Give it up for Runic Games. Asked to account for why its repeatedly delayed Torchlight II isn't going to release this year, the studio's president just pointed at the other entrees on the holiday gaming buffet and said, hey, with all this great stuff here, you can wait, right?

"You're all playing Skyrim right now anyway, aren't you?" Travis Baldree wrote on the game's official site. "Or Battlefield 3? Or Uncharted 3? Or Saints Row 3? Or Arkham City? Or Skyward Sword? Or Minecraft? Or Modern Warfare 3? Or Dark Souls? Or Assassin's Creed Revelations? Those are awesome games. When Torchlight 2 goes live, we want it to be awesome too - all the way through."

In seriousness, the game's PC release is delayed again because it's just not cooked to perfection yet. "We've come to the realization, however, that getting a game of this scope up to the quality and polish level we want to achieve is going to take a little longer; especially since we want to run a small beta before release to ensure that our launch is smooth."

Baldree went on to say that though the first Torchlight was released in "record time," it did so with "plenty of issues" that more development time and resources could have resolved pre-release. "We do have those resources for the sequel, and we feel strongly that we should apply them to make this the best game we can make and hopefully one that you'll enjoy and continue to want to play in the future," he wrote.

An Update from Travis Baldree [Runic Games]

Max Schaefer is one of the founders of Blizzard North and Runic Games, meaning he has games like Diablo II and Torchlight on his resume. Add "incredibly good sport" to his list of achievements, based on this incredibly awkward live action role-playing scenario put together by the folks at PCGames.de.

To Schaefer's credit, his attempts at LARPing are sufficiently within the standard awkwardness levels of people dressing up in silly costumes and swatting at each other with harmless swords. Schaefer's fighting "Diablo" with blade and torch (geddit!) while putting on a very brave face.

To sum up: You should probably buy Torchlight II when it comes out so this wasn't all for naught.

Max Schaefer kills Diablo - short version [PCGames.de via IncGamers]

Torchlight II will sell for $19.99, the same price as the original, surprisingly fun PC action game when it releases later this year, developer Runic Games said today.

"It's always been our goal to provide exceptional value for the price," says Max Schaefer, CEO of Runic Games. "Everyone who wants to play Torchlight II will be able to comfortably afford to do so, and they'll be able to play with their friend online or via a LAN, or play single player offline, all with no further purchases.""

Runic Games, which is showing the game at Penny Arcade Expo this week, also announced the fourth playable class of Torchlight II, the magic-wielding Embermage. The Embermage joins the previously announced Engineer, Outlander, and Berserker classes.

Torchlight did land-office bidness on Xbox Live Arcade, but Torchlight 2 is so far above the memory limit on an XBLA game that the developer is focusing instead on a MacOS port after its upcoming PC release.

Max Schaefer, the Runic Games CEO, told Eurogamer that the first Torchlight just barely fit under XBLA's file size limit. While file size is not the issue here, memory is, Torchlight 2 would still need to be "comprehensively redesigned" to get on the Xbox 360's download service.

However, "We would have to be redoing the interface for a console release anyway, just like we did with Torchlight 1, so it would probably make sense to do something more specifically tailored to the Xbox," Schaefer said.

So Runic has not completely written off Xbox Live, but Schaefer said the studio's priority for now is finishing the game for PC and then delivering a port for MacOS.

He added that Runic would consider pursuing a full retail release for consoles, which eliminates the space worries of XBLA but poses another set of headaches, too. "We would absolutely consider that," he said, but they have had no discussions with publishers about it.

Torchlight 2 is Too Big for XBLA [Eurogamer]

Torchlight, one of 2009's surprise hits on the PC, is hoping to be one of 2011's surprise hits on the Xbox 360. Here's how it's shaping up.

Torchlight should be out in Feb/March, and will sadly only be appearing on the Xbox 360, with no PS3 version planned (as it's actually being published by Microsoft).

PC role-playing-game Torchlight is back. There is a reason why. This trailer tells you that reason. Would you like to know? Then watch this!

Developed by Runic Games, the fantasy title will be out next spring.

Torchlight, the surprise Diablo-esque hit of last fall, is getting a sequel this coming spring, according to developer Runic Games.

Torchlight II has you journeying beyond the town of Torchlight to the Estherian Steppes and the continent of Vilderan to battle a new and powerful enemy that threatens the entire world. And this time you'll be able to play the role-playing game cooperatively with a friend.

The game will include a free peer-to-peer matchmaking service that drops you and your pal into randomized outdoor areas, caverns and dungeons.

Here's a run down of the game's other key features as listed on the official website:

Customizable Characters – Players create and customize a character from one of four classes available and choose an animal companion. Through cosmetic, class, and gender choices, skill path decisions, and the treasures they acquire, each character can be custom-tailored to each player's needs.

Moddability – Torchlight II will release with an updated version of TorchEd, the Torchlight editor. Players have the option to create their own mods, adding even more content to the world. You and your friends can download the same mod and play together!

New User Interface – Torchlight II boasts an entirely new, improved user interface, designed to be easier than ever for new players to pick up and play. Thanks to this intuitive interface, players have immediate access to a rich and varied world, with little experience necessary.

Overworld Areas – Torchlight II has large randomized overworld areas to explore with weather, time of day cycles, and random events that provide players with even more content to experience.

Random Dungeons – Delve into randomly generated dungeons within the game at any time for extra experience and rare loot. Dungeons in Torchlight II have even more branching paths to explore with friends filled with random events, rewards and dangers.

Retirement System – Once characters are sufficiently leveled up, they can "retire" and bestow specific benefits and perks onto new characters.

Pets – Players choose a pet to accompany them. Pets level up along with the player, and help in battle, learn spells, carry items, and perform a variety of support services.

Fishing – Fishing returns in the sequel! Players can take a break from the high-energy pace of adventuring to relax by one of the many fishing holes and see what they can catch. Fish have unique benefits for the player and pet, while a number of other rewards can also be discovered.

It sounds like there is plenty packed into the planned sequel to bring fans back to the game. In case you missed out the first one check out our review of it here, and then go pick it up for the PC or Mac.

Torchlight 2 thanks MeisterGlanz]

It's been humming along under the radar for months now, but Runic Games is about to take the wraps off its next game: a massively-multiplayer title based on 2009's surprise hit Torchlight.

Runic boss Travis Baldree is already talking up some of the game's features, however, telling PC Gamer "our vision is to have an MMO that plays as close to single player as we can get it. It will have the same focus on relatively fast action: carving your way through hordes of monsters with a large number of hugely devastating skills. The game has to be solo-able, but players will have to have skills that make them useful in a party and make them work together."

Baldree also says that the game, which is free-to-play, will of course feature microtransactions, but that these won't be necessary to get some enjoyment out of the game.

"I will never, ever buy a microtransaction item," he reassures. "I'm that kind of player. And the game has to be enjoyable for me, too. We don't want our monetisation stuff to offer ways to skip the game because the game is boring."

Torchlight MMO details in the new PC Gamer [PC Gamer]

We'd always thought Torchlight, the game that many have generously labelled as simply being inspired by Diablo, had been a cult hit for developers Runic. Thing is, 500,000 copies sold isn't a cult hit. It's a hit.

The developers sent word yesterday that the game had passed the half a million sales milestone, helped along no doubt by a retail release earlier this year (it had previously been downloadable-only), as well as shopfront distribution in Europe.

Well played, Runic. The game thoroughly deserves it, and with a Mac release now doubling the title's platform availability, things are only looking up, for both the game and the developer.

Valve Software has flipped the switch. You can now officially download Steam for Mac OS X. Do so now and Valve will throw in a copy of the original Portal for free.

The first-person puzzle hit can be yours for zero dollars or zero Valve Points until May 24, when Portal returns to its regular price. We'd say that's motivation enough to download Steam for Mac, but you may say differently. And you'd be wrong. Update: Portal is also currently free to Steam users on Windows!

Portal is the only Valve developed game available right now, sadly, but other developers including LucasArts and Telltale help to make up for the slim pickings. A full list of what's available for the Mac is available at the official Steam web site, along with a handy link to download the OS X version of Valve's digital distribution platform.

A long list of currently available games is also below, with Valve promising new games "highlighting an area of Steam functionality" every Wednesday. The following games are all Steam Play releases, meaning that you can purchase a title on one Steam platform, say Windows, and play it on another, like Mac OS X.

• And Yet It Moves
• Atlantis Sky Patrol
• Bejeweled 2 Deluxe
• Bob Came in Pieces
• Bookworm Deluxe
• Braid
• Brainpipe
• Chocolatier: Decadence by Design
• Chuzzle Deluxe
• City of Heroes: Architect Edition
• Civilization IV: The Complete Edition
• Cooking Dash
• Diaper Dash
• The Dig
• Diner Dash: Hometown Hero
• DinerTown Detective Agency
• DinerTown Tycoon
• Dream Chronicles: The Chosen Child
• Escape Rosecliff Island
• Fairway Solitaire
• Fitness Dash
• Football Manager 10
• Galcon Fusion
• Gemini Lost
• Guns of Icarus
• Hotel Dash Suite Success
• Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
• KrissX
• Loom
• Luxor
• Luxor 3
• Luxor: Mahjong
• Machinarium
• Mahjong Roadshow
• Max and the Magic Marker
• My Tribe
• The Nightshift Code
• Nightshift Legacy: The Jaguar's Eye
• Parking Dash
• Peggle Deluxe
• Peggle Nights
• Portal
• Professor Fizzwizzle and the Molten Mystery
• Quantz
• Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse
• Tales of Monkey Island Season 1
• Toki Tori
• Torchlight
• Trijinx: A Kristine Kross Mystery
• Unwell Mel
• Valarie Porter and the Scarlett Scandal
• Wandering Willows
• Wedding Dash 2: Rings Around the World
• World of Goo
• Zenerchi
• Zuma Deluxe