High end gaming PCs aren't the power hungry kilowatt killers that they used to be, but I still feel guilty every time I fit a 250W TDP graphics card to a new machine. Guilt of the kind that only someone who was taught by nuns can feel. Hence a more than passing interest in AOC's latest screens. They're so low power, they can be run off a USB port.

According the specs, the AOC e2251Fwu, which is being launched today, can hold its own with the best too. Highlights of the 22 inch screen include a 1000:1 contrast ratio, 5ms response rate and a 200cd/m2 nit rating for brightness. AOC is billing its low power usage as perfect for a large photo frame, but if it really is that efficient then it's far more interesting for multi monitor set-ups that won't burn your flesh off or send your electricity bill spiralling.

I can't wait to review one of these, even thought they have me scratching my bug shiny head at the moment. AOC says the screens draw 10W max, which is impressive since I'm not aware of any LED backlit screens that draw much less than 18-20W right now - even laptop ones.

What's really puzzling, though, is that USB 2.0 is so low powered that you can't charge an iPad or Android tablet over it. USB 2.0 can power devices up to 600mA at 5.25V, while even USB 3.0 only support 900mA (by my maths, that works out to 3.15W and 4.75W max respectively). Dedicated charging ports can deliver more power, but these are exceptionally rare in domestic computers except for Macs, which provide extra power pins (for the iPad) capable of delivering 1100mA at 5V.

All interesting, but none of them close to what LED backlights currently demand.

AOC apparently gets around the problem by using two USB cables. I haven't see it in action yet, so call me mildly sceptical, but I'm very intrigued and hopeful about these new low power screens. Feel free to point out flaws in my maths below.

One month ago we mentioned the start of the Thinkingwithportals.com Portal 2 mapping contest, a Valve-endorsed competition to find the best new community made maps for Portal 2. After 140 hours of judging, the 13 judges have decided on the winners.

First prize was taken by Patent Pending by ebola. Second place was won by, Infinifling by MrTwoVideoCards, and Edifice by Omnicoder took a close third place.

The winners were announced on the Portal 2 site, along with instructions on how to download and play the maps. You'll find more runners-up maps listed on thinkingwithportals.com. The fan-made test chambers should tide us over nicely until Valve release their first chunk of Portal 2 DLC, which is set to add new test chambers, leaderboards and challenge modes to the game later this summer.

I’ve got to get to my crewmate! I’m flying through the jungle canopy toward his transponder when a spear bursts from the undergrowth. I dodge it with a burst from my jetpack, spin, and snipe the head from the masked native who hurled it. This leaves me facing the wrong way, heading fast for a wall. I ram a baby pincer-blob out of the way, fire my grapnel at a passing outcrop, and use my momentum to swing up the wall toward the transponder signal. And into a huge pack of pincer-blobs of all sizes. The screen cracks as I’m devoured.

Capsized is a 2D platformer, where you’re an astronaut shipwrecked on a hostile planet. In order to escape you must first gather any surviving crew and any communications systems that have survived the crash. The Harry Harrison-style deathworld is inhabited by all sorts of beasties, ranging from a wide variety of angular natives equipped with primitive weaponry to the local fauna, which crawls, buzzes or leaps, but is always deadly.



Getting through this world is a matter of learning to use the various tools – grappling hook, kinetic ram (knocks enemies and objects away) – and large arsenal of weapons, to navigate the mostly non-linear levels. All the tools work exactly as anyone raised on platform shooters would expect. The grapnel enables you to swing around like a heavilyarmed Tarzan. The jetpack’s gentle lift has limited fuel. The ram knocks you back a bit, but the subject of its kinetic affections back a lot. And the ammo-hungry guns kill things.

The only flaw is that switching to the right weapon using the mousewheel, when the natives are raining spears on you, is like trying to find a pencil-sharpener in a geek’s satchel of techno-crap. The game is so reaction-based that having the wrong weapon out tends to hasten your death, so instead of being agreeably gung-ho, you find yourself creeping slowly forward and running away lots.



There’s always non-hostile fauna moving in the scenery too: stiltlegged spiders, overgrown hermit crabs and anenome-funnels that shy away on your approach. Even the internal texturing on the landscape resembles the organic, fecund drawings of surrealists like Max Ernst. Electronic music, an oldfashioned interface and hand-drawn layered backgrounds conjure memories of such ’80s platform shooters as Metal Slug or Contra, but stepped up to HD and buffed until the game is 90% polish.

The varied, well-designed levels range from flashlit tomb-crawls to low-gravity atmosphere exploration. With these, and variety of secondary game modes – co-op, deathmatch, time trials, survival and a wonderful no-guns race – Capsized is an example of what can be done with a handful of old-school game mechanics if a developer has excellent taste.

ArenaNet have dropped more info on how dungeons will work in Guild Wars 2. The world of Tyria will contain eight instanced group missions, made gradually available from level 35 onwards. Each dungeon has a story mode and an exploration mode. Once dungeon's story has been completed, groups will be able to pick their choice of three advanced explorable versions of that dungeon. Each version will come with different challenges, including new boss fights and enemies.

The dungeons are completely optional, but come with their own background and storylines and are packed full of loot. The trailer above sets up the catacombs, inhabited by the ghosts of a dead army, cursed by their jerk of a king to defend the city until the end of time. VG247 have eight minutes of footage of a team battling their way through the catacombs. It also gives us a glimpse of the underwater combat ArenaNet recently revealed. You'll find the video embedded below.

Find out more about Guild Wars 2's dungeons in the latest blog post on the Guild Wars 2 site. Find out how the game's shaping up in our Guild Wars 2 preview.

The Legends and Speedhunters DLC packs for Need for Speed: Shift 2 Unleashed will be released for free on PC this week on EA's new digital download service, Origin. Between them the packs add more than twenty new cars, five new tracks and new racing modes, including drag racing.

The two packs were released in April and May this year on the Xbox 360 as paid-for packs. As of June 30, this Thursday, they'll be free to all PC gamers. Head over to the Need for Speed site for guides on how to grab the new packs through Origin.

The Legends pack adds a number of classic cars from the '60s and '70s and six vintage tracks, including Silverstone and the Rouen-Less-Essarts Short from way back in 1952. Here's a list of the cars and tracks included. For more details, head over to the Legends pack page.

Cars

Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA (1965)
Austin Mini Cooper S (1965)
BMW 3.0 CSL Gr.5 (1975)
Ford Capri RS3100 Gr.4 (1974)
Ford Escort Mk1 RS1 600 (1971)
Ford GT40 Mk1 (1965)
Lotus Cortina Mk1 (1963)
Jaguar E-Type Lightweight (1963)
Nissan Fairlady 240ZG (S30) (1971)
Nissan Skyline 2000GT-R (C10) (1972)
Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 3.0 (1974)
Porsche 914/6 GT (1970)
Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe (1965)

 
Tracks

Dijon-Prenois (1972)
Hockenheim (1982)
Monza (1958)
Rouen-Les-Essarts GP (1966)
Rouen-Les-Essarts Short (1952)
Silverstone (1975)

 
The Speedhunters pack is all about straight line speed. It adds drag racing and a new standing mile mode. The standing mile is a mile long speed trap in which you must hit the highest speed possible. Both modes encourage players to tune their vehicles extensively to squeeze the best performance out of them. The pack also comes with a a series of drag racers designed to hit blistering speeds on long straights. Check out the Speedhunters page for more details, or watch the trailer below.

We're free, Lulsec are gone, and we can now hopefully play our games without fear of having to change our passwords again. What will we be playing? Probably Team Fortress 2, after all we need to educate all the new players with our snazzy guides (and also use them to score cheap kills).

Other news, which for once doesn't involve hacking, is below.


A group of Reddit users, inspired by this post, have banded together to create a zombie survival horror FPS.
CVG have a video on heading in FIFA 12, which we were recently told will have the same features on PC as on consoles.
More hidden game references in Alice: Madness Returns, this time a companion cube.
CVG report on plans for Dirt 3 Monte Carlo DLC.
Veteran WoW players are getting free copies to give friends, so if you know one, be nice to him.
The folks from Yogcast have combined some of the best Minecraft mods (including some of our picks) into one big package.
Ever wanted to play Uncharted on PC? Well you can't, but RockPaperShotgun have found a shameless knock off you can.

 
Did any of you guys get caught in the hacks? Lose any details? Do share below.

To free, or not to free? Does a game by any other price play as sweet? On this week's podcast (a few days late, due to crows), we break down the significance of Team Fortress 2 being a $0 game, and decide which class "won" the Über Update. Also talked: Arma 2: Free, L.A. Noire's arrival on PC this Fall, and Evan sings the praises of his favorite community-made L4D2 content, Questionable Ethics and Let's Build A Rocket.

PC Gamer US Podcast 277: Free'd

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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Revealing the first in-game footage of Tribes: Ascend, developer Hi-Rez Studios has also announced that the multiplayer shooter will be free to play. IGN has the gameplay teaser. Global Agenda, Hi-Rez's massively-multiplayer shooter, re-released on Steam earlier this month as a free-to-play game.

I got to touch Tribes two weeks ago when I traveled to Hi-Rez--look for a preview in our next issue, and impressions on my time with Tribes on this Thursday's podcast.

In a complete lack of surprise, the United States Supreme Court has upheld the lower court's decision that California's attempt to ban the sale of violent games to minors is unconstitutional. The vote was seven to two, with Justices Thomas and Breyer dissenting. You can read the full, massive PDF of the ruling here, but here's the gist of it:

"Like the protected books, plays, and movies that preceded them, video games communicate ideas—and even social messages—through many familiar literary devices (such as characters, dialogue, plot, and music) and through features distinctive to the medium (such as the player’s interaction with the virtual world). That suffices to confer First Amendment protection."

"...The State wishes to create a wholly new category of content-based regulation that is permissible only for speech directed at children. That is unprecedented and mistaken. This country has no tradition of specially restricting children’s access to depictions of violence."

"California’s claim that 'interactive' video games present special problems, in that the player participates in the violent action on screen and determines its outcome, is unpersuasive."

So +1 to freedom of speech! It's a good day for gamers - not because it's a good idea to expose children to games in which human entrails are playthings, but because (among other things) if each state had been allowed to create its own criteria for what's violent and what's not, it'd make selling such games nearly impossible.

Three months after the release of Crysis 2, Crytek has finally released a trio of patches, totaling 2.32GB, to enable its promised DX11 features. According to our calculations, that's at least two more DirectXes than it had at launch. It'll definitely look prettier now (not that it was ever even close to ugly to begin with), but will that be enough to bring you back to play the game again, or has its moment in the spotlight already passed?

Edit: EA follows up by announcing that the map editor will be available for download from mycrysis.com this Wednesday.