By now, you’ve probably got stuck into the XCOM: Enemy Unknown demo and are jonesing for the full release of Firaxis' spectacular remake of the turnbased strategy classic. The known unknowns are no longer unknown - but what about the unknown unknowns? We'll be bringing you a huge guide to light every corner of XCOM's world at the game's launch, but for now, we’ve asked lead dev Jake Solomon for a few of his tips regarding the game’s early enemies. “Every alien has multiple counters,” he says...



Sectoids

“Sectoids are very tough early in the game, but really with the Sectoids, their main offensive ability is Mind Merge. They link together, they merge their minds, which makes the front Sectoid really powerful, really deadly - it gives him extra hit points. But the back guy is super vulnerable. If you kill the guy in the back, then it actually kills both of them at the same time. So the counter for Sectoids is flanking. The assault soldier has an ability called 'run and gun', which allows him to move really far and shoot at the same time, and so he is great for killing Sectoids.”


Floaters

“Floaters you encounter some time soon after Sectoids. Their big ability is to launch all over the battlefield. So they’re like the anti-sniper, where they'll launch around the battlefield and land next to your guys in the back, flank them and kill them. So for Floaters, the best tactic is suppression. You can pin them down with suppression so they can't fly around. That would be using the heavy, who's sort of anti-Floater.”


Chryssalids

“Chryssalids are melee units and they move really, really, really fast. And so Chryssalids are the kind of nemesis of assault soldiers, who have to get up close to do damage - that's like the worst face off. So if you were facing off against Chryssalids, the real thing you want is a sniper with the “squad sight” perk, which allows him to shoot anyone that his squadmates can see. He can get a height advantage in a corner of the map, then he can just shoot across the map and kill Chryssalids from afar, instead of having to get in close to deal damage.”

This week's best deals  ►  Battlefield 3, Borderlands 2, and Grimrock
Friday only, GameFly has Battlefield 3 for $10. Friday is such a generous day! Looking forward, Steam's weekend is dedicated to THQ, with 50% off its collection, individually or in a bundle, Amazon has 10% off Borderlands 2 and War of the Roses, Green Man has another 25% off voucher code, and Legend of Grimrock is 50% off at GOG.

Steam  ►  THQ Publisher Weekend
This weekend, Steam has discounted its entire THQ catalog by 50%, with daily deals at 75% off.


50% off THQ Collection - $49.99
50% off Darksiders II - $24.99
50% off Company of Heroes - $4.99
50% off S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl - $9.99
50% off Saints Row: The Third - $19.99
75% off Metro 2033 - $4.99 (Friday)
More Steam Deals



Amazon  ►  Borderlands 2, War of the Roses, bundley stuff
Amazon has a small discount on Borderlands 2 and War of the Roses, a bundle with Mirror's Edge, Bulletstorm, and a few others for $9.99, and 10% off XCOM: Enemy Unknown pre-orders.


10% off War of the Roses - $26.99
10% off Borderlands 2 - $53.99
89% off Mirror's Edge, Bulletstorm, and more (bundle) - $9.99
40% off Sleeping Dogs - $29.99
47% off Mass Effect 2 - $10.65
87% off the Viva Big Bundle of Games (Featuring Grand Ages Rome and Crazy Machines) - $9.99
10% off XCOM: Enemy Unknown - $44.99 (Pre-purchase)
More Amazon Deals



Green Man Gaming  ►   25% off voucher
There's a new voucher code for 25% off PC game downloads, and it looks like this: GMG25-EVFWS-4Z4ZN. GMG also has a few super cheap offers on older games, like Hitman: Blood Money for $1.99 and Trine for $2.99, as well as 10% off XCOM: Enemy Unknown pre-purchases. See all of its deals.

GOG  ►  Activision, Legend of Grimrock
GOG is having its 60% off weekend sale on "Activision Greats," which means... ZORK! They're all good, but I'm especially fond of Zork: Grand Inquisitor. There's a lot of other great stuff on the list, and it's all under $5. Additionally, GOG has 50% off Legend of Grimrock and its just-released dungeon editor.

Get Games  ►  ????
The site is down at the time of writing, but if it comes back up, I bet there's something?


GameStop   ►   Sleeping Dogs
There's a big list on GameStop as usual. Hitman Absolution pre-purchases are $10 off, and Sleeping Dogs is on-sale for $20 off.

GameFly   ►  Battlefield 3, 2K Games, Elder Scrolls
Friday only, Battlefield 3 is only $10 on GameFly, and it isn't even the series' anniversary. Games published by 2K and The Elder Scrolls series are also on sale.

75% off Battlefield 3 - $10.00
75% off Civilization V - $7.49
75% off Spec Ops: The Line - $7.49
60% off Morrowind GOTY Edition - $7.99
60% off The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion GOTY Edition - $9.99
40% off The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - $35.99
More GameFly Deals



Let us know in the comments if you find any more great deals!

Disclaimer: We offer no guarantees regarding the validity of these sales, their restrictions, or the quality of service provided by these distributors. We can't vet every deal: we list what we see advertised at the time of writing. Buy at your own risk!

Quick reminder: aliens are invading next week. It's been on the calendar for months, but it's easy to forget these things. Like the dates the clocks go back or the precise point at which that Netflix free trial ends, an alien invasion can slip the mind. Put the cat out, bar up the doors and windows, activate the nano-shield and prepare for XCOM: Enemy Unknown with the aid of the latest trailer.

I think this might be the first time they've shown some of the high-tech toys you'll get to research if you capture enough aliens. There's the jetpack suit, of course, which works very nicely with the plasma sniper rifle that you can see above (you get decent accuracy bonuses for firing from an elevated position).

The S.H.I.V. bot also gets a quick cameo. You can outfit these mobile weapon platforms with different cannons. They can't take cover like the other armoured meatbags at your disposal, but they can chew up enemies in seconds.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is out in the US next Tuesday, and in Europe on Friday. Get a taste of a few early missions in the XCOM: Enemy Unknown demo.

Valve did a sneaky, small-but-significant thing recently: it expanded its "Top Sellers" list on Steam to include one hundred games. The sales leaderboard doesn't tell us exactly how many copies a game sold, but it gives us a vague idea of how well certain games are doing on Steam in a given moment.

It's an inherently misleading metric—take that as a disclaimer. Still, as we sit in the shadow of some of 2012's biggest releases, I'd like to take a crack at gleaning what we can from this moment in time.

2K's having a great end of the year.
The $50 pre-sale of XCOM is outselling everything but Borderlands 2 on Steam. We might be able to chalk that up to fairly generous pre-purchase incentives (which could include a free copy of Civ 5 if enough people pre-buy it). It might be mild evidence that demos still work, too. Borderlands 2's high concurrent user count over the past few days (reaching 123,758 last weekend) is also evidence that 2K will win the weeks connecting September and October on Steam.

Digital pre-orders are a thing.
XCOM isn't the only thing-you-can-buy-but-can't-play-yet doing well. Joining the unreleased are Dishonored at #7, War of the Roses at #12, Football Manager 2013 at #17, Company of Heroes 2 at #29, and Hitman Absolution at #51. Even though there's no chance of a game going out of stock, Steam users don't seem to mind putting money down in advance, especially if they're rewarded with bonus content or a small discount for doing so.

Where are the MMOs? Oh, right.
Zero MMOs appear in today's top 100. I might consider that unsurprising—we wouldn't expect too many people to be picking up competitors while Guild Wars 2 and Pandaria are drawing the attention, and neither are available on Steam. Still, it's a little surprising not to see RIFT ($10) or EVE Online: Inferno ($20) popping up anywhere.

Call of Duty remains a PC fixture.
The sense that Call of Duty remains a fixture for PC gamers is supported by SteamGraph data. Some form of Call of Duty make up 10 whole entries of the Steam's top 100. Many of those are map packs, but the performance of Call of Duty: Black Ops - Mac Edition (#41) is interesting to me. It released yesterday, September 27, and it's outperforming stuff like Civ V: GOTY and Natural Selection 2. Modern Warfare 3 is 50% off until October 1, and it's sitting comfortably at #5.

DayZ continues to have a long tail.
I don't think Arma 2: Combined Operations (what you need to play DayZ) has left the top ten of Steam's Top Sellers since it caught on in May and June. It seems to be outperforming other games that released in May and June like Sins: Rebellion (#56), Max Payne 3 (#76), Civ 5: Gods & Kings (#20), and Spec Ops: The Line (unlisted).



Below: the data, captured at 6:05 PM PDT. Ctrl + Fing encouraged.



Top Ten
Borderlands 2
XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Total War Master Collection
Torchlight II
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Carrier Command: Gaea Mission
Dishonored
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Arma 2: Combined Operations
Empire: Total War



#11-25
Castle Crashers
War of the Roses
Borderlands 2 Season Pass
FTL: Faster Than Light
Cortex Command
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Football Manager 2013
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dawnguard
Garry's Mod
Sid Meier's Civilization V - Gods 'n Kings
Dark Souls: Prepare To Die Edition
The Binding of Isaac
Half Minute Hero: Super Mega Neo Climax Ultimate Boy
Left 4 Dead 2
Hell Year! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit



#26-50
F1 2012
Hearts of Iron III: Their Finest Hour
Rome: Total War - Gold
Company of Heroes 2
Total War Shogun 2 - Fall of the Samurai
Sid Meier's Civilization V
Counter-Strike: Source
Borderlands: Game of the Year
Worms Revolution
Total War Mega Pack
Terraria
The Walking Dead
Rocksmith
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Collection 3: Chaos Pack
Call of Duty: Black Ops - Mac Edition
Binding of Isaac: Wrath of the Lamb
Portal 2
McPixel
Sid Meier's Civilization V: Game of the Year
Total War: SHOGUN 2
The Sims 3
Counter-Strike Complete
Hearts of Iron 3 Collection
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition



#51-100
Hitman: Absolution
Borderlands
Train Simulator 2013
The Testament of Sherlock Holmes
Medieval II Gold
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
Orcs Must Die! 2 - Family Ties Booster Pack
Call of Duty: Black Ops II
The Amazing Spider-Man
Orcs Must Die! 2
Saints Row: The Third
Dead Island: GOTY
Natural Selection 2
Orcs Must Die! 2 - Complete Pack
Half-Life 2
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Rome: Total War - Complete
The Orange Box
Borderlands 2 + Official Brady Guide
Batman: Arkham City GOTY
Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead
Grand Theft Auto IV
Endless Space
Killing Floor
Call of Duty: World at War
Max Payne 3
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
SPORE
I Am Alive
Fallout 3: GOTY
Fallen Enchantress
Valve Complete Pack
Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition
Mount & Blade: Warband
New Star Soccer 5
Portal Bundle
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Collection 2
Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 Expansion
Counter-Strike
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare® 3 Collection 1
Arma 2
Might & Magic Heroes VI - Danse Macabre Adventure Pack
Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD
STAR WARS: Knights of the Old Republic II
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Planets Under Attack
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
Age of Empires III: Complete Collection

Reiterating: We don't know what formula or data drives Steam's Top Sellers rankings. It's probably safest to consider them a representation of what games are selling well in one moment of time on Steam.

This week's best deals  ►  Total War, EVE Online, Dragon Age
Steam has routed your excuses for not trying out the Total War franchise with Rome Gold, Empire, Medieval II, Napoleon, Shogun 2, and Fall of the Samurai all for $32. Amazon will throw you pod-first into the ruthless galaxy of EVE Online for a fiver. GameStop is looking to hook you up with over 100 hours of Dragon Age goodness for $10.

Steam  ►  Total War Franchise, Modern Warfare 3, Hearts of Iron III
Modern Warfare 3 is half price and the multiplayer is free to play this weekend. This is in addition to basically everything that says "Total War" on it being discounted 25% or more.


75% off Total War Master Collection - $31.98 Individual Total War titles are also 25% off or more.
50% off Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - $29.99
75% off Hearts of Iron 3 Collection - $7.49
75% off The Binding of Isaac - $1.24, Wrath of the Lamb DLC is also 75% off - 74 cents
50% off Age of Empires Online Steam Starter Pack - $9.99
More Steam Deals



Amazon  ►  EVE Online, Sleeping Dogs, XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Get your start in Spreadsheet Commando EVE Online for only $5. You can also pre-order XCOM for 10% off.


75% off EVE Online: Inferno - $4.99
10% off XCOM: Enemy Unknown - $44.99
40% off Sleeping Dogs - $29.99
87% off the Viva Big Bundle of Games (Featuring Grand Ages Rome and Crazy Machines) - $9.99
26% off Assassin's Creed 2 - $14.83
More Amazon Deals



Green Man Gaming  ►  Alpha Protocol, Sonic 3 and Knuckles, XCOM
Green Man is offering up Obsidian's spy-themed story RPG Alpha Protocol and an armload of Sonic the Hedgehog titles - including the quintessential Sonic 3 and Knuckles - at half off. They've also got two voucher deals running: GMG20-27J4Z-8NXHO for 20% off any download, and GMGSD-W3R94-DZBAZ for 30% off Sleeping Dogs.


10% off XCOM: Enemy Unknown (Pre-order) - $44.99
50% off Alpha Protocol - $9.98
50% off Condemned: Criminal Origins - $7.49
50% off Sonic 3 and Knuckles - $2.49
50% off Renegade Ops - $7.49
More GMG Deals



GOG  ►  Square Enix Squad
How does this sound: Thief 1, 2, and 3, Deus Ex GOTY and Deus Ex Invisible War, Hitman 1 and 2, Tomb Raider 1, 2, and 3... all for $38.30. You can also add the Legacy of Kain series, Conflict: Desert Storm, Anachronox, and Pandemonium! to the deal to increase your percentage savings.

Also, it's not on sale, but the Carmageddon Max Pack is now available for $9.99.

Get Games  ►  Hitman Absolution, Guild Wars 2 (EU), Far Cry series
Get Games is selling the Professional Edition of Hitman Absolution (pre-order) for the same price as the normal edition, which is cheaper than we've seen it anywhere else.


25% off Hitman Absolution Professional Edition (Pre-order) - $44.99
10% off Carrier Command: Gaea Mission - $44.99
15% off Guild Wars 2 - $46.75 (Europe only)
75% off Far Cry 1 and 2 - $6.25
60% off Lord of the Rings: War in the North - $19.99
75% off Overlord II - $2.49
More deals from Get Games



GameStop   ►   War of the Roses, Dragon Age, Battlefield 3
The problem with pre-ordering War of the Roses on Steam is that it gives you the House of Lancaster armor set. Toss aside those pretenders and support the noble House of York with GameStop for only 30 bucks. You can also get ALL THE DRAGON AGE! (Excluding DA2 DLC) that there is to play for 10.


War of the Roses House of York Deluxe Edition (Pre-order) - $29.99
80% off Dragon Age Bundle - $9.99, includes Dragon Age: Origins Ultimate Edition and Dragon Age 2
75% off Battlefield 3 - $9.99
50% off Spore Ultimate Digital Collection - $14.99
More GameStop deals



GameFly   ►  Modern Warfare, Prototype, Singularity
You could grab the entire Prototype franchise for under 40 bucks, or the entire Modern Warfare franchise for $60 from GameFly this week.

50% off Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - $9.99
50% off Modern Warfare 2 - $9.99
50% off Modern Warfare 3 - $29.99
75% off Prototype - $4.99
33% off Prototype 2 - $33.49
75% off Singularity - $7.49
More GameFly Deals




Best Buy   ►  Max Payne 3
Finally, Best Buy has Max Payne 3 for 66% off, at $20.

Let us know in the comments if you find any more great deals!

Disclaimer: We offer no guarantees regarding the validity of these sales, their restrictions, or the quality of service provided by these distributors. We cannot vet every deal: we only list what we see advertised at the time of writing. Buy at your own risk!

There are tough choices to be made as an XCOM soldier. The alarms are screaming. An alien vessel has crashed in Germany. Do you have time to finish that jammie dodger before the Skyranger lifts off? What about that hot cup of tea. Should you dunk, or not dunk? These are the crippling moments of choice that the new interactive trailer for XCOM fails to address.

You do get to see some of the options available on battlefield though. Should you execute the aliens, or zap them to paralysis so you can abduct them and see how they like it for a change? The choice is yours, Commander.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown's demo is now available! Download it now from its Steam page, marshal your elite forces at your secret underground base, and then plant your heavily-armoured jackboot into ET's behind. Alternatively - and this is really the more likely scenario - watch as your heavil- armoured jackboot is blown clean off your leg, and a host of horse-sized insectoid creatures eat your friends' faces.

We've been getting stuck into the campaign here at the office, each of us naming our teams of hapless squaddies after the extended PCG family. Production editor Tony is still a bit shell-shocked after accidentally shooting freelancer Phil Savage through the chest. Let's hear your stories in the comments.

If you want to know if your rig will run Firaxis' remake of the turnbased strategy classic, have a look at XCOM's minimum system specs. Meanwhile, have a look at what the devs said about the game's ample supply of PC-only features.

Evan returns from the depths of space to join Tyler, Omri, and T.J. in discussing all things Project Eternity. Also kind of a lot of things are coming out right now, and we go over the big ones including Torchlight II, Borderlands 2, FTL, Black Mesa, and Mists of Pandaria. You'll also not just hear, but experience, updates on what's going on with BioWare and Bohemia, a new special segment in which T.J. administers shotgun blasts to the face to all of his coworkers, and extended FTL and XCOM discussion in Playlists.

All for the low, low price of absolutely nothing on this content-tastic episode, PC Gamer US Podcast 330: RPGs and Aliens!

Support the Bohemia guys currently incarcerated in Greece: www.helpivanmartin.org

Have a question, comment, complaint, or observation? Leave a voicemail: 1-877-404-1337 ext 724 or email the mp3 to pcgamerpodcast@gmail.com.

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@ELahti (Evan Lahti)
@tyler_wilde (Tyler Wilde)
@omripetitte (Omri Petitte)
@AsaTJ (T.J. Hafer)
@belsaas (Erik Belsaas, podcast producer)

XCOM: Enemy Unknown has seized the office. It's slick, pretty and delightfully difficult. So much so that it was a relief for Marsh and Rich to take a break from watching their squaddies die in droves to the alien menace and jump into the multiplayer mode instead.

The result is a battle of minds desperately trying to wrap themselves around new concepts like "flying" and "taking your move before time runs out." Marsh heads up a well-drilled human force while Rich takes charge of the alien rabble in a close contest for control of a strategically important graveyard. Watch the entire contest in the 30 minute video below. Take it away, Marsh.

There’s some Venn overlap between the fabulous FTL and upcoming XCOM: Enemy Unknown: in both, you can name your dudes. Names carry incredible meaning in these permadeathy games: they’re opportunities to imbue identity into the tiny digital people you’re pointing into certain doom.

Still, when we're asked what to call something, it's not uncommon for our minds to lock up. You sit there, hands hovering in front of an empty prompt, Ctrl + Fing your brain for the perfect nombre d’game that suits the character’s aptitudes or role. You crawl your mind for former classmates, footballers, and celebrities, trying to summon the perfect name. This is Naming Paralysis, and it's nothing to be ashamed of. I have it too.

To alleviate this condition, we’ve created The PC Gamer Character Name Repository, a shared Google Doc that we’d encourage you to throw XCOM and FTL-friendly names into. I’ve begun by contributing “Carl Winslow.”