Games are great, as we all know. But some games are greater than others, and some people tend to disagree on which games are the greatest. That is why we have the Golden Joysticks 2011. They let us use the power of democracy to decide which games are the greatest ONCE AND FOR ALL (until next year).

The thing is, you people have too many opinions about games. Voting on the Golden Joysticks was supposed to close today, but there are still those out there who want their opinion to be known. And Lo, so it came to pass that voting on the Golden Joysticks was extended until 4pm, Monday October 17.

But SERIOUSLY. Look at my face. Okay, you can't see my face. But it is Deadly Serious. There are brilliant PC games in some of those categories that deserve to win everything, including Total War: Shogun 2, The Witcher 2, Civilization V, Minecraft. Oh, and you stand a chance to win a top of the range Alienware gaming laptop if you vote in every category. Head over to the Golden Joysticks site and make it so.

The huge, free 2.0 update to the Witcher 2 will hit tomorrow, adding new modes, a proper tutorial, and dozens of major fixes designed to improve combat. The fiddly enemy targeting system has been improved, controls feel smoother and Geralt's attacks can no longer be constantly interrupted by a prod from one of a dozen enemies.

The patch will add a new Arena mode. Separate from the single player campaign, this will throw Geralt into a gladiatorial ring in which he much fight off waves of increasingly powerful foes for GLORY. And points. Mid-fight, you'll encounter allies that can be recruited to help with tougher waves. Once you've racked up a good sum, you'll be able to post your score online.

Then there's dark mode, designed to add a new level of difficulty for hardened Witcher fans. Every enemy will have the strength to quickly take you out, but a string of new quests will let you unlock new armour sets and gain cursed weapons, because wielding cursed weapons always ends well. The patch makes loads of other changes, and incorporates all other patches and previous DLC additions. If you upgrade from a fresh install, you'll get all of the many, many free improvements CD Projekt have made to the Witcher 2 in one package. Get the full patch notes below.

Here's some bonus good news for new players. CD Projekt have decided that throwing Geralt into a siege battle without telling the player anything about how to stay alive was too unwelcome an introduction. A new opening adventure will teach players the basics of alchemy, magic, and how to swing a sword real good. Combat will feel even better, hopefully, thanks to these changes:

Patch notes

Numerous improvements have been made in the targeting system.
Parrying is now unlimited (even when Vigor is completely depleted), though parries no longer cancel all damage (maximum 50% reduction once the relevant ability has been acquired).
Responsiveness of game controls has been improved. This includes but is not limited to casting Signs, parrying, and attacking immediately after evading an opponent’s assault.
Geralt’s attacks are no longer interrupted by attacking opponents. Attacks are now contiguous and foes cannot interrupt Geralt’s attacks by landing a blow.
Assorted fixes now prevent opponents from incessantly attacking Geralt after he has been knocked down. Geralt can no longer be knocked down repeatedly in quick succession. Also, he rises quickly while evading subsequent attacks.
Geralt no longer attacks opponents located behind other opponents positioned nearer to him.
The target locking system has been improved. Preference is now given to previously highlighted targets.
Target selection has been improved. Priority is now given to foes affected by a critical effect facilitating the completion of a finishing move.
The additional two steps Geralt took after mounting an attack with the W, S, A or D key depressed have been eliminated.
Attacks can now be continued even when a key controlling Geralt’s movement (e.g. W, S, A, D) is depressed.
Attacks can now be continued if the attack key is depressed immediately after the final strike of an attack animation sequence.
Geralt can now pivot 180 degrees immediately after completing an attack.
Assorted problems with key responsiveness have been resolved. Keys no longer need to be depressed twice or more to trigger a given action.
A distance attack problem has been resolved. Geralt now mounts distance attacks (lunge with sword in hand in the Fast style) when opponents were located at a suitable distance from him.

 
Other corrections and amendments:

Casting several bombs no longer blocks further inputs.
An option has been added to the configuration tool enabling aspect ratio to be set independently of resolution.
The amount of disk space required for game patching has been reduced.
The loading of selected Witcher 1 game saves no longer causes the game to crash.
A greater number of monsters now appear in the cave leading to Loc Muinne.
Improvements have been made in the manner in which monsters are spawned in the mist in Chapter 2.
The visual effect accompanying Adrenaline use no longer disappears prematurely.
Archers now draw their swords more quickly when Geralt approaches.
Mages no longer automatically cast shield spells when Geralt casts daggers at them.
The game is now paused when Geralt executes a finishing move in combat.
The troll in Chapter 2 has been corrected. Previously, in some circumstances he could not be attacked.
Physics on cast daggers have been improved.
The site for aiming daggers is now more visible.
Geralt’s animation when he dies while casting the Axii Sign has been corrected.
An exploit in the fight against Letho has been eliminated. Previously, this foe could be killed by casting bombs in quick succession.
An exploit related to the ‘Insane’ difficulty setting has been eliminated. Previously, game saves could be loaded with difficulty set to this level, which was contrary to design intentions.
Camera positioning/operation has been corrected during the boss fight against the kayran.
Camera control via gamepads has been improved.
Assorted adjustments have been made in mutagen statistics.
The ‘Junk’ filter in the Inventory has been adjusted to provide for correct item filtering.
In the Inventory, the dialogue window warning of prohibited actions has been corrected.
Assorted corrections have been introduced to the mini-map in Chapter 1.
Audio balance throughout the game has been adjusted.
Erratic character teleportation in mini–games has been eliminated.
Assorted adjustments have been made in animations applying to nekkers.
A minor bug in the “Scent of Incense” quest has been resolved.
Numerous minor fixes have been introduced in character lip-sync throughout the game.

 

Yesterday, CD Projekt guaranteed that more Witcher 2 upgrades will soon be awkwardly opening doors one-at-a-time into your life. Awesome, right? No downsides here. None at all ever. Please?

The Witcher, though, is hardly all sunshine and butterflies, so – fittingly – neither is its news. There's a catch. Or at least, I was afraid there'd be. So I got in touch with CD Projekt Red to find out if Geralt's next equippable stat-boosting trophy will be your wallet.

"Even though the Xbox version of the game is just round the corner, we won’t stop supporting the PC version of the game," a CD Projekt rep told PC Gamer. "We treat both platforms equally and both game editions are of the same importance for us. That’s why you can expect more updates for the PC version coming and they will all be free just like it is now."

Moreover, development director Adam Badowski elaborated in an interview with RPS, saying:

"All DLC for the PC version is and will remain FREE. That’s not likely to be the story for the Xbox version, because of certain Microsoft policies that need to be followed. But on PC, once you buy our game, you don’t need to worry about any additional costs – we will provide all updates, including those featuring new content, for free.

"Any payable DLC that appears is likely to be a more classic expansion pack along the lines of, say, Baldur’s Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast. But this is a purely theoretical discussion at this point, as we have yet to confirm or even plan any official expansion packs," he added.

He also noted that CDP's next full game, whether it's Witch3r (pronounced Witch-three-ar) or something completely out of left field, won't take another four years to finish. He noted, however, that an expansion could toss a few cartoon banana peels on the track to completion.

Regardless, if you love exceedingly pale mutant men with amnesia (and seriously - who doesn't?), you've got plenty to look forward to. Most of it for free!

The Witcher 2's hotly anticipated 2.0 patch, perhaps its witchiest to date, is just around the corner, but CD Projekt's not letting Geralt hang up his monster-killing swords and lady-killing, well, equipment just yet. There's plenty more on the way, the developer said during the Eurogamer Expo. As for precisely when it's coming, well, that's a bit less clear.

"We still have at least one big title ahead of us in The Witcher franchise," designer and writer Jan Bartkowicz told Eurogamer. "All I can say is - outside of when the preproduction starts and finishes - with the story team we were probably in preproduction for The Witcher 3 during making The Witcher 2."

He then went on to say more than "all" he could say:

"Of course we're not announcing anything. We cannot say, I cannot say - I don't know if it's going to be The Witcher 3 or something else that covers the story, but there's probably going to be some releases in the future."

In the meantime, though, The Witcher 2 2.0 is hardly the incredible fantasy sequel's swan song.

"All I can say is we're planning on releasing something," Bartkowicz explained. " not the last update for The Witcher 2. That's what I can assure you."

A new update has landed for The Witcher 2. Evil Avatar spotted the fix list on The Witcher 2 site where the patch is available to download now. It makes a number of small but useful fixes to a few quests, some scientists in Flotsam get proper names and, importantly, "Game exe files are no longer treated as a threat by popular antivirus software." You'll find the full patch notes below.


Issue with shadows in 3D Vision mode has been resolved.
Screenshots to savegames made in 3D Vision are now visible in load menu.
Issue with Steam achievements not being registered has been resolved.
Blood texture glitches in game with ubersampling option turned on have been fixed.
Pocket item counter is properly updated after picking up an item which is already selected.
Issue with ingredient counter when brewing multiple Thunderbolt potions has been resolved.
Finished “Scent of incencse” quest is no longer marked as failed when entering Loredo’s residence at the end of Chapter 1.
Corrections have been made in the greater mutagen drop rate.
Deleting savegame after entering memories and flashbacks menu no longer causes “Loading available flashbacks” message to appear.
Game exe files are no longer treated as a threat by popular antivirus software.
Patching the game automatically right after installation no longer causes Launcher.exe error on Windows XP systems.
Game installation folder is not recognized if diacritic signs were used in folder name on Windows which doesn’t support them. Patch now properly informs about the cause of the problem.
Name of two scientists in Flotsam have been corrected.
Storage chest description have been corrected.
Description of Mahakaman Rune Sihill imported from The Witcher savegame have been corrected.

 

The upcoming 1.3 patch for The Witcher 2 will add free DLC, according to a new post on The Witcher 2 site. The new DLC will slot add some bonus witchering to chapter two, with a quest called "A Sackful of Fluff," and "will prove most rewarding to those who demonstrate patience." There's no news on what the quest will contain. Hopefully witches.

The patch will also fix a lot of UI irritations. A much needed "junk" section in your items menu should help avoid the embarrassing situation where Geralt is carrying so many looted toenails he can't physically move any more. If you simply must keep all of those toenails, inns now provide item storage. Haters of annoying imp creatures will also be pleased to know that a "problem with some nekkers being immortal has been resolved," and a random woman in Vergen will be pleased to hear that "option to fist fight woman praying at a statue in Vergen has been deactivated." Full patch notes follow.


New FREE DLC - "A Sackful of Fluff" is a new quest in Chapter 2 of the game. To start the quest, visit the eccentric Elthon, who inhabits a solitary hut near the quarry outside Vergen. The quest will prove most rewarding to those who demonstrate patience.
Game now supports 4:3, 5:4, 16:10 aspect ratios.
Item storage has been added. Players can now store items from their Inventory at inns. To leave items in storage or collect previously stored items, talk to innkeepers.
A Junk‟ panel has been added to Inventory to provide greater clarity in item classification.
New menu option added in Extras‟ - enables players to view in-game animated sequences (flashbacks, memory flashes, dreams stolen by harpies) outside of the game.
A Quickload option has been added under the F9 key.
The game's HUD can now be hidden in order to produce HUD-free screenshots! On newly installed game copies, the option to hide/show the HUD is available by default under the 'H' key. Users who have modified the key assignments on their installations should go to the 'Input Settings' dialogue of the Witcher 2 Configuration Tool to assign a key to this option. Please note that the game cannot be played with the HUD hidden.
Issue involving the game not running at 2560x1440 resolution has been resolved.
Issues with nVidia 3D Vision technology have been resolved. Players no longer need to uninstall the related drivers.
Key bindings have been corrected to enable configuration of mouse buttons for use by left-handed players.
Assorted key binding options have been added to facilitate configuration of controls and quick access to various in-game panels.
Issue related to game settings being reset to defaults upon patch installation has been resolved. Patches no longer reset game settings.
The configuration file is no longer over-written when the launcher/configuration tool is patched and over-written.
The launcher now closes while the game is being patched, thus eliminating the resulting game patching error.
The launcher now closes completely and no longer continues to operate in the background.
Installed game version is invalid or incomplete‟ error in updater when free space on system drive is insufficient - message has been corrected to reflect more accurately the nature of the error.
Mutagens are now alchemy ingredients. Minor mutagens drop more frequently than do major mutagens, though the overall mutagen drop rate has been reduced.
Corrections have been made in the mutagen drop rate and in Thorak‟s store.
The dragon section of Prologue does not become available until after all assault-related sections have been completed, thereby softening the difficulty curve at the start of the game.
During the fight against the kayran, when the bridge collapses, a map pin appears at the end of the bridge to facilitate player navigation and quest completion.
Map pins have been corrected in many quests.
Quen Sign slightly de-buffed - Sign dissipates 20% faster after foes land a blow. Assorted minor balance issues related to this Sign have also been resolved.
Issue with Dragon's Dream bombs has been resolved. Damage to bosses from cast daggers has been reduced by one-half.
Several optimization improvements have been made in the tavern in Vergen.
Problem with music accompanying stealth sequences has been resolved.
Issue related to arm wrestling Bart Bargee has been resolved. Players can no longer win coin from this character endlessly.
Option to fist fight woman praying at a statue in Vergen has been deactivated.
Mini-game contestants at one of the in-game taverns now switch positions correctly without blocking one another.
Problem involving Fenn‟s sword in combat has been resolved.
Problems with herbalist's gloves have been resolved.
In the Prologue, Geralt retains his steel long sword throughout, i.e., he is no longer automatically equipped with his default sword for the Assault‟ sequence.
Problem with some nekkers being immortal has been resolved.
Issue with triggered black screens blocking game progress has been resolved.
Interactions no longer appear on nekker nests after these have been destroyed.
The "Scent of Incense" quest no longer shows up as failed after being completed successfully.
Sudden switch to gameplay just prior to cut scene involving Cynthia and Philippa has been eliminated.
Triss, Roche and Iorveth are now de-spawned before the final credits roll.
Guard pacing cycles have been corrected.
The Redanian messenger in Henselt‟s tent can no longer be killed, preventing him from re-spawning.
Elf woman in Vergen no longer strikes a T-pose.
Rotfiends feeding on corpses no longer re-spawn after corpse is burned.
Several fixes have been made in the functioning of in-game populaces.
Numerous problems with cameras in dialogue sequences have been resolved.
Assorted corrections have been made in dialogue sequences (including King Foltest‟s gestures on the town walls in the Prologue).
A progression break in the In the Claws of Madness quest has been eliminated
 

We like being the first to tell you about a game. It's rare, though, that we announce something that's a mere two months away. Flying Wild Hog, a new studio, is releasing its debut game this September. It's called Hard Reset, and it's a PC-exclusive "dark sci-fi" FPS. Roughly, it's Blade Runner, The Matrix, and Painkiller rolled into a single-player-only flour tortilla.

Like some kind of Polish, game-developing Voltron, Flying Wild Hog was formed from members of People Can Fly (Painkiller), CD Projekt RED (The Witcher 2), and City Interactive (Sniper: Ghost Warrior). Read on for more details, the first trailer, and first screenshots.




Pre-emptively asked questions:

What's the engine?
Proprietary, impressively enough. It's called "Road Hog." And because a built-from-scratch engine is a serious investment, we'll probably see more games on it from the developer.

What's the plot?
Hostile robot takeover. Only one human city remains--the bastion of Bezoar. It's here that Major Fletcher, your character (the guy with the laser eye patch), takes to arms against the robot hordes.

When, and how much?
September 2011. Pricing isn't announced, though we'd suspect it'll fall somewhere between AAA releases like Battlefield 3 and lighter-weight "downloadable" FPSes.

Do they have a website, Facebook, and Twitter thing I can click on?
Yup, yes, and indeed.








I think this announcement was just pick-me-up we needed to brighten up the moody weather that's circling San Francisco. We'll have a hands-on preview of Hard Reset in our next issue, and an exclusive Q&A with Flying Wild Hog later this week. Full press release, including plot details, follow:

Flying Wild Hog Announces Hard Reset, a Dark Sci-Fi Shooter for PC
Polish Studio Comprised of Painkiller, Bulletstorm and Witcher 2 Vets Announces its Atmospheric and Action-Packed Cyberpunk Debut

Warsaw, Poland – July 13. Flying Wild Hog announced its debut game, the dark sci-fi first-person shooter, Hard Reset. The PC-exclusive title transports players to a haunting, dystopian future, with humanity on the verge of extinction, confined to its last standing city and under constant threat from the robotic hordes that aim to annihilate mankind. Hard Reset is scheduled for release in September 2011.

In the only remaining human city of Bezoar, Major Fletcher, an Army Combat Veteran and soldier of the CLN, is dragged into a conflict between two of mankind's greatest enemies. He is to discover that nothing is what it seems to be.

Hard Reset may be Flying Wild Hog’s debut title, but the 35-person studio is comprised of veterans of Warsaw’s bustling development scene, with past experience at such renowned developers as People Can Fly, CD Projekt RED and City Interactive, where they worked on acclaimed games like Bulletstorm, Painkiller, The Witcher 2, Sniper and more. Hard Reset is built upon the studio’s own Road Hog technology, which delivers stunning visuals that bring the game’s incredible atmosphere to life.

Given the game’s rapidly approaching release date, expect much more information and footage of Hard Reset in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, visit http://hardresetgame.com and follow the game’s progress on Twitter and Facebook.

The recent Steam Summer Camp Sale has brought new achievements and in-game rewards, along with a bumper selection of cheap games. Today is "Encore Day!" Unless Valve go for a stadium-satisfying multi-encore finish, it's your final chance to download a bargain. All the games are picked from the week's top sellers.

Battlefield Bad Company 2 for £4.99/$7.50, Terraria for £2.99/$4.99 and Magicka for £2.71/$3.39? Yes please. Click through for more details of today's deals.

You've got just over six hours to grab these bargains:


Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition - £7.50/$7.50

Just Cause 2 - £3.49/$4.99

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 - £5.00/$7:50

Sanctum - £2.49/$3.75

Portal 2 - £14.99/$24.99

Dawn of War: Retribution - £14.99/$14.99

Total War: Shogun 2 - £17.99/$29.99

The Witcher 2 - £23.44/$33.49

Terraria - £2.99/$4.99

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood - £14.99/$19.99

Fallout New Vegas - £8.99/$14.99

Two Worlds 2 - £8.50/$17.00

Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes from Liberty City - £6.24/$9.99

Magicka - £2.71/$3.39

 
What's the best bargain you've ever picked up in a Steam sale? Back in 2008, £6.99 was a great price for Team Fortress 2. How naive.

Gamepur are reporting that Namco Bandai, who published the retail version of the Witcher 2 in Europe, have filed a lawsuit against the game's developers, CD Projekt RED, for breach of contract. The suit alleges that the developers broke contract twice, firstly by removing DRM from retail versions of The Witcher 2 and secondly by switching publishers to THQ for the console version of the game.

Adam Kicinski, CEO of CD Projekt RED said: "As with most cases, we first tried to end the dispute peacefully. Attempts failed and because of this, we hoped that our partner would send the case to the court. The agreement that we signed last year, concerned only the distribution of “The Witcher 2 for PC. The records were carefully clarified to avoid any ambiguity.

Regarding the partnership with THQ he said: "Namco Bandai have options when choosing the priority of our distributor’s version of the Xbox 360. It could use, but not taken advantage of certain preferences. In this situation, we chose the offer that THQ made us." Adding: "Our financial situation is very good at the moment and the lack of a few million does not have any impact on current activities. Withholding of payments means only that after some time, our partner will have to give us the money."

"I hope that the whole thing will end with a pre-litigation settlement. If it doesn’t, I am sure that we will win the case and then the loser will pay for our lawyers."

Our Witcher 2 review can be found here or check out our tweaks guide.

The 1.2 Patch for The Witcher 2: Assassin's of Kings came out today, and with it the DLC "Barbers and Coiffeuses" which allows Geralt to... change his hairstyle. Which I think we can all agree is what the game was really missing.

Full Patch notes within.


All previously released DLC packages are installed with Patch 1.2
Patch 1.2 adds a new free DLC package titled “Barbers and Coiffeuses.” To take advantage of barbershop and hairstyling services, look for Einar Gausel in Chapter 1 of the game, Sambor in Henselt’s Camp in Chapter 2, Felicia Cori in Chapter 2 if you travel to Vergen, and Felicia Cori once again in Chapter 3.
Game saves are now compressed automatically, lowering the amount of disk space they utilize.
An option has been added to the game menu allowing game saves to be deleted. To delete a game save, highlight the relevant item and press the ‘Delete’ key.
The game menu now loads at a markedly accelerated pace.
The game now supports Logitech G35 headphones and other USB headsets with on-board sound cards.
A number of fixes have been added to the key binding functionality (actions can now be mapped to number pad and cursor/arrow keys).
Analog sticks on gamepads now work correctly in the GUI panels.
A number of game balance fixes have been introduced in the Prologue.
Lock on targets is not lost when the distance to targets increases.
A number of fixes have been made in blocking functionality during combat. Also, player character responsiveness in combat has been improved, and Geralt can attack more than one target during normal combat.
A number of corrections have been made in the statistics displayed in item diagrams in the Crafting panel.
The Witcher 1 saves are now imported correctly.
An auto–save has been added before the fight against the draug.
Flare bomb duration is now 2 (two) minutes.
Issue involving the equipping of bombs (or other items) even if they were not present in the character Inventory has been fixed.
Islamic–themed and similar textures have been deleted and/or replaced.
A number of fixes have been made in game dialogues.
Issue that blocked advancement to the next level at the start of Chapter 3 has been fixed.
Issue involving the occurrence of T-poses upon the destruction of nekker nests has been corrected.
Guards can no longer block Geralt when he is on a ladder.
Knives no longer affect friendly NPCs.
Bug related to using some containers has been fixed.
Ostmurk (an ingredient required to complete a quest) can no longer be sold.
Ingredients required to complete the “Melitele's Heart” quest have been added to the game.
A fix has been introduced in the “Troll Trouble” quest whereby the she–troll’s head can be won in a game of dice poker.
The Ghost of the Banner can no longer be killed by wraiths.
Issue involving the Operator being neutral and thus susceptible to being killed before any conversation occurs has been fixed.
A number of fixes have been introduced to prevent selected NPCs from being blocked (king in siege tower, knights when destroying a gate in the Prologue, etc.).
The “Three Sisters” quest has been fixed so that the door does not remain locked forever once the quest has been completed.
A number of progression breaks have been fixed, including instances of blocked meditation, inability to save game, and blocked combat after use of static cameras (e.g. game could not be saved after completion of the “Indecent Proposal” quest).
The progression break during the fight against the dragon in Chapter 3 (exploration not working properly) has been fixed.
The progression break during the fight against Dethmold (whereby he sometimes remained behind his barrier, doing nothing) has been fixed.
The progression break (black screen) in the "Little Shop of Dreams" quest has been fixed.
The progression break following failure to complete the ritual with Anezka has been fixed.
The progression break during the dialogue on the beach in the “Hung Over” quest has been fixed.

 
Aaaaannndd breath.

That's a lot of patch.