades, turbochargers and fuel injection to brakes, gearbox and tyres, every car can be modified to suit its owner’s tastes and needs.

“An authentic, rich experience is of paramount importance to the Auto Club Revolution team”, explained Eutechnyx COO, Darren Jobling, “Our team has worked incredibly hard to sign many major brands known to lovers of car modification. We're delighted with the response from the motoring industry who quickly understood the value in seeing their brands included in this revolutionary online game and car community.”

The game's Closed Beta phase launched in July 2011, more information can be read at: www.AutoClubRevolution.com"

Interwave Studios announced a Steam free weekend for Nuclear Dawn, which has already begun. A new patch was released for the game just prior to this free weekend that adds new features and fixes.

"The long-awaited and much-delayed free weekend on Steam is on right now. Head over to Nuclear Dawn's Steam store page right here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/17710/ and take advantage of this amazing offer to try our game for free, without charge, costs or hidden tricks, other than the addiction we hope it sparks in you all."

ArenaNet announced via a Reddit AMA that Guild Wars 2 will be entering closed beta this Friday. The AMA on Reddit deals with the game's professions.

If you're not familiar with Reddit an AMA is an "Ask Me Anything" post where the poster answers community questions via the commenting system.

Mesmer profession:

"Mesmers are magical duelists who rely on deception and confusion to keep their opponents in check. Indecision is their greatest ally. Using powerful illusions to distract, they make sure they never go toe to toe with an enemy; they use their powers and tactics to set up an unfair fight. Just when you think you've figured out what the mesmer is doing, illusions begin to shatter, clones start to fade away, and you realize you've been swinging at empty air all along. It's hard to keep your eye on the real mesmer."

There's more on the mesmer profession on the Guild Wars site.

The list of new PC game releases, DVD and Blu-ray releases and movies opening the week of December 12th, 2011.

PC Games:

• Battlefield 3: Back to Karkand DLC
• Star Wars: The Old Republic

Movies Opening This Week:

• Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked
• Carnage
• Cook County
• Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel
• Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol (limited)
• Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

DVD and Blu-ray releases:

• Astron-6 Collection
• Awesome Pawsome: The Next Generation
• Best King of the Ring
• Best of Celebrity Ghost Stories: Strange Encounters
• Branded to Kill [Criterion Collection Blu-Ray]
• Circumstance
• City of God [Blu-Ray]
• Detective Dee & He Mystery of the Phantom Flame [Blu-Ray]
• Eames: The Architect and the Painter
• Family Guy, Vol. 9
• Friday Night [Blu-Ray]
• Gunsmoke: The Fifth Season, Vol. 2
• Heavenly Creatures [Blu-Ray]
• How Beer Saved the World
• Intruder – Director's Cut [Blu-Ray]
• Jessicka Rabid
• Kill Katie Malone [Blu-Ray]
• Kung Fu Panda 2 / Secrets of the Masters [Blu-Ray]
• Life & Legend of Wyatt Earp
• Little Deaths
• Meet Me in St. Louis [Blu-Ray]
• Mere Brother Ki Kulhan [Blu-Ray]
• Monica & David
• Northwest Passage
• Rise of the Planet of the Apes [Blu-Ray]
• Seven Chances: Ultimate Ed. [Blu-Ray]
• Sherlock Holmes [Blu-Ray]
• Spin City: The Complete Sixth Season
• Stars & Stripes Forever [Blu-Ray]
• Steve Jobs: One Last Thing
• Swamp People: Season 2
• Switched at Birth: Vol. One
• Tanner Hall [Blu-Ray]
• The Black Power Mixtape
• The Expendables [Blu-Ray]
• The Guild: Season Five
• The Legend is Born: Ip Man [Blu-Ray]
• The Ricky Gervais Show: The Complete Second Season
• The Rocketeer: 20th Anniversary Ed. [Blu-Ray]
• The Smell of Success
• Tokyo Drifter [Criterion Collection Blu-Ray]
• Transformers Trilogy [Blu-Ray]
• Twelve Kingdoms: Great Distance in Wind Sky at Dawn [Blu-Ray]
• Velvet Goldmine [Blu-Ray]
• Worst in Show

Remedy Entertainment today officially announced that Alan Wake will be hitting the PC after all. The game is currently scheduled to be released in early 2012.

"Coming in early 2012, the game will give PC gamers the  Alan Wake experience they have been patiently waiting for. Remedy is a developer with deep roots in the PC space (Death Rally and  Max Payne 1 and 2), so the game will have the high resolution polish that longtime fans will expect.

The PC version of the game will also include The Signal and The Writer downloadable content.

Alan Wake tells the story of a best-selling writer suffering from writer’s block. He goes on vacation to the small town of Bright Falls with his wife, Alice, to gain back his creative flow. Shortly upon arrival, Wake finds himself trapped in a nightmare when his wife mysteriously goes missing. He keeps finding pages of a manuscript he apparently wrote, but can’t remember writing. The manuscript is coming true. An involving psychological action thriller,  Alan Wake raises the bar in storytelling and creating a suspenseful cinematic experience."
 

Humble Indie Bundle 4 has been released, which includes Gratuitous Space Battles, Cave Story+, Jamestown, Bit.Trip Runner, Super Meat Boy, Shank and NightSky HD.

"We're ready to drop seven new cross-platform, DRM-free games down your digital chimney. Bandage your fingertips and prepare your mind for the challenges of Super Meat Boy, Shank, Jamestown, Bit.Trip Runner, and NightSky. If you pay more than the average price, you'll also get two massive, well-loved indie favorites: Cave Story+ and Gratuitous Space Battles.

Pay what you want. If you bought these games separately, it would cost around $100, but we are letting you set the price.

The games work great on Mac, Windows, and Linux (system requirements here). Please note that this is the initial release of seven Linux builds, so please be patient while we fix 1.0 issues as fast as we can."

We wanted to try something different for our end of the year wrap-up this time around, so we decided to create a digital publication along with our partner site Pixels or Death. It includes a list of the best mainstream PC games of the year, the best independent PC games of the year, a holiday sales guide, an overview of some of the best game modifications for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, opinion pieces and nine of our recent game reviews. About half of it is exclusive content that you won't find anywhere else.

Kindle publications are available to read on many devices including all Kindle hardware, iPhone, iPad, PC, Mac, Blackberry, Android and Windows Phone 7. We'd love to continue doing this in the future on a bi-monthly or quarterly basis but in order to do that, this first issue needs to be successful. It's priced at just 99¢ and it's available in all Amazon territories.

As always, feel free to leave us any feedback on our Holiday Issue or leave your reviews on Amazon. Thanks, and we hope you enjoy!

The Battlefield blog has been updated with the announcement of the release of the Back to Karkland expansion for Battlefield 3.

"If you haven’t followed us before, Back to Karkand is our first expansion pack for Battlefield 3. It features four legendary Battlefield 2 maps reimagined in the Frostbite 2 engine, with enhanced levels of destruction.
 
More than just a map pack, Back to Karkand also features 10 new weapons to extend your arsenal (you can bring these new weapons back to the base game maps), three classic vehicles from Battlefield 2, including the STOVL fighter jet (excellent for hovering and capturing bases), Desert Buggy, and and APC, five new dog tags, and an added layer of persistence with the all-new Assignments you need to complete to unlock new weapons."

The Chinese Room today announced that the indie remake of the Source mod Dear Esther is set to be released in February on Steam.

"As you take your first steps into this remarkable world, a voice begins to read fragments of a letter: "Dear Esther…" – and so begins a journey through one of the most original first-person games in recent years.

Dear Esther immerses you in stunningly realised environments spanning a remote and desolate island somewhere in the outer Hebrides. Abandoning traditional gameplay for a purely story-driven experience, Dear Esther fuses its beautiful landscapes with a breathtaking soundtrack to tell a powerful story of love, loss, guilt and redemption.

Originally launched as a Source mod in 2007, Dear Esther has gained a cult following, critical acclaim and a number of international awards, including Best World/Story at Indiecade 2009. The extraordinary success of the mod, with over 100,000 downloads, prompted thechineseroom to begin a collaboration with Mirror’s Edge artist Rob Briscoe on a commercial rebuild powered by Valve’s Source Engine technology.

The project is being backed by Indie Fund, the high-profile independent game investment group that includes Braid’s Jonathan Blow, World of Goo creator Ron Carmel, and Kellee Santiago of thatgamecompany.

The game has already garnered attention for its exceptional standard of art and audio, which delivers an experience of AAA-quality gaming wrapped around an innovative core of storytelling. The narrative is semi-randomised and abstract; poetic, deep and emotionally resonant. This, combined with a quality of presentation that rivals the highest-budget commercial titles, makes Dear Esther truly unique as an independent production.

It will be the first time a game that started life as an academic research project to explore new opportunities for design and storytelling in first-person gaming will be realised as a full commercial product, and a milestone for the indie sector’s ability to once again deliver game experiences that are as innovative as they are engaging.

Dear Esther will be released for PC on Steam on the 14th February 2012, priced at $9.99."

Sony Online Entertainment announced that update 62 has been released, which adds a free-to-play membership to the MMORPG.

"Beginning today, all PC users will be able to freely download, install and launch the game without charge. Available free content includes the base game and all expansions up to and including EverQuest II Sentinel's Fate ® as well as the brand new Freeport Reborn game update. The game's eighth overall expansion – Age of Discovery – is also now available for purchase as a digital download, and introduces the fan-favorite Beastlord class and Dungeon Maker feature!

EVERQUEST II NEW MEMBERSHIP BREAKDOWN:

• Free – All new players or "Bronze" level members from EverQuest II Extended will have two character slots to max out at level 90. Some game features will be restricted, including available races, bag slots, spell tiers, equipment grades and more.
• Silver – Any player who purchases the Silver Upgrade token for 500 Station Cash (or $5 USD) will have fewer restrictions than "free" users. This level does not expire and includes all of the Free membership features plus additional features including character slots, bag slots, spell tiers, unlimited chat options and more.
• Gold – Gold membership is available for $14.99 USD per month and provides access to 16 classes, 15 races, seven character slots, six bag slots per character, access to Legendary and Fabled equipment, and more.

A matrix detailing the three new EQII membership levels is available here: https://everquest2.com/free_to_play/game_overview.

Trion Worlds today announced a new feature added to Rift that allows players to jump immediately into group quests.

"The new “Instant Adventure” button teleports players to Stillmoor or Shimmersand where challenges scaled to party size await. One minute you could be purging a nest of cultists with a small group … the next you’re fighting alongside dozens of players in a massive raid against the Blood Storm’s mightiest forces."

The dev team explains the Instant Adventure feature in the trailer below:

Four new screenshots for Max Payne 3 were released today, giving viewers a look at a few of the weapons in the upcoming sequel.

"The award-winning Max Payne franchise put players in the role of Max Payne, a hard-boiled New York City detective with a penchant for violence, out to avenge the death of his family. The latest installment delivers more of the classic elements and hyper-intense action that fans have come to love, while moving the story of Max in a new direction."

GamersFirst today announced that APB Reloaded, the free-to-play MMO, is now available on Steam.

"Available for download today, Steam members can now join the fight for control over the fictional world of San Paro while the game continues to refine itself through the open beta process.

In the world of San Paro, Criminals and Enforcers battle in an open-world environment to control territories, commit or stop petty crimes, and gain notoriety within their own organizations. Be it on foot or from the driver seat, APB Reloaded melds player-on-player combat within the immersive world of a city on the edge of total chaos. Powered by Epic’s Unreal 3 engine, APB Reloaded features a robust set of customization tools second to none, providing gamers the ability to create the exact look of their in-game avatar, character symbols, clothing and even customize cars they drive."

The list of new PC game releases, DVD and Blu-Ray releases, and movies opening the week of December 5th, 2011.

PC Games:

• EverQuest II: Age of Discovery
• The Adventures of Tintin: The Game

Movies Opening This Week:

• I Melt with You
• Knuckle (limited)
• Ladies vs. Ricky Bahl (limited)
• London River (limited)
• New Year's Eve
• The Sitter
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
• W.E.
• We Need to Talk About Kevin (limited LA/NYC)
• Young Adult

DVD and Blu-Ray Releases:

• A Christmas Wedding Tail
• A Christmas Wish
• Alien Armageddon [Blu-Ray]
• Ben 10 Ultimate Alien: The Wild Truth
• Big Love : The Complete Fifth Season
• Bobby Fischer Against the World
• Body Puzzle
• Cake Boss Season Four, Vol. One
• Cheaper To Keep Her
• Cowboys & Aliens [Blu-Ray]
• Design for Living [Criterion Collection Blu-Ray]
• Don't Open Till Christmas
• Dragon Tattoo Trilogy: Extended Ed. [Blu-Ray]
• Duchess of Idaho
• Historie(s) Du Cinema
• IMAX: Arabia [Blu-Ray]
• Inside Hana's Suitcase
• Is It Just Me [Blu-Ray]
• Madea [Blu-Ray]
• Mission Impossible Giftset Collection [Blu-Ray]
• Mr. Popper's Penguins
• Murder Obsession
• Mystery Science Theater 3000: Vol. XXII
• Out in the Silence [Blu-Ray]
• Point Blank [Blu-Ray]
• Portlandia [Blu-Ray]
• Rapt [Blu-Ray]
• Reach For The Sky
• Santa Claus [Blu-Ray]
• Scary Movie 1-3 [Blu-Ray]
• Shakira: En Vivo Desde Paris [Blu-Ray]
• Start The Revolution Without Me
• The Debt [Blu-Ray]
• The Hangover Part II [Blu-Ray]
• The Help [Blu-Ray]
• The Lady Vanishes [Criterion Collection Blu-Ray]
• The Love We Make [Blu-Ray]
• The Simpsons: The Fourteenth Season [Blu-Ray]
• Tora Tora Tora [Blu-Ray]
• Transformers Prime: Darkness Rising
• Triple Tap [Blu-Ray]
• Underbelly: The Trilogy
• Vietnam in HD [Blu-Ray]
• Zombie Allegiance