Another E3 has come and gone, while a lot of attention was given to Kinect, Move, and the 3DS, it also turns out to have been a good show for PC games as well. Let’s start off some E3 related news first.

Portal 2 E3 Videos

While we knew that Portal 2 was coming from Valve, their big announcement was that it was also going to get release on the PS3. I admit to have never played the original Portal, and I all those times I laughed at your Portal jokes, I was just faking it.

But with these new E3 videos, I find myself intrigued by the game play… more so than the original. There’s something appealing about redirecting beams of light to fry gun turrets – reminds me of my youth when I fried ants with a magnifying glass.



Game Critics Awards Best of E3 List is Up: Good to be PC

This year’s Game Critics Awards Best of E3 list is up and PC games have a strong showing. There is a lot to be excited about this year and I think it’s finally time to upgrade your hardware to prepare yourself for some of these releases.

  • Rage
  • Portal 2
  • Crysis 2
  • Deus Ex: Human Revolution
  • Civ V

Check out the Critics Choice Awards to see what other games made the list.

OnLive Reports a Smooth Launch

OnLive officially launched their gaming service during E3 and has reported that their launch was a technical success. They reported more users than expected and still managed to keep things running.

According to user comments and coverage on other sites, I noticed that user experience was all over the map. Games like Borderlands and Splinter Cell: Conviction turned out pretty poor regardless of your region, but DIRT2 was fairly good.

Have any PCPer readers tried this? What are your impressions of OnLive? Send your thoughts to our weekly podcast! Telphone # 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com.

When it Rains, it Blizzards

Yes, I just used the word “Blizzard” as a verb, but how else would you describe the flurry of news coming out from the company these days?

First up, closed beta begins for WoW: Cataclysm: Cataclysm. I guess this means that WoW is still pretty popular and that there are enough players to make a 3rd expansion after all these years. (I hope they’re at least making good use of their hordes of cash by finishing Diablo 3).

Diablo 2 is now officially 10 years old. I remember my girlfriend (who is now my wife 😉 and I would to sneak into my workplace to play D2 using my company’s fast systems (you needed that especially when fighting Duriel!). And yes, that’s all we did after hours at my workplace.

What were your most memorable Diablo 2 moments? I think getting a Mage Fist drop was one of my highlights and finally beating Duriel on Nightmare.

Finally, Starcraft II 2nd beta is rumoured to be starting very soon. July 27 can’t come soon enough.


Epic Backpedal – We Love the PC, honest!

A few weeks ago Epic Games’ President Mike Capps blamed piracy for the company’s jumping ship from PC to consoles.

Now it seems Epic is doing some backpedaling with Vice President Mark Rein clarifying that they aren’t in fact abandoning the PC platform. Citing that Bulletstorm is coming out on Windows, XBOX 360, and PS3 as proof that they’re still in open relationships with all three.

New Guild Wars 2 Art and Screens Released

The folks at NCSoft have released new artwork from the upcoming Guild Wars 2. The sequel will follow the original title’s fee model where you only pay for game and optional expansions, and never any monthly fee.

PC Perspective: Long Weekend Gaming Edition - General Tech 4

Metro 2034 and Metro 2033 DLC is Coming

Metro 2033 was a surprise hit on the PC and I’m happy to say that a sequel, Metro 2034, will be coming. To top it off, the sequel will be using NVIDIA 3D Vision. Any guesses on the minimum hardware requirement to run 60 FPS for left and right stereo frames on a undoubtedly intensive Metro 2034?

Also, Metro 2033 will also be getting its first DLC.





Torchlight MMO Details

More details have been revealed about the new Torchlight MMO. According to Runic Games President, “our vision is to have an MMO that plays as close to single player as we can get it. It will have the same focus on relatively fast action: carving your way through hordes of monsters with a large number of hugely devastating skills. The game has to be solo-able, but players will have to have skills that make them useful in a party and make them work together.

If you haven’t already, check out Torchlight! It’s on sale on Steam right now for $9.99 USD, well worth the money.


Steam Sales Continue…

Speaking of Steam, the Steam Sale continues. You can grab great games like Team Fortress 2, X-Com, Torchlight, and even the “Complete 2K Games” pack for just $89.99 (includes BioShock 1 and 2, and Borderlands and all its DLC).

I am so tempted to get some of the games on sale, but I just know I won’t finish anything before StarCraft II comes out.