We've played Star Citizen's Arena Commander module and gotten our first taste of dogfighting in Chris Roberts' new universe. At E3 2014, we had time to talk to the man himself. Roberts gave us all kinds of information about the current state of Star Citizen and what's coming in the next two years. He talks about the Oculus Rift, planetside gameplay, server architecture, and much more.

Gunpoint is a 2D stealth-puzzle game in which you rewire the electronics and security systems of various buildings in order to break in and steal stuff. It came out last summer and we didn't review it, because as it turns out the game's developer, Tom Francis, was a long-time writer for PC Gamer, which led to all sorts of very obvious concerns about bias and conflict of interest. But while we couldn't review it, we can tell you that a rather large patch has gone live that, among other things, converts the game to an entirely new engine. Oh, and it's on sale, too.

Why go to all the trouble of converting a game to a new engine more than a year after it's released? Bug fixes and performance boosts are two pretty good reasons, and perhaps even more important in the long term, it will enable the development of Linux and Mac versions. The addition of Steam Workshop functionality will simplify the process of sharing and browsing user-made levels, and the addition of a swear filter means you'll be able to let your kids play without worrying about them running into any unwanted f-bombs.

And with the patch comes a sale, although in all honesty I don't know if the two events are actually related in any way. But coincidence or two, all three versions of Gunpoint Regular, Special and Exclusive are available for 75 percent off for the next couple of days. Get it while it's hot at Steam.

Tale of Tales is a two-person development team known for making some very unusual games interactive screensavers about magical forest animals with human faces to peppy, or abstract arcade sex adventures. Calling the work "experimental" is putting it mildly, but it's also oddly compelling if you're into that sort of thing. I am, so I'm pretty excited about Sunset, a narrative-driven game set during a violent revolution in 1970s South America that hit Kickstarter today.

Sunset is a "first-person war game" in which you don't play as the hero, but as a bystander. Specifically, a housekeeper by the name of Angela Burnes, who spends an hour once a week cleaning the apartment of the wealthy Gabriel Ortega. But you can do more than just clean; you can poke through your employer's stuff to find out more about him and his role in the revolution sweeping the fictional nation, or you can just mess with him by changing his radio station or fiddling with his high-tech toys. Tasks can be performed in different ways "neutral or naughty, funny or flirty" which will lead to different long-term results.

"We always wondered what life would be like for the extras in such games, the people who are not the heroes, the ones on the sidelines like most of us," Tale of Tales writes in the Sunset Kickstarter pitch. "How does it feel to be one of the many victims of war, instead of the hero? How does it feel when war is the backdrop for your day-to-day life?"

Sunset is set entirely within a single apartment and is very much in the vein of exploration games like Gone Home and Dear Esther. But unlike those games, your actions in this one will have a real impact on its events. Despite being on the sidelines, you'll be more than a mere spectator your actions will have influence.

Tale of Tales is collaborating with freelancers from around the world on Sunset, most notably composer Austin Wintory of Journey and Banner Saga fame, but putting it all together costs money. That's where Kickstarter comes in; grants cover roughly half the game's budget and Tale of Tales can handle most of the rest, but that still leaves a shortfall of roughly $25,000. Kickstarters are inherently risky things, obviously, but Tale of Tales has a solid reputation for doing what it does and I'm very much looking forward to Sunset. So are an awful lot of other people, it would seem: In its first day, the Sunset Kickstarter has already surpassed the $10,000 mark.

The vast majority of space combat simulators we've come to know and love over the years Wing Commander, TIE Fighter, X: Beyond the Frontier and all the rest have one thing in common: They employ atmospheric flight models rather than "Newtonian." What this means is that despite "flying" through the zero-gravity void of space, starfighters behave more or less as real-world aircraft do. It's generally seen as a necessary concession to gameplay and conformation to the space dogfight standard established by Star Wars, but Star Citizen will be taking a more complex and realistic approach to its flight model.

"We model what would be needed on an actual spaceship, including correct application of thrust at the places where the thrusters are attached to the hull of the ship in our model moment of inertia, mass changes and counter thrust are VERY necessary," Roberts wrote in a lengthy new Roberts Space Industries blog post. "Star Citizen s physical simulation of spaceflight is based on what would actually happen in space."

RSI is taking this approach for two reasons: First, because the technology allowing this kind of highly-accurate simulation is finally at our fingertips, and second, because the "significant amount of player vs. player combat" rather than action against AI demands the variability that only a "real" simulation can provide.

"In single player games the ability for the player to gun down waves of enemies has less to do with the skill of the player because the player is usually overpowered in respect to the base enemies he will fight. You can t do this in player vs player, and it s likely that multiple players will have the same ship," Roberts explained. "Without a sophisticated simulation and flight model, with lots of options for a pilot to fluidly try different tactics to get the upper hand, the battles can end up as a frustrating stalemate when both pilots have the same ship as no one can get on the other s tail because you don t have the same forces that affect air combat (namely gravity and air resistance) to bleed energy from the maneuvers."



Ship systems will be simulated to a comparable extent, forcing pilots to choose between more than just the usual engines/weapons/shields triumvirate. "By fully simulating both the systems and physics of powered spaceflight we allow for a huge amount of emergent behavior and variety in the final game," he wrote. "Ship load out becomes very important not just for functionality but also for actual flight and responsiveness."

Pulling everything together is the job of the In-Flight Control System, which is actually a collection of multiple subsystems that "translates a pilot's control inputs into thruster operations to accomplish a designated command, even under a sub-optimal or failing propulsion system." It's a futuristic fly-by-wire system, in other words, which Roberts said is necessary because humans simply cannot properly control a ship of this sort unaided. They can "decouple" the system temporarily, however, allowing them pivot in any direction without losing their "forward" motion, but that's a whole different level of complexity and you really should read the original post (which also includes a nice overview of the IFCS, complete with diagrams, courtesy of physics programmer John Pritchett) for yourself if you want to dig into it at that level.

Star Citizen isn't the only game taking the Newtonian route into space: Elite: Dangerous, the other spectacular-looking space sim that hit crowdfunding gold, is doing the same thing. Frontier Developments hasn't yet delved into its workings to this extent, but it did say in its Kickstarter pitch that "the degree of the fly-by-wire to override the feeling of skidding is something we will carefully tune."

If it seems lately that everyone under the sun is going to work for Oculus VR, that may be because everyone under the sun is going to work for Oculus VR. The latest addition to the virtual reality dream team is Chris Jurney of Supergiant Games, the studio behind the indie hits Bastion and Transistor.

Jurney's name may not be as immediately recognizable as that of Jason Rubin or Jason Holtman, the other two guys who hopped the Oculus train this month (and to be fair, "recognizable" in this case is a very relative term) but you're almost certainly familiar with his work. As well as Bastion and Transistor, Jurney also worked on games including Brutal Legend for Double Fine, Relic's Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2 and Company of Heroes, and Frontlines: Fuel of War at Kaos Studios.

I'm joining @Oculus at the end of the month to help make VR awesome.— Chris Jurney (@jurney) June 16, 2014


"I've always wanted to work in VR," Jurney told Polygon. "Part of the way I ended up talking to Oculus is because of a mid-party rant at GDC about how my primary religion is VR, The Lawnmower Man is one of my favorite movies, and how I can't wait to abandon my meat sack for a full time virtual existence. I spent hundreds of hours in a VFX1 headset in college wandering around Quake 1 looking forward to better future VR that never materialized."

Written by Matt Cabral

After a couple years, all games will have this freedom. begins Maciej Binkowski, lead designer on Dying Light. The Techland developer who also held design and production positions on the studio s previous zombie-pummeling romp, Dead Island is referring to his forthcoming game's focus on freedom of movement.

Just as the ability to jump in first-person shooters became pretty standard after Duke Nukem proved players needn't be rooted to the floor, Binkowski believes free-running in the FPS space could be the genre s next step in evolution. Citing that similar experiences currently don t allow gamers to clear walls that their grandmas could jump , he s pretty confident Dying Light s offering an unprecedented way for players to navigate the zombie apocalypse.

I got to do some running, jumping, and climbing during a hands-on session at last year s E3, but the controls occasionally yielded more frustration than fluidity. Twelve more months of development can make a huge difference, though, and my time with the game at this year s expo mostly delivered on Dying Light s parkour-fueled promise.



Aside from falling on my face a few a times before realizing I had to look directly at any edge I wanted to grab, my time behind the gamepad was a smooth, seamless affair; whether mantling a small stack of boxes or scaling a three-story structure, I felt as athletic as any of Assassin s Creed s agile avatars. The intuitive interface which requires the right bumper be held down when you re facing an obstacle lets players, according to Binkowski, climb anything in a way that feels fluid and responsive. If that s not enough, navigation s also aided by a grappling hook; a new feature unveiled at E3, the gadget is great for crossing long gaps in little time.

Of course, circumventing hordes of flesh-craving freaks like an Olympic athlete only scratches the surface of your survival skills. In addition to bounding through Dying Light s sprawling open-world like a zombie hunter on a Red Bull bender, I was introduced to its character progression system. Players level-up in a pair of categories agility and strength by simply performing actions in each discipline. After treating the world like my own persona playground, for example, I was able to add an agility skill to my acrobatic arsenal; given the choice between dodge and slide , I went with the latter so I wouldn t have to keep slowing down when hurtling toward low-hanging obstacles.



A bit deeper into my demo upon opening a few foot-dragging foes from balls to brains I was given the opportunity to pick a strength skill. Binkowski suggested I go with charge to buff my attacks, but I couldn t resist the skull-crushing potential of stomp. Sure enough, the satisfying, if slightly morbid, skill allowed me to transform downed enemies noggins into pulpy pavement smears.

Powered by Techland s proprietary Chrome Engine 6, Dying Light also sports an impressive day/night cycle. While the feature ensures your eyes will be treated to some of the prettiest sunrises and sunsets the end of the world has ever seen, ogling the scenery like a first time tourist will see you flayed faster than a sheep in a wolves den. You see, more than just providing a postcard-perfect backdrop to the slaughter, the dawn-to-dusk transformations also have a significant impact on gameplay; darkness brings out the Volatiles, a stronger, faster breed of brain-eater that makes the game s other threats look like grade-school bullies.



Thankfully, players face these infected foes not only with athleticism, but with an arsenal of customizable killers. Techland s doing plenty to differentiate Dying Light from its fun-but-unpolished predecessor, but it's also retaining and refining some of Dead Island s coolest features, like its weapon crafting system. I didn t experience the actual building phase during my demo, but did test out some finished products, such as a spiked baseball bat Binkowski giddily said could rip pieces of meat off the bone. When not separating flesh from femur, I was able to carve through walking corpses with a fire axe that coursed with electricity; when coupled with the whirlwind skill, the aptly named zapper axe could also cut enemies in half.

While my first look at Dying Light was full of promise, its ambitious vision of a zombie game that had players running more than gunning fell a bit short. After spending 20 or so minutes with the updated build, though, the fleet-footed first-person survival premise seems several steps or breathless leaps closer to realizing its potential.

Sorry Paradox, but tactically obscuring part of the word "Essex" won't make your screenshots more interesting.

At any moment, your average PC gamer is on the verge of potentially life-threatening excitement. We're constantly in danger of an over-stimulation overdose made of explosions, guns, speed, spaceships and other, bigger explosions. That's why, every now and then, it's important to slow things down. And so, we should take a moment to thank Paradox, who today announced a trade-focused mini-expansion for Europa Universalis IV.

Res Publica is the name of this third expansion, and, in addition to additional trade options, it will also introduce new methods of governance. Paradox's announcement post explains exactly what players can expect:


"Republic Affairs: Grow your influence with the Merchant Republic faction to create new trade posts and reap bonuses, or exploit the inner power struggles of the Dutch Republic and their unique election events
"Meet the New Boss: Try the all-new Republican Dictatorship government type, and decide between increases in power or Republic Tradition in new in-game opportunities and events
"Don t Fight the Power: Retain power for the ruling family by backing heirs in Elective Monarchies; boost your growth with the National Focus bonus and spend your points on Administrative, Diplomatic, or Military Power"


Dammit, Paradox! With all this talk of power-struggle exploitation, we're straight back into over-excitement territory.

Res Publica is due out this Summer.

I was on the verge of photoshopping this to read "Extreme Freever", but it was too much effort and didn't even make sense.

EA have revealed the next game in their ongoing 'On The House' promotion series. First, they gave away Dead Space. Then, it was Battlefield 3 and Plants vs. Zombies. Now, it's Peggle making this either the best or worst of their free-game offers, depending on your fondness for unicorns, rainbows, and an impossibly compelling series of block-smashing levels.

Er...

Okay, this is embarrassing. To be honest, I've finished one paragraph and realised there's nothing left to write. It's Peggle. It's free. If you don't already own Peggle, this is your chance to correct that mistake. If you don't think you'll like Peggle, this is your chance to correct that mistake. If you know that you don't like Peggle... then there's not a lot of point in you being in this post. Here's something about violence.

Basically, click on these words and get a free Peggle. Unless you're reading this after 5th August, in which case you were too late.

It might seem pretty weird calling a 600 / $650 monitor the budget option but that s exactly what the Asus PB287Q is in the burgeoning 4K space. When the first 4K screens I tested cost six times as much you can probably see why I might get a bit excited about a cheap 4K display hitting my testbench. This is the first realistically affordable monitor I ve checked out, rocking that full 3840x2160 native resolution, and it s lovely. I had my worries, but Asus has put together a 4K screen that can claim bargain status without looking anything like a budget monitor. How have they managed this feat when others are into four figure price tags?

It s all down to the choice of panel Asus have chosen to drop into this 28-inch monitor. Where the first 4K screen I checked out from Asus was the PQ321QE, with a 32-inch IGZO IPS display, the PB287Q comes with a 27-inch TN panel. And unlike a few of the early 4K TN adopters out there, this Asus screen is fully capable of running its 4K resolution at a full 60Hz.

If you get a sense of unease at the very mention of TN panels, that's understandable. They're known for their shonky viewing angles and dodgy contrast and colour reproduction, but these 4K TN panels are unlike any others I ve ever tested. I m not going to say that you can t tell the difference sat cheek-by-jowl with an IPS 4K screen it s immediately obvious which has the premium panel sitting inside it. And out of the box the PB287Q s colours do look a little washed out, but with a little tweaking of the OSD you can alleviate most of those problems.

Traditionally TN panels suffer poor viewing angles, but in those stakes the Asus doesn't fare badly at all. The horizontal viewing angles are impeccable and only the vertical gives me any pause. Viewing angles falter when you're looking up at the screen, but Asus has included a fully height-adjustable stand, so that never becomes an issue.

The PB287Q looks anything but a budget monitor

There are other 4K monitors coming out at this price, all using TN displays, and indeed there are some which are even cheaper. Asus panel is a full 10-bit variant, where others are using 8-bit, and frame rate control, to get to the same 1.07 billion colour palette. And Asus also pack in some extra features, such as low blue light and flicker-free technologies to avoid punishing your eyes during long gaming sessions.

So while it s definitely a bargain in 4K terms, the PB287Q is still a thoroughly feature-rich option. My only concern, and the thing that s stopping this impressive panel from getting the coveted Editor s Choice award are those slightly washed out colours. After the vibrant hues I ve become used to in my lowly 2560x1440 display it seems like a slightly retrograde step, but that s all that would give me pause.

Well, that and the fact you need a great deal of horsepower to get your games running smoothly at this razor sharp resolution, but that s not really Asus fault. And they will sell you a GTX Titan Z or Ares III if you need some help.

As an upgrade from pretty much any 1080p panel this PB287Q would make an excellent option, especially for the money they're asking for it, just make sure you've got the space on your desktop before taking the plunge.

Ambitious exploration-based RPG Frontiers is celebrating its anniversary. A year has passed since it raised $150,000 on Kickstarter, and successfully became a game that will one day exist. Since then, the project has entered full scale development, and now, today, is... still a game that will one day exist. To mark the passing of this auspicious milestone, creator Lars Simkins has released a big update video, explaining where he's at with the game.



Bad news: Frontiers has slipped from its mid-2014 due date to a less committal "when its done" schedule. Good news: there's a new video, depicting the game's new hang-gliding system.



If Frontiers is yet to trouble your radar, it's an open-world RPG focused more on exploration and discovery than on combat and loot collection. Pre-Kickstarter, I talked to Simkins about the desired scope of the project, and based on what he's shown so far he seems to be on track to deliver that vision.

For an idea of Frontiers' full scope, take a look at the Greenlight trailer from a couple of months back.