Despite having spent hours with Battlefield 3, my jet-setting career has been far from illustrious. A few minutes soaring high above the carnage below, an idle attempt to shoot something and, inevitably, a nose-first crash into a building while desperately hoping no-one was looking. Even with my gross incompetence, I'm looking forward to End Game's Air Superiority mode. The 12 vs. 12 dogfights look like just the intensive crash course in aerobatic aptitude that I need. In preparation for End Game's March release, DICE have unveiled the mode's very first screenshot.



Is that a blimp in the distance? Maybe Air Superiority means bonus points for taunting slower, more primitive aeronautic efforts.

End Game will also add four new maps and a romping new CTF mode.

CCP Games today announces that their epic ships-n-stats sci-fi MMO has soared past the 500,000 subscriber mark, filling the interstellar skies with an ever-growing number of ruthlessly Machiavellian space-bastards for a tenth year running.

EVE looked a little wobbly a while back with a full-on rebellion among its players, dismayed at the apparent disinterest of the developers, typified by the introduction of ludicrously expensive microtransactions. Since then, CCP bosses have expressed contrition and devoted themselves to recovering the good will of their audience. On a conference call yesterday, a tremendously bearded Hilmar Veigar Pétursson said that the surge in numbers was evenly split between new players and returning players, and driven by the game's relaunch in China and the release of the free Retribution expansion, back in December.

Meanwhile, the awesome scenes of gigantic player-driven events, like the Battle of Asakai, have drawn a lot of attention. In fact, Hilmar said these sorts of events were the game's best advertisements - chief marketing officer, David Reid was himself inspired to join CCP when he read about the operatives of the Guiding Hand Social Club in an article by PC Gamer's very own Tom Francis: Murder Incorporated. The cross-platform integration with Dust 514 has also helped drag some gamers away from their consoles and into the larger, more sophisticated EVE universe, and the game's profile at large has increased thanks to its induction into MOMA's collection of videogames.

As for the future, Hilmar said that sandbox would certainly continue to expand - as it has with the addition of new territories accessible through wormholes - but also that they were looking to grow the game inwards: "There are lot of things within the solar systems that are yet to be explored." Hilmar also alluded to some distant future event which would truly unify the game worlds of Dust 514 and EVE Online.

The late April EVE fanfest will kick-off a year long celebration of the game's second decade. What this celebration will entail remains vague, but David Reid pledged that it would go off with a bang: "We haven't even shown you our best work yet."

As Hilmar then rejoined: "EVE will outlive us all."

Natural Selection 2 is about to get Gorgeous. No, the Kharaa haven't returned from a weekend spa retreat with full facelift and manicure. Instead, the update's title references Gorge tunnels - a new underground transport network the aliens can use to traverse the maps. You can see it in action in the latest trailer. It doesn't look pretty.

A tunnel building ability isn't the only improvement for Gorges. The beasties will also be able to spawn Babblers - small minions that become your personal, chittering army of bug things. And in case the human players are feeling left out, Exosuits get a railgun attachment, which pops aliens in a gooey explosion.

A new map - "Decent" - will support this added carnage. Gorgeous also brings improved graphics, balance tweaks, a new tutorial mode, enhanced map changes and a revamped Insight Spectator System, designed to offer a better viewer experience for esports matches.

The update is due to go live tonight at 11pm GMT, along with a 50% Steam sale for the game.

What is Avalanche Studios up to? They're strongly rumored to be working on a licensed video game adaptation of Mad Max: Fury Road, which is nice and all, but you know... Just Cause 3! Rumors continue to circulate surrounding that title as well, and Avalanche Studios CEO Christofer Sundberg has added fuel to the fire by posting a photo on Instagram that is - let's face it - almost undeniably a still from a Just Cause game.

It's not the first time this month Sundberg has teased a follow up to Just Cause 2: an "Unannounced Sandbox Action Game" to be published by Square Enix was referenced on Sundberg's LinkedIn profile, and described as "a very well-known game series". You don't need any more evidence, really.

Mark Jacobs, the former longtime boss for Mythic Entertainment and designer of Dark Age of Camelot, is picking up a fight against predictability by arguing for the merits of increased randomness in MMOs, including his upcoming PVP-centric project Camelot Unchained.

"This game will not be a linear, theme-park style world where you pretty much know what the outcome of most of the fights will be before the battle begins," he writes. "I currently believe that as we have made MMORPGs more and more handholding and predictable, we have lost much of both the joys and sorrows of having something really random happen to players whether it is during the course of a pitched battle or simply when just walking down a road."

The potential fun factor of encountering the unexpected during play isn't hard to miss, but there's a danger of taking such a system to the extreme—I'm not too keen on a spider shrugging off my trueshot arrow Just Because. Similarly, many players—even whole communities—derive enjoyment from puzzling out the math magic powering their attacks, so dealing with abstract uncertainty might not take well.

It looks like Jacobs seeks a middle ground between standard number generation systems and the chaos of randomization. He explains: "What I propose is that this game’s combat systems have enough randomness built into them that players will not know that every time they swing their sword, they will always hit for X damage. I don’t want the player to know that every time they go into a 1:1 battle with someone of equal knowledge/skill but with a slight lower character that the outcome is easily and thoroughly predetermined.

"However, the system’s damage combat mechanics will be laid out so that the majority of damage will be set but where only a portion of it is random but with a strong critical hit/miss system component as well."

Critical failures, eh? How very tabletop. I can see the humor in clubbing myself in the face with my broadsword on a low roll. Discussion time: would such a system actually translate well in a genre which stresses smooth leveling progressions for all players? More importantly, does randomness have a place in a PVP-slanted game such as Camelot Unchained?

The next time you ram a jeep riddled with C4 explosives into a hulking tank in Battlefield 3, you'll now know you've added a few extra bytes to the colossal 1 TB data-horde EA collects daily from the multiplayer FPS. As VentureBeat reports, the publisher tracks over 50 telemetry events for each player in every match, according to a Morgan Stanley Technology Conference presentation by Chief Technology Officer Rajat Taneja.

Here's what happens in Battlefield 3 during a 15-minute period: 3.9 million grenades get tossed, 648,000 vehicles blow up, and 24 million explosions, well, explode. Such crazy numbers aren't specific to a single platform but rather represent all player activity across consoles and PC. I wonder when EA will start tracking the frequency of players conveniently forgetting to deploy their parachutes before swan-diving onto the concrete, because have I got a boatload of data for it on that front.

This isn't the first bit of EA news from the conference. Earlier today, another executive claimed the company's customers are "enjoying and embracing" microtransactions.

Wait, you don't remember Mars War Logs? Neither do I, actually. Developer Spiders delivered a gameplay trailer out of nowhere for the upcoming sci-fi RPG, and it takes a look at the surprisingly fluid-looking combat taking place on a terraformed Red Planet colony. I'm feeling a strong Witcher-meets-Arkham vibe here: kinetic, reactive attack combos supplemented with supportive abilities and a three-branched skill tree. Oh, and rolling. Lots of rolling.

But what else does War Logs have going for itself? Well, an epic pair of sideburns on main character Roy Temperance, for one thing. Beyond that, Spiders (whose previous project was the middling Of Orcs and Men) plans a crafting system and "dozens of skills and perks" for customization.

Have a look at the website for...well, not much at the moment beyond screenshots and a music video. More details should arrive leading into the game's spring release.

Every week two editors debate a new topic—it's a binary exercise we use to seek common ground conclusions or identify fundamental differences. The "my MOBA vs. your MOBA" argument is a heated one, so we reached outside our walls to SOE game designer and former PC Gamer Senior Editor Josh Augustine for his expertise. Josh was our resident League of Legends authority when he was here, so he's arguing on its behalf, while T.J. stands up for Dota 2.

Argue your own side in the comments, and jump to the next page for opinions from the community. Josh, you have the floor:

The Debate
 
Josh: No one can question Dota’s contribution to the genre—heck, it created it—but in the second generation of MOBAs, League of Legends is the king. It innovates where Dota 2 stagnates, and provides a much better experience for new players.

T.J.: Innovation and stagnation in MOBAs is almost an entirely different discussion. The real innovators are games like Demigod (as comparatively unsuccessful as they are). At the end of the day, both of the big dogs have way more in common than they do in difference. But when it comes to those differences, I think Dota 2 is the more engaging contender. What it lacks in mass accessibility, it makes up for in depth. I’d say the spirit of PC gaming favors the latter.



Josh: I’d love to hear what you think gives Dota 2 deeper gameplay. It’s certainly not skillshots or mechanical complexity, like being able to respond to opponents’ abilities. Like Dota 2, there are a ton of abilities in LoL that must be targeted at a location rather than an opponent. In LoL, most of these abilities can be blocked with skillful dodging, creep manipulation, or sacrificial leaps by allies. You know how many skills allow for that complex variety of reactions in Dota 2? One. Pudge’s hook. Every other “skillshot” hits everyone in its way with no regard for collision. There’s no counterplay.



T.J.: Dota is all about counterplay, way more so than LoL. Sure, there may not be a lot of collision-deniable skillshots, but that’s a very niche case to hang your argument on. A lot of Dota’s heroes are designed to counter other specific heroes, or kinds of heroes. It creates an interesting rock-paper-scissors meta. Except if instead of rock-paper-scissors, you had rock-paper-scissors-garden rake-tow truck-banana cart-.

Josh: It’s not niche at all! That ability to counterplay enemy skills completely changes the laning interaction, making it much more important to gauge your movement, and track the positioning of creeps and enemy champions.

I want some examples of counterplay that Dota 2 has that LoL doesn't. Other than denying (which, let's be honest, is kind of a stupid mechanic), LoL has all the counterplay Dota 2 has and then some.

T.J.: I’ll go ahead and say it: I don’t find denying particularly fun. But at a high, competitive level, it gives you more to do in the lane (especially early on). And if you want another example, just look at the subtle differences in the maps. Dota 2’s lanes have more variation between top and bot, more potential gank paths, and the distance between towers means you can’t just camp out and farm XP.



Josh: So I guess the question is: What do you want your laning phase minigame to be? It can either be a complex game of cat-and-mouse poking with the enemy players, using creep waves as mobile defenses, or it can be shooting your own soldiers in the head.

I’m happy to admit that Dota 2’s map has some very cool elements, including those gank paths and the ability for some heroes to cut through trees to make their own path. That’s awesome. But so is LoL’s brush, which allows skilled players to perform great jukes and manipulate vision in the field. Dota 2 has some of that with its height variance, but it’s not nearly as interesting or fun to play with.

T.J.: Not to pop a scroll and concede defeat here- I think we’ve both made an argument for complexity. But that’s only one of many differences. So much of what I prefer about Dota is apparent when you’re not even in a match. LoL gives you a very small pool of rotating champs to start with, whereas Dota unlocks every hero immediately.

Josh: Yeah, it’s awesome that Dota 2 unlocks all the heroes at once (for free, too, if it ever actually leaves beta), but Dota has to because, like you said earlier, it’s built on hard counters for every hero. Without access to the full roster, game balance would be broken. LoL, on the other hand, is balanced around team compositions—a late-game team, a poke-damage team, an AoE ult team, etc.

I’m not saying that it makes paying for every champion individually feel better on your wallet—LoL is a much more expensive game if you want to own every champion—but you can be completely competitive with just the free champions, if you wanted to. And you can buy everything but skins for free, with currency earned from playing game.

T.J.: But that’s part of the problem. I like the idea of thematic team comps, but I think it puts you in danger of having a patch-dependant metagame. Balance changes always lead to early experimentation, but the über-teams are almost always going to eventually find a “best” way to do each of the strats you described as a cycle progresses, which can mean a smaller percentage of the champs being in the meta at a given time. Dota’s hard counters mean you can’t ever really feel safe in a draft, and you’re less likely to see a dominant comp emerge in any given patch. Both games will have their no-brainer, god-tier, autoban carries and what have you, of course.



Josh: I do really enjoy Dota 2’s balance—those heroes have been around forever and have been carefully tweaked with consistent skills and items in mind. But that also makes it feel a bit stagnant to me—LoL’s balance and meta is constantly changing, so that a great team comp may be dominant for a few weeks, until someone figures out how to counter it, and then everyone’s experimenting again. They both have their merits in this regard, I think it just comes down to preference.

T.J.: Absolutely. It’s a matter of preference. It’s just that my preference is objectively better. You made a good point about Dota’s heroes having a longer balance history. And Riot’s business model forces it to keep releasing champions to keep making money—whether they’re ready for primetime or now. We also haven’t even addressed how LoL’s rune and mastery system keeps you in a stat ghetto until you've invested dozens and dozens of hours into the game.

Josh: The Rune and Mastery system adds a ton of depth to stat tweaking and theorycrafting builds at high levels, and the matchmaking system keeps you playing with people around your same level. It is a minor penalty when trying to play with max-level friends as a brand new player, but I’ll trade that for a massive boost to customization at high-level. Another win for LoL's depth.

T.J.: I don’t object to the concept of runes and masteries, I do object to having to unlock them over weeks or months. And the difference between a beginner account and a maxed one makes you almost re-learn each champ at certain milestones. You can’t just go look up a good jungle Warwick build, because they all assume you have certain runes and masteries. But I can look up a pro-level jungle Lycan. And while I may fail utterly in the execution, at least that’s my fault, and not some stat deficiency I have to grind my way out of.



Josh: You know what else isn't your fault, T.J.? The fact that Dota 2 didn't bother to tell you that it chose to recreate bugs caused by the original Dota’s RTS engine. Are you familiar with creep stacking, T.J.?

T.J.: Why yes, Josh. Yes I am.

Josh: Then you’re, no doubt, also familiar with the fact that it is absolutely ridiculous to expect players to know that if they pull jungle camps far enough away from their spawn points, the game will create a duplicate camp on top of it. Oh, and that you can only do it at the minute mark because that’s when the map checks most jungle camps, and respawns the ones it thinks are dead. Gameplay is balanced around this opaque, archaic design! That is some of the stupidest, most unintuitive, lazy game design I've ever seen.

T.J.: Josh, do you know what the following things have in common? Potato chips. X-rays. Velcro. Post-it notes. Silly Putty.

Josh: They’re delicious in small doses?

T.J.: Yes. But they’re also inventions that came about by accident, and we kept them around because people like them. Both in a limited culinary sense, and for their original purposes. You can call Dota 2’s mechanics “archaic,” but if they were such a bother, people would have all abandoned the game by now.

Josh: 70 million people have, according to Riot’s last released registration numbers, with 12 million of them playing every day!

T.J.: And “Call Me Maybe” had 367 million views online last year. I never contended that LoL isn't the more accessible, or even more popular game. Consoles also tend to have a higher install base than high-end gaming PCs, typically, and Call of Duty is more popular than Crusader Kings. And yet here we are on PC Gamer, because we love things that aren't the most popular. I’m saying Dota is the superior experience. I could go on and on.

The stronger abilities and items combined with smaller health pools make team fights more interesting. It feels like a high-stakes samurai duel, where one misclick can result in a triple-kill for the enemy team in the space of seconds. I've been in too many mid-game brawls in LoL where a couple people die, and the other eight walk away with lowish health to lick their wounds. That’s just not as exciting.



Josh: Fights are definitely faster in Dota 2. Getting one- or two-shotted isn't uncommon, and that goes back to hero balance: Dota 2 makes everyone overpowered and hopes you pick the right counters for the enemy heroes. It’s a different playstyle.

Unreal Tournament’s fast-paced instagib mode, where everyone wields laser rifles that explode the enemy in one hit, is a ton of fun when we play it casually in the office. But when I want a competitive, team-based experience that relies on working together with other people, I want it to be at a pace where meaningful strategy can be coordinated during the fight. There are still plenty of burst damage moments in LoL—you just have to work a little harder to make them happen.

T.J.: Yeah, that one pretty much comes down to a stylistic preference. I know it sounds silly to try to frame MOBAs in anything resembling reality, but I prefer games where the lethality is a little closer to how an actual such fight would work. Hollywood aside, most sword fights last a couple seconds, then someone gets stabbed. (That’s the only conceivable reason fencing never took off as a spectator sport.) It’s the same argument I make about shooters feeling boring when you can soak up bullets for a half hour.

Josh: I've never actually been gored by a rampaging minotaur, but I do concede that I probably wouldn't last very long.

T.J.: Speaking of rampaging minotaurs, how’s LoL’s solo queue treating you? Now, before we get into this: Both games have a higher than acceptable percentage of bad-mannered, text-based shouting matches. And I admire LoL’s Tribunal system. But the fact is that a game with as many players as LoL has is inevitably going to attract a lot of... less than mature community members. Same thing happens in just about every explosively popular game. WoW, Call of Duty, you name it.

Josh: Yeah, and being free-to-play certainly doesn't help either game. Riot’s done a lot to help improve the community beyond just the Tribunal, but there are still plenty of jerks clogging up the chat channels. There are friendly people in both games, and as long as you queue up with friends, you’ll be okay.



T.J.: Oh, absolutely. Both games are far superior played with a pre-made.

Josh: And my teams learn from watching the best teams, and this is an area I think LoL stands as the uncontested champion.

T.J.: *cough*Hero*cough*

Josh: ...Right, hero. LoL’s new league hosts 16 pro teams in NA and EU, pays them salaries and has them play weekly matches in a giant stadium in LA. Rivalries are developing, player stories are getting a spotlight, and it’s building a huge community around eSports, which is great for everyone.

It’s exciting to finally have reliable eSports scheduling. I've been watching at least 3 days a week and I can’t get enough. Ive learned a lot from the great commentary and play of the pros, and I've never been more motivated to play LoL.

Best of all, the entire thing is livestreamed in HD for free, while Dota 2 fans are often asked to pay real cash for tournament passes to watch tournaments in the game client. That constant entertainment is reason enough to choose LoL.

T.J.: Technically, StarCraft II has had regular eSports scheduling for years in Korea... but that’s beside the point. (Though I’d gladly argue “StarCraft II is the best eSport ever” any day.)

You’re right, though. I objectively can’t argue that LoL eSports has way more going on, more of an in-person tournament scene (which I think is a far superior format), and more viewership because of it. But part of that is due to Riot not having... really anything else going on. LoL has been out for a while, and their resources are dedicated to it. Valve has a lot more on its plate, including but not limited to a little thing called Steam. And their game isn't even out yet. Give it time.



Josh: That’s a good thing for LoL players—they get their dev team’s full attention all the time. As a gamer with choices, I don’t want excuses, I want the highest quality content as frequently as possible.

T.J.: And I’ll give you that one. In terms of how much eSports goodness you can get, and the regular spectacle of it all, LoL is a more fun scene to follow at the moment. But Dota 2 is like the early days of mixed martial arts, when it was all underground, and only a select, cliquish cadre of fans could see that it was going to be something bigger. It’s a microcosm of eSports itself. And the core part of Dota 2’s scene that really matters—the game—is superior. I think time will vindicate that, like a late-game tower dive on that jerk who’s been ganking you over and over.

Ultimately, I enjoy playing and watching both. The rivalry is almost silly, with how similar they are at the end of the day. I choose Dota if I have to choose, but I don’t see why they can’t coexist.

Josh: Yeah, I think both games are going to thrive and do well—and they should! We don’t have to forsake one for the other, and it’s probably better that we specialize in different games. You carry me in Dota 2, and I’ll get your back in LoL. Teamwork OP!

Follow Josh, T.J., and PC Gamer on Twitter to react to our debates as they happen, and see how the community responded to this one on the next page.






@pcgamer Dota. Hero roles are vastly more flexible and you're less likely to get flamed for "not following the meta". Also no region locks.— Alex (@alexg) February 27, 2013


@pcgamer Dota while better from depth standpoint, lacks accessibility. And vice versa. But, I do prefer depth over accessibility.— Ian Nowakowski (@SW4Y1N) February 27, 2013


@pcgamer It always seems to be the first one you play, for me that was Dota— Charlie Webster (@LordWoley) February 27, 2013


@pcgamer LoL. Masteries, Runes, champion buying add character customization, persistence, progress. Way better than DOTA2 visual junk.— Jason (@TeslasButler) February 27, 2013


@pcgamer Regardless of any other features included or excluded, DOTA wins by giving level playing field with full hero roster and no runes.— Trevor Christman (@Jaqenn) February 27, 2013


@pcgamer Both have too steep a learning curve to put up with their abusive communities.— Ryan Romain (@RyanIsABigNerd) February 27, 2013


@pcgamer Hard to say. LoL is easier for newcomers to the genre, Dota2 is hyper professional and balanced better. I say LoL becuase it's fun.— Mike Reilly (@ReilzSH) February 27, 2013


@pcgamer I prefer league, the UI in Dota 2 is horrible and i have no clear idea what's going on with stats or items.— Jonathan Freegrove (@JonathanFreegro) February 27, 2013


@pcgamer Dota, because hats, and everyone I know has 12 copies— Arcon (@Arcon_) February 27, 2013


@pcgamer Warcraft 3 DotA!— Břetislav Krejčí (@Darth_Dovahkiin) February 27, 2013


@pcgamer Really depends on what you're looking for. I prefer LoL because its easier for non-MOBA friends to pick up & understand— DerekDennis/Halfblud (@KCallDay6) February 27, 2013


@pcgamer Whenever I'm feeling masochistic both games have perfect communities to erode my self esteem with verbal abuse!— djbriandamage (@djbriandamage) February 27, 2013


@pcgamer They cater to different overall play styles.Neither is better than the other. They just provide different experiences.— Raymond Harris (@DrD4nger) February 27, 2013

What if Salvador Dali decided to make a game after binging on NoDoz for three days straight? The result would probably be Back to Bed, an indie puzzle effort riding the abstract terminus between dream and reality in an expressionist landscape.

The objective is simple: get the narcoleptic Bob back to bed. You don't control Bob directly, but you instead direct his sleepwalking stumbles through Subob, a dog-like creature representing Bob's subconscious. Bob only turns clockwise, but using and manipulating various objects steers him on course to his downy haven—or off the sides of the Escher-esque buildings and into a jarred awakening.

The youthful developers behind Back to Bed—a collaboration of two Danish indie teams—already have a free browser-based demo available and a Kickstarter campaign to fund a multi-platform release. The pitch states contributions funnel into extra levels and engine license fees.

There's also a debut trailer featuring Subob's summary of your job via a goosebumps-raising reverse inflection. If I knew my subconscious sounded like that, I'd tape my eyeballs open and hope I never fall asleep again. Have a look below.

After using a Xen relay to slingshot itself across an interdimensional portal known as "the Internet," Black Mesa and its updates to Half-Life 1 continue to influence satellite mods that restore extended chunks of Gordon Freeman's tale. Next in line for Black-Mesa-fying: the Hazard Course, Gordon's optional and educational pit-stop for teaching movement and shooting basics.

Along with the standard face(granite?)-lift to the Hazard Course's bunker-like training areas and twisting pipes, the mod hopes to add a few new characters and areas for that extra bit of distraction as you eternally run late for that silly test chamber appointment. A notable planned addition is the tram station and the brief meeting with a few scientist overseers from the PlayStation 2 version of the game (here's a video), which is a rare opportunity to see one of the lab's normally stuffy pencil-pushers shirk procedure over a liability contract.

The mod just moved into its alpha stage after its team announced the first connection of all playable areas just yesterday. You can track the mod's progress over at Mod DB, and here's a few more screenshots showing off the completed work so far.