Today marks the launch of Paradox's March of the Eagles, an in-depth Napoleonic wargame that shares some DNA with the grand strategy titles (Crusader Kings, Europa Universalis) that the studio is known for. In the Napoleonic Era, however, there is only war. Which is to say, the political and economic systems have been stripped down to the minimum to allow you to focus on the marchy and shooty parts.

While it lacks some of the breadth that makes Paradox's historical games unique, the Eagles' military systems are as deep as any other game from the studio. You'll compete to establish land and naval dominance by capturing key victory provinces as one of the major powers of the time, including France, England, Austria, Prussia, Russia, Spain, the Ottoman Empire, and Sweden. The devs told me at PDX Con that the leaner, quicker gameplay is meant partially as a way to introduce new players to some of the concepts of grand strategy, without throwing everything on their plates at once.

It's also worth noting that March of the Eagles makes for a much more manageable multiplayer experience. While it's still real-time, like Europa IV, the tighter focus prevents you from stumbling into the sort of chain of catastrophe that befell me in EU4's multiplayer. Also, I started a campaign-spanning war with France over a misunderstanding of the diplomacy system and basically won. So there was that.

Get it on Steam for $20.

We're a week away from the PC release of Brütal Legend. Three and a half years late, but considering true metal originates from the Edge of Time, that's not too bad. But it seems, just as we seem like we're reaching the end, our blood brothers at Double Fine might have more to give for the rocktastic franchise... and maybe even Psychonauts, while they're at it. In an interview with RPS, Tim Schafer hinted at some possible DLC, and didn't leave a full expansion out of the question.

“I think is the most plausible to me,” Schafer told Rock Paper Shotgun, in reference to new Brütal Legend content for the PC. “Because single-player requires content, which means reengaging all the voice actors—which is something that was a lot easier for EA to pay for. Also, reengaging music licensing. I’d love to do that too, but I think that would involve more funding than we have cash on hand to do.”

While DLC is all fine and dandy (and in a single instant, I lost all of the metal cred from the references earlier in the article), a full-blown sequel would rock even harder. Schafer says it could happen, but they're likely to look to their less blast-beat-driven franchise first.

"It’s been longer since Psychonauts and we wouldn’t have to do any music licensing,” he said. “So we could probably afford to do it more if we got some funding. I feel like a Brutal sequel would cost twice as much as Psychonauts. It’s easier to imagine Double Fine doing a sequel to Psychonauts. But for creative reasons, there’s no preference of one over the other.”

So there you have it. The eyes of the world are on Double Fine, and only time (what is time?) will tell what might emerge.

If you find all the metal references in this article, tweet at AsaTJ and I'll tell everyone how special you are.

League of Legends will feature prominently in Major League Gaming's 2013 Winter season. There has never really been any doubt about that. But now we've got info on how the competition will be structured, as well as how it will tie into Riot's own, year-spanning League Championship Series.

It all starts this time next week, in a sixteen-team qualifier with the top four going to the Winter Championship in Dallas next month. These four teams will compete for a $30,000 prize pool, and a spot in the LCS Promotion Tournament in May. Tournaments like these are one of the ways a team can qualify for the LCS this season, so spots are highly coveted. It's like competing for a spot in a tournament that could get you into the major league playoffs.

In addition, there will be a four-team International Exhibition, as well as eight teams already qualified for the North American LCS facing off in ranked matches. If you don't see yourself making it to Texas on March 15, you can watch the free 720p stream on MLG's Twitch channel.

It's time to make sure your tickets are in order and your tweed vests are properly packed in your steamer trunks, because the (sky)train to BioShock: Infinite's floating metropolis is on schedule to depart on March 26. That is, Irrational's Ken Levine wrote in a blog post that the game has gone gold.

"When we first announced BioShock Infinite, we made a promise to deliver a game that was very much a BioShock experience, and at the same time something completely different," Levine says. "And our commitment to making good on that promise, no matter what, has been our driving force for the last three years or so."

Levine breaks down the damage in delivering a worthy successor to BioShock after five years in development: "The total cost of the game was five years, 941 billion Klingon darseks (plus tip), 47 camels, a cranberry flan, and the blood, sweat, and tears of the Irrational team." Useless fact of the day: a darsek roughly equals one half of a bar of gold-pressed latinum.

Over at Polygon, Design Director Bill Gardner talks about the bumps and design redirections encountered in Infinite's long skyrail leading to release, revealing he initially conceived the game's setting taking place during the Renaissance period and that the team ultimately culled enough content to "make five or six games."

"I will say that I was actually pushing for something more Renaissance, but within six months, Assassin's Creed II was announced and I was like, 'OK, well they beat us to the punch,'" Gardner says.

With one of the most contextually sensitive remarks I've ever seen, Gardner comments on Infinite's canned content: "I mean, it pains you when you're talking about about cutting one of your babies, but ultimately, you've got to to look at the final piece."

Though Gardner didn't elaborate on how fleshed-out the cut content actually was, I find it somewhat difficult not to address the slight hyperbole in the reported quantity of Infinite's axed portions. It's more likely Gardner is referring to possible ideas for levels and mechanics that were eventually discarded or half-finished areas eliminated for the sake of time or to ensure what the player experiences jives with Irrational's intended theme. And from what we saw during our recent and lengthy visit to Columbia, its surviving districts pull off that obligation most handily.

2012: The Year Without a Blizzcon. It was also the year I was finally ready to attend, which made the absence of Blizzard's annual blow-out all the more poignant. But at last, we've been told that the life-sized-Thrall-statue-shaped hole in our hearts will be filled once again on November 8 and 9 in Anaheim.

What we might see, we're not entirely sure yet. Chances are good we'll be getting a look at the first Diablo 3 expansion, leaked on the same project slate that revealed the top-secret upcoming MMO we know only as Titan. Whether or not we might find out more about the latter is anyone's guess, but it's our biggest hope. It's also possible we might hear about a new WoW expansion, considering the team has expressed their wishes to reduce the time between such expansions for Blizzard's juggernaut.

The official release lists the following (mostly to be expected) items:


Hands-on play time with the latest versions of Blizzard Entertainment games

Global finals for Blizzard eSports, featuring top pro gamers from around the world

In-depth discussion panels with Blizzard game developers and artists

Competitive and casual tournaments for players to showcase their talents

Community contests with great prizes

Commemorative merchandise based on Blizzard Entertainment’s game universes

More activities and attractions to be announced


What are you most hoping to see at BlizzCon this year?

The big buzz around, and apparent main focus of, Obsidian, lately, has been the wildly-successfully-crowd-funded Project Eternity. That's not all they're up to, however, with the delayed South Park: The Stick of Truth still brewing somewhere in the studio. And, as CEO Feargus Urquhart revealed in an interview with RPS, they've had at least one more project of similar size contracted since late last year.

"We signed another contract in December," Urquhart told Rock Paper Shotgun. "I can’t go into any details about it, but it’s a game that will employ at least the same number of people that are working on South Park right now."

It makes sense that after the studio raised over $4 million from fans for a top-down, 90s-style RPG, publishers would start to take note. Urquhart even admitted back in October that he was approached by unnamed entities trying to exploit the Kickstarter model using Obsidian's name and reputation. We can only speculate as to what this new game might be. My hope is that it has something to do with the recent revelation that Obsidian has been pursuing the license for a new Star Wars RPG, but the wording and timing of the comment makes that seem unlikely.

What major franchise would you most like to see turned into an RPG by the likes of Urquhart and Co?

Sure, you could configure Crysis 3 using the in-game options menu, but real pros update their volumetric water shadows in real time. EA has sent Gamefront a full list of the console commands available for the GPU-bothering FPS. The commands can be modified during singleplayer sessions by accessing the console - either through the tilde key in the US, or the collection of largely pointless punctuation in the same spot on Brit-based keyboards. (It's the key above Tab, wherever you happen to live.)

Along with the commands are instructions on how to edit them. For the most part, you're better off editing the .cfg files in Crysis 3's root directory. But if you're looking for a quick change, each one will work in the console. For instance, you can remove all the visual clutter for screenshots by enabling the following:

r_colorgrading 0 (Removes the black and white color grading)
hud_hide 1 (Removes hud)
r_drawnearfov 2 (Toggles weapon visibility)

The full list is below. It's absolutely massive. As a reward for those who make it to the end, I've embedded a video of some sloths in a bucket. Alternatively, read our Crysis 3 review to find out if you'll want the game these commands command.

Game

Field of View
CVar: cl_fov
Recommended to be placed in system.cfg
The vertical field of view in degrees.
This controls several individual FOV controls that you can tweak manually if you prefer:

cl_FOV – The main field of view
r_DrawNearFOV – the field of view for nearby objects (held weapon, etc)
pl_movement.power_sprint_targetFOV – The field of view while power sprinting
Default Value: 60

HUD Bobbing
CVar: cl_bobhud
Recommended to be placed in system.cfg
Controls the amount of bob hud which is applied.
Default is 1.0

HUD Canvas Adjustment
CVar: hud_canvas_width_adjustment
Recommended to be placed in system.cfg
Multiplayer only. Multiplies the width of the HUD’s virtual canvas in cases where it may overlap monitor boundaries in multi-monitor setups. NOTE: before this multiplier is applied, the HUD clamps itself to a 16:9 res.
Default is 1.0

Hud Hide
CVar: hud_hide
Recommended to be placed in system.cfg
If this cvar is true the HUD will be hidden from view completely.
Suitable for screenshots or very immersive play. NOTE: This feature is not fully supported, and this cvar value might need to be reset in game, e.g. on loading a save.
Default is off (hud visible)

Music Volume
CVar: s_MusicVolume
Recommended to be placed in system.cfg
Controls the volume of Music, in the range from 0.0 to 1.0.
Default is 1.0, full volume.

SFX Volume
CVar: s_SFXVolume
Recommended to be placed in system.cfg
Controls the volume of SFX, in the range from 0.0 to 1.0.
Default is 1.0, full volume.

Dialog Volume
CVar: s_DialogVolume
Recommended to be placed in system.cfg
Controls the volume of Dialog, in the range from 0.0 to 1.0.
Default is 1.0, full volume.

Max FPS Limit
CVar: sys_MaxFps
Recommended to be placed in system.cfg
Limits the frame rate to specified number.
A value of 0 means no limit.
Default is 0

Input

Toggle Crouch
CVar: cl_crouchToggle
Recommended to be placed in system.cfg
Makes the crouch key work as a toggle.
Default is on

Toggle Zoom
CVar: cl_zoomToggle
Recommended to be placed in system.cfg
Makes the zoom key work as a toggle.
Default is on

Mouse Smoothing
CVar: i_mouse_smooth
Recommended to be placed in system.cfg
Set mouse smoothing value, also if 0 (disabled) there will be a simple average between the old and the actual input.
(1.0 = very very smooth, 30 = almost instant)
Default is 0.0

Mouse Acceleration
CVar: i_mouse_accel
Recommended to be placed in system.cfg
Set mouse acceleration, 0.0 means no acceleration.
Default is 0.0

Mouse Acceleration Max
CVar: i_mouse_accel_max
Recommended to be placed in system.cfg
Set mouse max mouse delta when using acceleration.
Default is 100.0

Mouse Sensitivity
CVar: cl_sensitivity
Recommended to be placed in system.cfg
Sets mouse sensitivity.
Default is 30.0

Graphics Features

Particle Collisions
CVar: e_ParticlesObjectCollisions
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Controls what objects particles will collide with.
Default Value: Static (Low/Medium), Dynamic (High/Very High)
None: No particle collisions at all.
Static: Particles tagged for collisions will interact with static objects.
Dynamic: As with Static, but dynamic objects also.

Particle Motion Blur
CVar: e_ParticlesMotionBlur
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Enables or disables motion blur effect on fast moving particles.
Default Value: Off (Low/Medium/High), On (Very High)

Force Soft Particles
CVar: e_ParticlesForceSoftParticles
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Forces all possible particles to use soft intersections with geometry – increases the cost but will all but eliminate hard edges on particles.
Default Value: Off (Low/Medium/High), On (Very High)

Tessellation
CVar: e_Tessellation
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Enables or disables DX11 ALL tessellation.
Default Value: Off (Low/Medium/High), On (Very High)
NOTE: Currently not tweakable in the latest build of the game.
Will be tweakable soon.

Water Ocean Tessellation
CVar: r_WaterTessellationHW
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Enables or disables DX11 tessellation for the ocean water surface.
Default Value: Off (Low/Medium/High), On (Very High)

Pixel Accurate Displacement Maps
CVar: r_SilhouettePOM
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Enables or disables the Pixel Accurate Displacement Mapping (VERY GPU intensive).
Default Value: Off (Low/Medium/High), On (Very High)

Real-time Global Illumination
CVar: e_GI
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Enables or disables real-time Global Illumination.
Default Value: Off (Low), On (Medium/High/Very High)

Real-time Volumetric Cloud Shadows
CVar: r_FogShadows
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Enables or disables Real-time Volumetric Cloud Shadows.
Default Value: Off (Low/Medium), On (High/Very High)

Volumetric Water Shadows
CVar: r_FogShadowsWater
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Enables or disables the Real-time Volumetric Shadows underneath water.
Default Value: Off (Low), On (Medium/High/Very High)

Screen-space Reflections
CVar: r_SSReflections
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Enables or disables the Screen-Space reflections effect on glossy or reflective materials.
Default Value: Off (Low/Medium/High), On (Very High)

Depth of Field
CVar: r_DepthOfField
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Enables or disables the depth of field blur effect.
Default Value: OnNOTE: Currently not tweakable in the latest build of the game.
Will be tweakable soon.

Explosion Blur
CVar: g_radialBlur
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Enables or disables the radial blur effect applied after an explosion.
Default Value: On

Color Grading
CVar: r_ColorGrading
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Enables or disables the artist controlled color grading post-processing effect.
Default Value: On

Graphics Tweaking

Sharpening
CVar: r_Sharpening
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Controls the level of the post-processing image sharpening filter.
Higher values give more sharpening, but too high values will create artifacts
A value of 0.0 is off
Default Value: 0.25

Chromatic Aberration
CVar: r_ChromaticAberration
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Controls the level of the post-processing chromatic aberration.
A value of 0.0 is off
Default Value: 1.5

Filmgrain
CVar: r_HDRGrainAmount
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Controls the level of film grain applied to the final image to help alleviate artifacts from lack of colour precision in 32-bit colour displays.
A value of 0.0 is off
Default Value: 0.0

Bloom amount
CVar: r_HDRBloomRatio
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Controls the level of bloom used to simulate over-bright areas of the screen
Default Value: 0.15

Bloom threshold
CVar: r_HDRBrightLevel
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Controls the brightness level threshold used to compute bloom
Default Value: 1.0

Ambient Occlusion Method
CVar: r_ssao
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Chooses the ambient occlusion method
Default Value: SSAO (Low/Medium/High), SSDO (Very High)
None: No ambient occlusion is used.
SSAO: Screen-space Ambient Occlusion.
SSDO: Screen-space Directional Occlusion.

Texture Pool Size (MB)
CVar: r_TexturesStreamPoolSize
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Sets the size of VRAM that is available in a pool for texture streaming.
Value is in Megabytes, and may be clamped based on the amount of video memory detected
Default Value: 192 (Low), 384 (Medium), 512 (High/Very High)

Shadow Timeslicing
CVar: e_GsmCache
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Saves GPU performance by updating distant shadows less often.
Default Value: On (Low) Off (Medium/High/Very High)

Shadow Casting Light Scale
CVar: e_ShadowsResScale
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Controls the resolution of shadow maps used for individual shadow casting lights.
Value is an arbitrary multiplier, so doubling this will double the resolution of each light
Default Value: 3.4 (Low/Medium/High), 40 (Very High)

Tessellated Shadow Cascades
CVar: e_ShadowsTessellateCascades
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Determines how many shadow cascades to apply tessellation for.
A setting of 0 disables tessellation in all shadows.
Default Value: 1

NOTE: Currently not tweakable in the latest build of the game.
Will be tweakable soon.

Shadow Pool Size
CVar: e_ShadowsPoolSize
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Sets the size of the shadow pool render target – increased size produces more resolution available for, and fewer artifacts in shadow casting lights (NOT including the sun). Value should be a power of 2 (128, 256, …)
If the pool is too small to fit the minimum size for the shadow casting lights, the GPU will thrash and performance will be severely impacted
Default Value: 2048 (Low/Medium/High), 4096 (Very High)

Sun Shadow Map Size
CVar: e_ShadowsMaxTexRes
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Sets the size of each sun shadow cascade – increased size produces more resolution available for sun shadows.
Default Value: 512 (Low), 1024 (Medium/High/Very High)

Global Illumination Timeslicing
CVar: e_GICache
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Sets the number of frames to cache GI results for before regenerating
A value of 0 disables all caching and regenerates GI every frame
Default Value: 7

Global Illumination Iterations
CVar: e_GIIterations
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Sets the number of iterations to perform when calculating Global Illumination
A higher number will reduce bleeding and lengthen the light propagation distance
Default Value: 10

Tessellation Distance Limit
CVar: e_TessellationMaxDistance
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Changes the distance in metres where tessellation will stop applying to objects
Default Value: 30

Tessellation Triangle Target Size
CVar: r_TessellationTriangleSize
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
The length of a triangle edge in pixels to aim for when tessellating.
Default Value: 8

Grass Instance Animation Distance
CVar: e_MergedMeshesInstanceDist
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Distance fudge-factor where interactive grass instances will stop animating.
Default Value: 4.5 (Low/Medium/High) 8.0 (Very High)

Grass Instance Max Distance
CVar: e_MergedMeshesViewDistRatio
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Multiplier controlling where chunks of interactive grass instances will disappear in the distance.
Default Value: 50
LOD distance ratio
CVar: e_LodRatio
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Controls how close objects drop to lower Levels Of Detail. A higher number means a longer distance before this drop happens.
Default Value: 4 (Low), 6 (Medium) 20 (High), 40 (Very High)

View distance ratio (General)
CVar: e_ViewDistRatio
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Controls how close objects will stop rendering in the distance.
Default Value: 25 (Low), 35 (Medium) 100 (High/Very High)

View distance ratio (Vegetation)
CVar: e_ViewDistRatioVegetation
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Controls how close vegetation will stop rendering in the distance.
Default Value: 21 (Low), 31 (Medium) 100 (High/Very High)

View distance ratio (Detail)
CVar: e_ViewDistRatioDetail
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Controls how close certain objects marked as ‘detail’ by artists will stop rendering in the distance.
Default Value: 19 (Low), 24 (Medium) 100 (High/Very High)

Miscellaneous

Skip Intro Movies
CVar: g_skipIntro
Recommended to be placed in system.cfg
Skips the introduction movies that play before the main menu at game boot.
Default Value: Off

Fullscreen window mode
CVar: r_FullscreenWindow
Recommended to be placed in system.cfg
When enabled, selecting ‘fullscreen’ in the menus will use a window that fills the screen, allowing easy alt-tab.
Windowed mode will behave as normal.
Default Value: Off

Disallow Fullscreen Pre-emption
CVar: r_FullscreenPreemption
Recommended to be placed in system.cfg
When enabled, Pop-ups such as instant message windows and other focus-stealing windows will not minimise the game.
Default Value: On

Force Output Monitor
CVar: r_overrideDXGIOutput
Recommended to be placed in system.cfg
Gives the number of display to use when creating the game window. 0 is the default/primary monitor and 1, 2, etc are displays after that. Allows you to create the window on a different monitor from your primary monitor (e.g. a TV or other external display)
Default Value: 0

Multi-GPU Support
CVar: r_MGPU
Recommended to be placed in system.cfg
Determines Multi-GPU support in engine.
Default Value: Autodetect
Disabled: No multi-GPU support.
Forced: Multi-GPU support is force-enabled.
Autodetect: CryEngine auto-detects whether or not to enable Multi-GPU support.

Hardware Gamma Level
CVar: r_Gamma
Recommended to be placed in system.cfg
Changes the hardware gamma level. Affects desktop as well.
Default Value: 1.0

Internal Occlusion Culling
CVar: e_CoverageBufferReproj
Recommended to be placed in autoexec.cfg
Controls the internal occlusion culling. You shouldn’t need to modify this cvar, but if you encounter any popping with rapid moving, experiment with disabling this.
Default Value: On

Game Network Port
CVar: g_blaze_gamePort
Recommended to be placed in system.cfg
The network port games connections will be made on.

Enable Blaze VOIP
CVar: net_blaze_voip_enable
Recommended to be placed in system.cfg
Toggles whether Blaze VOIP is enabled or not.
Default Value: On

Enable Blaze VOIP PTT
CVar: net_blaze_voip_enable_ptt
Recommended to be placed in system.cfg
Toggles whether Blaze VOIP Push-to-talk is enabled or not.
Default Value: On

Enable Blaze VOIP
CVar: net_blaze_voip_playback_volume
Recommended to be placed in system.cfg
Sets the Blaze VOIP playback volume, in the range 0.0 to 1.0.
Default Value: 1.0 Full volume

...Phew. Here's your reward.

A Counter-Strike: Global Offensive community mapmaker is being threatened by the Société de transport de Montreal after creating map based on the Berri-UQAM Metro station. Diego Liastis recreated the Canadian underground station with some friends, but came to the attention of the transit authority when he requested permission to use the location. The STM have reportedly issued a cease-and-desist, threatening a $50,000 fine plus legal fees if the map is released to the public.

The STM told Liastis that they didn't want their "copyrighted metro network" to appear in the game. " told me that they feared the game could create panic among the city's public transit users," Liastis said. Presumably they're worried about the hopefully tiny portion of Metro users who are not only aware of CS's mod community, but are also inexplicably terrified of digital representations of places they know.

Despite the STM's initial refusal, Liastis continued with the project, claiming he doesn't believe he can be legally blocked from recreating a public space. Map programmer Frédéric Denis called the STM's response "ridiculous," saying that potential terrorists could learn about the subway in the same way that he did: by going there and riding it.

Did the existence of this map constitute a terrifying threat? Judge for yourself with the below preview video.



Thanks, Le Journal de Montreal (via The Escapist)

Remember when we mentioned that A Valley Without Wind 2 was due out in February? Well - checks watch - it's February now, and like clockwork the game has quietly sidled onto Steam. With 25% off until next Monday, £7.11/$11.24 is the cost of admission to this most windless of valleys, but if you've previously purchased AVWW1, Arcen Games are generously giving you this sequel for free. For a couple of months now you've also had the chance to try the beta version of the game, but now everyone can sample version 1.0, as a big ol' demo has just been made available right here.

The purchase comes bundled with the original A Valley Without Wind, if you feel like doing one of those fancy Before and After comparisons that This Morning are so fond of. We'll save you the trouble. AVWW2's Steam page boasts of "more tactile combat", "vastly improved visuals" and a "focused gameplay arc", plus a ton of other stuff including tree-monsters, isometric strategy bits, and the apparent ability to transform into a velociraptor, all of which can be found in the launch trailer below.

Roughly two million* Bioshock Infinite trailers have been released so far, detailing everything from the majesty of floating cities, to eerie alternate-history reporting, to questionable pre-order bonuses, to spoilerful opening cinematics. The latest, titled Lamb of God, teases the role of Elizabeth, Booker's reason for being on Columbia in the first place.

Bioshock Infinite will be released on March 28. In the meantime, Tom's detailed his five-hour session with the game right here.

*Citation needed.