PC gaming news P.3

Battlefield Play4Free may rival its paid counterpart

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is a great game. The single player, is very.. bleh. Could be better. The multiplayer however is great. The use of vehicles in multiplayer that has been missing for a while brings something interesting to the multiplayer table. In recent times, popular titles have somehow abstained from using vehicles. Why I say. Why? Who doesn't want to launch a tank shell into some 12 year old kid raging about lag? I want to. Ignoring the fact that VoIP is absent from Bad Company 2 (on the PC at least), and I wouldn't know if the dude is 12 or 20, destroying people with a tank or helicopter is great. Battlefield prides itself on the use of vehicles to dominate people, and with good cause. We need multiplayer vehicles. Running around shooting people on a map the size of my desk is boring. I want huge sprawling levels so you have use a helicopter to traverse and avoid the tracer dart shooting noobs.

The makers of Battlefield: Heroes have let go of the cartoony artwork to make Battlefield Play4Free. From the trailers, the game looks like a child of Bad Company 2 and Combat Arms. B:P4F may not be boasting the same graphics as Bad Company 2, but it definitely retains the style of gameplay. The vehicles are present, along with some of the maps looking like they were ported from BC2.

Why do I think it will rival BC2? The graphics aren't all that bad. Things like Combat Arms brings in a ton of new gamers being introduced to FPS games on the PC. Of course this free game won't rival BC2 in the slightest of sales, since there are none to be made, but if they pull it off extremely well, they will most definitely rival the amount of active players. There are a bunch of people not interested in PC gaming, who are interested in console gaming. Again, the product name will bring in people who don't normally play on the PC like this. TV taken up by the family? Time for some PC gaming. Your computer sucks? Well try out this game, it's free! It's Battlefield!

Of course, there is no reason for BC2 players to switch if it's just a toned down remake. Combat arms is fun in the sense there are a bunch of people that fail on it, but with them forcing you to buy.. sorry, rent weapons with real cash, shit gets unbalanced really really fast. If revenue is to be made by this game, it may have to be by buying in game content. It could be from advertisements of course, but hopefully they won't go the Pay2Win scheme.

Anyway, from the previews and screens shown of it, this game is looking to be a real good addition to the Battlefield series. If it's anywhere near the level of quality Heroes was, they'll have a real winner on their hands.

PC Gaming News P.2

Dice to release free Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Maps

With the onset of new titles like Call of Duty: Black OPs, Dice, the developers of the Battlefield franchise, is obviously looking for ways to keep people around and playing Battlefield: Bad Company 2. The upcoming DLC for BFBC2, Vietnam, is what they're generally using to keep us here, but Dice, being such a lovely bunch, decided to not leave us poor users in the dust. 'VIP Map Pack 7' promises us 4 multiplayer maps for free. Two maps from the first Bad Company, Oasis and Harvest Day, will be getting ported from the first game and updated with better graphics. Two completely new maps, Cold War and Heavy Metal, will be the other two added. The release date has yet to be announced, but people are guessing it will come out soon. Personally, I'm guessing slightly after the Vietnam DLC comes out, which is tentatively set for a release during "Winter 2010", just so you have a chance to buy the DLC before they give you the free maps.

It'd be great if it came out before, but common sense in business strategies says you can get a person to pay for 'water' after they've been craving it a long time, instead of them deciding to wait longer for it to be free. But, as Valve's Steam software has shown us, people will wait an awful long time for sales, so who can say for certain?

PC gaming news P.1

Games for Windows Marketplace to be launched on Nov. 15

Yes, it seems that Microsoft has smelled money in the air, and is now jumping on the bandwagon of Digital Distribution made famous by Valve's Steam software and Direct2Drive.

For those of you who don't know, digital distribution refers to buying a game online and downloading it. No physical discs, just the game. While on paper this may seem weird, it's really, REALLY convenient. All you have to do is buy the game, download it, and you're good to go. No need to trip over all your bowls of half eaten ramen! No need to blind yourself with sunlight anymore! Just buy the game, and you instantly have it. Steam already has a huge catalog of games for you to waste your money on. A lot of them from heavy hitters in the games industry. Games from EA to Infinity Ward. ID to 2K Games. Indie developers can even submit things to be carried on the Steam platform. You can buy Wolfenstein 3D and immediately afterward buy Call of Duty: Black Ops. With Steam being this solid, GWM will have to do a lot to compete against Steam. Microsoft definitely picked up the scent on the sales of Steam. Steam makes an egregious of money, there's no doubt about it. They won't release their specific figures, but considering the range of games, and a 205% increase of Steam Sales from a year ago, coupled with ~3,000,000 active users buying games, any 205% increase will definitely be big money.

But what about Windows? When facing a library of games and backing of developers this huge, do they stand a chance to make the same amount of money? Maybe. Microsoft is integrating their already massive Windows Live ID accounts to make purchasing PC games easier for the 'less PC savvy' of us.

"Anyone with a Windows Live ID (Windows Live, Xbox LIVE, Games for Windows – LIVE or Zune account) can login and immediately start shopping in the Games for Windows Marketplace. The new store also supports Microsoft Points (as well as credit card purchasing), allowing the more than 25 million users of Xbox LIVE, Zune Marketplace and Games for Windows – LIVE to use their Microsoft Points balance seamlessly across platforms."

Now, people who aren't that much into the PC gaming world will come from their Xbox Live accounts to buy from a familiar face. Microsoft is one of the strongest names in the tech world. Who would you trust more if you were thinking about getting a game digitally for the first time? Valve, who makes games, or Microsoft, who makes your operating system? Microsoft may just get the people who are new to digital distribution by the name alone. Steam may have a massive community, but Microsoft is a great name to stand behind and sell stuff. People don't want to venture off into unknown territory! They want the norm. They want to be buying from a company they know, and Microsoft realizes that. If you use Xbox Live, and decide you want to use a Computer for gaming now on, you'll want the convenience of digital distribution. You'll go with Microsoft, someone who you know and trust.

Unless of course you have a Mac, then you'll be using Steam.