When Torchlight was released in 2009, it wore it’s Diablo influence proudly on it’s sleeve. It’s [..]

Steam are throwing a Civilization sale this weekend. Civilization 5 is available for £17.99/$29.99 and the Civilization 4 complete pack is available for £3.75/$7.50. The Complete Pack comes with Civ 4's three expansions, including Beyond the Sword, Warlords, and Colinization, which is a massive slice of top strategy gaming at an excellent price. If you've always wanted give Civ a go, now's as good a time as any. The games are on sale on Steam now.

Recently, Civilization 4 became the first game to win Grammy with an award for its theme music. For more on Civilization, have a look at our pick of the ten best Civ 5 mods, and our guide to making your own maps.

Minecraft is a genuine sensation. With four million users and over a million and a half sales to date, it's made its creator, Markus 'Notch' Persson, a very wealthy man indeed. But most impressive of all are the creations themselves: stupefying feats of digital engineering created from simple low-res cubes. Below are ten creations that I think define Minecraft's magic. Its creators' motivations vary, but each one is impressive in its own special way. Behold their works, ye mighty, and despair.



1. Rapture

 
Channelling the spirit of Andrew Ryan, Adam Shefki chose the impossible – building Rapture in Minecraft underwater. "It wasn't really planned," Shefki told The Escapist. "I was in a boat and I'd just discovered a huge expanse of water on the map with a tiny island in the middle.  I started building a lighthouse, which reminded me of BioShock's introduction sequence. Building the rest of the city was inevitable after that." Although not an exact replica of the doomed undersea utopia, it's still a bewilderingly impressive feat; especially when you consider that it was crafted entirely from hand-mined materials. It's amazing what a dedicated and passionate Minecraft community can achieve.

2. The Reichstag

 
Proof that with some dedication, and a lot of carefully placed blocks, it's possible to create realistic looking architecture in Minecraft. This recreation of Germany's historic Reichstag building was crafted by ecrider, who placed every single block by hand. Not only that, but he did it on a public server. "It was griefed many times." he reveals. Just like the real Reichstag then, which was also the subject of numerous 'griefings' during World War 2 – mostly by the Allies. So it's authentic in more ways than one, and a staggering accomplishment. How did he find the time? "I'm not one of these no-life people. I have insomnia. When you can't sleep for more than four hours a day, you have time for everything."

3. The Taj Mahal

 
This impressive build is the result of a pooled effort by crafters RealG, Curi, Henrz and an team of helpers. Mughal emperor Shah Jahan's glorious tribute to his late wife took 25 years to build in reality, but its Minecraft counterpart was completed in just two weeks. It's even to scale: a 1:1 recreation of the real Mahal, complete with iconic domes and minarets. They even managed to include the famous garden and reflecting pool. "Even Shah Jahan couldn't have imagined this would happen." reckon the creators.

4. 16-bit ALU

 
For most people Minecraft is about building buildings , but YouTuber theinternetftw went one step further and created part of a functioning computer. Using redstone circuits he made an ALU, or arithmetic logic unit, which is the fundamental building block of any CPU. But that's just the beginning: "This is the first part of a planned 16-bit computer that will run entirely in Minecraft," he reveals. When it's eventually complete he even thinks he'll be able to run basic code on it. "I saw the ALU and I wet myself," said Notch on his Twitter feed. "Seriously! I got a hose and I wet myself. With pee."

5. Animal Cannon

 
Powered by 73 crates of TNT, this elaborate device, created by Kiersher, hurls a pig – lured unsuspectingly into a mine cart – into the great blue yonder at terrifying speeds. "The pig and mine cart were never seen again," says its creator. "I've walked for a few Minecraft days in the direction of the launch, with no success. It's time to call off the search. RIP, pig." The cannon uses the same redstone circuits as the ALU above, but to much more immediately entertaining, and comical, effect. Yet more evidence that static buildings are just the tip of Minecraft's blocky, pixelated iceberg.

6. Minecraft Interstate

 
Brett, an art student, was bored. So he decided to pick a direction and just mine. 24 hours, and 8 miles later, his creation was complete: a gargantuan stretch of rail, which he showed off in a gorgeous time-lapse video that was praised by Notch: "This is so very crazy! I love it!" To travel the entire 'interstate' in real-time would take 27 minutes, cutting through mountains and across rivers. “I'm not a veteran of Minecraft construction,” Brett told New World Notes. “If you're finding yourself lacking creativity or simply don't want to finish something, set a goal and take a break. For me, my goals were, ‘OK, next mountain, next hill, let's get to the other side of the river/ocean’. Setting up your project into chunks or sections is a nice way to progressively develop it over time."

7. Minecraft Enterprise NCC-1701

 
Created by Mozzie, this full-scale Star Trek ship is so detailed, even its insides are faithful to the subject matter. "It has a full interior, a wide compliment of tools and resources throughout the ship," explains its creator. "Enough for anyone to get started on their own space colony. The vessel features 9 decks with all the expected rooms." The ship has a transporter room, working photon torpedo launchers and even blinking lights. Mozzie is a Star Trek fan (as is evident), also creating themed skins for Minecraft. But don't get him started on the TV show. "F**k TNG, Voyager and Enterprise. Bunch of garbage. The only show that was good all the way through was DS9." Quite.

8. RMS Titanic

 
There are a lot of Minecraft Titanics out there, but I like Crashking's. Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D adds a touch of class to his sweeping video, which shows the lavishly detailed, and mostly to scale, exterior, as well as a part of the 'great staircase', as made famous by that James Cameron film. What was it called again? Big Sinky Ship, I think. "She is 509 blocks from stem to stern, 49 blocks from keel to boat deck, her funnels are 36 blocks high and the rudder is 25 blocks high," reveals a detail-obsessed Crashking. "And yes, I do have too much time on my hands."

9. Marriage proposal

 
"Heather." a sign reads on a bridge. "We build worlds together." another reads. We move forward. "Let's fill them with life." reads the final sign. And as we reach the top of a cliff, we look down and: MARRY ME written in FLAMING HOT LAVA, carved into the ground. Now, this is either making you squeal with delight, or you're trying to keep your lunch down. Either way, this video by mcnerdburger is undeniably an inspired, and unexpected, use of Minecraft. "We are both game devs at BioWare," reads the description. "So that might explain the extreme nerdiness and 'building worlds together' bit." The video ends with a giant ring and the encouraging message: 'She said yes... then a Creeper blew her up.' Dawww.

10. Colosseum

 
Watch an army of Redditors band together to create a spur of the moment colosseum on their SMP server. Seeing the mass of avatars swarm around the construction site is oddly inspiring; it's rare that we see these great co-op builds actually happening, and not just the aftermath. It's not the most extravagant building we've ever seen, but the team effort – and logistics of getting so many people working to the same goal – is to be admired. They even manage to keep the griefers at bay.

Civilization 4 has become the fist game ever to receive a Grammy. The prestigious prize was awarded to one track from the game's soundtrack called Baba Yetu. You'll find the music video for the piece above.

Baba Yetu was composed by Christopher Tin for his album Calling All Dawns, but was originally used in Firaxis' brilliant 2005 strategy game Civilization IV. The song scooped the prize for the Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists category at yesterday's Grammy awards.

Each year, our staff plays hundreds of games as we separate the good from the bad and the great from the good. Now, we separate the year’s truly exceptional from the rest, and crown our singular Game of the Year. Drumroll please...


Game of the Year/Realtime Strategy Game of the Year
Starcraft II - Wings Of Liberty



Years from now, PC gamers will remember 2010 first and foremost as the year that StarCraft finally returned. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty hasn’t just wowed the hardcore PC faithful, it’s a beacon that’s drawn hordes of gamers back to their PCs, and reminded them what they’ve always loved about the kind of gaming experience you can only get here.

Its accomplishments are dazzling. With outstanding and innovative campaign mission design, and a meticulous, artful graphical update to its classic factions and multiplayer battles, it’s revitalized and restored confidence in the traditional resource gathering, base building realtime strategy game formula. We’ve heard suspicions voiced over the years that this formula had become outdated or in need of reinvention to be relevant, but StarCraft II has proven that the old-school model didn’t abruptly become un-fun five years ago.

What’s more, by applying the between-mission story mode (which harkens back to classic PC games like X-Wing and Wing Commander), to realtime strategy, Blizzard has cracked a problem that has plagued the RTS genre since its inception: making the characters who appear tiny on the battlefield feel like larger-than-life heroes, and bringing us in close to immerse us in the universe we usually only get to see from far above.



Finally, the spectacular multiplayer action is so exciting that it doesn’t even need to be played to be enjoyed—StarCraft II has successfully introduced gamers to the idea that games can be enjoyable as a spectator sport. In just a few short months, the audience for commentated professional-level matches and tournaments has exploded from a small and dedicated niche to a thriving community of hundreds of thousands of viewers who regularly tune in to view games on YouTube, GOMtv.net or Major League Gaming, and follow their favorite players.

In those ways and more, StarCraft II is a monument to PC gaming. It’s a game that can be enjoyed by everyone, from the newest and most inexperienced players to the gamer’s equivalent of the world-class athlete—and even those who’d rather just sit back and watch.

Next page: PC Gamer US's choices for Shooter, Puzzle, and Free-To-Play Game of the Year.


Shooter Of The Year
Call Of Duty: Black Ops



The unrivaled control of our mice and keyboards demands high-skill, athletic multiplayer experiences. Some of the PC’s finest multiplayer shooters (Tribes, Quake III, Team Fortress Classic) earned our respect by offering brutally uncompromising arenas that demand pixel-point accuracy and to-the-nanosecond finesse. Anything less is a waste of the agility and precision that we’re able to manifest with these devices.

Despite being designed as a cross-platform game, Call of Duty: created the kind of hyper-competitive itch that our trigger fingers love to scratch better than any other shooter this year. Its breakneck-paced, kill-or-be-owned multiplayer modes have an arcade feel to them, but Treyarch’s rejiggering of CoD’s multiplayer formula hooks us right in the competitive center of our brains. Being a successful player means summoning every ounce of marksmanship skill and tactical battlefield awareness that you can muster while allowing physics and playful weapons, such as an RC car bomb or a crossbow with exploding bolts, balance that tension with entertaining doses of dumb luck.

Technologically, Black Ops’ integrated video replay and sharing system sets a precedent in post-game enjoyment. Revisiting game-saving headshots or how-did-that-possibly-kill-him Tomahawk tosses in slow-mo with a free camera grant the same StarCraft II provides players to revisit, analyze and share your best moments. We don't forgive Black Ops’ botched launch or brain-dead single-player campaign, but it celebrates a style of multiplayer that belongs on the PC--a speedy death-go-round we can’t get enough of.
Puzzle Game Of The Year
Puzzle Agent



There's more than one way to tell an adventure story--we just didn't realize it until Agent Nelson Tethers showed up with Puzzle Agent. Telltale replaced the usual pixel-hunting, inventory management and object-combination puzzles found in adventure games (which can all too often rely more on guesswork as to which items can be worn as hats than puzzle-solving techniques) with real brain scratchers. Whether we were bouncing Nelson’s snowmobile to safety, calculating the cargo capacity of swallows or solving word problems, Puzzle Agent’s puzzles added great gameplay to Tethers' surprisingly edgy saga and elevated a young genre--the puzzle-adventure.
Free-To-Play Game Of The Year
League of Legends



2010 saw games lining up around the block for the opportunity to entertain PC gamers for free, but none could match League of Legends’ steady stream of high-quality updates. The content machine at Riot churns out new champions every two weeks, along with new maps, items and meta-game systems. This year’s Season One update both opened up competitive play for top-tier players and strengthened the tutorial elements for newcomers. League of Legends continues to prove that a dedicated independent developer can make the free-to-play model shine.

Next page: PC Gamer US's choices for Roleplaying, Action, and Adventure Game of the Year.


Roleplaying Game of the Year
Fallout: New Vegas



Fallout: New Vegas shows us how great things can be accomplished by standing on the shoulders of giants. It demonstrates that the defining characteristic of a great roleplaying game isn’t flashy, state-of-the-art graphics; success as an immersive adventure depends much more on creating an irresistible, fantastical world, filling it with interesting characters— and then letting us mess with it.

Obsidian’s writing sparkles with fascinating characters and quests that pay loving homage to the franchise’s PC roots at every opportunity. Its main quest begins as a small-scale tale of personal revenge in the Mojave, but blossoms into an opportunity to decide the outcome of a wide-open conflict that will upset the balance of power of an entire region. Nothing empowers us as players more than seeing the effects of our choices play out, and Fallout: New Vegas’ conflict can be resolved in so many ways that it gives us a feeling of freedom and control virtually unprecedented among modern games. Roleplaying games don’t get a whole lot better than this.

And while it’s a cross-platform game, Fallout: New Vegas reminds us why the PC is more often than not the best place to experience an openworld RPG like this one. It looks far better on the PC than any other platform, and mods step in afterward to unlock its full potential. Fallout: New Vegas is truly our adventure.
Sports Game of the Year
NBA2K11



Sports games saw a resurgence on the PC this year, defying the perception that great sports games show up only on consoles. Leading the pack is NBA 2K11, a brilliant homage to basketball’s greatest hero, Michael Jordan. Its sharp AI and crisp visuals are good enough to fool you—just for a moment—into thinking you’re watching and somehow controlling a live game between the very best players in basketball history. NBA 2K11 proves the PC’s strength as the most versatile of all gaming platforms—the perfect place to play any kind of game.
Adventure Game of the Year
Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge



A great joke never dies. LucasArts proved that again by bringing Guybrush’s sophomore mix-up with LeChuck into the modern era gracefully with Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck’s Revenge. The artwork has been reinvigorated, new voiceovers give each character even more style, and the new interface is expertly tuned for adventuring. The most interesting new feature is the commentary by the original creators (Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman) who chat casually with each other as you play. It’s the sort of fun behind-the-scenes look usually reserved for film, and it injects an already great game with plenty of fresh hilarity and insight.

Next Page: PC Gamer US's choices for MMO, Strategy, and Simulation Game of the Year.
MMO of the Year
Lord of the Rings Online



A lot of MMOs thrived this year, but their success was dampened by a lack of major updates or innovation. When it came to keeping us entertained all year long with small updates, plus throwing us the occasional party with huge loads of free content, LotRO treated its fans the best. Two new Epic Books’ worth of quests alongside the franchise’s memorable characters and two new regions were added; character creation and starter regions were completely revamped, in-game events were expanded and UI elements were improved—and then the game went free-to-play in September.

Turbine’s signature hybrid free-to-play subscription model proved to be a great success, generously letting curious players browse Middle-earth and sample the content before deciding whether or not to open their wallets. It’s quickly redefining the way a successful subscriptionless MMO is run.

The future’s looking good for LotRO—even with this year’s huge additions, it’s wisely pacing itself to avoid burning through the books’ story content too quickly. There’s a long road ahead before we’re knocking on Mordor’s door with the One Ring, and that road is lined with good friends (LotRO’s community is one of the most friendly and enthusiastic around), excellent gameplay and free updates, and at the rate Turbine is going, we’ll be enjoying the journey for years to come.
Strategy Game of the Year
Civilization V



It’s no surprise that Civilization V wins this award—Civilization has been one of the PC’s definitive names in turnbased strategy for almost two decades, thanks to the deep, addictive turn-based experience that you just can’t get anywhere else.

With Civ V’s reinvention in particular, Firaxis has demonstrated that the series—and the entire genre of turnbased strategy—is teeming with new ideas. Its revamped tactical combat addresses a long-standing weakness of the series and made the inevitable wars between nations more engaging; its colorful graphics and redesigned interface reach out to gamers intimidated by complexity, grab them by their eyeballs and, before they realize what’s happened, pull them into all-night gaming sessions that don’t end until one nation rules the world; and its in-game mod browser opens up the world of user-made content to gamers who would’ve otherwise never known where to look for it or how to install it.

Wherever the series goes next, we’ll be able to look back at Civilization V and say that it took us somewhere new and enthralling.
Simulation of the Year
Lock On: Flaming Cliffs 2



An expansion pack for a 2003 flight sim might not seem like a slam dunk for Simulation of the Year honors, but Eagle Dynamics’ expertly crafted Lock On: Flaming Cliffs 2  is a truly exceptional revival of an existing favorite. By taking a strong but datedlooking sim and turbocharging it with a modern engine, an impressive international collection of warplanes, detailed cockpit renderings and freshly upgraded terrain graphics, FC2 delivers one of the best combat flight experiences that sim fans have seen in years.

Next page: PC Gamer US's choices for Action-Adventure, Mod, and Innovator of the Year.


Action-Adventure Game of the Year
The Ball



A masterstroke of minimalism, The Ball was the best gaming vignette of the year. There’s no dialog, sweeping cinematics or tacked-on multiplayer mode to burden The Ball—just a lightweight, focused, gameplay-driven short story. It benefited from this simplicity by giving us a campaign that felt paced and personal. As you kick the multiton marble around with your ancient Mexican gravity gun, it somehow makes the transition from object to character. You develop this subtle but strong relationship with the object—it doesn’t change or communicate, but it takes on the feeling of a pet following you through lava-soaked corridors.
Mod of the Year
Nehrim: At Fate’s Edge



It’s a total conversion for a four-year-old game (The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion), but Nehrim is so impressive that it was a contender not just for best mod, but for best RPG. Nehrim is massive, witty, occasionally vicious, incredibly ambitious and tremendously successful at injecting new life into a game that many of us have already played so much that we could scarcely imagine seeing anything new come out of it. Its world is wonderfully resolved—settlements look sensibly planned, residents have purposeful vocations, forests are dense and geography looks natural.

The dedication shown by the modders who took Nehrim from concept to realization is astonishing. Only on the PC do gamers have such power to shape their experiences.
Innovator of the Year
Minecraft



An unfinished, hyper-simple, low-fi independent game captured the imaginations of PC gamers more than anything else in 2010. But it isn't technical excellence that makes Minecraft the PC’s brightest innovator (although there's plenty of that). Rather, it's the way that it reveres players’ ideas. Minecraft doesn’t provide any goal, story or explicit reward for digging in the earth. Instead, it allows players to cultivate their own experiences out of the simple tasks of digging and building, punctuated by a few monsters every now and then. Players approach the blank canvas in different ways: erecting world-spanning railroads or waterfall wonders; strip-mining the ground for rare ores; exploring dungeons; creating multiplayer metropolises or hidden fortresses; using in-game tools for bizarre science—making each player's experience necessarily unique.

Minecraft also demonstrates that word-of-mouth on the PC is still the surest route to indie success. Minecraft sold more than 700,000 copies in 2010 by way of players sharing their creations and discoveries on YouTube, Reddit.com and forums. This remarkable popularity is only possible on an open platform like the PC, where Minecraft creator “Notch” can deploy weekly updates to the game and collaborate directly with fans on content and bug fixes.

While we wouldn’t expect Minecraft’s financial success to become commonplace, it opens up a new business model for self-employed developers: selling before official release in order to finance development.

The long dormant Civilization World project has suddenly sprung to life. A Facebook message from Sid Meier has announced that the project will now be called Civ World, and a playable alpha of the game is set to start next week.

Next Wednesday, January 12th is the day the alpha is set to launch. If you'd like to get invovled registration for the alpha is now open on the official Civ World registration page, but in order to take part, you'll have to put a team of between 5 and 50 people first.

Meier explains why teams are necessary, saying that "to win in Civ World, you’ll need to collaborate with your friends in order to do well in the game and become ruler of the world, so in our early Alpha testing, we’re grouping people together to simulate how the game will work when it’s available to the world at large. In the final game, you’ll be able to sign up individually (although we’ll love it if you invite your friends), but to participate in Closed Alpha, you’ll have to enter as a team."

Meier also talks a bit about how the game will play. "In Civ World you will be joining your friends to form nations, which will compete with other player-nations to rule the world."

"Civ World games will have a well-defined beginning and end, each ending with a triumphant civilization and one person recognized as that game’s most prestigious player. Along the way, as you progress through the different eras of time, you'll have the chance to win era victories as well. We want players to have both a final goal to work towards, as well as short-term objectives to achieve as they play. The trophies you unlock with your triumphs will carry over from game to game, and you can show them off in your throne room."

As an added bonus, all those who make it into the alpha will recieve a special item to add to their throne room. For more information, check out the Civilization World Facebook page.

Josh, Evan, Dan, Chris and Andy break in the new year with an action-packed podcast, covering news fresh from CES like Razer's Switchblade concept and Intel's Sandybridge CPUs as well as what we think of Sid Meier's Civilization V lead designer, Jon Schaffer, moving to Stardock.  We also interview Jim Lee, DC Comic's co-publisher about his time as a hardcore MMO player, and how his playtime helped shaped DCUO, which is set to launch next week.

PC Gamer US Podcast 254 - Cool Story Bro

This week brings a wealth of RPGs! We all knew Mass Effect 3 and The Elder Scrolls V were coming someday, but now that they're officially announced we can officially begin the speculation.

Also,  strategist/columnist/podcaster/PhD Troy Goodfellow joins us to give his detailed report on the updates for Civilization V and Elemental, in addition to Call of Duty: Black Ops and Fallout: New Vegas bug fixes.

And in the spirit of getting things done before the year is over, give us a call toll free: 877-404-1337 ext 724 and leave us a question for the next show!

PC Gamer US Podcast - 252 Three Monitors Ahead



Mass Effect 3 trailer

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Trailer

The Humble Indie Bundle 2

MLG's Top 20 StarCraft II replays

A series of maps that were originally included in the Civilization V digital deluxe edition have been released as DLC. The four map packs include a series of real maps designed by Firaxis, which can be played with historically accurate Civilizations or random leaders. The maps can all be tweaked in the World Builder so players can make their own scenarios on the new terrain. The packs cover the Americas, Asia, the Mediterranean and Mesopotamia. They'll cost £1.99 / $2.99 each, or can be bought in a bundle for £6.30 / $9.99. if you're interested the packs are available now on Steam.

The Steam Thanksgiving holiday sale has kicked off. A new selection of games will be on offer every day until November 30th. On top of that, 30 users each day will recieve the top 5 games in their wishlist.


Today's selection of offers expires in seven hours at the time of writing, and includes some pretty fine deals. There's 75% off the Deus Ex Collection and Alpha Protocol, and 50% off Borderlands and Prototype. You'll find all of the deals displayed over on the Steam store. While you're browsing, it's worth putting together a wishlist. There's a chance that you could be among the 30 Steam users picked each day to win copies of their top 5 most wanted games. To be considered for the offer you have to have at least ten games in your list. I've already hastily put together my top ten, but more importantly, what's in yours?