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The Best of Big Download: November 1-7

Posted Nov 7th 2010 11:30PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Meta BD

The first week of November had unexpected game announcements, new demos and more news for PC gamers. As we always do let's go over the last seven days together, shall we:
Exclusive Features

Nimbus Review: We review the very unique puzzle-racing indie game.
Freeware Friday: The weekly column returns with a look at the arcade game Super Crate Box.

Downloads

The Ball Demo: It's a free slice of the cool new puzzle-shooter game from Teotl Studios
HAWX 2 PC Benckmark: See if your PC can handle the upcoming port of Ubisoft's flying action game
Medal of Honor R7 patch: Download the latest patch for EA's recent shooter.
Borderlands 1.41 patch: This new patch for Gearbox' 2009 shooter raises the game's level cap
The Witcher 2 Dev Diary video: Check out this exclusive to Big Download video dev diary about the upcoming fantasy RPG.
Battlefield Play4Free Announcement trailer: It's the first look at EA's upcoming free-to-play shooter.

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Big Download's News Bits & Bytes - November 6-7

Posted Nov 7th 2010 11:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Downloads

The weekend is over which means it's just over a day or so until Call of Duty: Black Ops' official release. We are just hoping the single player is a bit better than Modern Warfare 2.

Some Shaky Cam footage of Dragon Age II by way of Russa has hit the internet.
There's also Shaky Cam footage of Battlefield Play4Free (with developer commentary) from Germany on the internet.
The Independent Games Festival has revealed all the entries for the 2011 Student competition.
Steam has a new bug fix update for Archon Classic.
Some people just can't wait until Tuesday morning to get Call of Duty Black Ops.

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Call of Duty Black Ops used to tease Nvidia's next PC graphics card

Posted Nov 7th 2010 9:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Hardware, FPS, Multiplayer, Video, Call of Duty: Black Ops

Call of Duty Black Ops is likely to be one of the best selling PC games of 2010 so the folks at Nvidia made the decision to use Treyarch's upcoming first person shooter to show off the company's next generation graphics card. A new YouTube video has a video presentation made at the PDX LAN event which was held this weekend in Portland, Oregon.

The video shows a number of Nvidia created demos that are used to show off some of the graphic features in the card which has yet to be officially announced. The final part of the presentation had, for the first time in public, the PC port of Call of Duty Black Ops in live gameplay action. Everyone will be able to check the PC port out when its released on November 9.

[via Engadget]

Gallery: Call of Duty: Black Ops Screenshots

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Super Meat Boy for PC gets another indie game cameo

Posted Nov 7th 2010 7:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Indie, Arcade

The upcoming PC port of Super Meat Boy is beginning to look like it will be the definitive version for the arcade game from the two man development studio Team Meat. There is already word that there will be a "Mr Minecraft" extra character that will be exclusive to the PC port.

Now Destructoid has revealed yet another exclusive PC character today and, well, its not much of a shock. It's Captain Viridian from VVVVVV, a game that has more than a few design similarities to Super Meat Boy. In addition the creator of VVVVVV will be making some exclusive levels for the PC port of Super Meat Boy. It's still due to be released via Steam in late November.

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Need For Speed Hot Pursuit trailers show off demos and ... something else

Posted Nov 7th 2010 5:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Driving, Video

With Need For Speed Hot Pursuit due for release later this month, fans of the long running driving game franchise might have tried out the demo for the game that was released for the PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles. PC owners, for some reason, don't get a demo but a new video shows off what PC gamers are missing as it explains the two driving missions (one of which has to be unlocked by having a friend play the demo).

There's also another new trailer promoting the game that's ... well, odd. It's a live action trailer that shows two of the real life cars, one in a Seacrest County Police Department pain job, being driving by some UK-based music folks. If you are in the UK you might know who these guys are; we here in the US have no idea. You can check out that trailer after the jump.

Download the Need For Speed Hot Pursuit Demo Explained trailer at Big Download (461 MB)
Download the Need For Speed Hot Pursuit Power Struggle trailer at Big Download (93 MB)

Gallery: Need For Speed Hot Pursuit Screenshots

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Battlefield Play4Free trailer is grim and gritty

Posted Nov 7th 2010 3:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: FPS, Multiplayer, Video

If Battlefield Heroes is kind of like comic books before the 1980s, then Battlefield Play4Free is more like the "grim and gritty" comics of the late 1980s. The game was first announced last Friday by Electronic Arts and now there's a new trailer that shows how the game really looks in motion.

The upcoming free-to-play game mixes content from both Battlefield 2 and Battlefield Bad Company 2 with graphics that you don't normally get in this kind of game. But we still don't care for the title. The closed beta test for Battlefield Play4Free will begin on November 30 with the official launch in spring 2011.

Download the Battlefield Play4Free Announcement trailer at Big Download (53 MB)

Gallery: Battlefield Play4Free Screenshots

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New Shogun 2 Total War trailer has a story to tell

Posted Nov 7th 2010 1:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: RTS, Video, Shogun 2: Total War

Shogun 2 Total War is looking to be one of the big PC exclusive games of 2011. This week developer The Creative Assembly and publisher Sega released a new trailer for the game that tells some of the back story for the game's single player campaign, set in feudal Japan in the 16th century.

The game shows off what happens when Japan falls into a massive civil war with lots of warring tribes battling each other for control of both the land and surrounding sea of Japan. Naturally your player character is the one that's going to try to defeat the other Japanese shogun armies to make the country whole again.

Download the Shogun 2 Total War Story Trailer at Big Download (366 MB)

Gallery: Shogun 2: Total War Screenshots

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Battlefield Bad Company 2 Vietnam's new trailer shows off the flamethrower

Posted Nov 7th 2010 11:00AM by John Callaham
Filed under: Downloads, Expansions, FPS, Multiplayer, Video

Battlefield Bad Company 2 Vietnam is still due for release sometime this winter but the first person shooter expansion pack will be coming with some new weapons for players to check out. One of the new weapon is being shown off in the newest trailer for the game: the flamethrower.

This is apparently the first time in a major game in Digital Illusions' game franchise that a flamethrower will be part of a gamer's arsenal. This weapon not only generates instant damage when used but a character loses health gradually as well that can only be stopped via a medkit or even a pool of water.

In related news, a post on the official Battlefield blog has a screenshot with the caption "BFBC2 Playtest @ DICE". It appears to be an all new map for the regular edition of the game.

Download the Battlefield Bad Company 2: Vietnam 'Flamethrower' Reveal Trailer at Big Download (115 MB)

Gallery: Battlefield Bad Company 2 Vietnam Screenshots

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New Star Wars The Old Republic trailer shows off PvP Warzones

Posted Nov 7th 2010 9:00AM by John Callaham
Filed under: MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic

Star Wars The Old Republic is supposed to come out sometime in 2011 and when it does the long awaited MMO from BioWare and LucasArts will have Player Vs Player gameplay in the form of Warzones. The newest gameplay trailer from the title shows off some of what players can expect as Jedi and Sith factions battle each other on the planet of Alderaan. Of course, as we already know, that planet ultimately gets blown up by the Death Star in A New Hope but that's still thousands of years away in The Old Republic timeline.

In related news BioWare is perhaps looking to rename one of the game's Advanced Classes. One the Jedi Consular's sub-classes is currently called the Jedi Wizard but BioWare is letting fans pick to use that name or one of three other suggestions (Jedi Sage, Jedi Seer, and Jedi Adept). The online poll ends on December 2.

Download the Star Wars The Old Republic Warzones Trailer at Big Download (191 MB)

Gallery: Star Wars: The Old Republic Screenshots

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Kinect could come to the PC via third-party driver; Microsoft doesn't like it

Posted Nov 6th 2010 11:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Hacks, Hardware

This past week, Microsoft's Kinect camera controller for its Xbox 360 console finally made it to stores. Now a group has decided to give a $2,000 prize to the first development team that can create open source drivers that will make the Kinect hardware to work on PCs and other devices.

But it's clear that Microsoft doesn't care for this project at all. News.com reports that a Microsoft spokesperson stated, "Microsoft does not condone the modification of its products." It added that it has put in "numerous hardware and software safeguards" into Kinect to keep it working just for the Xbox 360 and that it will "work closely with law enforcement and product safety groups to keep Kinect tamper-resistant."

Continue reading Kinect could come to the PC via third-party driver; Microsoft doesn't like it

Team Fortress 2 to get maintenance time on Tuesday

Posted Nov 6th 2010 9:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: FPS, Multiplayer, Team Fortress 2

Players of Valve's multiplayer shooter Team Fortress 2 will notice a few odd things if they play the game at a certain time period on Tuesday. The game's official web site has announced that from 4-5:30 pm Eastern time on Tuesday a number of features in Team Fortress 2 will be unavailable due to maintenance.

While the game itself will still be working, certain elements like crafting, trading, backpacks, loadouts and the in-game Mann Co item store will not be working during the maintenance time period. There's also some changes being made for the third party developers who are working with the Team Fortress 2 Item Web API.

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Call of Duty Black Ops midnight openings at retailers on Monday night

Posted Nov 6th 2010 7:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: FPS, Multiplayer, Call of Duty: Black Ops

If you like going to the store to buy your boxed copy of PC games (in other words the old fashioned way) lots of retailers are prepping up to open up on Monday night to sell you a copy of Treyarch's first person shooter Call of Duty Black Ops at the stroke of midnight,

Over 700 Best Buy stores will be open on Monday night for the Call of Duty Black Ops launch. Meanwhile over 4,400 GameStop stores will open up at 9:30 pm on Monday night, which is the most stores ever for a midnight launch event in GameStop's history. Finally over 2,700 Walmart locations will be open at midnight for the launch and the first 50 people who buy the game at the store will get a special bandana. The game's official web site has a midnight store locator web page to make finding a store easier.

Gallery: Call of Duty: Black Ops Screenshots

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Minecraft in-game computer is done

Posted Nov 6th 2010 5:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Sandbox, Video

You may remember that a enterprising person decided to use Minecraft to create a working computer inside the popular sandbox indie game. Well, that project is apparently all done and you can see the final version in a new YouTube video that was posted late on Friday.

The creator of the project narrates the video (he's not feeling very well; we hope he gets better) as he shows off his creation and it really does look impressive. We will hopefully get another video soon that will show the Minecraft computer actually working. Meanwhile we just had a Star Trek: The Next Generation holodeck-within-a-holodeck moment.

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FPS Trainer aims to train gamers to play first person shooters

Posted Nov 6th 2010 3:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Browser, FPS, Multiplayer

Do you play first person shooter games like the Call of Duty titles and say to yourself, "Self, I'm so good I could go pro"? Or do you just want to beat your cousin online in Topeka in online matches? Now an upcoming browser based game is aiming to train players to compete and win in FPS games.

The game is FPS Trainer and according to the site the game will not only give players a chance to hone their skills in matches but will also give coaching tips to those players and offer states to show players their strengths and weaknesses. It's an interesting idea but we do wonder what the ultimate price for these "coaching" sessions truly is. There's no word on when the game will officially launch.

[Via Blue's News]

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Fallout New Vegas PC patch update due next week

Posted Nov 6th 2010 1:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Downloads, Patches, RPG, Fallout: New Vegas

Developer Obsidian Entertainment and publisher Bethesda Softworks quickly pushed out two PC patches for its recent RPG Fallout New Vegas. The game itself got mostly positive reviews even though many of those reviews, including our own, complained of the many bugs that were evident in the shipping version of the game.

Now the official Bethblog site has word that yet another patch update for Fallout New Vegas is due for the PC sometime next week. This patch will "fix the save corruption issues and problems with companions" in the game along with fixes for the Havok physics engine and improved performance for PC rigs with Nvidia graphics chips. In addition a more "comprehensive patch" for the game is scheduled for released in the coming weeks.

Gallery: Fallout New Vegas Screenshots