Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag PC release date announced g21

After months and months of uncomfortable silence and nebulous date ranges, Ubisoft has finally announced that the PC version of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag will sail into view around the same time as its next-gen console versions on Nov. 19.

Of course, with new information comes a new trailer, though this one shows off the game's crew of buccaneers more than Caribbean foliage or the proper way to harpoon a shark (it's all in the wrist). I imagine Ubisoft's afraid to show off another 15 minute video as we'd probably deduce the ending through the sheer amount of footage that's been released thus far.

Personally, I don't care that the PC verison isn't hitting the original October 29 release date if it means we get a more optimized PC game from Ubisoft than we have in years (or months) past. Ubisoft PC ports have traditionally been, well, less than spectacular, but that doesn't mean things can't change. A new team's building this game, and with that comes new expectations.

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Giveaway: Win a copy of ARMA X: Anniversary Edition g21

You can't run Arma 3, but you want to get into military simulation? Or maybe you're ready to try to survive the horrors of DayZ? If you're ready for a history lesson, PC Gamer is giving 30 readers Arma X: Anniversary Edition: the entire Arma and Arma 2 collection from Bohemia Interactive, including each game's expansions, original soundtracks, and more. All you have to do to win is like us.

On Facebook, that is. Just fill out this simple form at PC Gamer's Facebook page. Entries must be submitted by Oct. 13, and you must be 18 or over to be eligible. Thirty winners will be selected and given Arma X: Anniversary Edition for Steam. One entry per user, and this promotion is valid only for US readers. Good luck!

 

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Tripwire: “SteamOS, Steam Machines, and Steam Controller will be the best thing to happen to PC gaming since digital distribution” g21

John Gibson has been making PC-exclusive games for more than a decade. As President of Tripwire Interactive, he's helped push Killing Floor, Red Orchestra 2, Rising Storm out the door of the developer's Roswell, Georgia studio. He also happens to have a pretty nice sound system for his PC. We asked Gibson to weigh in on Valve's trinity of announcements.

PCG: What's your reaction to SteamOS?

John Gibson: An open platform OS created by a company focused on gaming and meeting customers needs–how could we not be excited by SteamOS?

Are you actively developing for SteamOS?

Gibson: We actually just learned about SteamOS a few days before the rest of the world and we haven't gotten our hands on it just yet. Fortunately Valve gave us a heads up a while back that adding Linux and Big Picture support would "be a pretty good idea going forward." So we started working on Linux and Big Picture support soon after that. We've now got three of our four games released on Linux and one of those games with Big Picture mode support. That has put us in a really good position to take advantage of SteamOS when it is released since it is essentially Linux + Big Picture + Awesome Performance Optimizations + Other Cool Stuff. We'll be working on setting up the rest of our recent titles with SteamOS support in the not too distant future. We also plan on releasing our next unannounced title with SteamOS support right out of the box.

John Gibson, President of Tripwire Interactive

"For years we've seen the Windows OS getting in the way of game development in many ways."

What impact do you expect a Steam-centered OS and set of hardware to have on PC gaming?

Gibson: I believe that the combination of SteamOS, Steam Machines, and Steam Controller will be the best thing to happen to PC gaming since digital distribution, perhaps the biggest thing to happen to gaming itself in a generation. For the first time ever the entire path from game developer to the customer's hands is being created by a company focused on game development and giving gamers what they want. Digital distribution, particularly Steam, took two roadblocks out of the path–the big publishers and retail stores. Before digital distribution you couldn't get your game into customers' hands without a big publisher and retail stores–both of which in most cases didn't add value at all for the end user, the gamer. This blocked a lot of innovative games from getting into gamers hands. Then you've got the OS as another step in the path. For years we've seen the Windows OS getting in the way of game development in many ways, and Apple has been pretty apathetic about gaming on Mac OS up until just recently. Getting an OS completely geared towards gaming, with all of the OS bloat that slows games down removed sounds like a godsend to game developers and gets another roadblock out of the way.

Next you have the hardware. PC gamers have been loath to move to the consoles because they are outdated so quickly and can't be upgraded, the game prices are bloated, and they can't stand the idea of giving up the quick responsiveness of the mouse and keyboard. Console gamers on the other hand have been limited to the closed console ecosystem where modding is cut off and things like Counter-Strike, Desert Combat, and Dota would never have existed. In the closed console ecosystems games like TF2 or our own game Killing Floor that constantly put out free content and provide value to the gamer wouldn't have been allowed to do all those free updates.

Steam Machines sound like the best of both worlds. It opens the door to the living room for developers like us to get our games into the living room on a platform that is open and allows the kind of innovation that PC game developers are used to. It also opens the door for a whole generation of console gamers to experience what they have been missing out on. It sounds like there will be a wide variety of Steam Machines that fit all gamers' budgets which is great. Since Valve have done the smart thing and left their platform open that will encourage competition between hardware manufacturers, which can only serve to keep the cost of the machines down and bring value to the gamer. Finally, if the rumors going around are true and this "input" that Valve has hinted about is a controller that allows you to have mouse-like aiming and control while sitting on your couch–well that is the holy grail of gaming right there.

"We're incredibly excited about Steam OS and Steam Machines and will be supporting them fully."

What are your concerns regarding adding SteamOS as a development platform?

Gibson: There are a few concerns that a developer has to look at when releasing a game on a new platform. What is the cost going to be to port/maintain compatibility and will we make our money back? How is the performance going to be? Is there good driver support? What we've seen in the past since Steam has come to Mac and Linux that about 10 percent of our game sales are now on those platforms. That extra 10 percent in sales was definitely worth putting our games on those platforms.

For our newer games we do have some concerns about maintaining two rendering paths–DirectX for Windows and OpenGL for Linux, Mac, and SteamOS. But actually the biggest hurdle for us is adding controller support to our existing games. Since they were designed to be played with a mouse and keyboard, and the interface was designed for a mouse and keyboard it will be quite a bit of work to get them functioning well with a standard console controller. We're now designing our newer games to work well with both mouse and keyboard and controllers from the start. Even with these concerns, we're incredibly excited about Steam OS and Steam Machines and will be supporting them fully. We think like most things Valve do this is going to be huge, and if I were Sony or Microsoft I would be very concerned right now.

Valve released this diagram of a hypothetical set of Steam Controller bindings for Portal 2. "What I like about the device is that Valve clearly took a 'clean slate' approach to it's design," Gibson says of the device.

Tripwire's known for making PC-exclusive FPSes. How confident are you that Steam Controller is going to be an improvement over the Xbox 360 controller for first-person shooters? What do you like about the device?

Gibson: Valve actually gave us the heads-up about the controller a while back although we didn't know all of the details until we learned them today with the rest of the world. We haven't gotten our hands on one yet (very soon though) so I can only make assumptions at this point. The thing about Valve though, is they don't make claims lightly. They are PC gamers and shooter players. So if they say they made a controller that works as well as a mouse and keyboard then I'd put my money on them having done it and done it right. As a hardcore PC FPS player, and former competitive FPS player I really can't stand playing FPS games on a console controller like the Xbox 360 controller. Playing shooter games with the instant aiming and precision that a mouse provides is an extremely exciting and visceral experience. It is an experience a whole generation of console shooter players have been robbed of.

"Honestly I couldn't be more excited about this controller."

If the Steam Controller can provide mouse-like instant aiming and precision then it will be a vast improvement over all previous console controllers. I actually play quite a few shooters on my mobile phone, and one of the things I had noticed was that using the touch screen on my phone to aim actually gave me pretty similar control and precision to using a mouse. So if the trackpads on the Steam Controller have that level of resolution and fidelity, I could see them working well for playing shooters.

What I like about the device is that Valve clearly took a "clean slate" approach to it's design. The ability to look around/aim as well as with a mouse was clearly at the top of the list, and I'm glad someone finally had the balls to take on that problem. Every new standard console generation I've waited with baited breath to see if any of the big console makers would tackle this problem only to be let down when I see their new controller is just like their old one. I also think the touch screen in the middle will be a really cool feature. I can't wait to talk to our design team and see what type of cool functionality we could use it for. Honestly I couldn't be more excited about this controller. I've been dreaming about something like this for over 10 years, and from the looks of it it's finally here.

Thanks for talking with us, John.

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MechWarrior Online’s upcoming Community Warfare expansion detailed g21

New information on MechWarrior Online's Community Warfare came to light at the game's launch event in San Francisco last week, describing for the first time how the upcoming expansion might function. MWO creative director Bryan Ekman said faction warfare will add a leveling system and affect multiple areas of the game's economy as well as territory on its Inner Sphere star map.

After a long open-beta process that resulted in an official launch September 17, Community Warfare represents a major addition. The free-to-play game currently supports 12v12 play in two different game modes, but the expansion should bring an added level of significance to each battle as its content is unveiled over the next six months.

"Every single match has a reference now, a meaning, a purpose," Ekman said about the eventual introduction of faction warfare.

Mercenary lone wolves represent the first role envisioned by the MWO developer Piranha Games. These players play primarily on public servers and are not allied with any specific unit or Battletech faction in the game. Loyalist faction players, the second proposed role for mech pilots in MWO, will gain prestige within that faction by earning loyalty points and additional ranks. The third and final role is the mercenary unit player. This is a mercenary who wants to have a more structured approach to the game than a singular lone wolf, in that the pilot can gain prestige by completing group contracts with other members of a particular Mercenary Corporation.

Ekman said the contract system is designed to be a stable addition to the game, but at the same time the developers didn't want to build any kind of public auction house. "We made contracts a personal matter," he said. "This is something you do as an individual or you're in a merc unit as one of the leaders who is entitled to actually try to acquire contracts."

Successfully completing contracts earns an individual, a unit, or a faction loyalty points, XP, and C-Bills, MWO's in-game currency. C-Bills shouldn't be confused with MC, the game's real-money credit system. As a pilot or a faction finishes contracts, better contracts should become available in the future, according to Ekman. There's no limit to the number of contracts players can accept, but failing to complete a contract may result in a penalty. Ekman pointed out that the penalty system is not fully designed yet and he didn't elaborate on what those penalties might be.

The types of contracts mentioned by Ekman included planetary assualt/occupation, which asks players to assist occupying a particular territory in-game. There are also skirmish contracts, which will pit groups of players against each in specific battles. The final type of contract described by Ekman are bounties that offer rewards for the elimination of targeted pilots might come-across in MWO.

Community Warfare will be delivered in three phases over the next six months, Ekman said. For more on MWO's upcoming Community Warfare expansion, check out the full video here. The video also features some footage of MWO's upcoming revamp of its interface system, UI 2.0, which is set to be released in the next four weeks, according to Ekman.

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Xi3 Piston Console launches November 29 in US g21

Coming hot off the recent Valve living room news, Xi3 has announced that its modular gaming PC, the Piston, will be available for $999 in the US on the darkest day of deals—Black Friday.

The Piston is equipped with a 3.2 AMD Trinity Processor, a Radeon 7000-Series GPU, 8GB of  DDR 3 memory, a 128 GB solid state drive (upgradeable to 1 TB), three display ports (HDMI, DisplayPort and miniDP), and an assortment of USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports, adding up to total of 12. The Xi3 site also says the Piston supports the more popular operating systems, such as Windows and Linux, rather than using its own operating system like the consoles. As for whether the Piston would be compatible with SteamOS, Xi3 was optimistic but didn't want to get ahead of itself.

"SteamOS should be able to run on PISTON Consoles (PCs) as well, but we'll have to wait until SteamOS is available to confirm this," the company said.

Xi3 also says the Piston will run the same peripherals your PC runs, including controllers, keyboards, mice, and printers, along with the usual TVs and monitors. Basically, if it works on your regular PC, it probably works on the Piston.

The timing of this announcement feels like anything but a coincidence, given that Valve released a slew of announcements last week, including SteamOS, Steam Machines, and an odd-looking Steam Controller, while unveiling its plan to take over your living room. After all, Xi3's Piston made headlines back in March when people speculated it was the rumored Steam Box, though that turned out to be false. Xi3 released a Q&A in which it denies calling the Piston a Steam Box, but then proceeds to call the Piston a Steam Box.

"Xi3 has never described its PISTON Console (PC) as the Steam box or a Steam Box, especially since it appears that Steam Box is a term created by journalists and not by Valve," the Q&A reads. "To be clear, however, PISTON Console owners will be able to access and play games on/through Steam since it is a Web-based platform open to anyone with an Internet connection and a Steam account, either on a Windows- or a Linux-based system. So in this regard, PISTON could be considered the first commercially available Steam Box."

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