Masters of the moreish, PopCap games have just launched Solitaire Blitz. It's a Facebook game, but a jolly good one which you should probably check out.

Blitz is a time-based affair, similar to the Facebook/iOS take on Bejewelled: Bejewelled Blitz. You'll gather treasures as you match cards in sequences to make runs. I know that sounds incredibly boring, but remember - this is PopCap we're talking about. They've sprinkled their magic dust all over this thing, forcing you to balance moments of extreme panic with those of careful planning. I also find the sound effect when you click the cards extremely satisfying.

I've embedded the trailer below. Watch that if you're the cautious-type, or just visit Solitaire Blitz on Facebook.

Even though the Guild Wars 2 beta has been over for a few weeks, we're still talking about all the fantastic features we saw during our three day adventure in Tyria. Hollander Cooper of GamesRadar sits down to pick the brains of Josh and Gavin about everything from World vs World to why the event systems were a bit disappointing.

For more information on our experiences check out our other coverage on PCGamer.com.

UPDATE: In Josh's foolish haste, he says that all of the professions in GW2 were in the original as well. That's no correct. The Engineer, Thief, and Guardian are all new professions in GW2. Also, we want to clarify that the size of your character does not change your hitbox, although making yourself visually smaller will make it easier to hide behind players or objects in PvP.

There’s a mounted gun bit in the demo for Medal of Honor that was on display at GDC last night. It’s a spectacular piece of entertainment, a real showcase of what the tech they’re using to make the game can do. You’re driving along on a dingy as waves lash a flooded Thai city. You’re ferrying rescued aid workers to an extraction point where you’re met by two transport helicopters. They hover, and, in a cutscene, your character attaches ropes to the base of the choppers and you’re lifted away into the sunset.

Throughout the presentation, Greg Goodrich, the creative mind behind the Medal of Honor revival earnestly explains just how important it is to respect the community of special forces operatives that have helped craft the game. They’ve got “an unprecedented group of two dozen” special forces operatives working as technical advisors, and full-time staff. The game itself is based on a book written as a way for two former operatives to “vent” on how they’d fight the war on terror. The game hops around high and low profile special forces missions from the real world: “every relevant mission from the past 30 years,” explains Greg, “including the capture of Noriega.”

The other section shown is a blast through a building. Terrorists hide behind tables, stalk round stairs, and die with graceful ragdolls. The player plants the ironsights over their faces, and they fall over.

The presentation is earnest and respectful.

But it’s still a mounted gun bit. And it’s still a corridor shooter bit.

Medal of Honor is immensely frustrating to me. Here’s the problem: I want to believe the hype. I want to see a publisher with the financial might of EA push to create a game that pushes the boundaries of what games with guns in do. I love Battlefield, but it’s better in hardcore mode. I’m happy with playing CoD, but I’d much prefer to be in ArmA.

Any reader of PC Gamer knows exactly what they’re going to get with Medal of Honor: Warfighter. The demo last night did nothing but tick boxes. But the presentation and the discussion made me pine for a game that offered so much more than the corridor shooter they displayed.

It’s out on October 23rd.

Planetside 2 excitement is hitting an all time high. There’s 30 minutes of footage and a bunch of new screens here, which you should almost definitely watch. It’s like a beautiful dream coming true. A massively multiplayer FPS dream with magnificent scale, day/night cycles, vehicles and jetpacks.

Creative director, Matt Higby is just as excited as the rest of us. "It always blows my mind that there aren't more MMO FPSs" he says, after showing a live demo at GDC.



Advancement in tech, better broadband and the recent success of the free-to-play model might have something to do with the genre’s resurgence. Both Red 5 Studio’s Firefall and, of course, Planetside 2 are incoming, and neither will require a subscription fee. I'd bet a pound that it that Blizzard's upcoming MMO, Project Titan, will also be a free-to-play FPS too.

Matt reckons more developers will embrace the genre in the wake of these games: "I think you're going to see a renaissance of the MMOFPS, similar to after EverQuest shipped and there was new generation of MMORPGs.” After all, Blizzard did hire WoW’s lead game designer based on his stature in the EverQuest community. It’s all relative.

“MMOFPSs will be the 2013 equivalent of MMORPGs in 2003.” concluded Matt, before offering some advice: “Everyone will be making them... and they're really difficult to make, so good luck."

With an echoing cackle and a cry of "so long!" Peter Molyneux has fled Microsoft towers on a tiny, portable helicopter banged together from bits of old chairs and several rolls of red tape. Prior to take off, Kotaku established contact via long distance mind meld and received the following statement: "It is with mixed emotions that I made the decision to leave Microsoft and Lionhead Studios, the company that I co-founded in 1997, at the conclusion of development of Fable: The Journey."

"I remain extremely passionate and proud of the people, products and experiences that we created," Molyneux intoned, telepathically, "from Black & White to Fable to our pioneering work with Milo and Kate for the Kinect platform. However, I felt the time was right to pursue a new independent venture."

Given his altitude, attempts to contact Peter Molyneux for further comment have proved futile, but eye witness reports last saw him pedalling "North-ish." He has since re-established contact via Twitter to confirm that he will be starting work on something "amazing, scary and brave," a new indie company called 22 Cans, where he'll rejoin former partner in crime and Lionhead CTO, Tim Rance to work on new projects. Microsoft have responded calmly to Molyneux's departure. "He has made an indelible mark on the games industry and we wish him all the best of luck in his future endeavors," they say.

As an industry veteran with great games like Dungeon Keeper, Populous, Theme Park, Black and White and Fable at his back, Peter Molyneux's future work will be watched with keen interest. It might be a while until we see what the famous developer is working on next, however. Concerned onlookers have lost sight of the 'copter. and as it's moving too slowly to be monitored by conventional radar, Peter Molyneux is currently being tracked using the GPS device the British government installs in all OBEs as standard. An exciting future awaits. We wish him the best of luck.

Until he resurfaces we will always remember him for inventing the dog (thanks, Consolevania.)



He is also brilliant at talking about horses.

If you want to tempt a friend who used to play World of Warcraft back into the fold, the revamped Scroll of Resurrection should do just the trick. Should your friend accept the invite, they'll get a free server switch to your realm and faction, seven days of game time, a free upgrade to Cataclysm and the choice to instantly level up one of their characters to 80. Yikes.

Blizzard announced the limited offer on Battle.Net. If your friend accepts the invite and buys a month of game time you'll get a Spectral Gryphon (Alliance) or a Spectral Wind Rider (Horde) for free. To be eligible, the invitee must have bought a month of WoW game time at some point, and must have an account that's been inactive since Sunday. That means you won't be able to un-sub and res-ub to get access to the benefits. Alas.

Those are some pretty tempting rewards for the returning player, though the sudden jump from low levels to a fully kitted out level 80 toon could be quite bewildering. It'll drop your friend right at the start of Cataclysm, though, so they'll have plenty to explore during their free week, and perhaps beyond. Are you tempted?

Get set, Battlefield 3 fans, THREE themed DLC packs have been announced. The first will be out in June, and will be called Close Quarters. As the name suggests, it'll add new maps designed for frantic fights between footsoldiers. These new environments will fall apart during battles as "everything from furniture to plaster gets shot to pieces." It'll also have ten new weapons that can be unlocked by completing assignments, a la Back to Karkand. One of the four new maps, a stylish office block called Ziba tower, is currently being shown at GDC.

The second pack sounds more dramatic. It's called Armoured Kill, and will be a lot more tanky. DICE say it will contain the biggest Battlefield map ever, and will add mobile artillery, new tanks and ATVs. That's set to arrive this Autumn.

Finally, in winter, we'll get End Game. The contents of this DLC pack are secret for now, which leaves us with no option but to guess wildly. It'll contain twelve foot tall mecha-squirrels piloted by slightly smaller squirrels and four new maps set on Mars.

There's no word on how much the packs will cost, but it seems reasonable to use Back to Karkand's £12 as a guide. Hopefully it'll be as good as Battlefield 3's first expansion, which took a respectable score in our Back to Karkand review.

The best StarCraft 2, League of Legends and Counter-Strike 1.6 players are duking it out in Hanover this week for massive cash prizes at the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship. We're on day two, but we're still in the group stages, so there's still plenty of competition left.

The whole event is being livestreamed, and you can watch them for free on the ESL World site. Counter-Strike and League of Legends teams are competing for a $50,000 first prize, while StarCraft 2 individuals are fighting for a top prize of $35,000. Not a bad week in the office for those who claim the top spot on Saturday.

A film of Obi Wan eating toast would seem dramatic with that music behind it but, in fairness, update 1.2 will bring plenty of asked-for features to Star Wars: The Old Republic. Improved textures and UI customisation are nice, but the patch's biggest benefits are tied into the legacy system. We'll be able to unlock new race options and even new powers using those dormant legacy levels, and construct family trees out of our alts. The update also adds a new flashpoint, operation and warzone for level 50s, making patch 1.2 one fat Bantha. It's out next month.

Some players have importing their Mass Effect saves into Mass Effect 3 and found that, while their decisions and personality survived the transition, Shepard's face did not.

Bioware are on the case. Chris Priestly has posted on the Bioware forums to let fans know that a fix is on the way. "We are aware that some players are having issues importing the faces of characters from Mass Effect 1 or Mass Effect 2 into Mass Effect 3," he says. "The issue is likely in how faces were detected when imported from Mass Effect 1 into Mass Effect 2, and we’re working on the best way to correct it for affected players."

In the interim, he recommends a fan-made mod program, Mass Effect tools, as a possible solution. Otherwise, players can soldier on with a brand new face, or painstakingly try to recreate their old one manually, though there's always the risk of getting something slightly wrong and then having to spend the next 30 hours going slightly mad as your mind latches onto every imperfection. A disturbing fate. Might be better to wait for that patch instead.

For more on Mass Effect 3, check out our Mass Effect 3 review and our look at how multiplayer will affect your story's ending.