SimCity gets Airships DLC, yours for 8.99 luftballons g21

Hey there, blimpy boy: SimCity hasn't gotten any more consumer friendly with its latest bit of paid DLC, but it has taken to the skies by adding airships, balloons and even blimps. Which, erm, is almost as good. Pretend you're in charge of the bad universe from Fringe by shelling out $8.99 over on Origin (alternatively, you could just hire John Noble to stand glowering around in your house). Things what you'll get as part of the download: 'Airship Hangers' for manhandling tourists, 'Commuter Airship Mooring' for taking care of commuters, a couple of hot air balloon parks and 'Event Blimps' that appear during, well, events. If for some reason you need a four-minute video explanation of the above, here is a four-minute video explanation of the above: (Ta, Joystiq.) The post SimCity gets Airships DLC, yours for 8.99 luftballons appeared first on PC Gamer.

Put the internet to work for you. via Personal Recipe 2556094

Star Wars: The Old Republic adds Ewok companion as part of update 2.3 g21

Hate them or hate them, Ewoks will forever remain part of the Star Wars mythology, in all parallel universes except for the Revenge of the Jedi one from BioShock Infinite. Probably. As part of update 2.3, the cuddly murderous rebels – or one in particular – are now being added to Star Wars: The Old Republic as the MMO's newest companion character. Say hello to Treek, a heavy armor user with both heal and tank stances, not to mention and an adorable wittle furry face. The update, now on the public test servers, adds Treek to the game's Cartel Bazaar. To get her to join you, you'll have to purchase a pricey mercenary contract for a million credits (price subject to change when the update eventually hits the live servers). You'll also need to be legacy level 40, and be able to put up with that annoying Ewok noise. You know the one. Dulfy.net has the full deets on Treek, including a couple of spoilery cutscenes. Now all we need is Jar Jar Binks and – on second thought, BioWare, please don't ever do that. (Thanks to Massively.) The post Star Wars: The Old Republic adds Ewok companion as part of update 2.3 appeared first on PC Gamer.

Put the internet to work for you. via Personal Recipe 2556094

Reinstall: Myst g21

Reinstall invites you to join us in revisiting classics of PC gaming days gone by. This week, we explore the eerily deserted, ethereal landscape of Myst. With six million copies sold, making it the best-selling game of all time until The Sims came along, there's absolutely no arguing Myst's place in PC gaming history. It set a new benchmark for multimedia and 3D rendering. It inspired many people who would never have touched a game to give it a try, sucking them into our world. It gave printer manufacturers something to bundle with their products. Myst, in a word, is a legend. I hate it. I hate it so much. "Is it finally time to make peace with this old enemy?" How much do I hate it, you ask? Go to your bathroom. Brush your teeth. Done that? Now swig a large mouthful of orange juice. If I had my way, that sensation would be called "a Myst." Put me on a desert island with a computer and the entire series, and I would snap one of the discs in half and use it to slit my own wrists. Probably Riven. And that is but the start of my hate for this series, and all of the 3D-rendered abominations it spawned. But maybe I'm being too unfair. Maybe. It's been a long time since I last played Myst—you know, as opposed to taking out my copy of the game and just screaming at it for five minutes straight. Reinstalling it now that its damage to my beloved actual graphic adventure genre has long since been done, is it finally time to make peace with this old enemy, and move on in a new spirit of understanding, compassion and mutual respect? The answer is "no." This is how Myst works. You wander through a deserted, static world, poking and prodding at levers and buttons until somehow stumbling on the designer's favored brand of moon-logic and manage to open the door in front of you. Fans will tell you that these locations are rippling with symbolism and artistry, crafted and written in magic world-books by the master wordsmith Atrus. I disagree. All I can think about is how annoying it must be to be a visitor in his house, suddenly realizing you need to solve a puzzle involving the orbits of the sun and the moon as they relate to duck flatulence simply to get into his bathroom. "Creators Cyan realized they'd named a core part of their lore after a slang term for a toilet." The central puzzle in Myst is collecting red and blue pages from around Atrus' empty, desolate worlds, which you use to communicate with the two worst actors ever—his sons, Sirius and Achenar. Both are trapped in books in Atrus' library and need you to repair their books so they can escape. Unfortunately, both of the sons are complete jerks, and whichever you save promptly locks you in his book and leaves you, with the correct answer being to invite both of them to eat your shorts and rescue their dad instead. Atrus promptly burns their books and… then leaves you trapped in his admittedly prettier world. Nice guy. Totally worth helping. To grudgingly give Myst some credit, its island worlds are imaginative and beautifully rendered. Myst Island is the famous one, to the point of even cameoing in an episode of The Simpsons once, but there are many more with intriguing names like Stoneship, Selentic, Channelwood, and Dunny, which was later changed to D'ni when creators Cyan realized they'd named a core part of their lore after a slang term for a toilet. I make no comment on this, except a slightly obnoxious snickering sound. Later games also expanded on the concept in some interesting ways. The sequel, Riven, was still a desolate place, but much better conveyed the feel that it had once known life. A later remake, real Myst, turned the pre-rendered world into a full 3D one, while an online version, Uru, was a bold if failed attempt to create a massively multiplayer game around puzzles and exploration instead of combat and leveling. It's still around though, and if you want, you can play it for free at mystonline.com. "Myst reinforced the toxic idea that adventures were about puzzles and boredom." So why the hate? Why isn't it simply a game I don't like? Simple. Myst reinforced the toxic idea that adventures were about puzzles and boredom rather than adventure and fun, and the industry jumped right on board with an endless slurry of games that made it look like a trip to the theme park. Only a precious handful of games—Zork: Grand Inquisitor and Legacy of Time springing instantly to mind—dared to break the mold and be brilliant, and what was their reward? Grand Inquisitor was a flop that killed the Zork series stone dead, while Legacy's planned sequel never happened because of its creators making… a bloody Myst sequel. Aaargh! At that point I decided the whole series had become some kind of vindictive beast, targeting me personally. Irrational? Perhaps. Maybe even definitely. But that didn't matter. Myst and I were now enemies for life, and reinstalling it to give it one more shot only confirmed that, as I knew all along, I was absolutely right to hate it. So there. You can buy Myst now for $2.99 on GOG. If you dare. The post Reinstall: Myst appeared first on PC Gamer.

Put the internet to work for you. via Personal Recipe 2556094

Game of Thrones diary part one: staying alive in Crusader Kings 2′s Westeros g21

Rich's rules: 1. Play as ruler of the North, Ned Stark. 2. Don't die. 3. No honour, only backstabbing. 4. I'd really like not to die, please. Crusader Kings II is a game about scheming, plotting and advanced nefariousness in a medieval setting. It has a cast of hundreds of characters with observable traits, from tactical geniuses to lackwit blunderers, via lustful philanderers and chaste holy men. George R R Martin's Song of Ice and Fire books are about scheming, plotting and advanced nefariousness in a medieval setting. You can probably work out the rest. The two sync up so well, it only was a matter of time before Martin's low-fantasy setting was ported into Paradox's strategy game. Pleasingly, that time wasn't very long: the Game of Thrones mod was released in beta by a group of industrious CKII fans just eight months after the main game. It's now stable, comprehensive and easy to install. It's what I'll be using in this diary, and I heartily recommend you pop over to www.ck2agot.wordpress.com if you're interested. A quick note: this series will contain spoilers for the Game of Thrones' TV series and books. I'll keep major revelations from the first book onwards under my helm, but if you've somehow managed to avoid the novels (first released in 1996, you layabout), and also the HBO series, then pick them up and gobble them down like a juicy capon leg before reading on. Valar Morghulis. All men must die. I'm OK with that, but do all men have to die right now? There's a whole world to be seen, the continent of Westeros rendered in beautiful patchwork colours on Crusader Kings II's map screen. There's Dorne, jutting out into the sea in the south: sandy and warm, and split by culture – Dornishmen of sand, stone and salt. There's the greenery of the Reach and the Riverlands, filling the heart of the country. Highgarden's vineyards and Riverrun's, um, rivers, which one day I'd like to visit, be welcomed as a guest and a friend. To the west, Casterly Rock and Lannisport; to the east, the imposing crags of the Vale. I roll my mousewheel down and zoom in on the highest peak: the Eyrie, home of house Arryn. It's dusted white, like one of George's laboriously described cakes. And then there's my (pretend) home: Winterfell. Westeros's north is big, more expansive but more empty than the continent's other regions. I'm expected to govern it alone, to manage a host of squabbling vassals and underlings, all while dealing with the seemingly inevitable: my own death. I'm playing Crusader Kings II as Ned Stark, head of the Stark household, and boss of the north. The aGoT mod gives players a choice of starting period, and thus, their cast of characters. I chose to climb into Ned's armoured boots just after famous fatty – and Ned's best pal – Robert Baratheon has claimed the throne. It's supposed to be a time of peace after the loopy rule of mad King Aerys II, but George R R Martin doesn't make things easy for his characters Ah, Winterfell, home sweet home to the Stark family. But for how long? There's that morghulis thing, for one. Robert, after successfully rebelling against an incumbent king, loses a fight with a boar and unceremoniously dies in bed with his guts falling out. Ned doesn't even make it through one book before he has his head lopped off by his pal's son and kingly replacement: Joffrey Baratheon. "Ned is naïve and unflinchingly honourable – to his own detriment." In the books, Ned is naïve and unflinchingly honourable – to his own detriment. It's what gets him killed, and it's a trait I don't intend to take on myself. Crusader Kings II simulates all the intrigue of thousands of power-plays moving and interlocking across a vast political landscape. It lets you start plots against people, build spy networks, even kill your own wife. I'm not going to be like Ned. I'm going to scheme and sneak, backstab and betray. I'm going to take in the big picture, and play the pawns against each other. One small problem: bar some minor dabbling, I've not played much of Crusader Kings. Its game mechanics are to me as courtly deceit and diplomacy were to Ned. I must start small. Objective #1: not to die. I spend the first year of Robert's reign jumpy. I'm not sure quite how much of aGoT's fiction is hardcoded into the mod, and I'm expecting Robert to die at any moment. If CKII had a letter-writing feature, I'd be sending him constant telegrams saying "FOR GOD'S SAKE STAY AWAY FROM PIGS" like a porcophobic weirdo. I want to keep Robert on-side. He is, as king, the biggest presence in all Westeros. He's also got some seriously impressive claims. Claims are your ticket to more land in CKII: get a claim, and you can invade a territory without some higher power smiting you for your insolence. As Ned, I've got lordship of Winterfell – and therefore, the north – but nothing else. Robert has dibs on the southeastern Storm's End, as well as another four territories. Fortunately, Robert likes me. Each CKII character – from king down to courtier – has two numbers on their character sheet. The first details how much they like you, the second how much you like them, dictated by a set of variables. Robert wishes Ned was a bit more hedonistic, knocking ten points off the score, but their shared bravery, battle history, and affinity for stabbing the shit out of things makes them fast friends. I could call Rob a fat bastard and he'd still share his capon with me. The post Game of Thrones diary part one: staying alive in Crusader Kings 2′s Westeros appeared first on PC Gamer.

Put the internet to work for you. via Personal Recipe 2556094

Mod of the Week: Helgen Reborn, for Skyrim g21

Welcome back to the town of Helgen! Last seen at the beginning of Skyrim being curb-stomped into splinters by the Nordic God of Destruction, Helgen has since remained a shattered ruin filled with bandit jerks… until now. Helgen Reborn invites you to play a key role in transforming Helgen into a functioning town once more. You'll crisscross Skyrim on a sprawling adventure that includes recruiting a team of oddball soldiers, busting up a human-trafficking ring, fighting to the death in a gladiator pit, and moving into a new home with perhaps the coolest basement you've ever seen. The mod begins in Whiterun where I meet a grubby fellow named Patsy, who actually looks quite a bit like Patsy from Monty Python and the Holy Grail (the first of several movie references in the mod). Patsy sends me to find Marcus, a former Imperial soldier, who sends me to find Val, his former comrade in arms, who is holed up in the remains of Helgen pretending to be part of a bandit crew. As Dragonborn, savior of Skyrim, prophesied and sung of in songs, I find it a little rude for these guys to assume I have nothing better to do with my time than play postman, carrying messages between them all day. (Actually, I do have nothing better to do with my time, but these guys don't know that.) Oh, you are NOT getting your security deposit back. Eventually, the two former old chums reunite at Helgen and start making plans for the future. Val is looking for revenge against the people who killed his family, and Marcus wants to rebuild Helgen, a town he visited often in his youth and thus has fond feelsies for. I get straight to work for the both of them. First up, Val needs me to spring one of his men, who is being held in a Thalmor prison. I come up with a great plan: kill all the Thalmor with an axe. But wait! Val has an even better plan: dress me up as an Imperial and send me in with a forged prison transfer order. YES! This is just like 90% of World War II movies, where someone G.I. has to dress up in a Nazi uniform to bluff his way into a compound behind enemy lines. Those plans always go well, right? Me am Imperial. Not famous Dragonborn Orc. Me… not lie about thing like that. My Imperial uniform gets me in the door, but Val's plan hits a slight snag because my Orc, who mainly communicates with others via two-handed axe blows, has not really bothered putting skill points into Speechcraft at any point ever in his entire life. After just a few words with the Thalmor officers, they shrewdly decide this hulking brute in front of them is not actually part of an Imperial envoy transferring a prisoner to the embassy. The ruse fails, and I have to go with my original plan of AXE AXE AXE. Guten tag. Zigaretten? Oh, screw it. YAGGGGGGH Having messily rescued Val's scout, I turn to Marcus and the issue of restoring Helgen. The first thing he needs are guards to protect the town from bandits and other threats while it's being rebuilt, and he gives me the choice of asking the Stormcloaks for help, or assembling a patchwork force of various loners and oddballs from all over Skyrim. Well, that's a hell of an easy choice. Finding a ragtag crew of misfits and shaping them into an effective team? That's an 80′s movie just waiting for some montage music. I scour the map, visiting taverns all over Skyrim to put together Helgen's new town watch. I recruit a shrimpy Nord who wants to prove himself, a somber Khajiit who is mourning the death of his dog, a dope named Kindrick whose only combat experience was once seeing (and steering clear of) a single mudcrab, an Argonian who… actually, I can't remember what his deal was. There's also a brother and sister who are not that interesting because they seem like they'd be excellent choices, and I'm more about the weirdos. We've got till the end of summer to turn this motley crew of goofballs into a winning softball team. One by one, I take them out on minor quests to test their nerve and their steel, or at least to let them watch while I rush through caves ahead of them and kill everything as fast as I can. Eventually, they all prove their worth, or at least they don't die. Back in town, they all get matching uniforms and shields bearing the new, independent crest of Helgen. I gotta say, seeing my collection of misfits lined up in spiffy matching armor is a pretty cool moment. Now those stuck-up rich kids from the Thalmor camp don't stand a chance! Marcus, grateful for my help, gives me a tower in Helgen. From the outside, it doesn't look like much, but the inside is nicely furnished. There's a massive lower level with all the crafting and enchanting accoutrements, not to mention a sprawling area with mannequins for armor and display cases for weaponry. But that ain't NOTHIN'. The coolest feature of this new home, by far, is the spacious cavern under the tower. Patsy, it seems, has a talent for taxidermy. In related news, I kill a lot of monsters and take pieces of their corpses. Do you see what I'm getting at? Forget hanging up a couple axes on a rack or putting armor on a dummy: the cavern is where you can display your REAL trophies. This is my basement. Correction: this is one CORNER of my basement. Seriously, get this mod. Aside from being able to stock your basement with stuffed, posed monsters like dragons, giants, and mammoths, there are other displays that appear based on your progress in Skyrim itself. For instance, I have a werewolf statue down there, because I became a werewolf during one of Skyrim's quests, and there are all sorts of other trophies and treasures in the cavern based on what I've accomplished. I think this is the coolest home I've seen in a Skyrim mod yet. With my awesome new home (that I never want to leave), Helgen's spiffy new armed guards, and the town now noisy with the hustle and bustle of workers and new citizens, it would seem like your job here is done. But this is Skyrim, an odd and violent land, so issues with a late lumber delivery naturally wind up with me fighting to the death under the name "Skull Crusher" in a gladiator pit called Fight Cave while onlookers chant "Two warriors enter! One warrior leaves!" It's Skyrim, man. You never know where your day is going to take you. Welcome to Fight Cave. You are not how many septims you have in the bank. You are not your enchanted ebony armor. Fight Cave is reminiscent of the Imperial City Arena in Oblivion. You work your way up in a series of bouts against tougher and tougher opponents, while gamblers watch and (sort of) cheer. Once you've become champion, which somehow solves the delay in the lumber delivery, you're back to helping Val with his deal, which turns out to be busting up a human-trafficking ring. Of course! Using my dragon to punish slavers. Wonder where I got that idea from? Despite the mod's guide urging you to SAVE SAVE SAVE YOUR GAME, I only had one crash, and one issue with a quest that required me to reload my most recent autosave. So, it's actually pretty darn stable, all things considered. Also, it's pretty great. There's a bunch of lore related to the mod in the form of books and conversations. There is an impressive amount of original voice work, and nearly all of it is very well done, with the exception for the guy who sounds like someone doing an Arnold Schwarzenegger impression (on the plus side, it's a very good impression). If we don't rebuild, then the dragons have won. Plus, when you're done, you'll get to witness Helgen being rebuilt into a real town with an inn, shops, and all sorts of original characters walking around. My guess is that this mod took me about five or six hours to play, and apart from one embarrassingly regrettable scene with a moaning prostitute (though at least it contains a reference to Blazing Saddles), is really well thought out and impressively put together. Installation: You can easily download and install the mod using the Nexus Mod Manager (I didn't see it on Steam Workshop, unfortunately), though check the mod's FAQ for conflicts with other mods (there seem to be a lot). I didn't see instructions for a manual install, but there's just single .bsa file and a single .esp file in the download, so I'm guessing you just drop them in your Skyrim Data folder, and tick the Data Files checkbox when you launch the game. The post Mod of the Week: Helgen Reborn, for Skyrim appeared first on PC Gamer.

Put the internet to work for you. via Personal Recipe 2556094