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The Best Of Big Download: June 21 - 27
The truth of the matter is that we are still recovering from E3 2010 here at Big Download, but we managed to come out of our coma to post up the highlights of the past week in our coverage of PC games. That includes our post-E3 coverage of a number of games we didn't get to last week (if you missed our previous and massive amount of E3 2010 coverage check out last week's Best of Big Download post). Exclusive Features E3 2010 coverage: We have our E3 impressions of F.E.A.R. 3, Red Faction: Armageddon, Rage, Portal 2, Dungeon Siege III, and Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Plus check out our (different) E3 2010 awards and we list the PC games that didn't make it to E3 this year. Magic The Gathering Duels of the Planewalkers review: We give our final verdict for this PC port of the collectible card-strategy game. Boot Disk: Clive Barker's Undying: Our retro games feature checks out this excellent but underselling horror shooter from EA. All You Need To Know: We give you all the info we have so far on Portal 2.
World of Warcraft Patch 3.2 mirrors
If you live in some crazy alternate dimension where we haven't been posting about Patch 3.2 today and you're completely unaware that the patch dropped... hey, it dropped! Hooray!On patch days, there are inevitably hordes of people that can't get the Blizzard downloader working. Good news! One of our sister sites, Big Download, has posted a patch mirror for your convenience. Following that link will bring you to mirrors for both PC and Mac versions of the patch, so go ahead and pick your poison.Keep an eye on the site, because we plan to continue our Patch 3.2 coverage throughout the day.Comments disabled on this post for your safety. WoW's Patch 3.2 ushers in the Crusaders' Coliseum, the Isle of Conquest, flying mounts at 60, and much more. WoW.com has all the patch information your Worgen obsessed mind can handle in WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.2!
BigDownload pours one out for failed PC online gaming services
If you're climbing the walls with anticipation for Reardon Labs' streaming game service, OnLive, there's something you should read to ground your expectations. Our compadres at BigDownload have compiled a list containing some of the failed PC online gaming services that have appeared throughout the history of the internet. Among the failed services featured: Infinium Labs' $73 million disaster, the Phantom (which now exists only as a lonely lapboard) and Sega's lukewarm Heat.Net. The feature isn't speaking against the idea of OnLive but it does pinpoint where some of the industry skepticism is coming from.
BigDownload previews PC's 2009 Action-FPS lineup
With less than a week until 2008 is officially history, our overclocking hombres at BigDownload have put together a preview of next year's PC lineup of action / first-person shooter titles. From the likely (F.E.A.R. 2, Mirror's Edge) to the not-so-likely (Duke Nukem Forever), the list highlights 20 or so games you can look forward to clicking through (in a good way) next year, including some exclusive screenshots from Darkest of Days, Wanted: Weapons of Fate and Wolfenstein. Care to take a guess on how many of these games won't make it to our New Year's Eve 2009 party?
Client patches for Wrath of the Lich King
To play Wrath tonight you'll need to update the game. The game installs version 3.0.1 when you upgrade to Wrath, and you'll need to update it version to 3.0.3. That means installing the following two patches: Version 3.0.1 - > Version 3.0.2 Version 3.0.2 -> Version 3.0.3 You are in luck though and don't have to wait around to download them all. We have the files hosted over at our sister site Big Download. Take a look after the break for a complete list of the files you'll need to get.Note: If you saved the files from previous patches, you're all set. But be sure they work and are fully saved before you go out and get Wrath tonight – no need to waste time downloading stuff again.
Featured Download: Wrath Downloader [Update]
Wrath of the Lich King appears to be downloadable after all. If you go into your account menu, you can access the "World of Warcraft Installer." You'll be presented with an application which allows you to select to download Wrath.The download currently does not work – it gives an internet connection error. This is to be expected. I would fully expect that the download will work after 12:00am EST Thursday.We have the Wrath downloader up at our sister site Big Download for the PC and MAC (which runs on AOL networks so it's not going to go offline), or you can get it from Blizzard's site (which we all know goes offline when more than 10 people decide to view it at once). If this is your only way to get Wrath tonight, expect to have to wait a bit for the Blizzard downloader to work – but you'll at least get it.Update: It should be noted that since this story went live, Blizzard has said this download is currently unsupported. Of course, this could change quickly - and we fully expect it to change around midnight tonight. Be assured: the download is from Blizzard and by Blizzard. Not some third party site.
Patch 3.0.3 on Big Download
With all of the news coming out of the US elections yesterday, I'm sorry to say that I haven't updated my client with patch 3.0.3 yet. And since Blizzard uses Bittorrent to pass around their patches, there's always that chance that I might be a little too late -- when there are lots of people downloading the patch, things actually go faster than when there's only one or two sources out there with the update. That's why we're glad to have our friends at Big Download covering all the bases -- they've got the latest 3.0.3 patch up for download on their site right now.There are all kinds of reasons you might not be interested in using Blizzard's official download client, so there you go -- for whatever you need it for, the patch file is yours. Now it's just, you know, that expansion disc I'm waiting on for next week.
Behind the scenes on the Comcast bandwidth limit
Our friends at BigDownload have a long but interesting feature up about that Comcast bandwidth limit and how it might affect PC gamers like us. Even though they chat with a lot of people higher up in both the ISP and gaming industry, the bottom line hasn't really changed: most people won't be affected by the limit, and if you are, there are things you can do about it. As we determined last time, at max, even if you run WoW 24/7 the entire month, you're still using only about 5gb, nowhere near enough to trip Comcast's limit. And even if there's a big patch download that comes through, it'll still be a very, very small percentage of people that come anywhere near it. While Comcast may change things in the future, there are a few voices already speaking out against bandwidth caps, including the Entertainment Consumers Association.And if you do get suspended out of the blue? Best option is to just use another ISP -- even if Comcast isn't willing to support people who use tons of bandwidth, there will likely be another company that does. And if high-level broadband does become really widespread, it would be a bad business decision for Comcast as well to suspend large numbers of their userbase -- while there's always the chance that they could start charging a premium for more bandwidth, smaller companies will likely step up to fill any spaces that Comcast tries to screw over.In short, right now, this isn't a problem. While in the future, Comcast may try to bring the bandwidth cap lower and lower, at this point, it doesn't effect enough people out there to worry, and even if you are affected, there are likely steps you can take to get around it, including going with another ISP if that's an option.
Blizzard's black ops title, and why it's a long way off
Our good friends at BigDownload have just posted a nice in-depth feature about all the "black ops" PC games being worked on -- that is, games that are being developed in secret by developers who haven't yet officially announced them. There are quite a few would-be WoW competitors on the list (BioWare's MMO is on there, which I like to think I officially uncovered, and unnamed MMOs from John Romero's Slipgate Ironworks, 38 Studios, and Bethesda's parent Zenimax Media are on there as well). But of course the biggest title on the list is also the most mysterious: we know that Blizzard is working on a "next-gen MMO," but we don't know thing one about it.As with all of this "black ops" stuff, there's not too much to get excited about yet -- the reason these companies haven't officially announced any of these games is not only because their release is likely years off, but companies will very often develop games that they don't end up releasing at all (case in point, as Blizzard fans well know). So the reason we don't know anything about Blizzard's next MMO is because Blizzard likely doesn't know anything about it yet either -- will it be a successor to World of Warcraft, a much-awaited Starcraft MMO, or a completely new IP from the company that has conquered the MMO genre? Odds are that right now they're working on engine and code mechanics, and the final form that the project will take is just a gleam in a Blizzard employee's eye.Still, it's fun to dream, isn't it? With the coming release of Wrath (and Diablo III and Starcraft II coming into focus), we've got plenty of Blizzard games to look forward to as it is.
BigCast PAX special goes crazy with Warhammer Online devs
While discussion on Warhammer Online is conspicuously lacking, Mythic Entertainment designer Paul Barnett and producers Jeff Hickman and Josh Drescher managed to to venture into some strange, hilarious and very NSFW territory on BigDownload's BigCast PAX special. Listen to the podcast (again, it's NSFW) here.
World of Warcraft on twenty seven 67" monitors
Imagine getting ganked in Stranglethorn on that baby. Our friends at BigDownload (home of all things PC gaming) have discovered a ginormous computer screen, supposedly installed at a government office, used to play -- what else? -- the best PC game around, our own World of Warcraft. The monstrosity consists of twenty seven different 67" monitors all tied up into one PC. Unfortunately, as you can see (click the pic above for the whole thing), it's a little warped, considering that the display has a resolution of 12600 x 3150 -- not exactly a standard even for the very compatible Blizzard.But it is pretty awesome to see -- we only "wish" they'd taken some gameplay footage or other pictures so we could see this thing in action. And just what kind of rig is powering all of that? It'd be hilarious if the government splurged on the monitors but skimped on the RAM, leaving a gigantic display skipping along at a low frame rate.Update: Our crack WoW Insider Photoshop judges (one of whom has "government" experience) are calling this 'shopped. Not that you'll ever have a monitor like this, so it probably makes no difference to you, but take the pic with the usual grain of salt.
The Best of Big Download: July 13-19
It's E3 week and we were there getting some hands-on time and some eyes-on time with some of the biggest PC game releases in the next several months. Here are the highlights from Big Download for the past week.Exclusive Features E3 2008 articles: Check out our impressions of a number of PC games at the show this week (with more to come next week) for games like Spore, Dragon Age: Origins, Far Cry 2, Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3, Empire: Total War, Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II, Wanted, Left 4 Dead, Crysis Warhead and more. Spore Creature Creator Contest Grand Prize Winners: We reveal the winners in our extremely popular contest BigCast 004: It's the fourth installment of Big Download's weekly podcast. News Demigod beta schedule revealed Crytek acquires Black Sea Studios Fallout 3 to have downloadable content for PC and Xbox 360 Pivotal Games closes Activision reveals new titles including new Raven game Singularity Wanted movie game confirmed Flagship Studios still operating but without most of its employees City of Heroes and City of Villains officially merged Could there be a Serenity game? 1C Company acquires Buka EA confirms Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic MMO Wrath of the Lich King goes beta Rebellion acquires Razerworks
Activision-Blizzard merger may be complete on July 9th
WoW Insider sister site Big Download is reporting that the Activision-Blizzard merger is getting closer and closer to reality. They recently won another victory in court today, as a Delaware court struck down an attempt by the Wayne County Employees' Retirement System to gain a preliminary injunction against the deal. We're now coming up fast the July 8th Activision shareholders' meeting, where they will vote to approve the merger. Activision has already said that they expect the merger to be official on or about July 9th, according to Big Download. This, of course, squeaks in just under the wire for the E3 expo. Activision-Blizzard has already said they don't plan to participate, but that they will hold a press conference on or near the dates of the expo. It seems likely now that they will be officially announcing the completion of their merger. Of course, we here at WoW Insider are hoping the merger isn't the only thing they reveal. A WoTLK cinematic and official release date or another L70ETC song on Guitar Hero would be nice, I'd say.
Introducing Big Download (beta), the newest site in the Joystiq network
Our good friends at Joystiq are passing out the cigars today -- the newest site in the Joystiq network (which WoW Insider is a part of, within Weblogs, Inc., which is a division of AOL) is called Big Download, is in beta, and is open right now for your browsing and file grabbing pleasure. We'll direct you to the most important part of the site, the World of Warcraft page, where you can grab Blizzard's latest patch and trailer at your convenience (in case you haven't gotten them yet), but the site's got lots of other good stuff, too, including that sweet looking Mirror's Edge gameplay video everyone's going gaga over, and even full MMO clients like Dream of Mirror Online and EVE Online.The site's got a decidedly PC bent, which we're big fans of, obviously, and there's a news page which will cover PC and game file news from 1 to 100% downloaded. And with a feature called "My Tracker," you can sign in and every time there's a new file for a game you want (say, a certain 10 million player fantasy MMO that you just can't get enough of), they'll tell you right away.Looks cool to us. The site is still in beta, as we said, so stay tuned for more updates and features all the time. And what's that you say? You want a place where you can get up-to-date, virus-free WoW addons, a place that never goes down and charges no fees and requires no registration to download from? Patience, my friends. In time, good things will come.
Announcing Joystiq's newest sibling: Big Download (beta!)
We have some special Big News to deliver to you dear, MMO-besotten readers: Massively has a brand new sibling to group with and we'll be playing with our new PC gaming-focused sister site, Big Download, quite a bit. In partnership with our good friends at GameDaily, we're taking the wraps off the beta version of a full-fledged, fast and free PC downloads engine married to a news and features blog powered by Joystiq -- chock full of all the Special Goodness TM our writers bring to you daily, including a number of names from the Massively roster you'll recognize. At Big Download you'll get all the news and views fit to print about PC gaming, a file tracking system that remembers your favorite titles, and no waiting, no fees access to demos, patches, mods, trailers and more. We're inviting you to come on in, make yourself at home and start poking everything with sticks. Like any modern web product we're launching in beta version -- there may be kinks and rough edges to be worked out, so bear with us, mind the dust and be sure to send us any feedback you have so we can make all the final fixes. Unlike certain products that stay in beta forever we hope to remove the beta tag with all due swiftness and come out with guns blazing. Big guns. We hope to see you at Big Download, where all the news is big and all the downloads are above average!
Introducing Joystiq's newest sibling: Big Download (Beta)!
Have you ever found that there was something missing from the Joystiq family? We've got your Xbox 360 news covered here at X3F and those other guys have their sites too. Even handhelds have a place to call home along with MMO aficionados and WoW addicts, but something has been missing. Until now.Today we're happy to give PC gamers a place to call their own with our new sister site, Big Download. In partnership with out good friends at GameDaily, we're taking the protective cover off the beta version of our fully-featured, fast and free PC downloads engine married to a news and features blog powered by the Joystiq Network.At Big Download you'll get all the news and features you've come to expect from a Joystiq family member, with some familiar blogging faces (like me!), along with a file tracking system that remembers your favorite games and best of all, no waiting in line for downloads. Big Download offers you a one-stop shop for free of charge access to demos, patches, mods, trailers and more!We invite you to visit us and start poking around while we tinker away at our new baby. Like any modern web product we're launching in beta version -- there may be kinks and rough edges to be worked out, so bear with us, mind the dust and be sure to send us any feedback you have so we can make all the final fixes. So drop in, mind the dents and join us because before you know it we're going to drop that beta tag and come out guns-o-blazing. Big Ol' Guns. We hope to see you at Big Download, where all the news is big and all the downloads are above average!
