John Callaham

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Stories By John Callaham

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    The Best of Big Download: April 18-25

    Portal 2's release was by far the biggest story for PC gaming last week, but there were other interesting happenings not to be overlooked. Let's take a look back: Exclusive features Hoard review -- Big Download reviews the recent PC port of the downloadable action game where you control an evil dragon. Downloads Two Worlds II: Castle Defense Demos -- snag the PC and Mac demos of the upcoming Two Worlds spin-off. Rage Dead City Video -- the newest video for id's next first-person shooter is an extended gameplay look at a portion of the game. Duke Nukem Forever "Come Get Some" Video -- hide the kids from this "mature" look at the long-awaited shooter.

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    The Best of Big Download: April 11-17

    PC gaming got a lot of attention in the last week thanks in part to the ongoing Valve "Potato Fools Day" ARG for Portal 2. Let's take a look back: Exclusive features Elements of War Interview -- we chat with Lesta Studio about its unusual RTS game. AI War expansion packs reviews -- we give our verdict on the expansion packs for this indie space strategy game. Downloads Theater of War 3 Korea demo -- try out a portion of the recent Korean War-themed RTS. Anomaly Warzone Earth demo -- it's a free slice of the recent sci-fi strategy game. The Next Big Thing demo -- the upcoming adventure game gets a free demo.

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    The Best of Big Download: April 4 - 10

    All's quiet on the PC gaming news front -- it seems like the entire industry decided that the past seven days were a darn good time to take a bit of a breather. There was still some news and downloads to report on, however. So, we did that. We did just that.

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    The Best of Big Download: March 14-20

    After the rush of news from GDC 2011 and PAX East 2011, things slowed down just a tad in the PC gaming world this past week but there was still plenty to write about. Exclusive features Reviews: We give our final verdict on Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II Retribution and Dragon Age 2. Interviews: We chat with team members from Rise of Immortals and Post Apocalyptic Mayhem. Downloads Red Eclipse 1.0 - Download this free full multiplayer shooter game in Windows, Mac and Linux flavors Dragon Age 2 1.01 Patch - It's the first update for BioWare's just released fantasy RPG sequel. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood 1.01 patch - The PC port is not out yet but the first patch for Ubisoft's action game is. Need For Speed Hot Pursuit Update 3 patch - It's the latest update to the 2010 arcade driving game. Prey 2 teaser trailer - It's the live action teaser for the just announced shooter sequel. Portal 2 TV commercial - Check out this cute intro for Valve's upcoming puzzle shooter.

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    The Best of Big Download: March 7-13

    GDC 2011 is over but PAX East 2011 managed to keep us occupied with lots of PC gaming related news. Here are the highlights: Exclusive features Serious Sam 3 interview: We chat with Croteam team members about its upcoming first-person shooter sequel. A Game of Thrones: Genesis interview: We get more info from Cyanide Studio's designer of this turn-based strategy game based on the George R.R. Martin fantasy novel series. Downloads Dragon Age 2 high definition texture pack: Make the PC version of the just released fantasy RPG look even better with this official texture pack. Unreal Engine 3 Samaritan trailer: It's the GDC 2011 tech demo that shows off some advanced graphical features from Epic's game engine. The Secret World GDC 2011 trailer: Funcom finally shows gameplay from its upcoming MMO game.

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    The Best of Big Download: February 21 - 27

    The Game Developers Conference kicks off tomorrow. Are you guys totally excited? We're totally excited. What new PC games will be revealed? What games will win at the Indepdent Games Festival and Game Developers Choice Awards? Will we stop asking silly questions that nobody could possibly answer? Stay tuned to find out.

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    The Best of Big Download: February 14 - 20

    We're sure that you've got a lot on your plate on this extra-long President's Day weekend, but we hope you can spare a moment to look back at some of the biggest stories in PC gaming from this past week. Oh, what's that? You're actually so busy that you're not reading this sentence right now? Fair enough. Exclusive features Previews: We get hands on with two upcoming major PC exclusive titles: Darkspore and Total War: Shogun 2. Riot Games interview: We chat with the head of the developer about League of Legends. Who's That Flying Review: We give our final verdict on the recent side-scroller shooter

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    The Best of Big Download: February 7 - 13

    During this past week, the DICE Summit rolled into Las Vegas, a small part of Duke Nukem Forever was demoed to press in a strip bar, and Big Download gave out some beta keys for Darkspore (that were quickly claimed by our readers). In other words, it was a fairly typical past seven days.

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    The Best of Big Download: Jan. 31 - Feb. 6

    The Super Bowl's on! And you're not watching? Well then, you must be looking to catch up on the past week's PC gaming news, instead: Features Big Download reviews Breach, Monday Night Combat, Magicka and Dead Space 2 Downloads Duty Calls (game) - the greatest five-minute military shooter of all time Yars' Revenge Art of Yars (trailer) - the first gameplay footage of the shoot-em-up remake Battlefield 3 (teaser trailer) - a tiny glimpse of gameplay from the next Battlefield

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    The Best of Big Download: January 24 - 30

    Well, gang, the first month of 2011 is more or less in the books. February looms on the horizon, meaning March , PAX East and GDC are all coming into view. Yep, it's a good time to be a gamer. And a terrifying time to be a video game journalist who's deathly afraid of flying. To the news!

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    The Best Of Big Download: January 3 - 9

    The first full week of 2011 was unusually busy for Big Download, considering that there wasn't much in terms of new games released. Unsurprisingly, though, CES 2011 yielded a few interesting news tidbits. Let's take a look at these tidbits, arranged in an orderly fashion after the jump!

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    The Best of Big Download: Dec. 27 - Jan. 2

    Happy New Year! Now that all of the parties are done and we can look forward to the next 12 months, let's take a quick look back at the past seven days on Big Download. As you can see, we have been busy with a bunch of extra features on the site. Exclusive features Most Anticipated 2011 PC games: We pick the games we are most eager to play in the next year in the action, RPG-MMO, strategy and other genres. We also give our predictions for what might happen in the PC game industry in the next year. Interviews: We chat with the folks behind games like Serious Sam 3, Duke Nukem Forever, Trapped Dead, Dead Meets Lead, Stronghold 3, The Spire and Prominence. Reviews: We give our final verdicts for Super Meat Boy and Cities XL 2011. Best PC Indie Games Of 2010: There were a bunch of great PC games made by indie developers and we take a look back at our favorites. 2011 Console Games We Want To See On The PC: There are a bunch of upcoming console exclusive titles that PC players would love to see on their platform. Maingear Shift desktop PC review : What if you had $10,000 to spend on a gaming PC? You might come up with the system we got to test out. Freeware Friday : Our free PC game column returns with the platform action game Rocky Memphis and The Temple of Ophuxoff.

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    The Best Of Big Download: December 20-26

    Christmas week has come and gone. While it was a fairly slow time for news, Big Download posted up some features that looked back at 2010 and looked forward to PC gaming in the future. Let's check out the last full week of 2010 in PC games. Exclusive Features Big Download's 2010 Best PC Game Awards - We pick our favorite games of the past 12 months. Plus we have our picks for the 2010 PC Game Vaporware Awards and our picks for the top 10 biggest PC game news stories of the year. The Next Decade of PC Gaming - What technologies will be a part of PC games in the next 10 years? We offer our predictions. The Most Anticipated PC Games of 2011 - We begin our multi-part look ahead to 2011 with our picks for our most anticipated first person shooters. Interviews - We chat with the folks behind games like Back to the Future, Bastion, The Oddbox, Bloodline Champions, and Blight of the Immortals. We also have the first ever interview with the new president of the PC Gaming Alliance. Divinity 2: The Dragon Knight Saga Review - We give our final verdict to this revamped version of the fantasy RPG.

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    The Best Of Big Download: December 13-19

    PC gaming had a terrific 2010. Next week Big Download looks back at the best PC games (in our humble opinion) in the last 12 months along with some other features. In the meantime, check out what we have been reporting on for the last seven days: Exclusive features Reviews: We give our final verdicts to the PC ports of Tron Evolution and Deathspank Thongs of Virtue. Section 8 Prejudice Hands-On: We get some hands-on time with the new Swarm multiplayer mode for the upcoming shooter. Project Offset-Fractiv interview: We chat with Sam McGrath about what happened with Project Offset and his new company Fractiv. Downloads A.R.E.S. Extinction Agenda demo: Try out a free portion of the just released side-scroller action game. Goldeneye Source Mod for Half-Life 2: This mod, now out of beta, recreates the classic consol shooter in Half-Life 2's Source Engine. Mass Effect 3 Teaser Trailer: Download and view this first glimpse at BioWare's sci-fi RPG sequel. Section 8 Prejudice Price Announcement trailer: Check out this funny video promoting the $14.99 price tag for the upcoming shooter. Alien Arena 2011 (Free Full Game) - This is the latest version of the full and completely free first person shooter. Natural Selection 2 Gameplay trailer: It's an action-packed clip of gameplay from this FPS-RTS game now currently in beta.

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    The Best Of Big Download - December 6 - 12

    As we approach the cusp of 2011, we find it appropriate to start reflecting about the events of the past 12 months -- and start looking forward to what the next year will bring us. However, we find it even more appropriate to first look back at the PC gaming scene for the past seven days.

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    The Best of Big Download - November 22 - 28

    We hope all of you have enjoyed the Thanksgiving/Black Friday festivities -- we know we certainly have. Before we begrudgingly haul ourselves back into work tomorrow, let's take a look back at Big Download's highlights from the past seven days. Exclusive Features 2010 Holiday Gift Guides: We give you suggestions on what PC games and related hardware to give to your PC gaming fan for the holidays Reviews: We give our final verdicts for Blade Kitten, DeathSpank and Poker Night at the Inventory along with a review of the Psyko 5.1 PC Gaming Headset. Magic The Gathering Tactics interview - We chat with Sony Online about the upcoming downloadable turn-based strategy game.

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    The Best of Big Download: November 1 - 7

    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 Benchmark: 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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    The Best of Big Download: October 25 - 31

    Halloween's almost over, but what comes next is even scarier: the holiday shopping season! For now -- thankfully -- it's time to take a look back at the past seven days at Big Download. Exclusive features Interviews: We chat with the creators of the PC ports of Deathspank and Shank. Fallout: New Vegas review: We give our final verdict for the most recent entry in the post-apocalypse RPG franchise. 10 PC games that should come back from the deal via download: We pick 10 worthy PC games that should be made available again (legally) via download. The Best Video Game Minions: Villains sometimes need a little help. We pick the best type of helpers a game villain can have. Guide to Team Fortress 2 2010 Scarechievements: Check out the new Halloween achievements in Valve's multiplayer shooter. Downloads FIFA Manager 11 Demo: It's the free version of EA's sports management sim game. Artemis: Spaceship Bridge Simulator Demo: Check out this demo for this unusual LAN-based simulation game. Battlefield Bad Company 2 R9 Patch: It's the latest update for the hit first person shooter game. White (Free Full Game): Download this cool new take on the FPS genre.

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    The Best of Big Download: October 18-24

    It was a busy week: Fallout New Vegas came out, lots of news was generated from BlizzCon 2010 and Microsoft announced plans to (again) revamp its Games For Windows download business. Oh, and Tribes is coming back! Let's take a look back at the past seven days on Big Download: Features Games For Windows Marketplace: We detail the upcoming changes for Microsoft's PC game download business A Quick History Of Tribes: We take a look back at the sci-fi multiplayer shooter franchise NBA 2K11 Review: We give our final verdict on 2K Sports' PC port of the pro basketball title Alien Breed 2 Assault Review: Our take on the recent top down shooter from Team17 Interviews: We chat with the people behind the upcoming games Homefront, Dungeon Defenders and James Bond 007 Blood Storm Downloads Lionheart: King's Crusade demo: Try out a sample of the recent historical RTS game from Paradox Football Manager 2011 demos: Try out the Vanilla and Strawberry demos for Sega's sports management sim World of Warcraft Cataclysm Cinemactic Trailer: Check out the opening CGI trailer for Blizzard's upcoming MMO expansion pack Diablo III cinematic trailers: The fifth playable class for the upcoming action-RPG is revealed in this cinematic from Blizzard

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