Oh look, we have some Planetside 2 renders. Looks like its getting closer!
Category: Games
Those of us who pre-ordered the special edition have had our hands on Natural Selection 2 for a while now. But the truth is that for most of the alpha phase, the game was unplayable online. However ever since the game hit beta a few weeks ago, the game has improved pretty rapidly. A number of netcode and engine optimizations have been applied, and the game in finally playable and actually pretty fun. The game is only going to get better from here, and the updates just keep on coming with weekly patches over steam.
With the game finally in a playable state and updates coming every week it is fitting that Unknown Worlds has finally released a gameplay trailer. If what you see looks fun, you can pre-order NS2 for $34.95 to get into the ongoing closed beta. You’ll receive a code to activate it on Steam. While the beta is updated frequently, there’s still no word on when the final version will be released.
Microsoft has launched what might possibly be the lamest rewards program I have ever seen. At first glance it actually looks pretty good. You earn Microsoft Points for doing things like renewing your subscription and buying select content on Xbox Live Marketplace. However once you make the conversion from space bucks to real cash, you realize that the rewards are laughable. Here is the breakdown in real money:
What You Can Do |
Cost |
Silver Member Reward |
Gold Member Reward |
| Renew 1 month gold subscription. | $9.99 | $0.12 | |
| Renew 3 month gold subscription. | $24.99 | $0.38 | |
| Renew 12 month gold subscription. | $59.99 | $2.50 | |
| Purchase or renew Xbox Live Gold Family Pack | $100 | $5.00 | $5.00 |
| Purchase or renew 1st Xbox Live Gold Membership | $59.99 | $1.25 | $1.25 |
| Make your 1st purchase on marketplace | Varies | $1.25 | $1.25 |
| Purchase select xbox live marketplace content | Varies | Varies | Varies |
| Activate and use Netflix on Xbox | Varies | $1.25 | |
| Take a quick survey each month | Your time | $0.25 | $0.25 |
| Participate in exclusive promotions | Your time | "Cool" Prizes | "Cool" Prizes |
I suppose its better than nothing. They don’t have to have any rewards at all. However with with rewards so low, its pretty close to nothing anyway. It certainly wont influence any of my buying decisions at all.
Back in May, Wolfire ran a “pay what you want” promotion for a collection of great independently developed games. The profits were split between the game studios and a few charities. That promotion must have been successful, because they are back at it again with another great set of games.
This time around the games are: Braid, Machinarium, Osmos, Revenge of the Titans and Cortex Command for Windows, Mac and Linux. All of the games are DRM free, meaning you can download and install them as may times as you wish. Game deals do not get much better then this.
Pay what you want. If you bought these five games separately, it would cost around $85 but we’re letting you set the price!
All of the games work great on Mac, Windows, and Linux.
We don’t use DRM. When you buy these games, they are yours. Feel free to play them without an internet connection, back them up, and install them on all of your Macs and PCs freely. There is no time-limit on your downloads.
You can support charity. Choose exactly how your purchase money is divided: Between the game developers, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, or the Child’s Play Charity. Also, if you like this deal, a tip to the Humble Bundle itself would be much appreciated!
You can take advantage of this offer over at http://www.humblebundle.com.
The Freespace 2 mod Diaspora has gotten a new trailer. The mod still has no release date, but it looks like I will have to reinstall Freespace 2 whenever it finally comes out. Until then, enjoy this awesome trailer:
You can follow the development of the game at http://www.diasporagame.com