Portal 2: Perpetual Testing Initiative
Valve have released the trailer for Portal 2’s Perpetual Testing Initiative (PeTI): the Puzzle Maker with Steam Workshop integration, due to be released for free on PC on the 8th May!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7rZO2ACP3A]
More information is available on the official site.
The Last of the Wandering Isle
I just had a few more quests to do in the Pandaren starting area: helping the Alliance survivors with a few quests. An NPC in the Alliance camp had a plan for removing the wrecked ship from Shen-zin Su’s side.. blow the ship free with explosives, and then heal the wound.. I was amused at the NPC’s name here: Makael Bay 🙂
While the Horde refugees had been under attack from tigers in the forest, the Alliance camp was under attack from more aggressive attackers. I found it surprisingly awkward to snag enemies as they ran past me.. the Mistweaver specialisation at this stage has no ranged attack. This was a first for me; most of my playtime has been as a caster, and when I started levelling a Warrior I had a gun during the early levels.
Other quests had us gather lost supplies, and then there was the None Left Behind quest, which had me rescue Injured Sailors..
Mists After the Brazier
Over the weekend, I got caught up in a second bottleneck during the quest called The Challenger’s Fires.. as masses of players clustered around the Brazier of Flickering Flames, so thoroughly blocking it that nobody could click it and make progress.
The Indie Gala 4
The latest Indie Gala bundle is now available for purchase, again pay what you want, but with a beat the average price in place for two of the games and the bonuses which will only be revealed during the second week of sale.
Games listed are: A.R.E.S.: Extinction Agenda, a side-scrolling platformer by Extend Interactive; arcade-style Alien Shooter, by Sigma Team; Disciples II: Gallean’s Return, a compilation edition of strategy game Disciples II and expansions Dark Prophecy and Guardians of the Light, by Strategy First; and Altitude, aerial combat from Nimbly Games; with Boss Baddie WAKE being revealed as the first of the bonus games.
Diablo III Beta
Although the Diablo III Beta was made available on Friday, we weren’t able to get in right away. Unsurprisingly, there was rather a lot of interest in the game, and Blizzard had to limit the number of concurrent logins while dealing with various server and login issues.
The beta contained the first four chapters of Act 1: after defending the town against the rising dead, players go to the Cathedral to find out what happened to Deckard Cain, go in search of the mad King Leoric’s crown, and then put an end to the Skeleton King and free the land from his army of the dead!
All five classes were available to choose from, though you could only level each up to level 13 during the beta.
Confirmation of Half Life 3?
Develop Online have posted an article linking to a podcast from Seven Day Cooldown in which Gabe Newell talks about “a game that fans have been waiting for”.
Concept changes are being blamed for the delay to the project, and Valve prefer not to let people know too much about development which is still subject to change.. they believe it’s fairer to fans to say nothing than “drive people more crazy”.
Personally, I’m glad to just know it’s in development after all.. and I’m happy to wait for the awesome game I expect this to be 🙂
Panda Crush
Last night’s foray into the Mists beta was an eye-opener. So many people.. so much shouting, yelling and of course the spamming of broken macros over and over. I had hoped a Saturday morning would have meant a little more space to breathe on the server.
My quest at hand was The Lesson of the Burning Scroll: snatch a flame from the Master and go to the top of the temple and burn the Edict of Temperance.
Note: you don’t do any snatching as the flame is simply added to your inventory as you accept the quest.. I saw lots of people spamming chat asking about the Flame, not realising that it had been added to their inventory. Perhaps the quest has been done this way because players are clustering horribly on all quest givers and items, and if you had to actually click something in the Master’s hand, you’d be having problems like those trying to burn the Edict upstairs..
Uncountable masses of players were standing right in front of the spawn point of the Edict, some jumping, and many spamming “/c interact Edict of Temperance”. This is part of a macro started as a joke that apparently doesn’t work at all.. not that it stops any of these people from trying, over and over again.
Mists of OMG So Many Pandas
I finally got my own invite to the Mists of Pandaria beta this morning, having checked my email only minutes after finding out that the Diablo III beta is open this weekend as well! Another weekend of beta gaming? I nearly picked up some Relentless when we went shopping, too.
I’d been told the Pandaren starting area was busy.. but I don’t think I knew the meaning of “busy” before now!
Diablo III Open Beta Weekend
Blizzard have announced that the Diablo III Beta will be opened up this weekend!
From Friday, April 20 at 21:01 CEST, until Monday, April 23 at 19:00 CEST you’ll be able to log in, team up with friends, and play each of the five heroic classes to level 13 as you fight to save the world from the impending demonic invasion.
Woop! 🙂
The Humble Botanicula Debut and Be Mine 2
The latest Humble Bundle is now out, with games available on a pay what you want scheme with money split between developers, charity, or the Humble Bundle. The charity this time is the World Land Trust, an international conservation charity. It seems that the Humble Bundle have changed their terms slightly this time, with Steam keys only available to those who have paid at least $5.
There’s a point and click theme to the games in the bundle this time with Botanicula, Machinarium and Samorost 2 from Amanita Design. For those paying more than the average price, there’s also Biograf’s full length feature film Kooky and Vector Park’s Windosill to check out.. and soundtracks are included with Botanicula, Machinarium and Samorost 2!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_0s65bYZmM]
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